April 29, 2026 – Week 3, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Trap Bar B Stance Romanian Deadlifts (5 second eccentrics)
145x3/3
235x2/2
285x6/6
285x6/6
285x6/6
285x6/6
285x6/6

Dumbbell High Pulls/Alternating Reverse Lunges
56’sx3 – bw+10x3/3
88’sx6 – bw+40x8/8
88’sx6 – bw+40x8/8
88’sx6 – bw+40x8/8

Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
88’sx12
88’sx12
88’sx12
88’sx12

Heel Elevated Goblet Squats (no lockouts)
bw+50x15
bw+50x15
bw+50x15

Sandbag Over Shoulders (EMOM)
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1

Stretching

Comments: Felt tired waking up today. Wanted to call off and take a sick day just so I could sleep some more. Oh well. It has been cold and a little dreary lately. Kind of surprised my upper body doesn’t really seem to get DOMS despite how tough the sessions have been with the tempo work. Not that that is an indicator. Neck tense today and that does seem to come and go. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Both calf muscles needed a good bit of work today. What I was expecting on Monday session. I was kind of surprised that the right hamstring was still sore compared to the left. Not as much as Monday but noticeable. Needed more on the right quad compared to Monday but left still needed a good bit too. Not much needed for upper back. Neck rehab stuff followed. Chest felt tight and needed those movements today. Other stuff felt fine. Lower body stretching was good and so was dead hang after that. Then on to the workout. I had been a little slow to actually start the session as I knew this would be an exhausting workout. No breaking in period as it starts off that way. So unfortunately starting things off with the same eccentric loaded trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. Same weight as last week but now 5x6. Which with how these feel, might as well be 10x6 as each side is taxing on these, especially the grip. It’s all getting worked. These were tough but I think I handled these better in regards to needing more rest and having to catch my air. I don’t feel like I had to fight any yawns. My hands were feeling pretty sore here. I have to be careful how I grip the turned over trap bar as too far back and puts a lot of stress on the front of my hands and “feels” heavier with the knurling vs a little more forward having it feel like nothing and comfortable. I didn’t miscount reps this week. I was making sure of that as each set was going to be tough on these. One thing I was focusing on was trying to keep my knees out. My right outer quad got sore immediately after the first set. This was a lot of work but it was done and I could move forward with the session. Before I started the next thing, I had to figure out what made sense for dinner as what I had would take a while but needs attention (can’t set and forget) to prepare or order out. Weather was bad and I didn’t really want someone delivering food so I figured I’d get it myself from someplace really close. So that was the plan for after training but needed to make sure open late enough and it worked out. Once again, I turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow for the rest of the workout. I was steaming pretty good from the trap bar stuff. Again, superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. Notes were to go heavier on the high pulls and try and keep the dumbbells more in front. Reps were 6-8 for the high pulls and I’d have to use my plateloaded handles for them this session. Lunges were also for 6-8 reps per side and I figured 40lbs would work there. I had the weight out front too far last week so trying to get this more like a goblet squat hold style. I went with 88lbs since again I guess on a kilogram weight kick and it was what I used for the rows yesterday and overhead press. My knees were feeling pretty stiff going into the lunges while high pulls felt easy enough with the warm up set. The increase in weight on the dumbbell high pulls was immediately noticed on the working sets and I knew I’d need to do the lower rep range to have goodish quality of movement. Lunges knees felt fine and I went with the higher rep range on these. Like last week, I didn’t feel like I needed much rest that the first set but I needed a bit more after the second one.  I definitely feel I can go heavier on the lunges but the high pulls may need to stick around this range. Took a slight break to bring in packages at my folks before putting in food order and getting to the lighter and less taxing stuff of the session. Toe elevated dumbbell rdls was next. Again 4x12 on these. Ms. Funk said I needed to go heavier on these as way too easy last week. I kept the same weight from the high pulls here. Issue with the plateloaded dumbbells with these weights is that the ROM was decreased slightly. I’m trying to work on the flexibility and mobility in my calves/hamstrings and putting focus on the glutes with these. Not terribly taxing but I know these are doing something. Not sure if more sets with short rest for volume or if weight should be pushed further on these. I’ll have to figure out what works/makes sense. Next after that was heel elevated goblet squats. No superset this time around. 3x15 with no lockouts for the knees. Advised to not be so hunched over the weight in my upper back. Knees were feeling a bit grouchy just being in the position initially before adding any weight. I had thought they’d be fine after the lunges but guess not. I was also uncertain with the right hip/upper quad area as that got a little tight/fatigued on the second set last week. That did seem to be present but only on the first set really. I had issues with my balance on the seventh rep on the first and second set for some reason. I think finding my balance and center with the weight. Fatigued at this point and I had to do another thing. Sandbag over shoulders. Not as bad as doing full sprints with short rests like Day 3 session but not great when fatigued and at the end of a session. Especially since sandbag to shoulder type stuff didn’t go so hot for me last training prep and contest. Plan was for 175lbs bag for 6 doubles (alternating sides during set) done EMOM style. I was putzing around mentally about it and just decided that I’d just grab it in the middle while the bag is flat and just suplex it. Think reptilian brain and just go crocodile on it. That seemed to make things easy. My neck/upper back were still tense but this seemed to be good and powerful for me at least. Put stuff away and went to pick up food and then ate it before finally stretching out for the evening.

April 27, 2026 – Week 3, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Superman Holds (5 seconds)
PVCx3
PVCx3
PVCx3

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/Y/T’s
12’sx8/8/8
12’sx8/8/8
12’sx8/8/8

Seated Barbell Overhead Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Bent Over Throws
88x6/10x6
88x7/10x6 (miscounted)
88x6/10x6
88x6/10x6
88x6/10x6

Chest Supported Alternating Dumbbell Rows
88’sx12/12
88’sx12/12
88’sx12/12

Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Side to Side Slams
55’sx13 – 10x6/6 (miscounted)
55’sx12 – 10x6/6
55’sx12 – 10x6/6

Feet Elevated Supinated Barbell Inverted Rows
bwx2
bwx10
bwx10

Stretching

Comments: Kind of wanted more days off from work to just recover. Just busy and keeps being busy. Bodyweight down 2lbs from last week. That weight had been a little higher than I had been averaging but I kind of blame that on traveling and eating hardy with lighter training. Lower body is sore from Saturday for obvious reasons but also my neck on the left side as well as my biceps. I wasn’t expecting that so much since I was already doing circus dumbbell but maybe the thicker handle has something to do with it. I didn’t think I’d detrain from it one week off of it. I did get my official invite for Worlds so not worrying about that now. I do hope more details for both comps gets listed soon so I can gear training appropriately and start the plan of approach and improvement. Some changes to this coming week with exercises in the established trainings. Soft tissue work to start things off. I was expecting to need a ton on my calves with how sore they are feeling from the sled pushes. But not much needed. What needed it the most was my right hamstring and my left quad. An unusual combo. Upper back was good as that seemed to get the neck tension to calm down a bit. Neck rehab was fine. Lower body stretches followed up with a dead hang to decompress. So new exercises being added with some being removed this session. But the main meat and potatoes the same as the previous two weeks. First exercise was a new one for this session with doing what are deemed “supermans” with the PVC pipe. Core work and stability coupled with shoulder/thoracic mobility and stability. I think I did these right. Not too taxing but could tell lower back was a little stiff. Then it was the IYTs. Increased the weight a little and dropped reps to 8 per variation in the set. I knew that this should be fine considering the reps from last week. The increased weight was noticed though as I went through these sets. With the lighter stuff down to get things warmed and fatigued, time for the “heavier” stuff. Nothing is really heavy on this day, I just make it feel tough with the tempo work. Again, seated pressing with tempo and the bent over tosses/chucks. 5x6 for both. Told to try and add more weight on the pressing. It is tough to gauge how much more I can do with how these fatigue and burn as the reps and sets accumulate. I had mentioned how I felt like I could ‘t go that heavy last time and then kind of regretted not doing 85lbs for all the sets. I went with 88lbs just so I could say it is 40kgs or something. First rep felt kind of rough the first set but I felt fine as I did them. What I don’t like with the tempo work is the concurrent counting of the movement and number of reps as I worry about miscounting with the worst thing being doing not enough reps but equally bad in that gets exhausting is extra reps. Which occurred on the second set. But I didn’t really notice as anything over 3 reps on these feels sucky doing tempo. The second set I didn’t realize I miscounted until I reviewed video well after the session was done but I had thought I only did 5 reps o the medicine ball stuff. That continues to feel easy and fun. Most things are after doing tempo work. With these finally done, on to the chest supported alternating dumbbell rows. This was the only exercise that had any notes this session and that was that try and pull more ROM as shorter kind of has it be biceps. Ms. Funk had indicated that I might not be able to do so with the bench and the size of the plates on the dumbbell. I figured what might work in that regard was to pull out and back rather than just back, that way getting mostly past the bench pad to increase the ROM. But I wasn’t sure if that would even work here. Plan was same weight or a little more if too easy for 3x12. That first set I wasn’t sure if this was a wise choice to make but it went ok but I did have to pivot my body a bit to do this. I didn’t need to do that on the following sets and it became more natural a movement. So I think I got a way to get more back into these rows going forward if using the bigger plates (at least for one arm version). Ms. Funk had indicated that the push/drags weren’t programmed out of hate but the fact that the tempo benching was in this week and again back up to 12 reps has me questioning the sincerity. Still the squeeze close grip style with the side to side medicine ball slam exercise. I took quite long rests between pairings here so that my shoulders, chest and triceps stopped feeling microwaved to give another go at it. I kept thinking I had miscounted doing these but turns out only the first set I did. The side to side I was advised to stay more stationary and have it be oblique focus as opposed to what I was doing with pivoting on the hips and rotating my feet in turn. The slams are fun and do distract from the hellishness of the tempo pressing. Last thing for the session was a bit tougher than what had been the case. Inverted/inverse rows using barbell to force supinated grip. Indication was to do 2x10 and “make it tough.” I had asked about what variables to adjust for difficult (whether loading or elevating feet first). I went with elevating my feet. These feel fine but the last inch or two of the movement is very tough and I can’t get my chest to touch the bar with my feet elevated. I stuck with this setup and bodyweight for this time and if I need to adjust going forward, I will if this wasn’t satisfactory. Put stuff away as dinner finished cooking. Stretched afterwards.

April 25, 2026 – Week 2, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x3
108x2
EMOM
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
125x5
125x5
235x5
279x5
312x5
345.5x5
351x5
356.5x5
362x5

Sandbag Carry and Loads (over 53”)
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag
270x10’ husabag/273x10’ sandstone/275x10’ sandbag

Sled Push and Pulls (turf)
400x50’/50’
400x50’/50’
400x50’/50’
400x50’/50’

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

Stretching

Comments: Last week and the previous two days this week have felt like an off-season session with nothing planned. But we do have something planned and it is more deciding on which big show end of August and what the events are for the one vs the other. Nationals we got 6 of the 7 events (one is a “mystery event”) and Worlds 2 of the 7 events. But no weights for either. Worlds at least has some details for the two events rolled out. Honestly, the end of the week I was bit lackadaisical with work as thinking about doing this particular training day (not anxious, excited) and that World’s Strongest Man was happening. Despite how non-fan friendly the competition is, it is still exciting stuff. I got in walks Thursday and Friday and plan was to get to bed somewhat early on Friday so I could get up at my work time Saturday so that I had time to putz around if needed with new exercises and such. I kind of got the early bed part but I woke up before my alarm went off and felt like I still had some things I needed to work out in my sleep so I turned it off and got up about an hour and 45 minutes later. So I guess I needed the rest. I had packed up stuff the night before so I didn’t need to do much in the morning besides eat before heading out. There wasn’t much in the way of traffic but everywhere people seemed to be driving slower than usual. It took a little bit to get started once I got there as I brought some equipment to the gym and then talking with people. Foam rolling I needed a good bit on my upper calves and my right quad but not too much elsewhere. Neck rehab stuff was good but a little distracted. Lower body stretching was good. Dead hang felt nice. Starting things off with circus dumbbell. A bit of a change as usually these sessions start off with a squat of some type. But I think the change was made due to reasons I’ll mention later. Been doing circus dumbbell a lot lately but that is because it has been in both shows I did this year to qualify for the big shows. And it would appear that it is in both big shows. Nationals has a max dumbbell and World’s has it as part of medley (yoke into two dumbbells). So I guess this is staying. After how the dumbbell felt in Illinois and seeing as how the implements will likely be not like the dumbbell I’ve been using the past two preps, I brought in my Bigg Dogg Strongg dumbbell to use. The handle is 3” diameter and the bells are a little thicker than 12” and it is 130lbs empty. The plan for today was to do 120-135lbs for 10x2 done EMOM style. Another thing I was changing up from the past two preps was not doing touch and go reps. It makes sense to break up the reps fully since this isn’t a max rep thing and I’ll be doing a max at one and two separate weight dumbbells at the other. So I tried my best here to setup a crash pad circumstance. It wasn’t the best. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle the dumbbell as this had felt tougher than the one I’d been using when I had to use at one point during prep back in December. Even though it was pretty cool outside, it was feeling stuffy and humid in the gym and I turned on the fans, otherwise I’d have sweated to death. Seems concerns were unfounded as it fit like a glove and I was launching it up there. It felt easy so I added 5lbs after the first five doubles. I know Ms. Funk will be on me about standing up fully on the lockouts and get back into my stance. I felt like I was but video says I was just clanging and banging. I think I was worried with deloading and resetting the dumbbell each time giving me less rest with EMOM has the impetus to that. I will do better next time. Sometimes when it feels that good, I just go with it and like making it feel light. It is the start of prep. So that went well and then it was on to the squatting. I think the reason this was moved from the start to second in order was that this is going to be an actual event at a competition. Off season without focus it had been more of a pre-exhaustion to the session and building and then in prep more of a primer for the day. So having it be actually contested makes sense to have it be after dumbbell as order of events and not sapping everything for dumbbell or leg drive based pressing. Both shows have axle squat as an event. Nationals doesn’t have any specifics while World’s indicates that it is to pads and that there will be two weights. I decided to go with World’s setup from when they did it in 2023 where it was with wagon wheels and the pads were set at 27” or so (metric conversion) for the open heavy class. The plan for today was work up to 4x5 at RPE 7-8. I’ve not done an axle back squat variation since 2012. I know for World’s they won’t allow anything besides one pair of knee sleeves and belts here so went with that. I needed to see how this felt and figure what works here. I used my tight pair of knee sleeves. These were knee sleeves I bought to use as elbow sleeves a few years back. My other loose pair feel like nothing but leg warmers after wearing these. I messed around with different pairs of shoes at the beginning to see if my usual shoes or oly shoes worked best here. My friend Andrew said oly shoes I looked a little better but I was finding that for whatever reason the movement was feeling harsher on my right hip with them on compared to my usual shoe. So that simplifies things there. I know this kind of thing is going to require a lot of work so another reason to start this earlier than other known events really. These aren’t too bad if you get the groove right and timing with the pads. Unracking the weight and walking back feels darn heavy and the thickness of the bar really can throw you for a loop as requires a good bit of strength and mobility for a lower bar position and high bar will really pull you forward. Using kilo plates for the most part as likely how weights will be and feels “denser”. Got to stay tight while using the “bounce” or the bar will move and push forward. I had two reps on my working sets where that happened and I had to catch it to recover. That first rep tends to feel rough to with the pressure on the body. The tight support stuff takes a bit for the recovery too as can’t be walking around the that stuff on between sets for long periods. I feel like at minimum that I need to work on getting 90lbs more on the bar for a single for either comp to not zero I think. I didn’t put everything away here as it was going to take a bit and I had some other things to do at the gym. Sandbag carry and loads were next. Not exactly competition specific here but keeping something that might be. Plan was 3 bags for 10’ carries and load of 52” bar height and make these RPE 8-9. I wasn’t too sure on how things would feel. Sandbags had been rough at the contest and pick up seems to be my issue as far as repeat effort. I did ask if it was ok to use other shaped bags (sandstone and husabag) for variety here. Sandstone yes but didn’t hear yes/no with the husabag. The gym hasn’t replaced the 250lbs bag and I kind of wanted the variety of different sandbags. Lay them all flat so I was having to pick them in a way that would be most stressful to hamstrings and lower back. My sandstone did lose some moisture from when I last used it (wet sand) but not as much as I thought it did (10lbs or so). So my bags were the cheaper husabag (shaped like a trapezoid), sandstone and floppy bag with all being roughly the same weight. My only warm up was picking up a 200lbs sandstone and moving it like 15’ or so away. The gym bought two of them besides the one I have but have notes on them indicating “don’t use”. Who knows what is going on there. This didn’t go so bad. I do feel like I was moving slow with first two but better on the last one. The pick was the worst on the husabag but the carry with the sandstone was the worst. They were tougher in a way that made the 275lbs floppy bag the easiest, which I wasn’t expecting. I got faster as I went on these. I got a little distracted on the second run as my do-rag was sliding off and got in my field of vision at the start. Right hamstring felt a little twinge on the third set picking getting my stance on the husabag to pick it but nothing after that. I was leery about back and hamstring but I know I can go heavier here. I feel like that is the case for the dumbbell and squats too. Not the case for what came next. The next thing was to do sled pushes into sled drags. I think on the assumption that this might replicate something at Nationals but could just be because Ms. Funk hates me. Four sets of 50’ down and back and notes just said heavy. My initial plan was doing these on the turf but I kind of wanted to do them on concrete instead so that I could feel more weight. That ended up being a mistake as my cheap shoes have no traction on the floor it would seem so I had to tear down what I setup and move it onto the turf anyways. The first set felt like a mistake as I was having issues with traction and my right ankle did not want to cooperate on the push portion. But I made it the distance and then dragging it back which was also terrible. I was seriously considering dropping the weight here but I made my bed and going to sleep in it. The push portion felt better the second set surprisingly but I was slower on the drag. I was taking long rests putting away stuff here to get the lactic acid out of my legs and get my breathing back under control. Other than the second set, these were all about 65 seconds to complete. I took rest putting stuff away as well as smuggling 75’ of manilla rope into my gym bag (it is mine) so that it wouldn’t get soaked in the rain putting in my car. The last thing for the day wasn’t going to be difficult but it still felt cruel. Sprints. Just regular sprints with the only rest being however long it takes me to walk back to the starting line. I say cruel in that I’m kind of awkward in the first place and my legs were swollen from the sled work. And I tell you, I don’t look like how I think I’m running based on what the camera is showing. It took a set or two before my legs started cooperating with me and not feel like they were disconnected and I was going to fall over. This was irritating my right hip flexor (already feeling it a bit from the squatting) but tolerable. Finally got to drinking my shake and eating a sandwich before driving home to eventually stretch. Going to be a long night before I finally fall asleep I think.

April 22, 2026 – Week 2, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Trap Bar B Stance Romanian Deadlifts (5 second eccentrics)
145x3/3
235x3/3
285x6/6
285x7/6 (miscounted)
285x6/6
285x6/6

Dumbbell High Pulls/Alternating Reverse Lunges
40’sx3 – bwx3/3
70’sx8 – bw+25x10/10
70’sx8 – bw+25x10/10
70’sx8 – bw+25x10/10

Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
70’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12

Band Face Pulls/Heel Elevated Goblet Squats (no lockouts)
sbx20/bw+40x20
sbx20/bw+40x20

Stretching

Comments: I feel like my coworkers are stressed but I’m kind of just used to everything being on fire. Walking felt good Tuesday. Nice to walk during my lunch break again. Still got some neck issue thing at this time. No changes really to Day 2 this week compared to last week, just heavier or more reps really. Day 3 is where things get more specific and interesting. No further things posted about either competition at this time. Kind of entertaining myself with comparing other aspects like travel and costs in the meantime. Felt like I might need nasal spray in the morning but it seemed to go away. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things and nothing really needed a ton this time around. Left calf at the top needed it the most today. Other stuff was about the normal. Upper back wasn’t anywhere near as sore or tight as Monday. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt alright, some stuff felt needed and other stuff just kind of superfluous. Again, quite surprised nothing really sore from the upper body tempo work. Lower body stretching was good and so was dead hang after that. Then on to the workout. Like I mentioned earlier, this was essentially same workout as last week but either more weight or move volume. So starting things off with the same eccentric loaded trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. These had been pretty rough last week. Notes were try and push these to RPE 7.5-8 and do 4x6. I had miscounted on some sets last week. I figured I could do more weight this time around but that I should probably treat each side as its own set so that I wasn’t making things not so good on the other side as the grip doesn’t get a rest when switching sides. I didn’t realize until today that my smaller/denser 45’s will fit on this when flipped over and not be touching the ground. So I went with aggressive 90lbs jumps and lowered the reps I did warming up with intent to go a bit heavier and see if resting between sides improved things. I did liquid chalk and regular chalk here. First half of first set wasn’t bad. I was considering increasing the weight each set by like 10lbs but my balance wasn’t quite that good on the other half so had me reconsider that line of approach. And these were feeling pretty taxing between sides so rest was definitely needed. I might have done an extra rep on a set at some point. This was tough in that I was having hard time with stopping myself from yawning and my nose was starting to run. Breathing was hard too. But I made it through these eventually with 40lbs more than last time and an extra set. I took my time to recover from that as the next thing was also not a fun one to do and get through. I turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow for this one. A superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. Notes were to go a bit heavier on the high pulls and to add weight on the lunges holding in a goblet squat style. Reps were lowered here with the high pulls being 8-10 and 10 reps each side on the lunges. Knees didn’t feel as terrible doing lunges and warming up this time around. I figured I should be able to do my 70’s for 8 reps. I wasn’t going to push beyond that as I wanted to see how my body handled the lunges this time and the trap bar stuff was a lot more taxing this time around. Hard to guage things with many reps on explosive movements. Gives me room to grow with these weights for next time. The high pulls weren’t bad and the lunges were decent here. I was kind of thinking I should go heavier but save that for next time around assuming this coming week has similar stuff. I actually seemed to recover well from the first and then doing the second set but needed longer rest after the second set before doing the third set. Toe elevated dumbbell rdls was next. I took a slight break to walk to my folks house to check on things while they are away and then came back. Give me a chance to get my air back and distract me from wanting to drink anything as I can’t really keep things down safely after I start on this particular session. 4x12 on these. I asked if I should try to push things more as these were quite easy last week. Advised I can increase if I feel like I’ll be able to maintain the stretch and form. I figured that it was best to just do the 70’s again because it would be a hassle with the plateloaded dumbbells when these feel great as is but are light. The plateloaded handles would get cumbersome. These did feel a bit more challenging this time around but I think that is more due to having done 40lbs more on the trap bar stuff and 60lbs more on dumbbell high pulls. These felt and moved easy and good stretch but I was breathing a bit heavy compared to last time. Almost done with today. Another superset to finish things off. Again, band face pulls and heel elevated goblet squats. Change here in that only two sets but reps now 20. Also advised to not lockout my knees on the goblet squats to keep constant tension on the quads. I took a bit to kind of recover mentally before doing these. I think since last exercise and I was expecting this to be more challenging than it ended up being. My knees didn’t really ache on these goblet squats this week. I did sit in a deep squat position for a little bit before hand so maybe that helped. First set was pretty easy. Fatigue did become apparent on the second set but still fine. Could tell my right quad was getting fatigued. Still have little lingering of the hip flexor thing and still some bruising on that leg from Illinois but slowly getting better and forgetting about the aches and such. I put stuff away as well as put some equipment into my car for this weekend to transport. Ate dinner before stretching out.

April 20, 2026 – Week 2, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/Y/T’s
10’sx12/12/12
10’sx12/12/12
10’sx12/12/12

Seated Barbell Overhead Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Bent Over Throws
78x6/10x6
80x6/10x6
82x6/10x6
85x6/10x6

Chest Supported Alternating Dumbbell Rows
86’sx10/10
86’sx10/10
86’sx10/10

Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Side to Side Slams
52’sx8 – 10x6/6
54.5’sx8 – 10x6/6
57’sx8 – 10x6/6

Seated Band Pull Aparts
mbx25
mbx25
mbx25
mbx25

Stretching

Comments: Felt pretty blah at work today. I had hoped getting plenty of rest on the weekend and then being on telework rotation would temper that but I guess I’m still just exhausted from the constant deluge or bullshit each and every day. It is getting colder again with a frost warning for tomorrow morning. It had been 90 like a week ago. Bodyweight jumped up a good bit from what it was before the competition. I was about 256ish and now 262ish. As I’ve mentioned, it is kind of staggering how much better I feel when the work reverts to my off site schedule vs on site schedule. At this time, only one event has been announced for Worlds and it is axle squat (I had a feeling it would come back) so regardless of which big show I do in August, I’m going to be doing squatting with an axle and first show with a squat event. I’m not adverse to doing so, just doesn’t come up and I’m not that good with squatting. That will need a bit of head start compared to other events since I think it has been over 13yrs since I did an axle squat haha. Anyways, that is later. Now is this session. Which was going to be similar to the Day 1 from last week. I kind of suspected that but wasn’t too sure. Soft tissue work to start things off. I didn’t need a ton on my legs but boy howdy did my upper back need a lot. Really sore from the past two training sessions. Neck rehab was fine. It is taking quite a while for things to resolve with my neck. But I know it takes time when it gets like that. Lower body stretches followed. Dead hang was fine not as fatiguing for my forearms so I guess they are recovering as well. So like last week, a bunch of silly exercise that I’d have to do light that will make me look foolish. First up was IYTs. Same weight as plan as last week but now 12 reps for each variation. I knew these were going to be burners by the end of things. Feels very easy at the start but by the time I get to the T’s, feeling the burn. I definitely took a bit longer with my rests here compared to last week as those extra six reps per set were telling. My upper back was also quite sore. I wanted to make it through these without taking a break or setting the weights down. Successful on that front. The first of the two odd superset pairings followed. Seated pressing with tempo and the bent over tosses/chucks. 4x6 for both. I got the one medicine ball so that remained the same. Just be powerful with it. The pressing was what I could alter. I was advised to push the weight a bit more this time. I wasn’t sure how that would go as by the end of it was 4x5 from the weight I did last week, my triceps were really fatigued and my shoulders were screaming. Tempo reps with adding more reps feels like difficult increases exponentially rather than linearly. I wanted to go heavier but wasn’t sure of myself finishing things out with how I was feeling after the raises so I went for a tiny increase. No issues with the tosses, those feel great every time. Pressing that first set was ok and I figured I’d go up 2lbs and see. That felt easy enough that I worried I had miscounted a rep but still went up 2lbs after that. I decided to finally do the weight I was hoping I could do for sets next with a 3lbs jump and that seemed to work out for me. The alternating dumbbell row with chest support followed from there. Only thing was indicating 3x10 this week. So it looks like I was doing them right last week. Nothing was saying about increasing weight but I figured I would since it had been quite easy. I have time to mess around with setup so got the plateloadable handles setup for these. I was initially worried that I bit off too much here but these were quite comfortable and easy even with the increase in weight and reps here. Hmm, guess I’ll need to go heavier. The nasty part of the last week session was up next with another tempo pressing with a medicine ball slam exercise. There was some mercy given in that the reps for the pressing were lowered to 8 reps this week. But I was advised to go heavier. I didn’t feel like I could do 70’s for 3x8 with strict tempo adherence so that meant doing the plateloaded handles here. I was leery about that as don’t really want to use the 25’s as won’t be a “close grip” with the crush factor that way. Also issues with the spinning plates and handles causing issues with that as well. The side to side slams were increased to 6 reps here and that was fine. I think I only really had one where I got off balance (I was having that issue at the start of each set last week). I thought I had 50lbs but I miscalculated. And worse still was it felt too easy so I had to add weight each set like with the previous pressing. Which wasn’t as quick since these were my wrench locked collars for safety. Sets of 8 reps infinitely more tolerable to sets of 12 reps on tempo work like this. The last thing then was seated band pull aparts. 4x25 this week. I took a little longer rests than last week only because I felt this was when I could start prepping dinner and not worry I’d be away too long doing the exercise for some kitchen mishap. These were easy but I could tell a little more fatigue by the end with double the sets/volume. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

April 17, 2026 – Week 1, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Trap Bar B Stance Romanian Deadlifts (5 second eccentrics)
125x3/3
195x3/3
245x5/6 (miscounted)
245x6/6
245x6/5 (miscounted)

Dumbbell High Pulls/Alternating Reverse Lunges
40’sx12 – bwx12/12
40’sx12 – bwx12/12
40’sx12 – bwx12/12

Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
70’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12

Band Face Pulls/Heel Elevated Goblet Squats
sbx15/bw+40x15
sbx15/bw+40x15
sbx15/bw+40x15

Stretching

Comments: I’ve not yet gotten an invite for Natural World’s but to be fair, it hasn’t been a week yet and I recall it took a bit for last year and I hadn’t been expecting one with how the placing went at that time. I do hope I get one but I’m not 100% sure with there being the four at the show and the one dropping. But we shall see. As for Strongman Corporation Nationals, I already got confirmation of invite for that. Events released and I do like that there are 7 events for the show but really only “excited” for like 2 of them. My dad finds them underwhelming and not great for me (squat, deadlift and two pressing events plus a “mystery event”). Will have to see what happens with Natural Strongman as far as invite and what the events will be as that will undoubtably be more expensive of the options here with doing a big show to end the competition season. But that is like 4 months away. But I do like thinking long term so that I can plan and not be needing to worry on the day to day. Because lord knows got enough of that with work and just the “vibe” in general of things right now everywhere. Anyways, temperature has cooled a little bit thankfully. Craving being able to work at home again where I can wear stuff that is much more comfortable with dealing with hotter temps. It is really shocking how the change from one work condition to the other has a quite drastic change in recovery. Went for a walk after work Thursday after letting it cool off a bit outside (I was also deciding if I should walk or not with recovery) and thankfully it is still light outside after work at this time. I had thought initially that my upper body was more wrecked than my lower body from the competition but that is patently not the case. I hardly feel anything from Day 1 session at this time. Still having some tension in the neck but it does seem to be slowly getting better and the soreness in my gums and ears is dissipating quickly (as I was expecting being back home). I decided for the Day 2 session that I was going to train after work Friday rather than make this a weekend workout. My thinking being that this is the light week coming back and may not be reflective of the next week or the following and this could be what is like the Day 1 and Day 2 for a three day workout week session. So maybe giving myself more rest before the next week starts and getting in more rest from sleeping in makes more sense. With no work the next day, I did take a little time to decompress from the day before getting training started. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things off and my calves needed a lot of it today. Right quad also did but not much for the left quad or hamstrings. Upper back needed it a good bit as well but perhaps not as much as first day back. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt slightly better than it had two days prior. Nothing was feeling sore from that session despite all the tempo work. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Forearms still a bit sore. Then on to the workout. Still starting off with a deadlift but not axle deadlift like it has been for the past cycle. Indicated as doing trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. And doing 5 second eccentrics. Surprisingly, this isn’t an exercise I’ve not done before in some capacity. I’ve done these but with not as long an eccentric (3 seconds) and doing what is called a “b-stance” and them coming off as more rdl vs a true deadlift. Fitting into the trap bar (I do have a very large one) and such, it seemed like doing the variation I was doing would fit the bill albeit with the longer eccentric tempo. Notes were to do 3x6 and keep it light. I feel I kept it light but may have made it tougher than intended. I used no support gear and only aid was liquid chalk just for my hands with worries of sweat with the heat. I also flipped my trap bar upside down so that the ROM was greater and the pick height lower to start. I figured I could do a decent amount of weight here as when I last did these about a year ago, I had done 285lbs for a set of 10 reps each side (with rest between sides) with 3 seconds eccentric. Well it would seem that I’m rusty on these as 195lbs probably would’ve fit the bill here for the weight today. But I was stubborn and had figured on 265lbs but did lower it to 245lbs. These become quite taxing on the grip. The counting with tempo does lead to errors in rep count, especially with the top down rep approach and I ended up doing so on the first and last set here. I initially didn’t have any fans on but turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow. There weren’t as many exercises this session compared to Day 1 and moved on to the next thing. A superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. I asked for clarification on the style of high pulls. Lunges only bodyweight but it has been a good long while since I’ve had to do the alternating style and for higher reps. I realized after the first set that I was probably not going to be able to stomach and fluids for the remaining exercises if I wanted to get through them in a decent time. Due to the explosive nature of the high pulls and the number or reps, I felt it was best to do my 40lbs dumbbells here rather than my 70lbs, seeing as how stiff I seemed to move with those when doing clean and press. So these were quite easy. The lunges were not so. Knees were stiff and it took a bit to feel comfortable. Leaning forward quite a bit. I was definitely getting winded on these feeling a bit out of shape. However, I managed to move better and quicker as these went with getting through the actual reps in quicker time each set. This is the kind of reset I need after competitions to get feeling like an athlete again and moving well. When I feel like I’m moving well, I feel like I’m doing well. Another deadlift variation followed this. Been doing a lot of heel elevated stuff for squats but not any toe elevated but that was what was indicated for the rdls. I was going with my 70lbs dumbbells but after getting my ass handed to me by the lunges, I was wondering if that was too risky. Turns out this was really easy and I’d have needed more weight. But like I mentioned for the last session, trying to use what is easy at hand. I doubt I could load up the handles I got to have it feel worth my while honestly. But I can certainly try next time. I’ve been doing single leg versions with a decent amount of weight. Another superset to finish things off. Similar I guess to Day 1 with two superset pairings with similar things. That had been tempo press and ballistic slams and this was upper back pulls that are light/explosive with bodyweight high reps for legs. Band face pulls and heel elevated goblet squats. I usually have stuff from earlier in the session setup for anchors but not this time so a little rest to get that in place to start for the face pulls. I wasn’t sure if I could handle strong band right off the bat but I was good. I was surprised my right knee was achy on the goblet squats at the start as I felt like the lunges should’ve adequately prepared them. Like the previous superset, I got quicker on the leg stuff as I went and was getting a bit heavy breathing wise and lactic acid build up. But got through this one and able to put stuff away and eat dinner before stretching out.

April 15, 2026 – Week 1, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

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

Seated Barbell Overhead Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Bent Over Throws
75x5/10x5
75x5/10x5
75x5/10x5
75x5/10x5

Chest Supported Alternating Dumbbell Rows
70’sx9/9 (miscounted)
70’sx8/8
70’sx8/8

Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Side to Side Slams
40’sx11 (miscounted) – 10x6/6 (miscounted)
40’sx14 (miscounted) – 10x5/5
40’sx12 – 10x5/5

Seated Band Pull Aparts
mbx25
mbx25

Stretching

Comments: I was in a bit of rough shape after the competition with the travel still needed. I thought I got past whatever allergies issue had popped up the day before competition but that came back with a vengeance the next day. And not in the same way I was feeling it on the way out there. The neck tightness on the left side had popped back up again and I was having what felt like ear infections and my gums were sore. Been a while since I’ve had allergy and stress related stuff that bad pop up. It has also been like 8yrs since I last did a competition requiring driving into another time zone. I knew I’d eventually feel better once back home in familiar surroundings. We got back lunch time Monday and I did nothing Tuesday as I was feeling off. I was considering taking another day off work because this was still in office rotation and being home in comfortable climate and surroundings would probably be better and help me recover. The past two training cycles with Ms. Funk, I’ve taken off the week after the competition fully but that had more to do with not being home right away rather than lack of desire to train in some fashion. And the cycle before that under my own training I had gotten a cold upon return that kept me from training that week. So even though not feeling great, I did wish to do something this week rather than ruminate on the competition as I tend to focus on what was left on platform rather than what I did. So two workouts for this week to get moving and do a short off-season as I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing other than some big show hopefully end of August. These would be shorter workouts so that did lend to me being able to decompress from work for a bit before getting to training. Soft tissue work to start things off. Lower legs needed a decent amount and not much to really report on the hammies and quads. Upper back needed it a lot. I was expecting that with the neck tightness and just feeling from the show. Neck rehab was fine. Hip flexor is finally feeling well enough that I can do all the lower body stretching again. Dead hang was fine, could tell forearms were fatigued. Workout looked to be a lot of exercises that were going to make me look silly with light weight. Which is fine as I’m in need of a change of pace after one long prep going into a contest prep and one short contest prep back to back. What wasn't a fun start to this prep though is coming into first session with it being middle of April and 90 degrees already. So had all the fans going in the garage this session. First up was dumbbell raises of the IYT variety. Done these before in different styles. I just wasn’t sure how the neck/upper back would handle them as plan being them back to back so would be easy at the start (hopefully) and be quite a burner by the end. Thankfully no issues right off the bat and I was able to use my 10lbs dumbbells here. The pump and sensation of thickness in my upper back muscles doing these and after doing them had me feeling powerful. For whatever reason, when my upper back feels “thick” I feel confident and strong. From there moved on to an odd superset. The first part was strict press with barbell done seated. That’s not that odd but it was with long tempo work. Tempo on the concentric portion with lifts is what kills me with strength/weight wise on this kind of stuff. I initially was thinking higher weight but adjusted my expectations accordingly. I assumed my body would be plenty warmed up from the previous exercise. The other part of this was the unusual part in that I was to do medicine ball throws into the ground from a bent over row position. So tempo exercise followed by an explosive/ballistic exercise. I thought I had a medicine ball but I think I gave it away to my sister a few years ago. There were two planned exercises for this session requiring one and I wasn’t keen on the alternative exercises (just how they’ve felt in the past plus safety with setup reasons) so I did procure one. The throws weren’t as difficult or complicated as I was expecting and kind of active rest after the tempo pressing. The pressing I was getting quite fatigued from. A dumbbell row variation followed that. I’m assuming I did these right with the alternating style. Plan being 3x8 but I accidentally miscounted the first set. These were quite easy and I hadn’t wanted to load up the plateloadable dumbbells after seeing how these felt. This was a light and hopefully uncomplicated week. I’ll be back on telework rotation the next four weeks so I can fuck around then. Another of the odd supersets followed this. Again, pairing tempo pressing with a medicine ball exercise. This was the toughest part of the workout. The first half was a dumbbell bench variation with same tempo as the overhead pressing. But for 3x12 rather than 4x5. This felt like torture even with the weights this light. I ended up miscounting the reps on the first and second set. The other component was more med ball stuff but this was alternating slams from overhead. I was initially worried I’d need to do these outside but I had plenty of clearance and the med ball didn’t really bounce. These were easy like the other medicine ball exercise but I did have to chase down the darn thing at times. I miscounted the first set. Having survived that, the last thing was quite easy. Band pull aparts but seated version. This was done in short order. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching. Really dreading the DOMs from this one in the upper body.