CATCHING UP FOR THE NEW YEAR

Hope everyone reading this had a great Christmas and wonderful New Year!  I had a relaxing break from work where I did nothing but sleep, eat food, watch football and lift weights.  Even hit a few personal records!  I kept doing what I normally do, because I was fortunate enough to get in a gym in my hometown that is the same old-school type place that I lift in now.  If I remember correctly, I hit 405 on the squat (no belt), and 505 on the deadlift (also no belt).  I think I did a behind-the-neck press of 215, and a bench of 275 or 285 (not sure).  The benches were definitely not what I'm used to.  The uprights were very short and not adjustable.  So I had to have someone help me lift the weight off.  Unfortunately that made me feel like a loser because about 20 minutes after I did my benching, a guy my age was benching 335 multiple times without a spotter or liftoff.  So...I got a ways to go on that one.  He was a good guy to chat with though, and he tried to teach me how to do power cleans.  I will be implementing them soon in my training.


As part of my Christmas present (thanks honey!), I bought some bumper plates and a fat bar.  I bought 4, 45 pound plates from Rogue Fitness, and a hollow fat bar from EliteFTS.  I’m hoping that, since the bar is hollow, it holds up okay over time.  But I’ll be practicing cleans with that so that my grip can develop a bit.  It is absolutely horrible now.  So now I’ve got a pretty good collection of strongman equipment at my house: farmer’s walks handles, super yoke/conan’s wheel, 2 atlas stones (that are already too light for me), and a fat bar.  My gym has a log and a tire (if I can get at it in the spring).  I should be pretty good to go.  Not exactly sure how I’m going to program the strongman lifts into my training yet, but I’ll be sure to post some thoughts later.  Have a good weekend everyone.