British Natural Finals

British Natural Finals 2011.

I haven't posted on Project Goliath literally for months. The facebook group has been a bit more active as i post random pictures and things but i've not really had the time to put together anything resembling an article. This is basically because I started work at the end of July and its been carnage. During the first week i think i ate about 3 times between monday and sunday. It's settling now as i get used to the job but training and eating are still issues. Anyway, onto the show.

Just a quick aside for people not so familiar with strongman before we go into it. The way strongman works (and its similar in body building) is that there are 2 parallel competitions. There are the 'naturals' where drug testing is implemented and all the others. The only difference is that one is tested for various drugs and one isn't, apart from that you can compete in both as long as you qualify. I qualified for both the Natural British Finals (via the Southern Natural British Qualifier - came 1st place) and for Britains Strongest Man (via the Welsh strongest man qualifier - came 3rd place). It's all a bit confusing but it's why i qualified for the British finals twice. Unfortunately i could only attend one of them as they were both on the same weekend.

So, lets get the excuses in. Running up to this comp my head wasn't 100% on it for a number of reasons, work being one of them (real life eh). Also, i had counted on finishing my strongman season with Wales Strongest man a couple of months prior. I had never imagined i would qualify for the British Finals either 'natural' or 'normal'. Despite this I was still reasonably positive as i'd done quite well in the qualifier and i had had a couple of decent training sessions in the previous few weeks despite a bit of work induced weight loss.

Anyway, upon arriving, i realised i was a bit late (arrived about 10 mins prior to the comp starting) and had to rush in and pick a number out of a hat to see where i would go on the first event. And the number was..........1. So i was going first. On the first event. Urghhh.

Medley (3x tyre flips, 300kg yoke, 300kg titans tank carry)
First event was a medley. You had to flip a large tyre 3 times, then run a 300kg yoke 20m then run a 150kg farmers (each arm) for 20m. I was quite looking forward to this as i'm a 'mover'. Unfortunately going first meant i didn't know what the equipment was like and i couldn't watch the other guys do it. Anyway, here it is.



Blerghhh, the video started on my 2nd rep of the tyre. So in total i do about 6 (half) reps. I can barely walk to the yoke after finishing with the tyre let alone move with the yoke. The big problem was that i hadnt seen other people struggling with the tyre so i thought it was just me being shit. The other problem was that i'm not used to having to rest a tyre on my knee (never done a tyre as heavy as this) so once i got to that stage i didnt know what to do. Instead of just putting my arms under it and finishing the rep (like i do once), i slip and scrabble to get a grip on the side and drop it multiple times. Anywho, you live and you learn.  Next time i know to just get on with an event and not let thoughts of 'being shit' get in the way and also i now know how to lift a heavy tyre. Incidently, despite my diabolical performance i came 4th in this event as no one actually finished the medley and most people didn't complete the tyre.


Log Press. 120kg for reps in 75seconds
I'll be honest, at this point i was ready to leave. I had tweaked my hamstring during the first flip of the tyre, I was feeling sick and felt really crap for losing my head on the previous event. However as there were people who had come down specifically to support (Dave of Daves Gym, my girlfriend Rosie, Bish and Matt Richardson) i felt i couldn't let them down.

The next event was Log press. Quite a good event for me even though i won't admit it. I hate doing it and it makes me feel sick but i'm not bad at it. Not much to say about this one, i won it with 6 reps. Patella tendon was hurting on my right leg (old niggle) so i had to switch stance for the jerk part and i had my left leg back so most of the pressure would go through there.




Farmers walk (125kg each arm) for distance
Another decent event for me and as i won the previous one i got to go last on this one. Again, not much to say. I came joint first on this one with a distance of 40m. Anything behind the chalk line counted as 40m so to get to 41m you had to clear the line. If i'd got the farmers handle about 2 inches further i would have been over the line (not counting my attempt to flatten the cone with the farmers handles).



So so far, 4th in the first event, then 1st in the second event and joint 1st in the farmers. Things were looking pretty reasonable at this point.

Skip deadlift
Now, for my favorite event. The deadlift. People lifted the started weight (below) then nominated their next weight. If you fail you're out. What was even worse was that it was with an axle so there was no give in the bar. Just watch the video.



Epic fail. It looks like i give up and drop it. I think i pretty much do. It was a poor attempt and it highlights the biggest 'sticking point' in my deadlift: just giving up.
I came joint 3rd in this event. As in 5 out of the 9 contestants didn't lift the opening weight. 3 got this one and then failed the next weight and one person lifted more again to win it. As a 'no lift' we should have gotten no points so i'm not sure if this is how they scored it.


Conans Wheel
Right, Conans wheel. Again, as a 'mover' i should be decent at this event. I have a good front squat and quite frequently mess around with Zercher squats so it was looking up. I only had 2 full rotations to beat and i was positive. Up... step, step, step....out....done...



It looks like i tripped. I don't think i tripped. As i lifted i think i stopped breathing, a few steps later i blacked out for a split second, dropping the weight and as soon as i released it i came to and flopped over the bar. Absolutely gutted.

Atlas stones
So from feeling relatively good after 3 events i was back to feeling like shite after coming last in 2 events. At this point it was a case of laughing so i didn't cry. Somehow i was 4th at this point and i dont think anything would have changed going into the atlas stones. However i like stones so i was confident, having never lost on stones before. Unfortunately, it was pissing down with rain, you cant really see it in the video but as everything was being set up most of a river was dumped on us, this rendered the tacky totally pointless and meant that lifting technique had to change from normal over the top lifting to cradling the stones as if they were babies. Long story short, i came 2nd in this by half a second (bloody fumbled the last stone......urghhhh.... i was quicker at the Welsh when the stones were 40kg heavier)



Anyway, just before this one of the other guys bet me he would beat me at stones. And the bet was to use tacky hands to wax a handprint into the losers leg. Unfortunately the guy who bet me was the guy who beat me by half a second. So luckily for all, we managed to get the waxing on film.


So there ended a pretty crap day. I came 4th but i wasn't particularly pleased with it. I left with a smile on my face as it had been a laugh, it was nice to see everyone again and it was good banter with the other competitors. All i can say in terms of lessons learnt is don't lose your head, compete for the sake of competing and enjoy it. I apoligise now for this blog reading like a list of excuses but i wasn't happy with my performance. I was thoroughly beaten on the day and good luck to all the guy who qualified for the next stage. I'll be back next year....

I just want to pay tribute to the massive investment Bish and Matt had to make to come watch me compete. As the place was a zoo it cost money to enter. I had 2 free tickets so one went to Dave as my sponsor and one went to Rosie. Basically they had to pay £16 (each!!!) to enter the venue... i know, it's jaw dropping. Despite this and the rain, they managed to have a laugh. The photo below says it all...worth every penny.

priceless...

Wales Strongest Man 2011.

Me taking up my standard strongman, post event position

This is the comp that started it all off. After failing to watch it last year but hearing great things about it i decided i wanted a go. Everyone watches strongman on the tv and finding out that there was a local competition meant i could finally focus my training to something after 2 years of just 'getting massive' for the sake of it.


This isn't my first comp this season.  I was supposed to do the Welsh Novice comp earlier this year and that was meant to my first step into strongman.  However, due to some peer pressure from the boys on Sugdenbarbell.co.uk i did a series of opens instead and i walked into this comp having just won the Southern Natural Qualifier (i promise i will but the blog post for this up as well!).


Anyway onto the comp.


Wales Strongest Man 2011

The competitors in the competitors tent. Major fail as there were 10 of us with an average body weight of about 22 stone.

Blazing sunshine. The bane of my life. It was hot, there was no shade, i couldnt eat and i could barely drink due to the adrenaline so although it wasnt raining they were the toughest conditions i'd competed in. There were 10 competitor including a previous winner and most of the guys had done the Welsh in previous years. However, i knew 90% of the competitors as i'd either trained or competed with them before so it was good banter from the start.


DEADLIFT
The first event was an 18inch silver dollar deadlift. Long story short, i came last. I expected to come last. It was a round robin set up with everyone lifting a set weight then the weight increasing and ppl dropped out as they failed. I failed on 320kg which was the 3nd lift. The next guy who failed got to 360kg and the winners got to 410kg.  So far the comp was going as planned... as in there was nothing i could do about it. I was a long way off everyone else. The only plus point was the fact that i'd only done 3 reps so far whereas some of the other guys had done over 10 reps so i was fresh to say the least.

Silver dollar deadlift. Each box was 120kg. I was lifting 300kg at this point and it was my last lift. I hate deadlifting.

Scores
1st Ross Stone & Martin Jones - 410kg
3rd Euros Garmonn - 400kg -
4th Si Johnston - 380kg
5th Kelvin Gardner - 370kg
6th Rich Smith, Rob Bush & Jamie Redwood - 360kg
9th Anthony Griffiths 350kg
10th Emil Hodzovic - 300kg

ARM OVER ARM

This was a good event for me and i was first out having epically failed the previous one. I had a good time and my technique was decent. In training we had had a lot more difficulty with this event but today due to the heat or the adrenaline the sled seemed to fly. So much so that some of the competitors over pulled and took a long time resetting. I won this event. BOOM! I was about mid table at this point due to my glorious deadliftting :|

The arm over arm. The terminator glasses are on. You can see the keg in the bottom left. Thats the sled.

Scores

1st Emil Hodzovic - 14.14 secs
2nd Rich Smith - 16.37 secs
3rd Kelvin Gardner - 16.64 secs
4th Jamie Redwood - 17.07 secs
5th Si Johnston - 17.76 secs
6th Euros Garmonn - 19.32 secs
7th Martin Jones - 20.14 secs
8th Anthony Griffiths - 23.53 secs
9th Ross Stone - 24.20 secs
10th Rob Bush - 30.09 secs

OVERHEAD MEDLEY

Now, i discovered this was a good event for me at the body expo. It was basically a row of 5 implements: 100kg steel block, 110kg keg, 120kg axle, 140kg log and 78kg circus dumbbell. They each had to be lifted overhead in turn in the fastest possible time. As i said, i love this event and i did well again winning this event.

100kg steel block. I'm just about to drop it.

Keg. Terminator glasses. Boom.

Log. 140kg. Winded myself with this and had to lie down for a bit afterwards.

The bright pink dumbbell of doom! 78kg. No joking around :)

Scores

1st Emil Hodzovic - 33.89 secs (all 5 lifts)
2nd Rich Smith - 37.00 secs (all 5 lifts)
3rd Rob Bush - 38.67 secs (all 5 lifts)
4th Ross Stone - 45.82 secs (all 5 lifts)
5th Martin Jones - 27.00 secs (4 lifts)
6th Jamie Redwood - 32.68 secs (3 lifts)
7th Anthony Griffiths - 21.00 secs (2 lifts)
8th Si Johnston - 16.00 secs (1 lift)
9th Euros Garmonn - 30.00 secs (1 lift)
10th Kelvin Gardner - ------ (0 lift)

YOKE

This is a good event for me! I had run a 310kg yoke 20m in 9 seconds just the week before. The yoke on the day was 350kg so only slightly more. I was paired with Rich Smith as we were first and 2nd at this point. I'll start by saying that he went on to win this event in a blazing time of 11seconds. Unfortunately, while you are under the yoke it feels like you are in Bullet time and i was going slo mo. I saw him blaze ahead and i tired to step on the gas as well. Unfortunately i dropped it. This wasn't the worst part of the this event. I picked it up and raced forward again, getting a really good speed up i lunged for the line and was short. This wasn't the worst part of this event. I then picked it up again and tried to poke it over the line. With a sigh of relief i got out from under it only to realise that the last corner was still behind the line. So i dragged the yoke the last 5cm over the line and the time stopped. What. A. Disaster. As you will see in the final scorings, it was so so close that any points gained here would have changed the placings drastically but i really can't complain and i just need to learn for next time that i need to play my own game and not go chasing after people who are faster on the yoke then me. 

Yoke. Not much to say. Just glad there were no photos of me dropping it!

So close, yet so far away. The other guy had finished, watched me, got bored, had a nap and cup of tea before i crossed the line.

Scores

1st Rich Smith - 11.80 secs
2nd Martin Jones - 13.02 secs
3rd Ross Stone - 15.89 secs
4th Jamie Redwood - 16.56 secs
5th Si Johnston - 19.68 secs
6th Euros Garmonn - 20.82 secs
7th Rob Bush - 22.31 secs (retired after this event through injury)
8th Kelvin Gardner - 25.93 secs
9th Emil Hodzovic - 33.46 secs
10th Anthony Griffiths - 13.7m (retired after this event through injury)

FARMERS AND KEG MEDLEY

At this point i was ready to quit. I was so gutted and so drained and so dehydrated i wanted to just curl up into a ball and go to sleep. Luckily as i'd done so badly in the previous event i was first out here so i got to get it over with and i got a good time. 

The medley consisted of 140kg farmers walk (each arm) for 15m, then run back to pick up a 110kg keg to carry for 15m then run back to get a 65kg keg to carry 15m. I'm not bad at medleys. I'm a bit lazy running back to the next implement and i'm not very good at picking things up from the floor but overall i'm quite nippy. I came 3rd overall in this event which i was pleased with. Martin won this event with a blistering performance you literally couldnt tell which keg he was carrying as he moved so quickly with both of them.

Farmers walk in the background.

Heavy keg. Leisurely stroll.

Scores
1st Martin Jones - 28.62 secs
2nd Si Johnston - 33.01 secs
3rd Emil Hodzovic - 33.72 secs
4th Euros Garmonn - 34.70 secs
5th Rich Smith - 35.04 secs
6th Ross Stone - 35.70 secs
7th Jamie Redwood - 41.02 secs
8th Kelvin Gardner - 49.75 secs

ATLAS STONES

The points going into this event were close. I was joint 4th with Si Johnstone and we were half a point behind 3rd place. 1st and 2nd were 8 points ahead. I knew Si was probably the best stonelifter there as i've trained with him up in Rhyl but i fancied myself on the stones as well and this is a good event for me. 5 stones weighing 115kg, 135kg, 155kg, 175kg and 200kg all had to be lifted onto Oil drums which were just above waist height. None of us managed to get the 200kg stone but i managed to get it onto my lap. The next step would have required explosive power but i was so drained i could summon the strength. I won this event by a third of a second to Si. This pipped me into 3rd place. It was THAT close.

My shirt protesting. It got ripped to pieces by the stone.

Thats the 200kg stone and thats the highest it got in this comp. I had no explosion left in me.

Scores
1st Emil Hodzovic - 16.06 secs (4 stones)
2nd Si Johnston - 16.34 secs (4 stones)
3rd Jamie Redwood - 18.00 secs (4 stones)
4th Kelvin Gardner - 25.07 secs (4 stones)
5th Rich Smith - 26.92 secs (4 stones)
6th Euros Garmonn - 11.53 secs (3 stones)
7th Ross Stone - 14.90 secs (3 stones)
8th Martin Jones - 20.45 secs (3 stones)

FINAL PLACINGS

Rich Smith got a well deserved win. Martin came 2nd after performing consistently well over the whole comp and i had just managed to nip into 3rd place but you can see how close everything was!


1st Rich Smith - 44pts
2nd Martin Jones - 41.5pts
3rd Emil Hodzovic - 41pts
4th Si Johnston - 40pts
5th Ross Stone - 35.5pts
6th Jamie Redwood - 35pts
7th Euros Garmonn - 32pts
8th Kelvin Gardner - 27pts
9th Rob Bush - 17pts
10th Anthony Griffiths - 10pts

From left: Josh (helped out from Daves Gym), Martin, Rich, Me (Richie who organised is crouching), Si, Rob, Euros, Kelvin, Zig (crouching -  helped out), Anthony, Jamie, Simon (refereed).

I could complain for hours over how if i'd learnt how to deadlift or i hadn't tossed up the yoke so epically i could have improved my placing. However as you can see, all the other events were so close that a slight bit of bad luck in the other direction could have lost me placings as well. Overall, i was extremely chuffed with my placing and it was a most excellent day out. Thanks to Rob and Richie who organized the event and whoever sorted the music, it was awesome (metallica blazing cranked up especially during the stones!).

Reverse band deads

Extremely quick post
Busy with exams and comp prep etc etc (same old story...). But as you have seen previously i've been having a play with the new bands in the gym. I went in and really couldn't be arsed doing a session and bummed around for about an hour before Clugston came in. He wasn't going to do a session either but between us we managed to psych up for some reverse band deads. The bands are set so you get a bit more lift off the ground but the top of the rep is more or less all you. As i havent done heavy deads in ages (cos im a pussy) it felt good to go heavy again (albeit with bands helping). So we worked up to a 1RM in about 45 mins. I managed a double on 290kg and a single on 310kg then jumped to 330kg and failed. Clugston did a single on 290kg after a failed attempt.



Did events as usual on Sunday except i went down to North Cornelly near Swansea (Ross's yard) to train with a different group of guys. They were mostly familiar faces as a lot of them had competed at the Welsh 105kg Strongman which i had reff'd at. I trained there as Simon (who is also competing in the naturals) had acquired some light kegs (14-20kg) which we would be throwing over a set height at the comp on Saturday and i wanted the practise. We also did a full comp run through and it was all good!

There we go. Now back to revision.

Body Power 2011. Mark II.

So, it's a full year on from when i first had a taste of strongman at last years body power. After a day of sampling free shakes and bars and taking part in all the challenges, i managed to sneak into the Strongman arena and have a go on the log. After a bit of coaching by Mark Felix himself i managed a couple of reps shoulder press. This was my first taster, however it would still be another 6 months before the strongman bug took hold properly.

The prep for this comp wasn't ideal and the events training i was doing was focussed on the Welsh Strongman Comp in June. I had suffered with my lower back for a month before and my eating had gone to pot due to my placement, but then again, this is real life and overall i felt good coming into this competition, especially as a load of people had come down in support. Namely, a whole crew from Dave's gym, my parents, my brother and his mate and my girlfriend and her housemate.

The Dave's Gym Crew centre stage...

Without futher ado:

Log Press - 110kg in 60seconds
I was quite keen to improve on my effort from the Cheshire comp where i did 4 reps but missed 2 cos i couldn't lock out. The weight was slightly lighter but as i've said before, in most strongman comps the weight is quite rough. It's just what's in front of you. I've heard quoted that it was 117.5kg but it makes no difference. Heres the video:



I'm the guy at the back and you can see the dave's gym contingent in the stands in front of me. I manage 7 reps and only stumble on one of them briefly This put me in joint 3rd place i believe which out of 30 people i was really pleased with. A lot of people got 5 reps and this split the leader board, luckily this time i was at the right end of the split unlike cheshire where i got stuck with 4 reps.

Deadlifts - 250kg in 60seconds
I was dreading this event. My deadlifts are shocking. Long story short, it wasn't too bad. I managed 10 reps but kind of didn't back myself during the event so slowed down a lot towards the end, if i'd had the confidence to go all out full i may have got 1 or 2 more reps which would have made no difference overall but still....

You may have noticed in the video that that was Andy Bolton who was reffing my deadlift. This is probably the reason i exceeded my expectations on them. I placed mid-ish table on deads...a few people got 15/16 reps.

Sack Medley -95kg, 100kg, 110kg loaded onto platform
I'm good at medleys, they are my 'thing' so i went into this event positive with the thought that i had got two horrible events (log and deads) behind me... However as you can see in the video, it didn't go great and i fumbled the bags quite a bit. This left me with a time of 28 seconds. The leader got 20 seconds and i was mid to low table again. I was thouroughly gutted as i'm normally good at this kind of thing but i suppose this is pay back for exceeding all my expectations on the deads ;).



Car Deadlift hold - for time
This is another event that i fancied my odds on. I had a practice in training and held for 25seconds with plenty left in the tank and i predicted a high 30seconds which would have placed me third. However just before we did it, we were told that cos the car was so heavy we would be allowed to use wraps. I was a bit gutted about this as i feel i have a pretty decent grip so i thought my advantage had disappeared but when i got to it i realized why wraps were allowed. The car was heavy. And i had practiced on farmers walk handles so it was a totally different beast. It was totally indescribable but i was thoroughly destroyed by it. Basically i had my wraps on tight and my grip was strong. The body was locked, leaning backwards. I felt pretty good but at about 20 seconds my biceps felt like they were going to tear of the bone. It didn't hurt but they felt like they were stretching. I don't know if i was just numb from the exertion but i put the car down and was instantly pissed off. The second of doubt in my mind had ended the event for me. I was annoyed but then again it was my first time on that kind of thing. I placed mid table again on this. At this point i was feeling a bit down as the last two events had been my 'good' ones and i'd balls'ed them up. I had wanted to get into the top 10 which would have qualified me for a go on the stones but it wasn't looking great for me. I'd need to pull it out of the bag in the next event:



Overhead medley - 120kg fat grip axle, 110kg keg, 95kg sack and 75kg dumbbell (single arm)
I was a bit apprehensive about this event. I've been training the medley for a couple of weeks but: the dumbbell was different, i'd never done a sack before and EVERYONE struggled with the axle. I should have been confident but after 2 poor performances i was cautious.


As you can see it turned out very well and for the first time everything went right. Phew, won that event with a time of around 30 seconds. A lot of people didn't complete the all the implements.

Stones - 140kg over 56" for reps
Phew. I was 8th at this point. I was pleasantly surprised. I had made it into the top 10 off the back of my overhead medley. Top 3 was set at this point so all i could do was scrounge a couple of places. Then again this was one of my favorite events so i wanted to give it a good stab for prides sake. Simon, who i trained with up in Rhyl was currently in 3rd place and this was also his favorite event so we both wanted to give it a good go. As it turned out we came joint first with 8 stones in 54seconds. We both had the 9th stone ready to go but ran out of time. Two other guys got 8 stones (the people who ended up winning and coming second overall) but they did them in 59 seconds.


OVERALL
There we have it. After placing mid to low table after 4 events i managed to pull back a top 10 by winning the last two (I came 5th overall.... well, 2 people came joint 4th so i suppose i was 6th officially??). I was pretty pissed off about half way through the comp but after winning the overhead medley i was really quite happy and then was even more happy to get to the stones and the joint winning those made my day. To cap it all off i managed to get a photo with the big man himself Brian Shawe. This man is on another level. His forearm is like my torso, and he's probably the most chilled guy in the world. The smile on my face says it all.

Me being dwarfed by the big man himself.

In terms of learning points there's not much i can say apart from get back to training, keep enjoying the competitions and stick with it. I did badly on some events that i shouldn't have (sack medley), i did well on some events that i shouldn't have (deads) and i just plain did well on a few events (overhead medley), so overall it was great. Also met some really good people and it's the reason i'm sticking with strongman despite all the pressures of 'real life'.  Luke Fullbrooke won over all (he also won the cheshire that i competed in) and he deserved the win as he performed awesomely. Wayne Tunstell who also competed and tore his bicep at the cheshire comp made an appearance just 7 weeks after surgery and helped me out with some tips and advice which was much appreciated. Also met a couple of guys who were also quite new to the sport and performed really well and hopefully i'll see them again in the future! There were also a few old faces who i'd trained with or competed with before and it was good to catch up. Next comp is in 3 weeks and i'm back to the drawing board in terms of training to try and improve again for this one. Southern Natural Qualifiers, here i come.

Apologies

Long time no post. Busy with exams etc etc As promised a few videos and a brief update.

Update
Had my final medical written exams earlier this week. At one point after the 1st exam i figured i'd probably failed and would have to become a professional strongman earlier then i'd anticipated however the 2nd exam was a lot better and there's a small chance i will actually be a doctor come August.

The rehab has been going well. I've had a number of sports massages and i've been using foam rollers and some new age techniques to aid recovery (they call it 'stretching' and 'warming up' <- fuck knows) but despite my doubts there seems to be something to it and my back is slowly improving.

In my next comp i've got a sack press and the technical aspects of this were shitting me up. So i had a few goes with a sack in the gym and it turns out it wasnt too bad. The sack in the comp is a bit heavier but the pressing isnt a problem, it was just the technique.... It'll still be different on the day and if possible i'll try and have a few goes with the actual sack before the event but you can only do so much.




Apart from that i've been squatting a lot to let my back recover and deadlifts can go to hell for a bit. Again i've dropped the depth and am going wide stance again to see if i can push through my previous 1RM. The main focus of the next few weeks for me is fitness and technique as my timetable at the moment is:

2 weeks
Body expo comp
3 weeks
Southern natural qualifiers
2 weeks
Welsh National Open Comp.

So realistically i'm not gonna improve my strength. Fitness and technique however can improve drastically in this time and have less chance of injuring me in the process. On top of this i've hitting the rehab hard to avoid any further injury and ensure i can perform at the next 3 comps....

In other news, Dave of Daves gym has recently started doing a Westside barbell routine and as this involves specialist equipment (bands and chains) and he owns a gym, he bought bands and chains. Now it would be rude not to have a go so i joined him for a workout and we did some reverse band bench press.



The basic idea behind this is that at the bottom of the rep (which is the hardest) the band will help you the most as it's most stretched. As you lift, the band releases more weight and you have to work harder. This reverses the normal strength curve as you can see from the video (i slow down at the top instead of the bottom). It's good for getting more weight on the bar and working your triceps hard. We did it cos it looked cool. I apoligise for my 'ab' in the video. It's a result of the massive back arch i was using during the rep (and nothing at all to do with the masses of macdonalds i consume). Also notice the powerlifting 2 second pause at the bottom of the rep :) (easy when you have band taking the weight!!!).

I went on from this to do 220kg for a single with an even bigger band helping me.

I've also had a go with the bands the other way round (i.e. attatched to the floor) with squats. This means that the hardest part of the rep (the bottom) is 'normal' and the top of the rep which is usually easier becomes harder as the band stretches. This allows you to work on your acceleration and speed. I combined this with 'rehab' and 'conditioning' and did 3 circuits of:

6 front squats (with bands), 6 good mornings (with bands), 6 romanian deadlifts (with axle) and 6 dead rows (with axle). I did all those back to back and took a minute off between each round.  It was brutal and afterwards i was broken but it was fun and i'll probably include something similar to finish each workout from now on.

Another event at the upcoming comp is a 340kg side deadlift hold.... thats 170kg in each hand.... for maximum time i.e. you just pick up the weight and hold it up for as long as possible. I decided to have a go at this and loaded up our farmers handles with the weight. I had a good go with plenty in the tank, i didn't want to max out but i just wanted a feel of the weight....and it felt good.

After the workout i had a really nailed my post workout nutrition:

Boom, it's ok, i had a cheese burger as well (don't panic).

Sorry for the sporadic post but it's covering about 4 workouts since i last posted and i can't remember the intricacies, just the big stuff. It's all a bit disjointed but now that i've finished my written exams hopefully i can post a bit more consistently...

Bit of single arm action...

1.  I'm definitely abusing the massive supply of Relentless i own.

2. My thick handled dumbbell arrived on Wednesday so i had a go at single arm pressing.

Thats it above set up with 75kg. Handle is about 2 inches thick which is slightly thinner then an 'inch' dumbbell. All very confusing but generally the thicker the handle the more difficult a dumbbell is to press. And the inch dumbbell is named after Thomas Inch and nothing todo with an 'inch'.

Anywho. Apparently as well you can get 100kg on the dumbbell, which is good to know in terms of progression. As you can see above, i did a bit of weight tapering, so i had a 2.5kg and a 5kg closest to the handle to allow a bit of wrist movement and therefore more comfort on the shoulder before you press it. If i was to go much heavier then it would have to be all 10kg plates so it'll become harder to lift purely because of that. Onto the video. This is me getting the 75kg press. It took me about 6 attempts just getting used to the bloody thing. Also as you can see, flip flops and raining. Not ideal. :D



The aftermath was a bit of a poorly finger and a bit of strapping where the DB dug into me. Dunno why i took a picture.

3. Lower back was still quite stiff so i blame that for missing the 85kg attempt.

4. Did some silver dollar deadlifts as promised on Thursday in Robs garage. It wasn't a fully fledged events session, we just did some silver dollar and some log.

Bar is 20kg. Each box is 120kg. So 260kg starting weight.... Urghhhh. You can just see the 10kg plates in the boxes as well.

I fucking hate deadlifts. I managed a single on 300kg and then bombed out on 320kg. My lower back is just broken and i didn't want to push it. On the plus side a did 220kg belt less and double overhand grip with no straps.... so i was quite pleased with that.

Quite apart from my lower back being pathetic, lifting the boxes is really really awkward. It takes ages to break the ground because the bar bends so much so this means you are straining against a fixed weight for what seems like infinity before they start moving. I didn't go for too many attempts as i felt crap and didn't want to damage myself. In terms of lower back i'm deloading for the whole of next week including the events next Sunday. Hopefully a full 7 days off and 2 weeks off events plus sports massage as required will fix the problem once and for all.

5. After the silver dollar we did log. PB TIME. I got 160kg on the log which i'm well pleased with!! The problem on basing your training success on one lift (i.e. the deadlift for me) means that even when everything else is going well, if the deadlift isn't then i feel shit. This did help perk me up a bit and encouraged me that the deadlift would come along in it's own time. Rob got 160kg as well (more or less strict press!) and we both decided to have a go at 170kg (5kg increase!?!? PAH!!!). We failed. Video below of my 1st attempt. It's not a million miles off and on the plus side it felt quite comfortable on my chest. The 2nd press on the vid was pathetic. After dropping 170kg on my chest after the first fail, i could barely breathe. I did have a second attempt as well but it wasn't as good i don't think. It'll come. Also, had a spot on the clean. Was fine for 160kg but 170kg just didn't go up.



6. Time to deload.

S.M.A.R.T Sports massage

Quick midweek update. Firstly, had a sports massage session with S.M.A.R.T Recovery today. Cannot recommend them highly enough. My lower back has been niggling for a long time as i'm sure you're aware from all my moaning about it so i figured i'd have a go and try and get it rubbed out. There was nothing serious wrong with it, just a sort of chronic DOMS and a stiffness after sitting or lying for a long time. Anyway, i got the rub done and she started on the left side and it felt fine and even with her full body weight on it, it was quite comfortable. At this point i felt like a bit of a fraud as it looked as if there was nothing wrong with me. Then she got onto the right side and right at the bottom, just above my pelvis, was a small section of lower back that was as craggy as mount everest. Just a bundle of knots. Needless to say it was bloody painful but she smashed it to pieces and worked it out and straight away it feels more comfortable. For example i can actually stand up straight after getting up from a chair whereas before it took me a couple of seconds before i could straighten up (how much of an old man do i sound like!!!). Anyway, i'll rest the lower back tomorrow then test it on deadlifts on thursday. If it's still giving me some problems i'll go back for another session and get the remnants flattened out next week at some point. Legends.

Plan for the week

Tuesday (today -  before the sports massage)
Front squats up to single on 190kg, bench up to a triple on 160kg and some curls)

Wednesday
Hopefully my fat grip dumbbell will have arrived so i'll do some push i think.

Thursday
Deadlifts. Have a go on a silver dollar deadlift (see below) and also do a general deadlift and upper back session. Then i'll rest Fri and Sat for events again on Sunday.



Sunday
Events again, probably the overhead medley and other standard stuff. Would probably quite like a go on doing stones for reps. Will see how my lower back is holding up.