Thursday, March 29, 2018

Events+ Thursday: Friggin' Push-Press

I LEARNED tonight that my right arm doesn't work when it comes to dumbbell clean press. There's some issue with the muscle in the forearm. My right elbow literally cannot press from that position. Having said that, tonight I had some success with the left arm, and the push-press.


I know, right?


The second clean-press I performed with the 60 kilo DB I have to admit was a gimme; I half-pushed, half-strict-pressed it and it took a long time to lock it out... enough. Considering my track record with DB press (and push-pressing in general), this is still progress. Regardless, this will be - by far - my weakest event on the day.


The day of the comp, I will need reminders to do things. Like eat. When I have anxiety I lose my appetite, and when I'm focussed I forget to eat. It's a bad combination. You'd think a person who looks like me has always eaten big and often, but you'd be wrong. I also need to remember to not showboat with the deadlift and use straps, so I save my grip for the carry events. But overall I'm feeling extremely confident about next Saturday.


EVENTS+ Thursday March 29th
stretch
'Monster' DB clean-press:
25 kg x 4
35 kg x 3
45 kg x 2
60 kg x 2 PR
Axle OHP (strict):
40 kg x 10
70 kg x 10
80 kg x 10
Farmers walk (p/h):
70 kg x 2 x 20 meters
100 kg x 2 x 20 meters
130 kg x 2 x 20 meters

Monday, March 26, 2018

Pull+ Monday: Deadlifting Again

I HAVEN'T deadlifted in over six weeks. The hip complaint that stopped me from heading to the Arnolds this year has pretty much fixed itself, and now that it's good again I have confirmed my entry in the WASM qualifier, April 7th: two weeks away. One of the events is a 225 kilo standard bar deadlift for max reps in one minute. So for comp prep, tonight I did 10 reps in about 50 seconds, no straps, no belt. I quit before my grip failed... now I know where that point is, I may decide to use straps on the day. I should consider keeping my grip strength for the other pick and carry events.

Hit a few new personal records tonight also. I should be happier about this. Instead I'm planning the next session.

PULL+ Monday March 26th
stretch
Deadlifts:
75 kg x 10
125 kg x 5
175 kg x 3
225 kg x 10 no straps, no belt, no worries
Meadows rows (l&r):
60 kg x 3 x 8
HS seated rows (p/h):
60 kg x 3 x 10
Seated row machine (underhand):
full stack x 3 x 15 PR
Face-pulls:
plate 11 x 4 x 20 PR
super-set w/DB side raises (p/h):
10 kg x 4 x 10 PR
Cardio:
Assault bike 5 minutes @ +50 rpm

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Arnolds Australia 2018: The West Rises



the crowd at Pro Raw X - max capacity seating 
YOU KNOW I was kicking myself in 2016 for not going to the Arnolds. I thought the year Eddie Hall pulled 462 kilograms - the year the Melbourne Fitness Expo was officially rebranded the Arnolds Australia - was a big deal. And it was a big deal... but this year was so much bigger (and the regret that much greater) that I need to record some things here and now.


I have never known such a huge contingent of WA athletes to be in the mix, some at the very highest levels of national and international competition in both Strongman and Powerlifting. The quality of their performances would have you wondering why the west ever had a reputation for not being able to keep up with the eastern states.

Friends like Kat Becker and Joel McCaughan, who I have known for as long as I have been lifting.
Kat is just one of several conditioned athletes who have crossed over to Strongman and who I've had the good luck to train with (I hesitate to use the word 'coach') over the years. Among this crew are Steve van Steytler in the under 80s and Jacqueline Chmura in the womens under 65s.

Jacqui finished eleventh in her first ever national strongwoman competition, and Steve (also a newbie, with a Crossfit pedigree) was demoted to fourth on recount, just missing a podium placing.




Kat herself finished ninth in the under 82s after holding equal third for several events. She was insufficiently prepared and at a technical disadvantage with the Atlas stone which was loaded to 1.3 meters, or just above her head.

Joel is the strength geek who wrote most of my beginner and intermediate training programs, was the first person to ever call me 'Abs', and continues to be a valued adviser. He totalled 852.5 kilograms and placed equal fourth in the under 110s at Pro Raw X in front of what was - by all accounts - the largest audience the event had ever seen. Easily two and possibly three times more people were in attendance than last year. The live feed also broke all previous records.

For all the time I've been at PTC, I've trained alongside Brian Cook. I have watched him grow exponentially; his increase in size almost commensurate with the growth of PTC Perth itself. Not really but you get what I mean. The dude was real skinny and he got real huge. This year he placed sixth in the under 95s at Pro Raw.

It wasn't that long ago that Matt Lynch Blanch was a freshie to the sport of Strongman, but he very quickly established his name in both the under 105s and the heavyweight divisions. The loadings, it seemed, were too light for him when it came to state level competition, so he would enter and win the opens, moving on to national and then international level competition in the under 105s. Well this year he again won Australia's Strongest Man under 105!

Max McCall is another young strongman to rise through the ranks and into the national opens. This year was his first ASM and he faced a truly menacing field. While I am certain he is disappointed with the results I am also certain he will be back next year, and he will impress. Although maybe in a lighter weight class...

Last but not least among the strong folk I must mention is Ngarimu Ahipene, who took fifth in the under 90s and is another hybrid crossfitter making the ranks of fat slow strongmen work harder to stay competitive.
Shannon Florissen

Of course it's been known for years now that there are titans of strength sports living here in the west. That number has grown again this year, with the introduction of the scary Dylan Hellriegel who - at just twenty two years old - weighs something over 160 kilos and is now the second Australian ever to deadlift 400. He earned an invite to Big Dogs with his efforts at Pro Raw.

Shannon Florissen is a creature from another time. A time when men fought sabre-tooths and champions were made from hours of grinding, pain and sweat under the bar. He doesn't do a lot of talking, instead making all his biggest statements on the platform. This year Shannon totalled 1000 kilograms. This makes him the only west Australian to ever do that, raw or equipped. That is an incredible feat; a total most lifters will devote their lives to achieving and not get even close to.


Dylan Hellriegel
And the thing is, this is far from a comprehensive list of WA strength athletes who competed this year! These are just the friends and acquaintances I am following on the one social media platform I will use. There are several more in the mix. which is amazing. I remember being able to count on one hand the number of athletes who would fly over to compete each year. Now I need more hands to count them all.

This year's Arnolds was also an occasion for some sombre news: WA Strongman's own Daniel Macri announced his retirement from full competition. At just twenty eight years of age, Dan dominated Powerlifting as a teen and went on to produce some awe-inspiring feats as a nearly 180 kilogram strongman.

Veteran Luke Reynolds has already written an homage to the young phenome, who officially put Strongman on the map in WA nearly a decade ago and who became my coach when I discovered the sport in 2011. I won't attempt to match Luke's sentiment here, save to say that the bar Dan has set will not be challenged for a long time to come. That is unless the rumors are true...

We are just three months into this year and it's already a record breaker. There is still so much more to come.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Events Tuesday: New Legs

I HAVE to give huge props to Ceri, my physiotherapist, for the hour of dry needling she administered yesterday. All but ten minutes of it was spent producing some of the most violent and painful spasms I've ever experienced in my vastus lateralis & medialis obliques, rectus femoris, adductors... well, pretty much the whole of both legs from above the knees. Then she stabbed the knees too, before finishing off with a few efficacious needles to my forearms, which I didn't think there would be enough time for and had advised Ceri that they not a priority, but she ensured they got some treatment too.


I woke the next day feeing like a new man. Ha! Kidding. Dry needling isn't that good. However, my legs were feeling like they were ready to cooperate again, so I took off to PTC for an events session. I knew I wouldn't get the chance this weekend as the gym will be full of spectators and athletes for this year's GPC state powerlifting championships. Plus today was my last day of leave... so I thought I'd try something different: yoke, farmers and sack medleys!


I had planned a final run with the comp loadings but after these three I knew I wouldn't be able to complete it... didn't barf, but it was a close thing. I shall hit these events again next week. My next session is going to be press... and then, after my lower body has sufficiently recovered from today, I can begin deadlifting once more. That is, I think, the most exciting thing on my calendar for the next week or two.


EVENTS Tuesday February 20th


Yoke walk: 130 kg x 2 x 20 meters
Farmers walk (p/h): 30 kg x 2 x 20 meters
Sack carry: 105 kg x 20 meters


Yoke walk: 210 kg x 20 meters
Farmers walk (p/h): 70 kg x 2 x 20 meters
Sack carry: 105 kg x 20 meters


Yoke walk: 290 kg x 20 meters
Farmers walk (p/h): 100 kg x 2 x 20 meters
Sack carry: 105 kg x 20 meters

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Seizing Up

COZ there needs to be one: a record of the good and bad and in- between. If for no other reason than there's a tonne of really important lifting going on literally as I write this, so I need to get my log up to date and out of the way.

Events last weekend went alright, but my training over the week that followed has been a series of failures. My body is slowly rebelling on me. The first things to seize up were my forearms, Monday night; the left one more so than the right, but both made it pretty much impossible to keep pressing after the two slow, agonising strict reps of 120 I managed with the axle. After that my grip strength was shot and just bending my wrists was painful.

Granted, I have been doing well in the press lately and so I was a little eager to press again just two days after working it pretty hard during events training, but the sudden and temporarily debilitating nature of this issue was totally unexpected and not something I've dealt with before. My shoulders and elbows have their occasional complaints, but not my forearms. Not until now at least.

Regardless, repping 120 kilos, strict, overhead is still a legit, all-time new personal record for me, meager though it is for a heavyweight veteran of going on seven years. On a better day I am very confident of a triple and, next press cycle, a single of 125.

Then, on Wednesday, I decided I would squat. Inspired by a training video of Kong's I'd been watching the day before and with my previously compromised right hip feeling 100% again, I thought it a good day for a test drive. Plus I hadn't squatted in a long while... too long.

Starting out, everything felt strong. Everything continued to feel strong right up until the third rep of 210, when something went twang in (what Kieran later reminded me is called) my left VMO. If it weren't for this, I had been feeling like I should try for another personal record for repetitions at that weight.

The reason for the VMO strain became apparent to me during my discussions with the crew at clinic today. It has been a long time since I have had my vastus lateralis dry-needled. Now they are tight and not working the way they should, which is placing additional stress on the other muscles in my legs. As if to drive the lesson home - a lesson I continue to not learn - later that session my adductors both seized up after a couple of reasonably heavy farmers walks. That was literally all it took to incapacitate me once more.

Since I was no longer flying over to compete in Pro Raw, I cancelled my physio appointment scheduled for the beginning of this week. I figured I'd get away with it for another week or two. I am dearly regretting this decision now. This impediment to my comp prep has been mostly of my own making.

EVENTS Saturday March 10th
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 2 x 20 m
210 kg x 2 x 20 m
290 kg x 20 m
330 kg x 20 m - no belt
330 kg x 20 m - with belt
Monster DB clean-press (strict):
30 kg x 5
40 kg x 5
50 kg x 1
60 kg x 0
Farmers walk (p/h):
70 kg x 2 x 20 m
100 kg x 2 x 20 m
125 kg x 20 m

PRESS Monday March 12th
Axle OHP (strict):
40 kg x 10
75 kg x 5
105 kg x 3
120 kg x 2 PR

SQUAT Wednesday March 14th
w/Cambered bar:
50 kg x 10
90 kg x 5
130 kg x 5
170 kg x 3
210 kg x 3

EVENTS Saturday March 17th
Farmers walk (p/h):
50 kg x 2 x 20 m
70 kg x 2 x 20 m
90 kg x 2 x 20 m
120 kg x 2 x 20 m

Monday, March 12, 2018

PTC Strongman's 3rd Anniversary

THREE years ago - at the start of March 2015 - PTC Perth had its first Strongman clinic. I had just two trainees that day, one of whom is still with us as PTCSM's oldest member, Ryan, aka Hightower. Nowadays Hightower no longer has a monopoly on being the tallest athlete, with people like Kong, Mick and the newest (and youngest) members of the team - Brad and Tim - all nudging or breaking six foot eight.


Fast forward to 2018, and PTC Perth Strongman now boasts fifteen members! Ryan, Alec, Kong, Mick, Brad, Tim, Jacqui, Trish, Jeremy, Kyle, Mathew, Nathan, Steve, Carl, and me. With the notable exception of Ryan, who is currently travelling the world, most of the crew were in attendance at our third anniversary lunch at Brotzeit, one of my favourite Perth restaurants. There was an abundance of meat and ale, and a pretty tacky ice cream cake. Coz it was also my birthday and I frigging love ice cream cake.




In just a few years, PTCSM has grown from a handful of devoted novices to well over a dozen strength athletes across all divisions and stages of development. We have members competing at this year's Australia's Strongest Man at the Arnolds, Melbourne, and a score of others training for the WASM state qualifiers in mid-April. The young fellas I mentioned are biding their time and may decide to compete next year... or not compete for years, like Alec. Alec, we have high hopes, will be entering either the WASM or ASA qualifier, scheduled for June at Matt Lynch Blanch's gym in Port Kennedy.


Of course, we are creeping ever-closer to October 28th and the 2018 Static Monsters! Along with the WASM state finals, this year's Strongman calendar is packed with events and opportunities for athletes to advance to national and international levels of competition. Right now is a truly exciting time to be in the game.



And finally, a shout-out. I'd like to wish Steve and Jacqueline strong lifting at the Arnolds this weekend! I am sorry I won't be there myself, but I know they will both excel and do themselves and PTCSM proud. I've witnessed Jacqui bust her ass every week since she got the invite, in preparation for this major event. And I have every confidence Steve will impress in the under 80s, since he's accustomed to competing (and winning) against bigger opponents.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Press+ Wednesday: A Lot Stronger

My overhead press hasn't improved in years. Not in any official sense, at least. The last time I needed to overhead press a 120 kilogram implement in competition (the third in a medley) was 2015, and I failed to do it then just like the time before that and the time before that. In the nearly three years that have transpired since that comp I've had a couple of injuries that have stalled my progress in general, but my press has suffered the most.

Regardless, I have been diligently training my overhead over the years, and now it's finally time to reap the benefits. Those reps of 115 are some of the smoothest and most comfortable I've done. I am pretty excited at the prospect of repping 120 next session, and busting through that ceiling. Then it will be time to see how many clean-presses I can do with the same weight.

Tonight's press session felt pretty damn good in general, actually.
Axle strict OHP 115 kg x 4

PRESS+ Wednesday March 7th
stretch
Axle OHP (strict):
35 kg x 10
55 kg x 5
75 kg x 3
95 kg x 3
115 kg x 4 PR
Bench press (paused):
65 kg x 5
95 kg x 3
115 kg x 8
45 degree Incline DB press (p/h):
25 kg x 5
35 kg x 5
40 kg x 11 PR
Triceps pushdowns:
full stack x 20, 15, 15 TPR
super-set w/DB front raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 3 x 10
HS chest press (p/h)
40 kg x 4 x 10
super-set w/HS bicep curls (l&r):
20 kg x 2 x 10
15 kg x 2 x 10

Friday, March 2, 2018

Press+ Thursday: The Ides of March



ALTHOUGH tonight's training didn't go completely as planned, the improvisations I made were effective. My right elbow objected strongly to dumbbell clean-presses... I tried dropping the weight, but it just didn't want to cooperate. Other presses were not nearly as badly affected by this, but it still didn't feel quite right, so I didn't go for the intended max-effort 115 kilogram overhead or bench press. Next week.
 

While some of the loadings were much lighter than planned, this wasn't a de-load session. My arms and shoulders feel utterly destroyed.

This month I begin my 38th year of existence. This morning my Fitbit scales told me I was 136 kilos body weight and 26% body fat. And tonight, as I was finishing up, Sen said my arms were looking huge. Excuse enough, I thought, and went to the bathroom for a cheeky selfie or two. 




PRESS+ Thursday March 1st
stretch
warmup DB incline press (p/h):
15 kg x 10
DB clean-press (strict - left only):
30 kg x 2 x 5 red Fatgripz
40 kg x 8 blue Fatgripz
Axle OHP (strict):
30 kg x 10
50 kg x 10
60 kg x 10
70 kg x 10
80 kg x 7
Bench press (paused):
60 kg x 5
80 kg x ME 14
45 degree incline DB press (p/h):
25 kg x 8
30 kg x 8
Triceps pushdowns:
full stack x 15, 15, 10
super-set w/DB front raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 3 x 10
HS chest press (p/h):
50 kg x 6
40 kg x 2 x 10
super-set w/HS bicep curls (l&r):
20 kg x 3 x 10