First Annual Kasson New Years Eve Contest!!!
We had an excellent turnout this year at the First Annual Kasson New Years Eve Contest. The list of competitors is as follows:
Chuck Kasson 265+
We had a cold start at the time of the first event with the temperature hovering right around the 25 degree mark. Competitors and spectators both were bundled up as the entire contest was held outside. The first event was the tire flip for reps. 60s flipping twice one direction, then the opposite direction. Kasson saw his first victory of the day with 13 reps on the 800 # tire.
The second event was the log press. Clean once and press for reps. 265+ had a 260 pound log and it turned out to be quite the bear for all competitors. Kasson, again claimed victory on this event with 5 reps.
Farmers walk followed and the course was starting to get sloppy as the snow began to melt...temperatures had climed to around 30 degrees and everybody was starting to get a bit warmed up. The 265+ class worked with 255 pounds per hand and had a 120 foot course with a turn at 60 feet. Kasson was really hitting his stride as he dominated the event with a time of 20.47 seconds and turned in his third victory of the day.
Keg load proved to be a thorn in the side of many of the contestants. The keg was a 340 pound beast and was to be loaded 5 times and time would be taken for the reps. The fastest time of the day was 1:45 and was again done by Kasson.
The final event was a Rolling Thunder Deadlift. 3 attempts for max weight. Kasson won the event with a dismal 180 pounds. He failed at 190 twice but it was still enough to win the event and seal his overall victory.
Despite the chilly conditions we were more than pleased with the turnout. I would like to thank all our fantastic sponsors. I'll just list them as follows:
I hope I didn't leave anybody out. If I did, hopefully I'll get you next year at the 2nd Annual Kasson New Years Eve Contest! Everybody is invited...Special thanks to a special lady who worked as a judge, loader, spotter, timer, and generally good looking girl.
Look to see everybody out again next year and congratulations Kasson for his total dominance today.
Out-Work
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday
Press
OHP
135x8
225x2 strict
225x8
275x6
275x6
275x4
285x8
285x7
285x6
Close Grip Bench
3 board
225x10
275x5x3
225x11
Pullups
some
Core
Weighted Leg Raises
a bunch
There is some major stress going on right now, I have three huge tests staring me in the face and I didn't even want to be in the gym...but about halfway through I thought to myself..."Well, you are here, you aren't studying, you are playing with weights, what could be better?" After that I hit it as hard as I could, but there wasn't much gas in the tank...I'll chalk it up to the stress. Only a few more days
One day at a time...
Press
OHP
135x8
225x2 strict
225x8
275x6
275x6
275x4
285x8
285x7
285x6
Close Grip Bench
3 board
225x10
275x5x3
225x11
Pullups
some
Core
Weighted Leg Raises
a bunch
There is some major stress going on right now, I have three huge tests staring me in the face and I didn't even want to be in the gym...but about halfway through I thought to myself..."Well, you are here, you aren't studying, you are playing with weights, what could be better?" After that I hit it as hard as I could, but there wasn't much gas in the tank...I'll chalk it up to the stress. Only a few more days
One day at a time...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thursday
Lower
Squat
135x10
225x8
315x8
405x5
455x5
495x3x4
BTR Deadlifts
2 plates
315x10x3
Dimmel DL
315x11ishx3
Landmine
Single bar arc
45xsomex2
55xsomex2
Weighted Sitemups
45x10x3
Squat is killing me right now. I haven't actually trained it in a while because it really seems to aggravate my SI joint issues...but I'm slowly trying to work it in just for the quad work on my deadlift. I'm happy with where it is, although I'd like to see me get close to 600 here in the near future...it should happen with some good work on it. I am starting to have a sticking issue that I've never experienced with the squat...about halfway up out of the hole I seem to stall. I've been able to push through it thus far, but I can see it being something to hold me back. Usually I have no trouble locking anything out that I can get out of the hole...but with the time I've taken off of squat, this seems to be a thing of the past. Oh well, another weak point to bring up. I feel like I don't have the lockout power in the glutes that I used to, maybe something from the back issues I had after nationals? I've been trying to work them with the dimmels and squats, hopefully it will turn back into one of my strong points...I know in the back of my mind I really need to hit lunges again, but they hurt so bad for so long I'm having a hard time bringing myself to inflict that torture on myself.
On a completely unrelated note...I had some of the worst farts ever today. I mean gag bad...
Kielbasa sausage + Saurkraut + Ham and Bean stew x 2 = a rumbly in my tumbly
Yep...felt like all those at least once today
Lower
Squat
135x10
225x8
315x8
405x5
455x5
495x3x4
BTR Deadlifts
2 plates
315x10x3
Dimmel DL
315x11ishx3
Landmine
Single bar arc
45xsomex2
55xsomex2
Weighted Sitemups
45x10x3
Squat is killing me right now. I haven't actually trained it in a while because it really seems to aggravate my SI joint issues...but I'm slowly trying to work it in just for the quad work on my deadlift. I'm happy with where it is, although I'd like to see me get close to 600 here in the near future...it should happen with some good work on it. I am starting to have a sticking issue that I've never experienced with the squat...about halfway up out of the hole I seem to stall. I've been able to push through it thus far, but I can see it being something to hold me back. Usually I have no trouble locking anything out that I can get out of the hole...but with the time I've taken off of squat, this seems to be a thing of the past. Oh well, another weak point to bring up. I feel like I don't have the lockout power in the glutes that I used to, maybe something from the back issues I had after nationals? I've been trying to work them with the dimmels and squats, hopefully it will turn back into one of my strong points...I know in the back of my mind I really need to hit lunges again, but they hurt so bad for so long I'm having a hard time bringing myself to inflict that torture on myself.
On a completely unrelated note...I had some of the worst farts ever today. I mean gag bad...
Kielbasa sausage + Saurkraut + Ham and Bean stew x 2 = a rumbly in my tumbly
Yep...felt like all those at least once today
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday
Press
OHP
135x10
225x1
225x8
275x4
285x8
315x2
305x5
305x4x4
225x10
Bench
Partials
225x10
275x5
225x8x3
Pullups
25x5x5
Core
grappler arcs
weighted leg raises
Neck
70x20x3
Pretty happy with the press today, I didn't feel too strong so I'm happy with where it was all things considered. On thursday I squatted pretty intense. I hit 405 for 8 for 3 sets and then 405 for 10 because I had a spotter. I'm still sore.
Press
OHP
135x10
225x1
225x8
275x4
285x8
315x2
305x5
305x4x4
225x10
Bench
Partials
225x10
275x5
225x8x3
Pullups
25x5x5
Core
grappler arcs
weighted leg raises
Neck
70x20x3
Pretty happy with the press today, I didn't feel too strong so I'm happy with where it was all things considered. On thursday I squatted pretty intense. I hit 405 for 8 for 3 sets and then 405 for 10 because I had a spotter. I'm still sore.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday
Press
Reverse Band OHP
Worked up to 295x3x2
OHP
250x10
250x13
285x6
285x4
Floor Press
225x8;x7;x6
Pullups
Somexsome
Really good day! My lockout has really been giving me trouble so today we hammered it. I'm not sure, but the 250 for 13 may be close to a record. My goal is 315 for 10. I think that if I hadn't done so much already I'd have had 285 for 10. My triceps were blasted after this and I'm excited to hit it hard again on tuesday night. Hopefully big Joe can get in there with me then too.
Press
Reverse Band OHP
Worked up to 295x3x2
OHP
250x10
250x13
285x6
285x4
Floor Press
225x8;x7;x6
Pullups
Somexsome
Really good day! My lockout has really been giving me trouble so today we hammered it. I'm not sure, but the 250 for 13 may be close to a record. My goal is 315 for 10. I think that if I hadn't done so much already I'd have had 285 for 10. My triceps were blasted after this and I'm excited to hit it hard again on tuesday night. Hopefully big Joe can get in there with me then too.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tuesday
Press
Log
180x10
230x5
260x6
OHP
225x5
315x2
335x1
355xMISS
My lockout is really killing me. I'm not sure why, but every press felt crappy on the lockout. I did a final test set at 315 and was able to blast the weight up, only to fail at lockout. Much needs to be done about this.
Not happy with today
One day at a time...
Press
Log
180x10
230x5
260x6
OHP
225x5
315x2
335x1
355xMISS
My lockout is really killing me. I'm not sure why, but every press felt crappy on the lockout. I did a final test set at 315 and was able to blast the weight up, only to fail at lockout. Much needs to be done about this.
Not happy with today
One day at a time...
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thursday
hell
Deadlift
warmed up
405x3x2
495x3
525x3x3
525x2
Standing about 3 inches off the ground
405x6x3
Romanian Deadlift
315x10x3
Pull Down Abs
Some
They call them deadlifts for a reason...if you do them for over an hour, getting yourself up off the ground becomes synonymous with what got you there.
Still not happy about where my pull is at right now. Hopefully what I did tonight will start to carry over.
hell
Deadlift
warmed up
405x3x2
495x3
525x3x3
525x2
Standing about 3 inches off the ground
405x6x3
Romanian Deadlift
315x10x3
Pull Down Abs
Some
They call them deadlifts for a reason...if you do them for over an hour, getting yourself up off the ground becomes synonymous with what got you there.
Still not happy about where my pull is at right now. Hopefully what I did tonight will start to carry over.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday
DE Lower
Cleans
135x5
225x5
265x4x4
Kettlebell
Snatch
48kg x5x2
Swing
48kg x20x2
Neck
55x25x3
Core
Windmills
I felt this weight was better for cleans than last week. I didn't think I went light enough last monday to really consider it a dynamic speed day. I would like to see that number really move up. I'm not super happy with 265, but I felt fast on all four reps, so that will be my criteria from here on. The kettlebell brought many stares my way today.
P.S. I can't stand it when people call it a KettleBALL! They act like they really know what the russian instrument of torture really is about but can't even pronounce it! KettleBELL! Mother Russia will crush you!
DE Lower
Cleans
135x5
225x5
265x4x4
Kettlebell
Snatch
48kg x5x2
Swing
48kg x20x2
Neck
55x25x3
Core
Windmills
I felt this weight was better for cleans than last week. I didn't think I went light enough last monday to really consider it a dynamic speed day. I would like to see that number really move up. I'm not super happy with 265, but I felt fast on all four reps, so that will be my criteria from here on. The kettlebell brought many stares my way today.
P.S. I can't stand it when people call it a KettleBALL! They act like they really know what the russian instrument of torture really is about but can't even pronounce it! KettleBELL! Mother Russia will crush you!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thursday
ME Lower
Rack Pulls
Tibial Plateau
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
495x5
585x5
545x5x4
Back Squat
225x10
315x20
Core
Weighed Leg Raise
~35x10x3
Pull Down Abs
3x15
Rack pulls were less than stellar today. I still have to understand that I've lost some deadlift strength. I'll have to build back up to where I was. I'm not far off on some aspects, but others, if I bring them up, I know I'll really improve my pull. I'll have to look back to see what my best pull is from this height, but I'm sure it's more than this.
Got to get motivated!
ME Lower
Rack Pulls
Tibial Plateau
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
495x5
585x5
545x5x4
Back Squat
225x10
315x20
Core
Weighed Leg Raise
~35x10x3
Pull Down Abs
3x15
Rack pulls were less than stellar today. I still have to understand that I've lost some deadlift strength. I'll have to build back up to where I was. I'm not far off on some aspects, but others, if I bring them up, I know I'll really improve my pull. I'll have to look back to see what my best pull is from this height, but I'm sure it's more than this.
Got to get motivated!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tuesday
Press
Log
180x5
230x5
250x5x4
280x3
OHP
185x3
250x5
275x8
315x3
Arm over Arm Drags
5 trips
200
200
300
345
345
Face Pulls
Somexsome
KB Stability Swings
75xsomex3
Not bad...log felt way better today than last week. Next week I'll try 5x5 at 270 and see how that feels. I've decided that after ME rack pulls on thursday I shall 20 rep squat...It will be magical
Press
Log
180x5
230x5
250x5x4
280x3
OHP
185x3
250x5
275x8
315x3
Arm over Arm Drags
5 trips
200
200
300
345
345
Face Pulls
Somexsome
KB Stability Swings
75xsomex3
Not bad...log felt way better today than last week. Next week I'll try 5x5 at 270 and see how that feels. I've decided that after ME rack pulls on thursday I shall 20 rep squat...It will be magical
Monday, November 2, 2009
Monday
Lower
Snatch
135x3
185x3
225xmiss
Clean
225x3
275x3x3
315x3 mid pulls
Zurcher Squat
225x10
315x10x2
Suitcase Deads
135x5x3
Neck
55x30x3
Grip
Levering x some
This is my new plan for deadlift. Monday (today) will be dynamic in the form of olympic lifts. I really want to work on exploding off the floor and quad strength. Thursday will be max effort alternating weeks of pulling from the floor and partials. This is to save my back from max full range every week and get my body used to handling heavy weights with the partials. Assistance work will work all aspects of the deadlift with an emphasis placed on lower back and quad strength (SLD, RDL, Front Squats, TKEs, etc...) I will try to train these in an increasing fashion for 5 weeks. Week six will be a full out max for a single on monday and thursday will be a max rep on the squat (Why? Because I can.) We'll see how it all unfolds
One day at a time...
Lower
Snatch
135x3
185x3
225xmiss
Clean
225x3
275x3x3
315x3 mid pulls
Zurcher Squat
225x10
315x10x2
Suitcase Deads
135x5x3
Neck
55x30x3
Grip
Levering x some
This is my new plan for deadlift. Monday (today) will be dynamic in the form of olympic lifts. I really want to work on exploding off the floor and quad strength. Thursday will be max effort alternating weeks of pulling from the floor and partials. This is to save my back from max full range every week and get my body used to handling heavy weights with the partials. Assistance work will work all aspects of the deadlift with an emphasis placed on lower back and quad strength (SLD, RDL, Front Squats, TKEs, etc...) I will try to train these in an increasing fashion for 5 weeks. Week six will be a full out max for a single on monday and thursday will be a max rep on the squat (Why? Because I can.) We'll see how it all unfolds
One day at a time...
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday
Upper
Blast straps
pushups worked up to double average bands x 5
Pullups
Scarecrows
TKE
Good Mornings
Today was more of an extra workout on an off day, than actual training. I'm going to be home this weekend so I'll get a good day in, prowler, log, deads, tire flip...good stuff like that.
Must deadlift more
Upper
Blast straps
pushups worked up to double average bands x 5
Pullups
Scarecrows
TKE
Good Mornings
Today was more of an extra workout on an off day, than actual training. I'm going to be home this weekend so I'll get a good day in, prowler, log, deads, tire flip...good stuff like that.
Must deadlift more
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday
Lower
Deadlift
135xsome
225x5
315x5
405x3
495x3
545x1 (PR?)
565xmiss
495x5
Front Squat
225x5
315x5x3
Good Mornings
225x10x3
Core
Weighted Sit ups
45x15
90x15
135x15
Grip
Levering
Not the best day on deadlift. I guess I shouldn't complain too much. After coming off a back injury at nationals, I'm still a bit psyched out of deads. Also, my training leading up to nationals was definately lacking in the deadlift. When I had a good schedule for deads going, they seemed to be flying up...so I just have to re-start my plan and hope for the best.
Looks like I'll be doing something like full range deads every other week on ME day and PRD on opposite weeks. The other day will probably be in the form of repetition effort along the lines of prelipins table or, possibly rep squats or kettlebell. Suffice it to say, next week will be PRD and I need to get much stronger again on the front squats. I think those helped a ton when my deadlift was moving well earlier this year.
We'll see
Lower
Deadlift
135xsome
225x5
315x5
405x3
495x3
545x1 (PR?)
565xmiss
495x5
Front Squat
225x5
315x5x3
Good Mornings
225x10x3
Core
Weighted Sit ups
45x15
90x15
135x15
Grip
Levering
Not the best day on deadlift. I guess I shouldn't complain too much. After coming off a back injury at nationals, I'm still a bit psyched out of deads. Also, my training leading up to nationals was definately lacking in the deadlift. When I had a good schedule for deads going, they seemed to be flying up...so I just have to re-start my plan and hope for the best.
Looks like I'll be doing something like full range deads every other week on ME day and PRD on opposite weeks. The other day will probably be in the form of repetition effort along the lines of prelipins table or, possibly rep squats or kettlebell. Suffice it to say, next week will be PRD and I need to get much stronger again on the front squats. I think those helped a ton when my deadlift was moving well earlier this year.
We'll see
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday
Press
Log
180x7
230x5
250x5
230x5x10
Pullups
Rolling bar, +20
5x5
Face Pulls
Average Band
KB Press
Some x some
The only thing I really wanted to get done today was the log. I was initially shooting for 250x5x10, but after the first set of 5 I knew it wasn't happening. 230 was enough for today.
One day at a time...
Press
Log
180x7
230x5
250x5
230x5x10
Pullups
Rolling bar, +20
5x5
Face Pulls
Average Band
KB Press
Some x some
The only thing I really wanted to get done today was the log. I was initially shooting for 250x5x10, but after the first set of 5 I knew it wasn't happening. 230 was enough for today.
One day at a time...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday
Lower
Cleans
135x5
225x3
275x3
315x1
335xmiss
Deadlift
405x6x5
Good Mornings
135x10x3
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
~35x10x3
Neck
65x25x2
Grip
COC
1x7
1.5x7
2x7
Weighted Levering
Starting to get back into the swing of things. The deadlift was based on prelipins for a 70% day. I'm switching monday to more of a dynamic/repetition day for lower body. We'll see how it pans out.
This weekend was definately the worst in a long time...nothing seemed to go right. However, the things that went right, went really right...I guess that's rule number 32 for how to survive...enjoy the little things
I still wish I could have double tapped this weekend...
Lower
Cleans
135x5
225x3
275x3
315x1
335xmiss
Deadlift
405x6x5
Good Mornings
135x10x3
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
~35x10x3
Neck
65x25x2
Grip
COC
1x7
1.5x7
2x7
Weighted Levering
Starting to get back into the swing of things. The deadlift was based on prelipins for a 70% day. I'm switching monday to more of a dynamic/repetition day for lower body. We'll see how it pans out.
This weekend was definately the worst in a long time...nothing seemed to go right. However, the things that went right, went really right...I guess that's rule number 32 for how to survive...enjoy the little things
I still wish I could have double tapped this weekend...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday
Pull
Deadlift
Standing on brand new elitefts average band
135x10
225x7
315x3x5
Rack Pull
315x5
405x3
495x3
Front Squat
225x10
315x3 (Barely)
225x10x2
Pull Throughs
bandx10x3
Core
Ab snap downs
Neck
50x25x2
Not really happy with front squats right now, I really need to bring those up. My lower back is absolutely fried right now. That might have something to do with front squats sucking so bad today. I barely made it throught my band sets and then probably stupidly tried to pull from the rack. I pulled less from the rack than I did on monday. It's been a rough week of tests and stress, and getting back into training hard, post-injury
My back is feeling better every day injury wise, still no problems training, just daily activities seem to bother it now. Walking is getting better, mornings still suck but I'm just taking it one day at a time.
On a funny side note, here's a funny story that occured not 30 minutes ago in the gym.
I'm setting up to do my retarded rack pulls when this guy walks behind me. I think nothing of it, I try not to pay attention to people in the gym. Out of the corner of my eye, however, I see him stop about 4 feet from me and visibly puff his chest up. This really caught my attention, because how many times in a day do you see that? So I turned a bit and really started to laugh to myself when I saw that this guy was about 5'4" and had to weigh about 13o pounds. The best was that he had on those "foot" shoes where it has a space for each toe! What the hell is that all about!? Why not just walk around barefoot? I was really hoping a plate would land on his "toe" when I saw that he set up a stool to do "box squats" on...he worked up to 225 and never touched it
Wow
Pull
Deadlift
Standing on brand new elitefts average band
135x10
225x7
315x3x5
Rack Pull
315x5
405x3
495x3
Front Squat
225x10
315x3 (Barely)
225x10x2
Pull Throughs
bandx10x3
Core
Ab snap downs
Neck
50x25x2
Not really happy with front squats right now, I really need to bring those up. My lower back is absolutely fried right now. That might have something to do with front squats sucking so bad today. I barely made it throught my band sets and then probably stupidly tried to pull from the rack. I pulled less from the rack than I did on monday. It's been a rough week of tests and stress, and getting back into training hard, post-injury
My back is feeling better every day injury wise, still no problems training, just daily activities seem to bother it now. Walking is getting better, mornings still suck but I'm just taking it one day at a time.
On a funny side note, here's a funny story that occured not 30 minutes ago in the gym.
I'm setting up to do my retarded rack pulls when this guy walks behind me. I think nothing of it, I try not to pay attention to people in the gym. Out of the corner of my eye, however, I see him stop about 4 feet from me and visibly puff his chest up. This really caught my attention, because how many times in a day do you see that? So I turned a bit and really started to laugh to myself when I saw that this guy was about 5'4" and had to weigh about 13o pounds. The best was that he had on those "foot" shoes where it has a space for each toe! What the hell is that all about!? Why not just walk around barefoot? I was really hoping a plate would land on his "toe" when I saw that he set up a stool to do "box squats" on...he worked up to 225 and never touched it
Wow
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Tuesday
Press
OHP
135x10
185x4
225x5
275x8
295x3
315x3
335x2
355xmiss
315x5
Pullups
BWx5
+10x5
+20x5
+30x5
+40x5 (3+1+1)
45x3
BWxMax
Shoulder Work
Front/side Raises
Band Pull Aparts
Laying Tricep Ext
55x10x3
Neck
65x25x2
Not a bad day. Getting back into the rhythm of training has been awesome. My back is still bombed during the day, but I have no problems during training except some mental stuff...which is ok with me. If it keeps me from getting hurt, I'm for it. I felt like I had 355 today, but I don't think I was in it mentally. I still am a little wary of really pushing things this week. I really need to get back under the log for max reps. This has seemed to really increase my press in the past.
Huge test tomorrow...I'm ready
Because Conan Says So...
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
So what next...
My back has been royally messed up for the last 7 days. I've been doing rehab movements at least twice a day...usually 3-4. It is a weird injury. I can barely sit in a chair in class or grab my ink pen off the floor without feeling like somebody has a rusty knife in my back twisting it with every milimeter I move. I can hardly get out of bed and walk to the shitter without pain. But...I can work out...and then it feels better. But if I sleep, or sit in class...all bets are off. It's amazing that I can't bend over to put my socks on in the morning, but later that day I rattled off 315x20 in the deadlift....bizarre
I feel like I'm progressing though. Hard to say how much, but I don't see this being a problem in 2 weeks (I'm knocking on wood right now)
I'll cover my rehab movements first then move on to training
Rehab
Gentle stretching
Bird dogs
Abdominal fallouts (Blast straps)
Planks
Side planks
Modified situps
Scared Cats (Spinal Flossing)
Band hip abduction
Isometric Hip Adduction
Band good mornings
Band DL
Band Squats
Sunday
Upper
OHP
135x10
185x4
225x7
245x7
275x7
275x5
315x2
Pullups
BWx5
+10x5
+20x5
+30x5
+40x3+1+1
Dips
BWx10x3
Facepulls
Somex15x3
Core Work/Rehab
Pull Down Abs w/ Ball
Plank with shoulder horizontal abduction
6# Med Ball
12# Med Ball
I was really careful on the presses. I didn't have a belt, so I was a bit anxious about going too heavy for too many reps. I felt fine on the 315 though. Good confidence builder.
I'm going to switch training around here for this next training run. I'll do DE lower on Monday, Tuesday will be Heavy stuff at Jobe's, Wednesday will be off or light recovery, Thursday will be heavy lower and Friday will be DE Upper, either at Jobe's or Troy's or some other random place.
As a mega-side note, I really really like arm over arm pulls, I really feel like it's an exercise I can do that will really help my deadlift, as well as my pressing power overhead. Look for it to make many more appearances...
My back has been royally messed up for the last 7 days. I've been doing rehab movements at least twice a day...usually 3-4. It is a weird injury. I can barely sit in a chair in class or grab my ink pen off the floor without feeling like somebody has a rusty knife in my back twisting it with every milimeter I move. I can hardly get out of bed and walk to the shitter without pain. But...I can work out...and then it feels better. But if I sleep, or sit in class...all bets are off. It's amazing that I can't bend over to put my socks on in the morning, but later that day I rattled off 315x20 in the deadlift....bizarre
I feel like I'm progressing though. Hard to say how much, but I don't see this being a problem in 2 weeks (I'm knocking on wood right now)
I'll cover my rehab movements first then move on to training
Rehab
Gentle stretching
Bird dogs
Abdominal fallouts (Blast straps)
Planks
Side planks
Modified situps
Scared Cats (Spinal Flossing)
Band hip abduction
Isometric Hip Adduction
Band good mornings
Band DL
Band Squats
Sunday
Upper
OHP
135x10
185x4
225x7
245x7
275x7
275x5
315x2
Pullups
BWx5
+10x5
+20x5
+30x5
+40x3+1+1
Dips
BWx10x3
Facepulls
Somex15x3
Core Work/Rehab
Pull Down Abs w/ Ball
Plank with shoulder horizontal abduction
6# Med Ball
12# Med Ball
I was really careful on the presses. I didn't have a belt, so I was a bit anxious about going too heavy for too many reps. I felt fine on the 315 though. Good confidence builder.
I'm going to switch training around here for this next training run. I'll do DE lower on Monday, Tuesday will be Heavy stuff at Jobe's, Wednesday will be off or light recovery, Thursday will be heavy lower and Friday will be DE Upper, either at Jobe's or Troy's or some other random place.
As a mega-side note, I really really like arm over arm pulls, I really feel like it's an exercise I can do that will really help my deadlift, as well as my pressing power overhead. Look for it to make many more appearances...
Well hell
I don't even know how long it's been since I've posted. Probably since I started training hard for Nationals. I trained as hard as I thought I could push my body with the heavy weights and I think it ended up ok. There are some things I would have definately changed.
Last Nationals (07) didn't go real well. I had no idea what I was doing and had no access to any of the heavy equipment I would see there. I went injured, came away worse...but had no qualms about my performance...all things considered.
This year's nationals was a different story. I felt I trained hard (not exactly smart...we'll get to that). I felt strong and had pretty much zero pain or injuries coming in. The result was bittersweet. I smoked the tire flip. I won it outright. Out of the 50+ guys in the National Championships of Amature Strongman I beat every single one of them in the tire. Pretty sweet right.
The rest is a different story. I felt I was good for at least 2 reps on the log, hopefully 3. This was not the case. I barely managed one. Of all the events this is the one that really pissed me off right after the contest. I'll chalk this up to poor preperation. I have found out that my body really responds the best to sub-maximal training. I get a lot out of near max work (90%+) but I think I make the best gains in the high rep 80-90% range. Don't ask me why, I just do. I trained the log with very very very low volume. I think there were log training days where I was only doing maybe 5 reps on the log at the contest weight of 300 pounds. Probably 13 reps on the day total counting warm ups. This is NOT the way I should have done it. I feel now that had I trained consistantly with 275-280 with max reps I would have been far better served.
File this under my ever growing folder entitled "Shit I should have done differently/didn't think about/didn't know/didn't care about. More entries into this folder to follow.
After the log was the carry/load/drag medly. I'm not going to make excuses about the weather, environment, and venue (all sucked). It ended up soaking wet rain the second they got this event set up. The sandbag was getting soaked and the loaders/promoters were experimenting with ways they thought they could make it at least a little "Competitive". They ended up dropping the sandbag alltogether and adding a 100# plate to the sled. Carry keg, drop into sled, pull back. Sounds simple...When I loaded the keg and gave it a huge pull...it moved all of an inch and a half. I knew then that my only goal was to pull as hard as I could for the remaining time and let the chips fall where they may.
What will I file in my SISHDD file? Of the 53 or so guys in the contest...I think 4 finished. Of those 4, 3 had climbing shoes on. Argggg! I had my shoes in my hand but didn't grab them, for whatever reason. That could have been the difference right there. Could have/would have/should have...excuses are like assholes, they all stink.
Yoke walk/farmers walk. This event has plagued me. It wrecked my back at last nationals and all I wanted to do was finish. I ended up finishing (Got my goal), but again...took away some valuable learning experiences
Don't wear two shirts on the yoke.
After seeing my speed on this event (At least between drops from a lack of really training this event due to fear of injury) on video it really makes me angry at myself for dropping. I smoked the farmers even after I rocked my right SI joint. I was happy with it at the time, but after seeing it on video and realizing how much points my drops cost me (due to shirt problems and back issues) I'm really not happy with it at all.
Stone Load: I wasn't sure what to expect on this event. I had never touched a 380 stone before and had just become an inch shorter on one side from my back on the event previous. I ended up loading 4 stones (an improvement for sure from last nationals!) And almost had the fifth one up before they called time. This was kind of a neutral performance for me. Meh...I really like stones, and can't wait to get some more time on them. I feel I can really become a good loader given enough exposure and fixing my learning curve
So...I was really trying hard to find positives in my experience this year. Right after the contest on the 15 hour drive home it wasn't too hard...but now that I have seen my video, and had a chance to let everything sink it...Next year's nationals can't get here soon enough. I need to get this bad taste out of my mouth.
Except for the tire...the tire tasted good!
I don't even know how long it's been since I've posted. Probably since I started training hard for Nationals. I trained as hard as I thought I could push my body with the heavy weights and I think it ended up ok. There are some things I would have definately changed.
Last Nationals (07) didn't go real well. I had no idea what I was doing and had no access to any of the heavy equipment I would see there. I went injured, came away worse...but had no qualms about my performance...all things considered.
This year's nationals was a different story. I felt I trained hard (not exactly smart...we'll get to that). I felt strong and had pretty much zero pain or injuries coming in. The result was bittersweet. I smoked the tire flip. I won it outright. Out of the 50+ guys in the National Championships of Amature Strongman I beat every single one of them in the tire. Pretty sweet right.
The rest is a different story. I felt I was good for at least 2 reps on the log, hopefully 3. This was not the case. I barely managed one. Of all the events this is the one that really pissed me off right after the contest. I'll chalk this up to poor preperation. I have found out that my body really responds the best to sub-maximal training. I get a lot out of near max work (90%+) but I think I make the best gains in the high rep 80-90% range. Don't ask me why, I just do. I trained the log with very very very low volume. I think there were log training days where I was only doing maybe 5 reps on the log at the contest weight of 300 pounds. Probably 13 reps on the day total counting warm ups. This is NOT the way I should have done it. I feel now that had I trained consistantly with 275-280 with max reps I would have been far better served.
File this under my ever growing folder entitled "Shit I should have done differently/didn't think about/didn't know/didn't care about. More entries into this folder to follow.
After the log was the carry/load/drag medly. I'm not going to make excuses about the weather, environment, and venue (all sucked). It ended up soaking wet rain the second they got this event set up. The sandbag was getting soaked and the loaders/promoters were experimenting with ways they thought they could make it at least a little "Competitive". They ended up dropping the sandbag alltogether and adding a 100# plate to the sled. Carry keg, drop into sled, pull back. Sounds simple...When I loaded the keg and gave it a huge pull...it moved all of an inch and a half. I knew then that my only goal was to pull as hard as I could for the remaining time and let the chips fall where they may.
What will I file in my SISHDD file? Of the 53 or so guys in the contest...I think 4 finished. Of those 4, 3 had climbing shoes on. Argggg! I had my shoes in my hand but didn't grab them, for whatever reason. That could have been the difference right there. Could have/would have/should have...excuses are like assholes, they all stink.
Yoke walk/farmers walk. This event has plagued me. It wrecked my back at last nationals and all I wanted to do was finish. I ended up finishing (Got my goal), but again...took away some valuable learning experiences
Don't wear two shirts on the yoke.
After seeing my speed on this event (At least between drops from a lack of really training this event due to fear of injury) on video it really makes me angry at myself for dropping. I smoked the farmers even after I rocked my right SI joint. I was happy with it at the time, but after seeing it on video and realizing how much points my drops cost me (due to shirt problems and back issues) I'm really not happy with it at all.
Stone Load: I wasn't sure what to expect on this event. I had never touched a 380 stone before and had just become an inch shorter on one side from my back on the event previous. I ended up loading 4 stones (an improvement for sure from last nationals!) And almost had the fifth one up before they called time. This was kind of a neutral performance for me. Meh...I really like stones, and can't wait to get some more time on them. I feel I can really become a good loader given enough exposure and fixing my learning curve
So...I was really trying hard to find positives in my experience this year. Right after the contest on the 15 hour drive home it wasn't too hard...but now that I have seen my video, and had a chance to let everything sink it...Next year's nationals can't get here soon enough. I need to get this bad taste out of my mouth.
Except for the tire...the tire tasted good!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday
Events
Log
Crap
Yoke
worked up to 740 for 60' + 280 farmers back 60'
Felt the best the yoke has ever felt, very pleased with this
I've been sick for the past 4 days so just training hard today was a small victory. I set up blast straps to do some work in my basement this morning, as I was doing core stuff, my back lit itself on fire again. So now I have that to deal with again, couldn't come at a worse time. However, the fact that I was able to push through the workout tonight with some pretty heavy weights is good news. Equi-block tomorrow...that's all I'm looking forward to (And hanging out with MY LADY!!)
One day at a time...
Events
Log
Crap
Yoke
worked up to 740 for 60' + 280 farmers back 60'
Felt the best the yoke has ever felt, very pleased with this
I've been sick for the past 4 days so just training hard today was a small victory. I set up blast straps to do some work in my basement this morning, as I was doing core stuff, my back lit itself on fire again. So now I have that to deal with again, couldn't come at a worse time. However, the fact that I was able to push through the workout tonight with some pretty heavy weights is good news. Equi-block tomorrow...that's all I'm looking forward to (And hanging out with MY LADY!!)
One day at a time...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday
Lower
Deadlift
225x5
315x5
405x5
500x5
545x1
Zurcher Squat
225x5
315x10
315x15
Adductors
This was kind of a spontaneous workout. I trained really hard tuesday night, so I was beat up on wednesday morning, but when I saw we had a few hours break in the morning I ran home and grabbed my training gear and went through this in about 45 minutes. DL felt good, Zurchers weren't bad. I'm beat up now though...
One day at a time
Lower
Deadlift
225x5
315x5
405x5
500x5
545x1
Zurcher Squat
225x5
315x10
315x15
Adductors
This was kind of a spontaneous workout. I trained really hard tuesday night, so I was beat up on wednesday morning, but when I saw we had a few hours break in the morning I ran home and grabbed my training gear and went through this in about 45 minutes. DL felt good, Zurchers weren't bad. I'm beat up now though...
One day at a time
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday
Press +
Log
Clean and press each rep
I worked up to 300 for 2 x 3...not quite what I wanted, but it was a new log I'm not used to
after that I went 250x5 to finish
Yoke
I hadn't planned on yoke today after my back got so torn up (skin) last time. But ended up with
650x60x2
740xa little ways
Load & Drag
300 keg
200 sandbag
400 sled
one time
Arm Over Arm
Seated 400 x 50' x 2
500 x 50' x 1
Pullups
A few
Core Work
seated kb passes
Press +
Log
Clean and press each rep
I worked up to 300 for 2 x 3...not quite what I wanted, but it was a new log I'm not used to
after that I went 250x5 to finish
Yoke
I hadn't planned on yoke today after my back got so torn up (skin) last time. But ended up with
650x60x2
740xa little ways
Load & Drag
300 keg
200 sandbag
400 sled
one time
Arm Over Arm
Seated 400 x 50' x 2
500 x 50' x 1
Pullups
A few
Core Work
seated kb passes
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Tuesday
Lower body
Yoke
450x60'x2
650x60'x3
740x60'x1 (PR)
Tire
~650x60'x3
Stone
310xsomexsomemore
Sledge
30"/arm x 2
Holy poop nuggets! This was probably the most I've done for events in a long, long, long time. To say I'll be sore tomorrow is probably an understatement. Suffice it to say, I am lacking a lot of skin that I had this morning when I woke up...but don't have now.
Yoke=pain
1 day at a time...
Lower body
Yoke
450x60'x2
650x60'x3
740x60'x1 (PR)
Tire
~650x60'x3
Stone
310xsomexsomemore
Sledge
30"/arm x 2
Holy poop nuggets! This was probably the most I've done for events in a long, long, long time. To say I'll be sore tomorrow is probably an understatement. Suffice it to say, I am lacking a lot of skin that I had this morning when I woke up...but don't have now.
Yoke=pain
1 day at a time...
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday
Press
Log
Clean & Press each rep (this is stupid and should only be attempted by people who's intelligence is greater than or equal to the stupidity of this exercise)
155x10
240x4x2
260x3
300x3 in 1:00 (that's minutes, why would I press for an hour) (Better yet, how could I press for an hour and only get 3 reps!?)
300x2 in 0:30 x 2
Pullups
5x5 @ BW
Core
band crunch on tire
15
30
Close Grip Bench
135x30
225x10
I'm really pleased with my log press. I was hoping for 3 at contest and it seems like I should get that easy. I'm hoping to be at or near 5 by contest time. That's the ultimate goal!
Press
Log
Clean & Press each rep (this is stupid and should only be attempted by people who's intelligence is greater than or equal to the stupidity of this exercise)
155x10
240x4x2
260x3
300x3 in 1:00 (that's minutes, why would I press for an hour) (Better yet, how could I press for an hour and only get 3 reps!?)
300x2 in 0:30 x 2
Pullups
5x5 @ BW
Core
band crunch on tire
15
30
Close Grip Bench
135x30
225x10
I'm really pleased with my log press. I was hoping for 3 at contest and it seems like I should get that easy. I'm hoping to be at or near 5 by contest time. That's the ultimate goal!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Thursday
Upper
OHP
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3
335x1
1 arm db OHP
110x8
120x5x2
Standing Ab Flexion
some
Bent Row
135x10
225x10x3
Neck work
45x25
70x25
Dimmel DL
225x25x2
Not bad, my left wrist was tweeked a bit from the tire on tuesday, so pressing sucked. I was also pretty beat up from tuesday. I'm not used to that kind of weight all at once. I wasn't happy with the pace of the workout or the intensity. It looks like a lot on paper, but it didn't feel like much...
The weekend of the beast is about to commence!!!
Upper
OHP
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3
335x1
1 arm db OHP
110x8
120x5x2
Standing Ab Flexion
some
Bent Row
135x10
225x10x3
Neck work
45x25
70x25
Dimmel DL
225x25x2
Not bad, my left wrist was tweeked a bit from the tire on tuesday, so pressing sucked. I was also pretty beat up from tuesday. I'm not used to that kind of weight all at once. I wasn't happy with the pace of the workout or the intensity. It looks like a lot on paper, but it didn't feel like much...
The weekend of the beast is about to commence!!!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tuesday
Lower
Front Squat
135x10
225x8
315x5
405x2
Tire Flip
Really heavy tire...x3x3
Farmers
250x60'x2
300x60'x2 (PR)
Reverse Hyper
90x15
180x15
First day of training at Jobe's. Not a bad day for having no idea what I was going to do! That tire was probably the heaviest tire I've ever had to flip. I think it was because it was so tall. I have a tire that we think is around 800, but it's way easier because it's shorter. The farmers were really solid, very pleased with those.
On a completely unrelated note. I have wondered about this for a while now, and thought I better get it down before somebody else wondered it and took credit for my wonderings...
What if all the snow you were going to get in a given day, 3 inches, 6 inches, a foot, whatever. What if all that snow fell all at once? Would it all fall in a giant sheet? Would you have to take cover? I imagine that a foot of snow barreling down on you at terminal velocity would have to pack quite the punch. It would definately knock an old lady down. Maybe even a full grown man! I keep thinking about the sound that throwing a shovelfull of snow makes, I bet it would make that sound, but probably a thousand times more intense. What if you were to lie down right before it hit? Would you be crushed? They would probably have to sound civil defense sirens and everybody would either have to go inside or lie down. Then there would be all these body shaped mounds of snow that would slowly rise out of the snow like snow zombies and go about their day. Hmmmm...something to think about
1 day at a time...
Lower
Front Squat
135x10
225x8
315x5
405x2
Tire Flip
Really heavy tire...x3x3
Farmers
250x60'x2
300x60'x2 (PR)
Reverse Hyper
90x15
180x15
First day of training at Jobe's. Not a bad day for having no idea what I was going to do! That tire was probably the heaviest tire I've ever had to flip. I think it was because it was so tall. I have a tire that we think is around 800, but it's way easier because it's shorter. The farmers were really solid, very pleased with those.
On a completely unrelated note. I have wondered about this for a while now, and thought I better get it down before somebody else wondered it and took credit for my wonderings...
What if all the snow you were going to get in a given day, 3 inches, 6 inches, a foot, whatever. What if all that snow fell all at once? Would it all fall in a giant sheet? Would you have to take cover? I imagine that a foot of snow barreling down on you at terminal velocity would have to pack quite the punch. It would definately knock an old lady down. Maybe even a full grown man! I keep thinking about the sound that throwing a shovelfull of snow makes, I bet it would make that sound, but probably a thousand times more intense. What if you were to lie down right before it hit? Would you be crushed? They would probably have to sound civil defense sirens and everybody would either have to go inside or lie down. Then there would be all these body shaped mounds of snow that would slowly rise out of the snow like snow zombies and go about their day. Hmmmm...something to think about
1 day at a time...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday
Press
Clean and Jerk
135x5
225x3
275x3x2
295 Clean 1 and press x 3
315 Clean 1 and press x 3
OHP
225x10 + 5 front squat x 3
Pullups
some x some more
Core
weighted leg raises
Good day, the nutrition was good for the most part, I did feel really dehydrated this morning, but I made up for it.
One day at a time...
Press
Clean and Jerk
135x5
225x3
275x3x2
295 Clean 1 and press x 3
315 Clean 1 and press x 3
OHP
225x10 + 5 front squat x 3
Pullups
some x some more
Core
weighted leg raises
Good day, the nutrition was good for the most part, I did feel really dehydrated this morning, but I made up for it.
One day at a time...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday
Press
OHP
135x10
185x5
225x5
275x5
305x5x3
315x4
DB Row
110x20x2
120x15
Shoulder Work
Core
Not bad...today was the first day since I moved and started school where I really felt on top of my nutrition and hydration. That is basically just saying that I wasn't really ever hungry or thirsty today. Can't wait until I get a hold of a blender and can start back on those good shakes
woo!
On a hilarious note, I was in a book/music/coffee store that shall remain nameless to protect the identity of the innocent. While I was there I happened to peruse the humor section. While there I read an autobiography of bigfoot. He happend to write a poem about laughing and crying...he said that "bigfoot laugh when he make whistle-fart woooo!" I just about lost it right then and there.
On another hilarious note, while in aforaludedto shopping outlet I was checking out and a little kid with mid-calf socks and jean shorts pulled up to his waist was walking by the magazines with his mom and all I heard him say was, "Mom, was Michael Jackson a girl?" Ha!
Press
OHP
135x10
185x5
225x5
275x5
305x5x3
315x4
DB Row
110x20x2
120x15
Shoulder Work
Core
Not bad...today was the first day since I moved and started school where I really felt on top of my nutrition and hydration. That is basically just saying that I wasn't really ever hungry or thirsty today. Can't wait until I get a hold of a blender and can start back on those good shakes
woo!
On a hilarious note, I was in a book/music/coffee store that shall remain nameless to protect the identity of the innocent. While I was there I happened to peruse the humor section. While there I read an autobiography of bigfoot. He happend to write a poem about laughing and crying...he said that "bigfoot laugh when he make whistle-fart woooo!" I just about lost it right then and there.
On another hilarious note, while in aforaludedto shopping outlet I was checking out and a little kid with mid-calf socks and jean shorts pulled up to his waist was walking by the magazines with his mom and all I heard him say was, "Mom, was Michael Jackson a girl?" Ha!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday
Lower
Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
455x5
495x3
Front Squat
225x5
315x5x2
Core
Ab Pull Down
Not bad for the second day back. I am really sore from monday's workout. Couple that with sub-par nutrition/hydration on the day, and I'm not too disappointed about today's work. Still trying to get into the groove of things. Second day in a row of Anatomy Lab, that's some intense stuff. Never thought I'd cut up a body, but here I am...doing just that. Kind of makes me cringe, but I guess they say it's the best way to learn. I'm not sure I agree, but maybe I'm just a little adverse to cutting open somebody's grandma, just to see where this vein goes and that muscle starts. Just got to keep the goal in sight...
One day at a time...
Lower
Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
455x5
495x3
Front Squat
225x5
315x5x2
Core
Ab Pull Down
Not bad for the second day back. I am really sore from monday's workout. Couple that with sub-par nutrition/hydration on the day, and I'm not too disappointed about today's work. Still trying to get into the groove of things. Second day in a row of Anatomy Lab, that's some intense stuff. Never thought I'd cut up a body, but here I am...doing just that. Kind of makes me cringe, but I guess they say it's the best way to learn. I'm not sure I agree, but maybe I'm just a little adverse to cutting open somebody's grandma, just to see where this vein goes and that muscle starts. Just got to keep the goal in sight...
One day at a time...
Monday
Press
OHP
45x10
135x10
185x5
225x5
275x7
275x8
315x3
Pullups
+25 x 5 x 2
BW x 6 x 4
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
45x5 (not full ROM)
25x10
25x15
Laying Tricep Ext.
50x10x2
Shoulder Work
Band Pull Aparts
Monster Minis x a bunch
Front Raises x a bunch
First workout in the new gym. I just started my first semester of Physical Therapy school. Needless to say, the coursework is intense. The gym, however, is not. I could go on and on about how it's not a good place to train, but the bottom line is, that's just an excuse...Who cares if they don't have/allow chalk? I'll get a better grip. Who cares if all the little med students stare at me? It's motivation to get them to stare more. Who cares if none of the dumbells are the same, or even have printed weights? I'll just use the first one I pick up. Who cares if they only have one squat rack? At least there is one, all you need is a bar and the floor anyway. Who cares if the vast amount of equipment in there is cardio? It will keep the wee lads away from the big weights.
Silver lining? Not in this lifetime...next week I'll train at Jobe's.
Press
OHP
45x10
135x10
185x5
225x5
275x7
275x8
315x3
Pullups
+25 x 5 x 2
BW x 6 x 4
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
45x5 (not full ROM)
25x10
25x15
Laying Tricep Ext.
50x10x2
Shoulder Work
Band Pull Aparts
Monster Minis x a bunch
Front Raises x a bunch
First workout in the new gym. I just started my first semester of Physical Therapy school. Needless to say, the coursework is intense. The gym, however, is not. I could go on and on about how it's not a good place to train, but the bottom line is, that's just an excuse...Who cares if they don't have/allow chalk? I'll get a better grip. Who cares if all the little med students stare at me? It's motivation to get them to stare more. Who cares if none of the dumbells are the same, or even have printed weights? I'll just use the first one I pick up. Who cares if they only have one squat rack? At least there is one, all you need is a bar and the floor anyway. Who cares if the vast amount of equipment in there is cardio? It will keep the wee lads away from the big weights.
Silver lining? Not in this lifetime...next week I'll train at Jobe's.
Friday, August 21, 2009
I haven't posted since Illinois' Strongest Man because I really haven't trained. I trained for one week in there, but it was really just maintenance work. I figured that I couldn't really get a lot stronger in 3 weeks, but I could sure get weaker i.e. injured. So I played it pretty conservative and it worked out well.
Nebraska Highlander Recap:
Having not really trained much since the last contest, I wasn't sure how things would go. Couple that with the fact that I had never done any of the highland games events (Braemar stone, weight for distance, and weight for height) and had only done the yoke 3 times prior to this contest. I wasn't expecting much. I had only one goal for the day and that was to press 300 in the log. As it turned out, it was downpouring the morning of the contest. They decided to get all the strongman events out of the way first and then move on to the highland events. The log was first and I began to warm up. My original plan, and what I hit in practice, was to open at 260, then 280, then try for 300. I had not been able to consistantly get 300 during training, so I thought it was a reasonable goal. My previous contest best was 280. It turned out that I pressed 280 in warmups, so I figured I'd change my plan and open there. It was a good decision because I pressed it easy, then moved to 300 for my second press. I then decided to try for an all time log PR and shoot for 320. No problem with it at all!
The next event was the yoke. This was the only event that really fucking pissed me off all day. I set my yoke height way too short. It was no problem with no weight, but when I went with the load, it was dragging along bad. Then to top it all off, I ended up not crossing the line completely at the end, which probably cost me about 4 extra seconds. Really horrible decision, but I guess it's good it happened in a contest that doesn't matter, rather than say...Nationals. From then on, the day went reasonably well. I blew the field away in the farmers by around 10 seconds. The stone put was interesting, but with my shot put background I was able to pull out 3rd. The weight for distance was a real learning experience. Fortunately I think I had the shortest learning curve and ended up 3rd there as well. We were competing against a WORLD CHAMPION highland games competitor. So while everybody else was throwing the weight around 45 or so...this guy was in the mid 80s! It was really fun to watch him toss. The weight for height is where it really got interesting for me. I was sitting in second or third at that point and had never done the event before. I ended up opening at around 10 feet, having no experience. I guess I cleared it pretty well and stayed out until 13 feet. I hit each height up to 15 feet with no misses! There was only a few guys left around that height, one was a Pro strongman from Austrailia and the other was the World Champ. We battled up to 16.5 feet, where both Me and Mr. Highland games stalled and split first. I was the most proud of this, especially never having done it. All in all I ended up 2nd, but I can't shake the fact that my yoke walk cost me the title. I'll just chalk it up to experience and never do it again...
Still learning...
Nebraska Highlander Recap:
Having not really trained much since the last contest, I wasn't sure how things would go. Couple that with the fact that I had never done any of the highland games events (Braemar stone, weight for distance, and weight for height) and had only done the yoke 3 times prior to this contest. I wasn't expecting much. I had only one goal for the day and that was to press 300 in the log. As it turned out, it was downpouring the morning of the contest. They decided to get all the strongman events out of the way first and then move on to the highland events. The log was first and I began to warm up. My original plan, and what I hit in practice, was to open at 260, then 280, then try for 300. I had not been able to consistantly get 300 during training, so I thought it was a reasonable goal. My previous contest best was 280. It turned out that I pressed 280 in warmups, so I figured I'd change my plan and open there. It was a good decision because I pressed it easy, then moved to 300 for my second press. I then decided to try for an all time log PR and shoot for 320. No problem with it at all!
The next event was the yoke. This was the only event that really fucking pissed me off all day. I set my yoke height way too short. It was no problem with no weight, but when I went with the load, it was dragging along bad. Then to top it all off, I ended up not crossing the line completely at the end, which probably cost me about 4 extra seconds. Really horrible decision, but I guess it's good it happened in a contest that doesn't matter, rather than say...Nationals. From then on, the day went reasonably well. I blew the field away in the farmers by around 10 seconds. The stone put was interesting, but with my shot put background I was able to pull out 3rd. The weight for distance was a real learning experience. Fortunately I think I had the shortest learning curve and ended up 3rd there as well. We were competing against a WORLD CHAMPION highland games competitor. So while everybody else was throwing the weight around 45 or so...this guy was in the mid 80s! It was really fun to watch him toss. The weight for height is where it really got interesting for me. I was sitting in second or third at that point and had never done the event before. I ended up opening at around 10 feet, having no experience. I guess I cleared it pretty well and stayed out until 13 feet. I hit each height up to 15 feet with no misses! There was only a few guys left around that height, one was a Pro strongman from Austrailia and the other was the World Champ. We battled up to 16.5 feet, where both Me and Mr. Highland games stalled and split first. I was the most proud of this, especially never having done it. All in all I ended up 2nd, but I can't shake the fact that my yoke walk cost me the title. I'll just chalk it up to experience and never do it again...
Still learning...
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
This marks the 200th time I've published a log...a bicentennial of bulk
Training went well up to the ILSM 09.
Here's the run-down
I took my last training day on monday the 20th. I took the next 5 days off and did a lot of walking, foam rolling, and cold tub. I left to head to Sarah's on the 23rd. We saw the second transformers movie (good pre-contest show. Megan Fox = Anabolic). We left for Bloomington, IL on the morning of the 24th. The drive was easy, but long. We took our time but it still took around 9 hours to get there. The worst part was knowing that we'd have to make it again the next day. Once to my aunt's house I took a quick walk, then we ate and took a tour of the town. The next day I was up early and got ready. We made the hour long trip to the contest area in Urbana, IL. I weighed in at 268 which is only 3 pounds higher than middleweight. I have already qualified for nationals at middleweight, so I wanted to be a heavyweight. Sad that I just barely made it. Log was first, we pressed on an inclined surface, which was weird and kind of messed me up a bit. I was able to press 7 reps, which is 2 less than my best with my log. I'm beginning to think that my log is a bit easier to clean and press than most. Next was farmers. I felt slow but ended up 2 seconds faster than my best. Good enough for 3rd just like the log. After farmers was the keg toss. I had never practiced this over a crossbar, so I wasn't sure how it would go. Since I did well in the previous event I went towards the end of the group so I was able to watch how the guys who had the best times did it. It seemed to me that throwing the kegs from where they were set up was the best. Not having practiced, I couldn't tell if I could do that. So I tested it with my first keg, no problem. I ran through the next 5 with no problems at all. Next was the tire. It was an easy flipping tire and since I was the most athletic heavyweight I blew the field away by over 10 seconds. At this point I was in first overall and I knew that if I won the next event I would win outright. The keg carry was decent for me, but I had never shouldered a 250 keg in practice. I used a lighter keg in practice. I did some warmups sholdering the contest keg to figure the best way. The quirky part of this event was that the keg had to be set down upright before time would stop. I was coming in super hot so it tipped completely over, no worries though as I had time to set it back up and still get first. So I was the overall winner! I got a sweet sword that was hand delivered to me by miss champagne county fair HA!
Thanks to Sarah as usual for putting up with all the training hours I put in and putting up with me on the way to and from the contest.
Thanks to Aunt Anne for the room and board and transpo to the contest.
On to the next one...
Training went well up to the ILSM 09.
Here's the run-down
I took my last training day on monday the 20th. I took the next 5 days off and did a lot of walking, foam rolling, and cold tub. I left to head to Sarah's on the 23rd. We saw the second transformers movie (good pre-contest show. Megan Fox = Anabolic). We left for Bloomington, IL on the morning of the 24th. The drive was easy, but long. We took our time but it still took around 9 hours to get there. The worst part was knowing that we'd have to make it again the next day. Once to my aunt's house I took a quick walk, then we ate and took a tour of the town. The next day I was up early and got ready. We made the hour long trip to the contest area in Urbana, IL. I weighed in at 268 which is only 3 pounds higher than middleweight. I have already qualified for nationals at middleweight, so I wanted to be a heavyweight. Sad that I just barely made it. Log was first, we pressed on an inclined surface, which was weird and kind of messed me up a bit. I was able to press 7 reps, which is 2 less than my best with my log. I'm beginning to think that my log is a bit easier to clean and press than most. Next was farmers. I felt slow but ended up 2 seconds faster than my best. Good enough for 3rd just like the log. After farmers was the keg toss. I had never practiced this over a crossbar, so I wasn't sure how it would go. Since I did well in the previous event I went towards the end of the group so I was able to watch how the guys who had the best times did it. It seemed to me that throwing the kegs from where they were set up was the best. Not having practiced, I couldn't tell if I could do that. So I tested it with my first keg, no problem. I ran through the next 5 with no problems at all. Next was the tire. It was an easy flipping tire and since I was the most athletic heavyweight I blew the field away by over 10 seconds. At this point I was in first overall and I knew that if I won the next event I would win outright. The keg carry was decent for me, but I had never shouldered a 250 keg in practice. I used a lighter keg in practice. I did some warmups sholdering the contest keg to figure the best way. The quirky part of this event was that the keg had to be set down upright before time would stop. I was coming in super hot so it tipped completely over, no worries though as I had time to set it back up and still get first. So I was the overall winner! I got a sweet sword that was hand delivered to me by miss champagne county fair HA!
Thanks to Sarah as usual for putting up with all the training hours I put in and putting up with me on the way to and from the contest.
Thanks to Aunt Anne for the room and board and transpo to the contest.
On to the next one...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Lets see here...
Tuesday
Lower
Tire
800 x 80' x 4
Belt Squat
270x10
270x15
360x20
Core
Band Resisted Situps
Sitting on tire
3x20
Neck
65x25
Wednesday
Off day
Prowler
90# on concrete
6 trips of 40 yards with 60 seconds rest between each sprint
2 timed sprints
2 minute walk with prowler
Thursday
Press
Pullups/Blast Straps
Lots of each on my sweet new pain station...
Tuesday
Lower
Tire
800 x 80' x 4
Belt Squat
270x10
270x15
360x20
Core
Band Resisted Situps
Sitting on tire
3x20
Neck
65x25
Wednesday
Off day
Prowler
90# on concrete
6 trips of 40 yards with 60 seconds rest between each sprint
2 timed sprints
2 minute walk with prowler
Thursday
Press
Pullups/Blast Straps
Lots of each on my sweet new pain station...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday
Press
Log
150x5
200x5
240x5
260x8 (PR)
260x8 (6+2)
290x1
310x1 (PR)
Straight Bar OHP
275x10x2
Log Clean Holds
3 sets of agony
Band Work
Misc Shoulder and Lat schtuff
Neck
65x25x2 Front and Back
It was literally 90+ degrees when I trained last night. I waited as long as I thought I could for it to cool off, no luck. I drank over a gallon of water yesterday and then another half during training. The H20 is so important! I'm headed in to town today to get supplies for a badass pullup station outside. Pictures to follow...
Press
Log
150x5
200x5
240x5
260x8 (PR)
260x8 (6+2)
290x1
310x1 (PR)
Straight Bar OHP
275x10x2
Log Clean Holds
3 sets of agony
Band Work
Misc Shoulder and Lat schtuff
Neck
65x25x2 Front and Back
It was literally 90+ degrees when I trained last night. I waited as long as I thought I could for it to cool off, no luck. I drank over a gallon of water yesterday and then another half during training. The H20 is so important! I'm headed in to town today to get supplies for a badass pullup station outside. Pictures to follow...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday
Lower
Squat
225x10
315x10x2
405x10
Keg Toss
Danger! Falling Kegs can injure, maim, and kill!
Fortunately none of those things happened...
Keg Carry
160 ft with turn at 80 ft...Not bad, sprinting with a 240 lb keg filled with sand and water is quite entertaining to watch, I'm sure...
Front Squat
Kind of
225x5
315x6 (death)
Core
Weighted Situps
45x10;90x10;135x5;90x10;45x10;bwx10
Not bad...the squats really surprised me. I haven't done an actual back squat for a few months so to tie my 405 rep PR and still have a lot in the tank really blew my mind! I think it's the lunges and belt squat's that I've been doing. Who knows though. I linked to my training partner's logs, so everybody who doesn't read this can not read theirs too!
Lower
Squat
225x10
315x10x2
405x10
Keg Toss
Danger! Falling Kegs can injure, maim, and kill!
Fortunately none of those things happened...
Keg Carry
160 ft with turn at 80 ft...Not bad, sprinting with a 240 lb keg filled with sand and water is quite entertaining to watch, I'm sure...
Front Squat
Kind of
225x5
315x6 (death)
Core
Weighted Situps
45x10;90x10;135x5;90x10;45x10;bwx10
Not bad...the squats really surprised me. I haven't done an actual back squat for a few months so to tie my 405 rep PR and still have a lot in the tank really blew my mind! I think it's the lunges and belt squat's that I've been doing. Who knows though. I linked to my training partner's logs, so everybody who doesn't read this can not read theirs too!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday
Prowler
Location: Parking Garage
Surface: concrete
Volume: 90# for 6 trips of 50 yards (3 high, 3 low)
One trip up a parking garage ramp (who knows how far) = quadriceps death
Saturday
Events
Farmers
200 x 100' x 2
~270-280 x 100' x 2 (15.57s PR)
Tire
800 x 80' x 2 (38.44s PR)
The prowler kicked the crap out of me on friday. I need to start upping the weight, but I took it to Lincoln with me and didn't feel like adding any more plates to the already tight fit that was the back of my car + Prowler. Events felt solid. I was amazed when my timer told me the time for my farmers. I thought for sure it would take a good 20 seconds. I guess my pickup is getting stronger. I'm hoping the prowler work will help with this next contest. There are a lot of moving events and I don't see how increasing my conditioning can be anything but benificial. The tire was also a good one yesterday. I felt some pain in my lower back on the last run of farmers so I was worried that the tire might really flare it up. No such luck ibuprophin stock holders!
I Win today Gravity!
Prowler
Location: Parking Garage
Surface: concrete
Volume: 90# for 6 trips of 50 yards (3 high, 3 low)
One trip up a parking garage ramp (who knows how far) = quadriceps death
Saturday
Events
Farmers
200 x 100' x 2
~270-280 x 100' x 2 (15.57s PR)
Tire
800 x 80' x 2 (38.44s PR)
The prowler kicked the crap out of me on friday. I need to start upping the weight, but I took it to Lincoln with me and didn't feel like adding any more plates to the already tight fit that was the back of my car + Prowler. Events felt solid. I was amazed when my timer told me the time for my farmers. I thought for sure it would take a good 20 seconds. I guess my pickup is getting stronger. I'm hoping the prowler work will help with this next contest. There are a lot of moving events and I don't see how increasing my conditioning can be anything but benificial. The tire was also a good one yesterday. I felt some pain in my lower back on the last run of farmers so I was worried that the tire might really flare it up. No such luck ibuprophin stock holders!
I Win today Gravity!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
It's Heeeeeeeerrrrrreeeeee!!!!!!
The slimmed down E-Prowler arrived last night (Girl or Dave not included) to a very enthusiastic crowd (me).
Since then we've used it a total of twice. Twice times prowled this day!
Morning
Prowler
300 yards total90#
All sorts of ways
Surface: Wet Grass
Evening
Prowler
250 yards total
90#
All sorts of ways
Surface: Dry Grass
note: WET GRASS DOES NOT EQUAL DRY GRASS!
Holy quad pump batman...
Can't (can) wait for more prowler work!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday
Press
Log Press
150x5
240x5
260x5
260x6 (PR)
260x5
280x1
290x1 (PR)
300x0x2
Log Clean Holds
I always lose my press towards the end of max reps because I can't hold the log high enough on my chest to utilize efficient leg drive. I just invented this exercise to help keep the log high. Basically it involves attaching bands to some immovable object/person and then to the log. Once the log is cleaned then step back against the tension so the log is being pulled forwards and down out of rack position. This basically fried me after all the pressing I did. I'm going to add this as assistance every day from here on out.
OHP
225x10 = death
Core
weighted sit-em-ups
bwx10;45x10;90x10;45x10;bwx10
Blah...
Press
Log Press
150x5
240x5
260x5
260x6 (PR)
260x5
280x1
290x1 (PR)
300x0x2
Log Clean Holds
I always lose my press towards the end of max reps because I can't hold the log high enough on my chest to utilize efficient leg drive. I just invented this exercise to help keep the log high. Basically it involves attaching bands to some immovable object/person and then to the log. Once the log is cleaned then step back against the tension so the log is being pulled forwards and down out of rack position. This basically fried me after all the pressing I did. I'm going to add this as assistance every day from here on out.
OHP
225x10 = death
Core
weighted sit-em-ups
bwx10;45x10;90x10;45x10;bwx10
Blah...
Saturday, May 23, 2009
I'm back
The last few weeks have been pure chaos. As is usually the case, I've been training...just not posting. After graduation, I moved back home and brought a new tire and a heavy keg. I'm excited to start on those. I feel like I've been in a car for the last week straight...it hasn't been fun on the back. I pressed my log the other day and ended up with 240x5x5 which isn't great, but it wasn't bad. My upper back was wrecked by the 3rd set. I feel like progression will go pretty smooth. I would like to be at 260 for 10 by contest. 2 months out!
Last night when we got back from the state track meet and another day of sitting in the car I took a walk. Being me, I couldn't leave it that simple so I took a pain walk...with a keg...for a half mile...
Then I tossed an empty keg around to see what my heights were. I took video so I'll try to get that up soon. I tossed it five in a row to see...that's no joke. I was gassed
On monday I'll get back on schedule so hopefully I won't have too many breaks from here until contest time.
The last few weeks have been pure chaos. As is usually the case, I've been training...just not posting. After graduation, I moved back home and brought a new tire and a heavy keg. I'm excited to start on those. I feel like I've been in a car for the last week straight...it hasn't been fun on the back. I pressed my log the other day and ended up with 240x5x5 which isn't great, but it wasn't bad. My upper back was wrecked by the 3rd set. I feel like progression will go pretty smooth. I would like to be at 260 for 10 by contest. 2 months out!
Last night when we got back from the state track meet and another day of sitting in the car I took a walk. Being me, I couldn't leave it that simple so I took a pain walk...with a keg...for a half mile...
Then I tossed an empty keg around to see what my heights were. I took video so I'll try to get that up soon. I tossed it five in a row to see...that's no joke. I was gassed
On monday I'll get back on schedule so hopefully I won't have too many breaks from here until contest time.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday
Random
Log work
260x5
Tire
80 ft 44 s
Deadlift
pain
I don't know what I did, but I was pulling for reps and around the 5th rep something exploded in my back and I about dropped right there. As I lay on the ground doing a systems diagnostic
Heart - Check
Breathing - Check
Vision - Check
Hearing - Check
Smell - Check (I stink)
Touch - Check
Movement
Lower body - Check
Upper body - Check
Torso - Ouch
Identifying problem area:
Low back
Problems:
Extreme Pain
Non-radiating
Non-burning
Non-referred
Conclusion:
Soft tissue low back injury non-nervous/disc
Random
Log work
260x5
Tire
80 ft 44 s
Deadlift
pain
I don't know what I did, but I was pulling for reps and around the 5th rep something exploded in my back and I about dropped right there. As I lay on the ground doing a systems diagnostic
Heart - Check
Breathing - Check
Vision - Check
Hearing - Check
Smell - Check (I stink)
Touch - Check
Movement
Lower body - Check
Upper body - Check
Torso - Ouch
Identifying problem area:
Low back
Problems:
Extreme Pain
Non-radiating
Non-burning
Non-referred
Conclusion:
Soft tissue low back injury non-nervous/disc
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday
Random
Kettlebell
35 and 106
Did some swings and stuff with the 35 then got the beast out to play
This is the complex I did
5 snatch; 5 clean; 5 double swing; 5 single arm swing both arms
did this with little to no rest between exercises
made it through twice!
Then I did 25 yard walking swings x 3
Sledgehammer
Hammered cement for about 2 hours
In the area that I was training KBs there used to be a playground. Recently they tore it all down and left the supports with their cement footings. As I was training KBs two guys showed up and started beating on these cement pourings with sledgehammers. I said to myself, "I'm not going to be able to resist this" so I went over and wouldn't you know it...they were more than happy to let me swing to my heart's content! Apparently they were going to re-use the support posts to build a swing set for a group of developmentally disabled people. So I got to train and help out a good cause! Nothing better than that
Random
Kettlebell
35 and 106
Did some swings and stuff with the 35 then got the beast out to play
This is the complex I did
5 snatch; 5 clean; 5 double swing; 5 single arm swing both arms
did this with little to no rest between exercises
made it through twice!
Then I did 25 yard walking swings x 3
Sledgehammer
Hammered cement for about 2 hours
In the area that I was training KBs there used to be a playground. Recently they tore it all down and left the supports with their cement footings. As I was training KBs two guys showed up and started beating on these cement pourings with sledgehammers. I said to myself, "I'm not going to be able to resist this" so I went over and wouldn't you know it...they were more than happy to let me swing to my heart's content! Apparently they were going to re-use the support posts to build a swing set for a group of developmentally disabled people. So I got to train and help out a good cause! Nothing better than that
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday
Press
OHP
135x10
185x3
205x3
225x4
245x5
275x5
295x4
315x3
325x2x4
325x1 (missed the rast rep of my 5x2)
Brast Straps
Scarecrow 3 directions
3x15
ER + Facepulls
3x10
Pushups
3x15
fallouts
3x10
side planks
3x10
The press sucked today...it went well, but it sucked.
I really want that 360 press...
Deadlift tomorrow....
Press
OHP
135x10
185x3
205x3
225x4
245x5
275x5
295x4
315x3
325x2x4
325x1 (missed the rast rep of my 5x2)
Brast Straps
Scarecrow 3 directions
3x15
ER + Facepulls
3x10
Pushups
3x15
fallouts
3x10
side planks
3x10
The press sucked today...it went well, but it sucked.
I really want that 360 press...
Deadlift tomorrow....
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday
Pull
Rack Pull
From the insertion of the patellar tendon
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
495x5
545x5
585x5
605xmiss
585x3
Front Squats
315x5x3
Grip
Bar Hang Holds
Farmers holds
I'll have to go back and look to see what my best is for rack pulls from that height, but I think that's close to it. My back upper back was fried from yesterday still, and then the rack work killed it even more....
Pull
Rack Pull
From the insertion of the patellar tendon
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
495x5
545x5
585x5
605xmiss
585x3
Front Squats
315x5x3
Grip
Bar Hang Holds
Farmers holds
I'll have to go back and look to see what my best is for rack pulls from that height, but I think that's close to it. My back upper back was fried from yesterday still, and then the rack work killed it even more....
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday
Press
OHP
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x4
245x4
275x4
305x4x3
315x6 (PR)
Pullups
295x6x3
280x6x2
Laying Tricep Ext
50x10
55x10x2
Shoulder Work
band flex/abd
Pull aparts
Core
Weighted Sitemups
BWx15
45x10;90x10;45x10
The press felt crappy, I think it's from a lack of quality food this weekend. I was impressed with the 315 for 6 however. I did split the last one and landed on Troy's foot, I had to drop it about an inch from lockout. We counted it though...
Press
OHP
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x4
245x4
275x4
305x4x3
315x6 (PR)
Pullups
295x6x3
280x6x2
Laying Tricep Ext
50x10
55x10x2
Shoulder Work
band flex/abd
Pull aparts
Core
Weighted Sitemups
BWx15
45x10;90x10;45x10
The press felt crappy, I think it's from a lack of quality food this weekend. I was impressed with the 315 for 6 however. I did split the last one and landed on Troy's foot, I had to drop it about an inch from lockout. We counted it though...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday
Pull
DL
135x10
225x10
315x5
405x3
405x5
455x3
495x2
515x1
535x1
550x1 (PR)
Front Squat
225x10
315x5x5
Core Work
V-Sit Med ball tosses
PR in the deadlift! The front squat is really starting to help, along with the rack pulls to help me get used to the feeling of the weight. 600 is right around the corner
Pull
DL
135x10
225x10
315x5
405x3
405x5
455x3
495x2
515x1
535x1
550x1 (PR)
Front Squat
225x10
315x5x5
Core Work
V-Sit Med ball tosses
PR in the deadlift! The front squat is really starting to help, along with the rack pulls to help me get used to the feeling of the weight. 600 is right around the corner
Thursday
Press
I am finally not sore from the contest, so I wanted to see where I was on the press...
OHP
135x5
225x5
245x3
265x3
275x3
295x3
315x1
335x1
345x1
355x0
315x4
Pullups
I'm going to start measuring body weight before and adjusting weights accordingly
BW=260
300x5x3
280x5x3
Shoulder Work
Front/side raise
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
35x15x2
The press felt weak at the top. I felt like I could have locked 355 out if I would have had more strength...I need to start hammering the static strength at the last 6" of lockout and I'll have it easy
I'm pretty brutally sore from the pullups still (3 days later)
Press
I am finally not sore from the contest, so I wanted to see where I was on the press...
OHP
135x5
225x5
245x3
265x3
275x3
295x3
315x1
335x1
345x1
355x0
315x4
Pullups
I'm going to start measuring body weight before and adjusting weights accordingly
BW=260
300x5x3
280x5x3
Shoulder Work
Front/side raise
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
35x15x2
The press felt weak at the top. I felt like I could have locked 355 out if I would have had more strength...I need to start hammering the static strength at the last 6" of lockout and I'll have it easy
I'm pretty brutally sore from the pullups still (3 days later)
A lot has been going on lately...
First the write-up from Missouri's Strongest Man/Gus Memorial
(Write-up by Eric Todd)
First of all, I want to thank everyone who helps make this meet possible. All my family, in laws, and my wife for helping with the meal, raffle, concessions, setting up, tearing down, and cleaning up. All my timers, spotters, loaders, judges, etc: Mike P, Mark, Ronnie, Thom, Mike W, Delm, Matt, Vince, Andrew, Dave, and Leroy (hope I didn’t miss anybody). Mike W and family for giving up their Saturday to come help out and bring the PA. To my training partners for helping load the trailer, to everyone that helped load back up afterwords. A huge thank to my training partner Chris for making the awards. They are my favorite yet for 6 different Gus’s. All of our generous sponsors. To the Tullys for bringing out the tires, to Delm for bringing the axles. TO our spectators, who really were great this year. Last but not least, to our competitors. You guys did a great job laying it all out to do Grandpa’s memory proud.Anyhoo, on to the contest. We had tremendous battles in all divisions: In the masters class, we saw defending champ, Tim Nassen hold off John Obrien in his debut as a Master, and Dave Craft, defending 50+ masters national champion, who got 2nd and 3rd, respectively. In the lightweights, we saw Jesse Jobe outdistance the pack by 4 points, to defeat Zac Craig, runner up, and Lon Beffort, 3rd. In the middleweight class, We saw 2 time defending champ, Nate Butler get pushed to the limit by Charles Kasson. Nate held him off to get his 3rd consecutive title, with Kasson in second and Tyler Schuman in third. Lastly, the heavyweights was the most closely contested group of the day. The top 3 competitors were split up by a mere point and a half. Jeremy Moore walked away with first, with Sal Badali(2nd) and John Tilson (3rd) closely on his heels. We drew every name in the raffle and still had a few prizes left over. In the second drawing, we saw Jesse Jobe win the lot that contained the PL belts and ironmind gift certificates. In the big raffle, we saw Lance Foster win the bumper plate rack and entry to KSM. Going in, I was a bit concerned that our donation to Camp Quality this year would not be great, as our #s were down a little, and the economy being bad. Jesse Jobe summed up to me during weigh ins what makes me proud to be a part of KCSTRONGMAN. HE said (paraphrase) “I brought $_____ this year to put in the raffle. Our numbers are down, so we have to take up the slack.” And take up the slack they did! I haven’t received all the totals yet, but it looks like our donation to Camp Quality will be in the ballpark of $2400. A job well done to everyone that was involved!
Here are the actual results
We left at 5:30 am on saturday for Mirabile, MO. Not a bad drive, I nuked a mcdonalds pooper on the way so I was sure it was going to be a good day! We got to the venue way early, Sarah slept almost the entire way down. I was a little stiff from the 3.5 hour drive, so we went for a walking tour of the bustling metropolis that is Mirabile. It took about 10 minutes! Ha ha...I started warming up really early because my shoulder had been giving me some problems and I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be an issue. I weighed in at 261...right where I thought I would and continued to hydrate and eat (I never really stopped to try to make weight). I rocked the axle, I had been getting around 11 reps during training so I knew 15 was in reach, so I started counting backwards from 15 during the event. I almost had 16 but time ran out...no worries though, the next closest was 11. The next event was the front hold for time, long arms=painful front hold. The tire went well, I ended up second, but flipped my fastest time, the guy who won ended up only beating me by 2 1/10 of a second, and he somehow managed to only flip it 4 times! It was ok though, I won the farmers/duckwalk medley, I almost lost it when the stone started really swinging between my legs. By the time the kegs rolled around, I was tied for first with a guaranteed second! All I really wanted was to beat my keg time from Topeka. I smashed it, I ended up beating it by like 9 seconds. I had another 2 seconds I left out there just arranging the kegs after I loaded them. Live and learn! It was much better than before and I was actually in contention on the kegs instead of dead last.
First the write-up from Missouri's Strongest Man/Gus Memorial
(Write-up by Eric Todd)
First of all, I want to thank everyone who helps make this meet possible. All my family, in laws, and my wife for helping with the meal, raffle, concessions, setting up, tearing down, and cleaning up. All my timers, spotters, loaders, judges, etc: Mike P, Mark, Ronnie, Thom, Mike W, Delm, Matt, Vince, Andrew, Dave, and Leroy (hope I didn’t miss anybody). Mike W and family for giving up their Saturday to come help out and bring the PA. To my training partners for helping load the trailer, to everyone that helped load back up afterwords. A huge thank to my training partner Chris for making the awards. They are my favorite yet for 6 different Gus’s. All of our generous sponsors. To the Tullys for bringing out the tires, to Delm for bringing the axles. TO our spectators, who really were great this year. Last but not least, to our competitors. You guys did a great job laying it all out to do Grandpa’s memory proud.Anyhoo, on to the contest. We had tremendous battles in all divisions: In the masters class, we saw defending champ, Tim Nassen hold off John Obrien in his debut as a Master, and Dave Craft, defending 50+ masters national champion, who got 2nd and 3rd, respectively. In the lightweights, we saw Jesse Jobe outdistance the pack by 4 points, to defeat Zac Craig, runner up, and Lon Beffort, 3rd. In the middleweight class, We saw 2 time defending champ, Nate Butler get pushed to the limit by Charles Kasson. Nate held him off to get his 3rd consecutive title, with Kasson in second and Tyler Schuman in third. Lastly, the heavyweights was the most closely contested group of the day. The top 3 competitors were split up by a mere point and a half. Jeremy Moore walked away with first, with Sal Badali(2nd) and John Tilson (3rd) closely on his heels. We drew every name in the raffle and still had a few prizes left over. In the second drawing, we saw Jesse Jobe win the lot that contained the PL belts and ironmind gift certificates. In the big raffle, we saw Lance Foster win the bumper plate rack and entry to KSM. Going in, I was a bit concerned that our donation to Camp Quality this year would not be great, as our #s were down a little, and the economy being bad. Jesse Jobe summed up to me during weigh ins what makes me proud to be a part of KCSTRONGMAN. HE said (paraphrase) “I brought $_____ this year to put in the raffle. Our numbers are down, so we have to take up the slack.” And take up the slack they did! I haven’t received all the totals yet, but it looks like our donation to Camp Quality will be in the ballpark of $2400. A job well done to everyone that was involved!
Here are the actual results
We left at 5:30 am on saturday for Mirabile, MO. Not a bad drive, I nuked a mcdonalds pooper on the way so I was sure it was going to be a good day! We got to the venue way early, Sarah slept almost the entire way down. I was a little stiff from the 3.5 hour drive, so we went for a walking tour of the bustling metropolis that is Mirabile. It took about 10 minutes! Ha ha...I started warming up really early because my shoulder had been giving me some problems and I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be an issue. I weighed in at 261...right where I thought I would and continued to hydrate and eat (I never really stopped to try to make weight). I rocked the axle, I had been getting around 11 reps during training so I knew 15 was in reach, so I started counting backwards from 15 during the event. I almost had 16 but time ran out...no worries though, the next closest was 11. The next event was the front hold for time, long arms=painful front hold. The tire went well, I ended up second, but flipped my fastest time, the guy who won ended up only beating me by 2 1/10 of a second, and he somehow managed to only flip it 4 times! It was ok though, I won the farmers/duckwalk medley, I almost lost it when the stone started really swinging between my legs. By the time the kegs rolled around, I was tied for first with a guaranteed second! All I really wanted was to beat my keg time from Topeka. I smashed it, I ended up beating it by like 9 seconds. I had another 2 seconds I left out there just arranging the kegs after I loaded them. Live and learn! It was much better than before and I was actually in contention on the kegs instead of dead last.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tuesday
Deadlift
Power Cleans
135x5
225x5
295x1x3
Deadlift
295x5
315x5
405x5
455x3
495x2
515x2
525x2x4
Front Squat
225x5
315x5x4
365x3
Stiff Leg DL
315x8x2
Felt really good, the deadlift felt really good too. I felt like I had a lot more power off the floor than usual. I'm hoping it's all the quad work I've been doing in the form of front squats, TKE's and the like. It was pretty funny, I trained at the high school and they have lots of 35s. I'm not used to training with 35s, so I was working up on my power cleans and I had 225 on the bar and I went to grab 25s to make it 275. I was worried about this weight because I haven't tried anything more than 265 for a long time, the last time I did 265 I barely got it up because I kept catching it on my belt. So I was going to be daring and put 275 on...it turns out I grabbed two 35s and ended up doing 295! I took them off and looked at them, when I saw the 35 written on them...I was very confused! Ha ha, then I laughed...then I was amazed that I didn't have any problem with it!
Deadlift
Power Cleans
135x5
225x5
295x1x3
Deadlift
295x5
315x5
405x5
455x3
495x2
515x2
525x2x4
Front Squat
225x5
315x5x4
365x3
Stiff Leg DL
315x8x2
Felt really good, the deadlift felt really good too. I felt like I had a lot more power off the floor than usual. I'm hoping it's all the quad work I've been doing in the form of front squats, TKE's and the like. It was pretty funny, I trained at the high school and they have lots of 35s. I'm not used to training with 35s, so I was working up on my power cleans and I had 225 on the bar and I went to grab 25s to make it 275. I was worried about this weight because I haven't tried anything more than 265 for a long time, the last time I did 265 I barely got it up because I kept catching it on my belt. So I was going to be daring and put 275 on...it turns out I grabbed two 35s and ended up doing 295! I took them off and looked at them, when I saw the 35 written on them...I was very confused! Ha ha, then I laughed...then I was amazed that I didn't have any problem with it!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Thursday
Press
Clean 1 OHP
135x10
185x6
225x5
255x10
255x10
255x6
DB Rows
120xsomexafew
I was so dead after just this. I'm still not quite over my sickness so that is definately playing a role. I really almost fell asleep during my rows and I wanted to fall over from my presses...Still...a good day of pressing, better than I thought I would do.
Press
Clean 1 OHP
135x10
185x6
225x5
255x10
255x10
255x6
DB Rows
120xsomexafew
I was so dead after just this. I'm still not quite over my sickness so that is definately playing a role. I really almost fell asleep during my rows and I wanted to fall over from my presses...Still...a good day of pressing, better than I thought I would do.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday
Pull
Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
455x5
500x2x4
Front Squat
225x10
315x5x3
Pullups
some
TKE
some
Felt really quite shitty the past few days...some kind of flu stuff. I wasn't planning on training today, but I brought my stuff with me to work just in case. I was so dead tired I'm surprised my deadlift went as well as it did. I'm pretty dissapointed with my grip on my pulls though, I really need to hammer that as my DL starts to increase.
Pull
Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x5
455x5
500x2x4
Front Squat
225x10
315x5x3
Pullups
some
TKE
some
Felt really quite shitty the past few days...some kind of flu stuff. I wasn't planning on training today, but I brought my stuff with me to work just in case. I was so dead tired I'm surprised my deadlift went as well as it did. I'm pretty dissapointed with my grip on my pulls though, I really need to hammer that as my DL starts to increase.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday
Events
Tire; Farmers; Kegs
I set up a bunch of different medley situations with the implements. I only had enough weight to work at 220 with the farmers walk...I needed to be at around 260, so I suppose 40 pounds isn't too much off. I used a way smaller tire too. It was mostly a conditioning/technique day, and now I'm all techniqued/conditioned out...
Events
Tire; Farmers; Kegs
I set up a bunch of different medley situations with the implements. I only had enough weight to work at 220 with the farmers walk...I needed to be at around 260, so I suppose 40 pounds isn't too much off. I used a way smaller tire too. It was mostly a conditioning/technique day, and now I'm all techniqued/conditioned out...
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday
Press
OHP
Clean 1 & Press
135x10
185x5
225x4
255x8x3
225x10
1 Arm DB Row
120x15x2
Shoulder Raises
40x10
Front Hold
50x10s
50x15s
50x10s
Pull Down Abs
225x15x3
Not bad, I'd like to be up to 255 for 10 before contest and I think that should be easy to get. My quads are still killing me from front squat on tuesday, so I think that reflected today. I really need to bring my quad strength up as I think that this is an area that is hindering my deadlift progress. I'm not sure how to train the front hold other than to just do it. I should probably have started with a lighter weight, but I wanted to feel the weight. Kettlebell friday, events saturday, home cooking...should be a great weekend.
Press
OHP
Clean 1 & Press
135x10
185x5
225x4
255x8x3
225x10
1 Arm DB Row
120x15x2
Shoulder Raises
40x10
Front Hold
50x10s
50x15s
50x10s
Pull Down Abs
225x15x3
Not bad, I'd like to be up to 255 for 10 before contest and I think that should be easy to get. My quads are still killing me from front squat on tuesday, so I think that reflected today. I really need to bring my quad strength up as I think that this is an area that is hindering my deadlift progress. I'm not sure how to train the front hold other than to just do it. I should probably have started with a lighter weight, but I wanted to feel the weight. Kettlebell friday, events saturday, home cooking...should be a great weekend.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday
Press
Seated OHP
Reverse Band Doubled MM
225x10
275x3x6
315x1
Seated OHP
Rack Lockouts
2" above my head
225x4x5
DB Row
120x25
That was it, needed to get in and out. Looking forward to events this weekend!!!
As a side note...I may have found one of the funniest web sites ever...
http://www.fmylife.com/
Great for a laugh
Press
Seated OHP
Reverse Band Doubled MM
225x10
275x3x6
315x1
Seated OHP
Rack Lockouts
2" above my head
225x4x5
DB Row
120x25
That was it, needed to get in and out. Looking forward to events this weekend!!!
As a side note...I may have found one of the funniest web sites ever...
http://www.fmylife.com/
Great for a laugh
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday
Press
OHP
135x10
185x5
225x1
245x3
265x3
275x3
295x3
315x3
335x1
355x0
315x2x2
225 clean1 press x 10
Pullups
w/band
5x5
BW x 6 x 2
Band Pull Aparts
MMx15x3
Laying Tricep Ext
55x10x3
Weighted Situps
45x10;90x10;135x10;90x10;45x10
Shoulder Work
Side/Front Raise
35x10
30x10
Quad Work
Terminal Ext
Doubled a monster mini around a post and put both loops around my knee
3x15
Press felt really good, I just need to get more comfortable with the heavy weights. I think that front squat will help with that as well as increasing my poor quad strength which I'm starting to address with extra work every day.
Press
OHP
135x10
185x5
225x1
245x3
265x3
275x3
295x3
315x3
335x1
355x0
315x2x2
225 clean1 press x 10
Pullups
w/band
5x5
BW x 6 x 2
Band Pull Aparts
MMx15x3
Laying Tricep Ext
55x10x3
Weighted Situps
45x10;90x10;135x10;90x10;45x10
Shoulder Work
Side/Front Raise
35x10
30x10
Quad Work
Terminal Ext
Doubled a monster mini around a post and put both loops around my knee
3x15
Press felt really good, I just need to get more comfortable with the heavy weights. I think that front squat will help with that as well as increasing my poor quad strength which I'm starting to address with extra work every day.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Contest Report:
Won 2 of the 4 events
Came in 5th...
Shit
Things to work on
1. Deadlift
2. Deadlift
3. Deadlift
4. Keg Loading
5. Deadlift
6. Keg Loading
Monday
Press
OHP
worked up to
275x6
275x5x2
Tuesday
Pull
Rack Pull
worked up to
500x3x3
BTB DL
315x5
225x5x2
Stiff Leg DL
315x5x3
Abs
Weighted Leg Raise
40's x8x3
Won 2 of the 4 events
Came in 5th...
Shit
Things to work on
1. Deadlift
2. Deadlift
3. Deadlift
4. Keg Loading
5. Deadlift
6. Keg Loading
Monday
Press
OHP
worked up to
275x6
275x5x2
Tuesday
Pull
Rack Pull
worked up to
500x3x3
BTB DL
315x5
225x5x2
Stiff Leg DL
315x5x3
Abs
Weighted Leg Raise
40's x8x3
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday
Press
Axle Clean1 Press
135x10
185x6
225x8
255x8
245x11
245x clean/press, clean/press, clean/pressx3
Keg Loading
240# Keg x a bunch
Sledgehammer
1 minute x 2
Good day, I mainly wanted to just have a better idea of how the clean would feel with the axle. I think I will be able to clean 240 just fine. I'm much more confidant in my clean than I was before. I did the keg stuff because the keg was there and I wanted to learn the loading motions better. I was thinking I could just pick it up while it was standing, but it seems like lapping it on it's side is a better technique for me...then I can re-grip and explode onto the platform. It depends on the format of the event which I will choose. I feel better now though knowing that I should at least be able to get a few up!
Press
Axle Clean1 Press
135x10
185x6
225x8
255x8
245x11
245x clean/press, clean/press, clean/pressx3
Keg Loading
240# Keg x a bunch
Sledgehammer
1 minute x 2
Good day, I mainly wanted to just have a better idea of how the clean would feel with the axle. I think I will be able to clean 240 just fine. I'm much more confidant in my clean than I was before. I did the keg stuff because the keg was there and I wanted to learn the loading motions better. I was thinking I could just pick it up while it was standing, but it seems like lapping it on it's side is a better technique for me...then I can re-grip and explode onto the platform. It depends on the format of the event which I will choose. I feel better now though knowing that I should at least be able to get a few up!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday
Press
Clean 1 & OHP
135x10
225x7
245x12 (PR)
245x7
245x10
225x10
Shrugs
315 (no straps)x20
405 (no straps)x10
405x25
315x20
Blast Straps
Pushups/front plank
15x3
Core
Pull Down Abs
250x15x3
Band Pull Aparts
Monster Mini x 15x3
Not bad, I was really pleased that I could clean 245 with no problems, this remains to be seen if I can do it with an axle...but it was no worries with an olympic bar. I was also happy with my pr of 12, I have set my goal for the contest at 15, so that seems like it's just within reach. Again, however, I have not yet pressed with the axle, so I'm not sure what kind of an impact that will have on my performance. The shrugs were just for fun, it was really busy when I trained, and a guy wanted to know when I would be done, so I just said he could do his shrugs and I would do them too...to train the grip (and jack up the yoke)
I did all this within an hour.
Trying to squeeze every bit of conditioning out of these next few training sessions...
Press
Clean 1 & OHP
135x10
225x7
245x12 (PR)
245x7
245x10
225x10
Shrugs
315 (no straps)x20
405 (no straps)x10
405x25
315x20
Blast Straps
Pushups/front plank
15x3
Core
Pull Down Abs
250x15x3
Band Pull Aparts
Monster Mini x 15x3
Not bad, I was really pleased that I could clean 245 with no problems, this remains to be seen if I can do it with an axle...but it was no worries with an olympic bar. I was also happy with my pr of 12, I have set my goal for the contest at 15, so that seems like it's just within reach. Again, however, I have not yet pressed with the axle, so I'm not sure what kind of an impact that will have on my performance. The shrugs were just for fun, it was really busy when I trained, and a guy wanted to know when I would be done, so I just said he could do his shrugs and I would do them too...to train the grip (and jack up the yoke)
I did all this within an hour.
Trying to squeeze every bit of conditioning out of these next few training sessions...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday
Events
Drag and Carry
Expedition Backwards pull + 240# keg carry 60 ft
Went through this about 5 times
My best time was 42.5 seconds
It was cold, the floor was wet/icy, the bottom of my shoes were frozen, but I felt good. No problems with my back, so that's a bonus.
I'm not sure how the motorcycle drag is going to go, if it will be lots harder than a rolling truck, I'm going to assume it will be. Also, I wasn't sure how the contest will be set up, but I'm guessing I'll have to run back and get the keg, so that's how we trained it.
One day at a time....
Events
Drag and Carry
Expedition Backwards pull + 240# keg carry 60 ft
Went through this about 5 times
My best time was 42.5 seconds
It was cold, the floor was wet/icy, the bottom of my shoes were frozen, but I felt good. No problems with my back, so that's a bonus.
I'm not sure how the motorcycle drag is going to go, if it will be lots harder than a rolling truck, I'm going to assume it will be. Also, I wasn't sure how the contest will be set up, but I'm guessing I'll have to run back and get the keg, so that's how we trained it.
One day at a time....
Friday, January 23, 2009
Friday
Pull
Deadlift
135x10
225x10
315x10x3
Neck
145x25x2
Core
Side&Front Planks
1 minute each
Safety situps
Felt good today! No pain in the back, which is amazing since not 3 days ago I almost pulled out of the contest. I could barely walk, it hurt to breathe and now I'm on my way back...thank god! I'm still going to take it really easy and not do any trap bar deads until contest.
Pull
Deadlift
135x10
225x10
315x10x3
Neck
145x25x2
Core
Side&Front Planks
1 minute each
Safety situps
Felt good today! No pain in the back, which is amazing since not 3 days ago I almost pulled out of the contest. I could barely walk, it hurt to breathe and now I'm on my way back...thank god! I'm still going to take it really easy and not do any trap bar deads until contest.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thursday
Press
OHP
W/Clean
135x10x3
185x5x2
Blast Straps
Scarecrows x a lot
Pushups x some
Pullups
Some
Core
Planks
Side-Side-Front x 2 minute total (20;20;20;x2)
Safety Situps
Today was an interesting day. I was up at 4:00 this morning to get to work, when I woke up I was pain free...but as I stood around at work the pain started to return. Steps in the right direction though!!! I iced this morning after work, around 9:30. Then ate, and came home to a waiting couch! I couched for a while, took some anti-inflamms took a nap and got up to eat around 2:00. I ate and then got treatment on my back in the form of ice and interferential stimulation for ~ 30 minutes. I then rested at home for a while before training. Things felt good, nothing really exacerbated my pain. I could feel it a bit on the clean, but not really anything, and once in a while on the press. I'd say that's pretty good for being 2 days post injury. I'm still hoping and praying for 100% come contest time!
Press
OHP
W/Clean
135x10x3
185x5x2
Blast Straps
Scarecrows x a lot
Pushups x some
Pullups
Some
Core
Planks
Side-Side-Front x 2 minute total (20;20;20;x2)
Safety Situps
Today was an interesting day. I was up at 4:00 this morning to get to work, when I woke up I was pain free...but as I stood around at work the pain started to return. Steps in the right direction though!!! I iced this morning after work, around 9:30. Then ate, and came home to a waiting couch! I couched for a while, took some anti-inflamms took a nap and got up to eat around 2:00. I ate and then got treatment on my back in the form of ice and interferential stimulation for ~ 30 minutes. I then rested at home for a while before training. Things felt good, nothing really exacerbated my pain. I could feel it a bit on the clean, but not really anything, and once in a while on the press. I'd say that's pretty good for being 2 days post injury. I'm still hoping and praying for 100% come contest time!
Tuesday
Pull
Trap Bar DL
Full range
135x10
225x10
315x5
405x5
500x6
500x5
15" DL
500x9
Grip
Rolling Thunder
125x10x2
Neck
130x25x2
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
25x10x3
Something weird happened tonight...I didn't feel anything weird during the deadlift. Nothing poppped or gave out, but after I was done I felt a slight ache in my lower left back. I didn't think too much of it, but it just kept getting worse and worse. I iced post training and took a prescription dose of NSAIDs. The next morning I could barely move! My back was so jacked up it hurt to breath. Walking was horrible. I started the day with another dose of pills, went to class, iced after class and came home. I took another dose of pills, iced and tried to rest. I iced again and then went to a basketball game I promised my lady I'd go to more NSAIDs here. While there I anexed a space in the training room and set myself up with 30 minutes of microcurrent therapy and ice. The next day (Thursday) my back felt great waking up in the morning, but as the morning progressed and I did a lot of standing, it started killing me again. Still...there is improvement. I've iced already once today (Thursday) and took some more NSAIDs. I guess there isn't much more to do except pray to God I can go in 16 days!!
Pull
Trap Bar DL
Full range
135x10
225x10
315x5
405x5
500x6
500x5
15" DL
500x9
Grip
Rolling Thunder
125x10x2
Neck
130x25x2
Core
Weighted Leg Raise
25x10x3
Something weird happened tonight...I didn't feel anything weird during the deadlift. Nothing poppped or gave out, but after I was done I felt a slight ache in my lower left back. I didn't think too much of it, but it just kept getting worse and worse. I iced post training and took a prescription dose of NSAIDs. The next morning I could barely move! My back was so jacked up it hurt to breath. Walking was horrible. I started the day with another dose of pills, went to class, iced after class and came home. I took another dose of pills, iced and tried to rest. I iced again and then went to a basketball game I promised my lady I'd go to more NSAIDs here. While there I anexed a space in the training room and set myself up with 30 minutes of microcurrent therapy and ice. The next day (Thursday) my back felt great waking up in the morning, but as the morning progressed and I did a lot of standing, it started killing me again. Still...there is improvement. I've iced already once today (Thursday) and took some more NSAIDs. I guess there isn't much more to do except pray to God I can go in 16 days!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday
Press
C1&OHP
135x10
185x6 (Strict)
225x8
240x10
240x8
240x7
240x9
225x8 (No leg dip)
1 Arm DB Row
115x20x2
Neck
130x25x2
That was it...and I am death now. This conditioning work is all coming too fast!!! Ha ha, that's what I get for switching contests at the last minute. The campus weight room got all new weights last week and the rubber smells like a bratwurst that somebody forgot in a mold infested pile of shit for 3 weeks. The plates they got are some stop-sign looking things with like 12 sides...I guess that would make them a dodecahedron...stupid dodecahedron plates...they don't roll, they just clunk around and make life difficult! However...the dumbells they got have a lot thicker handle...sweet!
Press
C1&OHP
135x10
185x6 (Strict)
225x8
240x10
240x8
240x7
240x9
225x8 (No leg dip)
1 Arm DB Row
115x20x2
Neck
130x25x2
That was it...and I am death now. This conditioning work is all coming too fast!!! Ha ha, that's what I get for switching contests at the last minute. The campus weight room got all new weights last week and the rubber smells like a bratwurst that somebody forgot in a mold infested pile of shit for 3 weeks. The plates they got are some stop-sign looking things with like 12 sides...I guess that would make them a dodecahedron...stupid dodecahedron plates...they don't roll, they just clunk around and make life difficult! However...the dumbells they got have a lot thicker handle...sweet!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday
Press
OHP
45x20
135x8
185x5
225x5
225x10x3
225x14 (failure)
1 Arm DB OHP
85x10x2
Pullups
BWx10x3
Face Pulls
170x20x2
Core
Pull Down Abs
250x20x2
Good day, focused mostly on repetition and gaining what small ammount of lactic acid tolerance I can before contest in 3 weeks. Should be interesting...I'm hoping for at least 10 reps on the axle...
Press
OHP
45x20
135x8
185x5
225x5
225x10x3
225x14 (failure)
1 Arm DB OHP
85x10x2
Pullups
BWx10x3
Face Pulls
170x20x2
Core
Pull Down Abs
250x20x2
Good day, focused mostly on repetition and gaining what small ammount of lactic acid tolerance I can before contest in 3 weeks. Should be interesting...I'm hoping for at least 10 reps on the axle...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Monday
Press
C1&P
135x10
185x5
225x4
225x10
240x8x2
225x8
Dimmel DL
225x20
1 Arm Row
115x15x2
Laying Tricep Ext
60x10x3
Weighted Situps
45x10
45x10;90x10;45x10
Not bad for the first time with the clean added into the press. I'm hoping that I will have no problem cleaning the 240 axle. As long as I don't have to clean it more than once, I think I have a real good shot at getting 13 reps. I just need to increase my endurance a bit more. This next contest is going to have a huge emphasis on quad strength with the car deadlift and the backwards motorcycle drag plus the axle press for reps. I'm not sure how this will effect me as I've been neglecting heavy quad work in favor of posterior chain strengthening.
Press
C1&P
135x10
185x5
225x4
225x10
240x8x2
225x8
Dimmel DL
225x20
1 Arm Row
115x15x2
Laying Tricep Ext
60x10x3
Weighted Situps
45x10
45x10;90x10;45x10
Not bad for the first time with the clean added into the press. I'm hoping that I will have no problem cleaning the 240 axle. As long as I don't have to clean it more than once, I think I have a real good shot at getting 13 reps. I just need to increase my endurance a bit more. This next contest is going to have a huge emphasis on quad strength with the car deadlift and the backwards motorcycle drag plus the axle press for reps. I'm not sure how this will effect me as I've been neglecting heavy quad work in favor of posterior chain strengthening.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Once again, been training sporadically, and not posting
Since it's the new year, lets take stock of where I am.
DL = 535
OHP = 345
Squat ~ 500?
Rolling Thunder = 185
COC = #3
Mil OHP = 235
That's probably all I have set marks in, so by this time next year, they will all be up. Promise.
As for what's been going on...
I had to fly down to florida for our bowl week, I did train, but nothing much to report.
My deadlift has been stagnant for a while, I believe because I haven't been doing as much quad work as I need to be. I think that my deadlift kept going up due to a combination of 20 rep squats, dimmel deadlifts, and good mornings. For some unknown reason, I stopped doing these and guess what, no deadlift progress!! weird...
This morning I trained on our new vulcan rack from IM. Seems like a quality rack.
Squat
135x15
225x10
315x10
405x5
315x20
Core
weighted situps
45x10;90x10;45x10
Grip
RollingThunder
125x10
Since it's the new year, lets take stock of where I am.
DL = 535
OHP = 345
Squat ~ 500?
Rolling Thunder = 185
COC = #3
Mil OHP = 235
That's probably all I have set marks in, so by this time next year, they will all be up. Promise.
As for what's been going on...
I had to fly down to florida for our bowl week, I did train, but nothing much to report.
My deadlift has been stagnant for a while, I believe because I haven't been doing as much quad work as I need to be. I think that my deadlift kept going up due to a combination of 20 rep squats, dimmel deadlifts, and good mornings. For some unknown reason, I stopped doing these and guess what, no deadlift progress!! weird...
This morning I trained on our new vulcan rack from IM. Seems like a quality rack.
Squat
135x15
225x10
315x10
405x5
315x20
Core
weighted situps
45x10;90x10;45x10
Grip
RollingThunder
125x10
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