What are you planning for your next cycle?
5/22/19
Conditioning
Barbell complex: 65lb bar x 5 rounds x 60s rest between rounds
Row x10
RDL x10
Power clean x10
Push press x10
Squat x10
Airdyne: 5 minutes
Pull aparts: a bunch
2 mile walk
@bigpappafrance Still undecided. I think I’m down to two options though, first is to continue the ‘warrior athlete’ style training that I’ve gotten from running @Alpha’s programs or switch it up to something more along the lines of a Paul Carter mass gaining approach.
5/24/19
Lower body workout
Ladder drills
Banded booty work (lol)
Leg press dropset: (plates per side)
2x10
4x10
5x
4x
3x
2x
GHR:
BWx3x5
‘Sled’ pushes: (high handles there, low handles back)
3 rounds x 100 feet
Sled drags: (there and back)
1 x 100 feet
Funky workout today, nothing like what I’d normally do but holy hell my legs were jelly by the end.
That leg press drop set had me seeing the light. I had plenty of strength to push out more reps but I couldn’t deal with the pain, body builders deserve a little more respect IMO.
Sled was one of those wheeled ones that you adjust the resistance on. Kinda funky but served it’s purpose, need to get a prowler for home use.
5/25/19
Upper body workout
Pullups: (double rest pause x 20s, overhand-wide neutral-close neutral)
14-6-4
7-4-4
Close grip incline football bar press: (middle grips)
75x5
95x5
115x5
135x8
115x10
Meadows row: (plate weight)
25x10
50x10
75x8 dropset
50x8
Lateral raise:
25x8 (cheaty reps to failure, heavy)
10x failure
25x7 (cheaty to failure)
10x failure
Band tricep pushdown dropset:
Medium+light x bunch
Medium x bunch
Light x bunch
Axle curl:
30x1x50
3 Likes
5/27/19
Climbing
Outdoor: 5 pitches
Got a lot more hiking than climbing in yesterday, to be expected at the most popular crag in this part of the country on a long holiday weekend. Still got some fun climbs in and the weather was fantastic. Did my first multi-pitch and first simul-climb (at the same time) so that was a cool learning experience.
Excited for more days like this.
3 Likes
5/28/19
Conditioning
Basketball: 3 games
Toe is officially out of commission. Shouldn’t really impact lifting but I gotta get the nail situation figured out for basically everything else. The natural course has been a very slow process but I’ve been advised not to rip it off and TBH I don’t want to experience that pain haha.
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I like how the spectrum is swinging towards multimodal athleticism these days. I recall just a few years ago guys were getting bashed for going on a jog because it would rob their gains. Sure for a pro it’s one thing, but 99% of the anti group were just gym bros anyway.
Anyway keep at it lol.
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That’s a fun term haha. I agree though, in my quest to get bigger and stronger I definitely don’t want to sacrifice too much of my natural athleticism. If I can ever get over the ever present, minor, lower body maladies I seem to collect in succession I think I’d be in a great spot.
Contest Video and Notes (5/18/19)
I was waiting for the event results to come out so I could have some specific numbers to include here, but it’s been a while and IDK when the promoter is going to get them out. I’ll update the post if these ever become available.
Events:
Keg clean and press @ 150lbs - 1 rep - 4th out of 7
I trained with a water filled keg and these were sand filled. Definitely messed with my clean as I got pretty good at using the shifting momentum to ride the keg up to my shoulder. The sand shifted much slower and stayed out in front long enough that I couldn’t muscle it up. Watching the video, I’m pissed I missed the first rep, should’ve had that one but I just lost balance with it. Two would have tied me for third and the guys in first and second both exceeded 10, three guys 0’d.
Van pull @ unknown weight x50ft - unknown time - 1st out of 7
So I’m not 100% sure I won this event, but I caught a peak at the score sheet after this and I’m pretty sure I saw my time a digit lower than the rest. This was the most even event, everyone completed the pull within probably a 2 second window. The last 1/3rd of the pull got a little squirrely for everyone, as the van hit a slight downhill patch and it was tough to keep the rope tight even knowing it was coming. I saw it later on in the comp that starting in a falling away position worked best which no one in my class thought of.
Car deadlift @ Jeep Wrangler - 0 reps
Nope haha. Only 2 guys at the show successfully lifted this.
Car deadlift simulation @ unknown weight (~low 400s) - 7 reps - 4th out of 7
They switched back to the keg loaded sled after the jeep disaster. At this point in the comp, there was a clear 1 and 2 in the weight class and it became a race for 3rd. I beat the guy that beat me in the keg press, but another dude that 0’d that event came out of nowhere to take second in this event. The quad pump was silly, had jello legs trying to walk away from the handles haha. Two guys 0’d this.
Keg carry and load medley @ 175/200/225lbs x 50/25/10ft - unknown time split, 2/3 kegs loaded - 2nd out of 7
Time spent practicing the carry and load would have helped for sure, but it wouldn’t have closed the gap between me and the winner. Guy was strong as hell. Lots of 0’s or 1/3 loaded on this. I think the guy that came in third got 2 kegs over but either ran out of time on the third or was slower getting it to the bar, can’t remember exactly.
Stein hold - Just over 2:00 - 7th out of 7
This isn’t included in the video because it’s boring. Pretty funny event, myself and the dudes that finished 1st and 2nd did the worst here (they were at like 2:10 or so). The guy that won this held it for like 3:30. We just kinda laughed it off that they had extra energy from racking up 0’s all day. I actually had plenty of strength left to hold it up, but my left delt started spasming 30 seconds in and the shaking got so bad I spilled enough water out for my time to get called. Oh well.
Some extra thoughts:
- It was like 75* and sunny, got a wicked farmers sunburn but couldn’t ask for a better day.
- During the stein hold the guys fighting for 1st and 2nd (1st had it locked up by now) were facing off, and after the guy in 1st had to set the steins down the dude in 2nd dumped the water all over him. Good humor all around.
- One of the judges looked like a younger, less tattooed Jim Wendler. I told him that and it was the first he’d heard that. He was pretty stoked about it.
- Having it at a brewery meant there were general population spectators and they were awesome. There was an older biker dude (actually pretty built too) that had his white pony tail pulled back just shouting “hell yeah brother lift/pull/etc. that shit!” all day. He was a swell guy, tapped beer glasses with him at the end.
- It was a really well run event, and a super fun day. Definitely more of a novelty competition which is what drew me to the sport.
- 3rd was an okay finish, lost to a couple guys that really filled out the weight class and I beat everyone that was closer to my build. I’m curious to see how close the race for 3rd was.
With that, here’s the video:
In addition the the regular folks that stop by here, any critiques from the strongman crowd are great. @T3hPwnisher @theonecamko @flipcollar @brady888 @strongmanvinny2 @TX_iron @Koestrizer
12 Likes
Awesome show Velvet, well done…
And a great write up too. Thanks for sharing
1 Like
5/29/19
Lower body workout
Squat:
45x10
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5
185x3
205x3
225x3
245x1
275x1 (PR)
295x0 (Dang)
Landmine deadlift: (plates)
1x10
1+band x10
1.5+band x15
Band hamstring curls:
1x failure
Band quad extensions:
1x failure
Did what you’re not supposed to do in training and went for a random PR attempt tonight. Was playing around with low bar and everything was moving pretty fast so I decided what the hell. 275 is a 10lb PR and 295 is there with some practice, just wasn’t prepared to grind out a max effort rep on that. My squat is pretty lame haha. Managed to make it through a whole low bar session without bothering my elbow too much, but idk how it’d hold up to a training cycle, juice isn’t worth the squeeze there for me.
@mortdk Thanks man! Glad to have a solid community to share these experiences with!
3 Likes
Nice work!
I think you could save a lot of time and energy if you did not set the keg down before you toss it over the bar. Especially on that last attempt, you seem to really use a lot of energy getting that keg back up off the floor and into your lap when you basically had it there already.
It’s feels sort of like cheating, but I’ve used receiver gloves before on a rope pull and it actually made a pretty big difference.
You’re now at least as, if not more, experienced in strongman than I am.
In terms of the events, the loading is the only thing I could weigh in on from a technique perspective. For me, it’s all about the pick. If your pick isn’t done in a way for the load to be as easy as possible, the fatigue makes the load at the end really miserable. Either very high on the chest or shoulder, or the majority of the weight on the hips to allow for a clean-like hip extension to pop the implement onto its platform.
In terms of low bar squatting, how close is your benching to your squatting in terms of weekly schedule? For me anyway, those two within 2 days of each other caused a lot of elbow pain.
@TX_iron Thanks man! I agree on the keg load, the lack of practice really bit me in the ass there. Really exposed a hole in my conditioning too. I actually had some receiver gloves with me, but the rope was a funky material and it actually felt better to grip it bare handed with chalk. Couple other guys ditched their gloves too.
@brady888 Haha right on man, appreciate the tips regardless. I usually have a day off between my squat and bench days (press-squat-bench-dead, MWFS or MTTF). Staying away from low bar has helped my elbow immensely, but that little difference in bar placement for high bar is surprisingly apparent for me strength wise. It probably wouldn’t kill me to try switching to a squat-press-dead-bench schedule, but I’m planning on front+ssb squats this next cycle anyway.
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Hey man,
Appreciate the tag. I’m SO not the guy to ask for technique, haha. Something I appreciated was seeing how quickly you ran between the kegs on the load medley. That’s where you can shave off a lot of time. Good strategy.
Thanks for dropping in man. I probably could have guessed that response from you technique wise haha. I do remember seeing you and flip and others post about being fast between stations which hit me right after my first step on that run, I’m pretty sure that’s what helped me secure 2nd there.
Hey, good job at the contest. Looked fun.
You looked solid on everything. I think on car deadlift it’s best to get a wider stance with toes out and try to wedge your hips underneath you. Tends to be the most suitable position for lifting a car based on the mechanics. Easier said than done for a lot of people though.
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Right on, thanks man! If it comes up again I’ll have to give that a shot in training to see if it works for me. Appreciate the info.
5/30/19
Upper body workout
SUPER SETS
Pullups:
BWx6x6
Axle Z press:
50x5
60x5
70x5
80x5
90x5
100x6
GIANT SETS
Axle Bradford press:
50x3x10
Lateral raise:
10x3x10
Pull aparts:
3x15
Axle curl:
30x10
40x10
50x10
60x11 (dropset)
50x6
40x8
30x11
2 Likes
Hey man, sorry to keep you waiting. I was busy with competing myself, haha.
1: I would have told you to wear a belt. The two things you struggled with were 1) getting your elbow through to get into a position you can press from and 2) stability. A belt would have allowed you to create more stability and you can get away with leaning back further.
2: The van was very light for you. If such an event gets heavier, I would advise to think less “leg press” and more “rdl” if that makes any sense.
3: The jeep was too heavy, no pointer there. For the deadlift apparatus you could have possibly widened your stance a bit to get your legs more involved and take advantage of the apparatus.
4: Well fought with the last keg and nice speed between the kegs.
In summary: Massive well done man! Looked like a good contest and sounds like you had a good time. Way to go from here buddy!
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