Alpha's Work IV

Training Training Logs
441

Thanks again brother!

About the atlas stones. Do you feel they have alot of carryover to…anything/everything?
lately Im thinking about carryover alot. Not just minimalism-minded, but efficiency-wise. Dan john is all about carry, front squat, deadlift, OHP and O lifts. Max shank (sorry!) is big om deads, airborne lunges, front levers and l-sits to handstands.

The idea is: get great at those, you will end up competent at everything else. Love this approach because it makes us believe a great deal of feats of athletisicm/strength achieveable.

Stones just seem like something with great carryover because you use your full body.
Do you feel the stones help with a bunch of things?

442

Thank you for letting me work in, I learned a lot today! I will definitely come back soon.

Also my fiancé freaked out when she saw the bruises from the stones so that was pretty cool.

443

In lieu of today’s regularly scheduled programming, I took a crack at a 1 Mile Farmer’s Walk @ bodyweight. I can’t wait to see how this feels in the morning…

444

[quote]Alpha wrote:
LiftingStrumpet: Strangely enough I am ambidextrous. So there are some things I prefer to do left handed and others that I feel more comfortable with my right. I have never tried these before and for some reason kicking my right out just felt natural so I did it.[/quote]
The same goes for me, I am ambidextrous too. I also find it easy to transition from being left dominant to right dominant. Sometime because I don’t have any dominance my body actually not responding consistently.

Good squat man, depth seems a lot better.

445

Pano: I think they have carryover to a lot of things, but not one in particular that I can point to. The deadlift of the stone is with a rounded back and deeper than even a zercher from the floor. Then getting it from the lap position to a platform is like a hang-clean/front squat hybrid. It definitely carrier over to at least those 3 exercises.

I honestly think training with any strongman implements at all has a very large carry-over to regular gym lifts. (but the opposite isn’t necessarily true)… Learning how to man-handle a keg, stone, axle or log makes a barbell feel like a joke. Much like Dan John, I also think weighed carries can take most people’s training to a new level. Yoke walks, Farmer’s Walks, Sandbag/Keg carries have all helped me immensely.

If you have the opportunity to train with any of these things, I would strongly suggest that you do it. Not only does it not feel like training (It feels more like you are just fooling around) but it makes all of your PRs in the gym go up. As far as being efficient and bang for your buck, strongman is a cheap way to make you bigger and stronger in a shorter amount of time.

Roran: Hahahah that is awesome man, I hope you had fun!

BJack: The mile long Farmer’s is no joke! I bet your forearms, traps and upper back are loving your today

Regev: Thanks man, I am working on it!

446

What kind of weighted walks are your favorites for just overall awsomeness?

I’m finding one handed farmers carries to be pretty great for back and posterior hip health myself. They rock my midsection while encouraging good hip and back alignment like few movements can!

447

Any dates set for a next competition??

448

Thanks man.

If I ever can, I will use them. Farmers, stones, logs and tires look really fun and challenging. Carry-over is quite a thingy I guess. Doing less enabling you to do more is the summit of efficiency for me.

You use strongman stuff as the ‘extract’ of the workout, right? Do they lend themselfs beter for semi-conditioning than pure strength building?

Btw I think my setup is going to be pretty similar to your programming. It seems really fun and efficient

449

Fletch: Without a doubt, it would be yoke walks…Hands down. I am not sure if you have ever had the experience of trying them out, but they are the best/worst exercise ever. Just imagine someone putting DOUBLE your max squat on you back, then telling you to walk 100 Feet as fast as you possibly can. The weight is so overwhelming and oppressive that your brain immediately wants to quit, so the exercise quickly becomes a test of will and endurance more than strength. Once you have walked around with 900lbs on your back for an extended period of time, 600lbs tends to not feel so bad. Your body compensates to the weight and your squat goes up without even working on it. Your back, legs and hips grow thicker quickly if you do them regularly because your body begins to adapt. And your core gets worked harder than in another exercise. The first time someone tries a heavy yoke walk, their entire thoracic area quivers and shakes like they are having a seizure. But if you can build the strength to be stable during a heavy yoke walk, then a squat or a deadlift is no problem.

In second place for me would be Keg/Sandbag/Atlas Stone Carries. Pretty much any carry where you need to hold the implement in a bear hug position. The upper back strength and size development is insane.

Finally, I love Farmer’s Carries. I think they should be done 1-2 times a week, every week for every single person who trains. They have helped me immensely…yet still, I would have to put them behind the top two suggestions. You will never be able to hold as much weight in your hands as you can on your back like in a yoke walk and you can breath freely and have the handles in good anatomic position in a Farmer’s Carry. When you perform carries of big heavy objects in bear hug position the awkwardness and cumbersome nature of the exercise will automatically create a response in your body.

In my opinion, yoke walk is the king of overall carrying awesomeness. I hope that answered your question brother.

Sutebun: Yea man, I have my sights set on a platinum plus show on July 18th. I need to check to make sure that I am in the country at that time, but if I am, then that is where I will be. A Platinum Plus show is a higher level than all other amateur shows so it brings the toughest competition in the country. The guy who won last year’s National Championship (amateur) in my weight class, placed 5th in a platinum plus show that same year. Buuuuttttt, if you win first, then you turn professional. I want to win first and go pro. I know it is a very long shot, but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, right??

Pano: I think it depends on how you choose to use the implements. It is no different than a barbell. A barbell can be used to work conditioning, bodybuild or to build absolute strength…A strongman implement is no different. What you have in your hands is nothing but a tool. Your mind decides how to use it.

Take stones for example, you can work up to a 1RM load or do them AMRAP in 60 seconds for conditioning. You can use them for weighted carries, as part of a medley or even clean & Press them. They can be used in the same ways that you could use a barbell, it is just a different object in your hands.

And I would disagree that I usually only use them in the extract. I use strongman moves in much of the conditioning portions (tires, farmers, yoke, sandbags). And we regularly go for 1RMs with the implements (Log Clean & Press, Atlas Stones, yoke, Axle Deadlifts/Cleans/OHP). I do my best to spend out the love with the implements and use them in as many different ways as possible. I throw the “event” portion at the end because I feel that it relates best to “real-world” Warrior Athlete programming and fits for reaching the goals the program sets out to achieve. Also, for my strongman athletes, you are never fresh when you do anything other than your first event in a show. I try to mimic that as best as possible in my programming. Doing a max effort anything when you are already spent is a lot of where the sport takes you.

I think the implements can help immensely in conditioning, building mass and absolute strength. It just depends on how you choose to apply yourself. My last strongman competition was set up more like a powerlifting meet and tested nothing but 1RM power. I say just keep an open mind and don’t attempt to force parameters on any of your training and you would be surprised at what can be achieved. I hope that answers your question brother!

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“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; True nobility is being superior to your former self.” --Ernest Hemingway

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” --William Faulkner

MONDAY, 04MAY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 9/Day 1

CONDITIONING
10 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Left Side)
10 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Left Side)
50 Double Unders
10 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Right Side)
10 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Right Side)
10 MMA Get-Ups

8 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Left Side)
8 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Left Side)
40 Double Unders
8 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Right Side)
8 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Right Side)
8 MMA Get-Ups

6 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Left Side)
6 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Left Side)
30 Double Unders
6 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Right Side)
6 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Right Side)
6 MMA Get-Ups

4 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Left Side)
4 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Left Side)
20 Double Unders
4 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Right Side)
4 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Right Side)
4 MMA Get-Ups

10 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Left Side)
10 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Left Side)
50 Double Unders
10 Single Arm Kettblebell Swings (Right Side)
10 Single Arm Kettlebell Snatches (Right Side)
10 MMA Get-Ups

NOTES:

  • Just conditioning today. Not at my gym, but tried to make the most of it.
  • I have been thinking a lot about my training lately and I am not happy with it. I have set some PRs but have been kind of unfocused and haven’t really been shooting for many small goals. I am going to try and change that for the next 6 weeks. We will see what happens, but I am hoping to break almost all of my PRs in the upcoming month and a half. It will be a lot of work, but I am going to dedicate myself to 6 weeks of really focused training and see if I cannot get it done. Tomorrow when i get back to my own gym will really be when i start taking things seriously again.
  • On a lighter note, I finished book number 35 out of 100 today. Not quite where I would hope to be this far into the year, but I can make up the time.

Hope all is going well out there. Thank you all for your continued support and for all of the questions/encouragement!

450

Are you looking to compete in Nationals again this year?

Also I was wondering what your opinion is on starting to use a belt. I haven’t needed to use one yet, but I know most strongman use belts on squats, presses, and deads. Should I start trying one on my heavier sets to get used to using it, or just continue on without a belt for a while?

451

Thanks man!

Your great at not getting caught up with a dogma. I will try to keep my mind more open.
About the yoke carries: I gotta try them, sounds great for armour building. What you said about such a heavy weight on your back making squatting easier: christian thibaudeau talks alot about this lately. Something about desensitizing the golgi tendons. You expose your body to a crazy heavy weight (above pr), but won’t do the full excercise (like partial squats instead of full squat). Your body won’t freak out anymore when the weight gets heavy.

452

Roran: Well, my sponsors want me to go to Nationals and I have some desire for it, so i will probably end up going. Time will tell. It is not until October.

As Far as a belt goes, you have built up a good base of strength, so I think it is a good move for you. But remember that it is a tool you will have to learn how to use. Do your best not to use it as a support or for safety. It seems like using it for those reasons ends up in people getting injured. A lot of people think that a belt will keep them from getting hurt, so they allow their form to degenerate when they throw it on. If anything, a belt should make you even more cognizant of performing reps perfectly.
Try to use it as tool to brace against that will allow your body to get even tighter. It is nothing more than a ring around your body that helps to cue your rectus and transverse abdominals to brace against.

I would still recommend doing your warm-up sets and lighter working sets beltless, and, as a general rule, wouldn’t throw the belt on until you are at 80% or higher. Take that advice with a grain of salt though because in the end, you should default to how you are feeling that day. If you are not feeling great, slap the belt on earlier, if you want to wait to throw it on or go beltless, then I think that is what you should do.

Since you have plans to be competing in Strongman, I would strongly encourage you to start building a relationship with a belt and start breaking it in. When you are going for a 1RM yoke walk, a car squat or as many Axle deadlifts as possible in 60 seconds, your form is going to suffer badly. It never hurts to have some extra support at those times. Also, you will have to learn how to use the belt in different ways for different events. You may need to keep it loose enough to slide the buckle around behind you on certain events and cinch it down tighter on others. It will take some time to break it in and then run a few weeks of trial and error before you feel comfortable with it. Just be open minded and give it a fair few weeks try before deciding to use it or chuck it.

I hope that gets you started brother, if you have more follow-up questions about it, do not hesitate to ask them.

Pano: Yea, I have heard the Golgi tendon organ thing as well. I couldn’t tell you the science behind it, but I have plenty of anecdotal evidence from my athletes and I that shows that yoke walks make squat numbers rise.

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“You are essentially who you create yourself to be and all that occurs in your life is the result of your own making…The discontent and frustration that you feel is entirely your own creation.” --Stephen Richards

“It’s not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life, it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the most power.” --Robert T. Kiosaki

MONDAY, 04MAY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 9/Day 1

CONDITIONING
100 Chest to Bar Pull-Ups
100 Ring Dips
(Broken up into sets as needed)

STRENGTH - I wanted to lift heavy things…
Deadlift
500x3
585x2
635x1
655x1
675x1 (PR FINALLY)

Then
4 Rounds
5 Deadlifts @ 530lbs
1:00 Minute Weighted Plank

ACCESSORY - 5 Rounds
3 Double Paused Deadlifts @ 500lbs
10 Reverse Hypers @ 250lbs

NOTES:

  • Well today was the first day that I said I was going to really start focusing again and something great happened. I FINALLY hit 675 (7 Plates each side) on the deadlift. I am a happy man.

  • A special thank you to Emskee. He mentioned getting your breath (holding it) and bracing before dropping into your deadlift. First time I have ever tried that today and this happened. apparently it worked. Emskee, you sir are a gentleman, inspiration and a great coach. Thank you again!

Day 1 in the books.

453

Alpha dude! A huge congratz on the dead pr that was darn fast off the floor! I see 700lbs in the corner quivering in fear!!

454

Awesome to see you do some back-off sets. Congrats on the pr!
Now your focus is back, will you shift more towards strength work? Or where you just in the mood for some heavy lifting?

Eitherway, awesome work dude!

455

God damn, nice work!

456

What a PR! That looked really smooth, congratulations! And thank you for the belt advice, as always it’s pretty comprehensive and a big help. I’ll start slowly working it in on my top end sets and see how it feels.

457

Excellent lift. I watched it a few times since you made it look so easy. I was waiting for the hard part.

Now I think I’m really going to have to try out that breathing/bracing from the top like that on a heavy set. I know it made my light sets fly up, but it looks like it works just as well when it’s heavy.

458

Farmer Owen: Yea man, only time will tell, but I think 700 will be in my not too far future! Thanks for posting!

Pano: Thanks brother, but they were not back off sets. Tat was the work I had to get done that day anyway. I just decided to go in a try for a PR first. And I am not going to change the way my workouts run. They work, so i will stick with them, you will just see more weight being moved around at a faster rate. Thanks for checking in!

Roran: I think it is a good move for you. Let me know if you need any help along the way and feel free to text me if you have any quick questions. Thanks for the complaints man!

LoRez: It seemed to work like a charm for me. I ended up bracing the exact same way I do for a squat. I love it, and thanks for saying it looked easy! It really didn’t feel that bad!

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“A lot of things are inherent in life - Change, birth, death, aging, illness, accidents, calamities, and losses of all kinds - but these events don’t have to be the cause of ongoing suffering. Yes, these events cause grief and sadness, but grief and sadness pass, like everything else, and are replaced with other experiences. The ego, however, clings to negative thoughts and feelings, and as a result, magnifies, intensifies and sustains those emotions and overlooks the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love and peace that come from the essence of things. If we generally dwell on these positive states as much as we dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, our lives would be transformed.” --Gina Lake

WEDNESDAY, 06MAY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 9/Day 3

SRENGTH & CONDITIONING - Dueling Presses
1 Axle Continental Clean & Press @ 225
1 Paused Bench Press @ 385
Rest 1 Minute
1 Axle Continental Clean & Press @ 305
1 Paused Bench Press @ 405
Rest 1 Minute
1 Axle Continental Clean & Press @ 315 - In Vid
1 Paused Bench Press @ 425 - In Vid
Rest 1 Minute
1 Axle Continental Clean & Press @ 335 (PR) -VID
1 Paused Bench Press @ 460 - In Vid
Rest 1 Minute

EVENTS - At the Top of Every Minute for 12 Minutes, Completed
100 Foot Yoke walk (50 foot, drop, turn and go back the 50 feet) @ 540lbs

NOTES:

  • So i wasn’t sure how the elbow would do during a clean, much less doing a continental clean which puts a LOT more stress on the nagging area. Because of this I have’t done them in a while, but thought I would go for it…and add in my heavy bench work just to see how it would hold up. I ended up getting at 15lb PR 335 Axle Continental C&P and a decent 460 paused bench.
  • Also finished book 36/100 today.
  • Really liking my new attacking mindset in the workouts and t seem to be working out ok…for 2 days at least!

Here si the vid of my top sets from today

If you guys like my vids please “like” them , subscribe and post a comment if you have one. I am trying to build some advertising off of them. Thanks!

459

Hell yea alpha, congrats on the pr’s lately. 675 flew up! I’m guessing that jerk is helping out some on getting the weight overhead?
Will definitely subscribe!
Could you further explain the attacking mindset you mentioned?

460

gvaldes: Thanks so much for the kind words and a very big thank you for subscribing to my youtube!

The jerk motion is a LOT nicer than a normal push press. I know I still need to do my strict and push presses to continually build up my shoulder strength, but as for 1RM stuff, Jerk is definitely the way to go. For me at least!

As far as my mindset change. Well, since my last competition, i have just kind of been going in and although I have been working hard, my mind wasn’t as into it as it should be if I really want to reach the levels I do. Also setting a lot of little short term goals has got me more excited about my lifting again. Now when I walk into the gym, I am 100% focused on putting in the work that I know needs to be done. That means no slacking on my accessory stuff, mobility or recovery. I am busier than I have ever been in my life and am juggling a lot of different things all at the same time. Because of this, lately I have found myself thinking about other things while I training. i was still making small gains, but not at the rate that I want. To be honest, when i wrote my most recent article, it was really a wake up call for myself and I realized that I hadn’t been practicing what I was preaching to the extent that i needed to. This 6 week period should snap me back into my groove and hopefully I will have a bunch of PRs to prove it by the end.

I had been letting some mental hang-ups in my training. Just like the 675 deadlift. It wasn’t that i didn’t have the strength to pull it, it was that it was 7 plates. Much like guys get hung up on a 315b bench. Tuesday, I convinced myself that I was just being an idiot about it, so i attacked the bar and mentally decided to pull until I got the rep or something broke. It went better than I expected. My elbow problem was stopping me from trying to clean or put heavier things over my head, I again, decided to just drive through the pain and let the chips fall. both situations ended in PRs. Hopefully i can keep this trend up for the next 6 weeks, then recover for a few weeks and ramp it back up for the July competition.

I am sure I will talk more about the mental side of my training as the process continues, but I hope that explains it a little more. Thanks for asking!

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?Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work." --Michael Jordan

“We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.” --Richard G. Scott

THURSDAY, 07MAY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 9/Day 4

CONDITIONING - 2 Rounds of the following circuit. :40 Seconds Work, :20 Seconds rest at each station. All exercises were done with max effort for the given time
Mountain Climbers
Single Arm Dumbbell Snatches
Push-Ups
Box Jumps
Burpees
Plank
Dumbbell Lunges
Weighted Sit-Ups
Ball Slams
Single Arm Dumbbell Swings

STRENGTH
At the top of Every minute for 30 Minutes I did 1 Front Squat @ 335lbs

Then ran for 15 Minutes

NOTES:

  • Today was supposed to be an off day for me, but I was in a gym for work (not mine) and didn’t want to just sit around and watch other people lift, so i did this.
  • The front squats may have been a dumb choice since I have regular squats tomorrow, but my legs and hips were pretty tight from the yoke walks last night, so i just did a little work to loosen them up.