Your blog and 1 to 1 advice has made you one of the most influential people in shaping my training along with Dan John and Wendler. Pointing other people in the right direction is a win win all round.
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Itās amazing how difficult it is to eat at a surplus with quality food consistently. After cutting I thought it would be no problem, but I actually find it to be much more mentally taxing.
@dagill2 Means a lot dude. I am still just yelling at walls in my mind, haha. But it is cool to hear it is having an impact.
@jackolee itās such a timesink. I gave in the other day and made a PB sandwich because I just didnāt care to cook and make dishes. Also, your contest photo looks awesome dude!
Guts have been messed up today. Think itās a byproduct of the chickpea pasta I have been eating. Really seems like I canāt handle lentils.
But in good news, finally got my keg in
Now to make up for lost time and get good at pressing this.
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What does the keg weigh? Can you change the weight or add weight ??
Itās about 150 empty apparently, and plate loadable, which is what makes it such an asset. I have a loadable stone made by the same dude. For home gyms, it goes a long way.
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That looks awesome. How much did that run you and where did you get it?
You can buy them from Mike directly. Look for āMike Bartos Power Centerā and you will find his store.
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MAX EFFORT
High handle trap bar lift
5x135
5x225
3x315
1x405
1x495
1x585
1x675
3x655
Notes: 3:45 between heavy pulls. Had to cut it short due to schedule, but plan to back fill it tomorrow. Worked nights again, came home at 0630, slept till 1245 and hit this off of 1 meal. Itās good to see I can still grind when the need arises, but itād be nice to have some of these workouts happen under better circumstances. I may end up swapping out all the ME exercises at this point just to get some variety in, because I feel like Iām starting to hit walls. Could easily just switch to low handle on this.
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I love how the camera shakes when you put the weights down lol. Strong work man!
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Looks like you gave up better lights for painted walls?
@whang Thanks dude. Nice to not have to worry about pissing off a duplex mate.
@biker Nah: I havenāt painted the walls. I donāt plan to.
Found out the reason I may have not been able to hit the single I wanted on those deads was that I was coming down with a stomach bug. Spent all day yesterday on my back before finally puking at 2000 and feeling better. It seems to happen every year around this time. Used to be like every 3 years. Sucks, but at least I got it out of the way far away from my comp. Going to spend a day recovering and trying to get back in some nutrition and get back to training tomorrow.
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My wife pointed out to me that yesterday marked 4 years since the knee surgery that got this training log started. How time flies.
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Did you have a different log before this one?
Iāve got one on blogger right now that goes back to 2004, and on this site I had this one
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4 years since surgery. Keep up the good lifting.
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@biker Thanks dude!
Did a 2 a day yesterday, since I was still not 100% and didnāt have the energy to get all the way through a training session.
SESSION 1
SUPERSETS (Press-pulldown)
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x171
3x196
7x216
14xUnloaded power keg
Lat pulldown 115
6x14
SESSION 2
GIANTSETS (press-dip-raise-pulldown: Sets 1 and 4: axle, sets 2 and 5: trap bar, sets 3 and 6: keg)
Axle strict press 171
2x10
Trap bar press 110
2x10
Keg clean and press away
10xUnloaded power keg
10xPower keg loaded with all itās spacers
Dips
6xFailure
DB lateral raises 25
6x13
Band pull aparts
6x12
Poundstone Curls
103xAxle
Notes: 3:45 between heavy presses. 2:00 between giant sets. Longer rests between warm-up sets on session one, as I was still hurting pretty good. My strength is pretty much all the way back, but endurance isnāt there. I was only 1 rep away from my all time PR on the topset, and considering I was having what could only be described as āvision questsā during my sets, Iāll take that as a win.
Iām orienting this day towards success on my keg press in comp while still keeping the things that drive my axle press up. So Iām tabling the behind the neck press for now, and may even give the log press a rest (the latter more due to space constraints) while focusing on the axle and trap bar press. The axle gets me strong with a weight in front of my face, and the trap bar gets me strong pressing an uneven load with neutral grip, since the handles are so long on the trap bar that, if you donāt grab it EXACTLY right, itāll tip. I really canāt speak highly enough about the trap bar press. It feels like something Iād do if I had no goals to compete anymore, since itās neutral like a swiss bar but keeps the weight centered over your body and has a CRAZY ROM on it. I genuinely thought it was just a gimmick the first time I saw it, but I see a lot of potential in it.
Iām phasing out my normal second set last to get in more work with the keg, so Iāll be working up to a stopset with the axle and a backoff set with the keg. I went unloaded today, which is supposed to be about 150lbs, and it felt heavy on the first session, but with a little more food and rest in my system it was much more manageable in the second, so I threw in all the spacers. Next round, Iāll load it up right.
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Whenever I first saw you doing the trap bar ohp, I decided to give it a shot. I have no powerlifting or strongman ambitions and have had troubles with both of my shoulders. The neutral grip on that helps big time with my shoulders. Iāve noticed that pretty much the last year of OHPs havenāt progressed much at all. In fact Iām still barely able to rep 10 with a weight that I did years ago before my lifting hiatus. Soā¦Iām thinking the trap bar and more dumbell ohp should help get me there.
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Same here. I started doing them a little while back on opposite weeks unstead if seated non back supported ohp for the second day of the week and theyāre the shit. Iād only done them once or twice prior, but giving them a full go this time around and Iām digging it.
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@zeptrey Hope it works well. About the only gripe I have on it is high starting weight, as itās something Iād want to get a beginner doing right away but my trap bar is 65lbs.
@oldbeancam Hell yeah dude. Always cool to have some pressing variants.
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
GIANT SETS (squat-keg-hyper)
SSB Front Squat
12xSSB
12x115
12x135
12x185
12x225
Keg clean 200lbs
6x2
Reverse hyper 460
6x12
STRIPSET (no rest between sets)
SSB front squat
10x185
SSB squat
10x185
SSB front squat
10x135
SSB squat
10x135
Notes: 3:45 between the first 5 rounds, then a 2 minute rest for a superset of cleans and hypers, then a 4 minute rest and the stripset work. The keg clean is feeling fantastic. Completely regained the feeling with it. Iām confident in my ability to get 275 to my chest by April, which means the focus is going to be on pressing it once I get it there. Front squats were crisp, and the stripset was a solid amount of intensity without pushing too terribly hard as I try to bounce back and gear up for more training through the week.
PM WORKOUT
Swiss bar incline bench 235
3x10
Axle bench press 276
2x10
1x6
Axle close grip bench press 236
1x10
1x7
1x8
Dips
1x32
2x24
Standing ab wheel between sets
8x7
Notes: 2:05 between sets. Felt really strong coming into this workout, and seeing how well the swiss bar incline is moving is awesome. Iām really taping into the potential on this, which should help with future pressing.
Got some news today: some good, some bad. The bad news is that they lowered the weight on the keg press medley in my comp from 275 to 250. I was absolutely gutted when I read that, and contemplated asking for my entree fee back. Pretty much the entire reason I signed up was to press a 275lb keg, as it was going to be a VERY big milestone to move such weight, and a significant challenge to get there. Without those challenges, I donāt push myself as hard in training, and, in turn, I tend to end up competing up a weight class just to get that experience, HOWEVER, they even lowered the heavyweight kegs to 250. This isnāt the first time this has happened to me either, and itās honestly making me fall out of love with the sport. Itās STRONGman: letās let the weights be crazy high and challenging.
But, that tantrum aside, it now means I no longer need to gain as much bodyweight, and I can split my focus on other events now too. Still bummed, but going to make the best of it.
On the good news side, Iām finally hungry again. And not like āeye of the Tigerā hungry, but āI want to eat foodā hungry. Havenāt had an appetite since getting sick on Sunday, and itās been weird to say the least. As much as feeling hungry might suck, it is my ānormalā, and not having that hunger feeling was feeling like ānot meā. It was like being a zombie. Being hungry, Iām alert, while being satiated was like being dead. It was good to be eating things while hungry, rather than out of obligation.
And in just new news, I started including a ātestosterone boostingā supplement, which is ultimately just magnesium, zinc and copper. With my sleep schedule as jacked up as itās been, I figured supplementing some extra vitamins couldnāt hurt.
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