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Kill With Power; Die!! Die!!
Topic Started: Jun 5 2005, 07:37 PM (10,157 Views)
Matt Frost
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Fuckin' SLAYER!!
Thanks Tom!

Yes, Jeff. The guy who went before me used a double-overhand grip and rested the axle briefly on his upper abdominal area before flipping it to his chest. However, he failed to lock out a press. I don't know, though, if the judge counted his cleans because I couldn't hear, there were people shouting encouragement. I could have done a power clean using an alt-grip but as soon as I lifted the judge declined it.

The rule was also no double-dip of the knees on the press. It had to be a push or strict press, or a split jerk. I saw a lot of double-dips.
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Jamie
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Excellent, Matt. Good comeback.
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Matt Frost
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Fuckin' SLAYER!!
Thanks Jamie.
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GrantB
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Grant is a magnificent bastard
Shame about the axle press...

Great work, and great effort, Matt!
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Matt Frost
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I'll just have to be better prepared next time. I need the grip work anyway. What do you guys think, 2x a week training grip?
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Frozenkilt
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Online douche. GOLD! I need more Gold
I wouldn't even think you'd need that. You already do FW and the like. Just add in some axle power cleans on event day. Get it where you can hang power 250 on the axle a couple of times and call it even.

I don't think grip has really been much of a limiting factor for you in the past, has it?

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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Not on lighter contests. I can smoke a 245 FW, but the 285 was more than I could handle. Plus, I didn't train FW regularly, which is going to change as of this weekend.

I am not thinking of going too crazy- axle deadlifts and cleans one day, and some rolling thunder assistance on one other day. Nothing that will make me stay an extra hour in the gym.
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Matt Frost
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Hah. I am a follower of Trevor now. Does that mean I have to gain 100 pounds and hire a nanny to wipe my 7" deep asstrench?
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dougmahnke

congratulations on your third place finish. you sure write a compelling and detailed account of your exploits... its like a fun as hell short adventure story. keep up the good work!
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Spiderman
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Nice work.

Never figured out why some contests do weird things for the axle clean and press.

Same with viking press...not sure why no re-bend of the knees seems to be the rule. I am so used to doing that with the log, i have to think hard about not doing it when i viking press.
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Matt Frost
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I think there is a war on technique going on, and I don't fault the promoters entirely, I blame those athletes who bitch and moan about "unfair advantages" that someone who uses a certain technique has. What they really want is to slant the advantage towards them. In my not-so-humble opinion, as long as the technique is not done without the assistance of equipment, it should be legal. Example- continental clean all you want, but you can't rest the axle on your belt.

It disappoints me that some competitors feel they have to get a technique barred just because they haven't mastered it or because of their body type, can't use it as effectively. We generally train in such a manner as to use our bodies to their total advantage. In some events, like an axle clean & press, log, conan's, or tire flip, my gut is an advantage, I concede that point. In others, though, like the hydrant carry, deadlift for reps, or any event involving CV endurance, it's a handicap. Getting techniques banned, especially those that are used regularly in almost every contest from amateur to pro, is just a cheap way of stacking the deck to your liking (and no, I am not complaining about Graham here, I am speaking generally, because this seems to happen more often than some people are admitting).
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Matt Frost
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The last two days for me have been pure hell. I needed to lift tonight. Had to blow off some steam. I was so glad when the shop called and told me my car was fixed. I didn't make it to Iron Sport but I did go to the YMCA near my house.

Before going there I stopped at another gym. It looked pretty low-rent last time I drove by it, but when I looked inside tonight I saw- plants. And machines. No real squat rack. It smelled like an old folks' home. I turned around and walked out. No way I was getting a good session in this buzzkiller of a gym.

The Y is an OK place. They let you use chalk and the free weight area, while not huge, is decently stocked. Three blobs, an axle, lots of plates, and two solid racks. I had heard from a friend that they had bumpers, but that wasn't the case when I arrived. If I had known I'd have brought mine. Anyway...

Snatches:

95 x 2
105 x 2
125 x 2
140 x 2
140 x 2

Had to move some stuff to have enough room. As it's a light day, I didn't mind using iron plates to snatch with. Controlling the weight down was no biggie.

Snatch Pulls:

160 x 3
160 x 3

One of the Y regs came over as I was beginning and muttered, "What the hell is this?". He wasn't happy about my rearranging of the benches. Oh well, I am twice his size. I finished my snatch pulls and put things back.

Behind-the-Neck Jerk:

140 x 2
165 x 2
195 x 2
225 x 2
225 x 2

Ooh. Yeah. Contest fatigue. Leg drive was lacking. Last set of 225 was stronger than the first.

Back Squat:

135 x 3
225 x 3
345 x 3
405 x 3
405 x 3

Squats felt nice and strong. Belted for the 405's as a precaution but I really didn't need to, should have done them raw. Love it when the weight jumps at the top.

RDL:

225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5

OK. Feeling that pulled muscle a little there. Not painful enough to stop, but it's definitely the inner thigh/adductor area right near the top. Damned fire hydrant.

Felt stronger than I had any right to be. Not too sore anymore from the contest. I have two more weeks on this Oly workout, Next week is going to be tough as hell.

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Caber McJock
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I agree
Quote:
 
Oh well, I am twice his size.


Mwahahaha.
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Matt Frost
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He actually ended up being a pretty cool guy. He was benching, started off raw and then shirted up. He had 365 on the bar and couldn't touch with it, though he did touch with 385. Not bad for a little guy.
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Matt Frost
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I'm so glad tonight was light, because a heavy session would have just killed me. I was all by myself so I decided I was going to burn through my training, or at least stay on a brisk pace with as little rest as I could manage.

And I made an awesome discovery.

Not once did I huff and puff. Not once did my back cramp up to the point where I had to sit for a longer rest period. And sure, I was sweating, but not sweating like Michael Jackson at a little league game. And to be able to do this after a heavy contest shows how much my body has adapted. I am recovering faster from contests and training sessions.

This program I've been on has helped me in so many ways. Looking back I realize, I didn't miss one workout. Tuesday was the only time I couldn't make it to Iron Sport, but I still found time to lift. Before this program my training was sporadic... well, let's be honest, it was a shambles. My goals, such that I had, were nebulous and far-off. This program has helped me to see real progress, and to chart where I am going in the next three months. Six months. Year. Two years. I've surprised myself with new successes and learned from every failure.

I'm looking forward to next week, which will be pretty much max-effort. After this, Reggie has another program that is going to focus on hypertrophy. Like I need to get bigger, hahahaha... but I actually think it will do me good. I plan on really tightening up the diet and doing a lot of conditioning work too... but enough of this crap, on to tonight's training.

Cleans, Front Squats:

120 x 2
143 x 2
169 x 2, then 3 front squats.
198 x 2, then 3 front squats.
198 x 2, then 3 front squats.

These were all squat cleans, working on getting under the bar. I faced the mirror tonight, which I usually don't do, and it helped me a little bit. I also decided to consolidate, adding in my three front squat sets. That was very taxing. Every rep was explosive and quick, but it was also pretty taxing. I took a 3 minute rest before beginning my pulls to recover some leg drive.

Clean Pulls:

218 x 3
218 x 3

Nothing much to report here. Second set felt better than the first.

Jerks from the rack:

138 x 2
163 x 2
193 x 2
220 x 2
220 x 2

Wrists are still a little sore. One thing I have trouble with on jerks is the whole fingertips thing. The bar rests in my fingertips and when I thrust it overhead, I am slightly afraid that I won't catch a heavy bar solidly. Perhaps that will come with time; I'll ask Yoda about that next session.

RDL:

220 x 5
220 x 5
220 x 5

Little bit of stretching, and done. Time- 55 minutes (+10 minutes if you count stretching and warmups). The only rest I took was pretty much changing the weight. Not bad.

And Iron Sport now sells Muscle Milk.

Sweet.
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Matt Frost
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Today's training.

It was a murderous 103 degrees out today. We did most of our training indoors.

Axle Clean & Press:

85 x 5 cleans, 5 presses.
151 x 5 clean, 5 presses.
195 x 5 cleans, 5 presses.
195 x 1 clean, 1 press.

Keeping it light and fast today. Last one was to demonstrate push-jerk technique for my training partner.

Farmer's Walk, 100' with one turn:

75 x 100'
175 x 100'
225 x 50'
225 x 50'

So, last run, I start off with a strong pickup and fast feet. Then, what do you know, some moron pulls into the parking lot and parks right next to the cone we were using as the turning point. GAAAH!! There's fucking fifty other spots to park in!! So, I turn the opposite way away from the cone, but my concentration is blown and I drop the implements. I start to regrip, but the handles are now wet from the sweat pouring down my arms. I have to dry off the handles and re-chalk, and then I pick up the implements and finish the run. After I dropped them the first time I looked at the guy as he got out of the car like, what the fuck, man? He just smiled, unsure of what to say. Hey asshat, how about "I'm sorry"? "Excuse me"? Fucking prick.

Stones to a 48" platform:

165 x warmup, shoulder, clean, press
165 x 5
242 x 3
276 x 1
308 x lap 3x, couldn't load it, though. I've done it before, I think I am not doing something right. But, this is the most I've lapped it and the pull is strong and almost east at this point.

Next contest is 6 weeks out. The events are axle clean & press (225), FW 100' distance (245/hand), truck pull (fire engine), tire medley (3 flips each 500/700/930), and stones (5 stones- 180, 225, 275, 300, 330 to a 48" platform).

My focus will be pretty much entirely on the axle, the stones, and the farmer's walk. The tire and truck pull I will do well at; my weight will give me an advantage. I will have to practice my foot/hand coordination at some point, though.

I will add ten pounds per week to the above axle and FW weights, up to 255 on the axle and 275 on the farmer's. That way the events will be easy come contest day.

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Matt Frost
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On a sadder note, someone I was best friends with about 9 years ago died yesterday.

He used to come to my shows to see my band, and eventually we became inseparable. He later joined the band I was in, and was quite a good bassist. Later on I found out that we were cousins by marriage- my uncle was married to his aunt.

Right before I moved to Pennsylvania he started getting into drugs in a bad way. He was always a drinker, and occasionally he smoked weed, but the more he smoked pot, the further apart we drifted. Eventually, I moved away, and only saw him once since then. I tried a couple times to get in touch but he never responded.

It's unknown at this time why he died, and, it's utterly irrelevant. A lot of feelings are stirred up inside of me right now- sadness, anger, and heartbreak for his family. There was a time when I loved him like the little brother I never had, and I'd have done anything for him, but Lord knows what he got into after we drifted apart. All I can think of is how intelligent he was, how full of life he used to be, and once the drugs took over, how much he changed. And to what kind of end- dead on the floor of your apartment for a whole day before anyone finds you.

I know I shouldn't judge. I shouldn't. It doesn't matter why. It's the ultimate end for all of us anyway.

But if it was drugs, and there is an afterlife, I am going to kick his ass when I buy the farm.
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Matt Frost
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Man, can't believe August is almost half over. Is it me or does time go faster the older you get? What a cruel fucking cosmic joke that is.

Anyway... I am not in the best of spirits right now. In fact, I am downright pissed off on several levels. The first being, my training did not go as planned tonight. The second, I am sick of gas prices going nowhere but up, rapidly. If this keeps up I will not be able to afford to keep going to Iron Sport. The third is that I feel completely unhealthy and I'm having so much trouble finding the willpower to be a diet nazi. I'm over 350 now and I just feel slow and fat.

Enough of that, though. I've been drowning myself in self-pity since I left the gym. Here's what I did tonight.

Snatches:

88 x 2
108 x 2
123 x 2
138 x 1
148 x 1
158 x 1
163 x 1
173 x 1
158 x 1
163 x 1
178 x 1. PR there, and at the time, that gave me some confidence.

Snatch Pulls:

183 x 3
183 x 3
183 x 3

Back Squat:

135 x 3
225 x 3
345 x 3
395 x 3
445 x 2
470 x 2
495 x fail
495 x fail.

I don't know what happened. I just fell apart. I picked up the weight firmly, controlled my descent nicely, got about 3-4" out of the hole and died on both attempts. I am so disappointed in myself right now. I should have been able to smoke this weight. After this I had no desire at all to finish my training, I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. But, I finished with RDL's.

RDL:

133 x 5
240 x 5
240 x 5
240 x 5

I thought of several reasons why I bombed. Perhaps I didn't rest enough in between sets. Perhaps I focused too much on my snatches and burned out my legs. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep, or food... perhaps I should have sucked down another energy drink. Hell, maybe I am still fatigued from the contest, maybe I need a break. All I know is that I fell apart when I should have broken barriers, and this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence going into Thursday where I have PR attempts on clean & jerk coming up. I wanted this so bad, and I just tanked.

Add that to the self-loathing I am going through right now in regards to being a total fatass and you have low self-esteem boy in full effect. I just hope I get some confidence back by Thursday. I didn't work my ass off through three months of this program only to come up short.

Yeah, I should be somewhat happy with the snatch, but I'm not. That felt easy. I wanted the PR where it fucking counted.
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Jamie
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Don't beat yourself up too badly, Matt. You'll come in and kill whatever attempts you make on the C&J on Thursday, and you have no reason to doubt yourself there. All the strength's there--just have to block everything else out and do it. Best of luck, bud, and nail that C&J!
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Frozenkilt
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All PRs count, Matt. Max strength stuff happens. Some days more than others. But technique moves take precision and learning and carry over a lot to athletic endeavors. Think about throwing. Hell, ask Steve about it. Ask him how many times he's thrown something to get a single PR. Technique takes true work.

As for the workout itself, use it. Use the success of the snatch. Use the failure of the squats. And on the next workout day, take that and use it for the clean and jerk because a max C&J is about 100x harder than a max squat.

As for the depression stuff, you've already proven that you can focus and work hard at a workout program. Put that same willpower into dropping the weight and discovering what else is bringing you down. It's not like you have to 'fix' everything at once, but inertia can be your friend as well as your enemy. If you're moving forward in one area, it's easier to move forward in other areas as well. Start with the weight loss and move into other stuff. Or start with other stuff and then move into the weight loss. But pick something and work on improving it. Everything else will get towed along behind it.

I don't want to sound like a cheerleader because life's hard. But then again, so is everything worth doing.

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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Thanks guys. I'm over it already. Slept like a rock last night. Honestly, I think I was just tired. I haven't been sleeping as much and it caught up to me.

What I need is a plan. Thursday is the last workout of this Oly program. Reggie is working like crazy at football camp so he hasn't been at the gym when I've been there. I have several areas I want to work on for improvement.

1. Bodyfat. I want to bring my fat down, but without losing too much lean mass. Sprints have been suggested but as I am 350 pounds, I am a little nervous; don't want to blow out a knee. How should I approach this? And I also need to do a better job with my eating. My trouble is inconsistency. I'll do great for a few days and then just fall off the wagon. Have to stop that.

2. Grip. It proved to be a weakness in my last contest when I failed to power clean the axle or move the 285 farmers' implements very far.

3. Chest. This is just more of an appearance thing but I just want to be thicker in the chest. You know, pecs instead of jiggly man-boobs.

I'll probably still work the Oly lifts and squats, but I'm also going to focus my assistance on grip and chest.
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Frozenkilt
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1. Fat loss, etc.

Sprints don't necessarily mean the running kind. There's also sprinting up hills or stairs and doing sprint intervals on a bike or cyclic stepper or the like. 20 seconds of flat out intensity followed by a minute of more 'casual' movement. Do like a 5-7 minute warmup, then 3 or 4 sets of sprints to start, then like a 4 or 5 minute cooldown. It'll improve your anaerobic endurance and help you lose weight, plus you don't have to do cardio forever. Mind you, instead of the 4 or 5 minute cooldown, you could add another 20 minutes of 'standard' cardio and it'd strip off faster.

2. Grip.

You're going to want to worry about supporting grip for strongman more than anything else. After deadlifts, do some timed holds with a double overhand grip. On event day, hit more cleans with a thickbar.

3. Chest stuff.

Do your normal pressing routines and then at the end, add in 3-5 sets of 10-12 of some dumbell work. Inclines, flat, swiss ball, whatever. Volume is your friend here. Remember to keep working the rear delts with rows, external rotations, face pulls, etc. It'll keep your joints happier.



Just my suggestions.

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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Thank you again, Sean.

It's really not a big rearrangement for me to add in those things. The only drag would be doing the sprints on cardio equipment because I haven't been going to my other gym thanks to high-as-fuck gas prices, so I will have to find some kind of substitute, like a building with lots of stairs or something.
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Frozenkilt
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No sweat. Hey Matt, drop me an email at slangfor@telus.net.

I've got a pretty decent ebook on weight loss if you're interested.

- Sean
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Jamie
First Moderator on the SDF; first to have moderator title revoked.
Just a thought, Matt. If you want to kill two birds with one stone, hit lots of sets of light farmer's walks. Just stick in the 200lb range and do 3-5 sets of 50-100' sprints.
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