August 6, 2025 – Week 11, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
120x5
170x3
210x2
260x1
300x1
EMOM
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2
350x2

Sandbag Carry and Loads (50’ run out, 53”)
265x50’/265x3 in 32.50 seconds
265x50’/265x3 in 32.33 seconds

Band Assisted Pull Ups (Pin 18, 3 second eccentrics)/Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (6”)
lbx10/bwx30 seconds (21)/30 seconds (22)
lbx10/bwx30 seconds (23)/30 seconds (25)
lbx10/bwx30 seconds (29)/30 seconds (28)

Supinated Bent Over Rows/Prone Band Hamstring Tantrums
135x5
185x5
235x10/(2)lbx30 seconds
235x10/(2)lbx30 seconds
235x10/(2)lbx30 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Noticing a few more joint aches compared to the first week. I’ve kind of moved to doing just one day for soft tissue work (as it was taking over an hour sometimes) during the week. I didn’t have to worry about going into the office this week like last week either so a little more chill. About as chill as things can be with how work is though. Similar to last week in that it was cooler this day compared to Monday. I actually only turned on the small fan in the garage. I did need a good bit of foam rolling for the lower legs. Neck rehab stuff was fine and mobility stuff was ok as well. Starting the session off was axle deadlifts. Plan was to do 12x2 done EMOM style with emphasis on pulling explosively with same weight as last time. I kind of felt I undershot things with my assumptions so I did increase weight here slightly so that I felt like I was doing RPE 5. The other thing was trying to focus on my form per the critiques from my coach. I didn’t feel like I was overexaggerating the hips and lockout but recommendation was to focus on contracting glutes and quads for the lockout to potentially take stress off my back at lockout but also to shorten the stroke. It felt a little weird but I think I got it to work for me. The added 14lbs was noticed on top of the work from the day before. But still taking time to goof off between sets depending on the song playing. I felt strong on my last set still. I did try to move things along from there with the next thing being the sandbag carry and loads. Not that I was looking forward to doing them but it looked like it might rain and I’d rather not being doing these while it was raining nor do I want my sandbag to get waterlogged. This is for the sandball event. Run 50’ to pick it up and run back with it 50’ to load over a bar and then load back and forth over said yoke until time expires. I was advised by my coach to go under the yoke rather than around it on the reps. I had been practicing higher than contest load height so I lowered to just above contest to see if it was viable option for me to duck under that efficiently. Like the zercher and sandbag stuff from Monday, this was also increased in weight a good bit but a set dropped. I kind of prefer the 265lbs bag because it is fuller and a little bigger. A little different with warming up for this as 265lbs isn’t exactly light to pick up cold even if I did a but of speed pulls. I did do some slow running to make sure I wasn’t having a truly funky gait. Then picked up the pace. Once that was feeling fine, I did some duckunders shifting sideways to make sure I could limbo the crossbar. Then lastly, I did I guess a few stifflegged picks of the 225lbs sandbag. I took what I learned from the time before such as keeping a little bounce in my step at the starting line. First pick up of the sandbag was good but did feel a little slow on the return. After the first load, the second pick had it in a way that I had the Velcro part so I just had to get over that and pick it up. I don’t feel like specific orientation will be as much an issue with the spherical sandball. Second set I was faster on the run up and with the initial loading. So much so that even when I bobbled the third load that I still got it over in a slightly faster time than the first set. The going under does seem to be a viable option for me with this height. I did manage to get things put away here before the rain did start thankfully. The rest of the session was the odd couple pairings. Similar to last week but some adjustments. The first was still the pull ups and FFE split squats. Band assistance on pull ups so I can do 3x10 with 3 second eccentrics. I was a little worried for these because of how tough they were last week. I got DOMS in my upper abs from them. So keeping these the same. The FFE split squats were still 30 seconds of work each side with bodyweight but I was told to modify my form from my coach. I had incorrectly assumed these were to be knee over toe style ones with the emphasis on mobility but these were to be just split squats with staying in the groove. So first set I was a bit surprised that the pull ups were feeling easy. I was just waiting for the other foot to hit but it didn’t. I figured maybe the second set it would be that case. The split squats I had some balance and knee aches but that is usually the case for me anyways with starting out and I got better with my pace as I went. The pull ups did get a little tougher but they were a good bit easier than last week. My last set this week felt about as tough as the second set did the previous week. It did start raining at this point so I put stuff away before finishing up with the last superset. This one had more adjustments to it. The first had been no changes other than clarification of style. This one was indicating reps and exercise change. The underhand grip rows were present but advised to do 3x10 with same weight as last time. The pairing was a new one which honestly looks goofy. Something called “banded tantrums”. I’ve seen them done with people lying on their back and kind of thought it was being done for a laugh or was a meme exercise. I guess not. It does seem to have a valid purpose. The variation I was going to be doing was similar to the lying leg curls. 30 seconds effort. I did make some adjustments with the rows like I did the deadlifts. Last time I didn’t really get it to click until the last set and I had a hard time visualizing what the exercise was going to look like from the description last week. Now that I’ve done it and see that is like the Yates row, I felt I had a better setup to do it and that I could probably do more. So I started it out of the rack rather than off the floor and added 10lbs. I do think that having this grip for the rows is helping with wrist and elbow tension. Rows were no problem. The tantrums were an unknown. About five seconds in my hamstrings wanted to cramp up. This was similar sensation to when I had to do hundreds of reps with ankle weights on lying leg curls when I was rehabbing my hamstrings back in 2011. I was pretty much cursing my coach for having me do something that looked so silly but was causing that kind of burn. But I got over it and did the two remaining sets with no incident. I just hope that my hamstrings are recovered enough for Saturday session. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.