June 6, 2026 – Week 8, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x6
191x5
257x4
301x3
353x5
353x5
353x5
353x5

Yoke (drop and turn halfway)
210x50’/50’
390x25’/25’
480x50’
570x50’/50’ in 20.70 seconds
570x50’/50’ in 19.93 seconds
570x50’/50’ in 19.44 seconds

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x4
113x3
140x4
140x4
140x4

Titan Fitness Farmers Pick and Marches (16”)
135x1+2 seconds
185x1+2 seconds
225x1+2 seconds
265x1+10 seconds/1+10 seconds
265x1+10 seconds/1+10 seconds
265x1+10 seconds/1+10 seconds

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (54”)
200x25’/200x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 47.30 seconds
200x25’/200x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in ??.?? seconds

Backwards Sleg Drag (turf)
635x48’4” in 60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I was feeling a bit tired but I knew that since been getting up early for work that I’d likely get up before 9:30AM even if I was tired on Saturday for training. Trying to manage things this week so that I don’t get overwhelmed. Which meant focusing on other stuff Thursday rather than getting in a walk and just doing that Friday after work instead. Work is odd but I think some of the changes I’ve made to my process is making things less screwy with doing stuff timely. Driving out took a little longer with congestion at spots so I was thinking a bit on how World’s was the better option to pick with things as they stand. Apparently the one gym nearby that was the only one with a piece of equipment that will be used at Nationals (and I wasn’t going to spend over $1000 to buy) announced they were closing end of March for May 31st and I only found out about that last week. The people running Nats seem to have an attitude I don’t vibe with and I’d need to buy new equipment to train on for it. I feel old with the different messaging apps that are being used for information. I think what also finalized those feelings was that the max dumbbell event the opener was going to be 185lbs and 15lbs jumps. The show is also sharing space with other stuff as part of an expo and essentially training 3 overhead lifts for max, max axle pull and axle squat and a mystery event in near 100 degree temps is not my idea of a good time. I’m still keeping membership with SC for now in the event good show pops up as there aren’t many for NS at this time. I can use the excuse to travel and see family when it happens. NS shows have been local/parking lot run stuff from what I’ve done and seen but the end result competition is great fun and well run. Seeing USS Nationals needing several YouTube channels for livestream coverage and there being like 500 competitors is too much chaos for me. Anyways, on to my actual training for the day as it was a long one. It initially seemed like it was going to be cooler and it was as I commented to like the one other person there it was a ghost town. Which apparently jinxed that as a much of people showed up (none strongman) and it got a good bit warmer and more humid with that influx of people. But it does seem like that youth sports thing didn’t happen today or is done so that was one less thing. Foam rolling I didn’t need much anywhere. Hamstrings were quite tight though. Neck rehab stuff was ok and thankfully just felt tight and nothing achy. I did cut down on some of the stuff to try and consolidate and have the warming up streamlined a bit more. Same with the lower body glute stuff. Lower body stretching was fine. Dead hang felt nice. Today’s session was a reduced session of what I was to do last time before I called it quits because I felt like ass. Axle squats to start things off. Plan being kind of a reset and work up to 4x5 with it being RPE 7. I initially had a plan for 146.5kgs here based off how my last session had gone with 400lbs and even taking into consideration where I’d be at from the session before that. But some changes to this in that I invested in new support gear. Namely, neoprene shorts (2.5mm) and 3-ply knee sleeves. Trying what I can to see if I can get closer to not zeroing this squat event. The shorts did not breath and I was feeling quite hot and sweating a lot so I finally brought over a fan with an extension cord so that I’d not sweat the bar off my back and to not overheat. I’m not sure what support the shorts provided other than compression but felt good but the knee sleeves definitely did something here. Not that that necessarily means the rest of me will hold up. Some uneven touches and I’m not sure if I’m lopsided or the pads slightly off in height. I ended up doing 160kgs here for my sets. I got better as I went here. My forearms seemed to get sore supporting the weight today. Maybe from the sandbag and zercher stuff earlier this week? Not a great start but it was a good start considering how last time I was under this weight it felt terrible. From there, moved on to yoke. Last time I was to work up to heavy holds and then do some contest style runs. With the focus on recovery, this adjust was to just do the runs. Distance on yoke was adjusted so instead of being 40’ down and back, it is now 50’s down and back. My right hamstring was feeling a little tight at the start but once I got up and moving, it was fine. Had to play around with warming up so as that I got used to the different aspects. I’ve definitely noticed how much better my yoke is compared to before I started working with Ms. Funk and now and it feels comfortable for the most part. I wore my left wrist wrap to get used to it since this will be going into circus dumbbell. I need to work on getting myself centered on the yoke better on the return. But these felt smooth. Swapped in a fresh shirt at this point. Circus dumbbell after that. This was the same as it was written for the past session Work up to 140lbs for 3 sets of 3-4 reps. I was aiming for the 4 reps here. A little stiff warming up. I could tell my lower back and hamstrings were feeling this week on these. I brought the fan over for this and didn’t rush things as far as the set or the rest. I was pretty much using my rest breaks to put away stuff from the previous thing I did as there was a lot and I had to also then setup for the next thing and so on. So a fairly casual pace of things today. Like everything else so far, I felt these went better as I went. Rice Krispie break before moving on to the last three things for the session. Farmer’s again. But not runs. Essentially I was to do a pick and then march in place for 10 seconds and set it down to then repick it up and do another 10 seconds. This was programmed for last time but the RPE was dropped considerably which was definitely a good thing as the pick on farmer’s and deadlifts really taxes my lower back. I was initially thinking of using different handles from what I was using at home because I do not like the Titan Fitness handles but apparently the grip diameter is the closest to contest specs so going to be using them ugh. I was initially going to just do picks warming up but after seeing that there can be challenges with walking in place on something you are used to either standing with or moving forward that I should do some marching working up as well. This is not ideal weather for the hands and these grips on the handles do it no favors. Each set the initial pick felt terrible but then the second pick felt “comfortable” which isn’t how it felt doing the drop and turn runs on Wednesday. Speaking of that, I turned around after the first pick each set to mimic having to do that and find new hand placement as otherwise I’d probably end up using the stretch reflex. The next thing apparently required the most setup for today. The last event for the competition is a loading medley with two kegs and two sandbags. Distances are staggered with the furthest one being about 25’ away and loaded to 52”. The issue being that the kegs will need to be loaded standing upright so loading over a yoke won’t really train that aspect. I can load a keg over something good but setting it upright requires something else. So I had to kind of reinforce the one loading platform. But that ended up being 3” too high so I was able to get to only being 2” too high. Good enough. So kegs to platform and the sandbags over yoke. I didn’t have 215lbs implements for the second set so options were either 200lbs again or do 225lbs so I went heavier option. I didn’t do any warm ups here as I felt it was light enough and I was already hours into this session. I wore some copper elbow/knee sleeves to protect my biceps from the lip of the keg causing bruises when I picked it up. It has been a while since I’ve lifted a keg so kind of remembering what to do with pain as a reminder. No issues with the sandbags other than I need to get them up higher on my body. First keg I had it low and the second keg felt a lot better. It took a bit to reset everything and I unfortunately forgot to hit record so I could figure out what my timing was. However, I had more issues with the loading of the kegs this time as I got the second keg stuck on the lip and had to fight it up there before getting to the second sandbag. I will need to remember to tape my left thumb for next time as that was getting the brunt of it when I was going for the load on the keg and popping it upright. I didn’t put this stuff away just yet as I had just one more thing to do and I wanted to get that done so I could finally put down a protein shake and then worry about putting stuff away. Last thing being a heavy backwards sled drag. Load it up and pull it on the turf for a minute straight. The contest weight for this is almost 700lbs and my worry is getting it started and moving with it being on turf. I don’t think I’ve tried more than say 200kgs on turf uphill style. The initial plan was two sets but just the one for this adjusted session. Fine by me. Loaded the 35lbs sled with 400lbs in plates and then topped it with the 200lbs sandbag. No warming up here other than the empty sled to the starting point. Legs should be warmed up enough by this point. Going to find out real quick if this was a bad idea. It moved so that is good and I was able to get the full minute with it. Felt good but man it felt weird with my shoes. Downed a shake and took my time putting away everything before driving to the truck stop along the way home as it was the only place under $4 a gallon. I sweated a ton and my face was a bit raw from using a towel to wipe sweat. Cooled down at home and stretched.

June 3, 2026 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts w/ Bands (straps, platform, wagon wheels, +11lbs/+70lbs)
135x2
225x2
275x2
315x2
60 seconds rest
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
135x50’
185x50’
drop and turn halfway
235x50’/50’ in 19.57 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 20.37 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 19.87 seconds

Sandbag Rows/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
bwx10/10 (rack assisted)
112x3 – 65x5/5
225x5 – 120x8/8
225x5 – 120x8/8
225x5 – 120x8/8 – 225x5

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
155x6
225x12
225x12
225x12

Stretching

Comments: Anterior delts feeling pretty sore from Monday. I’m trying to recall if they got sore the first week log was back on the menu or not. I don’t recall them being sore the second week. So not sure if sore from log or if the new javelin thrusters. I didn’t seem too bad with how I felt after training and recovery. I think part of taking that week off had helped me see what I need to stick to with the 4 weeks commuting rotation to get rest and make sure that I’m not stressed out. Of course this is once half way through it. Went for a walk Tuesday after work. A little leery about lower body stuff as some tightness sensation in the right hamstring. Can’t tell if that is just from fatigue and training or something else. I know I get more anxious as stuff becomes more time compressed and if I’m not recovering enough to mentally push away stressors. I’m definitely handling it a lot better with last week and this week. I didn’t quite get off to a fast start for the session as I had to do some things for setting up at the house to train. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Again, didn’t really need much on anything besides the usual areas. Lower legs needing the most. Right quad needing about twice as much as the left. Neck rehab stuff followed. While shoulders felt a little achy, stuff getting stretched felt tight and this stuff felt good to do. Still tweaking the lower body glute activation stuff. Lower body stretching was fine and finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. Deadlifts were up but not like they’d been the first two sessions. I had mentioned that I seemed to feel better mentally when stuff is moving fast and feels good and that perhaps a greater contrast between my heavy sessions and lighter sessions on deadlift would result in better recovery with everything else being trained. So this may be a product of that. So notes were to do 10x2 with deadlifts having bands. No set weight or band tensions but aim was RPE 7-8 and pulling fast with strong lockouts. Also 60 seconds rest. I figured that I wanted between 10-15% of whatever my estimated max is right now at lockout for the bands. I could’ve done just normal setup but I decided to be extra and do the wagon wheels and platform anyways. That way more tension at the start and lockout with less bands needed. Lockout is a bit estimated as it was between 64-70lbs before my hand slipped and my luggage scale broke from the band smashing it against the deadlift platform lol. Something I was hoping would work here was going barefoot. I had felt like I wasn’t getting any glute engagement the past few sessions and my feet just felt like they were there. I saw that with my younger sister that she wasn’t pulling as well lately and her last training we went no shoes and she felt much better. I think that maybe this will help me wake my feet up and get more engagement/recruitment. Anything helps for deadlift. I was not entirely sure what weight I’d end up on or if my hamstring would act up here but I figured I wasn’t going to be doing these doubles with 405lbs. I usually start with no bands and then add them but I figured I should just get into from the start to save time here. Felt good and I did a 90lbs jump next before going to 40-50lbs like I had intended. I got a little worked up with the music playing at the start so I kind of burned a lot of energy with dancing around and had to calm myself down to recover after that. There does seem to be a sweet spot to hit on these. Always a work in progress deadlifts. But these felt good and my back didn’t feel terrible. So did what I wanted. I moved some weight fast and had a good time. Farmer’s walk was up next and I had to set that up outside for obvious reasons. Notes were to do 225-235lbs for 3 sets of contest run after warming up. I was a little leery about things with the hamstring and moving. Also felt like ass last time I did farmer’s and I think I was not looking forward to having my face close to the hot asphalt and my own body heat getting into position to go. Notes were to be speedy. I changed up the warm up sets to hopefully make more sense and be easier on me with setup and the like. Cut down how many times I picked them up after deadlifts. Picks definitely felt better as far as my back this time around. I also felt like I was moving better. I didn’t go all they way through the line like last week as I didn’t want to run into my car and this is more like how it will run at the show. Repick still needs some work. I think also having my road be slanted makes faster one way (downhill) and slower the other (uphill). With it being humid and such, taking a bit longer rests to recover with it getting to be this way almost every day. I remember needing longer rests with moving events and supersets last year in the summer heat. I had all of the garage fans going. No issues with farmer’s. I think I was also mindful of keeping them off my thighs so I didn’t get nasty bruises from the pins on these handles this week. I think there were neighbors out walking on two of the three sets I did (not including setting up and putting away). So far, so good with today. Setup and tear down is a bit of pain here. Back in the garage for superset of sandbag rows and alternating reverse lunges with the ssb. This was a little different in that I was to do four sets of rows and only three sets of lunges. Lighter weight on the sandbag but more reps and lesser RPE on the lunges with less reps allowed (given 8-10 range). Sandbag was suggested to be 200lbs. I don’t have one but depending on how I felt, I was prepared to put 25lbs plate on my 175lbs bag as that wouldn’t be too bad. But I eventually decided to do 225lbs instead. It hadn’t been to kind to me last time. Honestly, I’d rather do any of my bags besides the 175lbs or 225lbs because of the top knot style. Lunges took a bit to get warmed up and not have my knees screaming at me. Eventually they got where I wanted them to be but it takes effort. My legs were feeling log and farmer’s so I knew I’d need decent rest between sets so that I wasn’t gassing out on the lunges as those can put me in a precarious position. I decided on the third set of this pairing that I’d take a short rest of like 30 seconds at most to go right after the lunges into the fourth and final set of the sandbag rows. I don’t need a ton of rest to recover enough to do the rowing, it was for the lunges haha. It was getting pretty darn late at this point so I’m thankful that I had only one thing left. I’d have cried if I had more as I’d get no sleep after eating and stretching. So last call for the session was those ssb zercher gms. 3x12 again and same weight as last time. Now these have felt funky with feeling fantastic some sets and feeling terrible on my lower back the next. My hope this time around was that wouldn’t be the case. One thought in that my back was fresher and I was got better engagement in my glutes on deadlifts earlier. The other was seeing if my soft belt would keep that sensation in check that I feel like my ligaments/tendons in my lower back are straining. There was hesitancy to do that first rep but after it felt great, I was good to go and had no issues. Glutes were feeling these as well as hamstrings. I could tell I was going to be feeling this session tomorrow. Put away stuff and finally got to eating and stretching before bed.

June 1, 2026 – Week 8, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Superman Holds (5 seconds)
PVCx3
PVCx3
PVCx3

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/T’s
12’sx10/10
12’sx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (clean every rep)
90x5
120x4
150x3
180x2
210x3
210x3
210x3
210x3
210x3

Javelin Thrusters
45x2/2
65x2/2
85x1/1
100x2/2
100x2/2
100x2/2
100x2/2

12” Log Floor Presses/Banded Deadbugs
180x6
220x12 – lbx12/12
220x12 – lbx12/12
220x12 – lbx12/12

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes
16’sx25
16’sx25

Stretching

Comments: That’s life. Stress got to me with everything Saturday last week and I got into a depressive funk. Thankful to have a holiday weekend (even with weather was rainy) so I could rest as I felt that was the most important thing. Not make any major decisions while not rested. As with how I was feeling mentally and physically, I was considering stopping with strongman stuff or at least making drastic changes with onus on myself. So rest first and then not worrying about a training week as I needed to get at least one thing under control so I chose work. Still really stressful but got a plan in place. Then figuring out training. I started to feel better by Wednesday and actually went for a walk on Thursday and then yard work on Saturday. I could tell that my inactivity had me feeling a little fatigued doing stuff. The other odd thing is I tend to feel good initially and then random ass aches and such if I don’t do stuff. Getting back on the horse this week with adjustments made based on my thoughts and feedback with Ms. Funk. Get back to feeling myself and keeping an eye on my recovery. As things seemed to be good until they weren’t that week. No real changes in my weight from doing nothing last week to this week (around 262lbs). Foam rolling there were some spots that needed it like my upper calves but nothing beyond that really stood out or was unexpected. Neck rehab was fine. Felt good. I added something to the warming up to hopefully get my “glutes” to wake up as they’ve felt like not engaging on stuff (primarily deadlift and squat lately). So doing some movements with the hip circle as part of my prep work. Lower body stretches followed up with a dead hang to decompress. So far, so good. I didn’t even like looking at my sandbags in the garage Sunday last week. The start to this session was much the same as when left off. PVC pipe exercise superman holds. I didn’t film these again as treating these as warming up. Again, I rested about 45 seconds between sets. I’ve not been doing stuff and upper back/neck tends to be what acts up when I don’t do stuff. I will say my lower body seemed to engage earlier than it has on these. Continuing right along. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. Able to move through these without issue and not too bad. Little bit of pump in the shoulders and upper back. Outside for most of the rest of this session. Not the scorching heat and oppressive humidity from last session thankfully. Log clean and press as expected. The plan was to get back into it and get some volume work. Suggested was 200lbs for 5x3 but I could adjust as needed if I wanted to go heavier. Last session while rough, I figured that my oly shoes worked best here. So since this was volume and lighter stuff, I figured I’d better see if other equipment would hold up here for me. Namely, knee sleeves and elbow sleeves. The knee sleeves are loose on me so not much compression and I think I was adding them more to keep my knees from getting torn up on the log. The elbow sleeves seeing if I can comfortably clean the log and if helps with lockout. Those are a bit tighter and been using them for my knee sleeves on squats. I have new pair that is to be coming for squats hopefully before Saturday. So log I was already planning on doing 210lbs so I could keep 30lbs jumps. Kind of compare it to my first week back on log as well to see if notice anything (for better or worse). It did seem like the knee aches at the start (when empty log) resolved sooner and I seemed to have less balance issues with the log on the press and overhead. Cleans felt better/easier. I think I still need to figure out if with the oly shoes if I should do the deeper squat to clean or just kind of power it up to the belt and go from there. It kind of felt like on the later sets that I was essentially able to just row up the log. The first rep generally felt the best each set with how the log moved and power. Also noticing that my stance might be better in some cases with my left foot slightly back (similar to how I lead with my right on doing box jumps or moving events now). Only set where I made a big oops was the last one. The first rep felt like the strongest all day so I got excited and followed the log down to try and just go right into the next one. Which I kind of forgot I don’t do because it tends to knock off my glasses. Which it did. So now I was visually impaired and had to make sure I didn’t step on the glasses or drop the log on them. So second rep was not ideal with how I picked the log nor was the third rep. Third rep I rushed putting my head through and log wasn’t quite there so it was still out in front of me and I had to fight to lock it out. Got to be smooth and patient here. Secondary pressing after that. For circus dumbbell but not circus dumbbell. As described, I was to be doing one arm barbell “presses” from a set rack height (bottom of my dip for circus bell) and then press up and catch like I would normally. So dead stop and no eccentric on the dip for these. I’ve seen them referred to as thrusters (also seen other stuff called thrusters) and blast presses or concentric only jerks/presses. I’ve never tried to do a thruster before but I’ve done one arm barbell stuff. The other change was that I was advised to do both sides this time around and likely the weight would be fairly light. Oddly enough, my right side felt stronger at the start for these and it felt awkward with my left. I think that was more that my right is tighter and I tend to use this grip if pressing overhead as feels comfortable vs the left side. I was kind of surprised I worked up to 100lbs on these. I knew my right knee would probably be a bit achy from doing the right side for pressing. I did a little rest between sides and full rest between sets. These went better in execution than I was expecting. Assuming I did these right (no YouTube vids of this one to find). Up next was pairing of log floor press those banded deadbugs. This seemed to go well last time I did these. This time it was 3x10-12 on the log stuff and 3x12 on the deadbugs. Weight was suggested as lighter this time and went with that hoping that 12 reps would be comfortable enough here. With the deadbugs, I was going to see if more band tension really did anything here and try to slow it down so it was less me doing a bicycle motion with alternating and more one leg and then the other. Those alterations did make things tougher there but not so much that it was life changing. Pressing felt a little odd at time but overall felt strong here. Rear delt stuff with light dumbbells to end the evening. Two sets of 25 reps. I figured that I could do just the 10’s again but figured that I’d try and push things with more weight if I could. It was more reps but with only being two sets I should be able to recover enough to survive with heavier weights here. First set felt about how I was expecting it and second set was pretty darn tough. Put stuff away before eating dinner and then stretching. A good start back at it.

May 23, 2026 – Week 6, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x7
191x5
257x3
301x2
351x1
400.5x1

Comments: I had felt strong last week. Not the case this week. Monday session had been rough with the heat and Wednesday session I was downright despising with how I was feeling. My hope was that I could make up recovery with only having half days with work Thursday and Friday so that I could be rested for Saturday training. My physical indicated my blood pressure was good (usually elevated) and my plus seemed a bit lower than usual (I don’t think it has been below 60bpm) so that metric seems good. Won’t get blood work done for like another 2 weeks though to get full picture. But I felt tired Thursday (didn’t walk as raining all day) and Friday (walked after work eventually). I had been feeling sciatic systems and my upper back/neck area just has been tense. Despite getting plenty of sleep, I didn’t feel rested. I felt stressed still. I had noticed that I was feeling annoyed and angry seeing other people’s training and a hint of an eye twitch happening while at work Friday. I didn’t really want to get out of bed Saturday morning. Really rainy and bad drivers so it took longer to get out there. The youth sports camp stuff still happening. Foam rolling I didn’t need much anywhere it seemed. Upper calves didn’t it the most. I was a little concerned with my right hamstring as that had felt tight the past few days but seemed fine today. Neck rehab stuff was ok, most stuff just felt tight rather than achy. Lower body stretching was fine. Dead hang felt nice. This workout had a couple changes again due world’s events. Starting things off with squats. Plan being to work up to 395-400lbs for 4x4 for the “lighter week”. I did purchase some new equipment (knee sleeves and neoprene shorts) to hopefully help with these going forward. My legs felt good at least but didn’t feel like I could get myself as tight in the back as last week. It was cold today at 48 which was like 50 degrees cooler than it was on Monday but I was still sweating quite hard. I didn’t want to turn on the fans in the gym for that. My last single didn’t inspire confidence but I went for it. Grinding 400lbs lift (I did misload by 5lbs) and I called it three. It felt tougher than last week’s weight and I know I could do another rep here, it wasn’t happening for 4 reps. I’m not handling this current training and feeling off like this after last week is getting in my head. I had no desire to stay at the gym after that and packed up things to head home. A younger guy asked me about strongman stuff (16yrs old) and I think that had me realize a bit how much my numbers are off from my best with how this week felt and that kind of made me more depressed and angry at myself. Driving home was also not great with the weather and I spent the rest of the day just kind of distracting and disassociating from things. I’m not sure what my next step is going to be here.

May 20, 2026 – Week 6, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts (straps, wagon wheels, platform)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x1
Cluster Sets (step back and strap in each rep)
405x1/445x1/465x1/485x1
405x1/445x1/465x1/485x1
405x1/445x1/465x1

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick, drop and turn halfway)
135x100’
185x50’
235x100’ in 20.70 seconds
235x100’ in 21.20 seconds

Sandbag Rows/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
225x3 – 65x5/5
265x4 – 115x10/10
265x4 – 115x10/10
265x4 – 115x10/10

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
155x12
225x12
225x12
225x12

One Arm Dumbbell Rows (no rest)
112x12/12
112x11/11
112x10/10
112x9/9
112x8/8
112x7/7
112x6/6
112x5/5
112x4/4
112x3/3
112x2/2
112x1/1

Stretching

Comments: This mini heatwave has not been fun. Thankfully not so bad when inside or at work but not good outside or training. I didn’t bother doing any walking Tuesday due to that. Figure wait until it passed later in the week. Knowing that I’d have to get up earlier and have less time with things didn’t seem to really sink in as I still had lots to do and ending up not getting to sleep as earlier as I needed. Lower back was still feeling beat at this point and I was feeling tired so I was contemplating whether I take an extra day to recover. I was going to have a half day the next two days and then be off Monday so I could swing it. I think part of it was it was raining a little and I had some outside stuff to do. The heatwave did break on this day but it was still incredibly humid so really no difference to me. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Again, didn’t really need much on anything. Neck rehab stuff followed. My right shoulder had been feeling stiff. I guess log pressing is going to have my shoulders sore these days. Lower abs were sore from the deadbugs too. Chest felt tight and shoulders achy so there was some relief from these. I had hoped tension in the spine on the left side would be alleviated with warming up but not so much. Lower body stretching was fine and finished up with a dead hang. Deadlifts were up and I knew these were going to be rough. My lower back had not recovered from Saturday at this point (especially the heavy farmer’s walk). This was somewhat similar to last week but instead of doing the same weight and restrapping in each time, I was to be adding weight each rep. I was trying to figure out best way to warm up for this. The planned starting weight is generally what I start with my hard belt on but sometimes I need more than a set to make sure I’m going with intrabdominal pressure and since this was going to be reps and such. So did 90lbs jumps so as to get acclimated but hopefully not unnecessarily fatigue my lower back. The wheels didn’t really like staying put. 405lbs felt fine enough, as it should. The plan for the working sets was to do ideally three sets of 3-4 pulls. The fourth pull if I was feeling good. 40lbs/20lbs/20lbs jumps. I was trying to get that feeling for what worked last week. 405lbs not enough to know what that will be. Removing myself from the bar and then going at it again had been rough last week but doing that and then having to add on weight takes it up another level. I did manage to get four lifts that first set. I took a longer rest as I’ve seen with deadlift sessions. I think if I knew that it took me almost 2 minutes to do that set between adding weight and getting into position that I’d have rested even longer. I did manage to be a little quicker on the second set but that last rep was near my limit. I stopped at three lifts on the third and final set as that last weight felt a lot like the last rep of the first set had. I’m essentially 80lbs off contest weight here. Which is about the same as the squat. But man is my lower back just fucking toast. I know that it is beat as usually I tend to feel better as I do sets but only really noticed that on the first two reps each set and then my upper limits seemed to be done-zo. And unfortunately this was the rough start to the session so I had a bunch of other stuff still to go. Farmer’s walk was up next and I had to set that up outside. This had been partly why I wasn’t sure about training today but it looks like the little rain had stopped and evaporated so went ahead with training today. Much lighter than Saturday but wasn’t sure how much that would help with how fried my lower back was feeling. Indication was to do 231lbs for 2 sets like how contest will be (50’ down and back) as fast as I could. Ms. Funk said my style is having me fight the implements when I’m walking with them. That is the trade off on the pick up being easier for me. My hope is that I was just stiff my first session back and I will get myself more forward doing these. Tried to make warming up for this as efficient as I could since needing to load weights in the street and it was really humid. Contest length and then have contest length with practicing the pick and turn. I went with 235lbs as it was easier to setup platemath wise and I didn’t want to deal with the possibility of microplates popping off on the drop. These did not feel fast and I was sweaty and hot. Shins felt stiff trying to get more forward lean going. But got these done. My right quad is going to have a bruise from the handles. Always get one from these handles and I’m not sure why and only on the right side. Doing moving event after deadlifting and then doing more stuff in the garage has me remembering just how rough/brutual training for worlds was last year and this is just the beginning. I swapped in a fresh shirt after this with the next thing being a superset. Still alternating reverse lunges with the ssb but no more dumbbell high pulls. Now doing sandbag rows. Low reps on those and high reps on the lunges. I’ve been picking up sandbags but not rowing them so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. 225lbs actually felt decently tough done cold so I felt like 265lbs would be pushing it. I wore what I’d wear doing sandbag carries and loads for this pairing. Again, trying to warm up in as little stuff as needed to move things along as it will take time and get late with everything. Knee sleeves would hopefully let me tolerate the lunges better with more weight. The sandbag rows were fine for the most part. The lunges are what had me dying with the added reps and me increasing the weight from last time. Legs were getting quite tired. But we know this needs to be done for this prep. From there ssb zercher gms like last week. 3x12 again with the top weight I did. These had been weird in that warming up was easy and smooth but once I got to what I felt was working weight, there felt like a ton of tension in the lower back in a way that felt more skeletal and musculature. That was present again on the first and third set of these. The pick up felt better and I didn’t feel like my biceps were fighting so much to keep the bar close to me. Just felt restricted in my ROM at times on that first and third set. Which was made all the weirder with how good the second set felt with things. The last part of the workout was not enjoyable and I knew it wasn’t. I was already beat before I even started this session and here I was doing the sucky row thing at the end of the session again. But made even harder. So while I dropped the weight 3lbs (just for ease of weights added) the ladder had increased by 2 rungs. Which doesn’t sound like a lot but that meant 23 additional reps before I even got to where I started on these last week. I had felt like retching after 2 sets last week but persevered. I put on a fresh shirt for this as this was likely going to be close to 10 minutes of one arm rows. One of the notes from last time was to aim more rear delt with the elbow tuck back vs to upper chest. Unlike last week, I had to take breaks during sets at times as my right arm fatigued faster and couldn’t do the reps unbroken. My left was ok for the most part but even that side had to on occasion. 5 reps rung of the ladder I was able to get back to doing no breaks in the sets again. Going to need to prioritize rest these next few days as best I can. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching and finally getting to bed late again.

May 18, 2026 – Week 6, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Superman Holds (5 seconds)
PVCx3
PVCx3
PVCx3

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/T’s
12’sx10/10
12’sx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (clean every rep)
90x5
120x3
150x2
180x2
210x1
230x1
250x2
200x3
200x3

Double Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, 1 second dip and catch)
50x3
75x2
100x1
125x2
125x2
125x2
125x2

12” Log Floor Presses/Banded Deadbugs
140x5
190x3
230x8 – mbx10/10
230x8 – mbx10/10
230x8 – mbx10/10
230x8 – mbx10/10

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes
10’sx20
10’sx20
10’sx20

Stretching

Comments: Weight back up about 3lbs. Not sure what this little yoyoing is. But I feel with whatever that is, the heat wave the came through took care of it. I had to drink some intraworkout stuff while helping my sister train on Sunday and figured it didn’t make sense to try and go for a walk. Wait until it passes Thursday. Especially with being in office rotation. I was fully expecting the office to not have the AC working so well but it actually was fine. All events now known (weights, distances and order) and just waiting on the little details of rules for stuff. Some things a little heavier than I was thinking while other stuff was right on the money. I knew the training would need to change to accommodate stuff compared to even last week. With it being a record high today, I was not looking forward to this one. Fans on and prepared to swap out a shirt every exercise as needed. I did not need a lot of soft tissue work to start things off. I was surprised by that as my lower back and hips felt quite stiff and tense. Maybe not going for a walk did that but I felt like little was needed. Maybe I was anxious to get to training. It tends to take me a bit to get going Day 1 on the in office rotation with commute and then trying to get the training figured out. Neck rehab was fine. Lower body stretches followed up with a dead hang to decompress. More changes to this session. Session started off the same as last week with the PVC pipe exercise. I didn’t film these again as treating these as warming up. Again, rested about 30 seconds between sets. Takes a bit for everything to feel good and ready as far as the lower body waking up on these. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last week but dropped a letter so only 20 reps vs the 30 reps. I figured I could get through these quicker and be less fatigued compared to last week. It makes sense to start dropping some stuff as getting into more event specific stuff. These felt fine enough. SO far, the heat wasn’t getting to me. But these had been inside the garage and house. Not so lucky for the majority of the session. Log clean and press was expected. We got the weights for the log at worlds and I’m bit off for even the lighter log (286.5lbs/130kgs). So plan for the session was to “see where I was” and go from there. And what that meant was work up to a 2rm (RPE 9-9.5) and then take 20% off that for 2x2-3. Seeing as my expectations for this would likely have my down sets lighter than my triples last week, I figured that would be triples there. Put on a fresh shirt and put on the outside fan to get at it. I’m not sure if it was the heat but things were not feeling as crisp as I’d have liked them compared to last week. I was trying to not have my head go through so soon on these. 230lbs did not feel great. It felt like log was out in front of me in the rack position and it felt rough. Like this was where I was to stay today kind of thing. And it made me sick. I should be stronger than this. I’ve not done more than 225lbs on log in over a year. I think my hope was that fear of failure would motivate me to be able to do at least 10lbs more if I put everything into it. But figured I’d stick with my plan and go for 250lbs. I did this as a hail mary thing as I switched back to my oly shoes to see if that did anything. Still felt heavy but I went for it and it was a grinder of a lift. I took a moment to decide if that was too much today to double or if I needed to just get on with it. Took about 30 seconds for me to decide to go for the second rep and I think that I started to remember what to do on this movement with the oly shoes. Lean back and adjust my base/foot stance so I can be stable to press. I definitely had been fatigued from the heat and the grinder of the first rep but this second rep went up smoother. So relief there. Still long ways off but at least feels possible to get to in time. Little bleeding at knees from these. Took off 50lbs for the down set with 200lbs. Little sloppy the first set as I was still coming down from the top set and I don’t think I was really focusing on what worked to get that second rep up on 250lbs. I think I started to have it click after the second rep and realizing I will need to actually actively go for this rather than it just happening like say with circus dumbbell. The second set was machine like precision with it and felt effortless. Looks like I’m using the oly shoes for something this prep. I swapped into a fresh shirt (third one of the session) for a surprisingly return of the circus dumbbell. I kind of knew I’d be doing “circus dumbbell accessories” but I guess I didn’t consider that would just be more circus dumbbell. Especially after doing some two days earlier. This was to be paused work again like Saturday but 5lbs heavier and for 4x2. I didn’t have the circus dumbbell at home and wouldn’t have mattered since it is 130lbs empty. So plateloaded handle with a fat gripz extreme added to it. Which honestly isn’t a bad thing since this would be more compact and closer to the Inch and Cyr style dumbbells that will be at World’s. I’ve usually used 25’s on this but that is warm up to the big bell whereas this was just for its own thing so used 10’s and such. Heat was definitely a factor today but as I suspected, lockout with this is a bit trickier to get it. If off point, it is rough but on target it is just fine. Same pauses. Taking a little longer with getting the reps as making sure the dumbbell is secure. It also rolls on the shoulder at times. Trying to fix the issues from Saturday with rotation in the dip happening. And felt I was good at the end. But won’t know for certain as I apparently didn’t hit record on this. Oh well. Some of the exercises from previous weeks were dropped in favor of the dumbbell and some changes to other things. Log floor press still part of a superset but no more ball chucking I guess with prep. Only for off-season fun times. The pairing had what is listed as banded deadbugs. I wasn’t too sure on what this was to be as I’ve seen it done different ways but I did the one that was showing up the most often which appeared to be holding a band with the upper body like a static pullover midrange position and then doing deadbug motion for the legs. Like a recumbent bicycle I guess. So four sets each with 8 reps on the floor pressing and 10 reps each side for deadbugs. I went a little heavier on the floor pressing as it had felt like I could do more last time and it was pretty comfortable doing this weight for each set. Deadbugs felt fine (assuming did them right and as intended) and did seem to loosen up my back and hips. I’m surprised how dark it got so quickly but I guess I wasn’t noticing I was starting a bit later than usual with training. Swapped back to the first shirt I was wearing for the last thing in the garage again. Rear delt stuff with light dumbbells. Three sets of 20 reps. I know that I tend to get fatigued on these kind of movements so a lot of weight isn’t needed. I think I did the right variation as everyone seems to do these differently. It was good to finally be done with the heat and eat dinner as I cooled of as best I could. Stretched out before cleaning up for the evening.

May 16, 2026 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x5
191x4
257x3
301x2
345.5x2
378.5x1
411.5x2
411.5x2
411.5x2
411.5x2
411.5x2

Yoke
210x40’
210x40’
390x40’
480x20’
570x20’
660xpick (5 seconds)
660x40’ in 8.23 seconds
675x40’ in 8.64 seconds
690x40’ in 8.87 seconds
705x40’ in 9.37 seconds

Double Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, 1 second dip and catch)
49x5
84x5
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
95x50’
135x50’
185x50’
225x25’
275x25’
315x50’ in 15.87 seconds
255x50’
255x50’

Sprints (walk back is rest)
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’
bwx50’

Stretching

Comments: Got all the events for World’s now but still waiting on stuff like weights and rules and order of events. Until that is received, can’t really put the whole picture together of what the training focus is going to be. A cool thing being offered with World’s as an extra is a natural stone tour after the competition. Which saves me figuring out how to get to a stone over there if I wanted to. Work was rough this week and the fact I’m reverting to my commuting schedule for the next four weeks isn’t helping matters. Felt dangerously close to getting an eye twitch going Friday. Thinking about work outside of work never bodes well. Got walks in on Thursday and Friday which felt like a much needed break in the middle of the day. Midsection was a little sore from Wednesday. Not sure if the zercher gms or from the row ladder. I did manage to get to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up about an hour earlier than I had the past two weekends. So I was able to get out to train about an hour earlier as well. The youth sports camp stuff still happening and being here earlier wasn’t going to help things with the planned workout for that space. Foam rolling I didn’t need much anywhere. I did notice right hamstring did need a little more than usual though. Neck rehab stuff was ok, again, some stuff felt just achy chest/shoulders felt achy rather than tight but other stuff did feel tight. Consistent with the past two weeks really. Lower body stretching was fine. Did double of one stretch as hamstrings were tight. Dead hang felt nice. This workout had a couple changes to it due to getting most of the world’s events before the workout was written last week. Obviously going to have more revisions as the details get finalized but I imagine in the next two weeks a more finalized approach with materialize. So one of the changes with event order on the day was starting things off with axle squats. I’m still fine tuning things here. Different setup as the wind tunnel was kind of in use and doing the axle squats in this spot was actually less setup hassle and I’d have all the kilo plates there. And it felt a bit more consistent with the wheels hitting the pads. The plan was to work up to 410-420lbs for 5x2. So the heavier week. I went back to my regular shoes and found that while I felt grounded with the deadlift shoes, I didn’t feel like I could adjust the pressure in my foot and move things with the weight as I squatted down. I had a different warm up plan in mind but changed it up since I was going to do kilo plates instead. I was hesitant of doing less then 125lbs because that wouldn’t have the wheels on it. But I figured my knees and hips needed me to do something lighter to get the joints moving and feeling good so did just the empty axle and went down about as far as I think I do for these squats. Knees were stiff but they felt a ton better when I actually put some weight on the bar. I wasn’t sure how these would go with having done deadlifts (real ones this week) so I figured it was best to just aim at the lower end of the weight range, especially after last week had felt decently rough. These were tough doubles and this doesn’t seem to be a smooth movement for me, at least not as the weight climbs. Last set stuff finally clicked with utilizing my elbows to brace my core as that made the last set substantially easier I had to laugh. This was kind of like how deadlift was rough at the start and eventually figured it out. From there, moved on to yoke. Yoke is part of an event at worlds. Plan for the day was work up to a weight that I could do 40’ in under 10 seconds and do that for four sets total. But making sure I was pushing the time limit and not just smoking the weight with a decent buffer in time. It has been over 3 months since I’ve touched yoke so I wasn’t out of it but it has been a bit. My guess was 630-660lbs range would be where I was at to do these runs. I took bigger jumps than usual to start as I figured I was decently warmed to weight on my back from the squats. I unfortunately didn’t have someone to time me so I had to go off my camera after the fact. My pick with 660lbs had felt good but my count in my head on that first run had me over 10 seconds. But I went to the camera and I was under that time. I guess I counted fast. So I kept adding a little weight and checking after each run to see if it was still good. I was not expecting to be doing a little over 700lbs here. That’s only 45lbs from the contest weight I did in February. I definitely had not felt like I could do a solid run with this weight after 3 months after Worlds last year so something has definitely improved since then. Granted, I could tell I was petering out at the end of the runs and this will need to be double the distance for the event but this is a good starting place. From there I ate a rice Krispie treat as my halfway mark and then it was finally on to circus dumbbell. Lighter session with the pauses at two points. Weight was suggested to be 115-125lbs. So less than my empty big dumbbell. I was initially looking at using a fat gripz on a regular compact dumbbell but the thicker handles on the weights above 75lbs meant there was a sizeable gap with that handle cover, which is not ideal. Additionally, I figured that the gym owners don’t want me tree topping those dumbbells from like 8’ up even if on to crash pads. So I went with smaller circus dumbbell so try to mimic the more compact competition bells. It took a bit for my knees to be ready and for me to get my usual lower body drive going. 5x3 with the pauses. My first rep was definitely my worst of the bunch but I was getting some really crisp and powerful reps by the end. Depending on things, I may need to make a trip up north about 2hrs to get my hands on some Inch style dumbbells this prep at some point. I just recall the density and balance was odd when I did one like 15yrs ago. The last actual event work of the day was farmer’s walk. I was not looking forward to this. Farmer’s tend to be good for me but I’m generally slow and my pick up is horrendous. I just got a really good grip so I can hold on. I’ve not done this event in a year. Pretty much on the day as last time was the west coast natural strongman last year in the rain. The goal was to work up to essentially 95% for a 50’ run and then drop to 80% of that weight for two more runs of that distance. I really dislike the titan fitness handles but I figure none will be worse for me than these and I have a set at home as likely this will end up being moved to Day 2 session with how things are shaping up. Things felt about how I remembered them on farmer’s walk. 315lbs would tie the most weight I’ve lifted from this height with these handles but would be 10lbs more than the most I’ve actually tried to walk with them. My body was feeling beat from everything today and this week and my grip was maybe not the best with my one finger still not 100% from jamming it last week. It was slow but I managed to finish it. Lot of relief from that and was pretty low key with finishing those last two runs. Sprints were the last thing. Adding another set to these so up to 9 sets of 50’. One good thing with the changes was that I wasn’t coming into these after doing heavy sled work. So my legs didn’t feel stiff and stupid. I had essentially been doing runs with yoke and farmer’s so I didn’t feel like I needed to do any stretching or jogging to be ready. My first run was not that great but that was the only one that I needed to get the yucks out as felt pretty consistent with them after that. Put stuff away and downed my shake before heading home. Got gas at a truck stop along the way since it was 20 cents cheaper than at home. Almost $60 to fill the tank. Not enjoying that. Stretched when I got home.