July 4, 2026 – Week 12, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Wagon Wheel Squats to Pads (27”)
90x8
150x6
200x5
250x4
300x3
350x3
350x3
350x3
350x3
350x3

Yoke (drop and turn halfway, turf)/Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
235x40’/40’ – 70x4
375x40’ – 100x3
465x20’/20’ – 137x2
555x40’ – 160x1
645xpick – 176x0,0
176x1
645x40’/40’ – 160x1 in 40.86 seconds
645x40’/40’ – 160x0,1 (ugly) in 55.60 seconds
645x40’/40’ – 160x1 (ugly) in 41.23 seconds

Keg/Sandbag/Keg/Sandbag Carry and Loads (52”, turf)
202x26’/220x19’/235x13’/250x6’6” in 44.57 seconds
202x26’/220x19’/235x13’/250x6’6” in 40.80 seconds

Sled Push, Sprint, Sandbag Carry and Pulls (turf)
351x30’/220x30’/551x30’ in 46.67 seconds
351x30’/220x30’/551x30’ in 44.03 seconds

Stretching

Comments: The heat had been brutal as expected. I did not do any walking Thursday or Friday as just not worth it. Saturday was still hot but not quite up to that level at least when I got up. Since the gym closer by has no AC, I ended up going to the gym I was at last Saturday. I had fully planned on being there again but was thinking more along the following week at the earliest or sometime in the last block before competition (just to get another touch or two on those dumbbells). I got up at about the same time as I didn’t want to be too early as apparently the one room I was in has a class usually early in the morning. Maybe because I did the drive just last week and the weather was a bit better, it didn’t feel like that rough a drive once I got off the highway. I had been debating going Friday (off work) and today and relied on my father’s knowledge the there would be less traffic on the fourth rather than the day before. I actually was looking forward to the more windy roads as that would get me out of the direct sunlight. I was a little concerned I might get sunburn via windshield. No issues with the drive out. Ty wasn’t there as he was on a camping trip with his family. I must’ve misheard him last week as I thought that was going to be the following week. But I guess this week. So just me. I was expecting Chase and Calvin at some point but I guess they also had other plans. Which was fine. I’d likely slow myself down to talk to someone. I didn’t really notice anyone that was the same as when I was in last week. I kind of get used to seeing “regulars” at the other gym. My left elbow was feeling achy for some reason and it only felt off as of today. Right knee also feeling a bit achy. 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. Lighter session. Notes indicated work up to 350x5x3 but keep the rests 2-3 minutes long. I figure I was probably taking longer rests as I’d been stripping off the belts and wraps and pulling down the thick knee sleeves between sets. I didn’t really have a good gauge of things so I figured I’d keep everything on the whole time and just worry about the wrist wraps. My knees were feeling pretty achy today which hasn’t been the case in a good bit. I knew that there would be some issues here with having done heavy deadlifts and farmer’s. I did get to have an extra day of rest and a day off work so I was definitely going to be more rested coming into this compared to last week. It was also about 10 degrees hotter than last week so even with the A/C, I was sweating a good bit. My rests ended up being about 90 seconds on these after the fact. Squats and log are iffy at this point if I’ll have a chance at the mercy weights. From there, it was on to the dumbbell into yoke. Things had been following a heavy/light rotation but that seems to be more a guideline. Ms. Funk had indicated that the medleys the intensity would be increasing. I had assumed that was more the keg/sandbag and sled stuff. But I guess not. The other part being more focusing on the likelihood of getting a dumbbell after the yoke with where I’m at currently and where I could be. So this was to be 30lbs heavier on the yoke and then doing 1 instead of 2 dumbbells with suggested weight 5-10lbs more than last week. I wanted to stick with the inch style dumbbells so it was going to be either 160lbs or 176lbs. I was about 50/50 with the 160lbs dumbbell last time and I knew I’d need more practice on this. I had an idea with warming up. Yoke, since some stuff was moved, I was able to do it fully on the turf. I felt that made the most sense with things rather than half and half it. The knee achiness wasn’t helping here on yoke. I also didn’t want to have it be like last week where I didn’t realize not able to pick up speed and the top set feeling heavy. I just told myself that I can handle this and that the turf is going to make things tougher. So nothing really to say about yoke besides it being work. Dumbbell I was feeling surprisingly good. I was worried with my left elbow feeling a little off/achy here but didn’t seem to be an issue. I got 160lbs clean in my warm up and decided that I’d give the 176lbs a shot. This would be the weight of the first dumbbell at the show after the yoke. It would be a PR for me on this style dumbbell to get it. I felt good first attempt at it but my damn 3-ply belt with Velcro popped off from my bracing and I lost tightness. It felt similar to how 160lbs was last week so I knew it was there but it was a technique and skill issue. Second attempt was not close so I took a bit more of break like I did last time and came back at it. I’m actually surprised I got it this time as my first dip it felt off and I had to pause and rebrace. But it was good to hit this. Now I got to do that after carrying over 800lbs some 80’ first. I went with 160lbs for the actual working sets just to make sure as yoke took a bit out of me last time and I figured might be similar this week. Slow and steady on the yoke and took my time to get myself ready. I was shocked how easily 160lbs went up that first set. I had to double check and make sure I hadn’t rolled 137lbs out by mistake. So that had felt good. I told myself that if it felt that good the next set, I’d switch in the 176lbs one for the last set. Yoke felt about the same and I came for the dumbbell and it was in the rack how I thought it was to be but it didn’t get in the right spot and I went for it again. This ended up being a not pretty rep. I wasn’t going to be killing myself on this today. I do feel like I need to do more sets of singles like EMOM or something with this dumbbell to drill this in as I feel like I got regular circus dumbbell figured out but not this. Third run it was another ok run with yoke and then got ugly rep on the dumbbell. I didn’t need two attempts to get it this time at least. So only the first run being one that was good in my book. I also picked up the 176lbs dumbbell with one hand both sides (right was a lot more convincing vs left) before I was done with stuff in this room and move on to the other area to do the medley stuff.  I swapped in a fresh shirt (I didn’t have to do that last week lol) and ate a rice Krispie treat. I had brought up an old keg to add to the small collection here. It used to be Mike Jenkins’ and had been with a friend and then became mine like 11yrs ago. But it has just be collecting dust and spiders for like the last decade now so I brought it up with me. My plan had been to bring my plateloaded keg up here but I didn’t end up back in Lancaster to get it so this is what I had. Reason even bothering with it was that the plan was to do the same thing as last week but with heavier keg at the start. The actual plan had been 225lbs for first two implements and then 250lbs for the last two. Which is possible at Lancaster (I have a new 250lbs bag to leave there). So I set things up as best I could with what I thought was 215lbs keg, 220lbs sandbag, 250lbs keg and 250lbs sandbag. No real warm up besides setting everything up and going at it. With the second set being faster than the first. My handtruck made moving stuff around much smoother compared to the dolly. The dolly was also being used to hold a heavy weight stand so also a good thing I brought it with me. I felt good but I was having a nagging suspicion about the kegs so I weighed them. Turns out the 200lbs keg was 198lbs (so close at least) but my 215lbs keg was only 202lbs and the 250lbs keg was only 235lbs. So that is a bit annoying. I know that if I’m doing this medley up here, I need my plate loaded keg. Last thing was the push and pull medley. Adding in the sandbag portion to this. This was also geared more towards being at the Lancaster gym with weights but I made it work. Only the 220lbs sandbag here. 45lbs added to the push portion and 25lbs added to the drag portion. It would be interesting to see how my shoes work here. I’ve been doing this without my hard belt but I figured I may need it to not be so beat going into the farmer’s walk event at end of Day 1 so I wore it here. The sandbag carry felt like the most awkward of things doing this. Push felt strong on the first set and made it through the sandbag and drag. Second set I was feeling stronger but I hit some kind of snag near the end on the turf with the push. No issues with the other parts after that. Put stuff away after I downed my shake and made it home just in time to beat a violent storm which promptly knocked my power out. I ended up stretching kind of hoping power would be back shortly but it wasn’t. Luckily my folks had been cooking chili all day so I was able to eat something hot for dinner. Hopefully the power issue gets resolved soon.