So, a few thousand lbs of rocks broken loose, dug out and loaded into the wheelbarrow and moved to their temporary storage location. They’re destined to become a new stone paver walkway to our front door, after I redo the front porch.
The one stone I took a picture of in the wheelbarrow, I did some rough math for the weight/cubic foot of limestone, and it comes out to about 175#. It’s also shaped almost perfectly like a small Husafell stone, so I think I’m going to keep it. I’ll just have to be careful setting it down, since limestone isn’t the strongest, and I actually broke one of the large flat pavers setting it down.
I could have made this a serious workout and carried all the stones to their staging area, but since I’m actually trying to accomplish something in a reasonable time, I decided to go for efficiency instead.
I’m not sure what that would do to the grip feel of it, might make in too easy to hold. I think you’re onto something, though, there should be something I can do to reinforce it. I’m pretty happy with the find!
Back was still sore from all the stone lifting yesterday, but still managed to get a bench day in.
First time I’ve tried 225# since I started back up. I knew I had it, just hadn’t done it yet. I had a spotter, and after 3 reps I knew I had another one easy, so I went ahead and got it. I guess ‘easy’ isn’t the right word, 225# still felt heavy, but there was no doubt that I had it.
I took a little time yesterday evening and reviewed Brian Alsruhe’s log press video, and identified several things I’m doing wrong. I’m still going to hold off trying to hit competition weight next time I do log, but I have a few things I know I need to work on now, and we’ll see how that makes things feel.
Thanks, Hog. Not nearly as strong as you on bench, but I’m still pretty happy with it.
10/2/18 5/3/1 cycle 4 day 8
Warmup: barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/2/3
Deadlift:
45# 3 + 1 power clean
95# 3 + 1 power clean
135# 3 + 1 power clean
185# 3 + F, 1 power clean
3x235#
3x285#
3x325#
3x365#
Jokers:
3x395#
1x425#
I could tell from the first warm-up sets that my back was still fatigued, whether from heavy deadlifts on Friday, all the stone work on Sunday, or an accumulation of the 2. I failed my first power clean attempt at 185#, which I haven’t failed since I started doing them again. Kept going with the deadlifts, and nothing was hurting, I just felt slow and weak. Stopped after 1 rep at 425# because I just ran out of gas. Didn’t do any accessory work, just called it quits after that. Pretty disappointing workout, I guess I’m trying to do too much heavy deadlifting within too short a time period.
Yeah, this is one of those pieces of advice that I’ve dispensed more than once, but it’s still a bitter pill when I have to swallow it myself. Still, one mediocre workout is a lot better than missing weeks because I pushed through and tweaked my back.
Trap bar farmer’s walk:
1x100ftx145#
2x50ftx235#
2x50ftx285#
Ab wheel roll-outs: 6/6/10
superset with back extensions with 15# kettlebell over head: 12/12/12
So today was ‘finish the rest of yesterday’s workout that I blew off’ day. Good workout, nice and quick, and this is the first time I’ve ever done 225# on front squat, so there’s that. It was friggin’ hard! A little tough on the legs and core coming out of the hole, but mostly holding the bar in the rack position. My wrists were not happy.
1 arm DB press: 10x50#, 10x60#, 10x70#
superset with Kroc rows: 10x60#, 10x70#, 15x80#
DB concentration curls 25#: 10/10
superset with 1 arm overhead tricep extensions 25#: 10/10
Today’s session went well with the exception of missing the push press at 215#. I had it, and then my left tricep didn’t quite have the umph to lock it out and I had to bail. I’m happy with 7 reps at 165# on the strict press, though.
Normal 5/3/1 workout today instead of strongman work because I have one of my granddaughters all day, so going to Topeka isn’t in the cards. I went in to work this morning for a few hours, then hit the gym at work before I went over to pick her up. I had the gym to myself, to I decided to take some pictures. I don’t have any physique goals right now, but I am considering doing the T-ransformation challenge for 2019, after I knock out the next few strongman competitions. Anyway, I figured it’d be a good idea to get a baseline on how I look, and open myself to any critique or input on areas I really need to work on. Also, I apologize for the crappy back pics, my front facing camera isn’t as good as the main one.
Also, any guesses on BF%? I’m thinking something slightly north of 20% right now, but it’s totally a guess. At least I have room to move the % down significantly for the challenge, right? If I can drop 20# of fat I can compete in lightweight strongman instead of master’s, so I won’t be going up against 300+# guys anymore.
According to that calculator, I’m sitting at 21%, so I was pretty close with what I was figuring. Assuming the accuracy of the calculator is decent, anyway. This puts me in the ‘acceptable’ category for the calculator, with 158# lbm and 42# of fat. Now, if I can get myself to lose about half of that fat without losing any muscle mass, I’ll be doing good.
Hmmm, I guess it makes sense since I never see myself from behind,but I never realized how much bigger I look from the back compared with from the front. I guess my gut gets in the way from the front…
Thanks, man. You’re well on the way, yourself. Just stay consistent with the eating and lifting.
It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
Thanks, that means a lot coming from you. Yeah, and I’m going to keep eating for gains through the end of the year, gut and all. There’s another strongman competition in St Louis in December I’m considering entering, and one in January up north of Kansas City, so I don’t want to do anything that’ll jeopardize my strength. Unfortunately, at 53 I’m afraid I’m getting close to my genetic limit for putting on muscle. My size gains have dropped to almost nothing (strength gains are still coming though). I wish I had started properly trying to become big and strong in my teens and 20’s instead of waiting until my 40’s.
Thanks a lot, man. Seeing you at my age and still killing it, and giving out great advice, is one of the things that keeps me motivated.
