Ankle Weight High Knee Marches 10’sx25/25 10’sx25/25
Stretching
Comments: Feeling quite a bit of DOMS in my quads after first day back to training. I’m seeing some people that competed in the same competition already doing normal stuff and on to the next thing, while I’m doing the weird stuff to get body conditioned and feeling good before moving into offseason training. I’ve already had a long and stressful year with training and competing and work so I know I need to stick to my plan so I can keep doing this thing like I have been. Also some DOMS in my chest and triceps (to be expected). I had hoped I’d get in a walk yesterday but just way too much coming back to stuff at work and I went through my lunch doing work and then dinner with family after work. It also got up to low 90’s again so that wasn’t going to be pleasant. With how I was walking, it would’ve been risky to try and get my usual walk in with insufficient buffer time for other stuff. I did at least get in soft tissue work and that was definitely needed. I did not miss the chaos of work. Severe thunderstorm today but cleared up by the time I was done with work. I wasn’t going to need to be outside for anything for training anyway. Foam roller stuff needed a ton on the calves and quads. A little more effort on the hamstrings and upper back was also needing the love today. Tight/sore chest noticed on the neck rehab stuff. Glute activation and mobility for lower body was just fine. Then on to training. I had a little bit of a delay from work to actually starting training I think just processing things and getting myself ready to train. But these works haven’t been that long or taxing at the moment so not that urgency really. First thing was the pairing for the ankle/lower legs of tibs and calves. I did these second on Day 1 and this time doing them first on Day 2. Doing these every training session these first two weeks with different priority in the session to change things up. These I give credit to having my knee start to feel better after it was feeling like shit in July and I did them for a week. It was cooler today but I knew with the humidity that I was going to need the fans going. I’m not used to being back home in regards to that aspect haha. The pauses and high reps with the tib raise portion have been killers on this. The calf raise portion has been no biggie comparatively. I know there are still issues with the right calf muscle with strength and will see about that later in the prep. From there on to ATG split squats. 5x5 on them instead of the higher reps. My hope was that I could do these to the floor with both sides. Last time I tried, I could do my left side but not my right without pain (July) and needed to use a box to adjust the angle and ROM. A little tricky with balance but I was able to do these from the floor on both sides. So that is something there. So far, this was as I had written out initially. But on reflection, I felt that I needed to adjust things. Mostly I felt like maybe I was putting too many things in on this day and I could possibly remove them and pair up some stuff I had as standalone. So I did. The only other “grouping” was inverted rows being added to the coupling I was going to try of band reverse Jefferson curls and paused seated ssb goodmornings. I was initially doing the rows on their own but I figured I could pair them with these as I kind of did that previously with rows and Jefferson curls. The band version is different in that I’m pushing down on the band for the stretch and spine in flexion. Then doing isometric pauses with the seated gms in the bottom/flexion position to reinforce the point. Setup for all three was a little tricky but I figured it out. I was initially not vibing with the new jeffersons but once I got them figured out, I was good with it and stuck to the plan. Next being another tempo darling that would potentially be the most challenging thing. It did but it wasn’t as bad as the pressing on Day 1. Never really find a good spot to put in windmills but I do think they are helpful. I don’t think I’ve done one since February (maybe April?) just as warming up for circus dumbbell at competition. It has been long enough that I wasn’t aware which side would be the one that is lagging vs leading. Well I should probably assume that the one I feel like starting with would be the one that was leading. Right side didn’t feel bad. Just getting the dumbbell up was a little more effort than I’d have liked. The left side it was easier to get up there but I felt more stiff and tight on this side so it was challenging in that regard. The next thing was initially going to be the last exercise of the session but I moved it up. Chaos chain Bradford presses for timed sets. The idea here was work capacity similar to the lat pulldowns and Spanish squats on Day 1 but for the shoulders and getting the scapula to move well. I could’ve done this with just a barbell but I wanted to make it interesting and require more control. Balance was tough the first set and then I felt like I was pro with it on the second and third set. Those were also the sets that I started feeling the burn. Then the last thing was to work the hip flexors with some traction aspect. Ankle weights and lifting high knees/marching. Initially, I was looking at doing 10 steps per side but these ended up being easier than I was planning and I aimed for 30 reps total since that is roughly how many steps it takes for me to go 50’ with a yoke but was still easy so I just did 50 reps for both sets. I’m sure I will notice this in the morning with how the hip flexors like to be. So not that dead or sweaty compared to how some things were on Day 2. Put stuff away and ate dinner before eventually stretching. Another year older tomorrow I guess.
EZ Curl Bar Pullover PNF Stretches/Peterson Stepdowns (3”)/Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds top of head) 12x10--bwx15/15--45x10 12x10--bwx15/15--45x10
One Arm Half Kneeling Dumbbell Strict Presses (3-0-3-1 tempo)/One Arm Half Kneeling Band Lat Pulldowns 40x8/8 – abx30/30 seconds 40x8/8 – abx30/30 seconds 40x8/8 – abx30/30 seconds
Band Pullaparts/Band Shoulder Dislocations mbx15/mbx10 mbx15/mbx10
Stretching
Comments: No sense in waiting until evening since off work this day. I’m glad that it didn’t take me like a week to get used to the time zone like when I went to Ireland last year. Got a fair number of bruises still healing (and none from World’s) and wish that my left elbow wasn’t acting up on me still. I was able to maintain my weight with being overseas and eating normal routine at home. I’ve needed the time off back home just to get things figured out and get ready for working again. Foam rolling starting things off. Calves and quads really needed it. Hamstrings were fine as was upper back. Neck rehab/mobility stuff felt like it should. No issues with glute activation or lower body mobility. Dead hang to finish things up. On to the weights. Well kind of. This training is a bit different from the usual for this week and next. To say it is exercises is more accurate. First cluster of them was kind of more movement and mobility focus. PNF stretches for the ribcage/lats and then knees with step downs and then getting shoulders to move well with BTN stuff. Other than the left triceps/elbow issue from the competition, these were fine. I was happy that my knees weren’t terribly upset with me on the step downs. From there ankle stuff with tib raises and calf raises. I’ve not usually done the tib raises with pauses so that really got tough on those fast on the second round. No real issues with the different calf raise variations. I did a slight change up with the exercise order after this as I had one plan in mind initially but decided to have the pairings make more sense. Off season is kind of the only time I do push ups and I set those with the assisted Spanish squats. I can’t get the right form I want with keeping my torso upright without assistance and I liked how those felt for time. Chaos band push ups with less band tension than usual so a bit more chaotic. These were a bit more taxing so I did take breathers between sets compared to other stuff where it was back to back. The next pairing did have an exercise that could be iffy with the triceps and that was one arm strict overhead pressing. Only 40lbs but doing them with tempo so each rep just feels harder. Especially after 4 reps. Thankfully, no worse for wear than doing anything else but these were the most challenging thing of the session. Rested about a minute between sides as the pairing was with timed effort of lat band pulldowns. Single arm here as well and pulling to the hip with the motion. Those felt comfortable. Just getting the work in here. This little bit with the 60 seconds or so rest between sides and exercises did slow down the pace on this session. But finished that and last thing was some bands stuff for the shoulder girdle. Pull aparts and dislocations. At this point, these were challenging as my upper back and shoulders were feeling worn out from the other stuff. This is the idea with these sessions to do work and general physical preparedness. Put stuff away and got to eating my usual three small meals at once to get caught up on things. Stretched afterwards.
I am glad to be back home after the traveling. Fun to be there but that’s vacation talk and walking at pace like I don’t have anywhere to be or having a job to do. Thankfully didn’t have a rough time with readjusting to the time difference (though the weather if for the birds here haha). I can’t wait to do it all over again.
There are still 4 months of this year left but I’m already on to next year. Mostly I think because I already know the timeline of things and what my focus is going to be. I want to get back to the big show again as this year and last year have been the most fun I’ve had at this level of competition. Unless something dramatically changes with Strongman Corporation, I’m likely not renewing stuff when membership expires next year. I’ve no interest in United States Strongman or Official Strongman Games.
Qualification for Natural Strongman for 2027 season is different from the previous two years. They had tested out a more standardized option with competitions in the UK and Ireland with having the same events regardless which show you did and then getting a leaderboard to compare across the nation. That seemed to work out for the pilot program so that is what it will be for everywhere this time. All the regional qualifiers will have the same events so doesn't make sense to travel outside of comfort zone if that is the case. No advantage to going to a different region as will not be just who you compete against there but everyone competing in the US as well as the other countries participating.
Additionally, winning the regional doesn't guarantee qualification for World's, only for Nationals. The inaugural contest was in January this year for US Nationals and it was open contest so no invite. I didn’t do it because I thought the events were boring and I was hopeful that other competitions had better events. Now there is greater emphasis with the National event. Win the regional event, get invite to Nationals. Even if you don’t win the regional, top 10-12 nationally get invite to Nationals and then potentially top 3-5 at Nationals also get invite to World's. Also could do well enough at the regional event that globally in the top rankings and could bypass Nationals and get Worlds invite as well. So nothing really guaranteed and best to plan for having to do 2 shows to get to World’s
I'm signed up for Masters this coming year as I don't feel unless something dramatically goes well this off season prep where I get back to the strength I had 4yrs ago I'm not going to be able to hang with open HW class. It won’t be a good time. I can still compare to other masters and heavy open class since same events (with trump/mercy options). The events are very boring because they are standardized but my hope is that Nationals will be interesting events and then we know Worlds always does have interesting stuff with the standard in the mix.
The only sure thing is the regional show I’ve signed up for as everything else will be invite only. One of the blessings I guess with the events being so basic is that I can work on things this offseason and really only need to do like 8-9 weeks of focused prep on non-gym lift stuff. 2 weeks of GPP focus and then 6 weeks of hypertrophy focus (also triphasic stuff for dip drive for log) and then 3-4 week kind of pivot from that last block to the competition peak/prep.
Besides the workout plan, I am also trying to keep track my mental state with things and adjust accordingly. I’ve been working on the self-talk/internal dialog to be direct with myself and not going third person passive. I’ve been detailing prep plans with competitions and putting forth expectations and goals of competition and prep. Redoubling my efforts for positive vs negative self-talk with reframing thinking and scenarios for a healthier focus. Picking that up from one of the Aussie competitors that was with me on the stone tour. So putting my best foot forward for this next year.
I felt old this year at times. For the most part, I feel like one those people that is just one lucky day away from hitting it big. And I mean that with the sense of strength training and strongman. Once I get just one little thing figured out and it will be smooth sailing. I’ll have that secret of hard work and effort in the right place and get the stuff that has declined back on track and back to what it was and then to the moon from there. And I think I have to feel that for the most part for my own sanity. But there is also a part of me that kind of realizes that that there has to be a realistic viewpoint here and that I may have already peaked on stuff and in the back half of abilities and life in general. I feel youthful and the same in my head as I’ve felt the past 10-20yrs but I know that time has passed and I am getting older. And I have to remind myself of that. As I tend to view myself in my head as the man half my age. Not the best start to this, I get that. But it has been on my mind this long prep for the big show for this year. There is still something in the basement.
On paper, this has been a good year for me with competitions. Did 2 shows and got the placings I needed to qualify for the options I wanted to have and got to travel as part of it. Which had been one of the things I enjoyed when I first started out doing this crazy thing I do now. But I had not been satisfied and that is trait of mine that haunts me. The standards I hold myself too are impossibly high and qualifying had been a bare minimum. There was elation in the moment but that high evaporates almost overnight as I find there were things that could’ve been better in the performance and I’m on to my next fixation. I’m already thinking about next year and the next training prep. I made it a year with working with a new coach after being with coaching for a long while and then doing my own thing for like 7 months. After my results at last year’s world’s, it was a no brainer to keep them on for a longer stint and it worked me hard and had me grow as an athlete. But it was but the workload seemed to be getting tougher and tougher to recover from and my stress was spiking. All the attaboys ring hollow to me if I don’t truly believe it myself. It comes off as just politeness like how people will say “how you doing?” as greeting and not genuinely asking. That took the longest time for me as a person with autism to figure out. July ended up being a bad month for me and I was dreading training sessions and I eventually ended up going back to my own thing for the last month of prep.
Last year was Galway, Ireland and this year Paisley, Scotland. Seeing new places and having an adventure along the way. With things as they were, I had to adjust expectations for World’s. I had qualified as open heavyweight but I knew I was far off the mark and I could potentially zero 4 out of 7 events and made the change to master’s heavyweight. Available to me being 40 but not ideal. At the start, thinking this is just for now and back to open after this. I had been going at prep with the intent to compete in the open class until the last month when I had to make a change. While the events would be more manageable, this did complicate things with leave and acclimating to the time difference as I’d be competing a day earlier than planned. So essentially off the plane after overnight flight to weigh-in and then competing the next day. It won’t be my first time flying transatlantic flight but that doesn’t mean I’m good to go on my second rodeo. At least traveling and flights have become something I’m more used to as of late. But even before leaving, was getting updates about changes in the flight plan a month before it was happening. Also not a direct flight this time around with needing to stop in Iceland (never been) for an hour before then flying into Glasgow. The aim being to sleep that first, longer leg of the trip so that not up for an entire day and a half before getting shut eye at the rental.
The usual ritual of getting potbelly sandwiches at Dulles International Airport preflight settled my nerves. I wore a goofy gag/gift shirt my friend made that has a picture of me pointing to a picture of me on it that almost tripped up the face recognition stuff at the airport. I tried my damnedest to fall asleep on that first leg of the flight but just didn’t happen. I was jut tired and anxious. But I did get to see Greenland from the window. Literally landed at Keflavík International Airport and having to board a bus to get to the airport from the airfield and then immediately in line to board the next plane to Scotland (which then had us on another bus to go back into the airfield to board). I didn’t see much since it was before the sun was up for the most part but Iceland looked like landing on the moon with the rocky terrain. To be fair, it looked much nicer in the sunlight on the way back home. Got another chuckle on the shirt there so great success. The much shorter flight ended up with two firsts for me. One being ordering actual food on a flight and the other using a toilet on a flight. Going to try my best to not have to experience the later again. But finally in Scotland. I did not have the best first impression as I was dehydrated, sleep deprived and hungry. There was no elevator at the apartments we were staying out and it was 57 steps from the entrance to the floor we were staying on. Which wasn’t great with four suitcases. I wondered if the building in owner was a relative of Daedalus with labyrinthian nature of the design. Even when not saddled with travel debuffs, it was tricky to navigate. Check in for the competition was a little different I feel from last year. Perhaps since a day earlier compared to last time with the stuff still being bult and put together. 17 in the weight class/age group for this time around. I was accidentally marked down as “withdrawn” when I had switched to masters but that was corrected and I was off to finally eat something. All was forgiven once I got a bite of local fare and hoped I was good to go the following morning.
Day 1
Starting things off with axle squat. Options of mercy weight (419lbs/190kgs) and trump weight (529lbs/240kgs) and squatting to a pad/box height of 27”/69cm. Solid axles with knurling and large 26"/66cm wagon wheels attached. Only knee sleeves allowed as far as “assistance” here. 60 seconds time limit and you have to call whether going for mercy or trump weight off the bat. In the years I’ve done this sport, I’ve not done a competition that had a squat event in it. Well that was to change today. Squats and I don’t tend to be simpatico as I have what would be descripted as Slenderman proportions and deadlifts end up more common so effort goes there. I tend to also goodmorning up squats as well when things are heavy to doubly taxing there. Training for this was consistent in frequency but not in performance. Part of that was having to try different setups at different spots as well as figuring out what seemed to work or felt good. Divebombing did not seem to be the way to go for me as harsh on my knees and not stable. I did eventually figure out that wider stance and treating more as a good morning vs a squat seemed to be the best way for me to do this and not zero the event. I did work up to a little above the mercy weight in training for a top double with something in the tank. So get what I can here to hopefully not get a goose egg and save it for the rest of the competition. What with having to do 5 events today and 2 more tomorrow. I had not been feeling confident with this the day before with how the setup had felt with getting rack height as the bar felt heavy (they used a QR code and form to enter this information which seemed to be quite a good way to get it done). Come to find out that the bar was actually 17.5lbs/8kgs heavier then I thought. Warming up I didn’t quite get everything I wanted but I did enough to feel comfortable if that makes sense. My height makes adjusting rack heights tough. I got in a double I think with 320lbs/145kgs and did a walkout and hold with 397lbs/180kgs. I was nervous here as I was still feeling a bit off from travel and I had no idea if I was truly good to go. I knew that I could work through the entire minute if need be but I wasn’t going to be fast. Whistle went and I took my time getting myself into position and walked it out. It didn’t feel bad but no clue until I actually tried. This felt better than it had in training so it would seem that I peaked this right. I had hoped for 3 and ended up doubling that. I called it after that I feared that doing another was really going to tax my lower back when I had four more events to go with better chances of placing on the last three of the day. I ended up with a 10th place here. I’d have needed four more reps to gain any further points .
Second event for the show was a medley. Sled push down 32’10”/10m, run back to start to carry a sandbag to then load on the sled to then drag back the finish line. On turf as well with 60 seconds limit. Sled starts light at 275.5lbs/125kgs but is quite heavy on the way back with the 308.5lbs/140kgs sandbag added to bringing the total to 584lbs/265kgs. With prep, this one was a bit lax in that not very technical and that hopefully getting carryover from other things that were similar and needed more time to build. Most of training had been focused on the sled portion as easy to tag on to the end of a long day session with trying to squeeze in all the events in the week. Over contest weight at times and then less than contest weight as got closer and actually putting all the parts together. The sandbag into the then the sled drag portion was going to be where made or break here as unfortunately noticed my hamstrings weren’t really in the shape I had expected for picking up heavy sandbags. Didn’t want to have like last year on the last event with struggling. I did all training for this on turf so used to that but will be key to not make mistakes and remember what to do and setup and just get through this in the time limit and hopefully not have my legs be dead for the rest of the day. Since the turf was only for the one event, it wasn’t really secured down to be a permanent fixture so with the weight pushing down, there was a little bubble the was created from the efforts. Quite shaggier turf compared to what I had access to for the most part but kind of knew this was going to be a do work and have it be sucky event. Didn’t get to warm up on the turf with the pace of things and that is understandable so observing how others did on the setup and then apply as needed for the real thing. With the first event jitters out of the way, I was feeling better and in the “having a good time” zen state. Warming up, I was trying to work on the transitions more so and the shorter tow straps. Not quite the warming up I was looking for like squats but enough to be ready I feel. I got set and on the whistle shoved into it. I knew I needed to get lower on the push portion so as not pressing down into the ground and having it dig in. I had been working to having my body into it but I was finding that putting my arms out straight with this weight and setup was allowing me to get in a more advantageous position so went with that. I overshot the sled by a few feet (I thought the full implement had to go over the line) and got back to the sandbag. I was the fastest in my heat to pick up the bag and got back to the load it to the sled. I started off moving good on the drag but I’d say a third of the way into with the different position (not really able to lean back) that I was feeling the fatigue in my legs and then slowed down considerably on the last bit where I was taking baby steps from the lactic acid. I definitely made it closer to timing out than I would’ve liked and I definitely lost a placing here due to slowing down so much at the end. Finished in 6th here with time of 52.57 seconds, which was about 5 seconds faster than my best with the heaviest I got in training.
Third event was the log clean and press. Similar to squat in having a mercy (242.5lbs/110kgs) and trump (286.5lbs/130kgs) weight but both options would be out on the field. 60 seconds and once you register a lift on one of the logs, that is what you do for the duration. So you can’t do a mercy weight rep (and get it) and then go for the trump but you can go for the mercy weight if you go for the trump and miss it. This ended up being a bastard in training. Overhead for big competitions with log or axle I’ve noticed that prep tends to not be linear and I get stressed out. I had been aiming for the trump weight as that was the mercy weight for open and I was just not getting there. Log I’d taken the longest break from as both competitions I did this year were dumbbell and axle had been last year (which hadn’t gone well). This is one of those things where I feel if I can get this to click, I’m back in the mix again. Having issues with consistency and finding what works for me, which I shouldn’t still be having after doing this sport for 18yrs now. Changing up shoes, sleeves and stance even. I did hit mercy weight or above a few times in prep and this will likely be a damage control thing for me. Last bit of prep on my own was more a focus on strict press and making sure I can hit the mercy weight comfortably after heavy squats. Like the squat, trying to get through this one without a zero and get back to the lab again to try and crack this nut. The pace of the competition had me worried here as my legs were unfortunately quite dead after the sled. I had to sit down for a bit to cool off and get the pump to subside. And thankfully it did enough that I felt like I had some power back. I did some mobility stuff so that I wasn’t having issues with balance with the log as I’ve never used these logs before. I got about what I was expecting to on these with warming up. This was going to be the damage control for the competition. I setup at the light log and like the squat, I took my time to get prepared to go for that first rep. I was only expecting at best a triple here with pacing wise. But that was apparently optimistic on my part. The first rep attempt went up and was good and on the board. But after that not so much. I apparently only had the one good rep in me today on this as I was fine with the pick and cleans here but just couldn’t get it to translate into another good press. I gave it two shots since it wasn’t feeling too taxing on me and I figured this would help be a warming up for the last two events in the regard. Tied for 11th here with 3 others. Didn’t zero but need to get this sorted out.
Fourth was farmer’s walk. 286.5lbs/130kgs carried down 50’/15m down and back. 60 seconds limit here. Like log, fairly standard strongman event. But unlike log, this one tends to be a better one for me with my grip. The repick not so much. I’ve done this particular event before 8yrs ago with a bit more weight and I had actually won it then at the this “plat plus” show. I tend to need not a lot of time to get back into the swing of things with farmer’s walk but it had been over a year since I’d done any and it showed in training but did thankfully improve like it does. Prep started on a mix bag as first set was to work up to a near max for half the course distance to see where I was at. I surprised myself hitting 315lbs/143kgs on these Titan Fitness handles that I despise (closest to the contest specs unfortunately) but that ended up frying my back for the rest of the week and ended up having to take an early deload to get back on track. With heavy deadlifts, squats and yoke in the mix this prep, had to be smart with things. The smart thing ended up being doing most of the sessions during the week at home while it was humid and hot on the uneven street. Working on transitions from the repick and did eventually work up to just shy of contest weight for a run. I should be good here. Should being the key qualifier. The pick was a little higher on these compared to training and no knurling which was fine by me. I didn’t feel like I needed much in the way of warming up but I also felt like I couldn’t handle much warming up at this point in the competition. I got set here (one of the few events hands could start on implement) and was off. This was one of those things were the travel stress (and prep) had gotten to me. Sometimes, I get lightheaded on stuff from pressure on my body. I wasn’t sure if the stress of travel and such had me just having allergy issues or if I had a slight cold (it turns out just stress stuff) but I had forewent allergies medicine of any kind as I was worried that would elevate my blood pressure. It is probably a good thing I didn’t as picking up these handles and taking a few steps had me going dark almost immediately. So I slowed down a lot to keep myself as conscious as I could and not lose my grip on the handles. I was definitely losing my rigidity and tightness as my arms starting swaying away from my body near the end. But thankfully I did not drop them before the drop point. If I had to do an extra pick, I don’t know if that would’ve gone today with how my posterior chain was doing. Honestly, if that failed, I’d probably be pretty much dead for the rest of the competition. I had to shake out my hands on the drop to make sure I could feel things and had body awareness back. That slow down had put me off pace and now I was not in the lead in the heat. The slow down and effort needed to will myself to not pass out that first leg took a bit out of me so it was a tough pick but I was able to have the second leg be much smoother and faster but not enough to catch up. I did end up holding the handles a little before the drop. This had not been my best run but I did salvage things here. Finished 6th with 26.87 seconds.
The final event for the first day was yet another medley. Carry and load with staggered distances to platform (50”/1.27m). Keg (242.5lbs/110kgs) for 26’2”/8m, sandbag (264.5lbs/120kgs) for 19’8”/6m, another keg (286.5lbs/130kgs) for 13’1”/4m and then another sandbag (308.5lbs/140kgs) for 6’6”/2m to finish it out. 60 seconds and kegs need to be loaded standing upright. I do like medley events like this but I don’t enjoy setting them up or having to do them multiple times. Which is how training ended up with this one. Most of training was on the light side with these as trying to work on moving better/faster. I was also loading higher than competition since initially going with the open class. I had to bump up the intensity quick to finish things out and did get close to contest weights for 2 runs and that really showed how much I need to work on my hamstrings/lower back to pick up sandbags and such so that I don’t feel so out of it going forward. I’ve been used to sandbags for carries and loads as of late and it has been a while since kegs. But I did remember that hard metal causing scrapes and bruises that I had to adapt to. I know this is doable for me in the time limit. Whether that would be the case today was another matter. Two differences from training was that the kegs being used were quite a bit shorter than I had been using and they were plate loaded so quite bottom heavy. The other being that the platform space was like just enough to fit everything on it. So this required being aware of space available. Since I had well enough in the farmer’s walk, I was in the second to last heat so I got to see how things went. Seeing a lot of people not being mindful of positioning of implements to make space for the last big sandbag implement and no one had been successful with loading all the implements by the time I was up. Assuming no going night night on the first keg, I had a plan. Got the first keg up and was neck and neck with the guy in the lane to the right of me. Loaded at about the same time but I stopped to make sure the keg was really pushed to the back of the platform. He was then slightly ahead on the sandbag and I fell behind (I felt something shift in my right leg but not a bad way) as I loaded it but wanted it to be upright (I didn’t feel confident in doing a vertical style pick here with sizes of implements and my lower back/hamstrings fatigued). I caught up on the second keg as I was quick back to implements and he was slowing down. This heavier keg did mess with my usual style of pick and go with the smaller size and weight distribution but once it was done, I was able to pounce right onto the last implement. The pick was a fight but once in the lap, I just had to walk it up there with a slight pop. Advantages of height and training to 2” higher all prep. Hands off and walked away with my arms up. I was quite surprised time lasted through the last heat with only 2 other competitors in the class finishing this. 45.20 seconds to finish for a 1st place finish.
Day 2
Survived the first day of competing and it had been a fast-paced affair. Started at 12pm and was done before 5pm. I did not end up having any protein shakes and just subsisted on some Rice Krispie treats and fluids. Unlike with last year competing in the last group and late and then starting early the next day, I was able to have an actual dinner. Also noticing that where we were staying was near a clock tower and that thing went off every 15 minutes. I also became aware that there was a bar nearby that had karaoke nights on the weekend as I was serenaded by renditions of I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys and What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes. At least some of the stuff I bought to help with sleeping on the plane were helpful in getting to bed. Also got to figure out a bit more of the what is considered a “sleepy” town in Scotland as far as cityscape is concerned. Locals were starting to notice me around and the place was starting to grow on me after initial annoyances I had being jetlagged (like trying to find regular waffles) the previous day. Waking up I was the least sore I’ve been after a competition going into a second day. So maybe I did something right this prep. I was in 5th place at this point in the overall and I wasn’t expecting to really be able to improve that considering the gap in the points for podium and how close points were 10th through 4th. Goal was still survive another day and to hopefully mitigate point loss. Earlier start and only having to deal with two events would me an early finish to the day as well. Time to finish things out.
The first event of the second day was dubbed the deadlift escalator. Strap in and pull weights as added. Reach the last weight and rep it out in the 60 seconds. No suits or briefs here (like the squat). Setup had us standing on a platform and using the bar with the metal wagon wheels used for the squat event. This had it so bar height was standard height for the pulling but giving a visual appeal I guess and making job easier for the loaders. I guess calling it an escalator rather than a ladder since staying put and weight increases vs running to another bar with more weight and so on. Starting weight 485lbs/220kgs with jumps of 22lbs/10kgs – 44lbs/20kgs. Prep had been aiming for just not zeroing since the initial opener for the open class was 573lbs/260kgs and I’d not pulled over 501lbs/227kgs since 2025 on a stiff bar and without a suit. I do feel at least this prep that I got the monkey off my back with getting past a mental block on the deadlifts around that weight range. Just keep pulling and know it will feel sucky and it will eventually go up. I will be working hard on that in the offseason. The wheels while on a platform felt off to me as well with bar mechanics and just the weight of things being distributed. This was a learning experience as I kind figured out what I already knew and that is heavy every week doesn’t work for me. I need to have light sessions if going weekly and there needs to be a big variance in the difficulty or I don’t recover. Once that was figured out, things started to go up and I got emotional hitting 551lbs/250kgs as my last heavy lift with something still in the tank. With things now, there was hope of getting the first two “steps” here. Though after five events the day before, this was a big ask. I was feeling a little tightness in my right hamstring right behind the knee but seemed to be no issues. I got the warming up I needed and I felt it made sense to work up to and do the first weight to make sure I was feeling good and breathing right. Didn’t want another passing out snafu. I got set and was out in the last heat after the win the day before. First rep went up well enough and only if there was an issue was the second lift not happening. This did go up well enough but I could tell that if I went for the next lift, it would be an ugly affair and I felt I had a best save it for the last event where I could make up ground. Tied for 9th here with 4 others as no split times on reps here.
Finishing out this heptathlon was on final medley; the yoke into dumbbell. 60 seconds to go 40’/12m down and back with a yoke and then end with 2 dumbbells to finish. 727.5lbs/330kgs on the yoke and 132lbs/60kgs and 154lbs/70kgs on the dumbbells. This exquisite corpse of an event I feel kind of spawned from the new thing of having overhead press and a deadlifts together in medley from 5-10yrs ago and then Rogue Invitational deciding to have a press with a moving event. Not against it. It makes things interesting. This year yoke and circus dumbbell had gone well and were in a good place but putting them together was another story. Yoke really takes it out of the core so makes the stability to brace and get the dumbbell up there significantly harder. Yoke is yoke for the most part and doesn’t seem to matter which setup but the overhead does seem to matter for me at least. The dumbbells being used are dense, globe style dumbbells like the Inch/Cyr kind. A friend ended up having some by happenstance so I made a trip regularly enough for end of prep to get as much work as I could on them because last time I touched this kind of dumbbell to press was 15yrs ago and I remember it being awkward then as it is now. Started with them separate and then combined but starting worrying about being ready and split them up again for my last session. This was one of the few events I worked to above contest weight. But this was the second day after 6 brutal events so not sure what is left in the tank at this point. I was familiar with the yoke from last year and it was more getting myself mobile and firing on point with the dumbbell in the warm ups. I was pretty much all warmed as I was going to be with yoke and did some picks and short runs with 661lbs/300kgs. Not my usual thing with empty implement or lighter weight stuff. Things were moving fast. I did do 159lbs/72kgs in the warm up area. One and done. Yoke I was the fastest off the block but I was moving slow and lost that lead. This one had split times so getting through the yoke and first dumbbell fast was key here. I may have been like the third person to actually finish the yoke in the heat but I was the quickest to go to the dumbbell and get the rep. Referee indicated to makes sure I was stable longer after the rep. I thought I was longer than video says I did. But that first lift felt so easy and smooth that I went right into the second one instead of taking a breather like I did in training. I didn’t hit it right and my elbow and wrist were not able to lock it out and it came back down. I had 20 seconds and I looked to the right to see the other two that got the first dumbbell giving their first attempts at it and I went for it again and was so very close. Just couldn’t get my elbow to lockout fully to stabilize. I tried my best and walked with it but couldn’t convincingly keep things stable and lost it. No sense with like 5 seconds left to go for it (especially with no shot clock). 5th place here.
In the end, I placed 7th out of 17 with competitors from 9 different countries. The competition ran like clockwork just like last year and in an orderly fashion. This competition is pretty much making it clear that masters is where I’m at right now. The under 23yrs old (juniors) and open 90kgs class used same weights and setups as the HW masters so there is direct comparison and I’m behind on speed and strength here, not to mention to the open HW class I was originally going to be in. Not as many people in the first group here but I did make some new friends. But like half of them this may be their swan song of a competition as they are getting older. Format for qualifying for next year (which will be in the USA in Texas) is different where it is not necessarily placing at the qualifiers but how you stand up to the overall as it will be same events across all the qualifiers. So already signed up for the first one beginning of next year under HW masters as this will be my focus. The events are generic (boo) but that means I can spend more off season to work on things and I hope that the Nationals will have some fun events like Worlds has been having. I kept busy the remaining days I had in Scotland with visiting Glasgow and Edinburgh and doing a stone tour around Stirling. I’m glad to be done with the competitive season for this year.
Comments: Besides having workouts hopefully taper and go smooth, the idea has been to deload on the stress and hopefully be feeling loosey goosey by next week. I don’t feel like mentally I’m stressing at this point but I can tell I’m holding a good deal of tension in my shoulders. Monday had not been ideal with my left shoulder getting sore on me at the start but it has pretty much evaporated as of today. Which is good since plan is to touch log one last time haha. Work is thankfully tapering down as well so shouldn’t be that bad hopefully for the two days I got next week. Plan being Monday session of just moving around with my dynamic warm ups and some extras added with stretching and then walking Tuesday and then packing/traveling Wednesday. Walked Thursday with soft tissue work and then just worked on stuff to prep for travel as well as try and figure things out with plan getting back with training. My plan today was to go out to the gym to do this last session but I was tired and the things I was to do the night before didn’t happen and I eventually figured out I could do everything at home and would rather save myself the hassle and stress of driving. So eventually got on to getting ready. Foam rolling stuff felt fine here. Need more on the right side for the calves compared to left but they both needed it a good deal at odd spots. Quads tend to be tight but they seemed even this time around and not as much as they’ve needed previously. Upper back I needed it today as well. Neck rehab protocol felt good and needed. Nothing felt off here thankfully. Glute activation I’m still trouble shooting some things here but good and mobility stuff felt fine. Dead hang felt fine and not feeling tension in the left shoulder like I did at the beginning of the week. So there is that. Today would be last touches of anything weight related and for three of the seven events. With first up being axle squats to boxes. I’ve been doing these at the gym with actually having boxes to use. The setup takes a bit even there but once setup, the weight loading is convenient for the most part. I’ve also not really thought it would work at home but apparently I could’ve based off what I was able to setup with the wooden spool “tables” I had. I think part of me was also leery just with how bad my knees were hurting the last time I did squats at home. Plan here was to work up to about 50% of my max on this and do 5x3 with 2 minutes rest. Ground is a little uneven unfortunately but either this weight or the sturdiness of the “boxes” made this not so bad. I think knowing that a wider stance and more gm style of hip loading has me taxing my time with the setup and feeling more solid if not fast on the movement is best. Knees a little achy but was moving well and felt powerful/strong as I went. Granted, this is like 50% and I’m wearing full gear to compete so it should be moving easy. But that is the point. Right hamstring a little tight. So this part of things done and it was on to next thing, log. I know, I said I moved “event” pressing to this day so that I would be doing stuff in a gym with a bit more temperature control and an even floor (I’ve busted up the concrete from doing axle in the past unfortunately) but this is light and needed. I did do heavy strict log on Monday but I want to make sure that I’m doing the actual movement and fluidly for that matter with the competition coming up. Strength should be there. It does seem that this will be something I need to work on. The clean doesn’t appear to be an issue here, I seem to have that figured out. It is finding what actually is a good base to press from and being stable. Narrow I feel like stuff feels solid but then if I misgroove, I can’t muscle it out through the sticking point while wider I can do that but it feels not as strong with my lower body drive. A little too late now. Anyways, the plan here was to do 3x2 with 50% with a pause in the dip and then 3x2 with 60% normal tempo. I decided to make these EMOM style and no rest between the different modalities. I don’t know if it was the floor or just overthinking things with getting setup for the drive for the press but only the clean was consistent on these. This weight is light enough that a bad rep isn’t going to be a miss here. But thankfully, most were good and I seemed to figure it out by the end of each. I had sweated up a good bit by this point and I had one last thing which was going to be a gut/lung buster. Something from Mr. Westerling in that the progression of the deload week being something heavy-ish for upper body, speed work lower body and then something that got you breathing hard and heartrate up to end it that was easy to recover from. Which was often sled pushes and drags with short rest. Since one of the events at world’s has a sled drag and sled push component, felt like a no-brainer to do that to finish things up. Since this is usually it’s own thing with maybe something light beforehand, I did indicate that I would have a range here of 4-5 sets with 60-100’ for down and back. The old me this would be three separate deload sessions for contest but I’ve improved work capacity and I can’t really do anything training week of with travel. I split the difference as that was about enough length of street without inconveniencing any of my neighbors and would keep me mostly in the shade. This got difficult fast and I was immediately regretting my decision to do this on the second set. The uphill drag wasn’t and issue. It was the downhill push as my legs just decided to not work and get full of lactic acid. Mostly my right one. I was breathing hard after the second set here. Progression is usually first set ok and then faster second set and maybe third set but then usually a decrease to what first set was and then a decline until reaching a dramatic one if not recovering well. For this go, about 29 seconds first set, 27 seconds second set, 29 seconds third set and 30 seconds fourth set. I was considering ending it after the fourth set with how my legs were feeling and breathing hard. I can see my conditioning from the beginning of this year’s prep has kind of diminished. But I got back into it and did one final one that took me 44 seconds or so to finish and I was done and absolutely gassed/knackered what have you. Ate a decent lunch (putting three small meals in one) before stretching out. I’ve done what I can to be ready at this point.
Comments: A little miffed that my left shoulder had gotten sore from log strict work on Monday. I feel achy and very tense and I know that has to do with the peaking and deload and just the stress I’m feeling with the upcoming travel and competing. Doing my best to recover now. Sleep has been so much better on the telework schedule. Been acting as a “floater” on top of my own work this week with upcoming travel. They aren’t really giving me new work of my own since I’ll be out until 9/1/2026 once I leave next week. Walking felt good Tuesday. It is nice to have option to walk at lunch time vs only having after work option. Foam rolling starting things off. Left calf needed it more than the right. Hamstrings fine. Good lord did my quads need it a ton today. Upper back needed a good bit but that expected just with the tension I’m feeling. No issues with neck mobility stuff. It was needed for sure. Glute and mobility stretching for lower body was fine. Added a little razzle dazzle here. Dead hang felt better on some areas vs other areas compared to Monday. Namely the impingement/compress felt better this time around. Then on to weights. Well, maybe not right away. I spaced out a little after work and then a little bit longer after warming up. My intent was to get some stuff setup for the session during lunch break to streamline but that didn’t happen. And then I got a little sidetracked with some options for the rest of the session. The only confirmed thing was to do banded pulls for singles with light weight and short rests. So that was how we were starting things. Same setup I’ve been doing with band pulls with aim at 50% of my 1rm for 6-8 singles with 90 seconds rest. 275lbs was about right and didn’t really want to get too particular here as this was more just pull weight fast and feel good about it as I know that 551lbs is not my max based on how things went. As long as the weight was moving fast and good, I’d do the 8 singles. I was also wearing all I will wear to do this lift at the show so full gear. My knees felt incredibly achy just getting into position at the bar. I can tell I’m in the deload week as that seems to be when I feel achy and have to temper expectations and go with the flow. Some reps went up super good and others just good. I ended up taking closer to 40 seconds rest vs 90 seconds with my pacing. I tend to think speed work and going fast and when I’m feeling a certain way letting that impetus take over. To glorious purpose as it were. Then the more up in the air aspect of the session. Light stuff whatever it was and not to be taxing. I eventually landed on doing the remaining stuff in superset fashion to have my heart rate up a little going back and forth and keeping me moving. The first pairing had something new. I did bent over rows with the farmer’s handles. Like in the stance I would take to pick up and go. Never done this before and I wasn’t really seeing anyone else do them how I was going to. This was just a spur of the moment thing where I wanted to have one last touch of farmer’s as of the events, they’d have the most time away from the implement with how things panned out. This wasn’t very heavy and I only did reps that felt not super taxing here. I could sense my right arm was a bit more tense than the left. This was supersetted with bodyweight back extensions that were having holds every 5 reps on them. Just trying to work positions and get some blood flow. Only taking rests after each series. I took a bit of a break here to clean up space in the garage so that I could do the last two exercises also as a superset. The first part being the ATG split squat progression with elevated front foot as I’ve been doing. My knees have been feeling better as of late and I can’t say it is only because of these as I’ve done more mobility stuff and increased fish oil intake and adjusted exercises/equipment. But been feeling good and not like it was a month ago on my right knee. Aim was just to get blood pumping here so I had a rep range of 10-15 and ended up with 10 just to keep the RPE down here. The other half of the coin was banded leg curls. Those haven’t really come up and I feel like these have been missing to some degree so I wanted to make sure that my hamstrings and knees were getting some love here too. I’m definitely out of leg curl with bands and high reps shape it would seem. I did these as back to back no rest to keep things exciting as these weren’t too bad to recover from. Put stuff away ate dinner before stretching. Just one more to go.
Band Pullaparts/Band Shoulder Dislocations mbx15 (overhand)/mbx10 mbx15 (underhand)
Single Arm Band Overhead Triceps Extensions mbx25/25
Stretching
Comments: The home stretch so to speak. My last planned “heavy” session. I was pretty whooped from Saturday training and I was feeling quite sore in areas that haven’t been sore this cycle. Hips were sore and needed to do trigger point stuff on my left elbow to get stuff to relax and calm down. I utilized Sunday to get sleep and get my shit figured out before work this week. Knowing this is the telework cycle helps in that regard as I tend to recover better. Weight down a little bit but still consistent. I waited until it was later to walk as it was still like 90 degrees (but at least dry and not humid). It was essentially dark when I woke up today due to storm coming through. Depending on weather, I was considering rescheduling the session until tomorrow or modifying it so I could train solely in the garage. Storm went away and sun came out and evaporated all the rain water and then another storm came and that at least passed and mostly dried up by the time work was done. Foam rolling starting things off. Calves and quads were really tight but worked them good. Neck stuff went fine. I figured some stuff would be a bit touchy considering the density of the dumbbell and how many times I lifted it as my left shoulder was quite raw from impact. Lower body activation and mobility stuff felt good. Dead hang to finish things up. I could tell here that thankfully my hands/grip were feeling fine but that my left shoulder was feeling impinged a little. On to the lifting. Log again. Last heavy touch of log with strict press. No bands. Plan was to work up to a top single but not like a true max. Similar to the deadlift in that working up to something that would have me get agitated and tap into that. Something that would make me nervous. No holds working up and initially doing triples and then singles. Things didn’t start out great as my left shoulder decided to become sore immediately. I knew this was a possibility with how much I did with dumbbell and this style of log press. I don’t feel like it affected my strength but I could tell a tendon or something was irritated on the eccentric portion. That is usually when I feel stuff doing tempo work and know I’m pushing things a bit. This has flared up before and I’m only planning on light log push presses Saturday for last session. So a little bit of a damper here but pushing onward. 30lbs on the triples and then 20lbs on the singles. My lower back was a bit stiff and feeling fatigue from the previous week sessions. But still felt fine here. Balance point was a bit of issue I think because I was used to the reps style rather than just going head through. 227lbs was just a hair under what my projected max would be based off reps from 2 weeks ago here. 4.5yrs ago I did 40lbs more than this in prep for a show following essentially this workout. But this is where I am now and I need to get some numbers to know where to go from here after World’s. I didn’t get as psyched up as I did for deadlift last week but this went up well enough and I pleased with that. Down sets I went on the higher end percentage wise. 3x3 with 30lbs less weight. Holds at lockout on last rep and no head through until that rep. I went with 3 seconds mainly because I was trying to not stress my triceps at lockout as much this week considering how my left elbow was feeling just the day before. I altered a few things to be less intense and I probably didn’t need to with how it was feeling today for the most part. Pull ups followed this. I made adjustments with this and initially I was looking at doing just 2 sets with one with weight and one without on the scapular retraction into pull up. With how my left shoulder feeling, I elected to do a few reps with bodyweight first so that perhaps the weight version wouldn’t be such a shock. I don’t know if it really helped here as the bodyweight only felt really good and then adding 22lbs of chains felt like a ton. I had hoped to be good for a set of 6 reps but not happening today. So I decided I’d do another set with weight to match those reps and if feeling good, I’d do another bodyweight set like I had originally planned. I was able to match reps and go to bodyweight. I actually had to slow myself down as I was moving to forcefully and getting a bit of swaying action. I was only going to do 6 reps but decided I’d try for one more here. With pull ups done, back to more banded log floor pressing. The plan was to do the same variation I did the past few weeks with holds at lockout but I switched to pauses on the chest instead to be less stress on my elbow possibly. Aim was to do these as my last “heavy” speed work. These felt pretty good. I was supposed to do 90-120 seconds rest but this ended up almost like EMOM rests instead. I liked doing these this prep though not sure on the carry over to the actual log press event. I’ll have to play with it some more I think. Now the end to the session as originally going to be like last week with superset of rear delt upper back and dumbbell triceps. But I forwent these to do stuff with bands that would potentially be gentler on the left elbow area. I’ve done this before but I had used the micro bands. But they were being used as my band setup for log and I wanted to move things along so I used a mini band instead. 15 pull aparts into 10 band dislocates and then 15 more pull aparts. Overhand pull apart was fine and dandy and the dislocations went good. Underhand grip was a bit more stressful with this band tension. Final thing being band triceps stuff. Did single arm overhead with mini band as well. Aim was 20-30 reps but not going to failure, just a good pump. Right side I stopped at 25 reps so matched that with left side (which felt a little easier). Nothing intense after this session. Put stuff away and stretched before eating dinner. Just two more sessions to go.
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 doing off-season training before starting prep for Natural East Coast Qualifier in Eatontown, NJ on January 16, 2027. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
