You Better, You Better, You Bet.

[lehman906]

4/3

Still going well. Got 235 on the log, which is only 10 lbs off of my all time best, which was achieved 9 years and 20 lbs ago. I think not draining my reserves and beating myself up with squats is helping greatly. That, and doing core work. And not doing accessories that also beat me up for minimal return. And Todd keeping me from doing all of the above.

In the last week I’ve done 324 incline push ups, 141 pull ups, and dragged the sled 340 yards backwards. Knees and shoulders are feeling great. Those kneesvertoesguy reverse squats are really feeling good, too.

Todd will pull 500 next Saturday for the first time since his surgery, another friend told me about the stellar numbers she’s hitting in training, and I’ve got the events and a plan for my next two contests on July 2 and Aug 23. Strongest summer ever.

Bonus: at the end of the video, see what caused a friend to ask “have you ever seen him so happy?” To which my wife responded “not even on our wedding day.” I almost cried. 11 year old me would have committed homicide for this.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

4/10
Can’t win’em all. Actually, I need to reframe that. I couldn’t hit the log and stone on Wed, so instead I pulled the light sled 320 total yards backwards and carried an almost body weight sandbag for 200 yards, before doing a bunch of floor presses. Thursday Nordic hamstring curls (which show how much work my hammies and glutes need) and around 100 push ups and 60 pull ups in 15 min. Good workouts. Thing is, I didn’t sleep well Thur or Fri, had four drinks Friday night, and didn’t drink any water Sat morning. So, between all that and carrying a bunch of fatigue into the session, it’s no surprise that I didn’t have a lot of pop on the log press.

The cleans felt heavy and my shoulders felt tight (I’m sure I didn’t warm up enough), and I missed 225 after definitively throwing 235 up last week. I would have gotten super in my head about that previously, BUT, if I turn it around, it sounds like this: I just showed that I can do everything wrong, and on a bad day miss a rep, then come back and gut out a make with 96% of my current best. That’s a better way to think about it. I didn’t go heavy on the 17” pulls. I just played around with 405 and found the sweet spot for when I try a heavy one this week.

I wanted to pull the sled today as well, but instead spent 8 hours helping move furniture out of a third floor building for a deceased relative-in-law. Days like this are kind of eye-opening, because I’m not a particularly strong person, but I forget sometimes how much stronger I am that the average person until I’m carrying furniture around that they couldn’t possibly move. Now it’s time for steaks. Noms.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

5/1
The informal meet didn’t go so well. There were some first-time logistical issues that I wasn’t strong enough to overcome, and I didn’t get the results I was hoping for. I pulled 560 on the 17” wagon wheel deadlift, and I think I would have been good for 580, but they jumped to 605 and I didn’t have it. The log felt good, until it didn’t. 205 was easy, even if I had to do it again because he called me for not having it locked out, but then they jumped to 235 which is, unfortunately, rarified air for my albatross arms. I missed it and bonked my head. I was fine on the stones, but the gym owner didn’t realize how incredibly dirty they’d gotten from sitting around. Layers of dust that no tacky could stick to and no towel could wipe off. I got the 275 and would have loaded the 300, but they jumped to 320, which might have been an all time PR. Didn’t happen. Oh well, it was a fun start to the season. But now I’m really determined to do well at the sanctioned contests.

First week in the books of giving up control and letting someone else guide my training. I figure if I do what I’ve always done I’ll get what I’ve always gotten. Time to try something else. It’s scary for an over-analyzing control freak like me, but I’m also excited. I haven’t shown up to train without knowing what I’m going to do in forever.

It was a fun week. Todd and I have realized that I can push heavy weights for 4…maybe 5 weeks, then it falls off of a cliff. So the first four weeks of prep are just going to be preparing my body and getting my conditioning up. I’ve been doing all sorts of stuff I never do, like jumping, medicine ball throws and catches, and more rounds of work. It’s been fun pretending to be an athlete, and I think I’m going to be ready to hit the real weights when we get to it. The only thing we did that even approaches heavy weights was working up to an easy triple at 440 on the trap bar. The triple at 225 on close grip bench was a nice surprise too, I suppose. Everything else is about being fast, explosive, and perfect. My knees are still hurting, so all I can do for my legs is sled pulling and pushing, heel taps off of boards, and some jerry-rigged Nordic hamstring curls (which I am really bad at), but I’m not going to push it until I can do something else nearly pain free.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

5/8

Todd’s going to make some sort of athlete out of me if it kills me. I’m really enjoying this GPP block because I’m being forced to do things I would never do otherwise, but they’re all for a reason. Doing forward and backward bear crawls dragging chains or pulling a tire sounds pointless until you realize how many stabilizer muscles are being hit all at once. Forcing me to lighten the loads and be fast, and working on being able to handle long workouts like a contest is all “well duh” stuff that I would rationalize away by saying that I wasn’t strong enough yet. That doesn’t matter if you aren’t recovered enough to be able to display the strength you have, though.

My sleep is still garbage for whatever reason, and I didn’t help the cycle by coming home and napping, then playing sand volleyball and staying out until almost midnight the night before. But if I reframe that, I performed pretty well considering all of those things. Instead of repeating that every week, though, maaaaaybe it would be neat to try and not do the dumbs before training.

Highlights: tossing a 20 lb medicine ball over a 14 foot pole. Contest goes up to 40, but once this clicks I’ll probably be decent at it with my body length. Pulling 475 on the trap bar was a good start to on-ramp for frame dead’s, and close grip bench still feels good at 235x3. Nordic hamstring curls are revealing some significant weakness so more of those are on the menu.

I was afraid that Dr Strange would be too-Raimi, but that was just the right MCU movie to give him, and he pulled back JUST before it went too far. I very much enjoyed it and will be seeing it again with my kid. The older one, because some parts are a little too Evil Dead for the littler one.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

5/15

I’m getting really tired of writing posts about how frustrated I am with my training. My knees are feeling better overall, and on Friday I noticed that my heel pain was much better. Apparently I shouldn’t have noticed that. Or, more likely, I shouldn’t have mowed the lawn and painted the house wearing old blown out work shoes with no support. Whatever is going on with my heel, whether it’s a bursa something or a spur or something else, flared up like never before. I was demonstratively limping, but hoped it would be like other training days and start to feel better as I moved. No dice. Todd nixed most of the events we had planned because I just couldn’t move with any kind of intent or force. I thought I could gut through it, but nope. So we did bag tosses which still looked pretty good with the 30 lb bag, although 40 is gonna be an adventure. Surprisingly, trap bar deads felt okay, so we did a lot more of them than had been planned. Went up to a rigged up 505 because we didn’t have room on the bar for more, and did a bunch of heavy singles and drop sets. Then some “I go you go” rows with the prowler and that was about it. Sucked.

The previous two days had gone really well, too. I’m trying to get up the energy to do anything right now because I only slept for 1-2 hours last night and was at a swim meet all morning. I wish these were things that I could change by making better decisions. I hate being out of control like this. Ugh.

Bright spot: Got up and went downstairs. Close-gripped 240x3, so bench is moving surprisingly well for a once a week afterthought. Supersetted with Nordic hamstring curls using my Nordic stick (good value for $37 on Amazon. Beats setting up a deadlift bar and trying to use that). Need to do lots and lots of those.

Bright spot #2: rediscovered what an absolute perfect album System of a Down’s “Mezmerize” is. Although having “Cigaro” stuck in my head is…..awkward. For everyone.


[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

5/21
I’m going to try and get in to see a podiatrist about my heel, but the good news is that I can do some training. I’ve realized that walking is the thing that hurts the most, and doing stone loading over bar, heavy trap bar deads, axle pressing, etc doesn’t hurt it any more than just standing, so I can focus on those for the time being. This is a relief, because I was wondering if I was going to be completely on the shelf for a while, and I only have 5 weeks to get ready.

Today I missed a 230 axle twice, but I got 220, and I figured out how to do the entire belt clean thumbless, which will make everything easier. It’ll come, just wasn’t there today. Since I couldn’t walk with the stone, just did some practice holding the light one in extension for a three count before loading over the bar. Add in some 5x5 with the trap bar and it was a decent session.

Earlier in the week I just did benching and Nordic hamstring curls. Both of those are improving, although still puny. 245x3 puts me pretty close to my standard e1RM, which is both sad and fine at the same time. Still, it’s all progress.

I’m mostly feeling glad I can do my little niche sport. I know people doing triathlons and even Ironmans, and with bigger obstacles to overcome than me. They’re pretty damn hardcore.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

5/29
Abbreviated training on Wed because of family obligations, so I was only able to do axle and stones, but that lack of volume may have contributed to my foot feeling better this week. The 220 stone felt good even with no tacky, but the struggle on the 52” load tells me my upper back needs to be stronger, and I definitely need more practice to maximize the strength I do have. I’m long enough to use the 9 and 3 arm position, unlike the short armed thicc boys who all go 10 and 2, so I should stick with that.

Saturday I had to make do at my house, but I borrowed the 30 lb MB and harness to practice some throws. Need to practice fully extending to maximize my power. I wasn’t ready to start doing loaded movement on my heel, but loading while standing isn’t too bad, so I simulated the 240 drop and turn at 60 feet by doing a 10 second hold with drop and turn and another 10 seconds. Grip is solid, so underlying theme is upper back strength and stability. Focused on that with some sandbag squat and extensions with the 175 sandbag. Since it was light I could get in some good volume and did 4x5. Did some redneck incline press this morning by putting my bench up on 6 warped 2x6’s. Good enough until I get a real bench.

Looking like I may only have one event day per week until the contest, or at least for most of the prep, but the upside of that would be recovery. We shall see. It’s more logistics than anything else. This school year has been crazy and I’m very ready for the summer. I say that, but then I’ll miss all of my favorite people from school.

Pro tip: an hour and a half pickle ball lesson doesn’t help a foot injury. Only slot available, though, so couldn’t skip it. Fun game, and apparently super popular now. And not just among the geriatrics.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

6/5
Finally an optimistic post. Training has been feeling better and better and I was able to try out some farmers yesterday. It hurt, but it was completely manageable. We worked up slowly and stopped at about 200/hand, so we didn’t push it with anything heavy, but it was nice to know that if I had to do the show right now I could.

Pressing is still feeling off, but I think the problem is my dip and drive, which may be related to the foot issue. This is probably volitional and should improve by just being mindful of it. Bag tossing is alright. I can consistently clear 14’ with the 30 lb medicine ball, and my guess is that actual throwing bags will be easier. The 40 will still be an adventure, though.

Pushing the frame deadlift to a triple with 10 lbs over contest weight was a big confidence boost, especially since it was my first time trying it in years. Lots of room to improve there, and speaking of, the stone carry and load is getting much easier. The 220 felt light and fast with a ten foot carry and load over 52”. I’m long enough to wrap my hands around the equator, which makes it so much easier than going 10 and 2.

I don’t want to jinx anything, but my foot actually felt better this morning, which is surprising given how much volume I put on it yesterday. Fingers crossed. Just doing support workouts at home this week until Saturday so that should help as well. Todd and I are both home alone next weekend, so we can train whenever we want. Crazy bachelors. Not this weekend, though. About to go spend another five hours at a swim meet.

[lehman906]

6/12
Stay on target…..
Three weeks to go. Because of our different schedules, I’m going to have 2 more full event days, and maybe one more day that I can get to the garage for an abbreviated workout. I figure that I can get about four or five support workouts in around that, and these are all going to be leg and ab focused. It’s weird not doing a lot of upper body, but pecs don’t win strongman contests, ya know?

Foot was hurting yesterday but got better through the workout. Bag tossing feels a lot more powerful because of a cue from Josh Lancaster and British Strongman coaching. Don’t swing it like a kettlebell. The back swing should be higher through the crotch and then bend the knees and drop the bag lower for the forward swing into the toss. Getting a lot more power and the 30 was going over easily. Did a LOT of work with the pressing, and it’s still weird to have that be my weakest area. I guess that’s a good thing since everything else feels good. Did lighter frame DL, only 470, but pushed to double digits.

Just finished my second leg workout, and while nothing is heavy yet, I’m getting through full ranges of motion with minimal heel or knee pain. I have a Dr appt tomorrow because I do listen to good advice/guilt trips, even if it does take me a little while to stop being stubborn. Last day of school is tomorrow!

[lehman906]

6/18
Two weeks out. The most important thing now is to not hurt myself, so of course I feel a tweak on a heavy front squat. I don’t think it’s really anything, and I moved around and stretched and did some OH squats with the bar and it felt fine, so I could get some more practice in on my dip and drive ….maybe that’s what those guys in the gym are doing! Maybe it’s not a 1/6 range squat for their ego; maybe they’re practicing for an overhead event! Or maybe not.

First time going heavy on farmers in a year or so, and my body needs some more reps to get used to the movement again, but the good news is I still have a disproportionately strong grip. I’ll get a run through on Monday, then a heavier session of press and farmers on Thursday, and that will be it for events. Here we go.

PS. Casey Johnston, who writes the Swolewoman blog, described her goal of a back that looks like a bag of annoyed pythons and now that’s my goal too.

[lehman906]

6/25
I really should give a warning before busting out the raw animal magnetism of “shirtless with bucket hat” at the end of this video. Consider yourselves fortunate I didn’t put the aviators on.
We went through everything on Monday, staying lighter on the farmers and pressing since I would hit them again. Everything is feeling good. Using the “high crotch scoop” (#titleofyoursextape) I could throw the 30 lb over 14’4” consistently, so I know I can do the first three bags fast and then hopefully get the 40 over. The frame they will be using is an inch taller and two inches narrower than Todd’s makeshift farmers-frame, so that will help, and I think I’m good for 4-5 on contest day anyway. The stone feels very easy, which is probably more due to length than strength, but I’ll take it.
I came back Friday and worked on the axle, working up to an easy 220 before doing 5 singles EMOM with 200 and 5 doubles EMOM with 180. Feeling better about it. I also worked on fast footwork with the farmers. I didn’t go over 205, but focused on fast feet and a staggered start.
Monday I’ll do a little bit of conditioning with the sandbag, and that might be it for the week. There might be something to coming in slightly undertrained but fresh and unfatigued.

[media] [/media]

[lehman906]

7/3
I came in first!……out of three. Still, they were bigger than me, so there’s that. This was one of my best contests, and I actually came within less than 2 seconds from sweeping all of the events (stupid farmers walk). Much of the credit for this goes to Toddy Malone, who had the full time gig of saving me from my own worst training impulses for the last few months.
Note: the people you see in the other lane blazing past me were novices using lighter weights. Just sayin’.
Vid 1- press medley. Went about as expected. The 190 log and 210 axle were easy, but the 230 lb axle defeated me. Pressing has been an issue. We all tied on this one.
Vid2- Frame Deadlift. Best I had done in training with 560 was 3 reps and I figured I could get 5 or 6. I got rolling and blew past 5 and realized I had real shot at double digits. I ended up with 11 reps for the win.
Vid 3- Farmers walk. My hands are surprisingly strong, so I knew grip wouldn’t be an issue, but my upper back needs more muscle. I did pretty well, but came in second by 1.8 seconds.
Vid 4- sandbag toss over 14 feet. I got the 25 and 30 lb bags easily, had a bit of a mishap on the first try at the 35 but got it, and couldn’t get the 40. Neither of the other two did either, and I got the first 3 bags faster for the win.
Vid 5. Carry stones 10 feet and load to a 52” platform with the heaviest stone weighing 245. The big guy blew through them fast so I knew I needed to crush this. I blitzed them so well that I MAY have yelled “Kobe!” as I loaded the last one. Maybe. Took first by almost 4 seconds to seal the win.

Maybe most importantly, I feel fine and ready to go, which historically hasn’t been true even after lighter contests. My prep was just spot on (again, thanks to Todd), and I’m now looking forward to Battle at the Brewery II - Sanctioned Strongman Competition on Aug 20.

[cole]

nice work!

[lehman906]

7/17
Now that I’m done being white-girl-wasted at a hippy music festival, it’s time to prep for the next comp. 5 weeks out.

Went light on everything since I’m just getting back to it. Going to split the events into two days with a support work day in there as well. I can hit everything once a week and hopefully progress into the contest. This one is going to be pretty conditioning heavy, so that has to be the focus.

I started off the week working log clean and press. It’s max reps and everyone knows that each rep with a log is like three reps. Maybe four if the promoter makes you control it on the way down. We started with only 70%, and did a 1:00 AMRAP, which sucked. We then set a time limit of :18 and tried to get four reps, focusing on being smooth and efficient but not rushing. Ended up doing about 24 reps after a top double. Followed that with a long set of light farmers to condition my upper back and whatever clavicular weirdness I felt during the contest.

Yesterday I was low energy, but went to the Brewery that will be hosting the contest. They didn’t have the contest tire so I dragged the sled and flipped the light women’s tire. The sled is not hard at all, but does a really good job of pre-exhausting you before something that’s already exhausting. Even doing a run with the light tire really puts a hit on the gas tank, so that’s something I’ll have to be ready for.

I did two runs of that, and only 3x2 with the 230 stone. I just wasn’t high energy anyway, but I started to perk up a bit when I got home and figured I should do legs then to have the most time for them to recover. I worked up to a single on front squats then did 2x20 on belt squat. My knees are reminding me that going heavy on a lift I don’t do consistently is dumb. I’m not smart.

Today I did some upper body stuff like inclines and pull ups, as well as Nordics. I seem to do best with two full rest days before an event day, so I’m going to have to stick with three days a week.

[media] [/media]

[oldguy]

Great work. Crushed in when it matters.

[lehman906]

Great work. Crushed in when it matters.

Thanks, man. You too, @cole. It was a fun contest.

[lehman906]

7/24
Training has been going well at Todd’s on Wednesdays, but it’s been a bit suboptimal at the brewery.

Wednesdays have been for log press and farmers walk, and I’ve been putting in a ton a volume on the log. It’s been real light, roughly 70%, but training endurance and speed for a clean-every-rep 1:00 AMRAP in the contest. We’ve been hitting a heavy-ish triple, then a set of 8 with the working weight, then 4x4 trying to get all reps in :18. This is training me to not be so fussy about my rack position or my feet and just get it up (#TWSS). It’s light weight, so it’s about cycling at full speed. Anyone who’s done a log clean and press knows that every rep is basically 3 reps, though. The deadlift, the clean, and the press, so it’s pretty taxing.

I’m not worried about 240 farmers in the contest, but it was weird how it felt like it was pulling on my collarbones, so I’m taking light weights for long walks to condition my body to hold the weights. I’m not worried about my freaky hands at all.

Saturday i was one of only 4 people that showed up to train. They still didn’t have the contest tire so I was stuck with the light one. I did two runs of 15 flips, which can be iffy since the tire being light makes it more likely you’ll use your biceps just because you can. Then we had tacky but couldn’t find any WD or Goo Gone to take it off, so had to stay light on the stones. I just did a 5x5 of extensions with the 180.

I’ve been following these days with pressing from various angles and the time off I’ve taken from it coupled with my lack of strength makes for some pitiful sets, but here they are. Trying to get leg work in that doesn’t make anything hurt, which is very necessary, but tricky. Legs will have to be the focus after this contest. I’m tired of them being weak and tired of looking like a baby giraffe.

[lehman906]

7/30
Lots of training this week, although it doesn’t look like so much on paper. Wasn’t rushed for time on Wed, so we worked up to a double (tried for a triple) at 90%, then worked with contest weight for a set of 8, then two sets of 5 in :30 to work speed. Followed that with 3x5 with the 400 lb tire just to get some practice in, then two runs with about 85% farmers and a couple of singles on high block pulls to get familiar with wagon wheel deadlift again.

I was pretty beat up and light headed at the end of this, but felt okay the next day. Going with the 50/20 protocol on steep incline just for general overall upper body strength and making a better foundation for my pressing. So damn weak at that, but every little bit helps.

Today I finally got to use the contest tire and took it for a spin with the sled pull. Exhausting, but not debilitating. I’ll be okay on contest day. Tackied up and worked the stones. 245 was flying up so decided to go up. 275 was fine for a few singles, but I felt a bit of a tweak on the 300. I rested and walked around until I was sure it was okay, then went at it again. It was harder than expected, but I got angry enough to get it. I’ll be ready for these. Did some more incline with 10 lbs more when I got home and still got my 50 reps in 20 min. Rest the rest of today and tomorrow, then switching to Mon/Thur because of travel. Monday will probably be log only.

[lehman906]

8/8
Getting close now.

Last week I had a day that was just log pressing. It felt good and felt fast until I felt a little flare up in my elbow, but I’ll be good to go at the contest. Todd had me take just 145 and hold it overhead for a few sets of :30. Fellas, if your ladies tell you 30 seconds isn’t very long, have them try that. I mean, then step your game up, but still. It’s a long time to hold something overhead, and I definitely want to keep that as a regular part of my press work.

Because of the elbow, I went on a no-hands leg day and finally got belt squats to feel good. Did 215 for 50 reps in 20 minutes, some band assisted Nordics, then did belt attached sled drags for 3 sets of 2:40ish. Those gave me quite the flute pump. Another keeper.

On vacation all I had access to was some 30lb DBs, so I made do with 50 1 1/4 squats and a few splits. Drove back this morning and did 5 sled and tire medleys. Totaled out at 40 flips although it was only a 400 lb tire. I thought I had some more left, but died trying to do farmers. That’s for Thursday.

[lehman906]

8/15
Final workouts done! Now the hard part is doing nothing for four days until the contest. I’m going to be glad when it’s over, because with two contests in 6 weeks, I’ve basically been in-season since the end of March, and I’m happy to have a break from some of these events. We will just be focusing on the log press through the fall, and seeing if I can’t finally muster up a bigger log. I’ve heard a rumor of plyometrics, so that’s something to look forward to/dread. #operationuntilthewheelsfalloff

I’m also glad to be done traveling for a while. Two trips in two weekends is more than this homebody wants to do. I did experiment with different energy drinks to keep me alert while driving, and while I like watermelon, nothing replaces the white monster (waggles eyebrows awkwardly). Travel food is fun for a little while, then I just start to feel gross. Back to my routine.

I suppose I could take my mind off of wanting to keep training by actually finishing my school prep. Possibly even going in to the school. It’s just crazy enough to work.