Vinny's Strongman Log II

Training Training Logs
905

Honestly, the jump from 275 to 315 seems pointless, as the difference in weight hardly registers for me at all. On top of that, I have a mind game battle with front squats going up; I try to jump into 365 fast, as to prepare myself mentally for bigger weights. For me, I should always be able to knock 365 out fast and easy with almost no effort nowadays in a warm up. Doing 315 might make me insecure about 365 or 405 because I’m neurotic with weird “in between weights” and if they feel weird it bugs me.

Also, it’s like 35 degrees with massive humidity in the south east US currently, so I’m trying to minimize being drenched before my top sets as much as possible, usually ending up in vain, but yeah.

Truth be told I should be warming up more…Kinda lame excuses lmao. Okay maybe I’ll be more thorough!

3 Likes
906

7/6/18 - Bw 224

DB Row (no straps)
100x30
100x25
100x20
100x20

Banded Horizontal Row
x20
x20
x15
x15
x15

Bent Over Rear Delt Fly (been a while lol)
40x12
40x12
40x12
40x12

907

Hey Vinnie, I hope I am not bothering you with my excersice selection questions. I am on a a quest to find out what works for me, haha.

I remember that you used to implement step ups in your training but you don’t anymore. What was your purpose with them and did they work for you? Can you recommend them as a second exercise, after box squats in this case?

908

Definitely not bothering me at all, don’t worry about that.

I no longer do them as I have such a severe muscle imbalance that, for me to enable my quads on a step up, requires insane manipulation of TuT and extremely meticulous care to form and honestly, it never seemed to matter for my front squat. This was probably due to the fact that the step ups weren’t strengthening a whole lot since I wasn’t using enough weight? I dont know.

All I know is, now my front squat is stronger than ever and I’m not training them at all. I DO recommend single leg leg press though, I just don’t have access to one often since I don’t train at a gym.

1 Like
909

Okay thanks man. I’ll probably do some single leg leg press then. I tried step ups today and found them weird but also more challenging than I thought they would be. I definitely need an additional exercise for my quads.

1 Like
910

7/9/18 - bw 225

Strict Overhead
45x8,8,5
135x3,3,3,3
185x3
235x7
235x7
235x6
235x4

Have done 5x5 with this weight, which is overall more volume, but I think this takes the cake for strength display by a little. Not sure though. All reps didn’t feel so great and I did this last set beltless because I was leaning back too much on the reps and using the belt as a rebound, so taking it off forced me to desist arching.

Overhead Rack Lockout
135x10
135x10
185x10
225x5
225x8
225x8 holy crap, failure
185x10 missed 9th, barely got 10th after some breathing

Side Laterals
x15
x15
x15
x15

3 Likes
911

7/11/18- bw 226

Front Squat
135x5,5,5,5
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3

Stone to Shoulder
175x3,3,3
250x3,x2
250x2
add tacky
320x0…stupid belt, no idea why i wore it
take belt off…
320x1 YAY, not even a huge effort, could possibly shoulder a little more but not much

Stone Extensions (lap once to rep away full extension)
320x8
320x8
320x6 completely gassed, plus tacky melting away from sweat/heat

Ab Pulldown
x15
x15
x15
x15

DB Side Bend
x15
x15
x15
x15

1 Like
912

7/13/18 - Bw 225, post chain a bit depleted from stones so I definitely kept it light to avoid injury. Low back has been dealing with a lot lately.

Sumo Deads (double overhand, no hook)
135x5,5,5
225x3,3,3
315x3
405x3
405x12
405x12
405x15

Pretty close stance for above sets, think I may just be stronger with a coan style sumo pull. Not sure. Reps felt great.

GMs
135x15
135x15
135x15
135x15
135x15
135x10/x15 on right leg only
135x10/x15 same as above
135x10/x15 same as above

I really love doing single leg GMs. Basically putting the leg I don’t wanna work backward in a staggered stance. Blows up my weaker leg which i struggle to activate due to massive hip imbalance.

1 Like
913

7/15/18 - bw 225

Push Jerks (axle)
155x5,5,3
225x3
265x3
315x5
315x5
315x5
315x5 good lord, PR’s out the ass on overhead, 400 pls!!

Overhead Rack Lockouts (bar at crown)
135x10
185x10
185x8
225x8
225x8
225x8 volume PR
drop set
185x5 burnt
135x11-15?

Lateral Raise
x15
x15
x15
x15

Band Pull Apart
x15
x15
x15
x15

5 Likes
914

7/18/18 - bw 226 very bad day of eating before this, also dehydrated. Had a constant battle of wanting to hit a AMRAP PR with 365 (wanting 11 reps.) Everything felt bad. My warmups felt heavy and 365 was making me black out.

Front Squat
135x5,3,3,3
225x3,3
275x3
335x3
365x4 earth is shaking already
365x5 feels easy but i do not have the cardio for 10+ today.

No strength today. Front squat wavering is really bad for my mental health. Knees aching, feeling shaky just walking around. SI joint is feeling hot.

Tried to do farmers carries but it went horrible…so…

Really, really bad session. Felt horrible, diet was horrible for the last few days and I feel like shit about it.

WELP, only thing to do now is a one mile yoke walk, because I hate myself that much woohoo

270lbs and it was brutal effort. First sprint was about 400ft up a hill and my shins were so engorged with lactic acid I wanted to cry. Strangely, after about halfway, I no longer had any LA buildup in my shins. Not sure what that means but it’s probably not good, because I couldn’t feel LA anywhere else in my body LOL. I got a second wind probably around 60% of the total distance. It carried me for probably 500 more feet and then waned completely…

The final 1000 feet was me actually questioning if, at any moment, I began to feel like I might actually faint and die, I would regret it or not. I was beginning to feel as though what I did was stupid and not worth dying for. Anyway…body felt numb to the weight and I had no issues with my muscles any longer as they basically turned off. I was essentially a corpulent vessel of self-loathing hobbling around on my skeleton, pulverizing my joints. The blood flowing up my neck felt like fucking magma. My head was pounding and I stopped sweating. Cold chills, and the abrasive force of the yoke on my back was actually worse than the walk itself. Kept having to take like 1 minute rests in shade as the sun was unbearable.

Final sprint was hilarious. Rushed inside and iced my arms and neck. Now I feel like I didn’t do enough.

I’m not very wise. Regret in the morning.

11 Likes
915

Welp, you’ve certainly sold me on this experience. Great stuff dude.

1 Like
916

Yer nice work and good post man

1 Like
917

This was a crazy intense read.
Hope next session will be off to better start but you already know what the problem was andhow to counter it.

1 Like
918

Reading you and Pwn’s log makes me realize that I simply need to try harder haha simply outstanding

1 Like
919

Hah, thanks guys. The lingering effects from the walk are an inner ankle issue and some outer hamstring tendon tightness. I also didn’t sleep a wink the night after. I had a fever or something and I was in so much pain. It kinda just made me regress physically so I sort of regret it in hindsight but also don’t at the same time.

7/23/18 - bw 225 - 6 AM session, not used to this…

Strict Overhead Press
45x10,8
95x5,5
115x3
135x3
155x3
185x3
235x10 PR, but I couldn’t fucking breathe at all. I don’t recall ever having been sucking wind on a SOHP more than this set. After finishing my forearms were pretty much numb. Very odd…
185x18

Laterals
40x15
40x15
40x10
40x10

Band Pull Apart
x15
x15
x15
x15

Had to call it short. I threw up randomly and started feeling very dizzy. That aside, I think I’m gonna add in another pressing day. I think I need more practice on jerks. I watched a Clarence video where he was talking about how his strict press is probably not much over 105kg, but he can jerk almost 500lbs. I can jerk almost 400lbs but my strict is 300. I think I just need more practice with heavier weights on jerks to fix my inconsistency with technique therein.

6 Likes
920

7/26/18 - bw 223 - have NOT back squatted in 5 years and I slept 18 hours into my day off, so I hadn’t slept properly for days and I went 18 hours without actually eating or drinking. Did zero hip mobility drills and just warmed up with 185 (it was on the bar.)

Back Squat
185x3,5,5,5
275x3,3,3
365x1
365x5
365x5
415x5
455x3
515x3 pretty easy, had 2 more for sure but I was actually scared to rerack it because I was semi-low bar and given that I haven’t had a heavy weight on my back in some time, plus rack was set too high, I didn’t want to risk breaking my bar, plates, and floor.

Ab Pulldown
x15
x15
x15
x15
x15

Waiter Walks
90lb DB x a lot
90lb DB x a lot
90lb DB x a bit more

The waiter walks somehow feel good on my ever broken lower back, but defnitely jar up my left elbow. I don’t have any lighter dumbbells at the house, so I’m kinda limited, and a 40lb DB just doesn’t stimulate my core enough.

5 Likes
921

Nice work on the yoke. Crazy dumb shit builds mental strength, and I bet the next time you try it (if you hate yourself that much) you’ll probably not get as tore up.

1 Like
922

I hate you :wink: lol. Good job man

1 Like
923

My gawd.

I guess the goal would be to get good enough at front squatting and stones that back squat feels like an easy movement.
Nice work Vinny!

1 Like
924

Holy hell, haven’t checked on your log in a while. These are some monstrous numbers your putting up! Great work man.