November 14, 2026 – Week 11, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Behind The Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds behind head)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns
45x10/lbx15—15
45x10/lbx15—15

Slant Board Patrick Stepdowns (5 seconds eccentric)/Log Lap Sits
bwx10—10/88x20 seconds
bwx10—10/88x20 seconds

Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
12” Pitbull 
88x5
110x3
132x2
154x1
13” Beast Metals
176.5x1
EMOM
193x2
193x2
193x2
193x2
193x2
193x2
193x8

Paused Front Squats
6 seconds
45x5
89x3
133x3
177x2
221x2
265.5x1
309.5x1
309.5x1
309.5x1
3 seconds
277.5x3
277.5x3

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Deadlifts (16” pick, drop turn each rep)
135x3
185x3
EMOM
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3

Sandbag Carries
275x35’
275x35’
Turns at 35’
275x250’

Glute Ham Raises
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8

Stretching

Comments: The midweek break was needed but didn’t really get better with being at work. I felt stressed as bunch of things at work and with one person leaving to go elsewhere, my workload will be increasing once again. My coworker and friend took off Thursday and Friday so I was essentially on my own. I made a faux pas with giving the going away card and then pestered to go to the going away party after work. They were laughing at me and not with me in the moment. And it had me annoyed. I did end up going to bed at least somewhat earlier than I had been Friday night and got up at about 9:30AM today feeling fairly rested. There is going to be a change in the exits with the section of highway I have to drive on to get out to the gym but there wasn’t much traffic today so drive out was uneventful. I was kind of surprised to see a few people for strongman there, especially since one is competing in Florida next week.  With foam rolling, I wasn’t that stiff and sore besides my IT bands in the quads. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Glute activation fine and felt good with moving. Lower body mobility also fine and dead hang felt good on the upper body stretching. Ended up taking a bit about strongman training stuff as well. Now on to training. I was anxious about log. My left triceps for some reason was feeling fatigued and keeping an eye on the right knee. I wanted to add something with the warming up since log clean was in the picture and sometimes I need to get the ankles and knees ready. So that was going to be a giant set but I figured it was best to break into two supersets instead. With the first one being paused btn presses and half kneeling single arm lat work. This felt more fatiguing they I was expecting it to be so I wasn’t sure how this boded for log. But it was good blood flow work at least. The other superset then was the slant board Patrick stepdowns with emphasized eccentrics and then taking the empty log and resting it on my quads in a deep squat position. The stepdowns I did notice some knee aches. I used the stuff around me to help me stabilize myself better and not necessarily take away from the bodyweight loading. The log on lap stuff seemed to be a good paired with these to get stuff feeling ready to do log clean and presses. Actually doing the full movement this week (and will be going forward this prep). Putting on the full gear here with the neoprene shorts, wrist wraps and knee sleeves. Also wearing a contest shirt with decal. Plan being to work up to 70% for 7x2 done EMOM style. The last set repping out leaving 2-3RIR. Clean only once per set. I was initially going to stick to just the one log but figured it was best to switch over as I can only go so heavy with just the kilo plates available on the lighter log and I will need more weight for the “heavy” weeks on this. Initially, my right knee was aching bad so I was a bit worried there but it shut up by the time I swapped in the big heavy log. I’m having balance issues with the log in the rack position but will be addressing that after next week with holds each rep in rack position. I was not feeling like I picked my weight wisely after the second set but I seemed to finally get my body moving how I wanted it to after that point and stuff was feeling quite crisp. Last set I didn’t know what to expect. I just knew last time I did this particular session back in 2022 that I stopped at 4 reps because I was all over the place. That didn’t end up being the case this time and other than needing to get my stability back after the seventh rep before going for the eighth, felt good. Actually watching the session I was having a lot more balance issues then compared to now. But I was also doing 17lbs more weigh then. But I’m on the right path I feel. From there, onto front squats. Took off the neoprene and swapped in a different shirt here. Last week of the long pauses. And also kilo plates. Will pivot to regular plates and eventually less intensity with beefing up the event work. The plan for today was to work up to 3x1 with a good bit more than last week’s triple and then take 90% off that for 2x3. The singles for 5-6ct pauses and the triples 3ct pauses. The last time I did these, I ended up doing 305lbs for the singles and then 275lbs for the triples. So goal was to chip those if possible. Taking 20kgs jumps so a little over 140kgs for the working weight. It has been over a year since I’ve done any front squat variation above 300lbs. I felt both confident and unconfident in this attempt here. But thankfully I was more certain than uncertain here. These were tough singles but I never had much doubt I was getting them despite how slow some felt. Cutting the pause time in half for the triples was a welcome change in circumstances. No hack squats at this time and doing farmer’s walk stuff. Normally, I’d probably just do every other week stuff but since this show has it drop and turns and then adding weight, I figured I’d probably emphasize the pick aspect one week and the runs the next week. Which might be a little risky with the deadlift recovery but this combo did manage to work for the most part with prepping heavy deadlifts and heavy multi drop farmers. Switched to my looser/lighter knee sleeves and trying to break in my new hard belt I got for moving events (at least the straight forward kind, not weird ass medleys). 5x3 here with 225lbs to start. I didn’t have to do EMOM but I figured I should move things along and will be doing longer rests with the actual farmer’s walk weeks. This hopefully keeps things conditioned and light. The other aspect was to work on repicks with turning around to go back. Last set I feel like was the best one I did. Sandbags after that. I misread what I had as I thought I was to do shorter runs at the start vs what I did. What I had down was doing 2x100’ and then a max distance set with keeping rests about 90 seconds. That had been with assuming 50’ down and back but the contest is 10m (a little over 33’) so I switched to 35’ lengths. Aim was 255-275lbs here and I decided to go with 275lbs. What I should’ve done was 275lbs for 2x70’ but did 2x35’. Oh well. The thing was more to prime and not fully recover before doing the max distance run. Tape on wrists, light knee sleeves and wearing chalk and soft belt here. I’m so pleased that picking up sandbags is feeling it used to and not a gamble. Perhaps we’ll see with 300lbs and above at some point but might not be needed for this prep specifically. I didn’t expect to get 250’ my first session back really pushing things here with the short turns. I didn’t got to full out effort distance wise but always try to make the full length and turn around (to establish dominance). My issue is I need to be faster as while this was my goal distance for contest, I’d have timed out as took me 66 seconds to do this. I will be working on the speed aspect alternating weeks so hopefully that will improve. Last thing was more hamstring work. Glute ham raises. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle these as it has been quite some time. Aim was just bodyweight with 3x8-12 leaving 3RIR. I know these can creep up on me fast during a set and recovery. My aim was just to do 8 reps each set and hopefully not have that be a bridge too far. Honestly, I may have had more RIR than I thought but this was a good start here. Downed the shake and put stuff away before driving home to stretch. A good start to the comp prep.

November 11, 2026 – Week 11, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Paused Seated Band Hamstring Curls (1 second)
ab’sx20
ab’sx20

18” Jack Stand Pulls w/ bands (straps, +50/+100)
No Bands
155x5
Add Bands
205x3
245x2
295x1
335x1
385x1
EMOM
425x1
425x1
425x1
425x1
425x1
425x1
425x1
425x1

Paused Romanian Deadlifts (3 seconds at midshin, beltless, straps)
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x8
365x8
365x8

Paused Dumbbell Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”, 5 seconds)
bw+10’sx12/12
bw+10’sx12/12
bw+10’sx12/12

Paused Ab Wheel Roll-outs (5 seconds)/Safety Squat Bar Single Leg Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx14 – 125x15/15
bwx9 – 125x15/15
bwx7 – 125x15/15

Stretching

Comments: Felt damn tired coming into Tuesday and really hoping that the day off Wednesday would be enough to fix me and have me kind of reset to get back on track here with things. I ended up staying up late to get stuff out of my head before going to sleep and eventually sleeping for 9hrs or so. I was initially thinking maybe wait until closer to 5 to start workout to be more like a session during the week but figured I’d rather do this once breakfast had settled so that I had somewhat of an evening to decompress and get other stuff done. Foam rolling starting things off. Calves only thing that needed a lot of attention today. I forgot to mention in last write up that weight is back down to by 1kgs so still above 120kgs but not as hefty as last weekend. And four deer ran through my backyard while I was warming up on Monday too. Need to slow down this week and collect my thoughts. Neck rehabbing exercises were fine. Chest was really tight at the start but loosened up considerably. Lower body stuff with glute activation and mobility felt fine. Dead hang felt good. On to training here. Same as last time with 1 second pauses with same band tension as last week. Nothing changing here for these and good to get warmed. But likely dropping them as last week next time for the transition period before baton passing fully contest prep. Best these have felt so far. With the heavy lifting, another week (and last week) of banded 18” pull singles done EMOM style. Aim was 20lbs more than last time and dropping 2 singles for 8 sets. The bands kicked in really hard that first set with them added. Lower back took a bit to get ready for these, which I think has been helpful with the smaller jumps to adapt. May also be what is helping with the lightheaded-ness I was getting at times for prep for the heavy deadlifts earlier this year. I’ve been noticing not having an issue on front squats lately and that had been a thing like 2-3yrs prior with barbell. Felt pretty good with these. Some sets felt better than others but does feel like later sets feel better than the start. Last set actually felt the best of them. Also compared to last time, didn’t feel like my right ankle/foot was stiff and not cooperating. Put stuff away before moving on to the beltless rdls. Last week of these. Kind of regret that with them feeling strong right now but I have to be moving on with getting to doing pulls from the floor for contest prep. As with last week, these were again 3 second pauses at midshin. Assuming I was feeling good and not wrecked from the banded elevated pulls, goal was to work up in triples to 365lbs and do that for 3x8. I was feeling a little hesitant with how the lower back was feeling (not like bad just felt like be a rough time) but I gritted my teeth (mentally) and took it for a ride. And it felt like it should honestly. I felt strong and no question I was getting these reps done today. I did take closer to 3 minutes rests between the sets here. Assuming next week’s deadlift session goes how these past three sessions have been with the transition, I could be in a really good spot coming back to pulls from the floor with a very productive off season. I took a bit to collect my thoughts before proceeding with the session. The ffe split squats have been not a good fit lately for me with that weird ankle thing that happened a few weeks back and then just my knees being up and down with how well they were handling things. Hack squats and front squats were at least being consistent. I had been debating making a change to this last session with the session adjusting next week with dropping stuff for event work focus. So initially this was to be the same weight as last week with longer pauses for the 3x12 followed by 3x8 on the Cossack squats. One thing that I’ve been seeing kind of correlate is my balance tends to be worse when I feel stressed with outside factors. Similar to being harder to block out sounds or having sounds be louder and figured that may be related to autism. It it likely the case and when I have the balance component taken out of things, I tend to be consistent with performance regardless of stress. So my thinking is that stuff with balance aspect I will still have but not be main focus as strength but more mobility and lighter stuff vs heavier things for the controlled balance work. And not do stuff that isn’t feeling productive. So for that, it was making the ffe be without the floating foot and loading with just 10lbs dumbbells so that I could hopefully have knees be cooperative and have better quality of movement (also ditch the Cossack squats). These were still challenging but didn’t feel like I had to bargain with myself to get through them. Last thing was a superset from last week with a slight alteration, again. Paused ab wheel roll-outs to 5 second holds but aiming for a total of 30 reps over 3 sets vs 25 reps. The seated calf raises doing 3x15 with same tempo but once again increasing by 10lbs. The ab wheel stuff was harder to complete this time around but managed to get through it (a little more break to get lunch ready and keep track of reps). Will be ditching these now that going to be doing log clean and presses now. Also the last week for the calf stuff. Ate a late lunch and eventually got everything away before stretching. Hopefully with having this midweek break, I won’t be so zonked come the weekend.

November 9, 2026 – Week 11, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x8
120x6
150x4
180x2
210x1
240x6
222x6
Add 1 Second Pauses
204x6
204x6

Inverted Ring Rows
bwx5
bw+53x12
bw+53x12
bw+53x12
bw+53x16

Iso Seated Log Pin Presses (5 seconds)/Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Band Y Raises to Hold (10 seconds)
87x3
87x3/30’sx10/µb’sx10
87x3/30’sx10/µb’sx10
87x3/30’sx10/µb’sx10

Strap Overhead Band Triceps Extensions
mb+(2)µbx25
mb+(2)µbx20

Stretching

Comments: Still not used to the time shift. Or I am but I’m just not happy about it in the evenings. I felt like I needed another day after Sunday just to get things sorted and figured out for the week. I think my only saving grace here is knowing that I just have to get through two days of work and then a day off for holiday and then two more days back at work before the weekend. A full week after that but then only three day week the following and then back to telework rotation. I got in a walk Sunday as likely only day I’ll get in a walk during the week with how dark it gets outside and the leave piles in the street. Left glute and hip were quite sore from Saturday and still feeling that today. But this isn’t a session that will require me doing anything like that, which I feel has been a good thing to have with my workouts to allow recovery. I know I’d feel off doing log clean and press after work in the dark outside and be sore from event work two days prior. I do need to figure out my leave requests for next year by the end of next week though. Soft tissue work I was expecting more soreness in than ended up being the case with how stuff was feeling. Tops of calves needed a good bit of work but normal amount for everything else really. Neck rehab/mobility stuff followed that seemed to be ok. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility even with some stuff being sore there. I am being cautious with the right knee and I may need to make changes to Day 2 session coming up to make sure healthy and good for the event stuff since now at the start of contest prep. Dead hang to finish things up and that felt nice. On to training outside. Log incline pressing. With how I have things setup with this, this will be the heaviest I go with straight weight as focus will be more to maintain and potentially work on weak points and transfer to log press. Plan was to work up to a top set of 6 reps and then do down sets like has been the case most weeks as of late. I had a weight in mind here which wouldn’t be the most but it would have me closer to what I was hitting on this 5yrs ago. 30lbs jumps and kind of gauging how things felt. It sometimes takes a few reps and sets to feel good. I essentially paused 210lbs after the 180lbs set and I could tell that I was feeling powerful today and unless 240lbs was just too much to handle being away from heavier weights so long, it was going up. I was thrilled that it ended up being RIR 1-2 here as this is 15lbs off from 5yrs ago and felt decent here. Making sure that the upper body pressing is progressing and feeling good is key for me to know training is on track and that I can reclaim some former glory on overhead to hang a little longer. Since I hit my top end goal weight here, I went with the higher weight range on my down sets. A little silly with stimming to the music on the first down set with 18lbs less weight. Another 18lbs off for the two paused sets. These get fatiguing fast with the pauses and lockout strength. With the incline benching done, went inside to do inverted ring rows. I did also start prepping dinner at this time too. With the rows, plan was 4x12 with last set being max reps as long as 1-2RIR. I initially thought it was just 4x12 like last week. I went with chains being added for the weight so a little heavier than top set last week for the working sets. I do change up some exercises when it feels like they’ve done what they can for the moment or I can only handle so much of them for so long before diminishing returns but these always seem to be a good one for me. Maybe having the weight on me gets things to feel more aligned and correct stuff. They feel more natural movement wise with rows for me. Getting in decent reps and decent weight with these. Back outside for the unique triset. Same as the past two weeks. One more week of this with some modifications planned for last session. But this week 3 sets of each with same reps. Empty log and same bands for the bookends of the triset but increasing the weight on the lateral raises by 2lbs. I initially forgot to weigh down the power rack in a balanced manner and had to restart after I lifted the rack up on my first “100%” effort rep on the isos. I do feel like I’m almost able to lift the rack with how I’m pressing and positioning (I know I’m not though). I’m pressing hard but not like it won’t every budge if that makes sense. The y raises are fatiguing still but not as bad by the end as the past two sessions. Laterals start out fine but get tougher each set. Back into the garage for some light triceps work. Well supposed to be light. Aim was to do 2x15-25 and I guess close to band tension as last time. I underestimated how much adding 2 of the micro bands to the setup would be and it became a good bit harder. I ended up taking 2 minutes rest which was only enough to recover to do 20 reps after doing 25 reps the first set. I probably could’ve been safe doing 2x15-20 both sets. Definitely good amount of tension and feeling it. Feeling it in my shoulders and muscles around the elbows with the log stuff as well. And chest on the incline stuff. I think only the rows didn’t take it out of me that bad. Ate dinner after putting away everything and then stretched.

November 7, 2026 – Week 10, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Behind The Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds behind head)/Slant Board Patrick Stepdowns (5 seconds eccentric)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns
45x10/bwx10—10/lbx15—15
45x10/bwx10—10/lbx15—15

12” Log Push Presses (beltless)
88x5
110x3
132x2
154x1
176x3
178.5x3
181x3
183x3
185x3
187x3

Paused Front Squats (5 seconds)
45x5
89x3
133x3
177x2
221x2
254x1
287.5x3
254x3
254x3

Reverse Band Hack Squats (lb’s)
+90x5
+140x5
+180x5
+230x5
+270x5
+320x15
+320x15

RNT Sandbag Roll-ups off Box (ab, 20”)
255x3
306x6
306x6
306x6

Single Leg Band Leg Curls (3 seconds eccentrics)
abx20/20
abx20/20
abx20/20

Stretching

Comments: With the time change this week and also being change to in office rotation, both things hitting me pretty hard recovery wise. It is dark out when I get home from work and with all the leave piles in the street, it doesn’t feel safe to go walking when I get home from work. Sleep is still a bit off with the changes too. So no walking this week and only foam rolling stuff on Thursday. I was feeling beat and I kind of knew that traffic out to the gym would be sucky Saturday so I just let myself sleep. I initially woke up at my time I’d need to be up to get to work but knew that wasn’t enough rest and went back to sleep for another 2.5hrs. Construction on the one highway that I generally have to go on had it down to one lane and my GPS initially wanted me to take the toll roads and then initially bypass a bit of the highway section but then try and merge back onto it. It took a good bit of driving around to finally have the GPS decided to go a different route that avoided all of it. So about 20-30 minutes added to the commute out. There were people there while I was training today and I did talk to them a good bit. With foam rolling, I was expecting to be a lot more stiff than I ended up being not doing any walks. My quads were feeling a little sore but that didn’t really manifest into being beat. Upper calves needed a decent amount still but otherwise not much to really say about anything else here. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Glute activation fine and lower body mobility also fine and dead hang was fine. Now on to training. With how my knees had felt last weekend after the wedding/travel I added a movement to my warming up prep. So instead of a superset of paused btn presses and half kneeling single arm lat work, there was also a slant board Patrick stepdowns with emphasized eccentrics. Nothing really to say about the other two exercises as pretty standard and easy getting work done but I did have balance issues with the stepdowns. As noted, it feels like balance can take a hit when I’m stressed. Right knee is the one I got to keep an eye on here. From there on to log press. It is a hassle setting things up for doing the log off of blocks. Especially since I haven’t gotten it to be just the right height where there isn’t an issue with unracking the log. I’m not doing another week of these though as going to clean and press next week. The plan for this was to 6x3 with about 90 seconds rest with same weight as last week. No support gear again (I did pack the wrist wraps but forgot to use them) here. I warmed up the same as last time with 5kgs jumps but I was feeling like my balance was off. Perhaps related to the balance issues I felt this week. I think I felt a certain way and figured that I’d not just do the same weight each set. I’d add 1kgs each set (which at the end would be close to 70% of projected). I think it was because when I initially picked up the working weight it felt rough on the pick off the blocks that annoyed me. Press felt like it was at time hitting a slowdown and then accelerating from a sticking point. I apparently was taking shorter rests than I thought (60 seconds or so) and had a little bit of happy feet on the last one. This is weight that should be moving easy. I’ll have to see how things feel next week with adding support gear and doing the full movement. From there, onto front squats. Adding belt this week and going with long pauses. I was a little leery about how my knees would handle these after the issues I had with the split squat stuff on Wednesday. The knees took a bit to get used to things here with the long pauses and boy did they feel like a long time. I did felt like my core was more stable with the belt but it didn’t make the weight feel easier on my legs mind you. Aim was to work up to a top triple (1-2RIR) and then take off 10-12.5% for 2x3. I kind of based things off of what I did last time I did these like 4yrs ago with aim to match or beat that if possible. The pauses felt like a long time down there. I did need to get a bit hyped for the top set but I did manage to get my goal here of 130kgs and then 115kgs for the back down sets (which didn’t feel that much easier). Doing a short little peak on these before cutting back the intensity as putting in the events at higher intensity. Reverse band hack squats next. Last week of these. While my right knee has tended to feel achy, I’m pleased with how I’ve been able to push these. I’m beating my numbers by a good bit from last time and I was wearing belts doing these at the time. Once again, work up in 5’s to 2x15 with decent reps in the tank. I was hoping to use 320lbs added here and I did take the 40-50lbs jumps like last time instead of plate jumps. These felt strong today. I’ll be away from these for a bit with contest prep but I will look forward to doing them in offseason. Hopefully I can have a little longer time to do some tempo work and get even higher weight. I won’t miss having to move the hack squat machine around each session though. Sandbags after that. Last week of doing these roll ups off box. Plan was 275-300lbs for 3x5. However, I had done 275lbs last time for 3x8 and that felt comfortable enough so I was going to be using 300lbs unless something felt off. I decided to increase the band tension I was moving again as well to add some difficulty to things as well. 255lbs for a triple to warm up here and that felt well enough. Pick didn’t feel that bad so that is a good sign as it had felt rough that first session. Now with people constantly using the sandbags and just putting them wherever in the pile, the 300lbs bag was buried under a good bit of stuff. The 306lbs bag that is smaller and has lead shot in it was also buried but not as much. So I decided to do that one instead. It is a bit tough on the pick up but I’ve not tried heavier than 275lbs since World’s and it felt better than it did then. I’m not really getting any ankle extension because of how my body is and I’m working on it. It felt comfortable enough I did 3x6 instead of 3x5. Last thing I ended up adjusting. I was later to training and I had to clean up stuff at home to be able to eat anything for dinner. I also knew I needed to fuel up my car and that the drive back was also going to have detours due to the construction. I downed my shake at this point so that I’d hopefully be ready to eat in like 5hrs time. I was going to do the belt squat calf stuff but figured I’d drop that and just let the calf stuff be Day 2 for the last session of them with transitioning to comp prep. So much less intense single leg hamstring curl stuff here from those lying leg curls. 3 sets of 12-20 reps with 3 second eccentrics. Left leg is strong than the right on these. With these done, I put stuff away to head home and get affairs in order. Off season is done and now on to competition prep.

November 4, 2026 – Week 10, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Paused Seated Band Hamstring Curls (1 second)
ab’sx20
ab’sx20

13” Jack Stand Pulls (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
455x3
455x3
455x3
455x3
455x3

Paused Romanian Deadlifts (3 seconds at midshin, beltless, straps)
225x3
275x3
315x3
353x10
318x10
318x10

Paused Floating Heel Safety Squat Bar Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”, 2 seconds)
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
65x3/3
65x3/3
95x12/12
95x12/12
95x12/12

Cossack Squats
bw+10x8/8
bw+10x8/8
bw+10x8/8

Paused Ab Wheel Roll-outs (5 seconds)/Safety Squat Bar Single Leg Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx11 – 115x15/15
bwx9 – 115x15/15
bwx5 – 115x15/15

Stretching

Comments: I’m not yet adjusted to the time shift with having it be dark outside when I get home from work. My jaw was feeling tense Tuesday into today. Energy just feels a little low for me by the end of the day. Right knee continuing to monitor for knee issues that were present from last week. I’ve almost forgotten about the right ankle thing. The lack of energy had me slightly concerned for training today but going to have to roll with the punches until I’m used to this. Foam rolling I did need a bit but not nearly as much as I did on Monday. Calves needed it for sure and normal amount for the hamstrings. Quads still needing a decent amount. Upper back getting involved too. Neck rehabbing exercises were fine. Some tightness in the right side shoulder/biceps area. Lower body stuff with glute activation and mobility felt fine. Dead hang felt good. On to training here. Band leg curls but not tempo style to start things off. Same as last time with notes 2x15-20. I did 1 second pauses with same band tension as last week. I do like how these seem to get hamstrings warm and tend to make knee discomfort less. Once this was done, on to the heavy stuff. This 4 week block that started last week for deadlifts is having banded 18” pull singles done EMOM style one week (last week) and then 13” pulls for several sets low reps the next. I was going back and forth over 14” and 13” and using jack stands vs wagon wheels. I went with jack stands at 13” as no guess work and I like the feel/sound/balance of the jack stands vs the wagon wheels. I’m not doing a wagon wheel event so going to just use the jack stands that don’t bother my mental idiosyncratic quirks if I don’t need to. Plan here was to work up to 455lbs for 5x3 with hopefully having things feel somewhat comfortable and strong and with about 90 seconds rest. Belt and the neoprene shorts like last week here. Trying to use same weights I used back in 2021 on this. Went well enough I think. Only felt like brace was off a little on the 3rd set and that was more because I started singing to myself out loud before I started the pull. Otherwise, moved like it should. I can tell my deadlift stroke is more efficient compared to before. Put stuff away before moving on to the beltless rdls. As with last week, these were again 3 second pauses at midshin. I had been pleasantly surprised with how the 315lbs last week went. Plan for today was work up on triples to a top set of 10 reps leaving 2RIR and then drop 10% off for 2x10. My initial thinking was pushing 355-365lbs but that was when I was thinking more absolute max at this weight and decided it was best to do something I should be able to do after the many elevated pulls. I took smaller jumps warming up here and ended up doing 160kgs. It surprisingly felt lighter than I was expecting on that set but did start to feel decently tough by the end. Down sets were close to what I did last week weight wise but I could tell I needed a bit of breather after the top set before putting in decent work here. These feel strong so that is a good sign. I needed a bit after these to cool off and recover apparently. Not as bad as that time I was spent after deadlifts and sandbag to shoulders where I took a nap before finishing the workout. But I could tell that it might be challenging to finish up the session. The “fun” stuff was done. Next was the ffe split squats with the ssb. Plan was initially 3x12 with 95lbs again. Aim being to make the weight harder with adding elements like pauses and adjustment of the foot position (so not pushing through the heel). I was leery in two ways about this. The one was just last week stuff with how still making sure the right ankle was good (and odd sensation in the left hip flexor) and then how my knees had felt pretty beat at and after the wedding from last week with me trying to keep this day knee sleeve free. The pauses certainly made things tougher. I was contemplating just doing bodyweight instead and had to do multiple sets to warm up. I was taking longer breaks between sets and sides on these with the pauses. I was also having issues with my balance and that could be related to autism and stress stuff. Bargaining with myself to just do 2 sets but I eventually made it through all 3 of them. Only one more week of these. Cossack squats were next. These might have been a culprit for making the knees feel beat last week as well. Same plan with 3x8 but adding 10lbs in weight. I made an adjustment in my movement from set 1 to set 2 and I didn’t realize how much a difference visually it was. It felt like I was getting same depth but appears first set more quad with full knee bend vs the other sets. I had felt more stretch/engagement in the second style in the outstretched leg. Last thing was a superset from last week with a slight alteration. Paused ab wheel roll-outs to start but doing 5 second holds instead of 3 seconds. Aim was a total of 25 reps over 3 sets, leaving 2RIR hopefully. The seated calf raises doing 3x15 with same tempo as it has been and adding 10lbs to last week on the other side of things. The added holds on the ab wheel were immediately noticed but I did manage to get through them. The seated calf raises were tough with getting shorter rests here but finished well enough. Nothing was missed filming wise this week. Put stuff away and got to eating dinner. Stretched and eventually got to bed. I will need to try and catch up on sleep so I don’t sleep until noon Saturday to recuperate. 

November 2, 2026 – Week 10, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x8
120x6
150x4
180x2
200x1
220x6
220x6
220x6
Add 1 Second Pauses
185x14

Inverted Ring Rows
bwx5
bw+40x12
bw+45x12
bw+47.5x12
bw+50x12

Iso Seated Log Pin Presses (5 seconds)/Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Band Y Raises to Hold (10 seconds)
87x3
87x3/28’sx10/µb’sx10
87x3/28’sx10/µb’sx10
87x3/28’sx10/µb’sx10

Strap Overhead Band Triceps Extensions
mbx20
mbx20
mbx20

Stretching

Comments: There have been some disc bulge symptoms continuing from this past week but thankfully not to what it had been at the beginning of the week. More like the stuff I was noticing in July of this year with nerve pulses down the right leg. Part of that may be from the increased weights and demands on lower back with the shift from off-season to in-season. Again, it was a good call on my part to take the day off work today from having the daylight savings end and clocks going back an hour. It’s a little change but throws me for a loop and I need more than one day to get somewhat on board with it. Like, I don’t feel tired earlier and I end up staying up later. It getting darker out sooner makes me feel less motivated and with all the debris from the trees with leaves and people raking stuff into the streets, it doesn’t feel like a good idea to walk when I get home from work at night. So this month will be not as much walking I’m afraid. Another surprise this past week is apparently me being up 5lbs from last check in. 269lbs so will have to see how that pans out next Sunday. I did walk Sunday since likely not getting in more walking during the week. Right knee is touchy (but in the muscular way). Plan for today with training was to get the workout in earlier while there was some light outside since going to be darkness going forward (though November has a fair number of holidays). And another US based strongman organization was just announced yesterday. Oh joy. Foam rolling starting things off. I guess I was more beat than I thought. I had felt a bit stiff in the lower back and hips on Saturday session just moving around. My right calf needed it at odd spots and not where I was expecting. The left calf needed more than I was thinking as well. Both hamstrings needed more than usual with the right almost double the left. Outer hamstring and glute-tie ins were sore. Quads needed about a minute on both sides so definitely the most I’ve needed so since I’ve been doing foam rolling in the past 3yrs. Upper back was probably the thing that needed the least work this time around. Neck rehab/mobility stuff followed that seemed to be ok. Could tell shoulders and chest were tight here. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility. Longer holds on the stretches. Dead hang to finish things up and get a little more decompression and stretch out the chest some more. On to training outside. A bit odd with how I was feeling as it didn’t exactly feel warm but I was feeling warm. Right into the pressing this time like last week. Shoulders felt a little more beat compared to last time on these log inclines but I knew I could handle what was being asked here and not dig deep of the reserve effort well. Plan here was same warming up as last week and then doing the top weight for 3x6. I didn’t feel as strong as last week but I knew I didn’t need to be to get through these reps no problem. Only one set of paused reps this week as it was for max reps. 5lbs more than last week’s working weight sets here. Now the plan was to be 1-2RIR but I guess I thought that 13th rep felt like I had 2RIR and went for another when that redlined me at 14 reps and a helicoptering grinder. Oops. No metronome for these as 1 seconds not an issue to count out mentally really. Based off my last time doing stuff or best case here, my top sets are 20lbs off what I did over 5yrs ago. I need to be mindful where I’m at to gauge where I will be by the end of this. Into the garage after that for the inverted ring rows. I had setup this at the start with the incline log stuff so that I didn’t have to do too much to move from one thing to the next and it would be my own pace between exercises. Once again, 4x12 leaving reps in reserve. No repping on the last set like last week. Aim is that every other session I think. What I had written down was 40lbs in the backpack for these after doing bodyweight for a few. Once again, these are feeling quite strong so I ended up adding weight each set. 50lbs did feel challenging by the end. I think these are helpful with also my hips/spine with having me brace on these against resistance on the lap. I had felt some of the nerve pulses on the incline stuff. Back outside for the unique triset. Same as last week with reps and sets and weight besides adding 2lbs to the laterals. This setup seems to take a bit to get ready and I feel quite cooked by the end of it on the raises. Warming up was just the log and me not going full bore with pressing into the pins so as to get myself used to it. Pushing hard during the working sets. The first set of laterals felt quite easy but by the end it was definitely feeling taxing here. The y raises also get fatiguing by the end as well. Got two more weeks of this and hopefully what I’m aiming for here (combined with the past push press cycle) comes to fruition. Back into the garage for some light triceps work. Same as last week with 3x12-20 reps with the mini band. These had felt really easy at the start and got challenging by the end of the last set when doing 20 reps. I stuck to same band tension and it did feel like less fatigue in the right side by the end of it compared to last week. Not pushing the log push pressing just yet this coming Saturday. I ate my later in the day lunch and put stuff away before getting some stuff ready for work tomorrow and then stretching out later.

October 31, 2026 – Week 9, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Behind The Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds behind head)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns
45x10/lbx15—15
45x10/lbx15--15

12” Log Push Presses (beltless)
88x5
110x3
132x2
154x1
176x3
176x3
176x3
176x3
176x3

Front Squats (beltless)
5-1-0-0 tempo
45x7
3-1-0-0 tempo
89x3
133x3
177x2
221x2
265.5x3
271x3
276.5x3
282x3

Reverse Band Hack Squats (lb’s)
+90x5
+140x5
+190x5
+240x5
+290x15
+300x15

Sandbag Carries (turns at 50’)
255x100’
255x100’
255x100’
255x100’

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (3 seconds)/Belt Squat Donkey Calf Raises
110x8/bw+180x20
110x8/bw+180x17

Stretching

Comments: I accept that myself will always been stressed out by new things, even if I want to do them. Thursday I did my soft tissue work and walking as Friday I took off work for the wedding I was invited to that was right near Philadelphia in the evening. There are just some things that as a 41yr old with autism that are new things not done with help/assistance. Booking my hotel room is oddly enough one of those things (which thankfully was painless but expensive). I was stressed and had to take allergy meds and I almost had a “meltdown” in the parking lot trying to park but I’ve thankfully learned a thing or two being me for over 4 decades (and coping stuff from therapy) that I cancelled that self-destruct sequence and nothing went wrong. Ok, so I forgot toothpaste but that’s it. I’m also not a fan of the Schuylkill Express Way (which has to be named ironically). Leaving in the morning to drive to Lancaster then to train. I knew that with travel and stress and sleeping in a different bed that I had to be prepared for possibly subpar or altered training. Driving away from Philadelphia better than driving to it. There were people there when I arrived and people after I left. As if I didn’t get my ears talked off at the wedding the day before, I apparently had to talk off the ears of those present. Eventually I got to doing foam rolling. My right side legs needed more attention than my left side, which has been the case for some time. The tops of my calves with the trigger points needing a good bit today to get things to calm down on me. Right hamstring needed about double the left and about the same with the quads here. Upper back thankfully didn’t need that much today. Neck rehab stuff was ok. I didn’t feel that tight or tense. Had felt a little of that with travel but did manage to get my neck to calm down before I went to bed the night before. Glute activation fine and lower body mobility also fine and dead hang was fine (actually felt quite good). On to training. A bit of change to the warming up as this was switched to be more focused on just the pressing for the day. I may adjust this going forward to include something for the lower body. Superset of paused btn presses and half kneeling single arm lat work. Light stuff but working on getting position points and muscles/movements on point. Open up the chest and get the lats pumped and stretched. Which then leads to the event training with log press. It has been over 2 months. Aim was to still be light with the leg drive pressing as switching from more incline focus to log press focus. I also didn’t want to bother with cleans until I finished up with back extensions. Took a bit to setup something to do them from jerk blocks/crash pads. I don’t plan on doing these heavy from here as not a comfortable position. The other option was cumbersome and not something I like using either. 65% for 5x3 with about 90 seconds rest. No support gear (I meant to do wrist wraps but didn’t pack them). Unrack on these was awkward and just finding balance point to be stable for initiating the press was tricky but pressing felt easy. I don’t recall this log being this banged up the last I recall using it. I went with kilogram jumps and I was only to work up to 165lbs but went with 10kgs jumps here. I did some dip drives to get the lower body pattern working here. I feel like more something I need to do with unrack on log vs if it was cleaned (not an issue with axle or barbell). Plan next week is same but another set to keep getting familiarized again. From there, onto front squats. Last week of beltless and tempo emphasis (switching to paused and belt). I wasn’t sure with how my right knee was feeling how things would go here. It had thankfully not been an issue on log (tend to be when doing out of rack and not with a clean). I ended up doing longer eccentrics and more reps with just the bar to make sure things were feeling good and to get my knees warmed up (hence thinking maybe I add something to the warming up). The plan for this session was to work up to 4x3 with 5kgs more than last time. But really I’d like to push more but I couldn’t think of a way to have it be closer to 10kgs and go from the 20kgs jumps I was doing. So I decided that if the first set felt fine that I’d add 2.5kgs per set so that I’d top off over 280lbs at the end. The added weight was noticed by the end for sure but good to be doing over bodyweight for reps without any belt on these. No clue how much adding a belt will do here. Reverse band hack squats next. Initially I was planning to drop these after last week but felt it was perhaps important to push these a little further but cut back on them still. So work up in 5’s to 2x15 with decent reps in the tank. I did smaller jumps than usual to make sure knees were good to go on these. I probably could’ve done 300lbs for both sets but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. One more week of the same then. Sandbags after that. I had deviated that last time I was doing the carries with doing 2x200’ instead of 2x100-150’. This time I stuck to doing 4x100’. Not yet switching to the shorter course length for show. Aim was to do 255lbs with 90 seconds rest here so just pump these out. I was expecting my knees to be the factor on these but turns out these got my hamstrings hard. Apparently the paused rdls hit that same spot haha. I alternated sides with tilting the bag to pick and lap. I’m pleased with how that aspect had been feeling. But I know I need to be moving quicker. Perhaps that will be the case when I’m not prefatiguing with heavy front squats and hack squats. The last thing had some modifications. Initially to be a triset of back extensions, calf raises and tib raises. But I did want to finally go home and not differ my protein shake another week. But more so that I was thinking I needed to pull back on the ankle stuff as maybe not recovering from the intensity. I only really kept in the donkey calf raises here as I can kind of bastardize them to get some ankle/triple extension going on. This would be the last session of the snatch grip back extensions since going to be doing log clean and press shortly (and doing block pulls now). First set of the back extensions was fine. The belt squat donkey calf raises I had my hand towels to pad the right side but I didn’t have it in the right spot and I had to stop the set to adjust before finishing out. Stupid nerve pinching. The second set the nerves in my ankles decided to flair up when they had not on the first set so that wasn’t pleasant on the back extensions (why I generally wear knee sleeves on them). No issues with the nerve issue on the raises but I wasn’t recovering good and the rep quality was poor so shut it down. Down the shake as I put stuff away and finally home to stretch and decompress. I way already planning for late dinner. Clocks move back an hour so Sunday will be a day to get things sorted out and taking off Monday to give me a little more time to adjust.