KD13 Not Very Strongman

My strength/endurance has still not returned, been way off the mark this past week, god knows what that illness was but its wiped me out! Still got some okay sessions in but down on reps on every exercise.

Really good walk yesterday though, covered a good distance and a nice climb. Little man did awsome and got his first trig point. Thats my kind of cardio.

4 Likes

Things have been stalling a little with the jp full body. Its mostly motivation. its getting hard pushing every set balls out and im just ready for a change. I will defo come back to it as it worked very well up to this point.

I will now switch to a push pull legs with volume being pushed a little higher each body part. So 3 or 4 exercises per body part, 3-4 sets per exercise.

Will be interesting to see how i get on with higher volume lower frequency.

4 Likes

So my current routine is as follows, body part split, sometimes its split over 4, 5, or crammed into 3 days. Much nicer when its 5 shorter sessions, sucks ass when its 3 longer sessions and 4 is not bad. Its 4 most often.

shoulders and abs
High incline barbell 4x8-12
Side laterals 3x12-15
Db shoulder press 2x8-12
Face pulls or band pull aparts 3x12-15

Hanging leg raises 3x failure
Cable crunch 2x 8-12
Band twistys 2x15-20
Plank 2x till i cant

legs
Squats 4x8-12
Ring hamstring curls 4x10-12
Sissy squats 3x10-15
Rdl or stiff legs 2x8-10

chest and tri
Flat bench 4x6-10
Low incline bench 3x10-15
Dips 3x8-12
Flys 2x8-12

Overhead extention 3x8-12
Tricep pushdowns 3x10-15

back and biceps
Chin ups 4x failure
T bar row 3x8-12
Bench supported row 2x8-12
Cable pull overs or single arm pull down 2x10-12

Hammer curls 3x6-10
Db curls 3x8-12

Pretty bro and im easing into the higher volume, freaking out a bit that its a long time between repeating a body part. I needed a change though even if its only for a month or so.

3 Likes

20230320_084021

Gif testing to see if the app i downloaded works, amrap dips finisher.

3 Likes

So the last 3 weeks ive been having a bit of a break from the ā€˜bulkā€™. Ive still been consuming a lot of calories but rather than force feeding ive just been hitting protein targets and eating when hungry, some days the hunger was high, some days its been nice just eating less carbs.

This is absloutly not a cut or pushing for any intentional weight loss. Although the bump in volume and the lower food consumption has lead to me leaning up a noticable amount. My battery died in my scales so i decided to not track weight whilst on this break. Will interesting to see how much ive droped, by eye i would say 5-10lb (alot of waste, bit of fat.)

Strength is on the up.

Will start upping the cals again at the end of this week, i feel refreshed and ready to start eating til i feel sick again!

4 Likes

Shoulders and abs

Shoulder press
4x10
Side lateral
3x12
Band pull aparts
3x20
Db neutral press
1x21 then some partials

Hanging leg raises
3x10
Cable crunch
3x10
Plank
Max time

20230322_200708

3 Likes

Charged my scales up and checked weight, only 2lb ish down. Very happy with that as im noticably sharper and waist is tighter. Mythical recomp, or maybe the effects of the direct ab training is kicking in, i had been neglecting it.

3 Likes

Im looking at doing my first novice strong man comp. I found the perfect comp local to me, i was happy i would do okay with the events and weights but unfortunately the comp is full booked and has a few people on the reserve list. Im struggling to find other comps within a reaonable distance but will keep searching.

Couple of things im unsure of as ive never used one is how much more difficult is it to press and deadlift with an axle? And would farmers walks with a trap bar carry over at all to individual handles? Or would it feel completely different?

The keg and sand bag carry/ shouldering events i can replicate so i know how capable i am with those.

Im going to look at maybe making an axle bar.

@T3hPwnisher any thoughts on the above, or any body else who has done a comp.

2 Likes

Making an axle bar is stupid simple. Brian Alsruhe has a great video on it here

An axle doesnā€™t have rotating collars, doesnā€™t flex, and is thicker in diameter. As far as deadlifting goes, even with straps that thick diameter comes into play because it puts the bar an inch in front of you and an inch below you, so itā€™s like a very difficult semi-deficit deadlift. As far as pressing goes, the bar will be slightly out in front of you and have zero whip, if youā€™re the kinda guy that relies on bar whip. ALSO, getting the bar INTO position will be tough, and learning how to continental sooner rather than later will be a boon

If the choice was between hex bar and no farmers whatsoever, getting good at hex bar farmers will go a long way. What youā€™ll miss out on is strategy: with independent handles, you learn how to let the weight tip forward so the weight carries YOU and not the other way around. This allows you to move much faster on farmers, as theyā€™re effectively a controlled fall. Plate loadable farmers are also pretty easy to DIY though

But all that to say: itā€™s a first time comp. Show up and have fun!

1 Like

Thats awesome thanks for the insight.

Maybe the listed weights will be tougher than i think then. The gym where the event is taking place has some strongman sessions so i will book in and test out the axle. Grip strength is a big weakness.

I just really fancy doing one even if i come dead last!

1 Like

I has an old standard bar and some thick metal pipe already lying around, quickest build ever! @T3hPwnisher

3 Likes

Back and bi

5x5 deadlift
4x10 chin up
4x12 upper back cable rows
1x cable lat pull over into lat pull down

Bi was Poundstone curls seeing as i had made the axle between my back sets.

6 Likes

wow thats pretty cool

1 Like

A bit of a beefier me, getting a fair few comments on my added size. That extra bit of fluff can be passed off as muscle when clothed :rofl:

6 Likes

looking good

1 Like

Was feeling some weighted pull ups this evening, not done them much recently so was pretty happy to eek out a questionable triple at 40kg.

20230428_204945

Followed it up with cable pulls from a few different angles, cobra pulls felt great, cant think ive done them on the home pully before.

Then hit some rack pulls 180kg for 8 and my bar was hitting a nice bend!

Nice heavier session, feeling good.

6 Likes

I decided 3 weeks ago that i was going to do an aggressive short term cut. Not really in my long term plan to actively drop fat but for a few reasons i just felt i needed it.

10lb down as of last night and looking much better in the midsection.

Strength is going no where but have to say motivation in the gym has faded a little, no drama though as im comfortable in doing a little less work whilst cutting as long as intensity is high and im hitting some prs.

Ive been using the Hot-Rox that i kindly got sent a while back, hard to know how much they are contributing but defo felt a few things taking them the first 2 weeks.

Will continue to keep doing what im doing, as long as strength is being maintained and im hitting or maintaining rep prs then i see no issue with continuing with the big deficit.

1 Like

First jp session back tonight. Surprising hit rep prs on half the exercises, fuck knows how in such a deficit. Maybe the extra volume per session has increased my capacity on those single sets to failure. The only exercises i dropped reps on compared to my end results last cycle were the ones i had droped completely from my sessions, only 1 rep off though.

Found the session tough mentally.

3 Likes

Just a little observation switching from single set to failure to multiple sets with the only last set pushed to failureā€¦

Single set = mental breakdown before muscular failure.

Multiple = muscular failure just happens before mind is ready for it.

Now i think that is pretty important depending on your mentality and also on how motivated you currently are.

I had great results with the jp routine, but ive also seen good progress with the multiple sets without it being such a mental battle. Im trying to think up a way to get the best of both.

3 Likes

Lost all motivation to train the past month, we are moving house so been spending all my free time getting organised. The new house is a fixer upper so when we move i will be working all hours on doing that, so its hard to see the point in really pushing hard in the gym.

But i got a message from the orginiser of the strongman event i missed saying they are holding a winter games in novemberā€¦so i am signed up and paid.

I know the events and the weights so training will be focused on them, motivation back restored even if free time is going to be limited!

6 Likes