Just joined a strongman gym out in San Diego, so will have an opportunity to train that for the first time. Very excited, and hopefully some comps in my future.
Obligatory beginning stats:
Height: 5’10
Age: 22
Weight: No idea, still waiting for my scale to come in. Above 230 I’m guessing
Work for Yesterday:
Lat Pulldown: 140x8, 140x8, 14010
Super set with
Overhead press: 135x5, 135x5, 135x7
DB Row: 3x10x85
Superset with
Dips (BW): 3x4 (absolutely no shoulder mobility after dislocating it, babying it back)
Giant set:
Tricep Pushdown: 3x10x100
Axle Curl: 3x10x55 (maybe, no idea what the axle weighs, so guessing 25)
Lat raise: 3x10x20
Superset:
Lat pulldown: 3x8x150
Lat raise: 3x12x20
Giant Set:
Overhead DB extension: 65x12, 65x12, 65x15
Axle curl: 55x12, 55x12, 55x10
Band pull apart: 12, 12, 12
Notes:
First time touching a log in over a year, and only second time ever. Started with 135 because that’s the logs weight empty. The initial clean feels awkward, but the actual press feels great. I think because of my crappy shoulder mobility, I can actually push press more with a log than a barbell. Weird. Definitely upping the weight next time
Suppose I should take a moment to explain my programming. I am not following any sort of real program because I will be traveling for about a month in 7 weeks, so I don’t want to start a program I can’t finish. Not sure what the gym situation will be where I am going, but pretty sure I won’t have any strongman toys. Also, because I am just getting back into the swing of things, I expect some strength to come back pretty quick, so I’m just keeping it simple. I have three tiers of movements. Tier 1 is deadlifts, bench, overhead, front squat, SSB squat, and log. Tier 1 gets trained 3x5, with the last set taken to technical failure. If I get 7, ill bump the weight the next week. Tier 2, rack pulls rows lat pull etc, is basically the same except 3x8, bumping weight if I hit 10 on the last set. Tier three is the little stuff. Lat raises, curls, and there I’m not too focused on weight or reps, just trying to get some blood flowing and some volume into the muscles near the end of the workout. More injury prevention than anything. Will run this for a few months; then probably hop into some of Brian Alsruhe’s programming.
Lower back is fried. Normally, i won’t lift 4 days in a row. Planning on Mon-tues then thurs-fri for my lifting days to get a little recovery time, but just didn’t happen this week. Not a big deal, but I could tell I was tender.
SSB is no joke. I was testing it out, and waiting for that whole “pushing you down” feeling that so many people say they feel. Was pretty vertical, and honestly didn’t think it was bad… until two 4 of my 3rd set with 265 where I leaned forward maybe an inch more than usual. Jesus it threw me off fast. I like it way more than normal squats, will definitely keep this in the rotation
Atlas Stones. I love em. I also hate em. Attacking these last with an already fried lower back may not of been the smartest move, but I kind of like ending the day with em. 95 was a joke, 120 was manageable, but I could not get 145 moving. If I can lap it, it’s easy for me to get it up. Still, I think the biggest thing for me is I just have no idea what I’m doing on the pick, and it’s hurting me. Definitely an area to work on
A bird shit all over the seat of my motorcycle while I was in the gym. Not relevant but I was not a happy camper
Conditioning:
10 minutes on weird elliptical/stairclimber abomination
Notes:
I presses felt strong today, very strong. Think I had more in me but went in with 8 as a goal
Switched DB rows for cable rows mainly because I really liked the cable when I tried it last week. Going to build on that for awhile
Plan for conditioning was to run a mile. My gym has one small treadmill. It took me about 5 steps to realize I am officially too fat for this treadmill, thing was skipping like crazy. Thus, the elliptical thing. Will do that until I drop some pounds, or until I start running outside to train for my next PRT
*deads and squats both feeling strong. Feel like I am more “rediscovering” strength rather than actually getting stronger, but hey I’ll take the gains either way
This conditioning sucked. Hard. The squats were the worst part because I would try to brace, which meant I wasn’t breathing, so I’d run out of breathe like crazy because my heart rate was already up. Good kind of suck, definitely doing it again
Whole workout took me about 1 hour 10 min. Need to cut that down if I’m going to start lifting before work
I know this may be a sin, but I hate bench: just always feel wrongs, never feels my pecs, always worried that I am either lifting too slow or dropping the weight on my chest. One of those lifts that has still to “click” in my head. Very seriously going to consider just dropping bench in my next training cycle and move to incline or maybe floor press, both have always get better
145 feels a lot heavier than 135 on a log. Managed 9, may have had more, but not clean reps
And that was it. In and out in maybe 30 minutes? In-laws are visiting, on top of a busy work schedule, so time was tight today. Deadlifts felt awful but moved well so… meh.
Training history is a little sporadic. Played football and wrestled in high school, ranked pretty well on the state level in both. Lots of fun there, and had my introduction to weightlifting through sports.
Went to college and joined my schools powerlifting team. Competed in the USAPL for about a year until I tore my Patellar tendon falling off the obstacle course… that was fun. After that, weights took a hold, and I actually got into BJJ for the next two years. Not too much lifting then, a basic 2x a week full body thing for the most part, then just running and calisthenics. Loved BJJ, still would like to get back to it.
Hopped around bodybuilding programs for a couple months but I just could not stick with any of them for long, the type of training just didn’t excite me. Other than that, the last year was a lot of running, rucking, and calisthenics for some Military evolutions I was doing.
Got hitched, moved to San Diego. Did CrossFit for a month, old shoulder injury started to hurt like ever loving hell (torn rotator cuff). Then the gym upped their prices and I decided it wasn’t worth it, found the strongman gym two days later. And now we’re here haha
Superset 2:
Lat pulldown: 150x9, 150x9, 150x10
Lat raise: 20x13, 20x13, 20x15
Giant set:
Overhead DB extension: 75x10, 75x10, 75x10
Axle curl: 55x13, 55x13, 55x13
Band pull apart: 12, 12, 12
Notes:
Felt pretty good today. Got the same for bench as last week, but it felt better. May have had another rep in me, but I wasn’t going to find out without a spotter. Jumped up 10lbs on the logic felt like I jumped 40. 155 was far heavier than 145, but I still got my 3x5 so I’m happy. Decided not to push the weight on accessories today and just push the reps instead, nice change of pace
Not bumping weight on lat pulldowns for a bit, going to focus on really owning this weight here and making sure to feel it with my back before trying to add more. Maybe stay here for the next 2 weeks or so, just adding reps
Overhead press felt like crap, yet moved well. Was worried I wouldn’t get my 3rd set of 5, then pushed to 8. Weird day. Everything felt awful but moved well… I’ll take it.
My shoulder still hates dips and I am determined to get good at them again. When I wrestled, I used to do sets of 30 for dips. Getting back to it…slowly
My wife and I decided to do a 2 month fitness challenge. Not any formal thing, just the 2 of us making a pact with one another. Meal prepping every Sunday, one cheat meal a week. No missed workouts. No alcohol. I’m pretty excited, diets been sloppy since moving and the wedding, feel like this is going to be a nice kick start to feeling like my usual self again
*awesome deadlift day. I think 385 for 8 is technically a PR for me. Not the strongest my deadlift has been, but I never did reps above 5 when I was stronger, so sort of a PR by default. Whatever, I’ll take it. Last rep took everything I had, fairly certain I met Jesus somewhere in there.
Front squats were okay. Still added 10lbs, still hit 3x5. I may have had more in me on the last set, but I wasn’t liking how the squats were feeling. Felt my upper back caving too much; was muscling the weight rather than squatting it. Being fried from deads didn’t help any. Still a good lift, just won’t bump weight next week
No carries this week, tore a callus on the last set of deads, was bleeding everywhere. Did some reverse hyper for the first time, felt weird. Homemade rig, lots of the gym is by a local dude with a welder. Definitely some built in heft to the swing arm, so I just threw on a 25 and got in some reps. Definitely bumping the weight up quite a bit next time.
I hate training abs. I also need to train abs. And training is going to start to happen on lower days. Damn.
I may be totally off base on how I labeled that, just know the bar is called the SSB bar… actually that would be safety squat bar bar… oh god what have I done haha