Sat, 14 July 18

Events @ Iron Athletics

I headed up to Forest Hill, MD today to train with my friend, original strongman training partner, and possibly long-lost twin brother, Steve Mattheu at his gym, Iron Athletics.  My main focus for event days is on the three events for the qualifying round of 105k WSM, which are frame carry, viking press, and a carry and load medley.  I didn't want to get crazy with frame or farmer's training since my hand is not quite healed up yet, so we focused on the other 2 events.

Viking Press

10x45

8x90

5x135

2x180

2x225

0x270 - First video

1x270 - Second video

We set the anchor point as high as we could on the wall, which was about half a foot to a foot above head height, since that looks like what the setup will be in Finland.  We also used the axle instead of a barbell to be sure there was no flex for the same reasons.  I felt good on my first attempt at 270, until I lost all my air and tightness and got pushed way back.  After reviewing the video, I knew I could hit it so I came back and locked out what felt like the heaviest single (weight in hand) that I've done so far in training for this.  The setup makes a big difference for me in terms of how difficult the weight feels, so my working weights will vary accordingly depending on where I'm training.  Steve hit all the exact same numbers as me and failed on his first attempt at 270 as well for the same reasons that I did and then also came back and nailed 270.

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Carry and Load (but mostly just load) Over 60" Bar

25' x 220 keg, 25' carry only with 230 sandbag

1x230 sandbag - Load only

0x230 sandbag - Tried a different loading technique that did not work for me at all.

1x230 sandbag - Load only

Sixty inches was a really high bar to load a sandbag over.  I could have made it much easier if I had used my grip shirt and gloves, but I'm not sure what the equipment rules are for this event so I opted to make it more difficult instead.  The carry part was easy so we decided to train the loading part only after my initial run.

Tank Pushes

10 runs of 30' down and 30' back x tank + 270 in 2nd gear

This was my first time using, seeing, or even hearing about the tank and it hurt my feelings a little bit.  Steve and I did these runs alternating turns with our rest periods being only as long as it took the other person to get down and back.  My legs and lungs were on fire after about the 3rd run and I definitely need to get myself a tank sometime in the near future.