MarkKO's training log

[MarkKO]

Ok, so a few things.

First up, a return to reason and a cessation of trying to ride two horses with one backside. I'm not going to entertain the idea doing strongman and powerlifting. I'll just end up doing both badly, and I'm not that good a powerlifter that I can afford to do anything to torpedo my performance. I actually suspect that some of the flatness and lack of focus I've been struggling with were simply un-uttered concerns about this.

Second, sandbags are out. Not because they're not doing what I want (they are) but they are frying my biceps too and that's starting to be a problem because it's getting into my elbows. Between the SSB, spider bar and pulling against bands I think my weakness in the back is addressed well enough.

Third, I suspect that the knee issue I've been having is probably linked to the strongman work. I first noticed achy knees after the first time I pressed the axle and DB, and it hasn't really gone away since. Something about the leg drive seems to irritate my knees. So, nixing the strongman work should have a decent chance of eliminating the knee pain. The week off over Christmas should speed this up.

Clean and press away I'm going to keep, but as an assistance exercise because my shoulders do seem happier with overhead work being included. I'll just press strict exclusively.

Friday close grip incline bench with fat bar
5x190 lbs
4x10x145 lbs, so everything goes up by five pounds next week
10, 6, 6, 5 pullups
2x8, 1x9x134 lbs fat bar clean and press way (strict, because knees)
3x10x132 lbs T-bar rows
10x80 lbs, 8x60 lbs, 12x40 lbs, 22x20 lbs tricep pushdowns with failure on rep 23
3x35 facepulls

This was the best session I've had in a while. Funny, that.

Strongman is definitely harder on the system than PL. PL can beat you up in specific ways for sure, but Strongman does not limit itself to narrow confines it seeks out new and different avenues to beat you up. It is fun, and doing a contest should really just be a bit of fun for most people. No one is getting to any serious level of professional success at it without a lot of drugs and dedication. I laugh out loud whenever I see PLers talk about "Retiring" from PL and moving to Strongman, as if it will be easier on them somehow.

The beating up I could deal with I think, if it was all I did.

But I've put a fair bit of effort into PL and have a ways to go to achieve what I want. I'm not prepared to risk that to try some shiny new toy.

I'm not good at focusing on more than one or two things at once. There's so much I would need to learn and work on for strongman that PL would have to go out the window and that was never something I was going to be prepared to do.

The one thing I think I'll bring back will be sandbag to shoulder and possibly even the carries in the period after meets where I focus on building work capacity, but they'll be limited to that period.

Was the strongman work mean to supplement powerlifting training, or just a separate aim altogether?

It started with the sandbag carries to work on my back. Then I started shouldering them as well. Then I played around with the log a little. It kind of snowballed from there and I got carried away.

I always knew it wasn't a great idea, but for some reason thought it was worth a shot to see if I could make it work. It lasted what, a month?

[MarkKO]

Week four of block three, and last working week of the year. About time.

Monday bench
4x2x253 lbs
9x253 lbs, which as soon as I racked I kicked myself for nor taking for a tenth
10, 6, 5, 5 pullups
2x20x132 lbs close grip bench press (from hereon CGBP) to a two-board, and I may up the weight for these
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x12, 1x10x 4 chains/side chain flys with failure on rep 11
2x50 facepulls

[MarkKO]

Ok, so this week was interesting.

Wednesday I got to the gym, went to the bathroom and sat there for 10 minutes trying to get enough gumption up to train. At this point I realised the thought of training was almost making me cry and the last time I ignored that feeling I ended up feeling a pop in my back midway up a deadlift and spent the next minute on my knees trying to figure out if I could walk.

I went home. On arrival my wife took one look at me and told me to get to bed. I didn't argue, and went to bed around 1900 at which point I started sweating profusely and that didn't stop until I got to sleep some two hours later.

Thursday I was about functional but exhausted. Friday I was OK, but seasonal errands kept me out of the gym.

On the plus side, my knee is feeling a whole lot better so not squatting or pulling this week seems to have been a good thing. We're going to Fiji for five days on Monday which I'm massively looking forward to, so I'll be getting an extended deload which I'm thinking is going to work well and let me scrub any niggles the strongman deviation caused.

The resort will have a gym which I can guarantee I'll use daily more to punctuate the day than anything, but which I can also just about guarantee will by its nature not let me push anything particularly hard. It's a beach resort too so I'm going to, if possible, run on the beach a bunch as well because running in the sand does wonders for my ankles and I suspect may do the same for my knees. I'll also swim. And eat. The food is probably one of the things I'm most looking forward to. We went to Fiji for our honeymoon five years ago so we know what we're getting and that's why we picked it again.

Saturday close grip incline bench with fat bar
5x195 lbs which was EASY but that's four days of recovery talking
4x10x151 lbs, last rep of the last set was as close to failure as it gets without actually being failure. All sets go up five pounds next time.
10, 6, 6, 5 pullups
2x15x44 lbs pushups, these are back because I realised they should be
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
7x91 lbs, 7x71 lbs, 8x51 lbs, 10x40 lbs, 21x20 lbs tricep pushdowns with failure on rep 22
2x60 facepulls



Best session I've had in ages. The gym was totally empty, so no music was playing and I had no one to distract me by talking to them. It clicked that I train best on my own, in silence. Can't wait to have my gym back. I moved through everything fast and felt like I worked harder.

[BenM]

Wow. Ups and downs for sure. Have fun in Fiji.

[MarkKO]

Wow. Ups and downs for sure. Have fun in Fiji.

Ups and downs, but it seems to average out as up overall so I'm complaining

[DCR]

Have an awesome time in Fiji, @MarkKO.

I understand the knee pain issue that you began to have. I’m not a physiology guy and don’t know the cause, but I have never been able to do anything that involves holding or using a slight bend in my knees. (Holding - think standing calf raises; using - think push presses.) Doing so always has led to pain not only during the movement, but nagging (and at times nearly incapacitating) pain just walking around. I no longer even attempt any of these movements, but I have to admit that it took me two decades to fully learn my lesson.

[MarkKO]

Have an awesome time in Fiji, @MarkKO.

I understand the knee pain issue that you began to have. I’m not a physiology guy and don’t know the cause, but I have never been able to do anything that involves holding or using a slight bend in my knees. (Holding - think standing calf raises; using - think push presses.) Doing so always has led to pain not only during the movement, but nagging (and at times nearly incapacitating) pain just walking around. I no longer even attempt any of these movements, but I have to admit that it took me two decades to fully learn my lesson.

Ok, so not just me then. Must be something to do with how the force travels through the joint when it either isn't moving or barely moving. That would be my guess, at any rate.

[MarkKO]

Ok, so the gym at the resort is by resort gym standards rather good. There are even two pullup bars, and a TRX, and kettlebell singles up to 53 lbs with DBs topping put at 66 lbs too. That's in addition to a cable multi station, a lat pulldown/cable row combo, a pressing machine and what looks like a leg curl/extension combo.

I can work with all of that.

The buffet is completely insane as well. It's more like a food court they open up for breakfast and dinner, and the variety is beyond anything I've seen.

Tuesday upper
2x15 lying leg raises
2x25x44 lbs/side facepulls, which now I think about it may be a mis-entry
2x25x26 lbs DB hand curls
2x20 pushups
8, 3x5 pullups
2x15x38 lbs/side cable flys
2x139 lbs cable rows
2x25x26 lbs chest supported flys

Took me 30 minutes pretty much on the nose.

[MarkKO]

Thursday lower
2x15 lying leg raises
2x25x17 lbs chest supported DB flys
2x25x26 lbs DB hand curls
2x25x53 lbs KB goblet squats
2x25x53 lbs KB swings
3x15x60 lbs leg extensions
3x10x60 lbs lying hamstring curls, which were obnoxiously hard and tbh lying hamstring curls always are for me so obviously in that position my hamstrings are weak AF.
5x5 pullups

This took 37 minutes and had me sucking wind. Lats are oddly tired but I'm guessing that's because I've been swimming the last two days and I'm not a great swimmer so I figure even a bit of swimming is going to tax the muscles way more than otherwise.

The extension/curl machine in ghe gym is actually great, I could only feel either quads or hamstrings and they both came close to failure. I measure how good a machine is by how hard it is on the target muscle. It makes sense to me to do it that way.

[MarkKO]

So much for training every day to give the day shape

Although I did swim some most days.

Anyway, I'm feeling really good. This break was needed, which I knew when it started. My knee seems to be pretty much back to normal and my biceps are pretty good as well. I remembered I had some Loaded Lifting store credit too which I used to get some elbow cuffs as well as some other bits like ammonia and a new water bottle in the sale.

I have no idea what I weigh right now, but I'll find out on Sunday morning. We fly back tomorrow. I figure if I'm under 231 lbs I'm cheering. As best I can tell I've kept with the Carbon calories, but the salt alone will have probably added a couple of pounds. Whatever extra there is will come down as soon as I go back to work and the coming week calories will be down around 3200 anyway because I won't be working. I've enjoyed the buffet immensely.

Also, while I'm not a new year's resolution kind of person there is one I have already made and it's a decision I'm holding myself to: I'm going to limit how much overtime I work. I didn't realise how much it was taking out of me. I'm going to limit myself to two days a week, days I don't train; and I'll only work every second Saturday.

[BenM]

That's what holidays are for. Relax, sample some good food, recharge batteries, etc. Glad to hear you're feeling refreshed, that's the idea

[MarkKO]

That's what holidays are for. Relax, sample some good food, recharge batteries, etc. Glad to hear you're feeling refreshed, that's the idea

I should have kept my mouth shut because the morning of our departure I woke up with either gastro or food poisoning

The return journey was interesting, I'll say that much. I can keep food down again at least now but my appetite is non-existent.

[MarkKO]

Twenty twenty-three starts with a lead in week, because I have exactly one extra week than block four and peak and it made sense to use this to ease in if necessary.

I can eat, it isn't pleasant and to my chagrin coffee makes things worse. Still not much appetite at all. I am bloated as hell, for obvious reasons. Hopefully I can actually get around 3000 calories in by tomorrow. Today might be a tall order.

Monday bench
5x3x220 lbs which I decided to do with 10 second rests and this went absolutely fine so that's a win.
10, 8, 7 pullups, another win. Longer rest between sets because of the acute nausea that came on after every set. That happened throughout the session and it slowed me down a bit
15, 10x176 lbs CGBP to a two-board
15, 10x132 lbs T-bar rows
24 x four chains/side chain flys with failure on rep 25
40, 35 facepulls



Given the circumstances this was a GREAT session. Obviously the break did me the world of good and once I can eat properly again I'm going to be in a good position. Seems like easing in isn't necessary, but I'll play along with the theme this week as I suspect its going to take a couple of days before I can eat normally.

[MarkKO]

Well, today was interesting.

I woke up with some weird AF deep cramp thing going on between my shoulderblades that radiated into my teeth (WTF) and hands. It was fucked, no matter what I did I couldn't shake it and it got REALLY bad. Then the cold sweats started.

So that was my morning.

By the time everything calmed down I was just exhausted and I've been able to spend most of the day asleep or at least prone.

Whatever this is, fuck it very very hard.

It isn't Plague (tm) because I did go to the medical centre where I had to take a RAT test which was negative. Apparently it might have been my gall bladder. Great.

[JohnHelton]

Weird. I hope you start feeling better quickly.

[Hardartery]

Well, today was interesting.

I woke up with some weird AF deep cramp thing going on between my shoulderblades that radiated into my teeth (WTF) and hands. It was fucked, no matter what I did I couldn't shake it and it got REALLY bad. Then the cold sweats started.

So that was my morning.

By the time everything calmed down I was just exhausted and I've been able to spend most of the day asleep or at least prone.

Whatever this is, fuck it very very hard.

It isn't Plague (tm) because I did go to the medical centre where I had to take a RAT test which was negative. Apparently it might have been my gall bladder. Great.

That sounds less than fun. I hope it passes fast for you and isn't your gallbladder.

[MarkKO]

Thanks @JohnHelton @Hardartery

Well, it isn't my gallbladder.

It's my goddamn heart.

That BS came back with a vengeance in the evening and ended up being the worst pain I can remember having. I ended up in the ER and they did an ECG and after that things got really interesting because according to the doctor the results were not good. I went from here is pain relief now hang in the wating room to you've got a bed in the resuscitation section because that's where you need to be right now.

First the doc was worried I had had an aortic dissection. CT scan ruled that out (and I almost shit myself when it was mentioned). Bloods came back and troponin levels were high (I was told they are meant to be zero and were at 27000) so I was treated as having had a heart attack.

Got sent for an angiogram which showed zero blockages and I don't even think any narrowing. Also had a heart ultrasound. I'm waiting on official confirmation but the cardiologist last said he's failure sure I have viral myocarditis caused by the gastro upset.

So I'm in my room in the coronary care unit right now. Looks like I'll be back at work a week later than planned at least which I have no issue with. I also need to accept that it's likely I'll be out of the gym for anywhere between four and 12 weeks.

But hey, I'm alive and not currently in pain. I'll take it.

[slowmotion]

Scary stuff! Hope you get better soon!

[Renascent]

Scary stuff! Hope you get better soon!

Ditto!

[JohnHelton]

Mark, tough news. I hope you are getting the best care and get better quickly.