(14) Chain Suspended Safety Squat Bar Squats 425+chains
1x4
(14) Chain Suspended Safety Squat Bar Squats 335+chains
1x7
Notes: Went dead stop on every rep for the second set. Huge difference, really felt effective. Going to push forward with this strategy to get a little more volume and practice breaking the bar off the chains.
Keg cleans 182lbs
7x1
Notes: Hit these in between warm ups for the squat. Drilling technique. Explosiveness was lacking, but as able to muscle things just fine. Had about 2-3 real good cleans with minimal extra movement at the end.
GHR sit up w/27.5lbs behind head
3x6
superset w/
GHR
3x10
Reverse hyper 270
2x10
1x15
Neck harness 45lbs
1x40
Notes: Finally remembered to train my neck. Have to keep on top of that. The more I train it, the better it feels, while as soon as I stop it feels like I slipped a disc.
In competition related news, the results of my last comp were released online. I ended up winning the carry medley by 2 seconds and lost the keg over bar event by 2 tenths of a second. I take solace in the fact that, had the other guy not fell on the sandbag I would have lost the carry medley and had that same guy not cheated by throwing the keg over the bar I would have won the keg over bar event, but still very pleased with how close everything was, considering how slow of a mover I am.
Also, I bought the economy yoke from pitbull strongman. Can’t wait to get it shipped and start getting better at my worst event.
Notes: Push press for the first set, strict press for the second. Lifetime PR for the push press. Finally figuring this out. The clean is still the hardest part. Failed the first attempt at the clean, came back and nailed the second. Actually did it too good, and just about knocked myself on my ass, but after I recovered it was pretty smooth. Initial dip is still slow and I forgot to try to get my head through, but it seems like things are really moving in a positive direction.
DB bench 105
3x10
1x5 w/reactive slingshot
superset w/
GB pulldowns 90
4x15
Superset w/
Pull aparts
4x20
Notes: Tweaked my right elbow a touch on the slingshot set, but otherwise solid. Next move is to incline the bench up 1 notch and work from there.
Fat gripz chain curls
3x10
superset w/
Band pushdowns
3x25
Superset w/
GB pulldowns 90
3x15
Notes: Like the fat grip chain curls. Hooked the chains to a D-ring, and put the grips on it. Might stick with this for a bit.
[quote]Jlabs wrote:
Liking the pressing. I was going to ask you tips for cleans my current pr is around 180. Any hints would be appreciated. Keep givnr![/quote]
Much appreciated man. Is this with a barbell or an axle? I have no idea how to clean a barbell, I’ve only done it once, and it was in a competition, haha.
Notes: Part of a work function. Didn’t feel great, but didn’t feel terrible either. Cardio was just fine, knees are just garbage. Brand new running shoes didn’t really help.
[quote]Jlabs wrote:
On a barbell, I believe the solution to my problem is getting stronger and not a secret technical cue.[/quote]
That’s my solution to everything, haha. I don’t really have a lot to contribute unfortunately. I started doing axle cleans regularly like 2 months ago, and am pretty much just riding out some pre-established strength and refining my technique every week. About the only advice I can give is that I intentionally elevate the starting height of my cleans so that I don’t try to employ the same technique as my deadlift. When I first started doing cleans, all my experience with deadlifting would mess up my technique, and then all the time spent trying to become better with the clean would screw up my deadlift. Having a physical difference really helped.
Notes: I finally found the old good deadlifter I used to be today. Back in true form, where it was about breaking the weight, getting it to the knees, and hinging the hips for all I was worth. Managed 12, 4 and 4, with all sets being pretty easy all things considered. Big ticket seemed to be to really focus on the hip hinge when I needed it. I was doing too little thinking these past few sessions, need to be more active.
Farmer’s walks 305 per hand
4x50’
Notes: This was really slow. Very distinct separation between pick up and first steps, and had a lot of wobbles going on here. Hamstrings were pissed off when I was done, so I cut out the squats. Been pushing these real heavy the past few sessions, think I’m due to go light and focus on speed/distance/turns. And once my Yoke comes in, I’ll be doing that a lot, haha.
Notes: Came real close on every 260 attempt but just missed the rack. Got the bar right above nipple height but wrists weren’t rolled over. Think the biggest issue is that I’m trying to clean this like a keg, with my hands turned way far over at the start. Gotta adjust for the bar not really moving, and account for very little turn over at the top. Going to try to hit 230 for a triple during the afternoon workout just to groove some success. Also shows me that it’s time to start programming the axle cleans, as up until this point I’ve just been using this day to become better with the movement rather than stronger.
[quote]cavemansam wrote:
i really liked your most recent post on your blog
“Random musings”
hope you keep it going[/quote]
Thanks man. Those are some of my favorite entries to write. I just need to be able to have enough time to let my mind wander. Usually meetings are the best time for that, haha.
Notes: Loving this second set. Starting each rep from a dead stop is brutal, and from what I can tell it’s helping me with the first set. In general, good to get in more volume with the SSB. I think time spent away from it was making my deadlift worse.
Axle cleans
Worked up to 230 for a double.
Notes: I am stupid and couldn’t let this go from this morning, so I wanted to get in some more cleans. 230 was my best weight. Failed 250 a few times, but technique was much better. My theory was right, need to have my hands LESS turned over.
Reverse hyper 270
3x15
Neck harness 45
1x50
In other news, my yoke shipped today. I have never been so happy to basically experience so much pain in the future, haha.
Axle clean and press (clean once) 200lbs
1x12
1x5
1x1
Notes: Had to squeeze in a super quick workout between obligations, so didn’t take a lot of time to warm-up. A little more practice with the clean would have helped, as I could NOT get this even to save my life. I kept being too far one side or the other, which sapped a lot of energy. Brought my head through on a few more reps this time at least. Still a lifetime PR, and a great “bad day PR” to boot. Really starting to get a hang for this, and had a few presses where leg drive carried the whole implement. Liked how the sets broke down today, think I’ll do this in the future (1 top set, then get half as many reps in as few sets as possible).
Band pull aparts
1x100
Notes: If I get more time tonight I will try to get in some more work.
I saw something neat in an old article today about some press assistance exercise. Basically Hepburn-style volume accumulation combined with ROM progression.
Yup, I did something like that for a while. Only issue I ran into was that I had to press seated due to the height of my rack. Still worked pretty well. Good find.
