Sunday, March 26, 2017

2 Weeks Till Comp Day: Hogg Joins PTC Strongman

THE BIG NEWS, of course, is Jeremy Hogg. I gotta talk about him first. The first time I met Jeremy was at the Pit in mid-2013, I think. He was wearing a deadlift suit and pulling 300 for some slow and lazy reps. He's in his mid-40s now and hasn't been training strongman for quite a while. He spent some time in Tasmania for work, where he reinvigorated a passion for swimming and went on to win races against people half his body weight.





The Thursday just gone - his first strongman session in I don't know how long - he walked a 370 kilo yoke and pressed a 135 kilo log. So that's what internationally ranked strongmen do
on their first day 'just getting back into it.'

The man has competed against the likes of Brian Shaw, Mark Felix, Terry Hollands, and many other big names, some (like Shaw) when they were just starting out in the sport. During the clinic he regaled the crew with stories from the road to WSM, and training took a back seat to banter early on in the session.

Later came the coaching; Jeremy has an excellent eye when it comes to spotting weaknesses and advising on technique. He actively assisted Alex to complete movements he thought he couldn't do today. During the day, Alex, Steve and Ryan all appeared a little fatigued, and I was glad that I anticipated this well enough to have programmed today as their last events session - and the last heavy session in general - before April 9th's comp.

Speaking of - if Jeremy decides to compete it will be an awesome demonstration for the rest of the field. Also speaking of, there's a bunch of stuff we need to get sorted before comp day. Namely the equipment shed and the Power stairs.

Yes, that's right. We have Power stairs.
Power stairs. Some assembly required.
Les, owner/manager of Awesome As, dropped them off a couple of weeks back. In addition to their comp prep, the team have also committed to assembling the stairs on the last weekend before the comp. PTC Strongman is incredibly thankful to Les for providing an array of great equipment for us to use; all our stuff is made by Awesome As and/or provided by Les himself, from the yoke and farmers picks to our new stones and stairs.

The shed is also scheduled to be finished same day... it would have been sorted a while back, but we are still waiting (still) for Bunnings to ship us the parts that didn't come in the kit when PTC bought it, over two months ago.

Kong has his last training session next weekend. Due to his FIFO work, we've had to alter his program a little bit. Any training he does on site this week is to be low impact only; no heavy sets of anything, conditioning and cardio only. He has the one opportunity to his it hard this coming Saturday before he joins the rest of the team in backing right off and just resting and eating over the week to come.

In other news, this week I graduated to 3 kilogram dumbbell curls (!!) and discovered I need a lot more dental work done than I had first thought. During my last checkup (and my first time seeing a dentist this decade), I was told I had a bunch of hairline cracks through my teeth from grinding. I'm gonna have three wisdom teeth removed and some gold caps put over the cracks. Pretty gangster, right? The wisdom teeth removal may also help reduce my sleep apnoea. On a related note, I'm looking at getting my uvula removed as it's actually choking me as I sleep sometimes. How messed up is that?!


Sunday, March 19, 2017

PTC Perth Strongman Bios

RYAN a.k.a. 'Hightower' - Novice Heavyweight
My first trainee at PTC Perth, Ryan joined the first clinic I ran there, in March 2015. The year prior to this I was running clinics at Genesis Bentley, so Ryan is not my first trainee ever, but he's definitely committed the most time to the sport, and last year had gained enough weight to no longer be mixing it with the under-105s. He'll be tackling some heavyweight events at the ASA strongman comp in April. Ryan doesn't like to big-note himself and prefers to set his own pace a lot of the time, while still doing the required training. He counts among his best: nine (nearly ten!) reps of a 75 kilo log and a 230 kilo deadlift with both a standard barbell and axle.




ALEX a.k.a. 'the Technician' - Under 105
The name came about the day Steve said it while I had been thinking it. Alex's strength has improved exponentially in the time he's been training strongman, yesterday clean-pressing a 100 kilo log - his previous 1 rep max - five times. He sustained an injury which set his deadlift progress back a little, but he's on track once more to crack 250. It looks like that lift is going to happen on comp day too. More to the point; he's pretty to watch. As a coach, he makes me proud to know that the techniques he employs he learned from me. And as a competitor, he makes me wonder what the hell my problem is.





STEVE a.k.a. 'Wonderboy' - Under 80
I've had the opportunity to teach some tricks to a few already-conditioned athletes in the last couple of years, and watch them go on to dominate in competition. People like WA powerlifter (and unarguably this state's strongest woman), Kat Becker, Crossfit virtuoso John Champion, and now Steve 'Wonderboy' van Steytier. His nickname is more of a working title... I still think we can come up with something more wonderful... and amusing. His recent effort with a 100 kilo log just confirmed my statement that he is, pound for pound, the strongest human I've coached. It is
disappointing that my phone ran out of disc space before capturing the eighth rep.  But he is yet to do his first comp and is already eyeing the loadings at the Arnold's under 80 kilo strongman nationals. I have no doubt at all that he will make it there.


ED a.k.a. 'Kong' - Heavyweight
Only once in a while does a natural talent this big come along. When it does, you have to accept that you're coaching someone who, in a couple of years, will beat you at your own game. Kong has been training strongman for less than a year, was in a completely untrained state when he first came to a clinic, and on day one clean-pressed a 105 kilo log. He has also, as of yesterday, exponentially increased in strength and proved it with a 100 kilo log clean-press for 5 reps, before moving on to a 350 kilo yoke walk for 20 meters and 130 kilo per hand farmers walk for 15. Last year he won WA Strongman's heavyweight novice division at their qualifiers in October. This year he's ramping up to compete in the big league. Well, state-side at least. But, if he sticks with it, the time will come when we'll all have to acknowledge Kong as king.


Carl a.k.a. 'the Lion' - Heavyweight 
Carl is a veteran who didn't learn a thing from me. He was already a part of the WA Strongman crew when I met them all mid-2011. Tails of his exploits and amazing strength have been written previously here and here. Like me, Carl has detached a biceps tendon recently and is out of contention. At least this year.








Mathew (alias TBD) - Novice Under 90
Mathew is also not competing in April due to other commitments, but has offered his assistance for a couple of hours on the day. A school teacher and new father, Mathew is the laissez faire member of PTC Perth strongman. But he's still getting stronger in spite of himself, and one day he will compete. At this rate, though, probably not for a while.









Mick a.k.a. Behemoth - Novice Heavyweight
This towering behemoth doesn't know how strong he actually is just yet, and when he started he was in what people more knowledgeable than me would call an 'untrained state'; in need of some basic mobility work to get him to a 'trainable state'. Well, now he's almost there. If he commits himself, like the rest of the team, he will also be a formidable athlete in a couple of years. I have no doubt. Utilising his untapped potential is my newest and possibly greatest challenge, as a coach.












Jeremy Hogg, the - Professional Heavyweight The first time I met Jeremy was at the Pit in mid-2013, I think. He was wearing a deadlift suit and pulling 300 for some slow and lazy reps. He's in his mid-40s now and hasn't been training strongman for quite a while. He spent some time in Tasmania for work, where he reignited a passion for swimming and went on to win races against people half his body weight.
The man has competed against the likes of Brian Shaw, Mark Felix, Terry Hollands, and many other big names, some (like Shaw) when they were just starting out in the sport


Thursday, March 16, 2017

Write Inspires Might

INSPIRATION was thin on the ground when I was a kid... there weren't many things to be inspired by. But Stephen King was one of my heroes. From the age of, I guess, fourteen, I began reading everything he'd written. Everything. By seventeen I had caught up. I remember distinctly, as he'd just released the first of two novels that bore an abstract relationship to one another. A copy of 'The Regulators' was, in fact, gifted to me in my senior year, along with an award for writing an essay for my school's yearbook. I say 'writing' and not 'winning' because there was no competition. Nobody wanted to write anything 'inspirational' for that bullshit school, centenary or not.

I mention this because, before that kinda unexpected flashback, there was a link I wanted to draw to King's essay 'Imagery and the Third Eye.' His mantra, in response to the literally hundreds of people he'd met (and likely continues to meet, at dinner parties and such) who say things like "I've always wanted to write!" has stuck with me: "The only way to write, is to write." Simple, vital, and easy to ignore. The only way to write, is to write. The only way to lift, is to lift. The only way to succeed, is to aim for success. To try.

A whole lot has changed since then. I find inspiration in my life on a regular basis. People like old-timers Nick Best and Mark Felix, who are both pushing fifty and still compete amongst the top ten strongest men in the world. Like the dogged
Laurence Shahlaei, who keeps coming back, injury after injury, to be stronger than he was before and lay his body on the line for another shot at WSM victory. People like Perth's own Hercules Perryman, who's still competing at... shit, I don't even know how old he is now! But he's competing this year.

People like my partner, Megan, who does everything she can to make my life as great as it is while working full time, studying part time, and diligently implementing her health and fitness goals. I call myself an athlete (sometimes even un-ironically), but I can't run non-stop for two miles. She can. And then she typically comes home and feeds me my second dinner, while maintaining a calorie deficit and the zen required to not hunger-rage as I eat it.

On a related note; some people are apparently inspired by me. Small children and security guards stare at me with the same expression, and I've been told by more than one person that they admired my physique and wanted to know how to build mass like mine. Yes, two people have said this... possibly three (so the eBook's coming out in May), one of them adamant he'd do anything I recommended. Of course, 'anything' didn't include training with me at least once a week for three to five years... I gave that guy my details and never heard from him again. As a coach I've met a whole lot of people who say they want to be strong, but stop before they even really begin, several years and hundreds of kilograms short of the goal. Not like my trainees... which brings me back to training, and here I find yet more inspiration! There will be a write-up shortly on the amazing feats of the PTC Perth strongman crew, and the looming ASA sanctioned competition being held in April, so I will save my praises for that. But every weekend, they impress me, and remind me how much stronger I need to get if I want to stay in the game.

Monday night I started Bojutsu training. Sensei Ryan of RKD martial arts took me through the very basics of Bo fighting, which nonetheless caused my spine to twist in unfamiliar ways and was as much fun as you'd imagine sparring with big sticks to be. I believe the new discipline will assist my mobility. Plus it'll look kickass the day I can do bo kata with a barbell.

And I think I'll have to get a video of the cambered bar low pick Good mornings I'm doing, as it's hard to describe and I'm beginning to enjoy them, so they'll definitely stay in my rehab routine for the foreseeable future. I also graduated to 2 kilo DB curls this week. Woot. But, as I've been saying through this piece; the only way to do it is to do it. Next week the dumbbell will weigh three kilos... the week after, four, and so on until this tendon remembers what is expected of it.

Secunda Septi: Wednesday March 15th
warmup & stretch

Cambered bar GMs (low pick):
50 kgs x 10
80 kgs x 5
100 kgs x 5 x 5

1-arm DB curls:
Left: 2 kgs x 5 x 10
Right: 17.5 kgs x 5 x 10

super-set! w/Hack squats:
40 kgs x 4 x 10

HS leg extensions:
55 kgs x 4 x 10

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Prima Nocta: Tonight We Curl A Kilo

TIME has been taken. Plenty of it. Time to contemplate the past and the future. Time to celebrate my 37th birthday, buy a new suit, learn some new tricks. I've cleared a bunch of paperwork in my down time. This week I began driving again, reset my weekly schedule so I can train later in the evening, and next week I begin stick fighting classes: Eskrima and Bojutsu. But mostly I've been waiting for the all-clear to return to regular training.


To avoid the use of my left arm, tonight I dusted off the cambered bar and set it up for good mornings, but low in the cage. I began from the bottom of a squat position, essentially. This way I can collect it and then return it to the rack with my one good arm.


From here I resume regular training. My second weekday template will involve a whole lotta one-arm movements. But this routine will be what keeps my legs and back strong while deadlifts et cetera are off the table. The gym was nice and quiet tonight, so I was able to set up stations and do super-sets, trying to keep the intensity up. But it's kinda hard to make one kilogram bicep curls intense.


Goddamn, my limbs are going to sing in the morning. And it will be glorious.


Warmup & stretch


Cambered bar GMs:
44 kgs x 10
80 kgs x 5 x 5


Super-set!
w/DB bicep curls:
left 1 kg x 5 x 10
right 15 kgs x 5 x 10


Hack squats:
25 kgs x 3 x 10


Super-set!
w/HS leg extensions:
50 kgs x 3 x 10