Irish Strength, the unorthodox strongman log

Alright, had a not so strong day today.

OHDBP

75x3/3

Decline Bench

135x10

185x5

225x3

250x3

250x3

225x3

Flat Bench-Wide grip

225x3(started normal grip but decided to go wide)

185x5

205x5

225x3

225x1 and 2 with the spotter holding the bar, probably had #2 alone but #3 was not going without a bunch of help.

Sternum pullups

BWx5

BW+10lbsx1 and 4 more where I was close but no cigar. I couldn't get all the way up for a sternum chin after that.

L-pullups

BWx5

BWx3(I'm not sure if I did 2 or 3 sets but the last one I definitely got only 3, these are TOUGH)

I then did some hanging leg raises from a 2" square bar and some dragon flag attempts. I am close to doing 2 full reps starting from the up position but I just couldn't get up from the bottom.

I'm actually getting a decent handstand but I'm walking all over the place to keep balanced and even then it's only for about 3-5 seconds(depending upon how long I decided to dance around).

BW Hangs

BWx60 seconds(tough since I've been working in the 45-50 second range. It feels as though working specifically in a set # of seconds makes me better up until that point, after that it becomes very painful.)

BWx30 on the chrome unknurled section

BWx25 " but this time with a thumbless grip

I tried some one arm hangs on the chrome section but couldn't hold on for more than 3ish seconds. By that time I realized my forearms were toast and I left.

BW Squatsx70,30

On the squats. I've been thinking these past few days about how I've decided to do 100 BW squats everyday until 100 squats is piss easy. Well, when I can finally do 100 squats in 1 session and not feel absolutely knocked out afterwards, I will begin adding weight. I'll start out small though. The first addition of weight being a 30lb hex blob I have that I will hold and I will squat with that 30lb weight until I can get 100 reps in a row without feeling absolutely knocked out afterwards. I've come up with this mainly because it's a pain to drive all the way out to my shop where my weights are racks are, it's 15 minutes away through some thick traffic on a good day and it's hard to fit it in with school and all. So I'll do this, adding 30ish lbs until I can do my BW for 100 reps straight. I remember the mighty Sarge, a friend and training partner of the late and incredibly great Jesse Marunde's, doing a 100 rep set with his BW. He actually used something 20ish lbs over his BW too.

I just did BW+32.5x100 straight reps. My legs don't feel that bad and the squats themselves were not difficult but it was far from painless. I will be doing BW+32.5x100 everyday until it is easy and painless. This is also the first time I have done 100 straight reps

Decided to go after some grippers for the first time in quite awhile. I closed my 2.82 RB210 for a few MMS singles, missed my RB260 by sub 1/4" and missed my 2.83 RB240(tougher sweep than the 210) by a hair. A couple singles with the 2.5 and a no set of my tough #2. All of that was righty. Lefty I had a deep negative with the RB260 and a few attempts at my RB210/2.5 and a handful of closes with my #2. I've become really weak on the close thanks to not training these for so long The sweep is feeling easier than ever though

Also tore a plastic coated deck(not Bees or Bikes, not woven) and it wasn't all that difficult. I just need to speed it up. Phonebook tearing is getting easier too. I just need to get some actual phonebooks and not these tall books I've been tearing. These tall books don't react like I want them too because I always end up tearing a corner off. With a regular phonebook, I can get a straighter tear with little chance of a corner rip.

Jim "Smitty" Smith of the Diesel Crew suggested/requested I get starting measurements for my thighs so I can(and so others can) gauge the possible benefit in size, if any, from my hundred rep goal. Here it is: ~23.5"

I did 100 squats while holding a 50lb blob. I had a 10 second water break between reps 65 and 66, so they weren't 100 straight reps, but once 66 started I didn't put the weight down until 100 reps were done. I believe the total time for the 100 reps was less than 6 minutes.

Just did 100 BW squats with no added weight. These are getting much easier. I think I'm going to "deload" this next week since I have a grip comp next Saturday and don't want a spent CNS. I wont be doing weighted squats until after next Saturday, but I will continue with the 100 straight BW squats every day all the way through.

I just did 100 BW squats again. I'll tell you what. My legs are fatigued from the squats just now, but I could get up and do it again right now. That's not just because I'm feeling strong, but because my legs are already getting used to it. I'm thinking right now that I wont be squatting next Wednesday through Saturday since BBB4 is next Saturday and I want to regain some energy. 100 BW squats is far far from a mental challenge as it was only 1 week ago and is barely feeling like a physical challenge right now. Weight will be added after BBB4.

I took down a slightly under 6" Stainless F593C "THE" bolt pretty easily and decently off center. I've been working with these bolts ever since I bent my first Bastard and have several pieces stuck still. My first attempt at one a year ago netted me 3.5" and my second piece a few months later got me 3". When I started bending these 515 bastards I attempted another and got it stuck at 2 3/8. I finished off that 2 3/8 piece a few weeks ago and now I finished this one in one session. Harder than any Non-515 Huge bastard. I've never felt much spring in these bolts, they're just STIFF.

After that I went after another 7"x.339 0-1 piece and got it stuck in the same place as the last 2 I attempted, just outside actually. I figured that it's been far too long since I had my last victory with this stuff and my PR bend with it was 7.5". So I cut a 7 3/8 piece and managed to finish it off in sub 3 minutes.

Just took down a 7 1/4"x.339 0-1 piece. It's my best bend to date by 1/8". I'm happy with it but the 7" still evades me. My crush pads are starting to get holes in them. I'm all for toughness but damn... they hurt This will probably be my last bend before BBB4.

Just had my last workout before BBB4. It was a bench day.

OHDBPress

75x3/3

Flat Bench

185x5

225x3

245x2(PR)

260x1(very ugly but up it went)

Decline Bench

275x1(maaaaaaybe 1, spotter may have touched it but swears he didn't. He also thinks grazing the bar doesn't count and I do, so if he grazed it, I don't count it)

Flat again

245x1(another ugly one but it went)

Flat Bench(Wide grip)

225x5

225x3

205x5(close grip)

Decline again

205x5-6(Can't remember)

225x5

Wide grip Sternum Pullups

BWx5

BWx2

BWx3

Sternum Chinups

BW+10x5 Slow reps

Towel Assisted OAC

BWx3/3

BWx3/3

BWx3/3

Did 100 BW squats again and this time I barely broke a sweat. A side effect that, in retrospect, I knew would happen but didn't think about beforehand was my body would be weakened pretty good after 100 BW squats a day. Especially when my body wasn't used to that kind of work. Well, my grandma had a very slight cold and guess what? I caught the tail end of it. My nose has been stuffy since Monday and my throat was somewhat sore Sun-Mon. It's clearing up now and I expect to feel good by BBB4 :rock

Anyway, like I said, I did 100 BW squats tonight and then some stretches. I'm getting pretty darned close to a full split and my hamstrings have loosened up IMMENSELY in the past few months here.

I'm thinking that I will start off with a 10x10 squat workout with 135 sometime next week. Probably Friday. From there, I will go with Henrik's(yodajeager) suggestion of working toward 5x20, then 4x25, then 3x33+1, then 2x50. By the time I get to 2x50 with only a few minutes rest between I will up the weight to 200 and start over. This wont be a weekly thing either. I'll be doing these squat workouts every other week or even less frequently and I will still focus on working up slowly with 20-30lb jumps ontop of my now PR of 50lbsx100 reps.

Had a pinch workout today. Expect to see many more of them in the very near future. I don't feel sore from anything yesterday except the Hercules Hold. My hands are fine, my wrists are fine. Only my biceps and brachioradialis are sore. Shoulders are fine, strong in fact. I can that with certainty after my pinch workout from today because the only thing lighter than normal was my 2HPing.

I had a bunch of lifts and passes with 4 tens. I can now clean 4 10's with 2 fingers. I had a number of lifts and holds with 5 10's+Aluminum bar and several getting 4"+ of air. On 2HP I worked up to 110 and did several singles there and worked back down to 90 and did a few holds. Some one finger lifting with 3 10's, one finger cleans and passes. I lifted the 32.5 blob a few times and hopped the 40 as always. I cannot toss and catch the 32.5 but I can do quick passes with it and did just that. I went on to 30 deadlifts with my Blob 50 using both hands and an underhand grip.

Derek, you beat me thanks to your pinch and John's mysterious decision to score the bending all funky(mostly the pinch though). It wont happen again :devil

Adam Glass has given me yet another way to train for my 100 rep squat goal. It is not as high a volume thing and takes into account more rest but seems very effective. I will be adding his idea into my squats in some way soon.

I just wrapped up a 420 Grand Bastard and took it to 2 1/8 in easily 2 minutes. That final part of the crush took me another 5ish minutes so it wasn't a legal bend but I'm not used to this short stock. I had to measure the gap with my calipers and the biggest # I could get was 1.967" between the legs. It's also about 1/4" off center. Fun fun fun!

Had a bench day today.

OHDBPress

75x3/3

Flat

225x3

Decline

185x5

225x3

245x3

265x3(PR)

255x3

235x3

215x3

Flat Bench with Wide grip

205x3

205x3

Decided to have some fun and show off for once. I haven't done anything for my back in so long so I decided to do some rack lockouts from the knee.

270x10

340x5

410x3

460x3

510x1(PR)

BWx3 Sternum chins and a 2 more sets of 3 at BW.

Also did some hub pinches earlier. Worked up to 42.5 on my good 25 both hands and several lifts at 40.

It appears I didn't post the results of the BBB4 grip competition here. No matter, I came in 13th out of 15 despite what I consider a good performance. The scoring system and promoter's last minute decisions really hurt me in the overall. Bottom line though, I just need to get stronger.

Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap. My shoulders, specifically my traps, are completely blasted. My lats and lower back aren't much better. God I love heavy pulling!!! Anyway, the sore shoulders and back made for an interesting bending session today. I went after quite a few things but my crush just wasnt there today, probably because I'm still a little fatigued from BBB, my bench workout and the heavy pulls. Here's the damage:

5/16x5 3/4" F593C Stainless bolt to ~4" -I literally just gave up on the crush once it got hard. These bolts don't so much spring back as they do just stiffen up. There is some spring but it's very much like tool steel where it just binds up.

Took the 7.5" Edgin stuck at 35ish degrees to about 90-100 degrees. Either I'm more pooped than I realize, or the Edgins at the BBB really were 540's because this one was much more difficult than the 7" I bent on my first attempt. I went after the crush for a few minutes but it was not to be today.

Wrapped up another 11/32x8" 0-1 piece and put yet another good bow in it. More of a bow than last time, but still only a bow. I'm getting dangerously close to fully kinking it. This stuff is MEAN. I can only bow an 8" piece where Chad can fully kink .375 0-1 and only warp the 7" G8 so I don't think I'll bother wrapping up a G8 when I get them on Thursday. I'll wait until I can destroy the 11/32 0-1.

Had another impromptu bending session today. I decided to go after some the Brutal hex I wobbled a few weeks ago. It went... easy 8) I crushed it to 1 1/4" and went after a 3/8x8 BXC bolt after that. I only managed to warp it more than I had before but now you can actually tell I've attempted it. Probably a 4-5 penny kink. The BXC bolts cal'd at 535 I think on Eric's chart. It's just that getting that much more steel started is tough. So I failed on that one, so I went after another, rustier brutal hex. This one went much slower and was certainly outside of 5 minutes but it went down. That one sits at a bit less than 1.5" now.

Did my first weighted squat workout towards my 1.00x10^2 Rep BW squat goal.

Afte the first "warm up" set with 135, my brother and I decided to stick with this. No need to jump in all hasty like we actually know what we're doing when we don't. Best to work into it slowly. This was a very leasurly pace, not super intense and the sub 200lb weights went up easy all the way through.

135x10

135x10

135x10

135x10

135x10

135x10

135x10

135x10

135x10

185x10(Went to BW for the last set)

225x3

225x3

225x3

225x3

225x3

My legs don't feel bad actually!... right now. I know the current feeling in them well enough now to know I'll be aching Monday and hurting Tuesday.

My big bro actually held his own and did this all the way through with me. Same weights until we went for the 5x3 sets. His first set was 235x3 and he decided that was just a tad too heavy. 225x5x3 was a fight for the both of us.

My brother and I ironed out what I think is a solid plan. It goes like this...

Week 1- 10x10 @ 135

Week 2- 5x20 @ 115

Week 3- 4x25 @ 95

Week 4- 3x33 @ 75 (We'll throw in an extra rep somewhere)

Week 5- 2x50 @ 55

Week 6- 1x100 @ 45

Then we will start over at 145(adding 10lbs at the top) and drop 20lbs off each week. Then we'll start over at 155x10x10. We may feel good enough to go up 20lbs each cycle for the 10x10's, that remains to be seen. We will both continue this plan until we are up to my bro's BW(which should drop considerably by my BWx100 is reached) and we will both do that. That means I may, many months from now, be squatting 225x100 @ a BW of 185-195.

We will continue with a few extra sets after the bulk of the workout posted above. The extra work will get heavier and heavier as the Week # increases. 1x100 @ 45 wont be a challenge for either of us at that time, it's not much of a challenge for me now.

If I calculated this out right, we should reach 185 in the 6th week in 84 weeks and my bro's current BW of 230 in 108 weeks. We may feel strong enough at times to skip a cycle and add 20lbs as I said, or even 30lbs to the top. By the time we reach 1x100 @ 185 our 10x10 will be with 275, and when 1x100 is at 230, our 10x10's will be with 315.

Should be fun

Press day. I mocked up a 4 board setup and started playing around with that too. I like it but it'll take some getting used to.

Flat Bench

135x10

185x5

225x3

4 Board press

275x3

295x2

Flat bench

225x3

225x3

225x3

4 Board press

285x1(accident, unevenly loaded bar)

295x0(freaky to fail with 4 boards and the weight)

275x5

250x5

Flat Bench

255x1(just eeked this one out, but my PB is 260 so I was happy with this after all the other work)

Decline bench

225x5

245x3

275x0(felt strong until 1" off the chest where it just sat down)

I'll be dropping to 3 boards next week.

Experimented with the narrow grip palms turned away pullups and found they are easier for me than wide grip, but it's harder to get your chin over the bar as I will require at my contest. I think I'll allow it, so long as the palms are turned away from the competitor.

Wide grip chins Palms turned away

BW+25x3

BW+25x3

BW+25x3

BW+25x3

BW+25x3

BW+35x2

Palms facing me chins

BW+35x2 slow reps, was too heavy today

Assisted OAP

BWx3/3

BWx3/3

Assisted OAC

BWx3/3

BWx3/3

All assisted OA pullups/chins were done with the assisting arm about 8"-12" on a towel below the bar.

Alright, had a decent blob session. I did another 30 2H deadlifts with the Blob50 and I felt noticeably stronger with it. I was actually able to hold onto the damned thing for 5 chainsaw reps this time. I did a bunch of lifts, full hand, 2 finger and 3 finger deads with the 32.5 and some passes. I got my thin 45 hex off the ground a few times, PR there. I did a few one finger assisted high pulls with the 45 hex and the 40 blob. I've started doing something that I think may help me out in blockweight training. I'm putting the goal blob on a scale, it's a crappy scale and it's on carpet(says the 50 weighs 63 and the 40 weighs 55), but it lets me know when I'm putting my best effort into the blob. I can consistently get down to 5lb's away from getting the 40 blob off the scale. I've hopped the 40 before, just enough for it to tap the floor letting me know it broke from the floor. I'm just not strong enough.

Curse these wussy thumbs!!!

O M friggin G. I did 135x5x20 today. I was fine at the end of the fourth set but come the end of the 5th set I honestly was fighting back vomit. I hadn't eaten anything all day except an english muffin+egg. I never considered myself a masochist but after today, I don't think I can say I'm not. Not in the wierd way of course( :laugh ), but after the squats I went home(the 10min drive was TERRIBLE, fighting vomit, fighting to hold in poo, fighting to stay awake) and layed down until I felt better. Only took about 20 minutes before I was up and running around again. Now I am ready and raring to go for some more squats and a deadlift session but I think I will hold off and do some 50kg KB work on Wednesday.

All I did was:

135x20

135x20

135x20

135x20

135x20

It was hard.

I'm getting close to a pretty handstand. I don't actually spend as much time upside down as I should but I'm getting better nonetheless. I get up into proper position but I end up correcting myself by walking around on my hands. I'm doing it less and less and holding it for longer and longer so progress is being made. I'm super super super close to a full side split, at least getting myself into that position anyway. It'll be a few weeks before I can go that wide without the huge warmup I usually do.

Bench day

Flat Bench

225x3

255x1

275x0

265x0

3 board press

275x2

265x2(failed on 3rd rep)

265x2

Flat Bench

245x2

245x2

Decline Bench

275x1(had a perfect setup, otherwise this one would not have gone)

245x3

225x9

Did a bunch of pullups and 3 sternum chins. Wasn't really feeling any pulling movements today. I'm getting close to that 275 bench and I'm positive I can get it from 1 board fresh. I feel strong all the way down but I can actually feel that just as the bar comes to my chest, it goes out of range of what I can press. The 265 went up an 1" or so. Doing such intense squatting is really sapping my performance on everything else right now, doing those squats the day before my bench day doesn't help. It took some psych up to get through the 135x5x20 as fast as I did yesterday so I'm feeling the effects of that today.

Had the squat session today!!! Wasn't all that bad and we stopped squatting and did some pulls afterward, not the best idea as we were fatigued. The decreasing weight and decreasing # of sets is treating us very well. The weight is a good challenge to us right now and matches the # of reps almost perfectly.

Squats

115x25

115x25

115x25

115x25

I'd go so far as to call that session "easy".

Deadlifts

135x2

225x2

315x2

405x1

405x1

425x0

355x1

2 400lb pulls in one session is good for me, I still want to start working with these more, but not full pulls. Maybe start working with rows, platform deads, rack pulls, etc. The squat goal will take a lot out of me for awhile.

Just took down a 304 Huge Shiny in about 7-8 minutes. It was to 2 3/4 in 7 seconds for sure(I was timing) and the rest went as fast as I could have expected from there. It really only took 3 or 4 hits but I had some isos where my crappy crush pads started sliding off the bar or my left palm hurt too bad to continue the push(me=wimp). Anyway, I'm not all that far from a Huge Shiny I wouldn't think, at least once I get a few more of these Huge 304 Shinys under my belt.

Had a press day. Was rushed today and very distracted but still managed to get a good 1/2-3/4 hr workout in.

Flat bench

135x10

225x1

245x1

270x0

245x1

Decline bench

245x3

225x5

2 DB OHP(almost all of these were done with absolutely no leg drive)

50'sx5

60'sx3

70'sx2

75'sx0

65'sx3

60'sx3

70'sx1

Wide grip sternum pullups

BWx5

BWx4

BWx3

Wide grip pullups

BWx5

Wide grip assisted OAP on a 2" Sq. bar(palm turned away)

BWx3/3

BWx3/3

Chin ups(palms facing me)

BWx5

BWx5

Had another squat day today.

Front Squats

95x34

Back Squats

95x33

95x33

Threw in some full swings with my 50kg bell. Nothing major and no real sets.