[Adam Bishop]

Apologies guys I got locked out the site for some reason. All sorted now so a couple of days to update you on:

Wednesday I trained in the morning and got my axle squats done up to a top set of 285×5 then sandbag work and calves. Left it at 5 easy reps on the squat as the set up I was using was a little sketchy so no risks. Did sandbag lifts in place of my atlas stone work I’d be doing if o was home then finished with 4×20 on SL calf raise.

We then went out for all you can eat sushi with the guys from the gym. You meet some amazing people in the iron game and a language barrier didn’t get in the way of a great evening with like minded strongmen. Very enjoyable.

[Adam Bishop]

Tuesday – day one in Japan.

Had nap when I got to the hotel then ate and got to the gym for my session with the Chickenlegs Crew (their chosen name haha). Great bunch of guys and we got round the language barrier via lifting stuff and gestures – the meathead way. I didn’t push things as I was struggling a bit after the day of travel but good to get it done:

Sandbag to shoulder 128kg for several singles

Circus DB Press up to 88×3

Incline Bench Press 135×3 145×3 155×6

Pressdowns 4×10

[Adam Bishop]

Early start Monday morning for a flight to Tokyo. Still bizarre losing a day as Its now Tuesday morning here as I sit on the Bullet train to Osaka.

Going to get in the gym hopefully later today as I’ve been out in touch with some guys who train strongman out here, first time to get to the hotel and get some food.

[Adam Bishop]

Morning session at the farm. Took the walking stones for a full 20m this week. Slowly increasing the distance on these as they wreck your hands doing a hook grip on them. Progressing them slowly toughens up the skin around my thumbs avoiding any nasty tears. Followed that up with plenty of singles on the 140kg sandbag to shoulder.

Evening session in the barn was deadlifts:

Deadlift 340×7

Leg Press 4×10

CG Pulldown 4×10

Back in the suit this week but the pulls felt like trash. I really think I’m better on deadlift for reps without the suit. I’m not taking it with me to Japan tomorrow so we will see how next weeks session feels belt only and make a decision moving forward.

[Adam Bishop]

Hi Yunus

You are not far off but you are getting some lumbar rounding during your lift off the floor. Pay attention to the section on my video regarding engaging your lats in the initial stages of set up to help support your spine through the movement.

You’ll see in your video that with each rep your hips start higher and higher making this rounding a little worse. If you can get those lats locked in and start position correct your deadlift will fly up as there’s a lot of good things there.

As I said before time to move the weight down a little and do some more reps to really nail that start position.

[Adam Bishop]

Change in plan for today so took my rest day and I’ll train again tomorrow.

Spent the day catching up with friends watching the rugby at Twickenham. Not a great result but I had a great time seeing everyone and enjoying some nice food.

[Adam Bishop]

Following on from this, to help with your form I did a deadlift tutorial on YouTube a couple of years ago which should help if you struggle to get your form correct. Search for “Adam Bishop How to Deadlift”

[Adam Bishop]

I suspect with this approach and the fact that your back is very fatigued afterwards for multiple days that your form is breaking down during this top set as you are chasing a weight.

I personally would strip the weight back and lift in a higher rep range (8-12) while ensuring that every rep looks the same. Film your lifts for multiple angles if possible to ensure this happens.

Back off sets work great with deadlifts, I tend to use a bigger back off for the sets than I would for a press for example. Each back off set I’ll drop the load by 10-15% so it looks like this:

Set 1: top set

Set 2: 85-90% of top set

Set 3: 70-80% of top set

[Adam Bishop]

Morning session at the farm. 14kg bag toss for distance for 16 reps total then onto atlas stones – singles up to 180 then a run of 100-160 working on speed between the stones. Evening session back in the gym looked like this:

Log Press 113x10x1 (EMOM)

Dips 4×10

DB Lateral/rear delt raise 4×10/10

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day. Got the dogs out for a walk this morning then stuck at home for the rest of the day as the boiler had a service and the hot tub got a new control board – hopefully that should be problem solved with it.

New training week kicks off tomorrow with bag toss and stones in the morning.

[Adam Bishop]

Double training day with some squats in the morning and some technical work on the stone of steel in the evening.

First time using knee wraps in a long long time but they felt great. Set of 10 with 270kg felt very straightforward with good depth and control.

Squat 270×10

Seated Leg Curl 4×10

Standing calf raise 4×10

Then back in the gym this evening to do some stone to should work with the stone of steel (plate loadable metal atlas stone). Plenty of singles working on the movement with paused at the lap and chest. Felt way more comfortable by the end of the session and looking forward to progressing these.

[Adam Bishop]

Rest day.

Just a massage session in the afternoon today. Body is feeling much better especially my left knee which wasn’t feeling great at the weekend.

Back in the gym tomorrow for some squats with the addition of some knee wraps now.

[Adam Bishop]

149.5kg

Physio this morning then straight off to the farm for some farmers walk and sandbag to shoulder. 3 sets of 20m on the farmers with a turn at 10m and then multiple singles with the 140kg sandbag. Back home for food and a nap then back into the gym in the evening:

Block Press 10×1

Circus DB 80×5

Incline Bench 127.5×5 135×5 142.5×8

Pressdowns 3×10

[Adam Bishop]

Sunday rest day.

Body wrecked, strongman events just hit you differently to nice controlled gym movements even at low volumes.

Physio session in the morning then a double training day.

[Adam Bishop]

149.5kg this morning.

Headed over to the farm for some stone walks and sandbag to shoulder. Did 16 total reps with the bag working on technique. It’s been a while since I’ve done these so need to re learn the best practices for them. Forgot how much the stone walks wreck your thumbs. The super thin rings require a hook grip so it’s pretty brutal – I’m sure my thumbs and hands will toughen up the more I do them.

Watched a terrible England rugby display in the afternoon then headed into the gym for some pulls:

Speed Pulls 292.5x6x2

Leg Press 4×10

SL Calf Raise 3×20

Great to be back out the suit and pulling on a barbell again. So much easier than using the suit. Unfortunately I’ll be back in it next week but my speed pulls will remain raw for this prep.