May 13, 2026 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts (straps, wagon wheels, platform)
135x5
225x3
315x2
365x1
405x1
Cluster Sets (step back and strap in each rep)
455x4
455x4
455x4
455x4

Dumbbell High Pulls/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
bwx7/7 (rack assisted)
bwx4/4
58’sx4 – 65x4/4
88’sx8 – 85x8/8
88’sx8 – 95x8/8
88’sx8 – 105x8/8

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
65x6
115x5
165x4
215x12
220x12
225x12

Heel Elevated Goblet Squats (no lockouts)
bw+55x20
bw+55x20
bw+55x20

One Arm Dumbbell Rows (no rest)
115x10/10
115x9/9
115x8/8
115x7/7
115x6/6
115x5/5
115x4/4
115x3/3
115x2/2
115x1/1

Stretching

Comments: Work continues to suck with the stress. I like what I do but factors outside of my control make it very much an exhausting thing. Shoulders feeling sore from Monday. They’ve been surprisingly quiet with the previous sessions so something obviously clicked to make them sore. Triceps are good (we’ve been hammering that) and swelling in my finger continues to go down. As far as knowing there was going to be two pressing based events, log is the least irksome to add in that will tend to compliment dumbbell. I guess viking press would’ve been fine too. Bruises on my arms from log but I imagine those will go away with more frequency. A bit surprised to have some friction burns on my knees from log. I guess usually wearing sleeves so didn’t get them lately. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Right calf and right quad needed it a good bit more than left side did. Hamstrings were fine. Upper back there is tension in my neck (more so right side) from log work and unfortunately the foam rolling didn’t make that go away. Neck rehab stuff followed. Chest felt tight and trying to get neck to calm down a tad. I know it will be fine to go for training but still. Lower body stretching was good (did two of one variation as hamstrings/hips tight again). Dead hang was fine. Since going for a competition now and majority of details out, bunch of little changes to stuff but some of the spirit of what was worked on the past few sessions continues. Like how the medicine ball stuff still in Monday session. The main change here was the deadlift. So the event for Worlds is standard but also a little weird. Calling it deadlift escalator. Weight gets added to the bar each rep. I realizing the naming convention is after how a ”deadlift ladder” there are multiple bars you have to go to whereas this is an escalator and you don’t have to move. This is a deadlift from the floor but to make it so weights can be added each rep, it is going to be with wagon wheels and the athletes standing on a platform to bring it to standard pull height. So I figured I’d get used to how that was going to be for my regular deadlifts. Not done floor pulls with a barbell since February and that was with a suit. It has been elevated axle pulls since then. The plan was to work up to 4x4 at RPE 7 and to do the reps as cluster reps. Do a rep and then step back and reset to pull again to get all reps done in the set. Deadlifts I have to realize for the most part are not going to be stuff that feels fast for me. I picked what I’d assume would be an RPE 7 for me. Especially if I’m assuming what opening weight on this would be. It did not feel like that at the start. This felt rough. The stepping back and restrapping each rep was also throwing off the groove and I having a hard time with getting things to feel good that first set. Like the difference between doing clean and press every rep vs clean once and press. But I did learn from the last cycle that deadlift can feel heavy and suck but I can make it through these sessions with making sure I take longer rests. Second set I felt like I started off better here. Those first two reps felt like they should but then everything felt rough those last two reps. I was worried about how these next two sets would go as having them feel like those first two was not a good thought and worry that I was going to burn out here. Third set was feeling the first two sets a bit but then things started to click on the last two sets where I realized that my lockout doesn’t need to be that hard/rough and it started to be smooth at that point. Finally all the pieces finally got working together and the last set was the best set and actually felt like RPE 7. So not sure what to make of that other than deadlift is tricky for me. From there it was again, superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. But now different method loading the reverse lunges. Using ssb on these this time. Plan was harder RPE range. I knew I’d need to have my knees happy with me for that to work. I was contemplating wearing knee sleeves but decided I’d only use them for event work and squats. It took a bit to get them cooperating with me. The high pulls I adjusted the spacing of the weights on the dumbbells so I wasn’t having it hit my forearms like last few times. The lunges I kept adding weight as I knew I could do more but it was more of having my knees be ok with that initial movement and then seeing if I wasn’t dead by the end with the reps. The lunges were quite exhausting but I can definitely go higher on these. Which is a good sign. I know I need stronger legs for this prep. Toe elevated stifflegged stuff was next. But I guess changing the loading mechanism here too as not doing dumbbell rdls anymore. Using the ssb again and bear hugging it to do goodmornings. I felt that with my vision obscured that it was best to use something more stable for the toe elevation rather than the hard foam blocks I was using. These felt awkward/odd and more so as weight added. Initially felt like nothing. I’ve done some variation of this like 5yrs ago with tempo on it and support gear. Other times it has been more of an explosive movement against bands. Once I did get up in weight it was “interesting”. The first few reps on the first set it felt like my back was locked up or something and feeling tension in a way I didn’t like but then it felt better and more like a normal movement unhindered. I added a little weight as felt like this wasn’t quite the right RPE. That set ended up feeling really easy and good and I wished I had gone heavier jump. But stuck to just adding 5lbs more and it is a good thing as this set had the same issue as the first one with the added bonus of getting a bit too forward on the 7th rep and taking a little stroll before getting back to finish the set. Bit of pressure on the arms from the bar digging in. Feels similar to how picking up that one natural stone in Ireland felt. Next after that was heel elevated goblet squats. Indication was same weight as last week but 3x20 with no lockouts for the knees. I was tempted to go a little heavier but felt it was best to stick to what was written this time considering how the other stuff had gone so far this session. My right knee was achy but these were pretty good. I could tell I was feeling fatigue in my legs at this point with having to bite size the counting in my head. The last part of the workout was not enjoyable. Replacing the sandbag dwarf tossing was one arm dumbbell rows. Simple enough and always needing to work upper back. But the nightmare for this was doing a reverse ladder. Do 10 reps each side and then 9 reps and so on until 1 rep to finish. Taking as little rest as possible. Not ideal for doing 55 reps a side when one hand still has a swollen/jammed finger. In hindsight, I probably should’ve started with that side. I picked a weight that I knew I could do for sure for decent reps. I’d done rows and log clean and presses Monday, done deadlifts, dumbbell high pulls and ssb bear hug gms so a lot of things already taxed. I felt like I wanted to throw up and stop as I was finishing up the 9 rep set for my right side. Rest was pretty much only however long it took to move the dumbbell back and get my breath and wipe sweat away. So essentially close to 6 minutes of just dumbbell rows. I was feeling pretty wrecked by the end but not in a way that had me thinking I’d be super duper sore afterwards if that makes sense. Core was worked pretty hard as well. But also felt like just doing stuff to make me tired. But I was glad to be done so I could eat dinner and then stretch before bed.