September 7, 2021 – Week 8, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Suited Deadlifts (straps)
No suit
135x2
225x2
315x2
405x2
Added Suit
475x2
540x2
605x2
523x3
523x3

Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 second eccentrics, beltless)
65x3
115x3
165x3
205x2
245x2
295x2
343x5
343x5
343x5

Seated Safety Squat Bar Upper Back Goodmornings (3 seconds holds)
355x120 seconds

Step Ups w/ Band TKEs (6”, ab)
bwx5/5
40’sx10/10
70’sx15/15
70’sx15/15
70’sx15/15

Band Assisted Nordic Curls/Hollow Holds
lbx17 PR+1 rep/bw+10x30 seconds
lbx16/bw+10x30 seconds
lbx14/bw+10x30 seconds

Paused Seated Band Hamstring Curl (3 seconds holds)
ab’sx17
ab’sx15

Sled Drag Work
325x5 minutes 

Stretching 

Comments: Nervous but looking forward to training. Well not all the training. Mostly just deadlift. See where I was. See if the work from the past five weeks working around these hurdles and stumbles kept me on track. Left side of neck and shoulder were tight all day and it was annoying to the point of distracting. Kind of hoping that heavy deadlifts would cure it haha. Mobility stuff was good and then it was on to training. Deadlift with the suit. Plan being work up to a 2-4RM with 1RIR. Work up in doubles and add stuff as I went. Working up stuff controlling the negatives. No set weight given and more open ended with the top set due to the not doing real deadlifting. More to give me some leeway if I went too light rather than doing another set. The suggestions were to use straps early or even from the start, put on belt 3-4 pulls out from top set and suit 2 pulls out from top set. My initial thinking was if things felt good, go for 585lbs for that top set. I really hoped things were good as I had been putting in the work with the workaround exercises. I’ve had that not work out in the past where just those exercises improved and not the deadlift. Things weren’t feeling so bad. 475lbs felt really good so I figured why not, push things. Go for reps at +600lbs. I was sweating pretty good at this point. Got set and went for it. Feels heavy but it moves well. Second rep seemed smoother than first. Which means I had good control of the suit. I felt the strap in my left hand loosen slightly so I stopped there as I felt going for a third rep would get me out of position which I don’t want just coming back to this. Double is fine here. My thinking from seeing how things went last cycle and then with contest is that I need to be around 655lbs in training (have it feel comfortable) for 700lbs to be a sure thing at the show. Next time I will need to see about chalking up my straps for pulling. It could be just that I’m not used to holding anything in front of my body in that style with more than 45lbs in a month and a half. Down sets with 523lbs (I split the difference between 529lbs and 514lbs). Those seemed good too. Bar was pulling down my copper knee sleeves. Definitely seeing that work I did did maintain and help with getting stuff to keep building but the deadlift stresses things that can’t really be stressed in this way. Like the chest and middle back. This was a first for me though, repping more than 590lbs from the floor. 590lbs with no suit for a double on a deadlift bar from 2015 or 2016 is my best, followed by 585lbs on deadlift bar for 3 in 2011 and then for 2 on a regular bar in 2018. Then on to squats. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to these as it was going to be tough and deadlifts can take a good bit out of me. And these squats were tough enough fresh. Still beltess. I didn’t think much of them as I did 5x3 with this weight last week and it wasn’t that bad. But that was fresh and not with heavy deadlifting beforehand. I felt that doing my usual warm-ups might be too much after the pulls. Just needed to get warm. Schema was now 3x5. Didn’t sound that bad. But lord was it. My knees were cranky so that was a fight there. Making sure I was smooth and not having stuff feel terrible. Left one sometimes felt like it wanted to do that thing it does sometimes where it gives. Right was super achy at times. No real rhyme or reason. But those extra two reps in the set just seemed to be too much for me. My core bracing just sucked and the bar wanted to fold me in half. I guess I’ve gotten used to shorter sets. Just didn’t expect that drastic a decrease in some more reps. I just kind of stood there for a bit contemplating if I was going to get these next two sets. So tough was this that I actually went and got my rack safeties just in case. I didn’t miss a rep or bail but those three sets were some of the toughest squats I’ve done. Upper back gms followed that. I wasn’t expecting these to show up but here they were. I had noticed on the ssb squats that the left side felt higher. Again, not sure if in my head or if my left shoulder/neck was tight and doing that. Stuff to the same weight but now with 2 minutes of work. Same weight but not the exact same bar so it maybe felt a little different. Really trying to work on that contraction with the back muscles on these. Somewhat new exercise followed. Definitely for knee health. I hope I did these right. I’ve done these as part of warm-up with less band tension and a higher step. So I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Lower box and a lot more tension and a good bit of weight added. TKE part of it can be a little weird once that starts to fatigue because the tension and the weight don’t feel that much but once that gets fatigued, you really got to work. More or less took break between the sides to give my hands a rest holding those dumbbells. Superset of band assisted Nordic curls with the hollow holds again and taking big breaks between the supersets. I had been under the impression that this would change after last week but nope. But that is ok. So again trying to give everything I got into these. Managed to increase a rep on each set from last time so I know I’ve been pushing things. I think my choice of shirt wasn’t good as it was softer fabric (usually wear this for suited pulls) and the band was slipping down on so I had to adjust it a few times. Hollow holds definitely get an added stress with holding weight. Only 10lbs but it felt the stretch in the upper abdominals and the serratus. I like that. Band leg curls again with holds after that. I decided to increase the band tension substantially as I figured that if I did the light bands again, I’d get 25 on both sets probably and not go to the limit to do so. Average bands got a kick and I knew it would be hard to get the reps with them. I wasn’t sure I’d get 15 reps for that second set as I had gotten less than I hoped that first set. I took a bit longer rest between them to recuperate. Last bit of training was sled drags for time. 5 minutes again. I decided to go heavier and do the sled plus 6 plates added. It was after 9PM at this point. This weight was substantial but I kept on moving with it. I ended up doing half of it backwards and then the other half forwards. It was quite late so I just left stuff as is in the garage so I could eat my roast and then stretch. Iced knees before bed.

September 6, 2021 – Week 8, Day 1

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme)
35x2/2
65x2/2
65x2/2
65x2/2
65x2/2
65x2/2
65x2/2
65x2/2

Seated Axle Shoulder Presses (3 seconds negatives)
27x5
60x5
90x3
120x3
150x3
180x3
210x4
195x5
165x8
165x8

Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings)
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10

Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Paused Seated Band Face Pulls (2 seconds holds)
45x12/mmbx12
45x12/mmbx12
45x12/mmbx12

Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds eccentrics)
bwx13
bwx11
bwx10

Defranco Band Pull-aparts 
mbx12
mbx12
mbx12

Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns
lbx70(42/19/9)/70(42/19/9)

Stretching

Comments: Noticing that even though cleared to return to lifting, not everything is back to normal. Somethings feel slightly off. Maybe that is the new normal. Just keep going. I am noticing that right now, there is some additional fatigue in the left arm when it comes to flexion that I’ll need to be mindful of if that persists for recovery work purposes. Left shoulder still feels off and again, no idea what initially caused it. Just seems like 3 weeks ago that it decided to get all achy and screwy on me. I’ve had this happen before and honestly, I’m not sure what made it happen and made it go away that time either. Just eventually stopped mattering. Knees were pretty stiff Monday but seemed ok today. Still working on decisions for things after this show (and if I’m doing open or pro) and hopefully I’ll have that sorted out by no later than the end of next week. I had initially set that for this week but I feel that I need more than one week of “normal” training under me to ascertain where I am and how I’ll progress. Off work for holiday so I decided to train a little earlier in the day so that I could hopefully get stuff done and have a bit more relaxed evening. Workouts back to working both arms together this week. No mobility or stretching programmed so right into training. Circus dumbbell to start things off. Every press day. Got to get that neural link with this strong with how dependent it is on that crisp movement. And doesn’t help that I put myself in a situation where I’ve not been able to push this. So today was the easy day. Weight finally increasing to the point that I could use 25’s to get it closer to the diameter of the contest and my circus dumbbell. Made for an awkward dumbbell. Wrist wrap for the injured side still. 7x2 this time. Definitely harder to do these all in one set than 50lbs. I meant to do that but I miscounted and had to come back to do the last set after reviewing the video. Knees took a few movements to wake up. Right side felt like it had more power but I also noticed that the increased diameter of the “bells” had me not in as tight a position as I was with the smaller dumbbell. That was something I figured might be an issue. The left side definitely seemed to be better for the positioning but felt slower to get there and my wrist not at the right angle. I think part of that is that the wrist wrap is limiting some mobility depending on where I wrap it and when I have it wrapped like I usually do, there is pressure on the left side of that wrist that causes me to hesitate slightly. So will have to see when get back to my actual circus dumbbell I think to see where I’m at. Thankfully only saw like one mosquito outside putting the dumbbell away. Inside for training in the garage. It was cooler today so I didn’t have the fans going initially but then I did as I started to feel warm. I was noticing at the end of the workout I wasn’t sweating to death. Seated axle pressing. Back support and 3 second negatives starting from the top. Always wanted to top start overhead work but just never really able to do it at the gym with what I had available. Also figured this would be an exercise to test out the elbow sleeves and see how my rack position looked. Advised to warm-up in 5’s or 3’s and then do a set of 6-8 with 1-2RIR. I messed up here. Overshot. I felt good on 180lbs but I should’ve not gone for 30lbs more. 20lbs at the most. Got stuck hard at lockout going for fifth and ended up shoving the axle off my shoulders onto the garage floor. Annoyed with that. Reset with 15lbs taken off but I think that I put too much into that previous set as I stalled going for that sixth rep on that set and had to drop that one too. Ugh. So much for keeping RIRs on this. I treated the down sets as if 195lbs was my top weight and cut 15% off for 2x8. Accentuated eccentrics really seem to take it out of me on overhead pressing I’m noticing. That first set felt like I was close to missing that last rep. I’d been furious if that had happened again. Seemed to get it together for the last set as that went much smoother. Both frustrated with where I’m at but know that there is a ton of room for improvement on this exercise. So maybe it evens out. I think the best thing was that this didn’t irritate my shoulders or wrist any further. Next up was back work. Modified pull-ups that reminded me of the rack chins I was doing back when I started doing garage gym training in 2020. But this was a little different I feel. Plan was 4x8-10 with 2-3RIR, getting a stretch at the bottom and brief pause at contraction. Suggested with using swiss bar for neutral grip but don’t have that so I used the rings to do that. Took a little bit to feel right. I feel like that second and fourth set were the best feeling for me. Wasn’t entirely certain if I was to just do bodyweight for all sets this week or to add weight as needed. Probably best I stuck with bodyweight to get used to things first. After that was a super set of the btn presses but now paired with band face pulls. Both having pauses and for 12 reps. Light stuff that gets tough quickly. The presses were different from before in that pause was shorter with more reps but the focus of the press pause was different. It had been before “open chest” as the cue whereas this time it was “open elbows”. That focus does change where the stress is. For the face pulls, these were a bit different being done seated. As this kind of pairing has been, gets a good shoulder pump. Left shoulder does seem to get more fatigued and with whatever is going on with it, feels like it is behind. Push up variation after that. Just bodyweight but working on that long eccentric. These were to be done on blocks for increased ROM and to pause in the stretch. I was also advised I could use dumbbells if that was easier on the wrist. I was going to use the bumper plates with the 10’s for these but I figured that it would work better with my tall 15lbs kettlebells if they stayed balanced and held up my weight. I could angle them and with how they taper, I wouldn’t have my chest hitting anything early or having it “rest” on anything in the bottom. So that worked great. These push up variations seem to be rough but my shoulders and chest seem to be thankful with the tension work. I could keep going despite shoulders (left one) feeling rough. Didn’t really keep track of the reps during the set and came back to review video to get that. Winding down with some bands. New one for me with Defranco band pull-aparts. Been a while since I heard that name. In either case, this was a variation of the pull-apart that seemed to hit all the parts of the shoulder with retraction. I think what I ended up doing was slightly different as it appears you do a raise to get into position and stay there for his version whereas what I was instructed to do had brief holds and did raises every rep. I was initially worried I’d have to use a micro band if this bothered my shoulders and wrist. Thankfully it didn’t after I got my positioning right. I actually like it how it felt haha. Last item for the evening was band triceps. A bit of change up here with it being as many sets as it took to get 70 reps each arm. I decided to use a light band and started with my left arm. I was happy to find I could do this tension without discomfort in my wrist (I was testing without the wrist wrap). Then baton pass to the other arm to match. I’m not sure if the sides are evening out or what but the matching reps seemed not so easy. Which is good. The right had used to be the side that fatigued faster. It could also be that that side is now a bit better coordinated and can do the reps faster, thus fatigue faster. Finished it up and then cleaned up the garage before heading over to Chipotle to use up a birthday gift card. Figures they were out of veggies when I went haha. Stretched and tried to ice the left shoulder as best as I can. Just documenting things as they go.

September 4, 2021 – Week 7, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Inverse Leg Curls
+125(ast)x10
+125(ast)x10

Safety Squat Bar Box Squats (20” box)
65x10
170x2
260x2
330x2
400x2
450x2
505x3
405x3
405x3
405x3

Lying Leg Curls
45x6
90x6
135x3
180x12
180x12
180x12

Reverse Band Hack Squats (5 second negatives, LB’s)
emptyx5
+90x5
+180x5
+270x12
+240x15

Sandbag Rows + Laps
150x2(5+1)
200x2(4+1)
275x2(4+1)
275x2(4+1)

Standing Arm-Over-Arm Pulls (Exer-Genie)
1x60’
3x60’
6x60’ in 18.68 seconds
8x60’ in 27.05 seconds

Copenhagen Lifts
bwx12/12
bwx12/12

Paused Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (3 second pauses)
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8

Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)/Band Tibialis Anterior Raises
70x10/(2)lb’sx15
60x12/(2)lb’sx15
50x15/(2)lb’sx15

Stretching
 
Comments: Another year older. I try to not really think about that. As I’ve gotten older, my birthday just doesn’t seem to mean much and I don’t see it as any different from any other day. Or I try to. I’m aware others will treat theirs differently or want to celebrate mine. My two coworkers that I consider friends visited me briefly and that was nice. But not interested in making it a regular thing haha. Getting older and I think that part of things makes it feel like I’m running out of time to do the things I want to accomplish in strongman. Like Pink Floyd said “and then one day you find ten years have got behind you”. I’m four years away from being in the master class. I won’t be where I want to be this year and I can only defer for so long. I ended up not being able to fall asleep until after 12:30AM (not fun when you’re brain decides to ask what happens when you die and that existential terror of nothingness paralyzes you in a cold sweat) so I slept through my alarm about 30 minutes. I wanted to give myself some chance with heavy squats planned for training. Not ideal to sleep in as I had some responsibility today. I was to bring in the stone of steel for the gym so some of the women prepping for a show in November could train for it. I didn’t do it last week since I was just cleared to use both arms. It was easy though. Also wanted to fix up some of the sandbags but only had parts of stuff (waiting on deliveries) to fix one so figured I’d wait until next weekend or when I would actually need to use them. Allergies were hitting me hard this morning but seemed to be ok other than feeling thirsty. Drive out was good. I was expecting some traffic with it being a holiday weekend. Made good time but three bad drivers on the road made things a little tense at times. Got to the gym and unloaded the stone of steel before getting ready to train. Got set for warm-ups. I was keeping an eye on the knees. Inverse curls to start things off. Same amount of assistance as last week but 2x10 instead of 3x8. These do seem to help with getting hamstrings awake and my knees seem less fussy on squats. First set my knees were achy with how they were pressing into the padding. Second set felt much better. Getting better with using a fuller ROM on these. The extra two reps per set were noticed. High box squats with ssb again. Wishful thinking these would get a break. Keep riding this train I guess. Plan was a triple with 1RIR and then do 3x3 with 20% less. After last week, I knew I could rep 500lbs on these if I was feeling good. I wasn’t sure if I was feeling good. Not so much a posterior chain thing, more would my knees be ok (specifically my right one). Planned the jumps and just reminded myself that three weeks prior my right knee was acting up and felt better in a week. I wasn’t so concerned with the first few jumps, it would be doing 400lbs or more. When 400lbs felt like nothing, I knew I was good. Or so I thought. I think I took too much time to cool off and 450lbs felt a bit tough but not enough to dissuade me from going for 505lbs on that top triple. I wanted to do +500lbs for reps and I felt I had that. My allergies were acting up big time. Asked for side spots on this. I knew I had this after the first rep. Third rep was a little tougher but I could tell I had another there. So success there. I was expecting the down sets to feel easier with 100lbs taken off but I think I calmed down a good bit so that first one felt heavy and both knees decided to say something. Video says all the sets looked about the same but last one felt like how I expected it to feel. Allergies were making me thirsty so I had to break out my 3l of water early to supplement with my 3l of bcaas so that I could stomach more fluids. Then it was time for machines. For a little bit at least. Lying leg curls. Regular style, 3x12 with 1-2RIR. I wanted to try for 4 plates added to the machine. Might be an ask as 160lbs had felt challenging two weeks ago and I was struggling a bit more than I’d have liked on the 2 up, 1 down with negatives. But I wanted to try it. 180lbs ended up being a success. Pleased with continued improvements in my hamstrings. They have been improving for some time but the results this particular training cycle for this show have been very pronounced. After this was hack squats with band assistance. I was really not sure how these would go with the ROM and knees as these can be very tough on them. Plan was still 3-5 second eccentrics and work up in 5’s to a top set of 8-12 (1-2RIR) and then a set of 12-15 with 10-15% off of that. Had to see how these felt. Going for the longer negatives. Right knee was the one I was watching. I was conflicted with how to proceed on these as maybe more sets working up would get me feeling warmer but maybe big jumps would let me save energy for more weight working set. Also wasn’t sure if the pads for the shoulders were a problem after last week or not and wasn’t sure if issue would be more time under tension with them. It took a bit to feel comfortable and I did end up doing the 90lbs jumps. I figured I’d see how things went with 270lbs added and if 5 reps felt too easy, I’d go up some more. It didn’t and I did somehow manage to get 12 reps though. Eventually my knee stopped feeling like it was going to grind and the tear drop part of the quad started to feel like it was working. My quads were feeling wrecked and I was breathing a bit hard. Not quite the kind of wobbling I’d get doing 40 reps on leg press but getting into that range. That 15 rep set was torture. I was feeling gassed at 10 reps. Then around that point, my left side of my neck and near the base of the skull on that side started to tense up. Not sure what happened. Again, I don’t know if it is the pads or what. This was the only set it did that and I don’t have this issue with the safety squat bar. It took a bit for it to calm down so I could continue with the workout.  This next section was indicated as “rowing” and it was to be testing for me. I tend to like structure. This was more open. Test things out with my arms. 4 working sets of some kind of event based rowing between sandbags and arm-over-arm. Do all in one if one was bothering me. Lot of possibilities. I figured I should be good since I was able to do 180lbs on dumbbell rows without straps and discomfort and being able to load and unload the stone of steel into the truck of my car. That isn’t to say that my left arm wasn’t sore. Scar tissue is present and the band hammer curls definitely still making my brachialis sore haha. But I wanted to do both sandbags and arm-over-arm. See where I am with essentially a month out from contest. Start with sandbag stuff. So what I was thinking was that contest has two sandbags for short distance. Depending on class, either 200lbs or 250lbs. Effort range on these was to be RPE 6-8 so I had room to work here and see how I felt. I wanted to work rows but also a little bit of actually picking up and standing without taxing too much for possible stuff this coming week. So I decided to do a few rows and then go into a pick and lap with stand up (low on body) and then drop and repeat to simulate doing two sandbags and fatigue from one to the other. Felt easy on the lighter bags. I took a jump on the last warm up to work set. Rather do 250lbs, I went with 275lbs, despite being 25lbs over contest for the heaviest sandbag. Reasoning for this was that I could tell 200lbs wouldn’t be a problem for contest and 250lbs that sandbag is long and packed tight. If I end up doing the pro class, that will be that weight but it will be the Cerberus sandbags and the 275lbs sandbag is that brand. It feels different and I had some redemption to do on this bag. So that was why. Did exactly what I wanted as the fatigue going into that second lap and lift was exactly as taxing as I wanted it to be. Second set I feel I did better. Definitely something that needs work. Then on to arm-over-arm. Purpose for working these portion of the boat/truck pull. Exer-genie was going to be easier to setup, reset and tear down. I’ve done standing with bent over style before in prep for the Arnold in 2019. I only did the Exer-genie for I think one or two workouts before switching to a sled with the inconsistency and needing a good bit of weight to anchor things down where I was training. I just remember I did “5lbs” on it. I figured I had a better understanding of how to get this fickle thing to work. Less issues with having to anchor myself for this like a seated one or dealing with the rope getting in the way. Like the sandbag, I did two warm-up sets. To get ready and to get the kinks out of the setup. “6lbs” was really easy so I decided to go up. I wasn’t going to do an extra set though as I felt this was within the lower range. “8lbs” was noticeably tougher and felt like appropriate resistance for a truck pull. Almost 9 seconds slower. Felt good and motion seemed good. So then on to the corrective exercises. The smaller muscles. Inner thigh work again. No machine for these so I was told to do Copenhagen planks and go to near failure. After realizing these were inner thigh, I had researched them a bit more. I decided to try doing movement within the plank. Not just “cycling” the lower leg like the one progression had but going up and down. These were challenging. Definitely a big contrast in sides as right side was lagging behind the left side. A somewhat new exercise after this. Front foot elevated split squats with pauses. Corrective exercise for the knees and to see discrepancies between sides. The normal platform that I’ve used for things like stepdowns in warm-up appear to be gone so I used a 100lbs plate. I wanted to make sure I got front and side angle videos of these. I was anxious with my knees and had to get over that. I’ve done these with no elevator or pauses as warm-ups in the past and was always commenting about how my knees ached on the stretched out leg. I don’t think I ever videoed these. But definitely see that my right leg has an inflexibility in the calf as I can’t seem to get my knee over my toes nearly as much as I can on my left leg. Left lower leg appears to be more flexible and I’m not sure if that is due to the nerve damage sustained from my disc bulge in 2016 or if this just something else. I’ve tried working this on the right side in the past but seemed to overdo it and stressed the tendons/ligaments out. Could also be part of the knee pain in that leg. Last bit of the session was super set of calves and ant tib. Change was for the seated calf raises as I was to do the holds at lockout and in the stretch. So inverted tempo like I’d been doing before for most of the calf work. Advised to drop weight each set to keep within a certain rep range. Used bands for the anterior tib stuff again. I like how they feel and I get a little bit of a traction in my ankles, knees, hip and back. Feel the muscles working too. Calves was a learning experience. 70lbs had me get just 10 reps and then I did 10lbs drops after that. Resulting in 12 and then 15 reps. Last set, the weight drop might have been too much as I felt I could do more reps. I was really trying to help the stretch bearing down on my knees with my bodyweight. First drop was good though. So if doing these again like this, maybe 10lbs first drop and 5lbs second drop. Stretched out before driving home to clean up and make dinner.

September 2, 2021 – Week 7, Day 3

Mobility Prep
 
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme, 3 seconds holds in bottom of dip and lockout, 5 seconds eccentric)
30x1/1
50x1/1
70x1/1
90x2/2
90x2/2
90x2/2
90x2/2
90x2/2
90x2/2
90x2/2

Single Arm Axle Lockouts (8” ROM) w/ bands
No bands
30x3/3
Add Bands (+27lbs bottom/+31lbs top)
30x1/1
45x1/1
60x1/1
75x1/1
90x0 L
90x1 R
105x0 R
95x1 R
95x1 R
95x1 R
95x1 R
95x1 R
80x1 L
80x1 L
80x1 L
80x1 L
80x1 L
72x5 R
72x5 R
62x5 L
62x5 L

One Arm Dumbbell Bench Presses (5 seconds eccentric)/One Arm Dumbbell Rows
10x5/5 – 115x5/5
40x5/5 – 150x5/5
86x8/9 – 180x10/10
76x11/12 – 140x7/7 (straps, 2 second holds)
76x10/11 – 140x8/8 (straps, 2 second holds)

Paused Dumbbell Y Raises (3 seconds holds, 3 seconds eccentric)
10’sx8
10’sx8
10’sx8

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Partial Rear Delt Dumbbell Swings (straps)
36’sx15/70’sx20
36’sx15/70’sx20
36’sx15/70’sx20

Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns/Single Arm Band Hammer Curls
lb+µbx25/mmbx25 
lb+µbx25/mmbx25
lb+µbx25/mmbx25

Stretching
 
Comments: I think I’m just now realizing that this week has been stressful. Or at least acknowledging it. I’ve been avoidant with work stuff. Trying to stay focused on things. It rained forever on Wednesday but you couldn’t tell it did come Thursday morning for my area. Left shoulder achy and both knees achy but more so watching the right one. Doing soft tissue work and moving around. Foam rolling and PNF stretching added. I swapped out the 6lbs dumbbells for the 10lbs dumbbells. The extra weight made a difference as I was able to touch the floor with both arms after less than 10. So like the foam rolling, I just did them until I felt I was good. Movement prep added of the wall slides, TKE step ups and BTN with the empty axle. I’m still not sure what the time suck is on this workout but I knew this was going to be longer with using both arms to full capacity. Workout had been planned initially for continuation of one arm stuff and essentially testing what I can do given the all clear. Some options and choices given for changes. Circus dumbbell again. Same weight and scheme as last week but extra set. While I didn’t feel like my knee was going to be an issue, I wore my copper sleeves for added warmth.This was going to be with using my other arm again. Since before the 10lbs weight was what I was using, that didn’t really tax or fatigue me at all so I would do one arm then the other and then wipe off the sweat from my brow and do another. Not so this time. I’d need to rest fully to get most out of this. Or enough to recover. So the good thing is that my clean to shoulder seems good and holding lockout too for my returning arm. But some joints are used to things just yet. Have to wrap the crap out of my wrist at the moment on this one. Wrist position feels just slightly off on that side. My other side I seem to be getting good at coiling my body. It is odd having my better arm be behind now. The pauses and increased time under tension with this style makes it hard to tell where I’m at. It is needed though for building. I know now that even with a month off, I can have the strength but not the ability to recover and maintain the strength. Cannon in a canoe. My left shoulder was super sore from Monday session. Front deltoid into biceps insertion so I know the tendon is a little irritated from this abrupt and new stress. It will improve but it will be annoying until then. Legs got bit up by mosquitoes out on the porch big time. Into the garage for the rest of the session. Seated lockouts with my axle and bands. This was going to be interesting. The balance is very tricky with this so I wasn’t sure how my left arm would do on these. This I knew it would be behind on. So plan was to see where that arm was and to try and do EMOM and rep sets. The plan had been to do the weight I did an ugly triple for the EMOM. Left side form feels different and I felt like the shoulder soreness coupled with the wrist stuff hampered me slightly. But it tapped out at 90lbs. I figured oh well, come back to that. But then right arm couldn’t get 105lbs off the pins today. Not going to panic. Just going to adjust the weights for today to what I can do. So that meant taking 10lbs off the planned weight for the EMOM. After that, dropped the weight to 80lbs as I figured that I could get that for the left side. It was tougher but I got it. The original plan was to do 2x5 with 85lbs so I adjusted that to be roughly the same percentage of 85/105 for the right and left. This point in the workout I was given some more options to play with. Also when I noticed it was really going to get late and order food for delivery from a steakhouse. Bench and rows. So original plan was sort of what was last week but with adjustments in weight and reps for the benching and rows having pauses for down sets. Assuming both arms could function, no need for the band row and holds this time. One of the suggestions had been to swap in dumbbell floor presses and then after the top set of one arm rows, do a bilateral row for the down sets. I was looking to doing these but I realized that I couldn’t really figure out a way solo to shoulder the dumbbells on the floor press and I wasn’t sure about setting up another exercise with things getting late and perhaps not feeling as warm as I’d like for two arm exercises. Another consideration was that I may not have enough small plates for everything. So eventually I decided on doing what was planned for single arm stuff and not do the band rows. Figured I’d give a new week to start fresh for that. Also let me gauge my sides a bit. So dumbbell press was to be the same 5ct lowerings and keeping 1-2RIR. Plan had 85 for a set and then 75 for the other two sets. I figured what I’d do would be do these for the recovering side and see how it goes and adjust for other side. 1lbs heavier due to the handles. Left shoulder didn’t care for these at all. Again, I’m not sure why it was acting up like this. Like more than sore stuff should. I have noticed that my shoulders tend to get grumpy from inactivity. Whole shoulder (front and back) felt hot the first few reps of the first and second set and then stopped. Despite this, I managed to only be 1 rep short of my other side on these. The other half of this was one arm rows. Working up in 5’s to 180lbs for set of 10 reps. This would be something. I’ve never tried to row more than 170lbs with one hand on a dumbbell. Do this no straps and then add straps and take off 40lbs for paused reps on the other two sets. It was a pain in the ass getting 180lbs to stay on the dumbbell with clips. Grip was a little bit of a struggle for my left hand but heavy band work seems to have maintained things quite well. The paused sets I wasn’t ready for the difficulty on these. I did assume lower reps than I was expecting but still hit hard. There does tend to be some heaving with these rows. I do try to keep that minimized but it happens. And there is ego. Controlled tempo might be a way to go anyways with 180lbs being the limit I can load up on this dumbbell (I guess could go way heavier with my 130lbs circus dumbbell). Oh well. After that, it was on to Y raises. Well not right away. It was getting really late and I found this was time to take a dinner break. Ate about half of my one of two ribeyes before getting back into the garage to keep pumping away. 3x8 with 3ct hold and 3ct eccentrics. Kept to the 10’s again as it would take longer to setup for 11lbs dumbbells (and it would be easier to have those handles ready for the next exercise). Supersetted this with steak. Shoulders weren’t grumpy on these this week. I did notice some tension in the left forearm where the scar tissue is. Also maybe some fatigue. Shoulder work continued. Back to doing two arm lateral raises. I was also advised that I could swap the bands on the rear delts for heavy dumbbell swings with straps. Figured I’d take the change up. The laterals I had a little bit of trouble. One was thinking that what I could do with one arm while holding a weight and balancing is the same weight I could do with ease in both arms. Nope. Other was the sore shoulder and my wrist. Hindered me initially and I wrapped up my wrist and then got through it. The dumbbell swings I’ve done in the past but I don’t think I’ve ever thought to use straps on them. Didn’t feel like that much at the start. Laterals were really darn tough. Had a slight break when halfway through the third set the dumbbell in my right hand came apart and I had about a minute rest putting it back together. Bands for triceps and biceps. Kept band tension the same as last week since I’d be testing my other arm. Triceps doing a bit better compared to Tuesday with how form was and motor patterns. Biceps is lagging but also the sore shoulder isn’t helping. This was pretty easy for my good arm and challenging for the recovering arm. Finished up dinner of the assorted vegetables and then stretched. Iced my knees before bed. Left shoulder and both elbows felt worn and sore.

August 31, 2021 – Week 7, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 second eccentrics, beltless)
65x3
115x3
165x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
343x3
343x3
343x3
343x3
343x3

Paused 7” Jack Stand Spud Harness Pulls (4” off the floor, 2 seconds)
155x2
245x2
335x2
425x2
425x3
425x3
425x3
425x3
425x3

Safety Squat Bar Step Ups (14”)
65x5/5
115x5/5
165x15/15
165x15/15
165x15/15

Band Assisted Nordic Curls/Hollow Holds
lbx16 PR+2 reps/bwx30 seconds
lbx15/bwx30 seconds
lbx13/bwx30 seconds

Paused Seated Band Hamstring Curl (3 seconds holds)
lb’sx25 PR+2 reps 
lb’sx20

Sissy Squats
bwx5
bwx5

Quad Fallbacks (12” target)
bwx8
bwx8

Sled Drag Work
255x7 minutes 

Stretching
 
Comments: Longer workout the day before and quite a bit of stiffness/soreness in the left shoulder. I mean, kind of expected coming back to things hard like that. Some added stress with work stuff and having issues with my video editing software that is taking me hours and lots of repeated effort to get my training videos ready. It’s time I don’t have but need to make sure I got videos for review. Same mobility stuff as last few weeks. Had all the fans going. Car was still outside from the day before as I had stuff left out. I was going to need to have stuff for this workout so figured I’d do that. Workout started off with ssb squats. Still beltess but no more pauses. This time 5x3 with accentuated negatives. I was given the option to do 70% straight weight or 65% with 10-15% of bands. While slowing down to fight the bands is appealing, I felt it was important that I did more weight at the bottom of the lift. Been hammering the top with those box squats a good bit with heavy weights. The slowed down lifts are a lot less taxing than the paused lifts. And kinder on the knees I think. Trying to do these without relaxing and bouncing off my calves. A little tricky getting things moving normal speed again. Right knee was the one complaining today. Some reps it was loud and others not at all. Moved on from there to harness pulls. I had thought I’d not see them this week with the all clear but that is ok. From a deficit and with the pauses off the floor. I didn’t respect this. Partly because I wanted to do deadlifts again. Getting anxious now. And also because the weight felt like nothing when I did these two weeks ago and I had gone up 20lbs over recommended. This time it was same thing with 20lbs more than last time. I decided to do plate jumps because I figured I knew what I was doing and I should be plenty warm from squats. Wrong. Those kind of jumps felt rough. I ended up doing only a double on my first set with 425lbs as I was so used to doing doubles warming up for it. Probably for the best that I did that after taking those big jumps as after that set, I feel the ego was gone and I pulled those like they should be done. They didn’t feel super easy but they were comfortable. Could feel my lower back getting worked on these. Step ups followed. Again being 3x15. I figured I could do 165lbs on these after last week. I changed my approach a little here. One is I took 50lbs jumps but did more reps to warm up. Second was treating each side as a set. I felt this let me push these a bit harder. When I felt fatigue, slowing down or just general achiness in the knees, I did that box crushing visual to power on. Superset of band assisted Nordic curls with the hollow holds again and taking big breaks between the supersets. Rest up and push the reps. I was advised that is I got +12 reps on all sets, there would be a change for next time. So now I had numbers. But just because the goal was that, didn’t mean I wasn’t going to near failure on every set. That first set for whatever reason, feels the toughest at the start but I do the most reps. I feel better at the beginning on the other sets but then they get tough. Hollow holds just kind of there for the moment. I can load my arms but I wasn’t sure if I should deviate at this time. Band leg curls again with holds after that. Trying to beat the reps from last time. I was told that I may not do that with the extra effort and reps on the Nordic curls. Kind of took it as a challenge. These didn’t cause my legs to feel like they were going to cramp up as hard this time around. Managed to improve the reps to get both sets into the 20’s with reps to spare. The next exercise was new for me. Sissy squats. Just bw for 2x5 with scaling as needed. I think this was to see if these worked for me or were better than the quad fallbacks. I’d say no and I hope I never have to do these again. My knees hated these. Especially my right one. I’d not do another set of them, even if I was told to with how they felt. That sensation and discomfort in the right knee I don’t want to repeat. Hoping I just irritated some stuff and it will calm down. After this was quad fallbacks. Reduced to 2x8 with bodyweight. Knees didn’t feel like Saturday where they were sore and achy but my right knee was not thrilled with doing these. I don’t think I can go any lower honestly. Hoping that this kind of undid what I did with the sissy squats. Last bit of the night was sled work again. It was really dark out. I had been worried that the coming rain fall from Ida was going to rain me out. It was supposed to be here at 4:00PM but here it was at 8:00PM and nothing happening. Reduced weight but longer time doing the drag. I was again hoping this would help with the knees. Left stuff in the garage after I was done to worry about tomorrow (as the weather seemed to indicate I’d be rained in good tomorrow). Ate a big dinner, stretched and iced my right knee. Hoping sleep and recovery stuff will calm it down. It doesn’t seem to keep me from doing things at the moment.

August 30, 2021 – Week 7, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme)
50x3/3
50x3/3
50x3/3
50x3/3
50x3/3
50x3/3
50x3/3

One Arm Half Kneeling Landmine Presses (3 seconds negatives)
+25x5/5
+55x5/5
+85x5/5
+115x6/7
+115x7/6
+90x12/12
+90x12/12

Paused Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Pulldowns (3 seconds holds)
sb+mmbx12/12
sb+mmbx12/12
sb+mmbx12/12
sb+mmbx17/17

Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (5 seconds holds)/Paused Incline Bench Dumbbell Cuban Rotations (3 seconds holds)
50x10/10’sx10
50x10/10’sx10
50x10/10’sx10

Supinated Band Front Raises
mmb’s+µb’sx20
mmb’s+µb’sx20
mmb’s+µb’sx20

Banded Pec Flyes
ab’s+mb’sx15
ab’s+mb’sx15
ab’s+mb’sx15

Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns
lb+mmbx20/20
lb+mmbx20/20
lb+mmbx20/20
lb+mmbx20/20

Stretching

Comments: Cleared to use both arms again but not exactly given instruction. Do as tolerated. So that unfortunately means that I have to do my own assessment of things. Knowing at least that the tightness in the forearm in scar tissue helps get a mental block out of the way. I know my wrist can handle stuff it wrapped up tight or using the wrist brace. With getting that information late in the week, kind of hard to get enough time to truly modify and adjust training. Stuff already setup for the injury training as it has been for the past few weeks. I’d like to get back to normal training but probably for the best that I do what I can to see where my arm stands. I am still in a bit of a state of flux with my plans going into 2022 but starting to sharpen and focus my attentions. Hopefully I will have it all figured out this week so I at least have a percent of a plan going forward after this contest. I want to see how this week and next go with my arm before deciding on October show (not about competing but about staying in pro or dropping down to open). Again, I added my own stuff to warm-up (foam rolling, PNF stretching). I also did some movement prep stuff with the wall slides, TKE step-ups and push up position planks (knuckles). Circus dumbbell to start things off. Really light for 7x3. I did this weight for both arms. Left arm I just needed to choke the crap out of my wrist with a wrist wrap. I didn’t intend to do these as one big set (one side then the other and continuous) but it just seemed like the right thing. I got more confident and automatic as I went on these. Left side was definitely a little slow at the start as far as feeling comfortable and having that crisp lockout but that seemed to go away after a few reps and sets. I was kind of pleased with myself that I was able to increase my pace rather than decrease as I went and it was all nonstop. Good conditioning. Into the garage for the rest of the day. I hadn’t exactly set things up as I was seeing if any modifications were going to be made for the training. There were none so on with the workout. Landmine pressing again. Plan was +115lbs for 2x6 and then +90 for rep sets. 3ct eccentrics on these.  I figured I’d try to match those with the left arm. I was able to somewhat keep up with my recovering side. Some stuff has maintained and other stuff has deconditioned. Only been doing the empty setup for the injured side the past two weeks. It feels slightly different on that side. The eccentric stuff was what sapped that side. Actually seemed like my right side was about the same that first set but then I realized I miscounted and did an extra rep. I decided on the second set to push it on the left to match that so that reps evened out. Right side had awoken after the first set and it was noticeably easier as far as control. Last set was to be AMRAP with 1-2RIR. I figured I’d try to push max with detrained side and then just match that with right. 12 seemed the limit for today after attempting a 13th rep. Next up was the single arm lat pulls while kneeling with holds. 3x12 and then max rep set. I realized I was going to be a bit behind having both sides working hard on the pressing stuff this workout. Trying to think that I’m training the fingal fingers on the landmine presses and truck pull on these lat pulls. Perhaps the fact that it wasn’t just straight sets made these easier for me this week. Not so monotonous. Trying to pull with authority. Super set of the little shoulder muscles. 5lbs added to the barbell for the BTN stuff. Keeping the weight the same on the rotations. These exercises get tough quick, especially paired together like this. Then bands for the rest of the workout. I think I thought that even with controlling the bands last week on the raises and flyes that it wasn’t going to be enough today. Adding band tension to both made them super tough. Left shoulder was noticeably fatiguing behind the right at this point. Normally it isn’t stressed much until this point in the workout. So not super satisfied with how the raises went with the increased tension. Left shoulder tight and sore. Pec flyes also felt tougher but I did increase the tension a good bit. It’s always a little tricky to figure out start on these and get the balance. Triceps I left the same tension as I have been. This was more to put the left side through the ringer. It was not used to the this kind of tension since most I’ve allowed was a mini band. It’s challenging for the right arm (which has been my lagging arm for triceps before the injury). The wrist brace didn’t provide enough support for this kind of band tension to keep my wrist from moving in a way that was still tender so ended up wrapping wrist wrap for these. This was very tough for my left arm but I got the reps done eventually. Tough for the left side but it is used to this. Put some of the stuff away but left other stuff out for tomorrow’s workout with how late it was. I just wanted to eat my pot roast. Stretched after dinner.

August 28, 2021 – Week 6, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Inverse Leg Curls
+125(ast)x8
+125(ast)x8
+125(ast)x8

Safety Squat Bar Box Squats (20” box)
65x10
165x2
255x2
325x2
385x2
435x2
485x2
485x2
485x2
445x7

Concentric Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (from deadlift height)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x6
295x6
295x6

Yoke
Casual Pace
200x100’ (drop and turn at 50’)
Normal
300x50’
400x50’
500x50’
600x100’ (drop and turn at 50’) in 25.94 seconds
600x100’ (drop and turn at 50’) in 23.33 seconds

Yoke Holds
600x5 seconds
700x5 seconds
800x15 seconds

Seated Safety Squat Bar Upper Back Goodmornings (3 seconds holds)
355x90 seconds

Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
45x6(3/3)
70x6(3/3)
100x12(6/6)
100x12(6/6)
100x12(6/6)

Quad Fallbacks (12” target, 3 seconds eccentrics)/Copenhagen Planks
bwx10:bwx30/30 seconds
bwx10:bwx30/30 seconds

Seated Calf Raises (3 seconds holds)/Band Tibialis Anterior Raises
90x10/(2)lb’sx15
90x10/(2)lb’sx15
90x10/(2)lb’sx15

Stretching
 
Comments: I was feeling irritable. I got probably the best news at my follow up that I could resume my strongman stuff as tolerated. I know the wrist will heal up shortly as it is the same injury I had to the right wrist in 2017 at Nationals. The real sigh of relief was with the arm and elbow. The PA had told me it was a fracture and while it still was a fracture, the doctor clarified it was an avulsion fracture (like what happened with my pinkies in 2019 haha). So that means my tendons are very strong and that the pressure I was feeling was from there being scar tissue and not anything that is actively tugging my biceps, forearm or triceps as the bone that was injured is not an attachment point for them. I had been hopeful that I’d be given the all clear at this appointment but not set in stone. So I think part of that irritability came in that I probably could’ve competed still at this August show. Other being that with this short of notice, it is hard to get training adjusted for the change. Then other little things like one of my favorite food places being closed due to a burst pipe, another no longer doing delivery to my area and just having this crick in my neck on the left side that just isn’t going away. I find it helps for me to figure out why I’m feeling a certain (negative) way to understand and not let it bleed into other things or on to people that don’t deserve it. Ink blots may look different depending on the lens you view them. I slept in about 20 minutes before getting ready for the day. Drive was a bit slow at spots. Good bit of people there when I started. Got set for warm-ups. Some of the fans were moved around. I was feeling warm which I was wasn’t sure why with it being slightly cooler than it had been the rest of the week. But humidity was high. I just seem to sweat a ton regardless. Warm up felt good at least. So starting things off with inverse leg curls. 3x8 again with the lower assistance I had used last time. Other than my knees aching a bit on the first set, these felt pretty darn good. Box squats with ssb after that to the high box. I think in my heart I was hoping for a break from these but nope. Plan was 3x2 with 5lbs less than what I did for the 4rm last week and then doing an AMRAP with 40lbs less (leaving 2RIR). I was hoping that at least warming up would feel similar to last week in that knee weren’t complaining so much. Nope, they decided this was bullshit. I did the same warm-ups as last week. This is the oldest my joints and body have every felt working up. Knees aching, left hip started aching. Like my bones were just dust. But sometimes all they need is a good ass whooping to shut up. 485lbs felt darn heavy but I got the reps. Video says it wasn’t that bad. On the last double, I had a little scare. As I was coming up off the box, I heard a “crinkling sound” to my left. I didn’t feel anything and there was no pain but I wasn’t sure what it was. Did something just go in my left knee? I tested to make sure my knee was ok and I was able to squat to the box without weight and into a full squat. No issues. I eventually told myself that it must’ve been someone crushing a water bottle or something (I’m still not sure as no one had a small water bottle today and I heard the same noise later when I was stretching by myself at the end of the session). I was a little spooked so I asked for side spots on the AMRAP set. Which felt silly afterwards considering how easy I was moving the weight. I didn’t expect it to be this easy. With how stuff was feeling today, I thought 4 reps was low end and 7 reps was a pipe dream. But after that first rep, I knew I had 7 no problem. Only stopped as I was getting pitched forward on number seven and I knew I had two more in the tank at that point. Maybe three. 445lbs for 10 on a ssb seems crazy to me but it looks like that is something I can probably do now. On to the next thing. Goodmornings from deadlift height in the rack. 3x6 this week. I kind of wanted to pick up stuff but I will obey the workout haha. These put more stress on the lower back and hamstrings then a lot of other things without adding stress to the wrist. Still wearing the brace just for extra support while training. These get tough fast with weight added. Like, the set with 245lbs felt so damn easy and then that first rep with my working weight had me reconsidering this being too light haha. I setup a pvc pipe for gauging my deadlift height and trying to keep my shins vertical. I was only three exercises into the session and I could already tell I was going to have stiff and sore joints tomorrow and probably the next day. Yoke returned after almost a month hiatus. I guess holding it seemed less stressful then running with it for the arm injury. The work arounds do seem to be working and honestly probably keeping me from breaking down. I had a mental block with yoke and I became obsessed with my times. Trying to not do that. Keeping track but it will come when it comes. So for yoke, the plan was to do whatever I needed to warm-up and then do 2x100’ with a light to moderate weight. My hope here was to do 600lbs for at least one of these runs if I felt up to it. My initial plan was to do 500lbs for the first run and 600lbs for the second. 600lbs would be 60% of pro weight and 70% of open weight and would be 75% of my best 100’ run. It wasn’t specified in the training if this was to be 100’ straight shot or not but I ended up doing it as 50’ with a drop and turn as that would be indoors (owner’s don’t want people doing yoke on the turf anymore so it would’ve needed to be outside). For warm-ups, I decided I wanted to do casual walks and then do 100lbs jumps with shorter runs. I used the lighter yoke for the casual walks that was set slightly lower for the pick then went to the beefier yoke for the other stuff. After 400lbs felt really easy, I thought maybe I do both 100’ sets with 600lbs and do 25’ runs with 500lbs and 550lbs. I stuck with doing 50’ and then went up to 600lbs. First run with 600lbs started off great but then disaster. One of the numerous ab wheel things was sticking out slightly. I had thought about getting it moved but it wasn’t that far out and I didn’t have any issues working up this whole time. Well I clipped it with the yoke and it about took the damn thing off my back but I held strong and course corrected. I was so pissed at this (I had seen a possible problem and let it go) that it had made what was a good run into a bad run and now I had just wasted time and energy but things happen all the time and I had another 50’ to go. Just under 26 seconds. Probably lost at least 3 seconds from the obstacle. Removed it for the second set and that went fine. Not my fastest. I can definitely feel that I’m not conditioned for 100’ runs at the moment but seem to be all set when it comes to 50’. Speed will come, the important thing right now is solid movement, confidence and comfort, which is what I’m getting right now. So after that was yoke holds again. I think this week solidified it for me that I can’t just treat these as a lockout exercise for yoke. That I can just walk into it after doing yoke. It deserves respect. The pick is not quite the same as with yoke, I’m trying to move with it once it is up and it’s kind of distracting from the weight as you play hot potato with the floor with each step. Yoke as coal walking haha. This is just standing up with it and holding it but bracing and breathing. That second part is fine. But knees and quads are feeling it after the other stuff beforehand. The plan here was work up in 5 seconds to 800lbs for 15 seconds. If I had not taken a little break after the yoke to help with setting up sandbag toss, I’d probably gone right to 700lbs but I did 600lbs and it was needed as that pick felt tougher than the runs. I was seriously considering getting my knee sleeves on for these. Video says these came up off the ground fast. Again, relative I guess. A brief respite from the lower body stuff for the upper back goodmornings. A little leery going into these this week as last week they didn’t feel so comfortable on the left side and the neck crick still present. But I’m going to keep pushing what I can so I added 10lbs more to it. I feel that this week (outside of the first week with less than half the weight) that this was the best control I’ve had as far as contracting the upper back and thoracic spinae muscles. So that was good. On to leg curls after that. Back to doing them with the 2 up and 1 down. Even though there was a lot of hamstring already today, I stuck with the top weight I did two weeks ago for all sets. That was a big ask with those 5 second negatives. Left side seemed to fair better with control across all sets. Right side seemed better first set and first rep or so but then faded hard in the sets. I need strong hamstrings and tendons for the suited deadlifts that I’ll hopefully be back to doing soon and to get my legs ready for moving faster on yoke and about everything else. Now the last bit of the workout was changed up. It has been a triset previously but now it has been changed into two supersets. The first being the quad fallbacks now paired with Copenhagen planks. Only two sets for each. With finding a way to make the quad fallbacks gentler on my ankles, I elected to go hard on them with making the target lower from 17” to 12”. This was a big ask not so much because of the flexibility/mobility or strength but just balance with going that far and my knees were really sore from everything else. This is the first time my knees have ached on these so it was a little jarring at first but I got the hang of it. Copenhagens were good. I remember there being a time these were challenging and I’d get pain in the left knee. This is two weeks in a row without that problem. Last pairing for the day was the seated calf raises with holds and tib raises. I decided for these that I’d keep the weight the same on the seated calf raises (actually thought about lowering it) because it was now a superset and not a triset so less time for recovery. And I then swapped out bands for the resistance on the tib raises as it was becoming too cumbersome and not a really good ROM with the kettlebells. Bands worked a lot better. Calf stuff was super tough, tib stuff was decent and could feel the muscles doing actual work this time. Long day. I was all alone at this point so put everything away and stretched out before driving home. Cooled off and ate a big dinner before icing my knees before bed.