May 17, 2013 – Heavy Press Day & May 18, 2013 – Event Training

May 17, 2013 – Heavy Press Day

Dynamic Warm-ups

Close Grip Incline Barbell Bench Presses w/ 2 Second Pauses
45x10
75x5
105x3
135x3
165x3
185x1
205x1
225x1
245x1
265x1
285x1

Close Grip Axle Floor Presses
165x3
215x3
265x8
285x8
305x7

Chest Supported Rows
280x12
280x12
280x12
280x12

EZ Curl Bar Overhead Extensions (seated)
125x12
125x12
125x12

IYT’s
5’sx12
5’sx12
5’sx12

33 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Upper body still quite beat by this point in the week, especially my triceps. I gave them no mercy. For the max lift, I went with paused incline presses. I liked them when I did them last year. I did my reps normal style except for the last rep of each set, which I did pause style. 285lbs was ugly but whatever, it went up. I just never felt comfortable with the axle floor presses. Felt incredibly hard and couldn't get 8 reps on the last set. Just chalking it up to recover from the contest. Perhaps it is from switching the order of my pressing days around. We'll see. I decided to drop the dumbbell rows and just use the chest supported row machine that is plate-loadable. Much better exercise for hitting my back. Not sure why I just didn't use it from the beginning. Overhead extensions also suffered from dead triceps but still made it through the session. Finished up with light back/shoulder stuff and stretched.



May 18, 2013 – Event Training

Dynamic Warm-ups

Conan's Wheel
+490x1 lap
+580xpick
+580x1 lap
+670xpick
+670x1 lap
+760xpick
+760x1 lap
+550x2 laps
+550x2 laps
+550x2 laps

Arm-Over-Arm Pulls
Truckx50'
Truck+4 Bodiesx50'

Rolling Thunder Lifts
55x1/1
100x1/1
145x1/1
170x1/1
190x1/1
210x1/1
235x0/0
220x0/1

Comments: Well, a testing day of sorts for me to see if I can be ready to compete again by June. Main goal of the day was to try out some new things on conan's wheel and see if I could test out the hercules hold. I had watched a brief clip of Jouko Ahola where he talked about technique on the conan's wheel and I tried it out. I set the pick really high and tried to even get the arm of the thing close to my chest. I was able to actually go a full lap with some in the tank with 60lbs more than the last time I used this particular wheel. Maybe I have this event figured out now. I don't plan to win but I don't plan to place last. Did some lighter runs to get some time under tension volume in to it. No hercules hold today as Lou was away so I went on to arm-over-arm pulls. I knew this wouldn't need much work. I did JT's truck easy for the first set and then had a bunch of the guys training hop in the bed of the truck for the next set. Felt good. I missed the rope once on that run and that was no fun as I lost a bit of my momentum. I have no worries about this event. Had to think of something to work the grip for the hold. Didn't want to do farmer's picks as it's too much back and I'm doing heavy rack pulls this week. I noticed the rolling thunder handle and decided to give it a shot. Never used it before but seemed to do the trick. Hopefully next time I can use the actual implement. Went home to help my sister do her event training.