Comments: Trying to relax. Friday I had burritos and a deep tissue massage
after work. Then slept for 11hrs that night. I was originally going to do this
workout at home but by the time I was up and awake, it was raining and with the
debris from the storms, it made more sense to go to Lancaster on Sunday. There
was another meet so I couldn’t go there if I wanted to Saturday. Spent time
with family. But I also wondered if what I’m doing is going to matter to anyone
but myself. Am I living selfishly? My grandmother had asked me if I won the
world championships if I would stop and I said probably not. Maybe it is
selfish and I know it. Just thoughts. Body is still feeling beat from event
training from last week. Some feelings of nerve symptoms but pretty much the
bare minimum to register. But I got to be mindful. Drive out to train to do a
short workout. Elliptical felt good. No knee issues, felt nice and easy. Calf
work was good. These are usually feeling the best on this day. Box touches both
styles felt ok. Used a box this time. Birddogs were good. The plank work
followed that. Usually this is last but not today. Felt pretty easy. Only
weight related work was prowler pushing. Plan being light weight for 10 sets of
100’. The longer lane was in use for workouts (they were doing a whole bunch of
random stuff, so hard to figure out space they needed) so I went with the
shorter turf area and did high position one way and low position the other way.
This got tough quick with minute rests. It was light enough that I didn’t come
to any grinding halt or staggering pace. I was breathing pretty heavy by the
end and had worked up a good sweat. Joints a little achy but I got time. Got
three days this week of work with one more chiro session and warm-up workout
before out to Ohio.
Precor Angled Single Leg Presses
136x10/10
226x5/5
276x5/5
326x5/5
376x5/5
Planks
BWx30 Seconds
BWx30 Seconds
Side Planks
BWx20/20 Seconds
BWx20/20 Seconds
Stretching
Comments: Everything is tight. Snow storm came in as expected yesterday and
closed the roads for a good bit. Meant I had to cancel the chiro appointment
and shovel. My body has been feeling good so I didn’t think much of it but this
heavy snow was hard to do. Hamstrings and lower back tight again. I was hoping
they would loosen up. I just had to make it until Friday for my last deep
tissue massage before the contest (moved up from next week due to her having to
be at a conference next week). Warm-ups on the AMR to start. Highest was 151bpm.
Felt ok. Calves were easy but still tight muscles and ankles. Box touches were
ok. No issues there. Bird dogs were ok too. The light box squats I did in the
tiered power rack again. No issues with my quads this time around but my lower
back was stiff as a board, especially on the right side. The set with the bar
actually felt better and apparently a little faster too, just like last week. While
tight and stiff, they still feel like a natural movement to me. This was more
for warming up and familiarity for when I’m good to go again on all lifts. Only
weight related thing for today really was one legged leg presses. Same as last
week but just 10lbs more per actual working set. So with this being the only
real exercise, I took slightly longer setting things up. Empty sled for the warm-up
set. If my knees were bothering me, I was going to do another set but I felt
pretty good so right on in. Added a plate and then it was 50lbs jumps the rest
of the way. Really working on bracing and building tension in the body for
these. I think that makes it so that more muscles (especially the ones around
the joints) are working hard when I do this to keep things safe. It will be
interesting to see if this exercise stays in and if the numbers get pushed. Ended
the night with the plank combos. Felt pretty easy tonight. Almost relaxing in a
way. Home to stretch and eat and try to make up for recovery stuff. Really just
one workout left.
Comments: Deload week is here again. It has been 24 weeks since I last had one
really. Not counting the week of my injury in this. Despite the deload, this
week has two decently heavy exercises to be done. They are short workouts at
least. I was really slow going to the gym after work. Got an alert when I got
home that the office was closed tomorrow due to the impending snow storm so
motivation to hurry on my way kind of evaporated. Ended up talking strongman
stuff with friends and eventually got my butt over to the gym. Body is stiff
and sore. Workout on Saturday was the first workout in a long time where I felt
unhampered by the disc bulge and put in a real good effort. Now I’m sore and
got bruises. Bruises on my legs, arms and stomach. I had mentioned my stiff
shoulders at the chiro on Monday and he adjusted them for me. I think the heavy
catching of the weight on the shouldering has been wreaking havoc. Little sore
afterwards but they don’t feel like they aren’t in the right place now. AMT to
start off the session. 140bpm highest reading. Lowest it has been in a while.
Not sure why I was relaxed as with all this bad weather and the holiday off
from work, I got so much to catch up on and I have the biggest competition I’ve
ever done in 10 days. Calf work was easy, so were box touches. Bird dogs were
ok. About the same. Still noticing the fatigue in the one side happening
earlier than the uninjured side. Band rows and modified push-ups were supersetted
and for two sets. Rows easy, push-ups were a little fatiguing. Shoulder joints
aching a little. Biceps stretch felt really good. Really needed it. On to the
workout. First up was pulldowns for light stuff to warm-up my upper back. I was
not going to be able to put in a good effort on these after Saturday’s workout.
Biceps, upper back and forearms were sore. I had the option of doing more reps
on that first set but I thought no thank you and just did ten as this was to
just get things warm and do the real meat of the day with the axle clean and
jerk singles. Same as last time with 30lbs jumps. Now before I actually got to
the axle, I did some stuff with the thick PVC pipe at the gym. Mike had
suggested that I maybe have something to practice the split jerk as my current
one is terrible. I noticed immediately that my shoulders and lats were tight.
It was a struggle to get my arms in the rack position. I then did a few strict
presses, push presses and then jerks (power and split). Knees ached at the
start of the power style but got better as I got used to it. Split style I
tried both legs and definitely better on the side I was doing in the first
place. Trying to think “trapdoor” on these. Not sure if that was helping or if
I’m even thinking of this cue correctly haha. I didn’t feel comfortable with
trying this “deeper” split so I went with my plan to try the power jerk style.
I was feeling stiff and sore so I had no idea how heavy I’d get today. Goal was
to work up to what I felt safe with (safe seems relative with strongman lifts
haha) and hopefully be about 90-95% of what I felt I could hit today. This
time, I set things up so that I’d have a chance at 302lbs as my top single.
First lift wasn’t the best as I had it slide on my shirt a little before I
popped it to my shoulders and then I forgot I was not doing my crappy split
jerk and had to adjust. Things went slightly better after that. I did have a
misload with the one attempt but got back on track for the next one. Cleans
were feeling pretty good today, despite the soreness and worrying about my
biceps. I’ve been used to the push pressing as that gives me a more stable
path. Power jerk gets the weight up quick but the balance is very hard. I’m
guilty of not standing up fully with the weight on the work up sets. I made
sure I did for 272lbs. My power jerk had a little bit of a split though. I
think this was more to catch my balance. That felt a little rough but I told
myself to try for the next jump. This time, I did a two step continental. I had
caught the weight too low on the second pull. I need to make a conscious effort
on this in the future. I’ve avoided it in the past as I felt it took too much
out of me the longer the weight was on my midsection. This might not be the
case anymore. Still learning. Attempting to get it too low can make the catch
harder on my shoulders and there is a possibility of a miss trying to get under
it. I need to figure out if there is a weight I need to make that effort to do
that or if I just need to keep working on improving my strength and just see
how it feels on the day and go for it. 302lbs didn’t feel too bad. Still
requires a press out but I feel that either technique gets more work or if I
get in a healthy dose of seated smith machine or axle lockout work that gets my
upper chest involved and I’d be beating my PR on this in no time. Ended the day
with the planks. Little tougher with the bruises on my lower abs and with how
tight everything felt. But it was relaxing in a way too. Got gas in the car and
got burritos as I was fully expecting to be snowed in. Stretching and recovery
work and then bed for a good night’s sleep.
Mouser Block Carry/Standing
Arm-Over-Arm Pulls (on turf)
191.5x60’/185x60’ in 29.87 seconds
239x60’/235x60’ in 32.98 seconds
368x60’/365x60’ in 56.79 seconds
Stretching
Comments: The week didn’t end well. Something at work set me off and put me in
a foul mood and it was enough that all the fatigue I was feeling just broke
through the gate. I had been getting maybe 6hrs of sleep a night and I’m still
dealing with leftovers from the cold and sinus infection. I just felt so tired.
I didn’t do any walking and I slept for close to 14hrs. I was in a depressed
funk almost all of Saturday. I had to force myself to eat and go outside for a
walk. Left shoulder was tight and aching and it was just frustrating. Injury to
my back and having to restart made it feel like I had wasted these past 23
weeks for the biggest competition I’ve done. I wasn’t going to be able to train
today with how I was feeling so it was good that there was competition at the
gym in Lancaster which meant I’d have to train Sunday. I felt a little better
after going for a walk and eating tacos. I went to bed early so that I could
wake up early and go train. Shoulder still ached but the drive out there wasn’t
bad. A lot of the stuff was moved around for the contest so I had to do some
exercise before I could exercise. Elliptical felt good. No knee issues, felt
nice and easy. Calf work was good. These are usually feeling the best on this
day. Box touches both styles felt ok. I just used a strongman log like I have
been doing. Birddogs were good. Probably the best they have felt. But there is
still a noticeable fatigue that builds on my injured side compared to my
healthy side. It’s minimal but noticeable. Band rows and modified push-ups
after that. Felt good. Biceps stretching was good. Log to start up the day. Same
as last week with it being singles in competition style and 20lbs jumps with a
goal of hitting at least 5lbs more than last week. Seeing as how I only did a
little over 255lbs, that shouldn’t be problem even if I was in a depressive funk.
For this workout, I figured I’d dress for competition. So I had contest t-shirt
on from the last Nats I was at, grip shirt under it and wore my Under Armour
warm-up short thingies. Can’t wear grip shirt unless it is Strongman Corp logo
ones so contest t-shirt goes over mine. Still works decent like this. The
shorts are skin tight so nothing for the implements to get caught on (log,
block, farmer’s walk handles, etc;). Not something I feel I need but I wanted
to have that little extra and feel like I’m competing in less than 2 weeks. Things
were actually feeling good today. My knees weren’t aching and I seemed to be
following a good bar path. That first rep with the big log always feels a
little off getting used to the way it rolls up the body. I wasn’t feeling too
confident but the weights were moving up with no slowing down. I didn’t feel
fast but I didn’t feel week. Goal was no grinders or helicoptering weights. I
had set things up so I could just use the empty hollow log and just add 20lbs
so I’d have to hit 10lbs over last time at minimum. It didn’t feel too bad so I
went up another 20lbs. That felt tough to lockout so I figured that was the
place to stop unfortunately. Still over 40lbs under contest weight. Not even
300lbs. Damn it. Then I looked at the video and noticed I didn’t have my hard
belt on. I reached down to my waist instinctively and felt no hard belt. Oops.
So that brought a little fire back and I put on more weight. I was going to add
20lbs but I didn’t want to get cocky. I had to have this weight. I’ve been
stuck at 300lbs on push press in training since I came back from 2016 injury.
Just embrace the suck. Clean wasn’t as smooth, it was a little low on my body
when I started it but I got under it and let it go. It went up. I was incredulous.
It felt so comfortable above my head. Like it belonged there. I did a little
feet stamping while I had it up there and shouted before bringing it back down.
I was so happy. All this uncertainty and pain gone for the moment. There was
more there. Under 30lbs away from the contest weight. Still a herculean task
but it doesn’t feel like I’m wasting everyone’s time now. Next was farmer’s
walk again. All from the standardish height (really, this event can vary but
usually 18”). Goal here was between 80-90% of contest weight but I was allowed
to do contest weight if I felt that would only be a 90% effort for me. It wasn’t
as my pick-up is detrained from injury so I’m saving that effort for the show.
But I had done 10lbs under 80% last week from the floor for my last run so I
aimed for the 90% to give myself a good idea of where I was at. I was supposed
to do 3-4 runs but doing that would mess up the jumps I wanted to take (50lbs)
and it wouldn’t allow me to warm-up with the empty implements to start. I
modified the warm-up a little. Sometimes I do an empty sprint and sometimes I
do picks of the implement. This time, I did one empty sprint and then I did a
pick, slow lowering and then once I set the handles down, took off in an empty
sprint. I may need to do this on farmer’s in the future. I don’t think it will
work as well on the yoke as the pick is adjustable on that. Speed felt good on
the work up sets. I was feeling like I was tapping into the extra gear again.
That has been tough to do on the turf. Second to last set was 5lbs heavier per
hand than last week and I managed it in the exact same time. Last set was about
11lbs heavier than 90%. I felt this was important weight for me to do from regular
height. Loaded up with bumper plates to the brim to not only protect the turf
in the event of a mishap but to make them really top heavy. Meant I had to stay
focused. The pick was hard and they wobbled a lot. Just what I wanted. I kept
shouting as I went with the weight as I knew I had it done before I finished.
Assuming I peak right, I think this will be comparable to what I can do with
the contest weight. We’ll just have to wait and see. Block carry and
arm-over-arm medley again. This thing is such a damn time vampire. Three runs
again. Light, medium and stupid heavy. For the first two sets, I added 20lbs to
each implement from what I did last time. Doesn’t equal exactly 20lbs with
spacers and actual weight of the weights with the block. I was moving good.
Managed to be faster by almost a second on the first set and a little over a
half a second on the second set. I felt on the first set that my arms were
fatiguing a bit more than expected but the second set I felt everything was
perfect. Everything right with that second set didn’t happen on the last set. I
bumped the weight up considerably over last time. I wanted this set to be as
close to contest difficulty as possible. Contest is 390lbs on the block and
550lbs on the sled. I have my doubts the block will be 390lbs as unless they
have specialty plates or put chains and tiny dumbbells inside, it is impossible
to get the block much over 370lbs. At Nats, it was supposed to be 370lbs but
ended up 30lbs less. The arm-over-arm is going to be on a slick convention
floor so I’ve already discussed this, with the hope that it at most would feel
like 400lbs on turf. I wanted to get the block loaded up with 25’s that would
fit (I put in one of the “taller” pair so that it didn’t have space left for
spacers) and that came out to 368lbs. For the sled, I was going to go for
345lbs but I figured it made more sense to push it and have that be over 360lbs
too so that it was over 90% of what I expected the worst case scenario to be. I
needed to see how I would hold up when technique could break down and I had to
just brute it out. This was stupid. Not “I’m going to do chain yoke in
hurricane conditions” stupid but close. This was going to be the heaviest thing
I’ve picked up from out in front of me by 56lbs since this latest relapse. I
had no idea if I could even pick it up with the style I was using. But this was
going to be my only chance to find out. The good news is I can pick it up. But
that was about it haha. First, I was rocking so much to get ready to pick it up
that my glasses slid down my face. Then, the block rolled on me. In the past,
it wasn’t a timed event, I just had to pick it up and then walk for max
distance. The speed aspect didn’t consider how “alive” the weight was so it
rolled into me from the pick up in the lap and hit me in the gut. Got a little bruising
from that. I was panicking a little but I figured that I’d lose time and momentum
if I stopped to reset myself and just went with. Embrace the suck. Lord did
this suck. My grip was barely holding on by the end. Then I had that stupid
rope to do next. This was hard. Had to use my bodyweight (something I couldn’t
really do on the lighter weights) to heave it. Kind of an evolution of the
short cycle I was doing last week with the set with 305lbs. This was slow
going. But I got it down in under a minute. So worst case scenario has been experienced
and it is still under contest time. Just got to not have the block do that at
the show. Put everything away, shot the shit and stretched before driving home.
Put on the TENS Unit and drove home. Deload week and then I guess I’m going to
the Arnold.
I’m a little taller than 6′6″ and I really like to lift weights. I’m a competitor in amateur strongman contests. My hope is to become a competitive professional strongman. Currently I'm training for Northeast Regionals in Monaca, PA on 6/1/2024. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
