June 29, 2026 – Week 12, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (clean once, 0-1-0-1 tempo)
90x5
120x4
150x3
180x2
200x3
200x3
200x3
200x3
200x3

Javelin Thrusters
65x5/5
95x5/5
95x5/5
95x5/5
95x5/5

12” Log Floor Presses w/ Bands (+6lbs/+30lbs)/Med Ball Slams
200x3
240x5 – 10x10
240x5 – 10x10
240x5 – 10x10
240x5 – 10x10
240x5

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds)
22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20
22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20

Stretching

Comments: Weekend was a little off with recovering from the travel and heavy lifting and then getting sleep schedule. Weight has remained consist. I’m not sure if the AC spoiled me or what but I’m not looking forward to training with the heat wave this week. Possible 3 days of 100 degrees or more in a row coming up. I guess luckily only going to be high 80’s and low 90’s beginning of the week. My new shoes arrived so got to try those out. Noticed a difference immediately. Wearing two cooper infused sleeves on my right arm did manage to provide enough padding I didn’t get new bruising this week. I had not intended to stay up late Sunday to send stuff to my coach about the training for this second half of World’s prep but that was when I finally got something out on paper to send. Ms. Funk had indicated feeling not well but would review and I was given just Day 1 of sessions, which was all I needed. I’m not sure if she implemented what I had been thinking or suggesting here or if just on the same wavelength but looked like how I was kind of hoping the session would be for the lighter day. As far as warming up, I didn’t need a ton of foam rolling today. Nothing really was needing a ton I noticed. It was the regular amount (which I fear is still a lot for some stuff). Neck rehab stuff was ok and felt about how it should. I could tell there was some neck tension and that the training had been rough last week. Glute activation and lower body stretches followed by a dead hang to decompress. I had not squandered the work time as much as I did last week so I was almost on a reasonable pace of things here. On to the actual session. So a change here being the two lighter exercises at the beginning of things were dropped. Maybe for recovery purposes? So right into log. Lighter of the sessions. I had mentioned that I felt like last week I was finally figuring out some things with log as far as position and equipment and that I’d hopefully get used to it. Cleans less taxing without elbow sleeves, the lifting shoes making the balance better and improving my mobility on the lap. The shorts, sleeves and belt did make the pick a little odd feeling with the stiffness/rigidity of material. The biggest thing was that the thicker knee sleeves providing more support that I have less knee discomfort so I can load the dip better. It feels like I’ve not been able to do that so this feels like something I need to get ironed out. So my thinking was perhaps doing this precision based day having pauses like I was doing with circus bell. As I mentioned, either suggested was noted or this was a convergence of thought in both athlete and coach reaching the same conclusion because these were paused style today. Specifically with in the dip and holding at lockout. Suggested weight was 185-200lbs here for 5x3 and only one clean to hopefully save my lower back for the Day 2 session. I felt that 200lbs had to be the goal with how I was warming up with log at this time. Cleans felt good and it was more getting the timing right and being consistent. Heat wasn’t fun but this is the most tolerable it is going to be this week. I had a little liquid chalk on my hands to make it through the sets. Slightly longer rests mainly due to taking off stuff to breath between sets and not be immobile and cutting off blood flow. Trying to work on getting different cues down like keep shoulders tight and not having it float but active. I feel like the reps are best when timing is right and I get that little hip snap. I feel like the last set was the best with my last rep feeling the best of them. So this was a good start I guess. Hopefully I can keep building on the log sessions here. The javelin thrusters were next. Change in that weight range adjusted (90-100lbs) and doing 4x5 instead of the triples I’d been doing. Since idea is be explosive and not be sloppy here, I took actual rests between the sides rather than short rests and then normal rest between sets. Left side takes longer to wake up for these vs right side. I could tell I was feeling those globe dumbbells on this. Adding reps per set is tricky. Left side eventually warmed up and things went as they should. Moving decently through things and hopefully getting done to eat and cool off. Overhead stuff done and next being the pairing of banded log floor pressing and medicine ball slams like last week. 240lbs on the log and the 10lbs medicine ball I have. 5 sets of this time for the floor pressing, still 4 sets for the slam ball stuff. Floor pressing warming up didn’t feel as rough. It actually felt more consistent as far as sensation with unracking but I could tell I was feeling fatigue as I went. I think I was feeling good compared to last week with my pace of things as I was feeling a little tired even with the medicine ball slams. Unlike when I had uneven pairing of sets doing those rows and lunges, I treated myself to a full rest before doing the last set of floor press to make sure I wasn’t stapled under it. It felt good but misgrooved last rep a little and had to air hump it the last bit for lockout. Not mad about it, this is more volume on stuff and it isn’t the main thing.  Last thing again being the rear delt dumbbell raises and banded triceps with holds at lockout. Same weights and sets and reps as last week. I figured it was best to be in the garage to finish up even though it was cooling off a little outside. As with last week, first set was comfortable enough but fatigue was hits hard on the second set. I put away stuff outside before finishing up the second set. Cleaned up and finally got to eating before cooling off and cleaning up and then stretching. Even though I got done earlier, I still ended up with a late night.

June 27, 2026 – Week 11, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
90x8
160x6
200x5
250x4
300x3
350x2
405x2
405x2
405x2
405x2
405x2

Yoke (drop and turn halfway)/Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
255x40’ – 70x4
345x20’/20’ – 100x2
435x20’/20’ – 137x1
525x40’ – 160x0,0,0
160x1
615x40’/40’ – 137x1/160x0,1 in 94.80 seconds
615x40’/40’ – 137x1/160x1 (ugly) in 48.94 seconds
615x40’/40’ – 137x1/160x1 in 48.80 seconds

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (53”)
200x26’/220x19’/250x13’/250x6’6” in 41.53 seconds
200x26’/220x19’/250x13’/250x6’6” in 40.96 seconds

Sled Push, Sprint and Pulls (turf)
306x30’/30’+30’/526x30’ in 42.53 seconds
306x30’/30’+30’/526x30’ in 39.50 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Sometimes you train for competitions with unique equipment and events and majority of that time, you just train with what you got. Other times though I’ve decided that my obsession to not leave any stone unturned will result in seeking out someplace that has that stuff. That was more so the case when there wasn’t a somewhat local training gym and options were commercial gym and stuff I had acquired or going to someone’s house or storage unit. That had been when I was still of the belief I’d be a pro heavy weight strongman with just the right events I think and when I assumed I needed to have the exact thing. The last time I went out of my way was about 8yrs ago and that was a 2hrs drive each way and I had my father with me for that one. There is always a risk with that kind of travel in that if the drive takes it out of you or not recovered and you end up having a poor session and now you are hours away from home and got to drive with your thoughts. With World’s, the only thing I don’t really have the best to replicate is the unique style of dumbbell for the one event. It has been almost 16yrs since I last attempted to press one of these dense globe style dumbbells and it had left enough of an impression on me that I figured if there was the opportunity to touch them at least once before going overseas that I should take it assuming that I could do the rest of the planned trainings as close to the letter as I could to make it worth it. Well this week’s session kind of fit the bill. Not ideal though as I’ve had to kind of move and squish some days in and not get as much rest/recovery as I’d like. The drive wasn’t going to be the longest but it was going to be about 3hrs out of the day coming and going travel and I’ve not been up in the northern part of the state on my own. Rainy all day. I meant to get up an hour earlier than I did but body kept going back into dream sleep after each hit of snooze so I just moved it to an hour later. I was already worried about being recovered for this and had not done walks this week to try get workload in order and get to bed early and ready to just eat breakfast, defecate and leave. The first half of the drive was fine and moving well as it was interstate. It was when it got to the state routes in the factory/mining towns that it got a bit squirrelly and slowed things down a good bit. I was not aware the gym I was going to was in kind of a strip mall setup. Met my friend Ty (he’d already been there for like 2hrs already) and he buzzed me and showed me the stuff and setup. I’ve not trained in a gym with AC in over 6yrs now. There is a lot of stuff at the gym I go to but there is no AC or hot water there and the flooring is uneven. I only went through one shirt this session. I was a bit tired but seemed to be wearing excitement on my face being here. I was told that Chase and Calvin would be in a good bit later due to changes in their work shifts. Ty ended up leaving before I got to my working sets on the first thing. Lower back was a little stiff. Right heel was still a little achy (I didn’t notice that I had a bruise there and until I was home and stretching) and I did have bruising on the biceps still from kegs and some forearms from log. Foam rolling was ok, nothing really felt that tense thankfully. Neck rehab stuff was ok as well. Lower body stuff was ok as well. Dead hang after that. Then on to Axle squats. The plan was to be 405lbs for 5x2. I did similar to this about 6 weeks ago. This was a something I was little nervous with after the long drive and not feeling the freshest after doing Day 2 not 48hrs earlier. I was surprised how smooth stuff was feeling. Not that it wasn’t feeling heavy mind you. The axle I had the option to work with was 90lbs empty with knurling and I had stable boxes to squat to. I didn’t have the offset touching happening this week and I think a part of that is the floor is level here. Initially the box height was about an inch low working up and I had to adjust slightly. I wasn’t feeling any wrist ache/pain on this working up (which is why I’ve been wearing the wrist wraps). Only like 6lbs under when I did this 6 weeks ago and just 7lbs or so under my top triple (which I think I could’ve done for 5 rep). I knew I’d get these done but I took my time. They never felt easy mind you. I was just thrilled that it didn’t feel like that one session where I was to do 400x4x4 and I struggled to get one rep. So squats was done and then it was on to the main reason I drove all this way; yoke into dumbbell. This gym by happenstance ended up having 3 of the inch style dumbbells; 137lbs, 160lbs and 176lbs. 176lbs is about the weight of the first dumbbell at world’s and my plan session was to be 140lbs and 160lbs on the dumbbell portion so I figured it lines up so make it a trip. Another bonus is that one of the yokes they have there is similar to the style at world’s they will be using. There is turf section in another part of the gym (which is in the open commercial area) and I figured it was best to stay in the little studio area I did squats in since that was also where this yoke was and the special dumbbells. One tricky thing though was the floor was part turf and part rubber. My understanding is the turf may end up being gone in a week or two and be all rubber by then. There was just enough room to do the yoke for 40’ running the room diagonally. Warming up was a little tricky. Unlike at the other gym, there are many circus dumbbells and usually I’ll work up to something under the working weight but that may not fly here with the dumbbells being tricky and unique. Warming up with the yoke was fine (but actual runs not so much and I’ll get to that) and standard. The dumbbells I brought a fatgripz extreme and did reps up to the heaviest normal style dumbbell. Then I did the lightest cyr dumbbell. It went up but man are they dense and awkward. The last work up set was the one that told me this wasn’t going to be a fun time. Yoke run was fine and then I figured I should probably get in a rep at the 160lbs dumbbell so it wasn’t a on the spot thing after running yoke and another dumbbell. Oof this wasn’t good. It felt light on the shoulders but just was doing that thing where it was not in the right spot and I couldn’t lock it out. I missed the sucker three times before I took a step away and rested a bit. It didn’t feel like a strength issue. It was technique issue. Came back and got it on its own solidly and moved on to setting up the full run. With that, I knew I was going to have to take a break and not rush from the yoke here. Warming up with the yoke had felt good and fine but I had felt like I couldn’t really go fast. It felt comfortable but I’m thinking the flooring with the part turf and then rubber (not stall mat rubber but like rubber mulch rubber) was making it harder to go fast. Chase showed up right as I was about to do my first run. I was nervous. I had gone a little heavier on the yoke (only 5lbs) due to plate math and it felt a lot heavier than the 525lbs before had felt. So I was in a little bit of panic mode there. Just had to tough out the yoke all these sets and just do my best on the dumbbells. Not worry about time. I never had any real issue with the 137lbs dumbbell as it was light enough that I could muscle out if my form was off, unlike the 160lbs. First run I missed the 160lbs outright and took 30 seconds or so to catch my breath and work up the nerve to give it another shot. I’d have probably called it there if I did miss it again. But I got it convincingly. So this can be done. So now I need to get it done within the time limit and with no misses. Second set the yoke felt about the same and the 137lbs went up similar (slight catch to lockout). 160lbs got as close to lockout as it could and not stabilize it. Went too far away. I held it for a good bit but ultimately had to bail. I counted it for training purposes only for my own mental health. I knew that if I went for it again that I’d probably get annoyed and drain myself. I was already taking some pretty long rests here and talking with Chase to try and recover and cool down and calm down. Third run the yoke again about the same but I do feel like it was more labored each run. The 137lbs dumbbell went up the smoothest it had all day. Time for the moment of truth. Took my time and went for it and it went up there perfectly. Finally. So a good note to end things on. With how these dumbbells are, I may need to consider another trip during prep but change focus a little. Need to talk to Ms. Funk about my thinking. So the two things that were key of going right finally did and kind of made the trip worth it. I still had some stuff to do and I took this moment to talk some more with Chase and eat a rice Krispie treat as I got the rest of the session figured out. Honestly, the rest of the session was just gravy. I had to move some stuff around this meant also being in the main area of the gym with the commercial equipment. The fellas indicated that gym patrons aren’t too sure about what to do with people doing moving events as far as walking on the turf path. As mentioned, I’ve not been in a commercial gym in over 6yrs and the one I had frequented was a YMCA so there were some wild conversations happening here. So first thing was the loading medley. Unlike the previous weeks, I was to do this to the contest distances rather than all at 25’. So staggered at about 2m intervals. What was written was 225lbs keg and sandbag and then 240lbs keg and sandbag. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much variety at the gym compared to the other gym. Only three kegs (150.200 and 250) and a bit closer at least with the sandbags (lot more of them). I was going to run into the same issue though at home with the gym not having a 250lbs sandbag anymore and the one I ordered has not year arrived. So I was going to do 200lbs keg, 220lbs sandbag and then the last two being 250lbs each. No real way to load things for the upright setup like at more local thing (I didn’t want to lug out jerk blocks as no handtruck, only dolly) so I was going to run up and get high enough to do the load that style and then set to the side on crash pads to not damage the floor. I was initially thinking about duct taping weight to the 200lbs keg but thought better of it. These kegs were filled with water so that was already adding a challenge component. The duct tape did come in handy to fix the 250lbs leaking sandbag. fairly light and then becomes quite heavy. This took a bit to setup and I did have a fairly long drive so I just went right into this. I wore two copper sleeves on the right biceps to hopefully cut down on the bruising. I forgot to tape up my left thumb as I wasn’t going to standing the kegs upright but I guess that was still and issue as I got a little cut on my left thumb and right pinky. These went about the same but just a little bit of hiccups with figuring out the keg placement stuff. If I do this again, I’ll bring my own handtruck and my plateloadable keg so I have options. Last thing was the push and pull medley. I was initially looking at doing this in the studio room but realized that it would be a hassle trying to load up plates on the two sleds. I didn’t know the weight of them until I was done training and I assumed 100lbs but turned out to be 106lbs after weighing them. Another reason was that the turf in the studio might be gone if I come back. So not really thinking this will be applicable to local training with setup. But plan was again push 30’ and then down and back sprint and then drag 30’. 20lbs added to the push portion but 40lbs added to the drag. No medicine ball this time but did make sure I touched the ground. The push was quite easy. The drag not so much. I had a bad setup the first run with how the straps to pull were positioned so that ate up some time there. No real issues the second set. Ended up talking with Chase and Calvin (he did show up eventually) before cleaning up and fueling up the car for the drive home. It was still raining off and on. I ended up ordering food rather than try and clean up my kitchen after the training and travel. Eventually stretched and got to bed pretty late as bit wired. Will have to see how these next few weeks go with planning around trips and weather.

June 25, 2026 – Week 11, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts w/ Bands (straps, platform, wagon wheels +20lbs/+75lbs)
135x3
225x2
275x1
325x1
60 seconds rest
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
155x50’
205x50’
drop and turn halfway
245x50’/50’ in 20.40 seconds
245x50’/50’ in 20.10 seconds

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Pick Transitions (16” pick)
245x1+1 (6 steps)
245x1+1 (6 steps)

Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows/Zercher Jefferson Curls
56’x6 – 65x6
96’sx8 – 105x12
96’sx8 – 105x12
96’sx8 – 105x12

Stretching

Comments: I was a little worried about recovery this week as I was going from one thing to the next and I didn’t have the luxury of more flexibility with my days as I will need to be closer to my usual to get in all the sessions as planned before taking a week off. This week ended up being quite stress with work load (sound like a broken record at this point) but it was becoming manageable. I didn’t end up walking Wednesday working to get stuff done (had plans after work with family) but I was feeling better about my situation Thursday. But I could already tell I was probably not going to walk Friday so that I could get everything ready for this weekend session and then be back to normal schedule. I’ll get plenty of exercise on the week off anyways coming up. Walking is helpful with getting stuff to not feel so tight and for mental health but it sometimes ends up being behind or cutting into other recovery and have to split the difference. Still some dark coloration on some bruises on my biceps and forearms from earlier workouts. Neck on the left side still feeling a little off. Like Tuesday, I apparently was a slow start to training. But it didn’t get nearly as dark out by the time I finished this session. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Odd today. Lower calves needed it a lot more than the upper calves did. Hamstrings still decently tight. Quads/thighs need a good bit and were essentially even between sides. Upper back was tight but not as much needed as Tuesday session. Neck rehab stuff followed. Chest felt pretty tight on the stretching related stuff. Some movements felt a little off today. Glute activation and lower body stretching was fine and finished up with a dead hang (also noticing tense chest here). On to the session. Deadlifts and the “lighter session”. Which is really a lot of volume work still but with the band tension added and the power element. Plan was same band tension setup and 60 seconds rest between sets. The past two times it has been doubles and this was going to be triples. 12x2 vs 8x3 so same volume but in less time. Something I see Ms. Funk often doing with making things more challenging. Suggested weight increase was 10-20lbs more. Knowing that with these pulls that my power tends to go each rep and just how I was feeling, I figured it was best to just do 10lbs jump in weight with the plan of only one day rest before doing Day 3 session this week. The increased density of the volume was noticed immediately. I was still pulling these powerfully for the most part but I could tell the rest was needed here. I was certainly not dancing like a lunatic like I was that first week of these. Last set I could tell I was feeling the fatigue. But I was done with these. I got out of the neoprene shorts to breath and cool off before moving on to the farmer’s walk. Lighter session and like it has been with the first half being 2 sets of contest runs after warming up and then doing those pick transitions. Working sets were to be 20lbs less than last week. Warming up wasn’t as “neat” here so I ended up using a little heavier start and then going up. Picks were feeling a little off today but weight was feeling light in my hands and on my body. I did seem to have some issues with my foot speed on the uphill portion near the finish line. Ms. Funk had mentioned that I need to push off the back foot more as I seem to not really be doing that. I thought about it and I think I’ve mostly thought front foot and just finish and keep going as cues rather than trying to push off anything. So I tried thinking about that. With the actual runs they felt odd. Odd in that the first pick wasn’t bad and I seemed to be moving well but then the second pick felt really rough. First run I was moving well the first length but then I nicked my right ankle/achilles on the farmer’s implement when it came down so I was a little worried about that. The pick was harder than I was expected as I figured I’d already but up and going. Second run felt better other than still having the rough second pick. That wasn’t having me looking forward to the second half of the farmer’s stuff with those pick transitions. Unlike last two time, weight is going up from 235lbs to the 245lbs. I made sure I stood up for a little longer before setting them down and then turnaround and go. As expected, pick was harder but not so much so as the full runs. Second set the little stupid metal wire almost got in the way on the repick but not an issue. Weight had felt light in my hands and I wasn’t feeling like my hands were as raw as they had been at the start of World’s prep. I still despise these handles but they are the closest to contest spec as far as handle thickness. I also own a pair so can do these at home. Contest will not have me worrying about pieces coming off or feet clearance and the height should be a little higher too. Even though only doing full runs at this point at 75-80% on this event compared to contest, I’m not too worried about it being there game day like some things. Back in the garage for rest of the workout. I had dillydallied after work so I was starting later than I should so I kind of went as quick from the deadlifts to the farmer’s stuff as I could and then took a breather here to get some fluids in before finishing up the session. Same superset as last week with chest supported dumbbell rows and zercher Jefferson curls. Notes were to increase the rows and do 3x8 on them and to keep same weight on the zercher stuff but do 3x12. The rows warming up felt ridiculously light compared to the Jefferson curls. Thankfully no ab cramping on these from the get-go. Rows trying to play with position to get back involvement as unfortunately with how large the weights are and the bench, the ROM does get compromised with the setup. The jeffersons felt fine and it was almost relaxing at times. Can tell the right side is tighter than the left. Put stuff away and get dinner ready. No bruising of bleeding in the right heel so that is something but ankles are feeling achy. Stretched out before bed.

June 23, 2026 – Week 11, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Superman Holds (5 seconds)
PVCx3
PVCx3
PVCx3

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/T’s
12’sx10/10
12’sx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (clean every rep)
90x5
120x4
150x3
180x2
210x1
240x2
240x2
240x2
240x2 (1 miss)

Javelin Thrusters
65x2/2
85x2/2
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3

12” Log Floor Presses w/ Bands (+6lbs/+30lbs)/Med Ball Slams
200x3
240x5 – 10x10
240x5 – 10x10
240x5 – 10x10
240x5 – 10x10

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds)
22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20
22’sx20/(4)mb’sx20

Stretching

Comments: Another stressful week of work. I kind of wish I had more flexibility with the training week sessions but I kind of have to get back to my usual schedule so I can get in sessions before family trip that will have me off a week. At least that is the working plan at this time. Just got to make sure this week doesn’t end up like the last week where I didn’t realize I was not recovered and had to rest a bit to get back on track with things. The summer rains have been unpredictable which not great with planning around doing stuff outside for training. Usually that means just one day a week but now with world’s prep that ends up being 2 out of 3 sessions. So odds not as great. For the most part, been good with avoiding because of changes from me being stressed out I guess. There was rain earlier in the day (was supposed to be thunderstorms yesterday evening but no so walking commenced) but it dried up mostly before training started. Again, decent amount of bruising on my arms from keg carries. I didn’t need a ton of foam rolling today. My hamstrings needed it a good bit. Not a ton for the other places. Neck rehab stuff was ok and felt about how it should. Unfortunately, my right left side is feeling tense (maybe from Sunday session) so distracting more than anything. I know I can work around and through it but would be preferable if not even a thing. Glute activation and lower body stretches followed by a dead hang to decompress. This session started off how it has for a past few weeks now with PVC pipe exercise superman holds. As this is pretty much the standard and warming up, I didn’t film these. Stuck to 30 seconds rest between the sets. Notice the effort from Sunday session. Keeping an eye on that to gauge recovery. More so the left side vs right is stiff. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. These felt good and easy. I think it was at this time I realized I had started my session a bit later than planned. Where does the time go? So outside for the rest of the session (at least that was the plan). Log once more. This is the heavier week and I had a feeling what it would be based on the past two sessions. 230-240lbs for 4x2. So about same weight but more reps in less time (6 vs 8). I was going to be trying out some adjustments here as I mentioned after how last session went and just how things were feeling. If I felt terrible, 230lbs but if things were feeling good enough, then try for 240lbs. I feel I got over a mental hump with deadlift last week and I’d love to get over whatever I have on bilateral overhead pressing (or get it to click once more). So what those changes were was ditching the elbow sleeves. The worry was they may be making the clean harder on subsequent reps and that could be throwing off my press timing. What I was going to be adding was wearing my triple ply knee sleeves and neoprene shorts like I’ve been doing for the squat event. The shorts were good for squat and deadlift and I saw a friend using them on log so I figured why not me. Now if I felt like I had more time, I might see how one change at time would be. See if 2 ply sleeves vs 3 ply and the shorts vs not. But I feel like I don’t have the time and went with these right off the bat. This also would help with consolidating equipment for sessions and taking overseas. The only issue I noticed was the knee sleeves and the shorts combined do make it a little harder to get into position for picking up the log but at least at the weights I’m doing is negligible. Not feeling restricted in the pressing or my press groove. It took less time for my knees to feel good wearing these and I felt like I could dip further if needed without pain. With how 210lbs went, I decided 240lbs and give it my best effort. Need to get myself into thinking and knowing I can do this again. First set felt comfortable which was a good sign. The added stuff did make me feel warm and restricted so I had to take it off between sets so I could recover and not overheat. First rep second set was ok, second rep a little bit of a balance point issue but did correct it. I already had doubled the reps at 240lbs from two weeks prior.  Third set was ok, a little bit of forward press on the second rep but recovered well. Last set I had issues. I rushed the first rep and had to stagger step to catch it and then tried to go fast into the second rep and that was a disaster. I couldn’t get my feet stable and it spent so much time in the rack position I started to get a little lightheaded and ended up bailing and dropping it, having to catch the rack to get myself back up. Momma didn’t raise no quitter so I begrudgingly got it back on the pads so that I wasn’t ending this on a miss. It was an ugly rep as far as getting stabilized but I got it in just under a minute so would’ve been good for contest. I think I just need to keep at this and try and find what feels good and works for me on log. But this does feel like the right direction at least. After getting out of the heat trap equipment, moving on to the javelin thrusters again. Same weight but bumping up to 7x3 so another set added. Last week I had sets where I missed a rep being sloppy so I was aware that this could be a thing this time and wanting to make sure no issues there. I was a little tempted to add some tiny weight to this but figured it was best to not tempt fate here after getting through log unscathed. The neck thing was more present with this movement for obvious reasons. I even felt a little rusty starting things here. Notes had been to hold lockouts a little longer/better. The added two sets were noticed here. I was definitely feeling fatigue in the lower body after the fifth set. There were some oops with the bar coming back down on the safeties but nothing that truly disrupted things. I didn’t have the “get through this” feeling mindset like last week. But this did feel like it took a while to get through all these reps and sets. Next being the pairing of banded log floor pressing and medicine ball slams like last week. 240lbs on the log and the 10lbs medicine ball I have. 4 sets of each this time around. I had dillydallied a bit too much before starting this session so I was trying to move things along at this point with warming up as it was starting to get dark outside. I wasn’t feeling terrible confident after my one warm up set before doing these but seemed to be just fine. Nothing to really say on the slams other than I could tell I was feeling them on a fourth set of them. Log floor press felt a little inconsistent but it really seemed to be at random with how I was unracking that first rep as some sets I’d be “on something” that didn’t feel good and have me hesitate the first rep and other times it would just be smooth and easy. But I can tell that power goes fast on these after a few reps each set with the bands.  Last thing again being the rear delt dumbbell raises and banded triceps with holds at lockout. Same weights and sets as last week but doing 20 reps for both sets this week. I had set this up in the garage so that I could get to it sooner after I was done with the previous superset and then start putting that one away. I feel like I took less rest between them this time (as it was a long rest) so that second set felt substantially tougher this time around. Both these exercises fatigue hits hard on them and takes a good bit to recover. This was the heavier session for Day 1 so hopefully I recover enough for a lighter Day 2 and then prep for an interesting Day 3.

June 21, 2026 – Week 10, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x6
191x5
235x4
279x3
323x2
353x5
353x5
353x5
353x5

Yoke (drop and turn halfway)/Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
190x40’/40’ – 49x5
280x20’/20’ – 85x3
370x20’/20’ – 108x2
460x40’ – 128x1
550x40’/40’ – 140x1/140x1 in 36.23 seconds
550x40’/40’ – 140x1/140x1 in 34.07 seconds
550x40’/40’ – 140x1/140x1 in 33.47 seconds

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (52”)
144x20’/144x20’ (kegs)
225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 45.54 seconds
225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 42.83 seconds

Sled Push, Sprint (Med Ball) and Pulls (turf)
280x30’/30’+30’/480x30’ in 35.17 seconds
280x30’/30’+30’/480x30’ in 36.00 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Did nothing Saturday besides walk and hang with family for a little for early dinner. I seemed to be anxious/nervous with training today but I couldn’t really figure out why as it wasn’t like anything was going to be outside of what I could do. I was a little more together I think as I did remember to weigh myself. About the same as two weeks prior. Drive out was odd at times. When I got to the gym, there were two young guys doing strongman. Talking early teens and doing a bit of everything. The one kid has asked me advice before. He has done powerlifting (I guess still is) and has asked advice of other people at the gym. I’ll let people talk my ear off about it to be honest. Some other people did eventually trickle in and out while I was there. Foam rolling was ok. Usually things aren’t as tense on this session. Which is a little odd I think in that I’m cramped in a car beforehand. Still noticing that the right quad continues to need like double of the left one or so but not so bad this time. Could tell my hamstrings were tight from Friday session and upper back was feeling that too. Neck rehab stuff was ok as well. Chest was tight and trying to see if some lower back stiffness would be alleviated as well. Lower body stuff was ok as well. I did do some stretching twice to loosen up stuff that was tight. Dead hang after that. Then on to Axle squats. Lighter week. Notes were to work up to 350lbs and do 4x4-5 and move the reps explosively. This shouldn’t feel heavy. Maybe this possibly feeling heavy was a worry for me. I changed my setup here again. I brought my crash pads from home as I was likely needing them later and used those to hopefully have the box setup be a bit more forgiving. It does seem to be a combination of bar position and just how my feet and legs are with the ground not exactly level where I’m lifting. As I went, I feel I got better with things until last set where that felt about as crisp and easy as it was going to get here. I did sets of 5 reps here. I was able to adjust during reps to get the bar to be less uneven with the touch to boxes. So I think I’ll use this setup going forward for my own sanity. Even if a bit of a hassle bringing the crash pads. But that leads into the next event, which was why I brought them. Up until this point, yoke and circus dumbbell have been on their own. This would be the first session of putting them together for the event at world’s. It was about as bad as I thought it would be, even with light weights. At first, I was doing the yoke and then walking over to where I usually do dumbbell (briskly mind you) and doing the reps and that felt fine. No issues. But then on my last warm up was where there was no rest between them as I had one of the dumbbells setup there and that was a bit of rude awakening. This does nothing to the yoke but the yoke beforehand does everything to the dumbbell. It feels tougher to get it up to the shoulder and I feel fatigued immediately in the rack position. But the power is there and lockout stability is as well (thank you javelin thrusters). My right knee was a little achy but I seemed to improve my time each run through. The run was 10’ shorter than last week since this is the corrected distance for world’s. I setup 2 different circus dumbbells at same weight. The first one felt a lot harder compared to the second one. Perhaps because the end one is more solid vs having to add 32lbs to the other. This ended up being the intermission for the session as it was going to take a bit to put stuff away from the previous event and then to setup for the next event. That being the carry and load medley with kegs and sandbags. Same as last week with 2 planned runs of 4 implements, each 225lbs for 25’. The rules indicated that these kegs will be plateloaded variety so I figured I might as well use both power kegs instead if it isn’t going to be preloaded kegs with concrete and lead in them. Doing a little warming up did seem to be good last time. No sandbags to move really so I did the two empty power kegs to warm up before getting into it. I ended up moving through these faster than last week. My first run being faster than my second run from last week and then the second run being almost 3 seconds faster than the first run this week. So about the same as last week with roughly 3 second improvement from first and second run. This is light but good to see things moving well. Honestly, a lot of stuff is going to need to be a lot heavier in 2 months time. Last thing was sort of an introduction to the other medley involving a sandbag. The contest is a sled push then run back to sandbag, load sandbag on the sled and then drag back. Starts fairly light and then becomes quite heavy. To kind of consolidate, this was just he push and drag but with running in between. Already doing sandbag carries at the moment and I’ve done +300lbs sandbags a good bit this year already. Now initially it was just me running back to start and then back to the sled to start the pull. But I figured that I wanted to have something that I was picking up so I was at least doing that motion and then running with something in my hands. So I used a 10lbs medicine ball. I’ll need to make adjustments to next time. Both issues I had were with the drag. One was I didn’t tighten my shoes on the first set. I could tell I wasn’t going as fast on the drag because of that (I’m looking in to getting new shoes as the ones I have are cheapo and already worn out). The other issue is I tried to make the pulling rope shorter and that offset it to the left making that harder as well. I was surprised with the time being faster the first set vs the second set. One implement is going uphill vs downhill on turf each way. Down hill push and uphill drag first set. I guess the uphill push was a much slower comparatively as the drag felt much easier on second set. Little annoyances (gym owner took away the fan I had out with extension cord and locked in his office when I was done training, road closure on the way home, work tomorrow) at the end of the day but home safe. Ate dinner and then eventually stretched before bed.

June 19, 2026 – Week 10, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts (straps, platform, wagon wheels)
135x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1
405x1
455x1
495x1
537x1

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
135x50’
185x25’
225x25’
drop and turn halfway
265x50’/50’ in 22.30 seconds
265x50’/50’ in 21.50 seconds

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Pick Transitions (16” pick)
235x1+1 (5 steps)
235x1+1 (5 steps)

Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows/Zercher Jefferson Curls
56’x6 – 65x5
86’sx12 – 105x10
86’sx12 – 105x10
86’sx12 – 105x10

Stretching

Comments: This week did not go as planned. It was already not the “right” week with having to adjust my days with the competition on Saturday so moving everything ahead a day. I had sweated a ton on Saturday and Sunday and I think that having better sleep schedule kind of hid something from me. I wasn’t feeling as sharp on Tuesday and I think part of it was still in my head about how stuff feels harder than it did years ago to do and recovery. The competition and seeing the level of things also a stark reminder of my own mortality. I felt like I was hit by a large vehicle Wednesday and was a little worried about training Thursday with this to be a heavy deadlift day. Thursday came and it was raining and the early forecast was that it would stop and then a big thunderstorm right before I’d usually train. Allergies were really bad as well. With only being a four day week with holiday Friday, work became quite stressful to get stuff done. I was feeling quite strained and even though the weather cleared up, I decided I was going to allow myself another day of rest to hopefully feel better. Just destress and get some things done I’ve put off so far this week and just wake up when I feel like it Friday with no responsibilities. Yes this will mean the days are out of order for another week and I’ll need to get back to the Mon/Wed/Sat rotation by the following week to make it so I can fit all sessions in before family beach vacation middle of July. It finally dawned on me when I awoke today at 11:20AM. I had slept for about 11hrs or so. I had been tired. Yes, I was getting 8hrs or so of sleep a night and not having to rush around upon waking but I hadn’t really had a sleep in day last week because of the competition and work and making Sunday a training day. So while I was still anxious about training, I didn’t have to worry about work today so I could take my time as I won’t be training Saturday and will be able to rest fully again and then Sunday session. It did take me a little later than I was expecting to start the session. I had some bruises on my biceps and forearms from keg on Sunday and log on Tuesday. They had been quite dark even Thursday but seemed to be faded substantially today. Again a sign I needed heavy rest. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. My right side needed a lot of work today. Upper calf needed it a ton and my quad on that side needed a ton too. It wasn’t the most I’ve needed to do but it was quite a disparity between the left and right side. Hamstrings and upper back didn’t really feel like they needed anything today. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt decent enough followed by a little glute activation. Lower body stretching was fine. This was good as my knees had felt really achy the past two days and were feeling fine and dandy today. Lower back wasn’t feeling so tense either. Finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. The plan for today was to work up to a top single that was RPE 8-9 and that was it on deadlifts. So simple but it had me a nervous wreck. This was to see where I was at but I get such anxiety with this kind of stuff as I tend to put so much weight on it. Even if I was feeling terrible, I knew there was no way I couldn’t pull 495lbs at least here but it would be terrible if that was all I got. I reverted more to how I did things when I was doing max effort work for singles with doing some reps and then doing like 40-50lbs jump singles. Using the world’s setup with the wheels and platform just to keep getting used to that sensation of the setup and the bar pull. I made a change today with pulls. I got these neoprene shorts for the squat event but I’m trying to not be so set in my ways. I’m trying to take pressure off myself and keep the process fun and experiment. Even though I’ve been doing this since 2008, I feel like a novice with a lot of stuff and worried about trying something that may require a lot of time to fix/get resolved as I feel like I don’t got infinite time for this activity anymore. After how log was on Tuesday and just thinking out loud type deal, I’m going to keep testing little tweaks and not feel like I’m unsure of myself but seeing what works for me and if not beneficial to this prep, it will be for the one after that and so on. So back to the deadlift. The compression isn’t a ton but it kind of felt like I had a special attire on for deadlift so I should pull better. So maybe a psychological thing. Definitely warmer with it on but not as bad as when squatting thankfully. Trying to be low key with pulls but became such that I was feeling anxious when I did get to 495lbs. My true hope here was that I’d be able to pull over 525lbs and not have it feel like a max effort. With how deadlifts been feeling, it has been hard to gauge what will go up as far as breaking the floor. I’m finding I tend to be grinding more but can repeat the effort. I did not feel like 545lbs was there with anything in the tank. There was some doubt that it would be glued but the main reason is this wasn’t to be an absolute max here and I’ve not pulled over 500lbs from the floor since 7 months ago without a suit and that was with the bendy bar setup, which I’m now aware helps a good bit now. I talked myself into doing 40lbs over 30lbs. And then talked another 2lbs on to that. Fail or succeed. Initial struggle to start but went up well enough. Camera says it was too easy. I let out a shout afterwards just because I had been feeling a sense of dread just coming into this. So I feel like mental block has finally been dislodged to some degree here. Anything else today was just going to be gravy honestly. From there on to the farmer’s walk. Another reason I wanted my lower back to not feel trashed coming into this session. Again, this was like last week with the first half of it was doing 2 sets of contest runs after warming up and then doing those pick transitions. What was different this time was that the contest runs were heavier. A lot heavier. But that was on me here. Notes were to do 250-265lbs and I said fuck it, we ball. The larger weight made more sense with warming up purposes honestly. Picks were feeling a little slower but that could be from doing heavy pulls rather than speed pulls beforehand. I was not feeling so sweaty and dead compared to the past few sessions I’ve done here. Adjusted warm ups to be less taxing after deadlifts. Just enough to get primed really. 265lbs did feel slow with the pick but I didn’t feel like I was walking through wet cement that first set like I was worried might be the case. Usually the first set feels pretty rough. Second set did feel rougher on the picks. I’d never have thought based on how these sets feel that I was actually faster on the second set by almost a second compared to the first set. I’d have thought I was slower that second set. But this is why I need to video things and not necessarily go off what I’m feeling and review video for feedback outside of myself. As with last week, the second half of the farmer’s stuff was those pick transitions. These are not anywhere close to as taxing as full runs are even if I feel like the pick is the worst part for me on things. Same plan as last week with it being 235lbs for 2 sets of pick, drop and repick with a little step action. These felt quite light and easy compared to the 265lbs runs. I almost felt like doing these back to back but figured it was best to recover and treat each set as its own thing. Not get in the rushing habit like Tuesday session. I got nowhere to go today or tomorrow. Back in the garage for rest of the workout. Which was actually the end of the workout. Superset to finish things off. The chest supported dumbbell rows stayed as part of it but no more lunges. A less taxing version of the ssb zercher gms with the zercher Jefferson curls coming back into the fray. Same weight as last week with the rows but for 3x12. The jeffersons for 3x10. It is a good thing that I did a warm up set rather than just jump right in on the jeffersons as my upper abs cramped up almost immediately. I forgot that that can happen on these haha. Rows were bad, just obvious fatigue set to set here. The curls felt about the same and maybe I got a little better on the stretch portion as I went. Put stuff away and decided on eating an earlier dinner rather than a super late lunch and kind of having my schedule for the rest of the weekend super out of whack. Took my time and eventually got to stretching to finish up the evening.

June 16, 2026 – Week 10, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Superman Holds (5 seconds)
PVCx3
PVCx3
PVCx3

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/T’s
12’sx10/10
12’sx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (clean every rep)
90x5
120x4
150x3
180x2
200x1
220x3
220x3
220x3
220x3

Javelin Thrusters
65x3/3
85x2/2
105x3/3
105x3 (1 miss)/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3 (1 miss)

12” Log Floor Presses w/ Bands (+6lbs/+30lbs)/Med Ball Slams
90x6
140x5
190x3
230x5 – 10x11 (miscounted)
240x5 – 10x10
247x5 – 10x10

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds)
22’sx18/(4)mb’sx19 (miscounted)
22’sx18/(4)mb’sx18

Stretching

Comments: I can already feel the difference with the adjustment to telework vs commuting and definitely seems to be for the better as far as how I feel. But it is what it is at this point with the rotation as my other option would be commute all the time. Feeling fine for the most part I think getting ready for training. I’ve essentially hit all the weights for master’s class if I went that route but I’m stubborn doing open because I qualified and can. Decent amount of bruising on my arms from keg and blood draw. I had needed a lot of soft tissue work on my legs Monday. I didn’t need a ton of foam rolling today and seemed to be more even between the left and right quad. Tightness in the upper calves and hamstrings. Kind of expected considering Sunday training. Neck rehab stuff was ok and felt about how it should. Glute activation and lower body stretches followed (did one of them twice) by a dead hang to decompress. Same start as last week with the PVC pipe exercise superman holds. As this is pretty much the standard and warming up, I didn’t film these. Trying to be stiff but mobile. I was able to stick to 30 seconds rest between the sets. Notice the effort from Sunday session. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. I feel like shoulders were less “achy” compared to last week. Just something that seems to be good with getting blood flow to these areas. These are the things to get ready but by no means measures to tell if I’m ready for the session. Unfortunately that is found from getting up to a decent amount of weight. So outside for the rest of the this training session (besides getting more weights and such). Log once more. Another session on this and just as likely to lead to a new understanding as it is to frustrate me. I’ll go through the log session and then add my thoughts afterwards so kind of sorted. Knees were feeling quite achy today with log. I guess by product of the heavy yoke picks perhaps. Plan for today was to focus on “precision” and do 4x3 with 215-220lbs. It would depend how I was feeling getting up in weight this would potentially be not a lot off the singles last week. I tend to feel better as I go on these as my knees feel better and my pressing and clean seem more crisp. I did 30lbs jumps and then switched to 20lbs to try and gauge things. 200lbs felt quite good so I went with 220lbs. As I mentioned last week, it doesn’t really seem to matter what weight I do, I get nervous on things like axle and log more so than dumbbell. We’ve done dumbbell for a good bit and it has become almost second nature besides going real heavy. This didn’t feel like it went to plan with the precision session here. Cleans felt strong but there were times where it didn’t feel like I had my balance point right and log felt out in front in the rack or that I lacked power in the position. Other times it was there and felt weightless. First rep first set I didn’t quite have things in line and I had to kind of step forward to get under the log. Second rep went up no issue and same with the third. Second set first rep was crisp and then second rep just didn’t feel like the clean was as good getting in the rack position had to do a bit of shimmying to get that one up there. My belt came undone lapping the third rep but other than that being loose, the press was fine. Third set first rep was good and powerful, second rep little balance issue before going for the press and little stability issue at lockout too. Third rep was the ugliest of the day as I seemed to really have happy feet walking back to be stable to press. I didn’t rush it so that was good but it stalled and I had essentially walk under it to get it in the groove and then press it out. So that wasn’t great. Last set first rep flew up there and so did the second. Third rep was looking to end up like the last rep of the third set but I managed to not have it be that bad and it just ended up being a slow lockout process. With how this went, had me thinking on log what makes sense here. Generally first reps and second reps are good but third reps not good. Consistently first reps are strong. I’m wondering if the elbow sleeves are in fact a detriment here with being some resistance on the clean and potentially having my elbows locking out sooner than my normal timing would be. I got time to figure this out but a bit frustrating that I’m second guessing myself here. We’ve not done log a ton. I do notice that I’m less hesitant between reps and not feeling like I’m going to not be able to press it like I was having end of last year off season prep. Looking at trying no elbow sleeves next time and potentially seeing about differences with the knee sleeves to see if that helps things with the leg drive. I was sweating profusely when I finished with log. I didn’t have that issue with anything else I did this session. Secondary pressing after that with the javelin thrusters again. Same as last week with weight but 5x3 so another set added. I figured I’d just go at 65lbs rather than the empty barbell. I think part of it was trying to move things along and avoid myself being annoyed with log. Just getting into position, I noticed my knees were pretty achy. I don’t recall that from the last two times so perhaps that is something to keep in mind with recovery. Not sure if my headspace affected things or if just more fatigue from heavier weights of dumbbell stuff Sunday but it did feel like it took a bit to get myself firing. I mistimed twice with the right side on the second set and the left side on the fifth set. I feel powerful when it lines up right. Up next was the pairing of log floor press but as usually is the case with these supersets, a little change happens after every 2-3 sessions. So the first part was that I was to be adding light band tension to the floor pressing. I’ve not tried that in like 15yrs or so I think and certainly not since I’ve been doing the home gym training. So I had to figure out a setup that would still have some tension at the bottom of the movement. Ended up being a more than I was thinking it would with my doubled micro bands. 3x5 with aim being RPE 8.5-9. The banded deadbugs got replaced by slam ball stuff. Fun to see those back in the mix. A little different in that sets of 10 reps with the overhead slams. I was curious how that would feel considering the ballistic nature of the movement. Warming up with the log floor pressing felt good but doing 50lbs jumps had me leery that 240lbs may be too much on the day so I went with 230lbs. That weight did end up being too easy. Surprised how much more I felt these in my chest vs no band tension. I must have missed the slam ball stuff as I did an extra rep by mistake the first set. I added 10lbs to the log and that was in the right effort range. I didn’t think it was wise to do another 10lbs jump there but I didn’t want to do 240lbs again as it felt weird loading wise and 5lbs more felt odd with the 10lbs jump so I did 7lbs to cut the difference. That was a bit closer to limit on this setup with the planned effort but still good once got things figured out. Medicine ball stuff was fun though I think I was paying for it after training as my back and hamstrings were feeling stiff (could just be Sunday session and doing all the log cleans). Last thing before I was going to eat dinner was superset of rear delt dumbbell raises and banded triceps with holds at lockout. Same weights and sets as last week but adding 3 reps to each set. Rear delts felt fine, almost relaxing. Triceps I knew I’d be feeling these with the added reps and just knowing I was likely going to try and increase the tension with where I gripped it after last week having the first set too easy feeling. I overcorrected as I miscounted the first set and did an extra rep. I took a decent break between these two sets as I had some thoughts I didn’t want to forget about and write down. Finished up the second set no issues and put stuff away before eating dinner. Body feelings like just now feeling the soreness from Sunday with today on top of that. Hopefully I feel better by Thursday’s session.

June 14, 2026 – Week 9, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x6
197x5
263x4
307x3
346x2
379x1
412x3
Added Pauses
351x3
351x3
351x3

Yoke (drop and turn halfway)
240x50’/50’
420x25’/25’
510x50’
600x50’/50’ in 21.76 seconds
600x50’/50’ in 21.54 seconds
600x50’/50’ in 21.43 seconds

Yoke Pick and Holds
710x2 seconds
820x10 seconds
820x10 seconds

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x4
108x3
130x2
150x2
150x2
150x2
150x2
150x2

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (52”)
145x25’ (keg)
200x40’ (sandbag)
225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 49.16 seconds
225x25’/225x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 46.03 seconds

Backwards Sleg Drag (turf)
635x69’7” in 70 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I had to adjust my schedule with the gym closed but also because my sister was competing at the gym for the contest they were running. Other than one event that was big ask, she hit everything that was the goal and actually won her first show after doing these for over a decade. I was nervous for my own training as it had been a hot one yesterday and I had been on my feet for hours and sweated a ton. So I was worried about if I’d be able to handle my training. I got sun burn on my neck being outside for the truck pull which wasn’t even that long at time. Thankfully I’m back on the telework schedule so I didn’t have a ton of pressure to get things down early. I slept in until I felt like my knees weren’t going to bother me. I forgot it was Sunday and didn’t weigh myself. Numbers from blood work are consistent/stable so still good to go I guess. Drive out was fine. I was alone when I got there at the gym but the fans were going so it felt comfortable. At least at the start. Some people did show up while I was there but none doing strongman stuff. Foam rolling was ok. Right quad continues to need like double of the left one. Neck rehab stuff was ok as well. Lower body stuff was ok as well. I did do some stretching twice to loosen up stuff that was tight. Dead hang after that. Then on to Axle squats. The heavier week. Plan being work up to a top set of 3 reps (RPE 8-9) and then take 15% off for 3x3. I was a little worried that this would feel like it did 3 weeks ago when I bailed on the session because Saturday was not a chill day. Trying to get the wheels to not hit the pads uneven. At this point, I’m starting to think I’m lopsided. There was a big floor fan on in the gym but it wasn’t enough to keep my cool doing squats with the neoprene on so brought over the smaller fan with the extension cord. I tried moving the boxes a little to see if that made a difference and then put the hard rubber wheels rather than the metal ones since those have some dents in them. These didn’t seem to fix matters and it would sometimes be the left and sometimes the right. Adding a little to the right was probably a little too much that side but I don’t have anything thinner to adjust things with. 346lbs felt not great so I was starting to sweat bullets (besides the normal sweating) but 379lbs felt like it should and I went with just the tiniest of increases on the weight I’ve done on these just to make sure I got it. I could tell I had it after the first squat. However, the other two reps I was not able to get the balance right and it was more on the right vs the left and I’m sure that it wouldn’t count as reps because the one side hit and the other didn’t on those two reps. A slightly wider stance felt better on these this time around. For the down sets, since it was actually lighter than what I did last week, I figured I should control these a bit with pausing slightly in the hole so that I made sure the wheels touched both sides. My belt wasn’t secured the first set and popped off but made no real difference. I essentially left everything out as I went about the session as I wanted to get through the majority of them before I took a break to recover and refuel. Use that time to put stuff away. From there, moved on to yoke. Plan being contest runs with 30lbs more than last week and then do some heavy holds after that. Lower back and knees were feeling yesterday but I should be good here. I wasn’t dealing with any weird hamstring tightness. I felt comfortable but I wasn’t moving as quickly as last week here as I didn’t get below 20 seconds like I did on two of my sets last week. Didn’t get under 21 seconds here. But these felt good and moved well so I’ll take that. The heavier part was pick and holds. Notes were to work up to as close as I could to contest weight without overdoing it and burning out. Contest weight is 370kgs which is a little over 815lbs. I’ve not gone over 800lbs since 2024 but I’ve done over 1000lbs on picks before and it isn’t exactly something that leaves you even if it has been a while. Do pretty big jumps to get used to things here. This weight definitely dug into my upper back and traps more than 600lbs did so much more noticeable sunburn sensation here. Knees were achy for the pick but felt ok holding it. Second set I was a little more unstable initially as I thought it was going to move differently and kind locked/unlocked my knees there. It did feel heavy. Rice Krispie break and on to circus dumbbell. I waited until I was using my big bell before swapping in a fresh shirt. I may need to bring more shirts if it is going to keep being this close to 90 degrees every weekend. The plan for today was work up to 150lbs for 5x1-2 with 60-90 seconds rest. My hope was 5x2 but not really rushing the rest since sweaty and the setup with crash pad aim and reset can make it a little dicey. 49lbs didn’t feel great on my joints but 85lbs and 108lbs felt good and crisp. 130lbs did not so I was a little concerned with how 150lbs would go. Hand sweat did start to impact this and having the proloc collars didn’t quite have things stable so I took a beat to have things ready on my shoulder before launching it. These felt good. No farmer’s stuff today so that was good. I took my time with getting ready for the loading and carrying medley after seeing how much setup that took. I was also trying to cool off as I was sweating up a storm here with what I’d done so far today. Plan was to do 225lbs for all four implements with the keg and sandbags. 25’ carries for all of them. Last week I had 2” high setup but I was able to figure out a way to have it be contest height. Initially I thought I’d only have a single 225lbs bag so there was an adjustment if needed there. But I located another at the gym so I had two to work with. As far as a second 225lbs keg, I used one of the plate loaded kegs for that. With not having farmer’s before this, I figured it was probably a good idea to do some warming up here so I did carry some lighter objects. I made sure to tape up my thumb this time and figured I’d wear my hard belt so as to see if that helped with carrying stuff up higher and potentially not getting in the way. I wasn’t moving the fastest but I felt I had less errors on the kegs this time around. The last sandbag on the first set seemed to mess me up on the pick as it felt heavier than I was expecting it and seemed to be out in front of me. But I recovered and got it into position and moved along. It takes a good bit of time to reset this and then resting from that. Second set was much smoother although I suffered a bruise on my right arm as the copper sleeve slid down on me and got direct contact on the second keg lapping it. Guess I’ll have matching ones with the left side being where I got the blood drawn. Last thing being a heavy backwards sled drag. Same weight as last time on the turf but 10 second more. I made sure my shoes were tied tight as I noticed my feet were moving in my shoe with how heavy this was. Things did not start off great as initially it didn’t feel like it was budging this time. It took a bit more effort to finally get it started but then once I did, I seemed to be motoring. I was getting close to 60’ and I saw that it wasn’t even a minute yet. But that was where I started to slow down a ton and kind of eeked it out the last few seconds as the clock counted down. I was definitely gassed at this point. Down my shake and put stuff away that was still out before drinking the rest of my fluids before driving home to finally decompress and stretch.

June 10, 2026 – Week 9, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts w/ Bands (straps, platform, wagon wheels +20lbs/+75lbs)
135x2
225x2
275x1
315x1
60 seconds rest
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
135x50’
185x50’
drop and turn halfway
235x50’/50’ in 19.97 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 19.24 seconds

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Pick Transitions (16” pick)
235x1+1 (5 steps)
235x1+1 (5 steps)

Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
bwx5/5
56’x5 – 65x5/5
86’sx10 – 120x10/10
86’sx10 – 120x10/10
86’sx10 – 120x10/10

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
165x5
235x10
235x10

Stretching

Comments: Went for a walk Tuesday after work as I knew I needed to get some activity in. Time getting eaten up with training and needing to clean more dishes leading to later eating. I ended up going out to eat as was going to be way too late if I let the dishwasher finish. I was feeling a little down and depressed as well as tired. Didn’t help more new dumb shit with work. Unexpected thunderstorm had me initially writing off today and moving it all the way to Friday but then it cleared up after an hour and the sun was out like nothing happened. So back on the planned schedule. Maybe not feeling so down with some sun. Been overcast the past few days and humid. Still humid. Going to be damn hot tomorrow. It still felt like it took me a bit to figure out what I was doing before I actually got to doing it. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Lower legs needed a bit at the top of the calves. Then my quads needed a ton. My right I needed to work it for like a minute and then about half that time on the left. I was kind of surprised how much I needed for my quads today. I was expecting more on the lower legs honestly. Upper back was fine as were my hamstrings. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt decent enough. I think I’m sticking with the reduced stuff for now and just keeping the one thing in for glute activation. Lower body stretching was fine but felt like I needed to do one of the stretches twice for good measure. Finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. With what appears to be the plan of heavy/light/heavy one week and then light/heavy/light the other, this was to be the light Day 2 session. Which meant it was essentially the same session as last week with adjustments made as that was more a light session to get back into it. So starting things off was again banded deadlifts. The notes were to do the same setup and weight as last week but for two more doubles. Also to pull with more intent off the floor and locking out. And I had every intent of doing that. But I wanted to test the band tension with my new scale since the other one broke before I could get accurate reading at lockout. I tested it like five times and what I thought was 64-70lbs at lockout was actually 48lbs. Which was less than 10% of what I hope my max (was aiming for 10-15%). But the smallest amount I could add was a micro band and that ended up adding a decent amount to the lockout at 75lbs. So cowabunga it is. So getting this figured out did take a bit more time than I’d have liked (made up for it with getting stuff setup quicker this time around). I could tell after I got to 225lbs the bands made a big difference and adjusted the warming up. Definitely harder lifting this time around but not to where I felt that I wasn’t going to get through these. Maybe some worry that I’d slow down a ton. I was working on getting my hips and legs into these and not stiff legging the lift. If not for this movement but for farmer’s walk as that tends to sap my back. I definitely didn’t go all hyper like last week at the start and paced myself here. Considering that the bands added a good bit more compared to last time, this was satisfactory. I’ve got the bands tension situation figured out now. From there on to the farmer’s walk. Some changes to last week. It had been 3 sets of contest style run with 225-235lbs. This was kind of a mixture of both Day 2 and Day 3 farmer’s walk stuff. The first half of it was doing 2 sets of contest runs with 235lbs after warming up. It wasn’t as hot as last week or even the week before it but is was incredibly humid. Just sweating buckets on my hands, arms and face. I was a little worried that my hands were tear with these handles the way they are and all the sweating going on. The goal was to beat my fastest time last week. Hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem although I did make deadlifts a lot tougher than they were to be. My lower back wasn’t hating me and I was trying to get my hips down a little more on these. Picks felt great but my legs felt stupid. Like they didn’t want to cooperate and I felt slow. It wasn’t until after I was done and putting stuff away that I figured maybe my legs are beat from the hard sled drag set on Saturday. That’s only thing I can really think of other than maybe yoke but that wasn’t beyond what I’ve done recently. I appeared to calibrate things for the second set and did manage to beat my time on that run. Not to say my first run wasn’t terrible (just under 20 seconds). The second half of the farmer’s was pick work. Similar to Saturday session but using the same weight as the runs beforehand. 2 sets here with a set consisting of doing a pick and holding for a second, setting it down quickly and turning around to repick it and then walk 2-3 sets and putting it down. Working on the transition. These felt better than the sets honestly. I ended up doing like 5 steps (Kill Bill reference maybe?) as that felt about right to get into the groove or I can’t count. The deadlifts and then moving to farmer’s and then moving the farmer’s to the next thing all kind of have baked in active rest so I can rehydrate a little without getting queasy. Kind of need it with the weather. Back in the garage for rest of the workout. Superset adjusted again with chest supported dumbbell rows replacing sandbag rows (which had replaced dumbbell high pulls). 3 sets of 10 here. Had to figure out what felt good and not overdo it. Still doing alternating reverse lunges with the ssb. Notes were to do 3x10 with the weight I did last week. Rows were easy and probably could’ve pushed these a tad harder. The lunges are almost always the toughest aspect and the most fickle. My knees seemed ok at the start warming up but felt quite unhappy the first set. I had a feeling my legs were feel gassed going into these if they were having me walk like a drunk cat on the farmer’s walk. So I took long rests between sets here. I did feel better as the sets went on thankfully. So close to the end of the session. I had started cooking dinner at the start of the session in parts and was about finished. Last thing for the day being ssb zercher gms. Add 10lbs and do 2x10. So a little bit of a reprieve. I was so pleased/relieved that there wasn’t any weird sensations doing these last week with my soft belt. Just warmed up a little and go too it. Definitely noticed the added weight on these. Last session for this current in-office rotation so I’ll be having 4 weeks of not chaos coming up then. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out before finally getting to sleep. This week is almost done.

June 8, 2026 – Week 9, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Superman Holds (5 seconds)
PVCx3
PVCx3
PVCx3

Chest Supported Dumbbell I/T’s
12’sx10/10
12’sx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses
90x5
120x4
150x3
180x2
210x1
230x1
230x1
235x1
235x1
240x1
240x1

Javelin Thrusters
45x3/3
65x2/2
85x1/1
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3
105x3/3

12” Log Floor Presses/Banded Deadbugs
180x6
220x2
255x6 – lbx12/12
255x6 – lbx12/12
260x6 – lbx12/12
260x6 – lbx12/12

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes/Paused Band Pushdowns (2 seconds)
22’sx15/(4)mb’sx15
22’sx15/(4)mb’sx15

Stretching

Comments: I sweated a lot on Saturday so bodyweight was coming up under 260lbs Sunday. I didn’t have to worry about anything besides getting stuff ready for this week as my sister was on deload week for competition. My week is last week in office rotation and folks will be back home this week. I will be doing my usual Day 1 and Day 2 but need to train Sunday instead of Saturday due to the gym hosting a competition (that my sister is competing at). I wasn’t feeling nearly as beat up from the last Saturday session I finished. Plan with training appears to be doing one week with harder Day 1 and Day 3 (this week) and then lighter Day 2 and then have the following week be lighter Day 1 and Day 3 and hard Day 2. Allergies were pretty bad in the morning but cleared up by the afternoon thankfully. Hamstrings had been decently sore and I could tell that my forearms (especially the right) were feeling the keg contact. Having to do skin care for the hands to keep from having callus issues with the sweating and humidity. Little bit of skin abrasion on the left thumb from keg too. Foam rolling there were some spots that needed it like my upper calves and lot needed in my quads. Elsewhere was fine.  Neck rehab was fine. Felt good. Kind of got what I think is good enough for my warming up for the glutes at this time. I may add something in for hamstrings. Lower body stretches followed up with a dead hang to decompress. The start to this session was as last time. PVC pipe exercise superman holds. I didn’t film these again as treating these as warming up. I felt I was recovering a little better and did 30 seconds rest between the sets. Could tell there was some lower back fatigue from Saturday. Then it was the ITs. Same weight and reps as last time. Since these seemed to be the same and no changes (kind of part of warm up now), I did film them so I could kind of keep things moving along. These felt good for the shoulders and upper back. I was running a little behind with figuring out the session as I can’t really troubleshoot and plan like when I’m home on telework during my breaks with my on PC vs trying to get it sorted on my phone. Outside for the majority of the session. It looked like it was going to rain but it never did. Log clean and press and for heavier fair today. Notes were to work up to 6x1 at something that felt decently heavy but not something I’d freak out or be stressed about (RPE 8). However, I tend to get stressed at just about any weight being pressed above 180lbs it seems on log or axle. My hope was that I would be good with how last week went for the most part here. I really wanted to be feeling stronger. Only do one clean warming up to kind of save myself and try to focus on the pressing since it was going to be singles here. Cleans felt strong, but weight felt heavy on my shoulders/chest today. I was hoping I could do 240lbs comfortably but with how 210lbs felt, I went with 230lbs to start. The cleans felt powerful all session and video does say that 230lbs moved fast on the press. My ego had me sneak on small plates after the first two singles to get to 235lbs with my overarching plan to be doing the two final singles with 240lbs. First one with 235lbs didn’t feel so crisp and that was a bit of wonky lockout. I overcorrected a little I think the second as the clean recovery kind of knocked me off balance backwards and had to let it settle but it went up better. Again, these don’t look bad but it felt heavy on my body in the rack position. First one with 240lbs I tried to correct further and that seemed to be fine with the clean but balance a little off with press and had to walk back with it. By the time of the last lift, I did get the clean right but weight was feeling draining in the rack and I wanted to get a stable base to press for this last one. So bit of a mixed bag feeling here. Got a good bit to catch up with log and I feel like that may have me feel the pressure to go up with doubts in my ability to have it there game day type thing and just knowing that this weight is less than 80% of my lifetime best on this lift. But moving on. Secondary pressing after that with the javelin thrusters. So I guess I was doing them right but was advised to lower the pins a notch as might be cutting my dip short a hair. This exercise seemed to be the thing people noticed and that was neat from last week. So plan was to do 4x3 this week with same weight. I had a feeling though that I was going to do a little more weight just because these were starting to click. I wore my knee sleeves for these this time to hopefully have my right knee not so stressed and to also get used to them for circus dumbbell right after yoke. I may have been rushing a little with worries about rain and also just getting the session done before it was really late. These felt powerful for the most part and I felt powerful doing them just tossing that weight up there. Took my mind off of log press thoughts for the time. I feel like I could do 135lbs on these for a rep or two if I wanted. I’m curious how these will pay off. Up next was the pairing of log floor press those banded deadbugs. This time it was 4x6 on the log stuff and 4x12 on the deadbugs. RPE 8 was suggested for the log stuff. I had an idea before the session started but seeing how my pressing had felt with log I lowered that expectation but then cautiously raised it with how the javelin stuff went. This time around, log floor pressing didn’t feel as good as it has. Anterior delts felt sore. I did end up going lighter than my high end plan but not quite my lowest revised end here. Felt decent enough the first set. The deadbugs I was trying to focus on locking the nonmoving side here. That was a bit of focus struggle there with making sure I stated braced in spots but mobile in others. A lot to focus on with the band distraction. Second set pressing felt a little better so I did what I do and added a little weight. Third set felt the best of the day so I felt good but fourth set felt the roughest of them. The deadbugs remained about the same. Last thing had a slight change to it. Still rear delt dumbbell stuff but more weight and less reps. And pairing with banded triceps with holds at lockout. Always with the triceps. The dumbbell stuff was about what it was going to be. I may have had the tension a little light the first set but I did make sure it was appropriate tension where I gripped things the second set. Put stuff away and took care of some things at my folks before getting to eat. I had an appetite so I unfortunately ended up eating what was to be two dinners. Stretched before cleaning up.

June 6, 2026 – Week 8, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
35x15
125x6
191x5
257x4
301x3
353x5
353x5
353x5
353x5

Yoke (drop and turn halfway)
210x50’/50’
390x25’/25’
480x50’
570x50’/50’ in 20.70 seconds
570x50’/50’ in 19.93 seconds
570x50’/50’ in 19.44 seconds

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
49x5
85x4
113x3
140x4
140x4
140x4

Titan Fitness Farmers Pick and Marches (16”)
135x1+2 seconds
185x1+2 seconds
225x1+2 seconds
265x1+10 seconds/1+10 seconds
265x1+10 seconds/1+10 seconds
265x1+10 seconds/1+10 seconds

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (54”)
200x25’/200x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in 47.30 seconds
200x25’/200x25’/225x25’/225x25’ in ??.?? seconds

Backwards Sleg Drag (turf)
635x48’4” in 60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I was feeling a bit tired but I knew that since been getting up early for work that I’d likely get up before 9:30AM even if I was tired on Saturday for training. Trying to manage things this week so that I don’t get overwhelmed. Which meant focusing on other stuff Thursday rather than getting in a walk and just doing that Friday after work instead. Work is odd but I think some of the changes I’ve made to my process is making things less screwy with doing stuff timely. Driving out took a little longer with congestion at spots so I was thinking a bit on how World’s was the better option to pick with things as they stand. Apparently the one gym nearby that was the only one with a piece of equipment that will be used at Nationals (and I wasn’t going to spend over $1000 to buy) announced they were closing end of March for May 31st and I only found out about that last week. The people running Nats seem to have an attitude I don’t vibe with and I’d need to buy new equipment to train on for it. I feel old with the different messaging apps that are being used for information. I think what also finalized those feelings was that the max dumbbell event the opener was going to be 185lbs and 15lbs jumps. The show is also sharing space with other stuff as part of an expo and essentially training 3 overhead lifts for max, max axle pull and axle squat and a mystery event in near 100 degree temps is not my idea of a good time. I’m still keeping membership with SC for now in the event good show pops up as there aren’t many for NS at this time. I can use the excuse to travel and see family when it happens. NS shows have been local/parking lot run stuff from what I’ve done and seen but the end result competition is great fun and well run. Seeing USS Nationals needing several YouTube channels for livestream coverage and there being like 500 competitors is too much chaos for me. Anyways, on to my actual training for the day as it was a long one. It initially seemed like it was going to be cooler and it was as I commented to like the one other person there it was a ghost town. Which apparently jinxed that as a much of people showed up (none strongman) and it got a good bit warmer and more humid with that influx of people. But it does seem like that youth sports thing didn’t happen today or is done so that was one less thing. Foam rolling I didn’t need much anywhere. Hamstrings were quite tight though. Neck rehab stuff was ok and thankfully just felt tight and nothing achy. I did cut down on some of the stuff to try and consolidate and have the warming up streamlined a bit more. Same with the lower body glute stuff. Lower body stretching was fine. Dead hang felt nice. Today’s session was a reduced session of what I was to do last time before I called it quits because I felt like ass. Axle squats to start things off. Plan being kind of a reset and work up to 4x5 with it being RPE 7. I initially had a plan for 146.5kgs here based off how my last session had gone with 400lbs and even taking into consideration where I’d be at from the session before that. But some changes to this in that I invested in new support gear. Namely, neoprene shorts (2.5mm) and 3-ply knee sleeves. Trying what I can to see if I can get closer to not zeroing this squat event. The shorts did not breath and I was feeling quite hot and sweating a lot so I finally brought over a fan with an extension cord so that I’d not sweat the bar off my back and to not overheat. I’m not sure what support the shorts provided other than compression but felt good but the knee sleeves definitely did something here. Not that that necessarily means the rest of me will hold up. Some uneven touches and I’m not sure if I’m lopsided or the pads slightly off in height. I ended up doing 160kgs here for my sets. I got better as I went here. My forearms seemed to get sore supporting the weight today. Maybe from the sandbag and zercher stuff earlier this week? Not a great start but it was a good start considering how last time I was under this weight it felt terrible. From there, moved on to yoke. Last time I was to work up to heavy holds and then do some contest style runs. With the focus on recovery, this adjust was to just do the runs. Distance on yoke was adjusted so instead of being 40’ down and back, it is now 50’s down and back. My right hamstring was feeling a little tight at the start but once I got up and moving, it was fine. Had to play around with warming up so as that I got used to the different aspects. I’ve definitely noticed how much better my yoke is compared to before I started working with Ms. Funk and now and it feels comfortable for the most part. I wore my left wrist wrap to get used to it since this will be going into circus dumbbell. I need to work on getting myself centered on the yoke better on the return. But these felt smooth. Swapped in a fresh shirt at this point. Circus dumbbell after that. This was the same as it was written for the past session Work up to 140lbs for 3 sets of 3-4 reps. I was aiming for the 4 reps here. A little stiff warming up. I could tell my lower back and hamstrings were feeling this week on these. I brought the fan over for this and didn’t rush things as far as the set or the rest. I was pretty much using my rest breaks to put away stuff from the previous thing I did as there was a lot and I had to also then setup for the next thing and so on. So a fairly casual pace of things today. Like everything else so far, I felt these went better as I went. Rice Krispie break before moving on to the last three things for the session. Farmer’s again. But not runs. Essentially I was to do a pick and then march in place for 10 seconds and set it down to then repick it up and do another 10 seconds. This was programmed for last time but the RPE was dropped considerably which was definitely a good thing as the pick on farmer’s and deadlifts really taxes my lower back. I was initially thinking of using different handles from what I was using at home because I do not like the Titan Fitness handles but apparently the grip diameter is the closest to contest specs so going to be using them ugh. I was initially going to just do picks warming up but after seeing that there can be challenges with walking in place on something you are used to either standing with or moving forward that I should do some marching working up as well. This is not ideal weather for the hands and these grips on the handles do it no favors. Each set the initial pick felt terrible but then the second pick felt “comfortable” which isn’t how it felt doing the drop and turn runs on Wednesday. Speaking of that, I turned around after the first pick each set to mimic having to do that and find new hand placement as otherwise I’d probably end up using the stretch reflex. The next thing apparently required the most setup for today. The last event for the competition is a loading medley with two kegs and two sandbags. Distances are staggered with the furthest one being about 25’ away and loaded to 52”. The issue being that the kegs will need to be loaded standing upright so loading over a yoke won’t really train that aspect. I can load a keg over something good but setting it upright requires something else. So I had to kind of reinforce the one loading platform. But that ended up being 3” too high so I was able to get to only being 2” too high. Good enough. So kegs to platform and the sandbags over yoke. I didn’t have 215lbs implements for the second set so options were either 200lbs again or do 225lbs so I went heavier option. I didn’t do any warm ups here as I felt it was light enough and I was already hours into this session. I wore some copper elbow/knee sleeves to protect my biceps from the lip of the keg causing bruises when I picked it up. It has been a while since I’ve lifted a keg so kind of remembering what to do with pain as a reminder. No issues with the sandbags other than I need to get them up higher on my body. First keg I had it low and the second keg felt a lot better. It took a bit to reset everything and I unfortunately forgot to hit record so I could figure out what my timing was. However, I had more issues with the loading of the kegs this time as I got the second keg stuck on the lip and had to fight it up there before getting to the second sandbag. I will need to remember to tape my left thumb for next time as that was getting the brunt of it when I was going for the load on the keg and popping it upright. I didn’t put this stuff away just yet as I had just one more thing to do and I wanted to get that done so I could finally put down a protein shake and then worry about putting stuff away. Last thing being a heavy backwards sled drag. Load it up and pull it on the turf for a minute straight. The contest weight for this is almost 700lbs and my worry is getting it started and moving with it being on turf. I don’t think I’ve tried more than say 200kgs on turf uphill style. The initial plan was two sets but just the one for this adjusted session. Fine by me. Loaded the 35lbs sled with 400lbs in plates and then topped it with the 200lbs sandbag. No warming up here other than the empty sled to the starting point. Legs should be warmed up enough by this point. Going to find out real quick if this was a bad idea. It moved so that is good and I was able to get the full minute with it. Felt good but man it felt weird with my shoes. Downed a shake and took my time putting away everything before driving to the truck stop along the way home as it was the only place under $4 a gallon. I sweated a ton and my face was a bit raw from using a towel to wipe sweat. Cooled down at home and stretched.

June 3, 2026 – Week 8, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Deadlifts w/ Bands (straps, platform, wagon wheels, +13lbs/+48lbs)
135x2
225x2
275x2
315x2
60 seconds rest
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2
365x2

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
135x50’
185x50’
drop and turn halfway
235x50’/50’ in 19.57 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 20.37 seconds
235x50’/50’ in 19.87 seconds

Sandbag Rows/Safety Squat Bar Alternating Reverse Lunges
bwx10/10 (rack assisted)
112x3 – 65x5/5
225x5 – 120x8/8
225x5 – 120x8/8
225x5 – 120x8/8 – 225x5

Toes Elevated Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings
155x6
225x12
225x12
225x12

Stretching

Comments: Anterior delts feeling pretty sore from Monday. I’m trying to recall if they got sore the first week log was back on the menu or not. I don’t recall them being sore the second week. So not sure if sore from log or if the new javelin thrusters. I didn’t seem too bad with how I felt after training and recovery. I think part of taking that week off had helped me see what I need to stick to with the 4 weeks commuting rotation to get rest and make sure that I’m not stressed out. Of course this is once half way through it. Went for a walk Tuesday after work. A little leery about lower body stuff as some tightness sensation in the right hamstring. Can’t tell if that is just from fatigue and training or something else. I know I get more anxious as stuff becomes more time compressed and if I’m not recovering enough to mentally push away stressors. I’m definitely handling it a lot better with last week and this week. I didn’t quite get off to a fast start for the session as I had to do some things for setting up at the house to train. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things. Again, didn’t really need much on anything besides the usual areas. Lower legs needing the most. Right quad needing about twice as much as the left. Neck rehab stuff followed. While shoulders felt a little achy, stuff getting stretched felt tight and this stuff felt good to do. Still tweaking the lower body glute activation stuff. Lower body stretching was fine and finished up with a dead hang. On to the session. Deadlifts were up but not like they’d been the first two sessions. I had mentioned that I seemed to feel better mentally when stuff is moving fast and feels good and that perhaps a greater contrast between my heavy sessions and lighter sessions on deadlift would result in better recovery with everything else being trained. So this may be a product of that. So notes were to do 10x2 with deadlifts having bands. No set weight or band tensions but aim was RPE 7-8 and pulling fast with strong lockouts. Also 60 seconds rest. I figured that I wanted between 10-15% of whatever my estimated max is right now at lockout for the bands. I could’ve done just normal setup but I decided to be extra and do the wagon wheels and platform anyways. That way more tension at the start and lockout with less bands needed. Lockout is a bit estimated as it was between 64-70lbs before my hand slipped and my luggage scale broke from the band smashing it against the deadlift platform lol (note new scale says it was actually 48lbs to frowny face). Something I was hoping would work here was going barefoot. I had felt like I wasn’t getting any glute engagement the past few sessions and my feet just felt like they were there. I saw that with my younger sister that she wasn’t pulling as well lately and her last training we went no shoes and she felt much better. I think that maybe this will help me wake my feet up and get more engagement/recruitment. Anything helps for deadlift. I was not entirely sure what weight I’d end up on or if my hamstring would act up here but I figured I wasn’t going to be doing these doubles with 405lbs. I usually start with no bands and then add them but I figured I should just get into from the start to save time here. Felt good and I did a 90lbs jump next before going to 40-50lbs like I had intended. I got a little worked up with the music playing at the start so I kind of burned a lot of energy with dancing around and had to calm myself down to recover after that. There does seem to be a sweet spot to hit on these. Always a work in progress deadlifts. But these felt good and my back didn’t feel terrible. So did what I wanted. I moved some weight fast and had a good time. Farmer’s walk was up next and I had to set that up outside for obvious reasons. Notes were to do 225-235lbs for 3 sets of contest run after warming up. I was a little leery about things with the hamstring and moving. Also felt like ass last time I did farmer’s and I think I was not looking forward to having my face close to the hot asphalt and my own body heat getting into position to go. Notes were to be speedy. I changed up the warm up sets to hopefully make more sense and be easier on me with setup and the like. Cut down how many times I picked them up after deadlifts. Picks definitely felt better as far as my back this time around. I also felt like I was moving better. I didn’t go all they way through the line like last week as I didn’t want to run into my car and this is more like how it will run at the show. Repick still needs some work. I think also having my road be slanted makes faster one way (downhill) and slower the other (uphill). With it being humid and such, taking a bit longer rests to recover with it getting to be this way almost every day. I remember needing longer rests with moving events and supersets last year in the summer heat. I had all of the garage fans going. No issues with farmer’s. I think I was also mindful of keeping them off my thighs so I didn’t get nasty bruises from the pins on these handles this week. I think there were neighbors out walking on two of the three sets I did (not including setting up and putting away). So far, so good with today. Setup and tear down is a bit of pain here. Back in the garage for superset of sandbag rows and alternating reverse lunges with the ssb. This was a little different in that I was to do four sets of rows and only three sets of lunges. Lighter weight on the sandbag but more reps and lesser RPE on the lunges with less reps allowed (given 8-10 range). Sandbag was suggested to be 200lbs. I don’t have one but depending on how I felt, I was prepared to put 25lbs plate on my 175lbs bag as that wouldn’t be too bad. But I eventually decided to do 225lbs instead. It hadn’t been to kind to me last time. Honestly, I’d rather do any of my bags besides the 175lbs or 225lbs because of the top knot style. Lunges took a bit to get warmed up and not have my knees screaming at me. Eventually they got where I wanted them to be but it takes effort. My legs were feeling log and farmer’s so I knew I’d need decent rest between sets so that I wasn’t gassing out on the lunges as those can put me in a precarious position. I decided on the third set of this pairing that I’d take a short rest of like 30 seconds at most to go right after the lunges into the fourth and final set of the sandbag rows. I don’t need a ton of rest to recover enough to do the rowing, it was for the lunges haha. It was getting pretty darn late at this point so I’m thankful that I had only one thing left. I’d have cried if I had more as I’d get no sleep after eating and stretching. So last call for the session was those ssb zercher gms. 3x12 again and same weight as last time. Now these have felt funky with feeling fantastic some sets and feeling terrible on my lower back the next. My hope this time around was that wouldn’t be the case. One thought in that my back was fresher and I was got better engagement in my glutes on deadlifts earlier. The other was seeing if my soft belt would keep that sensation in check that I feel like my ligaments/tendons in my lower back are straining. There was hesitancy to do that first rep but after it felt great, I was good to go and had no issues. Glutes were feeling these as well as hamstrings. I could tell I was going to be feeling this session tomorrow. Put away stuff and finally got to eating and stretching before bed.