[Adam Bishop]

Back in the barn today for a light lower session. Limited on exercises as I needed to limits range of motion to avoid stressing my TFL so I stuck to high rep leg presses, DB RDLs and seated leg curls.

All felt ok and I’m ready for tomorrow’s events session.

[Adam Bishop]

Hi Adam,

Congratulations on BSM well deserved and good to see after injury 👍

How would you train for an elevated deadlift (12′). Would you drop out standard deadlifts. Any particular assistance exercises?

Also would you reccomend any coaches with similar philosophy to you? Simon yates maybe?

Thanks

Thanks Nick!

Depends on experience level really. For example I would just train from the floor however if you’re not used to pulling from 12” (I assume you mean 12” and not 12’ which is 12 foot haha) then I would put the 12” pulls in as the primary movement then drop down to the floor and perform some lighter pulls for more reps as a secondary exercise. That way you’re getting used to the comp height while also training the more common standard height deadlift.

Yep Simon Yates is a great choice – we share a lot of the same philosophies.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day for me so here’s how my training split has changed in prep for Europes and Worlds strongest man:

Monday – Bag toss, shield walk, deadlift, stones, back accessory
Tuesday – circus DB, Log Press, press accessory
Wednesday – off
Thursday – off
Friday – truck pull and legs
Saturday – conans wheel, fingals finger, loading, stones, additional tricep work
Sunday – off

Getting my body prepared for back to back competition days. Also a much higher focus on my competitive exercises as some of my “gym lifts” drop in volume.

[Adam Bishop]

I’m a big fan of high incline chest supported DB rows with varying grips (pronated, 45deg and neutral) you will get some trap involvement but I’m ok with that.

[Adam Bishop]

Saw my physio this morning and he think my TFL tear will settle down in 10-14 days so good news. For now I can train around it starting with my press session:

Strict log Press 137.5×5 125×5 110×5
High Incline Bench Press 130×5 117.5×5 105×5
Seated DB Press 2 sets
Dips 2 sets
Chest press 3×12
DB Lateral Raise 3×12
Pressdowns 3×12

Also got some soft tissue work done today. Body is a bit beat up but felt better for getting some work in.

[Adam Bishop]

No training today just rest and getting my food in. Body is ok apart from my knee and TFL pain.

Physio tomorrow so we will know what we are dealing with. Only 11 weeks till WSM so need to get back in the gym. It will likely be a modified session tomorrow with strict log and seated DB press rather than push press log and circus DB but we’ll get it done.

[Adam Bishop]

Each gym owner has the right to set the rules for their gym.

If they don’t want to risk one member breaking an expensive machine which also takes that bit of kit out of action for other members then that’s absolutely fine in my eyes. Gyms are community spaces at the end of the day.

Like JP said focus on reps and utilise drop sets or do single arm cable movements.

And yes using a gym pin has become the old “stacking” the machine for people who have no licence doing it.

[Adam Bishop]

Hi Alireza

Sorry to hear you’ve been having a bad time with your back and treatment.

It is not within my scope to go against the advice of medical professionals who have a greater understanding of your injury than you or I but I can offer my experience with similar situations. Please do not take this as direct advice as back injury is complicated and injuries vary a lot.

I’ve had a couple of my former athletes have epidural injections to settle down disc irritation in order to get them back on the field. After a period of rest I was allowed to recommence strength straining with them as part of a graduated return to play. Axial loading was pretty much off the cards in the initial stages so my lowerbody exercise selection focused on the below:

Belt squat
DB step ups and/or split squats
GHR
Leg Extensions
Long leg hip thrusts
Leg curls

In addition to this the core strength must be rebuilt. I am a big fan of the McGill Big 3 for strength of the core so please give that a Google as there is plenty of good videos detailing the exercises.

If I was in your position I would stick to the following:

1. Be religious with your core work. Little and often.

2. Avoid axial loading so nothing through your spine if possible. You might be able to reintroduce these movements later on but focus on getting strong without them for now

3. Focus on the higher rep ranges for a while and use strict tempo to stress the muscle as much as possible with lighter weight

4. Find a sports physio you trust to oversee your rehab.

5. Keep your progress slow and gradual. Lifting form should be the most important thing to you. Zero sloppy reps ever

Once again the above is only how I would personally approach a back injury and should not be taken as “do this and you’ll be fine” advice. Every injury is different so please take your time and listen to your body.

Good luck with the rehab process.

[Adam Bishop]

BSM 2023 write up

Felt great going into this show – training has been perfect and the events suited me very well. I was confident that if I achieved my goals for each event that I would win the show comfortably. If I missed one goal on an event I thought I could still win but it would be closer.

Here’s the breakdown of the event results:

Deadlift ladder 300-380kg – 28sec – 1st
Car walk 20m – 17sec – 1st
Viking press – 8 reps – joint 7th
Loading Race – 39sec – 1st
Powerstairs – 36sec – 1st

Winning 4 out of 5 events was a very dominant performance probably more than the final points indicated due to my lower score on the Viking press. This result was kind of expected as I have had less time to build my pressing strength back up post injury compared to my other events where I am at peak strength.

Unfortunately I tore my TFL on the Viking press but it didn’t effect me on the final two events. It’s pretty painful and swollen now but I’m confident the tear is in the muscle belly – I’ll know more when I see my physio this week.

All in all a great night and a good result. I’m not one to eat much during shows so I relied on a lot of sustain to keep my hydrated and fuelled up between events and it worked a treat. I can also confirm the at DNFM pre workout is perfect for strongman shows!

I’ll take tomorrow off then I’ll be back in the gym so some form of pressing on Tuesday

[Adam Bishop]

Got the title back.

Britain’s Strongest Man 2023 to go with my 2020 title.

I’ll do a proper write up in the morning for you all.

Victory was fuelled by DNFM tonight

[Adam Bishop]

Thanks guys!

Arrived up in Sheffield ok. We drove up this morning and got my interviews and athlete rules meeting done. Also had some soft tissue work done then went for a short walk before bed.

I’ve brought all my food with me this time and brought my own microwave as I wanted to keep everything the same.

Also had a video call with my sports psychologist today talking through the usual nerves I get in the build up to the show. Felt much better after some breathing exercises and our chat.

All kicks off tomorrow evening so I’ll get up and eat before I go for a short walk in the morning then it’s lunch and off to the venue for all the final contest prep.

Time to get that title back.

[Adam Bishop]

No training to report for today.

Spent the day resting and eating to be honest apart from 2 30min walks.

Body is feeling ok but my patella tendinitis is lingering around a bit so I’m going to add in some anti inflammatories tomorrow and run them up to the comp.

[Adam Bishop]

Bulk buy where possible. If you are on a budget you might have to sacrifice quality a little however choose the best quality proteins you can.

Eggs are always a staple. Save money on your red meats by choosing the less popular cuts. Flank steak tastes great and tends to be cheaper than sirloin for example.

[Adam Bishop]

Another successful taper session. Worked up to a rapid strict log press of 150kg. Press is feeling very very strong.

Had some soft tissue massage focused on my quads and adductors before seeing my physio. Tricep was spot on with no post session swelling and my knee was nice and dry. He released my TFL which hurts like a MFer as that’s been giving me some issues as I shift weight over to my right side to protect my left knee.

One more treatment session with him on Thursday before BSM

[Adam Bishop]

Nice one, thank you for that, did you push to keep the non injured side as strong as it was before? I have been doing some push exercise but keeping my strong side working heavy in the 10-12 rep range.

Yes and this is very important as you need to use your non injured side’s strength markers as a way of measuring progress. I always kept unilateral strength scores for 6 reps to know what I needed to get my injured side back to. I also liked to keep my reps schemes at 4×6 for the non injured side in an effort to maintain strength without increasing muscle imbalances.