Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 70’sx12 70’sx12 70’sx12 70’sx12
Band Face Pulls/Heel Elevated Goblet Squats (no lockouts) sbx20/bw+40x20 sbx20/bw+40x20
Stretching
Comments: I feel like my coworkers are stressed but I’m kind of just used to everything being on fire. Walking felt good Tuesday. Nice to walk during my lunch break again. Still got some neck issue thing at this time. No changes really to Day 2 this week compared to last week, just heavier or more reps really. Day 3 is where things get more specific and interesting. No further things posted about either competition at this time. Kind of entertaining myself with comparing other aspects like travel and costs in the meantime. Felt like I might need nasal spray in the morning but it seemed to go away. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things and nothing really needed a ton this time around. Left calf at the top needed it the most today. Other stuff was about the normal. Upper back wasn’t anywhere near as sore or tight as Monday. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt alright, some stuff felt needed and other stuff just kind of superfluous. Again, quite surprised nothing really sore from the upper body tempo work. Lower body stretching was good and so was dead hang after that. Then on to the workout. Like I mentioned earlier, this was essentially same workout as last week but either more weight or move volume. So starting things off with the same eccentric loaded trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. These had been pretty rough last week. Notes were try and push these to RPE 7.5-8 and do 4x6. I had miscounted on some sets last week. I figured I could do more weight this time around but that I should probably treat each side as its own set so that I wasn’t making things not so good on the other side as the grip doesn’t get a rest when switching sides. I didn’t realize until today that my smaller/denser 45’s will fit on this when flipped over and not be touching the ground. So I went with aggressive 90lbs jumps and lowered the reps I did warming up with intent to go a bit heavier and see if resting between sides improved things. I did liquid chalk and regular chalk here. First half of first set wasn’t bad. I was considering increasing the weight each set by like 10lbs but my balance wasn’t quite that good on the other half so had me reconsider that line of approach. And these were feeling pretty taxing between sides so rest was definitely needed. I might have done an extra rep on a set at some point. This was tough in that I was having hard time with stopping myself from yawning and my nose was starting to run. Breathing was hard too. But I made it through these eventually with 40lbs more than last time and an extra set. I took my time to recover from that as the next thing was also not a fun one to do and get through. I turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow for this one. A superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. Notes were to go a bit heavier on the high pulls and to add weight on the lunges holding in a goblet squat style. Reps were lowered here with the high pulls being 8-10 and 10 reps each side on the lunges. Knees didn’t feel as terrible doing lunges and warming up this time around. I figured I should be able to do my 70’s for 8 reps. I wasn’t going to push beyond that as I wanted to see how my body handled the lunges this time and the trap bar stuff was a lot more taxing this time around. Hard to guage things with many reps on explosive movements. Gives me room to grow with these weights for next time. The high pulls weren’t bad and the lunges were decent here. I was kind of thinking I should go heavier but save that for next time around assuming this coming week has similar stuff. I actually seemed to recover well from the first and then doing the second set but needed longer rest after the second set before doing the third set. Toe elevated dumbbell rdls was next. I took a slight break to walk to my folks house to check on things while they are away and then came back. Give me a chance to get my air back and distract me from wanting to drink anything as I can’t really keep things down safely after I start on this particular session. 4x12 on these. I asked if I should try to push things more as these were quite easy last week. Advised I can increase if I feel like I’ll be able to maintain the stretch and form. I figured that it was best to just do the 70’s again because it would be a hassle with the plateloaded dumbbells when these feel great as is but are light. The plateloaded handles would get cumbersome. These did feel a bit more challenging this time around but I think that is more due to having done 40lbs more on the trap bar stuff and 60lbs more on dumbbell high pulls. These felt and moved easy and good stretch but I was breathing a bit heavy compared to last time. Almost done with today. Another superset to finish things off. Again, band face pulls and heel elevated goblet squats. Change here in that only two sets but reps now 20. Also advised to not lockout my knees on the goblet squats to keep constant tension on the quads. I took a bit to kind of recover mentally before doing these. I think since last exercise and I was expecting this to be more challenging than it ended up being. My knees didn’t really ache on these goblet squats this week. I did sit in a deep squat position for a little bit before hand so maybe that helped. First set was pretty easy. Fatigue did become apparent on the second set but still fine. Could tell my right quad was getting fatigued. Still have little lingering of the hip flexor thing and still some bruising on that leg from Illinois but slowly getting better and forgetting about the aches and such. I put stuff away as well as put some equipment into my car for this weekend to transport. Ate dinner before stretching out.
Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Side to Side Slams 52’sx8 – 10x6/6 54.5’sx8 – 10x6/6 57’sx8 – 10x6/6
Seated Band Pull Aparts mbx25 mbx25 mbx25 mbx25
Stretching
Comments: Felt pretty blah at work today. I had hoped getting plenty of rest on the weekend and then being on telework rotation would temper that but I guess I’m still just exhausted from the constant deluge or bullshit each and every day. It is getting colder again with a frost warning for tomorrow morning. It had been 90 like a week ago. Bodyweight jumped up a good bit from what it was before the competition. I was about 256ish and now 262ish. As I’ve mentioned, it is kind of staggering how much better I feel when the work reverts to my off site schedule vs on site schedule. At this time, only one event has been announced for Worlds and it is axle squat (I had a feeling it would come back) so regardless of which big show I do in August, I’m going to be doing squatting with an axle and first show with a squat event. I’m not adverse to doing so, just doesn’t come up and I’m not that good with squatting. That will need a bit of head start compared to other events since I think it has been over 13yrs since I did an axle squat haha. Anyways, that is later. Now is this session. Which was going to be similar to the Day 1 from last week. I kind of suspected that but wasn’t too sure. Soft tissue work to start things off. I didn’t need a ton on my legs but boy howdy did my upper back need a lot. Really sore from the past two training sessions. Neck rehab was fine. It is taking quite a while for things to resolve with my neck. But I know it takes time when it gets like that. Lower body stretches followed. Dead hang was fine not as fatiguing for my forearms so I guess they are recovering as well. So like last week, a bunch of silly exercise that I’d have to do light that will make me look foolish. First up was IYTs. Same weight as plan as last week but now 12 reps for each variation. I knew these were going to be burners by the end of things. Feels very easy at the start but by the time I get to the T’s, feeling the burn. I definitely took a bit longer with my rests here compared to last week as those extra six reps per set were telling. My upper back was also quite sore. I wanted to make it through these without taking a break or setting the weights down. Successful on that front. The first of the two odd superset pairings followed. Seated pressing with tempo and the bent over tosses/chucks. 4x6 for both. I got the one medicine ball so that remained the same. Just be powerful with it. The pressing was what I could alter. I was advised to push the weight a bit more this time. I wasn’t sure how that would go as by the end of it was 4x5 from the weight I did last week, my triceps were really fatigued and my shoulders were screaming. Tempo reps with adding more reps feels like difficult increases exponentially rather than linearly. I wanted to go heavier but wasn’t sure of myself finishing things out with how I was feeling after the raises so I went for a tiny increase. No issues with the tosses, those feel great every time. Pressing that first set was ok and I figured I’d go up 2lbs and see. That felt easy enough that I worried I had miscounted a rep but still went up 2lbs after that. I decided to finally do the weight I was hoping I could do for sets next with a 3lbs jump and that seemed to work out for me. The alternating dumbbell row with chest support followed from there. Only thing was indicating 3x10 this week. So it looks like I was doing them right last week. Nothing was saying about increasing weight but I figured I would since it had been quite easy. I have time to mess around with setup so got the plateloadable handles setup for these. I was initially worried that I bit off too much here but these were quite comfortable and easy even with the increase in weight and reps here. Hmm, guess I’ll need to go heavier. The nasty part of the last week session was up next with another tempo pressing with a medicine ball slam exercise. There was some mercy given in that the reps for the pressing were lowered to 8 reps this week. But I was advised to go heavier. I didn’t feel like I could do 70’s for 3x8 with strict tempo adherence so that meant doing the plateloaded handles here. I was leery about that as don’t really want to use the 25’s as won’t be a “close grip” with the crush factor that way. Also issues with the spinning plates and handles causing issues with that as well. The side to side slams were increased to 6 reps here and that was fine. I think I only really had one where I got off balance (I was having that issue at the start of each set last week). I thought I had 50lbs but I miscalculated. And worse still was it felt too easy so I had to add weight each set like with the previous pressing. Which wasn’t as quick since these were my wrench locked collars for safety. Sets of 8 reps infinitely more tolerable to sets of 12 reps on tempo work like this. The last thing then was seated band pull aparts. 4x25 this week. I took a little longer rests than last week only because I felt this was when I could start prepping dinner and not worry I’d be away too long doing the exercise for some kitchen mishap. These were easy but I could tell a little more fatigue by the end with double the sets/volume. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.
Toes Elevated Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 70’sx12 70’sx12 70’sx12
Band Face Pulls/Heel Elevated Goblet Squats sbx15/bw+40x15 sbx15/bw+40x15 sbx15/bw+40x15
Stretching
Comments: I’ve not yet gotten an invite for Natural World’s but to be fair, it hasn’t been a week yet and I recall it took a bit for last year and I hadn’t been expecting one with how the placing went at that time. I do hope I get one but I’m not 100% sure with there being the four at the show and the one dropping. But we shall see. As for Strongman Corporation Nationals, I already got confirmation of invite for that. Events released and I do like that there are 7 events for the show but really only “excited” for like 2 of them. My dad finds them underwhelming and not great for me (squat, deadlift and two pressing events plus a “mystery event”). Will have to see what happens with Natural Strongman as far as invite and what the events will be as that will undoubtably be more expensive of the options here with doing a big show to end the competition season. But that is like 4 months away. But I do like thinking long term so that I can plan and not be needing to worry on the day to day. Because lord knows got enough of that with work and just the “vibe” in general of things right now everywhere. Anyways, temperature has cooled a little bit thankfully. Craving being able to work at home again where I can wear stuff that is much more comfortable with dealing with hotter temps. It is really shocking how the change from one work condition to the other has a quite drastic change in recovery. Went for a walk after work Thursday after letting it cool off a bit outside (I was also deciding if I should walk or not with recovery) and thankfully it is still light outside after work at this time. I had thought initially that my upper body was more wrecked than my lower body from the competition but that is patently not the case. I hardly feel anything from Day 1 session at this time. Still having some tension in the neck but it does seem to be slowly getting better and the soreness in my gums and ears is dissipating quickly (as I was expecting being back home). I decided for the Day 2 session that I was going to train after work Friday rather than make this a weekend workout. My thinking being that this is the light week coming back and may not be reflective of the next week or the following and this could be what is like the Day 1 and Day 2 for a three day workout week session. So maybe giving myself more rest before the next week starts and getting in more rest from sleeping in makes more sense. With no work the next day, I did take a little time to decompress from the day before getting training started. Soft tissue foam rolling starting things off and my calves needed a lot of it today. Right quad also did but not much for the left quad or hamstrings. Upper back needed it a good bit as well but perhaps not as much as first day back. Neck rehab stuff followed. Felt slightly better than it had two days prior. Nothing was feeling sore from that session despite all the tempo work. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Forearms still a bit sore. Then on to the workout. Still starting off with a deadlift but not axle deadlift like it has been for the past cycle. Indicated as doing trap bar deadlifts with a split stance. And doing 5 second eccentrics. Surprisingly, this isn’t an exercise I’ve not done before in some capacity. I’ve done these but with not as long an eccentric (3 seconds) and doing what is called a “b-stance” and them coming off as more rdl vs a true deadlift. Fitting into the trap bar (I do have a very large one) and such, it seemed like doing the variation I was doing would fit the bill albeit with the longer eccentric tempo. Notes were to do 3x6 and keep it light. I feel I kept it light but may have made it tougher than intended. I used no support gear and only aid was liquid chalk just for my hands with worries of sweat with the heat. I also flipped my trap bar upside down so that the ROM was greater and the pick height lower to start. I figured I could do a decent amount of weight here as when I last did these about a year ago, I had done 285lbs for a set of 10 reps each side (with rest between sides) with 3 seconds eccentric. Well it would seem that I’m rusty on these as 195lbs probably would’ve fit the bill here for the weight today. But I was stubborn and had figured on 265lbs but did lower it to 245lbs. These become quite taxing on the grip. The counting with tempo does lead to errors in rep count, especially with the top down rep approach and I ended up doing so on the first and last set here. I initially didn’t have any fans on but turned on the small oscillating fan to have better air flow. There weren’t as many exercises this session compared to Day 1 and moved on to the next thing. A superset of dumbbell high pulls and alternating reverse lunges. I asked for clarification on the style of high pulls. Lunges only bodyweight but it has been a good long while since I’ve had to do the alternating style and for higher reps. I realized after the first set that I was probably not going to be able to stomach and fluids for the remaining exercises if I wanted to get through them in a decent time. Due to the explosive nature of the high pulls and the number or reps, I felt it was best to do my 40lbs dumbbells here rather than my 70lbs, seeing as how stiff I seemed to move with those when doing clean and press. So these were quite easy. The lunges were not so. Knees were stiff and it took a bit to feel comfortable. Leaning forward quite a bit. I was definitely getting winded on these feeling a bit out of shape. However, I managed to move better and quicker as these went with getting through the actual reps in quicker time each set. This is the kind of reset I need after competitions to get feeling like an athlete again and moving well. When I feel like I’m moving well, I feel like I’m doing well. Another deadlift variation followed this. Been doing a lot of heel elevated stuff for squats but not any toe elevated but that was what was indicated for the rdls. I was going with my 70lbs dumbbells but after getting my ass handed to me by the lunges, I was wondering if that was too risky. Turns out this was really easy and I’d have needed more weight. But like I mentioned for the last session, trying to use what is easy at hand. I doubt I could load up the handles I got to have it feel worth my while honestly. But I can certainly try next time. I’ve been doing single leg versions with a decent amount of weight. Another superset to finish things off. Similar I guess to Day 1 with two superset pairings with similar things. That had been tempo press and ballistic slams and this was upper back pulls that are light/explosive with bodyweight high reps for legs. Band face pulls and heel elevated goblet squats. I usually have stuff from earlier in the session setup for anchors but not this time so a little rest to get that in place to start for the face pulls. I wasn’t sure if I could handle strong band right off the bat but I was good. I was surprised my right knee was achy on the goblet squats at the start as I felt like the lunges should’ve adequately prepared them. Like the previous superset, I got quicker on the leg stuff as I went and was getting a bit heavy breathing wise and lactic acid build up. But got through this one and able to put stuff away and eat dinner before stretching out.
Dumbbell Squeeze Bench Presses (4-0-4-0 tempo)/Med Ball Side to Side Slams 40’sx11 (miscounted) – 10x6/6 (miscounted) 40’sx14 (miscounted) – 10x5/5 40’sx12 – 10x5/5
Seated Band Pull Aparts mbx25 mbx25
Stretching
Comments: I was in a bit of rough shape after the competition with the travel still needed. I thought I got past whatever allergies issue had popped up the day before competition but that came back with a vengeance the next day. And not in the same way I was feeling it on the way out there. The neck tightness on the left side had popped back up again and I was having what felt like ear infections and my gums were sore. Been a while since I’ve had allergy and stress related stuff that bad pop up. It has also been like 8yrs since I last did a competition requiring driving into another time zone. I knew I’d eventually feel better once back home in familiar surroundings. We got back lunch time Monday and I did nothing Tuesday as I was feeling off. I was considering taking another day off work because this was still in office rotation and being home in comfortable climate and surroundings would probably be better and help me recover. The past two training cycles with Ms. Funk, I’ve taken off the week after the competition fully but that had more to do with not being home right away rather than lack of desire to train in some fashion. And the cycle before that under my own training I had gotten a cold upon return that kept me from training that week. So even though not feeling great, I did wish to do something this week rather than ruminate on the competition as I tend to focus on what was left on platform rather than what I did. So two workouts for this week to get moving and do a short off-season as I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing other than some big show hopefully end of August. These would be shorter workouts so that did lend to me being able to decompress from work for a bit before getting to training. Soft tissue work to start things off. Lower legs needed a decent amount and not much to really report on the hammies and quads. Upper back needed it a lot. I was expecting that with the neck tightness and just feeling from the show. Neck rehab was fine. Hip flexor is finally feeling well enough that I can do all the lower body stretching again. Dead hang was fine, could tell forearms were fatigued. Workout looked to be a lot of exercises that were going to make me look silly with light weight. Which is fine as I’m in need of a change of pace after one long prep going into a contest prep and one short contest prep back to back. What wasn't a fun start to this prep though is coming into first session with it being middle of April and 90 degrees already. So had all the fans going in the garage this session. First up was dumbbell raises of the IYT variety. Done these before in different styles. I just wasn’t sure how the neck/upper back would handle them as plan being them back to back so would be easy at the start (hopefully) and be quite a burner by the end. Thankfully no issues right off the bat and I was able to use my 10lbs dumbbells here. The pump and sensation of thickness in my upper back muscles doing these and after doing them had me feeling powerful. For whatever reason, when my upper back feels “thick” I feel confident and strong. From there moved on to an odd superset. The first part was strict press with barbell done seated. That’s not that odd but it was with long tempo work. Tempo on the concentric portion with lifts is what kills me with strength/weight wise on this kind of stuff. I initially was thinking higher weight but adjusted my expectations accordingly. I assumed my body would be plenty warmed up from the previous exercise. The other part of this was the unusual part in that I was to do medicine ball throws into the ground from a bent over row position. So tempo exercise followed by an explosive/ballistic exercise. I thought I had a medicine ball but I think I gave it away to my sister a few years ago. There were two planned exercises for this session requiring one and I wasn’t keen on the alternative exercises (just how they’ve felt in the past plus safety with setup reasons) so I did procure one. The throws weren’t as difficult or complicated as I was expecting and kind of active rest after the tempo pressing. The pressing I was getting quite fatigued from. A dumbbell row variation followed that. I’m assuming I did these right with the alternating style. Plan being 3x8 but I accidentally miscounted the first set. These were quite easy and I hadn’t wanted to load up the plateloadable dumbbells after seeing how these felt. This was a light and hopefully uncomplicated week. I’ll be back on telework rotation the next four weeks so I can fuck around then. Another of the odd supersets followed this. Again, pairing tempo pressing with a medicine ball exercise. This was the toughest part of the workout. The first half was a dumbbell bench variation with same tempo as the overhead pressing. But for 3x12 rather than 4x5. This felt like torture even with the weights this light. I ended up miscounting the reps on the first and second set. The other component was more med ball stuff but this was alternating slams from overhead. I was initially worried I’d need to do these outside but I had plenty of clearance and the med ball didn’t really bounce. These were easy like the other medicine ball exercise but I did have to chase down the darn thing at times. I miscounted the first set. Having survived that, the last thing was quite easy. Band pull aparts but seated version. This was done in short order. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching. Really dreading the DOMs from this one in the upper body.
Feels good to have a plan come together. Especially when it feels like a lot going on can’t be controlled right now. To borrow from Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, it’s good to have some islands in the stream. Even if temporarily. I survived the last adventure and having a pretty quick turnaround here. I guess strike while the iron is hot. I’d prefer more time but sometimes you got to accept that it won’t be all neat and tidy with a bow. New things to try and old things to keep working on. One of two preliminary competition plans for this season out of the way and looking to secure another notch on my proverbial and I guess literal belt so to speak. On to it.
Traveling has been a component with my strongman competitions since the beginning. My own anxiety had it be a deterrent until I did a local show and then I was hooked and willing to go places. Since 2008, I’ve competed in 16 different states within the US. And only flown to three of them. So a bit used to getting crammed in car with family to make a trip. And that was what was going to happen for this one being in the Midwest. El Paso Illinois isn’t really close to anything. Not that I live in some big city but about 3.5 times the population of where the contest was going to be. Closest airports would still be near 2hrs away driving. So might as well just drive all the way on the over 730 miles of road. This will be distant third place behind Shreveport (+1240) and Tunica (+960) as far as competition car rides.
And the why with picking this show came down to a few factors. I main one with short turnaround for this was some event carryover to the last one. It wasn’t like I was starting from zero on some things. Granted, my coach likes weekly frequency so it’s not like I’d be going into a show with no touches on stuff. At the time, options were southeast in a remote part of Florida (that got cancelled for low turnout) a week earlier and one in Canada that was about the same amount of travel but events were not great for me in middle of May. Feeling like maybe see if tensions lower and stick to something in the country for now. The west coast show ended up being earlier too (after being middle of May past two years) and that sold out real quick. I had not known at the time that an east coast show would be available in early June about 3hrs away. But this does seem like the best option for me and I can travel somewhere new.
My father and I got to leave earlier than planned initially on Thursday morning as my annual physical got rescheduled to the end of the month so this allowed for more driving to be done. About 8hrs first day and then 4hrs the second day being the plan both ways. It has been a while since this much driving was needed for a competition as the past three have relied on air travel for the most part. So there was also an effort to find stuff to do at the needed rest spots. One such spot was the Uranus Fudge Factory and General Store just over the border in Indiana from Ohio. I may be 40 but I’m still pretty darn childish in my humor. I think my father was even more invested in stopping there than myself. The rest of the trip was a lot of flat, open spaces. I recall a joke about how you could watch your dog run away from home for three days straight.
Living in Pennsylvania most of my life, I thought I knew was bad roads were. We were not prepared for the roads in Illinois I can tell you that much. And those were the ones you could drive on as there were a ton of road closures in cities that the GPS apps weren’t even aware of. Could swear we’d be in some place and the road closure signs would just be moved around. Getting to the venue the day before made the most sense to check in and figure things out, especially since the contest got moved from the local rec center to the promoter’s gym. Ended up on some country back roads to get there when probably could’ve just been on the main roads. The promoter was there to check me and had his very young son with him. It was a small gym but had the necessities and an outdoor space. The equipment was going to be all from his stuff there.
I’ve done over 50 competitions and I still get nervous. I think I was glad I was nervous the night before and thinking about the events in my head. Means I still care about what I’m doing and that I wasn’t feeling mentally burned out. I had some worries as my neck got stiff Monday morning and it is still taking its sweet time getting not that way and then allergies got really bad driving through Indiana that I had to get some Dayquil from a truck stop. And that hip flexor issue that popped up a few weeks back. But in the moment, those all seemed to not be an issue upon waking Saturday morning and just needed to get myself moving and the nerves out.
The venue and competition had an “intimate” feel to it with being in such a small town with local people and competitor’s family members present. Only 17 people total for the show so unless things were run horridly, this could move at a fast clip. Initially, there were 6 people in my weight class and then it dropped to 5 people. Day of the show only 4 people showed up. The bare minimum to allow for top 2 to be invited. I only really knew about one person that I competed against at World’s last year and place ahead by one point in the totals purely on me getting second on the Hercules hold there as otherwise he beat me on every event head to head besides that one. He was going to be my toughest known competition as I didn’t know much of anything about the other two there.
First event was the press event. This feels like the standard order of operations when it comes to strongman shows. Circus dumbbell with 160lbs/72.5kgs in 60 seconds. At least that was what was indicated but with the setup of things, it was closer to 165lbs/75kgs for the weight. This is fairly light overhead event considering things but still not nothing. 15lbs/7kgs heavier than what I did for Arizona. I was initially a little worried I’d not feel great right after competing to go into this event again but it fit like a glove that first session back. A little different with training in that doing some intensity alternating with EMOM and pauses and a lot of stability and triceps focus on accessory stuff. Deload was earlier I had suggested a greater drop in intensity for the last session. With how things were running, I was going second all day with the guy I expected to be the person to beat ahead of me. There is not a lot of standardization in strongman and there tends to be less when it comes to stuff like circus dumbbells. I’m not sure what brand this is or if it was a local wielding job. Handle was substantially thicker than what I was training on and had an odd grip texture to it. And the securing of weights wasn’t inspiring confidence (especially after having them come off in warm ups). I’d need to play by ear here. I did get in the warm ups that I wanted and there was thankfully a spare dumbbell to the side that I kept empty and did some singles to keep primed waiting to go. The number to beat was 5 reps. Not sure what was coming behind me but I knew that likely a single rep would be good here. But that is how losers think. The first rep I could tell that waiting and last touch that was heavy being 20lbs under was a bit rough but I recovered from the initial shock with it racked and got the rep. It wasn’t the cleanest and I knew it wasn’t probably wise to try and touch and go this with the weights moving around. The guy ahead didn’t have the fastest technique so I could pace myself here to potentially tie or beat that. Second rep took a bit to settle in the rack but the power in the drive it flew up much better. Third rep was even better and I was on pace for 6 reps here. Or so I thought. The weights were really shaking around in the dumbbell when I went for the fourth rep and I couldn’t get it up there. I decided to set it back down rather than try to force it in the rack for another attempt and just use the clock to give one more solid effort for a fourth rep. I timed it out perfectly and got that last rep. This can be a crap shoot with different setup but this was a good result. The other two athletes bombed the event so this was good for second place.
Second event was deadlift. Like I said, feels standard order. Axle deadlifts from 13” from using the in-vogue wagon wheels. 535lbs/242.5kgs with no suits in 60 seconds as well as up and down commands. I was feeling good after the dumbbell, getting those first event jitters out of the way and having it go well. Deadlift is generally not my strong suit so to speak and this is relatively light considering things. Still has going to be challenging for me and kind of knew this wasn’t an event I’d win. An elevated pull was likely going to be a little more forgiving for me having just done a long cycle with a bendy bar and then a suit. This continues to need work. Pretty much same as last prep with heavy and volume days alternated. Lots of lower back and hamstring work as well. I pushed myself and surprised myself with some of the sessions in the later half of this prep. Perhaps not in weight but in repeatability of near max effort weights. Pulled back on these early too like overhead. Again, I got in the warm ups that I wanted here which is a big win when it comes to shows. Warm ups may not be ideal with number of athletes and pace of things but if I can get in those bare minimums that will make me feel like I did what I need to feel up to the task or at least “ready” for what’s to come, that is enough for me. The wheels we ended up using were the harder rubber ones from Rogue Fitness. I like these if only because they don’t sound as “harsh” to my ears as the metal ones I have and banging on the concrete floor of my garage. One of the other athletes dropped out of the competition at this point as they felt a “pop” in their back during warm ups. So we were done to three but scoring off of four since that is what we started with. I knew the guy before me was going to win this event as he was definitely good for double digits at this weight. The guy on my heels I felt like was probably about where I was or a little above me actually. So aim was to just not miss a rep and use the time to get reps. My last warm up had felt heavy but I know that with this one that I can still get reps if it feels heavy for me. Time starts and so do I. Feels heavy but it goes up. Feeling a bit of pressure on my body, perhaps I’m still having some congestion from allergies. In either case, I decide it is best to relax my brace and get a breath each pull and space out the minute here. I don’t want to pass out either. Much like circus dumbbell, I get three reps in the first 30 seconds. Number four I get the stanky legs going so I know that I need to regroup for another rep here. I undo my straps so I can stand up fully. I didn’t mean to cut this one so close but my fingers were fumbling with my straps to get reattached to the bar. Five reps done (I’d had done 2 reps in training at most). The guy after me managed to get 7 reps (one sketchy rep) so I ended up with a third place here.
Third event of the day was sandbag to shoulder. A max event but setup a little differently. Usually those kinds of events are like rising bar or you get three attempts. With this arrangement, all the bags would be set out and you had 90 seconds to achieve you best lift. If people tied on weight, it would be decided then by time it took to hit said weight. So some gamesmanship here. Training for this initially didn’t go well. Technique for one bag might not work on another so I was anticipating my usual style not being a valid option going really heavy if the bags got longer. That led to a frustrating session when I struggled with a weight I’ve done easily. It got in my head and ended up taking a nap and bailing on the rest of the session and worried that I was not recovering well. Reverting back to my usual style showed me that I had only slightly lost a step but otherwise I was good and on point. But greater focus on deadlift did seem to sap me on these and I didn’t seem to be able to match the feeling of ease/success I did for that one session that got me feeling like myself. I also got a bit of hip flexor issue that flared up a few weeks out from the show and this movement seemed to affect it quite a bit so shut this down earlier in prep. For the best. I was feeling good going into this from the previous events and I had a little buffer on third place. But I guess I wasn’t quite feeling myself as bags were feeling rough. I guess the deadlifting took a bit out of my posterior chain. There was a wide variety of bags and different brands and fills. My hope had been leading up to this that I hopefully hit something close to 300lbs/136kgs and then take a shot at 350lbs/159kgs (assuming that was different sized bag). What I was realistically looking at here for viable options to really have any points was 275lbs/125kgs (Rogue Fitness), 310lbs/141kgs (Valkyrie Strength), 340lbs/154kgs (Cerberus Strength) and 365lbs/165.5kgs (Valkyrie Strength). The 340lbs/154kgs bag was the oversized bag style. 310lbs/141kgs went into my lap well enough warming up but the fabric just felt too slick to me with my style of shouldering that I felt like I’d waste effort going for it and it was too risky for me to open with. I could see the guy behind me aiming to open at that bag weight and the guy ahead did the 340lbs/154kgs bag quite easy warming up and stating he’d open there. Unless he screwed up, first wasn’t happening. And he didn’t. He got that bag easy and had a close miss with the smaller 365lbs. My strategy here was to get on the board with 275lbs/125kgs and then go for hail Mary on the 340lbs/154kgs bag. It wouldn’t make sense to try 310lbs after as there would be the time factor and it was unlikely I’d get that bag done inside the time that the guy following me up would get that in going for it first. So my opening lift did at least move better than my warming up did and then I went at the 340lbs/154kgs bag. I picked it up vertical style and bear hugged it and messed around with in the lap to try and get it into position. I stood up with it but I was just not going to get it up to shoulder this way. I really need to spend more sessions with this kind of sized bag if I want to make this work. The guy after me was successful after a struggle with his bag. So a bit surprising third place here.
The guy in first had won the first three events and my 3-point lead on the guy in third had now shrunk to 1 point. The remaining events were better for me and perhaps I could get an even win or two to increase the buffer. Unless the guy in first zeroed one of the next two events (which would be impossible barring injury) I was going to have to settle for second place at best. Which would satisfy the overall goal to qualify for Natural Worlds and keep my options open for the end of the summer. But I was certainly starting to sweat things after the sandbag to shoulder didn’t work out in my favor. The rest of the show was to take place outside so the small collection of people moved accordingly. It was nice out (I had been going outside at times to cool off from being in the gym) and I was thankful I did bring my sunglasses as it was one of the few times out there it wasn’t overcast.
The fourth event involved sandbags as well. Sandbag carry can be contested a few ways. This would be carrying 300lbs/136kgs down 60’/18.3m and back in 60 seconds time limit. Drops allowed but I know if I dropped, that I’d likely be done as pick up is the hardest part for me with most things in this sport. I can hold and carry things for a long time. Not necessarily a fast time. Just got to get used to it and try to move fast. I tend to move about the same speed unfortunately. I knew that my posterior chain was likely beat seeing how sandbag to shoulder went after deadlift. There is always asterisk next to weights and distances in strongman. I brought my measure wheel just in case after I saw that one of the events was changing up the week prior due to location change. I like to have numbers for what I did to accurately review performances. In this instance, the sandbag was 310lbs/141kgs and the distance 55’/16.75m down and back. My right hip flexor was a little tight but not as bad as it has been. Trying to move a bit and get a feel for things. I attempted to pick up the contest bag after doing lighter runs with 200lbs/91kgs and 250lbs/113kgs and I wasn’t successful in lapping it. I hadn’t given it 100% (it’s warming up) but it did have me starting to stress things. I really don’t like this 310lbs/141kgs sandbag today. I knew I could do it but I’d really need to hunker down when it was time to go and commit and grind out the lift. I think I was surprised with just how fatigued my posterior chain was, considering the work put in on it this short prep. Guy in first went pretty quick with it. My pick up was slow but successful. I was not vibing with the texture or tactile feel of this bag at all. Focusing on my breathing and trying to move fast. Tried to pick up speed on the return trip after kind of reverting to the short steps to make the turn and go. Finished in 21.03 seconds, which is about what I was hitting in training with the 300lbs/136kgs bag with slightly longer distance but a lot less fatigue from preceding stuff. Left wrist was sore immediately afterwards but that abated. I should be ok for the last event to finish out the day. About 3.5 seconds slower than first but 12.5 seconds faster than third for second place.
The fifth and final event for the contest was a bit unusual. Arm over arm but standing. So needing to anchor self with bodyweight and pull the implement in the 60 seconds time limit. This one had been a bit of question mark leading up to things. I trained this as best I could using what I had and kind of hoped it was tough enough training. As this kind of event can be a bit of a crapshoot. Won’t know what you’re in for until that first tug. This was initially going to be sled with weight I believe for 50’/15.25m-60’/18.3m but that had been when this was going to be at the rec center. Now it was going to be a vehicle pull allegedly for 80’/24.4m. Which was fine since I was training the longer end of the distance on high friction surface and a thick rope. I had a feeling it might become a “drag race” so I did end up doing some sessions lighter weight and speedy. I had some doubts on the distance and measured it and it was closer to 45’/13.7m. It was also quite a thin rope. This was the only event that we as athletes didn’t get to do anything to warm up on. Only slightly miffed about that as initially indicated that we would get a chance due to change in the setup and how thin the rope was. But it be like that sometimes. There were kegs loaded into for the women’s classes and then about 950lbs/431kgs of sandbags were added to the truck as well for the men’s classes. I heard roughly 1500lbs/680kgs total added on top of the hefty pick up truck. This should be a good event for me but sometimes I get lost in the weeds and don’t just do the thing. I watched people go and everyone was finishing this thing across the classes. Longest time being just under 39 seconds by one of the competitors in the junior class. Some people were really good at getting a firm, braced stance and undulating to get the vehicle moving fast. Other’s I saw slipping with poor foot wear choice. There was about 10’/3m of space we had to work with and stepping out of bounds would result in a 2 second penalty. My thinking was that I’d get a firm grip of the rope and then walk backwards a few feet to break the momentum and then brace and pull from there. It was kind of hard to tell how fast people were really pulling. I got set with my strategy in place and put it into action. Took a bit to get the inertia to break but once I started pulling, it was moving fast and easy. Time read as 19.65 seconds and I raised up my hands thinking that I had to have won it. Turns out I didn’t. I apparently took too long to get it started as first place was just under a second faster. And second place had not been a sure thing as third place was only about half a second slower. But still a second place finish.
So things ended up being closer than I’d like in the end here (and not how I was expecting). First place had a clean sweep and put on a clinic with deadlift and sandbag to shoulder. Third place will be dangerous in the future if he keeps at this as only his overhead let him down today really. He also competing like two weeks prior to this as well. He was local while first place was coming from Minnesota. But I like competing with others and myself. The myself happens with every training session and competition. But others is a rare thing only with competition where we are going head to head on the same day and time. I did not get selected for the urine sample this time around so only five events for me today. Things got finished up by about 1:00PM (started at 9:00AM) so I had about half a day to do stuff and decompress. I working on the assumption that I’ve qualified since I placed second with a competition starting with four competitors. So two for two on the competition season goals for the first half of the year. I’m undecided on whether going to compete at Nationals for Strongman Corporation (Texas) or Natural Strongman World’s (Scotland) as both are within a week of each other at the end of August. Wait and see what the events end up being. Or see what else pops up. For now, going to recover from the traveling and competing and do a short little off season recovery prep.
Paused Lying Band Leg Curls/Paused Band Seated Leg Extensions (2)mbx15/abx15 (2)mbx15/abx15
Walking 19 minutes
Stretching
Comments: Work wasn’t as rough as Monday but it was still trying. It is possible that I’m feeling irritated with things due to the competition coming up. Usually there is some decrease in the intake part of things with time off as I won’t be here and shit won’t be getting done while I’m out and then having to do that when I get back and catch up while already having things scheduled. I could tell I was stressed yesterday as stuff was sounding louder than it usually does. Similar today but I was handling it better. Neck seemed less stiff but I guess that was a psych out as it is now localized to the left side and it feels somewhat like I tweaked it now. No clue what this is about. But I’ve been here before and I’ve managed. Soft tissue foam rolling to start things off. Right quad needing it a lot again. Other stuff about the usual. Neck rehab stuff followed. Not sure if this helped or aggravated my neck. Hard to say as some stuff I was feeling really good with but some stuff (like chest doorway stretch) was also feeling tense in the neck. Oh well. Lower body stretching and dead hang after that. Kind of seeing if anything maybe gets the neck to just “click” and feel better. Probably not but staying positive. Then on to the workout. Axle deadlift with the wagon wheels. Notes were to keep this light and suggested was 325-345lbs for 3x4. This was only thing I was leery about. Not because this could hurt (I’ve done deadlift with the tense neck no problem) but wanting to make sure I don’t take anything away from what I need for the show on deadlift. Worrying that I won’t be peaked like I want to be here. If something felt off, I’d call it. But hopefully not as even calling it might have me doubting myself. I did 40-50lbs jumps and this was feeling pretty good and easy. I went with 30lbs jump for the last one just to hit the minimum. These felt comfortable and easy. No hard belt and took short rests like yesterday (under a minute). So this was a good sign. Tear down and setup took a little longer this session vs yesterday with the equipment. Next was Pendlay rows. Just 135lbs here for 2x5. Only thing that could be an issue is if pulling while bent over (bent over seems to put most stress on the neck I noticed) would irritate my neck. It did not. This was piss easy. Like not even a warm up. Felt like I could do 50 reps here. The last weight related thing was the same superset I did last week on Day 2. Banded lying leg curls and banded seated leg extensions for 2x15 with pauses at peak contraction and controlled movement. I was initially going to use same band tension as last week but figured it was probably best to use less so that I wasn’t rushing the movement and insure quality of the movements as well while not stressing about it. No rest between sets and exercises but that still took me about 40 seconds to switch with getting out of one setup and getting the other ready. Walking afterwards as part of the deload. I took a different route and that ended up being within the 15-20 minutes range this time. Nice to walk some areas in the neighborhood I don’t usually go. The workouts are done, just got to make it through another day of work, drive across five states and put it out there once again.
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Presses (3 second eccentrics) 40’sx5 40’sx5 40’sx5
Heel Elevated Goblet Squats bw+40x10 bw+40x10
Close Grip Push Ups/Band Pull Aparts bwx10/mbx15 bwx10/mbx15
Walking 23 minutes
Stretching
Comments: The week of, trying to decompress and at the same time not become so detrained by movement. I will be in a car for a day and a half and different hotels each way out there and back. Easter with family was nice. Trying to distract myself with planning out meals during the trip. Bodyweight same as last week. Work just fucking dragged on as half the people in the unit were there and that meant getting more work on top of the many things I scheduled to try and get done before I’m out. I need to get stuff resolved this week that can as I’m not going to recall shit the following week with competition and travel. Neck feeling tense today. Not like how it does when I tweak something randomly. Just tense. Plan is just two workouts for this week. I’m thankful that the hip issue is nearly gone at this point. Right on time. Soft tissue stuff with foam rolling. Didn’t really need much besides tops of my right calf and my upper back. Neck rehab stuff felt fine. Some stuff felt like more effort than usual, but assuming that has to do with my neck feeling tense. Lower body stretching and then a dead hang. Then on to the very quick training session. Starting off the lifting with the same seated presses with somewhat short rests and 3 second eccentrics. This time just 3x5. Light and explosive. I had definitely undershot these last week so I knew that my 40’s would fit the bill here. Didn’t need any warming up sets. Just get in and get out time thing here. This did feel like some effort but easy. From there into goblet squats. Notes being “light AF” for 2 sets of 8-10 reps. Heels elevated as well but no tempo stuff. Seeing as how I did 106lbs for sets with pauses no issues Saturday, I figured just using the 40lbs dumbbell here would fit the bill. I kind of gifted some lighter stuff to my sister. Knees a little achy but not as bad coming into it Saturday. Still felt like things moved well. I kept these similar rest to the pressing. Squats are a little more taxing compared to pressing as even when bodyweight, it is a lot of range of motion. Last lifting related thing was a superset of push ups and band pull aparts. Similar to last week but just bodyweight on the push ups (no tempo or bands). I did my best to make these look robotic in motion and to keep myself braced. Make it look good and like it was no effort at the same time. Do it all day. Band pull aparts didn’t feel as taxing this week. Perhaps because didn’t do so much before hand and less intense push up variation. I made sure I took a slight break between the sets. And as usually is the case on the deload week, some walking after the session. Was to be 15-20 minutes but the route a picked ended up taking longer to complete than I thought. I was worried about undershooting here. Got dinner ready and then stretched. One more 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 a short stint of off-season training until I decide on next competition (likely end of August). I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
