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.