April 7, 2026 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

13” Wagon Wheel Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
176x3
206x2
256x1
296x1
326x4
326x4
326x4

Pendlay Rows
135x5
135x5

Paused Lying Band Leg Curls/Paused Band Seated Leg Extensions
(2)mbx15/abx15
(2)mbx15/abx15

Walking
19 minutes

Stretching

Comments: Work wasn’t as rough as Monday but it was still trying. It is possible that I’m feeling irritated with things due to the competition coming up. Usually there is some decrease in the intake part of things with time off as I won’t be here and shit won’t be getting done while I’m out and then having to do that when I get back and catch up while already having things scheduled. I could tell I was stressed yesterday as stuff was sounding louder than it usually does. Similar today but I was handling it better. Neck seemed less stiff but I guess that was a psych out as it is now localized to the left side and it feels somewhat like I tweaked it now. No clue what this is about. But I’ve been here before and I’ve managed. Soft tissue foam rolling to start things off. Right quad needing it a lot again. Other stuff about the usual. Neck rehab stuff followed. Not sure if this helped or aggravated my neck. Hard to say as some stuff I was feeling really good with but some stuff (like chest doorway stretch) was also feeling tense in the neck. Oh well. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Kind of seeing if anything maybe gets the neck to just “click” and feel better. Probably not but staying positive. Then on to the workout. Axle deadlift with the wagon wheels. Notes were to keep this light and suggested was 325-345lbs for 3x4. This was only thing I was leery about. Not because this could hurt (I’ve done deadlift with the tense neck no problem) but wanting to make sure I don’t take anything away from what I need for the show on deadlift. Worrying that I won’t be peaked like I want to be here. If something felt off, I’d call it. But hopefully not as even calling it might have me doubting myself. I did 40-50lbs jumps and this was feeling pretty good and easy. I went with 30lbs jump for the last one just to hit the minimum. These felt comfortable and easy. No hard belt and took short rests like yesterday (under a minute). So this was a good sign. Tear down and setup took a little longer this session vs yesterday with the equipment. Next was Pendlay rows. Just 135lbs here for 2x5. Only thing that could be an issue is if pulling while bent over (bent over seems to put most stress on the neck I noticed) would irritate my neck. It did not. This was piss easy. Like not even a warm up. Felt like I could do 50 reps here. The last weight related thing was the same superset I did last week on Day 2. Banded lying leg curls and banded seated leg extensions for 2x15 with pauses at peak contraction and controlled movement. I was initially going to use same band tension as last week but figured it was probably best to use less so that I wasn’t rushing the movement and insure quality of the movements as well while not stressing about it. No rest between sets and exercises but that still took me about 40 seconds to switch with getting out of one setup and getting the other ready. Walking afterwards as part of the deload. I took a different route and that ended up being within the 15-20 minutes range this time. Nice to walk some areas in the neighborhood I don’t usually go. The workouts are done, just got to make it through another day of work, drive across five states and put it out there once again.