March 9, 2026 – Week 4, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Dumbbell Push Presses (4-1-0-1 tempo)
40’sx6
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4

Paused Axle Floor Presses (2 seconds at lockout)
76x6
116x5
156x4
206x3
256x2
266x2
276x2
286x2

Internal Rotation Dumbbell Flyes/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (0-1-0-1 tempo)
10’sx12 – 6x6/6
40’sx8 – 26x8/8
40’sx8 – 26x8/8
40’sx8 – 26x8/8
40’sx8 – 26x8/8

Banded Close Grip Push Ups/Paused Band Cross Face Pulls
bw+lbx20/(2)mb’sx15
bw+lbx20/(2)mb’sx15
bw+lbx20/(2)mb’sx15

Stretching

Comments: Lost an hour with DLS starting up again. It has only been recently as far as working that I’ve started taking time off work when the hour is lost and the hour is gained. I need more than a day to adjust to the change. Kind of why I try to not adapt to the time zone changes if within reason and not staying too long (like when I was in Washington last year and Arizona this year). Sunday was spent getting some things cleaned up around the house and recovering with plan for Monday to be some of that plus training. Still have some stiffness in the right mid back area but tolerable. Taking off work meant I could train during the day Monday. Sunday I got in a walk and weight is down a little (under 258lbs). It had been low 50’s end of day Saturday and then high 60’s Sunday and now low 70’s today. Soft tissue work starting things off. Initially thinking I didn’t need much here but then hit an area in my calves near the top that needed a lot. More so the right vs the left. And then a lot was needed for my right quad (and not much for the left). The usual for hamstrings and upper back. Neck rehab stuff felt fine and needed. I kind of hoped it would get the mid back thing to go away but it didn’t do that on Saturday. It was needed as my chest felt tight at the start. Lower body stretching was ok followed by a dead hang. Time to train. Warm and the sun was out. As mentioned last time, I had to do the tempo dumbbell push pressing outside since needing to use the larger diameter plates to reach 80lbs. I could at least face away from my house on the patio so sun wouldn’t be directly in my eyes (like if I was taking stuff out of the rack). Plan was to do same as last week but an extra set with the 80’s. Joints felt a little achy with the 40’s so I did two extra reps to warm up there and that seemed to be enough to get the joints feeling fine. I was a little nervous about getting the dumbbells to shoulder efficiently and not having things feel so awkward. I think that I remembered enough how that first set had felt last week being rough and I didn’t have a repeat of that. I went sans hard belt again here. A bit better on power off the floor to rack the dumbbells this time around. I did have some balance issues at times but it was more just timing issue and occasionally getting sun in my eyes. I was trying to not have to control the dumbbells so much back to the ground but that didn’t really go to plan as they liked to bounce around. These felt fine and moved on to the garage stuff. As I was lifting in the middle of the day and this workout is the one that is the least taxing on my stomach, I figured that I’d take breaks to eat meals so that I would still be on my work schedule for tomorrow and keep my intake normal-ish. I’d start prepping but wait until the heavy stuff it done before partaking of nourishment. Axle floor presses followed. Still holding lockouts for 2 seconds each rep. This was a little different in that the notes said to do 255x4x2 and that if that felt too light that I could “ramp” up the weight. I had kind of already thought it would be too light with that weight if goal is something RPE 8 or more. Especially since the first few reps have been feeling easy on these. But didn’t want to jump to conclusion. Since somewhat decent weight here, I did 40-50lbs jumps so quarters and plates here to get to working weight. No twitchy triceps this time around. These were feeling pretty good warming up. 156lbs felt a little challenging compared to the previous jumps and the weight immediate after it. I don’t know why sometimes and odd jump just feels tougher. Unrack felt a little heavy with 256lbs but it moved easy so I decided I’d go the more aggressive ramping up of adding 10lbs per set here. I did want to get over what I’ve hit with axle pressing as of late (in the last year). 266lbs was fine. 276lbs first rep was easy but I think I got little distracted at some point (I had taken a bit longer to initiate the first lift) and lost some tightness and slightly out of groove but it was ok. 286lbs the first rep felt better than 276lbs did but the second rep had some of the same issues and was tougher. I’d need to get a lot more hyped up to justify more weight this session. But it was nice to get something heavier to press. I really do want to have my pressing back up in the 300lbs range again for overhead and various pressing variations like this. With the bigger movers for the session done, it was one to the supersets. And to eat one of the three small-ish meals. First meal packed away and it was time for the first superset of chest flyes with internal rotation and single arm triceps. No changes to the flyes from last week but notes were to do pauses at lockout and in the stretch for the triceps and decrease in weight suggested. Knowing how much of a stretch reflex I get with my limbs I knew I’d need to go the lighter route to survive on the triceps. Four sets vs three sets last week. There wasn’t any anxiousness with flyes as I knew I could do this whereas last week was an unknown with the weight and motion. Triceps I wasn’t sure how these would go even with the drop in weight as they were feeling pretty toast with just the empty dumbbell handle. But they seemed to handle the work well enough today. My left was definitely feeling more fatigue compared to the right this time around. Another break to eat another meal and on to the last thing of the session. Slight change to the last superset not in exercise but in position and execution. The banded close grip push ups still indicated as 10-20 reps per set but notes were to try and have the band a little lower on the back compared to last time. The face pulls with bands the reps decreased to 15 reps per set with indicating to pause at contraction and actively keeping the band stretched during the movement. It can be a bit tricky with the setup I have been using to get the pull apart aspect focus so I changed it up to have it be two bands and they are forming an “x” so always feeling like pulling in and actively have to pull apart at all times. I think that covered things there. I can’t use as much band tension and to fine tune it I needed to use the mini bands I had. I didn’t want to use a mini band on the push ups and have to setup things for the face pulls. I also didn’t want to use the monster mini band as it is not comfortable to do push ups with. So my hope was that I could at least get 3x12 with a light band. Turns out I was sandbagging a little. Or maybe my triceps are starting to recover enough as I got 20 reps on each set. I did push things a little harder than I’ve been doing on these with leaving RIR but I felt I was so close with that last set to that that I went for it. The different style face pull was interesting with keeping things wider even in the end range of stretch. With that done, I ate my last of three little meals before putting stuff away and then stretching.

March 7, 2026 – Week 3, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
45x5
89x4
133x3
177x2
221x2
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x3
108x2
125x1
EMOM
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3

Sandbag Carries (turf)
250x60’
325x60’
325x60’
turns at 60’
250x120’
250x120’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
320x60’
320x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions
50x15
50x15
50x15

Pulldowns (drop sets)
150x8/120x8/90x20
150x8/120x8/90x17
150x8/120x8/90x12

Stretching

Comments: Doing the entire workout this time around on Day 2 certainly added some fatigue to the week. Glutes were noticeably sore after the session and I could tell that lower back had been worked. I got in my walks Thursday and Friday and the plan was to go to bed early on Friday. At least that was the plan. Allergies were acting up a little on Friday but didn’t need to take anything for it. Then I realized that Day 1 of the Arnold was happening Friday and not Saturday (distracted with work) so I caught up on that and went to bed about when I usually do during the week. But waking up I didn’t feel fully rested. I didn’t have a rush to be anywhere today. My friend was competing at the Arnold so didn’t need to help with setting anything up at the gym. And with DLS starting Sunday, I had taken off work Monday to give myself another day to adjust to the change so no pressure here. This time last week it was looking like it would be high 70’s today and now it was mid 40’s. I did have my stuff packed up the night before so even though I overslept by 90 minutes, I was only like an hour behind schedule at most.  Drive out was fine. Even getting there later than planned by a bit, there were still some people there from earlier and still that youth group football crew. Lower legs needed a some foam rolling but not the most they’ve needed. Quads a little bit too. Elsewhere not so much. Neck rehab stuff was good. Lower body stretching was good as well and dead hang felt nice. Once again, starting things off with box squats with accentuated eccentrics. Plan was 5x5 (so another set from last week). I decided to take smaller jumps here mostly because I didn’t want to have my joints chirping at me and to make sure that I was balanced. I was having uneven feeling last time at the start once I got heavier. For some reason, my mid back on the right side felt really tight, stiff and sore. Not sure what I did to cause that. Positives here is that I didn’t have the sensation of straining anything in my hips or hamstrings this time around. No uneven feeling on unracks either. But could tell that the effort on Wednesday was felt today here as I did more sets. From there I moved on to circus dumbbell. No pauses this week and back to EMOM. Indication was 140lbs for 6x2-3. I wanted to do triples but I think I was nervous I’d gas out with it being EMOM style. That I’d not have enough rest and if I screwed up. Which is dumb. Regardless of what I told myself, I was breaking out in a cold sweat getting ready for that first set. Other than one rep where I got off balance on deloading the clean (I think the second or third set) these went how they should. I did get nicked a little by the handle on my right thumb but just a graze. Really, this seemed to be the only thing that my body was dreading for today. From there on to sandbag carries. So similar to last week in that I was to two heavy runs of half contest distance and then two lighter runs of contest distance. For the heavy, I was told to do the 325lbs bag again but for both runs and then 250lbs for the lighter runs. I swapped out a fresh shirt that had a decal on it for these so I could go back to the previous shirt to finish out the day. It was getting warmer in the gym without fans so I was getting a bit sweaty and I was walking outside at times to cool off and catch my breath better. I did 250lbs as my warm up carry and it wasn’t great feeling but it wasn’t like last week where I was feeling like regretting my decisions. So not hot garbage, more like room temperature garbage. Still some nerves with the 325lbs bag picking up to run with it. It was obvious my posterior chain was feeling Wednesday session. Less worry about the walking with it and such but more so with picking it up and not failing and wasting energy. So first run was like last week in that I kind of short changed it to save the back and just kind of rolled it into myself rather than lap it fully and stand up higher. This was fine. I decided then for the second set that I was going to fully commit and try to not do that this time and stand up higher if I could manage and compare. This method does take more effort in the lower back and hamstrings but the time lost in that aspect is made up in the mobility aspect of clearance for the legs. But this seems more an issue with bags over 300lbs at this time. I didn’t feel terribly fast on the first set of contest distance with 250lbs but I did on the second set. I may very well be keeping pace with things despite the bag weight going up 50lbs from week 1 session. This isn’t an event I’m too worried about. I just got to be faster. But away the sandbags to bring on the arm over arm stuff. I had to set this up a little since I didn’t have the luxury of someone already having the rope and sled stuff out. I didn’t feel like I needed a little pick me up like the past two sessions but I did for consistency sake. Plan was to use the top weight I did last time for two runs today. This event with the distance and friction makes this quite fatiguing in the upper body. Since I primarily load this up with keg weight, it was easier to go 5lbs heavier than aim for same weight. This didn’t feel as comfortable as last week but I think partly that is due to not only doing half the Wednesday session and there being more volume on deadlifts. I was not feeling like I was as crisp with my movement and feeling more upper body fatigue than last time. Could also be the volume on dumbbell with holding the weight and touch and go. I also had bad luck the first set as apparently the knot I tied to anchor was not as secure as I thought and it came unraveled a bit (adding some distance) and then came completely undone right at the end. Made sure the knot was better the next set and that went better. I did end up doing shorter pulls near the end as I was feeling a little off balance and didn’t want to fall backward or forwards. This could be from me kind of looking up at the ceiling for a majority of the run and then switching to watching as it gets closer and the angle of the pull changes. But this setup is just a really sucky one so I should be fine for whatever comes contest day. Put stuff away and another break to just rehydrate before moving on to the lighter stuff. Reverse hypers again. 3x15 with 50lbs is what was indicated. I didn’t try to add weight to these like I was doing last week. Even if the first set of these feels easy, they can build up quickly, especially with more reps. I think the other part of it was because last week I didn’t do like half my posterior chain work due to vibes lol. So wanted to play this somewhat smart. Then last thing being pulldown drop set. Same as last week with the weight and reps but adding another set for these. I’ve been trying to keep myself upright and strict on these and keeping the rests between the drop sets short. Like less than 10 seconds. It is surprising how fatigued I get on the last set when it is for max even with longer rests between these sets. Got my food down afterwards and went home. I had avoided spoilers for the Arnold second day so I could catch up while winding down for the evening. Stretched when I got home.

March 4, 2026 – Week 3, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
206x3
296x2
346x1
396x1
446x6
446x6
446x6
446x6
446x6

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x2/225x2
175x2/225x2
265x2
265x2

Deadstop Safety Bar Good Mornings (lower to deadlift pull height)
70x10
120x5
160x10
165x10
170x10

Sandbag Zercher Stationary Lunges (0-1-0-1 tempo)
bwx5/5
112x5/5
112x5/5
112x5/5

Deadstop Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Pull Ups
62x5/5 – bwx3
102x10/10 – bwx6
102x10/10 – bwx5
102x10/10 – bwx5

Stretching

Comments: My hope was that this time around that this workout would go better. Not be dying afterwards into late hours of the night nor stopping early because energy gone and upset with myself. Weather has been lingering in the colder and dreary range longer than forecasts anticipated so looks like the unseasonably warm time is delayed a few days. I had felt a little tired upon waking which was annoying as I felt like I had been well rested the two previous days. But I wasn’t needing allergy meds so there is that. Soft tissue work to start things off. Calves needed it a good bit. That seems to be expected and the norm lately. Quads needed a decent amount too. About average for the hamstrings and upper back. Rehab for the neck was fine. Lower body stretching for the hips, knees and ankles after that. Again, almost glossed over dead hang setting up. On to the heavy stuff. Axle pulls with the wagon wheels again. I mean these are going to be every time now through this prep I imagine. As expected, this was to be more of the “volume” day for these with the rotation. Suggested being 440-445lbs (so about what I did the first week give or take) for 5x6. I am finding that my lockouts and my fatigue on later reps is quite apparent but generally I move quite fast on the first three reps usually. Notes were that I was good with my glute engagement but need to try and get more quads in the movement, like think of jumping. So that was my task today with these. Warming up doing plate jumps and then singles with 50lbs jumps to the working weight. I wasn’t feeling like I would be lightheaded to the degree I was on these last week but I guess that was a lie. I really need to get it so that that first set I don’t have this issue as I was feeling that sensation and had to take a knee after three reps to collect myself and make sure that I wasn’t going to involuntarily spasm locked to the bar. I got back into position and those next three reps were not to my liking feel wise. They felt rough and heavy. I did make sure on the camera that I did six reps as I wasn’t sure if I did 5 or 6. But like last week, I didn’t have that issue with the lightheadedness after that first set and the weight felt like it should from there. I will say I didn’t hold the lockouts as long as last week as I think I was focusing on the quad drive and having the weight feel good to get that first set out of my mind. Tricky to get the timing right after the first three reps on these. But that could just be fatigue. I feel I had less of the leg shaking going on compared to the first week doing sets of 6 reps. The extra set was noticed as I was yawning something fierce between my sets while resting. Trying to get my air back. I certainly wasn’t bored. I rechalked my straps and hands I think after the third or second set. Put that away and got ready for sandbags again. This had been gnawing at me since last week. And honestly, I wasn’t feeling that hot going into it. I was feeling a lot like last week with low energy. This was changed up from last week with the plan being the 175lbs and 225lbs bags for a double each bag and do that twice. Also advised to rest about 5 seconds between reps. There were nerves and I think just feeling absolutely knackered from all the deadlifts. I reverted back to my style of lifting the bag long ways into the lap and popping it up from horizontal to vertical in the motion upwards. I do not care for these lighter floppy bags. I got through these well enough with my second set feeling better. The next part of this then was to do singles with 265lbs bag. Well one to two that is. Notes saying in all caps for a confidence build. With the inexplicably low energy feeling, this didn’t feel like attempting would be a confidence build. But that is loser talk. I had picked up 60lbs more than this and carried it 60’ a few days prior. And firmer bag should feel better. And if it goes up well enough, I’ll do it for a double. Telling myself this is what was happening even though I wasn’t sure I could. I will say that this needs to be cleaned up a good bit but this went up to the shoulder fine. A bit more lean back to get it and I wasn’t really getting it that high off my lap when I started but somehow doing this makes it manageable and not get stuck like last week. Or feel like it is too far over and I can’t stand up with it. Just went up fine. I realized that I had been distracted going into this set and forgot to hit record so I decided I’d be my own instant replay here and did another double with about 5 seconds rest between reps. Confidence mostly restored. I was feeling kind of beat but had like half a workout left to do. I was going to have to do what I skipped last week and unfortunately everything would have me bracing and bent over so really tough to get fluids in to keep me peppy. But I managed. Put away the sandbags and it was gms with the ssb to rack height. Plan was to do 160lbs for 3x10. I wasn’t sure what that would be like after taking a week from this and other stuff. I was surprised how easy that first set was. I had to double and triple check I was going down to the same rack pins as last time. I ended up adding 5lbs per set here just so that it felt like I was putting in some effort. The added weight did end up being something combined with the building fatigue. I was just surprised that I felt that good after feeling so low energy after the first two things in the session. Last time I did the workout, I had done hellish sandbag zercher lunges. Those had kicking my ass. So this time around it was the same thing but slight tempo (pauses) added and cutting the reps in half. Keeping the same weight. I still wasn’t sure how this would go and I did some things to make sure my knees and hips were mobile and ready and then a bodyweight set with couch cushions. This was a lot more tolerable/manageable. I was tempted to try and hold the sandbag the entire time and switch sides but thought better of it. I need to remember to start with the opposite side first as that is the tougher one to do these on. So between sides I took about 60 seconds recovery and then closer to 120 seconds between sets for rest. This would have been fine to finish the workout on but Ms. Funk doesn’t let me off easy here. The last thing was a superset. The supported dead stop single leg dumbbell rdls and pull ups. Still set reps for the rdls and max reps for the pull ups. It is a sick joke having pull ups this late in the session when so fatigued and tired. I feel week on them at this point haha. Same weight on the rdls but more reps. I wasn’t sure how these would go as my hamstrings, glutes and back were feeling the preceding nonsense and sometimes I get paranoid about the hamstrings when they feel sore in odd places. I also didn’t want to retch (I was close to do that on one of the deadlift sets today lol). Extra reps noticed on the rlds. Pull ups still really tough to do at this point but managed to keep about the same. Very glad when I was finally done so I could drink my BCCAs drink and eat my pot roast dinner. Stretched after things settled. Back on track.

March 2, 2026 – Week 3, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Dumbbell Push Presses (4-1-0-1 tempo)
40’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4

Paused Axle Floor Presses (2 seconds at lockout)
86x6
136x4
186x2
236x6
236x6
236x6
236x6
236x6

Internal Rotation Dumbbell Flyes/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (1 second at lockout)
10’sx12 – 10x6/6
40’sx8 – 40x8/8
40’sx8 – 40x8/8
40’sx8 – 40x8/8

Banded Close Grip Push Ups/Band Face Pulls
bw+mbx20/abx25
bw+mbx18/abx25
bw+mbx15/abx25

Stretching

Comments: Saturday seemed to get most of the mental funk out of the way with how training went. Joints were quite sore so it was hard to fall asleep and stay asleep so Sunday was pretty lowkey besides getting the usual weekend things done and getting in a walk. Weight was surprisingly up a little from last week so still holding a bit above 258lbs. As I mentioned it was up to like 64 Saturday and it was now about 27 today (didn’t get above freezing) so a bit of whiplash with the temperature. Apparently freezing rain tonight into the morning causing delay for work tomorrow (not me). This is the quicker of the sessions at this point. Soft tissue work to start. I was expected a lot being needed for my calves after how they were feeling Saturday. But not as much as I was expecting. Still a decent amount. Normal amount for everything else. Neck rehab stuff felt fine. Feels good to get things to loosen up and then blood flow. Lower body stretching was ok. I again, almost forgot to do a dead hang as thinking about starting. Felt good. Wearing my warm ups to start things off. So once again, starting off with dumbbell push presses with tempo. The working weight was increased by 10lbs and the sets and reps dropped to 4x4. Fine with moving on up but it brings its own hassle. I only have the one solid 80lbs dumbbell and I saw how different things are with the plateloaded ones and trying to do one plateloaded and one solid doesn’t work out so good. I don’t have enough smaller plates to get much about 70lbs on the handles so I need to use 25’s. Not that much of an issue but it does become one with having to now do these outside since the diameter of the plates are too much to fit in the recessed lighting fixture in the garage. That first set was a little rough. The size of the plates, how it felt shouldering the weight and just how the weight sat/felt in the dip/rack position. Didn’t feel comfortable and the weight felt alive. Could also be because I didn’t wear my hard belt this session. I don’t know why, I guess I felt like I didn’t really need it for these. So that first set had me a little concerned but then the second set felt like it has been and I was ok with that. Got a little more challenging again on the third and fourth set but never felt as difficult as that first set did. Shouldering the solid dumbbells that are smaller diameter is definitely “smoother.” Got that mess inside and was able to continue the rest of the workout in the garage like I have been doing the past two weeks. More floor presses with the axle and holding lockouts for 2 seconds each rep. I had done better with keeping my head down last week and there seemed to be more of a consistency with my movement. My hope was to repeat and improve on that. For today, indication was same weight as last time but add another set. Unlike last week, I didn’t feel like my triceps were twitching like crazy on the warm ups. It didn’t feel so bad in my hands with warming up either. The working sets were a little odd in that sometimes the weight felt heavy on the unrack for the first rep and other times it wasn’t. Regardless of how the weight felt, I usually blasted up that first rep like it was speed rep and I tried really hard to mimic that on the following reps but it seemed like at best I could keep that for the second and maybe the third rep and then it was bit more labored. It doesn’t feel however like that first week when I’d have it feel like a little bit of a hiccup at lockout on the later reps and sets. I was tempted to increase the weight a little here but stuck to the plan. As I was going to be a little greedy with the next thing in the session. With the bigger movers for the session done, it was one to the supersets. The first one again being chest flyes with internal rotation and single arm triceps with lockout holds. The notes had the reps and sets decreased on these movements. 3x8 for flyes and 3x8-10 on the triceps. Suggested weight was 35lbs on the flyes and 35-40lbs on the triceps. Notes indicated that for flyes that hopefully this was fine and wouldn’t irritate anything. This is where I made an executive decision. I was going to warm up with reps on 10’s and then do the working sets with 40’s. I’d rather use my solid 40’s then use plateloaded handles for this stuff. They are solid and it generally feels better with the movements. The more compact dumbbell would actually increase the ROM on these things as well. No issues on the flyes. Felt stable. Left triceps takes a moment to get ready at the start with the rotation aspect. Triceps was tough. I knew going back up to 40lbs here that I was aiming for just 8 reps with the holds and that was pretty challenging. This was the most challenging thing of the session besides that first set of dumbbell push presses. Slight change to the last superset. Still close grip push ups for the first part but adding band tension to that. The second half was untouched (band face pulls). Push ups still indicated as 10-20 reps per set with no changes to the reps or band tension for face pulls. I wasn’t too sure on what band tension setup to use so just went with a mini band across my back by default. I was not expecting those first two sets to be like the no band sets last week. Last set was more like I was expecting. Banded face pulls were fine. It is a fair bit of band tension as it feels similar in my lower body to brace in the same way I have to for standing arm over arm pulls. Put stuff away and finished cooking dinner. Stretched afterwards.

February 28, 2026 – Week 2, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
45x5
111x4
155x3
221x2
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5

Double Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, 1 second dip and catch)
49x5
85x3
108x2
120x1
132x2
132x2
132x2
132x2
132x2

Sandbag Carries (turf)
250x60’
300x60’
325x60’
turns at 60’
225x120’
225x120’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
295x60’
305x60’
315x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions
50x12
55x12
60x12

Pulldowns (drop sets)
150x8/120x8/90x16
150x8/120x8/90x16

Stretching

Comments: The last session did not end on ideal terms. It was good I called it when I did as even with what I had ended up on that last set with the sandbag had really gotten to me mentally. Psychic damage I think is what some people jokingly refer to stuff now. I had an early dinner and took Nyquil not really due to the allergies but more so to make sure I slept most of the time I was in bed as usually not sleeping near 12hrs on a weekday unless I’m sick. I didn’t need any Claritin the rest of the week but did need nasal spray just about every morning after I was up for a little bit. February into March weather is essentially bipolar as well. I meant to walk Thursday but work got away from me and then I just felt still tired after work even with there being more daylight out and decided I’d try and just recover some more. I made sure I did some activity on Friday for my own mental wellbeing. Get out of my own head and get some movement so I wasn’t feeling stiff come Saturday. My neck, shoulders and upper back stuff felt tight (not painful) this week. I had plans here to get stuff ready to go out on Saturday but fell by the wayside. But hey, I actually woke up when I planned to and didn’t sleep past it or hit snooze. It was potentially going to be high 50’s today (ended up low 60’s) so I brought extra shirts just in case I sweated through them. Body not liking the drastic shifts in temperature with it being below freezing on Monday. And it looks like it will be the same this coming Monday and then be high 70’s this weekend. Pick a lane. Drive out wasn’t bad. Getting there when I meant to had a lot of people at the gym for strongman stuff as well as youth group stuff for athletics. Unlike last week, I did manage to get in my warming up and do some of my workout sets rather than waiting until my one friend was finished with their Arnold training. She likes to have wrung out every drop before a show as it is fun whereas I see that I need to pull back hard as my stress levels start to catabolize me a week out. Lower legs needed a fair bit on the foam rolling. Not so much anywhere else. Neck rehab stuff was good. Lower body stretching was good as well and dead hang felt nice. Box squats with accentuated eccentrics again. I got notes for this from last time about not needing to have this be so taxing (think of as primer like the pause squats end of last cycle) and that is a little on me as I forgot that not as high intensity on the squats during contest prep vs off season prep. The plan here was to do 4x5 instead of 5x4. So aim being about 10-15lbs less than last times weight. However, I was also advised to sit full on the box, which I hadn’t done as I think I was so focused on the eccentric and keeping tension. As such, I figured that I probably need to consider lowering the weight more than that with that change in the execution so I went with 10kgs less for these. On top of that, I used a regular power bar vs the big ole squat bar. This actually felt better for me. Knees a bit achy on these still but I feel these were closer to what I was to be doing here. Unrack felt uneven when I did 100kgs and 120kgs but just my imagination each time that first attempt. These felt still a little tougher than I’d have liked but I think these went ok. From there I moved on to circus dumbbell. Ms. Funk indicated that things this cycle to work what she saw were issues at comp on this is two part. Part one is absolutely fatigue the triceps until they just give up and part two is work the positions where I can potentially miss the lift. So for circus dumbbell, that would be pauses in key spots. I’ve done these in some fashion in the past with 1-3 points of pauses/holds on dumbbell. This was to be a 2 point but a bit different for one of those points. Often, a pause in the dip is a no brainer. But the second point was in the catch position. Usually I’ve had to hold lockout. But generally I get it there, it is stable. I think part of why never done this one is usually the pause style hasn’t been done as my contest style (push press vs jerk) but this makes sense. So suggested here was 120-130lbs for 5x2 with the pauses and rest as needed. I wasn’t sure how this would go and my right hamstring decided to feel sore after the box squats and I was a little paranoid I’d pull it. Thankfully, this worked out. No issues with the hamstring and these positions felt solid. So much so that I didn’t bother to make it 130lbs with my collars and just did 132lbs. Now fatigue did build faster here vs the EMOM last week with the holds but this was quite easy work here. This is a quick turnaround for this show though. Then sandbag carries. Plan for today was a bit different from last week. Work up to 2x60’ at RPE 9 and then drop down to 225-245lbs for 2x120’ with turn at 60’. I had mentioned to Ms. Funk that I felt I could do contest weight now for the distance no issues so the 2x60’ was planned for 300lbs. But that was before I had an existential breakdown over sandbag to shoulder earlier this week. And my right hamstring chirping at me like a smoke detector with low batteries didn’t help matters. But feeling good on circus dumbbell did. I wasn’t sure how I’d go with the lighter stuff but I figured I didn’t want to do a lot to get to the weight I wanted and maybe I’d use a little more if I felt good so I brought out the 250lbs sandbag do a warm up for 60’. It had a small puncture that I taped up. I had been worried we either didn’t have a 250lbs anymore. This carry felt like hot garbage. It felt like RPE 9. Had me worrying about how I was feeling with sandbag to shoulder and the first working set of deadlifts. But I know that sometimes that is just how it is and told myself I can do 300lbs. I’ve done it many times. But there is still anxiousness. This actually went well. Too well as this didn’t feel like RPE 9. I figured I’d go up to 325lbs to combat some lingering doubts after sandbag to shoulder. Couldn’t hurt to be having something in reserve here. I’ve picked up and carried a little heavier sandbags but not in training and not for this distance. So still nerves here. The bag slid on me as it past my knees so it wasn’t the most ideal grip position to have it secure and stand up with but I wasn’t going to let that stop me and put in the work here. So this also helped with pushing out negative self-talk. Popped the snack as this was going to be the only time that worked here before standing arm over arm pulls. But of course I was still having indigestion from nerves and such. I think part of it was just thinking about how draining what I was about to do was going to be. Same setup as last week with plan being 3x60’ with 10-30lbs more than last time. Notes were to try and get more in each stroke as it seemed like I was doing short strokes and stressing biceps more. I didn’t feel like that was the case and this is kind of what I went with on instinct. I think my worry was changing the cadence would slow me down and that extending more could have me off balance with my center of gravity as it is a strange position to brace and keep tension when just bodyweight and traction of the floor to move and break inertia of the implement. I went with 295lbs as that was what was left out from arm over arm stuff for my friend for base weight. I got myself ready and mentally prepped and had at it. Well I’ll be damned. This change up went well and smooth. I hardly felt like I did anything by the end of that first run. It felt easier than any of the sets last week with 30lbs less. So I decided to add a little weight. But I guess it did catch up to me as it most definitely felt like an effort on the next set. I mistimed the pulls near the end. I took a bit longer rest after that and added another 10lbs to it with hopes that I’d feel like that first set. Unfortunately not quite and again some mistiming on pulls near the very end. But within 100ths of seconds from the previous set. I started to get a little bit of calf cramp in the left from the strain and trying to keep my balance. This does seem to be the way to go with training this but again, no clue what is going to be the case when I get there. Adjust on the fly. Put stuff away and another break to just rehydrate before moving on to the lighter stuff. Reverse hypers again. 3x12 with 50lbs is what was indicated. Jumped right into this and thankfully I didn’t get any reps that had that sensation I didn’t like in my back and kept these pretty controlled. It felt easy enough that I went up 5lbs each set here and still feeling fine. So happy with this result. Then last thing being pulldown drop set. Same weight as last week but reps decreased from 10 to 8 reps. Reason being that Ms. Funk wants me to not be so sloppy in my movement as I was getting a good bit of lean back on these with the fatigue rather than more lat focused and upright. So I made it a focus to try and stay as upright as I could here. I took a bit longer rest between the sets this time for fatigue but also to help someone on fingal fingers. I was doing that stuff during my rests and breaks as it popped up. Got done about when I wanted to this time around and drank a shake and ate a sandwich before heading up to stretch and decompress.

February 25, 2026 – Week 2, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
141x5
231x3
321x2
371x1
421x1
471x3
471x3
471x3
471x3
471x3

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x1
225x1
265x1
175x1/225x1/265x1
175x1/225x1/265x1
175x1/225x1/265x0,0,1

Comments:  It was nice to get a walk in. A little worn from stuff but I feeling decent enough. Not very sore in my upper body but upper back and shoulders a little stiff. Another dose of the second day and I was looking forward to it. But I guess my allergies had other ideas. I initially did nasal spray and that didn’t seem to cover it and then Claritin. I didn’t want to use Dayquil as this didn’t feel like it was that serious. Just annoying. I can tolerate annoying. So started things off with soft tissue work. I had been tempted to do this during my lunch break just so that I could get right into training but I figured it was best to do this together and not get cold from desk work for hours beforehand. Lower legs needed it. Still some soreness in the hamstrings that was present Monday. And about what was expected in the quads and upper back. Rehab for the neck pretty standard with getting some tension out of the chest, shoulders, upper back and neck. Lower body stretching for the hips, knees and ankles after that. Dead hang felt good. Then garage time for heavy lifting. I had needed my warm ups Monday at the start but it felt like it was warm enough to not need them this session. Axle pulls with the wagon wheels again. What was planned was expected by how the last session went and kind of how I imagine things would be. So work up to 470ish and do that for 5x3. With how things had felt last week, I figured that this would likely feel rough and heavy at the start getting ready and then pretty decent on the working sets with getting more used to it. Maybe be doing reps with +500lbs the next “heavy day” (assuming like with the bendy bar prep). This is a much shorter one though. Again, the plate jumps have things feeling a little odd with how heavy stuff feels around 315lbs. From there, singles with 50lbs jumps to the working weight. I had gotten a little excited last week with my last warming up set not inspiring confidence and then it seemed I undershot a little on the effort. So I knew that could be coming and maybe that had me not as hyped here. But that first set felt rough. I felt lightheaded on that first pull and had to take a moment after each pull that set to make sure I was still conscious and pull it again. I did not pass out here thankfully. But not an enjoyable start to the deadlift session. Now thankfully, I didn’t have that issue after the first set. Allergy meds do not help with the pressure unfortunately. I do have this with some working up sets but usually once it is like that, I’m inoculated for the rest of the training session. I also made it a point to hold the lockouts for a beat here as there will be up and down commands on this event. Third set felt the best but could be because the music was having me a little more excited vs the other song choices (it was the same song that came on doing dumbbell Saturday). I got through this volume work with decently heavy weight here without incident so that was good. The next things was sandbag to shoulders. This was adjusted from last time with instead of being doubles now triples with the 175lbs, 225lbs and 265lbs sandbags. At least that was the plan. I was advised if that was too much at this time to do a double with the 225lbs bag after the 175lbs bag. I didn’t want to think that as too much for me as I’ve thrown around 225lbs easy enough for multiple sets for time in my off season prep (albeit my previous pick and shoulder style). I was thinking that this would go better than last time as I tend to improve on these things quickly and I wanted to see how a full bag would feel vs the floppy ones. So my plan here was to do singles with each bag rather than try and jump right into it like last time where I didn’t have a good time. This did not start off well. 175lbs felt awful to shoulder that first rep. Really hoping just getting some rust off here and still recovering from the pulls. 225lbs wasn’t too great either. My hope was that 265lbs would be my salvation. That I could say that I didn’t need to do these lighter bags that won’t be like at contest with the setup. Certainly felt firmer but I seemed to not know what to do with it. Like a serious brain fart and my attempts to bump it up my body had it barely moving. It just felt so damn heavy on my side and I didn’t feel like I could stand up with it in position. This is not a sensation I’ve ever felt before with this event. Honestly, I wouldn’t have counted this lift if I was judging but I figured this was a warm up and that when I went live, it would be better. With the actual sets, I was told to not go right from one to the other, but take a 5-8 seconds breather between each bag. I’m doing reps at this time but it will be a max and this is to train for me making multiple attempts in that minute if needed. With how rough warming up was, I went with 8 seconds to start. 175lbs was easy and 225lbs was not the best but it didn’t feel terrible. 265lbs was up now. The upright style is not doing my any favors it seems as I’m not staying close to the bag as this size bag is really low to the ground. It took like 3 bumps to get this to the shoulder and it was not a smooth transition up there but it was world’s better than my warm up attempt. I decided with how much pressure that was putting on my left side to “lockout”, that I’d see if my hard belt helped with that. I’ve tended to avoid a hard belt on things like sandbag, stones and kegs but I’m willing to learn and adapt to what I have. So hard belt on for the second set. 175lbs was easy, 225lbs the pick the bag didn’t go how I wanted so a little tougher. Still doing 8 seconds rest here. 265lbs went up in one movement after I got my position settled in the lap after the pick. So I guess this did something. So aim now was to make last set the best set here. 175lbs went up easy and despite a little issue with the bag on pick with both that and 225lbs, they went up easy with 5 seconds rest. So I went for the 265lbs bag. But I didn’t balance it right on the pick so it was bottom heavy and didn’t quite clear my legs. I didn’t want to drop it (should’ve) and rotated on my knees so that I was holding it like I would for a carry and generally how I’ve shouldered sandbags. But it felt foreign to me and I couldn’t get it to the shoulder and I dropped it. Starting to panic here. I reset it and take a decent amount of breaths to try again and I get a better pick but it gets stuck on me like my warm up with this bag did and it won’t go up. Really starting to freak out. I’m trying to keep myself composed but I break out into a cold sweat. My breathing is labored and I’m trying to get myself focused to try once again because I’m stubborn. This was a better pick and it gets up better but stuck again like my warm up and it gets to the point (even with a hard belt) that it is very difficult to stand up and lockout. I got as close as I could fight it and dropped it. Like the warm up, I wouldn’t have counted it. I immediately took off my belts and knee sleeves and just laid on the carpet in my house panting and sweating. This kind of sensation happens when I miss a lift I’m expecting and I’ve put some importance on it. Trying to get any motivation or energy back but it seemed futile and I just took a semi-conscious nap. I’m not sure how much time went by but it was at least 10 minutes but possibly 30 minutes. I had no appetite to do the rest of the workout with the gms and zercher split squats, pull ups and single leg rlds. I was going to just frustrate myself and my myself angrier than I already was. So I figured best thing was to call it there. I had at least done the event work for the day. Now to clean up and sleep it off like a honey badger bitten by some venomous snakes and hope the rest and distance improve my clarity of thought. I’m like 99.9% certain I’m just going back to my previous style of sandbag shouldering after this session.

February 23, 2026 – Week 2, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Dumbbell Push Presses (4-1-0-1 tempo)
10’sx6
40’sx3
70’sx6
70’sx6
70’sx6
70’sx6
70’sx6

Paused Axle Floor Presses (2 seconds at lockout)
86x6
136x4
186x2
236x6
236x6
236x6
236x6

Internal Rotation Dumbbell Flyes/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (1 second at lockout)
10’sx12 – 10x6/6
30’sx12 – 25x12/12
30’sx12 – 25x12/12
30’sx12 – 25x12/12
30’sx12 – 25x12/12

Close Grip Push Ups/Band Face Pulls
bwx20/abx25
bwx17/abx25
bwx16/abx25

Stretching

Comments: The rest of the weekend was weird. Later Saturday got alert about conserving water due to an incident and then that was resolved by the morning. It was hard to fall asleep and then stay asleep after the training Saturday. Snow was pending but it looked like it was just going to be rain. Color me surprised when I woke up Monday morning to a blanket of snow. Not even close to what the last snow was. Office was closed (kind of surprised since streets plowed) but working offsite these next four weeks so not affecting me in the slightest. My father did my driveway and walkway with his new snowblower he got after the once in a decade snow but I still had a little bit on the back patio to clear during my lunch break. The weird weather caused some issues with getting my usual groceries resolved in time so today’s meals a little different. No walking Sunday but plan is to get in my walks going forward now. DLS is coming up so I should have more daylight after work for when in office for walks then. Weight was surprisingly up a little from last week at 258.6lbs. Even though work is dumb right now, I’m bit more rested and relaxed with the offsite schedule. Stiff and sore from Saturday training and just getting to not be so sore from Monday session in the upper body. Just in time. Been making sure I get the soft tissue work in. Needed a bit of foam rolling for my calves and man were my hamstrings sore from box squats. About the normal amount for quads and upper back. Neck rehab stuff felt fine. Lower body stretching was ok but I could tell still soreness in posterior chain. Dead hang felt the best it has since I’ve come back from Arizona. No real changes to the plan for this session with stuff so that meant I could do everything in the garage. Dumbbell push presses with tempo for the start. I wore my warm ups as it was getting below freezing again. My right knee was feeling a tad achy so I didn’t just rush right into the 40’s like I was initially planning. I had done 70’s for 4x6 so this was just adding another set to that. That first set didn’t feel as comfortable as the first set did last week but overall these felt better I feel than last week had with recovery and execution, even with the extra set. These are still a slow cooker for my triceps and shoulders as those first three reps feel really easy. From there it was on to floor presses with the axle. Holding lockouts for 2 seconds each rep. Ms. Funk is indicating that were are going to annihilate the triceps this prep from what she say with the competition and my pressing. I can only hope they adapt and survive. I started heavier here as I felt like essentially empty bar was too light and just took up time after the tempo dumbbell work. Plan being 4x6 with 5-10lbs more than last time. Also told to keep my head down. I feel like I don’t intend to do that but I made a note to try and keep that from happening. First two sets working up my triceps were twitching like crazy again but then no issues with weights above that. My last jump felt really heavy in my hands and I was second guessing the planned weight but that was fine. I hit the rack one on the second work set and I think I realized at that point that I was still thinking about going back over my eyeline when I should be trying to keep it in a set groove and that seemed to help with keeping things stable after that. Pressing done and now supersets. The first one again being chest flyes with internal rotation and single arm triceps with lockout holds. Notes indicated another set on top of last time and suggested using the same weight on the flyes as the “top” set (I was adding 1lbs a set) for those. Notes on the triceps was to try and keep elbows tucked in (it is hard having body awareness with this movement for me) and potentially lowering weight to do that style. I figured I shouldn’t force things. I did more reps to warm up my pecs and went a little heavier and then lowered the weight a bit on the triceps. Pecs did feel better (there was tightness still). Triceps were tough. I’ll have to keep working at these things. Close grip push ups with band face pulls superset to end the session. Still bodyweight on the push ups with notes being to try and get more reps total than last time with the 10-20 reps scheme. Face pulls reps increase to 25 reps per set. I wasn’t so dead in the triceps this time around as I was able to increase the reps on the second and third set (I didn’t try and go above 20 reps the first set) so that was good. I was surprised how much more exhausting the face pulls became with the extra five reps per set. The session done and got dinner ready as I put stuff away. Stretched afterwards.