March 19, 2026 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
206x3
296x2
386x1
456x1
526x3
526x3
526x3
526x3
526x2 (missed 3rd)
526x2

Sandbag to Shoulders (left side only)
175x1/225x1
265x1/305x1
265x1/305x0

Sandbag Pick/Lap/Stand
363x1

Deadstop Safety Bar Good Mornings (lower to deadlift pull height)
65x6
115x6
165x12
165x12
165x12

Sandbag Zercher Stationary Lunges (0-1-0-1 tempo)
bwx8/8
112x8/8
112x8/8
112x8/8

Deadstop Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Pull Ups
62x6/6 – bwx1
112x6/6 – bwx9
112x6/6 – bwx7

Stretching

Comments: Been having stress dreams. I’m not sure if it is the increased stress at work, anxiety of upcoming competition or specifically this workout today and Sunday. It could be a combo of some or all really. I got an extra day of rest to prepare for this one. Soft tissue foam rolling surprisingly not much was needed and my quads needed it the most. Neck rehab stuff followed I guess that was needed. My shoulders had been feeling a little tense and stiff from Tuesday session. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Just the normal amount here. Then on to the actual workout. It looked like a lot on paper and I was even considering doing just the deadlifts during my lunch break and then the rest of th session after work as I was worried that it would take a lot out of me and that it would be a really late night for me. But I thought better of it and kept things as they were. Axle pulls again. I was expecting the volume but wasn’t expecting it to be essentially heavier than last week’s “heavy” week. The suggested was to do 525lbs for 6 sets of 2-3 reps depending on how I feel. I had been pleased with how things were last week on these and this felt like it was going to be incredibly tough. I did plate jumps to start warming up and then switched to 70lbs jumps after that. Things were feeling ok but not amazing. Unfortunately, I had the lightheaded feeling on the first working set and I had to take a moment between each rep to get myself right again. Which really killed the momentum of the set and made for a very difficult three reps. This felt like an almost max effort and I was still expecting myself to be better here and essentially do 5 more sets with my 3rm on these. As such, I took longer rests than I usually do besides suited work (takes time to setup straps and weights). Talking like 5 minutes rests between sets at most. Second set and third set did feel better than the first. I was surprising myself with my ability to keep going and repeat and dig deep on these. I got through four sets at triples before I hit a wall on fifth one. I knew after I had to take a moment after the second rep that I might miss this lift and I just didn’t get it above my knees. My body just starts shaking in the hamstrings at that point. I was not able to get myself super hyped up as these were just draining and grinding me down. I only went for a double on the last set then and knew that going for a third here would’ve been bad news (I was entertaining doing 4 reps to try and hype myself up to make up for missing a rep). This was a lot of heavy volume and I feel the biggest ask on deadlifts since starting training with Ms. Funk. I kind of hope that next sessions pull back a lot on the volume so I can recover because I was feeling wiped after this one. And I still had everything else to go. Now I didn’t feel so out of it like I did the session we won’t speak of again lol. Used the time putting stuff away as a brief respite to get some liquids in. Sandbag to shoulder following up. I had some confidence back with these after hitting 305lbs last week comfortably and making 300lbs feel really easy on the carry Saturday. Volume was pulled back here. I mean, it has been fairly low volume the entire prep compared to other events. No singles this week though. Trying to get in reps with different bags to kind of get used to doing more than one bag in the time frame at the show in case I go too big or too light. How I had left the bags in the garage last week, I needed to move them around to start light and work my way up. The lighter bags are kind of an afterthought at this point with my old style but I’m still a little off when coming down from the deadlifts and knowing there is more to come. The true working weight was the 265lbs and the 305lbs sandbag. Plan for the day was to do 1-2 sets of single with each bag taking 5 seconds or so rest between. I could tell I was knackered from deadlifts as I just had no umph in me on these compared to last week. But I still managed to get 305lbs up there on the first set. I probably should’ve stopped there as I got one set in but I remembered how last week I felt not great on my first set with 265lbs and was thinking not happening with 305lbs but then the second one flew up and I then did 305lbs convincingly. 265lbs had went up pretty nice first set and I’m actually surprised that 305lbs didn’t stall on me with the fumble I had with the lapping of the bag. Second attempt 265lbs was about the same and pick was harder on 305lbs but it felt like it was more secure in the lap but I just didn’t have the power or gumption today and it stalled on me. I tried to reset and go again but it wasn’t to be. I know that I’m wasted from all the deadlifts and I got the 305lbs again with fatigue beforehand so not a total wash here. The next thing was the other aspect of the workout that had me stressing out something fierce. The next bag in my garage setup is 363lbs. I’ve had it for 5-6yrs now and it has just sat in there gathering dust and spiders. I’ve never attempted to lift it besides just moving it onto handtruck to move from one side of the garage to the other where it has sat. But apparently today was going to be the day to lift it in some fashion. Ms. Funk was not expecting me to shoulder this behemoth. Notes were to pick it up and stand up with it forcefully. I do have the arms to pick this bag long ways like I do other bags but considering how much deadlifts took out of me and that this would be a 27lbs PR to lap this bag, I had resigned myself to picking it up in a more advantage position and hope that worked. The size of it is daunting. This is where I feel I need to have more time and practice with the bags like this as this feels nothing like the smaller bags. Picking it up this way wasn’t easy as I was a little high up on the bag and it didn’t quite clear my legs and I had to be really awkward with it to get into position on my lap to be able to have it secure and then stand up with it. It didn’t feel bad once in my lap and standing up with. Pick always been the issue with sandbag. I could walk with it for a bit (and I’ve done heavier with husafell stuff). Like I said, I’d need to mess with this some more to make it more efficient and see if a different tactic with getting off the lap works here. It didn’t feel impossible is all I’m saying for now. Anyways, got a little bit of liquids down and then on to the accessories for the session. Which I was not looking forward to. First up on that order being gms with the ssb to rack height. Same as last week and I wasn’t complaining here. My lower back was just wrecked at this point and I was doing double takes with the height of the rack arms but they were right. Thankfully, adding my belt made these somewhat tolerable (as feeling like crap warming up). Sandbag zercher lunges with tempo pauses again. Starting to get intense again with increased reps. I was missing the cue here that wanting to engage upper back more with not just crushing with arms but pulling back. So I tried my best there. I took each side as a rest period rather than trying to force things be shorter between sides with the reps increased to 8. My joints were feeling these today in my knees, hips and ankles. Right inner hip area was still feeling stiff and achy after I was done. It has been a bit since one of the hips has gotten annoyed with me. The last thing was a superset. The supported dead stop single leg dumbbell rdls and pull ups. Weight increased on the rdls by 10lbs and reps reduced to 6 reps. Again, thankful for the rep reduction and that only two sets after the workout today. I was also expecting my pull up numbers to be higher since less prefatigued on with the rdls. Left side feels more hamstring than the right (which feels more quad engagement). But finally I was done and able to rehydrate and eat. Not going to be as late a night as I thought. I will definitely be needed two days rest. Stretched after eating. Hoping that the aches and such go away with rest and recover.