Picking up heavy stuff and getting hit a lot

[BigAl]

KYOKUSHIN KARATE:

Myself, Sempai, Yuki, and Derek tonight. More padwork.

**Simultaneous lead low roundhouse kick to the inner thigh and lead straight. Did 2 min left and right side twice each (8 min total).
The timing is big on this one. I found if I throw the punch right when it feels like my toes left the ground they hit on contact. You need to use the forward force of the low roundhouse to get power into the left jab at the same time.

**Simultaneous lead low roundhouse kick to the outer thigh and lead straight. Did 2 min left and right side twice each (8 min total).
Same with above, I found for me it's best to start throwing the punch right when I'm turning my hip over to drive that roundhouse kick downwards into the thigh. A lead shita-tsuki works really well here too (basically like an uppercut). My low roundhouse kicks to the outer thigh are looking pretty good.

**Simultaneous rear low roundhouse kick to the outer thigh and thrust punch. Did 2 min each side (4 min total).
This one feels pretty natural, as since the leg sweeps right into him your body's already moving forward and the foot is there so BAM, the punch that follows has a lot of power. Same deal with the hip here.

**Lead front push kick followed quickly by lead punch. Did 2 min each side twice (8 min total).
You can't really do these simultaneously, at least I can't. The key is to drive your foot into the target hard like you're kicking down a door and trying to land the punch at the exact moment your foot touches the ground. I could feel my sempai's punches through the thick pad coming in HARD.

**Lead high roundhouse kick. Did 2 minutes each side (4 min total).
My "high" roundhouse kick is only slightly higher than my middle, since I can't kick all that high yet :P My sempai did say I was doing really well on these though, I was getting that knee past the target and had the right angle so I was popping the hand mitt pretty hard.

All told it ends up being 32 minutes of padwork for myself, not to mention 32 minutes of holding them for others. Even though I had a thick pad covering my thigh, I could still feel my sempai's low roundhouse kicks to the outer thigh pretty good. We then did some fingertip pushups and knuckle pushups on bricks, but skipped the abwork for tonight.

[BigAl]

20060812:

Took the day off to give my calf a rest. I had opened the gym at 0545 that morning so when I got off at 1200 I tried depositing my check (missed the bank closing by two minutes), got a haircut, then took a nice long nap.

My friend Terry and her boyfriend invited me to a Hawaiian luau at his place, so I took my ex from before, Jenny. It was pretty fun, they had a nice fire going and plenty of good food which I was certainly not shy about. Open bar too but since I had to work today (right at this moment actually ) I didn't drink anything. Saw a few people from HS I had been wanting to talk to, so it was cool.

Calf's feeling a lot better today, going to hit it hard on Tuesday.

[BigAl]

20060815:

Kyokushin tonight. Myself, Sempai, Yuki, and a new guy named Kevin (he made it to blue belt under my sempai about five years ago then stopped training for a while). Since it was basically his first class in a long time, we took it relatively easy on him padwork-wise.

We decided to do a lot of kicking tonight, so we warmed up with 20 of each (both the left and right sides, so 40 total): lead mae geri, rear mae geri, lead gedan mawashi geri, rear gedan mawashi geri, lead yoko geri, rear yoko geri, ushiro geri, and inside crescent kicks. Totals out to be 320 kicks.

We then busted out the pads and did the following. All were one minute instead of our normal two, except for the punching at the end.

**Lead mawashi geri to the inner thigh (left and right). 2 min total.
My sempai said these are looking really good, for the last 15-20 seconds of each I was doubling up on them and they were hitting really well. About time I started getting something right lol

**Lead mawashi geri to the outer thigh (left and right). 2 min total.
Need to turn my hip over a bit more to get that downwards angle on the thigh, probably just need to stretch a bit more and work on my flexibility.

**Rear mawashi geri to the outer thigh (left and right). 2 min total.
I very slightly wind up on these, need to avoid that. Most of them hit pretty well though, I'm slightly dropping my weight into them and getting that good angle, just need to work on getting that timing down exactly.

**Rear gedan mawashi geri to the inner thigh (left and right). 2 min total.
This is used if you're fighting someone who's fighting either southpaw (if you're a rightie) or conventional (if you're a leftie). You step to the outside slightly and fire a low roundhouse kick right to their inner thigh while keeping your hands up to protect yourself (as if you were countering a jodan mawashi geri). I need to make sure I pivot more here.

**Lead yoko geri to the gut (left and right). 2 min total.
Fairly fast but very weak. At most it'd be a light jab to push someone back and open them up for something else right now. I'm trying to move with it like a lead push kick and that seems to be helping with some power there.

**Rear yoko geri to the gut (left and right). 2 min total.
Have to learn how to get my hips into it at just the right moment, I did it once or twice and really sent my sempai flying but my timing seems off otherwise. I tend to do these flat-footed, I can't do the edge of the foot yet. Flat-footed seems better to me anyways.

**Rear straight (left and right). 2 min rounds, 4 min total.
He was teaching a different way today, one Yuki's a big fan of. We tend to rotate a lot into our strikes which though they pack a lot of power slows them down somewhat. It also exposes us a lot more to counterattack. Yuki was teaching us to be more in-tight and not expose yourself as much, which was definitely different for me and will take some getting used to. Seeing him and how hard he hit like that though is definitely inspiration enough to practice it.

We then finished up with some conditioning. 10 fingertip push-ups, 30 knuckle push-ups (with a timed hold at the end; my sempai wants me to bring mine in tight-elbow next time as I do mine wider than normal), and some abwork (80 crunches, 40 oblique crunches each side, 40 reverse crunches, and 30 accelerated leg raises).

Then, under supervision from my instructors, I did some work on the makiwara. Did about 20 strikes per hand for seikens, urakens, shita tsukis, shutos, and tettsuos (I think that's how you spell it; hammerfists). Then did 10 strikes each hand for haitos, since I'm not very good with them yet.

Good workout. Kevin was hurting pretty bad throughout it, they had him doing 30 seconds on some of the exercises. I was like that the first time I was there though, so nothing bad on him. Missed lifting that day so I'm going to fit it in today (20060816). Just going to max on deadlifts.

[BigAl]

20060816:

Tested my max deadlift today.

Deadlifts:
185x5
245x3
315x1
375x1
435x0 (right above knees)
425x1 (raw, PR!)

Raw is with no straps or belt, just chalk and in my socks. Then tossed on straps and a belt and tried 455 twice, could only break it off the ground though. Happy with what I've got for right now.

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:

Atlas Stone: Carried the 225 for 5ft then loaded it, then did 3 carries of 10ft each to the barrel then loaded it.
I managed to do the first one without tacky but after that I couldn't budge the sucker. So I tossed just a little bit on my forearms and the sucker went up real easy. I think my crushing strength between my forearms is my weak link here, need to find some good exercises to strengthen that. Happy with the three carries though, not too bad (had to stop on the 2nd and regrip the stone), just need to get it high enough above my hips so I can walk fast. The first one I was dragging ass because of that.

Log Clean and Press:
108x4
138x2
168x2
168x2
168x1 (got the second clean but no press)
168x1 (got the second clean but no press)
Then just cleaned 168x3, almost 4.

Block Weight Tossing:
Something I haven't done in a long time. Mine's the hex head of a 35. This got a lot easier from last time, I pretty much tossed it from hand to hand for a minute or more. Going to bring it to my Kyokushin Karate class tonight to let some of the other guys try it so I'll probably do more there.

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:
Hit up the O-lifting club today, just myself there training aside from Rege so I got a good intense workout in.

Shrug Pulls: 40kg (88lbs) x3/x3.

Hang Cleans: 50kg (110lbs) x3/3/3.

Squat Clean to Front Squat to Jerk: 60kg (132lbs) x3/3.

Shrug Pulls: 60kg x3/3.

This is a guesstimate on actual sets, I did a lot of triples of all these different exercises. I bend my arms too quickly on the cleans when they're lighter, but less so when they get heavier. I need to learn how to get that shrug down perfectly and let it flip up naturally. I also have the tendency to "catch" the bar rather than let it fall into place.

Gotta remember to: keep the scapula together, feet shoulder-width, head up, chest out, back arched, ass out. Arms are just hooks, it should be all back. Let the initial pull go to its maximum before you move your arms.

As for the jerk, I tend to do it "soft" from what Rege says, meaning I don't immediately lock out my arms but rather try to push it up again after it's lost all its power.

Oly Back Squats:
80kg (176lbs) x5
90kg (198lbs) x3
110kg (242lbs) x3
125kg (275lbs) x2
90kg (198lbs) x10

Kicked some butt on squats today. 275x2 ATG, a new PR. Rege helped me get my breathing in check which I think made all the difference as 275 was only supposed to be a single but I doubled it and probably could've done more.

Rege says I have the strength and flexibility, if I can get my technique down really well then "you're going to be fricking dangerous" is what he told me. Then Rege left so I decided to toss in some overhead stuff and some dumbbell flyes to try those out.

Military Press: 65x1, 95x1, 125x1, 150x1, 160x0 (close).

Power Jerks: 160x1, 185x0/0/0 (first two were very close to lockout, last one nowhere near).

Dumbbell Chest Flyes: 30x5, 30x5, 30x5, 40x5, 40x5.
I feel silly doing these, but if they help, hey, whatever works. I don't know if I'm doing them right though. My friend Greg told me to try them out with a two-second pause at the top and bottom so I did that.

Going to try some sled dragging and/or car pushing sometime today as well.

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:

Atlas Stone: Did two 5ft carries with the 225 and loaded (no tacky), two 10ft carries and loaded (no tacky), then tossed on just a few drops of tacky and did a final 10ft carry to load and two shoulder attempts (neither got close, need to work on that).

Uploaded one of the 10ft carries, you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V18Q8G9LkmM

I think I'm finally getting my stone "style" so to speak. I've noticed if I use my hands more like a Zercher deadlift I can better crush the stone and get it a lot better. Sweet. Bis are feeling sore now.

Log Clean and Press:
85x5 (just presses to warm up)
108x3 (clean and press each rep)
138x3 (clean and press each rep)
168x3 (one clean)
168x0 (one clean and three attempts, @#$%....)
168x1 (tried for 2, couldn't get it)

Trying to work on locking these out "hard" like Rege is teaching me. I can see a difference that way. I tried doing the 138's more like a power clean and focusing on that shrug pull too. The log flipped up pretty fast and whacked me in my chin as it went into position. Ouch. Better think of something else :lol: Too much playing around with the stone I think. Might do log again this week then, or next time do log first then stones and just alternate them like that.

[BigAl]

Had Kyokushin last night. Since my sempai had a doctor's appointment the next morning (one of those don't eat anything the day before deals), he just did some kata and took it easy so Yuki worked with me a lot tonight on technique.

Yuki started me off with standing in Sanchin and working on my middle punches, upper punches, side urakens to the face, side urakens to the kidneys, straight urakens to the face, and doing the four basic blocks. He then got me moving in Sanchin and then Zenkutsu practicing the punches and blocks. Lots of good info here, hope I can remember it all:

**Seikens: Keep your elbow tight as you roll your hips forward, your hips should lead everything you do. Think of your obliques as a catapult for your fist.

**Urakens: Think of these as if you're holding a towel and want to snap it at someone. The fist should roll towards you like a koken then snap forward at the last instant like a whip to maximize impact. Make sure your hip is still leading! It's all in the hips.

**Gedan-Barai: Your hip should turn with your blocking arm when it circles up near your chin then turn back as it's sweeping down. At the last instant, turn your hips away from it again. That adds a lot of power. Let gravity do most of the work here for bringing down the gedan-barai. You can also drop your weight very slightly into the gedan-barai to make it more damaging.

**Chudan Soto Uke: Yuki does a very different version of this so it's something I need to work on. His doesn't come out like a circle. His is more like a shita tsuki and an uraken almost, it's tough to explain.

**Chudan Uchi Uke: Like all blocks, make sure you aren't centered when you block so you can better defend yourself. Visualize your side as that catapult again, and make sure that the fist circles back just a little bit at the end and that it's across your body.

**Jodan Uke: Hand should be right at the eyebrow level. Like the gedan-barai, you can move your weight into it by going very slightly upwards.

We then finished off with 20 fingertip pushups, super-slow knuckle pushups (counting to 10 in the up, middle, and down position then back up; did that about three times), some light stretches, 100 crunches, 50 oblique crunches per side, and some Ikken (two minutes natural posture, one minute balanced on one leg for both legs).

Things for me to focus on:
**Relax! Let your hips lead what you do, don't try to use too much muscle.
**Practice everything slowly. We were doing weight transfer slowly and using big circles so it would be easier to learn.

[BigAl]

20050824:

Intense workout at Kyokushin tonight. We did all basics today, and lots of them. My arms hurt just looking at the totals again.

**Seiken chudan tsuki: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Seiken jodan tsuki: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Seiken gedan tsuki: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Double seiken chudan tsukis: 40 times, 80 punches total.
**Jodan-chudan-gedan seiken tsukis: 40 times, 120 punches total.
**Shita tsuki: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Seiken ago tsuki: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Double seiken ago tsuki: 40 times, 80 punches total.
**Uraken sayu gammen uchi: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Uraken hiza uchi: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Uraken ago uchi: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Uraken downward blow to nose: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shuto gammen uchis: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shuto hiza uchi: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shuto uchi uchis: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shuto sakotsu uchi: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shuto sakotsu uchikomi: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shotei chudan: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shotei jodan: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Shote gedan: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Koken jodan: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Koken chudan: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Hiraken jodan: 40 times, 40 punches total.
**Fore-knuckle fist chudan: 40 times, 40 punches total.

By this time we had thrown 1200 punches so we decided to take a five-minute water break. We then hopped right into some kicks and blocks, though nowhere near as bad as above was:

**Mae geri (rear): 40 times each leg, 80 kicks total.
**Yoko geri (rear): 40 times each leg, 80 kicks total.
**Chudan mawashi geri (gear): 40 times each leg, 80 kicks total.
**Ushiro geri: 40 times each leg, 80 kicks total.
**Inside crescent kick (rear): 20 times each leg, 40 kicks total.
**Outside crescent kick (rear): 20 times each leg, 40 kicks total.
**Gedan-barai: 40 times, 40 blocks total.
**Chudan uchi uke: 40 times, 40 blocks total.
**Chudan soto uke: 40 times, 40 blocks total.
**Jodan uke: 40 times, 40 blocks total.
**Shuto mawashi uke: 40 times each side, 80 blocks total.

We then worked on some combinations, my sempai had some pretty interesting ones as he was trying to emphasize counterattacking right off the block.
**Preparation position for chudan uchi uke to block, followed by backfist to nose and gyaku tsuki. 40 times each side.
**Gedan-barai to shita-tsuki with same arm, followed by gyaku tsuki. 40 times each side. (He actually taught a seiken off of this one, but to me shita tsuki falls into place much better and he liked the idea.)
**Chudan soto uke to uraken with same hand, followed by gyaku tsuki. 40 times each side.
**Jodan uke to downwards tettsui to nose, followed by gyaku tsuki. 40 times each side.

We then did some movement drills, working on shifting our bodyweight using the different blocks and seiken chudan tsukis, then after 15 fingertip pushups, 20 knuckle pushups on bricks, and some abwork (100 crunches, 50 oblique crunches each side, 50 reverse crunches, and 25 accelerated leg raises), we called it a night.

All totaled out it ended up being almost 2000 punches/hand strikes, 400 blocks, and 400 kicks. Holy crap, no wonder why my arms were sore today.

20060825:
Light workout today, as I'm doing more tomorrow. Just did some farmer's walks. I was going to try Mike's plate crushers but I didn't get a chance before I had to work.

Farmer's Walks:
155/hand for 100ft, easy warm-up (stumbled a bit near the end though).
185/hand for 50ft with one turn (ripped open callus and lost it on turn).
185/hand for 50ft with one turn (hand with ripped callus dropped it again).
225/hand (with straps) for a mere 8ft.

That ripped callus gave me a lot of trouble. It bled all over the bar the first time making it slick, so I had to clean it off and put on a bandage. The second time it was killing me on the liftoff, but I still managed to get it the 50ft. I've been slacking on farmer's too and it shows, my hands can normally take a lot more. Disappointing day. Some of it could be from all the striking we did the night before, but I know it's also because I'd been slacking on these a bit.

This Silver Sneaker asked me why I was wearing all red today (red workout shorts and a red USMC T-shirt). I just jokingly told her "I wear red so the blood doesn't show", thinking of the old Civil War commander that did the same. She saw me bleeding all over the floor before though so that didn't go over too well with my boss who overheard it :P

Hopefully this callus won't give me too much problems tomorrow, going to do some O-lifting and axle deadlifts for reps (they have an Apollon's Axle at the O-club so I'll probably use theirs), then having some buddies over to try out some strongman stuff and to do some sled dragging. They'll be using whatever they want.

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:

O-lifting session at the MASC. Just a couple of us there: myself, Bob (a former powerlifter getting into O-lifting, started a few weeks before I did), Al (he's good, just met him today), and Alexandre the coach.

He had me warm up, so I did some hang cleans and hang power snatches to warm up. He then had us doing a lot of work on the snatch today.

Hang Power Snatches:
Just the bar for 2-3 sets, a few times apiece.

Full Snatches:
30kg (66 lbs) 2x1
40kg (88 lbs) 5x1
45kg (99 lbs) 2x1
50kg (110 lbs) 4x1 (only got the first one out of 4 though, more later on)
52.5kg (115.5 lbs) x1 (nailed it, PR for the day)

The 50kg seemed easy at first, I nailed the first one no problem. The next two however I was (in Alex's words) "looking at mushrooms and not up at Pluto." He showed me how by keeping your head up it helps keep you balanced as if you look down while forcing it up it shifts more of your bodyweight forward. The fourth was because I tend to rush to the standing portion, he told me to catch it in the overhead squat position then once you feel balanced stand.

The 52.5kg was my best lift of the day according to Alex. I kept it close to my body, locked my arms out at the right spot, stayed in the overhead squat position until I felt balanced then locked it out without too much problem. Alex said with a little more work on my technique I have a 70kg (154 lbs) snatch in me.

The Pittsburgh Barbell Club competes twice a year, once in the summer and once in the winter. Alex said he wants me to try for the winter competition, though when that will be I don't know. Still, very cool.

Stuff to work on for the snatch:
** "Show your rings", as Alex said. Hands right outside the rings.
** Pull the bar up your thighs, keeping it as close as possible.
** Practice the form in the air (Alex calls it "meditation"), working on keeping good form.
** Don't pull with my arms. Pretty good about that today, only did it once or twice.

My buddy McKenna's coming over in about 20 to go train, so I'll probably have more. Taking it light though.

[BigAl]

20060826:

The workout with my buddy McKenna was a good one. He showed me a little trick he learned when he used to train with Steve MacD. We set up my yoke to a decent height, then you would pick up the Atlas stone and "load" it over the yoke. Then you'd run around the yoke as quick as you can, pick it up again, "load", and repeat. They would do this a lot for endurance with a lighter stone. McKenna's about 4" taller than me so the yoke was a little high for me, so I didn't always get them over the yoke but I did get it right up against it several times, enough to load a smaller barrel.

Atlas Stones:
We did that for three sets each, though on the last set I only managed to do one as I felt a weird pinch in my right bicep. Feels better today, but still a bit sore.

Farmer's Walks:
Warmed up with 115 per hand for 100ft with one turn, then tossed on 165. McKenna's back is still healing a bit so the turns were messing him up a little bit, so he decided to just walk as far as he could up the street then I'd walk it back. He walked it about 150', then I walked it about 110' back (without chalk, as we left it by the starting line :P). He then took it the remaning 40'. We then tossed on 185 per hand and did the same. He got 120', I walked it back about 100'. We then put all the stuff away.

Plate Crushers: Three 5lb plates crushed together for about 28 sec.
Tried Mike's idea out, I like these. 5lb plates did seem kind of easy though, haven't tried 10's yet but we'll see.

Not a bad day at all, especially for doing farmer's the day right before. Only crappy part was when we were putting all the stuff away in my shed and found out the hard way there's a wasp nest in there. I got stung square on the nose so when I went out later on that night I looked like W.C. Fields until the swelling went down. I need to hit it up with a can of Raid sometime this week, zap all those little mofos. Luckily I still have my mosquito netting from the Marine Corps

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:

Axle Deadlifts for Reps:
5 hang power snatches with empty bar
5 hang squat cleans with empty bar
135x4 on regular Olympic bar
225x3 on regular Olympic bar
275x2 on regular Olympic bar

Then tossed on the belt and chalk and threw 315 on the 2" axle.

315x12 (+2 rep PR)

Not bad for my lower back feeling weak already.

Log Presses (clean once and press for reps):
88x3
118x2
143x1
173x0 (cleaned it but no press)
173x0 (again, clean but no press)

Had to move to a different spot, I smashed up all the patio blocks in this area. I took off my belt for the clean and presses, and it actually felt a lot better. The clean went up a lot more smoothly and with less effort.

Log Presses (clean and press each rep):
128x5
138x4
148x3
158x2
168x1
178x0

Since there's no karate tonight (my instructors are hitting up the game), I'm contemplating hitting up the O-lifting club.

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:

Log Cleans:
148x5
158x4
168x3
178x2
188x1
198x1

For these and log presses, I'll be adding 5-10lbs each session or so, depending on how it feels. My ultimate goal is to press about 2-3 reps with the 175 log at Xenia on September 16th so it's coming down to the wire right now. 198 was easy, I've done 210 before, but I'm more concentrating on doing reps this time around than singles.

Farmer's Walk:
First had to wheelbarrow down all the weight I'll be using to the street below twice (so about 180 pounds per load), going through the grass sucks but once you hit downhill it's not bad. Getting it back up is the pain in the butt :P

Then I had to explain to a community cop in an undercover car what I was doing, as he drove by when I was unloading my batch :P It's pretty much a given I need to get some storage space at an enclosed facility now.

135 per hand for 100ft (one turn at 50ft; real quick). Hands were feeling tired already though.
195 per hand for 100ft (one turn at 50ft). Kicked my ass but I finished it.
195 per hand for only about 8ft.

Hands died on the last one. Then I had the fun of schlepping all that crap up the hill again. Fun times.

Tried using tape sticky-side out over my arms to give the Atlas stone a shot to see how that worked. The left side was too tight and the right was too loose, kept slipping off and prevented me from getting any kind of grip. Might need to work with it a little bit. Or just say "f%ck it" and hope my tat doesn't get too messed up.

[BigAl]

WORKOUT:

Atlas Stone:
Crap day for these. My 225 was still wet from the rain last night so it barely budged without tacky. Even once I used some of my brand new Ostlund tacky, I still only managed a 5' carry and load. Just not feeling these today. Going to have to go balls to the wall Tuesday on it, last day with them before my mini-contest and then Xenia.

Log Clean and Press (clean each rep):
138x5
148x4
158x3
168x2
178x1 (PR, officially a bodyweight log press)

Very cool. Weighed in at 178 this morning so this is now a legitimate bodyweight log press. I'm really liking the 5-4-3-2-1 approach for log presses, the lighter weights let you focus on technique so whenever you do the heavier ones you're already in a nice groove. The 178 wasn't bad at all, it did lock out soft (something I'm trying to avoid) but it wasn't too bad, even managed to hold it up there for several extra seconds just to see my badass reflection in the window B) :lol:

Farmer's Power Holds:
225 per hand for a measly 16 seconds.

Figured I might as well do something else while I'm at it, yet didn't feel like carting all the crap down to the road. So I figured toss on 225 per hand and see how long I could hold onto it, since the 450 frame I'll be doing at Xenia will be somewhat similar. Had to do it out on my grass instead of the patio, as I know those suckers will smash it up even more. Next time I should probably do a warm-up set or two for 30 seconds each.

[BigAl]

09/05/2006 KYOKUSHIN KARATE:

Good workout. Lots of kihon and a big emphasis on kata tonight. Warmed up with a lot of running in place, jumping jacks, and squat kicks then hopped right into the kihon. Did several hundred handstrikes and a couple hundred kicks and blocks. We then worked on Ten no kata, Tsuki no, Ju Ni Ho, the Taikyokyus, and the first two Pinans. No knuckle conditioning or abs tonight, my sempai had to go pick up his daughter so we had to cut the class a bit short. Total time was about 1.5 hours, the beginning was fairly tough but by the end I only had a mild sweat going on.

[BigAl]

09/06/2006 STRONGMAN:

Atlas Stones: All these were done with my 225lb Atlas stone and without tacky. Took a short break between sets. The area where I'm keeping my stone is getting really muddy, might need to move it.

Set 1: Carry 10' and load onto barrel, roll off, carry 5' and load onto barrel, roll off, carry 2' and load.
Set 2: Carry 10' and load onto barrel, roll off, carry 5' and load, done.

Decent workout today. I should get the first two stones at Xenia easy, hopefully the tacky will help me get that 280.

Log Clean and Press (clean every rep):
143x5 (didn't finish in 60 seconds though, this one hurt already)
153x3 (was trying for 4, @#$%....)
163x1 (couldn't even get 2nd rep, was shooting for 3)
173x---
183x---

Stones must've worn me out a good bit, log pressing was rough today. Decided to back off for now and hit it hard again Friday using the same weights.

Doing 2" thickbar deadlifts for reps with 315 in 60 sec later on, going to do it right before I go to work.

[BigAl]

Rest of the workout:

Deadlifts:
Warm-up (all with Olympic barbell):
135x5
225x4
275x2

Then tossed on a belt, chalked up, and set the timer for 60 seconds.

Axle Deadlifts: 315x9 in 60 seconds.

Each one was a battle, just too far from the other ones. Not bad, still 25% under my personal best for these. I still had a good bit left in the tank afterwards I felt but didn't want to push it since the comp's coming right around the corner. One more time for these on Monday, we'll see how that goes.