September 27, 2025 – Week 4, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Heel Elevated Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
115x5
155x4
205x3
245x2
275x5
275x5
275x5
275x5
275x5

Axle Push Presses (0-1-0-1 tempo)
35x5
65x5
95x3
125x3
155x2
185x2
215x3
215x3
215x3
215x3

Bulgarian Split Squats/Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses
bwx5/5 – 40’sx3
20’sx40 seconds/40 seconds -- 70’sx12
20’sx40 seconds/40 seconds -- 70’sx12
20’sx40 seconds/40 seconds -- 70’sx12

Curtsy Lunges/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
bwx6/6 – 20x6/6
bw+30x10/10 -- 40x8/8
bw+40x10/10 -- 40x8/8
bw+50x10/10 -- 40x8/8

Stretching

Comments: Work was very busy but that had been obvious with this being the week where I had a lot of things scheduled from the week I was told to get my shit together after returning from Ireland. I survived it but it was a lot of effort and I could tell that I was feeling worn down. My weekends at this point feel like when I’m able to recover and I’m not so inclined to wake up early or really do much beyond train on Saturday and then do upkeep for the next week and chores from the previous week on Sunday. I imagine it will be more of a premium with the switch over in schedule after this coming week. I’m still working on figuring out meals for in office. Outside of work crap, I was also cautious with my left hip/inner thigh situation as so far so good with training this week but I was unsure how this session would go as this had been the one that really exacerbated things in the first place. If I needed the sleep last week, I desperately needed it this week as I had a fair number of stress dreams and it was closer to 11:00AM at this point. I was not motivated to leave my house as again, no one was actually training for anything right now, I could do everything at home, and my one friend wasn’t going to be there as in another state for a wedding. I didn’t want to have to deal with traffic honestly and if I got an issue with my leg, I didn’t want to be having to deal with about an hour in the car before home. This was probably not the best day to be obstinate (as looked like some rain) but if this was going to be one, it works. I’ll likely have to do next Saturday at home option because of the powerlifting meet at the strongman gym. So need to see what I have to change or what I can do here. I did entertain going to the local powerlifting gym but decided against it as I’d likely have to make adjustments to things like my squats and the split squats as I know they don’t have an ssb (got a transformer bar that I’ve never used) or something to anchor or elevate my heels. Save myself the $10 and gas. Foam rolling was needed on the lower legs with a lot needed for the right calf. No so much on other things. I did do soft tissue work last night. 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. Not quite the same stuff I had done on Wednesday. From there on to training and starting off with the ssb squats with heels elevated and atg style. I don’t have the ramps here like at the gym that are the solid metal things for car deadlift so I had to improvise with using the hard foam I have and then wearing my lifters. I didn’t feel too comfortable/confident in that setup not going squirrely on me so I put a wood platform with dumbbells weighing it down behind those so it was stable. So that seemed to work. Plan for these was to do 255-275lbs for 5x5. I figured that I’d go for 275lbs here, which could be risky as I tend to find my ssb to be a little more challenging compared to the one at the strongman gym. Notes indicated that I tend to have my upper back collapsed on these. I’m not sure if going to try and override/correct as I kind of felt like that I was tucking it to brace it. One issue with my setup is that I don’t have the best rack inside my garage. I got it for ease of moving around for when COVID stuff closed everything and it was cheap. My outside rack is much better but not as easy to move around and I didn’t want to be moving stuff outside just for squats when it was looking like rain may happen (weather app saying nothing at one point and then 30 minutes later saying it was). With the elevated heels, this had me picking the weight up much lower than I’d like so that made unracking a little unwieldy. Always a little bit of getting used to things with increased weight on squats (been going up like 70lbs since the first week) so breathing takes a set or so and then I’m good. Other than the odd setup, these felt mostly comfortable. I did get a little pitched forward after the fourth rep of the third set and had to catch myself before going for the fifth rep. From there, moved on to axle out of the rack for overhead outside. Of course, it was now raining. And it ended up raining for just as long as I was doing these as it stopped when I was done and putting stuff away out there. But I’ve done overhead in the rain before and it is only really when it is clean and presses that I don’t mess around with that if I can help it. Same setup of triples with pauses at two spots in the movement. I was given the go ahead to increase the weight on these but notes were two less sets and to not get sloppy. The rain/wetness was going to be an added factor here and trying to not get anxious and rush things on these. I do think I’ve gotten better with my rack position that I feel solid and it doesn’t feel crushingly heavy each time. Trying to get it so that there isn’t such a lag between my leg drive and my arms taking over as well. First set I got a little off balance on the second rep at lockout. Second set I think was better in that I calmed down to really think on positioning. I think of all the reps, the first one of the third set was the best at what I wanted to achieve with the first of the fourth set a close second. I definitely have to keep working on the subsequent reps and keeping the position in the dip stable and tight. There is a lot of cues to be focusing on (not nearly as many as Spanish squats haha). This is the one event that I need to really get my abilities and confidence back up if I want to be competitive at any show. The rest of the workout after that being the supersets. Some changes to these from last week. The first one of Bulgarian split squats and the incline squeeze bench still present but slight adjustments. The bss are still time based with same weight as last time with it now being 40 seconds vs 30 seconds. This was the exercise I was truly the most concerned about as I think me going up from bodyweight to 20lbs per hand on these and trying to move like I did from no weight to added weight was partly to blame for the tendon/nerves to get all angry at me last weekend. I managed to get through everything else without issue this week. So I did do some bodyweight only just to make this wasn’t going to be terrible. I did these with control and that seemed to be good when doing them with weight as well. The other half of these was changed with it being rep based vs time based on the pressing. So I had to figure out what I could do for 12 reps here across three sets. I had hit about 19 reps in 30 seconds with the 55lbs last week and 1rm calculators were putting me at about 65lbs for 12 reps. If at a gym, I could be that precise but not at home when I have only one pair of plateloadable handles and my choices for set are 10’s, 40’s and 70’s. I needed the handles for the bss stuff (could do 10’s, 15’s or 25’s here without handles) so I had to hope that I could handle doing my 70’s here for the sets. And thankfully, that did end up being the case here. The last superset for the session also had a change. I was not to do the lateral lunges as those were not conducive to not irritating my inner thigh and hip. Also quite rough on my knees, even with warming up. The new exercise to replace it being curtsy lunges. Never done them and had to look up videos on them. It looks to be like a reverse lunge but with the back leg going across the body. So besides the novelty of it being more emphasis on the one side with angle it was also going to be something of proprioception for me with putting foot behind with it being a fairly new movement for me.  I did these with bodyweight to start out as my knees were quite creaky and I was wondering how I was going to do these but the movement got better. Plan was 3x10. These actually felt comfortable for the most part. I had no idea what I could do weight wise here and I realized I could go heavier after that first set so I did add 10lbs per set. I will have to remember to start with the other side first (assuming still doing these) as that is the side that has a harder time with theses. I did get a little off balance on the last rep of the second set for my lagging side and just had to laugh it off and do it again. The triceps extensions pushing the weight on these aiming for 40lbs with it being 3x6-8. It is tougher for the right side on these but I do like the sensation of the contraction of these, feeling it fully in the belly of the triceps muscle. It was quite late in the afternoon and dare I say early evening that I decided it made more sense to just aim for a slightly earlier dinner than eat something and eat a really late dinner. Stretched out after putting stuff away before getting cleaned up and making dinner. Glad that leg/hip thing wasn’t an issue.