Vegripper's Training Log

[VeGripper]

Missed a few workouts to report, but as a condensed version....

1. Squat day last Friday, didn't go so well, blew out my pants on a set with 425 and never felt the same afterward Nothing else eventful that day.

2. Log work in my backyard on Sunday, worked the following sets:

1x10 empty log (90 lbs)

1x10 @ 140

1x8 @ 170

1x5 @ 190

1x2 @ 200

1x1 @ 210

1x1 @ 220

1x1 @ 230

5x3 @ 190

Tried some log rowing, did 3 sets:

1x10 @ 190

1x10 @ 200

1x10 @ 210

Would set the log down on the ground with each rep and start fresh, but the lean out since the log was far out from my body put some stress on the lower back that hurt so I decided that these weren't the best idea and cut them a few sets short.

3. Monday, did bending. Went for a G5 volume day and came close to the goal. Made the following bends in order:

3 IM Blues

2 pieces of 5.5" x 1/4" FB round stock

5 6" x 1/4" G5

4 5.5" x 1x4" G5

Wanted to get one more 5.5" G5 to make 10, but I was cashed in after the 9th. The first 8 were done in around 15 minutes total, but the last one was done about 30 minutes later after a short break. Attempted the 10th bold about an hour after the 9th, but it just didn't go too far and I was done for. Fingers couldn't hold the bar steady for the DU kink at the end, and that means it was all going downhill fast. Still, almost reached my goal, and where only a month ago 3 G5s would wear me out, I've tripled my endurance with them.

Won't bend again until Sunday when I head to Illinois to learn some tricks of the trade from Gamidon, so plenty of time to let the hands and wrists heal up.

Tonight I'm planning on meeting with a friend and finally trying out my Brute Strength yoke and doing some car pulling with the IM harness and a V handle, so providing he doesn't back out and leave me without a person to commandeer the vehicle it should be fun. I'll be back soon afterward!

[VeGripper]

Headed to Gamidon's place yesterday for some grip work and met with Greg, Ryan Mateja and Paul (can't remember your last name, Paul - sorry!) and had a blast destroying myself. A quick rundown, and I may have something out of order here but it should be close to the actual run of events:

When I first got there, they were all working on some scrolling, so I joined in and had some fun with it. Worked on 2 pieces, and already I was sweating buckets in the first 10 minutes.

Next, the horseshoes were pulled out and Greg took the time to teach us proper technique for bending them. He makes them open up like butter, while the rest of us are struggling to get them started. I managed to get the easiest one of the bunch he had (with a huge battle to get it!), but there was no way I was getting beyond that one without a lot more practice. Fun stuff, for sure!

Third in the lineup was short bar bending. I needed to get some technique coaching, and Greg really stuck it to me to bend like never before. His "tough love" approach was what I needed for identifying my weaknesses, and it helped out a lot. First, he pre-kinked some 6" Grade 8 bolts and had me finish them off first, then after 3 of those I gave one go for the full way and killed it off with good speed and less work than I'd imagined. After hearing that any "unfinished business" with bending must be worn around the neck on a pink string for the day I figured that it would be best to make sure I did the bolt up right

Following this, Greg then proceeded to pre-kink some IronMind Red Nails to varying degrees for me to work on so that I could feel them out for the final crush. Definitely not easy by any stretch, but I managed to do all 4 of them, going backward from an 80 degree bend to about 40 degrees. This definitely helped build up my confidence, so once I've had a few weeks to master the G8 bolts I'll be giving my first official attempt at the Red Nail on my birthday on May 1st!

Next we did some gripper work, but not extremely seriously. I worked on one of their new hard COC#3 grippers and got about 1/2" or so from it, which was closer than expected since my hands were already fried. Played with the HG400 gripper a bit as well, but after the first 2-3 squeezes my steam was fading fast.

Last was some pinch work on the blobs, with the best for me being the 42.5 lb. block for a few seconds hold with each hand. Wrapped up with a few lifts on Greg's Inch dumbbell trainer (130ish in weight, about a 2.3" or so thick handle) and pulled it to waist height twice with each hand. Did a few more attempts, but none were good after the first few that were successful. After that, I couldn't even hold a pencil and it was time to head home, making the 90 minute drive back again.

It was great to finally meet some people from the board and get a lot of added motivation (not to mention get my feet wet with scrolling and horseshoe bending!) and I hope to make it out for a future gathering again. Thanks much once more to Greg and his family for being the gracious hosts for the day, and once these damned blisters heal I'm taking out 3 G8s in one session!

VeGripper

[gamidon]

Ryan,

It was great having you down. I hope you get yourself some additional felxibility and start killing the reds.... I am sure you got it in ya..

Greg

[VeGripper]

Greg,

There's no doubt in my mind that the reds will go down, the only question is, how soon it will be before I'm ready. I'm aiming for my first attempt in 2.5 weeks, so I've got a few sessions to work on those G8s and 1/4" square before I go all-out on it! You definitely motivated me to really go after them and to work on my DO technique, so once I get past the flexibility issue it'll be good as gold. Until then, I've just got to be sure I mangle them well enough with the DU from the start so that the rest is no problem!

Today was squat day, and it sure as hell kicked me in the ass well enough!

The only squat rack was occupied when I first got there, so I did a few sets of 1-arm standing DB presses to pass the time (shoulders were still sore from Sunday's workout of bending stuff!)

1x10 each arm @ 65

1x8 " " @ 85

1x6 " " @ 105 (slight push on the last few reps)

Next, went with good 'ol standard squats and went as follows:

1x8 @ 135

1x5 @ 225

1x3 with pause on pins rock bottom each rep @ 315

2x1 @ 405

1x1 @ 455

Smoked the 455 like it was nothing, so I convinced myself it was time to start going heavier again. Loaded up to 480 to set a 5 lb. PR and just couldn't get it on 2 tries. First one was a bad setup, 2nd one was just distraction and mental weakness that prevented me from it. There's no way adding a measly 25 lbs. should have flattened me, so I did a death set at the end to punish myself. Dropped to 315 again, aiming to get over 12 in one set which was my previous best for reps in a single set. Made 14, tried with everything I had to get to 15 but I collapsed and had to lay on the ground for a few minutes. Oh well, still added 2 reps to the count, could have done more if I hadn't gone heavier first!

Finally, too beat to do much more, I went for a 20 rep set of stiff legged DLs with 250. Not extremely heavy, but it was enough to be a hell of a struggle after the first 15, and when I was finally done I fell over and spent some more time on the floor. The whole trip home was done light-headed and shaking, as this workout kicked my ass enough to leave me with nothing to give.

No idea if there'll be some lifting tomorrow or not, but I may toss in my once-monthly chest workout if the palm can stand the pressure from the bar on it. If not, 2 days off then it'll be log pressing and rowing in the old backyard. Back once the next workout is complete!

VeGripper

[mossman]

wow.,...thats a sick combo with the squats and stiff leg deads man......have to try that sometime.....by the way, i just want to add that im jealous, because you got a firsthand bending tutorial from a demi god in human form.....plus you learned how to bend a horseshoe, damn! wish i could learn the tech...nice work man

[dave]

" from a demi god in human form" HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

[VeGripper]

Mossman,

Yeah, it was really great to have Greg show me some technique improvement - it has really helped a lot, since now a G8 doesn't even seem intimidating. Matter of fact, I finally bent another one today (after a weeks rest to let the callouses heal), and although it wasn't as easy as last time since my hands are still tender, the pointers got me through another bolt. If you can learn hands-on from some of the best out there, you'll pick up a lot of useful info! The horseshoe bending was cool, and I've still got a fist-sized bruise on my outer thigh to show for it a week later.

Dave,

It was amazing watch you slam that #4 via webcam - legendary stuff, for sure. Cauliflower Boy here can't match that one, but hopefully someday with a lot of hard work it won't seem as impossible as it does now.

Been away for a bit letting the hands rest up, but I've got 2 posts to catch up on to get up to speed.

First was the grip gauntlet day in my basement last Thursday. Decided to run through a host of stuff to hit as many exercises as I could inside of 45 minutes, so I cranked out a good deal in the limited time I had. Exercises were done in rotation of one then the next for 5-6 sets total on each as follows:

BB Wrist curls (still new to these)

5x10 @ 135 - fun, but starting slow because I'm not used to these. Hope it'll jump up quickly!

IM Hub pinching

1@10 second hold @ 20 lbs (excluding pin and hub weight

1@5 " " @ 25 lbs

1@5 " " @ 30 lbs

1 lift to lockout (not held for long) @ 35 lbs.

1 failure @ 37.5 lbs.

Haven't trained on that thing for almost a year, but it was fun getting into it a bit again.

HG400 Gripper attempts

5 attempts to close, best getting within 1/10" - close enough that it'd have been hard to slide more than a credit card between the handles. One of these days it'll close out of nowhere, so I'm keeping on it twice weekly

2.5" thick DB deadlifts done with each hand

1@10 second hold @ 75 lbs (handle and collar weight included)

1@5 second hold @ 125 lbs

1@3 second hold @ 145 lbs (slight touch to wrist on plates)

1 lift to knee height @ 165 lbs - would have been a new PR with the 2.5" handle from 155, so next time it should go down

1@30 second hold each arm @ 75 lbs

That was it, and it was pretty fun all around. I'd like to get a random grip work day in each week that isn't the same old stuff, so hopefully I won't forget to do it after my first week.

Today was outdoor training day, starting with log presses. Not high on energy, so going heavy was not good...

1x15 @ empty log (90 lbs)

1x8 @ 140 (no push)

1x6 @ 160 (no push)

1x3 @ 180 (no push)

1x1 @ 200 (slight push)

1x1 @ 210 (slight push)

Jumped to 230, and despite 3 successful cleans, the damned thing just would not go up past head height. Gotta keep working on this one in time for the June contest.

Did some minimal bending since the other guys who were over wanted to try it, but the easiest stock I have on hand is 6" x 1/4" round, a bit advanced for people who have tried bending once or twice at best. They gave it good attempts, but nothing more than a slight kink for either one. I felt that my hands were getting better after last week's blistering, so I had at it for a few. Did the following:

1 1/4" x 6" round

1 6" x 5/16" G2 that went down easier than ever.

Feeling good, I pulled out a 6" G8 and did one since they both asked if I could make it. Had to fight it a bit since the palms were a bit tender on this one, and I quickly found out that the blister that I popped but did not cut had never re-attached to my palm. When I took the bolt away after crushdown, I found that the skin had practically slid off my palm, so I just tore it clean off and that was that. It has healed pretty well underneath, so pain was minimal, but for the upcoming stone lifting I had to wear a pair of gardening gloves since both hands now have palm wounds on them.

Headed out with a few people to do some natural stone lifting nearby, and had about 45 minutes of entertainment with that. Started with one of about 150 lbs. and did 4 loads to chin height (dropped it to the ground after each lift) then went to tackle the 240-300+ stones there were. Made a few, missed a few, but had my moment of glory twice - first when I shoulderd a smaller one of about 150-170ish and goofed around by doing a Basque-ish roll around the back of my neck from one side to the other and ended by dropping it right back in the hole we dug it out from. The other was when I was the last to get one that was around 300 that was totally lopsided - it had great side handholds, but if you didn't lift it past knee height or greater before leaning back to lap it the stone would tip out of your hands and practically smash your feet. The other two guys had done it, one guy lapped it but couldn't stand and the other got it to chest height, and I'd already missed about 4 attempts. Finally, as I geared up for my last shot, my friend yelled "Make it, you fat pussy!" and that was all I needed. Pulled it, lapped it, stood up with it, but rather than drop the rock I took about a 10 foot stroll, turned a circle and a half and walked it back just to show everyone who was boss My arms are shredded, I have a goose egg in my forearm from slamming it against the log on cleans, and I can barely keep my eyes open even though I'm 4 hours from my normal bedtime, but it was a great day.

Maybe random grip stuff tomorrow before Tuesday's return to squatting, so we'll see what I feel like after I recover from today's abuse!

VeGripper

[mossman]

very very nice work on that stone bud.....impressive as hell....i did somethin like this the other day, although it took me about 9 or 10 times of dropping the thing on my toes to figure it out.....unfortunately, i only had to walk mine a few feet and set it in a truck

[VeGripper]

Last night was bending PR day, finally killing the 1/4" x 7" square stock I'd only kinked a few weeks earlier. There's a bit of a brief writeup about it in a different thread so I won't rehash it all over again, but 2nd try was the lucky one. Did a handful of partially kinked G5s from 6" down to 5" and bending was over.

Headed to the grip dungeon about an hour later and ran the grip gauntlet for about 45 minutes, doing various exercises rotating after each set. I'm a bit foggy on a few things that were done since I did a load of different work, but to my recollection there was:

Thick handled DB lifting on a 2.5" handle

worked up a few sets and did a new PR with each hand of 175 lbs., but this was with my wrist and lower forearm braced against the 35 lb. plate on the inside. Still, about 15 lbs. over my previous best with a brace! Did some 2-hands-up, 1-hand down with the same weight but with no brace and it was WAY harder, as I'd begin to lose my grip as soon as the handle would spin once the extra hand let loose. Still, new PR with a wrist bracing! Probably only good to lock out around 140ish without a brace, but I'll keep working at it hard to get 170+ without bracing.

Hg400 work

5 attempts, one was so close but just about 2mm off from being shut. One of these days I'll nail it!

IM Little Big Horn

A bit lower than usual, but made up to 145 lbs. before I crapped out.

IM Heavy Hammer II rear levering

Did 3x10 @ 12.5 lbs, then 1x5 ugly reps with some slight swing with 17.5 lbs.

Heavy Hammers were also done to the front, doing a raised hammering motion swing downward, catching it at a stop at exactly 90 degrees. Used a light 5 lbs. on it for 2 sets of 10 reps on each hand.

Plate pinching

Did much better than I'd expected since I haven't done much lately. Did 3 sets of 5 second holds with a pair of 35s with each hand, then one finisher set that was the end of me. Took a pair of 25s and did 3 minutes of contstant pinching with no setting down, switching hands when one would get tired. At the end it was only about 3-4 seconds at most between switches, but this was 30 seconds past my previous best with 25s. Goal is to eventually make 5 minutes or longer.

With all of that on the bending, it was over and done for me. Probably do some back and shoulder work tomorrow or something of that sort, and I'll update when I'm done!

VeGripper

[tarudriller]

Hey Ryan, looks like things are going pretty well with your lifting and bending, keep up the good work!

Natural stones, huh? Come on down to the south side and drive past the Badger State Baptist School on 11th & Windlake. Roughly a dozen to 16 stones of varying size landscaped along the length of the school. They're set up in a rather precarious position for lifting, plus the neighborhood ain't that great, but it gets me thinking about giving stonelifting a shot every time I see them!

Chris

[VeGripper]

Chris,

Natural stone lifting is definitely fun stuff - if you get the chance, just try it once and you'll be hooked! I don't get to do it too often, but when the chance comes it is always a great time. I'm lucky now because I moved near a bank that has dozens of stones lined in their parking lot, all ranging from the low 100s up through 400+ (most of them way too big to lift, but lots of good ones!) so I'm trying to get there every few weeks to give it a shot. Never seen the place you mentioned since I don't make it around a lot of spots in Milwaukee other than downtown and occasionally to the east side, but perhaps I'll have to drive out and check those stones!

Today was back day, and although my hands were cashed in still from 2 days ago I gave it all I had.

I will preface it, though, with the fact that I mysteriously managed to close the HG400 last night after a few beers (gotta love that out-of-nowhere strength that comes with a few drinks!) Did it first try, cold, to show the guy who I'm borrowing it from as to how close I'd been getting. I was shocked - I held it out for about 10 seconds demanding he and someone else check to see if it was closed, and both gave the thumbs up. Of course, I'm so sore today now that when I try to close it I can't get past parallel from the thickbar work, which was as follows -

DB rows with 2" thick handle (all sets done with no wrist tilt, pure grip work)

1x20 @ 55

1x10 @ 105

2x8 @ 130 (first set all in one motion, 2nd set was 4 reps each hand, then doubles to finish off)

1x20 @ 105 (made 18 reps righty before I needed a few seconds rest, 15 lefty)

Drop rep sets from 5 reps down to singles @ 105, doing 5 each hand, switch to 4 reps each hand, etc. Winded me like nothing else!

Finally, pulled out the fat 3" handle and did one last set of 20 reps with a light 60 lbs. total. Pretty much turned into pinch grip rowing after the first dozen reps and had do wrap up with doubles after that point.

Took one of the handles, put some weight on each side closest to the center, grabbed the bare ends with each hand and used it for seated 2" bar wrist curls. I was already hurting so it wasn't heavy, but a few sets just to pump the 'ol forearms a bit:

1x20 @ 60

1x20 @ 80

1x15 @ 110

I couldn't even turn on the faucet for a drink without resting once the 3rd set was done, so grabbing a bar for anything else was out of the question.

Wrapped up with 3 quick sets of push-ups for 20s so I would feel like I'd done my chest work for 3 months and I was done for. As soon as my spotter stands finally arrive I'll actually start benching regularly for the first time in ages, simply because I'll have it handy. Gotta stop being so lazy about it and actually do some!

Tuesday should be squat and pinch grip day - I'm saving my bending for my birthday bash next Saturday when I'll either go for multiple 1/4" square pieces or perhaps give the red my best shot for the first time. All depends on the feel for the day, but I'll post again when the next workout is over!

VeGripper

[tarudriller]

Let me be the first to wish you a happy birthday (in advance!)....

Chris

[VeGripper]

Thanks for the early birthday wish, Chris! Yep, it'll be 31 this year, but other than a few more aches and pains I still feel like I'm 20 (just a whole lot stronger!)

Today was squat day, and a good one at that. First off, I started a new asthma medication a few days ago which has been helping me to get more air and has helped my endurance a bit already, so when it came to squat day I put the new lung power to the test. It was a short but sweet session that went down as follows:

1x8 @ 135

1x5 @ 225

1x3 @ 315

1x8 @ 405 (new rep PR - previous best was 6 in one set!)

1x5 @ 405

1x2 @ 405 and I crapped out for good

Aside from the better breathing, I've also decided to cut my squats short by about 3" higher in order to work on progressing in weight as I feel that going as low as I did has made it way hard to add more weight. Seriously, until now if my ass didn't touch my calves it was a rare occasion, so now I'm just going an inch or two below parallel instead of as far as I can. So far, so good, all squats still well into legal depth with no question and I'm cranking out more reps without dying early on. After June's strongman contest and my endurance work leading up to it I'll be pressing for that 500 raw squat again, and this time I don't think I'll have a problem making it

With 2 minutes left I cranked out a 20 rep set of lying leg curls just to toss in one last thing and it was time to go - I feel great and have a newly revived confidence for squatting after having some really bad times with it this past few month since I was sick for those 3 weeks back in February.

Tomorrow will be pinch and wrist work, Thursday will be deadlifts out in the old garage, and Saturday will be the first IM red attempt. We'll see where this goes soon enough!

VeGripper

[mossman]

Vegripper,

dude man, good news...i beat you to it....i bent a red just now, a little over a minute bend time......oh hell yea......right now, im gonna work on getting consistent, then im ordering some cordera and more reds and im gonna make it official......isnt just a great friggin day out

[VeGripper]

Mossman,

Congrats on the red bend! I've had to take 2 weeks off bending due to illness (AGAIN!!!) but I came back with a vengeance today and worked myself pretty good. Now, if only I could feel strong anywhere else since my first strongman contest comes up in 3 weeks and I haven't trained for crap for it! Good thing the events all look pretty light...

Today was a crappy gym day but a good day for bending and pinching. First session was the gym at about 2 PM, suffering for the 2nd day in a row from a nasty wedding party-induced hangover that hasn't quite worked its way through me yet.

Started with presses and push presses off the power rack -

Empty bar done with each arm for 8 reps

1x5 @ 135

1x3 @ 185

1x1 @ 225 (starting the push presses, not feeling good at all so far)

1x1 @ 245 (had to fight for it, what used to be good for 3 reps)

Failed @ 255

I'm not expecting the world today, so that's all for the barbell pressing.

Moved next to deadlifts. Still feeling shaky, I don't go all out today, but just did some to get them back in:

1x5 @ 225

1x3 @ 315

1x2 @ 405

1x1 @ 455

Wanted to do 500 just to feel it again, but I didn't want to die trying right now so that'll wait 'til next week when I'm a bit more recovered.

Goofed and did a few singles for power snatches at a light 135 next.

Did 2 last sets of DB 1-arm pressing to wind up the overhead work

1x6 each arm @ 100 lbs.

1x12 each arm @ 60 lbs.

Last of all, did 2 sets of BB wrist work to wrap it all up within 50 minutes:

1x10 seated wrist curls @ 135

1x30 second static hold @ parallel curl position with 135

Time to head home - a less-than-ideal workout but at least I don't get dizzy anymore, which is good enough for now.

Got the bug to hit my first bending workout in 2 weeks, and I must say, I was quite surprised by the benefits of the layoff. Did the following bends:

2 @ 6" x 1/4" round

1 @ 6" x 1/4" hex

2 @ 6" G5

Feeling good, I decide to try for a G8 volume day and ended up quite surprised!

2 @ 6" G8

1@ 5.5" G8 for a PR

2 @ 6" G8 to put 5 of those suckers under my belt and I'm done.

What was really nice is that the G8 bends all went really, really easily for me. The first 2 were less than 5 seconds each to complete crush, and only when I hit the 5.5" did it take around 15-20 seconds to finish one off. The last 2 were about 10 seconds each, just because I wanted to flatten them down as much as possible without a re-wrap. I followed the Gamidon method of wraps so tight they're choking the bolts and boy, did it make things smooth.

My sore spot in my palm is screaming "What the %^#@ did you do to me?!?" but it was all well worth it. It was a fight not to try to go until I'd fail, but I wanted to keep morale high for when I attack the 1/4" square stock again later this week. I think I'll keep the bending sessions to about 1 every 4-6 days for a bit to allow more recovery since this break seemed to really help out a lot, and I still feel kind of crappy and not completely healthy. Funny how I seem to set grip PRs when I'm not at my best...

Had to toss in some pinching, and did pretty well with it! Warmed up with the 35 lb. blob for a few holds, then it was on to the 42.5. Pulled it with ease for a few seconds hold with each hand, so I decided to up the ante a bit and taped a 3 lb. weight to it. Never quite locked it out, but I got it past knee height at least 4 times with my right hand and twice with my left, so I'll be working to add weight to it and then it'll be time to get my 45 lb. blob down cold. The added width and slick paint job don't make it easy (the 42.5 has rough-ass paint that holds chalk nicely!) so once the weight is no longer an issue and I can pull it regularly, that 45 should come soon enough.

In any case, not a bad day for a guy who has caught every freakin' cold or flu to come out this season, so I'll struggle my way back to health again for the 4th time. Wish me luck!

VeGripper

*edited for terrible spelling mistakes*

Edited May 16, 2005 by VeGripper

[GatorGrip]

Don't want to mess up you training log with outside messages but I just had to WOW you do better sick than I do well!

I just wonder what you can do if you were feeling your best for a month or more, bending Red into little scrolled fish.

You’re doing just fantastic and there is no way a Red can stop you. I think you could do it now, but go with what your body is telling you to avoid senseless injury.

Man I wish we lived a little closer than 3379.1 miles Approximate Travel Time: 51 hours 59 minutes or we would warp some Reds together feeding of the intensity and motivation.

[VeGripper]

Gator,

Thanks for the kind words - it must be that all the sick time that keeps me out of the gym is good for the 'ol hand recovery, so that's the reason I get that fresh start when I hit the bending back up again. My palms are still sore from the other day, but come Friday or Saturday I should be back in action to work on getting multiple pieces of 1/4" square folded up nicely. When I can finally DU bend the red it'll be a nice day, but I'm waiting another month before I work on it again because I want to be slamming 6" x 1/4" squares 5 or more at a time before that day comes!

The day may come sooner than you think for being able to meet - we're planning a possible road trip to Miami this summer in August, so if you're back in sunny FLA by that time perhaps I can take a bit off the beaten path to make a visit. Keep me posted on your relocation and we'll see what happeens!

No log for today, just one more day of sitting on my ass!

VeGripper

[BigT]

Gator,

Thanks for the kind words - it must be that all the sick time that keeps me out of the gym is good for the 'ol hand recovery, so that's the reason I get that fresh start when I hit the bending back up again.  My palms are still sore from the other day, but come Friday or Saturday I should be back in action to work on getting multiple pieces of 1/4" square folded up nicely.  When I can finally DU bend the red it'll be a nice day, but I'm waiting another month before I work on it again because I want to be slamming 6" x 1/4" squares 5 or more at a time before that day comes!

The day may come sooner than you think for being able to meet - we're planning a possible road trip to Miami this summer in August, so if you're back in sunny FLA by that time perhaps I can take a bit off the beaten path to make a visit.  Keep me posted on your relocation and we'll see what happeens!

No log for today, just one more day of sitting on my ass!

VeGripper

←

Keep going Ve, I know you'll be slamming reds in the future along with Gator...just take your time getting back into action and hit those 6" x 1/4" squares hard buddy I know you can do it

[VeGripper]

Thanks for the encouragement, BigT! Things are starting off better than ever with bending again after the few week layoff, and today went well even though it didn't quite go according to plan....

I wanted to tear through at least 2 of the 1/4" x 7" square pieces today, but it wasn't meant to be, but that doesn't mean things didn't go well.

Started warming up with the following:

1 @ 6" x 1/4" round

1 @ 6" x 5/16" G2

1 @ 6" x 6" hex stock

1 @ 6" G5

1 @ 6" G8

That seemed good, all done in around 4 minutes, so I rested a moment and tore into a piece of the 7" x 1/4" square. A minor DU kink of less than 10 degrees and I was pissed - for some reason, long bars sit on a spot in my palms with DU that causes a lot of discomfort (other than the center of my palm which always is sore from bending...) and as I tear into it, the irritation seemed to cut my steam short from doing much damage. Oh well, perhaps it wasn't meant to be for that one, but instead I aimed to make it a new PR for G8 volume and did the following

7 6" G8s

1 5.5" G8

That made it a total of 9 done, and the last 5 were all less than a minute apart - to please Gamidon, the final one was pretty well done completely DO since my wrists felt like snapping from trying to kink it. I'm getting better at stabilizing my hands under my chin, but I still always prefer a DU kink before switching over. Still, only a month ago I struggled to keep my hands up high, and now it is getting way easier for me, which is good. Combining both styles seems to be what gets me ahead, so I'll keep working the volume again for a session before going for the square stock, aiming to get 10 or more next time with at least 4 of them being 5.5" G8s. I almost wonder if I took a 6" square if it would be easier since that's the best length for me as it doesn't hit that tender hand spot, so we'll see if temptation settles in and I take a shorter piece next time. If that somehow works, who knows, maybe I'll have to go for a 6" red before I go for a full length piece

Anyway, hands are wrecked, won't be bending until at least Sunday, but soon enough I'll be back. If the weather holds out there'll be some log work and natural stone lifting this weeked as well - there's only 2 weeks until that damned strongman contest I entered and I've been sick or have failed to train hard for it, so we'll see what happens when I finally make it there. I'll quote Jackie Chan with the attitude of "Expect the worst, hope for the best!"

VeGripper

[GatorGrip]

Ryan Amidon Jr. you are doing a number on those Grade 8s these days and the 5.5" is quite a contrary character. I have one 5.5" and one 5" that are both kinked but not enough for a sweep and they sit here everyday busting my chops like a heckler in a comedy show. They will get what’s coming soon I hope as my recovery from the shoulder and wrist strains or tears heck I don't know all I know is they hurt doing things a lot less strenuous than bending. I am trying to keep my head up but it is hard not to get discouraged thinking when or will these things heal or have I done something serious enough that I won't be doing any bending for a long time. Just when I found something that was actually giving a measure of enjoyment I am robbed of the pleasure. The story of my life, damn it. Well keep doing what you are doing V-man cause you are killing it and I am damn proud of your accomplishments as you motivated me to try to keep up but like in those old war movies the fallen one says go on without me I got your back that is kinda how I feel right now. Ryan keep going strong because you are almost to the finish line my brother of steel.

Your Friend For Life

Walter

[VeGripper]

Been a while since my last update, but here goes!

New in bending, I managed to get both a 6" G9 bolt and a 7" x 1/4" square stock piece in the same session last week, which was good. Never tried a G9 before, and although it was a bit harder than a G8, it wasn't quite as tough as I'd expected. Still, a good step up to the square. The square piece was only the 2nd I'd managed, but I'm going to keep plugging away until they become easy enough and then it'll be time to try the red again. We'll see what happens!

Was in my first strongman comp yesterday - just a small event nearby in Madison, and although I haven't done more than 2 sessions all spring to train specifically for it, I made sure to go anyway.

Got there completely late with no warm-up time, so I had to jump into the events immediately, which sucked. But, what could I do but try as best I could and hope things turned out well enough.

First up was the log press - I started off feeling good, but that quickly turned sour. First warm-up press was 185, then an easy 205, 3rd attempt was to be 225 but I could not get it up high enough to lock it out on the first try. I gave it a 2nd attempt (you get 1 minute for each of the 4 attempts as long as you don't set the log down) and I nearly took myself out on this one. I leaned back to try and press it out in front of myself a bit, lost my balance, and had to toss it out in front of me to avoid having the log land on my chest when I fell down. I felt my entire back crack all the way down and thought that it may be the end for me right from the start, but a few minutes of stretching out (and having my wife walk on my back) and I was in again. They jumped to 235 before I could attempt the same weight, and as with the 225, I cleaned it to my shoulders well enough but couldn't get it past forehead height on the press. Much worse than I'd expected as I'd hoped to do 245 or more, but it was the first event, so I hoped it would get better.

2nd event was the sled pull - it was a 75 foot long course, 2 people side by side, trying to pull a 650 lb. sled for the distance in 3 minues or less. The first few people that went barely moved it, then finally a few guys got it around halfway down the course, leading my to believe that I'd do fairly well at it. I was in for a shock, because that sled barely moved at all! I kept tossing myself back, heaving with everything I had, and probably moved it about 12-15 feet total. It was deceptively hard, but I've got my own sled on order, so you can be sure I'll be practicing that one at home in the future. Chalk up 2 bad events to start!

3rd event was the stone loading. Again, I thought I'd do okay at this one, but I found out quickly how different lifting natural stones is from lifting round ones. Stone weights were 225, 250, 275, 300 and 325. I got the 225 on the platform in about 5 seconds, but when I went to the 250, I could not get a good grip to save my life. I kept rolling it forward or it would slip out on me before I could get it more than a few inches off the ground, so despite working at it for about 90 seconds I gave up with a few seconds left because that thing wasn't going anywhere. You can be sure I'll get to working the round stones this summer to learn how to handle them so I don't make the same assumptions about them being easy again!

4th event was the tire flip - I'd never done this before, so I wasn't expecting much, but this is where the redemption began. The tire was 650 lbs., and it had to be flipped over a 75 foot long course to the other side (which took 8-9 flips depending on how hard you push it over to get additional slide distance on each flip). I made the course in about 48 seconds (I think that was the time) and wound up getting a decent placing in that event - not sure where, but probably in the top third.

Finally was the farmer's walk, which is where I did my best. The implements were milk jugs filled with concrete, weighing around 175 lbs. each, and you had to take them 75 feet, turn, and come back. The weight wasn't heavy, but the awkward handle positoning on the jugs was the tough spot that caused the most trouble for everyone. Nobody had made it without setting the jugs down until I went, but I managed to get a good run and tore the course down quickly. I held the top time until a while later when 2 others beat me out to 3rd place in the event.

I wish I had the exact placing info on the events, but by the placing countdown at the end I came in around 7th or 8th from around 20 competitors, so not bad for a guy who spent most of his winter and spring fighting off illness and who hadn't been in the gym for 2 weeks leading up to the contest. Next time I'll be better prepared, but it was still a good day in the end! One thing to note is that there were no weight classes or divisions - it was all against all, so the newcomers like myself had to compete against those who had an idea of what they were doing, which made things a bit more interesting.

Next stop for the old detrained VeGripper is the Summerfest Open here in town early July, which is a C&J and Deadlift competition - a pretty odd combo, but it should be fun. The DL contest got rained out last year (they still did the C&J in the rain on a slippery plywood platform!), so I won by default for lifting the most in the downpour just seconds before they peeled the weight off the bar to close up shop. Looks like I'd better get off my ass and start working for this!

VeGripper

Edited June 6, 2005 by VeGripper