Farmer’s Walk 125xpick 175xpick 220xpick 220x60’ 220x60’
Tire Flips 425x3 425x3 425x3
24 Minutes of Stretching
Comments:
Deload event work. Was seriously contemplating just sleeping in and
doing what I could here instead of driving out to train. I compromised
and only slept in a little bit as I only needed to do some light stuff.
Out to B.A. Athletics for farmer’s walk and tire flips. Not going for
any land speed records so I altered the warm-up so that I was just be
ready to walk with the working weight as opposed to sprinting with it.
Toughest part with farmer’s walks is always the pick for me. Slow and
steady with these. More grip work and my grip felt strong. Held them for
a little bit at the end of the two runs so that I set them down gently.
Then on to tire flips to end the day. Same light tire for 3x3. Really
freaking easy now. Not rushing my setup as again, not speedy mcspeed
time. After the break off the floor, it was all hip thrust/hump to knock
it over. Didn’t even need my arms to finish the flips here. Could
probably use my mind to flip this tire now haha. Didn’t need much in the
way of stretching so it was back on the road. Probably spent more time
driving then working out today. Home to relax. One more easy day and
then back to the hard stuff.
Safety Squat Bar Pause Squats (2 second pauses) 300x2 300x2
Kneeling Cable Abs 210x12 210x12 210x12
28 Minutes of Stretching
Comments:
Deload work for this day was a bit different. No jumps involved. Right
side neck and shoulder still feeling tight. Trying to just let it go
away on its own without using ibuprofen. It appears that over the
weekend, someone broke on of the j-hooks for the power rack. No sure how
long they will be gone as they are supposedly with maintenance but so
are the previous j-hooks. Makes me mad as I’ve put quite a bit of weight
on those without ill effects so someone must have been being a total
tool with them. Anyways, on to the actual workout. Hatfield squats left
off right where last week did. Same weight but just five singles with
shortish rest. My setup was a bit off having to adjust to holding the
rack instead of the hooks. Definitely some hesitation and getting used
to where I need to grip the rack. So slower and tougher than I would
have liked. I was worried I was going to pull the rack down but I know
that isn’t a thing as I’ve had to do heavy lifts like this before with
no issues with the rack. Then on to pause squats with the ssb. Been a
while haha. My knees and getting used to the form again was the only
issues here. I guess these are coming back into the training again haha.
Finished up with cable abs. No change to the previous workout weights.
I’m realizing more and more that these are helping with my spinal health
to decompress after the heavy loading from squats and pulls. Not the
best these have felt but got better each set. Home to stretch and eat.
Two days rest and then two days on to finish up this week.
Comments:
Deload week is here. I wasn’t too sure how this would play out as my
hard weeks have been light weight, just putting maximum effort into it.
So I was curious what a deload of that would look like. Some exercises
dropped and weight either increasing or staying the same. No push-ups
this week, right into log work. I did my warm-up that I normally do when
I’m prepping for a heavier session even though this is still lightish
weight. More to get used to it again as I anticipate things will be
picking up the next mini cycle. Weight actually felt good with 150lbs on
the warm-ups for more reps. I wasn’t expecting that haha. Weight for
the actual “work sets” felt heavy on my shoulders. No real issues with
it but it is certainly tougher when doing it with a calm mind. Not going
ballistic this week with any weights. On to bench pressing. Same idea
with the log but didn’t really need to change my warm-ups much. A little
shaky but felt better than log. Really relaxed and in control here.
Finished up with bands for upper back. I was expecting some protesting
and aches in my shoulders and neck but no such issue and it actually
felt really good on the muscles. Home to stretch and eat.
Prowler Sprints
145x30’ in 2.51 seconds
145x30’ in 2.35 seconds
145x30’ in 2.30 seconds
145x30’ in 2.27 seconds
Sprints
bwx30’ in 1.57 seconds
bwx30’ in 1.31 seconds
bwx30’ in 1.44 seconds
bwx30’ in 1.41 seconds
bwx30’ in 1.45 seconds
Prowler Sprints
65x60’ in 3.54 seconds
65x60’ in 3.41 seconds
Sprints
bwx60’ in 3.02 seconds
bwx60’ in 3.08 seconds
bwx60’ in 3.07 seconds
Nordic Leg Curls (5 second negatives)
bwx4
bwx4
bwx4
34 Minutes of Stretching
Comments:
Return of the Forrest Gump workout. I had planned to wake up earlier
but my body had other plans. I needed the sleep. Lower back was somewhat
stiff and I was worried that I may have a repeat of the day before with
things feeling fast but not being as fast as I’d hoped. I wore my under
armour tight shorts to see if it made a difference with how my hips
feel. I got them originally for deadlifts (more I was forced to because
my folks saw a video of my shorts hiked up really high to prevent bar
friction for sumo pulls so those were needed) but I haven’t really had
the opportunity to use them much as contests either have suite pulls or
pulls were the bar isn’t getting stuck on the thighs. Might be something
to wear additionally for say a contest or long event day. May need to
test it out some more to see if this will keep my hips and lower back
happy much like the rehband belt keeps my midsection happy. Did the
goofy looking dynamic stuff to prep for the sprints. A set was added to
the short prowler sprints and my first run was slow. I knew it was
before I heard my time. Still faster than my fastest from the first two
weeks but a lot slower than last week. I did manage to improve and hit
times closer to what I was hitting the week before. Everything must have
been perfect that one run last week. I did have to move the course down
the street a bit as my neighbors dumped a bunch of branches in the
street outside of their house. Then on to regular sprints. Another set
added to last week. Again, huge decrease in my times. I was
sarcastically telling myself that I’d hit 1.5 seconds and I ended up
being under that for most of the sets. Longer distance prowler up next.
Same sets but added teeny bit of weight. Despite the increase in weight,
I improved my times here as well. No changes to the long sprints.
Consistently good speed but couldn’t beat my best time that I set last
week. So mostly good on the fastizing work. Workout finished up at the Y
with the manual leg curls. I felt stronger on these but the fatigue
definitely built up as I was struggling to slow the eccentric portion of
the lift for the last two reps of the last set. Good bit of stretching
(emphasizing the calves) to finish up this week.
Comments:
Out to B.A. Athletics for event work. Didn’t forget anything this time.
It had rained in the morning so I was regulated to indoors. Farmer’s
walk to start off the day. Even though it was drying out side, the
handles have carpet on the bottom so no dice. Had to make due to setup a
60’ course. More weight than last week. I knew I’d have had a tough
time getting accurate times with these trying to pick a spot for the
camera. I felt fast but the camera says otherwise. Granted pick felt
relatively slow but I felt like I was booking. I’m realizing that there
could be significant margin of error with using my camera and having
someone hand time it. I may need to pick one or the other to keep things
consistent going forward. I could also be tired but it felt like I was
going faster than last week. Then on to tire flip. Another set added on.
Like the farmer’s walk, I felt fast but times were slow. Again,
uncaring machine vs. human error. Tire can be fickle in that it can land
funny and cause it to flop more or wobble. I had a tough time on the
fifth set as my grip slipped and I had it wobble on two of the flips.
Yoke was up next. My right side of my neck and tarps were feeling tight.
I felt good on these but again, timer says I was slow. Just got to keep
working at it and figure out if I want to having the human element or
leave it down to the luck of what the camera catches (the light was bad
on the first and third yoke run). McGill Style pull-ups to finish off
the session. Little more weight, same sets. Didn’t click quite like last
week did but I didn’t irritate my biceps. I think it feels better if I
bring my feet forward and tuck my hips. Stretched and then home to
relax.
Comments:
I decided to take a day off so that this week matched last week. Wanted
to take care of some grocery shopping before the weekend. I wasn’t as
rested as last week but then again, it will be rare that I am that
rested haha. Back to vertical jumps as the box jump setups I’ve used
have been “sketchy as hell” in just jumping in place should be less
anxiety producing and get the same desired effect. Granted, it feels odd
not having a “height goal” and I feel like I’m barely getting any air.
Video makes it look like I’m not even trying but I am. Really tempted to
tuck my knees like box jumps so it looks like I’m jumping super high
haha. Same weight on the squats as last time but with two more sets for
the coupling. I expected to be a little slower but thankfully not the
case and one of my better sessions. My abs were sore and felt bloated. I
realized that I was relaxing too much on the bar after the first rep (I
was seeing stars after that lift haha) and I made an effort to tighten
up for the last two sets. Moved on to the second batch with jumps and
deadlifts. Same as last week. I did the exact same warm-up this time and
it seemed to feel better. Nothing of note really with the jumps.
Generally, I’m feeling a bit beat from the previous set and I notice my
reaction time is maybe a little slower but that is it. With deadlifts, I
played around with my form. Adopting more of a wide stance to engage
the legs. Like a stick thin Shaw. It felt better than the previous weeks
but I’m not sure if this is the ideal stance or not. More legs, less
back. It would definitely not work for a powerlifting style pull with
the leverages but I ain’t powerlifting haha. Will have to compare the
pulls from the past weeks on the cycle and see where to go from here.
Lying leg curl cluster sets again. Definitely felt the increase in
weight on these. Hammies were sore from deadlifts (new stance emphasized
them a fair bit more than normal). No puking in mouth this time haha.
One less set than last week but more weight so all good. I was able to
setup the abs like usual this week. First set felt a lot tougher than
usual but the sets got a lot easier as I did them. Home to stretch and
eat and then sleep.
Comments:
I’ll be honest; I was expecting a deload week with the usually 3 hard, 1
light from past cycles. But it makes sense with the ballistic nature of
the training that things could be extended. Into the push-ups. No
issues with that double tap push I had been having. My upper back was
definitely feeling in from the catch at the bottom of the plyo pushes.
Log up next. Same sets, just added a little weight. I felt like I was
ready on that first set. Breathing is more focused and improved as I
barely got a headache from the sets. I did feel like I was maybe waning
by the end but still lots of power. Benching followed. Luckily, no
issues with securing a bench. Same weight but two more sets. I
definitely felt slow on the first set. I feel like I did get better
though. Trying really hard not to do that triceps thing on these.
Definitely a lot of sets with this kind of output. Forearms weren’t
really sore so band pull aparts were fairly easy again this week. Light
stretching and then food. Debating on whether to go with the next
workout tomorrow or rest a day and then do it. The split last week
seemed to work quite well and I hadn’t been thinking about moving the
days around as I was so used to the gym being closed on Thursdays from
previous cycles.
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.
