Vacation Training & July 19, 2025 – Week 8, Day 3

 July 12, 2025 – Week 7, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Gripper Closes
HG100x10/10
HG150x1/1
HG200x5/5

Gripper Negatives (5 seconds)
HG200x6/6

Gripper Closes
HG150x20/20

Band Hand Expanders (10ct hold last rep)
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50

July 14, 2025 – Week 8, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Gripper Closes
HG100x10/10
HG150x5/5
HG200x10/10
HG200x15 (right)
HG150x15 (left)
HG200x1/1 (10 seconds hold)

Bullet Hold
HG200x7/4 seconds
HG200x13/5 seconds

Band Hand Expanders (10ct hold last rep)
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50

July 16, 2025 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Gripper Closes
HG100x10/10
HG150x5/5
HG200x1/1

Bullet Hold
HG200x7 seconds (left)
HG200x21 seconds (right)
HG200x18 seconds (left)

Gripper Negatives (5 seconds)
HG200x13/13

Gripper Closes (1.5 reps)
HG150x21/21

Band Hand Expanders (10ct hold last rep)
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50

Comments: I had not really planned to do anything structured while on vacation. With the events and planning setup for World’s as well as my own stress with changing things up, it didn’t make sense and likely would be detrimental rather than beneficial. This did end up being for the best as I had disc bulge symptoms following my last workout at home. I had done dip stand decompression on Friday and Saturday and it had not felt like Friday had been the thing to knock stuff into place but Saturday did. However, it still persisted and I was worried I’d be suffering with it for a week until I could get back home to do stuff to help things feel better. I had only brought stuff to do my neck rehab and grip work. I was also thinking on things from how I was feeling mentally before taking the vacation. Saturday I was the pack mule with unloading vehicles and moving stuff into the residence with some stuff going to the second floor. I felt like that was enough to have me feeling like I was working out so I did a session that day rather than waiting until “day 1” on Monday. That first session was just neck rehab stuff and some lower body stretching before moving on to the grip work. Trying things out with the time I have to test things with frequency for grip work. At least that is my understanding with training grippers. My left wrist was still a bit sore from the previous Saturday training. I had brought with me 100/150/200 grippers and the lowest band tension for band hand expanders. I had assumed these would be more than enough with how my first session with these had gone. I was genuinely surprised I was able to get consistent reps with the 200lbs when that had been chancy when I first got it. I was even able to do negatives with this level gripper. Dropped down to my 150 for a set of 20. The bands I was not expecting to be good. I did do them last time as a superset but I think these work better as separate. I had struggled with sets of 20 reps and here I was having no issues and doing sets of 50 reps with holds. Well damn, maybe I should’ve brought more bands. Well I guess the plan will be to bump up the volume each session on these. My plan for the off days had been to do beach walks (about 2 miles) and swim but that ended doing that almost every day I as there. Second session I added in more things. I did McKenzie back exercises as well as some things for my calves and ankles. I have terrible balance with my eyes closed so doing 60 seconds of work balancing on one foot has been something to keep things interesting. For grippers, I figured I’d see if I could push them a bit today and see what I could actually do on the 200lbs. Left wrist still bothering me so that did hamper me on what I could do with the left hand as these do stress those structures with the crush. Double the reps testing with both hands. It was feeling so darn easy in my right hand that I did a set of 15 reps here. I knew my left wouldn’t be able to keep up with that today so matched the reps with the 150lbs for there. Did a 10 seconds crush and hold with the 200lbs after that. Which gave me an idea. I didn’t want to do the negatives today (as my understanding are these are stressful to recover from) but I wanted to work on grip in both crush and supporting for these rolling handles on the Hercules hold. There is a grip event with a gripper with holding a “bullet” nub with weight attached and squeezing until the “bullet” slips through. So figured I’d give it a shot. Tougher than I was expecting but good in that similar to how I was doing with the rolling hangs with weight added. Finished up with the bands again but another set of 50 reps. Wednesday to be the last day I do any training as potentially working out when I get back on Saturday depending on how things are. Similar warming up to Monday but no McKenzie stuff as seems back has recovered at this point. Some joint issues with sleeping in strange beds as my right knee is acting up slightly. Hoping that sleeping in my own bed a night or two will resolve that in a few days. I did just a little working up with the grippers as my plan here was to do more stuff with negatives and those bullet holds. Not doing a whole bunch of closes obviously meant I could do better time wise here on the holds. Still not warmed up I guess as I only got 7 seconds on the left (which was still better than last time but not much) and then getting 18 seconds on the second try. Over 20 seconds on the right side. Figured that wasn’t enough work and did baker’s dozen of the negatives. I just kept going. I could’ve stopped when I did more than 6 each side honestly but just felt like I was on to something. Went down to 150lbs as I figured I should do some more reps and did 1.5 reps here. Not sure why but wanted to try something. And then finished up with more band expand stuff, adding another set of 50 reps to that. I’m happy that my knuckles weren’t aching like they were the first time I used them. This has seemed like a good use of my down time and I do wonder if it will show as being a positive towards the grip on the rolling handles. This also showed me that my possible plan of doing May show and then being ready for a high level July show coming right from vacation was not a good idea or workable really.
July 19, 2025 – Week 8, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Zercher Yoke/Sandbag Carry & Loads (49”, with run backs)
160x50’/50’
250x25’/112x25’/250x25’/112x25’
340x25’/175x25’/340x25’/175x25’
430x50’/225x50’
530x50’/265x50’
530x50’/265x50’

Power Stairs (17”, Tap One Step) 
194x2
239x2
284x2
329x2
374x2
374x2
374x2
374x2
374x2

Sandbag Tosses (13’8”)
30x1
35x1
40x1
45x1
50x1
55x0
55x0
55x0
30x1/35x1/40x1/45x0/50x0
45x1/50x0
30x1/35x0
30x1/35x1/40x1/45x1/50x1

Rolling D-Handle Hangs (2” handles)
bw for 36.70 seconds
bw for 29.97 seconds

Backwards Sled Drags (turf)
445x75’
445x75’

Stretching

Comments: I was undecided about what I was going to be doing here. I did survive the vacation (despite getting in a car accident on the way home) and it felt good to be home. But felt like I had a little bit of a allergies or a cold when I was finally back. My options were to train today or Sunday. If Sunday, I could go at normal time but that’d mean I’d have one less day of rest for the coming week and not have a day to decompress really before going back to work (undoubtably a shitshow). Saturday training though would mean adjusting things like event order and time since the gym was closed until 5PM due to a competition. So to not be training until midnight, I’d need to do some stuff at home as best I could and then go to train. Having more rest before work and knowing that the time zone differences will be having me competing at odd times as well as knowing event order will be different then what works best for me that I went with training today. It was more to do with if I felt like my allergies/cold was manageable as it took several hours before any of the meds felt like they did anything. So even for this, I was running about 1hr behind what I’d have preferred was the case. I also had to figure out what I needed to be eating to sustain myself and not get an upset stomach or pass out. The humidity today was just plain disgusting. Over the course of the workout, I went through three shirts, two body towels and two hand towels with sweat. Like a hagfish but sweat instead of mucus. I was genuinely wondering if I was the sweatiest person on the planet. But before that, I had to warm up. Lower body needed a lot of foam rolling. That was not surprising considering the beach walking and not doing any soft tissue work for a week. Upper body seemed to be ok. Neck rehab stuff was fine and did mobility stuff. Right knee not really a fan of what I was doing (another reason considering waiting a day). Since at home, I pretty much had to start things off with the most brutal event of the competition prep with the zercher yoke and sandbag. Out in street. Plan had been to go up 50lbs on the zercher from last time but drop the sandbag weight down 25lbs. That would be if I was at the gym. But at home, need to adjust. Also adjusting because I’m not finishing this event though maybe now that the course is 10m instead of 15m (didn’t see that update until the Sunday morning) there is some chance. But it felt like trying to do contest at the gym was just going to be too taxing with everything else. So aim for like 30lbs increases and keep bag about what it is give or take 25-30lbs. My setup at home takes a bit as needing to put the yoke together and then measuring out the course. Uphill and downhill as well. I have limited bags at home so bigger jumps here too. I did learn from last time I did this that it was probably better to do half course and multiple repicks warming up vs just doing one run with each for full course distance. Right knee was a little anxious with things. I was feeling quite drained just setting things up and I was wondering how I was going to be able to do this thing. I didn’t do real sprints here with the run back working up mostly because of the knee but also with my air and the humidity. Trying to not rush and freak out. Bigger jumps in sandbag weight might be the way to go here honestly. My plan was to try and get it all done as one thing but knew that my other option was to take a breather and repeat it. After finally working up the gumption to do it, I started the terrible medley. I was moving slow on the zercher portion but I wasn’t blacking out so that was a win. A little gingerly moving to the sandbag as I remembered how much it sucked picking up and thankfully it was much easier with this sandbag. I was breathing heavy and I couldn’t immediately go into the next one. I knew I couldn’t go right away and finish without dropping a lot and making things painful (more so than already was). I got back to it and I knew it was less time than the last session (over a minute less time to recover). I was a lot slower on the zercher this time around but I seemed to move a bit better with the sandbag comparatively. Still taking over 40 seconds to complete a run here (total time about 2.5 minutes lol). But maybe with it being 5m shorter that will do something. My grip was absolutely soaked. Like I had gone swimming. I had meant to wear it for the next thing just for continuity but said screw that and put on a fresh one once I was warmed up. So originally this would’ve been when I went to the gym to finish up this session. But I wanted to hit some more power stair stuff. I was struggling terribly last time and I feel like I had my form off. This was a rare opportunity where because of the break, I had a decent amount of rest on my lower back to put in an extra session if warranted. So I have enough plates at home and a setup for power stair lifting to one step. So plan was to work up to a decent weight and then do “taps” for 5x2 and short rests. Not fully load the implement but to just get used to the pick up and swing of the implement. Not standing upright with it and missing getting out front and using body to load it. My setup was a little sketchy but I didn’t want to move plates to the patio and load there on the rubber and still potentially adjust the height. I probably could’ve done less weight here and just used the bumper plates to make ti a taller stack. I hadn’t wanted to this at the Lancaster gym as it was going to be a hassle to move plates to have the thinner 100lbers. I was initially thinking I bit off more than I could chew (and I seem to do that more often then not as I get older and keep doing this) but this ended up working out fine enough. Finished the load on the last rep. Ugh, my knees were not enjoying the contact bruises through the knee sleeves. I had been putting stuff away from the previous event while warming up for this event but there was still a bit to put away before being able to head out to Lancaster to finish up training. I ate a sandwich while I did that and got in the car. Drive out was fine. Not a lot of traffic at this time on a Saturday. I wasn’t exactly alone when I showed up at the gym. Could not escape the humidity. Took a bit to get things setup for bag toss. I accidentally had the setup 2” higher than last time. I didn’t want to mistakenly have it too low. I wasn’t really feeling like I had the time to slow down and make sure on stuff with how late it was going to be and how much I was just sweating. If this was the session I was hoping for, I’d have worked up to 60lbs for a single and then do a 5 bag series ending at 55lbs. Both would be PRs for me. And this didn’t end up being that day. I couldn’t get 55lbs today as it was rejected three times and I called it there. So obviously not going to try it in a series. So moved everything down 5lbs. I was definitely tired but I did feel like I was making at least some effort to try and get the hip hing to load. First time I got the first three bags but threw the 45lbs too low and it went through and not over. I just moved on to the 50lbs and tried to get that didn’t happen. I then fetched the 45lbs bag and the 50lbs and set them up again to try and get those. Got the 45lbs but not the 50lbs. But it felt like this was doable. I’ve tried a similar series before and I missed the 50lbs twice as just gassed and couldn’t get it over 12’6” toss height (thought it was higher). Setup everything again and went at it but I was apparently too lazy in my approach as I absolutely whiffed the 35lbs bag. I reset them and told myself to get serious here. First two bags cleared it easy with the 40lbs nicking the top as it went over. Gave me an audio cue to move closer for the 45lbs bag. Did a two swing and go it over. 50lbs I didn’t try walking backwards with it as that had thrown me off and drained me a bit. Took my time and got it over. I felt that was under 45 seconds and it was. So that was a highlight. Would’ve been nice to get that at the start. The rolling handles were next. I didn’t bother putting away things at this point as trying to move along so I can get work done, down a shake and then put stuff away as I’m digesting it so I can hopefully be able to eat a bigger meal when I finally got home. I knew from last time that these are damn tough. The original plan before I knew how rough these new handles were was to do 75-90 seconds of work over two sets. I was potentially looking at another option here with my bodyweight proving to be so challenging that I couldn’t get over 20 seconds even with rest. But my hope here was just going right into it and making sure my hands were dry as possible and hope that what I’ve learned from the last time and what I’ve been doing the past week on the grippers will return dividends. Initially, I was worried this would be the same result but I was able to keep holding on a crush it longer. I had counted to 40 in my head but ended up a bit shy of that. But still, over 35 seconds. Nearly double my best time. I took a good bit of rest before I did the second set. These feel like they take a lot longer to recover from then just thinner gripped things. And this wasn’t something where I could use less weight on the setup. It ended up being like 6 minutes of rest here to feel like I was ready (I did get to see a stray cat while pacing). Counted to 35 in my head but just shy of 30 seconds. Shy of 75 seconds total but darn close so happy with that improvement here. I do need to think how I want to implement the grippers for the last workouts this prep (and how I want to keep them in going forward). Last thing was some more leg work. Backwards sled drag. I was debating doing these considering I did the power stairs and how drained I was from all the sweating. But this would be the last week I’d do them considering near the end of the training cycle. I had indicated 435lbs to do here for 2x75’ but I think I thought I had just copied and pasted what I did last time so I added 10lbs, not realizing it was 30lbs more than last time. This was actually not too bad considering things. 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 kind of a repeat of last time. Downed the shake and put stuff away before finally getting home. Ordered delivery so that I could eat when I got home. Ate and stretched before finally cooling down.

July 10, 2025 – Week 7, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
136x5
226x3
316x2
366x1
406x1
456x1
496x3
496x3
496x3
466x5

Axle Jerk Dip Squats (3 second eccentric)
166x3
206x3
256x3
296x3
346x3 (15 seconds hold last rep)

Contralateral Load Single Leg Stepdowns (21”, foot to rear)
bwx3/3
bwx3/3
bw+30x10/10
bw+30x10/10

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (1 second)/Roman Chair Sit-ups
75x12/bwx15
75x12/bwx15

Stretching

Comments:  Something had definitely been off as I was feeling at the beginning of the week. Tuesday I was feeling tired and joints were achy. Even my knees and back while going for a walk. But that did make things feel better. But I was dreading doing my second workout for the week. I woke up Wednesday feeling like I needed to take a nap. I told myself if I wasn’t feeling “perky” by noon that I was going to just take the day off. No walking or training. Just eat and work and go to bed early. I was stressing about things and thinking that I just can’t cut mustard with what I’m doing. Considering hiring a coach or something but actually thinking on it wasn’t making too much sense with costs and timing and such. It would add stress. But like with most things when I feel overwhelmed, taking a break helps. And apparently going to bed about 2hrs early was what I needed as while I didn’t feel 100% refreshed, my shoulders weren’t feeling like dogshit and I wasn’t feeling like perpetually needed a nap. This is also me realizing how much stress I’m putting on myself and dealing with plans. I mean, every year I say I’m not going to do intense contest prep in the summer but keeps needing to happen with competitions. I could afford the extra day of rest since not doing any training until I get back from the vacation. Soft tissue work was needed for certain. Neck rehab as well. I added some things to the movement prep and not sure if they will stay. Kind of pulled from videos and reading about stuff to hopefully have me be more primed to train certain things. I don’t think I realized until today just how bruised my hamstrings were from the power stairs on Saturday with those efforts with trying to get the reps when I missed and it got stuck on my inner thighs. Axle deadlifts again. The heavy week. Still using the unnecessarily big wheels for right now. Won’t make as much sense when doing the next phase for the “lighter” sessions. But still works for the heavier days. Plan was to work up to 85% for a set of 3x3 and then drop down to 80% for 5 reps. So quite a big increase in the effort from two week’s prior. I mean, my down set is my top set from last time. Rest up to 5 minutes if needed. I started out with plates jumps before moving to 40-50lbs jumps. I was essentially going to be doing 225kgs here for multiple sets. I’ve not pulled near this kind of weight since March 1st. That had been a top set and I had felt so disappointed and worn out from that set I didn’t do the rest of the workout for what was the testing day. I should be able to do this. Working up was fine. I don’t feel like I had as much of an issue with the weights each jump feeling different. I did notice that 366lbs didn’t feel as easy as it did last week but that was with me wearing a hard belt and not still working up. 456lbs was my last single and it did feel like it moved well enough but still uncertain. I chalked up my belt strap and my straps and hands and got set. First set was a little rough. I got the reps but it wasn’t something where I felt like I had much left. But sometimes I get better as I go with these kinds of things. Second set the first and second reps went up great and only the third rep did I feel like it was tough. Ok, I should get this last one no problem. This was also similar to the second set. Strong first two reps and then tougher third rep. I wasn’t feeling particularly confident with the down set as these previous sets were quite tough effort wise and going to do my previous top set for 5 after that and seeing how that felt was a little daunting. First three reps moved easy and I was thinking ok, this is fine. Then got a little slow with locking out the fourth rep. I took a slight breather to rebrace for the last rep here. So this was tougher to do than last time. But like I said, that was fresh(ish) and this was after 9 reps above that weight. Compared to the last time I ran this kind of prep with a projected max, I feel like this is harder with what I’ve assumed I can do. I may adjust things for how I do the last two heavy sessions here with it being double and then single rather than triple and double (leaving 1RIR for each). Survived this and back to essentially doing 500lbs for reps again. Feeling like I’m getting more comfortable with pulls again from the floor and that I’m recovering a bit better with having light and heavy rotation. Moved outside for more axle fun in the form of axle jerk drive squats. I was initially thinking of doing these as just last time and this time and then nothing after that. But I’m thinking it might behoove me to keep these in and just change up the protocol if doing them to help with overhead on the axle. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to not getting 300kgs on the axle in 6 weeks so maybe I work to getting other things that I have a chance to get points at while still working on improving deadlift. Aim was to do 20lbs more than last time with the triples with 3ct eccentrics working up over 5 sets. 40-50lbs jumps. These have definitely been having me feel more comfortable with the axle in the front rack position and having it feel more like I have a powerful stance to launch the weight from. Jerk for the weight feels more like a valid option but will have to see when it comes time to do the next clean and press session. Especially if my shoulders make recovery that long to happen. There is certainly pressure when it comes to getting my air on these but I know that I should be good here since I’ve essentially done 70lbs more on these earlier in the year when testing these out. Did the same as last time with 15 seconds hold on the last rep and then walking it in. I’m thinking I will change up the method and work on doing these as concentric only the next 1-2 sessions. Next was back into the garage. I was initially looking at doing the walking lunges again but something told me to stick to the stepdowns. Do the higher setup and less weight for 2x10 like I was planning last week. Work same but different. I was going to do 25lbs here but figured I might as well go up a little bit in weight if plan is to keep doing these the rest of the cycle. Just not big jumps. Bodyweight only for a few reps to get the feeling down as those extra 3” really change up the movement and stress. These were tougher with that but not so much weight wise. I did like only doing two sets though haha. The last thing was pairing of the paused snatch grip back extensions and roman chair situps. Lighter week for the extensions (more reps, shorter pauses). As previously mentioned, idea to kind of deload spine from heavy deadlifts this way and work on core in a way that is conducive to extension exercises. Both things went better than expected as I was able to add reps to both and not feel like I was overdoing it. Put stuff away as I got dinner ready and then stretched. I’m not entirely sure what the plan will be when I get back as far as doing Day 3 as I may stick to Saturday but change the event order (do stuff at home and then go to gym) since rather not start my training day for this after 5PM or move it to Sunday as I do have a little more freedom with days than I thought I would (in office monthly meeting moved back a week).

July 7, 2025 – Week 7, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Close Grip Bench Presses
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5

Narrow Grip Bench Presses
247x5
 
Inverted Ring Rows
bwx3
bw+35x12
bw+35x12
bw+35x12
bw+35x17

Chaos Band Bradford Presses w/ Chains
47+50cx11
47+50cx11

Powell Raises
12x3/3
22x10/10 
22x10/10
22x10/10

Band Triceps Pushdowns
sb+(2)µbx30
sb+(2)µbx25

Stretching
 
Comments: I think I tend to forget that I get stressed out the week of something that I want to do and that getting ready for a beach trip should probably in the future be treated the same way as I would deload for a competition. I preface this with how I was feeling coming into this workout as well as after. 2021 was when I started going on the family beach trip as an adult rather than being forced to as a child. That had worked out as I competed and then went right to the beach to relax. Granted, I had a disc issue from training the week prior to competition and was only able to get it calm down once I got home and did some decompression on my dip stand. I made myself sick with stress in 2022 and missed the beach trip with trying to train through it for competitions in the summer to qualify for Nationals. I had trained through it but not like real intense workouts in 2023. 2024 I did nothing at all but I had been stressing about trying to qualify during the summer again. And here I am again with that dilemma. I had intended to do off season training so not having summer stress on top of deal with the temperature but I got that invite to World’s and I don’t know how many times I can get that again as I get older so doing this again. I thought I was being smart about it with training and planning the off time. But I guess I didn’t plan on the stress from losing more people at work and just the general insanity that is the current time I live in as well. I don’t do well with uncertainty. Saturday training didn’t really hit me until later Sunday and Monday I was feeling beat up in my upper body. Specifically my shoulders and upper back. I guess I needed to work in the sandbag stuff more gradually as the clean pull tosses really stressed my rotator cuffs. I was also feeling a bit annoyed with how some of the things went Saturday. Not as close as I thought I was. But this could also be from being tired and stressed. Really surprised I was 3lbs heavier than last week. Started things off with 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. Garage training day. Bench press session. I was hoping that my shoulders weren’t going to be an issue here. As ideally, I’d feel better with more sessions getting familiar with bench again. Shoulders were achy but not in a way that had me stopping if that makes sense. So same as last time in that work up in sets of 5 reps to a top set of 5 reps. Aim for more than last time but not so much more that this was a maximum effort. Saving something for when I do this workout again for a closer to actual 5rm. I should mention that my left wrist was still very annoyed with me from Saturday and I had been wearing my wrist brace on Sunday and Monday when I wasn’t doing something that would get me sweaty or when I was cleaning stuff or sleeping. I’ve had this before and know it heals up pretty well. But that I’d have to crank the wrist wraps hard and potentially sooner than usual with things like pressing. I really do seem to be having issues with my benching setup in having things feel right. I made bigger jumps this time around so that I could end up doing 265lbs or 275lbs with the 40-50lbs jumps (quarter-plate-quarter). I probably should’ve gone with 265lbs but I was already annoyed with how things were feeling and that 255lbs had felt as difficult as it did last time. 275lbs was not convincing in how it went. I seem to not keep my grip the same from warm ups to these top sets and I’m not sure why. First two reps felt powerful and then I had to kind of take a moment to focus after the third rep. I kept hitting the rack on the last two reps which made them a good bit tougher to lockout. Have to see how next time goes but I’m likely not adding much more here if this was any indication. Next was to drop 10% off that top set and do another set but bring my hands in closer by 2”. First rep was a little rough and then I kind of got things figured out after that. But also hit the rack on the last rep locking out. But it wasn’t as egregious and impeding. Well the benching was done and it hadn’t been that good. Hopefully the rest of the session would go smoother and not be as rough on the shoulders. This lead to inverted ring rows. Same as last time with the plan being 4x12 with option to rep out that last set if feeling good (leaving 1-2RIR). Shoulders were feeling a little achy but these were kind of in a way having stuff feeling a little better doing them. I went for 15lbs more than last time. These felt pretty good and moving smoothly. I did end up doing more reps on the last set compared to last time. I kind of expected that as these tend to get better as I do them. Moved on to more shoulder stuff. 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. I had issues with counting my reps last time where I thought I did the same both sets. The fatigue was noticeable from the first to second set. The plan was 2 sets of 10-15 with it being RPE 6. Noticed I also seemed to move faster the second set likely because of the fatigue and worrying I will miss the rep. I decided to add a little more weight to the setup from last time. I’m glad these feel fine and don’t have anything feeling weird. I thought I did 12 both sets but only ended up being 11. But hey, at least same reps both sets. This was also noticeably tougher with the 8lbs extra added with these kind of reps. Powell raises were up next. 3x10 this time around and lower intensity. I figured with how good things had been last time that I was adding weight each set, that 1lbs more than last time for my top set of 12 reps would be fine here. I did a warm up set as I figured this would be something that would be straining my shoulders since these feel similar to the motion of releasing a bag at the top. And I was right. I did feel like these were better as I went. Last thing being triceps. Just band pressdowns with idea being 2x20-30. I had done two different grips last time but didn’t really like how the pronated grip had felt so figured I’d stick to the close neutral grip here. Added some band tension since I got 2x30 last time. I thought it would be another 2x30 but I guess not. Fatigue hits hard on my triceps. Why trying to add some things beside big movement stuff with the isolation kind of things. My shoulders were kind of on fire from this workout. I was already contemplating moving my second training session out a day at this point to allow for recovery. Made dinner and stretched out before bed.

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.