Sunday, August 23, 2020

Training Recap: Static Monsters 2020 Prep

IN THE PAST, deficit deadlifts have been a go-to rehab exercise for me, to get my pulls back up to strength. Years before my first bicep detachment, good mornings were a staple of my training, and were key to me developing the lower back strength that I possessed. Over time I dropped the GMs and other glute and hamstring exercises in favour of more strongman-specific movements and, slowly but surely, my lower posterior strength diminished. I began to get muscle spasms in my adductors, which (I realise now) were over-compensating for my weakened glutes and hamstrings.

In the few months I've focussed on technical, higher volume movements including squats, good mornings and deficit deadlifts, my strength base has returned. And, over the last few weeks, I've had the chance to test that base. Three weeks back I pulled 300 for a comfortable triple, and yesterday I pulled 335 - twenty kilograms off my best ever with an axle at competition pull height.


PULLS Saturday August 22nd
Deadlifts w/wagon wheels:
80 kg x 8
130 kg x 5
180 kg x 5
230 kg x 3
285 kg x 3
315 kg x 1
335 kg x 1 - twenty kilos off my 1RM with an axle
Yoke walk:
130 kg x 2 x 15 meters
230 kg x 15 meters
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm
 
SQUAT & PRESS Thursday August 20th
Axle squats:
35 kg x 10
80 kg x 5
120 kg x 3
150 kg x 4 x 6
Axle OHP (strict):
35 kg x 5
60 kg x 5
70 kg x 3
80 kg x ME 8
Good mornings w/cambered bar:
15 kg x 10
45 kg x 5
65 kg x 5
85 kg x 3
105 kg x 1
115 kg x 3 x 8
Cambered bar OHP:
75 kg x ME 6
Glute-hamstring raise machine:
base x 10
+10 kg x 10
+20 kg x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm
 
PULLS Thursday August 13th
Deadlifts w/barbell:
60 kg x 10
100 kg x 5
140 kg x 3
180 kg x 1
200 kg x 12
Deficit deadlifts w/barbell:
115 kg x 2 x 10
Seated rows:
150 kg x 5
120 kg x 5
97.5 kg x 5
75 kg x 5
Face-pulls:
49.5 kg x 3 x 20
Lateral pulldowns:
52.5 kg x 3 x 10
DB side raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 3 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm
 
PRESS Saturday August 8th
Log clean-press:
70 kg x 4 x 5
Incline barbell press:
60 kg x 3
70 kg x ME 16
Savickas press:
55 kg x ME 14
Preacher curls w/EZ bar:
23 kg x 3 x 10
DB front raises (p/h):
10 kg x 3 x 10
super-set w/DB curls (p/h):
12.5 kg x 3 x 10
Triceps pushdowns:
90 kg narrow grip x 10
90 kg wide grip x 10
63 kg rope x 10
90 kg narrow grip x 10
90 kg wide grip x 5
54 kg rope x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +50 rpm

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Feels Great to Pull Heavy Again

...HEAVY-ISH, at least. This week just gone has been a solid attack on my lower posterior. My squat & press upper-lower split routine on Sunday instead of Saturday, barbell deadlifts - including high volume deficits - on Thursday, and then wagon wheel axle deads on Saturday... with a bunch of other stuff thrown in. That was my bad for assuming I could do everything Navarre had programmed that day. Still, I kept up with him for most of it, and I pulled a triple of 300 on the axle, from a regulation 40 cm pull height. It's something to build from, certainly.

Add to this, I'm actually pretty happy with my axle overhead and squat progress also, and it's been a while since I've been able to say that last part. Squats have historically been my weakest movement. I'm not hitting properly heavy numbers yet and wont be for another couple of months. Focus has been on form and depth, and clearly the regular good mornings are assisting with my squat (and pull), so I won't be changing anything about that aspect of my programming any time soon. But I do need to start focusing on Static Monsters prep, hence the wagon wheel pulls. Next week I've roped Navarre into a log press session too, where no doubt he will show me how it's done, just as he did today with the axle.

For comparison. This was my 350 kilogram axle deadlift, from 2014:
And this is Navarre's from today (and sorry it's sideways!):

STATIC MONSTERS PREP Saturday August 1st
Deadlifts w/wagon wheels:
80 kg x 8
120 kg x 5
180 kg x 5
230 kg x 3
280 kg x 3
300 kg x 3 TPR
Reverse bands deadlifts w/axle:
135 kg x 6
210 kg x 3 x 6
Front squats:
60 kg x 8, 4
super-set w/kettle bell swings:
28 kg x 2 x 10

PULL Thursday July 30th
Deadlifts w/barbell:
60 kg x 10
100 kg x 5
140 kg x 3
170 kg x 1
190 kg x 12 - no belt but swapped from double overhand to mixed grip half way through
Deficit deadlifts w/barbell:
105 kg x 3 x 10
Seated rows:
full stack, 1 pulley x 3 x 20
Face-pulls:
49.5 kg x 3 x 20
DB side raises (p/h):
12.5 kg x 3 x 10
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm

SQUAT & PRESS Saturday July 26th
Axle squats:
35 kg x 10
80 kg x 5
120 kg x 3
140 kg x 4 x 7 - all no belt, no sleeves. Zero knee issues
Axle OHP (strict):
35 kg x 5
50 kg x 5
65 kg x 3
80 kg x 3
95 kg x ME 5 - not bad!
Good mornings w/cambered bar:
15 kg x 10
40 kg x 5
60 kg x 5
80 kg x 3
105 kg x 4 x 8
Cambered bar OHP:
60 kg x ME 9 TPR
Cardio:
assault bike 5 mins @ +55 rpm