Here’s the video of some of today’s work. My 315 front squat made it in there at 1:45. My depth was good, and tightness was good, but I guess I got off balance somehow, because I had to take that step back at the top. Oh well. It counts. Good lift, and PR.
[quote]wiggles wrote:
Here’s the video of some of today’s work. My 315 front squat made it in there at 1:45. My depth was good, and tightness was good, but I guess I got off balance somehow, because I had to take that step back at the top. Oh well. It counts. Good lift, and PR.
Wiggles this looks like one of the best training facility’s I’ve ever seen. Only in Ten. Great work, keep it up!
Yeah, the gym is a bit of a goldmine in the middle of the city. Never would have guessed one would be here.
Accessory Day
9/12/11
Warmup
Front Squat
Bar x lots
135x5
185x4x3
225x1 <— just to take a little heavier weight and make it explode, more tomorrow…
Sandbag Carries
250# x2x80’ (40’ with turns, like comp)
Need to work on breathing with this.
Seated Rows
150x4x10
DB Curls +Fat Gripz
45’s x2x5 (out of time)
Band Good Mornings
Blue Band x lots
Ski Erg
Till I was too pumped in the lats and tris and couldn’t breathe well anymore (timer was broken)
DONE.
Great accessory workout today. Got what I needed in. Form looked good on the Front Squats, and the 225 was super easy (and beltless)… Going to work into some higher percentages tomorrow on the Front Squat again, try and work the stones a bit, and then hit some speed pressin’, hopefully with the log to practice the form some more.
Time to hang with the lady!
PEACE.
9/13/11
Quickness, etc
Warmed up good and long b/c I was feeling off today, then
Reverse Hypers
3x8
Front Squat
Bar x lots
135x5
185x3
225x2x3
245x3x2 (all for SPEEEEED)
Log Press
Log x few
131x5x3 <— nailed the form finally, it fucking flew up when I got the groove right. Nice.
Atlas Stones to 52" platform
200x2x1
250x4x1 ← fuck yes! this is comp weight stone!
DONE.
Got everything done I wanted to get done today. Would have liked to hit some tricep assistance stuff. But I was plain spent after the stone loading. Getting my body used to a lift/form takes a lot out of me the first time I do it. Gets more efficient over time though, so I’m looking forward to the comp! Rest day tomorrow, and I’ll probably bike some in the morning with the lady for some active recovery. Otherwise, just going to be chillin’ till class, and then I’ve got the next heavy session Thursday. Going to be a good one!
PEACE.
250x4x1…Good god. Sorry havn’t sifted through everything. You’re obvs training strongman? I know a guy who used to and I have to say the training is absolutely horrendous. Nothing but heard ass work and heavy ass weights. Awesome log. If you get a chance I;m sure we’d all love to see some more vids. Also I feel like strongman training is something relatively few people know about. If you could elaborate a little bit on how it works that’d be cool. As in, what does a typical week look like for you. Exercises, sets, reps, volume etc. Anyways. keep it up, cheers!
[quote]EF5127 wrote:
250x4x1…Good god. Sorry havn’t sifted through everything. You’re obvs training strongman? I know a guy who used to and I have to say the training is absolutely horrendous. Nothing but heard ass work and heavy ass weights. Awesome log. If you get a chance I;m sure we’d all love to see some more vids. Also I feel like strongman training is something relatively few people know about. If you could elaborate a little bit on how it works that’d be cool. As in, what does a typical week look like for you. Exercises, sets, reps, volume etc. Anyways. keep it up, cheers![/quote]
I’ll absolutely try and get more videos. Didn’t have very many people around yesterday and so I couldn’t get anyone to hold my phone… Will have to try and bring the camera for future vids. As far as strongman training is concerned, mine is still a bit unconventional. I haven’t quite figured out how exactly to train for it yet, so my training setup is still fairly nebulous. I posted my basic setup for this past cycle (month) about halfway down the previous page in this log.
Most of my main work sets are done fairly low reps for a multitude of reasons. As far as strength and growth are concerned, I seem to do far better with a lower rep range on almost all lifts except for back work. Anything I do to train my back is done in the 8-12 rep range for the most part. Assistance work changes based on what I feel is weak, or what my training partners tell me needs work. That’s one of the nice things about having folks critique every lift: you have no room for error. As soon as something looks weak or slow, I have someone cuing me or providing me with an exercise to work on.
I tend to hit the Reverse Hyper and GHR a lot now, since I have access finally and since I feel like both of those exercises carry over a lot for my posterior chain strength. Since the implements in strongman work so many muscles overall, I don’t seem to have to mess with much in the way of assistance work now. I haven’t flat benched in almost 2 months now, and my shoulders are feeling better then they ever have.
Hope that provides a little more insight into what I do, and how I arrived at it. I tweak things a lot. When stuff quits working, I replace it. Simple as that.
As for today’s work:
9/14/11
Active Recovery
90 mins Bike ride (road)
Rode with the lady and had an excellent time this morning. Through some discussion, I’m considering rebuilding an older bike I have back into a mountain bike. Keep things interesting.
PEACE.
First off Biking *ucking rules. It’s fun and gives you something new and fresh to focus on. It’s also a great mental test and is awesome because of the fact that it’s hard ass, rewarding work. I suggest you look into Lance Armstrongs “It’s Not About The Bike” pretty wicked stuff. I’ve legit heard people say the “Tour De France” is lame.
At which point fire comes out of my eyes and I just say “Ok…riding your bike from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed, all day, everyday, for a month, through the mountains, in the middle of summer as hard as you possibly fucking can at insane speeds isn’t admirable and does not impress you at all?” I then go on to say that in the future the “Tour De France” will most likely be handed out as a jail sentence.
Secondly, the man that I know who trained Strongman swears by reverse hypers. When I used to O-Lift I always loved an exercise referred to as the “Gunther Row” if you have inversion boots, you hang upside down and row vertically, but it turns horizontal as you get aggressive with it. It’s basically a reverse hyper. but you’ve eliminated the isolation or fixed position (support of your torso) Great exercise for the posterior chain. Really develops it from top to bottom. Helped me a ton with my sprints. vertical jump and ultimately my Snatch and Clean and Jerk.
Anyways, keep it up. Cheers.
[quote]EF5127 wrote:
First off Biking *ucking rules. It’s fun and gives you something new and fresh to focus on. It’s also a great mental test and is awesome because of the fact that it’s hard ass, rewarding work. I suggest you look into Lance Armstrongs “It’s Not About The Bike” pretty wicked stuff. I’ve legit heard people say the “Tour De France” is lame.
At which point fire comes out of my eyes and I just say “Ok…riding your bike from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed, all day, everyday, for a month, through the mountains, in the middle of summer as hard as you possibly fucking can at insane speeds isn’t admirable and does not impress you at all?” I then go on to say that in the future the “Tour De France” will most likely be handed out as a jail sentence.
Secondly, the man that I know who trained Strongman swears by reverse hypers. When I used to O-Lift I always loved an exercise referred to as the “Gunther Row” if you have inversion boots, you hang upside down and row vertically, but it turns horizontal as you get aggressive with it. It’s basically a reverse hyper. but you’ve eliminated the isolation or fixed position (support of your torso) Great exercise for the posterior chain. Really develops it from top to bottom. Helped me a ton with my sprints. vertical jump and ultimately my Snatch and Clean and Jerk.
Anyways, keep it up. Cheers.[/quote]
Good to know. I definitely plan to keep them in the rotation. My core is feeling strong as shit in my main lifts now.
Good session today. Here’s the work:
9/15/11
Heaviness Type Stuff
Warmup
GHR
some x some
Snatch Grip DL
135x5
225x3
275x3x2 ← working on powerful hip “pop”
Push Press
95x5
135x3
185x3
205x3
225x1 <— FUCK YES PR!!!
Box Squat, Texas Power Bar, +120 chains
Bar x5
135x3
185x2
225x2
245x2
275x2 <— pretty easy. stopped here since we got a seriously heavy session Saturday.
Pullups
35 reps
Ski Erg for Conditioning
500 m in 1:54.4
90 sec rest
500 m in 1:54.9
Lay on floor and die.
Not seriously, but this was excellent conditioning. Got a wicked pump in my tri’s and lats too, which can’t ever be bad haha.
DONE.
Working tomorrow, so it’ll be a rest day, then big day Saturday. Till then folks.
PEACE.
[quote]wiggles wrote:
[quote]EF5127 wrote:
First off Biking *ucking rules. It’s fun and gives you something new and fresh to focus on. It’s also a great mental test and is awesome because of the fact that it’s hard ass, rewarding work. I suggest you look into Lance Armstrongs “It’s Not About The Bike” pretty wicked stuff. I’ve legit heard people say the “Tour De France” is lame.
At which point fire comes out of my eyes and I just say “Ok…riding your bike from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed, all day, everyday, for a month, through the mountains, in the middle of summer as hard as you possibly fucking can at insane speeds isn’t admirable and does not impress you at all?” I then go on to say that in the future the “Tour De France” will most likely be handed out as a jail sentence.
Secondly, the man that I know who trained Strongman swears by reverse hypers. When I used to O-Lift I always loved an exercise referred to as the “Gunther Row” if you have inversion boots, you hang upside down and row vertically, but it turns horizontal as you get aggressive with it. It’s basically a reverse hyper. but you’ve eliminated the isolation or fixed position (support of your torso) Great exercise for the posterior chain. Really develops it from top to bottom. Helped me a ton with my sprints. vertical jump and ultimately my Snatch and Clean and Jerk.
Anyways, keep it up. Cheers.[/quote]
Good to know. I definitely plan to keep them in the rotation. My core is feeling strong as shit in my main lifts now.
Good session today. Here’s the work:
9/15/11
Heaviness Type Stuff
Warmup
GHR
some x some
Snatch Grip DL
135x5
225x3
275x3x2 ← working on powerful hip “pop”
Push Press
95x5
135x3
185x3
205x3
225x1 <— FUCK YES PR!!!
Box Squat, Texas Power Bar, +120 chains
Bar x5
135x3
185x2
225x2
245x2
275x2 <— pretty easy. stopped here since we got a seriously heavy session Saturday.
Pullups
35 reps
Ski Erg for Conditioning
500 m in 1:54.4
90 sec rest
500 m in 1:54.9
Lay on floor and die.
Not seriously, but this was excellent conditioning. Got a wicked pump in my tri’s and lats too, which can’t ever be bad haha.
DONE.
Working tomorrow, so it’ll be a rest day, then big day Saturday. Till then folks.
PEACE.
[/quote]
Snatch grip deadlift - Hip Pop…Have you ever experimented with frog stance? might want to give it a shot, I find it helps you learn to pop with your legs. Also do you use hook grip? Not that you have to, but it helps you push with your legs a lot more if you can just use your arms as ropes to simply hold onto the bar.
Lat pumps…<3
9/17/11
Last Big Heavy Day before Comp
Warmup, then
Log Press
Log x2x5
131x3
151x1
171x1
201x1 ← PR! super smooth too
Sandbag Carry
250# x2x80’ (40’ with a turn)
Sandbag Pick from the Ground
250x3x1
SSB Squat
Bar x 5
155x3
205x1
265x1
305x1 ← Have to check if PR… Felt great though. Vids in next post.
355x2xFAIL ← felt froggy, GTO’s thought otherwise. Shut down off the box both times.
GHR
3x8
DB Supportless Press
40x8
50x8
60x5
Lawnmower Rows
80x8 <–hot crossfit chicks entered gym. shirt off.
100x8
120x8
Yoke Push Sprints
200x6x80’
DONE.
Spent after all this. The squats sucked alot out of me. Everything felt pretty good pressing, except for a little right shoulder twinge. That’s good though for another bitchin’ block. Looking forward to this deload week leading up to the comp. Probably going to walk every morning to try and help burn off these last 7-8 lbs so I can make weight. Nothing too crazy, but yeah. Gotta get my game face on. I’ve put the work in, now it’s time to go out and have fun.
PEACE.
Here’s the 305x1.
And here’s the major fail at 355.
Food Porn from today. London Broil is a super cheap cut of meat right now… and when done right, tastes amazin. Longest part was waiting on it to come to room temp before cooking (that’s what the recipe said to do)…
9/18/11
Recovery
35 min walk through hilly neighborhood.
Foam Roll.
Stretch everything.
DONE.
I’m trying to start up that walking protocol outlined a few articles back on here. My work capacity improves nicely when I have regular conditioning in my programming, and the walking is a great way to add on to that, and give me some peace of mind on off days (and help keep my blood pressure down).
In addition to all that, I seem to recover faster from this heavier strongman work when I have conditioning/walking in the programming. Therefore, it stays.
Will walk again on Tuesday morn probably, and then have a deload workout that evening.
Till then.
PEACE.
[quote]wiggles wrote:
Food Porn from today. London Broil is a super cheap cut of meat right now… and when done right, tastes amazin. Longest part was waiting on it to come to room temp before cooking (that’s what the recipe said to do)…
[/quote]
Holy Balls this looks delicious…
9/20/11
Quick Pressin’ and Squattin’
Had to study, got a nice quick session today. Everything had pop. Coming together nicely.
Log Press
Log x3xlots
135x2x3
155x3x3
Towel Grip Pulldowns
100x8
120x2x8
Curls
2x8
Box Jumps
Few
Cambered Bar Box Squat against Orange Bands
Bar x5
135x2
185x1
225x1
245x1 ← super explosive
Ski Erg
2 minutes hard
DONE.
Just getting the blood moving today. One last tune-up session Thursday and it’s game time. Weighed in at 204 lbs even today. Right on target.
PEACE.
9/22/11
Last Session before Shit Gets Real
Just some easy moving today. Not even sure what reps or weights I did. Some pulldowns, db press, curls, box jumps, and med ball slams. Feeling peppy and quick. All the work is done, so now its time to relax, get some sleep, and work on cutting these last few pounds before weigh-ins tomorrow evening. Then it’s time to go to work getting my bloat on. I’ll be sure and try to chronicle the day as best I can tomorrow and then contest day as well. This being my first strongman competition, I’m interested to see just how much prep differs from a cross country meet or an ultramarathon.
Looking forward to the challenge.
PEACE.
9/23/11
And so it begins.
Woke up this morning of my own accord, well before my alarm went off, which is great because it means I more or less caught up on sleep. And I’ve found that two nights before an event is far more important sleep wise than just the night before. For me at least.
At any rate, weighed in at 202 this morning. And I feel good. Going to hit one last glass of water to get everything flushing again, then its cruising time. Going to take a few hot showers, wear sweats all day, that kind of thing just to accelerate it a bit. A teammate of mine emailed me yesterday and told me to make sure I spend some, umm, “quality time” with the lady today to help relax and get everything fired on all cylinders for tomorrow. I found this hilarious, told her, and she laughed and said she’d do whatever she could to help, and with pleasure.
And people wonder why we get along so well. HA!
As far as aches and pains go, mid back is super stiff, which is to be expected. I had someone adjust an anterior innominate in my pelvis yesterday to get everything lined back up, and it always is sore the next day. But, it will make sure everything moves in synergy tomorrow, so it’s worth one day of tightness.
I’m off to foam roll and stretch for the first of 3 times today. Will report back around lunch with how I’m feeling, weighing, etc.
Till then, y’all.
PEACE.
9/23/11 Noon Update
Fluids so far:
24 oz water + 10-12 oz coffee in AM
12 oz milk in protein shake
Working on a Diet Dr Pepper currently
Weight: 199 lbs.
Right on target so far. Been wearing sweats so far this morning, and took a hot shower. Little brain fog from the lack of carbs, but otherwise I’m feeling pretty good, all things considered. I’m trying not to overdo it so I don’t end up so dehydrated that I start cramping like a mf’er, as I’m prone to doing (from experience)…
I’m thirsty as hell, but drinking the caffiene helps some with the thirst side of it, while still allowing me to expel more water.
I’m already looking forward to the epic bloat tonight though. I’m now thinking beef fried rice, perhaps some spring rolls, protein shake, lots of powerade zero, and any other carbs I can think of while I’m in the store post-weigh in.
I’ll post back tonight after I weigh-in and let everyone know the results.
PEACE.
"A teammate of mine emailed me yesterday and told me to make sure I spend some, umm, “quality time” with the lady today to help relax and get everything fired on all cylinders for tomorrow. I found this hilarious, told her, and she laughed and said she’d do whatever she could to help, and with pleasure. "
Good call by a good teammate, also…“with pleasure”…nice.
Hopefully your back’s good to go and there’s 0 cramping.
9/23/11 Update 2
Weighed in at 196.9. Well under, but my bathroom scale had me at 198-199 so I’m glad I was under a bit more. They seemed pretty tight on weights but whatever, I made it. After dinner and some bloatathon fun, I’m already up to 205ish again. I should be able to be back up to 208 or so by morning. I’m still starving, so I’m just going to keep eating until it shuts me down.
Now its time to just relax, watch movies and keep pounding fluids. We’ll see what happens by morning. Got plenty of carb rich food to destroy tonight and in the AM. Good times.
I’ll report back tomorrow with contest results.
PEACE.
