January 5, 2026 – Week 19, Day 1

Axle Push Presses (0-2-0-2 tempo)
26x5
56x3
86x2
116x2
146x2
176x5
176x5
176x5
176x5
176x5

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
56’sx8
87’sx8
87’sx8
87’sx8

Yielding Barbell Z Presses (3 seconds forehead)/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
95x3/bw+40x5
125x5/bw+70x8
125x5/bw+70x8
125x5/bw+70x8
125x5/bw+70x8

Supinated Bent Over Dumbbell Drag Rows/Reverse Lunges w/ March Hold (2 seconds)
46’sx6 – bwx3/3
70’sx6 – bw+25’sx3/3
96’sx12 – bw+40’sx6/6
96’sx12 – bw+40’sx6/6
96’sx12 – bw+40’sx6/6

Stretching

Comments: I was feeling better than I had a week earlier but wasn’t sure if that was enough to say I’m good to go and back to it 100%. I did make a concentrated effort to not miss meals just because I slept in on days off last week (with holiday and weekend) and I think that did pay off in that my weight has gone back up to 255lbs range. Cold but not windy this day. I had gotten my training for the week late Sunday so I had some time to look over it and see what was in store for me. I kind of wanted to gauge how much the strain was going to be each week and expectation on when last heavy session would be with prep as 5 weeks away from competing. The peak seemed to be right for the most part with World’s (though I had to call off the last heavy session). Gradual reduction in stuff appears planned here and not going 100% on every single thing it seems. So will be a bit gradual with this week building things up. Soft tissue work starting things off. Still seems like my calves need a lot of foam rolling since last week. Not as much today as last week sessions but still feels like a fair bit more than it used to be. Quads needed some work as well but not ton of it. Hamstrings and upper back the usual. Neck rehab was ok. Upper back, neck and shoulders have still been feeling pretty tense from the previous week going into this week. I really hope that this calms down or something. Stretching for hips, knees and ankles and then followed by a dead hang. Time for axle pressing as seems to be the start of my training week. Notes had been that this was more of a “primer” of things. Tempo being added here but more in the sense of pauses rather than slowing the eccentric or concentric. I’ve done pauses overhead for 2 seconds and I’ve done 1 second pauses in the dip and at lockout during this long prep so this was just a little extra being added. Told to have things be explosive and light. I did ask if that meant to have it as light as last week and clarification was aim for something RPE 7. I was also told up to me if I wanted to wear support gear. The hope with the holds at the two spots was to hopefully improve my lockout surety and try and get my timing issue ironed out with having my upper body lag slightly making it not a smooth movement. But I’m also not really sure how to engage right from the start as I tend to feel relaxed with the weight in the rack position. But I tried my best to have those cues be present. I elected to do 30lbs more than last week. It was about the same temperature as last week minus the wind so I was feeling less cold and didn’t feel like I needed to wear my warm up top here. For the most part, things felt strong. I could tell that my fatigue was increasing as the sets went on with my stability on the holds overhead. I kept to just thinking about the reps in the set vs overall that seems to help me get these done and not stress about it. With some slight changes to the session, this meant this was the only outside activity tonight and the rest would be in the garage. Incline dumbbell was the next thing as per usual. It had been lighter weight and more reps and gradually increasing reps and decreasing sets to get the volume done. But this time weights bumping back up. Plan being 80-85lbs for 3x8. Since the option before was 70-75lbs, I had stuck to my 70’s as solid dumbbells and made going from one exercise to the next easier. But I only have one 80lbs solid dumbbell and I didn’t have any further outside pressing with dumbbells so I needed to use the plateloaded handles and I could indulge in going a bit heavier. My left elbow was feeling bit compressed/tight with the clean to shoulder initially but I guess the weight applied made it shut up. I was a little worried this was going to be too much but ended up being doable so that was nice. Did get a little tough on the last set. The rest of the workout became supersets. First up being the consist one of yielding z presses and the tempo goblet squats. Suggested weight for the z presses was the same but increasing the reps. Goblet squats decreasing the reps and suggesting increase by a bit. I had kind of liked how the solid dumbbell had felt on the deload week when I did goblet squats so I figured I’d got big/go home deal here and went with 70lbs for the work sets. Something about using a weight above 35lbs on these that makes it feel better as far as movement. Doing them with no weight at the start feels achy. Definitely feeling the work put in here. I might have miscounted the third set on the goblet squats by one rep but that’s ok. Felt like solid work. Then it was the last superset. It has been consistent with the row portion (which I don’t like with  how the dumbbells scrape up my thighs and shins) and the lower body part has been pretty weird as of late. So rowing the same and a new variation to single leg lift. I was told to do weighted reverse lunges and then hold the one leg up in the “march position” for 2 seconds. I wasn’t sure how the knees would handle these at the start but I felt pretty good and ended up using a fair amount of weight considering things here. Rows were fine, the reverse lunges were tricky and exhausting. I took a short rest between sides to recover. My coordination got better as I did more sets here. Put stuff away and got dinner finished and stretched.