Last Training Session @ Legendary Lifting

FOR A WHILE, at least.


The Corona virus has forced us all back to where many of us - me included - first began: at home. My home gym I facetiously referred to as 'The Savickas Testing Facility' due to the Savickas press I jerry-rigged with some heavy chains slung over my back yard pergola, and the fact that it was still kinda rickety and experimental. It wasn't much, but it did allow me to overhead press and bench heavy weight safely, and even squat comfortably enough. Now, of course, there's a spa where the Savickas press was located. Also, I sold all my home equipment when I outgrew it and moved my training to the Muscle Pit.


Well, now I'm back where I started, almost exactly ten years to the day I first began exercising. The great people at Legendary Lifting allowed me to borrow all the plates, bars and mats you see here (save for the axle and blocks, which are mine), which is an excellent start to a new setup, and will keep me going in the mean time, albeit with some limited exercise options.


I hope to get more sessions done through the week by training at a variety of other people's home gyms. Until I can get my own, I am in dire need of access to a squat rack and bench - preferably adjustable.


But nothing will stop me from training. Certainly not this goddamned virus. I guess this is the reason I became almost entirely debt-free this year: so I could reinvest in my training at home.

LAST SESH Saturday March 21st
Deficit deadlifts:
65 kg x 10
105 kg x 10
145 kg x 10
Good mornings w/cambered bar:
20 kg x 10
40 kg x 10
60 kg x 10
80 kg x 10
Incline barbell press:
50 kg x 8
70 kg x 5
90 kg x 2
100 kg x 1
110 kg x 1
120 kg x 2 FAIL
110 kg x 4, 3
Axle OHP (strict):
20 kg x 5

50 kg x 3

70 kg x ME 12
Reverse hyper-extensions:
20 kg x 4 x 10

Cardio:

Assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm


EVENTS Saturday March 14th

Yoke walk:

130 kg x 2 x 15 meters

190 kg x 2 x 15 meters

230 kg x 10 x 15 meters

Cardio:

Assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm

Pull, Press, Squat: Rehabbing a Strained Hamstring

DEADLIFTS on Saturday were going well, till I strained my hamstring half way through the third and final set. But it wasn't major. I could tell at the time and was certain by the end of the session, seeing as I could walk without a limp, that it would need only a little time to heal and I'll be back at it soon enough. But what this means is I need to stop neglecting my hamstrings and glutes and incorporate more movements into my training that work the *other* side of the leg.

Good mornings used to be a mainstay in my programming. They need to return. Hamstring curls I do already, but not regularly enough. That needs to change. I also need to try out that machine I think I can perform glute-ham raises with. I've not been able to do them properly on the regular apparatus for this movement as I always tip it over.

As if to confirm I needed that leg looked at, early the following morning the adductor spasmed violently. It got me out of bed and writhing on the floor for twenty minutes or so, trying to make it release. When I was finally able to stand and walk, I booked an appointment with my physio for Monday to have the whole left leg needled.

Presses are still going well. I even managed a fourth set of three at 115 kilograms this week. Though I feel there is something about the position - particularly the initial lift out of the rack - that is aggravating my left shoulder. It hasn't done any damage as yet, but that fourth set just felt wrong from the start.

Keeping off the leg meant I achieved very little with 'leg day' this week. I will hit events pretty hard this weekend though. Yoke and farmers especially: now is an ideal time to give the deadlift a break and knock out my required money sets on some events.

SQUAT Thursday March 12th
Axle squats:
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 5 x 10
DB front raises (p/h):
10 kg x 4 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm

PRESS Tuesday March 10th
Chest press machine flat (p/h):
25 kg x 8
30 kg x 8
Incline barbell press:
50 kg x 5
70 kg x 3
90 kg x 1
105 kg x 1
115 kg x 4 x 3 PR
Axle OHP (strict):
50 kg x 3
75 kg x 8
Triceps pushdowns:
90 kg wide grip x 10
90 kg close grip x 10
63 kg rope x 10
63 kg wide grip x 10
63 kg close grip x 10
45 kg rope x 10
DB front raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 4 x 10
DB curls (p/h):
12.5 kg x 4 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +58 rpm TPR

EVENTS Saturday March 7th
Deadlifts w/barbell:
65 kg x 10
105 kg x 5
145 kg x 3
185 kg x 2
205 kg x 1
225 kg x 6, 6, 3 - left hamstring strain
Incline barbell press:
50 kg x 5
70 kg x 3
90 kg x 1
100 kg x 1
110 kg x 4, 4, 3
Axle OHP (strict):
20 kg x 5
50 kg x 3
70 kg x 10
Preacher curls:
24 kg x 10
29 kg x 10
DB curls (right only):
12.5 kg x 10
10 kg x 10
7 kg x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm

2 Week Catchup: More Conditioning Needed

Squats last Tuesday were a disappointment, as my squats sometimes are. The first set I performed with no knee sleeves or belt and they felt pretty comfortable. I put the sleeves on for set two but remained belt-less as the weight really didn't justify sacrificing breathing comfort. Coming up from the seventh rep, I went light headed, lost my vision briefly, and my legs began to shake; all indicators I was about to pass out, so I hurriedly racked the bar and waited till I felt steady on my feet again before continuing with the routine.


At this time, I had not had any dry needling to my traps in several months, and there is a definite relationship between the blood flow to my brain and having loose, unknotted trap muscles. I got both traps and quads needled later in the week.


On Saturday, I tried to keep up with the Legendary Lifting Arnolds crew and wound up with a bruised diaphragm. If you take a look at the stuff I was doing with the yoke, harness and prowler, you'd understand why. I'd not been doing anything like it prior, and was not sufficiently conditioned. At all.


When you bruise the wall of muscle that is your diaphragm, the worst thing you can do is lie down. That's what I did the first time it happened, several years ago. I had decided to do some reasonably heavy sets of leg press after an even heavier deadlift session. Everything went fine till I was finishing up, when I felt a pain in my chest as I pulled myself out of the 45 degree leg press machine. The inside of my chest felt tender and sore, and hurt to breathe a little. This condition worsened later that evening. I attempted to get out of bed and was unable to sit upright without intense pain through my chest. I basically had to roll on to my side, hang my legs over the edge of the bed and swing myself upright, so I could stand and go take a piss.


This time I was better prepared. I remained seated or standing that evening and did regular tensing exercises (think Kegels but for your abdomen) up till bed time, and felt 100% again by Sunday evening. This is not the reason I didn't make it back in to train till the following weekend, but because of this latency I used the Saturday to hit money sets on both deadlift and incline press. I was pleased I completed all required reps - something I was a little worried about since my last press session. This success means I'll be continuing with the incline program as written.


Navarre, Jacqui and Anthony were again hitting their Arnolds prep hard that Saturday. In the two-plus years I've known Jacqui, her strengths and abilities have increased at a remarkable rate. She was beaming with pride as she told me of the six reps of a 105 kilogram atlas stone she'd lifted and placed to 1.4 meters that day. When she began training Strongman with me in early 2018 (or maybe late '17), she could manage only two reps of a 65 kilogram stone. That's one hell of an improvement.


Shit, I haven't even attempted a properly heavy stone since before my first bicep tendon detachment. Going to have to remedy that.


EVENTS Saturday February 29th
Deadlifts w/barbell:
65 kg x 10
105 kg x 5
145 kg x 3
185 kg x 1
215 kg x 3 x 7 PR for total reps at this weight
Incline barbell press:
20 kg x 5
55 kg x 5
75 kg x 3
95 kg x 1
105 kg x 3 x 5 TPR
Axle squats (de-load):
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 10
100 kg x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm


EVENTS Saturday February 22nd
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 2 x 15 meters
190 kg x 2 x 15 meters
230 kg x 2 x 15 meters
+ Truck pull harness attached to prowler:
250 kg + 65 kg x 2 x 15 meters
1 arm DB curls (right only):
12.5 kg x 15, 10, 5
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm


SQUAT+ Tuesday February 18th
Axle squats:
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 5
100 kg x 3
120 kg x 2
140 kg x 1
150 kg x 9, 7 FAIL
Leg extensions (p/l):
20 kg x 15, 15, 10
Hamstring curls (p/l):
15 kg x 3 x 15
DB side raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 4 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm