Light day...

Today my focus was on some cardio with stretching, though I took it easier than Tuesday.  I spent a lot of time stretching my forearms, and massaging them as well (including stim treatment) in an effort to get better.  Nothing grand to report, just this quick update!

Thanks for reading!

Cardio, Plyometrics and Stretching

I still have limited use of my arms due to forearm pulls/tears/splits or whatever I happen to have going on currently.  Due to the lack of arm availability, I focused on cardio.  I upped the pace there about 40% more than normal and got my heart rate up the whole time (24 minutes - odd amount!).

After cardio I moved on to plyometrics.  I did stationary jumping:

To a platform and back down
Explosive jumps with knees to chest
Explosive jumps with butt kicks
Quick cone style pattern jumping
One-legged pattern jumping

This added some extra cardio along with some motions I don't often hit.  Plyometrics are great for explosiveness, as well as overall body balance and athleticism, which are all critical components of strongman.

I also hit my token shoulder work in a modified way using no extra weights and instead focusing on correct motions, sustained flex, and negatives.  I ultimately felt the same burn, and since I can't hold weights right now, it is my only option.

I tied up the workout stretching for nearly 20 minutes.  My flexibility is non-existent and I've got to continue to work on this, or my strength will plateau without a doubt!

As always, thank you for reading.

The past few days

I went down to Springville on Saturday to lift with Brian and Van.  My arms hurt to much to do anything so I basically squatted and did some really light band work while they did farmer's, log and deadlift.

I did manage some cardio over the weekend, and focused on stretching today as my arms have plateaued and I don't want them to get worse.  Also, my right knee is bugging me, so that put a leg workout out of reach today.

We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Crazy with rubber bands!

Today was all about the rubber bands.  My arms are getting a bit better but I have no strength in them and they hurt enough that I don't want to risk making things worse.  Today's lift was tailored around avoiding arm involvement as much as possible with the exception of some very light shoulder work.  Here is a video or rubber band pause squats with a bit of dialogue from yours truly:

And here is today's lift:

				Weight	Reps
Shoulder maintenance work				25	350
Hip thrusts bands				200	20
				200	20
				200	20
Pause squats with bands only				200	20
				300	20
				300	15
				200	20
Calf raises with bands only				200	25
				300	25
				200	25
Good mornings bands only				150	20
				150	25
Abs				60	130
			22	min cardio

 
Thanks for reading!

Legs only...arm injury

I've done something to my forearms.  It feels like a tear on the top...the relatively flimsy part of the arm.  I'm having trouble assessing how bad it is.  I'd venture, at this point, it is just a bad pull from overworking my arms, and that if I lay off, I'll be better in 5-7 days...fingers crossed!

I stayed completely away from my arms today.  I did leg stuff with band resistance and avoided using my arms in any capacity!

I got a new plyometric box today - 18 inch, metal - and it proved very useful for the workout.  This will be perfect height for box squats, step-ups, and can serve as a chair for workout friends!

With that, here is today's lift:

				Weight	Reps
Box squats band resistance				200	15
				200	15
Step-ups 18 inch box				300	24
			with negative	300	24
Lunges in place band resistance				200	20
			quick leg switch for speed	200	20
Good mornings with bands				150	20
				150	20
Band work for hips			front w/ raise	50	40
			lateral in and out	50	50
			kick-back for hamstring	50	40
Abs				60	90
Stretching and stim treatment
			20	min cardio

Light day!

Just a quick one today:

				Weight	Reps
Shoulder warmups cords/bands				25	400
Log press (clean and press)				65	12
				115	10
				135	4
				155	4
				185	4
				65	25
Straight leg deadlift				135	8
				135	8
				135	8
				135	8
Abs				60	300
Stretching
			25	min cardio

Squat day

No time to write much, so here is a quick video of full pause squats:

And here is today's lift:

				Weight	Reps
Bench for reps				45	75
				95	20
				115	20
				135	20
				185	20
				135	20
			log	65	55
Log curls				65	30
				65	30
Squat back				135	10
pause squats w/ recline				225	8
				315	6
				405	6
Lat pulls				100	25
				100	25
				100	25
				100
Calf raises				225	25
				225	25
Abs				60	105
Stretching
			10	min cardio

Cardio, calves and stretching

Today is sort of a day off...

I did 25 minutes of cardio with 10 lb ankle weights on, did a good full-body stretch, and did some calf burnouts.  Not much weight logged today, but it did loosen me up a bit, which I need, as tomorrow is set to be a squat day.

Thanks for reading!

Tonight was all about back.  Brian joined me for a varied routine on deadlift with straight bar and hex bar work, using band resistance to tax the top end of the lifts.  Here is a quick video of the heaviest set I did, which was more about speed, than anything:

And here is today's workout:

				Weight	Reps	Total
Deadlift			100 lbs bands	135	6	810
Speed focus			100 lbs bands	225	3	675
			250 lbs bands	225	3	675
			250 lbs bands	275	3	825
Deadlift hex bar			100 lbs bands	135	6	810
Speed focus			100 lbs bands	225	3	675
			100 lbs bands	225	3	675
			100 lbs bands	225	3	675
			100 lbs bands	225	3	675
			100 lbs bands	225	3	675
Bent rows axle from floor				115	15	1725
				115	15	1725
				115	15	1725
Hip thrusts bands				200	25	5000
				200	25	5000
Leg kick-backs with bands				50	40	2000
				50	40	2000
				50	40	2000
Abs				60	220	13200

Cardio and shoulders

Over the past couple of days I've been working in some shoulder rehab lifts as time would allow, and yesterday, was roped into playing basketball, again.  While I need the cardio, that puts the hurt on for a couple of days as I'm not in that sort of shape...my lift tonight with Brian is going to be tough as a result, but I'm sure I'll pull through!  Just updating on that for the moment, and will be deadlifting later today.  Thanks for reading!

Pressing and Farmer's

Brian came over today and we hit some overhead with log and axle, and some light farmer's picks.  No video today, nor much to report as it has been a light week due to my cold, so I'll just post the lift, and hope next week is more productive!

				Weight	Reps
Seated log press				65	10
				65	10
				115	8
				165	6
				185	5
				205	5
Seated lockout log press				205	6
				235	6
Seated lockout axle				205	6
				255	6
				255	6
Farmer's picks				135	16
				225	10
				225	10

Deadlift speed day

Still recovering from my cold/flu/whatever, so I'm light on energy.  As a result, my lift is light on weight and focused on speed with bands.

 Here is a pic of my new deadlift platoform where I'm doing the band deadlifts:

And here is today's lift:

				Weight	Reps
Deadlift with 100 lbs of bands+				warm-up
				45	8
				135	4
				225	4
~50% work with band resistance				275	3
				275	3
With bands feels like 375 at lockout				275	3
Stretching
			18	min cardio

I'm still sick!

Our entire household is sick with RSV which is not fun.  I probably shouldn't have lifted on Saturday and definitely am out for today.  Here is a video that Brian took at our last workout of us doing sandbag (about a minute or so in).  8 of these in a row like this is really hard and taxes your cardio quite a bit!

Heavy yoke day

Working up on the yoke to feel the weight on my back.  We did static lifts to over 800 lbs today and it felt pretty good!  We hit a medley of other things at Brian's and I hit some auxiliary stuff when I got home to round out the week.  I've been sick for the past few days and missed a couple of lifts, so today was in part about catching up.  Here are the static yoke lifts in a video:

And here is today's workout:

				Weight	Reps
Super yoke				105	20
				105	20
				285	20
				285	20
				285	20
				385	20
Static yoke picks				385	6
				565	6
				655	3
				745	3
				815	6
Sand bag				165	8
				165	8
Triceps extensions				50	30
				75	30
				75	30
Hip extensions				200	20
				200	25
				200	30
Abs				60	250
Curls using bands				50	20
				75	25
				75	30
			10	min cardio