My Road to HI Strongest Man 2008

Training Powerlifting
41

1/28/08 ME/RE Upper

Poor day of nutrition. Forgot to bring lunch and was too busy to take off, missed meals are not a good thing for me at this point. Day went well otherwise. Great ART session, wrist, knee and back feel much better today.

Very light stretching, not near the warmup it should have been…

incline log bench
log (90lbs) x15
140x12
190x8
240x5
270x4-pr I think
290x1-pr I think, I just missed the second rep dammit and the first one was cake

flat db bench
80x15
100x12
125x6-easy and pain free, I soooo wanted to go heavier next set
85x13
70x15 with mini band around back

My training partner hit 150 for 6 and 170 for 3, asshole. He is also down to 220lbs because he doesn’t fucking eat!

decline skullcrushers superset with decline press
125x6 and then 12
175x1 and then 8
155x6 and then 13

rope pushdowns
a bunch of sets, dropsets, different hand positions, etc. Had a large pump at the end, maybe the biggest I have ever had on triceps.

3 sets of ab and low back work.

Found a current entry list for the show, and it’s a good one.

Ams:

  1. Pete Marcoff WA
  2. Ricky LaRocca CA
  3. Ryan Bakke AZ
  4. Jonathon Conner KS
  5. Ryan Johnson NY
  6. Colin Keohuloa HI
  7. Dan Harrison
  8. Clay Edgin
  9. Jay Haggadorn

Pros:

  1. Tom McClure CT
  2. Grant Higa WA
  3. Odd Haugen CA
  4. Warren Brant Australia
  5. Dave Ostland

Wow, talk about up shit creek. Vey cool to compete against someone like McClure Haugen and Ostland, but scary at the same time. Those are also 9 top level ams, which I expected. No time to slack, things have to get more serious now than ever.

On that note, I find I am running out of time during the day. We trained for 2 hours last night, and I had so much more that really needed to be done. (foam roller, stretching, warm ups, core work, grip work, gpp work, etc. List is never ending at the moment)

Thankfully, my job allows to come and go as I please, and Dec/Jan were good months. However, I feel Feb is going to hurt as I have been slacking.

Today is going to be back/bi’s and light recovery for lower body. Then Wend off, and hard lower on Thurs. I would like to try and hit farmers and the 1000lb tire again. It’s been 3 or 4 weeks since I last did it, hopefully there have been some gains…

Is a ginormous piece of birthday cake as good for you as a protien shake before bed?

Monopoly

42

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
Is a ginormous piece of birthday cake as good for you as a protien shake before bed?
[/quote]

Might be even better. It probably took less time to prepare and tasted better. Win-win.

43

1/29/08 back and bi’s

Today was the first time in a while I did not want to go train, and I should have listened to my body.

bent over row with log
log (90lbs)x15
180x12
270x10
270x10
270x8

seated hammer strength row machine
4 sets working up to 6 plates for 12 reps or something

close grip v-bar pulldowns
4 sets, worked up to the stack for 8 reps

face pulls
3 sets, very tired now and not into it at all.

ab work

3 sets of reverse hyper

The local guy I have bought supps from forever has been really cool about my training. He offered to give me a $100.00 credit for free stuff to cover my entry fee, awesome! As a result, I went a little wild. I got some bcaa’s, glutamine, waxy maize, and more protien today. I mixed this all together for my workout and had some before during and after. It tasted like someone dumped the chalk bowl in my chocolate shake, fun. I am interested to see if the addition of this stuff makes any difference.

Today is off, and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully I’m a little refreshed for a good day tomorrow.

Monopoly

44

1/31 me lower

Mixed bag today. Lots of good food, work went well, and I’m not sure how I feel about the workout yet.

stretching and cardio

cleans from the box, 4 sets of 6 reps or so

box squat

135x12
225x8
315x6
375x3-these were all done to a very low box

415x3 added breifs and went to box at parallel
475x3
505x1
565x1 added knee wraps, light weight
600xmiss, this was for a 5lb pr. I don’t know what happend, I was over halfway up and I started to drift back, my partner kinda caught me and it killed the lift. I was going to leave it alone, but 2 other guys were like “you had that bro, hit it again” So, I fucking cranked those wraps hard, took some ammonia and…

600xmiss, motherfucker. This one wasn’t even close, as soon as I came off the box my low back rounded forward hard.

went back to a lower box

315x10
315x10

Low back now fried

reverse hyper
3 sets of 10 at very light weight

standing ab work
4 sets of varying reps and weight, found a new favorite ab exericse here

seated hamstring curl
4 sets of 10-15 reps, very slow with hard crunches

Lots more stretching and foam roller work. Went home and iced the back a bunch. Feels better today, going to go have it worked on so I can destroy it tomorrow.

I have mixed feeling on the squat. On one hand, it’s been over 2 months since I squatted, and I think it was around 405 for a double.

On the other hand, 600 should be easy for me right now. This again goes to the root of perhaps my biggest problem. Low back and hamstring weakness. I will continue to attack these 2 areas with a vengance.

Also, my partner hit 600 easy raw and natty. I hate him.

Next time I max squat I want 625 with breifs.

Monopoly

45

Saturday, event day

Let’s just start out by saying that a ME squat was probably a poor decision. This is a nice way of saying I’m a fucking retard.

Back and legs are shot today. Did lots of stretching, warm ups, and bike but was not feeling it.

log
log (90lbs)x8
180x5
225x3
245x2
270xmiss, reset then x1
270x1, reset then miss
270xmiss, reset then 1, do you see a theme here??

250x missed at the top like 3 times

clean was much harder than it should have been on all attempts. My back was very tired and not right, so I fought everything. On a good note, the 3 good lifts at 270 felt very easy. Although this is not a pr, it’s progress.

farmer walks
205/hand for 200ft with 1 turn

255/hand for 200ft with 1 turn - quite possibly the hardest thing I have done in my life. Entire body was wrecked with pain. My knees and back were letting me know they were not happy, hands hurt, feet, neck, shoulder, etc.

I almost called it a day after the run at 205 because I honestly had no desire to be training. Thankfully, my partner pushed me and we got a good run in. I am now sure that I can take 275/hand for the distance. If I made this work on a horrible day with the nastiest farmer handles ever made, the other should be good to go.

We were supposed to train again today, but that is not going to happen. I am having a hard time doing anything other than laying down at the moment. I will get a treatment on Monday, and another on Wend. Also going to get a good massage during the week. We plan on hitting all the events in the contest next Saturday, so it will be a light training week.

On another note, new Brock Lesner fan here! He looked like a man possesed last night, and I am excited to watch him progress. The HW division has sucked for a while IMO, and I think he may be the guy. Never really liked him in the WWE, weird? Guy is a beast!

Monopoly

46

2/4 me upper

Had a great art session on my knee and back. He was able to get much deeper than previous on both spots. I felt great after treatment. I did notice that my back was tender while benching, and it is sore today.

manpoon press (bench off foam roller)

135x12 to chest
135x8 to chest
225x8 add foam roller
275x5
315x3
375x1 easy
395xmiss, pushed back over my head and tweaked right shoulder
395xmiss, so fucking close
385x1 good lift, this is a pr

seated overhead military lockouts-pins on highest position

135x8
225x6
275x3
315x3-pretty sure this is a pr
335x3-pr for sure
350x1-pr

tried doing a giant set for chest but shoulder was not having it. I did 2 sets of flys…

rope pushdowns superset with

rear delt machine

5 sets of high rep work here. I found a new attachment/position on the rope pushdowns last week and I like it.

abs

That was it. Doesn’t seem like much but I was there for 2 hours. I really thought 405 was going to fall on the bench today. I realize this is a pathetic number, but I’m not really training for my bench either. Still, it’s a number I should be above and think I will hit before this training cycle is over. You’d think I’d be happy with 2 pr’s, but nooooooooooo I want more dammit!

Monopoly

47

After the workout on Monday I have taken it easy. I trained accessory work on Thurs, pretty much hit every body part. I did go heavy on reverse hypers, and I paid for it. Up to 7 plates for a set of 8. I had so much blood in my low back it was sick. On a scale of 1-10 it was a solid 6 in pain. I had to go stretch and foam roll to keep working out.

Today was event day. I took it easy as we are also training tomorrow.

medley
200lb atlas stone carry for 40ft
load 200lb keg from 10 ft to 50"
load 200lb sandbag from 10 ft to 50"
load 240lb atlas stone to 60in
press 200lb log

did this 2 times, then upped the weights

240lb atlas stone pickup and carry for 40ft
load 200lb keg from 10ft to 50" platform
load 200lb sandbag from 10ft to 50" platform
load 290lb atlas stone to 60" platform
clean and press 240lb log

Felt good and quick. The stones were done with no tacky, so I am happy with that. The pickup was much harder than the load on 290.

log
240x2
250x2
285x2-PR bigtime! I have never pressed that once, let alone twice! The boys got me. I told them to load it to 275 and I am not used to their log setup (10" steel log with specific plates) The first rep flew up, second was good and just missed a third press. I got done and was stoked, then they told me it was 285, made my day! Now I am thinking I may be good for 4 or 5 reps in the contest depending on how deep in the event list it is.

Going to try and relax and eat today. My back is a little sore, but should be okay for farmers and either truck pull or yoke tomorrow…

Monopoly

48

Monopoly,
When you pick up a 200 lb Atlas Stone, I’m pretty sure it feels heavier than a 200 lb deadlift. Now, I’ve never touched a stone before, so what would be the equivalent deadlift that could approximate the intensity of lifting a round 200 lb stone from the ground?

49

[quote]Dispenser wrote:
Monopoly,
When you pick up a 200 lb Atlas Stone, I’m pretty sure it feels heavier than a 200 lb deadlift. Now, I’ve never touched a stone before, so what would be the equivalent deadlift that could approximate the intensity of lifting a round 200 lb stone from the ground?[/quote]

Oh man, that’s a tough question. A big part of stones is the grip holding onto it. Other than that, technique imho plays a big part in stones.

One thing you can do to try and simulate stones are very low zercher pickups, puts the body in a similar position.

However, I would say a 300lb stone is similar to a 400lb deadlift? Maybe not? I honestly don’t know! I could tell you my max stone has been 385, and my max dead was 615?

Monopoly

50

Thanks, Monopoly.

I never tried a Zercher “anything”, but I just found some videos of variations on YouTube. It looks like it would hurt the elbows because of how focused all the weight is, in a tiny area. Do you ever have any problems with your elbows from Zercher Squats/Deadlifts/Pickups?

I know what you mean about technique being a big part of it. I’ve watched probably every MetRx Strongest Man and often these big strong guys will get humiliated by an unfamiliar apparatus, simply because they don’t have the technique down. I notice on the Atlas stones, especially the heavier ones, the technique seems to be to deadlift it off the ground to knee height, then sit back on your haunches to get it higher against your chest, then stand up with it, then arch your back to thrust it up on the stand. I tried this at work with a sealed case of paper (roughly 50 pounds) and it seemed to work!

I think it would be fun to work on stones for a bit, just to experience them, but it’s not something 24 Hr Fitness normally stocks. :frowning:

51

Zerchers don’t feel great, that’s for sure. But, alot of the strongman stuff is kinda that way. They will get you strong however!

2/11 me/re upper

incline barbell press
135x10
135x10
135x10

push press/push jerk
100x8
135x8
175x6
225x3
225x5
225x5 - just working on good form and speed here. wanted to go for a max but after max log on Sat, I didn’t think it was the best idea. My left wrist was also bothering me again.

high incline db press
60x15
80x10
100x8
went to higher incline
100x3 - tweaked left elbow here
50lbs + mini band x 13

ez curl press (hands narrow off chest)
125 + mini band x 20
175 + mini band x 13
175 + mini band x 11

we really need a 7ft ez curl bar…

tri pushdowns, standing abs. 5 sets of lots reps

foam roller, stretching

shoulders, elbows and wrists hurtin bad after this one. lots of ice last night

Monopoly

52

1/13 me lower

Shitty day professionaly and personally. The only good thing was that it fueled the workout.
deadlift
tried used mini band looped under, that didn’t work so well. Snapped it on the third rep…

Went to chains, approx 120lb in chain at the top of the lift. We just looped them over the ends of the bar.

135+chainsx8
225+chainsx6
315+chainsx5
405+chainsx3
455+chainsx2 - added briefs here
495+chainsx1 - pr for sure, 620 or so at the top

log cleans
180x6
220x4
220x4
265x4 in 60 seconds, just missed the 5th. More on this…

leg press superset with reverse hyper. 3 sets of 10 reps with light weight on both lifts

I think I came as close as possible to tearing my left bicep on the missed 5th rep. The elbow has been bothering me since last week, and it hurt yesterday as well. I don’t know if it was the bicep tie it that was causing pain or what, but the log cleans were not doing any good for sure. It is very sore right now. So, now I am going to get ART tomorrow and Friday. I have to leave for work sat-mon, so we are going to train events on Friday afternoon. Not sure what I will be able to do with the bicep, yoke for sure and something else?

Deadlifts felt good, no back pain which was a plus. It’s not bothering me now either, so maybe this has healed up some?

Diet sucked azz today

Monopoly

53

Well, not much training wise to post since the 12th. I took that wend and thurs off in hopes of having a good session on Friday. Well, I didn’t make it and I had to leave early on Saturday morning for a biz trip. Left to come back home yesterday morning at 4am.

The good news is that I made it to train.

axel clean and press (ironmind axel)

100x5
100x5
145x5
205x5
235x3
255x3
270x5-this was done over 2 minutes (PR!)
235x5-clean once, press 5 times
My press has improved finally. I could never have pressed out 270 for 5 reps in my last training cycle.

front squats
135x5
225x5
245x5
275x5
All done with rehband belt and knee sleeves. Back felt good, these reps were very fast and not even close to max effort.

Overall, I am happy with how the day went. My left bicep, left wrist, right knee, and low back are all pretty jacked up. Standing for 2 days at a trade show did not help matters for sure. I was working with the axel as it sounds like we may have that in our comp in lieu of the log. I hope this is the case as I am much better with the axel.

Today is just going to be some assistance work. Low back, hammies, back, light bicep, tricep and some core. We are going to do a full run of the events at comp weights on Saturday, so Thurs and Friday are going to be taken off.

Monopoly

54

Weekend event training

axel clean and press
135x5
135x5
185x5
225x3
255x2-pathetic
275x1-even worse

push press out of rack
275x miss
235x5
255x3

Good god, this was horrible. I don’t know if they are going to allow a rest on the belt during the clean portion of the lift, so I worked on cleaning the bar to just under my chest and resting it there. Needless to say, it’s much harder than resting it on the belt then just popping it up to your shoulders.

We also broke down my form and surprise surprise, it’s shit! On the initial dip of my push press I am coming forward and putting all the weight on the front of my feet, basically no hip/ass drive, all quads. This makes sense as my knees have been killing me, and when I miss weights its usually due to throwing them out in front of me. I am feeling terrible about this lift now. I don’t know how I am going to clean in the show, and I don’t know what form I will use to press it out. I am doing this half ass shitty split right now, I can’t seem to commit to either the double knee or full split. I think it’s too late in the game for this show to try and relearn anything, fuck!

yoke
560x90ft
560x90ft
660x90ft
760x90ft - fast, pr! This felt really good, I think I can take 800 the full 75-90ft for a decent time now. If it’s 850, different story…

truck pull simulation with prowler
2 runs of 90ft. We just piled the weight up on this, then had someone stand behind the prowler and add extra resistance while pulling on a rope while I drug it. I was pulling with an ironmind harness. The second set was very hard. My quads were on fire, and I puked my guts out as soon as I had caught my breath…

stones
4 set series
255 to 65"
275 to 55"
300 to 55"
335 to miss?

Ouch, this did not go well. That 335 felt so much harder than it should have. In my feable attempt to get it up, I re-injured my already fucked up back. I tried loading a 255 after the pain subsided and nearly blacked out after the lap, not good. Going in soon for an ART session, also going to the local community center for some pool work and hot tub.

So now, I’m worried about the stones also. This is what I get I suppose for not training a series of loads, just 3 and 4 loads of the same weight stone to the same height platform. Fuck, I’m just going to have to finally build a platform.

Overall, it was a shitty day. I never felt strong, my technique felt bad, and I had a injury. My partner and I trained with the HW pro here in state, and he beat me down pretty bad. He is peaking right now for sure, and huge! 6"8 and 370lbs, lifetime natty. Guy was just meant for this sport. He didn’t train too hard because he had just competed in the fit expo the week before. He is going to the HI show, so it will be good to have someone else close to work with while I am there.

My partner also had a good day after a hard night out on the town. He loaded the 400lb stone to 55" for a bigtime PR. Last time he tried this stone he could barely lap it.

I don’t know how training is going to go this week, I will play it by ear and just see how my body feels I guess?

Feeling beaten already,
Monopoly

55

We all have bad days, man. What’s funny about them is that they’re often followed by really great days, from out of nowhere.

It’s mysterious stuff.

We can all lift more than we think is possible, with the right attitude.

Laugh in between sets to stay loose. Have fun. Then, focus and attack the weight with both aggression and a very positive mental attitude and it’ll make up for most any physical issue.

56

2/25/08 re/me upper

bench
barx30
135x10
add purple band
95x8 - now benching off foam roller
135x5
add another purple band
175x5
225x5
275x1 - this may have been a pr? not sure
135 with 2 purple bands x 10 to chest, ouch

seated db overhead
40x12
60x12
80x8
60x11

seated dip machine
felt shitty, 4 bad sets here

one arm tri reverse grip pushdowns to failure, then overhand grip pushdowns to failure. 4 sets

face pulls
3 sets

standing ab work, 3 sets

Just feeling beat up. Elbows, wrist and shoulders all hurt. Tweaked left shoulder when racking one of the bench sets. The way we had the bands set up made it less than stellar when racking and unracking the weight. Just saw my ART guy this morning, he spent almost an hour with me which was great. Not sure if I am going to train today or not.

Going to make one last push before the show, force feedings are going to be in effect the next 12 days, also going to 2 tabs/day of drol, and 1 amp/day of sust. Who knows if it will make a difference.

Monopoly

57

Not much activity since the last post. Trained light back, bi’s, hammies, abs and lower back on Thursday.

Diet and supps have not been what they should. I have been really busy running around as I just sold 2 properties and there seems to be a never ending laundry list of stuff that had to be done. Also, I am out of drol and sust, poor planning on my part and stuff that was supposed to be here over 2 weeks ago still has not arrived, fun.

I switched over to test e that a buddy had, but it has not been 1 per day. Had some good treatment however, and the back was feeling a bit better. Decided to have another go at event work on saturday. Kept the volume VERY low, and tried to be very intense on work sets.

axel clean and press
2 warm up sets
255x3 clean and press - this felt pretty good. Got 3 reps in about 30-40 seconds. I feel good that I can hit 4 reps in 75 seconds at the show.

farmers
1 warm up set at 200/hand for 200ft
1 run of 255/hand for 200ft with one turn - I RAN with this, it felt very good and fast. Great confidence booster. I may actually turn in a decent time at the comp on this event.

stones
this is where I hurt my back last week, but I wanted to test things out and see how it was doing. All loads done with no tacky

245x1
245x1
300x1
335x1 - not bad, some pain and weakness but it went up. This is the last event in the show, and I have a feeling it’s going to be rough. My back will probably be shot at this point, so I doubt I will load all 5 stones, the last one is 385 which would be a PR I think?

I did re-pop my knee on a warm up set of SSB squats, it’s now the size of a grapfruit again, oh well. I don’t think it will affect performance, it just hurts. I am going today and Wend morning before I leave for some treatment.

I will go very light today, prob some overhead, tricep work, lots of stretching, some reverse hyper and abs.

Monopoly

58

Good luck in HI this weekend man.

59

[quote]Kalle wrote:
Good luck in HI this weekend man. [/quote]

Thanks bro, I’m gonna need it!

Monopoly

60

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
Kalle wrote:
Good luck in HI this weekend man.

Thanks bro, I’m gonna need it!

Monopoly[/quote]

Yeah I saw two of the guys going out their on Saturday the lineup is stacked man. Should be a great show.