Neomage's Strongman Training Log

neomage2021

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I have been on sherdog since 2006. Long ago I had a training log back when I was still competing in MMA and doing some power lifting. After I got married my training fell off and last year I got back on the wagon. Dropped down form 205 to 165 at 11% bf where I am at today. I am also 5'7"

A friend who is listed as the strongest drug tested power lifter in new mexico and recently has been doing strongman has convinced me to give it a go. He competes in the 230lb division and I will be competing in the 175 lb division at a contest in June. I have a got bit of my own equipment and will be getting more soon as well as going up to train on weekends with other strong men.

My training will start tomorrow. I will be focusing pretty much entirely on strongman training from now until the competition in mid June.

Only hurdle is I will be gone to Burma for work for about 2-2.5 weeks in early April so not sure what training I will be able to find over there during that time.


Time to eat and get strong!
 
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Real training begins tomorrow. I decided on doign a strongman variation a 531.

Have a few things to do this evening so did some work this morning. 1.25 mile jog ( I do this every day) followed by practicing with the log for about 30 mins. Didn't go heavy since it was an off day. Worked up to 182 lbs for a triple.

Felt fairly easy but I definitely need more practice and to do some shoulder mobility work. I noticed I was having a bit of an issue with the log weight being out in front of me a bit while pressing.
 
Been too long since I trained consistently. Today was an okay day. Definitely felt weak after a month off

Tuesdays and thursdays will be normal days sometimes using strongman implements, bands, or chains while saturdays will be my strongman events day. 7 days a week I light jog 1.5 miles off days will be active rest. Probably mobility work.

Dynamic warmup and a bit of foam rolling

strict axle press (continental cleaned to start each set for practice)
3x5 155lbs

normally 155 would be in the 8-10 rep range but its been over a month since i lifted. Possibly the cleans are taking a bit out and the axle bar is a bit different.

Chinups
3x10

incline press
3x5 185lbs

Face pulls (on my shity home made pulley system attached to my rack)
2x20 45lb

weighted dips
45 lbs 50 reps as little breaks as possible ( 4 sets little rest between)

Hammer curls
3x10 50lbs

situps
3x25


Straight power cleaning the axle bar is still easier for me now because my continental clean is so terrible but i know i wont be able to double overhead clean heavier weights with the axle
 
After my absolutely weak ass showing doing zerchers I'm so tempted to go back to good old low bar back squats i'm good at, but none of that now! Front squats and zerchers for this training cycle.

Deadlift:
3x5 365lbs

zercher squat (first time doing this so didnt want to go heavy)
3x5 185lbs

This didn't feel heavy at all but couldn't keep balance. Going to practice with 135lbs on off days to get technique. Never been good at front squats and suck even worse at zercher squats. Ankle mobility exercises are in order. I just did this ankle monility test https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-fix-your-ankle-mobility-fix-your-squat and... I got 2.5 inches. Damn I have the ankle mobility of a 90 year old


Bent over row (axle bar)
3x10 165lbs

Damn, those are much tougher with the axle bar. My grip is my weakest link right now so for at least the next 4 weeks going to be doing more axle bar work before switching back to normal bar for rows

Glute ham raises
40 reps

roll outs:
3x25 (from knees)
 
One thing I know I have to do is eat more. I spent all of 2017 getting back into the shape because I had become fat and terribly out of shape. I have been mostly eating around 2500 calories a day the last few months which is a tiny bit below maintenance. I have about 8-10 lbs before i bump into the weight limit for the competition. I don't want to get fat but I'm sure I'm going to need minimum of 3000 calories as I train harder. This first 4 weeks I"m going 3 days a week but I have a feeling I am going to want to bump it up to 4 days a week after 4 weeks. Tues, Thurs, Fri, and Sun. Going to monitor my calories and weight a bit closer than normal for a while to figure out how much more I need to eat.
 
2/25/2018

Wife had me run a ton of errands saturday so didn't get home before dark. Strongman training had to wait until today.

log clean and press:
3x5 125lbs, 145lbs, 165 lbs
Then for the hell of it did 2 singles at 192 lbs. Had trouble locking out my right arm but got them.

farmer's walk:
3x100' 115lbs, 135lbs, 150lbs (per hand)

axle clean and press:
3xamrap in 60 seconds 135lbs got 14 reps before i felt like I was going to puke every where. Cardio giving out before strength right now

sled drag:
3X100' 230lbs

axle dead lift
3xamrap in 60 seconds 225lbs

I was too damn tired to count at this point. by set 3 I did a whole lot of breaking it off the ground and dropping it because my grip was saying "fuck you"


Ended with a tabata interval of battle ropes...then I realized I had to carry all these damn weights and implements all the way back around the house from the backyard to the garage.
 
Mother in law surprised us. In the middle of my workout showed up out of nowhere... she lives 600 miles away so it was a definite surprise. Workout was cut short but I'll finish up tomorrow.

Today:

incline log press:
3x3 122LBS 162LBS 172LBS (this was fun and a bit different since weight is completely deloaded onto my chest between each rep_

strict OHP
3x3 125, 145, 165

50 chinups

Was interrupted during the chinups but finished them
 
After my absolutely weak ass showing doing zerchers I'm so tempted to go back to good old low bar back squats i'm good at, but none of that now! Front squats and zerchers for this training cycle.

Deadlift:
3x5 365lbs

zercher squat (first time doing this so didnt want to go heavy)
3x5 185lbs

This didn't feel heavy at all but couldn't keep balance. Going to practice with 135lbs on off days to get technique. Never been good at front squats and suck even worse at zercher squats. Ankle mobility exercises are in order. I just did this ankle monility test https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-fix-your-ankle-mobility-fix-your-squat and... I got 2.5 inches. Damn I have the ankle mobility of a 90 year old

I find zerchers really, really easy on the ankles compared to other squat variations but we probably have different leverages. Also whether you have your hands inside or outside your legs makes a big difference to how the lift feels so you could experiment with that.
 
er you have your hands inside or outside your legs makes a big difference to how the lift feels so you could experiment with that.

Thanks. I'll try that. My squat workout isn't until tomorrow but tonight I might do some practice with light weight to get a better feel for the movement
 
3/1/2018

Not seeing much improvement yet from ankle mobility drills but picked up a cheap pair of reebok oly shoes and that seemed to help a good bit. Did front squats and zerchers at medium weight for higher reps for technique. I will keep going up in weight on those but keep the rep range higher for a while.

deadlift
3x3 345 365 385 and a single of 405 just because

front squat
3x8 225

zercher
3x8 225

axle row
3x10 165

roll outs
3x25

Thought it was going to be a shit day lifting but turned out well. Wasn't feeling it mentally but didnt have an issue physically. I kinda liked the way olympic shoes felt deadlifting. Felt a little more hamstring loading, though I think I'll stick to bare feet or my old pair of wrestling shoes for deadlifting most of the time.
 
Spent the weekend with my friend at a strongman gym. Didn't go particularly heavy just worked with all the implements and such and sat down with a coach who came up with a real program for me. Played with the stones mostly doing a ton of reps with a 215lb stone.
New program starts today 4 days a week. Deadlift day, OHP day, Squat day, bench press day. Every day will have a the main movement, an assistance movement, an ab/core movement, and a strongman/conditioning movement. I'll post my workout tonight.
 
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Will be interested in following this log. I'm entered into a novice strongman comp in May in the under 95kg category. It's my first one. I'm running 5/3/1 with strongman type movements after the main work.

Will keep an eye on this - good luck!
 
My new coach wants to first focus on conditioning and muscular endurance for strongman while still getting a bit stronger so for the next 6-9 weeks I will be giant setting my workouts. He said first 3 weeks will start off easy... It wasn't bad today but I can imagine squat day and deadlift day are going to be killers.

Over head press day:
All exercises done with no rest between each exercise. 90 seconds rest between each set.

Set 1
OH Press 105x8
chin up 10
roll out 10
axle clean and press 90x12

Set 2
OH Press 125x6
chin up 8
ab roll out 8
axle clean and press 105x10

Set 3
OH Press 140x4
chin up 6
ab roll out 6
axle clean and press 125x8
 
whew... Coach was right my conditioning is what is lacking right now. THis one had my breathing hard at the end. GIant sets again 90 seconds rest between each set. The log was a full clean and press for every rep.

Set 1
Bench Press 135x10
bent over row 100x12
ab roller 12
log press 105x8

Set 2
Bench Press 155x8
bent over row 120x10
ab roller 10
log press 120x6

Set 3
Bench Press 180x6
bent over row 135x8
ab roller 8
log press 135x4

Afterwards did some hammer curls with 45's and some more reps on bench with just the bar to stretch out a bit. Felt a little tight at the end of the workout. Tomorrow will be squat based day with farmers walks as the strongman movment
 
Squat was too easy even though I was breathing hard after this workout. Going to talk to my coach a bit about upping the squat weight a bit. This was supposed to be a "light" day on squat this week but it felt a bit too light for me. Farmers walks felt light but looking at the weights set up in the rest of the spread sheet I think it will be okay. If it still feels too light after next week I'll talk to coach about upping the weight for farmer's walks as well

On another note, not going to be able to wear my olympic shoes for this workout. My feet hurt like hell from doing farmers walks in them.

Set 1
Squat 150x12
hamstring raise 60x8
ab roller 8
farmer's carry 105

Set 2
Squat 185x10
hamstring raise 70x6
ab roller 6
farmer's carry 125

Set 3
Squat 205x8
hamstring raise 80x4
ab roler 4
farmer's carry 140
 
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Talked to my coach and he said if the squat weight still feel light after the next workout we can adjust them up. He said definite no on changing the farmer's walk weights.
He said the weights on the farmer's walk are supposed to be light and speed is the key right now. This training cycle the plan is to work up to my contest weight of 175lb per hand for farmers carry and have my speed at that weight be just as fast as if i'm carrying 100lbs.
 
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High rep deadlifts SUCK!

Did 30 mins yoga after work with wife. 1.5 mile jog before workout. GIant sets again of course


Deadlift 175x12
hyper extrension 8
ab roller 8
18" dead 245x10

Deadlift 210x10
hyper extension 6
ab roller 6
18" dead 285x8

deadlift 245x8
hyper extension 4
ab roller 4
18" dead 325x6
 
pinched something in my right shoulder. Happens every once in a while. Sharp pain when i move it in certain ways. Think it's rotator cuff tendinitis that flared a bit because of bad posture today while working on the computer. Was supposed to do overhead press today but going to move that to tomorrow. Today was yoga and a 1.5 mile jog.

Going to catch up on some work. Gotta look extra productive. My boss told me today he is retiring in May and though it wont be his decision he thinks I'm a top candidate to take over as manager of the software engineering department at work.
 
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Shoulder still hurt pretty bad today but decided to work through it. A lot of warm ups and no giant sets today did only strict press very controlled

95x10
115x8
135x6
135x6

3 sets of chinups as many as I could and 3 sets of 50 situps.
 

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