Density Strongman Training Log

Training Logs
1

Just a guy looking to get bigger, stronger and perform better for Strongman and Powerlifting. I figured recording my progress and my thoughts on said progress would be beneficial to my training. I have a comp coming up on July 28th here in beautiful San Diego, CA and I am looking to do well even though I am 30 lbs under weight and there are 35 other competitors in this comp.

Been training strongman for about a year now and before that just general weight lifting for looks and health for the past four years. Didn’t ever really have a goal in mind (just try to lift the most weight) until I started strongman, but now I am able to be focused on doing better in the sport.

My current training is a bastardized version of 5/3/1, but I have recently switched to a more traditional version of it. Before this cycle I was running ssb for squat, log for overhead press and push press instead of bench. I am now doing barbell movements for all my main lifts and using strongman implements as my supplementary lifts. I like this idea and I am excited to see where it takes me.

Split is: Upper/Lower 4 days per week with 1 day on the weekends for event training. I am on my fifth cycle so the weights are press heavy at this point. After this cycle it will three weeks out and I will be resetting back 3 for after the comp.

Current training maxes going into this cycle are:
Squat - 355lbs
Deadlift - 525lbs
Press - 185lbs
Bench - 285lbs

Since it is now Thursday, I have gotten through a majority of my 5s week this week already so this is how it went. Everything is in lbs.

Monday:

Main movement Giant Set

Press
Barx10
120x5
140x5
155x7
175x3
120x14

Chins
BWx8
BWx8
25x5
45x7
BWx14

Ab rollouts
5x6

Supplemental Giant Set

Axle Clean and Push Press
145x5
165x5
185x5
165x5
145x5

Axle Rows
145x12
165x10
185x8
165x10
145x8

Reverse Hypers
3x10 (4 plates)

Assistance Giant Set

Dips
3x15@BW

Band pull aparts
3x15

Bicep Curls
3x8@75

Conditioning
Prowler pushes 40 yards 10 rounds with 90lbs added. 2 runs each before resting 60 seconds.

Tuesday

Main Super Set

Hang Cleans
5x5@145

Deadlifts
135x5
225x5
315x5
345x5
395x5
445x6
500x1
345x14

Supplemental Giant set

Front Squat
135x5
205x5
235x5
265x5
235x5
205x5

Band pull aparts
5x15

Side bends
5x8

Assistance Giant Set

Glute hams
3x8

DB Rows
3x10@80

Dips
3x15

Conditioning
Keg->sandbag->sled drag medley. 3 rounds keg and sandbag each 180lbs.

Thursday

Main Super Set

Power Cleans
145x5
165x5
185x5

Squat
135x5
225x5
265x5
300x8
335x1
230x16

Supplemental Giant Set

SSB Good Mornings
145x10
175x8
195x5
175x8
145x10

Band Pull Aparts
5x15

Ab rollouts
5x6

Assistance Giant Set

Lunges
3x8@135

DB Rows
3x10@80

Dips
3x15

No conditioning today as I am sick and didn’t really feel like. Making it up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

2 Likes
2

Last barbell day for my 5s week. Bench press today, felt so good I did 2 joker sets today, which is interesting since I am still trying to get over this cold. Reps felt clean and fast from what I could see in the videos I took of my top sets.

Mobility
DeFranco Agile 8 for upper body
Clapping pushups

Main Giant Set:

Barbell Row
135x5
205x5
215x5
240x10
270x1
300x1
205x20

Bench Press
135x5
185x5
215x5
245x8
270x1
300x1
185x16

Side Bends w/ Kettlebell
5x10@70

Supplemental Giant Set

Log Strict Press
120x10
140x8
160x5
140x8
120x10

Pullups
5x10

Bicep curls
5x8@75lbs

Assistance Giant Set

Triceps Pushdowns
3x12

Band Pull Aparts
3x15

Reverse Hypers
3x10

Conditioning
10 total runs of 40 yards with 90lbs on the sled. 2 runs before 30 seconds of rest.

As I said before, reps felt really clean and fast. This is my first week I am trying to shed some fat before my comp in July. Eating at around 2850 calories for a 200 calorie deficit so my training isn’t impacted. Woke up at 209lbs this morning which is around 20lbs heavier than I was at the beginning of the year. Want to get down to 200lbs before the comp to keep my speed for Yoke and the Medley.

Body is feeling good, it was pretty beat up by the end of the cycle last week and I thought I was going to take a deload. Though, the volume and low intensity right now for this week is allowing me to recover a bit. Going to push hard for some PRs next week and the week after as after that will be the last few weeks of my prep and I won’t be pushing my AMRAP sets too hard then.

Thanks for reading!

1 Like
3

In for this log man, as a fan of 5/3/1 and a strongman competitor. Good luck with training. What are the events for your comp?

4

@theonecamko The events are max Axle overhead, 475lb axle deadlift for reps from ground, 675lb yoke 50’ down and back, 250lb keg->250lb sandbag->sled drag medley at 60’, 300lb stone over bar king of the hill style.

5/3/1 training works very well with training both max weight and max reps using FSL AMRAP so a lot of the training is built in to my program. Other events are either trained as conditioning or on Saturday for heavier weights. For stones, my gym only has a 240lb stone and a 330lb stone so I have been setting a stopwatch timer and ever 10 seconds I load the 240lb stone over the bar until I can’t anymore.

Didn’t train this weekend, one of my best friends got married and I was a groomsman so I was out of town. 3s week starts tomorrow with some Overhead Press work.

1 Like
5

Start of 3s week. Feeling good after taking the whole weekend off so I went a little deep and hit an all time PR today. My training max felt very fast so I wanted to move to a heavier weight. It was a push but it felt really clean. I am enjoying sticking to barbell movements for my main work, I feel like I can get more clean reps since strongman implements are so wonky.

Got in a little late this morning to the gym so I did not have time for explosion work. I will do some on my off day Wednesday.

Overhead Press Day, everything in lbs.

Main Movement Giant Set

Chins
BWx5
BWx5
230x3
275x6
295x1
BWx14

Overhead Press
Barx10
135x3
145x3
165x7
185x1
205x1 (All time pr!)
135x14

Ab rollouts
5x6

Supplemental Giant Set

Axle Clean and Press
155x5
175x5
195x5
175x5
155x5

Axle Rows
155x10
175x8
195x5
175x8
155x10

Ab Rollouts
5x6

Assistance Giant Set

Incline Bench
135x15
145x12
165x10

Band pull aparts
3x20

Bicep Curls
3x8@95

Lateral Raises
3x12@20

Conditioning
8 total walks of 40 yards of the prowler, first two walks @ 90lbs last 6 walks @180lbs

Everything felt really good today and I did not feel fatigued until the pump work at the end. Very happy with my PR and I am hoping to push to 225 by the end of the year.

Not really bulking or cutting atm just eating and seeing where it takes me. I have to be under 230 in July so I am not too concerned with body weight as long as I can still see my abs after my morning bowel movement.

I will probably try to lose some weight after July so I can compete at 198 in November for a powerlifting comp.

Body weight this morning: 210.2

1 Like
6

I don’t know if it is the sickness or just that I really need to reset my weights on deadlift but today did not go too well. Hit all the prescribed reps but no PRs. Considering this is the fifth cycle before I reset back, I am not too beat up about it. Can’t wait to see how my PRs look after the reset.

3s week continued, Deadlift day, Everything in lbs.

Mobility
DeFranco’s Agile 8 for lower body
Box Jumps 3x3

Main Movement Super Set

Hang Cleans
5x5@155

Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
365x3
420x3
475x3
365x7

Supplemental Super Set

Front Squat
135x5
225x5
255x4
285x3
255x4
225x5

Side Bends
5x8

Assistance Giant Set

Glute Ham Raise
3x8

DB Raises
3x10@80

Dips
3x15 w/ 20lb chains

Conditioning

3 runs total, 180lb keg 50 ft, run back, 200lb sandbag 50 ft, sled drag back.

After the sad deadlifts and almost being crushed by front squats, I decided to go harder on the conditioning and the assistance work to make up for it. Added some weight to the dips and did an extra run with the medley. I am hoping this double cold bullshit I have experienced this month will eventually end so I can get back to some harder training.

7

Continuation of 3s week. Took yesterday completely off and I felt really great today.

Changing a part of my training. Due to one single forum post I read from Jim I am combining two of my lifting days into one. Instead of:

Upper/Lower/Off/Upper/Lower/Events/Off

I am going to be doing:

Upper/Lower/Conditioning/Full Body/Conditioning/Events/Off

This way I am limiting myself to 4 actual days of lifting and then still getting my conditioning in but also having the extra rest in between weights and events.

I will see how it goes the rest of the training cycle and beyond, but today felt pretty great.

Bench and Squat days combined as they are not my main focus due to strongman being OHP and Deadlift focused. I think benching will affect my squat due to the fatigue in the shoulders but that is just a theory and it didn’t pan out today so who knows.

Everything in lbs.

Mobility
DeFranco Agile 8 for both upper and lower body
3x3 Box Jumps Supersetted with 3x3 med ball throws

Main Movement Giant Set #1

First 3 sets:
Power Clean
155x3
175x3
195x3

Bench Press
Barx10
135x5
185x5

Ab Rollout
3x5

Last Sets:
Rows
205x3
230x3
255x6
285x1
205x12

Bench Press
195x3
230x3
255x6
285x1
195x12

Ab Rollouts
4x5

Main Movement Giant Set #2

Back Squat
Barx5 (Paused)
135x5 (Paused)
225x5 (Paused)
245x3
285x3
325x6
355x1
245x12

Band Pull Aparts
7x15

Hanging Leg Raises
7x5

Supplemental Giant Set

Log Clean and Strict Press
125x5
145x5
165x5
145x5
125x5

SSB Good Morning
165x5
185x5
205x5
185x5
165x5

Pullups
5x8@BW

Conditioning

Prowlers - 2 walks @ 90lbs, 6 walks @ 180lbs. 40 yards, 2 walks before rest 30 seconds.

Superset

Dips
4x10

Everything felt very clean and fast, Still getting the hang of low bar again as I haven’t done it in a year at this point. Walk out feels like shit but the actual squat feels fine.
I like doing the full body day though I kind of run out of time. I was extra sweaty from all the giant sets. I really like full body training for this reason and I get to do it once a week with this so I am pretty happy. Assistance takes a hit but I don’t really care.

8

Quick conditioning session today before my trip out to the River.

Mobility

3x3 Box Jumps
Superset
3x3 Med ball throws

Conditioning

180lb keg run 50ft to sled, run back, 200lb sandbag run 50ft to sled, drag sled back the 50 ft.
3 runs today.

Felt really good, did not get too winded. Next week I am going up to comp weight (or as close as I can) with 250lbs each implement and a longer drag back, probably 65ft.

1 Like
9

Strongman Event training today. 2 hours of a painful back and lots of sweating. Focused mostly on keeping moving and trying to tire myself out.

Everything in lbs.

First Event

Yoke Training 60 ft down 60ft back with a drop, rest times about a minute, here are my working set weights:
445
510
570

Second Event

Farmer Carries 60 ft forwards 60ft back with a drop, 45-ish seconds of rest. Here are the working sets
200 each hand
220 each hand
250 each hand

Third Event

Axle Clean and Press
115x1
165x1
185x1
205x1
3x1@225

Was going to do stones but the crew that was there were in that area so I just called it a day. I’ll do it for my assistance work on my squats tomorrow.

1 Like
10

First day of my 1s week, was going to shoot for some 1rms but I decided against it as I am pretty beat up. Feeling the need to reset the weights back 3 cycles and will be doing so after this week. I will be about 5 weeks out from my next comp so it is a good time to get some recovery in and push some reps.

Decided to go back to full body. I don’t feel as physically beat up but it does take a little more mental desire to succeed this way. I like it and I think I will be going back to this for the foreseeable future.

Everything in lbs

Mobility
DeFranco’s Agile 8 for upper and lower body

First Main Movement Giant Set

Power Cleans
5x3@175

Overhead Press
Barx10
135x5
155x3
175x5-ish
135x9

Ab Rollouts
5x5

Second Main Movement Giant Set

Back Squat
Barx5
135x5
225x5
265x5
300x3
335x3

Band Pull Aparts
5x20

Side Bends
5x8

Supplemental Giant Set

Incline Bench
175x5
205x5
225x3
205x5
175x7

SSB Good Morning
175x5
195x5
215x3
195x5
175x7

Pull Ups
5x8-10

Conditioning

Set 10 minutes on the clock with a goal of at least 5 rounds of:

Atlas stone (250-ish) over bar
10 body weight dips
Atlas stone over bar

Everything felt really heavy today. I was pretty tired and my back was pretty beat up from events yesterday. Going to see how deadlifts go on Wednesday.

11

Conditioning day today. Just easy work, getting my heart rate up.

Prowlers 40 yards each set. 2 sets @90lbs and then 6 sets @180lbs.
Did 1 run, took 12 breathes and then did another run. After that I would rest for about a minute.

Got a nice leg pump from this and am excited to deadlift tomorrow.

12

1s week continued. Feeling super beat up at this point. Everything went pretty smoothly all things considered.

One more day left and then resetting all of my weights back 3 cycles. Excited to really push PRs rather than get crushed by heavy weights for a few months.

Mobility

Defanco Agile 8 Upper and Lower Body

Upper Body Main Movement Giant Set 1

Hang Cleans 165lbs
3x5
/
Pullups
5x8-10

Axle Push Press
Barx10
115x5
135x5
165x5
185x3
205x4
220x1
165x9

Hanging Leg Raises
7x5

Lower Body Main Movement Giant Set 2

Kettlebell Swings
8x5

Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
395x3
445x3
495x3
525x1
395x8

Side Bends
8x8

Supplemental Movments Giant Set

Close Grip Bench Press 195lbs
3x10

Belt Squats 4 Plates
3x10

Band Pull Aparts
3x20

Assistance

Kroc Rows 95lbs
1x10 Unstrapped
1x20 Strapped

Conditioning

3 Runs, 180lb Keg 50ft, run back, 200lb sandback 50ft, 180lb Keg 50ft, run back, 200lbs sandback 50ft

Dips
3x15

Gotta get through this week

13

So many PRs today I am super happy about it. I PR’ed my bench and my front squat today. My front squat went up about 35lbs from what I thought my max was before. Felt pretty good but I definitely can see where my sticking point is now. Going to use my supplemental movements to get better at this point.

1s week, everything in lbs, body weight @ 207 this morning.

Mobility

Defranco Agile 8 for upper and lower body

Main Movement Giant Set

Bent over rows
Barx15
135x5
185x5
215x5
245x3
275x4
245x7
215x10

Bench Press
135x5
185x5
215x5
245x3
275x4
325x1 (Lifetime PR here)
245x7
215x10

Ab Rollouts
5x5

Main Movement Super Set

Power Clean
145x5
165x3
185x1
/
Band Pull Aparts
3x20

Front Squat
135x5
185x5
235x5
265x3
395x3
325x1 PR
350x1 Super PR
265x4
235x6

Supplemental Giant Set

Log Clean Once and Press
120x10

Sumo Deadlift
225x8

Pullups
BWx8-10

Conditioning

5 walks for 40 yards with the sled loaded with 90lbs. Ran out of time and had to call it a day.

Today was a great day, my front squat is higher than I thought it was and I didn’t kill myself on bench. Ran out of time though and probably should have focused on supplemental work a little more but, eh whatever.

All weights have been set back 3 cycles so I can work reps and conditioning the in the last weeks before my comp.

14

Event Training today. Last day of my 1s week and officially my last day until I reset my weights. Today went amazingly, I PR’d both my Yoke run and my Farmer Carries. Feeling pretty confident about the comp next month. I went pretty crazy today and decided to just superset clean and press with both of my moving events. I really like doing this, wasn’t too tired for my carries and got to practice the clean a lot.

Everything in lbs. Woke up at 208 this morning.

Mobility

Skipped as I was feeling pretty loose from the cbd balm I put on my sore spots last night.

First Event:
Yoke Runs 50ft down, drop/turn, 50ft back superset with axle clean and press singles.

Yoke
200
290
380
470
560
630 All time PR

Clean and Press
115x1
135x1
155x1
185x1
205x1
225x1
245x0 Failed rep

Second Event:
Farmers Carries 50ft down 50ft back, superset with axle clean and press each rep

Farmers (each hand)
205
225
275 only 50ft, All time PR
275 had to take them back

Axle Clean and Press each rep
185x3
185x3
185x3
185x3

Third Event:
Stones over bar

260lb stone, set a clock, load the stone, reset and wait 10 seconds, load again. This is mimicking the king of the hill stone event I have next month. Was able to get 12 before I was too gassed to continue. Feeling pretty good about that as well.

Happy to be done with this training cycle. Next cycle I am really going to work on reps and improving my conditioning come next month. Doing a pyramid style of 5/3/1 where you do your 85,90,95 AMRAP then drop down and do SSL then FSL AMRAPs.

Main Lifts will be the same: Squat, OHP, Bench, Deadlift, Front Squat, Push Press. OHP will be with a log, Push Press with an Axle, and Deadlift will be with an axle.

Supplemental work will be things that I found from my videos of my 1rms that I need to work on. Specifically: I am slow out of the whole in my squat and front squat so a lot of pause squats will be happening. My deadlift is weak at lockout like always so probably deficits, OHP is weak at the top of the lift and it is due to my mobility. I will be doing more pin presses and behind the neck pressing to help with this.

Events will be strictly what is found in the comp so the keg->sandbag->drag medley, yoke carries and Stones.

2 Likes
15

Good work!

16

@duketheslaya Thanks! Appreciate the comment

17

Awesoem effort mate, congrats on the PR!

18

@I_Luc Thanks bro! appreciate it

1 Like
19

Start of my new 3 month cycle. 5s week, deload week due to my weights all being reset 3 cycles back. Felt pretty shitty up until about the end then I felt okay. Pressing was harder than usual and the squats felt like death. Kept it up and finished strong though.

Mobility

Defranco Agile 8 upper and lower body

Explosive Giant Set

Power Cleans 155lbs
3x5

Box Jumps
3x3

Med Ball Throws 3x3

Main Movement Giant Set #1

Chin ups
BWx5
BWx5
BWx5
233x9
BWx11
BWx12

Log Clean and Strict Press Away
100x5
115x5
130x5
145x9
130x10
115x12

Ab Rollouts
6x5

Main Movement Giant Set #2

SSB Squats
155x5
215x5
255x5
285x8
255x10
215x12

Kettlebell Swings
6x10

Side Bends
6x8

Supplemental Giant Set

Incline Bench
135x10
165x10
185x8

SSB Good Mornings
155x10
155x10
175x8

Band Pull Aparts
3x20

Conditioning

5 rounds total, resting just long enough to catch my breath:

650-700lb tire flip twice → 150lb sandbag 40 yard run → 15 dips

Overall everything went well even though I was pretty tired in the beginning. Was sweating like crazy so I think I did pretty well. Excited to see where this next 3 months takes me as far as PRs are concerned.

20

Conditioning day today. Legs are sore from the added leg volume after the weight reset. This killed a little bit of the DOMs but still kickin’.

Conditioning

Sprints with a sled attached to my back, 40 yards
Prowlers with weight, 40 yards
Rest 30-60 seconds
Went until I ran out of time and had to leave

Sprints
70lbs
70lbs
80lbs
90lbs
80lbs
70lbs

Prowlers
90lbs
135lbs
180lbs
225lbs
180lbs
135lbs