TCam's Log - The Road to Elite

Training Logs
1821

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3 BEGINS
MICRO A - TUESDAY EVENING - UPPER // ARMOR

A1 | Ring Push Up
3x10xBW - Doing some single leg support and twists, just playing around and feeling out pecs in slightly different positions

A2 | Cable Cross-Over Rear Delt Fly
3x20/20x17.5s

A3 | Cable Shoulder Flexion Fly
10/10x17.5
2x8/8x17.5

B1 | Plate Overhead Raise
2x20x25

B2 | DB Incline Curl
18x25s
16x25s

B3 | Katana Cable Triceps Extension
2x15/15x17.5

Shifted the Armor day forward and main press day back again to give some space for the pecs. They felt totally fine during/after the ring push ups, so hopefully I can hit my Upper Reps day without any issue in a couple of days.

WEDNESDAY EVENING - SQUAT // HEAVY

Plyometrics - Deep Tier Yielding
2x15xBW - Squat
2x8/8xBW - Alternating Split Squat

A1 | Hatfield Squat - Belt/Barefoot
3x3x470 - Benchmark PR, never been above 425 apparently
8x420

A2 | Seated Cable Leg Curl
4x10/10x45

B1 | Cable Pendulum Squat
2x10/10xBW+90 - Got a new quad variation figured out :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

B2 | Stiff-Legged Deadlift - Beltless/Straps
2x8x315 - Soft touch-and-go

Opted for Hatfields as a primary movement for the sake of the quad tendons. Felt heavy as shit on my back, but all of these reps moved pretty easily and let me squat without pain. If the knees were 100%, I wouldnā€™t have stopped at 470 based on the bar speed, but just kept it conservative to start. Something to work with and see if itā€™s something thatā€™s tolerable with progression rather than not being able to squat heavy at all. Writing this the next day and thereā€™s no extra pain.

Figuring out the pendulum squat was fun. Looks completely absurd, but actually worked very well and got me to some quality effective reps.

1822

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO A - THURSDAY EVENING - CONDITIONING // MODERATE

Outdoor Running - MISS
4 miles in 37:35 - PR
9:46 + 9:34 + 9:16 + 8:59
Metrics
9:24/mi avg pace, 160 avg HR, 177 max HR, 757 cal

I ran a 4-mile in October, so this matches the furthest distance Iā€™ve ever run. I had forgotten about it, so I had no intention of trying to beat it. It was just a workout suggested by my wife, to go with ascending paces, and I tried to keep up with her. Beat my time by just 7 sec, but this time wasnā€™t as difficult and my recovery afterwards was significantly faster. Definitely an improvement.

These last couple of runs have been in my new Nike Rival Fly 4s, which were meant for my faster intervals, sprints, etc. Iā€™ve yet to buy a second pair meant for this sort of slower/distance work, but I will soon. Today was lots of lower leg (especially the right) discomfort the whole time, but no quad fatigue at all.

FRIDAY EVENING - UPPER // REPS

A1 | Bench Press w/ Chains
6x225+70 - Done without a hand-off, it felt shitty on the pecs and limited the set
3x8x225+70 - With hand-off, these were better

A2 | Single-Arm Cable Low Row
2x10/10x90
12/12x90

B1 | Duffin Upright Row
2x15x35
13x44

B2 | Cable Fly Dips
2x15/15x50 - Will need to film these

C1 | Cable Triceps Pushdown
15, 15, 12 x 50 - Bent over, hands to face, controlled eccentric

C2 | Incline Cable Curl
8/8x35
6/6x35
12/12x25

DB Lateral Raise
20 + 8 + 8 + 6 / side x 25 - Single DB, myo-reps alternating sides per chunk

Got some decent work done, even if the pecs arenā€™t 100%. Should be trending up with them though.

1823

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO A - SATURDAY EVENING - CONDITIONING // LIGHT + PLYOS

Air Bike
20 min with 5 x 0:30 fast / 0:30 slow in the middle of it
Metrics
10 mi, 116 avg HR, 141 max HR, 185 cal (bike)

Light Tier Plyos - Supported Single-Leg Pogo
3x25/25xBW - Non-working foot on box

Deep Tier Plyos - Split Squat Drops
3x10/10xBW - Simply standing straight up with feet together, then jumping slightly to land in the bottom of the split squat, accepting the load

Just some recovery movement and finding places to add easier plyos.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON - DEADLIFT // POWER

A1 | Seated Box Broad Jump - 16" Box to 20" Box
3x5xBW - 8 ft box-to-box

A2 | Standing Cable Ab Pulldown
3x15x70

Conventional Deficit Deadlift
1x455
1x495
1x525 @ RPE 8 - 15 min timer to get to top single starting at 135
6x3x425 - 12-min timer

Front Squat - Oly Shoes/Beltless/Sleeveless
6+6+6+5+5+4 = 32x225 - 10-min density set

B1 | B-Stance SSB Split Squat
2x15/15x60 - Bottom 3/4 piston reps

B2 | Standing Cable Leg Curl
15/15x35
13/13x35

This was a fun session. The jumps and timer-based things put a different vibe on the whole thing and gave it a lot more energy than usual. Jumps were a little iffy on the quad tendons at first, possibly a little limited in output because of it, but they got warmed up and didnā€™t have much pain.

Deadlifts were not the fastest for a ā€œpowerā€ day, but the intent was there. 525 was hard but smooth. The density set for the front squat was just an AMRAP for time. Repeated as I felt prepared and went til I reached the same RPE / form breakdown as I hit with the first set of 6.

Did the front squats partially as a test of the quad tendons, partially as a way to limit the absolute load and still squat. Quads are nicely sore the next day and quad tendons are relatively low pain / sensitivity.

1824

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO A - MONDAY EVENING (LAST WEEK) - UPPER // SECONDARY

A1 | Z Press w/ Open Trap Bar
6x6x130

A2 | Lying Lat Pulldowns - Alternating Supinated Close Grip / BTN Wide Grip
2x12x105
2x10x105
2x8x105
60 sec rests back to Z Press

Cable Chest Press
15x52.5
13x52.5

B1 | Cable Cross-Body Rear Delt Row
10/10x45
9/9x45

B2 | Cable Kelso Shrug
20x90
18x90

C1 | Band Pushdown
2x15x2 Monster Minis

C2 | DB Biceps Curl
18x25s
16x25s

Another open trap bar OHP variation, this time chosen due to setup laziness. Not much to note otherwise. Right pec had some discomfort during chest press, so that continues to be annoying. Going to have a few extra days off coming up this week, so maybe that will give it some more space to recover (forgot to actually submit this entry after I wrote it, so this was over a week ago).

Since this workout, I went to New Orleans. Missed out on a couple of sessions of conditioning and my Lower Armor slot from the last micro. Tons of walking, no other exercise. Weā€™ll see how I feel getting back into lifting after a week off.

1825

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO B - TUESDAY EVENING - SQUAT // REPS

A1 | Paused Hatfield Squat - Beltless/Oly Shoes
3x6x330

A2 | Band Half-Kneeling Leg Extension
3x10xMini - A lengthened position quad exercise. Get into couch stretch position with a band on the back foot, kick that foot down

Combo: RowDL + Stiff-Legged RDL
3 x 6+6 x 225 - Explained below

Foam Roller Hamstring Bridge
6, 5, 4 @ 5 Ct Holds - Stopped each as hamstrings/calves started cramping

Knees continuing to hurt and having some less than ideal mental day(s) kept this workout pretty subdued, but life be like that sometimes. Just focusing as much as I can on loading the quads despite the pain. I could do normal squats, but the Hatfields allow me to avoid compensating away from the knees.

The combo exercise: First, ā€œRowDLā€, because I donā€™t know what else to call them, are like a cheat row but much more focused on the hinging mechanism than the cheat row mechanism of focusing on rowing as hard as possible and then bringing the torso down to meet the bar when the row inevitably fails. For the combo, I just did those reps and then immediately went into the SL RDLs.

WEDNESDAY EVENING - CONDITIONING // MODERATE

Air Bike + Accessory Intervals - 6 Rounds:
A1 | Bike
6 x 5:00 on + 2:00 ā€œoffā€ during alternating accessories below
RPMs maintained per round: 63, 63, 60, 60, 57, 55

A2 | Single-Leg Cable Leg Curl
R1 - 15/15x35
R3 - 15/15x42.5
R5 - 12/12x42.5

A3 | Incline DB Curl - Single Myo-Rep Sets
R2 - 18+5 x 25s
R4 - 15+5 x 25s
R6 - 13+5 x 25s

Another instance of not wanting to do a standard sit-on-the-bike for 30-45 minutes straight workout. It was very hard lol. The leg curls left me with about 15 sec to get back on the bike and start again and the biceps curls about 30 sec, so there was really no ā€œrestā€. HR creeped up at each interval by about 10 bpm until 160 bpm and then I couldnā€™t maintain my 60+ RPM pace and it hung out there.

This was a very solid way to get 40+ mins of aerobic work along with some additional accessory volume to fill in gaps (like me skipping leg curls yesterday and wanting to get bigger biceps too).

1826

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO B - THURSDAY EVENING - UPPER // POWER

A1 | Standing Depth Drop Catch Push Up
3x5xBW - Falling forward from standing and catching myself on plyo boxes into a deficit push-up position, then a normal push up, standing up and doing it again

A2 | Cable Rear Delt Row
3x12/12x35

B1 | Eccentric Pause Bench w/ Chains
6x3x185+70

B2 | Supported Single-Arm Cable Row
3x10/10x82.5
8/8x82.5

C1 | Landmine Triceps Extension
12xBar+50
10xBar+50
9xBar+50

C2 | Cable Lateral Raise
16/16x25
14/14x25
12/12x25

Landmine Biceps Curl
12xBar+50
10xBar+50
9xBar+50

DB Fly
2x20x10s - Mobility/capacity work, big stretch

Going to run these drop catches for push-ups for a while and see how they affect my shoulders and pecs. Iā€™ll likely include an actual reactive push-up too on some days. I want to build more resilience in that area and I think theyā€™ll help along with other things.

Eccentric paused bench was a Spoto press, then a quick drop the chest and immediately pressing. Felt good and fast for the most part.

Overall note: The couple of times in the past few weeks Iā€™ve done neuro-based prep things, like jumps and drop catches, Iā€™ve seen a much higher level of general energy/voraciousness following them. May be coincidence, since I may choose to do those things when Iā€™m already feeling that way. Going to keep with it though.

1827

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO B - FRIDAY EVENING - CONDITIONING // MODERATE + LOWER // ARMOR

Treadmill Running - Speed Intervals
Ascending 5:00 warm-up at 5.5-6.5 mph
10 Rounds w/ 2 min Rests
2 x 90 sec @ 8.5 mph
2 x 90 sec @ 9.5 mph
1 x 60 sec @ 10.0 mph
1 x 60 sec @ 10.5 mph
2 x 60 sec @ 10.0 mph
2 x 60 sec @ 9.5 mph
Intervals
1.89 mi in 12 min work (6:20/mi avg pace), ~20 min total walk rests
Bio
152 avg HR, 176 max HR, 572 cal

A1 | Linear Hack Press - Yielding Isometrics @ ~100Ā° Knee Flexion
5 x 10 sec x 90
2 x 3 x 20 sec x 90

A2 | Leaned Back Leg Extension
3x8x180 - Relatively slow and controlled concentric and eccentric

Standing Leg Curl Machine
20/20x50
12/12x65
8/8x65

B1 | Single-Leg Weighted Calf Raise
3x10/10xBW+80

B2 | Light Tier Plyos - Supported Single-Leg Pogo
3x30/30

Itā€™s time to start putting in some faster running efforts for being ready for sprints. These intervals all felt manageable and not super difficult cardiovascularly. Right hamstring had a few instances of feeling tight, which improves with focusing on a bit of posterior pelvic tilt. Need to make sure the hams are ready for striding and sprinting though, because last August I strained the left one on the track work. Trying to with leg curls and such, but it really doesnā€™t matter without actually progressing running speed.

The rest of the workout was good. Quad tendons got demolished by the 20 sec isometrics. Super painful during those, but definitely getting the goal tension there.

1 Like
1828

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO B - SUNDAY AFTERNOON - UPPER // SECONDARY

PREP
P1 | Air Bike - Arms-Only
2 x 1 min
P2 | Overhead Barbell Hold
2 x 30 sec / side x 45 - Single-arm, rotating the bar
P3 | Barbell Facepull / ER
20, 15 x 45

A1 | Standing Overhead Press
4 x 2+2 x 185 - OHP + Push Press
12x135
9x135

A2a - Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
2x8/8x80
6/6x80

A2b - Cable Biceps Curl
20x40
17x40
15x40

B1 | Cable Fly Dips
2x15/15x50

B2 | Cable Triceps Pushdown
8+8x50+Dbl Mini
6+8x50+Dbl Mini
With Band + Without Band

Barbell Facepull / ER
20x45
15x45

Based on OHP warm-ups, I thought Iā€™d be pressing 185 strict for 4s, but that wasnā€™t happening today. 2 hard reps + 2 push presses, it is.

Good workout overall. A2a and A2b means I alternated which one followed the OHP each set. OHP + Lat Pulldown, OHP + Curls, repeat.

1829

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO B - TUESDAY EVENING - DEADLIFT // SHITTY

SSB Jump Squat
3x5x150 - Half squat to vertical jump

Conventional Deficit Deadlift w/ Belt/Straps
1x495 - Oof, this was slow and terrible

Conventional Deadlift w/ Belt/Straps
1x495 - Same

SSB Short Stance Split Squat
10/10x150 - As instructed here with knee forward and ROM restrictions at bottom and top
8/8x150
6/6x150

Standing Cable Ab Pulldown
3x12-15x85

This day and the day before I hadnā€™t really had much water or NEPA. Iā€™m assuming thatā€™s a good chunk of why these deadlifts felt so bad. I considered just decreasing the weight and doing some reps, but when a lift is way harder than it should be, Iā€™ve learned to just let it go for the day.

Those short stance split squats are a different beast. Theyā€™re part of my knee(s) rehab to try and find some relief and workarounds, but absolutely need to be worked regularly anyway. Theyā€™re meant to be for the quads, and they are, but my glutes were sore just a few hours later and a couple of days later now theyā€™re smoked (partially from the running logged below too). Something about the knee staying forward throughout just killed both the knee and hip extensors.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON - CONDITIONING // HARD

Outdoor Running - First Run in Asics Novablast 5s + First Hilly Run
0.6 mi warm up in 5:10 + 2:00 rest
1.0 mi in 8:54 + 3:00 rest
1.0 mi in 9:05 + 1:53 rest
0.5 mi in 4:56
Metrics
3.1 mi in 28:04 work and 7:00 rest, 150 avg HR, 179 max HR, 611 cal

We went to another area for our run today. I knew it was hilly, but fuck me I was not ready for it lol. Lemme show you what Iā€™m used to. Hereā€™s the elevation graph of our usual route, taken from the 4-miler I recently did:

image
image1550Ɨ317 12.4 KB

Todayā€™s run was a little differentā€¦
image
image1526Ɨ291 21 KB

Quads got hit a ton by the downhill first half. That first big upward climb in the first half was the beginning of the first 1-mile too, so immediate fatigue starting the working sets.

Turning around and running basically uphill all the way back (other than having to hit that steep hill again, but on a descent) absolutely killed me. Quads were cramping and I couldnā€™t finish the planned workout, which was to run the full distance back (1.6 mi). Stopped and rested and made it another 0.5 mi barely.

Definitely a different vibe lol. Will be interested to see how the shoes feel on our flatter trail. Lower legs felt good at least.

1830

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO B - THURSDAY EVENING - UPPER // ARMOR

A1 | Standing Depth Drop Catch Push Up
3x5xBW - 20ā€ box

A2 | Assisted Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
10/10x90
8/8x110

B1 | BTN OHP - Behind-The-Neck Overhead Press
3x45 sec x 45 - Yielding isometric

B2 | Cable Triceps Pushdown
12x70
10x70
9x70

C1 | Chest-Supported Barbell Facepull / ER
3x12-15x45

C2 | Incline Cable Curl
7/7x35
6/6x35
12/12x25
12/12x25 - Normal curl facing the rack for this last one

Nothing specific to note on this workout.

Finished out the microcycle here. Not a super consistent micro with the conditioning. Increased the intensity of the 2 runs, but still need more volume of work to build the base.

Iā€™m switching up the ā€œCubeā€ element of my scheme for squat, bench, and deadlift. Moving the power slot to the secondary exercise for the primary lower day and replacing it with a control slot. For example, a heavy, rep, or control squat primary slot will be followed by a power deadlift slot, then a deadlift supplement and accessories. Bench power slot is undecided. It may either go to the secondary press day or be removed as a major ā€œliftā€ and be switched to throws, plyo push-ups, etc.

1831

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO C - SATURDAY EVENING - UPPER // REPS

PREP
P1 | Plyo Push Up to Boxes
3x5 - Deficit push up from floor up to 16ā€ boxes
P2 | Band Rear Delt Fly
3x20xMinis

A1 | Deficit Close Grip Bench (i.e. FatGripz)
8x275 @ RPE 7
8x275 @ RPE 8
8x275 @ RPE 10

A2 | Supported Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
12/12x70
2x10/10x70

B1 | Landmine Press
2x10/10xBar+50 - Seated

B2 | Cable Skullcrusher
10x70
8x70

C1 | Band Triceps Pushdown
35x2 Minis
25x2 Minis

C2 | Alternating DB Biceps Curl w/ Isometric Hold on Non-Working Side
12/12x25s
10/10x25s

Alternating Hammer Curl - w/ Isometric Hold on Non-Working Side
11/11x25s
10/10x25s

D1 | Cable Lateral Raise
2x15x25

D2 | DB Fly
2x20x10s - Mobility/capacity work, big stretch

Tons of exercises here, but all effective and efficient. Been seeing Will Ratelle doing FatGripz bench and calling it deficit bench. I never even thought of it like that, but thatā€™s what it is more than anything to do with the grip itself. Definitely the best bench has felt in weeks. Pecs seem to be recovered.

First time doing push ups to boxes and they were fun. Missed the box on one side on my first attempt and fell like a ragdoll lol. The privacy power of the the home gym.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON - CONDITIONING // LIGHT + ACCESSORIES

Air Bike
20 min at 57 RPM avg
Metrics
140 avg HR, 149 max HR, 220 cal (bike)

A1 | Weighted Single-Leg Calf Raise
2x15/15xBW+65 - 10 sec isometric at the beginning of each 5 rep cluster

A2 | Anterior Plank Dip
2x10

A3 | Side Plank Dip
2x10/10

Usually struggle to get my HR up on the bike, but for some reason today it went up immediately and I was sweating profusely within 10 mins. I only had about 30 minutes for this, otherwise I would have done more cardio.

Going to trial using these light conditioning days for a couple of slots of accessories like I did here to fill in some things.

1832

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO C - MONDAY EVENING - SQUAT // CONTROL

PREP
P1 | Wall Sit w/ Overcoming Isometric
2x2x30 sec at ~50-60% effort
P2 | Plyometrics - Deep Tier Yielding - Bilateral Squat
2x15
P3 | Seated Vertical Jump
2x5 - From 16" box

A1 | Paused SSB Front Squat w/ Belt
4x290
3x4x330 - Oof
4x290

A2 | Standing Cable Ab Pulldown
2x12x90
2x10x90

Clean Pull - Beltless/Straps
5x3x315

Stiff-Legged Deadlift - Beltless/Straps
12x315
10x315

SSB Short Stance Split Squat
10/10x150
8/8x150

Still having knee pain, but improved movement/loading tolerance for sure. No jump in pain the next day either, just hanging out at its baseline. Good signs.

Front squats were hard though. Got up to RPE 9.5 on a couple of sets. Iā€™m thinking of defining my Control slots as something like the weight of my Rep slots, but the rep range of my Heavy slots. Then, by choosing a hard variation, it should sit me pretty well into an effective RPE. I can autoregulate as needed through variation change. It probably would have been more appropriate today with not pausing or just using ~315 lbs.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON - CONDITIONING // MODERATE

Outdoor Running
0.83 mi in 8:10 + 1:08 dog pooping rest stop
0.88 mi in 8:05 + 1:03 hamstrings cramping rest stop
0.78 mi in 7:13
Metrics
Work: 2.49 mi in 23:28 work / 25:39 total, 9:26/mi avg pace, 8:51/mi avg Effort Pace (grade adjusted)
Bio: 157 avg HR, 178 max HR, 444 cal

Had to run in our neighborhood due to time and weather. I forgot I had run the same route, so the last hilly run I logged wasnā€™t actually the first hilly run Iā€™ve done. But I did stretch this one out by 1 additional hill (both ways) this time, ending with going uphill for the last 3 minutes.

I was (and still am on Thursday) very sore from the previous workout all over, but especially the glutes and high hamstrings. Got crampy in the latter after a long hill in the second half of this and needed a minute to stretch. Otherwise I think this run is doable without stopping.

1833

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO C - THURSDAY AFTERNOON - UPPER // ARMOR

Depth Drop Plyo Push Up to Boxes
2x5xBW - Drop from 16" box to 3" deficit push up back to boxes

A1 | Cable Flexion Low Row
3x12x140

A2 | Cable Triceps Pushdown
3x12x70

Barbell Biceps Curl
10x75
3x8x95

Shoulder Flexion Impulse Reps
1x30

Cable Lateral Raise
2x12/12x25

Cable Pec Fly - Single Arm
2x15/15x25

Shoulder Hangs
3x30 sec

Reverse Hyper
30, 25 x BW

Testing out more depth drop push up variations. This one was a lot. Probably too much without regressed warm-ups. First set I was catching the boxes in a half push up position or lower. But on the second set, I was getting to within an inch or two of lockout, so I was hitting 11-12" of elevation. On the 4th rep, I felt some right shoulder pain, not enough to stop. 5th rep though, woof. Landing was similar to the 4th, but pressing out of it shot pain way up. Felt like straight through to the biceps tendon/labrum. It cleared up within a minute of pressing into it and moving around and didnā€™t show up again from there, but weā€™ll see the next time I do any pressing.

Hence needing to warm-up into it some more. Felt like a very good high impact plyo movement though. All of this is just me trying things for shoulder/pressing resilience.

Iā€™m likely not doing actual deadlifting this micro because Iā€™ve been having low back pain since the squat day. Nothing horrible, just catching and spasm-y with slight flexion + lateral flexion. Couple things mixed in here for that too.

1834

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO C - SATURDAY AFTERNOON - DEADLIFT // REHAB

RANDOM
Just moved around for about 10-15 mins trying to get the back feeling okay for deadlifts. Went through all the spine movements and such.

Reverse Band Deadlift w/ Belt
3x3x405-Minis - Felt fine up to this and then these were all difficult. No real pain, but very clearly rate-limited neurologically and/or psychologically

SSB Hack Squat
3x8x150 - Figured out a cool way to mimic an angled Smith Machine with straps in my rack

Past this I wasnā€™t really motivated to do anything, to be transparent. But my back has not hurt a single time since this little workout. Once again adding to the pile of evidence that I have that back pain is fixed by just loading it through the fear.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON - LOWER // ARMOR + CONDITIONING // HARD

PREP FLOW
P1 | Standing Hip CARs
2x5/5
P2 | Split Squat Calf Raise
2x15/15xBW - Working foot on plyo box, just leaning into it
P3 | Plyometrics - Deep Tier Yielding
2x20 - Bilateral squat jumps
P4 | Plyometrics - Deep Tier Yielding
2x10/10 - Alternating split squat jumps

A1 | Single-Leg Calf Raise Overcoming Isometric
3 x 5/5 x 7 sec @ 90% Effort

A2 | Depth Drop to Double Broad Jump
3 x 3 - 20" drop, max distance = 205" / 17ā€™1"

B1 | Standing Cable Leg Extension
15/15x45
2x12R/10Lx70 - Both sides had pain, but left was significantly worse and harder, couldnā€™t match the right sideā€™s performance

B2 | Single-Leg Weighted Calf Raise
2x15/15xBW+65 - To partials

C1 | Weighted Hip Airplane
2x10/10x44

C2 | Hanging Leg Raise - Back Supported
2x10

Air Bike - Sprints
8 Rounds: 0:15 max effort sprint / 0:45 slow recovery
Metrics
4.0 mi, 85-90 RPM sprints, 156 avg HR, 180 max HR, 103 cal (bike)

Been working on my programming a good bit this week to update some patterns around how days are structured, prep flow, and accessory focus. As originally planned, the system keeps getting refined.

The primary problem Iā€™m always trying to solve:
Making sure Iā€™m loading all body parts and movements appropriately in the 10-day microcycle, to promote both skill acquisition/retention and hypertrophy, without ruining the recovery for other things (e.g. hamstring work ā†’ sprints ā†’ deadlifts). Upper body is dealing with too little frequency, by nature of the spread out 10-day micro, whereas lower body is dealing with too much frequency, by nature of mixing running, jumping, and lifting.

Weā€™ll see how this iteration feels :person_shrugging:

1835

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK A - MESO 3
MICRO C - MONDAY EVENING - PRESS // SECONDARY

PREP FLOW
P1 | Banded Shoulder CARs
2x5/5xMicro Mini
P2 | Barbell Facepull/ER
2x15x45
P3 | Impulse Drop Push Up
2x10xBW - Inclined on 16ā€ boxes, release hands shortly to drop from top of push up position and catch on same boxes into deficit push up
P4 | Med Ball Chest Pass
2x5x25

Bench Press w/ Bands
6x3x185+Dbl Minis

A1 | Standing Overhead Press
2x8x135
14x135

A2 | Chest-Supported Meadows Row
3x8/8xBar+100

OUTPUT ACCESSORIES: SHOULDERS + BICEPS
B1 | DB Lateral Raise
3x20x25s - Myo-rep match sets
B2 | Landmine Biceps Curl
2x12xBar+50 - Myo-rep match set
C1 | Incline Cable Curl
2x12/12x17.5

QUALITY ACCESSORIES: TRICEPS + PECS
C2 | Overhead Triceps Extension - Arm Supported
2x12/12x22 - Deep stretch, controlled eccentric + pause
Lying Pec Opener
2 x 60 sec x 10s - Lengthened partials, yielding isos, static stretches
Band Pec Isometric
2x5xLight Bands - Overcoming Isos at 90% effort

Trying a little different format for the logging here. Part of my adjustment this week was defining the accessory slots as either ā€œOutputā€ or ā€œQualityā€. Output exercises are for maximizing mechanical tension and force production and Quality exercises are for joint/tissue resilience and positional control. The differences are basically in the constraints, loading, and intent. Iā€™ll write more about it later, but Iā€™ll be alternating body parts through each microcycle on an ABABAB pattern so that theyā€™re all hit with both Output and Quality.

This workout was good. Pushed my power/dynamic bench here since I replaced it with a control slot in the main day rotation. Iā€™ll probably keep it pretty light to let me focus on progressing the supplemental lift on this day.

END OF BLOCK A IN CYCLE 2

Iā€™ve written enough about this meso and changes coming. Knees are still the primary limiting factor in anything, but Iā€™m working my way through it. Time for Block B.

1836

CHIMERA

CYCLE 2 - BLOCK B - MESO 1
MICRO A - TUESDAY EVENING - SQUAT // REPS

PREP FLOW
P1 | Split Squat Isometric
2x0:30/0:30xBW
P2 | Plyometrics - Deep Tier Yielding
2x20xBW - Bilateral squat
P3 | Alternating Anterolateral Bound w/ Stick Landings
2x4/4xBW
P4 | Barbell Jump Squat
2x5x45 - Full depth

High Bar Squat
4x8x315 - In flats, first set beltless, then added belt

Paused RDL - Beltless/Straps
3x3x225 - Trying out hang clean pulls, didnā€™t really feel like the power hinge purpose it was meant to fulfill
3x3x315 - Switched to the high-velocity intent paused RDLs here

Stiff-Legged Deadlift - Beltless/Straps
2x12x315

OUTPUT ACCESSORIES: QUADS + CALVES
A1 | SSB Hack Squat - Paused
10x150
2x10x200
A2 | Split Stance Calf Raise
2x15/15x200 - SSB, leaned forward with arm support on rack

QUALITY ACCESSORIES: HIPS + CORE
B1 | Copenhagen Adductor Raise
2x8/8xBW - Paused at top and bottom
B2 | Half-Kneeling Windmill
10/10x22
2x10/10x35

I think my knees dislike the lengthened position quad work from the standing cable leg extension I did a few days ago, because theyā€™ve been more pissed off than they have in a few weeks before that (also note the hip flexor/sartorius comment below). With that and the low back being questionable, I decided to keep the squats light and just try to keep tension on the quads through pistoning the reps. Still got some good work in and back ended up feeling decent for the deadlift slots.

WEDNESDAY EVENING - CONDITIONING // MODERATE

Outdoor Running in Asics Novablast 5s
Warm-Up
0.5 mi in 4:41 + 2x20 sec strides + 2:00 rest
Work
2 mi in 15:58 (7:50 + 8:08) (2 sec off my PR) + 5:39 rest
Cool Down
0.38 mi in 3:38 - Left hip flexor or sartorius was grabbing, walked for 5 minutes
0.5 mi in 4:58
Metrics
3.38 mi total in 29:14 running, 154 avg HR, 182 max HR, 749 cal

For the last week, my wife and I had been talking about playing this game of Catch Me If You Can, with me trying to stay ahead of her, since she always starts slow but ends up fast, and Iā€™m the opposite. I started off the first 0.5 mile at 7:15-7:30/mi pace, then drifted above 8:00/mi around 0.75 mi and stayed in 8:00-8:30/mi for the remainder.

I started hitting a wall around 1.45 mi and turned to see her right behind me at 1.49. Morale was shook lol. She passed me and I just did my best to keep moving from there (this was totally expected).

This coming the day after the leg day above really limited me. The expected leg fatigue + right gluteal insertion, right hamstring, and left hip flexor were all barking at me. I doubt I would have beat my wife at this regardless, but I would have gotten a 2-mile PR, Iā€™m sure.