raising my total and beginning strongman

[August West]

Last year I competed in a couple of PL meets; this year I want to continue to bring my PL total up and compete in at least one strongman competition. Currently looking at a couple of options in June or July.

Last year's meet PRs were 385, 275, 450. Once I've picked out a PL meet I will decide on particular goals depending on timing, but long-term goals include a 1300+ total.

Right now, after a 6-8 week hiatus from squatting, I am back with a recovered hip and going to run a Texas Method setup. Instead of fives on volume day, I'm going to run triples for a while. Down the line I will start doing some event training on weekends, and the plan may adapt at that point.

April 11th

squat: 315 x 3 x 8, fast and easy
press: 165 x 3 x 8, a few grinders but mostly snappy
power clean: 155 x 3; 175 x 3; 195 x 1 x 5, sloppy. experimenting with grip width to try to make my rack position less ugly.

[Cmanuel]

gonna follow your log as i do strongman and PL as well. Looking forward to big numbers!

[August West]

gonna follow your log as i do strongman and PL as well. Looking forward to big numbers!

Thanks man, will be checking in on yours as well. No doubt I'll have plenty of questions along the way.

[August West]

April 13th

front squat: 185 x 3; 205 x 3; 225 x 3 x 3; need work on keeping elbows up instead of tipping forward in the hole
bench: 205 x 5 x 3; easy
chins x 6, 5, 5

[August West]

squat: 355 x 5; about right for a tough set of 5
press: 185 x 2; 155 x 5; barely got the double, right side lockout slow and uneven
deadlift: 435 x 5; hook grip

Maybe some one-arm DB pressing once a week to even out the lockout is in order. It's been uneven for a while now.

[August West]

Seven days of nonstop work derailed all of last week's training; just a marathon of 18+ hour days spent in my office chair. Fuck that shit completely.

squat: 320 x 3 x 6
bench: 245 x 3 x 8
DB rows: 100 x 12 x 2

Hip was tightening up on the sixth set of squats so I backed off from the last two; pushing through the tightness after a week-long layoff spent sitting down is exactly what messed me up last time.

[Oldster]

I'll enjoy following your log as well! I enjoy watching watching logs of those who compete to see how they change their training habits from comp to comp. What weight do you compete in?

[August West]

I'll enjoy following your log as well! I enjoy watching watching logs of those who compete to see how they change their training habits from comp to comp. What weight do you compete in?

I've been competing in the 242 lb class; my weight's been around 230 for the last year or so. Probably not ideal to be right in the middle like that, but I'm not interested in cutting for meets at this point. For strongman comps I'd be right on the edge between LW and HW, but I'm planning to compete as a novice my first time around so weight won't matter for that.

Thanks for checking in; I'll be keeping an eye on your work as well.

[August West]

front squat: 235 x 3 x 3
press: 170 x 3 x 5
chins x 8 x 3

[Oldster]

I've been competing in the 242 lb class; my weight's been around 230 for the last year or so. Probably not ideal to be right in the middle like that, but I'm not interested in cutting for meets at this point. For strongman comps I'd be right on the edge between LW and HW, but I'm planning to compete as a novice my first time around so weight won't matter for that.

Just lightweight and heavyweight, there is no 'medium' weight? Where is the cuttoff between the two?