Incline bench

135x10
155x10
175x10
185x10
205x10
225x10
275x1

Swear to God I'm not trolling but why? What's incline bench give you?

 

I do a chest/bench day in my current program.  So, it helps build my chest and my bench.  But it also does contribute to overhead pressing strength.  Especially since I use a close grip.  Pressing in general is a weakness of mine.

Please tell me you don't wear a flat brimmed hat and white rim shades while you do it.  Bro.  Is this spray tan season in WV?  

Hell no man.  But yes, it is spray tan season.  The sun comes out next month, I think.

I just noticed there's a stongman comp in my county next weekend. Never done one before but this thread has me interested. 215 now so that kinda sucks. Think I can drop 15lbs in a week and a half?
http://media.wix.com/ugd/0bb576_f28e698ef4534bb2b7d20d3ea1385bb2.pdf

Weight looks doable but I have absolutely no gut, possibly negative gut, so the axle clean/press concerns me. Wonder if my hands are big enough to clean it without a mix grip, lol.

I was going to say set in on your belt, but it says no resting on the belt.  I have cleaned a 225# axle double overhand olympic style.  But I have really big hands.  175# for sure.  

Damn, 300# log for heavyweights?  That's heavier than nationals.  WTF.

I blame a buddy of mine. He's only 20 but @ 240 already has a 405lb overhead. He broke the competitions here, lol.

That's insane.  He could do one of the logs at the Arnold.

ETA: that's funny that you live in that area.  My old workout partner in college was from there, and looked alot like you.  Guy named Gavin.

strict chin-ups
4x10

deadlift 5x5, from the floor

275x5
315x5
365x5
405x5
455x5


I tried doing it with commands to mimmic competition.  Was a little harder than being able to touch and go.  I think it was easiest to breathe at the top, then drop fairly quickly, but stay tight and hold my breathe until the lift command.  I better practice that a couple more times.

Picking up the wheel of pain today.  We will be trying it out tomorrow morning.

VA and WV are some of the prettiest places I've been, the little bit of the background in your pic reminded me of it.  I was really disappointed to roll into your hometown after dark and leave in the fog, I wanted to see the valley.

Looking forward to video of the WoP!

Saturday:

Conan's wheel (120 ft is a full rotation)

full rotations at approximately 550# / 650#

3/4 rotation at approximately 700#


Atlas stones

240x1
270x10
270x9
270x8

Tried to lift the 330 stone, but it was raining, and even with tacky, my hands just wouldn't begin to grip it.


Today:

Back squat:

275x7
315x7
365x7
405x7
365x5
335x5
335x5

(last 3 drop sets were w/ 30 seconds rest b/w sets)

BB RDLs
275x10
295x10
315x10

(supersetted w/ DB box step ups, 20", 60# DBs)

deadlift from 4 inches

315x7
365x7
405x7
425x7
455x7
515x2
515x2
405x7

I did all these resetting between every rep, so no touch and go, as per competition rules.  It sucks.

700 approx on the wheel of gains.

Steel log

clean and press

180x2
230x2
250x2

clean and press away

180x10
140x15

clean and press away crown presses
140x12
140x10

Did you split that 250 or push?

Split.  I have a video that I took that screenshot off, but photobucket sucks for videos and it doesn't seem to work.

I figured out how to youtube for crying out loud...  Get the youtube app for your phone and it's easy to load and link.

You can totally push jerk that, you barely split at all, you're only using the split to force your extension in the push.

I don't know man.  I've tried.  The reason I can barely split it is because it's so heavy for me.  Here is 230#, where the split technique is a little cleaner due to the lower weight.

Nice.  Good cinematography, superb direction and the action scene was believable, but I thought the dialog was pretty bad.

Sorry, I have absolutely nothing to contribute in a meaningful way.  Nice job though, it wasn't too long ago that you were still having trouble getting 230 reliably wasn't it?

When are you competing?

I had to try about 12 times the first attempt at 230.  But I've been able to hit that reliably for several months now.  Only 16 or so days left until the competition.  Here is the conan's wheel video.  I figured out how to add music.  

IN before you fix it!!

Your director and editor should be fired.  I'm really not impressed by the packistani music selection either, you've hit your Citizen Kane moment very early in your career.

lol.

Hit the wheel this morning.  Sloppy pick but I improved my breathing and took it over a rotation.  So 120+ feet.

What was the material cost for the wheel?

I do have a receipt somewhere that shows material vs. labor, but I don't have it here.  Altogether it was $1,050.

Well I did my first strongman comp Saturday. It was a short 3hr event. I wasn't sure going in whether I would so my class (MW) or novice. When I registered there were over 30 competitors but no mw's. I didn't want to be the only guy in the class so I went novice. There were two other guys that had about 20 & 40lbs on me respectively, so it looked like I'd have some competition.

I went in as a complete noob. I have never done strongman or even touched any strongman equipment. I didn't even practice clean/press until a week prior to the comp. Going in my weight was 218lbs. My recent pertinent lifts were 585lb dead, 495lb squat, and a super awesome 245lb C/P .

1st event was the Yoke for 50ft @ 400lbs. Finished 2nd. It felt light and was pretty easy, but heaving never done it before I didn't know how fast I could run with it. My pace increased until the end. Could have been faster for sure.

2nd was the keg loads. 125lbs 150lbs 175lbs 200lbs on a 50" platform. Finished 2nd. Again it felt light. Lack of good technique slowed me down. I grabbed the first two kegs properly, but on the last two I grabbed them wrong and had to re-grip with one hand before going up. I was beat by tenths of a second.

3rd was the tire deadlift @ 450lbs. Rep for 60 seconds. Finished 1st. Bar sat about 2" below the bottom of my knee. I destroyed this with 31 reps. Knocked out 20 reps, re-gripped and did another 11 before time was up.

4th was a c/p medley. 150lb axle 175ib log 100lb circus dumbbell. I think I tied for 2nd. I didn't look. Axle and log were super easy. There wasn't much press. I basically just threw it up in the air stopped it above my head, lol. Dumbbell fucked me up hard. I'll rep the 100's for 10-12 seated in the gym, but this was far different. Not only was it oversized and awkward, I had never done standing or one arm dumbbell work. I was so off balance I might as well been on one leg. Barely got the 1rst rep and failed my 2nd rep before I got a "feel" for the form. I was only able to  get 6 before the time was up. The guy in 4th place had perfect form and beat us all.

I am sore in places I didn't know could get sore. Even my feet and toe muscles are wrecked! Overall I had a really good time and will certainly be doing it again.
There's a group of guys that trains strongman a few times a week so I'm going to hook up with them when our schedules permit so I can get more familiar with the equipment.

Congrats for having the balls to just jump into that.

How did you finish overall?  If you didn't get first, you can do another novice.  The fun part about novice is that the weights don't crush you and conditioning becomes more important.  When I won novice in my first competition, it put a crashing halt on my strongman career since I couldn't do the heavyweight open weights at the time.

One thing I like is that strongman is more about just having fun than it is serious competition, since there are so few people doing it.  People seem to be supportive of eachother.

The dumbbell is tricky.  I've played with them a little bit.  You're definitely not going to pick it up and do it without training the form.  You have to incorporate a jerk into it, and extend your off hand to the side to balance your weight.  Well unless you're just a monster presser.  That's another thing I like about strongman, is that you train the technique and the implements, and you improve at them.  You have a great chance of doing better at them than someone much stronger with the barbell who hasn't put in the training.

I placed second so I will so novice again. I can handle the MW weights at this time, but it may be around my limit, especially the 150lb dumbbell. Everyone was very helpful. When word got around that this was my first time they started giving me all sorts of advice.

Check this out.  Magnusson-Ortmayer deadlift routine.  Apparently a lot of guys in strongman are doing this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/comments/mbfe1/magnussonortmayer_deadlift_routine/

It takes your 1RM and has you doing it for 2 reps at the end of 12 weeks, is what I think I'm seeing in the programming.

I'll give that a shot. I'm going to wait a while. The thought of deads has me cringing. After 30 reps of those tire deads my hamstrings are more sore than anything I can remember. I waddling is my preferred method of motion.

I got an invite with the local guys to train log tomorrow. I'm excited.

Good Work!

Atlas stones this morning.

Over 48"

240x2
240x3
270x3
335x1
335x1

Reps of extensions from lap
270x10

Here's a video of my second 335.  On my first one I was a little too far away from the bar.  So I moved up, and realized as I was picking it up I was a little too close, and had to shift my head to the side so as not to hit the bar.  Then I hit the bar with the stone during the extension, and it got ugly there for a second.  Fortunately, now we've moved our stones to their permanent home on top of gravel instead of grass.  The 335# stone, just twice, left about a 7 inch spherical hole in the ground.  

First strongman training day. Did log and finished off the tris with board press.

I am super wobbly! Most I got on log was 205lbs for 4. I gave 235lbs 3 attempts and could not get lockout due to being shaky. I got my right arm locked out once, so a couple weeks working on form and I should have it. Dropped down to 180 for a 3x3 afterwards.

Yeah...I noticed how close you were to the bar and thought "he's about to bonk his head"

Tacky right?

I've killed it in the gym for over a decade and I don't slack off. That said, HOLY SHIT I AM SORE! I feel like I've been out of the gym for a year and decided to jump right back in. Also have realized my core is weak. My abs and mid/lower back are sore as hell from the log this morning. I think I'm in love.

Yes.  You can see it sticking to my clothes.    I just need to find that sweet spot where I'm not too far away, and not too close.  Unfortunately I probably won't be doing stones again until the comp.



Be careful about overdoing it with the log.  You don't realize how much it takes out of you until after the fact.  It gets frustrating not being able to do what you know you are strong enough to do, so you keep trying and going.  The biggest things that helped me were figuring out the breathing, which basically doesn't happen at all (clean and press all in one breath), and working on a more efficient clean that leaves you with a little extra in the tank for the press.  Also lots of crown presses with the log to work on the lockout, which for me is where I fail.  It took me like 5 months to go from 230 to 250, so I hope you make quicker progress than I did.

Log clean and press this morning:

180x1
180x1
180x1

5 min EMOM with 1 C&P every 30 seconds at 200#
(200x10)

Worked on some doubles at 220:

220x2
220x2
220x2

16 min EMOM for conditioning.

15 cals assault bike
245x5 bench press
15 wall balls 20#
135# farmer's pick and hold :40

front squats

185x10
205x10
225x10
245x10
265x10

4 supersets of the following:

30 single leg hip bridges w/ 53# KB
8 barbell RDLs 275#
superman holds :20

close grip bench

10 sets of 275#x3

incline DB neutral grip bench

50#x20
60#x15
60#x15
70#x10
80#x10

4 supersets of

35# kb single arm press
one handed DB bench press 60#

4 supersets of

strict press 95#x10
plate raises for 1:00 45#

10 min time cap (occlusion) of alternating:

banded tricep extensions
barbell pushups
30-20-20-20-20 . . . .

AMA on Reddit w/ strongman Bryan Barrett (from yesterday).  Some good info in there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Strongman/comments/4cry42/bryan_barrett_ama/

Less than one week out to comp.  Weighed in this morning at 264#.  There's 8 in my division, so it's not going to be one of those last place still gets on the podium contests.  Bunch of my friends are doing novice, and there's enough to have two separate novice weight classes, so that should be fun to watch.  I'm trying to tell myself that this is basically my first foray out of the kiddie pool for me.  So I'm going to try and have fun rather than stress out about it.  I'll be cool with just no zeroing out anything, and not getting last place would be nice.  I should do well with the yoke and conan's wheel.  I should do okay with the stones.  I'm going to get a few reps of the deads and hopefully 1 or 2 reps of the log.

Going to take it really light this week, and just eat.  As of this morning, the forecast for the comp is 20 something degrees and snow.  And it's outside.  

Saturday:

Conan's Wheel

1 rotation at 540#
1/2 rotation at 600#
1/4 rotation at 650#
1/8 rotation at 700#

Atlas Stones

No tacky, just chalk.  To 50" shelf.

175x2
240x1
240x1
240x1
240x2
240x3

Log C&P

180x1
180x1
200x1
200x1
220x1
225x1
225x1

Today:

Light deads, with straps and belt, focusing on technique resetting every rep to commands.

4 sets of 225#x8

close grip bench

185x6
225x6
245x6
275x6 - pretty sure that's a PR for recent years
225x13
135x30

50 pushups

I think I'm gonna call this the last dance at this point, and rest Thurs and Fri.  And eat.

If anyone can make it.  Strongman competition on Saturday.  Lewisburg, WV.

https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateThunderWV/

I'm leaving immediately afterwards to head to Charlotte, where the sammich maker is doing the spartan sprint there.  And my son is going to do the kid's race.

Good luck!  I'll have limited access to the interwebs for the next week so I'll make sure to get in this thread sunday and see how you did.  

Saturdays AAR

It was lots of fun.  Didn't get on the podium but that's cool because there were some monsters in my class.  Screwed up the yoke.  Won the conans.  Did pretty well on stones and DL.  Got 250 for one on the log pretty much what I expected.

Very cool, congrats on doing well.  

Taking a break now or right back to training for the next one?

My son that has gone from a 140lb dead to 200lb in the last few months was impressed with the stones.  I might be playing with concrete this summer....

Already at the gym but my back is wrecked more than I thought.  Training for the next for sure.  I got so much stronger training for this one.

How'd Festivus go?

Eta:  or is it next weekend?

nice job!