Albeus51's Epic Journey to Become an Amazon Warrior

[Brovatar Korra]

12 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

I don't know and I was just lamenting this myself! There are so many kinds of leg press and so many companies, it is probably hard to say. 

 

 

Do you ever get lower back pain after leg press? I had some issues so I switched to single leg press. It purportedly helps you keep your hips stabilized and thus less strain on the lower back. Just curious!

 

12 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

That is going to be rough! I googled that yesterday after you said. It doesn't look hard but then if you go to do it, damn it sure is. But you are strong AF. Keep on trainin'! 

 

Haha thanks. I think it will be hard for everyone, so that makes me still worried but not AS worried.

 

Tuesday 5/23/17:

1. Strict Press 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x5, 105x5

Was going to go up higher, but 105 felt rough so decided to switch to push press, which is how I will be moving the log anyway. I've hit 115x5 strict press before, so was a little disappointed.

 

2. Push Press 105x5, 115x5, 125x5, 135 3x3

 

3. Lat Pulldowns 50x10, 60# 3x10

 

4. Face Pulls 30# 3x15

 

5. Kroc Rows 35# DB, 3x10

 

6. 3 way shoulder raises 7.5# DB, 3x10

 

 

[Jord]

11 hours ago, Brovatar Korra said:

 

Do you ever get lower back pain after leg press? I had some issues so I switched to single leg press. It purportedly helps you keep your hips stabilized and thus less strain on the lower back. Just curious!

 

 

I don't think so, but I haven't done the 45 degree incline leg press until now. Which type of leg press are you using? Before I started back squatting (pre-2016) I used the horizontal type and never had back pain with that one. But if I run into troubles while my arm heals I'll try single leg work.

 

That's why I'm doing leg press right now, I had surgery on my old dialysis access and I can't use my arm much. I know you had a nephrology rotation so I probably don't need to explain. I'll start squatting next week, but no bench/DL for another month. 

[Jord]

There's a new strongman video out from Rogue: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLMBAcjeGtKQYrUXSozSnzO2WhnAETE7Un&time_continue=1&v=vck32S27RmM 

[Brovatar Korra]

On 5/25/2017 at 0:11 PM, Taddea Zhaan said:

There's a new strongman video out from Rogue: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLMBAcjeGtKQYrUXSozSnzO2WhnAETE7Un&time_continue=1&v=vck32S27RmM 

 

This was really neat! I don't know much about the Basque region, much less their strongman scene!

 

I'm in the middle of packing up to move my house, I can't believe how much it is tiring me out. I'd say we are 50% packed up at this point. 

 

Today I did log press again practicing 130#. Did not train for this competition at all in the way I would have liked. I am not sure how car squat or crucifix hold is going to go. It is still going to be fun though! 

[Brovatar Korra]

GAH! I new it had been a while since I posted but I didn't realize it had been almost 2 months!

 

Things that happened:

- My husband and I moved to Iowa

- We sold our old house

- I took my licensing exam (NAPLEX)

- I started my new residency

- I found a new gym!

 

Lifting definitely took a back seat while we navigated through all the important life stuff. But now we're settling into a new routine and I'm super happy about my new gym!

- It has a monolift and 2 other squat racks

- It has DL bars, Texas bars, safety squat bars, hex trap bar, Duffalo bar

- It has 2 deadlift platforms and an OL platform

- It has tires, atlas stones, kegs, farmers handles, AND a yoke

 

I took a video because I was so excited!

 

So basically everything I could ask for, and it is very affordably priced, AND it is 15 min from my house, AND it is an "invitation only" strength gym so only awesome people lift there! I hit it off with the owner right away because we were both veterans and I was like "Oh sweet you have a rolling thunder!" And he was like "you know what a rolling thunder handle is? you're in"

 

Still easing back into a regular lifting routine - it will take at least a few weeks to get back to what I know I'm capable of.

But here's what I did today:

 

1. BP

45x10, 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125# 3 sets of 5

 

2. DL

95x5, 135x5, 185# 5 sets of 3

 

3. Snatch Drills (with 33#/15kg bar), everything 1 set of 5

front squats, hip power snatch, OH squat, OHP, below the knee power snatch

 

4. Lat pulldowns 40# 3x10

 

5. Bicep Curls 10# 3x10

 

Nothing special but I left the gym feeling better than when I walked in!

[Jord]

On 7/23/2017 at 8:34 PM, Brovatar Korra said:

GAH! I new it had been a while since I posted but I didn't realize it had been almost 2 months!

 

Things that happened:

- My husband and I moved to Iowa

- We sold our old house

- I took my licensing exam (NAPLEX)

- I started my new residency

- I found a new gym!

 

yay, so many congrats!

 

 

On 7/23/2017 at 8:34 PM, Brovatar Korra said:

 

Lifting definitely took a back seat while we navigated through all the important life stuff. But now we're settling into a new routine and I'm super happy about my new gym!

- It has a monolift and 2 other squat racks

- It has DL bars, Texas bars, safety squat bars, hex trap bar, Duffalo bar

- It has 2 deadlift platforms and an OL platform

- It has tires, atlas stones, kegs, farmers handles, AND a yoke

 

this sounds like the best gym eve, except I think there is a distinct lack of air conditioning? 

 

On 7/23/2017 at 8:34 PM, Brovatar Korra said:

 

 

So basically everything I could ask for, and it is very affordably priced, AND it is 15 min from my house, AND it is an "invitation only" strength gym so only awesome people lift there! I hit it off with the owner right away because we were both veterans and I was like "Oh sweet you have a rolling thunder!" And he was like "you know what a rolling thunder handle is? you're in"

 

of course they let you in! you are just that awesome. and for the record I don't know what a thunder handle is, so you have 100x more cool points than me. 

 

On 7/23/2017 at 8:34 PM, Brovatar Korra said:

 

Still easing back into a regular lifting routine - it will take at least a few weeks to get back to what I know I'm capable of.

But here's what I did today:

 

1. BP

45x10, 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 125# 3 sets of 5

 

2. DL

95x5, 135x5, 185# 5 sets of 3

 

3. Snatch Drills (with 33#/15kg bar), everything 1 set of 5

front squats, hip power snatch, OH squat, OHP, below the knee power snatch

 

4. Lat pulldowns 40# 3x10

 

5. Bicep Curls 10# 3x10

 

Nothing special but I left the gym feeling better than when I walked in!

 

That's the important thing! I have a feeling you will be back into the swing of things in no time. 

[Brovatar Korra]

10 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

this sounds like the best gym eve, except I think there is a distinct lack of air conditioning? 

 

UGH there is no AC except one giant fan in the ceiling...

 

10 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

of course they let you in! you are just that awesome. and for the record I don't know what a thunder handle is, so you have 100x more cool points than me. 

 

 

The handle freely rotates, which makes it a million times harder to hold on to!

 

Another gym day hooray! 07/26/17

 

Squats: worked up to 185 for about 5 sets of 3

OHP: worked up to 85 for 3 sets of 5

 

 

[Brovatar Korra]

Okay it looks like I made it back to NF just in time for another 4 week challenge.

 

[Jord]

On 9/9/2017 at 5:30 PM, Brovatar Korra said:

Okay it looks like I made it back to NF just in time for another 4 week challenge.

 

 

yassssss, yasssss, this is goooood 

[Vaereyes]

As another veteran doing Strongman conditioning with an eye on competing I'm totally following you!

[Brovatar Korra]

On 9/13/2017 at 4:49 PM, Vaereyes said:

As another veteran doing Strongman conditioning with an eye on competing I'm totally following you!

 

Awesome I'm super happy you are getting into the sport of strongman - AND a veteran? 

 

 

Since I'm actually doing a challenge again I'll probably be doing most of posting over here for the next few weeks: Brovatar Korra and the Temple of Gainz

[Brovatar Korra]

Too busy to participate in the challenge this time around. But I'm busy with good things! I have a job interview next Tuesday for a PGY2 residency, a year long program that is required for me to become a board certified psychiatric pharmacist.

 

I'm still competing  in a PL meet on Nov 19th. Training has not been an ideal prep cycle, but I'm sticking with it! I pulled 315# last weekend, so I'm pretty excited/hopeful at the meet to set a new personal best DL. Best bench in training is 175, but it felt pretty solid so I think maybe 185-190 is in the cards. I may have looked up the state record for my weight class and it is 187#, I think I'm gonna go for it.

 

Squat has been the hardest lift to recover, today I hit 270#. But I watched the video and I was just a hair shy of parallel. I think it would likely pass in a local meet, but I personally want to earn those white lights fair and square, so I might be conservative with my squat attempts.

 

Also squatted in my new singlet (Inzer) for the first time today. OMG my poor thighs get circulation cut off in the hole. I know they are designed that way purposefully, but oh man is it uncomfortable.

 

 

 

 

[Brovatar Korra]

Competition is this Sunday, T-6 days! What I would have preferred to do for my last 2 weeks of meet prep got really screwed up thanks to residency and preparing for a job interview on the fly. So I did a mock test over the weekend (probably not quite pushing to failure, maybe 98% of maximum effort), and I squatted 275, benched 195, and deadlifted 325.

325 deadlift is actually new lifetime PR! My 195 bench probably wasn't a long enough pause to pass in comp, but it felt surprisingly easy.

It was definitely a confidence booster, which I needed with my prep plans gone awry. I hope now I just didn't peak to early.