October 29, 2025 – Week 9, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
111x5
161x5
201x3
251x3
291x2
341x2
381x1
431x4
431x4
431x4
431x4
431x4
431x4

Safety Squat Bar Front Box Squats (21”)
65x6
115x5
155x4
205x3
245x2
275x6
275x6
275x6
275x6
275x6

Paused Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (straps, 2 seconds)/Chest Supported I Flys and T Flys/Lying Band Leg Curls (first 12 with 3 seconds pauses)
255x3
345x6/10’sx8+8/(2)mmbx12+12
345x6/10’sx8+8/(2)mmbx12+12
345x6/10’sx8+8/(2)mmbx12+12

Sandbag Carries
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’

Stretching

Comments: So I guess good news as far as compared to last week, I wasn’t feeling worn down with cold/allergies and didn’t need to be taking any meds to not feel tired. But with how this week was playing out, it was not looking like I’d get in any walks on my off days. Walking after work getting risky with limited time. It is forecasted to rain hard Thursday and because of that, Trick or Treat is being moved to Friday evening. So may just need to take my losses and get some things resolved and then get back to doing my walking on non-training days during lunch breaks when back to teleworking next month. This was going to be a tough session for training and last one for a few weeks where I have time crunch. Foam rolling I didn’t need a ton on lower legs and decent amount on the quads. I was planning on that with the Spanish squats from Monday but it wasn’t as bad. I was a little worried possible soreness may pop up later in session. Rehab stuff for neck continues to be helpful. Notes were to do the calf and tib raises but I did adjust this. Previously I was doing leaning calf raises followed by wall supported tib raises. This time, I did alternating movement so it was more of a dynamic movement going from standing tib raise to standing calf raise. In between sets I did some glute activation work. From there I did my normal stretching and a dead hang before moving on to training. Axle deadlifts again. These had felt pretty darn good two weeks ago and I was looking forward almost to doing them last week before I started to feel like crap. Thankfully those were lower reps (5x2 vs 5x5). But I kind of knew that this next time would be back to higher volume stuff and it was with 6x4 at 5lbs more than the 5x5 had been. Really trying to get my hips just a smidge lower on these but I’m not sure if I am or if that is really benefitting me. I did have a bit of odd plate combination to get to the weight I wanted it to be for the working sets with 40-50lbs jumps. First rep of first set I was little out of position so the weight hesitated for a moment before coming up off the ground. These felt heavy but seemed to be moving well enough. I could tell these were getting tiring compared to the doubles last week. Second set my first rep rocketed up but I think I was second guessing if I did 4 or 5 reps with how they started to feel. Or maybe that was the fifth set that feeling set in? Third set I accidentally touch and go repped the second one. I was starting to feel like my forearms and hands weren’t really in this today and I did apply some liquid chalk to my hands so that I didn’t have things get loose on me and I miss a rep. Pulled out air guitar to try and get myself a little more pep right before my last set. Didn’t have the effect I had wanted it too haha. But got these done. Put stuff away and rehydrated while setting up for the front box squats with the ssb. Doing these to the lower box height has been quite brutal. The first week had been really rough whereas last week was tough but a lot more doable. I was hoping this week would be closer to last week vs the first week. Same weight but more sets with 275x5x6. My right knee was feeling pretty achy and I was not invoking confidence with how warming up was feeling. Usually my last warm up set is the one that tells me I’m good. This time it did not. I was really worried that I’d not get the first set done here. I did eventually get through the first set and just kept going and hoping that my knees held up to what was being asked of them tonight. I could tell my upper back and core was getting just done with it all on the last two sets with the last rep or so being quite a challenge. I pretty much had to do breathes every rep to rebrace on that last set to finish things off. The session wasn’t done at this point but it was a big chunk of it to get deadlifts and squats out of the way. Another pause to teardown and setup things and refuel before doing the next thing. Triset but with some fairly big changes. Thankfully back to just three rounds again. The first part still being snatch grip rdls. But now with pauses at the bottom. Suggested being 340-345lbs for the sets of 6 reps here and 2 second pauses. I should be able to handle that with what I’ve been doing. I did not have any belt malfunction this time around. Would’ve sucked with these pauses. Fatigue building up from the hamstrings curls the obvious indicator here. The bigger change was no pull ups. Replaced with dumbbell raise variations. I’ve done these before but different names and different setups. These are for upper back and shoulder health. But I know this is more working the upper back in concert with the snatch grips to keep working that area as a part of focus this off season prep. These were definitely not going to be as taxing to recover from as the pull ups so this did lead to less rest needed between exercises. Also because I could do all of them in the garage. It I raises were easier than the T raises. I’m not sure if I should continue with the same weight dumbbells (which I did for this time) or adjust accordingly. Not a lot difference I think. Hamstring curls like the leg extensions were still the half paused and half go fast style but with it being 12 and 12 rather than 10 and 10 of previous sessions. I could tell these were getting tougher as I went when coupled with the paused snatch grip stuff. It gets dark early and I was hoping to get sandbag stuff setup and done sooner rather than later because I was potentially facing rain coming up. I didn’t bother with the flashing lights on my person this time around as I did a fresh battery for the one big standing flashlight to go with my lantern. Same weight as it has been the past three sessions here but adding another set. So 6 runs with the 225lbs bag. I did try and do some movement and jogging to get my knees moving and hopefully not have the first set or two be such a jolt to the system. I did a little bit but still rough. The speed note was also followed by note to get the bag up higher so more upper back. If figured that I’d need to slow myself down at the start here to make sure I did get it up higher before moving. The first set my pick was a little off as I was still feeling the pulls and squats and such beforehand. The start is a bit slower taking the time to get the bag up higher but I did notice my gait and movement was “freer” this way. Like I was moving like an athlete or something. I checked on packages for my folks (I thought they were gone on a trip) before coming back home to eat dinner and then stretch before bed. Weekend can’t come soon enough.