September 6, 2025 – Week 1, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Heel Elevated Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x6
115x6
155x6
195x6
200x6
205x6
210x6
215x6

Axle Push Presses
25x10
55x8
85x6
115x4
145x2
175x2
205x5
205x5
205x5

Bulgarian Split Squats/Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses
bwx5/5 – 50’sx3
bwx30 seconds/30 seconds -- 50’sx30 seconds
bwx30 seconds/30 seconds -- 50’sx30 seconds
bwx30 seconds/30 seconds -- 50’sx30 seconds

Lateral Lunges/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
bwx3/3
bw+10x12/12 -- 25x12/12
bw+10x12/12 -- 25x12/12
bw+10x12/12 -- 25x12/12

Stretching

Comments: Thankfully, the worn down feeling did seem to resolve itself with getting sleep and taking some Dayquil Wednesday. It seems it is taking a bit longer still to adjust to EST as I tend to feel tired earlier than normal for bed and then sleeping in is still not quite there. But it would seem that I was finally able to sleep and be awoken by my alarm rather than be up and alert well before that. Also have my alarm on the max volume which will make it that hitting snooze is not likely a thing I will be able to do after having that loudness wake me up. Which was good that I could get out to train early (or at least be out at the gym early). This feel good week was setup so that I could do stuff at home and not need to travel but I wanted to just because I did want to catch up with people since it has been two weeks and really this is the only social interaction I have besides seeing my parents about once a week and talking with my friend/coworker. And while this workout could be done at home, I felt like it was best to have options of the gym for some things being first time in a while or ever to troubleshoot. I did also want to be there to help out for someone’s last training session before competing next weekend (Nationals). Drive out was fine. Not bad weather wise. Foam rolling done (left calf a good bit tighter than right) and neck rehab stuff. Some mobility and stuff does still feel a little off since coming back (namely Cossack stretch) and boy did I need to do a dead hang to decompress. As for the “help” I’m not sure how helpful I was as I accidentally misloaded something by 100lbs and was having issues with figuring out mental math. I want to say it is just still not being 100% with travel and not that I’ve turned 40 but I did misload weights on my birthday and this wasn’t the end of goofs or almost goofs for this session. So first thing for training was squats. Like I said, I fully expected offseason to be wall to wall squats and such. This was ssb squats with bar on the back but indication here was to keep these light and to do them atg with heels elevated. This was partly why I wanted to be at the gym as while I have some stuff to elevate my heels at home if needed, there were metal ramps used for loading vehicles on the car deadlift so I had something very firm and stable here to use. Plan here being 5x6. I was not sure what to expect and so I did sets of 6 reps warming up so that knees felt good and I knew what to expect. I started lighter than I thought just to make sure as I’ve not done real squats in a good while and I wasn’t sure if my legs would be fatigued from being detrained to this ROM but felt good and decided it was too light and just did what I’ve been doing this week and adding weight as I go. Felt comfortable. I can definitely do a good bit more here. I paused the last rep in the hole for a beat before finishing up. From there went on to axle push press. I was a bit surprised to see pressing again as it was once a week in the end of last prep. But this is something that needs work and there is stuff that is in my head. I figured that the squats were probably akin to prefatigue here. Plan was to work up to a top set of 5 reps that felt like RPE 7-7.5 and then do sets with that weight. I misread this as I thought it said do 3 sets not 3 more sets after hitting that weight. I didn’t realize this until I was about to go to sleep after this session. This was not the last unforced error I made. The gym has a lot of axles but I figured I’d use the one closest to what I have at home (some have knurling and some are solid) as I wanted to keep things somewhat consistent and not worry about plates fitting or not with quality control. 30lbs jumps and dropping off reps as I went. No markings did have things feeling a little off. I was not thrilled with how heavy 175lbs felt on my shoulders. I have remember that taking weight out of the rack tends to feel heavy at first. But it had me wondering if the next jump should really be my working sets. I was also very sweaty on my neck and chest as there was a wet spot on the center of the bar from when I racked the weights. First set was fine if not a little tough. It looks fast but I need to press fast for it to go up. Second set I went with more a rebound style catch of one press going into the next rather than pausing slightly before doing the next rep. Last set I felt my best as far as my mobility with getting my body to move around the weight in the hips. Did rebound reps and then resettled the last one before doing that like a single lift. I could tell there was fatigue from Monday session in my upper body (especially triceps). That was the end of the more straightforward stuff of the session and then it was on to supersets that I wouldn’t think of doing haha. Both being unilateral leg stuff coupled with press related stuff. So first one was Bulgarian split squats. I’ve done these regardless of the weight, these are always something taxing. It was a good thing I did check my workout plan here because I initially missed the Bulgarian part and was going to just do split squats. Bodyweight only and just doing 30 seconds of effort. This might have been something where I reconsidered going to the gym because I like my setup at home with the rolling foam support that makes these tolerable for the back leg to be supported. But luckily there is a leg curl machine with a rolling pad at just the right height. These didn’t need much rest between sides but it was a good idea to catch my breath because of the increased need to stabilize and balance with fatigue building. The pressing portion was new for me. Incline dumbbell bench isn’t new but keeping the dumbbells smooshed together and focusing on that the whole time is. This was another in the go to the gym column as I only have a few solid dumbbells at home (otherwise need to make them from plates) and likely need to figure out what I can do and feels comfortable here. Even the weight I picked I wasn’t sure if I could sustain for the entire 30 seconds here. But I did. These weren’t so bad. But it was definitely the tougher thing of the two in this pairing. Or so I thought. The split squats snuck up on me with having me feel a little bit queasy and needing to catch my breath before giving an honest effort on the pressing after the first set. As with my experience with the end of prep for world’s and now, I’m realizing that I need to be in this range of suck with conditioning to keep up with myself from year’s past. I’m not able to assume the gas is there on the day from what worked before with maintaining. I did take a bit of time after this to just cool off and keep my gorge from rising as I had one last superset. Lateral lunges paired with single arm dumbbell triceps extensions. The lunges I was not sure on. The lateral movement has had issues in the past for me with knee discomfort. Indication was good ROM. It can be hard to say if that meant for what a lateral lunge would be or if I was to go into full Cossack squat depth. I figured I’d go with what felt comfortable here and not alternate sides with focus on one side at a time. Only used 10lbs as bodyweight felt iffy. Lunging to the left felt a good bit tougher than lunging to the right. Kind of expected. Things did seem to feel better as I did these in that ROM felt better and crisper and there was less fatigue. Triceps nothing to write home about other than I assumed it was the same reps (was to be 3x10 and not 3x12) and my camera position was terrible as can’t even see me lifting the weight at all. Just me taking up the whole frame. I did go lighter here as I knew my triceps were fatigued. Cleaned up and put stuff away after downing a shake before driving home to stretch and relax.