Reds Road to Strongman

[Power of Mind]

Mike Harding
6'1 280 lbs.
~5 years training ( 5 months serious training )

This will be my journal to track my progress over the months to hopefully being competition ready next spring. I reside in Tampa, Florida and plan on competing earliest possible 2013.

Typical split (as of 7/23)
Mon + Thurs: Chest, tris, shoulders
Tues + Fri: Legs, back, core

Currently maintaining weight. Just recently bulked (DIRTY) from 240 to 280.

Goals (as of 7/23):
1. Increase deadlift which has always been my weakest link
2. Get a gym membership somewhere with a squat rack... my gym only has a smith machine and I refuse to use it.
3. Be ready to compete at an amateur level (and win) by early 2013.

I've stalked this site and these forums for a little over 5 years now and tried two other journals. Work with me here as I actually succeed in keeping up a journal.

Diet: try to eat 3-4 solid meals a day. Usually end up overeating at night lately. Bad habit I haven't yet dropped from my bulking.

Supplements: Each morning I take fish oil, green tea extract and a multivitamin. Other than that it's just some sort of pre-workout and then whey protein after workout.

[Power of Mind]

Incline: warm up sets with 135, 185, 225
working sets: 275x5, 265x5, 255x3x5

Dumbbell overhead press: warm up with 35s and 55s
working sets: 65x10, 75x8, 75x10, 75x2x8

EZ-bar skull crushers:
105x4x12

Lateral raises and reverse flies on machines. Did quite a bit of sets pyramiding up and down. Usually do these with dumbbells but my buddy's shoulder was bummed so I changed things up a bit. Gotta say I got a good burn from it but it's definitely a lot easier than with dumbbells.

My gym only has 75 lb. dumbbells so that's why I'm typically left doing that for overhead press. Not for long though as I am purchasing a 10" metal strongman log and it should arrive in a couple weeks.

Felt pretty bad about my incline. But I haven't been doing incline much lately so no big. Overall a decent workout. Deadlifts + back tomorrow, looking forward to pulling.

[Power of Mind]

Deadlifts:
135x10, 225x6 warm ups
315x3, 365x3, 405x1
455 failed
315x2x6

Barbell upright rows: 3x8 with 105

Cable one arm rows: 4 sets

Cable one arm pulldowns: 4 sets

Light dumbbell curls for a couple sets

Leg curls: 130x2x15

Not my greatest day today and had to be in a hurry. Had a lot more left in my legs on deads but my grip was sucking, as is norm. On the 455 my left hand which is the one i have hooked under (hook grip) slipped before i even got the weight past my knees. Hoping that my grip will increase tenfold over the next few months as it's certainly my weakest point of my body.

Tomorrow I'll do some light core stuff and then Thursday is big benching.

[Power of Mind]

Chest, tris, shoulders

Flat bench: 135, 225, 275 warm up sets
315 5x5

Seated dumbbell military: 35s, 60s to warm up
75 3x6

EZ-Curl bar skull crushers:
105x6, 115x6, 125x6, 135x6, 105x9

Dumbbell lateral raises: 4 sets ascending from 15 to 40 8-10 reps each set

Machine reverse flies: 4 sets with 90 lbs. resistance as far back and as slow as i could go

Felt pretty good today. 20 lb. PR on my 5x5 for bench, though clearly its been a while since I've done it. Also happy to see my bench going up even though three weeks ago i narrowed my grip from as far out (pointer on lines) to standard grip (pinky on lines).

Tomorrow will be high volume deadlifts + hams. Gotta get that grip stronger!