Training Log: Entry 3679

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AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 2, Workout 3

(5) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls
18+5+5x425

DB rows
4x10x130

Axle curls
4x10x78

GHRs
4x10x55

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull apart superset circuit
3x15x360/3x10

Notes:

• Kiddo knocked on the door at 0310 with the puppy. Prior to that, I had gotten some REALLY decent sleep, but once the alarm went off my motivation was pretty shot. Tried to figure out a way to skip training and couldn’t Tetris the schedule to make it happen, so got up and trained. Even thought about hanging it up before the first pull of the workset on the mat pulls. Ultimately glad I got in the training, but Specificity is definitely a short run program. It’s just hard to show up 4 days a week and have no margin for error as far as scheduling goes, but this makes me better for doing.

• Speaking of better, WTF at 18 reps. You can hear my soul trying to escape once the bar is down. Managed 8 reps in the first breath, and blew out a blood vessel under my left eye for my efforts. Hip actually feels better compared to last time I did this. The initial pull is STILL much harder than it should be, and this put some pressure on the right knee, which leads me to wonder if, upon getting the knee in a better place, my ability to break the weight off the floor might improve.

• Rest of the workout felt more like “hanging on” than training, but I got through it with a solid effort. Pulls occupy a very unique space in that regard. With pretty much any other lift I do, the goal is to execute the lift and train the muscle involved. When I do pulls, it really is “endure as much pain as you can until it’s over”. Like, I don’t even feel like I’m actually training anything: I’m just bracing and suffering for time. I don’t write this to be a martyr, but more just to document how unique this one particular movement is, and part of me wonders if it’s because I’m so naturally built for the exercise that I don’t need to think about anything else BUT enduring the suffering while I do it. Whereas the squat is so alien to my body that I have to think about a LOT of things.

• Tang Soo Do was a decent workout last night. I pitched to my kiddo a “12 days of fitness” workout idea, which they pitched to the head instructor, which we gave a try. Got through the 8th exercise before we ran out of time.

• Weighed in at 85.3 kg, and got in a 1 minute hang last night. Also, there is at least one other person in the masters category for my upcoming competition in Feb, so it’ll be nice to have someone to compete against.