MarkKO's training log

[Hardartery]

The biggest factor on the day will be who you are paired with for each event. Someone basically even with you or even slightly better will push you. Someone way less than you will hurt your performance and so would someone way better. Someone similar in ability will give you a major adrenaline push that you will have to almost control a little.

Funny you should say that, because apparently what's going to happen is you don't get paired with someone in your grouping.

By all accounts because there are a lot of people competing in multiple classes there will be something like three or four lanes and each one will have a different class.

I don't know for sure this will happen, and I would much prefer the situation you describe which is what I thought would happen initially.

There are so many different classes for this one because it's a qualifier for various different associations. Off the top of my head it goes novice u90, novice u100, novice open; junior; u90, u105, open, masters u90, masters u100, masters open. I may have left out or made up a couple, but it's close to that.

Either way I have a decent plan going forward. I talked to Mark and I'll get a chance to see how well I can mixed grip the axle and silver dollar this coming week most likely which will let me know exactly what needs to happen for the DL medley.

False grip the Axle, even with mixed grip, it allows some over rotation of the hands and gives you the same effect as over rotating the pick on Farmer's. Use regular straps not figure 8, and if you aren't using them for the Axle I would cut them shorter. Easier/faster to wrap if it's just going around once and getting grabbed. Not the most secure grip but infinitely better than no strap. And chalk the straps as well as the backs of the hands, not just to control hand sweat but to allow fresh chalk introduction on the fly. We used to put tacky on the backs of our hands for stone runs for the same reason.

Hopefully you have at least one lane with somebody slightly faster than you with whatever their given weight is. The visual of someone to catch or beat really picks up the pace.

You are a goldmine of information. Thanks heaps.

The false grip part I had already figured out, but good to hear it's what I should be doing.

What's the reasoning behind cutting the straps shorter for frame instead of figure 8s? Just speed?

It's a speed thing. You can single handed set them instead of setting one and then motorcycling the other one in place. The set I got from EliteFTS are basically this, closed loop short strap fast setup. I got them to spend less time setting up while in a DL suit, but the same idea applies to DL medley needs.

[MarkKO]

The biggest factor on the day will be who you are paired with for each event. Someone basically even with you or even slightly better will push you. Someone way less than you will hurt your performance and so would someone way better. Someone similar in ability will give you a major adrenaline push that you will have to almost control a little.

Funny you should say that, because apparently what's going to happen is you don't get paired with someone in your grouping.

By all accounts because there are a lot of people competing in multiple classes there will be something like three or four lanes and each one will have a different class.

I don't know for sure this will happen, and I would much prefer the situation you describe which is what I thought would happen initially.

There are so many different classes for this one because it's a qualifier for various different associations. Off the top of my head it goes novice u90, novice u100, novice open; junior; u90, u105, open, masters u90, masters u100, masters open. I may have left out or made up a couple, but it's close to that.

Either way I have a decent plan going forward. I talked to Mark and I'll get a chance to see how well I can mixed grip the axle and silver dollar this coming week most likely which will let me know exactly what needs to happen for the DL medley.

False grip the Axle, even with mixed grip, it allows some over rotation of the hands and gives you the same effect as over rotating the pick on Farmer's. Use regular straps not figure 8, and if you aren't using them for the Axle I would cut them shorter. Easier/faster to wrap if it's just going around once and getting grabbed. Not the most secure grip but infinitely better than no strap. And chalk the straps as well as the backs of the hands, not just to control hand sweat but to allow fresh chalk introduction on the fly. We used to put tacky on the backs of our hands for stone runs for the same reason.

Hopefully you have at least one lane with somebody slightly faster than you with whatever their given weight is. The visual of someone to catch or beat really picks up the pace.

You are a goldmine of information. Thanks heaps.

The false grip part I had already figured out, but good to hear it's what I should be doing.

What's the reasoning behind cutting the straps shorter for frame instead of figure 8s? Just speed?

It's a speed thing. You can single handed set them instead of setting one and then motorcycling the other one in place. The set I got from EliteFTS are basically this, closed loop short strap fast setup. I got them to spend less time setting up while in a DL suit, but the same idea applies to DL medley needs.

Got you. I remember you mentioned those straps a while back. I think I had a pair of them once. Awesome straps.

[MarkKO]

Tuesday

Bosu ball walks
Pull aparts
Windmills with 35 lbs KB
Single arm bottoms up press with 35 lbs KB

5x1x203 lbs axle clean and press
3x3x88 lbs monster DB
4x8x115 lbs axle press from pins at forehead
supersetted with
4x8x100 lbs chest supported T-bar rows



First time I've gotten every press without having to make two drives or whatever the hell they're called. The cleans were horrible, my grip is not great today. Monster dumbbell is starting to feel good.

[MailmanMuscle]

Week six of peaking. Spent the last couple of hours of work taking up carpet tiles and the linoleum underneath followed by stripping the sheets off the walls. Work is moving into the larger unit next door, which means fitting it out. I was drenched in sweat by the time we were done.

Is this a special project, or is this your normal line of work?

[MarkKO]

Week six of peaking. Spent the last couple of hours of work taking up carpet tiles and the linoleum underneath followed by stripping the sheets off the walls. Work is moving into the larger unit next door, which means fitting it out. I was drenched in sweat by the time we were done.

Is this a special project, or is this your normal line of work?

Kind of both. We don't normally do the demolition side of things for the builders we work for because they do it well before we install our joinery; but because this is for our own workshop and we're very quiet at the moment because we haven't got drawings approved yet the boss got us to hook in.

We share the space with a builder, who we do a lot of work for. So they're doing the majority of the fit-out, probably in exchange for a free month's rent or something. All it really is, is a relatively small footprint office space for the boss, project manager and accounts lady as well as the two builders, their social media person and a general break area. The rest of the space will be for all our machinery, workbenches and a dedicated area to set our joinery up as part of construction.

It'll be a good couple of weeks of upheaval because the machinery will need to be moved and set up by the appropriate technicians, including the dust extraction system which also will need to be reconfigured to suit the new space. Same deal for the compressed air lines, compressor and air dryer. I don't envy the company's moving bill.

It'll be nice to have a larger workspace though, and a dedicated break area. I don't doubt we'll manage to fill it much like we have the current space though. Everything builds up, especially offcuts and remains of board.

[MarkKO]

Bosu ball walks
Back raises
Windmills with 35 lbs KB

1x60 sec x 374 lbs zercher yoke holds
2x1x198 lbs yoke press
8x44 lbs, 8x50 lbs, 2x8x55 lbs seated single arm DB press
supersetted with
4x12x27 lbs bent over lateral raises

I was meant to hit five singles on the yoke press but my biceps and triceps got AGGRESSIVELY pissed off very quickly. The same happened on Tuesday with the axle but not quite as bad nor as quickly so I figured I'd call it. I doesn't seem to be the tendons or anything as far as I can tell, just a result of my wrists cocking way back in the rack and stretching shit tad more than it likes. Hell, maybe it IS tendons but I'm thinking not because it calms down within an hour or two.

[MarkKO]

Bosu ball walks
Back raises

3x1x440 lbs axle DL
supersetted with
3x1x573 lbs silver dollar DL

That was it. I tried stones but my grip is absolutely shot and my lower back is tender to boot. In a word, I'm cooked.

The DL was decent though, I got it down to 27 seconds from starting behind the axle to the silver dollar hitting the floor. The short straps are a game changer @Hardartery

[MarkKO]

Still feeling pretty much obliterated. It is what it is.

We also need a new smoker. The current one isn't big enough I'm not sure how the manufacturer figured this one could cook for eight. Maybe we're just odd.

Edit: there's absolutely something up because I slept for something like three hours during the early afternoon and I could go straight back to sleep. My appetite is also off the charts right now. The next two weeks are going to be interesting.

[Hardartery]

Bosu ball walks
Back raises

3x1x440 lbs axle DL
supersetted with
3x1x573 lbs silver dollar DL

That was it. I tried stones but my grip is absolutely shot and my lower back is tender to boot. In a word, I'm cooked.

The DL was decent though, I got it down to 27 seconds from starting behind the axle to the silver dollar hitting the floor. The short straps are a game changer @Hardartery

The little things make the biggest difference. Glad the suggestion is working out.

[MarkKO]

Peaking block week seven, less than 14 days to go now.

Zero warmup because I really wasn't in the mood to train. Loaded the handles up and went.

4x 15 m x 352 lbs farmer's walk, didn't time it but it was easy.
3x5x463 lbs frame DL, likewise easy
4x8x220 lbs Pendlay row
4x12x176 lbs lat pulldowns

[MarkKO]

Today I actually worked up from the bar.

5x1x159 lbs axle clean and press
3x3x77 lbs monster DB
4x8x187 lbs dead bench off pins two inches off the chest
8x132 lbs, 3x8x154 lbs T-bar rows

[MarkKO]

Currently debating whether to train today or not because while on a ladder at work somehow twisted my left ankle slightly and felt a small shock go all up into my calf it isn't super painful, but that ankle feels very unstable and I keep getting this weird shock/stabbing feeling going into my calf muscle.

What fun.

[Renascent]

Fingers crossed, man. Hope it's nothing serious.

[MailmanMuscle]

Fingers crossed, man. Hope it's nothing serious.

Same here man.

On that instability plus shock/stabbing feeling, that’s part of how I describe the sprain of my MCL last fall. Obviously that wouldn’t be in your calf/ankle. IJS something similar can be a nuisance. Any swelling?

[MarkKO]

@Renascent @MailmanMuscle

Much appreciated. As with most things it's root cause is my own stupidity because as time goes on I really, REALLY think I should have gotten an ultrasound or MRI within the first 48 hours of popping my ankle on January 1st.

Anyway, no, not any really noticeable swelling and the shock feelings have subsided but the instability still seems there although that might be mental too. It definitely feels not great, which it didn't this morning.

What sucks is that I felt a sharp pain in the ankle maybe 30 minutes before the ladder incident. It went away, and then the shit happened on the ladder.

I'm going to reserve judgement until tomorrow morning purely so the ankle gets a night of not moving. If it stiffens up, I figure I've quite possibly partially torn my achilles. If it hasn't, I probably freaked out over nothing and my ankle is still unstable AF and prone to kicking up a fuss about nothing.

But yeah, I REALLY should have been smarter and gotten some imaging done on the ankle when I did it initially, because I'm beginning to suspect I fucked some things up quite nicely in there.

[MarkKO]

Well, good news. It's Saturday morning and the ankle didn't stiffen up. Some residual mild pain at the top of the calf so something definitely happened but I think I dodged a bullet. Again. Right now Neo got nothing on me.

On a completely different note, the realisation hit me that peaking for a strongman competition differs massively from a powerlifting meet in one way that I absolutely never considered. I've completed a fair few of the events already. I know what I can do with the weights over the distance so it's just a matter of seeing if I can improve on that. It's a huge difference mentally to me. For a PL meet, I'm going in knowing I'll make my first and second attempts unless I fuck up, and then will go into uncharted waters on my third. Very exciting.

For strongman? Different. I'm not going in with many questions marks, because it's mostly rep and time work so my mindset turns out to be looking at it more like a training day. It's not bad, but there is one pitfall and that is I don't have a sense of urgency to keep training hard. Instead it turns out my head defaults to focusing on being as recovered and uninjured as possible because if I am, I know I can already do around three quarters of the events.

I'm probably doing a very bad job explaining this. So what else is new?

[DanCR]

Well, good news. It's Saturday morning and the ankle didn't stiffen up. Some residual mild pain at the top of the calf so something definitely happened but I think I dodged a bullet. Again. Right now Neo got nothing on me.

On a completely different note, the realisation hit me that peaking for a strongman competition differs massively from a powerlifting meet in one way that I absolutely never considered. I've completed a fair few of the events already. I know what I can do with the weights over the distance so it's just a matter of seeing if I can improve on that. It's a huge difference mentally to me. For a PL meet, I'm going in knowing I'll make my first and second attempts unless I fuck up, and then will go into uncharted waters on my third. Very exciting.

For strongman? Different. I'm not going in with many questions marks, because it's mostly rep and time work so my mindset turns out to be looking at it more like a training day. It's not bad, but there is one pitfall and that is I don't have a sense of urgency to keep training hard. Instead it turns out my head defaults to focusing on being as recovered and uninjured as possible because if I am, I know I can already do around three quarters of the events.

I'm probably doing a very bad job explaining this. So what else is new?

I've never competed in either sport but followed your very good explanation entirely.

Glad to hear the good news about the ankle.

[MarkKO]

Well, good news. It's Saturday morning and the ankle didn't stiffen up. Some residual mild pain at the top of the calf so something definitely happened but I think I dodged a bullet. Again. Right now Neo got nothing on me.

On a completely different note, the realisation hit me that peaking for a strongman competition differs massively from a powerlifting meet in one way that I absolutely never considered. I've completed a fair few of the events already. I know what I can do with the weights over the distance so it's just a matter of seeing if I can improve on that. It's a huge difference mentally to me. For a PL meet, I'm going in knowing I'll make my first and second attempts unless I fuck up, and then will go into uncharted waters on my third. Very exciting.

For strongman? Different. I'm not going in with many questions marks, because it's mostly rep and time work so my mindset turns out to be looking at it more like a training day. It's not bad, but there is one pitfall and that is I don't have a sense of urgency to keep training hard. Instead it turns out my head defaults to focusing on being as recovered and uninjured as possible because if I am, I know I can already do around three quarters of the events.

I'm probably doing a very bad job explaining this. So what else is new?

I've never competed in either sport but followed your very good explanation entirely.

Glad to hear the good news about the ankle.

If it makes sense to more people than just me...

Thanks man.

[Hardartery]

Well, good news. It's Saturday morning and the ankle didn't stiffen up. Some residual mild pain at the top of the calf so something definitely happened but I think I dodged a bullet. Again. Right now Neo got nothing on me.

On a completely different note, the realisation hit me that peaking for a strongman competition differs massively from a powerlifting meet in one way that I absolutely never considered. I've completed a fair few of the events already. I know what I can do with the weights over the distance so it's just a matter of seeing if I can improve on that. It's a huge difference mentally to me. For a PL meet, I'm going in knowing I'll make my first and second attempts unless I fuck up, and then will go into uncharted waters on my third. Very exciting.

For strongman? Different. I'm not going in with many questions marks, because it's mostly rep and time work so my mindset turns out to be looking at it more like a training day. It's not bad, but there is one pitfall and that is I don't have a sense of urgency to keep training hard. Instead it turns out my head defaults to focusing on being as recovered and uninjured as possible because if I am, I know I can already do around three quarters of the events.

I'm probably doing a very bad job explaining this. So what else is new?

Not a terrible approach. The biggest thing is being able to turn it on and off during the contest. It's way easier to burn your "Amped up" cards too soon in Strongman, the last thing to do is try and stay amped all day. Carry some trashy simple carbs, like gummy bears or a bottle of honey if you want healthier and fancier. Hit it post event, not pre-event, and don't be afraid to take a little creatine mid day with something food related. Do not eat anything serious all day. Nuts, granola/protein bars, gummy bears, maybe some cheese sticks or something. Steady trickle of calories until the contest is over but not a lot and drink some electrolytes periodically. You are just trying to avoid cramping and funnel carbs all day at a trickle. Stay away from anything requiring a lot of digestion. It's okay to switch it on part way into the event even rather than go all Evan Singleton. Remember that you are going to burn a hell of a lot more calories and adrenaline over the day than in PL, and caffein is never a mistake during the contest.

[MarkKO]

Well, good news. It's Saturday morning and the ankle didn't stiffen up. Some residual mild pain at the top of the calf so something definitely happened but I think I dodged a bullet. Again. Right now Neo got nothing on me.

On a completely different note, the realisation hit me that peaking for a strongman competition differs massively from a powerlifting meet in one way that I absolutely never considered. I've completed a fair few of the events already. I know what I can do with the weights over the distance so it's just a matter of seeing if I can improve on that. It's a huge difference mentally to me. For a PL meet, I'm going in knowing I'll make my first and second attempts unless I fuck up, and then will go into uncharted waters on my third. Very exciting.

For strongman? Different. I'm not going in with many questions marks, because it's mostly rep and time work so my mindset turns out to be looking at it more like a training day. It's not bad, but there is one pitfall and that is I don't have a sense of urgency to keep training hard. Instead it turns out my head defaults to focusing on being as recovered and uninjured as possible because if I am, I know I can already do around three quarters of the events.

I'm probably doing a very bad job explaining this. So what else is new?

Not a terrible approach. The biggest thing is being able to turn it on and off during the contest. It's way easier to burn your "Amped up" cards too soon in Strongman, the last thing to do is try and stay amped all day. Carry some trashy simple carbs, like gummy bears or a bottle of honey if you want healthier and fancier. Hit it post event, not pre-event, and don't be afraid to take a little creatine mid day with something food related. Do not eat anything serious all day. Nuts, granola/protein bars, gummy bears, maybe some cheese sticks or something. Steady trickle of calories until the contest is over but not a lot and drink some electrolytes periodically. You are just trying to avoid cramping and funnel carbs all day at a trickle. Stay away from anything requiring a lot of digestion. It's okay to switch it on part way into the event even rather than go all Evan Singleton. Remember that you are going to burn a hell of a lot more calories and adrenaline over the day than in PL, and caffein is never a mistake during the contest.

Thanks for that. Yes, my plan was to mimic what I do in a meet for food which is to go through a bunch of gatorade and maybe eat a banana or two. The gummy bears are a good idea though, I'll grab some. My main concern is going to be hydration because it'll still be reasonably warm.

I was also considering loading up on salt the day before to help me hold fluids, would that be worthwhile?

As to turning it on and off I'm not overly worried. I'm generally a very calm competitor and rely more on staying focused than amped. I often find being amped just throws me off, but what I am hoping for is that having a decent number of guys to chase is going to help me lift my effort somewhat.