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.

Newcastles Strongest 2022

So… The dust has settled on Newcastles Strongest 2022 and it was a fantastic performance from the Team taking home 3 first places and a third place across the 4 categories that our 6 athletes were competing in…

There were lots of PBs before that though so lets get into it!

Joe hit a huge 250kg Squat to round out the end of our first training cycle along with a log PB of 122.5kg and some big stone PBs of 175kg to 46in and 145kg x3 to 56in. Its coming together nicely for Joe. He has bags of potential and nothing phases him. Next we turn our eyes on bringing up a lagging Deadlift, a movement he’s self admittedly, struggled with. I’ll leave you with a message I got form Joe after the 250kg Squat.

‘If you were to say to me at the start of training with you . You'll get 250 squat and get the 175 stone up I probally wouldn't have believed you because I remember how hard 205 was when I first done it with josh. I thought that's it I've hit my limit. As flaky as i am training. I love it. Training now and seeing my strength increase is great. I've gained loads of knowledge with you every session I've learnt something new.’

Jenesis has started making some good progress in the Snatch hitting PBs in the Hang Snatch - 21kg x2 and Full Snatch 22kg x1. Jenesis has actually snatched more than this before she came to me, but did it as Powers. When somebody can power more than they can full, it indicates there’s a technique or confidsence issue somewhere. This bodes well that we’re fixing both.

Xenas made a load of PBs this block so i’m just going to list them:

Squat - 70kg x10, 70kg 5x5, 73kg 4x5, 75 3x5

Front squat - 48kg x3

Clean - 35kg x1

Snatch - 33kg x1

C&J - 33kg x1

Snatch DL - 53kg x5, 58kg x5, 60kg x5

The Squat pbs are nice, every time it’s a step closer to 100kg, the real win this month though is the Snatch PB. 30kg has been a road block for Xena for a little while, but we smashed past it last week and all of a sudden technique has clicked and things have fell into place. It’s often frustrating when things don’t feel like they’re moving forwards as quickly as you like, at that point consistency and patience is the goal. Project100 is on!

Jo had a nice run up to Newcastles strongest, hitting PBs this month in the Deadlift at 250kg x1, Farmers at 140kg p/h x15m, Floor Press at 105kg x3 and 120kg x1 and Axle FTOH of 105kg x1+3. Training PBs are lovely and ultimately its what drives progress in competition, but it was his performance at Newcastles that was the big win. 18 year old and competing against some really strong grown men, some of which were on PEDs and Jo came away with 2 event wins in the Farmers & Stones as well as a third place overall. Jo also hit a PB of 115kg in the Axle Clean & Press event. Competitions are great because it allows you to not just pinpoint your weakness relative to your own lifts, but relative to your competition. This competition confirmed that we need to continue to get stronger in the static events like the Push Press and Deadlift and just like that… We have a training focus for the next block. Fucking third in an inters at 18 year old! The boy done good!

Pressing has been coming on nicely for Liam as we’ve been rehabbing the knee as he hit a Seated Backless OHP PB of 50kg x5. I like this version of Press over the Strict Press as it eliminates over extension of the back while adding an extra element of stability to the movement which increases its hypertrophy potential. He also hit a PB in the Box Squat of 132kg x5. Expect to see some rep PBs in the Box Squat next time I write about Liam because it’s been the movement we’ve used to allow him to continue to squat through knee troubles and as we start coming out of them, we’ll be pushing the weight nice and heavy. A great example of a rehab movement becoming a strength movement and integrating seamlessly into the training… Can’t do that with booty bands. Big thanks to Alex at Pro Health Physio for looking after Liam through his rehab period and making pragmatic decisions that still allow him to train.

Olivia had a nice end to the training cycle hitting PBs in the Pendlay Row at 1x10 @55kg, Snatch Deadlift at 82.5kg x5, Clean and Jerk at 67.5kg x1, Snatch at 42.5kg x1, Enderton Front Squat Complex at 60kg, Push Press at 60kg x1 and Squat at 105kg x1. We’ve worked hard for those PBs and it puts us in a good position going into the next training cycle. Olivia now has 3 weeks off after a hard rugby season to give her a little mental break and then it’s back at it. A transitional period is an important part of training at the end of a hard training cycle or season. It gives the athlete a mental break, bit also a physical break to heal any ongoing niggles or injuries.

There were more PBs than this in the Weightlifting Club because both of these guys hit PBs in the Push Press too… I just can’t for the life of me remember what they are. Anyway…

Paul hit a PB squat of 115kg, 120kg is probably there but we’ll save that for another day as this is a 10kg increase on his old max and fatigue was setting in. Paul also mated his max Snatch of 58kg and took it for a double.

Marie has been flying and hit a PB Squat of 83kg. I’m pretty sure there were some new PB doubles from blocks above the knee in the Snatch & C&J too but again… I can’t for the life of me remember them1

George C had a great showing at Newcastles, hitting PBs in the Axle Clean & Press at 100kg x1, Farmers walk and matching his PB Deadlift in the Deadlift medley event. George probably should have been in the beginners category but showed some real balls by jumping straight into novice when there were no spots left in beginners. He took away a 6th place finish.

George F is on a little transitional period too after his 300kg double that proceeded his honeymoon. He did hit a 107.5kg triple on strict log, a 260kg beltless deadlift and a 137.5kg p/h x30m just after the 300kg double that didn’t quite make it into last months Blog though. 300kg for one was the Deadlift goal by the end of the year… thats shifted to 315kg to 320kg now.

Emily, Dale & Stephen did the biz in the Womens and Mens beginners categories coming 1st, 1st & 10th respectively. A real highlight for me was Stephens 105kg Axle Clean & Press… I’d love to see what he could doing out of a rack because its the Clean that he struggles with. Emily and Dale were consistent throughout and once again, in competiton, consistency kills.

Sean, Sean, Sean, what can I say, First place at Newcastles and honestly, the class of the field. He didn’t win an even but was consistently in the top 3 or 4 every event and that was rewarded with a win by a clear 4 points. Sean hit PBs in the Axle Clean and Press at 135kg on the day and was consistent throughout. In training Sean also hit Axle PBs of 125kg x1+3, 127 x1+2, 130kg x1.

Thats me done, I usually write a bit after the PBs, but I think there’s plenty to take away… Here’s a nice picture to celebrate the fantastic results at Newcastles Strongest!

Consistency kills

Until next time

Adam

A Death Sentence for Progress

I’m really not well as I write this, not with anything serious, so don’t worry… I’m just not well in general meaning my concentration levels are low and typing this will probably feel like a slog…

Eitherway, It’s nearing the end of the month so its time to shout loud about the PB’s everyone has hit this month!

Jen has been cruising along nicely adding to her Push Press and taking a 5RM PB of 45kg while focussing on the technical aspects of the Snatch and C&J.

Paul hit a nice PB in the Squat of 125kg which is +5kg on his max. We’re a little disappointed we didn’t add to his Push Press PB but training up to that had been a little spotty with holidays.

Joes main focus right now is the Squat and he’s flying hitting plenty PBs along the way but peaking so far at 225kg x3 beltless. 240kg is incoming this month, I can feel it.

We’re out of Xenas ankle rehab (Running is bad kids) and aren’t limited by it anymore… Although we still have to keep and eye on it, because of that it’s allowed us to go heavier and she’s hit PBs in the Snatch at 30kg, Squat at 68kg x10 and in a Clean variation of .Clean DL + Low Hang C&J at 31kg which is now actually her C&J PB. Xena’s been struggling with the Jerk recently as that was the main movement her ankle wouldn’t allow her to perform, once we get a grasp on technique again, there’s going to be more distance between her Snatch & C&J numbers. In the Squat 70kg x10 will fall equalling her 5RM back squat… I’m very excited for this!

Jo has hit plenty of PBs this week, some of them ‘cheap’ in his words, but i’ll keep it in list form for ease.

Push Press - 97.5 x5

Push Press - 100 x6

Deadlift - 230kg x4

Deadlift - 235kg x3

Farmers - 135kg p/h x15m in 11.7 secs

Farmers - 125p/h x30m in 21.2 secs

Front Squat - 140kg x1

Strict Press - 75kg x3

Strict Press - 80kg x2

Trap Bar DL - 240 x5

Deadlift - 240 x3

He’s ticking along nicely and we’re looking good for some PBs at Newcastles Strongest!

Olivias been making great progress while focussing on upping all of her 5RMs, During which we’ve taken a Squat for 95kg x5, Snatch Deadlift for 75kg x5, the Push Press for 50 x5 and 52.5kg x5 while also PBing the Pendlay row at 52.5kg x10.

Marie hit some 1kg PBs in the Snatch and C&J and for the life of me I can’t remember them and what they were. Since then though, she has been working around some naughty knees, which means we’ve had to change our planned sessions. Thats ok though, because it allowed us to switch some focus and in doing so she hit PBs in the Power Snatch & Power Clean (both off blocks). Niggles don’t have to be a death sentence for progress. Often if you switch your focus to what you can do rather than keeping it on what you can’t, you’ll make progress in other areas that you can then apply to your main goals once you’re back to full strength.

George Forster one and only focus last month? A 300kg Deadlift! And what a deadlift it was… Imagine not just having the physical capacity, but the mental capacity to hit your first 300kg deadlift for a double! Here was the progression through the weeks:

Deadlift - 280kg x3

Deadlift - 285kg x2

Deadlift - 290kg x2

Deadlift - 300kg x2

Nothing fancy, just a solid linear progression from week to week where we drop the reps as needed. He also hit a PB in the Farmers hold too of 147.5 p/h x 20 secs.

Lastly we move onto Sean who has been making good progress overhead taking the axle for 1 clean and 5 press at 115kg for a new 5RM putting him in good shape for Newcastles Strongest.

Thats it!

I’ll not write much more because frankly, i’m struggling to focus…

I will leave you with a nice framework to use if you’re getting niggles and need to change your program.

Step 1: Identify the movement that is setting off the problem.

Step 2: Change the movement to something that doesn’t set off the problem (Different movement / lower load / lower volume) while strengthening the problem area.

Step 3: Once it’s settled, slowly add the movement that was causing problems back in at dosages that don’t cause problems.

Step 4: Look to build this over time, back to normal levels.

Right, thats me done.

Until next time

Adam

Movement Variations

It’s Monday morning and as I write this I’m just coming off a weeks holiday. Forgive me if i’m a little flat.

But there’s been lots of PB’s this month from Team Savage, so lets get at it!

Starting with Jen, Jen just keeps hitting PB’s, and has hit new 5RMs in the Push Press at 44kg, Squat at 76kg as well as new 1RMs of 96kg in the Squat and 34kg in the Snatch. Those new 5RMs aren’t Jens only PB’s there, she’s been hitting them weekly. Who knew that simple linear progression of adding a kilo a week worked.

Paul will be hitting new PBs this week, but at the minute hasn’t hit any new ones in June, I just thought i’d mention it as you can expect to see them in the Squat and Push Press in July.

Joe has been smashing his training recently and hit his first big goal of going belt-less and sleeveless and beating his all time wrapped Squat. He it 205kg x5, beating his best wrapped squat by 2kg and 2 reps. Joe also hit a nice log press PB of 105kg x1 clean & 5 press.

Young Jo flying and nailed his targets in the Squat this month, finishing his Squat cycle with a 220kg Squat adding 20kg to his max back squat while hitting rep PBs on the way there. This allows us now to turn our attention towards the deadlift and front squat going forwards. The Deadlift because it’s a staple of strongman and the Front Squat because it feeds so many things in strongman. Jo also hit PB’s in the Farmers of 122.5kg p/h x20m in sub 11 secs & 130kg p/h x15m in sub 12 secs while taking a Push Press PB of 92.5kg x6 & Axle FTOH PB of 97.5 x1+5.

Olivia had a little 4 week break in her rugby season so it was the perfect time to push some strength work and she hit 90kg x5 in the Squat. She also hit a Snatch PB of 38kg (+1kg) & a C&J PB of (60kg (+10kg) and a new Push Press 5RM of 46kg.

While Wil hit a Strict OHP PB of 57kg (+2kg). Wil often struggles with core stiffness and drives the bar away when it gets heavy overhead. We’ve been treating this with seated, backless strict press and it’s paying off. This movement works great because if you lean back to counteract driving the bar forward, you’ll just fall over, so it’s a great movement for teaching optimal body position.

In the Weightlifting Club Megan hit a PB back Squat of 80kg adding a total of 5kg to her max back squat this training cycle.

Marie also hit some great Squat PB’s of 61 x5 which was 1kg heavier than her 1RM at the time and then went on to hit 82kg x1 (+20kg). This is great because, while a big back squat doesn’t just increase the snatch and C&J on its own, it does increase their potential and gives us some building blocks to progress with.

In the SM Club Dan L hit a Front Squat PB of 140kg (+20kg)…

As did George C who added 5kg to his front squat taking it up to 105kg.

George F has been blistering this block hitting numerous Deadlift PBs on his way to 255kg x5, 270kg x4 & 275kg x3. That 300kg is getting within touching distance now! He also took PB’s in the Sandbag at 140kgx 35m, Farmers hold at 142.5kg x 20 seconds, Front Squat at 155kg x1 and Good Mornings at 180kg x6. I believe the Good Mornings have played a huge part in Georges Deadlift development and in creating a strong hinge and strong erectors which have give him a solid platform to propel off.

And in the Online Clubs Sean W hit a new PB Deadlift of 265kg.

Awesome work by all my guys this month!

You’ll notice a couple of times, mainly with George and Wil, that I mentioned a movement that I used to drive a different ‘core’ movement. This is an important concept to keep in mind when deciding how training is going to look as some times, just doing the full movement isn’t enough too push through problems.

Now, there’s are many ways to approach using a variation and this will depend on phase and your overall training structure, but whether you completely swap out the main movement for the variation, program it on a second day, or have it in as assistance after the main movement…

As long as it works in the situation, there’s no right or wrong answer to how you approach using variations to attack problem areas.

I could go into this deeper but thats not the point of this blog… But if you are struggling with something, you could always comment.

Until next time

Adam

A Marathon

So, as usual its been a big month for our guys here at Savage Strength… So here it goes!

Jen has been burning the candle at both ends when it comes to training, and between running marathons and performing the Olympic Lifts she works nightshift as a nurse. Obviously long distance running and Olympic Lifting don’t necessarily go hand in hand and I told her that progress in the Olympic lifts would be hard to come by as we got deeper into the program and as she performed more longer runs, so to hit a new 5RM Squat of 73kg is a huge win for us. To be clear, I don’t program Jens running, thats not my area of expertise. I program Jens strength work and Weightlifting.

Paul has had a great month hitting a Deadlift PB of 182.5kg (+2.5kg) and a Strict Press PB of 70kg. There’s more to come from Paul as we move deeper into his training cycle. Pauls currently my guinea pig for trying out some new methods (I asked him and he’s happy for me to do so, he’s been with me a while and trusts me) and as we move to an isometric focussed phase i’m excited to see how things progress.

Joe currently has one thing on his mind… To beat his best ever wrapped set of Squats (204kg x4) without wraps and belles. His volume PB in the Squat of 180kg for 5x5 takes him 1 step closer to that goal.

Ash has been smashing it out of the park recently and hit a rep PB in the log press of 65kg x5. We’re also working on her deadlift technique in the background and its coming on leaps and bounds! Better technique means you can harness more strength which ultimately means bigger numbers.

What a month Jo has had, because of that, it’s probably easier for me to just list his PBs

190kg SSB Squat (+10kg)

115kg Push Press (+5kg)

110kg Axle FTOH (+10kg)

240kg Deadlift (+10kg)

110kg Close Grip Larsson

160kg Atlas Stone to 48in

175kg Atlas Stone to 48in

Lots of PB’s there but the one that sticks out is the 175kg Atlas Stone. At 18 years old that is an elite weight and is a testament to the work he puts in. His pressing is also coming on leaps and bounds which at 6ft 5in and with long arms, is no easy feat.

Liam had a great training cycle and finished it off with two all time PBs in the Squat & Deadlift of 160kg (+20kg) in the Squat and 210kg (+10kg) in the Deadlift. Up next we move to improve pressing strength while starting the chase for a 180kg Squat and a 220kg Deadlift.

Wil hit a great all time PB in the Deadlift of 150kg (+20kg). 160kg would be double bodyweight for Will so thats the next goal. Wil’s still in the ‘learning how to train’ phase of his journey. Learning when to push, when not to push. It’s an important phase if you go down the route of Online Coaching where you have to be self sufficient and sometimes make your own decisions and will set you up for making good decisions further down the line.

Megan hit an all time PB in the Back Squat of 78kg which is a 3kg increase! We’ve been working towards this for a while and was a big win!

Olivia hit some great PBs in the Snatch of 37kg (+1kg) and Clean & Jerk - 50kg (+Lots) and is finally getting on top of her Split Jerk technique.

Paul is also hitting plenty of PB’s in the Snatch of 50kg & C&J of 60kg.

Finally Marie hit a big Push Press PB of 43kg (+8kg). Now i’m not going to take credit for that as it was her first or second session with me and she’s been training a while so was obviously strong enough to do it. However, one of my jobs as a coach is to give athletes opportunities to progress their PB’s and to make sure they’re working at the correct intensities… And I think I did that quite well.

George C hit a nice Front Squat rep PB of 90kg x2 and we will continue to increase this as he progresses.

George F (Or George number 1) has been flying. He’s currently working on improving his grip and has hit a PB in the DOH Deadlift of 153kg 5x5 which is up 13kg since week 1 of his program and also hit some new rep maxes in the Deadlift of 240kg x7 (Beltless) and 250kg x5. The 250kg x5 matches his previous 3RM and sets us up nicely in the chase for that 300kg Deadlift. George also hit a nice 3RM on the Log of 120kg matching his previous 1RM.

And finally, after that marathon, Sean hit an nice 5RM on the deadlift of 230kg which was his previous 4RM.

Phew! That was a marathon, but a testament to how hard my guys work!… Speaking of marathons, i’d like to touch a bit more on Jens situation.

As I said, its not ideal to mix two very different modalities with completely different qualities, and while Jen has made a little bit of progress, it has been slow and I look forward to getting her back to weightlifting properly. If you do have to mix modalities and make your training more ‘concurrent’ in style, it is still possible to make progress, as long as you split up your sessions by at least 6 hours and making each session have a specific goal.

This means not mixing the sessions together and keeping lifting as lifting and running as running. If you do that, you can still make progress. The big problems usually arise when you mix the sessions and start with a strength movement then finish with cardio. It’s why CrossFit (as its programmed on a box level) largely doesn’t work past making you feel like you’ve worked hard.

Give each session a specific goal and you can circumnavigate some of the problems that arise with concurrent style training.

Until next time

Adam

Mental Strength

Its the end of the month so lets get down to business and recap what’s been going on with Team Savage!

One to one client Paul has been smashing it this month hitting rep pbs of 78kg x4 in the Push Press and 100kg x4 in the Squat. He’s also smashed new 1RMs in the Bench Press of 115kg and 92.5kg on the Push Press. Paul is working hard in his training sessions and going from strength to strength.

Big Jo hit some big PB’s in the deadlift taking 210kg x5 and then the week after taking 220kg x5. He also came second at the Newcastles Strongest Qualifier in the Novice category after not having the best run in training. In honesty Jo thought about pulling out, but we talked it through and he competed and it paid off. There’s a lesson there and I might touch on that later.

Liam P has been our true high flyer this month (He’s a Basketball player but no pun intended). He hit a post lockdown Bench PB of 92.5kg and then followed it up a couple of weeks later with an all time PB of 105kg. He also hit a pretty comfortable Squat PB of 140kg and a seated OHP PB of 65kg. In the lesser tracked PBs he also PB’d his Bent Over Row taking 80kg x6 which bodes well for hit Deadlift when we switch focus from the squat and a Pull-up PB of 10 reps with an extra 7.5kg hanging from his waist. Liam is smashing it and is one of my most consistent guys online and its showing!

In the Weightlifting Club Lucy hit a PB triple in the Block Snatch of 39kg and a PB 3+1 in the Block C&J - 52kg (2kg). This is big for Lucy as they are movements she struggles with so to hit a PB in these shows progress and will start to cross over to her main lifts. As a general rule, if you focus on what you’re bad it, you’ll probably get better all round.

Xena’s been smashing her Squat recently hitting PB’s of 68kg x5 (+3kg) followed by 70kg x5 (+2kg). Not bad for somebody who couldn’t squat at all when she first started. I’m not doing anything special with Xena, just linear progression alternating between hitting a rep pb one week and building volume the other. We’ll ride that train until it stops.

George C has been doing great work in the Strongman Club hitting his first 200kg Deadlift (a 20kg PB) while also PB-ing his Squat at 130kg for a double. His overhead has been going from strength to strength too Taking PBs of 92.5kg in the Push Press from the Rack and Axle FTOH. Doing 92.5kg on Axle FTOG suggests there’s more there on the Push Press out the rack and we’ll take that at some point in the future.

George F has been making gains in his grip strength which is a current focus in the Strongman Club right now and has progressed his Double overhead Deadlift to 210kg.

Lastly, Sean W who is part of our Online Strongman Club took a deadlift rep PB of 230kg x4, this was meant to be for 5, but Sean over shot. Going forward this means we have to back track a little and his goal now is to hit 230kg x5 at the end of this block.

Lots of PB’s there and this feels like a pretty long blog but I am still going to talk about Jo and his run up to Newcastles… I’ll keep it short.

In the run up to Newcastles, around 7 weeks out, Jo got an irritation in his Biceps tendon that basically stopped him doing everything but SSB Squatting for around 5 weeks. This was the first phase of ‘should I pull out’ but I told Jo to hold off until closer to the time to see how it pans out.

We worked with a great Physio called Darren at Pro Health Physio, look him up and got Jo back to lifting basically at full capacity within 5 weeks (He still has problems with skull crushers). This was the point Jo hit his Deadlift PB’s…

So lesson 1: When you’re injured, still train what you can!

After that stint we were careful for the 2 weeks run up then Jo 3 days before competition got flu which killed his appetite and energy, he thought about pulling out again.

My thoughts are that strongman competitions are around 6 minutes of work across the day, grit in and deal with it.

Long and short of it, Jo competed and came second after not really training the events while ill. He even won the stones which he’d trained once in the 7 week run up.

Lesson 2: Compete anyway and don’t worry about placing, you might surprise yourself.

Jo showed a lot of mental strength in the run up to this competition, especially for an 18 year old and the experience will be something he can remember and use going forward for a long time.

Until next time

Adam

Credentials

As quick as February flew by, March seems to slow to an almighty halt… Does anyone else feel like its been a long month of not much going on?

Anyway, here’s the rundown of what Team Savage have been up to!

Pauls been working hard on his Push Press for a fair few months now, he’s hit multiple rep PB’s out the rack and off the blocks and just hit a PB on Axle Clean and Press of 75kg x3 which is 2.5kg added to his max. Great stuff!

Dan T is also working on his pressing and has hit PB’s in Strict Log of 90kg (+17.5kg) and Push Press out the rack of 105kg (+5kg). Dans pressing is also increasing nicely.

For Dan and Paul, their weak area is pressing, they’re both shaped very differently, but both have long arms in relation to their other proportions which is why pressing is where they lag. It goes to show though, regardless of body type and natural gifts, with a little bit of extra focused work you can get round problems and start turning them into strengths.

The boy wonder Jo has had a few shoulder issues this month caused by an angry bicep tendon attaching at the shoulder, luckily we managed to keep him moving and with the use of a speciality bar, transitioned some of the movements and switched focus to pain free variations meaning we ended up hitting multiple rep PB’s on the SSB Squat with the highlight being a 180kg single. There’s always a work around and while it may not be ideal or optimal, its still possible to make progress!

George C hit a nice PB on Axle FTOH of 90kg in the Strongman club, we’ll add to this in the next couple of weeks as well as adding to his deadlift so watch this space. He’s new and making great progress with his crossfit background. A big win for George is also improving his comfort in the Squat which is something we’ve been working on in and outside of our sessions.

I’m starting to realise everyones pressing wen’t up in March as George F also hit a nice PB on Axle FTOH of 120kg (+5kg), this was competition weight for BNSF so for him to hit it pre competition in the manner he did was a weight off his mind. George also competed in BNSF Northern Englands Strongest Man and did himself proud coming 5th in his first opens competition. After a rocky start on the deadlift medley (strap related and proof we need to bring his mixed grip and hook grip up) he matched his PB on axle and then wen’t on to win the sled medley, take a 2nd or 3rd place in the farmers and complete the stone run finish top 4 on that event too. If it wasn’t for the strap mishap it would have been an almost perfect day and he would have been pretty close to a top 3 spot and qualifying for Britains. You live and learn and this experience has help identify what we need to work on to come back stronger next year.

A quick shoutout to Sean W to finish! He trained for BNSF then got Covid in his last week of training before the taper, completely taking away his lungs and work capacity. Its unfortunate and life happens. He mad the correct call not to compete. He did compete around 3 weeks earlier in Ashingtons Strongest placing a respectable 3rd, hitting a PB of 300kg in the Silver Dollar Deadlift and capping off the performance with an amazing stone run!

Awesome work by all of my guys in March and onto more milestones in April!

Last thing I want to talk about is credentials, I saw a post by a coach with his ‘credentials’, all of which were things he had achieved. Now i’m not playing this down, but in my opinion, you credentials are not what you have achieved, but instead what you have helped others achieve… At least if you’ve been in the game a while.

Just saying.

Over and out until next time

Adam

Track EVERYTHING

Well, February was a much shorter month that January!

That motherfucker flew didn’t it.

Still let plenty of time for new PB’s though so here we go!

Jen smashed it this week and its almost just easier to put her PB’s in a list because of it…

So…

Push Press - 50kg

Block Snatch - 34kg (+2kg)

Block C&J 2+1 - 52kg (+4kg)

Front Squat - 74kg (+6kg)

Snatch - 33kg (+1kg)

Squat - 92kg (+1kg)

Jen worked hard and was at the end of a training cycle so these PB’s make loads of sense and really how much work she put in and how consistent she was. The next thing for Jen is to start prioritising training for a Marathon. This doesn’t mean she’ll stop lifting, but it does mean we’ll prioritise the running and allow the lifting to be tapered back when necessary.

Paul hit some great PB’s adding 2.5kg to his Push Press making it 87.5kg and adding 5kg to his Deadlift taking it to 180kg. Pauls PB’s in the Push press are what i’m most proud of, we’ve really cleaned up his technique allowing us to really utilise his leg strength. A first 4 plate Deadlift is pretty cool too!

Dan T a great month overhead hitting Push Press PB’s of 92.5kg x3 and 100kg x2 for his first triple digit set for reps! He also hit 72.5kg x3 on the Block Press. Dans making great progress overhead and on his big weakness making him a much more well rounded strongman.

Jo also hit PB’s on the Block of 70kg x3 and 60kg x5 along with a Yoke PB if 240kg x 30m in sub 24 secs (15m D&T) a big Squat rep PB of 165kg x4 and a nice rep PB of 190kg x10 on the Deadlift. I’ve recently told Jo to take rep PB’s where he can and to become a little more autonomous in terms of training. What does this mean? What it doesn’t mean is go ham and off program every session. What it does mean is to take a rep PB if its there on the last set and it won’t mess you up later in the training week. People put a lot of stock into 1RM’s but hitting rep PB’s not only feed into your 1rm, they also build momentum within your training.

Liam T had a big month of training, entering his first competition at New Levels First Timers. He finished 11th in a big field, which I know he’ll be disappointed about, everyone want a podium don’t they, but I believe he put in a great performance with a rep PB on the Deadlift - 150kg x16, Rep PB’s in the Overhead Medley and a great yoke run at 200kg that, before he started prepping for this, he could barely pick up 170kg. He also hit a rep PB on Squat to pins at 120kg x16. Obviously the medley and Squat to pins are hard to keep in your pocket as PB’s to drive training as they’re not something you’d usually train if its not in competition, but its a great way to look back and see how far you’ve come during a prep.

George F had a great month hitting the Silver Dollar Deadlift for 290kg x4, a ludicrous Sandbag run of 140kg x 20m, Farmers Pick Ups of 145kg p/h x 20 secs and a nice PB triple on the Deadlift of 250kg x3 after 4x2 at the same weight. George is ticking along nicely to compete in BNSF in March.

David W like Liam also competed at new levels competition in the Novice category coming 4th which is his highest ever placing which hitting a PB in the Deadlift at 200 x12 and Squat to Pins at 160kg x16.

Lastly Sean W has been putting in the graft for a couple of competitions and recently pulled 230 x2 for a rep PB in the Deadlift.

Its great month for the team and to finish I want to touch on something I wrote about Jo. one of Jo’s PB’s was ‘Yoke PB if 240kg x 30m in sub 24 secs (15m D&T)’. Obviously thats a lot of information but its worth it, tracking weights and yoke speed or on any moving event is important, it will let you know at what weight speed drops off while also allowing you to differentiate between weights when it comes to training an event and make decisions on whether you need to get stronger or faster.

I used this for my most recent competition, it was a light yoke at 250kg over 15m, so this event for me was about speed. I didn't go over 250kg once in training and instead focussed my efforts on being as fast as I could be with 250kg on my back. First off this was great for recovery and I believe I ended up with the fastest yoke time in the competition.

Anyways, that leaves the question, how much should your track on moving events…

I’m not going to tell you to track every single possible time and your max weight for that…

In my opinion the best approach and what i track is…

For maximum strength:

10m, 15m & 20m with no drops (untimed).

For speed

20m @sub 12 seconds

40m (D&T) @sub 25 seconds

The speed times aren’t random, 2 metres per second works really well for speed then add on around 2 seconds for each pick up. Track your top weights for these metrics and you’ll not only know where you lie when training for events, but you’ll also know how to approach an event given the set weight as you’ll know where the speed that will give you a good placing drops off.

Until next time

Adam

Deadlift Bar or Stiff Bar?

Januarys a long old and busy month isn’t it.

I’m tired already and its currently only the 25th of January. That means this will be a short one, because as I say… I’m tired…

So, onto the PB’s.

Hannah obviously hasn’t hit any PB’s yet, but she is back and we’re creating consistency in training after 3 months away to have a baby, so lets celebrate that!

Jen has hit a rep PB in both the Front and Back squat taking her 90% for a set of 4 in the Front Squat (62kg) and a set of 3 in the Back Squat (81kg). Thats some awesome work and makes me optimistic for her Snatch and Clean & Jerk too as when the squat goes up, the classic lifts usually follow shortly after.

Paul has smashed it this month, he’s at the business end of this block and hit a huge 10kg Front Squat PB of 100kg along with a rep PB in the Back Squat of 100kg for a double. His strict press went up to 67.5kg for a single and the big win was we got on top of Pauls Push Press technique and took his 1RM to 85kg after struggling with 70kg at the beginning of the training cycle.

Jo competed at Kaos’ strongest teen coming away with an event win and an impressive second place hitting PB’s in the Log at 102.5 (+2.5kg) & 15in Deadlift at 235 x3 (+2 reps) along with taking an event win in the 80, 100, 120kg Sandbag Run. This was Jo’s first run out without me by his side and he did admirably looking after himself at 17.

Liam T also took a PB in training on the Log at 80kg (+5kg) in his prep for his first ever competition on the 20th February. Liam will hit more PB’s on the way to this competition in the next couple of weeks.

In the weightlifting club Lucy came away with a PB Clean of 71kg (+1kg). It was a small PB but sets us up well for the next block of training which starts with a conditioning mesocycle and lots of EMOMs and reps.

David W hit a 10kg Deadlift PB of 250kg, the big difference for Dave being that he spent a lot of time pulling on a stiff bar since he came to me, I literally wouldn’t let him stroke his ego with the Deadlift bar. This made him much stronger off the floor compared to when he used just the Deadlift bar exclusively and that translated into a PB.

Lastly Sean hit a Log PB of 125kg (+5kg). A nice finish to a training cycle that leads us into competition mode for BNSF Northern Qualifiers on the 26th of March.

A quick one on Dave’s PB and a bit of advice to finish.

If you spend all of your time on a Deadlift bar and want a different stimulus, hop onto a stiff bar for a training cycle.

Yes the deadlift bars nice, it bends allowing you to gradually pick up the full weight on the bar and also pick up the full weight higher up the shin, because of that, you can usually pull slightly more on it while it stroking the ego too.

A stiff bar like the Rogue Ohio doesn’t, you get the full weight pretty much straight away. I won’t lie, it’s not as nice to pull on, but it will build starting strength which often helps transfer the the rest of the lift. Its what helped dave put 10kg onto his Deadlift Bar PB without much more than basic linear progression.

He pulled the 250kg on a stiff bar so likelihood is theres more there on the Deadlift bar when we transition him back.

Give it a crack for some easy gains.

Until next time

Adam

I Wrote More Than I Expected Too...

Christmas is done and the New Year just started and currently i’m onto day 10 of my time off. I still don’t feel rested, but starting your time off with a toddlers birthday 2 days before Christmas will do that to you.

Anyway, and i’m sure I say this every time I write this blog, I’m going to make this a quick one… So client PB’s as follows:

Lucy hit a couple of PB’s in the Snatch taking 48kg for a new 2rm and 50kg for a new 1rm adding 3kilos to her max Snatch. She actually beat her 1RM for a double first which is why we took 50kg after. There’s plenty more in the tank for Lucy to progress too as we continue to progress technique. We just need to stay out of the heels! Lucy also got on the FSI Board with 14 Pull-ups which frankly is phenomenal!

Jo hit multiple PB’s this month taking the log for 95kg for a new 1rm then shortly afterwards take 100kg for a new 1rm. He also doubled 95kg. The more traditional measures of strength went up too and Joe took 230 for a new 1rm adding 10 or so kilos to his Deadlift and also added a whopping 25kg to his Squat taking 200kg for a single. Next on the agenda for Jo is competing at Kaos strongest teen. We’re also looking to add speed to his back squat. The goal of that is to just make him more explosive overall when standing up with things. Its a very general goal, but means more power on the push press, quicker times on farmers, yoke and stones.

Dan T has had a great month an continues to progress on the Nichol walking stones and hit the full weight of 138kg & 114kg for 5 metres. All good preparation for next year!

Sean hit a nice Yoke PB of 350kg x15m with no drops, next we’ll be looking to add speed.

David Wildes been working hard on his log clean and has improved technique exponentially which has allowed him to hit a really nice 107kg clean. This should help his press as the improved technique will take less out of him on heavier cleans allowing more energy to put heavier weights over head. This could be said for all two part lifts. The easier you make part one, the easier part two will be, so don’t just focus on the press or the full movement. Olympic Weightlifters break the Clean and Jerk down into separate parts, there’s no reason strongmen can’t.

Jen hit a new 2rm block snatch at 32kg which is the same as her max and hit a new max 3+1 in the Block Clean and Jerk at 46kg. Blocks are great for many things, for Jen we’re using them to build confidence in the turnover without the variable of the first pull and without the added fatigue of the hang.

Xena has made great progress with her weightlifting and is regularly going off the floor now in both the Snatch & C&J. She also hit a new 5RM of 63kg in the Squat. When Xena first came to the Weightlifting club she couldn’t squat even near parallel, now she’s burying her squats confidently and for good weight. It’s a slow process and I wish I had her more than once a week, but we’re making great progress even on the limited contact.

Liam has a big month and hit PB’sof 140kg in the Squat, 190kg in the Deadlift, 75kg in the Strict Press 75kg in the Log Press and hit a PB in the Push Press of 90kg. Everything is trending up nicely and we’re no prepping for his first strongman competition.

Ash has had a tough couple of months rehabbing a thumb injury (torn scaphoid tendon). This means anything that included gripping was out the question. No deadlifts, no pressing, no barbells, stones, farmers, sandbag or even yoke… I think you get the idea. Not ideal for a strongman, there is always something you can do though so we focussed in on the squat and used a bar that didn’t put pressure on the wrist. Low and behold we hit a PB SSB Squat of 160kg which is 40kg up on her max SSB but more importantly, only 10kg lower than her best ever straight bar squat in wraps. When we can we’ll transition her to a straight bar and smoke a new PB without wraps.

Thats about it…

Usually i’d focus in on something to talk about after all the PB’s, maybe Davids cleans and why we broke them down and specifically practiced just cleans, or maybe why we’re looking to include Jo’s squat speed, maybe something completely unrelated to the rest of the post, but I tried to expand on each person in their own piece so I’m not sure talking about it again is necessary.

What I will say is, you might have noticed I mentioned a lot of new rep maxes for my clients above. The reason is pretty simple… Rep maxes feed into each other.

A new 10rm puts you in a good place for a new 8rm, a new 5rm puts you in a good place for a new 3rm. A new 3rm… Well, you get the picture.

Obviously there are caveats and its not as simple as just beating rep maxes every week until you hit a new 1RM, although that would probably work for beginners.

But they do all feed into each other and, like Lucy, you can pretty much guarantee if you hit or beat your current 1rm for a double, you’re going to hit a new 1rm shortly after… and probably a pretty big one.

Lastly, i’ll give you s a little programming tip for rep maxes before I leave.

As with any strength sport than requires maximal strength over 1 rep, the further away from that 1 rep, the less specific you get. So i’d usually focus on 8rm and below for main movements. 10rm and above I save for more assistance based stuff where its appropriate.

Obviously there are deviations from that general rule with a rep event in strongman being one possibility for deviation if the athlete is expected to get lots of reps.

Weightlifting is the other where I generally work with 3, 2 and 1rms for the classic lifts and their derivatives while sometimes sneaking up to 5rms on some movements that are further away from the close variations.

This wasn’t as quick to write as I first made out, but hopefully you find some value here for your own programming.

Any questions pop them in the comments.

I hope you had a great Christmas and a happy New Year.

Here’s to smashing some goals in 2022.

Until next time

Adam

Strapped for time

It’s Monday morning and I’m a little strapped for time as I write this so…

This months been ok for Team Savage everyones ticking along nicely but the only guys who were really in a phase where they’ll hit PB’s were Jo, Jen and Paul… and did they hit PB’s?

Yes they did!

Lucy obviously isn’t ‘Jo, Jen or Paul’ but we had one goal going into this early phase of training… Hit a front Squat PB… Lucy took her Front Squat up by 3kg (about 5%) from 79kg to 82kg. This will give us more space to add to her Clean & Jerk. It should also put us in a good position to chase that 100kg back squat.

Big Jo hit rep PB’s in both the Deadlift (200kg x3) and the Log (87.5kg x1+3) while also hitting a new 1RM Strict Press of 80kg (+5kg). As I write this Jo is on a nice heavy week where he’ll likely hit a PB in the Deadlift alongside hit strict press. Watch this space.

Jen hit a PB Snatch of 32kg (+1kg) and PB C&J of 50kg (+2kg). Considering her max Back Squat is 90kg we still have plenty of room to push these before we run out of the room on the strength aspect of the lifts. More technical work coming up and more strategically placed singles. Because Jens strength levels in the squat far outweigh what she’s lifting in the classic lifts, I give her more singles than I usually would to other athletes who’s ratios are maybe closer together.

Paul hit a PB in the Squat of 115kg (+5kg) and Deadlift of 175kg (+10kg). Not much to say other than Paul’s a hard worker and everything is moving upward nicely.

Finally Xena hit a huge Squat of 58kg for 5 reps. I’m really proud of Xena with this as when she first came to me she couldn’t squat past 45 degrees. now she’s burying heavy squats for sets of 5 and there’s more there. She’s also take her first Snatch’s and Cleans from the floor this past month too.

Everyone else is ticking along nicely and should hit some PB’s around Christmas time… My present to them :).

Now as I said, it’s Monday, I’m a little strapped for time and I have a client in around an hour so no musings and ramblings this month.

As i’m strapped for time i’ll leave you with the link to a research paper on the Minimum Effective Training required for 1RM Strength in Powerlifters.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354240457_The_Minimum_Effective_Training_Dose_Required_for_1RM_Strength_in_Powerlifters

It seems pretty apt all things considered.

Until next time

Adam

Tyne & Wears Strongest

So, it was a decent month for Savage Strength this with PB’s in the Weightlifting Club, The Strongman Club and some placings at Tyne & Wears Strongest.

So lets get onto the run down:

Jack hit a nice 1kg PB in the C&J at 113kg. In all honesty Jack kind of missed the boat on his peak in the Snatch and Clean & Jerk 3 weeks prior due to a mad work schedule so this was making the best of a bad situation and to sneak a PB was nice.

Lucy also hit some PB’s, taking a 2kg PB in the Snatch at 47kg and while she missed the Jerk on her C&J PB, we continued up to take a 3kg PB in the clean at 70kg. Lucy was in the same situation as Jack in that she missed the boat on the peak 3 weeks prior because of work, but again we salvaged the training cycle and took some PB’s!

George had a great month in the Strongman Club taking a very convincing 1st place in Tyne and Wears Strongest (Inters) while taking a 10kg PB on the Deadlift at 280kg (Narrowly missing 300kg for a 30kg PB) and putting the 160kg stone to 2nd highest platform during the competition which frankly, for me, was the highlight of the competition while also being a PB Stone.

Sean had a good competition too taking 3rd at Tyne & Wears Strongest (Inters) narrowly missing on 2nd via countback. Countbacks can be a shitter and I think there are better ways to do it for podium places if its planned correctly, but as I explained to Sean, thats the way it is and you enter the comp knowing the rules. Sean Took a 10kg PB Deadlift for 260kg and put the 145kg stone to Middle Platform for a PB Stone too.

David Wilde has only been with us for 3 weeks and has already hit a PB Log at 90kg, its amazing what giving someone a little confidence and some decent technical coaching can do.

One to One client Jen had a great month hitting rep PB’s in the Snatch and the C&J which are as follows… +1kg PB Snatch, 3RM at 30kg, +1kg PB Snatch 2RM at 31kg, +3kg PB C&J 1+3 at 45kg, +2kg PB C&J 1+2 at 46kg. Jen also hit a huge PB in the Squat (off program) of +6kg to take her max to 90kg! I never mind people going off program as long as it A, doesn’t have a knock on effect to other sessions, and B, doesn’t cause injury… I stopped writing this after the PB’s section as I had Jen to coach and se only went and hit a 68kg Front Squat in the session for a 3kg PB. So you can add that to her list of PB’s this month too!

And One to One client Paul hit a PB Squat of 110kg adding 5kg to his 1RM Squat and also took 102.5kg for a double for his first Squat for reps over 100kg.

So yea, it’s been a pretty successful month for all my guys and after the PB’s, the Weightlifting Club are straight back into another training cycle focussing on the Front Squat and the Strongmen are into a nice offseason conditioning block… Which is what I’m going to talk about next.

So conditioning for Strongman… It should be so obvious that strongmen need to be conditioned. In a competition of 5 or 6 events you might get one 1RM event. Couple that with the fact that if you look at alot of the top guys now, gone are the days of Glen Ross and huge fat monsters and in are the more athletic strongmen like Novikov and the Stoltmans.

So how should you do it?..

Well, I’m not going to give you a free program via a blog, I am going to give you a framework though.

To be simple, 4 weeks should be enough to see significant improvements and its as simple as this:

Apply these rules every week:

Main Barbell are anywhere between 5x5 & 7x7 with 45 to 60 seconds rest.

Competition lifts are Emoms for 10 to 15 mins and for between 2 to 3 reps.

Moving Events should be focussed on longer durations 40m plus. while keeping the foot speed fast.

Assistance keep it bodybuilding that focuses on weakness’

Then progress the weight through the weeks like this.

Week 1: 40 to 50%

Week 2: 45 to 55%

Week 3: 50 to 60%

Week 4: 55 to 65%

And thats easy really, it doesn’t have to be complex. Once you finish week 4, you could extend it to a 5th week to hit the top range of 65% if you have room to keep going, but mostly i’d get stuck into your usual training block style and feel the improvements in recovery between sets, sessions and in your moving events.

Yes there are caveats to this where you could bend the rules, but thats hard to portray in a short blog, it is a good frame work that works well though.

There will be a conditioning block available in the Online Strongman Club that you can download and run available in a couple of weeks (Probably from November 4th).

Just click here to sign up: https://www.savagestrengthcoaching.co.uk/savage-strength-strongman-club-online

Until next time

Adam

Overhead (Almost) Everyday

Well…

Its the end of another month so I’m once again here to tell you all about what’s happened with Savage Strength this month…

And in all honesty it’s been a quiet one.

Between taking a well needed week off and my guys being in a short prep for Tyne & Wears the training PB’s haven’t been abundant… Mainly because we’re saving them for competition.

You’ll find that though. On short preps its more about putting in the work and putting yourself in as good a place as possible ready for competition over gunning for training PB’s.

Nevertheless, there have been some, so here they are below…

George has been an animal on the stones this month, as has Dan, which makes sense as we’ve trained stones a certain way for a while and now with Tyne and Wears having ‘Max Stone’ in competition rather than the usual stone run we’ve approached it differently (More like the way you’d approach a max deadlift) so its provided a novel stimulus that they’ve adapted to.

Anyway… George finally got the 160kg stone, a stone he’d been after a while, to 48ins and not long after that he loaded it to the middle platform too which is around 56ins. He also took the 145kg stone to the 56in platform for a triple and a rep PB, then the 145kg stone to the ridiculous heights of 62ish and 68ish inches too.

And in true fashion, Dan Tonge also hit the 160kg, and i’m sure he’d enjoy it if I make it clear that he did it before George 😂. He also loaded the 145kg stone to the 56in platform for a double and a rep PB.

Dan L hit a 115kg log for a Double and a PB and Hit a PB deadlift of 235kg which puts him in good stead to hit the 240kg deadlift on the day. In honesty Dan’s struggled this prep, 3 competitions within 12 or so weeks of each other is tough, but his came in, got the work done and it’ll pay off come comp day.

Sean hit a PB log of 120kg, he’s only been using the log for around 7 weeks which is phenomenal, and he’s now also tapering and in a good place to do well for tyne and wears.

The weightlifters have been a little quiet this month, but they won’t be by next. Sometimes its just about putting in the work.

So I always try to add value to these blogs and not just make it a list of victories (When I have time), so back to Sean, 120kg log in only seven weeks of using it is quite remarkable. Yes, he had a decent press on a barbell before touching the log, but that 120kg log matches his max on a barbell… So what did we do to achieve this?

Now i’m not going to give you a program here, just more of an approach.

To put it simple, Sean trains 4 time per week… And we had the log in his hands 3 times a week… Essentially approaching it like an Olympic Weightlifter would the Snatch or the Clean.

Remember, strength is the application of force and to do that you need motor patterns and skill… So to get him strong on the log we first had to build a competent motor pattern that would allow him to then apply his force.

Did we max him every session? No

We worked him hard, but we varied the focus and the load and did plenty to keep his shoulders healthy outside of the pressing.

And for the guys who think you can only press once or twice a week and anything more is unsustainable…

Sorry, but you’re wrong.

Vary the load, vary the volume, vary the focus and do enough other stuff to keep the shoulders functioning and you can do it indefinitely.

If you want a rough out of the pressing…

Day 1: Log Press Strength (Volume) & Push Press Skill work

Day 2: Cleans Practice & Strict Press Strength

Day 3: Log Press Strength - Competition Practice (Load)

I’d of had no problem putting the log in his hands all 4 days either if i’d of had too, it just would have taken away from something else at that point and we managed to stay away from that.

Thats me done, hope that helps and if you have any questions just leave them in the comments section.

Until next time.

Adam