Tabata burpees
I genuinely thought about this but honestly I’m still not 100% at the races.
2000kg work out tomorrow AM
Dead lifts tomorrow PM
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So workout 1 done.
2000kg of volume push press and front squat.
Work out 2 will follow the in about 1h
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Probably, I had it boxing day and probably only this week I feel like it’s returned back to normalish. Of course by this time by level of conditioning has diminished also
Yeah it felt different to normal fitness burn. Like my lungs were being stripped with fire.
So work out 2 was a disaster. Nothing went right. So I closed it down real quickly.
190kg for 3x2. Was aiming for min 7. Fucking 2 is shocking. However I will say this - it was not “strength” but set up. I could not get it right tonight. My grip was bad (straps on the axle) my belt was all over the place and I could not get that to sit right. And as for my hand placement. On the first 3 warm up sets I tried to go one hand sumo and one hand normal. Which is odd. As I have NEVER dead lifted sumo. Ever. And I was using an Axle. Not a barbell.
I’ve come in doors to do glute bridge and planks.
So after the Deadlift disaster last night today is 50 tire flips for time. Tomorrow will be retrying the deadlift.
The tire is full of water (I stored it with the weep holes facing up not down. Silly me). So its draining.
I think I shall give the bar bell a miss today still and do the sand bag dead lifts and press up combo again. But rather than 1-10-1 I shall do it:
1-4 (warm up of sorts) then 9 sets of 10.
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Best laid plans - wife got home I got bored so 6h after work out 1 I not only tried the dead lift again (not good. Did 1, had 3 maybe. No warm up no belt lol) but I also did 5x yoke carry 15m return. Lighter today at 140kg but EMOM. 5 bouts.
Glad I did my yoke stuff. Feels good to be active.
The dead lifts are bugging me though. Maybe it’s the fact I’m in axle and my old Tm is still on DL bar (maybe? I know it is but I hate making excuses).
Time to rest the Tm and axle all my lifts. Even at the gym.
Very glad I did my 140kg yokes. I slept like a log last night. Which as I’m not at work (covid) has been a rare thing.
Today I feel beaten up. Achy all over but in the sort of “I did something yesterday” way. It is good.
Today we will see how much drained from the tire and do flips if we can. If not a 2000kg work out. 50kg x 40 reps.
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So the tire was still full - the weepholes must be blocked. And a 2000kg work out did not seem fun enough. So I loaded 60kg on to the bar and did this:
10 squats,
10 press ups
As many sets in 5 mins as possible. I got to 6 sets. Seemed hard enough.
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So some soul searching over the last few weeks. And I think I’m gonna come right out and say it. I’m ditching the “strong man” stuff. This comes to light after I was on the brink of ordering PEDs. After almost doing something that silly I wanted to know why I’d gotten to a point where it was that important to me, I’d risk my health.
I have also been reading some books (not about weights). And I’ve come to a realisation that I do not “want” to be a strong man. I want to win strong man shows. Which sound a lot like I want to be a strong man. But in fact it is not. The question is why do I want to win the shows?
Well I want the respect and reverence that comes with wining a show.
Again “why”? And then “why” and eventually I got to two statements I can not drill any further into:
“I want to be impressive enough that people notice it and tell me about it”.
“I want my kids to proud of me”
Finishing 2nd is cool. But all people hear about is first. Which is why I was willing to risk my health. Well it’s time to be impressive in other ways.
There you are. I’m now a vanity project. It’s taken a lot to come to this realisation. But the truth is I’ve been in a state of “limbo” for a while. I’m 115kg. I do not want to get fatter. But because I wanted to get stronger I refused to slim down. As every time I go hungry I worried about losing strength. So I’ve been 115kg for 24 months. It is bad for my health. I know this. I’m in good shape (great heart rate and BP). But that will not last until I’m 50.
So the out look is not so dramatically different. I still want to be strong. But one of the things I’ve realised is no one I know out side of the gym knows the difference between a 200kg squat and 300kg squat. Genuinely after telling some guys I played rugby with I can squat 200kg one asked if that was the “even possible for human”. All they hear is “I finished X place in the latest strong man show”. Time to remove that as the primary barometer of success.
So I can lose fat now and not worry too much if my lifts drops a few kg. As I drop weight I will look more impressive. There is now a balance to my training out come that I need to achieve. A balance that at the movement I do not have (more on this below).
So that being aid I’m going to work on “feats of athleticism and strength” and (oh God - please help me) - aesthetics.
So the new goals or each me of the 3 areas. Strength, athleticism and aesthetics.
Feats of strength - this is different to being “strong”. A feat of strength is a big whole number thing. For instance a 200kg dead lift is a feat of strength, as is 250kg maybe 225kg. 210kg is not. Maybe 220kg as a 5 plate dead lift. But you get the feel. This is no longer about actual strength. But how people perceive my strength and other athletic abilities.
My goals of a 200kg front squat is a feat of strength and will stay. As will my dead lift and log goals. But at the moment these will only be a part of the equation. 180kg and 200kg squats for 20 reps are both there to stay. These are the gold and platium standard in feats of strength.
Other feats will be added. Most will be strong man based. Like X-kg farmers walk. Or Y-kg atlas stone.
Athletic / fitness and conditioning feats will be though of. But again these are bench mark achievements. In running people ask can you do a 4h marathon. No one asks if you can do a 3h50 marathon. A 1000m row looks like a good place to start. A good time appears to be 3:30. Sub 3:00 is world championship time. 4:00 is average gym rat. More to develop this.
Aesthetics - I have good muscle mass. I’m not a small guy. I have bad fat mass. Dropping to sub 100kg with no drop in strength should be my first goal in this section. After that I can target what I need to get better.
The key to getting what you want is know what you want, knowing what’s in the way and knowing how to remove it. I feel that I now know much more what I want. What is in the way most right now is 15kg of belly fat. This will automatically increase my aesthetics.
So focus number 1: lose weight.
Number 2: get fitter and more conditioned
Number 3: no drop in strength.
I’ll carry on with the training as is for now. I see no reason to stop. I can still do 531 and hit these goals. Indeed it might be the best option. But if I can’t hit my minimum of 5 on +1 weeks that’s fine. I’ll take it on the chin.
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Recording this as I work out.
Log - 5 pros
85kg. Felt hard. I was very unstable. Feeling weak in the glutes. I think last nights squats are having an effect. I will have to work my brace for next weeks 95kg.
Incline bench 350 method - last time was 70kg. And completed. Today is 80kg. Gonna try and hit 15 on set 1. Then what ever after that.
Results;
17,8,4. About what I expected. 29. Lots of work to do here 
1 arm row
55x12. 2 upfront last time.
Flies front and back.
Tate press and hammer curls.
15 for curls 17.5 for tates. Can progress to 17.5 for curls
10:20 on assault bike. All 8 sets.
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After 10 days of isolation I was finally allowed out yesterday.
I went to the gym and did a log work out and then went to the pub and drank till I vomited.
Today I did no training. I still fell tender (it’s 20:30 almost).
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Today was a quick blast.
140kg yoke 15m drop and return
Emom x 5.
Kept my running time below 20 seconds each time. Which was the goal. I might add a run to this to make it harder.
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I wondered if anyone had any thoughts about the positive/negative effects of accumulating fatigue.
I know it might sound crazy to say positive but hear me out.
Peeking is about stressing the body a ton and then you take time off to show case the strength built during your peek. So you build strength acclimating fatigue over 8-12 weeks.
I’m liking the something every day approach. And I think never letting your body fully recover is good thing. It’s constantly fighting to stay one step ahead. My legs have (baring hung over day) not had a full day off in weeks. Over the course of a month this combined tiredness builds. So that at the end of say 28 days the strength needed to do the same work out is substantially more than at the start.
This sounds like a Jon Andersen thing. I know many powerlifters use the same language too.
Yeah I’m at the stage where if I can do this when I’m tried from working out everyday - I can do more than this normally. Almost like altitude training.
FYI - no training today. I fucked my neck last month (my last 80kg 5x5 push press front squat combo).
I’ve been carrying on regardless but work was cold last night and it gave me frozen neck. Today the nerves have taken a pounding and I’m getting head aches, tooth aches and eye strain. So a day off.
Food intake is suitably reduced.
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So I wanted to do front squat and back squat today. But my neck pain is now upper back pain. And I’m genuinely a touch frightened to aggravate it.
The last week has been hard on me due to this injury. People thought I was having a stroke Monday as the right eye keeps going funny. It’s the front squats that hurt my back. Keeping the elbows high. I might just do heavy back squats, a back off set and yoke.
Skipping work out today - thats two days in a row. Unheard of for months. I’m now sure its posture when using a laptop after a quick work skype caused me great pain.
Off to see the doctor tomorrow. I know whats wrong I know what I need to get. But asking for muscle relaxers is a red light.