January 28, 2026 – Week 22, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Suited Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
No Suit
143x5
233x3
Added Suit (single-ply)
323x2
413x1
503x1
553x1
603x1

Paused Seated Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (21” box, 1 second)
115x8
115x8
115x8

Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
70x8/8 – 56’sx8
100x4/4 – 86’sx4
140x8/8 -- 116’sx8
140x8/8 -- 116’sx8
140x8/8 -- 116’sx8

Zercher Jefferson Curls (45 seconds rest)
105x10
105x10
105x10

Stretching

Comments:  Cold still here. Tuesday the shoveling was even tougher than Monday (about even to Sunday) as it was the rest of the end of the driveway that was packed from the plow and it had frozen partially. So that ended up being a lot of clanging and banging to get that cleared. As I needed to have it cleared so that I could drive my car to work the next day. Wouldn’t be an urgent thing if I was not having to be in the office. That had me a little worried that this and the cold (and worrying my bursitis was acting up in the left elbow) was going to affect things with being ready to compete and finish off the week of training. Shoulders feeling the ice shoveling and right knee a little sore from training and working in the snow. Streets were not really clear in the city and probably should’ve let us have a delay or off another day honestly. The loss of an hour both ways with getting up early and leaving early and going to bed early definitely hampers my recovery/energy. The office just sucks the life out of me. Energy levels were cratering by the time I got home and I was contemplating just eating and going to bed and doing the session. Part of me is craving just sleeping this off and until I get to Arizona but I want to listen and follow the plan Ms. Funk has planned out over the past 23 weeks here. The commute home did not help matters but I seemed to be able to rouse my spirits enough to give it the ole college try. Soft tissue work to start things. This felt similar to Monday. Kind of going through the motions. Neck rehab was fine. Keeping an eye on things here. No issues with the stretching for hips, knees and ankles. Dead hang followed after that. I was kind of hoping the warming up stuff would have my left shoulder feeling a little better from the shoveling but I guess can’t be that lucky. Still really cold temperatures so once again wearing warm ups at the start of things until I got warmed up. I did the tib into calf raise exercise for two sets to start things off. These felt fine. Nothing felt off or tight so that was good. On to the heavy thing for the evening. Last pulls on the deadlift setup before the contest. Plan being a top single that was RPE 9-9.5. I was to get into a bit more aggression than I had last few times but not into psycho mode. Which should be a no duh here with being 11 days from the show. I’ve had some preps where there was a heavy day this close and others where this session was 18 days away from show. With how I was feeling, I wasn’t going to try and go insane here with the planned attempt or the hyping up circumstances. Just enough to be the most I’ve done and know that it would go up. No suit adjustments from last time. I feel I’ve got it modified how it will work best at this point. This warming felt reminiscent of sessions where every other set working up alternated between hot and cold with how they moved. First set was good and then second set wasn’t feeling it. Suit added and it seemed like I was getting things going well here. I was still coughing up phlegm at times. I was feeling good so I stuck to 90lbs jumps with 503lbs as my first single with everything on. That seemed to move real good. I was tempted to do more than 50lbs jump as really what I wanted to hit was just north of 600lbs here not fully tapping in and hopefully that be a good spot for maybe something between my first and second attempt. Although, no clue how this will compare to venue setup and if I can get the help I need to really get my suit straps cranked down tight. 50lbs more and suit straps a little tighter. This went up well enough but not so well that I felt like going any higher than my planned 600ish. I did have some fighting in my head with adding a few little micro plates to bump it up a little but stuck firm to my plan of another 50lbs added. Compared to how my start for the top double went two weeks ago, I feel that I had a better start. The weight didn’t feel like it hesitated so much and roughly started about the same. However, the lighter weight I got to lockout a little quicker vs this single. The single felt more like the second rep of the double as far as the lock out so I’d say about equivalent then to the effort there with having it be on the money. I also didn’t have my left shin start bleeding this session. This was the goal but I also would’ve liked to have this be stronger and me not feeling sick but it is what it is. I know that once the fatigue (hopefully) falls away to reveal what has been built that I’ll be where I really am on the day. I’ve not pulled 600lbs of more from the floor in about 1.5yrs. The big if of the day was done with the little ifs to follow. I say that in that I was pretty much giving myself outs at every turn if I felt like it was too much. I can just not do that or do it lighter or skip when really I was going to do everything that was written. It’s like I’m giving myself permission and I won’t get mad and takes some of the pressure off the cooker. Anyways, the lighter stuff was up next and first up being seated ssb gms. Weight bumped up a bit here and reps lowered. Keeping these in the range of motion I did last week certainly adds some emphasis on the lower back. Which is needed. I had thought about doing a work up set but figured just move right along here so not taking longer to do the session as I needed rest and recovery this week. From there, it was the superset of supported single leg dumbbell rdls with chest supported dumbbell rows. Increase in reps on both with same weight. I ended up doing less reps the last work up set here. The rdls I switched up on the side I started with this week and that seemed to be fine. Rows were challenging but did feel better as I did these. I did try to speed up the switch between exercises but at the mercy of switching the plate weights. Last thing then was jefferson curls. 45 seconds rests on these again. Same weight as last time but more reps per set. These felt a little tougher compared to last time. Could be due to my air being compromised with the head cold. But it was easy enough to get these done and put stuff away before eating dinner and then stretching. I really hope that I rebound from this cold soon. It stinks having to be in the office and feeling miserable.

January 26, 2026 – Week 22, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Axle Push Presses (2 seconds lockout)
26x5
56x3
86x2
116x2
146x2
176x5
176x5
176x5

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
56’sx12
87’sx8
87’sx8
87’sx8

Overhead Dicks Presses
95x5
135x5
135x5
135x5

Deadstop Single Arm Dumbbell Rows/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
112x5/5 – bw+40x5
152x10/10 – bw+80x10
152x10/10 – bw+80x10
152x10/10 – bw+80x10

Reverse Lunges w/ March Hold (2 seconds)
bwx3/3
bw+46’sx8/8
bw+46’sx8/8

Stretching

Comments: We did get a decent amount of snow Sunday. I was exhausted from Saturday and still taking cold/flu meds to try and keep functioning. There was not going anywhere on Sunday. I’m not sure on the total amount but it was about 9” of snow when I first went out to shovel on Sunday and there was some more that accumulated come Monday. Weight had been back up about 3lbs but with meds and such, it seemed that was probably going to be down once I got over this bug. While work was closed, I still was obligated to work from home. Which is fine by me but with working a full day, only time I had to really try and get myself out of the remaining mess (and the packed snow from the plows in the morning) was going to be during my lunch breaks with how cold it was. With Monday, I did as much as I could for the driveway during the break and made sure to have walkway and path to the street at least and the back patio so I could at least attempt to train if feeling up for it. This is the last week prior to the competition week and with stress high and cold, I’m not feeling terribly motivated to do this week. My mind from past training cycles and years is used to this week being really easy for the most part with sometimes being tough. So it is kind of that and trusting the process here. But I usually end up doing the training planned for me because I feel compelled to do it. Soft tissue work starting things off. Nothing really stood out here. I think just surprised with how tense my biceps were those first two sessions on stones and now nothing. Neck rehab was ok. Wasn’t too sure how things were going to be with no walking and a lot of shoveling. With more to come tomorrow unfortunately. Stretching for hips, knees and ankles and then followed by a dead hang. Outside for axle pressing. This might be the coldness I’ve done a session as it was 19 degrees. I ran out of salt but hopefully I had put enough that I wasn’t having a slipping hazard doing stuff today. Paused axle with a little less than last week for 3x5. My joints were feeling a little more beat up compared to coming into this session last week but felt that the no knee sleeves had been the right decision with axle and dumbbell. Things felt a little tougher compared to last week at least with how the weight was feeling but it was still very powerful movements and feeling strong there. I mean, even if not feeling best, I’ve pretty much been doing the competition each week lately with the last week being with a head cold so I can walk through the competition and do ok. But I want to do great. Primer done and kind of left stuff out there for the moment so I could move on to the next thing. Incline dumbbells in the garage. Same weight as last week and now back up to 8 reps. I wasn’t so concerned with push press as leg drive involved but I wasn’t sure with incline bench after all the snow shoveling as that could be hampered by it and feel off. As when the shoulders ache, pressing tends to not go well. Thankfully this didn’t seem to be so bad. I had commented that last time was slightly better than the previous week which had felt rougher than I was expecting when weight was the same and reps dropped. Either from not taking it as seriously of just cautiousness with sore biceps. I do seem to become a hypochondriac with stuff as I get closer to competition. I felt like my  getting to shoulder was a bit more stable and consistent with not losing any power and reps felt pretty good with only the last one starting to feel some significant fatigue. So far, so good I guess. Back outside for more pressing. Overhead dicks presses. I had been focusing on these being more of a triceps thing but it appears that Ms. Funk wants me to do that and to treat each rep like I’m doing a lockout on an overhead press so head through. This had been 4x4 with 5lbs more than the first week with suggested for this time around being 5-10lbs more for 3x5. I figured I’d go with 10lbs just because that would be 135lbs on the bar. These can be a little tricky with getting enough to prime and warm but not fatigue or be undercooked. Seems more so the case as my left shoulder tends to feel cranky on these with the movement when going to the back and then forwards. As I went, I feel like I got a little more comfortable with the movement. Last rep of last set ended up being a little squirrely on me but otherwise feel things were good. Back into the garage to finish things up. I wasn’t looking forward to the last bits of the session as they were the most exhausting and with the cold, my respiration was hampered so this was going to be a whole bunch of suck. The first one being the superset of deadstop style one arm rows and the heel elevated goblet squats with tempo. Rows I was to do more reps but decrease the weight 10lbs while squats weight the same but more reps. As I was feeling quite warm in the legs, I figured that I should skip the lightest set I do and just get into things sooner as likely I’ll feel same with no weight vs 40lbs on the squats. The rows were fine with that but knees were still a little achy. But fine for the working sets. I apparently was to use straps for the rows this week but didn’t find out until I had already finished the session (I guess to save grip and work on pulling explosively). The rows were fine enough but man was it tough recovering from the extra two reps on the squats. Could feel my quads fatiguing by the end and just having to take a bit to recoup with my breathing. I was in no hurry to do the lunges after this. Only for two sets but more weight. Not a ton more weight and two less reps than last time but there is quite a difference between the solid dumbbells and plateloaded ones as these felt a good bit tougher. Left side these felt slower and tougher to initiate (I know sometimes that leg lags here with knee flexion) but seemed to have a better time of it with the right side. I apparently need to get more drive off the back foot on these. I think I was just more focusing on getting these to move and do the holds vs that aspect so assuming these pop up again (it’s the final countdown), I’ll remember to focus that (as I think these have merit to moving events like yoke). Got stuff put away and ate dinner before stretching. I get to stick to normal schedule another day before having to get up earlier to commute. Not looking forward to that. Hopefully cold is gone by then.

January 24, 2026 – Week 21, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (2 seconds)
65x6
115x4
165x2
215x1
265x3
265x3
265x3
265x3

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, with run up)
49x5
85x3
108x2
130x1
(60 minute rests)
150x1
150x1
150x1
150x1
60 Second Sets
140x10

Yoke and Sandbag Husafell Carries (50’ run back)
Y – 195x50’
Y – 285x50’
Y – 375x50’
Y – 465x50’
Y – 555x25’
Y – 645x25’
735xpick (3 seconds)/290x5’
735x50’/290x50’ in 35.27 seconds
750x50’/290x50’ in 33.30 seconds

Rolling D-Handle Hangs
bw for 5 seconds
bw+114 for 43.67 seconds
bw+114 for 34.73 seconds

Atlas Stones
55”
315x2
51” 
330x2
45 second sets
350x4 (1 miss)

Stretching

Comments: For as good as I felt at the beginning of this week, that inverse is how bad I felt at the end. Thursday evening I felt like I was getting a scratchy throat and watery eyes and I had hoped it was just allergies with the high winds blowing in stuff from god knows where. But it was quite obvious Friday that it wasn’t that. Still, the plan was to get in this last really heavy event training session in early so that I can recover with the deload. My work already closed Monday and Tuesday for the once in a decade predicted snow fall (I’d still have to work remotely though) so that was going to give me a little more time to recover with sleep before the revert in work schedule again. But I woke up Saturday at work time and I did not feel great. I couldn’t stop coughing and my joints ached and I felt cold. Only people I’d been around this week was my parents one evening and I guess I caught something there (my mom does substitute teaching in her retirement). I guess stress from work and just whatever is going on right now in this country are taxing me as well as the training. I felt bad enough that I wrote off this session. If even a fraction of the planned snow hit tomorrow, there was not going anywhere or even trying to train at home in any real fashion. I was up for about an hour and called it a day and went back to bed. I must have been wiped as I don’t think I’ve ever fallen back to sleep after drinking coffee (I only drink one cup in the morning and limit caffeine to that). I fell asleep for 4hrs and woke up feeling significantly better. I still didn’t feel great but my whole body didn’t ache and I wasn’t hacking and horking. This was manageable. It was 1PM so not ideal to start training that would likely take hours with impending snow storm. But I figured I’d give it a shot (after eating my planned after workout sandwich). Drive out wasn’t bad but it is really cold right now.  My one friend (doing Arnold prep) was still there even though she had been there when I was planning to go out 4hrs earlier. She had a lot of stupid events to setup solo it would seem. I helped with the last “optional” event before I really started getting into my own training. Throat tickle came back before I started lifting and that had me a little worried but it calmed down thankfully. Didn’t need a ton of soft tissue work (maybe because of the Nyquil and Dayquil). Neck rehab stuff was fine. My left shoulder was feeling pretty tight though. Stretching for lower body was definitely needed as stuff was feeling tight there as well. Dead hang as well. On to training. Pauses with the ssb for squats. I’ve been enjoying the monolift for these I guess. Plan here was work up to 265 for 4x3 with the pauses. I was advised that the flex of the glutes at lockout wasn’t enough and that I need to be thinking of explosively lifting the whole way through on the concentric and trying to think fast twitch. I felt that I’d probably be able to manage that better with lower reps in the sets. At least if I was feeling like I did last week. My knees were feeling achy unfortunately and I knew that with the congestion that I’d feel a bit more pressure on squats and such. These squats thankfully didn’t feel as awful as they did that one session right before I took the mandatory deload. But these felt rougher than last week. I was initially worried that I miscounted the first set (I had to take a bit to collect myself between reps that set). I do feel I got these to be more explosive in movement but it was hard going. These are still to be a primer. I wasn’t sure how the rest of the session would go as last time when I had felt like this, I had called it after dumbbell was feeling bad. Which was the next thing. Plan here was work up to contest weight for four singles and then drop 10lbs and do a minute AMRAP. Same warming up besides the last jump before working sets. I did experiment here with no knee sleeves after seeing how my axle push press had felt. With my knees being achy with squats, I wasn’t sure if this would make that much difference. No knee issues here without sleeves. Felt a little more stable I think. This might be the way to go. Initially, the dumbbell at contest weight wasn’t feeling so hot but I did feel better as I went on these. I did not have someone that I could really trust to do contest down calls for the minute set so I just tried to recall how the reps had felt when I got the down call last time here. I wasn’t expecting to get 10 reps here. Breathing afterwards was hard due to the head cold but this was good and felt solid. Even with how I was feeling, I didn’t think the singles would be out of reach but I didn’t think I’d be able to get a minute set done so this was good. The next thing I wasn’t so keen on doing. Yoke into husabag. The initial plan was to work up to 735lbs on the yoke for two runs with the 290lbs husabag (since can’t make it any heavier) with expectation to do contest weight or so next weekend at end of deload. However, I had suggested that this be the last heavy session for it since this can take a bit out of me and with just knowing that recovery won’t be the best leading up to the show with the work shift and just how I handle things when having to take time and just how things had kind of gone with the short prep with world’s and bailing on the last workout. So the potential options were to do those runs as planned and then do 2 sets of holds with 750lbs for 10-15 seconds after that or to do one run at 735lbs and then the second run at 750lbs if I felt I could do it with no issues. With how 720lbs had felt last week, I felt like I could do contest weight already. Well so much for the big game I talked as I was not feeling that same way this session. 645lbs was feeling close to how 720lbs had felt last week so not a good sign. But I stuck to the plan here. My intent with the pick was a 5 seconds hold but I was a bit too aggressive and had a bit of forward momentum so dropped it at 3 seconds. I was advised I spent too much time fiddling around with the husabag to get up and go last week and my hope was to not do that this time around. I was dealing with the cold and indigestion at this point and I was not moving super fast with the yoke but I was moving steady. I tried to go fast with picking up the husabag and that didn’t go great as it tilted on me and it became a bit of a fight to correct and get it up and moving in not an ideal position. Like 4 seconds slower than last weeks time. I felt like that doing this again I’d be faster and might as well add 15lbs as with how I’m feeling, it will likely feel the same to me. Doing holds after this would just have me here longer and don’t want to potentially get caught in any snow driving home. As I thought, I was able to go faster this set with more weight by not screwing up the pick as bad on the husabag as well. It wasn’t as good as it could be with moving here. But I got 750lbs on yoke done, which is the most I’ve done in training since 2024. Finally able to get a little food (rice Krispie treat) in me to hopefully spike a little more energy to finish out the session. Initial plan here after the yoke and stuff was to do the rolling handle hangs again for two sets of max time. I did express interest in doing one more set on the Hercules hold just to get something heavier and work with balance as the setup at the show looks a bit unwieldy. But with showing up 4hrs late, that wasn’t happening so reverting back to just the hangs. I had been surprised how comfortable 100lbs had felt and so I was tempted to do that again but figured since there was weight out on the power stair/duck walk implements, I’d do that. 114lbs and doing these hangs. I was surprised I got near 45 seconds that first set. The drop off on the second set was expected, regardless of the rest I took. My forearms didn’t get as pumped as last week when it was time to do stones. A little less volume with the plan being two doubles with lighter weight and then the 350lbs stone for a set of 45 seconds. I had new tacky I’ve never tried before and I unfortunately forgot to bring a fresh roll of tape so I was lucky to get as much coverage on my forearms as I did. I was feeling pretty worn by this point and wasn’t expecting much from myself or the new tacky. So color me surprised with how strong the tacky was that it get me issues on the first set where I had to fight to get myself off the stone. So I guess I got a good winter time alternative to my other tacky I like. I felt better on the next set and eventually got ready for the work set. My understanding being this is the last heavy stone session. Tacky was sticking well and I wasn’t going as fast a pace at the start compared to last time but I was quite surprised that I had like 8 seconds left after getting four reps. I wasn’t expecting to have that much time and I think because of that I hesitated a little with it and then I got off balance and fumbled it with having it too low on my person going for a fifth rep. It was as close to a load as it could be with it not being on the platform since it spun off. So I’m not really counting that as a miss there. I felt fine afterwards and had to clean up before downing a shake and then driving home with plans to eat dinner and then stretch and shower. Now I need to make sure I recover and hopefully not get snowed in for days.

January 21, 2026 – Week 21, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Suited Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
No Suit
143x5
233x3
Added Suit (single-ply)
323x2
413x1
483x1
553x3
558x3
563x3

Paused Seated Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (21” box, 1 second)
95x12
95x12
95x12

Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
70x7/7 – 56’sx7
100x7/7 – 86’sx7
140x7/7 -- 116’sx7
140x7/7 -- 116’sx7
140x7/7 -- 116’sx7

Zercher Jefferson Curls (45 seconds rest)
105x8
105x8
105x8

Stretching

Comments:  Considering the training workload from Saturday, I was quite surprised how well I was moving and feeling on Monday. Then I had to work the next day and I think that just let me know that work is taking a lot out of me as I felt like I had been after that haha. Probably didn’t help that it got into single digits in the morning as far as temps Tuesday and Wednesday. But I guess it will warm up slightly and then might get hit by a once in a decade snow at the end of the week. Again, I don’t know why I try and do competitions during the winter and summer. But it be like that sometimes here. I was a little slow going after work today so didn’t quite get ready to training until about 30 minutes later. Been a bit since I’ve just had one of those disassociation for a little bit (as a treat) before getting myself to do what I want and need. Soft tissue work to start things. This was a little odd. The things that needed it a lot were my left calf and my right quad. Hardly anything for the opposing sides there. Hamstrings needed a little and upper back felt like it needed some. Neck rehab was fine. Keeping an eye on things here. No issues with the stretching for hips, knees and ankles. Dead hang followed after that. That felt good. It was pretty darn frigid at this point in the session in the garage. I knew that with suit work I’d be warm enough by the working sets but getting to that point I needed to keep warm. So wore my warm ups initially. I did the tib into calf raise exercise for two sets to start things off. These felt fine. On to the heavy thing for the evening. Another session of getting into the suit and pulling weights. There hasn’t really been a light and heavy session when it comes to the suited pulls here. It has been more of heavy low volume and heavy medium volume. So this was going to be sets and reps vs working up to a top set like last week. Plan here being 3x3 with 550-560lbs. I made some more alterations to the legs of my suit and I do believe I’ve finally got them how I want as far as tightness and function. I was going to do some sowing here anyways to reinforce what I did last time but I figured I needed to bring in more as I shouldn’t need to be wearing 4 pairs of spandex if I get it right. Starting out I wore my warm ups until I got to weight to wear my suit. I was definitely a little out of it as I didn’t grab my straps to start off here.  Working up with the new adjustments to the legs of the suit had them not bunching up on me but also had them tighter to the crouch. So I even though straps might be tight before, they were loose now. I did the same warming up pulls to the top weight like I did two weeks ago. I didn’t want to do a plate jump and then 50lbs jumps so it was 70lbs jumps. I kind of had the plan here to add 5lbs per set. That first set did not have my feeling confident with that plan. It didn’t feel solid but video says it looks about the same for the first rep. Despite it not feeling super easy (a guy can dream), I did add 5lbs to it for the next set with the aim to get the straps a little tighter. I made this one harder than it needed to be as I didn’t have the bar out to really roll in. Again, I think that as the weight increases here that it becomes more apparent with the sleeves not rotating with the extenders bolted on. That felt a little harder than what I had done. Not saying it all lower back like the multi-ply suit had felt but it was feeling a little like that. I also had nicked my left shin again on the first triple so I had blood again. I was also not seeming to have the bar in the right spot for when I lifted as far as my straps settling on the bar. I actually had to let go of the bar rather than have my thumb around it so that it had me in a better position. I don’t want that as it is risky with competition. I trust my straps but still. Adding another 5lbs. It felt like a coin toss that this weight would be good with how the previous two sets had felt. I got the suit a little tighter in the straps (I don’t think I can get them any tighter training solo) and things seemed to go how I had wanted them to go as the reps felt comfortable albeit heavy and slow to lockout. Maybe I had a better position and better initial brace. The subsequent reps felt easier. I was able to grip the bar normally this set as well and not be impeded. Just one more session with the suit before competing then. Still not tapping into the bloodlust rage/hype zone so I think that is a good thing. Suit was biting a little harder today so I was glad to get out of it and deal with the rest of the workout. The less stressful stuff. First up being seated ssb gms. Same as last time as far as form with same weight and sets but more reps. I could definitely notice the increased reps on the deadlifts coupled with the increased reps here. Tricky to get these to be both blood flow movement and getting brace through with the fatigue from the suited pulls. But these are fun/good to do. From there, it was the superset of supported single leg dumbbell rdls with chest supported dumbbell rows. The notes were for the rdls to try and have it more hamstring focus vs quad. I mean, I was definitely feeling these in the hamstrings and such after that fact but as Ms. Funk noted, I do have tight hamstrings. So I made an effort here to try and have my legs more rigid with less knee bend. May not be perfect but closer. Anyways, plan was same weights as last time but an additional rep to each set. I decided to add 5lbs to the rdls because those felt easier than the rows at this point with the balance point and I was already using all my small plates minus the pair of 2.5lbs. So I figured I’d invite them along. I did not notice the added weight here. The rows feel substantial and the jumps in weight feel a lot more than the rdls do. Adjusting the weight from the rdls to the rows in the superset is taking about a minute. I wouldn’t have thought to pair these together but they are really hitting hamstrings and upper back really hard. But could be they are fatigued from suit work as well. Like last week, the rows felt better each set. Before doing the last thing for the session, I started prepping my dinner so that it wasn’t so late to eat. I’d finish up with the last thing and putting stuff away while it cooled off. So that brings us to Jefferson curls. 45 seconds rests on these again. I was advised to slow the rep speed down here. I got too focused on the short time for rest and focused on the “speed”. Worry being that I was bypassing the bottom range of motion which is what we want to hit. More weight and less reps here and it felt pretty good. I think knowing that this position will not have me feeling nerve issues in the left arm has been helpful with progression. Finished up here and put stuff away before eating and stretching.

January 19, 2026 – Week 21, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Axle Push Presses (2 seconds lockout)
30x5
60x3
90x2
120x2
150x2
180x4
180x4
180x4
180x4

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
56’sx12
87’sx7
87’sx7
87’sx7

Overhead Dicks Presses
65x4
95x2
125x4
125x4
125x4
125x4

Deadstop Single Arm Dumbbell Rows/Heels Elevated Goblet Squats (4-0-4-0 tempo)
62x8/8 – bwx4
112x4/4 – bw+40x4
162x8/8 – bw+80x8
162x8/8 – bw+80x8
162x8/8 – bw+80x8

Reverse Lunges w/ March Hold (2 seconds)
bwx3/3
bw+40’sx10/10
bw+40’sx10/10

Stretching

Comments: With Saturday sessions in this contest prep taking time and certainly having me feel joint stiffness that makes it hard to fall asleep early (and stay asleep) I think knowing that Monday would be a federal holiday and give me an extra day to kind of recover and get things together was helpful. I think it mentally helped knowing that if Saturday had been a digging deep session into the reserves that I’d have the opportunity to get as much rest as I was going to with it still being a work week. It snowed Sunday morning which as I mentioned had not been expected and would’ve made training that day not great so it was good I had stuck to Saturday despite the driving conditions. Sunshine melted most of it in the front yard so I had to do some shoveling in the back patio so that I could train out there Monday and not be lifting on ice. I made sure I got a walk it and it was cold enough that I actually had to wear my winter coat and gloves. Bodyweight dipped to a little over 253lbs, even though been keeping calories up these past three weeks of training (I tend to be lax on weekends). I didn’t initially intend to train earlier but I felt like I might as well so that I could have a less complicated and stressful evening to get ready for work tomorrow. Soft tissue work starting things off. Didn’t have my biceps cramp on me this time either. I was actually surprised that they didn’t seem to really be sore at all coming into this session. My stomach was also not that tore up from stones either. So maybe I’m in one of those weird periods where I’m recovering well or the things aren’t taxing me as much. Maybe not, my calves needed a good bit of work during foam rolling. Not much else really did however. Neck rehab was ok. Felt pretty good for the most part. Stretching for hips, knees and ankles and then followed by a dead hang. Some things in my ankles/calves felt tight. Outside for axle pressing. Cold but not super cold. But occasional wind gusts meant get a little showering of snow off the roof. I had put down salt yesterday to keep the outside from freezing over. Axle is a primer and not pushing the weights here as we wind things down for the competition. A little later than I usually seem to do when working out on a Monday holiday as I think part of it was debating doing normal time and the other being that I know if I work out too close to noon, I got to worry about glare. Anyways, plan here was 4x4 with a little less weight than last week and dropping one of the two points I was pausing. Just holds at lockouts this time around. Things weren’t feeling too bad. I felt like I was getting better lower body drive today. That was when I noticed warming up that had my knee sleeves down. I was feeling good so I figured I’d just go with it. This is the best that axle has felt for me in a year. Yes light weight but even with light weights lately it hasn’t popped up like that and felt effortless. Perhaps it was doing those pauses in the dip and working to try and get my press to be flowing and not have a break. But it could be that my knee sleeves were inadvertently restricting my knee movements and not allowing for more lateral tracking. I started using them due to knee pain (which I think was from doing a lot more squats and such about 5yrs ago). So it may be worth seeing if this is something I should be looking at going forward here. I was pleased with how these felt today obviously. But I can’t let something just be good as I had a what if that I peaked too early for show as usually I feel beat. Oh well haha. I put some of the stuff away and went into the garage to do incline dumbbells in the garage. Same weight as last week for 3 sets but increasing the reps up to 7 this time around. So 8 and then 6 and now 7. Pressing felt better this time around compared to last week and it wasn’t feeling like very close to the limit and needing longer rest like the week before that. Maybe with a less intense axle variation or I was feeling in a good mood because it felt good. Biceps weren’t having me concerned so maybe that as well. I did more reps on the warming up set and these seemed to feel pretty good. Some tension in the left shoulder/pec but I think that is from lingering effects of suit work honestly. With those done, it was back outside for the overhead dicks presses. I guess I did these right last week as plan was 5lbs more for 4x4 this time around. Shoulders felt a little fatigued here but no issues with my triceps. Again, the left shoulder just feels very tight when doing the motion to rock the weight behind the head and then bring it back. I do feel that I am having a better body awareness here and trying to get these to feel right. While the back to front motion isn’t the best just yet, I feel that I am making up for it with how I’m lowering the weight initially to emphasis the triceps and elbow flexion/extension aspect. My last set actually felt the best and had the least amount of left shoulder tension. With that done, I put away some more stuff from outside before settling in for the remainder of the session in the garage. The superset from last week of deadstop style one arm rows and the heel elevated goblet squats with tempo again. Those rows had been intense last time and I had been a little worried with the biceps with how sore the were feeling. The plan this time around was same weight on the rows but increase reps by 2 and then increase the goblet squats by 5lbs and drop the reps by 2 there. Three sets of each. As the rows get heavy and need a bit to warm up, I did the same kind of warming up with the squats. I knew what to expect with the rows and I didn’t need much to warm up on the squats thankfully. The rows did feel tougher than I was anticipating that first set. But I felt I was better prepared the following sets. With the goblet squats, I went heavier than planned. I don’t have a 75lbs dumbbell and I couldn’t load up my kettlebell to that weight without the 25’s that were in use doing the rows. Takes a lot longer to setup/secure the plateloaded kettlebell vs dumbbells so I just went with my 80lbs dumbbell so I wasn’t dealing with anything that wasn’t stable/secure. I think that worked out fine for me. After this was done, I started prepping some food to eat afterwards. Namely the small meals that I missed with getting this session going. I’d be eating as soon as I was done (and then having a late dinner). The last item being that reverse lunge exercise with march holds. My legs were feeling pretty warmed up from the goblet squats so I only did a minimal warming up here just to get the motion down. Really it is just getting my knees to accept I’m doing these and then add the weight. Only 2 sets this time around but the increased reps per set I knew was going to be a gut buster by the end. These weren’t bad when I was doing them and not thinking about them. But afterwards I was feeling them and breathing heavy between sets and sides. I think more reps also had me notice my grip a bit too. I switched up which side I started with and I’m not sure that really mattered as the second side seemed to be quite fatigued with short rests between them. Put stuff away and ate a fair bit of food and stretched.

January 17, 2026 – Week 20, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (2 seconds)
65x6
115x4
155x2
205x2
245x5
250x5
255x5
260x5

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (left side only, with run up)
49x5
85x3
108x2
120x2
(60 minute rests)
140x1
140x1
140x1
140x1
140x1
140x1
60 Second Sets
130x11 (1 miss)

Yoke and Sandbag Husafell Carries (50’ run back)
Y – 180x50’
Y – 270x50’
Y – 360x50’
Y – 450x50’
Y – 540x25’
Y – 630x25’
720xpick (5 seconds)/290x5’
720x50’/290x50’ in 32.77 seconds
720x50’/290x50’ in 31.87 seconds

Rolling D-Handle Hangs
bw for 5 seconds
bw+70 for 45 seconds
bw+70 for 45 seconds
bw+70 for 35 seconds

Atlas Stones
55”
315x2
315x2
51” 
330x2
30 second sets
350x3

Stretching

Comments: It would be an interesting day for training. Last week with this session, I had been anxious and quite surprised with how well I handled going from a mandatory deload and like I didn’t skip a session and then do a light session for some of the events. But how would things be after doing a week of hard training and then expectation to do more than the week before as has been the case? Contest prep/peak is quite intense and I can see why building up tolerance to volume for my body to hopefully recover better is needed for the aggressiveness of plan. I’m learning all the time. I had more bruises from suit work but I wasn’t feeling as beat with only the top set. But even so, I didn’t feel as “rested” going into this session. I did try to go to sleep earlier like I had last week but fell a little short of that and did need to hit snooze twice. But that was fine because the winter weather had other plans. Thankfully where I am, there was barely anything but to the east where I’d need to go, it was not great. So there was some hesitancy with getting out to train (my one friend decided to train local rather than deal with the roads) as my parents warned that they saw accidents out that way. There were like 5 reported accidents on the route I take. I didn’t want to go too late and while I have off for holiday Monday, I really didn’t want o play around with training dates this close to competition with trying to manage stress and recovery. I contemplated training Sunday as it seemed like better weather wise. I’m glad I didn’t listen to that as my area got hit with a lot of snow Sunday morning. Drive out was fine most of the way (although there were some idiots in my local development) and then big slow down once I got close to the gym. There were only tow people there besides myself when I arrived and they left shortly afterwards. People that are generally in earlier came later and those that come later weren’t affected in the slightest. I had not walked on Friday because I took too long on my lunch to get ready and it got dark and cold fast after work and figured I’d rather prioritize sleep. I didn’t need a lot of foam rolling on my lower body but did need a bit for my upper back. Neck rehab stuff felt fine. Lower body stretching was good and nice decompression from the dead hang. On to training. Pauses with the ssb for squats. The ssb was already in the monolift so I figured I’d just do that rather than move. And perhaps I’m getting used to it. So like last week, this was to be a primer and doing 4x5 with same weight as last time. Notes were to flex glutes a lockout. I was being explosive out of the hole but kind of “coasting” to lockout. I think I didn’t focus on that as I was worried about losing my brace and getting off balance being violent and aggressive there. I think I also felt that some people do that even if the movement isn’t fast from the hole. These felt better than they did last week. My knees and ankles didn’t feel as stiff so I took bigger jumps in weight to get to where I was going to be. As these were feeling better, the weight was feeling easier than last week so I added 5lbs per set and that didn’t really change the difficulty here. With that done, I was moving on to my event specific stuff. With first thing being circus dumbbell. I did the same abbreviated warm up as last week. The plan was to work up to 140lbs for 6 singles and then do a timed set with 130lbs. For the 140lbs, I was to do 60 seconds rest between the lifts. I reset the dumbbell to be upright each time here. I misstepped slightly on the fifth one and almost twisted my right ankle at the start. Not sure what that was about. For the timed set, this was to be 60 seconds. Ms. Funk mentioned I should be focusing on the solid lockout as I may not get the down call at contest when I go fast. I believe up until this point I was more focused on getting it moving fast and my confidence again after some hiccups with needing the deload week. It hasn’t been a straight line of progress. But with how last week had gone, I felt I had things where I wanted them and that I’d try to have someone do commands for this week. It definitely makes a difference. On video it only looks like a fraction of a second but it feels longer. Ensuring the stability was having me not have the best balance with things with going from one rep to the next. All the little things added to fatigue as the set went on. I could tell I wasn’t on the same pace as I was with the 45 second sets last week. I rushed going for the 11th the first time and I aborted it and set it down. I checked my time to see what I had left and if it made sense to go for it again. The contest is allowing “shot clock” rules so as long as it is moving, it will count. I had like 4 seconds left so I went for it. It was ugly but I got the down call. That was exhausting. I know that I won’t be at 100% at contest due to the heavy medley being beforehand but I know I can push through. Up next was the aforementioned medley. Last week I had swapped order to get in a set of Hercules hold. That wasn’t in the plan today and even if I wanted to, not enough people to help do that anyways. I did have to wait a bit as the lanes were being used. But not so long that I wanted to change up the order again. Plan for today was work up to two top sets. Jumps for this have been aggressive considering things. The plan for today was 30lbs more than last week on yoke and 20lbs more on the husabag. This maxes out what I got with the husabags and I see no way of getting anymore into the one I have even looking at techniques others have used. Last week with yoke had been surprising in that I went up 80lbs from the last time I touched it and didn’t really have that big a drop in time. I was to only do 75lbs but the plate math was easier not dealing with chips. I decided to make the increase 40lbs instead of 30lbs. That way I could just do 90lbs jumps from the empty yoke to working weight. So get a little extra set with empty implement to see how knees doing. Also would have me within doing contest weight yoke next week if warranted. Did the same warming up that I did last week albeit heavier. The working weight took me a bit by surprise with my pick as initially I didn’t fully commit to it and thought I could pop it up and I didn’t quite stand up with it. With that little slap to the ego, I did it correctly and it went up fine. The husabag I knew was going to be a little different. It is the heavier of the two but it more shaped like the actual rock verse the other one that is just trapezoid shaped. It has nice spots to hold it. The more compact one does not and I remember how rough it felt my first session using it. It wasn’t too bad today. In training last year, I hadn’t gone over 700lbs on yoke so to go up this quickly and have it feel ok pretty neat. Not the fastest and I was a little worried that I’d get off balance here but failure wasn’t an option. Starting not under it to get tight and braced makes this tougher for me. But got it done and ran back to the husabag. A little hesitancy to pick at first but once I got it up I was good and it was a nonissue. Not sure why I decided to chuck it so violently after the first set. Yoke felt a little better on the second set. Only about a second slower compared to last week with less weight on both implements. Put that nonsense away and at a rice Krispie treat to get my energy up as I still had two more things to go. And this felt like the best time to have something in my stomach and not have the exercise cause me to feel indigestion. So to work the things for Hercules hold, doing the rolling d-handle hangs. Plan being 3 sets of 45 seconds. Now I’ve had issues in the past (as in all the time) with repeated efforts during a workout. Usually if I hit a heavy hold, I have to drop the weight down by like 90% to be able to do multiple sets. I was very surprised I did two comfortable holds with 100lbs for 30 seconds last week. I figured that I’d need to drop off a decent amount of weight to find something that would be good for 45 seconds. I apparently chose too heavy as I was only able to manage it for 2 sets and came up 10 seconds short on the third set. This was with long rests as my forearms were getting pumped up from these. First set had been fine if a little tough and then second set was right about my limits. I think my previous best for 45 seconds had been with 45lbs added (I am a bit lighter though). I do feel like these are better training than the Hercules hold for the event but I think it is still a good idea to get a session or two on the apparatus just to deal with the balance aspect. My forearms were pumped enough that I took a little bit with getting setup for stones. I didn’t want my tape wrapped too tight nor did I want my forearms that fatigued. Plan for stones was to do 310lbs to 55” for 2x2 and then move to the 51” platform to do heavier things. I did ask Ms. Funk if I could perhaps do 315lbs instead as that stone looked to be in better shape than the 310lbs at least when it comes to tacky accumulation as last week that stone just ate all my tacky and was dirty/dusty. I don’t remember the stones being like this when I was using the years ago unfortunately. Some of the stones I know didn’t get the “cleaning treatment” (the heavier ones) so they may still be like they should. I’m low on tacky (I didn’t plan on increase frequency with prep or having to deal with shipping/tariffs on my preferred brand lol). The only tacky left was some old Elite Tacky (I’ve not had good luck and needs to be heated up to use) and a little bit of Spider Tack (ok) and a little bit of STAB Tack (which I like). I used just the remaining Spider Tack for the 315lbs stone. I had to do a bit of maneuvering to get it from the one side to the other. This did stick better than the 310lbs but I needed more tacky after that so I had to use some of the remaining STAB Tack after that. 330lbs for a double was next. It went up easy the first rep but I had a little issue on the second. I forgot to tuck my shoe laces and I got my fingers on my right hand inside the loops when I went down so I had to not do that before picking up the second lift here. Dangerously low on tacky. I shipped some to my younger brother in Arizona so I didn’t have to worry about it possibly being confiscated by the TSA traveling. I delayed purchase of tacky due to no longer having a US distributor so having to pay international shipping and now tariffs on top of that. So pricy for likely only this one prep having atlas stones with tacky (out of vogue). I was not feeling the most energetic coming into the stones. Last set was a 30 seconds set with the 350lbs 21” diameter stone. This stone unfortunately also got the “cleaning treatment” but do to being pretty darn heavy, it hasn’t been as used so still has some stick to it. But it isn’t as it was 2.5yrs ago. My expectations was to get 3 reps here in 30 seconds and maybe try for 4. First rep was good and second ok, tacky was feeling like it was gone going for the third one so there was some hesitancy as I needed to make sure my grip was secure. The biceps issues happen when something that is secure suddenly isn’t and causes a gap/slip. There were some miscommunications with stuff as I think I had 3 seconds left after the third rep. Not enough time to get a lift (not shot clock like overhead event). But this is what I expected. Going to try and see if I can get some tacky (not the brand I like/want) to make sure I have enough for at least one more session on stones. Ate and drank the stuff I packed and put stuff away before driving home pretty late. The roads were clear by that point. Stretched when I got back and cleaned up. Very close to the end of this. Just got to keep it together a little longer.

January 14, 2026 – Week 20, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Suited Long Bar Deadlifts (straps)
No Suit
143x5
233x3
Added Suit (single-ply)
323x2
413x1
503x1
553x1
583x2

Paused Seated Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (21” box, 1 second)
95x10
95x10
95x10

Supported Single Leg Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts/Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
65x6/6 – 56’sx6
95x6/6 – 86’sx6
135x6/6 -- 116’sx6
135x6/6 -- 116’sx6
135x6/6 -- 116’sx6

Zercher Jefferson Curls (45 seconds rest)
95x12
95x12
95x12

Stretching

Comments:  Still trucking along. The peak for this contest is pretty intense as far as progression with things considering the baseline with off season. Assuming things go well to the finish line. Biceps still sore from Saturday but think part of that is that I did heavy rows Monday so that didn’t really engender them feeling recovered by any means. There are spots that are still sore/bruised from suit work last week so not ideal going into another suit session. I woke up with my calves feeling a bit tense but that disappeared early in the day. Soft tissue work to start things. Still needing a fair amount on the calves but not as much as the previous session this week or last. Considering they felt tight upon waking that was a little surprising. No worries with my biceps feeling tense or pulling doing any warming up. Quads (especially the sides) really needed a lot of foam rolling. Needing stuff to feel good for suited pulls. Neck rehab was fine. No issues with the stretching for hips, knees and ankles. Dead hang followed after that. Temperature was up a little but it was still wet and cold in a way so it didn’t feel as warm as it could. But I knew I’d be plenty warm with just the nature of suited deadlifts later on. I did the tib into calf raise exercise for two sets to start things off. I did notice that I seemed to be rotating to my left side on the first set and tried to make sure I didn’t on the second. On to the heavy thing for the evening. Another session of getting into the suit and pulling weights. Last week had been good as far as my suited sessions have been this prep (which is two lol). The first one I had felt like all the pulls were max efforts and just all in my lower back with my multi-ply suit. I reverted back to my single ply suit with some tailoring done to have it perhaps not be so loose in the legs and that had felt like a gamble to do with getting 33-53lbs less weight from the singles for 4x4. But it worked out for me. Wasn’t 100% awesome but it moved things in the right direction. I didn’t feel dead in my back and soul like last time. I did have to reinforce the seems I’d sewn for another session today. Volume dropped a lot as the plan was to work up to just a top double. No back down sets or multiple reps. Idea being seeing where I’m at as far as trying to plan opener and second attempt. Advised to have the effort range be between comfortable and “these go to 11”. My weight is down a bit from last time I used a suit and part of it is also uncertain if my setup is going to be like contest. I could just not be very good with this kind of long bar with the flex at where I don’t get much out of it. Point is just putting in work and seeing how it plays out I guess. All that really matters is that weight goes up and things feel better. So my thinking here was that I’d treat it like I was doing my “attempts” but not exactly. Contest has the bar change at 550lbs to the long bar vs just a deadlift bar so my plan is to have that likely be my opener but have to see how things are. Rather not have to take an attempt besides warm ups on the other bar really. Contest has 25lbs jumps and with three attempts I’m probably looking at doing 50-75lbs jumps and maybe going for just 2 attempts. Anyways, my hope if everything felt amazing was to do 50lbs jumps to the double after warming up. In the best case scenario, that was going to be 603lbs for the double and leaving myself the option to do that with back up plan being 583lbs. I didn’t want to do the same weight as the singles ideally. The new stitching did make the suit a bit tighter in the legs but there was still issues with the legs riding up. But I could tell that it felt tighter overall with not having the straps as tight as I made them the previous week on the last two sets. With how 553lbs went, it didn’t feel so comfortable to me that I felt 603lbs for a double was going up without needing to go into the reserves, which was not what I was told to do. No berserker rage here. In hindsight, it could be that I had tightened the bar extenders and the bar sleeves weren’t rotating like they usually do. It just felt like the bar wanted to be stiffer today. I know for contest it would’ve been 25lbs or 50lbs here but I went with 30lbs as close enough. The start of that first rep was a bit slow but I knew I had the double once the second rep broke the floor. I had three here for sure but not sure if I could get four. At least not with the current mental state I was at. I’ve only gone into greater arousal this prep for pulls on that one week after I was sick with the 513lbs sets for doubles. I saw a splatter of blood on my left sock after that set and I was worried if that had come from my nose or something but I guess the bar had cut open my shin at some point. Did the double and shut it down. I want to do more but I got another heavy session left and when it matters is going to be the competition. Just have to remind myself of things like no clue how this setup compares and that I’ve never pulled on that bar so anything is technically a PR. I will need to make sure I keep reinforcing the seams so that things are good for day of competition. This is the shorter session with aim indicating specifically to be able to recover for Day 3 session. So like last week (after putting away the deadlift stuff) started with seated ssb gms. I had aimed for max flexion last week but apparently aim is hips and keep the lower back rigid. Save the rounding for the jeffersons. So I adjusted my ROM and how I was doing these this time around. 3x10 with more weight and still doing a pause. These actually felt a bit more lower back doing them this way honestly. Which is what I wanted with the blood flow here. Besides suited deadlift, the next thing was also the logistics hassle for me. Superset of supported single leg dumbbell rdls with chest supported dumbbell rows. The addition of being allowed to have my hand support as really allowed me to work the ROM and weight on these rdls compared to being at the mercy of my balance. Last week the rdls had felt light and I felt maybe I went too heavy on the rows. Well this week same weight on rdls (more reps) and more weight on the rows (less reps). At present, I don’t have enough weight to have both sets of implements fully loaded at the same time so I have to move weights from one to the other between the superset. I did feel that last week only one warm up set hadn’t been near enough for my body to be ready for rows. So I did an extra work up set. The rdls felt fine and rows like last week I felt better as I did the sets. I’ve maxed out the small weights I got besides a pair of 2.5lbs so hopefully plan is more reps on the rows or something. I’m glad these both held up considering the biceps being sore earlier in the week and heavy rows. Last thing for the session was Jefferson curls. Same weigh and reps as last time. Apparently, I was to do those with a minute rest and I didn’t pay attention to that and likely did 1.5 minutes rest since that’s usually how long it takes me to do a lap inside my house and come back. I paid attention this time as it said 45 seconds rest. With the length of set, it was going to be about 30 seconds of work and 45 seconds rest. Of the sessions doing these with actual weight, this was the least issues I’ve had with holding the weight. Put stuff away and started cooking up dinner and then stretched.