July 28, 2018 – Week 1, Day 3

5 Minutes Misc Stationary Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Mouser Block Presses
122.5x1
142x1
171x1
190.5x1
222x1
241x1

Wide Grip Deadlifts
135x3
180x3
257.5x3
335x3
412.5x3

18” I-Beam Farmer’s Walk/Keg Load/18” I-Beam Farmer’s Walk
117x100’ (drop at 50’)/150x1 to 60”/117x100’ (drop at 50’) in 44.11 seconds
202x50’/200x1 to 60”/202x50’ in 24.33 seconds
262x50’/250x1 to 60”/262x50’ in 28.59 seconds
262x50’/250x1 to 60”/262x50’ in 28.97 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I got to bed but it wasn’t as soon as I wanted to. I went for a walk in between the thunderstorms as I really felt I needed to after all the squats and because I hadn’t been able to go walk earlier in the week due to the flash floods. Got a later start to my day then expected to. Guess the chicken wasn’t fresh the night before haha. Out to Lancaster to train. Brian was there so I got to vent a little about the state of amateur strongman (I don’t get to talk to people about it that understand it). Bike again. Well not quite right away. I had to use the restroom again but a little girl had locked it from inside and closed it so had to get one of the owners to open it up with a screwdriver. The little girl then figured I was a captive audience on the exercise bike and procced to teach me her name, her brother’s name and her mother’s name in sign language. Kind of. The bike felt good on my legs. Calf stuff was good and easy. Goblet box squats were ok, no aches at all. This was probably the best these have felt this week. RDLs actually felt not half bad today. Just really tight hamstrings. I had thought I might need to do some soft tissue work on them but didn’t need it. Band rows were easy. Push ups were a bit tougher. Left shoulder ached like it has been as well as my elbows. The plank was easy, lost count of my time. Biceps stretch felt good on my tight shoulders. No issues with hip swings. Before we start with the weight training, I feel it is important to share something. The promoter of the contest had put up an explanation for the events in that they are being used to highlight not only West Virginia strength athletics but also Phil Pfister, the 2006 WSM (no relation). His win is what made me actually start trying this crazy stuff out. So kind of a little extra motivation and why I’m dubbing the training cycle “Make Phil Proud”. Now on to the workout. First thing was block press. Only pressed this thing once before so still learning. Plan was to hit about 90% of what I think I could do taking 20-30lbs jumps like at the show. I had done an EMOM with 202.5lbs with no support gear or real leg drive so no reason why I couldn’t do at least 220lbs right? But it could be tricky getting that clean just right. Forgot about my legs on the first set with the empty block. Had to keep backing up the camera to get the full lift in view. I was surprised how easy this was feeling . I was jokingly thinking I could do over 240lbs which is the WR for under 300lbs at this time. 222lbs went up good too. I had Brian look at it to see if he thought that was 90% and he said no so I went for the next jump. 1lbs over the WR. Chalked up my shirt for the first time of the day (was my usual sweaty mess) since 222lbs had slid down my shirt a little on the clean. Got it up to my shoulders and I knew it was going up. Just couldn’t believe this weight would feel this good. I was expecting it to feel crushing but it didn’t. I think the log chest supports helped that haha. Good place to stop for the day. This might be the only time I can claim an unofficial WR haha. I weighed it to make sure as I had thought it was a few lbs heavier based off of what the block had weighed at the old gym. This scale has it 4lbs lighter so I’ll go off that. After that was deadlifts. This is quite a change from past training cycles having deadlift on Day 3. This was sometimes the case during prep for Refuge Barbell show and SC Nats but it wasn’t for every week like it looks like is the case this training cycle. Wide grip deadlifts for percentages. I had them all planned out but then box squats felt easy and I increased the projected 1rm from 530lbs to 550lbs so I figured maybe I should do that for the other lifts? So added 20lbs to this one too. Wide grip deadlifts this workout. Triples and trying to not use straps. Get that extra grip work in. Only bring in the straps if grip would effect my setup on the lifts to pull as powerfully as possible. Reset each rep. Felt pretty good. Pulled reps with authority. Last set put on my hard belt. Kept it a little looser than I would for regular deadlifts or farmer’s walk and yoke. Getting down to the bar with the belt too tight I think threw me off the last time I did these heavy and went for a single. Think it helped. Grip was taxed but managed to hold on for all the reps on that last set. Took my time to setup the last thing for the day as Brian had to leave and just the powerlifting people. Farmer’s walk into keg load back into farmer’s walk medleys. Just when I started to feel like I was recovering from all the keg and farmer’s stuff haha. But it’s good as I shouldn’t have to push things too much here since contest I just did was heavier, further and higher. Contest is maybe 40’ runs (probably closer to 30’) and keg load over 48”. Well that won’t do so doing 50’ runs and loading the keg over 60”. Keep up good training stimulus for not just this contest but future contests. First set was to do the empty handles for 100’ each. I didn’t make sense to move everything out to the open turf area to do one run to get a 100’ straight shot so I did down and back 50’ before going to the keg and then to the handles again. Keg was nothing. My legs felt heavy even with the empty implements. Might be a challenge today. 202lbs on the handles and swapped out the 150lbs keg for the 200lbs keg. Felt better doing just 50’. I had been thinking in my head the best way to transition between the events and the best I can think is to have the farmer’s go forward on the way down and step back and turn to the keg area and then to load it and jump over the on handle back into the middle and go. Easier said than done. Felt like it was heavy as the contest I just did with the first run with 262lbs. Felt slow and like my hands would rip open. Keg was nothing. Just tossing that sucker over. Then more farmer’s walk. Took a good rest for the second set. This time it felt like it was light and I felt like I was moving. I messed up on the second leg as when I hopped back in between the handles my right foot was actually on the bottom part of the handle and I had to pull it out from under my foot as I lifted it up. So a little off balance isometric work. I forgot that was a thing that could happen on these and I should’ve remembered when I did it training for SC Nats last year. Ended up just under a half second slower. I was very glad to be done. Stretched and home for pizza with family. This was a good week.

July 26, 2018 – Week 1, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Box Squats
45x10
95x5
135x3
185x2
225x1
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3

12” Log Chest Supports
90x1
140x1
180x1
230x1
270x1
320x1
370x1 with 28.95 seconds hold

Walking Lunges
BWx10/9 (can’t count)

Rope Triceps Pushdowns
100x20
100x20

Smith Machine Weighted Plank
BW+155x30 seconds
BW+155x30 seconds

Side Plank
BWx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: That first workout was a doozy, like jumping out of a moving car and trying to keep running. Lower body wasn’t feeling too bad but the soreness in my upper back was exquisite. Just keeps raining so no walking Wednesday night. Worried I was going to fall asleep at the gym. On the bike for warm-up. 147bpm highest reading this time. Easy calf work after that. Knees weren’t really bothering me on the goblet box squats too bad. Got a bench this time. Knees were stiff on the RDLs at the start but felt pretty good after that. Feeling the hamstrings and they are tight. Rows with the band were good. Left shoulder is still tight. Come to expect/accept that at this point. But maybe it will go away like the hip pain did from the Beast of the Bluegrass training cycle? Controlled on the push-ups. Plank was easy and slightly more ache in the shoulder this time compared to Tuesday. Then the biceps stretches. Definitely needed those. Into the hallway for the hip swings. Felt pretty good. Quite a few things on the menu for today but nowhere near as many as last workout. First was box squats. The rack was in use but the guy using it let me do my workout instead. I had told him it was no problem for me to wait but he insisted. Nice of him. Anyways, plan was to work up to 5x3 with 50%. I just kept the camera running and put the weights on and got back under bar for the next set. Quads were getting sore right away. I was expecting this to be rougher from taking a break from the squats last cycle. Even with the air conditioning fixed, I’m still a sweaty mess. I was going to do 265lbs for my work sets (basing off 530lbs) but 225lbs felt super easy. So Decided to keep with the quarter, plate, quarter jumps and just put on 275lbs. Actually wasn’t too bad with this weight. Probably a little more than 50% but I felt in control and it moved fast like I wanted it to. This was my first time trying regular box squats in this particular power rack so it was a little off-putting at first. Good sweat going and legs were pumped. On to the next thing. Log chest supports. Last time I did these was training for 2017 SC Nats. This time, just singles. Idea was to do it from the pickup at the bottom of my leg drive for log push press. The rack heights are pretty big jumps so I went with the height I used to just be able to lift it right off the pins and then walk it out to press. 5-7 singles so I started with the empty log like last workout and did quarter, plate, quarter jumps. At least I started with that until I got to the last set. Definitely have to get my head back to really keep the heavy weights racked. Plan was 30-50lbs over my push press out of the rack. I figured I’d try and push for the top end as the last one was to have a hold for time until my form started to break down. 370lbs was a big ask. Felt like it was going to come back onto the pins as soon as I got it up. Weight felt crushing. Felt it was compressing my body just standing there. Didn’t beat my hold time PR but that was to the max and this was until I felt the shakes and started to have my upper back fold. It was longer than I thought I held it up there in my head so that was good I guess haha. Next was something that was to be easy; walking lunges. Just bodyweight to start and break in to it slow. I had no idea if my creaky knees would let me move that way. I was fully expecting knees to be aching to the max. But no issues. It felt good. Ok, one issue, I messed up my counting and was one rep short. Next was to be planks; but I had some unfinished business. The long workout on Tuesday had been long but I had missed an exercise. I was to do two sets of rope triceps pushdowns. I realized my mistake when I walked in and saw someone doing them and wondered when I was to do them (I remembered seeing them in my workout plans) and saw on my sheet that I was to do them on Tuesday. So this felt like the time to do them. Light reps (15-20) just to get some blood flowing. Haven’t done triceps pushdowns since they got rid of the older cable towers so had to just test the waters and see what the stack felt like. 100lbs felt light but challenging enough for the tax. I got more pressing coming up this week so I plan to do more weight next time when I know I got full recovery ahead. Then it was plank time. Doesn’t get any easier with this weight on the smith machine for these. But I know they are helping me. Side plank was surprisingly difficult on my injured side this time but I managed the minute. Other side was better. No cramping feeling. I got done sooner than expected from working through the two heavier things and there was still sunlight when I left the gym. Home to stretch, recover and eat meatloaf.

July 24, 2018 – Week 1, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

12” Log Clean and Strict Presses (one clean)
95x3
125x3
155x3
185x3
215x3
245x3

12” Log Standing Lockouts
90x1
110x1
130x1
150x1
170x1
190x1
210x1
230x1
250x1
270x1
290x1
310x1

12” Log Overhead Supports
90x1
110x1
140x1
160x1
190x1
210x1
240x1
260x1
290x1
310x1
340x1
360x1
390x1
410x1 with 17.58 seconds hold

Pulldowns
80x15
110x15
140x15
170x15
200x15

Incline Bench Presses
45x10
112x3
160x3
208x3
256x6
1 Second Pauses
225x6

Wide Grip Axle Hang
bwx17.72 seconds
bwx12.55 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Back to the grind. Things went well for the contest so working on that momentum hopefully to keep improving. This training cycle for America’s Strongest Viking is going to be my shortest one so far but not relaxing any. Trying out some new things to help with recovery. Adding some vitamin D (I rarely get outside lately) and reintroducing HMB. After this contest, I think I’ll be shying away from SC shows. I have my reasons. I was still feeling beat up from the competition and was hoping that my shoulder and knee would be all good by now. No rest for the wicked. Gym was packed. The heartrate monitor wasn’t working on the bike and I had a little technical issue so not my best run of the course. Easy calf work after that. I was expecting some tightness but felt pretty good. Knees weren’t really bothering me on the goblet box squats too bad. No benches available so I just used a chair. Knees were stiff on the RDLs but not as bad as they were the last few weeks of last training cycle. So that is something. Rows with the band were ok. Still keeping an eye on the biceps. Always on guard it seems. Left shoulder is still tight. I was expecting some shoulder tightness on the push-ups and there was. Achy left shoulder. Plank was easy. No shoulder ache so progress I think. Then the biceps stretches. Needed these. Into the hallway for the hip swings. Really needed these. I was actually looking forward to these to see if they helped loosen up my hips and lower back tightness. They did haha. Then it was time to lift. Log has been officially been put on notice now. Just looking at this workout on paper I knew this was going to be long one. First up was log clean and strict presses. One clean with three presses. Plan was 5lbs over my best since after back injury. I figured 30lbs jumps would be good here as long as my biceps felt good. It had felt iffy deload week but no issues at the show and none here as well. Trying to anchor myself to have a firm base to press off of. With how 215lbs felt, only if I messed up my form would 245lbs not go. First rep was perfect, got off balance on the second and had to readjust for the third so that was a lot harder to lockout. But got the triple so good start to the cycle. Next was in the rack. I had tested out some things to make sure the plan would work here. Highest setting had the log at forehead height. Pretty much the point where it switches from shoulders to triceps. Singles starting with the empty log and taking 20lbs jumps. I was hoping at least 270lbs so I knew this was going to take while to get to that point. Just kept adding 10’s until I got to 290lbs. Pretty much because there weren’t really anymore 10’s left so I stripped it all down and put 25’s on for the last single with 310lbs. This was bit more effort and I didn’t think 330lbs would happen so stopped here. Stripped the log down again for the next one; overhead support. Quarter overhead squat it for singles taking 20-30lbs jumps. Starting at 90lbs, this was also going to take a while. I’ve done these in the past but not with any real regularity. Three times total before this I think. Knees were a little achy on the first two singles but got better as I went. I thought I’d peter out around my max log press due to being out of practice but 390lbs felt easier than 360lbs. Starting to worry I’d max out my log with the 25’s haha. 410lbs was a bit more challenging to even get off the pins so I knew this was the one to stop at today. Now the idea was to hold this one for my time until I felt unstable and then lower it under control. I think the last time I tried to hold this kind of weight with a barbell it dropped after like 5 seconds so to get more than 3 times that with control is good I guess. I still had three more exercises to go at this point but thankfully not as many sets were going to be needed. Pulldowns after that. Advised to do 30lbs jumps for five sets with 12-15 reps. I went with 15 and aimed for that on all sets. Get blood flowing in the back. I’m glad this popped up as I was hoping to get some “hypertrophy” stuff in for reps with how much heavy stuff has been going on with three back to back plat plus shows. Definitely was feeling the fatigue each set. 200lbs was a struggle to get 10, let alone 15 but I wanted those reps. I had to be careful I wasn’t overdoing it on the right biceps as it can feel crampy if I put too much strain on in it. After that was incline bench. I was dragging by this point. Wrists and elbows felt like I had weight on them and lats made it feel like my shoulders were fighting against themselves to move the weight. I had no expectations of hitting any PRs on the rep set. Six reps might have been pushing it really. I was more conscious of this on the pause rep set and stopped myself from going for a seventh rep. Last thing was bar hangs. Twist being two sets and now with the axle. These were just cruel. Felt the strain in my shoulders trying to keep my grip. Less than 30 seconds total between the two sets. Really, really hard. Goal is a minute but 30 seconds would be incredible I think. Took about 3hrs to finish this workout and head home to stretch, recover and eat.

July 14, 2018 – East Coast's Most Powerful Man

This was stressful. But I say that about anything that requires any amount of personal interaction. But my anxiety was high this training cycle. This contest was part of the new plan to hit three plat plus shows and hopefully work on my weaknesses as a competitor so that I can hang at the national level. But three weeks in I hit a wall hard on the overhead. Just shut down, got depressed and had to take a break to get back on track. I had seriously considered dropping out of this contest (I’ll only dropped out of contests I’ve signed up for due to injury and only two times) and possibly just quitting the sport. But I talked with my coach and it made no sense to not do the show. I knew that but sometimes another brain is needed when you yourself are dealing with mental and physical fatigue and stress. I’ve been like an injury hypochondriac since the biceps scare. I know I’m not invincible and I never want to be like I was with that back injury. Doing what I can to help my body recover between sessions. Ice compression wraps for my knees after tough sessions and some new supplements. Work the past two weeks leading up to the show were stressful. Worrying about injury and getting all the work done. I had a deep tissue massage on Monday of the contest week and I think that was first I’ve actually felt relaxed in a while. Massage therapist said that she felt there were no deformities or tears in my biceps and thinks my shoulder issue is from stressed supraspintatus and infraspinatus muscles. Work continued to be stressful. Deload week is easy and contest week I have nothing. So I tried to catch up on sleep and get into work early. But that just meant even more work to do. I’m feeling burned out. Friday before was the worst. I could barely get breakfast down. Usually that is day of the contest not, the day before. I took no breaks at work and was the most stressed and pissed off I’ve ever been there. I was worried this would be a terrible competition.

Baltimore is close enough that I can drive day of. Not the most restful sleep. I had a nightmare and woke up shouting at like 2:00AM. That was weird haha. This would be one of the few contests I’ve gone to without a family member along the way and also one of the few I’ve driven to by myself. Things seemed to be going alright in the morning and I packed up the car and drove out to the show. I had packed everything this time. Not going to repeat my mistake with the tacky box for Beast of the Blue Grass. I try to learn from mine. No traffic really. Listened to my iPod until I got close to Maryland and the radio station I was using had a Spanish language station pick up the frequency (it’s been so long since I’ve been down this way for an event or training that I forgot this happens) so put in CD of AC/DC the rest of the way. No incidents getting there. It was when I got there that I had troubles. Always get lost when I get right at the destination. I had an hour to spare when I got there but getting lost and trying to find parking (cost me $30 for the day) made me have about 30 minutes remaining to check in and weigh-in. I wanted to tear someone in half. My rage and stress needed a release and soon. I saw people I recognized and my anger went away and we walked the quarter mile or so the convention center. Weighed in at 275.6lbs with my shoes off so the same weight as Beast of the Blue Grass. There were going to be eight of us in the under 300lbs class. There had been nearly twice that many but there were a lot of drop outs. I think a 231lbs person didn’t make weight and got bumped up to this class as well. It was going to be interesting as this would be the first time I was competing against someone that trains at the same gym as me (Andrew) and I was curious how we’d stack up. Not to say there wasn’t a strong field. I knew more guys in the SHW class from competing. Rich DeStefani was last year’s USS Nats champion and has done two SCL competitions, Kevin Wickline had won California’s Strongest Man earlier this year (also Plat Plus) and Bryant “Billy” Davidson has been neck and neck with me at the past three contest we’ve done. Tested out some of the equipment and talked with friends and competitors as I got warmed up for the day and got rules meeting out of the way.

The first event was a last man standing hummer tire deadlift with three attempts. That’s right, deadlift was first. A couple of promoters on the east coast like to rotate the events for groups so that there always and event going and honestly it is one of the better ways to run through over 130 competitors smoothly. But it can lead to unusual event orders. Anyways, the setup was such that there were was a set of hummer tires on the barbell and then we pulled off a raised platform so it was essentially at standard deadlift height. It was about an inch higher and there was some give in the tires so it was like pulling on the thick deadlift bar. The tires compressed as more weight was added so probably was right around standard height by the time it got loaded up. I had not been too sure how this was going to be setup honestly and I couldn’t really simulate the platform with what I had at the Y. Had used a mix of bumper plates and heavy iron plates to try and get the feeling right but that was expecting them to be filled tires like I’ve done before. Getting to the bar and on to the platform was something I needed to test out. I was able to get into my deadlift suit pretty easy (usually the case come contest time). No shirt on as it felt like it was another layer in the way really. Obvious have to keep it on training at the Y haha. Looking at the setup. I was worried that the event might change as people were crushing the weights in warm-ups and it didn’t look like there was much more room to go on the bar. I had planned on getting some lighter warm-ups but I think I ended up doing maybe 390lbs for a single and then 490lbs. I had wanted to open with 550lbs per how training was going. But this was the easiest close to 500lbs has ever felt so I was fine with going heavier. Good thing too as they indicated the 580lbs was going to be the opener. I’ve gotten pretty good at the 90lbs jumps in weights and feeling warm so I wasn’t worried. In fact, I was very happy and jokey which is a good sign for me. 580lbs went up pretty fast but my friend working the camera missed it so I didn’t know how much I should go up. With it being three attempts and 50-40lbs jumps (quarter, plate, quarter) and number of attempts determining placing for ties at weight, I went with 90lbs jump for 670lbs. This was my dream attempt leading up to the contest and was figuring 630lbs was more likely. It felt like it was slow but videos says this went up pretty darn fast. No hitch and held it for good measure. While I think there was definitely more there, I didn’t feel I had 50lbs more and called it there as it was going to be a long day. This seemed to work as I tied for 3rd with Andrew but he was close with 720lbs.

The next event for the day was yoke. 805lbs for 100’ with a drop and turn at 50’. 60 seconds to compete the course. They were not giving distance on this so if you didn’t finish, you got a zero. A harsh scoring but it is what it is. I’ve not done the best come contest day on yoke once it gets to the 800lbs or more. Like two times where it has gone well and one of those was an unsanctioned meet I didn’t even train for. The SHW class was still going on deadlift so I took this as my opportunity to get some warm-ups in. Being the tallest person at shows usually, I rarely get to do what I want for warm-ups. But I got to here. Just did short 10’ runs with a turn and repick going up by 90lbs and then adding 180lbs after my last one for a pick. I had anticipated the slide factor from watching videos and from being at conventions before but this was even more than I had thought as it whacked me in the back of the head for one of the warm-ups. The pick with 785lbs made me nervous with how it felt but it was needed. I don’t think I would’ve been prepared going from 605lbs straight to comp weight. I was one of the earlier entries so I got to see other people go. One to see how times were doing but for me the crucial thing was seeing how the start commands were given. I needed to make sure I timed my start right as some people were losing time from slow reactions. Before I went, four had finished the course with two not doing so. I got set and waited until I got set into that hair trigger position so that I could react as soon as I nodded my head to the start command. And I was off. I was little slower than I wanted to but I was moving. Did my best to control the drop and get right back under it. My turn around is quick so maybe I could pick up time here. I was moving slow and I was doing my best not to stumble as I crossed the line. My time was 28.08 seconds which was a slight improvement of my training best with 800lbs. My left side of my upper back started to cramp up after this. Probably because I favor that side on the repick and turn. I also might have had my belt one notch looser than usual. Might had helped me breath but maybe not. My time was good enough for 4th here. Winner was about 9 seconds faster. I know this is one I got to keep working on but I got under 30 seconds.

Up next was last man standing keg over bar for max height with three attempts. Same as deadlift in that attempts could be skipped and attempt number mattered for ties. 2” was the increments here. Now I say it was next but that wouldn’t be accurate. There was a ton of down time. Yoke was finished pretty quick so there was enough time for me to get weight gain shake in. This had been my plan. But the class doing the keg before us was taking a long time. About 45 minutes wait and then it cleared up and we ready to go. I didn’t want to dawn my super hero suit of spandex, grip shirt and copper sleeves until it was time. Everyone wanted to do some warm-ups as we all were trying to not get cold. 250lbs and we just had it at 62” (the opener could be 52”) and we all felt good and wanted just one more jump to 300lbs before going to 350lbs. That was when a snag was hit. There weren’t enough 25lbs plates to use while all the events were going. Let’s just say there were a lot of angry, pissed off behemoths in the immediate vicinity of the keg load area. These things happen but it was not looking good as the loaders were frustrated (and honestly the was dangerous for them with the weight and height) and we were frustrated. I just kept trying to find the positive and laugh the stress off. People were throwing around ideas of just doing 250lbs, either for reps or height or scraping the event. We ended up having to wait until another group finished their farmer’s walk for them to get enough weights for the keg. Did another single at 300lbs and was just ready to get it over with. I really just wanted this event to be done with due to how much it bruises my biceps. My plan was to open with 62” and just do 2” jumps and hope that was competitive. 62” felt sluggish but it went over no problem. The upright loading pins for the yoke made it a bit more cramped as far as space for me to tilt the keg to take all tension out of the top arm. Knees and shins got scraped up something fierce from the shark shin on the Power Keg. I was surprised how explosive people were on this. A lot of rage was being directed at that poor Power Keg. Injury struck as Rich tore is biceps after reattempting a missed attempt at 64”. That was it for him and he had won the first two events. I gave him one of my ACE bandages (be prepared) to wrap and ice bag on his arm. Any plans of going for broke went away after that. This even would go on to claim an ankle and nose. 64” went up easy. Kevin matched that. Bar went up to 66” and Billy came in with his second attempt. It was unexpected as he seemed to struggle with his opener. But he’s crafty and had switched to shoulder it and toss it over. Definitely the way to go on this event but I had treated this as more a training exercise to improve extension and for contests going forward. Too much work for that skill at this time. 66” went up about same as 64” did and I probably had 68” doing this style today. Had to settle for third as Kevin got 68” for second and Billy did another shoulder for 70” for first.

The fourth event was farmer’s walk. 325lbs for 100’ with a drop and turn at 50’. 60 seconds to compete the course. Distances were given on this one so not as bad if you struggle on grip. I felt good going into this one. Pick was high, grip was solid. Then I picked them up with just 165lbs on them. Oh boy. Why does this feel heavy. I don’t need much to warm-up on farmer’s especially after deadlift and yoke. My suggested warm-ups had been to do short runs like yoke and then pick contest weight. I nixed the contest weight pick as I really just needed to familiarize myself with how the implement sits in the hand (never used Bartos handles without straps) and how the drop effects the repick. It sat well in the hand but I noticed the handles tended to “splay” outward so I would really need to control the drop to follow the handles down to stop that. 255lbs was enough for me. A pick at contest weight was going to fry me and I needed that for when it counted. Again, I used my placing from contest entry to observe both the judge and how everyone was handling the course. I noticed with the judge that he was saying go as soon as people shook their head. I tend to “rock the boat” when I get my hips, knees ready and hamstrings primed so I made a note of that to let him know that so I could ensure I got set before he said go. Three people finished the course before I went. Two of them took a long time to repick the weights and Billy was moving well but stumbled at the end and lost a ton of time getting back up. So I knew I needed to be quick on the repick and to keep steady on the return leg. I kept my spandex shorts on to minimize friction if the implements hit my legs. I made sure the judge knew that I would be “moving” a bit before I went and to know I was ready when I gave a head bob. I had to do it twice before he said go but I had my hamstrings locked. The pick was so awful. But I was moving good. Very controlled and turned around quick and repicked it as fast as I could. Just so much suck but I was good and going. Just kept trying to stay in a rhythm. I couldn’t afford a bobble at the end like Billy. In typical fashion, I held the weights at the end for a moment before putting them down. It’s a thing I do. I can’t help it. My time was 21.59 seconds which was a big improvement over my best by over 3.5 seconds. This ended up being the winning time. This was unexpected. So first place here.

The final event was a press medley. Dubbed the ultimate press medley. 295lbs axle, 315lbs log, 200lbs circus dumbbell and 275lbs Power Keg to be lifted in that order and then repeat a second time. 120 seconds to do this task. This wasn’t something I wanted to do fresh, let alone at the end of the show. This event was what made me consider dropping the contest. With how the event order was selected, my hope was that everyone else would be beat up I could hang as even beat up I should still be able to lift the axle. I got experience with that trying the contest weight axle after digging a vegetable garden for my mother. So I knew I could do it even this beat up haha. This didn’t look good when fresh either as the log would be 15lbs PR for clean and push press in training (I’ve done this with a jerk but inconsistent), 30lbs contest PR post injury comeback and 15lbs contest lifetime PR. Dumbbell would be doable at my best but haven’t gone above 187lbs since injury and the keg would be 25lbs lifetime PR. So this was more an opportunity in training to try and get familiarized with more implements and try to get my overall pressing better. Log didn’t feel so great but I did 50lbs jumps from 150lbs to 250lbs to get used to it. Just did the empty dumbbell more for my own experience with the Bartos bell and the 225lbs keg (which bounced like crazy) just in case I managed to defeat the log gate keeper. 215lbs felt like 300lbs on the axle so I stopped there because damn. Another thing in my favor was that there were no split times, just number of lifts so I could take my time and make sure I got my lifts. I was second to last to go again and Billy was in first with getting past the log but couldn’t get the dumbbell, and a three ways tie for second with the axle. I get the axle and I secure my podium spot and maybe win. Made sure it was ok to have my hands on the axle to start and did a controlled pull to start the clean and popped it up to the shoulders. Lower body was definitely fatigued as I had to press out the lift. Took my time with the log as I was either going to get it or a I wasn’t. Gave a shot and went for it but it went out in front of me and really not close. I gave it another shot after I waited until there was about 30 seconds left but not even close and I called it there. Tied for second with four people I think.

I was surprised to get second place at this contest. I was not expecting a podium place with the competitors competing today. Kevin took the win with Billy getting third. Not sure where Andrew placed in the end. Will have to see when the score sheet is posted how close I was to that Arnold Invite. Overhead continues to be rough for me, especially log. Again, glad SHW and HW was separate as those guys were beasts all day. One guy did 850lbs on the deadlift and two people strict pressed the 350lbs Power Keg to load it over like 70” or something ridiculous. With it all done, it was nice to just talk with other competitors. There was meeting of the minds over “where does buffalo chicken wings come from” that just had me rolling in laughter. The phrases “Perdue is making dinosaur chickens”, “buffalo went extinct due to the cowboys” and “chickens don’t have biceps” will bring me endless joy. The only certainty at this time is the next show at America’s Strongest Viking in seven weeks. But I wouldn’t be doing this stuff without my family, friend and coach.

July 7, 2018 – Week 9, Day 3

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

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Prowler Pushes
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’
215x100’

Stretching

Comments: Last one. Trying to keep food intake up and rest. Right knee aches, right biceps still a little sore and left shoulder still stupid. Hoping massage and a week of rest is what I need for those to ease up. I was planning to go out to Lancaster to train but with only having to do slight stuff, it really didn’t make sense with the driving I’ll need to do this coming Saturday for the contest. This was something I could easily do at home. I didn’t sleep in a lot but I did end up doing some housework I’d been neglecting as a bit of a warm-up before training. Been a while since I’ve done the sled drag for my warm-up. The uphill part was tougher than I remembered. Got a bit of pump in the left side. Easy calf work after that. Left calf was really tight after the sled drag. No real aches in my knees on goblet box squats or rdls. But since it was quiet with no music, I could hear my knees “crinkling” each rep. Band rows felt good once I got into it. Had my arms a bit too wide to start pushups and my left shoulder let me know so I reset and brought my arms in a bit. Plank was easy, just hard to breath haha. Then the biceps stretches. Used the yoke and it really seems to get the spot. Hips swings I did using the platform I have for loads. These felt good today. As is usually the case for the last session of the last day of a training cycle, the workout involved the prowler. Usually it is a medley but this time it was just pushes. Ten sets of 100’ with a minute rest. Since I wasn’t doing double time like usual with the medley runs, I figured I could bump the weight up a little. Always be looking to improve. I was a little worried this would bother my knee. I was also worried that turning the sled around for the next set would bother my biceps. I’ve really become an injury hypochondriac it seems. I just don’t want to be sidelined by injury again. I feel I’m behind as it is. The street is angled slightly uphill so uphill odd sets and downhill even sets. As is usually the case, I get better after the first two sets really and then start to slow after that. No real quad pump like I sometimes get doing these kinds of workouts. I got a second wind it seems on the second to last pairing of runs. I didn’t feel like I was fully recovered from the rest until the last one so looks like my conditioning is doing ok. Now it is time to rest.

July 5, 2018 – Week 9, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Front Box Squats
45x10
95x5
145x3
195x1
235x3
235x3
235x3
235x3
235x3

Stretching

Comments: I needed sleep I guess. I ended up sleeping 13.5hrs on my day off. Didn’t have enough time to walk before the thunder storms started. Been working on getting my sleep and food intake up this week. My bodyweight tends to drop during deload week as I’m not as hungry and not drinking as much water. I think that might effect my overhead pressing some. Keeping an eye on my bruised biceps. Joints are achy. Come to expect that with contest peaking training. Chiro closed this week. Hoping that deep tissue massage next week will help with the shoulders. Did even better on the bike course today. 145bpm highest reading this time so intensity was up a bit from last session. Easy calf work after that. Some aches in my arm joints. No surprise that I had some aches in my knees on the goblet box squats and barbell rdls. But I get better as the reps go as far as how these feel. I was a little cautious with the band rows to make sure I wasn’t using too much arms. I was expecting some shoulder tightness on the push-ups and there. Was almost stopped my second rep short because of this but made myself stick to full ROM on these. Plank was easy, just makes me sweaty contracting everything intensely. Then the biceps stretches. Always seem to be needed these days. Into the hallway for the hip swings. Felt pretty good. Not as much of an ache on the shoulder on the one side. Felt like my back and hips were pretty loose. Only thing for today’s session for weights was front box squats. Planned working sets of 60% for five triples. I was to do some more of these a few weeks back when my knee ached up to bridge the gap between 50% and 60%. I wanted to do these with no support gear of any kind. Knees felt stiff unracking the empty bar. I made sure to stretch out my rack positioning for my lat, arms and shoulders before I started. Right knee didn’t like the first rep at all. A little too late now that I had a whole workout to do and I figured it would be fine as the workout went and icing when I got home would help a lot. I moved pretty quick doing my sets as soon as I changed the weights. I took longer when I got to my working weight. Setup wasn’t the best on that first set. Usually isn’t on my first set for any speed work sets but I feel better after a set or two. I setup too far back so I couldn’t really sit back that first set. Much better that following set. Felt like I was in good control after those first two sets. Actually looked like speed work some reps haha. Took maybe 15 minutes total to get through squatting the bar to the last working set. Home to stretch, recover and eat meatloaf. One more to go.

July 3, 2018 – Week 9, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

12” Log Clean and Push Presses
90x1
120x1
150x1
180x1
210x1
240x1
270x1

Stretching

Comments: Deload week begins. I’ve done nothing but work, eat and sleep so far. I did not go for a walk Monday due to the heat advisory. It has been 98 the past two days. I’ve only gone for a walk on Sunday as I had to get up early to drive back out to Lancaster to get my wallet and it was below 90 at the time. Still had to put an ice pack on my neck after walking. Right arm has a lot of bruising on it from keg loads. I’ll be happy when I don’t have to these high loads anymore where I got to shove it up and over as the lip of the keg keeps banging into my arm on that side. Another issue is that the creatine I’ve been using has been discontinued so I’ll going to have to wait a bit for the new brand to ship and it sounds like it won’t arrive until Monday next week. Allergies have been acting up too. The heat and humidity have been exhausting. At least the gym appears to be trying to fix the AC issue. Did the 1.5 mile course on the bike and managed to finish in under 5 minutes this time so that is neat. Heart rate seems to be consist with max peak of 140BPM. Calf raise stuff is still pretty easy. Not too tight today, some aches in my wrists and forearms. Knees were a little achy on the goblet squats but got better as I did the set. Working on sitting back to initiate the movement and opening up the hips. RDLs I felt a little stiff but still good. Band rows were ok. Trying to pull with my back to get some of the stress out of my shoulders and to also not stress my biceps. Push ups were ok. Some shoulder aches on the left side. Then a short plank hold and biceps stretches. Biceps stretch was definitely needed. Hip swings felt good too. Got some of the tightness out of my lower back. On to log. Only exercise with weights for today and this is generally the case with deload week. Last cycle had been an experiment and hopefully things peak well this time. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have doubts about how the press medley will go. End of the show, two implements being PRs and one close to my preinjury PR. Plan for log was to work up to a single at 90% of what I felt I could hit today. I was pretty much basing this off of 300lbs regardless of how I felt and doing 10% jumps like last time log was in the workout. Trying to get my technique on this down. Log tilted forward, hands slightly closer to me than center point. I seem to press better this way out of the rack (the tiered rack, not the new rack). Knees didn’t ache much at all like it sometimes feels like with the empty log. Did two singles then added a piece of support gear. Rehband belt, then hard belt. 240lbs felt pretty easy but I think I stressed the right biceps a bit too much on the top portion of the clean. Wrist wraps added for 270lbs. I adjusted my grip in the lap so I was closer to midline on the handles (I was worried that I would stress my right biceps). It was a little out in front of me but due to my hands being further back, it went up in a good groove. I was tempted to do a heavier single but I shut it down as aiming for 90% of say a PR (305) or contest weight (315) was less than 15lbs and my right biceps was feeling sore and crampy. I reread the note for the workout and it said a powerful single so I I felt that was accomplished with 270lbs. Home to stretch, eat and recover. I’m glad I have tomorrow off from work as I feel like I’m going to sleep most of the day away.

June 30, 2018 – Week 8, Day 3

5 Minutes Misc Stationary Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Yoke (with drops)
200x100’ (drop at 50’) in 13.75 seconds
300x100’ (drop at 50’) in 13.37 seconds
400x50’ (drop at 25’) in 8.45 seconds
500x50’ (drop at 25’) in 9.34 seconds
600x50’ (drop at 25’) in 10.74 seconds
700x50’ in 8.76 seconds
800x100’ (drop at 50’) in 28.50 seconds PR+13.86 seconds

Keg Load Over Bar
150x1 to 70”
200x1 to 70”
250x1 to 70”
275x1 to 70”
300x1 to 70”
325x0 to 68”
325x1 to 68”
350x0 to 68”
350x0 to 68”
350x0 to 66”

Stretching

Comments: This was the last heavy workout of this training cycle. A rematch of last time. I was feeling a little off as I had not gone for a walk since Monday of this week. It got too late on Wednesday and it was in the mid 90’s on Friday. It was going to be even hotter today so it didn’t make sense to wear myself out walking in that heat. Also figured it was important to rest with the bulged disc area acting up a little. Sleep and ibuprofen had me feeling rested in the morning. I brought a cooler with all my ice packs and frozen water bottles in case it got to be too much today. New equipment at the gym with a conan’s wheel/viking press and a toss for height station. It’s great seeing this happening frequently at this gym. It was definitely hot today, even inside with the fans. I just felt warm being on the bike, let alone even pedaling on it. Calf raise stuff was easy. Nice and springy. Some tightness but not nearly as much as other days this week. Goblet box squats after that. Knees ached but not as much as I was expecting or could be with my knees. Really thinking about sitting back on these first to get the hip hinge as well as opening up the hips. Knees were a little achy on the RDLs too but this was the best they’ve felt the past two weeks. Band rows were great as were push-ups. I was worried these would feel off as they have this week but felt ok. Easy plank hold followed by the biceps stretches. Least amount of stress on the shoulder for planks so far since it became an issue. Really needed those biceps stretches. Hip swings weren’t bad either. That was it for the movement prep warm-ups but I had to wait for weights. Today was yoke and keg load and two of the three yokes and the entire lanes were in use for people training for a yoke medley coming up at the end of August. So I helped a fellow competitor use a deadlift suit for the first time as I waited. Yoke after that wait and it was the same plan as last time I did yoke. I did two runs with no weight on my back and held my upper body flexed like I had a yoke to test out my knees and get myself warm again. I used the lighter rouge yoke today. I wanted to not get too comfortable with one over the other. I figured I needed a set to still warm-up to get into my top gear so I did it empty and then went with the 100lbs jumps. Knees were aching just bending to get under the yoke so I played around with my position a bit to see what felt less stressful. I really didn’t want to have to put on knee brace or the copper sleeves. The next run definitely felt like I had gotten good and ready to go. My timing was off on the turn for the repick. But the weights were light enough that it didn’t matter. On 500lbs my right arm was gripping lower and on 600lbs I rushed the pick and ended up carrying the weight higher on my cervical spine. All the working up sets besides 200lbs were improvements over last time I did these. I had no feeling of instability. 700lbs would be the next test for the straight shot run. My left leg didn’t want to cooperate with me last time near the end of the course. Didn’t want that to happen as it would mean there was a problem and the goal set would be a terrible thing again. This felt good and it was sub 9 seconds. .Just under a tenth of a second faster than my best 50’ run with this weight. Then it was time for 800lbs for the contest run. I was nervous but not as nervous as I was last time. With how working up sets felt, there was no way this was going to be as bad as last time. First leg was good. I may have not gone top speed to ensure I was in control on the drop and to make sure I had enough there to get back. Took a moment on the repick but I feel this was faster than last time. This time on the second leg, I knew I had it. No stank leg flaring up on me today. Under 30 seconds which was my goal this training cycle so pleased with that. Moving events should be good for the show and be competitive. Then it was keg again. I liked keg at the start of this cycle but this going over 5’ BS is wearing my patience thin haha. Same as last time with the starting light but starting the bar at 70” this time. I was alone by the time I got to keg load so I figured it didn’t make sense to keep loading and unloading weights in the power keg when I can just get the kegs and rotate them out until I get to 350lbs. I had on all three of my copper sleeves; arm sleeve on my left calf and the knee sleeves on my biceps. Idea to keep them from getting too bruised from the kegs. The extra height was definitely noticed right from the start. Up to 250lbs I was able to throw it up and over. 275lbs that was taller order. I probably could’ve dropped it down to 68” but I figured it was a technique issue and if I got the timing and full extension, 300lbs would go over no problem. I was right thankfully. But I lowered it for the next one. I wasn’t ready as I messed up the timing with 325lbs. I tried to readjust and I felt so much cracking and popping in my lower back on the right side. I was worried that I had damaged myself here and laid down with the rehband belt still on. I was good, just going to be feeling beat up the rest of the day. Retried 325lbs and got it this time. Then the power keg. Wishful thinking trying for 68”. Again a miss. I stupidly tried again, thinking that going from keg to power keg might have made me not be just ready. This second attempt was closer but still no dice. I lowered it to 66” but like last time, I wasn’t able to manage it with the previous failed attempts. Still hitting extension so it’s not all bad but it is making me realize how much harder getting that pop and drive will be after yoke. Put stuff away and closed up, realizing I had locked my wallet in the gym as I got to my car. I was able to schedule to pick it up the next morning. I’m ready to deload and get this contest done with.