February 28, 2026 – Week 2, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
45x5
111x4
155x3
221x2
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5
265.5x5

Double Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, 1 second dip and catch)
49x5
85x3
108x2
120x1
132x2
132x2
132x2
132x2
132x2

Sandbag Carries (turf)
250x60’
300x60’
325x60’
turns at 60’
225x120’
225x120’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
295x60’
305x60’
315x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions
50x12
55x12
60x12

Pulldowns (drop sets)
150x8/120x8/90x16
150x8/120x8/90x16

Stretching

Comments: The last session did not end on ideal terms. It was good I called it when I did as even with what I had ended up on that last set with the sandbag had really gotten to me mentally. Psychic damage I think is what some people jokingly refer to stuff now. I had an early dinner and took Nyquil not really due to the allergies but more so to make sure I slept most of the time I was in bed as usually not sleeping near 12hrs on a weekday unless I’m sick. I didn’t need any Claritin the rest of the week but did need nasal spray just about every morning after I was up for a little bit. February into March weather is essentially bipolar as well. I meant to walk Thursday but work got away from me and then I just felt still tired after work even with there being more daylight out and decided I’d try and just recover some more. I made sure I did some activity on Friday for my own mental wellbeing. Get out of my own head and get some movement so I wasn’t feeling stiff come Saturday. My neck, shoulders and upper back stuff felt tight (not painful) this week. I had plans here to get stuff ready to go out on Saturday but fell by the wayside. But hey, I actually woke up when I planned to and didn’t sleep past it or hit snooze. It was potentially going to be high 50’s today (ended up low 60’s) so I brought extra shirts just in case I sweated through them. Body not liking the drastic shifts in temperature with it being below freezing on Monday. And it looks like it will be the same this coming Monday and then be high 70’s this weekend. Pick a lane. Drive out wasn’t bad. Getting there when I meant to had a lot of people at the gym for strongman stuff as well as youth group stuff for athletics. Unlike last week, I did manage to get in my warming up and do some of my workout sets rather than waiting until my one friend was finished with their Arnold training. She likes to have wrung out every drop before a show as it is fun whereas I see that I need to pull back hard as my stress levels start to catabolize me a week out. Lower legs needed a fair bit on the foam rolling. Not so much anywhere else. Neck rehab stuff was good. Lower body stretching was good as well and dead hang felt nice. Box squats with accentuated eccentrics again. I got notes for this from last time about not needing to have this be so taxing (think of as primer like the pause squats end of last cycle) and that is a little on me as I forgot that not as high intensity on the squats during contest prep vs off season prep. The plan here was to do 4x5 instead of 5x4. So aim being about 10-15lbs less than last times weight. However, I was also advised to sit full on the box, which I hadn’t done as I think I was so focused on the eccentric and keeping tension. As such, I figured that I probably need to consider lowering the weight more than that with that change in the execution so I went with 10kgs less for these. On top of that, I used a regular power bar vs the big ole squat bar. This actually felt better for me. Knees a bit achy on these still but I feel these were closer to what I was to be doing here. Unrack felt uneven when I did 100kgs and 120kgs but just my imagination each time that first attempt. These felt still a little tougher than I’d have liked but I think these went ok. From there I moved on to circus dumbbell. Ms. Funk indicated that things this cycle to work what she saw were issues at comp on this is two part. Part one is absolutely fatigue the triceps until they just give up and part two is work the positions where I can potentially miss the lift. So for circus dumbbell, that would be pauses in key spots. I’ve done these in some fashion in the past with 1-3 points of pauses/holds on dumbbell. This was to be a 2 point but a bit different for one of those points. Often, a pause in the dip is a no brainer. But the second point was in the catch position. Usually I’ve had to hold lockout. But generally I get it there, it is stable. I think part of why never done this one is usually the pause style hasn’t been done as my contest style (push press vs jerk) but this makes sense. So suggested here was 120-130lbs for 5x2 with the pauses and rest as needed. I wasn’t sure how this would go and my right hamstring decided to feel sore after the box squats and I was a little paranoid I’d pull it. Thankfully, this worked out. No issues with the hamstring and these positions felt solid. So much so that I didn’t bother to make it 130lbs with my collars and just did 132lbs. Now fatigue did build faster here vs the EMOM last week with the holds but this was quite easy work here. This is a quick turnaround for this show though. Then sandbag carries. Plan for today was a bit different from last week. Work up to 2x60’ at RPE 9 and then drop down to 225-245lbs for 2x120’ with turn at 60’. I had mentioned to Ms. Funk that I felt I could do contest weight now for the distance no issues so the 2x60’ was planned for 300lbs. But that was before I had an existential breakdown over sandbag to shoulder earlier this week. And my right hamstring chirping at me like a smoke detector with low batteries didn’t help matters. But feeling good on circus dumbbell did. I wasn’t sure how I’d go with the lighter stuff but I figured I didn’t want to do a lot to get to the weight I wanted and maybe I’d use a little more if I felt good so I brought out the 250lbs sandbag do a warm up for 60’. It had a small puncture that I taped up. I had been worried we either didn’t have a 250lbs anymore. This carry felt like hot garbage. It felt like RPE 9. Had me worrying about how I was feeling with sandbag to shoulder and the first working set of deadlifts. But I know that sometimes that is just how it is and told myself I can do 300lbs. I’ve done it many times. But there is still anxiousness. This actually went well. Too well as this didn’t feel like RPE 9. I figured I’d go up to 325lbs to combat some lingering doubts after sandbag to shoulder. Couldn’t hurt to be having something in reserve here. I’ve picked up and carried a little heavier sandbags but not in training and not for this distance. So still nerves here. The bag slid on me as it past my knees so it wasn’t the most ideal grip position to have it secure and stand up with but I wasn’t going to let that stop me and put in the work here. So this also helped with pushing out negative self-talk. Popped the snack as this was going to be the only time that worked here before standing arm over arm pulls. But of course I was still having indigestion from nerves and such. I think part of it was just thinking about how draining what I was about to do was going to be. Same setup as last week with plan being 3x60’ with 10-30lbs more than last time. Notes were to try and get more in each stroke as it seemed like I was doing short strokes and stressing biceps more. I didn’t feel like that was the case and this is kind of what I went with on instinct. I think my worry was changing the cadence would slow me down and that extending more could have me off balance with my center of gravity as it is a strange position to brace and keep tension when just bodyweight and traction of the floor to move and break inertia of the implement. I went with 295lbs as that was what was left out from arm over arm stuff for my friend for base weight. I got myself ready and mentally prepped and had at it. Well I’ll be damned. This change up went well and smooth. I hardly felt like I did anything by the end of that first run. It felt easier than any of the sets last week with 30lbs less. So I decided to add a little weight. But I guess it did catch up to me as it most definitely felt like an effort on the next set. I mistimed the pulls near the end. I took a bit longer rest after that and added another 10lbs to it with hopes that I’d feel like that first set. Unfortunately not quite and again some mistiming on pulls near the very end. But within 100ths of seconds from the previous set. I started to get a little bit of calf cramp in the left from the strain and trying to keep my balance. This does seem to be the way to go with training this but again, no clue what is going to be the case when I get there. Adjust on the fly. Put stuff away and another break to just rehydrate before moving on to the lighter stuff. Reverse hypers again. 3x12 with 50lbs is what was indicated. Jumped right into this and thankfully I didn’t get any reps that had that sensation I didn’t like in my back and kept these pretty controlled. It felt easy enough that I went up 5lbs each set here and still feeling fine. So happy with this result. Then last thing being pulldown drop set. Same weight as last week but reps decreased from 10 to 8 reps. Reason being that Ms. Funk wants me to not be so sloppy in my movement as I was getting a good bit of lean back on these with the fatigue rather than more lat focused and upright. So I made it a focus to try and stay as upright as I could here. I took a bit longer rest between the sets this time for fatigue but also to help someone on fingal fingers. I was doing that stuff during my rests and breaks as it popped up. Got done about when I wanted to this time around and drank a shake and ate a sandwich before heading up to stretch and decompress.