Hello Cube

As I head into my 4th year in strongman I am going to change my method of training.  I have spend the better half of two years training the Westside strength program.  For those that don't know much about the Westide program it is primarily a strength program for powerlifters but I did manage to tweak it so it fit with strongman.  I made great gains in the sport with Westside but I feel its time to switch it up.

Being that I am 44 years old and the demands of volume in the Westside program I felt I was a bit stagnet in my training and needed a change.
After researching a few methods I decided to move into the Cube for Strongman written by Josh Thigpen.  It basically has some of the same principles as Westide (speed days, max days and rep days) but it also includes agility training and conditioning.
This is my first week in the program and just one agility day under my belt I can already feel my body responding.  I think by the end of 4 weeks I am not only gonna feel stronger but a lot quicker and explosive.  Below is some of the things I have been doing in training this week.

Monday...speed squats and quad accessory work
Tuesday...agility and change of direction, used an agility ladder and did drills like I did when I played football in college over 20 years ago, yes 20 years, I am 44 now :(
Wednesday...overhead pressing for reps then tricep accessory work
Thursday...doubles and singles deadliftying anc accesory hamstring with some upper back work

Friday I will do some conditioning by running 60ft sprints and attack my core with some decline sit ups and 200 lbs plank holds

Saturday...event training with light weight working speed

What lies ahead for 13

I hope to not compete in as many strongman contests as I did last year but I said that a year ago and ended up competing in 6.  Next on the schedule will be California's Strongest in March.  I hope there is better weather this year.  I am pretty sure we are going back to an overhead medley, keg toss, stones, and the other events will be some moving events like a truck pull, tire flip, or farmers carry.

For this contest I have to work on a lot of explosive movements to succeed in the keg toss and my overhead has to continue to improve.  I have to do be able to barbell powerclean in the 250 range and axle clean in the 240 range for the overhead medley but if successful it will have great carry over into the keg toss as well.

Areas to improve over the next 52 weeks....

Stronger hamstrings
improve overhead
improve yoke runs
change my grip on sandbag carry....sounds petty but I discovered my technique sucks after watching my video from nationals in suicide medley and figured out how I want to change when I carried some trays at work filled with envelopes.  I need to carry the damn bag high up to my stomach and give my legs a chance to have full range of motion.  I was carrying the bag too low and wasnt giving my legs a chance to move very fast.

Feeling good minus some stiffness in the knee....

A few weeks before nats my knee was getting pretty stiff.  Ice has helped but seems when I bring attention to it like stretch or try and get full range of motion it wants to stiffen up.  I resumed training this week but I'm not calling it official until December 3rd.  I have done one lower body day but I layed off any quad work instead focusing on low back and hamstrings.  Maybe some speed deads wont bother it too much but I know once I go outside to train events or do some heavy push presses its gonna act up.  Hopefully by December 3rd its pain free.

2012 in the books

Third season of strongman is in the books.  

1.  Idaho...by Jay Hagadorn 

good take aways....425 deadlift for 12 reps

things I learned...all logs are different and there are a lot of variables when it comes to the log press at a contest

2...Calfornia's Strongest by Scott Brengel

what can I say..It poured rain and was miserable.  It felt like a crazy event training day in the rain.  Dont blame the promoter here.  He doesnt control the weather

3...Sin City III by Nick Best and Callie Marunde

good take aways...I got my first win in strongman

things I learned...you can overdrink on water and clean out your sodium.  While staying hydrated one must take in electrolytes, seems obvious dont it.  

4...Tehama's Strongest...by Troy Lalaguna

good take aways...hit a 220 log for 3 which was a pr.  refused to quit on the 800 lbs tire flip

things I learned...find the center of the axle bar, seems obvious but it cost me on the max axle deadlift.  Was still good enough for third place

5...North America's Strongest...by Dione Wessels

good take aways...pr'd on the yoke and pr'd stones

things I learned...know my limitations and have a better strategy in preparing for a contest

6....November to Remember...Scott Porter

good take aways....won the circus dumble press

things I learned...know exact specifics on the contest I am competing in and be picky when it comes to selecting a contest.

20 Days To Gooooo

My two not-so-serious goals I have left to accomplish for 2011 remain and I have just 20 days to accomplish them.  But knowing me I’m gonna %uss out and accomplish only one, well maybe.  But IDK I may have already accomplished one of them without realizing it. 

Not-so-serious goal number one is to do a back squat with at least 3 plates with a lit cigarette dangling from my lips.  That’s a pretty easy one, just need to go buy a pack of Marlboro Lite 100’s (the cig of choice when I do light one up) and some matches. 

Not-so-serious goal number two is to get kicked out of a fitness center or health club.  Well I think I actually accomplished that at a training facility in October when I was told “get all that shit out of here and take it outside, its not always about you Gary, your sport is an outdoor sport”.  As I replay that scene in my head a few times I think I’m gonna give myself the benefit of the doubt and say I accomplished my goal even though I didn’t intentionally mean to do so and was allowed to return. 

As 2012 approaches I need some new goals both serious and not-so-serious…Any ideas you have for not-so-serious are always appreciated as I will take care of my serious goals thank you very much!

Two Down Two To Go

At the start of the 2011 NAS season and for that matter the start of the New Year I had 4 goals I wanted to achieve.  Two were serious and the other two not so serious.  After four competitions completed thus far I have two of those goals met…nice thing is the serious ones are done and accomplished.  In case you forgot and I hope nobody remembered my goals were to qualify for both master nationals and open nationals this year. 

I qualified for master nats in early March at Jay Hagadorn’s Idaho’s Strongest Man.  And my open nats invite came once again at another Hagadorn show called Maximum Strength Challenge.  I must say I love the state of Idaho now. 

As far as the not so serious goals are I still have to get to work on that.  Again, in case you forgot and again I am sure you did or don’t care my goal is to do  a back squat with 3 wheels and a lit Marlboro lite 100 in my mouth.  The other is to get kicked out of a health club or fitness center place for being too destructive.  Think I’m gonna knock both out in one day.  Gonna get me a pack of smokes and head to planet fitness….

No More Slacking!!!

In December I committed myself to writing a blog and what turned out to be one of those lame ass new year’s resolutions here I set in mid April and haven’t wrote a blog since January.  Lame!!!  So I tell myself no more slacking!

February

What a garbage month for me as far as strongman goes.  I pulled a low back muscle that had me out for 10 days.  After working my way back I managed to have 2 ribs pop out which held me out another week.  After telling myself just to suck it up and deal with 2 ribs not in place I got the flu!!  Ugh!!!!  

March

I finally healed and competed in my first NAS competition in early March in Boise, ID. Well technically Meridian but its right next to Boise.  I did well and hit PR’s on the log and atlas stone.  I also qualified for master nationals for the second year in a row.  Master Nats will be held in Houston, TX this fall in conjunction with Texas Strongest Man competition.

My next show was back to where the whole strongman thing started one year ago.  Huntington Beach, CA was where my strongman virginity was taken and there I returned to show Southern Cal how much stronger I had gotten in over a year.  Never been more mentally ready for something in quite some time but unfortunately I performed terribly.  Very disappointed but the beat moves on. 

Hello Ryan Carey!!

After my disaster of a performance in Huntington I realized maybe my desire and drive doesn’t need tweaking; its how I train that does.  Problem solved…..so I stepped out of my box and hired Ryan Carey, a strongman competitor, as my personal trainer.  He lives in Fresno and we correspond via cell phone and email.  Been training under Ryan for 3 weeks and feeling stronger.

Next stop AZ and ID

I have two NAS comps in May.  Headed back to Sun Devil land in early May and back to Boise later in the month.

The Power of the Slap

I’m 6 weeks away from my first NAS competition of the 2011 season and I am proud to say I am have been slapped numerous times at my freak gym.  I say freak gym because it aint like no other place.  Call us what you want but you will never find a weight on the floor or weight left on a barbell or find a cleaner gym anywhere.  And it is a gym BTW, not a fitness center or health club.  So back to the slapping part…..last month I wrote a blog titled, “will you slap me.”.  Well I have had three people do the honor but only one truly enjoyed it and for that I have named him my “Slap Man”.  Kind of like how at a boxing match there is a “cut man” I guess the freak gym has its own “Slap Man” but better yet I have my own “Slap Man”.  In case you are wondering I prefer my slap to the face with the open hand and to my left cheek.  Today was a great example on how the slap worked.  I was doing axle cleans and as I was working my way up in weight warming up I missed on a rep of only 172 lbs.  Totally pathetic in my book so in disgust I kicked a bumper plate and screamed an expletive then walked over to my “slap man” and told him to let me have it.  Ah yes a nice crisp slap to the face is just what I got and I finished off my last warm up set with great intensity.  So next time you find yourself in need of some intensity I highly recommend you get in touch with your nearest slap man.