Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds) 22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20 22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20
Stretching
Comments: Weekend was a little off with recovering from the travel and heavy lifting and then getting sleep schedule. Weight has remained consist. I’m not sure if the AC spoiled me or what but I’m not looking forward to training with the heat wave this week. Possible 3 days of 100 degrees or more in a row coming up. I guess luckily only going to be high 80’s and low 90’s beginning of the week. My new shoes arrived so got to try those out. Noticed a difference immediately. Wearing two cooper infused sleeves on my right arm did manage to provide enough padding I didn’t get new bruising this week. I had not intended to stay up late Sunday to send stuff to my coach about the training for this second half of World’s prep but that was when I finally got something out on paper to send. Ms. Funk had indicated feeling not well but would review and I was given just Day 1 of sessions, which was all I needed. I’m not sure if she implemented what I had been thinking or suggesting here or if just on the same wavelength but looked like how I was kind of hoping the session would be for the lighter day. As far as warming up, I didn’t need a ton of foam rolling today. Nothing really was needing a ton I noticed. It was the regular amount (which I fear is still a lot for some stuff). Neck rehab stuff was ok and felt about how it should. I could tell there was some neck tension and that the training had been rough last week. Glute activation and lower body stretches followed by a dead hang to decompress. I had not squandered the work time as much as I did last week so I was almost on a reasonable pace of things here. On to the actual session. So a change here being the two lighter exercises at the beginning of things were dropped. Maybe for recovery purposes? So right into log. Lighter of the sessions. I had mentioned that I felt like last week I was finally figuring out some things with log as far as position and equipment and that I’d hopefully get used to it. Cleans less taxing without elbow sleeves, the lifting shoes making the balance better and improving my mobility on the lap. The shorts, sleeves and belt did make the pick a little odd feeling with the stiffness/rigidity of material. The biggest thing was that the thicker knee sleeves providing more support that I have less knee discomfort so I can load the dip better. It feels like I’ve not been able to do that so this feels like something I need to get ironed out. So my thinking was perhaps doing this precision based day having pauses like I was doing with circus bell. As I mentioned, either suggested was noted or this was a convergence of thought in both athlete and coach reaching the same conclusion because these were paused style today. Specifically with in the dip and holding at lockout. Suggested weight was 185-200lbs here for 5x3 and only one clean to hopefully save my lower back for the Day 2 session. I felt that 200lbs had to be the goal with how I was warming up with log at this time. Cleans felt good and it was more getting the timing right and being consistent. Heat wasn’t fun but this is the most tolerable it is going to be this week. I had a little liquid chalk on my hands to make it through the sets. Slightly longer rests mainly due to taking off stuff to breath between sets and not be immobile and cutting off blood flow. Trying to work on getting different cues down like keep shoulders tight and not having it float but active. I feel like the reps are best when timing is right and I get that little hip snap. I feel like the last set was the best with my last rep feeling the best of them. So this was a good start I guess. Hopefully I can keep building on the log sessions here. The javelin thrusters were next. Change in that weight range adjusted (90-100lbs) and doing 4x5 instead of the triples I’d been doing. Since idea is be explosive and not be sloppy here, I took actual rests between the sides rather than short rests and then normal rest between sets. Left side takes longer to wake up for these vs right side. I could tell I was feeling those globe dumbbells on this. Adding reps per set is tricky. Left side eventually warmed up and things went as they should. Moving decently through things and hopefully getting done to eat and cool off. Overhead stuff done and next being the pairing of banded log floor pressing and medicine ball slams like last week. 240lbs on the log and the 10lbs medicine ball I have. 5 sets of this time for the floor pressing, still 4 sets for the slam ball stuff. Floor pressing warming up didn’t feel as rough. It actually felt more consistent as far as sensation with unracking but I could tell I was feeling fatigue as I went. I think I was feeling good compared to last week with my pace of things as I was feeling a little tired even with the medicine ball slams. Unlike when I had uneven pairing of sets doing those rows and lunges, I treated myself to a full rest before doing the last set of floor press to make sure I wasn’t stapled under it. It felt good but misgrooved last rep a little and had to air hump it the last bit for lockout. Not mad about it, this is more volume on stuff and it isn’t the main thing. Last thing again being the rear delt dumbbell raises and banded triceps with holds at lockout. Same weights and sets and reps as last week. I figured it was best to be in the garage to finish up even though it was cooling off a little outside. As with last week, first set was comfortable enough but fatigue was hits hard on the second set. I put away stuff outside before finishing up the second set. Cleaned up and finally got to eating before cooling off and cleaning up and then stretching. Even though I got done earlier, I still ended up with a late night.
Yoke (drop and turn halfway)/Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only) 255x40’ – 70x4 345x20’/20’ – 100x2 435x20’/20’ – 137x1 525x40’ – 160x0,0,0 160x1 615x40’/40’ – 137x1/160x0,1 in 94.80 seconds 615x40’/40’ – 137x1/160x1 (ugly) in 48.94 seconds 615x40’/40’ – 137x1/160x1 in 48.80 seconds
Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (53”) 200x26’/220x19’/250x13’/250x6’6” in 41.53 seconds 200x26’/220x19’/250x13’/250x6’6” in 40.96 seconds
Sled Push, Sprint and Pulls (turf) 306x30’/30’+30’/526x30’ in 42.53 seconds 306x30’/30’+30’/526x30’ in 39.50 seconds
Stretching
Comments: Sometimes you train for competitions with unique equipment and events and majority of that time, you just train with what you got. Other times though I’ve decided that my obsession to not leave any stone unturned will result in seeking out someplace that has that stuff. That was more so the case when there wasn’t a somewhat local training gym and options were commercial gym and stuff I had acquired or going to someone’s house or storage unit. That had been when I was still of the belief I’d be a pro heavy weight strongman with just the right events I think and when I assumed I needed to have the exact thing. The last time I went out of my way was about 8yrs ago and that was a 2hrs drive each way and I had my father with me for that one. There is always a risk with that kind of travel in that if the drive takes it out of you or not recovered and you end up having a poor session and now you are hours away from home and got to drive with your thoughts. With World’s, the only thing I don’t really have the best to replicate is the unique style of dumbbell for the one event. It has been almost 16yrs since I last attempted to press one of these dense globe style dumbbells and it had left enough of an impression on me that I figured if there was the opportunity to touch them at least once before going overseas that I should take it assuming that I could do the rest of the planned trainings as close to the letter as I could to make it worth it. Well this week’s session kind of fit the bill. Not ideal though as I’ve had to kind of move and squish some days in and not get as much rest/recovery as I’d like. The drive wasn’t going to be the longest but it was going to be about 3hrs out of the day coming and going travel and I’ve not been up in the northern part of the state on my own. Rainy all day. I meant to get up an hour earlier than I did but body kept going back into dream sleep after each hit of snooze so I just moved it to an hour later. I was already worried about being recovered for this and had not done walks this week to try get workload in order and get to bed early and ready to just eat breakfast, defecate and leave. The first half of the drive was fine and moving well as it was interstate. It was when it got to the state routes in the factory/mining towns that it got a bit squirrelly and slowed things down a good bit. I was not aware the gym I was going to was in kind of a strip mall setup. Met my friend Ty (he’d already been there for like 2hrs already) and he buzzed me and showed me the stuff and setup. I’ve not trained in a gym with AC in over 6yrs now. There is a lot of stuff at the gym I go to but there is no AC or hot water there and the flooring is uneven. I only went through one shirt this session. I was a bit tired but seemed to be wearing excitement on my face being here. I was told that Chase and Calvin would be in a good bit later due to changes in their work shifts. Ty ended up leaving before I got to my working sets on the first thing. Lower back was a little stiff. Right heel was still a little achy (I didn’t notice that I had a bruise there and until I was home and stretching) and I did have bruising on the biceps still from kegs and some forearms from log. Foam rolling was ok, nothing really felt that tense thankfully. Neck rehab stuff was ok as well. Lower body stuff was ok as well. Dead hang after that. Then on to Axle squats. The plan was to be 405lbs for 5x2. I did similar to this about 6 weeks ago. This was a something I was little nervous with after the long drive and not feeling the freshest after doing Day 2 not 48hrs earlier. I was surprised how smooth stuff was feeling. Not that it wasn’t feeling heavy mind you. The axle I had the option to work with was 90lbs empty with knurling and I had stable boxes to squat to. I didn’t have the offset touching happening this week and I think a part of that is the floor is level here. Initially the box height was about an inch low working up and I had to adjust slightly. I wasn’t feeling any wrist ache/pain on this working up (which is why I’ve been wearing the wrist wraps). Only like 6lbs under when I did this 6 weeks ago and just 7lbs or so under my top triple (which I think I could’ve done for 5 rep). I knew I’d get these done but I took my time. They never felt easy mind you. I was just thrilled that it didn’t feel like that one session where I was to do 400x4x4 and I struggled to get one rep. So squats was done and then it was on to the main reason I drove all this way; yoke into dumbbell. This gym by happenstance ended up having 3 of the inch style dumbbells; 137lbs, 160lbs and 176lbs. 176lbs is about the weight of the first dumbbell at world’s and my plan session was to be 140lbs and 160lbs on the dumbbell portion so I figured it lines up so make it a trip. Another bonus is that one of the yokes they have there is similar to the style at world’s they will be using. There is turf section in another part of the gym (which is in the open commercial area) and I figured it was best to stay in the little studio area I did squats in since that was also where this yoke was and the special dumbbells. One tricky thing though was the floor was part turf and part rubber. My understanding is the turf may end up being gone in a week or two and be all rubber by then. There was just enough room to do the yoke for 40’ running the room diagonally. Warming up was a little tricky. Unlike at the other gym, there are many circus dumbbells and usually I’ll work up to something under the working weight but that may not fly here with the dumbbells being tricky and unique. Warming up with the yoke was fine (but actual runs not so much and I’ll get to that) and standard. The dumbbells I brought a fatgripz extreme and did reps up to the heaviest normal style dumbbell. Then I did the lightest cyr dumbbell. It went up but man are they dense and awkward. The last work up set was the one that told me this wasn’t going to be a fun time. Yoke run was fine and then I figured I should probably get in a rep at the 160lbs dumbbell so it wasn’t a on the spot thing after running yoke and another dumbbell. Oof this wasn’t good. It felt light on the shoulders but just was doing that thing where it was not in the right spot and I couldn’t lock it out. I missed the sucker three times before I took a step away and rested a bit. It didn’t feel like a strength issue. It was technique issue. Came back and got it on its own solidly and moved on to setting up the full run. With that, I knew I was going to have to take a break and not rush from the yoke here. Warming up with the yoke had felt good and fine but I had felt like I couldn’t really go fast. It felt comfortable but I’m thinking the flooring with the part turf and then rubber (not stall mat rubber but like rubber mulch rubber) was making it harder to go fast. Chase showed up right as I was about to do my first run. I was nervous. I had gone a little heavier on the yoke (only 5lbs) due to plate math and it felt a lot heavier than the 525lbs before had felt. So I was in a little bit of panic mode there. Just had to tough out the yoke all these sets and just do my best on the dumbbells. Not worry about time. I never had any real issue with the 137lbs dumbbell as it was light enough that I could muscle out if my form was off, unlike the 160lbs. First run I missed the 160lbs outright and took 30 seconds or so to catch my breath and work up the nerve to give it another shot. I’d have probably called it there if I did miss it again. But I got it convincingly. So this can be done. So now I need to get it done within the time limit and with no misses. Second set the yoke felt about the same and the 137lbs went up similar (slight catch to lockout). 160lbs got as close to lockout as it could and not stabilize it. Went too far away. I held it for a good bit but ultimately had to bail. I counted it for training purposes only for my own mental health. I knew that if I went for it again that I’d probably get annoyed and drain myself. I was already taking some pretty long rests here and talking with Chase to try and recover and cool down and calm down. Third run the yoke again about the same but I do feel like it was more labored each run. The 137lbs dumbbell went up the smoothest it had all day. Time for the moment of truth. Took my time and went for it and it went up there perfectly. Finally. So a good note to end things on. With how these dumbbells are, I may need to consider another trip during prep but change focus a little. Need to talk to Ms. Funk about my thinking. So the two things that were key of going right finally did and kind of made the trip worth it. I still had some stuff to do and I took this moment to talk some more with Chase and eat a rice Krispie treat as I got the rest of the session figured out. Honestly, the rest of the session was just gravy. I had to move some stuff around this meant also being in the main area of the gym with the commercial equipment. The fellas indicated that gym patrons aren’t too sure about what to do with people doing moving events as far as walking on the turf path. As mentioned, I’ve not been in a commercial gym in over 6yrs and the one I had frequented was a YMCA so there were some wild conversations happening here. So first thing was the loading medley. Unlike the previous weeks, I was to do this to the contest distances rather than all at 25’. So staggered at about 2m intervals. What was written was 225lbs keg and sandbag and then 240lbs keg and sandbag. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much variety at the gym compared to the other gym. Only three kegs (150.200 and 250) and a bit closer at least with the sandbags (lot more of them). I was going to run into the same issue though at home with the gym not having a 250lbs sandbag anymore and the one I ordered has not year arrived. So I was going to do 200lbs keg, 220lbs sandbag and then the last two being 250lbs each. No real way to load things for the upright setup like at more local thing (I didn’t want to lug out jerk blocks as no handtruck, only dolly) so I was going to run up and get high enough to do the load that style and then set to the side on crash pads to not damage the floor. I was initially thinking about duct taping weight to the 200lbs keg but thought better of it. These kegs were filled with water so that was already adding a challenge component. The duct tape did come in handy to fix the 250lbs leaking sandbag. fairly light and then becomes quite heavy. This took a bit to setup and I did have a fairly long drive so I just went right into this. I wore two copper sleeves on the right biceps to hopefully cut down on the bruising. I forgot to tape up my left thumb as I wasn’t going to standing the kegs upright but I guess that was still and issue as I got a little cut on my left thumb and right pinky. These went about the same but just a little bit of hiccups with figuring out the keg placement stuff. If I do this again, I’ll bring my own handtruck and my plateloadable keg so I have options. Last thing was the push and pull medley. I was initially looking at doing this in the studio room but realized that it would be a hassle trying to load up plates on the two sleds. I didn’t know the weight of them until I was done training and I assumed 100lbs but turned out to be 106lbs after weighing them. Another reason was that the turf in the studio might be gone if I come back. So not really thinking this will be applicable to local training with setup. But plan was again push 30’ and then down and back sprint and then drag 30’. 20lbs added to the push portion but 40lbs added to the drag. No medicine ball this time but did make sure I touched the ground. The push was quite easy. The drag not so much. I had a bad setup the first run with how the straps to pull were positioned so that ate up some time there. No real issues the second set. Ended up talking with Chase and Calvin (he did show up eventually) before cleaning up and fueling up the car for the drive home. It was still raining off and on. I ended up ordering food rather than try and clean up my kitchen after the training and travel. Eventually stretched and got to bed pretty late as bit wired. Will have to see how these next few weeks go with planning around trips and weather.
Comments: I was a little worried about recovery this week as I was going from one thing to the next and I didn’t have the luxury of more flexibility with my days as I will need to be closer to my usual to get in all the sessions as planned before taking a week off. This week ended up being quite stress with work load (sound like a broken record at this point) but it was becoming manageable. I didn’t end up walking Wednesday working to get stuff done (had plans after work with family) but I was feeling better about my situation Thursday. But I could already tell I was probably not going to walk Friday so that I could get everything ready for this weekend session and then be back to normal schedule. I’ll get plenty of exercise on the week off anyways coming up. Walking is helpful with getting stuff to not feel so tight and for mental health but it sometimes ends up being behind or cutting into other recovery and have to split the difference. Still some dark coloration on some bruises on my biceps and forearms from earlier workouts. Neck on the left side still feeling a little off. Like Tuesday, I apparently was a slow start to training. But it didn’t get nearly as dark out by the time I finished this session. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Odd today. Lower calves needed it a lot more than the upper calves did. Hamstrings still decently tight. Quads/thighs need a good bit and were essentially even between sides. Upper back was tight but not as much needed as Tuesday session. Neck rehab stuff followed. Chest felt pretty tight on the stretching related stuff. Some movements felt a little off today. Glute activation and lower body stretching was fine and finished up with a dead hang (also noticing tense chest here). On to the session. Deadlifts and the “lighter session”. Which is really a lot of volume work still but with the band tension added and the power element. Plan was same band tension setup and 60 seconds rest between sets. The past two times it has been doubles and this was going to be triples. 12x2 vs 8x3 so same volume but in less time. Something I see Ms. Funk often doing with making things more challenging. Suggested weight increase was 10-20lbs more. Knowing that with these pulls that my power tends to go each rep and just how I was feeling, I figured it was best to just do 10lbs jump in weight with the plan of only one day rest before doing Day 3 session this week. The increased density of the volume was noticed immediately. I was still pulling these powerfully for the most part but I could tell the rest was needed here. I was certainly not dancing like a lunatic like I was that first week of these. Last set I could tell I was feeling the fatigue. But I was done with these. I got out of the neoprene shorts to breath and cool off before moving on to the farmer’s walk. Lighter session and like it has been with the first half being 2 sets of contest runs after warming up and then doing those pick transitions. Working sets were to be 20lbs less than last week. Warming up wasn’t as “neat” here so I ended up using a little heavier start and then going up. Picks were feeling a little off today but weight was feeling light in my hands and on my body. I did seem to have some issues with my foot speed on the uphill portion near the finish line. Ms. Funk had mentioned that I need to push off the back foot more as I seem to not really be doing that. I thought about it and I think I’ve mostly thought front foot and just finish and keep going as cues rather than trying to push off anything. So I tried thinking about that. With the actual runs they felt odd. Odd in that the first pick wasn’t bad and I seemed to be moving well but then the second pick felt really rough. First run I was moving well the first length but then I nicked my right ankle/achilles on the farmer’s implement when it came down so I was a little worried about that. The pick was harder than I was expected as I figured I’d already but up and going. Second run felt better other than still having the rough second pick. That wasn’t having me looking forward to the second half of the farmer’s stuff with those pick transitions. Unlike last two time, weight is going up from 235lbs to the 245lbs. I made sure I stood up for a little longer before setting them down and then turnaround and go. As expected, pick was harder but not so much so as the full runs. Second set the little stupid metal wire almost got in the way on the repick but not an issue. Weight had felt light in my hands and I wasn’t feeling like my hands were as raw as they had been at the start of World’s prep. I still despise these handles but they are the closest to contest spec as far as handle thickness. I also own a pair so can do these at home. Contest will not have me worrying about pieces coming off or feet clearance and the height should be a little higher too. Even though only doing full runs at this point at 75-80% on this event compared to contest, I’m not too worried about it being there game day like some things. Back in the garage for rest of the workout. I had dillydallied after work so I was starting later than I should so I kind of went as quick from the deadlifts to the farmer’s stuff as I could and then took a breather here to get some fluids in before finishing up the session. Same superset as last week with chest supported dumbbell rows and zercher Jefferson curls. Notes were to increase the rows and do 3x8 on them and to keep same weight on the zercher stuff but do 3x12. The rows warming up felt ridiculously light compared to the Jefferson curls. Thankfully no ab cramping on these from the get-go. Rows trying to play with position to get back involvement as unfortunately with how large the weights are and the bench, the ROM does get compromised with the setup. The jeffersons felt fine and it was almost relaxing at times. Can tell the right side is tighter than the left. Put stuff away and get dinner ready. No bruising of bleeding in the right heel so that is something but ankles are feeling achy. Stretched out before bed.
Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds) 22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20 22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20
Stretching
Comments: Another stressful week of work. I kind of wish I had more flexibility with the training week sessions but I kind of have to get back to my usual schedule so I can get in sessions before family trip that will have me off a week. At least that is the working plan at this time. Just got to make sure this week doesn’t end up like the last week where I didn’t realize I was not recovered and had to rest a bit to get back on track with things. The summer rains have been unpredictable which not great with planning around doing stuff outside for training. Usually that means just one day a week but now with world’s prep that ends up being 2 out of 3 sessions. So odds not as great. For the most part, been good with avoiding because of changes from me being stressed out I guess. There was rain earlier in the day (was supposed to be thunderstorms yesterday evening but no so walking commenced) but it dried up mostly before training started. Again, decent amount of bruising on my arms from keg carries. I didn’t need a ton of foam rolling today. My hamstrings needed it a good bit. Not a ton for the other places. Neck rehab stuff was ok and felt about how it should. Unfortunately, my right left side is feeling tense (maybe from Sunday session) so distracting more than anything. I know I can work around and through it but would be preferable if not even a thing. Glute activation and lower body stretches followed by a dead hang to decompress. This session started off how it has for a past few weeks now with PVC pipe exercise superman holds. As this is pretty much the standard and warming up, I didn’t film these. Stuck to 30 seconds rest between the sets. Notice the effort from Sunday session. Keeping an eye on that to gauge recovery. More so the left side vs right is stiff. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. These felt good and easy. I think it was at this time I realized I had started my session a bit later than planned. Where does the time go? So outside for the rest of the session (at least that was the plan). Log once more. This is the heavier week and I had a feeling what it would be based on the past two sessions. 230-240lbs for 4x2. So about same weight but more reps in less time (6 vs 8). I was going to be trying out some adjustments here as I mentioned after how last session went and just how things were feeling. If I felt terrible, 230lbs but if things were feeling good enough, then try for 240lbs. I feel I got over a mental hump with deadlift last week and I’d love to get over whatever I have on bilateral overhead pressing (or get it to click once more). So what those changes were was ditching the elbow sleeves. The worry was they may be making the clean harder on subsequent reps and that could be throwing off my press timing. What I was going to be adding was wearing my triple ply knee sleeves and neoprene shorts like I’ve been doing for the squat event. The shorts were good for squat and deadlift and I saw a friend using them on log so I figured why not me. Now if I felt like I had more time, I might see how one change at time would be. See if 2 ply sleeves vs 3 ply and the shorts vs not. But I feel like I don’t have the time and went with these right off the bat. This also would help with consolidating equipment for sessions and taking overseas. The only issue I noticed was the knee sleeves and the shorts combined do make it a little harder to get into position for picking up the log but at least at the weights I’m doing is negligible. Not feeling restricted in the pressing or my press groove. It took less time for my knees to feel good wearing these and I felt like I could dip further if needed without pain. With how 210lbs went, I decided 240lbs and give it my best effort. Need to get myself into thinking and knowing I can do this again. First set felt comfortable which was a good sign. The added stuff did make me feel warm and restricted so I had to take it off between sets so I could recover and not overheat. First rep second set was ok, second rep a little bit of a balance point issue but did correct it. I already had doubled the reps at 240lbs from two weeks prior. Third set was ok, a little bit of forward press on the second rep but recovered well. Last set I had issues. I rushed the first rep and had to stagger step to catch it and then tried to go fast into the second rep and that was a disaster. I couldn’t get my feet stable and it spent so much time in the rack position I started to get a little lightheaded and ended up bailing and dropping it, having to catch the rack to get myself back up. Momma didn’t raise no quitter so I begrudgingly got it back on the pads so that I wasn’t ending this on a miss. It was an ugly rep as far as getting stabilized but I got it in just under a minute so would’ve been good for contest. I think I just need to keep at this and try and find what feels good and works for me on log. But this does feel like the right direction at least. After getting out of the heat trap equipment, moving on to the javelin thrusters again. Same weight but bumping up to 7x3 so another set added. Last week I had sets where I missed a rep being sloppy so I was aware that this could be a thing this time and wanting to make sure no issues there. I was a little tempted to add some tiny weight to this but figured it was best to not tempt fate here after getting through log unscathed. The neck thing was more present with this movement for obvious reasons. I even felt a little rusty starting things here. Notes had been to hold lockouts a little longer/better. The added two sets were noticed here. I was definitely feeling fatigue in the lower body after the fifth set. There were some oops with the bar coming back down on the safeties but nothing that truly disrupted things. I didn’t have the “get through this” feeling mindset like last week. But this did feel like it took a while to get through all these reps and sets. Next being the pairing of banded log floor pressing and medicine ball slams like last week. 240lbs on the log and the 10lbs medicine ball I have. 4 sets of each this time around. I had dillydallied a bit too much before starting this session so I was trying to move things along at this point with warming up as it was starting to get dark outside. I wasn’t feeling terrible confident after my one warm up set before doing these but seemed to be just fine. Nothing to really say on the slams other than I could tell I was feeling them on a fourth set of them. Log floor press felt a little inconsistent but it really seemed to be at random with how I was unracking that first rep as some sets I’d be “on something” that didn’t feel good and have me hesitate the first rep and other times it would just be smooth and easy. But I can tell that power goes fast on these after a few reps each set with the bands. Last thing again being the rear delt dumbbell raises and banded triceps with holds at lockout. Same weights and sets as last week but doing 20 reps for both sets this week. I had set this up in the garage so that I could get to it sooner after I was done with the previous superset and then start putting that one away. I feel like I took less rest between them this time (as it was a long rest) so that second set felt substantially tougher this time around. Both these exercises fatigue hits hard on them and takes a good bit to recover. This was the heavier session for Day 1 so hopefully I recover enough for a lighter Day 2 and then prep for an interesting Day 3.
Yoke (drop and turn halfway)/Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only) 190x40’/40’ – 49x5 280x20’/20’ – 85x3 370x20’/20’ – 108x2 460x40’ – 128x1 550x40’/40’ – 140x1/140x1 in 36.23 seconds 550x40’/40’ – 140x1/140x1 in 34.07 seconds 550x40’/40’ – 140x1/140x1 in 33.47 seconds
Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (52”) 144x20’/144x20’ (kegs) 225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 45.54 seconds 225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 42.83 seconds
Sled Push, Sprint (Med Ball) and Pulls (turf) 280x30’/30’+30’/480x30’ in 35.17 seconds 280x30’/30’+30’/480x30’ in 36.00 seconds
Stretching
Comments: Did nothing Saturday besides walk and hang with family for a little for early dinner. I seemed to be anxious/nervous with training today but I couldn’t really figure out why as it wasn’t like anything was going to be outside of what I could do. I was a little more together I think as I did remember to weigh myself. About the same as two weeks prior. Drive out was odd at times. When I got to the gym, there were two young guys doing strongman. Talking early teens and doing a bit of everything. The one kid has asked me advice before. He has done powerlifting (I guess still is) and has asked advice of other people at the gym. I’ll let people talk my ear off about it to be honest. Some other people did eventually trickle in and out while I was there. Foam rolling was ok. Usually things aren’t as tense on this session. Which is a little odd I think in that I’m cramped in a car beforehand. Still noticing that the right quad continues to need like double of the left one or so but not so bad this time. Could tell my hamstrings were tight from Friday session and upper back was feeling that too. Neck rehab stuff was ok as well. Chest was tight and trying to see if some lower back stiffness would be alleviated as well. Lower body stuff was ok as well. I did do some stretching twice to loosen up stuff that was tight. Dead hang after that. Then on to Axle squats. Lighter week. Notes were to work up to 350lbs and do 4x4-5 and move the reps explosively. This shouldn’t feel heavy. Maybe this possibly feeling heavy was a worry for me. I changed my setup here again. I brought my crash pads from home as I was likely needing them later and used those to hopefully have the box setup be a bit more forgiving. It does seem to be a combination of bar position and just how my feet and legs are with the ground not exactly level where I’m lifting. As I went, I feel I got better with things until last set where that felt about as crisp and easy as it was going to get here. I did sets of 5 reps here. I was able to adjust during reps to get the bar to be less uneven with the touch to boxes. So I think I’ll use this setup going forward for my own sanity. Even if a bit of a hassle bringing the crash pads. But that leads into the next event, which was why I brought them. Up until this point, yoke and circus dumbbell have been on their own. This would be the first session of putting them together for the event at world’s. It was about as bad as I thought it would be, even with light weights. At first, I was doing the yoke and then walking over to where I usually do dumbbell (briskly mind you) and doing the reps and that felt fine. No issues. But then on my last warm up was where there was no rest between them as I had one of the dumbbells setup there and that was a bit of rude awakening. This does nothing to the yoke but the yoke beforehand does everything to the dumbbell. It feels tougher to get it up to the shoulder and I feel fatigued immediately in the rack position. But the power is there and lockout stability is as well (thank you javelin thrusters). My right knee was a little achy but I seemed to improve my time each run through. The run was 10’ shorter than last week since this is the corrected distance for world’s. I setup 2 different circus dumbbells at same weight. The first one felt a lot harder compared to the second one. Perhaps because the end one is more solid vs having to add 32lbs to the other. This ended up being the intermission for the session as it was going to take a bit to put stuff away from the previous event and then to setup for the next event. That being the carry and load medley with kegs and sandbags. Same as last week with 2 planned runs of 4 implements, each 225lbs for 25’. The rules indicated that these kegs will be plateloaded variety so I figured I might as well use both power kegs instead if it isn’t going to be preloaded kegs with concrete and lead in them. Doing a little warming up did seem to be good last time. No sandbags to move really so I did the two empty power kegs to warm up before getting into it. I ended up moving through these faster than last week. My first run being faster than my second run from last week and then the second run being almost 3 seconds faster than the first run this week. So about the same as last week with roughly 3 second improvement from first and second run. This is light but good to see things moving well. Honestly, a lot of stuff is going to need to be a lot heavier in 2 months time. Last thing was sort of an introduction to the other medley involving a sandbag. The contest is a sled push then run back to sandbag, load sandbag on the sled and then drag back. Starts fairly light and then becomes quite heavy. To kind of consolidate, this was just he push and drag but with running in between. Already doing sandbag carries at the moment and I’ve done +300lbs sandbags a good bit this year already. Now initially it was just me running back to start and then back to the sled to start the pull. But I figured that I wanted to have something that I was picking up so I was at least doing that motion and then running with something in my hands. So I used a 10lbs medicine ball. I’ll need to make adjustments to next time. Both issues I had were with the drag. One was I didn’t tighten my shoes on the first set. I could tell I wasn’t going as fast on the drag because of that (I’m looking in to getting new shoes as the ones I have are cheapo and already worn out). The other issue is I tried to make the pulling rope shorter and that offset it to the left making that harder as well. I was surprised with the time being faster the first set vs the second set. One implement is going uphill vs downhill on turf each way. Down hill push and uphill drag first set. I guess the uphill push was a much slower comparatively as the drag felt much easier on second set. Little annoyances (gym owner took away the fan I had out with extension cord and locked in his office when I was done training, road closure on the way home, work tomorrow) at the end of the day but home safe. Ate dinner and then eventually stretched before bed.
Comments: This week did not go as planned. It was already not the “right” week with having to adjust my days with the competition on Saturday so moving everything ahead a day. I had sweated a ton on Saturday and Sunday and I think that having better sleep schedule kind of hid something from me. I wasn’t feeling as sharp on Tuesday and I think part of it was still in my head about how stuff feels harder than it did years ago to do and recovery. The competition and seeing the level of things also a stark reminder of my own mortality. I felt like I was hit by a large vehicle Wednesday and was a little worried about training Thursday with this to be a heavy deadlift day. Thursday came and it was raining and the early forecast was that it would stop and then a big thunderstorm right before I’d usually train. Allergies were really bad as well. With only being a four day week with holiday Friday, work became quite stressful to get stuff done. I was feeling quite strained and even though the weather cleared up, I decided I was going to allow myself another day of rest to hopefully feel better. Just destress and get some things done I’ve put off so far this week and just wake up when I feel like it Friday with no responsibilities. Yes this will mean the days are out of order for another week and I’ll need to get back to the Mon/Wed/Sat rotation by the following week to make it so I can fit all sessions in before family beach vacation middle of July. It finally dawned on me when I awoke today at 11:20AM. I had slept for about 11hrs or so. I had been tired. Yes, I was getting 8hrs or so of sleep a night and not having to rush around upon waking but I hadn’t really had a sleep in day last week because of the competition and work and making Sunday a training day. So while I was still anxious about training, I didn’t have to worry about work today so I could take my time as I won’t be training Saturday and will be able to rest fully again and then Sunday session. It did take me a little later than I was expecting to start the session. I had some bruises on my biceps and forearms from keg on Sunday and log on Tuesday. They had been quite dark even Thursday but seemed to be faded substantially today. Again a sign I needed heavy rest. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. My right side needed a lot of work today. Upper calf needed it a ton and my quad on that side needed a ton too. It wasn’t the most I’ve needed to do but it was quite a disparity between the left and right side. Hamstrings and upper back didn’t really feel like they needed anything today. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt decent enough followed by a little glute activation. Lower body stretching was fine. This was good as my knees had felt really achy the past two days and were feeling fine and dandy today. Lower back wasn’t feeling so tense either. Finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. The plan for today was to work up to a top single that was RPE 8-9 and that was it on deadlifts. So simple but it had me a nervous wreck. This was to see where I was at but I get such anxiety with this kind of stuff as I tend to put so much weight on it. Even if I was feeling terrible, I knew there was no way I couldn’t pull 495lbs at least here but it would be terrible if that was all I got. I reverted more to how I did things when I was doing max effort work for singles with doing some reps and then doing like 40-50lbs jump singles. Using the world’s setup with the wheels and platform just to keep getting used to that sensation of the setup and the bar pull. I made a change today with pulls. I got these neoprene shorts for the squat event but I’m trying to not be so set in my ways. I’m trying to take pressure off myself and keep the process fun and experiment. Even though I’ve been doing this since 2008, I feel like a novice with a lot of stuff and worried about trying something that may require a lot of time to fix/get resolved as I feel like I don’t got infinite time for this activity anymore. After how log was on Tuesday and just thinking out loud type deal, I’m going to keep testing little tweaks and not feel like I’m unsure of myself but seeing what works for me and if not beneficial to this prep, it will be for the one after that and so on. So back to the deadlift. The compression isn’t a ton but it kind of felt like I had a special attire on for deadlift so I should pull better. So maybe a psychological thing. Definitely warmer with it on but not as bad as when squatting thankfully. Trying to be low key with pulls but became such that I was feeling anxious when I did get to 495lbs. My true hope here was that I’d be able to pull over 525lbs and not have it feel like a max effort. With how deadlifts been feeling, it has been hard to gauge what will go up as far as breaking the floor. I’m finding I tend to be grinding more but can repeat the effort. I did not feel like 545lbs was there with anything in the tank. There was some doubt that it would be glued but the main reason is this wasn’t to be an absolute max here and I’ve not pulled over 500lbs from the floor since 7 months ago without a suit and that was with the bendy bar setup, which I’m now aware helps a good bit now. I talked myself into doing 40lbs over 30lbs. And then talked another 2lbs on to that. Fail or succeed. Initial struggle to start but went up well enough. Camera says it was too easy. I let out a shout afterwards just because I had been feeling a sense of dread just coming into this. So I feel like mental block has finally been dislodged to some degree here. Anything else today was just going to be gravy honestly. From there on to the farmer’s walk. Another reason I wanted my lower back to not feel trashed coming into this session. Again, this was like last week with the first half of it was doing 2 sets of contest runs after warming up and then doing those pick transitions. What was different this time was that the contest runs were heavier. A lot heavier. But that was on me here. Notes were to do 250-265lbs and I said fuck it, we ball. The larger weight made more sense with warming up purposes honestly. Picks were feeling a little slower but that could be from doing heavy pulls rather than speed pulls beforehand. I was not feeling so sweaty and dead compared to the past few sessions I’ve done here. Adjusted warm ups to be less taxing after deadlifts. Just enough to get primed really. 265lbs did feel slow with the pick but I didn’t feel like I was walking through wet cement that first set like I was worried might be the case. Usually the first set feels pretty rough. Second set did feel rougher on the picks. I’d never have thought based on how these sets feel that I was actually faster on the second set by almost a second compared to the first set. I’d have thought I was slower that second set. But this is why I need to video things and not necessarily go off what I’m feeling and review video for feedback outside of myself. As with last week, the second half of the farmer’s stuff was those pick transitions. These are not anywhere close to as taxing as full runs are even if I feel like the pick is the worst part for me on things. Same plan as last week with it being 235lbs for 2 sets of pick, drop and repick with a little step action. These felt quite light and easy compared to the 265lbs runs. I almost felt like doing these back to back but figured it was best to recover and treat each set as its own thing. Not get in the rushing habit like Tuesday session. I got nowhere to go today or tomorrow. Back in the garage for rest of the workout. Which was actually the end of the workout. Superset to finish things off. The chest supported dumbbell rows stayed as part of it but no more lunges. A less taxing version of the ssb zercher gms with the zercher Jefferson curls coming back into the fray. Same weight as last week with the rows but for 3x12. The jeffersons for 3x10. It is a good thing that I did a warm up set rather than just jump right in on the jeffersons as my upper abs cramped up almost immediately. I forgot that that can happen on these haha. Rows were bad, just obvious fatigue set to set here. The curls felt about the same and maybe I got a little better on the stretch portion as I went. Put stuff away and decided on eating an earlier dinner rather than a super late lunch and kind of having my schedule for the rest of the weekend super out of whack. Took my time and eventually got to stretching to finish up the evening.
Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds) 22’sx18/(4)mb’sx19 (miscounted) 22’sx18/(4)mb’sx18
Stretching
Comments: I can already feel the difference with the adjustment to telework vs commuting and definitely seems to be for the better as far as how I feel. But it is what it is at this point with the rotation as my other option would be commute all the time. Feeling fine for the most part I think getting ready for training. I’ve essentially hit all the weights for master’s class if I went that route but I’m stubborn doing open because I qualified and can. Decent amount of bruising on my arms from keg and blood draw. I had needed a lot of soft tissue work on my legs Monday. I didn’t need a ton of foam rolling today and seemed to be more even between the left and right quad. Tightness in the upper calves and hamstrings. Kind of expected considering Sunday training. Neck rehab stuff was ok and felt about how it should. Glute activation and lower body stretches followed (did one of them twice) by a dead hang to decompress. Same start as last week with the PVC pipe exercise superman holds. As this is pretty much the standard and warming up, I didn’t film these. Trying to be stiff but mobile. I was able to stick to 30 seconds rest between the sets. Notice the effort from Sunday session. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. I feel like shoulders were less “achy” compared to last week. Just something that seems to be good with getting blood flow to these areas. These are the things to get ready but by no means measures to tell if I’m ready for the session. Unfortunately that is found from getting up to a decent amount of weight. So outside for the rest of the this training session (besides getting more weights and such). Log once more. Another session on this and just as likely to lead to a new understanding as it is to frustrate me. I’ll go through the log session and then add my thoughts afterwards so kind of sorted. Knees were feeling quite achy today with log. I guess by product of the heavy yoke picks perhaps. Plan for today was to focus on “precision” and do 4x3 with 215-220lbs. It would depend how I was feeling getting up in weight this would potentially be not a lot off the singles last week. I tend to feel better as I go on these as my knees feel better and my pressing and clean seem more crisp. I did 30lbs jumps and then switched to 20lbs to try and gauge things. 200lbs felt quite good so I went with 220lbs. As I mentioned last week, it doesn’t really seem to matter what weight I do, I get nervous on things like axle and log more so than dumbbell. We’ve done dumbbell for a good bit and it has become almost second nature besides going real heavy. This didn’t feel like it went to plan with the precision session here. Cleans felt strong but there were times where it didn’t feel like I had my balance point right and log felt out in front in the rack or that I lacked power in the position. Other times it was there and felt weightless. First rep first set I didn’t quite have things in line and I had to kind of step forward to get under the log. Second rep went up no issue and same with the third. Second set first rep was crisp and then second rep just didn’t feel like the clean was as good getting in the rack position had to do a bit of shimmying to get that one up there. My belt came undone lapping the third rep but other than that being loose, the press was fine. Third set first rep was good and powerful, second rep little balance issue before going for the press and little stability issue at lockout too. Third rep was the ugliest of the day as I seemed to really have happy feet walking back to be stable to press. I didn’t rush it so that was good but it stalled and I had essentially walk under it to get it in the groove and then press it out. So that wasn’t great. Last set first rep flew up there and so did the second. Third rep was looking to end up like the last rep of the third set but I managed to not have it be that bad and it just ended up being a slow lockout process. With how this went, had me thinking on log what makes sense here. Generally first reps and second reps are good but third reps not good. Consistently first reps are strong. I’m wondering if the elbow sleeves are in fact a detriment here with being some resistance on the clean and potentially having my elbows locking out sooner than my normal timing would be. I got time to figure this out but a bit frustrating that I’m second guessing myself here. We’ve not done log a ton. I do notice that I’m less hesitant between reps and not feeling like I’m going to not be able to press it like I was having end of last year off season prep. Looking at trying no elbow sleeves next time and potentially seeing about differences with the knee sleeves to see if that helps things with the leg drive. I was sweating profusely when I finished with log. I didn’t have that issue with anything else I did this session. Secondary pressing after that with the javelin thrusters again. Same as last week with weight but 5x3 so another set added. I figured I’d just go at 65lbs rather than the empty barbell. I think part of it was trying to move things along and avoid myself being annoyed with log. Just getting into position, I noticed my knees were pretty achy. I don’t recall that from the last two times so perhaps that is something to keep in mind with recovery. Not sure if my headspace affected things or if just more fatigue from heavier weights of dumbbell stuff Sunday but it did feel like it took a bit to get myself firing. I mistimed twice with the right side on the second set and the left side on the fifth set. I feel powerful when it lines up right. Up next was the pairing of log floor press but as usually is the case with these supersets, a little change happens after every 2-3 sessions. So the first part was that I was to be adding light band tension to the floor pressing. I’ve not tried that in like 15yrs or so I think and certainly not since I’ve been doing the home gym training. So I had to figure out a setup that would still have some tension at the bottom of the movement. Ended up being a more than I was thinking it would with my doubled micro bands. 3x5 with aim being RPE 8.5-9. The banded deadbugs got replaced by slam ball stuff. Fun to see those back in the mix. A little different in that sets of 10 reps with the overhead slams. I was curious how that would feel considering the ballistic nature of the movement. Warming up with the log floor pressing felt good but doing 50lbs jumps had me leery that 240lbs may be too much on the day so I went with 230lbs. That weight did end up being too easy. Surprised how much more I felt these in my chest vs no band tension. I must have missed the slam ball stuff as I did an extra rep by mistake the first set. I added 10lbs to the log and that was in the right effort range. I didn’t think it was wise to do another 10lbs jump there but I didn’t want to do 240lbs again as it felt weird loading wise and 5lbs more felt odd with the 10lbs jump so I did 7lbs to cut the difference. That was a bit closer to limit on this setup with the planned effort but still good once got things figured out. Medicine ball stuff was fun though I think I was paying for it after training as my back and hamstrings were feeling stiff (could just be Sunday session and doing all the log cleans). Last thing before I was going to eat dinner was superset of rear delt dumbbell raises and banded triceps with holds at lockout. Same weights and sets as last week but adding 3 reps to each set. Rear delts felt fine, almost relaxing. Triceps I knew I’d be feeling these with the added reps and just knowing I was likely going to try and increase the tension with where I gripped it after last week having the first set too easy feeling. I overcorrected as I miscounted the first set and did an extra rep. I took a decent break between these two sets as I had some thoughts I didn’t want to forget about and write down. Finished up the second set no issues and put stuff away before eating dinner. Body feelings like just now feeling the soreness from Sunday with today on top of that. Hopefully I feel better by Thursday’s session.
I’m a little taller than 6′6″ and I really like to lift weights. I’m a competitor in amateur strongman contests. My hope is to become a competitive professional strongman. Currently I'm training for Natural Strongman Worl'ds Strongest Man in Glasgow, Scotland on August 22-23, 2026. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
