That update is a roller coaster of awesome stuff and shit news but overall seems pretty cool haha.
God is good (sometimes). Glad you’re alright.
God is always good but he let Satan control Earth…hence the shit storm known as life.
@flipcollar, great news about the Static Monsters comp! Sorry to hear about the crash but it sounds like you came out of it pretty good. Rear ended plus a side impact with no spinal issues is a win! Also, not plummeting to your death is a good thing.
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There we go!
He’s localish. He lives in Austin Tx, I’m in Dallas. So like 3 hours away. Meaning, I can train with him from time to time, but not every session.
If you follow strongman, you might know who he is, he won the 198 class at nationals this year in USS. Mike Lusby is his name.
no kidding. a few weeks of PT has pretty much straightened me out.
The second impact was where i really got lucky. I drive a pickup truck, and the guy that rear ended me was in like a camry or something. did little damage. so after that impact, i was sitting in my car trying to decide what to do. I thought about getting out to check on him, but i didn’t want to step into oncoming traffic. then i considered just getting out on my passenger side, but thought if something happened and a car happened to not see us and hit us, I’d be pinned against the wall. and then WHAM! The second car hit. So I was lucky I was still in my seat belt, hadn’t opened a door, etc. It was probably a good 30 seconds between collisions, since I had time to go through all those options in my head. I had just started to dial 911 when I got hit. Didn’t see it coming. And the second vehicle was a bigger truck than mine, lol.
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I’ll have to check his stuff out sometime. Just starting to expand my strongman following. Thanks for sharing!
Glad that that is the case!
Also some great news about the strongman stuff.
Edit: Sorry, I Just realized I should specify that I mean you still being here
Hey man congrats on not being dead, huge life goal there.
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posting 2 days in a row. watch out y’all!
Got back to some event training. I did some Axle deadlifting and some H stone carries. I worked up to a ‘speed’ triple on the axle with 465. I’m really happy with how this feels right now. I think I’ve done some good things with technique, I’m sitting back much better, getting hips lower to start, and my shin angle is more vertical. My next contest in January has max reps at 485, so that should be a good event for me. 10+ reps will be the goal.
I loaded the H stone to 235 and did some 100 ft runs. Had limited space to work with so I had to turn at every 25 feet. These felt easy. I didn’t generate a ton of foot speed with the limited space I had to work with, but I could have moved quickly, something I’m not used to. Contest weight is 250 for max distance. I should be good for 250-300 feet, maybe more if I can get my foot speed up. I got 100 feet in about 20 seconds last night, and that included very slow turns and a conservative pace. I’ve never felt that good with the H stone.
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Really glad you’re ok.
If you come down to Aus will you make a holiday of it? We should meet up if you do.
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yea absolutely. I figure I’d be there at least a full week. Whatever I can manage with work.
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got 3 training sessions in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Friday I deadlifted. Worked up to a set of 5x515 on the axle, with reps left in the tank. That was wonderful, considering contest weight is 30 lbs less. Did good mornings as well, which I absolutely hate.
Saturday was active recovery, something I’ve rarely engaged in but plan to going forward. I did a sled medley that consisted of 8 different sled drag methods. 2 sets of the medley. Followed that with airdyne sprints. 10 second sprints, 30-45 second rest periods. For 10 minutes.
Sunday was my ‘first event day’ since my accident. I was worried about my elbow bothering me in the axle clean and press, but it didn’t. I used this session to start getting comfortable with the clean again. I did well with it. Worked up to a 235 clean and press, with several triples below that weight. 235 is far from impressive, but the clean felt really solid, so I’m glad for that. I’ll be looking for 270+ on contest day.
Stones and keg loads were next. I basically did a medley of 2 stones, at 245 and 265 to a 4ft platform, followed by a 200 lbs keg run and load to the same height from 10 feet away. I moved with the keg well and loaded quickly. Stones were no issue. In contest, I’ll have to carry the stones 10 feet as well, but that should be manageable. I can pick and load a 265 stone very quickly, so even if my foot speed sucks, I won’t lose much time over a 10 ft distance.
Last was a front hammer hold for time. I did 4 sets with a 33 lbs hammer to 30 seconds, then a last set for max time, which only ended up being about 35-40 seconds. I generally win events like this without training for them, so some actual training should make this a very strong event for me.
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training updates, specifically on events:
Hit a relatively easy 535 axle deadlift in training for a single. Nothing special, but I’m not really hitting close to max singles right now, so it’s nice that 535 is well below my max. A year ago I had a contest where that WAS my max. Getting a much better feel for axle deadlifts from the floor.
Did a bunch of H stone runs with contests weight (250). Man, I’m loving my progress on this. I did 4 speed runs for 50’, and then a 1-minute run. That was somewhere between 200 and 250, with turns at 25’ intervals. That will translate to at least 250 feet when less turns are involved. No issue holding the stone for the full minute. I was actually able to set it down at the end rather than dropping it. So in an actual contest, I’ll be able to push myself even more. Excited to see how competitive my distance is on this one.
Also did axle cleans without the press. 5 sets of 3 at 235. That’s huge for me. The cleans are really coming together, these were easy.
So with all of this good news, there’s a little bit of bad news. It looks like the 198 class and the 220 class will likely be combined. That will be rough if it happens. There’s at least 1 220 guy signed up who will smoke me, probably in all 5 events. I don’t have any shot at beating him, so I’ll be competing for just 2 more Nationals qualifying spots. If a few more 220 guys sign up, this won’t happen. So, fingers crossed. I still think I can get my qualification, as no one else signed up is definitively stronger than me.
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quick update:
I tried contest weight (485 for max reps), and got 10 dead stop reps. I’m pretty happy with that for a training set. With 6 weeks to go, I think I can approach 15 reps in contest. That would be a huge number for me, and would probably be enough to win the event. Maybe.
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My ex-wife has a cousin named Nic. I met Nic 7 years ago, when he was 18. He was a super good looking kid, very athletic, talented, and funny. He was a star football player, and had a gymnastics scholarship to college. When I met him, all I could think was damn, I wish I had that combination of things working for me. Lucky dude. He was very involved in theater, and wanted to make it big as an actor. He left college after I think 1 year (maybe a little less, the details aren’t important here) to try to pursue acting in LA. He worked for an airline for a bit. Bounced around, ended up back in St Louis, where the rest of his family lives. 2 nights ago, NYE, he took his own life. As my ex put it, he never really found his place in the world. It’s been 24 hours since I got the news, and I’m still absolutely heartbroken about it.
I think we all have these feelings from time to time. Some of us deal with them more than others. But the message I want to deliver here is this: it can happen to anyone. This kid could have been anything, done anything. And I think the pressure of that sort of potential, largely unfulfilled, simply became unbearable to him. I’ve been there, I know that feeling. It’s why I nearly killed myself when I was young, why I turned to drugs, why I went broke in my early 20’s. Don’t ignore depression when you think you see it in someone else. Talk to them. Help your friends. Just because you think someone has it all doesn’t mean they really do. With Nic, I remember seeing the anxiety that he lived with very clearly, along with all the wonderful traits he had that I was jealous of.
I fucking hate suicide.
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Sorry to hear that, that is terrible news.
It doesn’t feel quite right to press a heart button on a post like that, but I appreciate what you’ve written here.
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Sorry for your loss, Charlie
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Sorry for your family’s heart break. It’s strange to see tremendous potential as a bad thing but I get it.
I still think I probably squandered my potential when it comes to my career choices. I could’ve done a lot of things with my intelligence, but I didn’t. But I think a career is something one does to earn money. The important aspects of life are how you affect the people you encounter. It’s really not important what you do; it’s how you do it.
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Really sorry to hear that brother. Condolences.
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