ReallyStrongNerds

This most recent training block, the last roughly 2.5 months has been very interesting. Not because of the routine, or the exercises, but because I’ve found myself battling some mild health issues over the last few months.

I got a stomach bug, bronchitis, and of course, COVID. I also ended up finding myself getting an infection in one of my teeth. Thankfully most of my teeth are good, just one specific bad one, and a couple fillings. Because of these illnesses and ailments, I’ve had to overcome some really annoying adversity.

However, despite having to take a couple weeks off of the gym, and having to somewhat stall my progression, I’ve still been making it to the gym when I can and I’m finally back into my normal routine. I’ve been pushing through, even on some days when I definitely did not feel as good, or had to lower the weight by 50 whole pounds just to get my reps in.

That being said, we’re still going strong. Still working hard, and even found myself doing some resistance band and flexibility home while I was sick over the weeks. I find that even though I’ve been sick, motivation is at an all time high. My motivation is very high to train, and reality is, my absence certainly has impacted that.

I’m still competing in April, then a couple weeks later in May. I’m very excited for the events in these upcoming competitions. I’m very excited to push myself even more, keep training hard, and go for some rep PR’s in the heavier show in May for sure.

Training in the suit has evolved my deadlift in a few ways. So far I’ve experimented with a suit, the Spud Inc briefs and I also recently got the Spud Inc Gateway suit. I’m excited to try out the Spud Inc Suit. Really I’m deciding whether my current suit, or the Spud suit is better for my reps event coming up. The big thing I’ve learned… pulling for anything past 3 reps in a suit sucks. It genuinely sucks. The pressure, the blood slowing down, the tension, it all just sucks. I’m hoping that the Spud suit is a bit friendlier to the reps event, compared to my current suit.

The Spud Briefs have also been an awesome training tool. I REALLY like deadlifting in them. I also will be wearing them in my May competition, as briefs are allowed, but not full suits. That being said, pulling in the briefs is so comfortable, and still adds some weight to your pull. Not as much as the suit obviously, but comparatively it’s very comfortable, and man has it saved my hips.

Adding in all this gear to my training has been very fun. It gives a whole new realm, of exploration really. That being said I obviously still pull raw with no gear as well. Being strong with and without gear really is the way to go, at least in my eyes.

Another thing I’d like to address in this post is my plans for this blog. Ultiamtely, I’d like to build this up to a platform for other Strongman competitors, powerlifters, oly lifters, etc. Really, I’d like to build my blog up to what would be an outlet, or essentially a social media for people that love training. I want this to grow, not just from people reading my posts, but even discussing things in the comments and learning. I’ll be writing another post of my goals with this blog here soon for anyone who would like to read through.

Training, despite having some time off due to illness has been fun, dynamic, and still overall progressing. I’ve really honed in on the basics once again, and continued to develop both strength and technique in every movement. As I said, I’m looking forward to hitting some PR’s, training hard, and pushing myself in both competitions!