Vacation Training & July 19, 2025 – Week 8, Day 3

 July 12, 2025 – Week 7, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Gripper Closes
HG100x10/10
HG150x1/1
HG200x5/5

Gripper Negatives (5 seconds)
HG200x6/6

Gripper Closes
HG150x20/20

Band Hand Expanders (10ct hold last rep)
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50

July 14, 2025 – Week 8, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Gripper Closes
HG100x10/10
HG150x5/5
HG200x10/10
HG200x15 (right)
HG150x15 (left)
HG200x1/1 (10 seconds hold)

Bullet Hold
HG200x7/4 seconds
HG200x13/5 seconds

Band Hand Expanders (10ct hold last rep)
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50

July 16, 2025 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Gripper Closes
HG100x10/10
HG150x5/5
HG200x1/1

Bullet Hold
HG200x7 seconds (left)
HG200x21 seconds (right)
HG200x18 seconds (left)

Gripper Negatives (5 seconds)
HG200x13/13

Gripper Closes (1.5 reps)
HG150x21/21

Band Hand Expanders (10ct hold last rep)
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50
6.6x50/50

Comments: I had not really planned to do anything structured while on vacation. With the events and planning setup for World’s as well as my own stress with changing things up, it didn’t make sense and likely would be detrimental rather than beneficial. This did end up being for the best as I had disc bulge symptoms following my last workout at home. I had done dip stand decompression on Friday and Saturday and it had not felt like Friday had been the thing to knock stuff into place but Saturday did. However, it still persisted and I was worried I’d be suffering with it for a week until I could get back home to do stuff to help things feel better. I had only brought stuff to do my neck rehab and grip work. I was also thinking on things from how I was feeling mentally before taking the vacation. Saturday I was the pack mule with unloading vehicles and moving stuff into the residence with some stuff going to the second floor. I felt like that was enough to have me feeling like I was working out so I did a session that day rather than waiting until “day 1” on Monday. That first session was just neck rehab stuff and some lower body stretching before moving on to the grip work. Trying things out with the time I have to test things with frequency for grip work. At least that is my understanding with training grippers. My left wrist was still a bit sore from the previous Saturday training. I had brought with me 100/150/200 grippers and the lowest band tension for band hand expanders. I had assumed these would be more than enough with how my first session with these had gone. I was genuinely surprised I was able to get consistent reps with the 200lbs when that had been chancy when I first got it. I was even able to do negatives with this level gripper. Dropped down to my 150 for a set of 20. The bands I was not expecting to be good. I did do them last time as a superset but I think these work better as separate. I had struggled with sets of 20 reps and here I was having no issues and doing sets of 50 reps with holds. Well damn, maybe I should’ve brought more bands. Well I guess the plan will be to bump up the volume each session on these. My plan for the off days had been to do beach walks (about 2 miles) and swim but that ended doing that almost every day I as there. Second session I added in more things. I did McKenzie back exercises as well as some things for my calves and ankles. I have terrible balance with my eyes closed so doing 60 seconds of work balancing on one foot has been something to keep things interesting. For grippers, I figured I’d see if I could push them a bit today and see what I could actually do on the 200lbs. Left wrist still bothering me so that did hamper me on what I could do with the left hand as these do stress those structures with the crush. Double the reps testing with both hands. It was feeling so darn easy in my right hand that I did a set of 15 reps here. I knew my left wouldn’t be able to keep up with that today so matched the reps with the 150lbs for there. Did a 10 seconds crush and hold with the 200lbs after that. Which gave me an idea. I didn’t want to do the negatives today (as my understanding are these are stressful to recover from) but I wanted to work on grip in both crush and supporting for these rolling handles on the Hercules hold. There is a grip event with a gripper with holding a “bullet” nub with weight attached and squeezing until the “bullet” slips through. So figured I’d give it a shot. Tougher than I was expecting but good in that similar to how I was doing with the rolling hangs with weight added. Finished up with the bands again but another set of 50 reps. Wednesday to be the last day I do any training as potentially working out when I get back on Saturday depending on how things are. Similar warming up to Monday but no McKenzie stuff as seems back has recovered at this point. Some joint issues with sleeping in strange beds as my right knee is acting up slightly. Hoping that sleeping in my own bed a night or two will resolve that in a few days. I did just a little working up with the grippers as my plan here was to do more stuff with negatives and those bullet holds. Not doing a whole bunch of closes obviously meant I could do better time wise here on the holds. Still not warmed up I guess as I only got 7 seconds on the left (which was still better than last time but not much) and then getting 18 seconds on the second try. Over 20 seconds on the right side. Figured that wasn’t enough work and did baker’s dozen of the negatives. I just kept going. I could’ve stopped when I did more than 6 each side honestly but just felt like I was on to something. Went down to 150lbs as I figured I should do some more reps and did 1.5 reps here. Not sure why but wanted to try something. And then finished up with more band expand stuff, adding another set of 50 reps to that. I’m happy that my knuckles weren’t aching like they were the first time I used them. This has seemed like a good use of my down time and I do wonder if it will show as being a positive towards the grip on the rolling handles. This also showed me that my possible plan of doing May show and then being ready for a high level July show coming right from vacation was not a good idea or workable really.
July 19, 2025 – Week 8, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Zercher Yoke/Sandbag Carry & Loads (49”, with run backs)
160x50’/50’
250x25’/112x25’/250x25’/112x25’
340x25’/175x25’/340x25’/175x25’
430x50’/225x50’
530x50’/265x50’
530x50’/265x50’

Power Stairs (17”, Tap One Step) 
194x2
239x2
284x2
329x2
374x2
374x2
374x2
374x2
374x2

Sandbag Tosses (13’8”)
30x1
35x1
40x1
45x1
50x1
55x0
55x0
55x0
30x1/35x1/40x1/45x0/50x0
45x1/50x0
30x1/35x0
30x1/35x1/40x1/45x1/50x1

Rolling D-Handle Hangs (2” handles)
bw for 36.70 seconds
bw for 29.97 seconds

Backwards Sled Drags (turf)
445x75’
445x75’

Stretching

Comments: I was undecided about what I was going to be doing here. I did survive the vacation (despite getting in a car accident on the way home) and it felt good to be home. But felt like I had a little bit of a allergies or a cold when I was finally back. My options were to train today or Sunday. If Sunday, I could go at normal time but that’d mean I’d have one less day of rest for the coming week and not have a day to decompress really before going back to work (undoubtably a shitshow). Saturday training though would mean adjusting things like event order and time since the gym was closed until 5PM due to a competition. So to not be training until midnight, I’d need to do some stuff at home as best I could and then go to train. Having more rest before work and knowing that the time zone differences will be having me competing at odd times as well as knowing event order will be different then what works best for me that I went with training today. It was more to do with if I felt like my allergies/cold was manageable as it took several hours before any of the meds felt like they did anything. So even for this, I was running about 1hr behind what I’d have preferred was the case. I also had to figure out what I needed to be eating to sustain myself and not get an upset stomach or pass out. The humidity today was just plain disgusting. Over the course of the workout, I went through three shirts, two body towels and two hand towels with sweat. Like a hagfish but sweat instead of mucus. I was genuinely wondering if I was the sweatiest person on the planet. But before that, I had to warm up. Lower body needed a lot of foam rolling. That was not surprising considering the beach walking and not doing any soft tissue work for a week. Upper body seemed to be ok. Neck rehab stuff was fine and did mobility stuff. Right knee not really a fan of what I was doing (another reason considering waiting a day). Since at home, I pretty much had to start things off with the most brutal event of the competition prep with the zercher yoke and sandbag. Out in street. Plan had been to go up 50lbs on the zercher from last time but drop the sandbag weight down 25lbs. That would be if I was at the gym. But at home, need to adjust. Also adjusting because I’m not finishing this event though maybe now that the course is 10m instead of 15m (didn’t see that update until the Sunday morning) there is some chance. But it felt like trying to do contest at the gym was just going to be too taxing with everything else. So aim for like 30lbs increases and keep bag about what it is give or take 25-30lbs. My setup at home takes a bit as needing to put the yoke together and then measuring out the course. Uphill and downhill as well. I have limited bags at home so bigger jumps here too. I did learn from last time I did this that it was probably better to do half course and multiple repicks warming up vs just doing one run with each for full course distance. Right knee was a little anxious with things. I was feeling quite drained just setting things up and I was wondering how I was going to be able to do this thing. I didn’t do real sprints here with the run back working up mostly because of the knee but also with my air and the humidity. Trying to not rush and freak out. Bigger jumps in sandbag weight might be the way to go here honestly. My plan was to try and get it all done as one thing but knew that my other option was to take a breather and repeat it. After finally working up the gumption to do it, I started the terrible medley. I was moving slow on the zercher portion but I wasn’t blacking out so that was a win. A little gingerly moving to the sandbag as I remembered how much it sucked picking up and thankfully it was much easier with this sandbag. I was breathing heavy and I couldn’t immediately go into the next one. I knew I couldn’t go right away and finish without dropping a lot and making things painful (more so than already was). I got back to it and I knew it was less time than the last session (over a minute less time to recover). I was a lot slower on the zercher this time around but I seemed to move a bit better with the sandbag comparatively. Still taking over 40 seconds to complete a run here (total time about 2.5 minutes lol). But maybe with it being 5m shorter that will do something. My grip was absolutely soaked. Like I had gone swimming. I had meant to wear it for the next thing just for continuity but said screw that and put on a fresh one once I was warmed up. So originally this would’ve been when I went to the gym to finish up this session. But I wanted to hit some more power stair stuff. I was struggling terribly last time and I feel like I had my form off. This was a rare opportunity where because of the break, I had a decent amount of rest on my lower back to put in an extra session if warranted. So I have enough plates at home and a setup for power stair lifting to one step. So plan was to work up to a decent weight and then do “taps” for 5x2 and short rests. Not fully load the implement but to just get used to the pick up and swing of the implement. Not standing upright with it and missing getting out front and using body to load it. My setup was a little sketchy but I didn’t want to move plates to the patio and load there on the rubber and still potentially adjust the height. I probably could’ve done less weight here and just used the bumper plates to make ti a taller stack. I hadn’t wanted to this at the Lancaster gym as it was going to be a hassle to move plates to have the thinner 100lbers. I was initially thinking I bit off more than I could chew (and I seem to do that more often then not as I get older and keep doing this) but this ended up working out fine enough. Finished the load on the last rep. Ugh, my knees were not enjoying the contact bruises through the knee sleeves. I had been putting stuff away from the previous event while warming up for this event but there was still a bit to put away before being able to head out to Lancaster to finish up training. I ate a sandwich while I did that and got in the car. Drive out was fine. Not a lot of traffic at this time on a Saturday. I wasn’t exactly alone when I showed up at the gym. Could not escape the humidity. Took a bit to get things setup for bag toss. I accidentally had the setup 2” higher than last time. I didn’t want to mistakenly have it too low. I wasn’t really feeling like I had the time to slow down and make sure on stuff with how late it was going to be and how much I was just sweating. If this was the session I was hoping for, I’d have worked up to 60lbs for a single and then do a 5 bag series ending at 55lbs. Both would be PRs for me. And this didn’t end up being that day. I couldn’t get 55lbs today as it was rejected three times and I called it there. So obviously not going to try it in a series. So moved everything down 5lbs. I was definitely tired but I did feel like I was making at least some effort to try and get the hip hing to load. First time I got the first three bags but threw the 45lbs too low and it went through and not over. I just moved on to the 50lbs and tried to get that didn’t happen. I then fetched the 45lbs bag and the 50lbs and set them up again to try and get those. Got the 45lbs but not the 50lbs. But it felt like this was doable. I’ve tried a similar series before and I missed the 50lbs twice as just gassed and couldn’t get it over 12’6” toss height (thought it was higher). Setup everything again and went at it but I was apparently too lazy in my approach as I absolutely whiffed the 35lbs bag. I reset them and told myself to get serious here. First two bags cleared it easy with the 40lbs nicking the top as it went over. Gave me an audio cue to move closer for the 45lbs bag. Did a two swing and go it over. 50lbs I didn’t try walking backwards with it as that had thrown me off and drained me a bit. Took my time and got it over. I felt that was under 45 seconds and it was. So that was a highlight. Would’ve been nice to get that at the start. The rolling handles were next. I didn’t bother putting away things at this point as trying to move along so I can get work done, down a shake and then put stuff away as I’m digesting it so I can hopefully be able to eat a bigger meal when I finally got home. I knew from last time that these are damn tough. The original plan before I knew how rough these new handles were was to do 75-90 seconds of work over two sets. I was potentially looking at another option here with my bodyweight proving to be so challenging that I couldn’t get over 20 seconds even with rest. But my hope here was just going right into it and making sure my hands were dry as possible and hope that what I’ve learned from the last time and what I’ve been doing the past week on the grippers will return dividends. Initially, I was worried this would be the same result but I was able to keep holding on a crush it longer. I had counted to 40 in my head but ended up a bit shy of that. But still, over 35 seconds. Nearly double my best time. I took a good bit of rest before I did the second set. These feel like they take a lot longer to recover from then just thinner gripped things. And this wasn’t something where I could use less weight on the setup. It ended up being like 6 minutes of rest here to feel like I was ready (I did get to see a stray cat while pacing). Counted to 35 in my head but just shy of 30 seconds. Shy of 75 seconds total but darn close so happy with that improvement here. I do need to think how I want to implement the grippers for the last workouts this prep (and how I want to keep them in going forward). Last thing was some more leg work. Backwards sled drag. I was debating doing these considering I did the power stairs and how drained I was from all the sweating. But this would be the last week I’d do them considering near the end of the training cycle. I had indicated 435lbs to do here for 2x75’ but I think I thought I had just copied and pasted what I did last time so I added 10lbs, not realizing it was 30lbs more than last time. This was actually not too bad considering things. Slow and steady. Took me about a minute for the first set going into it with not much and then about 10 seconds faster the second set. So kind of a repeat of last time. Downed the shake and put stuff away before finally getting home. Ordered delivery so that I could eat when I got home. Ate and stretched before finally cooling down.