Damn you is skinny dude. Quality
@kdjohn They felt about as awful as they sounded, haha. I think I have a chance to make it more effective the next few times as proficiency improves.
@Koestrizer Thanks dude! I may just have to settle back to being my original inspiration of The Punisher.
Could do worse, haha.
I am still teaching my kid martial arts, but with me working 7 days on/7 days off and my kid now in a summer camp-esque program, weāre down to lessons 3 times every 2 weeks. In-laws came into town last week, so we ended up at 2 lessons that week. We get to start back up on Monday. That said, I do quick like 5-10 minute lessons with them in the morning just to reinforce some balance and technique so that all isnāt lost in that week off. Itās actually been pretty eye opening at how much just 5-10 minutes a day of basic work can be of benefit.
For the weight classes, itās actually a pretty ridiculous story. There used to only be 1 federation in the United States, and it was run by a couple. During that time, there were only 2 weight classes just like yours: U105 (231lbs) and 105+. Around the mid to late 2000s, they introduced āStrongman Fitnessā, which was the 175lb class, so now lightweights had a chance to play. Then, local competitions decided to have a middle class between 175 and 231lbs at a 200lb class.
Then the couple got divorced.
THEN it got REAL silly. The wife got ownership of the strongman fed, and the husband had to wait a few years before he could start his own, and once he did, he introduced powerlifting weightclasses to his federation. And even then it gets MORE confusing, because the weightclasses are grouped into category, so like 145, 165 and 181 are ālightweightā, 198 and 220 are middleweight, and 242, 275 and 308+ are heavyweight.
And THEN I am pretty sure we have a few start up strongman feds coming out of the woodwork as well. Politics are starting to catch up.
Itās part of what is having me fall out of love with the sport. Iād just as soon bring it back to 2 weight classes.
@flappinit Thanks man! Iām pretty sure Iāve done a total of 12 sets of oblique work in 20 years of lifting, haha. Just something Iāve been blessed with. I get it from my mom. Same way I basically have no upper torso to speak of: my sternum connects to my top abs and thereās VERY little space between my bottom ribs and the top of my hip bone. Kinda a chicken and egg thing as a result: I was suited for moving heavy things, so I kept moving heavy things which kept making the obliques bigger. But man, try explaining to people that itās just obliques and not love handles and you get the eye roll, haha.
@simo74 Thanks dude! Itās a weird paradigm shift for sure. Not used to going in this direction.
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Yeah I can see that. Sounds pretty far from what strongman is supposed to be about tbh. A lot more welcoming on the one hand, but not necessarily towards the people with the right mindset.
When I was just starting out and had like 1 beginner cup under my belt I thought our system was totally unfair and way to hard to get a good start in. Then I met a seasoned athlete, whom I compete alongside nowadays, who had at that point about 10 seasons as an u105 kg under his belt. I asked him if he thought it was unfair that he had to do the same weights as all those guys who were way heavier than him. His answer was:āwhy would it be unfair? Itās not their fault I donāt way as much as they do, is it?ā.
That mindset was eye opening to me back then.
@Koestrizer Fantastic mentality for sure. Iāve always told people that if the weights are too heavy, you can get stronger or get lighter, haha.
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
DB bench press 105
1x19
1x12
1x10
Axle bench press 210+chains
2x10
1x7
Swiss bar incline bench 195
2x10
1x8
Sets of pull ups between sets of benching
1x8
8x7
1x10
Dips
1x40
1x31
2x30
1x27
Poundstone curls
114xAxle
Notes: 2:30 between benching, 2:00 between dips. Alternate between flat bench and incline bench after the DB benching. Iām really liking how this is set up. Focus is purely on burning out on those DB benches and then surviving the rest of the workout. No conditioning on this day because Mrs was home, but we went for a 2 mile walk after the workout.
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Good golly that is a lot of dips.
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@kdjohn Bodyweight goes down, dips go up: you canāt explain that! Haha. But I use a short ROM on it. I basically dip out of the bottom until my chest is no longer leading the movement, whereas on my press day I use a full ROM. This just blows up the chest for every last drop.
AM WORKOUT
Squat warm-up
SSB Squat/Front squat alternating sets
5x12x255lbs of SSB Squats
5x8x185 SSB front squats
1x12x135 of SSB squats immediately after final set of front squats
4 minute rest
Reverse hyper 320lbs
4x20
2 minute rest
30 hang power snatches in 5:35 w/95lbs
Notes: 2:00 between sets of squats and sets of reverse hypers. Threw in that final set of SSB squats after the front squats because I came up with the idea of it any head instinctively shook itself ānoā, so I knew it was the right move. On the snatches, I need to think the word āfastā or else I press the snatch out. It was a solid conditioning effort. The weights for the squats were just about perfect with these rest times. Still not full on Deep Water, but I made it halfway through the final set of 255 on SSB squats and had to really grind out the rest of it. Abductor is doing better but not 100%. Caught myself bouncing off of it in the earlier sets of SSB squats. Itās a bad habit Iāve had for a while thatās finally caught me. Squats are going to have to be even slower for a while. Always the option of squat briefs or box squats in the future if things get drastic, but so far this is working.
Weighed in at 185.0 on the dot this morning, once again post yogurt and energy drink. Body is feeling slightly fatigued. Trying to up the protein where I can.
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I do the same thing with BW dips and chins; enough range of motion to keep tension the entire time. If Iām doing them weighted then Iāll move through the full ROM.
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Hey man, finished 365 Days of Brutality last night. Appreciate the recommendation, that was a great read.
I just discovered that mixing chopped up kimchi with canned salmon is quite good. The kimchi juice combats the dryness and adds flavours. The spice also helps as an appetite suppressant, probiotics too. takes less than 2minutes to put together
@kdjohn I use a very similar approach, although these days my pull ups between benching are full ROM, but Iāve been trying to do a daily set of them as well and that tends to be riding out that middle portion of the ROM where I still feel tension. Bodyweight work is just awesome for those sorts of fiddling around.
@mr.v3lv3t Glad you enjoyed it dude. Jamie has always been a great historian on the matter, and we share a similar philosophy regarding training intensity and programming. Itās nice he toned down the vulgarity for the book, haha.
@anna_5588 Definitely sounds easy. My limiting factor when preparing food is that I endeavor to have it smell inoffensive to the people who ARENāT eating it, because these are my work meals that I pack. The canned salmon I use still has a pretty strong seafood-esque odor, and kimchi on top of that would be a non-starter. Same reason I only eat sauerkraut at home. I actually had to do a crime scene style of food prep yesterday where I brought everything outside onto my backyard deck so that the house wouldnāt smell fishy. Mixed the salmon with some riced cauliflower, non-fat cheese and turkey sausage.
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I never considered that since my own sense of smell is borderline nonexistent 
That could actually go a fair way to explain your taste preferences. Smell goes quite a bit into how we taste things. My brother used to obsessively pepper all of his food to the point of it being completely ruined, but he insisted that was the way he liked it. One day, he got an allergy test done and discovered he was incredibly allergic to the cats we had in the house. A few months of shots later, his nasal passages re-opened, he could smell again, and food tasted ENTIRELY different to him.
My grandfather-in-law had a similar story. Lost his sense of smell and salted all of his food to color just so he could taste SOMETHING.
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Hmmā¦ that could explain my love of salty foods
It hasnāt impacted my cooking ability so far and apparently itās also good for appetite control, so Iām not very keen on fixing it 
The most annoying part is honestly hearing my mom and brother complain of smells all the time
Iāve found a voracious appetite to be nothing but an asset in the pursuit of getting bigger and stronger. Iāve had a loss of appetite only a few times in my life and it was MISERABLE forcing myself to eat. I can honestly and truthfully say that eating when you donāt want to eat sucks way more than not eating when you do want to eat.
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Oh, I could easily put down several pounds of meat after several more pounds of fruit (ie every grill night), and repeat that for days (why I avoid visiting grandparents as much as Iād like)
I just donāt need it to be even more voracious
We will have to agree to disagree.
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Costco has such cool stuff. Going to use this as part of my high fat upper body pre workout. Make some almond butter toast or something similar.
Edit: Hey @marcb84 wonder how this would work for French toast.
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idk if this is still a concern, but to save calories, you could mix pbfit with water and spread that on the toast
Pbfit wouldnāt have the high fat content I am looking for. With this being a pretraining meal I am aiming to get in calories.
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American food is just wild. Keep it coming, I am entertained! 
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