Diary of a novice strongman

Charlts

Mixed session today, I trained legs with a man mountain and set pbs for reps on back and front squats and broke in a new pair or Olympic lifting shoes! Plus my new training buddy repped 240 like a monster!!

Squats - bar x 15, x 15, 60 x 10, 100 x 10, 120 x 5, 140 x 5, x 5, x 5, x 5, x 12!!!!
Fronties - 60 x 5, 80 x 5, 100 x 3, 120 x 2, 120 x 3
Leg extensions - 49 x 10, 56 x 10, 63 x 10. Drop set 63 x 5, 49 x 5, 42 x 5, 35 x 40

The less good bit was weighing in, bodyweight is back up to 119kg, my waist has gotten smaller by an inch so can't figure out what's going on, it's something to keep an eye on.

Charlts

Speaking with my regular training partner and we're doing new deadlift pb's on March 1st, a week or so after that I'll have a bash at a new squat and have 200  in my sights. March will be the month for pb's and ego stroking, after that it's back to serious grafting to close the gap on the strong feckers I'll be competing against!

reiteration

nice one...interesting article here...

T NATION | Max Out on Squats Every Day

Charlts

It's interesting, can't see where I'd fit extra sessions in between work and everything else. Maybe if I'd started at 18 and hadn't damaged myself so much playing Rugby!

Charlts

Pressing tonight and let myself get talked into attempting a big bench in exchange for a hoody, sadly failed a pb attempt as my technique was rubbish and I made far too big a jump from 140 to 155 which was a stupid error to make. I'm still feeling fried from yesterday but pushed on with it.

Bench - bar x 20, 60 x 10, 60 x 10, 100 x 5, 120 x 3, 130 x 1, 140 x 1, 155 failed x 2
Strict log press - 80 x 5, 80 x 5, 80 x 5, 80 x 5, 80 x 5
Log push press - 80 x 3, 90 x 2, 100 x 2
Axle clean - 55 x 5
Axle C&J - 55 x 5, 75 x 3, 75 x 5
Dips - BW x 10,  25 x 9,  25 x 5

silent ninja

Sets of 5 are pretty awesome. You're getting some good volume in some of your workouts. If I didn't know better the bodybuilder bro inside you is calling out lol

140 to 155 is insane. I'm nowhere near your level, but I find singles just lack the work level to translate to gains. Reps of 3-5 are the actual work needed. In fact, there are many powerlifters that barely train singles but their 1RM continues to go up. Food for thought

Charlts

The more I think about that bench attempt the more I realise how stupid it was! Proper novice error, that I don't intend on repeating! Did some maxes with wifey this morning before the boys turned up, built her up nice and slowly, she's put 10kg on her deadlift and 7.5 on her bench, that's the way to do it!

I know what you mean about the volume, I'm still trying to get more size, drill technique, and still riding the newbie gains hard. Things will change up shortly in the training after the next lot of maxes to see where I'm at, there'll be minimal max efforts in the run up to the comps as there's only one max event. The good power lifters and strongmen I know max out on a regular basis, it's finding what works best so I've been giving the slower route a go over the past few months.

Charlts

This morning after watching wifey get some new pbs some of the boys and I had a really good session with lots of shouting and encouragement all round. Really need to work on flexibility in my wrists which'll help me clean heavy axles easier, by being able to get under it. Although the aggression and frustration that came out after the failures got the successful singles up! Really pleased with the yoke I seem to be getting better every time on it.

Axle C&P - 40 x 10, 60 x 10, 70 x 3, 80 x 1, 90 x 1, 100 fail, 100 x 1, 105 fail, 105 x 1, 90 x 3, 80 x 1
Yoke - 130 x 60m, 170 x 30m, 180 x 75m in 60 secs

Charlts

As I took my training buddy along to the Rugby yesterday we had a reminisce and looked through the old pics and vids from a year ago when I first started training with the group. Quite a difference a year of consistent training and a 6 month consistent bulk makes we reckon.

silent ninja

The difference is enormous! You've added a lot of bulk and look much         muscular. Even though you're taking a big breath, your face is leaner in the second pic. Good job!