Short and Sweet (Tea)Training on a Sunday

After church this morning my dear wife and I went and stuffed ourselves at the Mexican Restaurant. I drank about two gallons of sweet tea (my favorite), ate about a basket of chips and salsa, and got this Chicken Burrito, Flauta, soft taco combo the I woofed down like I had spent the last month in a concentration camp... That my friends is just one of many examples of the poor food choices I've made over the last week. Thursday I went to the Chinese Buffet for my nephews birthday and pigged out there and drank another two gallons of... you guess it... Sweet Tea.

Anyway, upon returning from The Lord's House and then Durango's Mexican Restaurant I slept like a grizzly bear for about two hours. Then drug myself out of bed and managed to do some training despite my severe lack of motivation. Here's how it went down, short and sweet.


Log Press
empty x 8,135 x 5 x 2, 175 x 5(strict), 195 x 3,
235 x 1,
205 x 3 x 2,
175 x 5(strict)

Tire Flip
545 x 6, 750 x 4

- It's interesting how two similar tires must be flipped with totally different technique. The 545 I can "snatch grip deadlift" up and over, The 750 you have to drive forward using your shoulders like a football sled, gotta work on that technique, overall I was pleased with how it felt.

After that I took a 40 minute walk with Gracie the Wonder Hound, and my sister's Boykin Spaniel Angus (who we are babysitting), and my lovely bride, it was a great afternoon.

I sweated like 4 pigs, and I'm still thirsty... You know what sounds good about now.... Yep you guessed it.

Seriously though, I can tell the dieting is affecting my strength, I might have to just be pudgy. We'll see what I weigh tomorrow after squatting, there is a slight chance I lost a couple of pounds... Maybe?

Mark Felix Interview

I discovered this interview with Mark Felix that I thought would pass it along. It's short and sweet, not to in depth, but still interesting.

Mark Felix Interview

You can follow Mark's updates on Twitter : http://twitter.com/Markfelixtv

You can also see video of Mark including his bicep tear recovery on his YouTube channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/MarkFelixTV

The more I learn about him, the more I like him. I've always had a special place in my heart for the older strongmen... Especially since I'm becoming one. ;-)

Sunny Saturday Strongman

Well, today was it. Back to work, and back to the events. My strategy right now is, as you may have read, to keep the main thing the main thing (Deadlift, Stones, Press). So that's what I did today. I started out with a clean and press / push press with a barbell and some bumpers. With the heavy floor presses on Thursday I kept the volume low on the pressing and really wanted to get back into moving a barbell quickly so I lightened up on the cleans. Squat cleaning a barbell is just about the most difficult and un-natural movement in the world for me to perform. I tried a few at 135lbs and just wasn't feeling it. So I went back to what I do best... doing a barbarian high pull/upright row and hoping it lands on my shoulders just right so I can press it. It worked.

I performed the frame deadlift with zero back pain, and even got the 620lb. deadlift that I missed 12 days ago relatively easily. Good form no back rounding, stayed tight, I'll take it. Tim wanted to give yoke walking a try, so whilst I deadlifted he walked up and down the driveway with my old trusty yoke, worked up to ~600lbs with relative ease (not bad for a first timer, but then again he is a big mac daddy powerlifter).

Last was the stones... a little on the light 215lb with no tacky, then 240 with tacky... now we also have this stone that my training partner and I tried to pour with some styrofoam in the middle. Well, the string anchoring the styrofoam down came loose, the foam floated to the top and we ended up Jerry rigging a stick in there to hold the thing somewhat in the center. then the mold came apart and now we have a ~300lb egg shaped reminder of what not to do when making a stone... But being that it is the only intermediary between 240 and 335 we gave it a shot. Tim likended our stone situation with having to train your bench press and all you've got is 100lb. plates, never the less he got the egg in his lap a couple of times, I got it off the ground, but nowhere near my lap. We managed to make a nice big mess in the carport gym this morning, I Kept my back healthy, trained my weanesses, I was good with that.

This afternoon me and the wife got out and tried to declare war on the Wysteria that has taken over our yard... I'm counting that as my cardio.

Rainy Days and Mondays

I took off work for a whole week, and we are headed to the beach tomorrow. It picked today to rain and that was fine by me. Hopefully, it will get it out of it's system before we arrive on the Alabama Gulf Coast tomorrow.

I wanted to get in a "main thing" workout today and then take off a few days before getting back into a regular training schedule in the coming weeks. As you read previously, my primary weaknesses are stones (from lap to platform) and side-handle deadlifts. I tackled both today in sort of a primer for the coming weeks just to gauge where I'm at.

I stacked up my bumper plates on a loading pin to do some keg squats. This really reminds me of those ring stacker toys for babies... This is the strongman version. Here, I simply wanted to replicate the transition from lap to platform involved in stone loading. I also felt like this was a good accessory to the front squats. I worked up to 220 x 2 sets of 3 (all I could do to hold onto it).

Next I did some frame deadlifting. There is somthing about a side-handle deadlift that ties my lower back in knots. I broke out my frame that I made up to practice for GSM (turns out it was almost the exact dimensions)and I worked up in sets of five. I've got a dozen red Panatta Sport 15kg plates that Sue Kazmaier sold me when Kaz Fitness Center closed in downtown Auburn. I have no doubt these were some Kaz had made when he was in the fitness equipment business. Likely, from his personal collection. I always wondered if I should Ebay them...


Anyway, I loaded it up to 480lbs for 5 then went for 620 for 1, couldn't budge it, could have knocked me over with a feather. So I dropped down to 580lbs pulled for 1 with excellent form, pulled again, my back rounded, back tied in a sailor knot, and I was done for the day. Good form is going to be key in keeping my low back healthy, and I went totally raw on all sets because I wanted to work on tighness and not rely on a belt. I've likely pulled my last heavy single on these for a long time. Now I'm just going to work in sets of five and eight until I get my strength back.

It was a rainy day under the carport, but I got alot of work done. My old faithful hound was my only audience as she sat behind the storm door as she usually does and watched me work. Apparently all that watching made her tired she's slept on my foot the whole time I've typed this. So tomorrow I'm headed to the beach and I'm going to take a few days off. Much serious training is ahead of me in the coming weeks, but, for now, this strongman is going to get some sun, listen to the waves, eat some seafood, and take a few dozen naps. Thanks for reading, have a great week.