Alpha Dude! Right on with the 900 yoke, looking forward to 1000lbs! Also I loved the quote by D.H. Lawrence, I heard that as a kid and it just stuck.
Herd
of
wild
horses
Dude your workouts are insane! Definitely going to steal some ideas from here. Will be following closely now.
Punnyguy: Thanks man, I will be very stoked the day I hit a grand as well! now if only I could squat thatā¦ About the bracing, the answer is āYesā I can, and will go much more in depth with it and currently am in an article I am writing. I wrote for about 3 hours today and will put about 3 hours in tomorrow on it, so it should be done and posted on my site by tomorrow night (hopefully). As soon as it is, I will link it here. I would go into it here, but my brain is a little friend from it and I donāt want to have to write it twice. It is coming shortly brother, I promise! Welcome to the log!
Ecchastang: Thanks so much brother, I am working hard on my squat and yoke right now. But I DO believe those are both the reasons why my elbow are jacked up. And Iām glad you like the quotes. Believe it or not, finding them is one of the most time consuming parts of keeping this log! Thanks for stopping in man!
Fletch1986: Thanks man, I am honored that you would say something like that! I really wish I had the chance to meet more of you guys in person and do some training together, that would be awesomeā¦
Powerpuff: Thank you so much for that, it means a lot!
MattyG35: Thanks man! It has been a good few weeks!
FarmerOwen: Thanks brother! Hopefully the 1000 comes sooner than later! And strangely enough, the first time I ever heard that quote was when viggo mortenson (sp) said it on G.I. Jane, hahaha. I just read it again recently and remembered that I loved it, so I thought it would fit nicely.
emskee: You know man, the more I think about you saying that, I think it may be one of the greatest compliments I have ever received. Especially considering the source. For those of you who donāt know, emskee is a legend. When I pull 700lbs, it will be 100% because of this guy and I and the rep will be in his honorā¦No lie, the guy is a huge inspiration to me.
Spidey: Thanks man, I enjoy your log as well! Feel free to steal anything you want! If you want more, I have written like 500 workouts here: http://www.neversate.com/wod/
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āWhen we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.ā --Paulo Coelho
FRIDAY, 13MARCH2015 ? Work For Today
Wave 1/Week 1/Day 5
EVENTS & CONDITIONING
3 Minutes Work / 1 Minute Rest for 5 Rounds
50 Foot Keg Carry (225b Keg)
5 Keg Loads Over a 54" Bar (225lb Keg)
Then Ran 2 Miles
NOTES:
- The Keg work was pretty brutal. It started out fast and clean but turned into a gut check by round 3
- The LSD run at the end is just to continue the weight loss for the upcoming competition. Weight is sitting around 236. Just need to maintain this then cut the last few pounds the last day or so. Feeling fast and strong at this weight currently.
- Finished book number 24/100 for 2015 today.
I hope you guys enjoy this.
You seem to have a pretty good handle of this conditioning before strength work to say the least so I wanted to run some ideas by you and see if you have any feedback.
Iāve actually seen this concept in some form in the Westside Barbell reading Iāve done and it involves hitting weaknesses in a lift with higher rep very general work. General work as in something that looks very little like the comp lift.
Since my 1RM in the squat, benchpress, and deadlift are all I try to improve and I have an idea of my weaknesses in all of them so this should simplify things.
I run an Upper/Lower split ala Westside so I was thinking of starting out with a very general exercise and start with one really long set for about 50 reps with a weight that I can do 20-30 reps using rest/pause with the aim of starting to get out of breath and getting a solid pump. I figured once I get 100 with that weight Iāll lower the reps and superset it with an isolation exercise, then once I reach 100 with the superset the isolation exercise will turn into a compound and Iāll keep progressing like that to keep building my work capacity until eventually it takes so long some of the work will have to be done on days outside main lifting days.
For squat/deadlift, my weakness in both are my quads and upper back so I was thinking goblet squats one day and farmers walks another.
For bench, my weakness is keeping my shoulder girdle and pecs healthy so I was thinking perfect form push ups (what some call a push up +) and db press on a swiss ball.
This is terra incognita for me so I wanted to see what someone who is more experienced with this type of thing thought about my plan.
If you took the time to read through all this respond Iām really appreciative. If you didnāt read through this wall of text I donāt blame you ha ha!
i was wondering what grip width you use for bench and overhead? where on the bar do you place your hands? Im about 5ā9 and having been usinging a thumb length from smooth grip and am considering moving it out a little bit. thanks in advance for any advice
[quote]Alpha wrote:
emskee: You know man, the more I think about you saying that, I think it may be one of the greatest compliments I have ever received. Especially considering the source. For those of you who donāt know, emskee is a legend. When I pull 700lbs, it will be 100% because of this guy and I and the rep will be in his honorā¦No lie, the guy is a huge inspiration to me.
[/quote]
I am humbled. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The One Trick Pony
Thanks for the advice Alpha. Hit up those farmer walks yesterday and damn are they good. Feels like what I was just missing from my trainingā¦
Animal Mother: Love the Arnold video brother, thanks for putting it up!
Fletch1986: It sounds good to me man! I have personally never tried that so you are going to have to be the lab rat on that one and let us know how it goes for you. I did have a few questions/comments though:
- Why did you choose goblet squats over front squats? I have always found them to work my quads and upper back better that the goblets. unless I use an extremely heavy KB.
- Remember that you are usually working the weaker points of your movements during the conditioning but donāt do some much that it hinders your actual working sets for the day. If you did 100 Goblet squats with a weigh that you would she to use rest/pauses on, you may be fried by the time you get to your strength workā¦But try it out and see. We wonāt know until you try, right!?
- For shoulder stability, light Overheads squats have actually helped me quite a bit.
4, For bench, I would say try out some blast strap or ring work (push-Ups/dips). They will build stability in the girdle like nothing else. You also may want to re-work your form and do some speed reps at 60% or so (10x3 EMOM) kind of stuff if you have been having trouble with pec health. - Farmerās walks and yokes are magic wands that seem to fix a lot of issues and will make you better at everything.
6 For your deadlift, consider doing some double paused deads on a clock. Like EMOM adding weight or set a percentage and pull every 30 seconds for conditioning
Let me know your thoughts man, we can bat around some ideas and see what we can come up with for you. Do you do assistance work? Or just conditioning directly into your strength? Thanks for asking brother, I hope to hear back from you!
Bigmean: Back when I started training the bench press, the ācoolā thing to do was work really wide because āthat is what built up your pecsā A lot of us followed that idea and ended up with destroyed shoulders. It never wrecked mine so for all of my bench and overhead stuff I put my ring finger right on top of the outside rings of a standard power bar. But I have extremely wide hands, and fairly wide shoulders, so it works for me. The way you described your hand placement sounds like how a lot of guys set up for a close grip bench. Maybe try a little wider (try to get your hands out to a place where your elbow and forearm will create a perfect right angle when you are touching the bar to your chest. ) Run you workouts in that manner for 10 weeks and see what happens. It would be my guess that You will probably be a little bit weaker at first, but then will catch up and even surpass your current numbers. If your shoulders start bothering you than you can tweak it. But you will not know until you give it a real no BS 10 week try out. I hope that answers your question and gets you going in the right direction. Keep me posted on how it is going!
emskee: meant every word.
Very respectfully,
HOWH (Herd of Wild Horses)
Sutebun: That is great to hear man! They will fix more things on you than a carpenter and mechanic rolled into one!
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So, at the request of many who have been asking for another article, I spent about 6 hour writing, rewriting and editing an article about breathing and what I have changed about my bracing, if you are interested you can find it here on my site NEVERsate.com under the articles section. If you learned something that is working for you and enjoyed the article, please hit the like button over there. It helps me know what types of articles people want to read.
You guys are the best, much love and respect to all of you and all of the kind things that you have said to be in the past few days. It makes keeping this log gong totally worth it. Reallyā¦
Wow, thanks for reading my post so carefully and responding so fully!
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I chose goblet squats over front squats for recovery reasons and how much itāll affect the main workā¦ but I can see that as a goal to work up to. Once I really own the goblet squats and acclimate to this Iāll give it a shot.
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Since I made my post, I changed my mind on the implementation of that. Iāll pick a weight thatās a 20-30RM and use rest/pause to get 50 and do that until I donāt need to rest/pause and then choose a bigger movement and start again, or keep the same weight and add an isolation exercise I use the same technique, more reps, more weight. Basically, some sort of form of progress. Itāll only be one set, at leas to start so I think that should help recovery. I did this today with push up + and actually my shoulders and pecs felt really really good the whole workout. It didnāt hurt my working weights by more than 2-3 percent either. I was pleasantly surprised.
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I donāt doubt it I used to do them myself and they did help, I just want to kill more than one bird with one stone and work those muscles involved in benching too.
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No blast straps or rings at my gyms
I also donāt think I could do enough reps with them to get a conditioning effect. I actually already am doing speed work for 16x3, 8-10x3, and 6-8x3 depending on the block Iām in. Itās great stuff and my bench actually goes down when I stop incorporating it. -
I actually saw how much you seemed to like farmerās walks in your above posts and many others seem to swear by them too so I figured I would try to get in on the awsome. For a conditioning effect, what would be the equivalent in time of 20-30 reps in another exercise for farmers walks? I hope that made sense.
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I was actually thinking of doing that just yesterday. Since you mentioned it, Iāll go ahead and commit and alternate between speed pulls and double paused deads since I only pull from the floor 1x a week.
I definitely do some assistance work. For my main work, I do 3-4 barbell exercises that are the main lift or closely mimic it and/or have very good carry over. Unless Iām using special techniques like the maximum effort or dynamic effort, or using a modified prilepinās table for the main lift, itās always 2-3 sets where the last set is something with only 1 rep in the tank.
Then I kind of train like a bodybuilder in a high volume conditioning phase. Iāll do isolation and machine exercises, and use BB pump techniques and do 3-4 of those for 10-20 reps for 3-5 sets with 30-45s of rest. The BB stuff helps a ton with body comp and keeping my joints healthy.
With respect to shoulders, I think there was an article awhile back about how doing your bench presses with a powerlifting style that is how guys that use bench shirts can damage your shoulders.
[quote]Alpha wrote:
HOWH (Herd of Wild Horses)
[/quote]
Yesā¦
Wow, that was a great article man, iāll definitely be practicing those techniques from now on, thanks for that. Best of luck for the run up to the comp, iāll be following as always.
Fletch1986: Looks good brother, keep my posted on how it is going for you. As far as farmerās walks are concerned, trying to estimate something like a 20-30 rep max would be next to impossible. Or at least way above my pay gradeā¦ One of my favorite things to program farmerās for conditioning is load the handles with a moderate weight and pick a time. I have found that 8-12 Minutes usually works best. Once you start the clock, carry the implements as far as you possibly can. Once you drop them, perform 5 burpees to buy back in. Immediately pick them back up and walk as far as you can. Once you drop them, it is 5 more burpees. Rinse and repeat for the entirety of the time. It is a killer workout. I usually throw this one in at the end of a session though as it has a tendency to knock you right in the dirt. Give it a try man.
MattyG: Iām not really sure what powerlifting style is. If you mean bringing the bar far down on your body rather than right below the nipple line, then I would completely agree. Whenever I have tried to do that, it has always been no bueno. I always unrack my own bar (because I donāt have workout partners), and bring it down, just below my nipple line. I DO believe in trying to tuck your elbows more on the way down (rowing the bar to your chest) then allowing the to flare slightly on the concentric. I know a lot raw guys disagree with that, but it works for me and seems to keep my shoulders healthy. If this has nothing to do with what you were trying to say then please disregard.
emskee: You thinking about starting a log back up on here man? I know a lot of people that would be learning from you experience.
Joe_89: Thanks brother! I really appreciate the feedback!
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āSecurity is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.ā --Helen Keller
SUNDAY, 15MARCH2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week1/Day 7
CONDITIONING - Did this:
Get a mouthful of water. Hold the water in your mouth for the entirety of the 10 Rounds. If you swallow the water or spit it out, you are out and owe 20 burpees as a penalty.
100 Foot Kettlebell Duck Walk (150lb Kettlebell)
10 Rounds
:20 Seconds Kettlebell Swings (88lb Kettlebell)
:10 Seconds Rest
100 Foot Kettlebell Duck Walk (150lb Kettlebell)
Once the 10 Rounds and final prowler push are complete, spit out the water.
STRENGTH - 6 Rounds
2 Weighted Pull-Ups: 135, 155, 160, 170, 180, 180
2 Log Clean & Presses @ 260lbs
10 Dragon Flags
EVENTS - 10 Rounds
50 Foot Reverse Sled Drag/Rows: 260, 350, 440, 530, 620, 530
NOTES:
- The water int he mouth conditioning is supposed to be done on a treadmill set at a pretty high rate of speed, but I donāt have treadmills at my gym and it is pretty wet and squishy here in Maryland at the momentā¦It wasnāt as hard as it should have been, but it is always a great drill for controlling your breathing and fighting back panic.
- Log press felt like junk today. Not sure what was wrong, maybe just fatigue but today rose my anxiety about this event in the upcoming competition. I am sure it will be fine.
- Reverse sled drags felt great today. I meant to get a vid of the top set, but totally forgot about it. Next time.
- Random thoughts about the upcoming competition.
The events for the comp are as follows:
Max Effort Log Clean & Press - Jump in at any weight you want, 25lb jumps - (3 attempts to reach a top weight, but if you fail at any of your attempts, you are out of that event for the day)
- My plan is to try 275, 300, 325
Max Effort Car deadlift and hold - They will add a bunch of weight to the car. You can strap in and you just hold it until your body breaks down.
- My plan is to survive without hurting myselfā¦Hopefully for longer than 1:00 Minute
Max Effort 25 foot Yoke walk - Jump in at any weight you want, 50lb jumps - (3 attempts to reach a top weight, but if you fail at any of your attempts, you are out of that event for the day)
- My plan is to hit 850, 900, 950
Max Effort Conventional Deadlift - Jump in at any weight you want, 25b jumps - (3 attempts to reach a top weight, but if you fail at any of your attempts, you are out of that event for the day)
- My plan is 625, 650, 675.
My biggest worry about these events are that they could be in any order. Depending on what my group gets put on first may greatly hinder my other events. And if you screw up once you are out of that eventā¦Not cool. But that is why strongman is strongman.
You are allowed to use straps and even a suit on the deadlifts but I am choosing to not use either. I donāt really agree with some of the stuff in strong man. Like allowing guys to use straps on an axle deadlift. To me, that defeats the point of an axleā¦but I digressā¦
Anyway, I am fairly certain that my above numbers will not win me first place, but they would be a couple of PRs if I can get them. It should be a fun day anyway you look at it. I would rather stick my junk in a warm bag of AIDS than lose, so of course I am going to give it my all, but I am just going to try and preform at MY best and let the chips fall where they may. I have already secured a spot at this yearās nationals, so if I do end up winning it will just take another slot away from a guy that I wonāt have to compete against in a few months. All good things. Feel pretty good about the comp. Weight went back up a little bit, so I will have to keep an eye on it, but it shouldnāt be an issue at all.
Ok, I am done rambling about nothing. BTW I forgot to post the link to my latest article about breathing and bracing (thank you ambienā¦whenever you see a ton of spelling mistakes or I am not making sense in a post, you can usually bet that it was written under the influence of sleeping pillsā¦hahahaha) so here it is for those of you who are interested: http://www.neversate.com/wrath/2015/3/14/breathing-bracing
Yeah, thatās what I had meant, wasnāt sure how best to put it into words
That water in the mouth thing sounds like some old Spartan training stuff I read about a while back. (as in literally the Spartans, not modern fun-run stuff)
I also Might have to give that Farmers walk thing a try (I dont have Farmers Handles, but I did just buy a Trap Bar so its similar), but scale it down, maybe start at 5 minutes total and 3 burpees per drop and work up over the months to the Full Alpha version.
Still loving your layout so far, and I might even try adding some Waterbury style High Frequency stuff to bring up some body parts I want to emphasize.
I like your conditioning idea of buying back in with work. Great idea, highly variable, could really mix it up.
Could do tire flips and sledge hammer buy ins, or tire flips and if itās high enough jumping up onto it
That article is great! What helps me the most to brace my core correctly is simply to think someone is about to punch the heck out of my stomach from every direction.
By the way, I have a question- What are your favorite squat movements you prefer to do on the conditioning part of your training before deadlifting heavy? Lately Iām doing high rep squat with about pretty light weight (BW) but it taxes my legs a bit. Do you think I should stick to it or change to front/over head/zercher squat?
MattyG: Good man, I am glad.
Lonnie123: Yea man, years ago I had a fight coach who used to make us spar with mouthfuls of water. It was brutal! You felt like you were drowning, but if you swallowed it or spit it out, things would just get worse. I really helped me learn to keep panic under control. Performing sprints or other conditioning is pretty easy comparatively, but it is still a good drill.
I am really glad to hear that the programming is working for you. It has made all of the difference in the world for me. Keep me posted brother!
MattyG: Yea man, I am big on having penalties for failing during something. And then earning your way back to giving it another shot. That is how life works, so I figure incorporating it into workouts is a good move.
Regev: Yea man, just make sure your have a belly full of air when you do it. That, for me, makes all of the difference in the world!
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āA challenge only becomes an obstacle when you bow to it.ā --Ray Davis
MONDAY, 16MARCH2015 - Work For Today
Wave 1/Week2/Day 1
CONDITIONING
As Many Rounds As Possible in 10 Minutes
5 Chin-Ups
5 Burpee Box Jumps (24" Box)
5 Kettlebell Clean & Presses (Left Side)
5 Burpee Box Jumps (24" Box)
5 Kettlebell Clean & Presses (Right Side)
STRENGTH
Worked up to a fairly fast 635lb Deadlift (RPE 7)
Then At the Top of Every :30 Seconds for 15 Rounds Completed 1 Conventional Deadlift @ 480lbs.
ACCESSORY - 4 Rounds
2 Double Paused Deadlifts: 405, 455, 500, 550, 585
10 Plate Loaded Reverse Hypers: 180, 270, 320, 270, 180
NOTES:
- This will be my last heavy pull day until the competition. Just form work and such from here on out.
- 635 was pretty easyā¦I really think I can pull 675 at the comp if the events fall in the right order.
- Then 15 singles every 30 seconds was emskeeās idea. It was great.
- Double paused and the reverse hypers went well. I was happy to work up to 585 after all the other deadlift work.