Alpha's Work IV

Training Training Logs
721

kleinhound: Glad it helped you out brother!

Roran: Sure man! When you come up, let’s try to schedule you about an hour early so that you and I can just work on some technique stuff. And Brute gym is a great place to train from what i have heard!

Pano: I am glad that your friend was inspired by the site! And yea, i have read similar things about the overload principal as well. Thanks for checking in man!

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“Mediocrity is the companion of passivity and will not heed the call of great things. Courage is the companion of sacrifice and cannot help but heed the call of great things. And we are left of our own accord to choose one or the other.” --Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Being our best is asking how can we take ourselves to the precipice of our own limits in any and every situation.” --Craig D. Lounsbrough

THURSDAY, 30JULY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 11/Day 4

CONDITIONING - Deck of Cards Workout
Complete the number of reps corresponding with the number on the card. Face Cards = 10 Reps, Aces = 11.
HEARTS: Pull-Ups
SPADES: Handstand Push-Ups
DIAMONDS: Double Unders x3 (10 = 30 Reps, 8 = 24 Reps)
CLUBS: Burpee Lateral Jumps
JOKER 1: 4 Minute Plank
JOKER 2: 6 Rope Climbs

  • For those of you interested, I just posted a letter to some of my athletes that are going to compete in a strongman comp this weekend. http://www.neversate.com/wrath/2015/7/29/a-letter-to-the-athletes I know it is addressed to them, but I think some of you who compete can relate and my sentiments hold true for you as well. If you feel like it, give it a read. Thanks as always for the support everyone! Also in the articles section there is an explanation of what we are doing for programming for the next few weeks. It is a very basic linear progression, but it is what I have used to for years to get the majority of mass and strength I have. If you are interested also give that a read. Thanks everyone
722

You’re a hell of a guy, man.

723

I lurk for the ridiculous strength and conditioning, and the awesome quotes, but I gotta say, your original thoughts in that letter beat a lot of the quotes. (Don’t quite beat the TR quote though, that one is for the ages…)

724

That letter was powerful.

725

Well said, I chocked a little when reading it.

726

Just read the latest two articles. The programming one was a very generous explanation of a complete training system. I don’t think it surprises anyone who follows your log to see you giving out a ton of free advice to anyone who will humble themselves and ask, but it always amazes me how generous you are with your time and knowledge to give all this away for nothing, on top of the enormous amount of stuff you seem to have going on in your life. Once I finish the next cycle and a half of 5/3/1, I would like to give that template a go, exactly as you’ve written it, and see how much progress I can make.

The letter to your athletes was touching, and the idea of ritualising the moments before a fight or competition is something that really resonates with me. I used to have the same thing with wrapping my hands before a fight. Each wrap of the bandage was like putting on armour, and I would feel one step closer to physical perfection as a highly trained fighting machine. As you say, it sounds daft, but with every wrap I felt fear falling away, and as though I was that one tiny layer closer to being perfect, as I knew I’d done all the work in the gym. By the time the wraps were done, I was insanely calm, as though the final piece of the puzzle was in place.

Given that you are able to have such a positive effect on strangers over the internet, I can only imagine what it must be like to know your influence in person. Your family must be very proud of the man you have become. Thank you for all the material you share.

727

Vinny: Thanks brother, not so bad yourself!

OTHSteve: Thanks man, i appreciate you coming out of the shadows to say that, it means a lot! And yea, that Teddy quote is one of my all time favorites!

Roran: Thanks man, I just don’t want all of those people going into this competition without them knowing how proud of them I am.

Pano: Thanks man, believe it or not, I did when writing it as well.

LondonBoxer: I know exactly what you are talking about man. I have had very similar experiences when I am having my hands wrapped. For me, a lot of times, it doesn’t feel like the fight is real until that process starts.

As far as what i do here and on my site…I am a big believer that you get what you give. There are a couple of people over the years (some of which have been on T-Nation) that have been invaluable to me on my journey. They gave to me freely and I always thought that if I were ever in a position where people wanted advice from me, then I would try to be a generous as possible. I am hoping that in time the website will create enough hype that I can eventually make a few dollars for my time, but honestly, i just want to see people push themselves and do things that they didn’t think was possible.

There is so much negativity and lack of caring in society today (especially on the internet) that I am just trying to set an example of how I would like to be treated. And if you can’t leave the world a little better place than I don’t think we are completely doing our jobs as humans. I feel like even if I can only change a few people’s mindsets and preconceived limits, then I have made a difference. It may not be lucrative and I may end up working my butt off most of my waking hours, but I go to bed knowing that I tried. And sometimes that is enough.

As you said, I would hope that I am more influential in real life, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if I was or not. I certainly hope that is the case. I really appreciate your words man, comments like yours, letting me know that something I am doing is helping makes it worth it to me. Thanks for that.

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“Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.” --Epictetus

“If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgement of them does. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgement now.” --Marcus Aurelius

THURSDAY, 29JULY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 1/Day 4

STRENGTH GIANT SET
Deadlifts: 225x3, 315x3, 405x2, 500x1, 585x1, 635x1
Bench Press: 135x5, 225x3, 315x3, 365x2, 405x1, 455x1
Ab Wheel Roll-Outs: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

ACCESSORY
3" Deficit Deadlifts: 315x3, 405x3, 500x3, 550x3, 585x3

NOTES:

  • Quick one for me today. I didn’t have a lot of time so I just hit strength since I have been conditioning a lot this week.
  • My pull was a little off today. I think i was starting with he bar too close to me and not engaging my lats. you can see the bar float out in front of me on the 635 lift. That makes it a lot harder for me than it should be. But my back is finally feeling more like normal!
  • 585x3 form a 3" deficit may be a PR for me since I don’t usually do deficits. Just hoping to build some more strength off the floor so that I can pull 700 before I die!
  • Bench was weak. Not much to say about it. It was just weak today.

Other cool things coming up.

  • The new NEVERsate T-shirts are in the process of being designed. Should be a lighter material (similar to Rogue shirts - which i love the feel of) and the design ideas are really cool. Hopefully they will be on the site soon. Thanks to everyone who bought one of the last batch! We are all sold out of them quicker than we expected.
  • I am throwing around the idea of making a “how to lift atlas stones” video tomorrow. I wanted to write an article about it, but think it will be easier to explain on a video. I’ve never done one so i am not sure how much it will suck, but I am hoping that it will help get more traffic and subscribers to my youtube channel.

Thanks for all of the kind words and support about the articles and such recently everyone, I really appreciate it!

Here is a vid of some of the highlights from today’s session

728

Hey Alpha,

Sorry if I have missed it somewhere, but are you still training martial arts?

tweet

729

Hey Alpha,

Besides all the strongman events and full body lifts, what are your favorite assistance ab/core/oblique exercises that help give you the most strength and carry-over to the strongman stuff?

730

Yet another awesome write up by the man himself… Guess all those books you’ve been reading have helped out in expressing your words in such a powerful way. Excited for the new t-shirts coming out too! I have no doubt that NEVERsate will take off in due time… It’s crazy how it all started off as a blog here.

731

That is great news about your back! I hope it keeps getting better. And I’m pretty excited to see the new shirts I was just thinking that mine was getting a little tight and I’d have to get another. Finally, thank you so much for writing the programing article, and for all of the stuff you’ve written over the years. I hope one day I can either pay you back or pay it forward.

I’ll be giving the 14 weeks of programing a run, although in the truest spirit of the gym bro I’ll have to change a few things. Because of my commuting situation I can only get to the gym on week days and only have access to events once a week. Instead of events after strength would you suggest more conditioning or accessory work?

Again, thanks for everything you’ve done. It’s changed my view on life in more ways than just the gym.

732

theBird: I wish i had the time man. Between my normal job and being out of town/country constantly, then running the gym and online stuff, plus my own training for Nationals and such I honestly can’t fit it in at the moment. I miss it like crazy, but there are just not enough hours in the day. Thanks for asking though man!

Animal Mother: Honestly man, there is no ab or oblique exercise that can put the amount of stress needed for much carry over at all. The big complex exercises and strongman events are just too heavy. But if I had to choose the most effective ab exercises, I would say standing ab wheel roll-outs, ring lay-outs and toes to bar with your core braced the same way you doing during a heavy squat or deadlift. I do the ab and oblique stuff during my giant sets more for the time, which equals more active rest. I wish I had a better answer man, but as you already know the best ab exercises are squat variations, deadlift variation and strongman stuff. Thanks for stopping in man!

gvaldes: Yea man, I hope you are right about it taking off! It is not doing badly at all, it is just no where near lucrative enough to quit my day job yet! Good to hear from you brother!

Roran: Thank you so much for what you said brother, it means so much! As far as after your conditioning and strength stuff, i would just hit more main movement accessory work. One thing I can tell you is that Accessory work seems to have the most effect if it is heavy. For that reason, try sticking to the main strength movement of the day, hit is from a different variation, and go as heavy as possible! I hope that helps man!

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“People don’t want to think. And the deeper they get into trouble, the less they want to think. But by some sort of instinct, they feel that they ought to and it makes them feel guilty. So they’ll bless and follow anyone who gives them a justification for not thinking. Anyone who makes a virtue - a highly intellectual virtue - out of what they know to be their sin, their weakness and their guilt… They envy achievement, and their dream of greatness is a world where all men have become their acknowledged inferiors. They don’t know that that dream is the infallible proof of mediocrity, because that sort of world is what the man of achievement would not be able to bear.” --Ayn Rand

FRIDAY, 31JULY2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 1/Day 5

CONDITIONING - Bring Sally Up Burpees
Start the song and follow the lyrics. Whenever the song cues you “bring Sally up”, perform a burp with a high jump. Every time it says, “bring Sally down”, drop into down push-up position (body not touching the floor) and stay there until you are told to come back up.

STRONGMAN GIANT SET
Log Press: 155, 205, 245, 265, 300, 315 (PR), 325xNope
SSB Squats: 160, 230, 340, 430, 480, 500, 520 (PR by default)
Keg Throws: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

ACCESSORY GIANT SET
150lb Circus DB Clean & Press: 7, 6, 7 Reps
SSB Squats: 340x5, 360x5, 340x5
Red Band Glute Ham Raises: 10, 10, 10

NOTES:

  • Killer day!
  • Happy about the log press PR! I got 325 most of the way up but it was too far out in front of me.
  • SSB Squats: Holy crap these were created by the devil! They are HARD! The bar really does want to shove your face into the ground. I am not sure if 520 is a good weight, but I’ll take it for my first time trying them.
  • Keg throws: Just thought you guy might like seeing them in a video. The tops of those PVC pipes are around 12-13 feet. I am not sure how high I was getting them, but I cleared the poles pretty easily.
  • Circus Dumbbell: Just getting back into these because it is an event at Nationals. Noting too impressive, but it is a start.

Here is a vid of a lot of the above

733

Just wow. The circus DB blows my mind the most of all. How do you handle that weight in one hand? You can throw most 50% of the world population around with one hand!
Just wow again.

734

Thank you that does help, so for example:
CONDITIONING:
something hard and awful
STRENGTH:
squats
Rows
Bench
Abs
all 4x8 ramping
ACCESSORY:
front squats
Incline bench
All 4x8 ramping

And that looked like an awesome training day, congrats on the PR!

735

[quote]LondonBoxer123 wrote:
Given that you are able to have such a positive effect on strangers over the internet, I can only imagine what it must be like to know your influence in person. Your family must be very proud of the man you have become. Thank you for all the material you share.
[/quote]

Have had all of these exact thoughts a few times while following Alpha’s logs over the years. Again, thanks for the time, the advice and the inspiration Alpha.

BTW I totally agree regarding your advice to keep a ‘notes’ section in your training log, and make notes about your life and its effect on each training session/week. It provides for a much more complete record of your training at that time - how work/family/other issues have been impacting you etc. And as you said, it also provides for a very enjoyable read/reminiscing when you review it years later. I’ve been doing this for a while and it really becomes a story of your JOURNEY, rather than just about weight and sets and reps.

736

Pano: Hahahah thanks man! Honestly, it is not that heavy for me, it is just awkward. That isn’t even the competition weight I’m preparing for. The hand on the DB is 3" so you can’t really grip it, you just kind of have to balance it in your hand. And the bell part is rounded and a foot across. With a circus DB that is flat on the end, you can get it on your shoulder and use more leg drive. With the one int he video, you just kind of have to “brute strength” it up. It is a pain and annoying, but it’s part of strongman so I have to play with it. Interesting fact about that DB, it was given to me by Mike Jenkins’ wife after he passed. It is the same one that he trained on to break the word record. I’m honored to have it as part of my gym…

Roran: Yep, that is just about exactly how I would run it. You have to be moving and keep the rest intervals very short or you will be in the gym a long time! And thanks for the kind words brother, I really appreciate it!

justRob: Thanks man, I really appreciate you saying that. Makes all of this worth it.

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“I’d rather be dead than average” --Mike Bell

02AUGUST2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 1/ Day 7

CONDITIONING
15 Axle Power Cleans @ 225lbs
5 Rope Ascents
10 Axle Power Cleans @ 225lbs
4 Rope Ascents
5 Axle Power Cleans @ 225lbs
3 Rope Ascents

STRENGTH GIANT SET
50 Foot Yoke Walks: 360, 450, 540, 630, 720, 750, 800
18" Deadlifts: 225, 315, 405, 500, 585, 675, 725 (PR)
Toes to Bar: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

ACCESSORY GIANT SET
50 Foot Zercher Yoke Carries: 360, 410, 450, 360, 360
Reverse Hypers: 180x20, 270x20, 360x10, 360x10, 270x20

NOTES:

  • So today was the first time I have tried 18" deadlifts. They are an event in the next Maryland’s Strongest Man (which I am now entered in). I know 725 will not even put me in the top 5, but it is a place to start! It is a PR by default
  • Everything else was pretty standard.
  • Also for those of you interested in how those people from my gym (who I wrote that last letter to) did during the competition…I made a vid of their day http://www.neversate.com/wrath/2015/8/2/completed-events . Out of 5 people we had 2 3rd place finishes and a 5th, and 2 6th. Not bad for their first competition. The 2 3rd place finishers, have only been training strongman for 6 months, the 5th for 2 months, the 6th 3 for 3 months! One of the guys is only 15 years old too! I am pretty proud of all of them. Check out the video if you want to watch them!

Here is a vid of some of the yoke walks and the 675 & 725 deadlifts

737

Outstanding showing by your folks! Give them props from us here on the boards.

738

[quote]Alpha wrote:

  • SSB Squats: Holy crap these were created by the devil! They are HARD! The bar really does want to shove your face into the ground. I am not sure if 520 is a good weight, but I’ll take it for my first time trying them.
    [/quote]

Haha, enjoy the misery. I liked to say that the SSB squat is like if the Squat and Deadlift had a baby and then realized they were brother and sister. It’s a terrible mutant that only knows pain. 520 is a crazy number, especially for a first try. Hope it helps, as for me it’s been great at making everything stronger.

739

That’s a beautiful story behind the dumbbell! That really gives a new dimension to it.

A bit of topic here, but do you see your weight going up when in a cycle. You are lean and stay lean it seems, and thats no wonders with all this conditioning. But do you see your muscle mass increace with all that heavy training? Or do you try to keep your weight down for the weight classes?

740

Thank you!

And that looked like an incredible turn out, I’m excited to come train with everyone again.