I’m honestly not sure how you could possibly do that haha. I mean technically the weights you’re lifting go up week to week but to adjust your TM weekly? Don’t tell Jim lol
Give yall the sneak preview before I do a full write up
In sum, I struggled like Hell but looked jacked doing it, so thats a win
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MAD respect for showing up under the weight requirements and putting up such a ferocious fight with heavy weights while looking like an 80s action figure. It sounded like people were in awe of your physique, although I couldn’t hear them clearly. Really looking forward to the write-up.
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Saw the post and video on FB. Looked like a tough day out mate. Cant wait to read about it. Salute
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@kleinhound Hah, it’s awesome when our mistakes get us jacked. I ran Westside TOTALLY wrong and still got strong because, in my mind I was “running Westside”
@simo74 Thanks for the wish for luck and the follow-up. This was a great lesson in effort.
@bigpappafrance Thanks man!
@atlas13 Thanks so much man! You can see it was definitely a new experience for me. But I certainly was lean and mean: just gotta get good now, haha.
@LoRez Thanks!
@PowPowPunishment Dude, that means so much: thanks for that. You summed it up incredibly well.
I’ll start with the end: I came in dead last (4 of 4) and zero’d 2 events: the first one and the last one. This was absolutely the hardest competition of my life, and a big part of that was coming in 10lbs under the weight limit. This is a whole new body and a whole new challenge. I am up for both.
PRE-COMP
I ate the same breakfast I’ve been having every training day: 150g of egg whites mixed with 150g of beef bone broth with 1.5 scoops of Metabolic Drive and some powdered electrolytes. A wild departure from my days of eating…nothing, so I could make weight, followed by some sort of sugary/fast food blitz. I drove an uneventful 2.25 hours to the site and weighed in at 173.0 while wearing full sweats, shoes, and my strongman compression gear underneath.
I set-up camp and actually dug into one of my meals before the first event: 4 hardboiled whole pasture raised organic eggs mashed into a paste with a serving of grassfed sour cream and 4oz (cooked) of ground venison, personally hunted and butchered by my wife’s Uncle. Another departure from my glory days, which I’ll address next, but it was also weird being so hungry when I hadn’t done anything yet.
GOALS
Since I knew I was super behind the 8-ball on this due to my bodyweight, this was going to be a different kind of comp for me: this was about personal growth. My goals were to not eat any junk OR carbs and keep it as carnivore as possible. Not because I felt like this was more noble, but more to simply see if I could, and how it would go. The Metabolic Drive was the closest “exception” and I packed an emergency Finibar in case I found myself crashing, but otherwise it was just going to be that mashed egg/venison mixture, green tea and water.
I also was going to go limited caffeine: only the stuff in the green tea. I have a 3 week streak without energy drinks of coffee going, and I wanna see how long I can keep it going. Again: no particular reason, just to see if I could. In the past, I’d be about 2-3 energy drinks deep by the end of the day. Did I “need” that?
The third goal was to not re-tear whatever it was I tore in my right knee on week 2 of “Juggeryoke”. The first event was where I was most worried about that, since I did it on the log, but I was going to keep my eye on it all competition.
And final goal was to leave it all out there and have fun. It’s the whole reason I signed up.
EVENT 1: 200lb Log Clean and Press Each Rep
I was excited about this event, since cleaning each rep is awesome and gasses competitors. Then I got to actually handle the log we were going to use and realized this was going to be a “ WHO can get a rep” contest for the lightweights. The log handles were STUPID far apart, like the Rogue 10”.
First guy got the clean but no rep. Second guy got in 2 of the grandest reps of all time with a jerk and a JPS-esque “press the log off the head” technique.
I got set, got my head right, grabbed the log, went to clean it, felt it feel like a jillion pounds, got stuck midway, somehow through sheer force of will get it all the way to my chest…and knew that there was absolutely no way I was going to press it. I let it crash, thinking that, if I could do better on another clean and not be so exhausted, I might be able to set up for a stronger press. Well, that didn’t happen, and I didn’t want to re-tear my left bicep on an errant log clean, so after a few more attempts, I hung it up. The guy after me got a jillion reps and was the clear candidate for first that day.
EVENT 2: Max Trap Bar in 3 attempts
I had been doing a ROM progression cycle on trap bar with 405lbs, so I knew I was good for that. We were allowed to pick the starting weight in the rules meeting, so I asked for 400, knowing we’d go 20lb jumps from there.
The guy who also zero’d the log ended up asking for us to start with 380, and he missed that, so I knew if I got 400 I at least had a win there. 400 was grindy, but made it. We were apparently pulling on the Eleiko Oppen bar, which was cool since it had knurl marks on the center of the handle, which made strapping in easy. I had an issue with strapping in too far forward or backward in training and having the bar tilt.
No other MLWs went for 400, the next time one jumped in was at 460, so I went for that to match too. 460 felt WAY too damn heavy, but I pulled it. Since we were doing “Rising Bar”, I decided to pass on 480 to allow me some recovery time, and asked for 500. I really liked Rising bar for the strategic element of it, and it made a last man standing event tolerable. I actually felt 500 ever so slightly start to break off the floor, but not enough to be worth chasing after. My knee was holding up strong so far, and this was keeping it in place.
EVENT 3: Sandbag and sled drag
This and the 4th event are why I signed up: medleys in a competition. I missed these so much. Unlike previous comps, I did ZERO sandbag training to prep for this, which was for the best, because I usually end up tearing the hell out of my arms when I do that.
I used some strongman cheating and put the sandbag on top of my feet as part of my set-up. This gives a little bit of daylight between the floor and the bag, which allows for handholds. I also ditched my competition shirt at this point and decided I was going to go for the Mariusz Pudzianowski/Jon Andersen Award for “Most Jacked Person at the Competition”, because if can’t be the strongest at least I can look pretty while I lose. You can actually hear some folks making commentary about it during this event.
The sandbag pick actually went pretty well, and the carry moved about as fast as I would expect with so minimal training. The sled drag caught me off guard: about the only clue it was going to be so awful was watching the other competitors attempting the sled and being caught off guard. So I went for the initial pull, realized it was going to be heavy as hell, and just leaned into it and pulled like hell, knowing that, if I ever stopped, I’d be dead. Just like a shark.
I was surprised when I ran out of time. I felt like I was moving at a good pace. I had a slight technical error getting set up on the straps, and I lost a little bit of time on the bag, but ultimately I imagine I needed to move faster on the sled.
But I think this was the first time I had a sled in a comp where I didn’t fall backwards on my butt, so that’s a win. This got me a last place finish.
EVENT 4: Duckwalk and powerstairs
Event was supposed to be duck walk 25’, do 3 reps of power stairs, then duckwalk it back.
Lotta dudes were struggling with those stairs, and I figured out where: those WIDE 100lb plates pretty much give you no opportunity to hinge. I’m only 5’9, so I’m already sawed off as it is, but now that I have to take a sumo stance I was totally hosed.
But also, you might be able to tell in the video: I about blacked out on the initial pick, and was basically jump zombie-ing forward until I went night-night. I managed to fall forward, have the stars clear, do a quick pick and repeat. I fell into the platform, corrected myself, and struggled futilely to get it to the platform. But I gave it some solid effort, and loading my frame down with 100lbs over bodyweight was awesome for making every muscle in my body pop, so I got a cool facebook photo. This, once again, got me last place.
EVENT 5: Stone Medley
I won’t bother listing weights and heights here, because as you saw on the video, it was a big goose egg. This is the only event I have a bitter taste in my mouth about. You might be able to see it in the video, but I was literally GLUED to the stone. I applied a moderate amount of tack to myself, but the stone ITSELF was COATED in tacky from previous competitors, to the point that it was stuck to the platform. So it didn’t matter about being strong enough to pick up the stone: I had to be strong enough to BREAK the tacky off the stone first and THEN pick it up, and then, once I got it lapped, it wasn’t going anywhere else. With how high the platform was, my plan was to try to shoulder it, but I could never even get the momentum necessary, because it was like trying to walk through mud: each movement was about getting unstuck and then stuck again.
I realized at that point I’m a dinosaur in the sport: everyone else is using tacky shirts and stone sleeves and, in turn, has material that can help by pass the tacky issue, while I’m just applying sticky stuff to my body. I the future, I think I’m just going to avoid tackying myself and just rely on what’s on the stone. Zero’d here.
I will say that I got another great strongman win here: as I was standing there, bare chested and covered in tacky, another dude who was going that route was standing next to me. He was definitely more “strongman built”. He looked at me, there was a pause, and then he “Dude…are you, like, bodybuilding?”
I replied with “Nope: just not eating enough”.
He appreciated that. Told me I was definitely the leanest dude there, and I said “Well at least I won that”.
LESSONS LEARNED
I knew coming in this light was going to be a challenge, and it delivered. Doing no specific training for the comp also added to that. But, that’s really the big thing: I grew up. Strongman isn’t my life anymore: it’s a thing I do for fun. And that’s absolutely what happened: I had a blast and I DIDN’T have to change my life for it. I kept training the week of the comp, went for a 3 mile walk with my family after it was done (and after having an AMAZING dinner at our favorite BBQ place where I got the biggest, fattest pork ribs I’d ever seen in my life alongside some amazing sliced brisket) and just treated this like it was an events day. I intend to keep it this way: if a comp looks fun, I’ll sign up and have a blast. And I got to help out some folks along the way: the guy who took second in my weight class cramped up BAD, so I gave him some of the electrolytes I brought and it totally transformed him. I also let him use some of the goo gone and paper towels I brought for tacky removal and got him sold of WD-40. And I got to meet a few awesome folks off reddit as well. A dude named Jon introduced himself to me: “Dude, are you MythicalStrength? I’ve been reading your articles for 6 years!” That was really cool, and honestly was one of the highlights of the competition.
Also got to hook back up with @BEAst_in_I Always good to keep the T-Nation tribe strong.
WHAT’S NEXT
Well, about that: I originally had a competition signed up for 14 Oct…but I just went looking for it and it’s gone: instead, having been moved to 4 Nov. That’s a less viable date for me, and currently I’m the only person in the 181 weight class, so there’s very little incentive to go do it compared to just a hard events day at home. I have a 5k signed up for 15 Oct, and then I go for a Disney Cruise on 16 Oct. So now that I don’t have a competition looming, I’m probably going to do 2 more weeks of Juggeryoke with a few movement alterations leading up to the cruise and most likely do a mini-famine there so that I can absolutely eat my face off the whole time I’m cruising. After that? Chaos is the Plan. But I’ll be at this weight class for the next competition, whenever that happens.
Oh yeah, and I still trained today.
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Thanks for another great write up mate. I laughed when you talked about strongman changing and the sticky stone. At that last comp I did, I was surprised by the amount of gear other competitors had. And I don’t meed dianabol, I mean sleeves and wraps and shirts and belts and straps and arm thingies and shoe.and tacky and sticky spray…Damn it was a lot of gear.
I did the stones in shorts and a t-shirt and didn’t need to worry about tacky because they were already more sticky that a teenagers handkerchief.
It always amazes me how the equipment set of for some of these comps is just not right. They really should have someone test the equipment first and see if things are even possible. Height of things seems to be a consistent theme, especially for us less than tall dudes.
Still sounds like you had a great day, met some cool folk, helped out and really challenged yourself. Quality
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@simo74 Thanks so much man. This was definitely a stupidly heavy show for those of us in the lighter weights, haha. It tends to happen: promoters know THEIR weight class, but not much else, and it’s a wag from there. But, I’m glad we could all get challenged.
AM WORKOUT (0425 get out of bed via alarm, was awake for hours, rough night of sleep)
JUGGERYOKE BONUS ROUNDS Week 1, Day 1
30 Minute EMOM
Round 1: 3x161 Axle continental and push press away
Round 2: 3x205 SSB Front Squat
Round 3: Either 3x115 weighted dip OR 3x32.5 weighted chin (used 57.5 on the first go due to mislead)
After EMOM
Hanging leg raise w/10 lat shrugs (1 min rest)
5x5
CONDITIONING
Ladder as many rounds in 10 minutes starting with
1 KB throw w/24kg bell
2 Goblet squats
3 push ups
Then, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, etc. I got through the 10 and 11 of throw-squat before time ran out
Breakfast
Walk w/dog
Notes:
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Now that my competition is no longer happening in 2 weeks and I’m still slated to go on a cruise, I’m just going to run Juggeryoke for 2 more weeks (since Jamie has called it both a 6 week AND 8 week program) with a few changes as a proof of concept test for future runs. In that regard, I really like the SSB front squat (big shock there) since I have far less slippage issue to deal with, but I can tell that, if I get lazy, I lose out on the upright torso and just let my body crumple forward, which is a unique training effect, sure, but not really what we’re going for with Juggeryoke. Still, I think I’ll give it at least A training cycle, and be willing to move back and forth between that and a barbell. I am surprisingly pretty comfortable with the axle, which I can thank Easy Strength for. Weighted dips continue to just be awesome.
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Sticking with the EMOM format. I like how honest it keeps me with rest times. I am moving quick through this, but it’s decently heavy. When I need to get stronger, I can up the weight and increase the rest times.
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That conditioning workout was clutch. Lotta suffering in 10 minutes.
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Feeling the best I ever have after a competition. Recovery is on point. Going with a mini-famine approach leading up to this cruise so I can totally debase myself nutritionally.
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Dude, epic effort at the competition. That first log clean was agonizing to watch, haha. Way to leave it all out there.
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Thanks man! I always wanna put on a show, if nothing else. This one became a strip-tease! Haha.
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I was outside when everybody was applying tacky and they were globbing it on like crazy. Strands of it were floating off into the wind constantly. I think the heat/humidity played into it, but there definitely was tacky overkill. After everybody left I got my training in (it’s the gym I train at), I got to the stones and the tacky residual on the stones was basically enough.
Yeah the height of that first platform made that more of a technical skill (and/or height) issue, which we saw a lot of people fail because of that. I tried that height with the 220 stone and couldn’t make it.
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I have only been on one cruise in my life, for my honeymoon. I gained eleven pounds in seven days.
Eat your face off.
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Great vids and writeup there Pwn, definitely concur on the mass moves mass, and with less BW it gets tougher in comparison.
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@BEAst_in_I Good to hear I wasn’t taking crazy pills there, haha. Always some interesting competition day x-factors.
@The_Myth Thanks so much man! We’re frequent cruisers on our end, but this will be the first time in a while that the Mrs and I got to be on our own, AND we port out of NYC, so we’ll have that to dine on as well. Just going to be an amazing time.
@raven78 Thanks so much man! Absolutely true: you can’t teach size, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0423 natural wake up)
JUGGERYOKE BONUS ROUNDS Week 1, Workout 2
20 minutes of as many burpee chins as possible, AMRAP do 1 ab wheel roll out
127 total (2 rep PR from last week)
SUPERSET (curl-crush)
5x3x37.5 KB hammer curl
5x3x37.5 KB pull over skull crusher
1.15 mile 40lb weighted vest walk
Breakfast
Walk w/dog
Notes:
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Keeping up with what’s been working on this day, and then stacking on the conditioning work. Just made my way through the curls and then threw on the vest and walked until I had to get back home and get on with my day. Tried to focus on the chin portion of the burpee chin today.
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I’m feeling pretty well considering I competed on Saturday. Occasional moments of feeling beat up or fatigued, but I can still perform well.
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Wife is taking Friday off, so I’m gonna re-arrange the week so that the next 2 days are my heavier days, and then Friday will just be a general activity day.
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So sad to hear about the comp results… but you get any of those non-keto finibars youre looking to offload to someone;-) You know, so I can help you stick to your diet
But seriously that comp looked brutal. You are obviously leagues stronger than me but some of that stuff looked wild, the 220lb stone to damn near over your head?? WTF? As the owner of a sandbag now even just 100 pounds feels like quite a bit, so that 200 you lifted off the ground so easy was already impressive to me haha.
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@Lonnie123 nothing to be sad about for those results dude: I hit my goals. And if all my Finibars didn’t have a best by date of 2021 on them, I’d gladly share, haha. But I’d feel a bit wrong unloaded product like that. Still a VERY delicious product though, but they need a little time in the microwave to soften up.
It was absolutely a VERY heavy show, and I appreciate the praise there for the sandbag. I was pleased on being able to move that. If the stone wasn’t a big ball of glue I MAY have had a chance to get it in place, but what a unique struggle that was, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0425 wake up via alarm)
JUGGERYOKE BONUS ROUNDS Week 1, Workout 3: Pulls, Bench and Squat
SUPERSET CIRCUIT (pull-incline)
High pulls
6x5x135
Incline axle bench
6x5x171
SUPERSET CIRCUIT (bench-abs)
Axle pause bench
6x1x261
Standing ab wheel
5x7
Buffalo Bar Squat (3 minutes on-1 minute off-3 minutes on)
54 reps (1 rep PR)
38 reps
92 reps total (2 rep PR)
.28 mile stumble around the block
BREAKFAST
Longer walk w/dog
Notes:
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More mixing it up: went with a traditional barbell high pull vs the trap bar. Significant weight drop, first time performing this movement. Really tried to focus on explosiveness and getting the elbows high. Straps go a long way. The incline is moving in a good direction, and my flat bench continues to climb.
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Oh my god those buffalo bar squats. I have no idea where that PR came from but I’ll take it. Just so awesome to have the opportunity to dig like that. Knees and hips are holding up pretty decent.
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Evening walks are on a bit of a hold as schedules explode, so I’m getting in what I can in the morning. Not getting in much Vitamin D with the later sunrise, but the outdoor exposure is still good.
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“Stumble” is the right verb: once the bar was racked, I threw on my Bearfoot shoes and just lumbered around the neighborhood willing my legs to work again. But the time I made it all the way around the block I had a bit more of a human stride.
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It was sparring night in Tang Soo Do last night, and I got to go up against our instructor. It’s nice to be able to open up a little more. My overall flexibility/mobility has really improved over the years since we started doing this, and I’ve got some pretty high kicks going now.
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AM WORKOUT (0415 wake up)
JUGGERYOKE BONUS ROUNDS Week 1, Workout 4: Shrugs and Squats (out of sequence due to schedule)
SUPERSET CIRCUIT (shrug-press/abs)
Axle shrugs against bands
8x3xStrong+light band
2xAMRAPxStrong band
Behind the neck press
4x8x100
Hanging leg raise w/10 lat shrugs
5x5
15 rounds of EMOM SSB Squats
15x245+chains
CONDITIONING
Tabata intervals of 24kg KB throws w/overhead squat on the 10s
Breakfast
Walk w/dog
Notes:
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Really appreciated this set-up compared to previous. Shrugs against bands are easier to set-up and really drill into my traps. Saving the squats until the end allows me to really give it my all. The EMOM keeps me honest, although I should up the weight next time. SSB definitely supports heavier loads and I feel less beat up. I think I’m on board with 3 different squats for this program: front, buffalo bar and SSB. The chains are still pretty awesome. I’ll need to go a little heavier on BtN presses.
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Wheels completely fell off on the conditioning. I’m wiped out. Pretty sure I picked up some sort of stomach bug. My guts have been twitchy, and I’m seeing my physique reflect illness by going completely flat despite the carb-up I did earlier in the week. Just gotta wait for it to pass.
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May try to get in a little more walking today, if schedule permits. I’ve been slacking on the daily push ups and squats. Part of that is that I’ve really appreciated the mental freedom of no longer feeling like I HAVE to do those things any more, but I do feel like there’s a benefit to it.
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That’s a pretty cool idea, and good use of bands.
I’m glad to see you enjoyed your competition, and I hope you have a great time on your cruise, and especially the time alone away from the kid. Always important time to have.
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Thanks man! I originally wrote about shrugs against bands in an e-book I released and it gained a lot of traction, but since geniuses invent while winners steal, I originally saw Kroc using the idea. It’s such a better way to go about it. Rather than having the load a million plates per side, just slap on a few bands.
Definitely going to enjoy the cruise and the time togther/away. We’ve worked hard for it.
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No one told me I uploaded the wrong video for squats yesterday. Here is the real deal
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4 day weekend, which means lots of living and not much writing. I ate well and was active today. Got in about 6 minutes of dedicated training
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