April 4, 2026 – Week 7, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Heel Elevated Kettlebell Goblet Squats (3 seconds)
bwx6
bw+17.5x6
bw+35x6
bw+53x6
bw+70.5x6
bw+106x6
bw+106x6
bw+106x6

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x4
108x3
120x2
140x2
140x2
140x2
140x2
140x2

Sandbag Carries (turf)
225x60’
225x60’
225x60’
225x60’

Standing Arm Over Arm Pulls (turf, uphill)
265x60’
265x60’

Reverse Hyper Extensions (0-2-0-2 tempo)
50x15
50x15

Pulldowns (0-2-0-2 tempo)
140x10
150x10

Stretching

Comments: Been so busy with work that I’ve been pretty distracted from even thinking about the upcoming competition with only the occasional aches and such from my right hip flexor area really having me notice that. It has been good that the workouts this week haven’t been too taxing so I can just get in and get out. I think the only thing that really required any prep work had been just the logistics with the banded exercises on Wednesday. Weekend sessions I can have a bit more time to mess around and play around. Usually that is the case. So distracted with work stuff that keep forgetting that it is a holiday weekend. No walking Thursday more to try and get some rest and just do soft tissue work and walked Friday after work since no immediate rush to get up early. I was hoping to get up early but felt myself taking too long to get ready for bed that I decided I’d not set and alarm and see how I feel. This is the longer session to do with setup and there was an expectation to be back and ready for family stuff at a certain time. But I felt that was going to be fine. I couldn’t be out there too early for it to really matter since the stuff needing longer setup would be in the wind tunnel area and there is that youth football group that is often there for hours until noon. I wasn’t sure if they’d be there Easter weekend but they were. I had delayed putting gas in the car just seeing if anything changed. It didn’t so just half a tank to make it through today and the rest of the week up until I head out. Not many people here but still some of the dedicated. Besides all the children. Surprisingly, my quads didn’t need a ton to warm up today with foam rolling. My calves did which is more what I expect. So maybe the hip thing is healing up. Neck rehab stuff was fine, didn’t feel as tense as earlier in the week had. Still doing a modification on the lower body stretches at this time to avoid the hip flexor issue. Dead hang felt nice and relaxing. During my warming up I was advised family stuff was going to start an hour earlier that I was told so that unfortunately now added a time crunch to what I was doing. On to squats to start things off like usual. But unlike usual, this wasn’t the box squats with eccentric emphasis that I’ve been doing. Notes were to work up to 3x6 at RPE 8 on heel elevated goblet squats with 3 second pauses. And being explosive on the way up. I wasn’t sure how things would feel and generally it is higher reps on these. I find the upper body tends to be the limiting factor. I stubbornly wanted to use kettlebells here. Kettlebells just seem to feel better for me wrist wise even though dumbbell I can brace my body against it better. Not to my advantage as the kettlebells only go up to 32kgs whereas the dumbbells I believe I could’ve gone up to 130lbs with solid dumbbells. I figured I’d nerf myself on these by wearing no support gear so that hopefully I could find an effort range with what was available. Knees were achy at the start and I took 8kgs jumps (since that was the jumps in the kettlebells) and I was unfortunately finding these too easy. I ran out of kettlebell weight so I took two 24kgs bells and had them more of a front squat hold style but purposely having them out front more to have it be like the goblet squat. This finally got them to feel somewhat tough. Getting the kettlebells up was actually the trickier thing here. I guess going forward if these come up like this, I should use the solid dumbbells. Moved on from there to the event work, starting with circus dumbbell. I was somewhat tempted to do no equipment for the session after the squats but thought better on it that I should make sure these events are performed with how I will be equipped at the show for these last touches. The initial plan had been to do contest weight for 4-5x2 with 60-90 seconds rest. Despite how well contest weight had been moving the past two weeks, I suggested that I use a lot less weight here. Just past history in that I’ve seemed to really be dragging ass the week before competition that past two preps with both times having me bail on the sessions feeling frustrated and tired. I had indicated that end of last prep I didn’t feel like I had peaked/recovered deadlift and overhead like the other events that were pulled back earlier (or I didn’t do). Last prep I did contest weight for a contest set and that had not gone well and I matched that at contest. So hope here was doing 140lbs would feel crisp and I’d not be worried about not being recovered and super-compensating at the show. I was not feeling my best going into these. My knees were feeling quite achy just at the start with the lightest weight which hasn’t been the case in a while. Perhaps no knee sleeves on the squats contributed to that. Also a larger ROM. Didn’t feel as stable in the rack position. Could be from the goblet squats putting more stress on the shoulders/upper back. Working weight just felt ok. Of the things I did today, this put the most strain on the hip flexor area. It was good that I didn’t do or try for contest weight this week as that would’ve stressed me out with the effort needed. From there on to training on the turf. Next thing being sandbag carries. Plan was to do 250lbs for 4x60’ and working on speed. Specifically, Ms. Funk wanted me to work on aggression with the pick and use my bodyweight to move the bag into position. This prep I’ve been really setting the pick and grip for the sandbag carries. I’m not sure if we will be allowed to do this at the show or if hands off and run or such. But I’ve been treating the picks for sandbag to shoulder like that and doing these this way just so I’m covering my bases. Also because I’m worried about straining biceps doing that much aggressive style picks week to week. But the snag here was that apparently the 250lbs was not to be used. I had wrapped it in athletic tape when I started using it since there was a puncture in it. The tape was gone and I’m not sure if there was another puncture but it was in pile with two other sandbags with a sign saying “do not use”. So I ended up using the 225lbs bag. I don’t like the bags with straps on them. I biffed the pick up on the first one as I got ahead of myself and went with it in a lower carry position then what I’ve been training for. I did correct that on the subsequent runs. My right biceps felt a little tight after the third run but no issues on the last one. Arm over arm next. Just two sets again with 10lbs more than last time with indication on speed. I had learned about the bodyweight distribution last time so I had some idea of that. The bigger issue was getting sure footing as whatever I had been using the first few weeks was no longer viable due to issues with the turf meeting the rubber flooring. So I tried moving over to the right further to see if that was a bit better footing wise. I was still having issues with that on the first set and that ended up being a decent energy drain on me. I took a bit of rest to recover and the second set was much better with figuring out right from the start what the best footing to have and it showed in the about 10 seconds faster time. Still not perfect here. Going forward if I have this event again, it may behoove me to switch around where I’m pulling from for more consistent footing. But this is only the second time this has come up in a show with doing this sport. Finishing up with the gym stuff. Reverse hypers again with tempo. Same weight and tempo as last week but now for 2x15. The extra reps were taxing but overall I felt I was better prepared for this as the holds didn’t feel as jarring. Then last thing being pulldowns. No drop sets, but tempo added like on the reverse hypers. 2 sets with aim being RPE 8 with 10 reps. I wasn’t sure how light or heavy as pauses can really add up on higher rep sets. I took a guess at 140lbs and that was about right but it felt just a little to easy so added 10lbs for the second set and that was right on the money. I didn’t bring as much food for after training as family having a much earlier dinner than I usually have on the weekends so just a sandwich for post workout. Put stuff away and drove home to clean up (not going to be enough time to stretch) before heading over to visit family. Stretched when I got home in the evening. I’ve essentially survived another prep. Just got to decompress and make it to the venue in one piece.