Sunnyday's Training Journal

[hifrommike65]

Recap of my awesome weekend soon

Dying to hear it.

[AlexG]

Recap of my awesome weekend soon

Yes! Inquiring minds want to know. . .

[Sunnyday]

Tuesday 11/21 lower body

Dynamic warmup

Glute circuit (no rest between sides/exercises):
30 reps side lying clam ss 30 reps side lying abduction
30 reps single leg glute bridge ss 30 reps hip extension on elbows
30 reps single leg swing ss 30 reps fire hydrant

Ab wheel ss horizontal calf machine:
15 ss 150 x 12 (4 rounds)

RDLs:
4 x bar x 8 - hip still very stiff and sore so I wasn’t concerned with weight on these, just wanted some movement

Squats (competition style, below parallel):
bar x 5
75 x 5
95 x 5
116 x 5
3 X 132 x 5 - took my time and took it extra easy with these. Planning to ramp up the weight again over the next few weeks

RDLs:
3 x 135 x 8

Sumo deads:
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 1
195 x 1
6 x 205 x 1 with 30-40 sec rests. Felt pretty good, no pain. Trying not to lose my gains on these and so far so good

60 min walk at home

[Sunnyday]

Dying to hear it.

Yes! Inquiring minds want to know. . .

My fam has been ultra needy since I got back and they deserve some extra mom time. Annd the puppy is taking any extra time that the fam doesn’t need. Wow.

I did manage to post a vid on my IG page of Eddy Coan giving me a handoff on a lifetime bench PR. I have several more photos but haven’t had the time to post them.

Bear with me, peeps. It might have to wait until Thursday when all I have left to do is babysit the bird.

[Sunnyday]

My fam has been ultra needy since I got back and they deserve some extra mom time. Annd the puppy is taking any extra time that the fam doesn’t need. Wow.

I did manage to post a vid on my IG page of Eddy Coan giving me a handoff on a lifetime bench PR. I have several more photos but haven’t had the time to post them.

Bear with me, peeps. It might have to wait until Thursday when all I have left to do is babysit the bird.

That feeling when old school IPF monster George Hechter likes your post.

[Sunnyday]

Wednesday 11/22 upper body training

Did some extra back work today. Gym was surprisingly empty.

dynamic warmup

Face pulls:
30 x 12
40 x 12
50 x 12
3 x 60 x 12, pausing the even reps with a hard 1-sec squeeze

Bench press (competition style, pause bottom and top each rep, reset shoulders, repeat):
bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 5
116 x 5
5 x 121 x 5 - with longer pauses

Inverted rows:
3 x BW x 12

Reverse grip bb rows:
3 x 115 x 8

Decline DB rows:
3 x 40 x 8 each side

Decline DB pullovers:
3 x 40 x 8

60 min walk at home

Fingers crossed Friday morning is just as empty at the gym as it was today.

[Sunnyday]

Finally I have a not-so-crazy moment to give a recap of my epic last weekend!

Fam first: Saturday my kiddos killed it at their biggest swim meet of the year. I made it through one volunteer session before my hip and back gave out and had to ask someone else to take my place. I was in enough pain and discomfort that I was worried to have anyone else in the car with me, so I had my 17-y.o. drive the younger ones home and my husband followed me home in his car. I spent the rest of Saturday flat on my back on the sofa. Ouch!

Sunday was epic from start to finish. I got up extra early to make sure I could get to the venue with plenty of time to spare and did a bunch of mobility work. Must have been the adrenaline about the day but I had no pain on the drive down. Go figure.

Meeting Stan and Eddy was better than I expected, and I had high expectations from others’ testimonies. Stan is a perfect gentleman and everything you would expect if you’ve seen his videos but even more personable. Eddy was even more so, the most genuine person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Interesting fact about Eddy: his hands are like bear paws and when I shook his hand my hand seemed to disappear in his! Just before the workshop started, a surprise visitor entered the room: powerlifting monster George Hechter who lifted alongside Eddy in his IPF days. Eddy just melted when George walked in the room and introduced Eddy to his son who was participating in the workshop.

We squatted, benched, and deadlifted with Stan and Eddy taking the time to watch each of us and give technique tweaks. Many of the participants had competed in the meet at this venue the day before so not many went all-out. That made me feel good because I purposely held back on squats so I could bench and deadlift.

When it came to bench I couldn’t contain myself cuz unless you’ve been hiding under a rock it’s kinda my thing. Just kinda, yuh. LOL. So at 105 lbs most of the other women bailed out and just watched. One other woman (BW 170 lbs) kept up with me and we decided to work our way up to about 80%. WELL...I’m not very used to working in kilograms and either was she, so I’m doing conversions on my phone and we load the bar with what I thought was 138 and it felt pretty good. So I say let’s go to 143 and she was cool with it. I start calculating on my phone and realize we had miscalculated the 138 which was actually 143! I was stoked because I’ve never attempted anything above 146 and I knew without a doubt I could handle 149 that day and not miss. I walked over to Eddy, put my arm around him, and said, “I need you in my life” and asked him to give me the handoff. As I’m setting my arch he tells me, ”I want you to leave your fingerprints on this bar.” I’m like, yes sir! After I nailed the lift he told me “good job!” Stan was watching the whole thing unfold and afterward he asked me what I did differently to make the lift and he looked surprised when I told him I had never handled 149 before. Eddy also told me the bench seemed a little higher than a standard (think IPF approved) bench and that with a standard bench he was sure I had 154 in me. I nearly peed myself for his vote of confidence but I also felt I had more in me if I had had better leg drive.

Deadlift was a little weird because by the time us women got our acts together there weren’t any more 20 kg plates to work with and we had to use 45 lb bumper plates on a 20 kg bar. But then it got weirder when there were no more pound plates and we had to load kilogram plates on top of the 45 lb plates. So, yeah, it was weird. It felt weird af. Once again, the other women bailed when things got over 200 lbs. There were just 2 of us left again. I ended up being the last one to pull with the whole crowd plus Stan and Eddy watching (gulp, no pressure there!). I pulled 222 which is right around double bodyweight for me and 10 lbs below my all-time best. Neither of them had a tweak for my deadlift so I guess it must have been OK. Not bad considering I maxed out on bench just a short while before.

After we cleaned up the room we had about an hour of Q&A and it was ALL knowledge bombs. Lots of things I knew which made me feel good. But tons of other things I hadn’t considered and it was great to hear it in person.

My drive home was agonizing and yeah, I’m still recovering 3 days later. Worth every bit of agony and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

If you have an opportunity to meet these guys for a workshop, spend the money and GO! You will not regret it!! I had to give up competing for a year so I could attend this and another workshop earlier in the year. Much as I missed the platform, the knowledge I gained from the greats of the sport has been so worth it, and I feel so much better equipped for the 2018 season!

And yes, I have my eyes on a meet for early 2018. Heh heh.

[hifrommike65]

This is an inspiring story, just what I needed to see. I'm down w/ the flu & missing T'giving w/ my family, but this has cheered me up.

[Sunnyday]

This is an inspiring story, just what I needed to see. I'm down w/ the flu & missing T'giving w/ my family, but this has cheered me up.

Sorry to hear you’re down for the count, Mike!

But I am glad my story cheered you up. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[hifrommike65]

Thank you, Sunnyday. I got to the doc today & now have the meds I need to get past this bug. He also said forget Nyquil, shifting me over to Mucinex. It's more expensive, but works a lot better for sinus blockage. I'm feeling halfway normal for the first time since last Friday.

[Sunnyday]

Friday 11/24 lower body

Dynamic warmup

Glute circuit (no rest between sides/exercises):
30 reps side lying clam ss 30 reps side lying abduction
30 reps single leg glute bridge ss 30 reps hip extension on elbows
30 reps single leg swing ss 30 reps fire hydrant

Squats (competition style, below parallel):
bar x 5
75 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 3
145 x 3
3 X 155 x 3- these went sssllllooooowwww but got em done. 15 lbs below my best triples. I’ll take it

Sumo deads:
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 1
195 x 1
205 x 1
6 x 215 x 1 with 90 sec rests. Slow but not horrible, no pain.

RDLs:
3 x 135 x 8 - these actually made my low back feel sooooo much better!

Walking lunges:
3 x BW x 10/leg

60 min walk at home

[Sunnyday]

Thank you, Sunnyday. I got to the doc today & now have the meds I need to get past this bug. He also said forget Nyquil, shifting me over to Mucinex. It's more expensive, but works a lot better for sinus blockage. I'm feeling halfway normal for the first time since last Friday.

Hopefully you’re feeling back to baseline by now.

[hifrommike65]

Thanks for the well wishes, Sunnyday. You prop a lot of people up. I hope some prop you up too.

[Sunnyday]

Saturday 11/25 upper body training

Gym was packed when I arrived but cleared out just as I got to bench. Woot! Didn’t do many exercises but I killed what I did get to.

dynamic warmup

Bench press (competition style, pause bottom/top, reset shoulders, repeat):
Bar x 5
65 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 5
116 x 5
127 x 3
3 x 138 x 3 - with 2-count pauses - smoked these!
3 x 138 x 6 - with SlingShot and even longer pauses - smoked these too!

Neutral grip pullups:
3 x BW+37.5 x 5

Close grip bench ss incline DB curl:
75 x 10 ss 20s x 10

60 min walk at home

[Sunnyday]

Monday 11/27 lower body

Dynamic warmup

Glute circuit (no rest between sides/exercises):
30 reps side lying clam ss 30 reps side lying abduction
30 reps single leg glute bridge ss 30 reps hip extension on elbows
30 reps single leg swing ss 30 reps fire hydrant

Ab wheel ss horizontal calf machine:
15 ss 150 x 12 (4 rounds)

Squats (competition style, below parallel):
bar x 5
95 x 0 - ouch when walking out on first step, walked it right back in. Ugh.
Bar x 5 - ouch walking back in. Ugh
so much for squats

After the way squats went I decided not to even try pulling from the floor.

Rack deads:
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 1
10 x 195 x 1 - with 20 sec between pulls

40 min walk at home