I’m glad you liked the log BOR.
Be careful with barefoot stone work, some day you’ll get your leg (hopefully not) and it ain’t gonna be pretty. I’ve seen guys working the stones with some heavy duty work boots.
You’re competing pretty often, good luck man!
By the way, I think you need a heavier stone haha
TheWolfMan: Yea man I am very happy about the leg. I’m still getting a lot of popping and a decent amount of pain at times, but all in all, I am good to go.
I actually tend to switch sides every set kinda like my grip on deadlifts. Last summer I attended a seminar with Rob Orlando and he swears that always going to one side will not create an imbalance and i would tend to agree. I just do not like intentionally creating a “dumb” side where I feel less coordinated. Thanks for stopping in and asking brother!
Regev: Firstly thanks again for the log rowing idea and thanks for the concern about the bare feet. I get what you are saying. You and a lot of other guys have commented about working out in bare feet and the lack of safety in doing so. But I’m not going to change it. No offense to you or the guys doing stones in steel toed boots, but in reality, dropping 300-400lbs of concrete on your foot from 6 feet isn’t going to end well no matter your choice of footwear. I would rather feel more mobile and fast (able to get out of the way) in bare feet than I would feeling more bulky (slower) but a little more protected. And a lot of the guys who wear big boots for stones are doing so because it can give them an extra inch or two in height to get the stone of the bar, not to be more protected.
And thank you for the luck man, I am trying to compete around 5 times this year if I can stay healthy. And yea, I have heavier stones at my gym that i can shoulder, we were just doing higher reps that day and I just thought I would add the video. Thanks for posting brother!
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"Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do.
Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance." --Steven Pressfield
SATURDAY, 13JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 4/Day 6
CONDITIONING - 6 Rounds of Complexes: Complete ALL reps of ALL Exercises before releasing the bar
8 Power Cleans
8 Front Squats
8 Push Presses
8 Back Squats
8 Good Mornings
8 Push Jerks
8 Deadlifts
Drop the Bar and run 400 Meters Holding a 50lb Medicine ball
NOTES:
- I did this Saturday morning with my heaviest round being done with 185lbs on the barbell but i haven’t had time until now to get to your questions and post this. Sorry about that!
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“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” --John Wooden
MONDAY, 15JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 5/Day 1
SPEED & CONDITIONING
At the Top of Every Minute for 12 Minutes completed 3 Speed Deadlifts @ 445lbs and 3 Burpee Lateral Jumps Over the Bar
STRENGTH GIANT SET
Axle Deadlift: 315x5, 405x4, 500x3, 550x2, 570x2
Keg Clean & Press: 225x3, 225x3, 225x3, 225x3, 225x3
10 Toes to Bar: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
100 Rope Jumps: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
EVENTS - 3 Rounds of Tire Flip/Keg Suicide Runs
Carried Keg 80 Feet
1 Tire Flip
Carried Keg 60 Feet
1 Tire Flip
Carried Keg 40 Feet
1 Tire Flip
Carried Keg 20 Feet
1 Tire Flip
Carried Keg 60 Feet
ACCESSORY GIANT SET
Pull-Ups: 20, 15, 15
Reverse Hyper: 270x10, 270x10, 270x10
Barbell Elevated Hip Thrusts: 315x10, 315x10, 315x10
NOTES:
- Speed deadlifts went fine but the Axle Deads were not feeling great today. The week after I do a higher rep deadlift workout never goes well. I kinda knew it going in, so I didn’t get too upset about it.
- The Tire Flip/Keg carry medley was pretty brutal. It doesn’t look that bad on paper or even in the video, but it left me heaving for air after all three rounds of it.
- I have never tried Barbell hip thrusts before. I put a 25lb bumper plate under my feet so i could get more range of motion and paused each rep at the top with my gluteus squeezed. I’m not sure how I feel about these, but I was tired of reading about them and never trying them.
Here is a vid of the medley for those of you interested.
Thanks for the info on rucking. Also, I got a new phone, with some actual storage, so I’ll be able to get a video of my pressing up in a day or two.
Undoubtedly in your next video you’ll be juggling the kegs and the tire.
LoRez: That is great news man, Once I can see a video, i may be able to give you a little more specific guidance. And you are more than welcome man, that’s why I’m here.
Biker: Hahahaha I really hope so man! Thanks for stopping in
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“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them.” --George Bernard Shaw
TUESDAY, 16JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 5/Day 2
CONDITIONING
20 Burpee Pull-Ups
20 Wall Crawls
800 Meter Run
18 Burpee Pull-Ups
18 Wall Crawls
600 Meter Run
16 Burpee Pull-Ups
16 Wall Crawls
400 Meter Run
14 Burpee Pull-Ups
14 Wall Crawls
400 Meter Run
12 Burpee Pull-Ups
12 Wall Crawls
600 Meter Run
10 Burpee Pull-Ups
10 Wall Crawls
800 Meter Run
NOTES:
- I only stuck to conditioning because I was helping my Dad frame a gazebo this morning. Hard conditioning though, it was definitely hot and humid enough that it made it feel like i had to chew my oxygen.
Alpha, I am totally stealing the way you run with kegs. I’ve been just grabbing the top lip of the bottom of the keg after tilting it sideways and carrying the keg diagonal across my body. Seeing your leg up approach makes so much more sense.
Circuit looked creative too. Always inspiring.
Pwnisher: Steal away brother! I stole it from a WV Strongman named Dan Caraway! Hopefully it helps you out. It definitely gives your legs a lot more clearance for moving faster.
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“Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.” --Robert A. Heinlein
“It was so risky and so scary, and yet at the same time, so beautiful. Maybe the truth was, it shouldn’t be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It’s the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something’s difficult to come by, you’ll do that much more to make sure it’s even harder -if not impossible- to lose.” --Sarah Dessen
WEDNESDAY, 17JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 5/Day 3
CONDITIONING - For 10 Minutes
Odd Minutes: Farmer’s Carry (205lbs in each hand)
Even Minutes: Overhead Lunges
STRENGTH
I wanted to test out my calf so I did some Axle Push Presses and worked up to a new Axle PR of 365lbs. The also ties my barbell PR, which, if I can get the axle at that weight, I know I can get more on a barbell. Calf Held out pretty Well.
Then I moved onto some Paused axle bench press. I was able to work up to 460lbs which isn’t bad after doing the push presses.
I have vids of both of the lifts below
STRENGTH GIANT SET - 4 Rounds
335lb Bent Over Rows: 6, 6, 6, 6
335 Axle Bench Press: 6, 6, 6, 6
Log “Z” Presses: 155x5, 185x3, 205x2, 185x5
175lb Barbell Snatches: 6, 6, 6, 6
Toes to Bar: 10, 10, 10, 10
NOTES:
- I am very happy to have hit 365 on an axle push press. Looking at the lift, I think I may have had a few more pounds in me, but I’ll take that PR for today.
- I was expecting the pressing to effect my benching, but if it did, it wasn’t by much. 460lbs is pretty decent weight for me.
- The giant set was just to get some more reps in and get my heart rate up. It was a good thing to finish up with.
Here is a video of the 365 axle push press, 425 & 460 Paused axle bench presses and my 205x2 set on the Log “Z” Presses
Awesome stuff going on here!
Do you know what your new 1RM’s are(after test week)?
Keep rocking man!
Pano: Thanks man, and yea my current PRs Look like this:
Squat: 660lbs
Front Squat: 485lbs
Deadlift: 685lbs
Axle Deadlift: 635lbs
Yoke: 900lbs x 50 Feet
Bench: Still 500lbs
Incline log Bench Press: 390lbs
Strict Log OHP: 275lbs
Axle Continental Clean & Press: 345lbs
Axle Push Press: 365lbs
I think that covers pretty much all that I beat, thanks for asking man!
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“Those who don’t know how to suffer are the worst off.” --Ming-Dao Deng
“The pressure of adversity is the most powerful sustainer of accountability. It’s as though everything you do is multiplied by 50 in order to surpass those with a head-start. I was never capable of slacking when at the threshold of failure.” --Criss Jami
THURSDAY, 18JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 5/Day 4
EVENTS - 5 Rounds
1:00 Minute Max Effort Keg Throws Over a 15 Foot Bar
:90 Seconds Rest
EVENTS - 5 Rounds
100 Foot Arm over Arm Jeep Pull
100 Foot Prowler Push
2:00 Minutes Rest
NOTES:
- Just getting some event work in, it was fun
Congrats man! That are quite some PR’s.
I heard you did hip thrusts, but you are not sure about them.
Before I started training, I did them one summer vacation, working up to 2 sets of 80 reps (hip bridges to be honest, and unweighted).
They are quite tricky in the beginning: felt all lower back.
What really helpt is stretching/mobilizing the hip flexors really well. So the erectors didn’t compensate. And “forget your back, your all ass!” Best cue I can give, even round your back slightly at top (tuck your tail). Helps to relax your erectors too.
Maybe you could try to start with hip bridges, work up to a bunch of them, do thrusts, work up to a bunch of them, then do them with bar. Work up slowely when starting so you’ll learn it properly.
On Brets site there were 2 tips I found golden: hold it at the top for a sec, and squeeze hard there! And google ‘american hip thrust’. Even higher ass activation.
Good luck
I’d also like to put in a good word for hip thrusts. Prioritizing them in my own training was the best decision I ever made.
Pano: Thanks man, I definitely felt them more in my butt and hamstrings more than anything else but you made some really good points that I will keep in mind, thanks man!
WolfMan: That is really interesting man, what did they seem to help you with specifically? I am just trying to weight if they are worth the time and energy spent or not. Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated!
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“Sing so loud that the music drowns out the sounds of the naysayers. One day they’ll be singing your song.” --JaTawny Muckelvene Chatmon
“Often the strongest blades were pounded the hardest, or scorched the most severely; We judge them by their strength and sharpness, not by their prior rough experiences. With our comrades it should be the same. A good blade is rarely forged in a velvet box.” --Orsov
FRIDAY, 19JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 5/Day 5
CONDITIONING - As Many Rounds As Possible in 12 Minutes
5 Power Cleans @ 50% of your 1RM
5 Bodyweight Man Makers
STRENGTH - For 5 Rounds
At the Top of Every :90 Seconds Complete 2 Belles Wrapless (3 Sec) Pause Squats (As Heavy As Possible
225x2
315x2
405x2
445x2
500x2 - Heaviest I have gone sine I hurt myself
ACCESSORY GIANT SET
20 Glute Hams Raises
20 Pull-Ups
20 Ring Dips
That set kinda fried me a good bit so then I did 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Reps of
Glute Ham Raises
Pull-Ups
Ring Dips
NOTES:
- Felt Pretty good today but the little bit of a back issue that I got the same day i hurt my leg when i tried a 950b yoke woke right back up on that second set of the 500 paused squat. I was hoping for at least a triple, but had to rack it before more damage was done
Here is a vid of the 500x2 set
It’s amazing how upright you are during the squat with low bar position. At least that’s what it seems like from this angle.
Countdown work is always tough, I need to utilize it more.
Since I just turned 18 yo two days ago, do you have any life wisdom/experience tips to share?
BTW, I love the music in your gym- Hendrix, the blues, the rock… Exactly my taste!
Great to see you can load the leg more and more!
Here’s the vid with contreras doing the American variation. He said it worked the glutes a great del
al more (prob becaus of higher stability).
And I could be wrong, as I didn’t do them in a while, but I thought the hammies should stay quite relaxed when thrusting. Again, just go with the way that feels best, you know your body well.
Hey I hope all is well. I’ve been pretty busy but still keeping up with the log. When were you thinking about competing again?
[quote]Alpha wrote:
WolfMan: That is really interesting man, what did they seem to help you with specifically? I am just trying to weight if they are worth the time and energy spent or not. Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated!
[/quote]
My glutes are stronger. Sorry, but that’s the most crucial and most obvious observation I have. I can feel myself using my glutes more, both when I’m lifting and in my daily life. Also my running has improved - compared to most people I was reasonably posterior chain dominant before, but now I definitely know that I’m taking power from the proper muscles.
I’m usually pretty good at spending the majority of my time on my feet, but being a student I sometimes spend hours at a time sitting, which generally leaves me feeling a bit slothlike. It used to be that I took hours to shake that off, but now I just find that it takes much less effort to wake my glutes back up, and once I’ve done that I’m pretty much back to normal.
I’m not sure that it actually works this way, but it could be that for you, there would be less benefit from adding in hip thrusts because you’re already so strong at all the big lifts. I don’t know how much carryover there would be. Also because you’re already doing so much - my philosophy is generally that the returns start to diminish pretty quickly with each addition to a program beyond a certain point. That’s not a criticism by the way. Clearly your method works for you. It’s just that I’ve always found that I make better progress when I cut out all but the absolute essentials.
In any case, it’s been said by many people far more knowledgeable than I am that in any sport, stronger end range hip extension is never going to put you at a disadvantage. I would tend to agree. It’s just that every individual and every program is going to need a different analysis of cost vs. benefit, and you’re the best person to make that decision for your situation.
Just my thoughts. Hope some of that helps man.
Regev: Thanks man, yea i am intentionally trying very hard to stay upright as possible. When I miss a squat it is always because my core collapses, never because my legs aren’t strong enough, so I figure the more upright I can stay the heavier I will be able to go.
And Happy Birthday man! If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to do something that scares you every single day so that you begin to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It could be as simple as pushing harder than you think you can in the gym, getting into scary social situations or just choosing the harder of two paths, but continually choose the way that scares you or makes you feel uncomfortable. NOTHING will help you grow more physically, mentally or even spiritually than practicing that one simple thing. It can be easily applied to just about any situation in your life and will change your focus from surviving life to actually living it. I wish someone would have told me that a long time ago. Thanks again for the kind words and I hope your 18th year the your best one yet!
Pano: Thanks for posting that man! I tried elevating by placing my feet on top of a bumper plate (I think the positioning would explain why I was feeling some of the movement in my hamstrings), but after you showed this, i will definitely give them a try!
Roran: Hey brother, things are going great! I am unsure about my next competition, I was focused on 18July but then I hurt myself so that kind of took a back seat. It is a lot of really heavy carries and I think the chances of further injuring myself would be high. My work schedule is pretty crazy at the moment and I am going to be out of the country quite a bit so I need to sit down and take a look at what is coming up and what I can schedule in. We will see, thanks for asking man, hope things are going well for you as well!
WolfMan: Thanks for the detailed response man! You bring up a lot of good points. I am not sure if I will keep doing them or not, but I figure replacing GHR or Rev Hypers with the hip thrusts couldn’t hurt. Time will tell. Thanks again man!
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“Guess what? ‘Someday’ almost never comes around. It gets lost somewhere between the shouda, woulda, couldas of your life. Let go of whatever is holding you back and dare to live - boldly, bravely, and courageously - now. Remember, none of these elements mean you have to be fearless. It’s absolutely okay to be afraid! Acknowledge that part of yourself and then push beyond that fear, whatever it may be. I’m not brave…I’m just taking every opportunity to LIVE.” --Kendra Thomas
SATURDAY, 20JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 5/Day 6
CONDITIONING FOR STRONGMAN - 3:00 Minutes Work / 1:00 Minute Rest, for 6 Rounds
5 Atlas Stone Loads Over a 52" Bar
10 Viper Presses
10 Burpees
100 Foot Keg Carry
Then I went out for a long session of kayaking, it was a blast.
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“There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent, or hinder, or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.” --Hyrum Smith
MONDAY, 22JUNE2015 - Work For Today
Wave 2/Week 6/Day 1
CONDITIONING - 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 Reps of
Ring Pull-Ups
Ring Dips
Goblet Squats
Run 400 Meters Carrying a Medicine Ball
*No Rest Between Rounds
STRENGTH - 4 Rounds
6 Deadlifts @ 515lbs
5 Kettlebell Snatches @ 88lbs (Each Side)
10 Bar Jumps**
20 Hollow Rocks
** Bar Jumps: Squat down and touch the floor then explosively jump up and touch a spot 10 Feet Above you
EVENTS - 5 Rounds of Tire Flip / Farmer’s Walk Medley
4 Tire Flips
150 Foot Farmer’s Walk (Bodyweight in each hand)
3 Tire Flips
100 Foot Farmer’s Walk (Bodyweight in each hand)
2 Tire Flips
50 Foot Farmer’s Walk (Bodyweight in each hand)
1 Tire Flip
150 Foot Farmer’s Walk (Bodyweight in each hand)
ACCESSORY - 5 Rounds
Strict Axle Military Press: 225x2, 245x2, 255x2, 275x2, 245x2
Reverse Hypers: 270x10, 270x10, 270x10, 270x10, 270x10
Glute Ham Raises: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
NOTES:
- My tweaked back was very unhappy about the deadlifts, but I got through them. Everything else went pretty well. The accessory stuff was good for my back and it seemed to make it feel a little bit better. No problems with my leg though, so I think i should be back to my normal self very soon.
Alpha, how long does a training sessions take?
It is such an big amount of volume!