IRON & STONE: Adventures of an Amateur Strongman

[mouse]

5/2/2022

Squat
335x1x15

Deadlift
425x5, 395x5x4

Step Ups
3x12

Knee improved a lot over the weekend and felt fine for squats/deads but felt like shit as soon as I started on the Zerchers so I just nixed them and swapped to some step ups to give it some work...

[mouse]

Dawned on me I'm just under 3 weeks out now and I haven't even given so much as a whiff of thought as to how I'm going to program into October...

I have a 19 week chunk to work with though... so let's call it an even 18 because I am going to take the first week back to mostly dick around and have some play time...

[mouse]

5/3/2022

Incline Bench
215x2x12

Bench
280x5, 250x4x4

Strict Press
145x10x3

Barbell Curl
45x31, 45x16, 45x13

[mouse]

5/5/2022

Frame Deadlift
585x5, 585x3x3

Good Morning
225x6, 255x6, 275x6, 250x6

Skateboard Curls
3x12

Not gonna lie, was kind of apprehensive going into this but everything held up well and the knee is feeling alright. Admittedly I'm usually a bit more 'violent' with frame deads off the floor, so these seemed just a touch slow because I was trying to be as smooth and stable as I could. Not worrying about pushing these any heavier because I know at least a handful of reps at 700 should be there day of... main goal is just to get there feeling healthy-ish right now...

Skateboard curls might become a staple in the future. I just wanted something quick for the hamstrings and these worked out way better than I would have thought.

[mouse]

5/6/2022

Log Press
200x3, 230x3, 255x3, 225x5
All vipers...

Zercher Yoke 60ft
345x6 EMOM
(FML)

Rope Pressdowns
3x20

Air Bike
10 min @6-7

Trying to squeeze out some conditioning in the last two weeks... better late than never lol...

[mouse]

5/9/2022

Deadlift
425x1x12

Paused Squat
350x5, 315x5x4

RDL
315x8x3

[mouse]

5/10/2022

Log Press
205x1x15

Incline Bench
265x5, 240x5x4

Tire Throw for Distance
Averaging about 35-40ft here, so probably not that competitive hahaha, hopefully I'm training on a heavier tire

[mouse]

5/12/2022

Frame Deadlift
525x5, 595x3, 660x1, 520x8

Landmine Rows
115x10x4

Not a lot of content today but I just wanted to go up and feel around ~95% of contest on the frame... it feels like shit lol

I'll likely do the same with the log tomorrow, and do some combo yoke/bag runs...

[mouse]

5/13/2022

Log Press
225, 245, 260, 280x1
220x4x2

30' Zercher Yoke / Bag Medley
345/220x4

Air Bike
10 min @6-7

Vipers on all the logs, hurdled the log each rep on the sets of four because I don't know if the logs will be side to side or in line and it'll be quicker than running around (maybe)...

Run and retrieve style on the medley... which is still awful because I'm fat, horribly unathletic, and of course WNY skipped spring again and jumped right into summer...

[mouse]

[mouse]

5/16/2022

Frame Deadlift
450x5x3

Squat
225x8x2

Seated Band Rows
4x12

Originally had something a bit different in mind but weather made me call an audible...

[mouse]

Planning will be underway soon for Orange Elite this fall... viking press, car deads, MAX farmers, and keg loading/sandbag throwing will all be on the menu... thinking about using week to week wave loading along with actual planned deloads for a change...

https://ironpodium.com/browse/event/orange-elite-vii

If anyone besides me is reading and is into opinions no one asked for, our USS promoter Jamie out here in Syracuse is absolutely killing it this year as far as events go. He is getting so good at sprinkling in twists to events that are normally just the same old stuff. Case in point being the max farmers this fall (treating farmers like a rising bar deadlift, with 3 attempts to take the most weight 30 ft with no drops is great) and this weekend's sandbag medley (where all bags are available, but the MOST CUMULATIVE weight loaded is what will win points).

From a competitor standpoint changing it up like that is very much appreciated.

[mouse]

5/17/2022

Log Press
205x1x10

Tire Throws

Shoulder Mobility Shit

Just fine tuning vipers and making sure I'm reliably throwing the tire in a straight line hahaha...

[mouse]

Spent some time working on my hips and shoulders this afternoon... probably spend some time with the theragun later...

More tomorrow probably too...

Also, haven't done a weighted hang in forever but I threw on 50 lbs and the pops that came out of my back were pretty legendary hahaha

[mouse]

Central NY's Strongest Man/Woman 5 - Open 242/275

Well... it took 4 years but I finally won this damned show... here's how it broke down:

Log Ladder - not the opening I was hoping for. Definitely felt the whole being away from competition for a year, nerves were high, and in hindsight I made an error that may (or may not have) cost me, but luck meant it didn't mean much in the end. Vipers at 220, 240, and 260 looked super easy, and then I ended up missing 280 because (excuses, excuses) that 15" log really threw me off more than I anticipated. Maybe I rushed it, but I ended up losing it about 2/3rds of the way up and it bounced off the tire. Fumbling around with the loaders/spotters to get it back ate up a lot of time, and I did re-clean it, but by then I just didn't have the gas left. None of us got it, which helped, but I got edged out for 1st on split times by 2 seconds, so I had to settle for 4 points....

Sandbag Medley - I always seem to have on surprise event, and this was it for sure. We had 7 sandbags to choose from, all of varying weight, with the total weight being loaded counting towards the scoring. The only bag I didn't bother with was the 325 because I knew even if I got it that it would eat up way too much time. None of us got it, some tried and ended up paying the price. In the end I moved all remaining 6 bags for a total of 1098 lbs and ended up sharing a 1st place time for 4.5 points...

Frame Deadlift - not gonna lie I wasn't super confident going in to this after my recent tweak and how shitty it felt in training but don't count me out on a deadlift event ha. Knocked out 5 reps with 700 and could have split 1st place points with 3 reps and all out won with 4. Going early in the order sucks, you always have to work as hard as possible... 5 points for me...

Tire Throw for Distance - no surprise here, I'm not a good thrower. Of my allowed attempts my third was the best by an inch for two for just over 39 feet... ended up in 4th place here and settled for 2 points. At least I didn't have any fouls...

Conan's Wheel - this was a bummer and really had me worried that I had lost my grip on first afterwards (and nearly did). Maybe I was tired, maybe it as just inexperience, but man my starting position with the bar lasted maybe a 1/4 revolution at most. Held on to it for as long as I could but half way around the thing was practically on my wrists and I lost it just a bit before a full revolution. Had to settle for 3 points here... who knows when I'll get another crack at it but I'd love to try a couple different things for a better outcome...

In the end, I totaled 18.5 points and squeaked out my spot by half a point... there was a full 5 point difference between 2nd and 3rd though so while it was pretty close between me and 2nd, it was a pretty decent win over the rest of the field. As a bonus I got to share the podium with Ben, our newest son who was the surprise announcement at last year's show, and my dad and his wife were up visiting so they got to be at their first show since West Virginia in 2018... so that was cool.

[brkriete]

Congrats! Sounds like strong work all around.

[mouse]

So here's the (tentative) outlook towards October...

Been reading some Juggernaut/wave loading stuff and I think I'm gonna give it a shot. In a nutshell I'm gonna run:

• Monday - Deadlift/Squat
• Tuesday - Overhead Press
• Thursday - Incline Bench
• Friday - Events (Farmers, Yoke, Carry/Load, maybe an extra press)

Juggernaut/wave loading apply to main deadlift, overhead, and incline slots. Squat runs a 5/3/1 format because I kinda liked how it worked how I was using it this last time around. Friday is a de facto squat/deadlift day, with maybe an extra pressing slot put in if I get cold feet or stuff doesn't seem to be progressing.

Every 3 weeks is a scheduled 3x5 deload, where deadlift accessory gets replaced with a sled drag or a yoke push. After every deload week accessories change a bit. Throwing sprinkled in on event days... the goal is to obviously keep progressing, keep things fresh, but to also not beat the shit out of myself like I typically seem to do (and like I almost did these last couple months). Ideally I'd like to not be responding to tweaks and minor injuries like I had to do a few times.

Main reservations, I'm nervous about overall volume... I FEEL like it's less... but hopefully I'll respond while not accumulating shit fatigue... also somewhat apprehensive about deadlift and squat the same day... I will probably train the squat beltless to artificially mitigate the loading, and if it all goes sideways, I'll just squat on event day and replace Monday's empty slot with a lighter variation...

This week however, is for goofing off a bit...

[mouse]

Congrats! Sounds like strong work all around.

Thanks, definitely better than my expectations for sure... but it's a very good start to (hopefully) build on for the remainder of the year and into next year...

[mouse]

5/23/2022

60ft Yoke Carry
450x1x8

13" Axle Deadlift
495x5

Stone to Shoulder
220x1

A bit of a haphazard day hahaha... last minute change to start with yoke, worked up to a set of 5 beltless deads, and got a hair up my ass to do some stone to shoulder.

Hell it actually went up fairly easily but instantly I felt some tightness in my biceps that I wasn't comfortable with... probably just some fatigue from the sandbags/conans on Saturday, but either way I just bailed and called it a day...

[mouse]

5/24/2022

Incline Bench
235x6x2

Bench
225x13, 225x6x2

DB Squeeze Press
100x10x2
Chaos Push Up
2x10
Low High Band Fly
2x10