March 25, 2017 – Week 3, Day 3

5 Minutes Sled Drag (55lbs for .25 miles)

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx15

One Leg Leaning Calf Raises
BWx5/5
BWx5/5
BWx5/5

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Band Rows w/Biceps Stretch
MBx25/10 seconds

Regular Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Band Rows w/Biceps Stretch
MBx25/10 seconds

Yoke
217x50’ in 6.84 seconds
217x50’ in 6.69 seconds
307x50’ in 6.64 seconds
Minute Runs
402x50’ in 7.29 seconds
402x50’ in 7.15 seconds
402x50’ in 7.28 seconds
402x50’ in 6.64 seconds

Stone of Steel Over Bar (57”)
138x5
189x10

Stretching

Comments: I had every intention of getting up early and going to a strongman gym to train. I wasn’t expecting to have SI joint aches this week so I felt it was best to hold off on traveling to train for a little bit longer. So I slept in and got things set to train solo event work. Sled drag for my short warm-up. Heart rate did get up to 153bpm at the highest, which is the highest it has been doing this particular warm-up. Hips felt off but felt better as I kept walking. Got a decent lower back pump on the left side where things are tender so it leads me to think the soreness is more from muscles than nerve irritation right now. I had things setup for working out after the sled drag walk so I was able to do the corrective warming up exercises with short rests like a circuit. Calf raises felt good and moved right into the one leg style. Felt better than last workout. Box touches were good on the hamstrings. Hips ached but the movement felt good on the hamstrings. Band rows were good, feeling the pump mostly in the rear delts on these. Best the biceps stretch has felt so far. All the easy stuff was done so on to the difficult-ish stuff. This was going to be different in that I didn’t have as much rest between my previous workout (heavy lower body focus) and this one like the previous two weeks. Yoke with three warm-up sets into minute runs with the working weight for four runs. 50’ for all the runs like last week. I moved the yoke gingerly into place from the garage to the start as I didn’t want to overdo it. This time, I timed every set, even the warm-ups, just like farmer’s walk last week. Temperature jumped up from 57F to 72F during the course of the workout. Two weeks ago it was below freezing. No knee aches on yoke this time. I figured that would go away pretty quick. Hips felt off on my warm-ups. Wasn’t going all out as it was a warm-up but it definitely shows I take a bit to get into top gear. Last warm-up was with the weight I did the minute runs last time. That felt better than the previous two lighter sets. The increase in weight for the work set was noticeable but I knew that this wasn’t going to be a troubling weight since I had already used over 400lbs in two different workouts on different exercises. A bit tougher doing the minute runs solo, focusing on a lot of things. My starts weren’t as good as I would have liked them on the first three runs. It was more or less trying to guess when the timer would go off on those. On the last set, I realized that I should just count the start to myself and go when I felt ready, even if it meant beating the timer. In competition, there are going to be auditory cues but they won’t be as sudden as a timer going off. This pick was much better and it ended up being my fastest run. After that was the stone of steel. Thankfully, this was inside the garage which was about 10-15F cooler than being in the sun. Again, solo so I had to make a setup that would allow for me to bring the stone of steel back without issue and have something in place that would keep it from escaping the garage in the event of an error of judgement haha. I had ordered a grip shirt but it had not arrived in time to use it the previous session. Some shows may not allow it but the one I am aiming for does (I checked) so I figured it was best to be ready. Empty stone of steel for a set of five to warm-up. I was nervous even doing this. Fear of failure, regression, stagnation, embarrassment. But it is in my head and I need to push it out. One of the reasons I keep coming back to strongman/strength training. It was easy. The overcrushing didn’t take as much out of me this time. The next set was planned to be 50lbs more for a set of 5-10. Adding 50lbs more doesn’t mean it will be 50lbs more since the spacers need to come out to adjust the stone of steel. So I put in 52.5lbs and weighed it to make sure it was as close to the increase I wanted and it was just over. I’ve only done singles really besides the previous session so technically anything over that first session for reps will be PRs. Again, pretty nervous. This weight was what I figured I was safe doing a few weeks ago. But I wanted my ten reps. To be honest, this only felt slightly harder than last time with just the empty stone of steel. I was little more winded but I felt about the same fatigue. I noticed I started lapping the thing up higher around seven reps in as my hamstrings got fatigued. I felt the shirt definitely helped with slippage as I was able to get it even higher on my chest on some reps. My crushing strength felt better and I was able to touch my hands and almost interlock them. Last session, I only had stone rash on the forearms but this time I got some on my biceps. Exhausting but it felt good. Stretched a good bit to end the day.