May 4, 2021 – Week 8, Day 2

Mobility Prep

 

Suited Deadlifts

No suit

135x2

185x2

225x2

275x2

315x2

365x2

Added Suit, Straps

405x2

475x1

545x3

475x3

475x3

12” Jack Stand Pulls

315x1

365x1

405x1

Added Straps

455x4 (miscounted)

455x3

455x3

455x3

Paused Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats

bwx3/3

15’sx3/3

40’sx10/10

40’sx10/10

40’sx10/10

Cossack Squats

bw+15x5/5

bw+15x5/5

bw+15x5/5

bw+15x5/5

Seated Band Single Leg Hamstring Curls/Single Leg Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)

(2)mb’sX25/25—bwx12/12

(2)mb’sX25/25—bwx12/12

(2)mb’sX25/25

Stretching

 

Comments: Warm and humid again. Garage lifting so I left the door open. Trying to not use my fans in the garage or outside just yet as it is still early May and I figured that I’ll need to get used to the heat competing in the middle of July and likely outdoors for some or all the events. Again, still having some inner thigh/groin tenderness/tightness on the left side. Upper back on the right side still stiff and tight like it was two weeks ago but less so and seems to be taking care of itself. While still noticeable, I think it isn’t as bad as it seems to only be present on some things as opposed to all things two weeks ago. I found that I just needed to do some static stretching to get myself ready for the split squat part of the movement prep. I’m not a fan of my crunchy knee cartilage but it is what it is. Now the lifting. Another week of working the suit. Plan was to work up to 545lbs for triple and then take off 70lbs for 2x3. I was given a suggestion as to how to warm-up, no suit and then add suit about 1-2 lifts out from the top set. Also take bigger jumps after suit is added but my usual jumps that I take beforehand. This seemed to work out for everyone this time haha. Felt more warm and less time in the suit. Trying to get my pulls off the floor without a suit to feel right. To feel like I do with block pulls. Not having it be all back, not yanking it up. I definitely didn’t need to fight the suit nearly as much this time around. I did adjust things a little in how I setup to pull, such as allowing for myself to roll the bar in rather than try to walk up to the bar while strapped in. Without a belt, I get down there no problem with the current setup. Add a belt and it increases the tightness. Just hot and sweaty. I figured that I’d be ok with not having to do the really controlled eccentrics this time around. Could go at a more normal pace. It is hard to gauge with suited work as it just feels darn heavy on the body but it moves fast. My top set looks like it hardly registered other than the last rep. First rep felt ok, second rep better and third rep not as good. I feel I lost my core tightness a little. Even the down sets feel heavy but they moved super-fast. I was definitely starting to feel the pain in the legs from having the suit on by that point haha. I feel progress here is good and is on track. I’ve only done suited deadlift training from the floor for two cycles previously. So not a ton of work as that is maybe a total of 6 sessions. But comparing to my best double of 550lbs (again, I’ve not pushed these), the set with 545lbs for 3 looks better. I have several more sessions to go so things are looking promising. Just have to make reasonable jumps and not go above my capabilities right away because I’m lifting a fair bit more than what I’ve been doing when the suit is on and the hamstrings, back, legs and abdominals need to adjust to it. Got out of the suit and it was time for block pulls. These were adjusted now to being lower by 2”, so roughly 3” off the floor. It was going to be interesting to see how these went considering how comfortable I’ve gotten with the 14” pulls. I was initially going to go lighter to warm-up but I hadn’t expected it to be so warm and to be feeling not so worn out from the suit work. Definitely could tell that more knee bend needed and lower back and hamstrings with the lowered start height. I used the same working max that I did for the 14” pulls. Here as the plan was 75% for 4x3. These are tougher and I say that knowing full well I miscounted that first set and did an extra rep. Felt pretty good and I think gives me an idea of how I should be feeling with pulls from the floor. It will certainly help me bridge things. Only the last set did reps feel really heavy. So after that was the not deadlift part of the workout. Some changes though as no more lateral stepdowns. Replaced with Bulgarian split squats. Advised to use dumbbells and to not go fast and pause at the bottom. I was hoping I could use my 40’s for this and thankfully I was. These are a bit tougher to recover from compared to the lateral stepdowns as those I could do with very little rest between sides. I learned from all the tempo work to fully recover with the split squats to get the most out of both sides. Some balance issues near the end but ok. Then Cossack squats. Same as last time. Didn’t feel the need to test the waters this time and got right into it. These are almost like a break compared to the other exercises. But these are good for me from what I’ve been seeing with my knees and hips. Last item of the night was the hamstrings and calves. Already hard enough without prefatigue. Hamstrings feeling the suit work and the lower block pulls while calves feeling those yoke pushes from Saturday. If this had been the lower rep range like previous weeks, not as tough. But the extra reps and the heat and sweat haha. I was glad when it was done as I could finally eat. Time had been going by quick and I had forgotten to start a pot roast in the morning and run the dishwasher so got big ass sandwiches from Primati Bros. Those hit the spot. Stretched and iced knees before finally going to sleep.

May 3, 2021 – Week 8, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Axle Push Presses (beltless)
Pause 1st rep 2 seconds
32x2
62x2
92x2
122x2
152x2
182x2
No Pauses
212x2
242x2
272x2
272x2
272x4

Axle Push Presses (beltless 5 seconds negatives)
222x4
222x4

Chest Supported Barbell Rows
135x3
185x3
Added Straps

225x3
270x8
250x8
250x8
250x8

Chaos Band Push-ups (5 seconds negatives, feet elevated 9”)
bwx15
bwx15 (breather at 12 & 14)
bwx15 (breather at 11 & 13)

Paused Dumbbell Y Raises (2 second hold)/Band Triceps Extensions (facing away)
6’sx12/(2)mbx25
6’sx12/(2)mbx25
6’sx12/(2)mbx25

Stretching
 
Comments: Felt a little tired but not feeling as worn down as I did after the previous weekend’s training. Seemed to be fairly ok for now. I did have a bruise that showed up on the left forearm above the wrist from the odd object carry. I had put on a knee brace on my forearm when I noticed there was some redness from a set but I guess too little, too late. Weather didn’t want to cooperate today. Rain off and on. I setup some stuff during my lunch break but I didn’t want to fully set things up with the passing showers. Humid and muggy as a lot of the moisture on the ground would get evaporated back up. I had spent a bit of time cleaning up the patio from debris from the weekend. So on to the training. Foam rolling didn’t feel like it was needed at first but then it definitely felt like it did. I had been trying to the past two days off of training to keep the soft tissue work up. Hip flexor stretch felt good. Movement prep was ok. Knees ached like an SOB on the first go around with the split squats. Enough so I think it distracted me from noticing the groin/inner thigh thing. It wasn’t as pronounced this time and hardly caused any issue on the dead bugs. Axle push pressing with no belt again as has been the flavor of the past few sessions. I was advised this would be the last week of that. Plan was again to tackle 85% for a few doubles and then rep out. Knees were thankfully not feeling like crap here. Another chance at this as I keep not doing well at this weight when I’m allowed to do more than a double. The mugginess was definitely not to my liking. I wasn’t noticing any shoulder discomfort that I sometimes get on the my left shoulder. The weights felt fine at first, but then once I put on a second plate, got heavy. Well felt heavy on my chest and forearms. Like, everything felt 30lbs heavier. Had to keep double checking the weights today. They felt heavy but I knew I could lift them so I did. This was just not my day as I felt like the weights were not going up as crisp. I think only the second rep of the second double was the only one I was happy with how it felt. Then the rep set. Aim for 1-2 in the tank. Last time, I had gotten 3 and missed the 4th that I probably could’ve gotten if I reattempted but that was going to defeat the purpose of leaving reps there. Took a little longer of a rest. First rep a little rough and I caught it coming down a little forward and didn’t let it settle and essentially did a paused rebound rep. Got back under control for a third rep. I really didn’t want to be stopped here again so I went for a fourth and it went up good but I was really fighting for stability and catching my air with it at lockout. The fifth just wasn’t there. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little annoyed with how progressing for more reps in a set at this weight is going. Perhaps my ego didn’t let me set a lower working weight to base things off of. I also may not have an idea of carryover (if any) to my normal push pressing with a belt. Not saying it isn’t nothing as I know this isn’t a peak for this lift at this point for PRs but I’ve been having progress showing on other things that are quite dramatic. I’ve definitely noticed changes in composition and just control in general. I needed to take a little time to get my head ready for the next part. Eccentric pressing again. Weight was to be 221lbs for 2x4 but I left an extra lb on there since that meant I only had to take 50lbs off the top set. First set was tough, but good. Only the last rep locking out the weight felt slightly tough. Second set I was all over the place. I messed up my breathing on the second rep and about blacked out so I had to catch myself there for a moment to get my breathing back on track and take control of the weight and set again. So that ended up being a bit more exhausting. Right side of upper back and getting tight again. Thankfully a little pressing reprieve with the bench rows. Well sort of as at this point it started to drizzle again. Plan for this session was work up to 15lbs more than last time for a set of 8 and then take off 20lbs and do 3x8. These felt fine and they felt easier as I went. There seemed to be a brief break in the drizzle but then it came back at a greater intensity. Chaos bands again and advised this was the last week of them. So of course I made them harder than last time, not including the fact it was raining. What should’ve been enough of a difficult increase of adding an inch to the elevation to my feet but then I decided that I needed to do an extra second on the negatives for each rep. I got through the first set with some effort and thought this was doable. Kept raining and it just got tougher each time. Like I’d get five reps in and it wouldn’t be so bad but then after I got to ten it was just terrible. It was raining substantially by the time I finished with that that I felt it was best to move the workout inside and get stuff out of the rain so that I can have it dry out. The super set again of y raises and triceps. I had to change the triceps band setup due to being inside but still similar to what I was doing. Treating it like my hamstring curls in doing separate bands for each arm. Feels more ergonomic for my wrists. Feels a little tougher. First set was blissful, second set was just feeling tough and the last one was tortoruous. At least that was how the y raises felt. The triceps were just slightly tougher each time. Just battling sweat in my eyes by the end there in the garage. Didn’t have much to put away and ate a big dinner and then stretched. Iced knees afterwards before bed.

May 1, 2021 – Week 7, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Sandbag Tosses 
(15’)
30x1
35x1
40x1
(15’6”)
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1

Safety Squat Bar Dead Squats (2” above parallel)
65x10
160x3
250x3
300x3
350x3
400x3
400x3
400x3
350x12

Makeshift Fire Hydrant Carries
63xpick
94xpick
145xpick
145x50’ in 7.33 seconds
170x50’ in 7.05 seconds
205x50’ in 7.73 seconds
220x50’ in 8.81 seconds
220x50’ in 8.10 seconds
220x50’ in 8.77 seconds
220x50’ in 8.21 seconds

Paused Sandbag Rows (short ways, 1 second holds)
200x3
225x3
250x3
275x8
275x8
275x8

Glute Ham Raise Negatives (5 seconds)
bwx6
bwx6
bwx6

Yoke Pushes (turf)
250x50’
250x50’
250x50’
250x50’
250x50’
250x50’

Stretching
 
Comments: So getting back into that routine of waking up to go across two counties to go train stuff that I could probably do working as a package handler for FedEx haha. Workout for today didn’t seem to be too bad as far as setup but rarely is that the case where time and effort aren’t exponentially used on an event day. I spoke too soon about construction being done. They started up again so that added 10 minutes to my drive. Other than that, a decent drive. Sometimes the long drive can be just as peaceful and head clearing as when I go for my walks on my off days. Again, a fair number of people when I showed up but as seems to be the case, they clear out before I even start my warm-ups. I didn’t have the anxiety I had last time since I had paid gym dues up front for this month and next. As will last week, I setup the sandbag toss setup first before I started doing my warm-ups. I did figure out a way to make it easier to setup and teardown but unfortunately, still need a ladder to get the band to be taut and at the right spot. Mobility prep stuff was mostly fine. I kind of just accepted that there would be some discomfort in joints due to wear and tear and that seemed to let me go about my day. Less discomfort this time around and I knew what to expect with the Cossack squats this time. Second round felt better. Lower back was a little pumped by the end. So on to the lifting. Starting things off with sandbag toss. Plan was same as last week as far as 10 singles but plan was to up the difficulty a little. Which either meant add height or add weight. I was uncertain as to which way to go and figured I’d see how I felt and how things looked before going on way or the other. I had been advised to either increase 5lbs or increase the toss height 3”-6”. I tried some other ways to warm-up a little to see if that helped things. I did a series of doubles on kettlebell swings from 20-32kgs (4kgs increases) before touching the sandbags. It did make the 30lbs feel like nothing when I initially touched it but didn’t really seem to linger and make the 40lbs or 50lbs feel any different. So it seems that that is more of a short window. Good to know but not sure what to do with that information. The parking lot was free of bikers this time around so I was able to setup a side angle shot of my tosses so I could see my form better and get an idea of how much clearance and the arc of the toss. Definitely saw a difference in trajectory between the Rogue bag and the Cerberus bag. New tripod needs to be weighed down when windy though haha. Well seeing how my toss with 40lbs over 15’ went, I elected to just increase the height 6” this time around. As with last week, no misses and no instances of the bag touching the band crossbar. After this was done, I didn’t tear down right away as someone at the gym wanted to give it a shot so I left it up for the time being. So up next was ssb squats off pins set just above parallel. I had some idea how these would go having done them last week. Plan here was work up in triples to 400lbs and do three sets there and then take off 50lbs for a max rep set leaving 2 reps in the tank. I was expecting achy knees like last time but didn’t get them. So that is good haha. I did the bar for a set of ten before going with the triples. 400lbs felt heavy. I mean, it isn’t light, but I was expecting it to feel a little easier than it did. And it felt heavier each set haha. Video says it wasn’t heavy though. With how it was feeling, I wasn’t expecting much on my down set. But it felt easy and stopped when I felt that my glutes were getting fatigued as hard to tell with these concentric lifts when the sticking point comes. So please with getting 12 to match the block pulls earlier in the week. So after this point is where I accidentally deviated from the workout. What I was supposed to do was sandbag rows and then an odd object carry. I forgot I had to do sandbag rows completely and went right into the odd object carry. So like duck walk last week, I was do warm-up however for odd object carry and then do 4x50’ at RPE 7. The event that I’m training for has a fire hydrant carry. I don’t have one of those and kind of a grab bag to get one and no interest in driving across state lines to buy one from someone on Craiglist or Ebay. So options I could do were something like a block, keg or sandbag. I don’t have much in the way of details as I’ve seen competitions have fire hydrants that were anywhere from 150lbs to 300lbs and depending on how much of the piping is still attached, could be even heavier. But unlikely that it would be anything other than just the post. The other point would be unlikely that the promoter would have a large range of them too so it may be the same across all weight classes. And generally they are top heavy and if weight is added, probably filled with concrete. Which would prevent getting hands inside the base to secure a grip. So my thinking had been to do an off loaded block carry with it standing upright or even a circus dumbbell. It would be narrower so I could carry low and not impede my foot speed if I did it with a block, sandbag or keg. That was when I remembered that there was an 8” log at the gym and the wheel started turning. Add some plates and chains to it and voilà. After I got it above 200lbs, the grip in the right hand (bottom) was the point that was making it difficult to hold on to. I figured that as long as I could get it to 220lbs, I should be ok. I used two tires to have it crash onto and reset the course each time. So after that, I realized that I had forgotten about the sandbag rows. Oops. Plan had been to work up to 3x8 with second holds at the chest. Unlike at home, larger selection of sandbags. So I did 25lbs jumps doing triples. I felt I needed to do that many to prep as the 275lbs sandbag was a very rotund and compact compared to mine at home. I felt like 250lbs would be too light. 275lbs was not easy but I got through it. So after that, what I had thought was next (and was to be the winding down of the session) was next. Glute ham raise negatives. I had figured these would be easier than last time since that had been the first time and I had done a lot of stones. It was not. That first set about knocked me on my butt from how hard those first few reps were. I did seem to get into the right frame of mind after that. Stronger hamstrings needed for everything. So then on to the final thing of the day. Plan was sled push for 6 sets of 50’ done EMOM style. Doesn’t sound that bad. But then you think about it and realize yes it is. So the difficult parameter was to have it be something that took 15-20 seconds to complete on the first run. So unlike a single or double, a lot more time gets eaten up in the activity so less rest. I elected to not use a sled and to do these on turf. Turf makes it go slower and less likely to build up the momentum and make it easier. I also used a yoke as one, it looks cooler (I can think I pushing the wheel of pain at the Arnold), two, it requires less weight added and to put away and three, I don’t have to turn it around to push it back, so more rest. I added just 40lbs to it and that seemed to be just right. I was getting pretty tired by the end there. I was holding out pretty well, keeping all the sets under 20 seconds and only dropping a bit of time every other set. But ended up over 20 seconds by the last run. As I did last week, I put stuff away and stayed at the gym to stretch before driving home. Home to relax and finally get that shawarma I’d been thinking about for almost a week for dinner.

April 29, 2021 – Week 7, Day 3

Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x3
120x3
150x3
180x3
210x3
240x8
216x8

Paused 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (1 second)
192x8
192x8

Inverted Ring Rows
bw+10x12
bw+10x12
bw+10x12
bw+10x17

Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (3 seconds negatives)
40’sx12
40’sx12
40’sx12
40’sx12

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Rows
21’sx15/abx15/15
21’sx15/abx15/15
21’sx15/abx15/15

Stretching
 
Comments:  Another session where I just feel all the aches and pains of the past three sessions haha. Raining during the day a bit and forecast said it would start raining about an hour after my shift ended so I figured I’d rather not get rained on while doing exercises that have me on my back so I moved the rack into the garage during lunch so that it would have a chance to dry out and then lift in the garage. But it looks like it never really started raining again. So just lifting in a humid garage for no real reason haha. But at least I didn’t have to worry about slick patio covered with debris from the wind and rain. Just had to start using AC in the house Wednesday night as house was staring to get muggy and the floor fan wasn’t enough. Mobility stuff for the lats, traps and scap. Continuing the theme of not feeling too bad on the shoulders but other stuff was feeling off. Nothing that was going to really be needed for anything I was doing today though. I was a little anxious about the log pressing with my right pectoral feeling achy near the sternum. Plan for today was like earlier in the month with working up to a top smooth weight and then base the rest of the stuff off of that. Last time was 10 and for that day, I had went for the weight I got for 8 on the very first week of this training cycle. Log incline numbers have been down from what I was doing (although to be fair, I’ve been better for reps at lighter weight and then crap the bed on heavier weight). So originally, I was thinking to be on the safe side, go for 230lbs for a 10lbs increase. But thinking of the math involved for the sets afterwards, I realized that unless I did 240lbs, I’d be using less weight for those sets then last week and that didn’t sit right with me considering things. Today, I felt like I had to try heavier. Haven’t been able to hit the desired reps on anything over 225lbs with this on the secondary day. I was feeling pretty good working up until the set right before as it felt like my triceps on the right side was super weak when I was trying to get the log into place in the rack catches. But it felt fine with pressing. First rep would tell me if I had this or not with the 240lbs. Got set for things and had a go. I knew it was going to be close as I got near the end of the set. Had to take a little break after that to use the car buffer on my inner thighs. I think that this was more from Tuesday’s training since I added weight to the Cossack squats so loading those patterns with more weight than ever before since I’ve never done those with weights and I was about 60lbs lighter when I did them for funsies. No issues with the 10% drop off set. Paused sets after that, 2x8 like last week. With the 10% drop, just 2lbs more than last week. So this was no problem either. These tend to be comfortable, especially after the other stuff. I get to work the hard weights with all the tricks and then the lighter stuff with the control so I get the best of both. Ring rows followed that as per usual. Advised to do 3x12 with same weight as last time and then max rep set leaving 1-2 in the tank. These felt stupid easy today. I thought maybe I had the rings too high making these easier on the first set but even after lowering them a few inches, still easy. I didn’t expect these after the past two sessions this week and with how tight my biceps had felt just the day before. I didn’t think I was getting full ROM near the end of the max rep set so I stopped but looks like it was just fine on video. Triceps stuff next. I think here I got a little too overconfident. So the plan here was 4x12 with the 3 second negatives still and trying to keep it RPE 7. I decided that with the decrease in reps, I should be able to do my 40’s now for this exercise. Not really though since I should remind myself that this was a 9lbs per hand increase on these, which is more than the past 3 sessions increase in total by almost double. I will say I controlled the negatives but there were reps near the end of each set that didn’t stay as controlled as the past few sessions. I feel like I’ll need to stick here for a while or lower the weight depending on what makes more sense here. But even so, my triceps work is night and day difference from the first two weeks of training.  Final item for the day was the pairing of lateral raises and single arm band rows. I was advised to try and get the laterals up to at least 15lbs and adjust the band tension. I figured I was feeling bold so go for 21lbs on the laterals. I was thinking initially just doing a light band and adding a monster mini to the band rows but I thought I should just go for the average band here. So these were fairly big jumps in weight/tension for these particular exercises and I apparently have been slacking as these both felt like I had more there to still be within the difficult and effort parameters. Band rows surprised me the most though. Only hiccup was on the third set when the one dumbbell started to come apart on me so I had to stop the set early to fix it and then do the remaining four reps to finish the set. Cooked up big meal for dinner, putting stuff away while cooking.

April 27, 2021 – Week 7, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Deadlifts
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x2
315x2
365x2
Added Straps
410x3
410x3
410x3

14” Jack Stand Pulls
315x1
365x1
405x1
Added Straps
445x1
486x3
486x3
486x12

Lateral Step Downs 
bwx3x10/10 (18”)
bwx3x10/10 (19”)
bwx3x10/10 (20”)

Cossack Squats
bwx1/1
bw+15x5/5
bw+15x5/5
bw+15x5/5
bw+15x5/5

Seated Band Single Leg Hamstring Curls/Single Leg Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
(2)mb’sX25/25—bwx12/12
(2)mb’sX25/25—bwx12/12
(2)mb’sX25/25

Stretching
 
Comments: Still keeping an eye on the right knee. Nothing I’m doing seems to increase discomfort. Left biceps feels a little tight. Weather starting to become quite warm. Trying to go for comfort since I wasn’t going to be doing anything that would require me holding something to my body and not need slippage. So started things off doing same drill I did last week that seemed to help with my knees getting ready for the session. I did a rotation of band TKEs with the stretching. The bruising on my legs made the sensation of having bands on not a fantastic one.  But I do seem to be doing better with the unilateral stuff balancing on the split stance squats with the knees over toe. Still watching the slight discomfort in the left inner thigh/groin area. So the plan for today was deadlift without a suit. Do the controlled eccentrics, work up in doubles to 70%x3x3. I took the usual jumps that I would without a suit as I needed to warm-up and get the volume in. I’m not fighting to get to the bar raw haha so not a full body contraction each time. My outer portion of my knees ached big time when I first stepped up to the bar to lift bent over. I see something is feeling those duck walks still. I probably don’t need straps if I chalked up my hands but I want to not have to worry about that part of it when doing these. Weight did feel a bit heavy to me. I tried to start with my hips a little higher but once I got to the working weight, it felt off to me. Perhaps too much. Honestly, I need work on the deadlift all the time but the start is the point of contention right now. I feel suit work needs it too but just started that and honestly, I need a break and can’t do it week in and week out as it is exhausting. I can tell that doing these controlled reps on the eccentric are tough. And the start is no way like the repping when I use a suit vs the same style no suit. Those second and third reps each set feel tough. I do feel like the first rep of each set did improve as I went. So from there, on to block/rack pulls with the jack stands. Going up a little bit. Plan for today was 2x3 followed by repping out the weight on the third set. These seem to be clicking with me. Maybe just a better position for me with my levers to pull. I can get a feeling of feeling sturdy and tight. Tension. I have a hard time doing that with pulls from the floor. Not sure why but when I do these pulls, I get a visual of JF Caron getting set to pull on the hummer tire deadlift from last year. Just seems to be the mental picture and then it goes up for me. Simplifies for me the cues of back and break then accelerate. Warming up single felt ok. First work set, the weight felt heavy. Not happy with that as I wanted to put in a good effort on the max rep set. Next set it felt light again so I was happy. I got set and put on a good song to rep to. I had the number 12 in my head. Goal here was to leave 1-2 reps in the tank. Last time I did these for reps, I may have cut it a little early but I was still new to this training and getting a sense of what I’m about with this lift. So this time, I felt that I had a more accurate gauge and could get closer to that point. Definitely had at least another rep there. Probably one more. Pacing seemed good. Got a little winded from that effort but that was fine by me as I was done with pulls and on to the lighter fare. So for the lateral step downs, I was advised to do same as before but it sounded like I could push the height to increase difficulty. I had a bit of break here as initially I was setting this up inside as I figured that I could go up but reconsidered when I saw that I maybe only had an inch of clearance so setup outside. I figured that as long as my knees tolerated things, I’d go up 1” per set. First set, first rep always seems to be the one that I have to get over before the rest of them are easier. Also had to see if the setup for adding more height rather than being the big board or another crash pad (too much of a jump for right now) would work. Camera didn’t record the second set. Height made it slightly tougher balance wise but still good. I may keep 18” as my first set to warm-up going forward if I’m increasing for more aggressive height increases. Then Cossack squats. Same as last week with 4x5/5. I was told that if I felt good, I could add a little weight. I tested to make sure my knees were ok with just bodyweight before using the 15lbs kettlebell for the sets. I’m still cautious with my knees but I’m feeling like these more mobile exercises are bringing back some of the movements I had when I was younger and less achy. So that is a positive haha. Assuming I’m not achy the next day haha. Last item of the night was the hamstring and calves superset sandwich. Reps for each increased. Kept same band tension for the hamstrings. As was the case last week, the left was lagging behind the right. Again, not certain what changed that. Left is stronger on the calves. Right side was struggling with the 10 reps, now more so with 12 reps. Hell, even my left was finding it tough by the end. But these are good for my leg tendons, muscles and joints. Ate a roast for dinner and then stretched, following up with ice for my knees.

April 26, 2021 – Week 7, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Axle Push Presses (beltless)
Pause 1st rep 2 seconds
55x2
85x2
115x2
145x2
175x2
No Pauses
205x2
235x2
265x3
265x3
265x3
265x3
265x3

Axle Push Presses (beltless 5 seconds negatives)
215x4
215x4

Chest Supported Barbell Rows
155x5
Added Straps
205x3
255x8
255x8
255x8
235x20

Chaos Band Push-ups (4 seconds negatives, feet elevated 8”)
bwx15
bwx15
bwx15

Paused Dumbbell Y Raises (2 second hold)/Band Triceps Extensions (facing away)
6’sx12/mmbx25
6’sx12/mmbx25
6’sx12/mmbx25

Stretching
 
Comments: Survived another week. Not sure why I keep thinking that? Maybe I’ve just been used to feeling beat down and not really feeling like progressing and then getting injuries for so long that I’m concerned my body will just fall apart on me. My joints feel old most days. Last week was first week of contest specific prep so interested to see what this second week would bring. I kind of indulged myself Saturday and Sunday with food I normally don’t eat as I finally got DoorDash to work again and I didn’t feel like cooking during the weekend. Need to take it easy with that haha so back to regularly scheduled meals for a bit. As far as things feeling different from the newer stuff done, outer tights and hips feeling stiff from duck walk and hamstrings feeling tight from the stones and glute ham negatives. Also bruising from where the duck walk hit my legs (ordered something to hopefully prevent that). I was a little concerned about the right knee with how it was feeling at the end of training on Saturday with that misstep I seemed to have on the start of the second set of sled work. Not sure if I did something or not with the swelling from the duck walk stuff so have to see how things go. I have full ROM and don’t appear to feel any weakness or structural issues. I had to alter training for today a little bit as I had a dentist appointment that was scheduled so I had to take off work early for that. I didn’t want to start training after that and be doing stuff like an hour or so later in the evening. I setup stuff during my lunch break. Foam rolling was definitely needed, same with hip flexor stretches. Parts of the movement prep felt off, namely the split squats and the dead bugs. The left side inner thigh/groin has just felt tense the past two weeks. Knees didn’t feel as crap as they did last week at least. Then on to the lifty part of the day. Axle push pressing with no belt again. Knees were thankfully not feeling like crap here. Plan for today was to do 82.5% for 5x3. So continuing to build volume as two weeks ago it was 4x3. A part of my camera tripod broke on Saturday so it was a little tricky to get the camera to stay put today (I ordered a replacement). Felt consistent today. Only one rep (last of the fourth) I felt like I got off balance to lockout the weight. Some reps the lockout was a bit tougher and on one rep, I almost lost my balance with how violently it went up and back. This was then followed by the eccentric pressing. More weight but thankfully volume dropped a good bit. Just 2x4 on these today. These are still exhausting. I tried to hold at the top for a count to catch my breath and to work on overhead balance as I feel that I get really fatigued on these and the wobbling starts on some reps. I felt like I had a very good control on the negatives for each rep. I had been moving at a slightly quicker pace to make sure I got through all the push pressing before the dentist appointment. It seemed that I had enough time to do the next exercise before I had to go. So bench rows next. This time 3x8 with 10lbs more than last week and then a max rep set with 20lbs taken off. I did a few extra reps on the warm-up. Again, trying to get a stretch at the bottom. I felt like it only took one set to get my lats to cooperate with me as opposed to last time when it was until the last set that that happened. As has been the case, feels like the sets get easier as I go. I was hoping to match or beat my reps with 225lbs for that last set but I wasn’t expecting to so that was nice. So then I had to take an hour break for a dentist appointment. I was that confident that that would go smoothly. It worked out as the next exercise was one that would get me plenty warm while doing them. Chaos bands with the goal being 3x15 with bodyweight while still leaving 3RIR. Same as last week as far as eccentrics and elevation. I did add an additional band to the setup so that possibly made things a little easier. I had not considered that the elevation last time would increase percentage of my bodyweight on the bands that made them dip a lot lower (hitting the ground sometimes). I took longer rests here compared to the other exercises as I didn’t have to rush and I wanted to make sure I was not needing to stop to take a breather and not miss reps. I got through these successfully. Last item of the session was the superset again. But made tougher by adding reps to each. Ugh, that was not fun. But I know these are good for me. Finished up the session and ate a bit dinner and then iced my knees before bed.

April 24, 2021 – Week 6, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Sandbag Tosses (15’)
30x1
35x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1
40x1

Safety Squat Bar Dead Squats (2” above parallel)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x5
350x5
350x5

Duck Walks
214xpick
214x25’
214x25’
314x25’
364xpick
364x50’ in 15.29 seconds
364x50’ in 12.39 seconds
364x50’ in 12.91 seconds
364x50’ in 12.19 seconds

Atlas Stone Over Bar (54”, tacky)
230x1
285x1
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x8

Glute Ham Raise Negatives (5 seconds)
bwx6
bwx6
bwx6

Backward Sled Drags (turf, uphill)
320x100’ in 46.30 seconds
320x100’ in 44.86 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Even though this is just another training session, this will probably be a lot of words. Always been of the mind that numbers aren’t the full story. An odd end to the week. Due to circumstances, I’m going to not be competing in USS shows going forward. That could change but not for the 2021-2022 season. So that does narrow things down and can focus on just one rabbit at a time. Anyways, I was anxious about training at the strongman gym. I haven’t been out that way in over 13 months. I haven’t been in a gym since March 2020. No clue about traffic patterns since then as haven’t really gone anywhere further than needed for anything. I think just over 100 miles total I’ve driven in the past year. So I needed to plan for a long day and for possible issues. I couldn’t sleep in on Saturday like I have been as I’d need to drive out to train and considering that I may need to spend a bit of time in traffic, setting up stuff and possibly paperwork, I packed up a gym bag with stuff so that I could hopefully wake up, eat breakfast and then leave. Of course that didn’t really pan out that way and I ended up leaving later than planned. I had stayed up a little later than I had planned (I still got up when my alarm went off) researching the potential equipment to be used for the competition so that I could plan accordingly for some of the events I was to train. I think part of my delay was me stalling going out to train due to anxiety. I hadn’t done any soft tissue work the night before and my shoulders felt like crap. I decided last minute that I needed to make my throw bag I had at home 35lbs in case I needed it for today. I wasn’t sure if my lower back would tolerate be being in a car for that long. I entertained those thoughts for too long and eventually got myself to drive out. Not a bad drive. Construction finally finished so I didn’t have to go a reduced speed most of the way. Part way done. Good deal of people there but most were finishing up. I saw the one owner riding a bike out as I arrived. The other was training. My anxiety was on high alert. I stood off to the side not to bother anyone and I just felt like I wasn’t welcome. But that appears to be just my mental health issues. My friend Brian wasn’t here yet and didn’t really know what I was to do. I was probably 5 minutes away from just going back in the car and driving home to try and train there. The other owner came back and I got the courage up to approach and ask about training. And as most things go, my own anxiety stuff is overblown and I was able to start training. I didn’t do my mobility prep stuff just yet because I needed to get things setup for the first exercise as that was going to be time consuming and I’d rather not be cooled down. All told, took probably an hour and 15 minutes to get the ok to start training and then set up a bag toss setup since the one that had been for last year (when people were training for SC Nationals) wasn’t in use. Mobility prep stuff was mostly fine. The change up for this session had been to have Cossack squats to help get ready for duck walk. My left knee and ankle didn’t care for these the first round. Not sure where that came from. A bit better the second time. Then it was finally time for lifting. Has been a bit since I did any toss events. I have a setup at home but when stuff fell through and then aggravating injuries and just the general shittiness of last year, hasn’t been a thing of focus. I’ve been trying to review tips on improving this since I seem to struggle above 40lbs. So the plan here was 10 singles with about the same rest as when I did keg loads two weeks ago. I needed to figure out where I was. Setup for this by myself is a fucking pain in the ass. But I do it because I want to be leaving nothing to chance. Involved a yoke, bo staffs, jump stretch band, some wood blocks and ladder to set this monstrosity up. So I tried a few things to warm-up. My plan here was to do RPE 7 which I’m not sure how to figure out when it comes to something like a toss as I’m kind of either on or off as far as output. I knew right out that 50lbs wasn’t happening and even if it had felt good, it was not RPE 7. I did a swing and toss with each sandbag to get a feel. People are right about how the Rogue and Cerberus bags feel different so may need to track those separately (3 fixed weight Rogue bags, 1 not fixed weight Cerberus and contest probably going to be Rogue). So after those, I wanted to see how I did with the target. 5’ away and toss. 30lbs and 35lbs seemed to go over easy enough so I figured why not try the 40lbs for the work weight. Now ideally, I’d have liked to shoot this from the side so I can get a better picture of what I’m doing but the parking lot to the left was currently occupied by a biker gang (there is a biker bar) so that didn’t seem like a good idea. Trying to take a focused single toss approach with no rush since the event is to be max weight (up to 60lbs) over 15’. This still needs work but I’m happy these seemed to be so easy feeling as back when I was doing these a lot for prepping for shows, this was a hit or miss at this height. So after this was done, I tore down setup (so much easier than setup haha) and got ready for the next thing. So up next was ssb squats off pins set just above parallel. I wasn’t sure how these would go. Started with the empty bar and did quarter-plate jumps doing triples. Plan here was to do a top set of 5 with 2 reps in the tank and then take 10% and do 2 more sets of 5. I think I underestimated myself here as I think 15lbs more would’ve still been with reps left. I think part of it is that I haven’t really done any squatting in a long time. The rack work is very jarring when it hits the pins haha. I had been expecting this to aggravate my lower back and thankfully that was not the case. On to the next thing. Anxiety pretty much gone at this point since I knew people there now and Brian was there. So next thing was duck walk. Not a fan of this one and not because it looks silly. More that it is very hard for me to go fast. This is on the menu because one of the events has this as part of a medley. I was told to warm-up as needed (do stretches, picks, short runs) and then do 4 sets of 50’ with RPE 7. It has been maybe 5 years since I’ve done this exercise? So odds are that this contest will use full sized plates on a power pin. I ran into a snag as it appears that all the locking pins for the power pins at the gym they use for power stairs and duck walk were missing. I really didn’t want to use the other setup since that was a very thick handle that wobbled independent of the other part. I eventually found something that I could jam into it and then used a ton of athletic tape to secure it. I forget how much this exercise hurts with the large plates as those kept banging into my legs. I tried my best to minimize that pain by putting on my arm sleeves and knee sleeves but not enough. I can deal with that pain and discomfort when I know to expect it. But I need to figure out something for the future as my legs are bruised to hell right below my knees and above my calves. First run was slowest of working sets. The other runs I seemed to figure out my pacing a bit better and got those to be under 13 seconds each. I figure this is probably around the weight that will be used considering it will be loaded into a sled that will need to be dragged and it isn’t the only implement that needs to be loaded. So glad that was done but no so glad to do the next thing. Atlas stones. Feeling pressure. I haven’t done real stones since I want to say November 2019. I’m good at this event but I haven’t really been able to push things at home using the stone of steel and tacky towel with high loads. Dust on my stone gear haha. The good luck shorts and shoes. Plan for today was 5x2 EMOM and then an AMRAP with 60 seconds after resting fully. Advised to use between 300lbs – 325lbs stone. Thankful people/friends were there as this would’ve been a difficult thing to do and video solo. My hands were getting tired working the tacky to get it prepped for lifting. I did just two warm-up singles and tossed those with contempt. Since the load height was only 54” I tried to do these a quick lifts like I was doing with the keg loads in that I wasn’t fully lapping it and sitting deep and was trying to pop right off the lap without bringing the stance in. I know I will need to as I get fatigued during a load over bar event. I’m not a fan of one motions since that is a lot more back and biceps. I know it can be useful but my way allows me to hang with a lot lower static lifts. Not that I’m against learning it, I just feel I need to have a stronger deadlift and healthier back to risk it. Retacked after every set. Probably didn’t need to but I wanted to treat each double the same. I know there is a time when doing no retack benefits things but I had an AMRAP later that would allow me to do just that. I also hadn’t put tacky on my chest or stomach. Not needed for this kind of work. So that was feeling pretty good by the end. About 7 minutes of rest before I was feeling ready to rep out. Plan was conservative. With how my conditioning was, I was thinking 6 reps. Given commands and advised Sam (timing) to give me 30 seconds, 15 seconds and then 5 seconds. I know I’m not at the point where I can pace a minute efficiently but I will and this setup seems to be the best as it tells me how many I can get in the first half and then breaks it down to half that time and then the last five is when I probably have time to attempt one more rep. So I was a bit surprised when I got 5 in under 30 seconds. I figured at that point, I could slow it down some, especially since I could feel that I was fatiguing. Ended up getting 3 in the second half. So 8 reps is better than I was expecting and gives me hopes of doing some damage on this event. I don’t miss tacky clean up haha. Especially since I still had some more stuff to do. So next was glute ham raise negatives. I wasn’t even sure that I could even do the negatives controlled with how my hamstrings have been. Especially after stones haha. But these felt surprisingly good. No way do I have the strength to do a good rep back up without flexion in my lower back though. These felt nice actually. Kind of felt like a warm-up for my knees for the last item. More sled drag. 100’ for two sets with 3 minutes rest. At the gym, that amount of space requires using either the parking lot (super duper pain in the ass, especially alone) or turf and rubber and uphill for part of it. I went with the turf method and rather than going uphill one way and downhill the other (the doors were closed so that wouldn’t have worked for the full 100’) I just loaded up two sleds with the same weight. I used about 200lbs less weight than what I did at my house and this was about as tough. I might have rested a little longer than 3 minutes (like closer to 4 maybe?). Second set was weird as it felt like I had a balance issue or that my right knee went on me a little at that start. Not sure what that was. I still managed to go a little bit faster that set. So after that was done, I drank a weight gain shake and decided after putting stuff away to do my stretching here before squishing myself into my car for somewhat long drive home. Home to clean up and try and figure out DoorDash again and then iced my knees. I did take ibuprofen to help with the swelling and bruising on my legs as that was definitely going to keep awake if I didn’t.