After coming off my best meet performance of my career, I am now officially a beat up powerlifter. I'm having some minor low back issues that I'm working on mending up, and then I'll begin to find a competitive option. My goals for 2017 are to compete in a bodybuilding show and also get back to the platform 100% healthy.

For programming and coaching inquires, please email SmitleyPerformanceSystems@gmail.com or visit brandonsmitley.com

Tuesday's lower body day was a big step in the right direction for me. While I'm still nowhere where I want to be, I wanted to make this training day feel a bit more like a powerlifting based training day as much as I could, even though I still can't squat/deadlift. So I implemented some seated box jumps in for my dynamic effort work, and that was pain free. It's really the closest thing I've done to terms of actual effort and force transfer in comparison to a squat. Granted the box and volume was pretty low, but I felt like I was still able to generate really good power and force.

My hips and hamstrings are definitely feeling this as well, as it's a bit more specific to what I would need to be doing. It's not a huge hurdle, but I still feel really good about this first step. Hopefully it puts me in a good place the first week back mid February.

Items Used in this Training Session

Warm Up
PRI Breathing Work - 5 min
Hip Flexor Stretch - 30 sec per leg
Leg Swings (forward and side to side) - 10 each
Single Leg RDL - 10 per leg
Bulgarian Split Squat - 10 per leg
Goblet Squat - 10
Standing Band Crunch - 15

A1) Seated Box Jumps
3x5 with bodyweight; about 24-30 in box
*The goal this  week was just to implement some jumps to a moderate box and work on mechanics and just being FAST again. I'll push it a bit more next week*

B1) Stability Ball Leg Curls
3x15

C1) Leg Press
Wide Stance - Up to a moderate set of 20 with 6 plates per side
Close Stance - 3x30

D1) Single Leg RDL
4x12 per leg

E1) Leg Extensions
3x12-15

F1) Hip Abduction Machine
2x20
F2) Hip Adduction Machine
2x20

G1) Seated Calves
3x10-20

H1) Wtd Deadbugs
3x10 per leg