Just 1 week out and 17 pounds to go.
I'm competing next weekend at Georgia's Strongest Man 2024 in the 175 pound class. This morning I was 192.1, so it's a ways to go but I've never missed weight before.
Competition events:
175 keg 30 foot walk and press away
Car squat
Fingal Finger
Yoke/Carry medley
275 Atlas Stone to 52"
This week and next week are the calm before the storm, but some interesting training from last week:
Saturday events:
Keg press 185 30 foot carry then 5 reps ground to overhead. I think I could have done at a minimum 8.
Really easy honestly, and 10 pounds over comp weight. It was on the plate loaded Bartos Keg, which I think is a little easier to press than sand or shot, but I'm confident 175 won't give me too many issues comp day.
Medley: 560 yoke, 210 keg, 235 keg 50 feet
This was just miserable. Setting up took forever, it was 95+ with heavy sun.
Yoke only took 7 seconds, first keg was hardly a problem but that third keg was miserable.
Unlike pressing, if I don't get the spacers set right I think the Bartos keg can be way harder than one with sand or lead shot.
Atlas Stone: 275 to 52"
FAILED
I was too sweaty for the tacky to work. Training without tacky has made me strong, but now I'm having to do some gambling competition day to try and make adjustments to prevent the sweat from slipping all over the stone.
Comp day I'm going to wear gloves and wrap my forearms in athletic tape. I'm going to do some creative wrapping on the gloves to try and keep them on. I'm debating whether or not to try tacky or not. Poor planning to have to try those techniques for the first time comp day.
Is it smart to train comp weight before the competition?
I've always heard NEVER touch comp weight until comp day. Personally I like hitting comp weight 2 weeks out as part of my peak. I don't rep it out or go to failure and it's something I've done with other high level competitors for years.
If you're newer and anything comp day is acting like a 1 rep max, peak for it like a 1 rep max and stay below that weight. If your best ever log is 205 and competition has a 215 log, for example, don't try for a PR until you're up on the platform comp day.
How's the rest of training?
Cardio, cardio, cardio.
This competition is going to come down to conditioning. I expect the keg will need 10 to win, the squat who knows (but the technique in the videos I'm seeing leads me to believe 20+), the fingal finger who knows, the medley is 10/10 challenging my conditioning, and the stone I'm happy with 1.
Other than that it's been heavy singles on squat and overhead. If I was stronger that might be interesting but I'm just a little weakling statically :)
How do you like the last few weeks going into competition? Message me on instagram @crystalpump or @strongmansteve