6-11-16
ME
Box squats (all weights include the 20lbs of fixed chain)
2 x 65+60lb chain at top
2 x 155+60lb chain at top
2 x 195+60lb chain at top
2 x 245+60lb chain at top
2 x 295+60lb chain at top
5x3 x 245+60lb chain at top
Front squats
3 x 10 x 135
5 rounds:
-1 hill sprint
-10 v-ups
Notes: could have pushed the 2rm farther but not looking to injure myself in training 2 weeks out lol. I did the glute activation with the bilateral kick-back machine.
6-12-16
BB Clean & press
45 x 2
95 x 2
135 x 2
185 x 2
205 x 1
185 x 3
Pin press ( at mouth line)
105 x 30 total reps
Incline BB bench
135 x 3x8
Lots & lots of dips, push-ups, triceps iso, delts iso.
Ghr 3x8
Notes: haven’t been logging this, but I’ve been doubt the double stimulation method for a couple of weeks now
6-14-16
Log cleans:
110 x 10
160 x 3
210 x 1
230 x miss
230 x miss
160 x 5 x 3
110 x 20, 10, 10, 10
Pull-ups: 1 rest-pause set
8 mile bike ride.
Notes: They finally got the log inside! I worked on both techniques: popping it up straight from the ground and also racking it across the thighs & popping up from there.
6-15-16
1 hour of yoga
6-16-16
1 mile easy run w/ the pup.
Stats from health assessment yesterday (fasted):
179.4 lbs
11.4% bf
126/70 bp
45 hdl
70 ldl
T-minus 1 week until competition.
I have one more medium-intensity lower body workout, then next week I’ll be doing yoga, mobility work, and neural charge work to keep everything nice & fresh. I’m not super worried about ti since it’s my first competition, but I’ll be on the low end of the weight class spectrum. I wasn’t super focused on diet this time around. I was tired of eating shitty though so I cleaned up my diet.
Hoping I made the right call going Open as opposed to Novice.
No matter how well you do, you made the right call. Better to come last in open than to win novice dude. You’ve been working hard, you’re gonna kill it.
Thanks man, that means a lot. I can’t believe it’s only a week away, feels like it’s actually real now.
One thing I’m really looking forward to is backing off on the intensity post-competition…HELLO Training Max! haha.
Last post before tomorrow’s competition. This week:
Sunday - Front squats, high bar, low bar. Easy weights.
Monday - 30 minute walk
Tuesday - 1 hour bike ride
Wednesday - 1.5 hours of hot yoga
Thursday - Neural Charge training
Today - mobility work at some point today
Idea this week was to stay active but not do anything physically demanding. We’ll see how it paid off.
Have fun. Don’t rush the log or the deadlift, you have plenty of time to get set.
All those other dudes who signed up, should have gone to some kind of sun flower parade in Kansas. Kick all their asses.
@FlatsFarmer Thanks a lot man, I used that as a bit of a mantra going into it.
Well I didn’t exactly wipe the floor, but it certainly ended with a smile and I’m glad I did this. Won’t be the last!
Well, contest over. I’ll write more about it when I’ve got a computer in front of me, but in summary it was a great experience.
I learned so much that I never considered in training, identified some priorities, and met some great folks. The camaraderie was amazing.
I will say though that I hit a 240 stone (competition) pr, and damn near lapped the 305!
Yeppers, right call indeed!. I competed in open for my first show and I couldn’t see any other option. I didn’t consider myself a novice. Sure, it was my first show, but I wanted to show the crowd who I was, and winning novice was only going to make my mom feel better about all the hours I put into hurting myself in the gym; no personal gain.
Awesome news man! Can’t wait to see the write-up.
I’m glad I went open. Novice was all over the place too in terms of weight’s etc. Albeit, coming in at 181 I probably should have cut to 175 lol. But it gave me a great eye for what kind of performance is expected at under200
Thanks bro, write-up on the way!
The comp took a bit of a toll on me (back especially) so I took this week off and will resume training after the 4th.
Thought I’d take this time to lay out some goals. Obviously, these could change slightly depending on whether I enter into competition near this time. I could potentially run a half marathon in November as well.
By Halloween (4 months to the letter):
500lb deadlift (straps acceptable)
If my estimated max is accurate, i’m in the ballpark of 60lbs away on this. 531 works wonders for my deadlift.
185lb strict press (axle/barbell)
I’m about 10 lbs away from this right now if my estimate max is accurate. I’d like to get to a lean, like 10% bf or lower, 185lbs so I’m still in the cutting range of the 175lb class. I know pressing strength depends a lot on bodyweight, but I think a 10lb increase during a 4 month recomp/maitenance is realistic.
6 minute mile/1600m on a track
I think a fast mile will serve virtually any goal from getting better at strongman to improving a marathon time. I’ve always been pretty fast, clocking 1:10 400s at 10 or 11 years old and my legs were a lot shorter then, haha. It’s pretty lofty but I believe it’s doable and shouldn’t detract from the two goals above.
Plan:
531 (or rather 351) for strongman, using the simplest strength template instead of another round of 531 for the supplemental lifts, which are front squats and incline bench press.
cardio/conditioning a couple of times/week, consisting of mostly hills and runs but will certainly include biking and all manner of saltwater sports.
yoga, mobility work, & art.
Good work in your competition. You did it the hard way! It seems like you really learned a lot. I’ve been waiting to see where you plan to go with your training, now that you’ve had some “feedback” in the form of a contest.
The SST really appeals to me, and I think its a great choice for you. The main 5/3/1 setup will keep you on track, while the secondary lifts will let you get the weight “out in front of you,” strongman style.
What sort of art projects? Are you taking a ceramics class down at the Y?
@FlatsFarmer Thanks a lot for all of the support along the way, I really appreciate it.
Yeah man static strength I think is the main thing holding me back right now. I certainly need some technique work on other stuff like kegs, log jerk, stones, etc, but it’s still within my physical ability.
Yeah SST is certainly a cool set-up. I like the slightly higher but set volume aspect of it; kind of like a higher volume 5s pro. For whatever reason I’ve shied away from it, probably because I was foolish and didn’t like the whole top set at 85% of 90% of your max. Have you ever ran it?
Haha, I knew I should have gone back & did some capitalization. Although I do enjoy painting quite a bit.
1a) Axle Strict Press (145 TM):
axle x 10
100 x 3
115 x 3
130 x 7 (160 est max)
1b) Chin-ups
4 x 10
2a) Barbell Incline Press (165 TM)
100 x 8
115 x 8
135 x 6
2b) Face-pulls
2 x 20
3a) dips
60 total reps: 15, 15, 10, 10, 7-3
3b) hammer curls
4 x 10 with 20lbs
3c) bent-knee sit-ups
4 x 8
Notes: Finally back to training! Did essentially nothing physical save some 12oz curls during the break. Set all of my training maxes about 85% as I hear this is all the rage with how 531 is evolving these days and I’m on board. Just going to focus getting in quality reps; clean & fast. I must say, it feels good to be operating well away from my maxes.
This workout only took around 40 minutes and I still felt pretty fresh when I left; I think I’m going to enjoy this routine. Mentally, I like the idea of only having one set of one exercise to have to focus on.
Unfortunately, the outside/strongman area of the gym has yet to be re-opened, so I may have to get a little creative on events day. At least the log is inside. Obviously there’s not much I could move out there to inside, but maybe they’d let me roll an atlas stone in. I could get a lot done with a log & atlas stone.
I’ve never run the SST specifically, by the numbers. But I’ve always liked the idea of using one lift to build another lift. Or to use a lift with different leverage to build up some body part.
Like the decline bench, just a few sets taught me how to get the bar low on my chest and to push towards my feet on the regular bench press. A few weeks of straight arm pulldowns and bench pressing with the Swiss bar, and I was really “pulling” the bar out of the rack, instead of lifting it out of the rack.
Or doing rows and RDL’s with a snatch grip really reinforces a super close bar path, to really scrape the bar up your legs when you deadlift. The rows teach me to keep the bar from drifting away. Sometimes, I don’t even know there is a problem, but a new exercise kind of makes it clear.
To have a plan to stick to the important lifts, so you don’t “throw the baby out with the bath water” and to rotate in other stuff to some variety seems great.
Man I’m not sure if you were meaning to, but you gave some great ideas! I’ve been trying to get better about leaning back & not letting the bar drift so far forward during the deadlift & honestly never thought about incorporating anything snatch-grip as a potential solution. I could easily incorporate something of the sort during the 2x/week medley (going to try as hard as I can to stick to the template as written).
Never really used straight arm pull-downs since anytime I would have the urge to isolate my lats I usually just went with levers, but I can already see the carryover to bench pressing (or incline bench).
Yeah I feel sometimes the fewer metrics used to gauge progress the better off you are.