September 20, 2025 – Week 3, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Heel Elevated Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
115x5
155x4
205x3
245x6
245x6
245x6
245x6
245x6
245x6

Axle Push Presses (0-1-0-1 tempo)
45x5
75x3
105x3
135x2
165x2
200x3
200x3
200x3
200x3
200x3
200x3

Bulgarian Split Squats/Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses
20’sx30 seconds/30 seconds -- 55’sx30 seconds
20’sx30 seconds/30 seconds -- 55’sx30 seconds
20’sx30 seconds/30 seconds -- 55’sx30 seconds

Lateral Lunges/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
bw+26.5x12/12 -- 35x12/12
bw+26.5x12/12 -- 35x12/12
bw+26.5x12/12 -- 35x12/12

Stretching

Comments: Life outside of training and family continues to be dumb. Stress about the upcoming work shift with onsite stuff feels like it is a behind the scenes stressor even tough it is still over two weeks before it happens. More dumb news was finding out that the one parking lot next to the building will no longer be leased as of 10/1/2025 and that side entrance is allowed for building entry anymore. Which means parking across a street that has no crosswalks or anything to slow traffic and having to go to a different entrance that is further away from where my work area is. So just little bullshit that is adding to the work commute that is very temperamental depending on traffic coming across the river bridge into the city. Return to office yet bringing in more people (half the building being rented out to another agency) and making it tougher for space and increasing workload is not helping. Especially when those above tell you to ask for help if needed and when you do, get told no to the slightest courtesy requested. It really does feel like they are trying to get everyone to quit so the job can be automated or something. Besides that, I had scheduled for shots Thursday afternoon since I will be in public more often. CDC bullshit making it so I can only get some of them so not great there either. Neither shot (Tdap and flu) really made anything sore which was good but I had given myself a two day buffer just in case. I apparently needed to sleep as I finally slept until 10:30AM which I’ve not done in quite some time. There wasn’t a need to go out to train early as I didn’t expect a lot of people to be there and no one is training for anything coming up soon. I didn’t need anyone to help with offseason stuff. The issues with going out there later is that traffic gets bad around the city trying to get out. I’ll likely be going out to train again next weekend but after that I will likely need to train at home or day pass to the other gym since I don’t want to train change training day with having to be getting up early for the work shift next month. Felt already at the gym and started off with foam rolling. Tops of calves tight both sides (more so the right) and wasn’t too bad rest of the legs. Upper back was definitely tense from shots and from the snatch grip rdls. Moved on to the neck rehab stuff and that was good. Did some stuff for my ankles and knees before doing stuff with stretches for the hips, ankles and knees and dead hang for decompression. These had felt like they went smoother/felt better on Wednesday compared to today. Then on to the squats. Still ssb squats with heels elevated and atg style. Indication for this session was 225-245lbs for 6x6 for these lighter squats. I was apparently “collapsing” on these last week and advised to not be doing that. Hopefully I got that right this time. I went with the higher end on these as I figured with the reps dropped I should be ok. I was a little uncertain after 205lbs felt a bit heavier on my back than I wanted but I was fine with 245lbs. For whatever reason, sometimes that jump with having the ssb on my back it feels like a lot going 155lbs to 205lbs and then I’m good. I didn’t really feel like I was fatigued as much here over the sets and I did pause the last rep of the last rep slightly just for good measure. I also was trying to treat these like individual reps with slight holds at lockout like I did with the incline log and deadlifts this week as I think I tend to just pump and go on things like squats and the like when I see reps. From there, moved on to axle out of the rack for overhead. Same setup of triples with pauses at two spots in the movement. Indication was to do same weight with more intent in those spots (emphasis on lockout going fast) for 6x3 so one more set than last time. I was feeling decent and anxiety wasn’t too high and for whatever reason, the weights weren’t feeling heavy on the unracks at the start like it has been the previous weeks. Maybe something clicked last week as unracks felt consistent. I was feeling good so I added 5lbs just so I was doing 200lbs. I felt like these went better than last time. Only on the last rep of the third set did I feel like I had not hit things how they should and it was tougher than I’d like it to be. I did some walking in place with the weight overhead on the last rep of the last set for good measure and just for a little fun for myself. The rest of the workout after that being the supersets. These had been a bear last week with the increased volume on the one and increased weight on the other. So some mercy here with the first one in that the volume was reduced but the weights were increased. The Bulgarians have been bodyweight only so far and this week 20lbs dumbbells in each hand. The incline stuff 5lbs increase to the dumbbells there. I wasn’t too concerned with how that would go seeing as how that isn’t that much compared to the changes of the splits squats going bodyweight to 15% of bodyweight added. The stance and the speed of movement had to be adjusted for comfort and to maintain balance and finishing the time limits. I did need to take a bit of a breather here just so that I could refocus since holding weight the entire time and making sure fatigue has subsided so I wouldn’t lose my balance. Not much to say on the incline stuff. I did try to take shorter rest between series compared to last week and I think I was successful with that. Those bss still sneak up on me with the fatigue and exhaustion. I did want to make sure I got to the last bit a little quicker than I had managed last week as well. I put away weights that were left on machines as I got things ready. Lateral lunges and triceps extensions with dumbbell. The lunges I was told to do the same weight as last week but add 2 reps per set. I knew that was not going to be fun but I was more concerned about the triceps extension as it was indicated to do 35lbs for 3x12 again. That had not felt possible last week with the tweak to tuck elbows in so I was a bit surprised it was indicated again. But I was going to give it my best effort. Warming up for these I did the Cossack squat positions and some triceps stretches with weight just so it wasn’t so abrupt. Knees were feeling this week and the rest of the session going into the lunges but seemed to be ok. Or so I thought. Left inside of my thigh and hip area got tense at some point after I did the first set. Not in a way that it impacted me doing the rest of the sets. Kind of a what’s done is done circumstance. I’ve had this kind of irritation before back in February and March of 2023. It took a bit for it to go (had to do with some heavy taxing on lower back plus wider stance with a 22” diameter stone) but it did finally let up. I’m wondering if it is because of just a little too much with the lunges, bss and then lateral lunges. I really hope that it calms down for me with a good night’s rest. The triceps were very tough but I did manage to get through them. I was moving around quite gingerly after this was done putting stuff away and cleaning up before leaving. Kind of assessing my hip/leg as I did. Drove home and stretched out. Hopefully the irritation in that spot is better by Monday.