The Art Of Being Consistent

I'm going to be honest, this past 4 to 6 weeks, my mind has been on anything but training. Life took over and prioritising that has been the main focus. However I have not missed a training session despite it.

Now this isn't me bragging about how great I am at multi tasking, managing my time and my ability to be consistent and making sure I get the sessions in anyway. This thought is leading to something else. And consistency is the driver, but not as you may think.

What has allowed me to continue being consistent through a stressful time in my life, a time that will most likely continue being stressful for some period isn't my ability to time manage, it's not my ability to multi task and it's certainly not my ability to be emotionally dead inside and plow through regardless.

It is my ability to be consistent and lean on the habits i've already created, but more specifically my ability to say no to the things that might destroy my consistency, rather than just 'being consistent'.

Thats just a little food for thought and there's more on that in this months email that will go out on the 1st May.

You can sign up for that here if you like: https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/mailing-list-sign-up

But right now I'm going to talk less about me and more about the guys I coach and what they've been doing!

Lets start with Joe, the Joe that Marie sometimes mistakes for George F... There's a full back story to this but you'll have to join my team to get it. Anyway, Joe has been making big steps in the Wrapped Squat taking 230kg x5 in his first session in wraps and building that to 250kg x5 over the course of 3 session. The original goal was 240kg to 245kg and to take his best triple in sleeves for a set of 5 and we surpassed that. It'll be exciting to see where we go with this and how I develop as someone who can wrap a knee for squats.

New Skills

Before Joe, I'd never wrapped a knee, but as a coach you should always be willing to learn new skills and add strings to your bow. Joe is already a great squatter, squatting 265kg in sleeves. He's also a willing participant, not only in his own endeavour in wraps, but also in my development (and he's very patient when I get the wrap wrong from time to time). For me, it's important to always be looking to acquire new skills, whether you're a coach or an athlete and me and Joe are developing together on this and thats an exciting thing as a coach.

We have one PB for Taj this month in the C&J at 65kg for a new 1RM. Taj has struggled in the Snatch recently, but this confirms that we're still moving in the right direction. You don't hit a PB C&J if you're not getting stronger or better in some way, so while he may be struggling in the Snatch right now, we can rest assured that, if we continue to work hard, it will turn round. Weightlifting can be an odd and frustrating sport at times.

Want to join our team of one to one clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OneToOneCoachingConsultation

We recently change the way we approach James training and it feels like it's working a treat with PBs in the Axle Split Jerk of 125kg, Deadlift of 220kg x2, BTN Snatch Grip Press of 95kg x5 and 100kg x3, Snatch Grip Stiff Leg Deadlift of 155kg x3, Snatch + TAG Snatch at 58kg x2, BTN Jerk of 110kg x3 (He would say 4, but I'm not giving it) and the all important Circus DB at 64kg x1 and then 64kg x2.

Changing the approach

Now, when I say we changed our approach, that doesn't mean I've completely changed and overhauled how I program, thats still me. It still has my style and most importantly, it works, that doesn't mean it's perfect for everyone though.

James needed a little more freedom to make some of his own decisions on load. Make it his choice to go up or to stay at the prescribed weights and making these changes isn't based on anything physiological, because my programming style and preferences certainly illicit a physiological response already, if they didn't this blog wouldn't exist.

To put it short, the altered approach just fits his personality better and If I can bend my programming to fit his personality better, thats inevitably more progress down the road as there's been research that shows that buy in to a trainign style or program can have more of an effect on progress than the minutiae of the set and rep schemes selected.

As I say, the changes I make to my style are specifically for James and when I write his program and i'll not go into the details because that might take a while, but in essence it's 5% here, an extra set there, volume matching a different rep scheme that works better for him and deciding where to give him more freedom... Nothing complex.

Thats the beauty of personalised training programs and giving a coach the time they need to work things out.

Big Jo has had a great training cycle so far and at the point of writing this, he's gunning for a new 1RM Axle Clean & Press in hopefully about 6 hours time. But thats not the only thing he's made progress on, he's hit a PB Good Morning at 150kg x8 and PB Farmers Walk at 130kg x30m (10m x3) in 26 seconds. He's also hit a new 1RM Monster DB at 72kg which fed into him hitting, like James, a 64kg Circus DB first for 1 Rep and then for a double.

Circus DB

The Circus DB is a big part of the training a lot of the Strongmen I coach have at the minute. It's in UKNS UK Finals for reps and I have 4 people competing, James and Jo are two of them. I'm not going to write an intricate technique guide on the thing, but here's some 3 key points for technique and a couple of assistance movements you can use.

Key Points:

1. Shift the hips so the centre of the Dumbbell is over your centre of mass

2. Move the elbow under the Dumbbell in the rack position

3. Stare that fucker down! Don't take your eyes off it once it's on the shoulder and in the rack.

Favourite Assistance:

1. BTN Snatch Grip Push Press - Builds leg drive in the dip

2. DB Windmill - Builds trunk strength, shoulder stability and confidence in the receive position

3. Brace Press - Builds raw, unilateral shoulder strength

Marie has had a stressful old time recently, but that hasn't stopped her making progress in preparation for two competitions in May. Marie has hit PBs in the Muscle snatch of 36kg, Low Hang Power Clean + Tall Clean Jerk at 47kg and then taking it up to 50kg shortly after, TAG Snatch at 46kg x2 (which is +4kg on where we started) and then taking it higher a couple of weeks later to 47kg x2, Clean + FS + Jerk at 58kg x1 beating her all time max for this which was 52kg, Muscle Snatch + Hang Muscle Snatch + Hang Snatch of 35kg. All this while losing weight and being 10kg lighter than when she started being coached!

Bodyweight and lifting

A quick one here and it's not what you think. It's important to understand what losing or gaining weight will do to your training. A couple of kilos here and there won't change things, but if like Marie you're embarking on longer term weightloss that amounts to more than a couple of kilos, it's important to keep things in perspective. One of the things I discussed with Marie earlier this week was that it's been a while since a PB in the classic Snatch, Clean & Jerk and Squat, but Marie being the type of person who has her head screwed on, pointed out herself that all of her all time PBs in those movements were done at a bodyweight that was 10kg heavier and that in training we're generally only a couple of kilos off those all time PBs in the Snatch and C&J. And while we've not hit that elusive 100kg Squat yet, we have added a kilo or two while losing weight.

The same goes for gaining weight, a conversation I recently had with Sam was that his rep performance isn't increasing in his Dips & Pullups and hovering around the 5 to 8 mark. I pointed out that we've been actively trying to gain weight and that he is heavier now. If rep performance in those movements is maintaining, that is the definition of getting stronger as he's shifting more weight per rep.

Progress comes in many forms, not just weight on the bar or extra reps and because of that, the details matter as it can define how you perceive things and then your attitude towards them.

Want to merge online programming with in person coaching and join our team of hybrid clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OneToOneCoachingConsultation

Little Jo has had an amazing month hitting All time PBs in the Deadlift of 73kg & 75kg, Bench Press of 46kg x3 & 49.5kg x1, Squat of 62kg x3 & Seated OHP of 31.5kg x1 & 32kg x1. Jo's done all this while losing around 6kg (over 10% of her bodyweight) in the process.

Jo is one of the few clients that I have that doesn't compete in a strength sport and her goal is to be jacked and strong. This makes her program really fun to write as there are no constraints in terms of movements that have to be performed in competition.

While we were disappointed not to take home all timePBs in the Squat and Bench, Liam P performed brilliantly at the ABPU Newcastle qualifier taking home 1st in the U100 Raw category and hitting a 7.5kg Deadlift PB at 240kg.

Lifting with injury

In the run up to this competition Liam had issues with both his bicep and hip which limited our progress in the Squat and Bench Press, and while we didn't take home any all time PBs, we were still within touching distance of them (within 5kg on the Squat and 2.5kg on the Bench) which is promising. But what is most promising is Liams mindset change towards having niggles, injuries and limitations.

Whether it was basketball or lifting, Liam throughout his athletic career hasn't had much luck when it comes to injury and that physical history can plague people on a psychological level too. When I first started coaching Liam all those years ago, the slightest niggle would become his sole focus, it would be a signal (that in his head) he was injured and often stop him lifting, but over the course of time we've managed to flick a switch and change the story. Yes, Liam still gets niggles (like us all) but it doesn't signal injury to him any more, which allows us effectively train around them while managing his level of discomfort.

Pain doesn't always injury, sometimes it's just something to manage.

Not much to say about Olivia right now except that the collar bone is healed and at the time of writing, she is on the first week of her Strongwoman journey and I think i'm as excited as she is. Not just because I've helped bring the sport to someone else, but quite selfishly to because it's a chance for me to see if I can navigate a womans journey in strongman as well as I can navigate the mens. Olivia started her journey by hitting a new 5RM in the Deadlift of 110kg.

Scott competed at the McGregor Games in April, his second ever strongman competition and first ever stone competition. It was a great learning experience for him and he'll be back.

Wil is flying! 3 full body sessions a week on limited time and he's came away with New 1RMs in the Squat of 165kg, 170kg and 175kg as well as in the Deadlift of 176.5kg, yes, I know thats a weird number. He's also hit new 5RMs in the Reverse lunge of 120kg which is huge as well as 220kg in the hip thrust.

Wil is genuinely the hardest worker in the room and sometimes the skill is in holding him back a little so he leaves something in the tank.Just like with James and the individualisations he gets, thats something that I do specific to Wil, not everyone needs holding back.

Want to join our team of online clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OnlineCoachingConsultation

Savage Strength School has been quiet with the easter holidays, but we're back in full swing and expect to see some great things in May!

Our Kids sessions runs two nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce kids to lifting in a safe, supportive and educative environment.

Want to join Savage Strength School?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthSchool

It's getting close to the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup and Jack is flying on our weightlifting club program! He's hit 3RMs in the Low Hang Snatch at 80kg and Low Hang Clean at 100kg, 2RMs in the Snatch + TAG Snatch at 85kg & C&J (2+1) at 110kg and a 1RM in the Jerk off the blocks at 118kg. Everything is trending nicely in the right direction and he'll be ready for competition on the 26th of May!

Each movement feeds the next

If you know weightlifting, you'll know the similarities and the differences between a Low Hang position and a Touch and Go... It's around about an inch. And while the movements changed, they were similar enough that 3RMs fed into the 2RMs. The low hangs were great to build work capacity and positional strength, the Snatch + TAG Snatch was great for allowing us to go heavier while getting a similar stimulus and more exposure off the floor. It doesn't have to be rocket science, but your movement progressions have to be planned just like your rep, set and volume schemes.

There's no set way to do this, but a useful way I approach things is to ask,

1. What variation could I use to build strength in the main lift.

2. I then ask my self, how can I alter that variation to increase work capacity or a quality that feeds into the variation above.

In this case I ended up with:

Phase 1: Low Hang Snatch for tripless (Positional Strength & Work Capacity)

Phase 2: Snatch + TAG Snatch for doubles (More specific that in phase 1, but maintains the qualities trained while allowing higher loads).

Phase 3: Snatch for Singles (We'll look to maintain the qualities trained in phase 1 & 2 while contextualising them into a full Snatch)

Our Weightlifting Club runs multiple nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce people to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting while giving them the opportunity to compete if they wish to do that.

Want to join our Weightlifting Club?

Click the link below to book a session. https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthWeightliftingClub

Our Strongman Club has been working hard, and the PBs will come at the end of this training cycle... In 10 days time from the time of writing, so i'll have more to report in May!

Our Strongman Club runs multiple nights a week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and has a history of taking people from the level of complete beginner to British Finalist.

Want to Join our Strongman Club?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthStrongmanClub 

In our Online Weightlifting Team, Karen has had a great month hitting ne 1RMs in the Snatch at 49kg and Clean at 63kg. That 50kg Snatch isn't far away!

Our Online Weightlifting Team follows the British Weightlifting competition calendar with a focus on the bigger national competitions and the regional ones in the North East of England and is perfect for those competing in that area and for those looking for guidance and a periodised and focussed program.

Want to Join our Online Weightlifting Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

Our Online Strongman Team is gearing up for UKNS UK Finals where Jonny is in real contention to take the crown of UKs Strongest U105 Natural Man. I'm pretty sure he's hit many PBs this training cycle and i'd love him to send them to me, but the one that I do have is in the Deadlift where he took 260kg x6. Jonny, if you're reading, send me those videos!

Oli is also gearing up for UKNS UK Finals and this time he's coming in without back issues! He also needs to be better at sending PBs across!

Our Online Strongman Team follows the UK Natural Competition Calendar with room to stop off and compete through a few other competitions too. It’s perfect for those competing on the circuit and for beginners who don’t plan to compete yet but want a coaches guidance and a periodised plan.

Want to Join our Online Strongman Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Thats it, as usual i've typed for hours so i'll finish this with something short.

All of the PBs in this blog are in some way caused by consistency, but don't think about consistency as plowing through regardless of whats going on, that doesn't work long term. Reframe it and think of consistency as not doing the things that cause inconsistency.

Once you've done that, i'd like you to think of between 1 to 3 things that cause you to be inconsistent when inconsistency arises and how to limit them.

And if you indeed feel compelled to, put them in the comments below this blog.

Until next time

Adam

A Tri-Force of Contraindications

While it's been shown that injuries largely can't really be predicted, people hang their hat on that it's bad movement patterns largely causing injury.

However research has shown that a bigger predictor of injury when it comes to training is lack of sleep, stress and being under fed...

Now, if you play video games, in of Zelda terms, I'm basically a walking the Tri-force of injury risk. I'm currently very stressed, very under slept and i'm months into a big weight cut that has left me feeling very depleted and with the strength of a new born kitten.

It's no wonder some historical back issues have arisen in the past couple of weeks really, but the show must go on and I've been adapting my own training since to fit what I CAN achieve.

Sometimes thats just the way it goes and not every training cycle is a monster in terms of progression. But thats my current situation and my clients have had way more success than me in the past month, so lets take a look at what they've been up to.

Joe made some great progress in the movements we've targeted over the past training cycle taking the Log, one of his weak events, for a new max at 140kg and hitting PBs in the Squat of 240kg x3 and 265kg x1. Joe hasn't been competing recently, despite my nagging, however I still base his training cycles off the Natural Strongman competition season to give us a timeline to achieve things in.

Goals & timelines

It's great just being able to meander around training, taking as long as it needs for things to happen and the idea of giving yourself less time to achieve something may be daunting, but having a goal that is time restricted is often great for progress.

SMART goals are a common way to measure if a goal is a 'good' goal or not, and the last letter 'T' for time-bound is an important one. In Joes case, he is a Natural Strongman so using the main competitions within the Natural Strongman competition season (whether he is competing or not) to tick the time-bound box just seems logical.

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

Some of those are more important than others, but if you're not ticking those boxes when setting your targets, you're probably going to struggle to get to where you want.

Paul, yes Paul, I know we have gone our separate ways, but there's a crossover in the last week between writing this and the end of the month, so he hit a final couple of PBs after I wrote the last blog before he left. The Squat is the big one taking 145kg x1 for a new 1RM and to perfect depth which was a great way to sign off. He also hit an RDL PB of 130kg x5.

Sam hit a PB i the Football Bar Shoulder Press of 67.5kg x1, more about that below.

The right movement

I'll start off with, if you do a strength sport, unfortunately you're going to have to perform the movements required to competition standard whether they fit you or not, however if you don't, you shouldn't feel bound by the Barbell.

Sam is a golfer and came to me to improve his strength as there's a correlation between how far you can hit the ball and how good a golfer you are. Historically Sam had numerous shoulder dislocations in the past and was always apprehensive about shoulder pressing. The Barbell always caused problems at lockout for Sam, but just because traditional tools cause issues, that doesn't mean we can't find a way.

Pressing heavy over head is valuable in terms of function and for me it was important we found a press that Sam could use to drive overhead strength. Enter the Football Bar!

We coupled the neutral grip that allowed Sam to press more comfortably with a seated position to make the movement more stable and in time we've been building his overhead strength to levels he's not been to before.

Magically Sam is now confident in his shoulder and can press good weight overhead!

In situations like Sams, it's rarely that you can't and it's about finding the implements that are both loadable and that allow you to get into good positions to drive strength.

Taj seems to have a natural aptitude in the Jerk, it's by far his best lift, even while owning the longest arms on earth. Taj hit 2 PBs in the Jerk off Blocks. One at 68kg and one at 70kg, which we'll call a training make.

Training makes

Taj is not like Sam, Taj is a weightlifter and as such must Snatch, Clean & Jerk on a barbell, this also means he has to be held to a certain standard when lifting.

Taj had a slight re-bend in his arms when he caught the 70kg Jerk. Not enough to discount it, but enough to question if it would pass in competition and it's often beneficial to make notes on things like that as it saves disappointment when competition comes round and you don't hit what you did in training.

Want to join our team of one to one clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OneToOneCoachingConsultation

I forgot to chat about a couple of competitions last month so I have everyones UKNS performance to catch up on too, James' is the first. First off James has hit PBs in the C&J of 80kg and 90kg. A little long term side quest for James is to learn Olympic Weightlifting and apply it to his strongman and he's well on the way.

In January James competed in UKNS Englands Strongest Junior weighing in at around 112kg. He did great, put on a clinic on the Axle breaking out the Power Jerk for the first time in competition while also qualifying for UKNS UK Finals...

6 weeks later, James competed at BNSF Englands in the U90s category (His goal, not mine). That was no easy task and he was very depleted which lead to a disappointing performance, however there are silver linings.

In 18 months James has dropped from around 130 / 135kg down to around a bout 93 to 94kg walking round weight making him a much more health person, we've also hit Push Press and Deadlift PBs in that time which is a miracle given the weight-loss, but now it's time for James to pick a weight category and stick to it to allow us to make some real progress.

Managing a decline

When you're dealing with severe weight-loss to make weight for a competition, you're essentially managing a decline where progress is unlikely and the goal is to minimise any strength loss, it also makes quantifying progress difficult because inevitably you're probably going to lose some strength.

In my view, unless you're a high level athlete dropping weight to increase overall competitiveness, the best thing to do is to pick a weight category and stick to it and around it when out of competition.

It'll make training and competition performance more predictable while also allowing you to more effectively track progress. A 5kg increase in the deadlift at the same bodyweight is a great metric for progress. Your deadlift being up and down after a yo-yoing up and down in weight for different competitions isn't.

Big Jo also competed at UKNS Englands Strongest Junior in January taking 2nd place and booking his place in the UK Finals. Jo put in a stellar performance and while we still identified areas to improve on, Jo was ultimately beaten to first by 1 second on the frame hold, thats how close it was...Jo will be looking for redemption at UK Finals in May. Speaking of UK Finals, Jo took the first steps to dominating the Stone Over Yoke event taking 140kg for a set of 5 and a new 5RM.

Marie hit PBs now on just about everything except the Snatch & Clean and thats what we're turning our attention too now that the Yorkshire Open and Nixon Rowell is in our sights. In the meantime, Marie hit an all time PB in the Block Jerk at 66kg, the most she's ever put overhead while also hitting PBs in the Muscle Snatch of 33kg and 34kg. I wanted to increase Maries weightlifting frequency without increasing fatigue, which is why the muscle snatch is in her program now. It's limited in the load you can use so you can take it to a max basically weekly. It also promotes a vertical extension of the legs and keeping the bar close, two vital parts of weightlifting, while going relatively heavy, but without to much additional fatigue... Win, win, win.

Xena is still managing the knee but the good days seem to outweigh the bad days now which is a big positive. A Below the Knee Muscle Snatch double at 34kg and a BTN Snatch Grip Press 1RM at 30kg are the PBs Xena was blessed with this month. Both are movements I identified that were not knee dependant so we have been able to push them every session regardless of the state of the knee.

Little Jo, who is very different to Big Jo, has had a stormer of a month! hitting rep PBs in all of her targeted lifts! In the Bench Press Jo hit a 5RM of 41kg and a 3RM of 44kg. In the Deadlift she hit a 5RM of 68kg and a 4RM of 70kg. And in the Squat she has hit 5RMs of 53kg, 55kg and a 3RM of 57kg. Lovely work and all very positive in terms of hitting new 1RMs!

Liam P is prepping, like me for the ABPU Newcastle Qualifier in April and it's all looking very promising in terms of hitting some PBs. Liam has hit rep PBs in both the Bench Press and the Deadlift, taking 110kg x3 and 115kg x2 in the Bench Press and 220kg and 225kg x3 in the Deadlift. Liams max Bench and Deadlift are 122.5 and 232.5 respectively and we'll be looking to beat those on 6th April.

Wil has had a great month of training hitting rep maxes in the Bench Press of 85kg x3, Squat of 155kg and 162kg x3 and Deadlift of 165kg x5. Wil is on for some great new 1RMs and we do this with very reduced training sessions due to the time constraints of Wils job. How do we do this?

Training with time constraints

Now, i'll start by saying that everyone will look different based on their training preference or sport and their own specific challenges, but for Wil I built his personal program like this.

Wil used to train 4 times a week but currently only has time to train 3 days a week because of work, so that is constraint number 1 and my personal preference for programming 3 training sessions a week is full body sessions.

Constraint number 2 was that he only has around 75mins to train, not a lot of time for full body sessions, but doable.

So that was our starting point. 3 full body sessions per week that took no more than 75mins to complete.

So, how did I break it down?

In each full body session we'd be looking to Squat, Push & Pull some way, but performing compounds take time and a traditional 5x5 style program would probably take too long, so that was out. With 75mins we probably did have space in there for 1 compound per session though.

So I approached it the way I would usually select movements in a program after I've selected the main compound...

1. Main Compound

2. Assistance compound that builds the main compound

3. Isolation movement that builds the assistance compound

I did that for all 3 of Wils main compounds, those being the Squat, Bench & Deadlift and then I split them off and put one on each of his 3 days.

For example Day 1 became:

Main Compound - Squat

Assistance Compound for the Bench - Incline DB Press

Isolation Compound for the Deadlift - Nordic Curls

Quick bit of cardio

Then I rinsed and repeated for the other 2 days with the other movements and viola,It ticks the boxes while also providing great progress and gives us somewhere to go.

If the session was too long, those 3 movements would be giant set-ed with slightly reduced loads. If we found we had plenty of time left we could add some extra isolation movements in the form of a giant set for movement number 3. But it provided a start point.

Is it optimal? No, but sub optimal doesn't mean no progress and as a coach, you're always better off giving somebody something thats less than optimal, but very achievable rather than an unachievable gold standard.

And as you'll see in my monthly email this month, 80% or results will often come from around 20% of the work if you buy into Paretos law.

Want to join our team of online clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OnlineCoachingConsultation

I've not been tracking maxes in Savage Strength School as it largely doesn't matter for kids as long as they're moving well and enjoying it. The kids were introduced to and did perform some brilliant Power Jerks on Friday just gone though as part of a Pressing complex.

Tuesdays are Olympic Weightlifting and Fridays are Strength & Conditioning based.

Our Kids sessions runs two nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce kids to lifting in a safe, supportive and educative environment.

Want to join Savage Strength School?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthSchool

Nixon Rowell prep is fully underway in our Olympic Weightlifting Club, everyone has basically hit new volume PBs in the Snatch, Clean & Jerk (5x5 @80% in those movements will do that) and we're now moving to some heavy lifts in the coming block of work!

Our Weightlifting Club runs multiple nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce people to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting while giving them the opportunity to compete if they wish to do that.

Want to join our Weightlifting Club?

Click the link below to book a session. https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthWeightliftingClub

In our Strongman Club, Cori has been flying hitting new 1RMs in the Squat at 130kg, Log Press at 78kg, Deadlift at 175kg. I've also pushed the 15 year old on stones this month and he's taken 100kg x5 and 110kg x3 for new rep maxes (both to 51 inches).

George F competed at BNSF Englands Strongest Man on the 17th March and came 8th. George put in his usual stellar performance on the Deadlift and moving events but a zero Log let him down costing him about 8 points and a bump up to 3rd or 4th place. Many people zeroed that log, about half the field in fact, but a zero is a zero in terms of points and in strongman that can be disastrous in terms of placings. Silver linings though, George is back to full health following his back issues at UKNS Brits last year and now that he's settled into his new roll as a father too, we can push on.

Our Strongman Club runs multiple nights a week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and has a history of taking people from the level of complete beginner to British Finalist.

Want to Join our Strongman Club?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthStrongmanClub 

In our Online Weightlifting Team, Karen has been flying hitting 3RMs in the Low Hang Snatch of 45kg and Low Hang C&J of 53kg x3+1 with both only being around 3 or 4 kg below her maxes off the floor. That strength work we put so much time into is now paying off!

Our Online Weightlifting Team follows the British Weightlifting competition calendar with a focus on the bigger national competitions and the regional ones in the North East of England and is perfect for those competing in that area and for those looking for guidance and a periodised and focussed program.

Want to Join our Online Weightlifting Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

And finally, in our Online Strongman Team, Jonny has been flying in prep for UKNS UK Finals. Jonny has hit plenty of volume PBs on the Deadlift, but the most impressive was the 290kg double he took on the sly. He also smoked a 145kg double in the Axle Push Press, a number that is 5kg above his '1RM'.

Lastly we get to Oli, who I should have spoke about last month. In January Oli, like Jo and James, competed at UKNS Englands Strongest Man and qualified for UK Finals in May. He did all this with a back that he put out while sneezing in bed and that was less than healthy and very painful. He even took a win in the frame hold. Olis performance in that competition was inspiring, the grit he showed during each event and the smiles he cracked despite the pain he was in. What a competitor!

Our Online Strongman Team follows the UK Natural Competition Calendar with room to stop off and compete through a few other competitions too. It’s perfect for those competing on the circuit and for beginners who don’t plan to compete yet but want a coaches guidance and a periodised plan.

Want to Join our Online Strongman Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Reet! Thats it, I'm onto 3 hours on this now and I'm done typing. Hopefully there's some value for you to take away from this outside blog of just the PBs i've written.

Until next time

Adam

Rent Is Due

It's currently 7:30am on Tuesday 27th of February as I start to write this blog and I'm currently very tired. In fact, I can't remember the last day I had off from training. I lift weights 4 times a week and play Basketball the other 3 thats on top of dieting down to 110kg, a weight I've not been since Sunday 15th March 2020 according to My Fitness Pal.

But J.J. Watt once said 'Success is not owned, it is rented and that rent is due everyday.' and thats the stance I'm taking. I'm just here paying my rent daily.

And thats exactly what the guys below have been doing, they've been paying their rent daily and because of that they've been making progress, so without further ado, I'll start with Paul.

I've coached Paul since the 1st September 2020, he's a long time client, but as life moves forward, it's unfortunately it's time to go our separate ways. Thats means since January our goal has been to finish strong... And strong Paul has finished. I'll leave this as a list, but Paul has hit PBs in just about everything, the highlight being the Deadlift which, from a technical level, we've worked so hard on, often to much frustration.

• Front Squat - 110kg x2 (Matches 1RM)

• Axle Push Press - 90kg x3

• Bench - 120kg x3

• Deadlift 180kg x3

• Front Squat - 112kg x1

• Deadlift - 185 x3

• Front Squat - 115kg x1

• Front Squat - 118kg x1

• Axle Push Press - 95kg x1

• Squat - 142.5kg x1

• Push Press - 100kg x1

• Deadlift - 205kg x1

• Deadlift 210kg x1

• Bench Press - 130kg x1

• Front Squat - 111kg x2

I wish Paul the best of luck going forwards while he saves to buy a house and get away to Australia to see some family and who knows, in the future hopefully our paths will meet again.

We'll move on to Sam, who is in fact Paul’s friend and was introduced to me by Paul around 3 months ago. Maybe Sam was Paul’s parting gift to me... or maybe it was motivation for Paul because it certainly seems like they've been competing because Sam is also getting his PBs in list form 😂.

• RDL - 110kg x8

• Zombie Front Squat - 65kg x5

• Deadlift (Hookgrip) - 135kg x3

• Deadlift - 163kg x1

• Deadlift 165kg x1

• Squat - 113kg x1

• Bench Press - 80kg x1

• Deadlift - 167.5kg x1

• Zombie Front Squat - 73kg x3

• Squat - 120kg x1

• Bench Press - 82.5kg x1

• Deadlift - 170kg x1

Sam is a great Golfer who lifts because he wan't to be better at golf and struggled to buy into some of the 'sport specific' movements that other coaches had him do, and he's made great progress in his first 3 months with me. He's hit all time PBs in the Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press while we also discovered a way for him to finally press, pain free and with decent load after years of nagging shoulder issues.

My take on 'sport specific'

So, first off, when you lift because your sport is lifting, then you have to lift the way you would in competition. That’s your training and your specificity. That should go without saying.

But when you're lifting to enrich the sport that you do, thats different and while a lot of coaches get caught up in trying to replicate the movements of the sport in the gym (in the name of being specific), for the most part I feel like thats a fools errand and time wasted that could be used doing something more productive that will actually move the needle.

Nothing is as specific as the sport you play, that in itself makes everything in the gym general. If you get generally strong and play your sport often enough with intent, guess what… that extra strength or explosively will start to crossover.

Now, this whole piece lacks a load of nuance that is outside the scope of this blog. There are points of diminishing returns when it comes to levels of strength and that’s different for each sport. Muscles firing fast matters and I'm not poo pooing using more specific exercises to develop specific physical qualities, but don't miss the wood for the trees when it comes to getting strong for a sport.

Squat, Press, Hinge, Lunge, Pull, Rotate and Carry. Do some olympic lifts if you have the skill. Look to move the weight fast and do SOME supplemental work that you might call more specific if there's a definite hole you need to fill.

I could go on, but I'll stop there… you get the idea.

Want to join our team of one to one clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OneToOneCoachingConsultation

Jenesis hit some nice PBs in the Front Squat of 57kg and 60kg. The goal for Jenesis recently has been to improve posture (she does A LOT of sitting at work) and we've used the Pause Front Squat to do that. As a by product, her Front Squat has gone up.

Marie is still making great progress with her overhead game and has hit a new 3RM on Push Press of 49kg, 2RMs on the Jerk of 61kg and 62kg and has also hit a Back Squat PB of 98kg. It's getting to about the time where we're going to look to put it all together.

Work your weaknesses or double down on your strengths?.. Do Both!

Working your weaknesses is a well known thing in lifting, bring up the weak link and you bring up the whole system.

Where people often fall short though is they only focus on the weakness and end up forgetting what actually makes them good at what they do, and as the saying goes, ‘use it or lose it’.

If you forget to work on your strengths in lieu of working on your weakness, the thing that makes you good can diminish and where does that leave you. In Marie’s case her Jerk was weak, but she had great leg strength in the Squat. We've continued working the Squat while bringing up the Jerk and now she's in a great place to put everything together.

I said this the other day, I can't remember who too...

'You can't train everything, but if you work on your weaknesses while also continuing to train your strengths you'll not be in a bad spot. The stuff in the middle will generally take care of itself.'

While there's the usual ups and downs of recovery, Xena’s knee is largely getting better. We're lowering the box on her box squats and the bad days are currently outweighed by the good! I know she's frustrated, but it's progress! Xena has hit 3 & 2RMs in The BTN Snatch Grip Press of 28kg and 29kg and in the Below the Knee Muscle Snatch of 32kg and 33kg.

The reason we're using those two movements is because they require no or limited knee bend so we can be consistent and push them regardless of the day Xenas knee is having while also treating some goals of improving overall upper body strength while improving how her ability to keep the bar close in the turnover and how she navigates the bar around the knee in the pull.

Little Jo has been flying recently maintaining a low bodyweight while also hitting PBs in just about everything. Bench Press is flying with 5RMs of 39kg x5 and 40kg x6 (she took the extra rep just because. The Squat is flying with 5RMs at 48.5kg and 51kg and the Deadlift is flying with 5RMs of 64kg and 66kg. Everything has clicked for Jo this training cycle and we're going to capitalise on it. Happy days!

Liam is prepping for his second Powerlifting competition and looking to build on the numbers he hit last time and honestly, I'm very optimistic! We've hit all time 5RMs in all the Powerlifting movements and to comp standard. On his way to a 475kg 5RM total Liam has hit a 160kg x5 Squat and then built on it and hit a 165kg x3 to match his 3RM. He's also hit 105kg x5 Pause Bench Press along with a 107.5kg x5 TAG Bench Press which we'll be looking to take Paused soon along with big 5RMs in the Deadlift of 205kg followed by 210kg a week later.

These numbers give us plenty reasons to be optimistic for Liam’s upcoming competition and estimate his competition 1RM total at 549kg. Liam has already qualified for the Powerlifting Games and will likely not qualify for Brits this year, but I'm exited to see what he does on the platform in five and a half weeks time and move the needle on his competition total.

The fallacy of estimated maxes

While I've used estimated 1RMs based off Liams 5RMs above to illustrate his progress, I'm always wary of using them in training or adjusting the maxes used for percentage work based on them.

Yes, they're great to get a general idea of what you could do, but they're not always accurate and the further away you get from a 1RM, the less accurate they are. I find I perpetually underperform based off my 5RMs and I have people who over perform based off them. Everyones slightly different.

I guess what I'm saying is, even if you've taken your 1RM for a double or a triple, if thats the most you've ever done, then use that number as your max for percentage work until you actually beat it. Undershooting for a couple of weeks is better than grinding yourself into the ground based on a number you've not hit yet.

On his way to Competing in his first Strongman competition, Scott hit PBs in the Push Press of 70kg x3 and Log Press of 70kg and 75kg x1.

West Coast’s Strongest was a learning curve for Scott, amongst a great experience were some disappointments, but thats the point of the early competitions, to learn and it's usually the disappointments that teach you the most. The next one is a Mcgregor stone competition in April and we'll be looking to put some of our learnings into that.

Want to join our team of online clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OnlineCoachingConsultation

The days that Savage Strength School runs are changing and our Monday session is moving to a Tuesday. That means the sessions will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4pm, so if your children think it would be cool to get a little more athletic while learning to lift a barbell, booking them onto a session might be something you want to do.

Our Kids sessions runs two nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce kids to lifting in a safe, supportive and educative environment.

Want to join Savage Strength School?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthSchool

In our Weightlifting Club it's goodbye to Jen too. Jen is another long term client who I've coached since October 2020. Again it's life circumstances that mean that Jen is going in a different direction and her fair well gift was a new 1RM Push Press at 55kg.

Saying goodbye and moving on

At first I found it odd that in the same month, my two longest term clients are saying farewell.

Both have been with me for around 3 and a half years and to say goodbye to both of them in the same month feels a little surreal. They've been mainstays of Savage Strength and in many many videos, but that’s life and sometimes the way it falls.

Saying goodbye on good terms is important to me, as a coach I will sometimes say things people don't want to hear, but ultimately I'm there to enrich their lives, so I'm pleased to be saying goodbye to Jen and Paul on good terms, with great some progress made, some things learned and with some great memories.

They're welcome back anytime so who knows, if I've done a good enough job they may come back when their circumstance allows.

Our Weightlifting Club runs multiple nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce people to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting while giving them the opportunity to compete if they wish to do that.

Want to join our Weightlifting Club?

Click the link below to book a session. https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthWeightliftingClub

In the Strongman Club Cori hit some nice PBs taking the 110kg Stone for a ride to the 51in platform while hitting a rep PB of 9 reps at 152.5kg on the Deadlift. Not bad for a 15 year old.

George Forster is prepping for BNSF Englands Qualifier and hit a nice Beltless Deadlift PB of 280kg in the run up. Most of the events in BNSF are for reps so it was nice to get an opportunity to move the needle on something heavy.

The problem with maxes in Strongman

People put so much stock into maxes in strongman, and if you're just starting out getting stronger and moving the needle on those 1RMs is the way forward, but often once you're at a high level the events in up coming competitions may not be heavy enough to warrant training them for a max. This means you're often at the mercy of the competition and getting stronger may not benefit you as much as improving specific energy systems specific to the event so you often have to be patient and take your opportunities. I'll talk about this more when I get too Jonny but the general rule is, if the event is 80% or less of your max, you need to train the other aspects outside of just strength. If it is 82.5% of your max or high, then just getting stronger is probably the best route.

Our Strongman Club runs multiple nights a week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and has a history of taking people from the level of complete beginner to British Finalist.

Want to Join our Strongman Club?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthStrongmanClub 

In our Online Weightlifting Team Karen has had a great month hitting PBs in the Front Squat of 60kg x3, 63kg x2 & 68kg x1 while also hitting PBs in the Snatch of 47kg followed by 48kg and finishing off with a new 1RM C&J of 56kg after making a breakthrough in the Jerk.

The right cue

First off I'll start with ‘a cue is nothing without the correct lesson attached to it’. But often there are multiple cues the same lesson can be attached too and it's about finding the wording or phrasing that resonates with the athlete.

For Karen that phrasing was 'heave and drop.'

A deficiency that Karen often deals with is an inactive upper body which contributes to a lot of lifts crashing on her. I feel like using 'heave' instead of 'drive' was the difference and got the idea of using the upper body earlier in the lift.

Our Online Weightlifting Team follows the British Weightlifting competition calendar with a focus on the bigger national competitions and the regional ones in the North East of England and is perfect for those competing in that area and for those looking for guidance and a periodised and focussed program.

Want to Join our Online Weightlifting Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

Our Online Strongman Team are prepping for a few competitions including BNSF Scotlands on the 10th March, BNSF Englands on the 17th March as well as Englands Strongest U105 on the 7th of April. As such, that makes programming for a group program tricky... but I'm canny good and there's still plenty of PBs been had.

Couple Dean & Gillian got a pair of PBs between them with Dean taking a PB Front Squat of 150kg & Gillian taking a new 1RM Axle Clean and Press of 70kg.

Jonny has had a nice January and a great off season increasing his strict log to 125kg for a new 1RM, taking a 140kg Push Press for a triple and matching his 1RM in the process, The big one for Jonny was finally getting that 300kg Stiff Bar Deadlift ticked off, and in true Jonny fashion he did it by taking 302.5kg.

I told you I'd chat more about maxes and Strongman

Like I said, the 300kg has been along time coming for Jonny and something we've wanted to tick off for a while. We've known he's capable, we just needed the right time to go for it. Either in competition, or at a time when it wouldn't get in the way of any competition prep.

Jonny is a high level strongman who finished 3rd in the U105 category at last years worlds, with that comes higher prioritisation of training and taking personal goals often has to be timed right.

Mark is Prepping for BNSF Scotlands and we're looking for a god showing and more progress to build on his performance at UKNS Scotlands.

Our Online Strongman Team follows the UK Natural Competition Calendar with room to stop off and compete through a few other competitions too. It’s perfect for those competing on the circuit and for beginners who don’t plan to compete yet but want a coaches guidance and a periodised plan.

Want to Join our Online Strongman Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Ernest Hemingway once said…

'There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.'

Until next time

Adam

Track it!

With doing the last one early because of Christmas, it’s been a little while since i’ve done one of these! That’s means there’s lots of PBs to get through and even some first competition results of the year so lets get straight to it.

In our one to ones, Paul has been flying high hitting PBs in the Bench Press of 127.5 x1 and 117.5 x3. He’s also hit 3RMs in the Deadlift at 175kg, Front Squat of 105kg and Squat of 130kg (although he’s going to repeat his Squat 3RM as I wasn’t there and I feel he had questionable depth.

Standards

Standards are a weird thing, if you compete then your standards should be competition standards, but if you don’t what are they? Sure you could just adhere to the competition standards, but then why? What if your training goals or body doesn’t fit to those standards and it’s more trouble than it’s worth trying to adhere to them?

This is a conversation I had with Paul earlier in the month. He will be repeating his 3RM Squat because I know he can hit an unquestionable depth, however he doesn’t compete so on his Deadlift we discussed maybe making his main variation a low block (Bar raised literally an inch) due to it improving the quality and the consistency of his deadlift and in particular his start position. We also discussed why it doesn’t matter if he both, doesn’t need to pause on the bench and why it doesn’t matter if his bum comes off the pad a little on max attempts.

He’s gen pop who follows a predominantly powerlifting style split to get strong, but he’s not a powerlifter, so why do Powerlifting rules apply? I’d be interested to hear others thoughts on this.

Sam has been flying high and most things at the minute are PBs which is obviously a nice place to be. He’s hit PBs in the Deadlift of 145kg x5, 155kg x3 & 160kg x2 along with PBs in the Zombie Front Squat and Squat of 60kg x5 and 105kg x3. His Bench Press is flying hitting a new 1RM of 77.5kg and he also hit a new 8RM on RDLs of 105kg.

How do I know his Bench Press is flying? The you take a weight you’ve never done before for a whirl and are disappointed you didn’t get 2 or 3 through losing your line rather than a strength issue, you know you’re flying.

Want to join our team of one to one clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OneToOneCoachingConsultation

Our hybrid athletes have had a great month and i’m going to start with James who hit a wealth of PBs, especially overhead, in the run up to UKNS. James hit Axle Push Press PBs of 112.5kg x3, 115kg x3 & 120kg x1. He also hit Axle FTOH PBs of 117.5kg x1 and 125kg x1. James lower body strength is also flying hitting a 170kg Front Squat and a Deadlift PB thats been 4 years coming at 240kg x1 and 220kg x3 online the way to that too. Finally in James weightlifting endeavours he hit PBs in the Snatch of 62kg x2 & Jerk of 105kg x2.

The Difference

Something I do with all my guys is keep an absolute load of PBs, basically for everything, whether it’s a bent over row, a side bend or a deadlift, you’ll have a max, not always a 1RM, but you will have maxes.

The reason I bring this up is that James max Axle Push Press is about 7.5kg lower than on a barbell and his Axle FTOH with a Jerk is around 12.5kg higher than his Axle FTOH with a Push Press. So what does this mean?

Different bars react differently due to the properties they possess and it means that if we weren’t to differentiate between the bars or the style in which you perform Axle FTOH, we could end up working at the wrong rep ranges and intensities causing problems within the training cycle.

Big Jo has had a nice training cycle since Christmas and has hit some nice PBs in the Good Morning at 150kg x6 and 160kg x5, and the Deadlift finally busting past that 260kg x1 and then taking his max higher to 270kg. He also matched his Push Press PB of 120kg putting him in a good place for UKNS Junior on the 28th January.

After Maries last competition it was apparent we needed to work on her Jerk… Well, I’m just going to give you a list of those PBs

• Jerk - 52kg x4

• Jerk - 53kg x4

• Jerk - 54kg x3

• Jerk - 54kg x4

• Jerk - 55kg x4

• Jerk - 56kg x3

• Jerk - 57kg x3

• Jerk - 58kg x3

• Jerk - 58kg x4

• Jerk - 60kg x2

• Jerk - 61kg x2

I guess you cold say the plan worked well! Within the same training cycle she has hit Block Snatch & Block C&J PBs of 47kg x3 and 56kg x1+3 along with a Push Press PB of 47kg x4 and a new 3RM Squat of 90kg. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking to take that 100kg Squat then we’ll start to link together this new strength in the Jerk with her Cleans.

Liam is hitting PBs left right and centre in Prep for his second Powerlifting meet, however, they are all weights he’s done before, just not at those volumes. People talk about volume PBs alot, but for some reason they rarely track them. Liam hitting 6x6 at 180kg in the Deadlift is big because it sets a new baseline, a new minimum if you will in terms of what is regarded as a training weight.

Minimums

Everyone focusses on maximums, even in this blog I focus on the maximums and stopped off to talk about why you should track them, but the minimums are important also. Maxes are fleeting, your strength can fluctuate by up to 10% a day and to hit a true max you have to prep and ramp up your nervous system. The minimums are what i’d class as an everyday training weight. It’s something that’s repeatable and it’s a weight that will cause adaptation.

The further you get out from your max, the more repeatable it is, if your repeatable weights are trending up, thats a signal good things are happening, even if the 1RMs don’t say it yet.

Olivia hasn’t hit any PBs this month, but I do want to give her a mention. Olivia had her collarbone broken in a rugby match due to a high tackle in early January, her arm is currently in a sling so she is limited in what she can do. After the game it took her 4 days to get a diagnosis from the hospital and then back into the gym after a couple of conversations with me.

Does her training look different? Ofcourse. It’s currently very dumbbell and machine heavy. Resting stuff on her back or front is a no go, she only has use of 1 arm and anything thats impact based or a fall hazard like sprinting or jumping is out die to her ability to catch herself being diminished.

In terms of lower body, we can train both sides, but in terms of upper body we can only train one side, will that make her imbalanced? Short term no, and with any luck we’ll get a cross education effect to help retain strength and size on the immobilised side.

Anyway, I just thought that that was worth mentioning, both because it’s interesting and because Olivia is showing the mindset of a champion.

Scott is enjoying his first competition prep and has hit PBs in Axle CTOH of 65kg x1+5 and 70kg x1+2 along with a new 1RM Squat of 132.5kg while also ticking a stone off his list and putting the 100kg stone over a 48in yoke.

Competition Prep

Something Scott mentioned was how much focus he had for his training with a competition on the horizon. I always feel competition brings the best out of people and their training. It creates crystal clear unwavering goals and that is priceless. If you’re meandering around training not really getting anywhere i’d urge you to enter a competition. Mentally it’s probably the hardest time for you to enter a competition, but it’s likely the best thing to kickstart your training.

Want to join our team of online clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OnlineCoachingConsultation

In the Jen has had a nice month in the Weightlifting Club hitting PBs in the Push Press of 52kg x3, Hang Clean of 60kg x1 and Jerk Grip Strict Press of 40kg. We have a week left of this strength cycle (it’s been a long one) and then we turn our focus to the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup in May and look to start piecing together the new strength levels with the Competition lifts.

Our Weightlifting Club runs multiple nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce people to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting while giving them the opportunity to compete if they wish to do that.

Want to join our Weightlifting Club?

Click the link below to book a session. https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthWeightliftingClub

SM Club

In our Strongman Club Cori had a really nice January hitting a Front Squat PB of 80kg x3, Axle FTOH PB of 80kg x1 and coming 4th in the Teen League Qualifier to put himself into the Finals later in the year.

Moving Events

The Teen league qualifier was Coris first experience of Strongman competition and it was a ride, from having a rep disallowed on the Axle for not waiting for the down signal, to taking his max deadlift for a set of 6. It had everything and was a great learning experience, but rep events are just that, rep events and they’re often strength based and you’re only as strong as you are. Moving events are where you can make up or lose points. It’s where the details really matter and I think that dawned on Cori on the day where seconds separated 1st and 5th place in the sandbag load and the power stairs.

Cori had a near perfect run on the power stairs to take the win in that even, but a fumble on the first bag of the sandbag load cost him about a second and dropped him down the placings in that event.

It was all a great learning experience for him though which at 15 year old, is what it’s about.

George F Has hit 1RMs in his Double Overhand Deadlift of 220kg and Beltless Deadlift at 275kg. George is now starting his prep for BNSF Englands and the focus will now be fully in that going forward.

Our Strongman Club runs multiple nights a week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and has a history of taking people from the level of complete beginner to British Finalist.

Want to Join our Strongman Club?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthStrongmanClub 

In our Online Weightlifting Team Karen has had a nice month hitting a Push Press PB of 50kg as well as PBs in the Snatch of 45kg and what I would call a training make of 46kg.

Standards… Again

This is why I talk about standards, Karen is a Weightlifterand while she has no plans to compete, because of that I have to hold her to the standard of Weightlifting. The 46kg Snatch crashed on her causing a slight arm bend and what would be classed as a press out in competition. Was it good enough to be classed as a make in training? Yes. Would it have passed in competition? Probably not. We’ll work off 46kg as a max going forward because the error was minor, but with Karen being a weightlifter we do have to stick to competition standards when lifting and differentiate what would and wouldn’t be a make in competition.

Our Online Weightlifting Team follows the British Weightlifting competition calendar with a focus on the bigger national competitions and the regional ones in the North East of England and is perfect for those competing in that area and for those looking for guidance and a periodised and focussed program.

Want to Join our Online Weightlifting Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

Jonny has had a nice time post Christmas hitting many PBs overhead. He’s taken Push Press PBs at 127.5kg x5 & 140kg x3, a Strict Log pb at 120kg x1, and PBs in Axle of 130kg x1+2 and 140kg x1. He also hit a Deadlift PB of 290kg x2 and will be taking an attempt at that long time coming 300kg on a stiff bar. By virtue of finishing on the podium last year, Jonny has already qualified for UKNS Worlds and as such has no competitions in the pipeline (just yet). This has allowed him to train freely with no time constraints and really focus on what he needs to do to fill gaps in his game.

Mark has rounded out his prep for UKNS Scotlands with 1RMs in the Front Squat of 140kg and Axle Push Press of 117kg. Marks goal is to take all the higher weights at the Scottish Qualifier for 1 or 2 reps which will all be PBs.

Oli has ended his prep for UKNS Englands strongly and I think we’ll see a strong performance in the U105 category from him in only his second ever Strongman competition. Talk about a baptism of fire.

We’l round this out with Stephen who finished his training cycle with a 15kg Deadlift PB of 230kg.

Our Online Strongman Team follows the UK Natural Competition Calendar with room to stop off and compete through a few other competitions too. It’s perfect for those competing on the circuit and for beginners who don’t plan to compete yet but want a coaches guidance and a periodised plan.

Want to Join our Online Strongman Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Right, I’m out, I started writing this on my couch and i’ve finished writing it on the Jerk Blocks at the gym eating my lunch and now I’m off to coach Paul to hopefully some new 3RMs in the Front Squat and Axle Push Press.

I hope I’ve shown you value in tracking more than just your 1RMs.

Until next time

Adam

Tekkers... Fuck I hate that term!

We’re barely half way through the month and I’m writing this way earlier than I usually do, but like a lot of other people, I have three kids and my intention over christmas is to fully unwind and decompress, so this is where we’re at. Still though, despite it being a short month interns of this blog, there are still plenty of PBs and plenty of learnings from other peoples journeys to be had. So, without too much more rambling, lets get started.

One to one athlete Joe has had a really nice mont making progress in all areas static strength and has hit rep PBs in the Deadlift of 240kg x5, 245kg x3 and 250kg x3, in the Front Squat of 175kg x4 and 180kg x3 and in the Axle Press of 130kg x1+4 & 135kf x1+3. Going forward this week we’ll be looking to hit 255kg x3 in the Deadlift, 185kg x3 in the Front Squat and 140kg x1+3 in Axle CTOH.

Not all PBs need to be measured in kilos and Paul’s been making some nice consistency gains in the Deadlift. Paul struggles with his positional awareness in the Deadlift, but we’ve been writing those issues with a lot of mindful practice and while he’s not perfect, he is becoming more consistent.

Mindful Practice

You should always practice your training mindfully and prioritise movement patterns first and foremost.

That also comes down to your understanding of the movement too. If you have employed a coach, while they can poke you, prod you and guide you into correct positions, you still have to be responsible for your own learning and retain the information as in one ear and out the other once the sessions finished will usually lead to slow or no progress when it comes to movement patterns. You need to understand what correct position feels like so you can identify it and impliment it without the coach being there.

This is something Paul has learned recently. A coach can tell you what to do in hopefully more than one way to find what resonates, but once you find that, YOU have to then endeavour to understand how that feels and how to find that feeling again.

Coaches can coach, but we can’t feel what you’re feeling and we can’t do it for you.

Want to join our team of one to one clients? Click the link below and book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OneToOneCoachingConsultation

I currently only have 13:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays left!

Hybrid Athlete James has been making progress in his Weightlifting, which will improve his overhead game in Strongman down the line. He hit PBs in the Split Jerk of 90kg x3 & 100kg x3 as well as PBs in the Snatch of 58kg x3 and 60kg x2. James also hit a new 5RMs in the Deadlift of 210kg and 215kg in subsequent weeks. James has been working hard on his Deadlift to bring it up to standard ready for UKNS Qualifiers in January.

The Split Jerk & Strongman

While learning the Clean or a Power Snatch can benefit Strongman, the Split Jerk is what I would say is the most beneficial movement a Strongman can take from Weightlifting. There’s always an overhead event in competition and once you’ve mastered it with a barbell, it can be applied in many different ways for different implements. However, while it is beneficial, it will only be truly beneficial if you learn it correctly.

The reason I say that is, I often see Strongmen posting about ‘learning’ or ‘trying’ a Split Jerk with not a coach or learning progression in sight. These are the same strongmen that would agree that you have to progress the squat through the proper progression patterns and not just throw a newly straight in under a barbell.

I also had a coach ask me if I would be able to teach one of his clients to split jerk 6 weeks out from competition… I said ‘probably but it would be a detriment to every other thing he has to train as I’d need him twice a week in a session that focusses on that movement pattern.’ Needless to say, he didn’t go for the idea. I also said a better option would be to start some learning but without the expectation of being able to use it in the competition.

I think the problem with this mentality and the Split Jerk in strongman is that most strongmen are pretty adept at putting stuff over head and on the face of it, it looks easy. Drive the bar up then split the legs to get under it, but the Split Jerk in my opinion is the hardest movement in Weightlifting and for most people has the biggest learning curve…

So don’t rush your learning of it and learn it properly from a coach, not only will good technique get you a higher return in terms of kilos compared to your push press, it’ll also keep you away from injury as groin and knee problems are usually around the corner if you split frequently with bad technique.

Big Jo hit a new 4 RM Deadlift at 240kg… It was meant to be a 5RM and the 5th was there for his body, but he didn’t wear straps like told him to after he failed the same way for a set of 5 the week before at 230kg… He probably didn’t wear straps to try and prove some sort of point, but he probably should have listened to me.

Marie has Jerked 64 or 65kg so none of these PBs are a surprise and just more of a by product of me giving her higher rep ranges from the blocks for the first time as it’s all just percentage work based off her max, but she hit PBs in the Jerk of 48kg x5 and 52kg x3.

Xena would tell you she’s had a bad training cycle but with the PBs this week, she’s PB’d everything except the Clean and the Jerk this training cycle. She hit a Push Press 2RM of 44kg, Front Squat PB of 73kg and Back Squat PB of 94kg.

The Correct Technique

Xena did get wrong for taking that 2RM Push Press as it wasn’t in the plan and by her own admission, the second rep wasn’t all that great, which for someone who struggles on a technical level rather than with strength in the Jerk, isn’t what we’re after as it’s likely to increase the technical issues we’re trying to overcome. As such, I’ve taken away her autonomy privileges in terms of selecting load if it feels too easy.

When it comes to technical issues, more strength isn’t always the answer and while it’s nice to be able to take the PB if it’s there (even if it wasn’t planned) you have to ask yourself what the intent of the movement is and if the intent and implementation of that intent is still there if you take that PB.

Online client Liam had a big month, a first Powerlifting competition, lots of PBs leading up to it, but new 1RMs in he Squat at 180kg, Bench Press at 120kg and Deadlift at 232.5kg and a spot at the Powerlifting Games (I think thats what it’s called) in October 2024.

The Benefits of Competition

It’s no fluke that Liam has had his best training cycle to date. Previously we have just taken whats there with no time limit on training cycle length if there’s still progress to be had. However, after we set some tough but achievable goals, the competition put a time constraint on Liam for the first time which got him laser focussed on them, and intensity most people can’t replicate with a normal training cycle.

Olivia is mid Rugby season, so as I have said to her, the goal is to maintain as much strength as possible while having her 90 to 95% ready each week for every game. Still, when things fell good and the opportunity presents it'self at the right time we’ll take a PB. Olivias week shuffled from the usual which meant her training had to shuffle, then things felt good on the day and weren’t going to infringe on her game so we took it. 67kg for a new Push Press 1RM.

After a tough start to life being coached due to some awful night shifts, Scott is starting to make nice progress and surpass old numbers from before we started working together. Scott hit new rep maxes in the Deadlift of 155kg x4 and 165kg x3 with the 165kg x3 along with new 5RMs i the Push Press of 57.5kg and 60kg and in the Zombie Front Squat of 65kg. Scotts max Deadlift is 170kg and we’ll be looking to take that for a double soon. While we’re pushing harder on the Deadlift, the Zombie Front Squats and Push Press are a slowly, slowly catchy monkey situation as he had limited experience in either and we’re looking to just add a little load each week while going through the correct progressions and maintaining the good stuff and modifying the not so good stuff.

Want to join our team of online clients? Click the link below to book a consultation.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/OnlineCoachingConsultation

I have around 2 spots left for online coaching and then that side of the business is at capacity.

An Interlude…

So, I did have all of this wrote, but for whatever reason it didn’t save properly and only saved to here. I’ve basically lost 90 minutes worth of work and some really good information, so if there’s a down turn in quality from this point you know why… Resuming.

The Weightlifting Club has just finished a very hard Back Squat cycle, but PBs were had!

Wor very own Superman, Jack finished the Squat cycle by taking his Max for a double, so there’s a new max there when we want it. He also hit a new 5RM in the Push Press of 90kg. I would have preferred Jack to of taken a new 1RM in the Squat father than matching his 1RM with a double, but he did that session alone so I wasn’t there to instruct him.

Jen had success in the Back Squat too adding 3kg to her max and taking it to 110kg. She also hit a new Front Squat PB of 85kg. This was unplanned and done in a crossfit class that she did on her own, but strength is strength and it obviously translates. Unfortunately for her this means that her numbers are now increased as we move into another Squat cycle thats this time Front Squat focussed

Extra Sessions

I don’t mind extra sessions, but if you’re going to do them you have to both, make sure they fit in with what your current goals are and make sure they don’t hinder your recovery capacity. It’s no good having an extra long distance running session to get some cardio in if the goal is to increase squatting strength and instead you’d probably be better served if the extra session was something closer to a short sharp hit session to get the cardio in. Activities that have an opposing goal to your main focus won’t work well if you’re just looking for an extra session. Hopefully that makes sense.

Our Weightlifting Club runs multiple nights per week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and it's focus is to introduce people to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting while giving them the opportunity to compete if they wish to do that.

Want to join our Weightlifting Club?

Click the link below to book a session. https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthWeightliftingClub

We’ve just finished our offseason training cycle and base phase in the Strongman Club and there we’re a few PBs in the movements we’d identified as issues from last season.

Cori hit a new 10m Yoke PB of 240kg with ‘no drops’, which is a 40kg increase on last time. Cori will now be setting his sights on preparing for his first competition in January.

George C also hit a Yoke PB of the same distance and stipulation at 300kg along with a new 5RMs in the Deadlift of 192.5kg & in the Push Press of 85kg.

Moving Events

When it comes to moving events I rarely program them without stipulation and will almost always program them with either a time stipulation or a no drops stipulation depending on what the goal of the movement is or what the competition requires. I also believe variety is key to prevent burying yourself weekly, which is easy to do with farmers walks or yoke.

One of my two go to options are an A/B split for sub maximal moving events where we rotate between two relevant distances (one being competition distance) with the relevant time constraints in place.

My other go to is for maximal moving events where it’s essentially the A/B split above but with a final week of a shorter distance with the stipulation of ‘no drops.’

All of the weights are dictated by the speed of the set and i’ll usually give the instruction of ‘ascend to a top weight within the stipulation.’

I feel these tactics give valuable structure in what can be quite a set of movements that are easy to dig yourself into a hole with.

George F hit a nice PB double overhand PB of 210kg x3. I’ve given george the green light to max this out on a day when it feels good on his way up to his working sets of Deadlifts.

Double Overhand Deadlifts

Grip is important as a Strongman and these are a great way to increase it with very little down side. Just pop them in as part of your Deadlift warm up starting 5x5 at 50% and increase weight each week. When they start hindering your main sets, switch to 3x5 at 50to60% followed by 2x3 at 60to70% and build from there again. After a few weeks of that, once your loads in your main deadlift sets are heavy enough (+85%), look to max out your double overhand deadlift on the way up to your working sets.

Our Strongman Club runs multiple nights a week out of Stag Fitness Strength Centre and has a history of taking people from the level of complete beginner to British Finalist.

Want to Join our Strongman Club?

Click the link below to book a session.

https://savagestrengthconsultation.as.me/SavageStrengthStrongmanClub 

The Online Weightlifting Team has been following the same Squat program as our physical Weightlifting Club to great success.

Karen hit a PB Squat of 82.5kg and on the way took her max Back Squat of 76kg for a double. Thats 12.5kg added to Karens Squat since starting with our Online Team back in September. Up next for Karen and the Team is a transition to higher frequency Front Squats and hopefully being able to translate that Back Squat strength into Front Squat strength and a bigger Clean.

Our Online Weightlifting Team follows the British Weightlifting competition calendar with a focus on the bigger national competitions and the regional ones in the North East of England and is perfect for those competing in that area and for those looking for guidance and a periodised and focussed program.

Want to Join our Online Weightlifting Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

The Online Strongman Team, like our Strongman Club has ended an offseason phase and have hit a couple of new 5RMs which will set us up nicely for UKNS Qualifiers.

Current 3rd Worlds Strongest U105 natty Jonny, hit a new 5RM in the Push Press of 122.5kg as well as a PB 10m Yoke with no drops (I cannot for the life of me remember the weight). He also hit a new 4RM on the Deadlift 270kg in our last week of 5s. Jonnys already qualified for UKNS Worlds next year so we’re firmly in a phase of looking to make him stronger and build skills rather than looking to prep for comp.

And to finish, Mark hit a new 4RM in the Push Press of 105kg.

5RMs

Like many great coaches such as Andy Bolton, Mark Rippetoe and Glen Pendlay, I find building 5RMs valuable (especially for strongmen) on static movements like Squats, Push Press and Deadlift, usually with a full block or two dedicated to it. However, in the last week of a block I have no issue if the 5RM attempt at the end of the block ends up being a set of 4 and we fall short of the 5 reps we’re after.

This is what happened to Jonny on his 270kg Deadlift and Mark on the 105kg Push Press.

The reason I don’t mind a miss on the 5th rep is that it means we went hard, pushed and didn’t undershoot. The likelihood is that we’d be moving to 3RMs next anyway so we’d still be set up well to succeed in that block if it ends up being a 4RM or heavy 4.

Just make sure it’s a set of 4 or 5 and not a set of 3 because a set of 3 means you’ve been a dick.

The majority of your strength training should leave something in the tank, but there are times to push and possibly fail.

Our Online Strongman Team follows the UK Natural Competition Calendar with room to stop off and compete through a few other competitions too. It’s perfect for those competing on the circuit and for beginners who don’t plan to compete yet but want a coaches guidance and a periodised plan.

Want to Join our Online Strongman Team?

Click the link below to book for a free trial.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Thats it, I’ve essentially wrote 1.5 blogs, so I’ve got no more to say except I’ve learned from the issue and adjusted my process’ to guard against it happening again…

Exactly what you should be doing in your training and in life when problems arise. Fool me once and all that.

Oh, and you may be wondering about the name of this months blog… It’s because at the start, before I lost half of what I’d originally written I noticed I’d talked alot about technique and it’s importance…

Yes, Technique, not fucking ‘Tekkers.’

Enjoy your Christmas & New Year and i’ll see you on the other side. Until next time

Adam

The Yorkshire Open, Ladytime & Training Through Competition

I feel like looking at the list of PBs this blogs going to be shorter than usual, but thats the natural way of things. You get peaks and troughs and right now, alot of my guys are in their off season or the early phases of their training cycles ready to get back to competition after Christmas. There have been a couple of competitions in November though and one coming up in early December which will be the final one of the year. So without further ado, lets get at it.

Joes been working hard in the dark and is starting to get to the point where rep PBs are starting to happen, the first one of this training cycle is a 170kg Front Squat for 5.

Pitstop 1: While the Front Squat is a strength of Joes, it would be silly to neglect it as I find it directly correlates with Push Press strength. If your Push Press and Front Squat technique are good, it’s likely an increase in the Front Squat will lead to increases in the Push Press

Taj is in the early phases of a training cycle too and unfortunately for Taj, his general strength levels far outweigh weightlifting strength levels and has been given 5s and 4s in the Snatch and the Jerk, sorry mate. Those aren’t the PBs I’m going to write about though. Taj hit a PB Block Clean of 62kg x3. The reason the Block Clean is in his program is to try to help increase his rate of force development while also simplifying the Clean so we can build confidence with bigger numbers.

Jack has a wild job with lots of travel and struggled with consistency for a good while, not any more though and things are starting to come to fruition. Jack nailed a 100kg Push Press for a new 3RM for his consistency.

Pitstop 2: This may seem obvious, but as a coach, I can write the program, modify technique, give a focus and advise on lifestyle choices… But I can’t do the work and if I could I’d be a ver rich man. Along with effort, consistency is the thing I strive for most from people. Thats where the magic really happens.

Marie had a good end to her training cycle with PBs i the Snach at 45kg x3, Block Jerk at 59kg x2 & C&J of 50kg for 1+3 which is a bit of convoluted PB but is actually a 3RM Jerk. It’s unfortunate we didn’t hit any 1RMs but it just wasn’t to be at the Yorkshire Open where we ended our training cycle. Marie finished on a 53kg Snatch and a 59KG C&J which isn’t far from her top numbers but we had things working against us.

A Double Header: Part 1… ‘Ladytime’: I’ll not talk about it too much because (as a man) all of my experience is anecdotal, but ‘lady time’ as Marie calls it can hit women in different ways, in Marie’s case it manifests itself as joint pain due to connective tissue laxity, which obviously isn’t great for lifting maximal weight. I don’t subscribe to the idea that every woman needs their periodisation written around their period as some women don’t seem to be effected, but I do subscribe to the idea that it’s variable and some women will need more changes than others when it hits.

A Double Header: Part 2… Weight classes and performance: On top of that, we’ve essentially been managing a decline since January, which is what training through any type of weight loss is. With weightlifting being a weight category sport, it’s often about identifying which weight category will be best for you to be competitive in once you’re past the just go lift beginner stage. Usually how it goes is:

• Going up a weight class = Performance will go up and your competitiveness within your class will go down

• Dropping into a lower weight class = Performance will usually go down, but your competitiveness within your class will increase.

Marie has lost an amazing 8kg since January. 👏🏻

Things are starting to come together for Xena and she hit a new 1RM Snatch at 42kg and 2RM Push Press at 43kg… Now we just need to put the C&J together and complete the training cycle before Christmas.

Little Jo had a nice finish to her training cycle with a trio of Deadlift PBs across 3 or 4 weeks hitting PBs at 70kg, 72.5kg & 75kg. She also put the cherry on the training cycle with another Strict OHP PB adding to the Squat and Bench PBs we hit earlier in the training cycle.

Liam P has had a great training cycle and I think the upcoming competition has brought out the best of him… Here’s a list!

• Squat - 160kg x3

• Squat - 165kg x3

• Pause Bench Press - 105kg x4

• Pause Bench Press - 107.5kg x2

• Pause Bench Press - 107.5kg x3

• Pause Bench Press - 110kg x1

• Deadlift (Strapless) - 210kg x4

• Deadlift (Strapless) -220kg x2

• Deadlift (Stiff Bar) - 222.5kg x1 (All Time PB)

• Deadlift (DL Bar) - 225kg x1

It’s touch and go on the squat despite a great training cycle due to an adductor issue, but we’re well on the way to achieving our goals of matching his gym PBs in the Squat & Bench to competition standards with commands and smoking his Deadlift PB.

Competition: I often find the best training cycles are the ones that apply a little pressure to the athlete and entering a competition is one way to do that. It provides an extra focus, a timeframe and an immovable goal. Something you can’t replicate just by going through a normal training cycle with no competition at the end.

Scott is starting to hit rep PBs on his first training cycle and a new 5RM in the Squat is the first of many I suspect. Scott has his sights on doing his first Strongman competition around April next year.

Jack Is in the middle of a Squat cycle and has hit a new 10RM at 128kg, but that didn’t stop him competing at the Yorkshire Open where hit 89kg in the Snatch and 110kg in the C&J. These aren’t his best numbers, but we knew we’d be training through the competition and that he’d be lifting on tired legs and it’s all vital competition experience. He’s also hit a new 2RM Below the Knee Block Clean of 110kg x2.

Pitstop 3: Training through a smaller competition is a great way to gain competition experience. With Weightlifting only having 2 lifts, it lends it’s self to it a little more than strongman does, but in either sport, as long as you have realistic expectations and goals, it’s a great way to gain competition experience. In weightlifting I don’t mind it being an extra day of training or as the heavy session. In strongman, i’d usually replace the event session with the competition that week.

Being in the same club, Jen is on the same Squat program as Jack and has hit a new 6RM in the Squat of 90kg. She also hit a PB Power Clean of 60kg!

The strongmen are currently preparing for UKNS Englands at the end of January so I didn’t expect any PBs this month and i’ll likely have more to write about in December & January, still though George F hit a new rep max in the Double Overhand Deadlift at 180kg x6. Grip gains in strongman are important and with a Max time frame hold the increased capacity in his grip its welcome.

A Training Hack: Obviously I program general warm ups, but I often program the warm ups sets of my athletes first main movement of the day. It’s an opportunity for me to make sure they’re doing the right amount on the way up to their main sets while also being an opportunity to give them a variation or focus through the warm up sets to fix technical deficiencies. Things like Pauses and close variations are all mainstays that I pick from dependant on the movement being performed and the deficiency. My favourite start points are:

1. 5x5@ 50% (Good for static / slow strength movements like Squats & Presses)

2. 2to3x5 @50 to 60% followed by 1to2x3@60 to 70% (A good progression from the 5x5 if lower volume its needed)

3. 3x3 @50 to 60% followed by 2x2@60 to 70%.

In Georges case, before his main deadlifts, he had 5x5 @50% Double Overhand Deadlift and it’s increased to 5x5 @50 to 70% over the course of the training block. In the next training block as things intensify and we need less volume in the warm up, we’ll probably drop to the second.

Karen has been flying in the Squat hitting PBs of 64kg x6, 61kg (80%) x13 , 77.5kg x1, Squat - 82.5kg x1. Hitting new 1RMs mid training cycle is usually a good sign… Unfortunately for her it means she has higher numbers to work off for the remainder of the cycle.

Finally we have Stephen who to 170kg for a spin on the Deadlift for 5x5 and that just happened to also be a new 5RM.

Thats it, I usually feel a pressure to write something here to give extra value to your tine spent reading it, but with the new way I write I feel there’s plenty of value, along with context already in there…

So, until next time

Adam

Reflective Practices

As I sit and write this, I’m currently under a blanket full of cold with my calf strapped up because off a non contact strain I picked up on Sunday playing Basketball… I did hit 140kg in the squat for 6x6 with 60 seconds rest between sets completely kit-less, which was the big goal of the last block. So thats a nice win, but this isn’t about me and we’ve had a couple of guys competing this month along with a whole host of PBs coming in so i’ll crack on.

We’ll start with Taj who finished his last training cycle really strong hitting PBs in the Snatch of 56kg & 58kg, in the Clean and Jerk of 64kg and then continued up in the clean to hit 67kg and 70kg and to round off the PBs he hit one in the Block Jerk of 65kg. There’s a few things I could talk about here from Tajs month, but I’m going to focus on why you might continue upward when testing a C&J max once you start missing the Jerk.

Pitstop 1:

While the Clean & Jerk is judged as one movement, it is for all intents and purposes two movements and should be trained as such. Now most lifters train the movements separately without thinking much about it, but just as it’s important to work off the correct load in the Snatch, C&J & Squat, it’s important to work off the same loads in the Clean and the Jerk when performing them separately.

As we can see with Taj, there’s not much of a discrepancy between his C&J and his Block Jerk so we’d probably be ok just applying C&J numbers when training that, although a little extra accuracy never hurts. However there’s around a 10% difference between his max Clean and his C&J and this should probably be taken into account when training the Clean by itself to make sure we’re not understimulating adaptations in the Clean.

I’m not one to buy into either train of thought that the Clean should be higher than the Jerk by x amount or vice versa and if there’s a big difference between the two you don’t necessarily need to endeavour to close the gap, you’d just maybe put more time or effort into the one thats holding back the most.

As long as you haven’t gotten to that point by focussing on what you’re good at and neglecting what you’re not, If you know you’ve got one of the two lifts nailed in the C&J thats just less to worry about on the platform.

James hit PBs in the Floor Press of 100kg x6 and Push Press of 127.5kg for a new 1RM on his way to 3rd place in the inters category at Strong on the Tyne on the 15th of October. James has now turned his Sights to UKNS Juniors in January and bringing his Deadlift up inline with his Push Press.

Pitstop 2:

One of the ways we’re bringing James Deadlift up is by having him perform them first in the week after a rest day. James always liked to Press first in the week because he felt it had less effect on his deadlifts the next day than doing it the other way around and i’d largely agree. However James Deadlift has been stuck a while so a change is needed so one of the best way to facilitate progress is to do the thing you’re targeting most, earlier in the week and after a rest day when you have the most energy.

Jenesis hit a nice PB in the Front Squat of 56kg for a new 1RM and has been consistently getting up to 26kg in the Snatch in her training sessions which is progress as it means her consistent minimum has gone up.

A Quick Tip:

Obviously 1RMs are often the name of the game in the gym, but if you feel like you’re getting nowhere and not hitting PBs, take a look at what your minimums are and if they’ve gone up. If your minimum loads are going up, you’re making progress… It’s just that the progress you’re making hasn’t manifested itself as new 1RMs yet.

Marie has had an amazing month in October as she prepare for the Yorkshire Winter Open on the 12th of November… Here’s a list:

• Push Press - 54kg x1

• Push Press - 50kg x2

• Front Squat - 80kg x1

• Front Squat - 81kg x1

• Power Jerk - 58kg x1

• Clean - 65kg x1

• Clean - 66kg x1

• Clean Deadlift - 85kg x3

• C&J - 57kg x2+1

• Jerk - 57 x2

• Jerk - 58kg x2

Obviously everything’s on the up and we’ll look to manifest this as a good performance on the platform. Obviously not everyday is brilliant, especially when you’re in a heavier phase, but one of the best things about coaching Marie is her stoicism when it comes to training and her ability to keep a level head when things don’t go to plan on a specific day.

Xena is going through a bit of a life transition at the minute and we’re looking to get some control. The main thing we’re looking at is fuelling well through the work day, which she’ll admit, she is shit at. Never the less, she’s hit some PBs this month in the Push Press of 40kg x5 & 42kg x3 and also in the Front Squat of 60kg x5, 65kg x3 & 72kg for a new 1RM. I think we’re in a good place but I don’t think it’s any coincidence that these movements are in a session she does at the weekend when she’s not at work.

Little Jo is coming to the end of a training cycle and is hitting some nice PBs. She’s hit all time PBs in the Bench Press of 44kg and 45kg for new 1RMs while also hitting a new 3RM on the Deadlift and while losing around 5kg or 10% of her bodyweight.

Liam is currently prepping for his first competition, the goals are to match his best ever gym Squat but with naked knees, to match his best gym based Bench Press but with a competition standard pause and to smoke a new Deadlift PB. He’s making moves to smash all 3 of those and has hit multiple new 5RMs in the Squat of 140kg, 145kg, 150kg & 155kg over the past month as well as a Pause Bench 5RM or 100kg and a Deadlift 5RM of 200kg.

Quick Tip 2:

If you want to make progress in strength, one of the best things you can do is add a little pressure both in terms of time and numbers and enter a competition. Not all stress is bad stress when it comes to adaptations and getting the most out of your training.

Olivia is having a blinding rugby season taking multiple player of the games so far. That doesn’t mean we have to stop training hard and Olivia has hit new 1RMs in the Front Squat of 82.5kg and 85kg and in the Power Clean & Jerk of 68kg.

Pitstop:

People often think they have to be 100% on game day and that isn’t the case.

I understand the argument to peak and taper for sports that are one off events with long gaps between competition, but for teams sports where you’re playing almost every week it’s just not possible as to be 100% requires a reduction in training load and repeated reductions in training load over time will cause a detraining effect which will actually cause the athlete to get worse over time. With Olivias training we have two goals, to keep moving forwards where we can and when the schedule allows and to have her 90 to 95% ready on game days.

It’s a tough balancing act, but it’s much better than having her detrain over the course of the season.

Scott is making good progress and recently hit a new 3RM of 170kg in the Deadlift. Scott is new to strongman but is proficient with a barbell so the goal here is to push barbell based strength lifts while learning and using good technique in the strongman specific lifts.

This month Jen hit 1RMs in the Front Squat at 83kg, Snatch alt 39kg & Clean at 57kg. Those 40kg & 60kg targets are getting close to falling.

Karen is new to our Online Weightlifting Team but has made great progress over the last 8 weeks recently hitting PBs in the Snbatch of 43kg & 44kg, C&J of 54kg & Clean of 55kg… Notice a pattern of whats going on once someone missed their Jerk?

Our new training cycle has just started and it’s back squat focussed, so if you’re an Olympic Weightlifter who want’s to bring up their back squat, or who just wants to be a better Olympic Weightlifter, join us here!

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

Our Strongmen are in a GPP / Offseason Phase so we’re looking to bring up weakness, one of which is max weight on the yoke and Cori has done just that hitting 20m PBs of 160kg & 180kg and a 10m PB of 200kg.

The Last Pitstop:

Strongmen often get confused about what they should be doing in the off season and it’s quite simple…

You should be accumulating volume and building a work capacity that allows you to do enough work as the season closes in and in-season to illicit adaptations and progress while also looking to bring up your weakness and holes in your game.

One of the collective weakness’ in the strongman club is Max Yoke, this is partially because it’s not been in a competition and partially because my tendency is to have time limits when training moving events to keep the pace high as I believe being slow on yoke is where most people drop points rather than not being strong enough.

It has caused me to reflect on how I coach moving events though and think maybe I should put heavier stuff in once in a while as a standard rather than waiting for it to come up in competition to train it.

Moving Event Time Limits

If you’re wondering how I decide time limits for training moving events, Its 1 second for ever 2 metres of distance + 2 seconds per pick up… Or at least thats the starting point.

Stephen is in the GPP phase with the Online Strongman Team but decided to jump into Strong on the Tyne last minute and came 5th in the Novice category.

Lastly we have Oli who also is part of the Online Strongman Team and also competed in Strong win the Tyne… Old came 1st in the inters category of his first ever Strongman competition and is now prepping for UKNS U105s.

If you’re a UKNS competitor, or just want to get better at strongman, you can join our Online Strongman Team here:

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Thats it, as usual hopefully there’s been some value in you reading this. Now i’m off to blow my nose, rehab this calf and to have a think about how I’ll approach training maximum weights more regularly in moving events.

Reflective practices are an important part of self improvement.

Until next time

Adam

A podium place at worlds!

Its been a busy month for me at Savage Strength, not just in terms of this blog and the amount of PBs I have to write about, but because I’ve also have UKNS World Championships and the Venus Weightlifting Workshop to navigate too.

More about both of those later, but lets start with the usual.

Joe just finished a training cycle and is now going into a little GPP or ‘Metcon’ block where we look to improve his lifting specific fitness. At the end of his last training cycle he hit PBs in the Front Squat of 205kg and excitingly And Axle FTOH PB of 147.5kg which is only 7.5kg off the Natural world record!

Paul finished a nice training cycle by hitting a 125kg Bench press, adding another 2.5kg to the movement and 5kg this training cycle.

Taj has had a great month making progress in almost everything competition lift related… So lets take a look.

Taj hit PBs in the Front Squat of 78kg x3, 80kg x1 & 88kg x1 along with some in the Below the Knee Block Snatch of 51kg x2 & 53kg x1. These are movements i’ve been using to drive up Tajs competition lifts. The Front Squat is in to improve his strength in the rack position which will cross over into both the Clean & the Jerk and the Below the Knee Block Snatch is there to treat technical issues as the bar passes the knee in the transition phase of the snatch. This lead to PBs in the competition lifts of 50kg, 55kg in the Snatch & 60kg, 62kg in the C&J.

A Pitstop…

No matter the strength sport, picking the correct variations of the competition lifts for the athlete can have a profound effect on technique, strength in a specific position or both and the importance of that shouldn’t be underestimated and is why staying on top of strength deficits and technical errors is important.

Jenesis hit 27kg in the Snatch for a PB and has now hit it multiple times. For Jenesis the Snatch is a confidence game and her confidence is growing!

Marie has been going from strength to strength in her ‘Slow’ lifts hitting PBs i the Front Squat of 61kg x5, 62kg x5, 70kg x3 & 72kg x3 and in the Push Press of 46kg x5 & 48kg x3 and is starting to have some carryover into her competition lifts as she hit a PB Power Jerk + Jerk at 58kg for 1+1 & a 2 PB C&Js, one at 55kg for 2+1 & one at 56kg for 1+2.

A Nugget…

I find the Front Squat has massive carryover to the dip and drive and frankly anything that uses the legs to move things overhead. If your Front Squat goes up, good things generally happen.

Xena has had a quiet moth but still managed to hit a PB Front Squat of 72kg while managing a troublesome right leg.

 Onto the online faction of our athletes…

Little Jo been flying hitting PBS in almost all of our body lifts. She's hit. PBS in the seated overhead press of 26.5kg, 27g and 28kg, she’s hit a PB of 28kg in the standing strict press and a PB bench press of 43 kg. Jos currently looking to lose weight and is more on the health side of things. But that hasn't stopped her hitting pressing pbs

 Looking at the PBS, it looks like Olivia's had a fairly quiet month of training, hitting only a front squat 3RM of 80kg. However, that's not the case as she’s also been prepping for the start of the rugby season while also running the great north run, which she did in an amazing time. Now the great north run is finished, we'll be turning our sights fully towards the rugby season and transitioning and all that new strength she's acquired over the preseason into usable strength on the rugby field.

Wil had a nice end to his training cycle hitting an SBD PB with a 160kg Squat, 95kg Bench Press & a hughe 175kg Deadlift. This signals the end of the training cycle for will who, after two weeks spent in a field, will be hitting a Metcon phase to up his lifting specific energy systems and lay some foundations for the subsequent blocks of work.

In the weightlifting club Jen has had a great month hitting PBs in all of the strength movements we’ve focussed on over the past few blocks. She took 107kg for a ride in the back squat for a new 1RM while hitting new 1RMs in the Front Squat of 82kg and Push Press of 52kg. She also hit a 38kg Snatch for a new 1RM. That 40kg Snatch is on the horizon!

Karen is new to our Weightlifting Club sessions but is already making progress through a mixture of drop ins and following our Online Teams Program (shameless link below) and has hit PBs in the Snatch of 40kg & 42kg, Power Snatch of 40kg & Clean of 54kg. The PB that meant the most to Karen though was her PB Squat of 76kg. In her own words, she’d been stuck at 70kg for around a year and you could see how much it meant to her when she hit it in our session.

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/weightlifting-online-team

Another Quick Pit Stop…

One of the things that struck me about Karens lifting when I first met her was she moved really quite well, but when asked about the lifts and positions had no knowledge of what the key points were or what we were looking for. This made her inconsistent when it came to top weights. So in Karens second session with me I dialled things right back to basics and ran her through a full beginners progression with the aim of teaching the key points and focus of each phase of the lift. I threw a lot of information at Karen that session and mentally it won’t have been an easy session… 6 weeks down the line though and Karen is hitting PBs and is lifting more consistently than ever rarely missing at top weights. The takeaway from this is not to discount or bypass a phase of learning or the importance of understanding things on a theoretical level, even if you generally lift well without it.

It’s been a great month for the Strongman Club so let's start withCori who hit lots of PBs in Press related activities. So much of pressing events in strongman come down to and efficient Dip & Drive and Cori has been honing in on that. To end this training cycle Cori Hit PBs in the Log CTOH at 65kg for 1+3 and Axle Push Press at 70kg x3 & 75kg x1. He also hit a Bench Press PB of 75kg x3 which tells me his raw strength is on the up too. In activities that don’t involve the press Cori hit an Axle Squat PB of 100kg x3, a PB stone load of 100kg and a Stiff Bar Deadlift PB of 160kg.

A thought…

Cori has hit 170kg in the deadlift before so technically 160kg is not a PB, however it was on a bar that had way more flex and just like tracking PBs at different heights, I feel it’s important to track PBs on different bars. Now, the difference between power bars is often negligible and probably not worth tracking (however I find the cerberus or ohio bar much stiffer than a texas power bar which will have an effect), but you should definitley be tracking PBs on Stiff / Power Bars, a bog standard olympic bar / multipurpose bar thats probably not as stiff and a deadlift bar as your numbers will vary for all of these. Some people may disagree, but you’d track you max on an Elephant Bar or Axle so why wouldn’t you do it with bars that flex much differently just because you’re taking them all off the floor?

George C hit a nice PB in the Deadlift taking his max to 212.5kg and hit a nice stone load of 130kg.

George F rounded out his post baby training cycle by hitting a Raw Log PB of 110kg. With no comps on the horizon I haven’t had George working too hard post baby while he adjusts to life as a new day. We kick it back into gear come October though!

Our Strongman Team rounded out a great season with Dean hitting a PB Deadlift of 242.5kg followed by Gillian hitting 180kg and Mark hitting a Log Press PB of 110kg.

• Deadlift - 180kg x1

I’ll finish with Jonny!

Jonny is part of our online strongman team and qualified for two world finals this year. One in Finland for WHEA through BNSF and the other that took place in Edinburgh for UKNS. Anyway, Jonny didn’t go to the one in Finland. It’s an expense and he wanted to focus on UKNS which was two weeks afterwards, and what a great decision that was. After 8 events across two days Jonny took 3rd place at a World Championships in the U105 category after an exciting final event that saw the whole pack shuffle and Jonny climb the board.

What an achievement this season to go from an also ran in a qualifier in 2022 to a podium spot at a world championships just 17 months later.

Jonny also hit a PB of 285kg x3 in the deadlift en route to Worlds, but that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. It’s now the offseason and we’ll be looking to plug some gaps in Jonnys game where we’ll be looking at heavy Yoke runs, continuing to increase his throwing while finally ticking off that 300kg deadlift.

Final Thoughts…

Too many strongmen get caught up in hitting 1RMs in training and we could have realistically ticked off that 300kg deadlift before now, however in a sport that has many disciplines, that 1RM attempt can really screw up your competition or training cycle if done at the wrong time… Just something too keep in mind.

If you’d like to join Jonny in our Online Strongman Team, here’s another shameless link:

https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/strongman-online-team

Thats it… I’ve tried something new and tried to create pitstops along the way to give context to the stories and PBs I write about while adding value to the blog for the reader… I quite like it and will keep writing this way and hopefully you do too and took some value from it?

Until Next Time

Adam

POISONED FOR THE BATTLE!!!

So, the dust has settled on The Battle For Mercia and if you subscribe to my monthly email you’ll be hearing all about how my wife poisoned me with food and my resulting bowel movements in the run up to the competition. I had a couple of my Online Teams athletes compete in that competition too and we’ll get to them further down the blog.

Joe has made good progress this month and after big squat and deadlift PBs in the previous months has hit a new Push Press PB of 145kg. We’re just plugging away with Joe right now with our sights set on the Natural Strongman circuit in 2024.

Pauls about 9 foot tall and at 32, I’m sure he’s grown in the two and a half years I’ve coached him. With height comes long levers and often a harder road to a big press. That doesn’t stop paul though and this month we’ve capitalised on the work we’ve put in earlier in the training cycle and hit 1RMs in both the Bench Press at 122.5kg and Seated OHP at 87.5kg. We’re still chasing that 100kg Push Press, but it will come in time.

Taj has been going from strength to strength and yesterday hit a PB in the Push Press (his least favourite lift). Taj is another long limbed lifter, which generally is sub optimal when it comes to weightlifting, but we’re setting ourselves up well for success by building strength in the right places while focussing on moving correctly in the competition lifts.

It feels like everyone is hitting PBs overhead in August and Jack is no different with a new 5RM in the Push Press of 95kg. Jack lives a hectic life and over the next 3 weeks I have him training at a minimum volume with the goal of keeping sessions short while he moves house. Stress is stress and it’s important to take that into account when writing programs.

James basically destroyed 3 weeks worth of training because he went to Maga for a week. Thats not an issue though and part of being a coach is managing expectations. Generally people don’t live to train and if they want to go on a week long bender thats fine, as long as you manage expectations in the coming weeks. Nothing is unfixable with the right expectations and direction though and 3 or 4 weeks later James hit a new 3RM Push Press of 117.5kg. And just like that we’re back in action!

Jenesis has had a great month hitting PBs in 3 different movements. She hit a Snatch at 26kg, a new 3RM on the Front Squat at 53kg (previously her 1RM), a new 3RM in the Squat at 72.5kg (which again was previously her 1RM) and then a cheap 1RM in the Squat of 75kg because she wasn’t having a great time in JD… If you ask me, a new 1RM Squat is a pretty fucking great time!

Big Jo finished the training cycle from hell last week and even through all the issues hit a new 1RM Log Press at 120kg. This wasn’t the training cycle we particularly hoped for with knee and back issues throughout, but it’s the one we were given and we continued training and made the most of what we can do.

Marie has had a house move on this month and we had to take that into account in her programming and dial back. Still a new 5RM Push Press of 45kg isn’t bad going given the circumstances.

Oh look, another Push Press PB! Xena currently has no competitions on the horizon but is still making good progress and plugging away at her strength work. Hitting 3RMs in the Push Press of 42kg and the Front Squat of 65kg and continuing to build strength in the Snatch Pull + Hang Snatch Pull Complex by hitting a new 1+2 (3RM) PB of 48kg. That Pull complex is something i’ve been experimenting with and building organically with a few people. The hope is they build a strong positions specific to the transition and 2nd pull phase of the lifts which will then carry over into the competition lifts.

That PB Deadlift still alludes Liam P and his current PB is still 220kg for a Double. It’s always frustrating when you can’t actualise a 2RM into a few extra kilos for a 1RM but it will come in time. He has however been hitting PBs in other places and has hit new 1RMs in the Squat at 175kg, Front Squat at 135kg, a new 2RM on Bench Press at 100kg and a new 10RM on Dips of Bodyweight +20kg. Upper body strength is coming on nicely as is leg and postural strength. That deadlift PB will fall, this training cycle or the next. On a separate note, Dips are a movement that, if someone can do them without issue, are in my programs pretty consistently and are a real slow burning thing that we look to build from training cycle to training cycle.

Olivia currently has competing goals right now in getting strong for a rugby season while also training for the Great North Run. It’s not easy to fit everything in and both goals interfere with each other. Luckily thats why i’m here and while I can’t bypass the issues of interference effect, I can structure her week i a way that minimises it. Behold… A new 5RM Front Squat of 70kg and if you see the video, there’s way more in the tank!

Phil W.S. has done very little training recently… He did have a baby girl though! Congratulations dude!

Wil has been making great progress in the Squat hitting 150kg x4 which is 2kg over his 1RM and following it with 152.5kg x1. He also hit 1RMs in the Bench Press of 87.5kg followed by 92.5kg a week later and in the Incline Press of 80kg.

A Quick Pitstop

It’s no secret I like to build 5 and 3 rep maxes but where do you go from there? A 2RM would be logical and it’s where I used to go, however over the course of time I found that the load difference between a 3RM and a 2RM (90 to 92% vs 94 to 96%) was so small you had to get the numbers perfect otherwise your athlete would inevitably fail and at heavy loads that can derail confidence and momentum.

So how would I combat this?

We / I make 1 set of 2 reps become 2 sets of 1 rep with the same planed load. The 2 singles provide the same volume but are much less taxing than a double and on a psychological level, build the athletes confidence for the 1RM attempt the week or two after.

Obviously this all theoretical and can be bent and broken where appropriate within the progressions I use if things are going unbelievably, but is a good rule of thumb.

If you’re wondering how that might look like:

Phase 1: Build straight 5s

Phase 2: Build 5RMs until you run out of room to progress

Phase 3: Build 3RMs until you run out of room to progress

Phase 4: 2x1 at something heavier than the 3RM. We should be approaching new 1RM teritory here and in an ideal world we’d pull 2 singles at or close to your current max.

Phase 5: Take the new 1RM

Anyway, back to my athletes!

Jen hit a new 3RM in the Push Press at 52kg and New 1RM Squat of 105kg. The strength phase of the WLC is almost finished and we’ll be looking to hold strength in those movements while we transition that strength over to the competition lifts.

15 year old Cori has been making good progress as you’d expect hitting 5RMs in the Axle Squat of 90kg and 100kg along with an unplanned 1RM in the Deadlift of 170kg.

Strongman Club member George C & Online Teams Member Stephen will be competing at the Units Strongest on Saturday 26th August so keep your eyes peeled for their results!

George F, like Phil has done very little training this month… and for exactly the same reason! It’s another congratulations, this time to George and his family on the birth of his first child!

Dean hit a beautiful PB on the deadlift of 240kg while also competing at the Battle For Mercia where he finished 5th in his category. His partner Gillian also competed at the Battle for Mercia finishing 1st in her category. A successful day for both of them!

Johnny is currently prepping for UKNS Worlds and has hit a new 5RM in the Deadlift of 260kg in Prep for it. The deadlift at UKNS Worlds is a heavy Deadlift ladder with the final deadlift being 10kg over his max. Watch this space… a quick 3 would be nice, but we’re not ruling out a full run!

Mark hit a new 3RM on the Deadlift at 240kg which will set him up well for a Max Kratos Bar Deadlift when he competes on Saturday, this time at Blackpools Strongest. Watch this space for results!

Lastly, If you wanted to know my result at the battle of mercia, I came 1st in the opens category. Head to my personal Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the_sagittal_savage/ if you want to see the videos.

Thats it, as usual i’ve begged up my guys PBs and added some value by giving you some thoughts on how I structure building an athletes rep maxes, I’m not the quickest typer and all of this has taken around 2 hours to write, so thats me out!

Until next time

Adam

I Missed Something!

Something Cyril Martin has said before is ‘I may be wrong, but it’s highly unlikely’, in fact I think he has it on a t-shirt…

Well last month Xena pointed out that I completely forgot to talk about the 5 Weightlifters who competed in the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup on the 28th May… So i’ll be trying my best to recall the results for that as I go 😅

I also have no idea where i’m going outside of talking about my athletes so lets see where writing this takes us.

Starting with…

Joe has had a fantastic month! After hitting a PB in the back squat last month we’re starting to see the fruits of his labour and the realisation of the work we’ve put in. Joes hit PBs in the Front Squat of 180kg x3 which lead to PBs in the Push Press of Push Press of 135kg x3 and 140kg x2. That then lead to PBs in Axle CTOH of 125kg x1+5, 135kg x1+3 and 140kg x1+2.

You see how this works? I would always have the Front Squat as a predictor lift for the Push Press and likely, unless the ratio is well out, attack the Front Squat first when increasing the Push Press is a priority. Once the Push Press starts to increase it’s likely an event as close to the Push Press as Axle Clean and Press will increase too.

And to finish, Joe hit PBs in the Deadlift of 235kg x3 and 265kg x1. I guess Joes had a pretty decent month.

Paul is still chasing that 100kg Push Press, but he’s getting closer after hitting a rep PB of 90kg x3. Pauls come a long way because this was done repacking the barbell to the shoulders each time rather than using Jerk Blocks. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you’re forced to do something you don’t like through lack of kit rather than choice. We now have Jerk blocks but I won’t be allowing Paul to go back to them unless there’s a reason too. Paul also hit a new 1RM Squat of 140kg which in his words ‘I didn’t think i’d ever Squat 140kg again after the ACL injury…’

So there’s a big win for you.

Taj is becoming more competent every session in the Snatch & C&J and it shows with his progress. Taj has hit PBs or 51kg x1, 51kg x2+1, 53kg x1 & 54kg x2+1 in the C&J along with a new Snatch 1RM of 46kg.

James’ Push Press has been going well leading him to hip new 5RMs of 112.5kg and 115kg x5…

He then went to Magaluf for a week and came back a shell 😂. The goal now is to get him back to his previous levels of performance over the next 3 weeks while he dries out 😬.

Jenesis is a happy woman this month hitting new 5RMs in the Squat of 70kg and Front Squat of 50kg. Both either match or are within 5kg of her 1RMs so I feel some big PBs on the cards. The nice bonus of hitting PBs in the Squat are that you’re probably building a little extra muscle in the legs, which Jenesis has noticed.

The people doing the training are often the last to notice any body composition changes because when you see yourself in the mirror every day, the changes are so minor it takes a while to notice. People you see regularly will notice before you and the people who see you less often will notice first. If you’re noticing changes yourself, it probably means you’re a decent way in to what you’re doing and that you’ve been consistent.

Big Jo has been struggling of late, especially in the Deadlift. Some of it’s in his head and some of it’s physical. Basically it stems to he hurt his back and while it’s ok now, thats still in the back of his mind. Makes sense because a lot of back rehab is about the mental health of the patient.

So, what did we do?

We gave him deadlifts that he was comfortable with to build confidence and pushed his assistance harder leading to PBs in the SSB Good Morning of 135kg x8 and 140kg x8. Pushing your assistance hard and attacking it with as much intensity as the main lifts is often the missing link for people when it comes to making progress. That might not allow you to do as much of it but i’d take quality over quantity in that regard.

Jo also hit PBs over head in the Push Press of 120kg x1 and Strict Log of 100kg x1.

We used the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup to set a bench mark of where Xena was when it came to competition and for what we needed to work on in terms of technique. Most of which we already knew, but it’s always useful to see things in a competition setting. Since then Xena has hit rep maxes in the Mid Thigh Block Snatch of 35kg x3 & 36kg x2 and in the Below the Knee Block Clean of 43kg x3 & 46kg x2.

The Mid Thigh Block Snatch is great as it allows the lifter to soley focus on dropping deep under the bar without fatigue and while dampening their ability to produce force. Catching high in the Snatch was something we identified about her competition performance in the Snatch.

The Below the Knee Block Clean, while from blocks, treats a different issue. It can help train the lifter to keep the bar close in the transition around the knee and considering there was a person in the front row who was in a better position to make a solid contact with the thighs than Xena on one of Xena’s cleans, it’s a good choice of movement as the better the transition, the closer you’re likely to keep the bar to the body, to your centre of balance and that in itself will help create a more balanced and powerful contact.

Xena was a bag of nerves at the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup but still went 6/6 hitting a 40kg Snatch and a 50kg C&J on her way to a 90kg total. The day was about getting a solid total and a feel for competition rather than PBs.

She also hit a Front Squat PB of 57kg x5 this month.

Liam… Or Pixie as he’s affectionately known has been hitting volume PBs in the Squat and at the time of writing has a max out Squat session written this week. Watch this space! Oh he hit rep PBs in the Squat of 160kg x2 and Front Squat of 125kg x2

At the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup, Marie hit a PB C&J of 64kg. Something she made in training with a cheeky press out, so it was nice to solidify that number in competition.

Olivia also competed at the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup hitting a 48kg Snatch missing 51kg twice… Probably due to nerves. Like Marie though, we solidified a training PB of 73kg in the C&J making it under comp conditions with no questions about press outs.

Wil has been flying with his big compounds hitting PBs in the Squat of 132.5kg x5 and 140kg x5 while also hitting new rep maxes in the Deadlift of 140kg x5, 145kg x4 & 150kg x5. Considering his 1RMs are 148kg in the Squat and 153kg in the Deadlift…. I think we’re on for some nice PBs.

I genuinely can’t remember what Jack hit at the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup, maybe 87kg & 108kg which are short of his bests, but what I do know is that we’re creeping closer to Jacks all time numbers after a year out and that we got some valuable competition experience.

Paul performed brilliantly at the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup hitting PBs of 70kg in the Snatch and 81kg in the C&J.

Cori is at that age where everything works. He’s hit Deadlift PBs of 157.5kg & 160kg and Axle CTOH PBs of 70kg x1+2 & Axle FTOH of 75kg x1 and he’ll continue adding to that.

George C hit some nice PBs at the end of the Strongman Club training cycle hitting PBs of 105kg on Axle FTOH, 210kg x1 on the Deadlift and 130kg x10m on Farmers. The big wins here for George are the Deadlift and Farmers as he’s been battling with tightness in the lower back for a while. Working with Darren at Pro Health Physio has helped that and we’re looking forward to the next training cycle.

Johnny is an animal and qualified for his second wold championships this year by finishing second in the U105 class at BNSF British Finals. Over the two days Johnny had an average day 1 at the comp finishing the day in 6th after three 4ths and a 8th place. Johnny knew the events in Day 2 would be a strong point though and won every event on day 2 to rocket up the leaderboard and finish second. Johnny also hit a PB of 127.5kg x1+2 on Axle CTOH the week before the comp.

Right thats it, i’ve wrote too much and spent too long doing it, so I’m not going to spell or grammar check it… Good spelling or not, hopefully you got something useful from this.

Until Next Time

Adam

It's a Push and a Pull!

I’m writing this a few days later than usual, mainly because I’ve been way too busy this week, it has meant I’ve actually been able to get basically an actual full month of PBs in this rather than the usual two thirds.

Anyway, if you read this you’re obviously interested in what our Athletes are doing, so…

15 year old Cons been making great progress in his sessions and has recently hit a Kettlebell Front Squat PB of 20kg a hand for a set of 6 along with a Trap Bar Deadlift of 42.5kg x8. These are huge for Con as he hates training lower and much prefers a good bro sesh.

Joe strength has been sky rocketing recently which has lead to PBs in the Deadlift of 230kg x5, Squat 260kg x1 & Push Press of 125kg & 130kg x3. Now Joes hit a PB in the Squat we’ll fully be turning our attention to the Deadlift and pushing hard towards Joes long term goal of a 300kg Deadlift. I also have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Joe will Push Press 140kg sooner rather than later as he made 130kg look like a toy.

Tall Paul has been putting in the work and hit PBs of 88kg x3 in the Push press & 125kg x3 in the Squat. One of Pauls big goals is a 100kg Push Press which we’re on track for if we nail 90kg x3 next week.

Taj is starting to make some big progress in his Olympic lifts hitting Snatch PBs of 40kg x2 & 42kg x1 which was followed by PBs the following week of 42kg x2 & 44kg x1 in a Snatch with a Pause at Mid Thigh. Clean & Jerk strength is coming on nicely too with PBs in the Front Squat of 70kg x5 and Clean & Jerk of 50kg for 2+1. Lastly Taj has made great progress in probably his most hated lift hitting a PB Push Press of 63kg. As a long limbed lifter Tajs proportions don’t help him in weightlifting but they also don’t stop him moving forward.

Jenesis hit a new Snatch PB of 25kg x1 and was very happy! I was also very happy.

Big Jo has had some issues with his knees recently, which is where the Strict Log PBs of 90kg & 95kg have come from. I’m a big believer in training how you can around problems. As those knee issues subsided the extra strength overhead payed off and Jo hit rep PBs in the Push Press of 107kg x4 & 110kg x3. Jo also Squatted 180kg for a set of 5 for a new 5RM. There is literally no downside to training what you can safely around injury or discomfort rather than just stopping completely.

For Liam P you’re getting a list 😂… He’s had a great month!

• Deadlift - 205kg x3

• Deadlift - 210kg x4

• Bench - 90kg 5x5

• Squat - 152.5 3x2

• Incline Bench - 90kg x5

• Deadlift - 215kg x3

• Squat - 152.5kg x3

• Incline Bench - 95kg x3

• Bench - 100kg - x5

• Deadlift - 220kg x2

• Bench - 102.5kg x4

Jen improved her competition lifts this month taking PBs in the Snatch of 37kg and C&J of 55kg.

15 year old Cori has been on a tear with his deadlifts recently hitting PBs of 140kg x5 on the axle and 145kg x4, 147.5kg x3, 150kg x3 & 155kg x3 on a barbell. One of the things we’ve been focussing on for Coris deadlift is pushing with the legs swell as pulling and the difference in starting speed is apparent when he does that. If you lack floor speed in the deadlift, outside of just cueing that ‘push’ leg extensions can help. Cori also hit PBs in the Front Squat of 65kg x5 and Farmers of 90kg per hand for 20m.

We focus on Touch and Go Deadlifts for George C at the minute as it stops the spasms and tightness he gets in his back when he releases tension and it’s leat to PBs of 200kg x3, 205kg x3 & 207kg x2… His max was 200kg. See what I mean about training around issues? The lack of spasms also means he’s been able to push Farmers harder than he has done before and thats lead to PBs of 115kg x20m and 125kg x10m. George and I are working with a top notch physio in Darren Finnegan at Pro Health Physio to make sure we fix the issue. I’m not working or making decisions alone that are out of my scope of practice.

George F hit some nice PBs of 120kg x3 in the Axle Push Press and a gym PB of 270kg x5 on the Deadlift before UKNS Finals. Unfortunately George had to pull out of UKNS Finals after the second event due to back issues. He’s now taking it easy, looking to get healthy and will be coming back next year with some unfinished business.

Johnny has had a great run in fr BNSF British Finals hitting a PB in Log CTOH of 120kg for 1+5 and a new 1RM on Axle FTOH of 130kg. Johnny also competed at UKNS Brits, taking an event win in the overhead medley and coming 3rd overall in the U105s stamping his ticket to UKNS Worlds in September. Johnnys come a long was since BNSF Northern Qualifiers in 2022 where he came 6th.

Right, thats it, i’ve gave you plenty of information there, you just need to extrapolate it. If you missed it, if you have floor speed issues in the Deadlift that aren’t positional, Leg Extensions can help.

Until Next Time

Adam

Ask your own questions.

It’s been a nice little month for Savage Strength with PBs in abundance and a competition on the horizon, so lets get straight into it.

Joe has ben b building volume and work capacity in the past block and we’re just starting to get to the business end of his 5’s. He’s hit rep PBs in the Deadlift of 220kg x5, he also hit a nice unplanned PB double in the Squat of 230kg x2. Sometimes when it’s on and an opportunity to hit a PB presents itself you have to take it and thats what happened in the Squat. The prescription was 5x2 at 85% and was more geared towards strength maintenance, but I kept an eye on velocity and things were moving well so we kept creeping up and finished on around 92% of Joes max which puts us in good stead for a PB Squat when we’re ready to take it.

It’s often a slow process in weightlifting, especially when you come to a coach wanting to learn the competition movements but are starting from a baseline of nothing and have to learn to goblet squat first, but Taj has been patient and this month has hit plenty of PBs, especially in the Snatch. Taj hit PBs in the Snatch of, 36kg x2, 37kg x1, 39kg x2 and a big milestone of 40kg x1. He also hit a milestone Squat of 100kg x1 and a nice Push Press of 60kg x2. I’m sure he hit some PBs in the Clean too, but I haven’t wrote them down. One of the things I really like about coaching Taj is he asks his own questions to expand his knowledge and really looks to improve his own understanding of the lifts. I can give you the most comprehensive explanation and all the information I have on the lifts, but as an athlete and lifter, you have to piece it together into something you understand, and you’ll only ever do that by asking questions that fill in the gaps for you.

Last month Xena wasn’t featured in this blog because she hadn’t hit any PBs that month, she was definitely disappointed, but sometimes thats just the way it goes in a training cycle. You can’t hit PBs every session once you become more seasoned and sometimes you have to wait a little for them. Sometimes it’s just part of the structure of the training cycle too. Anyway, in Michael Jordans word, I believe Xena ‘took that personally’ so here’s a list for this month because I only have so much time to type this out 😂

• Snatch - 38kg x1

• Snatch - 39kg x1

• Squat - 93kg x1

• C&J - 45kg x1

• Snatch - 40kg x1

• Snatch - 40kg x1

• C&J - 46kg x1

• C&J - 47kg x1

• C&J - 48kg x1

• C&J - 49kg x1

• C&J - 50kg x1

• Front Squat - 71kg

• Squat - 84kg x2

Big PB’s in the competition lifts along with a couple of Squat PBs which sets Xena up nicely for her competition at the end of the month.

Liam has recovered from the sock base spine injury and resumed where he left off hitting many many PBs this month, my favourite being 200kg x6 in the Deadlift. The most he’d hit for reps at 200kg in the deadlift before that point was a double so this was a huge PB. You’ll notice a couple of Pause Deadlift PBs in the list, while there’s a trade off with pausing just off the floor in terms of training deceleration (which we don’t want) the positional gains it’s given Liam have been priceless and it’s shown in his numbers. Like Xena, i’ll leave you with a list, because it’s a decent length.

• Front Squat - 120kg x2

• Deadlift - 200kg x2

• Squat - 155kg x2

• Deadlift - 185kg x5

• Deadlift - 190kg x5

• Squat - 150kg x3

• Deadlift - 195kg x5

• Seated Backless Strict Press - 65kg x1

• Pause Deadlift - 200kg x1

• Pause Deadlift - 205kg x1

• Deadlift - 200kg x6

We have a few lifters competing at the end of May and Marie is one of them. We’ve hit PBs in the Snatch of 53kg x1 and 47kg x2 and C&J of 63kg x1 this month along with a PB Clean of 65kg where we narrowly missed the Jerk. So that is the goal in competition, a PB C&J of 65kg. We also made big progress in the Squat hitting Back Squat PBs of 91kg, 94kg & 97kg and a Front Squat PB of 78kg (all for singles). Lastly the Box jump is a source of anxiety for Marie but we’ve been increasing height week on week and we recently hit a 26'' Box Jump for a set of 5. Inching closer to confidence in the movement each week is as good a goal as any.

Olivia has had a great month and all the technical work she’s put in is starting to be realised. Olivia hit Snatch PBs of 51kg, 52kg & 53kg along with C&J PBs of 72kg & 73kg all for 1RMs setting us up nicely to compete at the end of May. She also hit a new 1RM in the Front Squat of 80kg which in honesty, looked like she could have tripled. After Olivias competition we’ll have a short rest and start looking towards the new rugby season.

Jacks had a nice month hitting a variety of PBs, most notably beltless Squats of 150kg x3 & 160kg x1 showing the leg strengths there. He also hit a ‘comeback Snatch PB of 90kg and Clean PB double of 105kg and we’ll be looking to put it together with the Jerk in competition. He rounded this all off with a new 1RM Push Press of 103kg and a PB Muscle Snatch double of 60kg.

In his prep for UKNS Finals, George F has hit some nice PBs, half of them being in the Axle Deadlift, they were 250kg x5, 260kg x5, 270kg x3, 280kg x2, all were beltless and set him up nicely for an event that is 270kg for reps. He also hit PBs in the Zercher Carry of 170kg x12m, Shield Carry of 125kg x40m and Log Press of 120kg x1+3. Overhead has always been Georges weakness and we’ve really focussed in on it this training cycle and we’re making good progress, but on a strength level and a technical level, still the 135kg log at UKNS will be a new 1RM for George but I have faith in the work he’s put in.

After BNSF Sean hit a nice rep PB on the Deadlift of 250kg x3 and has had a nice time just plodding along in his training with no competition plans up too now.

After qualifying for BNSF finals Johnny turned his sights back to UKNS and their finals at the beginning of June. The events are quite nice for Johnny, but the level of competition will also be high. During this (very short) prep Johnny has hit PBs in the Axle Deadlift of 245kg x5 & 260kg x3, setting himself up nicely for the 250kg for reps that is coming in comp. He also hit a nice PB in the log of 117.5kg x1+5 and a rep PB on Atlas Stones of 140kg x5 (I think to around 55in). At the time of writing, Johnny has one more week of hard training than a taper for competition, check back next month to see how he got on.

Finally we have Dean who competed at Power Bars Strongest in the middle of May in the novice category taking 3rd Place. It’s one of the few local competitions I wasn’t able to get to so i’m still waiting to hear fully how he did. Either way, Dean now has to look to continue building his strength and event skill as he steps up to inters in his next competition.

I’m not the best writer and this blog often takes about an hour to write, so I’m done writing. Just remember, if you’re getting coached to ask your own questions to fill in blanks when it comes to your knowledge. You’ll learn, understand and put things together much quicker.

Until next time

Adam

Thwarted by a Sock and a Sneeze!

If you’re hear because you read Mays email you know I focussed on the inherent pain that comes with physical endeavour… Well these guys embraced it and it’s paid off!

Here are Aprils PBs!

Big Jacks life seems a world wind at the minute, between fathering a young child, moving house and what seems like a relentless job he’s still getting in to train! Grip has been one of Jacks weakness’ as a strongman since he started with me. It’s something we’ve worked on consistently and it’s paying off with a farmers PB of 115kg p/h x 20m!

Jenesis worked hard for her Snatch PB of 24kg. She can still Power more than she can Snatch, but we’re closing that gap!

Taj is progressing nicely with the competition lifts hitting PBs of 40kg x2 in the Clean and 35kg x2 in the Snatch. We’re not at the point where I wan’t him to be hitting singles so this is the most he’s ever hit in these lifts. He also hit a 90kg Double in the Back Squat!

What can I say about James (Or Jim Bob as his mam used to call him). In the final run up to BNSF Northerns James hit a PB in the Front Squat of 155kg x2. Thats not what I want to talk about though. At BNSF James held himself well and came 6th overall in the U105kg category, which is a great achievement in itself… But to do it at 18 year old after dropping around 20kg bodyweight since January is something else. James had his ups and downs and he’ll tell you himself that the result on the Yoke Press was a disappointment. But he also hit a PB 15in Axle Deadlift of 235kg while also taking an even win in the Conans Wheel of 3 rotations. James has a really bright future and I’m privileged to be able to say I coach him and be part of his journey.

Big Jo, like Jim Bob, competed at BNSF Northerns, Jo is a giant though so competed in the Opens category. And like James, it was always going to be a learning curve and a way to drop a marker on what to beat next year. Jo came 13th on the day hitting a PB 15in Axle Deadlift of 260kg x1 along with a PB Conans Wheel of 220kg and a PB Sandbag Run of 90kg, 100kg, 110kg, 120kg. It’s set a nice marker for next year but it was always going to be a battle for Jo. 19 year old, competing against people 10 years+ his senior with no option to compete in a lighter weight category due to his natural side (6ft 5in and 133kg). He has a bright future too and will certainly grow into a top Opens competitor. In the run up to BNSF Jo also hit PBs in the Good Morning of 140kg x6, Bent Over Row of 135kg x6 and Sandbag to Shoulder 120kg.

Liam is flying with his Front Squat at the moment hitting a volume PB of 115kg 3x3… It nearly all wen’t tits up for Liam though as he put his back out and we had to adjust his training… This is the pain I will be talking / talked about in Mays email… Who would have thought a specimen like Liam could do his back by sneezing while picking up a sock!

Marie is hitting her stride again and we should hopefully be on for some nice PBs at the Nixon Memorial Cup at the back end of May, thats if she doesn’t hit PBs earlier! in April Marie hit PBs in the Clean + Front Squat of 64kg x1+1 and the Snatch + Low Hang Snatch of 44kg x1+2.

Olivia is working hard on the technical aspects of the Snatch and C&J and hit a nice PB in the former of 70kg x1 and is trending up!

Little Jack is progressing really nicely and while we still have some technical aspects of his lifting to focus on, he’s making big progress in his general strength and hit a new 5RM in the Squat of 140kg… Oh, and he did it beltless!

Lucy hit a nice PB Triple in the Pause at Mid Thigh Snatch of 40kg! We’re working hard on those key positions, particularly when it comes to balance and weight distribution and it’s paying off!

Cori is now at the point where he his learning to read and following the club program, so thats a huge win at 14 year old! He also hit PBs tin the Deadlift at 120kg x5 and Bench Press at 60kg x3.

I learned that George C likes to wear Cowboy Boots and Shorts to Tescos sometimes… Or at least thinks thats acceptable attire… Either way, that madness didn’t stop him hitting a PB Back Squat of 155kg.

George F opted not to compete at BNSF and instead focus on UKNS finals. a 280kg Axle Deadlift PB of 280kg is a nice marker to set in this prep!

Stephen had a great performance at Stags Strongest taking 3rd place on the day with a great performance in the overhead medley and hitting 7 reps on stone to shoulder.

Sean put in a really nice performance taking 8th place at BNSF Northerns in the Open category. 13 reps on the 120kg Yoke Press was a particular highlight that got him second in that event on the day. In the run up to BNSF Sean also hit PBs in the Axle Push Press at 130kg x2, 15in Axle Deadlift at 280kg x2 and a new 1RM in the Deadlift of 280kg.

Despite getting Norovirus the week before competition and losing 4kg, Mark put in a nice performance at Edinbrugh’s Strongest and finished in 5th place and only one point behind 3rd, so it was tight. Mark managed 4 reps on log, smashed the deadlift ladder pulling 240kg for 2 reps which is a huge win.

Jonny put in a great performance at BNSF Northerns in the u105kg category taking second overall while only being out of the top two on Conans. In comp Jonny hit a PB 15in Axle Deadlift at 305kg and 14 reps on a 105kg yoke press as the highlights of the competition. Jonnys now off to BNSF finals in July to go along with UKNS finals in June.

Awesome work from everyone this month!

Imagine putting your back out sneezing while picking up a sock… The pain of being an athlete eh!

Until Next Time

Adam

Train what you can, how you can and when you can

We’re getting close to competition for our BNSF Strongmen and a few of them are flying and hitting rep PBs at exactly the right time, so lets get to it!

Jenesis Isn’t a new athlete to me but she has just moved up to working with me two days a week rather than one while also going on my programming full time. This gives me a lot more control and flexibility to manage her training which is always preferential. Jenesis hit PBs in the Push Press of 42.5kg and Squat of 72.5kg to start off a new training cycle well!

Joe had a great competition at Ashingtons strongest at the start of the month, coming second overall in the Inters class after I pushed him into it from novice on the day. Joe hit PBs in the Deadlift of 260kg for a new 1RM and in the Axle Clean & press of 110kg x5 winning that event. I also think he won the Yoke too. There’s a lesson here… Don’t be scared to step up if you’re capable.

Taj is making good progress in the snatch (I’m not writing the PBs down because it’s basically every session right now) but is also making progress with his strength hitting a new 5RM of 75kg and a new 3RM of 78kg.

Xena has had a great month despite having a family life and dissertation to do on top of it. Showing up and getting started is the most important thing and in a time when it would have been easy to sack of the sessions she came away with this list of PBs by being consistent when stress was high.

• Squat - 91kg x1

• Squat - 92kg x1

• Push Press - 42kg x2

• Front Squat - 70kg x1

• Snatch Deadlift - 80kg x1

• Push Press - 46kg

Xena’s next focus is on competition at the back end of May.

James is competing in BNSF on the 16th of April and has been hitting some big PBs… He’s getting a list too rather than writing about every one of them.

• Deadlift - 215kg x5

• Front Squat - 140kg x4

• Front Squat - 147.5kg x3

• Front Squat - 150kg x3

• Push Press - 117.5kg x2

• Push Press - 120kg x2

• Axle Press - 112.5kg x1+2

• Push Press - 125kg x1

Would you believe he’s done all this while dropping around 15 to 20kg in Bodyweight to get into the U105kg class! This meant it’s not been straight forward and sometimes energy availability has become a problem in the sessions, but it shows, with the right adjustments based on how you feel that day, you can make big gains in strength while losing a lot of weight.

Little Jo has been making big gains with her pressing and has hit PBs of 26kg on the Seated OHP and a new 2RM on Bench Press of 40kg. Jo trains out of her own garage and it’s definitely the garage of gains right now!

Big Jos been dealing with some shoulder issues, but thats not stopped him focussing on what he can do! Jo has hit PBs in the Deadlift of 235kg x5, 250kg x3 & 255kg x2 while also hitting PBs in the ‘High Bar’ Squat of 182.5kg x3 & 210kg x1. I’ve seen a huge mindset change in Jo this training block and it’s rewarded him.

Liam P is basically hitting PB Front Squats every session the biggest being 110kg x3 (5 Sets), which was actually his 1RM or slightly above it before this session. I love percentage based training, but sometimes you have to ignore solid numbers and go with an estimate while inserting enough flexibility into the program to accommodate for any inaccuracies.

Olivias rugby season is almost over so we’re just about to start getting her prepped for her first weightlifting competition. She’s already hit a PB C&J of 68kg this training cycle and 70kg would be a nice number to hit on comp day.

Wil is almost fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered skiing at christmas so it’s exciting to be able to load him more conventionally on lower body work. In the mean time he’s hit a PB in the Bench Press of 80kg x4. He’s another great example of making progress while training what you can, how you can when dealing with obstructive issues.

Jacks making great progress and has hit PBs in the Pause at Mid Thigh Snatch at 75kg x3, Clean at 100kg x3 and Muscle Snatch at 52kg x3. Jacks goals are to get back to where he was before his year long plus hiatus from weightlifting. That includes a 96kg Snatch. We’ll get there, but the longer you’re out the longer it takes to get back. We’ve got a competition stop off on the 28th of May too so that will be interesting to see what we hit on the day.

Lucy PBs in the Muscle Snatch of 36kg x3 and a big PB in the Clean of 63kg x3 this month. It’s great progress, we still looking to make progress on that jerk though!

George F has had a great month and hit lots of PBs in the deadlift along with a new 3RM in the Axle Push Press. Here’s a list.

• Axle Push Press - 115kg x5

• Deadlift (Beltless) 275kg x3

• DOH Deadlift - 170kg 5x5

• Axle Deadlift - 240kg x3

• Axle Deadlift - 250kg x3

• Axle Push Press - 120kg x3

George is gearing up for the UKNS finals in around 7 or 8 weeks time.

Stephen hit a nice new 3RM in the Push Press of 100kg and is gearing up for Stags Strongest on the 16th of April.

Sean is another BNSF competitor and is starting to hit his groove at the right time. He’s hit PBs in the Axle Push Press of 125kg x3, the 15in Axle Deadlift of 270kg x3 and Yoke Press of 120kg x3.

Mark is gearing up for Edinburghs strongest on the 16th of April… Yea, I know, 3 different competitions going on on the 16th of April… And has hit PBs in the Deadlift at 250kg, Axle Push Press at 90kg x5 and in Log FTOH at 95kg x4.

Lastly we have Jonny who is flying and I believe is genuinely one of the strongest natural U105s in the country. He’s hit PBs in the Axle Push Press of 120kg x5 & 130kg x2 (I think 130kg x2) while also smoking a 15in Axle Deadlift of 285kg x3. Jonnys coming in hot and it will be interesting to see how he fairs in BNSF compared to last year.

Thats it… There was a little running theme of ‘Train what you can, how you can and when you can’ with a couple of people carrying niggles. Thats a lesson to us all though. I would take consistent training over optimum training any day.

To many people stop completely when there’s a road block, but consistency is the best way to progress and often it’s just about getting rid of that all or nothing mentality because if you suffer from that all or nothing mentality it’s the biggest road block to success.

Psst… It’s my own biggest barrier in my own training.

Until next time

Adam

I don't have much time!!!

February is a short month and I basically get 3 less days to run the business on my own… But what a fucking month for everyone. Progress was made all over the place!

Anyway, i’m short of time… As always, so will try to blast through this while giving each of our guys the justice they deserve.

Jens just finished the end of a training cycle and hit PBs in the Front Squat at 75kg and C&J at 53kg, so it’s time to start looking ahead, we’re still yet to make any solid goals for the next training cycle and are currently in a 2 week transitional phase to let the body rest a little, but after i’ve looked at what her lifting ratios say and had an evaluation of the last training cycle, we’ll be looking to move forwards and get back at it with new goals.

Joe hit some nice Axle FTOH PBs of 132.5kg x1 followed by 135kg x1 a few weeks later. This bodes well as he has Axle in a competition coming up on Saturday.

Paul is hitting pbs in the big lifts and hit PBs in the Push Press of 94kg x1 (+1kg), 97kg x1 (+4kg) and 98kg (+1kg). PBs in the Deadlift of 193kg x1 (+3kg) and 195kg x1 (+2kg) along with a Squat PB of 133kg x1 (+5.5kg). Were still chasing those long term goals of a 100kg Push Press, 200kg Deadlift and 140kg Squat, but we’re moving forwards!

There are going to be a couple of people like Xena in this section where they basically get a list because there’s too many PBs.

• Snatch Deadlift - 66kg x5

• Snatch Deadlift - 68 x3

• Snatch Deadlift - 72kg x3

• Push Press - 38kg x5

• Front Squat - 60kg x3

• Front Squat - 63kg x3

• Front Squat - 65kg x2

• Push Press - 40kg x3

• Push Press - 41kg x3

• No Foot Snatch + Snatch 37kg x1+1 (equalling 1RM)

• Front squat - 65kg x2

• Snatch deadlift - 75kg x2

• Snatch Deadlift - 76kg x2

• Front Squat - 68kg x2

What can you take from this list? Well it’s mostly strength based movements and not competition movements so we can see Xena’s raw strength is going up, that we’re probably at the back end of training that and that in march we’re probably going to switch our focus to transferring that ‘raw’ strength into actual competition strength.

James (Jimmy) is doing fucking amazing! His push press is skyrocketing and has hit PBs of 107.5kg x5, 110kg x5, 112.5kg x3 & 115kg x2 along with a PB Axle CTOH of 105kg x5. On top of that, he’s making progress with his Front Rack and has hit PBs in the front squat of 137kg x5 (with straps) and 120kg x2 with no straps. The deadlift fear is also disappearing and he hit 210 x5 in the deadlift all while dropping 15kg bodyweight since Christmas. If I had to pick someone for client of the month, it’d be Jimmy. Not because of the PBs, but because of the work and effort he’s put in to acquire new positions that we’re actually quite painful for him at first.

Jo has had a nice month, the shoulder issues are subsiding and he hit a volume PBs in the squat of 160kg for 6x4, 170kg 6x3 and a rep PB of 170kg x5. He also hit a rep PB in the Deadlift of 235kg x5.

Liams had a nice training cycle hitting PBs in the Incline Press of 95kg x1 followed by 95kg x2 and 100kg x1 along with hitting a PB Strict Press of 67.5kg x1. Upper body strength is definitely on the up as is the Squat where Liam hit PBs of 165kg x1 and 170kg x1. Next we turn our attention to the next training cycle and the Deadlift where we’ll look to bring up some technical flaws along with getting over a metal block that manifests itself at 215kg.

Marie like Xena, can also have a list!

• Push Press - 50kg x2

• Clean + Front Squat - 64kg (+1kg)

• Jerk - 63kg (+1.5kg)

• Push Press - 51kg x1

• Snatch - 51kg x1

• Clean & Jerk - 61kg x1

• Front Squat - 75kg x1

• Snatch - 52kg x1

• Back Squat - 90kg x1

• Snatch Deadlift - 87kg x1

These are huge improvements from where we started 6 months ago and after a 1 week ‘rest’ now we turn our sights to competition! I say rest, it’s not a rest, it’s just reduced volume and load compared to what she has been doing… It’s certainly not a rest though.

Olivias training cycle is 12 months long and seemingly never ends due to a long rugby season, there are just different phases. Since January we’ve reduced the output on the ‘raw’ strength stuff and started looking towards moving face and increasing RFD. We’ve also reduced Olivia down to two lifting sessions a week to facilitate more recovery between hard games. Although thats not the focus in season, here’s a list of PBs Olivia has hit recently.

• Squat - 112.5kg x1 (7.5kg PB)

• Bench Press - 66kg x1 (3.5kg PB)

• Deadlift - 130kg x1 (10kg PB)

• Push Press - 65kg x1 (5kg PB)

• Snatch - 46kg (+3.5kg)

• Snatch - 49kg (+3kg)

• Snatch - 50kg x1 (+1kg)

Wil is still dealing with a dodgy knee from his Skiing trip and while we’re still training lower body, the load is reduced and is the ROM on certain movements. This means however, we have more energy to build the upper body and it’s shown! Seated OHP PBs of 60kg x5, 65kg x3 and 70kg x2 along with a Bench PB of 75kg x5. I often struggle to follow my own advice as I coach myself (Yes i’m aware thats dumb), but for my guys, set backs are just opportunities to get better somewhere else.

This was Jacks first full training cycle back after basically a year out and being fully detrained so the goal was always just to bring the numbers up as close to old numbers as possible. We finished with a 86kg Snatch, 110kg C&J & 150kg Squat so getting close to where we were! Jack did hit a Power Snatch of 77.5kg x1 which is an all time PB.

Lucy hit a nice Triple in the Clean of 62kg in the Weightlifting Club.

On top of that, we have 4 or 5 guys now training for their first Weightlifting competition on the 28th May.

Cori his lots of PBs that I don’t track because frankly, they’re too numerous at 14 year old and i’m more interested in the way he moves right now. However, i’ll be giving him a shout out as he’s started going to the gym himself now outside of our sessions which is a big step forwards in confidence and competence in his lifting!

George F hit a nice PB on Sandbag to shoulder of 110kg x4. The end goal here is to hit the heaviest competition weight of 120kg for a set of 5 which means we should have plenty strength in the tank come competition day.

Jonny and hit a nice Beltless Deadlift PB of 270kg x3. Both Jonny and George are coming in nicely for BNSF Northern Qualifiers.

I’ll finish by chatting about the ‘transitional’ phase that a few people are in.

It’s important to have a transitional phase where possible at the end of a training cycle to allow full recovery from hard training. It essentially amounts to reduced load and reduce intensity training for anywhere between 1 to 4 weeks, depending on the requirements and timeframe of the upcoming training cycle, along with how intense the last training cycle was.

As a general rule I like to look at it as an extension to the last training cycle rather than an intro to the next, although it should be fairly fluid.

Id also focus on low rest times, being in and out of the gym fast while looking to train things that maybe get neglected in your usual training. Structural balance and unilateral work is always a good thing to look at in these phases. I wouldn’t neglect the strength training completely though and 1 session of low volume strength maintenance per week is fine and usually helps set you up well for the next training block.

Hopefully you found that insightful.

Until next time

Adam

2 Tickets to Ireland Please!

Oi Oi ladies and gents, this months been a great one for Savage Strength!

Two Podium finishes, Brits invites, UKNS Northern Qualifiers and a whole host of PBs. So lets get right into what our athletes have been doing.

Jen finally hit that 100kg Squat…twice! That probably means there’s a little more in the tank but we’ll save that for another day, as the focus is currently in the competition lifts in which Jen hit a new PB snatch of 36kg, adding a kilo to her max and continuing to chip away at the lift she struggles with most.

Joe is currently in a competition prep. Max Deadlift is one of the events, so hitting PBs in the Low Block Deadlift of 240kg (+7.5kg on his Max Deadlift) and in the Deadlift of 242.5kg x1 (+10kg) followed by 245kg the following week is a good sign that we’ve strengthened his hips the way we were looking to and that we’re moving in the right direction. Joe also hit a PB on Axle FTOH of 130kg x1, adding 10kg to his Max Axle and 2.5kg to his max Push Press in the process.

Paul is firmly in SBD mode and hit PBs in all three adding 2.5kg to his Squat (127.5kg) and Bench (120kg) and adding 5kg to his Deadlift (190kg). We’re going to stay in the weekly undulating training cycle he’s currently in and keep chipping away until we’ve gotten as much out of it as possible.

Xena said she’s feeling left out this month on the PBs, I disagree! Xena hit PBs i the no foot clean of 43kg x3 and 45kg x1. She also hit a PB in the No Foot Snatch of 32kg x3 and Snatch Deadlift of 65kg x5 which is (or was) actually her 1RM Snatch Deadlift. Her Front Squat of 53 x5 may have also been a rep PB, if it wasn’t it’s close. So yeah, she’s had a way better month than she thinks she has. They’re just not coming as fast as they were in that early beginner phase, but we’re chipping away.

Big Jo hit a nice PB in the Front Squat (Beltless) of 150kg x1 which is a 10kg increase on his belted Front Squat Max.

Liams pressing has been flying as of late and he’s hit PBs in the Seated Backless OHP of 57.5kg x 3x2 (1RM Match) & 61kg x1 along with a nice PB in the Incline Bench of 95kg x1. Liams triceps are his weak point when pressing, so operation triceps is on.

Marie has had a belter of a month and it’s probably just best to list her PBs.

• Snatch - 50kg x1

• C&J - 60kg x1

• Jerk - 61.5kg x1

• Squat - 85kg x2 (+1kg  & and extra rep over 1RM)

• Front Squat - 74kg x1 (+2kg)

• Push Press - 47.5kg x2

• Snatch Deadlift - 73kg x2

• Clean + Front Squat - 63kg x1+1 (Beats her 1RM Clean by 1kg)

I think thats a PB in every movement that matters… Literally could not have had a better month!

Olivia is mid Rugby season, that doesn’t mean you can’t be hitting PBs as long as the training is well planned. Olivia hit PBs in the Squat of 97.5 x3 & 102.5kg x2. The Push Press of 60kg x3 (Matches 1RM) & 62kg x2. And the Deadlift of 117.5kg x3, 120kg x2 & 125kg x1. Awesome work. Sets you up nicely to finish the season strong!

Jack has had a nice month in the weightlifting club hitting a couple of all time PBs along with getting closer to his old numbers pre break. Jack’s hit PBs in the Push Press of 80kg x3 & 95kg x1, while also hitting PBs in the Power Movements of 95kg in the Power Clean and 76kg in the Power Snatch.

Lucy hit a nice PB on the clean, showing off her leg strength and taking 65kg for a double.

In the Strongman Club it’s all been going on!

George C hit a 5kg PB on the Log of 95kg x1.

Sean in the Online Strongman Club hit a Deadlift PB (Deadlift Bar) of 272.5kg adding 2.5kg to his max and that leaves us with just the guys who were competing to cover!

George F had a spectacular time in the Opens category of the UKNS Northern Qualifiers, coming second and receiving his invitation to the finals in Ireland. I’ll not cover all of the events, but the two highlights for me were taking 270kg in the Deadlift for 7 reps when his PB was 4 and we were aiming for 5 along with his win on the Stones that secured his 2nd place finish, showing great composure in a situation that meant there was only half a point between 2nd & 3rd going into the final event. In training and the run up to the competition George hit PBs in the Log (Beltless) of 122kg x1 and the Incline Press of 100kg x2 and 110kg x1.

Jonny had a magnificent competition, was not out of the top 3 in any event and had won the U105 category before the final event and booked his place in the final in style. There were many highlights but 250kg x9 in the deadlift was my favourite.

Where do i start with Rachel, who competed with a torn calf against some worlds standard competition. Despite the torn calf Rachel hit PBs in every event and most importantly, got past some fear on the Deadlift. Great work!

It’s been a brilliant month for Savage Strength and i’m not going to hit you with anymore information, I’ll just leave you with this thought.

Not every month is as eventful as this, if I’m honest, this is what i’d call a highlight. I mentioned ‘chipping away’ in some form at least twice in this blog and thats what most of training will be, just chipping away at things. At weight, at work capacity, at movement patterns or any other target you might have.

Yes, you’ll have times when a huge piece of stone falls and it unveils a master piece, but most of training is just chipping away at your targets. Hitting PBs are the easy part of training, accepting and enjoying the process of just chipping away is the real challenge and often where people fall off.

Until next time.

Adam

A New Chapter

So, I’m going to try and keep this one quick as it’s the week between Christmas and New Year, I have no idea what day it is and i’m trying to keep my work load low.

PBs as follows:

Jenesis hit a PB Strict Press of 32.5kg x1, it’s not necessarily extra upper body strength that we need given Jenesis’ needs, but when the PBs come you take them where they are.

Paul hit a nice Front Squat of 110kg x1 increasing his max by 10kg and in the same session hit a PB on Low Block Stiff Leg Deadlifts at 180kg x1. This is only 2.5kg to 5kg below his max Deadlift for this bodes well for a PB deadlift in the next couple of weeks.

Xena hit PBs in the C&J at 42.5kg x1 and the Front Squat at 62.5 x1. That basically finished off how far we could take things this training cycle and since then we’ve started back in a base strength phase using the new maxes.

Jo hit a load of PB’s in December… And as usual, when it’s long… Here’s a list!

• Log - 97.5 x1+5

• Log - 102.5 x1+3

• Log 105kg x1+3

• Log - 110kg x1

• Log - 110kg x1+3

• Deadlift - 230kg x5

• Push Press - 102.5kg x3

• Push Press - 105kg x3

• Push Press - 107.5kg x3

Jos overhead strength is developing nicely and we’re filling the biggest hole in his strongman game.

Liam hit a nice new 2RM in the Squat of 145kg. His leg strengths developing nicely.

Marie is around 5 or 6 weeks into her new training cycle and has acclimatised to the volume now and it’s showing with a new 5RM on the Push Press at 42.5kg. She also hit a new PB in the Snatch at 48kg and the leg strength is coming on nicely with a PB Clean of 62kg (+2kg)

Olivia is mid rugby season, but is still hitting PBs overhead hitting Push Press 5RMs of 55kg and 57.5kg.

Lucy hit a nice PB double of 45kg in the Snatch with a pause below the knee.

Young Cori is coming on leaps and bounds and hit a PB set of 5 in the Front Squat of 50kg. I’m sure he hit more but thats just the one that sticks out in my mind.

George F had a nice month hitting PBs on the Farmers of 152kg p/h x10 to 15m and on Atlas Stones of 150kg x3 (51ish inches). It’s nice to see that raw basic barbell strength that we built in earlier blocks starting to transfer over to the events ready for UKNS.

Lastly Dean and Jonny hit PB deadlifts on the deadlift bar of 205kg x2 (+5kg and 1rep on his stiff bar max) and 300kg x1 (+10kg on his stiff bar max) respectively. I think it’s important to differentiate the difference between a Deadlift Bar and a Stiff Bar as both guys compete and you can usually lift more on a deadlift bar. With it not being an insignificant difference in can change the numbers you use and how you approach training for an event.

I’ll not hang around much longer but the last thing to say is that from January, Savage Strength will be working out of Wolfslair Fitness.

Exciting times and a new chapter for Savage Strength!

Until next tme

Adam

P.S. I’ve not spell checked or grammar checked this blog… I just wrote it and left… Quick and dirty style!

'Not even going to proof read it'

I’ve had very little time this month… I’m going to blame the gym I work from moving, but in reality it’s like this every month and I should probably take on some staff. But lets start with the important stuff and get the PBs out the way.

Jen hit a nice PB in the Snatch adding 1kg to her max up to 35kg in the process. 1kg might not seem like a lot but at these weight it equates to around 3% which is actually a really nice increase. I might talk more on that later.

Paul Has been ticking along nicely and i’ve not done a good job tracking his PBs… Equally he’s not done a good job of answering my check in question of ‘Have you hit any PBs this week” when I’ve sent it to him. I know for definite he’s matched his Front Squat max but did it with a 3 second pause in the hole, so thats a great improvement. I believe he has also hit new 5RM & 3RMs in the Push press of 83kg & 88kg and in the Squat of 115kg & 120kg. Considering his Push Press max is 93kg & Squat Max is 125kg I feel we’re in a good place.

Xena has had a nice month when it comes to the slow strength movements hitting PBs in the squat of 78kg (6x3 Volume PB), 85kg x1 and then 90kg x1 a week later. She also hit Push Press pbs of 37kg x2 & 45kg x1.

James new… Well not that new, but he’d been dipping in and out of the Weightlifting club as a strongman who wanted to add some strings to his bow but finally too the plunge and went all in with online programming with some in person sessions. In the last 5 weeks he’s hit PBs in the deadlift of 180kg x3 (Beltless) followed by 180 x5 (Beltless). As well as in the Front Squat of 120kg x5 & 122.5kg x5 and in the Push Press at 102.5 x5. Lots of key lifts for Strongman are going up for James, his snatching is coming on too. We just need to keep working on that rack position… Honestly he’s tight as fuck but it’s getting better.

Wil has had a nice month despite hurting his knee during one of his gymnastic sessions (Not coached by me obviously). Because of the knee problems we’ve had to pull back on the lower body work. While some people may have been frustrated… Wil bought into it and we doubled down on his upper body work and it showed. Will hit PBs in the Seated Backless OHP of 57.5kg (+4 Reps), 60kg x3, 62.5 x2 and finally 65 x1 adding 7.5kg to his max. He also hit PBs in the Bench Press of 70 x3 and then 72.5 x5. Injuries can be a blessing in disguise, it’s about how you frame it in your own mind.

in the Weightlifting club Lucy hit a nice PB triple in the clean of 60kg setting us up nicely for the next block.

And in the Strongman Club George C hit some nice PBs in the Push Press of 100kg x1 and Front Squat of 110kg x1.

Now there are two others in the Strongman Club who have made huge progress this month… One is George F who has hit som many PBs i’m just going to give you a list rather than write each one…

• Deadlift - 285kg x2 (PB Match)

• Deadlift - 282.5kg x3

• Log - 112.5kg x1+3

• Log - 115kg x1+3

• Log - 120kg x1+2

• Push Press - 120 x3

• Push Press - 135 x1

• Farmers -  130kg p/h x 35m

• Front Squat - 150kg x 2

• Front Squat - 175kg x1 (+20kg)

• Stones - 145kg x4 to 55in (+1 rep)

The other is Johnny who i’m also giving you a list for.

• Push Press - 140kg

• Deadlift - 272.5kg x3

• Deadlift - 280 x2

• Deadlift - 285 x2

• Log - 127.5kg x1+3

• Stones - 130kg x5 to 62in (+4 reps)

• Front Squat - 190kg x1

That double at 285kg btw… 12.5 kg over his max when we started working together. He’s so close to that 300kg Deadlift I can smell it…

Dean has been doing great and pushing his strength hard this block and has hit PBs in the axle at 90kg x1+2 (PB Match) and 92.5kg x1. he also hit a Deadlift PB of 190kg x2 and 200kg x1.

Stephen Increased his Push Press max to 110kg x1 and Front Squat max to 120kg x1.

Nearly done… Just the Online Strongman club left… Johnny is a part of that by the way, it just felt easier to put him up next to george.

So, Sean hit two nice PBs, on in the Front Squat at 165kg x1 adding 5kg to his 1RM and one in the Deadlift at 255kg x2 increasing is 2RM.

Mark currently in the last week of his prep for a competition in Edinbrugh and took 220kg x2 in the Deadlift for a new PB.

And finally Rachel hit some new PBs in the log… Of which the number I didn’t write down and can’t remember…

Whew! Thats just about it, lots of PBs and now I have to get back to moving a gym…

But I will leave you with this question…

People often turn their noses up at the thought of a 1kg pb because it’s too small… But if I gave you a choice, would you rather hit a 1kg pb or miss a 2.5kg PB attempt?

I know what i’d rather have. This scales up too based on how strong you are and what movement we’re talking about, but a 2.5kg or 1kg PB is just as valid as a 5kg or 10kg PB and probably more sustainable and less frustrating…

Thats me done… Not even going to proof read it.

Until next time

Adam

Man... it's Late

Man… It’s late!

It’s 10pm on Monday the 31st of October, i’ve just got in from a days coaching and my monthly email goes out in 6 and a half hours and I have no idea what i’m going to write…

So lets start with this months PBs as usual!

15 year old Con hit a PB KB Front Squat of 12kg x6. I don’t speak about Con much because he generally likes to go under the radar but this was a great breakthrough for him not just in weight, but his movement patterns are coming on too.

Joe hit new 1rms in the Push Press of 127kg x1, Deadlfft of 232.5 x1 and in Stone to Shoulder of 120 x1. It was a nice way to end his first training block and allows us to now focus on his first strongman competition next year.

Everything technically a PB for Taj as he’d never been in a gym to lift weights before, but I thought i’d include a notable milestone of a 100kg Deadlift x5. Taj is making great progress with the goal of being able to Snatch and C&J. You’ve got to walk before you can run though so a lot of his training is currently just about getting generally strong and proficient with more simple movements.

Xena had some nice PBs this month in the Push Press at 31kg x1… She’s just done this for 4x4 tonight after learning to use her legs properly, so hey ho, i’m still going to include it. She also PB’s her Snatch and C&J twice at 35kg (+1kg) and 37kg (+2kg) and 40kg (+1kg) and 41kg (+1kg) respectively. T

Liam hit a nice Seated OHP PB of 60 x1. I know Liam finds overhead frustration as it can be inconsistent for him but this is great progress!

Globetrotting Marie hit some nice PB’s, some while on holiday in America… Here’s a list because i’m starting to wain and get tired…

• Block Jerk - 61kg x1 (+3kg)

• Front Squat - 72kg x1 (+11kg)

• C&J - 59kg x1

• Back Squat - 84kg x1 (+1kg)

• Snatch - 47kg (+1kg)

George C hit a nice Push Press rep PB of 90kg x4 which is +3 Reps on anything he’s done at that weight before and a far cry from being him hit the deck after a rep at that weight.

George F has been smashing it… Here’s a list if you don’t believe me… Bit ridiculous for a months work really.

• Deadlift (Beltless) - 260 x5

• Deadlift (Beltless) 265 x5

• Deadlift - 275 x3

• Deadlift - 280 x3 (PB Match)

• Log - 102.5 x1+5

• Log - 107.5 x1+5

• Log - 110 x1+3

• Push Press - 110 x5

• Push Press - 112.5 x5

• Push Press - 115 x5

• Push Press - 117.5 x3

• Front Squat - 130kg x4

• Front Squat - 135kg x3

• Stones - 145 x5 to 56in

• Farmers - 135kg p/h x35m (17.5+17.5)

Johnny is new to our online strongman team and is reaping the rewards of the extra direction in his training. He hit PB’s in the deadlift of 245kg & 250kg x5 and a nice rep PB on Log of 115kg x1+5.

Finally Rachel is conquering the big log and hit a 13’’ Log PB of 47.5 1+3.

Right, thats it… It’s late… I need bed… And i’ve got nothing else of use to say… So here’s a step loading variation that I drew a visual of for a client.

As it says in the picture…

Once you hit 85%, you’ll have to change the rep ranges to something like 6x2, 4x3, 3x4…

It’s pretty good for when movement mastery is key and a slower burning progression is needed and I probably wouldn’t use it below 70% or above 85% and would revert to a more traditional progression after that if you wanted to peak it.

Thats it, hopefully that adds value to this tired blog. I’ll not be proof reading this, so forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes.

Until next time

Adam

Identify needs with (relevant) lifting ratios

It’s Monday morning and the last Monday of the month, so it’s time to write this months blog.

It’s a quiet one if i’m honest.

Rugby is in the off season, the Strongmen are building for UKNS in January, so there’s around 16 weeks to go so it’s very early for them to be hitting big PBs and generally people are ticking over nicely.

It’s all a process and you can’t just magic PB, that and (more of my guys than I could have imagined) we’re doing the Great North run, and that training in itself will eat into strength PBs.

Anyway, onto it!

First off, big well done to Jen, Paul B, Paul Y and Xena on their performances in the great north run. Jen, and the Pauls on their times and Xena who gave up her time and acted as a guide for a visually impaired woman.

Speaking of Xena..

Xena out did herself this month hitting PBs in the Squat of 78kg 2x5 and 80kg x5. Snatch 34kg x1 (+1kg), Clean - 35kg x1 (+2kg), Clean & Power Jerk - 39 x1 and Snatch DL 63kg x5 (+3kg). One of the big goals of Xena’s training is to create more separation between her Snatch and Clean & Jerk pbs caused by a discrepancy in technique level between the lifts. Your Snatch should realistically be 80 to 85% of you max Snatch, so we’re getting closer and making progress to bringing them inline.

Lucy is making progress and recently hit a 51kg Snatch adding 1kg to her max. The real thing we need to continue working on with Lucy is her Jerk technique. Once that improves with higher weights I have no doubt her C&J max with soar.

Paul hit some great PBs in the Snatch and C&J of 63kg (+5kg) and 80kg (+4kg), all while training for the GNR.

And Marie who was until recently a member of the WL Club and has recently moved online has been killing the PBs too hitting a 58kg C&J and a 60kg Clean. More work on the Jerk coming up for marie because there’s certainly more there in the clean.

George F started back working on building up that Deadlift hitting a Beltless rep pb of 255kg x5 (Beltless).

Last one… Told you it was a quiet month!

Well done to both Dean & Gillian who came 3rd and 2nd respectively in Stags First Timers Strongman competition. They both work hard in training, didn’t make many mistakes and reaped the rewards. Great work!

Compared to last month that didn’t take long to write, but thats what happens when you have people who have just finished competing, program in blocks and a few off-seasons line up.

I’ll leave you with a little usable information.

I spoke about Xena’s lifting ratios earlier in the post…

Now… Some people take it way to far and have lifting ratios for your ‘Preacher Curl to Back Squat’ which to me is a little far and a bit stupid and generally just isn’t useful as it can just divert your attention from what you really need to work on.

Imagine thinking ‘shit, I can’t push my back squat until I bring my bicep curl up.’ It just doesn’t make sense.

If you use the right ratios and put your attention onto the right ratios they can be useful in identifying what you really need to work on.

Here’s Some useful ones for weightlifting.

Snatch should be:

60 to 65% of your max Back Squat

Or 80 to 85% of your max C&J

C&J should be:

80 to 85% of your max Back Squat

Or 85 to 92% of your max Front Squat

Front Squat should be:

85 to 93% of your max Back Squat

Powers should generally be around:

85% of their full lifts

There are lots of others, some dubious and not that useful, some not so dubious and very useful, but I feel these are the best.

There will be variation in this, so don’t worry about being bang on the mark, but if you find you’re way out in something, it’s probably a good idea to turn your training focus on bringing that thing up to scratch.

Improve the weak link and you’ll usually improve the entire system.

Until next time

Adam

P.S. I’ve been putting together a excel sheet of lifting ratios for a while for strongman, weightlifting and general training / structural balance…

It’s mainly for my own interest and coaching, but if something like that would be interesting and useful to you as a download, let me know and i’ll look to put something together in the future.