Woke-up today at 5:20am to train before work.
Belt squats
4 plates x 10
6 plates x 10
8 plates x 10, 15, 15
Close-grip bench press
225 x 3 x 8
Super-set with dumbbell rows
115s x 3 x 8
Felt nauseous near the end of my workout, took a shower, and then came out feeling awesome. Going to make a habit of doing this more.
Squats
385 x 5
435 x 3
485 x 1
Strip sets: 405x5, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8
485 moved well. Getting used to heavy weight again.
Our scale got lost in the move but I found it as we organized some things on Monday. I weigh 205 in the morning on an empty stomach.
Axle strict press
162.5 x 5
182.5 x 3
205 x 2
150 x 9, 9, 8
Super-set with chin-ups
Bodyweight x 10
15 x 10
30 x 10, 19
Giant sets
Behind-the-neck press: 110 x 2 x 10
Wide-grip chin-ups: 16, 12
Dumbbell alternating side curls: 35s x 2 x 10
Everything felt stupid light. Pressing 205 for 2 reps overhead is a 10 lb gain since my last press day. Bumping up the assistance press weight by 10 lbs rather than focusing on rep count increases and adding behind-the-neck pressing has helped.
Been slacking on the cardio, having only gone for a 2 mile run in 3 weeks. Yesterday and today, I’ve added back my morning rope skipping (3 minutes yesterday and 4 minutes today, both with a 30 second high knee burnout phase in the end of the round) and added kettlebell swings with the 50 for 30-50 reps, ending with crunches.
Deadlifts
Work-up to 505 x 3
Romanian deadlifts
225 x 2 x 12
Man, this felt good. I haven’t deadlifted heavy in awhile and I was starting to crave getting back into them. I came into this session after work feeling VERY beat: some whole-body soreness was going on down into my bones, including my fingers, like when I’m sick or sleep-deprived. My neck is also tweaked, which I have a long history of doing from strict pressing, and it hurts to turn my head to the left side. For 500 to feel as easy as it did and then just call it at 3 was a welcome end to a rough-feeling night. The lighter weight on RDLs was the right call. My back was able to catch a break while I focused on maximally contracting the hamstrings.
Deload
Bench press
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
Incline Swiss bar bench
185 x 3 x 8
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
80s x 3 x 12
40-second chin-up super-set with 35 lb alternating dumbbell curls x 16
Dealing with a nasty neck tweak radiating down to my shoulder blade. It happened the day after my last press workout when I was leaning against my desk at work. It slowly got better until this morning when it was at its worst. Must have slept on it wrong.
Tuesday:
Deload
Squats
225 x 5
255 x 5
305 x 5
225 x 10
255 x 10, 10
Thursday:
Deload
Strict press
90 x 5
110 x 5
130 x 5
110 x 3 x 10
Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10
Dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 10
Super-set with push-ups: 2 x 20, 15
I’m sick with a sore throat and slight headache. Nothing too bad but feeling less energetic than usual.
Cervical injury to my neck and shoulder blade area is still present. Wasn’t sure how I’d fare supporting the bar up, but it was actually fine. Injury is getting a little better, but still makes sleeping uncomfortable. I can usually fall asleep soundly for 4-5 hours, but the immobility starts to cause increased pain and I end up adjusting frequently for the remainder of the night.
Have been continuing the morning daily work. The past few days have been jump-rope rounds at 4-5 minutes each combined with burpees or kettlebell swings. Yesterday instead of swings I did 30 upright rows with a 50 lb kettlebell and today I nixed the rope to just do 40 upright rows.
Over the weekend I signed-up for a strongman contest in April, my first one since 2017 (I’ve done a few powerlifting meets since then, though). The events are nothing I haven’t done before except for a Dinnie Stones hold. Otherwise, we’re looking at log clean and press, sandbag loading, sandbag floor-to-shoulder, and a yoke walk + max deadlifts.
I’ll be replacing the axle press with the log for my main lift on press day and add sandbag work throughout the week, but training via 5/3/1 will structurally stay pretty similar. This will be the first strongman show I’m training for with my own log and crash pads at my disposal. Same goes for the sandbags.
I also happened to get sick over the weekend, but managed to finish my deload week with a simple session:
Walking kettlebell lunges: 50s x 3 x 16
Super-set with axle Romanian deadlifts: 250 x 3 x 8, 8, 10
Had dinner with the family that night at a Persian restaurant to commemorate our late father’s birthday, so food intake was high. Sometimes I don’t have an appetite when sick, but on this day it felt like I couldn’t eat enough.
Great to see you back in action on the strongman front dude! Crazy how fast time goes by on those. So glad you could honor your father like that.
@T3hPwnisher Seriously, it feels like I blinked and suddenly it’s been nearly 10 years since I was at my last strongman show. I’m excited. And thanks for much for saying that.
awesome to hear you have signed up for a comp, will be following along to see how you go.
@simo74 Glad to hear that!
Bench press
235 x 5
255 x 5
285 x 6
Swiss bar bench
235 x 3 x 8, 185 x 7
Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows
115 x 8, 8, 8, 10
Alt dumbbell side curls: 35s x 3 x 16, 20, 20
Super-set with kb lateral raises: 15s x 3 x 10
285 felt much lighter than expecting. Had a 7th rep in me if I wanted to struggle, but I’m just getting over being sick and opted to stop before the bar slowed down too much. Very pleased with how this felt in my hands, though.
The Swiss bar bench was brutal and the very last rep of 235 was a fight. Something about that bar makes me slow down my rep tempo, likely due to how the bar requires more balancing in my hands than a straight, and I was expecting more reps of 185 but I was spent after those first 3. Chest is sore the next day as a result.
The Swiss bar bench was brutal and the very last rep of 235 was a fight. Something about that bar makes me slow down my rep tempo, likely due to how the bar requires more balancing in my hands than a straight, and I was expecting more reps of 185 but I was spent after those first 3. Chest is sore the next day as a result.
Yeah, the swiss bar was a good idea that needed fine tuning. At least when it comes to flat benching. It’s great on the incline and strict pressing, but too much balancing needed on the flat. Brian Alsruhe just did a video comparing 3 different neutral grip bars and this was one of those issues that came up, which Elitefts solved with their american press bar.
@t3hpwnisher Looking up the Elitefts bar actually made me go home and check if that was the one I had because the logo looked familiar, but I’ve got the Titan bar. I’ll have to check out that video, sounds interesting. One thing I appreciate about it is that it really does feel better on my shoulders if they have any little issues going on with them compared to the regular bar.
It reminds me of the 5/3/1 powerlifting meet Jim put on for washed up meatheads that used the SSB, trap bar and swiss bar for the respective lifts. I feel like that’s not too far off from the future at one point.
@T3hPwnisher That reminds me, I share your experience with elbow pain from low bar squatting and managed to alleviate it quite a bit with chalk and doing more behind-the-neck work so the bar sits more comfortably back there, but I’m definitely going to follow your cue in regards to a grip shirt.
Went on a run Wednesday night: 3 hill sprints followed by a 15-min jog. Going to want to download a different running app; besides constantly logging me out, the Nike one just replaced the very natural-sounding voice with an obnoxious one that sounds like a complete robot.
Got in some strongman training last night:
Log clean and press
137.7 x 5
157.7 x 5
177.7 x 8
Axle strict press
150 x 3 x 8
Super-set with chin-ups
Bodyweight x 10
15 x 10, 10
200 lb sandbag floor to shoulder practice
45 second chin-up
Log numbers are the way they are because the clamps I use to lock in extra tight for anything with cleans are heavier than my normal clips, weighing at least as much as the microplates I have. Anyway, the easiest part about this was the press itself. Legs were sore from squats and hill sprints so the mere act of squatting the log made my quads start feeling it by rep 5.
The sandbag was trial-and-error, but I got the hang of it and managed 1 clean rep getting it to my shoulder after watching several YouTube tutorials. I was getting it to my chest just fine but struggling in trying to smoothly transition it further up when what I needed to do was bend my knees and get a final hoist. Once I did that, it went up with no issue. I’ll be hitting this for reps next time now that the form has clicked.
How about that? Strongman specific equipment before a comp: that’s a first for me. Only things I don’t have for this show are Dinnie Stones copies and a yoke, but the yoke weight in the comp will be the lightest I’ve ever done at 375 lbs.
Morning: 20 burpees
Evening after work:
Squats (high bar): 300 x 20
Super-set with axle deadlifts: 320 x 20
One of the competition events is a 375 yoke walk for 50 feet paired with deadlifting 315 for reps until the minute is over. I’m subbing 20-rep squats for the yoke, which I feel is making the combo harder. Again, that will be the lightest yoke walk I’ve done. Obviously this is not under a minute, either, but I’m going for pain and suffering so the minute of work feels easy in comparison.
My right knee randomly started feeling tender and hurting a couple of times when bending down during the work day so I was unsure if I’d be able to hit this workout. I planned to see how warm-ups felt and go from there, but it was all fine. I’m not ashamed to say I took rest pauses every 5 reps on the deadlifts: hitting them dead-stop instead of touch-and-go to simulate the competition and using an axle made them really suck. The competition doesn’t specify it’ll be an axle, but I’ve never done axle deadlifts at home before and this is a good time to introduce the added difficulty. One thing I’ll want to keep in mind is practicing getting my wraps around the bar as quickly as possible, which I’ll practice with a normal barbell as well as the axle.
One of the competition events is a 375 yoke walk for 50 feet paired with deadlifting 315 for reps until the minute is over.
OMG I love this. Actually makes a yoke walk worthwhile. Brilliant event in general. It rewards being good on the yoke by giving you more time to get in the deadlifts, but that time is worthless if you’re just speedy mcspeedy and don’t have the static strength to back it up.
If you’re strapping in, are you practicing getting strapped in quick under time? Those transitions are what will be killer here.
Is the sandbag at comp weight ? Do you have a slightly lighter sandbag to practice on. You may find getting in more reps with a lighter bag to cue to the hip pop triple extension movement usefull.
@T3hPwnisher Whoops, completely bungled my terminology with my last sentence: I meant to say I’ll be practicing getting my straps around the bar, not wraps. I’m glad I came to the same conclusion as you. I’ve already trained to be able to handle these weights, so time optimization of the little things is going to go a long way. And thanks for sharing the enthusiasm, that says a LOT coming from you.
@simo74 The bag-to-shoulder event has 3 bags: 175 lbs, 200 lbs, and 225 lbs. So I’ll be repping each in succession and resetting until the time runs out. My bag is 200 filled to the brim, although I want to weigh it sometime and see if it’s heavier in case it absorbed some rain from training outside.
Bench press
235 x 3
270 x 3
300 x 4
Swiss bar bench press
237.5 x 3 x 8
185 x 13 (wide-grip)
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
80s x 10
115s x 10, 10
80s x 25
Everything felt light, even the Swiss bar bench this time compared to last session.