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.