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.

February 21, 2026 – Week 1, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Monster Texas Squat Bar Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
66x6
110x5
154x4
198x3
242.5x2
287x4
287x4
287x4
287x4
287x4

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x3
108x2
EMOM
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2

Sandbag Carries (turns at 60’, turf, 60-90 seconds rest)
200x120’
200x120’
200x120’
200x120’
200x120’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
270x60’
270x60’
270x60’
270x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions
0x3
20x2
30x12
40x12
50x12

Pulldowns (drop sets)
150x10/120x10/90x20
150x10/120x10/90x20

Stretching

Comments: Not the best sleep amount the past few days but with reverting back to the preferred work option schedule, that should hopefully be back on track for at least the next four weeks. Traffic issue was manageable for the rest of the week and it should be all resolved (for the current issue) by the time I need to be worrying about it. Potentially getting more snow but with it being warmer out, it will likely not stick around if it does accumulate. My intent with training today was to get up at my normal work time (not the earlier work time) and get ready to go and rather than try and do all of it the night before. I did feel like I was going to be rested enough when I woke up for the early work time but then I guess I got tired again in the following hour and slept for an additional 70 minutes past that time. Oh well. Training wasn’t going to be as bad I felt compared to prep for last competition with doing 4 of the 5 events on one day. Drive out wasn’t bad. Some people at the gym for strongman stuff and got some congrats for my result at the show. But I’m already on to the next one. I didn’t end up starting my own training for a bit after I arrived as helping my one friend doing the Arnold in two weeks with the more irksome to setup events (and one I would be doing something similar to). I didn’t have anywhere to be. I mentioned what I had planned for training today and another friend felt like that was too much this soon after competing and for my age in their unsolicited opinion (and they indicated it was such). I get it, it is a lot but I was bored out of my mind with the week off and I’ve seen the results on my ability to recover and keep pushing with this training. Granted, I do feel that stuff needs to be pulled back sooner for the deload for the competition and that has been discussed with Ms. Funk as it is a learning experience with coach and athlete figuring out what works and such. Especially when its remote. Anyways, I was able to start my session. I’ve not had the chance to do walks with the work schedule but hopefully I can now back on the telework option. So I was expecting some soreness/stiffness in my lower body. Soreness still present in the stuff worked on Day 1 and now stuff from Day 2 which was mostly my upper back, hamstrings and outer quads. Surprisingly, my right calf didn’t need any real work done with soft tissue. My left one though needed it like usual. Other than the right calf not needing it, everything else did. Neck rehab stuff was fine and dandy. Felt good to get some stuff stretched and moving. Lower body stretching was needed. I was not sure how the dead hang would go as my left forearm has felt a little tight/tender since I got back to training from the week off. But it felt fine for the most part. So as typical of this day once the warming up is done is some kind of squat. I was bit surprised with the choice, not because of the style or tempo but because it was just going to be with a barbell. It could be over 6yrs since I’ve done a back squat of any kind with a barbell. It has been with some kind of specialty bar. I think because the other bars tend to make it harder on the upper back and that barbell can put stress/strain on the shoulders and wrists with positioning. So box squats with a barbell and lowering to a 4 seconds count to a parallel box. My assumption here with wider stance as it seemed emphasis was the hips and to “explode” off the box. I elected to use the monolift again and my intent was to just use a barbell. But by the monolift were the squat bars. One was a 25kgs squat bar and the other a 30kgs monster squat bar. Longer, thicker and stiffer than the regular barbells. I decided just for the heck of it and novelty that I’d use the monster squat bar and for further distraction/fun, just use kilogram plates here. I didn’t expect that 18” box height would be my parallel box and with the kilo jumps, I ended up going a tad heavier than I was planning. Low bar squat position hasn’t been done by me in a while and I ended up wearing my wrist wraps so that my wrists weren’t feeling terrible here. I look really weird when I squat. I got immediate muscle soreness in my inner thighs on these and I was a little worried that I potentially would or did strain something in the inner thigh muscles but I seemed to make it out of these unscathed. From there I moved on to circus dumbbell. One of the reasons for picking this show (speaking of which, the west coast one sold out and the southeast got cancelled) was that this had circus dumbbell a little heavier than what I had for the last show so I could keep on trucking from that rather than having to switch to something else with a somewhat short turnover in training time. Contest is 160lbs for reps in a minute. No run up like last show. This was to just get some good reps in and knock some rust off. I did my abbreviated warm up I adopted for this and the plan was 130lbs for 8x2 done EMOM. Despite my right knee feeling a little stiff (it was a lot stiff after Wednesday and thankfully no issues on the box squats), things were moving good with warming up. It took me two sets with 130lbs before I got things figured out with the movement and not rushing it and such. I had to shake my head after the first double as that was pretty garbage and I had to wait a beat on the second set that first rep before it felt right. But after that it was pretty automatic. Last three sets a song came on that I tend to get excited to and those were the easiest reps. I did a little walking around after the last rep of the last set. It is good to see this was feeling good albeit with light weight. Put that stuff away and got things setup for the next thing. Sandbag carries. Show is 300lbs for 120’ with turn at 60’. I’m not the fastest with implements in a carry so this was light and for several sets with short rest (relatively). IE 200lbs for 5 sets of 120 with 80-90 seconds rest. Not yet time to use outdoor stuff at the gym so this was on the turf but I started with the sandbag on stall mats so that I didn’t have to worry about scraping my knuckles on the pick each time. I re-chalked after each run and ended up taking longer rests for the first two runs and then shorter rests at the end. I felt good the first three runs but could tell I was fatiguing in the last two runs. At this point was when I felt I could pop in a rice Krispie treat as I had some setting up to do for the last event and the following accessory work. Need a little boost and didn’t want to just wait until I was done for sustenance as it was going to be a tad later in the day than I was originally planning. Standing arm over arm pulls since that will be an event. Kind of a crapshoot with figuring out what will be the case until you get there. But indication is 50-60’. I’ve only had this event once and it was part of a medley and it was brutal training it and then show it was underwhelming as course was drastically shortened and the convention floor made the 250kgs or so weight a joke (when struggling with 365lbs on turf). I’m assuming show will be on either blacktop/concrete if outside or on something like a basketball court if inside. But that’s not here or now. What I got is turf at the moment with weather so turf it will be. Doing arm over arm pulls on surfaces with high friction and no momentum is exhausting and I take pretty long rests to recover. Plan being 4x60’ at about RPE 8. I just guessed what that would be and I think I got it about right. Form is weird with this one as the closer it gets, the angle changes and what was working early on seems to not be as good a choice. I’m not sure why the up and down motion feels right here. I was getting better as I went on these but fatigue got the better of me by the end and I was missing the rope at times. Going uphill on these so I can’t really imagine that contest will be tougher than this unless really shitty conditions. This took bit of time to put away and that was helpful so that I could recover and get some fluids in before the last two things. I’ve not done a reverse hyper in over 9yrs. I think I’ve just done them wrong in the past and last time I tried them was coming back from my 2016 back injury and it seemed to irritate things (and I wasn’t even using much weight). But I’d figure I’d give them a try and try to do them in way that felt right. So no weight to really light weight. I also think I may be little too tall for the one at the gym. Took a bit to feel comfortable but 30lbs ended up not being so bad so I figured I’d add weight. Somehow, 10lbs added was having them not feel so great and I was trying to adjust during the set. The traction/shearing is not ideal and trying to have it feel in the muscles and not the wherever. 50lbs on the thing did feel better than 40lbs. Pretty obvious I lack strength in this movement but I think if light and progress slow that I can rectify that. Last thing was listed as optional if I had time. Look, I got all the time in the world most days and especially on my last day of the training week. I will make the time for it. This was something that was in training briefly leading up to worlds being pulldown drop sets. Those had been with neutral grip and doing 3x10 and 3x12 respectively for the 2 weeks in the program. This time a little different in that regular grip and the last set was to be for max reps. I went with the same weights I did then since I’ve not done pulldowns in over 6 months and my pull ups are not where they had been due to lack of doing them. First set started off fine enough. I don’t think I took a set rest when I did these last (just recall less than 15 seconds) but I decided with the last set being for max reps that I should do something more consistent. So 15 seconds rest after the first one and then 20 seconds before the max rep set. I do think I could’ve kept going with the 90lbs but I felt like I was going to be missing a rep shortly. Second set was rougher going with the other sets taking a bit more effort to get the reps and I was thinking that I’d not get to 20 reps on the max rep set with how my upper back and arms were fatiguing. But I guess I felt the symmetry was more important and made it to 20 reps. Again, not sure if that was max but it was a lot of reps and I’m ok with that after a long training session. Finally got to drink my shake and eat a sandwich before cleaning up to head home to then stretch.

February 18, 2026 – Week 1, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
206x3
296x2
346x1
396x1
441x6
446x6
451x6
456x6

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x1/225x0
175x1/225x1
175x1/225x1
175x1/225x1
175x1/225x1
175x1/225x1
175x1/225x1

Deadstop Safety Bar Good Mornings (lower to deadlift pull height)
65x8
95x6
125x4
155x8
160x8
165x8

Sandbag Zercher Stationary Lunges
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
112x10/10
112x10/10
112x10/10

Deadstop Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Pull Ups
62x4/4 – bwx3
102x8/8 – bwx5
102x8/8 – bwx5
102x8/8 – bwx5

Stretching

Comments:  Well, I was right about being incredibly sore in my pecs and triceps. And it is a kind of soreness that will likely be present until next week’s session where I do all again. But hopefully it will not be a sore then and not take as long. Work itself hasn’t been as draining but it is a lot but light at the end of the tunnel at least with this being the last week of the four weeks on this rotation and back to my preferred schedule that will allow for more sleep/time. But can’t just let it go by easy as the city decided that now was a great time to do a construction project on the route I take to work and having to take a detour to get to and from. I ended up being late for work Tuesday as I got lost on the detour but no issues today. I wasn’t too sure how long the workout tonight would take as some of it seemed like not bad on paper but other stuff could take longer. Soft tissue work to start things off here. Considering how much I needed on my lower legs Monday, things were pretty easy and quick here on this today. The neck rehab was where I was going to get reminders of my sore pecs. But even that just felt good on them. Lower body stretching was a little tight but not in a way that had me doing double like Monday. I remembered to do the dead hang today in the warming up. Man, am I still feeling whatever as my left forearm was feeling sore besides my tight pec, triceps and (by extension) lats. With that done, it was time to do the lifting. No tib/calf raises at this time. The next show has a deadlift event with an axle using the 13” pull setup of the “wagon wheels” that have become popular. So this would be a first touch of one of the events. Contest is 535lbs for reps (no suits). Instructions for today was to work up to 4x6 at about RPE 8. Not sure where I was on this as been pulling from the floor on axle and bendy bar setup and last month or so has been with a suit. But the hope would be that the elevated position with my levers would potentially be more advantageous to me. I’ve also not felt like I had good juju with the wagon wheels as of late with the last prep for a show using them as an event I had bailed out on due to a lot of strong emotions and then trying to bring them in to spice up my training out of boredom. The math says that if I’m good for a single at competition weight, I should be able to do 8 reps at 426lbs so that was the bare minimum for the working weight. I was initially going to do 40-50lbs jumps but I’m kind of used to the plate jumps to start now and then switching to that. Going above what is “3 plates” is where things get tricky to gauge how I’m feeling. Feeling like do this and then dropping back and so on. I was feeling a lot of pressure doing the singles working up. I settled on 200kgs or so and really hoped I didn’t overestimate myself here. Other than my body being confused on why I’m deadlifting, this felt like I lowballed the RPE a good bit. So added 5lbs and figured I’d do that each set. Well the second set didn’t feel as easy as the first and had me reconsidering adding more weight but I did anyways and that felt a little bit better. Last set is when I think I remember that key to having a tight and short stroke on the deadlift and that seemed to be fine. I felt I had reps in the tank but I could tell my back and hamstrings were fighting hard. Hamstrings were twitching like crazy and it was having the weights shake on me on some of the later reps of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th set. This is a decent starting point here. With the exercises as they were here, this was likely the only break between where I could use the time to tear down and setup to get some liquids in me as the rest of it would get a bit tricky. The next things was sandbag to shoulders. Another event for the Midwest qualifier. Max weight but you have 60 seconds to achieve that out of selection of bags. Not sure what those will be but I have some idea. So this would appear to be the placement of this event on this day rather than with all the other events like last prep. Only doing singles to my strong side with 175lbs and 225lbs bag. Plan was to do 5 rounds of that but I biffed it the first attempt and then noticed after my first “good set” that my camera was off so I added another since this wasn’t too taxing. This was a little trickier than it should’ve been because I was trying out a different style of shouldering. My method has worked with bags up to point with size wise and weight but if the weight bag option I think will be available is there, I’m not sure if my way will be manageable. So trying something that may work with having the bag upright vs laying on the ground. This was also a reminder that the chalk I bought most recently is garbage quality and I need to get something better. Last set felt the best here. The rest of the workout was not going to be events and was not going to be fun. The mention about my lower back not feeling as strong was received loud and clear as I got more good mornings on the menu after all the deadlifting. Dead stop style with the ssb. I had did somewhat of a version of these when I was doing my own thing last year but that had not been to a dead stop. Plan being work up to 3x8. I was initially expecting more weight to be needed here but that had been based off the other variation and I ended up lowering what I needed here by a good bit wanting to keep form strict/good after the axle pulls. I could tell my lower back was feeling the previous two exercises as unracking the weight had the weight feeling the most heavy on my lower back and feeling relatively fine when doing the movement. This was another humbling one but need to work things to be stronger. The exercise that followed may be the most terrible thing Ms. Funk has had me do since she started my coaching. Notes said to do zercher stationary lunges while holding a sandbag to my chest. Be tight and move fast. My lightest sandbag at home is 112lbs and don’t know if I’ve gone above 100lbs total for any split squat or lunge type variation since starting with her. I did bodyweight (well I also held 3 couch cushions so I was bearhugging something) and my knees (mostly my right) were not thrilled with this. So knee sleeves were going to be needed here. I also added my soft belt. Getting into position wasn’t bad but man was this intense just getting the reps here. I had to do a double take that very first rep as I didn’t feel like I could do it at first. Now I’ve been doing unilateral stuff with this training as doing maybe 30 seconds rest between sides at most. But when I’d done other training where the single side stuff is really pushing things, I’ve treated each side as its own set and rest accordingly. That hasn’t really been viable when these are supersetted into things. With this one, with how intense this was feeling, I went that route as I feel that if I went right into the next one like that, I’d not have a good time with short rest to repick the sandbag back up. This took a bit longer than I was expecting and I was not expecting this to be the most intense thing of this session. I had to take a bit to recover after that before I got to the final thing and it was already pretty late considering having to get up earlier with the current shift. The last thing was a superset. A slight modification to the supported single leg dumbbell rdls in that suggested to do them from dead stop if I could. The other half of this being then regular ass pull ups. Aim for max reps. It has been months since I’ve done these. I was initially going to do the same weight I was doing and left off on with the rdls but with how beat I was feeling and the increased effort of pausing the reps on the floor, I had to reduce the weight a good bit to keep from stumbling (even with support from the rack). In hindsight, I probably could’ve gone a bit heavier with how things were moving. The pull ups was a different story. I did a set of 3 reps as a warm up and those were really tough. I was not going to be doing a lot of reps today. I used the rack in the garage rather than go outside to cut down on time between the exercises. I got a rough five here. This was going to kill me. I dry heaved a little during my rest. I didn’t have that issue on the other sets and I managed to match the reps on the pull ups. It was only after I was done that I realized I had forgotten to turn on the camera so I missed that last exercise pairing. I guess there is next time. I was moving slow like a zombie after this and took a bit for me to get dinner down after the retching. Eventually stretched and got to bed late. Hopefully doesn’t effect me too much tomorrow and I can try and get some sleep in the coming days again.

February 16, 2026 – Week 1, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

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

Paused Axle Floor Presses (2 seconds at lockout)
46x8
96x6
136x4
186x2
226x8
226x8
226x8
226x8

Internal Rotation Dumbbell Flyes/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (1 second at lockout)
10’sx6 – 12x6/6
26’sx12 – 30x12/12
27’sx12 – 30x12/12
28’sx12 – 30x12/12

Close Grip Push Ups/Band Face Pulls
lbx3
bwx20/abx20
bwx15/abx20
bwx12/abx20

Stretching

Comments: While I may not bee feeling 100% physically after competing, mentally I was going a bit stir crazy come a week off from training. I came back to dumb work stuff and still kind of getting over stress from travel. Nothing was done while I was out so a bit frustrating to come back to a mess. But only two days of work before a three-day weekend. Bodyweight up a bit to 258lbs at that is after coming back and eating what I eat normally so I must have been eating good in Arizona. But got to get back to the grind. And hope that it doesn’t wear me out so much in the first week. I’d only done a walk on Saturday and did soft tissue work Wednesday. Training so far has some stuff present last cycle but doesn’t look the same. So starting things off with my usual foam rolling and man did my lower legs need it a lot. I was expecting that. Probably going to need a ton more next time around. Not so much elsewhere besides my right quad but that was still not as needy as my calves were. Good that this was day off session from work to get back into it. Neck rehab stuff felt fine and was needed. I was surprised that some stuff wasn’t as stiff as I was worried it would be. That came with the lower body stretching where I pretty much did double what I normally do here. I plum forgot to do a dead hang before moving on to lifting. So first thing in the session being dumbbell push presses. These have been generally tempo based and notes were to not kill myself with effort but not coast along. Aim for RPE 7-8 on everything. My shoulders (especially my left) were still feeling like I needed to baby them so I wasn’t sure what I’d handle today so I didn’t want to assume that my usual 70’s were going to work today. I went really light to make sure I was moving all good and 10’s felt like a joke and 40’s moved easy. The dumbbells do allow me to train this inside under the recessed lighting fixture so I didn’t have to move a bunch of things around and could stay in the garage for the session. There were times when the reps felt piss easy and others where I could tell that I was feeling fatigue from the eccentrics and holding the lockout. Apparently holding the lockout is now going to be my thing on all my pressing accessory work it seems. And I didn’t realize how much more tiring things were going to be because of that. I had one rep where I wasn’t quite under the lights and hit the ceiling tile and that through me off. I took a little longer rest before doing the last set. After that, I did do a dead hang and many were my chest and biceps sore. Needed that stretch. Axle not forgotten in the prep, just changing to it being a bench vs overhead. So bringing back floor presses with the axle. I did these for a few sessions for the world’s prep but those were with pauses at the bottom. These were at lockout. Plan being 4x8. Even from what I had done for the push pressing with holds and eccentrics (the pauses in the dip felt easy) had my triceps twitching something fierce. I worked up like I would with bench pressing usually and assumed 2 plates a side would be about right and if it was too light, I could add a little each set like I’m wont to do. That triceps fatigue built and the start felt a lot easier than the end did on these sets. Lockout was slowing down a good bit by the end of the third and fourth set. My triceps would receive no reprieve this session. While the heavier pressing stuff was done, I still had more things to do. Now one change I noticed with this session is that no leg work coming into the mix in the later half of the session. This is all purely upper body-based stuff. But some familiarity with it being supersets to end the session. First one being a pairing of chest flyes and single arm triceps. I’ve not done flyes in a while but at least done some triceps extension work in the off season. These flyes were a little different in that I was to end on an internal rotation. I did both movements light to start to make sure that nothing was feeling funky. My left shoulder/pec is tight so there was some strain there with these but felt better as I went honestly. The triceps extension felt harder with the weight I picked. They fatigue so fast with holds and many reps. I didn’t really have small amount of weight to really bump up the flyes (didn’t feel safe to do 40’s off the bat) so added 1lb per set with microloading. I know just from how the movement was that my chest is going to be really sore tomorrow and the next day. Probably all week. It was already too late for my triceps. With those done, one last superset. Close grip push ups with band face pulls. It apparently has been quite some time since I’ve done a face pull which didn’t sound right but judging by my notes, it has been close to a year. My left elbow was a little touchy at first with them but after doing them, I probably could’ve done a heavier band tension and had these be closer to the needed effort. The push ups were humbling. Just bodyweight but after all the other stuff, my triceps were toasted and I knew from experience that I tend to fatigue fast and hard when doing things like this. I got 20 reps pretty well that first set but then I knew that my triceps were just on fumes and called it before I started to make them ugly for the remaining two sets. Well one workout down. Put stuff away and stretched out before having dinner with my parents.

February 7, 2026 – The ATP Classic

Still doing this thing. This decade has been unusual. 2020 would be the gas leak year of this sitcom called life with 2021 being a return to form and reinvention with 2022 showing the fruits of the labor of the preceding year. 2023 kind of was the recoil for 2022 though and further change and reinvention. 2024 was an experiment and change of focus that ended poorly. 2025 was further change with a focus on going to new places and take the chance. Finding that what I thought was waning was only moving into waxing with a reignition of passion. This year would hopefully be a progression from that, in spite of the current chaos. I know, that is vague and sounds like something that would be put to those inspiration core reels on your social media consumption of choice. But the frame of mind that this me is the current iteration of me and continuing to persist at a thing (whatever its name) seems to silence the anxious cacophony as grappling with mortality. Maintaining being the pipe dream 

Traveling to compete in 2025 to places I’d never been had been with the opportunity to compete had stoked the embers to keep me interested in this venture for a little while longer. See what a change of workload and perspective could do. Natural world’s prep had been haphazard and with having someone willing to take me on as a client with a month to go had been risky, but the results on most things being above what I managed in training, it made sense to keep that coaching on for a longer stint and see what could be created with prep work. The plan once I got back home had been to let them have their way with me on an extended off-season prep which had been something I’ve lacked for probably since 2021 and 2022. I don’t feel like the ones after that had been productive. Another pair of eyes and see what I miss being inside my own skull. The tentative plan then being to qualify for both Natural Strongman Worlds and Strongman Corporation Nationals and assuming that succeeds, go with the one that seems better option when the time comes (as both the end of August). Off season for the most part was great and needed. Not to say there weren’t hiccups (slight tear in left quad muscle earlier on) but there was a pretty drastic change in body composition (I didn’t change my diet much) with my upper back size and ability to repeat efforts and recover.

I’m finding myself being very picky with shows knowing the effort to put into them and knowing that progress on things like my overhead and deadlift are not going to be up there and comparing to even 5yrs ago I may not be there with a long prep. But I abhor the typical and boring and I like knowing stuff with a decent bit of time so that I can get leave approved (my job does by seniority and in December of the previous year to guarantee leave). Initially was looking at Natural World’s qualifier locally but the events bored me to tears and my hope was something later in the year that was better would come along. So a contest in Arizona ended up catching my fancy with the events as some were excellent for me, some I’ve wanted to do and others requiring gamesmanship. Perfect to what I feel was some of the more interesting shows I’ve done. It would make sense for going this far for contest as the venue was very close to where family lives in the state. I’ve only been out there once in November 2024 but it had been for more somber circumstances and I had planned to try and make the effort to be out there since. So this was going to be a family trip situation as well as a competition. Which I know could still be an issue with stress of planning things out.

And stress there was. With coming back to the US from Ireland, there were changes with work as far as requirements and the like. Short of it being that my work schedule now alternates every four weeks and lets just say that every other month sucks with doing the alternating schedule. Off season had been fairly sustained but the actual contest prep and peak were quite aggressive in nature. I definitely needed to build up tolerance with a long offseason to survive. In the future, may need to make tweaks to that to deal with the realities of these changes and with my ability to recover. I ended up getting sick twice with one stint being enough that I had to take sick leave (which I’ve not done since 2017). So not ideal for coming into a competition requiring travel and just the stress I carry in all things. Some things did mitigate the stress. I did some visualization on the 2.5hrs drive to the airport. Very surprised to see there was even a decent amount of snow in northern Virginia from the previous snow storm. I ended up walking a lap of the airport terminal to deal with nervous energy. The flight out made great time arriving 70 minutes ahead of time (usually a lot of wind resistance flying out vs coming back). Getting the rental vehicle was did seem to eat up any time gained but got food and I slept well that night. I definitely needed a little bit of a buffer from arriving and competing to adapt to the climate and time difference. Spent the day with family Thursday but only part of the day Friday as I needed to decompress some after weigh-ins.

Contest started early. Up at 6AM to get ready for 7AM rules meeting. I had already decided that I was going to try and keep myself on EST vs MST so that it didn’t feel that early a start to the day. Competition being held at the ATP Gym. Not often see a 2-story strength training gym with dedicated areas to strongman stuff. I had weighed in a little heavy compared to how I have been but that was with my shoes on. Only a single stall for bathroom for the men’s and everyone was having the same thoughts that that could be an issue later with nearly 80 competitors and that the toilet may not survive. I also didn’t know how long or smooth this show would run as it seemed about double the normal turnout. I had no clue about how things would be with competing and such and I did feel pretty stiff. I had done my “last warm-ups” the day before with familiarization with the stuff that was out and doing my usual mobility stuff at the Airbnb. 11 competitors in the weight class (120kgs) so a decent amount of competition. Rules were done and then it was time to get ready for the day. My brother, mother, father and two nieces were able to spectate (no pressure haha).

First event of the day was a medley consisting of yoke (750lbs/340kgs) and husafell stone shaped sandbag (308.5lbs/140kgs). Run/walk/stumble the yoke down 30’/9.14m and then run back to the start and do the same with the husabag in the 60 seconds time limit. This kind of event is not usually how most contests start as the usual seems to be an overhead (or the overhead) event. I feel like overhead usually done first as least likely that a max effort there is going to affect other events in the show vs say doing a max deadlift or a truck pull. Body is going to feel those on everything. Training was a bit odd for this one. Yoke started a long ways out I think mostly because my coach wanted me to move more efficiently. So a lot of volume in the low to high 500lbs range and then kind of escalating things drastically as switching into contest prep. This has not been quite how I had done so in the past as generally a long build up and every other week. Not so this time and I was inclined to listen seeing how didn’t come close to contest weight with my world’s prep and finished. The husabag came in later. I got one for this show and I swear they shipped me a smaller size one as I couldn’t get it to the fill weight. I spent over an hour and ended up getting an inflamed tendon for my efforts. So while that was a bit underweight, I did manage to do the yoke at contest once (while dealing with sickness) somewhat well so I knew this would be doable even if I wasn’t feeling at my best on the day. Initially the course was to be 50’/15m each way and I had been training for that so contest on the day being a shorter run wasn’t an issue. One of the tricky aspects was the start since not allowed to start under the yoke. I know how my tightness at the start affects my bracing on moving events like this. Doing my best to work on that this prep as well as trying to do a little bit of a staggered stance start here as well. I knew that I needed to be loose and ready and try my best to get in decent warm ups to feel ready. Adapting to the yoke weight was going to be key whereas just some touches with the husabag would be fine. So mostly got that. The husabags were in the competition area so I only got to pick up a lighter one once. I did managed to get my back not feeling stiff so yoke was feeling decent enough. I tried to mimic the husabag with a regular sandbag and my right hamstring was feeling tight so I was nervous about that. I was called up and ready to go. I did a little bit of a shove of the yoke to make sure it was good. Whistle goes and I get under the yoke. I start a little gingerly to see how I felt and it felt good so I picked up the pace. Competitor in the lane beside me goes down and I keep going. Finish the yoke smooth and get back to the husabag. Due to worries about the hamstring, I was a little cautious on the pick but once it was up I felt fine and went for it. I ended up diving as I had seen some people stop short and have to pick it up again. Not about that life. Little hump to get back on my feet. A lot of the nerves were gone. I knew this was a beatable time though. 23.40 seconds which was a good time as about 2 seconds off what ended up being the winning time. Starting day in 4th place. 

Second event was the press event. A bit of gamesmanship with this one. Dubbed the “optional” press. Three different implements (log, axle and circus dumbbell) and you lifted for reps. Once you pick an implement, you cannot change from it. So say one competitor does 3 reps on the log and another does 5 reps on the axle. Axle would win as more reps. Log and axle the same weight (255lbs/115kgs) and the dumbbell being 150lbs/68kgs. 60 seconds limit and shot clock rule in effect (IE if time expires while lift is going, it counts). The implements are also spaced out so that the dumbbell is furthest away from the line and the log closest. This is fairly light overhead event but got to be smart and efficient. At the start of things, I wasn’t sure what would be the way to go with how my overhead strength has been. Going off of what I was familiar with, I was doing a lot of axle (and not enjoying it) barely and log and it has been years since I’ve done dumbbell. But I’d have to see what feels best. At the start of offseason, contest weight for axle was unfortunately challenging to hit and I pretty much had to relearn log. I was very surprised how good dumbbell was feeling and I figured that with being very close to contest weight with 17 weeks to go (and for decent reps) that I had my answer on which one to pursue and had the best chance of successful for me here. Axle stayed out of the rack on one day (keeping a bilateral press) and dumbbell and log on another day alternating sessions initially. Then switching to dumbbell every session. I’ve done that before and sometimes it worked out and other times it didn’t. The last time I did a prep with dumbbell I had felt good in training and then it just sucked at the show. But I managed to get up to 180lbs/81.5kgs at the end of off season prep and then drill lighter weight at the end. The other departure was that not bothering with my non-dominant side here with training. That would always double the training time and energy but it had always been a thing but not this time around. And really so nothing out of the ordinary here. This event can be hit or miss and my last session had not been ideal so that was in my head a bit here. I wasn’t going to bomb this event even on my worse day. Just need to get some touches here and hope that I’m firing on all cylinders here. The dumbbell was very slick since it was painted. I was a bit nervous of that when I saw how much it slid when I shouldered it the day before empty at weigh-ins. The dumbbells to warm up were a bit different specs. My lower back was tight again so I did some windmills with dumbbells (both regular and circus style). I really didn’t want a repeat of the last time I did circus dumbbell in contest. I sunk in to get a rep on the empty implement just to get the feel before heading back to the warm up area. 6 reps was the number to beat when it was my time. I made sure I showed the judge my disgusting bursitis and showed I could fully lockout the weight. The lane I was in was the “stricter” of the judges from observation. Whistle goes and I’m off to the dumbbell. The competitor in the other lane opted for the axle and got a rep before I got the dumbbell to my shoulder for the first attempt. Like I said, strategy here. My pressing didn’t feel so bad but my lower back was feeling tight and the hamstring thing was still in the back of my head. I also had a little platform I had to stay on to press (they added since last year people were putting holes in the floor). The other thing was that I could do touch and go but if I didn’t do that for a rep, I had to start it on the pad again. I got four reps in a decent pace. Then I got into trouble with going for the fifth one. Didn’t stabilize and had to catch it so I didn’t bonk myself in the head. I tried to go right away and just wasn’t going. I needed this rep. Utilizing the shot clock, I waited until there were 2 seconds left to pick it up again and really just let it settle there. Got that one pretty easy. So five reps the hard way. This ended up being another 4th place as there was a three-way tie for 1st with 6 reps. 7 reps if that had worked out with pacing would’ve won it. My brother, mother and nieces left at this point with plans to possibly return later. My dad remained as per usual.

Third event was deadlift. Specifically max deadlift with a bendy bar. Pulling under 545lbs/247kgs and you were using a Kabuki deadlift bar. Pulling 545lbs/247kgs and above and you were using a Cerberus Strength Kratos bar. 20lbs/9kgs jumps, three attempts and suits allowed. Additionally, if you started on the deadlift bar, you stayed on the deadlift bar and didn’t move up to the Kratos bar. They were also using deep dish plates so really trying to maximize the flex here on both setups. I ran into some issues with deadlift this prep. One was not realizing how much my deadlift strength had dipped on me like overhead from the previous year. Another was that the bendy bar setup that I did with what I had just seemed to really be a position that adjusted how I pulled the weight so as not to get pulled off balance. The flex and whip are worse than a deadlift bar, which I tend to not mind and like. This just feels different. And yet another was the suit itself. I have a multi-ply suit that I bought with the expectation that I wasn’t going to be under 265lbs/120kgs and be a bit larger. That hadn’t worked out but I felt like the suit idea with the cinches and fabric that didn’t irritate my skin was a good one. But I dropped about 25lbs from when I last used this suit as well as my single ply suit. The first session in the multi-ply suit wasn’t great. I felt every lift in my lower back and I felt so fatigued that needed to take an unplanned deload to get back on track. Someone on a forum had mentioned that I probably needed a better single ply suit when I had mentioned the new multi-ply in 2024 and I begrudging decided to revert to the single ply after that session. It just seemed to be putting too much stress on my lower back and I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted. I did some sowing on my single ply suit to make the legs tighter and my stitching held up for the most part. Felt a ton better using that (even with the skin irritation) and working on making slight adjustments each session. Lowering my expectations of what I’d hit and just make sure I train smart here and not blow my load in training when I know I can generally do better at contest. And hope that what I’m doing at home is a harder setup then what will be present in competition. I managed a top single in training of 603lbs/273.5kgs (again while not feeling the best) so I had some idea where I was going to be if not feeling my best here. But like I said, never done this one so anything was technically a PR. There were different bars in the warm up area. Obviously with only one Kratos bar, no warming up on that. I was feeling ok enough I guess here. My first three warm up sets were on a deadlift bar and I didn’t realize on my last one that a power bar had been swapped in so that was a bit of a rough go on the start. But it had me commit to starting lighter than planned here. 565lbs/256kgs for an opener. This should be safe and get an idea of what this long bar feels like. The bar is very long and since they wanted it to be on padded flooring, it had to be a diagonal setup. I didn’t have any issues with this lift but it felt heavy, even with my straps cranked down near max. It felt easier than my 507lbs/230kgs warm up had but didn’t feel like my setup at home or a deadlift bar. I knew I wasn’t hitting any all-time PRs in deadlift today. With how the this was kind of auctioneer style, it was difficult to discern who was in the weight class and who wasn’t. My hope was my next jump in weight would increase the flex if it was enough to require putting another plate on the bar. So 605lbs/274.5kgs was my second attempt. The diagonal setup got in the way of my rolling setup so I had to kind of shuffle forward strapped to the bar. I knew I had this one but it was a bit hard fought to lockout and it was definitely felt in the lower back. In way that wasn’t painful but was letting me know that I wasn’t quite there for where it needs to be for much heavier weights. I knew I could get the next jump in weight but I didn’t think I’d recover fast enough with how things were going. So I decided to take a gamble here for longer rest and go for 645lbs/292.5kgs for my third and final attempt. I tried to get myself hyped up for this one with my breathing and I gave it a good tug but it stalled below my knee caps and just wasn’t high enough to get it going through and my back was not equipped to muscle through this one. This was a bit disappointing but does kind of let me know where my deadlift is and that I need to work on some things for success next time. I had thought my podium shot was done here but I got 5th and due to other people ahead of me not doing so well, I managed to move into third place overall.

Moving on to the back end of the competition which should be my stronger events. So sitting in the third was a good spot as unless a catastrophe happened now, I was sure to hold on to a podium spot with a possibility of moving up the leader board. Fourth event being Hercules hold. Often a weight “to be determined” and “who knows” and “just hold it”. This ends up being one of my better events. I’ve not placed out of top 3 on this event when I’ve done it in competition. For this contest, they had a local guy wield and fabricate it so allegedly 250lbs/113lkgs empty each pillar. Often at the local level this event can be a bit underwhelming visually as often just some pipes with weight and usually it is a setup that the leverages make it so not a lot of weight is needed to make it a challenging thing to hold. No hook grip allowed for this show. Every time I’ve done these, I hope that it is heavy and that it is like holding on to dear life type thing but often it disappointingly is not. This is one where it should be spectacle. Even if this ended up not being heavy, this was certainly a larger than life setup here as the apparatus was the one event being done outside of the gym in the parking log (oh memories haha). Weight across the different classes was the same but the anchor point was altered to make the leverages such that it was tougher as they went up in the weight classes. Lately with prep for this kind of event, it is just accessory stuff and maybe one or two sessions using the apparatus the local gym has. This is more to get used to balance and the sensation of the weight being released as that isn’t really able to be trained when doing rolling handle or rolling bar hangs. This was a later in prep start to focus on and I was actually quite surprised how good doing hangs and such felt with nothing direct besides holding on to dumbbells and bars for row variations. One of the big focuses of offseason by my coach had been upper back hypertrophy and it is possible that like when I first started using straps for rack pulls and built up my upper back and saw my grip improve a lot that this was upgrading what I had already. I did only get one session where things worked out that I could use the Hercules hold at the gym I train at and for just one set. I had plans to do another session but just didn’t work out with lack of help and life getting in the way. Not really a way to warm up for this one other than just be prepared. Those that got to do this at this gym on the two weekends they had it probably have an advantage of knowing what this feels like so I got to observe and just hope this works out. My warming up here was to do a 15 seconds hang from some gymnastics rings on the second floor and setup the cable crossover with the d-handles. Also did some doorway stretches to open up the pecs. I tried to stay out of the sun as it was bright and oppressive at this point in the day. I had brought my polarized lens as I had figured this would be the case. I was going a bit earlier here as while I was in 3rd, I had placed 5th on the previous event. I believe the time to beat at this point was 47 seconds. Took the strain and time started. This didn’t feel like a weight that would tear me in half but it wasn’t something where I could just disassociate. I’d actually have to focus or I’d lose control quickly. I think about 30 seconds in I said “I’m going to need a Snickers” (as in not going anywhere for a while) but that joke fell flat. Tough crowd lol. My right hand finally went on me just shy of a minute at 59.60 seconds. This ended up being the longest hold across all weight classes for the day. Second place finisher looked to be more of a strategic finish as he stopped once he beat 47 seconds and looked good for more to potentially beat my time (he was in first overall by a good bit). So first place here.

The fifth and final event for the contest was atlas stones. Option of a trump (355lbs/161kgs) and mercy (280lbs/127kgs) weights over 52”/1.32m bar for reps in 60 seconds. Any reps at heavier stone beat any reps at lighter stone. No extra points for doing any reps at the lighter stone any then going up to the heavy stone. You can go up from the lighter stone to the heavier stone but not reverse. So you go heavy and miss, you are stuck with that choice. Stones are generally my jam. But it does feel like the heavy tacky stones are not in vogue and really seems to just be local shows in random places and then pro shows. Hard to be motivated to do them with all the work and clean up needed if not many places putting in the effort to host. I like them to be heavy so I’m not worrying about a ton of reps. Lifting a big rock is kind of why I like this and why I still like this. I ran into some usual issues with stones this prep. One related to tacky. 2023 was the last time I’ve really trained atlas stones and I had gotten tacky from a company at that time that since then no longer has a US distributor. And it had been the best tacky I’ve used in my career. Only two of the three international distributors would deliver to the US but with shipping and tariffs, the price was essentially double. I thought I’d have enough to make it through the training cycle and just have to worry about contest day. So eventually bit the bullet and shipped some out to my brother so I wouldn’t have to worry about it being potentially confiscated by the TSA. This is the first time I’ve flown to show with stones and tacky as I’ve driven all other times. The other was that people messed with the stones. Now to be fair, they thought they were helping. Cleaning off the stones and applying a tacky coating. Sounds good in theory. However, the cleaning removed the sealant so concrete dust/dirt and the tacky coating sticks to stuff and comes off. This had happened between 2023 and present. This wasn’t done to every stone but to ones I’d need to train on so this made these stones harder to stick to and eat up tacky quicker than before. I was initially questioning my abilities here. This wasn’t done to any of the stones I own there thankfully. Short prep with stones and using weekly frequency (again, I usually was doing every other) here and I put in enough work to be on point. Like the hold, just kind of have to see what I’m doing on that first touch and just hope that I got something left here. The heavy stone seemed like a good stone at weigh-ins as far as stick. There was a lot of tacky on the flooring by the time it got to the heavier classes so that was adding a difficulty factor. I had to keep myself from trying to do any reps on the stones while seeing others warm up on them. As I knew that I’d likely overheat and sweat whatever I’d applied off. So my warming up was doing picks with the deep dish plates up to about 270lbs/122.5kgs. Making sure my left arm was feeling ok (elbow was feeling a little wonky) and hamstrings/back fine. Once it was getting close to time, I applied tape and then got the tacky. But there was a problem. For all my preparation on the tacky, I made an error in judgement and that was not preparing for the heat. When I had ordered the tacky, the extended forecast had it being about 62 degrees. But it was unseasonably warm above 80 degrees by the time stones came around and even though I put my tacky in the refrigerator at the gym, it was more like I had put some maple syrup on then stone tacky. So I was in a bit of pinch here as I was tied for third so I needed to not bomb this to stay on podium and potentially move into second (first would have to bomb to potentially lose that spot). Four reps was the number to beat (they had a close miss otherwise it would’ve been five). I get ready and go for it but the stone slips on me trying to pick it like normal. Don’t panic. I really get under the sucker and squeeze and hope that this butter tacky holds. It does and I get it into my lap and thankfully the stickiness of the stone has it really secure to my body but I’m overly cautious and make sure I got it real tight to extend fully. I can’t afford any missed reps here. One rep done. I take a step back, knowing I can’t really keep into a groove with having to really crush this rock each time. I do this two more times. I feel fresh to keep going but with 6 seconds left and no shot clock rule here, I called it there and hoped this was enough to seal the deal. This ended up tying for second here.

It was a long day but a well run competition. My dad had stuck around but the rest of my family in AZ ended up watching from home on the livestream after the first two events. I still got some things to work on for next time. The eventual winner, Dave, put on a clinic and played a very smart day of strongman, with it never looking like he wasn’t in the driver’s seat. I definitely plan to keep my calendar open for next year’s show. Good to compete against new people. And thankfully, my nerves didn’t hamper me from having a good family visit. My nieces had me doing a Miss Piggy voice for almost all of Monday. In the end, I achieved what I wanted with getting on the podium with a second place finish and an invite to Strongman Corporation Nationals at the end of August in Mesquite, TX. Whether I accept the invite is another matter. Home again and only a brief respite as on to the next one. Plan being the Midwest qualifier for Natural Worlds about mid-April in what looks like the middle of nowhere (it’s the last US qualifier)