Monday Feb. 27– Squat Day

Morning HR: 60.8 HRV: 78.8

HRV was within baseline so I proceeded as planned. This week I work up to a single.

Warm up: Sled pushes, Skipping, Dynamic Stretches, Mobility

Squat: (after warm-ups) 405×3, 455×1, 475×1, 510×1

The goal for today was 520. I definitely could’ve hit 520 but none of my sets felt right. I was fighting the bar a little and just couldn’t find my grove. Here’s my 2 heavy squats in the video. Clearly I could’ve had more weight on the bar, but I made a judgement call based on how it was feeling and decided to stop after 510.

Front Squat – 135×5, 185×5, 205×5, 135 for 2×5 – I still suck at these and I still hate them. Keeping at it though.

GHR: 2×8

Reverse Crunch: 2×12

Deep Step Up: 2×6/leg

Band Pull Down Abs: 2×15 with light band

 

Tuesday Feb. 28 – Rest Day

Morning HR: 65.2 HRV: 77.6 – Not bad for the day after a workout

I warmed up, foam rolled, stretched and did some sled dragging for 22 minutes. 2 plates on the sled.

 

Wednesday Feb. 29 – Bench Day

Morning HR: 59.5 HRV: 77.6 – I was surprised my HRV wasn’t higher with my HR being that low. HRV was within baseline so I proceeded with the plan to work up to a single. Last month I missed 385 at lock out. This pissed me off. I was supposed to do 375 but I got greedy. Today’s goal was therefore 375.

Warm – up: Same as usual.

Bench: (after warm-ups) 315×3, 355×1, 375×1 (between sets of bench I did some easy inverted rows on the gymnastics rings)

Military Press: 135 for 2×9, 2×8 – just wanted to beat last week (between sets I did some easy band pull downs with the average band)

DB Incline Press: 80’s for 3×9 – like last week I did these really slow on the eccentric and paused for about 2 seconds at the bottom.

Ended it there.

 

Thursday March 1 – Rest Day

Morning HR: 66.2 HRV: 76.2

Did my usually recovery work. Foam roll, stretch, and sled drags.

 

Friday March 2^nd – Deadlift Day (currently not actually deadlifting until my back is 100%)

Morning HR: 57.4 HRV: 84.3 – This was unusually high HRV for me. This could be a good thing or a bad thing.. I’ll have to wait and see.

Bent Over Row – 135 x10, 185×10, 225×8, 255 for 3×8 – I put the bar on the ground between each rep to engage my hams and glutes at the beginning of each rep.

RDL: 225×10, 245 for 3×10 – These felt ok on my back.. need to be careful not to overdo it.

Weight Pull Up: 25lbs on the belt, 3×8

Supine Hip Thrusts: 225 3×10 – these were pretty easy, working up slowly so I don’t get too sore. I like being fresh for squats on Monday.

DB Row: 100’s for 3×11 – elbows flared to hit the upper back.

No farmers walks today, the soccer team had to get their workout started.

 

Saturday March 3^rd – Rest

Morning HR: 60.6 HRV: 82.9 – This is another high score for me. I’m slightly concerned. I haven’t deloaded in about 2 months. I never used to go more than 3 weeks without a deload week. I’ve been experimenting with not taking deload weeks but rather deloading on a given day if my HRV is low. So far it’s been working great. My body feels good, libido is good, joints feel good, etc. For now I’ll just interpret this as good recovery.

Went in to the weight room to do some recovery work. Instead of sled drags I opted for a 25 minute jog in the Gymnasium. I did laps around the perimeter of the gym and up and down the steps of the bleachers. I felt great after.

 

Sunday March 4^th

Morning HR: 60.5 HRV: 82.1 – HRV was again above 80 which is typically a good thing.

This has traditionally been a rest day but last week I did some assistance work for arms and delts since I didn’t get to it on Wednesday after benching. I liked it last week so I did it again today.

I kept the weight really light and set the clock to 40 second beeps. Just focused on time under tension. We’ll see if these workouts make my arms grow!

That’s it for the week. Proceeding with caution next week. Unusually high HRV can be indicative of overtraining or even an illness coming on. Since I feel good though I’m assuming that this is not the case. We’ll see.

Here is a view of my HRV trend over the last month. Keep in mind This was my second month not taking a deload week. There were two workouts that I had low HRV (both on consecutive Wednesdays/Bench days. Those were my only deload workouts.