Day 1
- E:90 x8
- Pause wide grip bench x8
- Bent over BB row x10
- E:75 x9
- Narrow grip push-up x10
- 40m double KB front rack carry
- DB curl x8
- Lying neck flexion 3×12
I couldn’t wake up this morning. Lately, I have had a lot of difficulty rolling out of bed and going to the gym. There are zero excuses as to why I can’t. I have all of my clothes set out. My gym bag is ready. All I have to do is get up and get dressed and there are many days where that feels nearly impossible to do. Rather than let the week start off on a bad note, I opted to go in at lunch. The gym was less crowded and I really enjoyed the casual feeling at lunch. Plus, I had breakfast and coffee and was awake.
Day 2
- EMOM x8: Box squat x5
- DL: 6×3
- Seated single leg calf raise: 3×12
- Tricep press down: 3×12
The box squats got difficult quickly. The programming called for 8-10 rounds and I opted for 8 as I hit the intensity that it called for. I finished with several working sets well above the last box squat workout and felt good about that. I had very little time in between sets to add weight and when I got to the final two sets, I was out of breath.
The deadlifts were a different story. I have not done sumo deadlifts in a very long time. Today, I was supposed to take one minute of rest before going directly into another EMOM of sumo deadlifts. I decided to warm up on the deadlifts after squatting as I did not want to take up an entire platform and squat rack at the same time. With the snow this morning, it didn’t matter, I guess. There were 5 other open platforms. Still, I didn’t want to be that guy.
As I got heavier in the deadlift, it just felt entirely awkward. I transitioned over to traditional deadlifts, knowing it was probably not in line with the intent of the programming. It was still freaking tough to work through, even at a low weight.
Day 3
- EMOM x16-20
- Axel bar press x5
- Banded DB row x5
- EMOM x6
- Biagnular row x5
- Standing chest press 3×12
Stopped at 16 instead of going the full 20 as I had hit the prescribed intensity level for the first EMOM. I don’t think I have done the banded DB rows before and liked them. My setup was a little wonky and I probably should have used a heavier DB but it was still an effective workout.
Day 4
- E:90 x8
- Rear foot elevated DB split squats x6 e/l
- SN grip DL x8
- Leg press 3×10
Opted to do the leg press since I haven’t used it in a while. My mind was not in it this day and knowing the hack squat was difficult for me got the better of me. Normally I don’t mind that and I have tried to stick to the programming as closely as possible. Just wasn’t in the cards today. I also skipped a few other movements, but wasn’t stressed about that knowing I would be going to the gym at lunch with my youngest daughter who wanted to work on a lot of core. Which we did. I am glad I scaled back more in the morning.