Current Stats

Total weight lifted 2015: 3.6 M lbs
('14-6.5M, '13-6.6M, '12-8M, '11-5.2M)
Total cardio logged 2015: 22.0 hours
Current body weight 301 lbs, Height 6'8

Here's my lifting progress!






Progress!

Progress!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Light day...

Today my focus was on some cardio with stretching, though I took it easier than Tuesday.  I spent a lot of time stretching my forearms, and massaging them as well (including stim treatment) in an effort to get better.  Nothing grand to report, just this quick update!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Cardio, Plyometrics and Stretching

I still have limited use of my arms due to forearm pulls/tears/splits or whatever I happen to have going on currently.  Due to the lack of arm availability, I focused on cardio.  I upped the pace there about 40% more than normal and got my heart rate up the whole time (24 minutes - odd amount!).

After cardio I moved on to plyometrics.  I did stationary jumping:

To a platform and back down
Explosive jumps with knees to chest
Explosive jumps with butt kicks
Quick cone style pattern jumping
One-legged pattern jumping

This added some extra cardio along with some motions I don't often hit.  Plyometrics are great for explosiveness, as well as overall body balance and athleticism, which are all critical components of strongman.

I also hit my token shoulder work in a modified way using no extra weights and instead focusing on correct motions, sustained flex, and negatives.  I ultimately felt the same burn, and since I can't hold weights right now, it is my only option.

I tied up the workout stretching for nearly 20 minutes.  My flexibility is non-existent and I've got to continue to work on this, or my strength will plateau without a doubt!

As always, thank you for reading.

Monday, February 25, 2013

The past few days

I went down to Springville on Saturday to lift with Brian and Van.  My arms hurt to much to do anything so I basically squatted and did some really light band work while they did farmer's, log and deadlift.

I did manage some cardio over the weekend, and focused on stretching today as my arms have plateaued and I don't want them to get worse.  Also, my right knee is bugging me, so that put a leg workout out of reach today.

We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Crazy with rubber bands!

Today was all about the rubber bands.  My arms are getting a bit better but I have no strength in them and they hurt enough that I don't want to risk making things worse.  Today's lift was tailored around avoiding arm involvement as much as possible with the exception of some very light shoulder work.  Here is a video or rubber band pause squats with a bit of dialogue from yours truly:


And here is today's lift:
Weight Reps
Shoulder maintenance work 25 350
Hip thrusts bands 200 20
200 20
200 20
Pause squats with bands only 200 20
300 20
300 15
200 20
Calf raises with bands only 200 25
300 25
200 25
Good mornings bands only 150 20
150 25
Abs 60 130
22 min cardio
 
Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Legs only...arm injury

I've done something to my forearms.  It feels like a tear on the top...the relatively flimsy part of the arm.  I'm having trouble assessing how bad it is.  I'd venture, at this point, it is just a bad pull from overworking my arms, and that if I lay off, I'll be better in 5-7 days...fingers crossed!

I stayed completely away from my arms today.  I did leg stuff with band resistance and avoided using my arms in any capacity!

I got a new plyometric box today - 18 inch, metal - and it proved very useful for the workout.  This will be perfect height for box squats, step-ups, and can serve as a chair for workout friends!

With that, here is today's lift:

Weight Reps
Box squats band resistance 200 15
200 15
Step-ups 18 inch box 300 24
with negative 300 24
Lunges in place band resistance 200 20
quick leg switch for speed 200 20
Good mornings with bands 150 20
150 20
Band work for hips front w/ raise 50 40
lateral in and out 50 50
kick-back for hamstring 50 40
Abs 60 90
Stretching and stim treatment
20 min cardio

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Light day!

Just a quick one today:

Weight Reps
Shoulder warmups cords/bands 25 400
Log press (clean and press) 65 12
115 10
135 4
155 4
185 4
65 25
Straight leg deadlift 135 8
135 8
135 8
135 8
Abs 60 300
Stretching
25 min cardio

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Squat day

No time to write much, so here is a quick video of full pause squats:


And here is today's lift:

Weight Reps
Bench for reps 45 75
95 20
115 20
135 20
185 20
135 20
log 65 55
Log curls 65 30
65 30
Squat back 135 10
pause squats w/ recline 225 8
315 6
405 6
Lat pulls 100 25
100 25
100 25
100
Calf raises 225 25
225 25
Abs 60 105
Stretching
10 min cardio

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Cardio, calves and stretching

Today is sort of a day off...

I did 25 minutes of cardio with 10 lb ankle weights on, did a good full-body stretch, and did some calf burnouts.  Not much weight logged today, but it did loosen me up a bit, which I need, as tomorrow is set to be a squat day.

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Tonight was all about back.  Brian joined me for a varied routine on deadlift with straight bar and hex bar work, using band resistance to tax the top end of the lifts.  Here is a quick video of the heaviest set I did, which was more about speed, than anything:



And here is today's workout:

Weight Reps Total
Deadlift 100 lbs bands 135 6 810
Speed focus 100 lbs bands 225 3 675
250 lbs bands 225 3 675
250 lbs bands 275 3 825
Deadlift hex bar 100 lbs bands 135 6 810
Speed focus 100 lbs bands 225 3 675
100 lbs bands 225 3 675
100 lbs bands 225 3 675
100 lbs bands 225 3 675
100 lbs bands 225 3 675
Bent rows axle from floor 115 15 1725
115 15 1725
115 15 1725
Hip thrusts bands 200 25 5000
200 25 5000
Leg kick-backs with bands 50 40 2000
50 40 2000
50 40 2000
Abs 60 220 13200

Cardio and shoulders

Over the past couple of days I've been working in some shoulder rehab lifts as time would allow, and yesterday, was roped into playing basketball, again.  While I need the cardio, that puts the hurt on for a couple of days as I'm not in that sort of shape...my lift tonight with Brian is going to be tough as a result, but I'm sure I'll pull through!  Just updating on that for the moment, and will be deadlifting later today.  Thanks for reading!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Pressing and Farmer's

Brian came over today and we hit some overhead with log and axle, and some light farmer's picks.  No video today, nor much to report as it has been a light week due to my cold, so I'll just post the lift, and hope next week is more productive!

Weight Reps
Seated log press 65 10
65 10
115 8
165 6
185 5
205 5
Seated lockout log press 205 6
235 6
Seated lockout axle 205 6
255 6
255 6
Farmer's picks 135 16
225 10
225 10

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Deadlift speed day

Still recovering from my cold/flu/whatever, so I'm light on energy.  As a result, my lift is light on weight and focused on speed with bands.

 Here is a pic of my new deadlift platoform where I'm doing the band deadlifts:



And here is today's lift:

Weight Reps
Deadlift with 100 lbs of bands+ warm-up
45 8
135 4
225 4
~50% work with band resistance 275 3
275 3
With bands feels like 375 at lockout 275 3
Stretching
18 min cardio

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I'm still sick!

Our entire household is sick with RSV which is not fun.  I probably shouldn't have lifted on Saturday and definitely am out for today.  Here is a video that Brian took at our last workout of us doing sandbag (about a minute or so in).  8 of these in a row like this is really hard and taxes your cardio quite a bit!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Heavy yoke day

Working up on the yoke to feel the weight on my back.  We did static lifts to over 800 lbs today and it felt pretty good!  We hit a medley of other things at Brian's and I hit some auxiliary stuff when I got home to round out the week.  I've been sick for the past few days and missed a couple of lifts, so today was in part about catching up.  Here are the static yoke lifts in a video:


And here is today's workout:

Weight Reps
Super yoke 105 20
105 20
285 20
285 20
285 20
385 20
Static yoke picks 385 6
565 6
655 3
745 3
815 6
Sand bag 165 8
165 8
Triceps extensions 50 30
75 30
75 30
Hip extensions 200 20
200 25
200 30
Abs 60 250
Curls using bands 50 20
75 25
75 30
10 min cardio