March 19, 2026 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
206x3
296x2
386x1
456x1
526x3
526x3
526x3
526x3
526x2 (missed 3rd)
526x2

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x1/225x1
265x1/305x1
265x1/305x0

Sandbag Pick/Lap/Stand
363x1

Deadstop Safety Bar Good Mornings (lower to deadlift pull height)
65x6
115x6
165x12
165x12
165x12

Sandbag Zercher Stationary Lunges (0-1-0-1 tempo)
bwx8/8
112x8/8
112x8/8
112x8/8

Deadstop Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Pull Ups
62x6/6 – bwx1
112x6/6 – bwx9
112x6/6 – bwx7

Stretching

Comments: Been having stress dreams. I’m not sure if it is the increased stress at work, anxiety of upcoming competition or specifically this workout today and Sunday. It could be a combo of some or all really. I got an extra day of rest to prepare for this one. Soft tissue foam rolling surprisingly not much was needed and my quads needed it the most. Neck rehab stuff followed I guess that was needed. My shoulders had been feeling a little tense and stiff from Tuesday session. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Just the normal amount here. Then on to the actual workout. It looked like a lot on paper and I was even considering doing just the deadlifts during my lunch break and then the rest of th session after work as I was worried that it would take a lot out of me and that it would be a really late night for me. But I thought better of it and kept things as they were. Axle pulls again. I was expecting the volume but wasn’t expecting it to be essentially heavier than last week’s “heavy” week. The suggested was to do 525lbs for 6 sets of 2-3 reps depending on how I feel. I had been pleased with how things were last week on these and this felt like it was going to be incredibly tough. I did plate jumps to start warming up and then switched to 70lbs jumps after that. Things were feeling ok but not amazing. Unfortunately, I had the lightheaded feeling on the first working set and I had to take a moment between each rep to get myself right again. Which really killed the momentum of the set and made for a very difficult three reps. This felt like an almost max effort and I was still expecting myself to be better here and essentially do 5 more sets with my 3rm on these. As such, I took longer rests than I usually do besides suited work (takes time to setup straps and weights). Talking like 5 minutes rests between sets at most. Second set and third set did feel better than the first. I was surprising myself with my ability to keep going and repeat and dig deep on these. I got through four sets at triples before I hit a wall on fifth one. I knew after I had to take a moment after the second rep that I might miss this lift and I just didn’t get it above my knees. My body just starts shaking in the hamstrings at that point. I was not able to get myself super hyped up as these were just draining and grinding me down. I only went for a double on the last set then and knew that going for a third here would’ve been bad news (I was entertaining doing 4 reps to try and hype myself up to make up for missing a rep). This was a lot of heavy volume and I feel the biggest ask on deadlifts since starting training with Ms. Funk. I kind of hope that next sessions pull back a lot on the volume so I can recover because I was feeling wiped after this one. And I still had everything else to go. Now I didn’t feel so out of it like I did the session we won’t speak of again lol. Used the time putting stuff away as a brief respite to get some liquids in. Sandbag to shoulder following up. I had some confidence back with these after hitting 305lbs last week comfortably and making 300lbs feel really easy on the carry Saturday. Volume was pulled back here. I mean, it has been fairly low volume the entire prep compared to other events. No singles this week though. Trying to get in reps with different bags to kind of get used to doing more than one bag in the time frame at the show in case I go too big or too light. How I had left the bags in the garage last week, I needed to move them around to start light and work my way up. The lighter bags are kind of an afterthought at this point with my old style but I’m still a little off when coming down from the deadlifts and knowing there is more to come. The true working weight was the 265lbs and the 305lbs sandbag. Plan for the day was to do 1-2 sets of single with each bag taking 5 seconds or so rest between. I could tell I was knackered from deadlifts as I just had no umph in me on these compared to last week. But I still managed to get 305lbs up there on the first set. I probably should’ve stopped there as I got one set in but I remembered how last week I felt not great on my first set with 265lbs and was thinking not happening with 305lbs but then the second one flew up and I then did 305lbs convincingly. 265lbs had went up pretty nice first set and I’m actually surprised that 305lbs didn’t stall on me with the fumble I had with the lapping of the bag. Second attempt 265lbs was about the same and pick was harder on 305lbs but it felt like it was more secure in the lap but I just didn’t have the power or gumption today and it stalled on me. I tried to reset and go again but it wasn’t to be. I know that I’m wasted from all the deadlifts and I got the 305lbs again with fatigue beforehand so not a total wash here. The next thing was the other aspect of the workout that had me stressing out something fierce. The next bag in my garage setup is 363lbs. I’ve had it for 5-6yrs now and it has just sat in there gathering dust and spiders. I’ve never attempted to lift it besides just moving it onto handtruck to move from one side of the garage to the other where it has sat. But apparently today was going to be the day to lift it in some fashion. Ms. Funk was not expecting me to shoulder this behemoth. Notes were to pick it up and stand up with it forcefully. I do have the arms to pick this bag long ways like I do other bags but considering how much deadlifts took out of me and that this would be a 27lbs PR to lap this bag, I had resigned myself to picking it up in a more advantage position and hope that worked. The size of it is daunting. This is where I feel I need to have more time and practice with the bags like this as this feels nothing like the smaller bags. Picking it up this way wasn’t easy as I was a little high up on the bag and it didn’t quite clear my legs and I had to be really awkward with it to get into position on my lap to be able to have it secure and then stand up with it. It didn’t feel bad once in my lap and standing up with. Pick always been the issue with sandbag. I could walk with it for a bit (and I’ve done heavier with husafell stuff). Like I said, I’d need to mess with this some more to make it more efficient and see if a different tactic with getting off the lap works here. It didn’t feel impossible is all I’m saying for now. Anyways, got a little bit of liquids down and then on to the accessories for the session. Which I was not looking forward to. First up on that order being gms with the ssb to rack height. Same as last week and I wasn’t complaining here. My lower back was just wrecked at this point and I was doing double takes with the height of the rack arms but they were right. Thankfully, adding my belt made these somewhat tolerable (as feeling like crap warming up). Sandbag zercher lunges with tempo pauses again. Starting to get intense again with increased reps. I was missing the cue here that wanting to engage upper back more with not just crushing with arms but pulling back. So I tried my best there. I took each side as a rest period rather than trying to force things be shorter between sides with the reps increased to 8. My joints were feeling these today in my knees, hips and ankles. Right inner hip area was still feeling stiff and achy after I was done. It has been a bit since one of the hips has gotten annoyed with me. The last thing was a superset. The supported dead stop single leg dumbbell rdls and pull ups. Weight increased on the rdls by 10lbs and reps reduced to 6 reps. Again, thankful for the rep reduction and that only two sets after the workout today. I was also expecting my pull up numbers to be higher since less prefatigued on with the rdls. Left side feels more hamstring than the right (which feels more quad engagement). But finally I was done and able to rehydrate and eat. Not going to be as late a night as I thought. I will definitely be needed two days rest. Stretched after eating. Hoping that the aches and such go away with rest and recover.

March 17, 2026 – Week 5, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Dumbbell Push Presses (4-0-0-1 tempo)
40’sx3
57’sx3
70’sx3
87’sx3
87’sx3
87’sx3
87’sx3

Paused Axle Floor Presses (2 seconds at lockout)
96x5
136x4
186x3
226x2
276x4
276x4
276x4

Internal Rotation Dumbbell Flyes/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (0-1-0-1 tempo)
10’sx12 – 6x6/6
40’sx10 – 26x10/10
40’sx10 – 26x10/10
40’sx10 – 26x10/10

Paused Banded Close Grip Push Ups/Paused Band Cross Face Pulls
bw+lbx16/(2)mb’sx18
bw+lbx13/(2)mb’sx18
bw+lbx13/(2)mb’sx18

Stretching

Comments: Having to change things up this week and next because of the gym being closed most of the day this coming Saturday. The plan being to move days forward one (so Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) this coming week and then same next week but back to Saturday for my Day 3 to get back on track to finish out this training prep. Weight a little over 259lbs on Sunday and had my younger sister over to do some event work as she is considering competing in June. That went well and as long as no neck issues on her log prep, she should be on track to do well despite no strongman stuff in a year. It was good that plan to adjust was done as the gym won’t be opening until 6PM Saturday (thought it would be 5PM as not many people for the show) and then tornado warning on Monday (they let in office people out 4hrs early) so that wasn’t conducive to doing this session on Monday with the stress of that and just dumb stuff in general. So didn’t do anything Monday and plan being sleep but my mind decided to have a stress dream despite going to bed a few hours earlier than I have been. Weather continues to be chaos as it was 60’s and rainy Monday and now some snow when I woke up today. This week’s sessions looke to be quite intense. Soft tissue work to start off the day. I didn’t really need it anywhere besides my upper calves. Neck rehab stuff felt fine, little tense but not bad. Lower body stretching was ok followed by a dead hang. It had been nice and sunny last week. Now just about freezing. Slight change in the the tempo dumbbell push pressing. No pause in the dip this week but still doing pause at lockout and slow eccentrics. Suggested weight for these was increased (85-90lbs). I was initially thinking of warming up one way but decided smaller jumps made more sense with the reduced reps and sets for the working weight. I went for something in-between for the suggested since the plateloaded dumbbells are quite unwieldy. Warming up just felt so-so here.  I knew I needed to have a little oomph on these to get into position. Snow squall came out of nowhere that first set. These just felt ok. They just felt a little off I think not having the pause in the dip. I did wear my hard belt on these. But stuff away and into the garage for the rest of the workout. It was still pretty cold and I’d not yet warmed up fully so I kept my warm ups on here. Started cooking dinner at this point. Axle floor pressing again with the paused lockouts. I guess I had done enough last week that the suggested reps and sets were bumped up a good bit. It had been 255x4x2 last week and now 265-275x3x4. I was going to aim for 275ish if feeling good but would have to see how warming up went. I was advised to have the weight come back over my face more with pressing this week. Warming up felt just ok but I guess a little better than it can be with usually one jump just feeling off. I got set for that first set (I did go with 276lbs) and it felt quite comfortable. So that was good. I had been worried that I’d be struggling a little. I guess I decided to do that on the second set. I had the strength here but the issue was that I was a little too close to the rack where I positioned as the first two reps were easy and then the last two reps I hit the rack coming up and had to shift and adjust. That was frustrating as it was only a little off and that was kind of why I was trying to keep the bar path a bit more rigid up and down. I took a little longer rest to get my head right again and scooched down a little bit more so that unrack was a little tougher but I didn’t end up mashing the rack with the stroke of the bar path. It wasn’t as easy as the first set had been but it was solid work. Then on to the first of two supersets that have been the second half of this session this cycle. Chest flyes with internal rotation and single arm triceps. I was advised to keep my arms a little straighter this week and to be conscious about the rotation happening during the movement rather than just at the completion of the lift for the flyes. Same weight suggestion for both as last week but going from 4x8 to 3x10. Chest felt a little iffy at the start for these while triceps seemed ok to deal with what was about to happen. Definitely felt better on the flyes as I did them and triceps didn’t feel as difficult as last week with the pauses. With those out of the way, it was on to the last thing of the session and closer to having dinner. Another slight change to the last superset. Pause now being added to the banded close grip push ups (still indicated as 10-20 reps per set). Pause for a count in the bottom of the lift. Also advised to make sure I was fully locking out my triceps as well on the push ups as Ms. Funk feels that I need to keep working that and making that automatic so that my triceps don’t fatigue on me at inopportune times in competition. Reps were increased on the paused cross style face pulls. Initially, the pauses felt like nothing on the push ups and then hit hard. I was kind of surprised that I was able to recover enough to match reps on the third set with the second set with how much these seemed to sap me after the first set. Not to mention that the face pulls were a lot more exhausting this week compared to last week with the extra reps. Got through the “easy” session for this week. The next two sessions look to be quite brutal. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out.

March 14, 2026 – Week 4, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Monster Texas Squat Bar Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
66x5
110x4
154x3
198x2
242.5x2
286.5x3
286.5x3
286.5x3
286.5x3

Double Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, 1 second dip and catch)
49x5
85x3
108x2
125x1
140x2
140x2
140x2
140x2
140x2

Sandbag Carries (turf)
250x60’
250x60’
turns at 60’
300x120’
250x120’
250x120’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
320x60’
320x60’
320x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions
50x18
50x18
50x18

Pulldowns (drop sets)
150x10/120x10/90x25
150x10/120x10/90x20

Stretching

Comments: Burn out with work is very real at this time. I’m thankful that I have friends and family and that training is at least going well. I don’t like when I feel so overwhelmed and feels like no help in sight. Power went out for a little bit on Friday afternoon adding to that stress (high winds). Like last week, allergies were acting up a little on Friday and that carried over unfortunately into Saturday. I did have my stuff packed up the night before in the event I did need more sleep than I was expected to for feeling up to training. My hamstrings were feeling very sore and hard to tell if a good sore or a bad sore. I did end up waking up when I had set my alarm for and not needing more sleep. I did regret not taking anything more than nasal spray on the drive out. Just hoping that I don’t feel off with training. Foam rolling I didn’t need much besides my hamstrings. I think this is the first time I’ve actually done them twice to make sure things feeling ok and good. Neck rehab stuff was good. Chest still feeling tight but not as bad as it had been this week. Lower body stretching was good. I did double what I normally do here again with the hamstrings. Dead hang felt nice. Starting things off with eccentric focus box squats. A few things today had ranges for weight, reps and sets today so kind of based on “vibes” I guess. Box squats were to be 4x2-3 reps and have 10-20lbs more added. I asked for clarification here and the goal was more getting heavier weight with speed off the box component. I was prepared for either option here. The monster squat bar was in the monolift so I figured that was fortuitous and decided to go with the heavier option today. It does take a like a set for my knees to feel ready for these. I had thought the thicker bar maybe was an issue but I think that was more just first time in a while doing any kind of squat with a barbell on my back. I didn’t feel like I had any issues with unrack this time around. I felt good enough here that I did triples. This was a decent start to things. From there I moved on to circus dumbbell. Pauses back this week. I was looking forward to this. I knew that I had rushed things last week and that had been a lot to do with my anxiety being up for some reason. It was a little elevated today but I seemed to keep it in check as I wasn’t breaking into a cold sweat. Plan being 140lbs here for 4-5x2. I was fully planning on the 5x2 but depended on how fatigue was going here. I was feeling pretty good here. I did try to make it more an effort to have the dumbbell stop moving when going into the dip as I tend to further rotate as I do. I increased the hold times slightly for the last 2-3 sets here. Fourth set of these felt the best of the bunch. Things are moving smooth here but slightly curious on how things will hold up with 20lbs more for contest weight. We are getting very close to show time. From there on to sandbag carries. Plan for today was warm up to contest run and then drop down to 250lbs again for 2 runs of contest distance. I was a tad nervous here with the sore hamstrings. But I guess less so than I had been at the start as no issues on box squats or circus dumbbell. Since I was doing contest run, I did two sets with 250lbs of just 60’ to get ready for that. I was fully expected 300lbs to be fine but just feel darn heavy and slow. I got a friend to video from the side so I had a better angle for Ms. Funk to review. This was unexpected how this went. I had a little bit of crowd (didn’t notice until I was done) but once I stood up with thing, it felt light and I was booking. My camera man as also not expecting me to be off so fast. Felt good and was about the times I’ve been doing with 200-250lbs range too. Who knew? I didn’t magically go faster on the 250lbs sets as those felt about the same as last week with it feeling dense picking it up. But hey, 300lbs moved really easy and that’s what matters. Arm over arm next. I was paranoid about the rope coming undone so I made sure the knot was secured this time. Plan for today was same weight as last week but another set added. The note for this week was to try and pull to the one side as way to increase the arc of the motion for the pulls as well as a way to keep tension on the rope. Willing to give that a try. I was a little worried I think that pulling to the side might make the implement move that way but it didn’t. So first set felt a lot like my first run last week and didn’t feel that taxing. Similar time I think as well. Second set didn’t go as planned. I’m not sure what I did wrong at the start but I couldn’t keep traction with my shoes and my balance was terrible so I wasn’t able to get much power into the strokes. I did eventually get sure footing but this ended up being my slowest run of these this training cycle by a good bit. I was feeling pretty beat from that extra effort. However, not all bad in that near the last third or so that the keeping constant tension and going to the side finally clicked and if I could get that from the start and not have footing issue, I should be able to move this faster. Everything came together on that last set as I got it from the start and kept it the entire time. The rope did coil around my one leg and trip me as I walked away but it was about 5 seconds faster than my first pull (which was about my best time previously). Continuing to learn new things here. Event work done and now the more reps heavy stuff for conditioning. Reverse hypers again. 2-3x18 with 50lbs. Just going to keep adding the reps here as my lower back was feeling the pulls and the gms from Wednesday. And as long as these keep feeling good and are progressing, I’m happy about that. These felt fine and did 3 sets here. Then last thing being pulldown drop set. Back to 2 sets but now back up to 10 reps on these before the max reps on the end. So getting better here. I was kind of dreading the last set of these as my endurance has improved and I knew it was going to be a lot of reps that first set and then I’d be struggling to try and come close on the second set, even if I took a long rest. My upper and lower arms were feeling these after the first set so a longer rest needed so that I felt like I could make a decent effort here. Finally done and put down food while putting stuff away before driving home to stretch. A good week of training.

March 11, 2026 – Week 4, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
136x5
226x3
316x2
366x1
406x1
456x1
496x2
506x2
516x2
526x2
536x2

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x2/225x2
265x1
265x1
305x1

Deadstop Safety Bar Good Mornings (lower to deadlift pull height)
65x12
115x6
165x12
165x12
165x12

Sandbag Zercher Stationary Lunges (0-1-0-1 tempo)
bwx6/6
112x6/6
112x6/6
112x6/6

Deadstop Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Pull Ups
62x6/6 – bwx1
102x12/12 – bwx7
102x12/12 – bwx6

Stretching

Comments: I’m not quite used to the time shift, at least when it comes to going to bed on time. I seem fine with waking up but I don’t feel as tired and I’m essentially losing an hour of sleep each night. Going to have to try and rectify this going into the weekend. I did not miss being off work Monday. It got up to 84 on Tuesday, so about 30 degrees warmer than Saturday. But there was a breeze and it wasn’t that humid so it didn’t feel terrible. Dropped down a bit but a bit humid for today. There were nerves mostly from just how I wanted to do well and the not as much sleep. Soft tissue work I needed a lot on my calves and a decent amount on my quads. Not much needed for hamstrings and upper back. Still feeling tension in the mid back on the right side but not as much as it was Saturday and so on. Chest was feeling tight initially on the mobility and neck rehab stuff. I guess that was needed. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. And then the tough stuff. Axle pulls with the wagon wheels again. The “heavy” session. I’ve not been liking how after the first week of these that I’ve been getting lightheaded working up in weight (once I add a belt). Notes for today indicated 480-500lbs for 5x2 but additionally indicating that if not feeling like RPE 9 that I should increase the weight. I kind of already had a plan formulated with those options that I’d make it so I was doing almost barbell 40-50lbs jumps with the setup so that at minimum I’d be using 496lbs for 5x2. Even if not feeling my best, I feel that since I was able to do 5 reps from the floor with this in off season prep that I have this in me here. I need to have it if I’m planning on doing anything with contest weight. It would then depend on how things feel here if I was sticking to this weight or going up. And it would have to feel really shitty for me to not plan to go up in weight each set. Because I like doing that. It would be whether I did it with 5lbs or 10lbs jumps. My hope was going to be the 10lbs jumps as that would mean I’d be doing just a hair above contest weight for the last double and that would be after prefatiguing myself with heavy sets beforehand. My thinking here was that usually with this kind of training, once I get to a certain weight with the intensity at this level, everything feels tough and heavy but I can eek stuff out. And sometimes my third set ends up being my best for some reason or another. So even if I think that my first double is RPE 9, it may not be the case and I might be able to add 40lbs to that RPE 9 feeling. I was feeling ok warming up. My belt came undone on the first warming up single which wasn’t great but the weight felt easy. Had to make sure that didn’t happen after that. It seems to happen on deadlift with this belt with only happening once on yoke. Ended up having to get the oscillating fan out to provide some air flow in the garage. But I got up to the planned starting weight for my sets. Felt heavy. Video says it was fine. I figured it was going to be like that and decided I’d just do 10lbs jumps here and that each time I approach the bar I’d say it was 496lbs and I was just doing another set of it. I mean mentally that is what I said but I know fatigue was building and that there was a little bit there saying that this was more weight. This was most notable after the third set. Not trying to tap fully into that berserker mode. Honestly, it gets tougher when it is a lot of sets like this or volume to bring that up. The deload and rest help there. But I got what I wanted done. I know I can do reps with contest weight. I’m not expecting the win here on this event. Putting away the deadlift stuff is really the only break I get during this session that is long enough that I don’t have to worry about upchucking any liquids. Sandbag to shoulder following up. Things had gone better last week but not like feeling on top of the world feeling. I had been subdued as I feel that my back was just knackered from the reps on reps of deadlifts beforehand and with how things ended the previous week. I was worried about screwing up and injuring something in my sloppiness so I was very deliberate. Ms. Funk said to knock that off and be more aggressive and have intent. I know I should and my hope here was to have that. I think I was falling into the mindset of treating every weight like it was a max weight. Rain and thunderstorm rolled in around this time. To start things off, 175lbs and 225lbs bags for a double each and resting for about 5 seconds between lifts. Just one go through this time. I started the bags upright and picked them up like how I would if I was doing them fast and in a series with tilting them down and getting hand under. I’ve had some hesitancy with doing this off the bat since the off center pick up style does put more stress on the one hamstring vs both together. This was fine. The next thing was singles. I was supposed to only do 2 singles last week with my 265lbs if I felt good and that I was confident I’d get it. This week it was same but adding a third single with either 265lbs again if not feeling it or 305lbs if I was. I really wanted to go for the 305lbs. I’ve only attempted it once almost two years ago in prep for a show and it had been surprisingly easy for me. But I was also about 30lbs heavier at the time trying to bulk up. First attempt with 265lbs didn’t go well. I mean, it was better than any of the upright attempts had been previously but it didn’t feel crisp and easy to have me think that 305lbs was budging today. But the switch from set grip last week to tilt and go might have had me a little off. I came back and launched it up the second time easy so I brought out the 305lbs bag. I’d feel pretty foolish if I messed this one up. The pick up was tougher compared to last time I did this but it felt comfortable being picked up and shouldered. It is my most firmly packed bag and seems not stretch out. But it felt real good with the pop up on the shoulder. This is where I want to be. I had been worried I fell off on this event and was way behind my past on this one. I still got a lot of work to bridge the gap to the next big jump up but not lacking the tools and ability. The nerves from the previous two weeks seem to be gone. Maybe someone from Natural World’s signing up for the show added a little something to my motivation. Anyways, got a little bit of liquids down and then on to the accessories for the session. First up on that order being gms with the ssb to rack height. Plan was to do 165lbs for 3x12. Advised to try and have my legs a little straighter on these. I didn’t try and sneak any extra weight on the bar this time around because of trying to follow that cue and because the extra reps and the heavy stuff beforehand was likely going to be challenging. I think these went quite well to be honest. Sandbag zercher lunges with tempo pauses again. These aren’t as monstrous as they were that first week but still quite tough. These still require a bit of prepping for my knees to be somewhat ok with what is being asked. Same as last time but 6 reps per set. I tried to keep the rest per sides shorter this time around but longer between sets. I also made sure to start with the left side as that is the side that has a harder time with things. First set of these is always rough and then seems to be better/smoother as I do them. The last thing was a superset. The supported dead stop single leg dumbbell rdls and pull ups. Still set reps for the rdls and max reps for the pull ups. But a slight mercy in that only two sets of these this time around. That brief reprieve. The added reps on the rdls definitely was noticed by my forearms. I needed to take longer breaks between sides and then catching my air for the pull ups. I had been pleased that I didn’t feel like crap on the pull ups and only had to do a single one to feel warmed up this week. I felt better about the reps I got on the pull ups. The rdls are deceptive in how exhausting they get. Put stuff away and ate a large dinner before stretching.

March 9, 2026 – Week 4, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Dumbbell Push Presses (4-1-0-1 tempo)
40’sx6
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4
80’sx4

Paused Axle Floor Presses (2 seconds at lockout)
76x6
116x5
156x4
206x3
256x2
266x2
276x2
286x2

Internal Rotation Dumbbell Flyes/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (0-1-0-1 tempo)
10’sx12 – 6x6/6
40’sx8 – 26x8/8
40’sx8 – 26x8/8
40’sx8 – 26x8/8
40’sx8 – 26x8/8

Banded Close Grip Push Ups/Paused Band Cross Face Pulls
bw+lbx20/(2)mb’sx15
bw+lbx20/(2)mb’sx15
bw+lbx20/(2)mb’sx15

Stretching

Comments: Lost an hour with DLS starting up again. It has only been recently as far as working that I’ve started taking time off work when the hour is lost and the hour is gained. I need more than a day to adjust to the change. Kind of why I try to not adapt to the time zone changes if within reason and not staying too long (like when I was in Washington last year and Arizona this year). Sunday was spent getting some things cleaned up around the house and recovering with plan for Monday to be some of that plus training. Still have some stiffness in the right mid back area but tolerable. Taking off work meant I could train during the day Monday. Sunday I got in a walk and weight is down a little (under 258lbs). It had been low 50’s end of day Saturday and then high 60’s Sunday and now low 70’s today. Soft tissue work starting things off. Initially thinking I didn’t need much here but then hit an area in my calves near the top that needed a lot. More so the right vs the left. And then a lot was needed for my right quad (and not much for the left). The usual for hamstrings and upper back. Neck rehab stuff felt fine and needed. I kind of hoped it would get the mid back thing to go away but it didn’t do that on Saturday. It was needed as my chest felt tight at the start. Lower body stretching was ok followed by a dead hang. Time to train. Warm and the sun was out. As mentioned last time, I had to do the tempo dumbbell push pressing outside since needing to use the larger diameter plates to reach 80lbs. I could at least face away from my house on the patio so sun wouldn’t be directly in my eyes (like if I was taking stuff out of the rack). Plan was to do same as last week but an extra set with the 80’s. Joints felt a little achy with the 40’s so I did two extra reps to warm up there and that seemed to be enough to get the joints feeling fine. I was a little nervous about getting the dumbbells to shoulder efficiently and not having things feel so awkward. I think that I remembered enough how that first set had felt last week being rough and I didn’t have a repeat of that. I went sans hard belt again here. A bit better on power off the floor to rack the dumbbells this time around. I did have some balance issues at times but it was more just timing issue and occasionally getting sun in my eyes. I was trying to not have to control the dumbbells so much back to the ground but that didn’t really go to plan as they liked to bounce around. These felt fine and moved on to the garage stuff. As I was lifting in the middle of the day and this workout is the one that is the least taxing on my stomach, I figured that I’d take breaks to eat meals so that I would still be on my work schedule for tomorrow and keep my intake normal-ish. I’d start prepping but wait until the heavy stuff it done before partaking of nourishment. Axle floor presses followed. Still holding lockouts for 2 seconds each rep. This was a little different in that the notes said to do 255x4x2 and that if that felt too light that I could “ramp” up the weight. I had kind of already thought it would be too light with that weight if goal is something RPE 8 or more. Especially since the first few reps have been feeling easy on these. But didn’t want to jump to conclusion. Since somewhat decent weight here, I did 40-50lbs jumps so quarters and plates here to get to working weight. No twitchy triceps this time around. These were feeling pretty good warming up. 156lbs felt a little challenging compared to the previous jumps and the weight immediate after it. I don’t know why sometimes and odd jump just feels tougher. Unrack felt a little heavy with 256lbs but it moved easy so I decided I’d go the more aggressive ramping up of adding 10lbs per set here. I did want to get over what I’ve hit with axle pressing as of late (in the last year). 266lbs was fine. 276lbs first rep was easy but I think I got little distracted at some point (I had taken a bit longer to initiate the first lift) and lost some tightness and slightly out of groove but it was ok. 286lbs the first rep felt better than 276lbs did but the second rep had some of the same issues and was tougher. I’d need to get a lot more hyped up to justify more weight this session. But it was nice to get something heavier to press. I really do want to have my pressing back up in the 300lbs range again for overhead and various pressing variations like this. With the bigger movers for the session done, it was one to the supersets. And to eat one of the three small-ish meals. First meal packed away and it was time for the first superset of chest flyes with internal rotation and single arm triceps. No changes to the flyes from last week but notes were to do pauses at lockout and in the stretch for the triceps and decrease in weight suggested. Knowing how much of a stretch reflex I get with my limbs I knew I’d need to go the lighter route to survive on the triceps. Four sets vs three sets last week. There wasn’t any anxiousness with flyes as I knew I could do this whereas last week was an unknown with the weight and motion. Triceps I wasn’t sure how these would go even with the drop in weight as they were feeling pretty toast with just the empty dumbbell handle. But they seemed to handle the work well enough today. My left was definitely feeling more fatigue compared to the right this time around. Another break to eat another meal and on to the last thing of the session. Slight change to the last superset not in exercise but in position and execution. The banded close grip push ups still indicated as 10-20 reps per set but notes were to try and have the band a little lower on the back compared to last time. The face pulls with bands the reps decreased to 15 reps per set with indicating to pause at contraction and actively keeping the band stretched during the movement. It can be a bit tricky with the setup I have been using to get the pull apart aspect focus so I changed it up to have it be two bands and they are forming an “x” so always feeling like pulling in and actively have to pull apart at all times. I think that covered things there. I can’t use as much band tension and to fine tune it I needed to use the mini bands I had. I didn’t want to use a mini band on the push ups and have to setup things for the face pulls. I also didn’t want to use the monster mini band as it is not comfortable to do push ups with. So my hope was that I could at least get 3x12 with a light band. Turns out I was sandbagging a little. Or maybe my triceps are starting to recover enough as I got 20 reps on each set. I did push things a little harder than I’ve been doing on these with leaving RIR but I felt I was so close with that last set to that that I went for it. The different style face pull was interesting with keeping things wider even in the end range of stretch. With that done, I ate my last of three little meals before putting stuff away and then stretching.

March 7, 2026 – Week 3, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
45x5
89x4
133x3
177x2
221x2
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x3
108x2
125x1
EMOM
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3
140x3

Sandbag Carries (turf)
250x60’
325x60’
325x60’
turns at 60’
250x120’
250x120’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
320x60’
320x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions
50x15
50x15
50x15

Pulldowns (drop sets)
150x8/120x8/90x20
150x8/120x8/90x17
150x8/120x8/90x12

Stretching

Comments: Doing the entire workout this time around on Day 2 certainly added some fatigue to the week. Glutes were noticeably sore after the session and I could tell that lower back had been worked. I got in my walks Thursday and Friday and the plan was to go to bed early on Friday. At least that was the plan. Allergies were acting up a little on Friday but didn’t need to take anything for it. Then I realized that Day 1 of the Arnold was happening Friday and not Saturday (distracted with work) so I caught up on that and went to bed about when I usually do during the week. But waking up I didn’t feel fully rested. I didn’t have a rush to be anywhere today. My friend was competing at the Arnold so didn’t need to help with setting anything up at the gym. And with DLS starting Sunday, I had taken off work Monday to give myself another day to adjust to the change so no pressure here. This time last week it was looking like it would be high 70’s today and now it was mid 40’s. I did have my stuff packed up the night before so even though I overslept by 90 minutes, I was only like an hour behind schedule at most.  Drive out was fine. Even getting there later than planned by a bit, there were still some people there from earlier and still that youth group football crew. Lower legs needed a some foam rolling but not the most they’ve needed. Quads a little bit too. Elsewhere not so much. Neck rehab stuff was good. Lower body stretching was good as well and dead hang felt nice. Once again, starting things off with box squats with accentuated eccentrics. Plan was 5x5 (so another set from last week). I decided to take smaller jumps here mostly because I didn’t want to have my joints chirping at me and to make sure that I was balanced. I was having uneven feeling last time at the start once I got heavier. For some reason, my mid back on the right side felt really tight, stiff and sore. Not sure what I did to cause that. Positives here is that I didn’t have the sensation of straining anything in my hips or hamstrings this time around. No uneven feeling on unracks either. But could tell that the effort on Wednesday was felt today here as I did more sets. From there I moved on to circus dumbbell. No pauses this week and back to EMOM. Indication was 140lbs for 6x2-3. I wanted to do triples but I think I was nervous I’d gas out with it being EMOM style. That I’d not have enough rest and if I screwed up. Which is dumb. Regardless of what I told myself, I was breaking out in a cold sweat getting ready for that first set. Other than one rep where I got off balance on deloading the clean (I think the second or third set) these went how they should. I did get nicked a little by the handle on my right thumb but just a graze. Really, this seemed to be the only thing that my body was dreading for today. From there on to sandbag carries. So similar to last week in that I was to two heavy runs of half contest distance and then two lighter runs of contest distance. For the heavy, I was told to do the 325lbs bag again but for both runs and then 250lbs for the lighter runs. I swapped out a fresh shirt that had a decal on it for these so I could go back to the previous shirt to finish out the day. It was getting warmer in the gym without fans so I was getting a bit sweaty and I was walking outside at times to cool off and catch my breath better. I did 250lbs as my warm up carry and it wasn’t great feeling but it wasn’t like last week where I was feeling like regretting my decisions. So not hot garbage, more like room temperature garbage. Still some nerves with the 325lbs bag picking up to run with it. It was obvious my posterior chain was feeling Wednesday session. Less worry about the walking with it and such but more so with picking it up and not failing and wasting energy. So first run was like last week in that I kind of short changed it to save the back and just kind of rolled it into myself rather than lap it fully and stand up higher. This was fine. I decided then for the second set that I was going to fully commit and try to not do that this time and stand up higher if I could manage and compare. This method does take more effort in the lower back and hamstrings but the time lost in that aspect is made up in the mobility aspect of clearance for the legs. But this seems more an issue with bags over 300lbs at this time. I didn’t feel terribly fast on the first set of contest distance with 250lbs but I did on the second set. I may very well be keeping pace with things despite the bag weight going up 50lbs from week 1 session. This isn’t an event I’m too worried about. I just got to be faster. But away the sandbags to bring on the arm over arm stuff. I had to set this up a little since I didn’t have the luxury of someone already having the rope and sled stuff out. I didn’t feel like I needed a little pick me up like the past two sessions but I did for consistency sake. Plan was to use the top weight I did last time for two runs today. This event with the distance and friction makes this quite fatiguing in the upper body. Since I primarily load this up with keg weight, it was easier to go 5lbs heavier than aim for same weight. This didn’t feel as comfortable as last week but I think partly that is due to not only doing half the Wednesday session and there being more volume on deadlifts. I was not feeling like I was as crisp with my movement and feeling more upper body fatigue than last time. Could also be the volume on dumbbell with holding the weight and touch and go. I also had bad luck the first set as apparently the knot I tied to anchor was not as secure as I thought and it came unraveled a bit (adding some distance) and then came completely undone right at the end. Made sure the knot was better the next set and that went better. I did end up doing shorter pulls near the end as I was feeling a little off balance and didn’t want to fall backward or forwards. This could be from me kind of looking up at the ceiling for a majority of the run and then switching to watching as it gets closer and the angle of the pull changes. But this setup is just a really sucky one so I should be fine for whatever comes contest day. Put stuff away and another break to just rehydrate before moving on to the lighter stuff. Reverse hypers again. 3x15 with 50lbs is what was indicated. I didn’t try to add weight to these like I was doing last week. Even if the first set of these feels easy, they can build up quickly, especially with more reps. I think the other part of it was because last week I didn’t do like half my posterior chain work due to vibes lol. So wanted to play this somewhat smart. Then last thing being pulldown drop set. Same as last week with the weight and reps but adding another set for these. I’ve been trying to keep myself upright and strict on these and keeping the rests between the drop sets short. Like less than 10 seconds. It is surprising how fatigued I get on the last set when it is for max even with longer rests between these sets. Got my food down afterwards and went home. I had avoided spoilers for the Arnold second day so I could catch up while winding down for the evening. Stretched when I got home.

March 4, 2026 – Week 3, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

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

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x2/225x2
175x2/225x2
265x2
265x2

Deadstop Safety Bar Good Mornings (lower to deadlift pull height)
70x10
120x5
160x10
165x10
170x10

Sandbag Zercher Stationary Lunges (0-1-0-1 tempo)
bwx5/5
112x5/5
112x5/5
112x5/5

Deadstop Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Pull Ups
62x5/5 – bwx3
102x10/10 – bwx6
102x10/10 – bwx5
102x10/10 – bwx5

Stretching

Comments: My hope was that this time around that this workout would go better. Not be dying afterwards into late hours of the night nor stopping early because energy gone and upset with myself. Weather has been lingering in the colder and dreary range longer than forecasts anticipated so looks like the unseasonably warm time is delayed a few days. I had felt a little tired upon waking which was annoying as I felt like I had been well rested the two previous days. But I wasn’t needing allergy meds so there is that. Soft tissue work to start things off. Calves needed it a good bit. That seems to be expected and the norm lately. Quads needed a decent amount too. About average for the hamstrings and upper back. Rehab for the neck was fine. Lower body stretching for the hips, knees and ankles after that. Again, almost glossed over dead hang setting up. On to the heavy stuff. Axle pulls with the wagon wheels again. I mean these are going to be every time now through this prep I imagine. As expected, this was to be more of the “volume” day for these with the rotation. Suggested being 440-445lbs (so about what I did the first week give or take) for 5x6. I am finding that my lockouts and my fatigue on later reps is quite apparent but generally I move quite fast on the first three reps usually. Notes were that I was good with my glute engagement but need to try and get more quads in the movement, like think of jumping. So that was my task today with these. Warming up doing plate jumps and then singles with 50lbs jumps to the working weight. I wasn’t feeling like I would be lightheaded to the degree I was on these last week but I guess that was a lie. I really need to get it so that that first set I don’t have this issue as I was feeling that sensation and had to take a knee after three reps to collect myself and make sure that I wasn’t going to involuntarily spasm locked to the bar. I got back into position and those next three reps were not to my liking feel wise. They felt rough and heavy. I did make sure on the camera that I did six reps as I wasn’t sure if I did 5 or 6. But like last week, I didn’t have that issue with the lightheadedness after that first set and the weight felt like it should from there. I will say I didn’t hold the lockouts as long as last week as I think I was focusing on the quad drive and having the weight feel good to get that first set out of my mind. Tricky to get the timing right after the first three reps on these. But that could just be fatigue. I feel I had less of the leg shaking going on compared to the first week doing sets of 6 reps. The extra set was noticed as I was yawning something fierce between my sets while resting. Trying to get my air back. I certainly wasn’t bored. I rechalked my straps and hands I think after the third or second set. Put that away and got ready for sandbags again. This had been gnawing at me since last week. And honestly, I wasn’t feeling that hot going into it. I was feeling a lot like last week with low energy. This was changed up from last week with the plan being the 175lbs and 225lbs bags for a double each bag and do that twice. Also advised to rest about 5 seconds between reps. There were nerves and I think just feeling absolutely knackered from all the deadlifts. I reverted back to my style of lifting the bag long ways into the lap and popping it up from horizontal to vertical in the motion upwards. I do not care for these lighter floppy bags. I got through these well enough with my second set feeling better. The next part of this then was to do singles with 265lbs bag. Well one to two that is. Notes saying in all caps for a confidence build. With the inexplicably low energy feeling, this didn’t feel like attempting would be a confidence build. But that is loser talk. I had picked up 60lbs more than this and carried it 60’ a few days prior. And firmer bag should feel better. And if it goes up well enough, I’ll do it for a double. Telling myself this is what was happening even though I wasn’t sure I could. I will say that this needs to be cleaned up a good bit but this went up to the shoulder fine. A bit more lean back to get it and I wasn’t really getting it that high off my lap when I started but somehow doing this makes it manageable and not get stuck like last week. Or feel like it is too far over and I can’t stand up with it. Just went up fine. I realized that I had been distracted going into this set and forgot to hit record so I decided I’d be my own instant replay here and did another double with about 5 seconds rest between reps. Confidence mostly restored. I was feeling kind of beat but had like half a workout left to do. I was going to have to do what I skipped last week and unfortunately everything would have me bracing and bent over so really tough to get fluids in to keep me peppy. But I managed. Put away the sandbags and it was gms with the ssb to rack height. Plan was to do 160lbs for 3x10. I wasn’t sure what that would be like after taking a week from this and other stuff. I was surprised how easy that first set was. I had to double and triple check I was going down to the same rack pins as last time. I ended up adding 5lbs per set here just so that it felt like I was putting in some effort. The added weight did end up being something combined with the building fatigue. I was just surprised that I felt that good after feeling so low energy after the first two things in the session. Last time I did the workout, I had done hellish sandbag zercher lunges. Those had kicking my ass. So this time around it was the same thing but slight tempo (pauses) added and cutting the reps in half. Keeping the same weight. I still wasn’t sure how this would go and I did some things to make sure my knees and hips were mobile and ready and then a bodyweight set with couch cushions. This was a lot more tolerable/manageable. I was tempted to try and hold the sandbag the entire time and switch sides but thought better of it. I need to remember to start with the opposite side first as that is the tougher one to do these on. So between sides I took about 60 seconds recovery and then closer to 120 seconds between sets for rest. This would have been fine to finish the workout on but Ms. Funk doesn’t let me off easy here. The last thing was a superset. The supported dead stop single leg dumbbell rdls and pull ups. Still set reps for the rdls and max reps for the pull ups. It is a sick joke having pull ups this late in the session when so fatigued and tired. I feel week on them at this point haha. Same weight on the rdls but more reps. I wasn’t sure how these would go as my hamstrings, glutes and back were feeling the preceding nonsense and sometimes I get paranoid about the hamstrings when they feel sore in odd places. I also didn’t want to retch (I was close to do that on one of the deadlift sets today lol). Extra reps noticed on the rlds. Pull ups still really tough to do at this point but managed to keep about the same. Very glad when I was finally done so I could drink my BCCAs drink and eat my pot roast dinner. Stretched after things settled. Back on track.