How in the name of oreo cookies washed down with milkshake have i never seen this log…gold standard info…love it and will be following from here on in!!
Great work on your last contest outing 
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Gotta be proud of that, busted your ass out there! Excited that the fire is relit, watching this stuff is incredibly inspiring.
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I haven’t gone back to rewatch the video, but I honestly thought you guys were in two different weight classes based on the physique difference. Something you’ve dedicated plenty of words to, haha.
Having read the updates before seeing the video this is what I was waiting on when I watched it. Full on berserker.
It’s about as far as a show can get from you, but the annual Brutes and Brews strongman show takes place in August in Maine. If you ever do the ‘strongman event + family vacation trip’ deal, it might be a winner. A local firefighter runs it and they do a bang up job managing the event, and they always have some natural and home made equipment to keep the spirit of the sport true to its roots. It’s also hosted at a biker bar that makes some fantastic pizza which makes for a great crowd and atmosphere + post competition chow session.
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Absolutely awesome write ups sir, the time and effort put into thinking about and sharing with the people on this site is simply incredible. A heartfelt thankyou for doing that.
I don’t want to be that guy but my OCD’s wont allow me to not be. Event three you wrote Bar over Bar and I think you meant bag.
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I loved every second of the write-up and the videos.
You look insanely fuckin’ strong, and the cool thing is, I think you’re actually stronger than you look.
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Really enjoyed this mate. Thanks for the write up.
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@hit_sirloin Great to have you following along dude! And thanks!
@heretolog Appreciate that dude! I’m a fan of what you’ve been putting out, and having you along is a big deal. Absolutely proud: still on cloud 9.
@mr.v3lv3t If you can’t win, you might as well lose being yoked, haha. I definitely brought the brute force and ignorance to the weight class. Glad you could dig those deadlifts too. I felt so alive. I SO want to get up to Maine sometime, you have NO idea. I gotta find a way to swing it with the family. Ya’ll got history stuff and things for kids? I can try to make it a edutainment trip, haha.
@simo74 Thanks dude! Great catch on the bag vs bar. Glad you appreciated the write-up: I always feel a bit sheepish over how much I write about myself, haha. Too easy to turn each competition into an epic.
@flappinit Dude, that’s a HUGE compliment from you, thank you! Been watching you kill it from afar in your log, between crushing the life, parenting, career and training portion of it. You’re still that cattledog in a world of huskies. Thanks for swinging by.
@dagill2 Hell yeah dude!
AM WORKOUT (0445 wake up via alarm)
FASTED
5 minutes of ABCs w/50lb dumbbells (20 total…I think)
straight into
100 Devil Presses w/50lb DBs, EMOM do 5 prisoner squats (finished in 29 minutes on the dot)
straight into
5 minutes of ABCs w/50lb DBs (15 total)
straight into
1 minute of burpees (6 total)
for a 40 minute workout
Notes:
- Give me a hotel fitness center with 50lb dumbbells and I will give you something that crushes your soul. There’s bound to be a cute name for this, but if nothing else it reminds me of this Juggernaut scene
You start off with Armor, to Devil strips it all away while you’re his prisoner, only for it to all come back again.
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The ABCs are absolutely do-able with the dumbbells, but they’re different. The weight is further forward on the front squat, so it’s like a front/zercher combo. Less speedy/fluid and more taxing. End result is the same; I’m gassed.
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Every time I do Devil Presses I’m reminded what a great movement they are and that I need to do them more often. I’m glad my elbows are holding up as well.
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Had to throw in that little cherry at the end of burpees to get my full 40. They were total trash burpees too, but I earned them.
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Hotel has a free breakfast. If I wasn’t so picky, it would actually be a very decent spread. But I DID manage to score a bunch of hard boiled eggs that I peeled the whites off of to eat, along with some salsa. Came back to the room and threw together some canned chicken breasts, powdered peanut butter, greens supplement, combination of macadamia nuts and hazel nuts, a little greek yogurt and some salsa. For the meat and nut breakfast, I’m trying to channel the idea from Charles Poliquin
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Definitely no need to feel like that. I love all the details, how else am I supposed to live vicariously through you.
It’s like when I ask young blokes at work what they did at the weekend. If they didn’t raise hell I always tell them the same thing. How can I live vicariously through you if you don’t do anything bloody interesting 
We’re not quite as rich with history stuff as Massachusetts, for better or worse. The coastline is filled with lighthouses and old forts, which can be cool to spend a day bouncing around and checking out. There’s a fairly new museum of art as well. York’s Wild Animal Kingdom was a place I spent a lot of time as a kid, I hope it’s as good as I remember it haha. Old Orchard Beach has a small amusement park and plenty of people watching. Then of course if your little one is into nature we have it all here. Ocean, lakes, mountains, and even a desert. The Appalachian trail snakes throughout the state and there’s some really fantastic day hikes that overlook the entire White Mountain range. Acadia National Park is a treasure.
@twojarslave Has actually spent time raising children in the area, so he might be better equipped to offer suggestions for kid-friendly activities. Totally out of my wheelhouse!
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Beautiful write up and great insights into how you were training leading up to this comp and what you were thinking during and after each event. I really enjoyed watching and reading along. Nice work and thanks for taking the time to log all of this it really helps myself and plenty of others stay motivated and plan out my next training blocks. Solid lifting my guy!! I like the conditioning standards you are setting and I’m finding it rubbing off on myself as well!!
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Well the short answer is to give up all of your time and money to put your kid in year-round hockey.
Aside from that there aren’t what I’d call any special draws for vacationing parents with young kids. Camping, backpacking and fishing were our main non-hockey activities. We rented a cabin on a lake for a week most years too. IMO that’s the best way to enjoy a week in Maine.
That’s all great stuff if your kids enjoy it, or potentially torturous if they don’t. Aside from the great outdoors, Portland has a kids museum and a lot of other kid friendly stuff but nothing that really stands out from similar cities.
Concerns present now that weren’t concerns 15 years ago are the increasing presence of aggressive homeless bums, the rampant smell of weed and Carl from shipping who just can’t get his act together.
If you wait a few years some crazy yahoos might actually build the world’s tallest flagpole out in the middle of nowhere. Every Clark Griswold in the nation will be lining up with their rotten little kids to see that.
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Carl’s trying his best : (
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I have but two words for you:
Badass.
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Great showing at the competition, excellent write-up, and inspiring as always!
Congrats on all of the success in here.
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@simo74 Sounds like me watching Brian Shaw eat, haha. Or Mark Esper. One day…
@mr.v3lv3t Appreciate the intel. I legit just wanna eat my way through the state, haha. But I might be able to swing something.
@twojarslave Your story of exciting locales have sold me on the charm of the state!
@jwlake06 Dude, that means a ton! Been exciting watching you chase after it too. Love watching the transformation.
@The_Myth A big compliment from you my dude: thank you!
@littlesleeper Hell yeah dude! Thank you! It’s awesome to see you around again. I loved sharing the experience of BBB/BtM with you.
PM WORKOUT (1700)
100 unbroken burpees in 5:38
Half hour+ walk immediately afterwards
Notes:
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Wanted to get in a little extra activity without changing for the gym, so knocked this out in the hotel room. Not my fastest time ever, but a super even pace for 100 unbroken. No lies told to myself, no bargaining, no drama, just knocked them out and headed out the door to ride out the high heart rate.
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I should also celebrate the fact I’m doing this 2 days post strongman comp. I am REALLY digging being “more trouble than I’m worth”. I meant to address that this was why I changed avatar pics too. As cool as “lean out of my mind” pic was, it captured a moment where I was totally NOT more trouble than I was worth. But that deadlift? That moment in time? That captures it.
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Been getting in a solid amount of walking in general. Something I like to do in a new spot, especially with nothing else to do.
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Hotel room living is still going well as far as nutrition goes.
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LOL why is watching other people eat heaps of food so satisfying…LOL
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It’s something weird I learned about myself, haha. I don’t care for speed challenges, but volume is fun to watch.
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I enjoyed it as well! I’ve been into a bit of a training rut for a few months, but the fire is starting back up and this log/your hard work is adding fuel to it.
I also really appreciated your “PART 1” of the contest write-up. A lot of great info in there that I will be coming back to borrow from.
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@littlesleeper Outstanding to hear you’ve got that fire again, and so glad you could get something from Part 1. I’m always here to share my thoughts and perspectives, and I love watching what you do with it.
AM WORKOUT (0445 wake up via alarm) FASTED
40 minutes of BLACKJACK
20 double DB hang power snatches
1 lateral burpee over DBs
19 snatches
2 burpees
…
6 snatches
15 burpees
Time: 39:45
Finished out 15 snatches to get the ones I missed for a total time of 41:00.
Notes:
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This is really something. More of an hour workout than 40 minutes, but I did what I could in the time and definitely rocked myself. Need something to keep me a little more honest on time between reps as I go. Always potential to turn this into a Kalsu like workout too. Great possibilities. I appreciate how time moves fast on something like this.
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Even “hang power snatch” doesn’t quite capture the ugliness of what I was doing with these dumbbells, but they were going from between by legs to over my head for every rep. For the life of me, there’s nothing better for getting stronger and better conditioned than putting something over your head.
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ABCs on the agenda today, and contemplating paying up on those 90 burpees I owe.
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PM WORKOUT (1645)
5 minutes of ABCs w/50lb DBs (22 total)
100 burpees in 6:43
1 hour walk
Notes:
- Getting a little better with the DBs, but the front squat on them is still a new animal. Decided to get those burpees in afterall, and hitting them after ABCs was a fantastic challenge. Went walking to ride out the high heart rate, although the truth is my conditioning is so bonkers these days that, by the time I got out of the hotel, I felt recovered.
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