Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

Training Logs
21

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Couple of random thoughts

-Woke up at 184.6. Seems to be about my baseline right now.

-Both of my legs are sore, so the lower body training at least had some degree of intensity to it.

-I need to account for the fact that I am burning more calories moving around these days since I am crutching everywhere. Getting to and from my car in the parking lot at work is a workout.

-Still battling with my insurance provider for PT. Just a lot of red tape.[/quote]

Is this the lightest youā€™ve been in a long time?

Wish you a speedy recovery man! Glad your doing whatever you can to stay active! Iā€™ve dealt with the PT/insurance before. In my experience you have to be an asshole (even if itā€™s not in your nature) for them to finally listen to you. They always try to give you the run around!

22

Best wishes on your recovery!

23

isdatnutty: I think the last time I was walking around at this weight was 2006. Maybe even 2005. I at least take comfort in the fact that my body comp is significantly better now than it was then, as I was eating UP to that weight.

Biggest issue right now is just that my primary care doc messed up the referral and itā€™s taking a while to get it sorted. PT is on the way, but sucks having the be at the mercy of bureaucrats. Thanks for the support.

TxIron: I appreciate that man!

One other note I forgot to mention: my crutches keep running into my lats instead of my armpits, which has been less than pleasant, but I guess Iā€™ll interpret that as a sign that my lats are a decent size, haha.

24

Sorry to hear about your injury man, but Iā€™m sure youā€™ll be back on top in no time. Iā€™ll be following as usual.

25

Ouch, that looked like it hurt.

Thanks for the writeup, and especially that you were honest about all the aspects that went into it. I think that leaves a far better impression than the naive ā€œdonā€™t do yoke walks because you might hurt yourselfā€ that I think many people get out of stuff like this.

Why the switch back to 5/3/1 for the pressing? Last I remembered, you were repeating that Matt Kroc bench program.

26

Furo: I appreciate the support and your readership. Thanks for stopping by!

LoRez: No problem man, I enjoyed answering the question. Iā€™ve had a lot of time to think things over, and though itā€™s easy to just get depressed and upset over things, I find it more beneficial to explore and figure out how things went bad. I take solace in the fact that a 775lb yoke is WAAAAAAY outside what is expected for my weightclass. That event was a ā€œmax yokeā€, and my partner and I were going heavy on it, but for my class, Mid to high 6s tends to be the limit. The sport seems to be able to mitigate the stupid a touch, haha.

As for 5/3/1, it was what I started with when I got into powerlifting and eventually strongman, so itā€™s something of a returning to my roots. I have NO idea what my bench 1rm is at this point, and itā€™s a little more critical to the Kroc program versus 5/3/1 due to the difference in structure (fixed reps and sets for percentages versus the AMRAP thing). As my knee starts coming along, Iā€™ll be tweaking things as I go, but right now itā€™s serving as a decent shell for me. Chasing PRs is always fun too.

While Iā€™m posting, Iā€™ll note that I finally got my first physical therapy appointment scheduled. Itā€™s not until 14 Dec, but at least itā€™s on the books. My surgeon sent the physical therapy protocol home with me to give to my therapist, but I may have my wife look at it this weekend and see if there is anything I can do while I wait. The reason I want her to look at it instead of me is that, knowing myself, Iā€™ll try to self PT the whole thing and set myself back quite a bit.

27

Shit man.
Ive followed your stuff since ā€˜the firstā€™ time I used these forums. Sucks go see you hurt mate.
Following along. Best of luck!

28

781Ɨ496 129 KB

Steve: Thanks for following along man, I appreciate the support.

And donā€™t worry about me being hurt; it tends to make me better in the end. A little more evil, yes, but better still, haha.

I plan on being able to put the Hulk in a headlock by the time this is all done.

EARLY AM TRAINING

Blast strap fallouts
5x10

superset w/

Seated band good mornings (average band)
5x10

Notes: Had more time to train today, broke my session up and really hammered the core. The seated band good mornings arenā€™t terrible. Not a whole lot of stimulus, but better than nothing. That said, later in the day, I went over to my reverse hyper and was able to perform the movement without any resistance with no issues, so I may just hit those next time.

Neck harness 45lbs
1x65

Notes: Might as well start pushing this.

LATER AM TRAINING

Single leg squat w/45lbs right leg, seated squat visualization/flex with left
3x10
1x10 +1x10 without weight

Notes: Held a kettlebell in my right hand for the single leg squats to add some resistance. It ended up being pretty gnarly, especially with the drop set at the end. In the more distant future, I see myself doing this with the safety squat bar, but the farmerā€™s handle might work as well as a loading implement. For the visualization, I hit 20 reps and then held the contraction on the last one for 10 seconds.

Standing band leg curls (light, right leg)/hamstring flex left leg
4x10
1x12

Notes: Held contraction for 10 seconds on last rep of last set for flex.

Seated band leg extensions (light, right leg)/quad flex left leg
4x10
1x15

Notes: Held contraction for 15 seconds on last rep of last set of flex.

General notes: Woke up at 184.4. Ate a ton yesterday, had some GI issues. Had a poptart after the second workout this morning and it was glorious. Donā€™t plan to make that a habit, but I want to start experimenting with higher carbs immediately post workout.

29

Captains of Crush Grippers

#2

1x19

1,2,3,1,2,1,1,2 (odd wave pattern)

31 second hold

#1
1x38

Notes: Trying to vary things a little more, as it seems sticking with the same routine on these tends to burn out my forearms and hands.

30

Axle bench press
Bar x 10
115x10
165x5
205x3
235x3
265x7
205x15

Notes: Should add in one more warm up set for the sake of volume. This was the 3s week, and amazingly my last weekā€™s weight fit in just about perfect for 5s. I need to rig up the chains next time so that I have zero fears about going for PRs, as I MIGHT have had an 8th on the 265 set if I really pushed my absolute hardest. Still pleased with the effort. The FSL set was with a wider grip than I anticipated. One of the side effects of using the axle is, since it has no knurling or marks on it, my hands go to what they naturally feel comfortable with, rather than going based off of rings/external indications. Might carry over to the bench, or I may have to bring my grip in to save my rotator cuff. Time will tell.

Funny exchange. My wife asked me ā€œIsnā€™t it hard to bench without your knee?ā€ and all I could respond with was ā€œYes.ā€ At least it means that, when I can use leg drive, I should see some improvement.

Dips (upright)
5x18

3 way shoulder circuit
3x20

Notes: Iā€™ll be making an effort to push this in the future. Got nothing to save up for, need to stupidly push anything I can in the weight room.

NG chins
9x15
7x10
1x30

Notes: Sets of 15 in between all the benching, sets of 10 in between everything else, then one big set of all the grips on the swiss bar at the very end of the session. Iā€™ve noticed that my right lat seems to be dominating this movement (and, in turn, is larger than my left), so toward the end I made a concentrated effort to focus on initiating the movement with my left. May need to make that focus for a while. Ideally, I want to use a little more variety, but this is just an easy way to get in some back work that puts no pressure on my knee.

General notes: Woke up at 184.6. On the plus side, I am really happy with how much I get to eat to stay at this weight. One of the benefits of that whole ā€œbodyweight set pointā€ thing I suppose.

31

[quote]We are monsters
and they are but men
Behold the Colossus
Rises again[/quote]-Clutch

Arm over arm prowler pulls
4x50ā€™

Notes: Great to be doing SOME sort of event again. Iā€™m back. Donā€™t have a straight section of street for 50ā€™ to pull this one, so I have to side step around the half way point to get back on track. Did this with the empty prowler just to get a feel for it, but plan to load it up as things get better. Was also able to push it back to where I needed by only pushing with my good leg, so that might get into the rotation.

Official cheat meal this week was 3.5 slices of Papa Johnā€™s ā€œEpic Meatsā€ pizza, but Iā€™m eating quite a bit looser than before, so this was more just my ā€œcarb upā€ meal.

32

[Official cheat meal this week was 3.5 slices of Papa Johnā€™s ā€œEpic Meatsā€ pizza]

i call that amazing willpower to stop at just 3.5 slices

your kidding right?

33

Just wanted to drop in and thank you for yesterdayā€™s article. I donā€™t remember who but a member on here recently asked why so many people get stuck on 5x5 routines these days. I think the answer is the same it has always been; MOST people will get stuck eventually because they never learn how to change their training in a productive manner. 5x5 isnā€™t bad per se; 3x10 isnā€™t bad per se; dropsets and supersets arenā€™t bad per se. What is bad per se is the countless numbers of people who donā€™t know how to combine knowledge, effort and patience.

34

Cavemansam: As a fat-kid at heart, self control is one of those things I had to learn early. If I always ate until I was satisfied, Iā€™d be like 400lbs, haha. It was amazing though.

Nighthawkz: Thanks man, I appreciate the feedback. It kills me, since I spent a good amount of time on abbreviated training and was a big fan of the results, but Iā€™m quickly learning that itā€™s not for everyone, and especially not for real beginner trainees. A think a little bit of time dorking around is necessary before starting on something like that, as it at least gives you a slight chance of learning something.

At least the internet never fails to disappoint in providing material, haha.

35

Captains of Crush grip training

1x20 w/#2

1x6 w/#2 drop to 1x12 w/#1 drop to 1x12 w/Trainer

20 second hold w/#2

1x35 w/#1

Notes: Trickier to log, but that drop set was really pretty slick, and made my hands feel a lot better than just hammering it with the 2. Hit my goal of 20 reps with the 2, but my 2.5 wasnā€™t where I thought it was. Iā€™ll have to dig through my house to find it again. Worse comes to worse, Iā€™ll just order another, but I still know a few ways to play around with the grippers.

Woke up at 185.0. Moving in the right direction thankfully.

36

You know man, after I read yesterdayā€™s blog post, Iā€™m FULLY convinced 5/3/1 is what Iā€™ve been needing to do. I think a big reason Iā€™ve never done it is purely ego. The numbers do drop in 5/3/1 but strength does take years to build. But when I put in my numbers in an excel sheet and saw what my numbers would be 12-24 cycles from now (obviously with hard work & dedication), you should have seen the smile on my face haha!

After Iā€™m done with my current block, Iā€™m going to do 5/3/1. I think it will give me that true balance Iā€™m looking for especially while Iā€™m adjusting to my new life in Denver. Iā€™ve found some templates that incorporate the Olympic lifts. I think 5/3/1 has everything youā€™d want in a program. The versatility is great. Iā€™m thinking of doing the 2 day template so I can do 2 days of Oly lifting as well.

I just want to say THANK YOU for putting together such a good read yesterday and for always dropping that knowledge! You donā€™t know it yet, but I swear you are going to inspire a bunch of people to get strong. Others have done the same, but I think the difference is people will actually get strong from being smart from the start because of you. THANKS again man!

37

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:
You know man, after I read yesterdayā€™s blog post, Iā€™m FULLY convinced 5/3/1 is what Iā€™ve been needing to do. I think a big reason Iā€™ve never done it is purely ego. The numbers do drop in 5/3/1 but strength does take years to build. But when I put in my numbers in an excel sheet and saw what my numbers would be 12-24 cycles from now (obviously with hard work & dedication), you should have seen the smile on my face haha!

After Iā€™m done with my current block, Iā€™m going to do 5/3/1. I think it will give me that true balance Iā€™m looking for especially while Iā€™m adjusting to my new life in Denver. Iā€™ve found some templates that incorporate the Olympic lifts. I think 5/3/1 has everything youā€™d want in a program. The versatility is great. Iā€™m thinking of doing the 2 day template so I can do 2 days of Oly lifting as well.

I just want to say THANK YOU for putting together such a good read yesterday and for always dropping that knowledge! You donā€™t know it yet, but I swear you are going to inspire a bunch of people to get strong. Others have done the same, but I think the difference is people will actually get strong from being smart from the start because of you. THANKS again man![/quote]

Thatā€™s awesome man, Iā€™m really glad to hear that youā€™ve decided on that direction. If I had to do it all over again, Iā€™d run 5/3/1 from the start. Itā€™s not that there is anything magical about it (Cube Method, Westside for Skinny Bastards, and a whole bunch of others out there that are well set up), but itā€™s definitely viable. I think youā€™ll be pleased with the results as long as you keep busting your ass.

And I appreciate the kind words. My blog doesnā€™t have the largest audience, but I treasure all of my readers, and it really makes me happy to know that folks are enjoying what Iā€™m putting out there. Itā€™s honestly been an incredibly rewarding experience, both in terms of the impact Iā€™ve had and how much I have learned from the process of getting my thoughts out there. Next week it hits 3 years, updating once a week, and Iā€™m really proud of that. Keep reading, and if there is ever anything you want me to cover, let me know.

Single leg squat w/SSB (right leg)/squat visualization flex (left leg)
4x10
1x10 drop bar 1x10

Notes: Just the bar, no weight on it, so about 60lbs. Still hammered the leg pretty hard, and now Iā€™ve got a better set-up for adding weight in the future. Hits the upper back a touch as well. Still just flexing as hard as I can with the left.

Standing average band curls (right)/hamstring flex (left)
2x8/10
2x6/10

Notes: Average band really hit the leg hard. Seeing a lot in these movements.

Average band leg extension/quad flex
2x8/10
2x6/10

Blast strap fallouts
3x12

superset w/

Neck harness 45lbs
2x25
1x35

Notes: Really going to focus on the neck now, since I can.

Reverse hyper (no weight)
1x50

Notes: It felt like it was only my right side working on this one, but I think that was just due to fatigue. After I was done, I felt the pump all in my back. Going to really go for high reps on these next go round: make it my finisher for the day. Still need to do something for my glutes as well. Maybe some old school fire hydrants or something stupid like that.

38

I feel like if I were in your shoes, I would abstain from half the shit youā€™re doing just because Iā€™m a wimp:(

Oh and the Juggernaut was always my favorite character out of anybody from Marvel/DC. Keep doin that neck work and youā€™re gonna look just like Cain!

39

Age + attitude = a LOT of good lifting years ahead for you. Please pace yourself through recovery to keep this log amazing.

40

Vinny: One of my greatest attributes is my pure, unadulterated, underwear on top of the pants level stupidity when it comes to training, haha. Iā€™m too stupid to know when something is a bad idea, which lets me get away with a lot. Unfortunately, it probably got me in this mess in the first place, haha.

Thanks for the support! Iā€™ll hopefully at least get the Juggernaut upper body by the time Iā€™m done. Well, that, and one leg.

Biker: I appreciate it man. Iā€™m definitely keeping low on the throttle, as crazy as itā€™s making me. Got a lot of pent up energy, and right now the nozzle is just too small.

Seated axle press
axle x 10
75x5
115x5
135x3
155x3
175x7
135x9

Notes: These are probably turning into ultra high incline presses, but Iā€™m trying my hardest to keep them legit overheads. Racking the weight is still the trickiest part, but Iā€™m getting the hang of it.

Dips (forward lean)
4x25

Notes: Rotator cuff bugged me on the first set but went away after that. I may start moving away from dips in the future, just to get some more variety.

Axle curls w/chip per side
1x100

Notes: Actually increasing the weight on this, slowly but surely. Going to push ALL my work while I train, not just the main stuff.

Band pushdown dropset
1x50 light
1x50 mini

Cable rows 90lbs
15x12

Notes: Sets in between everything.

Forgot to hit the pull aparts. Iā€™ll throw them in sometime today.

General notes: 184.6 this morning. Not going to get crazy and overcorrect, just going to consistently keep the calories high and make gradual increases. Still pushing more carbs post workout to see what effect it has.