June 3, 2026 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts w/ Bands (straps, platform, wagon wheels, +11lbs/+70lbs)
135x2
225x2
275x2
315x2
60 seconds rest
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
135x50’
185x50’
drop and turn halfway
235x50’/50’ in 19.57 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 20.37 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 19.87 seconds

Sandbag Rows/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
bwx10/10 (rack assisted)
112x3 – 65x5/5
225x5 – 120x8/8
225x5 – 120x8/8
225x5 – 120x8/8 – 225x5

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
155x6
225x12
225x12
225x12

Stretching

Comments: Anterior delts feeling pretty sore from Monday. I’m trying to recall if they got sore the first week log was back on the menu or not. I don’t recall them being sore the second week. So not sure if sore from log or if the new javelin thrusters. I didn’t seem too bad with how I felt after training and recovery. I think part of taking that week off had helped me see what I need to stick to with the 4 weeks commuting rotation to get rest and make sure that I’m not stressed out. Of course this is once half way through it. Went for a walk Tuesday after work. A little leery about lower body stuff as some tightness sensation in the right hamstring. Can’t tell if that is just from fatigue and training or something else. I know I get more anxious as stuff becomes more time compressed and if I’m not recovering enough to mentally push away stressors. I’m definitely handling it a lot better with last week and this week. I didn’t quite get off to a fast start for the session as I had to do some things for setting up at the house to train. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Again, didn’t really need much on anything besides the usual areas. Lower legs needing the most. Right quad needing about twice as much as the left. Neck rehab stuff followed. While shoulders felt a little achy, stuff getting stretched felt tight and this stuff felt good to do. Still tweaking the lower body glute activation stuff. Lower body stretching was fine and finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. Deadlifts were up but not like they’d been the first two sessions. I had mentioned that I seemed to feel better mentally when stuff is moving fast and feels good and that perhaps a greater contrast between my heavy sessions and lighter sessions on deadlift would result in better recovery with everything else being trained. So this may be a product of that. So notes were to do 10x2 with deadlifts having bands. No set weight or band tensions but aim was RPE 7-8 and pulling fast with strong lockouts. Also 60 seconds rest. I figured that I wanted between 10-15% of whatever my estimated max is right now at lockout for the bands. I could’ve done just normal setup but I decided to be extra and do the wagon wheels and platform anyways. That way more tension at the start and lockout with less bands needed. Lockout is a bit estimated as it was between 64-70lbs before my hand slipped and my luggage scale broke from the band smashing it against the deadlift platform lol. Something I was hoping would work here was going barefoot. I had felt like I wasn’t getting any glute engagement the past few sessions and my feet just felt like they were there. I saw that with my younger sister that she wasn’t pulling as well lately and her last training we went no shoes and she felt much better. I think that maybe this will help me wake my feet up and get more engagement/recruitment. Anything helps for deadlift. I was not entirely sure what weight I’d end up on or if my hamstring would act up here but I figured I wasn’t going to be doing these doubles with 405lbs. I usually start with no bands and then add them but I figured I should just get into from the start to save time here. Felt good and I did a 90lbs jump next before going to 40-50lbs like I had intended. I got a little worked up with the music playing at the start so I kind of burned a lot of energy with dancing around and had to calm myself down to recover after that. There does seem to be a sweet spot to hit on these. Always a work in progress deadlifts. But these felt good and my back didn’t feel terrible. So did what I wanted. I moved some weight fast and had a good time. Farmer’s walk was up next and I had to set that up outside for obvious reasons. Notes were to do 225-235lbs for 3 sets of contest run after warming up. I was a little leery about things with the hamstring and moving. Also felt like ass last time I did farmer’s and I think I was not looking forward to having my face close to the hot asphalt and my own body heat getting into position to go. Notes were to be speedy. I changed up the warm up sets to hopefully make more sense and be easier on me with setup and the like. Cut down how many times I picked them up after deadlifts. Picks definitely felt better as far as my back this time around. I also felt like I was moving better. I didn’t go all they way through the line like last week as I didn’t want to run into my car and this is more like how it will run at the show. Repick still needs some work. I think also having my road be slanted makes faster one way (downhill) and slower the other (uphill). With it being humid and such, taking a bit longer rests to recover with it getting to be this way almost every day. I remember needing longer rests with moving events and supersets last year in the summer heat. I had all of the garage fans going. No issues with farmer’s. I think I was also mindful of keeping them off my thighs so I didn’t get nasty bruises from the pins on these handles this week. I think there were neighbors out walking on two of the three sets I did (not including setting up and putting away). So far, so good with today. Setup and tear down is a bit of pain here. Back in the garage for superset of sandbag rows and alternating reverse lunges with the ssb. This was a little different in that I was to do four sets of rows and only three sets of lunges. Lighter weight on the sandbag but more reps and lesser RPE on the lunges with less reps allowed (given 8-10 range). Sandbag was suggested to be 200lbs. I don’t have one but depending on how I felt, I was prepared to put 25lbs plate on my 175lbs bag as that wouldn’t be too bad. But I eventually decided to do 225lbs instead. It hadn’t been to kind to me last time. Honestly, I’d rather do any of my bags besides the 175lbs or 225lbs because of the top knot style. Lunges took a bit to get warmed up and not have my knees screaming at me. Eventually they got where I wanted them to be but it takes effort. My legs were feeling log and farmer’s so I knew I’d need decent rest between sets so that I wasn’t gassing out on the lunges as those can put me in a precarious position. I decided on the third set of this pairing that I’d take a short rest of like 30 seconds at most to go right after the lunges into the fourth and final set of the sandbag rows. I don’t need a ton of rest to recover enough to do the rowing, it was for the lunges haha. It was getting pretty darn late at this point so I’m thankful that I had only one thing left. I’d have cried if I had more as I’d get no sleep after eating and stretching. So last call for the session was those ssb zercher gms. 3x12 again and same weight as last time. Now these have felt funky with feeling fantastic some sets and feeling terrible on my lower back the next. My hope this time around was that wouldn’t be the case. One thought in that my back was fresher and I was got better engagement in my glutes on deadlifts earlier. The other was seeing if my soft belt would keep that sensation in check that I feel like my ligaments/tendons in my lower back are straining. There was hesitancy to do that first rep but after it felt great, I was good to go and had no issues. Glutes were feeling these as well as hamstrings. I could tell I was going to be feeling this session tomorrow. Put away stuff and finally got to eating and stretching before bed.