-1010 pushups w/ 20s rest then 90s rest 510 pushups w/ 20s rest and 16 (failure) after 20s rest
-Pullups from knees on floor: 8, 3 9/10 (aargh), 3
-230 and 220 w/ 90s rest btw. sets then 110 and 1*15 w/ 60s rest before and after set of ten one knee pushups. Last set was to failure.
Hammies + spinal erectors are SORE but not SORE, but I think that’s good and the depletion did it’s job. I think the extreme DOMS on the lunges was from it being first workout back from recovery break and having bad food in my system. I’ll be able to see on the quad depletion this micro anyway.
Did some foam roller work on the hammies. This thing works great!
Saturday, July 24, 2004
About 300 extra grams of carbs today.
-OFF
Speed work
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Sprints:
1312m hills. These were great, I was blasting my dad by almost two meters so speed is definitely improving if anything.
Plyos:
37 depth landings (first set w/ minimal knee bend over 36" hurdle, 2nd set w/ knee bend to a little below quarter squat to increase PC recruitment at same height, 3rd set same thing over 33" hurdle so that I could go a little deeper and get up a little quicker since I usually clear the hurdle by a few inches)
25 reactive squat jumps (releasing tension to about half squat and regaining as quickly as possible)
35 uphill bounds
3*5 box squat jumps (forms getting better on these; less quad involvement today and more PC use)
Powerball:
5/each hand powerball snatch throws, 6 two hand powerball snatch throws, 5/each hand rotational snatch throws. These are going great, on the snatch throws I think I’m definitely getting the 10 lb. ball 4+ stories high.
Another great workout today. Set a new “scale PR” of 193 this morning after being at a high of 192 for the past two days. The more caloric fruit and mancakes have been doing their job and I’m moving on up.
Is this in prep for a strongman show? Is this the beginning of a long, long training plan?
Have you ever competed in strongman? You can do all that depletion and other stuff, but when you get under the implements, if you don’t have any event practice going on, it is going to chew you up and spit you out. The type of strength-endurance required for strongman is much different than that required by calisthenic circuits.
The most successful new strongmen out there are really practicing the events. I cannot stress how important this is. The calisthenics aren’t going to build the capacity you need. Frequent event practice will. Maximal strength work is going to help, but without building the skill and speed in the events, you are not going to be pleased with your performance, especially with the new crop of bugfuck fast and strong lightweights out there now.
If you don’t have any implements, you are going to need some, or start training with someone who has them. At a bare minimum you will need a log bar, a 2" thick bar, farmers bars, a heavy tire for flipping, and 2-3 stones. The Conan’s Wheel will mess you up if you don’t practice it, and so will the Yoke, but those are the more bulky and expensive items.
I run a message board, and some good strongmen post there. Guys like Chad Coy, John Beatty, and a whole pack of up and comers, the URL is http://p086.ezboard.com/fbulkandpower48873frm12 They will be glad to talk training, both general and events, with you.
Event specific training needs to be implemented now. There is a direct coorelation to event training and success. You wouldn’t train for T&F throws or Highland games without throwing, and you wouldn’t train for a decathalon without training for the specific events. A strongman contest is very much like a decathalon. If you haven’t done one, you have no idea about the type of conditioning involved.
The kind of conditioning he seems to be doing is fine for getting into a general sort of condition, but it has nothing to do with preparing the body for the demands of moving under the loads inherent in SM competitions.
Thanks a lot for the posts Shaf. It is indeed the beginning of a long, long training plan. I’m basing this first cycle off the idea that a lot of things that I have read have suggested that many of the strongman events do not have much carryover back to basic powerlifting events but powerlifting events do have a lot of carryover to strongman once you get used to the equipment. From this I was planning on doing one or two of these ten week cycles that focuses on strength and also do prehabilitation work for the shoulder and spine at tempo intensities at angles outside of a single plane. After all this (for one cycle ~12 weeks, for two cycles ~24 weeks) I was planning on starting to have actual event work comprise a large %age of my training and training like this for at least three months before doing an actual show.
With this new information in mind what do you think? Do you think that despite my low strength levels in powerlifting events I should try to do a signifigant %age of work in strongman events or do you think that building a base of limit strength in the big movements is more important first?
Great message board by the way, I really look forward to learning a lot from it.
P.S. Do you happen to know of any gyms/home gyms in the Miami area that have strongman equipment? Not really expecting you to know but just asking since you talk with a lot of strongmen.
Pete, I’m not familiar with any competitor or gyms in the Miami area.
My opinion on the events isn’t going to change. Events are a distinct skill-set that need to be practiced to be acquired. You need to first acquire the movement skills/pain tolerance/strength endurance associated with the event, and then make them heavier and faster (probably not at the same time though).
At this stage in the game, I think if you devoted one session a week to the practice of 3-4 events, you would be fine. I’d suggest the farmers walk, the tire flip, and the log clean and press for the initial specialization, since these events are in almost all strongman contests. You’ll be surprised at how quick you’ll get to the heavier weights, too.
Thanks Shaf. I think what I’ll try to do is first add them in as accessory movements in this cycle once I get into the weightroom (allowing me to at least do some prehab work in a very low intensity fashion in the GPP and then progress to these at only an accessory level, i.e. submaximal in regards to 1RM hopefully allowing for an injury free transition into SM events) and then maybe do one/two times a week in the next cycle. The hard part is that I’m going to the University of Miami so I can’t have all types of stuff in my backyard. Hopefully they’ll have a trap bar for deadlifting and I could use that for accessory farmers work, I could probably convince them to go half and half on a log (which I wouldn’t use as an accessory but just instead of the DB military presses) or at least let me buy one and store it in the weightroom, and the tire would be hard but if I could store it somewhere right outside the weightroom I could use it for PC work.
A question for you though; from what I’ve read everyone says practice the events, practice the events, practice the events is the key to strongman but people also say you have to be strong in the basic movements so I took it as get strong and then make sure you do a lot of practice before doing a show if you are willing to have the patience. One example I saw to support this philosophy was Brad Cardoza and Sully over at Ruggedmag. Sully said that Brad started strongman a lot stronger in the basic movements then him but at first Sully could kick his ass in the strongman events. However after several months of practice Brad was beating Sully in most of them. To me Brad’s position seems like a better one to come in from and this was what I was basing my planning on. So the question is, in your dealings with various strongmen is this an exception and do a lot of basic movement strong people have trouble catching up even after months of practice?
There are lots and lots of different ways to approach it. There is certainly the case for getting very strong in basic movements first, then progressing to event training, but you’ve got to also start getting in competitive experience. If you hit a show and you do very poorly, you might just decide that SM isn’t for you. With some familiarity with the events, you will probably place better, despite maximal strength levels.
Johnny Perry was a guy who was brutally big and strong, and he did very well, and really started to improve once he started event training.
Jesse Marunde was a classically trained olympic lifter under JV Askem, then a college football players, and then that transfered into a very successful skill set for strongman.
Both those guys approached it by building good levels of strength first, then event practice, so you aren’t in bad company if you want to do it like that.
The Europeans tend to devote long blocks of training for getting stronger, then blocks for dedicated work on the events.
Chad Coy used to train HIT style with event training, and now does a combination of Westside style work and even training.
My personal opinion is to get your feet wet via a competition, then go from there. If you have a plan and stick to it, you will be better off than 90% of the guys out there who jump around a lot.
Also, here’s a link to the Anvil, the official forum of NASS. I am pretty sure there are some Florida competitors there sometimes:
The biggest shock for me (and I’ve only competed at a moderate level in three contests) was the metabolic effect of strongman competition. The hardest, physical thing I’ve ever done was push a Ford Excursion down ~105’, then drag a 600# sled back. I was lined up against Juha Rasmussen and John Beatty, and I had to ignore how brutally fast Juha did the event and concentrate on staying slightly ahead of John.
Afterwards, I was finished. I had to keep moving or I would have collapsed. It was tougher than playing 2 full games of rugby back to back or tournament wrestling.
A high pain tolerance and a high lactic acid tolerance are definitely attributes you should acquire.
Thanks a lot for the posts Shaf. It’s really great to be able to have you and your MB as a resource. I’m not sure exactly how all this info will affect my training but it definitely will. Time to put on my thinking cap.
PM:10*10 backpack loads (~40#, same as last week). I did about half and half doing reps up to my shoulder and dropping it and reps where I was sort of tossing it over a hurdle at 42". 30s in betw. sets, basically a 30s on 30s off workout. Good workout, I think the one over the hurdle is very nice prehab for the spine because I’m often at a weird angle.
1000 goodmornings w/ 43 lb. Xvest (I found out I was only using 10 lbs. on the lunges accidentally ). ~5s break after every 100 to write a tally mark. Took 27 minutes. I think that I have to use more weight next time and do less reps.
400+ extra grams carbs today (half morning, half PW).
Not at all sore from the deadlift depletion, I don’t think that I did much muscle damage. More weight next time, but this will at least help cappilarisation in the hams and spinal erectors.
200 pushups in just over 27 minutes
Depletion pullups: 9, 3, 3
100 pushups in just under 13 minutes
And I’m still getting mine @ 1-9-5! …and the leanest yet. I don’t think the genetic shape of my abs allow me have the bottom two of the six pack look the same as the four (and I don’t really give a rats ass either) but I think I’m definitely closing right in on six pack at its best leanness.
28 exercise bodybuilding circuit. ~10-12 exercises after because I had some extra time, not done in as cardivascular a fashion.
Some low sleep (15 hours) and stress these past two days, no big deal though.
). ~5s break after every 100 to write a tally mark. Took 27 minutes. I think that I have to use more weight next time and do less reps.