October 15, 2025 – Week 7, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
156x5
206x3
246x3
296x2
336x2
386x1
426x5
426x5
426x5
426x5
426x5

Safety Squat Bar Front Box Squats (21”)
65x6
115x5
155x4
205x3
245x2
275x6
275x6
275x6

Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (straps)/Paused Pull Ups (1 second)/Lying Band Leg Curls (first 10 with 3 seconds pauses)
245x3/bwx3 (no pauses)/(2)mmbx3+3
335x8/bwx8/(2)mmbx10+10
335x8/bwx8/(2)mmbx10+10
335x8/bwx8/(2)mmbx10+10

Sandbag Carries
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’

Stretching

Comments: Got news Tuesday. My one family member did pass in the very early morning. They had been suffering so it is good they are at peace now. Funeral stuff a bit in the air and confusing with federal government shutdown somewhat effecting burial. But that is a later issue and not for me to figure out. Some good news as far as the other family member with medical issue is that it seems the one issue has been resolved and on the mend. Weather changes and the increased workload on my lower body did have my right knee feeling a lot more achy than I’d like it to. My ankle also a little stiff/achy as well on that side. Not terribly surprising going with heavy axle clean and presses after heavy circus dumbbell (which going to just the left side does spare my right knee) and a ton of yoke volume work. I needed a good bit of foam rolling for my right leg on both the calf and quads. Otherwise everything else seemed to be fine. Neck rehab stuff was fine. Kept the calf and tib raises again with some glute activation work. Seemed to feel a little better compared to last week. Did my normal stretching before moving on to training. Axle deadlifts again. These had not felt great last week so I was not sure how these would go. Lower abs still sore from Saturday (it takes so long for them to recover after the first session) and I was not sure with the right knee aches adding to just how uncomfortable these felt last week. I elected to just use bumper plates and standard plates this time around as the big wheels idea was a bust. For whatever reason, the weights didn’t roll out of position so I didn’t need to get the crash pads here. So plan for the session was to work up to 5x5 with 415-425lbs. So a little bit lighter than last time but more volume. I had mentioned how heavy stuff had felt and I don’t think with the frame of mind from that time I would’ve expected to keep pushing forward with that intensity. But could’ve just been the ebb and flow of things with just recovery and stress as I am already surprised with how strong stuff had felt on Monday considering things. We seem to be doing some things right here as I felt a good bit stronger coming into this session. Like I felt how I should with these weights. I did have a belt malfunction going for that first set and had to restart. I thankfully had no further belt issues. But I could tell today was going to be different with the pulls as to how that first pull before the belt came undone felt. It was annoying but it gave me a feel that things would be in my favor. I know my form isn’t great on deadlifts yet (I mean not like I’ve been doing these for over 20yrs or something) but feeling pretty good and controlled here. I was a little uncertain with hamstring tension before the working sets but was no issue at the heavy stuff. I was getting a little silly between sets amusing myself with setup to pull which tends to be a good sign when I’m able to enjoy myself. Third set I did kind of a reset each rep where not keeping rigid form the entire time so I was rebracing each rep from scratch at the bottom. Fourth set I was a little loose as I accidentally did kind of touch and go on one rep (not intentional). But I liked how things went here. It was good work and I didn’t feel like things were strained that shouldn’t be feeling it like last time. Put stuff away and rehydrated while setting up for the next thing. Front box squats with the ssb as has been the case. But I guess I’ve been having it too easy/good for too long here. These have been to an above parallel box of 24” so far. And man was even going to that the first week rough on my knees and having to essentially fall back the last bit of the movement. So with I guess mastering that height, adding in more ROM. Reducing box height by 3”. This is essentially parallel but a little above for me with the hard foam. Not an ideal time with my knees being especially achy this week. Plan here being 3x6. My hope was that I could keep about the same warming up that should hopefully gauge my knees and have me feeling warm and ready for the working sets with my hope being about 285-295lbs. I knew that I’d likely need to drop the weight a good bit from the 24” height. I had some issues getting the box the right height but did eventually get it figured out and stable. This was about as rough as the first week of these had been with knees and finding the box/depth. My last warm up did at least feel best of the warming up sets but not super confident. Went with just 275lbs and leaving possibility if that was easier than expected or felt better to add weight. It was not easier than expected. The good thing is that having worked up to 315lbs on the other variation has me feeling quite comfortable with holding the weight in the rack position because I needed that time to recover from the difficulty of each rep. Definitely lacking at this height. I ended up taking double rests to make sure I recovered here as that first set felt really damn tough. Thankfully, the movement did feel better as I went and I felt less stiff and worried about it. But it was still really tough. So pulls and squats done and on to the triset. Essentially the same with snatch grip rdls, paused pull ups and band lying leg curls. The rdls the weight and reps changed. Plan being 3x8 and suggested 325-335lbs. I was going to go with 335lbs as I felt that I could handle it with how axle pulls felt today. I did try and see if I could setup things on my outside power rack rather than the sawhorses but not enough space for my hands to safely fit to rack the weights. Notes also indicated to brace hard. Tried to keep that in mind but sometimes the first issue is feeling like I can do the lift first and everything feels good and then add it in there. I was also a little worried I’d pop my belt doing that (I did not). These felt pretty strong but I could tell I was getting tired by the end. The paused pull ups same as it was but told to do 3x8 here. So no wiggle room suggested like last week. I was uncertain with how these would go as left arm still feeling Saturday and now Monday session of circus dumbbells, axle and one arm rows. Also the soreness in the lower abs. So I was nervous I’d fall short of expectations. But to my surprise, these felt even stronger than the week before and only really had to fight to get the last rep on the last set. So that was good. The leg curls were adjusted slightly in that not paused every rep. The pauses were increased for the reps that were paused though. So like the leg extensions with bands in that first 10 paused and then regular style fast movement. These didn’t feel too bad and oddly enough the fast reps after the pauses were tougher I think. Maybe because the fast style doesn’t give a moment to recover and just pump them out. It was even later than it was last week when I got to the sandbag stuff. Darker out as well. I put away only a few things so that I could move right along as I was pretty much going to eat a late dinner and then have a little bit to clean up and then down a shake and go to bed. So sandbag carries again. It had been 225lbs for 3-4 sets of 50’ last week and I did 4 because they were easy to recover from and I didn’t want to have to bring the sandbag back with my not so good handtruck/dolly system that week. This time it being 5 sets and I was seriously considering just doing 6 so I didn’t have the same issue potentially. But the moving things around wasn’t as bad as last time had been as I knew what to do and I also wasn’t feeling so discombobulated in my lower body. I feel like these went better than last week. I’d like to say that with 100% certainty but I apparently forgot to hit record so I don’t know. From feel, I felt like my pick ups were less labored and I was moving/running faster. There is still an issue with lag between me picking up the bag and getting into the hold position to move and then just moving. Granted, the weight will be about 80lbs heavier so not as bad I think compared to if this was this light for the event with me not being the fastest. Put stuff away while dinner heated up. Stretched and cleaned up before getting to bed. Only got 2 more weeks of this in office nonsense messing up my scheduled thankfully.

October 13, 2025 – Week 7, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Push Presses
One Clean
30x10
60x5
90x3
120x2
150x1
180x1
210x1
Clean Every Rep
240x3
240x3
240x3
240x3

Breathing Pause 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (2 second eccentrics)
90x3
125x3
160x3
190x5
190x5
190x5

Alternating + Together Dumbbell Floor Presses
70’sx10(1/1/1)
70’sx10(1/1/1)
70’sx10(1/1/1)

Half Kneeling Neutral Grip Dumbbell Presses/Assisted Spanish Squats
40x4/4 – bwx15
70x8/8 – bwx60 seconds
70x8/8 – bwx60 seconds
70x8/8 – bwx60 seconds

Single Arm Dumbbell Rows/Band Single Leg Seated Leg Extensions (first 10 with 2 seconds pauses)
72x4/4
112x3/3
135x8/8 -- mb+10x10+10/10+10
135x8/8 -- mb+10x10+10/10+10
135x8/8 -- mb+10x10+10/10+10

Stretching

Comments: I had definitely needed a three day weekend with how the previous week had run me ragged. I’d not have functioned if I had to go into work Monday just getting everything ready for the coming week. That new stress coupled with one family member in hospice and another in the hospital and with the general shittiness of everything right now. But trying to focus on positives. I’m doing well. I introduced one of my younger sister’s friends to strength training and strongman and a friend got engaged. Weight back to what it was two weeks ago. Finally feeling normal Monday. It is good that I had off as with the planned training if I had to do it after 5:30PM, it would’ve been a nightmare with the weather. I probably would’ve needed to move it to Tuesday but that would’ve messed with other things. So again, good it was that I had Monday off to avoid the rain (mostly). I was incredibly nervous with training because of what was being asked at the start and just how sore/fatigued a lot of things were from Saturday still. Hip flexors were sore from rowing, left arm and shoulder from circus dumbbell, lower abs from the ab wheel and feeling a bit beat from all the yoke runs. I was feeling like the pressing on Monday the previous week was going close to limits of recovery and my axle pulls had felt quite tough Wednesday. Foam rolling to start things off. Honestly not too bad with lower body. Did some movement prep for the knees and ankles and did a bit more stretching for the hips and ankles compared to what I usually do just because of how tense things were feeling. And then it was time to train. I was expecting push pressing with axle again. Which is kind of what I got. But not really. Notes were to see about how things were going with axle. Kind of testing out axle, log and dumbbell to see where things are for contest. Even with my plan for the dumbbell with how well that feels and ease or getting quick reps, I was fine with pursuing axle. Well, theoretically fine but incredibly anxious. It has not been kind to me for a few years now but I keep at it. But the fine with part is trying get this problem licked as it isn’t an event that is going away and may be something in my competition after this one. Plan was to work up to 4x3 with style of overhead I’d use in competition with aim being these triples (clean and press each rep) being RPE 8.5-9. Axle is starting to feel better but it is in my head a good bit with how terrible weight was feeling at worlds with missing 255ish in warm ups and not being able to clean 287lbs/130kgs at all. And not doing cleans for almost 2 months. I was nervous with having done a lot of circus dumbbell cleans and that being my underhand grip for the axle. I’d see how things go but I really hoped that I could hit what I had planned. If I was feeling like I did the 2-3 weeks before worlds then this was doable. I went with from the floor as I’m not sure what will be used if at either venue and best to get used to that as I felt like my floor pull was crap on deadlifts last week. This doesn’t feel like really heavy weight but the patio says differently as I feel it become gravel with each rep under the rubber matting. I really had to fight down nerves and get on it with. I knew that I had at least one rep here. I’ve never not started axle and not gotten 240lbs to go up comfortable. And that first rep did. But the second and third reps did have me thinking I had chosen poorly. I didn’t feel like I had it on the first pop to belt to go right into the clean so I had to slow down to let it settle first. If I go fast, I tend to do well in that it stays in motion and goes up. Third rep the press was tough and I had to kind of move under it. I was feeling pretty drained from that with nerves and effort so I did take longer rests here to make sure that I gave these my best effort. Second set first rep was not a great start as I had to essentially pause at each point in the lift and lockout was not crisp. I calmed myself and the second rep went up like it should, easy. Third rep with the press I got a bit forward on the initial dip for leg drive and had to reset and then not the most stable rep. Two triples down, two to go. Third set was finding that groove. That point where calmed enough to think it through and be warmed up enough that firing right while not so fatigued that hampering things. First rep I think I was surprised how quick it went up with the press that a little happy feet to stay rigid. I feel like this was the best overall set of the session on axle. The last set I could tell that I was getting worn from the effort thus far. Press was feeling it on the second rep and the third rep I had to pause on the belt before going for the clean. Going for the press the first time my feet kind of slid back and aborted the press. Really didn’t want to fail this close to finishing things out here. Got it digging deep and walked it back to center while doing a little one leg stand. The big anxiety for the session was put to bed. A little more setup than usual needed to get to the next thing. The past six weeks has been stuff out of the rack and with clean and pressing, I had moved the rack. With training at home today and not working, I took this time to get have a small lunch break. Otherwise be too late and just have and early dinner and one less meal. So put that stuff away to bring back the rack and set things up for those breathing pause log incline presses. Still same plan here with the breath pause and eccentrics were. Notes indicated doing 3x5 with 5-10lbs more than last time. That had felt pretty darn close to my limits near the end. I set things up with my jumps to adjust depending on how I felt. Leaning back on the bench had my abs really feeling the DOMS. Left shoulder a little sore but that is from having a bruise from the circus dumbbell work. I felt pretty strong here and did go with the heavier side of the recommendations. Felt pretty solid which was a pretty surprising considering how rough I was feeling doing these last week. Into the garage for the alternating floor presses with dumbbells. Same weight as last two weeks but this time going back down to 3 sets but now doing 10 rep sets. I was pretty thrilled to see how much more efficiently I was moving the weight last week compared to the first week. And this was feeling about the same honestly. Coordination felt good and I wasn’t really feeling the hard fatigue even by the end. As Ms. Funk had told me after I messaged about how axle went, the extra work is paying off. Moving on to the supersets. It started to rain a little at this point. Just misting really but it was enough that it caused me issues. So first part of the superset pairing still the one arm pressing while in half kneeling. Reps lowered with options being 3x6-8 with 60-70lbs dumbbell. I figured going for 70lbs and with that being enough weight that I should probably need a warm up/acclimation set. This made sense especially since the other half of the pairing was still the Spanish squats and those need a good bit of coaxing for my knees and joints to be chill with it. So did a set of the press with 40lbs and then spent the time I needed for my knees to get the message we were doing the squats. That warm up set was sorely needed as my knees were quite achy and needed the pressure to be ok for the working sets. I was pleased I got 3x8 with the 70lbs weight and no support gear. Spanish squats were a little bit mixed bag. Same as last week with 60 second sets. Hope being that get that first set to feel the burn and improve on that being the other sets. Didn’t end up being the case. I had issues initially with the rain causing my feet to slip with having to put so much pressure to balance. I was worried I’d need to do something else but I remembered my welcome mat and that gave me enough traction for my feet to stop slipping. I didn’t quite get the burn sensation I got last week but it could be that I got used to it. side as well. The last pairing for the day was adjusted. It has been Pendlay rows to start but changing to a different row variation. One arm dumbbell rows. Not super strict but not sloppy style. Sets of 8 reps and I was allowed to use straps. But going sans straps for grip work. I’ve not done these in a good bit and my left biceps was sore from the axle and circus dumbbell. But I did manage to go pretty heavy all things considered here. The other part was the banded single leg extensions still but slight tweak. Sets of 20 reps but the first 10 reps of each set being pauses for 2 seconds. These were fine. My right knee was feeling achy on these. Like a mechanical issue. It probably wasn’t helping matters that it was a really raining heavy and my ankle weights were getting waterlogged. It was good to be done with things and just get dinner done and stuff sorted for this coming week. I continue to be surprised what I can do when I feel like I’ve done what I can from the previous week and yet top that.

October 11, 2025 – Week 6, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Heel Elevated Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
115x8
155x6
205x4
245x2
275x1
305x3
305x3
305x3
305x3
305x3
305x3

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only)
37x5
49x3
65x3
84x3
97x2
108x2
120x1
140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5

Yoke
200x50’
300x50’
400x50’
EMOM
500x50’
500x50’
500x50’
500x50’
500x50’
500x50’
500x50’
500x50’

Split Squat Pulses/Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses/Ab Wheel
20’sx40 seconds/40 seconds – 75’sx12 – bwx10
20’sx40 seconds/40 seconds – 75’sx12 – bwx10
20’sx40 seconds/40 seconds – 75’sx12 – bwx10

Rower
1000m in 3 minutes 53.30 seconds

Stretching

Comments: It has been a rough week with adjustments to schedule change with work on top of just the general sense of stress/dread with the world. Medical issues with some family members add to that. I was feeling really low energy Friday. Considering how much coughing, sneezing and hacking I hear there, it is probably a good thing that is really all I feel. Why important I got shots before coming in. The past two Saturday’s I’ve trained at home and this one could be maybe done at home but I felt it was best to go out and train. I took Dayquil before bed the night before hoping that would help and I’d feel rested. I was also leery about my right knee feeling a little stiff. I guess one of the positives with having to get up earlier is that me sleeping in only had me 30 minutes behind my usual wake up time for work on the previous schedule so I wasn’t missing out on a lot of day here. Driving out to train was fine. Some people training events and others just doing stuff at the gym. At least when I started. Most doing strongman stuff left by the time I got started actual training. Foam rolling was needed on the lower legs but not as much as it has sometimes needed. But more than it has been this week at least in comparison. It was feeling actual cool in the gym today but I warmed up when I was actually lifting and needed to turn on fans lol. Moved on to the neck rehab stuff and that was good. Not as “releasing” as it has felt other sessions. I was a little uncertain with my shoulders and upper back as they had felt a bit stiff on my left side. Did some stuff for my ankles and knees (and my hips/abs) before doing stuff with stretches for the hips, ankles and knees and dead hang for decompression. Then on to training. Still doing the ssb squats with heels elevated and atg style. The setup at the gym is a good bit better than what I was doing at home. The better unrack makes a world of difference. But noticing the weight being added to these on top of the other lower body effort stuff. First week had been low 200’s and now at low 300’s 5 weeks later. Plan was same weight as last week but increasing the volume from 6x2 to 6x3. Shouldn’t be bad. I did same jumps warming up but I did more reps in my warming up to make sure I was feeling good in my knees. There was stiffness in the knee joints but I felt more solid with the base I have here vs at home. Like last week, the first set I had to take a moment to collect myself after the first rep with the pressure and then I seemed to feel better as I went on these. With squats done, it was on to pressing. But a change up here from axle push press. A little relief in that regard as axle push press twice in the same week was getting exhausting. But not actually an easy change here with going to circus dumbbell clean and presses. I’ve not touched a circus dumbbell since March 2023 so looking at over 2.5yrs away from the implement. The reason this is coming into play is due to the shift in contest plan. The show has an odd event for overhead in that it is athlete choice between axle, log or dumbbell. Once you commit to implement, that is what you have to do and reps is the name of the game. Even with not touching circus dumbbell in a good bit compared to other overhead, I figure gamesmanship wise this is the better event for me to get reps and recover from. So this session was to see where I was and find a working weight. Advised for this session to only use my strong side and do it as I would competition style (jerk and not push press). I have my own circus dumbbell at home but figured it was best to use what was here at the gym as likely that will be closer to competition specs anyways. There is a substantial collection here so I ended up weighing all of them minus one that was oversized (didn’t use it) to see what made sense warming up. Things were feeling good for the most part and I was pleased how my leg drive was doing here and catching the weight overhead. Shoulder/traps not quite used to the pressure. All the dumbbells were a bit off weight wise from what was indicated except for my one friend’s dumbbell. I used a normal dumbbell with a fat grip on it as an inbetween weight warming up as well. Plan here was find a good set of 5 reps and do that four times. Didn’t want to mess up like I did that first week doing just 3x5 instead of 4x5. My hope was to use my friend’s dumbbell (120lbs empty) as it looked like the most competition specific. I was prepared for that to be my working weight as I’ve felt like pressing has been down a good bit and last time I did this I got 140x5 at contest when I was feeling strong in training getting reps with 177lbs. 120lbs flew up and I said screw it, going for 140lbs. A bit of jump compared to the warming up I was doing here but that was the dumbbell with end caps on it and I didn’t really want to deal with loading and unloading it with my wrench tighten clamps. 140lbs would be a fantastic place to start. 10lbs under contest (or 20lbs if I come in fat) at 18 weeks out. This is also where Mike Jenkins would start on his Arnold prep when they had the circus dumbbell at like 240ish back then. I got set for the first set and went at it. First two reps felt automatic but the third I definitely showed I was out of practice here and had to pause a bit to get weight settled and then go. Fatigue got me a little and had to set it down rather than touch and go before starting the fourth rep. I was able to touch and go those two but they were tougher. Second set went about as perfect as I could do with my abilities and that had me happy. Getting 5 reps in under 30 seconds is a great pace. Thinking I’d get that on the next set, I had an issue with the first rep with having to pause to get stable and then the lockout was not great and I lost control bringing it back down so couldn’t touch and go. After that hiccup, I did manage to get the other four reps to be like the second set. Last set was apparent fatigue was setting in as lockouts on the first two reps were a little bit tougher and then I didn’t seem to have the first attempt at the third rep racked right and had to do it twice to get it up there. Had to be a bit more deliberate on the remaining two reps to get those without issue. There is big room for improvement here but I’m quite pleased this is the starting point here considering time I have and seemingly in a better spot on this than I was 2.5yrs ago. Another change to the session from here. It has been two supersets that followed the squats and overhead. Not this time. Not done yoke since Worlds at end of August so not that far removed but I wasn’t expecting this much so soon. Not weight wise but just doing 8 sets of 50’ EMOM style. The plan to be getting my legs back into it. I have to hope not much lost here with doing all those damn lunges and such. One of the things that I would be able to check on here was if a split stance start was actually viable. In the past, I’ve not done it as it seemed to not be a power position for me but that was me trying to do it as if I was in the middle of my stride. Having seen that I tend to put one foot slightly in front of the other when I’ve done box jumps and taking with someone about it at the gym that having just a slight stagger could actually be the key. At these weights, it did feel like less a knee ache issue with my start. I got pretty darn sweaty doing these and I was worried I was going to get fatigued. I felt fatigued but I seem to thrive on that and my last run might have actually been my best run. The usual superset that followed here was changed into a triset. Still the split squat pulses introduced last week and the continuing saga of the incline crush presses but adding in ab wheel to that. Quite evil as I know how sore my lower abs will get when I’ve not done them in a bit. Especially coupled with paused pull ups as that tends to make the top abs sore. I’ve done work up/warm up sets with the first two exercises before as kind of breaking in but I kind of felt like I should just plow along here. The split squats were same weight as last time but time increased to 40 seconds. The first set was quite rough on the knees but subsequent sets seemed to be smoother. Left side forward had the back knee aching with supporting role and with right side forward, it that leg got a deep burn feeling. These really sneak up on you over the sets. I was most nervous about the incline considering how last week went. And I was being told to do 75-80lbs here for 12 rep sets. Considering the struggles, I went with 75lbs here. First set was fine but it was tough. Second set was not great. I initially fumbled up getting the weights to the chest and they got locked in a weird position and I had bail and reset. Got a bruise on a finger on the left hand and cut on a finger on the right hand. Thankfully that didn’t impair me from anything. It was a tough second set once I finally got it sorted out and I was wondering how I’d manage a third set. I was a bit more patient with things the third set and it actually felt like the easiest set. Ab wheel wasn’t much to talk about. I did have to adjust things slightly as the knee pad situation wasn’t as good as my home setup and there were times I was sliding due to sweat or fabric friction. This was really exhausting and I had to get some fresh air before the third set as I was retching after the second set. But no puke so all good. The last item for the session was new. Conditioning for conditionings sake. 1000m on a rowing erg. Assuming the gym had one, otherwise I’d have to do a 2 mile bike ride. Not a fan of stationary bikes with my frame/proportions and I don’t have a bike currently for same said reasons. The gym thankfully (not sure I should be thankful haha). I’ve not touched a row erg since I want to say 2017. So I knew this was probably going to suck. Just had to make sure I didn’t just use my arms here. I felt like I was going at quite a good pace the first 100m or so but then started to get tired but I made it through in under 4 minutes. Got a little bit of a second wind when I had about 100m left to go. My hips are going to be sore from these going into that squat position pulling myself in and then extending. Finally able to cool off and drink stuff. Put stuff away and drove back home to stretch. I’m thankful I got a three day weekend to recover before another dumb week.

October 8, 2025 – Week 6, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
116x5
206x3
296x2
346x1
386x1
436x3
436x3
436x3
436x3
436x3

Safety Squat Bar Front Box Squats (24”)
65x6
115x5
165x4
215x3
265x2
315x6
315x6
315x6
315x6

Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (straps)/Paused Pull Ups (1 second)/Paused Lying Band Leg Curls (2 seconds)
225x5/bwx3 (no pauses)/(2)mmbx1
315x12/bwx8/(2)mmbx20
315x12/bwx7/(2)mmbx20
315x12/bwx6/(2)mmbx20

Sandbag Carries
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’
225x50’

Stretching

Comments: Let me just say I’m not a fan of this in office every day stuff after being able to telework fully longer than the civil war was. My body was definitely stressing out about this leading up and it has been odd with adjusting schedule of things that I could do whenever really. Feeling tired and there is a bit of a sink in energy. I was initially looking forward to the training session but after seeing how long/late it got with Monday session, I was worried about this one as well and making sure I recover and not miss things. Foam rolling to start things and similar to Monday in that not a ton needed but more emphasis on the upper back. Neck rehab stuff fine as well and felt good. Not explicitly indicated this time but I did the calf and tib raises again with some glute activation work as well before doing the stretching for lower body. Felt ok. Stretches seem to feel smoother on this day vs Day 1 and Day 3. Axle deadlifts again. Even though competition will be with a bendy bar and suit, my coach still would like to work in a strength phase with axle to build and this is likely something I need as this is generally popping up as the deadlift at these comps for Natural World’s qualifier stuff. The plan for these was to do 5x3 with 60lbs less than my set of 5 reps last week. So it should be doable. Since doing reps and I was having issues with the axle staying in place I went with the wagon wheels and standing on 4” platform for these erroneously thinking the wheels would be less likely to shift. They were not and it was a bit too late to swap out as I didn’t want to eat up more time. I put crash pads behind them so they wouldn’t roll down the garage. So the good news here is that the axle pressure on the thighs didn’t cause the discomfort I felt last week. So that was a positive. The bad was that this weight felt heavy as shit. Like working up I was thinking oh crap. The video says this wasn’t so bad. You can tell on the last set I was slower but otherwise it didn’t look like how it felt with being heavy and straining. Lower back feeling fatigue and feeling a little bit of sciatic stuff creeping on the right side. I wore the ratchet belt here as didn’t want to risk the other belt coming undone with how these were feeling for me today. It was not the confidence boost I needed with all the rest of the workout to go. Put stuff away and got a few sips in before moving right on to the next thing. Front box squats with the ssb. These had been a concern last week with increasing weight and loading up the legs but things actually felt pretty darn good and I was sure I could do this workout plan with same weight as last week. Going from 4x4 to 4x6. Then I saw how my body reacted to deadlifts and I was worried about these. But I told myself to just gut these out if I could and be done with it. So did the same warming up as last time and keeping an eye on my knees and ability to sit back. These felt at least comfortable for the most part with the unracking but it was a bit tougher moving the weight. As well as keeping the weight on me for a bit longer with the two extra reps per set. But I feel like I got used to that as I went and that I managed to keep things solid and moving here. This was work but it didn’t feel like grinding me to dust tough like deadlifts had been. Trying to move things along for the next things but still making sure that I get fluids in me. The triset continues here. No changes to the bookends of it in regards to the snatch grip Romanian deadlifts or the lying band leg curls other than increase in reps (12 and 20 respectively). Still same weight/band tensions here.  The rdls I was a little leery about as I did feel like there was tension in the left side that was there on Monday with pendlay rows and it was showing up with warming up here but thankfully not present on working sets. I also didn’t have issues with my belt this time around as well so also good. I could tell that these sets were getting tougher as I went but first set was quite strong. Even with things feeling tougher, I’m not feeling like the first week I did them where I felt unconditioned if that makes sense. Pull ups had an adjustment made to them. Back to bodyweight only (yeah) but adding pauses at the top (boo). I know how much doing holds at the top have made my upper abdominals and serratus sore. Told to aim for 6-8 reps here. See how I felt and maybe just do 3x6 if these were god awful. They weren’t as bad as I was expecting but I did find I dropped off a rep each set here and it was challenging. It being cooler/dryer does help with me not being sweaty doing these or needing a fan. The leg curls I did a little testing first to make sure I got the right spot and to make sure I didn’t have things tighten up on me like they did at the end of last week. Adding 5 more reps per set here was a bit rough with pauses and I was kind of surprised that I didn’t see a more drastic drop down in the rdls and subsequent sets of the leg curls. I did end up using the bit by bit counting method on the second and third set of these to keep me distracted. As we all know, this was not the end of the session. As has been the case, sandbag stuff when I’m thoroughly fatigued. Now since the show I’m doing doesn’t have sandbag to shoulder but a carry instead, the over shoulder stuff was just going to be carries. 225lbs for 3-4 sets of 50’. Simple enough. And quite a bit easier to recover from then suplexing the sandbag. But I had a few things going against me. One was that my handtruck is not operable while trying to find wheels that fit the frame. I can only do 50’ straight runs in the street so needed to use my dolly that has a plastic tub on it for some reason to move the bag. It is also quite dark outside and will only get worse as the fall continues and then winter. Did my best to have lights from my house and garage and setup reflective stuff for the course. Lastly, I’m pretty stiff by this point and not exactly moving good so this was not graceful. The one good thing here with this being light and not as taxing meant I could take like 90 seconds rest and be raring to go. Which meant I could and did so that I could hopefully get this all done sooner and get to eating, stretching, washing and sleeping. First set was the worst of them and I’d say the third set was the best. I did even sets so that I had less distance to bring the bag back inside. But these were easy enough. Just really fatigued with the picking up part of things. Finally done and put stuff away before eating another late dinner.

October 6, 2025 – Week 6, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (4 second eccentrics)
26x5
56x3
86x2
116x2
146x2
176x2
206x5
206x5
206x5
206x5
206x5 (missed 5th rep twice, had to rerack to get it)

Breathing Pause 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (2 second eccentrics)
90x3
120x3
150x3
180x6
180x6
180x6
180x6

Alternating + Together Dumbbell Floor Presses
70’sx8(1/1/1)
70’sx8(1/1/1)
70’sx8(1/1/1)
70’sx8(1/1/1)

Half Kneeling Neutral Grip Dumbbell Presses/Assisted Spanish Squats
bwx5
55x12/12 – bwx60 seconds
55x12/12 – bwx60 seconds
55x12/12 – bwx60 seconds

Deadstop Pendlay Rows/Band Single Leg Seated Leg Extensions
135x6 
205x12 -- mb+10x25/25
205x12 -- mb+10x25/25
205x12 -- mb+10x25/25

Stretching

Comments: Weight back up a little. Had to get myself prepped for having to commute to office every day this month. Have to go to bed and hour earlier to get up an hour earlier so I can get to work on time. I did pull the trigger on signing up for a competition in February in Arizona. Just wasn’t vibing with the New Jersey natural show events and I’d rather do something interesting and fun. Will also be able to have it be a family trip so that is also a plus. Trying to travel a little more with how I liked the PNW and Ireland. I did not enjoy work having to go in and then come back. Diet has to be adjusted for ease during this month and I felt a little tired at end of the day but perked up when I got home so that was good. Really needed to get through the training and hopefully have it not be terribly late. The left thigh thing not sure but it seems to be less sensitive and pronounced. Foam rolling was needed after work. Not a ton per se on the lower legs but definitely for the upper back. Neck rehab stuff followed that up and then did some stuff for ankles and knees before doing lower body stretching followed by a dead hang. Push pressing with axle again. This session being  eccentric accentuation style. I was kind of hoping more weight and less reps/sets but nope. Same weight as last time but doing 5x5 with the 4 second eccentrics. I know how much tougher an extra rep makes on things with tempo modifiers. I had been quite worked on Saturday with the paused push presses with that going from 12 reps to 25 reps. This was going to be 50 reps at working weight over 200lbs (my top sets of 5 at RPE 7-8 at start of off season). This was potentially a big ask for recovery. I had felt joints were a bit achy Saturday with my knees. They were achy today but I did still feel like I had good power. At least it didn’t feel super terrible like I made a big mistake when I did get to the working weight. It did feel a bit like it did last time where I was worried I was taking too big a bite to chew. A positive from last week is that I didn’t feel like I was getting the tendon irritation from the eccentrics in either shoulder. I had some really good strung together reps on the third set at the beginning where I was pretty much able to go instantly from the eccentric into the next rep but did need to take a momentary pause after the first three to ensure rep quality. I also feel like I didn’t have nearly as many reps where I felt that I was going backwards. But I did notice that I was feeling like balance was tough as I went so possible fatigue from the big pressing Saturday as well as ever increasing weight on squats. Last set is where I hit a road block. First four reps were much like the previous set but then I just biffed it on the last rep and it went out in front of me and I couldn’t recover to get under it to lock out. I tried again but same result so I had to rack it. I took a few moments to collect myself before getting the bar back on my shoulders and getting a tougher than I’d like press to finish out the set. Not ideal to have two misses at a rep. I’d have been really beside myself if I did miss that rep on the third try to be sure. I know that my axle prescription is being adjusted with the planned competitions overhead event so hopefully things can recover a little bit. With that fatigue in mind, moving on to the breathing pause log stuff. Same as last time with it being the two second eccentrics and breathing pause. Same weight as last time but now 4x6. I realized that with how the reps got a lot tougher after the first 3-4 reps that I’d likely need to use rest periods closer to what I’ve been doing for the eccentric focus stuff rather than my usual rests. I was a little leery with these because they had gotten quite tough by the end last week and I was feeling like my shoulders were even more toasted this time around. Having had not the best incline stuff on Saturday followed by the having to do a triple take to get last rep of axle I wasn’t sure these would go well for me. But sometimes the body is a liar and you have to push on. I did the same jumps as last time here as I did with axle and that seemed to be fine. First set was ok but not confidence building. Fatigue was noticed on the second set. Not sure with the third set as it felt like I got a second wind at the start but definitely let me know on the last rep that this last set would be a close one like last time. It was and the last rep was a grinder that went a little sideways but it was done. Really been pushing the envelope on the pressing this offseason. Not so much that I’m overtraining, more that I’m not as conditioned here as I should to have the base to recover for the higher intensity stuff. Moving right along into the garage for more pressing. Alternating floor presses with dumbbells like last week with it being 3 parts to equal 1 rep. I was prepared to go up in weight on these after last week but with how the axle and log had me feeling today at the end, I was fine with things staying the same weight but just more sets. So an extra set from last time. This was an interesting one this time around as I was not terribly coordinated last week here. This time around it was moving quite smoothly and I had these feeling pretty good with just slowdown at the end of the sets. So considering how dumbbell stuff felt Saturday and how other pressing leading up was feeling, quite surprised how well this went. Moving on to the supersets. So as the same as last week with half kneeling presses to start as it has been. Bumping reps back up to 12 and told to do 50-55lbs here. Despite my better judgement with how everything besides the floor pressing was exhausting and being struggle bus, I went with 55lbs here. I’ve done about 30lbs heavier on these a few years back so I know this isn’t my limit and it’s not supposed to be. This is building. But I knew it was probably going to be challenging after about 140 reps of working set pressing before this time in the night. This was the toughest this has been and I could really feel myself bracing to have a stable base on these. Left side had my one ugly rep where I lost tightness and the dumbbell started rotating out of neutral grip position. Been a good while since I’ve had that happen on these. But definitely hit the fatigue limit on these as well. I don’t know if I need to just keep pushing on through or having things pull back a little for recovery. The Spanish squats being the other half of this. Two sessions ago I finally got these stupid things to click on the last set and got them to be even better last week after having to kind of get things to loose up in my knees and ankles to allow myself to be able to do them. I knew that was likely going to be the case with how they were feeling on Saturday and from being in the office. I did some practice reps and adjusting footwear and stance and even then I wasn’t quite ready when it was time to do the sets. I had lamented about having a more time so that it would feel right longer since it seems I need to do a rep or so for things to be moving right. A minute for the sets this time. I was a little tentative that first set a few reps before things finally relaxed and I could do the motion like I should. Second set it was almost immediate and I finally got that “deep burn” in my right quad that I was expecting to finally happen. Last set the burn was there pretty quick and was finally getting into the left side as well. Lactic acid did slow me down from my pace.  But hey, finally cooking with gas here, even if this is the most regressed it can be variation on these. One last superset to end the night. Pendlay rows as per usual. Same weight as last time but increasing reps to 12. Like last week, a little bit of knee aches to get into position but better as I went and feeling tension in the hamstrings (more so the left leg). These felt better position wise as I went and could tell that the reps are adding up with fatigue. The other part was the banded single leg extensions. Sets of 25 reps this time around. The setup from last week I did again with the ankle weights to anchor the mini bands. I also moved the table out a little further so more tension compared to last week as well. These were fine. Could feel/hear my right knee clicking. No pain on these. They feel a bit like active rest compared to most things I do. Put stuff away while my dinner was finishing up. Stretched and cleaned up before bed. This is going to suck for a month with Monday and Wednesday workouts I can tell.

October 4, 2025 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Heel Elevated Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
115x5
155x4
205x3
245x2
275x1
305x2
305x2
305x2
305x2
305x2
305x2

Axle Push Presses (0-1-0-1 tempo)
36x5
66x5
96x3
126x3
156x2
186x2
216x5
216x5
216x5
216x5
216x5

Split Squat Pulses/Incline Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses
bwx5/5 – 40’sx5
20’sx30 seconds/30 seconds – 80’sx7
20’sx30 seconds/30 seconds – 72.5’sx10
20’sx30 seconds/30 seconds – 72.5’sx11

Curtsy Lunges/Single Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
bwx6/6 – 26x5/5
bw+50x10/10 -- 40x8/8
bw+50x10/10 -- 40x8/8
bw+50x10/10 -- 40x8/8
bw+50x10/10 -- 40x8/8

Stretching

Comments: I apparently needed even more sleep this weekend compared to last as it was almost noon by the time I got out of bed. Which was fine for this day as the gym wasn’t opening until 6PM due to powerlifting meet so it made sense to just be home and train anyways. I had prepared for that from doing the session at home last weekend as well. Going to need to not do this for the next three weekends since I’m going to be having to change my schedule with the mandated in office every day a month on and month off. Essentially losing 2hrs a day with needing to get up earlier and get to bed earlier as well as also having to adjust my diet during the week for ease and time efficiency. A later start obviously but felt like it took even longer for me to get going compared to last weekend. Foam rolling was needed on the lower legs but not as much as it has sometimes needed. And surprisingly more so the left side this time around. No so much on other things. Foam rolling the area where I might have torn stuff in the left inner thigh/lower quad didn’t aggravate anything. Like I said, it has been weird. Moved on to the neck rehab stuff and that was good. Did some stuff for my ankles and knees before doing stuff with stretches for the hips, ankles and knees and dead hang for decompression. From there on to training and starting off with the ssb squats with heels elevated and atg style. The setup last time had not been ideal but it worked. As it was not expected to rain, I figured I would make the effort to use my actual power rack outside instead. Hopefully it would allow me to have the unrack position higher and not be so rough. It was but not by much. I also didn’t lift inside the rack because I didn’t want to ruin the one spider’s web. I had felt guilty accidently ruining it (I forgot it was there) during the week and was glad to see she repaired it. Plan for today was heavier than last time but reducing volume. It had been 5x5 and this was 6x2. Suggested was 285-305lbs. I knew that with the dropping of reps that even if things felt rough, I could do a bit more weight, even with the not so ideal setup with unracking and the raised heels. If I stuck to what I did last week, I was likely going to do 295lbs as then it was just 40-50lbs jumps of quarters and plates. But with it being outside on the sturdier setup and able to get it a little higher, I went with 305lbs. Especially since over 300lbs went so smoothly on the front box squat stuff. Knees were quite stiff and achy today and it took a bit to get them warmed up with squats. I had hoped that doing 30lbs jump for a single was going to be enough to get me used to the heavier weight for the doubles right off the bat but I guess not as I had to take a moment after the first rep to collect myself to do the second rep. But after that, things went about as expected with the doubles and keeping to about 90 seconds rest here. With squats finished, it was pretty easy to move on to axle since rack was already setup, just had to move the goofy stuff out and swap the bar. No rain this week. I was a little nervous here as I was doing yet another push press session. Monday had been an increase in push press frequency and a bit surprising after doing push press on Saturday too. This was still to be the double paused style with in the dip and overhead but changing from triples to sets of five reps. Suggested weight being 205-215lbs. I just went with 1lbs more since it was easier to not deal with the fractional plates (need them for dumbbell stuff). Those extra reps had me nervous as I’ve seen how fatigue builds on these. But I need it. I did take longer rests similar to the eccentric emphasis stuff on Monday to make sure I was recovering. Managed to get through these with only the last rep being one that wasn’t terribly crisp with lockout and having to catch my balance. The longer sets definitely had me thinking on positioning under fatigue so as not to screw up and expend more energy for a good rep. The rest of the workout after that being the supersets. Some changes to these from last week again. As part of letting hips rest (though who knows what actually got upset with me), the split squats were changed to being not having the back leg elevated and to do “pulses”. The pulses being doing just the bottom half of the movement. Same weight but back to 30 seconds here. Since I needed my plateloaded handles for something else, I held on to my 10lbs dumbbells and 10lbs kettlebells at the same time. These were fine and I feel like I got more used to them as I went. The issues this session were with the incline squeeze bench. I was told to do sets of 10 reps with 75-80lbs. I don’t have a pair of solid dumbbells and trying to do above 70lbs on these leads to having to use the 25’s which cuts down the ROM for this kind of press as well as having the “together” portion not as narrow. So the initial thinking was to try using my one 80lbs dumbbell and loading up one handle with 80lbs. It would be for just one session anyways. That didn’t work out so well. The plateloaded handle felt tougher than the solid one and this was ending up being too challenging and I called it at 7 reps. Not happy about that. I couldn’t figure out a way to get the handles to be 75lbs with smaller plates so eventually went with 72.5lbs with the understanding this would be for just this session and never speak of it again. I was thinking of making up for the first set with getting more reps than 10 but apparently I got stopped there when the dumbbells slipped and had to restart the tenth rep to get it. The final set did feel better and I got 11 but couldn’t get a twelfth. Definitely feeling fatigue from the increase weight of all the pressing this week. But still annoyed. Moving on. The superset of curtsy lunges and triceps remained the same but another set added. Additionally, I was told to do 50lbs for the lunges with indication I was to get 4x8 with 40lbs on the triceps. Knees were feeling achy despite the split squat pulses but got better as I went. I had been entertaining doing 70lbs on these from how things had felt last week with the first session but I’m glad I didn’t as these felt quite challenging doing 50lbs for all the sets rather than just the last one working up. I started them this time with the left side rather than right side as well. Was feeling fatigue in the shoulders holding the weights in the racked position the entire time. Triceps extensions felt better this week. Not sure if perhaps the slightly heavier warming up set helped here. I had already resigned to eating dinner early than usual and not trying to squeeze in any meals like last weekend. Took a bit for me to cool down and eat. Stretched out later.

October 1, 2025 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Deadlifts (straps)
136x5
226x3
316x2
366x1
406x1
456x1
496x5

Safety Squat Bar Front Box Squats (24”)
65x6
115x5
165x4
215x3
265x2
315x4
315x4
315x4
315x4

Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlifts (straps)/Pull Ups/Paused Lying Band Leg Curls (2 seconds)
225x3/bwx3
315x10/bw+10x11/(2)mmbx15
315x10/bw+10x11/(2)mmbx15
315x10/bw+10x9/(2)mmbx15

Sandbag Over Shoulders
225x1/1
225x40 seconds
225x40 seconds
225x40 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I’m leaning more toward something tore in my leg with there feeling like there is strand of knots in it and it feels a lot like how my other leg feels where the muscle had a slight tear. There is more discomfort with my having pressure put on it than actually doing stuff like lifting so it is odd. It isn’t like where with the oblique, hamstring and biceps were it feels like a cramp, there is a weakness and just seems to fatigue faster type deal. Like I said, just keep monitoring things. I’m not in pain and I’m still doing everything and not feeling like I’ve missed a step. I’ve been making sure to do the soft tissue stuff on the non-training days. Work is busy. Foam rolling to start things off and not a lot of was needed besides the tops of my calves here. Neck rehab stuff fine as well. This has been a good warming up for the upper body in what tends to get stiff/tight for me. Not explicitly indicated this time but I did the calf and tib raises again with some glute activation work as well before doing the stretching for lower body. I feel like that makes a better warming up for this kind of session vs what I do for the other days at this time. Deadlifts to start but a change from what I’ve been doing. It has been bendy bar EMOM stuff but not today. Indication what to see where I’m at strength wise so work up to a 5rm on axle. Advised to have it be tough but not a max. So RPE 8.5-9. I was hopeful of what this would be here but I also knew that sometimes just not always on point with deadlifts. I took bigger jumps to start out before going to 40-50lbs jumps with plate quarter plate once I got to using my belts. First two warming up sets felt good but the third it started to feel darn heavy. The thickness of the bar was having me place pressure on the spot on my thigh where it has whatever is going on so not terribly pleasant that. I did feel like my lower back was more involved with taking the stress than I’d have liked but a bit tricky to say if going from flexi bar to deadest possible bar and disadvantaged position had anything to do with that. I used my regular sized plates rather than use the fun stuff like the big wheels and standing on platform as I felt those would probably obscure form on video and I’m really trying to take these cues to heart and get myself to move and feel well. I did not hit max arousal here and I was pretty ho hum for the last single. That isn’t to say I didn’t get amped up for the top set. I really wanted to add a little more to get it to 500lbs or more but I knew it wasn’t wise if I was to not have this be a max set of 5 reps. I do feel like the work with having lockout adjustments to change the stroke here has been helpful with me keeping the pull going. Last rep was a bit slow to lockout and I’d say it was more like 9.5 RPE here as I can’t say 100% that I was good for another rep here. But this is the first time since July that I’ve pulled close to 500lbs from the floor for reps. The time before that I think was February. It has been low 400’s or high 300’s most of the time now. It is the starting point. I know that this can improve as last time I had this as my starting point on barbell, I was able to get to 585lbs for a triple as a PR in contest about 8 weeks later. So now I know and no estimations. Not a lot of volume obviously here but I did need to make sure that I was a recovered from that and that the discomfort was not from pulling weights rather than just the compression of the weight against my thigh. Cleaned up stuff and put stuff together while getting a little fluid in me. On to the ssb front box squats. I was not sure how these would go after heavy pulls. I was also not sure on how the loading on the legs would feel. I was also not sure how the knees would feel too after doing push pressing back to back sessions. So plan for this session was also reduced volume with it being 4x4 and suggested 10-20lbs more than last time. I set things up here so that it was 50lbs jumps working up and then if I wasn’t feeling great, do just 40lbs for the last jump to working weight. I was not sure until I did 265lbs what I was going to do. While nervous about everything besides breathing here, I was feeling strong. Like, wondering why this felt better than last week. I could go to the box under control faster, I wasn’t feeling aches. I don’t know if some of the stuff I’ve been doing has got my ankles not to be so restricted. Just really surprised that 315lbs was feeling and moving as well as it did. Maybe not being so fatigued from many deadlifts vs just doing one tough set. A little longer a break here to setup things for the triset. At this point with how time was going, I elected to scrap my initial dinner plan for something that would be quicker as odds are I’d be eating after 9:00PM on the soonest side of things. Again, slight change here, but only on the leg curl portion. The snatch grip Romanian deadlifts started things off. 315lbs for 3x10. I was advised to try and rotate my hands while strapped in so as to get my lats engaged more. It did seem like I was better with having my glutes engaged. These felt strong but was really feeling my hamstrings (especially the left one). Third set something “shifted” in that hamstring and I started hearing something that sounded like Velcro. Because it was as my stupid fabric belt started coming undone again on the last few reps. Which was annoying. It seems to be only with bracing and bending over so I may need to retire it from being used for deadlifts. Pull ups were next. Same as last week with doing 3 sets of max reps with 10lbs added and goal to increase reps from last time. I feel like I was able to have better control on these this week It probably helped that not raining and it was a little cooler and drier out. Added one rep to the first two sets but no change on the third. The leg curl setup from last time had not been what I was supposed to do so with clarification I got it setup how it should. But of course changing to pauses at contraction each rep. I had initially thought of using what I’ve done in the past on these when treated as their own thing for sets but figured it was probably best to do something I knew I could do as these could be rough with everything else. I probably can do the other band tension I had in mind next time. But this was definitely making my hamstrings tight and pulling on my lower back and hip on the left side. I had to do a little adjustment to get things to crack before I finished up the evening with the sandbag over shoulder. 225lbs had been pretty rough going from the 175lbs bag. Doing it again but now for 40 seconds instead of 30 seconds. I figured I could do another rep in that added time. I made sure I didn’t have too much in my stomach so I didn’t end up barfing a little like last week. Successful there. I also made sure that I taped my wrists a little differently so my wrists didn’t get as sore. Also success. Ms. Funk indicated that I should try to not collapse things when in the lap to keep it higher so as I don’t have to move it as far to do the movement. I don’t think I got that right as I was rushing and overthinking. I think because it is a timed thing that I tend to rush. I didn’t do a warm up last time and I didn’t intend to this week either as the stuff leading up is enough as it stands and trying to not be so drained. The two reps were my first attempt and things were going well but the bag landed weird on after the second rep and I panicked to grab it and it got in my lap oddly and I just couldn’t get it go to one side or the other when extending and it just was stuck there. I eventually just stopped and cursed a little before resetting things and telling myself to calm down. Treat that as warming up. I didn’t have that issue after that with these. Since I figured I’d get odd number of reps, I started with my right side over the first set and then left side over for the second set to start with these alternating sets. I could tell fatigue was hitting me by the last set as I was a bit slow here and I didn’t have enough time to do a fifth rep. I was fine with that since I’d already done an extra and a half before these. Put away the sandbag and got my dinner ready before eating and cleaning up. I’m not looking forward to doing these sessions the next four weeks with having to be commuting.