April 17, 2026 – Week 1, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Trap Bar B Stance Romanian Deadlifts (5 second eccentrics)
125x3/3
195x3/3
245x5/6 (miscounted)
245x6/6
245x6/5 (miscounted)

Dumbbell High Pulls/Alternating Reverse Lunges
40’sx12 – bwx12/12
40’sx12 – bwx12/12
40’sx12 – bwx12/12

Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
70’sx12
70’sx12
70’sx12

Band Face Pulls/Heel Elevated Goblet Squats
sbx15/bw+40x15
sbx15/bw+40x15
sbx15/bw+40x15

Stretching

Comments: I’ve not yet gotten an invite for Natural World’s but to be fair, it hasn’t been a week yet and I recall it took a bit for last year and I hadn’t been expecting one with how the placing went at that time. I do hope I get one but I’m not 100% sure with there being the four at the show and the one dropping. But we shall see. As for Strongman Corporation Nationals, I already got confirmation of invite for that. Events released and I do like that there are 7 events for the show but really only “excited” for like 2 of them. My dad finds them underwhelming and not great for me (squat, deadlift and two pressing events plus a “mystery event”). Will have to see what happens with Natural Strongman as far as invite and what the events will be as that will undoubtably be more expensive of the options here with doing a big show to end the competition season. But that is like 4 months away. But I do like thinking long term so that I can plan and not be needing to worry on the day to day. Because lord knows got enough of that with work and just the “vibe” in general of things right now everywhere. Anyways, temperature has cooled a little bit thankfully. Craving being able to work at home again where I can wear stuff that is much more comfortable with dealing with hotter temps. It is really shocking how the change from one work condition to the other has a quite drastic change in recovery. Went for a walk after work Thursday after letting it cool off a bit outside (I was also deciding if I should walk or not with recovery) and thankfully it is still light outside after work at this time. I had thought initially that my upper body was more wrecked than my lower body from the competition but that is patently not the case. I hardly feel anything from Day 1 session at this time. Still having some tension in the neck but it does seem to be slowly getting better and the soreness in my gums and ears is dissipating quickly (as I was expecting being back home). I decided for the Day 2 session that I was going to train after work Friday rather than make this a weekend workout. My thinking being that this is the light week coming back and may not be reflective of the next week or the following and this could be what is like the Day 1 and Day 2 for a three day workout week session. So maybe giving myself more rest before the next week starts and getting in more rest from sleeping in makes more sense. With no work the next day, I did take a little time to decompress from the day before getting training started. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things off and my calves needed a lot of it today. Right quad also did but not much for the left quad or hamstrings. Upper back needed it a good bit as well but perhaps not as much as first day back. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt slightly better than it had two days prior. Nothing was feeling sore from that session despite all the tempo work. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Forearms still a bit sore. Then on to the workout. Still starting off with a deadlift but not axle deadlift like it has been for the past cycle. Indicated as doing trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. And doing 5 second eccentrics. Surprisingly, this isn’t an exercise I’ve not done before in some capacity. I’ve done these but with not as long an eccentric (3 seconds) and doing what is called a “b-stance” and them coming off as more rdl vs a true deadlift. Fitting into the trap bar (I do have a very large one) and such, it seemed like doing the variation I was doing would fit the bill albeit with the longer eccentric tempo. Notes were to do 3x6 and keep it light. I feel I kept it light but may have made it tougher than intended. I used no support gear and only aid was liquid chalk just for my hands with worries of sweat with the heat. I also flipped my trap bar upside down so that the ROM was greater and the pick height lower to start. I figured I could do a decent amount of weight here as when I last did these about a year ago, I had done 285lbs for a set of 10 reps each side (with rest between sides) with 3 seconds eccentric. Well it would seem that I’m rusty on these as 195lbs probably would’ve fit the bill here for the weight today. But I was stubborn and had figured on 265lbs but did lower it to 245lbs. These become quite taxing on the grip. The counting with tempo does lead to errors in rep count, especially with the top down rep approach and I ended up doing so on the first and last set here. I initially didn’t have any fans on but turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow. There weren’t as many exercises this session compared to Day 1 and moved on to the next thing. A superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. I asked for clarification on the style of high pulls. Lunges only bodyweight but it has been a good long while since I’ve had to do the alternating style and for higher reps. I realized after the first set that I was probably not going to be able to stomach and fluids for the remaining exercises if I wanted to get through them in a decent time. Due to the explosive nature of the high pulls and the number or reps, I felt it was best to do my 40lbs dumbbells here rather than my 70lbs, seeing as how stiff I seemed to move with those when doing clean and press. So these were quite easy. The lunges were not so. Knees were stiff and it took a bit to feel comfortable. Leaning forward quite a bit. I was definitely getting winded on these feeling a bit out of shape. However, I managed to move better and quicker as these went with getting through the actual reps in quicker time each set. This is the kind of reset I need after competitions to get feeling like an athlete again and moving well. When I feel like I’m moving well, I feel like I’m doing well. Another deadlift variation followed this. Been doing a lot of heel elevated stuff for squats but not any toe elevated but that was what was indicated for the rdls. I was going with my 70lbs dumbbells but after getting my ass handed to me by the lunges, I was wondering if that was too risky. Turns out this was really easy and I’d have needed more weight. But like I mentioned for the last session, trying to use what is easy at hand. I doubt I could load up the handles I got to have it feel worth my while honestly. But I can certainly try next time. I’ve been doing single leg versions with a decent amount of weight. Another superset to finish things off. Similar I guess to Day 1 with two superset pairings with similar things. That had been tempo press and ballistic slams and this was upper back pulls that are light/explosive with bodyweight high reps for legs. Band face pulls and heel elevated goblet squats. I usually have stuff from earlier in the session setup for anchors but not this time so a little rest to get that in place to start for the face pulls. I wasn’t sure if I could handle strong band right off the bat but I was good. I was surprised my right knee was achy on the goblet squats at the start as I felt like the lunges should’ve adequately prepared them. Like the previous superset, I got quicker on the leg stuff as I went and was getting a bit heavy breathing wise and lactic acid build up. But got through this one and able to put stuff away and eat dinner before stretching out.