Plyos, hang cleans, clean extensions

0800

1) pawu

2) plyos: 3 rounds
5 x MR hamstrings
20 x plyo skiers w/ pause
10 x med ball throw circuit

3) shin hop + broad jump
3x3 - increase speed between land/jump each rep

4) clean warmup

5) hang clean - 2 reps at each weight
60,65,70,75,80,85,90 kg
then...
clean extensions 2x5 @ 100 kg

• Notes: Clean wasn't feeling quite as strong today. Overall felt a little tired from yesterday's session (not much soreness, just slightly stiff). Plyos felt great though, and I think hitting some solid plyos before strength work is the best way to warm up. Hit the heavy clean extensions at the end to add a little bit of volume to today.
• Body: Hammies and lats are a little stiff.

Back squat, step ups, swings, decline bench, rows, pushups, dips, carries

1100

1) pawu and hinge practice w. empty bar

2) back squat - 5 x 60,80,100,110,120 kg

3) 3 rounds:
10 x barbell step ups to parallel (50,50,50 kg)
10 x kb swings, 32 kg

4) decline db bench (3 plates stacked) - 10 x 15,20,22.5,22.5
*slow eccentric, 2 sec pause at bottom, looking for chest activation
10 x pushups in between sets (focus on IT on the way up and full scap protraction at top)

5) 3 rounds:
10 x single arm db rows (25,30,30 kg)
10 x bar dips

6) db farmer carries
150 ft @ 32.5 kg
2 x 75 ft @ 37.5 kg
2 x 75 ft @ 40 kg

• Notes: Good day - no conditioning just working on overall strength. Could have gone heavier on the squat. Decline bench felt really good on my shoulder, and pairing it with the pushup was helping me dial in my internal torque and getting my chest firing properly (or so it felt). The db rows destroyed my obliques in a way that I haven't felt it a while...i'm probably gonna be sore from that alone and I need to be doing these more. Carries were tough but got me feeling good.
• Body: Good overall!

Strongman - barbell rows, single arm presses, sumo deadlifts, conditioning

1000

1) biceps/triceps/shoulder openers - 3 kg
2) Is/Ys/Ts - 1.25 kg
3) 3 rounds:
10 x supinated barbell rows (50,55,60 kg)
15 x ab wheels
60 seconds rest between
4) single arm barbell press - 3x2 w. empty bar
5) sumo deadlift to heavy 10 (*focus on proper IT) - 60,80,100 kg
6) single leg RDL w. empty bar - 3x3 each leg, slow cadence

conditioning
1) reverse sled drags 2x200 ft - 80,90 kg
2-3 minutes rest

2) rope pulls 2x200 ft - 40,40 kg
2-3 minutes rest

3) sled sprints 2x200 ft - 40,40 kg
2-3 minutes rest

• Notes: Kept it conservative on the deadlifts trying to really dial in the internal torque. Barbell press feels much stronger now and I really feel it working my lats. Single leg RDL was very difficult for me so going to keep doing them. For the conditioning, rope pulls are getting really strong. Added weight on the drags and decreased weight on the sprints to try to increase me speed. Next time I would like to increase the length of the drag (300 ft) and keep the weight at 80. 

Plyos, clean combo

0800

1) row 1k warmup

2) plyos - 3 rounds:
5 x upper body med ball throw circuit, 6 kg
5 x depth pushups (1 blue, 2 blues, 2 blues+1 gray)
5 x 1/4 barbell squat jumps (20,30,35 kg)

3) 2 rounds:
5 x depth pushups (2 blues+1 green, 2 blues+1 yellow)
5 x 1/4 barbell squat jumps (40,40 kg)

4) clean combo: build to max
power clean+clean deadlift (3+3)
40,60,70,80,85,90 kg(x 2nd clean, made the 3rd)
*eccentric scap control work with band between sets - L side only

• Notes: Stuck with some basic plyos today, I was feeling pretty tired before warming up. Ended up getting a solid session in and I really like the plyo pushups paired up with the squat jumps. Meant to include some lateral work but totally spaced it. Clean felt good - shouldn't have missed my 2nd rep on the last set as I could have easily caught it, just got a little soft mentally.
• Body: Legs are a little bit tired from yesterday.

Back squat P5, DB neutral bench, lat pulls/ring support, hill sprints

1200

1) pawu - db deadbugs, planks, st arm captain morgans, see saw walks, leg cradle lunges

2) back squat to pause 5 - 60,80,95,105 kg
then...3x5x100 kg no pause

3) neutral grip DB bench - 10 x 20,22.5,27.5,27.5,27.5 kg

4) 3 rounds:
12 x lat pulldowns, 75 kg
max time ring support

5) pushups, serratus activation - 1x10

6) steep hill sprints - 4 x 15 seconds, max intensity
~60 seconds rest between

• Notes: Basic strength work today with some hills for conditioning. Improved my pause squat by 5 kg, probably could have gone heavier. Added another set on the DB bench, next time will do hex presses.
• Body: Hips are tight and I need some work. Abs could use some soft tissue work as well.

Strongman 7.1

1100
openers
1) biceps/triceps/shoulder openers - 3 kg
2) rear delt I/Y/T - 1.25 kg plate
3) landmine rows - 2x10
4) DB Z press to 8rm - 10,12.5,12.5 kg
5) lat pulldowns - 3x15 @ 70 kg

conditioning
1) single arm DB overhead carry (outdoor corner to corner) - 50 ft for max weight
20,22.5,25,27.5

2) rope pulls - 2x100 ft @ +60,70 kg

3) DB farmer carries - 3x150 ft for max weight (DB rack to building corner and back)
30,35,35 kg

4) 4 minute shoulder complex, 4 kg

5) max reps punching bag squats - 25
then...150m bag carry
max reps punching bag squats - 13

• Notes: Good day. Can still go heavier on the rope pulls I think. Love the bag squats, but my back was smoked for the carry and I was struggling.
• Body: Sore from yesterday! Hamstrings, calves, and tibs. Great places to be sore after that workout.

Dynamic day - plyos, power clean ladder, single arm work, RDLs, carries

0730

1) warmup: banded deadbugs, captain morgans, leg cradle lunges, 4 way cocky walks, lateral skips

2) plyos - 4 rounds
4 x MR hamstrings+plyo pushup
4 x broad jumps
4 x tire flips

3) 5x3 tall box jumps (3 tires)

4) power clean ladder - 2 reps at each weight, 60 seconds rest between each double
*start at 60, adding 5 kg each set and building to a max
60,65,70,75,80,85,90,95,100 kg

5) single arm barbell bench, empty bar - 3x5 each arm

6) single arm KB RDLs - 2x10 each arm (16,20 kg)

7) 200m bag carry - only 1 break!!

8) 10 kg plate flips - 5x5 each hand

• Notes: Big day on my clean. After feeling pretty crappy last week I was super dialed in today. Maybe doing all of the plyos beforehand primed everything but I felt good at hit a pretty solid 100 for a double. Tried to keep the rest as close to 60s as possible, but at the end it was slightly longer. Tried fooling around with the single arm bench, but it actually didn't feel very good on my shoulder. Still having trouble finding ways to implement horizontal pressing strength work that agrees with my shoulder. DB bench and hex presses seem to be the best thing so far. Bag carry was way better today! Only took 1 break instead of the usual 3.
• Body: Feeling good. Getting settled into my sleep routine.

Back squat 8rm, DB bench heavy 10, step ups/dips/triceps, shoulders

0800

1) deadbugs, planks, lunges, see saw walks, lateral lunge pulls

2) back squat to 8rm - 60,80,100,115 kg(pr)
*internal rotation and hip capsule between sets

3) DB bench - 4x10 (20,25,27.5,27.5 kg)
then...
max reps DB hex press @ 22.5 kg - 16, 13

4) 3 rounds:
10 x DB step ups, 20 kg each hand
10 x bar dips
20 x band tri extensions
rest 60 seconds

5) 4 minute DB lateral raises circuit, 4 kg each

• Notes: Good day with a pr on my 8 rep back squat. Going to move back down to 5 reps now and start doing pauses as well. Only slightly upped volume on the DB bench with two top sets at 27.5. Need to keep doing some work on those. Oddly enough a pronated position felt stronger than neutral (triceps). Much stronger on the hex presses though. 
• Body: Feeling pretty solid. Upping my calories a lot to keep up with my schedule. Trying to be tech-free by 9 pm, and at least in bed reading around 10.

Strongman 6.2

1200

openers
1) biceps/triceps/shoulder openers x2, 3 kg
2) 3 rounds:
10 x DB rows (20,22.5,25 kg)
15 x ab wheels
3) lat pulldowns - 2x15 (65,70 kg)
4) viking sloth press - 5rm each arm (+5,10,12.5 kg)

conditioning
1) squat walkouts - 1 lap at each
140,140,140 kg

2) reverse sled drags - 2x200 ft @ +80 kg
90s rest between

3) sled sprints - 2x200 ft @ +60 kg

• Notes: Did the sled work with 2 other partners today, so we rested until the next person went. Got slightly into that sled zone feeling woozy, which was good. Didn't get a chance to do farmer carries today. Did longer squat walkouts today to try to replicate the yoke carry. Took about 10 steps back out of the rack then 10 steps forward. Definitely challenging on the obliques and closer to replicating the real things.
• Body: Sleepy this morning, but came back and napped and felt better this afternoon. Left hip is very tight and needs more work, despite spending lots of time this morning loosening things up.

Clean combo, plyos, shoulders

1200

1) leg and arm band resisted deadbugs

2) clean warmup w/ empty bar

3) power clean+hang power clean+front squat (1+1+3)
20,40,60,70,80,90 kg
then...
clean extension+clean high pull+power clean (1+1+1)
4 sets @ 80 kg

4) plyos - 4 sets
12 x dynamic pushups to 1 plate
5 x weighted 1/4 jump squats (20,30,35,35 kg)
5 x box jumps (30 in --> +2 plates)

5) trunk - 2 sets
2 x captain morgans
2 x side plank pull thrus
2 x side plank abductors
*straight thru on both sides

6) 6 minute shoulder complex, 4 kg DBs

7) 4 way cocky walks - 50 ft each

• Notes: Felt a little weak an choppy today on my cleans. Coordination just wasn't really there so I was under what I did last time. Took some weight off and just repped my clean pulls finishing with a full power clean...by the end things were feeling a little better. Felt good to get a solid plyo session in and I would to be doing it more often on these clean days.
• Body: Feeling pretty good. Trying to make do on less sleep but getting a little better about naps.

Strongman 6.1

1200

1) biceps/triceps openers - 3 kg
2) Is/Ys/Ts - 2.5 kg plates
3) landmine rows - 2x10
4) DB Z-press build to heavy 5 - 10,15,17.5,15 kg
5) lat pulldown wide grip - 2x15 @ 65 kg

strongman conditioning
1) single arm barbell press - 3 x 2 reps each arm, empty barbell

2) single arm barbell deadlift to heavy 3 - 30,40,40,40 kg

3) single arm DB overhead carry - 2x100 ft @ 20 kg

4) rope pulls - 2x200 ft @ +35 kg (4 trips)
3 minutes rest

5) max reps punching bag squats - 22
rest 30 seconds
200m punching bag carry

6) 300m sled push @ +50 kg (20 trips)

• Notes: Dialed back the weight on the openers to try to really lock in my technique and torque. Landmine rows are really helping me find my lats. Need to keep the Z press at 15 kg for now and just rep out there because it gets ugly going any heavier. Implementing lat pulldowns instead of pullups for the time being to try to fix this shoulder. Sandbag squats felt much stronger today and really good on my hips. You can definitely feel the difference in the internal torque with the weight between your legs.
• Body: Hips are really tight, especially my internal rotators. Shoulder are a little bit achy as I have been pretty aggressive working on them lately. Tomorrow will be a rest day, just hiking.

Plyos, back squat, db bench, lunges, carry

1600

1) warmup - deadbugs, captain morgans, leg cradle lunges

2) plyos - 3 rounds:
rotational med ball throws x 4 reps each way, 6 kg wall ball
4 x MR hamstrings + plyo pushup

3) back squat to 8 rm - 60,80,100,110,110 kg

4) single arm alternating DB bench - 2x10x20 kg
then...
DB hex press 2x max reps @ 20 kg - 15,12

5) single arm racked KB walking lunges - 50 ft. each arm (10 lunges)
20,24,32 kg each arm

6) 200m punching bag carry

Strongfit Seminar Day 1

Recap of Day 1 Strongfit Seminar in Melbourne: Principles and Philosophy of Training

Wanted to recap my feeling after day one so that I remember how I feel right now. All of the discussion were interesting though familiar as I have followed lot's of Julien's work. Some of the new things, however, I found very interesting. A few below:

• Upper body assistance work should be guided by
• Pull > external torque > long head of biceps
• Push > internal torque > short head of biceps
• Depending on what movement you are trying to improve you need to choose assistance work that follows the same pattern
• Squatting = internal torque on the way DOWN; external toque on the way UP; this is a huge and complex topic, we barely scratched the surface but it is interesting food for though (especially when looking at chinese weightlifters)
• Training muscles in assistance/isolation....primary muscle functions:
• obliques - eccentric
• quads - concentric
• biceps - eccentric and isometric (short head), concentric (long head)
• triceps - concentric
• hamstrings - eccentric (inside head - this is WAY underdeveloped), concentric (outside head - too strong usually)
• these muscles perform the best under this type of contraction
• How does Julien choose exercises?
• max intensity, max blood flow, win factor (the athlete needs to feel that they have WON or accomplished something)
• proper torque applied
• has to balance the box
• must show the problem, fix the problem, and provide feedback to athlete about how they are performing
• *in nature, typically unilateral movements and rotation/anti rotation planes are the most common
• The KB overhead carry is inferior to yoke or DB's because it forces external torque, which we don't want overhead (stop doing these basically)
• I need to do more lat pulls because I have no lat activation. Pullups are too advanced, do lat pulls
• Keep a low WES (ex the sled)

First baby shoulder warmup to wake us up:

On a continuous running clock:

15 seconds db lateral raises+15 seconds thumb up iso hold (x4)
rest 1 minute
15 seconds bent over db flys+15 seconds palm up iso hold (x4)
rest 1 minute
30 seconds db presses+30 seconds overhead hold (x2)

• This was a nice little circuit that got the blood flowing. I have done this one in his programming but never with this little rest and this intensely. Gonna keep it up because its pretty tough.

Finally, here was the workout that we did this afternoon. I will write it down first and put comments after...

1) rope pulls - 2 sets of 2x100 ft @ +60 kg sled

3-5 minutes rest between

2) reverse sled drags - 2 sets of 200 ft @ 80 kg + person

3-5 minutes between

3) harnessed sled drags - 1 set of 400 ft (turn at 200) @ +100 kg

4) sled sprints - 1 x 200ft @ +60 kg

• It is very difficult to describe what happened today by looking at the above work. Part of it was the group setting, which pushed the intensity high, but everything done was done at absolute max red line capacity. This is the idea of strongfit. Maximal intensity with low skill, low eccentric, and low weight-bearing exercises. The reverse drags and the harnessed drags were by far the worst, but I'm still not sure why. Eventually the quads just cramp and totally shut off, and the weight/distance was just enough that the last 15 yards or so feel like being beaten with a bat. Afterwards looking around at everyone you could tell we were all in the same boat. I literally couldn't see or hear properly and was dizzy for 20 minutes on the verge of puking. It just felt like my body needed to shut off for 10 minutes and reset. I am no stranger to pushing myself physically but this definitely tapped into another level that is difficult to go by yourself. Now that I have come down from it there was definitely something magic going on in the room, and it was awesome that Julien and Richard were right there with us hurting just as much. Julien gave a great speech about pain versus intensity, and pushing the threshold of intensity to a point that we are afraid to go. Most importantly that discomfort does not mean damage. It sounds like this is exactly what he wanted. Fun day, curious to see how I feel tomorrow. And goddamn that's one way to teach the principle of intensity. Oh, and I need to do lat pulldowns more.