I spent 4 hours training at the Dino Gym with Al Myers. Walked in and there was a strongman training session in progress so I got to see some very strong performances there on the stones, farmer’s walk pickups, and the Inch dumbbell jerks.
I finally closed Al’s hard #3! I have tried it half a dozen times since 2005 and it’s stumped me every time. It’s harder than some #3.5s currently on the market. His #3 is one of the old, steel-handled versions that are so sought after.
Did some other less remarkable performances there too. Mainly we were just going over the Dino Grip Challenge rules and performances to make sure we were on the same page for the contest. We both are.
Did a 220lb one-hand thumbless-grip deadlift both hands and then called it quits there. Good enough for a warmup to the other lifting we did.
Messed with the Weaver Stick lift a while too and that was quite interesting.
We did some Inch Trainer lifts with both hands at the same time.
I broke the Dino Gym 2″ vbar record with 230lbs and that was a highlight of the day – along with his hard #3 close. Also pulled 217lbs righty on the 2″ vbar but just couldn’t get the 230lbs that day.
Pulled 132lbs on the Pinkys Deadlift but failed completely on 176lbs. Didn’t even budge it from the ground today. Not a big deal since I had done other training.
Overall it was a very good training day even though most of the performances weren’t taken to an absolute max. 2 weeks to go until the Dino Grip Challenge!!!
-1/4″X7″ CRS to 60 degrees in 2 seconds. 4.5″X5.5″ pads.
-1/4″X7″ CRS to 71 degrees in 1 second. 4″X11″ pads.
-1/4″X6.375″ CRS to 66 degrees in 1 second. 4″X11″ pads. These pads seem to be the perfect mix of enough thickness that I don’t feel pain from the bar and they’re not absorbing too much of the force I’m putting into the bar. They’re about 7/8″-1″ thick when wrapped around a 1/4″ bar.
-1/4″X6″ CRS to 63 degrees in 1 second. 4″X11″ pads. Felt strong.
-1/4″X5.75″ CRS to 57 degrees in 2 seconds. 4″X11″ pads. Getting to the length that’s awkward for me. Don’t like anything below 6″ but I know that every once in a while I should do a few just to cover all my bases.
-1/4″X5.75″ CRS to 59 degrees in 1 second. 4″X11″ pads.
-1/4″X5.5″ CRS to 55 degrees in 2 seconds. 4″X11″ pads. Even more awkward of course.
-1/4″X4.875″ CRS to 55 degrees in 10 seconds. 4″X11″ pads. Extremely awkward at this length and I had to switch leads to get more movement on it. Eventually used my right index finger as a fulcrum on the bare bar…which was a bit painful.
*Overall Notes: Good workout. Not a hard workout since this was just run-of-the-mill 1/4″ CRS, but it served its purpose of keeping me in practice until my calibrated stock gets here.
Did some of the Dino Grip Challenge events early this morning before work. Definitely one of those “punch-the-clock” workouts where nothing special happened overall. But important just the same
2″ VBAR
*Notes: Worked up to a contest-legal pull of 218lbs on my right hand. That’s actually a PR on my cut-down (18″ length) 2″ vbar!
ONE-HAND THUMBLESS-GRIP DEADLIFT
*Notes: Miserable workout on this lift today! I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the lowest weight I’ve lifted in years. Have no idea what was going on. Not too worried since it’s never happened before like this. Will get worried if it happens another time or a few times in a row.
DEADLIFT-PINKYS
*Notes: Worked up to a max single today of 136lbs. That sucks, since my max is 185lbs! Even 95lbs felt hard on my forearm tendons. Especially on the right hand. Need to listen to my body and just do maintenance workouts for this event. Don’t want to risk a tendon tear.
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