July 29, 2011 - July 31, 2011

So remember that cold? Turns out it wasn't a cold. But no worries, got a 5 day prescription and I feel better already.

July 29, 2011

Walking - 32 minutes

Comments: I thought I was getting better but I have goop in my right eye. Never had that before. Just got to maintain the walking.

July 30, 2011

Walking - 32 minutes

Comments: Ugh, go away sickness. A little bit better but still a hassle to walk.

July 31, 2011

Walking - 33 minutes

Comments: I felt like crap waking up but got an appointment at clinic and I felt better within an hour of taking the delicious healing pills. Walking was easy again, like the face hugger had been taken off finally. Hopefully this means I will sleep well.

July 28, 2011 - Extra Workout

My cold is getting better but I dread waking up in the morning as I then spend about a half hour expelling the night mucus. My abs have been cramping from my coughing as of late but I think my oblique has recovered enough that it isn't doing any real damage to it.

Band Face Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Band Press Downs
IW#1'sx100

Band Straight Arm Lat Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Ankle Weight Lying Leg Curls
11'sx250

Comments: Just the easy stuff. Miserable and bored but that's how it goes.

July 27, 2011

Cold was pretty bad the past two days. I'm feeling a bit better so hopefully I'll be over it soon. On Tuesday, my left hamstring tendon was aching. It was still aching on Wednesday but I made myself go for a walk. I think it came from sitting 25 hours a day. It seems to be one of those "moving pains" that goes from one area to the next. Today it is my right knee. I think my body is rejecting my mind now.

Walking - 32 minutes

Comments: Stupid cold. Did this fairly late as I was debating even walking. Disgust won over my laziness.

July 25, 2011 - Extra Workout

Band Face Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Band Press Downs
IW#1'sx100

Band Straight Arm Lat Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Ankle Weight Lying Leg Curls
11'sx250

Comments: This summer cold is making me feel miserable. Chiro appointment shifted whatever it was back into alignment so there is some soreness in my right side. Not going to lift this week so I can fight off this cold and let that area heal. I'm using anti-inflammatories for the sinus headaches and sore throat so it's hard to tell how much exercising my lower back would actually hurt.

July 22, 2011 - DE LB (WiaW) & July 24, 2011

I haven't posted my recent workouts until now because something "went" in my lower back doing very light goodmornings. Immediate pain and a feeling of warmth in my entire lower back. To say I was upset with this turn of events would be an understatement. I smell of pesperiation and Icy Hot right now. To make it worse, I woke up Saturday with a cold. I haven't been sick since March. Ugh. Regardless, I just need to make some adjustments, reassess my goals and just focus on getting better and not working about strongman.

July 22, 2011 - DE LB (WiaW)

Dynamic Warm-ups

18” Box Squats
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x5
232x5
278x5

Oly Squats
155x5
185x5
215x5
245x5

Arched Back Stiff-legged Goodmornings
175x5

Comments: This workout was going well at the start. Box squats went well. I figured the split squats might put too much stress on my obliques so I did oly squats. While they gave my legs a nice beating, I think they might have stressed my back and abs too much. Something went in my back on the first set and I had to rack the weight. Called it a day and took to using anti-inflammatories, icing it and Icy Hot.

July 24, 2011

Walking - 32 minutes

Comments: Woke up at 1:00 today. Back is feeling a lot better but the cold is crappy. Just walking to get blood flowing and at least have me do something.

July 21, 2011 - Extra Workout

Band Face Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Band Press Downs
IW#1'sx100

Band Straight Arm Lat Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Ankle Weight Lying Leg Curls
11'sx250

Comments: Not much to say but I'm starting to feel better (both body and mind). Good luck to my friends competing this weekend in Michigan.

July 20, 2011 - ME UB (WiaW)

Woke with bloodshot eyes from all the allergens in the air. We have a heat wave rolling through so it's going to get hotter. Didn't feel too bad from yesterday. I might be able to continue with the chiro appointments.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Barbell Push Presses
45x10
80x5
115x5
144x5
173x5

Close Grip Barbell 4-Board Presses
165x5
195x5
225x5
255x5

Bent Over Barbell Rows (straps)
145x8
175x8
205x8
235x8

Rope Cable Face Pulls
50x12
85x12
120x12

31 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Both racks were in use so I did my push pressing from a hang position off of a bench rack. I wasn't getting much cramping this session but there was some tightness from the workout. I guess I've survived another workout. Two down, six more to go.

July 19, 2011 - ME LB (WiaW)

My abs are fighting me. I almost retched twice in the past 24 hours and one time I was just thinking about eating something. I have to cut down on my visits to the chiro as it is not covered by my insurance so it is getting expensive.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Deadlifts
135x5
185x5
225x5
281x5
338x5

Arched Back Sumo Stiff-legged Deadlifts
180x5
210x5
240x5
270x5

Glute Ham Raises
bwx8
bw+5x8
bw+10x8
bw+15x8

Reverse Hyperextensions
140x12
230x12
320x12

30 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Alive and I don't think I injured anything. Did get some cramps in my abs doing the deadlifts. Hamstrings were quite tight from both inactivity and from yesterday’s extra workout. Hopefully, this continues to progress.

July 18, 2011 - Extra Workout

Just been tired these past few days. Allergies making my eyes and throat itchy. I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to do stuff. That's not me. I guess I rely a lot on mental power when it comes to lifting or training and that reserve has been tapped with coming back from the one injury and dealing with another. Honestly, the thought of event training (other than stones) isn't sticking to me, it's not exciting to me. I really hope that feeling passes.

Band Face Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Band Press Downs
IW#1'sx100

Band Straight Arm Lat Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Ankle Weight Lying Leg Curls
11'sx250

Comments: Heh, I had planned on going for a walk as well but a thunderstorm rolled though and put a damper on that. Face pulls actually felt really good. Didn't feel like I missed too much taking off those two weeks. Back to gym lifting tomorrow, light that is. Hoping that goes well.

July 17, 2011

Walking - 36 minutes

Comments: More walking. Felt better than yesterday. The part that connects to my lower back is going to take some time as it only really recovers when I'm awake as I roll in my sleep. I might have to focus on something other than strongman/lifting that will keep me in some sort of shape. I've gotten a lot of reading done in the mean time haha.

July 16, 2011

Not dead, yet. Working on getting my head back on right and recovering. Just had to get stuff off my chest, put words to it instead of having some nameless negativity and frustration swimming in my blood a moment longer. I got a plan now to start back at the lifting stuff on Monday and stay light for two weeks before attempting my normal stuff. Might aim for a contest in October and not worry about Nats.

Walking - 35 minutes

Comments: Just walking. Abs cramp up some times while walking. Kind of sucks but whatever, it's getting better. More rest tomorrow.

Update

I’ve done jack squat since I last posted. Just feeling awful mentally and physically. It’s tough to stay positive this time. I mean, everything else is fine besides my one side of my lower back/abs but I can’t push it without stressing that area unless I’m doing isolation exercises and even those could be troublesome. Eating has been a chore with the decreased activity and it didn’t help matters that I miscounted how many bags of weight gainer I had left so I was stuck eating extra waffles and yogurt for the past three days. Talk about bland. Went over the rest of the x-rays with the chiropractor and found out that my body has taken a beating and not realized it. My neck curves the wrong way and I apparently broke a vertebrae in the middle of my spine that has since healed. It’s either months or years old and is probably why sometimes my mid back bothers me. He gave me a muscle stim device to try out and see if it helps with my abdominals recovering (as well as lower back). It might already be defective though. He also suggested I try lifting for the upper body and I did but it was awful. I can’t go over 90% on overhead without pain. This sucks. Essentially, I’m probably done strongman for the year as I’m going to have to pull out of the Michigan show and even if my recovery is the best (say two weeks of light stuff) I’d only have four weeks to get ready for the next show, which would be one of the heaviest amature shows yet. Missing that, I’d have little chance to qualify for Nats this year. Just tired. Strongman/lifting were probably the one thing I felt going well in my life so this week off has been boring as anything. Go to work, eat, watch tv, sleep, repeat. I’m riddled with doubts.

July 10, 2011

Walking - 33.5 minutes

Comments: Didn't have to force myself to go walk today. Went a bit further than the day before. Just letting this stuff heal and just trying to stay positive and relaxed.

July 09, 2011

Haven't posted in a few days. My assessment on Wednesday got me down as they said it was possible that my spine was shifted to the left and that my right oblique muscle could be torn. I wouldn't know until Friday for sure (they had taken an x-ray) so I decided to not do anything until I saw them on Friday. Of course I had little motivation to really do anything. Hard to stay positive. I found out on Thursday that the chiropractor's guesses were confirmed by the x-rays. I guess the good news is that it is only a minor tear and should heal on its own. Anyways, I was hoping for more definitive answers from them on Friday for my first actual session. But that wasn't to be and I'll just have to play it by ear. He tells me to gauge it by pain and I'm like my sport has me ignore pain and I was hitting PR's for the past three weeks. I have three sessions for this coming week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) so hopefully that will be all I need to get back to it without worries. Just going to have to wait and see.

Walking - 31 minutes

Comments: Took a bit of effort to force myself outside to go walk today. Guess this will be my exercise until my next session with the chiropractor on Monday. My hope is to start back to doing stuff that week (like upper body stuff that doesn't bother it and light lower body crap) or something. I don't really know.

July 05, 2011 - ME LB

Going to bite the bullet and get an assessment done by a chiropractor today. I’d like to rule out spinal injury and hope that it’s a muscle strain or something. Also noticed more burst capillaries from the workout in my neck.

Dynamic Warm-ups

12” Block Deadlifts
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
455x1
495x1
545x1
Added Straps
585x1
635x1 PR+25lbs (hitched)
572x3

Arched Back Sumo Stiff-legged Deadlifts
295x5
325x5
355x5
385x5

Glute Ham Raises
Bw+5x8
bw+20x8
bw+35x8
bw+50x8 PR+5lbs

Reverse Hyperextensions
290x12
380x12
470x12 PR+10lbs

38 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Survived another one. Deadlifting is tough. Workout started fine and then I added the big plates and that’s when it went south. I busted the blocks warming up and had to put scrap wood under them to keep the bar from sinking. I have only pulled from this height once before and that was before I started strongman training and my PR’s were quite poor, actually worse than my floor pull at the time (495lbs max). I didn’t base my workout off of that though since I was much stronger and I had pulled 610lbs from a similar rack height so I used that instead. I put my hard belt on a single earlier than planned as my lower back felt like dogs were gnawing on it. It took some effort with 585lbs but I figured I’d give 635lbs my best shot. Very tough but it started moving and got past my knees before I ran out of steam so I went with the ol’ strongman hitch ramp to finish it. I would have preferred to get it clean but whatever, it’s progress. This pull height now matches my PR’s for 18” pulls. Hoping for good things when I do them again. Back and obliques were pretty much down for the count after the block pulls but I pushed on through with sumo sldl stuff. Ghr’s went well, I was surprised to get all the reps on the last set, especially after the nutbuster of a first rep. Finished up with reverse hypers and stretching. So beat.

July 04, 2011 - Extra Workout

I didn't do anything yesterday as I was pretty much in the car all day. I also found out that the 511lbs stone down at Brute Strength Gym is actually 23" diameter, and not 22". No wonder it felt "larger".

Walking - 33 minutes

Band Face Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Band Press Downs
IW#1'sx100

Band Straight Arm Lat Pulls
IW#1'sx100

Ankle Weight Lying Leg Curls
11'sx250

Comments: Walking felt pretty good, kind of relaxing. Waited a few minutes after to do the band stuff, walking didn't effect the leg curls much. Getting lots of sleep.

July 02, 2011 - DE UB

Some things before getting to my workout. First off, congrats to Brad Ardrey for joining the +500lbs atlas stone club. Absolutely embarrassed a 501lbs stone today. In regards to the Michigan show, I'm probably going to treat it like a training session in the same vein as my trip down to Brute Strength Gym in that I will go heavy on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, skip my DE days and go back to normal the following week. The heavy show that I want to do would be four weeks away if I deloaded for the Michigan show. Again, nothing set in stone yet. Not too sure how Nationals is going to look for NAS this year. There is a chance I won't qualify this year since I've picked fairly tough shows. I think my best chance might be Michigan in that I'm pretty good at most of the events. I don't want a cake walk qualifier as I won't be given the same courtesy if I go to the big dance. At the same time, I don't want to keep putting off going to Nationals, it's not like the weights or the competition is going to stay the same. It's just going to get harder. Also with the forming of the WSM affiliate program that could be up as soon as this Fall, it adds something to that as well. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Close Grip Bench Presses w/ Chains
No Chains
45x10
Add Chains(+50lbs)
45x2
95x2
135x2
175x2
222x2
222x2
222x2
222x2
222x2
222x2
222x2
222x2

Neutral Grip Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
85'sx5
100'sx5
115'sx5
130'sx4 PR+5lbs

Suspended Swiss Bar Z Presses
95x8
125x8
155x8
185x8 PR+5lbs

Bent Over Rear Delt Dumbbell Raises
55'sx12
75'sx12
95'sx12 PR+5lbs

47 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Tired, even though I got lots of sleep (actually woke up and then fell back to sleep for a half hour). Glutes and quads were really sore. Chugging 1300 calories right before lifting is also a bad idea. Benching went alright. Incline started okay but I was having issues with 115lbs and I was worried I wouldn't even get 130lbs up at all. Luckily, 130lbs went smoothly, even though I didn't get five reps. Heaviest dumbbells I used to date on this exercise so that's good. Z presses are just awful the day after doing hard core/ab work. Felt a bit better than last week. I had to wait around a bit before getting back an adjustable incline bench for rear delts. I felt like I was going to hurl from all the gas in my belly. Again, stupid to consume anything this close to working out. Upped the weight on rear delts and they went surprisingly well. Finished off with a lot of stretching.

July 01, 2011 - DE LB

Dynamic Warm-ups

18” Box Squats w/IW#4’s clinched
No Bands
45x10
95x2
135x2
Add Bands (+145lbs)
45x2
95x2
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2
310x2

Safety Squat Bar Split Squats
195x10/10
225x10/10
255x10/10 PR+10lbs
285x10/10 PR+40lbs

Arched Back Stiff-legged Goodmornings
290x8
320x8
350x8
380x8 PR+5lbs

Pulldown Abs
90x12
135x12
180x12 PR+10lbs

43 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: What an odd workout. I got to Max Fitness a bit later than usual. I got the pin height right for box squats this time. Felt like crap on most of the sets. I think after the first two doubles with my working weight my forehead erupted in sweat. I had no idea how the rest of the workout was going to go after that. For the ssb split squats, I knew getting my goal weight was going to be easy after the first set but I wasn't sure I could get another jump after that. My goal weight was just a 10lbs PR and that was really easy on my left leg and bit tough for the right leg. It's like doing 20 reps in a set when I do these. My legs need the work and with my back being wishy washy, this was good way to work the legs and not tax the lower back that much. I went with another increase to make it a 40lbs PR. This time, the left leg was tough but manageable so I knew it was going to be a pain for the right leg. It was rep, big gulp of air, rep after the first five reps on the right leg. My legs were burning and I barely locked out my leg for the 10th rep. Had to walk around a bit before I felt I could unrack weights for gm's. Gm's were fun and by fun I mean the opposite. Right side of my lower back/abs is still a bother when bending over and the left side of my mid back was acting up again. I think I over did it with the reverse band pulls, wide grip rdl's, bent over rows and face pulls back to back. Speaking of rdl's, I was worried that the inclusion of more heavy posterior chain stuff like that would negatively effect my other lower body stuff (at least until I got used to it hopefully) and that seemed to be a possibility with how crappy my box squatting was. So yeah, not looking forward to the gm's. The first rep of every set was the worst; if I got that, the rest were no problem. For the last set, had side spots (I was using the tiered squat rack) just in case. So I had arrived late and was going at a slow pace (gets crowded on squat day) so I wasn't thinking when it came to abs and I accidentally put on more weight than I had planned. But I was tired and just went with it. I switched back to my work shoes for this and the increased traction made it a lot easier to keep from being lifted off the ground. Going to stick with the weight for next time. Went home to stretch and sleep.