OK, Let's Lift! And 1 and 2 and 1 and 2

I saw in the other thread how buggy your shoulders are. I credit my new-found shoulder health to incorporating turkish get-ups last training block. They work your shoulder through all angles, and since they are unilateral your rom is less restricted.

Imo they are also a stellar activation exercise.

Also good luck in the comp!

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I’ve never put much effort, or any really if I’m being honest, into unilateral work until the last month or so. I started to recently because I believed it would help with 2 things I suck at: carries and the circus dumbbell. For obvious reasons on both. I assumed, and I believe correctly, that if there is an area in my strength spectrum that is severely lacking, it’s probably due to me neglecting a particular type of training. Like, I should be good at carries, because my legs and hips are stronger than most of the people I compete against. I have a monster squat and deadlift. But for some reason it just hasn’t carried over. And I believe unilateral work will solve the problem.

But yea to address what you just said directly, I already planned to incorporate these. I definitely think you are right.

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I’ll post some pictures, as I got some awesome ones, from the comp. A few things of note:

Kaz was the announcer. That was fucking sweet. I stood right next to him through the entire deadlift event. At one point he borrowed my nose tork and took a whiff just for kicks. Loved that. His commentary on my lifts was great too. So I opened at 620 on the frame deadlift, because only 1 guy in my class had an attempt left, and I just wanted to get on the board with something easy. Kaz noted that I was shaking a lot on the lift, and while it went up fast, it looked like I had some weird muscle firing and it could affect me on heavier loads. At this time it is proper for me to note that I ALWAYS shake on EVERYTHING. So anyway. The last guy in my class takes his 3rd at 640, so I do 660 to take the event with my 2nd attempt. I considered not taking a 3rd, but said fuck it, I’m not close to my max. So I took 720 and it flew up. Kaz said I made it look like a toy, and he figured I was good for 800, which I think was accurate. 720 felt like nothing. turns out the heaviest anyone went in the heavyweights was 760, so I was almost certainly the strongest deadlifter in the whole show. That was pretty rad.

Anyway. I took 3rd overall. I should have taken 2nd, but I didn’t wait for the down command on the log for my 1st 2 reps. If I had waited on either, I would have taken 2nd. Oh well. To me at this point, there’s no real difference between 2nd or 3rd at a local comp. They aren’t first. And first was way better than me this weekend. He deserved the win. He took 1st in every event that wasn’t the deadlift, I believe.

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Lookin’ beastly man.

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Sounds like yet another awesome competition for you. Congratulations on your showing! Also the pictures look impressive/ cool. Keep it up, man!

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Looking damn good.

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that is so cool

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Dude… Your fucking trap veins… Godly

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Quick update on things.

I bought a new condo recently, and I’ve been devoting a lot of time to renovation/moving, so training has taken a back seat a bit. Still hitting really good numbers though. I’ve also leaned out even more… so I plan to compete in Texas Strongest man in 4 weeks as a 181 competitor. Waking up around 191 right now. I plan to stay at this weight, or even gain a couple or 3 lbs. between now and then… I can cut 10-15 lbs of water with no issue.

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congrats! Living with the mrs?

no sir. she still lives about 5 hours from me. she’s got a big important job where she lives, and I have a big important job where I am. Still figuring that stuff out.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, I guess.

Tell her I’m sending some positive vibes her way

Hey Flip, just wanna say stay safe man! I’m not sure where in Texas you stay, but hopefully you’re doing okay! It’s complete crap over here where we are.

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Are you down near Houston? I live in Dallas, nothing at all has hit us. My girlfriend lives in Galveston, and she’s also been fine. They had plenty of high water, but the island is well equipped to handle flooding.

Thanks for checking in! Stay safe!

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Training on Saturday was EXCELLENT. One of the best sessions I’ve had in awhile.

Deadlifted 1000 lbs with a partner. That was fun. Got an easy 3 reps. Before that I did a barbell/trap bar/ frame medley for max reps in a minute. 2 reps on the bar, 2 on the trap bar, and max on the frame. weights were 450/475/525. I think I got 10 on the frame. And it GASSED me.

Also got a 235 axle continental clean and strict press. Huge number for me because I’ve struggled so much with the continental clean. It felt great though. Still the limiting factor on that lift, since I can strict press that weight, lol.

Did some hussafel carries, at comp weight and just above. Really focused on a quick pick and first step, while still making sure grip was solid. This stone was larger than the one I’ll be using in comp, and since the comp stone is concrete, grip will be super easy. I can get a shitty grip, fast pick, and just push through the event.

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Yea I’m in between Cypresswood and downtown Houston.

our sister neighborhood is completely underwater. And the major highways: 288, 610, 45, I-10 and Beltway 8 are flooded on multiple exits.

San Jacinto River has overflowed, and Cypress creek has overflowed.

Downtown looks very very bad, and the water has gone well over most flood gauges.

They’ve opened 3 major reservoirs and it’s causing more flooding. And the levees around cypresswood are about to burst as well.

Parts around Austin had a twister from the resulting weather too.

We haven’t left yet because there’s no water here, but if we see any of the Police force or the fire department we are going to leave. They’re telling most of us to stay put though.

I have tons of pictures on my log if you want to check it out.

I won Texas Strongest Man in the Lightweight division! Torched the competition, winning every event.

I came in to the week weighing in the mid 190’s. Cut water weight down to 181 for the show.

First event was axle press. Prior to a couple months ago, I couldn’t continental clean. At all. I consistently missed numbers as low as like 215 on the clean. But I learned the lift, and Saturday I hit 265, nearly strict pressing it. 20 lbs PR. Just a week before I missed 245 once before hitting it. Everything just finally came together for me. Another guy tied for the win on that event. Also a PR for him.

Second event was the deadlift medley. 2 reps on a bar, 2 reps on a trap bar, max on a frame. I ended up with 26 total reps. They gave up AND down commands on the frame, so the pace was set at what the judge’s speed. I was as fast as I could have possibly been, my first rep and last rep looked the same. Won by like 7 or 8 reps. The guy who came in 3rd had posted on IG earlier in the week that ‘I’m calling it now, deadlift is MINE’. I more than doubled his score.

3rd event was a grenade hold. Basically, you hold a metal ball with a weight hanging from it for time. I got to go last, which was a huge advantage. I only had to go over 32 seconds. Went for 40, had more in me if I had needed it.

Hussafel stone… So, going into this event, my goal was to just take 2nd. I knew another guy in my class was very fast, and if he didn’t make any mistakes I couldn’t beat him. But again, I was going last, so I got to see what the mark was. Turns out, nobody in my class finished the run. So all I had to do was finish to take 1st. Which I did with 20 seconds to spare. So again, smoked the competition. This was my first time EVER winning a moving event, and it felt good to do it in such a fashion.

The last event was one I felt good about, max stone. Everyone in my class tapped out at 265, nobody else got 280. 280 is a really easy stone for me. So I took that one, then did 300 with zero issue. I was the best stone lifter pound for pound at the show, and probably top 3 or 4, period. I was going to attempt 340 just for fun after this, but right after I did the 300 stone, there was a terrible injury that halted the show for about an hour. Don’t want to go into details, grossest thing I’ve seen in my life in person. Fortunately he will be ok, he’s already out of the hospital. Anyway, after I saw that, I did not have the heart to continue lifting just for the sake of ego. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t already wrapped up first place.

So many things went right for me. This was really my first mistake-free show.

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nice work, Charlie!

This is why social media strongman are just so silly. And why let your competition know what your weaknesses are?

Great showing dude. You really got to play with some competition experience and growth on this.

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