Nice job on that farmer hold, crushed it! Grip has gotten better for sure.
Gracias sir: I’ve learned that the secret to grip training is not using lube. Considering last year I was struggling with 200 a hand i’m pretty content with where my farmers are now. Next step is learning how to move with it…and getting it off the ground!
3/20 (T-minus 1 week)
Log clean up to 220x3
Seated No back Support Log Lockout up to 180 for 4x3
Spotted some stones by our other guys
Little stone sled drag
Simulated Harness Pull w/ 240 and 330 stones
Easy day for the most part. Bad sleep all week and didn’t see chiros so my back is a little subpar but still attached. I feel like I might be taking things a little too easy going into this contest and I think i’d be pushing a little harder if my back wasn’t dodgy. Trying to stay healthy and get healthier. Plan to see the chiro twice this week and maybe squeeze in an acupuncture session as well.
3/22
Keg Toss Work: Getting better but still feels shitty
Harness Drag: We used our 330 and 390 stones for short starts (20-30ft) and this is a BITCH to get started
Sled Drags with 330 stone for 20-40ft drags
Cable Row/Chest Fly Superset 4x12 each
Cable Crunch 3x12 stack
Rev Hypers and Traction
3/24
Axle for a Little
Log for Less
Reverse Hypers for A Lot
3/27-SoCal Strongest; 3rd in LW (haven’t seen official results but I think this is where I shook out in the events)
Press Medley: 5th
Keg Press: 10th (I sucked)
Death Medley 2nd
Harness Pull 6th
Stones 4th
First of all I have to say that EastWest Strength puts on a MONSTER show. The contest hotel was right in the heart of downtown Huntington (and right across the street from the beach) at a highly discounted rate; it was TOP CLASS. The after party was at a great little bar with a mechanical bull and great steaks. The venue is sick; keg toss was literally ON the beach. I would recommend anyone who wants a tough show and a great weekend to get ahold of Scott and ENTER THIS CONTEST next year.
Now on to events. I felt really good about the harness going in but my start absolutely sucked. The keg toss was a total clusterfuck for me. I blew through the first three and then went to shit and missed the 4th keg about 6 times. No bueno. The medley worked out really well. I think I could’ve gone a little faster on the sled and I actually fell on my ass; faster feet would’ve gotten the job done. I was one of 5 guys to finish (2 HW and 3 LW) so tough to complain. Stone run was good not great. I was slow out of the hole with the 320 so I had to re-lap it and I missed the 350 money stone. Last year finished 11th and loaded two stones; this year finished 3rd and loaded 4 stones. Progress Progress Progress.
Always happy to grab a top 3 and found some weak spots to address. Pressing/triceps (shocking right?) and stones in particular. More than anything just need to keep healthy and keep building.
3/29
Rev Hypers/Foam Roller
5RM Strict Press vs Lt Bands up to 95x5 and 105x3 then did 1x25 viking press for rep set
Decline Skull Crusher off ground 115x5 165x2 135x3 155x3
Behind Head Rope Extension 4x12 superset w/fly 4x12
Decline Situp 3x20
Reverse Hypers
Testing out no traction to see how my back works without it. I’d like to focus more on strict pressing/bench in my accessory work. My push press and strict press are so much lower than my jerk it’s ridiculous. Also learned a new fact: your clean is typically your best triple front squat. My BB clean is highly deficient since I think i’d be good for a 315-345 triple but my best recent bb clean is 286.
Looking at doing a local contest April 10th here in Denver and then maybe May 1 in Elizabeth CO? There are a TON of local shows going on in CO this year. Have to try not to do too much as i’d like to wedge in some Highland games as well as pass the Level 1 CFA exam in June.
Spent the weekend at home visiting my mom and her dog; this essentially means I ate and slept with reckless abandon all weekend. I’m a little scared to see the scale tomorrow as I do need to make weight this weekend. Although it wouldn’t be the worst thing if I had to do open HW. We’ll see.
4.5
Warmup
5RM Axle Push Press (tried to keep the legs minimal) up to 205x5 then 135x18 strict/push/jerk
3 board bench 135x8 185x5 225x5 225x5 255x5 275x2 275x3 (wanted a 4-5 but some of our boards seem to be MIA)
Axle Bent Row 5x10
Machine Row+Pressdown superset 3x10 each
Pseudo-Crucifix Hold
Ab Wheel and Hanging Leg Raise 4x10 each
4/6
Helped spot one of our new guys on stones and did two 500m time trials on the rower; both came in at 1:42. Nothing special; just a little sweat. Weighed 230 on the nose this AM.
4/7
Hypers/KBs
Snatch up to 80kgx2
Log up to 220x4 and some random sets
-I struggled with the press and lost the log behind me a couple times; WTF
Scarecrow 3x10
Pullupsx50
More rev hypers
Strength feels really good right now but holy shit does my fitness feel like dogshit. I guess it stands to reason when you consider that I haven’t had a difficult training week/session in nearly a month (contest notwithstanding). Just need to get back in the groove and be a bit better at planning our training; got to get back to squatting and pulling again someday. After this contest on Saturday I should have a good 6 weeks or so before the next one (Highland games May 29th then my CFA exam June 5 and then strongman on June 12th). Have to take a look at events for the 6/12 show and plan training accordingly; I smell a lot of stones and yoke…
4/10 “Unleash Your Strength” in Denver
All I unleashed was a big steamy pile of Awful. 5th place in open LW.
Nothing much to really say; just a bad day at the office. Screwed myself a bit on the first two events and consistency is king.
Crucifix: Screwed myself trying to put a bend in my arms. 32s or so?
DL: Weight felt great but grip kept slipping; only 9 reps @ 400. Prob didn’t take enough chalk with me and lost it on the bar.
Log Clean and Press: Better but still so out of control. I’m still throwing the stupid thing behind my head and getting off balance. 7 reps here; my shit form may have cost me a few.
Farmers for Time: Better but not great; 58s?
Stones: STILL not finishing 5th stones!! Not using tape and Elite tack cost me; that’s my decision and I own it. 4 stones in 17s with Jack on skin.
As far as partners: new HW finished 5th and other LWs were 9th and 12th. Happy for those guys and I hope they stick around and keep working at it. Two guys i’ve trained with before finished 3rd in both open divisions. Both are putting together a really good training crew in Fort Collins if anyone is up that way.
4/12
BB Push Press up to 225x4 and 225x5 then 135 strict x12(?) and jerked a few after strict failed
Pin Press w/Log (bench style) 90x10 180x5 230x5 270x5 270x5
Standing T-Bar Row 4x12 up to 5 plates
Y-W-L-T 2x8 per movement; so 8+8+8+8= 1 set; 8 and 10lb weights smashed us
Reverse Hypers 2x20
500m Rower Sprint x2 (1:38 and 1:42)
I’m liking the 5RM work instead of triples and singles; don’t feel as mashed afterwards. Might stick with it for a few weeks as a little change of pace. I like doing a short conditioning movement at the end of a ME-type day; sort of a CFTS/High-Low knock off where i’m putting as much intensive work as possible in the same session. I’ve always liked the idea and played with it in the past but probably put way too much volume into the “low” days with tempo/med ball/etc.
4/14
Sled Drag for a few trips
Snatch up to 90kgx1 then 100kgx0 100kgx0 then 95kgx1
Front Squat up to 275x5 and 315x3 then drop set 225xsome and 135xmore
DB Lunge 4x12
My legs are hosed
4/15 Happy Tax Day!
Chest Supported Row w/ Fat Gripz 4x12
Band Assisted Pullups 4 runs w/ green and purple bands; these SUCKED
DB Row w/ Fat Gripz 4x8+8 superset with machine row 4x12
Band Dip 4x25 superset with DB Hammer Curl 4x10
Lateral Raise 4x10 Superset with bent rear lateral 4x10
Rev Hypers 3x20
Legs are SMOKED
We should make a rule. Miss a lift, do 3 sets of 10 on front squats.
This works wonders for me either way. I don’t mind missing lifts and a very neglected area will get hit HARD.
Dude my legs are still FUCKED; WAY worse today than yesterday. I’m down with a “missed lift” penalty of 3x10 front squat. We really should front squat more for reps AND for weight; such a great lift. It did tear my knes up a little. There’s a lot of lit out there to support front squat performance as being most correlated with athletic performance. I don’t think that means you train the hell out of it exclusively but I think it means there’s some big carryover; like how i’ve read Tate and Buddy Morris (formerly Coach X from Elite) mention the floor press is an indicator for them for the bench. I had a 405 front squat on my list of goals for last year and then it got pushed to the wayside when I got into strongman competing and Highland games. Probably ought to do that one soon.
Unrelated topic: I want a Prowler so bad right now it’s ridiculous.
Another unrelated topic: Thinking about doing a short (4 week?) low carb diet to knock some bad weight off. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that my back went shitty on me again after I tacked on the extra 15 lbs. Sure as hell don’t want to get away from the carb cycle because that has worked WONDERS in the last 6 months for strength and size. Mostly just itching to try it and see what happens; thoughts?
4/17
Muscle Snatch up to 67-70ish kg for 4x3 then 70-72kg for 2x3
Trap Bar DL sets of 5 to 405x5 (back said NAY)
Sled Drags w/belt for a bunch of 50ft sets
Light Reverse Hypers 3x25
4/18
Long Coffee Walk in the AM and some tempo in the PM
-as much as I would like to go to Highland training my back is NOT pleased and nothing good will come from me going
4/20
Strict Press up to 155x5 for 6 sets
Some pullups
Circuitx2
Rev Hyperx15
Ab Wheel x15
Hanging Leg Raisex10
4/21
Depth Jump 3x3
Full Clean up to 130kgx1
Box Pull 4x5
Front Squat 4x5 225lbs
Lunge 2xa bunch
4/22 RE Upper
Bunch of upper back work; some dips and pullups
4/23
20mins of prehab/rehab and core work
20 mins cardiac work on rower (130-140)-felt like an eternity and my fitness sux
4/24
BB One Arm Snatch up to 60kgx1 each arm
Axle One Arm Snatch up to 50kgx1 each arm
Axle Front Squat to Med Box up to 365x1 and 405x0 (the axle REALLY pitches you forward and makes you stay upright)
Step Up 135x5+5 225x5+5x2 sets
Leg Curl 3x25
Rev Hyper 3x12
Nap and study
4/25
Hit the track planning to do some tempo but I got warm really fast and everything felt loose and springy. So I warmed up with some med ball and dynamic work and then did some 10s then 20s 30s etc up to 2-60m sprints. Still felt good so I did 7-100m tempo runs to finish off.
4/26
DB Snatch up to 105x2 per arm
No-Back Seated Log “Lockout” 5 rep sets up to 160x5 for two sets then did drop set 180x2+160x3+140x6
Rope Pullups for a bunch of sets of 3-5 (my grip blows goats) supersetted with some Viking Press and some godawful seated machine shoulder press
DB Chest Fly (from floor) 3-4x10 supersetted with 4x10 dips
Band Pressdowns 3x20
As a friend from Armbrust would say: Monday was All-American Chest Day.
4/27 OFF
4/28
Long Warmup with some low back prehab/rehab work (bird dogs/fire hydrant series/etc)
Depth Jump 3x3
Pwr Clean 100kg 6x4 (80% per Prilepin)
Box Clean 3x5 (ripped the SHIT out of my hand; that’s what I get for not tending to my hands…USE STRAPS DUMMY)
-need to make these a staple (or at least in the core rotation of movements) in the clean and the snatch
Overhead Squat 95x10 135x5x2
Overhead Lunge 40kg 4x12
Sled Drag:
3 plates for 2 50ft runs
240 stone for 200ft
3 plates for 200 ft
The 240 mind as well have taken an hour. I got the first 50-60 ft and then it turned into 20-30ft drags the rest of the way. That sucked. The 3 plates was a continuous 200ft. My legs haven’t felt fully recovered in weeks so why WOULDN’T I smash them into the ground. It’s supposedly snowing a ton the next few days so at least I got some outside work in while the getting was good.
4/29 (done at Sally’s)
Pullup 8x5
Iso DB Bench 50x15 60x15 70x15 80x15
Machine Row 3x12
500m Rower Sprint x3 (1:39 1:42 1:46)
5/1
A Million Box Snatches
-we did a ton of sets of snatch from 3 dif box heights plus from deficit and from the ground
Front Squat 6x10 (missed two snatches)
Kettlebell bench on swiss ball w/chains
Standing kettlebell press w/chain
Sled Drag for 700ish ft
Strict Rev Hyper 3x12
5/2 Track
20 mins of warm-up and med ball then mostly jumping (5 hop test and standing long jump) and a few acceleration drills; finished up with 1000m of tempo
5/3 ME Upper
Strict Press 12x2 (about half at 165 and the rest split between 175 and 155)
Decline DB Bench 65x10 75x10 85x10 100x6
DB Row 85x8 95x8 105x8 115x8
Fat Grip Chest Supported Row 4x10
Decline Crunch 4x15
Rev Hyper 2x12
Light Band Pressdown for a bunch