Craig Pfisterer came down from PA on Friday night to train with me and Mark Kimener this weekend at Brute Strength Gym in VA Beach. Saturday morning, I got up and weighed in at 235. We packed up our food and gear and headed out to train some heavy events. I had a couple things I wanted to train for the Arnold and Craig is training for the Battle at the Barn. We got an early start and hit the road to the sounds of Touch by Stan Bush.
Just before we hit the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, it was determined by unanimous vote that a pit stop was in order. While I was sitting on the crapper in the ladies room (Craig was occupying the men's room), the sign on the condom machine caught my attention. It advertised "goodies" from "selected countries around the world." I thought this was hilarious so I went and got some change from my car. Much to my disappointment, all the machine gave me was two horny goat weed pills. And the damn things were past their expiration date. Fortunately, nothing can dampen my spirits when heading to Brute.
We got there and started to warm up. The plan was to do a soul-rendingly heavy yoke, an equally heavy frame carry, and stones. Here is how it went:

Yoke

  • 2: 50' x 390
  • 50' x 590
  • 25' x 680
  • pick x 770
  • 10' x 900 - Felt easy, decided to go all in
  • 50' x 1,010 - Huge PR

 

Frame Carry/Backward Drag Medley

  • 60' x 500
  • 30' x 700
  • 60' x 800/ 60' x 515 - Frame PR

 

Atlas Stones

  • 5 x 250 to 52"
  • 2 x 265 to 60"
  • 2 X 300 to 60" - Height PR

Series: 250 to 56", 300 to 52", 330 to 49", 380 to 49", FAIL x 440

Yoke - took a little under two minutes. About halfway through the ordeal, the intracranial pressure burst the flood gates on my nose. At no point during the entire thing was I sure of finishing. I just kept going until Craig and Mark told me I had cleared the distance. Craig was up next and had a similar performance to mine, but without the blood. Mark killed it in under 30 seconds with no drops.
I was actually considering puking after that which I was worried might indicate that my day was going to end early. Fortunately, I was able to keep my food down and get ready for the frame/drag medley. This wasn't too bad except that the yoke had killed my will to live and I started to get a little squirrely after about 20 feet on the carry. The drag was a little lighter than I would have liked, but I was wearing my wrestling shoes and I have worn holes in the bottom of the soles, so my traction sucked.
I had absolutely nothing left by the time we got to stones, so my expectations were very low. I used Craig's Spider Tack and that stuff is absolutely amazing. Best...tacky...ever. James Deffinbaugh has done an amazing job with this stuff and EliteFTS picked the best brand to sell.
My only goal on stones was to get a couple up to 60". I did 265 so easily that I went to 300 for two reps. The second rep was 100 percent perfect, which is unbelievable after the yoke and frame. I decided to hit a medium weight series while I was there and nailed the first four stones without much trouble, but had nothing left for the 440. That one will have to wait until one day where I didn't take a walk with half a ton on my back. Of course, Mark and Craig both finished the whole series. What can I say? They excel at heavy loads.
After I got home, I studied for finals for a while then set one more PR. I killed two burritos from Chipotle and then followed that with an entire half gallon of Turkey Hill Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. Ice Cream PR!
Everything is sore today, even the muscles in my face. I am heading out to do some recovery work and get rid of this soreness, but here is video of the insanity.