MarkKO's training log

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MarkKO
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Re: MarkKO's training log

#841

Post by MarkKO » Mon Nov 21, 2022 2:14 pm

Hardartery wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:40 am
MarkKO wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:01 am This is a very rough draft of how I'm looking at the eight weeks leading into the strongman competition in May. I've been told there will be five events, but what they are remains to be decided.

Depending on events I figure I'll go one static, one moving Mon/Wed. Friday is whichever fits. I would guess my best bet is to, where possible, pair up events that are different from each other.

The progression only covers the events. Assistance will remain much the same as it is now, except bench and squat will be shifted into assistance slots just to keep in practice. The first three weeks I won't squat or bench at all, as I normally don't after a meet.

Really the only difference to how I train for powerlifting is that the first one or two exercises of the day are the events. How I set the assistance up and what the assistance is remains nearly identical since its role is to build muscle.

Progression
Weeks one and two keep same load, around 50% event weight. Reps/distance also around 50% of event reps/distance just for technique and feel and to rebuild work capacity

Week three
60% weight/reps/distance

Week four
70% weight/reps/distance

Week five
80% weight/reps/distance
Assistance reduces by 25%

Week six
90% weight/reps/distance
Assistance reduces by 50%

Week seven
80% weight/reps/distance
Assistance remains at 50% volume

Week eight (competition on Sunday)
Monday events 1/2/3 for light technique work
Wednesday events 4/5 for light technique work
No assistance
Roughly speaking all Strongman contests are the same thing. If it's set up correctly (Some promoters don't seem to know that there is actually a formula), there is an event to test back strengthm there is an event to test grip, there is an event to test anaerobic endurance/speed with weight, there is an event to test legs, and there's an event to test shoulders/pressing power. This translates to some sort of Deadlift (Sometimes Stones in whatever form take this slot), a Farmer's Walk or Hercules Hold or something in that vein, a Medley/Loading event, a Stone Circle (Conan's Wheel if you use the popular but incorrect term) or Squat variation, some sort of Press like Viking or Log or Axle or DB...you get the idea. The formula is to provide an overall test of all basic attributes. The fine details are skill on the specific event and ability to handle the contest weight.
That all being said, you should be working with higher volume and hopefully at least the equivalent weights in training. Higher volume because you are splitting training up over multiple days of the week, but in the contest it's all happening right now today so you want your body to be expecting more and thus recover faster on contest day than on training days. And honestly, if you can't get at least one rep with contest weight your conditining is meaningless. So, generally the training structure is based around core strength and then you adjust for specific events when you get them. Knowing the events should really only be about refining technique going into the contest, not about building specific strength in the event. So working the contest weights and pushing the rep limit or speed of [erformance usually is the way to go.
I was really, really hoping I'd get your input. Thanks a bunch.

Ok, so I'll make some changes then. That setup was based on how I prepare for PL and taking into account that I'll be coming straight off a meet.

What I figure based on what you said is leave the first three weeks as is simply because I'll need to regain work capacity and I know that approach works well for me.

From the fourth week onwards I'll bump the weight/distances etc up to match the actual event (unless they are max lift events, in which case I'd probably do it closer to how I would for PL as it'll likely be three attempts to get the heaviest weight I can). By that stage work capacity will be OK to do that and it'll just improve as I go. Then the week of the contest I'll leave as is so I'll be fresh going in.

Again, thanks for the help with this. I really appreciate it.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#842

Post by Hardartery » Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:54 pm

MarkKO wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 2:14 pm
Hardartery wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:40 am
MarkKO wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:01 am This is a very rough draft of how I'm looking at the eight weeks leading into the strongman competition in May. I've been told there will be five events, but what they are remains to be decided.

Depending on events I figure I'll go one static, one moving Mon/Wed. Friday is whichever fits. I would guess my best bet is to, where possible, pair up events that are different from each other.

The progression only covers the events. Assistance will remain much the same as it is now, except bench and squat will be shifted into assistance slots just to keep in practice. The first three weeks I won't squat or bench at all, as I normally don't after a meet.

Really the only difference to how I train for powerlifting is that the first one or two exercises of the day are the events. How I set the assistance up and what the assistance is remains nearly identical since its role is to build muscle.

Progression
Weeks one and two keep same load, around 50% event weight. Reps/distance also around 50% of event reps/distance just for technique and feel and to rebuild work capacity

Week three
60% weight/reps/distance

Week four
70% weight/reps/distance

Week five
80% weight/reps/distance
Assistance reduces by 25%

Week six
90% weight/reps/distance
Assistance reduces by 50%

Week seven
80% weight/reps/distance
Assistance remains at 50% volume

Week eight (competition on Sunday)
Monday events 1/2/3 for light technique work
Wednesday events 4/5 for light technique work
No assistance
Roughly speaking all Strongman contests are the same thing. If it's set up correctly (Some promoters don't seem to know that there is actually a formula), there is an event to test back strengthm there is an event to test grip, there is an event to test anaerobic endurance/speed with weight, there is an event to test legs, and there's an event to test shoulders/pressing power. This translates to some sort of Deadlift (Sometimes Stones in whatever form take this slot), a Farmer's Walk or Hercules Hold or something in that vein, a Medley/Loading event, a Stone Circle (Conan's Wheel if you use the popular but incorrect term) or Squat variation, some sort of Press like Viking or Log or Axle or DB...you get the idea. The formula is to provide an overall test of all basic attributes. The fine details are skill on the specific event and ability to handle the contest weight.
That all being said, you should be working with higher volume and hopefully at least the equivalent weights in training. Higher volume because you are splitting training up over multiple days of the week, but in the contest it's all happening right now today so you want your body to be expecting more and thus recover faster on contest day than on training days. And honestly, if you can't get at least one rep with contest weight your conditining is meaningless. So, generally the training structure is based around core strength and then you adjust for specific events when you get them. Knowing the events should really only be about refining technique going into the contest, not about building specific strength in the event. So working the contest weights and pushing the rep limit or speed of [erformance usually is the way to go.
I was really, really hoping I'd get your input. Thanks a bunch.

Ok, so I'll make some changes then. That setup was based on how I prepare for PL and taking into account that I'll be coming straight off a meet.

What I figure based on what you said is leave the first three weeks as is simply because I'll need to regain work capacity and I know that approach works well for me.

From the fourth week onwards I'll bump the weight/distances etc up to match the actual event (unless they are max lift events, in which case I'd probably do it closer to how I would for PL as it'll likely be three attempts to get the heaviest weight I can). By that stage work capacity will be OK to do that and it'll just improve as I go. Then the week of the contest I'll leave as is so I'll be fresh going in.

Again, thanks for the help with this. I really appreciate it.
Just remember to back it off the week of, same as PL. You want to hit that last week slightly overtrained and then the recovery will give you the same supercompensation. The hardest thing for me was turning on the speed at the contest. Doing the event was not the issue, it was picking up the pace on things like Farmer's. I didn't practice it enough in training because I was frankly better than who I trained with at it or by myself. That was a huge mistake on my part. You have to be able to turn up the wick, not just get to the end.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#843

Post by MarkKO » Mon Nov 21, 2022 5:53 pm

Hardartery wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:54 pm
MarkKO wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 2:14 pm
Hardartery wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:40 am
MarkKO wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:01 am This is a very rough draft of how I'm looking at the eight weeks leading into the strongman competition in May. I've been told there will be five events, but what they are remains to be decided.

Depending on events I figure I'll go one static, one moving Mon/Wed. Friday is whichever fits. I would guess my best bet is to, where possible, pair up events that are different from each other.

The progression only covers the events. Assistance will remain much the same as it is now, except bench and squat will be shifted into assistance slots just to keep in practice. The first three weeks I won't squat or bench at all, as I normally don't after a meet.

Really the only difference to how I train for powerlifting is that the first one or two exercises of the day are the events. How I set the assistance up and what the assistance is remains nearly identical since its role is to build muscle.

Progression
Weeks one and two keep same load, around 50% event weight. Reps/distance also around 50% of event reps/distance just for technique and feel and to rebuild work capacity

Week three
60% weight/reps/distance

Week four
70% weight/reps/distance

Week five
80% weight/reps/distance
Assistance reduces by 25%

Week six
90% weight/reps/distance
Assistance reduces by 50%

Week seven
80% weight/reps/distance
Assistance remains at 50% volume

Week eight (competition on Sunday)
Monday events 1/2/3 for light technique work
Wednesday events 4/5 for light technique work
No assistance
Roughly speaking all Strongman contests are the same thing. If it's set up correctly (Some promoters don't seem to know that there is actually a formula), there is an event to test back strengthm there is an event to test grip, there is an event to test anaerobic endurance/speed with weight, there is an event to test legs, and there's an event to test shoulders/pressing power. This translates to some sort of Deadlift (Sometimes Stones in whatever form take this slot), a Farmer's Walk or Hercules Hold or something in that vein, a Medley/Loading event, a Stone Circle (Conan's Wheel if you use the popular but incorrect term) or Squat variation, some sort of Press like Viking or Log or Axle or DB...you get the idea. The formula is to provide an overall test of all basic attributes. The fine details are skill on the specific event and ability to handle the contest weight.
That all being said, you should be working with higher volume and hopefully at least the equivalent weights in training. Higher volume because you are splitting training up over multiple days of the week, but in the contest it's all happening right now today so you want your body to be expecting more and thus recover faster on contest day than on training days. And honestly, if you can't get at least one rep with contest weight your conditining is meaningless. So, generally the training structure is based around core strength and then you adjust for specific events when you get them. Knowing the events should really only be about refining technique going into the contest, not about building specific strength in the event. So working the contest weights and pushing the rep limit or speed of [erformance usually is the way to go.
I was really, really hoping I'd get your input. Thanks a bunch.

Ok, so I'll make some changes then. That setup was based on how I prepare for PL and taking into account that I'll be coming straight off a meet.

What I figure based on what you said is leave the first three weeks as is simply because I'll need to regain work capacity and I know that approach works well for me.

From the fourth week onwards I'll bump the weight/distances etc up to match the actual event (unless they are max lift events, in which case I'd probably do it closer to how I would for PL as it'll likely be three attempts to get the heaviest weight I can). By that stage work capacity will be OK to do that and it'll just improve as I go. Then the week of the contest I'll leave as is so I'll be fresh going in.

Again, thanks for the help with this. I really appreciate it.
Just remember to back it off the week of, same as PL. You want to hit that last week slightly overtrained and then the recovery will give you the same supercompensation. The hardest thing for me was turning on the speed at the contest. Doing the event was not the issue, it was picking up the pace on things like Farmer's. I didn't practice it enough in training because I was frankly better than who I trained with at it or by myself. That was a huge mistake on my part. You have to be able to turn up the wick, not just get to the end.
That's definitely the plan.

I have zero idea how I'll do on moving events. I don't think I'm particularly quick on my feet. I can keep moving, I just don't think I do it that quickly but I'll find out.

One advantage I've got is my friend Mark who owns Ultra will also be putting the competition on so I'll get a very good idea of what's going to happen. He also knows what kind of weights and times I'll need to be competitive and is pretty good at getting under my skin enough to make me find another gear.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#844

Post by MarkKO » Wed Nov 23, 2022 1:05 am

Well, I'm in luck because the sore throat peaked Monday night and was gone by mid Tuesday to be replaced by congestion to accompany the dopeyness and as far as I'm concerned that's a great trade. I might end up looking like Rudolph, but at least it's appropriate for the time of year. Still getting tired very fast though.

Warming up included helping move a vending machine which got me a free Powerade. There were three of us so the effort:reward ratio was decent.

Wednesday
3x523 lbs deadlift on the deadlift bar, with another one and maybe two in the tank. I also can't see any of the falling forward at my sticking point, which is a win. I think you can actually see me resist the pull at that point. So far this would indicate that the changes in training are working. I'm not sure if you recall @CheekiBreekiFitness but we were talking about how to target weak points while ago (and in the deadlift specifically if I recall) and this is the way I favour. I only use a moderately heavy load with longish intervals between as a sort of litmus test while in between using lighter loads done in a hard manner and specifically targeted assistance and accessory work. There's no way I could get away with using that kind of load for multiple sets (and it's only around 87%) let alone regularly
5x3x352 lbs squats which took a little under five minutes. My right ankle tried to do some funky shit in sets four and five so I need to watch that. Most likely being all dopey I just forgot to push my big toe hard down.
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
3x25 facepulls


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Re: MarkKO's training log

#845

Post by CheekiBreekiFitness » Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:02 am

@MarkKO Yeah I remember the discussion. Your approach seems very good, I agree.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#846

Post by Renascent » Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:08 am

Do you ever incorporate hypertrophy-specific blocks into your training, or just generally stick with a strength-specific bias in your load selections?

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#847

Post by MarkKO » Thu Nov 24, 2022 12:02 pm

Renascent wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:08 am Do you ever incorporate hypertrophy-specific blocks into your training, or just generally stick with a strength-specific bias in your load selections?
Not any more, but neither are my load selections biased towards strength as such.

I'm very much of the opinion that outside the top 10 per cent of powerlifters (give or take) the main issue is lack of muscle, with other problems flowing on from that. So there's no way a specific block dedicated to adding mass is going to be enough. Muscle takes a horrifically long time to develop, so even a 12 week block won't do much.

So, hypertrophy should be the primary goal ALL the time.

Except, the competition lifts as well as most of their variations are generally very shitty options when it comes to inducing growth. Not for everyone, but for most people including myself. The problem is, you need to get very good at the competition lifts to be good at powerlifting. Getting good at them means doing them with as close to perfect technique as possible, so the loads have to generally moderate. Heavy enough to require a degree of effort but not so heavy as to have any possibility of impacting technical execution. For me, that's where the density work comes in. It just seems like the most efficient way to work on technique while also working on explosiveness.

Given practising the competition lifts enough to get good at them doesn't take a ton of volume, that leaves the majority of volume to hypertrophy. As soon as I put down the barbell, that's my focus every time I train outside of a peak. If you look through my sessions you can see how that works out in practice. I don't hit quite the volume of assistance you do, but it balances because I think I push the assistance intensity a little harder on one or two sets of each exercise. On the other hand, my SBD intensity is way below yours across the board except for the odd triple.

Really, a huge amount of the underlying principles for me come from Louie, especially the idea that you always train ALL the aspects (speed, strength and size).

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#848

Post by MarkKO » Fri Nov 25, 2022 12:32 am

CheekiBreekiFitness wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:02 am @MarkKO Yeah I remember the discussion. Your approach seems very good, I agree.
It's one way of doing it. Whether it is good for anyone else is a different matter, although I suspect it would work well.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#849

Post by MarkKO » Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:02 am

Feeling much more energetic today.

Friday clean and press away
10x180 lbs so that needs to go up. I'll jump to 192 lbs
3x8x137 lbs, first set strict
8, 7 pullups
3x25 facepulls
3/side x 132 lbs sandbag to shoulder (from herein in STS)
2/side x 165 lbs STS
1/side x 187 lbs STS
1/side 220 lbs STS and I now realise as long as I grip the bag in the right place 220 lbs isn't that hard to shoulder. If I grip it wrong, it is impossible.
2x15 metres 264 lbs sandbag carry and I tried to take a leaf out of @Hardartery book and pick up the pace. I need to learn how to get it higher, where it is currently wobbles a bunch when I go faster
45 metres x 220 lbs per hand farmer's walk with multiple resets because my grip kept giving out. I tried to move as fast as possible here too
3x60 metres x 126 lbs per hand farmer's walk which I basically ran and on the last run the left implement slipped out of my hand and took a fingernail sized callous with it.



All the farmer's walks weren't planned, but my mate Greg was in and he is also dipping his hand in strongman. It's deload, and I was feeling good and wanted another shot to see how I could do so I joined in. His weights were the 126 lbs per hand (he's around 180 lbs and hasn't been lifting quite as long) and I wanted to see how fast I could move with a weight that didn't make my grip give out.

I had FUN. Holy hell. I don't often say that about training.

I also signed up for the March PL meet today, which Greg is also doing as is young Eva, for whom it will be her first sanctioned meet. I'm excited because she has tremendous potential and a good attitude to go with it.

Anyway, today gave me some limited data about how I might do with a moving event.

Block three starts next week so it'll be back to 'normal' work with just STS and sandbag carries; and of course the pressing on Fridays. Going forward I might (read, probably will) throw in an event or two every deload to get a feel for it. I'm really also rather pleased with the axle top set. If I can tidy up my clean I shouldn't be too far off 220 lbs.

I also need to make a mental note to push my intra-set rest a little more. I think I might be getting slack and taking too long between sets.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#850

Post by Hardartery » Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:54 am

MarkKO wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:02 am Feeling much more energetic today.

Friday clean and press away

1/side 220 lbs STS and I now realise as long as I grip the bag in the right place 220 lbs isn't that hard to shoulder. If I grip it wrong, it is impossible.
2x15 metres 264 lbs sandbag carry and I tried to take a leaf out of @Hardartery book and pick up the pace. I need to learn how to get it higher, where it is currently wobbles a bunch when I go faster
45 metres x 220 lbs per hand farmer's walk with multiple resets because my grip kept giving out. I tried to move as fast as possible here too
3x60 metres x 126 lbs per hand farmer's walk which I basically ran and on the last run the left implement slipped out of my hand and took a fingernail sized callous with it.

All the farmer's walks weren't planned, but my mate Greg was in and he is also dipping his hand in strongman. It's deload, and I was feeling good and wanted another shot to see how I could do so I joined in. His weights were the 126 lbs per hand (he's around 180 lbs and hasn't been lifting quite as long) and I wanted to see how fast I could move with a weight that didn't make my grip give out.

I had FUN. Holy hell. I don't often say that about training.

I also signed up for the March PL meet today, which Greg is also doing as is young Eva, for whom it will be her first sanctioned meet. I'm excited because she has tremendous potential and a good attitude to go with it.

Anyway, today gave me some limited data about how I might do with a moving event.

Block three starts next week so it'll be back to 'normal' work with just STS and sandbag carries; and of course the pressing on Fridays. Going forward I might (read, probably will) throw in an event or two every deload to get a feel for it. I'm really also rather pleased with the axle top set. If I can tidy up my clean I shouldn't be too far off 220 lbs.

I also need to make a mental note to push my intra-set rest a little more. I think I might be getting slack and taking too long between sets.
Strongman events are heavily technique, it just doesn't look like it from the outside. Stones are similar to Sandbags, if you screw up the grip even a little good luck getting it. It's a good idea to trim the main callouse on both hands on a regular basis, the handle starts high in the palm and then slides down. This acts like a rolling pin and just kind of pushes all of the meat in your hand up into a wave that positions the edge of the callous in prime position to get scalped by the handle if it has ant serious thickness. Throw in some hand curls with a bar, grip is one of those things that you can pound on in training and it recovers right away.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#851

Post by MarkKO » Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:28 am

Hardartery wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:54 am
MarkKO wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:02 am Feeling much more energetic today.

Friday clean and press away

1/side 220 lbs STS and I now realise as long as I grip the bag in the right place 220 lbs isn't that hard to shoulder. If I grip it wrong, it is impossible.
2x15 metres 264 lbs sandbag carry and I tried to take a leaf out of @Hardartery book and pick up the pace. I need to learn how to get it higher, where it is currently wobbles a bunch when I go faster
45 metres x 220 lbs per hand farmer's walk with multiple resets because my grip kept giving out. I tried to move as fast as possible here too
3x60 metres x 126 lbs per hand farmer's walk which I basically ran and on the last run the left implement slipped out of my hand and took a fingernail sized callous with it.

All the farmer's walks weren't planned, but my mate Greg was in and he is also dipping his hand in strongman. It's deload, and I was feeling good and wanted another shot to see how I could do so I joined in. His weights were the 126 lbs per hand (he's around 180 lbs and hasn't been lifting quite as long) and I wanted to see how fast I could move with a weight that didn't make my grip give out.

I had FUN. Holy hell. I don't often say that about training.

I also signed up for the March PL meet today, which Greg is also doing as is young Eva, for whom it will be her first sanctioned meet. I'm excited because she has tremendous potential and a good attitude to go with it.

Anyway, today gave me some limited data about how I might do with a moving event.

Block three starts next week so it'll be back to 'normal' work with just STS and sandbag carries; and of course the pressing on Fridays. Going forward I might (read, probably will) throw in an event or two every deload to get a feel for it. I'm really also rather pleased with the axle top set. If I can tidy up my clean I shouldn't be too far off 220 lbs.

I also need to make a mental note to push my intra-set rest a little more. I think I might be getting slack and taking too long between sets.
Strongman events are heavily technique, it just doesn't look like it from the outside. Stones are similar to Sandbags, if you screw up the grip even a little good luck getting it. It's a good idea to trim the main callouse on both hands on a regular basis, the handle starts high in the palm and then slides down. This acts like a rolling pin and just kind of pushes all of the meat in your hand up into a wave that positions the edge of the callous in prime position to get scalped by the handle if it has ant serious thickness. Throw in some hand curls with a bar, grip is one of those things that you can pound on in training and it recovers right away.
I've never been good with taking care of my callouses, so I should probably start.

I didn't know grip was something that recovered fast, for some reason I had this idea it was the opposite. I should probably do something then. I'll look up what hand curls are. Thanks.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#852

Post by Hardartery » Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:33 am

MarkKO wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:28 am
Hardartery wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:54 am
MarkKO wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:02 am Feeling much more energetic today.

Friday clean and press away

1/side 220 lbs STS and I now realise as long as I grip the bag in the right place 220 lbs isn't that hard to shoulder. If I grip it wrong, it is impossible.
2x15 metres 264 lbs sandbag carry and I tried to take a leaf out of @Hardartery book and pick up the pace. I need to learn how to get it higher, where it is currently wobbles a bunch when I go faster
45 metres x 220 lbs per hand farmer's walk with multiple resets because my grip kept giving out. I tried to move as fast as possible here too
3x60 metres x 126 lbs per hand farmer's walk which I basically ran and on the last run the left implement slipped out of my hand and took a fingernail sized callous with it.

All the farmer's walks weren't planned, but my mate Greg was in and he is also dipping his hand in strongman. It's deload, and I was feeling good and wanted another shot to see how I could do so I joined in. His weights were the 126 lbs per hand (he's around 180 lbs and hasn't been lifting quite as long) and I wanted to see how fast I could move with a weight that didn't make my grip give out.

I had FUN. Holy hell. I don't often say that about training.

I also signed up for the March PL meet today, which Greg is also doing as is young Eva, for whom it will be her first sanctioned meet. I'm excited because she has tremendous potential and a good attitude to go with it.

Anyway, today gave me some limited data about how I might do with a moving event.

Block three starts next week so it'll be back to 'normal' work with just STS and sandbag carries; and of course the pressing on Fridays. Going forward I might (read, probably will) throw in an event or two every deload to get a feel for it. I'm really also rather pleased with the axle top set. If I can tidy up my clean I shouldn't be too far off 220 lbs.

I also need to make a mental note to push my intra-set rest a little more. I think I might be getting slack and taking too long between sets.
Strongman events are heavily technique, it just doesn't look like it from the outside. Stones are similar to Sandbags, if you screw up the grip even a little good luck getting it. It's a good idea to trim the main callouse on both hands on a regular basis, the handle starts high in the palm and then slides down. This acts like a rolling pin and just kind of pushes all of the meat in your hand up into a wave that positions the edge of the callous in prime position to get scalped by the handle if it has ant serious thickness. Throw in some hand curls with a bar, grip is one of those things that you can pound on in training and it recovers right away.
I've never been good with taking care of my callouses, so I should probably start.

I didn't know grip was something that recovered fast, for some reason I had this idea it was the opposite. I should probably do something then. I'll look up what hand curls are. Thanks.
It occurs to me that Hand Curls may just be my name for them. Take a bar behind your back with your normal DOH grip, let it straighten out your hand until you are barely holding it on the finger tips and then roll the bar back up. Repeat until you kinda can't. Adjust weight as necessary like anything else.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#853

Post by MarkKO » Sat Nov 26, 2022 1:16 am

Hardartery wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:33 am
MarkKO wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 10:28 am
Hardartery wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:54 am
MarkKO wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:02 am Feeling much more energetic today.

Friday clean and press away

1/side 220 lbs STS and I now realise as long as I grip the bag in the right place 220 lbs isn't that hard to shoulder. If I grip it wrong, it is impossible.
2x15 metres 264 lbs sandbag carry and I tried to take a leaf out of @Hardartery book and pick up the pace. I need to learn how to get it higher, where it is currently wobbles a bunch when I go faster
45 metres x 220 lbs per hand farmer's walk with multiple resets because my grip kept giving out. I tried to move as fast as possible here too
3x60 metres x 126 lbs per hand farmer's walk which I basically ran and on the last run the left implement slipped out of my hand and took a fingernail sized callous with it.

All the farmer's walks weren't planned, but my mate Greg was in and he is also dipping his hand in strongman. It's deload, and I was feeling good and wanted another shot to see how I could do so I joined in. His weights were the 126 lbs per hand (he's around 180 lbs and hasn't been lifting quite as long) and I wanted to see how fast I could move with a weight that didn't make my grip give out.

I had FUN. Holy hell. I don't often say that about training.

I also signed up for the March PL meet today, which Greg is also doing as is young Eva, for whom it will be her first sanctioned meet. I'm excited because she has tremendous potential and a good attitude to go with it.

Anyway, today gave me some limited data about how I might do with a moving event.

Block three starts next week so it'll be back to 'normal' work with just STS and sandbag carries; and of course the pressing on Fridays. Going forward I might (read, probably will) throw in an event or two every deload to get a feel for it. I'm really also rather pleased with the axle top set. If I can tidy up my clean I shouldn't be too far off 220 lbs.

I also need to make a mental note to push my intra-set rest a little more. I think I might be getting slack and taking too long between sets.
Strongman events are heavily technique, it just doesn't look like it from the outside. Stones are similar to Sandbags, if you screw up the grip even a little good luck getting it. It's a good idea to trim the main callouse on both hands on a regular basis, the handle starts high in the palm and then slides down. This acts like a rolling pin and just kind of pushes all of the meat in your hand up into a wave that positions the edge of the callous in prime position to get scalped by the handle if it has ant serious thickness. Throw in some hand curls with a bar, grip is one of those things that you can pound on in training and it recovers right away.
I've never been good with taking care of my callouses, so I should probably start.

I didn't know grip was something that recovered fast, for some reason I had this idea it was the opposite. I should probably do something then. I'll look up what hand curls are. Thanks.
It occurs to me that Hand Curls may just be my name for them. Take a bar behind your back with your normal DOH grip, let it straighten out your hand until you are barely holding it on the finger tips and then roll the bar back up. Repeat until you kinda can't. Adjust weight as necessary like anything else.
It's my name for them too now. I'll work them in somewhere.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#854

Post by MarkKO » Mon Nov 28, 2022 12:34 am

A week makes one hell of a difference, which is obvious really and of course I'm on the other end of the cold. At any rate, block three is kicking off reasonably well.

My palm where the callous tore off is OK but not so OK that I can grip normally. If it doesn't get more OK by Wednesday deadlifts will be interesting because I don't want to do what I did today, which is grip with fingers only and no palm.

Added in hand curls to my warmup, just 2x25 of the bar only to get a feel.

Monday bench
3x292 lbs with another stupidly shithouse unrack. Apparently I might have an excuse according to Mark because the Fatpad doesn't quite line up with the uprights the way the original pad did. It isn't a good excuse though, so I won't use it.
5x5x204 lbs in four minutes and 24 seconds so I get to add 2.5% next time
10, 7, 8 pullups
2x10x132 lbs, 8x132 lbs JM press off pins made somewhat awkward because my right hip kept locking up so I ended up doing them as Larsen JM presses off pins except for the last set
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x20x2 chains/side chain fly, 42x2 chains/side chain fly at which point I decided it would take too long to get to failure. Good pump, but next time if there are only two chains on the straps I'm adding one.
2x50 facepulls
2x12 metres x 264 lbs sandbag carries with pace again. No sandbag to shoulder because both the lighter bags have been punctured and need a more permanent fix that duct tape.



Pace was better today as well.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#855

Post by MarkKO » Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:06 am

Very conveniently I hit a wall about 30 minutes before I started training. Zero idea why.

Spider bar squat
5x456 lbs, so I'll to add 2.5% next time. The last rep was, um, interesting
5x5x357 lbs in six minutes and 58 seconds, so I get to add 2.5% next time. Between sets I kept fading out, which was also interesting
2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 1x352 lbs DL on stiff bar with 10 seconds between sets. Used straps because the torn callous wasn't quite OK enough. Stupidly used axle straps, which I ended up treading on between sets five and six so that first rep of set six completely threw me off and I lost what focus I had
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
2x25 air squats done as Hatfield squats
25 walking lunges which for some reason hurt my knees


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Re: MarkKO's training log

#856

Post by Hardartery » Wed Nov 30, 2022 7:11 am

MarkKO wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:06 am Very conveniently I hit a wall about 30 minutes before I started training. Zero idea why.

Spider bar squat
5x456 lbs, so I'll to add 2.5% next time. The last rep was, um, interesting
5x5x357 lbs in six minutes and 58 seconds, so I get to add 2.5% next time. Between sets I kept fading out, which was also interesting
2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 1x352 lbs DL on stiff bar with 10 seconds between sets. Used straps because the torn callous wasn't quite OK enough. Stupidly used axle straps, which I ended up treading on between sets five and six so that first rep of set six completely threw me off and I lost what focus I had
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
2x25 air squats done as Hatfield squats
25 walking lunges which for some reason hurt my knees
I have thoughts, may not be usseful. Do you have any idea what your blood suger is doing? You might be dropping into hypoglycemia, which is very controllable. Or not, the only way to know is to carry around a kit and check it periodically to know what it does. I know that I have a monitor and occasionally just check at specific point over the day to see where I'm at. My reason is looming diabetes, I am going well out of my way to stave it off, but I have discovered that my glucose levels don't do what I would expect at all. I also practically go to sleep between sets if I don't mess with my phone or something between sets, but I also am borderline narcoleptic and fall asleep easily and under pretty much any circumstance. It's part of how I function. I turn it on for the lift (Not always, accessory stuff or iso stuff I do essentially asleep TBH) and turn it off between, it is too much to just stay "Up" for a whole session continuously just like I would never be able to pull that off at a comp.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#857

Post by MarkKO » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:25 am

Hardartery wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 7:11 am
MarkKO wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:06 am Very conveniently I hit a wall about 30 minutes before I started training. Zero idea why.

Spider bar squat
5x456 lbs, so I'll to add 2.5% next time. The last rep was, um, interesting
5x5x357 lbs in six minutes and 58 seconds, so I get to add 2.5% next time. Between sets I kept fading out, which was also interesting
2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 1x352 lbs DL on stiff bar with 10 seconds between sets. Used straps because the torn callous wasn't quite OK enough. Stupidly used axle straps, which I ended up treading on between sets five and six so that first rep of set six completely threw me off and I lost what focus I had
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
2x25 air squats done as Hatfield squats
25 walking lunges which for some reason hurt my knees
I have thoughts, may not be usseful. Do you have any idea what your blood suger is doing? You might be dropping into hypoglycemia, which is very controllable. Or not, the only way to know is to carry around a kit and check it periodically to know what it does. I know that I have a monitor and occasionally just check at specific point over the day to see where I'm at. My reason is looming diabetes, I am going well out of my way to stave it off, but I have discovered that my glucose levels don't do what I would expect at all. I also practically go to sleep between sets if I don't mess with my phone or something between sets, but I also am borderline narcoleptic and fall asleep easily and under pretty much any circumstance. It's part of how I function. I turn it on for the lift (Not always, accessory stuff or iso stuff I do essentially asleep TBH) and turn it off between, it is too much to just stay "Up" for a whole session continuously just like I would never be able to pull that off at a comp.
I have zero idea what my blood sugar is doing. I haven't had anything like that looked at in years. I did a fasted blood glucose test maybe five years ago and that came back completely fine, but that's the only data I've got.

I think I'm just run down to be honest, and it's starting to catch up with me. This whole fading out between sets thing isn't something that happens often at all.

I've got three weeks to go until the end of year shut down and then a two week break which I think I really need.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#858

Post by Hardartery » Wed Nov 30, 2022 1:31 pm

MarkKO wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:25 am
Hardartery wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 7:11 am
MarkKO wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:06 am Very conveniently I hit a wall about 30 minutes before I started training. Zero idea why.

Spider bar squat
5x456 lbs, so I'll to add 2.5% next time. The last rep was, um, interesting
5x5x357 lbs in six minutes and 58 seconds, so I get to add 2.5% next time. Between sets I kept fading out, which was also interesting
2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 1x352 lbs DL on stiff bar with 10 seconds between sets. Used straps because the torn callous wasn't quite OK enough. Stupidly used axle straps, which I ended up treading on between sets five and six so that first rep of set six completely threw me off and I lost what focus I had
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
2x25 air squats done as Hatfield squats
25 walking lunges which for some reason hurt my knees
I have thoughts, may not be usseful. Do you have any idea what your blood suger is doing? You might be dropping into hypoglycemia, which is very controllable. Or not, the only way to know is to carry around a kit and check it periodically to know what it does. I know that I have a monitor and occasionally just check at specific point over the day to see where I'm at. My reason is looming diabetes, I am going well out of my way to stave it off, but I have discovered that my glucose levels don't do what I would expect at all. I also practically go to sleep between sets if I don't mess with my phone or something between sets, but I also am borderline narcoleptic and fall asleep easily and under pretty much any circumstance. It's part of how I function. I turn it on for the lift (Not always, accessory stuff or iso stuff I do essentially asleep TBH) and turn it off between, it is too much to just stay "Up" for a whole session continuously just like I would never be able to pull that off at a comp.
I have zero idea what my blood sugar is doing. I haven't had anything like that looked at in years. I did a fasted blood glucose test maybe five years ago and that came back completely fine, but that's the only data I've got.

I think I'm just run down to be honest, and it's starting to catch up with me. This whole fading out between sets thing isn't something that happens often at all.

I've got three weeks to go until the end of year shut down and then a two week break which I think I really need.
I was thinking of the recent intra-workout nutrition craze (Which I think is nonsense) and that I have seen some weird things going on in training videos. Like Larry Wheels training with Thor, and they are squeezing large shots of honey into their mouths at some points during the workout. They weren't making a big thing out of it or trying to sell honey, it just seemed to be a thing that Thor does to combat the overall drain of the session. Keeping in mind he appears to mainline Reign as well, I imagine he is not lacking in stimulants while lifting but trying to stave off hypoglycemia or something.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#859

Post by MarkKO » Wed Nov 30, 2022 2:39 pm

Hardartery wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 1:31 pm
MarkKO wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:25 am
Hardartery wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 7:11 am
MarkKO wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 12:06 am Very conveniently I hit a wall about 30 minutes before I started training. Zero idea why.

Spider bar squat
5x456 lbs, so I'll to add 2.5% next time. The last rep was, um, interesting
5x5x357 lbs in six minutes and 58 seconds, so I get to add 2.5% next time. Between sets I kept fading out, which was also interesting
2, 2, 3, 2, 5, 1x352 lbs DL on stiff bar with 10 seconds between sets. Used straps because the torn callous wasn't quite OK enough. Stupidly used axle straps, which I ended up treading on between sets five and six so that first rep of set six completely threw me off and I lost what focus I had
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
2x25 air squats done as Hatfield squats
25 walking lunges which for some reason hurt my knees
I have thoughts, may not be usseful. Do you have any idea what your blood suger is doing? You might be dropping into hypoglycemia, which is very controllable. Or not, the only way to know is to carry around a kit and check it periodically to know what it does. I know that I have a monitor and occasionally just check at specific point over the day to see where I'm at. My reason is looming diabetes, I am going well out of my way to stave it off, but I have discovered that my glucose levels don't do what I would expect at all. I also practically go to sleep between sets if I don't mess with my phone or something between sets, but I also am borderline narcoleptic and fall asleep easily and under pretty much any circumstance. It's part of how I function. I turn it on for the lift (Not always, accessory stuff or iso stuff I do essentially asleep TBH) and turn it off between, it is too much to just stay "Up" for a whole session continuously just like I would never be able to pull that off at a comp.
I have zero idea what my blood sugar is doing. I haven't had anything like that looked at in years. I did a fasted blood glucose test maybe five years ago and that came back completely fine, but that's the only data I've got.

I think I'm just run down to be honest, and it's starting to catch up with me. This whole fading out between sets thing isn't something that happens often at all.

I've got three weeks to go until the end of year shut down and then a two week break which I think I really need.
I was thinking of the recent intra-workout nutrition craze (Which I think is nonsense) and that I have seen some weird things going on in training videos. Like Larry Wheels training with Thor, and they are squeezing large shots of honey into their mouths at some points during the workout. They weren't making a big thing out of it or trying to sell honey, it just seemed to be a thing that Thor does to combat the overall drain of the session. Keeping in mind he appears to mainline Reign as well, I imagine he is not lacking in stimulants while lifting but trying to stave off hypoglycemia or something.
That's not the first I've heard of the honey thing. I've heard Phil Harrington recommend it.

For me, I'd be really surprised if my BGL was low unless there's something seriously screwy with my insulin and glycogen because I eat a decent amount and a reasonable amount of that is carbs.

Like the BP thing, if it keeps happening I'll get it checked out.

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Re: MarkKO's training log

#860

Post by MarkKO » Fri Dec 02, 2022 1:22 am

Bang on cue started feeling flat as all hell as work finished. This time I decided to take some pre workout when I got to the gym, that same nootropic one with no stimulants. I almost opted for a nap on the couches before training.

Friday log clean and press away
4x187 lbs, 1x187 lbs so that's one more rep to the first set than last time. I'll get five next time. I leaned back a bunch more and that helps.
4x8x143 lbs, first two sets strict which, unsurprisingly, was good advice from @Hardartery
10, 8, 7 pullups, callous tear seems to have healed fully but man these were hard today
5L/5Rx60 lbs DB clean and press away
5L/5Rx71 lbs DB clean and press away (I need to go back and check, I think previously I've logged these as 77 lbs which they definitely aren't)
4L/4Rx82 lbs DB clean and press away which was a nice surprise
3L/2Rx82 lbs DB clean and press away, two on the right because on the third the collar gave out and the plates fell off the back
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
3x102 lbs, 3x82 lbs, 8x62 lbs, 10x42 lbs, 26x22 lbs tricep pushdowns with failure on rep 27. Ok, so what happened is, I didn't look at the stack closely enough to see that someone had loaded up two 11 lbs plates right at the bottom, under the 20 lbs plates. I just put the usual four 20s on and was shocked when they felt so damn heavy. I didn't discover what had happened until I'd stripped off two 20s.
3x35 facepulls
2x12 metres x 264 lbs sandbag carry. Longitudinal pick is getting easier, or rather it's still hard as hell but I can do it even when I'm tired now. Legs were heavy though, from Wednesday. Couldn't move as fast.

Then my mate Greg was doing yoke walks, and we'd kind of planned on my joining him because he likes that I get in his ear and push him. I've never done a yoke before.

20 metres x 507 lbs
40 metres x 507 lbs
5x40 metres x 330 lbs, which was Greg's working work. I used these to just move as fast as I possibly good without the yoke flailing around.

Yoke is much easier than farmer's walks for me.



The pressing also felt a ton better with both implements today. I just need to work on my balance with log leaning back, because leaning makes the press so much easier. The DB felt amazing today. I took the collar mishap as a cue to stop, but really if it hadn't I would have been tempted to keep going.

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