December 22, 2025 – Week 17, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (2 second holds at lockout)
36x5
66x3
96x2
126x2
156x2
186x2
216x4
216x4
216x4
216x4

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
40’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12

Dumbbell Push Presses (5 second eccentrics first 4 reps)
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4
70’sx4+4

Yielding Barbell Z Presses (3 seconds forehead)/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
bw+15x8
125x4/bw+50x12
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)
46’sx10
96’sx10 – bwx10/10
96’sx10 – bwx10/10
96’sx10 – bwx10/10

Stretching

Comments: A lot of work on Saturday with all the things I had to do for that training session. So much so that Sunday felt like it was Saturday and I had to remind myself that I did not in fact have another day to rest. I felt voracious when it was time to eat Sunday and even today I was feeling hungry even with my normal work day meals. Maybe I was thinking that since I weighed in under 255lbs Sunday morning. That is the lightest I’ve been in quite some time. Honestly, this was about the weight I was when I realized I was losing weight enough that I figured it was affecting my strength/leverages initially back in 2023. I had gone from like 275lbs to 255lbs in 6 months. This week was looking to be more intense than the previous week for most things. It was a cold day but not so much that I needed to wear my warm ups here to function. Things did not start out well as just getting down on the floor to do foam rolling both my biceps cramped up on me. Which has me a little concerned for this upcoming week of training. This has happened before when not training something a good bit as far as stones and usually I alternate weeks to adapt to the wear and tear (like the skin on my stomach). So obviously stuff is beat from stones and other things and have to be cautious with things so that I don’t accidentally do something foolish here. So besides that uncomfortable start, I proceeded with soft tissue work. A good bit was needed on my lower legs and quads. Not the most be a decent bit needed. I did get a chance to walk Sunday. And soon I’ll be back to walking more often with going back to home for the next four weeks for work. Upper body needing it too but a bit different from the usual “need”. I wasn’t feeling like my shoulders were sore like last week. Neck rehab stuff followed. This was ok and went on to stretches for hips, knees, ankles and hamstrings. Did a dead hang as well before going on to train. Axle out of the rack again. Thankfully, this was similar to last week with the plan here being 205-215lbs for 4x4 with the 2 second holds overhead. So same weight as last week if I wanted. I did same warm ups and jumps here. Thankfully my biceps didn’t cramp on me with holding the bar in the racked position like one time in 2023. I did try to adjust things slightly with my bar path and cues to hopefully have stability feel better as it has been a bit wobbly lately. I’m not sure if there was a difference really. Like last week, I just told myself the number of reps for the sets and not be thinking about how many sets to go or done. And not rush the sets. So like last time, these went smoothly for the most part (had a slight pause in the dip at start of third set to regain balance). Into the garage for incline dumbbell stuff. Notes were 70-75lbs (same as last week) but for 3x12. So still decent amount of reps but reducing volume overall. Which is fine and expected. Again, I went with the 70’s again just for ease. I didn’t feel like these felt off at the start like last week with my sore left shoulder. But I was concerned about picking up the dumbbells and shouldering because of having both my biceps cramp up earlier. Thankfully this didn’t occur here. Honestly, every exercise besides axle was going to put some stress there at some point so it was just seeing what did what. Notes had been to press up but not out towards my feet. I tend to go more chest and triceps and avoid the shoulders on incline so I had to course correct there and aim for it to be going more over my face. Definitely noticed a difference there with that cue. From there, back outside for dumbbell push pressing with the 5 seconds eccentrics. I was a bit surprised with the change on these. Still first half being the 5 second eccentrics with the sets. I think what I was surprised with was that the sets remained the same at 5 but that reps increased on the sets. So instead of 3+3 sets, these were 4+4 sets. So two more reps each set and one of those reps being an eccentric accentuated one. Which we’ve seen how much an extra rep or two can sap strength on these. These ended up being a mixture of easy and difficult. Some sets started out not great and I’d have some stability issues and others I went through them with minimal issues. This was going to be the more challenging of the pressing things this session and I could see why the previous two things weren’t really pushed up from last week. Right biceps felt a little strain with the dismount on the final set but nothing serious. But did remind me that I had fatigued and recovering muscles. Moving right along to the supersets. First pairing for the garage stuff was again yielding z presses and heel elevated tempo goblet squats. I initially thought it was a typo to repeat last week but then I realized that it was the same weights and reps but an extra set. I wasn’t too worried about the pressing. I didn’t even do a warm up set as I felt this was manageable and the extra reps on the dumbbell push press would have me warmed up enough. It was more the goblet squats and my biceps being cool with holding the weight for the sets. And thankfully they were. Pressing actually felt comfortable enough that I considered adding a little weight after the first two sets but thought better of it. Last pairing for the evening being the weird rows and the supported single leg thingies with eccentrics added from last week. With the rows, I may have misread a cue with hips back and thinking that meant to be more parallel to the floor but that appears to not be the intent as I was told to have chest up more so that leads to a more vertical position. I was nervous with these because of the biceps so I did do a warm up set to make sure the movement felt safe to do today. And thankfully it was. My knees were feeling a bit achy so it took a bit of effort to get them feeling like doing these single leg things at the end. Left side seems to have more issues with this vs the right side. But finished up and at a large dinner to recoup. Full day of work tomorrow and then a half day after that. Stretched before cleaning up and bed.