Saw stuff like this during Prime Days too. WORSE deals than normal. Just whip you into a buying frenzy. Can’t hate the player here.
Your observations on the impact of genetics as it relates to bodybuilding and strongman are spot on. It’s what I dug about strongman: there are multiple ways to win. You gotta learn how YOU strongman, and you may be able to copy a similar competitor, but it’s still going to be your approach. I think watching Misha and Savickas compete in IFSA was really eye opening. You had the dude with the weightlifting background going against the powerlifting champ, and they were both monsters in their own way. Same with watching Derek Poundstone and Mariusz, or even seeing Brian Shaw and Thor compared to guys like Licis and Hooper.
It’s a pretty recurring issue whenever I’m on the ship. I think it’s all my time at a desk/the cramped sleeping position just causing some tightness. Painful, but I don’t think I’m hurting anything
Oh 100%! To be honest, that is part of what I dislike about some more recent worlds strongest man competitions. I feel like it’s biased to a specific type of competitor, where some of the early ones allowed for some more of that individuality to shine through
This isn’t just a feeling, haha. WSM has always been a TV show first and a sporting event…third, maybe. It’s no secret the promoters will cater the comp toward who they want to win. Eddie Halle’s 2017 win was a comp tailor made for him. Same during the Mariusz Era. Same for JPS vs Kaz.
Unbelievable - somehow your log didn’t pop up, and I missed the whole tattoo thing, from placement polling to execution.
Very appropriate though.
Love that you’re going somewhere cold. My deployment was mostly spent in ocean temps above 90F and with desert sand blowing into the RAR - you could literally get sandblasted if you stood under one of the ducts for too long.
(You know what effect those high ocean temps have on everything else upstream…)
The furthest north we went was Portsmouth, England, but that was in spring/summertime anyway.
3 weeks left! So happy for you, as always.
I think people forget this. So many examples of people wining because its good for the show or popularity of the sport. The one thing I would say though is the person wining still has to be better than everyone else on the day. The comp may be tailor made for some but it isn’t a gaurentee, Well other than when they changed the last event to a running race and screwed OD Wilson.
Conditioning: 53 min treadmill walk, 3.4mph, 6incline
Notes:
- Fitting this into an hour was not easy. 20 working sets, plus warm ups, all with some decently heavy weight, and having to work around people. Would be a lot more manageable with even an extra 15 minutes. Used a timer, 1:45 between all sets to make it happen.
I dig 10x3. This rep scheme just meshes with my soul well lol. Compared to 3x10? Incomparable.
Week one of smolov down…. How the hell am I gonna hit these weight progressions? Program always seemed a little insane, but I’m down to chip my teeth against it for a bit.
Squats felt a little weak. I partially attribute this to using the bar barbell (well, the worst of all our bar barbells) and doing the squats after bench. Decided to forgo the PR set, just hitting the 10x3.
Then promptly ignored that judgement call and went for a PR. Ugly as hell, but I got it. My form definitely shifts over the set, much more hip dominant by the end, but within what I’d call my range of acceptable form.
I tried smolov for squats about 16 years ago and made it through the first few weeks before bailing. I was in absolutely no position to run that program, hoping you have better luck! How long are those session taking you?
To be fair, I’m just running smolov JR for bench, I haven’t ever even looked at the actual smolov program, so I can’t really comment on that. All of these sessions are 60 minutes maximum, mainly because that’s how long you are allowed to use the gym on the ship before they kick you out haha. I’d pace myself a little more and tack on some accessories if I had the time, but I don’t, so it’s just a pretty moderate rest period workout
Almost completely healed at this point. It’s still a massive whole in my ass, but it’s healing from the bottom up, so now it’s only like 1cm deep rather than the 6cm it was lol. Very much hoping to be back in one piece before I get back to the states!
Conditioning:
3 min treadmill run, 5.3 mph
Nearly died 5 times in those three minutes. Essentially running sideways for parts of it. Actual photo of me below
49 minute incline walk: 3.4mph, 7 incline
Notes:
holy sea state. The carrier on a whole is much smoother of a ride than a small boy, but the seas today were ridiculous. Probably not changing too soon, so lifting is going to be a balancing game again. They ended up securing all weights as I was leaving the gym, so hopefully they are open again by tomorrow.
That being said, weights absolutely flew on bench today. Form felt tight, weight felt light, I was surprised with how clean these sets moved.
Hate this pulldown attachment, just comically wide. Working in with a group though, so just used it anyway.
Found a new ab machine tucked into a hallway lol. Tried it out, really liked it. Crazy lower ab contraction
Looks like I’m sticking with incline walking until seas calm down. Would love to bike, but that still isn’t the best idea until completely recovered from the surgery
It’s freaking cold. Last deployment I spent half my time in 120 degrees of middle eastern sunshine. I have a certain knack for finding myself in temperature extremes lol.
