Saturday/Sunday – Back to weight lifting

Now that the powerlifting is over with, the gym workouts change as well.  Instead of 2 or 3 max effort exercises, Josh and I will be hitting 5 to 8 exercises per body part for 8 to 12 reps.  These type of workouts combined with some cardio will get me into shape for the upcoming strongman season.

Saturday

Bodyweight 272

Bench Press: 135×15, 225×10, 315×10, 365×5, 315×5

Dumbell Incline: 80×7, 100×7, 120×7

Cable Flies: 3 sets of 10

Close Grip Bench: 2 sets of 12 @ 225

Sunday

Bodyweight 272(Beginning) 269(End of Workout)

Cardio: 10 minute walk, then 5 minute jog alternating for an hour

Squat: 315×5, 405×5, 455×5, 495×3 – Not bad for being tired!

Lunges: 3 sets with 20# dumbells – Haven’t done these forever!

Leg Curls: 3 sets of 12

Leg Extension: 3 sets of 12

2 different calf raises for 3 sets of 12

I was completely shot after this workout.  I haven’t really repped anything for almost a month.  I’m hoping these higher intensity workouts, along with the cardio get my weight down to the 260 range – without losing strength!
 

Friday – Strongman

More prep for Monsters

15″ Deadlift: 315×5, 405×5, 495×5, 550×6, 600×3

This is a tough position to pull from, and will probably be my weakest event

Worked on the loading medley of sandbag, stone and keg – no problems, felt quick

Then finshed with some keg loading 200, 230, 250, 270, 290 – still quick with the kegs

ALRIGHT…that sucked

Tuesday March 25, 18 days away from the Monsters of the Mall competition.  Time to dramatically switch gears into strongman training.  The major difference between the two – CONDITIONING!  Powerlifting is all about the one big, powerful movement and strongman is about being strong, but while also being mobile, fast and quick at the same time.  I know my strength is there, I just need to put a lot more work into the loading and moving events.  And that brings us to today-

Log Press: 200×3, 230×3, 250×2, 270×1, 300×1, 320×1 

Keg Carries: Carried 130 and 200 kegs back and forth 60 feet and jogged between carries for 3 sets of 3

Sled Drags: Only 200#s on the sled – 1 set of 80 feet up and back and 1 set of 80 feet

 I was pretty pleased with what I got accomplished tonight.  It’s a start and it will get better, it also looks like the weather is going to hold up so training should be continuous from now on.  I will train events again Friday and possibly Sunday. 

Powerlifting

I’m really glad I participate in two different strength sports, powerlifting and strongman. It keeps the lifting from getting to monotonous. I really got into powerlifting these past few months though. I’d like to go to big competition and see how I would do, but that is the big knock against powerlifting – Too many different federations, weight classes, and age groups. Don’t forget about the equiped lifters, cause everybody wants to take a short cut to the big lifts. Oh well, it was fun and next year there will be new goals and numbers to chase.

2008 “RAW” Nebraska State Championships!

Josh and I started training for this competition back in December, and now some 3 months later it was finally here.  Weeks and weeks of preparation culminated into one day.  The numbers hit in training didn’t mean anything anymore, it was time to do it when it counts.  Here is how the day went.

5:30am – Woke up, I slept 6 1/2 and that would be plenty

7:50am – Weigh-ins, I weighed in at 272

8:10am – Josh’s  fiancee cooked breakfast, I tried to eat as much as I could…but I was nervous

9:15am – Rules Meeting

10:00am- Time to start the meet!

SQUAT

1st attempt 523 – easy – 2nd attempt 562 – a little shaky but good – 3rd attempt 600 – started coming up, didn’t have enough gas though

BENCH

1st attempt 422 -easy – 2nd attempt 551 – not too hard – 3rd attempt 462 – very slow but steady, good lift

DEADLIFT

1st attemp 573 – flew off the ground – 2nd attempt – 600 – easiest this has ever been – 628 – most I’ve ever done!

It was a great competition!  I totalled 1653 giving me 1st place in the 275s and overall best lifter award!

Tuesday- Jobes

Today was beautiful!  With temps in the 60s it was a great day to get an outdoor workout.

Deadlift: 405×2, 495×2, 545×1, 585×1, 605×1 – Struggled but got it!

The deadlift is still the lagging lift of the three, I was happy with today’s performance though.

Log Press: 220×5, 240×5, 270×4, 300×1, 320×0 – Couldn’t clean it – not sure why?

It was a tough workout considering it was only two events.  I’ll be getting some rest the next couple days and hit some max or near max numbers later this week, follow that up with 3-4 days of complete rest and then the meet will be here.

Monday – Biceps

Bodyweight 273

Dumbell Curls: 45×5, 55×5, 65×5, 70×5, 75×4

Barbell Curls: 65×7, 85×7, 105×7

Incline Curls: 30×10, 35×10, 40×10, 40×10

Machine Curls: 3 sets of 10

Good workout!

The Weekend

I got some good rest and recovery in on Thursday and Friday, but had a little too much fun on Friday night so Saturday’s secession had to be cut short.  Sunday I had a great workout and I’m back on track with 13 days left til the powerlifting meet.

Saturday – Squat: 405×5, 455×5, 505×5 – PR

Sunday – Chest

Bench Press: 135×5, 225×5, 370×3, 390×3, 415×3 – Had to fight for the last one, most weight I’ve repped.

Slight Incline Dumbell Press: 100×7, 120×8, 120×7, 120×6

Cable Presses: 3 sets of 10 – This pumped up the chest good!

Bench Press Marathon: 295×7, 245×7, 195×5, 145×5, 95×7 – All done one set immediately after the other, chest and triceps were shot after that.  I tried to do a second go around, muscles were fatigued and I couldn’t.

Pec-Dec: 3 sets of 10 – Good finishing exercise. 

Wednesday – Back

Today was back day, but we did some heavy bench to start with.  Today was my 6th day in  row of working out and all week I’ve had good workouts, but I’m excited for an off day tomorrow.  Lifting that often requires me to get a bit more sleep than usual to be 100% from one day to the next, I was able to do that and this week was productive.

Bodyweight 272

Powerlifting Bench Press w/pause: 405, 435, 450 - Good negative

Hammer Strength Back Machine: 4 tough sets of 10 and 1 good descending set – This machine gets the lats pumped up!

Hammer Strength Row: 3 sets of 10

Machine Pull Downs: 3 sets of 10

Crossed Cable Pulls: 2 sets of 10

Good, quick workout! 

Tuesday – Deadlift

Deadlift.  Today we changed it up a bit, hit some reps…decent workout.

Bodyweight 271

Deadlift w/straps: 135×5, 225×5, 405×5, 495×5, 545×5 – Good Set, 585×2 – Needed 3

Deficit Deadlift for Speed: 405×5x2