I will be competing at The Odd Haugen Northern California Strongman Challenge and Visegrip Viking Challenge on May 21 and 22, 2016. I am thrilled to be back to competing in strongman and finding my passion to train once again. My return to strongman isn't just about getting back into event training. It's also my return to dropping weight, becoming athletic once again, maintaining solid nutrition AND figuring out how to incorporate and maintain grip training in the mix. In the past that has not been possible and I generally go out in a big ball of flames. This time I'm optimistic.
A perfect storm is brewing and many different components of who I am as an athlete are changing and improving. Part of this process is reflecting on where I have been in order to catch you all up while continuing the inner strength to rebuild and compete at my best.
You can catch up on the first installment of the background information here,
Rebuilding: The Fat Doctor & Inevitable Decline
There is more to come on this entire process and more background and I hope you find value in some of the lessons and struggles I have experienced. Keep your eyes peeled for the second installment.
From 3/22
This was the first day in a very long time that I trained back to back. With the addition of event training this weekend, I felt like I needed an extra day of recovery between squats and events. I have to admit, it was super slow going there for a while just to get moving. My header image pretty much sums up how I was feeling today but was able to hang in there and fortunately I had lots of extra time to get the work in that I needed to.
Rolling & Mobility
Planks - 3x45 sec
Close Grip Bench
bar, 3x10
95, 1x6
135, 1x6
135, 1x7
Axle Strict Press
85, 1x7
95, 1x7
105, 1x8
Pendlay Rows
175, 2x8
Fat Block Pinch
32, 6x3 (each hand)
This is where my ego (or in reality is my stupidity) reared it's ugly head. I was running out of time at this point and needed to hurry things up. So I did:
Grippers/Prowler
COC .5, 1x10 (each hand)
Prowler x 100 feet
As soon as I was done with grippers, right to prowler, right to grippers, etc.
Repeat three times.
I really never realized how much heavy breathing can impair gripper performance but these were TOUGH. And effective because I was able to jet out just in time.