Overhead press
182 × 5
207 × 3
232 × 2
Good progress. Got halfway up a third.

Weighted chin-ups
70 × 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Incline bench press
212 × 10, 10, 10, 10, 9

Chin-ups
40
All in one set but I'm dropping to my feet every rep. Eccentric would be bad for my pecs.

Tons of accessory work for chest, biceps, and rear delts. I go crazy on the third week.

Squats
330 x 3
375 x 3
420 x 3

315 x 3 x 8

Deadlifts
405 x 13

Bench press
237 x 5
272 x 5
312 x 3
Same as last week, oh well. Just gonna accept the loss and reset. Pecs felt way better today, hardly any pain.

Band rows
7 x 15

Overhead press
160 x 5 x 10

Kettlebell skullcrushers
50 x 9

Strap curls
115 x 11, 12, 13

Face pulls

Band pull-aparts

Mat pulls (8)
495 x 4, 1
Set-up sucked. Mats are at a slight incline so the bar kept rolling toward me. Made it impossible to do a rolling start because I had to push the weight up the mat until I was ready, and then it shot toward me. After this I intended to try again, only to have the bar roll right off the mats, meaning I had to unload a bunch of plates to put it back up. I found that it works better being on the other side so I have to pull the weight up against gravity which works well for pulling myself in toward the bar, but I'm really going to try another location first. Options are limited in my backyard, there's just one potential spot that might work that's occupied by a picnic table.

SSB squats
335 x 3 x 5

Overhead press
172 x 3
197 x 3
222 x 3
Didn't get this last time, but today it felt easy. Lost balance a few times which seems to happens either when I'm sick or haven't slept much.

Chin-ups
10, 10
70 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Incline bench press
210 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Pecs hurt at the end of a couple of sets, but not too badly. Hope I can heal while still doing horizontal pressing.

Curls
115 x 3 x 10

Band pull-aparts and face pulls

This cough and congestion will not quit, damn.

Short, easy jog and walk afterwards. Mostly just to get some activity in and sunlight absorbed while I'm recovering.

Squats
305 x 5
350 x 5
400 x 6

310 x 3 x 10

Deadlifts
405 x 5
Being sick left me with no gas to pull from the floor, so I did this as a deload.

Bench press
237 x 5
272 x 5
312 x 3
Still sick. Hit my goal exactly. Pleased with this for feeling terrible and having not benched in almost a month. Pec-tendons hurt, but are better than before. Will have to see if I can keep this up or not. Good thing about strongman is that it gives me plenty of overhead options to focus on if I can't bench press.

Overhead press
160 x 4 x 10

Iron Woody band rows (unilateral)
5 x 15
Man, I've had these for so long now. 2007 I think?

Went pretty easy on volume and training time. Still felt awful afterwards and threw-up a tiny bit, then felt fine again 20 minutes later. My sick protocol is to train heavy, short, low volume, at least a day of rest after every session, and with lots of food.

Still sick. Made a disgusting smoothie upon waking up of spinach, garlic, ginger, strawberries, cucumber, and whey protein and it seriously made my throat feel better the rest of the day. Actually managed to do a little foam rolling and yoga tonight, keep that up. My back felt good from it.

Yesterday.

Mat pulls, 9
495 x 8
Trained sick, but did well. High reps are still a relative weak point.

SSB squats
335 x 5, 5, 5
Hise shrugs x 20
Pain in right lat, lower left back, and left knee, haha. Belted up for second set and felt fine. It's just plain wrong when people outright say belts don't protect the back. I don't think one should purchase a belt for that purpose or that it's anything more than a Band-Aid on a bigger issue. I have also read Dr. Stuart McGill writing that to maximize the effectiveness of a belt, less-than-ideal form is required by way of rounding the lumbar. But a thick brace still clearly shields the back from some load bearing and that can make a difference between pain and gain if I gotta finish my sets.

Neck crunches
After some fooling around with my water bottle strap on a dumbbell handle I finally figured out that a simple plate works best for what I have.

Night workout: 5x5 with the Crush gripper and some abs

Overhead press
160 x 5
182 x 5
207 x 5

Chin-ups
10, 10, 15, 15, 15, 15

Incline bench press
205 x 10, 10, 10, 10
45 x lots of reps
Pecs felt much better. Still holding off on flat benching, though.

Light skullcrushers and curls

Had my first strongman meet yesterday. It was a blast and an incredible learning experience.

For my second competitive experience I again had a scrappy attitude about going in without much task-specific training and...well, I got what I paid for. I did even better than I anticipated at the deadlift and rather hopeless on everything else except the tire flip.

Got about 4 and a half hours of sleep. I went to bed early enough to get around 6 but I couldn't stay dead. I'd slept 9 hours every night for weeks before so I woke up feeling energetic. Had an awesome breakfast at a restaurant right next to the hotel: meat omelet, potatoes, and 4 pieces of toast.

 

I finally met Jared/Emevas in person as I was signing up. Quite a few years removed from the first time we tried to arrange a sparring session and he was concerned that me being a minor might be a problem.

First event was the press medley with a 250 axle, 130 lb circus dumbbell, a fire hydrant, and 190 lb keg. I suffered for not practicing cleans in so long when I got the axle up high but nowhere near my chest to shelf it. It was basically a high pull. Who knows if I would have gotten closer by continental cleaning (probably not).

The circus dumbbell surprised me with how hard it was to hold stably. I stupidly kept rolling it around in my hand trying to find some imaginary sweet spot rather than just gripping it tighter and throwing it up. I got it over me but couldn't lockout, so I just dashed over to the fire hydrant, which was very easy but the likes of which I forgot to hold the lockout of in my hustle. Next, the keg. I had NO idea what to do with my hands so I basically wrestled around with it for the remainder of the time, trying to feel my way into a position that I could press. All in all, one actual implement successfully lifted.

The tire deadlift event was next. Some kinda meet magic happened here. I shot up with 480, 500, 520, 560, and then, astonishingly, pulled 600. Even considering the extra height this was a massive PR. Couldn't break 640, though.

After what felt like several weeks later it was time for the 610 yoke walk of fail. This was soul crushing and the hardest event by far. Although my footwork should have been better it was mostly my body simply not being strong enough. I wobbled and dropped my way down to the end somehow, which I'm at least thankful for. After I crossed the line I turned around to fight my way back only for the time to run out.

At this point my back was seriously starting to worry me. Pain in my side from those blasted standing dumbbell rows months ago had been present after the press medley but the yoke really made me feel it. Hurt to breathe and couldn't bend over without wheezing. Jared kindly took me to his car and gave me some Motrin and an Icy-Hot application. I still felt in pain but was inclined not to let him or Shaquille O'Neal down, so I had a go at the tire flip next. THIS was fun and I felt I did okay with the 640 lb tire. I was slow but determined and could have kept going after the clock ran out. Ended up making it about a third of the way down, maybe a little less. My back even felt better from it.

Last were the stones. About 90% of my effort went into applying the tacky I was lent and the rest failing to get the first stone up on the platform (I believe it was 270).

I was stunned at how long this lasted, almost 11 hours from the time I first stepped into the gym. Munching on walnuts throughout the day staved off hunger perfectly well, though. From here on out, I want to actually take meet training (whatever the sport) more seriously and make a competitive showing instead of just showing up to wing it. I'm also going to gradually resume the weight drop after a week or so of rest and ample eating.

I'm incredibly glad I didn't call it quits early because of my back. Perseverence for the future is definitely something I took home with me. That and some gnarly arms.

Deload
Continental overhead press
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5
145 x 5

105 x 5 x 10

Chin-ups
5 x 12

SSB squats
310 x 10, 8, 8

Overhead press
157 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Lying dumbbell rows
150 x 10, 10, 10
130 x 15

Chin-ups
12
> Just until my tendons hurt. Probably shouldn't have tried this at all.

Curls, skullcrushers

Really good pump today.

Push press
225 x 3
255 x 3
275 x 0

Felt mentally held back from fear of dropping the barbell onto the concrete patio. Should have done this in the dirt. 255 is fine though.

Doing full body accessory stuff tomorrow. Very bodybuilding-like to take advantage of my caloric increase. Will also practice continental cleans in the evening.

Best lower body session in a year.

Squats
350 x 5
395 x 3
440 x 1

Deadlifts
455 x 5
405 x 12
Refreshed by watching Emevas' deadlift tutorial and then hit it. Narrow stance is working great. Also added a small roll today. Everything felt crazy light.

Going out for dinner with my cousin and then a videogame night with George afterwards so I'm going to save accessory squats for Sunday. That'll make for three training days, rest, two deload days, two days of rest, and then gameday.

Had a good New Year's drinking and corresponding with the gf through an online game night. I'm a huge dork so I prepared some low carb homemade pizzas beforehand to have healthy meals ready during drunkness.

Today I tested my mile for the first time in 10 years and got seriously humbled. Was aiming for 5-something and may or may not have gotten 8:02. My last recording in 2005 was 6:25. In my defense, I have two broken legs, Ebola, and a cute cat I saw weakened my quads.

Dumbbell push press
80 x 2
100 x 2
110 x 2
120 x 3
Didn't feel too bad, though like always my right is much better.

Overhead press
157 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Lying dumbbell rows
150 x 8, 8, 10, 8

Curls and band pull-aparts