October 18, 2018 – Week 6, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Safety Squat Bar Box Squats
60x9
110x3
150x3
200x3
240x3
290x3
290x3
290x3

Wide Grip Deadlifts
155x1
245x1
EMOM (Added Straps)
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1
335x1

Pulldown Abs
170x30
200x30

Stretching

Comments: Things seem to be going well. Lifting wise. Work, well, yeah. To the gym after work for training. Bike to start things off. 153bpm highest reading this session. One of my better distances in the time limit. Not quite what I did last time which was a big improvement but still good. Having the unrelenting pacer seems to be upping my output. Calves felt tight. Especially the right one. Looks like the kettlebell from before was returned so used it for the goblet squats again. Not bad but not great feeling. Aches seem to be down a little. RDLs definitely feeling a fatigue in the lower back. If I go too far down, I’m rounding and breaking from and taking tension off my lower back. Need to keep it focused. Band rows were good on the back. Push-ups were ok. I felt more tired than anything on them. Some shoulder aches. Plank was ok. Then the biceps stretches. Really stiff and tight in the chest today. Expected after the log and benching. Hip swings after that. Weight time. This workout moves pretty quick compared to the other ones, especially on this day when it’s the 3^rd week of the squats and the wide grip deadlifts. Safety squat bar again. Plate, quarter, plate jumps. Lower body wasn’t feeling so stiff this time and I was able to get my form to cooperate from the get go. Stance might have been a little wide at the start. It was easier to do these jumps then to bring out the micro weights for the working set (what’s 2lbs difference?). I felt somewhat slow but it moved well enough on camera. Then it was the wide grip deadlifts. My right lower body felt much tighter than my left as I set up to lift. Hip and ankle. Not sure what to do about that. Plate jumps worked out well. Not sure if I was sitting down enough to initiate the lift but it felt “faster” than my regular style pull. This was definitely the easiest feeling of the pulls from these past three weeks. I feel like my 5^th and 6^th single on the EMOM were the best ones. Things were going smooth and then on the penultimate lift I grazed the healed scab on my left shin and had to wrap tape to keep blood to a minimum. I’ve been looking at shin protection but I was hoping I could make it through these week without them as I got to find ones that will fit my feet. Again, I think I need to adjust the projected 1rm on this exercise another 10lbs. Abs to finish up the day. Used the towel to provide some padding to brace against. Two sets again but reps increased to 30. Took a few reps to get the towel to be in the right spot before I started my actual set. 170lbs was too easy so I put it to 200lbs for the entire stack for the next set. Definitely a bit tougher but still pretty easy. May just stick with this weight for next time since reps will be increased again. Beat feet home to stretch and get dinner ready so I could recover and eat timely.

October 16, 2018 – Week 6, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
100x1
110x1
120x1
140x1
160x1
180x1
200x1
220x1
240x10 PR+5lbs & 2 reps

Neutral Grip Pulldowns
70x10
120x10
150x10
180x10
210x10
240x10

Barbell Bench Presses
45x10
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x5
1 Second Pauses
285x5

Stretching

Comments: Weather has been more Fall so been able to walk the past two days. Appears that I need to try and get that in on my off days for my own mental wellbeing to destress from wrok. Got a small bruise the size of a silver dollar on the lower left side of my abdominals. May just be a contact bruise. My abs don’t feel like tight crap like they had the second half of last week. Exercise bike to warm-up. 156bpm highest reading. Definitely my best distance in the time limit. I started without the pacer at my level for the first half of the time limit and then bumped it up to 2.5 times my output so that I had this unrelenting juggernaut behind me. Still managed to stay ahead by a few seconds at the end. Calves felt good. No issues with them. It was busy upstairs so I went downstairs to finish my warm-ups. Goblet squats were ok. Felt like my knees would ache but they didn’t really. RDLs I caught myself in the mirror rounding my lower back trying to get full ROM so I stopped and just went until I felt like it would. Need to work on that some more I guess.. Band rows felt good. Push ups were ok. Plank was a plank. Then the biceps stretches. Felt ok today. Hip swings ok as well. On to the weights. Log again. I wasn’t sure how this would go today. Singles with 20lbs jumps like axle was last week. Remembered my wrist wraps this time. I remember things felt a bit stiff last time I did log. Positioning on my chest seemed to be much better. Felt comfortable almost. Plan was to get used to the support equipment. Rehband first and then hard belt, then chalk and the finally wrist wraps. I don’t need them to do these weights but jumping from nothing to everything throws things off a bit. Gradually adding it seems to ease the transition and allow me to breath without hampering things. Felt my body heat radiating while bent over the log at 200lbs. I won’t say I wasn’t nervous going for reps on the last set. Having to prove myself. No idea what I would hit here. I was surprised how easy it felt but I wasn’t expecting to get more than seven reps. But it was still easy going. Got a little tired after eight but got the ninth. Really surprised to get the tenth. Maybe one more there but that was out of position and a little more strain on the lower back then I would’ve liked. Lifetime best here as far as reps and weight. Hopefully this translates to my max as this cycle continues. Neutral grip pulldowns next. I figured that I would be able to add quite a bit on to this exercise with how it felt last time and with the improvements I’ve gained on the regular grip style. This style is definitely tougher getting the back involved and control to the chest. Abs were a little tender at the start but felt better as I went. Form is a little tricky with it hanging lower and occasionally hitting the bottom on the top of the reps. 240lbs was definitely tough. I could feel the exhaustion just rise off my body at the end of the last two sets. Just this wave and a feeling of heat rising. Back is feeling strong. Benching after that. Well I had to wait a little bit. Plan was to do sets of five up to a weight I could do with a rep or two in the tank. I’m sticking with more sets while I can still do it. So max sets with pulldowns and again with bench. Bar and then right to 135lbs. Five reps felt ok. First rep of the sets just felt a little off. Not sure if it was the grip or what but the following reps felt better. Plate, quarter, plate jumps. I was wondering if my goal of three plates for the top set was being a bit overconfident. But I told myself it was doable, log was strong and I’ve had the numbers to support this. First rep had me second guessing but what once I adjusted things after that rep, the other reps were smoother and I definitely had two reps in the tank. Not the best bench has felt but still in a good place. Bench is not the focus. Last set of the day was paused set. Switched out the two plates on the ends for the dense 75lbs plates. Thought it was fun and would make things a little interesting. Felt heavy but it the five I needed. Home to stretch, eat and recovery.

October 13, 2018 – Week 5, Day 3

5 Minutes Misc Stationary Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Yoke
210x50’ in 5.57 seconds
300x50’ in 5.76 seconds
390x50’ in 5.94 seconds
480x50’ in 6.63 seconds
570x50’ in 7.20 seconds
660x50’ in 8.63 seconds

Sandbag Over Bar (60”)
150xpick
200xpick
250x10

Keg Carry (turns at 50’)

175x2 (pick)

225x2 (pick)

275x100’ in 17.50 seconds

275x100’ in 17.12 seconds

Plate Pinch Hold
96x75.18 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Didn’t want to get out of bed. It’s finally fall weather and the bed felt so nice. I managed to compromise and slept in 75 minutes. I had gone for a walk the night before and used the car buffer just about everywhere. Body feeling worn down. Lots of activity at the gym today. I figured I didn’t have anywhere to be today and I was going to be in for a long day with all the different moving parts. Warmed up on the ole’ reliable exercise bike. Nice and easy today. Calves felt springy but ridiculously tight. Knees were achy on the goblet squats. Definitely not feeling as good as they did last weekend. Joints felt stiff on RDLs but no real aches here. Band rows were good but my back was sore. Push-ups felt ok but my shoulders were tight and sore. So were my lower abs. Plank is nothing at this point. With how sore my abs were, I thought it would be tougher. Looks like staying still I can still do pretty well haha. Biceps stretches felt good, was expecting things to be tighter with how sore I was feeling. Hip swings after that. Felt ok. Yoke to start off the weights. Had to wait for a lane to open up as another gym member was doing medley work. I helped out so that I was keeping warm, focused and active. Didn’t want to cool down too much if I could help it. Anyways, plan for yoke was 65% for 50’. Worked out pretty good to just doing 90lbs jumps. Would be a little over the goal weight. Doing 90lbs jumps would allow me to go through the entire workout from three weeks ago as far as yoke to see if I was improving. Knees were achy but it wasn’t painful. Every set was an improvement in time from last session. At the start with the light weights, talking hundredths of a second difference but the gap widened as the weight increased. It was when I got to the hard belt that it went from hundredths to tenths. Belt on loose for 480lbs for close to half a second faster and then a notch tighter for 570lbs which was 2/3^rd a second faster. Small but good improvements. Last run was going to be interesting. Lower back was stiff and sore and I was just hoping my joints didn’t break from under me. Physical and mental fatigue are building five weeks in. Run was ok but it could be better. But I seem to be improving so I might put these numbers behind me next time this workout comes around. Next was sandbag again. I didn’t want to do this today. 50lbs added to this stupid thing was going to make this substantially more challenging than it was three weeks ago. Did some warm-up picks and applied chalk to my body as if it were SPF50 sunscreen and I was going to the beach for a week. This was not going to be an easy toss session like last time. I have a habit of shorting the load with the sandbag at this weight but can’t do that today since it’s got to go other, now on the bar. Took my time with these. Hoping my abs don’t cramp up or I puke up my workout drink bending over. Rough texture of the bag opened my barely healed cut from deadlifting two days ago. Three reps in and I wanted to be done. Just told myself that I get ten and I’m done. Tenth one I was pretty tired and it just sort of plopped on the bar and I had to shove it over. Oof. Had to sit down for a bit to make the world stop spinning for a moment. Keg is way easier haha. Had a bit of an intermission before I could do my keg carries. Two sets of 100’, turn at 50’ like last time but more weight. With how long I was waiting to go, I ended up doing two sets of picks and an empty “run” down the course for 50’. The picks did not build confidence in me. 225lbs it felt like I was going to pull a lat standing up. Had to psyche myself up a bit for the first run. Keg did not feel pleasant on my midsection. Guts felt on fire, felt that I was getting little lightheaded and my grip was failing. I hesitated to adjust my stride so that I could make a quick turn for the way back. Body felt like crap but this managed to be over second faster than my first set with 25lbs less three weeks ago. Alternated sides and prepared for another round of discomfort. Still felt sucky but got the long strides going on the leg back. Managed to be a tenth of a second better than my best time. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was bleeding internally or peeing blood later. Last item for the day was pinch gripping again. I had hoped I would be given carte blanche to add weight since I got close to a minute and a half last time with 90lbs. But nope, only to go up 5lbs. I took part of the power pin we use for power stairs or duck walk and that was 6lbs or so and put it through the plates. I’ll need it when I and more weight over time. Hands have been feeling off. I guess more my fingers with the drier weather. I figured my grip would be good, just not sure on the skin. Like last time, felt tough after 15 seconds but I then managed to hold a minute longer than that. 9 seconds shy of last time but this was more weight. Took my time getting things away and stretching. My joints just felt all stiff and my abdominals needed to settle. Home to eat, recovery and then eat some more.

October 11, 2018 – Week 5, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Safety Squat Bar Box Squats
65x9
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x3
265x3
265x3

Deadlifts
135x1
225x1
315x1
EMOM (Added Straps)
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1
381x1

Decline Situps
BWx20
BWx20

Stretching

Comments: Initially this workout was going to moved back a day. But plans changed. Work is continuing to be frustrating. No events yet for Arnold but I’m feeling at times like I haven’t earned it to compete there. That it was pure luck. Maybe seeing my more “standard” lifts are miles behind the competition. I just have to keep going and hope I get where I need to be. Bike to start things off. 156bpm highest reading this session. Best distance so far. I think having the pacer moving at faster pace than I am with a little head start is having me go faster. And not much change in heart rate from session to session really. Calves felt ok. Better than last session. Knees ached on the goblet squats. Once they start, hard to get them to stop. No walking this week so maybe that is something. Felt a little stiff on RDLs. My upper back just became full of soreness and very tight after the goblet squats. Like I was holding it all in and then bam. Talk about delayed onset muscle soreness. Band rows were good on the back but really sore. Push-ups went better than expected. Plank was easy. Then the biceps stretches. Really needed these today. Front of my shoulders were also stiff and sore. Hip swings were good. Now the weights. Well, not right away. It seems lately that I’m stuck waiting for the power rack this day. Safety squat bar box squats again. No bands this time, just bar weight. Joints felt achy and stiff. 50lbs jumps up to the working weight. Taking my time and being very controlled. Just achy in the lower back, hips and knees. It wasn’t until the final set that everything felt fine and I moved exactly how I wanted to. Oh well, on to deadlifts. Regular deadlift still seems fickle. Not sure if it’s because I’m pairing with axle that is a little similar to the start but my lower back seems fatigued when it’s deadlift time. Knees felt stiff again. Plan was another EMOM with 65% for ten singles. Tried using a different bar with less knurling to see if that kept me from bleeding from my shins (it did not). Lockout feels strong above the knee. I feel slow off the floor. Only rep where I felt I got the drive off the floor right was the seventh single. Felt a little stitch in my lower left side of my hip flexor. Probably nothing. I can’t tell if it’s actually tough or in my head. It really needs to improve. Then abdominal work. I went with the decline situps again. Goal was two sets of 15-20 reps. I wanted 20. Almost pitiful how hard these feel after the first 10 reps. Lower right side of my abdominals was cramping up big time after the first set. Like bending over to pick something up or put stuff in my gym bag was a chore. Took my time putting stuff away to see if it would calm down as I didn’t want to be stuff with cramped abs upside down essentially. Managed to get 20 on the following set too. Going to need to recover well haha. Home for stretching eating and recovery work before bed.

October 9, 2018 – Week 5, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Axle Clean and Jerks (one clean)
88x1
108x1
128x1
148x1
168x1
188x1
208x1
228x1
248x9

Pulldowns
70x10
140x10
170x10
200x10
230x10
260x10

Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
20’sx10
40’sx10
60’sx10
80’sx10
100’sx10

Stretching

Comments: Work has been kicking my butt the past two weeks. Not sure if it’s going to get any better. With knowing that I’m to have no breaks until the Arnold as far as deviations I’ve schedule deep tissue massages every five weeks. Really needed one after the past week and with how sore my forearms and biceps were last time I did stone of steel, it was going to be needed. I think the workout would’ve been a lot more uncomfortable if I didn’t have the massage to be honest. Warmed up on the exercise bike as per usual. 148bpm highest reading this time. One of my better distances. Again, using the pacer to keep “someone” on my tail. Calves were tight and stiff feeling. Definitely tired. Goblet squats were ok. Felt like my knees would ache but they didn’t really. Knees were a little stiff at the start on the RDLs. But felt ok by the end. Band rows and push-ups felt good. Plank was easy, not much to say here. More of a strain to increase my blood pressure for a little exercise haha. Then the biceps stretches. Felt ok here too. Hip swings after that. Weight time. Axle has come around yet again. I adjusted the working max to 10lbs more to have it be more in line with my log press. I haven’t done much axle work since I got back to training from the injury but it had always been ahead of my log press. This workout, singles again with the 20lbs jumps but then repping out at the top weight for the day. There was definitely soreness in my arms but a lot less than last time. It hurt to hold the axle last time. Knee not so achy this time. Cleans felt better too. Getting it higher on the sternum. Trying to make every clean precision made. I was adding support stuff gradual. It was then I realized I forgot one of my wrist wraps. Last time I forgot both, this time just one. I keep taking them out of my bag to make it lighter on the days I’m not pressing. Need to stop that I guess as it could be a problem eventually. First few reps felt good but my rack position was just not there today. My shoulder girdle was getting exhausted holding the weight. First eight reps seemed easy but I got out of a groove on number nine and it was a fight to lock it out. I went for broke on the number ten and just couldn’t catch it and balance it that deep a split jerk. Looking back through my notes, I’ve never done more than eight reps on a jerk or push press with a clean before or jerks for more than eight besides the bar. So not something I’m quite used to yet. Needs to improve and I expect it to with how this felt compared to 225lbs last time. After that it was back reps and benching reps. Pulldowns for sets of 10 up to a 10rm or so. I had the option of 3-5 sets. I figured that I needed more reps and sets for the off season work. Right biceps was feeling a little beat from the axle stuff. Did my best to just engage the pulls with my upper back. Continuing to build as I added 10lbs to my best so far on this stack for ten and since coming back from injury. It’s strange to feel my back muscles on these exercises now. Incline dumbbell after that. Same thing with ten reps and choice of sets. Do the sets while the going is good. 20lbs jumps on the plateloaded handles. No issues with shouldering the dumbbells this time. Probably a little tougher than needed to be with lacking my wrist wraps. But maybe it’s good to not use them so often to build tendons, bones, support, etc;. 100lbs got a little wonky on a rep or two and I had to slow my tempo down and control that last rep. Both pulldowns and incline press felt I had more reps in the tank. Both are improvements on my post injury bests but still a bit off my all-time bests. However, these are definitely with better form so it will be nice to eventually beat my all-time bests with this improved control in the future. Home to stretch, eat and recovery. Put ice packs on my arms again because.

October 6, 2018 – Week 4, Day 3

5 Minutes Misc Stationary Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Stone of Steel Over Bar (60”)
138x1
182x1
225.5x1
270.5x1
314x0
314x0
314x1
EMOM
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1
282.5x1

Wide Grip Axle Hang

BWx26.49 seconds PR+7.59 seconds

Prowler 2 Drags/Pushes (turf)
105x93’/93’
135x93’/93’
160x93’/93’
185x93’/93’
205x93’/93’

Stretching

Comments: Managed to survive until the weekend. I had been running on fumes since Wednesday. Plan was to get up usual work time. That didn’t happen, I ended up staying in bed another 45-60 minutes. Still got out to train at an early hour of the day. Plan was to warm-up do half the workout and then get out to do the charity fire truck pull and then come back to finish the workout. Warmed up on the ole’ reliable exercise bike. Calves felt good today. They were tight for sure but they felt springy and mobile. Knees had ached Thursday on goblet squats, not the case today. Felt good and although hips felt tight from band squats, these felt solid. RDLs felt better today too. Might have miscounted again. Band rows were super easy. Push-ups felt ok. Only had to adjust my position after the first rep slightly. Plank is nothing really at this point. Biceps stretches felt good. This setup allows me to get even more of stretch if I need it compared to what I can do at the Y. Hip swings were ok too. Weight time. Stone of steel again. Less hassle than real stones and forces me to work my weaknesses. Today I figured I’d do plate jumps and then go down for the EMOM. I hoped I was better prepared this session and the plate jumps might make the workout go faster. I got the scale out to make sure I had the weights right as I thought I might have been off from last time with some of the “guesses”. It was cool but humid today and the fan wasn’t on so I was getting sweaty pretty quick. My guess had been right up until 3 plates. I had been off by 5lbs last time. Extension felt a little short for me today on that lift. Then 4 plates. Probably should’ve stopped at 3 plates as that was a little more than “moderately challenging” but I was stubborn. It was dumb. First attempt it didn’t even move. Just couldn’t believe it. Stepped away to get my thoughts right and tried again. Barely broke the ground. Are you kidding me? Had to get everything focused on lifting this stupid steel ball. What I think made it finally click was getting my chest onto the stone and pulling with my upper back and arms. Before I was just trying to chest crush it with my forearms. Made for a tough lift and just getting it on the bar to shove it over. Should not have been that hard. But perhaps going for 10rm on both rows and dumbbell bench fatigued muscles that were fresher last time when I did sub maximal lifts. While it wasn’t the level of difficulty it should’ve been, this teaching moment made it so that I had better technique for the EMOM. Now this time I was allowed to use grip aids. I brought my tacky towel in case. I think my receiver gloves got thrown away due to how busted and ripped they were and those seem to help a lot. But I wanted to work the weak points so I really wanted to do this all me style. Definitely hard to do. Camera battery was running out halfway through so I had to use my rest period for that to quickly change the battery haha. After the stone fun I saw it was getting late. The truck pull had started at 10:00AM and it was like 11:05AM. I figured that if I got there before 11:20AM, I could still do it as the rib eating contest wasn’t supposed to be until 11:30AM. So got in the car and drove about 7 miles to find that everything was done. Even the ribs. Strongman stuff was put away and I was told to ask the driver if he could stay. He said that the strongman stuff was put away so I wasn’t going to hassle with the round robin talk and just got back in my car to drive back to the gym to finish up my planned workout. Axle bar hang for time. I felt secure for some reason this time. Like I wasn’t passively hanging there this time. I was actively flexing my shoulders and upper back and trying to crush the life out of the axle. I count fast so I wasn’t sure on my time but I knew I had between at least 20 seconds. Really pleased with this. So close to 30 seconds here. Then to end the session again it was prowler work on the turf. Same as last time but trying to add weight to the top set. I messed up a little on the first set as I went too far back and got the prowler onto the rubber mat and it took a bit of effort to get it back on the turf to return it to the start again on the push portion. I’m getting better at the drags I think. Knees were a bit achy on that part. I think a bit of that had to do with the cooldown I had driving across the city and back. I took bigger jumps so that my top weight would be over 200lbs. The course is definitely not flat as the push portion is harder but I can’t really add weight on way and take it off for going back. Legs and lungs were feeling it those last two sets. Took my time for those. Day was shot by this point so I took my time cleaning up and stretching before heading home. I was so tired that went to bed at 6:45PM without dinner. My body said sleep and I obeyed.

October 4, 2018 – Week 4, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Safety Squat Bar Box Squats w/ bands
60x9
110x3
Added Bands (+115lbs)
60x3
110x3
150x3
200x3
240x3
240x3
240x3

16” Jack Stand Pulls
135x1
245x1
315x1
385x1
Added Straps
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1
438x1

Smith Machine Plank
BW+55x60 Seconds

Stretching

Comments: Tired. Running on fumes. At this point just trying to survive until Friday afternoon with the three day weekend. Already got massage booked for Monday. Tired and irritable. I ended up abusing the snooze button and had to rush for work so that meant coming back home after work to get stuff for the gym. Have plans for Saturday so I couldn’t just lay on the floor like I so desperately wanted to this time. Bike to start things off. 148bpm highest reading this time. My best distance so far. I set the pace setter to faster than my normal output after a bit of a headstart and tried to see if I could maintain the lead until the end (which I did). Calves felt ok. Tight but still easy. Knees were achy on goblet squats. Felt a little better on RDLs  with a narrower grip. Band rows were good on the back. Push-ups went alright. Had to adjust my shoulders a little after the first rep. Plank was easy. Then the biceps stretches. Needed these again. Hip swings felt a bit better today too. On to the weights. Again, I had to wait a bit for the power rack to do squats. I wasn’t in the mood for that but I persisted haha. New bar for this session of box squats. Got out the old safety squat bar for this one. I’ll be using it for the next three week rotation. Same idea in that work up to 50% for 3 sets of 3, slow negative and fast concentric. The change was adding bands. I haven’t even used the ssb since I’ve come back to lifting so I was curious how this would go. Bands were to be another 20% on top but I couldn’t get it just right so I erred on the side of more is better since I’m so tall that the ROM has the bands being pretty lax at the bottom anyways (measured at 38lbs total). Felt like an old friend when the bands came on. That grounding effect. Felt like nothing at the start but my knees were really achy today. Definitely felt like I had weight on there at one plate and above. Going slow against the bands on the descent should be good as it seems to help with the wide grip pulls from before. Felt good despite the knee aches. Then it was time for the jack stands to come out and play. Same as last time with the EMOM for ten singles but upped the weight considerably. That was increased even more when I adjusted the projected training max to be closer to my actual max. 87lbs jump would be noticeable. Lower back was feeling a little stiff at the start. Belt on for the weight above 400lbs. Felt a little more hesitation for the weight to break the ground but lockout was fast and crisp. I think it might have gotten better by the end even. Last rep I felt like I didn’t time it right and felt more hamstring than the previous pulls. Took my time putting stuff away for the last thing of the day. I wanted to drink some more of my BCAAs before I did abdominal work. I could just have someone put weight on my back but I feel the smith machine version feels harder and allows me to use more weight. Had to wait for that to open up too. I was too tired at this point to be verbal with people to ask for help so I just waited until it was free. Light weight for another minute hold. Felt 55lbs added was enough for going from just bodyweight. Definitely can do more. Home to eat and recover and sleep. Need to play catch up on the sleep but I felt good lifting.