Training Log: Entry 3062

AM WORKOUT (0405 wake up via alarm)

**JUGGERYOKE** Week 4, Workout 5: Squats and Shrugs

GIANT SETS (Squats-shrugs/press-pull/abs)

Buffalo Bar Squat to straps

15x1x285

Trap Bar Shrugs

8x3x455

2xAMRAPx365 (17,14)

Axle clean and strict press away

4x7

1x4 (getting those missing reps from 4x8)

Band pull aparts (alternating between to the front and overhead)

10x20

Hanging leg raise w/10 lat shrugs

5x5

CONDITIONING

Tabata short distance keg carries w/KB throws on the 10 second rest

Breakfast

Walk w/dog

Notes: 

* This is the day I “dread” in the program, because it beats the holy hell out of you the whole time.  Heavy squats and heavy shrugs are brutal.  I kept the squat weight the same as last week, but that was 10 sets vs the 15 for today, so I felt like it was the right call and still a form of progression.   I felt a few crackles and pops in the right knee around set 10, but it’s otherwise moving in a good direction and was up to the task for today.  Getting under that bar 15 times is good practice for set up.  Shrug ROM seems to improve through the workout, most likely as my upper back loosens up.  

* Appreciate how strong my pressing is getting with this protocol.  I imagine that benching day is actually a contributor there, bringing up weak areas.  

* Did a repeat of yesterday’s conditioning workout and got it on video.  It’s really just amazingly awful.

* Came into this feeling pretty beat up and flat.  Once again, with the carb loaded up there is a bit of a wave to ride in the training, and by the end of the week I’m feeling the flatness.  If I was truly interested in max performance, I’d probably do a mid-week bump up…or if I really REALLY wanted max performance I’d just always be loaded up on carbs.  But as far as what fits me best: once a week has been working.

* Hit a sleeping PR, only waking up once in the middle of the night (good time for wake ‘n shake), and then once 10 minutes before my alarm went off.  Sleep quality and quantity have really turned a corner, which has me consuming less caffeine, which, in turn, has me sleeping better.  Great positive feedback loop.  Going a bit further into the realm of TMI, I’ve adjusted my bowel schedule and no longer need to dedicate time pre-training to that.  One of the biggest positive qualities of this dietary change has been digestion.  When I was running Super Squats last year around this time, I had somewhere like 6 movements a day, and it was always a painful world ending experience.  These days, it tends to be 1 a day, and not nearly as traumatic.  Feeling good feels good.

* Tang Soo Do tonight, wild saturaday ahead, and then the Mrs departs for 6 days and it’s just me and the kiddo.  Mrs. is gonna make the kid a big casserole to eat off of all week while I’m gone, which is clutch.  I’m thinking of doing a Famine week to make my life a little easier, and it times out exactly right with my 4 weeks on/2 weeks off protocol.  Dinners will still be solid food meals to share that experience with my kid, but otherwise gonna be a lot of egg whites and lean meats.