Training Log: Entry 1949


Standing DB shoulder press
20x10lbs
20x15
20x20
20x25
20x30
15x35
15x40
10x45
10x50
10x45
10x40
10x35
10x30
10x25
10x20
10x15
50x10


In between all sets

D ring lat pulldown
10x90lbs

Final set
30x90lbs


Notes: Injury made it difficult to support heavy weight overhead, so just went with a major pump workout. This was like last week, but actually challenging. If my hip/glute was a little healthier, I may have pushed to get 20 for all sets leading up, but it was putting a slight strain on things. Very decent pump in the shoulders and back by the end. Next time, need to go higher reps on the pulldowns.



Axle curl
1x120

Notes: Like last week: no setting the axle down. Great test of fortitude, and gets the arms pretty jazzed up.



Average band pushdown/miniband pull apart circuit
1x20/20
1x15/20
1x10/20



General notes: Woke up at 191.2. Happy to see the scale finally moving back up. Simply eating more, not worse. Also, woke up and was able to walk out of bed with minimal prep. Removed the memory foam mattress topper last night and it made a huge difference. First night in a long time where I woke up in less pain than I went to bed. I am healing this injury with a combination of willpower and hate, but some smart decisions never hurt either. On that topic, ordered a pair of Rehband warm-up pants so I can be an official strongman. I also busted out my old Inzer champion suit last night, and in a pinch I can wear it as hip support should the need arise, but it's a bit too much work. Still going to take things easy on the lower body leading up to the show. I'm not going to get stronger in a week, but I can definitely get more hurt. Happy that this is such a light show, minus the yoke walk.

Am reducing my Naprosyn intake at this point. Sticking with the heating pad as much as possible, and will continue to keep moving as often as I can to get my ROM back.

Training Log: Entry 1948


Swiss bar floor press 275
12 reps

Notes: 2 rep PR from last time. The messed up glute was actually an asset here, as it meant absolutely zero chance of using leg drive. Seems like the program is working.


Shoulder circuit
3 rounds


Close grip swiss bar bench 245
14 reps

Notes: 2 rep PR. Going to increase the weight next time.


D ring lat pulldown 180
16 reps

Notes: Going full on DC mode with this workout, and did the rest pausing and everything. Glute just makes me not want to do chins. Also had to cut out rows because of it.


Band pull aparts
100


Assisted GHRs
1x10



General notes: Woke up at 190.2. Once again, seems I don't have a good ability to estimate the effects of nutritional variance. Actually saw a 1 and an 8 as the first two numbers for a second. Theory is that the lack of hard workouts is diminishing my appetite, and that I've got something of a nutritional guilt complex over eating bigger if I'm not training hard. Need to knock that out for now.


Still trying to figure out what's going on injurywise. Back in pain this morning, wondering if the memory foam mattress is detrimental to recovery. As far as WHAT the injury is, still pretty clueless. I can contract the glute without issue, the pain is constant but can be increased with movement, and I noticed that the worse of it was when I held a weight in the hand of the opposite side and walked. Seems to be something involved with lateral movement and counter balance. May be taking the next 2 weeks off before the contest in terms of heavy lower body work and just stick with rehab. Might be a nice deload and a good way to transition into some different programming.

Non-training day: injury update

Woke up this morning and couldn't walk.  Right glute was in too much pain. I actually had gotten out of bed in the first place because my dog jumped off the bed, and the punk used my immobility as an opportunity to pee on my bathroom door.  After a few minutes of hobbling things started to loosen up slightly and I was able to crotch down to the floor with a lot of theatrics.  Took a long shower, put a lot of heat on it, used some icy hot, rolled it out with a rolling pin, and I had all my basic mobility back.  Still a good deal of pain.


Then, after breakfast, I did something I've never done before: I took naprosyn.  I've always been a ibuprofen guy, and consequently never noticed it working, but after about a half hour I was completely pain free.  I had "awareness" that I was injured, but no pain.  I don't know if this is entirely the naprosyn or if the aggressive rehab is paying off, but as a result I actually took today off from the rehab schedule because I didn't want to run the risk of pushing my injured part without being able to feel any warning pain.  I'll see how I feel tomorrow.


Morning weight was 191.8.  Great showing after a cheat meal dinner.  I expect my weight to be up slightly more tomorrow.  Playing a little looser with the diet in terms of food quantity, but quality has remained the same.  Eating a lot of greek yogurt.  Additionally, looks like the season is over for wild blueberries, so I'm now eating a blackberry/blueberry mixture for my breakfasts.

Training Log: Entry 1947

AM WORKOUT


Reverse hyper 50lbs
3:00


Gigantic DB overhead press/lat pulldown circuit

DB press
10x10
10x20
10x25
10x30
10x35
10x40
10x45
10x50
10x45
10x40
10x35
10x30
10x25
10x20
10x15
10x10
40x10


In between all sets

D-ring lat pulldown 90lbs
1x10


Notes: No rest for the whole thing, just one big circuit.  Took about 20 minutes total.  Got a pretty decent shoulder pump, 200 reps total, but not quite as challenging as I thought it would be.  If I ever do it again, I'll throw on some fat gripz, and maybe hit reps in the 15-20 range.


Axle Poundstone Curls
1x100

Notes: Always wanted to try these.  Good challenge, got a decent pump in the arms.  May throw some weight on it and work these into my OHP day.


Band pull aparts
1x50



PM Workout

Reverse hyper 50
3:00


Notes: Feeling more limber, rehab is working, but still too broken to squat.  Worked up to 320 for a single in warm-ups, but could only walk out 410.  Slowly but surely.



General notes: Woke up at 191.2 this morning.  Cheat meal was moved to dinner instead of lunch due to wife running half marathon in the morning.  Went to Carl's Jr and had a double western bacon cheeseburger, a lettuce wrapped 1/3lb thickburger, and an order of criss cut fries.

Training Log: Entry 1946

Farmer's walks 185 per hand
4x80'

Notes: On the 3rd trip, tried to get steps out of the pick up and ended up re-tweaking my glute/back.  4th trip was slow.  Plan was to hit this in the early AM, take an hour break and then hit up my deadlift training, but wasn't able to get through my warm-ups.


Reverse hyper 25 per side
3:00


Notes: This makes the pain go away, so I'm going to do it everyday.  Need to get more aggressive with the rehab, and considering I have a reverse hyper in my garage, it's stupid that I'm not using it more.  I really dig the "Do something everyday" training idea.



General notes: Woke up at 190.8.  Ate more carbs this morning, so hopefully that'll help.

Training Log: Entry 1945

AM WORKOUT

Axle Push Press from rack
4x238

Axle strict press from rack
7x148


Notes: The 238 was moving real smooth, but on rep 3 I felt a light burning in my right tricep and on the 4th rep it went into full on "on fire" mode. Did the back off strict set just to test it out, and it seems ok. I think it was ultimately just the elbow cuff sitting funny on the tricep and pulling it in a weird direction, but this close to the contest I don't mind playing it safe. I'm thinking I may need to bring some strict pressing back into my rotation anyway.


Dips
BWx10
25x10
50x10
75x10

Dropset
100x7
75x2
50x2
25x3
BWx3

Notes: I had at least an 8th on the 100 set, but the left dip bar buckled on the eccentric when I went for it, and fighting for it seemed like a bad idea. Right clavicle was a little pissed off from this, but I think I can sort that out. Ultimately I'm pretty pleased with this approach, and I think my execution is sound. I might rest a little on the drop set in the future, as this was done with only enough rest to switch out weights which, with a loading pin, goes by real fast. Also like the heavier warm-up set/pre-exhaust approach as a way to build up some volume.


D-ring lat pulldown/kelso shrug combo
4x10/5 of 140
1x20/5 of 90


Notes: Hit the sets of 140 supersetted with the warm-ups on dips, hit the set of 20 after the big drop set. Also did a bunch of band pull aparts today, but hard to log them.



DB curl dropset
10x40lb (Hammercurl)
10x35 (Curl)
10x30 (HC)
10x25 (C)
10x20 (HC)
10x15 (C)
10x10 (HC)


Notes: Was feeling the right tricep again slightly on these, but it seemed to go away with time. Still a big fan of this approach.



General notes: Woke up at 191.6. Seemed to have shed the water I picked up over the weekend. Back is just about 100%. Crazy how beat up I'm getting. Plan to hit some band triceps at lunch and some axle cleans after work today to round out this workout.


PM WORKOUT

Axle clean and press (clean each rep) 188
1x8

Notes: Was originally going to just do cleans, but then I remembered I was stupid and wanted to train wrong. Clavicle was a little tender, but tricep held up fine. Great speed and leg drive, conditioning might be the only x-factor on this, and with trading off with a partner, I think we'll be good.


Average band pushdowns
2x20
2x10

Training Log: Entry 1944

Reverse hyper 5 plates
3x12

Standing ab wheel
2x8
1x7


Notes: Worked up to my last warm-ups on SSB squats and car deadlift simulator, but wasn't able to break the weights when it got to working territory.  The strength was there, but my back tweak is preventing me from getting all systems firing.  Probably a convenient way to deload.  Woke up at 192.6.