October 3, 2026 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paloff Back Breaker Presses/Step Ups w/ Band TKEs (12”, ab)/Dead Bugs
mb’sx10 – bwx10/10 – bwx5/5
mb’sx10 – bwx10/10 – bwx5/5

Push Presses (beltless, 3 second dip eccentrics)
45x5
67x5
89x3
111x3
133x2
152.5x2
172x3
172x3
172x3
172x3
172x3
172x3
172x3
172x3

Front Squats (beltless, 3-1-0-0 tempo)
45x3
78x3
122x3
155x3
199.5x8
199.5x8
199.5x8

Reverse Band Hack Squats (LB’s)
+90x7
+140x5
+180x5
+230x12
+255x12
+280x12

Sandbag Carries (turns at 50’)
225x100’
225x100’
225x100’

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (5 seconds)/Paused Quad Fallbacks (2 seconds)/Paused Tibia Dorsi Calf Machine (3 seconds)
65x8/bwx12/+60x25
65x8/bwx12/+60x25
65x8

Stretching

Comments: Again, dragging ass by the end of the week. But again, not quite the same as last week or the week before. I have stuff I need to do Monday to be caught up from Friday but I feel like in a better place than I was at the end of last week with coming in Monday. Also back on the telework schedule so sleep/recovery will be better. After two weeks not at the strongman gym, I was going back for training. It can be hard to have motivation to spend 45 minutes or so in the car to train stuff when in off season type prep but there were some things I couldn’t really do at home without getting another gym membership so out to train I did. I had not ended up walking Thursday or Friday and attempted to prioritize sleep and soft tissue work. I still almost slept for 11hrs Friday night and I knew I’d be out to train later than planned. But it wasn’t weather dependent like last weekend thankfully. I had thought it would take me longer to get ready but I guess I had actually cleaned enough dishware to be able to eat dinner without delay. I did have to get gas and I only did half a tank as the price is up a good bit since last month. I was a bit surprised there were so many people at the gym but I was definitely at the tail end for most of it and I knew that if I got involved, I’d delay training even further talking people’s ears off.  Started things off with the usual foam rolling and the only things that seemed to need it were my right calf, right quad and upper back. Like barely anything for elsewhere. I’ll take it. Neck rehab stuff was fine and no issues with glute activation and lower body mobility. But I did feel “warm” warming up and I’m sure that’s just because there is no central air and it is just a bunch of fans that has me getting that way when training here. I was a little leery with the right knee being achy last session and had kind of hoped taking it easy and resting had been the right decision here. Starting the lifting with the triset of the back breaker paloff presses, step ups with band TKEs and dead bugs. I made slight adjustment here with what was available and did 12” box for the step ups. These felt fine and good.  Push pressing again, last of the slow eccentric sessions. No belt, only wrist wraps with a 5% increase and going with 8x3. I elected to use the kilogram plates here. Weight is feeling noticeable at the start but felt better with more sets. Some feeling better than others. Rack position feels good and comfortable so that is a plus. More just getting stuff to fire correctly and in synch. And that not losing position on the dip and then drive. Got a decent sweat going from these. Next three weeks will be with pauses in the bottom of dip instead. From there, onto front squats. Since I was already using kilogram plates for overhead, it felt like I might as well keep that with front squats with same setup. I forgot to pack my straps in my haste this morning (I was only thinking I’d need them for deadlift stuff) but there was a pair of them at the gym that I made due with. Otherwise, I’d be just doing them with a rack position anyways. The change for these this week was to decrease the time of the eccentric but emphasize the pause more. Also going up to 3x8 instead of 2x8. Initially, I was looking at 20lbs increase from last week but I figured that was probably going to be too aggressive, especially with increase in sets. So when a little under that. The working weight felt “heavy” on my shoulders/chest so that first set I took a bit to get settled before squatting. Sticking to beltless until I finish up Week 8 of this prep. Pauses were noted. Second set felt a ton easier but then became tough again on the third set which had me glad I stuck to this weight and didn’t go heavier. The next thing took a bit of time but that was fine. I’ve done hack squats but the machines tend to feel terrible on my knees and one fix has been having reverse bands to have the movement feel better or smoother for me. But the gym has rearranged things since the last time I did hack squats (like 2021?) and not in a way that would allow for the reverse band setup. I was going to try and move the hack squat machine around so I could set it up with reverse bands (if possible) and if that wasn’t going to work, just go sans bands and see how that goes. Well the machine was moveable by myself so I got it setup for the reverse band plan. Plan being to work up in 5’s to 3x12 with range being from 5RIR to 2-3RIR over those three sets. My hope was to be closer to that true effort range than what I did with the rdls on Wednesday. The machine is not good as is since the padding has caused neck issues for me in the past and I have to modify it with towels, bands and foam roller to be ergonomic for me. So one of those things where takes effort to get ready so better get monies worth on it. I forgot I was just doing sets of 5 reps at the start. Knees had issues with the first rep with finding the depth each time but once I realized that was how it was going to be, I was fine with going up in weight. I’m not doing as much as when I last did these but to be fair, last time I had two weeks or sessions before doing this workout (substituted with the sandbag squats). Also not wearing any support gear besides the knee sleeves so 20lbs under that isn’t terrible. If anything, I should be surprised I’m doing more on the beltless squats and pulls from the sessions 5yrs ago and being with 10lbs on the incline pressing with the higher incline setting. The stability aspect of machines does allow for me to push things harder and since it has been a long time since using one, it may take a moment to get used to it. But I hit the weight I needed so that next session is easier platemath. Then on to an actual event. Sandbag carries. Haven’t done one since World’s and 112lbs heaviest implement I’ve lifted since. Sandbags are part of two events in the qualifiers so best to keep those fresh. Plan was to do 3x100’ with moderate weight bag and rest 90-120 seconds between. Move fast if I can but just getting used to it again. No support gear of any kind and no chalk. 225lbs I wasn’t sure how that would go on the pick up but this was fine. I was definitely not ready for moving/running with the weight and my fired lower body let me know that. I was feeling better with this after the third set. Last thing was another triset. It was originally a superset like last week with the quad fallbacks and back extension holds. But I figured I should try and keep some stuff in the mix for the anterior tibialis to keep my ankles working and hopefully help with getting my right calf to be in working order again. The gym has one of those machine for adding weight to tib raises and I wanted to see how that was. A bit awkward but workable. Just not a good one to really “stretch” on. But back to the original initial superset pairing. Back extensions with snatch grip. Doing these to build for log clean and other stuff (deadlifts and sandbags). 3x8 with 5 seconds holds. Light weight here as doesn’t need a lot. Been a bit since I’ve used the GHD for back extensions. The quad fallbacks I added pauses in the stretch as been quite tight last week and took until the last set to actually get to the floor. Off set super set with 3 sets of the back extensions and 2 sets of the other exercises. Downed a protein shake before driving home and stretching.

September 30, 2026 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up 

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

Wide Grip 1” Platform Romanian Deadlifts (beltless, straps, 5 seconds eccentrics)
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x10
245x10
275x9 (miscounted)
300x10

Dumbbell Walking Lunges
22’sx12/12
22’sx12/12
22’sx12/12

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

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

Safety Squat Bar Single Leg Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
65x15/15
65x15/15

Stretching

Comments: Getting caught up on Monday did nothing for me being fine after that as just got bombarded with work and having to hope that I retain information from the past two days for putting in records tomorrow. I did make sure I got in a walk Tuesday but likely not walking tomorrow as family thing after work. Just need to get through this week and then back to better sleep cycle and options. Starting things off with foam roller stuff and kind of like last week with needing more on everywhere compared to Monday. I guess upper back and hamstrings were about the same level of need. Calves have thankfully not been at the levels they were leading up to Worlds. Quads seem to need the most lately. Neck rehabbing exercises felt good. Lower body stuff with glute activation and mobility felt fine. Could tell hamstrings were a tad tight. Dead hang was ok. On to training. Tempo band leg curls like the past two weeks. Only 2 sets going forward here. My right hamstring had felt sore on these at the start last week and thankfully not the case this time. Some of the more intense hamstring stuff is being reduced as switching to different exercises. These still start out easy and get very taxing by the end of it. But I know these are good for me. Rdls followed. A few changes to what I did the past two weeks. No longer snatch grip but wide grip. So hands in like 2-3 spaces. Meaning I can do these out of the rack rather than saw horses. Going to stick to beltless for this week and the next 3 weeks I think (before switching off-season to comp prep). I’m aiming for full ROM on these rdls rather than just to below knees or mid shin like in the past. So standing on a 1” platform so even if slightly high, I’m going to floor as that is where I struggle to break the weight. Another change being no pauses or tempo on the concentric. These are 5 seconds eccentrics here. I figured I could do a bit more than the other style just from past experience. So the goal was to do 4x10 with first set being 5RIR and the last one being 2-3RIR. I didn’t succeed here as my first working set was too easy and my last working set was too hard. Sets of five reps warming up. I went up a good bit on the third set as the first two sets just felt too easy. I had contemplated doing 25lbs jumps but went with 20lbs and I guess felt that I should course correct. 275lbs didn’t feel too bad but I could tell it had felt like effort. I think I’d have stuck to 20lbs jumps if I had been aware that I miscounted on the 275lbs set, which gave me a false sense of things for the last set. But I guess I wanted to put 300lbs on to something at this point in training with things feeling as they did. I pretty much lost my brace on the last rep of these so I will need to adjust plans for next week as plan was 10% more for 3x8 with top weight but that was with more in the tank. But no failed lifts and things are progressing. Lighter fare following. Walking lunges next. Continuing to deviate from the original plan as had these as just bodyweight through duration but feel like having weight added is important, even if it is a little bit. Only doing these one more week after this anyways before changing things up. My right knee was unfortunately not wanting to cooperate today so I did have to do little bit of moving around to warm up and have things feeling ok to go. Trying to do these without knee sleeves. Just a little increase in weight on these light dumbbells but legs and lungs are feeling it. I was sweating a bit after the last set and spaced out a little before moving on with the training session. Copenhagen plank lift holds after that. Same as it has been the past two weeks with 3x10 with 1-2ct holds. I did change things here with using the single leg bench instead of the adjustable bench. Definitely increased the difficulty with the increased ROM for the lower leg on these. I had not inclination to do a longer hold. I was kind of surprised how tough these were. But this work with the legs is important. And then on to standing band hip adductions combined with hanging l-sits. No Nordic curl stuff. Those are quite intense and a five weeks of those is enough with changes to other exercises. Don’t want to strain something like has happened in the past pushing the intense stuff too long and hard. These continue to be same reps and sets. I’ve been keeping the band tension the same, mostly because other stuff is a bit intense and these feel like I’m doing movement. Less of an issue with the hanging l-sits compared to the past two weeks. That had been the usual end to the session but now adding in calf raises. Single leg seated variety with tempo emphasis on the stretch and contraction peaks. Using the ssb as easier to load and control. Plan was 2 sets of 15-20 reps using 3-5 seconds on the holds. I figured empty ssb and go from there with 3 seconds as I recalled these took a while in the past and that I wanted to make sure I was doing work and not shortchanging things. My right calf has not felt strong for a good bit now and this seemed to be the best way to work directly. These is a discrepancy in strength here as left side didn’t really have an issue whereas the right this was challenging. Now I have that truth, I can hopefully improve and fix things. One positive is that the sets take so long but aren’t taxing on other stuff I can get rehydrated and just go one leg to the other as recovering between legs and such. Put away the equipment and ate dinner before stretching. Just two more work days.