IRON & STONE: Adventures of an Amateur Strongman

[mouse]

6/27/2022

Deadlift
405x8x4, 405x9

Squat
275x5, 320x5, 365x6

RDL
225x12x3

Deads are no longer TnG, RDL's are light, but that strict Andy Baker flat(tish) back touch-the-floor style versus my typical hits somewhere below my knee that I've always done. This first volume accumulation day of a new block sucks donkey balls. I suspect (hope) it will suck less these next two blocks as I'm not in that 8-10 rep range but holy shit I felt every bit of that *checks notes* 16,605 lbs of deadlift volume.

[mouse]

6/28/2022

Press
175x8x4, 175x10

Landmine Row
135x12x4

Incline Skullcrusher
65x15, 75x15, 85x15x2

[mouse]

6/30/2022

Incline Bench
215x8x4, 215x12

Pull Up (neutral grip)
28 reps @ 7 min

Neutral Grip Bench (wide)
185x12, 165x12x3

Bicep Curl
45x15x3

Neutral grip is back, just feels better. Density blocks because I feel like I'll get more out of them. Course correction on the load for the bench hahaha...

[mouse]

7/1/2022

Farmers Carry 60ft
225x8

Sandbag/Keg Carry+Load
220/265x4 15 ft

DB High Pull
50x12x4

Band Face Pulls
3x20

I was aiming for 10 runs but my hands were getting pretty torched by the end of those farmers. Honestly I should have done at least another two or so of the medley but a thunderstorm started rolling in and gave me a convenient excuse to be lazy. Worked on some light shoulders to pretend it will help me with throwing...

[mouse]

Lever arm and rack attachment for the viking press are done

[mouse]

Also caved and ordered a throw bag from Cerberus... gonna make a bunch of little 5 lb sandbags so that I can adjust it up and down without it being a total pain...

[mouse]

7/4/2022

Deadlift
370x3, 420x3, 455x2x8, 455x8

Squat
295x3, 345x3, 390x5

RDL
245x10x4

[mouse]

7/5/2022

Press
165x3, 180x3
195x2x8 EMOM, 195x10

Landmine Row
160x10x4

Incline Skullcrushers
85x12x4

Rows were probably a touch too heavy/cheaty

[mouse]

7/7/2022

Incline Bench
195x3, 220x3
235x2x8 EMOM, 235x11

Neutral Grip Pull Up
32 reps @ 7 min

Neutral Grip Bench
185x10x4

Rope Face Pulls
3x20

[mouse]

7/8/2022

Farmers Carry 30ft
225x2, 275x2, 315x1, 365x0 (hahaha)

Sandbag for Max Height
25 lbs @ 14-16 ft x20-25

Tactical errors were made. Today is honestly lucky I did anything. Short window to train, I wanted to get into the 300's and did, and I threw the 25s on hoping for a miracle that never came. I got maybe 5 or 6 steps though...

Bag is super fun, filling rubber mulch not so much. I don't know where I'm acktchually hitting height wise because I have yet to build a yoke attachment but it's coming...

[Hardartery]

7/8/2022

Farmers Carry 30ft
225x2, 275x2, 315x1, 365x0 (hahaha)

Sandbag for Max Height
25 lbs @ 14-16 ft x20-25

Tactical errors were made. Today is honestly lucky I did anything. Short window to train, I wanted to get into the 300's and did, and I threw the 25s on hoping for a miracle that never came. I got maybe 5 or 6 steps though...

Bag is super fun, filling rubber mulch not so much. I don't know where I'm acktchually hitting height wise because I have yet to build a yoke attachment but it's coming...

The first time I gave 385 a go I strained a trap and it hurt me at the contest I did a few weeks later. And I don't regret it a bit. I was at a training session with Dolan and Girard at Holt's facility in MB. They had 385 in their upcoming contest and I got to just jump in and go too. Once you get it, everything else feels lighter. IMO, training the FW heavy is always better. I would rather go short distance with high weight in intervals than running marathons with lighter stuff. Same carryover IME, but way less boring.

[mouse]

7/8/2022

Farmers Carry 30ft
225x2, 275x2, 315x1, 365x0 (hahaha)

Sandbag for Max Height
25 lbs @ 14-16 ft x20-25

Tactical errors were made. Today is honestly lucky I did anything. Short window to train, I wanted to get into the 300's and did, and I threw the 25s on hoping for a miracle that never came. I got maybe 5 or 6 steps though...

Bag is super fun, filling rubber mulch not so much. I don't know where I'm acktchually hitting height wise because I have yet to build a yoke attachment but it's coming...

The first time I gave 385 a go I strained a trap and it hurt me at the contest I did a few weeks later. And I don't regret it a bit. I was at a training session with Dolan and Girard at Holt's facility in MB. They had 385 in their upcoming contest and I got to just jump in and go too. Once you get it, everything else feels lighter. IMO, training the FW heavy is always better. I would rather go short distance with high weight in intervals than running marathons with lighter stuff. Same carryover IME, but way less boring.

Farmers in October is going to be a last man standing format with 40 lb jumps... 20 ft runs. Starts at 200 for the men so I'm thinking 280/320 should be somewhat in the bag by then, and then hope it's enough for a good standing. Still feeling out how to effectively train it right now. Originally I was going to swap week on/week off with yoke in the mix... and I'm thinking I may need to to give my hands a bit of a break. Maybe some over load stuff with just holding on and all that...

[Hardartery]

7/8/2022

Farmers Carry 30ft
225x2, 275x2, 315x1, 365x0 (hahaha)

Sandbag for Max Height
25 lbs @ 14-16 ft x20-25

Tactical errors were made. Today is honestly lucky I did anything. Short window to train, I wanted to get into the 300's and did, and I threw the 25s on hoping for a miracle that never came. I got maybe 5 or 6 steps though...

Bag is super fun, filling rubber mulch not so much. I don't know where I'm acktchually hitting height wise because I have yet to build a yoke attachment but it's coming...

The first time I gave 385 a go I strained a trap and it hurt me at the contest I did a few weeks later. And I don't regret it a bit. I was at a training session with Dolan and Girard at Holt's facility in MB. They had 385 in their upcoming contest and I got to just jump in and go too. Once you get it, everything else feels lighter. IMO, training the FW heavy is always better. I would rather go short distance with high weight in intervals than running marathons with lighter stuff. Same carryover IME, but way less boring.

Farmers in October is going to be a last man standing format with 40 lb jumps... 20 ft runs. Starts at 200 for the men so I'm thinking 280/320 should be somewhat in the bag by then, and then hope it's enough for a good standing. Still feeling out how to effectively train it right now. Originally I was going to swap week on/week off with yoke in the mix... and I'm thinking I may need to to give my hands a bit of a break. Maybe some over load stuff with just holding on and all that...

That seems interesting as an event. I would be tempted to run with straps every other week just to get on the practice of picking it but maybe not beat up the hands. Depends. I never worried much about beating up my hands, but that doesn't mean anything, I certainly could have been totally wrong with that approach. Maybe even interval medley with Yoke where I ran the yoke and then did FW, then walk calmly back to the Yoke and go again on the strap use weeks. Conditioning seems to matter a lot on those Last Man Standing deals, it's not if you are capable it's what is still in the tank on the day. I do enjoy FW as an event for sure, and the pick could be devastating for guys. Once you're up with it it's not so bad if you can maintin a decent grip angle on the pick.

[mouse]

That seems interesting as an event. I would be tempted to run with straps every other week just to get on the practice of picking it but maybe not beat up the hands. Depends. I never worried much about beating up my hands, but that doesn't mean anything, I certainly could have been totally wrong with that approach. Maybe even interval medley with Yoke where I ran the yoke and then did FW, then walk calmly back to the Yoke and go again on the strap use weeks. Conditioning seems to matter a lot on those Last Man Standing deals, it's not if you are capable it's what is still in the tank on the day. I do enjoy FW as an event for sure, and the pick could be devastating for guys. Once you're up with it it's not so bad if you can maintin a decent grip angle on the pick.

I typed out a reply on my phone while I was cooking, and never posted it and forgot about it and went to sleep lol... anyway...

So in my relatively small experience, at the level where I'm competing conditioning doesn't seem as important for "Last Man Standing". Namely because you usually end up having ALL the open dudes competing on one piece of equipment, so especially in the beginning rounds there's a bunch of downtime... then if it's a relatively good event for you (i.e. a LMS deadlift) you end up being punished in the last rounds because you're likely near a max shooting it out between the last few guys.

In the context of a higher level competition where "last man standing" is code for "all out rep fest between a couple guys" then yeah, you're totally right...

In terms of how to do a farmers carry event in an interesting way (besides something like this) I always thought it would be interesting (*coughs* horrible) to have something like a 120 ft course, but every 30 ft have to stop and add more weight... like a deadlift ladder but with farmers hahaha...

[mouse]

7/12/2022

Deadlift
315x5, 375x3, 435x2, 475x1, 495x8

Squat
320x5, 365x3, 415x4

RDL
275x8x3

[Hardartery]

That seems interesting as an event. I would be tempted to run with straps every other week just to get on the practice of picking it but maybe not beat up the hands. Depends. I never worried much about beating up my hands, but that doesn't mean anything, I certainly could have been totally wrong with that approach. Maybe even interval medley with Yoke where I ran the yoke and then did FW, then walk calmly back to the Yoke and go again on the strap use weeks. Conditioning seems to matter a lot on those Last Man Standing deals, it's not if you are capable it's what is still in the tank on the day. I do enjoy FW as an event for sure, and the pick could be devastating for guys. Once you're up with it it's not so bad if you can maintin a decent grip angle on the pick.

I typed out a reply on my phone while I was cooking, and never posted it and forgot about it and went to sleep lol... anyway...

So in my relatively small experience, at the level where I'm competing conditioning doesn't seem as important for "Last Man Standing". Namely because you usually end up having ALL the open dudes competing on one piece of equipment, so especially in the beginning rounds there's a bunch of downtime... then if it's a relatively good event for you (i.e. a LMS deadlift) you end up being punished in the last rounds because you're likely near a max shooting it out between the last few guys.

In the context of a higher level competition where "last man standing" is code for "all out rep fest between a couple guys" then yeah, you're totally right...

In terms of how to do a farmers carry event in an interesting way (besides something like this) I always thought it would be interesting (*coughs* horrible) to have something like a 120 ft course, but every 30 ft have to stop and add more weight... like a deadlift ladder but with farmers hahaha...

LOL. Adding weight every drop would get toxic real fast. That's a pretty evil idea.

[mouse]

7/12/2022

Press
135x5, 165x5, 190x2, 205x1, 215x8

Landmine Row
160x8x4

Incline Skullcrushers
105x10x3, 105x14

[mouse]

7/14/2022

Incline Bench
165x5, 195x3, 230x2, 245x1, 260x8

Neutral Grip Pull Up
37 reps @ 8 min

Neutral Grip Bench
205x8x3, 205x11

[mouse]

7/15/2022

Farmers Carry 20ft
185x2, 240x2, 280x1, 320x1 (PR)

Keg Load 50"
265x3x5

Sandbag Throw Max Height
25x5x3 to ~19-20ft

Yo, small PR on the farmers...

I have a frame of reference for the sandbag now. Measured to a branch I'm consistently hitting and it's about 19-20 ft...

[Hardartery]

7/15/2022

Farmers Carry 20ft
185x2, 240x2, 280x1, 320x1 (PR)

Yo, small PR on the farmers...

I have a frame of reference for the sandbag now. Measured to a branch I'm consistently hitting and it's about 19-20 ft...

Booya!