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.
