October 20-21, 2023 – Strongman Corporation National Championships

 Again at Nationals. Number 5 in 15 years. So about 1 every 3 years. Took me 4yrs to get to the first one (probably could’ve gone sooner but wasn’t ready). Again, I feel like most would’ve stopped by this point. And yet, this would be another first for me with doing a back to back Nationals. It hasn’t worked out for me in the past. Either because I didn’t qualify or it wasn’t in the cards (do to planning or injury). Considering how last year went and that it was one of those rare repeats of location (and the location was convenient for me), I made it my plan to get back again for another year. Every other Nationals seems to go mostly well for me on each event. The odd ones I’ve bombed two events whereas the evens I didn’t. I don’t feel it is possible for me to bomb anything this year. The year seemed to be going mostly well for me in that I qualified outright at the first show of the year after taking a winter offseason so I knew I had punched my ticket in March and would have time to be ready.

My work continues to be stressful but I continue to adapt to crap that comes through. Like water off a duck’s back type thing. I have to or I’d be a wreck. As far as the stress leading up to this competition, it was mostly me vs myself and training changes/issues. I did not need to do Regionals this year but I felt it was a good idea as my biggest issue does seem to be recovering for a second day of competition. Don’t often have that opportunity. It was eye opening and the thoughts of needing a change were there but I needed to amass more “proof”. My thinking was that I was doing too much work and not recovering with it being most notable with overhead work. But the past two shows had been kind of unique in that one was a very technical one (circus dumbbell) and the most recent was unknown until contest as far as difficulty (viking press). Off season summer prep seemed to be needed but coming back to more standard fare with contest prep was finding that I was down a good bit and struggling where I wasn’t last year. My frustration was such that I considered hanging this up.

Switching up coaching was kind of the last thing to see if I was truly done or not. I had initially been working with Mike Westerling from late 2016 until early 2021. This had lead to very productive work but then with 2020 and such and no actual competitions in sight, I was spinning my wheels and feeling so far behind my contemporaries. I think also training on just my home equipment was taking a toll on me as well as some feelings I had not really addressed from the previous year in the most healthy manner. Switching to Andrew Clayton was similar but different. It was a lot more work and it seemed to be needed for me and I definitely learned more about myself as an athlete. Things were going quite well but there were times of great stress for me when I wasn’t able to hit numbers I wanted. And times where stuff that was easy before was a struggle. And now I’m back. The diagnosis was overtraining with all the joint pains and aches so the training was made to be just the bare minimum of just the Nationals events. The shakeup coupled with a brutally honest heart-to-heart definitely got me back into the swing of things and committed to finishing out this year of competition.

I’d not advise switching up stuff mid training cycle as it is quite a whiplash and with having to recover as well as get ready for one of the toughest shows of the year in half the usual time leads to some very aggressive approaches in the training. Peak hard to deload hard to play hard. I will say that despite the body aches from hard training, I was feeling the most relaxed going into a major competition. I’d like to say the drive out was routine. But had a slight hiccup at the start. I had thought only staying two nights but was going to be three nights so had to head back after about 5 minutes to make sure I had stuff for another day of being away. Other than that, it was a nice drive. The usual first hour or so talking with my dad about stuff before I start reading a book I packed. Erie is still windy but surprisingly not that cold. It was definitely colder and windier last year. I did have to weigh-in this year as I decided to drop down to the newly made 265lbs class that debuted last year. This decision was made when I found out I was 255lbs. I don’t plan to stay at 265lbs but if felt like the best thing with how I was feeling and not push things so hard to get to the top end of the HW class. I also need to figure away to fill out my frame since I’ve inadvertently dropped about 30lbs since March of 2022. Instant oats and honey with almond butter sandwiches have been my panacea. Anyways, I weighed in at 262.8lbs. I got to get a chance to look at the equipment before I went to the same upscale place for dinner as last year to get in some really good food. I definitely ate a bit too much so rules meeting I was wanting to nap and Nathan Payton yapping about “dry carbs” and hydration about did me in.

Sleep eventually came to me and I wasn’t feeling terribly out of sorts upon waking. No struggle with nerves getting breakfast down. It was now time to get it done. Early rising this time around unlike last year. There was an AM and PM session again and it has worked well. Morning class this time around and the split seemed to be more even with things as far as women and men which resolved one concern from last year about the morning being just women as test subjects of things. The question marks this year would be more the events that details weren’t finalized until today to see if there was any issues but nothing stood out to me beyond those hiccups. And it did appear there were backups planned in the event of mishaps. Bit of waiting to be let into the venue but I was going to be more anxious waiting in the hotel room. This was going to be my first Nationals where I wasn’t in the open HW class. 25 people in the weight class which was a decent increase from last year. So I guess this would be my highest placing even if I get last place. I’m not terribly familiar with the competitors in this class beyond like two because the one state chair doesn’t like running the under 265lbs class and when they do, it’s the same weights as SHW so really no point. But I got to meet some new people as well as friends.

The first event was last man standing sandbag toss. 15’ target. Opening weight of 35lbs and weight increases 5lbs each round until 55lbs and then 2.5lbs after that. No limit on attempts and could not skip weights. You didn’t have to start at the opener but once you were in, you had to do every attempt after that. But you missed and you were done. 30 seconds to lift, fight, kick, scream to get it done. As far as an event to start things off, this is a good one to get things moving. Not terribly taxing. I’ve been hit or miss with this one it seems. 2021 I was on fire with this one and managed to hit 55lbs with a close miss at 60lbs. Then this year at Regionals as part of a series, I only got 40lbs and 45lbs with close misses at 50lbs. I’m not too sure what happened but I feel that I’m doing better on that front. As I was initially signed up for open HW, I had been tossing over 16’. Having to get things that high (I didn’t bother changing after dropping down) had me measuring the toss tower at the gym, which ended up being a foot shorter than what was listed. In the past, I had made my own toss tower setup and this year I relied on the one that was built. This would explain why I was not getting the height at Regionals. Switching to less frequency seemed to be helpful as well as making adjustments in smaller increments in training than 5lbs. Ended up hitting 42.6lbs for several singles over 16’ for my last big training session. I had no idea where I’d end up on this one. I figured that 45lbs should happen and anything after that was good. Since they were running this on six lanes, I could see all the different classes. The open HW class was to be doing 16’ and it didn’t look like it was foot taller. Maybe we were tossing 15’6” or they were doing 15’6” or I can’t tell heights good. I wasn’t exactly going to be able to measure even if I wanted to haha. Didn’t matter, all tossing over the same setup. I was meticulous with things and not going full bore right from the start. This was the only event of the day that I got to do almost all the planned warming up that I’d like to do. I tried to repeat things for each toss. Touch the bag and pick it up and shake it to get the sand to be in the bottom and then be controlled and go to try and get a very high arc with minimal back or forward. Nerves were there but I was successful and got 45lbs over. That was what I was expecting to be there with training. Time for 50lbs. It went over and I was happy about that. I felt that this was going to be one where the separation started. 55lbs was going to be close. It would tie my PR on this in competition from 2021. A bit more aggression for myself and I got set and tossed it and I watched it just kind of slide over the edge of the barrier like an overweight cat. I was ecstatic that I was back to that level again and I knew that this had been a make or break moment. The jumps were then 2.5lbs. 57.5lbs just wasn’t happening today. I had used up my opa on the 55lbs. Starting off the day with a 7th place.

Second event of the day was log clean and press. Trump weight style in that there was a light log and a heavy log. 60 seconds for as many reps as possible. One rep of the heavy log beat any number on the light log. The heavy log being 305lbs and the light log 255lbs. This wasn’t going to be a strong event for me. Even at my best it wasn’t and I’m definitely not at my best pressing wise right now despite the reboot I needed about 2 months back. Initially was aiming for 285lbs for reps as a heavy weight as the 345lbs trump weight was 40lbs over my best competition log press (where I had my own warming up and jumps I could take) and with my track record that wasn’t happening unless I got really good, real quick. But struggling with 235lbs at the beginning of my second week of prep was soul crushing and it took a bit to get over that mentally. I’m probably still not over that. I think realizing how much my bodyweight was affecting my recovery and leverages helped me understand I needed to make some adjustments. Survive this and keep working the plan going forward. Training was low volume but very aggressive with starting at 150lbs but going up to 270lbs by the end of the prep. Plan was see how I was feeling with warm ups before committing to a plan of light log or trying the heavy log. As great as warming up on the bag toss was, it was the opposite with log. I did initially get to do some empty log singles (135lbs) and the plan was to try and do 30lbs singles. That didn’t happen. The warming up logs got changed to 2 from 3 and miscellaneous logs. So by the time I was able to get to touch the log again it was 245lbs and it felt terrible. 110lbs jump will do that. I didn’t bother to press it and just cleaned it and held it in the rack for a moment. My limit reserve strength and my confidence in the pressing had me decide that the light log for reps was what I was going to need to do. So the warm ups were not great here and I got in I think singles at 175lbs, 215lbs and then maybe 230lbs. One log felt great and the other terrible. Like heavy on my chest and bothering my knees. So by the time I was out for log, I was just hoping that I could get the 255lbs for a single at least. That was how bad warming up had felt for me. So part of the mental issue had me approach the log slowly and take a moment to attempt the first lift. This felt much better than the stuff in the warm up area. I went for the press and it went up easy but I didn’t quite commit to it and had to re lock the weight out and catch myself from losing balance. My judge was going to be strict. So with that slight bobble, more concern before going for a second rep. I mean, I was on the board so that was good. Second lift I lost the log forward a bit and I got very little lower body drive into it as it went forward and it required a good bit of upper body strength to lock it out and I had to walk with it a bit as I grinded it out. So now I needed to regroup and take a little more rest. Training had been more geared to getting low reps and not with reps in mind so I was not in the usual condition for this plan. I knew that was going to be an issue but really with where I was 8 weeks out, I was just happy to be here and not feeling like the weight was crushing me. I went for one more rep to get a triple which had been my hope here with what I thought was enough time. I got it to the shoulders and I hesitated slightly as my initial dip had it wanting to roll forward so once it was there I went for the press. Time got called as I caught the log at my sticking point and pressed it out comfortably. But my judge said it was not going to count because it was after the time. I pressed it and pressed it thrice so a win for me there and that was to be the end of it. But then the MC indicated the rule was that if you were in the middle of pressing when time expired and you locked it out, it would count. So that ended up being a bit of going to one person and then another person and then back to the same person to again the same person to be told no after looking at my video that it wouldn’t count. I was fine with ruling either way but I wanted to make sure I understood the rules here so a little annoying. It was definitely after time was called when I locked it out so under the initial rules, it was not a counted rep. I don’t know if anyone benefited from that discrepancy or not. No grudges, moving on. So tied for 20th here with what was likely going to be my worst placing at the competition event wise.

Final event for the first day was a stone event. Three stones carried staggered distances (270lbs for 10’, 300lbs for 8’, 325lbs for 6’) and loaded to 48” platform and then a fourth stone (350lbs) loaded over a yoke for reps in the remaining time. 60 seconds and no real tacky allowed. The only event with split times. This was going to be a brutal event and it kind of answered why the second day had all these tough events because I couldn’t see this being replaced with anything else to make Day 2 easier. The no tacky was likely due to the convention center rules and clean up. What kind of stones wasn’t really known beforehand but it was listed as “rubberized” or concrete if that didn’t work out. So training for this was pretty typical as far as stone work and the really issues ended up being more about finding what combination of allowed sticky substances and gear worked best as well as the appropriate application. So a good bit of trial and error on that and honestly, no clue if it would be applicable to what ended up being actually at the competition. It has been very rare that I do poorly on a stone event of any kind. This would likely be my strongest event of the contest. Only issue was I never got to really try out the full medley to see about reapplication and moving in training but I did all the weights or above for longer distance and did the last stone for several reps. Suffice it to say, the rubber stones didn’t work out and it was concrete. But also didn’t look like fresh stones. I recognized where they were from the logo so I didn’t have high expectation of these being good stones to stick to. These were going to be dusty. That’s not to say that attempts weren’t made to get them nice a good with wiping them down and spraying spray tack on them. But can only do so much. These kind of stone events with minimal to no adhesives with these kind of stones tends to favor those with very strong upper bodies with the increased need to crush. More chest, more upper back, more biceps. Tendonitis issues for me if I do it too much. But need to train to make the best of things while maximizing own advantages. This event I knew I wasn’t going to get to warm up in a way that was really going to matter as far as touching the actual implements beyond what I did when I put my hands on them the day before at weigh-ins. But I’ve been here before at Nationals with stone events and no warming up on the stuff. Plate rows were about the only thing really. I also did some bear hug picks of a log with like 265lbs on it I think. The biggest issue for me was getting my knees moving and feeling like they weren’t going to shatter after log. I don’t move so fast these days and got to get myself feeling good here. I did get a little rushed with things as far as getting ready to go. Grip shirt with taped up forearms, two tacky towels (one in my soft belt, other in pocket) and spray tack on arms and hands. Up until I went, no one had gotten a rep on the 350lbs stone. So I knew that this was tough and that reps were going to be low on the last stone. I got ready and kind of stumble slightly going from off the mat to the first stone. This was a smaller diameter stone than I was expecting and fought the urge to one motion it as I knew I’d need my back later. I felt I was moving fast and shoved the stone up. The judge indicated to watch and make sure the stone stays on the platform so that distracted me slightly. I went with more a backwards shuffle to the stone so that I only had to worry about going straight. With not being able to secure my grip as well as like say if I had real tacky, it didn’t seem wise to try and side pick and move the stones, especially these. 290lbs wasn’t an issue either. I did feel like I had to get a little deeper on where I gripped the stone for 325lbs and could feel my hands sliding. So I tacked up my hands before going for 350lbs. This where I made an error. I went to pick what I was expecting to be routine but tough stone and I couldn’t get purchase I then looked at my forearms to see them both covered in dust and grime, more so the left one. I shouldn’t paid attention and applied tack to my arms and done so more liberally. So that ate up time and I knew that I really only had one shot here. I got the pick this time and squared up my stance for a comfortable load with a few seconds left, raising my hands up. 56.55 seconds for four lifts. It was a beatable time and having gone earlier, I was a case study for those to follow. But I also like to let people know what to expect as well. The other part would be to get my upper body stronger as well haha. My time did hold up though for a 4th place.

After the first day, I was in 11th place overall. Decent. 4 places away from the Arnold bid, which honestly hadn’t been a thought as a potential until like the last 3 weeks leading up to the competition. However it was going to be a tough climb with my best event out of the way and with one poorer event, a not great event and a kind of uncontested one as well. It was nice being done earlier in the day compared to last year where it was about 2.5hrs behind schedule. I mean things go behind with the stones (one of the broke and had to wait for replacement). Also meant didn’t have to worry about rescheduling reservations. Someone working at one of the vendors asked to take a photo with me as I was their “favorite”. It always surprises me to see people that don’t know me rooting for me while I do this activity.  Got back to the hotel and iced my knees before eating at the same restaurant as the night before. I attempted to eat slightly less food and not be so stuffed. Barely succeeded. Came back to ice knees again and relax while reading science fiction novels and watching the Minions movie for the second time. As one does. Took Aleve before sleep with hopes it would be a restful sleep and that I wouldn’t arise to regret any choices from the day before (food or lifting wise).

I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t a ball of soreness and hate. I did feel like I did stuff yesterday but I wasn’t feeling much besides my shoulders and hamstrings. Usually at the day after a contest I have very sore lower legs from my nervous energy and pacing. That was not present at all. I think maybe I did a better job of it this time around and calmed down. I also didn’t feel congested or have trouble any increased issues with getting breakfast down. Though that did seem to be all the good fortune I could afford at the moment. I get to the venue and check my hydration jug and find it has a crack in it and it is leaking into my bag. I have to quickly transfer it to a gallon jug. I like the colored jugs since you can’t really tell what is inside. The clear jug announces to the world I’m drinking what looks like piss, which someone in the restroom immediately asks if it is piss which I just say “yep” so I can get on with my like. Also had an encounter with a known strongman coach trying to throw their weight around and claim that only women could warm up on the equipment right now (not true, spoke with officials). For some reason, people think I a good target for this kind of crap. Possibly my trusting nature. But I was aware of this individual so essentially said “nuh uh” and came back later to do my own thing. But enough of that.

First event of the day was max trap bar deadlift. Straps allowed as well as briefs. Use what I can as I’m getting closer to master’s age and as a drug free athlete, I’m going to get beat up so if I can swing the briefs, I’ll do it if it keeps me able to keep doing this until I’m done. A trap bar is pretty standard but this was a somewhat unique bar. One of those open trap bars that allow you to use it as its own lift jack to change weights. The gym did have this bar but not exactly. There are attachments to change the handle width and thickness. The gym only had the one width setting so while it was nice to get used to it, the setup for here was going to be wider by 2”. So my setup at home was closer to competition as far as the width. Which does seem to affect things on a side handle lift for me with being able to engage my lats for bracing. Unlike with bag toss, not every lift needed to be taken but considering the jumps being 20kgs, it was probably not wise to skip many, especially since I would likely not be going much over 300kgs. I had hoped that I’d be feeling like over 700lbs would be there but that wasn’t a guarantee with how I was feeling and how training had gone. Training had gone about as well as expected and I ended up getting a little over the first three jumps in weight with the hope that I could do the fourth jump for the top single. This could be a tall order after a first day of competition and I’d probably be feeling that. Plan after discussing with coach was to skip the opener and do 40kgs jumps so essentially aim for my max in those two attempts. Warming up for this was much like sandbag toss in that this was the closest I was going to get it to being like how it would be ideally. This was also due to having it be six lanes going at a time. Got the lifts I needed. It was wise decision for me to do what I did while also being a bit risk. Many of the better deadlifters skipped the opener so people that did it and were going again very quickly. I know that if I did 20kgs jumps, I’d have not been able to pull well. Opened with 595lbs/270kgs. I got set and got it going. My back felt sore immediately. A bit of a wake up. So next weight planned was 683lbs/310kgs. I’ve done this 90lbs jumps before in competition and I’ve hit what I needed when it mattered. The added rest from skipping and attempt helped as well. Just spent the time watching and breathing heavy to peak arousal. As I was going to need it. I knew I had to do this weight or I was going to sink like stone in the placings. And a missed lift would take a lot of out me mentally as well as physically. I got set and grunted and shuffled about and pulled. It was slow but I knew I wasn’t going to stop once it broke the ground. My bracing has gotten better and I’ve toughed out some pulls without form breaking. This had been the goal weight that had been planned 9 weeks out from where I was feeling at the time. I looked at the judge looked to the right and then put it down before letting out a roar. Needed an outlet for what I had been building up for several minutes. Feeling good with hitting 3 out of 4 clutch moments I felt I needed to do. Tied for 17th here.

Up next was the yoke into wheelbarrow medley. 60 seconds to go 50’ with the yoke and then bring the wheelbarrow back. But the wheelbarrow as actually the yoke. 750lbs for both but the projected weight in hand for the wheelbarrow was 75% of that (563lbs). Like the stone event, we had the information but not an actual look at this setup. Initially training was geared more toward yoke as that tends to be the moving event I drop off with if I don’t hit it frequently while things like farmer’s and frame come back pretty strong. Considering that I worked up to over 700lbs for a down and back frame carry, I was hoping this would come down to more adapting rather than needing to build. Yoke its own thing and the wheelbarrow part of thing was just left over from the trap bar stuff. Until I had to switch things up and then it was the medley. Option had been to do farmer’s or wheelbarrow and I figured that I’d try wheelbarrow at first. The one at the strongman gym was terrible and it took a lot of weight to get it to be the right weight in hand (and I got scolded for using the calibrated plates) and was planning to just do farmer’s but another gym had a better wheelbarrow. My grip is rarely an issue and I was noticing there was a lot more quad engagement to move the weight of the implement forward vs if it as just a carry. So I made it a point to train that and ended up training above contest weight for the total weight and weight in hand for the wheelbarrow. I did want to go heavier on the yoke just because of how I’ve usually had issues with yoke above 700lbs at competitions when I don’t get to warm up well or I didn’t do contest weight or above more than twice in training. Getting my hands on things and figuring how things felt was going to be key here. Showing up and seeing it, it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. Bigger and more metal. I feel like this event caused the most stress for the people working the show since things had to be assembled there and taken apart. As well as people stressing over the variances in the equipment being slightly different on the angles. Being out on deadlift early and having it go on for quite some time with the open class meant I did get time to mess with this setup and get information. The setup for yoke was fine once counterbalanced. The wheelbarrow part of things was where it wasn’t certain how it would feel and in the event it didn’t hold up to the clanging and banging, farmer’s handles were there as a backup. Two things with the wheelbarrow; the pick was almost as low as the trap bar when advertised as a good bit higher and the weight in hand was likely less with how the weight was distributed. I also used that time to see how things felt with some things I was thinking from the day before. One was increasing my pick height up after seeing how my knees and my back were from the deadlift. The counter balanced implement didn’t seem to be at risk of getting me off balance. The other was figured out footwear or lack thereof. The yoke this wasn’t really an issue but it was maybe for the wheelbarrow portion. There was a concern of sliding trying to go fast, either of the implement getting too far ahead of feet not being able to gain purchase. The convention floor is slick which tends to not be great for pushing off ball of the foot. At least not with the shoes I was using. My shoes I used for stones would work but they put more stress on the knees and pitch forward more which wasn’t great for me on yoke and getting the pick right. So the other possible option was Flintstoning it with the bare feet. So while not ideal, my feet could seem to handle it. You can find you can handle a lot of things for less than a minute. I got to work up to about 575lbs on the actual apparatus before it was taken away. I made it a priority to get in what I needed for this to feel right. When it was down to just the regular yokes for warming up, I made sure that one of them was set for taller athletes and tried to make it that way so that there wasn’t a need to adjust heights for everyone since these were not quick height adjustment yokes. Final run was about 640lbs. The yoke we were warming up on felt heavier than what the actual one was so I knew this was enough. I hadn’t actually checked if going barefoot was allowed. Oh well, just going to go out there and yabba dabba do it. And we were off. Having watched the first few heats, I could tell this was going to be a fast one. Not great for me being slow on yoke. I’d have to go steady and hope that the pick didn’t suck for me and that I was able to quickly go not worrying about fiddling with my grip and hope my gambit paid off. Steady I was and trying to not teeter off balance. My lack of foot wear I feel didn’t help on this part of the race. I had slight hesitation on the pick. Maybe because I was used to higher pick? I did feel that it was too easy once I did go but I was finding that it was like that one wheel on a shopping cart listing slightly to one side. It was light in my hands and I stopped and held it for a bit before setting it down. Save the volunteers some effort for the reset. Finished in 21.39 seconds. Times were real close with some outliers on both ends. This was surprisingly good enough for 10th.

The final event has been the flavor of the year; power stairs. Three implements (331lbs, 375lbs, 419lbs) up 3 steps (18”) for time. No split times. On paper, this should be a good event for me. It just hasn’t worked out lately where it has been an event. Before this prep, I had only done this like four times and it was always as part of a medley and light. 400lbs I think was the heaviest and that was a charity contest I didn’t realize was a competition until I showed up (I just thought it was a training day). And that was over a decade ago. And haven’t really touched this since that time. So these sessions were going to be the most I’ve actually pushed this. The gym had power stair stuff but the setup was 1” short and it only worked out that I did them once there and really light. The switch to home made for some grueling training in that it was to do a rep set with the implement for the total number of reps and resetting each lift. Before switching to under 265lbs, I had done 420lbs for a set of 9 reps (8 in under 60 seconds and then had to rest to get the last as hit a wall) so ended up repeating that workout to try and do it quicker (which I did but also accidentally did a 10th rep). This would be a tough one to end the contest on. Got to finish it so I can stand at the top of the steps at the end. Lot of bruises on the knees and inner thighs from this one. The one thing I wished I had been able to train with this was actually going up steps and working my way back down to work on the transitions and such. Hopefully I can pick up things on the fly. Initially, this looked to be similar to stones in how warming up was going to be done; none. I was prepared for that and did some picks with a single farmer’s walk implement up to the first implement. But then some mercy was given and we got to test the setup on the under 160lbs women’s weights. That was helpful for me to see how I was feeling as far as the hop up and getting back down. Then someone setup a step with a pin in the back that I loaded up to about 330lbs to get in a single. Helped with getting in a rotation system so that someone was anchoring and the person would swap out with the person that went and so on. This event we were going out in reverse order of placing. I had started the day at 11th and dropped to 12th with deadlift and maintained that with yoke/wheelbarrow. Points were close between these middle places. If I beat anyone in my heat, that would mean I moved up a place. I was starting to feel the past five events at this point. One and done. Time and we were off. 331lbs didn’t really slow me down. But I also wasn’t terribly fast. I went with a 1-2 step rather than hop up. My transitions were good because I’m quite good of going backwards down steps. I’ve been walking backwards done stairs for years because it is a lot easier on my knees and with how large my feet are (size 17) most of my foot doesn’t fit on most steps. I can get more foot on a step going backwards. But it being a viable option for power stairs didn’t occur to me until saw a video of MW pro Erin Walklet doing this and I had to try it as I knew that turning around and going down would be a lot slower for me and cause me knee pain. It takes some trust but it allowed me to be quite fast getting to the next implement. I was actually on a good pace through the 375lbs and getting to the 419lbs. That was where my luck ran out. I was fatigued and I pulled up that first step and the weight got caught on my inner thighs as I had it too close and had to kind of adjust and go. That slowed me down and sapped some strength. But I knew I was finishing. I’ve done this weight for 10 reps in a row with deloading it. Got it to the top and tossed my hands up. I knew I had beaten at least one person but it was going to be close. Time of 25.74 seconds here. Managed 13th.

Despite being at this thing 4 times prior, I’ve never gone to the banquet. Just always bounce to get back home as soon as possible. Especially since never been in contention for anything really. But I was going to be here another night so rather than spend a ton of money on food, might as well cash in the on it this time around as this might be the closet I’d get to an Arnold bid so far. Food was decent considering it was catering/buffet style. I ate a lot and was by myself for most of it. It was a large area and the people that I was actually friendly with I didn’t see or didn’t come. I did get invited to another table to join them as they were announcing things which was nice. It was interesting and nice to share a moment of seeing people be very happy with getting pro cards and/or Arnold invites. So that was enjoyable. I ended up placing 11th out of 25. So a few spots out of Arnold invite. I definitely was not ready to compete this year in the open HW class with where I was 9 weeks out. Again, strength and speed need to improve to continue to hang at this level. As I mentioned, overhead pressing is hopefully back on track and deadlift is slowly improving. Nationals for next year appear to be in South Carolina in late September so I can’t even use the Happy Gilmore joke about there being 365 days left to toughen up. Plan is sleep and drive home before getting myself ready for one last show for 2023 where I can hopefully get an early start on the 2024 qualifying season.

October 8, 2023 - October 14, 2023 - Week 16

October 9, 2023 – Week 16, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
90x5
120x3
150x2
180x2
210x1
240x1
270x1
270x1
270x1
270x1
270x1

Stretching
 
Comments: The last week of training for Nationals. It’s here again and for a bit, it didn’t look like I was going to be ready for it. This first workout of the week is the last “real” workout as the deload starts with the next two sessions being submaximal. Recovery needs to be my focus. Sunday ended up being the first day this fall where it was cold enough to need to put on the heating. I was feeling a bit stressed with my knees feeling as achy/sore as they were. I know it just means that I need to deload and the lead up will be enough time to be feeling decent. I’ve been here before. Scale says dropping the instant oatmeal had my weight go down 2lbs. So up 3lbs total. Could also be slightly off from not eating as many meals as I usually do on Saturday having to train several hours later. But bringing back the oatmeal as I should be ok with that and the other things. I definitely noticed increase core stability from the slight increase in bodyweight. Replaced the insoles of my moving event shoes and walking shoes as well. Also started taking airborne (not overdoing it like last year) leading up to Nats. Plan is last shots done this week. Trying my best to be healthy and not have a compromised immune system. Peaking can do that and I really don’t want a repeat of 2017 Nationals ever again with the flu. Good that I was off work today to really focus on this last pressing session. I was nervous but it had to be done. Nothing besides breakfast before lifting. I was making sure that I was feeling good. Despite my knees aching, they actually didn’t really seem to act up much doing my warming up stuff. I was feeling about how I should I guess. The plan was 270lbs for 5x1 after working up. 30lbs jumps up to that weight. There had been some changes but this weight and sets didn’t change. Even when going to under 265lbs class. What did get changed based on my abilities was the rest period. Initially, it was to be EMOM but I had voiced concerns that I wasn’t quite ready for that kind of pacing on log as far as mentally and conditioning wise and certainly not at 20-30lbs over the most I’ve ever done for EMOM on log from the floor. So it was moved to 90 seconds as an option. After last week with attempted EMOM and then switching to 90 seconds after a missed rep, that was changed to 3 minutes rest. Then right before training got another update to make the working up sets be 3 minutes apart and rest 5 minutes for the singles. This was the right call for the day and where I am. I was nervous with my knees aching and I was feeling really sore from stones. Slight contact bruise on the left inside knee with my inner thighs and biceps being quite sore. The pacing out actually was good as far as how warming up with a lot of people may be rather than my usual setup the weights and get it done until work sets. I had stopped with the elbow sleeves (they are knee sleeves I use haha) because I had thought maybe they were throwing off my pressing. I think they do for reps at a certain weight with log. But this was the time to test for singles. Because my options are going to be 255lbs for reps or 305lbs for a single. Which would tie my competition best single. I wore the elbow sleeves for every set. Knees were feeling not great for the first two warm up sets. I was also having some issues with my breathing as far as not holding my breath so I did have time where I had to lean on the log before moving on. 210lbs is where the weight finally felt good for me as far as moving like it should. Then 240lbs felt darn heavy. For the working weight, I stripped down the weights to change things up for contest. My log is 87lbs empty and I know the competition log is 134lbs empty. And with bumper plates the weight is more to the ends vs spread out over the log. I had tried to make myself used to the heavier log on the chest with my thinner log that was off balanced and 108lbs empty but the diameter difference wasn’t helping for the feel. So my thinking was to put the new thin steel plates to use and have those be on the inside and then the bumper plates. That certainly made a difference. First working set felt heavy. Press went up but I got a bit off balance on it and walked backwards. Second one I didn’t pull the log into myself on the clean and it was low and had to muscle it up which took a bit out of my power and ended up being the hardest lift of the day. The elbow sleeves make that part a little tougher if I’m not focusing on it (didn’t want to strain biceps). Third and fourth went up quite well and probably the best reps of the day. I had to pause a moment on the third due to how violent the clean to the shoulder was. No notes for the fourth. Fifth rep I did a little bit of hold/showboating for my own confidence. Shins were feeling a bit raw from the log. But five reps above my body weight will do. I’m up in the air still on which option but likely light log for reps to just be on the board and save for the four hard events to come. Ate a bunch of little meals in short succession as I put stuff away and stretched. It was good I had off as attempting to do this workout during my lunch would’ve been tough with the forced longer breaks and the risk of rain after work was not worth it. Two more sessions.

October 11, 2023 – Week 16, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Power Stairs (18”)
61x5
106x3
151x2
196x1
241x1
286x1
EMOM
331x1
331x1
331x1
331x1
331x1

Stretching
 
Comments: With the workout Monday, I’ve kind of gotten through to Nats and just have to not have some kind of illness or accident between now and then. These last few workouts and such should be not things that stress me out or cause me to be nervous. I was feeling the past few workouts in my body the day before and it was good that it was just walking and soft tissue work. Work wasn’t so bad coming back after a three-day weekend. Trying to not let work stress me out like it has in the past leading up to competitions. It helps nothing. Got down two meals before starting training. Warming up stuff was fine. Some aches in the knees and shoulders but also some muscle soreness. My lats, upper back, biceps and forearms were still feeling Monday and Saturday. Which I guess is fine for this session as I’m to be doing power stairs and this would be the last event of day two after doing log work, stones and bag toss (which were done Saturday and Monday). So maybe a good idea to feel some soreness fatigue even for this “light session”. I say light as it is the lightest the power stairs have been besides the first session of them but 331lbs isn’t exactly super light. Usually when doing a deload with Mr. Westerling, it is usually a low volume but decently heavy pressing most times with a lower body “speed” session and a “cardio” session to finish off the prep. It had gotten colder out as I mentioned and apparently cold enough that it messed up some of the wasps that use the power rack as a nest. Even if they aren’t nice and I know that they don’t survive the winter, it is a little sad seeing them perish. But such is their life. This power stair session was going to be a little different. The first session had just been “taps” for light weight and speed and then with the change being doing a top set of 9 reps. This was closer to that first workout. Work up as I have been to the first implement and do 5 singles EMOM style. Since it was just singles, I did want to try something that I couldn’t really do with the rep sets. And that was to hop up on the step with the implement. The plyo box setup I bought and setup for at home was not big enough for me to stand on with the weight. The other setup idea would be the crash pads but I know those may not be the most sturdy/stable. But it would be the right height and big enough for me to at least do that. Suffice it to say, that I won’t be doing this way again in the future. But I felt it was important to see how things felt so that it wasn’t a day of the contest testing out. Like I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t really had these for many steps in the past or really trained them. But it has been over a decade since I’ve done these in a competition and I’m not quite as “springy” as it were with the wear and tear on my joints. I can’t expect that my body is going to be reacting how I need it without some warming up. And unfortunately, with things like bounds and such, you can’t really do half measures. So to start out I did just the last rep of the sets warming up (when doing reps) to hop up with the weight. I imagine this will be better with a firm and stable surface. But trying to hop up with both legs at the same time may have the stretch reflex aspect, it is a bit hit or miss with actual placement and with my knees and such. The 1-2 seems to be the better option for me to get a stable base and go. But again, this setup I got for this wasn’t exactly the best. Even with light weight, I made sure that I applied liquid chalk and wore my hard belt (albeit one notch loose). First rep went fine but that was about that haha. Second rep the setup almost tipped over. The rest of the reps I just hopped up there but didn’t try to plant myself or stay up there. It moved good but it did feel heavier than I’d have liked. This did end up going by pretty quick. And despite what would appear to be my unintentional best efforts to get injured, I did not. I put stuff away and also setup some things for the last workout. Saturday is going to be rain for like 21 of the 24hrs so doing it Friday instead (which Mike said was better anyways to give more rest). Got some more food down and back to work with stretching planned after my shift. Get last “safety precaution” over with tomorrow and hopefully no issues/incidents with that. One and done.

October 13, 2023 – Week 16, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (15’7”)
EMOM
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1

Sled Pushes/Sled Drags (minute rests)
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’

Stretching
 
Comments: The last one. With what was planned, it made sense to have this session be at home and a day earlier. Because the forecast had for Saturday rain for 21 out of 24hrs. And considering what I was to be doing, it was best to do this on a day where it wasn’t raining. Cut down on any issues. So a day earlier. I had not planned for that in advance as I had a vaccination scheduled for after work the day before and considering what it was, I had a feeling that it would leave me feeling pretty sore (it did). Not so much that I needed to take anything to take the edge off to sleep or anything so I guess that is a plus. For the workout itself, I was debating doing things during my lunch break or after work. I was leaning towards after work but I think seeing that it was getting dark fairly quickly at this point that I wanted to try and do this in the daylight and then I could just stretch after work. So the left shoulder was sore from the shot. My knees were feeling pretty achy today. I guess I usually get more rest. I was feeling them on some of the warming up stuff. But other stuff felt fine and good. The plan for the day was to start off with bag toss. Yes, just did it last week. But it’s not that taxing. This was the main reason I wanted to do this a day early as didn’t want to toss in the rain. I’ve done it but it is annoying and stuff can go sideways. And considering how clumsy I felt I was with my coordination on power stairs, I didn’t want to tempt fate. I have a bag toss setup at home (well a toss setup) and I had reinforced it like 8 weeks back so it stands more erect. I had spent time Wednesday moving the stall mat over and adjusting the sandbag to 30lbs. Plan was just a 10 minutes EMOM with that weight bag. If I was still competing as an open HW, I’d probably be a bit miffed that my setup wasn’t 16’ but since under 265lbs is 15’, this was acceptable. And probably give me a little better idea of things with how there isn’t a backboard near the bottom for support. Knees were quite achy. My bag tossing has improved as far as getting up and over 15’ height. First and third toss were the worst tosses whereas my second and final toss felt like the best as far as economy of depth and getting maximum height. I put stuff away before moving through the garage to my front yard and into the street for the rest of the training session. This part of things had been what I was worried about as far as timing. 10 minutes of EMOM with tosses was going to be about 10 minutes give or take. Usually to end up prep is sled work. Lot of repetitions but no concentric so easy to recover from. Get the body moving, blood pumping. Depending on the focus will dictate the plan. And that was to do 10 sets of 50’/50’ with a minute rest. The longer rest had me a little concerned that I might be cutting it close as far as getting back to work from lunch timely. I was also not sure it was a long enough rest to be able to do a set and then go inside to check and come back out. It has been a bit since I’ve done a street workout. Push the knock-off prowler up the street and then drag it back down the street to the start. If I was doing this on the turf at the gym, I’d be using less weight. But here I need more. Let me say that I’m out of practice of this. And by this, I mean moving in any kind of sprint. My knees felt incredibly achy and stiff. On both the pushing and dragging. But I’m also familiar with it and I felt that I gradually got better and then hit a certain statis of times (about 20 seconds). Slowest was the first set of 23 seconds. I did use one of the rests to check time and see how long it took to check and come back and it was less than a minute. Checked twice to make sure that I was good during the sets. This was easy but also getting me breathing a bit heavy and having some stuff feeling a bit more fatigued than usual. I mean, haven’t really been working some of these systems for a bit. I drifted to the left a bit on one set so had to adjust after that. Second to last set I missed the ropes and had to regrab so that ate some time. I feel I stuck to a pretty consistent style for the push but I did alternate between a head forward and head back with the drag. Last set ended up being my fastest under 20 seconds. Joints in my hips, knees and ankles feeling it a bit. Put stuff away and ate food. Stretching for after work. And now to rest my fevered brain and achy joints. Survived another training prep.

October 1, 2023 - October 7, 2023 - Week 15

 October 2, 2023 – Week 15, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
90x5
120x3
150x2
180x2
210x1
240x1
260x1
260x1
260x1
260x0
260x1
260x1

Stretching
 
Comments: Well it would seem the change is good as far as weight gain. Just over 260lbs now (been testing about same time on Sundays). So don’t want to get too close at this point if I’m able to add about 2lbs a week so going to drop the oatmeal for the moment since that will last unlike the other food stuff. At this point, just trying to get through the last bits of this prep. Nationals should decide a lot of things for me as far next step. These pressing sessions leading up are probably going to be the most stressful for me mentally of the workouts. Other workouts are tough but I’m not seeing those as failure as being an option with them. Which kind of shows how much work is needed with my pressing mentally as well as physically. Both are coming back but it requires a certain resolve. Like last Monday, I didn’t feel like putting down any food besides breakfast before training. I had a lot of work to catch up on. Lunch time lifting again as this session has been continuing to fit and there was initially plans for after work with family which got put on hold and the were back on later in the day. So it was good that I did this when I did. Weather was warm but nice. I had the fan going on the patio so that I didn’t overheat with the grip shirt on as that does not breath at all. Warming up felt good. Some joint aches but not as much as they were on Saturday. I was feeling a bit anxious and pumped so that was also a factor. Then it was time for log. As I mentioned, last week was the last week of doubles. This was a 10lbs jump now and goal was 5x1 done EMOM style if I could manage it. At my best, I’ve done 256lbs out of the rack for log as an EMOM. I’m sure I’ve done other things with shorter rests too with more weight when I was younger. But 240lbs is definitely the most I’ve done with a clean and press on log. And that was when I was hitting over 300lbs about every session on log after that. 260lbs I did do a brief stint of axle clean and press (from the belt) so it was something doable. But not probably at this very moment. At least not feeling like 99% confident I could. I had been given permission to increase the rest to 90 seconds but I did want to try and get this done EMOM. I’m feeling more comfortable with the log and knowing I need to be a little more labored/slow with the clean and dip at the start and as I work up I get more comfortable. Left knee was feeling a little achy but that seemed to go away. Pressing was feeling good. Didn’t have a great clean with 210lbs and had to let it sit on my chest a bit before pressing. 240lbs felt somewhat comfortable. Then it was time. This would be the first time in this training cycle that I was using more than the light option for contest weight. I set the timer for EMOM and got set. 260lbs is definitely more than 250lbs. But this was for singles and not doubles and I should be able to do that based off of last week. Also know that this is probably not the most ideal way of doing things with the log but the timeline required it. I was able to get the first three singles EMOM style. The fourth is where I ran into an issue. I didn’t feel comfortable on the initial dip and then the press went out in front of me. I hesitated a moment before putting it down and walking away to retry. I was going to go earlier but stopped and took off the timer as I didn’t want that as a reminder. I’d take more like 90 seconds rest to get these last few reps. Hopefully. It was about EMOM style rest after the miss for me to come back for the successful fourth lift. Lockout was tough but I didn’t half ass it or get a soft lockout. I made sure it was locked out and stable and head through. Need to with singles. I then took about 90 seconds rest before going for the last one. First go nope and had to regroup and get more lower body drive to get it up there for me to be able to slowly lock out the rep. It seemed to be a conditioning thing with me having my lower body drive (which could be from the medley work Saturday). But I was able to lockout reps with my triceps so that was a good. No biceps soreness this week. Not sure if the last workout will be adjusted based off of this one. Unless I feel super amazing at Nationals, I’m likely to go with the lighter log and just work on improving after then. Ate the meal I skipped and followed that shortly with lunch. Eventually stretching after family activities done.

October 4, 2023 – Week 15, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Trap Bar Deadlifts (Versa Gripps, briefs)
150x5
240x3
330x2
420x1
510x1
600x1
652x1

Stretching
 
Comments: I had felt a bit worn Monday evening and most of Tuesday. Strong tasting food (hot or bitter) seemed to perk me up. I was feeling full without the instant oatmeal being in the mix this week. I could tell that I had been stressed out and my body was needing to recover. Took allergy meds the day before in the afternoon and ended up taking Nyquil before bed as usually that seems to help me sleep well when I’m feeling bad allergies and tired and whatever is usually gone in the morning and I don’t even need to take any allergy meds. Of course, I also knew that my joints would likely feel it once I started doing things. I’ve been tempted to ice my knees after Saturday training but I’ve been able to not use that for a bit now and I’d like to keep away from that if I can. Only a few more heavy sessions and I’ll then be able to recover a good bit before Nationals. Morning wasn’t as chaotic as Monday’s was and I wasn’t nearly as nervous for training so I was able to get in a meal besides breakfast before training. Really this was feeling like a done deal unless something disastrous happened. The warming up stuff was fine. I was definitely not feeling as much of heart in my chest compared to Monday. Knees were a bit achy. Left shoulder slightly more achy compared to Monday but again, not an indicator really. But I knew that since I took Nyquil/Dayquil that I’d have some joint stuff. Then time for trap bar deadlifts. This is the last time I’m touching this before Nationals. Plan was to work up to a top single with something left in the tank. So aim was 90-95% of what I could hit. Been basing that off the goal of 310kgs at competition. Two sessions back did slightly more than the opening weight (250kgs) and then last session was slightly more than the next jump (270kgs). So following that progression, goal was slightly more than the next jump (290kgs). Plate jumps up to 600lbs and then whatever the next jump (which was suggested as 650lbs). Knees were feeling a bit achy on these working up. Trying to not get amped up until the weights got heavy. I will say that if this was a day where I was going for the single, this wouldn’t be the day I’d pick with how the weights were feeling. I got a bit worried when 510lbs felt as heavy as it did. Like harder than 555lbs felt last time. And I still had to add +140lbs to that for the day’s plan. I got a little bit hyped for 600lbs. Feeling that in the lower back a bit more than I’d like. I think that the width of the trap bar makes it harder for me to engage stuff that would make bracing better. But this did feel heavy. I didn’t film it so maybe it looked comparable to the 602lbs last time. But the top lift was what really mattered. I got pretty hyped for this last one. Went with odd weights with 652lbs to keep with the theme I’ve been doing on these the past two sessions. Trying to stay focused. Not let things distract me like the grips not feeling just right or my knees feeling achy or knowing this was going to be tough. A couple of grunts and I pulled. There was a slight hesitation and then once it broke the ground I knew there was enough speed that this was a done lift. Didn’t mean it was easy. I had the grip slightly off center so the weight did shift on me as I was pulling it but I adjusted accordingly. My face definitely got as dark a hue of red as the shirt I was wearing. I set it down pretty quickly after I got to lockout and let out a roar. Not entirely sure why I did. Not like this is the most weight I’ve ever deadlifted. Just the most this cycle and on this lift. I guess I still needed an outlet after getting amped up for the pull. I’m generally not that loud with my shouting and usually it is on deadlifts in training I do that haha. I’m definitely looking forward to the time to recover after these next two heavy sessions. Put stuff away before eating lunch and getting back to work with the plan to stretch afterwards.

October 7, 2023 – Week 15, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (16’)
EMOM
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
EMOM
42.6x1
42.6x1
42.6x0 (trajectory off)
42.6x1
42.6x1
42.6x1

Stone Carry and Loads
Stone of Steel
140x10’ to 50”
210x10’ to 50”
Atlas Stone
265x10’ to 50”
290x10’ to 50”
310x10’ to 50”
330x10’ to 50”

Atlas Stone Loads
350x7 (21”) to 50”

Stretching
 
Comments: Definitely needing rest as I come to the end of this training cycle. Knees are feeling a bit more achy at this point with what is being asked of them. Haven’t felt like this for good couple of weeks since the change midstream of prep. Ended up getting an early dismissal for work Friday (found out after I got back from lunch Wednesday) so that was a little annoying in that I had to try and take care of stuff that was scheduled for Friday with the expectation I had a full day. But it wasn’t too stressful. I waited until after work to walk and then got stuff ready for Saturday training. Weather wasn’t going to be good in the morning and the forecast wasn’t really changing before I went to bed. So rather than wake up at the time my alarm went off for work, I’d just sleep and wake up when I wake up. It was going to be rainy until 2PM and then it would be sunny so I had to time things so that I wasn’t at home too late (and feel like I had to eat more) and not too early for gym (as I’d probably do something stupid waiting). Drive out wasn’t bad. With arriving a bit later, I was kind of surprised there were people there. There were some people that had been in earlier that had already finished before I showed up. Some people out of town training for Nationals and Official Strongman Games. I had some tips with some things and helped with implementing a new training tool for another person. I did my warming up as well. Felt ok, just some joint aches in the shoulders and knees. The rain finally stopped but the sun wasn’t quite out yet but I needed to get move on as I had already been here for over an hour at this point. First thing was bag toss. Knees were feeling a bit achy and stiff so I did do a few more movements/reps of my warming up for tosses prep to make sure I was not jerky and feeling smooth/loose. As has been the case, 5 tosses with 30lbs and then rest as I felt I needed to and then do 5 more tosses with more weight. Similar to last time, had to get myself to have the bag arc back and not just straight up. The bag is light enough that it’s not an issue but I know it will be as the weight gets up. Use the reps to fine tune things. Ground still damp so bag was getting wet and having to wick the water off the handle. I was nervous for the heavier stuff. Suggested had been 1-2lbs more for 41-42lbs since I was successful with 40lbs with no misses. Of course, this is also to 1’ higher than contest. But I was having a hell of a time trying to get my sandbag to be 42lbs at home and I kept having it go from 41.8lbs to 42.2lbs despite my best efforts so I said screw it and made it 42.6lbs. I didn’t like it being that weight but I’d rather it be closer to 42.5lbs and know it is over 42lbs for sure. But that also meant a pretty big jump from 30lbs. But I’ve done all the other weights up until this point with no issue. I put isopropyl spray on my hands and some light chalk to keep my hands dry. It was drier out so less issues with water. I know the first toss is usually not my best on these heavier tosses. First toss and it barely gets over the band. Like the lowest it could be and succeed. Second toss slightly better but still just clears the band. These wouldn’t have cleared if it was a solid piece. But I’m still a foot above contest. Third toss I tried to get more power into it and while I did, I screwed up on the trajectory and it went up and not back. Highest toss but didn’t clear. Ugh. Fourth toss I’d say was my best. I got it right and it cleared without touching the band. I was happy about that. I told myself I’d do another toss at the end if I got the fifth one to clear like that as well so that I’d have 5 good tosses. Fifth went over without hitting the band. My EMOM timer was done but I have a pretty good idea of timing so I paced out another and did sixth toss. Not quite a high as the fourth but better than the fifth. So a good back half here. It will be interesting to see how I do at 15’ height. Time for stones. Again, I took my time with setting things up here a bit. This workout I was to do 10’ runs with about the weight of each stone in the medley. With how last time went, I was told to go heavier. Knees were feeling a bit stiff. Did stone of steel for the first two stones. That was feeling good. The empty stone of steel felt like nothing. Maybe my knees/hips were aching but I just one motioned the 210lbs for some reason. Need to do the form I’m going to do for the competition. The concrete stones weren’t feeling as comfortable/easy this time around. 265lbs first and that went about how it should but I was not feeling as fast. 290lbs was definitely a little slower compared to last time. To be fair, I’ve added 30lbs to log and 50lbs to deadlift since I last did the stone workout. I’ve not touched the 310lbs stone so I wasn’t too sure how that would go. It was ok but I was finding that my stickiness was getting a lot more grime and such off of stones and I wasn’t holding on as well. 330lbs was then the final weight for the run and load. 5lbs over contest. This is a good stone most of the time. A little slow on the pick but I was able to walk it in with the high position for the load. Last thing was stone load for reps. 350lbs with aim being 6-8 reps. I had been a good pace last time. I was tempted to do 375lbs or something and do lower reps. But I made myself stick to the plan. Tried to clean up my hands as best I could to get the grime off and have a fresh start. Started off fine enough but then on the third attempt to lap my one hand slid and I dropped it rather than fight it as I know how precarious things can be with minimal sticky stuff on stones. Why I have a muscle fibers missing in my right biceps. I knew at that point that this wasn’t going to be a fast day and that I better make sure that I was retacked with the tacky towel after each lift. The loads weren’t a problem, the pick and lap was where things were make or break. Fifth rep I ended up saving it with a deep lap. I was planning on stopping at six reps but I decided that I might as well keep pushing if I was essentially doing a rep every 30-40 seconds at this point. The seventh ended up being another deep lap and bit more effort to get into position to load. Loads were fine. I was a little worried about the deep lap as my left hip had been bothering me during prep earlier this year for PA Dutch with 22” diameter stone. Knock on wood with the 21” 350lbs stone. Cleaned up and since it was later, I stayed to stretch before driving back home. One more heavy session to go. Use the three day weekend to rest up as best I can.