Training Log: Entry 1861

(3) Mat Pulls 570+chains
15 reps total

Notes: Done with 3 pick ups.  9, then 3, then 3.  Context: Woke up at 0200, took wife to half marathon, walked 2 miles to finish line, walked around for an hour having lost her at the finish line, drove 5 hours through LA traffic, came home and did this.  Incredibly pleased with this, and honestly the weights felt light.  Technique is getting sloppy, gotta work on that.

Training Log: Entry 1860


Squats 455
1x9
1x1

405
1x1

Notes: Heading to San Diego for the weekend, wanted to get in my squats now so that when I get home on Sunday I can just hit my mat pulls and be done. Think I may need to reset the top set to 8 just to have enough gas to get in more reps later. I can manage that initial set of 9, but it takes everything out of me. Tried for more, and the hips and knees just weren't having it.


Standing Ab wheel
3x5

Notes: Easing back into this so that I don't spend 2 weeks in agony.

Neck harness 45lbs
1x50


Sandbag (205lbs) runs
2x120' (60' with turn)

Notes: Just a sort of grab bag workout today (get it, grab BAG...I slay me). Hitting the odds and ends that I missed during the week. May not be able to hit the yoke, so I did something that had me moving my feet quickly with a heavy load. Definitely noticed improved footspeed on this.

Training Log: Entry 1859


Axle Clean and Press (clean once) 210
1x7
1x6


Notes: First time with the axle in about 2 months, I've missed it.  First set had my hands differently spaces, so not optimal technique.  Second set was much more dialed in.  Much better leg drive on that set as well: noticed my heels picking up off the floor and a real decent explosiveness.  Going to make this my new "rep weight" and work toward 10-12 reps before moving on.

(3) DB incline press 105s
1x10
1x6
1x5
(2) 1x5 w/reactive slingshot


superset w/


GB lat pulldowns 90
5x12


superset w/


Band pull aparts
4x20

Axle curls
4x25


superset w/


Average band pushdowns
4x12


Notes: Always doing new things with arms, mainly because arm training is so boring.  Future plan is to do a massive dropset with the axle using all my 5s and 2.5 plates. 

GB lat pulldown 90
1x25

Training Log: Entry 1858


(12) Chain Suspended Safety Squat Bar Squats
3x435+chains


Notes: Hamstrings were screaming this morning, so cut out the dead stop sets.  Still happy to be able to break this off chains, normally at this point I'm starting from the top.


Reverse hyper 360
3x15


Car deadlift simulator 6 plates per side
3x10


Notes: Built some handles for this over the weekend so I can hold more plates.  Still may need to get creative, as I'm running out of plates/room on the sleeve.  Still, nice to be able to go a little heavier on these.

Will hit some ab wheel on my lunch break.

Training Log: Entry 1857

Weighted Chins 50lbs
20 reps

Bench Press 310
3x5

Superset w/

Band pull aparts
3x20

Notes: Had to rack the bar on the 4th rep of the last set before getting the 5th.  Funny variable at play: I stomped on a huge spider with my squat shoe before the workout, and the spider guts were making my left foot slippery, so I was losing out on leg drive.  Otherwise, my muscles feel strong, but joints and tendons are still a little stiff.  Only 2 more weeks of the program, feels like I'm coming out at a good place.

Shoulder circuit
3 rounds

DB rows 105
8x3
1x26



General Notes: A week down of eating better.  Bodyweight is now going up, as portion control hasn't been a concern, just food quality.  Definitely notice a general improvement in how I feel.  Next step is going to be to start eating less so I can come in lighter for my next contest.  Not significantly, but since speed is going to be a factor, be good to get rid of a little fluff.

Training Log: Entry 1856

(4) Mat Pulls 570+chains
18 reps total

Notes: Needed 4 pick ups for this.  Strength was there, but endurance wasn't.  Could only grind out 8 reps on the first go.  Happy with the total, but hopefully can get back to hitting at least 10 on the first pull.

Yoke 480
4x75'

Notes: Really hammering foot speed.  The whole time I am thinking "fast fast fast".  There is a clear difference in foot speed when I focus versus when I autopilot, and I really felt like I was flying on these.  Plan is to cycle the weight to get some work with speed and some work with weight.


Squats 455
1x9

Notes: Gameplan was to go with my "Zeno Squats", but "strength and no endurance" was the theme. Those 9 squats took a ton out of me, and I figured I'd play it safe after that.  Need to hammer squats later in my training to get my legs used to the volume.  Don't want to fall into my trap of legs being too sore to train for a week after a hard squat workout.

Training Log: Entry 1855


FG DB Press 105
1x4
1x5


Notes: Still easing back into training.  Going to need to redevelop some proficiency on this movement for my next contest.  Focus is on making the clean touch and go to speed up transition time.  Left arm wasn't having it.


DB bench 105
1x10
1x7
1x6


GB lat pulldowns 90
7x10


Axle curls


Band pushdowns


Band pull aparts

Notes: Feeling pretty much recovered, but can tell that my tendons and joints are still a little sore.  Going to try to push back to 100% on deadlift day.

Training Log: Entry 1854





(13) Chain Suspended Safety Squat Bar Squats
3x435+chains
9x345+chains




Notes: Resuming where I left off in my training program.  Still feeling slightly beat up from the comp, but strength is still there.  Need to remember that trick I discovered right beforehand with my hips on the lockout.



Reverse hyper 360
2x12
1x15




superset w/




GHR sit ups
3x10



Notes: Easing myself back into the heavy stuff.  Kept today light and low volume.  Will need to work either axle cleans or car deadlifts back in the rotation.  Maybe alternate them each week.

Training Log: Entry 1853


Lat pulldown 90
1x10

Bench 220
5x10

Superset w/

Band pull aparts
5x20


Notes: Competed on Saturday, lifting on Monday, going pretty light and easing back in to everything. Bench felt good still, but moving slow and easy.


Fat grip seated cable rows 90
8x10


Shoulder circuit
3 rounds


Notes: Amazingly, lower body is pretty painfree, while upperbody is incredibly sore. Mainly traps and shoulder. Most likely due to car deadlift.

"BACK TO THE BASICS" STRONGMAN COMPETITION WRITE UP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpgBL6kqgw

Just finished my 6th strongman competition, Alan Thrall’s “Back to the Basics” at Untamed Strength.  Took 4th out of 14 in the 231 class, having weighed in at 203 in full sweats and eating a donut.  Most fun I have had at a contest.  Wanted to get some thoughts down.  Going to go into a lot of history, if you just want to read about the contest, scroll down to “competition”.

BACKGROUND

Prior to this competition, I had already met my goal of placing in a comp (Took 2nd out of 7 in January and 1st out of 3 in February) along with qualifying for nationals (reference the first place finish).  Additionally, I walk around at about 198, and there was no 200lb class for this contest, so I was competing as a 231.  I had no interest in attempting to gain 30lbs for the contest, so this was going to be “just for fun”, which meant that a lot of pressure was off.  Ultimately, I signed up for this contest because it had a car deadlift, which has been on my strongman bucketlist ever since I started competing.

Because of the lack of concern of weigh in, I had been a lot more free with my diet leading up to this contest, and honestly I am pretty sick of eating junk.  I plan to dial things in a bit more after this, but at least I got the junk food binge out of my system.  Additionally, I picked up a slight cold prior to the contest, which was more of an annoyance than anything else.  In general though, this was a different experience for me to care so little about my diet prior to a contest.  I never “cut weight” to make the 200s, but I do spend about a day or 2 eating a little lighter than normal just to make sure I can walk onto the scale comfortably at 200lbs.  This time, I was able to really ease off the breaks and eat big before the contest.

TRAINING

Events for the show were
-200lb log press for reps (clean each rep)
-550lb yoke walk, 100’ (turn at 50’)
-225lb farmer’s walk/heavy frame carry (80’ each way)
-Car deadlift
-240lb stone over bar

The log I had at home was a 9” dual handle CFF log, and the contest was going to be a 12” log, so I modified the center of my log to be a larger diameter.  I may have gone too big with it, but it at least got me to train the mechanics with a larger log.  Huge difference trying to press it.

This was a first for me to be able to train the yoke before a show.  Normally, I just have to wing it, but I finally broke down and bought a pitbull economy yoke and got to do a few runs with it beforehand.  Yoke weight was billed at 550, I worked up to 600 and still moved pretty quickly.  Additionally, the economy design of the pitbull yoke gives it a slight wobble to deal with, so my hope was that using a sturdier piece of equipment would make things pan out better for me.

I had farmer’s handles to train with, but no frame, and even then not enough weight plates to perform a good “farmer to frame” medley, so I just stuck with farmer’s walks with a turn.  Comp weight was 225 per hand, I trained with 245 per hand.  Used straps as well, because grip is never my issue, more footspeed.  Honestly didn’t feel like I was moving too fast in training, but the yoke kept improving, so there is that.

I trained car deadlift with 2 barbells jammed in the corner of my power rack.  Highest weight I could work up to was 5 plates per side before I ran out of space, so I threw some chains on as well.  Hope was that the accommodating resistance would match the weird design of the car deadlift frame.

Did no training for stones whatsoever.  Don’t have any stones at home, and though it would’ve been a good idea to at least do some sandbag or keg loading over the yoke, it just wasn’t a big priority for me.

COMPETITION

Weighed in at 203 wearing full sweats and eating a donut (as in, I was eating a donut on the scale).  Breakfast was 3 bowls of fruity pebbles w/milk and a zero carb Rockstar w/240 mg of caffeine.  Was feeling good.  Stomach was a little twitchy, but nothing distracting.

Warmed up by cleaning and pressing the empty log twice.  It felt so much smoother and better than my ghetto log at home.  Also picked up the frame one time, so I could confirm that it sucked.  That was it for warm-ups.

Log Clean and Press (clean each rep) 200lbs

Training had gone well for this event, and I had a goal of hitting 6 reps before needing a breather, as that’s what I managed at home.  However, once I found out that we could bounce the log off the tires, I changed my gameplan on the spot.  Usually a dumb choice, but it paid off.  The first clean and press went amazingly smooth.  The log I was training with at home was covered in tape, so it stuck to my chest something fierce when trying to clean it.  Not having to deal with that made the log fly up.  Also, fairly certain I was training with a much larger diameter than 12”, so the press was nothing on this.

Bounced as many reps as I could off the tires.  Doing this was awesome, as it made the clean incredibly fast and easy.  This in turn meant that I well surpassed my goal of 6, and was able to clean 9 reps without needing a break.  I unfortunately ran out of time to press the 9th, but 8 was good enough for second place.

Kalle was judging for my lane, and he was very quick with the down command, which was awesome, and something I learned to look for.  My 8th rep looked touchy, but he gave it to me, so that was awesome.

Things that went well: Very short transition time between clean and press.  Something I’ve been working on.

Thinks I could improve: Looked like some random stalls for no reason I could really determine. Lost my balance once or twice, which cost me some time.

All in all, this was the event I was the most surprised by.  I figured I would go middle of the pack, tied for 2nd out of 14 was awesome.


Car Deadlift

This was the event I was looking forward to the most.  I also had zero frame of reference for how I would do.  Everyone says it’s nothing like a deadlift at all, and though I did the deadlift simulator, I had never touched a car before.

The number to beat when I was up was 28 reps, and it was set by the guy who took first in the log, so I figured that was a high number.  I chalked up, set my straps, put on my super heavy duty knee sleeves got ready, and just embraced the suck.

No technique whatsoever here, just standing up as many times as I could and gutting it out.  Once I hit 25 and heard I had 30 seconds left, it dawned on me that I might be pretty decent at this.  Unfortunately, I also had the thought that, since I was so far ahead, I probably didn’t need to kill myself, and that I should just go for 35 for pride.

I got 35, and crushed the previous number, but one other competitor managed 37 to bump me into second.  However, no one else came close to my number, so I take solace in that.  Lesson learned: I will never not give 100% on an event.

What WAS awesome though was that, due to my second place on the first 2 events, I was now first overall in my weight class.  I did NOT expect that to happen after having given up so much weight.  Pretty awesome.


550lb yoke, 100’ (50’ each way)

Finally broke down and bought a yoke to train with, and it paid off.  It was taking me 40ish seconds to make my runs back home, but it was with a more shaky yoke and a slightly further distance.

Not a whole lot to write about here.  Sturdier yoke felt smoother.  Once I started thinking “fast feet”, things moved better.  Big takeaway is that I can’t try to autopilot movement events like I do static ones.  I need to be thinking the whole time “quick feet”.  You can actually see when I start thinking it in the video, as my foot speed changes pretty radically.

Only other thing I’d change is my transition at the turn.  Took too long setting back up, and it’s time I could’ve spent moving.  Took 7th overall in this event with a time of about 20 seconds, but I was a second away from the next placing, and first was only 14 seconds.  This is huge for me, as prior to this I was taking around 40-50 seconds in competition at this distance.  Marked improvement.  After this event, I had dropped to third overall.  Still placing way outside my weight class, very happy with that.


225lb farmers/heavy frame carry, 80’ each way

Another event I wasn’t too psyched about, but willing to give me all.  Did zero training with a frame, only used farmers with a turn, and that’s with straps, because I want to watch the world burn.

Everyone was getting psyched out over the frame.  Don’t get me wrong, it sucked; the pick up was like a snatch grip pick, and it had zero knurling, but you can’t let the equipment beat you.  I just figured I’d deal with it when I got there.

Same as the yoke, I need to think “fast feet” from the start.  I did better this time at least, and you can see it in the video.  Also, I tucked a small block of chalk in my elbow sleeve in case I would need it for the frame, but when I got there and grabbed it, I felt fine, so I just moved as quick as I could.  A lot of folks were dropping it, which was good for me, as even though I had a slolwish run, I had zero errors.

Finished with a time of around 29 seconds, which was good for 6th place, keeping me in third place overall.  4th place was 1.5 points behind me, so it was going to come down to stones if I wanted to place.


240lb stone over 52’ bar

I never train stones, so my gameplan here was just to give it my all.

4th place got 11 reps, so that was what I wanted.  At 5’9, the bar was high, but nothing you can do.  I tried to one motion it as much as I could, and was actually on pace to make 11, but a missed pick up on the third rep and a lot of hang time on the 8th killed me.  Got 9 over the bar, and wiffed on the 10th.  Happy with it all things considered, but a little bittersweet knowing I might’ve been able to place.


Moving forward

This was the most fun I ever had in a contest.  Alan Thrall put on a great show, the volunteers were awesome, and judging was fair.  At this point, I tired of eating so much garbage, and want to clean up my diet a bit.  If this means dropping weight, I’m fine with that, but bodycomp is less the concern.  It’s more about less fast food, more veggies, etc.

Trainingwise, speed is still my weakness, but it’s getting to be less so.  Going to keep the yoke in rotation, as it will be in my next contest, and do some farmers for speed on occasion.

Training Log: Entry 1852

Lat pulldown 90
5x12

Bench press 325
4x2

superset w/

band pull aparts
4x20


Notes: Last heavy workout before comp, kept the volume low. Bench is feeling very secure and strong. Paused the first rep of each set.


Lost another pound after spending a day eating ribs and junk. Going to try to regain some quality weight as fast as possible without eating junk.

Training Log: Entry 1851

Spent the past 3 days walking 13 miles a day through Disneyland while carrying a squirming 1 year old for the majority of those miles. Probably the greatest back workout of my life. Mrs was running a race, and had the in-laws with us. They have very different appetites than the wife and I, so ended up eating little food and lost about 4lbs. Still, not the worse way to spend some down time, and I got to take my traditional sword in the stone pic, so that's a plus.

Will hit heavy bench tomorrow, and then maybe light events on Tues.

Training Log: Entry 1850

Log clean and press (clean once) 190
1x9
1x5

Notes: Press technique was pretty sound.  Ran out of air at one point, but the mechanics are where I want them to be.  95% comp weight, don't have any worries come day of.

Log cleans 190
1x4

Notes: Was going to go for 10, but felt my right forearm acting up around rep 4 so shut it down.  I'm ok with blowing out the forearm day of, but want to at least have a few solid reps before it happens.


Band pull aparts
50


Notes: From here, it's going to be pretty light.  Might take the yoke for a super light run one more time, but otherwise it's just going to be pump work to stay fresh.

Training Log: Entry 1849

(13) Chain Suspended Safety Squat Bar Squats
2x435+chains
8x345+chains


Notes: Last heavy week, holding off on pushing things too hard. Still, noticed that I've been relying primarily on my upperback to complete the SSB squats, and this time really tried to drive the hips forward. Will have to work on that post comp.


Reverse hyper 360
2x12
1x15


Abs

Notes: Just various ab work here. Went out and shot a bow for the first time yesterday, and my right elbow is pretty pissed off at me, so it made the ab wheel suck. Did some of that, did some ab wheel holds, and some planks.


Neck harness 45lbs
1x50

Training Log: Entry 1848

Weighted chins w/50lbs
25 reps


Bench press 310
4x4

superset w/

Band pull aparts
4x20

Notes: Feeling a little torqued.  Left elbow kind of beat up.  Still moving along nicely, but it's definitely getting time for my pre-comp deload.


Shoulder circuit
3 rounds


DB rows 105
8x3
1x33

Training Log: Entry 1847

(5) Mat Pulls 570+chains
18 reps total

Notes: 12 in the first, 3 and then 3.  Felt like crap, underfed and in a sleep deficit, so another great bad day PR.  Last heavy deadlift day until comp, and after that the month of May is pretty jacked up for me, so I'm going to have to make due where I can.

Set itself was great, but left hip got a little pissed off, so I didn't fight for many of the reps.


DOH hold 405+chains
60 seconds


Zeno Squats

8x455
4x455
2x455
1x455
4x405

Notes: Hip was done on the last set.  Goal was 8.  Still a killer set.



General strongman notes: Got a keg for $15 yesterday and found out about a comp in Aug in San Diego, nearby my parents.  Stoked about it, they've always wanted to see me perform.  Torn on a decision point.  The 200lb class weights are incredibly light and the open weights would be more of a challenge, but since it's my parents, I kind of want to put on a good show.  Additionally, I might be able to handle the open weights just fine, but I'm already doing one contest where I've giving up a ton of weight, don't know how much I want to keep doing that.  Will think it over.

Training Log: Entry 1846


2.6 mile run


Notes: Work function.  I was up to about 202lbs this morning, and the extra weight showed.  Moved slower than I was used to.  No stops and cardio was just fine, but legs felt thrashed from all the training.