April 29, 2026 – Week 3, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Trap Bar B Stance Romanian Deadlifts (5 second eccentrics)
145x3/3
235x2/2
285x6/6
285x6/6
285x6/6
285x6/6
285x6/6

Dumbbell High Pulls/Alternating Reverse Lunges
56’sx3 – bw+10x3/3
88’sx6 – bw+40x8/8
88’sx6 – bw+40x8/8
88’sx6 – bw+40x8/8

Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts
88’sx12
88’sx12
88’sx12
88’sx12

Heel Elevated Goblet Squats (no lockouts)
bw+50x15
bw+50x15
bw+50x15

Sandbag Over Shoulders (EMOM)
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1
175x1/1

Stretching

Comments: Felt tired waking up today. Wanted to call off and take a sick day just so I could sleep some more. Oh well. It has been cold and a little dreary lately. Kind of surprised my upper body doesn’t really seem to get DOMS despite how tough the sessions have been with the tempo work. Not that that is an indicator. Neck tense today and that does seem to come and go. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Both calf muscles needed a good bit of work today. What I was expecting on Monday session. I was kind of surprised that the right hamstring was still sore compared to the left. Not as much as Monday but noticeable. Needed more on the right quad compared to Monday but left still needed a good bit too. Not much needed for upper back. Neck rehab stuff followed. Chest felt tight and needed those movements today. Other stuff felt fine. Lower body stretching was good and so was dead hang after that. Then on to the workout. I had been a little slow to actually start the session as I knew this would be an exhausting workout. No breaking in period as it starts off that way. So unfortunately starting things off with the same eccentric loaded trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. Same weight as last week but now 5x6. Which with how these feel, might as well be 10x6 as each side is taxing on these, especially the grip. It’s all getting worked. These were tough but I think I handled these better in regards to needing more rest and having to catch my air. I don’t feel like I had to fight any yawns. My hands were feeling pretty sore here. I have to be careful how I grip the turned over trap bar as too far back and puts a lot of stress on the front of my hands and “feels” heavier with the knurling vs a little more forward having it feel like nothing and comfortable. I didn’t miscount reps this week. I was making sure of that as each set was going to be tough on these. One thing I was focusing on was trying to keep my knees out. My right outer quad got sore immediately after the first set. This was a lot of work but it was done and I could move forward with the session. Before I started the next thing, I had to figure out what made sense for dinner as what I had would take a while but needs attention (can’t set and forget) to prepare or order out. Weather was bad and I didn’t really want someone delivering food so I figured I’d get it myself from someplace really close. So that was the plan for after training but needed to make sure open late enough and it worked out. Once again, I turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow for the rest of the workout. I was steaming pretty good from the trap bar stuff. Again, superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. Notes were to go heavier on the high pulls and try and keep the dumbbells more in front. Reps were 6-8 for the high pulls and I’d have to use my plateloaded handles for them this session. Lunges were also for 6-8 reps per side and I figured 40lbs would work there. I had the weight out front too far last week so trying to get this more like a goblet squat hold style. I went with 88lbs since again I guess on a kilogram weight kick and it was what I used for the rows yesterday and overhead press. My knees were feeling pretty stiff going into the lunges while high pulls felt easy enough with the warm up set. The increase in weight on the dumbbell high pulls was immediately noticed on the working sets and I knew I’d need to do the lower rep range to have goodish quality of movement. Lunges knees felt fine and I went with the higher rep range on these. Like last week, I didn’t feel like I needed much rest that the first set but I needed a bit more after the second one.  I definitely feel I can go heavier on the lunges but the high pulls may need to stick around this range. Took a slight break to bring in packages at my folks before putting in food order and getting to the lighter and less taxing stuff of the session. Toe elevated dumbbell rdls was next. Again 4x12 on these. Ms. Funk said I needed to go heavier on these as way too easy last week. I kept the same weight from the high pulls here. Issue with the plateloaded dumbbells with these weights is that the ROM was decreased slightly. I’m trying to work on the flexibility and mobility in my calves/hamstrings and putting focus on the glutes with these. Not terribly taxing but I know these are doing something. Not sure if more sets with short rest for volume or if weight should be pushed further on these. I’ll have to figure out what works/makes sense. Next after that was heel elevated goblet squats. No superset this time around. 3x15 with no lockouts for the knees. Advised to not be so hunched over the weight in my upper back. Knees were feeling a bit grouchy just being in the position initially before adding any weight. I had thought they’d be fine after the lunges but guess not. I was also uncertain with the right hip/upper quad area as that got a little tight/fatigued on the second set last week. That did seem to be present but only on the first set really. I had issues with my balance on the seventh rep on the first and second set for some reason. I think finding my balance and center with the weight. Fatigued at this point and I had to do another thing. Sandbag over shoulders. Not as bad as doing full sprints with short rests like Day 3 session but not great when fatigued and at the end of a session. Especially since sandbag to shoulder type stuff didn’t go so hot for me last training prep and contest. Plan was for 175lbs bag for 6 doubles (alternating sides during set) done EMOM style. I was putzing around mentally about it and just decided that I’d just grab it in the middle while the bag is flat and just suplex it. Think reptilian brain and just go crocodile on it. That seemed to make things easy. My neck/upper back were still tense but this seemed to be good and powerful for me at least. Put stuff away and went to pick up food and then ate it before finally stretching out for the evening.