Comments: Getting SKRONGIFIED at Max Fitness. Tried out something new today doing low rack pulls with monster mini bands quaded. They have bolted down power racks with band pegs so it was a snap to set up. I didn't know how much the band tension was going to add so I just guessed at being 350ish (I was wrong). After lifting I tested them to find it was 275lbs in tension. Can't go by feel on these because it felt like a lot. Apparently my mini's quaded are only 225lbs and not 315lbs. Makes more sense now haha. Anyways, I worked up to 275lbs double overhand before switching my grip. For some reason, my camera didn't record my attempt at 365lbs, which was tough, so I had to make the next lift haha. Really tough to lockout at that lift at 405lbs. Had to check after to make sure I didn't evacuate in my shorts from how much I was straining. Down set was pretty good. I got five reps and my face felt like it was burning on that last one. Next up was lunges. I just kept on going and going and going up in weight. Absolutely crushed my previous PR of 230lbs for three each leg. And here I was wondered that taking the stairs again at work (I'm dumb) was going to make a bad time for me here. Then did reverse hypers to loosen up my back. I put on four plates a side (what I thought I had on last time) which unintentionally gave me a 40lbs PR. Abs were tough, not as bad as the last time though. Max Fitness dumbbells weigh 2.5lbs more than the listed weight since the handles aren't included in the weight added. Long workout but refreshing.
Bent Over Rear Delt Dumbbell Raises 65'sx15 65'sx15 65'sx15
40 Minutes of Stretching
Comments: No rest haha. I was dumb and took the stairs on my first day at my new assignment. Nine flights after back to back leg intensive days is super dumb. Workout went well. My shoulders were a little tender from the banded keg thing I did. Probably not going to do that again haha. Log push presses were good. Went heavy on dumbbell incline. Happy to get 120's up. Got it for a double, it was very tough. Finished up with laterals and rear delts. Then lots of stretching. Day off tomorrow. May lift at Max Fitness Wednesday.
Comments: You may have noticed that the beginning of my workout was different. I had been asked to help out in a charity event to raise money for the Virginia Special Olympics. It's the Dulles Day Plane Pull. This is the 18th year they've had this event. I was part of a team (there were 57 teams total) headed by my friend Mary Jacobson. A tad anticlimactic with the pull only being for 12'. We got to stay in the VIP section since this other team (Airport Police team) didn't have their team (all but two were assigned to work duty that day) so we joined their team as well. We got second for both the lightest team and the most money raised. It took a lot longer than I expected. I plan on doing it again, perhaps solo haha. Anyways, I had too much excitement as I went into a chicken sandwich induced coma. It was around 7:20 PM before I made my way to the Y to workout. I was sleepy, sunburned and gassy (damn you chipotle ranch). Despite that, squats were easy peasy (though I had to wear my belt one notch looser due to chicken sandwiches, so good). Simulated car deads weren't too bad. The last set was a toughy. I only went up a fiver on belt squats since last time I did 320lbs for a single set after making big jumps the previous sets. This time it was straight sets with 325lbs. Legs dead. Finished up with abs and stretching. Late night for me haha.
Comments: Well, going to bed at 12:30 was not a smart idea. I knew my lower back was a bit fatigued (it's been telling me all week) from Hudson Valley Strongman still so the plan was to work at least the keg toss. I had another idea but my legs were kind of used up from yesterday. Form felt good on kegs, got to see how I look. It's still a bit tough to gauge height without a marker though. May need to experiment with a height marker made out of PVC or something. Maybe even adding tiny weights to the keg too. Bill is getting ready for Nats and he set up the keg sled drag medley, albeit with lighter weight on the sled. He did a run so I did one too, just to push him. Didn't feel bad at all. My legs felt good so I went on to my other idea, the progressive sled drag. Sandbags (100,150,200 & 250) set out 20' apart (last leg only 10'). Drag the sled, load a sandbag, drag sled to next sandbag and load it and so on. Didn't feel bad until the total weight was up to 650lbs. That was tough. I couldn't budge 900lbs, so Wes knocked off the 250lbs sandbag and I finished with just the 650lbs. That was a gasser. Then I finished up another idea. I attached a band to the empty keg and did explosive swings with it. I figured it would be one way to work on being explosive for several reps without getting more and more kegs. Not sure how I feel about this one, pretty tough on the shoulders. I got home and smashed up a small chunk of concrete with our new sledgehammer (10lbs). I levered it with each arm. Not sure if that's good for a first timer. New assignment starts tomorrow.
Comments: It got up to 94 degrees today and it was not a dry heat. Waited until after dark before I went on my walk. Last day at this assignment, new one starts on Monday. Getting up fairly early tomorrow to do an airplane team pull to raise funds for the Special Olympics in Virginia. Should be interesting.
Airplane Pull Team - http://www.firstgiving.com/teamstrongman_usa
Comments: Triceps are getting swole haha. This band tension used to kick my ass on presses. My PR on this is actually from when I first got the bands and I haven't been able to replicate it since. Hell, doing 195lbs with this tension to a freaking 6-board about six months ago almost stapled me. So very pleased to see my triceps flourishing. 265lbs felt heavy as hell. I was thinking no way is this not going to go down through the boards and into my sternum. Good thing I was wrong haha. 275lbs felt even heavier and it looked like it had me defeated but I grinded it out. Noice. Triceps were pretty beat for the down set but still did well. Log cleans kind of sucked. Ok, they really sucked with 310lbs. I had about twice as many misses as I did successful lifts. I'm chalking it up to my hips, back and abs being beaten senseless the day before with the zerchers, gm's, back extensions and situps. I got four months to fix it so no worries. Bench rows get no easier. Surprised to get two more reps on the first set. These sets take long due to how explosive I have to be to get the bar up and that gets fatigued quickly. I switched to a solid attachment for the G-man's as the rope just becomes hard to hold on to when my hands get sweaty and chalk doesn't work. It's a horseshoe shaped attachment so I can get the same grips as I was using with the rope. Rocked these. Almost did a double take at the stack with how easy I did the first rep. Stretching and a day off.
Comments: Distracted is a good word to describe the day before and this workout. Stressed about going to a different job on Monday, got involuntary eye twitching from it, even though I tell myself that it's not a big deal. I'll be able to lift earlier now and the job should be until June. Just tired now. Back felt good enough to lift heavy (must have been from the turkey and swiss paninis I ate the other day). The left side of my neck was achy. Never done zerchers with a ssb before. Not as painful as zerchers with a barbell but a close second. Just got to ignore the pain. Very awkward lift as I have to have a wide enough stance so the yoke pad goes between my legs and the bar lurches forward mid lift, making it very difficult at that point. I think I got it down as I got to heavier weights. Not sure what happened with the down set with 450lbs. Guess I got off balance and wasn't thinking. Did a hard triple after that. GM's felt pretty good at the start. I was thinking that maybe going for +400lbs would be in the cards today. Then I did the set with 285lbs and changed my mind. Missed getting 375lbs off the pins twice, got mad and came back to get it for three. Starting to see a theme here. Back extensions were quite tough. Situps were another odd one. My first go with 55lbs and I couldn't budge it. So I went down to 35lbs and it was too easy. Then went to 45lbs and it was stupid easy. So I went back to 55lbs and got tight and focused and gutted out 15 reps. Got 15 for the second set but just died on the third set. I hit a wall going for 11. Lots of stretching.
Comments: Besides my back and biceps, I felt pretty good. I'll have to see if my lower back is up to snuff for hard training on Wednesday. If not, I'll have to go easy this week. Only slight upperback discomfort on the deadlifts, none when squatting. I'm done with contests until January. Going to work towards Battle at the Barn while improving my static strength.
Comments: I was able to get out of bed before 12 so I guess I didn't work hard enough yesterday haha. Got some nice "bites" from the 483lbs atlas stone (one on my hand and the other on my knee). Hips and back sore. Not really in pain so that's good. Just went for a walk to loosen things up. Most likely doing a deload workout tomorrow, maybe walking instead. Depends on how stiff everything is tomorrow. Then back to the good stuff Wednesday. I should clarify that the "back to the drawing board" at the end of my contest video was more in reference to my axle cleans and the damned conan's wheel, not my overall training.
I like stone loading. A lot. When I saw that there might be a chance that a 483lbs atlas stone would be at this contest, I committed to the show. Did I care what the other events were? Who I’d be competing against? That it was just a few weeks after a tougher than I thought it would be contest? Hell no. I wanted that stone. I was visualizing it for the past two weeks.
I missed out on this contest last year as it was only a few weeks after New Jersey’s Strongest Man and I was not sure if I was competing for the rest of the year after that abysmal performance. Seeing as how the wake up at 4:50AM the day before thing worked out great for Battle of the Bad Ass this year (minus restroom Jehovah’s Witnesses) that was the plan for this show too. My father had to deal with my impression of “Weekend at Bernie’s” for about two hours until I came to. Nothing much of note this trip. Got to the venue, I took my pictures, renewed my NAS membership and checked in. As I am a heavyweight, I didn’t have to weigh-in. It’s pretty much “Weight?” “I’m a heavyweight.” “Ok, lardass, you don’t need to weigh-in.” There were a lot of people there. The parking lot was full. I believe 65 competitors in all. Granted most were there for Master’s Nationals but there was still quite a healthy serving of people in all the weight classes. Also a lot of ladies, like almost as many as there are at Women’s Nationals. Steve, the promoter actually thanked me for setting up an event on the Facebook for the show. I knew most of the people in the heavyweight open class (6 including myself) so I knew the uphill battle that this show was going to be.
To start the day off, it was a max axle clean and press. A “maxle” if you will. I wasn’t too sure how I’d go with this as my pressing with leg drive didn’t help me much at the last contest. My original goal was to open with 280lbs and then go for 300lbs, a number I haven’t hit yet with a clean. But I wasn’t feeling good so I figured I’d lower it to the minimum opener of 260lbs and then go up by 20lbs. However, I did a warmup with 280lbs while waiting (lot of people to go through) I hit 280lbs like it was nothing. Ok, back to the original plan then. I get 280lbs cleaned easy but I get called for resting it on my belt. I didn’t realize you could get called for that with a rehband belt. So I had to put it back down and I readjusted my belt lower and did it again. Not as easy a clean. Tried to press, no good. I refocused and hit it again and it went up easy. The judge told me to just ditch the belt for the next attempt. I went for 300lbs anyways. On this clean, it’s like I forgot everything. Way tougher than it should have been. But I got it to my shoulders. Same thing as 280lbs, first attempt a miss and then getting on the second attempt. Very happy to get 300lbs with a clean. Now at this point, two people were out and the other three still had not done their openers. Since all three of them were going to open with 320lbs, I figured I’d go with that too so I could get some rest before my next attempt. The left side of my back was bothering me after that clean without the rehband belt with 300lbs. I put it back on to keep that area warm. I tried to get my head right and went at it. First two attempts were bad, so I threw off the rehband belt so I could rest the bar lower on my abdomen. I went for the flip but it wasn’t enough. Fourth out of six.
Up next was the 18” deadlift, last man standing style. I was in the hole off the bat with the first event but since the three people ahead of me all tied the event, I wasn’t in that bad of a place. The apparatus were boxes attached to a bar so it was like a silver dollar deadlift but the bar height was at 18”. Midshin pull for me. It was going to be changed to three attempts to a max like the axle but the competitors wanted to do what was advertized instead. I was hoping this would benefit me as it would fatigue the back muscles with all the pulling. Starting weight was 550lbs. Got that. Next was 600lbs. A bit tougher but got it. Then 650lbs. Quite bit tougher. Up next was 700lbs. I was going to call it there even if I got this one as my left side of my back was still acting up on me. If I got 700lbs, I’d get fourth outright, but if I missed, I’d share it with another competitor. I went a tugged, no good. I stepped back while still strapped in and jumped forward towards the apparatus and pulled hard. It moved a little bit but not happening. Settled for a tie for fourth out of six.
Then it was time for the conan’s wheel. 750lbs on this implement. I felt pretty good about this event as I thought I had figured out my problem with this event. I guess I was wrong. I picked it up and almost blacked out. I got 15’ with it. I went farther with 100lbs more on this exact conan’s wheel not four months ago. I was beyond pissed at this. HATE! Tied for fifth out of six.
Yeah, so any chance at reaching a podium spot was gone. Even though the next two events were good for me. The next event was a loading medley. Carry two kegs (275lbs and 300lbs) 25’, load them over a 48” bar and then load two power stair implements (325lbs and 350lbs) up two sets of 18” steps. I was feeling alright about this event. I was resting and then I attempted to stand up. My entire back started to spasm. I don’t know what happened but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to even lift up the first keg. First keg down, easy. Second keg, easy, only slightly slower. I beat feet to the power stairs and got them up fast. I prematurely raised my fists in victory (didn’t know if I had even won the event, just happy to do well). My time just edged out the fastest time by a little over 1.5 seconds. My time of 30.14 seconds got me a win. First out six.
Final event was an atlas stone series. The heights were changed a bit from the entry form. It was to start at 60” and end at 40” but that was changed to 48”. Not bad but it certainly made things a bit tougher. The weights and heights were 275lbs to 60”, 310lbs to 54”, 330lbs to 48”, 350lbs to 48” and a 22” diameter 405lbs stone over a yoke set to 48”. There was also the bonus stone. 483lbs and 22” in diameter. It was glorious. Time limit for this one was 60 seconds with 30 seconds for the bonus stone. I was in fourth overall. The only way I could get into third would be to load all the stones, including the bonus stone for the extra two points. I got to go last on this since I had won the previous event. No one had loaded the five stones yet. I was in silent rage mode. I got ready and attacked. I one motioned the first three stones (not a wise decision with the 330lbs stone) and then easily got the 350lbs stone. I retackied for the 405lbs stone. I got down and it came up easy and then it slid out as I was trying to lap it. WTF! I look at my forearms and hands it looks like I’m slathered in cement mix. Not good. I retack again and give it another go. Barely coming off the ground as it just keeps sliding. I called it there. Very, very disappointed with missing the 405lbs stone. My time of 17.02 through first four stones was only good enough for second out of six.
However, I was not done. No sir. I came here to try that 483lbs behemoth and damn it if I’m not going to give it a shot. Now this is only minutes after I failed the 405lbs stone. I got psyched approached and attacked. It actually came up off the ground! Hell I almost got it lapped before it slid out. I waited a few more minutes and did it again. Again, so close. A few more minutes and again a near miss at lapping it. Psyched out my mind that I’m that close on a freaking 483lbs stone. I may need to build a bigger stone soon. I really want another chance at it soon.
So yeah, I did his a PR on the axle and I beat Brett Somerville at a medley but boy do I have my work cut out for me. Obviously, static strength in deadlifts and overheads needs to keep going up but I feel I’m on the right track for those. Conan’s wheel is conan’s wheel. I don’t have that coming up in any show anytime soon but I might just have to keep that as a staple exercise. No one likes that 405lbs atlas stone. It’s a dust factory. A stone slug if you will. I didn’t get much chance to talk with anyone besides when all the events were over. I apologize to anyone who thought I came off indifferent during the contest but I was trying to keep my mind off my mid back pain. I had fun despite that. Meant some new faces and I look forward to competing or training with any of you guys. My next contest is most likely going to be Battle at the Barn III in late January. Quite a few people want me to go to Nats but unless I find a way to get the costs for that trip down substantially, it’s not happening this year. I will be helping out with an airplane pull in Virginia next Saturday to raise funds for the Special Olympics. Should be interesting. I also plan on training down at Brute Strength Gym for the charity team contest. I hear they’ll have a 500lbs atlas stone.
Comments: Allergies attacked with a vengeance today. Annoying as anything. It rained so hopefully that keeps the pollen out of the air tomorrow and Saturday. Walking was nice, felt good. It was cool and a tad humid outside. Walking is on the menu again for tomorrow.
Comments: Man, I hate deload workouts. I always stay relaxed while doing these workouts and it just feels awful. Upper back on the left side was acting up on squats and deads. Nothing major, I should barely notice it when I'm in contest mode. Push presses felt alright. Getting used to those again is weird haha. Just walking the next two days.
Bent Over Rear Delt Dumbbell Raises 65'sx15 65'sx15 65'sx15
35 Minutes of Stretching
Comments: Well, upperback is feeling better but my left biceps is a little tight. Good workout. Since I'm doing push presses instead of jerks for speed work, I lowered the weight I was using for the speed work. I'll work back up to the jerk weights in a few months. Felt good, though first set I got off balance haha. This is the first time I've tried going heavy on JM presses. Certainly not strict accessory version. First rep with 245lbs was awful but the other two were much better. Finished up with laterals and rear delts. After lifting, I messed around setting up a viking press in the power rack with bands. Should be interesting.
Barbell Hip Thrusts 225x3 275x3 315x3 365x3 405x3 455x3 495x3
Belt Squats 230x12 PR+10lbs 275x12 PR+55lbs 320x12 PR+100lbs
Pulldown Abs 150x15 PR+3 reps 150x15 150x15
Comments: Not very sore but I got a bit too much sun yesterday. I also aggravated my upperback on the left side from the 1000lbs yoke pick I think. I've still done well at contests with that acting up on me (Battle at the Barn and American Cup) so I should be alright in a few days. Just got to work on letting it recover. After yesterday, of course box squats were not super speedy. Of course there was no doubts I'd crush the reps. On hip thrusts, the goal was 405lbs for a triple. Technically, anything over 325lbs was a PR but I've never tried heavier or for low reps on these. So I was quite surprised to get past 405lbs. When 455lbs didn't feel so bad I couldn't leave it at that so I went with 495lbs. I did each one slow. I had at least one more rep in the tank, maybe a second. Belt squatting showed just how much stronger my legs have gotten since I first got the Spud belt. 230lbs was way too easy so I figured another 45lbs would slow me down some. But the following set it was only noticeable on the final two reps that I had more weight on than the first set. Okay, fine, add another plate. That set was just perfect. Legs, hips and back were pumped and I figure that dimel's have served their purpose so I did pulldown abs. Finished up with a lot of stretching. Tomorrow will be my last tough workout and then it's easy until Saturday. Then back to the grindstone the following Wednesday.
Comments: Was not sure what today was going to be. I have been very sore this week from training. Went down to York to train with Jon. It was just the two of us today. Since I have a show next weekend, I didn't really want to get in the way and did what he was doing. Did some yoke and then he did the yoke and sandbag medley that's going to be at Nats. I figured, why not and did it too. Now I was worried that it was going to be a catastrophe like my 800lbs yoke at the WNSF show where dropped it a million and one times and finished the course in 75 seconds. I guess what Joe told me last week clicked because damned if that wasn't my best runs with +800lbs. I did it with no drops which is huge for me. Ran back to the sandbag and kind of lazily picked it up and walked with low and put it away at the same time. That run with the yoke really restored my confidence in my yoking ability. After that, we both stupidly tried 1000lbs on the yoke. Jon did two attempts and I did one. I took a step and dropped it. Not even close today haha. Jon's yoke feels slightly less stable than Joe's. Then it was on to keg carries. Jon only has the one keg filled up so we improvised with running down 30' and back to the keg before picking it up again to simulate running back to get another keg. This was nice and light for me and I really focused on getting the keg high, and moving quickly. Went back to Jon's house where he did stones. I want to be fresh for stones at the contest so I didn't do them. I wanted to do some pressing but ceiling is too low for me to mess with the log or dumbbell (I shouldered the 185lbs dumbbell once each side. It's a bear with the 3" handle.) So I did some pressing using the cambered bar and chains. Interesting I must say. I'm considering getting some chains but they are very expensive.
Comments: Just walking today after work today. Went out fairly late to walk. Nice and cool. Hopefully this helps loosen things up a bit. I've been reconsidering going hard up to the contest as I've been quite sore these past few days. I want to be near if not at my best for this contest (very eager to tear it up at this show). I saw this because I'll finally have a chance to compete against my friend Brett Somerville and also get a shot at loading a 483lbs stone. So I may be taking a precontest deload that week but return to normal the following Wednesday. Just got to see how I feel the next few days.
Comments: It's a good thing I'm trying out more strict pressing based overheads because my legs are just dead. I've been moving like a slightly more spry Frankenstein's Monster. Unfathomable soreness. Never been the best at strict pressing, especially not for a max, so I was unsure what to expect. Now I have done 230lbs for a triple on a barbell but my best on my axle was only 190lbs. The 190lbs was on my hollow bar (so much easier to press) and I had tried 210lbs and I missed it horribly. Now on this solid axle my best was only 175lbs for a triple and I missed 195lbs on that. Just to give you an idea of how little I was expecting on this today. I was thinking this will suck on my first warmup with 75lbs but then felt a ton better on the next set. Then the doubts came back as I put on weight haha. After 210lbs, I was unsure if 225lbs would go. Luckily my dad arrived. Ok, so now I have to get it. A little bit of a struggle but got it. I said screw it, add 15lbs more to it. I have to get, I have to get was what I was thinking. I got set and pressed. So ugly but it went inch by inch. The face I made on this was a cross between thinking really hard and straining to poop or what I like to call "constitration". So yeah, big PR on that overall and also the most I've ever strict pressed. Did a down set and that last rep was even tougher and uglier than the 240lbs. Didn't think it was possible but it is. Then on to rack lockouts. I haven't done these in at least three years (back when I was on my partials kick) so I was unsure if I could match my best back then so my plan was just to go up to 405lbs to see how it went. That left me wide open to crush it with 455lbs. That was a max effort and my triceps were just dead. I didn't feel like setting up bench rows today so I did pullups. I weighed in at just under 265lbs with my shoes on (they weight just over 4lbs) which is my heaviest bodyweight I've done pullups. Not too bad buy my biceps were getting pretty fatigued doing these, back was fine. I may do these on the weeks I do overhead. Honestly, I'm thinking about rotating around different back exercises depending on how I feel. Keep things fun. G-mans were insanely tough. During the first set I was wondering if I had accidentaly put an extra 50lbs on or something. Every single rep was hard fought. My arms and lats were pretty much meat balloons by the end of this workout. Did lots and lots of stretching for my legs.
Comments: Oh yeah, just what I needed. Coming off a deload, I needed a kick in the pants. It's always the achy "why do I have to lift today" feeling when I take off from a contest. The worst feeling to me. While nothing I was planning on doing today needed to be done at Max Fitness, I went there just so I could ensure a good workout. Stiff-legged super wide stance sumos were killers. I managed 495lbs double overhand pretty easy (probably because of the deadlift bar) but went with my straps after that (underhand grip hand always gets caught on my thigh). 550lbs was a fight to get started but lockout was good. Too worn out to get 565lbs but it was so freaking close. I feel 600lbs will fall on this lift in the near future. Did a fiver with 495lbs, the last one just destroyed my glutes (hurt so good haha). Really appreciated having B.Tozer and Will giving me pointers and cues for these. Lunges were a little different. The first set was with a regular barbell but the guys told me to try the squat bar instead so I didn't have to worry about missing the rack. Since I didn't feel like changing the plates I had, I just made the next jump 30lbs instead of 20lbs. My left leg was lagging on the first two sets so I switched to that as my starting leg for the other sets. I need to use different shoes next time as the worn tread made me slip twice, once on 245lbs and again with 265lbs. The slip with 265lbs made me mad so I wised up and hammered out the remaining two reps. Very pleased with my progress on these. I've never done real ghr's on a real ghr so I wanted to take the opportunity and give it a try. Will coached me through it and I was doing them perfect for most of the reps. Really freaking tough and lots of room for improvement and progression. I immediately disliked Will for allowing me to do these because I know my hammies will be sore for days. Did an easy set of abs and stretched.
Comments: I haven't had a chance to get in a good walk for a while (besides my daily commute to and from work). Went to a park I haven't been to in many years with my family. Nice to do something relaxing for a change. Also did some odd jobs around the house. Since I have night class tomorrow, I'll be doing nothing. Back at it hard on Wednesday. After discussing it over with Joe, my prep for Hudson Valley is going to be the same that I used for Battle of the Badass: train normally but skip DE workouts the week of the contest. Essentially, treat it like a super heavy event day. Depending on how I feel (also on whether I plan on doing Nats) will determine whether I take a deload or keep on trucking. No planned contests after this until December WNSF show (even though the deadlift and press medley are beyond me at this point). I will be doing the Plane Pull the week after Hudson Valley (9/25) and then the team event/Nats training at BSG (10/16). Nats is not completely out of the question but it appears less and less likely with costs. I may just have to wait until it's closer.
Play Stone Carry/Tire Flip Medleys +300x60' +300x100'/550x6 +300x60'/550x7
Comments: I knew even if I felt good, I had to take it easy today as far as weights. Caught up on what had been going on at the Stable while I was at the show. Talked shop with Joe quite a bit in regards to overhead pressing before I got into it. I had plans to do medley work and test out throwing a keg. Zach and Bill were doing yoke but since I wanted to do it light I did all my sets with no rest to get out of their way. Especially since they are prepping for a show while I'm just coming back. Weights were easy but quite a gasser doing all that work. Only rest was walking back to the yoke after the farmer's. Next I did keg tossing. Joe gave me a bit of verbal lashing about my yoke performance about how I didn't let weight settle and that I'm rushing it. Definitely good to have Joe coaching me on that event as he's outstanding at the yoke. Tried out two different grips on the keg. We don't have a way to gauge the height other than eyeballing it at the moment. Probably would have helped to have my camera for this. On one of my throws, the seal broke and the pressure air leaked out which lead to fairly humorous outcome when I tried throwing it again as it would "spit" at me when I tried to settle it (I'm assuming that the kegs I'll be using at the contest will be half kegs with sand). Working on transferring the power into the keg. On the first few I was launching myself forward a few feet. After the singles, I did a set of six just to get used to doing a lot of tosses in succession. Those actually got better as I got into a groove. Then I wanted to play with the Husafell stone. But I don't call it that. This thing is nasty. It does not play well with others. It's made of concrete and is trapezoid shape with two pieces of rebar sticking out the top to add weight. One side is smooth, the other is jagged with the word "PLAY" etched into it. So it is the "PLAY" stone to me. I had issues even picking it up off the ground. It is bitey. But I got it and it wasn't too much trouble though it is a pain to get it into position. I sucked balls on the tire. No excuses on that. Luckily I got time to get back into it.
Bent Over Rear Delt Dumbbell Raises 45'sx12 45'sx12 45'sx12
36 Minutes of Stretching
Comments: Yep, yep, yep. Back to posting an update on the actual day I do it haha. Too impatient to wait until next week so I started implementing some of the upperbody changes I was going to make. Nothing felt bad other than JM's (rusty) so this workout went quick. Essentially I'll be focusing more on strict and push pressing weights overhead per suggestions from Dave Ostlund. Going to do a bit more tweaking to get it all together. Going to do really light events tomorrow, probably all medley based to get the blood flowing, work up a sweat and get my heart rate up a tad.
Comments: Feeling better but still got some bugs to work out I guess. Biggest things left to recover are on my left side. In fact, the same crap from the last super heavy show (Villanova). This may end up being a reoccurring thing for some of these shows. Squats felt good (besides the thing) and hip thrusts were easy but painful since I haven't done them in a while. Belt squats work much better with the Spud strap and a loading pin. I used the j-hooks on the power rack for balance as the weight tends to swing when I focus on proper squat form. Finished up with dimels, a little irritating on my upper back. Forearms felt much better so I am recovering.
Comments: Blargh. Still finding hidden boo-boos and owies. 3-boards didn't feel too bad. The rest of the workout wasn't that good, pretty much everything I needed was being used so I had to do some alternatives. Power rack was in use so I used the top of the squat rack for strict press and that sucked have to partial front squat the weight up and then press. The bench I needed for bench rows was in use so I just went with cable rows. Triceps rope was also periodically in use so the first set of G-mans was done using ankle cuffs to hold it in a similar grip. Those didn't feel so good. Lots of freaking stretching. Possibly making some adjustments to training, especially after Dave Ostlund was kind enough to throw down some eggs of wisdom about overhead pressing recently. Up and coming things are obviously the Hudson Valley Strongman (unsure if I'm going to deload or just treat it as a heavy, tough event day) on September 19th but also a Plane Pull for the Special Olympics on September 25th and a team charity contest on October 16th at Brute Strength Gym. Looking for a possible LW partner but if I can't get one, I'll still be down there to workout and support the competitors and charity. Nats may be on the backburner for now (the main deterrent is cost and distance, but like 95% cost). I may have picked up a sponsor that will provide small donations to both charities. Three more days of this easing in lifting, then two days off. Then back at it I guess.
45-degree Safety Squat Bar Hyperextensions 122x10 122x10 122x10
Pulldown Abs 105x15 105x15 105x15
34 Minutes of Stretching
Comments: Woof, this may be the longest stretch where I haven't done anything. The day after the contest I was just exhausted and only had breakfast and dinner that day. Still recovering from the contest. Apparently very stressed as I have had physical manifestations of stress such as an occassional eye twitch and fever blisters. Haven't had this happen in a while. Anyway, finally got time to hit the first post contest deload workout. Left side of my upper back still buggy and my forearms were just a mess. The workout was suck but at least it was something. Next five days are going to be deload workouts.
I’m a little taller than 6′6″ and I really like to lift weights. I’m a competitor in amateur strongman contests. My hope is to become a competitive professional strongman. Currently I'm training for Natural Strongman USA West Coast Championship in Poulsbo, WA on 5/17/2025. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
