IRON & STONE: Adventures of an Amateur Strongman

[cole]

Also did a ham on the Weber that came out awesome... apparently the trick is over cooking it...

Ham is good cooked at high temps i think, gets the skin nice and crispy. Trick is not leaving it on too long, that way the middle stays juicy. fuck yea.

[mouse]

Also did a ham on the Weber that came out awesome... apparently the trick is over cooking it...

Ham is good cooked at high temps i think, gets the skin nice and crispy. Trick is not leaving it on too long, that way the middle stays juicy. fuck yea.

I'm actually gonna sort of disagree and say I prefer to go all the way and like my ham kinda dry. Even yesterday and today reheating some for ham and eggs, dries it out a little more and still good to me...

Oven never seemed to get it dry enough for our liking so charcoal is probably the standard now going forward...

[mouse]

4/2/2024

Deadlift
520x5, 475x4x5

Incline Bench (Neutral)
210x8, 225x8, 235x8, 245x8

JM Press
95x12, 115x12, 125x12x2

JMs are probably back in for now, didn't notice any AIDS aggravation and honestly got a better tricep pump out of them.

Edit: A Quick Word on Tonnage
Obviously the goal here has been increasing tonnage week to week in some way or another, whether that's adding weight to lower sets, upping the top set, or just adding sets. I haven't been doing any hard math until today out of curiosity and realized I probably could have kept deads at 4x4 and still increased my tonnage.

Week 1 was 8785 lbs
Week 2 was 9235 lbs

Week 3 (this week) top set + 4x4 would have been 10,200 lbs but I pushed through to 4x5 and it wound up being 12,100 lbs. Not saying this is to my detriment or anything, but it's interesting to note for the future that maybe I could have drawn it out to 4 weeks before I felt like deloading....

[mouse]

4/4/2024

Box Squat
275x8, 290x8, 305x8, 315x8

SLDL
330x6, 355x6, 380x6, 415x3x3

Barbell Shrug
365x10, 375x10, 385x10

Pull Ups
5x2 (alternate singles and dubs?)

Something awesome is running or has run through the house. Lots of barfing. The super wet gnarly diapers seem to have passed. I probably had the bug a couple days ago but lack of sleep probably masked it a bit. Worst hit unfortunately is baby mama, who might now have developed mastitis...

Life is grand.

[mouse]

4/5/2024

Press
185x5, 200x5, 210x5, 220x5, 225x6

Close Grip Bench
225x8, 245x8, 255x8, 260x8

Barbell Row
165x12x4

Diamond Push Up
4x15

Pin Loaded Curl*
40x12x4

*around 7:25 minute mark is what I'm going for here. These peaked my curiosity and I finally put down the $30 for a loading pin. Obviously won't be whatever gadget he has but I have a sled handle and fat grips so... same difference...



Damn I really didn't want to train today. Slept like absolute shit. Felt off all morning. Went back to a straight bar for overhead today and added some volume. CGB RPE didn't change much from last week. Spent some time figuring out how best to set up these curls since I suspect I'm built a little different than Alan. Not nearly as good of a pump than the last two weeks but I get a real good stretch and the last couple of reps are the right level of burn with less desire to cheat. Hopefully they yield some decent results.

[mouse]

I made IG influencer spicy nuggs tonight...

Obviously doesn't beat the fried variety but if you believe the macros:

580 cal / 18c / 11f / 98p

Not bad if it let's me chow down without feeling shitty...

Went a bit too hot on the cayenne so I probably will in fact feel shitty but that's beside the point

[mouse]

BW: 259.7

[DCR]

Hahaha

Same. People always say to me how hard it must be to not gain weight in Louisiana. Uh, no. It’s my quarterly trips up to New York that kill me. Three weeks of eating pasta and being out every night - so two or so beers or glasses of wine daily - and I’m a fucking dumpster fire.

[mouse]

Hahaha

Same. People always say to me how hard it must be to not gain weight in Louisiana. Uh, no. It’s my quarterly trips up to New York that kill me. Three weeks of eating pasta and being out every night - so two or so beers or glasses of wine daily - and I’m a fucking dumpster fire.

Bro let me tell you... I hate this state. Loathe it. Will not die here.

But when we talk about life plans/retirement/where we would move to? Best I can do is maybe just over the line into PA so that at any time I can hop across the border for some grub and the Bills/Sabres...

Best food in the world is in WNY lol

[cole]

I'm still wondering how Sabres can't seek to get in the playoffs with guys like T Thompson, Dahlin and UPL in net

[mouse]

I'm still wondering how Sabres can't seek to get in the playoffs with guys like T Thompson, Dahlin and UPL in net

Coaching, team management, and the fact they play like they have no balls has something to do with it...

It's a young team with a lot to be hopeful for... and technically we aren't OUT yet... just like a 0.003% shot hahaha

[mouse]

4/8/2024

Squat
385x3, 415x3, 455x1

Bench
345x1, 370x1, 390x1 (PR)*

EZ Bar Curl
105x5, 125x5, 95x8x3

Radiation from the eclipse must be having an effect on my bench. That's the first bench PR since 2019 when I originally set 385. I almost didn't load it, and it certainly wasn't gorgeous or fast, but fortune favors the bold sometimes and I'm glad I did it...

[DCR]

Bench
345x1, 370x1, 390x1 (PR)*
...
Radiation from the eclipse must be having an effect on my bench. That's the first bench PR since 2019 when I originally set 385. I almost didn't load it, and it certainly wasn't gorgeous or fast, but fortune favors the bold sometimes and I'm glad I did it...

Fuck yeah. Paging back through your log, looks like this came out of nowhere, or you're far more in tune with yourself than I could ever hope to be.

[cole]

nice PR

[mouse]

Bench
345x1, 370x1, 390x1 (PR)*
...
Radiation from the eclipse must be having an effect on my bench. That's the first bench PR since 2019 when I originally set 385. I almost didn't load it, and it certainly wasn't gorgeous or fast, but fortune favors the bold sometimes and I'm glad I did it...

Fuck yeah. Paging back through your log, looks like this came out of nowhere, or you're far more in tune with yourself than I could ever hope to be.

Kinda, I wanted to do some fun singles is all I knew, and 370 felt really good in a way that I knew there was a chance. Like I mentioned I almost didn't load it up. This definately felt similar to the last time I pressed a 300 log, where it was just a good day (or in that case an early peak that I misread) except back then I didn't take the shot.

Didnt want to make that mistake again hahaha...

Maybe the light is still on for 405 at some point in the future lol

[mouse]

Eclipse was pretty cool too if you were in the right area. The glasses I got my kids were useless because of our WNY overcast, but it was fun to see how dark it got in the middle of the day. Our two year old got VERY confused and needed a little comforting but it was funny to see him react when the lights came back on...

[mouse]

4/9/2024

Deadlift
565x1, 605x1

Incline Bench
215x8, 225x8, 235x8, 245x8

JM Press
125x12x3

605 was kind hitchy but it's not like the bar stopped moving... just not as strong as I've been hahaha...

Some pivots and retools coming in, maybe as soon as the next few days...

[Hardartery]

4/8/2024

Squat
385x3, 415x3, 455x1

Bench
345x1, 370x1, 390x1 (PR)*

EZ Bar Curl
105x5, 125x5, 95x8x3

Radiation from the eclipse must be having an effect on my bench. That's the first bench PR since 2019 when I originally set 385. I almost didn't load it, and it certainly wasn't gorgeous or fast, but fortune favors the bold sometimes and I'm glad I did it...

Yeah buddy!

[mouse]

4/11/2024

Paused Squat
275x8, 295x8, 315x8

Close Grip Bench
255x6, 275x6, 285x6

RDL
225x10x3

[mouse]

4/13/2024

BW: 257.8

Log Press
185x3x8, 205x1, 225x1, 245x1, 260x1

13" Deadlift
500x5x3

DB Curl
30x12x3

Pin Loaded Curl
45x15x4

1) hey, I strung together 4 weeks of a consistent trend downward... I'm back to work after next week so hopefully I can keep this up...

2) December was the last time I broke out the log. The plan today was to really just do those triples with very short rests to get some extra overhead volume but I got the idea to hit singles after. Didn't expect I'd wind up with a BW+ (by a little) viper with no belt/sleeves/wraps hahaha...

3) farmers or yoke was on the menu but the weather didn't break like I'd hoped. Yesterday I spent the first half of my day dealing with water in the garage, and the second half with in laws, so that's why training waited

4) pin curls had to be figured out again with an actual pin. Still figuring them out but I'm gonna keep at it if for nothing else because I invested $30 in them now. They work better with a bolt instead of a carabiner and while they don't produce a great pump there was for sure a bit of post training soreness? So maybe that's good?