The Driveway

Date: 2026-03-25
AO: The Driveway
Q: Play-Doh ,
PAX: Play-Doh, Prestige
FNGs: None
COUNT: 2
WARMUP:
– SSH x 20 (IC)
– Dead Bugs x 15 (IC)
– Bird Dogs x 10 each side (OYO)
– Band Pull Aparts x 15-20 (OYO)
– Prying Goblet Squat x 6 (3-sec hold at bottom) – Dialing in that hip and ankle mobility before bilateral loading.

THE THANG:
4 rounds:
1. Power Swings with Dead Stop every 5 x 25. (Hike it back, catch it standing, then sit it down. Resets on the ground focused on raw power generation.)
2. Hand-Release Merkins + T-Spine Twist x 5 per side. (Release the hands, press, and twist—hitting the chest, core, and rotation.)
3. Bulgarian Split Squats (BSS) x 5 per side. (Tempo: 3 down / 0 pause / 1 up. Front foot driving the horsepower.)
4. Double KB/Sandbag Rows x 10. (Pulling the weight with neutral spine, all about the back muscle and resisting low back takeover.)
5. Gait Training: Pick a Lane. (PAX chose between Heavy Step-Ups with a controlled 3-second descent OR Loaded Carries (Bear Hug, Zercher, etc.) for work capacity.)

MARY:
No time

COT [edited for publication]

Injuries or limitations don’t have to be a roadblock—they can be a catalyst for improvement.

YHC is battling a flare-up of plantar fasciitis. Loaded carries with their heavy heel-strike can be brutal. So, we leveraged a core principle of fitness: find an alternative that achieves the same goal but is more accommodating. Adding the choice of Loaded Step-ups w. 3 Second Eccentrics to our gait training was that accommodation. Not only did it bypass the flare-up risk of a heavy carry, but the loaded step-up, executed to add time under tension, is arguably more conducive to pure power generation—the main focus of The Engine week.

The takeaway: Don’t let an injury make you quit or skip. Search for that alternative exercise. Find the move that challenges the same muscles and achieves the same training objective. Sometimes, that accommodation doesn’t just keep you in the game; it actually gives you a better, more powerful outcome.

Keep moving, brothers. :punch: