April 20, 2025 - April 26, 2025 - Week 8

 April 21, 2025 – Week 8, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses
39x5
69x3
99x2
129x2
159x2
189x3
216x3
243x6

Dips
bwx5
bw+45x3
bw+90x8
bw+90x11

Band Assisted Pull-up (stacked)
Pin 12
lbx4
Pin 17
lbx4
Pin 22
lbx10
lbx10
lbx10

Axle Seated Overhead Lockouts (6” ROM)
231x3
281x3
331x3
331x9

Paused Single Arm Dumbbell Y Raises on Incline Bench (2ct)/Single Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions (2ct stretch)
12x12—12/mmb+µbx15—15
12x12—12/mmb+µbx15—15

Stretching
 
Comments: Back to the regular training days now for 3 days a week. It doesn’t appear that I got as wiped out by my training over the weekend as I was the last time had to do fingers and farmer’s walk. Weight up a bit so no longer at 265lbs but likely will go down and more to do with essentially ordering out food rather than cooking dinner myself the night before. So while not feeling that beat up from Saturday, I did feel some aches in my joints as far as knees and shoulders. Also a little for lower back and hips. The different style of clean for the fingal fingers leaves bruises on the tops of my hands. Also a bruise on my inside of my left knee. Not sure if that is just from doing things or I hit it with something. But none of it is painful. I didn’t try to force ROM with the left shoulder as far as foam rolling stuff. But did make sure that I got stuff warmed up and moving. Not so bad. I do wish that I could get the impingement thing with the left to go away but it isn’t effecting anything for the events and most training thankfully. I was nervous for the axle push pressing. Just from how beat up things have felt in the shoulders after fingal fingers. I didn’t have the luxury of being able to really move days as I had to go into the office on Tuesday for the collaboration day so didn’t want to have to train after that nonsense. I was also have my HVAC system replaced same day so possibility of that still going on while training also not ideal. I also couldn’t really push out the days as I plan to do Hercules hold Saturday for first and last touch this prep and I need to make sure I have help for that. So I had to do this workout today to fit things in. Still following 5/3/1 protocol. So far, so good I guess there. Not sure if weather recently but fair number of ants on the lifting area today. Stuff was feeling a bit achy in the everywhere as far as joints go. I was getting nervous with the working sets coming up. I told myself it was just the 3’s this week so just need to get a few reps. But of course panicking and thinking this needs to be easier and such. First set wasn’t that bad. Just a little bit out in front so feeling some pressure holding my breath. Second set had me really nervous about how the last set would go as I just was unstable the entire time. Just stumbling backwards and forwards. Like stuff needed to not be that way real quick if I wanted to do anything that last top set. Perhaps that being the case where I’m really anxious helps with making things go. First rep a little bit of catch as out in front at lockout (went up fast) so I had to kind of catch my balance as I lowered it and that meant I couldn’t rebound into the next rep. Second rep went up about the same but I attempted to go into a rebound rep right after that. I was able to do it but it wasn’t quite that stable so little slow with lockout so I took a breath of air at lockout to catch balance. I just then committed to doing rebound after that despite my base not feeling the most stable and it seemed to work out to get to 5 reps. I took another big long breath and decided I’d do no rebound for that last rep. Which could be a risk. But I was able to get it. Decided to just rack the weight at that point as I hit the minimum for what would allow me to make a 10lbs increase for next time (assuming I get 3 over next time). I do feel there was another rep there. But best to get what I can with the anxiety I get and move on. Moved on to dips from there. Would be the last time this prep I do them weighted as next time will be the deload session. Shoulders as I mentioned had felt a little bit achier than I’d like. But things haven’t been bad with dips so far. 10lbs increase again here so now working back up to 90lbs. I know there is room for a lot more growth in strength so I may be keeping these as something beyond this training prep. This felt similar to how it did last time and I managed to match the reps. Definitely getting my chest involved on these and my triceps are definitely starting to get stronger and feel powerful like they have in the past. Back outside for the rest of the workout. Band assisted pull-ups up next. Plan being 3x8-10 with potentially less band assistance. I figured based off how last time went that I could use less assistance. Rather than use different bands to warm up, I’d use the same band but change the height for the assistance. I don’t like using less than the light band because the thinner bands tend to cut/dig into my shins with my weight. No issues with biceps and my left shoulder this time didn’t feel like something was shifting and moving around. So I’ll take those as positives here. Moving on to seated lockouts with the axle. Started to get a little cloudy and some drops. But nothing consistent. Like the dips, this would be the last time this cycle. I think these will also be a thing I use but likely going to have these be with log as that moves a little easier as far as finding that balance point. Really tricky with axle but worth trying out. Anyways, I had the plan was to do 2x4 or 2x3 if not able to meet reps. But I saw how last time I was having a hell of a time with the working weight and getting the sweet spot so I had done just 1x3 to warm up (which really ended up being rest paused singles). I didn’t do a big an increase despite getting as many reps as I did as I knew that these is tough movement (I had indicated to do 2.5% or so after last time). I knew from last time that I got to get things lined up just right and then I should be good to go. I took me a few tries to get it right for the 3 reps before. I want to say I had 2 attempts on this rep set before I finally got things to fire right and start doing reps. Ended up with 9 reps after going for 10th but not quite having it lined up right so couldn’t lock it out. Wasn’t going to fight it at this point. I’ve put in the work here. Again, since the bench was already outside, I just did the final superset outside as well. Same as last time with the unilateral stuff. Left side still has issues with the external rotation aspect but tolerable on the Y raises. I stuck to same weight and reps there. The band triceps stuff I made sure I had the band tension right for both sets this time around. I felt tempted to increase but figured it was best to just do what I had and let my triceps start to recover some as the peak starts to ramp up. Had after putting weights and stuff away, I had to move my power rack off the patio area so that easy access to the AC outdoor unit for the HVAC people. Ate dinner and stretched out. Need to get to bed early so that I can be ready for the HVAC people and to do the collab day in office.

April 23, 2025 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

2.5” Thick Bar 18” Block Pulls (straps)
187x5
277x3
367x2
457x1
547x1
637x1
Cluster Sets (15 seconds rest)
557x1+1
557x1+1
557x1+1

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
56’sx5
81’sx5
106’sx8
106’sx8
86’sx13

Single Leg Stepdowns (18”, foot to rear)
bwx3/3
bw+50x10/10
bw+50x10/10

Paused Single Leg Hamstring Bridges (3 seconds)
bwx20/20
bwx20/20

Paused Ab Rollouts (5ct)
bwx15
bwx9
bwx6

Stretching

Comments: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do the session today or not. Not because I didn’t want to train, but I think because I wanted to make sure that I was rested and ready for my last big deadlift. Ankles felt a little stiff and the in office day can be a little draining. I had been anxious with overhead press and at some point I pinched my thumb on something so have a blood blister there. And now my right shoulder is feeling achy (in a completely different way from my left mind you). It wasn’t like a heavy deadlift session and then just one day of rest really seemed to affect anything last time I did that (two weeks ago) but I felt it was best to not move the deadlift session by one day so that I gave the bag toss and Hercules hold the respect needed for as recovered as I can. And If I can’t hit the numbers planned while feeling a little achy, then I have no shot of pulling contest weight at the show. I had to pull out the little oscillating fan as it got up to 80 (my new AC is doing a good job though). I’ve been making adjustments as needed with my warming up for session. I made sure I did the static stretch stuff this time around haha. Last heavy deadlift session. I’d probably have it not be so far out but I also have to do another heavy farmer’s walk session and with the picks being rough there, it isn’t like I’m resting on my laurels on that front. Need to let things recover and more time needed as I get older. Plan was big jumps in weight and aiming for a top single. As in leaving 1RIR ideally. My hope here would be to do 20lbs more than my triple from last time. This should be doable for me assuming no issues and if it truly felt like I could double it, I have a real shot of doing 660lbs at contest. Same setup as last time I went heavy but I did add in bumper plates for the weights like I was doing the very first week I went heavy on these. I’m not sure if just lower back feeling a little bit achy from Saturday or if my stance wasn’t quite right but some reps didn’t feel as good as others. It felt easy initially warming up but then getting above the first two weeks started to feel somethings not as keen. Adding a hard belt did seem to alleviate some of that. I wasn’t 100% sure the top single would go with how the preceding one had gone. But I put in my best effort and got to it after chalking things up. There was the briefest moment at the start where I thought it wasn’t happening but then it moved and it went up. Please with that pull. Goal of the minimum needed achieved again. The down sets were a little different this time around. I had noticed that I tended to need to rest or take a breather on the heavier weights because can’t really rest with this bar at lockout so unless I got a good brace I can’t really pull again right away. So I figured it made sense to incorporate that aspect with breaking up the reps with 15 seconds rest between reps. So I’d get used to having to rebrace and not have that stretch reflex. Noticing that there was some strap slippage but I think it was more that the bar wasn’t free revolving at this point so straps weren’t getting even tightness. However, I survived the deadlifts. Just lighter stuff going forward until show time (minus heavy farmer’s next week). Rest of the workout from there. Moving on to the chest supported dumbbell rows. Last week of these. Switching to less intense row variation as winding things down. These holds on rows are quite taxing. Plan this time around being to do the top set I did last week but for 2x8 and then drop down 20lbs for a rep set with the 3ct holds. Warming up was fine and all. Took a bit of time between the sets to make sure I recovered enough and put away stuff from the deadlifting. Got through those first two heavier sets well enough. Wasn’t sure with the rep set as I know how things can be with these on the holds. But it did feel light enough. I figured that I probably needed to do at least 12 reps here to be in the range I should be to match what I was doing with these last time around. Ended up with a baker’s dozen. From there moving on step downs. I had a little bit of issue here with logistics. There were some exercise adjustments from last week to this week and initially looking at trying to superset with these but felt it was best to keep as separate. I also felt that I could probably suck it up here and just go right to 18” height with bodyweight as I’ve worked on these hard rather than having to build up to it. And I was right, I could. So that made things a little easier with working sets as I knew I could already reach depth without weight so it wasn’t feeling for it like before. Used the kettlebell handle and added 10lbs. Only two sets right now and feeling decently strong. I’m pleased I’ve gotten these back to about how they were from a few years ago. Unilateral leg stuff wasn’t done though. Bringing in something from a few years back with hamstring bridges. I remember doing these only a little bit as these ended up being more intense than anticipated. Plan was 2 sets of these with 3-5ct holds for 12-20 reps. I was aimed for longer holds before but I figured it made more sense to get in reps this time around and aim for longer holds next time around. I think that these would be helpful with hamstrings and getting even hip extension. Core balance with the unilateral work. I was not expecting these to be as tough as they were for my right side vs left side. I guess I know better for next time. I did go for 20 reps on both sets here. Hopefully these aren’t too taxing on the hamstrings when it comes time for Saturday training. Ab wheel to finish out the night. All alone this time around. I’ve hopefully done enough of these in enough weeks in a row that I’ve become inoculated to the DOMS in the lower abs. Same plan of 5ct holds on the reps and aim being total reps in however many sets needed leaving 2RIR (but likely closer to 1RIR because I know how I am). 30 reps for the volume goal this week. I managed to improve by 1 rep on the first two sets so I only had a few for to finish things up here. Put stuff away while letting my dinner cool off. Stretched after eating.

April 26, 2025 – Week 8, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Box Jumps
24”x3
27”x3
28.5”x3
30”x3
33”x3

Sandbag Throws (rotational style)
22.5x45’
22.5x45’
50x23’5”
50x25’10”
50x27’7”
50x27’7”
50x29’8”
50x26’11”
50x26’11”
50x26’6”
50x26’6”
50x24’5”

Hercules Holds (2” handles)
200x5 seconds
250x5 seconds
300xoops
300x32.50 seconds
260x36.00 seconds
260x41.70 seconds

Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings w/ bands (+28lbs/+93lbs, 32” height)
65x2
115x2
155x2
205x2
245x2
245x2
245x2
245x2
245x2

Seated Leg Curls (2-0-2-0 tempo)/Monster Mondo Deadlift Start Leg Presses
100x5/390x6
150x5/570x6
200x10/750x6
225x10/840x6
250x12/930x12

Stretching

Comments: Almost stuck to my schedule with getting up at a reasonable hour to train. Just slept in 30 minutes. I couldn’t afford to oversleep that much as I needed assistance with training today. Getting very close with competition time. Besides this workout, there is really just one more session where I’m going to be doing events and that one is one of those important sessions to determine things. This session would be a bit more relaxed since the really stressful stuff was going to be more the assistance work than the actual event work. Allergies acting up so took pill and nasal spray. It is possible exacerbated by the forest fire a little bit southwest of where I live too. I wasn’t too thrilled to hear rain drops in the morning before leaving. I didn’t think it was going to rain today but appears it would be off and on. Oh well. Drive out wasn’t bad. Fair number of people training today for strongman and doing similar events. So that did slow me down a little with pacing as talking with people and knowing that I’d need to be mindful of space and timing for stuff. It was also very humid today but thankfully not that hot. I did foam rolling and mobility stuff. I made sure that I did some static stretches for the hips/ankles/knees. As it was raining, I didn’t get throwing setup beforehand as wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing with that. Box jumps to start off. For some reason, I felt tempted to just go right into 24” jump height without doing my bounding warming up. But I made sure I did those first but still went with 24”. The plan for today was to work up to a new triple for the box jumps. I felt that doing triples and not trying to do singles to work up felt best to me. Not fatiguing but encouraging if that makes sense. As sometimes my first jump to a height isn’t my best. I’ve not been filming these but was going to today since hopefully hitting a new PR here. It was pointed out that I do a little foot hop before I jump with my left foot. I was kind of aware that I had that foot move before I jump but I was not aware how much until I saw video. Not sure if that is really something for me to fix but definitely shows that my left side is the one I lead with. Doing the matts on the ground stuff definitely seemed like the way to go here with progression. Things went well here and no misses of psyching myself out before jumps. My triple for a new best I feel the jumps got better as I went. I don’t think I’m quite at 36” yet but I’m getting close to it. These have been fun but not sure how/if programming for the next thing as depends on what comes up. Next two possible big shows are more than the usual events. SC Nats events posted and I’m definitely interested (but would need to qualify). Natural Worlds not yet but also have to qualify. I likely can’t do both due to time and costs really. But a comfortable PR here and on to the actually contested things. So outside for throws. I changed things up here. I did my throws in the alleyway instead of the loading dock. Main reason was that the loading dock has divots and water pools in them so where I would throw had standing water and didn’t really want the sandbags to land in it either. Hey, I should deal with the conditions since I’ll be in the PNW anyways for this so it could happen. But I think the other reason besides that with the alleyway not having water (due to incline) was that it was narrow by nature and the surface was likely closer to what will be the case at the competition. I need to make sure if doing the spinning that I keep it in the lane. I’ve not been feeling like I’ve got my best throwing in the past two sessions. But I felt like maybe it would be better today as I launched the 22.5lbs bag past the end point both times when it was falling short the previous time I did these to warm up. I’m not sure why but the space to throw from felt smaller this time around. I just started off as ok with throws but managed to hit a PR on my fifth throw with the 50lbs bag. But couldn’t replicate it after that point and distance went down. I had 3 pairs of throws back to back that matched distances so there was some consistency there. I was feeling a little crampy in the stomach during these which could be from the humidity but also some digestion issues the previous two days. I called if after the tenth throw as my distance decreased substantially. I’d have liked to get 30’ on this during prep but oh well. I just hope that my choice to pursue this style of throw works out. I took my time putting things away to one rehydrate but also eat up time so that the people doing yoke on the turf lane were done as I needed some space and help for the next thing; Hercules hold. Setting that up is a pain and requires at minimum two people to run it. Sometimes more depending on the weight. Because of that, I’ve done most of my training with other stuff and primarily doing the 2” thick rolling handles hangs. But I feel it is important that I do the setup at least once during the prep to see. My plan here was to see how things felt but ideally work up in 5 second holds to warm up and then do a max hold with something that I cand do 30-45 seconds with and then drop that weight down by 10-15% and repeat the times. I tend to have just one good, long hold in me and if I want to match it, I have to drop weight a good bit. I adjusted the straps that connect to the setup so that it wasn’t as “loose” as I believe the contest setup will be more “upright”. I was trying to figure out jumps and such as I needed to warm up and get an idea of what I was doing but I also didn’t want to do too many because of requiring a good bit of effort from those helping. Had to add 125lbs dumbbells to the platform so that it didn’t rocket up when the weights were dropped. The weight wasn’t feeling so bad so I decided I’d do 300lbs and if that was too easy, I’d go up. But it felt like a safe weight. This ended up being too much for one of the spotters to be able to lift and pull the pin out so had to get someone else to help with part of it. I was going to have to count off in my head and hopefully it isn’t too fast. 300lbs was no joke as it pulled me off center with when not controlled so had to reset everything and go again. Much better. Didn’t feel too taxing on the body but with having the hands in more open position due to size of handle, there was a lot more forearm fatigue. I also had to really retract my upper back and shoulders to keep tension. I did apparently count a little too fast as I thought I was close to 40 seconds when I released but it was just over 32 seconds. Close enough. I took 40lbs off for the down sets. First set was closer to 40 seconds (but really anything close 32 was fine). The second set I got distracted as another friend had shown up and I lost count at the beginning. So that ended up being over a minute. I feel this was good enough here and just have to see what the show is like.  Thankfully got some help with putting some of this away. I didn’t realize how long I’d already been at the gym but it was just the weight based gym stuff I had left. The ssb thing I do against bands making an appearance again. Adjusted a bit for this last session of them. Dropping the weight back down 20lbs but increasing the band tension by a good bit at the top. Plan being 5x2. I ended up being a lot sweatier in the main gym area with the fans vs being in the wind tunnel without. Imagine that. Holy buckets was this added band tension making these way tougher. These felt like I was really being grounded and couldn’t leave the ground with my feet despite my best efforts. I guess I should be thankful that I didn’t feel lightheaded on these. I was a little leery at the start as my knees were feeling achy getting into position. Haven’t had that in a good bit. Didn’t bode well for the leg presses later lol. First rep with the working weight my hips and back cracked. Oof, this was going to be a tough one. Really worked on bracing here with that. These have been serving me well. Feeling a little tense in the neck from triple extension. So after clearing that stuff up, on the last thing of the day with the machine superset for the legs. As previously mentioned, I only really had plan with the leg presses initially when I did my programming but supersetting with the tempo leg curls seems to have been a wise decision with my legs and knees. The leg curls I’m already maxing out the machine besides adding additional weights to it illegally. I’ll likely need to go to single leg in the future unless I just aim for higher reps with both legs. So that was still going to be my 3x10-15 stuff. The leg pressing I was trying to peak with this last session being RPE stuff for2x6 and then add 10% to the last set for max reps (1RIR). Now I wasn’t too sure how this would play out honestly. I wasn’t sure about the hamstrings from doing those single leg bridges earlier in the week (lot of stress on the tendons) and then the knees on leg presses after how things felt just setting up for the zercher stuff. I also had to contend with needing to go heavier considering I apparently undersold myself last time. I figured that it probably made sense to have the leg curls follow the leg presses in that I increase the weight each set for both. I’d see how things felt with the leg curls but likely stick to 10 reps for the first 2 sets and then maybe do more on the last set. 25lbs jumps here since I don’t think I can really safely go above 250lbs (50lbs added) on the setup. Leg presses I had to go up by 90lbs to start from last time to get into the ballpark of where I needed to be. There was such pressure getting the weight to lockout to start things off. I was feeling a little low energy wise. Maybe not exactly the case but I didn’t feel aggressive and hyped up. Just that I was going to have to push and do my best. I managed to get more reps than I was expecting for both on the last set. Feels good to be doing double digits on the leg press setup. Very close to 660lbs actual weight (considering angle) being moved which hopefully helps with deadlift and farmer’s picks. I was feeling those last three exercises immensely afterwards. Didn’t stop me from giving a solid attempt at picking up 400lbs DOH on axle from about knee height (didn’t hold lockout). Put stuff away and downed a shake before driving home to stretch there.