Thanks man, we’re hanging out with the young ones, they need us old guys to stay on the course 
Hey! we are NOT old, we are mature.
Thats me, I gain weight but it all sits on the guts.
Today the missus told me I looked better when I was 165-167 pounds… go figure.
I’ll hang in here for at least the rest of the year gaining some weight.
My wife wants me to lose the gut and get abs again, but she’s being totally supportive of my strongman goals. She went with me to Strongman Day in Lee’s Summit, Missouri today, and took a picture of me doing an axle wagon wheel deadlift and sent it to all the kids with a note ‘Look, here’s dad deadlifting 475!’. So, she must be a little bit proud. 
Anyway, 10/7/18 Strongman Day at Bodies Health and Fitness in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
Warmup: Log clean and press away at 135#, Barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/2/3
Log clean and press:
5x135#
5x155#
5x155#
2x185# x a lot, hit 2 reps most of the time, only hit 1 rep a few times, missed completely 1 time due to a bad clean. Also had several sets where I failed the first rep, then recovered and got 1-2 reps without setting the log down. Also did 2 sets off pins where we didn’t clean it, but went back to cleaning after 2 sets because we all really needed to work on cleans.
2x5x155#
Axle wagon wheel deadlift:
5x205#
5x295#
3x385#
1x435#
1x475#
3x435#
5x385#
5x345#
Yoke carries:
2x40ftx200#
2x40ftx250#
1x80ftx300#
I didn’t try to hit competition weight on the log, just worked on a lot of cues on doing the log right. I re-watched Brian Alsruhe’s log video this morning, and then Matt gave me a lot of pointers and feedback, so I’m feeling a lot better about the log right now.
Deadlift felt good, except the new figure 8 straps I got are too small, so I can barely use them, only used them on the 475. Also, that axle is smooth and slick, so hard as hell to hold onto without straps. I wanted to hit 475 just because it’s enough different from the tire deadlift at Strength Guild that I wanted to be sure I had it in me. Also forgot to lock in my belt, so it could have been easier than it was. Did a bunch of drop sets for volume.
Matt has the 225# stone that’s going to be our competition stone, but we didn’t play with it today because he doesn’t want to initiate the gym to tacky just yet, and the stone is brand new and smooth, so without tacky there’s no point even trying. He’s going to try to set up to go next weekend to a place where we can play with stones and tacky, so here’s hoping that works out.
Also, here’s a bonus picture of me deadlifting 475 with belt unlatched, from behind because that’s where my wife was sitting.
You are a big dude…
Thanks, I definitely take that as a complement coming from you. The only problem is I’m 5’7", so at 200# I’m 40# or more lighter than a lot of you guys. At my age, I’m figuring I’ve probably hit close to my biological limit for putting on muscle, so now my goal is to get as much strength as I can out of the muscle I have. That, and get abs again after the new year…
So, I managed to Jack up my knee yesterday, doing log press of all things. When we were doing the logs off of the pins, the pins were set too high for me and when I dipped for leg drive, I hit the pins and it got me off-balance and my right knee tweaked a bit. It didn’t affect my deadlifting or carrying, but it was a little stiff last night and I woke up with it really sore and stiff. I skipped work today, and I’ve been icing and applying heat, and working on mobility and self-massage carefully. Probably not going to squat tomorrow as planned.
And I would love to know why my tablet tried to autocorrect deadlifting to falsifying…
You said it, it’s autocorrect, there’s no reasoning for what it does.
Hope it’s not serious with the knee.
So, Monday I could barely walk, couldn’t fully extend or flex my knee. Tuesday I could walk okay, but limping and holding the handrail on the stairs. I had the NP at work look at it yesterday, and everything is firm, no looseness from ligament or tendon damage, she says I probably irritated the meniscus or bursus on the outside, possibly a slight meniscus tear but hopefully not. Today it’s feeling a lot better, but I’m still holding off going back to the gym, and life has been conspiring to keep me out of the gym anyway, the last few days. So, this will be an unplanned deload week, I guess. I may skip squat day completely and do a bench day before the weekend.
sounds sane, hope it’s not serious.
Ended up taking the full 6 days off, and went to strongman day in Lee’s Summit again yesterday. Knee is still a little achey, but it’s working okay.
10/14/18
Warmup: barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/2/3
Wagon wheel deadlifts a bunch, mostly light, worked up to 5x385#.
Stone over bar a few 100# to warm up, 5x 165#, a couple singles and 1 double at 225#, which is 5# over contest weight.
Log clean and press a bunch, worked up to 2x180# a couple times, and failed at 200# a couple of times.
So, I can officially be confident that I won’t zero anything except log, right now. I should have worked on log first, but I was sort of moving around between implements, and by the time I got to 200# on the log I was pretty beat. I’ll keep working on it, and hope that since it’s the first event on contest day I’ll have at least 1 rep.
Edit: forgot to note that the stones up to 165# were without tacky, but no way was 225# going up without tacky. It’s a brand new, smooth stone, and I could barely budge it off the floor before it slid out of my hands. Put on some tacky, and it’s amazing how much difference that makes. I’m going to tape my arms up first next time, though. After the first couple of times, it felt like the skin on my forearms was going to peel off and stick to the stone. I’ve actually got some pretty good abrasions and a little bruising inside both of my forearms today. Lesson learned.
So, this week is turning into a flu-induced deload week. Just what I needed, 2 deload weeks in a row less than a month before a competition, right?
It might even serve you good Steve. You have 4 weeks to work back up to a peak. I’m not really sure how to do it though.
What happens, happens.
IMO your best bet is to get well. Then look at how much time you have before the competition and work with that.
Okay, here we go…
So, the janky knee turned into a knee plus the opposite side hip due to overcompensation, and then I also tweaked my right shoulder… I decided to take a little break to give my body some healing time, and then a reason to skip the gym turned into an excuse, and next thing I know, it’s 2 and a half months later.
Anyway, I figured the new year is as good a time as any to jump back in, and my birthday is just around the corner. My plan is to go full body workouts for the first few weeks, as well as starting to do some conditioning, and reassess after that and decide whether to jump into a 5/3/1 rotation again, or try something different. My diet plan is to go Paleo lite, keeping milk and potatoes in the rotation, but other than that. I’ve decided that I want to see my abs again by Summer, acknowledging that my strength will probably suffer a little bit since I’ll be eating to get rid of fat instead of just to get strong. I won’t be starving myself, just eliminating the junk and gradually cutting back.
I also have some really ‘good’ before pictures for the @t-ransformation2019 challenge.
I currently have the full Santa look going on, ‘bowl full of jelly’ belly and all. I haven’t lost all my strength or muscle, but there’s definitely been a little bit of atrophy, as well as a good bit of padding added. Oh, well, we’ll see what I can accomplish in 6 months.
01/01/19 first workout of the new year - light full body workout to start waking my body up
Warmup: barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/1/1
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135#
5x185#
5x225#
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
superset with chin-ups 1/2/3/4
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
Bench:
5x45#
5x95#
5x115#
5x135#
5x155#
superset with chin-ups 5/4/3/2/1
Kept things light for my first workout in over 2 months, and everything still works. My right knee aches just a little, but nothing excessive. I’m sure I’ll still be plenty sore tomorrow.
Edit: started the new year at 204#. I stated it on the t-ransformation challenge thread, but forgot to put it here.
Hey Steve welcome back, and happy new year
Second verse, same as the first! That is to say, I did the same workout today that I did Tuesday. It hurt a bit more, today, since I’m sporting some serious DOMS from Tuesday, but I’ll get rid of most of that within the next 2 weeks. I also added some running on the end of it, since my goal for the next 5 months is ultimately body recomposition, although I expect to get my strength back up, if not where it was then at least not too far off. The 2019 T-ransformation challenge should be fun.
1/4/19
Warmup: barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/1/1
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135#
5x185#
5x225#
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
superset with chin-ups 1/2/3/4
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
Bench:
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
5x135#
5x155#
superset with chin-ups 5/4/3/2/1
Conditioning: 10 laps on the 14 lap/mile indoor track - run the straights, walk the curves. Just to get the blood flowing everywhere, and remind my body what running feels like.
Like I said, a lot of DOMS the last couple of days, but that was expected from my first day back from a 2.5 month layoff.
I’ve decided that I’m going to do an A/B rotation 3 days/ week for the next 2 weeks, 5 reps on each set, like so:
A: Press/Squat/accessories
B: Bench/Deadlift/accessories
Conditioning 3 days/week
I’m also going to bump the weight up a little, since I’ll only be doing 2 main lifts/day instead of all four. The last rotation of that 2-week period, I will go for rep maxxes on the main lifts and get an estimated 1RM. At that point, I’ll decide what to do next. I think I’m going to go back and re-read some of the 5/3/1 templates and pick something from there.
Thx for the inspiration!
First things first, happy birthday to me. I turned 54 on Sunday, so one more year until I qualify for a senior discount at most restaurants.
My knee was not happy after Friday’s workout, no sharp pain but achey and stiff, so I took an extra day off. It felt pretty good today, and I wore my knee sleeves, which seemed to help. I feel fine right now, but we’ll see how it is tomorrow.
1/8/19 - Press/squat/accessory day.
Warmup: barbell complex x3 with chin-ups 1/1/1
Giant set 1:
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
5x135#
Chin-ups 2/3/4/5/6
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
5x225#
Accessory giant set:
1 arm DB press per arm:
10x40#
10x40#
10x50#
Krok rows:
10x50#
10x60#
10x60#
Zercher squats:
5x135#
5x135#
5x135#
Conditioning: 10 laps on the 14 lap/mile indoor track - run the straights, walk the curves, same speed as last time.
I figure since conditioning and fat loss are primary goals this time around, I would go with giant sets and try to keep everything moving along as quickly as possible. I walked in the gym at 1802 and walked out at 1900, so everything including changing took less than an hour. I didn’t think to time the workout until after the fact, so that’s the best approximation I have right now. I’m sure the workouts will get longer as the weights get heavier, and I was pretty out of breath during the running, but overall happy with how this went.
Happy 30th birthday! 
Happy birthday (almost) old man
Happy birthday 
. 
I hope you had some cake
