Update

Hey again everyone, a new blog update is due I think. 

Now we're gonna start off with some bad news, in that I've had to drop from my first comp. It was a challenging novice comp  already, but with the event changes and weight increases, it's a little beyond my grasp. I'd rather not waste mine and everybody else's time by driving 110+ miles to no rep each event. It's not that I I'll suck; I knew that from the start, but going there to essentially spectate isn't exactly my ideal plan for my first comp.

The good news is I'm all paid and ready for the next one, the Newark charity comp in July. These weights are challenging yet still fun, and while I'll still probably be in the lower placings, it'll be cos the other guys are better, not from my colossal shitness. The events are as follows:

85kg log for reps 

180 deadlifts for reps (head 2 head)- staps allowed

250kg yoke over 20 metres 

80kg sand bag carry for 20m followed by a van drag for 20m

100k farmers walk 40m

Now minus the 250kg yoke, I'm fairly confident I can rep/complete the course. My placing in each event will no doubt be terrible but again it won't be from a no-contest so it'll be fun. I've moved a 220kg yoke for 40m very slowly with pauses (on my first training sesh) so we'll just see how that goes on the day. I'm completely out of event training sessions now uni is over, so I've literally just got gym training on my side. Still, overall I'm pretty psyched for this and I look forward to competing. It's only in Newark and it's all for the Headstart4Babies charity so if you're free on the day, feel free to pop along and throw a few quid in the bucket.

As far as training goes, my gym lifts have been improving a ton. I've hit a 240kg deadlift (albeit with straps) and a 200kg squat within the same week, which totally made my day with all these exams around at the moment. My bench is still pretty weak but I'm hoping to bump that up over summer with a lot of assistance work even on leg days. It's a serious weakness of mine and it crosses over to my arms which again need work so it's all good. 

Event training has gone really well lately too. I still totally suck at axles but I've had a ton of advice from friends which I'll put in to practice after the summer. Luckily there's no axle in any upcoming comps this season so I'm safe. As far as stones go, I found using tacky really bloody useful (duh), and I was loading 105kg for reps fairly easily. I didn't try the 120kg properly but I think with a bit of technique work, I've got the strength to get it up. I also had a few goes with the circus dumbbells again and got 51kg up first try to my surprise, but still failed 57kg. I've got the strength for it, but my technique is shocking. Maybe next time.

And now onto my nice new toys. I've had em a while but I thought I'd dedicate a slot in this brag about to my new stuff. Since easter holidays, I've acquired

StrengthShop resistance band set (2x No.2, 3 and 4)

Strengthshop lever belt

Rehband compression shorts

Rehband neoprene back support

Spidertack competition grade tacky

Atlasstones.co.uk custom wrist straps

Risto White Thunder weightlifting shoes

A combination of a generous student loan, having a lovely mummy and getting free stuff from jt's means this term I've had a ton of new stuff to play with and increase my performance in all areas.

Anyway, that's about it. I should probably be revising for Ionisation Radiation but I really can't be arsed. Will probably go and play Diablo for a bit. Yeah, my life has become eat, sleep, train and Diablo. Epic life.

It's been a while...

Hey everyone, it's been while I know but I've been swamped with gym training, event training, Peggle and unfortunately my second year exam period. Good news, however, is that I've finally got some decent videos up from The Cauldron and The Warehouse. I've been working really hard to perfect the technique of the events due in upcoming comps, and with the help of former 105 England's Strongest Man, I've had mountains of advice passed on to help me improve even faster.

I'll be the World's Strongest Peggle Champion too.

Now sadly, my first ever comp has had some changes since I last started yelling about it. The 100kg log is now a 100kg axle. No biggy... except for the past 4 weeks of log training. I whinge, but it obviously has a ton of cross over and last week I pretty much had it sorted, so I'm not really fussed to be honest. The annoying thing is that the already significantly heavy novice comp had it's weights bumped up by 10kg. That includes the farmers and all 5 stones, meaning the last stone is 130kg. Now considering I can barely get the 105kg up, I'm definitely buggered.

But anyway, some training videos!

The Warehouse is a bitchin' gym in Leicester with a huge array of tasty things to play around on.  One of those being a car deadlift frame. And a car.

Now I'm not too sure on the weight but I highly doubt it's the same 220kg in the handles as I have coming up in Dartford. Either way, you can see that I eventually figure out the tekkers and get it rolling by the end. I also got a little carried away and forgot about my belt, but I'm not sure if that was a bad thing or not. I could breath easily and in actual fact I ended up essentially half squatting the car rather than deadlifting it. Perhaps that's the way to go...

Next up was the log, which I've now totally changed since the technique seen in the video.

As you can see, I literally push up with my (stupidly wide stanced) legs and finally push solely through with my triceps. While that's great, a friend of mine (ProjectGoliath) mentioned that I should try 'double dipping'; That is dipping once again instantly after the initial push. This allows me to lock my arms first and then push up with my legs. After all, a 90kg squat is far easier than a 90kg strict press. Since then, I've hit a 90kg axle overhead with relative ease, so it's definitely working.

Next up was another event I was unsure of, but things turned out really well. The arm-over-arm sled pull.

No I'm not constipated, that's my incredibly gay 'war cry' for pulling along a 250kg tire, 160kg sled and a 85kg spence trying his best not to fall off. It's disgustingly difficult, but this was at the very end of the session and my hands were hurting so bad that they went numb, allowing me to pull this hunk-o-junk, albeit fairly slowly. I can't imagine the up and coming van pull will be this difficult as once the initial weight has been moved, I'll have the inertia of the car rolling to help me out (yeah physics!).

Finally (well, there's more vids but you don't need a description on all of 'em), there was the farmers walk. Now being obviously blind to anything relatively easy, all I could see laying around the gym were shitty little handles or thick axle-style handles. Seeing as I fancied keeping my palms, I opted for the thick handles and proceeded to look like a bulldog licking piss off a stinging nettle. You'll see.

 

It's not even a full 20m, I could barely get my hands round the thing initially and started like 3m past the starting line. Even then, I finished 2m before the end so all in all I managed a measly 15m. I severely disagree with thick handles, especially 100kg in each hand. Saying that though, it was obviously a wicked grip workout and although I've got 20kg more in the upcoming comp, I can't see my grip failing on regular handles.

That's pretty much it for now guys, check back in this week or the next for some Cauldron videos, I've got an early morning sesh tomorrow and hopefully another Warehouse visit in the week too. If you want more videos (and there're a few of my training partners too), obviously just browse my channel and watch us attempt strongman.

Will probably end up working for the rural RAC.