December 30, 2025 – Week 18, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses/Vertical Jumps
26x8/bwx3
56x5/bwx3
86x3/bwx3
116x2/bwx1
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3
146x3/bwx3

Alternating Dumbbell Bench Presses/Horizontal Jumps
40’sx8/8 -- bwx4
40’sx8/8 -- bwx4
40’sx8/8 -- bwx4

Banded Triceps Extensions/Jump Lunges
abx15 – bwx5/5
abx15 – bwx5/5
abx15 – bwx5/5

Stretching

Comments: I did not feel well. Not like I was sick (though I have residual mucus/phlegm that I’ll probably have until spring now) but my body just felt off and achy and my mind didn’t want to really be thinking about strongman or strength training stuff. I do not like it how I seem to spiral downward rapidly when something feels off. I know this happens and but I know that remedy tends to be time and rest. I did nothing after I got back Saturday and Sunday I also did nothing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough time to recovery from this and I was still feeling very much like I didn’t want to train on Monday in any fashion. I was considering throwing the baby out with the bathwater about not being good enough/strong enough/recovering enough that I’ve been able to stave off since middle of August (even day of competing at World’s feeling). I thought I was getting enough rest and eating enough (I apparently got under 254lbs this weigh-in some how, I mean I ate like a third of a turkey Christmas). I feel like it was a combo of going too hard on stones with overestimating what I could do at RPE 8 and then topping that off with the suited pulls being also overestimated what I should be doing with an ill-fitting suit for grinding lifts. Thankfully Ms. Funk messaged me before sending programming to ask how I was feeling as I had stopped the Saturday workout early (like I had done the week before World’s) and seeing I felt I needed a deload (though not recommended at this stage). I said that I’d like to say I don’t but I need one now and like yesterday. I felt like not training and that isn’t a great sign when usually that is the thing I look forward to most days.  So plan change to deload and then push it the last four weeks we got left for the show. So Monday I also took off as the training was a bit different and I had the time to mess around with having half day Wednesday and off Thursday for New Year’s. Weather was odd Monday as it was up to 50 and windy then some precipitation and getting below freezing. So I didn’t really want to deal with all of that and chance anything with my body feeling off. Upper back still feeling tense from Wednesday, left elbow soreness, right knee aches and my right hip feeling almost locked at times. The deload was a bit different from what I was expecting. Then again, I’ve only really had the one deload with Ms. Funk and that had been more a volume deload and then a real deload week of. As she mentioned, still figuring each other out here. Tuesday unfortunately was a cold and windy evening (below freezing). Also did not help that my backyard light was on the fritz and used what I had to illuminate things back there as best I could. But before that, I had to warm myself up. Soft tissue work to start and while I didn’t need a ton on my upper legs and upper back, my calves needed a ton of it to feel good to go. Neck rehab stuff followed. This was ok (didn’t feel as good as Saturday session) and went on to stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train in the cold, windy darkness. This was a bit interesting a change up for me. Everything was supersetted with the pairings being an upper body based exercise with a bounding exercise. Light/explosive with the upper body stuff and bodyweight for the jumps. The upper body stuff no sweat but I was not sure how jumping would go. 30 degrees and windy at night when already feeling achy joints. First pairing was going to be the most work/effort and that was axle out of the rack (as usual) and paired with vertical jumps. I was initially looking at doing the axle stuff up to the working weight and then add in the jumps since the plan was 8 sets of each for 3 reps. But I figured I needed to do jumps to get used to them as my body felt really stiff and I was not really getting much air on my hops here at the start. Eventually I felt less weighed down and achy. I kept my warm-ups on as it was really cold. I was even considering wearing my gloves the entire time as well. No support gear here as well. These felt better as I went for the most part. So this was done and into the garage for the second pairing of the evening. This was alternating dumbbell bench presses and horizontal jumps. I was initially thinking about doing these in the street or in the backyard since the ground was frozen but it seemed risky and longer setup which would also mean more rest between exercises and I was trying to keep these short. Doing the benching like I did with the alternating style for floor presses. I was also stiff on the jumps here at the start. I’ve done less bounding going forward vs up with strongman stuff. Even in high school not a lot of jumping forward as volleyball you want up. The pressing felt off at first but got better as I went. Only three sets for these. The jumps I felt I got them right the first half of the second set and then my knee started aching on me and I kind of stagger stepped the remaining reps. So that wasn’t ideal. Last superset I went back outside. I was a bit warmer now from keeping the warm ups on for the previous exercises in the garage. This was just some band extensions and then paired with jump lunges. I think I did these right. But essentially triceps press downs with band then jumping from split stance and switching the stance. Height and springiness had been with the first jumps and distance the second jumps. These were to be height focused. My occasional lack of body awareness and coordination led to me landing funny on the fifth rep for my right foot and ankle kind of went on me. I got up and nothing felt out of sorts and resumed to finish up the set. I was surprised no pain came swarming into my ankle after that so knock on wood I guess that it is fine and dandy. The triceps part was pretty standard. Put stuff away and cooked up dinner and stretched before bed. Hopefully this week gets me back on track.

December 27, 2025 – Week 17, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

19” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats
85x10
135x8
185x6
235x4
285x2
335x6
335x6
335x6
335x6

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
72x4
94x3
108x2
122x2
137x1
152x1
167x1
180x0
180x0
180x0

Comments: Like last week, I felt like I wasn’t able to get the sleep I wanted. I wasn’t able to sleep in for Christmas and had to get up like I was going to work in the office as normal. I did have a good time with family. I got in walks on both Thursday and Friday. Friday for work also sucked as I was one of two people in the unit working that day so two people getting the work that normally goes to 5-7 (I honestly don’t know who does what anymore). So that made Friday sucky on top of the weather making it too dangerous to go out after work. So plan was go to bed early and hopefully feel rested for Saturday. Not planning on going out early to make sure roads are clear and such. I was worried I wasn’t recovered for training. Mostly thinking my upper body but my hips and knees were feeling suit work. I have bruises from that. I had messed around after work with my single ply suit to see if I could get it to fit better around my thighs. I slept a decent bit but felt I was up too early and went back to bed for a little longer or so I thought. What I thought was 15 minutes ended up being 75 minutes. I got stuff ready for the day and was on my merry way. Not as much bad driving as last weekend but still some bad driving. I was kind of surprised there were people training strongman when I showed up as usually they are there earlier. I made sure I got the stones I was playing to use out of the cold corridor (and not lock myself out) so that they wouldn’t be bad with the tacky later. Soft tissue work started things off. Calves needed a decent amount but not a ton again on the tops. Quads didn’t need much really so kind of surprised there. Maybe the walking has helped. Upper back felt good doing it. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Feeling a little better with the aches and tightness compared to the past week. Left shoulder feeling slightly less tense. I did throw in a biceps stretch here as well. I then did stretches hips, hamstrings, knees and ankles and then a dead hang. On to weights. Cambered squat bar box squats. Plan was same weight as last week but 4x6. I was given leeway in adding weight here like the past two weeks but I was considering just sticking to 335lbs with 50lbs jumps as last week’s session felt like a lot and this was the first thing. The racks I’ve used for squats were in use so I was relegated to the monolift. I’ve been leery about using it because I’ve not really used it before. I’ve used one previously but it had instructions and often people using it to help out. So I made guesses and I figured it out. Squats felt rough today. Not in the my knees were stiff kind of way warming up. Like my legs felt tired doing 235lbs. I did get a boost of confidence when I put on the belt for 285lbs but unracking 335lbs that first time I was standing there reconsidering training today with how heavy it felt. But I committed to it. These were not easy feeling squats today. These were tough and I had to take over 4 minutes to rest between sets here. It did not bode well for the rest of the session but I figured I’d keep going. From there, it was on to circus dumbbell. Super nervous because of the biceps. The plan here was to do 180lbs for 2x1. So hit my training max from a few weeks back for two sets and then do the 30 second sets with 10lbs more from last week again. I wasn’t sure what shape I was in. I did end up talking with people during the lighter sets. I think that was partly to see if my legs recovered more. I didn’t feel great on dumbbell until I did 122lbs and it went up easy and fast. But that was last time the dumbbell felt good. I didn’t want to make too big a jumps as I know things get squirrelly above 150lbs. 167lbs wasn’t a great lift but I felt it was close enough for a warm up set to attempt 180lbs. I did the stand up and pull down style for the lifts up to 152lbs and then just standard above that. I got set for 180lbs and the clean wasn’t great. Thankfully no issues for my biceps. It didn’t quite land in the right spot so I had to adjust with my other hand and I felt it was up there too long and the trajectory was off. Had to bail on it. Considering how 170lbs went last week at the start, I knew this was a possibility but use that as my “last warm up” and take about 4 minutes and give it another go. The clean was less effort but I never could get stable as each time I tried to go for the dip, I’d stumble a bit. I didn’t even attempt the press this time. Another 4 minutes or so to give this another shot. Just wasn’t there today. I felt dejected and there was a lot of workout left. I felt tired and I didn’t want to spend several hours more at the gym if I was obviously dragging ass. Feeling the stress of being 6 weeks out I think on top of just the workload of training and work. I can tell when I’m getting that way when I get angry/annoyed seeing people’s PRs on things I’m training on that are not up to the standards I want them to be. Put stuff away and got home to get dinner ready and just spend the rest of the week getting affairs in order and hopefully getting the rest I need and disinvite myself from this little pity party funk I’m in. But I guess one terrible training session out of 51 isn't bad odds.

December 24, 2025 – Week 17, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Suited Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
No Suit
143x5
233x3
Added Suit (multi-ply)
323x2
413x1
503x1
573x1
573x1
573x1
573x1
573x1
573x1

Sandbag Box Squats (18”)
175x30 seconds
175x30 seconds
175x30 seconds
175x30 seconds

Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Chest Supported I Flys and T Flys
65x10/10 – 23.5’sx5+5
115x10/10 -- 31’sx10+10
115x10/10 -- 31’sx10+10
115x10/10 -- 31’sx10+10

Jefferson Curls
105x10
105x10
105x10

Stretching

Comments: Half day for work due to Christmas tomorrow. What is supposed to be not a busy day ended up being one with getting notified by the one supervisor about overdue work that another coworker hadn’t done all month and needing it to be done today (with only an hour left in shift) so that was a mad dash. Plan was to not have lunch and get right into training so that I could have my evening free for family. I had no idea how long some of this stuff was going to take as this would be my first session with the suit for deadlifts and I’ve not used one since June of 2024 so 18 months and some change. I also had to bring home my work stuff as notified right before closing that office would be closed Friday due to impending inclement weather so I needed to get that setup to resume work Friday after Christmas from home. I got home and trying to get things started and then my family thought it would be funny to stop by to “carol” so a little bit of a delay. But once that was handled, I started off with foam rolling, which was ok. Calves were a little tight (right at the tops). Quads were really tight on both sides this time around as well. Upper back was needing the foam rolling but not so much. My biceps weren’t feeling like they were cramping this time around but still nervous about that. Neck rehab followed and that was needed. Went into the stretching for hips, ankles, hamstrings and knees after that followed by a dead hang to decompress. Into the garage to start things off. I did the tib raises/calf raises and these felt fine, could feel a little fatigue in them. Bendy long bar pulls again. Heavy session with the suit. I’m not too sure what I’m doing here with the suit as I bought this multi-ply suit when I was bulking and I wasn’t expecting to be lighter than 265lbs again. I was about 280lbs when I last competed with this suit and now I’m under 255lbs by a hair. I have this suit and my single ply suit which I was about 5lbs lighter (275lbs I think) when I last used that one and it fit well enough. I can get into both suits easy right now which is good in that not a hassle but bad in that not fitting so I can get a lot of rebound out of them. For today, I decided I’d use the multi-ply suit as that is the easiest to adjust once in with the cinches and the fabric doesn’t irritate my skin like my single ply that is rough/coarse and the Velcro more intense. So the plan here was to work up to 6 singles at RPE 8-9. I wasn’t sure what I’d feel like here but my hope was at minimum that I was doing 553lbs for the sets. It would depend on energy and how the suit was feeling. I usually do plate jumps and then smaller jumps with raw but the suit can make it that a lot of sets is exhausting. So did the first two weights raw as normal and then the suit the third set going forward. I felt like plate jumps to 503lbs made sense here with how the suit was feeling and effort getting to the bar and the pressure. Ideally, I was hoping that 603lbs would be what I did today but I could tell that was perhaps a bridge too far for the first session back. I’m not sure if this is going to be every week with suit or not. I feel recovery is best for me every other week (same with circus dumbbell and stones) but coaching plans seem to be looking at increased frequency and progression. I was having some issues with the left suit strap (the one I was undoing between sets to breath) so that did screw me up with setting up and it popping off at times. Lockouts felt really tough. This might be just how this suit is for me as this felt like something using it last time in that my body wasn’t in synch here and legs locked out first and then it was back and hips. Which is why I may need to look at using my single ply suit with my weight change and such. I felt like the first three sets I felt better as I went. Still hard lockout. These were definitely not RPE 8 and probably not RPE 9 with the difficulty. But I was recovering enough with about 5-6 minutes rest to keep hitting these singles. Fourth pull was terrible but fifth pull seemed to be better and then sixth was about in between those as I tried a little different setup. These were exhausting and I had not expected it to take so much time to do these. But I knew I’d be sore after these with the suit pressure and strain on the body. I could already see burst capillaries in my thighs and chest area. I’m definitely not feeling like I’m getting as much out of the suit as I felt last time but again, I’m about 25lbs lighter. I will have to see next time if I can manipulate things to have my single ply work in a pinch here with wearing stuff to keep it riding up my thighs or see if I can do some tailoring on it. As it stands, I may need to aim lower if things are this way come competition time and see this event as more damage control vs the others. But we got time to figure this out. But I was feeling quite beat and I was a little worried the strain would affect the rest of the session. After recovering a bit, the next thing was the timed sandbag box squats. Same weight and time but an extra set this week. Notes were to not fully lockout my reps on these and to try and not collapse on the box the last few inches. I had been inadvertently doing that last part as I tend to focus on going fast and getting reps when it is a timed thing vs just doing reps. I didn’t do any extra warming up here like I was planned as the suit work had been quite brutal and I wasn’t keen on doing anything extra with my worries about my biceps with picking up the sandbag. Thankfully, only issue was just my knees feeling achy on these (suit puts a lot of pressure on them setting up) and I think these went well enough considering things. Another break to get stuff setup for the next thing and get some more fluids in me. Superset of the single leg dumbbell rdls and the dumbbell raises. My balance is not great on the rdls and I forget which side is the side that struggles more until I’m into the working sets. I believe I went with starting with the side that would have me holding the dumbbell in my right hand as that tends to be the side where my balance in the upper body isn’t as good as I wanted to not do that side under fatigue as that seems to be the side that got the “most” cramped in my biceps on Monday session. Other sides apparently was the tougher side. Warming up I did more reps than last time here as the reps were increased. I took a slightly longer rest between sides as well. Thankfully no issues (besides balance) here. The raises were really tough. Notes were to try and keep the arms straight. I think the angle of video makes it look like I’m not doing that on the t raise variation. I think I didn’t notice the note I could go a little lighter until it was already working set. Especially since I accidentally put a little more weight than planned on the warming up set. Which might have been helpful as that first set with working weight didn’t feel so drastic a shift. I took double the rest (30 instead of 15) between variations to allow recovery. Even with that, t raise variation still struggling a bit there. But I survived. Last thing being the Jefferson curls. With the increased weight, I was finding that starting off the sawhorse was actually a bit taxing before the reps started at this weight so I used my rack instead and started from the top. Notes had been that me keeping my head up was limiting the ROM. I think I was doing that to keep the weight steady but also so as not to lose my glasses with the movement trying to put my head through my legs. So I took them off for this to not have that be a concern. I had also noticed last time that the increased weight did lead to some bruising on my left forearm so I put on my elbow sleeves to provide some protection. Especially considering I’m doing stones now so trying to keep things from needing more time to recover week to week. First set was a little jolting going right into it but movement was fine. Second set I seemed to have the weight sit on my forearm in a way that it pressed on a nerve so had some numbing sensation there for a bit. I managed to not do that on the last set. Put stuff away and stretched out before heading over to spend the evening with family.

December 22, 2025 – Week 17, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (2 second holds at lockout)
36x5
66x3
96x2
126x2
156x2
186x2
216x4
216x4
216x4
216x4

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics first 4 reps)
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4

Yielding Barbell Z Presses (3 seconds forehead)/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
bw+15x8
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Supported No Touch Single Leg Reverse Lunges (4 second eccentrics)
46’sx10
96’sx10 – bwx10/10
96’sx10 – bwx10/10
96’sx10 – bwx10/10

Stretching

Comments: A lot of work on Saturday with all the things I had to do for that training session. So much so that Sunday felt like it was Saturday and I had to remind myself that I did not in fact have another day to rest. I felt voracious when it was time to eat Sunday and even today I was feeling hungry even with my normal work day meals. Maybe I was thinking that since I weighed in under 255lbs Sunday morning. That is the lightest I’ve been in quite some time. Honestly, this was about the weight I was when I realized I was losing weight enough that I figured it was affecting my strength/leverages initially back in 2023. I had gone from like 275lbs to 255lbs in 6 months. This week was looking to be more intense than the previous week for most things. It was a cold day but not so much that I needed to wear my warm ups here to function. Things did not start out well as just getting down on the floor to do foam rolling both my biceps cramped up on me. Which has me a little concerned for this upcoming week of training. This has happened before when not training something a good bit as far as stones and usually I alternate weeks to adapt to the wear and tear (like the skin on my stomach). So obviously stuff is beat from stones and other things and have to be cautious with things so that I don’t accidentally do something foolish here. So besides that uncomfortable start, I proceeded with soft tissue work. A good bit was needed on my lower legs and quads. Not the most be a decent bit needed. I did get a chance to walk Sunday. And soon I’ll be back to walking more often with going back to home for the next four weeks for work. Upper body needing it too but a bit different from the usual “need”. I wasn’t feeling like my shoulders were sore like last week. Neck rehab stuff followed. This was ok and went on to stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train. Axle out of the rack again. Thankfully, this was similar to last week with the plan here being 205-215lbs for 4x4 with the 2 second holds overhead. So same weight as last week if I wanted. I did same warm ups and jumps here. Thankfully my biceps didn’t cramp on me with holding the bar in the racked position like one time in 2023. I did try to adjust things slightly with my bar path and cues to hopefully have stability feel better as it has been a bit wobbly lately. I’m not sure if there was a difference really. Like last week, I just told myself the number of reps for the sets and not be thinking about how many sets to go or done. And not rush the sets. So like last time, these went smoothly for the most part (had a slight pause in the dip at start of third set to regain balance). Into the garage for incline dumbbell stuff. Notes were 70-75lbs (same as last week) but for 3x12. So still decent amount of reps but reducing volume overall. Which is fine and expected. Again, I went with the 70’s again just for ease. I didn’t feel like these felt off at the start like last week with my sore left shoulder. But I was concerned about picking up the dumbbells and shouldering because of having both my biceps cramp up earlier. Thankfully this didn’t occur here. Honestly, every exercise besides axle was going to put some stress there at some point so it was just seeing what did what. Notes had been to press up but not out towards my feet. I tend to go more chest and triceps and avoid the shoulders on incline so I had to course correct there and aim for it to be going more over my face. Definitely noticed a difference there with that cue. From there, back outside for dumbbell push pressing with the 5 seconds eccentrics. I was a bit surprised with the change on these. Still first half being the 5 second eccentrics with the sets. I think what I was surprised with was that the sets remained the same at 5 but that reps increased on the sets. So instead of 3+3 sets, these were 4+4 sets. So two more reps each set and one of those reps being an eccentric accentuated one. Which we’ve seen how much an extra rep or two can sap strength on these. These ended up being a mixture of easy and difficult. Some sets started out not great and I’d have some stability issues and others I went through them with minimal issues. This was going to be the more challenging of the pressing things this session and I could see why the previous two things weren’t really pushed up from last week. Right biceps felt a little strain with the dismount on the final set but nothing serious. But did remind me that I had fatigued and recovering muscles. Moving right along to the supersets. First pairing for the garage stuff was again yielding z presses and heel elevated tempo goblet squats. I initially thought it was a typo to repeat last week but then I realized that it was the same weights and reps but an extra set. I wasn’t too worried about the pressing. I didn’t even do a warm up set as I felt this was manageable and the extra reps on the dumbbell push press would have me warmed up enough. It was more the goblet squats and my biceps being cool with holding the weight for the sets. And thankfully they were. Pressing actually felt comfortable enough that I considered adding a little weight after the first two sets but thought better of it. Last pairing for the evening being the weird rows and the supported single leg thingies with eccentrics added from last week. With the rows, I may have misread a cue with hips back and thinking that meant to be more parallel to the floor but that appears to not be the intent as I was told to have chest up more so that leads to a more vertical position. I was nervous with these because of the biceps so I did do a warm up set to make sure the movement felt safe to do today. And thankfully it was. My knees were feeling a bit achy so it took a bit of effort to get them feeling like doing these single leg things at the end. Left side seems to have more issues with this vs the right side. But finished up and at a large dinner to recoup. Full day of work tomorrow and then a half day after that. Stretched before cleaning up and bed.

December 20, 2025 – Week 16, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

19” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats
85x10
135x8
185x6
235x4
285x2
335x6
340x6
345x6

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
72x4
94x3
108x2
125x2
140x2
155x2
170x0
170x3
170x3
30 Second Sets (with run up)
120x7
120x6 (1 miss)

Yoke and Sandbag Carries (50’ run back)
Y - 240x50’
Y - 330x50’
Y - 420x50’
Y - 510x25’
Y - 510x25’
600xpick (3 seconds)/225xpick (3 seconds)
600x50’/225x50’ in 28.46 seconds
600x50’/225x50’ in 28.63 seconds
600x50’/225x50’ in 28.30 seconds

Atlas Stones
55”
285x1
285x1
330x0
330x1 (1 miss)
51”
330x5
330x5
330x5 (1 miss)

ATG Split Squats (8”)/V-Ups
bwx12/12 – bwx15
bwx12/12 – bwx15
bwx12/12 – bwx15

Stretching

Comments: This whole week I’ve not felt like I got enough sleep. I mean, I felt rested enough but I seemed to be zonked out enough that I wasn’t waking up early and seeing I had time left and going back to sleep. I was pretty much sleeping right through and then waking up angry the alarm was going off. Like swearing as soon as I got up. Feeling like I don’t have enough hours in the day. My parents saw me Monday and Friday for dinner and commented how I looked a lot less tired Friday compared to Monday at least. Family starting to trickle in for holidays. I initially woke up Saturday at 9:30AM but said no thank you as I knew that this was going to be a very taxing session and I was feeling sore still in the left shoulder and I needed a bit more rest. So about 90 minutes more sleep before I got up. I had to prep a few things to travel today and take care of some upkeep as well before heading out. Lot of bad driving just getting to the part of highway where it was mostly smooth sailing. Had me wishing I could just train at home today. But besides that, I made good time. I did show up after 1PM so I missed a decent bit of the strongman crew. I got a little distracted after warming up talking to some people. Acting like I didn’t have things to do. But I think it was just I was nervous to do what was asked today. As I’ve been noticing that rarely is the next week easier than the first. I’m constantly surprised I’m surviving the workload. It was a bit cold but I knew I’d warm up pretty quick. Soft tissue work started things off. Calves needed a decent amount but not a ton again on the tops. Quads weren’t so bad compared to Day 2 session. Upper back didn’t really need it despite still feeling much like it did Thursday. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Feeling a little better with the aches and tightness compared to the past week. So that is something I guess. I then did stretches hips, hamstrings, knees and ankles and then a dead hang. On to weights. Cambered squat bar box squats. Plan was same weight as last week but 3x6. I think I had the box an inch high last time. Still felt better at the gym vs at home though. It really is shocking how stiff my knees feel initially and then start to feel better with more weight and support gear added to my midsection. More reps on squats meant more strain on body. I didn’t think these would feel more taxing than last week with one less set but more reps but my rest did seem to be longer. My right knee never felt 100% with sitting on the box but it handled what I was asking well enough I guess. I did 5lbs added per set again just for my own amusement as it probably makes little difference if it was the same weight all three sets here. I want to keep working squats as they went by the way side for a good bit and I think they are good for building strength. Just they can be a pain if someone else isn’t dictating what to do as I can sometimes get in my own head if stuff feels heavy or my knees/back act up on me. From there, it was on to circus dumbbell. The first thing I was nervous about today. Last two weeks it has been 150-155lbs recommended for sets of 5 reps. This was to be working up to 170lbs for 2x3. So thankful it was just two sets but worrying about getting three good reps here. This is just 10lbs under that top single I hit about a month back to end the off season prep. Granted it went up easy after the effort to clean it but I was really digging deep in my CNS as I was twitching and shaking for a good bit after that one. So heavy dumbbell, one day short of a week from the previous time. I’m not yet comfortable with the run up and toppling the dumbbell to start at least with contest weight so I did the topple part to start the sets working up to 170lbs. I was kind of going by feel with the reps. Initially I was thinking just singles after I worked up to the heavy bell but I guess I kept it to doubles just so I felt the movement and fatigue from rep to rep. I didn’t exactly instill confidence in myself as 94lbs felt off initially and my last work up set with 155lbs the second rep almost went squirrelly on me. For 170lbs, I had already decided I was going to treat these lifts as singles and not attempt touch and go. Do a rep and take about 10 seconds and do another rep and be done. My first attempt at 170lbs didn’t go great. I didn’t panic as I knew it was a form issue but I had to walk it off and not treat that as my working set or I knew I’d get frustrated and rush reps. I came back to it and got my first rep solidly. Took about 10 seconds and went for the second. That one was not quite as smooth. I wouldn’t give myself that in competition but I wasn’t going to get pissed off. I took about 5 seconds longer to regroup then for the third rep and that one went up like it should. I think I have to get used to how the clean feels on me and the weight in my hand vs how I want it on my upper back and when I know it is secured. Second set was much better and I was able to execute how I wanted it with keeping to about 10 seconds between the reps. I was happy with that result. This wasn’t the end of dumbbell though. I was to do two more sets but with 120lbs. Essentially, AMRAPs with 30 seconds. This should feel light after those sets. For these, I did set things more like competition in that I had the dumbbell standing up right and I was coming from the edge of the platform once the timer went. First set was great and I executed how I wanted. Not fatigued, just out of time with getting 7 reps in the 30 seconds. Second set not so much. I rushed it and got off balance on the attempt at the seventh rep and it went up off and I couldn’t stabilize it. Not the end I wanted here but the main thing was I had two great sets. Took my time with getting ready for the next thing since someone was in the lanes at the time. It was definitely later than I’d like and I still had a time vampire of an event still to go. This next one wasn’t it though. Again doing yoke and sandbag medley. Plan being work up to three top sets. Yoke increased to 600lbs, which is the first time since world’s that I’ve done 600lbs or more. Sandbag weight staying the same this week. I’m fine with that considering the stuff I did before and still had to do. Thankfully, my lower back wasn’t as tense as it was last week. With it being later in the day than I wanted, I didn’t do as many warm up sets. 600lbs for my pick to acclimate didn’t feel great. Probably because I was doing the starts where I wasn’t under the yoke like contest. Trying to drill that in. The yoke wasn’t going to be the tough one here. I was dealing with some indigestion during these so that wasn’t fun. I felt like I was slow on the run back from the yoke besides the yoke feeling a little slow at the start. I didn’t feel like I was slowing up at the end of the run on yoke like last week. Sandbag is sandbag and felt fine. I did try to bump it up slightly on the second and final run. My runs were surprisingly close to what I did last time minus the last run that was over a second faster than the previous runs. The indigestion seemed to stop after these. I had only been slightly nervous with this as more seeing how 600lbs affected the speed. The next thing was really a stressor as it would take time. At that would be atlas stones. They are one of my favorite events in strongman but they really suck when you’ve not done them in years and especially with tacky clean up. Stones haven’t really been in shows lately so not many people have really been putting in work on stones in that way. Once or twice someone will do something but it is like months apart. The area is a bit cluttered now and some of the lighter stones it is hard to tell what the weights are since the numbers are so tackied over. Only the big and heavy stones are obvious (or the really light ones no one uses tacky on). So the plan here was to do 3x5 with a decently heavy stone. RPE 8. Now I’ve not done stones in over 2yrs so quite the layoff. I’ve done sandbags up to 325lbs and I picked up that one stone in Ireland during that time but that’s it. I had to figure out what setup was going to make sense training by myself and figure out what stones I had access to work up. Contest is 280lbs or 355lbs over 52”. I’ll be damned if I’m doing 280lbs stone for reps. It is a warm up weight. I had meant to use the 235lbs stone but I couldn’t figure out which one it was and I thought it might be a stone in the walk way and wanted to weigh it but after getting locked out of the gym and having to walk all the way around the industrial complex to get back in with is freezing and me without a shirt on, I wasn’t going to humor that nonsense again. So just went right at 285lbs to 55” platform (over bar seemed risky). Honestly, with so much dried tacky on it, there was 50/50 chance this was the 235lbs but I knew it wasn’t when I picked it up. I wasn’t too happy with how that rep went so I did another and that felt better. I was using the Spider Tack I had with me as that seemed to warm up quickest. I then rolled out the 330lbs. I had options but the 310lbs was in the walk way and the 315lbs was on the other platform which was occupied with all the gym’s logs. Not touching that while tackied up. I definitely bit off more than I could chew today here. The pick was fine and felt like it should but my extension was garbage today. I guess not really trained that in a good while. It slid down on me going for the load and I missed it. Not nice and easy Happy. I applied tacky to my midsection (going to smart later) and I did get a rep here but I got the same issue on the second. Damn it. I didn’t want to drop down to 285lbs for my 3x5 so I moved to the next platform at 51”, so roughly contest. I try to train higher than contest just because of fatigue factor. But perhaps I can do that for now since usually I don’t do the entire contest in training several times lol. I applied my STAB Tack and that is so much better compared to the Spider Tack but it is imported now and tariffs really make it pricey to get more. Somehow, I made it through this. I got 3 reps and the had to take some rest to recoup and get the last two reps. The issue was more on my extension ability and not feeling confident that the stone will stick to me on the pick to lap as it was feeling quite gritty/dirty on the one side. I had not misses on the pick. I think I was also worried with doing all these biceps stressing exercises back to back. I had a close miss on the last set and I contemplated stopping there but took about 45 seconds to recover and get it. Every set I felt like I was telling myself I can stop or go lighter next time and I think that false bargaining let me keep going. Hell, I was considering not doing stones after the yoke stuff due to the indigestion. Video shows I’m looking quite lean and I can see where muscles has been added this off season. Then came time to clean up and that took a lot of time and effort to be somewhat decent. I do not miss this part of stone training. And the first session is always the worst one. Showering later was also going to suck. I changed out of my stone stuff and put on my tacky soft shirt to finish up with the last thing. The split squats progressions and v-ups. Advised to lower the block height some more. 3x12 for the split squats and 3x15 for the v-ups. My right knee was feeling a little stiff from stones so I did a little mobility and stretching to make sure everything was good. Everything was fine here besides the right knee being a tad achy. But understandable. I just took a little more rest between exercises and sets here as I was really drained at this point. Late night driving home (still some bad drivers but not as many as the early afternoon) and got dinner ready and stretched before cleaning off.

December 18, 2025 – Week 16, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
143x5
235x3
323x2
375x1
428x1
478x4
478x4
478x4
478x4

Sandbag Box Squats (18”)
175x30 seconds
175x30 seconds
175x30 seconds

Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Chest Supported I Flys and T Flys
65x6/6 -- 18’sx6+6
115x8/8 -- 31’sx8+8
115x8/8 -- 31’sx8+8
115x8/8 -- 31’sx8+8

Jefferson Curls
65x1
85x8
95x8
105x8

Stretching

Comments: Getting closer to getting back on my regular training schedule. Today’s session would hopefully be the last one on an odd day for me and assuming I can suck it up with another one day of rest before doing Day 3 session, I’ll be back to my M-W-S schedule. This day has at least become a little less long in length but by no means less taxing. Work was thankfully not so bad but it was starting to warm up in the afternoon. Granted, going from below freezing to above freezing isn’t a lot but it was noticeable. Started off with foam rolling, which was ok. Calves were a little tight (right at the tops). Quads were really tight on both sides this time around as well. Upper back was needing the foam rolling but not so much as it has the past week. Neck rehab followed and that was needed. It wasn’t as relaxing as it I wanted it to be with my neck still feeling the effects of the tweak Friday. My left shoulder is sore from the past two training sessions as well. Went into the stretching for hips, ankles, hamstrings and knees after that followed by a dead hang to decompress. Like last week, I did the tib raises/calf raises in the garage as treating these as the first exercise of the lifting session. These felt fine, could feel a little fatigue in them. Bendy long bar pulls again. The “lighter” session. I am feeling like it is crunch time with the competition coming up now. I do wonder with how suit integration will be with Ms. Funk in training prep. I think I’m partly concerned in that I know my deadlift had taken a dive at some point a year ago and I’ve realized that I can use the old markers for what now will be with time available and work put in with my age. I’ve seen that I’ve had to put in a bit more work in the uncomfortable zone to maintain. So there is that plus my weight is down 25lbs or so from last wearing the suits. Not worth it to get new ones nor would there likely be time for one to be made and arrive to really train on it (if a customized one). But likely a next week issue. As this was the light session. Last week with the 513lbs for 5x2 had taken a good bit out of me. I was fresh off recovering from the cold (still have mucus remnants) and my lower back was quite sore until like yesterday from that. Which I’ve not really had this entire time with training the deadlift with Ms. Funk. So I knew that had been pushed a good bit. So this session the notes were 465-475lbs for 4x4. So about what I had done two weeks ago minus the holds at lockout. I decided to go for the heavier end on this considering that I knew I should be good for it. I of course treated it like the 3lbs didn’t count like I’ve been doing here. This would be close to what I did the first heavy week of these for my down sets for triples. I definitely didn’t tap into what I did last week here. First set felt rough but I know that that isn’t always a good indicator for the session. Like that first session where I had 453lbs for sets of 6 reps and the first set felt like RPE 10 almost and then made the second set feel really easy. Now it didn’t become that great of a contrast this time around but I didn’t feel like any sets were as rough as the first set. The second set though did feel easier but I think part of that was that the one side the extenders weren’t secure enough and slid a few inches making the flex more apparent. I did adjust them after that and thankfully that didn’t make things feel like the first set as I was worried that had been the case why the second set felt good. These pulls are really stressing my bracing and I feel I’m getting better at that. Got these done and took a little break to teardown and rehydrate before moving on to the rest of the session. The next thing was the timed sandbag box squats. Same weight but longer time (30 vs 20) and one set dropped. My hope was that my air was back compared to last time. I could still work through it but I’d rather not feel that winded. Only the knee sleeves like last time. I did have an added level of difficulty as apparently I had a hangnail on my left thumb and the dryness caused it to crack and bleed a good bit. So I had to manage blood time while doing these. If I didn’t have that going on, I may have done an accumulation set so that the first set didn’t feel so rough on the knees as that had been the case last time. But soldiered one here. The added time was noticed as far as recovery between sets. But this wasn’t bad. Another break to get stuff setup for the next thing and get some more fluids in me. Next being the new superset of the single leg dumbbell rdls and the dumbbell raises. The reps were lowered on the rdls but weight was suggested as what I did for my top set last time or a little heavier. Since only my last set had been done the right way (offset loading), I stuck to the lighter option here. The raises were the same weight but more reps so I knew that was going to be challenging as well. I used slightly more weight and more reps with my warm ups to hopefully get used to the discomfort. Nope. The rdls were rough right from the start. I think on these I get a little paranoid that not going low enough but video says even the ones that felt “high” are going to the spot I want these at. Balance is really tricky on these. I had thought the one side was my lagging side but it seems to depend on weight and such. Like the one side it felt tougher for the lower body part but the other side it was the core/upper body. Video also makes the dumbbell not look so large. I did take about 25 seconds rest between sides on these as this variation is quite a bit more taxing. The raises did not start out well. The first set I felt like I had misloaded something or was not recovered or something because it felt damn heavy. The weight did feel better on the following sets besides it being really tough on the t fly variation. I took a little more rest compared to last time with like 15 seconds rest between the variations. The last thing then for this session was those Jefferson curls again. Told to add weight as long as feeling good on my lower back. 3x8 for the sets. I had used just barbell to get used to the movement and make sure that I was feeling good here. My plan was to just do 65lbs but I did one rep and it was way too light for what I was planning so I added 20lbs more. But I guess I can handle more as that also felt light so I added 10lbs per set. I had though jumping to 95lbs after 65lbs was too big a jump (or even from the 45lbs) but I guess not. It is a little more taxing on the arms with this weight added. I can see these helping with picking up stones and sandbags. I was starting to regret drinking anything after the superset on these this time around. But finished these up and put stuff away and ate dinner, followed by stretching.

December 16, 2025 – Week 16, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (2 second holds at lockout)
36x5
66x3
96x2
126x2
156x2
186x2
216x3
216x3
216x3
216x3
216x3

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics first 3 reps)
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3

Yielding Barbell Z Presses (3 seconds forehead)/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
95x2/bw+10x8
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Supported No Touch Single Leg Reverse Lunges (4 second eccentrics)
96’sx8 – bwx8/8
96’sx8 – bwx8/8
96’sx8 – bwx8/8

Stretching

Comments: Being sick and having to move days around last week did lead to a benefit for this week. If I had been on my normal schedule, I’d not been able to train as normal for Monday as snow came out of nowhere late in the afternoon. It was sudden and stopped quickly but I’d not felt comfortable training overhead outside during it or with the platform sullied. Body is feeling beat and I am craving sleep but just not getting as much as I want with training and this stupid work schedule. Just do what I can and not stress about it. Another cold day. Home and soft tissue work needed. A good bit was needed on my lower legs and quads. Upper back too. Upper body was a little stiff and achy. I’m glad I’ve not had a return of the swollen wrist from last week. Left shoulder is sore from dumbbell (both the work and from having it land on the same spot a lot). Neck rehab stuff followed. This was ok. I have to remind myself it hasn’t been a week since I was feeling ill and tweaked my neck. It will get better. I’m still not 100% but at this point it is just stuffy from mucus rather than feeling like I can’t control secretions and coughing like last week. From there stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train. Below freezing outside again. I’m used to it for the most part. Once I’m warmed up, I’m good. But got to keep my hands from feeling numb. Axle out of the rack again. I hadn’t been too sure how things would go but I kind of hoped that not pushing so much with contest prep and more focus on getting reps with the dumbbell. It would seem that this was more lighter side of things but still decent work and addressing issues I still have. So plan here was 205-215lbs for 5x3. So I could go a bit lighter than last week if warranted or about the same weight. I didn’t bother with fractional plates so plan was 216lbs doing 30lbs jumps. The other thing was that I was to do holds overhead for 2 seconds each rep. This would break up the reps and have me be stable. I’ve been feeling power but not stability recent with axle overhead. Like last week, I just told myself 3 reps each set and not to be thinking about how many to go or how many I’d done as far as sets. These went smoothly for the most part. No issues with the platform. I had plenty of ice melt out there. Into the garage for incline dumbbell stuff. Notes were 70-75lbs (same as last week) but for 4x10. I went with the 70’s again just for ease. I didn’t feel great at the start on these because of how sore my left shoulder and such were feeling but thankfully I felt better as I went on these. This and last week have had me feeling better about this but again, could just be that I prefer the solid dumbbells to the plateloaded handles. From there, back outside for dumbbell push pressing with the 5 seconds eccentrics. Same deal as last week with first three 5 second eccentrics and the other three normal reps. Same weight but adding a set to it. These had felt uncharacteristically difficult last time. I hadn’t felt stable the most part and the regular reps felt tougher than the controlled reps. Well not the case this time. Felt back on track here. No real stability issues, smooth reps and not feeling fatigue that hampered me on the later sets on the regular reps. That was it for outside fun in the cold and rest of the session in the garage for supersets. First pairing for the garage stuff was again yielding z presses and heel elevated tempo goblet squats. Advised to do 115-125lbs for 3x4 on the z presses and same weight as last week on the goblets but sets of 12 reps. It is only 2 reps but with tempo, it feels like a lot more work being added. With how my shoulders were feeling a tad cooked, I wasn’t too sure how the z pressing would go. I took a gamble and went on the heavier end. I probably could’ve done more weight here and still been fine. But I’m sure I’ll have these next week with more reps or something. The goblet squats were draining but they always tend to be. Upper body gets fatigued with holding the weight in position for the duration. I do feel like the reps were enough that I was feeling some fatigue in the legs by the end. Knees had been a tad achy at the start but seemed fine as I did more. Last pairing for the evening being the weird rows and the supported single leg thingies. Slight change to the later with indication to emphasize the negatives. Nothing set but I ventured to do 3-5 seconds depending on what seemed to fit and worked with the movement and range of motion. Both exercises had reps reduced back to 8. Bodyweight only for the lunge things but suggested increase on the rows was 90-100lbs. I didn’t want to deal with fractional plates so did 96lbs. I do not like these because they feel uncomfortable and awkward when I do them with trying to keep contact with my legs/thighs and these big unwieldy dumbbells. I think I’d enjoy them more if I had solid dumbbells to use. Knees were a tad achy on the lunge stuff so I did have to pump up the knees a little with small movements before committing to the movements. These were fine and I got them done. Put stuff away and got dinner before stretching and trying to get to bed so I can try to get some decent sleep.