February 2, 2026 – Week 23, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

ATG Split Squats (12”)/Band Pull Aparts
bwx8/8 – mbx15
bwx8/8 – mbx15

Dumbbell Push Presses
40’sx5
40’sx5
40’sx5

Paused Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (3 seconds)/Banded Straight Arm Pulldowns
bw+25x6/lbx15
bw+25x6/lbx15

Walking
19 minutes

Stretching

Comments: I was feeling a bit off mentally after training Saturday. Just a lot of accumulated stress. Work, travel and training. Was I going to be recovered fully by contest time. I’ve been fighting this second round of a cold for over a week after getting a bad one in January. My anxiety was pretty high and I needed help from my family to order food at the restaurant as I was overstimulated. Which felt a tad embarrassing but it also let me know that my family understands and accepts me and that I really need to decompress. I spent Sunday getting stuff packed for the trip and getting a walk in and soft tissue work. I was still getting negative thoughts that I really had to push aside. Weight down a bit from previous week but not as low in bodyweight as I’ve been. Monday and Tuesday to be spent getting work affairs in order. Cold still not fully licked. Only one light session this week with indication that if anything bothered me to stop. But idea being to get some movement in for the legs and upper back and do some pressing. Soft tissue work was needed considering I didn’t stretch after training Saturday and went for a walk Sunday. At least for my lower body. I felt it was important to get in the walking as I was likely going to be feeling tense until after I compete. So needed a bit more on the lower legs and quads as is usually the case and not so much hamstrings and upper back. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Stretching for lower body was ok as well as the dead hang. Plan with the short training was to try and move through things quick and stay in the garage. So first thing was a superset of those ATG split squats I was doing a few weeks back as part of the knees over toe progression and then some band pull aparts. Just two sets of each with indication to use higher box height as this was just to get knees moving and feeling good whereas the pull aparts just to get some upper back work in (with focus on rear delts). Quads and knees felt a little tender but not where I’d feel like it was pain or anything. Just usually these are later in the session and I know that I tend to be hypersensitive with muscles and joints the week before and of a competition. I did these with no break between sets or rounds. Next thing was dumbbell push presses. Advised to do these light and explosive. With my dumbbell selection, it felt like it didn’t make sense to use 10’s and I know 70’s are too heavy for “light” here. Especially if I was going right into it and not wearing any kind of support gear. The dumbbells are small enough that I can do these in the garage standing (as long as I’m under the recessed area for the lights). Left elbow was a little achy here but stuff seemed to move fine and got better as I did the sets as far as getting my legs into it and synching things up. I took about the normal rest I do between sets here. Last exercise pairing using weights was heels elevated goblet squats and some banded straight arm pulldowns. So similar pairing to the first. The goblet squats were only with pauses as opposed to tempo and really light suggested weight (20-30lbs). I used the 25lbs plate with handles here. Pulldowns I needed to add some weight to my light power rack so that it didn’t move despite the light band tension. A bit of forward lean on the squats but felt easy and powerful. Nice upper back pump from the pulldowns. Last thing was listed as doing 15-20 minutes of walking on treadmill. Since where that is located is just in a room facing a wall, I figured I’d just rather go for a walk around the block a few times. Rather just have the cold air, dark and quiet rather than the repetitive sound of my feet and the mechanical murmurings of the belt. Knowing that when I’m stressed I have a harder time with sensory input, I think this was a better option. Got dinner cooked up and stretched afterwards. Hopefully I’m all there in body and mind this Saturday.