December 16, 2025 – Week 16, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (2 second holds at lockout)
36x5
66x3
96x2
126x2
156x2
186x2
216x3
216x3
216x3
216x3
216x3

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics first 3 reps)
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3
70’sx3+3

Yielding Barbell Z Presses (3 seconds forehead)/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
95x2/bw+10x8
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12
125x4/bw+50x12

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Supported No Touch Single Leg Reverse Lunges (4 second eccentrics)
96’sx8 – bwx8/8
96’sx8 – bwx8/8
96’sx8 – bwx8/8

Stretching

Comments: Being sick and having to move days around last week did lead to a benefit for this week. If I had been on my normal schedule, I’d not been able to train as normal for Monday as snow came out of nowhere late in the afternoon. It was sudden and stopped quickly but I’d not felt comfortable training overhead outside during it or with the platform sullied. Body is feeling beat and I am craving sleep but just not getting as much as I want with training and this stupid work schedule. Just do what I can and not stress about it. Another cold day. Home and soft tissue work needed. A good bit was needed on my lower legs and quads. Upper back too. Upper body was a little stiff and achy. I’m glad I’ve not had a return of the swollen wrist from last week. Left shoulder is sore from dumbbell (both the work and from having it land on the same spot a lot). Neck rehab stuff followed. This was ok. I have to remind myself it hasn’t been a week since I was feeling ill and tweaked my neck. It will get better. I’m still not 100% but at this point it is just stuffy from mucus rather than feeling like I can’t control secretions and coughing like last week. From there stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train. Below freezing outside again. I’m used to it for the most part. Once I’m warmed up, I’m good. But got to keep my hands from feeling numb. Axle out of the rack again. I hadn’t been too sure how things would go but I kind of hoped that not pushing so much with contest prep and more focus on getting reps with the dumbbell. It would seem that this was more lighter side of things but still decent work and addressing issues I still have. So plan here was 205-215lbs for 5x3. So I could go a bit lighter than last week if warranted or about the same weight. I didn’t bother with fractional plates so plan was 216lbs doing 30lbs jumps. The other thing was that I was to do holds overhead for 2 seconds each rep. This would break up the reps and have me be stable. I’ve been feeling power but not stability recent with axle overhead. Like last week, I just told myself 3 reps each set and not to be thinking about how many to go or how many I’d done as far as sets. These went smoothly for the most part. No issues with the platform. I had plenty of ice melt out there. Into the garage for incline dumbbell stuff. Notes were 70-75lbs (same as last week) but for 4x10. I went with the 70’s again just for ease. I didn’t feel great at the start on these because of how sore my left shoulder and such were feeling but thankfully I felt better as I went on these. This and last week have had me feeling better about this but again, could just be that I prefer the solid dumbbells to the plateloaded handles. From there, back outside for dumbbell push pressing with the 5 seconds eccentrics. Same deal as last week with first three 5 second eccentrics and the other three normal reps. Same weight but adding a set to it. These had felt uncharacteristically difficult last time. I hadn’t felt stable the most part and the regular reps felt tougher than the controlled reps. Well not the case this time. Felt back on track here. No real stability issues, smooth reps and not feeling fatigue that hampered me on the later sets on the regular reps. That was it for outside fun in the cold and rest of the session in the garage for supersets. First pairing for the garage stuff was again yielding z presses and heel elevated tempo goblet squats. Advised to do 115-125lbs for 3x4 on the z presses and same weight as last week on the goblets but sets of 12 reps. It is only 2 reps but with tempo, it feels like a lot more work being added. With how my shoulders were feeling a tad cooked, I wasn’t too sure how the z pressing would go. I took a gamble and went on the heavier end. I probably could’ve done more weight here and still been fine. But I’m sure I’ll have these next week with more reps or something. The goblet squats were draining but they always tend to be. Upper body gets fatigued with holding the weight in position for the duration. I do feel like the reps were enough that I was feeling some fatigue in the legs by the end. Knees had been a tad achy at the start but seemed fine as I did more. Last pairing for the evening being the weird rows and the supported single leg thingies. Slight change to the later with indication to emphasize the negatives. Nothing set but I ventured to do 3-5 seconds depending on what seemed to fit and worked with the movement and range of motion. Both exercises had reps reduced back to 8. Bodyweight only for the lunge things but suggested increase on the rows was 90-100lbs. I didn’t want to deal with fractional plates so did 96lbs. I do not like these because they feel uncomfortable and awkward when I do them with trying to keep contact with my legs/thighs and these big unwieldy dumbbells. I think I’d enjoy them more if I had solid dumbbells to use. Knees were a tad achy on the lunge stuff so I did have to pump up the knees a little with small movements before committing to the movements. These were fine and I got them done. Put stuff away and got dinner before stretching and trying to get to bed so I can try to get some decent sleep.