May 16, 2026 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x5
191x4
257x3
301x2
345.5x2
378.5x1
411.5x2
411.5x2
411.5x2
411.5x2
411.5x2

Yoke
210x40’
210x40’
390x40’
480x20’
570x20’
660xpick (5 seconds)
660x40’ in 8.23 seconds
675x40’ in 8.64 seconds
690x40’ in 8.87 seconds
705x40’ in 9.37 seconds

Double Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, 1 second dip and catch)
49x5
84x5
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
95x50’
135x50’
185x50’
225x25’
275x25’
315x50’ in 15.87 seconds
255x50’
255x50’

Sprints (walk back is rest)
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’

Stretching

Comments: Got all the events for World’s now but still waiting on stuff like weights and rules and order of events. Until that is received, can’t really put the whole picture together of what the training focus is going to be. A cool thing being offered with World’s as an extra is a natural stone tour after the competition. Which saves me figuring out how to get to a stone over there if I wanted to. Work was rough this week and the fact I’m reverting to my commuting schedule for the next four weeks isn’t helping matters. Felt dangerously close to getting an eye twitch going Friday. Thinking about work outside of work never bodes well. Got walks in on Thursday and Friday which felt like a much needed break in the middle of the day. Midsection was a little sore from Wednesday. Not sure if the zercher gms or from the row ladder. I did manage to get to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up about an hour earlier than I had the past two weekends. So I was able to get out to train about an hour earlier as well. The youth sports camp stuff still happening and being here earlier wasn’t going to help things with the planned workout for that space. Foam rolling I didn’t need much anywhere. I did notice right hamstring did need a little more than usual though. Neck rehab stuff was ok, again, some stuff felt just achy chest/shoulders felt achy rather than tight but other stuff did feel tight. Consistent with the past two weeks really. Lower body stretching was fine. Did double of one stretch as hamstrings were tight. Dead hang felt nice. This workout had a couple changes to it due to getting most of the world’s events before the workout was written last week. Obviously going to have more revisions as the details get finalized but I imagine in the next two weeks a more finalized approach with materialize. So one of the changes with event order on the day was starting things off with axle squats. I’m still fine tuning things here. Different setup as the wind tunnel was kind of in use and doing the axle squats in this spot was actually less setup hassle and I’d have all the kilo plates there. And it felt a bit more consistent with the wheels hitting the pads. The plan was to work up to 410-420lbs for 5x2. So the heavier week. I went back to my regular shoes and found that while I felt grounded with the deadlift shoes, I didn’t feel like I could adjust the pressure in my foot and move things with the weight as I squatted down. I had a different warm up plan in mind but changed it up since I was going to do kilo plates instead. I was hesitant of doing less then 125lbs because that wouldn’t have the wheels on it. But I figured my knees and hips needed me to do something lighter to get the joints moving and feeling good so did just the empty axle and went down about as far as I think I do for these squats. Knees were stiff but they felt a ton better when I actually put some weight on the bar. I wasn’t sure how these would go with having done deadlifts (real ones this week) so I figured it was best to just aim at the lower end of the weight range, especially after last week had felt decently rough. These were tough doubles and this doesn’t seem to be a smooth movement for me, at least not as the weight climbs. Last set stuff finally clicked with utilizing my elbows to brace my core as that made the last set substantially easier I had to laugh. This was kind of like how deadlift was rough at the start and eventually figured it out. From there, moved on to yoke. Yoke is part of an event at worlds. Plan for the day was work up to a weight that I could do 40’ in under 10 seconds and do that for four sets total. But making sure I was pushing the time limit and not just smoking the weight with a decent buffer in time. It has been over 3 months since I’ve touched yoke so I wasn’t out of it but it has been a bit. My guess was 630-660lbs range would be where I was at to do these runs. I took bigger jumps than usual to start as I figured I was decently warmed to weight on my back from the squats. I unfortunately didn’t have someone to time me so I had to go off my camera after the fact. My pick with 660lbs had felt good but my count in my head on that first run had me over 10 seconds. But I went to the camera and I was under that time. I guess I counted fast. So I kept adding a little weight and checking after each run to see if it was still good. I was not expecting to be doing a little over 700lbs here. That’s only 45lbs from the contest weight I did in February. I definitely had not felt like I could do a solid run with this weight after 3 months after Worlds last year so something has definitely improved since then. Granted, I could tell I was petering out at the end of the runs and this will need to be double the distance for the event but this is a good starting place. From there I ate a rice Krispie treat as my halfway mark and then it was finally on to circus dumbbell. Lighter session with the pauses at two points. Weight was suggested to be 115-125lbs. So less than my empty big dumbbell. I was initially looking at using a fat gripz on a regular compact dumbbell but the thicker handles on the weights above 75lbs meant there was a sizeable gap with that handle cover, which is not ideal. Additionally, I figured that the gym owners don’t want me tree topping those dumbbells from like 8’ up even if on to crash pads. So I went with smaller circus dumbbell so try to mimic the more compact competition bells. It took a bit for my knees to be ready and for me to get my usual lower body drive going. 5x3 with the pauses. My first rep was definitely my worst of the bunch but I was getting some really crisp and powerful reps by the end. Depending on things, I may need to make a trip up north about 2hrs to get my hands on some Inch style dumbbells this prep at some point. I just recall the density and balance was odd when I did one like 15yrs ago. The last actual event work of the day was farmer’s walk. I was not looking forward to this. Farmer’s tend to be good for me but I’m generally slow and my pick up is horrendous. I just got a really good grip so I can hold on. I’ve not done this event in a year. Pretty much on the day as last time was the west coast natural strongman last year in the rain. The goal was to work up to essentially 95% for a 50’ run and then drop to 80% of that weight for two more runs of that distance. I really dislike the titan fitness handles but I figure none will be worse for me than these and I have a set at home as likely this will end up being moved to Day 2 session with how things are shaping up. Things felt about how I remembered them on farmer’s walk. 315lbs would tie the most weight I’ve lifted from this height with these handles but would be 10lbs more than the most I’ve actually tried to walk with them. My body was feeling beat from everything today and this week and my grip was maybe not the best with my one finger still not 100% from jamming it last week. It was slow but I managed to finish it. Lot of relief from that and was pretty low key with finishing those last two runs. Sprints were the last thing. Adding another set to these so up to 9 sets of 50’. One good thing with the changes was that I wasn’t coming into these after doing heavy sled work. So my legs didn’t feel stiff and stupid. I had essentially been doing runs with yoke and farmer’s so I didn’t feel like I needed to do any stretching or jogging to be ready. My first run was not that great but that was the only one that I needed to get the yucks out as felt pretty consistent with them after that. Put stuff away and downed my shake before heading home. Got gas at a truck stop along the way since it was 20 cents cheaper than at home. Almost $60 to fill the tank. Not enjoying that. Stretched when I got home.