Saturday, June 22, 2019

Template 1, Week 9: Fast Track to Qualifiers 2019

IF THIS works, I'll be pretty damn happy.

Now that my right side is finally ready, and motivated by the prospect of competing this year, the handbrake has been taken off, training-wise. For starters, deadlifts will be making a more regular appearance in my routine. To make room for them - and also to try and reduce the trauma that my lower posterior is being put through - I've swapped them in for cambered bar Good mornings.

Also, as from next week, I'll be exchanging the cambered bar for the axle squat, and axle clean-press now takes precedent over log work. I'll keep my other press variations in the mix, as it would be stupid to do otherwise. But the aim is to get my axle back up to my regular form in the next five to six weeks...

https://www.facebook.com/abaddon.quinn/videos/vb.1223146239/10215458837243767/?type=3
https://www.facebook.com/abaddon.quinn/videos/vb.1223146239/10215726914465530/?type=3

Since I was doubly keen to deadlift again (and since I also figured my arms could use a little more rest time), I exchanged Press for Pull this Tuesday. Then, due to other constraints, I was not able to press later this week. So I added some axle work Saturday.

Events training was one of the best sessions this year... though I did make it harder for myself. For the first three runs at 290 kilograms, I set the yoke one rung lower than normal, which made the pick harder than it needed to be. Consequently, I did five runs instead of six.

And I decided to make the farmers walk high-intensity by doing them in sets of four, which added a cardio aspect my lazy ass could probably do with.

EVENTS week 9 Template 1 - Saturday June 22nd
Axle clean-press:
50 kg x 6
70 kg x 4
80 kg x 4 x 4
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 15 meters
210 kg x 15 meters
250 kg x 15 meters
290 kg x 5 x 15 meters
Farmers walk (p/h):
55 kg x 2 x 4 x 15 meters - high intensity, 4 runs per set

PULL week 9 Template 1 - Tuesday June 18th
Deadlifts:
70 kg x 10
100 kg x 5
130 kg x 3 x 10
Meadows rows (l&r):
42.5 kg x 3 x 10
Seated rows (neutral):
left 75 kg x 3 x 10
right 45 kg x 3 x 10
Face-pulls:
49.5 kg x 3 x 20
-super-set with-
DB side raises (p/h):
10 kg x 3 x 10
Cardio:
Assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Two Week Recap: WASM Drops Some Deets

WEEK Seven was a designated rest week - something that more than one person has recommended I include in my training to reduce the propensity for injury. Most recently, it was the Wonderboy Steve van Steytler who was looking over my last few programs (this was, from memory, just before my last injury... the irony hasn't escaped me), and suggested this could be a valuable addition. I hit upon every seventh week as being the optimal time to employ them.

I still did a reasonable events session on the Saturday, as a full week of sitting around seemed wasteful. But the following week I got hit with the Manflu pretty bad, resulting in another several days of not a lot of training getting done.

Friday of that week, WA Strongman posted about a qualifying round tentatively scheduled for late July or early August. A little sooner than the eight months I'd needed to be back to full strength last time, but not disqualifyingly so. Now I have something to work towards.

The proposed events and loadings for the mens open division are as below. These are all subject to change, and more details will be provided as they are released by W.A. Strongman:

Event 1: Axle squat - 235 kilograms for reps
Event 2: Barbell w/truck tyres clean press - 120 kilograms for reps
Event 3: Yoke & Farmers medley - weights and distance to be determined
Event 4: Barbell deadlift - 250 kilograms for reps
Event 5: Sandbag carry medley - 100, 120 & 140 kilograms

The first two events are my weakest of the six dynamic strength feats listed; back-to-back yoke and farmers walk is not something I recall having ever done before, so it will be an added challenge. But one that I believe I will be ready for.

EVENTS week 8 Special - June 15th
Axle OHP (strict):
20 kg x 10
55 kg x 5
85 kg x 4 x 5
Log clean-press:
60 kg x 5 x 5
Zercher carry w/yoke:
95 kg x 2 x 15 meters
115 kg x 2 x 15 meters
Deadlifts:
70 kg x 5
100 kg x 5 x 6
Leg extensions (p/l):
20 kg x 3 x 15 TPR


EVENTS week 7 Template 1 - June 8th
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 2 x 15 meters
210 kg x 15 meters
250 kg x 15 meters
280 kg x 8 x 15 meters TPR
Farmers walk (p/h):
45 kg x 8 x 15 meters

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Template 2, Week 6: Quitters Never Win

...AND WINNERS never quit. But they do need regular treatment if they expect to keep operating properly. This week has been pretty triumphant. The volume keeps pushing me into new territory when it comes to base-building. It's way too early to tell, but if it is going to result in more strength and stamina across a range of strongman events (as hoped), I won't let something like an untreated muscle strain stymy the process.

Every so often, after overhead-pressing regularly for several months, my forearms get a little pained, and mobility and pressing strength diminish. This is when I know they are due for a needling.

Quaid has been bothering me lately, so I've reintroduced axe-swings this fortnight, swapping out meadows rows (which I don't really need to do every week anyway), and it seems to be a better fit with the rest of my squat routine to boot.

By the time I got to prowler drag, my legs were obliterated. I packed it in after a couple of runs at 190, and made a physio appointment for early next week.

EVENTS week 6 Template 2 - June 1st
Zercher carry w/yoke:
95 kg x 2 x 15 meters
135 kg x 10 x 15 meters TPR
Log press:
55 kg x 3 x 10
Prowler drag:
190 kg x 2 x 15 meters - rooted

SQUATS week 6 Template 2 - May 30th
Squats w/cambered bar:
20 kg x 10
70 kg x 5
120 kg x 3
150 kg x 1
170 kg x 4 x 5
Hamstring curls (p/l):
17.5 kg x 15, 15, 12 TPR
Axe-swings (l&r):
27 kg x 3 x 10
Seated rows (underhand):
left 75 kg x 2 x 10
right 45 kg x 2 x 15
DB side raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 3 x 10

PRESS week 6 Template 2 - May 28th
Axle strict OHP:
20 kg x 10
50 kg x 5
80 kg x 4 x 6
Incline BB press:
70 kg x 4 x 8
Skull-crushers:
29 kg x 3 x 8
Preacher curls:
15 kg x 3 x 10
DB front raises:
left 10 kg x 4 x 10
right 8 kg x 4 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm