T3hPwnisher's Log

Training Training Logs
541

[quote]FlatsFarmer wrote:
Take Heart!
All those times you “skipped calves” over the years, you were just saving them as an area for dramatic “future gains.”[/quote]

They sadly started growing with all the strongman work, haha. Just going to have to milk everything I can I suppose.

Yoke
120lbs x 30’
300lbs x 30’
500lbs x 30’
590lbs x 30’
700lbs x 30’
750lbs x 8’

NG chins
1 set

Notes: Woke up at 190.8. Work scheduled our 2.6 mile run for tomorrow, so I had to squeeze in my yoke workout tonight. Wanted to see how heavy I could go for 30’, since it’s 60’ with a partner. Goal was 700lbs, which I managed with zero set downs. It was wobbly, and combined with a wobbly yoke made it really crazy, but just means it’ll be even smoother on a steady yoke.

The 8’ for the 750 includes the 1’ I fell backwards with it. If my life depended on it, I could’ve taken it the distance, but my upper back was folding all over the place and being so close to the contest, I didn’t want to risk the injury.

542

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Much appreciated man. The stats you quote are actually why I am somewhat let down. I am proud of those numbers, but also realize that it is where natural trainees tend to cap out. I still want to be bigger, and the reality is that, most likely, I can take up more space by getting fatter, but not that much more muscular. It’s a bittersweet pill to swallow.

It’s not going to stop me from training hard and pursuing my goals, just a reality check.[/quote]

Is the limit you’re referring to an average value? You could possibly fall in the upper quartile of that distribution. I know it won’t change your training but it might make you feel better, lol.

I’ve been considering this as well since that limit indicates I may not be able to fill out the 83 kg class with high lean mass. I’m hoping I’m in the upper quartile too.

543

2448×3264 2.13 MB

[quote]lift206 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Much appreciated man. The stats you quote are actually why I am somewhat let down. I am proud of those numbers, but also realize that it is where natural trainees tend to cap out. I still want to be bigger, and the reality is that, most likely, I can take up more space by getting fatter, but not that much more muscular. It’s a bittersweet pill to swallow.

It’s not going to stop me from training hard and pursuing my goals, just a reality check.[/quote]

Is the limit you’re referring to an average value? You could possibly fall in the upper quartile of that distribution. I know it won’t change your training but it might make you feel better, lol.

I’ve been considering this as well since that limit indicates I may not be able to fill out the 83 kg class with high lean mass. I’m hoping I’m in the upper quartile too.[/quote]

25 is average number observed in pre-steroid era Mr. Americas (1939-1959), so usually considered to be the upper limit of natural trainees. It’s possible I could be slightly higher than that, but I imagine growth would be marginal at this point.

I’ve been lifting since I was 14, I’m turning 30 next month, so it’s really not unreasonable. Just one of those things.

EARLY AM TRAINING

Bumper stack run (200lbs)
4x80’

Notes: Included a picture of the set-up. Stacked some bumpers and metal plates with a loading pin to simulate a stone. First few steps are slow to start, and then I pick up speed. Gotta work on that transition. Breathing with the weight on the chest is definitely an acquired skill.

Also, weighed in at 191.0 this morning.

LATER AM TRAINING

2.6 mile run

20:56

Notes: Expected to be faster with the weight loss, but still better than my last time. Maybe I’ll just blame it on the earlier training. About a 1 hour break between activities.

544

Just stoppin’ in to say howdy dude and great work on the body recomp!

545

[quote]FarmerOwen wrote:
Just stoppin’ in to say howdy dude and great work on the body recomp![/quote]

Thanks for stopping by! Much appreciated. I still swing by your log and see the crazy stuff you’ve been getting done. Love your spirit and approach to training dude.

AM training

Farmer’s walks, 185 per hand
4x80’

Notes: These were definitely speed farmers, which is great considering it’s competition weight. Biggest focus is on moving off the pick up. Making sure that I’m moving up and forward, rather than just straight up. From there, foot speed: really have to be basically “falling forward” the entire time. Will have to work out with my partner if I’m going first or last in the leg.

Woke up at 190.8. I think this is a decent weight/bodyfat% to maintain for now. I’m willing to let the weight climb a few pounds while training for this comp, but nothing drastic.

546

PM Training

(3) Mat Pulls 600+chains
13 reps

Notes: 7 on the first, then 3, then 3. Gave it my all, nothing left for dead stops. Good workout. We’ve had a heatwave here, and it was so hot in my garage that the sweat on my shins was actually making the bar move up and down more smoothly. I suddenly understand the appeal of baby powder. If I can keep 7 all the way to the floor, I’ll be happy.

Rolling thunder 135
1x22 seconds
1x12 seconds

Squats strip set
2x460
3x410
4x370
5x320
6x280
7x230
8x190
9x140
10x100

Notes: Only rested as long as it took to switch out plates. Started with 4 plates and a quarter, and would just keep taking the quarter off or a plate off as appropriate. Great set, really tried to hammer depth, felt my quads blowing up pretty decent. Definitely need to hit a feeder workout later.

General Notes: Cheat meal today was 1 carne asada quesadilla, half of a chicken quesadilla, and a quest bar. They were huge quesadillas, and though I could’ve finished the second one, I knew I was going beyond cheating in doing so. I have trained everyday this week and am helping a friend move tomorrow. Been one helluva week.

547

DB bench 105
21 reps

Notes: Using the Ironmind bench. It’s unforgiving, but completely flat. Got 15, 3 and 3, and felt a pretty decent pump in the chest when it was all said and done.

Shoulder circuit
3 rounds

(3) Chain suspended bench lockouts 225+minishort bands
15 reps

Notes: Suspended the bar to the point that elbows were right at 90 degrees. Pressed every rep dead stop off the pins. This gets brutal. The first few reps aren’t terrible, but as soon as your speed slows down it’s a vicious grind. The bands sneak up on your, and breaking the weight off the chains is really about overcoming them. Was torn between close grip and competition grip, but comp grip seemed more comfortable.

Weighted chins 55lbs
24 reps

DB rows 105
Lots of sets of 3
1x25

General notes: Woke up at 192.2. Went a little crazier than normal nutritionally this weekend due to helping a friend move yesterday. I chose not to use a dolly and carried most objects by myself. PR was 2 marble top solid wood nightstands that I moved one after the other. They were moving literally across the street, so I was getting them out of one bedroom, snaking them through the hallway, walking across the street, then getting them into another bedroom. Feeling pretty fried now, big shock.

Going to be reducing my volume on daily training leading up to the comp. Thinking just 1-3 sets of 20 for chins and maybe capping dips at the 50 rep point. Probably still try to hammer pull aparts as much as I can.

548

(11) Chain Suspended Safety Squat Bar Squats
3x425+chains
6x365+chains

Notes: Just sort’ve going through the motions. Hamstrings were really torqued yesterday, so I’m pretty happy that I was even able to get through this. Feeder workouts pay off. Thinking my plan to start swapping movements next cycle is going to work well.

GHR sit up w/25lbs
1x8
2x7

Notes: Focusing on keeping abs contracted the entire time. Noticed that I was more bracing my hips on the eccentric before.

Car deadlift simulator 8 plates
1x15

Notes: Another PR on this movement. Think next week I’m going to throw on 9 plates, as these high reps are breaking me down.

General notes: Woke up at 192.2. Think I’ll allow myself to get as high as 193.5 while training for this contest, but we’ll see. Biggest change is introducing greek yogurt w/protein powder as an early morning meal, which should be a positive. Later tonight, plan to finish up my workout with 3 minutes of reverse hyper and some neck harness work. I’m in pain, but not beat up, if that makes sense.

549

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Biggest change is introducing greek yogurt w/protein powder as an early morning meal, which should be a positive.[/quote]

Have you found an easy way to mix this without noisy blenders? I used to try this over cereals when pushed, and always found the texture powdery.

550

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Biggest change is introducing greek yogurt w/protein powder as an early morning meal, which should be a positive.[/quote]

Have you found an easy way to mix this without noisy blenders? I used to try this over cereals when pushed, and always found the texture powdery.[/quote]

I just whip it in with a fork. The yogurt absorbs a lot of the powder due to it’s texture, but the powders I use are pretty fine as well. On something like oatmeal, I could see it being a little trickier.

Axle clean and press (clean once) 218
1x8

Axle clean and press (clean each rep) 188
1x6

Notes: Dorked up the first attempt at 218 and dropped the axle right on my quad. Came back to hit the set of 8 later, which I’m going to consider a “bad day PR” due to the circumstances. The weight has been reduced, and now I need to make an effort to get 218 to some high reps. The 188 wasn’t to death, just fatigue. Feeling good for the contest, even with an Ironmind axle, I don’t think I’m going to have difficulties cleaning 185.

Incline DB Press 105
(5) 1x8
(4) 1x7
(3) 1x8
(2) 1x8
(1) 1x7

Superset w/

D ring lat pulldown/kelso shrug 140
5x10/5

Notes: Think it’s time to start swapping the DB presses. Making snail like progress, my overhead isn’t really going up, and I’ve noticed that all the time in the incline range seems to be reducing my flat bench strength. Going to alternate this movement with weighted dips. Should also help reduce my training time, because this day keeps running too long.

DB Hammer curl/curl stripset
10x35lbs (Hammer)
10x30 (Curl)
10x25 (H)
10x20 (C)
10x15 (H)
10x10 (C)

Notes: Ran out of time, will hit some pushdowns on my lunch break. On that note, managed 3 minutes of reverse hyper yesterday at 25lbs per side. Made it 1.5 minutes before needing a slight rest.

General notes: Woke up at 191.6. Pinched a nerve/pulled a muscle in my neck. Serves me right for skipping the neck harness. Friday morning is going to get compromised again, so thinking about hitting the yoke tomorrow after work, and then stone carry on Friday with speed farmers on Saturday morning. Training 6 days a week at this point.

551

Hit average band pushdowns for 3x25 on my lunch break.

My idea for weighted dips is to work up to 100lbs on a loading pin with sets of 10 and 25lb plates (bodyweight x 10, 25x10, 50x10, 75x10), and then hitting a massive drop set stripped 25lb plates as I go. Think I stole this from one of Kroc’s bodybuilding routines. Excited to try it next week.

552

Yoke 750lbs
1x32’

Notes: Pinched nerve in my neck made it so that the pick up was hell, but once I got that I could move. This is my last heavy yoke workout before the contest, but huge confidence booster. The temptation to take it to 800lbs for the contest is great, but I think this is the safe move. It’s definitely not pretty or quick, but zero drops is awesome.

553

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Yoke 750lbs
1x32’
[/quote]

Man, you’re moving some heavy weight. Nice work.

554

[quote]lift206 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Yoke 750lbs
1x32’
[/quote]

Man, you’re moving some heavy weight. Nice work.[/quote]

Thanks dude! This is my kind of yoke workout, haha. I might start throwing in super heavy yoke walks every once in a while at this point, just because this was such a great way to get everything firing all at once, but I also know that my weakpoint is still footspeed. It’s never quite as fun to train the things we’re bad at.

Stone trainer run (200lbs)
4x80’

Notes: Getting much better at the transition from the floor to the first steps of the run. This time it was seamless. The picks off the floor themselves were also much better, even with a trainer versus an actual stone. Think this is the first time in my life I actually moved a stone correctly, because my lats are on fire. Dorked up my right ankle slightly on the first run, but it felt fine after walking it off.

Woke up at 191.6 this morning. Neck is almost 100%. Secondary effect is that my right shoulder is a little pissed off from moving incorrectly due to compensating for the pain in my neck, so that’s the next thing that needs healing.

555

Farmer’s walk, 185 per hand
4x80’

Notes: I was flying on these. Practically sprints. Seemed to have a good grasp of “falling forward” while keeping my balance. Trick is going to be if I get to start on this event or have to take the hand off. Next week, I’ll try a few runs starting with my hands off the implements to simulate. Feeling real confident for this contest: I think the weight loss is helping my speed.

Woke up at 191.6. Neck is about 98%, shoulder about 90%. Healing up, and I’d say it looks like I’ve put on half a pound this week in terms of consistent weigh ins, which is right on schedule. Got deadlifts in the PM.

556

Minor back tweak on the second rep of deads today. Shut it down. Might try to squat tomorrow. Contemplating chasing my next cycle of deads with the axle for a slight break in the same movement/implement.

EDIT:

This is what happens when I get pissed off at my back (caution: 9 minutes of squatting)

Boiled down to

Squats
3x460
4x410
5x370
6x320
7x280
8x230
9x190
10x140

Notes: Only rested as long as it took to unrack plates. Back was a little tender, but as long as I braced my core hard, it was fine. Depth was pretty solid on these. Great workout in general, made up for lackluster deadlift.

Reverse hyper 25 per side
3 minutes

Notes: I’m thinking about making this a regular Saturday thing and then always going heavy on my squat workout. I liked when I used to do reverse hypers twice a week.

557

Oh how silly of me, I forgot the cheat meal.

Whiskey river BBQ burger with extra patty and side of sweet potato fries at Red Robin. Chased it with a quest bar. It took 25 minutes from the time I finished my drink to get a refill (I set my stopwatch), let alone to speak of how long it took to actually get food. Managed to still eat through the frustration, because what can I say, I’m a champion.

558

Hey T3hPwnisher, what are your views on doing weighted vest walks on a daily? Starting with 30mins and slowly working up to maybe and hour or more? Do you have any experience with them?

559

[quote]Benanything wrote:
Hey T3hPwnisher, what are your views on doing weighted vest walks on a daily? Starting with 30mins and slowly working up to maybe and hour or more? Do you have any experience with them? [/quote]

No experience to speak of. I think walking is a great restorative exercise, and I used to go on a 6 mile walk with my wife every Sunday before life got in the way. That said, without sounding elitist, if I had the time to do 30-60 minutes of walking on top of my lifting, I’d spend it doing other things instead.

Events
Bodybuilding work
More hardcore conditioning

I’d put it on par with sled walking/dragging, so something I’d do 1-2 times a week tops, but not really something I’d see a lot of value in everyday. Now, if you had the time to do all of the above AND 30-60 minutes of weighted walking, I’d say go for it. I’m of the opinion that more work is better than less work.

560

Really enjoyed your latest blog post mate. I’ve changed up my diet for the past couple of weeks, and only been eating meat, veg, and dairy. To help me get a grip on it, for the first time in my life, I’ve been calorie counting and weighing food. I’ve been amazed at just how easy it is to be pushing 3000 calories a day just by eating meat and vegetables. It may have something to do with only being able to afford 20% fat beef mince at the moment, but even still, I can comfortably hit close to 3000 calories in 3 meals, without even adding in any ‘good’ carbs like rice.

I’d say 3000 calories, even if you’re training hard most days for an hour or so, is still probably towards the upper end of what’s necessary. I feel pretty stupid for not doing this sooner, because it makes it pretty clear how much I must have been overeating previously, and that progress relies far less on calories than I’d been lead to believe, and far more on a sufficient intensity of training (something I know you are big on).