April 27, 2025 - May 3, 2025 - Week 9

 April 28, 2025 – Week 9, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ bands (head through on last rep only, 5 seconds hold)
No Bands
87x3
Add Bands (+25lbs bottom/+40lbs top)
90x3
120x3
145x3
170x3
170x3
170x3
170x3

Band Assisted Pull-up (stacked)
Pin 14
lbx4
Pin 19
lbx4
Pin 24
lbx10
lbx10
lbx10

Paused Close Grip 3-Board Bench Presses (1 second)
45x6
95x5
135x4
185x3
225x2
275x6
275x6 (had to rerack it)
275x6

Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Half Kneeling Band Face Pulls/Band Incline Tate Extensions
35x15—15/sbx15/ab+mbx20
35x15—15/sbx15/ab+mbx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Really only four more workouts where I’ll be pushing the weights this prep. Not sure if it has sunk in yet that I’m competing very soon. Deload next week and then the following week is taking two airplanes to go about 3,000 miles to compete. Bodyweight down more as just under 262lbs somehow. This is about what I had weighed in at in 2023 Nationals the day of. Not trying to really drop off weight but keeping an eye on things. Saturday training is the only thing that should be stressful for me this week. Right knee a little stiff from Saturday. Forearms feeling Saturday too. Just not sure if Hercules hold or the axle picks after the workout the main culprit. And still got the left shoulder thing still present but generally doesn’t make a peep unless I try to do certain movements. It does seem to be more tied with neck I think at this point. I tend to mess around with things on this session with the no leg drive pressing day to see if anything triggers it and try to warm up. I’m likely going to need to avoid certain exercises in my warming up prep going forward while others are keepers. At least weather was nice today. Log strict pressing with bands this time around. More weight for this last week and dropping a set off so 4x3 with same band setup. I didn’t feel like my abs were sore this time around so like I said, used to the ab wheel stuff by this point. Left shoulder was feeling a little grumpy on the extension to full lockout at the start. That is on me doing stuff warming up that seemed to piss it off a bit. But it got better as I went. I did the holds on the last rep of each set working up as well like last time. These seemed to go well enough. No hard belt or wrist wraps like I’ve been doing. I did increased the weight 1lbs from what I had so that it was a nice 170lbs. I got the work done but I wasn’t quite feeling like I was hyped up with training. I didn’t need it but I was feeling a little “dull” mentally. A similar feeling to how I was at the end of the Saturday session doing the leg curls and leg presses. Put that stuff away and moved on to band assisted pull-ups. Same goal as last time with the reps and sets. This is going to be the last week of these as next week I’ll do some unassisted to end the training cycle with deload week. Not sure what is in store for after this. I liked how the progression last week had felt with the adjusting in height of same band. The lowest setting for the sets this time. Barely any help and can actually leave the band fully at the top at times. I did have a little bit of the crunchy shoulder on the left at the start but not present after the first three reps or so. These felt good and I managed to do 3x10 on here again. Tear down the outside stuff before going into the garage for the rest of it. The soft close grip board pressing with pauses. I was hoping my shoulders tolerated these. And thankfully they did. This would also be the last week with them this prep. Not sure about going forward as well. Depends on what is needed and recovery. I feel like some things feel better and I recover better for them. In either case, same warming up as I had done the past few times. Aim being to add 10lbs. Warming up was feeling pretty good. I was still feeling like not able to tap into the hype train if needed here. The first set actually felt pretty good. Which really surprised me when I struggled on the second set. Just seemed like my triceps weren’t firing right. Just something felt off. No pain or anything like that. Just felt like it got darn heavy and I was struggling to push it. It is possible that my forearms being sore and fatigued had something to do with it. I ended up having to rack the weight after 3 reps and take a moment to rebrace and commit and get those 3 other reps. I didn’t like that. I took a bit longer break then before going for the last set. That also was a tough one but I didn’t need to rerack the weight so I guess that is good. But it was tough getting the last few reps. Felt like quite a difference. Well good thing deloading next week as seems like I need it at this point. Finishing things off with a triset. This didn’t go as smooth as last time I did it. Mainly because the band tension needed to be more for two of the exercises due to ease for the one and decrease in reps for the other. I adjust the dumbbell so that it was spread out more so that I could clear my thigh doing the leaning side laterals. It actually felt easier with more weight. At least for my right side. This had been challenging and the left side struggled going right to the next side. I made a note of that to see if on the next set if taking a brief rest helped. I then had a heck of a time with the other two exercises with trying to get different band setups that took a bit longer than I’d like to finally figure out. Left shoulder not a fan of the first set of face pulls with the strong band. Using more than one band for the incline band Tate’s was bringing back memories of why I didn’t really do these earlier. Second go through I did take a brief break between sides on the laterals and that went much better. I guess I’ve gotten to a point where using enough weight I can kind of rest between sides like with my unilateral leg work. Band face pull felt much better the second set. Second set of the Tate’s was frustrating and just reminded me not worth it next time I need a triceps exercise. Put stuff away and finished cooking up dinner. Stretched after eating.
 
April 30, 2025 – Week 9, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

2.5” Thick Bar 18” Jack Pulls w/ bands (straps)
No Bands
161x2
Add Bands (+50lbs bottom/+100lbs top)
161x2
251x2
341x2
431x2
431x2
431x2
431x2
431x2
431x2

Inverted Ring Rows
bwx15
bwx15
bwx15

Single Leg Stepdowns (foot to rear, 21”)
bwx3/3
bw+25x10/10
bw+25x10/10

Paused Single Leg Hamstring Bridges (5ct)
bwx10/10
bwx10/10

Paused Ab Rollouts (5ct)
bwx18
bwx9
bwx3

Stretching

Comments: My shoulders and upper back were really tense on Tuesday and seemed to be the case Wednesday as well. But seemed to be more the middle of my back on Wednesday. I didn’t think the stuff I had done Monday would’ve stressed the upper back so much (face pulls and pull ups) so I’m thinking the culprit here is the zercher stuff with the band tension having been essentially doubled. I had to wake up early today for fasted blood work to finish up my annual physical. So that meant not eating as much the day before as well. I wasn’t sure if I had wanted to move the session a day but I figured I needed to stick to the plan I have so that I got as much rest as possible before doing my last go at the events this weekend. I thankfully didn’t have any bruising in the arm from the blood draw like last year. Hopefully numbers are better after the 20lbs weight change and stopping the turmeric powder. I did a bit more soft tissue work for my calves because just felt tight before starting the session. I seemed ok but I was a little uneasy with how the midback was tense as what I was going to be doing wasn’t exactly going to be nice to it. The lighter week for deadlifts but by no means the easier. It is still hitting mid 80% of training max on these with the band tension at the top. Change here with it being a bit more of a jump in weight (26lbs) but dropping from 5x3 to 6x2. So more sets and less reps per set. Plate jumps working up too as just easier to build up against the bands and save energy. Duct taping the wood panels worked like a charm last time. I was getting a little silly with the plate placement but probably not the wisest thing as the collars don’t really fit secure on this bar. I had bumper plates initially and then swapped in the wagon wheels just for looks. This definitely felt tougher than the last two times. Farmer’s will be the last heavy pulls this Saturday as next time will be deload with like 50%. Plan was to also have most of this session be of lesser intensity to pull back the other stuff. I felt like that made sense after seeing how I was a little off energy wise on Monday. For back work, the paused chest supported dumbbell rows were replaced. I wasn’t going to be doing this week anyways. Set up the inverted ring rows as those tend to feel good on my back and shoulders. It did take up some time putting away the deadlift platform and then setting this up to then be put away afterwards as well. But I was moving through things fast enough and the breaks with teardown gave me opportunities to rehydrate. Plan here was just bodyweight and doing 3x10-15 with a few RIR. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel. When I first started doing my own training in December, I was not conditioned for these and 10 reps was challenging enough. So good to see that 15 reps is the new 10 reps for those. These did feel surprisingly good. From there moving on step downs. I was initially going to stick to the same weight as last week or slightly heavier. But that was before I decided it probably made sense to go lighter so as to pull back and recover a little more as I’ll probably need it. So looking at 25lbs instead of 50lbs. And then I had another thought. Since I’m going lighter, let’s see if I can do 21” height as that is the most I’d done for ROM on these back in 2022. Surprisingly, I was able to do these in the garage under the ceiling light recess. My knees were quite cranky with bodyweight but usually that is the getting used to it phase. This wasn’t something like the first week where I couldn’t support myself all the way down and losing it due to pain. The weighted sets actually went better here. So back to the full ROM I was doing on these from about 2.5yrs ago. Not sure what the future will bring but these do seem to be the safest for my knees. Will depend on what is the next thing after this as maybe I need to work on other stuff. Then on to the hamstring bridges. A little different this week. Plan here was just 2x10. Pulling way back on the volume but increasing the hold time. My intent last time was get in more reps with the movement and this time to really focus on the holds with lower reps. I started with my right side this time as that seemed to be the side that was lagging. Similar to how the paused single leg hip thrusts were in December, it just needed a session to get used to them again. These seemed to go much smoother this time around. Ab wheel to finish out the night. Same as last time with 30 reps total over however many sets with the 5ct holds. It was ambitious goal to try to get it in 2 sets but I was quite close here. Put stuff away and cooked up dinner before eating and then stretching. Figured it was better to try to get to sleep earlier to make up for the earlier rising and recover. Just four more workouts to go.

May 3, 2025 – Week 9, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Fingal Fingers
400x1
400+25x1
400+60x1
400+60x1
400x4

I-Beam Farmer’s Walks (18” pick)
117x30’
167x30’
207x30’
257x30’    
297xpick (5 second hold)
202x30’/252x30’/302x30’/352x0’ in ??.?? seconds

Sandbag Throws (rotational style)
40x26’8”
40x27’3”
40x27’4”
40x26’9”
40x23’10”

Backwards Treadmill Pushes (15-degree incline)
nullx5 minutes
nullx5 minutes

Stretching

Comments: I was nervous and anxious coming into this session. Common refrain. I think part of it was related to what was I do be doing as far as the finishing stuff as far as overhead with deload. Fingal fingers is not light and originally I was looking at doing my last heavy session on Monday to end the 5/3/1 but that was prior to having my shoulders feeling a bit more beat than I would’ve liked this week. So probably makes sense to treat this session as the last heavy overhead day to allow more recovery and truly deload just about everything next week. Especially considering I have a lot of interviews scheduled for the week I leave so rather just be on autopilot mode. So that partially resolved things in my head. The other was in regards to the last heavy farmer’s. I had not expected things to be feeling this tough for this event in theory and I was wondering if it was wise to try for the top end stuff. Trying to review past trainings to see what made the most sense recovery wise for me. Generally it has seemed to be that I’ve had farmer’s when heavy be tested either further out or not quite contest weight at this point. Just with how the training has turned out. Last time I did these workouts for the farmer’s event I had ended up being too beat that I had skipped the last heavy day (which would be this session) and I managed to do it at the show. So that part of if it was worth trying and risks associated. But I guess get to it when I get to it. I’m going to have mistakes with doing my own thing. So I did get up at work time to get out to train. But couldn’t leave right away as there had been a storm the night before and tree branch had landed in my driveway so had to move that. Traffic really is so much better when I do this. Another humid day with alternating between sunny and cloudy. People were there training but not the stuff I was expecting considering last time. I guess not everyone does an alternating schedule like me. I’m not sure if it was the humidity or being up early and taking all the allergy meds but I was feeling a little winded and sweaty doing my warming up. I realized after the fact that I didn’t quite do the same warming up I had done last time for these events but oh well. So finger to start like contest. I wasn’t too sure what I’d be doing here. I’d done the 500lbs finger last time and that was a plan to setup and put away. I didn’t quite have the help I did that time to setup. My initial thoughts here was to use the 400lbs finger and see about adding weight to it to get a better idea of the contest finger with loading in the end vs over the entire implement. The pick up with 500lbs hadn’t been bad but the walking was where the added weight was noticed. Likely the added weight would make the clean/pick harder and then walking it up would feel similar to whatever weight. I wasn’t feeling the best here today with these at the start. I was feeling slow and timid. Perhaps because I knew that I couldn’t just one motion it with heavier stuff beyond the 400lbs and that I’d need to use the other bump it up style for the contest with size. I setup things outside just to get that feel for it being on pavement (apparently not good as got a message Sunday from gym owners not wanting me to use the plyo pads on concrete oops). I knew that I could do 25lbs added to the finger with the slam ball since it fit. But beyond that was uncertain. I had tested with using that same slam ball and then attaching one of those hanging straps for hanging leg raises and then hooking chains to that. It seemed like it would work but really convoluted and with how the chains would be, the weight would be further down the finger so not all condensed near the top like contest. I had initially thought the 60lbs slam ball wouldn’t work as I tried it a few weeks prior to see if it fit. But I apparently hadn’t shoved hard enough as I was able to get it to fit. 25lbs added was a bit difference so I could only imagine 60lbs. Yep, that was tough. I had to push press it the first time after it taking a bit to get to my shoulder. Felt tougher than the 500lbs finger for sure. So this was a good thing to try this out. I rested a bit and then flipped it the other way and that went much smoother. Since the ball wasn’t staying in the finger, I took it out just to do an easy set with the empty finger for the reps I figure I could get at the heavy weight. The weight gone was a big difference as I was able to essentially catch it at shoulders and press up right away. So that was good. I feel like there are aspects where this finger is going to be easier and others where it is harder than contest. Took a bit of time with putting things away as it was a lot of weight but also so that I could hopefully recover well enough for farmer’s walk setup which was that I was really nervous about. Plan was to try and do contest run here as well as see about warming up in a way that will be conducive to getting ready at competition. The handles I had been using still not available and likely being hidden for the show next week in Pittsburgh. I was not going to use those Titan Fitness handles again as still have blood blisters from them two weeks prior. Honestly, only going to use them if specifically mentioned as being used at a show as I really don’t like them with how they feel in my hands. So I was going to use the I-beam handles that were 18” pick. I don’t know exactly what handles will be at show but I have a feeling they will be 75lbs empty or so. Likely a Bartos knock-off I’d wager. As far as warming up, I was going to do straight runs of 30’ with going up 40-50lbs jumps. I figured that it was not good to try and do a run with 297lbs and that a pick and hold would be the best thing. I could definitely tell there was some fatigue but stuff was feeling good in my grip and I was moving well with it. Just heavy picking up and feeling pressure on body. Stripped things down for the contest run plan. I set it up for 3 weight increases as I knew timewise that 4 wasn’t happening and definitely not having the strength at this time for 400lbs pick either. Really fighting nerves here. I feel like things were moving well. 302lbs felt better than 300lbs last time and it didn’t feel so heavy that it was my limit. I felt like 352lbs had a real shot. I didn’t quite land the handles even on the drop and I did fumble the one plate so I felt I was short on time. I grunted and shouted and went for it but couldn’t quite get the full weight up and break the sticking point. My grip felt fine at least. I was a bit disappointed with myself in that I wasn’t able to do it. Despite telling myself that this was actually the most I’ve attempted on farmer’s walk from this height since my 2016 back injury. I’ve not done more than 325lbs on these handles at this height either. And this was after doing three runs no rest and loading my own weights which is apparently much tougher than just going lol. 340lbs is the most weight I’ve done on farmer’s walk from a standard height since the back injury in 2016 and that had been a maximum effort with full rest. But even with knowing all that, I feel like I should still be able to do that thing. But it doesn’t feel impossible compared to last time. Just have to again, see where I am and on the day and what is needed. So then on to bag throws. Well, I was supposed to but I was feeling so beat/dejected with farmer’s walk I thought I was done and got to doing my conditioning work of backwards treadmill pushes on incline. Plan there was to do 2 sets of 5 minutes. But fatigue makes cowards of us all and I was really not sure how I was going to do this when I was already regretting my decision 30 seconds into it. So I was going to stop at just the one set but then I realized afterwards that I was to do some throws and figured I can’t just completely skip that. So I setup in the same spot as last week. Good thing I did bring my own 40lbs bag as the 45lbs and 40lbs bag had both burst today while someone was using them. Ugh. Setup stuff and kind of went right into it rather than try to do some movement prep. I was kind of on fumes mentally and physically at this point and this was just get some fatigued touches. This was definitely not my best throwing session. Obviously better throws when fresh. Plan was 5-8 throws and I kind of knew I was going to be doing just 5. Good call as my last throw was my worst distance wise. I was dealing with the fatigue/apathy and then there was a little girl kept riding her tricycle near me that I had to keep an eye on. Just to make sure I was picking the right throw style for me, I did two overhead throws and those were terrible. Besides irritating my left shoulder I was not getting close to the distance I was getting with my bad spin throws today. Guess I stick with what works even if I have some self-doubts. Seeing as how this was enough time for me to recover, I then did the second set of backwards treadmill stuff. It didn’t feel as bad at the first had. Go figure. Put stuff away and downed my shake. Stretched out at the gym before driving home as it was a little earlier than it has been the past few times. I think I wanted to stretch out with the good stuff at my disposal to try and get things to feel good.