2018 CA MID STATE FAIR’S STRONGEST MAN WRITE-UP

First, check here for the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2pesRFS8JM

This marks my 12^th strongman competition, and 3^rd after ACL reconstruction.  When I originally signed up, it was as a middle weight, as the cut off for lightweight was 175lbs, and I wasn’t going to cut that much.  I trained for the MW weights for the 2 months leading up to the competition and was sure I wasn’t going to zero an event, but 2 weeks before the comp they upped the MLW class limit to 200lbs and I made the switch.  It means I was training with a different strategy than usual, but it also meant my static strength was up and I had put on some muscle in the training cycle as I was trying my best to gain SOME quality weight to make up the difference.  Hell, being bigger and stronger is rarely a bad thing.

I already had my invite to nationals from a prior comp, so my goal here was to come back home to the Central Coast of CA and have some fun.  Brining home hardware would be a bonus.

THE TRAINING/EVENTS

Event 1: Log clean and press away (225lbs)

This was originally supposed to be 260lbs, and that is what I trained for.  I managed to hit 265lbs for 2 strict press singles in my training cycle, and I didn’t pay any attention to actually developing my leg drive, as I figured I wouldn’t get much more than a few reps.  Once the switch was announced to MLW weights, I spent 2 weeks trying to re-learn push pressing, but in general I wasn’t super great at it.  Ran 5/3/1 with a FSL backoff set for the whole training cycle, using a Titan 12” log.  Clean was the weakpoint.

Event 2: Car Deadlift

This went from a truck to a car for MLW.  Didn’t really change my training.  Did my normal ROM progression deads and then used the car deadlift simulator as a supplemental lift.  Stuck with my usual plan of just being strong and in shape.

Event 3: 180lb Sandbag/220lb keg/250lb hussafel stone carry

The stone for MW was supposed to be 280lbs, so I filled up an Ironmind sandbag with 5 50lb bags of playground sand banking on the fact that the sand always weighs more than 50lbs and did bearhug carries of that as supplemental work on my squat days.  I figured I knew how to carry a sandbag and a keg, and I just needed to develop a strong back.  Once the weights got lowered, it dawned on me that I had performed zero speed training for light implements, but I had done a show in April that year focusing on that, so I just hoped that would pay off.

Event 4: 2 hammer, 2 sandbags and 1 keg thrown over 16’ bar

Throwing is pretty much everything I don’t stand for, since it’s far more about technique than strength, so I dedicated pretty much zero time training for it.  The last 2 weeks of my training cycle, I took my 45lb kettlebell out and threw it over a 12.5-13’ crossbar at a fit trail by my house.  I managed to get it over 3 times in a total of 2 sessions, while hitting the crossbar a whole bunch of other times.

Event 5: Stone series up to 275lb stone 

Dedicated a good amount of time prepping for this.  Used the stone of steel for a weekly workout, working up to a top triple or single and then a backoff set.  Focused on learning some technique and just getting strong.

IN GENERAL: GETTING BIGGER AND STRONGER

I originally thought I was giving up like 50lbs competing as a MW, and so starting at 189.8lbs, I started a program to put on some quality weight.  I stuck with my normal 4 day a week approach of a press day, squat day, bench day and “deadlift” day (ROM progression mat pulls), but added a front squat specific workout between the bench day and the deadlift day, a heavy stone workout the day after deadlift day that also included prowler work for conditioning, and added a daily set of dips and chins.  The dips and chins were sub-max, but intended to accumulate as much volume as possible on top of all my other training. 

On top of all of this, for my squat day, the last 6 weeks of my prep were based off the Squat Protocol in Jon Andersen’s “Deep Water” training, which starts off with 10x10 squats and gets worse from there.  I figured that’d be an effective way to put on weight.

I upped my calories with quality sources.  I ended up adding 1 cup of fruit to my post workout meal, half an avocado per day to my daily intake, larger portions of meat at meals, and eventually 3/5 of a serving of Mass Tech prior to workouts. 

I ended up gaining 10lbs in 2 months with very little fat gain.  It was successful, and it also SUCKED to train and eat like that.  Learned a lot.

COMPETITION EVENTS/RESULTS

I weighed in at 199.0 the day before the competition, in full clothes with my wallet, keys and phone in my pocket.  The day of the comp, I got to warm-up by carrying an ice chest full of food and beverages about a mile through the fair in over 100 degree heat while arriving seconds before the rules meeting at the competition.  I managed to stop sweating just about in time for the first event, and figured that this was a good enough warm-up.

Event 1: Log clean and press away 225lbs

I signed up for the competition as soon as it was available, which meant I had the advantage of going last in this event.  I knew I needed to beat 7 reps.  In training, I had only managed 6, but that was with a Titan 12” log, and we were using slater 10” logs.  I did my traditional “warm-up” of 2 reps with an empty log and 1 rep with whatever was loaded by one of the female competitors during her warm-ups.  The log felt like a toy compared to the Titan log.

Competitor pro-tip: The competition was set-up as head to head, but since we only had 5 competitors in my weight class and I was going last, I was going solo.  Martins Licis was one of the judges, and I know from reputation he is incredibly strict…so I went to the other judge’s lane when I was called up.

I did what was probably a garbage clean, got set, and basically strict pressed the log.  It felt like nothing, so I just kept doing it over and over again until I hit 8.  I then held it overhead and chatted with the judge, asking her if 8 was the amount of reps I needed to win the event, if I DID the 8 reps I needed, and if she was sure I needed to do 8 reps to win.  Certainly cocky, but I wanted to put on a good show.  I had family and friends in the crowd.  I shut it down at 8 to conserve my energy for the rest of the competition.

Event 2: Car Deadlift with a Honda Civic

I got to go last again because of my first place finish.  The guy who got 7 reps on the log got 11 reps on this, and was the guy to beat.

I’ve pulled 32 and 34 reps on a car deadlift before, but I got to feel a REAL car deadlift this day.  Frame was very stiff, and it was a tough pull.  In addition, Martin Licis ruled that we would have an UP command for the deadlift, which meant no bouncing it like I’ve done before. 

The first 2 or 3 reps were a bit of a system shock, but after that I found my groove.  As I was lifting, I had “12” in my mind, and I couldn’t remember if I had to BEAT 12 or just get 12, so I got 13 just to be sure.  I had about 20 seconds to spare, and once again shut it down to save energy.

Event 3: Carry Medley: 180lb sandbag, 220lb keg and 250lb hussafel stone

Got go last on this event again.  This time, a dude that was more toward the middle of the pack set the distance to beat, who managed to get the sandbag and keg across and then take the stone for 5 laps and some change in his time.  We had 2 lanes going, and 2 people slipped on the far lane, so I picked the near lane.

I picked the sandbag first, since they can be a pain to pick up.  Carrying it was fine, but I slipped on the run back to the keg, which shook my confidence a touch since I’m still post knee surgery.  I took the keg a little slower, and then went for the stone.  First time ever touching the implement, and I realized how green I was when I approached it, because I never strategized HOW I was going to approach it until that exact moment.  I got a garbage pick on it and just tried to brute force it for as long as I could.  Time wasn’t being announced until there was 3 seconds left, and I shoulda known to ask for more of a countdown, because I was moving decent clip but found myself being the 8 ball with 3 seconds left.  I motored as fast as I could, but only managed 5 laps and missed the few extra feet necessary to take first.  Good enough for second place.

Learning experience on the stone: I used a sandbag to prep for it, which, though it made my back strong, I never accounted for how there would be plates sliding around in a loadable stone.  The plates would rock me back and forth and clang against the metal hall and jar me pretty good.  Something to be said about the benefit of specificity.

Immediately after this event, I lost the ability to extend my left arm fully without pain.  Seemed like the tendons in my forearms were locked into place.  Weirdly enough, I went and peed and after that I loosened back up again and was pain free.  I have NO idea what that possible correlation can be, but I treated it as though I was dehydrated and just slammed more Gatorade.

Event 4: 2 hammers, 2 sandbags and 1 keg over a 15’ bar

This was the event I had the most doubt about.  I hate throwing, as its all technique and explosiveness, and I have none of those things.  Like a good oaf, I decided to do nothing at all to prep for this and only do things I liked in my training cycle.  Right before the event, the guy who went second in the MLW told me that the best strategy was the just blitz through the first 3 implements, since only one guy managed to clear the 4^th, and he also hit the 5^th.  It was the same guy that took second in the first two events.

I took that advice and ran with it, and ended up launching the first 2 hammers clear into the stratosphere.  You can actually see on the video that they end up landing in the base camp of some competitors/spectators who thought for SURE they were safe there.  The first bag wasn’t much of a challenge, and then the second bag, which had been the widowmaker of the event, went up without a fight.  In total honesty, I feel like it was pure luck that carried me through on that one, and that maybe I could never replicate that shot again if I tried, but I managed.  After that, I grabbed the keg, gave it a practice swing which, in hindsight, I didn’t need to do, because it was super light and easy to throw.

I legitimately have no idea HOW I threw as well as I did, as I had zero training and minimal practice and no technique whatsoever, but I ended up winning the event.

If you end up using the Rogue throwbags, people kept screwing up because they let too much slack happen in the handles.  You need a slower swing, because if you try to whip the bag, it just catches on itself.

Event 5: Stone Series (145, 175, 225, 245, 275…guessing on most of these)

Once this event rolled around, there was such a clear divide between me and second place that it boiled down to I would have to take dead last in the stones while second place took first in order for me to lose my first place position.  That said, I still wanted to give it my all.

My plan was to one-motion as many stones as possible to move as quickly as I can.  I managed to do it with all but the final stone, which was pretty cool.  I actually made a first time ever mistake of applying too MUCH tacky, which I discovered the effects on with the final stone.  I had difficulty getting better positioning one my hands got on it because I was effectively glued to the stone, which meant I had trouble with the initial pick.  I had used comp grade spider tack this day, since it was 106 degrees and I thought a lighter blend would turn to soup in the heat, but next time I do that I need to appreciate that a little dab will do just fine.

I ended up winning this event, with enough time after completing to turn around and see the guy in second place lapping the final stone. 

This was a great showing for me, and an awesome competition.  Really feel like I’m firing on all cylinders.  I’ve secured another nationals invite and need to decide what is next at this point.  I’ll be honest: the events in nationals really don’t look super great, and I may just end up taking an off season and training how I want.  I have an Alaska cruise coming up at the end of Aug, so I’ll be doing a 3 week training cycle right before that and will see how I feel from there.

ON HAPPINESS

I realize that, based off how I write and the material I discuss, it is very easy to conclude that I am a miserable person.  I constantly speak on the topics of misery, pain, suffering, etc, and my propensity to force myself to experience them for the sake of overcoming.  However, I want my readers to understand that nothing could be further from the truth.  I am immensely happy.  I live in a state of significant joy.  And this is BECAUSE I force myself to experience that pain, misery and turmoil, as these things are what allow me TO experience this joy.  And not in the sense that, in the presence of contrasting stimulus, one can more greater feel the other, much like how a hot shower after being out in the cold feels even hotter.  No, this misery allows me to feel joy because it is the result of overcoming it that makes me a joyous person.  Believe it or not, dear reader, I am happy.

Check out that smile

What do I have to be happy about?  The fact that, for 24 hours a day, I am exactly what it is I have always wanted to be: big and strong.  Ever since I was a kid, that it all I wanted, and it is what I am.  And yeah yeah, it’s really cute these days to say stupid meme crap like “The first day you lift weights it the day you will be forever small”, but quit it with the false modesty: it’s not endearing to anyone.  Am I as big and strong as I’d like to be?  No, but I am certainly big and strong enough to be happy with it.  I am existing exactly as the human I wanted to be as a child.  I have met my goals and became someone my childhood self would be proud of.

And how was that accomplished?  By spending an hour in misery 4-7 times a week for 18 years.  Yes, I had to regularly “suffer” in training on a consistent basis and experience discomfort over and over again to get to where I am…but it was just an hour.  An hour of pain for 23 hours of complete joy?  What a deal!  Who wouldn’t sign up for that?

I mean, it worked for ACDC

Apparently everyone, that’s who!  I’ve had people bemoan my writings.  “Why does it always have to be about suffering and pain?!  I LIKE lifting.  It’s my escape!”  Jesus man: what the hell are you escaping from?  Is it, by chance, the 23 hours a day you spend being miserable because you AREN’T what you want to be?  Is it that, your life requires escape because you failed to live up to your own potential?  But then, riddle me this: does your escape simply in turn become a self-fulfilling prophecy?  Because you spend your 1 hour a day NOT improving, does it in turn make your remaining 23 hours far more miserable?

This doesn’t even need to be about lifting anymore: this is just about self-realization.  We have a finite amount of time in any day, and invest it how we see fit.  However, strategic investments pay off dividends, and vesting a small fraction of your life suffering may in turn make the remaining portion of your life blissful, whereas trying to schedule an hour of bliss a day in turn may make your 23 hours miserable.  It may initially appear that you are simply compounding suffering onto suffering, experiencing 23 hours of misery in life and then an hour of misery in training (WHATEVER that self-improvement may be), but you will observe that, in time, the balance shifts.  Soon one spends 22 hours being miserable existentially, 1 hour being miserable in training…and then a brief hour of joy.  And that hour becomes 2.  And soon the scales are tilted the other way.

Sometimes though, you can't wait for those scales to tip

I focus so much on the misery because it is NECESSARY to produce the results that CREATE happiness.  Existential joy is not a given; it is earned, it is earned by toiling away under miserable conditions to become what one wishes to be.  And as joy increases, so must misery in scale, so that one can overcome to greater degrees and become something greater by extension.  It’s about taking that 1 hour and making it worth it: not wasting it “escaping” from oneself, but compounding 23 hours worth of suffering into a 1 hour slot to experience a remaining 23 hours of joy by contrast.

I attended a seminar by Bill Kazmaier where, on discussing other strongman athletes, he stated that he legitimately felt sorry for athletes that had a normal, well adjusted homelife and childhood, because they were at a serious disadvantage when it came to succeeding in strength sports.  And keep in mind, Bill believed (with good reason) he was the strongest man to ever live.  He got to experience that 24 hours of existential joy, by realizing himself as exactly who he wanted to be, and it simply necessitated some front end suffering at the start of his life, and the necessary overcoming and adapting that came along with it.  Contrast that with the people that grow up well off, have normal, well adjusted lives, and exist in a state of existential nausea, never realizing their potential and experiencing the necessary anxiety of never becoming what they wanted to be.  In their attempt to experience comfort and joy for all 24 hours and spend no time whatsoever in suffering, they instead suffer for all 24 hours as a result of never becoming what they wanted to be.  To steal from Kierkegaard, they suffer the despair of not knowing that they are IN despair, because they refuse to experience despair.

This is what someone not knowing they are in despair looks like

I write about misery and suffering because that is what is necessary to produce happiness.  Don’t confuse my focus on the topic to mean I am in turn miserable and that I suffer, for I am instead as joyous as I can be.  And I am joyous BECAUSE I experience this suffering.      

GET UNCOMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

I understand that, with my normal approach to blogging being that I write everything all in one shot and never go back to proofread it that my regular readers most likely believe that I made a typo in the topic title, but let me assure you I DO in fact mean “get uncomfortable being uncomfortable.”  And haven’t I said explicitly in other topics exactly the opposite: to get comfortable being uncomfortable?  Yes, this is true, but this needs to be addressed.  “Get comfortable being uncomfortable” is a call to people to step out of their comfort zones and go do something that makes them uncomfortable, and to keep doing it to the point that it becomes your norm.  It asks you to exist in discomfort so much that you are comfortable with it.  However, I ask you to get UNCOMFORTABLE being uncomfortable, for I am telling you that you need to keep pushing the envelope to the point that you CAN’T get comfortable.

Reminder: Flutter kicks suck BEFORE you try to do them on the surf

That’s dizzying isn’t it?  Here is what it boils down to.  Discomfort is alien to most people, as humans instinctively seek comfort whenever possible.  When it is cold, we seek warmth, and when we are hungry, we seek food.  However, we seek enough to create equilibrium and homeostasis.  We don’t sit on a stove to get warm from the winter, but seek gradual heat.  We don’t eat to the point of vomiting, but eat until satiated.  The course correction we seek is moderate to battle extremes. 

Once we introduce the concept of seeking discomfort, we find it takes little to exceed the happy medium of comfort.  Setting the heat in the house to 70 in the winter is comfortable, 80 becomes uncomfortable.  The same becomes true of exercise.  Going on a walk is comfortable, making it a jog is uncomfortable, making it a run more uncomfortable, making it a sprint VERY uncomfortable.  The issue here becomes that, once people start to practice being uncomfortable, they become “comfortable at being uncomfortable” because they simply never take the discomfort to the next necessary step.  They go from walking to jogging, experience that discomfort, master it, and then never move on.  Yes, they have become “comfortable being uncomfortable”…but not by much.

IS THIS WHAT DANTE WROTE ABOUT?!

I state again that one should get UNCOMFORTABLE being uncomfortable.  They should be seeking the next necessary step in discomfort, finding no comfort in BEING comfortable, as it is the path to complacency, which is the path to stagnation, which is the path to regression, which is the path to weakness.  One needs to continue to push themselves to the point that they never get to experience the comfort that comes with adaptation, as this is simply an indication that they have rested instead of pursued something greater.  This is the “Will to Power” compelling one to continually find greater and greater discomfort to encounter, experience, and overcome on the way to the next bit of discomfort.

And why should one BE uncomfortable?  Because it is discomfort that promotes growth!  It promotes action!  When one sits on an unlit stove, one remains still.  When the stove is lit, one moves, because one is uncomfortable, and is driven by the human instinct to seek comfort by escaping the discomfort.  Put yourself in these uncomfortable situations and watch what your brain and body do to try to seek comfort.  Unrack the bar, have your training partner take off the j-hooks and agree that you only get them back after 20 reps, and observe your body perform these reps as powerfully as possible in pursuit of eventually discovering comfort again.  Walk your keg 400m away from its home and observe your body carry it back against all odds.  Push the volume and the food to the point of discomfort and observe your body add muscle in forced adaptation in HOPES that this will stem the discomfort.  Push the intensity and reduce the food and watch the body strip away fat in hopes of reducing metabolic demands.  Be uncomfortable and watch action occur!

I am uncomfortable with how often I use this photo

You shouldn’t be comfortable when you are uncomfortable; you should still strive for that feeling of discomfort in your pursuit of progress.  That same uncomfortable feeling you felt the first time should be the sensation you continue to feel, and this means you have to increase the intensity of your activity to match your growing tolerance for discomfort.  Like a junkie getting a fix, you gotta keep upping the dose to overcome your own inherent tolerance.  Your body craves homeostasis, and if push comes to shove it will simply recalibrate itself to accept a new baseline of misery so that it CAN be comfortable being uncomfortable, and that is why it becomes incumbent upon you, the owner of the body, to continue to push well beyond the acceptable levels of discomfort.  Why?  To continue to force the body to move, act and adapt in hopes of doing something to mitigate this discomfort.

Being uncomfortable promotes action, so go get uncomfortable being uncomfortable.

ON “GARBAGE VOLUME”

Full Disclosure: This was original a response to a t-nation training log/forum that I’ve fleshed out a little bit for the purposes of the blog.

Hey let’s talk garbage volume why not?

I love the internet

I feel like an idea that either doesn’t get enough exposure, isn’t understood, or perhaps isn’t appreciated is the ability to perform UNDER fatigue. I believe this notion resonates with me due to a combat sports background, and you’ll most likely see that with others with similar backgrounds.  It’s also a similar principle in the world of armed combatives, recognizing the difference between firing off a round when you are well rested vs trying to fire when your hands are shaking and you’re gasping for air.  That’s why those folks in the biathlon are nuts.

It is absolutely true that fatiguing yourself in training prevents maximal performance. If you are super/giant setting between sets of heavy work, you will NOT be able to lift as much weight compared to if you did your sets and rested. And resting LONGER is better than resting shorter, for the sake of full recovery.  And it’s also true that, if you want to get better at moving maximal weight for a single rep, you NEED to accumulate a decent amount of time practicing lifts at close to your max weight.

Especially true for highly technical moves

However, one has to ask: are we TRAINING, or are we practicing? This is a clear distinction that MUST be made prior to performing/analyzing training, because it significantly dictates the approach necessary.

If one’s goal is to lift maximal weight for a single rep, it is IMPERATIVE that they practice, and when one practices, they must practice PERFECTLY. This means long rest periods and no-fatigue, so that maximal performance can be achieved and replicated.  If you practice poor form due to fatigue, you will replicate poor form when the time comes to attempt to produce good form under heavy load.

However, if one’s goal is to get stronger (not better), they may engage in TRAINING rather than practice. When one trains, their goal is not perfect practice, but to instead become stronger (or faster, or better conditioning, etc. Basically not better, but improved at attributes), and this means putting oneself in less than ideal situations so that adaptation can occur.  Confusion exists when it relates to lifting, because sometimes a movement that we would normally practice becomes a movement we employ in training, and in turn, the movement is executed differently for the sake of achieving different goals.

In the case of performance under fatigue, one intentionally induces fatigue so that one can, in turn, learn to perform under fatigue and adapt to that stimulus. In combat sports, this is a common practice, with many classes starting off with an exhaustive “warm up” so that students begin training fatigued and work from there. Keeping your hands up is easy when you’re fresh; it’s miserable after 200 push ups, but the student that can keep their hands up THEN can surely keep them up when they are fresh, and then some.

Alternatively, you can just not keep your hands up starting at round 1

The same holds true in athletic performance. Improving one’s ability to output strength under fatigue will improve one’s ability to output strength when NOT under fatigue. For some reason, the internet feels otherwise, claiming that it is IMPERATIVE for one to be at maximal ability to perform to obtain maximal gains (ie: pre-workout consumed, ideal time of the day, hearty meal beforehand, properly warmed up, ideal rest periods, etc), to the point that same trainees will simply NOT train if they are unable to create the most ideal training environment, believing that they are “wasting gains.”  However, a very rudimentary understanding of basic physical training reveals otherwise.

Say your max deadlift is 400lbs. Now, say I have you run a half mile and immediately deadlift afterwards. Say you can only pull 350lbs under that state of fatigue. Now what if we keep repeating this until you can eventually deadlift 400lbs under this state of fatigue. Would you reasonably believe that your 1rm on the deadlift did not improve during this time? Or do we understand that, the exhausted athlete that can match the fresh athlete will exceed him when both athletes are equally rested?

So what about garbage volume? In the context of fatigue generation, I think it does exactly what it needs to do: it fatigues the trainee. Throwing in garbage sets of rows, chins, pull aparts, squats, etc, prevents the trainee from getting adequate rest and forces them to train while not fully recovered SUCH THAT, when granted the opportunity to recover, they do better. That it can result in some additional volume accumulation, all the better, but in truth, for me at least, I see it as a chance to train being strong while tired.

And you don't even have to look this stupid!

In addition, one must recognize the periodized nature of training has an organic way of letting garbage volume in and out of training.  In the off season, this volume can flourish, and the trainee can add onto it to greater and greater degrees.  Paired with surplus calories, this allows a trainee to grow, get stronger, and accumulate a significant degree of fatigue.  Once a need arises in the trainee to be able to perform at their best, this garbage volume is reduced and eventually eliminated, GIVING the trainee that opportunity for more sessions of perfect practice and reducing the fatigue to the point that recovery can occur and, with it, significant growth.  In my own training, I find more and more ways to get in volume when given the opportunity, to include supet/giant sets and daily training on top of regular training such that, once a competition nears, I can reduce all of this and truly be toward my best when the time comes.