December 7, 2021 – Week 9, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Snatch Grip Deadlifts (straps)
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
455x3
455x3
455x3
425x5

15” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps)
110x1
200x1
290x1
340x1
380x1
430x1
470x3
470x3
470x3
470x3
470x3

Paused Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”, 2 seconds)
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
65x12/12
65x12/12
65x12/12

Cossack Squats
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8

Paused Ab Wheel (5 seconds)/Single Leg Safety Squat Bar Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx12/100x18/18
bwx8/100x17/17
bwx5/100x17/17

Stretching
  
Comments: Body was feeling a bit stressed in the shoulders and arms from the day before. I was also a little leery about my knees as they were feeling achy again. Trying to not worry about that. Mobility warm-ups are good. Wore my warm-ups to help get warm in the garage with it getting cold now. Snatch grips to start the heavy part of the session. Work up in triples again. Belt allowed this week. Plan being 10lbs more than last time for the top weight and do it for 3x3 and then take off 30lbs for a set of 5. I should be able to do this. It’s just 10lbs more and I did that last time with nothing for the midsection with reps in the tank. I think that may be part of the progressions here with getting me used to heavier weight. Like, hey you did like just a little bit less than this with no support gear so this time a little more with it should be no problem, no matter how crap you feel. The one thing I noticed this week compared to last time was that my right arm wasn’t feeling weird holding the position. So that is a plus. 40-50lbs jumps all the way up and gradually adding support gear as I tend to do. I’m not sure how to phrase this for these but I’ll try. They felt tough and smooth. The start on these feels slow but the motion seems quite smooth. Lockout and hips through is a joke. Starting to feel more comfortable on these. Second set felt harder than the first set and then the third set felt about the same as the first set. Rep set felt plenty easy. I was to give an assessment on RIR I had on that set and it is hard to say. These seem to be exhausting lifts for me as the reps go up at this point and I haven’t done anything more than 5 reps on these I think in maybe 7-8 years. So while things felt good, I could potentially tap out at 3RIR but maybe I really had 5RIR there if I decided I had nothing else I wanted to do for a few hours. So not too sure. But the one thing that was also good here was that my knees were achy to the point that I felt it was altering my form or affecting my leg drive on either side. So after the fairly heavy snatch grips, it was time for more heaviest pulls. So moving on to more event specificity with the training. The event is axle deadlift from 15”. Max single. Not sure if suits allowed yet but I’m like 90% sure they are. That part of things didn’t matter for this one. Higher bar pull height requires less “technical acumen” compared to floor pulls. And this was a feeling out. I’ve not had good luck with axle pulls in competition haha. Did poorly on one and bombed two others. Would’ve had a fourth if I didn’t pull out of USS Nats 2019. But Haven’t minded doing thick bar work for pulls in the past. Definitely harder with how far out it is and that there really isn’t a point in the movement you can “rest” other than when you aren’t lifting the weight. So this was about finding the groove and doing some decent weight for triples. Advised to try to do 75% (whatever that may be) for 5x3. Key was trying to do a weight that I could do with 90-120 seconds rest no problem. I can recover pretty quick and with block pulls I’ve gotten better at them with my bracing and breaking the weight off the floor. So I figured that I should be good for over 400lbs. I was planning on 430lbs, which was 75% of 600lbs. But that felt too light even so went for 470lbs instead. Probably pushing that percentage range but I was recovering well enough between sets here. I guess I’ve missed these. Feeling that clang every rep haha. So next up was the FFE split squats. Advised to just make the exercise harder rather than pushing more weight on. So same reps and sets and advised to stick with same weight as last time. I figured I’d take the average and just use the empty ssb this time. I was told to do longer pauses (was just doing brief pauses). Instructed I could do 2-5ct each rep. I figured 2 seconds would be a place to start here. I did just bodyweight to warmup as I felt that adding weight wasn’t going to do much to really get ready considering how these are feeling now. With the longer pauses, I did take a slight breather between sides compared to what I was doing. Similar to step-ups in previous trainings. These seemed to be pretty good. I had been slightly worried my knees would act up on me. Cossack squats were next. Same as last week. I was also leery about these with the knees. But no issues. I guess not no issues. My left leg has that thing that if feels since that first knee scare in the first training cycle (knee instability, giving out). But it’s manageable and I’m working on moving my body with control. Inner thighs were quite tight on these today. Last thing was abs and calves. So for this time, I had to get clarification. 3 sets of calves and however many sets it took for abs. Ab wheel was 25 reps total with doing max rep sets with 2RIR. Low reps really but the kicker was making it constant tension and 5 seconds hold time. In my head, I figured that if I got 12 reps that first set, I could see a few reps drop off and do them in three sets to match the calves. First set was true to the 2RIR and second and third set was a bit shy of that as I didn’t want to end up doing like 1-3 reps on that last set. Calves I was kind of surprised with the 10lbs jump to be doing as many reps as I did. Actually felt like third set I had more there then I did the second set. It was late at this point and I was tired and had a lot of meat to eat for dinner so I just left things out so I could eat. Stretched out and then iced my knees before bed.

December 6, 2021 – Week 9, Day 1

Band Face Pulls
abx15
abx15
abx15

Barbell Strict Presses
50x3
80x3
105x3
140x3
170x3
200x3
230x3
230x3
230x3
205x9

Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings)
bwx5
bw+30x3
bw+60x12
bw+60x12
bw+60x9

Close Grip Bench Presses
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
265x3
300x8
270x8
270x8

Banded Push Ups
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
lbx5
abx20
sbx11

Dumbbell Y Raises (high incline)
13’sx15
13’sx15
13’sx15

Single Arm Band Triceps Extensions
mmb+µbx20/20
mmb+µbx20/20
mmb+µbx20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: Not the best weather for this kind of session haha. I tend to check sometimes and I didn’t see anything that stood out. I had checked last week mostly to see if I had clear skies for training outside with all the event work for Saturday. Must have missed the blip for today. Rain off an on and the worst of it was when my work day had ended after it was light and then dried up and then started hard. So the only thing that would need to be outside was overhead pressing so it wasn’t going to be that bad. I’ve done overhead work (with leg drive even) in down pours before. Just not something I want to be doing when it is more tricky like say clean and pressing stuff. So tried to minimize time outside. Starting things off with band face pulls. Same as last week. Just 3x15. Did these in the garage. Then had to move it outside for the next thing; strict presses. I was allowed to add whatever equipment I wanted to. For me, that was just going to be adding on belts. I guess in hindsight that means I could’ve added the elbow sleeves but saving that for later as not needed. Anyways, the goal for the day was work up in triples to 230lbs for 3x3 and then drop down to 205lbs for AMRAP with 2RIR. Notation was to leave something for next week and the rest of the workout. Get in and get out. Especially with the rain. Raining enough that I kept the camera inside my patio. Didn’t really feel like the belt added much today but that’s fine. Form didn’t feel crisp warming up and shoulders felt stiff. 230lbs wasn’t feeling as easy as I made 225lbs feel last week. Kind of expected though even with the added support gear seeing as how I essentially went for a max set of 4 reps by mistake. I also probably wasn’t feeling as amped for it with knowing this was to be routine and with the rain making me need to stay focused on surroundings. Never really felt like any doubts of getting any of the reps. Only had a little balance issue with my footing on the second set after the first rep. Down set the weight felt light. Got a little misgrooved on the fifth rep and had to course correct. Stopped when I felt things slow down a lot. Definitely had 2RIR, maybe 3RIR. Rain had essentially stopped at this point besides a fine mist. I had planned to shuttle everything into the garage as soon as I was done but now it was just damp and windy. So I dried stuff off and kept at it. Feet elevated pull-ups on the rings after that. Same as last week with 10lbs added. Good contractions being the goal and aim of 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 2-3RIR. I was not thinking I’d hit the higher end of that rep range with things as they were feeling warming up. But I hit 12 reps pretty easy. So surely reps would go down a ton after that? Nope, matched that again on the second set (it was a bit tougher). Last set finally felt like how I was expecting things to be on this with getting just 9 reps there. Close grip bench was up next. Same warming up plan as last week. Goal for the day was to work up to 8RM with 2RIR and then drop of a little for 2x8. I figured that I should be able to about 300lbs for this. Warming up felt fine. Last triple did feel heavy but I was expecting it to as trying to save wrist wraps for that top set so that it feels lighter comparatively on my wrists. I’m using a very close grip for these. I’m not sure if 5lbs less on these would’ve made a difference but this was pretty tough. Again, the lockout on these is really hard to hard to gauge here as I seem to do better when I control things. This was probably closer to 1RIR or 1-2RIR then a true 2RIR. With that, I knew it would make more sense to go with the lower percentage of that weight for the down sets. They certainly were easy and moved better but still tough. Back into the garage for push-ups with bands again. I think I did these right. It indicated to do 2 sets this time and to work up with same increase tension with the first set being 15-20 rep range and the second set 8-12 rep range with 2-3RIR. It indicated to try and widen my grip a bit more to hit pecs while still comfortable and to try and leave more in the tank. So I did a warm-up set with the light band and went in for the average band that first set. Got 20 reps with that comfortably. Then the strong band. That thing is a beast. I was told it was ok to wear wrist wraps for that one. Those took away all the wrist discomfort I was feeling. I did push these on this set a bit closer to the failure point than I was supposed to I think. Definitely not 3RIR and 2RIR would probably be generous with how hard this tension hits at lockout. High incline y raises with the dumbbells after that. Same as last week with 3x15 with 3RIR. I was thinking initially to do 16lbs but realized that is a pretty big increase on these and probably should take smaller jump then that. Good thing I did as that extra 3lbs per hand was noticed immediately. First set felt pretty darn tough. Second set felt quite breezy that I almost thought about increasing weight. The third set brought me back down to earth though haha. Last thing was more triceps. Did the same thing as last week with using the fat gripz extreme so the bands weren’t cutting into my palms. I went outside to make sure I wasn’t just modifying my position to not hit the ceiling. I had the camera face me so that I could watch form and make sure that I was getting both sides to do the same thing (or as best as I could). I felt that it was too light for the start last week and added a micro band. These got tough quick. I went from one side to the other as quick as I could. Last set for both sides I had to take a breather with 2 reps remaining to finish out. I think this shows the sides are more even and that I was using a more advantageous position for my right arm last week that made it easier. Put stuff away before eating dinner and stretching. Biceps and shoulders feeling a little tight. Hopefully good night’s sleep will help them calm down.

December 4, 2021 – Week 8, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Single Leg Squats to Box
21”
bwx1/1
bwx1/1
18”
bwx1/1
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8

Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x3
425x3
385x6
347x6
347x6

Seated Arm-Over-Arm Exer-genie Pulls (1.5” rope, prowler attached)
1x60’ in 17.27 seconds
3x60’ in 23.73 seconds
5x60’ in 26.44 seconds
7x60’ in 34.40 seconds

Sandbag Shoulderings
175x1/1
175x1/1
225x1/1
225x1 L
225x1 R
225x1 L
225x1 R
225x1 L
225x1 R
225x1 L
225x1 R
225x2/2

Sandbag Carries (casual pace, turns at 75’)
225x150’
225x150’ 

Lying Single Leg Band Leg Curls
(2)mbx20/20
(2)mbx17/17
(2)mbx17/17

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: So this was the week with the expected deviation. Strongman gym hosting a big powerlifting meet that would be a two day affair. So there was the expectation that this wouldn’t be as planned. Initially it was going to be similar to the previous time they had a meet run this year with the gym being open after 6PM. That was the plan but then that became not opened due to the number of lifters. So this became a train at home session. Which is fine since I’ve acquired a good bit of stuff over the years and invested in this more since Covid started. So that meant I could sleep in and go at my own pace. May have slept-in a little later than planned. So starting things off with the mobility stuff after I setup what I could for the time being. Change to this having leg curls with bands added to it (and I guess dropping them as a primary exercise). Balance on the one leg stuff best it has ever been. Had the tension a little too easy that first set but got it right for the second set. So first true exercise of the session was one leg squats to box. Same as last week with 3x8 and controlling the negative. That was the plan but I ran into issues. I had thought my bench was lower than it actually was. I’ve been assuming it was the height of the benches at the gyms I’ve been to which has been 17” but turns out it is 21”. Oops. So it was going to be too high to use now. Knees were a bit achy at the start doing some singles to get used to things. Figured I’d try for 18” using the hard foam crash pads. Much like last week, these seemed to get better as I went. SSB squats were next. I was anxious and looking forward to this. See, the plan here was to work up in triples to a top set of 6 reps (2RIR) and then take off 10% for 2x6. Squats have been feeling really good as of late. I was thinking that based off how things have been, that 425lbs was there. But it wasn’t. I probably should’ve taken heed that maybe today wasn’t the day. Now, I’m not sure if it was just not today from the hard midsection work that is the ab wheel or if perhaps that it is true that the ssb from Titan Fitness isn’t the same as the one at the strongman gym. I felt like the weight was pitching me forward more so than at the gym. A feeling I was getting in my back and knees. I ended up having to stop at three reps as I knew I didn’t have 6 reps in me today, let alone with RIR on this setup. Annoyed with that and dropped off 50lbs to try and salvage things. So approximately 90% of what I felt I should be doing. Telling myself that it the bar as this one has felt harder to me but that has always kind of been the case with garage training. I’ll differentiate these in training going forward and just have to see how the next few sessions go at the strongman gym going forward to see if this really is a thing or if like the overhead strict pressing, I needed a deload. Right inner thigh was feeling a little tight during squats but didn’t seem to be anything after that. I had a lot more workout to go. This was the part that I knew there was going to be a substantial lull. Arm-over-arm pulls. The setup for these was going to be a pain regardless of what I decided to do. I was going to have to get creative. If I went with purely weights, I was going to have to use at least 600lbs in weight from past training and resetting the course would take like 10 minutes each time. I’d rather use the exer-genie. That had it’s own unique issues. It needs an anchor point and other than trees, I don’t have anything on my property that would work. Trees too big around for the exer-genie to loop. But my parents have a basketball hoop that is a large pipe structure cemented to the curbs foundation and I know that is stable. It has taken direct hits from snow plows and been there for decades now haha. But that also meant lugging stuff down to their house for setup. Trying to be minimalist here as it was all going to have to come back to my house. I used my two lightest sandbags for anchor for my feet to push into. Try to mimic the tire. As far as attaching stuff, I used chain to attach the exer-genie to my off-brand prowler and then the rope to that. I ended up having to use less resistance on the exer-genie because of the addition of the 55lbs sled weight with the friction on the blacktop going uphill. Plan was to do four sets of 60’ with RPE 5,6,7,8. So went up “2lbs” a set. Resetting this was super easy to do. I think I may try to add the sled like this at the strongman gym to get things to feel closer to contest as the exer-genie without the little drag gets a little unstable near the end, unlike an arm-over-arm pull. Last set felt substantially tougher. Only issue with these was not having someone to eat the rope to keep things efficient. So another lull in the action putting stuff away. I swear my handtruck has flat tires again as I was getting quite a pump in the legs pushing it with the sandbags back to my house. I needed them for the next thing; shouldering. This was going to be a first for me. I’ve never tried this and never had to. I’m tall enough that it wasn’t something I’ve had to do. Closest would be cleaning a dumbbell or the cross body stuff with a keg. For the show, the event is specifically shouldering sandbags. Three progressively heavier sandbags. So not really sure what to expect. Though I probably should’ve had an inkling of it from how I’m not great at one motion log presses or that I struggle to one motion kegs for pressing. The plan for the session was to warm-up however and then do a light to moderate weight sandbag for an EMOM session of 8 lifts (alternating sides so 4 each side) and then rest and do 2 reps each side for a total of 4 reps in a set. At home I have sandbags but not as many as the strongman gym. I got 50lbs increments essentially. So my hope here was 225lbs for my working sets (275lbs being light would amazing). 175lbs was not a confidence booster. My hope with that though was that these are fairly small sandbags for my size and that the floppiness of the 175lbs was adding to the difficulty. My 225lbs is a bit more packed. Didn’t feel terrific but it was what I got. It did feel better when I was doing the EMOM. I’m thinking what I’m doing which is slowing things down. I need more practice here to get this nailed down. I can be a quick study as I feel near the end I got things a bit better timed. Rested for a bit before doing the repping set. I reset the sandbag to standing position each time to mimic the event more as it won’t be reps with the same bag but three separate bags. One of the good things was I was worried that my longer hair would mess things up for me (it was a concern I had with quick transitions to the yoke last contest haha) but it didn’t. I got plenty of time to work this. The sandbags aren’t all the same so I need to get practice on them to feel them out at some point. Sandbag stuff wasn’t done though. The next thing was sandbag carries but doing them slow and for long distance. These replaced the belt squats that were initially planned. I did offer up a home version but these replaced them. Not complaining. I’d rather do these than belt squats haha. It was getting dark so I did set out the reflective cones and reflective vest. And it was getting dark quick. Between the two videos, it looks like an hour has passed when it was only like 5 minutes tops. Used the same sandbag as the shoulderings and did 150’. Went slow, just going for a nice stroll. Like I was carrying a very heavy baby. Gentle is strong. From there it was lighter stuff. So plan for hamstrings had been same as last week but no machines at home so then it was suggested to Nordics with a ton of band tension to assist with the tertiary option being single leg band curls. I went with that as I knew that the Nordics would setback all the progress I’ve made with whatever happened with the left leg. There are still positions that are uncomfortable to get into and I have to take a moment to let things calm down before I can actually do the movement. At this point, I feel the Nordics are too much risk for reward and that if these are brought back, it be in the form of the inverse leg curls since I could still do them through pain whereas even attempting to lower myself on the Nordics had me tapping out. Anyways, setting up the single leg lying leg curls were a huge and frustrating pain. Glad I don’t have to do these regularly. These weren’t ideal but got the work done. Three sets of max reps with goal being 15-20 rep range. Thankfully those were done and I was able to do the last thing which was the quad fallbacks. Standard 2x12 again. Leg were feeling tight but loosened up. I feel that this time I had the most bodily control and awareness while doing them. Put everything away and ate dinner before stretching out. Right inner thigh was feeling tight at this point and joints achy. Iced my knees before bed.

December 2, 2021 – Week 8, Day 3

Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Pulldowns
45x10/sbx15/15
45x10/sbx15/15

Paused Axle Push Presses (beltless, 2 seconds)
42x2
72x2
102x2
132x2
162x2
192x2
192x2
192x2
192x2
192x2
192x2
192x2

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ bands
No Bands
90x3
Added Bands (+17lbs bottom/+36lbs top)
90x3
120x3
150x3
180x3
210x3
240x3
210x4
210x4
210x4

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds, straps)
95x5
135x5
175x5
205x8
205x8
185x11

RP Style Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
20’sx20/20’sx20
20’sx15/20’sx15
20’sx14/20’sx14

Feet Elevated (17”) Push-ups (3-3-0-0 tempo, 15 seconds rest pauses)
bwx17/5/3

Stretching
 
Comments: Well I spoke too soon about the weather settling in for winter. Just at freezing previous two days and then back into the low 60’s for today. My body did not appreciate that drastic jump. Nasal spray, Claritin and Dayquil to get stuff under control. Too much to do the day before and playing catch up that just couldn’t get the walk in that I do on my off days. It was too dark and rainy by the time I had a free moment and didn’t want to risk injury slipping. Did a lot of soft tissue work to I guess make up for it. Got things setup for training while there was so light out. I guess I wasn’t ready for the foreboding darkness after doing this workout in the sunshine last week haha. So starting the workout with the BTN presses with pauses into one arm band lat pulls again. I’d say as far as how things feel, between last week and the week before as how these felt. Overhead work after that. I was advised that log is coming but working the axle with pauses and no support stuff beyond wrist wraps until things look good and comfortable. Back up to 60% but now 7x2 instead of triples. It is almost fatiguing wrapping on the wrist wraps for that many sets haha. Obviously not as easy as last week with the increase in weight but felt decent enough. Last set felt the best to me. Log incline with the bands after that. Work up to a top triple (8-8.5 RPE or 1RIR) and then drop off some weight for 3x4. I wanted to give 240lbs a shot. I figured I had that in me. I’m getting more confident in pressing through the bands on this variation. Working up weights in the past had me concerned I’d stall out at lockout. I’ve hated incline log press in the past and now I seem to get some joy out of improving and hitting more and more weight or reps on these. These seem to be a good builder for the upper body for pressing with minimal stress on other things. I remember how I struggled with these at the beginning with having to reintroduce two pressing days. Felt like I probably had 2RIR on that set so that was good. Figured I’d go with just the small drop in weight comparatively and those went well too. Barbell rows with the pauses using the bench for support were again next. I felt I didn’t need as much of work up sets this time with having done them recently. Still stuck to fives to warm-up but just kept straps for all sets. Plan here was 2x8 with 5lbs more than top set last week and then do max rep set with 2RIR with 20lbs taken off. These felt harder this week. It was a struggle to get these done after that first set. These holds do tend to make these difficult pretty quick. Dumbbell super set was next. This got a big jump in intensity. So this time, the plan here was 20lbs dumbbells for these and to do sets of 12-20 reps with 2RIR for three sets. So usually I just go one into the other with a brief break between them (at least that is what I was doing when these were with 10lbs). But seeing as how the plan here was pushing things and expectation of having reps drop off from fatigue, I took brief breaks between the exercises (like 15 seconds) and then a bit longer between the sets. The ROM is big on the laterals compared to the rear delts. They are each uniquely difficult in their own way as fatigue sets in. I feel more comfortable pushing the rear delts for some reason even when they get too difficult to hold out like I could with earlier reps. I was expecting more of a drop off after the second set but it appears I that is my level after the initial fatigue. Tempo feet elevated push ups were the end of the session. 25 reps total, however many sets it took doing rest pause. I really wanted to get it all in one set but fatigue had other plans and I was probably going to end up getting less reps in an all out set then I did last week with the increased workload compared to last week beforehand. I didn’t have a set time for the rest pauses given but I decided to do 15 seconds. Took me 2 of those to get that 25 reps done. Put stuff away before eating dinner and stretching. Got done in a decent time this evening.

November 30, 2021 – Week 8, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Paused Deadlifts (2 second mid-shin, beltless)
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
322x3
322x3
322x3
322x3

Paused Romanian Deadlifts (2 seconds, straps, beltless)
155x5
205x5
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x8
385x8
335x15

Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”)
bwx5/5
bwx+30x5/5
bw+63x12/12
bw+65x12/12
bw+67x12/12

Cossack Squats
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8

Paused Ab Wheel (2 seconds)/Single Leg Safety Squat Bar Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx17/90x15/15
bwx16/90x15/15
bwx13/90x15/15

Stretching
  
Comments: Going to take me a bit to recover from all the excitement of people. Even if I don’t feel like it was a lot, my body is telling my otherwise with stress symptoms. It might be another week before I’m over it haha. It is leaving me with some blahs that is making it difficult to feel motivated to work as hard as I can at work right now. I did at least get some response from Strongman Corporation about questions. But it does seem stuff is still being worked on and there won’t be satisfactory answers until probably June 2022. Work blahs did carryover to training. Late getting pot roast cooking and this workout was a bit less work compared to the last week so I started training later. Getting reacclimated to the cold weather and training in it. Mobility stuff slightly adjusted. Less stressful on the hamstrings. So appears that this workout is alternating pulls. Two weeks ago it was paused pulls so now they are back again. Increase of 5% on the 4x3. Like last time, didn’t feel quite right at the start but once I got to over two plates it started to feel crisp. No belt for these and didn’t bother with the straps. No forearm tension issues this time. Felt good. Felt easy. I did feel like breathing after the sets was hard but chalking that up to seasonal crap as I’ve felt like I needed to take allergy meds the past few days. I was in a mood as I had a little bit of the happy feet going for these haha. Paused rdls were next. This is kind of what I thought was going to be the case last week. Work up to just above the top weight the previous time for a few sets and then do a max rep set. As I mentioned that workout, glad it wasn’t the case as those snatch grip pulls drained me something fierce. So plan here was warm up like I have been (5’s and 3’s) to 385x2x8 and then take off 50lbs and do a max rep set with 2RIR. Things felt heavy walking out of the sawhorses but felt fine doing the actual lift. Top weight felt decent. Rep set things were feeling pretty good. I felt a little bit of hesitancy on the 15th rep and figured I should call it there rather than potentially force things. I was feeling beat from the deadlifting. So next up was the FFE split squats. I figured if I felt good today, I’d give the empty ssb a shot for the load. Knees were feeling ok for this exercise. Goal for today was 3x12 with 2-3RIR. The ssb was surprisingly easy for my left leg. Right leg these were harder. Could’ve been complacent and just stuck at this weight but decided to do a little weight creep with adding measly 2lbs a set. Didn’t feel much different. Tried to focus on how the sides felt. I know my right leg is tight when it comes the calf. Exercise that was next was Cossack squats. Been a good while since I did these. I think since the first training cycle and when I had that first knee scare with instability in the left leg. 3x8 for these. I had my knee sleeves down as I didn’t feel like I needed them in the past but just in case stuff felt screwy. No issues other than the usual from not doing this kind of mobility exercise in a good many months. Left side felt a little tenser in the lower leg on these. But felt fine otherwise. Last thing was an interesting pairing. Abs and soleus has been the thing for a few weeks with inner thigh as a buffer. Ab wheel had been a plan before I oopsied the elbow and wrist beginning of last cycle. As far as working on bracing and lower abs, these wreck me so good to see them back. So these were to be done with pauses and try to minimize tension lost from doing each rep. Paired with the inverted tempo seated calf raises. 3 sets of each. 15 reps for the ssb stuff and max reps with 2-3RIR on the abdominals. That was going to get tricky. I’m usually good for an all out set on them but then the burn/fatigue is high and I struggle on subsequent sets. I generally want to quit early with how intense it gets haha. Calf stuff was same as it has been. Not easy but long enough that it provides some rest for anything that Is not my calves. The reps were a done thing with the calf raises. Paused on the ab wheel was good at the start. I did put on an elbow cuff for my right arm due to the tendonitis. Definitely felt that second set fatigue but managed to push on and not drop as much as I was expected. Third set saw the drop haha. Put stuff away before eating a late pot roast dinner and then stretching.

November 29, 2021 – Week 8, Day 1

Band Face Pulls
abx15
abx15
abx15

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
165x3
195x3
225x3
245x4
205x5
205x5

Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings)
bwx5
bw+25x3
bw+50x12
bw+50x12
bw+50x12

Close Grip Bench Presses
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
265x8
265x8
265x12

Banded Push Ups
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
lbx20
abx15
sbx10

Dumbbell Y Raises (high incline)
10’sx15
10’sx15
10’sx15

Single Arm Band Triceps Extensions
mmbx20/20
mmbx20/20
mmbx20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: Cold appears to finally be sticking now. Can be tricky when it seems to go between decently warm and cold. Reminder that I can do things even if I haven’t done them in a while but just because I can doesn’t mean I’m fully adapted to it. Neck and traps are exquisitely sore from the farmer’s walk and hold on Saturday. Just another thing that needs to be conditioned with the next few months to be ready show time. This week appears to be the start of things getting more specific with the weekend training being the start of that. Right elbow tendonitis is a thing but it does seem to be feeling better after wearing the copper sleeve. Wearing that during the day seems to help slightly. So for the training today, things were adjusted. Less stuff at the beginning. Starting things off with band face pulls. Nice and easy. Slight hold on these and short rests. Focusing on the external rotation. Beltless strict pressing after that. This week the indication was to work up in triples to a top set of 5 reps (1RIR) and then take a bit off that for 2x5. My thinking here was 225lbs but I was thinking if I felt good I could do more. I told myself that if 225lbs felt too light at 3 reps, I’d try 245lbs. 245lbs would be 10lbs off my lifetime best set of 5 reps with a belt. 225lbs did feel easy. But 245lbs did not. It felt a lot heavier and I struggled to get 3 reps after hitting the safeties on the second rep and getting off balance at lockout on the third. I rested 20 seconds and gave it another go and got another rep for 4 reps. I was mad that I overestimated myself on these. I did give a fifth rep a try but it barely got moving so shut it down there. Don’t want to grind myself into the ground. This is the most weight I’ve attempted to strict press in several years at this point. 225lbs felt really easy. 245lbs felt tough and I could feel the triceps not being there on that fourth rep. Plan had been to reduce the weight by 10-12.5%. Seeing as how I was 1 rep shy of the goal (and way off the difficulty), I went with 40lbs off with the assumption that I could’ve done 227lbs-235lbs here today for 5 reps with 1RIR. First set felt easy like it should. Second set felt a lot tougher and wasn’t as good. On to the feet elevate pull-ups. No holds this week. Advised that those could possibly aggravate the elbow tendons. Good contractions being the goal and aim of 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 2RIR so I could add weight as needed. I felt that 50lbs added would be enough and aim for the higher rep ranges as the fatigue factor seems high on these taking moderate rest and want to see if I could complete 3x12 with this weight before worrying about adding more weight. First set felt really good. Each set got tougher but feel it was in parameters. Right biceps was feeling a little tight on the second and third set. Close grip bench was up next. Change in the warm-ups (hope I did it right) so lot less volume and sets to get to the working weight. 10lbs more than last week for 2x8 and then a max rep set (2RIR). Stuff feeling heavy in my forearms and joints. Similar to how things felt last week. Rep set felt the best. I think I’m getting used to how these feel (the strength curve) a bit more with the increase in weight and not getting frustrated when it doesn’t move easy for me. Back into the garage for push-ups. Bands again. With how they felt last week, I didn’t feel the need to do any warming up with the bands after doing some regular push-ups. From what I gathered for this session, it appears it was to be 3 sets of max reps with 2RIR and having the band tensions increase from having it easy enough to do 20 reps to hard enough that 8 reps would be near my limits. Well my plan was to do light, average and strong and aim to do 20/15/10 on those. Light band felt easy enough but did start to get tough. Average band actual felt kind of easy compared to things. Strong band holy hell. That was tough. May need to wear wrist wraps on that next time as that is a ton of tension. From there a new twist on an old favorite; y raises. No long holds or tempo work but it was different. Advised to do these off a high incline (60 degrees). I wasn’t sure how these would feel so I stuck with the 10lbs for this session and somewhat short rests. Probably can go up a little here. Last thing was more triceps. Band extensions. I was messing around with things and monster mini seemed to be where I was at right now. Light band too much. For my left side, the band was digging into my palm (issue with the monster minis being thicker but not wider) so I put on a fat gripz extreme to keep that from being a thing. Left side definitely having a much harder time then the right. I may need to do these outside to insure that I’m not worried about hitting the ceiling and having the form the same both sides as I think I had things more out to the side on the right side. Put stuff away before making dinner and then stretching.

November 27, 2021 – Week 7, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Seated Leg Curls (2-0-2-0 tempo)
80x6
120x6
160x13 (miscounted)
160x12
160x12

Single Leg Squats to Box (20”)
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8

Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x3
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x3
315x3
365x12
315x12
315x12

Farmer’s Walk (16” pick)
Casual Pace
50x50’
50x50’
Normal
100x50’
150x25’
200x25’
240x50’
240x50’
240x50’
240x224’ (30 seconds hold)

Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
45x6(3/3)
60x6(3/3)
75x6(3/3)
90x6(3/3)
105x14(7/7)
105x16(8/8)
105x12(6/6)

Backwards “Sled” Drags (Exer-Genie)
9x60’
10x60’
12x60’

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: Extended holidays can really throw me for a loop. A lot more social interaction and changes in schedule. I do my best to adjust and I make the effort. But I do have to acknowledge it wears me out. Have to know limitations. The past few years Thanksgiving has been local so it hasn’t been as stressful as it has been when elsewhere. It is a complicated time for me with it being my late grandfather’s favorite holiday and then also being the anniversary of when Mike passed away. So mixture of happy and sad, family and mortality. Sleep and eating was off a bit. Right elbow tendonitis still present but seems slightly better. Trying to think what has been different as it became a thing when I had to go single arm for weeks after the left elbow was fractured. Part of it being I think maybe not wearing the copper arm sleeves as much so seeing if the one on helps. Made fantastic time out to train. Good bit of people there so sort of mixture of novice, intermediates and worn out like me haha. Sound system didn’t appear to be working so no tunes. Which is ok. Don’t have to have music. It’s just something nice. I again felt compelled to give unsolicited advice on stuff before I got really into my workout. Event work I feel confident in my “coach’s eye” but beyond that no. Novice person struggling to pick up a husafel and somewhat intermediates with keg loads. It is great seeing the little tweaks click for them and make huge improvements in minutes. Showed a taller guy with long arms better way to load keg using his leverages and helped another guy make his amrap set better on keg loads by improving reps from 8 to 12. Mobility stuff not as great balance wise as it was two weeks ago but it was loads better than last week. Wasn’t feeling as many aches in my knees this time around. Seated tempo leg curls again to start. Set weight and aiming for 3x12 with the tempo. Not as easy as last week I think but that could be from me being distracted from helping others with event work and this being more of a warming up exercise. I mean, I did miscount the first set. Not to say it wasn’t still easy stuff. Unilateral stuff next. Seeing as how I’ve maxed out the lateral stepdowns, new exercise. Single leg squats to box. Plan being 3x8 and to control them and use a high box this workout to break in to things. I’ve done and should still be able to do pistol squats. The issue would probably be more getting warmed up for it and keeping the non-lifting leg out in front. So I tested things with my left leg to see how these felt and it felt tough but didn’t feel like it was something that would require knee sleeves on. Left side is definitely behind when it come to this compared to my right side. These got easier as I did them. SSB squats were next. My stomach was really gassy so I was feeling a little queasy which isn’t great when you are doing squats and then having do more stuff that requires bracing after that. Belt back on this time. Plan here was work up in triples to 365lbs and then do an AMRAP with 1-2RIR. And that qualifier was to be no good morning squats up so stop before form starts to breakdown. That can be tricky with ssb since upper back and the center of gravity on these can make me pitch forward more from fatigue rather than my legs being spent. Trying to not have a ton of hesitancy on the first rep like I was having last week. 50lbs jumps worked out here. I was expecting 10 reps with 2RIR here but I surprised myself with getting 12 reps with reps left over. Pleased with that but not with what followed. The plan after that was to take 50lbs off and then match those reps for two sets. Those weren’t terrible but it was more that I was having the queasy stomach and burping that made it difficult. Much prefer the lower rep sets for a lot of sets haha. But need to do all kinds for this sport. Then on to the event stuff. This week having two kind of event like things in the session. Starting to ramp things up towards competition training with it being 15 weeks out. The off-season training has been good so probably will have some bridging sessions over the next few weeks and not a straight split and change. So for today, it was farmer’s walks. I had thought I did these more recently than I did but I guess not. Last time was January 30th. Since then, it has been frame holds and moving events have been kegs, sandbags, odd objects, duck walks and yoke. Yoke covers a good bit of things but not quite the same as became apparent when I started things. The goal for the day was to do 240lbs for 3 sets of 50’ and then do a max distance set with that weight with some suggestions depending on the situation. Not necessarily max speed, just getting used to moving with weight and getting a good grip workout. So I did warm-ups a bit like I do with yoke now; casual pace with empty implement and then work on full distance trying to build up speed and then half distances. I used a pair of farmer’s handles I never used before. One reason I think was that I’d have nothing to base things off of really for all the records I keep for time and weight and implements. I wasn’t concerned with speed and not really going to focus on timing the sets like I’ve obsessed about in the past. Like yoke two weeks prior, my knees felt like ass at the start but thankfully they felt fine as I got used to things. Need to work on my breathing here as the pick is much more draining compared to yoke where I can set that to anything I want whereas these are set height. This weight was fairly light considering and it was more just me not doing these in 11 months that had the picks feel a little off. No chalk here. For the max distance set, I wanted to go far and not be stuck to inside. The handles I had picked were probably the longest ones and would be terrible for turns. Options here had been to go for straight shot max distance (preferred), do turns at 50’ if I felt confident in my turns (I do not right now, especially with these long ass handles lol) or do 150’ and then drop them and repick and do a max hold. I figured that I’d try and do max distance and if I ran out of space, I’d do a hold for time (my picks and set downs were not great today so resetting would be a chore). Now unfortunately the handles I was using while great for feet clearance, didn’t work with the hand truck with weight on them so I had to unloaded them to set them up. Using the wind tunnel and starting on the turf. No clue how far it was going to be. Swapped out the iron plates for bumpers as they would be easier to bring back inside when I was done. Chalked up my hands and went after it. Felt good but I could feel myself slowing down on the uneven concrete loading dock. I stopped once I got to the point where the concrete became blacktop that would go up to the train tracks as that was a steep incline. So I felt I’d hold for time. 15 seconds felt too easy so I did 30 seconds and then stopped. It was cold and didn’t want to risk possibly tearing my hands. I didn’t know how far I went and I felt like I was fatiguing too much and was well short of what I wanted to be doing. Guess that wasn’t true though. Turns out that it was just over 224’. First 75’ of it being turf. And then followed by a 30 seconds or so hold. Guess this just doesn’t leave me. 2 up and 1 down leg curls after that. Same long negatives on these. Hopefully I did thing right for this exercise this week. Listed to do 105lbs for all three working sets and to do them with 2-3RIR with aim being 10-15 reps. Not sure on that with these being even numbers unless I miss a rep on a leg. Left leg is stronger on these but there is that discomfort that is present. So the right leg seems to struggle with control on these. Did sets of 3 reps each leg to warm up for these same as last time. The 2-3RIR was definitely kept for my left leg but not so much with the right leg. Kind of surprised I felt strongest on the second set. Then the appropriate fatigue hit me for the last set. Twist on an oldie after that. Backwards sled drags. But not with a sled. Suggestion for this week was to do them with the exer-genie. Plan here being 3 sets of 7-8 RPE with somewhat short rests. Like all exer-genie things, it is a pain in the ass to get things setup in a way that doesn’t get stuck. But once it is sorted out, it goes pretty darn smoothly. So I was having all kinds of problems with this until finally it clicked. I was tempted to do more sets once I got it figured out but it seemed that all sets were within the planned guidelines. Last item of the session was quad fallbacks. These have been about the same since they’ve been added back into training and I’ve figured out how to do them without pain. There was a weather advisory but it wasn’t until 11:00PM so I finished up stretching at the gym before driving home.