Depends on the comp. I have certainly done it. And failed a few times. Ascending weight used to be common for a max log or max 18" DL.
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How is training at 80-90% deloading? theres a difference between training hard and going for 1RMs
Imo you guys are talking about two different scenarios.
@hardartery Yes, for events at full shows, I see these guys training at weights higher than the actual event weights, but that’s when the event is for AMRAP.
1 RMs are different. Thor hit a 470kg on his road to 501. But, he promised that if he got 100k Twitch followers he would attempt 520kg after the 501; he didn’t get the 100k, so he didn’t go for 520kg. I don’t think he plucked 520kg out of the air; 470 is pretty much 90% of 520.
We trained heavier for more than AMRAP. In part because at the contest the max event was just one of many, so you knew going in that you’re not going to have the same energy for it. It was always better to not actually be at 1RM on anything, even a 1RM event, but you don’t want to give up points. What he actually did in trainig is likely not on display, even though in a controlled setting like that it’s less of an issue.
Well, it’s perspective. Maybe it is done a little different now, but we had target numbers for training and we wanted to hit them in the gym two weeks out. It didn’t really matter per se what the contest weight or expectation was. Maybe I think 385 is going to take the log. I didn’t have that big a press, but I wanted to hit my 1RM two weeks out, take the week before off, and then see where it went in contest. The 1RM at contest was usually a bigger number than precontest, for 2 reasons. The first being that you are typically overtrained that close to the contest and the recovery boosts you up beyond where you have been, overtraining is actually a useful tool.
The second reason was that I personally tended do better at contest with pressure and adrenaline. The difference between actual 1RM and 90% feels like a deload in training, the 1RM is going to “Feel” extra heavy compared to 90%. I want it to feel light, not heavy. That’s why heavy walk-outs can be a bonus for your squat. The actual squat weight feels light in comparison, so your setup is smoother and takes less out of you, and your head is much more in the lift. Even if you don’t do a full lift, you might be squeezing in overloads of the part that hurts the most. Like picking a heavy log out of the rack to get used to the weight even if you can’t actually clean or press that much. (I wish that had been my problem, I could always clean more than I could press)
Zydrunas ain’t right though. I was in a contest in St Louis where he was competing. Tere wer guys with 900+ lb squats scratching on the car squat, in full gear. He goes out on knee sleeves, warm pants and a belt and hits 5. Ridiculous.
To get the obvious out of the way first: Hitting a bigger number before the competition requires you to actually be able to hit that bigger number. That could proove difficult in the context of world record attempts.
Also, the whole point of the training leading up to the competition is to enable you to move as much weight as possible on that day. I can see the point of going heavier if we’re talking about an event for reps and the weight is not maximal for you. But in the context of Luke’s Log attempt: Even if he had grinded out a few pounds more in training this would a) likely have been a very tough grind and therefore do little for his confidence even if he managed it. In the very likely scenario of missing the lift his confidence is now even lower, and b) while it would prove that he was capable on that day, the effort is more likely than not going to affect perfomance on contest day and make it less likely to hit the weight then. I don’t see the point in wasting a peak for a training lift. As @Pinkylifting said, hitting your heaviest lifts of the training cycle on contest day is absolutely standard (for a reason) in basically every strength sport there is.
Everyone likes to say that, but it’s not true. I have seen plenty of PLers and Strongmen go for lifts in training that they do not get, so they are clearly not saving the biggest lift for the contest. I am including guys that have placed top 10 at WSM here. I have seen plenty of guys hit a lift in the gym that they never manage in a contest. It’s a current training philosophy to “Peak” at the contest, but it’s not the standard every where and for all history. There are guys that train to a specific conditioning level with zero concern for actual contests and contest dates, and many guys train differently in-season versus out of season. Peaking for a contest is very much a Powerlifting thing, and not a strength sports in general thing, for starters. Also, hitting a 99% lift two weeks out is a mountain of time for recovery for anyone at that level. Certainly their muscles will more than recover in that time and if their CNS can’t recover that quickly they wouldn’t be elite in the sport. It at least used to be normal to take the last week precontest as light work and recovery, which means that you actually peaked two weeks out and are gambling that recovery from overtraining gives you more than you might lose by not being under anything heavy for a week.
Ofcourse people test during training block, and I can only really speak from powerlifting, but not less than 2 weeks from competition, they just dont.
That may be generally true for PLing, I was never really a Powerlifter. I just used things from the training philosophies of the PLers. We read everything and stole whatever looked worth trying from each one. I don’t like Westside/Conjugate, but we used a ton of their ideas and adapted them. I think it also makes a huge difference if the lifting is going to be equipped or not. There isn’t much equipment in a Log Press, so your gear supported overload is significantly less. If I’m squatting in full gear, I’m really crushing the CNS with overload versus without gear. That may be a controversial opinion, but having liftes both ways it is my opinion.
The contest still scheduled for November in Florida? Given the current state of affairs and the situation in Florida, will it be safe to compete there in November?
It’s never safe to be in Florida.
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I think hitting higher training numbers than comp numbers is more a thing that happens when weight cuts are involved. Guys walking around at 260 hit numbers in training that they can’t hit in comp when they did a water cut to 231 the day before.
Of course, that’s something that might be more like 6 weeks per comp, not 12 days.
Thor’s future in strongman is apparently (obviously?) on hiatus while training for the boxing match.
But!! Apparently, Thor is stating that he will never compete again in any event with which Colin Bryce is affiliated. Fyi, Colin Bryce was the person responsible for the “documentary” (faked, showing Thor refusing to shake Eddie Hall’s hand on the podium of WSM 2017) that was released showing Thor in a very bad light (didn’t watch, title alone told me it was BS).
Anyone with an ounce of objectivity is basically like, dudes, come on, it’s 2020 already who cares.
I think Eddie Hall and his buddies are using the kayfabe thing as an excuse to say shit they couldn’t get away with otherwise. My .02.
Cutting promos and calling out the boss: strongman are taking a page from the pros on this one.
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Thor didn’t make any widespread response/video to Hall that I’m aware of. Aside from his “callout” post 501, he has not done anything publicly to promote the fight so far. (I’m sure that’ll change based on contractual requirements.) I’m not so sure Thor got the kayfabe memo.
Colin Bryce is only CEO of Giants Live. Aren’t WSM and WUS controlled by different people?
I honestly have no idea. I don’t follow any pro-strongman social media. I just get the bits that drip over into the StartingStrongman Facebook group
I’m not sure if they are the same, but I know many of the Giants Live shows are qualifiers for WSM. I would imagine WSM and Giants Live are very closely tied and potentially controlled by the same person/people/business.
Giants Live was licensed the exclusive rights by IMG Sports Media, the creator and owner of the World’s Strongest Man competition. Previously, the qualifying tournament was known as the IFSA Strongman Super Series from 2001-2004, and the World’s Strongest Man Super Series from 2005-2008. Strongman Super Series continued to operate under the title of “Strongman Super Series” in 2009 and 2010, but did not have WSM qualifying status. The Qualifying status went with Giants Live and Colin Bryce, the Tour’s producer. - Wikipedia
So, no, it is not controlled by WSM, it is licensed by them as the approved qualifier tour.
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