November 3, 2025 – Week 10, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses
32x10
62x8
92x5
122x3
152x2
182x2
212x2
242x2
242x2
242x2
242x2
242x2

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx8
56’sx6
70’sx4
87’sx8
87’sx8
87’sx8
87’sx8

Alternating + Together Dumbbell Floor Presses
80’sx6(1/1/1)
80’sx6(1/1/1)
80’sx6(1/1/1)
80’sx6(1/1/1)

Half Kneeling Neutral Grip Bottoms Up Kettlebell Presses/Assisted Spanish Squats (3-0-3-0 tempo)
20x15/15 – bwx20
20x15/15 – bwx20
20x15/15 – bwx20
20x15/15 – bwx20

Single Arm Dumbbell Rows/Band Seated Leg Extensions (first 10 with 0-1-0-2 tempo)
112x4/4 – mmbx4 (no tempo)
140x12/12 – lbx10+10
140x12/12 – lb+(2)µbx10+10
140x12/12 – abx10+10

Stretching

Comments: One of the few days I schedule off with work is the day after time is adjusted from standard to daylight savings and back. I need more than a day to adjust to the nonsense. And I needed to have a day to decompress a from the in office month. Weight went down a good bit from last weigh-in so close to my lightest I’ve been since I started keeping track of it in late 2023. But I’ve not noticed a strength decrease from pretty much the start of this year. I just stay where I’m comfortable. Finally got in a walk after not really doing so last week. I was kind of hoping that it would help with my right knee feeling better before training. That had me concerned with how it had been feeling. With taking off work, I could workout at a time and not really be rushed with things. Foam rolling to start things off. Lower legs needed it but not nearly as bad as it had been on Saturday. Neck rehab stuff followed and that was good. As was the case last week, I didn’t do the mobility stuff I have been doing. I didn’t really want to put stress on the knees as a little leery and hoping to keep that for the actual workout. I did end up doing double the amount of stretching for my hips and knees and that seemed to be helpful. It was then time to train. Axle again. Out of the rack again and dropping reps but increasing weight. Plan being 5x2 with 240-245lbs. I decided to go with about midway there at 242lbs or 110kgs. I probably could’ve just done 245lbs anyways. But this seemed more odd/fun to me. And that can be a good motivator. I was told to be confident from the start. I didn’t want to have the jitters like last week. So a good thing was my knees weren’t bothering me a lick. But the not great was that lifting during the early afternoon meant sun in my eyes. So needed to wear my polarized lens to not have it so intense. But it did have me not able to see at times. A positive is that I didn’t feel like I wasn’t going to do this and I had power on these. I am grateful that we’ve been working stuff like upper back so that things that may jostle me about don’t sap me so much. Only set that felt off was the fourth set which just felt like lockout took a while for both reps. Held lockout for a beat on the last set. Still long ways from where I want these to be but if I can keep building I can eventually get there. Triceps felt strong. So some changes to the usual stuff here at this point in offseason as into the garage early. Still incline stuff but not log this time. Dumbbells. Plan being 4x8 with something about RPE 8. It isn’t like I’ve not done dumbbell incline pressing recently but it was more a different style with them being pressed together and for time rather than reps before switching to reps. I was still to do neutral grip pressing but aim was more of ROM on these. I’ve mentioned before that if I’m to be going up above 70lbs, I can do two handles with smaller diameter plates. But above that, I do have to use the 25’s to have enough weights. This wasn’t conducive to the close together style but could work with a more normal style of pressing. I had an idea of what I should be able to handle here. Important to get that figured out as time moving between stuff will be a factor when I do this session after work rather than in the early afternoon to start. My shoulders didn’t feel great initially working up but thankfully felt fine when it was time for the working weight. I wore my knee sleeves to pad my legs for the dumbbells resting on them. The collars I use to secure weights are quite harsh and I think that may be where this one bruise on my left quad came from with doing the dumbbell floor presses last week with the plateloaded handles. It would appear that I called these about right. The fatigue as I do the reps does make it tricky to know RIR. The clean to shoulder did get tougher as I went. This was not the end of the dumbbells as I also had those aforementioned alternating floor presses. Same as last with 80’s and doing just 6 reps but increasing the sets to 4. These were a little harder to get into position to start this time around (probably from the heavier dumbbells for incline) but pressing was fine. Didn’t feel like my right shoulder started off as wonky as it has felt with starting these after the other pressing. Not much to say here on these but done with the regular pressing. On to the supersets. A slight change again to the first pairing. Still bottoms up kettlebell for sets of 15 reps with 20lbs but now a fourth set here. The tempo Spanish squats also for four sets but all assisted reps rather than any unassisted. Feeling is this seemed to be the best course of action with the knees and I feel like this is the right call. My form is not great unassisted. I did need to spend some time getting my knees to “open up” and I’m realizing shouldn’t be seen as trying to force the movement but to ease my knees into moving properly and not with discomfort. I think reframing that helped me make the getting ready quicker and less confusing. I also did the kettlebell pressing outside as it was light out and because the weight was light enough to move around and would make the rest between exercises shorter. Right side is easier on these but gap doesn’t feel as wide. Had one rep I had to reset with the left side. I needed the welcome mat for the Spanish squats to keep my feet from slipping. The movement got less rigid and was able to get deeper as I went. My legs were starting to seize up a little by the end of the last set after doing about 8 minutes of tempo squats. Final also had some adjustments. First half still one arm dumbbell rows. Same weight and sets but now 12 reps. Those added reps were going to be tough. The other half was still banded leg extensions but not single leg. Still doing half the reps paused reps. I had to figure out a different setup as I felt what I was doing wasn’t going to really work with setup for both legs going. I found a different setup online and I gave it a shot. It feels way better on my knees compared to what I was doing but still need to troubleshoot it a little with tension as I had to increase the band tension each set. I’m hopeful that my knees will be good for the rest of this week. Not really looking forward to work on Tuesday though. Put stuff away and ate a late lunch before stretching.