Appreciate the link and personal experience dude. Good to know. Think it might end up in my gym.
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So even though Iām training for a competition right now, Iāve already signed up for my next one. Going to be competing in the CA Mid-state Fair Strongest Man level 2 show. Iām competing up a class, since there is no 200lb class and I donāt want to cut to 175. Yeah, I COULD make that cut, but doing it while traveling with my family just wouldnāt be cool, and I want to enjoy my time in CA. Besides; this means I get to lift heavier weights.
Here are the events/weights. Iāll be competing as a menās middle weight.
That log is tough, but log has been moving great in my training. Iām excited about the car deadlift. Iām gonna wing the carry medley with what I have at home, practice with the stone of steel for the stone medley, and throw a slamball/kettlebell to prep for the keg toss.
I still have a fitness test coming up in May, so I plan to drop a little excess chub and get better at running between my Apr contest and that event, but after that Iāll be gaining some weight and zeroing in on events.
Still plan to get back to 4 days of lifting post comp. I need to get in some more assistance work and volume, and that should do the trick. Should allow me to build up some more static strength too.
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AM WORKOUT
Log viper and press away 170
5x10
SSB squats 345
7x3
Circus dumbbell clean and press (right arm only)
1x85
1x105
1x115
1x120
5x125 (3/5 successful)
Band pull aparts
7x20
Notes: More screwy formatting here. Workout started out as a 4 movement circuit of CDB, squat, pull apart and log. Started the circuit with 115 on the CDB, next round was 120, rest was 125. After 5 rounds, I took out the log and stuck with CDB, pull apart and squat.
Finally hit competition weight on the CDB, and it felt pretty smooth. Iāve learned I have to lean to the side to the point of feeling off balanced/uncomfortable, and from there I can effectively transfer more weight into the bell. Leg drive felt solid; feet actually left the floor a few times. This has been a big confidence boost for me. If I can hit a few clean reps in the AM, I should be good for the competition.
Kept the squats on the heavy side so that the volume wouldnāt be too great. Shooting for a deadlift PR this Saturday.
No weigh in today.
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Wow, those are some heavy weights for that comp. Yes the log is heavy, but a 280lb implement (cross/stone) to finish a carry medley and a stone series up to 360lbs??!? Yikes.
Itās going to be a challenge for sure, but that will hopefully force me to grow, haha. Iām at least happy I have a SoS to train with this time around. Iāve had to just wing stones for so long.
Iām going to see if I can push the bodyweight a little higher without getting too fat leading up to the competition, but ultimately this is just going to be for fun. I love the area and have wanted to go back for a while.
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How do you compensate for your left arm? Do you just not train it when preparing for the competition?
My right arm can handle 80lb Press no issue, but my left arm may snap. Ha.
For the first 2 cycles of competition training I was training both the left and the right arm, but these last 2 cycles Iāve only trained the right arm. Itās really only something to the effect of 7ish reps a week, so I donāt concern myself with imbalances or anything along that line for such a short duration. I figure itās a very rare situation where Iāll need to press with the left arm, and Iāve been pretty time crunched for training, so anywhere I can shave off helps.
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Dude I loved doing the keg toss my first show. Probably the most spectator-friendly event. It took a while to get it down - I found you have to stare at the keg the entire time as a follow through until itās over the bar. It improved my accuracy, & helped insure I didnāt get popped with a falling keg.
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Great tip man; Iāll have to try it. Never did any throwing before.
For sure man. One other thing I noticed was a lot of the competitors, myself included, would stand a little too far away from the bar contraption when throwing. We would often miss not because of height, but because the keg was just too far out in front of the bar. I had to inevitably stand much closer to the thing than I was initially comfortable with.
Also, Iām sure youād do this already but donāt let them rush you. Arrange the kegs exactly how you want them.
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Definitely. Thatās one of those things Iāve learned from a few competitions; when they ask āathlete readyā, donāt say yes until you are.
Good tip on distancing; Iāll have to watch out for that.
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I just wanted to pop in here and say thanks again for the link to the Jon Anderson ebook. I finally had a chance to read it cover to cover (after my initial skim through diet and training sections) and Iām officially a fan.
It was a very motivational read for me. I also really enjoyed the experiences written from the perspective of Jasha Faye of his times training with Jon, eye opening.
Iām already looking for the nearest set of stairs (other than the 14 in my house) to go annihilate myself on!
Glad to hear it dude! Itās a great read, especially for free. The mindset makes a lot of sense. Writing is a little āhero worshipā-y at times, but still entertaining.
Best of luck on the stairs!
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Yes, I found this as well but after the whole swimming/barge fiasco near the beginning I kind of switched my brain to read it more as inspiring fiction, rather than taking each word for absolute truth (it could all be 100% true, but Iām a skeptic so I wouldnāt have enjoyed it as much if I was trying to validate each and every experience they referred to - Eg. top-locking, really?). Jon just happened to be the hero who overcame his many obstacles along the way in this short story. Entertaining read for sure.
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nice! from what iāve heard of the CDB, itās a beast to be reckoned with.
Appreciate it Duke. Iām honestly just not a fan of it because itās more a gimmick/trick than it is a strength lift. Yeah, you need strong shoulders to move big weight, but for the most part itās about positioning and timing to get it set up right. Iāll miss a rep because of poor positioning, rather than because the strength wasnāt there.
But, with strongman having its origins in circuses and performances, that sorta stuff is just par for the course.
seems like a silly lift.
well you learn something new everyday! I always thought the origin of strongman was a bunch of dudes that wanted to see who was the strongest or something. lol
Yeah, strongman the sportās origins lay in āWorldās Strongest Manā, which was always a TV show first and a sport second, and in turn draws itās origins from circus strongman performers. Thereās still a rich tradition of those dudes around too. Dimitar Savatinov was actually a bulgarian circus performer before cracking into the big leagues.
Some of the events in strongman the sport draw from other ātests of manhoodā as well. The Atlas stones very much borrow from Scottish stonelifting culture.
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Do you consider The Arnold to be more of the Strongman title to win, or do you think itās much the same as WSM? Or do you not really give a fuck either way and just like lifting up weird shit no matter whoās watching or following, haha?
Iād say that winning the Arnold determines who is the worldās strongest man while winning Worldās Strongest Man determines who is the best strongman, as confusing as that seems. WSM will always be a TV show first and an athletic event second, and so it does a good job of making things visually exciting for viewers. The Arnold is far more about pushing athletes well to their limits, which, as a competitor you get, but a spectator wonāt really get the difference between a 900lb yoke and a 1200lb one.
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