December 1, 2025 – Week 14, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses
36x10
66x5
96x5
126x3
156x3
186x2
216x2
246x2
246x2
246x2
246x2
246x1 (3 misses)
246x2

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
56’sx10
85’sx6
85’sx6
85’sx6
85’sx6
85’sx6
85’sx6

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics)
70’sx5
70’sx5
70’sx5
70’sx5
70’sx5

Barbell Z Presses/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
95x3/bwx8
135x8/bw+50x8
135x8/bw+50x8
135x8 (1 missed rep)/bw+50x8

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Supported No Touch Single Leg Reverse Lunges
80’sx12 -- bwx12/12
80’sx12 -- bwx12/12
80’sx12 -- bwx12/12

Stretching

Comments: The filling up of the sandbag on Saturday I may have overdid it as far as my focus on that task as a few of my knuckles were scraped raw and got a slight bruise one knuckle and some fingers still sore. That was expected. But something in my right wrist and forearm area started to feel sore and swollen Sunday and into today. Can be painful at times but I seem to be able to do anything I want. Also a bruise on my left inner thigh which I think is from an errant dismount with the circus dumbbell on Saturday. Weight up a little from last week. Probably due to irregular food and sleep schedule. I was not looking forward to getting up early to start off this month. But made it through the day. Due to inclement weather, the office was going to be closed tomorrow so that meant that I had to work from home. Which was fine by me as that meant I could sleep an extra hour and be comfortable and not have to worry so much with getting the workout this evening done super fast. Commute home wasn’t bad but man is it dark out driving. It took a bit to get ready as I had to review the new training sessions and figure out what I was doing since not able to do this in the office. Soft tissue foam rolling was fine. Not much in the lower legs as seems to be the case at the beginning of the week. Hamstrings fine, a little sore near the glute tie-in I imagine from box squats. Quads needed it a decent amount (especially the right side) and so did upper back. Neck rehab stuff followed and that was good. Felt needed to get my shoulders and chest not feeling so tight. From there stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train. Close to freezing outside. Axle out of the rack again. The heavier session. I had expected it would be something like this with how the last week and week prior had been with it alternating and going back up with the option to add a little more to the previous time doing the same reps and potentially sets. The suggested was 240-245lbs for 5x2. Last time I had done 242lbs for this and that was 4 weeks ago when I took off for DLS shift and did training in the daylight. I’ve been just doing 6lbs instead of 5lbs with my axle weighing 26lbs as close enough and not worry about the fractional plates all the time. I was not sure how this would go. I was feeling like I was ok at times but other times I was worried. My lower back was feeling a little sore and at times warming up my shoulders would feel sore. Axle has really become something that irks me with how easy it is for me to mistime and miss a lift. I’m proud of myself for not letting that completely derail the session and quit by coming back and getting it but it is getting damn tiring with the frequency it pops up on pressing. I was glad my sore wrist/forearm thing wasn’t hampering my abilities today. Things seemed to be going well here. I wasn’t taking my usual shorter rests here but I wasn’t taking a double rest at this point. I did stretching things out by having myself rewrap my wrist wraps and I did have to retie my shoelace after one set. I could tell that I was fatiguing but didn’t feel as bad as it was two weeks prior when I just hit that wall midway. I felt like the lessons from the previous week were helping. Four sets down and just one left. And I’m not sure what happened here. I unrack the weight and walk back thinking I will launch it up but I don’t feel stable in the dip and have to redo it. It goes up but lockout is a little tough and lose balance a little and have to get myself settled before trying for the last rep. Gets stuck at my sticking point and I rack it. I rest of like 10 seconds and try again so that it is “one set” and it is even a worse attempt at the second rep than the first. Getting frustrated. I step away and take about 30 seconds before going at it again. It goes up higher but still sticking point and me trying to strain through it to lockout I have my left foot slip and it is a no go. I let the intrusive thought win and just chuck the weight on to the j-hooks and it partially catches as the weights on the right side fall off onto the platform. Ok, a bit of an overreaction and now I got to pick stuff up. But it gave me enough time to cool down and rest. I was going to try this last double again and get it as a double rather than just a single to get the reps. Everything felt against me getting this last double as I felt unstable the entire time but I just went deeper in my dip the first rep and it launched up there. But still feeling unstable and I just went for the second and it didn’t get past the sticking point and actually started to come back down. But somehow, I managed to just brace and muscle it out. Not ideal but I got my fifth double. I’m not sure about my body handling these upper body sessions as lower body seems to be responding better. But I’m far enough out that it isn’t something to impact the competition. But I do think I need to figure out if changes are needed so that I’m having a good time with my hard time. I was still feeling a bit raw about the axle stuff and how it ended so I went right into the dumbbell pressing in the garage and worry about putting stuff away until later. A merciful reduction in weight on these this time around. Notes were 80-85lbs for 6x6, have these feel confident. I only did one warm up set with the loaded handles so that I could keep things moving along. Shoulders a little achy and again, thankfully no issues with the wrist/forearm on these. I feel these felt consistent form wise and I had less shoulder instability with the right side. I didn’t have to take double rests to get through the sets and was able to stick to somewhat normal rest periods so that was good. Back outside for dumbbell push pressing with the 5 seconds eccentrics. Same weight as last week but now 5x5 instead of 5x4. I knew that the extra rep each set was going to be a ton harder. It is just one more rep per set but these 5 second eccentrics just roast my shoulders. I wasn’t feeling quite as explosive on these compare to the past two sessions. I took slightly longer rests (not quite double time) to hopefully keep things moving but also get more rest to deal with the added reps. I got through them but man were my shoulders feeling dead. From there it was on to the supersets. Both being the same exercises as last time but adjusting in the reps. So for the first pairing of z presses and heel elevated tempo goblet squats, both were for 8 reps. When I had first done the z presses this training prep, I had done 135lbs for a set but with the change in exercises after that, my shoulders are feeling a lot more fatigue at this point and had to pull back. The suggested was 135-145lbs on these. Just based on how my warm up felt, I knew 135lbs would be a challenge this session. And it was. No stoppage the first set, a slight breather to get the last two the second set and then a difficult time on the third set as I rushed going for the last rep and missed it so I had to take longer to recoup and get it. All the last reps of these sets were grinders to finish. I do try to avoid grinding lifts as while I can do them and can grind out a lot, it tends to make it harder to recover and leaves me feeling, well, ground down. The goblet squats I wasn’t sure how my knees were going to feel as a little achy. I actually didn’t walk on Sunday as I was trying to get my affairs in order and felt that was more important and would help my knees feel better with the cold. Adding weight actually felt better than unladen. Suggested was 45lbs but I felt I could do more weight with the rep reduction here so did 50lbs. That seemed to be fine. Could see the light at the end of the tunnel of this workout. Last pairing for the evening being the weird rows and the new supported single leg thingies. Same weight and sets as last time but both now being 12 reps. I did adjust the weight displacement on the handles to try and have more clearance for my thighs with the drag style. I was advised to try and have my hips back more so as to increase the ROM. The single leg stuff I was instructed to try and stand closer to the support so that I was more upright and less leaning forward. In hindsight, I should probably start with my left side on these going forward as that appears to be the less strong side on these with the odd knee ache I get (not patella stuff like the right). This got finished up and put stuff away before finally getting to eat a late dinner and then stretching.

November 29, 2025 – Week 13, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

19” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats
85x10
135x8
175x6
225x4
265x2
325x6
325x6
325x6
325x6
325x6
325x6

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x4
72x3
94x2
108x2
125x1
137x1
150x1
162x4 (3 misses)
162x4 (1 miss)
162x4 (1 miss)
162x4 (2 misses)

Yoke
180x50’
270x50’
360x50’
450x50’
540xpick (5 seconds)
540x50’ in 8.09 seconds
540x50’ in 8.57 seconds
540x50’ in 7.90 seconds
540x50’ in 8.12 seconds
540x50’ in 8.03 seconds
540x50’ in 7.94 seconds

ATG Split Squats (12”)/V-Ups
bwx12/12 – bwx10
bwx12/12 – bwx10
bwx12/12 – bwx10

Sandbag Husafell Carries
290x50’
290x50’
290x50’
290x50’

Echo Bike
10 minutes

Stretching

Comments: I apparently needed the days off work. Sleep cycle off and need to get that back on track for this upcoming month of in office work shift. I’ve not really been having it where I’ve been sleeping a lot lately besides Friday night and even that wasn’t so bad until recently. It had been a bit short of what I have been able to do before I went to Ireland but definitely seems like I’m back to being able to just sleep the day away if I wanted to. I slept for 10hrs Wednesday and Thursday night and I might have been close to that for last night as well. That coupled with going to bed late pretty much meant I got just breakfast and dinner and a shake before bed for Thursday and Friday. But big meals for dinner so maybe evens out. So I guess eating schedule also off but it is going to be off with work shift starting next week. Plan not to have that today. I wasn’t sure who would be at the gym with it being a holiday weekend and such. Drive out wasn’t bad. It has been below freezing or close to it the past few days so I wore my warm ups. Soft tissue work started things off and wasn’t too bad. Maybe all the sleep. Quads still needed it a fair amount. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Felt I needed it to get my shoulders and chest not to feel tight. This was followed by stretching of the hips, hamstrings, knees and ankles and then a dead hang. On to the weights. Cambered squat bar box squats for the first thing. Higher volume session, comparable to the first week of these. Plan being 315-325lbs for 6x6. Considering how the past two weeks went, this shouldn’t be an issue other than just getting used to the reps I think. Comparatively, these felt tougher than the ssb front box squats did earlier this week. These just felt a little off today I guess. Knees had felt stiff and the right one a little achy so not ideal. Trying to keep the upper back rigid but I don’t think that really clicked until the last 2 sets for me. I definitely did some touch and go reps on the second set at the start but corrected. With more reps here, I took longer rests than the 90 seconds last time but not quite as long as I did my first week of these. I got these done with no real issues and put stuff away and swapped in a fresh shirt for circus dumbbell. I did take a bit to cool off and I walked outside a little. The heat is now on in the gym and I needed to not be so darn sweaty for what came next. Now I’ve done circus dumbbell prep with it every other week for a majority of my time with dumbbell but that isn’t to say that I’ve not also done it every week as well. The last time I tried it every week didn’t go well and had to have the one week intensity dropped a ton to have it work and while end result in training was good, did not materialize as good on the day of competition. Up until this point, it has been every other week with offseason but it would appear the plan is increased frequency with contest prep with Ms. Funk. The plan was 160-165lbs for 4x4 and I knew that was going to be a big ask as about 90% of my new training max found last week. I was also asked to hold the lockouts a little longer to insure that I got the down call as well. My plan was only if I was feeling really good was I going to try doing any attempts at tap and go with the clean. I was fully expecting this to be where I did a rep and set it down and took a few breathes and went again. By virtue of the fact that I had to do this working weight twice last week as I missed the first rep attempt. I was also hoping I didn’t have an off day going into this. My initial plan had been to use the end caps but I didn’t bring my own bolt on collars so I didn’t trust that the hand tighten ones I found would be secure the entire time so did like last week with no caps. A lot of nerves. First rep went up fine and I took a step back and breath or two and went for the next rep. Just wasn’t there and I set it down and took a bit longer of a break and went for it again. That rep went up so explosively I almost lost it trying to get stable under it. Went for a third rep and it was similar results to the first missed attempt (just a bit better I guess) and I attempted to restabilize and go again but put it down. I guess it was going to be one of those days. After another short break I went for it again and it got up there but couldn’t stabilize it. After two misses in a row, I had to walk off the platform and collect my thoughts. Came back and got it finally. So that seemed to work so I walked off the platform again and came back and got that last rep convincingly. This took about 3 minutes to get these reps done. So obviously not a great start but I knew these were form issues and I’m getting more time with the dumbbell and working on my clean which is what I feel is also having me anxious and worried about fatiguing. Since this set of four took 5 times longer than I’d have liked to finish, I took a rest that was needed to calm down and get myself ready. Or so I thought. Got ready for the second set and I miss the first rep. Ok, walking it off. Come back to it and I get it this time but did need to walk a little to stabilize under it. Give myself a little rest with walking away to the monolift and coming back for the next rep and that goes up better than the first rep. I do the walk away and come back again and that one goes up even better. So I stay on the platform for this last rep and I get it just as well as the third rep. So four gets in a row. About 2.5 minutes this time (1.75 minutes if don’t count the first missed rep). Still not great but better than the first set for sure. So hope was that I could improve on that with the third set. First rep went up fine and when the second set had a little bit of struggle with stabilizing at lockout, I took a slightly longer rest before going for the third rep which went up easy again. Almost had the fourth rep (would’ve been 70 seconds mark) but I lost tightness in my upper body and it was going inward instead of outward and I had to bail or dislocate my shoulder. It had me a little shaken so I did walk away to get my head right and get myself back into. Got the last rep here with a little dancing under to get it. Ok, under 2 minutes to get all the reps and same percentage of gets to misses for that set. Final set and it started off similar to the third set. First rep comfortable and then the second rep ended up being just as explosive as that one rep in the first set. So I took the same short rest to go for the third and I just couldn’t stabilize it and missed it. Just two more reps. Went for the third rep again and I got it with a little shimmy needed to stabilize under it. One more. Going for it and it just seems that I’ve hit a wall here as I just don’t feel comfortable with it and I stay in the hold position too long and have to redip as I didn’t feel stable the first time and it just goes nowhere. Ugh. I take a longer rest here as I just have to get this last rep and I’m done. I think this ends up being the longest break between reps at 35 seconds. I get it and I hold it for a beat longer before setting it down. Ugh, that was a lot. But I’m proud with myself for not getting frustrated and rage quitting here. I know that this one is a very technical lift and I think part of it is that I know I’m 10 weeks out still and I’ve already hit above contest weight three sessions in row here. From there it was on to yoke. Same as last week with the aim being speed. Plan being same weight as last time but 6 runs of 50’. Aim still being to get below 8 seconds on as many sets as I can. I did what I did last week for the most part as far as warming up as circus bell took up a lot of time and I knew I’d be at the gym late due to what I still had planned. So did 90lbs jumps and gradually adding equipment and speed. Knees were feeling a bit stiff today. I didn’t want what happened last time with the first set and my blood pressure spiking so I did a pick and hold with the working weight to hopefully mitigate that as things had felt good weight wise on my back after that first run last week. This was also the point I decided to be sneaky and just add 10lbs more so that I did 90lbs jumps from the empty yoke to this weight. I think my upper back and knees were just beat this week from stuff as the weight never felt as easy light on my back as it did last week. I had felt that with the cambered squat stuff too today. Oh well. Had Brian doing commands and he does them a bit more the traditional way and actually stands at the end line unlike the other person that did them the past two weeks so I guess take consistency with a grain of salt. I was at least off to a better start compared to last time with the first run. Second run felt like it was going well and then I noticed tightness issue and that’s when I noticed my belt had come undone and was dangling around my hips before falling to the ground. Not happy about that with it being just over 8.5 seconds. But I made up for it on the next run finally getting sub 8 seconds here. This ended up being my fastest run of the day. The next two runs were just over 8 seconds like my first run. Usually I get my best time on the last run of the day and it probably would’ve if I didn’t stumble in the midway to beginning for some reason. This did end up as my second run sub 8 seconds. Besides the second run with the wardrobe malfunction, they were all pretty close together and within human error. I put stuff away from there as I had something that was going to be a time vampire planned at the end so rather have clean up be quick. Nex thing being a superset. Slight adjustment to this. Still the knees over toes progression on the split squats but the abdominal exercise was changed. For the split squats, same box height and aim for 12 reps. My left knee had been fine with the box height last week but my right was feeling a little irritated. As my knees had been feeling a bit stiff all this session, this height and these reps felt challenging enough today. The abdominals was a new one for me with a v-up. I’ve done something similar before but not really with movement involved. I’m not terribly coordinated when it comes to new things so I had an awkward time with the first set finding balance point but seemed to get it fine the second set and then get a bit of balance issue again on the third set. I’m sure I’ll get these better next time. Then it was time for the time vampire; filling up a new sandbag. I didn’t “need” to do this now. The notes had been to do husafell carry working up to RPE 8 for 4x50’. But I felt it was important for me to see how a sandbag one was compared to a metal one. I’m good at the metal ones for the most part but I had a feeling my style of hold that I usually go for wasn’t going to work here for the competition and I needed to see where I was. Now, the gym has a 270lbs one that is from a cheaper brand and it isn’t really shaped like the contest one as well as being 38lbs too light. I had bought one that I assumed was the contest size a few months back and had 300lbs of sandbags to make contest event. I had waited until I was done with everything besides this to mess with the sandbag stuff as it can be time consuming and frustrating and I get a little annoying when I got dirt/dust on my hands for an extended period of time. This took probably and hour and I’ve come to the conclusion I was sent 120kgs bag instead of 140kgs bag in error as I packed this thing to the rafters and it won’t even close like it is supposed to and it comes out to 290lbs. There is no way that I can fit 18lbs of sand into this thing. I’m frustrated and I’m not going to be asking for refund or whatever as I’m not going to spend another hour filing up a sandbag for one competition. So some sore hands, fingers and forearms and finally ready to do this. Would feel pretty stupid if I couldn’t do this for the RPE 8 after all that. I do think this was a good idea to do as it does feel different grip wise compared to a metal implement. I definitely have to crush it more. I generally only where a soft belt for this but seeing as how I’m doing this as part of a medley after yoke, I wore what I’m wearing for that. That first set my knees were stiff and I was trying to see what purchase I could get as far as getting it up my body to move with it. It did not feel comfortable with it resting on my knees like that. Thankfully, I was able to pick it up and adjust without doing that on the following reps. Moving well enough but I feel like I got to be quicker here. If needed, I think I can toss a weight vest on top of this to get closer to contest weight but there is no way I can get more sand in there. The true last thing was some “recovery” bike time. Advised to hit level 2 HR on bike for 5-10 minutes. Thankfully, the gym did get a new exercise bike that actually fits me but it doesn’t have heartrate monitor so I just went with steady pace. Felt fine but my hamstrings and glutes were sore from other stuff so sitting on bike seat wasn’t enjoyable. This ended up being a much later night than I had expected so I saved the shake for before I go to bed and got myself home to start dinner and then stretched. Hopefully I recover well enough before training again as I feel that competition prep is soon and will be brutal.

November 26, 2025 – Week 13, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
143x5
235x3
323x2
Add Holds at Lockout (2 seconds)
373x1
423x1
473x2
473x2
473x2
473x2
473x2
473x2

Safety Squat Bar Front Box Squats (21”)
65x8
115x6
155x4
205x2
255x7
255x7
255x7
255x7

Paused Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (straps, 2 seconds)/Chest Supported I Flys and T Flys/Paused Lying Band Leg Curls (3 seconds)
265x3/10’sx3+3
355x8/21’sx10+10/(2)mmbx10
355x8/21’sx10+10/(2)mmbx10
355x8/21’sx10+10/(2)mmbx10

Sandbag Marches
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds

Stretching

Comments: So if it wasn’t apparent I had checked out for the month on Monday in regards to work, yesterday and today made that abundantly clear. Honestly, I just want this year to be done at this point. I do feel like I’m on the tail end of this cold as I didn’t need any meds yesterday or today. It is good that I did stick to doing the workouts as planned on Monday and today rather than space them out as weather on Tuesday wasn’t great (hard rain in November ugh) and I’d have been out of it going certain days and then having to have things be quite rigid for the next month. Trying to not let things going on in the world (close to home and at large) stress me out but it is good that I have a close and supportive place and it is affirmative to see that things I put my faith and trust in are what they say they are if that makes sense. I was looking forward to work ending so I could get to training and get it done and then make the most of the time off to get things in order. I tend to forget I kind of get down mentally around this time of year because of my friend passing away at this time and that this was my mom’s parent’s favorite holiday and they are no longer with us. So busy lately that it sneaks up on me subconsciously and then I don’t understand feeling this way and tired until I get a break and kind go “oh right” and then I seem to understand and not feel so off. Work done and don’t got to worry about it until next month. Foam rolling was ok. Calves were alright and then my quads were really tight. I was wondering why and then I remembered the tempo goblet squats and the new quad dominant movement as well. That makes sense. Neck rehab followed and that was needed. My upper body (especially shoulders) were feeling Monday session. Went into the stretching for hips, ankles, hamstrings and knees after that followed by a dead hang to decompress. Then I did the tib raises/calf raises, treating these as the first exercise of the lifting session. I do like that it feels I’m getting better control of my ankles and feet with training. Then time for garage work. Bendy long bar pulls again. Volume adjusted a good bit. Still a lot of sets but now doubles with 20lbs added. Last time these had started off quite rough and then I somehow got into a zone where deadlifts felt great for most of the rest of it. I don’t know if it was a combination of Dayquil and mindset and form or what. I tried my best to replicate that but didn’t quite get there. These didn’t feel awful but I didn’t quite get these reps to feel like the solid reps I was getting last week with 20lbs less. I did same warming up with plate jumps and then 50lbs but did 50lbs all the way up once going to those jumps to get to what I wanted for the working weight. I was to do the 1 second holds but I ended up going longer with more like 2-3 seconds as I was fully exhaling and then taking a breath before going. I think I did this for consistency sake and not end up rushing and I did used to do this style in the past when coming back from back injury and working on bracing. Even with this weight, I was able to keep my rests between doubles to about 90 seconds like the box squats on Saturday. Which felt good to know I could do the repeat that quickly and having things be consistent. I got a little silly near the end with singing to the music playing. From there, I got a little bit of a drink and put stuff away for what comes next. The consistent second thing of ssb front box squats. Drop in weight and increase in reps with 4x7 as the proposed work today. The suggested weight was 245-255lbs. Initially, I put down as by feel but aim being the 255lbs. Then with how I was feeling the blahs this week and maybe just thinking about the more event specific things being fun and maybe just that the squats would take more out of me from the other stuff that was tougher, I contemplated using the lighter weight range. But I felt that that wasn’t me and aimed for the top end range even if the weight jumps were weird. I did alter my warming up on these slightly to have more reps at the lighter weights at first just to have the knees awake as not as much deadlifting and then lower reps as getting to there so that I got bracing right and see how knees were doing. I figured I should be fine here as I’ve done 20lbs more for 6x6 not long ago. These felt comfortable and easy for the most part. I did put on a fan in the garage as I was getting a little heated doing these for the reps. Only reason rests were longer than the deadlifts was that I was having issues with belching. These only started to feel like something on the last rep of the last rep and that was more from keeping the rests shorter and trying to bang these out like the deadlifts so that I could move on with the evening. The time of the workouts will matter more next month with the work shift change. Another break to get fluids in me as I put stuff away and got ready for the draining triset. This past week had been the toughest it has been with the current iteration of snatch grip rdls, upper back dumbbell raises and band leg curls. It had been the first time I missed a rep on the rdls. Granted, I think we’ve added 60lbs to them since the start of off-season prep. So slight tweaks again. Weight increasing 10lbs on the rdls and reps being dropped to 6-8. That was expected and needed change. The dumbbell raises I was a little surprised that notes were to increase the weight more rather than reps. With how the weight felt last week, it seemed to be a good idea just with the torque on my joints from leverages to add a warm up set to this like I do the snatch rdls. The band leg curls were changed from tempo to pause style. 3 second holds at contraction and only 10 reps. Notes said same band tension but I knew from past experience that it would be way too easy so I went up a band tension. That first set of the rdls felt tougher than I’d have liked. Made me wonder how I did 10lbs less for 12 reps last week while congested. I also seem to be quick on my second counts on these for some reason. The dumbbell raises pairing was the toughest thing for me this week. A 5lbs increase on these feels monstrous and the I raises were going to be the easier one for sure. Until this point, I rested a beat before doing the T raises but I knew that I needed to rest a little bit longer between them with how taxing these were going to be. So I did about 15 seconds rest before doing the other half of the raises and that was still very challenging. The band leg curls were still quite easy even with increasing the band tension but they felt good. I think I was ready to use the longer rests like the past two weeks or so with the tempo leg curls fatiguing me so but that wasn’t the case with the paused style sapping me so I was able to do just a regular rest period before doing the next set. That is still a long rest than other stuff with getting my air and stopping belching and getting setup. Second set of the rdls felt like they should and was feeling comfortable with the third set feeling about in the middle to the first and second set. So about par the course on these. The raises got tougher each set and the leg curls felt fine and comfortable. The anxiety was still on finishing the rdls no issue and then not having to rest too long between the dumbbell raises as the leg curls were the easy on this time around. Put stuff away again before getting ready for sandbag marches. I had not wanted to really do them last week with how I was feeling but didn’t feel like that this time around. Same weight and time but another set. Advised I got another week of these so probably another set is going to be added to finish off the off season prep (assuming here). I am noticing that increased frequency with touches of this is having me getting more comfortable quicker with getting the bag up high. I’m kind of intentionally pausing in the lap to then adjust my momentum and how I’m squeezing the bag and not rushing it and that seems to be working. Old dog and new tricks so to speak. These felt fine, it was more of again getting myself to not be belching before I went for the next set. I wasn’t quite done here as after the last set, I had to load 300lbs of sandbags into my car to take to the gym this Saturday in the event I need to fill and use my new husafell sandbag. Moving 50lbs bags is really easy after lifting 225lbs after all this. Finished with that and started cooking dinner. Stretched afterwards and pretty sure going to sleep until noon tomorrow.

November 24, 2025 – Week 13, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses
46x8
76x5
106x3
136x2
166x2
196x2
226x5
226x5
226x5
226x5

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx8
70’sx6
97’sx4
97’sx4 (missed 4th right side)
97’sx4
97’sx4
97’sx4
97’sx4

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics)
70’sx4
70’sx4
70’sx4
70’sx4
70’sx4

Barbell Z Presses/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
85x3/bwx5
125x12/bw+40x12
125x12/bw+40x12
125x12/bw+40x12

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Supported No Touch Single Leg Reverse Lunges
80’sx10 -- bwx10/10
80’sx10 -- bwx10/10
80’sx10 -- bwx10/10

Stretching

Comments: Just needed Sunday to get some things figured out. Get my sleep back on track and figure out groceries for this week to plan meals and then worry about the switch in shift next week for the next month. Ugh. Don’t like that. Weight is down again. Not the lightest I’ve been but under 257lbs now. I had gotten concerned when I was 255ish when I started tracking. But I think I understand what is going on with things so it isn’t like I’ve dropped 10lbs in 3 months type of deal consistently the entire year. I really felt the blahs at work. I think my mind has checked out for the rest of this month with three work days, people out and not wanting to get involved with stuff. Just get workouts done and hopefully beat this cold this week. Or tolerate it better. Soft tissue foam rolling was fine. Not much in the lower legs this time around. Hamstrings fine. Quads needed it a decent amount and so did upper back. Neck rehab stuff followed and that was good. No weirdness with shoulders like last week thankfully. From there stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train (as well as try to get things setup for the first two things). Axle out of the rack again. Lighter session but still going to be challenging. I did get some notes that has me mentally not beating myself up as much in that more of a coordination issue for the misses. Understandable. I have issues with that at times and when I’m stressed, it can be harder to do that. Potentially part of the autism thing. The plan was to do 220-225lbs for 4x5. So more reps than two weeks ago but less weight. I went with the odd number because of the axle weight and keeping things simple. Notes were to try and dip a little deeper to have things synch up better and to not do rebound reps. Try to not use the rebound to make reps easier as I go and get more warmed up and to try and get my body to be firing as one. Overhead continues to be the thing that gets me the most anxious/nervous with training. I’ve done 220x5x5 earlier in this prep out of the rack and I had some misses recently with 230x4x3 and 256x6x1 so I wasn’t sure how these would go. But hoping that I take the tips and cues to heart and try and learn. I think for the most part, these felt powerful but there is still some inconsistency. I will say I had no missed reps this time around so that is a plus. I know I tend to do a more shallow dip at the start so tried to not do that. I feel like the fourth rep that set felt the most powerful but that lead to the not best rep of the set to finish off. That told me right there to double the rest break from my usual. I like to go with shorter rests but I’m finding I’m not recovering with that kind of rest to actually put in a good effort on things that are difficult for me. Obviously I need to keep working on my work capacity and conditioning to be able to recover better and I’m certainly noticing that for my lower body being faster responder vs upper body. Second set felt better but still some instability on the last two reps. First three reps on the third set felt like the second but definitely getting some fatigue/timing issues on the last two reps. The weight moves fast when the timing is right and I keep it together. Last set didn’t feel the best. The first rep didn’t go up as crisp as it had for the previous three sets. Second rep flew up but a little loose in the shoulders catching for the third rep so that resulted in a challenging fourth rep. I had to take a breath with it overhead to regain stability and control before lowering back to the shoulders. I then had to take another breath before putting it on the line to get that last rep up to lockout. Got it done. No missed reps. I’d be lying if I said that the recent bruhaha in strongman wasn’t weighing on my mind during this session and having to redirect my attention back to my training. So then officially into the garage for dumbbell stuff. Incline dumbbell pressing again with the neutral grip. These hadn’t felt great last week. The noted plan was to do same weight or 5lbs more than last time for 6x4. I didn’t have confidence in myself on getting that done considering how these went last week but apparently Ms. Funk does so I’ll believe in that for now. Even warming up for these didn’t feel like I was going to have a good time. I added 2lbs just for the sake of ease here with plates and collars. I was kind of surprised I got through that first set. Hey one down, 5 more to go. Second set was when I got into the situation I was at last time near the end of the sets with my more unstable shoulder having issues and not staying strong to lockout the weight. This was not pretty. That third rep I ended up locking out my left side after the right caught and went down and then pressed that one up. Same thing on the fourth rep but this time the right couldn’t lock out. Ugh. But I decided I wasn’t going to try and do the reclean the weight like last week. That had been a bit much and don’t need more stress with the rest of the workout. But I took to heart that like the push pressing where I needed longer rests to insure quality of reps and sets, I increased the rests here. And that apparently did the trick. That is not to say that this made them easy or that I didn’t still have issues with my unstable shoulder making lockout and movement crisp on the right side. But I had no more missed reps. So that is something. At the start of the session, I had setup the axle stuff outside and the incline dumbbell inside so that I could use tear down as my rest but then have the next thing ready. So outside for the next thing which was the dumbbell push pressing with the 5 seconds eccentrics. Same weight as last week (which was nice as keeps the same, solid dumbbells) but an extra set. I tried to make the dip deeper for this as well and try to have these be in synch and explosive. These felt powerful and man do the accentuated negatives burn up the shoulders fast. I was however, able to stick to the shorter rests on these with recovery. Already taking a good, long while with the other two preceding exercises. These feel good and only the getting them into position is tricky. From there it was on to the supersets. Same exercises as last week but now sets of 12 reps. For the z presses, I knew this was going to be a bear to do with the same weight as last week. There was more volume with pressing and that extra set of eccentric emphasis dumbbell stuff was really cooking my recovery. I knew I was likely going to have to rest pause to get the 12 reps on these sets here. The goblet squats would be interesting as the plan here was to use the top weight I worked up to over the sets for the sets of 12 reps with tempo. I elected to use my regular style shoes that I used for overhead instead of the lifters as I feel like the hard sole makes it feel like I can’t feel where I put pressure and move with my feet and toes. I wanted to have that so I knew where I was putting the weight as goal is to do these for my joints/tendons and get mobility and posture right. I was also not sure with the little knee aches from Saturday as I was doing these without knee sleeves. The first run through the pressing was tougher than I’d have liked. I could’ve done them as a single set I feel but I knew if I did, it would be to failure and I’d drastically impact my ability to get the reps on the subsequent rounds. So got about 9-10 in a clip and then singles with a few seconds rest between them. The goblet squats weren’t too taxing on my lower body. Some knee aches but that dissipated as I did more. The real stress was on my upper body holding the dumbbell for the set. Which in turn led to more fatigue in the upper body when it came time to do the pressing again. I knew this would be the case and again, did double the rest. Second set the pressing felt ok at the start but then felt like I was about to hit a wall if I tried for another rep after I got 8. Which wasn’t ideal to be doing the singles with breathes that far away from the goal. And this wasn’t like my 1-2 breathes like the first set. These were 3-5. But I got them done but it did not inspire confidence for that last set. The goblet squats were fine and felt good on the legs and my body felt like it was moving how it was and closer to how it should. But man holding that weight like that eats up the reserves in the shoulders and chest. Last set of z presses was just survival. Got 7 reps before it started to feel like the second set. Took a few breathes and got another 2. Some more breathes and I went for another rep and got that well enough but then went too quickly after that for what ended up being a mega grinder of a rep. Not ideal. But one more to go. Get it. After bit more breathes, I went for it and it went up easy like. These are not a fun one to do when prefatigued I tell you what. Last thing for the session was another superset. Another change to this one. The row variation still the same with same weight but now sets of 10 reps. The other half of the pairing was changed. Gone are the tempo band leg extensions (hurray) which were taking like 4.5 minutes to complete sets. What I’m doing this time is being described as a reverse lunge but holding onto something for support and trying to keep constant tension on the quads by having the back foot floating. I think I’m doing these right based off the video. I feel like these are something I’d have worn my knee sleeves to do previously but trying to not wear them on these quad based exercises on Day 1 since focus is on getting knees to be healthy and strong. The rows continue to feel awkward but not that difficult. I feel like my body felt better with the movement on these reverse lunges as I did them and where to put emphasis and how my body was moving in space. I hope I did them right and kind of curious about the progression. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

November 22, 2025 – Week 12, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

19” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats
85x10
135x8
175x6
225x4
265x2
315x1
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x4
72x3
94x2
108x1
122x1
135x1
150x1
162x1
172x1
180x1
144x3
144x3
144x3

Yoke
180x50’
270x50’
360x50’
450x50’
530x50’ in 8.30 seconds
530x50’ in 8.29 seconds
530x50’ in 7.80 seconds
530x50’ in 7.90 seconds
530x50’ in 7.60 seconds

ATG Split Squats (12”)/Ab Walkouts (kneeling)
bwx10/10 – bwx10
bwx10/10 – bwx10
bwx10/10 – bwx10

Concept 2 Rower Power Pulls (10 pulls, 45 seconds rest)
1 – 118m
2 – 122m
3 – 119m
4 – 121m
5 – 119m
6 – 121m
7 – 122m
8 – 125m

Stretching

Comments: I was straight up not having a good time this week. Thursday it was apparent this was a cold and not just bad allergies. But I still did my lunch time walking to get out of the house and break from work. Friday I didn’t walk not just because I wanted to rest more and get caught up on some things (since next week is short work week but stressful) but my right heel had some cracked skin and bled a little in my sleep so got to start doing that treatment again. But I caught it early so hopefully not too painful and heals up. Both days I could feel my focus/attention having difficulty with the tasks at hand in the late afternoon. As I didn’t have to worry about an alarm and signing in late on a Saturday morning, I took Nyquil for sleep. And I was out for I want to say another 12hr or so sleep like last weekend. So being around strangers for a few hours is the same level of stress to me a cold lol. I once again was debating going to train and seeing if it made sense to rest another day. Not ideal but it could work with being off Thursday and Friday next week. But rather not since I got to revert to the in office schedule the following week. And this was going to be a heavier workout. So stick to the plan and play it by ear and ended up doing what I did last Saturday with going out to train late and hoping there will be some people there to assist as needed. But with taking Dayquil and nasal spray. Again, a bit surprised how smooth the drive out was for the most part. It really does seem that I either need to leave really early or really late to avoid the congestion near Harrisburg. There were people training but not strongman stuff initially. Two people were competing at OSG in Texas and I’m sure too late to see the others (though one might be having a baby shortly). I was surprised though that friends did trickle in during the session which was nice. I didn’t get as derailed as last week with talking people’s ears off. Soft tissue work started things off and wasn’t too bad for anything really. Both calves needed it but more so the top on the right and the bottom on the left. Neck rehab stuff was ok. I didn’t do the knee and ankle warming up I usually do this day again. Like I said, I’m not really noticing any difference in how I feel warming up or the session in general. This was followed by stretching of the hips, hamstrings, knees and ankles and then a dead hang. On to the weights. Cambered squat bar box squats for the first thing. I had a feeling that the suggested weight for these was going to be 355-365lbs after how last time went but I wasn’t too sure which way the reps/sets would go. I was glad these went the higher set and low rep route as this meant I didn’t have to worry about the congestion so much and could practice my setup more frequently with less fatigue. Knees felt better compared to last time with the start of the workout with the empty bar. Notes were to stay more rigid in the upper back as the weight is swaying. Honestly, compared to the last time I did these back at the beginning of the year, this is a lot less wobble so I know my upper back is getting stronger with the off season focus. However, I think that me doing a high bar position (low bar feels terrible on this) that makes it hard to stop the swaying. Warming up felt decent so I went with the heavier option for the 8x2. I did strip the weights down to put the smaller plates on the inside so that I didn’t inadvertently bang the sides of the rack while taking the weight out. I guess I didn’t take the weight that seriously the first set as I got off balance going for the second rep. I went up a little bit and then ended up sitting down on the box and having to squat it up from there from a dead stop which was not fun. I knew it was a fluke so I kept the weight the same and stuck to about 90 seconds rests with these doubles as I knew I could do it with how things had felt and with how these were last week. I feel like the sixth double was the best feeling of the bunch. I worked up a good sweat on these with this pace. Put stuff away and swapped in a fresh shirt for circus dumbbell. This was a bit of change with the plan here. It has been kind of set weight ranges and reps after the first session and last time it was a bit Jekyll and Hyde with the reps and sets 5lbs over contest. The plan for today was work up to a top single and then take 20% off for 3x3. I asked for clarification at the beginning of the week of how tough a single I should be aiming for and I was told for a max. I had been looking forward to that for the most part but not while sick for obvious reasons. My stretch goal was 180lbs but at minimum willing to accept low 160ish considering the circumstances. I took my time with these and had a more relaxed feel to things with my friend Brian there. Plan was same warm ups as last time until I got to the actual circus bell I’d be using for the working sets. I elected to not bother with the 20lbs caps being added as that would take more time to adjust weight between sets of singles and the contest dumbbell won’t have them. Warming up I was feeling pretty crisp. Usually the switch from the smaller circus bell (8”) to the bigger (12”) can throw me off but it didn’t this time around. I wasn’t too sure about doing 15lbs jumps so I went with 122lbs for the first lift on the big bell. It was not the best so I went with 13lbs more for 135lbs for my last “warm up” before I was going to be doing contest or heavier weight. That one I guess I took seriously as it rocketed up. So I went with 15lbs jump then to do 150lbs which was contest weight. That also went up easy. However, I wanted to make sure that I was adapting to the increasing weight as usually the issue becomes getting used to the clean of heavier weight to shoulders and then getting things to settle for the press. So 12lbs jump for 162lbs. I had to reattempt this as I misgrooved on the first attempt at the press and rather than fight it back into rack position to try again, I figured I just reclean it and do it again. It went up fine that time but it was a bit frustrating to have a miss at that weight. But I know that can happen above 150lbs. I’ve not done circus dumbbell since March of 2023 before starting again middle of this off season prep. So the next jump would match the top weight I hit in training back then at 172lbs. I like that number since it is the weight of the Inch Dumbbell and I’ve had the opportunity to lift it one hand and press it overhead for reps. This weight the clean was definitely feeling like more effort and it took a moment to get things settled in the rack. But up it went as well. Not as convincing as I’d have liked it to be but hey, I’m not so far off where I have been. So just 8lbs shy of my true hope for the day so might as well shoot for the moon. I knew the clean would be harder and I didn’t panic with the weight sitting on my traps as long as it did as I got a big brace and went for it. And it went up almost perfectly. I was kind of shocked how well it went up. I’ve not hit this weight on circus dumbbell since 2017 and I’m 7lbs off my best post 2016 back injury. And this isn’t peaked. I shut it down there even though that felt like the best and easiest press as I could tell that I dug deep into the reserves as my hands couldn’t stop shaking for several minutes afterwards and my hamstrings were spasming just walking over to turn off my camera. I felt elated I could hit this weight again, especially considering the circumstances. And knowing there is more there. It took a bit for me to come down from the high and get myself ready for the down sets with 80% of that weight. I took shorter rests between the sets then I’ve been doing with the clean and presses. Like 2.5 minutes vs like 5-6 minutes. I didn’t feel so stressed and worried about missing weights. There was some slop in the first two sets due to I think just not doing reps earlier but I got that sorted out by the last set and those were like mechanical precision and just over 15 seconds to get the reps done. From there it was on to yoke. Same as last week with the aim being speed. 10lbs more than last time for the 5 runs of 50’ with the aim getting below 8 seconds. With how I was feeling, I wasn’t sure how this would go. Max strength doesn’t seem affected by the cold but I know endurance takes a hit and my blood pressure is a bit elevated with the meds. Also the heel being sore in my right foot wasn’t going to help. As luck would have it, the same person that did commands and times for me last week came in late so I had consistency from the previous week rather than have someone else or rely on the camera frames on my own. As it was late and I wasn’t sure if doing double warm up was wise, I did just one set at each weight warming up and not really at 100% speed even for my last run. The notes had been to not have the runs be sloppy. I hadn’t thought they were but I tried to tighten them up. First run didn’t feel great. Weight felt heavy and blood pressure definitely spiked. Over 8 seconds here. So going to be like that huh? Second set the weight felt a lot lighter but I think I tripped up at the start and then getting my feet under me as it was essentially the same time. Still over 8 seconds. Not being hard on myself as only one run with 10lbs less last week had been under 8 seconds. But I think with having the weight feeling lighter after the first set that I got into a better mindset and proceeded to hit the next three under 8 seconds with my last run being faster than my fastest run last week. So hitting all the expected numbers I wanted when not feeling sick. I went from there into the superset of split squats and ab walk. Save putting stuff away until after this before doing rowing stuff so I can get some more fluids down and not have it come back up on me. Sets reduced to 3 with the intent being that I lower the box height for the split squats and aim for 8-10 reps. I went with 12” as that is the lowest of the plyo boxes at the moment. I have other options besides that but I did want to see how these went. Left side handles these fine but there is some patella tendon aches/irritation for the right side at this height. I did sets of 10 reps. The ab walk was fine with 10 reps there. Feeling more natural to do. I did these back to back with very little rest. I put the stuff away from that and yoke before doing the rowing stuff. Same as last week with it being the power based thing. 8 rounds of this where I’d do 10 pulls and then rest 45 seconds and record the distance. I think I had a better understanding this time around of the aim and this resulted in greater distance average each set vs last time. Really surprised how sore these got my hamstrings and glutes. Cleaned up and drove home late again and stretched before eating dinner and cleaning up.

November 19, 2025 – Week 12, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
143x5
235x3
323x2
Add Holds at Lockout (1 second)
373x1
413x1
453x6
453x6
453x6
453x6
453x6

Safety Squat Bar Front Box Squats (21”)
65x6
115x5
155x4
205x3
250x2
300x3
300x3
300x3
300x3

Paused Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (straps, 2 seconds)/Chest Supported I Flys and T Flys/Lying Band Leg Curls (3-0-3-0 tempo)
255x3
345x12/16’sx10+10/(2)mb+(2)µbx25
345x12/16’sx10+10/(2)mb+(2)µbx25
345x10 (couldn’t get last two)/16’sx10+10/(2)mb+(2)µbx25

Sandbag Marches
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds
225x20 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I was feeling beat Monday and Tuesday about the same. Just feeling tired. Tuesday actually didn’t start off great because the high winds caused my power to go out at like 2:30AM just long enough that my clocks and alarms reset to 12:00AM. I woke up feeling something wasn’t right and seeing the clock flashing 6:00AM and managed to get up and ready for work just before I’d be late. So not a great start to the day when feeling worn down. I was hoping it was just allergies when I woke up Wednesday but I could tell as the day went on that it wasn’t exactly going away. This is probably a cold. Ugh. So I had to make a choice. Either take a rest day and hope I was feeling better tomorrow and do training with less rest between days or plow through and hope that the two days off will be enough plus the working through it to have me feeling better. I decided to just push through it. Started out with nasal spray and then allergy pill a few hours into the day and then Dayquil after lunch. I was a little slow going getting ready but I did get to things quicker than I did Monday. I wasn’t going to be outside so there wasn’t that setup issue either. Foam rolling was ok. Calves needed it and more so the right side with quads. The usual. Neck rehab after that. Some shoulder aches still present. As my back wasn’t really acting up, I didn’t do any bracing or glute activation drills. Went into the stretching for hips, ankles, hamstrings and knees. Then I did the tib raises/calf raises. Like last time, I did these after the other stuff to treat as the start of the lifting session. Then garage time for the real lifting. Bendy long bar pulls again. Lot of volume for this time. It had been a top double the first week with actually pushing weight on the setup and then it was singles with about 30lbs less last week and those had felt pretty tough too. This week was to do 4-5 sets of 6 reps with 450lbs with the holds at lockout like last week. This was seeming like a lot considering that doubles on axle with 441lbs had felt pretty hard a few weeks back. I wasn’t sick then. Trying to have things feel better here. Same warming up until getting to singles. From there, I added in the holds. I went a little heavier because it was easier than dealing with the fractional plates and it was close enough. That first set was rough. I first rep or two were fine but I just felt gassed out and fatigued almost immediately and it was feeling like a near max effort to lockout the last rep. I was kind of dumbstruck that I had at least three more sets of this when this felt like when I did my top set of 5 on axle. I’m not sure what I did besides mentally prepare myself and get myself into it but I made the second set feel easy. Maybe focusing on getting a breath at the top for the brace during the pause worked and perhaps visualizing that I’m locking out weight on the elephant bar like Hafthor got me in the right frame. Third set felt a little tougher than the second set but wasn’t like the first set at all. I think I made the fourth set easier because I told myself it was the last set but really I had put the optional fifth set back on the table depending on how the fourth went. It went about as well as the second set did so I decided to strike while the iron was hot and get in more quality deadlift work. This felt more like my first set difficulty wise but I felt in control rather than like I was struggling if that makes sense. I felt like I was doing proper deadlift work here finally. This did take a bit longer with the rests and recovery. I put stuff away and got ready for front box squats with the ssb. It had been 4x4 last week and this week it was 4x3 with 5-10lbs more than last time. I set things up so that either weight option would be doable. See how things are as congested and that was a lot of deadlifting. My knees weren’t bothering me much here and I felt decently strong. The lower reps also meant my air wasn’t that much an issue. So as long as I felt strong, I should be good. So I went with 300lbs here after the warming up. These potentially about the same as 290lbs feeling last week. Not feeling the best but putting in great work. These squats were less taxing than I expected as I pretty much just stuck to my usual rest period time. I knew the slog for the session (outside of the deadlifts) was going to be the triset. That was tough last week and it seems to never get easier. Always little tweaks. Adding reps to the snatch grip rdls and the band leg curls and indication to add weight to the dumbbell raises. With the tempo work on the band leg curls, I already was taking longer rests to recover to do the increasingly challenging rdls. Adding congestion to that, I already knew I’d need to increase the rests more here to have a chance of finishing. The first set of the snatch grip stuff was fine. I may have been a little fast on the count with the pauses. Those added 2 reps were noticed. Second set was even tougher and felt like could break down in bracing. The third set (event with quadruple rest) I was not able to finish and I couldn’t come back up with the weight going for the 11th rep so down it stayed. If I was going to miss the rep, it was best that it was the last set of these. With the weight selection with dumbbells, it is only a small increase but since going from 10lbs to 16lbs, that is a big jump percentage wise. And it was noticed in my upper back and shoulders with that bump up in weight. I had to do a bit of the bit by bit stuff on the later sets to mentally break down the reps so I didn’t get in my head where I actually was. I know these exercises are important to getting  my upper back stronger for this upcoming season. I’m glad I was able to handle the increase in weight so well here. Leg curls were tortuous again. Reps increased from 20 to 25 so with the slow tempo it takes what feels like forever. Honestly, I may have lost count of reps at times like with band leg extensions with the tempo and such. Used same bands as last week. Last set I was definitely on fumes and having to take a little breaths between reps near the end to finish things off here. Put stuff away from that nightmare for one last thing with the sandbags. All this work before these really has me not wanting to do them but then I do them anyway and everything is fine. Same as last week with the marches but added another set. Hesitation before sets making sure I don’t upchuck bending over. Legs were feeling fatigued at this point. First set maybe not the best as not quite as high on body as it could be and breathing a little erratic. But I feel like I corrected that with holding and getting it high and breathing afterwards. Finally done with the session and hopefully I can eat, stretch and take some more Dayquil and may start to feel better not doing much but work the next two days.

November 17, 2025 – Week 12, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses
46x8
76x5
106x3
136x2
166x1
196x1
226x1
256x1
256x1
256x1
256x0,0,0
256x1
256x1
256x1

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx8
70’sx5
95’sx5
95’sx5
95’sx5
95’sx5 (missed 5th rep twice)
95’sx4 (missed 4th rep had to reclean, right never fully locked last rep)

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics)
70’sx4
70’sx4
70’sx4
70’sx4

Barbell Z Presses/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
45x5
95x3/bwx3
125x10/bw+15x10
125x10/bw+30x10
125x10/bw+40x10

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Band Seated Leg Extensions (4-0-4-0 tempo)
80’sx8/ab+(2)µbx25
80’sx8/ab+(2)µbx25
80’sx8/ab+(2)µbx25

Stretching

Comments: I guess thankfully the sciatica stuff has calmed down a good bit at this point so it is hardly noticeable. Which is good. Just lingering now I guess. Apparently the system wasn’t working like all day on Monday so essentially nothing got done so Monday ended up having stuff for Friday to do even though I was out of office that day. Had me feeling a bit drained with that and I did get to working out about 30-40 minutes later than usual while at home figuring out training for the week as I pretty much went through my breaks. Weight back up a little so just under 260lbs again. Also had to put in leave selection for the year and that is annoying when I don’t know details for all the possible competitions I’d like to do next year. So had to cull those that didn’t make sense or lacked information and coming up soon. Or I just didn’t like them and hopefully better options. But I know I’ll end up having stuff that I didn’t plan for that will probably be a plan to get coverage. But hey, I managed to move stuff this year to go to world’s when I was off by a week on my guess. It does stink it is cold and dark before I even get to training. Some new stuff this session and I was anxious/hopefully for the training. Then my right and left shoulder decided to feel like complete crap and be achy right as I was about to start my soft tissue work. Really just hoping being temperamental here. Soft tissue foam rolling was fine. Nothing really stood out here. Did notice my hips were tight and that my glutes/hamstring sore from the box squats. Hips probably with the fast yoke runs too. Neck rehab stuff followed and that was good. Seemed to get shoulders feeling a little better. From there stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train. Axle out of the rack again. I had a feeling this would be what this workout was if not a deload session. And I was kind of hoping on some pull back with how up and down axle had been last session with missing reps and having to extend sets and having some rough reps in there. But sometimes I feel like crap and the right call ends up being the switch in the programming and I move forward. So this session was to do 250-255lbs for 6 singles. I’ve done this workout with cleans and I did have a miss on that. It was cold and dark already. Since the last time I did this weight with the clean and presses that seemed to work out for me well enough that I felt ready for the top weight I repeated that here. I wasn’t too sure with things but I was hoping that my last warm up single would give me a taste of what I had in me today. That rep went up smooth and I felt like maybe I just needed a little adjustment here. As last time about this weight hit a sticking point hard that first rep. Working weight actually didn’t feel that bad as far as getting that power up to lockout. But I didn’t feel like I had the power to rep this weight. Which was about the same feeling when I did these with clean and press. I felt things were going well here as I was taking about my usual rest I do between sets with my house pacing and that worked out well for the first three sets. The fourth set was trouble. Now unracking the weight it actually felt the best so far so I don’t know what I did to screw up this that I lost all the power upward. I felt like maybe it was a misgroove and tried again before racking the weight and stepping back for a beat and a breath. I definitely was panicking a bit here and rushed that and this final attempt at the rep in “set” went nowhere. I didn’t feel like it couldn’t move in the rack position and I got frustrated a let a little too much aggression out and chucked the axle into the rack. I’ve had worse temper tantrums with the axle but it has been like over 3yrs since I’ve chucked it into the rack. I had to adjust my rack later as it was off kilter. I went into the garage to calm down and recover and increased my rest time for the remaining singles. The successful fourth and fifth were rough. I’m actually surprised I got them with how hard I hit the sticking point on those. Which made the ease of the last single all the more baffling. I held it and did little stomps in balance and cursed with how that went so well compared to the previous issues. Overhead (and namely axle right now) confuses me. I’m trying to not watch other people’s pressing videos with axle as doesn’t feel good for the mental state with how it has been. It isn’t the competition event at this time but I need to keep it and log in the mix so not so rough coming back to it. So then officially into the garage for dumbbell stuff. Incline dumbbell pressing again with the neutral grip. Plan being 5x5 with 95lbs. I wasn’t too sure about these with my shoulders feeling achy. But trusting the plan here. These had felt tough and somewhat rough last time. I really couldn’t get the feel for these today for the most part. Too tucked and it felt like no triceps or shoulder strength and trying to not having my hands rotating back to more standard grip. These can get confusing as there will be times it feels like a struggle and other’s where it clicks. This was not one of my better sessions of these. This was on that showed the discrepancy between the left and right side. Left doesn’t seem to have an issue with locking out stuff by the right side does and when I can’t get stable and press through, that side is the one that lags and falls apart. I wasted energy on pride on these. The fourth set, I missed the fourth rep initially (the left side could get it, the right was a nope) and decided I’d reclean the dumbbells to my shoulders to try it again. I did and I rushed it so that I couldn’t get into the right position for my right side (left pressed it easy) and failed again so of course I recleaned it to try once more and finally got it. I took a longer rest since that took a bit out of me and I was hopeful I could get through the last set without incident. Nope. Initially felt strong but then missed the fourth rep and had to reclean. Got one more rep and I just hit a wall with the right side going for that last rep. I locked out the left side and valiantly struggled but couldn’t get my elbow to lockout on the right and called it there. Already wasted enough energy here. Pressing having a rough time with recovery. At least that is what I think but then I will have performances that suggest otherwise. So the next thing was still dumbbells but finally a switch from the floor presses. Overhead stuff with push press. Clean dumbbells to shoulders and push press with 5 seconds eccentrics. Told to be explosive. I asked for clarification if weight or speed of press more the focus as I’ve done some pretty ballistic style dumbbell pressing with 40’s. And I’d prefer to have the solid dumbbells at least for the start as didn’t want to dick around with plateloaded dumbbells, especially after how incline ended (incline is another wascally wabbit for me). Clean to shoulders a little different and dismount could use some fine tuning but these felt strong and how I’d like them to. Didn’t feel like I was struggling with feeling myself here. I didn’t need to take more than my normal rest despite the accentuated eccentrics. From there it was on to the supersets. Another adjustment to the first one. So the change from last time with it being now z presses carried over but the second half no longer the Spanish squats. I guess trying out something else with doing heel elevated goblet squats. With the z presses, I wanted to see if I could use the sawhorses since I didn’t need a rack weighted down to do the goblet squats. Rather have in one place than outside and inside. Rather stay somewhat warm since the goblet squats won’t keep me as warm as the Spanish squats did with the reps. So the z presses did work out of the sawhorses. Plan for them was 3x10 with 125-135lbs. Now I’d like to be doing 135lbs here but I felt considering how most of the pressing today went and the floor pressing was swapped to more overhead with increased fatigue with slow negatives, that it was wiser to go with 125lbs to get 3x10. This was a good call on my part as this was enough and I think 135lbs would’ve been a bridge too far by the end. The goblet squats were a learning session as I wasn’t sure how they would feel. Plan was 3x10 with 4-0-4-0 tempo on them. So less reps than Spanish squats but slower pace on the reps. I did these without my knee sleeves. I know the aim was to try and stay upright but that is a major struggle for me even without a weight or counterbalance. I’ll just have to see what next time brings. But I added weight each set as trying to find an ideal working weight. I used my adjustable kettlebell handle to fine tune as well. Not adverse to dumbbell but wanted options. The last pairing for the evening remained the same as last time with just adjustments to reps and weights. The rowing exercise is still an odd one for me and I needed to use the plateloaded handles this week due to the weight increase. I tried to put small plates on the inside to increase the width so that the larger plates weren’t hitting my thighs. These feel a bit awkward and I wonder if I’m doing these right. I also wonder if perhaps the same thing could be accomplished using an EZ curl bar. But these were done. The other part still the double band leg extensions with tempo. I knew I was going to be using more band tension than last time for these even if the reps increased. I made a mistake here and looked at the reps for the leg curls on Day 2 and got them confused with the reps for Day 1 for the leg extensions. So I did sets of 25 reps instead of 20 reps (up from 15 reps) with the increased band tension. I don’t think it would’ve mattered much really, other than not be like 4.5 minute sets of leg extensions. I’ve done straight set of 100 reps a few times on leg extensions so they will just keep going. Put stuff away and got my dinner before stretching. Noticing my outer quads have some definition now so obviously the work is going somewhere.