June 14, 2026 – Week 9, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x6
197x5
263x4
307x3
346x2
379x1
412x3
Added Pauses
351x3
351x3
351x3

Yoke (drop and turn halfway)
240x50’/50’
420x25’/25’
510x50’
600x50’/50’ in 21.76 seconds
600x50’/50’ in 21.54 seconds
600x50’/50’ in 21.43 seconds

Yoke Pick and Holds
710x2 seconds
820x10 seconds
820x10 seconds

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x4
108x3
130x2
150x2
150x2
150x2
150x2
150x2

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (52”)
145x25’ (keg)
200x40’ (sandbag)
225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 49.16 seconds
225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 46.03 seconds

Backwards Sleg Drag (turf)
635x69’7” in 70 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I had to adjust my schedule with the gym closed but also because my sister was competing at the gym for the contest they were running. Other than one event that was big ask, she hit everything that was the goal and actually won her first show after doing these for over a decade. I was nervous for my own training as it had been a hot one yesterday and I had been on my feet for hours and sweated a ton. So I was worried about if I’d be able to handle my training. I got sun burn on my neck being outside for the truck pull which wasn’t even that long at time. Thankfully I’m back on the telework schedule so I didn’t have a ton of pressure to get things down early. I slept in until I felt like my knees weren’t going to bother me. I forgot it was Sunday and didn’t weigh myself. Numbers from blood work are consistent/stable so still good to go I guess. Drive out was fine. I was alone when I got there at the gym but the fans were going so it felt comfortable. At least at the start. Some people did show up while I was there but none doing strongman stuff. Foam rolling was ok. Right quad continues to need like double of the left one. Neck rehab stuff was ok as well. Lower body stuff was ok as well. I did do some stretching twice to loosen up stuff that was tight. Dead hang after that. Then on to Axle squats. The heavier week. Plan being work up to a top set of 3 reps (RPE 8-9) and then take 15% off for 3x3. I was a little worried that this would feel like it did 3 weeks ago when I bailed on the session because Saturday was not a chill day. Trying to get the wheels to not hit the pads uneven. At this point, I’m starting to think I’m lopsided. There was a big floor fan on in the gym but it wasn’t enough to keep my cool doing squats with the neoprene on so brought over the smaller fan with the extension cord. I tried moving the boxes a little to see if that made a difference and then put the hard rubber wheels rather than the metal ones since those have some dents in them. These didn’t seem to fix matters and it would sometimes be the left and sometimes the right. Adding a little to the right was probably a little too much that side but I don’t have anything thinner to adjust things with. 346lbs felt not great so I was starting to sweat bullets (besides the normal sweating) but 379lbs felt like it should and I went with just the tiniest of increases on the weight I’ve done on these just to make sure I got it. I could tell I had it after the first squat. However, the other two reps I was not able to get the balance right and it was more on the right vs the left and I’m sure that it wouldn’t count as reps because the one side hit and the other didn’t on those two reps. A slightly wider stance felt better on these this time around. For the down sets, since it was actually lighter than what I did last week, I figured I should control these a bit with pausing slightly in the hole so that I made sure the wheels touched both sides. My belt wasn’t secured the first set and popped off but made no real difference. I essentially left everything out as I went about the session as I wanted to get through the majority of them before I took a break to recover and refuel. Use that time to put stuff away. From there, moved on to yoke. Plan being contest runs with 30lbs more than last week and then do some heavy holds after that. Lower back and knees were feeling yesterday but I should be good here. I wasn’t dealing with any weird hamstring tightness. I felt comfortable but I wasn’t moving as quickly as last week here as I didn’t get below 20 seconds like I did on two of my sets last week. Didn’t get under 21 seconds here. But these felt good and moved well so I’ll take that. The heavier part was pick and holds. Notes were to work up to as close as I could to contest weight without overdoing it and burning out. Contest weight is 370kgs which is a little over 815lbs. I’ve not gone over 800lbs since 2024 but I’ve done over 1000lbs on picks before and it isn’t exactly something that leaves you even if it has been a while. Do pretty big jumps to get used to things here. This weight definitely dug into my upper back and traps more than 600lbs did so much more noticeable sunburn sensation here. Knees were achy for the pick but felt ok holding it. Second set I was a little more unstable initially as I thought it was going to move differently and kind locked/unlocked my knees there. It did feel heavy. Rice Krispie break and on to circus dumbbell. I waited until I was using my big bell before swapping in a fresh shirt. I may need to bring more shirts if it is going to keep being this close to 90 degrees every weekend. The plan for today was work up to 150lbs for 5x1-2 with 60-90 seconds rest. My hope was 5x2 but not really rushing the rest since sweaty and the setup with crash pad aim and reset can make it a little dicey. 49lbs didn’t feel great on my joints but 85lbs and 108lbs felt good and crisp. 130lbs did not so I was a little concerned with how 150lbs would go. Hand sweat did start to impact this and having the proloc collars didn’t quite have things stable so I took a beat to have things ready on my shoulder before launching it. These felt good. No farmer’s stuff today so that was good. I took my time with getting ready for the loading and carrying medley after seeing how much setup that took. I was also trying to cool off as I was sweating up a storm here with what I’d done so far today. Plan was to do 225lbs for all four implements with the keg and sandbags. 25’ carries for all of them. Last week I had 2” high setup but I was able to figure out a way to have it be contest height. Initially I thought I’d only have a single 225lbs bag so there was an adjustment if needed there. But I located another at the gym so I had two to work with. As far as a second 225lbs keg, I used one of the plate loaded kegs for that. With not having farmer’s before this, I figured it was probably a good idea to do some warming up here so I did carry some lighter objects. I made sure to tape up my thumb this time and figured I’d wear my hard belt so as to see if that helped with carrying stuff up higher and potentially not getting in the way. I wasn’t moving the fastest but I felt I had less errors on the kegs this time around. The last sandbag on the first set seemed to mess me up on the pick as it felt heavier than I was expecting it and seemed to be out in front of me. But I recovered and got it into position and moved along. It takes a good bit of time to reset this and then resting from that. Second set was much smoother although I suffered a bruise on my right arm as the copper sleeve slid down on me and got direct contact on the second keg lapping it. Guess I’ll have matching ones with the left side being where I got the blood drawn. Last thing being a heavy backwards sled drag. Same weight as last time on the turf but 10 second more. I made sure my shoes were tied tight as I noticed my feet were moving in my shoe with how heavy this was. Things did not start off great as initially it didn’t feel like it was budging this time. It took a bit more effort to finally get it started but then once I did, I seemed to be motoring. I was getting close to 60’ and I saw that it wasn’t even a minute yet. But that was where I started to slow down a ton and kind of eeked it out the last few seconds as the clock counted down. I was definitely gassed at this point. Down my shake and put stuff away that was still out before drinking the rest of my fluids before driving home to finally decompress and stretch.

June 10, 2026 – Week 9, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts w/ Bands (straps, platform, wagon wheels +20lbs/+75lbs)
135x2
225x2
275x1
315x1
60 seconds rest
365x2
365x2
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 19.97 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 19.24 seconds

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Pick Transitions (16” pick)
235x1+1 (5 steps)
235x1+1 (5 steps)

Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
bwx5/5
56’x5 – 65x5/5
86’sx10 – 120x10/10
86’sx10 – 120x10/10
86’sx10 – 120x10/10

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
165x5
235x10
235x10

Stretching

Comments: Went for a walk Tuesday after work as I knew I needed to get some activity in. Time getting eaten up with training and needing to clean more dishes leading to later eating. I ended up going out to eat as was going to be way too late if I let the dishwasher finish. I was feeling a little down and depressed as well as tired. Didn’t help more new dumb shit with work. Unexpected thunderstorm had me initially writing off today and moving it all the way to Friday but then it cleared up after an hour and the sun was out like nothing happened. So back on the planned schedule. Maybe not feeling so down with some sun. Been overcast the past few days and humid. Still humid. Going to be damn hot tomorrow. It still felt like it took me a bit to figure out what I was doing before I actually got to doing it. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Lower legs needed a bit at the top of the calves. Then my quads needed a ton. My right I needed to work it for like a minute and then about half that time on the left. I was kind of surprised how much I needed for my quads today. I was expecting more on the lower legs honestly. Upper back was fine as were my hamstrings. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt decent enough. I think I’m sticking with the reduced stuff for now and just keeping the one thing in for glute activation. Lower body stretching was fine but felt like I needed to do one of the stretches twice for good measure. Finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. With what appears to be the plan of heavy/light/heavy one week and then light/heavy/light the other, this was to be the light Day 2 session. Which meant it was essentially the same session as last week with adjustments made as that was more a light session to get back into it. So starting things off was again banded deadlifts. The notes were to do the same setup and weight as last week but for two more doubles. Also to pull with more intent off the floor and locking out. And I had every intent of doing that. But I wanted to test the band tension with my new scale since the other one broke before I could get accurate reading at lockout. I tested it like five times and what I thought was 64-70lbs at lockout was actually 48lbs. Which was less than 10% of what I hope my max (was aiming for 10-15%). But the smallest amount I could add was a micro band and that ended up adding a decent amount to the lockout at 75lbs. So cowabunga it is. So getting this figured out did take a bit more time than I’d have liked (made up for it with getting stuff setup quicker this time around). I could tell after I got to 225lbs the bands made a big difference and adjusted the warming up. Definitely harder lifting this time around but not to where I felt that I wasn’t going to get through these. Maybe some worry that I’d slow down a ton. I was working on getting my hips and legs into these and not stiff legging the lift. If not for this movement but for farmer’s walk as that tends to sap my back. I definitely didn’t go all hyper like last week at the start and paced myself here. Considering that the bands added a good bit more compared to last time, this was satisfactory. I’ve got the bands tension situation figured out now. From there on to the farmer’s walk. Some changes to last week. It had been 3 sets of contest style run with 225-235lbs. This was kind of a mixture of both Day 2 and Day 3 farmer’s walk stuff. The first half of it was doing 2 sets of contest runs with 235lbs after warming up. It wasn’t as hot as last week or even the week before it but is was incredibly humid. Just sweating buckets on my hands, arms and face. I was a little worried that my hands were tear with these handles the way they are and all the sweating going on. The goal was to beat my fastest time last week. Hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem although I did make deadlifts a lot tougher than they were to be. My lower back wasn’t hating me and I was trying to get my hips down a little more on these. Picks felt great but my legs felt stupid. Like they didn’t want to cooperate and I felt slow. It wasn’t until after I was done and putting stuff away that I figured maybe my legs are beat from the hard sled drag set on Saturday. That’s only thing I can really think of other than maybe yoke but that wasn’t beyond what I’ve done recently. I appeared to calibrate things for the second set and did manage to beat my time on that run. Not to say my first run wasn’t terrible (just under 20 seconds). The second half of the farmer’s was pick work. Similar to Saturday session but using the same weight as the runs beforehand. 2 sets here with a set consisting of doing a pick and holding for a second, setting it down quickly and turning around to repick it and then walk 2-3 sets and putting it down. Working on the transition. These felt better than the sets honestly. I ended up doing like 5 steps (Kill Bill reference maybe?) as that felt about right to get into the groove or I can’t count. The deadlifts and then moving to farmer’s and then moving the farmer’s to the next thing all kind of have baked in active rest so I can rehydrate a little without getting queasy. Kind of need it with the weather. Back in the garage for rest of the workout. Superset adjusted again with chest supported dumbbell rows replacing sandbag rows (which had replaced dumbbell high pulls). 3 sets of 10 here. Had to figure out what felt good and not overdo it. Still doing alternating reverse lunges with the ssb. Notes were to do 3x10 with the weight I did last week. Rows were easy and probably could’ve pushed these a tad harder. The lunges are almost always the toughest aspect and the most fickle. My knees seemed ok at the start warming up but felt quite unhappy the first set. I had a feeling my legs were feel gassed going into these if they were having me walk like a drunk cat on the farmer’s walk. So I took long rests between sets here. I did feel better as the sets went on thankfully. So close to the end of the session. I had started cooking dinner at the start of the session in parts and was about finished. Last thing for the day being ssb zercher gms. Add 10lbs and do 2x10. So a little bit of a reprieve. I was so pleased/relieved that there wasn’t any weird sensations doing these last week with my soft belt. Just warmed up a little and go too it. Definitely noticed the added weight on these. Last session for this current in-office rotation so I’ll be having 4 weeks of not chaos coming up then. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out before finally getting to sleep. This week is almost done.

June 8, 2026 – Week 9, 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
90x5
120x4
150x3
180x2
210x1
230x1
230x1
235x1
235x1
240x1
240x1

Javelin Thrusters
45x3/3
65x2/2
85x1/1
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3

12” Log Floor Presses/Banded Deadbugs
180x6
220x2
255x6 – lbx12/12
255x6 – lbx12/12
260x6 – lbx12/12
260x6 – lbx12/12

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds)
22’sx15/(4)mb’sx15
22’sx15/(4)mb’sx15

Stretching

Comments: I sweated a lot on Saturday so bodyweight was coming up under 260lbs Sunday. I didn’t have to worry about anything besides getting stuff ready for this week as my sister was on deload week for competition. My week is last week in office rotation and folks will be back home this week. I will be doing my usual Day 1 and Day 2 but need to train Sunday instead of Saturday due to the gym hosting a competition (that my sister is competing at). I wasn’t feeling nearly as beat up from the last Saturday session I finished. Plan with training appears to be doing one week with harder Day 1 and Day 3 (this week) and then lighter Day 2 and then have the following week be lighter Day 1 and Day 3 and hard Day 2. Allergies were pretty bad in the morning but cleared up by the afternoon thankfully. Hamstrings had been decently sore and I could tell that my forearms (especially the right) were feeling the keg contact. Having to do skin care for the hands to keep from having callus issues with the sweating and humidity. Little bit of skin abrasion on the left thumb from keg too. Foam rolling there were some spots that needed it like my upper calves and lot needed in my quads. Elsewhere was fine.  Neck rehab was fine. Felt good. Kind of got what I think is good enough for my warming up for the glutes at this time. I may add something in for hamstrings. Lower body stretches followed up with a dead hang to decompress. The start to this session was as last time. PVC pipe exercise superman holds. I didn’t film these again as treating these as warming up. I felt I was recovering a little better and did 30 seconds rest between the sets. Could tell there was some lower back fatigue from Saturday. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. Since these seemed to be the same and no changes (kind of part of warm up now), I did film them so I could kind of keep things moving along. These felt good for the shoulders and upper back. I was running a little behind with figuring out the session as I can’t really troubleshoot and plan like when I’m home on telework during my breaks with my on PC vs trying to get it sorted on my phone. Outside for the majority of the session. It looked like it was going to rain but it never did. Log clean and press and for heavier fair today. Notes were to work up to 6x1 at something that felt decently heavy but not something I’d freak out or be stressed about (RPE 8). However, I tend to get stressed at just about any weight being pressed above 180lbs it seems on log or axle. My hope was that I would be good with how last week went for the most part here. I really wanted to be feeling stronger. Only do one clean warming up to kind of save myself and try to focus on the pressing since it was going to be singles here. Cleans felt strong, but weight felt heavy on my shoulders/chest today. I was hoping I could do 240lbs comfortably but with how 210lbs felt, I went with 230lbs to start. The cleans felt powerful all session and video does say that 230lbs moved fast on the press. My ego had me sneak on small plates after the first two singles to get to 235lbs with my overarching plan to be doing the two final singles with 240lbs. First one with 235lbs didn’t feel so crisp and that was a bit of wonky lockout. I overcorrected a little I think the second as the clean recovery kind of knocked me off balance backwards and had to let it settle but it went up better. Again, these don’t look bad but it felt heavy on my body in the rack position. First one with 240lbs I tried to correct further and that seemed to be fine with the clean but balance a little off with press and had to walk back with it. By the time of the last lift, I did get the clean right but weight was feeling draining in the rack and I wanted to get a stable base to press for this last one. So bit of a mixed bag feeling here. Got a good bit to catch up with log and I feel like that may have me feel the pressure to go up with doubts in my ability to have it there game day type thing and just knowing that this weight is less than 80% of my lifetime best on this lift. But moving on. Secondary pressing after that with the javelin thrusters. So I guess I was doing them right but was advised to lower the pins a notch as might be cutting my dip short a hair. This exercise seemed to be the thing people noticed and that was neat from last week. So plan was to do 4x3 this week with same weight. I had a feeling though that I was going to do a little more weight just because these were starting to click. I wore my knee sleeves for these this time to hopefully have my right knee not so stressed and to also get used to them for circus dumbbell right after yoke. I may have been rushing a little with worries about rain and also just getting the session done before it was really late. These felt powerful for the most part and I felt powerful doing them just tossing that weight up there. Took my mind off of log press thoughts for the time. I feel like I could do 135lbs on these for a rep or two if I wanted. I’m curious how these will pay off. Up next was the pairing of log floor press those banded deadbugs. This time it was 4x6 on the log stuff and 4x12 on the deadbugs. RPE 8 was suggested for the log stuff. I had an idea before the session started but seeing how my pressing had felt with log I lowered that expectation but then cautiously raised it with how the javelin stuff went. This time around, log floor pressing didn’t feel as good as it has. Anterior delts felt sore. I did end up going lighter than my high end plan but not quite my lowest revised end here. Felt decent enough the first set. The deadbugs I was trying to focus on locking the nonmoving side here. That was a bit of focus struggle there with making sure I stated braced in spots but mobile in others. A lot to focus on with the band distraction. Second set pressing felt a little better so I did what I do and added a little weight. Third set felt the best of the day so I felt good but fourth set felt the roughest of them. The deadbugs remained about the same. Last thing had a slight change to it. Still rear delt dumbbell stuff but more weight and less reps. And pairing with banded triceps with holds at lockout. Always with the triceps. The dumbbell stuff was about what it was going to be. I may have had the tension a little light the first set but I did make sure it was appropriate tension where I gripped things the second set. Put stuff away and took care of some things at my folks before getting to eat. I had an appetite so I unfortunately ended up eating what was to be two dinners. Stretched before cleaning up.

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, +13lbs/+48lbs)
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 (note new scale says it was actually 48lbs to frowny face). 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.