Back to picking up rocks

Its been awhile but my wrist is starting to cooperate again enough that I can get under some Atlas Stones and start training again. Ive learned a few things a long the way and definitly was more prepared for todays training session than in the past.

For starts I brought along some Slaters Brand tacky. Enough tape to roll my wrists. And a canister of WD-40 for remove the tack afterwards.

The tape is just protection for my forearms from getting torn apart. Everytime Ive left a few pieces of my arms behind on those rocks so this was a nice bonus. Unfortunately I need a better way to tape my left wrist. I still aint sure what I did to it but after the fact its still bothering me. Definitly more than before training.Although it didnt hurt at all during lifting but fast forward almost 5 hours and Im in some pain. Oh, hey, Icy Hot, whats going on?

Aight, I gotta say the tacky helps a HUGE amount. Had no idea it had that sort of impact on the initial lift. Then again if your hands/arms are half glued to the object then it all makes sense. In turn this helped my tech out quite a bit. Instead of being slow off the ground I was much faster and lapped easier. I got my arms over the stone and resulted in a higher elevation- before it was around 45" but today got all my lifts over 54". Plus was able to get more reps during conditioning work.

12 reps @ 240lb
circuit - 2 reps 240, 5 reps @ 165, 10 shoulders @110

conditioning;
165 for a minute on, minute off repeat 4 rounds.
110 for sets of 10 shouldering. alternating shoulders and bouncing off ground.

Finished the day with some speed bench and called it. Its game time.

Pine Tar - 'eff this...'

So did you know theres a difference in Pine Tars?

Yea, me neither.

Apparently when shopping for tacky to stick on your atlas stones/ hands its best to make sure you get heavy or thick pine tar. NOT Light Pine Tar. That stuff is like oil

Better yet don't bother with pine tar at all. It's sloppy and stinks to all holy hell. EVERYTHING smells like tar right now. Whether it actually has tar on it or not.

So now Im hoping a scalding hot shower and some bleach will do the trick since everything else hasn't .

***EDIT***
Apparently some Isopropyl Alchohol works alright. Still have a hint of pine but its more of a faint scent now not the overwhelming disgusting that it once was.

Atlas Stone Conditioning - "Pick things up and put them down"

A little while ago Im strolling up to the track shed with a box in hand and a truck full of cement when a few inquiring minds simply asked -
"wtf?"
 "Relax everyone..."

I just recently acquired my Slaters Stone Molds to create some awesome pieces of equipment. Although my first time through making them wasn't the best, bunch of air bubbles and rough spots, they still are doing the trick very well. You can check out my experience here -First Time Stone Making.

I wrote up a small workout a few weeks ago as well. I got to admit I felt much stronger than compared to now- I blame Memorial Day weekend on that one. BBQ bloat is a rough recovery amongst other things....anyways on to the workout which I now have video this time.

Just a warning my tech is crap so dont look for helpful hints on stone lifting. You won't find it here.




The workout broke down like this-
3 rounds 1 minute stone loading over a bar.
10 sets of single load @240lbs
4 sets of 8 shouldering and lifting 115lb then moved to the 170lb stone second set.

Im definitly investing in some tack next week if I am going to continue doing this to myself. Grip is becoming an issue and dust is screwing that up more. Plus if you notice a few minutes in I suddenly have a wrist wrap on my left hand. I dont know what the hell I did but the damn thing is hurting good right now. Even a day later as Im writing this is hurts to open my fingers and spread them apart. Probably not a good sign.

But hey at least my finger is feeling better. Nail is drained out and its still attached...for now.

Get Random

Sometimes its best to just do something different and say "Screw it lets shake things up a bit."

Yesterday was supposed to be a somewhat dynamic day of jumps, throws, lifts, and some minor GPP since Im still hurting from Wednesday's ME session. Those chains are kicking my ass lately and showing no sign of mercy. Have at it then.

Well that was the plan. Couple 'problems' occurred.
1- The weather, for once, is absolutely awesome. This is Ohio. Well versed in a schizo-bastard-dunno-wtf-im-doing weather area. Never been here? A sampling is that Friday and Friday evening it was in the low 50's. Saturday? Yea screw that. Lets break the heater and crank it to 80+.

2- It was Saturday. I mean, really, who trains hard on a rugby day anyways?

3- I just got out of a meeting with BAT Cage and guess what? Unofficial opening date of THE FORGE - Strength Systems is JULY 1st! Yea buddy. Im excited. So after this news it was a little hard to focus on the task at hand or at least focus on the plan of attack.

Ladder was thrown to the ground for some warmup contacts. Legs were stiff so I rolled and stretched before hand. Got my jumps in then got the tires out;
-Standard 'box' jump to two tires (I think the height is about 40-41")
-Jettison Jumps: 20lb dumbbells that are dropped after one jump, 2nd jump(or third), then up to tire
-Multi-Jumps outside; Bounds, long jumps, single leg hops for distance

This is about when I got bored. I just wanted to throw shit. Im getting the itch. So out come the kettlebells; 18, 26, 30, and 40 pounders. Then it just turned into a crap show of everything I could find, get a grip on, and throw for some distance. All of which included;
-150# tire
-20# chains
-Med balls up to 30#
-110# rock
-Bumpers
-Kettlebells up to 60#
-all fucks given that day



Worked out great actually. Worked on my tan somewhat AND got some decent conditioning at the end. Unfortunately what was also not included on the video is the end where I hit some MB throws and sprints. Battery died.

'Till next time. 

Atlas Stone - example GPP (conditioning, fitness, or whatever)

Well my workout was a bust today. Planned on getting some heavy squat work in and mess around with the chains but got into the weight room later than planned and next thing I know im running out of time before the bus leaves for the High School District meet. Instead I had to improvise and this is about what I salvaged in a 30minute block.

Weighted box jumps 5x5

First 3 sets with 40lbs of chain on 32" box (gotta throw those in somehow, right?)

Next 2 sets were on 24" box with a 80# sandbag on my shoulders

Stone workout- 9 pickups on the 240# on single rep lifts (too much dust to reset and hit again

3 sets x 8 lifts @170# and then shoulder carry 110# for a 20yard lap

And that was about it really. Wanted to do some other things but just ran out of time. Forearms are good and tore up and the workout felt pretty good. Im starting to get the feel for the 240# and its coming up much easier as long as I can get my grip set. I think its time to invest in a heavier stone and some tacky. When my arms get dusty its almost impossible to get a grip on the 240.

Atlas Stone Making - First time

Glad I didnt totally screw 'em up.

I gotta say I was pretty happy with the final product. Only regret is not shaking the mold as much and buying an 18" while I was ordering the initial set of molds. So currently I have a set of 110#, 165#, and 238# stones. The 238 already tore up part of my forearm. Really should have gotten some tacky.

Special thanks to Jason for being camera man and Nate for lower the stone down without breaking the mold.

Atlas Stone making

Well the kids are asleep. Its day 1 of their existence and hopefully they live a long and healthy life.

No not real kids but bit 100-250lb balls of concrete that are currently sitting in my track shed curing. Today I spent the better part of my afternoon putting together and filling stone molds for my very first Atlas Stone set. Just 3 to begin with and then many more to follow. So to start Ill have a 110ish, 170, and 240. These are all approximate and up to when I actually measure the final product. All I know is I cant frigging wait.

Just a note if you decide to order some Slater Stone Molds and build your own Number 1: Use concrete that has fiberglass fibers in it but also Number 2: when using fibrous concrete DO NOT use your bare hands. Mine hurt like all holy hell right now from the cuts, abrasions, and whatever else is embedded in my finger tips from digging out concrete and pouring into random ceramic balls.

Anyways 3 stones took about 2.5 hours to pour this morning by hand and by myself. Granted theres probably some simpler way to do it but thats how it was done. Got a decent tan in the process. One of those rare days in Ohio that the weather is actually 'decent'.

Anyways, Ill follow up on this sometime next week but likely Saturday since these stones need at least a week to cure in the mold and we have a track meet Friday.