IRON & STONE: Adventures of an Amateur Strongman

[mouse]

9/9/2019

Box Squat - 365x4x4
- felt fine, just wanted some sets across

SGDL - 385x4x4
- extension looked really good today

Superset
JM Press - 205x6x3
DOH Rows - 255x6x3

Upside Down KB Deadlift - 35 right hand, yes!

Officially got my left knee x-rayed today. Everything structurally looks good. Doc checked me out and made sure it wasn't the ACL or anything. We had a good talk and came to the consensus I was expecting... probably a small meniscus tear and my knee is holding on to some fluid. We had a good discussion about it and came up with a plan. Basically train how I have been, paying attention to the knee and taking care not to make it worse. I go back in 5 weeks (a week after Orange Elite) to check in with him and see how it's progressing. If we want to we will talk an MRI and get a good look at it, if things seem fine, we'll just proceed as normal.

Other than that everything looks great. So pretty reassuring even if it's still uncomfortable at times. Nice to talk to a doc who didn't immediately think I needed to retire from strongman lol...

[cole]

Good to hear man

[mouse]

Good to hear man

Thanks man, it was definately decent news... I guess lol

9/10/2019

Strict Press (Axle) - 225x5(PR)/205x5x4
-changed it up and pressed first because I wanted to move to triples next week and wanted to hit that top set. Noiiiiice...

Incline Bench (Axle) - 255x5x4
-my life for a monolift attachment. Went fine, expected a small hit because of the change in order and implement

[mouse]

9/12/2019

Squat - 275x6x3
-whatever.... just squatted...

Deadlift - 525x3x3
-fine enough, good to have a day where I don't feel like I just way overshot lol...

Fuck Thursdays dude... you could hardly call this "training" and yet it's like the hardest day of the week...

[mouse]

9/14/2019

Axle Press - 250x1x5/205x6x2

Sandbag/Farmers Medley - 220/225 60ft

Stone Loads - 220x5x3

Kind of a weird day. More of an events day than usual but I called on audible to shorten the time because my in laws needed a hand clearing some of their land...

[mouse]

I'm currently bored at work... so here's some rambling thoughts about training, competing, and a preview of the rest of 2019 for the like 2-3 people who might be following this, if you're a competitor and found my link through my IG... GIT OWT haha:

ORANGE ELITE V: THREE WEEKS OUT

Gonna probably mimic the taper I used for Nickel City pretty close. Strict presses are moving to triples. Heavy pressing will be somewhat limited in favor of trying to nail down my technical garbage. Deadlifts are a little weird as my hamstring/glute/low back/whatever that I was dealing with before July hasn't really gone away as much as I liked. I'll probably push the sandbag hard this week, and then push the farmers heavy next week. My thoughts broken down by event:

Max Axle - leaning towards the slightly conservative approach here because of the clean. How I feel day of is going to be clutch. Right now I think 245/265/285 is the "safe" bet. If I get a good (or even OK) clean on those I should be able to press them fine. A 300+ attempt would be seriously YOLO...

Keg/Wheelbarrow Medley - a little bit YOLO here. With football, I haven't had time to actually play with implements near contest weight. The keg is 300, which might suck for the pick, but I did carry a 315 block down in WV, so I mean it's not like I can't move OK with a big dumb weight. The wheelbarrow is 800 lbs, and I don't know what that equates to in hand, but I feel confident in my grip that I'll be ok. Weirdest thing will be getting it started I think, as with farmers/frames you can work of the momentum of the implement... but this I doubt will be like it.

Last Man Standing Deadlift - depending on event order I expect I should last well into the 600's. Jumps are plate and quarter, but Jamie often goes to 20lb jumps depending on how many guys are left at the upper level. I think 675+ will be in the tank if need be.

Sandbag Max Distance - this one might be the event that will be harder than I expect. The sandbag is 50lbs heavier than mine, and I have a feeling the pick will be deceptively hard. I think as long as I get a good pick/grip on it I'll be alright, as at that point I think I'll be at the mercy of my shit conditioning than my actual strength haha. I've taken mine (220ish) for around 240 ft with turns and no drops, so we will see...

Stone Series - ah yes, my Jesus-Take-The-Wheel event of this contest. 60 seconds is too damn short in my opinion for this series, but whatevs, I don't make the rules. I would bet on me to get six of the nine... maybe seven. I think after the carries and deadlifts my upper back isn't gonna want to play nice when I get in the 360+ neighborhood. But who knows...


THE ROAD TO FESTIVUS: FEATS OF STRENGTH 2019

Yule Log Clean and Press - 225 - Max Reps 60sec
Max Frame Deadlift - Open at 200, 50lb jumps
Open Sleigh Drag - Heavy arm over arm pull 60 ft
Santas Bag Carry - 250 - Max Distance
Last Man Standing Stones - Open at 220

I have not yet registered for the Dec contest, but I intend to and have already built my next 8 weeks follow OEV to prep for it. I'm very much excited to train log again, and to take a whack at arm over arm. Sandbag max distance again, but lighter this time so I expect to do better than whatever I put up at OEV. Max frame (no straps allowed) is right up my alley, I expect to have some fun there. LMS Stones... again. Whatever lol. I have fun on stones either way.

Some changes to that 8 weeks will be flip flopping flat bench and incline bench. Even though I don't care much about flat bench I don't really like consistently training incline week to week like I have been so it will be good for maintenance and to change things up. Accessories will change that day as well. Going to treat my conventional deadlift very differently this time around. I'm going to experiment with pushing heavier on the FRAME DL's (like an overload or block pull), but backing off a little and treating my conventional almost as an assistance with rotating rep ranges week to week. First week will be sets of 6, then 4's, and then 2's before repeating. I'm gonna do my best to avoid temptation and keep them all around true @8's. Was gonna try out some good mornings instead of rows for upper back assistance, but with only 8 weeks I'm just gonna throw in a density block of pullups. We'll see how that goes. Might try out a dicks press for the overhead supplemental slot, and will probably for the first time do some unilateral shoulder work in the form of bottom up KB presses or standing DB if I can load them right. Sets of 10...

K... I'm done rambling... time to eat again...

[mouse]

9/16/2019

Box Squat - 370x4x4

SGDL - 390x4x4

Superset
JM Press - 205x6x3
DOH Rows - 260x6x3

[mouse]

9/17/2019

Strict Press (Axle) - 235x3x5
-felt good, I think this might be a PR for triples?

Incline Bench - 255x6x3/255x5
-managed to add a rep to all but the 4th set. Really rushing through these tonight and the last one died probably about an inch from lockout... meh...

[mouse]

9/19/2019

Squat - 280x6x3
- tempoish, really just a warm up to deadlift

Deadlift - 405/495/545/605
-last man standing format except I skipped 455 haha... everything felt good and snappy. Basically worked up to 90% of my target

Air Bike - 20/40 @5:00

Called it on the deadlift after the single. It felt really good, and I originally planned to do some triples after, but I'm gonna train tomorrow so we can take the boys out Saturday. With no day off I don't want to risk frying my low back/hammies which seems to happen on backoff after a heavy single. I plan to do SLDLs and a few max distance carries tomorrow so the backoff can wait...

[mouse]

9/20/2019

Axle Press - 245x1x3
-clean twice, press once, I hate these lol

Axle Press - 205x6x2
-out of the rack, bicep kinda bugs me a little after a bunch of half muscle cleans haha...

SLDL - 385x4x4
-felt fine minus my shoulders felt like they were taking impact from the floor. Weird, never really happened before so I focused on slowing down the eccentric and that helped a lot.

Sandbag for Max - 270-280ft max
-maxed out at about 4 and a half laps. Legs gave out before my grip for the most part. Probably because I fake my conditioning work lol

[mouse]

9/23/2019

Box Squat - 420x3x3
- four plates on the SSB... it's almost like I squat "heavy" again lol

SGDL - 405x4x4
- another four plates, pinkies on the collars haha

JM Press / DOH Rows - 210x6/265x6x3
- with fire and intensity lol

I don't really remember the last time I had 2 full rest days like this weekend, definately had a small bump in energy. That or I'm just excited to peel off the volume and do some heavy shit because taper starts today... cool to put four plates on the SSB... cool to have a 405 collar to collar snatch grip dead for easy-ish reps...

Two weeks!

[cole]

nice looking session you put together there

[mouse]

9/24/2019

Strict Press - 240x3x3
- yeet

Incline Bench - 315x1(PR)/255x6x3
- Lolz good luck bench PR lives on even if it's an incline bench

Not gonna lie I wonder where a press single would wind up per the goofy fed rules...

[mouse]

9/26/2019

Squat - 315x4x3
- look at me getting over a mental block, cool

Deadlift - 565x2x2/535x2
- OK I was ambitious lol. Probably should have backed down a bit after the first double. The first double was actually quite smooth, but this weird little butt tweak that happens near my limits (where my extension breaks way down) makes me really slow down the last couple inches. It was more pronounced on the second double, hence the 5% backoff...

[mouse]

9/28/2019

Axle Press - 205/235/255
- felt OK, little light headed before the press, low energy today lol

Farmers Carry - 275 per hand (PR)
- hells yes, 60ft in 18 sec bare paw like a boss, RIP my grip

Atlas Stones - 3x5 to 50"

[mouse]

9/30/2019

Deadlift - 545x1x5

Felt good, smooth, snappy...

[mouse]

10/1/2019

Axle Press - 245x1x3
- just a couple runs with my planned opener... I'm not sure if 305 would realistically be there but I think I have a decent shot at 285 and I think there will be some big presses in my class so I have to get a decent number on the board...

Now to just chill out, try and take care of myself for a few days...

[mouse]

[mouse]

Score sheet for OEV got posted... I actually managed to edge out 4th by half a point... deadlift kept me just alive enough... didn't do nearly as well as I thought I did on the medley... many things to learn and improve on...

[mouse]

10/8/2019

Bench - 225x18/225x6
- originally planned to do three AMRAP sets but quickly decided that idea sucked lol

Strict Press - 185x5x4
- just warming up to some volume, I will probably jump to 190-195 next week, turns out strict pressing after 225x18 also sucks lol, everything is pumpy and numb

Pull Aparts (red) - 4x10
- set of 10 after every press set

Pull Downs (red) - 1x10
- just goofing to see how to set them up, likely they will be a finisher either Tuesdays or Saturdays... tricep pump like whoa...