Strongman Equipment (DIY)

Strongman training can get you jacked, like Mariusz Pudzianowski and Rob Orlando. Strongman is awesome. This is an indisputable fact. Anyone can do strongman training. Everyone should do strongman training.

1. You don't have to be strong - Strongman training will MAKE you strong
2. You don't have to be rich - You can make the equipment yourself, and most of it is super cheap
3. You don't even have to be a man - Women will benefit from strongman (strongperson?) training

This post will give a real quick overview of strongman equipment, how it is used, and a sketch of how you could make it yourself. As I write more in-depth articles about each topic, I'll link to them here.

2011 BBA Club Competition - Week 4 Workout - "The Sweet Chipper"

2011 BBA Club Competition - Week 4 Workout ("The Sweet Chipper"):

• 100 single-unders (jump rope)
• 50 double-unders (jump rope)
• 45 seconds handstand hold (against a wall)
• 40 yards walking lunges with 45 pound plate overhead
• 35 burpees
• 30 dips
• 25 push-ups (lift hands at bottom)
• 20 overhead squats (OHS) (95 pounds)
• 15 clean and jerks (115 pounds)
• 10 snatches (135 pounds)
• 5 man-makers (25 pound dumbbells)

Old-School Strength

Here's a  list of amazing old-school strength lifts and more:

1. Hack Squat - Deadlift with bar behind the legs
2. Sott's Press - press from bottom of squat
3. Single Leg Deadlift
4. Anderson Squat - Bottom-to-bottom squat

225 Clean

Today is a day which will live in infamy. I FINALLY Power Cleaned 225. A New Years goal. I feel pretty accomplished right now. A couple months ago this was hard to get off the floor. I'm pumped!

What to Eat

I love the "Talk To Me Johnnie" website.  Written by John Welbourn, NFL veteran and creator of CrossFit Football, this is an incredible blog with solid, no-bullshit articles about fitness and strength.  My favorite article is "Just Tell Me What To Eat..." where he dispenses diet advice handed down from "Chuck Norris" - hahaha.  There's a full list of what to eat, what to limit, and what to avoid.

The most basic element is to eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound you weigh.  John sums up the diet in another article:

This is about as basic as I can make it... for strength and good health…Eat meat, seafood, veggies, saturated and mono unsaturated fats, root veggies such as sweet potatoes and turnips, eggs, milk and cheese, limit fruit, nuts and seeds and avoid sugars, all grains and processed foods.

So there it is.  If you want to be strong and healthy, follow this plan.  Read the article: "Just Tell Me What To Eat..." then check out the rest of the site.  You won't be disappointed.

Smith Machines are the devil

"Squatting" in a Smith machine is an oxymoron. A squat cannot be performed on a Smith machine, as should be obvious from all previous discussion. Sorry. There is a gigantic difference between a machine that makes the bar path vertical, and a squat that is executed correctly enough to have a vertical bar path. Muscle and skeleton should do the job of keeping the bar path vertical, not grease fittings and floor bolts.

– Mark Rippetoe

Todays WOD

Find:

Max Height Box Jump

then...

Complete 7 rounds:

Handstand Holds for max time
10 Supine Ring Pull Ups

Post total max box jump & time of 7 rounds of handstand holds to comments.

Chance's WODs

Bethany
10 rounds of:
Max Reps Towel Pull ups
Max Reps Deadlift (275lbs)

Combine reps of both movements for a score for each round.
Your final score is your lowest scoring round.

Chance's best final score=10. TPU/DL= 7/3, 7/3, 6/4, 6/4, 6/4, 11/1, 8/2, 7/3, 6/4, 10/1 (1/18/2011)

Tommy Boy
For time:
100 Squats (135lbs)

Chance's best time= 12:20 (1/19/2011)

Bette Midler
5 rounds for time of:
10 Pull ups
20 Push ups
30 Squats

Roy
3 rounds for time of:
20 Windshield Wipers
20 Overhead Squats (95 lbs)

Billy
AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
5 Towel Pull Ups
10 Planche Push Ups
15 squats (135lbs)

Sammie
5 rounds for time:
50 Double Unders
30 Steps walking lunges
10 Push Ups

Chance's best time= 12 minutes (1/14/2011)

Bushwick Bill
3 rounds for time:
20 Burpees
20 Sit ups
20 Push ups
20 Squats

Boschee
For time:
Run 1 Mile
100 Dips
100 Pull ups
100 Overhead Squats (45lbs)
Run 1 Mile

Good Day, Sir
3 rounds for time of:
10 "Get Ups" (12 lb Medicine Ball)
10 Burpees
Partner carry the length of a Basketball court

"Get Ups" start in a lay-down position on back with the ball on your chest. From this position you stand up with the ball extended in front of you.

Good Day, Ma'am
3 rounds for time of:
10 Wall Climbs
100 Double Unders

Gross
3 rounds for time:
10 Cleans (185lbs)
10 Pull Ups

Everest
For time:
100 Mountain Climbers
50 Wall Climbs

Stumpy
For time:
30 Handstand Push Ups

Mindy
EMOTM for as long as possible of:
10 Push Ups

Sioux
For time:
Run 1 Mile
100 Double Unders
100 Box Jumps (24" Box)
100 Wall Ball Shots (12 lb ball)
Run 1 Mile

Snowcones!
AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
5 Strict Pull Ups (No kipping)
10 Clapping Push Ups
15 Pistols

Old Dog
3 rounds for time:
10 Dips
20 Push Ups
30 Bench Press (95lbs)
40 Presses (45lbs)

Scram
2 Rounds for time of:
Row 1000 meters
50 Push ups

Okay!
3 rounds for time of:
Run 1 Mile
100 Burpees

Jesus
AMRAP 33 Minutes:
3 Deadlifts (185lbs)
3 Cleans (185 lbs)
3 Front Squats (185 lbs)

Justin's Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Today I tried to catch up on missing the deadlift workout on Friday, so I did squats and deadlifts before my workout today. 

Squats: 5x4 @ 235, Deadlift 5x1 @ 315.

Workout: 5 rounds for time: 20 situps / 5 push jerks.

I used 115 pounds for the push jerks, my time was 6:58.

Good weekend?

I did "not so well" this weekend on my fitness goals.  We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at OPB&J, drank Kraken and Coke, and played Mega Man 2 all night.  And that was just Saturday.

On the happy side, I ran 5 miles in 46 minutes, practiced the 6-step, and played a lot of Just Dance 2 on the Wii.  Friday, I went out into the garage around 12:30pm with dreams of doing this workout:

Three rounds for time of:
6 Muscle-ups (but subbing 6 pull-ups and 6 ring dips)
30 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball (subbing 25 pound dumbbell thrusters)
12 Handstand push-ups
135 pound Power clean, 15 reps

I had to warm-up first, of course.  So I did two rounds of the classic CrossFit warm-up.  By the time I finished that, it was around 1pm and I had to leave for work by 2:30.  No problem.  I did the first set of pull-ups and dips, then hit my first snag: I needed to take the paper labels off my new dumbbells.  That was a bit frustrating with the clock running, but I did it as fast as I could.  Haste makes waste, so it took about five minutes.  Yikes.  After the thrusters, I figured I'd do my HSPUs with my chest against the wall, as was suggested in a video a while back.  So I got up there, did one, and was a bit worried what would happen if I failed a rep.  Since I don't have a lot of space to either side to get out, I would have to do a somersault.  I knew that was out immediately, so I decided to do them the more standard way -- back to the wall.  I had my Vibrams FiveFingers on, and by this time my toes are getting pretty cold.  I kicked up, did one more, and came down hard on my feet.  It hurt pretty bad, so I almost said "Fuck it" and quit right there.  But I decided I'd just sub 35-pound dumbbell press (top-to-top) for the HSPUs.  Oh, I had already done 3x3 C&J with 175 before this.  So the cleans were quite slow (as always).  Anyways, I did 2.5 rounds before I had to go get ready for work.  2.5 rounds in about 40 minutes.

I'm about to go max out on press and bench press, then try this workout: 15 minute AMRAP - 250m row/15 push-ups.  I'll post my time and new maxes later.

Max Press = 160, Max Bench = 240
AMRAP 15 of 250m rows/15 pushups = 5 rounds + 5 pushups.

-J. Sweet

WOD 1/13/2011

I did the card workout today in 40 minutes. ROUGH!

Clean and jerk 185# 3x3. . . The jerk was MUCH harder than expected.

Tried to clean 225. . . Failed 3 times but I was closer than I've ever been in my life!!!

Workout - Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Weighted pull-ups 7x1 (7 sets of 1)

Post load and body weight.

Don't forget to do your lifting before or after your workout - 5x3 80% Front Squats!

Workout - Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Five rounds for time of:
10 Wall climbs
10 Toes to bar
20 Box jumps, 24" box

For the wall climbs, start with your toes and chest on the deck, walk your feet up the wall until your chest touches the wall, and then descend back to the original position.

Workout - Monday, January 10, 2011

"Rankel"
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
225 pound Deadlift, 6 reps
7 Burpee pull-ups
10 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood
Run 200 meters

1/9/2011 WOD

"DT"

Five rounds for time of:
155 pound Deadlift, 12 reps
155 pound Hang power clean, 9 reps
155 pound Push jerk, 6 reps

WOD 1/6/2011

Chance's Dirty 30
For time:
Row 30 Calories
30 Cleans (135#)
30 Deadlifts (135#)
30 Squats (135#)
30 Pull ups
30 Presses (95lbs)
30 Double Unders
30 Steps Walking Lunges