Friday, September 28, 2018

Pull+ Wednesday: Static Monsters Prep wk9

AND the weeks don't get less eventful. Not at this stage of the game. The date for the WA Strongman state finals has been set and now the events have been (mostly) announced:

Event 1: Axle Squat - max reps in 60 seconds
HW: 275kg
Event 2: Yoke Press - max reps in 60 seconds
HW: 130kg
Event 3: Zercher Carry Medley - 10 meters each, in 60 seconds
HW: 205kg, 245kg, 275kg
Event 4: Deadlift Grip Medley, in 90 seconds
HW: (last implement) Axle 140kg
Event 5: Atlas Stones - loaded to 1 meter height, in 60 seconds
HW: 115kg, 140kg, 155kg, 180kg

Most of the new sponsor logos for this year's Static Monsters banner have been made and will be added over the weekend. I collected them from Perth Stripes & Signs yesterday.

The 4th event at this years WASM finals is a grip strength medley. Most implements & loadings are under wraps, save for the final & heaviest: a 140 kilo Axle deadlift. I just pulled that for 5 warming up for tonight’s sets of 295. So I'm feeling pretty okay about that one.

PULL+ Wednesday September 26th
stretch
Axle deadlifts:
80 kg x 10
140 kg x 5
180 kg x 5
230 kg x 3
265 kg x 1
295 kg x 3 x 3 TPR
HS seated rows (p/h):
40 kg x 4 x 15
Face-pulls:
plate 12 x 4 x 20 PR
super-set w/DB side raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 4 x 10 PR
Cardio:
bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm

Monday, September 24, 2018

Prep wk8: Weekend at Kongs & a Kingsize Sponsor

IT HAS been an eventful week. This particular piece of news was going to wait for a post of its own. Now seems as good a time as any, though. I have been in touch with Cameron, managing director of Kingsize Menswear; an Australian business with a sterling reputation and a vested interest (pardon the pun) in clothing the extra large Australian male.

We met mid-week at his office in Inglewood, where he told me what he was looking for. He needed a crew of big and tall gentlemen to model their upcoming summer collection, arriving late October / early November. He asked me if I could assemble such a crew. I said of course! By the next morning I had seven appropriately big and tall gentlemen signed up to be local celebrities.

Kingsize Menswear has also agreed to sponsor Static Monsters Perth! Their logo is a late addition to the banner for 2018, which also finished production last week. I have not seen it yet but have no doubt that Peter and the good people at Perth Stripes and Signs have done an excellent job with the new sponsor logos I commissioned a month ago.

Saturday I did what Kong has done, as many Saturdays as he could, for the last two and more years: I drove to York, an hour and fifteen minutes east of Perth. I finally got to train in 'the Padded Room' and meet his adorable new son, EJ (Ed junior), barely bigger than a zygote and still with that new baby smell. Now I want one too.

Last week I also made the rash decision to drop meadows rows. The setup and pack-up was becoming too time-consuming when performed in conjunction with heavy axle deadlifts, which also take a long time to assemble and pack away when the kilograms are approaching 300 and it's just yourself training them. So I switched to bent-over dumbbell rows at the same loading (40 kilograms). Everything felt fine but I guess I over-extended on the right side at some point and now I have a tricep strain that has bothered me this week, playing up on Saturday during farmers walk.

Hopefully without jinxing myself (something I can and have done in the past), I can say that my left hand seems to be healing, albeit very slowly, further confirming it's not soft tissue or nerve but a tendon injury I am dealing with. I was able to handle a 110 log on Saturday. I experienced no perceptible loss of grip strength and no numbness during the press... but it hurt. I said to Kong at the time that I wouldn't know till the following morning if I'd done yet more damage with this one lift, as that's usually how it goes. But, again, nothing was aggravated the next day. I can clench my fist without it feeling underpowered. It's just painful. This is still progress... so I haven't completely written off WASM state finals this year. But it's still a dicey prospect.

SATURDAY September 22nd
stretch
Log clean-press:
40 kg x 5
60 kg x 5
80 kg x 5
100 kg x 2
110 kg x 1
Yoke walk:
110 kg x 2 x 30 meters
150 kg x 2 x 30 meters
190 kg x 2 x 30 meters
Farmers walk (p/h):
75 kg x 2 x 30 meters

THURSDAY September 20th
stretch
Bench press (paused):
bar x 10
60 kg x 5
105 kg x 10
Incline barbell bench press:
80 kg x 3 x 10
HS chest press (p/h):
30 kg x 15
30 kg x 2 x 20
super-set w/HS bi curls (l&r):
15 kg x 3 x 10
DB bent-over rows (l&r):
40 kg x 15

TUESDAY September 18th
stretch
Log clean press:
45 kg x 10
60 kg x 5
Squats w/cambered bar:
50 kg x 10
90 kg x 5
130 kg x 5

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Pull Thursday & Events Saturday: Prep wk7

LAST WEEK, things got off-schedule right on schedule. It started with a couple of inflamed cysts. One was on my neck under a wart (both cyst and wart were cut out on Tuesday), the other cyst - which is right up in my frigging groin - is the same thing that messed me up in May. I alluded to it but don't think I ever elaborated on it coz it was so disgusting. But now that it's back I'm compelled to share... and make you all feel as wretched as I did.

Last time it swelled to the size of about half a baseball. It made walking and sitting reasonably painful. Not as painful as the time I had a prolapsed haemorrhoid, but maybe half way there. That was before it burst and leaked for several days; shit that smelled like actual shit. At one point I lanced it and squeezed it, hoping to drain the awful smelling lymphatic fluid and blood into a thick and thirsty paper towel. Instead it surged like a fire extinguisher, three to four feet across the bathroom, and spattered the mirror in bloody, beige soup.

This time I got to the doctor before it grew anywhere near that size. The infection is due to a particular type of bacteria (he took a swab of it for testing this time) and so needs a particular type of antibiotic. My GP prescribed a double course. Last time I was on it, it made me sick briefly. This time it's so far, so good.

So, week 6 was a total bust. Week 7 of comp prep has been better. My deadlift session was cut short as I felt a little dizzy and nauseated (antibiotics) but I got some decent work done first. And today's events session was also productive. Next weekend is the last qualifier for the WASM state championships (which have been slated for November 17th at Elizabeth quay)  and Special K was going all-out with his last weekend session before game day. He started around ten o'clock, and was joined later by Alec, Jacqui and myself. While I still have no idea what the events are going to be, now is the time to get primed. So primed I am getting.

EVENTS Saturday September 15th - Prep wk7
stretch
Farmers walk (p/h):
45 kg x 2 x 20 meters
85 kg x 2 x 20 meters
115 kg x 20 meters
135 kg x 20 meters
Zercher carry w/yoke:
130 kg x 20 meters
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 2 x 20 meters
170 kg x 20 meters
210 kg x 20 meters
250 kg x 2 x 20 meters

PULL+ Wednesday September 12th
stretch
Axle deadlifts:
80 kg x 10
130 kg x 5
180 kg x 5
230 kg x 3
280 kg x 3 x 5
DB rows (l&r):
40 kg x 3 x 15

Friday, September 7, 2018

Static Monsters Prep wk5 & Squat Thursday

EVENTS Saturday September 1st
stretch
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 2 x 20 meters
210 kg x 2 x 20 meters
250 kg x 2 x 20 meters
Farmers walk (p/h):
110 kg x 20 meters
Zercher carry w/yoke:
170 kg x 20 meters

SQUAT+ Thursday September 6th
stretch
Squats w/cambered bar:
50 kg x 10
90 kg x 5
130 kg x 5
160 kg x 3 x 10 PR
HS leg extensions (p/l):
27.5 kg x 3 x 10
HS hamstring curls (p/l):
15 kg x 3 x 10
HS calf raises:
55 kg x 3 x 15
DB front raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 4 x 10