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

Training Logs
9926

@simo74 Thanks dude! It was an awesome day. Got in more training than I thought I would, which was cool.

AM WORKOUT (0625 natural wake up) FASTED

21 KB clusters w/45lbs
21 chins
15 clusters
15 chins
9 clusters
9 chins

Time: 9:46

Notes: Fran with some modifications. Good way to start the day and get the systems firing. My traps are, predictably, very sore, but my hamstring feels good. Interestingly enough, the thing that hurt the most immediately post my 365 rep set was my feet. They were in agony. I remember Jamie Lewis mentioning something to the same effect for his 30 minute overhead press challenge. Funny that.

Planning on making this another conditioning day and then hitting deads tomorrow. Weā€™re thinking of walking around the zoo a bit today, and after that maybe the Tower will call to me.

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9927

Photo of my stupidly elaborate breakfast featuring a slice of pumpkin bread

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9928

PM WORKOUT

ā€œGARDEN OF EDENā€

Front squats of 225lbs/100kg with 5 burpees between sets
17 (3 rep PR)-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Daily work

2 mile walk with the dog

Notes: ā€œGarden of Edenā€ because you eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil first, commit your sin, and from there are damned to the tower. Topset was an easy PR: Iā€™m getting stronger. Especially when you consider Iā€™m doing this workout the day after doing 365 reps with 135 on the trap bar, and after walking around the zoo all day, on a belly full of chinese buffet food.

Surprisingly, I still think the original Tower is more challenging, but this was nice for a change of pace. But it might also just be that my conditioning has reach so much ā€œother worldlyā€ that I canā€™t really find the challenge I need. Log Kalsu will fix that, but didnā€™t want to do that before deads. Iā€™m finding ways to make the prowler break me as well.

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9929

Great vid and crazy hard session mate. Did you mean to spell Babel as Bable, Is there a jokeI donā€™t get :face_with_monocle:

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9930

I think thatā€™s what happens when you do 81 Front squats in a session.

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9931

@simo74 Thanks man. The joke is me trying to upload the video from my phone after that workout, haha. Corrected the typo.

@dagill2 Me being me, I had to talk myself out of more to have something left for deads tomorrow.

Woke up at 0620 naturally and got in 10 rounds of fasted burpees over bar with Tabata rest intervals.

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9932

Just read the latest blog post. Easier to keep up with that than with this log. Great stuff as always, tons of respect for you.
And checking here I see what you did with front squatsā€¦ jesus thatā€™s brutal, incredible strength AND conditioning.
Would be amazing to see you compete - at anything. Any comps on the horizon?

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9933

Very much appreciated dude. Iā€™d love to compete again too! There are tons of comps on the horizon: the world just needs to sort out this global pandemic. Travel rules and restriction change near daily, which makes any sort of planning pretty much impossible.

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9934

BUILDING THE MONOLITH Week 3, Workoutā€¦5?

AM WORKOUT II (1000)

60 DB rows w/105lbs in 4:15

Poundstone curls
188xAxle

PM WORKOUT (1330)

Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x226
5x256
5x286
4x286
3x5x276

Texas deadlift bar touch and go deadlifts
5x135
5x225
5x315
5x405
5x455
3x5x500

CONDITIONING

Stone of Steel (135lb) to shoulder and KB (45lb) cluster ladder up to 5

LATER

2 mile walk with dog

Notes: In between all that was various daily work. Just kinda active all day. Bench fell apart, so I set it back 2 cycles and finished up. Itā€™s been a struggle to come to terms with how weak all my pressing has become, and my deadlifting for that matter. My squat is sky-rocketing, so Iā€™ll ride that high as long as I can. Was quite proud of the effort I put into the deads: definitely blew out a ton of blood vessels.

That little conditioning workout was a burner: happy with how it worked. Definitely a solid skeleton to play with. Easy enough to take it to 10 sometime.

At my kidā€™s Tang Soo Do class I found out I got invited to join the advanced class. Iā€™m a bit torn, because this was supposed to be a family activity and this is clearly separating me from them, but my wife is excited about it. Iā€™d still be able to do a class with her once a week and then do the advanced on my own. Iā€™m finding myself getting drawn back in again, which is cool.

I need to eat more. Thereā€™s 3 weeks left, Iā€™m in the home stretch, and Iā€™m simultaneously setting PRs everywhere and having the wheels fall off at the same time.

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9935

Are you doing BBB or BtM? Or are you playing around with a hybrid??

9936

Monolith. Just having to rush updates these days. Beefcake is 5x10 work.

Got in 12 rounds of fasted burpees over bar this morning. Conditioning to follow.

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9937

Admittedly Iā€™ve fallen a bit behind on the log lately and boy, it moves fast! Also I kinda lost track of the big picture, so if you could bring me up to speed, that would be much appreciated!

  1. Whatā€™s the current short/ long term goal?
  2. Are you planning to do anything competitively with the fighting or is that purely a stand alone?
  3. Are you done with strongman for good as a competitor or just enjoying a longer break?
9938

As far as competing goes, I think itā€™d be hilarious to see you compete at a weightlifting meet (is that what theyā€™re called?). Your ā€œformā€ might stand out even more there than compared to sqauts, deadlifts, etc.

9939

I totally get how this is a bit of a tough choice.

Then I also try to balance into these choices what are they taking away from the role modeling? Like with my own kids, I want them to know itā€™s ok to pursue goalsā€¦ but balance that with family/ responsibility first.

The great news is I truly believe that any decision made for the right reasons becomes the right decision.

Iā€™m not sure why I dropped my psychosis here in your log, but itā€™s awesome to see the martial arts is going well and thatā€™s youā€™re getting reignited.

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9940

@Koestrizer Good to have you checking in dude. I never have long term goals, because I donā€™t believe in a guaranteed future. Aside from the Kierkegaardian ā€œget bigger and strongerā€ long term goal that is: itā€™s merely something thatā€™s called to me since I was a kid and Iā€™ve given up trying to understand why. Short term right now is about balance. I feel like Iā€™ve finally gotten a handle on how to eat and train to balance health and performance. Iā€™m having fun experimenting with how I set up training, and right now trying out employing a cyclical approach to training and nutrition, which is permitting me a bit more freedom in programming selection. After this current run of Building the Monolith, Iā€™ll be taking a 7 week diet break to run an intensification program of my own design, then do 12 weeks of Deep Water, 7 week diet break, and onto something else.

For 2, I wouldnā€™t call what Iā€™m doing fighting. Iā€™ve fought before, and this is far more ā€œhobbyā€. I might compete within the rules of the association, but even then, I wouldnā€™t call that fighting. This is what sparring looks like

But itā€™s fun, it helps my wife and kid connect with their heritage, and it scratches an itch.

As for 3, Iā€™m not enjoying this break at all! This global pandemic sucks. Iā€™d love to compete again.

@jshaving I think theyā€™re still dealing with the same nonsense in weightlifting, haha. I miss competing.

@TrainForPain I appreciate you sharing that: I never even considered the role modeling aspect of it. May just give my kiddo some incentive to really get dialed in. Much apprecaited!

PM WORKOUT (1500)

Start with 1 KB cluster 45lb bells and 10 chins, then 2 and 9, repeat until numbers reversed, then work back down the KB clusters with 10 KB cluster and 1 dip, 9 and 2, until numbers reversed

EVENING

2 mile 80lb weighted vest walk with the dog

Notes: Another eventful day. Lots of activity. Came up with the conditioning on the fly and it worked pretty well.

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9941

Thanks for the summary mate. Good to hear youā€™re fire for strongman is still burning bright!

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9942

In many ways, pwn is fire.

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9943

Just catching up. Love the KB work. Keep crushing brother and sharing the truth

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9944

@Koestrizer Which is to say, as dim as ever, haha. Strongman was always just a vehicle for competition for me, but I donā€™t have any particular love for the sport itself. Itā€™s the closest thing to what I want to do as far as being me goes, but in truth, Crossfit would appeal to me more were it not for the gymnastics movements. My shoulder canā€™t handle that. What I enjoy is competition, particularly because it forces me to get stronger than I would on my own. Itā€™s why I say I just want to compete again.

@Voxel I constantly get burnt, haha.

@ChongLordUno Good to hear from you dude!

BUILDING THE MONOLITH Week 3, Workout 6

AM WORKOUT (0305 wake up via dog)

Weighted chins 87.5lbs
5x5

Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x140
5x230
5x350
5x390
4x435 (equipment mishap)

Axle clean and strict press away
10x5

Band pull aparts
1x50
2x25

Axle shrugs against bands
70 against short average bands, transition immediately to 30 against light bands

Buffalo Bar Squat Widowmaker
40x255lbs

40 reverse hypers w/50lbs
20 standing ab wheels
50 dips
25 pushdowns
Neck harness
Neck curls
30 GHRs

CONDITIONING

EMOM 5 log viper presses w/100lb log for 10 minutes

Notes: Started off with giant sets of squat-chin-press until I ran out of chins, then squat-pull apart-press, and then I finished out pressing while I unloaded the bar from squats so I could use the axle for shrugs. My right hamstring acted up on the first ramp up set for squats and didnā€™t get any better after that. You can see Iā€™m using a different technique in the widowmaker squat to emphasize my lower back to take some weight off the hamstring.

I came in with a goal for 40 reps, so Iā€™m happy to have met that. Once again, felt like losing chow on that set. Pretty awesome to be able to push that hard.

Presses were exactly where I needed them to be difficulty wise.

I like what I came up with for conditioning. I normally canā€™t stand EMOM work, but this answered the mail. Iā€™d love to take this one out until failure.

EDIT: Meant to document, I clearly underate over these past 5 days. My lifting belt was LOOSE, and I could feel the impact of it. Itā€™s easier to stay on task when Iā€™m working, but when Iā€™m at home, I get pulled away by chores and events. I need to make a point of getting in calories during those down periods.

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9945

Since you still want to compete in strongman, Florida may have some events you can compete in, which typically has fewer COVID related restrictions compared to other states.