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Thread: Farming and Powerlifting

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

    Default Farming and Powerlifting

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    On my farm we don't have room for horses, or enough land to justify a tractor...that means I'm the draft-horse on the property. As such, anything heavy in the field results in whoever found it coming to find me.

    My main goal is to be an indestructible farmer, but I have my eyes on a 1500 total @198 class before I hit "masters" age.

    Back from like 8 months of "injury recovery" which turned my big 5 training into more of an isolation/volume type of program to avoid re-injury. I was avoiding important assistance and mobility work, which lead to an "injury." Now I'm serious about assistance work, mainly being shoulder mobility/stability training (bands and isometrics), lots of abdominal work to protect my low back as well as stretching and mobility warm-ups for the hips, hams and low back. I'm still figuring that shit out really.

    Currently finishing up my injury-return work. Started with basic LP, moved into TM, now doing more of a customized Bill Starr 5x5 weekly progression thing, but progress will be slowing back down into an "advanced" schedule soon. I was about to make a transition to an advanced program just before my injury.



    Pre-injury: 1175
    Squat: 425, Bench: 310, DL: 440 (injured out on that lift)
    Press: 175, Pendlay Row: 265, Clean 235 (stuck forever)

    Current Stats:
    32 yrs, 5'6" 188lbs, 11-13% BF depends on which meter/scale/caliper you ask.

    Current PL Total: 1070
    Squat: 390, Bench: 260, DL: 420
    Press: 140, Pendlay Row: 270, Clean (untested recently)

    My current program:
    Rule #1: NO WORKOUTS LONGER THAN 1 HOUR!
    Rule #2: NO CUTTING WORKOUTS SHORT!
    Rule #3: EACH WORKOUT BEGINS WITH MOBILITY WARM-UPS AND ENDS WITH COPIOUS STRETCHING!


    So, This is what it usually boils down to:

    Week 1
    Monday:
    LIFTS
    Morning work
    Squat: 5x5 @ 90% of recent 5RM
    Bench: 1x5 for new 5RM (followed by a few heavy "unracking" singles)
    Pendlay Row: 1x5 for new 5RM (followed by a few overly heavy attempts)

    Afternoon work
    Good Mornings 3x30 ramped to best weight of the day (usually between 75-115 lbs)
    Hollow Body
    Gymnasts Ab Pyramid (Situp->Tuck-up->V-up, 1 of each, then 2 of each...etc.)
    Push-ups for 5 sets of max reps

    Tuesday HARDIO and Cardio
    Morning
    "Farm Prowler" (sprint a 200lb wheel barrow up hill)
    10 second bursts for max distance covered in time allotted. I don't last much more than 15-30 reps of this.

    afternoon
    Farming: Gentle Cardio, minor lifting (I avoid doing crazy stuff on these days: moving huge rocks, building new structures, etc.)

    Wednesday
    Morning
    Squats 5x5 @ 80% of 5x5 weight
    OHP 5x5 @ 80% of 5x5 weight (week 2)
    DL 5x5 @ 80% of 5x5 weight (week 2)

    Afternoon
    Ab Pyramid 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
    Overhead Side Bends 2x100 @10lb bar
    Chins 2x5 unweighted

    Thursday
    Morning
    Farm Prowler

    Afternoon
    Farming

    Friday
    Morning
    Squats: 1x5 for new 5rm followed by a heavy "Back Lift"
    Bench: 5x5 @ 90% of mondays top 1x5
    Pendlay Row: 5x5 @ 90% of mondays top 1x5

    Afternoon 1
    Hard Farming (I save all the hardest stuff for this time, because I feel like I have the best chance at recovery from this day.)

    Afternoon
    Bicep Curls: 4x8-12
    Tricep Extensions: 4x8-12
    Lateral Deltoid Isolation: 4x25+
    Ab Pyramid for new max

    Saturday
    Morning
    Farm Prowler
    Ab Cycle: Kegel, Planks, Side Planks, Back Press-to-floor drill, Hollow Body

    Afternoon
    Farming, easy or not (some things just have to get done)

    Sunday
    Do NOTHING

    Week 2 is the same thing except that bench/row switches places with press/DL. On 1x5 DL day(mon. week2) I follow the DL with heavy shrugs.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

    Default

    Oh yeah, my "Monday" is just a name I give to the first day in the training week... Lately, monday has happened on wednesdays.

    Wednesday 7/15/15
    morning
    Squat 285 5x5
    Bench 215 1x5

    Afternoon
    Good Mornings 85 3x30
    Push-ups 5x 30,26,25,22,23
    Hollow-Body 27,21,15,9,8,8,8,8,8,7,7,4,2,0
    Row 225 1x5

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Humboldt County, CA
    Posts
    299

    Default

    I worked on a small CSA farm for a while outside of Eugene OR for a while. It's hard work, and I barely trained. How big is your place, and what do you farm?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Bathing n tha Ganges
    Posts
    982

    Default

    Lots of old-time strong guys had a farming background. You have your GPP covered!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

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    @ Matt Bickford: I'm about 40 miles east of Eugene! For our sales crops, we farm mostly Brassica (cabbage focused), peppers and tomatoes. For our own eating we grow everything from stone fruit, berries, sweet potatoes, tropicals (ginger and lemongrass, but turmeric failed). We have about 2 farmable acres, but it's mountainside so I've had to terrace out beds.

    @ Will Diebolt: It's a blast! Farming is what made me pick up the barbell in the first place. Just knowing how much more useful I could be for my community was a serious motivator. I think finally admitting that farm work is hard, thus including it in my training schedule, will help me avoid overtraining...maybe.

    Thursday 7/16/15
    Morning
    Farm Prowler 19 reps, best distance= 36 yards

    Afternoon
    Squash Bed Recondition: 1.5 hours gpp, avoided back strain pretty well.

    Friday 7/17/15
    Morning
    Squats 225 5x5
    OHP 95 5x5 (long pause at bottom)
    DL 250 5x5

    Afternoon
    Ab Pyramid 5
    Hollow Body 5 sets to fail 30 sec start
    Overhead Side Bends @10 2x100
    Chins 2x5
    Last edited by BenZab; 07-17-2015 at 09:41 PM. Reason: Addendum of Afternoon Session

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

    Default

    Saturday 7/18/15
    Morning
    Farm Prowler x5 Super tired today

    Afternoon
    @102 degrees, decided to skip farmwork and go swimming

    Sunday
    Morning
    Squats 320 1x5 (fell out of groove on last rep, had 'call up' issues)
    Floor Press 195 5x5
    Barbell Row 200 5x5

    Afternoon
    Chins 5x6
    Tricep Extension/Skullcrusher 67 4x10
    Bicep Curls 75 3x10
    Ab Pyramid to 6, but then wimped out on new max

    Afternoon 2
    Relocated the tomatoes in the 25g pots...bad farming practice, good workout.

    Monday was the full rest day this week.
    Was about to think that volume might be getting a little high, but looking back I missed about 4-5 hours of sleep this week. I have to be more protective of my sleep.

    Tuesday 7/21/15
    30 mins of jogging up and down the hills around here.
    Last edited by BenZab; 07-21-2015 at 11:20 AM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

    Default

    Wednesday 7/22/15
    Morning
    Deadlift 365 1x5
    OHP 135 1x6 (the 5th wasn't hard enough, so grabbed a 6th)
    Squats 285 5x5

    Noonish
    Blackberry vs Machete (1.5 hours, they won)

    Afternoon
    Good Morning 125 2x12
    Heavy Shrugs 475 2x8 (not heavy...wtf)
    Hollow Body start@30s worked for 5 sets.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Fort Worth
    Posts
    4,830

    Default

    nice interesting log. I am following. training and soil buiulding, crop rotation/selection..an possible talk on waterr and cover crops.

    farming is hard, personally rewarding work.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

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    So here's the last week.

    What was good?
    1. Moved to Bench Press from floor press and made progress.
    2. Squats were super easy.
    3. Used Excellent Abdominal pressure for low back support.

    What could change for the better?
    1. Shoulder Mobility especially for lower part of dips and deepest position on bench.
    2. Move to Weighted Planks with 2 min sets
    3. Move to easy cardio daily, with hard cardio on 'off' days.
    4. Could have pushed harder on abs.

    Thursday 7/23/15
    Morning
    Farmer's Carry 1 handed: 95lbs 20yardsx10 reps (failed, only got 6)

    Afternoon
    Building Site Prep: Clearing 2 hours

    Friday 7/24/15
    Morning
    Squat 230 5x5
    Floor Press 155 5x5
    Barbell Row 165 5x5

    Afternoon
    Swimming

    Evening
    Chins 10, 5, 4
    Push-ups 2x30
    Hollow Body (not impacting me enough) 5 sets @ 30 seconds to start

    Saturday 7/25/15
    Morning
    Hill Sprints 6 sets

    Afternoon
    Building Site Prep: Clearing

    Sunday 7/26/15
    Morning
    Squat 325 1x5 (felt easy)
    OHP 120 5x5
    DL 330 5x5

    Afternoon
    Plum Harvest/Tree Climbing: 2 hours

    Evening
    Chins 4x6 1x5
    Plyo Push-ups 4 plates: 3x10
    Bicep Curls 75 flat bar 3x8, EZ curl bar 2x8
    Tricep Extensions 75 4x8

    Monday and Tuesday 7/27/15 & 7/28/15
    Building Site Prep: Clearing and Excavation: 4 hours

    7/29/15 Wednesday
    Morning
    Squat 290 5x5
    Bench Press 215 1x5
    Barbell Row 185 (Re-appraised form, lowered weight)

    Afternoon
    Good Morning 95 1x18, 115 2x15
    Plank 3 sets: 132s, 64s, 32s


    Thursday 7/30/15
    Morning
    Hill Jog 35 mins

    Afternoon
    Swim 45 mins

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Oregon Forests
    Posts
    84

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    starting strength coach development program
    End of the month Weight and Body Composition Update:
    Scale hated me this morning and took 5 pounds away!

    182.5 (WTF!)
    Estimated Body Composition: 11.73% body fat
    Estimated LBM: 161.08

    @Bryanccfshr: Soil building is my area of expertise in comparison with other skills. Or at least, I've been doing it longest. A great tip I got from a true master gardener was that he would go on hikes and find piles of molding/rotting leaves. He'd trek his tarp out and take all of the leaf piles he saw on his hikes. He'd take these home and use them in his compost piles. What an amazing source of diverse micro-biology for your soil! I took his tip and haven't looked back. Nutrient efficiency is awesome! Crop rotation has never been my greatest strength. I'm more of a guilder really, thankfully I'm not the only person on the property, so others often step up to the plate on crop selection. We've been trying many different crops this year in an attempt to decide what works best on this land.

    Our Light hours suck, but water is awesome.
    Cover cropping is primarily cilantro just because we use so much of it. Depends on the space though. We have a bed near a Japanese maple, that maple sends out so many ground level roots that it's hard to prepare, so we'll probably plant daikon in there. They'll get all big and break up the soil, then we'll let them rot in the ground and hopefully next springs tilth will greatly improve in that bed. We'll see.

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