January 12, 2026 – Week 20, Day 1

Axle Push Presses (0-2-0-2 tempo)
36x5
66x3
96x2
126x2
156x2
186x3
186x3
186x3
186x3

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
56’sx10
87’sx6
87’sx6
87’sx6

Overhead Dicks Presses
65x3
95x2
120x5
120x5
120x5
120x5

Deadstop Single Arm Dumbbell Rows/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
62x6/6 – bwx7
112x3/3 – bw+40x4
162x6/6 – bw+70x10
162x6/6 – bw+70x10
162x6/6 – bw+70x10

Reverse Lunges w/ March Hold (2 seconds)
bw+10’sx4/4
bw+40’sx8/8
bw+40’sx8/8
bw+40’sx8/8

Stretching

Comments: I was beat from Saturday training but not defeated if that makes sense. My biceps did feel sorer this time after stone training compared to the previous time. However, that did seem to sneak up on me with both my biceps cramping on me just getting into position to do some foam rolling. So I was mindful of that. I recall it took me until the third session last time I did some kind of stone stuff where I didn’t worry about biceps cramping later. Anyways, world is crazy but I’m feeling fine for the most part. Weight maintains in the 255lbs range. Got to stay on target and focus. Soft tissue work starting things off. Didn’t have my biceps cramp on me this time. Still seems like my calves needed work but not ton like it had been the past two weeks. Quads however did need a good bit. Hamstrings and upper back the usual. Neck rehab was ok. Felt pretty good. Stretching for hips, knees and ankles and then followed by a dead hang. Outside for axle pressing. A little cold but not so much that I really needed my warm up top on for it. Remembering to treat these as the “primer”. Same as last week with the tempo. Weight increased 10lbs and volume dropped a good bit down to 4x3. Notes were to try and work on getting the timing right and bracing. Ribs down. My left biceps wanted to cramp on me the last rep of my last warm up set so that had me a little on edge. I’ve had that happen before when biceps are sore. I didn’t feel as stressed as last week coming into these. That had been after taking deload and then seeing if I was out of my funk (mental and physical). Knees did feel a little achy near the end on these but felt powerful. I put most of this away after I finished here as I’d be needing to use the outside rack later in the session. But moving on to the incline dumbbells in the garage. Same weight as last week but only doing 3x6. I made sure to confirm that weight same and reps reduced. I guess part of the taper for the competition. I’ve only done the short stint so this the full prep circumstance with Ms. Funk. I did a few more reps with the work up dumbbell just to get my joints warm as last time my left elbow had been tense but eased up as I went. These felt about as challenging as last week even with the reduced reps. I think partially from me knowing I could do these when last week I wasn’t sure I could and there being hesitancy on the clean to shoulder with my very sore biceps and making sure that I didn’t pull something being sloppy here. But I got these done and was able to move on to the next thing. Which needed to be done outside because I’m too tall. I’ve done overhead dicks presses before but it has been a long while since they were regularly part of my training. I’m talking 2014. I’ve tried doing them in 2021 briefly with doing my own training plan (like two workouts) and I did try a seated variation last year once but it wasn’t feeling right on my left shoulder so I dropped it. But I recall these really being good with lockout and stability on overhead with the need to brace, the movement and constant tension. So now they are back. I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing here weight wise for 4x5 at RPE 7 but I figured it had to be more than the empty bar. Left shoulder still feels funky (not sure what I did to make it angry over the last 12yrs) but tolerable. Was surprised that what I thought would be my weight of 95lbs flew up on a regular press to start. I was wondering if I could go even heavier and put 120lbs. That brought me back down to earth as that felt like a substantial increase. Really trying to get the movement and position of these right. These get tiring during the set fast where rep one is easy and rep five is tough. I feel these went well enough. Cleaned up the outside stuff to finish up with garage stuff. So it has been supersets but that is a bit altered for this session. The overhead dicks presses replaced the z presses and were on their own. Heel elevated squats were now paired with a new row variation. Now new for me but new for this prep and training. Deadstop style one arm rows (heavy) allowing for some body English. Usually my jam as far as rowing goes but a little leery with the sore biceps. I was going to need some more working up sets here to hit what I should be doing here. The goblet squats I probably didn’t need to do as much but figured it was a good idea to match them set for set. I wasn’t sure which side to be the starting side as both felt sore for rows with my biceps but I pretty much switched set for set until getting to working weight. I used some liquid chalk just to make sure my grip was slipping in any way here. These rows can take a bit out of you when not in practice on them compared to saw other styles of rowing I’ve done recently. The goblet squats were also pretty tiring and I was feeling the fatigue in my legs and posterior chain on the last two reps of the second and third set. I had to take a bit to cooldown and recover before finishing up the session. The new reverse lunge exercise was by itself this time around. Same as last time with the weight and sets and the holds in the “march position” for 2 seconds. I didn’t need as much time to get used to the movement compared to last week. Those added reps were also tiring here. I probably need to start with the other side next time as that feels like the side that is lagging slightly here. Put these away and got to eating dinner before stretching.