October 24, 2026 – Week 8, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paloff Back Breaker Presses/Step Ups w/ Band TKEs (12”, ab)/Dead Bugs
mb’sx10 – bwx15/15 – bwx5/5
mb’sx10 – bwx15/15 – bwx5/5

Paused Push Presses (beltless, 3 seconds in dip)
45x5
75x3
97x2
119x2
141x2
163x2
EMOM
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2

Front Squats (beltless, 3-1-0-0 tempo)
45x5
89x3
133x3
177x2
221x2
254x4
254x4
254x4
254x4

Reverse Band Hack Squats (lb’s)
+90x5
+180x5
+270x5
+320x10
+320x10
+320x10

RNT Sandbag Roll-ups off Box (lb, 20”)
225x3
275x8
275x8
275x8

Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
45x6(3/3)
60x6(3/3)
75x4(2/2)
90x4(2/2)
110x14(7/7)
110x12(6/6)
110x10(5/5)

Belt Squat Donkey Calf Raises/Paused Tibia Dorsi Calf Machine (3 seconds)
bw+130x20/+100x25
bw+150x20/+100x25

Stretching

Comments: Work stressed me out more than last week did and I think part of that was my right ankle that had felt off doing those split squats Wednesday. I forwent walking Thursday and focused more on sleep and soft tissue work. Friday I did go for a walk and thankfully no issues with my ankle. I can’t tell if just more sensitive to the aches/pains with knowing that something wasn’t feeling good there or if my hypochondriac tendencies are also in play with every niggle. I had meant to go to bed early Friday but my body had other plans I guess. I also had some ideas with training plan that I didn’t want to tamp down before bed as that could be something I forget or it could keep me up. I guess I needed it as I slept for nearly 11hrs. I was not thrilled that I was getting up only a little before 11:00AM. I had not had the foresight to pack stuff up the night before either. I was feeling like I needed allergy meds too but thankfully not the case. I did pack a protein shake but odds were high that I’d save it for another time and try to eat dinner at a reasonable hour rather than weight until late at night for stomach to settle. Driving to gym still requiring slight detours to avoid the worst of construction bullshit congestion. There were like 3-4 people at most at the gym (no one strongman) and but only at the beginning and end of my training session. Majority it was 1-2 people. Foam rolling to start things off. My calves needed some work and I was more so focused on the right side to also see how the ankle was doing. I’d have to see how the things I do today affect it (if at all) and potentially come up with alternatives for exercises next time and for Day 2 next week. I have to realize I can pick what I want here as not having a coach and if I feel that risk positions of some stuff isn’t worth the justification, I can pick something else. Right hamstring felt fine but needed to do stuff for the left one. Both quads needed a ton today. Upper back needed some but not as much as past few times. Neck rehab stuff was ok. I didn’t feel the tension in my right side biceps/shoulder that had been somewhat present the past two sessions so that was good. Glute activation fine and lower body mobility also fine. No issues with the ankle here either so good to know I can be in deep squat position and bound side to side. Dead hang was fine. On to training. With it being cooler now, I’m not sweating as much at the strongman gym and it feels less stifling when less people there as well. But I knew I’d likely need to have the one fan on when I was doing my main lifting in the one corner. Starting the lifting with the triset of the back breaker paloff presses, step ups with band TKEs and dead bugs. This will be last week of these before changing up the warming up protocol for switching from barbell to log next week. The paloff felt a little unstable at times but ok. The step ups I was curious how these would feel on the ankle as possible viable option workaround this coming week. I ended up doing more reps just because. I think I wanted to get more blood flow in my knee joint. The dead bugs were fine. From there, on to push pressing again. Last week of using barbell. I’ve been pleased with how I’ve been feeling with barbell push pressing and while the weights are low, I’ve been feeling like things are moving well. I’ve liked the pause cycle more than the eccentric cycle but I know both are important. Today for last session was 70% for 8x2. I was a little uncertain with lower body drive and the ankle and just from having things feel rough with shoulders on Monday session. Things were feeling good and I went with a somewhat EMOM style rest just because I was feeling good. Assuming this shows results in my actual event pressing, I welcome doing this cycle again (I cut it 3 weeks short since contest prep transition). From there, onto front squats. Still beltless and tempo emphasis. I’m glad I was able to put up somewhat decent weights last week and I wasn’t too sure with the ankle and if I could do the aggressive increase with how things were. Plan was to do 5kgs more than last week’s working weight for 4x4. That had been more based on doing straight sets last time but I went up each set so this was going to be a good bit more than originally planned. Ankle had been fine with my mobility prep warming up and no issues thankfully with warming up here. First set was a little rough as the straps got in my eyes unracking and stayed there for the set. I knew that I’d likely feel better on the next set. Which was the case. Third set was tougher and then got easier again on the last set. So good result there. I didn’t have to rest that long after these were done to do the reverse band hack squats. I had actually set it up mostly after the push pressing so I could get fluids in me and hopefully have it be enough time that I was fighting the urge to upchuck. I was late enough that the one lady had left by this point. Plan for today was to do 10lbs more than 2 weeks ago for 3x10. I didn’t think this would be an issue considering how 340lbs added last week had went. Warming up was feeling pretty smooth. I did have some concerns with knees and ankle stuff but again, no real issues here. I managed to keep shorter rests compared to last week here. Sandbag time. Kind of settled for now with alternating carries and the roll-ups from box. I had a bit of downtime here after the hack squats because I wanted to get an accurate inventory of what sandbags were actually available for planning purposes. So time for more fluids and a bit of effort moving hundreds of pounds of sandbags. This severed as a good bit of warm up for me for this. Plan was 255-275x3x8. I had done 255lbs and picks had been a little tougher than I’d liked last time but I figured I’d see how 225lbs felt and go from there. 275lbs actually felt easier than 255lbs had so that was a nice surprise. I guess something I’m doing is getting sandbag picks feeling decently strong again. The extensions feel like a formality. I can’t triple extend as my lower legs are not strong enough to move my bodyweight unassisted without losing balance. I’m working on that. After that was more intense hamstring work. Another week of lying leg curl 2 up and 1 down. Only keeping these in a little because this is quite intense. Aim was more reps with same weight as last time. My right side struggles mightily with these and that is fine. Same as last time with partial rest between sides and normal rest between sets. At this point in the session, I felt it was too late to down a protein shake and figured I’d just power through and make dinner when I got home. The last thing being superset of belt squat donkey calf raises and the tib machine raises. I wasn’t sure how ankle would treat these but seemed to be fine. The donkey calf raises still figuring these out. Plan was to increase weight on both a good bit with increasing rep range 12-20 reps on the donkeys. First set there was discomfort from the belt digging into my side and pinching a nerve so I added a wash cloth to give some relief on the second set with more weight. I had upped the weight substantially on the tib stuff after last week. I think finally found the limit on these. Put stuff away and got gas on the way home and started on dinner right away. Eventually stretched after finishing dinner and watching the Rogue Invitational.