Abaddon, Strongman

Squat Monday, October 28th

Squats w/cambered bar
50 kgs x 10
90 kgs x 8
130 kgs x 5
160 kgs x 3
190 kgs x 1
210 kgs x 1
230 kgs x 1

Good Mornings w/cambered bar
60 kgs, 5 sets x 20

THE squat I managed a double of last week felt rough as guts today, and my left knee flared up and got some fluid in it. Pretty shithouse.

Press Wednesday October 30th

45 incline DB OHP
15 kgs x 10
20 kgs x 10
25 kgs x 10

Axle OHP (strict)
30 kgs x 10
50 kgs x 5
70 kgs x 3
80 kgs x 1
90 kgs x 1
100 kgs x 3 equal to best effort

DB OHP (strict)
left only
36 kgs x 3
46 kgs x 3
51 kgs x 5

Pinwheelz
15 kgs x 15
17.5 kgs x 15
20 kgs x 10

I HAD at least one more rep of that 100 kilo axle in me, but I lost stability and dropped it. Shithouse. So I made up my fat grip circus dumbbell and repped that till I felt like I’d pressed something worthwhile. And my tendon held up during the pinwheelz, so all in all not a bad session. Not great.

Pull Thursday October 31st

Deadlifts
70 kgs x 8
120 kgs x 5
170 kgs x 5
220 kgs x 3 no belt
250 kgs x 3 no belt, TPR
280 kgs x 1

Leg press
160 kgs x 20
210 kgs x 20
260 kgs x 15

AT LEAST I feel like I achieved something tonight. I’ve been steadily working on increasing my strength by going beltless during my heavier lifts. Nothing ridiculous, which would just invite injury, but a triple of 250, or 551 pounds, is pretty solid. My knee is still sore from squatting, and tonight didn’t make it any better… didn’t make it any worse, all things considered. So, like always, it’s a trade-off.

warmup w/bands

Walking press w/cambered bar
10 paces + 2 presses x 7 @ 50 kgs

Yoke walk
135 kgs x 25 meters x 2
215 kgs x 15 meters x 2
295 kgs x 15 meters x 2
335 kgs x 15 meters

Farmers walk
60 kgs p/h x 20 meters x 2
100 kgs p/h x 20 meters x 2
120 kgs p/h x 20 meters
120 kgs p/h x 20 meters

I’M trying to rely less on my hard belt, to further strengthen my core, so scrapped it during the yoke work (apart from the final set) and farmers. Everything is still feeling really good – though a minor twinge in my right elbow caused me to brace it, just in case.

The walking presses killed me again! But the results speak for themselves; combined with the better warmup routine I’ve been using, I’m now back pressing 100 kilos for reps, only with no pain!

warmup w/bands

DB 45 incline press
15 kgs x 10
20 kgs x 10
30 kgs x 10

Bench press warmup
60 kgs x 8

Partial ROM drop sets
90 kgs x 5
80 kgs x 5
70 kgs x 5
60 kgs x 5

Axle OHP (strict)
30 kgs x 5
40 kgs x 5
50 kgs x 3
60 kgs x 3
70 kgs x 3
80 kgs x 1
90 kgs x 1
100 kgs x 3 PR

MY Press routine was more pressing (bad pun) than my pull routine this week, if only for the fact that I hit a PTC record with my deadlift last Thursday anyway, and I really, really need to keep my back prepped for events training this Saturday. I missed events last weekend thanks to illness, and thought better of training last night since I may (or more likely may not) have been responsible for infecting a bunch of other lifters. The owner, Rucci D, was struck down with something Monday night so severe he stated he couldn’t walk out the gym, and gave us all a stern warning to stay home if we’re sick. So I did.

Taking stock of where I’m at, at this point, and I’m feeling pretty damn happy. Not even a ‘but’, or ‘all things considered’ to add there: my body is uninjured, my lifts have all broken new ground in the last week, and my CNS is – obviously – now completely recovered. Shit, if I can do this while sick, I’m looking forward to seeing where I’m at in a couple of months.

I predict a 250 kilo squat in the next fortnight… hopefully a 110 strict press in November (my weakest and slowest-progressing lift by far, so it’s hard to estimate), and a 310 kilo dead very soon. There’s a push/pull comp coming up in December, and my bench is currently sitting around 150. With a little bit of effort it’ll be up around 160. Looks like I have a side project to finish off the year, which won’t interfere with my ASM prep.

warmup w/bands

Squats w/cambered bar
50 kgs x 10
90 kgs x 8
130 kgs x 5
160 kgs x 3
190 kgs x 3
210 kgs x 3 TPR
230 kgs x 2 PR

G.M.s w/cambered bar
60 kgs x 5 sets x 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkLybfdbL38

EVENTS training on Saturday was cancelled for me. I managed to catch something from work on Friday that quickly morphed into green mucusey facerape. But this time I didn’t wait around for it to sort itself out; I got a script for some antibiotics and stacked them with a half dozen different cold and flu remedies, probiotics, decongestants, nasal spray, lozenges, and even some god-awful smelling herbal tablets. Dosed up and floaty, I made it to training tonight. I wasn’t expecting to do anything spectacular, all things considered… but, with the exception of my balance feeling off, everything else was feeling really, really good. And then I hit a PR. And then I hit another.

There’s a video of it floating around somewhere. I’m pretty happy, and very surprised. All those squats were nice and deep. Nothing hurt. Total WIN.

warmup w/bands

Deadlifts
70 kgs x 8
120 kgs x 5
170 kgs x 5
220 kgs x 3
250 kgs x 1
270 kgs x 1
290 kgs x 1 TPR

Bent-over BB rows
70 kgs x 15
72.5 kgs x 12

I MADE a return to the under/over grip tonight, as the right biceps tendon was feeling good and I wanted my grip to be as strong as possible for these singles. The double overhand has compromised this aspect of my deadlift lately. I wasn’t intending to work up to 290, but everything felt strong so I thought, fuck it.

This is not a personal best, as I pulled that in July’s WA Strongman qualifiers. But it’s a new record for me on the board at PTC, it was strapless, and it felt a whole lot better than it did on comp day. When it went up, nice and smooth, I thought briefly about pushing to 295, or more. But that would have been a bad idea. I’ve got events training this weekend. And I’m supposed to be on a deload.

The tendon started playing up again during rows, so I scrapped the final set. Damned if I’m going to risk re-injuring that doing something as boring as rows.

warmup w/bands

DB 45 Incline press
20 kgs x 10
25 kgs x 10
35 kgs x 15 TPR

BB bench press
60 kgs x 8

Partial ROM bench drop sets
100 kgs x 6
90 kgs x 6
80 kgs x 5
70 kgs x 3
60 kgs x 6

Axle OHP
40 kgs x 20
60 kgs x 15
65 kgs x 10 TPR

Pinwheelz
15 kgs x 15
17.5 kgs x 15

THOSE drop sets slew me again tonight, and Perry had to assist with several of the reps in the last few sets. I honestly didn’t feel strong at all with this exercise. I may have to reduce the loading in order to more adequately complete all sets. The axle overhead press is getting more and more comfortable.

I’ll be pulling something sub-par tomorrow night.

warmup w/bands

Squats w/cambered bar
50 kgs x 10
90 kgs x 8
130 kgs x 5
150 kgs x 3
170 kgs x 1
190 kgs x 1
200 kgs x 1
210 kgs x 1

Good mornings x/cambered bar
50 kgs x 5 sets x 20

AGAIN, a boring session, but still positive. That 210 squat is the heaviest I’ve done since my shoulder surgery in February. And it was nice and deep, strong out of the hole, and no pain at all. Very happy about this… I wanted to keep going, in fact. But I’ve made that mistake before, and taken two steps back in my training thanks to it. Slowly, inexorably, I will build my squat up to something decent. I’d like to squat double body weight (250 – 260) before the end of the year; strong, deep and painless, just like tonight. It will happen.

The GMs served to remind me again that the lower back is still not totally my comrade, but depending on how pressing goes Wednesday night, I should be back to more thorough programming next week. I’ve been missing pull-ups, amongst other things. But I am going to stick with the bent-over barbell rows instead of Krocs, I think, just until I can be sure my biceps tendon is 100% again.

warmup w/bands

Deadlifts
70 kgs x 8
120 kgs x 5
170 kgs x 5
220 kgs x 3
250 kgs x 3

BB Bent over rows
70 kgs x 15
75 kgs x 15

NOTHING to talk about this session, really. I did the couple of things I could do, and left. Nights like this one make me feel like I’m being lazy when I’m actually being sensible. And in truth I was still feeling despondent about this blog entry, before I read something by Paul Carter on the realities of over-training and subjective training responses. It drove home the fact that this deload is programmed, necessary, and I’m just going to have to tolerate it.

The rows variation was better on my strained biceps tendon, to a point. I stopped when it began to flare up again… I did have a couple more sets programmed. I will continue to use it, and the higher rep ranges, as an alternative to Krocs (and as PTC doesn’t have a T-bar or row machine… no huge loss) to reduce aggravation and to improve conditioning. Maybe just start a little lighter next time. Things are feeling a lot better than they were a couple weeks back, so the weights shouldn’t have to stay light for tpoo long.

It was actually probably just as well I quit the rows where I did. My lower back continues to be fried. I’m going to skip events training this weekend to allow further time for recovery. But I am looking forward to doing something more significant next Squat Monday.

warmup w/bands

Bench press – Incline DB
20 kgs x 10
25 kgs x 10
32.5 kgs x 13

Bench press – Partial ROM drop sets
60 kgs x 10 (warmup)
100 kgs x 6
90 kgs x 6
80 kgs x 5
70 kgs x 5
60 kgs x 5

OHP – Axle (strict)
40 kgs x 20
50 kgs x 12
55 kgs x 14

Pinwheelz
12.5 kgs x 20
15 kgs x 20

GOOD signs tonight; the tendinitis stayed away, and the biceps tendon felt not so strained. Still, I didn’t push it with anything hardcore (my regular routine would involve pull-ups and heavy DB press) and stuck to the deload weight ranges and movements I could do safely.

The partial ROM benching drop sets are now not exactly essential, since my focus is back on to Strongman 100%, but still… I enjoy them. I hope to develop my explosiveness, they murder me, and they’re fun. Tonight I had the help of PTC regulars Aaron and Perry, who assisted me to push through and complete all sets and most of the prescribed reps. I really needed help after the first couple of sets.

Tomorrow night, we deadlift.

warmup w/bands

Squats w/cambered
50 kgs x 10
70 kgs x 8
100 kgs x 5
120 kgs x 3
135 kgs x 2
150 kgs x 1
170 kgs x 1
180 kgs x 1 TPR

Good mornings w/cambered
50 kgs x 8 sets x 10
50 kgs x 1 set x 20

BOTH hip and shoulder felt good tonight (really, really good), but I knew when it was time to ease off. All those squats were nice and deep with no pain (for the sets +150 kilos I used a soft belt only, no wraps) and the only thing keeping me from going heavier was the fact that my lower back has been feeling utterly abused for weeks… and I’m supposed to be deloading! That technical PR is pretty pathetic, but it’s the heaviest I’ve gone for several months thanks to the tear in my hip cartilage.

The GMs is a new aspect of my programming, designed by Daniel Macri to build my lower back’s endurance. The weight used is intended to be light, the only pre-req being that I have to perform 100 reps of the weight; set/rep scheme is up to me. I also have to find somewhere to slot in at least 50 reps on the glute-ham raise machine. Fun, fun, fun.

The full program is still being written, but once it’s done I’ll be posting it up here, as I’ve had a couple of requests for a training template (my friends over at SAW Strength Sports are especially keen for one).

Training the rest of this week is going to be similarly lacklustre, as I tread water and allow my body to recover. But tonight was a very positive sign that my squat is FINALLY going to get stronger again, soon. I just have to be patient.