Darkone8921’s BodyBlog

During this past week I was speaking to a fellow strongman and we made arraingments to meet at my event training gym.  I don’t know about you all but I train better and harder when I train with someone stronger than me.  Needless to say I was giddy about getting there and making it happen.

I show up and he’s there, already warmed up and ready to get at it.  Let me back up a little bit.  Once I pull up I see the guy I lost a competition to by a 1/2 point training on the yolk.  From that I’m already ready to go baby.  From there I learn that he beat my best yolk (530lbs) by doing 600lbs for 100 feet.  So now I’m pissed.  Not only do you rob me of my podium finish by 1/2 a damn point but you beat my yolk weight too!  Not today my friend!

I start at 400lbs and smoke it good fashion for 100 feet.  Now i’m thinking that today is my day.  I throw it up to 500lbs and smoke that as well for the 100 feet.  Now I’m KNOWING that today is mine!  Mostly because of me seeing the guy who beat me do it but also because of my w/o partner being right there doing every weight i’m doing and then some.

I belt up for the 550lbs and that goes as well.  Now I tell my daughter to tape the next one and I double belt up for the next attempt.  Also to be sure that he’s gonna have to work harder to beat me I put 610lbs on the yolk.

I get under it, get pissed off and go.  I was moving with it up to 50 feet.  That last 50 feet was nothing but my hatred of the fact that he beat me and the yells of my partner.  I felt my legs wanting to quit, my heart was pounding like never before, I felt like I was gonna pass out the whole 50 damn feet.  I’ve never felt more powerful, more alive in my whole life!!!  I truly left it all out on that street.  I couldn’t speak for at least 5 minutes after.

Maybe the normal person would have just called it a day after that.  I had to go and get another (PR) in the Atlas Stones right after (300lbs)  My biggest problem is my self doubt.  My largest foe is myself.  It surrounds me like a large brickwall.  Those days are behind me boys and girls.  I hit another (PR) this morning on the Strict OHP (240). 

I am King!!  I’m on fire!!  Give it hell SC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I wrong to be anticipating my battle with the plates tomorrow?  I can’t help it though.  Tomorrow I deadlift and the last time I did I hit 465lbd and stalled out.  So tomorrow will be another shot at my new arch nemisis.

I know it’s corny but I almost feel like a school boy when I think of the workout that is to come.  I guess I look at it as another opportunity to prove myself.  It’s another chance to show that I belong in my chosen field of battle.  Laugh at the battle part if you want but that’s exactly what it is.  Whenever you have a competition or a meet or whatever you’re on the chosen battleground you were drawn to and your fellow competitors are your combatants. 

The crazy part is that I really look forward to all of that with the school boy giddiness that I spoke of before.  This season the feeling will be stronger than ever because I’ll be in better shape both physically and mentally than I have ever been in before.

So, I invite the anticipation with open arms and a welcom heart baby.  Because anticipation today turns to dedication in the morning and giddiness in the off season turns to readiness in the on season.

Give it hell SC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Normally I do "Olympic style lifting on Wed mornings.  I can’t tell you how much I suck at it and I almost feel defeated before I even go to the gym.  I always gut through it but feel like i’m not really gaining anything from it at all.

I decided to try and find alternate exercises that produce the same results.  This mornings session put a breath of fresh air back into my Wed work outs. 

Doing some box jump work and standing jumps, depth jumps, weighted and un weighted put the right wind back into my sails brothers and sisters.  I also worked in some single arm DB snatches and loved those as well. 

Next Wed i’ll add seated jumps and some other variations and I see this starting to become my favorite w/o of the week.

Do any of you have these same alternative exercises for some of your workouts?

Lifting weights within itself makes me feel like "Conan" on a good day.  Regardless of what’s on my mind or going on around me, I still feel like I can just keep it together long enough get a good w/o in i’ll be good. 

But when I hit a PR.  I can’t describe how high I feel then.  It’s a small amount of validation for all those cold and early hours.  I’m really trying to be conservative here.  Cause it really feels like fire running through my veins!  It feels like ESPN should be here taping my every move so others may learn from my awesomeness!!!  lol 

I live my gym life for those moments.  My gym persona is what it is just to reach those little bits of uphoria like that.  Now next year I start competing on a NAS sanctioned level.  Next year I put up with the big boys and see where I stand.  I know my numbers are still low for that but they climb at a constant rate.  The hard work that I put in has put me a hell of alot closer to them then I have ever been and believe me, I will be ready come comp time.

But when I get a podium finish in one of those.  When I get to stand apart from the faceless strongman masses.  The feeling will be as intense and anything i have ever felt before.  Because the win won’t just validate my gym life, but a big part of my life period.  I’ll feel like I can drink hot coffee and poop cool ice cream baby!  I’ll tell you all how it feels that day.  Because trust you me, I will be high as a kite!!!!!!!  Give it hell SC!!!!!!!

If you follow my posts at all then you know that the gym broke its’ foot in my butt two days ago.  I won’t go into graphic detail but it wasn’t pretty at all.

But today my friends was a very different tale.  Today I paid the plates back with a vengance and not olny won but got two PRs out of it all.

So today I say that the day is mine.  Today i’ll take the "W" proudly and prep for the next battle between the plates and I.

I debated going to the gym this morning all last night.  I should’ve listened to my body and took another day of rest to go two days in a row.  Being that I’m stubborn, I went anyway and I can say with no hesitation that the plates smacked me around like a fairy today.

On top of the fact that today was "Olympic lifting" day and I suck HORRIBLY at it.  Every weight felt heavier than the last.  You know what I won’t offer any excuses.  I think you get the point.

The point is this has never happened to me before.  Even on a bad day, I could still make it happen and call it even between me and the plates.  But today I had no hopes of even coming up close to a win or putting up any points on the board.

I sat there staring at myself in the mirror for a moment or two.  Why?  Because I wanna remember that feeling.  I want it to burn in my mind almost as clear and life altering as the birth of my first child.  Why?  Cause if you wait for an injury free day, you’ll never damn train.  If you wait for a day you like all the exercises on your plan, you’ll never damn train.

So, I spent the rest of the morning making a pact with myself and my inner strongman.  I promised that no w/o will go unused.  I promised that I’m not waking up at 3am for nothing.  I rpomised myself and whomever reads this that who ever beats me this season will have to be a bad mf!  Give it hell SC!!!!!

Could I be talking to you?  Do you ever have those days in the gym that you feel like you can’t be stopped?  Like the heavens have opened up and branded you the ultimate bad ass of the gym for that moment in time?

Feels good doesn’t it?  That feelings addictive.  In my opinion just as much as any drug of any kind.  Maybe even more because you’ve made sacrifices to be there to get that feeling.  Whether you get up early or stay up late, take the kids with you to the gym or put them with a sitter.  You have changed your day to day just to feel that moment of pure intensity that is like chasing a high.

I love that feeling like I can’t explain.  And if you’ve read down this far than you do too.  Then I must be talking to you.  Give it hell!!

While doing my "Oly" style w/o today I found myself in a position where I was getting drained.  I didn’t take a w/o drink this morning (forgot to buy one). 

So as I pushed through rep after reps I felt the lack of my drinks presence more and more.  I looked at myself in the mirror and even considered for a half a nanosecond cutting it short.  Immediately a little voice came over me and started talking.  I though it was talking to me at first but then I realized it was talking to the weights.

I set myself up for the next set and started repeating what the voice in my head was saying out loud.  Let me assure you the words were neither kind or without malice.  But those beautiful words and phrases pulled me from the fire baby.  And even though I must have looked insane to everyone else in the gym, I finished with a pr baby!

I am crazy!  I am King!  Give it hell!!!!!

I had a pretty crappy event training day yesterday.  No matter what I did or how I did it, I couldn’t get it together.  I was able to get the Thomas Inch DB for a double but I couldn’t lift a 260lbs stone!  It drove me insane for the rest of the day.  It bothered me to the point of naseau almost.  If I hadn’t done that weight before it would be different, but I have done it!  WTF!@!!!

So I show up to the gym this morning just wanting to put yesterday behind me.  I tell you what I did just that and then some.  I hit a strict OH press (pr) for weight and reps.  I pushed myself to have some strict form on my squats for speed.  Even though I didn’t get the tricep pulldown weight I wanted, I still really gave it hell.

The point is, I could have took what happened yesterday and did nothing today.  I could have sat home eating froot loops by the bowl.  Instead I pushed it until until it couldn’t be pushed any further.  I made it happen like a true SC/GMU soldier does!  I remembered that some days you have peanuts and other days there’s just shells.  Give it hell SC/GMU!!!!!!!!

Today was event training day and I was all set to hit my 300lbs mark on the atlas stones. 

The workout started well with some light rows and some light stone work as well and I was feeling really good.

I even attempted the Thomas Inch DB for the first time and wqas blown away when I got it twice!  I thought for sure at that point that I was gonna rip the stones a new one.

But you can just guess what happened next.  I struggled with the stones so bad that I couldn’t even due my previous max that I have done in the past!

I can’t tell anyone who reads this how pissed off I still am about this.  If I was going for a new max and didn’t get it, that would be one thing.  But I’ve done a 260lbs stone before!  I’ve done more that that before!  How did I loose ground on a staple of the strongman bag of tricks?!

On my pissed off ride home it came to me.  I haven’t been consistent in training with the stones.  Even though they are a week pont for me.  How could I have not seen this coming?  I’ve been so pre occupied with gaining static strength that my weaker events have suffered for it.

No more baby.  I know that my cardio and some events I should focus more attention on.  I know that consistency and only consistency will get me to the goals I have for myself.  So that’s it.  Call me King C from now on baby cause i’m all over it like flies on you know what.