July 5, 2025 – Week 6, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Clean Pull Tosses (9’6”)
30x2
40x2
50x1
50x1
60x0 (height but not over)
60x0 (height but not over)
60x0
55x1
55x2
55x2
55x2
55x2
55x2
55x2

Yoke (turf)/Power Stairs (17”)
250x50’/50’ -- 224x3
350x25’/25’ -- 274x1
450x25’/25’ -- 324x1
550x25’/25’ -- 374x1
650x50’/50’ -- 425x3 (eventually)

Sandbag Over Bar (56”)
250x1
250x1
Sandball
EMOM
278x2
278x2
278x2
278x2
Sandbag
250x6

2” Rolling Handle Hercules Holds
170x5 seconds
250x45 seconds

Gripper Closes/Band Hand Expanders
HG150x10/10 – 6.6x20/20
HG150x10/10 – 6.6x20/20

Gripper Negatives (5 seconds)
HG150x5/5

Stretching

Comments: I definitely had needed the day off to recover. As well as have time to get some things prepped for the week vacation coming up. Also giving me time to think and slow down for a moment. Make adjustments to the plan with training to hopefully resolve issues I’m seeing. With world’s prep, I am feeling a little over my head with the number of events and feeling like it is taking more effort to do the things I have been able to do before. I also have to remember that comparing numbers from previous years and previous sessions isn’t the entire picture. Some sessions were done before when it was much cooler and I didn’t sweat through two shirts a day. I was feeling decent for training today. I wasn’t expecting many people really. I had loaded up the power keg from the garage into my car as lending it to someone for their prep as they won’t necessarily have access to one besides when they are here during the summer. I had initially awoken to my alarm but turned it off and slept another 30 minutes before rousing from my slumber. I was expecting more traffic for the 4th weekend but I guess everyone had already left earlier in the week with it being on a Friday this year. There were some people I expected there to train but not in a way where it held up me getting my training ready. Soft tissue work, neck rehab and mobility was fine. Then time to get some things setup. So first was bag toss. My plan is alternating focus as I feel that doing bag toss every week with it being the full toss style (regardless of intensity) feels like I don’t progress each session. To the point where that the lighter week becomes so light I might as well not do it. But I did find that I can (at least in the past) do toss variations from the full toss style without issue. It has been a good while since I’ve actually focused on a toss variation besides the bottle drill (which while helpful, took away from recovery doing two throw sessions a week). The clean pull tosses I’ve only done as dedicated sessions twice in 2021 and have done light bags to warm up for sessions sometimes. This takes out the swing entirely and is pretty much pure power generation from dead start with focus on the triple extension and getting the release right. Pick goal weight and aim is 70% of goal height for that weight. Aim was to do that for 6x2. Last time I did these was 50lbs over 10’8” as the goal was 15’ for the contest. This show the height is a bit lower so only need to clear 9’6”. I was kind of hoping I could do 60lbs here as that would be close to the last bag weight for world’s. I was definitely rusty as I was having issues with trajectory at the start. It also took a bit to get the setup figured out. I didn’t want the setup I used for bag toss as this style I need to be closer to height gauge. This did lead to a less sturdy setup but it was easy to repair. Brought my polarized lens as well. With how 50lbs was feeling (I took 10lbs jumps), I should’ve done 55lbs from the start. But I wanted to feel 60lbs and I think because I knew I’d actually have a longer rest between sessions since next time I do events won’t be until 7/19/2025 at the earliest that I gave it a shot. I was not able to clear the bar in my three attempts. I was initially miffed with this but looking at the video, I did get enough height on two of the three to clear the bar, just didn’t have the trajectory right. So that is at least a good sign on that aspect. But also shows how long ways off I am at that weight to say 15’. So with the misses, I went back down to 55lbs and hoped that I hadn’t burnt myself out there. I got a toss up but it came back down and knocked the bar off. I treated that like my last “warm up”. The first two sets, I knocked the bar down on the first rep and had to reset things for the second. I got a bit more efficient each time to keep the work done in under a minute. After those, I was able to get myself to get the two tosses over without knocking down the setup so that was good to see that I was getting the form down. I was trying to focus and picture how I had been doing the axle high pulls from blocks to build the power and get to the point where I was needing to use the triple extension. I was noticing I was actually getting some lift in my ankles on video. This was apparently looking like so much fun that a guy that was I guess a personal trainer gave it a shot. He did manage to clear the weight doing a full swing but found my style a bit too much. So feeling pretty good with how the sandbag tossing finished up and then had to setup another dumb medley. Yoke into power stairs. Like the zercher and sandbag carry one, I’ve been building up tolerance via alternating EMOMs and EOMOMs as the weight got heavier. No support gear other than knee sleeves on the power stairs because of contact bruising. I hoped to take lessons with how last week had gone and warm up in a way that was getting me ready but not killing me. Setup the yoke on turf as it was the closest to the stairs and because the inside area was in use for someone doing sandbag stuff. 100lbs jumps for the yoke and 50lbs jumps for the power stair. First set was the full run with lightest weight with the yoke and going up the steps for the stairs. Felt good. The other warm up sets was doing half the course distance (like I was doing on the EMOMs and EOMOMs) and just doing one step on the power stair. I was feeling ok but I was a bit stressed with the number of people that were essentially in my way in the breezeway as well as the one personal trainer yelling at his kid. Last set was initially to be just a straight 50’ but that would leave me with the yoke too far away from the stairs and having to run back 50’ so I kept that as the other sets. 550lbs felt slower than I’d have liked and hamstrings were feeling that power stair weight. I had hoped that adding a belt would’ve made things feel a great deal easier but I guess not. I don’t know but I’ve been feeling like I’m not able to go fast on moving events right now. I’m not sure if it is a getting older thing or energy systems thing or a heat thing. I had a bit of a break here that I didn’t intend on doing as I had to adjust the plates on the power stair implement. The 100’s out by the steps are apparently the thicker ones and I did not have enough space with what I had to add the remaining 10lbs I needed to get to the planned weight. I asked after the fact to the gym owners if I could use the kilo plates and was given an emphatic no with three exclamation points. It is their equipment but I do find it a little dumb as only some powerlifters use them and the meets that they run don’t even use the plates (the fed brings their own). But I abide. So I had to find a thinner plate to get it to fit. This maxing out the setup I have to go up 60lbs more. So I’ll have to use and locate the thinner ones next time. I was not feeling confident with this and figured I’d probably have this be a slog so I didn’t ask anyone to help with filming as I feel that I’d probably get stressed out. I was slow off the block with the yoke and just couldn’t seem to pick up speed. I knew I’d finish this but I wasn’t sure how much time I’d actually have left. Going slow is not helpful with having strength in the legs but I moved on to the power stairs. It took a bit of effort but I got the first lift in and moved on to the second. But I just couldn’t get it high enough and it came crashing back down. Damn it. I walked back and took about a minute to decide if I was to keep going at it or stop. I mean, I was not getting within the time limit. Part of me wanting to finish it out like the medley last week and part wanting to save it. But again, I knew I had a week off entirely coming up so I figured I’d keep at it until the work was done. So after about 70 seconds I went for the second step again and got it after a struggle. About 30 seconds and I went for the third and final step. I was so close here but too close and the little rubber matting on the stair was getting lifted up by the lip of the bottom plate. After a struggle and setting it down, I moved the implement back a little bit and went for it again about 90 seconds later. And this time I got it. It was done. Only too me over 4 minutes to finish. Ugh. Not pleased with how this went. Yoke had been slow and I had not expected this weight on the stair to be so difficult. I’ve done this 5lbs under this to 1” higher for 9 reps before. Like the other medley, I will need reconsider plan of approach. It is possible to finish in the time limit with the pace I was going. Now whether that is the case with 100lbs/60lbs more remains to be seen. The biggest issue is the power stairs as my form was bad. I need to have it more in front to get better clearance. More midline with that many plates and the meat of my inner thighs is preventing me from pulling higher. The other issue is the size of the steps doesn’t give much wiggle room with placement at these kind of weights so it might make sense to just deload each rep rather than try to go up the steps. Perhaps train them separately too. Like I said, have to think on it. Put that nonsense away and tried to move on with the session and hope that I could keep myself from going into a funk. Next was sandbag load. Well that was initially the plan. The event is the sandball dash, carry and load for reps but I got just the one sandball and I don’t really want to be messing with adding and removing weight. So my plan was to follow somewhat the plan that had worked well for me with sandbag load for reps about this weight. But moving it up a session early as short on time comparatively. So aim was to do 250lbs sandbag for 5x2 EMOM over 4” above contest and then rest and do a set of 6 reps with it. But I felt myself be pressured with how my performance with the medley went and I said screw it, use the damn sandball. So I rolled out the 278lbs sandball. See how it went. Maybe do EMOM singles instead of doubles. Who knows. Playing fast and loose with my training today I guess. Little hesitancy with get pick on the first rep. I can’t quite get under it like a sandbag and this is definitely more hamstring stress. It went up well enough so I figured I’d do doubles. That was where I realized my error. The second rep was a struggle to get a grip. It does seem to matter where you grip this dumb thing. So that took up a good chunk of time. I pretty much had only 35 seconds of rest after that before I went again. And I know how much that causes issues with recovery after that kind of struggle for the remaining sets. However, I seemed to rebound and make quick work of the second double. But the good fortune I had for that set was wasted on the third set where I got off balance in the lap on the first rep and then had issues with picking up the second rep and having to shove it over rather than load it over. Another about 30 seconds rest before going again. Ugh. First rep of the next set was good but I was feeling exhausted and breathing heavy. I wanted to make sure I didn’t have to repick the second rep. This darn floppy thing was too low when I went to extend and it just plopped into the bar. I ended up having to push this thing for 5 seconds before it finally landed on the other side. I decided I was done with the EMOM stuff as I wasn’t sure I could do the last one in the time limit. This was 28lbs more than I was supposed to be doing (and I was to only be doing these for a singles next time anyways). After cooling off and getting my air back, rolled out the 250lbs sandbag again and did 6 comfortable reps. Way easier but I could feel my lower back and hamstrings had been hit hard. A bit off pace from what I could do here. I forgot to wrap my wrists with athletic tape and I jammed my left wrist at some point on the sandball. Mistake on my part, but I guess didn’t think about it or figured I was too sweaty at this point for it to matter. Or I wasn’t taking things as seriously as I should. But I know it will heal up, just be annoying for a bit. Now the last bit of the workout was to be grip stuff working on the aspect that I feel I’m lacking in the form of crush grip. Since this wasn’t going to be stuff that should be straining my midsection, I downed my shake at this point. But there were actually enough people with know how and I would be not lifting events for another 2 weeks so I setup Hercules hold. I figured I’d get a set in with those handles I got. I was a bit worried without how things had gone last week with those handles on the hangs. Surely that must be harder than the Hercules hold. I needed to see what I was working with hopefully gauge what I need to be doing as weight not announced yet. Did a warm up set with 170lbs and that was ok. I initially was going to do 220lbs but then said 240lbs and then went with 250lbs. I could be going to heavy here. But it turned out just fine and did 45 second comfortably. I don’t think I had a minute at this weight though. So I guess I can know that the hangs are tougher and I have a better idea of what I should do on my last session aiming. And so much easier putting away and setting up when people are here. So back to what I was originally going to do which was stuff with the grippers I ordered. Warm up with the one set under the planned working weight and then do 2 sets of 10 with slight holds. I’d rather just do the grippers but my understanding is that it is a good idea to do hand band expanders with them for hand and wrist health. My hands already curl inwards when relaxed. The bands expands are a lot tougher and my right hand the pointer finger knuckle was getting a little irritated. The gripper part was fine. Not just working on isometric but ROM for the hands for gripping purposes. I still felt like I had some in me so I did 5 more reps but with 5 second eccentrics. Put stuff away and drove home to stretch where it was cool. Got two more sessions before the week off at the beach with family.

July 2, 2025 – Week 6, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Axle 1+1/2 Deadlifts (3 seconds, 3” below knees, straps)
136x3
186x3
226x2
276x2
316x1
366x3
366x3
366x3
366x3
366x3

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (2 seconds)
65x3
95x6
100x6
105x6

Walking Lunges
bwx10/10
bw+10x10/10
bw+20x10/10

Copenhagen Planks
bwx30/30 seconds
bwx30/30 seconds
bwx30/30 seconds

Seated Band Hamstring Curls (explosive reps, 5ct hold every 5 reps)
ab’sx25
ab’sx25
ab’sx25

Stretching

Comments:  Maybe the stress from the previous week got to me. Or having to do a lot of changes to things Monday with getting training and being around a lot of unfamiliar people did. But I woke up feeling a little off Tuesday and took some allergy meds as thought maybe due to the rain that allergens acting up. But did appear to be that I had a fever blister starting so that definitely means that something has my immune system compromised. So feeling a little worn and kind of feeling like that is the case with the past two training sessions. I mean, to be expected with the Saturday events and I should know that shoulders tend to get beat from zercher carry stuff. But feeling a bit worn and then comparing myself to what I was doing in September last year with axle has me feeling doubtful. But I need to not let those thoughts bog me down and realize that I need to rest and destress. Give myself time to think on things. It didn’t help I felt like I needed a nap waking up this morning. Considering taking the day off training. But I just need to do one more day of work and I get Friday off to rest. I think knowing that did help me feel a little more energetic at the end of the day. But at some point after work and by the time I actually got to lifting heavy I lost time. Like an hour or so had gone by. Not sure what happened lol. Soft tissue work needed with foam rolling. Shoulders (especially the right one) was feeling pretty stiff. Left calf needed a good bit of foam rolling but otherwise about the usual amount for everywhere else. Neck rehab was fine and mobility stuff was ok. Knees weren’t feeling terribly achy so that was good. Axle pulls to start things off again. The “lighter” session as it were. So second session doing the one and half rep paused triples. Plan being about 15lbs heavier than last time and aiming for an extra set since not doing axle cleans beforehand. I will say that my right knee didn’t feel achy or off setting up to pull. Still using the big wheels on platform for right now. As seems to be the case, some weights feel super good and others not so good. But this was the best consistently the axle pulls have felt this prep. I think I’m getting used to pulling from this height again and hopefully I can keep this feeling. I do wish that last time’s weight had felt like this as I’d be pulling heavier. But I needed to use that weight that time and get myself building up to this. This did lift some of feelings of being off mentally with how these had gone. Back extensions next. The programming is alternating between higher reps and lower weight with shorter holds on my heavier pull sessions and lower reps and longer holds for the lighter sessions. These heavier sessions not supersetting with anything (my abs did end up being sore) as I wanted to focus on these. Plan being 3x6 with 2ct holds. I had these as snatch grip and then changed to deadlift/clean and then back to snatch grip. I was thinking I had gone a little too heavy last time on my lighter session and thought I needed to make changes to actually have sufficient weight moved. But I didn’t. I know that I’m going to need to put more focus on these in off season stuff as I feel like this was missed a bit in the previous 4 week prep as well as the past training cycle. I was feeling a little bit of sciatica on my right side after I was done and putting stuff away from deadlifts but thankfully that went away and nothing I did after that made it come back. 95lbs had felt easy enough I decided I’d push adding 5lbs each set. Which was maybe a little risky. My hope is to at some point get up to 135lbs on these for sets with holds. From there moved on to unilateral stuff. Now I was initially going to do the stepdowns but reduced weight and volume and increase the height. Like I did at the end of last cycle when I had hit a PR on the 18” height. I’d done the same here. To that and switch to something else. But I think purposely reducing the effort and then switching when not a deload (and have to take a week off shortly for reasons) I wondered if I should just do the new exercise now. So I did that. It has been a while since I’ve done walking lunges. My knees have been feeling not great and it has been a lot of effort to get them feeling strong and good again. I’ve done these little weight as the idea is not so much to be doing a weighted lunge but more the movement and control as well as working on the ROM and flexibility in my stride. There is risk with things being tight that has sometimes had my obliques strain. I need to see if I can improve my gait and turnover. Out in the street for these with going 5 paces each leg before turning around and doing 5 paces back to the start. This was foreign to my knees at the start with just bodyweight. But I felt better as I went. I was not intending to add weight with how my knees had felt at the start on these but I did and it was a little haphazard. I will use the back pack (with load to the front) going forward I think. This was definitely needed. Back into the garage to finish up the session. Copenhagen planks back in the mix. I’ve been meaning to have these in more often but it didn’t seem to work out until around this time. These felt good but not sure really how to progress on them from these. It is good my knees didn’t seem angry doing these and that I felt pretty solid. Did feel some fatigue by the end of the last sets. Final thing being hamstrings. Seated band leg curls with fast reps and holds peppered in. Just to get some knee flexion in. I’m glad I was able to use the band tension I had previously used when I last did these a few years ago. Could definitely tell that the fatigue was building up by the end. Put stuff away as my dinner cooked and stretched after eating. Another long day. But I only have one more day of work this week and then I can rest.

June 30, 2025 – Week 6, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Push Press (one clean)
48x5
78x3
107x2
137x1
166x1
196x1
226x1
256x1

Axle Push Presses (EMOM)
246x1
246x1
251x1
251x1
256x1
256x1

Pull-ups
bwx3
bw+5x6
bw+15x6
bw+25x6

Dips
bwx5
bw+50x3
bw+100x8
bw+100x9

Low Angle Half Kneeling Band Face Pulls/Cuban Rotations
µb’sx20
µb’sx20
µb’sx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Saturday had been a bit of a wake up call for some assumptions with events. I mean, bag toss was how it should be at this point. I needed to recover over the weekend. Forearms were really feeling the thick grip handles that actually rolled. Got bruises on my arms and feeling like probably some bruising on my lower abs near my waist and hips. It was having me a bit nervous for this session of training. Weight down a little bit from last week but not as low as it had been a few weeks prior. Despite my knees having felt achy going into training Saturday, feeling decent at this point. But unfortunately, this ended up being a training session where weather did not line up with my schedule. The heat wave has lead to having storms be a bit more present. Initially, weather report was making it seem like early afternoon would hit and then I’d be good for like 5hrs before it rained again. I’m not sure if it was moving slow as it seemed to come a few hours later. I decided that if rain didn’t let up by the time I finished with doing foam rolling and neck rehab, I was going to take my axle and train at the one gym nearby. I can’t be risking injury and frustration with axle clean and press with lifting in the rain. Not on my first session back to doing a clean and press. The weather was really trying to trick me as I got in my car the rain stopped and the sun was out but then started raining a little bit off and on. It has been since September since I was last at the gym and they’ve had some renovations but still feels cramped and gets hot fast with bodies even with AC on. I could hear the rain on the roof picking up in intensity every so often so kind of reaffirmed I made the right choice to train inside. So after doing the mobility stuff as best I could here, I got things setup for axle clean and press. I brought my own axle with me. Setup a bit different as not the usual plates. But I figured I wanted to use the big 70lbs wheels to make things feel more off. Mixture of kilogram and pounds plates to about as close as I could get to the jumps I’d do at home and then the big wheels. Grip shirt does feel less restrictive without the sleeves. I was feeling nervous about initiating the movement with my grip feeling sore and fatigued as well as stuff just kind of feeling heavy. Plan was work up in 30lbs jumps and then maybe switch to 20lbs. Once I got to the big wheels, I was able to get closer to 30lbs jumps I had planned. This did feel like I was seeing the fruits of my labor with working axle cleans as its own thing as this was feeling crisp and submaximal. The pressing was not feeling so strong. I really didn’t have a good session to put pressing considering how taxing zercher carry ends up being on the shoulders and my other option is the heavier moving event and sandbag/ball loading. So not great there either. I was feeling really sweaty here but at least not as bad as Saturday. 226lbs was just ok on the press but I went with 30lbs jump so that I’d be at 256lbs. Kind of treating 240lbs last time as where I should’ve started but a week behind on axle. Trying to get this feeling of tightness in the bottom when engaging the hips and back to initiate things. I didn’t rush things on the clean and it went up easy. Felt comfortable in the rack position. So maybe those jerk dip squats were a good idea. But pressing didn’t quite feel right as it did go out in front of me. But luckily this isn’t something that is a max effort for me so even though it was out of position, I was able to muscle it out with my triceps to lock it out. Would’ve been bad to have this be a miss. But I will need to figure out what I need to go for next time. So the next thing while still at the gym was more axle stuff but out of the rack. Unlike at home, it isn’t right there so I had to strip it all down and move it to the rack. I didn’t bother with the big wheels just put 100lbs plates on to make this a quicker transition. What I had was to do 240lbs for 5 singles EMOM style. But 246lbs was easier to put on the axle with what was there and I was likely going to add a little if I felt good like I had done before. So one thing compared to last time I started doing these in September my knees didn’t feel terrible and walking it out was fine. But my pressing was a little off. But if felt comfortable in the rack so I didn’t panic. Lockout was a little slow here on these but I just stuck with it. I added 5lbs after 2 singles with plan to do that again. But I guess I forgot I was only doing 5 and not 6. But it felt like I was ok so I did a sixth one just to even things out with two at each 5lbs weight. I then realized after the fact I had forgotten to hit record so I can’t even see what I did. But it was good I could hit the same weight I did the clean and press with and not have the wonky press and sticking point. I was very sweaty and took off the grip shirt and put my stuff away before putting on a fresh shirt to drive home to finish the workout. Stuff there wasn’t ideal for what I had planned. It had stopped raining at this point but not sure for how long. Last time I had done dips and then pull-ups. But it felt like it made more sense to do pull-ups to give some break considering the weight on the overhead stuff is a good bit more than last time. It took a little bit to get things setup. Plan was to do 3x6 on pull-ups with increasing weight. I felt it was best to do some reps at just bodyweight so it wasn’t so rough going into it. I wasn’t sure how things would be considering my grip and forearms being how they were. These actually weren’t so bad. Did 10lbs jumps so last set with 25lbs added. I definitely was at a bit higher RPE than planned but the initial plan had been if I was doing these every week so ok. In to the garage to do dips. The rain and humidity made it so that most of the lights wouldn’t come on. 5lbs added to last time for these so 100lbs added. 50lbs jumps. I’m not sure if just the overhead stuff and doing cleans or just feeling the stress from zercher carries but shoulders were feeling achy and didn’t really seem to feel better as I added weight, at least not by the margin I’m used to when I’ve done these. Hell, it could be from doing bench last week too. Not sure. But this was definitely the closest I was to not getting 2x8 on these. Triceps and chest still feeling good though. Last exercise is a little hard to define. It has been previously been indicated as a face pull variation but it doesn’t seem quite apt. There is more of a rotational aspect in the one plane. The idea with it is working the external rotators and upper back in a way that is conducive to the flip from stomach to shoulders of the axle clean. I didn’t quite do these right when last I did them but I think this time I had them figured out to work for me. Plan was 3x20. I was going to do them outside since everything was already anchored from the pull-ups but then the rain picked up again and it was coming down hard so I setup stuff in the garage to do these. These felt fine but I felt a little too easy even with the explosive reps with slight pauses. So I moved the pad I was kneeling on out more each set so that last set did feel like how I wanted it to. I’ll try to have that difficulty next time rather than use a thicker band. Ate dinner and stretched. It was a later session for obvious reasons.

June 28, 2025 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (13’6”)
30x1
35x1
40x1
45x1
50x1
55x1
30x1/35x1/40x1
35x1/40x1/45x1
35x1/40x1/45x1
40x1/45x1/50x1

Zercher Yoke/Sandbag Carry & Loads (47”, with run backs, turf)
230x50’/200x50’
320x50’/225x50’
410x50’/250x50’
500x50’/275x50’
500x50’/275x50’

Rolling D-Handle Hangs (2” handles)
bw for 5 seconds
bw+35 for 7.70 seconds/bw for 17.96 seconds (30 seconds rest)
bw+35 for 6.86 seconds/bw for 12.83 seconds (20 seconds rest)
bw+35 for 3.90 seconds/bw for 6.40 seconds (20 seconds rest)
bw for 13.03 seconds

Backwards Sled Drags (turf)
415x75’
415x75’

Stretching

Comments: Work continues to be stressful but I guess thankfully Friday was not so bad considering things. But it isn’t just work. Just the constant deluge of crap with all levels of government. It is frustrating and stressful seeing stuff deteriorate so quickly. But this isn’t about that. A slight break in the heat finally. I slept in a little later just because I knew there was still some stress rolling around in my head that I needed to sleep off and I wanted to hopefully see if my knee was feeling up to training today. I’m feeling pretty comfortable with driving the new car. I still get a little concerned with how big the car is to what I’m used to driving and being spatially aware of how much space I have in a lane or parking. There were people actually training strongman today. While volume of training was going to be lower for me, it was going to require more setup. I did not get to start training as quickly as I would’ve liked as other people were training and get pulled in different directions with assisting on things. But I also kind of needed to wait to get stuff to setup anyways. Lower body needed a lot of foam rolling. I was kind of surprised by that considering usually this day needs the least amount. Neck rehab stuff was fine and did mobility stuff. Knees were feeling ok. Even though it was considerably cooler, it was more humid and I was just sweating standing around, which isn’t great. So first thing was bag toss. I’ve not done this with real intent in over a year. I’ve done some backwards tosses overhead to see if things made sense with the toss for distance but it was quite clear one of was better than the other with the weight. I had got the sandbags weighed out and set at 5lbs jumps from 30lbs to 60lbs with option to add 2.5lbs and 5lbs if needed. Show is 5 bags starting at 20kgs and ending on 28kgs (2kgs jumps) over 13’6” (well as close as the meter to feet conversion works). So decently heavy bags but a good bit lower than most tosses are in the US. I wasn’t sure how these would go but I had some hopes. One was that the neck rehab has helped and that I’m not getting tension or pain in my shoulder on these. I did some band dislocates as part of my warm up. I generally do a bit more warming up with getting flow and bounding but I felt that I was going to be in the heat a lot and since I had to setup the tower myself (since the previous setup broke) that I should probably go with light and work up and hopefully that gets me feeling ok enough. This is also going to be like the penultimate event on the final day too so not going to feel fresh. So the plan for the session was work up in singles and then do 3 sets of 3 with tosses as ascending weight. Work up and see how things are feeling and kind of hopefully hit a decently tough throw without a miss and then work on going for multiple bags. I tend to have issues with getting the power out put for several attempts and chasing down the bag tends to give me more rest then I’d normally have. The time limit is only 45 seconds for this. I also need to get used to the likelihood of my glasses and headwear coming off from doing the triple extension several times violently. I did not bring my sunglass lens but I guess I thought it was going to stay cloudy. But honestly, it wasn’t an issue I had with sun in my eyes. But I need to remember for next time potentially. Granted, this will be inside at contest. I’m definitely out of practice and not getting the full height if I was treating these as EMOM singles or a max toss. I do feel that the high pulls and the powell raises were helpful in helping me maintain pulling form and get better extension in the upper body. But I know I’ll need to get everything to synch up together. Plan is have this week be event focused and the alternated week being working variations. I started with 30lbs and worked up to 55lbs, which had been my goal. I didn’t feel like 60lbs would happen for sure so stopped there. So from there moving to the three bag series. I wasn’t sure how these would go so I started with the three lightest bags. I was definitely moving slow off the mark. Not trying to rush. It is hard to gauge if I should be trying to throw fast or not as the lighter bags are quite easy but with this series, the last bag is still 4lbs under the first bag of the event series. So that went well enough so I decided I’d go up a bag so everything 5lbs more. First two were fine but 45lbs bag I didn’t time right and it went into the band. Thankfully the band is the thickest one so not going to move or snap and also didn’t knock over the setup either. I was then able to get it over. I didn’t want a miss but I didn’t want to go down to the first series again as I knew this was a technical issue. So set it up again. Made the corrections that time and got closer with the 45lbs and no issues. That had felt good so I figured I’d go up another 5lbs. So now I was doing a little over the first two bags in the series after the first bag tossed. I hesitated a little after the first toss as I wasn’t sure if it had gone over. Second bag I knew it had and then with the third I brought the bag close stopped to treat it more like a max single toss. Just got it over. I need to work on getting my ankles and lower body more into these and load the hips. But I’m pleased with my upper body extension on these. This was a good start to these considering my worries. So put this away and got ready for the one event that I knew was going to be a bastard to do and recover from: zercher and sandbag. The inside concrete area was in use but I had kind of planned to do these on turf so I could actually get the full 15m for each thing. Not enough space on the concrete. I also didn’t want to do this on the uneven payment outside in the sun. I had hoped that my EMOM and EOMOM stuff had conditioned me enough for what this suck was going to be but I guess not. Initially I was thinking of just doing sets of these but breaking in half to build up and then do just one set in the final week for competition test. But I figured that may be too taxing to recover from. This is the only event that is 75 seconds time limit. Run yoke zercher style 15m, run back 15m to sandbag to carry 15m and then load over the yoke crossbar and then repeat to bring it all back. Working up I felt that having 90lbs jumps with yoke and 25lbs jumps for sandbag worked and just do half the course (so 45m total) on the working up sets. Add support gear as I went. Using the grip shirt here. Cutting the sleeves off definitely made it easier to take on and off as well as having it easier to “breathe” as far as sweat. Working up I could tell this was going to suck. More so because the part I felt was going to be easier (sandbag carry) was not. The zercher carry is really slowing me down and pre-fatiguing things for the sandbag. It could also be with my deadlift weights increasing about 150lbs from two weeks ago. What I ended up doing was my planned weight but I had to break it into two sets. I just couldn’t function after the first set. But I tried to take as short a rest as I could before doing the second set. Which ended up being 2.5 minutes after checking the video. The zercher carry while slow, was solid and I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out which is great. The sandbag on the second run I was so slow as I just felt everything in my posterior chain fatigue hard and trying to go any faster I felt like I’d stumble and lose control. I was surprised that my second run was actually faster overall then the first one by a second or so. I guess I was a bit more efficient on the carry of the yoke and pick of the sandbag the second run. But I was dead after the second set. I had been foolish in plans to think that I could’ve done these for 2 more sets with short rests as I had initially planned. Considering it took me over 40 seconds both runs, unless I get a lot faster even with immediate recovery, I’m not likely to finish this event in the time cap. Looking at getting distance hopefully with the second leg of the yoke depending on if I can adapt to 95lbs more and probably best case is distance on the second sandbag. The 275lbs I used is a really tough bag since it is 25lbs underfilled 300lbs. I don’t have a 130kgs bag so this will work for that as just 5kgs under. In retrospect, I probably should’ve done 225lbs bag paired with 500lbs zercher and then done 50lbs/25lbs jumps to finish up the training. I’m going to have to think on what adjustments considering the difficulty here going forward. Speaking of making adjustments that weren’t expected is the grip work. For the contest, it is 50mm rolling handles for the Hercules hold. 50mm being about 2” with the conversion. I had gotten some handles with knurling that kind of revolved but not that well. They had been relatively cheap to setup for the previous show. However, didn’t end up coming to pass but I had seen what the intended handles had been and they were not knurled and were smooth with easy revolving handles. Much tougher then what I had. So when it was announced it would be a Hercules hold 2” handles, I bought something similar to that. Now I don’t know if they are going to be smooth or knurled handles. Prep from last time seemed to be good for getting grip up to par so that was what I was going to do. Warm up and do a RPE 9 set aiming for 45 seconds or more. Did just bodyweight for a 5 seconds and it seemed to feel like how the other handles I had did so I assumed I could put the weight on there like I did. Wrong. This became quite clear when I was feeling like I was immediately losing it after 5 seconds. Well damn it. I took weight off and reset and did no weight but even that was way too much as I didn’t get to 20 seconds there. Woof. So change of plans. I’d do these “drop sets” with weight added and no weight for sets and try to get over 45 seconds combined. I know that I tend to have a big drop off in time after a first set effort. I didn’t know how long I was resting between the drops so didn’t know until afterwards that I had taken longer on the first set by 10 seconds. Second set was decent compared to the first but the third set was a big drop off and clue to stop there. I was planning to be done but showing the setup to someone else there it was feeling easy again so I did another set at bodyweight but got humbled again haha. I can feel my forearms being really tense from these. I was wise to get these handles and plan to work my crush grip this prep for this event as this is really tough. I will need to rethink how I want to work the prep on these going forward as I don’t think I can hit longer times with my bodyweight but Hercules is a pain without at least 2 other people. It was about an hour later than I was expecting it to be at this point. I had also not expected to be sweating so damn much either. Last thing was some more leg work. Backwards sled drag. I had liked doing these last prep but not having supersetted. I plan on only doing these twice. My hope here was this would help knees feel better going into this prep since I know that power stairs will beat them up. Just 2 sets of 60-75’ here. I was not sure if I wanted to do 335lbs with a max of 405lbs. But I think I was annoyed enough with how things went with the zercher medley and the rolling handles that I just put all the weights that were nearby on it so it was 415lbs. Slow and steady. Took me about a minute for the first set going into it with not much and then about 10 seconds faster the second set. So that was a good end there. Downed my shake before I put stuff away and headed home to stretch as it was already like I said an hour later than I wanted it to be.

June 26, 2025 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
136x3
186x3
226x3
276x2
316x2
366x1
416x1
466x5
437x5
437x5

Axle Jerk Dip Squats (3 second eccentric)
136x3
186x3
226x3
276x3
326x3 (15 seconds hold last rep)

Contralateral Load Single Leg Stepdowns (18”, foot to rear)
bwx3/3
bwx3/3
bw+55x10/10
bw+55x10/10
bw+55x10/10

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (1 second)/Roman Chair Sit-ups
75x10/bwx12
75x10/bwx12

Stretching

Comments:  Today the heat wave is allegedly breaking. But not really sure what that is going to mean as it seems like it is still going to be hot. Work has been stressful with pretty much having now a third of the staff in the unit from like 7yrs ago. I feel like I’m doing 9 times the work I had to be doing from then. At the very least, I’m doing 3 times the work duties. I needed a good bit of soft tissue work warming up. My right knee is achy. I kind of knew it would be like this because of how my knees were feeling Saturday on that last yoke run and then the power stairs and leg presses. So not doing knee based stuff Monday was helpful but not being able to really go for a walk after work Tuesday meant I wasn’t moving around. Just have to hope that my knees recover with the new split and wearing knee sleeves for the sessions. Neck rehab after the foam rolling and then mobility stuff. No cleans now as merging the lift together so this was going to be starting off with axle pulls. No pauses or anything like last week. Using the big wheels and standing on platform to get to standard height. I’ve not pulled from the floor for a good bit as it was likely February as it has been elevated pulls and the floor pulls have been just the past 4 weeks with most of it being under 300lbs. 350lbs had already felt tougher than I was expecting to and had hoped the 390lbs would feel like that. But made the choice to stick to 350lbs because of that. It still left me open to hitting the numbers I wanted assuming that the bigger gap between the “heavy” and “light” day would work in my favor for recovery. But no clue how heavier would go with one less day to recover and pulling 394lbs for 10 reps total on power stairs on top of 250’ with 600lbs on yoke. I’ve not done a max axle pull from the floor with straps besides warming up at the 2019 Arnold. I had a show that was to be 18” pull with axle at 600lbs but ended up being 600lbs from the floor and that didn’t go well (no straps but then allowed). I’ve done 552lbs without straps (alternated grip) back in 2009 and that was also without a belt (as didn’t know no better). Plan was to work up to 80% for a set of 5 reps and then drop down to 75% for 2x5. Rest up to 5 minutes if needed. I set things up so that I was able to do 40-50lbs jumps and adjust as needed if this ended up to be too much for me on the day. This was like one of those things where every other set from terrible. It is difficult to find the right position here. 366lbs was the best feeling pull and it is what told me I should be good today and stay in it. Could definitely tell that I’m not used to regular deadlifts as this was feeling in lower back for sure. This was thankfully not a max set of 5 reps here. I was worried I was taking too long between sets to recover but thankfully I was only about 4.5 minutes for rest going from the top set to the second set and I was able to keep things the same for the last set. It is a little hard to gauge reps in the tank with how I’m pulling but I feel like 2RIR and 3RIR respectively on the low. Like, these are absolutely certain but likely do another for each. Maybe these will feel better next time with slightly more recovery and maybe my right knee won’t be feeling achy. I’m not under any delusions about getting contest weight of 661lbs in training or even at the contest. I will likely just walk out and take a zero and not warm up to save energy. Only way I see myself trying will be if I get 600lbs or more in training comfortably. Still going to keep working deadlift as if I will be pulling as I need to monitor training recovery and tweak as needed in the event I actually get things on point and need to be able to perform at my best on everything contested. It would be nice to get over 550lbs in this prep on this. Moved outside for more axle fun. This was a little bit of a late addition. Trying to keep things kind of in blocks. Doing stuff to work parts of the axle movement with overload so that hopefully I can get at least 130kgs on the day from where I am now. So bringing back the axle jerk drive squats. I had done these with log for SC Nats prep in 2017 with some success with improving my log pressing (though fell short on the day). Work up in triples over 5 sets to a top set and then hold. Axle the hold isn’t quite as taxing as log so that was the main focus. This was more getting comfortable with rack position and doing the slow eccentrics into the dip and then launching back up. The fever of the heat was breaking slightly as it would drizzle a little bit. I had the fan outside on as I was wearing the grip shirt to get used to what I’ll likely be using. I ended up taking scissors to the sleeves afterwards as they are too restrictive and I think that might be why I was having some issues with my press using it in the past when fatigued. Essentially did 40-50lbs jumps here. Plan was to do 30-50lbs over what I could press right now. Knees were achy but I felt in control here. Used the big wheels too. Last set I did go up 10lbs more than I was planning just because. Reps felt strong. I think I need to get used to this rack position so not stressing shoulders to much. Held for 15 seconds after the last rep and then walked it back in to rack. So this went ok as well. I’ll likely do these one more time next heavy axle pull day before dropping and focusing energies elsewhere. Now the stepdowns have been the end of the session for the past four weeks. Well not this time. Last of the “heavier” sessions as plan is to wind these down as there are more moving events this prep and swap in something different that will work on my stride length. So next two sessions going to be greater ROM and lighter weight. I wasn’t sure how these would go as last time my knees felt great and felt like crap the time before. Feeling like crap now and having done the axle jerk drives. So I decided I’d do two sets of bodyweight without the knee sleeves to make sure I could tolerate these today. The second set was definitely helpful. 55lbs is the most I’ve tried on these so that felt a bit unwieldy setting up but once I sturdied myself, it wasn’t too bad. Definitely harder than 45lbs was last week for sure. This was definitely the most effort I’ve had to put into these so it was nice seeing that legs were getting worked. The last thing was the new thing replacing the good mornings. Well, kind of. I was initially going to just do one exercise but I felt it was a good idea to pair these with an antagonistic movement. I’m not doing pull-ups and dips every week like I had been so I’m not getting decompression of the spine to start off every week. Back extensions with varying intensity and holds is the thing at the moment with being the “lighter” session on my “heavier” deadlift sessions. I’ve made some changes to my initial plan besides that. In either case, this was snatch grip back extensions with slight holds and the supersetted with roman chair sit-ups. Plan was RPE 6-7 for the back extensions. With the abdominal stuff, thinking is to pair with the light sessions to work both spine flexion and extension with having bag toss be a thing as well as get some stress to the area for the load over bar stuff too. I was a bit surprised that there felt like an area I was missing doing other stuff with the back extensions. I had put 10lbs on to what I was initially planning as thinking I was starting too light. I guess not. Out of practice on the roman chair stuff. Hopefully I don’t get terrible DOMS there. Training done and stretched out after eating. Hopefully my knee feels better by Saturday training.

June 23, 2025 – Week 5, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Close Grip Bench Presses
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x5
165x5
195x5
225x5
255x5

Narrow Grip Bench Presses
230x5
 
Inverted Ring Rows
bw+20x12
bw+20x12
bw+20x12
bw+20x15

Chaos Band Bradford Presses w/ Chains
45+22cx3
45+44cx12
45+44cx10

Powell Raises
17x12/12 
19x12/12
20x12/12

Band Triceps Pushdowns
sbx30 (neutral grip)
sbx30 (pronated grip)

Stretching
 
Comments: It was damn hot since Saturday. I thought Saturday had been quite brutal in the sunshine but Sunday was way worse. I didn’t want to do anything Sunday but I knew I needed to do some moving around as I was stiff and sore in my back and knees. I was likely not going to get to do any walking Tuesday since also going to be hot and I was going to be having to go in to the office for the currently once a month dumb thing. The “heat wave” was initially only going to be Sunday and Monday but been extended to Wednesday. I made sure I got to walking around noon before it got really hot on Sunday. Weight down slightly from last week. Training for this day was a bit changed from what it has been for the rest of the training prep. Some stuff just not recovering weekly. And I think it was going to be more apparent this week with the Saturday training session and having these next two sessions a day earlier than usual with recovery days from the previous week. My knees and lower back had taken quite a beating with the yoke and power stairs stuff with no knee sleeves or belt. I figured I’d need a bit of soft tissue work. Neck rehab was a majority of the warming up as this was not a lower body drive upper body session so there wasn’t really a need to work the knees and ankles as much. Perhaps let them recover a little. But still did the stretching and such. The heat was beastly so thankfully my changes didn’t have me doing any outside work today. Purely in the garage with three fans going at all times. So actually pretty tolerable. The rotation is trying to go off something that seemed to work with training as far as building up overhead press and that was with alternating bench press one week with the overhead press variation. I’ve not really been doing bench as worry about shoulder fatigue and such. Had been doing the four days a week and then dropped back to three days. And usually the variations had been board or log incline. Regular benching had not really been pushed and had been with chains and trying to have it be something done where it was more speed focus. My shoulders hadn’t really been thrilled with that stuff but that was also with I think not realizing the neck issue and not actively including stuff to stretch out my pecs during warming up. So axle clean and press one week, close grip bench the other. So for this first week, trying to not kill myself. So work up in sets of 5 reps to a top set of 5 reps which is hopefully well under what I can do. Ideally something that is 70% my max. That I should be able to do for 10 reps. Like I said, it has been a bit so I assumed I was down on press here. Decided I’d do 30lbs jumps starting with the bar and that should hopefully get me to 255lbs as my top set with those jumps. But things just felt a little off today with setting up on bench. I fiddled with the rack height a little but seems this is where it is right now. Oh well. Left shoulder was fine, right shoulder would get tight and need to crack my elbow from the tension building up after the sets. But this actually felt pretty good considering how things have been lately with benching. I don’t think changing the ROM would really do anything for the shoulder thing with how it was. Warming up was feeling ok. Could tell I’m out of practice with the reps. 135lbs felt fine and then of course adding 30lbs more things started to get a little challenging. I had not wanted 225lbs to feel like it had. That had been how I had hoped 255lbs would’ve felt. So I guess need to take things a little more serious. I didn’t get super hyped up or anything for these. Just a little more focused. I knew the plan here was to just get a break in session. 255lbs looks like it moved really easy on camera but it had felt a bit challenging on the last rep. I don’t think I’d have gotten 10 with how I approached that set and was feeling. But it is a starting point. Next was to drop 10% off that top set and do another set but bring my hands in closer by 2”. My close grip is already pretty close so guess call this narrow grip. I’m not sure. These were ok. Little hitch/hiccup with the last rep going up smoothly. Sticking point on these can hit hard with the close a grip. Like I said, a starting point. And hopefully I will feel more comfortable next time around. Since I had done horizontal pressing, it made sense to do horizontal rowing. Which would be the inverted ring rows. I’ve like doing these were I do reps for certain sets and then go for max reps on the last set leaving 1-2RIR. I wasn’t too sure how I wanted to start with these. On one hand, I’ve not done them in a few months and not sure how they’d feel from doing other stuff (left brachialis potentially calming down). Fatigue on these can hit hard as well over sets when not doing them consistently. But the other point is that I’ve been doing those cable rows and built those up a good bit over the past four weeks so I should be fine I think. I guess see how I feel touching them and go from there. So setup for just bodyweight but I knew just doing one rep that I was going to do 20lbs added in the back pack for my sets. Feeling good here. I knew I’d probably not set any PRs on the rep set with not really doing these and pushing things that hard on rowing exercises with all the other things stressing biceps. Did 3x12 and then an extra 3 reps for the fourth set. The rest of the workout was lighter stuff to hit shoulders and triceps. Trying to have the bench be the stressful stuff and the other week with axle the more stressful day. The first exercise was kind of a new one for me. I had planned to do this as something in my original off season plan before making an about face. I’ve done some chaos weight stuff but never really got a chance to be consistent with doing overhead. But the plan here was to do alternating pressing from shoulders and behind the neck with chaos band weight while seated. No back support. Not locking out the weight either so keeping tension on the shoulders the entire time. Something that works the shoulders but is easy on the joints and will hopefully promote blood flow and help keep shoulders happy. I felt that using chains would be the most “alive” weight to attach. I had no idea how these would feel but thankfully no discomfort. Fatigue definitely builds on these. It is also hard to keep track of reps as I’m counting a rep to the front and rep from behind as a single rep. I essentially miscounted on both sets. I had thought I did 10 reps the first set and then seeing as I did 12, I attempted 12 reps the second set and got 10 reps when I watched video. So that was a little confusing. The plan was 2 sets of 10-15 with it being RPE 6. So I feel like the RPE was correct for these then. I’ll likely try to get more reps and actually do the same reps each set. Powell raises were up next. I did just do these for the first time last week and ideally like to give them a week before coming back but it didn’t seem to make sense to have these with the axle press session as these are a bit more intense compared to say face pulls or other external rotation stuff. This is also a new exercise so there could be some quick adaptation here. Plan was 3x12 with a little more intensity than last time. I felt like last time I had overshot the effort I was to do here so I was contemplating doing the same weight or just a smidge more. It would seem that I had a better understanding of the movement or was maybe not so beat from other stuff by this point as I kept needing to add weight each set (a few lbs) to have things be the right effort. Even that last set felt easier than what I did last week. I wasn’t truly resting between sides so I imagine these could improve a bit more. I was kind of moving things along as it was still pretty hot (but not so much I had to change shirts) and because I had to get up earlier to go into the office the next day. Last thing being triceps. Just band pressdowns with idea being 2x20-30. I wasn’t sure what I would do here as far as band tension as it has been a bit here as well. I tested the strong band and it felt like it would work. I did the first set with my hands positioned in a neutral grip. I was a little surprised 30 reps was comfortable enough. I decided I’d switch up to pronated grip (definitely harder) for the second set. Took a bit more effort to get 30 reps but I did. It has been a bit since I’ve done them as triceps were lighting up from them. But not so much they were spasming afterwards like I sometimes have happen when I push triceps things and they can’t keep up with the effort/volume. Put stuff away and got delivery for dinner as it was too damn hot to cook anything inside and I wanted to eat now, not later. Stretched before going to bed.

June 21, 2025 – Week 4, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle High Pulls from Blocks (9”)
113x2
157x2
201.5x2
245.5x2
289.5x4
295x4
300.5x4
306x4

Yoke/Power Stairs (17”)
235x25’/25’ -- 214x2
325x25’/25’ -- 259x2
415x25’/25’ -- 304x2
505x25’/25’ -- 349x2
EOMOM
Y – 600x25’/25’
P – 394x2
Y – 600x25’/25’
P – 394x2
Y – 600x25’/25’
P – 394x2
Y – 600x25’/25’
P – 394x2
Y – 600x25’/25’
P – 394x2

Seated Leg Curls (2-0-2-0 tempo)/Monster Mondo Deadlift Start Leg Presses
110x5/440x10
155x5/660x6
220x13/880x15
220x7/880x8
220x7/880x8

Wide MAG Grip Cable Rows
140x5
180x5
220x15
220x15

Stretching

Comments: Last session of this current higher volume block of training. I kind of knew that some parts of the session today would be rougher than others since I pretty much have to get everything back to the M-W-S schedule of training after the competition at the gym the previous week. So not as much rest from the last lower body training session. Hopefully this will be the last time between now and the competition with needing to make those kinds of changes (not counting the week of for family vacation as that may actually work out). I think I’ve got the plan in place for training the rest of prep with the different phases of things. Biggest change being upper body session as going back to alternating overhead with lower body drive and benching sessions. I didn’t really feel a rush to go out to train today so I did sleep in an hour to make sure I was feeling rested. A good bit of traffic getting out of the city but after that no real issues. Again, not many people at the gym today. It felt really hot out today (and it will be hotter the next two days at least). I had brought about 300lbs of sand to get some bags and such ready for the next part of prep but I wasn’t sure if I was going to spend time doing that today. I knew I’d need more foam rolling for the lower body since I wasn’t getting as much rest between sessions and weights had been heavier. Neck rehab continues to be good. Simplified mobility stuff. No issues with hips or adductors warming up. Starting things off with the axle high pulls. Knurled axle again. Plan was to do 4x4 with 5kgs more than last time as progress has been good. Especially with having the knurling helping with keepings things from slipping. I was kind of surprised how well things were feeling as I was definitely expecting some lower back soreness here. I did make a change from my plan here in that I’ve been sticking to the same weight each set on these once up to working weight. But with adjusting things for the next block, I’m not going a two week phase of another axle clean variation and going into the full motion. So I figured if I was feeling good, I’d take a little more rest (only because how long it takes to adjust weight, the blocks and secure things) and go up 2.5kgs a set. I wasn’t too sure what that would be as I was doing these but my hope was that I’d be doing over 300lbs for the last set. Trying to set things up where I’m touching around that weight on the things that are to be “overload” for parts of the lift for axle. I know it isn’t where I want it to be right now and I do wish I had more time to figure out what actually works for me. These went ok. I did end up having to put liquid chalk on my hands for the last one because I was sweating too much even with the knurling. I really dislike training events during the summer months. Now on to the medley stuff. So today was yoke into power stairs. This had ended up being much more exhausting compared to the zercher carry and sandbag carry into load pairing last time. It being as tough as it was had been the major reason I considered doing EOMOM or adding some support gear to be able to recover and manage. Plan here was to do no support gear other than knee sleeves on the power stairs to protect my knees from the implement causing serious bruises. These two exercises definitely let me know that my lower back was fatigued from deadlifts and goodmornings on Thursday. Same distance plan with 25’ down and back with weight (so getting two picks) for yoke but dropping the reps from 3 to 2 on the power stairs. The runs for yoke are half the distance I’m to be doing for show and the power stairs are quite heavy and don’t need to be killing myself with volume there as I still got deadlifts during the week. I was thinking I should go up the steps each time here (as longer rest period I could reset) but I figured it was best to make myself deload each rep during this volume phase and save going up steps for the next phase when doing just one top set. The picks for yoke felt heavy on my knees and I felt a little stiff and slow. However, unlike last time, I actually got better each set up to the 3rd run and then it dipped only a little after that. Which is generally how I seem to be with multiple sets. The power stairs were quite rough in comparison. First set was ok but the second set felt like a disaster with how tough it was to get the reps. My knee sleeves weren’t really helping much with protecting my knees as they were getting bastarded with the plates. But my third set with them felt the best. I didn’t have any doubts about finishing up the yoke runs (though my knees were feeling it with the power stairs) and it was more the power stairs with sweat and fatigue. I had tried to cut down on sweat by taping my wrists and using combo of isopropyl alcohol spray, liquid chalk and chalk but to no real avail. Exhausting but I have remind myself that this was all without any belts on either things. I was quite overheated here but I didn’t need to lie down in front of a fan like last time so I guess that is something. Hair drenched with sweat. But it was hot and sunny enough that leaving stuff outside was drying them out. Supersetting tempo seated leg curls with deadlift start leg presses. Last of these for a bit I guess. I got to cut back so I can do more event specific stuff and let stuff recover. With the leg curls, doing tempo stuff and plan was same weight as last week and try to get an extra rep on the first set and then do about half those reps on the other two sets. For leg press, this was to go for a top set of 15 reps and then 2x8 with same weight. What it has been the past few weeks really. This is one of those exercises where it takes a bit to figure out where I’m at and what I can do. As well as taking time to get things adjusted. Besides that very first week, I’ve felt like I’ve been under weight on these by a good bit, despite making some pretty big jumps. 90lbs the first time, then 50lbs the second time and I was considering 80lbs for this time. Leg curls were fine working up but my knees were about killing me at the start. I know it was from the power stairs as they had been fine doing the high pulls and the previous lower body session. Just being whacked about was not helping things. They were still aching on the second work up set but I could tell that things were fine with how the legs were feeling so I stuck to my plan to load up 880lbs. The leg curls were fine and then it was time to leg press 400kgs for a little more than a baker’s dozen. This felt really heavy to unrack but then I did the reps and again felt like I left stuff on the table here. But I feel like I was a lot closer to what I should be getting. So maybe 20lbs for sure left. Then the last thing that was actually part of the workout was the seated cable rows. Heavier session of pushing it on 2x15 for the sets. Still supposed to leave 3-5RIR even with pushing it. I already had my mind set on a 20lbs increase here. There is still some tension in the left arm as far as brachialis and forearm but It is manageable. The first set was feeling a little challenging so I was surprised the second set felt easier. I slammed a shake after this but I wasn’t quite done for the day as I figured I’d try and get the sandbag situation taken care of. This ended up taking over an hour. Adjusted the throw bags so now I have 30-60lbs in 5lbs increments (and found all my 5lbs bags that people inconsiderately left inside bags). The thing that was the time vampire was the sandball implement as I had paver’s sand that wasn’t moving smoothly. I had gotten the biggest size sandball as I wanted something awkward and needed to fill it up so it was underweight and not 308lbs or more. I think I got it where I want it at 278lbs (show is 286lbs). I went home to stretch rather than stay any longer as I was sure I was sweating way too much out.