Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

[T3hPwnisher]

It’s a weird human psychology thing for sure. It’s like people who make fun of folks that order a McDonalds combo meal and ask for a diet coke. That makes the MOST sense in that situation: you’re eating a bunch of garbage, you don’t need to drink liquid sugar on top of it.

I run into it the other way too as a low carb dude. People instinctively think that means I’m losing weight if I’m eating like that, so along with getting reduced carbs, I get reduced portions on the stuff I DO ask for. Again, makes no sense; if I’m not eating carbs, I need MORE fat and protein: not less. But instead, I’ll go to Panda Express and ask for veggies instead of rice and get the smallest possible scoop of chicken they can manage. My wife will get fried rice and the “6 year old left unattended with ice cream scooper” scoop of chicken.

We’re a curious species.

[cstan097]

Hey man, quick question. In your opinion, what are some good numbers to hit on the main lifts before trying out a strongman comp?

[T3hPwnisher]

Strongman is honestly too diverse a sport to give that an answer. Different contest will use different weights, and technique and athleticism can overcome a deficit of static strength.

Find a show first and see what the weights are in the novice category. If they are slightly out of reach, sign up and challenge yourself.

[mr.v3lv3t]

@T3hPwnisher

Find a show first and see what the weights are in the novice category. If they are slightly out of reach, sign up and challenge yourself.

The best advice about competing in a strength sport, bodybuilding show aside perhaps, there is.

@cstan097 it’s 100% worth a last place finish to find out if you even dig doing strongman competitions.

[cstan097]

@t3hpwnisher @mr.v3lv3t

Thanks for the advice guys. My worry wouldn’t be just finishing last. It would be not even being able to lift any of the implements hahaha.

[dagill2]

Good running today man. I’d say enjoy it or good luck, but I don’t think either is appropriate. I don’t think you believe in luck, and you definitely don’t believe in enjoying running.

[mortdk]

Maybe late maybe not. Good luck on the run today.
It’s fantastic to see a super strong dude run a half marathon, when everybody says you can’t do cardio and be strong.
But then again you are a cyborg.

[T3hPwnisher]

@dagill2 Thanks man! Your comment gave me something to chuckle about on my way.

@mortdk Really appreciate it dude! Definitely had to do it to prove it to myself.

---

Finished with a time of 2:00:36 and met my 2 goals of never stopping and not taking any water breaks. I did a big write up on my blog (google “mythical strength” for those not already in the know), but to sum up, having my wife alongside me was huge because she was able to pace and talk me off some ledges, I ran the race off a zero carb Rockstar, 2 poptarts and a quest bar, my feet aren’t doing too bad, the last 3 miles are the worst ones, and I feel confident that, if I wanted a sub 2, I coulda gotten it. Also, I was the only one wearing a t-shirt and shorts for our 40 degree run, so that’s cool.

Was a good experience getting out of my wheelhouse like this and finding a new way to challenge myself. For now, the focus is on my next comp, and then we’ll see from there.

[The_Myth]

Congrats.

@T3hPwnisher

google “mythical strength”

We’re brothers. I didn’t know that was your blog, will be following it now.

JTM are my initials and I took TM and expanded it to The Myth. I’m also heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell, so there is that.

You look very happy in the pic, congrats!

[mortdk]

That’s a great picture as Myth said.

But I’m a bit disappointed that you didn’t shoot for a sub 2 hour race… Kidding man! great job, Quality.

[simo74]

Really nice job. There are plenty of people who train 3-4 days a week for their first half and run times slower than this. You should be proud of yourself. You got to share it with your wife and challenge yourself to do something you don’t normally do or haven’t really trained for. Well done.

[dagill2]

Awesome write up man. Sounds like a great experience, as well as a subtle reminder that GPP is probably something I should care about

[flappinit]

Awesome dude. Never stopping is always a goal for me in races like that. People stop to save some stamina and even if it helps I feel like it’s just stopping short of really pushing yourself, all to strategize a way to finish. Again, cool for them, but not stopping is how you know you can “run a half marathon”, otherwise you couldn’t say that.

[T3hPwnisher]

@The_Myth Thanks man. Absolutely happy after that photo. Was a great experience, especially to share with the Mrs. Good reassurance that I’m not dead yet, haha. I read Campbell in undergrad: forget which class. Can definitely understand the influence. Creative expansion on your initials as well.

@mortdk Thanks man! I had to keep myself in check on the finish time. Had to remember Dan John’s “The goal is to keep the goal the goal”.

@simo74 Much appreciated dude. I’m absolutely proud of it. I was curious if I could make it work, and proof of concept is always rewarding like that. I love finding out what can be done if you make it happen.

@dagill2 Thanks man. GPP was for sure the hero of the day that day. Can never have enough.

@flappinit Thanks dude. You absolutely get it. I’ve seen first hand the benefit on finish times when employing strategic stops, but it just isn’t in the spirit of it for me. It’s reassuring to know that, if the need arose, I could move for 2 hours, haha.

---

AM WORKOUT

SUPERSET (press-pulldown)

Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x166
3x191
8x211
8x191

Lat pulldowns 110
6x14

GIANTSETS (press-dip-raise-pulldown. Sets 1 and 3: behind the neck press. Sets 2 and 4: axle strict press. Sets 3 and 6: log press)

Behind the neck barbell press 125
1x10
1x9

Axle strict press 166
1x10
1x8

Log clean and press away 150
2x10

Dips
6xFailure

DB lateral raise 30
3x12
3x11

Band pull aparts
6x12

Poundstone curls w/axle
1x100

Notes: 3:45 between heavy presses, 2:00 between giant sets. Best pressing day I’ve had in a LONG time. No longer dizzy on the press. Those 2 a days were definitely the culprit. 211 felt light in my hands, and I hit the goal I had with 8 reps. Backoff sets fell apart on me, but salvaged as much as I could. Relearning the log: where my eyes point is huge. Keeps me balanced.

I’ve come up with a plan to get in more backwork: I’m going to endeavor to hit a set of some sort of back work whenever I come home from dropping my kid off at school. I have to come through the garage for that anyway, so I can hit a set of chins or DB rows or something. Daily work has always gone far for me.

[T3hPwnisher]

First morning of daily back work kicked off with 1x20 for 105lb dumbbell rows. I don’t plan to log every single time I do something, but do wanna capture some of the ideas I come up.

I’m thinking that, if I use a variety of different back movements, I won’t have the normal elbow issues. Rows some days, chins others, maybe even have the pulldown set up and ready for me.

[dagill2]

Have you considered a climber style grip board? Grip work and back work, 2 in 1.

[T3hPwnisher]

That’s always on my list of “nice to haves”, and one day when I’m settled down forever I’ll probably set one up. Right now I don’t want to go about installing anything like that. Also curious if my elbows can hold up anymore.

Climbing rope would be money too. Great grip work.

[Voxel]

Climber here, be very cautious of hangboards.

Now, as with lifting, you’ll find different camps with different philosophies but the people subscribing to the idea that hangboards are best left to people that have been climbing for two years are also the same group of people that tend to have less finger injuries.

By the same token that some individuals can train the squat everyday without overuse injuries (Bulgarian) you’ll find some people that can start hangboarding early and do it often but empirically I’d say these people are outliers.

Rope climbing is safer. One worthwhile tool that I haven’t seen outside of climbing is claspers (see image),

These you can make yourself rather easily and you can use them for more than just pull-ups, specifically you can do the exercise shown here

Forearm Antagonist Muscle Training for Climbers

that I know have solved forearm and elbow issues among people I know.

Have you written earlier in your log about your elbows? Do you know what the problem is and how to alleviate it?

I have a book on climbing injuries that has a section devoted to different types of elbow issues and how to rehab/prehab the respective ones. If you’d like I could open it up tomorrow evening and relay whatever is in there regarding your specific symptoms if you’d want some potentially new ideas.

[T3hPwnisher]

Oh man, I assumed he meant a peg board like in Vision Quest. I wouldn’t think to use an actual climbing board, haha. That’s too much for me.

My elbows just get beat up when I do too much pulling, especially with my bodyweight. Just something I have to be mindful of in my programming. I’ve solved it before by keeping training sub-max.

[Voxel]

Where?