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

The rolling thunder is a super fun toy to play with, but I wasn’t finding it particularly effective as a grip builder. I’m sure it was working, but I just trained it more like an event than gripwork. They’re pretty cheap all things considered, and if you’re super hardcore you can use them for chins and stuff too.

I’d go with grippers for a low cost/low space grip trainer first. Just closing them doesn’t do much, but holding them closed does some awesome stuff.

Prowler w/200lbs loaded
8x50’

Notes: 30 seconds rest between sets. Noticed I was counted breaths vs seconds last time, so really tried to keep things tight. My whole body is hurting, especially forearms. Gonna up the glucosamine.

Weighed in at 196.6 this morning.

You’re a strong man (though not as strong as Alpha, heh) who does Strongman, and has been around the block and seen a few things…

Check out Brute Fury’s log in Powerful Women and please tell me whether her grip strength is as crazy as I think it is (she’s pretty strong overall in general), or whether I’m just an old, weak guy who needs to get out more.

(she says she weighs 160-165)

Thanks for thinking of me, and keeping me grounded compared to Alpha, haha.

I honestly have on scale for women’s grip strength accomplishments. Amy Wattles is the only name I know in that sport, and it’s really just because she had a log on Elitefts. Sorry to not really have perspective on the matter.

Btw, I saw you had a post on her log regarding tie breaker event in a show. That wrestling with the stick thing is called “Mas Wrestling”. It’s cropping up a bit.

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I just googled Mas Wrestling. Love it! Thanks for the info.

Axle Strict Press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x146
5x166
9x191
7x191 (continental and push press)
10x146 (continental and strict press)

Notes: PM workout due to work schedule. So close to 10 on that topset. Bringing out the competition training. My continental is clumsy and ugly, but still there. Gotta focus on getting it fast for the medley.

GB pulldown 140
3x12
2x10

Band pull apart
5x20

Notes: Performed between sets of pressing.

Axle rows 186
80 reps

Dips
160 reps

Axle curls
1x100

Notes: Elbows are screaming at me these days. Might need to throttle back on the dips.

General notes: No weigh in this morning. Starting to feel like I’m coming down with something. Nothing awful, but annoying.

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Curious on your thoughts, I’m really weak from just below the chin to forehead on the strict press. With just slight knee bend I can add 80lbs to the lift. Would you incorporate pin presses from that point?

Also odd, I can strict press 105lbs for 20+ reps. When I load 135lbs, I’m barely getting 3 clean reps.

@dchris I saw your post. I’m a little pressed for time (pun unintended), but I’ll make sure to address it when I can.


Buffalo Bar Squat
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
1x280
1x320
1x370
1x410
1x460
1x500 (lifetime training PR)
10x320

Notes: I’ve hit 500 in a meet before, but that was with wraps and later in the day. Hitting it in sleeves first thing in the morning is pretty crazy. My “bad day strength” is through the roof at this point, and it gets me excited to see what I can do in some proper circumstances.

Reverse hyper 410
4x9

Standing ab wheel
4x8

Neck harness 45
3x25

Notes: Performed between sets of squats

Viking squats 155
1x17

Notes: Still awesome assistance work. Really blows up the quads.

General notes: Woke up at 198.0. Elbows are still screaming at me. Might have to take some pro-active measures.

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Alright, got back to this. By chance, do you have video of your press? In most cases, difficulty with the bottom portion of the lift for a movement with no eccentric loading tends to be less a strength deficit and more an issue with set up. Deadlifts tend to be the same way.

If your rack position isn’t tight, you lose a lot of power from the bottom, and basically have to press the bar until it gets INTO a strong position before you have a chance to actually use your strength to press it through.

Otherwise, lats lats lats go a long way in breaking the weight and moving forward. Part of creating that shelf. Rear delts help too.

I keep thinking to assistance work for this, but all my answers turn to set-up unfortunately, haha. Getting your palms turned inward seems to work for me. Trying to press with the outer edge of the hands to bring in the triceps.

Hopefully some of that helps!

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Thanks, that’s actually really helpful. I’ll give that cue a try as well as work on the rack.

Hope it works out for you dude!


Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x186
3x231
3x261
10x296
16x231

Notes: PM workout. 10 was the goal for the topset. An 11th mighta been there too if the stars lined up right. Just felt solid.

Chins
1x25 overhand
1x25 underhand
2x20 various NG
1x25 all of the above

Band pull aparts
5x20

Notes: Performed between sets of benching.

GIANT SETS

Keg clean and press (one motion) 100lbs
3x10
1x6

DB press 35
3x5
DB push press 50 (one arm at a time)
1x10
1x7

DB hammer curls 35
5x10

Notes: A little confusing, so I’ll explain. I’d perform 5 presses with the stagger grip where my right arm was the far arm, then 5 where it was the close arm. I’d follow that immediately with 5 strict dumbbell presses with both arms, then the hammer curls. After 3 rounds of that, I did a round of dumbbell push press “circus dumbbell” style followed by the hammer curls. Final round was 3 per side of the keg one motions, then 7 per side of the dumbbell push press, followed by the hammer curls. Nothing terribly heavy, but lots of technique work and conditioning. Leg drive on the dumbbell was especially strong. Seems the technique came back well. Leg dip is more about falling and catching myself rather than winding up the legs.

“Hammer” crucifix hold 15lbs
2 rounds

Notes: Since this event is worth double points at my show, smart move is on getting good at it. Read from someone else that the imbalance of the hammer head makes things tough, as it’s a combination of shoulders and wrists for leveraging. I simulated this by taking some loadable DB handles and only loading one end of them. I definitely don’t need any lateral work after doing this; it’s intense. Didn’t time it today; just went to pain.

Kroc rows 105
1x19

General notes: Woke up at 196.4. This was a longer workout, but I’m just getting a feel for the plan here. I am officially registered for my contest, and am in fact the first one registered for my weight class. First time I’ve ever managed to pull that off. It SHOULD mean that I get to go last on the first event, which should be quite an advantage.

1.5 Mile treadmill run
Speed: 7.5
Incline: 1.0
Time: 12:00

Notes: 2 weeks out of practice, and with the show looming now, this is lower priority. Just maintaining that 8 minute mile.

Woke up at 194.4 this morning. Right shoulder is in a little pain; got a little overzealous on the keg presses. Something to watch for.

Happy forum birthday mate! You’ve been on here for a decade, that’s a long time!

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T3hpwnishers first post:

Bahahaha

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@Benanything Thanks man. I’m thankful this place has remained tolerable during that time. I’ve ended up leaving a lot of sites during that time.

@dchris Man, I still remember writing that post. There was a lot of trepidation toward posting on t-nation during that time. It was known to be super hardcore and I felt like I had to “earn” the right to register and post, and it wasn’t until I got that far into Super Squats that I felt ready for it. The hardcore edge has dropped a touch as folks have migrated on and the climate has changed, but the noise to signal ratio is still pretty solid.

And man do I miss being able to eat like that, haha.


AM WORKOUT

(4) Axle Mat Pulls
5x136
5x226
1x276
1x366 (mixed grip)
1x456 (mixed grip)
8x576 (straps, rest pause, touch and go)
10x486 (straps, deadstop)
28 second DOH hold 276

Notes: Tweaked that recurring injured spot in my right lowerback/glute on the topset of 576 at the very last rep. My technique while fatigued fell apart and I pulled it totally stiff legged. Repeated that same mistake on the last rep of the 486. It wasn’t the catastrophic re-injury I normally experience, but enough to make the DOH hold a little tricky. Couldn’t stay locked out.

GHR sit-ups w/25lb plate
2x8

Notes: 2 sets was what I could manage.

Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
1x280
1x320
1x370
1x410

Rest pause (15 deep breaths between reps)
3x460
1x460
3x320
5x320

Notes: Left knee was pulling in an uncomfortable way on the sets of 320, so I racked it. Getting a little smarter in my older age. Topsets of 460 were what I could manage with the back pain. I don’t know if the knee issue was a result of some shaky reps of 460 or from running on Thurs; something to monitor at least.

PM WORKOUT

Buffalo Bar Squats
35x230

Notes: Usually what I do when the squat workout won’t take in the AM. Was hoping for 50, but sometimes you gotta just take a W where you can.

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I remember. I started reading at the same time. Took me three years of reading to create an account and another five to post. Haha guys like Prof. X, irondwarf and Bonez used to be brutal. I was afraid to be flamed.

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Hey man, I’ve been reading through my previous training logs from 2 year back and I’ve realised that my lifts didn’t increase particularly much since then. That being said, I ain’t upset in the slightest.

What I’ve come to realise is that… My minimums have increased a great deal and I obviously look different despite being within 10lbs of the same bodyweight.

This just reminded me of your article about building strength, not testing it. I’m stronger now injured than when I was injury free 2 years ago. My lifts didn’t increase by the 100lbs(maybe 50-70lbs?) or so I was hoping they would’ve 2 years ago but I did get better in every other aspect. Shorter rest times, increased work capacity and so forth.

You’re right. It takes a long time to build strength. I have a far better understanding of what you mean when you wrote that. My body is now capable of way more abuse than thought possible 2 years ago, I’m sure that counts for something. And I know for a fact that if I did ‘peak’ and compared my peaked numbers to that of 2 years ago where I was basically peaking every 8 weeks or so, they’d be of a considerable improvement.

That being said, I do realize that I’m still relatively inexperienced in terms of my training experience and such, are there any more valuable knowledge/tips that you’d like think to give out? haha


Still waiting for your article on your blog mate, is there no article this week?

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Hey man, I JUST pushed out the blog post, and amazingly it was on this very topic, haha. Good timing.

Sounds like you’ve realized something that’s taken me a long time to grasp, which is great. I too used to get caught up fixating on measuring progress from year to year and getting down on myself for not making the growth I expected. It’s true that maxes might not move the way we want, but a year spent training hard is never a year wasted, and in most cases SOMETHING has improved, even if it’s not readily apparent.

For other valuable tips, right now, I’m my philosophy seems to be that it’s RPE that really determines progress. As long as you’re always pushing in the red, no matter the weight on the bar, you’ll be making progress. Some days, you hit a massive PR and take a weight you’ve never lifted or you hit reps on a weight you’ve never seen before. Others, your warm-ups floor you, and you’re lucky to get out alive. On both days, if you pushed it as hard as you could, you most likely made just as much progress. This flies in the face of most folks wanting to believe that volume is the most significant driving factor, but that theory seems to operate under the premise that volume exists in a vacuum rather than acknowledging the impact of volume accumulated under differing states of fatigue. Might be something to further explore.

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Dang, that article was on point.

It’s funny cause I’ve actually heard this advice in my first year of training, to paraphrase… It doesn’t matter how much weight you lift so long as it’s (truly) hard and challenging for you. Do it long enough and you’ll just end up lifting heavier weight “accidentally”.

When I first heard this, I thought it was totally absurd and weight on the bar was everything. How could you possibly be stronger if you lifted less weight?

Lifting under less than ideal conditions have taught me much about this. Don’t know if I got this from you, pretty sure I did…

You know what’s better than being stronger than everyone else? Being stronger than everyone else while the odds are stacked against you.


On a side note, I’ve never understood people who say things like “I took too long a rest between my sets, I’m no longer warm.” They’re often the same people who take forever to warm up and more often than not, their performance takes a severe hit when they aren’t “warm” enough. Never understood that. I, on the other hand, can safely say that for the most part, I don’t need to warm up(much). I’m just warm, 24/7 365. Does this make sense or am I just rambling?

I’m the same way. When I warm up for a competition, I pick up the empty first implement to see what it feels like, do some band pull aparts, and then compete. And that warms me up for the rest of the day. Never got these folks that have to be optimally warmed up to compete, let alone people that can warm down.

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