Heavy deadlift

I pulled 497 today on deadlift and did it without wrist wraps!  This is a 10 lb improvement from my last max.  I'm still down on this and my squat as I tore both my quads while sprinting (not too bad) back in April and am still not quite 100%.  I'd like to see my squat back over 600, though I've never been a great deadlifter and have a lot of room for improvement!

Today's lift was mainly focused on deadlift with work sets up to 3 plates, then sets of 1-3 until my one rep max.  I finished off with some bent rows on 2 plates, curls up to 75s and various abs for about 40,000 lbs, total, for the day.

Heavy bench - alone

Today was a "heavy" bench day, though that is a relative term as I had to lift alone.  I did a pyramid starting on plates and working up to 385, then back down again.  I finished with a burnout on plates for 20 reps with a half-way hold for a 30 count and a 1 minute hold at the top.  Total weight lifted today is approximately 23,000 lbs.  Time for some Cell-Tech!

Shoulders

Today we tackled shoulders!  We built up to 200 lbs on military press, and nearly 500 lbs on shrugs!  With a medley of shoulder raises, dumbell presses and warm-ups and cool-downs to complete the day, we came in around 45,000 lbs to finish up the week ahead of schedule!  Here are some pics from today's lift for your viewing pleasure and to prove we really did it!! :)

This is me...Big Hun!

And of course, Big D!

Back Day

Time is short, as usual, for this dad and working man!  I managed to squeeze in some deadlift, rows, pull-ups, abs and a few combo super-sets, all focused on back, for a whopping 42,000 lbs, today.  I managed to get interrupted with 3 work calls during the lift, even being after hours, so its a miracle I got through it!  Tomorrow is a heavy shoulders day, so plenty of protein and rest tonight so I have the juice to make it during tomorrow's workout with Big D!

Bench repeat

So our new workout MO is going to be 2 week lift cycles, repeating workouts twice (more or less).  We'll become accustomed in the second week (as evidenced by recent weeks), then we'll switch the routine completely for a new shock that will hopefully spur growth!

Today's lift was a close repeat of last week's bench:

Tuesday	8/23/2011
Lift	Weight	Reps	Total Weight
Dumbell, one arm bench	40	15	1200
	60	12	1440
	75	10	1500
	100	8	1600
	100	8	1600
	75	10	1500
	60	12	1440
Pull over to press	100	44	4400
	100	44	4400
	100	44	4400
Medicine ball toss from lay	52	20	1040
	52	20	1040
	52	20	1040
Big Hun's	45	30	1350
	45	30	1350
	45	30	1350
Bar push-ups	200	20	4000
	200	20	4000
Calf raises	135	20	2700
	135	25	3375
	155	25	3875
Abs front holds	40	100	4000
Flys normal	35	10	700
	35	10	700
Skiers	75	15	2250
Bench burnout	95	50	4750
Cooldowns	2500	1	2500
	Day's total			63500

I'm also going to cycle back onto creatine, probably using CellTech as I've liked that over the years.  I'm currently taking a standard 80/20 Whey Protein (concentrate/isolate) blend...standard stuff from Costco as it is a pretty good value.  I'm also considering incorporating Vitakic on a more regular basis to see if that helps.  I think I'll go with the supplement medley for a few weeks and see how it treats me!

Hasta la proxima.

Two in a row!

Despite my crazy tire day yesterday, I was coerced by family members to go flipping, again.  Joined by two of my brothers-in-law and my wife, I went for 95 total flips, and tied things up with abs when I got home for a total of 33,500 lbs today.  Looking forward to a restful evening dinner up the canyon, a day off tomorrow, then back to the grind on Monday!

A day at the track...

Today was another outdoor workout day.  Back to the Colt's football field, this time with Big D.  We upped the stakes and went for 100 flips, along with a partial Herschel workout (running intermingled with sit-ups and push-ups...fairly tiring!).  Not much time today to update, otherwise, but a 43,000 lb day isn't too bad.  Tomorrow will be a light day, but I'll make sure to get a lift in so that I stay ahead of target!

Bench day with big D

I'm still recovering from Saturday's frenzy of tire flipping.  I have a strained bicep, can still barely feel my forearms and have been walking like I was 3 times my age...I guess that means it worked!  Today was a rough bench day with some out of the ordinary lifts to keep D guessing!  Here we go:

Tuesday	8/16/2011
Lift	Weight	Reps	Total Weight
Dumbell, one arm bench	40	15	1200
	60	12	1440
	75	10	1500
	100	8	1600
Incline bench	135	15	2025
	185	10	1850
	205	6	1230
Pull over to press	75	36	2700
	100	30	3000
	100	30	3000
Medicine ball toss from lay	52	20	1040
	52	20	1040
	52	20	1040
Big Hun's	45	30	1350
	45	30	1350
	45	25	2250
Bar push-ups	200	20	4000
	200	20	4000
Abs (various)	40	210	8400
Flys normal	35	12	840
	45	12	1080
Flys hammer	35	12	840
	45	12	1080
Bench burnout	45	150	6750
Cooldowns	2500	1	2500
	Day's total			57105

By the way, I'm now over 3.1 million pounds, cumulative, for the year (and didn't start counting until mid-February).

Tired from tire-flipping

Work got the better of me on Thursday and Friday, but I finally found some time today to get in a good workout. My trusty brother-in-law and I ran ourselves through the ringer in the 95 degree heat by borrowing the local football team's tires for some good old flippin'. 50 flips, some lunges and up-downs were enough to kill our grips for the rest of the day. All said and done it was about a 25,000-lb day, reaching the week's goal and earning me a quality rest day tomorrow before starting again on Monday.

Some arms and some legs...

Wednesday	8/10/2011
Lift	Weight	Reps	Total Weight
Standing hanging curls	25	12	600
	30	10	600
	35	8	560
	40	8	640
Calf raises	225	15	3375
	225	15	3375
	225	15	3375
Hammer curls	50	12	1200
	60	10	1200
Squat (back)	135	20	2700
	225	8	1800
	225	8	1800
	225	8	1800
Straight bar curls	95	10	950
	115	8	920
Calf raises	315	12	3780
	315	12	3780
Captains of Crush	167	15	5010
	237	5	2370
Half squats to jump	135	15	2025
	225	15	3375
Reverse curls	75	12	900
	75	12	900
Abs (various)	40	150	6000
	Day's total		53035

Today's lift took about an hour as I quickly moved between sets.  I'll probably be fairly sore tomorrow, so will incorporate some cardio and perhaps some tire flips.

I should really mention why I count the weight.  If you've ever seen the MetRx commercials featuring Mariusz Pudzianowski, you'll recall the quotes of "50 million presses...30 million squats" - obviously counting differently than I am!  I thought I'd start keeping track of the gross weights I lift as a basic calculation of weight lifted by reps.  Sometimes this works in my favor (i.e. with calf workouts), but when it comes to curls and other similar lifts, you can work thru endless sets and accumulate a very meager amount of weight.  Just a metric.  At the end of the day, we'll see how it plays out with jumps on max lifts!

Tuesday, August 9th - Shoulders

Tuesday	8/9/2011
Lift	Weight	Reps	Total Weight
Shoulder Press (dumbells)	50	15	1500
	60	15	1800
	75	10	1500
	100	6	1200
Lateral raises	30	12	720
	35	12	840
Front raises (hammer)	40	12	960
	45	10	900
Shrugs	225	15	3375
	315	12	3780
	365	10	3650
	415	8	3320
Reverse shrugs	135	20	2700
	135	20	2700
Shoulder flyes	30	12	720
	30	12	720
Back flyes	35	15	1050
	40	12	960
Bent rows	185	12	2220
	235	10	2350
	265	8	2120
Front squat (light)	135	12	1620
	135	12	1620
Abs (various)	40	225	9000
	Day's total		51325

In the beginning

I'm a former college football player (defensive lineman) who has always loved strongman and dreamed of one day competing in IFSA or WSM, but have never taken it too seriously.  I began 2011 with a goal to lift (by my own calculations) 110,000 lbs per week while also running at least 6 miles a week.  To date I'm ahead of schedule, so I thought, never a better time to officially begin keeping track of my goals, progress, max lifts, and everything that comprises my strongman training regimen.  This is just my first post to let you know a bit of where I'm coming from, and where I'll be going with this blog, so without further ado, let's take it for a ride!