That is what my strongman corner right now looks like. Shortly a keg and some smaller db and bbs will be added:
Video of yesterday’s 75 kg x 8 log press:
That’s an awesome set-up you got going on there dude. Congrats!
Thanks man! I can’t wait for the keg (expect it this week or next week) and especially for the yoke (mid September hopefully)! I don’t need to tell you how much fun and how much of an addiction it is to collect more and more stuff.
Nice! Finally you’ve got yourself an area
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Going to be a longer post.
28.07.
1 squats
worked up to 90 kg
and had to call it a day because my left hip side hurt too much. I am not too sure anymore if it is my hip flexor or maybe the joint itself. To say that I am frustrated or disappointed would be an understatement. Squat progress was better than ever at the moment and now it seems that I have to take longer break. Since my mood is, in an unhealthy way, very connected to my training success this really bugs me.
Anyway, enough whining and feels. I will try to get my hip checked out by a physio therapist and in the meantime try to concentrate on the things I can do and not worry too much about the things I can’t do (yes I am a Mark Bell fan).
2 log cleans
5 sets of 3 with 75 kg.
3 trap bar carries (without chalk)
top sets were:
146 kg for 40 meter
166 kg for 20 meter - PR(for trap bar. Farmer’s walk PR stands at 90 kg per hand for 40m)
166 kg for 20 meter - PR (-"-)
Notes:
- got to know the other guy who rented the space my equipment is in. That guy is just crazy! He is a very energetic man who just can’t sit still. Whenever he finds a new sport he immediately needs to become the best at it. He achieved some very impressive things (in my book). He ran an iron man at a body weight of close to 100 kg! He was a local champion in the truck pull and at the same time ran marathons (at a body weight of over 100 kg), he competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting and has done a lot of combat sports. Right now he does triathlons… at a body weight of 115 kg and 51 years old. This guy impressed me. He might just be the perfect training partner! He saw me do the carries and thought it looked cool. He told me that he recently had his 3rd herniated disc and he just wanted to try a light weight because it looks fun. With his mind set when it comes to sports however he just couldn’t stop and pushed me to add more weight and we ended up doing 166 kg without chalk. He did 40 meter btw. First time trying this.
- log cleans are a huge weakness for me. Thought since I can’t squat I might as well work my weaknesses
Video of log cleans:
28.07.
The next shitty workout. As you might have noticed I can get into my head pretty easily and for silly reasons (you wouldn’t believe the extend of this in regards to my personal life). This workout really got to me. I can’t even figure out why but I got extremely down. I learned in therapy that you also have to look at the bright side of things, so: I do look leaner and in the right lightning and with the right shirt on my back looks very wide and muscular.
1a bench press
90 kg x 8
92,5 kg x 7 + roll of shame
80 kg x 8
80 kg x 8
1b lat pull down
sets of 15
2a OHP
5 sets of 10 with 40 kg
2b 45° chest supported row
sets of 6 with 2 plates
3a push ups
12/10/10 - no joke. This was going to failure…
3b rear delt flys
sets of 15
Notes:
- also found out how many ring pull ups I can do: 3
- what the fuck happened during the bench press? This really is not a heavy weight for me. I actually have some reasonable explanations for my bad results of today but I’ll just skip them. At the end of the day I didn’t bring it and am responsible for that.
- after the bench I just wanted to leave.
- I am pretty undecided if I really want to have the bench press as a main movement. I thought it might be good to take a break from slingshot bench pressing for 1 or 2 cycles, especially with how my elbows feel. However I am pretty sure that I can press more with a close grip than regular and am know thinking if I should use the close grip bench because of better potential carryover to overhead or the regular bench to work on my weaknesses. How important is benching anyway? Very unsure how to structure this day going forward. Today was kind of random, next week has to be better!
- the carries seem to have taken quite a bit out of me. Will rest tomorrow and deadlift on Saturday.
No training but equipment update: I got a keg! We filled it with small stones and it can be adjusted in weight because the top can be screwed off. It now weighs 83 kg and I will use it for carries ad maybe loading if I get a loading platform. Pretty cool addition I think 
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30.07.
One of the weirdest sessions I have ever had. First I had to deal with my back being tight.
Then I warmed up for deadlifts. Everything felt pretty normal until I got to 140 kg. It felt unusually heavy. Like really really heavy. I don’t know what is up… am I getting sick? CNS fatigue? Everything felt horrible and I felt like I had worked out for hours or run a marathon even though I barely did something.
1 sumo deadlifts
2 x 60 kg x some
100 kg x 4
110 kg x 1
120 kg x 1
130 kg x 1
140 kg x 1
140 kg x 1
100 kg x 8
140 kg x 2
145 kg x 4 - dafuq?
145 kg x 6 - finally.
Completely dead. Just called it a day here…
Notes:
- very bad week of training… hope it gets better next week
- I am thinking of just going by feel with my training for August and not focusing on specific things (read: train unorganized) and then start a solid program like 5/3/1 for strongman in September when I have my new equipment. Right now I can’t squat anyway and my training is really going downhill, even though I made absolutely great progress with my approach. Any thoughts on this? Or should I try to stay on track and power through as best as I can?
Edit: Also treated myself a huge cheat meal today.
31.07.
Medley
20 meter with 83 kg keg
20 meter back
20 meter with 56 kg sandbag
completed 3 rounds, rested a moment and did a fourth.
Conditioning-wise I could have done more but my glutes were extremely fatigued an cramped up.
I would say just keep putting in the work man. We all have those days where nothing feels right. Cheat meal sitting heavy on you, lack of sleep, CNS fatigue, additional stress, etc. could all make for a poor day of training. Often a bad session for me gets followed by a really strong session.
I actually just started a 5/3/1 inspired Strongman program yesterday, so I’m going to dabble with it for a little while. Hopefully get my deadlift and OHP numbers up.
@littlesleeper : You are right man. I easily lose perspective of things. I may need to stop sharing this that much.
Sounds good! Any chance you could share the program?
03.08
This was a much needed success. I feel quite beat up at the moment with my hip being injured to the point I can’t do air squats pain free and my back being funky.
This week is very stressful for me and I don’t have any time off. So I am lucky that I got in a session at all. I picked up some shifts at my old second job. I always liked that job, so that is not a problem but working for 14 hours with just 20 minutes where you do nothing in between makes for a demanding day.
Also besides the stress that comes from studying for my next exam, working a full time job and a second job I have had a bad fight with my worst enemy again. Remained victorious.
This (work) stress will remain for about 2 weeks, then it should be back to normal and training should also benefit from that. Enough about my life.
1 axle clean + strict OHP
56 kg x 5
61 kg x 2
66 kg x 1
71 kg x 1 - PR
73 kg x 1 - PR
76 kg x 0
76 kg x 1 - BIG PR
1b plankes
60 seconds right after each pressing set
2 45° chest supported row
2 plates x 10, 10, 8, 8
3 close grip bench press
80 kg x 6
85 kg x 6, 6, 8
4 axle clean + strict OHP (clean once)
56 kg x 9
5a barbell bicep curls
20 kg x 30, 20
5b db bent over reverse flys
? x 20, 20
Notes:
- previous best strict press was 70 kg on a standard barbell out of the rack at a higher bodyweight. So 76 kg is a 6 kg strict press PR and done on an axle! Also I have never cleaned 76 kg without using a continental clean. So that is a baby PR as well if you want to count that. 6 kg for a strict press is a big PR, I am very pleased and I badly needed this.
- Video:
03 08 axle clean + strict press - YouTube
Sharing it is how you’re going to get tips/help from people to push past the speed bumps! It also keeps the log more interesting than just simply reading 3setsx10reps…like my log mostly is…
And ya I’m actually going to be posting it my log shortly for some critique.
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04.08.
Was in an old school bodybuilding gym for this workout. Since I knew I would have only 3 hours of sleep and then a long car drive and a packed day the next day, I took it easy with assistance stuff.
1 “frame bar” deadlift (a self build trap bar in the shape of a frame, weighs 13 kg)
133 kg x 5
153 kg x 5
173 kg x 5 (t&g here)
133 kg x 8
133 kg x 8
133 kg x 8
Seated rows
3~4 sets
Notes:
- pretty sure the start position for this bar was higher than with my trap bar. That is why this weight was so easy, relatively speaking.
06.08
Trained at my place with my girlfriend today. I was pretty impressed with her deadlifts, given that she too had a lot of stress and could barely strength train the last three weeks.
So for this day I thought I might test my close grip bench press since my next program is percentage based and will have the close grip in it as a main movement. I knew for a while now that I had a good PR in me for this movement.
1 close grip bench press
90 kg x 1
100 kg x 1
105 kg x 1 - ties over all bench press PR
110 kg x 1 - new PR (for close grip and regular bench)
115 kg x 0
100 kg x 4
1b ring pull ups
9 singles
2a axle ohp
46 kg ~ 3 x 10, 1 x 15
2b pendlay rows
69 kg x 5, 5
80 kg x 5
60 kg x 12
50 kg x 15
3a push ups
15, 15, 12
3b axle curls
36 kg x 10, 10
Notes:
- 115 kg would have been great but I am pleased with 110 for close grip, especially since it beats my all time bench press PR, which I have to admit is pretty old. So even though I now broke my bench PR it doesn’t mean I could not have done that before, I simply don’t test my 1RMs that frequently. Still to hit this close grip is good.
- was motivating to train with my girlfriend and we had a good time
- my new elbow sleeves are great! Definitely worth their money. I had to send them back after I originally got them to change the size from XL to XXL. Does that mean I am a crazy huge bodybuilder now?
10.08.
Didn’t feel that great, so I did not test my deadlift max obviously. Focused on technique stuff and volume.
1 sumo deadlifts
140 kg x 3
140 kg x 3
140 kg x 3
140 kg x 3
140 kg x 3
140 kg x 3
120 kg x 5 (beltless)
120 kg x 5 (beltless)
120 kg x 5 (beltless)
2 conv. Deadlifts
Played around with technique and filmed some videos to update my thread in the powerlifting section of the forum.
Notes:
- sooo conv. deadlifts do hurt my hip aswell. I have an appointment with my doctor on friday and I hope he will give me an assignment to a sports medicine or my physio or an othopedic or something…
- another thing on my hip: I lack a lot of internal hip rotation. Never noticed that until now because… When do you really need internal hip rotation? I am currently working on bettering that with help from a colleague.
- not very happy with how my form looks but it isn’t too bad either. Will upload video later or on one of the following days.
11.08.
Felt like shit today. Was the wrong idea to go in at all.
1 ring pull ups
6 x 2
1 x 1
2 close grip bench
3 x 10 with 80 kg
Notes:
- really not feeling to good at the moment. Hip is injured, back is not too good most of the time. Things suck.
Video from my deadlifts yesterday:
13.08.
Had a late night workout in the cheese factory. I had my girlfriend with me who unfortunately was struck with very bad stomach pain, so she couldn’t train herself but supported me and filmed and everything. I really like having her around when I train. Especially of course when she trains herself.
1 axle strict press (clean first rep) - beltless
5 x 5 with 61 kg
2 45° chest supported row
5 x 10 with 30 kg
3a close grip bench press
4 x 8 with 80 kg
3b one arm db row
4 x 10 with 32,5 kg
Notes:
- tried to better my clean technique
- kept all weights medium to low and didn’t go for any PRs or something like that. Wanted to have a smooth and pain free training session. Been pushing it very hard these last months and I think that contributed to my injuries and pains. Not to be misunderstood, I don’t regret pushing as hard as I did, not at all. Got some awesome PRs, made gains, lost body fat… all good. But now I think I just have to get the work in without doing stupid shit all the time and concentrate on bettering my foundation.
- working on my internal hip rotation is pretty painful.
- doctor gave me an assignment to see a surgeon/ sport medicine. I am now awaiting an appointment there, which can take a long time with such a doctor. My “general health” doctor was as unhelpful as expected but I guess without a diagnosis by a field’s professional there is not much he can do. I will get x-rays, ultra sound and I hope I can get an MRI of my hip and then, depending on what shows up we will discuss therapy (physio therapy assignment).
Video of some of the sets:
14.08.
Forgot my freaking chalk!
1 trap bar carry
146 kg x 20 meter (9,73 sec)
166 kg x 20 meter (11,33 sec)
176 kg x 9 meter - slipped right out of my hands because I didn’t have chalk! Would have been a PR
2 keg carries (one turn where I put the keg down and lifted it up again)
83 kg x 40 (2x20) meter (33,26 sec)
83 kg x 40 (2x20) meter (35,10 sec)
83 kg x 40 (2x20) meter (26 sec)
3 sandbag carries - 1,5 min rest time between runs
56 kg x 40 meter (one turn) - 16,66 sec
56 kg x 40 meter (one turn) - 14,31 sec
56 kg x 40 meter (one turn) - 15,56 sec
56 kg x 40 meter (one turn) - 14,20 sec
56 kg x 40 meter (one turn) - 13,93 sec - best run
Notes:
- the 176 kg was actually a trap bar deadlift PR. With chalk I am pretty sure I would have gotten it for the 20 meter.
- otherwise everything was pretty good
- got a great massage from my girlfriend afterwards. Awesome recovery help. Way better than foam rolling and actually helped to release a lot of tension. Was painful at times but helped pretty good.