GET STRONG: The Intermediate Ramblings of an Amateur Strongman

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/6/17

Bench - 257.5x5x1

Press - 170x5x4

Chins - 6, 5 ,4.5 - trying to keep these strict

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/9/17

Squat - 370x3x2 - first time squatting in knee sleeves, night and day. Loved them. A couple gnarly habits present in these, but nothing world ending. Overall depth was average to good and I should be able to crush volume day if I focus hard enough.

Deadlift - 380x5x2 - made a few tweaks to my setup that I think I may like. Breathing with high hips on the first rep, and starting to set my back as I drop my knees in. I feel like its a much more efficient setup than I'm used to and might help with overall fatigue. First set I did straight overhand because I wanted to see if I could, tried for the second set but my hands were tired and I ended up hooking the last two reps.

Power Clean - 185x3x3 - I can't tell if I have improved on these, or if I've just gotten strong enough to muscle these up easier than I have. I'm about as "explosive" as a wet carpet and technical ability is not exactly in my wheelhouse... yet I forge on lol

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/10/17

Press - 192.5x4, 192.5x3 - frustrating, 4 slowed down, then 5 was what seemed like a dead stop. I fought it hard for a while but didn't get it. Frustrating part is watching it back it was creeping along, and if I would have held out maybe another few seconds it would have went. Hindsight sucks, but I guess the press will move to triples for a while now...

Bench - 240x5x4 - I was initially worried by the last set of these because of how much slower the last rep was versus the last on the other three sets, then I realized it was because I had lost count and accidentally done 6 reps. I blame the chaos around me.

Rows - 205x5x3 - these went nicely, just trying to find the sweet spot to get comfortable repeatability with form on these.

[grand666]

When did you start changing to 2.5lbs increases on your press? I did 135 for 3x5 monday and it felt heavy as shit. Thinking of doing 2.5lbs jumps from now on to keep it smooth.

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/12/17

Deadlift - 430x5x1 - could have set my back better, otherwise these were moving nice...

Squat - 340x5x4 - not terrible

Carries - 175x3 - upped these from 6x60ft runs to 3x120ft runs (w/ turn)


10/13/17

Bench - 260x5x1 - easy peasy, these moved nice...

Press - 172.5x5x4 - other a couple of weird looking reps on the last set these were dandy...

Rows - 205x5x3 - normally I would do (and should have done) chins today, but there was a goof in fitbot and I ended up doing rows... oh well, they went swell...

[Dave Joksimovic]

When did you start changing to 2.5lbs increases on your press? I did 135 for 3x5 monday and it felt heavy as shit. Thinking of doing 2.5lbs jumps from now on to keep it smooth.

I moved my press to 2.5lb jumps around 165... there was a "stutter" there when I was still doing 3x5's there where I would miss the last rep of the last set or two and then get it the following week. Full disclosure, I probably SHOULD have made the change earlier, and my press progression seems like something of an anomaly. Other ones I've seen don't last quite as long as mine did.

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/16/17 (switching U/L days to see if it helps the press/affords opportunities for more "interesting" conditioning)

Press - 195x3x2 - first set wasn't bad, drilled my face on rep 2 lol... second set was beautiful. Knocking on the 200 pound door, and then on to two plates...

Bench - 242.5x5x4 - went well enough, only apparent flaw was got a little loose on the very last rep and it slowed down a hair...

Rows - 210x5x3 - other than needing to get my back a little flatter, these were nifty...

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/17/17

Squat - 375x3x2 - not my best squats as of recently, but not horrific or anything...

Deadlift - 385x5x4 - moving nice, setting my back harder... little bit a rounding, not world ending...

Cleans - 135x3x3 - 3-position drill, probably the deathstroke to my cleans... I can't seem to eliminate arm pull to save my life and my jump is about as explosive as Bobby Hill trapped under a wet carpet...

Stone Loads - 220xAMRAPSx2 - managed 4 reps in 60 seconds both times, I wasn't exactly hauling because I'm anxious about dropping a 200+ pound stone in my garage, after the first set I got more comfortable so the reps got smoother, but by then I was also tired out...

Side note, I must have easily ate 4000+ calories yesterday and the scale didn't so much as budge (231.9 on 10/16 versus 231.7 this morning)... strength training is black voodoo...

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/19/17

Bench - 262.5x5x1 - very nice

Press - 175x5x4 - also very nice

Chins - 6.5/5/5 - trying to keep these as strict as I can

[Dave Joksimovic]

10/20/17

Deadlift - 435x3x2

Squat - 340x5x4

Carries - 175x3 (120ft)