Mouser Block Presses (one clean)
124.5x3
155x3
174x3
199.5x3
224.5x3
239x1
239x3
124.5x3
155x3
174x3
199.5x3
224.5x3
239x1
239x3
Narrow Grip Axle Standing Pin Presses (eye level height)
26x3
76x3
116x3
166x3
206x5
206x5
206x5
26x3
76x3
116x3
166x3
206x5
206x5
206x5
One Arm Dumbbell Bench Presses (3 second eccentrics)
52x12/12
52x12/12
52x12/12
52x12/12
52x12/12
52x12/12
Halbert Dumbbell Raises on Incline Bench (1ct hold)
10’x6
26’sx12
26’sx12
26’sx12
10’x6
26’sx12
26’sx12
26’sx12
Paused One Arm Band Lat Pulldowns (loose grip, 1 second)
sbx15/15
sbx15/15
sbx15/15
sbx15/15
sbx15/15
sbx15/15
Paused Dumbbell Pullovers (1 second)
10x4
40x8
40x8
40x8
10x4
40x8
40x8
40x8
Dumbbell Bench Press Iso Holds
46’sx30 seconds
46’sx30 seconds
46’sx30 seconds
46’sx30 seconds
46’sx30 seconds
46’sx30 seconds
Stretching
Comments: Whole lot of stress at work. To the point that I’m seriously going to start looking elsewhere. It is starting to affect my health I think. I have a three-day weekend so I’ll dedicate some time to that and work on a plan as I’m not sure how much more I can take. Borderline ready to just drop off my equipment and live off my savings until I find something else. But let’s table that for now and reflect on something I seem to enjoy doing most of the time; training strongman. At least when I feel like progress is being made. Stupid hot and humid. The first thing planned for the session was block press. Not entirely sure how these will be programmed but already different from what I’ve done in the past. I’ve only had one training cycle with a block press and it was like 6 weeks maybe including the contest. So really only 4 sessions of pressing the block. Only singles and I managed 260ish in training (missed 270lbs or so) and got an easy 280ish at the show (which as the under 300lbs WR but that was a soft record) so I seem to be decent at this. That was 2018 and it is 2022 now so really close to 4yrs since I last touched this thing for overhead press. And certainly the first I’ve tried to lift it overhead at the home gym. So the plan here was work up from RPE 6 to RPE 7.5-8 on triples (ideally 4x3). I was not sure how these would go being out of it so long. I also didn’t think it was wise to lift the empty block without some kind of warming up so I did some bottoms up presses with my 25lbs weights (they have grips on the one newer set). Didn’t exactly invoke confidence. Getting the block from the garage to the patio was a little tricky. The block gained some weight since last used judging by the scale. Dust, rust and spiders (and decals) must add up over time. I had to evict one spider from the one corner or it’d get squished if I tried to use the Allen wrench to open it. I wasn’t sure how my biceps and such would feel as they’ve been cranky since last training prep and unfortunately with doing another show right after the last two, not giving much rest. I had to think here with the block how I wanted to do things. When I was doing this for that one show with this same exact block, I placed it a certain way so that I could really break down the movement. But this event is going to be thinner blocks and for a series so there is a time factor involved. I saw a setup using these blocks from last year that had them tilted on crash pads so I decided to do it that way. That first set I didn’t sit into the lap like I would a heavy weight. I weight felt light but I didn’t feel that stable with the empty block. Oof, not a great start here haha. I will say it felt easier in most respects to that ssb chaos band setup from last week. Well the empty block was the easy part but now I had to add weight. Time consuming. Unlike say a barbell, I can’t just add weight and move some clips. Not like stones or kegs were there is a wide variety of them and can swap out the next weight. I have to take it apart completely, add weight and close it back up. And then weigh it because of the spacers being used to find out how much I’m lifting. If there was one thing that I’d like to have someone do if they were here while I was training, it would be to change the weights on things like this. Bent over, body a furnace and just pouring out sweat. I have a feeling the blocks at the show will be filled with lead shot and thought maybe I put chains in my mine for that but I decided to stick to solid object weight for now. Stuff was feeling pretty good. Proposed plan had been 140/170/190/210 give or take 10lbs depending on my pressing style. I do a deep lap catch clean and push press. The clean was the trickier part. Not a lot of things are like it with a block. I’m not holding it as close to my body because I figure that I won’t be able to with the thinner blocks so that also can make things tricky. Pressing was feeling easy. I had thought that 224.5lbs would be it but it went up really well. Like RPE 6 on the pressing. So I was a little baffled on what to do. I figured I’d go up about 15lbs then for another set that should be just as good and call it there. I hesitated a lot on the that one with the pick up and sitting in the bottom for a while. The catch being a little off maybe also through me. I got the first rep easy and then I just couldn’t get stuff to fire right after that. Which was frustrating as I didn’t want any misses and the weight was feeling so light in my hands. It ended up bouncing into the grass. My ego and stubbornness had me redo it as I knew it wasn’t a strength issue. But I’d burn out and feel really crappy if I messed up again. This was the reverse of that first attempt with the first rep getting off balance and then getting each one easier than the last one. Just had to kind of shrug my shoulders to the camera with that result. Not all the pressing outside for today. I figured I’d leave the block for after the workout as far as putting stuff away and just put it on the hand truck and put it in the sunroom. Just can’t get away from the axle. Rack work but getter ROM. Emphasis on triceps with a narrower grip. I was initially planning on smaller jumps but I was pretty warmed from being outside and the block pressing. Plan was 3x5 at RPE7-7.5 with the bar at eyelevel. I really would’ve liked to do more weight but I knew that putting two plates on the bar with this setup after all the block pressing that this was what I could do and work up from here. These didn’t feel bad. Into the garage for some of the same things I did last. The first being one arm bench presses with accentuated negatives. Same as last week with it being 3x12 and a lot of RIR (3-5). Told small progression. I felt I underdid it last week with coming back to it so I felt I could go a bit heavier. I went with the left side first this time around as that side the lower body had felt locked up. That could’ve been from my back still recovering at that point. Might have been as that issue was nonexistent this time around. These felt just as easy as 12lbs less last week. My upper abs were sore from those dragonflies so sitting up and laying down was noticed haha. The Halbert raises were up again. I was told in the notes to push these as I should be able to do more. These didn’t feel as good as they did last week. Perhaps the block cleaning was to blame or just the increased volume of pulls (I did rows on Tuesday as well) so the elbow/forearm area was feeling it. I did a warm-up set (which was what I used last week for working sets) and then went up a good bit as suggested. Might have been too much. I couldn’t really hold the contraction on these with that weight really. So these might need to be scaled down if this isn’t what is planned. Back outside for single arm lat pull downs with bands. I had left most of my setup from earlier out there as it could serve as a good anchoring system. Advised to up the intensity however I could do get it be 12-15 reps per set. I definitely took it easy last week as I was able to do all those sets back to back with no rest between sides. Went for the strong band and added pauses. Still well within my abilities. Took breaks between sets just to not overly fatigue things. Back into the garage for the rest of the session. Pullovers were next up. I’ve only really done these as a stretch a certain way with no more than 20lbs total so I was cautious with this. I’ve done these before and never really felt them and this was more of a heavier weight must be better approach in my youth. Arnold did them for his chest so I should too. So trying to be controlled and not overzealous with the stretch. Control and not relaxing. I know the idea here is opening up the chest and ribcage as well as the lats with the mobility needed for the block pressing. I went with dumbbell as I felt that was easier to get into and out of position I think and less inclined to bend the elbows maybe. I’m open to playing around with this some more. Last thing was a bit odd. Getting a stretch in the chest while under load. Dumbbell bench press iso holds. Feet up on bench and flexing my upper back to push into the bench hard and stretch the pecs while keeping tension on the dumbbells and stretch the whole time. This was a little tricky to get into place and to effectively dismount. But it felt good doing it and after I did them as far as my chest and shoulders feeling good and not tight and crappy. I may have to troubleshoot this some. It was a long day and this was a long session so I didn’t want to bother with cooking food and ordered Indian food while I put stuff away. Ate dinner and stretched. Iced the right knee only.
Comments: Whole lot of stress at work. To the point that I’m seriously going to start looking elsewhere. It is starting to affect my health I think. I have a three-day weekend so I’ll dedicate some time to that and work on a plan as I’m not sure how much more I can take. Borderline ready to just drop off my equipment and live off my savings until I find something else. But let’s table that for now and reflect on something I seem to enjoy doing most of the time; training strongman. At least when I feel like progress is being made. Stupid hot and humid. The first thing planned for the session was block press. Not entirely sure how these will be programmed but already different from what I’ve done in the past. I’ve only had one training cycle with a block press and it was like 6 weeks maybe including the contest. So really only 4 sessions of pressing the block. Only singles and I managed 260ish in training (missed 270lbs or so) and got an easy 280ish at the show (which as the under 300lbs WR but that was a soft record) so I seem to be decent at this. That was 2018 and it is 2022 now so really close to 4yrs since I last touched this thing for overhead press. And certainly the first I’ve tried to lift it overhead at the home gym. So the plan here was work up from RPE 6 to RPE 7.5-8 on triples (ideally 4x3). I was not sure how these would go being out of it so long. I also didn’t think it was wise to lift the empty block without some kind of warming up so I did some bottoms up presses with my 25lbs weights (they have grips on the one newer set). Didn’t exactly invoke confidence. Getting the block from the garage to the patio was a little tricky. The block gained some weight since last used judging by the scale. Dust, rust and spiders (and decals) must add up over time. I had to evict one spider from the one corner or it’d get squished if I tried to use the Allen wrench to open it. I wasn’t sure how my biceps and such would feel as they’ve been cranky since last training prep and unfortunately with doing another show right after the last two, not giving much rest. I had to think here with the block how I wanted to do things. When I was doing this for that one show with this same exact block, I placed it a certain way so that I could really break down the movement. But this event is going to be thinner blocks and for a series so there is a time factor involved. I saw a setup using these blocks from last year that had them tilted on crash pads so I decided to do it that way. That first set I didn’t sit into the lap like I would a heavy weight. I weight felt light but I didn’t feel that stable with the empty block. Oof, not a great start here haha. I will say it felt easier in most respects to that ssb chaos band setup from last week. Well the empty block was the easy part but now I had to add weight. Time consuming. Unlike say a barbell, I can’t just add weight and move some clips. Not like stones or kegs were there is a wide variety of them and can swap out the next weight. I have to take it apart completely, add weight and close it back up. And then weigh it because of the spacers being used to find out how much I’m lifting. If there was one thing that I’d like to have someone do if they were here while I was training, it would be to change the weights on things like this. Bent over, body a furnace and just pouring out sweat. I have a feeling the blocks at the show will be filled with lead shot and thought maybe I put chains in my mine for that but I decided to stick to solid object weight for now. Stuff was feeling pretty good. Proposed plan had been 140/170/190/210 give or take 10lbs depending on my pressing style. I do a deep lap catch clean and push press. The clean was the trickier part. Not a lot of things are like it with a block. I’m not holding it as close to my body because I figure that I won’t be able to with the thinner blocks so that also can make things tricky. Pressing was feeling easy. I had thought that 224.5lbs would be it but it went up really well. Like RPE 6 on the pressing. So I was a little baffled on what to do. I figured I’d go up about 15lbs then for another set that should be just as good and call it there. I hesitated a lot on the that one with the pick up and sitting in the bottom for a while. The catch being a little off maybe also through me. I got the first rep easy and then I just couldn’t get stuff to fire right after that. Which was frustrating as I didn’t want any misses and the weight was feeling so light in my hands. It ended up bouncing into the grass. My ego and stubbornness had me redo it as I knew it wasn’t a strength issue. But I’d burn out and feel really crappy if I messed up again. This was the reverse of that first attempt with the first rep getting off balance and then getting each one easier than the last one. Just had to kind of shrug my shoulders to the camera with that result. Not all the pressing outside for today. I figured I’d leave the block for after the workout as far as putting stuff away and just put it on the hand truck and put it in the sunroom. Just can’t get away from the axle. Rack work but getter ROM. Emphasis on triceps with a narrower grip. I was initially planning on smaller jumps but I was pretty warmed from being outside and the block pressing. Plan was 3x5 at RPE7-7.5 with the bar at eyelevel. I really would’ve liked to do more weight but I knew that putting two plates on the bar with this setup after all the block pressing that this was what I could do and work up from here. These didn’t feel bad. Into the garage for some of the same things I did last. The first being one arm bench presses with accentuated negatives. Same as last week with it being 3x12 and a lot of RIR (3-5). Told small progression. I felt I underdid it last week with coming back to it so I felt I could go a bit heavier. I went with the left side first this time around as that side the lower body had felt locked up. That could’ve been from my back still recovering at that point. Might have been as that issue was nonexistent this time around. These felt just as easy as 12lbs less last week. My upper abs were sore from those dragonflies so sitting up and laying down was noticed haha. The Halbert raises were up again. I was told in the notes to push these as I should be able to do more. These didn’t feel as good as they did last week. Perhaps the block cleaning was to blame or just the increased volume of pulls (I did rows on Tuesday as well) so the elbow/forearm area was feeling it. I did a warm-up set (which was what I used last week for working sets) and then went up a good bit as suggested. Might have been too much. I couldn’t really hold the contraction on these with that weight really. So these might need to be scaled down if this isn’t what is planned. Back outside for single arm lat pull downs with bands. I had left most of my setup from earlier out there as it could serve as a good anchoring system. Advised to up the intensity however I could do get it be 12-15 reps per set. I definitely took it easy last week as I was able to do all those sets back to back with no rest between sides. Went for the strong band and added pauses. Still well within my abilities. Took breaks between sets just to not overly fatigue things. Back into the garage for the rest of the session. Pullovers were next up. I’ve only really done these as a stretch a certain way with no more than 20lbs total so I was cautious with this. I’ve done these before and never really felt them and this was more of a heavier weight must be better approach in my youth. Arnold did them for his chest so I should too. So trying to be controlled and not overzealous with the stretch. Control and not relaxing. I know the idea here is opening up the chest and ribcage as well as the lats with the mobility needed for the block pressing. I went with dumbbell as I felt that was easier to get into and out of position I think and less inclined to bend the elbows maybe. I’m open to playing around with this some more. Last thing was a bit odd. Getting a stretch in the chest while under load. Dumbbell bench press iso holds. Feet up on bench and flexing my upper back to push into the bench hard and stretch the pecs while keeping tension on the dumbbells and stretch the whole time. This was a little tricky to get into place and to effectively dismount. But it felt good doing it and after I did them as far as my chest and shoulders feeling good and not tight and crappy. I may have to troubleshoot this some. It was a long day and this was a long session so I didn’t want to bother with cooking food and ordered Indian food while I put stuff away. Ate dinner and stretched. Iced the right knee only.
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