September 21, 2026 – Week 4, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Band Pec Flyes/Paused Band Pull-Aparts (3 seconds)
lb’sx20/µbx20
lb’sx20/µbx20

12” Log High Incline Bench Presses (3 seconds eccentrics)
87x10
105x8
120x6
135x5
150x4
165x3
180x10
160x10
160x10
160x10

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
56’sx5
86’x10
86’x10
86’x10

Feet Elevated Bench Dips
bwx5
bw+20x5
bw+53x15
bw+53x15
bw+53x16 (miscounted)

Chaos Chain Bradford Presses
PVC+44lbsx60 seconds
PVC+44lbsx60 seconds
PVC+44lbsx60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Another week down. I do wish I was telework full-time so I can get better sleep. Unless weather issues, I should be able to get in more walks on my days off lifting this week. Weight was up a lot. 7lbs from last week. Baffling in that day to day calories are less than they were with swapping smaller treat in place of a protein shake during commute cycle. I tested twice to make sure reading accurate. Maybe the off season is going really well with just one week of the barbell lifts haha. I didn’t notice it so I guess that is ok (or not). If it goes up a lot next week check in, maybe I try and figure it out. Right quad on the outside quite sore and that was kind of most noticed thing. Takes a bit to deload from the work day with coming home so I was still a little slow with getting things moving along to train here. But I at least knew what to do and setup this time around. Foam rolling starting things off. Calves and hamstrings only needed a little. Maybe ankle/knee stuff is helping in the calf area. Quads needed a good bit but not as much as I was expecting with how sore the right one was. But more like an inflamed sore than a DOMS sore if that make sense. Upper back needed a good bit of work too. Neck rehab/mobility stuff followed that and felt pretty good. Chest was feeling tight but not too bad. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility but could tell my hamstrings were a tad tight but no so much needing a second round. Dead hang to finish things up and did notice some shoulder tension here still but not too bad. Starting point of the session was bands superset. Keeping the pec flyes with paused pull-aparts as that seems more the ticket and moving the paloff press to Day 3 session where it fits better. These felt better and less awkward with band tension feeling movement. Could also be that doing stuff since that are more exhausting/taxing of these muscle groups. Moved the bands up a little on the rack for the flyes so it wasn’t feeling like lower pecs only. The eccentric focused high incline log was next. The sky wasn’t looking inviting so it was possible this could get rain involved. This would be the only thing outside anyways. Not as many exercises compared to the other sessions for now so aim was a bit more volume on the log this week. More sets working up and reps. Plan was to do a bit more than last week for a top set leaving 1-2RIR on that set and then take off about 20lbs to do three matching rep sets. Last time I did this workout (lower incline angle) I had done 190lbs for 10 reps and then struggled to match 170lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps (I think I had to rest pause two of them). That had been with a stricter rest period. I knew that I might have issues with picking things right here and let myself rest enough to put in solid effort on the down sets. Top weight the aim was 180lbs. About 15lbs jumps. I wasn’t feeling confident with how my shoulders were feeling and the weight was moving but I guess I sandbag a bit and when it is a test set, I can pick things up a bit. I probably could’ve called it at 9 reps to be sure I had 1-2RIR but I went for 10 because reasons and that was definitely pushing it. The down sets were tough but doable. Last set was the one that almost got away from me on the last rep. That was not a pretty one but I didn’t want to get it stuck on my chest and have to bail. Despite that, good to see I could handle the reps with this more shoulder focused press angle for the incline log. Really hitting shoulders and triceps hard. Lockout control is better compared to before I feel from past efforts in the last year. Good to see recovering week to week so far and with having push pressing just two days earlier. It started raining shortly after I moved inside to do the rest of workout. Chest supported dumbbell rows with same plan as last week. Control with 3 second holds for 3x10. Did same warm up as didn’t want to take up time and exhaust myself for the working weight. First set I could tell felt a little off with feeling more in my arms but felt a lot better on the second and third sets. Chalk to kind of deal with humidity and keep rain off my hands from getting stuff back inside. Next item was bench dips. These had felt good in the moment but then I was worried about them after the fact. Sometimes it takes 2-3 business days for me to feel the full effect of what I’ve done to myself from exercises. Elbows had been a bit achy in a weird way. Notes for this was to warm up and try and slow the tempo down a bit so controlled and not just pumping out the reps. I elected to do the weight I did for the first set last time for the 3x12-15 but obviously aiming for 15 reps as long as I felt I had 2RIR. After the log incline, I felt like right arm feeling more sore than the left with things. Shoulders felt tight. I did try to also keep my body long and not have my feet/legs roll up the support and cut the lever arm shorter to become easier. Felt fine enough. I lost count on the last set and did an extra rep. One more week of these and then switching to more elbow extension focused triceps stuff. With how things going, I was a little tempted to add something else to the session for upper back but elected to not rock the boat and just wait until I switch things over after this next week. Upper back got worked plenty last week. Last item of the session those chaos chain Bradford presses for timed sets. Same weight and time of 3 sets of 60 seconds. As mentioned, the plan had been to do these with 120 seconds rest but my laziness in using the dual timer and head counting had me closer to 155 seconds or so. So this time I did the dual counter but had the rest for 135 seconds to act as kind of a breaking in with aim to do the true 1:2:3 plan of these for the final session. Less rest does make more challenging and I was getting about 49 reps in a minute for each set (not back and forth as 1 rep mind you). Got it done and time to eat dinner and then stretch. With things planned out for the most part for the next 16 weeks, I feel a lot less stress with my training as I know what the next week is and building on from there and so on with the whole plan laid before me.

September 19, 2026 – Week 3, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paloff Back Breaker Presses/Step Ups w/ Band TKEs (8”, ab)/Dead Bugs
mb’sx10 – bwx10/10 – bwx5/5
mb’sx10 – bwx10/10 – bwx5/5

Push Presses (beltless, 3 second dip eccentrics)
45x5
65x4
85x3
105x2
125x2
145.5x5
145.5x5
145.5x5
145.5x5
145.5x5

Front Squats (beltless, 5-1-0-0 tempo)
45x3
75x3
105x3
135x3
165x8
165x8

Paused Heel Elevated Sandbag Squats (2 seconds, no lockouts)
112x15
112x15

Quad Fallbacks/Neck Harness Back Extension Holds
bwx6/bw+25x30 seconds
bwx6/bw+25x30 seconds
bwx6/bw+25x30 seconds

Power Pin Swings (EMOM)
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8
88.5x8

Backwards Treadmill Pushes (10% Incline)
5 minutes

Stretching

Comments: I was dragging ass by the end of the week. The getting up a little earlier and the added walking did cut into my recovery stuff as already there is a deficit with the commuting vs telework sleep schedule. I was exquisitely sore from Day 2 session from the tempo snatch grips as well as the other stuff that has not really been done or focused on. I was at least able to do soft tissue work but I know that my body would’ve appreciated doing some longer walks to loosen things up. But plan was to tough it out and just sleep in on the weekend. And no “guilt” in doing that as I wasn’t intending to train at the strongman gym this weekend. Reason being that next weekend will be closed for powerlifting meet. This is a new switch from the previous two weeks and plan is after these next two weeks to switch further so I’d rather keep things consistent these two weeks. What also solidified that plan was there was construction happening near the highway where I have to get on to go out to train (there had been some last weekend but this weekend it sounded worse) and I didn’t want to deal with that nonsense for something that could be done at home on my own terms. Digestion was feeling a bit off so that further delayed starting training where I figured it was best to just have breakfast and then after training have an earlier dinner. Foam rolling to start things out as has been the case for some time now. Calves needed a bit more than they’ve had to have the past week and really nothing much else really felt that bad besides upper back (which was expected). Neck rehab stuff was fine and no issues with glute activation and lower body mobility. Dead hang to decompress a tad before getting into training. The Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, I’ve been going more of a prefatigue and getting muscles targeted circumstance whereas today was more of a priming things and getting mobile intent. I had made slight adjustments to this just based on feedback from this week. A triset of the back breaker paloff presses from Day 1 (new home for them) and then some more typical of this session of step ups with band TKEs and some dead bugs. I wanted to get stuff feeling less tense in the lower back but ready for movement and get my knees ready for a lot of bending today but moving in a good way. The paloff variation because this was also going to be a pressing session. These seemed to go well enough. Then time to actually put some weights in my hands so to speak. Push presses up first. It has been since World’s that I’ve done push pressing and it has been probably a decade since I’ve done push press with a barbell. While intent is to work on lower body drive overhead, the return to just barbell was to focus on the mechanics of the press from essentially the start square. It has been log or axle and feel like there is something that is amiss with overhead with disconnect with lower body and upper body. Competition is log but we are like 18 weeks away from that and I’ve kind of gotten sick with my feelings towards axle and log in the past 3yrs. Barbell should make things easier to have close to body and work on getting cooperation with leg drive and press. So plan is to do two waves of three weeks with the focus on the dip drive. The first three weeks being eccentric focus and the next three being isometric focus before switching to log to start specificity to competition. Percentages are light and I’m using 264.5lbs/120kgs as my estimated 1rm here. No belt, only wrist wraps. I’ve never really done these with the controlled lowering of eccentric on the dip phase as always has been with lowering the weight from lockout to shoulders. I’ve done overloads with axle last year but that was only for like 2 weeks and not really working there. But my understanding of this is that the dip is the only eccentric loading of the overhead for the first rep and that the eccentric for the lockout to shoulders is more for strict pressing and maybe loading for a second rep if going into rebound style. Working on shoulder/rack position mobility here. Timing the lowering to actually getting into the position is tough so I imagine this will be helpful for me in the long run. I was feeling like I was getting there more consistently by the end of the sets. Plan for next week is more weight and more sets but lower reps. From there, onto front squats. Already warmed up with the push presses to some degree. Front squats are to be my main squat assistance for this prep and offseason approach. Unlike other stuff this week, I was going to wear my knee sleeves. Give some support as focus is to try and do more knees over toes emphasis rather than sitting back and having my knees rigid. Beltless and using the strap grip to give my wrists a bit of break from the push pressing and be a bit more log focused. Aim being RPE 5-6 for 2x8 with long eccentric. The last time I did these was like 3yrs ago and I recalled these had been quite sucky for me. Ended up only doing like 135lbs and that was with a belt. To be fair, had been after some paused hatfiled split squats. I feel like these went better as I was fully prepared for 135lbs to be my working weight. I wasn’t sure how the weather was going to hold up so I put away what I had outside and moved into the garage to finish up the day. More squats. Initially the plan was hack squats but with the gym closed next weekend, I had elected to do a different squat variation and wait until no issues for the next few months before adding in machine exercises (I had also got rid of some machine exercises for that reason in the sessions). This was more knees over toes but with more focus on the anterior load. I was looking at goblet but figured I’d rather do my light sandbag instead. I was definitely not ready for the weight on my chest like that as I had to take a few moments just holding it up there before I felt comfortable to actually do anything. Aim was 2x15-20 with leaving reps in the tank. No lockout to keep focus on the quads. 15 reps ended up being the right call here. From there a superset of some things I’ve been working on. I did the Nordic curl eccentrics with quad fallbacks the past two weeks as a pairing but with moving days, this left it open for another but similar exercise. I’m keeping in the quad fall backs to keep up mobility in hips/knees and ankles as I don’t want to have tight upper quads impeding things. So for those, lower reps today with no target besides getting my head to the floor. I forgot that these tend to have my do-rag come off due to the movement. The thing these were paired with was back extension holds with neck harness. My plan is to just get used to these again after not doing them for about 2yrs more so to get ready to do paused back extensions in the next block of training. 25lbs on the neck harness is enough here for sure and felt solid. But I did forget that it does mess with my glasses so need to remember that for next time. With these done, it was time to do conditioning. The power pin swings were originally going to be on Day 2 but timing and just how beat that session already had me made moving to this day the best option. It has been like 3yrs since I had these as something and I was doing a lot more weight on them but not as many sets. Plan here being to use 15-20% of my 1rm raw deadlift for EMOM sets. I wasn’t sure how rough these would be but thankfully they weren’t bad. My left biceps felt tight on the first few sets until I got my body to cooperate with the movement. Plan is to do 10x10 same weight next time. Inside for the last bit of conditioning. Backwards treadmill pushing to essentially do the infinity pool version of backwards sled drag for the knees. 5 minutes of this wasn’t bad compared to when I’ve done 10 minutes of it. I figured 5 minutes was fine after doing 10 minutes of swings. Put stuff away and stretched before using my birthday gift cards to get some big burritos for the first time in 3yrs for dinner.

September 16, 2026 – Week 3, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Seated Band Hamstring Curls (3-3-0-0 tempo)
lb’sx20
lb’sx20
lb’sx20

Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (beltless, straps, 3-1-3-0 tempo)
65x5
115x5
155x5
205x10
205x10
205x11 (miscounted)

Dumbbell Walking Lunges
10’sx12/12
10’sx12/12
10’sx12/12

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (2 seconds)
bwx10/10
bwx10/10
bwx10/10

Nordic Curls Negatives (4 seconds)
bwx6
bwx6
bwx6

Standing Band Hip Adductions/Hanging L-Sits
(2)µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
(2)µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
(2)µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds

Stretching

Comments: First workout session had gone well enough. My elbows were feeling a little achy in an odd way and I think that was more from the bench dips since haven’t done them in forever. No real walking to be done this week as stupid work issue with the parking lot being repaved so have to park a third of a mile further in a different parking lot. But hopefully only for this week and two days only. But already sleep gets disrupted with the commuting vs teleworking. Make it to the weekend for home base safe and recover. Again, a little late with getting myself up and going with training. Foam roller stuff to per usual and not much was needed. Only a little more than Monday session on the quads and then upper back. Otherwise, moving right along. Neck rehabbing exercises felt good. No knee crack issues on the lower body stuff with glute activation or mobility. I eventually got to the dead hang as I was trying to figure out what I was doing with the training session. I may very well have left my converse sneakers in Scotland. I guess good thing I’ve found no shoes works better for me on deadlifts. With the offseason in this phase with barbell lifts and volume, I’m finding best to start things off with priming exercises that also add a muscle prefatgiue part of the workout. I had found hamstring stuff lacking the past few cycles and I think that is important for me to feel strong picking stuff up off the floor and for knee health. So brought back banded leg curls with tempo applied to the contraction and eccentric. Plan here was to do 3x20 with light bands. It has been a while and I had a feeling things might start off fine and then get tough and toasty pretty quick. And I was right. I did start to worry my hamstrings would be too dead for what was to come but I should know better that. Then more tempo modified stuff with snatch grip rdls. Plan being 3x10 at RPE 6-7 with these being beltless. Not just wide grip but collar to collar grip. I also wanted to treat these as full ROM in that not just stopping at midshin or slightly below that as I’ve done with rdls in the past but going to the floor. Work the ROM and mobility. I wasn’t too sure how these would feel with the tempo. I was planning on only doing 185lbs but decided to add 20lbs as I wanted to also go light at the start but know what the depth/ROM would be with a plate on there so used the 10lbs bumper plates. The metronome has been helping with keeping the timing but not entirely fool proofing things here as I accidentally did an extra rep on the last set. But that also bodes well for improving with more next time. Video says my form and bracing were really good so also a plus. After that, it was lighter fare but by no means easy stuff. Just that nothing was going to be needing much weight (if any) to do. Walking lunges for decent reps. Listed for bw but I figured my knees have been feeling better lately and I could probably handle some dumbbell weight added. In the past, I’d do these outside but I figured I’d just do them in the garage and turn around when needed to get the reps in. I just knew from usual circumstances that my knees tend to be cranky going into these variations and usually need my knee sleeves. So was fully prepared for that. But thankfully I didn’t need my knee sleeves and my knees were tolerable of the demands. So also a good sign. Copenhagen stuff is back again. I’ve done just holds in the end of last prep and this was to be plank lifts. And those can get nasty quick too. Slight movement and then hold at lockout for the reps. I’m definitely undertrained here and I know this will be good for my knees and hips. These were a bit challenging. Speaking of challenging, the next thing was also going to be tough with just bodyweight. Nordic curl eccentrics. I’ve done them the past two weeks after not doing them for a while and I need to build back up the strength here. I’m nowhere close to doing a normal rep on these and the negatives are hard enough. I did do them on Saturday for 3x5 with 5 seconds so doing them again after doing a lot of hamstring stuff first for 3x6 was going to be a bit tougher. I was aiming for 5 seconds but found that I could only handle/tolerate 4 seconds here. Last rep of the second set I actually banged my chin on the concrete not catching myself quite right in time. I know to do what I can and take my time as pushing too hard on things can irritate stuff and set me back. I know from experience with pushing these. Last item of the day was a superset. I actually was up in the air on how to finish the session. I had mentioned about the conditioning aspect and was looking at either having the planned superset and then conditioning (power swing EMOMs) or drop one of those. I figured I’d see how the superset went. I was debating if there was duplication and redundancy in some of the movements with things I did earlier but figured it was best to do what I had. Standing band hip adductions combined with hanging l-sits. Sets of 15 reps for the bands and then 30 seconds holds for the hanging abs. The band stuff was fine and I think the little setup I had was neat and good use of the previous equipment setup (the Nordic curls) as I could balance and get more band tension. The hanging raises were the death of me. My upper quads wanted to seize up immediately and it was a struggle to hold out for the full time by the end of the sets. I knew immediately with how that first set felt and the time it was already that this was a good end to the session. The power pin swings will work on the weekend when I got all the time. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

September 14, 2026 – Week 3, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Band Pec Flyes/Paused Band Pull-Aparts (3 seconds)/Paloff Back Breaker Presses
lb’sx20/µbx20/mb’sx10
lb’sx20/µbx20/mb’sx10

12” Log High Incline Bench Presses (3 seconds eccentrics)
87x10
107x8
127x6
147x3
167x8
167x8
167x8
167x8

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
56’sx5
81’x10
81’x10
81’x10

Feet Elevated Bench Dips
bwx6
bw+53x12
bw+64x12
bw+75x12

Chaos Chain Bradford Presses
PVC+44lbsx60 seconds
PVC+44lbsx60 seconds
PVC+44lbsx60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: The previous two weeks had been more GPP focused with the offseason. Real different from what I usually do. Now moving onto more gym-based focus with some GPP conditioning still involved and then transitioning after two weeks to the next thing and so on. I did not feel as sore in areas as I had the previous week. I did seem to have mystery scrapes in places. I was still a little slow with getting things moving along to train here. Foam rolling starting things off. Calves did not need much. Really the only thing that needed a ton was my right quadriceps. Everything else was fine with just a little bit. Some tension in the upper back. Neck rehab/mobility stuff followed that and felt pretty good. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility but could tell my hamstrings were a tad tight. Dead hang to finish things up and did notice some shoulder tension here. So this would be the true start to the workout cycle with the numbers kind of being important and working towards event goals. Saying it is the “pump/hypertrophy” phase not entirely accurate. These sessions are borrowing from previous “offseason” sessions with slight modifications. Starting point of the session was bands triset. I’ve done a superset before of pec flyes with paused pull-aparts. It has been 5yrs since I last did them but able to slip right in where I left off. The new addition was a new exercise for me deemed a “back breaker” variation of the paloff press. Usually it is to the side for the anti-rotational but this was as if I was doing a log/viking press with the bands anchored behind so it was abs involved as well. The pec flyes felt a little awkward with getting the tension/movement right. No issues with the pull aparts other than the 3 second holds made them take a long while to do. Not sure how I feel about the paloff variation. It is useful but I don’t think it fit with the session. I may move it to Day 3. This was more a warming up to the weighs for the session. So the first exercise with weights was log incline bench presses. I keep coming back to this exercise and I wanted to have these in the mix to work the pressing but not be a standing strict press. Hopefully allowing me to hit pressing twice with lower body drive pressing on Day 3. I did two changes here though. One was that I got one of those metronomes so that I had audio cue for tempo count as I was going to have to be comfortable with that for a good chunk of this start of prep and I tend to lose count of reps with getting certain tempo schemes. The other was I increased the angle of the incline so closer to a standing press than a bench press (previous setup was closer to midway point). Seeing if that has more carryover. So indicating that as high incline. So the plan for these was to pyramid up in weight to do 4x8 with a weight I felt I could do with 3-5RIR on that first set. The catch was that these were to be done with 3 seconds negatives and brief pause at the chest and aim for 2-3 minutes rest. I know I’m not as strong overhead wise compared to 5yrs ago so I wasn’t expecting to match those numbers. Especially since I increased the incline angle. But figured I’d start with the empty log and just add 20lbs a jump and take off reps. This movement was a tad different but I was feeling more shoulders/triceps compared to the other style it seemed. It could also be from the dips on Saturday. The good news with the metronome is that it is loud enough to hear it over my music. I was definitely 3RIR range on this effort and I was definitely feeling the fatigue at the end of each set as feeling like I was close to 1RIR on those sets. But no missed reps here or helicoptering lockouts. That was it for the outside training and into the garage for more stuff. From there it was on to rows. Dumbbell rows using the bench to support my chest. Control the movement and hold in contraction for 3 seconds. No arching the back. I know I don’t need much to really warm up for these when doing holds as the weights tend to not be that much compared to what I can heave. I also didn’t want to bother with lighter weights and dumbbells so did a set with 25’s on the handles and then went for 80ish for the working sets. Feeling the fatigue in the forearms and biceps on these with the holds. I had done rows and pull ups and mace work last week. I took about the same rest as I was doing for the incline pressing for the first two sets but for the last one I ended up taking a good bit longer to make sure I wasn’t shortchanging due to fatigue. Next item was bench dips. I think it may be almost 5yrs since I last did these. Trying something out with more triceps work. I was a little uncertain after how the slingshot dips had felt Saturday. Plan being 3x12. See how bodyweight felt and go from there. If terrible scrap it. Felt quite good and easy. Last time I started these, I remembered doing 25lbs and that was too easy and ended up doing 45lbs for the last set. I figured what the hell and put 53lbs in the backpack. These were to be with 3RIR but man that just seemed to feel too easy. I was initially going to add 5lbs but decided to pop in another 11lbs of chain instead. And that went well. I could feel the top of my triceps bulging against the skin of my arms. So put in another 11lbs of chain in there and that did eventually get close to 3RIR but still that would be a conservative estimate there. Quite surprised to be doing 30lbs more than I was expecting here. I may need to slow it down a little on the pacing. I don’t intend to do these very long once switching some exercises over. Chaos chain Bradford presses for timed sets followed that as the finisher. As I had hinted at, I was becoming fond of this one. Same weights as the past two weeks but going to 3 sets of 60 seconds. My intent here was to do 120 seconds rest and I thought I was sticking to that but my head count was unfortunately 30 seconds slower. I will try to do these again with less rest and hopefully get to 120 seconds rest vs 60 seconds work. These seem to be easy on the joints and get nice burn in the shoulders. I hope this works as a way to improve shoulder conditioning/endurance while being gentle on the shoulder joints. Plan is two more weeks of them stick to same weight and 60 seconds of work. Finished putting stuff away before eating dinner and then stretching. This seems like a good true start to things.

September 12, 2026 – Week 2, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Echo Bike/Backwards Sled Drags (turf)/Anti-rotational Side Scoop Tosses
90 seconds/200x60’—60’/14x8—8
90 seconds/200x60’—60’/14x8—8
90 seconds/200x60’—60’/14x8—8
90 seconds/200x60’—60’/14x8—8

Band Assisted Pull Ups/Slingshot Dips/Anti-rotational Kettlebell Woodchopper Swings
sbx12/bwx20/70.5x15 – 15 
sbx12/bwx20/70.5x15 – 15
sbx12/bwx20/70.5x15 – 15

Nordic Curl Negatives (5 seconds)/Quad Fallbacks (10” target)
bwx5/bwx12
bwx5/bwx12
bwx5/bwx12

Mace Swings
19x25/25 (pendulum)
19x25/25 (360)
19x25/25 (360)

Stretching

Comments: Body wasn’t feeling the greatest after last session. Something I did irritated my lower back/hip and I’m not sure if it was the increased weight on either the ssb seated gms or the ankle weight marches. The good news I guess is not doing them again after this week as switch into more gym stuff vs mobility/conditioning stuff. But it was still annoying having things feel tense. No pain, just tension in the right hip area. Just have to rest and see. With getting up earlier for the commuting, even though I felt like I had slept in a good bit, it wasn’t that bad and was able to get things ready to go. I was somewhat tempted to try and do the workout at home rather than drive with knowing there was construction diverting traffic and just seeing the costs of gas go up every day this week. Wouldn’t be so bad if I was still on the telework cycle of things. Even with having to drive a different route to get to the gym, it was mostly pleasant drive. It was a little cooler out but didn’t mean it was that much less humid. Decent amount of people there but the two I knew and friendly with left before I finished the first series of exercises. Humid even with the fans in the wind tunnel area. I ended up being distracted a bit with my mobility warming up stuff catching up and talking strongman stuff. Foam rolling starting things off. My right calf needed a ton of work today. It needed more than everything else combined for the foam rolling by like a 3 times the amount. Barely needed anything else where though. Neck rehab/mobility stuff felt like it should. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility. Might have done extra. I was glad with this bit as last session my knee got achy for no reason. Dead hang to finish things up, could feel a little tension in the shoulders. This workout is definitely the one that I get sweatiest on and becomes appropriate to lay down afterwards. Starting things off was the same triset of echo bike into sled drags and then medicine ball tosses. I kept the times, reps and distances the same here but added 15lbs to the sled drag portion. I did feel like my muscles were tired on these at the start compared to last time but felt better by the end of it. I was sweating a ton but didn’t feel completely dead during or between sets. Almost casual but that was definitely not the case when I was done as I went to be by the fan and lay there until I felt cooled off. I was kind of hoping this would have whatever was tense in my hip/back calm down with the forces required to do stuff here. I’ve usually not been a fan of the echo bike but it has grown on me. This was to be the last week (and won’t be back the next two weeks for sure) and I’m almost reconsidering that. Put that stuff away before moving onto the next triset. This had been tougher than I had expected it for the most part. The pull ups I had felt like my endurance was lagging big time with how easy the first set was compared to the last set and the dips had felt way too easy. The kettlebell stuff however felt excruciatingly tough and had really been taxing my ability to recover between sets. I was prepared for this to suck again this week with it being essentially smooth sailing after this point in the session. The pull ups felt better this week overall and I feel like I was a bit more prepared for the swings with taking a brief breather between sides before taking a rest between the triset. The dips felt odd this week. Shoulders were a little achy and so were my elbows. I didn’t really notice any of that last time when I did these although that was lower reps. It is possible from me doing more of the those bradford presses or something. But finished with this as well and lay down in front of the fan again before moving on to the next thing. I was feeling a bit of indigestion this time around so I wasn’t too keen on putting anything down besides the intraworkout drink and even that felt risky. It wasn’t like the remaining stuff was going to be put a strain on my stomach but I’d be moving a bit in odd ways. Superset again of Nordic curl negatives and quad fallbacks. I didn’t intend to alter this but I did adjust the knee pad placement so there was better support (which allowed me to focus on better movement pattern and control) and I lowered the “target” by 2” that I was having my head touch as I had done 12” no problem the week before. I don’t know if I’ve actually tried that height to touch before. Waking up the hamstrings as they need to get back up to standard and making sure my quads, hips and ankles aren’t causing issues. Once again, the last thing was to do mace work. I had figured things out eventually by the end of session last time. I feel my warming up wasn’t good for what I was planning to do and with the movement I had to ditch my glasses and do-rag so as not to impede my revolutions. I had been surprised with the grip/wrist workout last time. The main intent had been scapular mobility and conditioning with the shoulders. I can see where there is risk of injury if something goes askew with the rotations. I think I’m good on these for now. Once done, I downed my shake and cleaned up a little before driving home. Stretched and eventually ate dinner late. Things to get a little more serious next week. 

September 9, 2026 – Week 2, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Paused Tibialis Raises (2 seconds)/Calf Raises
bwx25/bwx25 (FHL)
bwx25/bwx25 (KOT)

ATG Split Squats (20 seconds rest)
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 

Inverted Rows/Band Reverse Jefferson Curls/Paused Seated Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (3 seconds)
bwx15/mbx12/85x12
bwx15/mbx12/85x12
bwx15/mbx12/85x12

Dumbbell Windmills (3-1-3-0 tempo)
40x6/6
40x6/6
40x6/6

Chaos Chain Bradford Presses (90 seconds rest)
PVC+44lbsx45 seconds
PVC+44lbsx45 seconds
PVC+44lbsx45 seconds

Ankle Weight High Knee Marches
21’sx25/25
21’sx25/25

Stretching

Comments: I had felt like I had adapted to this training on Monday session at least from a recovery standpoint. I was not feeling the DOMS after the last session and kind of itching to do “real” training again. But doing this plan to try and get some more out of this tank I got left. I’ve been also less stressed I think with having everything kind of planned out and not really focusing on recording efforts to send to someone for review. At least for last week and this week. I have been reviewing my plan and making changes as I think on things some more or see stuff I liked from what I’m doing or noticing where I can cut some stuff and the like. This is the first week back to the office and Monday was off so Tuesday first day back. One of the things trying is a slight diet change. I’ve indicated that I’ve felt sluggish in office vs at home and I can’t eat what I do at home there. I had figured the main culprit was probably the protein shake as usually I take that after training or before going to bed or after a competition and when doing so at home, I was able to be comfortable and not in a dry building wearing pants (clothes are a prison). The flavor and brand I like was sold out and really pricey to get somewhere else so I decided I’d just go with Rice Krispie Treat instead. It has helped with long workouts so maybe here. I know my blood sugar doesn’t seem to crash from that. But also about 500 calorie difference. I’ve felt a little hungry coming home from work but no sluggishness so I’ll take this as a slight win here. Anyways, walking Tuesday and training today. Foam roller stuff to start and I was shocked how little I felt I needed in the usual trouble areas. Upper back needed it the most today. No issues with the neck rehabbing exercises. Glute activation started out fine but then just getting down to the floor I had my right knee “crack” and ache so that put a damper on things. But I persisted with the drills and mobility for lower body (double one stretch) and then a dead hang. Then time to train in the garage. You’d think it would’ve cooled off with September but no. First thing was the pairing for the ankle/lower legs of tibs and calves. As has been the case, the pauses and high reps with the tib raise portion have been killers on this. No real issues for the calves other than my right side lagging as it has been. From there on to ATG split squats. Like last time, 5x5, so remaining unchanged from last week as had felt challenging enough. I was leery about my knees with how they were feeling but I was glad I could do reps to the floor on this exercise without issue. There were some knee aches but nothing that was hampering the exercise. I felt good enough that I decided I’d just do them back to back with no rest between sides and a short breather between sets. I didn’t want to do more reps or add weight to these. This felt like a good way to get these done and not prolong the session taking 30 seconds rest between sides or something like that. The bodyweight only stuff for the session was finished and it was time to do the triset I did last time with inverted rows, band reverse Jefferson curls and paused seated ssb goodmornings. I was not making changes to stuff on the first two but the last one I was looking at more weight. The rows and reverse jeffersons were fine and I feel like I was better used to them this week. I wasn’t too sure how the ssb gms were going to be with added weight but honestly I didn’t really notice much difference. From there it was the tempo windmills. These had felt tight on the one side and fine enough, felt a little rough. I decided to start on the side that felt stiffer to start this time around. The shoulder and upper body part of things felt improved but definitely was still feeling stiff/tight in the bottom position of these. My right knee was also feeling tight here as well. Overall less taxing compared to last week but kind of wished they felt better than they did. Oh well. Chaos chain Bradford presses for timed sets followed that. I had liked how these felt last time and felt maybe I had not done enough time with it being only 30 seconds as the original protocol I had was 60 seconds with 120 seconds rest. I was tempted to jump right to that but I thought better of it as the burn was starting to be present by the second and third set so I split the difference with 45 seconds and 90 seconds rest. Yep, this was enough of a jump as the first set was fine but burning on the second set with deep burn by the end and essentially just deep burn for the third set. I may prolong the agony of these for work capacity reasons for the shoulders and scapula beyond this 2 week restoration stint. Then the last thing was those ankle weight marches. 10lbs was way too light as felt like nothing really. But adding weight was tricky. It took a bit to anchor 11lbs more of chain to each leg with the carabiners I had available. It took longer than I would’ve liked for this to get resolved but this was definitely enough weight now that it felt like something. Put stuff away and ate dinner before eventually stretching. Just trying to make it to the weekend at this point.

September 7, 2026 – Week 2, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

EZ Curl Bar Pullover PNF Stretches/Offset Load Peterson Stepdowns (3”)/Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds top of head)
22x10--45x15/15--45x10
22x10--45x15/15--45x10

Paused Tibialis Raises (2 seconds)/Calf Raises
bwx25/bwx25 (FHL)
bwx25/bwx25 (KOT)

Chaos Bands Pushups/Assisted Spanish Squats
bwx15/bwx45 seconds
bwx15/bwx45 seconds
bwx15/bwx45 seconds

One Arm Half Kneeling Dumbbell Strict Presses (3-0-3-1 tempo)/One Arm Half Kneeling Band Lat Pulldowns
40x10/10 – abx40/40 seconds
40x10/10 – abx40/40 seconds
40x10/10 – abx40/40 seconds

Band Pullaparts/Band Shoulder Dislocations
mbx15/mbx10
mbx15/mbx10

Stretching

Comments: I slept pretty heavy Saturday and that ended up being the case for Sunday and Monday. Pretty much compressed my days to being breakfast, whatever I needed to do before dinner and then dinner and evening alone. Walking felt good Sunday. Still not looking forward to going into the office for work tomorrow. My bruises from stone lifting in Scotland have essentially gone at this point. I do want to add thoughts with end of last prep. Squat was more or less figuring out what worked for me and the strength was there from prep. Log I feel like that went down over course of prep and that this was more just maintain. Deadlift I feel is finally on track now. Turf didn’t really help with going fast on yoke. Farmer’s had been a bit of fluke with the pick and wanting to pass out. Turf wasn’t thick enough training for the medley and need to expect shorter strap as default. More time with the dumbbells and work on getting reps rather than singles if those style pop up again. Nothing really on the loading medley, just have to work on getting my hamstrings/lower back to standard. I take no credit for the lead up training that had me conditioned, only for the deload and peak. Anyways, on to training. I started a little later compared to last week with the day off. Foam rolling starting things off. My abs (especially lower) were quite sore and I’m uncertain if from pull ups (as sometimes get that) or the kettlebell stuff from Saturday. Calves needed a fair amount as did upper back. Surprisingly not much was needed for hamstrings or quads. Neck rehab/mobility stuff felt like it should, could tell some things were tight but not overly so. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility. Dead hang to finish things up. Could tell some stuff stiff/tight from past week session. For training, I hadn’t intended on changing what I did last week. I was going to keep things the same for these recovery/reload weeks and then actually try to push some things on Week 3. But some stuff was easier than other things and perhaps I could add something here or there to have a further stimulus. As with last week, the first cluster of exercises was PNF stretches with the EZ curl bar, Peterson stepdowns and paused btn presses. I did not add anything the pressing but I did to the other two. I felt adding a little more weight to the stretches was fine since my bar is like 10lbs under what a normal EZ curl bar is. These actually felt better this time around. The stepdowns, I didn’t want to increase the box height so elected to do weight. I was going to have the ssb on my back for these but decided to do a 45lbs plate in the offset side hand so there was more oblique work here. These weren’t so bad. My shoulders/triceps felt less wonky on the BTN press stuff this time around. I guess point is to do these more than one time to see adaption. It wouldn’t be good if this was something that took a month to figure out. From there ankle stuff with tib raises and calf raises. Gotten intimate with these in the last two months to get knee feeling better and try to get stuff working right in the ankles. The calf raise portions don’t feel that tough compared to the paused tib raises. Next pairing chaos band push ups and assisted Spanish squats. No changes on the push ups but did increase the time on the squats. These had been responsible for a fair bit of DOMS last week. Knees were a tad achy at the start but felt fine on subsequent sets. On to the next pairing of lifts. Tempo single arm half kneeling with band lat pulls (also since arm half kneeling). This had been the harder thing to get through last week in this session (with the previous set a somewhat close second). The only real change I was making here intentionally was to have 10 seconds added to the time for the lat pulls. But I figured it made more sense and I could move things along a bit if I did one set of pressing with the left and then the same side for the lat pulldowns and then switch to the right and do same before taking a rest. Rather than do a set and rest like 30-60 seconds. I think this worked out better and didn’t feel like it took as long. The dumbbell pressing felt better this week and less issues so I ended up doing 10 reps instead of 8 reps there. I could tell my lats were getting fatigued by the end of the pulls with the added time. A little break to put away stuff before finishing up with the last pairing for the session. Pull aparts and dislocations. My upper back, triceps and shoulders had been quite tensed at this point in the session last week and these had been tough to get through. Not so this week. I did slightly modify the pullaparts so that there was a slight row portion with the band tension. With that done, I got dinner started and took care of some house upkeep before eating and then eventually stretching.

September 5, 2026 – Week 1, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Echo Bike/Backwards Sled Drags (turf)/Anti-rotational Side Scoop Tosses
90 seconds/185x60’—60’/14x8—8
90 seconds/185x60’—60’/14x8—8
90 seconds/185x60’—60’/14x8—8
90 seconds/185x60’—60’/14x8—8

Band Assisted Pull Ups/Slingshot Dips/Anti-rotational Kettlebell Woodchopper Swings
sbx12/bwx12/70.5x15 – 15 
sbx12/bwx12/70.5x15 – 15 
sbx12/bwx12/70.5x15 – 15 

Nordic Curl Negatives (5 seconds)/Quad Fallbacks (12” target)
bwx5/bwx12
bwx5/bwx12
bwx5/bwx12

Mace Halo Swings
19x20/20
19x20/20

Stretching

Comments: I got out 3hrs early from work Friday which wasn’t expected so that made it rough to try and get stuff down as already a 3 day weekend with the holiday on Monday. Plus having to switch over to the commuting schedule. Some things that I take for meals at work have been out of stock so that will I guess make things interesting. Though having not a true full week of work this week and next is helpful with getting back into the swing of things I guess. I was feeling tired Friday and figured I’d just wake up when I decided I was done sleeping Saturday. I did have family stuff in the early evening but the workouts wouldn’t take that long this week and next. But I was not terribly thrilled to be driving out to train so far. I was going to need to fill up my tank for work next week. I’m probably a little salty about nothing being posted by the gym about me competing at World’s. This isn’t the first time that a competition I was doing was missed. That is probably one of the reasons I don’t tag the gym in posts after contests or the training reel before the competition. But I did end up sleeping in later than I was expecting. Left shoulder was sore from another vaccine shot I got Friday (one on Monday). More to make sure I don’t get sick at work. Drive out wasn’t that bad considering holiday weekend. Only two people there and they left before I got into my true workout and then only a few people after that. It was warm in the gym even with the fans. Foam rolling starting things off. Surprisingly I didn’t need as much compared to the past two sessions. Neck rehab/mobility stuff felt like it should. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility. Dead hang to finish things up, could feel a little tension in the shoulder where I got the shot. Compared to the other two sessions, this one was the “oddest”. I also made adjustments as I went from the plan I had just as I did things. So the initial thing was a triset of echo bike into sled drags and then medicine ball tosses. What I originally had was only 30 seconds on the bike and then 75’ on the sled drag (scoop tosses no changes). I was having 4 sets so that I’d end up with 2 minutes of bike time but more so that I’d do even number of sets on the drags so I could have the last one be at the start for easier time putting stuff away. But I felt like 30 seconds was not enough time and figured I’d do longer and also longer distance on the drags. This is the first thing and it wasn’t like I’d be able to go right into a 30 seconds all out sprint either. The air from the bike wheel also helped with motivating and keeping me cool. Sled drag on the turf I elected do 60’ down and then back so 120’ total for the set. I’ve never done the side scoop tosses. Idea was anti-rotational with a staggered stance to chuck into the wall. This was interesting. I was initially thinking after increasing the time and distance on the first two parts to doing just 3 sets instead of 4 sets but I toughed it out. Put that stuff away before moving onto the next triset. This was a bit more traditional in that it was all weights. The idea with the pull ups and dips with assistance was more to be easier on joints and to make sure I was getting in the higher reps. These were to help with getting ribcage and scapula in good spot. The pull ups were tougher but I kind of expected that with how my recovery between sets has been in the past. The dips were surprisingly easy and nothing was bothered by that. The kettlebell stuff was really challenging. I of course grabbed the heaviest kettlebell in the gym for these and having never done them. These took a bit to figure out. Again, anti-rotational stuff with the staggered stance. I think these had me more dead than the bike stuff. I was contemplating just doing 2 sets instead of 3 sets here and then going to doing just 2 sets of the swings. I just took a longer rest before doing the last set of swings to get over that. I was a sweaty mess after that and laid down by a fan to cool off. That was the end of the really tough stuff. Next was an interesting pairing I had been considering/thinking off. The first half being Nordic curl eccentrics. 3x3-5 and I figured I’d do 5 seconds as that had generally been what I’ve done. The setup at the gym isn’t the best as using the manual leg curl machine. I like these better with floor anchor and pad but not time to do that. This to kind of wake up the hamstrings and get things prepped for what is to come. The other part then being mobility work for the quads with the fall backs. It has been several years since these were in my training and I was pleasantly surprised that I could hit 12” target first session back. These were a bit awkward and I was considering to do just 2 sets of these instead of 3 sets but I told myself that only one thing left after this. The original plan did have the tib raises and calf raises in the mix but I decided to not do them since the quad fall backs was stretching out the anterior tibs a lot so figure just wait until Monday to do them then. So the last thing was to do what I put as mace work. I’ve never tried doing mace work. But idea was to have scapula moving with control and be mobile. The gym has one of those Kabuki Strength ShouldeRök and it had a 10lbs plate on it so I weighed it to see what I got to work with. I had looked at some warm up drills for the halo swings and honestly, the one drill was harder than the halo swings while the others didn’t really do anything for me. I had a bit of a rough time with the first set. But I think part of that was worrying about hitting my glasses with my arms and my head wrap. Once I took those off, I had no issues with the second set. The shoulder aspect is one thing but I did like the wrist and grip stress from this. I had already downed my shake before I did these as I knew I’d have to have an early dinner with family. Drove home and got gas before coming home. I stretched much later after family stuff was done. First week down with next week being a repeat and then moving on to some prep training worth filming.

September 2, 2026 – Week 1, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

Paused Tibialis Raises (2 seconds)/Calf Raises
bwx25/bwx25 (FHL)
bwx25/bwx25 (KOT)

ATG Split Squats
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 
bwx5/5 

Inverted Rows/Band Reverse Jefferson Curls/Paused Seated Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (3 seconds)
bwx15/mbx12/65x12
bwx15/mbx12/65x12
bwx15/mbx12/65x12

Dumbbell Windmills (3-1-3-0 tempo)
40x6/6
40x6/6
40x6/6

Chaos Chain Bradford Presses (60 seconds rest)
PVC+44lbsx30 seconds
PVC+44lbsx30 seconds
PVC+44lbsx30 seconds

Ankle Weight High Knee Marches
10’sx25/25
10’sx25/25

Stretching

Comments: Feeling quite a bit of DOMS in my quads after first day back to training. I’m seeing some people that competed in the same competition already doing normal stuff and on to the next thing, while I’m doing the weird stuff to get body conditioned and feeling good before moving into offseason training. I’ve already had a long and stressful year with training and competing and work so I know I need to stick to my plan so I can keep doing this thing like I have been. Also some DOMS in my chest and triceps (to be expected). I had hoped I’d get in a walk yesterday but just way too much coming back to stuff at work and I went through my lunch doing work and then dinner with family after work. It also got up to low 90’s again so that wasn’t going to be pleasant. With how I was walking, it would’ve been risky to try and get my usual walk in with insufficient buffer time for other stuff. I did at least get in soft tissue work and that was definitely needed. I did not miss the chaos of work. Severe thunderstorm today but cleared up by the time I was done with work. I wasn’t going to need to be outside for anything for training anyway. Foam roller stuff needed a ton on the calves and quads. A little more effort on the hamstrings and upper back was also needing the love today. Tight/sore chest noticed on the neck rehab stuff. Glute activation and mobility for lower body was just fine. Then on to training. I had a little bit of a delay from work to actually starting training I think just processing things and getting myself ready to train. But these works haven’t been that long or taxing at the moment so not that urgency really. First thing was the pairing for the ankle/lower legs of tibs and calves. I did these second on Day 1 and this time doing them first on Day 2. Doing these every training session these first two weeks with different priority in the session to change things up. These I give credit to having my knee start to feel better after it was feeling like shit in July and I did them for a week. It was cooler today but I knew with the humidity that I was going to need the fans going. I’m not used to being back home in regards to that aspect haha. The pauses and high reps with the tib raise portion have been killers on this. The calf raise portion has been no biggie comparatively. I know there are still issues with the right calf muscle with strength and will see about that later in the prep. From there on to ATG split squats. 5x5 on them instead of the higher reps. My hope was that I could do these to the floor with both sides. Last time I tried, I could do my left side but not my right without pain (July) and needed to use a box to adjust the angle and ROM. A little tricky with balance but I was able to do these from the floor on both sides. So that is something there. So far, this was as I had written out initially. But on reflection, I felt that I needed to adjust things. Mostly I felt like maybe I was putting too many things in on this day and I could possibly remove them and pair up some stuff I had as standalone. So I did. The only other “grouping” was inverted rows being added to the coupling I was going to try of band reverse Jefferson curls and paused seated ssb goodmornings. I was initially doing the rows on their own but I figured I could pair them with these as I kind of did that previously with rows and Jefferson curls. The band version is different in that I’m pushing down on the band for the stretch and spine in flexion. Then doing isometric pauses with the seated gms in the bottom/flexion position to reinforce the point. Setup for all three was a little tricky but I figured it out. I was initially not vibing with the new jeffersons but once I got them figured out, I was good with it and stuck to the plan. Next being another tempo darling that would potentially be the most challenging thing. It did but it wasn’t as bad as the pressing on Day 1. Never really find a good spot to put in windmills but I do think they are helpful. I don’t think I’ve done one since February (maybe April?) just as warming up for circus dumbbell at competition. It has been long enough that I wasn’t aware which side would be the one that is lagging vs leading. Well I should probably assume that the one I feel like starting with would be the one that was leading. Right side didn’t feel bad. Just getting the dumbbell up was a little more effort than I’d have liked. The left side it was easier to get up there but I felt more stiff and tight on this side so it was challenging in that regard. The next thing was initially going to be the last exercise of the session but I moved it up. Chaos chain Bradford presses for timed sets. The idea here was work capacity similar to the lat pulldowns and Spanish squats on Day 1 but for the shoulders and getting the scapula to move well. I could’ve done this with just a barbell but I wanted to make it interesting and require more control. Balance was tough the first set and then I felt like I was pro with it on the second and third set. Those were also the sets that I started feeling the burn. Then the last thing was to work the hip flexors with some traction aspect. Ankle weights and lifting high knees/marching. Initially, I was looking at doing 10 steps per side but these ended up being easier than I was planning and I aimed for 30 reps total since that is roughly how many steps it takes for me to go 50’ with a yoke but was still easy so I just did 50 reps for both sets. I’m sure I will notice this in the morning with how the hip flexors like to be. So not that dead or sweaty compared to how some things were on Day 2. Put stuff away and ate dinner before eventually stretching. Another year older tomorrow I guess.

August 31, 2026 – Week 1, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

EZ Curl Bar Pullover PNF Stretches/Peterson Stepdowns (3”)/Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds top of head)
12x10--bwx15/15--45x10
12x10--bwx15/15--45x10

Paused Tibialis Raises (2 seconds)/Calf Raises
bwx25/bwx25 (FHL)
bwx25/bwx25 (KOT)

Chaos Bands Pushups/Assisted Spanish Squats
bwx15/bwx40 seconds
bwx15/bwx40 seconds
bwx15/bwx40 seconds

One Arm Half Kneeling Dumbbell Strict Presses (3-0-3-1 tempo)/One Arm Half Kneeling Band Lat Pulldowns
40x8/8 – abx30/30 seconds
40x8/8 – abx30/30 seconds
40x8/8 – abx30/30 seconds

Band Pullaparts/Band Shoulder Dislocations
mbx15/mbx10
mbx15/mbx10

Stretching

Comments: No sense in waiting until evening since off work this day. I’m glad that it didn’t take me like a week to get used to the time zone like when I went to Ireland last year. Got a fair number of bruises still healing (and none from World’s) and wish that my left elbow wasn’t acting up on me still. I was able to maintain my weight with being overseas and eating normal routine at home. I’ve needed the time off back home just to get things figured out and get ready for working again. Foam rolling starting things off. Calves and quads really needed it. Hamstrings were fine as was upper back. Neck rehab/mobility stuff felt like it should. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility. Dead hang to finish things up. On to the weights. Well kind of. This training is a bit different from the usual for this week and next. To say it is exercises is more accurate. First cluster of them was kind of more movement and mobility focus. PNF stretches for the ribcage/lats and then knees with step downs and then getting shoulders to move well with BTN stuff. Other than the left triceps/elbow issue from the competition, these were fine. I was happy that my knees weren’t terribly upset with me on the step downs. From there ankle stuff with tib raises and calf raises. I’ve not usually done the tib raises with pauses so that really got tough on those fast on the second round. No real issues with the different calf raise variations. I did a slight change up with the exercise order after this as I had one plan in mind initially but decided to have the pairings make more sense. Off season is kind of the only time I do push ups and I set those with the assisted Spanish squats. I can’t get the right form I want with keeping my torso upright without assistance and I liked how those felt for time. Chaos band push ups with less band tension than usual so a bit more chaotic. These were a bit more taxing so I did take breathers between sets compared to other stuff where it was back to back. The next pairing did have an exercise that could be iffy with the triceps and that was one arm strict overhead pressing. Only 40lbs but doing them with tempo so each rep just feels harder. Especially after 4 reps. Thankfully, no worse for wear than doing anything else but these were the most challenging thing of the session. Rested about a minute between sides as the pairing was with timed effort of lat band pulldowns. Single arm here as well and pulling to the hip with the motion. Those felt comfortable. Just getting the work in here. This little bit with the 60 seconds or so rest between sides and exercises did slow down the pace on this session. But finished that and last thing was some bands stuff for the shoulder girdle. Pull aparts and dislocations. At this point, these were challenging as my upper back and shoulders were feeling worn out from the other stuff. This is the idea with these sessions to do work and general physical preparedness. Put stuff away and got to eating my usual three small meals at once to get caught up on things. Stretched afterwards.

Plans for Rest of the Year and Next Year

 I am glad to be back home after the traveling. Fun to be there but that’s vacation talk and walking at pace like I don’t have anywhere to be or having a job to do. Thankfully didn’t have a rough time with readjusting to the time difference (though the weather if for the birds here haha). I can’t wait to do it all over again.

There are still 4 months of this year left but I’m already on to next year. Mostly I think because I already know the timeline of things and what my focus is going to be. I want to get back to the big show again as this year and last year have been the most fun I’ve had at this level of competition. Unless something dramatically changes with Strongman Corporation, I’m likely not renewing stuff when membership expires next year. I’ve no interest in United States Strongman or Official Strongman Games. 

Qualification for Natural Strongman for 2027 season is different from the previous two years. They had tested out a more standardized option with competitions in the UK and Ireland with having the same events regardless which show you did and then getting a leaderboard to compare across the nation. That seemed to work out for the pilot program so that is what it will be for everywhere this time. All the regional qualifiers will have the same events so doesn't make sense to travel outside of comfort zone if that is the case. No advantage to going to a different region as will not be just who you compete against there but everyone competing in the US as well as the other countries participating. 

Additionally, winning the regional doesn't guarantee qualification for World's, only for Nationals. The inaugural contest was in January this year for US Nationals and it was open contest so no invite. I didn’t do it because I thought the events were boring and I was hopeful that other competitions had better events. Now there is greater emphasis with the National event. Win the regional event, get invite to Nationals. Even if you don’t win the regional, top 10-12 nationally get invite to Nationals and then potentially top 3-5 at Nationals also get invite to World's. Also could do well enough at the regional event that globally in the top rankings and could bypass Nationals and get Worlds invite as well. So nothing really guaranteed and best to plan for having to do 2 shows to get to World’s

So this would be the tentative schedule:

East Coast Regional - 1/16/27 (NJ) – 20 weeks
Nationals - 5/15/27 (NJ) – 18 weeks
Worlds - 8/27-29/27 (TX) – 15 weeks

I'm signed up for Masters this coming year as I don't feel unless something dramatically goes well this off season prep where I get back to the strength I had 4yrs ago I'm not going to be able to hang with open HW class. It won’t be a good time. I can still compare to other masters and heavy open class since same events (with trump/mercy options). The events are very boring because they are standardized but my hope is that Nationals will be interesting events and then we know Worlds always does have interesting stuff with the standard in the mix.

The only sure thing is the regional show I’ve signed up for as everything else will be invite only. One of the blessings I guess with the events being so basic is that I can work on things this offseason and really only need to do like 8-9 weeks of focused prep on non-gym lift stuff. 2 weeks of GPP focus and then 6 weeks of hypertrophy focus (also triphasic stuff for dip drive for log) and then 3-4 week kind of pivot from that last block to the competition peak/prep.

Besides the workout plan, I am also trying to keep track my mental state with things and adjust accordingly. I’ve been working on the self-talk/internal dialog to be direct with myself and not going third person passive. I’ve been detailing prep plans with competitions and putting forth expectations and goals of competition and prep. Redoubling my efforts for positive vs negative self-talk with reframing thinking and scenarios for a healthier focus. Picking that up from one of the Aussie competitors that was with me on the stone tour. So putting my best foot forward for this next year.