Sunday, December 23, 2018

Events Sunday: Full Steam to 2019

PLANS almost always get messed with around this time of year, but in retrospect I am glad for the unexpected downtime, as is my body. The right forearm strain is almost healed but I figured I'd better skip clean-presses today just to be sure. I did hit some solid numbers on a variety of events (including a messy Zercher carry personal record) and walked away with some new ideas for a three-implement medley I'll be testing out next session.

EVENTS SUNDAY December 23rd

Deadlifts:
70 kg x 10
120 kg x 5
170 kg x 3
220 kg x 2 - double o/hand
270 kg x 1 - no belt
320 kg x 1
Axle SLDLs (grip test):
70 kg x 8
110 kg x 8
140 kg x 6
Farmers walk (p/h):
30 kg x 30 meters
80 kg x 30 meters
110 kg x 30 meters
130 kg x 15 meters
Zercher carry w/yoke:
130 kg x 2 x 15 meters - quick
210 kg x 2 x 10 meters
250 kg x 10 meters - one drop PR
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm

Thursday, December 13, 2018

More Pull+ Events Wednesday: Unknotted

I FINALLY got that sumbitch adductor sorted on Tuesday. Needra bent many a needle trying to penetrate the massive knot she'd found in the muscle belly; the cause of my poor performance over the last two months. When it released, it caused the whole leg to spasm violently. And then the problem was gone. I rested Tuesday night (which you must always do after a dry needling), deciding to deadlift again Wednesday. I worked up to a 300 kilogram pull with no issues before moving on to Zercher carries, which were also performed without incident.

This was a great session because of the return of Zercher carry - an event I've been looking forward to doing more regularly. But my forearms and elbows (especially the right one) are complaining lately. Must be due to the hand-over-hand prowler pull I was doing a couple weeks ago, which I exacerbated with the pull-ups I did at the end of last session, just to see if I could. I had intended to do some kind of press tonight, but that would not have been smart. Clean-presses will have to wait a while longer, but I should be able to continue with overhead from the rack and bench press next week.

Another young fella approached me after seeing me Zercher-carry the yoke. "I've never seen anybody actually use that thing before. What's it called?" he asked. His name was Corey. We had a brief chat, and I advised Corey of the strongman events sessions I perform each Saturday from 1PM, and that he was welcome to come check them out.

This weekend, to keep things fresh (and to test out the adductor some more) I'll likely be doing axle squats as my first static event, followed by yoke and/or farmers walk and maybe more prowler drag to finish. And next weekend, if the left elbow is feeling up to it, I might play around with the monster dumbbell: I've not used it since I returned to Genesis, and it's the only piece of equipment I'm not on a first name basis with.

PULL+ EVENTS (again) Wednesday December 12th
Deadlifts:
70 kg x 10
120 kg x 5
170 kg x 3
220 kg x 2 - double o/hand
270 kg x 1 - no belt
300 kg x 1
Zercher carry:
130 kg x 2 x 10 meters
210 kg x 2 x 10 meters
Tyre flip:
175 kg x 15 meters
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Pull+ Events Monday: Prowler Pull

FINALLY with everything I needed to make this happen, I couldn't wait till the weekend; I wanted to try out the prowler and harness as soon as I was sufficiently recovered from last session. And so I did. But first I needed to deadlift, and that reminded me I was still rehabbing. Once I got above 200 kilograms I performed the reps slowly, with focus on making the sure the correct muscles were being recruited. I pulled a very slow, beltless 250 after a couple of singles of 220 and left it there.

With the prowler drag I need to start lower and fully extend each leg during warmup, or else my calves complain later when it gets heavier.

On the way out I met up with one of the young fellas who I asked to spot my bench press last week. He mentioned he'd just performed a 180 squat. I asked if he'd gotten video, and what kind of depth he was hitting. He wasn't sure. I advised him that the squat is one of the most technical static movements you can perform as a strength athlete and it's a good idea to get video for assessment.

In saying this, it has been remiss of me to not get more video of my own lifts and events. It's not something I often think of in training... I'm more focussed on the lift itself (or, more specifically, not screwing it up) and I'm not keen on treating my training (like so many people do) as a social media vanity project.

But for technical critiquing purposes, I'm gonna have to remember to get more vids.

PULL+ EVENTS Monday December 9th
Deadlifts:
70 kg x 10
120 kg x 5
170 kg x 5
220 kg x 2
250 kg x 1
Prowler drag w/harness:
+100 kg x 15 meters
+150 kg x 15 meters
+200 kg x 15 meters
Seated rows:
neutral, narrow 114 kg x ME 20, 12, 10
underhand, wide 96 kg x 3 x 8
Face-pulls:
65 kg x 3 x 20 PR
DB side raises (p/h):
10 kg x 4 x 10
Pull-ups:
5, 3
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Events Saturday: More Chains

LAST yoke session felt a lot better than this one. I'd had big plans to walk 400 without a belt today, since the belt-less 370 I walked last time had felt pretty comfortable. But today, like Thursday night, I just wasn't on point. I am still rehabbing shit, sure, but I really felt like I had more in me today than what eventuated. I jumped to 410 instead of 400 kilograms as the leadup to it hadn't felt strong, I was going to rely on a belt for it anyway, and 400 is finnicky to load. I'd have to go scrounge up some 2.5s and I really couldn't be bothered.


The good news is the adductor felt good throughout the session. I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to deadlift, clean-press, axle squat and zercher carry next week like normal.


While I was training a Genesis member approached me, curious to know more about the yoke. We had a brief chat and I mentioned that I was always happy to show him the basics of strongman events if he could be here at 1pm each Saturday.


I had a third event programmed for today: the prowler drag, utilising the truck pull harness. But I looked all over and couldn't find anything I could use to hook the harness to the prowler. I needed a length of chain or heavy rope with loopholes either end, anywhere from one meter long. The one chain I found was too thin and the ropes too worn to be safe. So the prowler I had loaded up at one end of the runway I just had to push back and unload again.


After training I went to Bunnings and got a two meter length of chain sturdy enough to pull 800+ kilograms. That'll fuckin do. Looking forward to next session.


EVENTS Saturday December 8th
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 30 meters
230 kg x 30 meters
310 kg x 15 meters
370 kg x 15 meters - no belt, one drop, not great
410 kg x 5 meters - belted
Farmers walk (p/h):
30 kg x 30 meters
80 kg x 30 meters
110 kg x 30 meters
130 kg x 15 meters - no belt
Prowler push:
+200 kg x 10 meters

Friday, December 7, 2018

Pull, Press, Rest, Press Again

I NEEDED to allow more time for the adductor to heal. The work I did with the yoke and prowler drag, while not recruiting it nearly as much, still taxed the muscle to an extent I did not appreciate until I tried to deadlift the following week. Even stiff-legged pulls were hitting it. So it was time to back right off for a while, I surmised, and returned to more pressing.



My last press session could have gone a lot better than it did. I began with axle squats to test out the adductor. Again, it gave no indication it was compromised until it suddenly did, at the fourth rep of 120. It didn't hurt, it was just a warning twinge to tell me it wasn't 100 per cent yet. I had hoped to pull tonight, but with this information I switched back to my press routine.



I have managed to do something to my right elbow in the interim which was annoying me during bench (and barbell curls, predictably) but fine with most other movements. I mistimed my money set on axle overheads, so did two more max effort sets after it (which fatigued me), and I then lost the groove and couldn't power out of the last rep in a paused triple of just 140 on bench.



However, I like the idea of doing multiple maximum effort sets on axle OHP going forward. I will likely have to split up my benching from my overhead so I don't keep repeating what happened on this occasion. I'll see how this goes in 2019.



Press+ Thursday December 6th
Axle squats:
20 kg x 10
70 kg x 10
120 x 4 - healing, don't push it
Axle OHP (strict):
40 kg x 10
60 kg x 5
80 kg x 3
100 kg x ME 7 FAIL, 6, 5
Bench press (paused):
60 kg x 5
90 kg x 3
120 kg x 1
140 kg x 2 FAIL
Triceps pushdowns:
114 kg x 20 PR
100 kg x 15
86 kg x 15
Standing barbell curls:
22.5 kg x 3 x 10 - reduced loading due to right elbow
Dumbbell front raises (p/h):
10 kg x 10
12.5 kg x 2 x 10
Chest press machine (p/h):
25 kg x 4 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm



Pull+ Thursday November 27th
Deadlifts:
70 kg x 10
120 kg x 5
Stiff-legged deadlifts:
170 kg x 3
Axle OHP (strict):
20 kg x 10
50 kg x 5
70 kg x 3
90 kg x 3
110 kg x 3
Seated rows:
neutral narrow 114 kg x 20 PR, 15, 10
underhand wide 96 kg x 3 x 8
DB side raises (p/h):
10 kg x 4 x 10
Face-pulls:
59 kg x 4 x 20 PR - go heavier next time
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm