Saturday, April 4, 2020

Squats in Nav's Garage


THURSDAY night was my first time training with Western Australia's strongest man, Navarre Top, in his garage. The nostalgia was palpable for me, as it was in then Western Australia's strongest man, Daniel Macri's garage that I first began properly training strongman events, in June of 2011. It's eerie coincidences like this that caused the ancient Greeks to conclude that time was non-linear, and whatever was happening now has happened before, in the past, and will occur again in the future. Hence their recording of significant events is allegorical.


We are, at this point, somewhat limited in what we can do. So we did enough squats and good mornings to make sitting and standing the next day a constant challenge. Between sets we also discussed what other movements and events we could conceivably add down the track. I mentioned that there's a vacant block of land next to my house which is crying out for some keg toss, I've just never had kegs to toss (and wasn't about to buy a set only to have some prudish neighbour tell me it was private property and yadda yadda), but now given the circumstances, I will train wherever the fuck I possibly can. And Navarre may have access to things we can toss.


One of the exercises I used to do regularly is Good Mornings. Recently I've mentioned how I became quite proficient at this particular movement during my early years of Strongman training, but gradually performed them less and less frequently. Well, now they have made a return to my weekly programming. They are one of the most useful exercises one can perform for strengthening the glutes, hamstrings, and lower posterior chain - especially if you don't have access to machines. I was supposed to do three money sets tonight. Next week I will need to rectify that. And do some goddamn cardio. My resting heart rate is already climbing due to the inactivity.


Here's a blog entry from late 2012 where I'm doing reps of 200 kilograms, on a cambered bar. About a month later I dropped back to 150 kilograms, and went deeper for almost ten reps. These loadings are several months away from me at the moment, but I do intend to be moving 150 kilos plus for deep, comfortable reps by early July, maybe sooner.


SQUATS @ Nav's Garage Thursday April 2nd
Axle squats:
35 kg x 10
85 kg x 5
125 kg x 3
145 kg x 3 x 9 TPR
Good mornings w/cambered bar:
30 kg x 10
60 kg x 10
80 kg x 10
90 kg x 2 x 10 - missed 3rd set!

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Return to the S.T.F.

Or, the Savickas Testing Facility as I called it. All the stuff in this video I sold, more's the pity. Admittedly, a lot of the plates were rusty and mismatched, and the 'squat cage' would crimp if I loaded it with the weight I can move now, so it wouldn't be of any real use if I still had it. But I really miss my extra-long handled loadable dumbbells. And I am in dire need of a bench.


I am still tripping a little about how this is where I began, and almost exactly ten years to the day
I started this journey with my dinky little bench and dumbbells at home, I'm back here again. Only now I'm a strength athlete. Won't the neighbours be thrilled.


My first session at home went pretty well. The routine was improvised and is likely not the final form of whatever pulling and pressing template I put together. It was just as many movements as I could think of at the time. With variations limited, volume must increase, so I'll be doing four or more sets of most exercises that are not main lifts.


It's lucky I decided not to go heavier on deadlifts today, as there's now two divots in the paving and the bar already rolls straight to them. I will need to get something sturdier to put between the pavers and the mats... or only deadlift from blocks (boo).


I put together a short video of some of the things I did during this session, primarily to showcase the Savickas press. This is a great way to totally isolate the pressing muscles. It removes any drive or power provided by the lower posterior, and makes it all about the triceps, deltoids and pectorals. But you can use this contraption to bench and even squat, if you begin the squat (or press) from the bottom of the movement... and, if you're using your pergola, you aren't loading up hundreds of kilograms on it.





I finished off with some Ez-bar skull-crushers and curls, weaksauce rubber band triceps pushdowns and isometric holds with my dusty old SISU Warhammer wrapped in a Fatgrip 'Extreme' to make it a little harder.


No, squats I'll be doing at Navarre's place rather than risk my pergola. He's very kindly offered to let me train with him, and he lives real close by, so it's actually pretty sweet, all things considered.


Pull & Press Tuesday March 31st
SISU Warhammer w/Fatgrip 'Extreme'
Deadlifts with barbell:
65 kg x 10
105 kg x 5
145 kg x 3
165 kg x 3 x 5 double overhand
Barbell bent-over rows:
70 kg x 4 x 10
Savickas OHP:
20 kg x 8
40 kg x 5
50 kg x ME 10
Skull crushers w/EZ bar:
24 kg x 10
29 kg x 10, 10, 6
Standing EZ bar curls:
29 kg x 4 x 10
EZ bar front raises:
19 kg x 4 x 10
Rubber band triceps pushdowns:
3 x 20
Warhammer +Fatgripz 'Extreme' isometric side holds:
30 seconds per arm x 2