Background: I work at OSU as a graduate teaching associate and lift at Ludus Magnus. I am a raw lifter who competes in the 105lb weight classes, and am currently prepping for my next meet (when grad school finally gives me a weekend off) . Currently, I am in the process of trying to accomplish my lofty lifting goals,survive graduate school, and teach undergraduates about what I really love, TRAINING..

---

Isometric Week3: ME Lower (Sunday)

Warm up-general
Stepper

Warm up-specific
10 squat to stand
10 lateral lunge
10 lung forward to back

Neural prep
3 x 3 weighted kneeling jumps
-5lb plate
-10lb
-25lb

Training
1. Max effort back squat raw cubed (no belt, no knee wraps, no write wraps) with 3 count isomeric v. Doubled mini bands
-Up to 200

down sets with the change on the bar
-195x 1
-190 x 1
-185 x 1
-135 x 1

2.seated sumo pulled (12 inch box) with 3 count iso an inch off of floor
-5 sets of 3
**flex your back really hard, then use the back contraction to hold the weight an inch off of the floor, then push through the heels and stand.

3.3 position pause squats, high bar v doubled minis
3 x 3 reps with 3 3 count isometrics holds per rep
1 rep: pause half way down, continue and pause in bottom, continue and pause 1/2 way up.

**THIS IS HELL, you are fighting the bands pulling you down on the last isometric.  Yup, absolute hell.

4. Kneeling jumps unloaded
3 x 3

Arnold Weekend and the Wreckage

Arnold weekend was here, and is now gone, and with it's absence so are many other things (I guess) in a literal and figurative sense.

Alexander, Yessica, and Trevor had been staying with me for the past 5-10 days. I am very lucky to have friends capable of putting up with me in the most crazed of states (due to work, school, interviews, personal life, etc) and still stick around.   As crazed as I was to be trying to juggle everything over the past weekend, I would be full of it if I didn't admit that I already missed them.  Hell I'm even semi sad to not be busy cleaning up boy messes haaha.

I also got to see Caitlyn Trout at the night show and cheer on her awesome boyfriend Justin Compton as he collected a 3rd place finish in his first Arnold Classic appearance.  Man was he jacked and boy did a miss her.  Sometimes, no matter how much time passes between seeing her, it is as if we never skipped a beat.Image 2

I also had my interview that I was pretty stressed about at school. I'm still waiting to hear, but to be honest, I'm beyond nervous anticipating the email.  I'm not sure I can take much more bad news this week considering some other things that have transpired recently.  However, it came and is now done, so there is nothing else I can really do at this point.

By the time Sunday came around, I was pretty upset about how stressed I had been this past weekend and how I had allowed that to wreck my ability to appreciate and spend time with my friends in the way that they deserved.  I hated that I was barely ability to spend time and that when I did, I was still a ball of stress (which is the opposite of fun).  So, feeling like so many things were wrecked (including my nerves awaiting the interview decision), I naturally threw out a bunch of stuff from my house and started building a cabinet.  While building, I got some perspective  of things outside of training I probably need to work on as a person in general.  I guess sometimes literal building is the best remedy for figurative wreckage.

Image