July 24, 2025 – Week 9, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts w/ bands (straps, +17lbs/+100lbs)
No Bands
136x5
Add Bands
136x3
186x2
226x2
276x1
316x3
316x3
316x3
316x3
316x3
316x3

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (2 seconds)
65x3
95x2
120x6
120x6

Walking Lunges
bwx4/4
bw+20x12/12
bw+20x12/12
bw+20x12/12

Copenhagen Planks (squeezing foam roller between legs)
bwx20/20 seconds
bwx20/20 seconds
bwx20/20 seconds

Seated Band Hamstring Curls (explosive reps, 5ct hold every 5 reps)
ab’sx25
ab’sx25
ab’sx25

Stretching

Comments:  I still wasn’t feeling chipper the day after. My thinking had lead me to reaching out for coaching assistance. Something new that I know friends have had success with. I retain a lot of information from my previous coaching and that has influenced what I do. I think what made me bite the bullet on doing this was that more event details got posted and the axle overhead opener is 130kgs/286lbs. I had hoped it would be about 110-120kgs range at the most so now a bit of panicking there. Also not allowing grip shirts (when I swear I saw them last year) so that is changing strategy a little. I had one consult with a potential on Wednesday and another for this Friday. Both these individuals are under the same umbrella of one coaching service and indicated having openings and willing to work on this tight a schedule. I’ll need to make decision soon for both their sakes and my own. I wasn’t feeling that great but it did seem that whatever was dragging me down lifted a bit Thursday. Maybe because the heat was back and it was over 90 again. The fire is cleansing I guess haha. Part of it may also be some wind out of my sails with knowing that having a coach taking the reins that my training I wrote is going to change and wondering if what I’m doing is a moot point or is digging me into more of a hole. But I was advised to not skip any workouts this week (besides the Day 1) as training sessions are kind of at a premium at this point. I figured this workout wouldn’t be one that would bum me out. I think some hesitancy is with doing the workout and knowing only one day rest for a challenging stuff Saturday. Soft tissue work needed with foam rolling. I did feel like I got some more mobility in the upper back this session. I did spend some focus there as my upper back was feeling pretty tense after the bad axle workout. Neck rehab was fine and mobility stuff was ok. I dropped some things in place of other things. Didn’t feel like I really needed to do some of the ankle and knee stuff if focus is initially bracing and then moving later in the session. This is the lighter session for pulls. Even though 300kgs axle isn’t happening for me in a month, still working axle pulls. Switching gears from the paused 1.5 pulls to banded pulls. Plan being about 55% projected 1rm for 6x3 with about 20% projected 1rm in band tension at lockout. I’ve not measured this band combo from the floor as I’ve used it for 18” pulls only. Did end up being a bit lower tension than expected but still 100lbs at lockout added. A little leery just because my back had acted up after my last session but things were feeling good. A bit of a head rush just from the tension on the bands but I felt strong and these felt comfortable. This is the kind of training I like. So since setting up the space and the platform took time, it also took time tearing down before I got to the next things; back extensions. Heavier week for this so 2x6 with 2ct holds. I had worked up to 105lbs on these last time I did them with going up 5lbs per set as 95lbs had felt fine enough. I figured I should probably do some building up and see how I feel but I was hoping to add 10lbs to that this week. These can be tricky to gauge because not a lot of weight is needed for it to feel darn tough. Working up seemed to be good and I actually felt confident to aim higher so I added 5lbs. I wish I had gone up another 5lbs honestly with how these had felt. Felt much stronger and better control. From there moved on to unilateral stuff. Outside to do the walking lunges. Same amount of sets but 2 more reps each leg here. These had started out not great last time and kind of showed that this motion as was as this range was detrained severely. I was not expecting how achy my knees were going to be considering that I was doing well with the stepdowns. So I did plan here to do a warming up set with just bodyweight. That did not inspire confidence. So I considered doing just two sets with the weight. But as is usually the case with these kind of things, the movement felt better as I did more reps and sets. But I could tell there was fatigue. I switched out the weights for my back pack in the front but that added a new challenge as it would rest on my upper thigh in the bottom position so I had to angle my hips a bit to the side with the lunge so as to have clearance. This did seem to be more taxing for my right hip flexor vs my left. Kind of hope that the fatigue here and soreness don’t drastically impact yoke this weekend but it is what it is. Back into the garage to finish up the session. Copenhagen planks. These had gone well enough with fatigue only really being noticed by the last set for each side. So I figured since I already was doing 30 seconds here that I’d add an element of difficulty and bring the time down to 20 seconds. Added isometrically squeezing foam roller between the legs. I forgot how much this adds to the difficulty of the movement. But not so much that it impacted rest between sides and rest between sets really. Final thing being hamstrings. Same as last time with it being 25 reps of fast reps but holds every five reps. I set this up first but took a break to eat some of my dinner so I wasn’t eating all of it super late. Same bands but more tension as I moved myself back a bit more so that it did make things tougher. Starts easy but gets a bit toasty by the end. Could definitely tell that the fatigue was building up by the end for sure and would’ve needed to take a bit longer rest if I was to continue beyond the three sets I did. Put stuff away as the second part of my dinner was cooking. Hopefully I’m recovered enough for this weekend. Another consult tomorrow and I should hopefully have an idea of what I’m doing going forward.