My Strongman Training logs
| jg250 |  | My Strongman Training logs - with SMOLOV 13 week training | 24-04-2013 @ 17:59 |
 Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 17.05.2013 @ 11:42 AM by jg250 Hi, John here from Northampton, UK. I am 6'3" and weigh 109kg, 32 years old.I have been training for about 10 years on and off. Never did anything seriously though and always got so far down the line and stopped! I have found an awesome gym in PTS Northampton where they are equipped for strongman and powerlifting. I did some strongman event training and was hooked. The Stronglifts training helped me get a good base for strength work! I am now at the point where I have competed in a novice event at Bulks in Gravesend this year and came 9th out of 19 which I was very pleased with. Since I have been training and preparing to be ready for RCFOS this Saturday where I compete in the Novice class again with 39 others. I will be posting my training for a motivational point of view for myself and any potential strongman beginners. My current 1RM are: Olympic Bar Deadlift 220kg Trap Bar Deadlift 230kg Squat 140kg Ass to Grass! Log Lift 102.5kg Bench 125kg My 2 main weaknesses currently is my leg strength and an ongoing impingement of the infraspinatus on my left shoulder I will put more on when I remember or write them down as they are written down at the gym on the PB Board. Once RCFOS is done I will be doing some recovery work then back to my 5/3/1/deload cycle to up my strength and size. See ya soon John | ||
| jg250 | | Royal Counties Festival of Strength | 30-04-2013 @ 10:02 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | So Saturday was the Novice event at RCFOS in Maidenhead. Great turn out with 47 competitors. Started off with a poor number selection 44 of 47! Waited about 2 hours for my pull of the Steam Engine. Between the start and my go we had rain/sleet/snow etc so conditions were not great! I managed to get a time of 32 seconds which was respectable and got me 22nd out 47 which I was ok about. Next event was the log lift of 80kgs for reps in 75 seconds. I had been practicing this in my gym and knew this would be my best event..... I started lifting and immediately I realised the 80kg I train with on a training log and the 80kg competition log were completely different beasts, the comp log felt loads heavier. I was hoping for 8-10 reps as I had done 7 in 60 seconds at the gym. This didn't happen, on lift 3 I was trying for too much speed and the momentum sent me toppling backwards which wasn't recoverable with the weight in the air so I dropped it nearly landing on Craig's feet! I quickly turned and picked up the weight to try again, at this point I was feeling the pressure and the disappointment due to my failure on my favourite event. I managed to get 2 more reps out finishing with 4. I was fuming about my performance and knew I had learned valuable lessons! The next event was the 200kg deadlift for reps in 75 seconds. I wasn't expecting a great finish on this event as my 1RM is only 230kg, my aim was 3-5. The whistle blew and we were away, I was first to lift and managed 3 successive lifts quite easily, the 4th lift was very hard on the right hand side and my pull was wonky! For pull number 5 I was stopped as beknown to me the bar had broken on lift 2 with the allen key bolt coming out which meant the weights were free to move on the right side of the bar. It took the judge and MC about 10-15 seconds to fix which I was getting more and more anxious about finishing my lifts in. I started again and fired out to more reps, I checked time and I had 20seconds left so took a breather but then next thing I know 5,4,3,2,1 time up. Need to manage time on lifts better next time but still feel cheated by the broken bar! Never mind its a competition so it could happen to anyone! Next event was the dreaded fingals finger! I hadn't trained for it as I was expecting tyre flip into yoke walk for some reason. The finger was a piece of iron or steel weighing 160kg. We had 3 flips to get in as quick a time as possible. I was about number 30 to go up so had seen the technique of others and thought through the lifts I do and how I can apply it all to get a quick time. My clean and press is quite quick which helped me here. The times previous had been from about 25 seconds up to 45 seconds from memory. So its my go and I am set. On the whistle I clean the finger to my shoulders but caught in my hands ready to push up straight away (my surprise the finger felt quite light). I did my 3 flips in a quick time and managed to place myself 1st with a time on 18 seconds. There were still a lot of competitors to go so it was now the pain of watching and hoping my time didn't get beat! With about 10 more competitors to go the times started to tumble, there were 4 x 17second times and the last a 16 second blast which if you blinked you felt you would miss! Still happy with my 6th in that event though! The last and final event was the farmers walk. This was planned to be 90kg per hand for distance. Due to the time of day approx. 17:30 it was changed to 20m sprint with 100kg. I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to test my grip strength after catering my training to distance with turns. Anyway being fast on the fingals finger meant I was nearly last to run. I heard my name and went up to the start line and chose my lane which looked quickest/driest! Then I am there waiting for ages as my opponent is not there or anywhere to be seen, eventually he comes out of the garage where everyone is waiting, keeping warm and dry! This guy is huge and seeing him walk towards me makes me determined to beat him no matter what. On the start ready to go 3,2,taking the strain of the weight now, 1 I am gone couldn't see the guy on my left so I know he is behind me but I am not giving any chances away here. My skinny little legs moving as fast as they can up the strip, with about 5m to go I start to stumble and lean forward. I stay calm and slow down for a metre getting my feet sorted and then blast across the line in 8.92 seconds. This was a surprise to me as this was a top 5 time. The final 4 competitors go and finish, leaving me with a finish of 4th place in the farmers walk. I am really chuffed to bits on my position for the last 2 events hoping to be in the top 20 out of 47. Only time will tell my position as they are going to be announced this week at some point. When I get them I will post up here and let you all know. Overall a great day, looking forward to the next comps now! The day after comes and I am feeling really sore, both my shoulders have the same feeling from when my shoulder impingement was really bad and my left tricep feels like it isn't attached to my elbow! I am now R.I.C.E'ing it to help recovery and have an appointment booked with my osteopath next week. Lets hope its not too bad so I can continue training! Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | First training session after RCFOS | 04-05-2013 @ 01:34 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 17.05.2013 @ 11:43 AM by jg250 With my shoulders still not feeling 100% i decided to go for a deadlift session to get me moving again.Today is 5 reps. Olympic Bar Deadlift 2x sets of 70kg to warmup 1x110kg 1x130kg 1x150kg 1x170kg 1x190kg 4 reps (ran out of grip) Next was on to face pulls on the cable machine 1x 30kg 1x 40kg 1x50kg 1x60kg 1x70kg Then on to the Reverse hyper machine for posterior chain & hamstrings 1x 15kg 1x 30kg 1x 40kg 1x 50kg Not a bad session however looking at the other strongmen on here i need to add more to my training such as straight legged deadlifts and rack pulls. Finished with some strategic foam rolling on my shoulder blades where the muscle pain/discomfort is. Still icing the shoulders and taking ibuprofen to help. Next session is Sunday for overhead, lets see how that goes! Cheers John | ||
| JB |  | ... | 04-05-2013 @ 12:31 |
 Member 2338, 210 posts SQ 227.5, BP 150, DL 260637.5 kgs @ 106kgs UnEq | nice little write up | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 04-05-2013 @ 17:53 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | JB said:nice little write up Cheers :-) | ||
| jg250 | | RCFOS Results | 04-05-2013 @ 23:59 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | The results are in for RCFOS Novice Comp. I came 15th out of 47 so well happy. Not so happy when i realised if i didnt fluff the log and got my training average 7-9 reps and the bar breaking in deadlifting where i would have gotten about 8-9 pulls. I would have been 7th. Such a shame but these things happen and will be be better and stronger for the next comp in July. Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 05-05-2013 @ 23:02 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Event training today, nothing too heavy as i am still recovering from Saturday at RCFOS. Started with Yoke walk for 20 m 1x 170kg 1x 190kg 1x 210kg 1x 230kg Next on to the Log lift, was dreading this after the RCFOS fumble but went ahead with it anyway. 1 rep sets 1 x 40kg log (2 sets) 1 x 60kg 1 x 80kg 1 x 90kg 1 x 100kg Was going to go for a PB of 105 but didnt want to push it! Next event was the 320kg Tyre Flip for 5 reps in as fast as possible. Only 2 runs. First attempt was 33 seconds after fumbling for the grip a few times. Second go was 27 seconds which i was well happy with as my previous best on 3 flips was 16 seconds, the first 3 flips on this attempt was competed in 14 seconds. I lost time when i ate the tyre on the way up on the 4th flip! Next we were on to the farmers walk. 4 lengths of 20 metres 1st go was with the handles at 20kg per hand just to get the speed right. 2nd, 3rd & 4th all with 60 kg per hand. Starting to feel fatigued now so i didnt go up with the weight. Next event was the medley. This was set up with the prowler with riope attached for a 20m rope pull then 20m sprint to the finish. The weight was 210kg and i was feeling fatugued from the earlier events. I managed this in 1m 07s which was slow but i was totally fubarred at this point. This event left me blowing and feeling some pain in my shoulders so i retired before the final event which was a grip hold with fat grips on the trap bar. Went home after catching my breath and rehydrating myself (a lot) and then preceeded to go to sleep as i had only had 4 hours after my nightshift on saturday. Sometimes the shifts do get in the way of training but mostly i have more time to train and can go at times when the gym isn't busy which suits me just fine! Next week i will be starting with Squats on 5reps day on Monday (possibly tuesday if still fatigued from today) Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 07-05-2013 @ 18:07 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Not really a training update today, however thought I would anyway! Went to see my Osteopath today regarding some shoulder pain and pain in my elbow. Turns out I have tennis elbow and need to work at strengthening my lower traps as I am winging. This basically means that instead of my lower traps holding my shoulder blade to my ribs it isn't strong enough to do that so is allowing it to separate from my ribs. This is happening both sides to varying amounts. Got some stretching to do and am waiting for some exercises to carry out to speed up recover and ensure my muscles are well balanced. Feeling a bit bruised after todays session but training will commence at the end of the week (Thursday/Friday) If anyone has any tips or advice feel free to chip in. Thanks John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 09-05-2013 @ 13:41 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Ok so with the dreaded Tennis Elbow I have decided to work on my weak area during recovery time. Weak Area = Legs I am sure most of you will have heard of Smolov 13 week Squat cycle, this is what I have chosen to do to bring my squat/leg strength up. This 13 cycle is purely for squatting however I will be doing some upper body work, albeit light and technical to avoid aggravating my injury. I did my first session today after setting up the programme from the stronglifts website. My current PB is 145kg. The total PB on the cycle is 130kg which is mine minus 10% roughly. Based on this my first session was as seen below: 3 sets of 8 reps 85kg 1 set of 5 reps 90kg 2 sets of 2 reps 97.5kg 1 set of 1 rep 105kg I will be repeating this workout tomorrow again then moving on to the next session on Saturday where the weights will be: 4 sets of 5 reps 90kg 1 set of 3 reps 97.5kg 2 sets of 2 reps 105kg 1 set of 1 rep 117.5kg Now these aren't big weights but I can tell this is going to be an intense 5-13 weeks. I say 5-13 weeks as after 5 weeks I will re-assess my eblows and potentially go back to my normal 5/3/1 with event stuff thrown in to the mix as I don't want to lose focus on my strongman lifts as my technique is pretty good right now! Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 10-05-2013 @ 17:25 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Day 2 of Smolov! Legs are already tight from yesterday, lack of sleep last night has left me feeling drained but nevermind got to train to get ahead! All went well, exactly the same as yesterday. I was getting some lower back pumps, gonna look at some taurine. Nothing really to report for today other than that. Like I said yesterday its a slightly different workout tomorrow so will let you know how that goes! Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 11-05-2013 @ 20:07 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Day 3 in the Smolov house! The past 2 days I have been getting lower back pain when squatting, figured this to be down to my technique or down to the fact I have a weak posterior chain. Probably technique if anything, something a PT next week will sort out! Carried on with Day 3 of the Smolov training plan as shown below: 4 sets of 5 reps 90kg 1 set of 3 reps 97.5kg 2 sets of 2 reps 105kg 1 set of 1 rep 117.5kg Again nothing too heavy, just trying to rest between sets with back pain was difficult. Need to get the technique nailed before I start with PB's again as I don't want any injuries! Will keep you posted, however the next 3 days involve: Sunday - 3 sets of 8 bodyweight lunges Monday - 3 sets of bodyweight Bulgarian lunges Tuesday - 3 sets of 8 bodyweight lunges This is to stretch the legs out ready for the onslaught next week? Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 15-05-2013 @ 18:00 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | So first day back on squatting again and what can I say, it was easy! 2 sets of 2 reps at 110kg and that was it! Don't get why its so light but I can bet I wont be saying it in a weeks time! I threw some pullups in at 5x5 at bodyweight and also so underhand grip cable bar rows. This is to help with my lower traps which I have been advised I need to train as they are a weak link in my back. Wednesday brings 3 sets of 5 reps at 110kg which should be more challenging. Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 17-05-2013 @ 11:41 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | All went well today on week 2 of Smolov. 1 min on rower a couple of minutes on the foam roller 1 set of 5 reps 60kg 3 sets of 5 reps 110kg Felt good on squats with plenty more to go. Had a quick go on the log to make sure I don't lose too much upper body strength/technique. 5 reps 40kg 50kg 60kg 70kg 80kg That was it for the day, a little bit more foam rolling and a stretch off in prep for the next session. Cheers John | ||
| jg250 | | ... | 20-05-2013 @ 15:50 |
Member 4500, 220 posts SQ 200, BP 130, DL 260590.0 kgs @ 112kgs UnEq | Went to Bodypower Expo on Sunday so missed my 5x5 @ 110kg session. Made up for it today though. 1 min rower couple of minutes foam rolling to warm up Squats 1 x 5 60kg 5 x 5 @ 110kg Single arm seated cable rows 60 x 5 60 x 5 70 x 5 80 x 5 90 x 5 Chin ups 2x sets bodyweight 3 sets with blue bands Some more foam rolling to get the blood flowing in to my muscles again, plus its like a massage. Then a little stretch off of the legs. That's it, felt good. Ready for the next onslaught! Cheers John | ||
| adillon10 | | ... | 20-05-2013 @ 15:55 |
Member 3863, 1275 posts SQ 155, BP 110, DL 182447.0 kgs @ 75kgs UnEq | Looks like you're grafting hard mate keep it up! | ||
© Sugden Barbell 2025 Privacy - Terms & Conditions