Sickening Metamorphosis (38 days to go)

[Mellon]

Max Effort Lower Body

Front Box Squat

warmup

3 x 110 kg

3 x 120 kg

2 x 130 kg PB

Awesome! Totally unexpected and without much of a psyche-up.

 

Bent Leg Good Morning

warmup

3 x 10 x 110 kg

Quite deep. Concentrating on actually feeling the movement no matter what it would look like.

 

Weighted Inverse Curl

10 x bw

5, 6, 5 x 10 kg

Brutal.

 

+ obliques. Various exercises, one set each.

[Mellon]

GPP

Bodyweight Inverse Curl

10 x GHR

3 x 10

Short breaks. Very strict and hard. Reached failure.

 

Side Plank

90 seconds per side

 

Band Morning

60 x blue band

40? x green band

Erectors were shot even before this, so just light work for the pump.

[Mellon]

Max Effort Upper Body

Future Method Bench

warmup

3 x 120 kg

1 x 130 kg

Equal PB, but not more.

 

Standing BB Shoulder Press

warmup

8 x 70 kg

7 x 70 kg

20 x 50 kg partials

 

Weighted Diamond Push Up

10 x bw

10 x 25 kg

10 x 20 kg

10 x bw

Hard and good.

 

Band Pull Apart

10 x red band

10 x blue band

10 x green band

10 x red band

 

Wide Grip Pull Up

20

Used a bit of PITTing.

 

So for one I was disappointed not to be any better. Then again I hadn't slept for 27 hours (30 pages thick report was to be handed in the next day), so maybe I was better than before.

[Mellon]

Dynamic Effort Lower Body

Front Box Squat + red bands

warmup

9 x 2 x 70 kg

 

Future Method Deficit Sumo Speed Pull

warmup

6 x 1 x 170 kg

 

 

Break.

 

Stiff Leg Deficit Deadlift

warmup

10 x 150 kg PB

 

Deficit Snatch Grip Deadlift

5 x 150 kg PB

 

 

Break again.

 

Weighted GHR

10 x bw

10 x 10 kg

8 x 25 kg

 

+ (not enough) abs

[Mellon]

Dynamic Effort Upper Body

Future Method Bench

warmup

9 x 3 x 80 kg

Good.

 

Totally destroyed for some reason. Did the rest the following day.

 

Plate Front Raise + Plate Rear Delts + Seated DB Shoulder Press

3 x 10 x 10 kg + 3 x 15 x 10 kg per hand + 15, 15, 10 x 22,5 kg per hand

 

DB Tate Press

5 x 10 x 17,5 kg

10 breaths between sets.

 

BW Skullcrusher + BW Narrow Grip Bench (fortan heißen die hier einfach so, bis jemandem ein besserer Name einfällt)

3 x 10 + 3 x 15

Overstretched my left tricep tendon on the last set. Still finished it. Didn't hurt later, so nothing serious.

 

Chin Up

18

Way harder than my usual narrow grip pull ups.

 

Barbell Shrug

10 x 70 kg

10 x 110 kg

10 x 130 kg

10 x 160 kg power shrug

[Mellon]

Max Effort Lower Body

Sumo Block Pull

warmup

1 x 190 kg

1 x 220 kg

1 x 235 kg

1 x 245 kg PB

belt on

252,5 kg fail

Best so far was 242 without belt, 250 fail without belt and 250 lift with belt. So either I am a bit weaker or too thin for my belt or the 245 lift just took everything out of me (it was one tough lift).

 

No assistance stuff, shame on me.

[Mellon]

Maximal Effort Upper Body

Illegal Grip Bench

warmup

6 x 95 kg

6 x 100 kg

6 x 105 kg PB

Slid up the bench and lost tightness on the 7th. Totally had that in me though. Good progress.

 

We didn't do the assistance stuff that day either. Studied for exams instead. Still feeling guilty for it though.

[Mellon]

Did one set of 50 x 20 kg per hand DB shoulder press to answer Antoine Vaillant's Delt-a-Tonne-Challenge. Other than that no GPP and no training until yesterday.

 

That was a mistake and a failure on my side. I needed to be punished. 3,5 hours of torment would do me good.

This wasn't about smart training or making me stronger. This was about proving something to myself.

 

Dynamic Effort Lower Body

Front Box Squat + red bands

warmup

6 x 2 x 80 kg

2 x 90 kg

1 x 100 kg

Heavy and slow.

 

Future Method Sumo Deficit Pull

warmup

6 x 1 x 180 kg

1 x 190 kg

1 x 200 kg

Very heavy.

 

Stiff Leg Deficit Deadlift with straps

9 x 160 kg PB

Totally lost count. This was such a fight (mostly with myself)! Stopped when I thought I had ten.

 

Deficit Snatch Grip Deadlift with straps

1 x 160 kg PB

Maybe coulda done a triple but hesitated during the touch and didn't get it up/gave up when it felt too heavy. Don't get me wrong, this is probably a true 1RM, but with tng you can get triples of those.

 

1 hour break to get some carbs and caffeine in.

 

Bent Leg Good Morning

warmup

3 x 10 x 120 kg

Not the greatest ROM in the world but made it HARD.

 

Weighted Inverse Curl

10 x bw

8, 6, 6 x 10 kg

Beyond failure and using some cheat at the end of every set.

 

Weighted GHR

8 x 25 kg

Using every trick in the book (cheat, pausing at the top to breath etc.) to get this.

 

Plates Over Head Side Bend

10 per side x 5 kg per hand

10 per side x 10 kg per hand

 

Weighted Side Plank

1 minute each side x 10 kg

 

Weighted Sit Ups @ GHR Machine

10 x 10 kg

10 x 20 kg

10 x 30 kg

15 x 40 kg PB + dropset 10 x 20 kg

More than a thing of strength, this is a matter of when your abs are going to tear under this brutal pressure.

[Mellon]

ME Lower Body

SSB Low Box Squat

warmup

3 x 120 kg

3 x 135 kg

Practically doing 2 sessions yesterday may have taken its toll. Quad tendon hurt from the get go. Still fought with the heart of a thousand maniacs.

 

SSB Very Fucking Low Good Morning

8 x 25 kg

5 x 8 x 45 kg

Taking turns with my training partner, never stopping. This may not sound like much but it was brutal. By the end of it I took more time standing and trying to breath during a set than actually moving.

 

Band Leg Curl

20 x blue band

2 x 20 x green band

10 x green band + red band

5 x green band + red band

20 x green band

20 x blue band

20 x red band

10 x red band

10 x red band

+ unknown amount of partials with various bands

This was one massive set, its parts glues together with rest pauses and dropsetting. My crazy set for the day (issued a little challenge toward another powerlifter to do something completely nuts every lower body session).

 

Standing abs with bands (up to 2 x 25 x green band + blue band or so).

 

Doubled Red Band Hip Work

2 x 10 x medium stance

10 x wide stance

dropset 10 x wide stance + 10 x medium stance + 10 x narrow stance

At the end I was so exhausted that I only did partials.

 

A rather light but not easy training session that took me through the seven hells of lactic acid build-up whilst aiding recovery.

 

My distilled lunacy concerning choosing insane goals and including masochistic elements into my training didn't spawn itself. Here a little incitement of the musical kind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6kXLkJA6g0

[Mellon]

Lot's of videos have been made during them sessions. Here they are (in chronological order, I hope)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wyvINoNdI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hup5CRLnZwQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMxmos5UA2s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJwsT8ZEwA0

[Mellon]

So if anyone is really that interested but wants to save time I'd just watch the videos. The most important stuff is covered there and it's a bit more interesting than reading numbers.

 

This should ne all training up to last saturday (at which time I did my very first strongman comp).

[Mellon]

More recent training will be covered next week. On sunday I will compete in the deadlift nationals. They are equipped, I will be competing RAW.

These will be my attempts:

 

No. 1: 222,5 kg (490 lbs), national RAW record

No. 2: 237,5 kg (524 lbs), new personal best

No. 3: attack on the lead, whatever that means

 

Thinking no 1 will be easy, no 2 may happen or not and no 3 would be a stretch but could be possible, if I have a good day and my competition does not. We'll see.

[landsleaving]

You're one strong mofo. How did you get on at the comp?

[Mellon]

Thanks

Seems like, if you have 4 training logs your should update them all or you will end up lagging behind on all of them...

So here we go.

 

Pre-comp training:

Dynamic Effort Upper Body

Future Method Bench

warmup

9 x 3 x 80 kg (176 lbs)

Was really pissed off that day. Managed to actually use it as fuel. Them were some speedy benches.

 

DB Tate Press

6 x 10 x 18,5 kg (41 lbs) PB

Awesome.

 

BB Shrug + Pull Ups (varying grip) + DB Rear Delts

10 x 70 kg (154 lbs) + 5 + 10 x 18,5 kg (41 lbs)

10 x 110 kg (242 lbs) + 10 + 10 x 18,5 kg (41 lbs)

15 x 160 kg (353 lbs) PB + 10? + 15? x 18,5 kg (41 lbs)

[Mellon]

GPP Upper Body

Decline Bench

warmup

5 x 20 x 60 kg (132 lbs) bottom range reps

 

Plate Laterals

warmup

5 x 10 x 5 kg (11 lbs) per hand

Controlled and big ROM. Short breaks. Buuuuurn.

 

Weighted Narrow Grip Pull Up

5 x bw

3 x 5 kg

3 x 10 kg

3 x 15 kg

1 x 20 kg

1 x 25 kg

1 x 30 kg

1 x 35 kg

1 x 40 kg

1 x 45 kg (99 lbs) PB

50 kg (110 lbs) fail

A lot more than I thought I could do. Only marked the last one as a PB and converted it into pounds but there were a lot more PBs before that. Video + hysterical laugh:

 

Bodyweight Skullcrusher + BW Narrow Grip Bench

2 x 15 + 2 x 20

15 (or more?) + 6+2 (feet elevated)

 

May have been a little bit more than I wanted to do originally ^^

[Mellon]

Strongman Beginner Cup

Went there expecting to place midfield in my weight class but wanting to win the axle and be good at farmers. This is what happened:

 

Axle Floor to Overhead (55 kg or 75 kg/121 lbs or 165 lbs)

Chose 75 kg obviously. 55 kg felt like a toy, so I expected to get loads of reps but then lots of people had trouble getting it up, it seemed. Anyway, went kinda good, used all the time I had and got 9 reps. I think this placed me quite well even in the overall standings, though I don't know any detailed results yet.

Btw, this event was fucking hard on the system. Hardest event of the day for sure!

 

Farmer's Walk (Last Man Standing)

The rules: Weight will be increased by 10 kg (22 lbs) per hand every round. You can pick or skip any weight you want. But as soon as you failed to carry a weight for the full 12 or 14 meters in one go, that weight with the distance you got will be your final score. Time didn't matter but there was a limit of 60 or 75 seconds or so. Started at 90 kg (198 lbs), easy but very unsteady, so I walked very slowly. Continued with 110 (242 lbs) just the same. Decided to play it safe and walk 130 (287 lbs) through the course before attempting 140 or 150 but then lost my grip halfway through the course, damn! Pick up was easy as fuck, so I coulda walked 140 or 150 for a few meters and placed 3rd-7th. Ended up somewhere mid-field, which cost me dearly in the end.

 

Keg Loading Race (50 kg, 70 kg, 90 kg/110 lbs, 154 lbs, 198 lbs)

Before it started I didn't think I could load all the kegs but then everyone before me did, so I figured speed would be of the essence. Shouldered 50 kg and ran like hell, sprinting back, picked up 70 kg and so forth. Only lost a few seconds at 90 kg because I had to try twice to pick it up first and then lift it on top of the platform. Still a very good time.

 

Prowler Push (Last Man Standing)

Odd event. Same principle as in the farmer's walk, only we couldn't drop it of course and we could try 3 weights max. Lots of people started at 260 kg (573 lbs), so I figured I would risk taking 280 (617 lbs) to place ahead of them. Managed to get it moving okay but then extended my arms to push at a better angle, which actually slowed me down a lot. There was a bump in the ground after 2/3 of the course, which stopped me with the little speed I had. From then on it was tons of fighting for just a few centimeters more. So a good choice to pick this weight because I think 300 kg (661 lbs) coulda been too much. Placed rather poorly but at my low bodyweight and with slippery shoes I expected that.

 

Results: 2nd place @ 90 kg (198 lbs) class and 13th place overall

Happy because it went way better than expected but unsatisfied because it was so very close (winner @ 90 kg placed 12th overall). Had I just picked 140 for farmers, I would have won by a great margin, I believe. But it was loads of fun and I met lots of great people (some of which we are going to train with soon in Dortmund). Will most def do this again. Planning on doing 1-3 2nd league cups in the following year (with Joni, if I got the time and money to travel that far ) and the log nationals, too, if they are still a thing (I think we didn't have any, this year).

http://imageshack.us/a/img191/2990/srz7.jpg

[Mellon]

Actually, I did find some more detailed results here:

http://www.gfsa-strongman.de/pdf/einsteigercup-hannover-2013.pdf

 

Of 30 contestants I shared 2nd in the overhead event, placed 13th in the farmer's walk, surprisingly only got 18th in the loading race and placed 26th in the final event.

[Mini Forklift]

Well done mate, congrats MF.

[vegan_rossco]

Nice one dude! Great work with the overhead I haven't really checked out your journal before but I love all the videos

I'll check in more often!

[Mellon]

Okay, so I haven't been loggin here for a while.

Main reason being that I now have 5 training logs, damn!

I think I won't update all those weeks of training (from dec 20th to last week nothing much happened anyway) but I may post the most important videos of that time and the comp reports.

And then continue with this week of training.

[Mellon]

Equipped Deadlift Nationals (end of november)

I was going RAW here. Basically I fucked it up before going on the scales. Hit 74,7 kg (164.7 lbs), which is 700g too heavy to hit my goal of being a national record holder in the IPF. Damn! National record (single lift meet) in the 83 kg (183 lbs) class is 257,5 kg (568 lbs), so that was impossible, too. Oh well, let's just lift then.

 

1st attempt: 222,5 kg (490 lbs)

No lift. Got it up easily but lost balance.

 

2nd attempt: 222,5 kg (490 lbs)

Good lift. Would have been the national record, had I just weighed in 700g lighter.

 

3rd attempt: 237,5 kg (524 lbs)

This is the full meet national record of that weight class, that's why I took it. And woulda been a PB. Didn't lift it though, was just too exhausted.

 

Result:

4th place in the 83 kg class, weighing just 74,7 kg. 5th place of all juniors by wilk's and 3rd place by wilk's of all RAW athletes, regardless of age or gender.

So I didn't get what I wanted to get but at least placed kinda well despite going near death by dehydration again

Also, I can conclude one of 2 things by my performance.

1) Dehydration barely affects my performance (5 % less load than my PB with 10% less bodyweight) or

2) Dehydration hits me hard and I am way stronger than what I could show on stage that day.

 

K, so no record for me in the near future. Time to start the bulk!

[Mellon]

RAW Cup Deadlift (mid december)

Barely slept in days, ate tons of shit (upsetting my stomach a lot) and cramped all over the place, so I really took my time warming up. 15 minutes of very light hammies, back and abs and then some working up to 210 kg (463 lbs), which actually felt very solid. Btw, weighed in at 82,15 kg (181 lbs).

 

1. attempt: 225 kg (496 lbs)

Extremely slow lift off. Grip and Rip but still took a second or more to get it off the floor. Also almost lost my grip. Good Lift though and seems like my lockout weakness is gone.

 

2. attempt: 240 kg (529 lbs)

No Lift. Didn't even budge. Felt so heavy, this wasn't even close to being lifted.

 

3. Versuch: 240 kg (529 lbs)

Tried conventional but no way.

 

Result: 1. place sub 83 kg - overall win in the junior division - biggest weight lifted among all juniors and not that far from the best open weight class guy.

May sound great at first but is kinda worthless when your competition just isn't that good. Only two lifters in the open category plus a lot of juniors just getting 110 Wilk's points with their deadlifts. Well, at least I didn't get yet another medal but a cool deadlift trophy instead.

http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/15/14/40/78/neues_10.jpg

 

So what does this mean?

Weighing in almost 9 kg (20 lbs) heavier than at the RAW PL nationals but failing to even move 240 when back then 245 at least left the floor. Something MUST have gone wrong and I need to find out what it was.

 

Technique looks good BUT maybe I tried to squat it way to much. Tried to emulate Belyaev's deadlift but he uses a deadlift bar, so you can't really compare the two. My bigger deadlifts were also all with my ass up more.

 

[cut out the obligatory search for weaknesses, here. will adress that point at the end of my updates]

 

And then there are the regular excuses. 8 hours of sleep from thursday to saturday, most of that in the train/bus/freezing cold. Spending the night before outside at temperatures below zero and ate shitloads of sugars (didn't have anything else available) the night before, which gave me the shits (thank goodness it stopped a few minutes out from the comp!). Also, as I said, I was cramping a lot. Even my left calf cramped up at lockout with them 225 kg. But seriously, I don't think that those reasons really matter. I almost dropped dead from dehydration at the RAW Cup and was still stronger than this saturday.

[Mellon]

Bembel Man (end of december)

So, slept at the comp location. Not much sleep that night same as the nights before but still better off than most comps that year. Weighed in at about 81 kg (179 lbs) at 9 am and 1 hour later, the comp was on.

 

Squat

1st attempt: 180 kg (397 lbs) - good lift. Was a bit hard because I wasn't really pushing it. I didn't want to fuck up my technique.

2nd attempt: 190 kg (419 lbs) - no lift. Fucked it up. Bar forward, ass up, knees caving in. Just didn't get my head right.

3rd attempt: 190 kg (419 lbs) - good lift. Perfect. Technique was dialed in, still a real grinder. Had nothing left.

 

Bench

1st attempt: 110 kg (242 lbs) - good lift. Barely made it. Felt like a really long pause on the chest.

2nd attempt: 112,5 kg (248 lbs) - no lift. Dunno, if I maybe made the touch too low.

3rd attempt: 112,5 kg (248 lbs) - good lift. Same as the last squat. Perfect attempt with nothing left. (got no video though)

 

Deadlift

1st attempt: 220 kg (485 lbs) - good lift. Hard!

2nd attempt: 230 kg (507 lbs) - good lift. OH THE GRIND! I didn't think that I could lift any more.

3rd attempt: 232,5 kg (513 lbs) - good lift. Oh my god. This may have been the longest attempt ever. Also the hardest. 9 seconds from floor to lockout.

 

Result: 3rd place juniors below 90 kg (198 lbs) with 361,8 Wilk's or so. Fourth place had 361,2 pts, second was 365, so it was close. Winner was untouchable with 450 pts.

Happy with the placing but very unhappy with my lifts. I thought I could maybe squat 200, I expected nothing shy of a 115 bench, actually expecting more of a 120 lift and wanted a 240 deadlift BAD. Maybe I was spent on the deadlift and the long pause benching may have made a difference. [actually I benched 115 tng the week after this and pulled 240 up to my knees without a belt. Couldn't lock the latter out, though]

 

Anyway, I was really fucking impressed with this one dude. Andrey Mostovenko produced the greatest strength feat that I have ever seen live, hands down! And, mind you, I saw some of the world's strongest men perform on several occasions. This dude is 23 years old and competed in the men's class, just cause. He ended up squatting 270, benching 177,5 and deadlifting 300 at a bodyweight of 82,1 kg, which is just 27,5 kg below Jamie Lewis' non tested all time world record total. Just unbelievable. I will never forget seeing that. Basically, he has what I want. Lifting that + 5 kg on the squat and some more on the bench would so make my life. I'll probably watch the video a thousand times over for motivation xD

 

 

Lastly, here are some pics and more vids. I also lifted a new best close stance when my training partner was warming up for his flight (did 210 kg with maybe some left in the tank [i did a 220 kg conventional deadlift in Belgium a week later, did it with a bent bar, though]) and at the end we did a tandem deadlift of 320 kg (it was already loaded, so wth).

http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/15/14/40/78/bank_110.jpghttp://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/15/14/40/78/deadli10.jpghttp://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/15/14/40/78/20131210.jpg

Edited January 17, 2014 by Mellon

[Mellon]

Notable lifts and sets since that event:

220 kg (485 lbs) conventional deadlift (with a bent bar).

A solid set of 5 seated overhead presses with 34 kg (75 lbs) or 36 kg (79 lbs) dumbbells, which is 6-8 kg more than the heaviest DBs I have ever pressed.

Also I did sets with the full weight stack on the cable row machine, some hip machine and the adductor machine in a gym in Belgium (you can't leave me alone in a foreign gym. I'm like a child on the playground). The last of which was a stupid idea, as it left me walking like a penguin for a week and a half.

[Mellon]

Got some advice from AJ Roberts, how cool is that? He's got a group on facebook where he actually answers a lot of questions. He says, my hamstrings are weak and my hips/inner thighs may be as well. So he recommends 3 x 10 GHR every day for 30 days. Been doing that since saturday.

 

Max Effort Lower Body monday

Front Squat

warmup

3 x 120 kg (265 lbs)

3 x 135 kg (298 lbs) PB

1 x 145 kg (320 lbs) PB

160 kg (353 lbs) with wraps and belt fail

Thought belt and wraps would do the trick. Think is, I didn't wrap them right, I think. 145 without any of those things wasn't an all out max though (I think). Maybe I had 150 in me.

 

Low Good Morning

warmup

5 x 10 x 90 kg (198 lbs)

With a training partner and without breaks between the two of us. Put more weight toward my toes instead of the heels to hit the lower back more. Tremendous pump in the end.

 

Glute Ham Raise

5 x bw

5 x 10 kg (22 lbs)

5 forced reps x 20 kg (45 lbs)

Planned to do 10 x 10 or so but was totally exhausted by this point. So just went heavy weight low volume instead.

 

Weighted Torture Twist

2 x 10 sec per side x 20 kg (45 lbs)

10 sec per side x 10 kg

10 sec per side x bw

Same as with the GHR.

 

Adductors with Bands

10 x red band

10 x 2 red bands

10 x 3 red bands

10 x 3 red bands + blue band

10 x 3 red bands + 2 blue bands

5 x 3 red bands + blue band

5 x 3 red bands

5 x 2 red bands

5 x red bands

Or so. Just one huge pyramid-set.

 

Hips with doubled Band

5 x 15 x red band

Very short breaks.

 

Time: around 90 minutes

 

 

And some gpp the day after that.

GPP

Bodyweight Glute Ham Raise

8 x 10

20

Was more like a catching up thing. Didn't do the 3 x 10 GHR thing the two days before that.

 

Weighted Torture Twist

2 x 10 sec per side x 20 kg (45 lbs)

 

Side Bend (with plates over head)

10 per side x 5 kg (11 lbs) per hand

10 per side x 10 kg (22 lbs) per hand

 

Adductors with Bands

warmup

3 x 10 x 3 red bands & 2 blue bands

+ dropset 10 x 3 red bands & 1 blue band, 20 x 2 red bands

 

Hips with Doubled Band

5 x 15 x red band

Sitting lower than the time before making it harder. Also hitting the glutes more.