Viking press is better than log for me. My clean is poor.
Car DL handles at side is fine. I used to love the trap bar deadlift.
Bags ill be okay with. I’ll by some and practice.
Conan wheel - that’s a testicular size checker. Man with the biggest balls wins that one. To do well just don’t quit.
Fingers - i bet I’m one of only a few that has a finger at the gym. So I’ve lucked out there.
Good events. A change from the standard log, farmers, yoke.
@flipcollar If I can get your view on these events I would like it. My coach is happy for me to go at this so it all official. Paying the fee in a moment. We have a solid plan in place. Just wondering what you would work on.
And this is by means me trying to lead my coach. He is a strong guy and one of his other clients won this event last year and is now a open weight athlete. But like wise I want to come to the party equipped.
I think working a ME/DE will be great for me. It has done my dead lift, squat and press no end of good. So will carry on I’d hope. And having a DE day will help with the throwing.
Conan’s wheel is a hard one to replicate. But I think yoke carries in the arm will be nearest thing. Or just front loaded carries. Moving events are okay for me. I can turn endure. Well I think I can. We will find out.
And fingers just “are”. Not sure what you can do in the gym for those.
Key items:
Viking press and dead lift - just get strong. I’m looking for 10 reps of each. Screw the weight - I want double figures.
Bags and Fingers - transitions. Train the race not the movement.
Wheel - get a good resting position. And learn to live with pain.
He may thank you. And sorry it took so long to reply. Been really under the weather so I’ve not trained. And its been a long time since I’ve had reason to up date.
I will say this - having a “support network” was great during prep and last year when I did 20 rep squats. My coach is cool. And the gym is great. But yes men collect sometimes . And its nice to know when I need to vent there are people there to listen AND people here to tell me to take my head out my own arse. Its nice.
So show signed up to. And I’m feeling good. Really good. This week was a bit shit as I’ve been ill. But hey ho. I’ve a good presser on - so removing the log clean from the events is going to suit me. Car Dl - side handles will be good. Much more like a trap bar which I used until OCtober last year. And then the rest are just cool. I want a 1st place.
Before I do this and have it removed @Chris_Colucci do you mind if I add another weekly prep update to the strong man section? I know I have my main log - but having this on there really helped me as loads more people get involved when its comp specific. I also appreciate if not. Let me know.
I’d LOVE to do that show! Not necessarily even because I’d be good at it, but because it’s interesting.
I have absolutely no input for the fingers, I’ve never done them. It’s the one event I’ve never done that I really, really want to see in a show. If I EVER see a show come up locally that has it, I’ll sign up.
Car deadlifts are funny. You can have a ‘weight’ given for it, but it’s not always going to move exactly like what it’s supposed to, depending on the set up. Just something to be aware of. So I would do some training both lighter and heavier than what you’re expecting in the show. If it turns out to ‘feel’ lighter, you need to have the conditioning to bang out the reps. And you also need to be prepared for a heavier feel, if it turns out to be so heavy you can’t get more than a couple reps.
You’ll also want to know if you have to come to a dead stop in between reps. I can’t stress enough how massive this part is. If you can bounce it in any way, that’s absolutely huge, and whoever can time their reps the best will be the one to win. The car deadlift is similar to the trap bar deadlift, but it’s not the same. Incorporating some leg pressing in your training will be a good idea too.
Practice on a viking press set up, it’s much different from a bar. It’s not a hard thing to set up, you just have to use two barbells. This is another one where you need to understand the rules very specifically (see Thor at WSM a few years ago).
Bags over bar is one of my favorite events. I only practice with one bag, I don’t really see a need to practice with anything other than a bag that is close to the heaviest weight you’ll be throwing. I’d practice with an 18 or 20kg bag mostly, and if you want to do full runs a few times, that’s cool too. I might make a video and share it here on technique, which will also be dependent on how heavy the bag is for you/ how hard it is to get over the bar. I like a very simple, concise move to save time.
Conan’s wheel sucks. A front yoke carry is the best way to practice for it if you don’t have access to a wheel. The keys here are: breathing and pacing.
99% of shows over here do:
FTOH reps in 60 seconds
Dead lift reps in 60 seconds
Farmers
Yoke
Which is fine. But I’m always critical of the lack of imagination. This is a really good mix. Events you don’t really see much at novice level.
Fingers are good. I’ve done it once in training. You can waste lots of time going from knee to shoulders. Where you want to be holding it like a goblet squat almost. But with the finger over a shoulder. From what i could see you have 2 choices with that.
If its light enough for you - stand at the end looking straight down it. And clean and catch it (and sometime that means dipping for it).
If not its more like the log. And can be done from the side. Where you pick it up, place on the knee and then second grip it.
The other detail is dont stop. When the finger gets to say 80/85° and has enough momentum to go over guys stop working. I’ll be flipping this finger 5 times in a row. I’ll be pushing it through the 90. I want it in the floor to go again. To go again.
I think @flipcollar pretty much nailed it. I think the best tip I have ever gotten on the car deadlift is that if it doesn’t move or it feels heavy, try moving your feet forward 1/2" and it should be a little easier, keep moving forward as necessary to try to find the easiest/best leverage. Of course this really only works on side handle deadlifts, not front handle.
Thanks @wsmwannabe - Never tried card DL there is a frame at the gym and I will be moving to this soon no doubt. Still a long way out and my coach just wants to do a few weeks of general strength training.
I guess the issue with the CDL is everything has an effect on the force needed to move the bar. The further a weight is from fulcrum the harder it is to move. Thats physics 101. So a 230 kg dead lift could be heavier than a 250/270kg one by simply moving the car around. Or putting the weight in the front or back. OR what way round the car was.
When you say there is a frame at your gym, do you mean a car deadlift frame or just a square frame you would run with? A frame deadlift is, mechanically, vastly different from a car deadlift
So – I’m not going to lie. Its been a hard old time recently. To the point where I had what can be called a “minor” break down at work. Locked myself in a van and had a fucking cry. A 36 year old man, crying in a van.
It turns out that my bipolar has been playing up. And I had not caught it. And because I’m well practiced at hiding it no one else caught on. Coupled with a new job, where the project I was working on was tough. So yeah boom.
One of the red flags was diet and training. I took 2 weeks off after the comp. 1 week was planned. But the 2nd was not. I was ill but there was no excuse of the diet and general lack of activity.
So I’m allowing myself a bit of time off the diet to recover. But exercise is bag on point again already. Gym twice this week already. With 2 more sessions planned. I’m feeling better. Not 100% but better.
With that in mind – last nights work out:
Log Clean and press
4x3 at 90kg – last set was hard.
Log 1 clean and then press
2x5 at 83kg. I remember a short while back that 85kg was an all in balls to the wall set. To do this a drop set now…. I’m so happy.
Incline bench
4x6 80kg. Really odd benching. Not done any kind of bench in months. Bar path was all over the place. Felt awkward. Ha – I’m such a strong man. I can’t bench.
Swiss bar JM press – LOVE these 36kg – 8reps
Over head cable extensions – light weight – 12 reps
You’ll be fine, and next time you’ll be better prepared to deal with your stress/bipolarity and deal with your issue. I’m glad it didn’t turn into anything worse than a good ol cry-in-the-back-of-a-van.
You’re human and sometimes (or in my case, often) we falter. Regroup and keep pushing
Thanks man. Yeah I had that minor moment about work. I’m proud of what I do. And I got into a mind set where I thought I was failing. coupled with REALLY bad paranoia I hid from it and it got worse. Fancy that.
I’ve not been harm myself bad since I was teenage. But its always in the back of my mind to be be protected from it.
Luck would have it I told my new boss and she has been a star. Honestly beyond amazing. I’m just filled with shame that I didn;t go to her earlier. But hey ho. Live and learn. All I have to do it make it up now.
Went off script today. My coach had planned a DE press day. But I did a event session.
Still did pressing.
So started with ski erg.
3x100m each about 18seconds.
Then 1x300m - did it in 56 seconds. That was nasty. Like really nasty.
Then pressing.
Warmed up to 65kg
Then circus dumbell - 40kg
Then keg pressing. Did the 39kg. Then the 80kg. That was hard. Very hard. But I got it.
Then a medley.
Seated swish bar press, log, CD, 40kg keg.
Blitzed it in sub 30. Pretty light over all
But lots of technical points. Grip, moving and how to get reps done well.
Then arm over arm.
Not sure on the weight. But 2 sets both in under 20 seconds. This was hard. The guy running session is making me go up a weight next time. Really not keen but I know he’s right. Sub 20 seconds for arm over arm and I know it’s too light.
Keg clean and press is almost purely technique. It’s a terrible lift, but makes you feel like a fucking boss if you can actually get a decent weight overhead. Kudos to you.
