Crown the King
Circus DB
A bunch of singles starting at 88lb and ending at 108lbs. Attempted 113 twice but could not make it happen.
Medley Work
Yoke + Farmers + Sandbag + Sandbag at 50ft
303 + 115/hand + 130+ 100 (2 Rounds)
Did 1 round full send, 1 round more metered/
Sandbag + Sandbag + Farmers at 100ft
130 + 100 +115/ Hand
With a hold at the end with the Farmers to tax grip
Pullups 3 x 10
Laterals 3 x 12
Curls 3 x 20
Calf Hops 1 Minute
Looks delicious
Mock Comp
Did a mock comp with my friend Zac who is also going to be at Crown the King as a lightweight.
Circus Dumbbell/Log
120/220
I couldn’t do either. Zac got 1 rep on both. The 220 log was pretty difficult for him. Failing the first attempt. I got the clean on the 120 DB but could not get it position to attempt to press it.
Deadlift
My aim was to get 455 to top of my peak. Got 430 but not 455. Unfortunate but pretty sure this peak will carry me to 455-475 on comp day as long as there is no medley before hand.
Zac got 525 in his new deadlift suit. Again he failed the first attempt got on second go.
Sandbag Load and Sled Push
Set up 170 and 200 to load at 48" and 230 to 42". Basically set it up so the 230 would be put away by doing the rep. So we would load a sandbag push the sled about 33 feet run back, load the next one, while the other one was loading sandbags the other added weight to the sled. Neither of us finished it. Zac cleared 3 bags and 2 sled pushes in 58 seconds, I didn’t make the second sled push in under a minute. Did the 230 on my own time for training effect.
Tire Load Medley
We decided since the tires were full of water from it raining it wasn’t worth trying to load one. So we used the 130 sandbag. We did 60ft, load, the other person would push the bag off then the person going would do another 60 ft. Repeat 4 times then attempt to move the 200lb keg.
I got the 4 rounds with bags and tried to pick the keg before deciding I was too depleted to continue. Zac did all 5 in a minute and 16 seconds.
Farmers Hold
We went at the same time. 220 per hand
Zac got 45 seconds I got 31 seconds.
Zac got me on all 5. Silver lining (i.e coping) is I have been training pretty hard for this comp and am carrying much more fatigue. Went through a 45lb weight cut in 4 months and haven’t begun replenishing yet. He is doing a water cut and was weighing 192ish today. So he had 14 pounds on me today.
Crown the King
Circus Dumbbell
x 1 at 90
4 x 1 at 63
meh
Farmer’s Hold
3 sets at 185/hand
10 sec, 13 sec, & 15 sec
Farmer’s Shrug
2 x 8 at 135/hand
NG Grip Chinups
x15, 21, 10 at 176 BW
Decline Pushups 3 x 8
Facepulls 2 x 20
Single Leg Balance 75 seconds per side
Crown the King
Pause Deadlift
x 1 at 410
x 1 at 430
3 x 1 at 275
SSB Squats
4 x 2 at 225
SSB Front Squats
2 x 12 at 145
Sandbag Load 42"
8 x 1 at 200
3 from a deficit
Sled Drag and Push
3 x 2 minutes
Hanging Leg Raises
3 x 20
Crown the King 4 Recap
tl:dr Cut 43lbs in a short time. Maintained, gained or faced minimal strength loss. Work capacity is way up. Got 3rd of 3, which I am not thrilled about. But my personal wins weren’t about podium position or event wins.
This was my first competition as an open lightweight competitor. All my prior competitions were as a middleweight since that is where I naturally sit. After my last competition I decided I needed to make some bigger changes if I wanted to be a better competitor in the long term. I weighed in around 215-218 on average at this point, topping out at 221 May of last year. So I decided that I would cut down to lightweight for atleast 1 competition. In order to make more room for muscle on my frame while staying in the middleweight class longterm.
I knew I needed to give myself a specific time limit, or I would meander through the process. So I chose a competition in March orginally, which got cancelled. Then chose this one as the replacement for that. The second big deciding factor for this choosing this event besides being in the right timeframe, was that it had a Dinnie Walk event. Which is a bucket list event for me. It got swapped out for Farmer’s Hold because of not being able to guarantee having the implements on time. So from November 13th to March 5th I was in an aggressive cut to make weight. I worked with Mitch Briesemeister from strongmantraining.net for my nutrition, planning, and considerations for training. Ultimately the programming for training was me, but he helped guide my decision making process. His insight, and coaching was super valuable for getting through this difficult prep. Without him I don’t know if I could have pushed through. Started at 218ish mark and ended at 175.6 on March 5th. Attached is a basic physique change picture. Which really highlights how much junk weight I was carrying around that wasn’t helping me that much.
Rundown of nutrition changes:
Went from eating basically whatever I wanted, when I wanted in order to fuel slight weight gain. I had slowly moved towards ground beef, rice, eggs, and orange juice as the center of my diet while at that bodyweight. The biggest issue being that I drink alot of energy drinks, and I was drinking them all full sugar. An average of 260 calories a can, and I woould usually have 4 day. Sometimes more. The biggest chunk of the weightloss progress came from switching to no sugar energy drinks. Hopping around from canned gfuel, monster, and ghost. The first 30 lbs or so melted off from that. After that it became more difficult and had to really start watching my calorie intake. Got as low 2000/day, but that was too low and I was miserable so I upped it a little bit to make it less terrible.
Diet landed on velveted chicken breast, rice, and a small pile of veggies. Then filling in a little with other stuff. I kept a little room for some junk food to decrease my day to day misery. Usually a packet of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Once I hit 175, did not intend to go that low, I started adding calories with a serving of pork or beef and adding 2 oz of rice. I got upto maintaining at around 2800 calories. I will stick with this dietary model for the forseeable future just slowly adding more calories to slowly allow my frame to fill out as a middleweight competitor.
Event/Training rundown:
Overhead: Log/CDB 220/120
0 Points
I knew I needed to work hard on my overhead, since the weights were a stretch for me. I pushed it hard and it backfired. Part way through prep I strained my left shoulder. I hadn’t really gotten to train Circus Dumbbell much before. So I was focusing on my Log during the first part of prep, but with the injury it became a forgone conclusion it was impossible. So I started making the extra trip to DSM Barbell to train with their set of Mike Bartos DBs so I could get adequate training on the event. In 6 training sessions I managed to press 108lbs for 1 rep at the end of long ladder of singles, and cleaned 120 ond 2 different DBs. I figured it was a 50/50 depending on build of the dumbbell at the competition.
Comp day rolls around, and it thinner handle with shorter bells, but it felt good playing with it. Felt good about the possibility of it being a higher effort success. Technical difficulty with the safetys no holding the weights in the bell removed that bell from the comp. They switched it with a standard 120 DB. With that, and 5 or so attempts later. It was sealed, my 12th 0 on Overhead.
Tire/Odd Object Medley: 4 x 120, 150, 200 in 90 seconds.
1 Point
Since I couldnt get tires to train with; I primarily training with sandbags, zercher yoke, and farmers with other things thrown in to be ready for as much as possible. Since the tires were billed at 120, it was going to be more about being fast and conditioned. So I focused on conditioning and longer working sets with my medley training.
Day before there was a Q/A with Travis Ortmayer, which he covered technique and considerations for events (except the deadlift). He showed those were there the technique for picking the tires. Day of they added a 6th implement. Which very few got from my understanding. It was 4 tires, a 200 sandbag, and meird metal thing which was about 150lbs. I got all 4 tires, but immediately afterstarting the event my biceps were cramping forcing me to hold back a little to avoid injury. I couldn’t hit full tilt because of that. I barely got tire 4 in the 90 seconds. Frustrating but I did everything I could with water and electrolytes the day before and day of. The 2 other lightweights made it further than I did, putting me in 3rd.
Counter Negative was there doing free oxygen therapy and compressions. So I took advantage, even though I wasn’t down that bad. Just wanted to top off and take advantage of a free service. Especially with another medley on the horizon, I needed to do everything I could.
Deadlift: Max from the Floor (Wessel’s Rules)
1 Point
405 : Yes
455: Yes
495: No
During training I went for a more long form progression to preserve my strength as much as possible. Starting with pause against bands, and progressing over the longer prep period into heavy singles and doubles. In training I hit 440 x 2 several weeks out and then 430 for a normal rep for the final regular session and for a pause rep in the 2nd to last session of normal prep.
A little tired from the first medley, but mostly refreshed, I knew a true PR was not in the tank despite not losing much off my Deadlifts during the cut. If it had been before the medley, a PR MIGHT have been there. Warmed up to 405 in the warm up area, then hit it for my opener because of the jumps they were making. Then had to turn around decently quick and pull 455. It was a pretty good grinder but I got it. The next jump was 495, so that’s what I took for my 3rd and it stayed glued to the floor. Which is 25lbs off my all time PR, which I set at the much heavier bodyweight. So that’s a win in my book even though I severely outpulled. My friend Zac who was there pulled 545 for a 20lb PR, and the other guy Quint pulled into the low 600lbs.
I think with some slight weight gain and another good deadlift training block, 500 and more is definitely there sometime this year.
Sandbag Load and Push
1 Point
175/200/225 + Work Truck
3 sandbags loaded into the bed of a work truck. Inbetween each bag we would push the truck to the next bag. I hammered sandbag carries and picks hard during prep and it showed. All of the sandbags went up really well, and pushing the truck wasn’t terribly hard except for the very end when it got stuck in the dip in the concrete. That dip cost me event completion, fortunately for Zac and Quint they got though it.
Hit the free oxygen therapy and compressions again.
Farmer’s Hold
220/hand for max time
1 Point
20 seconds
This was originally Dinnie Walk, but was changed. I trained with Dinnie Handles to a very good chunk of prep, working upto a 220/hand pick. Once it switched I flipped the script pretty quickly and worked very hard on adapting to Farmers over Dinnies. I consider my grip a strong point so this was really disappointing. In training I got 31 seconds (2 weeks out), so I was expecting atleast 40 seconds. But I barely managed 20 seconds
So I ended up in last for the 12th time, winning no events again. While that is frustrating, I did still have a good time. It was my first out of state competition. One of my friends (Zac) that trains at the same gym as me came with and it was fun competing with him. 6 hour drive for both of us. Also got to meet Travis Ortmayer, got some light coaching from him and got to pick his brain about the events and training going forward from this point I am at. So that was really cool.
Aside from the switch up with the dumbbell I am not really annoyed by anything that happened. Shit happens and being strong enough could have made up that deficit. I have a pretty good idea of how to move forward. I have DSM Strongest II in 9 weeks, so that will probably be my last contest as a lightweight. Then will shift focus back to slowly filling out as a middlweight.
Divine General
Calories: 2779
Training leading upto DSM Strongest II will be mostly general work with 1 day partially devoted to the non-overhead events.
KB Snatch (SS) Bounding
3 x 3 /side at 24 (SS) 3 x 150ft
Trapbar Deadlift
4 x 3 at 360 + Micro Minis
Carry Medley
Yoke to Farmer to Sandbag
2 x 50ft at 280 to 111/hand to 100
Sled Drag/Push
Back and Forth 10 minutes Consecutive
25lb plate
As tradition stands, I must listen to the Saiyan Rap Cypher by Fabvl when I do this.
Ab Pushout
3 x 20 at 35
Side Quest:
100 Kettlebell Swings, anyhow
4 x 25 at 44
Looking at a couple competitions later this year. Probably won’t attempt to peak for these, just train like an animal and eat to support training. Pros of the first 3 are that are out of state which is something I want to do more of.
Wisconsin’s Strongest
Missed out last year and want to go. Fun looking set of events, plus a unique event with sandbag cornhole. Biggest ding is axle press, want to focus on log and CDB.
Stateline Strongest II
Unique twist on a deadlift event. Good driving distance. Overhead press medley. Although the log would be hard to reach, I want to keep striving for it. Sandbag medley similar to the one from Crown the King which I liked alot
Nebraska’s Strongest 2024
Max 18" deadlift, sure I kind of want to do that right now. Plus max sandbag carry distance. Kind of mixed of the Farmer’s Hold again, after fluffing it at Crown the King. Biggest ding is axle press, want to focus on log and CDB.
Waiting for information on Winter Siege VII and Strength Games VI.
Divine General
CDB Isometrics
2 sets of 3 seconds/side
Set the safety pins in the 7 slot, and pushed into it like I was doing the circus dumbbell dip and drive. This put it at roughly the point where the bell would leave my shoulder during the drive.
Tempo Strict Press 0: 1 : 3
3 x 6 at 75
Weening back into strict press after taking time off it.
Grenade Handle Pullups
13, 12, 10 at 177 BW
High Incline DB Bench
2 x 10 at 35/hand
Barbell Curls (SS) Band Tricep PD
10 Minutes of at my pace. Got alot of work in. Started with heavier cheat curls and after a few sets of that switch to focusing on getting a nice pump from the work. Used green band to do pushdowns.
Facepulls 3 x 20
Did a variety of novelty things to train balance. The big one was sitting in bottom of an extremely heel elevated pistol squat.
Side Quest:
100 Pushups anyhow
Did deficit pushups. Started with a decline as well, but switched just deficit after a few sets.
Divine General
1 Mat Axle Deadlift
x 3 at 365
2 x 5 at 315
High Bar Squat
x 4 at 275
3 x 5 at 225 (extra heel)
Assisted GHR (SS) Sandbag Carry
3 x 16 at 70lb Offset (SS) 3 x 100 at 100ft
Reverse Hyper
2 x 6
Heavy Deadhangs
2 x 5 ct at 178BW + 160
Side Quest:
100 KB Swings Anyhow
1 sets of 100 with 20
Forgot to do these at the gym, so did it with the kettlebell I have at home.
Divine General
KB Snatch (SS) Bounding
3 x 4 /side at 24 (SS) 3 x 150ft
Trapbar Deadlift
4 x 3 at 380 + red Bands
Carry Medley
Yoke to Farmer to Sandbag
2 x 50ft at 330 to 136/hand to 130
Extra pick for Farmers
Sled Drag/Push
Back and Forth 10 minutes Consecutive
35lb plate
As tradition stands, I must listen to the Saiyan Rap Cypher by Fabvl when I do this. Chucked in some sled rows to give my legs a bit of break. This was really rough today
Ab Pushout
3 x 20 at 53
Side Quest:
100 Kettlebell Swings, anyhow
3 x 35 at 26
Divine General
A little shuffle around of exercises to put prominent focus on hypertrophy focused exercises.
CDB Isometric
2 x 10 seconds/side
Facepulls (SS) DB Laterals
4 x 20 (SS) 4 x 10
High Incline DB Press
3 x 9 at 40/side
BTN Press
3 x 3 at 15
Low starting point, better to try than to not.
Javelin Press
2 x 20/side at 15
Grenade Handle Pullups
3 x 10 at 179 BW
10 Minutes of Arm Work
Band Tricep PD superset with Barbell Curls
Trapbar Shrugs
2 x 25 at 60
Squat Isometrics
In squat heels with extra Heel Elevation
4.5 Minutes in the bottom position
Divine General
1 Mat Axle Deadlift
x 3 at 375
2 x 5 at 325
High Bar Squat
x 3 at 285 (extra heel)
3 x 5 at 235
Assisted GHR (SS) Sandbag Carry
3 x 18 at 70lb Offset (SS) 3 x 175 at 100ft
Reverse Hyper
3 x 8
Heavy Deadhangs
15 seconds at 180+ 80
22 Seconds at 180 + 80
Side Quest:
100 KB Swings Anyhow
75 With 80lb Bell
25 with 35lb Bell
Divine General
Circus DB
4 x 2 at 62
Slingshot Incline Bench Press
x 2 at 145
2 x 13 at 105 (pause)
Using slingshot to accommodate my left shoulder discomfort in the bottom position.
Adductor Machine
x 10 at 200 (machine max)
x 20 at 100
Leg Extension 2 x 20
Chest Supported Row 2 x 20 at 45/side
DB Laterals 3 x 20
DB Front Raise x 25
Facepulls 3 x 20
Preacher Curl (SS) Finger Curls 3 x 20
OH Band Tricep Ext 3 sets
Divine General
Sandbag Throw (SS) Bounding
3 x 2 at 30 (SS) 4 x 75 ft
x 7 at 30
Trapbar Deadlift
x 4 at 420
Side Handle Lever DL
x 6 at 308
x 20 at 198
Carry Medley
Yoke to Farmer to Sandbag
2 x 50ft at 360 to 145/hand to 175
Extra pick for Farmers
Sled Pull w/ Guide Rope
x 60ft at 290
Harness Sled Pull
20 minutes at 55lbs
Ab Pushout 3 x 22 at 80
KB Swing at 80, x 33, x 34, x 33
Divine General
CDB Isometric (SS) CDB Style Ball throw
2 x 10 seconds/side
Reverse Pec Dec (SS) DB Laterals
4 sets
High Incline DB Press
x 2 at 55/side
2 x 15 at 35/side
BTN Press
4 x 1 at 75
Last set was basically strict press.
Javelin Press
x 2/side at 45
2 x 12/side at 25
Grenade Handle Pullups
2 x 11 at 179 BW
x 10 at 179 BW
10 Minutes of Arm Work
Band Tricep PD superset with Barbell Curls
Trapbar Shrugs
2 x 30 at 60
Extra Heel Squat Isometrics
2 x 1 minute at 45lbs
Divine General
1 Mat Axle Deadlift
2 x 4 at 335
High Bar Squat
x 1 at 325
2 x 3 at 235 (Pause)
Speed Front Squat (w/bands)
2 x 3 at 145 + Orange Micro Minis
Assisted GHR (SS) Sandbag Carry
4 x 20 at 70lb Offset (SS) 4 x 100ft and 200
Reverse Hyper
3 x 9
Heavy Deadhangs
2 x 15 seconds at 180 + 103
KB Swings 2 x 50
Divine General
Got engaged yesterday 
Circus DB
at 78, 2 x 1
at 83, 3 x 1, 2 x 2
at 78 x 1
Bigger bell, technique feels better. Not letting it get as far out to the side as last training block. More or less going straight up.
Slingshot Swiss Bar Incline Bench Press
x 5 at 145 (pause)
2 x 13 at 95 (pause)
Using slingshot to accommodate my left shoulder discomfort in the bottom position.
Adductor Machine (SS) Leg Extension
2 Sets
Chest Supported Row 2 x 13 at 90/side
Facepulls (SS) DB Laterals (SS) DB Front Raise
4 sets
Preacher Curl (SS) Finger Curls
3 sets
Thomson Fatbell OHP
3 x 12 at 25(?)
Divine General
Sandbag Throw (SS) Bounding to Sprint
2 x 2 at 30 (SS) 3 x 150ft
x 7 at 30
Lever DL
x 4 at 350
x 15 at 220 + Micro Mini
Carry Medley
Yoke to Farmer to Sandbag
350 to 136/hand to 130 for 25ft
400 to 136/hand to 130 for 25ft
300 to 136/hand to 130 for 25ft
Extra pick for Yoke and Farmers on the final go around
Sled Drag with Harness
30 Minutes with 65lbs
Ab Pushout w/ Sandbag
3 x 15 at 130
Deadhang
180 + 169 at 5 seconds
1 Minute at BW
Side Quest:
100 Kettlebell Swings, anyhow
4 x 25 at 80
Divine General
CDB Isometric (SS) CDB Style Ball throw
2 x 10 seconds/side
Reverse Pec Dec (SS) DB Laterals
5 sets
High Incline DB Press
2 x 6 at 40/side
x 10 at 40/side (slightly lower incline)
BTN Press
2 x 1 at 80
x 5 at 45 (Strict)
Last set was basically strict press.
Javelin Press
x 2/side at 45
2 x 5/side at 25
Twisting Lat Pulldown
3 sets
10 Minutes of Arm Work
Band Tricep PD superset with Spider Curl
Trapbar Shrugs
x 40 at 70
x 30 at 70
**In the Hole Squat Isometrics **
20 seconds at 110 (super extra heel)
1 Minute at 60 (extra heel)
