May 2, 2026 – Week 3, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x3
108x2
120x1
EMOM
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
125x5
175x4
215x3
265x2
305x1
355x1
385x4
390x4
395x4
400x4

Sandbag Carry and Loads (over 53”)
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag
270x10’ husabag (missed the load)
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag

Sled Push and Pulls (turf)
275x20’/20’
400x50’/50’
400x50’/50’
400x50’/50’

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

Stretching

Comments: I had hoped more details from either of the comps would be out by now so that I have a better grasp of what I’m getting myself into. I know Ms. Funk wants to start gearing things toward one or the other but still limited stuff right now. I’d say I’m more leaning towards Worlds even with only 2 of the 7 events posted. I’ve been having some concerns with Strongman Corporation in how things run with the Arnold Pro/Am the past two years and just hearing about issues with things in regards to eliciting changes or getting in touch with the heads. I know I have to make a decision soon here. With work, it seems that is kind of a get through this week and then repeat the process the following week. And I guess do that forever. Many reasons I feel better when the telework rotation is present but I do get to do my walks midday. I made sure I got those in both Thursday and Friday at lunch time because I knew my legs and back were stiff/sore from Wednesday training. I also had to have my Friday afternoon clear so my younger sister could do event work at my place after work. Saturday and Sunday just weren’t going to work. Last year when she was prepping for a show, I had been doing my own training at the time which wasn’t nearly as much volume as now. I had seen that last week’s event session had required a bit of time and focus and it didn’t make sense to have her tag along on Saturday as I’d likely be distracted with my own training and the like. Her training went well and I feel she is on track for the goals at the competition next month considering the hectic schedules and time commitment. My only worry though was that I’d be training the next morning after helping and it can take a little out of me with coaching and setting up stuff. My worries tend to be unfounded but still have them. Initially the plan was get up when my work alarm would go off but seeing as how the plans changed, I went for more rest option. I was apparently hungry as I ate about double what I was expecting to with my meal. Ended up getting up about the same time as last weekend but a little slower going with getting out the door. And traffic was a bit of a mess getting out there. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there really with only one person actually training for a competition that I know of but there were the usual gang. One coming back to training after a break, two working around injuries and one as mentioned training for a competition. It was good to talk and hang out a bit but as is usually the case when I arrive late, I was on my own after about one exercise in. Foam rolling I needed a good bit on my upper calves and my quads. Right hamstring finally calmed down that didn’t need extra. Upper back was fine here. Neck rehab stuff was ok, chest/shoulders felt achy rather than tight. Lower body stretching was good. I’m glad I’m back to doing these without modifications for the hip flexor issue. I did do one stretch twice just due to tightness. Dead hang felt nice. Starting things off with circus dumbbell. Same thing pretty much as last time but more sets. So 135lbs for 12x2 done EMOM style. Meant I needed to do another set working up here. My aim this time around was to have solid lockouts and try to have a setup that let me deload from lockout rather than bring it back down to shoulder first. The “crash pad” setup last week was too bouncy. Setup not perfect this time but loads better. I didn’t have the fans on this week as it didn’t feel as humid but I did work up quite a sweat. Only rep that wasn’t to my liking was first rep I think of the 6th set as I was a little off balance and had to let it settle in the rack more. I still think I’m rushing a bit for the second rep due to the EMOM timing for rest as ideally I should be going off the ground each rep rather than off the pad as it tends to be more upper body from there. Things felt good here albeit a tad sweaty. I hadn’t needed a shirt change last week so I didn’t have one so took it off to dry out while setting things up for squats. Axle squats are here regardless of how I proceed (same with the dumbbell). Continuing with the world’s setup since that is what I got at least details in some regard to work off. Plan for the day was to work up to 4x4 at RPE 8-9. Suggested being 370-380lbs. Assuming I felt good, that was going to be too light for that rep range and effort. It would depend on my recovery from the last session and from this week’s sessions beforehand. This had been one of the exercises I was concerned about due to my right hip acting up a little here and just concerns with soreness in the legs at spots that have had issues previously. I knew from last week that oly shoes are a no go. I didn’t have hip issues at all here and I think that had partly something to do with it. I also lowered my rack height by one as it seemed I had to keep higher bar position to rerack and walk out making it feel harder to just get into position. I elected to use bumper plates for weight as I didn’t expect to max out the axle and not eat up time with getting the kilo plates from the other side of the gym. These perhaps didn’t start out great. My knees felt stiff and a few warm up sets I missed touching the pads on the first rep each set. I also seemed to be hitting the pads unevenly making things really sucky. I couldn’t tell if I was lopsided with my rack position or what with taking a little lower bar position. 355lbs didn’t feel great but I still went with 385lbs for my working weight. I had 180kgs in my head for the weight today if things were good. This was not a great set as kept hitting it lopsided. I had been doing lower reps working up (did sets of 5 all the way up last week) and I figured that I should have course corrected by now. I decided to check to make sure the height of the pads was right. Turns out that the uneven floor had the left one half and inch lower. Once I fixed that, there was no more uneven bounce. The pressure on the body is present for sure still. With that issue resolved, I decided I’d try adding a little weight each set. This still a work in progress as sometimes the reps feel good and other times no thank you. Ended up with 400lbs on the last set and while the 3rd rep got a little away from me, the 4th rep was the easiest of the bunch. I’ve not done a 400lbs or more squat in about 4.5yrs (if talking free standing, it is closer to 4yrs for high box squat). Other than my upper back feeling tense on the left side, no worse for wear. So that was relief. But the next one was the other thing I was worried about. Sandbag carry and loads. Just worried about the right hamstring as it chirped at me on the last set last week at one point. Again, this is not really event specific at this time. Just a mix of different sandbags since that seems to be the implement de jour as it were. Advised to do same thing as last week but add a set and aim to be quicker on the transitions. That was the plan but I guess my body had other ideas. Perhaps the work from Wednesday session and going about 40lbs heavier on the squats had something to do with it. The pick of the husabag wasn’t smooth and then for the first time I didn’t get the load to go over right away. Because when the pick wasn’t smooth, I rushed to get moving rather than have it up higher. Whelp, knew this wasn’t going to be a fast time compared to last week. Sandstone wasn’t an issue, it just taxes the hamstrings and back the most when walking with it. The other implements are easier once picked up to move. This stays the same suck the entire time. With the misstep with the husabag, I wanted to make sure on actual sandbag that I got it picked and lapped well. I thought I did that but this also seemed to be a little low on the carry so loading over was rough. Ok, need to not do that next set. What was that? Do the next set even worse? All started with the husabag. The pick was even rougher this time but I felt I at least had it in a good position to walk and load. Nope. Bumped into the yoke so it scooted back a little and had to shove it and it wasn’t quite over so had to jump back to push it again before it fell. At least that maneuver got me to the sandstone quicker lol. No issues here other than it being taxing. Took time with the sandbag to make sure I didn’t screw up the pick. I wasn’t moving too fast here with it. And again, it didn’t get there high enough and had to wrestle with it to get it over. Ok, no more of that. Is what I’d like to say but husabag had other plans and it got stuck and slid down to the floor at the yoke. Was considering calling it there on this but took a little walk after resetting things to give it another go. I finally got the terribles out of my system and things went as they should for the most part. No issues with getting any of the picks and loads, just stumbled backwards a little on standing up with the sandbag that set. Final set a little slow on initiating the pick on the husabag and walk back with the sandstone but otherwise just as strong a set as the third. Neither were quite as fast as my best set last week but I feel within half a second. Sled work followed here. Same weight and distance as last week but one less set. Notes were to adjust my push method so that I was not straight arming it and leaning into with my body more. Use my leverages. I think I avoided that style as usually I’ve done vehicle pushes and didn’t want to be up against the bumper and closer to the exhaust. Or maybe I’m thinking it would put more strain on the shoulders. Which wasn’t the case. I did a warm up to make sure things were good. The adjustment did make the pushing aspect quicker but didn’t make things any easier for the drag portion and my legs were feeling it at this point. But these did all end up being under a minute even though my fatigue increased each set. So faster results than last time by about 10 seconds here. Then once again, sprints. Same as last week with these being 50’ runs and rest being walking back. Just adding an extra set. It didn’t feel like it took as long for my leg pump to subside this time around but I did do some stretching again and tried to jog to see if that made me not run so awkwardly at the start. I think it did help with not having my hips and knees as unprepared but still running like a goof for the first two sets until I started to find my form. I still run like a nightmare lol. Last one seemed to be my best of the batch. Finally got to put in some food/drink here before heading home. This was again going to be a late night with getting cleaned up, fed, and recovered.