Sunday, January 22, 2017

Events Saturday: Pop Goes the Bicep!


WHEN it ruptured, I felt the tendon 'twang' against the side of the drum I was clutching as it rolled down my arm.

This morning I'd brought everything forward an hour or more. I woke early, took my thirty-or-so assorted pills (including 20 grams of fish oil and an extra-strength women's multi-vitamin... not sure why that's pertinent here) washed down with a protein shake, strong coffee, a litre of milk on top, couple of nut bars and, once I'd arrived at the gym, a Hungry Jacks Angus meal.

It was over an hour before the clinic was due to start, so I set to work filling the second of our four new drums. While the first one we made 70 kilograms, this one would be 90.  The last two, eventually (meaning, when we're strong enough to move them), will be loaded to 110 and 130. That remains the plan still.

While I was to learn another hard lesson of my own to round out the session, it was otherwise a fantastic day! The whole team showed up, including Carl (well, for the group picture at least) and Kong, who we've not seen since last year.

I again set up the camera to record the whole 2+ hours of it, only to discover that the power outlets I've been using aren't working... which explains why there's only as much footage as the camera has battery power for and the scales didn't work when I came to use them. Dale offered some assistance, and together we guesstimated the fill to 90. By then the crew had begun arriving.



Every session begins with high volume, maximum effort log clean-press. This week it was 77.5 kgs. I set the pace with 16 reps, Alex made 17, and Steve lifted his leg and pissed on us both a little with a finessed 20. Then on to axle power-cleans, where it was settled that the 80-90 kilo mark was a good working weight for the three of us. Ryan performed some deadlifts while Kong worked up to equal his best 1RM log press of 105, and Mat also got involved with the cleaning, showing greatly improved mobility and form... but stopping short of breaking a sweat.

I put together a carry medley for the next event. Four implements: a 65 kilo dead ball, a 70 kilo drum, an 80 kilo sack, and the 90 kilo drum to finish. I didn't even get to have a proper run as, while attempting to show Kong and Ryan a different method for picking the drum (a method we now know is to be avoided), I obviously strained an already fatigued left bicep tendon and it broke. Again, a little disappointed we had no footage of the rest of the day, or this mishap.

As I write this I'm dosed up with naproxen and tramadol, my arm in a sling and my keyboard under-utilised. There was no ultrasound available at the ER, nor was there a doctor to give me a prognosis. A physiotherapist assessed me, slung my arm and procured my scripts, and said I should see my GP on Monday for an actual diagnosis. Here's hoping this one doesn't take too long to bounce back from. The year's only just started, and there's still plenty of stuff I can do to train around the issue (I will have had my arm in a sling while training three times now), the biggest hurdle I can see right now is the drive there.

Just seeing as this happens often enough, maybe my next car should be an automatic.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Week 2 in Review



I WAS stopped in the car park on my way in to training last night by someone hailing me from the window of a Hilux. "Hey Abs" he said, "I'm mates with Jay. How's training going?" The fella's name was Clint. Clint had just finished an MMA class upstairs (for those who didn't know: yes, PTC now offers MMA classes!) and knew how disappointing last year had been for me, competition-wise.

We had a brief chat about goals and injuries. Clint had messed up his shoulder real, real good in a motorbike accident about a year previous, and he'd had a steel plate removed a few months ago and was slowly returning to training. He and I weigh the same amount, but Clint wants his 125 kilos (which he'd built while sitting on the couch, rehabilitating) to look more like my 125 kilos. I of course recommended that he get amongst the PTC Strongman clinics to recompose his physique. While the crew now boasts more than a handful of strong, dedicated trainees, there's always room for more.

Before he left I told Clint to pass on to Jay that I'm competing in strongman this year. He'll be pleased to know this. Like I did in previous years, Jay has diligently competed and always ended up coming second or third while the trophy went to heavy hitters like Daniel Macri and Rongo Keene.

He and I chased one another very closely in 20132014 and 2015. We were neck and neck during our last WASM qualifier together and it was only one point that separated us in the end. I took the win - my first win in any strongman comp, ever - but it was a hollow victory. I still feel that Jay was the better athlete on the day. This year it's got to be his turn.

My training this week has been on track. Not amazing, but I'm slowly adjusting back to the demands of comp prep. And I'm not missing squatting one bit. But I will need some serious needling done soon if I expect things to keep working properly... time for a trip to my physio, I reckon.

Deadlift Tuesday
warmup: stretch & foam roller quads & hamstrings

Deadlifts:
75 kg x 8
125 kg x 3
175 kg x 3
205 kg x 1
230 kg x 5s x 5r

Press Thursday
warmup: stretch w/band, DB shoulder mobility work

Bench press (paused):
60 kg x 5
90 kg x 2
105 kg x 6s x 5r

Hack squat machine:
40 kg p/h x 10
50 kg p/h x 10
55 kg p/h x 7

Seated DB OHP super-set w/DB front raises:
12.5 kg p/h x 3s x 10r of each

Cable curls:
Full stack x 2s x 8r

Current bodyweight: 126.5 kg. The lightest I've been in over a decade was on Saturday, where I dried out to just 123.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Events Saturday: PTC Strongman's Day of the Drums

BRILLIANT new things happening every week at PTC Perth Strongman, and this one was no exception. The clinic was brought forward an hour so our training didn't interfere with Rik Kamana's Arm Wrestling competition starting at 2PM. I stuck around to watch some of the heaviest looking guys I've seen go shoulder to shoulder and wondered if mine would even last a round with one of them.

This week our latest toys arrived. Alex was able to organise some shiny new 44 gallon drums to be delivered to PTC and Saturday morning I went to Bunnings to buy ballast for them; I calculated about 340 kilograms of blue metal would do the trick. The drums themselves weigh 17 kg empty (rounded to 15), so we could either fill each one to 100 kilos, or have them at progressively heavier loadings. Just playing around with the first one I filled to 70 proved more challenging than expected, though we did all learn some new approaches to what is a new, bigger and harder implement than has been used in load and carry events like this in previous years. It makes kegs a wonder to work with by comparison.

I was poorly prepared for today's training myself, and spent most of the time we had either filling a barrel and standing in front of the camera while people did their best work to date on the log press, or  discussing the next steps in PTC Perth Strongman's development; a shed for our equipment and a competition to be run this year... hopefully two; one novice and one ASA-sanctioned.

Steve, Mat and Alex were put through their paces today. Mat has only very recently returned and needs to be more consistent this year if he's going to improve. And I need to take my own advice on that one, as Alex and Steve are doing their best to outclass me in the press (which is not hard, let's be honest) and the blossoming, competitive bromance between the two of them makes me all soft and gooey inside.

After log press and some preliminary runs with the drum we moved on to axle power cleans and yoke walk. We are yoking because it's a standard strongman event and we all need to get better at it. The power cleans are to develop more power off the floor in Alex, who has noticed a loss of this since his last injury.


I am already feeling beaten up by my new program and am hoping I can make it through week 2 and still make a proper go of events next weekend.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Press Thursday: Week One Done

MORE volume and fatiguing super-sets tonight, launching myself into this program while the drive and energy is harnessed. It's been so long since I wasn't either sick, injured, or recovering from one or both that being at 100% feels more like 110%. My appetite is all the way back and I'm eating myself into a heavier weight division without even trying, really. In short, everything feeling good.


So that tells me I should prepare for the inevitable and go see my physio for a thorough, pre-emptive needling. I have some heavy shit to move over the next few months and the last thing I need is another tear.


The close grip has clearly added some ROM to my bench press, so the odds of me reaching the much-vaunted 200 kilo mark is still a way off. But I want to at least hit my previous competition best of 175, and maybe even get that 180 if I can keep my feet still while doing it (that's what robbed me of a 180 bench at CAPO states in 2015.


Just as with my deadlift routine, I over-estimated how many money sets I could handle but one. I knew - knew - I would not get all 6 reps of the sixth set if I did it, so I moved on. This is not a major issue; it happened last time, so this time around I made room for this adjustment. The program will still get me where I want to go.


Saturday's strongman clinic will be starting an hour early to accommodate the arm wrestling competition running from 2PM. It's going to be an epic, epic day. I already know this. And I'll take plenty of footage to share, so you can appreciate just what I'm talking about.


Warmup: quad & glute stretch, bands & shoulder mobility work w/DBs


Bench press (paused):
60 kg x 5
80 kg x 2
100 kg x 5s x 6r TPR?


Hack squat machine:
25 kg x 3 x 10


Hammer Strength chest press:
40 kg p/h x 2 x 10
40 kg p/h x 7


Seated DB OHP:
10 kg p/h x 3 x 10


Super-set with DB front raises:
10 kg p/h x 3 x 10

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Pull Tuesday: A Decent Start

THIS was freaking gruelling. I have only myself to blame, of course, but after completing five of my six programmed money sets, I knew if I attempted the last one I wouldn't get all six reps and/or wouldn't have the energy for the rest of the routine. My lower posterior, as if to remind me that I haven't done this for a while, seized up during the second set and still hasn't released.


But I'm happy. This was, by far, the most volume I've performed at this weight and is a solid start to the year. I'm very glad I've not tried to incorporate a dedicated squat session, as the stuff I am planning for strongman events, combined with some fairly full-on pulling and pressing, feels like it's going to challenge me enough. 


Warmup: quad & hamstring stretch & foam-roller


Deadlifts:
75 kg x 8
125 kg x 5
175 kg x 3
220 kg x 5s x 6r TPR


Seated rows (underhand):
Full stack (91 kg) x 3s x 10r


Hammer Strength seated rows:
50 kg p/h x 3 x 10


Tri-pushdowns / Face-pulls superset:
Full stack x 20, 15, 10
Plate 8 x 20, 15, 10

The Template

THIS could be a winner... or a disaster. But here's what I've devised for myself, for between now and late-April, when I compete at GPC states.

Weekdays Pull and Press
Tuesdays and Thursdays I will deadlift and bench press with a variety of accessories, like underhand seated rows, dumbbell seated overhead press, chest press, dumbbell front raises and face-pulls. I'll also be jumbling hack squats back in there somewhere, as lightweight hack squats don't seem to aggravate my knees. But they do work my hammies and glutes, which are in dire need of strengthening.

Saturdays Strongman Events
And it's game on. While we have an ever-growing selection of events to train, I'll be keeping tabs on the ones most often performed in state level comps. I'll be programming for progressive overload and aiming to be back in good enough shape to compete mid-year, if not sooner.
Layout looks like this:

TUESDAYS
Deadlifts*
Seated rows (underhand) 3 x 10
Hammer Strength seated rows (neutral grip) 3 x 10
Triceps pushdowns 3 x ME
Face-pulls 3 x 20

THURSDAYS
Bench press*
Hack squats 3 x 10
Seated DB OHP 3 x 10
Hammer Strength chest press 3 x 10
DB front raises 3 x 10
Bicep curls or Pinwheels 3 x 10

SATURDAYS
Axle clean-press, deadlifts & power-cleans
DB clean-press
Farmers walk*
Keg toss
Log clean-press*
Sack carry
Tyre flips
Yoke walk*

The events and exercises asterisked have set weekly loadings, and all routines have a rest period after each 5 week training block. By mid-April, I have set myself the following goals:

Deadlift: 340 kg
Bench press: 175 kg
Farmers walk: 150 kg p/h x 20 meters
Log clean-press: 110 kg x 5
Yoke walk: 430 kg x 15 meters

The deadlift and bench goals are not new territory: for both lifts I plan to hit the same numbers at under 125 kg this year that I did as a superheavyweight in 2015. But the SM events goals are small, achievable new PRs. And it would be nice to improve on my strongman events this year. Getting under a yoke on the weekend for the first time in months was, as expected, a rude fucking shock. Walk away from it for just a couple of weeks, and the yoke has a way of reminding you exactly how weak you really are. So now we're gonna do yoke every week till it doesn't feel like a near-death experience anymore.

Watch this space for more updates.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

2017: It Begins





It began with a glass of my favourite scotch and a Friday night viewing of the Magnificent Seven; the 1960 original, of course (although the new one, with Denzel and Chris Pratt, is a solid movie too).


Our own magnificent seven for 2017 is this crew: the protégé Alex, Carl the Lion, Kong (whose name speaks for him), Mathew the penitent, myself, Ryan the PTC strongman vet, & the inimitable, intimidating, diminutive newcomer, Steve; possibly the strongest pound-for-pound male athlete I've had the pleasure of introducing to the sport.


Friday night I decided to commit myself to a strongman training program this year, and since Alex is beginning a new max effort clean-press routine I'm joining him, week for week and kilo for kilo. As many strongman events as we can accommodate will be conducted every Saturday from 1PM. Sessions typically run for two hours, but the more events, the more trainees, the longer the session... because this year I and several of the crew are going to compete.


When it comes to my own programming, the devil is in the details, as they say. To pull this off I'm going to need to address the issue of squatting. In short, it's counter-productive for me to squat to depth and under load with any regularity. It just fucks with my knees - more than strongman events ever have. That's a sobering reality; under a yoke I can handle a shorter ROM followed by walking with a load well over 100 kilograms more than I can squat to depth. Both have their risks.


Right now, dropping heavy squats and doing more yoke and farmers walks sounds like a better plan of action. My knees, quads and labrums will appreciate it, I reckon. And I'm pretty sure I either strained a groin or tore a larbum in my left hip while tyre flipping about a month ago... another reason why my attempts to squat through December were pained and brief. To be honest I've not trained a lot in general over the holiday season, so there's been very little to blog about. But what there is I will record here, so the old year can be done with and the new one properly begun.


December 20th, 2016
Attempted squats w/Buffalo bar. While more comfortable, I noticed while just warming up that whatever issue I thought I'd sustained while tyre flipping was still with me. I didn't want to assume the worst, but I decided the smart thing to do was quit squatting and bench instead.


Bench press:
15 kg DBs x 6
60 kg x 5
90 kg x 3
110 kg x 1
130 kg x 3 paused, solid reps
90 kg max effort touch & go: 12


HS Chest press:
45 kg p/h x 10
40 kg p/h x 10
40 kg p/h x 7


Face-pulls:
Plate 8 x 3 x 20
-super-set with-
DB front raises:
10 kg p/h x 3 x 10


*Seated DB OHP & Tri-pushdowns cxld


January 3rd, 2017
Left labrum/groin/something still an issue, though feels like it's mending so I went light and felt it out for a few sets tonight, then moved to cardio as I'm a fatass.


Squats:
80 kg x 1
60 kg x 3 x 10


Cardio:
5 minutes assault bike @ +50 rpm.


EVENTS SATURDAY January 7th, 2017


Log clean-press (strict):
45 kg x 8
60 kg x 3
72.5 kg x 18 TPR


Axle clean-press (strict):
85 kg x 1
95 kg x 1
100 kg x 1


Yoke walk:
130 kg x 40 meters
210 kg x 2 x 20 meters
250 kg x 20 meters