Squat up to 515x1x3, 405x8
2" deficit pulls up to 515x1x3
Btn push press up to 275x1x3
Strict overhead press 185x5, 225x5, 245x2+1
Pullups 4x5
Great workout. With the exception of having upper today as well, I'm going to stick with this for a while and keep adding 10lbs a week to the squat and deadlift. When I top out on squat then I'll reset at 495 and deads will keep going until they top out as well. Going to be making some big progress here in the next few months. It's time to squat 600 again (for the first time in 4 years, lol).
Training#2 @ 1245p
56# wfd
*one turn x6, best 38
*full x18-20, best 42, avg 41-42
28# wfd x8, best 83, avg 81
Changed orbit angle and was getting very nice linear drive. Still a bit fatigued from the games and this mornings workout was a bit tough so numbers were low but made some progress here mentally and decent overall numbers given the circumstances.
Focus here was to stop casting so high, however, still keep a little push out of the back. A few things to take away. Load my left hard as the weight is moving behind me to my left side then KEEP the weight on my left until it's time to turn. Every time I shifted back onto my right my low point drifted way off and it messed up my finish causing me to jerk and the weight to go way off to the left side. Stay on my left leg in the back. Push the weight away from the field and continue to push it all the way around me for a nice long orbit out of the back. This set me up for a very fast first turn and a long time time push the the weight for the sprint. Also am able to sprint a bit harder without losing position. From there, its the same as usual. Catch high, push down and all the way through into the field. I like the progress made here today.
The bstone felt pretty awful. It was this triangle shaped rock that I just couldn't find a decent hold on it. No excuses when Jon O'Neil takes it 44+ ft though. I've really go to step up my game on braemar. Open was pretty awesome. I had never dreamed of winning ostone in a competition against Gillingham, Betz, O'Neil, Spencer, etc.. Some big stone guys showed up and I brought my game when I needed to. Slowed my entry way down so I could focus on the right leg push in the middle. Very happy with the direction my stones are giong right now.
Hwd was miserable. Looking back at the video I can tell I was casting way too high. I was losing all linear drive and having to counter hard to maintain balance at the finish instead of pushing it down and finishing into the field. Shot myself in the foot there, nobody else to blame. Spencer dropped a sweet 43 footer for the win and went 45+ in extras. He had the 56 moving fast, pretty sweet. Afterwards he informed me my orbit angle was way too high, checked out the video and I agreed. Switched it up on lwd and tried to get a better linear drive. Good 2nd and 3rd throws, but not what I was hoping for. Tore my ring finger callus off on my 3rd attempt. Still took a couple extras anyways and front fouled a really really big one. Oh well, next time.
Wob up next with a huge shadow over me that I needed to shake. Jon helped me a bit on warmups to let me know where the ball was peaking. Keeping my head up as the weight went behind me and also being more patient before exploding. After a couple warmups I felt I had a good trajectory. First up at 14ft I was extremely nervous. Took my toss and boom, way over with good accuracy. This was a huge lift off my chest. Cleared 15 and 16 on first attempts and had 3 very solid attempts at 17. 17 will fall for me this year. Ended up in a 4 way tie for 2nd. Betz smoked 17ft spinning for the win. Very impressive.
Heavy hammer felt amazing. Was doing a great job at keeping the ball on my right side for a very long push into the finish. Fastest I've ever had the heavy moving. First throw was about 1ft shy of a PR. 2nd and 3rd attempts were both PRs and then in extras a huge 6ft pr. Very very happy with how this is shaping up. On the light I got over anxious, tightened up and gassing too early. Rookie mistake. Need to relax, get long and be patient. Was really looking for 140 here today but best I could muster up was 132. Next time.
Up next was sheaf. I'm beginning to enjoy sheaf. I'm also learning that when I want to go 100% on sheaf I just need to relax and keep doing what I was doing. Every time I go for a big height I end up throwing shorter than when I was throwing at lower heights. Cleared 24 and missed my first at 27. Then an easy 27, 30 and 32 with no misses. Bar raised to 33 so Ryan Stewart could shoot for a PR, and a PR he got. Impressive toss and even better celebration. This was an awesome back and forth event. Ended up finishing 3rd. Spencer went out at 24. Francis said he "fluffed" it. Best line of the day.
Caber was pretty big, but not too big. I don't know if caber is my worst event or stones are. Caber is pretty miserable. I am getting better at it though. I REALLY need to get on this and start spending some time with mine. It's going to end up coming to the wire and I'll need a turn to get it done. Went into caber with a 1.5pt lead over Sean Betz for first. The stick was 19' 130lbs and it had just gotten extremely windy. My back had tightened up while waiting for the As to finish caber so I was feeling pretty miserable. All 3 picks felt great. It's that run and pull part afterwards that's terrible. Mustered up a 45, 70 and 75 which put me in 2nd for the event. I think Sean had two 75s and a 70 so he took first, though I really can't remember. This stick was turnable, so much so that Adam Brezina turned it. Mad props for man-handling that caber and even moreso for doing it in the 100mph winds we were getting. I wouldn't be surprised if Adam wound up with McKim's reputation one day with regards to caber. It was impressive seeing him turn it after all of us didn't.
Finished 1st overall by 1/2 point edging out Mr Betz. I had a great time throwing with everyone: Chad, Jeremy, Jon, Ryan, Sean, Beau and Spencer. Afterwards Jeremy, Jon, Ryan, Sean, Steve Conway and myself went out to "El Pinto" in Albuquerque for some mexican cuisine. While the food was delicious, if you have any kind of timeline to adhere, stay away from this place. Service was pretty awful and it took ages to get our checks, pay and leave. That was really the only downside of my entire trip. Much thanks to Steve for judging us all day, as well as the shaggers and markers that helped out. Thanks to Shawn Baker for having the pro class out and treating us well. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes that made this all run so smooth. I had a great time and am really looking forward to coming back next year.
Hats off to my fellow teammates of Stewart & Torgerson Strength Athletics. Both Adam Brezina and Jacob Nicol pulled off a sweet 1st place victory in their respective classes, A and LW. They're both shaping up to be awesome throwers and I look forward to sharing the field with them as Pros some day. Also a shout-out to my training partner Eddie Brown for keeping up in the A class and taking second behind Adam, on his heels all day. Some serious potential in his 6'5 280lb frame.
Thanks to my wife for being so supportive and taking care of our youngsters at home while giving me the opportunity to throw with the giants at ABQ. Thanks to SportKilt for the kilt that makes me look outrageously fantastic on the field and a huge thanks to Tod Stewart (1800ourlawyer.com) and his love for the sport for continuing to sponsor the team giving us the opportunity to travel around to these games and have a good time without friends, advancing our throwing carreer.
Up next: Costa Mesa. Throwing against Dan McKim, Jon O'Neil, Rusty Price and another athlete who's name slips my mind right now (and I'm too lazy to go look up). I'm really looking forward to this. I remember watching Rusty at my first A games in Ventura and I enjoyed throwing with him in Sacramento earlier this year. I'm a big fan of Dan McKim so throwing with him is going to be so awesome. Hopefully he'll let me pick his brain so I won't be as terrible at caber as I usually am. I'm expecting him to really push me to the next level and get some prs; I'm going to need them if I stand any kind of chance at the overall. After Costa I'm going to take a solid week of and do nothing but eat steak and ice cream. I haven't had a full deload since my MCL issue back in March before the Phoenix games so I'm in dire need. The plan at this time is to take Monday off, hit legs and throw Tuesday, then throw Wednesday and shut it down. Ice baths from Wednesday night on as well as lots of stretching and recovery work. Hoping to get a little time with each implement before shutting it down for the week.
Hang snatch up to 185x2x2
4" deficit deads 315x1x2, 405x1x5
--superset 30" box jump with deads, +50x3x5
Packed it up to go throw some hammer/wfd..................... and the field was being irrigated. F.
Training#2 @ 1230p
56# wfd and 15.5# ostone
Nothing special here, I don't remember exactly what I did. On ostone was focusing on slowing my entry down, getting my right foot down and pushing hard before my left even comes around. Finally starting to click. Only took about 5-6 throws with the stone but 3 of them were at 50.
Push press to 315x1, miss at 345
Strict ohp 205x5, 225x5, 245x3
Bench up to 365x1, add slingshot 315x15
Ring dips 3x10
Band pushdowns 3x20
Kind of bummed. 315 flew up on the push presses. Was really looking for that 345 but stopped about 6" before lockout. Next time. Slingshot reps feeling good, 365 raw felt pretty easy. Might actually be making progress on bench again. Ring dips felt great, this are really starting to come around. Triceps finally improving.
Hang cleans up to 235x3x5
Squat up to 505x1x3
4" deficit deads up to 505x1x4
Snatch grip rdl 315x6x3
Squat feeling good, pulls feeling even better.
Training#2 @ 4p
20# sheaf x20-30
Working on keeping my low point on my right side, slowing my cast down a little and getting a big push. Also playing with accuracy with regards to how far I need to step out. Hit the light post once, peaked in front of it a few times. Nothing big here.
Hammers felt good. Didn't really speed it up too much. Was just looking for a long wide orbit on both my left and right side on the 3rd wind. Then a long push into a strong left block. Lots of progress here lately. Looking for some big numbers soon.
Wfd was akward. Couldn't get into the proper position to really utilize that right side hip drive. I think I was rushing the stands and one turns. I relaxed a bit more on the fulls, focused on pushing the weight down and getting to the front and keeping my right turning. There is still a little pause but you can see the right hip slightly leading the throw. I think it's much more pronounced on the lwd, however, I didn't do lwd today. Took several throws just shy of 50ft with less effort than they other day so I'm making improvement. ABQ coming up next weekend.
Was thinking last night how I can throw wfd further. While I'm already throwing fair distances there is certainly room for improvement. So I started watching videos of some of the big throwers and paying attention to their finish in comparison to mine. Here's what I found:
Brebner lwd WR: 94+
MattV 90+ in training
Frasure hwd WR 49+
MattV lwd NA record 94+
What are we looking at? The right side hip driving the weight forward, leading it and loading the left for a huge block and push into the field. For the record, these just happened to be the vids I have saved on my phone. I watched Larry Brock and he doesn't do this on his weights. Very interesting. Vierra does it exceedingly well but I didn't have a good angle to show it. The pleasaton hwd vid on youtube shows a great angle. Anyways, moving on.
Compare the above finishes to mine..
45+ hwd
42+ hwd
87+ lwd
43+ hwd
86+ lwd
And the one throw I unknowingly nailed it happens to be my 89ft lwd training pr
In comparison, my finish position is awful. I've been using my upper body and dropping my hips to drive the ball to zero. I need to pivot my right foot, drive my knee forward/in and really push my right hip to lead the finish. Throwing wfd tomorrow along with everything else. Going to be doing some standing throws to drill the position, then some 1 turns to drill the position with an active finish and hopefully if all goes well try to implement it into a full throw. This is a very intersting mental breakthrough for me and I'm exciting to see what it yields. It's obvious you don't NEED this position to throw well, however, I want to drop bombz and to do so I've got to get my tech as efficient as possible in every position.
Hang snatch up to a couple singles at 205
Hang clean up to a couple doubles at 275
Deadlift up to 585x1, 635xmissx2, 585x1
RDL 405x5, 455x5, 505x3
Pullups 3x5
Feeling excessively run down this morning from low sleep. Regardless of getting in a few mins late, had a stellar workout. Still focusing more on positions on the power movements than anything but had some good pulls. I got video of th 205 and 275 but they're so unimpressive there's no point in posting them. Focus here is just to keep my arms long and relaxed for a big pop at the hips. Need to push my knees out and land in a power position vs just letting my knees come forward and being a bit off balance with my back arched, meh. Deads felt fantastic. Typically I would be pretty heated about missing the pulls, however, my pulls at 585 felt the best they have in months. Can definitely tell the hams are getting stronger. I'm very slow off the floor, that's where I've always had a lack in power and not doing deficits on a regular basis showed today. 585 was slow to my knees then I locked it out so fast the bar started bouncing. I missed the 635 about 3" off the floor on both of them. Going start getting religious with the deficit pulls since that's my weakness here. Will alternate betwen 2" and 4" deficit, need to ramp up the leg drive. RDLs afterwards felt great. Really killed my glutes and hams, awesome.
Training#2 @ 630a
49# wfd
*one turn x10-12, best 45, avg 43
*full x12-15, best 49, avg 48
Focus here was to keep the weight a bit closer to me on the one turns as the weight is falling down to its low point out of the back. This gave me a bit more height and less to change regarding the angle at the front. Also was focused on catching the weight back as far as I can, really reaching for it. Nothing huge, obviously as I'm pretty fatigued, but these felt pretty good. The fulls were good. Started off real slow out of the back with a relaxed sprint and then a moderate finish. Worked into slow out of the back, medium sprint, huge finish. Then had a bunch of terrible throws going fast out of the back, big sprint and big finish. Made the adjustment to go fast out of the back, relaxed and easy sprint with a good push to zero then into a huge finish. Last throw of the day was 49 feet and was probably the least effort out of all of them. Going to keep working this. If I can come out of the back fast, push it to zero and relax the sprint and that combined speed is faster than slow out of the back and a hard sprint (which subsequently puts me in an awful finish position due to pulling with my left side) then that's progress. I've got to work with my own faults and find a work around so this is the most logical for me. Eventually I'm hoping to be able to push the sprint faster and faster and go 100%-100%-100% out of the back sprint and finish. Thats where the monster throws are going to be at.
Training#3 @ 1230p
15.5# stone
lots of middle drill foot work, pauses into a power position throw
Back to basics. My entire problem with ostone comes from rushing the finish aka blowing past the power position. I need to be able to get my left leg down fast then turn it into a power position throw by continuing pushing my right hip through into my left side block. So, I went back to 180 footwork drills with a pause then a braemar throw. Going to keep these up. Hopefully won't take long before I've got my finish somewhere close to where I want it. Moving the right direction here by taking a step back. Should restructure fairly quickly. Taking tomorow off to recover. Seeing Iron Man 3 tonight. Saturday will be stone/wfd/hammer/wob then prep for ABQ next week. Onward ho!
Came down with a cold on friday so decided to take Sat, Sun & Mon off to heal up. Yesterday was supposed to be a big lower day, however, my 2 year old caught himself a wickid bug as well and had a fever most of Monday. I got up at 340a to head out to the gym and he woke up feeling awful so I got to lay down with my boy and make him feel better. Love that little guy. Hope he's feeling better soon. Threw some stone at lunch yesterday,
Training#1 @ 430a
Flat bench up to 315x3, add slingshot 365x1, 405x1, 425x1, 315x15
BTN jerks up to 275x2, 295x1, 315x1, 335x1, miss @ 365
Strict ohp 185x5, 205x5, 225x5
Dips bwx12, +45x10x2
Wide grip pushdowns 3x20
Was planning on an early morning stone sesh but the field was wet and I've got a killer meeting this afternoon so just went into work at 630. Bench felt ok, didn't really feel poppy on the raw stuff. Slingshot felt really good though. Triceps felt demolished after the set of 15 @ 315. BTN jerks are new for me. I like them but its hard to remind myself to drop under the bar instead of just pressing it out. Going to add these into my regular rotation with push presses every other week similar to how I have my deads/squats set up.
Training#2 @ 1130a
15.5# stone
*stand x6
*middle drill x6
*1/4 turn into south african x4
*full spin x6-8
I think one of the fulls went 53ft but I didn't see where it landed and my buddy wasn't sure. Otherwise I wasn't really paying attention to distances. Changed how I'm bringing my left leg around. Kicking it higher seems to get my right leg in better position for the push on the finish. Trying to be a bit more patient to get my hips forward. Just not carrying over in the fulls. Middle drills looking really good but I've got so much forward momentum on the fulls that I'm blowing right past the block and missing everything. Next throws session I'm going to focus more on the middle drill and getting into the position for the middle drill similar to the 1 turn drill and the full throw with the wfd. If I can make the full spin into a rolling start for that middle drill I think I'll really start making some progress. As always, need a better pull with my left arm but kind of putting that aside until my footwork comes together. Much better session than yesterday.
Took a few winds to warmup and loosen up. Feeling a cold coming on and pretty tired from training this week so wasn't expecting anything big. First couple tosses were in the high 1-teens. Focus here was pushing the ball with my right side from catch on the 3rd wind all the way around into the finish. No big pull, no hard yank, just a smooth push all the way through until my right side slammed into my left side. Big improvement here. Focused on pushing the ball way out to my right for a very wide finish. Lots of progress. Was semi-fast here but not close to top speed. Going to try to speed up a little bit more next week. Hopefully this cold goes away fast. Going to hit some wob and sheaf tomorrow the rest sunday and monday and back to training Tuesday. ABQ is coming up fast and then Costa Mesa the weekend after. Looking forward to a full week deload from everything after Costa Mesa then next comp will be Portland in July, followed by Enumclaw, then Pleasanton in late August. Season is shaping up well for me.
Hang snatch 135x5, 155x3, 185x3x2
Squat w/ power factor 185x2x2, 225x2x10, avg 3.33-3.46f/s w/occasional at 3.56f/s
BB shrugs 315x20x2, 315x30
BB yates rows 225x10, 315x6x2
Speed deads (pf died) 225x1x2, 315x1x8
30" box jumps 5x3 between last 5 sets of speed pulls
HS preacher curl 3x20
Wide grip pushdown 3x20
Squat getting faster despite dead legs. One more week and looking to bump the weight up. Didn't really take a lot of effort to maintain 3.33f/s but to get up in the 3.46-3.56 range I had to push harder. Training partner was consistently at 3.81, fast. Doing the box jumps between the deads felt pretty good. Need to build a box for my house so I can do this at home on my typical speed days. Finished up with some bro stuff to get my pump on before a day at the office. Looking to rip the arms off my dri-fit polo's pretty soon. Yeah boyy.
Training#2 @ 12p
18# shot
*stand x8-10
*spin x14-16
Just getting reps in on the stands. Trying to keep right shoulder back, drive right knee in and down, rotate upper, big block.
Spin.. started getting lower out of the back which loads my left leg a bit better for a good stretch to get me onto my right. This also puts my right in a better position to land and start pushing. Need to get my left leg around faster and around MORE. Falling off to my right side a lot today because left wasn't getting far enough around. Finally moving slow to fast here so that's more progress. Not a great practice but at least I learned a couple things.
Bench up to 345x3
Bench w/slingshot 365x5x2, 365x8
Behind the neck push press 225x5x3
Strict overhead press 225x4, 185x8, 185x6
Ring dips bwx5, bwx6x3
Band pushdowns 3x20
Training#2 @ 12p
49# wfd
*1 turn x 6
*full x10-12
28# wfd x6
Main focus here was to fix my issue drifting forward. Lessened the angle when the weight is going behind me and pivoted my left foot a bit more before turning. Easy fix. From here just focused on a good sprint and a big finish. Energy levels felt good but no had no pop from my legs. Overall a good session, despite low numbers.
Was going to throw a few wob when I got home after work but it was late, I was exhausted and shrimp alfredo sounded so much better. Alfredo > wob. Prolly no height 14 again but man, that alfredo was solid.
