November 7, 2026 – Week 10, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Behind The Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds behind head)/Slant Board Patrick Stepdowns (5 seconds eccentric)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns
45x10/bwx10—10/lbx15—15
45x10/bwx10—10/lbx15—15

12” Log Push Presses (beltless)
88x5
110x3
132x2
154x1
176x3
178.5x3
181x3
183x3
185x3
187x3

Paused Front Squats (5 seconds)
45x5
89x3
133x3
177x2
221x2
254x1
287.5x3
254x3
254x3

Reverse Band Hack Squats (lb’s)
+90x5
+140x5
+180x5
+230x5
+270x5
+320x15
+320x15

RNT Sandbag Roll-ups off Box (ab, 20”)
255x3
306x6
306x6
306x6

Single Leg Band Leg Curls (3 seconds eccentrics)
abx20/20
abx20/20
abx20/20

Stretching

Comments: With the time change this week and also being change to in office rotation, both things hitting me pretty hard recovery wise. It is dark out when I get home from work and with all the leave piles in the street, it doesn’t feel safe to go walking when I get home from work. Sleep is still a bit off with the changes too. So no walking this week and only foam rolling stuff on Thursday. I was feeling beat and I kind of knew that traffic out to the gym would be sucky Saturday so I just let myself sleep. I initially woke up at my time I’d need to be up to get to work but knew that wasn’t enough rest and went back to sleep for another 2.5hrs. Construction on the one highway that I generally have to go on had it down to one lane and my GPS initially wanted me to take the toll roads and then initially bypass a bit of the highway section but then try and merge back onto it. It took a good bit of driving around to finally have the GPS decided to go a different route that avoided all of it. So about 20-30 minutes added to the commute out. There were people there while I was training today and I did talk to them a good bit. With foam rolling, I was expecting to be a lot more stiff than I ended up being not doing any walks. My quads were feeling a little sore but that didn’t really manifest into being beat. Upper calves needed a decent amount still but otherwise not much to really say about anything else here. Neck rehab stuff was ok. Glute activation fine and lower body mobility also fine and dead hang was fine. Now on to training. With how my knees had felt last weekend after the wedding/travel I added a movement to my warming up prep. So instead of a superset of paused btn presses and half kneeling single arm lat work, there was also a slant board Patrick stepdowns with emphasized eccentrics. Nothing really to say about the other two exercises as pretty standard and easy getting work done but I did have balance issues with the stepdowns. As noted, it feels like balance can take a hit when I’m stressed. Right knee is the one I got to keep an eye on here. From there on to log press. It is a hassle setting things up for doing the log off of blocks. Especially since I haven’t gotten it to be just the right height where there isn’t an issue with unracking the log. I’m not doing another week of these though as going to clean and press next week. The plan for this was to 6x3 with about 90 seconds rest with same weight as last week. No support gear again (I did pack the wrist wraps but forgot to use them) here. I warmed up the same as last time with 5kgs jumps but I was feeling like my balance was off. Perhaps related to the balance issues I felt this week. I think I felt a certain way and figured that I’d not just do the same weight each set. I’d add 1kgs each set (which at the end would be close to 70% of projected). I think it was because when I initially picked up the working weight it felt rough on the pick off the blocks that annoyed me. Press felt like it was at time hitting a slowdown and then accelerating from a sticking point. I apparently was taking shorter rests than I thought (60 seconds or so) and had a little bit of happy feet on the last one. This is weight that should be moving easy. I’ll have to see how things feel next week with adding support gear and doing the full movement. From there, onto front squats. Adding belt this week and going with long pauses. I was a little leery about how my knees would handle these after the issues I had with the split squat stuff on Wednesday. The knees took a bit to get used to things here with the long pauses and boy did they feel like a long time. I did felt like my core was more stable with the belt but it didn’t make the weight feel easier on my legs mind you. Aim was to work up to a top triple (1-2RIR) and then take off 10-12.5% for 2x3. I kind of based things off of what I did last time I did these like 4yrs ago with aim to match or beat that if possible. The pauses felt like a long time down there. I did need to get a bit hyped for the top set but I did manage to get my goal here of 130kgs and then 115kgs for the back down sets (which didn’t feel that much easier). Doing a short little peak on these before cutting back the intensity as putting in the events at higher intensity. Reverse band hack squats next. Last week of these. While my right knee has tended to feel achy, I’m pleased with how I’ve been able to push these. I’m beating my numbers by a good bit from last time and I was wearing belts doing these at the time. Once again, work up in 5’s to 2x15 with decent reps in the tank. I was hoping to use 320lbs added here and I did take the 40-50lbs jumps like last time instead of plate jumps. These felt strong today. I’ll be away from these for a bit with contest prep but I will look forward to doing them in offseason. Hopefully I can have a little longer time to do some tempo work and get even higher weight. I won’t miss having to move the hack squat machine around each session though. Sandbags after that. Last week of doing these roll ups off box. Plan was 275-300lbs for 3x5. However, I had done 275lbs last time for 3x8 and that felt comfortable enough so I was going to be using 300lbs unless something felt off. I decided to increase the band tension I was moving again as well to add some difficulty to things as well. 255lbs for a triple to warm up here and that felt well enough. Pick didn’t feel that bad so that is a good sign as it had felt rough that first session. Now with people constantly using the sandbags and just putting them wherever in the pile, the 300lbs bag was buried under a good bit of stuff. The 306lbs bag that is smaller and has lead shot in it was also buried but not as much. So I decided to do that one instead. It is a bit tough on the pick up but I’ve not tried heavier than 275lbs since World’s and it felt better than it did then. I’m not really getting any ankle extension because of how my body is and I’m working on it. It felt comfortable enough I did 3x6 instead of 3x5. Last thing I ended up adjusting. I was later to training and I had to clean up stuff at home to be able to eat anything for dinner. I also knew I needed to fuel up my car and that the drive back was also going to have detours due to the construction. I downed my shake at this point so that I’d hopefully be ready to eat in like 5hrs time. I was going to do the belt squat calf stuff but figured I’d drop that and just let the calf stuff be Day 2 for the last session of them with transitioning to comp prep. So much less intense single leg hamstring curl stuff here from those lying leg curls. 3 sets of 12-20 reps with 3 second eccentrics. Left leg is strong than the right on these. With these done, I put stuff away to head home and get affairs in order. Off season is done and now on to competition prep.