A Little Catch Up

Hey kids. I haven't posted in a while. Again. I'm good at that, just look at my actual blog.

Since last I posted, I competed in a real live NAS strongman competition. Proof of it lies here, and here:

It was a great experience, and I learned a LOT. For example:

1. Bring a canopy. It gets hot in the sun, and shade is good. I needed shade after the first event.
2. Speaking of the first event, a 290# sled is harder to drag than a 290# prowler. Gotta work on that.
3. I need more grip endurance
4. Nick Best, World Strongest Man competitor and finalist, was awesome, as was Zack McCarley, a lightweight pro, and even moreso his grandparents who helped me recover after the first event. The strongman community is amazingly supportive.
5. I am good at the log press.
6. I am better at atlas stones.
7. I hate trucks and ropes.

I spent the next week recovering from the comp as well as recovering from my bicep pain that flared up during the truck pull. I felt like a powerlifting meet piled into a truck and ran me over after the comp, but man it was fun.

After the recovery week, I trained a few times. My bicep felt iffy but heat and ice were doing the job. Some video of last week's training:

The next comp involves a chain yoke, so we built one and I tested it out. It's hard. Also messed with Axle Clean and Press, but couldn't move the weights I need for the next comp, so I researched the "strongman" way to do it. Turns out it's the "Continental" method. More on that later.

Day after this I did some cardio by way of sled dragging and tire flippin'- it was fun. No video, because sometimes you just gotta train with your lady.

The week got away from me, lots of stuff going on at work which has been a lot of fun but very time consuming, so I only trained once. Did some SSB squatting so as not to aggravate my bicep, plus some other stuff.

Today I figured on some event work. Was going to stick with lower body plus some light technique work. The plan was timed deadlifts, axle clean and press technique, chain yoke walk, atlas stone technique. Here's how it went:

The deadlifts went not so great- I wanted 10 reps, only got 6. I need to work on my grip endurance still... 

Then it happened.

Remember the "Continental" method of the axle clean and press I mentioned earlier? I was trying that today. It was a method used for a long time before the more conventional clean became the standard for Olympic lifting, and is still used in strongman, especially with heavier weight. While my goal is to be able to do the conventional clean with the axle, the next comp requires a 175# (novice) or 225# (LW) axle clean and press, neither of which I can do conventionally with an axle. So I researched the technique and tried it out today.

It was going well till that bicep thing flared up on the 130#. I felt a pop... and I stopped for the day. I already had an appointment with an ortho for Monday (was supposed to be Thursday but I had a meeting go long so I rescheduled) for the biep thing, so I'll find out then what's going on.

For now, though, I wait. At least I had 3 pounds of ribs on the BBQ to console me.