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» Weakman training log (Go to post)01-04-2013 @ 20:36 
Thanks! It's a tiny increase, but a bit unexpected and always welcome. Happy

Today I went xc skiing for only the 4th but also the last time this season. Unhappy Still tons of snow over 1500m. Did 2h of skate skiing in the bright sunsine. Cool
» I'm working out (Go to post)01-04-2013 @ 06:11 
6'5", 230lbs? Holy s**t!
» Hixxys log press 202.5kg log (Go to post)31-03-2013 @ 16:25 
Amazing.
» Zercher midget's lazy hunt for glory (Go to post)31-03-2013 @ 15:32 
Something Rob Orlando said at the strongman seminar I attended made me think of you, Wayne. He likes to use a "cold bar" routine in his training. That is, on a given lift, he chooses a weight that he can do cold, and lifts it (without a warm-up) once or twice a day for a single rep. After a while, when he is 100% sure that he would never fail that lift cold, he increases the weight. The length of time spent at a particular weight and the amount of the increase vary of course, by feel and depending on the %1RM attained. After a while, he reaches a pretty high percentage of his true 1 RM that he can lift without any preparation, which can only be a good thing, if only as a confidence builder.

Of course, he does plenty of training besides that (he doesn't follow a programme with waves and percentages and such, mostly goes by feel, à la CrossFit), but it made me think of your 1 rep training sessions and how it actually makes sense that regularly lifting a heavy weight even only once prepares your body to do just that: being able to lift a heavy weight.

Also, it made me wonder if with a tiny bit more structure and purpose (doing your 1 rep sessions at least every day, for example, and aiming to increase the weight over time) you might be able not only to slow/stall regression, but make a bit of progress as well. Wink
» Weakman training log (Go to post)31-03-2013 @ 11:31 
Well, my first powerlifting meet is in the books.

I entered the Swiss Drug Free Powerlifting Federation national championships in Basel yesterday. You can tell how small a sport powerlifting is in Switzerland or at least how small the SDFPF is when you don't need to qualify for the "national championships". Grin There were around 40 lifters spread over however many weight and age categories, including half a dozen women (one of which was a portly 60+ old lady who pulled 150kg).

The meet took place at CrossFit Basel, a gym with several strong athletes that provided a good chunk of the day's participants. Is there a strength sport left that CF isn't "saving"? Grin

The setup was decent, but a bit amateur in some respects. The squat stands were free-standing and needed to be weighed down with 40kg plates, and the thin rubber mat spread across the platform made a slight edge underfoot. You either had to stay close to the uprights or take 2 steps back to have perfectly even ground to stand on. Those are really minor gripes. Other than that there was enough room and equipment to warm up (it did get a bit crowded when flights overlapped). One older guy had trouble warming up the squat because he usually places his hands by the collars, and the uprights on the squat cages were too far apart(FatPete here would have had the same problem).

To my inexperienced eyes the judging seemed strict but fair. A good number of red lights for depth on the squats, noticeable pauses on the bench press, one or two deadlifts redlighted for hitching.

Overall the level wasn't very high. A handful of Swiss records were broken, however, (280 deadlift?) and some 74-old bugger benched a ridiculous amount of weight. One of the single-lift benchers got 205 I think. Nobody pulled over 300kg. I'm not diminishing people's efforts, but it's just to say it wasn't on the level of the meets one reads about on this site or elsewhere. I even took 2nd place in the -100kg category with a 547.5kg total. Grin

There were a couple of funny misloads: one guy had asked for an opening bar at 230kg on the DL, but the organizers read it as 130kg. He had this rather spectacular prep routine, complete with stomping, big arm-swingy breaths, wide eyes and everything, which looked a bit ridiculous when, naturally, 130kg flew up like he was going to power clean it.Grin Grin They let him have 3 other attempts.

Another fellow had asked for 215, but they loaded 250. He got the bar to his knees. Grin He was also awarded a 4th attempt. As for me, I had gestured that I wanted to stay at 115 on the bench, and they took it to mean I was forfeiting my third lift. When I realized they had skipped my turn, they were kind enough to let me do my attempt at the end of the flight.

Keep in mind that everything had to be conducted in French and German, sometimes English, for everyone to understand each other, so things got a bit confusing sometimes. The loaders and spotters weren't the most experienced bunch, but apart from the incidents I mentioned above, there were no uneven bars or injuries.

Results took forever to come out, and the award ceremony was longish (gender/age/weight categories + single lift awards; by the way, you had to register and pay separately for single lift entries if you wanted to qualify for single lift Euro and World champs; at 60£ for the licence + 55£ for the full meet + 35£ per lift, that's a nice bit of money grabbing, if you ask me). All in all it made for a long day (up at 6, 3 hour train ride each way, missed train + connexion delayed by 45 mnutes, in bed at 2am), but I enjoyed myself, chatted with some nice people, and above all got my first experience of competitive lifting.

I had a pretty standard strategy: 1) get in an easy first lift; 2) on the second attempt, go for something I've done recently, what I would call a "satisfactory" lift; 3) go for a small PB.

This is how the day went for me:

-Squat
Warmed up to 160kg; opened at 170; made 180; failed 192.5 (2.5kg PB attempt, wasn't even close)

-Bench
Warmed up to 100; opened at 105; failed 115 (lapse in concentration, didn't stay tight); made 115 without too much of a struggle. I would have liked to attempt 122.5 if I hadn't screwed up my second attempt.

-DL
Warmed up to 200; opened at 220; made 240; made 252.5 (PB by 2.5kg Grin)

Mission accomplished, with a small PB to boot.

While the results were being compiled, I did CF Open workout 13.4 in a corner because it was my only opportunity with the gyms being closed Friday and Sunday. Needless to say, I was a bit lacking in energy and motivation. Tongue

3 ground to shoulder to overhead 61kg
3 toes to bar
6 GTSTOH
6 T2B
9
9
...
Keep going for 7 minutes

I got 66 reps (full round of 12's, plus 6 clean and jerks. A half decent score for me, I think. T2B were slow going.

And now, I am a bit tired.
Grin
» Weakman training log (Go to post)28-03-2013 @ 21:21 
3-6-9 reps of 40kg clean and jerk, toes to bar

3k erg warm-up


920m 2:46.6 1:30.5/500m 37spm
» Biggest title in strength sports is back for the second year! (Go to post)28-03-2013 @ 14:53 
JC said:
I dont think anyone is disputing the 1st of your points are they?
More disilusioned with it being labelled "XXX Strongest Man" when it is'nt a "strong"man contest


Hey, I was trying to stay positive and s**t! Grin

If the strongest entrant wins, isn't he the "strongest man" on the day?

I do think they should have been more creative instead of offering watered down strongman events and pretending that people will come away with a good idea of "what it takes to be a Strongman Athlete".
» Biggest title in strength sports is back for the second year! (Go to post)28-03-2013 @ 14:38 
I'm sure it will be an enjoyable week-end for participants and I'm sure the strongest man who shows up will still win... just like the best basketball player would still win if the game were played with 8 ft hoops.
» CrossFit Strongman seminar review (Go to post)27-03-2013 @ 21:37 
As part of a short trip across the pond I signed for the CrossFit Strongman certification being held at Hybrid athletics (http://hybridathletics.net/). These seminars are organized by Rob Orlando, a strongman athlete who rose to prominence mainly as a very strong crosffitter. They are held mostly in the States of course, but sometimes in Europe (http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/specialty_certs.html#10).

For context, I'm a beginner strongman, not particularly strong and with little experience using implements. These seminars are geared towards learning and teaching the lifts and including them in a CF-style training regimen.

This particular cert was especially well attended, with 60+ participants and 8 coaches, plus Mike Jenkins looming over everyone almost incognito. (I shook his hand. He complimented my farmer's carry. I blushed.)

We worked on tire flips, Atlas stone shouldering, keg lifts, yoke, farmers and log (I had to leave before this, but a coach was kind enough to take me aside and give me a few pointers before the seminar started). There was a short speech on general topics, then, for each implement, a short demonstration, major technique cues, faults and corrections, hands on practice supervised by the coaches and in some cases a short CF-style workout incorporating the implement. There was also a general Q&A session where people asked about stone-making and so on.

Conditions were ideal because the place was big and there was a s**t ton of equipment, including very light stones and tires for lady beginners. Other gyms hosting the cert may not be as well equipped, but I assume they check beforehand that they have all the basic gear.

Coaches and participants were enthousiastic, there was very little superfluous talk or bulls**t, and unless you were already an experienced strongman with great technique, you walked away more knowledgeable. I'd recommend this seminar to anyone who doesn't have access to regular coaching or simply wants to brush up on their strongman skills.

If you have any specific questions I'd be glad to try and answer them.
» Weakman training log (Go to post)27-03-2013 @ 17:13 
I'm back from a short trip to NYC and Connecticut.

On Friday , I hopped off the plane in New Jersey, caught a bus to Manhattan, and went to mh old stomping grounds CrossFit NYC/The Black Box to do CF Open workout 13.3:

150 wall balls (20lb to 10ft target)
90 double-unders
30 muscle-ups
Time cap: 12 minutes.

With over a minute left on the clock after the WBs (ouch) and the DU (not as bad as expected given my lack of practice recently), I failed 3 times to complete a muscle-up. Which is pretty lame. Angry

Final score: 240 reps

My quads were utterly destroyed (couldn't sit/stand without moaning and grimacing) and only stopped aching this morning.

On Saturday, after a bit of late night drinking and 3 hours of sleep, I drove 1h up the coast to Hybrid athletics, the gym own by CrossFit "celebrity" and strongman athlete Rob Orlando for a seminar. 60 attendees, 8 coaches, and Mike Jenkins on hand for star power.

I had to leave early, so came early as well to get a few tips on the log lift. Then the seminar proper began. For each implement there was a short talk+demo, then we split into groups for hands on practice, and finally a short workout using the implement. Here's a summary of what I got done that day:

Tire flips: various weights, but failed to flip the 1000lb/450kg tire. Then 8x700lbs(320kg) in 45 seconds followed by max reps jumps onto the tire for 30 seconds.

Stones: shouldered a 228lb/105kg stone; 4 rounds of 20" on, 10" rest with a 160lb/72kg stone: got 3, 3, 2 and 1 reps. Roll-Eyes

Keg: shouldering, pressing, various weights in the 100-120lb range. Quite awkward with the shifting sand/gravel/water. By this point I was pretty knackered.

Yoke: worked up to 610lbs/280kg x20m with several drops.

Farmers: worked up to 270lbs/123kg, 2 quick drops before a longer carry to finish the 20m.

Overall it was a great experience. Apart from the strictly technical aspects, which were obviously helpful, Rob O said some interesting things about training and programming.

Later that afternoon I went to my cousin's wedding. I danced the Macarena.

On Sunday I rested, just like God intended and my body craved.

On Monday I went to CrossFit Virtuosity and joined in some squats (3 sets of 2 at 365lb/166kg) and some incline bench (4x12@95lb/52kg) and good mornings (3x8@60kg).



My first PL comp is coming up on Saturday. I don't see any PB's in the cards, I'm mainly going for the experience.
» Epic squats (Go to post)21-03-2013 @ 09:10 
All kinds of wiggly jiggly bar! I couldn't stand straight with 250kg dancing on my shoulders.
» Crossfit Strongman? (Go to post)21-03-2013 @ 08:13 
adamkeep said:
Yeah man I agree. Double unders and box jumps are exercising, not events. You would use those exercises to make you better at other things.


There is no doubt that Kenny Powers hates CrossFit.

Grin
» Weakman training log (Go to post)20-03-2013 @ 21:53 
Post Edited: 20.03.2013 @ 21:53 PM by macroth
Swamped with work this week. Angry

Fun with the axle tonight

Ground to overhead: worked up to 95kgx1 (PB)

Then switched to double overhand deadlifts: worked up to 115kgx1 (PB)

Then switched to alternate grip deadlifts: worked up to 205x1 (PB), 215xf, 185x3, 175x5

First time maxing on axle deadlifts and quite happy to break 200kg. Happy
» Real or fake? (Go to post)20-03-2013 @ 20:38 
http://gizmodo.com/5977205/why-the-moon-landings-could-have-ne...

» Making Sandbags (Go to post)20-03-2013 @ 10:46 
If the sand isn't dry, make sure it doesn't spill inside the bag or it will make more of a mess.

Depending on the size of the shell, plain sand should get it up to 100kg. I've got 85kg in my strengthshop sandbag with room to spare.

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