March 31, 2025 - April 6, 2025 - Week 5

 April 1, 2025 – Week 5, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ bands (head through on last rep only)
No Bands
87x3
Add Bands (+25lbs bottom/+40lbs top)
97x3
127x3
Add 5 seconds hold last rep
157x3
157x3
157x3
157x3
157x3

Band Assisted Pull-up (stacked, pin 20)
sbx4
abx12
abx12

Paused Close Grip 3-Board Bench Presses (1 second)
45x6
95x5
135x4
185x3
225x2
255x6
255x6
255x6

Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Half Kneeling Band Face Pulls/Band Triceps Pressdowns
12x20--20/lbx20/lbx30
12x20--20/lbx20/lbx30

Stretching
 
Comments: It took me about an hour after work was done for me to start training. Mostly because I was trying to figure out what I was doing. I didn’t exactly have enough time to really reflect and think on what made sense and was debating between deload workouts and making adjustments to the training cycle. Finding out that the strongman gym will be closed not just all day Saturday but until 6PM Sunday was not helpful either with figuring out plans. Shoulders are not recovering well enough with having fingal fingers happening every other week. It essentially becomes three pressing sessions and I hardly tolerate two as it is. Need to adjust some sessions so as not as intense on the lower back so things recover. Especially since I overshot effort on the last heavy pull session. I want to still do so more research but the short term solution is to drop from four to three sessions again. Going with a two week rotation for most things (assistance work on Day 2 doesn’t rotate). What makes the most sense is to have this week be the “strict press” session over overhead stuff. I didn’t really want to do that since I just did this workout with some differences on Thursday last week and it hadn’t gone well for me. So a little leery about doing it again to get things on the right cycle. The usual Day 1 session of axle and the other stuff (dips and lockouts) will be on the opposing weeks here. Strict pressing with the log is going to be with bands only since seems to feel better for me and there is less balance issue (fingal finger is also not balance issue dependent). Warming up for the session was a bit of what I’ve been doing for Day 3 sessions and Day 1 sessions. But nothing lower body dependent since not using leg drive here. I think the foam rolling finally got something to “click” in my left upper back area that has been bugging me since after I got the deep tissue massage and tweaked my neck. Knock on wood it stays that way. I think I felt a little better than I expected getting ready for training. Anyways, banded session for strict log press. Same as it has been with the band setup and the execution (lean back and then head through with a hold) with a little more weight. Dropping to 5x3. I wasn’t sure how these would go though considering how the last time with no bands didn’t feel so hot. Thankfully these felt about how they should really. Could it move better and easier? Maybe. But it was good enough for the session and considering this was a pretty much about face type thing, it was to be expected that there would be some “abrasiveness” in the change in course. Things were decently comfortable. I know this is a bit off where I was when I was pushing this weight but it is a good place for now. Took stuff down and started prepping for dinner at this point. Since I was about an hour behind schedule. Band assisted pull-ups. Same as last time with 2 sets of 8-12 with 2-3RIR. I had been successful with the strong band assistance and I didn’t want to add tempo back into the mix so I lowered the band assistance to average band and would see how things were. I did do a warm up set just to make sure I was feeling ok (the left shoulder being crunchy last time wasn’t great). There was a little bit of that but not nearly as noticeable as last time. I could feel my chest muscles working with my back as well here. This was a bit challenging but I got it done. I’m trying to keep the pull-up stuff in the mix weekly so that I can get back to comfortable reps with bodyweight and not bands potentially by the end. Moving the more horizontal row stuff to Day 2 session. So into the garage for more pressing stuff. The soft close grip board pressing with pauses. This was part of the hesitation with the changes to the prep. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to have this day be done and whether it was good to keep this in or not. And if so, should it be the primary thing or stay as supplemental. I eventually elected to keep it as it was in the workout but decided I’d push a little more since I wouldn’t be doing weighted dips and axle lockouts weekly anymore. So allowing myself to add wrist wraps on these which I didn’t do the last two sessions. Also bumped up 30lbs rather than my more conservative plan of 10lbs each session. I’ll likely be doing that going forward here. The 30lbs was definitely noticeable here but I maintained control here. I could feel my triceps getting worked. Thankfully no shoulder aches. I was considering adding weight each set if feeling good but that first set was such that sticking to 255lbs was the right weight for this session. Last bit of the workout was adjusted. This was kind of already planned to be a deload of sorts before even got to this week. The triset of laterals and face pulls and band pushdowns. This initially was going to be a transition to a different style of lateral raises so lower RPE and more reps. No pauses. I like the leaning style the best and figured that I’d keep same exercises but not do pauses with the weight/bands I did last week and hopefully these would feel better. Ideally, I’d have given these a break considering how my shoulders were feeling last time but it was necessary to get things to end up how I need them for the end of the training cycle for the competition. This did feel better than last time with the changes. I finished putting stuff away before getting to eating dinner and then stretching.
 
April 3, 2025 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Skater Jumps
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

2.5” Thick Bar 18” Jack Pulls w/ bands (straps)
No Bands
115x3
Add Bands (+50lbs bottom/+100lbs top)
115x3
205x3
295x3
385x3
385x3
385x3
385x3
385x3

Trap Bar B Stance Romanian Deadlifts (3 second eccentrics)
125x3/3
195x3/3
265x10/10
285x10/10

Single Leg Stepdowns (foot to rear)
12”
bwx3/3
15”
bwx3/3
18”
bw+15x10/10
bw+15x10/10
bw+15x10/10

Landmine Bar Twists
50x8/8
50x8/8
50x8/8

Stretching

Comments: There have been more people signing up for the competition in my weight class. It had just been me and two other competitors for a bit now and I was worried since the sign ups end Friday. So now there are 6 including myself. One more person signs up and it will be podium for the show that qualifies for the world’s invite. Definitely improves my chances. As far as Nationals for Strongman Corporation, it is Las Vegas again. I’ve not qualified at this time so I can’t take advantage of the early bird pricing ($200) so will need to pay $280 assuming I qualify and give it a shot. It is a bit discouraging seeing the cost of entry just keep going up every year. It was $180 in 2017 for the Las Vegas competition and at that time it was like a $30 increase from the previous year and people not being happy about it then. Just feels ridiculous to see the prices go up like that. Any ways, that just distraction at this point as I got to actually qualify for stuff to be worrying about this other stuff. And that means surviving this training prep and doing the training. I was a little more sure about what I’d be doing this workout vs Day 1. But still not 100% certain. Just haven’t had the time to really look at everything like I’d like to. Warming up and with soft tissue work and mobility stuff. I did a little more for my quads with foam roller than I usually do as felt tight. Skater jumps to start off the session. Felt pretty powerful on these and not really any knee issues. I had thought about switching up the variation for the rest of the training block but I’m thinking that these have kind of run their course with being prep for the spinning with bag throws (same with the landmine bar twists). So I’m likely going to drop these after this session. I have my reasons. From there, it was on to the big dumb deadlift. The lighter week. This I made a change. My plan had been to do yielding isometric pauses from lower pull height for the alternate week but I did not feel rested coming into the heavy session after doing those and then farmer’s walk. I need to have things be less intense I think and work on that 18” height as a sticking point of sorts because I can’t really get leg drive into it. I was initially going to go full deload with this being like just the first week of this program with 340ish but decided that I need to keep working here and see if switching things up fixed the problem. So that fix would be pulling from contest height but add bands. Bring bar weight back down but add band tension. A decent amount of band tension at that. Plate jumps working up too. The pressure on my body was pretty intense on that first set but I feel I got used to it after that and was able to pull things much more powerfully. 5x3 here with the band tension. Plan being to try and add 20lbs to these for the next two sessions assuming things feeling good. I didn’t feel as burnt as I did with the yielding stuff. I feel like that stuff works better if I’m alternating suit work and I don’t have a ton of farmer’s volume. So moving on to the accessory stuff. Last week of the b-stance trap bar rdls with 3 second eccentrics and no support gear. Bigger jumps so that I was doing the top weight from last week for the first working set. Plan being to do 20lbs jump on that for the last set to finish out this prep with I guess a 40lbs increase from last time I did these. This was definitely the toughest this has been. Obviously I can go quite heavier on these if I wore support stuff but would defeat what I’m aiming for with this variation. Definitely gets taxing on the grip at this weight and with the time under tension. Upper back and neck was feeling tense afterwards. Probably combination of this and the band tension on the pulls. Oh well. Took a break to start getting my dinner prepped before finishing up the session. From there moving on step downs. I’ve gotten back to doing 18” height here so now attempting to add weight to that. I was a little leery about it as there were times where my knees were aching and I wasn’t sure how this would go. These don’t exactly feel amazing at times on joints like my knees or ankles but sometimes everything is clicking. I managed to get 3x10 done with the 15lbs kettlebell weight. I’m allowed to drop the reps a little if necessary for next time. I’m going to try and keep the reps up as I feel more reps here is good for me as I get better. Landmine bar twists to end the night. These I feel have run their limit as far as intent and purpose. More so than the skater jumps. I feel I need to work more on frontal plane bracing for the breaking the 18” pull off the floor vs the rotational/anti-rotational movements. I’m feeling pretty loosey goosey there with throws. So these were just fine. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

April 6, 2025 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Throws (rotational style)
40x30’5”
40xscratch
40x31’2”
40xscratch
40x33’1”
40x32’2”
40x28’11”
40x32’2”
40x29’4”
40x31’6”
40x29’7”
40x32’11”
40x32’0”

Fingal Fingers
EMOM
400+25x1
400+25x1
400+25x1
400+25x1
400+25x1
400+25x1
400+25x1


Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
100x30’/30’
150x30’/30’
200x30’/30’
250x30’
EOMOM
300x30’
300x30’
300x30’
300x30’
300x30’

I-Beam Farmer’s Holds (24” pick)
297x5 seconds
367x10/10/10 seconds (30 seconds rests)

Seated Band Hamstring Curls/Backwards Sled Drags (turf)
sb’sx55/435x75’
sb’sx55/435x75’

Stretching

Comments: Woof is all I really got on this one after the fact. However, before I got to training, I was very nervous. I was event thinking about this training session as far out as Friday. I think because of the changes I made and worries that I didn’t fix the issues. I will kind of be finding out this coming few sessions if that is the case. I slept in Saturday and got most of what I usually do on Sunday done. Due to the powerlifting meet taking two days, I have to go at 5PM (gym opens at 6PM) to get training in. So part of that is trying to get some stuff done before going out to the gym so not there really late since I have to work tomorrow (and have my yearly physical in the morning). My dad is able to come with me to the gym to help (not sure anyone would be there) on stuff. Need help with fingal fingers. So it makes sense to get most of my warming up done and bag toss done at home. I had to time meals and such as well. I got things setup for throwing first before I started doing my warming up. Knees feeling a little odd. At times fine and others achy. I did a good bit of foam rolling for my upper back and my legs. Bag throw with lighter bag this week. Since I didn’t prepare for the gym to be closed most of Sunday, I didn’t have a throw bag with me at home so I ended up buying another one that arrived Friday and I was able to get it loaded to 40lbs Saturday. I’ve not done tosses at home. But it is probably a good thing I didn’t just do throws at the same spot as this could actually be closer to the situation at the competition. The warming up I’ve been doing here before going has been helpful. I did space that out a little as I think there were like three times that people were just walking by while I was setting up. This was not my best day but not my worst either. I had two scratches at the start which I think had more to do with me holding on too long and not really getting my form right for the release. It was damp out and I think that there were a few tosses near the end where I felt my shoes slip a little. Besides the two scratches, my worst was just under 29’ and my best just over 33’ so I’m pretty consistent here. Aim was 10 good throws but I decided I’d add one more for a baker’s dozen of attempts. Put stuff away and hopped in my dad’s car for the drive out to the gym. There was like two people there and both were fine with working out with the lights off and no music. Fingal fingers up first. This was the one that made me ask for help with training because I know I can’t setup and do solo in any meaningful way. Either I needed to go 2hrs one way to a gym that was open Saturday that had one (at minimum) or I needed to skip it. Learned a bit from setup last time with help so this wasn’t as arduous as it could’ve been. But still a big hassle. I had a plan here but I wasn’t sure if it would be something that would executable really. 400lbs fingal finger empty I know is too easy for prepping for a tough finger. I know this from last time where struggled at a “lighter” finger in contest. I was also a little worried that all this would be too taxing on me. The warming up didn’t seem to be a rough as it felt last time. But the 400lbs finger was feeling tougher than I would’ve liked warming up. My gloves weren’t feeling as grippy. I did one clean up to shoulders and press with the empty 400lbs finger. Then it was time to see if my plan would work. I had shoved a slam ball into the 300lbs one two sessions prior and that seemed to work and was a good amount of difficulty added with a light amount of weight. My hope was I could do that with the 400lbs one. What gets tricky though is the fingers get bigger so some things may be too small. Initially it seemed the one was too small and the other too big but I found one that was the goldilocks that worked. That added 25lbs felt substantial. I was initially worried I’d not get one but figured give it a shot. Set timer for 6 lifts EMOM style. First rep was rough. Though fair to say all of them were considering how 400lbs was last time. That first one I was able to clean it like I did 400lbs but it too a bit to actually get under it and then start moving. Definitely didn’t want to do that again. I didn’t have to worry though as I couldn’t get it like that on the second and reverted to a more labored bumping up the body to shoulder method. Once I realized that was the best way forward, it wasn’t so bad besides knowing I’d have scrapes and bruises on my sternum. Putting this weight overhead and walking with it were a ton tougher compared to just 400lbs. Not using leg drive to get it locked out so still have that left in the tank as an option. I felt good enough after that sixth one to say screw it, I’ll do one more. Should’ve called it there as this one I struggled to get to the shoulders but finally got it after a few attempts. Ugh. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I know I’ll like need to use this more brute style at competition. Which is probably safer on the biceps anyways. But stuff away with help from my dad and moved on to farmer’s walk. Plan was the same as last time but more weight and one less set. I didn’t think that it would be a tall order but that was before I saw how much the last session took out of me. This is the last session where I’m going to do this setup of runs. I didn’t get an ideal spot for these this week as someone was doing yoke in the other lane and there was a piece of gym equipment partially in the other lane that was put there for the powerlifting meet. Warming up with 50lbs jumps and I did a little more with the drop and turn to get a little more warmed as apparently I seem to get better as I go (minus the pick being rough). I realized at this point the reason I was feeling hot and muggy was because the fans were off. So I turned them on and it started to feel better. 250lbs didn’t feel the greatest but I didn’t have any chalk or hard belt for that one. Finally ready to go with the planned 300lbs for 5 sets of 30’ done EOMOM. The pick felt tough but on the plus side I didn’t feel like there was a ton of pressure building in my head and being lightheaded. Felt fine in my hands and didn’t really have any knee aches. I didn’t rechalk for these sets like last time as well. I could keep going on these. But needed to stop. Farmer’s walk hold stuff after that. Last time had just been one hold for 30 seconds time and that was it. This time I wanted to make things tougher and more contest like. Still elevated height and more weight than I did the previous exercise but do several picks of short holds. Warm up and do 3 pick with 10 seconds holds the first two and then for time the last one (RPE 8). Initially rest to be 15 seconds between as I was averaging about 10 seconds on my runs with 300lbs and 15 seconds was about how long it took me to add 50lbs to both handles when I timed it. I’ve done this (not this specific of time between lifts) from the floor with lighter weight (but more than the farmer’s walk) in prep for 2022 Nationals so I know this is a good one. I had my dad assist with timing because it was a bit convoluted. First one was good and then I ran into issues. With how I pick the handles and elevating them, they were adjusting position when they were set down so I was no longer centered and in optimal pulling position. I realized that after attempting to lift them again at 15 seconds. I had to adjust them and give it another go. That was rough and it was about 30 seconds so I decided to do that for the next one and just go for 10 seconds again for the last hold as this was really getting tough. Just barely holding on my the end of it. I think this was a good thing to let me know not worth trying to hit a 34lbs per hand PR at the contest trying to do 400lbs per hand. 350lbs should be enough with the circumstances and I need to make sure I have something in the tank for the deadlift. Last thing then was the pairing of band leg curls and backwards sled drags. I had liked them and decided these are good ones for joint health in the knees and such. Progression was just to do more reps on the bands as these are the thickest bands there (that are paired) and add more weight to the sled. I was definitely on fumes at this point as 35lbs more than last time on the sled felt like a bigger increase compared to adding 70lbs the time before. But slow and steady and no stops. I was feeling the everything else before these. Had to break up the reps on the leg curls to get 55 reps again (25/10/10/5/5) and then finished up with the second drag. Knees and ankles feeling it. Hands feeling it. Back sore. Calves and tibs sore. Very glad I had help as I feel this would’ve taken me at least 30 minutes longer if I was solo. Had burritos for dinner before driving home to stretch out. Not looking forward to Monday at work. This is probably a not do again situation for training lol.