ETK Week Nine "Hard" Day: Taking My Own Advice

Today I had an ETK "hard" day scheduled ... but wouldn't you know it, I woke up yesterday with a tweaky back and it's still not feeling 100%. So I debated postponing my workout until tomorrow, but ended up deciding to proceed with caution. Thing is, Week Nine is sort of a "consolidate your gains" week, at least if you're following the Art of Strength ETK workbook. The clean & press/pull-up ladders are the same as in Week Eight, and the swing intervals are actually somewhat shorter than in previous weeks. Today's workout, for instance, called for only six minutes of swings, in sets of 50 with 10 seconds rest between sets. I figured I could probably manage it, and I was right although I admit it was harder than usual to maintain a tight core and an arch in my low back on the downswing. The last couple ladders were pretty fatiguing as well. Psychologically I find it much easier to do ladders in reverse, starting with five reps per side and working my way down to one, than to do them as prescribed in ETK. But I'm doing them the ETK way on the theory that if I hate it, it must be doing me good.