@Alpha, LoRez, Fletch: Thanks for the help guys, today’s overhead work was MUCH smoother. I was able to stay a lot tighter by keeping my head back, looking straight ahead, and squeezing my glutes so hard they were cramping. Also did hollow rocks as my rest period between sets. Pushing up in the ‘Y’ shape was money as well. Definitely going to give the Z presses a try next week!
[quote]Alpha wrote:
CONDITIONING:
50 Dumbbell Man Makers
100 Deck Squats
150 Burpees
[/quote]
You sick sick puppy you… haha 
So did you vomit or anything?
BJack: I am glad to hear it brother! Keep us posted on all of the progress you will definitely be making!
Fletch: Hahahah not on that one man. But I do tend to puke during a workout every other week or so…Thanks for stopping in brother!
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“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.” --Roger Bannister (First Man to Run a 4 Minute Mile)
Saturday, 19JULY2014 - Work For Today
Spent about 1.5 Hours sparring at fight practice this morning, all ground stuff. Got home, Slammed a protein shake and did this:
5 Rounds
160 Foot Yoke Walk: 395, 475, 565, 655, 705
60 Meter Sprint
10 Burpee Broad Jumps
Then 5 Rounds
160 Foot Zercher Yoke Carry: 395, 475, 475
60 Meter Sprint
10 Burpee Box Jumps Onto a 24" Box
NOTES:
- Fight practice went really well. Saw some guys I haven’t caught up with in a while and had a great time.
- NOTHING makes me sweat more that yoke walks. I am not sure why but the second I am done one I am sucking wind and it is like a heater turns on inside of my body…Good Stuff
Got my shirt bro…thank you. Will be wearing it proudly for squats tomorrow
[quote]Alpha wrote:
Then 5 Rounds
160 Foot Zercher Yoke Carry: 395, 475, 475[/quote]
475 yoke carry? can you move your hands afterwards? haha
Good work!!
MattyXL: That is awesome man! I’m honored to have you wear it!
Regev: Yea man, Zerchers that heavy don’t feel very good, but it helps that the crossbar on the yoke is very think so that alleviates the pain some.
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“The Gym, where a fighter truly lives and is made, takes everything from you. It will take your mental pain away. When struggling and fighting you burn away all of those hurtful emotions and emerge like an asteroid torched clean in the atmosphere streaking toward the Earth. The world is made of fire.” --Sam Sheridan
Sunday, 20JULY2014 - Work For Today
Had fight practice this morning then trained a group of people…We did this:
60 Seconds Prowler Pushes
60 Seconds Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
50 Seconds Prowler Pushes
50 Seconds Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
40 Seconds Prowler Pushes
40 Seconds Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
30 Seconds Prowler Pushes
30 Seconds Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
20 Seconds Prowler Pushes
20 Seconds Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
10 Seconds Prowler Pushes
10 Seconds Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
Then
60 Seconds Tire Flips
60 Seconds Box Jumps onto the tire
50 Seconds Tire Flips
50 Seconds Box Jumps onto the tire
40 Seconds Tire Flips
40 Seconds Box Jumps onto the tire
30 Seconds Tire Flips
30 Seconds Box Jumps onto the tire
20 Seconds Tire Flips
20 Seconds Box Jumps onto the tire
10 Seconds Tire Flips
10 Seconds Box Jumps onto the tire
Then 8 Rounds of Tabata (:20 Seconds Work/:10 Seconds Rest)
:20 Seconds Portion: Bear Walk Sprints
:10 Second Portion: Burpee Box Jumps onto the tire
NOTES:
- Fight practice went really well. I thought I may have hurt my thumb pretty badly but I think it is just sprained…Good to go
- Great Sunday Conditioning today! Felt great and the group I was training did amazing! I had a blast! Looking forward to heavy deadliest tomorrow!
Loving the log Alpha, thanks for continuing to post!
Roran: Thanks man! I really appreciate you saying that!
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“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” --Thomas Edison
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” --Michael Jordan
Monday, 21JULY2014 - Work For Today
CONDITIONING:
20 Pull-Ups
20 Squat Cleans with 135lbs on the bar
Run 400 Meters
15 Pull-Ups
15 Squat Cleans with 135lbs on the bar
Run 400 Meters
10 Pull-Ups
10 Squat Cleans with 135lbs on the bar
Run 400 Meters
STRENGTH:
Warmed up with 135, 225, 315, 405, 455, 495, 545…Then
Completed 1 Deadlift @ 585lbs
Completed 1 Deadlift @ 600lbs
Completed 1 Deadlift @ 615lbs
GIANT SETS:
3 Deficit Deadlifts (3" Deficit): 405, 455, 455
10 Toes to Bar: 1, 1, 1, 1
60 Meter Sandbag Carry (Bear Hug Position): 1, 1, 1, 1
100 Foot Farmer?s Walk: 225 (Each Hand), 245, 245, 245
NOTES:
- Rucked 2 Miles first thing in the morning. 50lb Vest, 15% Incline
- Fight Practice this afternoon
- This is the first time I have gone this heavy since I started this program. All of the weights went up but I could definitely tell that my body was not used to the weight. That said, i really DO think that it has made me stronger. I think if I took a month to work up, getting my by reacquainted with heavy stuff that I could break my previous PR of 645.
- My thumb that I hurt yesterday has some bruising around my palm. It hurts during extension more than flexion, so it really didn’t come into play with my grip on the deeds and the farmer’s. It held up during fighting also, which was a relief.
- I really need to start hitting the Farmer’s Carries harder. i need to carry 275lbs each hand at Nationals and I know that would be very challenging for me right now.
- I posted a “Tip of the Week” a few days ago for those of you who are interested in such things.
- I hope all is going well out there in T-Nation world!
Your workouts are ridiculous haha.
It is amazing to me how much weight you move, and how much conditioning you fit in between sets.
Is there any particular structure to them, or do you just keep picking something progressively more insane and do that?
I think that a while back you did 5/3/1 with a total body template?
I can agree with everything you wrote on competition. I myself don’t participate in official competitions because I’m selfish. I don’t want to pay, wait around all day, or deal with red tape and politics. I compete with myself; if I want to run a marathon I don’t need to sign up 6 months in advanced and dish out $100+ to shuffle along in a crowd for the first couple miles. Instead of going to a strongman meet, I’d rather just take out the implements and be on my own schedule. I can understand a small meet up or friendly challenge, but at the end of the day I only care about myself and competitions aren’t needed to hit my goals.
On the contrary, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. What you like the least is usually what you need the most. Do what you hate.
Alpha
Ever thought about releasing a training DVD? That is, a fly on the wall recording of, for example, a week’s worth of your workouts. Plus some commentary from you before/after about what you’re doing each day and why. You’d get my money!
Rob
Trivium: Hey man, thanks for the kind words and welcome to the log, great to have you here!
Yea I know it seems like it is a little bit random, but there IS a method to my madness…Even if only I can understand it! I did 5/3/1 In the past focusing on full body workouts but it just wasn’t for me at that time. I think it is an amazing program but I know how my body works and it just didn’t keep me interested enough to stick with it. I ran it for about 3 Months I believe and didn’t se many gains, but that is 100% my fault, not the program’s. I actually recommend it to people constantly.
Currently, for my main strength exercise of the day I follow a Cube type of template. It really seems to be working pretty well, but with everything else I do on top of it, it is kind of hard to discern what is making me stronger. If nothing else it is something new and has my ADD under control at the moment! Thanks for posting man, I really appreciate it!
Dave101: Yea man, I totally get what you are saying. I was just stating that, for me, competition creates a focus in my training and keeps me moving toward short term goals which keeps me at the game more diligently. And I love the last thing you wrote man. Couldn’t agree more there! Thanks for stopping in and posting man!
Just Rob: Well man, actually I am going to start recording the group workouts that I am currently doing with clients on the weekends, edit them down and start releasing them under a new youtube channel especially for NEVERsate. If I can figure out the editing app well enough, I will be adding some commentary, but once you see what I put people through it will speak a lot for itself.
I have never thought of releasing a vid of my workouts in the manner in which you described but it sounds like a great idea. I’d never charge for that though man, I’d just tell you to take that long ass plane trip over here to come train with me! Any videos I ever release will always be free. That goes the same for my writing…unless I can get my thoughts together enough for an ebook and even then I think I’d charge like 99 Cents for it. Seeing people do things that they never thought they could do is plenty enough for me…Thanks for the suggestion and stopping in man!
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“We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing.” --Henry Cloud
Tuesday, 22JULY2014 - Work For Today
CONDITIONING:
Complexes. Complete ALL Reps of ALL Exercises before you release the bar.
8 Power Cleans
8 Front Squats
8 Push Presses
8 Back Squats
8 Bradford Presses
8 Good Mornings
8 Bent Over Rows
Run 400 Meters
Completed 6 Rounds of the above with 135lbs on the Bar.
STRENGTH
At the top of every minute for 10 Minutes
3 Barbell Bent Over Rows (315lbs)
3 - 2" Axle Flat Bench Presses (315lbs)
GIANT SETS
:45 Seconds Battle Ropes
5 Single Arm Barbell Rows (Each Side ? Hold onto the fat part of the bar): 120x5es, 130x5, 145x5, 145x5
5 Incline Log Bench Presses: 255x5, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5
2:00 Minute Plank
I did all of this first thing in the morning (0430). Then we got done at work at little bit early so I thought I would jump on tomorrow’s squats before fight practice. My prescribed sets were
Squats
465x5, 465x5, 465x5, 45x5
But then I was feeling pretty good so I decided to throw some weight on the bar and start walking up because I haven’t felt a heavy squat in a while because of my pulled groin…Looked like this:
485x3
500x3
520x1
550x1
570x1
Then I headed out the door for fight practice.
NOTES:
- Complexes might be my least favorite thing in the entire world…I should probably be doing them more often.
- Bench Felt super easy but getting all of the reps of both the rows and the presses only left me with about 20 seconds of rest between rounds which was surprisingly challenging.
- I kept it light on the log incline because my left bicep is still kinda jacked and I was definitely feeling it after the rope and rows.
- The squats kind of came out of no where. I wasn’t planning on doing them today, and I sure wasn’t planning on working my way up to a 570 single. It felt good though. No problem with depth and in all honesty, it really didn’t feel that hard at all. The worst part was my bicep getting pinched when I would walk out with it…I am happy with the 570 and stopped there because I had to get to practice, but I am fairly sure that I had another 30-40lbs in me.
- Good day of lifting
Alpha
I’m new to working up to a top set and probably making it harder than what it is. Do you keep all your reps the same or start reducing down when nearing the work set?
For example for my last Dead Lift work out (aiming to a 3 rep max and not resting too long between sets) looked like this
132x3
176x3
220x3
264x3
308x3
330x1 (only 1 but know I had at least one left in reserve. Will only add weight when I can hit 3 reps)
297x2
264x4
231x6
Any advice to improve the workout, more/less build up, bigger/smaller jumps etc?
Thank you for any help.
Mark
Oh, the numbers are low but they WILL go up!
Markws: Your jumps look good to me, but that is really up to each individual and how they feel/warm-up etc…
What I normally do is look at how many actually WORKING reps I want to perform in a given session. Let’s say I am running a 10x3 protocol, so i am looking at 30 total reps for that particular exercise in that workout. Let use deadlifts since that is the example you gave above. I will warm-up with my lighter weights first. Usually it will look like 135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 365x2…then I will start what I would consider my working sets. 405x3, 455x3, 495x3, 545x3 and so on until I hit my heaviest set of the day. If I am doing 10 sets I will hit my heaviest usually around set 6. Then I will start working my way back down.
I noticed that you added reps to your sets in the above example. I have found that it is better to keep the weights heavier and the rep scheme the same, but that is me. I also don’t always continue to pyramid down. Most of the time I will stop when it is still very challenging and just continue the sets at one weight, keeping the total number or reps in mind. If it were me (and I really think you should experiment and see what works best for you) but I would start my working sets at a heavier weight and not drop off the weights as much on the back end. a 10x3 Deadlift workout would look something like this for me:
135x5, 225x5, 315x3, 335x2: Warm-Ups over…All of these reps were just working on finding my groove/remembering my cues and being as explosive as possible.
365x3, 405x3, 455x3, 495x3, 545x3, 565x3: This would be something like my heaviest working set. Now I would start to shed weight and really try to focus on my form and using the muscles I am supposed to be using…
545x3, 495x3, 495x3, 515x3…So you can see, if I am feeling good I will even bump the weight back up. Treat each set individually and add/subtract weight accordingly. you only want the 30 reps you originally set out for, but you want to move as much weight as possible in those sets. Treating each one as it’s own thing will really help with that.
That is how I do it brother. Like I said, play with different things and see what works best for you, but I hope that my explanation shed some light on what you were asking. Thanks for the question!
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?It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be infinitely harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.? --C.S. Lewis
Wednesday, 23JULY2014 - Work For Today
CONDITIONING
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Reps of
Sprawl Heavybag Flips
Heavybag Over the Shoulder
Heavybag Get-Ups
STRENGTH
Then 4 Sets of 5 Front Squats with 380lbs on the Bar. Strict 2 Minute Rest Between Sets.
GIANT SETS
5 Bulgarian Split Squats (Each Side): 185, 205, 205, 205
5 Good Mornings: 315, 335, 335, 335
40 Double Unders: 1, 1, 1, 1
8 Wall Crawls: 1, 1, 1, 1
NOTES:
- Normal rucking first thing in the morning.
- Had to split up the workout today. Did the conditioning at work but it made my bicep very angry at me so i hit the strength stuff at home.
- Front Squats were VERY challenging.
- Giant sets were great. I was already sore from yesterday’s squatting so I am sure this isn’t going to make tomorrow much fun.
Thank you for the very detailed reply. Taken the advice on board and will experiment with different variations.
markws: I’m glad I could help brother! Keep me posted on how it goes!
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“The opposite of love is indifference.” --Elie Wiesel
“The opposite of courage is conformity.” --Rickson Gracie
Thursday, 24JULY2014 - Work For Today
GIANT SETS
Continental Clean & Press with a 2" Axle Bar: 245x1, 275x1, 285x1, 300xNo (Bicep wouldn’t let me), 245x1, 245x1
Strict Press: 225x3, 245x3, 225x3, 225x3, 225x3, 225x3
Barbell Overhead Side Bends: 40x8, 40x8, 40x8, 40x8, 40x8, 40x8
50 Foot Bear Walk
50 Foot Backward Bear Walk
50 Foot Gator Walk:
50 Foot Back Ward Gator Walk
100 Feet of Shrimping
OTHER
Static Handstand Holds - :30 Seconds Work, :30 Seconds Rest for 10 Minutes
Hanging ?L? Sit Holds - :30 Seconds Work, :30 Seconds Rest for 10 Minutes
Rowing Machine - :30 Seconds Work, :30 Seconds Rest for 10 Minutes
NOTES:
- Bicep is becoming an issue. I think I am going to get a script and head to the physical therapist to see if they can help me out some. I am upping my fats for the anti-inflammatory, icing it multiple times a day and keeping it wrapped for compression. I really need this to start working out.
- Stopped by a few more places last night to try and acquire some empty kegs and got shot down. That makes like 10 places that have no love for the strongman stuff…But one of my sponsors was able to get a hold of 1, so that is a start. The search continues.
Kegs: Try some of these mate, noting ‘minimum order of units’, you might need to buy a pallet (40+ say).
Hey man, nice to see that you started fight training again! Do you have any fights scheduled or you will focus more on strongman for now?
I hurt my thumb also about 6 weeks ago and putting freeze gel on it after training healed it after 4 days. Do you apply anything on it or you just leave it as it is?
With regard to kegs, have you tried approaching any actual strongman federations to see if they can suggest a supplier? Or maybe they may have some old ones you could have. I can’t believe how difficult it is to get hold of these considering how much beer much be consumed in the US lol. You’d think there’d be a lot around.
raven: That is a good call man. I’ve looked into outright buying some like in your link but they are a lot more expensive brand new. I am going to beat these things to death so I am trying to get older beat up ones for cheap. My sponsor found me 3 so far, so it is a really great start. Thanks so much for stopping and and for the suggestion!
Poseidon: Yea man, it is great to be back! Fighting is like oxygen. You never know how much you miss it until it is not there anymore! and my thumb isn’t too bad. I think it is just a sprain. I ice it and am just being careful with it. It will get better in time. Thank so much for posting brother!
Lift and Eat: I haven’t gone to any federations but I have contacted a few other gyms. It seems like everyone has a bartender or waiter who they know or who trains with them that is able to work something out with the managers. Just being a random guy off the street going into places and asking to buy empty kegs doesn’t seem to be working out too well! It’s cool though, people seem to be getting me some randomly and soon I should have enough to do what I want to do with them. Thanks for stopping in brother!
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No weights for me today, but hit a long fight practice. All went well. Hitting another practice tomorrow morning then going to do some yoke work.
I posted another rant over at my site . It is a little bit harsh, but for those of you who read my stuff you will get the point I am trying to convey.