Wait—isn’t this the definition of hard-core? (Haha.) Nice work, in any case.
I really enjoyed your photos—what amazing landscapes!—but it’s nice to see you back in the gym.
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haha is it? I meant it in opposition to all those motivational instagram posts about how commited these folks are and whatnot but you might be right.
Thanks mate! The views I had won’t cease to amaze me! I am sure I will be all caught up in the gym in no time.
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Forget how pretty the Swedish summers are!
Not sure if you are aware but you can get a bladder that has a filter on it, can get a few liters in those and they are much quicker than the straws. Used when I went backpacking last fall, well worth it imo.
Note: I don’t know anything about this brand, just the first result in google
Also, yea leaning forward on heavy front squats is just how it goes, everything close to 1rm territory is a fight to stay upright more than anything else.
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That bladder seems in fact much more practical, if it is quicker than the straw. I mean it did it’s job but man was that slow. I will definitely upgrade for the next hike, thanks for the suggestion!
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14.06.
1 tandem 14" axle deadlift
3 x 3 @ 435 kg
Good starting point, not too difficult. Hella awkward though.
2 power stairs simulation
3 x 10 @ 130 kg.
3 sled push
3 x (2x10 m) @ 230 kg
Notes:
- still feeling very fatigued obviously. 4 weeks to go.
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Never seen that before—wild!
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In competition it’s gonna be a like 4 meters long custom axle with big wheels. Looks even wilder, haha. But we are looking forward to that because we both have to adjust our stance a little right now to fit next to each other on the bar, haha. It’s gonna be 430 kg for reps in 60 seconds. That won’t be our strongest event but it will be okay.
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17.06.
1 axle clean and press
10 x 1 @ 110 kg EMOM
- 3 presses on the last round
- alternating between push jerk and split jerk
2 paused btn split jerk
3 x 3 @ 110 kg
Easy
3 seated btn press (no back support, full rom)
3 x 8 @ 50 kg
Easy
4 face pulls
5 x 15 @ s4
5 triceps cable kneeling
3 x 12 @ s3
- Still playing catch up with strength and body weight after vacation obv.
- Fuck me dead, this EMOM was horribly hard! Much harder than last time. I had to dig deep for this.
- the power stairs thing apparently did a number on my biceps. The left one was in noticeable pain during today’s training. Manageable but needs to be observed.
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18.06.
I was NOT feeling great going into this. But holy fuck I got shit done! It was exzremely hard and took a long time (mainly because of the setup for the medley, which I did solo).
1 tandem 14" axle deadlift
2 x 4 @ 430 kg
1 x 2 @ 430 kg
We are roughly the same height but I have significantly longer legs and therefore a longer distance to lockout. He is also a faster (and stronger) puller, which makes things challenging. We corrected things a bit on the second set by him slowing down his pull, which makes it harder for him but better for us as a duo since he can pull more reps than me anyway. That worked but I was already fatigued and the 4th was hard for me.
2 yoke into farmer’s medley
15 meters each way
3 sets @ 275 kg yoke, 105 kg farmer’s
Misloaded the yoke by 35 kg. Lol. 
But it worked out alright.
3 sandbag to shoulder
5 x 1 @ 107 kg
1 @ 112 kg
1 @ 115 kg
I did some of the stupidest MacGyver stuff yet I think, by just tying weight plates to the bag but I didn’t hurt myself
God damn I destroyed myself with this one. I had to alter my original plan because I am away all weekend and have to leave at 7 am on Friday. So I have to skip that day.
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24.06.
It’s been a few days. I was a bit sick last week and then the weekend happened.
16 hours in the car and a whole weekend of subpar eating and drinking beer all day. I was in the alps fpr the 30th birthday of a good friend. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful scenery but with all the travel and social events + uni exams, this June is qay too packed. Now the anxiety os setting in because of the upcoming comps. Now it’s head down and full steam ahead for the next few weeks!!
1 axle clean and press (clean every rep)
6 x 2 @ 110 kg
2 paused btn split jerk
3 x 3 @ 112,5 kg
3 paused incline axle bench press
3 x 6 @ 85 kg
4 face pulls
5 x 12 @ s5
5 kneeling triceps extensions
3 x 8-10 @ s5
Notes:
- With the circumstances in mind, this session wasn’t even that bad. Although the axle cleans took a good chunk of my soul out.
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25.06.
1 tall block power clean
2 x 2 @ 90 kg
2 x 2 @ 100 kg
2 x 2 @ 105 kg
Rusty.
2 sandbag to shoulder
1 @ 107kg
1 @ 112 kg
1 @ 117 kg (filled plates in the bag. Works, I guess)
2 x 2 @ 107 kg
3 power stairs simulation
1 x 10 @ 140 kg standing on 2 red bumpers
1 x 10 @ 140 kg on 2 reds + 1 black
1 x 10 @ 150 kg on 2 reds + 1,5 blacks
4 sandbag carry
2 x 80 m @ ca. 80 kg
5 db hammer curls
2 x 10 @ 22,5 kg
1 x 10 @ 15 kg
Notes:
- Originally wanted to train stones today but I was drained rather quickly and my back was already very taxed, so I decided against it and for the carries.
- I am struggling to fit every event into my schedule right now and also not over pace myself too much.
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Hardcore sandbag to shoulder there. I only have a 45 kg bag and getting it up on the shoulder and walking 50 m is pretty brutal. My technique leaves a lot to be desired. Feels like a great complement to barbell work though. Want to get a 60/70 kg at some point. But for now, even the 45 is quite humbling!
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Sandbags are a super versatile and also extremely humbling piece of training kit! Also the way they are packed makes much more of a difference than the weight. I’ rather use a tightly packed 120 kg bag than a loosely packed 100 kg one. Unofrtunately ours are closer to the latter category. Well makes handling them in comp easier, I guess.
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27.06.
Incredibly hot and humid. FML!
1 axle clean and press (clean once)
11 @ 100 kg
11 @ 100 kg - failed 12th
11 @ 100 kg
Ok… to be able to hit 3 sets consistently for 11 reps but not once be able to do or try the 12th is really weird.
2 btn split jerk
15 x 2 EMOM @ 112,5 kg
I’m just gonna say it - I am proud of myself. Doing this without cutting short after I was already dead from the axle in this weather.
3 seated btn press without back support
3 x 10 @ 44 kg (12 kg kettlebells dangling on bands)
4 lat pull down
5 x 12 @ s12
5 chest supported db reverse flys
3 x 15 @ 10 kg
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28.07.
1 tandem 14" axle deadlift
5 @ 435 kg
2 x 2 @ 435 kg
2 atlas stones
Buuuuunch of fails with my 128 kg nemesis stone. Used real tacky and that made the pick super easy but I couldn’t muster up an extension. Super annoying but we know how it went last time.
3 yoke/ farmer’s medley
245 kg into 115 kg p.h. for ca. 18 meters
3 sets
4 sled pull (simulating a trick pull).
2 sets
Found a great makeshift way here! Very nice.
Another long and exhausting session. Barely slept at all and had to go in straight from work. That didn’t help things today.
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I have been struck with the cold for the last couple of days but with a pretty unusual course for me. I didn’t feel sick at all. Just developed a cough etc. but otherwise felt really good. That’s quite strange because normally I feel shit (like the week before where I felt shit but didn’t have cold specific symptoms). Then this weekend it reached it’s peak and I felt actually sick for a day or two but now it seems to be on the mend again already. So ideally, if I’m lucky, I won’t have to miss any training sessions. Which would be highly appreciated with all the comps lined up!
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I had a chat with a veteran strongwoman tonight and it made me think about what kind of validation I’m striving for in my strongman journey. I have plenty of things to say about internal validation and what this sport has meant for me and enabled me to do over the years. I will share that in detail once the times feels right. Then there is external validation from outside of the sport and from within. From the outside, I don’t have a finalized opinion.
Our exchange made me reflect on external validation from within the sport. I am fine never reaching anything “significant” in terms of trophies or placings anymore. I have competed in the 2nd highest national league for the majority of my career. When I eventually reach the point where I can no longer compete with myself and challenge what I have accomplished or become a total laughing stock in the league, I see myself taking my hat and going out with a smile and not a grudge to be held. Having left nothing that I should have proved. For I know what my cards looked like going in and the thought that I played a respectable game.
In 2 years time, if I’m still doing it then, I will have competed in strongman for 10 consecutive years. To once hear that acknowledged in the commentary of a competition would be all the external validation I am wishing for in this sport. To hear the announcer say something along the lines of ‘Kjell is looking back at a career of 10 unbroken years in the sport. He may not place high, but you have to pay respect to someone who gives it his everything over a span of 10 years’.
And that is my answer. 
I don’t need to strike an impression and I don’t know if I want to go that distance necessarily (time will tell) but this thought kind of moved me, because I understand of the internal validation that it has behind it. All of the times others didn’t see, that seemed like meaningless efforts put into moving rusty weights in an abondoned cheese factory. Training 4 hours until the gym closed because I was homeless and needed to sneak in after the staff left, to sleep in the sauna room. And so much more. Time spent moving iron without that much progress to see. But progress wasn’t measured by kilos added to my deadlift. Progress was measured by not setting foot off the bridge or by being able to remember where I physically am and how I got there 30 minutes ago.
To once hear that in the arena and remember what the others can’t possibly know. That will be motivation enough.
I have many people to include here for one reason or another and a lot more who have moved on from Tnation since the early days, since Tnation has been somewhat of a constant in all of this. @strongmanvinny21 (if that is even the current handle? @strongmanvinny2 ), @T3hPwnisher , @simo74 and so many more. Forgive me for a list that short, but I think I am getting my message across irregardless if tag someone or not. I appreciate everyone who is following along or has been in the past.
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And please if someone reads this and is trying to read into it - I want to make it clear that lifting weights is not a solution to all of life problems. It’s not what saved me (whatever that means) and it isn’t a substitute.
But for me it has been a constant like no other.
A branch that I was holding onto and that for some reason I could keep my grip on, failing to swim in a raging river. While all the other branches seemed to slip through my fingers or just broke off the fallen tree.
But it wasn’t what pulled me out of the water.
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01.07.
1 axle clean and press
3 x 3 @ 110 kg - probably a triple PR for clean every rep
Planned to do more setds but I’m still fighting off this cold, so had to settle a bit. Third set was the best but 2nd showed some impressive limbo skills 
2 paused btn split jerks
3 x 3 @ 115 kg
3 axle incline bench press
2 x 6 @ 90 kg - long pauses
1 x 6 @ 90 kg - only last rep paused
Skipped the rest to allow for recovery. Didn’t feel good but I survived. Rocky prep, this one.
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I am so honored to be a part of that. You have been a total inspiration in all that you have overcome.
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