IRON & STONE: Adventures of an Amateur Strongman

[mouse]

Also odds are the Ohio trip is on the outs...

I planned to waffle for a few weeks and then run my BBM stuff after but the time line doesn't match up for CNY's Strongest 4... it would leave me with only 4 weeks to prep...

So I'm gonna start running it NEXT WEEK instead... gonna kinda sorta diet Alan Thrall style (i.e. I'm gonna eat normal just avoid junk I've been eating lately) and run some high volume shit before going in to another 8 week contest block where I'll recycle some cool ideas I planned to run next week, and then I will unleash Viking hell upon my opponents...

CNYSM+W4
Log Axle Medley - 265/265 - should be GTG
Axle Deadlift for Reps - 575 - again, should be GTG
Farmers Carry - 300 - definately GTG
Yoke/Husafell - 675/290 - FUCK ME/GTG
Stone Over Bar - 320 - prolly GTG

[mouse]

12/7/2019

Festivus Feats of Strength Rundown!
Open HW 242/275 - 3rd Place
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7qid5x2ghsjqi ... t.pdf?dl=0

Max Frame Deadlift - 400/450/500/550/600/650/700
- didn't realize it was Last Man Standing format, so... oops. Didn't matter, did what I came to do. Took a whack at 750 but it didn't go. My winning deadlift streak died I think I may have tied took 2nd here, not sure...

Log Press - 220x8
- Vipered every rep like I planned. Pretty sure I got 9 I got 8... hard to count. Went for the 10th 9th but it didn't go and I ran out of time. Pretty sure I won the event.

Arm Over Arm Sled Drag - Fucking Heavy -36.94 sec 60ft
- not sure of the weight or how I placed but ended up placing 7th (wow that sucks lol). The emcee was in the sled with a stack of like seven 45's... it was heavy. Calves were on fire and I ripped a callus on the rope. Had never done this event so I was just glad to finish (but WOW that sucks lol)

Sandbag Carry - 270 for 60ft - 15.54 sec
- not sure where I placed fourth here either. My fucking left hand slipped on the pick and that cost me time. Second pick was money, got a good pop and took off. Wasn't dead last, but wasn't fastest. Needs LOTS OF improvement.

Last Man Standing Stone Over Bar - 225/265/300/320
- fuck me 350 was so close and it didn't go again. Lapped it again but I was out of gas. The prep up to CNY 4 next year is gonna be heavy on stones. I need to get this in order to hang with my class. I need to be consistently getting that 350... If I would have gotten 350 it would have been a FIVE way tie for first. Instead I settled for splitting points on a THREE way tie at 320...

Farmers Hold Tie - Breaker - 200 per hand - 57 seconds
- there were FOUR ties tonight I was one... thank God I have a strong-ish grip. Held on to those bad boys for nearly a minute. Took it to like body shaking total failure lol. Guy I tied with took them for 55 seconds so I walked away with the bronze lol

So now that the score sheet is out I know I had a 5 point gap between 3rd and 2nd... which hurts a little because I was hoping it was closer. Not surprisingly I excelled at the two events I was consistently training, was middle of the pack on the two I just kinda do every now and then, and got murdered on the one I didn't train at all. Gonna have to really step up my game next year if I want to break out of the middle...

[cole]

Good work man, strongman seems like a hoot

[mouse]

Good work man, strongman seems like a hoot

Thanks man, I certainly recommend people give it a try at some point and it's certainly helped hold my interest long term.


"OFF SEASON" STARTS NOWWW...

Gonna be running BBM's Powerbuilding II for the next 10 weeks pretty much as written. Gonna force myself to low-bar again and actually stop making excuses to avoid cardio because as I have (very) recently been forced to acknowledge (again) my conditioning sucks and I need to be more athletic lol.

GOALS! Adhere to the program, maybe learn a little as far as RPE/programming goes, and in general not get injured or anything leading in the my 8-week prep that will follow this. Maybe accidentally improve my conditioning some and set myself up to suck less competitively in 2020... hopefully there will be some improvements to my "base" so I can pack on strength going in to CNY's Strongest 4...

DIET! I have once again convinced myself that I'm too lazy to actually diet properly... so I'm gonna try the "Alan Thrall" diet... i.e. just eat normal, but cut out all the extraneous shit and junk food I've allowed myself to become cool with these last few months. There will be detours (Christmas, b-days, Super Bowl for sure lol), but I'll try my best to behave myself and we'll see what happens... I'll try to remember to update BW every like Wed or so...

STATS! I was supposed to get my wife to help me do this last night, but I got sidetracked watching NE get screwed (to my great delight) so I'll get these later and fill in the blanks...

Age: 33 (close enough, Jan)
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 247 lbs
Gender: M (last time I checked)

Waist: 41"
Chest: 46"
Right Bicep: 16.5"
Left Bicep: 16.5"
Right Thigh: 27"
Left Thigh: 27"
Calves: Small AF

[mouse]

12/9/2019

Squat
315x6@7
335x6@8
350x6@9

In hindsight I may have undershot a little here, which is nuts because this was 25lbs over the target I set for myself...

Incline CGB
185x10@7
195x10@9
195x9@10

Saw this coming lol. I knew I'd overshoot here. I have the incline set at 30 (I think) so it's a bit higher than I'm used to, and the whole close grip thing. First jump was too much, figured staying put would keep it @9, wrong lol... oh well, better prepared next week...

Split Squat
110x12@OMGWUT
90x12@10

Yeah OK holy shit really underestimated these. Called it after two sets. Straight up stumbling around like a newborn giraffe for a while. Not pretty lol. Might find a different way to load these besides the SSB if I have to keep them so light... better prepared next week...

SESSION RPE 8.5
Yeah I fucked up hard at the very end, but wouldn't say I was ground to dust or anything. My adductors are a little sore from having actually squatted for the first time in a while but it'll pass.

[mouse]

12/10/2019

1ct Pause Bench
275x5@7
290x5@8
300x5@9

My ego was hoping to hit 315 lol, but the pause threw a wrench in those gears, trying to stay smart...

SSB Front Squat
200x10@7
220x10@8
240x10@9

Probably could go a tad heavier to be honest but being new to RPE, and these high ass rep sets? I kinda called it a @9 based on just gassing out versus bar speed. Better or worse I dunno...

Press Myo Reps
135x12@8
135x5@8
135x3@8
135x3@9
Edit: the first set was supposed to be 14-16 not 12-14 gah damnit lol

Yeaaah whatever I broke the rules, I should have called it at the first set of 3 but I went for one last triple lol. Interesting to see how these go next week...

SESSION RPE 7
No overshoots, just tired AF from having shit conditioning and doing high rep craziness. Quads are currently kinda hating me lol.

[mouse]

12/11/2019

Air Bike
20 min (calls for 25, ha, pffffft)

Pull Ups
7 Min - 34

Bro Shit Superset
Hammer Curl 30x15/30x12
Push Downs - 2x15 Red Band

Planks
7 Min - 30/30
(started with 45, whittled down to 30 by the last 3 minutes so...)

[mouse]

12/12/2019

Deadlift
440x6@7
455x6@8
475x6@9

Maybe a lil bit high, not really, some mild pain from the sciatica

TnG Bench
255x8@7
265x8@8
270x8@9

That last one was a pretty hard "9" lol. Not calling it an overshoot, just that I'm not used to high rep bench.

Rows
275x6 AMRAP
225x12x2 Strict

K not a true AMRAP... lots of sciatica pain here. Called it at 6 because it was just hurting a lot. Going to 225 for the sets of 12 was fine if I kept them pretty strict, little cheaty at the end, but not so much to hurt my butt cheek. First time ever I feel rows in my back.

May incorporate those Jefferson Curls I saw @hector talking about... stay tuned...

[hector]

Jefferson curls are the best!
I hope they help you.

[mouse]

12/13/2019

BW: 245.2 lbs

Press -
190x5@7, 205x5@8, 210x5@9
Little bit of a misgroove on the last set, no biggie

RDL -
365x8@7, 380x8@9, 390x8@9
Some mild sciatica pain now and then, mainly walking the bar back in, might start from the floor next week. Thought I might be able to push these a little heavier but got reminded I was deadlifting yesterday lol, holy power back pump...

Feet Up Bench Myo Reps -
165x16@8/5/5/4/4/3 - 37 total
Holy shit... but look at me loading them right! Ego said do 185 but the brain won out and I think it was more effective for it...

Jefferson curls are the best!
I hope they help you.

I will definately report back over the next week or so, thanks for throwing the idea out there... I had never heard of them...

[mouse]

12/14/2019

Air Bike - 25 min
Look at me doing the full time lol

Fat Bar Inverted Rows - 7 min - 57 reps
Didn't wanna do pull ups twice, so these work out for now

Incline DBC - 30x14/30x12
JM Press - 150x15x2
I may never give up JM presses...

Side Planks - 30/30 x3 each side
Eventually I'll nut up and try hanging leg raises but I'm fat and planks are ok for now...

Jefferson Curl - 35x15
Hope I'm doing these right, starting super light with the kettlebell and just going deep until I feel a good stretch. Small lower back stretch/pump by the end, @hector you ever notice more of a stretch in the hammies? Or is it just because I'm an inflexible mobility impaired douche?

All on a cup of coffee lol

[hector]

12/14/2019

Air Bike - 25 min
Look at me doing the full time lol

Fat Bar Inverted Rows - 7 min - 57 reps
Didn't wanna do pull ups twice, so these work out for now

Incline DBC - 30x14/30x12
JM Press - 150x15x2
I may never give up JM presses...

Side Planks - 30/30 x3 each side
Eventually I'll nut up and try hanging leg raises but I'm fat and planks are ok for now...

Jefferson Curl - 35x15
Hope I'm doing these right, starting super light with the kettlebell and just going deep until I feel a good stretch. Small lower back stretch/pump by the end, @hector you ever notice more of a stretch in the hammies? Or is it just because I'm an inflexible mobility impaired douche?

All on a cup of coffee lol

Definitely. It's a great hamstring stretch. And lower back stretch. It gets most of the posterior chain.

At least this is my experience as a fellow mobility impaired douche.

If you're interested in more on benefits if Jefferson curls and how to do them then Christopher Sommer (the gymnastics coach) has some great stuff out in podcasts and probably written too.

[zappey1]

Great job on the contest enjoy the well deserved off season!

[mouse]

Definitely. It's a great hamstring stretch. And lower back stretch. It gets most of the posterior chain.

At least this is my experience as a fellow mobility impaired douche.

If you're interested in more on benefits if Jefferson curls and how to do them then Christopher Sommer (the gymnastics coach) has some great stuff out in podcasts and probably written too.

Cool man will do...

Great job on the contest enjoy the well deserved off season!

Thanks man, yeah I've been ready and anticipating this break for a while lol...

[mouse]

12/16/2019

Squat -
325x6
345x6
355x6x2

Some sciatica pain during warm ups, don't know if it was the belt or moving my feet in a little but it went away on my heavier sets... so good I guess... weight that I rated @9 last week is @8 this week... cool...

Incline CGB -
165x10
175x10
185x10x3

Overshot @8 on the last set, stubborn me thought it would be good to go if I took an extra minute... about a 9.5, high rep bench is hard for me to judge still...

Step Ups - (per leg)
60x12
90x12
100x12x2

Decided to nix split squats for these, better or worse these are easier for me to judge/load. What was surprising is just how tired my upper back got with the SSB lol... they still feel like hell, but got through em...

SESSION RPE 8

[BostonRugger]

Overshot @8 on the last set, stubborn me thought it would be good to go if I took an extra minute... about a 9.5, high rep bench is hard for me to judge still

Sounds familiar. Trying to predict tricep fatigue = bamboozled again.

[mouse]

Overshot @8 on the last set, stubborn me thought it would be good to go if I took an extra minute... about a 9.5, high rep bench is hard for me to judge still

Sounds familiar. Trying to predict tricep fatigue = bamboozled again.

Bar speed drops ridiculously fast on incline for me too lol. First 8 reps will look ridiculously easy, 9th might have a slight sticking point near the very top, 10th is an all out grind haha

[mouse]

12/17/2019

1ct Bench
265x5/285x5/290x5x3

Prolly too big of a jump in the middle, kinda cheated the pause on the last set some... ehhhhh reps is reps lol

SSB Front Squat
200x10/225x10/240x10x2

Oh my God 🤮 is there such a thing as cardiovascular @10 on front squats? Strength wise these moved like an 8 (maybe less) but towards the end it's more my upper back fatigue and just being gassed out that sucked...

Press Myo Reps
135x14/5/4/4/3

Reps certainly improved, taking these a little higher than @8 because it's tough for me to judge banging out reps as I'm gassed AF and just throwing them with numb triceps lol. If they start to stick, I stop lol...

I gave the session an @8 for strength, and @9 for cardiovascular death lol...

[mouse]

12/18/2019

Pull Ups - 7 Min - 35 reps

Planks - 7 Min - 40/20

Hammer Curl - 30x15x2
Band Push Downs - 15x2

Got screwed on time thanks to crappy drivers and other obligations, so air bike got the axe today...

At least that's what I'm choosing to believe...

[mouse]

12/19/2019

Deadlift
425x6, 445x6, 460x6x2 @8

Hooray didn't overshoot, little slow lockout at the very end because of some sciatica shit...

TnG Bench
230x8, 245x8x3

These seem to have taken a bit of a hit since last week... dunno what's up, maybe I just wasn't feeling em. Pretty apparent that I overshot my @7 set, so I just hit three sets @8

Rows
275x9, 230x12x2

I know these aren't supposed to be with a belt, but my low back/sciatica hates these right now without it, so fuck it I threw them on and pushed them a little...