Death by Snoo Snoo

Except in this case, snoo snoo did not mean wild monkey sex with 40 foot tall secksy amazonian women(if you didnt get it, that means you A) dont watch Futurama and B) obviously arent cool). No, for me it meant death by Grip training. Almost every exercise i did today involved heavy grip training. This was the second day, 1st week of my 7 week competition training. Heres the play by play

Mild dynamic warm up.
230lb/hand Farmers carries
1X100' 27 seconds(one drop, grip gave out.
1X100' 13 seconds. Much better, very happy with that time

little break to go to 7-11 where i ran into a church group who was having a bad week. They were from Georgia and in one week they had sickness, death, money issues and to top it all off, one of the cars broke down and they couldnt figure out why. I tried to help them with some jumper cables and all that did is set my cables on fire. After i cleaned up that situation, i gave them some encouraging words and was on my way. I hope they get back to Georgia without any further hassle. Also spoke with a homeless Vet who had a son who was currently in Iraq. Seemed like a great guy. Unfortunatly, i spent my last dollar in cash i had on me on the slurpie i was holding in my hand. I felt like an ass.

Back to training
550lb tire
10 flips in 58 secs. I need to get at least 14 in one min. ill work on that
6 flips just to cool down

Tricep pushdowns with green band SS with 3 board tricep lockout bench
15 pushdown reps SS 225X10 reps X 2 sets
15 repsX SS 225X 15 reps X1

thick bar shrugs
135X20ish
225X20
315X15
315X15
315X12... trying to get the yokes standing up again.

Gotta cut this short, time to hit up some sonnys!

BW still 289

ahh the joys of contest training

So im 7 weeks out from the contest and i needed to get a baseline of what i can do right now. Yesterday I did the thick bar deads. I was feeling like shit so i didnt do anything else.

2" bar deads(sumo)
135X8
225X5
315X3
355X10

350 is my magic number. I was still pretty sick and kinda malnourished, so i think by the end of this training cycle i can get 14 or 15 with the adrenaline going!

Tomorrow is Farmer carries and maybe the tire to see where im at with that!

Central Florida Strongman Championship

This is taking place on Aug 9th, about 8 weeks from now, in Lakeland, FL. Its an NAS sactioned event and it will be my first competition. The events/weights for my catigory will be as follows

Log Press, Max weight for one rep
Thick bar(2 In) deadlifts. 350 lbs, max reps, apparently no time limit
Farmers walk. 230lb/hand 100 feet course, no turns, one drop allowed, 60 sec time limit
Yoke walk. 550lbs, 80ft course unlimited drops, 60 sec time limit
Tire flip. 500lb tire max reps, 60 sec time limit

seems like a prety well thought out event. Im happy there is no stones in this one b/c im laging in that event, but this will give me sometime to work on it.

This event, like i said, will be my first ever. I think im interested in competing in this sport, but i wont know untill i get a comp under my belt. I also would like to try my hand at a small time powerlifting event as well, but that is later down the line. For now, my next 7-8 weeks will be devoted to getting my BF% down, increasing my conditioning and training for these events.

Heres the link to the event here

Now onto this weeks

Saturday i did some serious GPP with some members of the softball team
was out doing batting and fielding practice for over 2 hours.... from 1030-1 on a hot ass humid summer day in florida. After that i was as drained as michael Jackson at a chuck e cheese lock-in( I shouldnt say that, I really like Mike. Besides, what if he reads this, can he sue me? Please dont sue me Michael)

Monday, i decided to skip camp to go to the cleawater Threashers game(they are a 1a farm team for the philies) It was 11 dollars for a ticket and all you can eat food from 6-9pm...Im pretty sure they snagged My buddy Mike and I's photo with a "do not serve" text underneath. We tore that place up!

But i did get a bench session in before hand, heres how it went

stretch/warm up -10 push ups/light lat pull down set and a pregame dump

BarXreps(working on tucking/belly up
135X5
225X3
335X1
added shirt(2ply) and wrist wraps
375X miss.. brought it down to damn near my neck... just a form error
375X1 much better
I stil didnt like my form though so instead of going heavy, i just dropped the weight on worked on form
315X6 or 7. Just working on tucking and bringing it to my belly. Ryan says im pressing it back to far so I have to work on that as well. Over all, it was a good bench session

Close grip Lat pull down
2X10-12 reps, increasing weight

Thick bar(2inch) Curls

BarXreps
65X12
95X10
115X6

then we went to wendys... good times, good times. Ryan is reverting to old ways and its good to see. Double stacks for all!

Lets see here

I dont know why I havent felt up to keep this updated, maybe b/c i think that no one looks at em, or maybe beacause im not feeling witty. Its not that I havent been training, thats for damn sure.

Lets see, last wednesday i did a little more shirt work. I know it was only 2 day rest but i was anxious to get into the 2ply. Heres how that went down

warm up
barXreps
135X5
225X3
315X1
added shirt, 2ply
375X1X2 pretty east
405X1 first time ive taken 405 to a touch in 3 years(in 05 i was on a cycle)

then did a DE finish, working on speed off the chest
225X2X6
225X4X1

after that did a few reps on a stupid chest press machine, it was gay so i stopped

Friday i went down and did some camp work with Elliot and the boys. Its started to rain pretty hardcore so we stayed inside.

big tire push press war(i cant really explain it, other than the 550 tire is standing up with one person on each side. each person pushes the tire, trying to get the other person to drop it)

2 rounds, 60 seconds each( i got paired with elliot.. joy)

then a prowler push/keg carry medely Prowler loaded with 140 lbs, 150lb keg

10 yard push SS 10 yard keg carryX 5. approx 90 sec break in between

ab circuit

that was that, decent little session.

ill post more later and a post about the upcoming strongman comp and my feelings towards it.

First shirted bench session

I went down to the gym today with my gear and was super stoked to get in it!

started of with the 1 ply inzer just to work on getting the groove

started out with the raw side
barX12
135X6
225X3
315X1
put on the shirt!
375X1 3 board
375X1 2 board
405X1 3 board
405X1 2 board
405X1 manpon (pretty much a 1/2board when compressed)

I had a great time, made every lift and look forward to doing some more!

then did the camp
Pullups 4X5 reps blue band
SS with resisted pushups
3X10 reps and 1 set with an 80lb sandbag on my back 1X10reps

mini band front/overhead raises
3X15 reps
SS with DB curl and press
45X6/arm
55X5/arm X 2

ab circuit

It was storming like a Mofo down in st pete on monday. It was like 9pm at 530pm. It was pretty gnarly, but it got me out of having to do an extensive dynamic warm up, which really tears me up.

I need a job!

camp: lower

went down to the hood and trained with the camp

extensive dynamic warm up including 100 jumping jacks

step ups
30lb DB'sX8/leg
40lb chainX7/leg
80lb chainX6/leg

ab wheel
3setsX5 reps

Oly Squats
135X6
185X5
225X5
275X3
SS with
DB SL deads
50lb DBX8
80lb DBX7X2

thick rope hang for time... 20 grueling mean seconds.

no sled work... had to leave, but i deff got some hardcore cardio in b/c of the intensity

News in my life

I recently wrote an article on apathy and self responsibility... Just messing around really. I didnt do it for a purpose, but i ended up showing it to elliot, ryan and a few others. After reading it, they encouraged me to submit it to a few different training websites to be published. So after carefully thinking of a title, and doing a once over for grammar and spelling, i submited the article to Elitefts.com, HulseStrength.com and Criticlebench.com. ill let you know when or if they are published.

Im going to chicago on friday to see an old good friend who moved away last may. I miss him alot and i cant wait to have a couple beers with him and BUllshit. Hes a very successful entrepreneur and i could learn alot from him. Besides that, nothing else is happening, still looking for a job that will pay me what im worth. Ill find it soon enough and when i do, things will get going and and ill get out of my rut.

good things come to those......who bust thier ass and go get it!

Dick Measuring: Full body

Sunday we went down to the hood on an off day to meet some friends that normally train at a comercial gym. They had never been down to the compound, so we invited them out. Ryan and I used to train with these guys back in 03 and 04 so there was some old times competition. While waiting for them, i started out with some Chain bench
Bench with 80lbs of chain
barX8
135X8
185X6

8 fips on the 500 lbs tire to warm up


then they showed up and decided they wanted to deadlift. I agreed and away we went.
135X6
225X5
405X5 no sraps (PR)
455X 1/2
455X miss Ryan and Brandon both got it and i had to try again. My grip was fine, i just couldnt lock it out. time to train harder

then they did some bent rows, but i didnt want any of that, so i skipped it

onto Light high box squats with the SSbar
barX10
135X8
225X6

then finished up with the prowler
90lbs waited
2 20yard sprints
4 20 yard sprints.. done after that! shouldnt have been doing that.

Overall, good times. Love training with strong people with good attitudes!

My work capacity really sucks
Donnie

Low day plus sled

When i showed up today, i didnt know what i was gonna do. Eliiot said he was gonna dead off the 6" blocks so i said eh, fuck it, ill do it.

minimal stretching b/c i didnt feel like it
Conv deadlift off 6" bricks
135X6
225X6
315X5,, much easier than last week
315X5

Safety squat bar high box squats(about 18" box)
BarX15
135X12
225X8
275X5.. easy stuff, still working on my form and im doing great. Ill be up in the 450 raw squat in no time.

sled work(sled plus 45 lb plate)
6 40 yard interval sprints, with walkback rests. time 440.. 30 seconds less than monday. next time ill add in 2 more sprints. Finsihed with a "subway and back(about 240 yards)" sled drag(forward there and backwards back)and a cool down 150 yard drag.

Happy with my gains already! weigh ins on monday!

Monday training

went to the compound to do some ME work. Got there and Elliot was roughed up, so we didnt really go heavy, just did some deload shit and GPP

Med(index finger 2"s from smooth) grip bench with 80 lbs of chain
135X8
185X6
185X10
185X4

Upward cable flies
3 setsX8 reps

Lat Pulldown
170X15
190X12
210X10

now this is the important part of the day.
Im working on a sled program that is going to help me shed 20 lbs in 6 weeks. Heres how it started
sled+45lbs Interval training. 40yard sprint draging sled followed by a 40 yard walk back, then directly into the next sprint, etc for 6 reps. I did that in 5 mins and 10 secs. Took a 2 min breather and did 2 250-300yard sled drags to finish it off. When i get the sprints down under 5 mins, im going to add two more for a total of 8. This is going to be done 3 times a week, plus whatever tire sled dragging i do at home on my off days. I think this should get my heart rate up to a target rate quickly and keep it up for long enough to burn a bunch of fat Of course im coupling it with an improved diet(not perfect, but improved. My lifts for a while are just going to be basic ME lifts to maintain strength as well as possible while im shedding this weight

I ran it by elliot and he thinks that it should work, but he said the only way to find out is to try, so thats what im gonna do. ill keep anyone whos interested updated.

Saturday fun

Went to the comercial gym today to do some assistance work with Mike

Started with some DB bent rows
80X10/arm
115X8/arm
125X6/armX2 sets
Fried my grip

Tricep push downs
Entire stack +30lb dumbellX10.. sloppy, too heavy
entire stackX12
entire stack + 10lb DBX10

Rope Hammer curls
120X10
140X10
150X8

Barbell ab wheel
2X5 reps, fully extended.. rough stuff.

Post workout, Moes!

RIP eating what i want!!!!!!!!

Squats/deads

Wednesday was squat/dead day. Im still working on my form for wide stance squat so i stuck with light weight high rep

high box with mini purple bands around my knees, no plates under feet
barX15
135X15
135X12
135X15

Conv deads standing on 4" brick(bar 1" above feet)!
225X8
275X6
315X5

Grappler
135X8
185X8
185X7

Rope Hammer curls
3 setsX10 reps

Prowler sprints with 90 lbs of weight
12 20 yard trips( one low handle supperseted with one high handle)

worst prowler hangover of life. I had a headache all night and it took me about 30 mins to be able to think or walk normal. rough stuff

Closs Grip Bench and other random upper body stuff

Monday was upper body day. started with a mild stretching session, no more than 5 mins, then went straight into close grip bench(index finger on inside of gripping)

BarX12
135X8
225X6
275X3
275X3
315X1 with sligh assist
225X10

incline dumbell
90X6
90X7
90X6

band assist pullups
BWX10X3sets

smithplexs
3setsX12 reps Green band

weighted sled 45lbs 600 yards

Catching up

had alot goin on in the past few weeks, i havent had much time to update this

went to Ohio for the elite seminar, check out the review and pics here

still training for the potential strongman compin august, although i do want to dabble in some powerlifting some time this year, once i get my form issues corrected.

did some training today
ME squats... working on keeping my knees out and chest up

5 mins on tredmill

BarX5
135X5
add parallel box
185X5
225X5
275X5
315X3
345X2(with some assitance at sticking point)

cut if off there

Rack pulls
135X6
225X5
315X4
405X3
455X3PR

heres a vid of the final rack pull set


pimp hard, train harder

Raw Bench

On Monday i did a bench press session, this time i didnt have a training partner but i haqd a spotter when i needed it. I didnt go to 1rm. i worked up to about 85% of my 1rm.

BarX reps
135X10
185X5
225X5
275X3
295X3
315X2
225X14

then i did KB(52lb) dumbell cleans (from ground to overhead lockout)
3setsX 6 reps/arm

then SS twin purple band standing rows *bands attached to powerrack P/U bar with KB(52lb) bicpe curls
3X15 reps SS 3X 8reps/arm

still fat, still not strong enough

Back to heavy training

So i took about 10-12 days off of heavy training. I did some stuff, but not worth me typing up. Box jumps, pushups situps slead drags etc.

Monday i did some DE squats and step ups. worked up to 205 for 12 sets of 2.

Today we did some heavy bench
barXreos
135X8
185X6
225X3
added 2 board
275X3
315X1
335X1
365X1PR
375X1PR again

then did a tricep killer.
all done in one big set(bar did not rouch the rack)
225X5fullROM+225X5 2board+225X13 3board

then did what Joey Smith deamed as "Smith plexs"
1 setsX reps with purple band
2 setsX reps with green band

Heres a video of it being performed


Good to back training heavy. I miss benching.
-Donnie

Training this week(deload)

As the title says, it was a delaod week, and a well needed one at that.

Monday i did ME drinking. I maxed out @ seven(7) 32oz Green coors lights, Two(2) Green Miller lites and one(1) non green miller lite, which i was highly pissed about. How is a place that calls themselves "tilted kilt" not gonna have green beer on st patricks day. fuckin Micks.

I did most of my training at a gym called O'keefes.

Wednesday I we did a light lower body
Front squats
barX8
135X7
185X5
185X3, bar still rolls on my shoulders

SL deads
185X8X3sets

GHR 1X6, just messing around.

Thursday was fun. Started out with an extensive dynamic warmup then went into box jumps

i started with the 18" box did 2 sets of 8 jumps
then worked up to a 21" pedistole for 2 sets
then was gonna try the 32" platform but i feared being knocked on my ass by the beam that was close to my head, so i decided against that
But i did go out to my truck(F150 with a body lift and big all terain tires) and jumped onto the tailgate. I put some cinder blocks down to jump off of and did that 3 times. It measured out to about 30"s with the cinderblocks, 40+ without.

then we did some random bush jumping, which was funny as hell. Elliot was clearing a big ass bush.

Then i did some speed jumps on the 16" box
2 setsX 12 jumps in less than 25 seconds or so.

Tried to do a couple kneeling jumps just to finish me off, but on my first one i barely made it so i figured id just stop there.

Today was an accessory day and i put up some serious volume.

Started with average incline DB press.
55X10
75X8
95X8
110X8
120X6--PR ... I probably could have done the 125's but i was already getting looks from my loud grunting and shit. I dont like comercial gyms, did i meantion that before?

then straight bar curls (bar weights 30 or 35)
65X10
85X8
95X8
115X6
125X5

then BW dips, which i hate
BWX10X2 sets
BWX8X1

then Fat Vbar lat pulldowns
150ishXreps
180X10
200X8
220X6

this ones a weird one. I use the pussy squater( the machine that sits on a pivot and you squat up and down with the weight sitting on your shoulder like a safety squat bar) and do standing shoulder press with it.
2 platesX12
2 plates/2 25'sX10
4 platesX10

then did some time on the tred at a slow trot.
followed it up with Mike and I doing up the cicis pizza, Oh yeah!

EVERY MAN SHOULD BE A STRONGMAN, WEAK SHOULDNT BE AN OPTION-Elliot Hulse
-Donnie

training on 3/13 amd 3/14

Last Thurs we did farmers again.

i did 2 trips with handles+ 4plates/hand
then another trip with handles+ 4plates and 2 10's/hand

then we pulled/pushed the van.

2X50 ft pull with no brake resistance/ 2X50 ft push with no brake
1X50 ft pull with medium brake reistance/ 1X50 ft push with no brake
1X50 ft pull with hard brake resistance.... that was freaking hard!

then blue(hard) band tricep pushdowns
3 sets X res

Then did the wrist roller with 70 lbs on it 3 times each way, which finished off my hands quite nicely.

Friday i did a accessory day but i dont remember what i did, and its not really important. I know some curls were involved and some shoulder presses were also involved.. oh well

2nd week of 3 week SM reg.

started out with some static stretching with a bit of dynamics.

conv deads.
barX6
135X5
225X5
315X3
405X1
435X1 new PR

front squats....me=akward
135X5
135X7
135X5
135X6

DB step ups
75/handX8/legX2
75/hand/6/leg

weighted crunches,
repsX3 sets

then i did some upper back work with the broom by sweeping out the entire gym. yeah that had t burn a couple calories and ill call it cardio... yaaaaaaaaay