March 28, 2026 – Week 6, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Monster Texas Squat Bar Box Squats (4 second eccentrics)
66x5
132x4
176x3
220.5x2
264.5x2
308.5x2
308.5x2
308.5x2

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x4
108x3
130x2
145x1
EMOM
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1
160x1

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

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
255x60’
255x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions (0-2-0-2 tempo)
50x12
50x12

Pulldowns (drop sets)
170x8/130x8/110x20
170x8/130x8/110x16

Stretching

Comments: With only having one day of rest before this session, I wasn’t going to be pushing myself to get up at a set time. Also with the hip flexor thing being a bit irritated as well. Not as bad as it was going into training last week where the anxiety had me paralyzed. I knew what this was and what I could do with it so perhaps that helped some. No walking after work Friday, I had too much that needed to be done that kind of piled up during the week and I wanted to give the hip a rest as not sure if walking was helping or not. I did have plans with training in regards to the hip. I slept in about an hour from my usual worktime when I’m offsite and I felt decently rested. I still had things I needed to do before getting ready to train so it was a bit later when I finally was on the road to train. Driving out wasn’t smooth at the start. Lot of people out driving and not driving well at least locally. I did see as I got closer to the gym that the way back was blocked up with dumb construction so I made a mental note to find an alternate route if that was still happening hours later when I would finally leave. I was kind of surprised there were people there when I got there and there for most of my session really. As has been the case with the foam rolling, only my right quad really needed it and needed it a lot. Not to say other stuff didn’t have some soreness that benefited from foam rolling. But it was quite one-sided on what needed it.  Neck rehab stuff was fine. I modified the lower body stretching to not stretch out my hip flexors aggressively like I tend to do. See if that helps any. Dead hang felt nice. As has been the case this prep, starting things off with eccentric focus box squats. Suggested was 10-20lbs more than last week for 3x2. Since I’ve been on a kilo plate kick with these, I went with 140kgs vs 130kgs from last week and the week before. Knees were not feeling as good as last week on these. This could be from not walking the day before or having on less day rest or not doing all the stretches or not taking ibuprofen the night before. I also lent my one hard belt to a friend’s daughter doing a powerlifting meet (her first one) in two weeks time so I wasn’t using my usual hard belt here. Despite all that, camera says these moved fine if they didn’t feel super amazing. They did feel better as I went as well. From there it was on to circus dumbbell. These had been anxiety inducing last week but had gone a ton better than expected. The plan for this week was to work up to contest weight for 6-10 singles done EMOM style with judging on when to stop being if they feel “sloppy”. Compared to last week, I was finding the cleans a bit more labored and lockout wasn’t feeling so crisp even on the light weights. I was worried I’d miss the contest weight outright with how things were feeling. I’d feel pretty dumb if that happened considering last week and that this had been a suggested session for a contest deload for priming I had brough up. There was hesitancy at first but I got confident as I went with each press feeling strong. My only concern I was having was that clean was fatigued and not feeling so crisp. But I was feeling pretty relaxed and having a chat between sets while still focused. I like when EMOMs go like this where I feel powerful and can keep going. Hit a slight snag on the eighth set where I misgrooved and didn’t get the weight locked out. But I was able to just bat it back into place and then launch it up to get the rep easy. I don’t recall being able to do that as of late with a missed rep like that and get it like nothing without having to reclean the dumbbell and take a breather. It felt like it took nothing out of me. I think it was more that the clean had been the toughest of them so far and it through me off a little. I didn’t think twice before going for the second attempt at the rep. If that hadn’t been so smooth, I’d have stopped there for the day. I think the clean being tough got me a little fired up as I launch the next one up there for what might be my best rep of the day. Last one I paused a bit in the rack to let it settle and then went. My belt popped off as I set it down. A first on it happening with an overhead lift. So getting these reps had me in good spirits. I hadn’t been sure how things would be as still feeling the lower back and hamstring fatigue. Right hip flexor issue and feeling some disc compression stuff with left glute feeling like it wasn’t firing at the start of the day. From there on to sandbag carries. Warm up as needed and do two runs at contest weight for contest distance. The hip flexor issue isn’t really hampering me on these. The fatigue in my pick up is more so the case. Warming up with the 250lbs is rough still, at least for the first run I do. Ms. Funk indicated that she wanted me to try just pivoting at the line rather than slowing down to make a few steps and then turn. I’m actually not sure 100% if it will be around something or touching a line for the contest. Pick is a bit labored (I knew that would be the case with how shouldering felt) but moving with it well. Definitely didn’t get the timing right for the pivot on the first set and did a bunch of tiny steps. I got it somewhat right on the second set. Arm over arm next. Just two sets again but advised to go light and make these fast. So a little lighter than the first week I did these. I’d hopefully not need so much rest between sets. Well, having these this much lighter after adapting my style to something in excess of my bodyweight definitely added a new element to this. Yes, I was faster but I also was finding that I didn’t have the same balance point with my strokes as I felt like I was going to fall on my ass a few times and had to adjust my center of gravity. It was good that I did do a lighter session for speed (even though I messed up timing on the second set) as this lets me feel how I may need to adjust on the file day of depending on how the setup is and feels. This is the biggest unknown for the contest. Finishing up with the gym stuff. Reverse hypers again but adding tempo. Same weight but lowering the reps to 12 as adding 2 second pauses at the top and bottom of motion. The pauses at the bottom of the movement were nothing really but my goodness was the hold at the top a struggle. Really had to fight those as I couldn’t real hold at the top of the movement when I get the swing. So this was quite challenging here. I had been feeling some tension in glutes and lower back so I was hoping some of these would help with that. Then last thing being pulldown drop set. Stil 2 sets but some changes. Same starting weight with the 40lbs drop (both for 8 reps) and then only a 20lbs drop after that for the repping it out. These felt easier this week at least at the start. I guess not as fatigued with having only done two light runs of arm over arm. The fatigue became more apparent in the second set which has always been case with these. Put stuff away as I put in some food. Still construction so took a scenic route around it so drive home took a bit longer. Did some dip stand decompression when I got home before stretching. I nixed some of my usual stretches to my hip flexors to see if that also helps here with recovery.