Asparagus Strength Journey

[asparagus]

Howdy veggies -

 

Been about a year now since I've been on. To be honest as the site activity slowed down so did my interest in checking in all the time. I just poked around and have seen a few familiar faces also returned from the void - nice to hear from you again. I don't think I'll be posting my training log anymore, maybe just general updates if I feel like it.

 

So what have I been up to?

 

I've been training with the Strongman crew from my previous post once a month since last August through this past February. Couldn't train with them since then because my wife got a job on the weekends and I was home with my kids. I've still been at the gym solidly, although a bit less consistently this past summer. I am currently sitting at 220 lbs BW (100 kg), up from about 208 at the beginning of this year. Last month I started supplementing Creatine, so at least 5 lbs of my current BW is extra water. I haven't done a heavy bench press in a year.

 

Some of my recent maxes:

235# Power clean and push press (I almost had 245#) (February 2015)

500# Deadlift, belt and chalk (November 2014)

320# Atlas stone over 52" bar (February, 2015)

240# each hand Farmers walk for 80' (really slow and dropped it twice; the tanks being carried were really awkward) (February 2015)

275# each hand Farmers handle deadlift (August 2014)

medley, 60' each: 300# sandbag carry, 850# tire flip, 400# chain and anchor drag - 2 minutes 9 seconds (February 2015)

 

Since I haven't been able to train with the Strongman crew, I built myself a set of Farmer's walk handles out of wood with threaded rods and pipes for handles. For weights I use 2 60# bags of cement on each handle and then add weight with sandbags. Built the handles for $50 and $10 worth of cement (4 bags). The sandbags I already had in my garage from some flooding years ago. Last weekend I worked up to 2 sets of 60' at 230# per hand. The pickup was slow, but I was able to move pretty quickly. Much faster than when I did the 240# Farmers back in February.

 

Today I picked up the lumber and pipes I'll need to build myself a 12" log (about $100). There's a used sporting goods store in the area that sells used plates, so I'll probably have to spend another $100 on plates to get the log heavy enough.

 

This month I started doing the Cube Method for Strongman. Before that I was doing a 3-day split (heavy upper, heavy lower, light work and upper isolation) which many weeks ended up being just a 2-day split skipping the light work day. I pretty much wrote my own programming for it, with alternating lifts so I wasn't hitting the same thing heavy week after week. I don't think it worked very well for me, so I wanted to go to something tried and true.

 

I'll try a competition one of these days, hopefully early next year.

 

This was supposed to be a brief message...

[vegan_rossco]

Hell yeah!!! You alright dude? Seems we're all coming back at the same time

Strongman training is awesome!!! Wish I had access to that kind of stuff, I imagine atlas stones are pretty cool!

Anyways how are things your side of the pond?

[asparagus]

Poking my head back in.

 

Still at it. BW still around 220-222#. Still doing the Cube for Strongman program. Not a lot of strongman event training lately as my weekends tend to be busy and don't allow for it as much as I'd like.

 

Did a push-jerk in the rack for 265# back in December 2015, could probably hit 275# now. A couple months back I Oly-cleaned 265#. I've done a full clean and jerk for 255#. The rest of my gym lifts are probably around the same, haven't really tested much although I feel I could squat 405# now. My strongman work has gotten better. I'm faster and stronger on the medleys. I've done a 275# [each hand] farmers walk for 120' into an 800# tire flip for 6 flips in slightly over 2 minutes. I've pressed a 240# log and a 240# axle back to back, both cleaned from the floor. I've gotten faster on the atlas stones, I'm sure I can do about 10 reps on a 240# stone in 60 seconds.

 

I finally feel that my body image is where I want it to be. I am strong and I look strong to myself. What I see in the mirror is what I've always felt I should look like.

 

My current daily diet is usually:

first meal: 1/2 cup mixed nuts, coffee with cashew milk

second meal: 1/2 cup muesli + 1/2 cup oats + 1 TBSP flax oil + 1-2 TBSP coconut oil + 1/2 cup frozen blueberries + cashew milk

three identical meals over the rest of the day: 20g protein powder shake in water, 1-2 TBSP peanut butter, ~2 cups mixed beans and white rice (sometimes mixed with millet or other types of rice), ~1.5-2 cups mixed chopped vegetables

before bed: 20g protein powder shake in water, 2 TBSP peanut butter

 

on workout days I add in another 20g protein shake with 8 oz of green/fruit juice.

 

This gets me somewhere around 4000 calories a day and roughly 200-220g protein. I'd like to put on another 5 lbs or so BW so I probably need to up my peanut butter intake a bit.

 

Supplements I take daily:

Creatine monohydrate

Magnesium citrate

iodine

DHA

vitamin-D pill twice a week

b-complex once a week

 

Hope you all are well. Keep lifting!