November 13, 2018 – Week 10, 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

Modified Angled 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

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses
Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme
(2 stage 2 second pauses)
20x1 R
20x1 L
40x1 R
40x1 L
60x1 R
60x1 L
80x1 R
80x1 L
100x1 R
100x1 L
120x1 R
120x1 L
Circus Bell
130x1 R
130x1 L
EMOM Circus Bell
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L

Chest Supported Rows
100x15
190x8
280x8
370x8
450x8 PR+10lbs

TNHYUT Presses
50x15
150x8
220x8
280x8
330x8

Stretching

Comments: Went for a walk Monday and had a deep tissue massage. Trying to reduce my stress. Massage therapist thinks that my tight traps are what’s causing the issue(s) with the shoulder(s) as the joint feel stable. I’m thinking the manta ray bar attachment may have exacerbated things (or not let things recover enough). That’s fine since I’m taking a break from that for the next several weeks so it will give a chance to see if that time away helps. As for the “movement” in the side from last week, nothing seems to be out of place or torn. It might have been some fascia. I’m still keeping notes of things. Of course work amped my stress levels back up so back to a deficit again haha. I had to head home as I forgot to put my gym bag in the car before work. Cold front definitely making my joints ache. Exercise bike to warm-up. I was worried my knees would be achy. Heart rate got up to 154 bpm. Ended up being a new best for distance in the time limit and managed to beat the pacer with the shortened head start for the 1.5 miles of the initial course. Calves felt ok, a little better in the ankles. Goblet squats had the aches in the knees again. Otherwise fine. Aching knees on RDLs too but it seemed to be fine on my muscles. Band rows felt good but my back was definitely a little tender on the right side. Not sure if from the heavy work on Sunday or from the massage haha. Best the modified push-ups have felt (in the three sessions I’ve done them). So maybe a good sign. Plank was pretty standard. Abs were a bit tight but I had them worked over pretty good Monday so to be expected. Needed the biceps stretching today. Hip swings loosened up my lower back and hips some as well on both sides. Dumbbell work again. More weight and the sets decreased by four total for the EMOM. Things didn’t start off well. First, I forgot to pack the collars I use for the plateloadable dumbbell to keep the plates secure in my rush when I got home. That meant I had to trust the spring collars up until I got to the circus dumbbell empty weight (130lbs). Plan was to do 20lbs jumps until 120lbs and then 10lbs. This also meant I couldn’t space out the weights to be similar to the big dumbbell. The spring clips held thankfully. One of the things it allowed was for the smaller plates it made me keep them a little higher since the spring clips stuck out a fair amount. Might use them in conjunction with the collars in the future. I was expecting my knees to bother me but they didn’t. Right side didn’t want to do this today. Felt uncomfortable on the shoulder. I went with using a rehband belt for this workout on account of the abdominal thing and having the deep tissue work done the day before. These reps felt ugly, none more so than the second rep. I was able to correct after the first miss but harder than it should’ve been. I had some redemption with the left side. It’s the smoother side but it also felt a bit off. Things seemed to finally click on the last two sets. I realized that I shouldn’t be worrying about the mirror for point of reference. There won’t be on in competition generally and I need to feel the groove that feels best so looking at the object I was pressing seemed to help. Glad that was done. Can’t have that sloppiness as I get into the heavier weights. Rows followed. Right biceps felt a little tight from Sunday workout (lip of keg had banging into a few times). Plan here was light warm-up and then try to improve on my previously set 8rm in weight, even if a rep or two dropped off. I figured I’d just do plate jumps again. I felt ok working up, shorter rests at the start and longer as the plates increased. Second to last set was good but I didn’t feel like I was another 90lbs good. Like 20lbs PR wasn’t there. It would be stupid to overexert when I still got plenty of weeks to build. No reason other than ego to try and hit a number. So I went with 10lbs over last time. I figured I had that for six reps. Chalked up my hands and gave it a shot. First rep tough and then the next five felt ok but then it was a struggle going for the seventh and eighth. Ego still there. I feel in that I will eventually get over 500lbs for reps on the exercise. Next was an interesting one. Avoiding exercises for the chest that irritate the shoulder until it gets to feeling good. Pec flys was what I did last week and that was good. But I need three exercises so this one was from some trial and error, testing out the machines to see what worked. The two I ended up with were essentially the same, standing press into a machine not meant for upper body pressing. The leg press one was too much anterior deltoid so the one using the chest supported row was the winner. I’m dubbing these That’s Not How You Use This (TNHYUT) presses. I wonder how soon this will be copied by other people in the gym. It is an odd one for sure. Doesn’t seem to bother the shoulder and still works the chest, shoulders and triceps. I put it at 50lbs total to warm-up and tested things out from there. It’s a little tricky so the arms are independent of each other and I have to put my bodyweight into to brace. Definitely will be some more trial and error. I was surprised how much I was feeling it in the upper chest. Goal was 3-4 sets of eight. I of course like to test and push things. 280lbs was a little tougher as it was essentially bodyweight for me with my shoes on. Weight wants to knock me around and lockout was a little soft that first rep as I wasn’t expecting it. I could’ve ended there but I wanted to try in excess of bodyweight, something more than what I was repping on bench. Wrist wraps on and I tried 330lbs. Oof, that was something. Much harder to control, literally knocking me back some reps. Maybe 3 reps were soft lockouts but the reps were tough. I did work is what my body is saying. I need more time with this exercise to get it down but it seems like a good one for reps, not so much very heavy weight for low reps. Home to recover, stretch and eat. Maybe sleep. I need so much sleep. Can’t I just sleep until Christmas?

November 11, 2018 – Week 9, Day 3

5 Minutes Misc Stationary Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Modified Angled 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

18” I-Beam Farmer’s Walk
117x50’ in 5.79 seconds
117x50’ in 5.46 seconds
207x50’ in 6.87 seconds
207x50’ in 6.78 seconds
297x50’ in 9.63 seconds
297x50’ in 8.93 seconds

BiggDoggStrongg Frame Hold
570xpick
640xpick
710x42.55 seconds

Keg Over Bar (60”)
150x1
200x1
250x1
300x5

Sandbag Carry (turns at 50’)

150xpick

150xpick (bearhug)

200xpick

200xpick (bearhug)

250xpick

250xpick (bearhug)

306x100’ in 19.67 seconds

306x100’ in 21.59 seconds (bearhug)

Stretching

Comments: Each week at work seems to be more stressful than the last. Something has got to give. I think that because I knew I’d have the next three days off (Saturday to Monday) that my body just decided that training didn’t need to happen Saturday and slept in an additional 4hrs. All my joints had ached on Saturday. Had me slightly worried I got the flu (never again!). Still felt like an achy piece of crap the next day but a well-rested one. Driving was much better on Sunday compared to most Saturdays. Had to finally break out the warm-ups and gloves this weekend. I wasn’t expected anyone to be there and the front lot was being paved so I had to hope that the desolate looking storefront that said “no trespassing” wouldn’t have someone tow my car. I have to assume they have a sign as they aren’t there to say it themselves right? But there were a fair number of people training today, just nobody that I knew that well that stuck around when I started lifting. Warmed up on the ole’ reliable exercise bike. Nice and easy today. Calves felt ok, some ankle tenderness in the left side. Felt easy though. Goblet squats after that. I tried to initiate both the eccentric and concentric on this with the hips. Trying to keep a more perpendicular shin angle to see if that didn’t bother my knees as it might be why they are aching and not “recovering” week to week as training weights increase. They ached quite a bit. But I can’t tell if that is from just everything aching or if that change up did anything. I’ll have to keep note of changes the next few times. RDLS my knees were achy but my form felt good. Just going to have these days with the joints I guess. Used an older style smith machine to do the angled pushups on. Adjustable height and a fair bit more stable than what I was using at the Y to do these. Again, not great but better than nothing. Certainly better than the last workout at least. Adjustments at the chiro don’t seem to be doing enough, hopefully the deep tissue massage for Monday helps. Plank was nothing really. Biceps stretches felt good. Needed it for the right side especially. Hip swings felt pretty good. Left hip needed it today. Then event work. Farmer’s walk to start off the day. I didn’t feel comfortable asking for someone to film the sets so I setup the camera as best I could to try and get my times. Not as accurate so probably a little faster (fractions of a second) on these. Goal was work up to two runs at top weight like last time. Worked out to two plates per post so I figured I’d do 90lbs jumps per set. Knees ached and I felt off the first set with the empty handles. I figured that it would be best to do two runs at the working up weights with how big the jumps were for all sets. Much better than second set with the empty implements. Second set was close to my best empty run. Added plates and put on the rehband belt. I was a little cautious with the right side oblique. Still don’t know what happened there but got to keep an eye on it. That set felt ok but I knew I could do better. Managed to beat my best by a little bit on the second run. Then the heavy stuff. Hard belt on for this one. I was not prepared for the pick to be so difficult. I was expecting to lift and go. It felt heavy, like I might not finish this run heavy. It definitely threw me off. Sub 10 seconds but pretty bad compared to my best runs. I’ve done 300lbs on the 16” handles in 8.92 for instance. So things needed to improve for that next run. Much better run getting under 9 seconds. Hopefully next time this comes around I can improve with +300lbs per hand to be close to these times. Frame hold again. Plan is 10-20lbs each time this comes up but I always going to shoot for 20lbs as long as I can. With how I was feeling, I thought it best to do some “warm-up” picks. It was a good move I think as it gave me some additional rest and let me get a chance to figure out the best stance as the empty frame felt tough to move today. Adding 70lbs felt slightly better. This would be the first time I’ve put over 700lbs on this particular frame. Never really got a chance to try more in the past. It was going to be interesting to see if I could keep hitting the goal time limit. As is usually the case, it feels heavy and I’m always surprised I get past 10 seconds with this thing. Sure my grip is struggling but it seems more like my upper body is what fails under the strain. I feel nerves being compressed and its usually the feeling that my forearm muscles are about to detach from my arm that follow the weight down. I seem to be hitting just above 40 seconds every time, despite the increase in weight by 42lbs since the first session. It will be interesting to see how far I can push this. Keg load after that. Despite increasing the weight, this actually felt like a deload. The plan was 300x5, which is a lot easier conditioning wise than 275x10. I felt it was best to do actual loads to warm-up with the decreased volume of the top set, taking 50lbs jumps. All very easy lifts. 300lbs is only tough to pick up off the ground to my lap with how far out in front of me the keg is. After that, it is nothing. Taped thumbs again as that seems to help. Top tire so that it didn’t get away from me and drop straight on the floor, though it did make for a messy return some times. I took my time with these as I knew there was no sense rushing with the sloppy returns. Still managed to get all five reps in under 60 seconds. Last item of the day was sandbag carries. Not enjoying the sandbags as I get up in weight. But I realize they are a necessity. Last weekend, we made a heavier sandbag using sand and lead shot. Sand is still in the bags (mostly) so it is a lumpy bag. Ended up being just over 306lbs but is smaller in size than the 250lbs and 275lbs bags. I was going to most likely be giving that bastard bag the maiden voyage into the unknown. We had no idea if it would even hold up. I figured a good warm-up was going to be needed, despite the keg work. 300lbs keg is nothing really with the handles but a +300lbs sandbag is no joke. I’ve not attempted to lift one above 300lbs before. I did 50lbs jumps like the keg and alternated pick up styles. I also made the drop spot smaller so that I work on practicing placement as that will be key in a carry medley (with no loading). This sandbag is tough. I’ve lifted three other 300lbs sandbags before and this was the toughest. So much so that after the workout, I reweighed it make sure we weren’t off by like 50lbs or something. The first run was sideways hold. Despite bathing in chalk, the spots that seemed to be effected was mostly my hands and wrists. It felt so dense and I couldn’t pull it up higher onto my body. I knew this was going to be slow run but I was actually worried I’d drop it before the 50’ mark. I managed to make it back to home base in under 20 seconds. No clue how I pulled that off. I hoped my chances would be better with the bearhug style. Nope. While grip was better, this was a harder lift and run. The shorter bag made it a lower pickup height. Hamstring immediately lit up once I stood up and took that first set. Had to grunt off the pain of it occasionally give me a groin tap every other step too. I was so glad when this was over. Had a stitch in my right side running up and down my oblique that took a bit to go away. As long at this bag holds up, it and I will get very familiar these next few months. Stayed at the gym to stretch and cooldown before driving home. Going to need some more rest and recovery. Probably food too.

November 8, 2018 – Week 9, 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

Modified Angled 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” Manta Ray Box Squats
46x9
96x3
136x3
186x3
226x3
276x3
276x3
276x3

Wide Grip Deadlifts
135x1
225x1
295x1
EMOM (Added Straps)
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1
367.5x1

Pulldown Abs
200x35
200x35

Stretching

Comments: Ugh. About all I can say at this point. Work has me beyond stressed daily and the thing that “went” in my side has me a bit anxious. No pain, just feel like I’m about to have a cramp but it never comes. Just anticipation I guess. Something happened, I just don’t know what but for the moment it doesn’t seem serious. Rain and just dealing with stuff has meant no walking this week. I just trying to find hidden moments in the day to catch up and finally rest. Today that meant hitting the snooze button twice and having to come back home after work to get ready for the gym. This is one of my shorter workouts. I’d rather just sleep but that would mess up plans for the rest of the week going into next. Survival mode for the work week. No issues on the bike. 146bpm highest reading this session. Not my best time or distance. Pacer crushed me. Calves felt ok. Goblet squats were just ok. Aches seem to be down a little. Lower abs on the right seemed tight but can’t tell if from Tuesday thing or if that is just still from contact bruising from keg carries. Knees felt tight on RDLs but not really achy. Band rows were good on the back. Modified push-ups were great. Not as good as last time. I think I made a mistake by not having weight on the apparatus I was pressing off of. Need to make a note of that for next time. Hopefully my shoulder gets back to normal soon. Plank was ok. Then the biceps stretches. I was tight but honestly expecting more with doing the pec flys. Hip swings after that. Cautious with how these would feel on the side but no issues. On to the weights. Last week of the manta ray box squats. Top weight was a little more than 275lbs so I put on micro weights to get that weight and just have it be quarter, plate, quarter jumps. Easier that way. Again, really keeping an eye on the midsection on these. But I had no issues, other than lower right side near the hips feeling tight. Not a painful tight, just tight. I’m not sure if I’m just thinking I’m doing things but I feel like my form is the best on this variation compared to the other box squats I’ve been doing with the different bars. Last set felt and looked the best. Wide grip deadlifts after that. Noticed again how tight one side was compared to the other in the hips and ankle (right). I was not sure how these would go, considering that my midsection didn’t appreciate deadlifting the last time it acted up on me before ASV. No issues thankfully. I felt confident enough to just use the rehband belt for the working sets. I had added 10lbs to the working 1rm and I think I’ve finally got the weight to feel right compared to the other two lifts (deadlift and jackpull). So a noticeable slow down. After the first two with the EMOM style, I got into a better groove and the sets after that felt and looked smoother. Last thing was abs. Not sure how this was going to go with the pulldown abs. Used the full stack as the plan was two sets of 30-35 reps. Weight had felt easy enough last time. Did few reps to make sure that I had the towel in a good spot and then did the first set no problems. Had to adjust the towel about a third of the way in on the second set. Finished the workout with no pain so I guess that is a good sign. I really need a vacation. Or a solid 24hrs of sleep. In a row.

November 6, 2018 – Week 9, 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

Modified Angled 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)
96x1
116x1
136x1
156x1
176x1
196x1
216x1
236x1

256x8 PR+1lbs & 2 reps

Neutral Grip Pulldowns
100x10
160x8
190x8
220x8
250x8
265x8

Cybex VR3 Pec Fly
100x12
150x8
180x8
210x8

Stretching

Comments: Been dark and rainy. Felt Saturday’s workout on Sunday. Especially the keg carries and the sandbag loads. Hips were really tight. Shoulder is still sucky. Have a deep tissue massage coming up Monday and debating on going to the chiro in the interim. Day at work kind of sucked and had no lunch due to the container having a broken seal. Exercise bike to warm-up. 156bpm highest reading. Gave myself only a 2 minute and 15 seconds head start on the pacer to see if I could stay ahead until the end. I was able to complete the 1.5 mile course ahead but shortly after was overtaken. Calves felt good. No issues with them. Goblet squats were ok. Felt like my knees would ache but they didn’t really. RDLs I caught myself in the mirror to make sure that my new form was not having the rounding. Some knee aches but still ok. Band rows felt good. Push ups didn’t happen today. I tried and it was causing issues and altering my right side to reduce the pain would be defeating the purpose. Pretty much shot down my thoughts of doing bench today. I do try to stubbornly push through on things like this. Maybe from my constant approach of liking a set order or maybe my worry is that showing I have an injury will have me put down like a race horse or abandoned like last time it happened two years ago. I need to let go. While I want to stick with the first plan, perhaps the second, third or fourth will be even better. Just thoughts. Anyways, did standing push-ups at an angle to work things while taking strain off the shoulder. Plank was a plank again. Despite contact bruises from keg carry, still ok. Then the biceps stretches. Felt ok today. Hip swings ok as well. On to the weights. Of course log. 20lbs jumps in singles to the top set for a rep away set. Good news is that the plates don’t hit the ceiling so I can use them. Just makes the start a little awkward from using the elevated block thing for so many sessions. I was not feeling the best. Cleans felt tougher to get to the top. Might be all the sandbag loading. I was keeping an eye on my shoulder here. Shouldn’t bother it most of the time. Hit myself in the chin on the last lift before the rep set. Not a confidence builder. I was worried that I’d get maybe three with how I felt. I’ve had times were I get a double easy and the following time 5lbs more is a tough single. I definitely thought that was going to be one of those sets with the top weight. First rep was not the best but the following reps were in a good groove. I was surprised when I got past five here. Not that I shouldn’t be doing that many reps with this weight but things can be difficult. Six went up and I felt shaky but then got number seven. Getting tired in the shoulders and the weight was going more in front each rep. Really took a gamble on going for eight. This was my best case scenario reps for this weight on the day. It was ugly but it got to the point I knew I had it. Then I felt it. No pain, just a movement through the right side of my obliques. Something shifted and I had no idea what had just happened. I panicked but still lowered the log back down with as much control as I could. I thought immediately that I was screwed, that my lifting career was over. I was fully ready to go to the urgent care down the street as I took of my belt with the expectation of searing pain. But it didn’t come. My midsection felt warm but I didn’t feel like anything was out of place, I didn’t feel I had weakness. So maybe I dodged a bullet. Just have to wait and see I guess. I figured that I’d continue training and if something felt a miss, end it and go to the urgent care. So next was neutral grip pulldowns. I lowered my expectations on these for today at the start as I had no idea what shape I was in after the scare. No issues with the weights so I did 30lbs jumps after the warm-up set. Kept adding weight and no pain. 250lbs was a good set but it felt like it was too light to end the session on that note. But I didn’t feel like I had another 30lbs in me, especially since this style seems a little harder to do. So I settled on just doing 15lbs more for a tough set of eight. The plan was to do benching but that had to change. So I switched it to an exercise that wouldn’t bother the shoulder but still work the chest; pec fly. It has been a really long time since I’ve done these. The old machine was a pec dec where as this one can let you do rear delt fly and pec fly. No idea what to expect. I got long arms so I tried to maximize the ROM on this. This machine is in high demand so I had to take short rests to insure that no one got on it. Which was fine this would keep me from injuring myself (well make it less likely) if I was having to base it off of short rests. Last set was hard and felt really good. I imagine I will need to buff that out when the DOMS hit haha. I still got about 35lbs more before I rep out the stack so there is that too. After the day I had, I got four burritos for dinner and went home to stretch and try and recover and sleep. I will have to monitor the oblique situation.