C. Fay Training Log

Heavy Hammer

Walking winds x10 forward/backward

10 winds x2

3 wind and release x5

3 wind throws x5

Light hammer

3 wind x3

LWFD x5

Much to my horror, the field near my gym was closed and I had to go quite a ways away to throw, daylight was running out and I got very little done. I originally figured that between the illegal immigrant soccer league and myself destroying the field along with the fact that a guy got murdered there a while ago, that the field was done for good. Luckily after contacting the city I found out that they are reseeding the field and it should be good to go in a few weeks. In the meantime I have to look for other fields to throw at.

Stone

Standing toes to trig x5

Drop to 1 knee x5

Standing no reverse x5

Standing w/reverse x3

HWFD w/49 

2 turns x6

LWFD

2 turns x8

16 lb Sheaf

bottoms up x5

Full x6

I found a nice new field, about 10 minutes away from home, not as close as my gym field but closer than my secondary field. I found a nice area to throw in and nearby on the ball fields they have backstops that are 30-35 ft fences. I need this big time to improve my sheaf, I managed to clear it on my last throw of the day. If I can find a good branch somewhere in the park, it will be the perfect place. 

Heavy Hammer

Walking winds x10 forward/backward

10 winds x2

3 wind and release x3

Light hammer 3 wind throws x8

LWFD

Entry drill x5

2 turns x5

1 turn x5

16lb sheaf

bottoms up x5

full x5

Decent day today, I still need to keep the hammer from away from my right side on the low points in the three wind. The ground was saturated after several days of rain and slowed down my footwork a bit. 

BB Hang Power Snatch

95x5

135x3

165x2

185x1

205x1

225x1

235x1

DE BB Box Squat w/strong bands

barx10

145x5

195 2x2

235 2x2

285x2 (added belt here)

325x2

375x1

415x1

Still fighting this nasty cold and it seems the biggest battle is just trying not to lose my voice. Physically I am doing ok and had a productive workout although I curtailed volume a bit so as not to push my luck. I am going to have to take a day off from work unfortunately in order to preserve my voice. In my line of work, if I cannot speak, then I cannot do my job. Not getting hammered by another bad 24 hour shift should help me recover a bit. I am glad that I can still train without coughing up a lung, the heavy duty meds they prescribed me are helping with that.

Tuesday DE Bench

Thursday Squat (DE or ME)

Saturday ME Bench

For DE bench I gradually increase band tension going into the season and switch to a fat bar closer in, once I get into the season, I drop this day altogether in order to get in another throwing day.

For my lower body day, I usually like to do some sort of ME snatch to start off, rotating between three different types of snatches, rotating each week. Next I pick a specialty bar that I will use for three weeks on week 1 I focus on bar speed which is more traditional DE work, I follow that up with a ME deadlift of some sort if my back feels ok. The second week I deload a bit on the squat and either do some rep work (3x5) or moderate speed work, I normally follow this up with BB rows or GMs for reps. Week three I normally work up to a ME or near ME single. On my ME bench day I rotate between incline bench, close grip bench and RE floor press. 

Once I get into the season I lift twice a week and throw three times a week. My Squat day stays pretty similar as previously described, except I use the SSB and more band tension with less bar weight and in order so save my back I will drop the ME deadlifting and do speed pulls instead on week 1. I really find that the SSB and lots of band tension seems to help me on my throws in general. On my other day where I lift, I use mostly the fat bar and also more bands and less weights. Week 1 will be moderately heavy triples, week 2 will be typical DE work and week three I might work up to a ME single or triple. Although I am a poor stone guy, I do find that the fat bar seems to help me get a little more into the stone.  Also once I get close in to the season, I cycle in things like various med ball throws, box jumps, 1 arm KB snatches etc. I do feel the KB snatch helps me on the WOB a bit, although the technique is a bit different. This is my training in a nutshell, there are lots of variables for me though and things often have to change.

Light Hammer

Walking winds 2x10

10 wind drill 2x10

Stone

Standing toes to trig x5

Drop to 1 knee x5

Standing no reverse x5

Standing w/reverse x5

49lb weight: Entry drill x5

28lb weight: 2 turn throws x6

WOB x5

I felt exhausted, achy, non-explosive and my balance was a little off which indicates neural fatigue to me. I kept the tempo and volume moderate and tried to get in some work the best I could. I just need a lot of rest right now and hopefully can catch up on my sleep.

Warmup: GHR x15, 45 degree hyper x15, Reverse hyper x15, Standing abs x20, Landmines x20, Light sled drags

Caber walks x3

Caber runs x2

Caber turns x2

Further warmup: 1 leg squats 2x10, 1 leg deads 2x5, hip mobility work

Warmup: Upper body drags, Incline DB press 4x20, Band pullaparts 4x20, cuff complex

Fat Bar Bench w/bands

bar x20

bar+doubled light band x10

125x5

145x5

165x3

175x3

185x3

195x3

205x3

Supersetted benching w/rev hyper shrugs 5x20

Warmup: Lower body sled drags, 45 degree hypers 2x20, GHR 2x20, 1 leg squats 2x10, 1 leg deadlift 2x5, hip mobility work

DE SSB Box Squats (counting bar as 45lbs)

bar+strong band x10

bar+strong and average band x5

bar+strong, average and light band x5

95x2

135x2

185 6x2

Goodmornings w/SSB

barx10

135x10

185x5

225x5

275x5

Box Jumps 3x5

Snatches and some of the pulling exercises are not really too smart to perform in the short term due to the bicep tear so I did my best to work around it. The workout went well and my bar speed was pretty fast.

Warmup: Upper body dragging, cuff complex, 1 arm landmine press 4x20, band pullaparts 4x20

Fat Bar Bench w/doubled mini bands

bar 2x10

105 2x6 close

115 2x6 medium

125 2x6 wide

Benching was supersetted w/CSR scapular retractions 6x20

12lb light shot work

standing square x5

1-2 drill x4

standing no reverse x4

A-drills x5

5 nonstop rounds of superset of 1 arm band extensions x20, neck harness x20, lateral raise x20

I kept things light today but had no discomfort benching and managed to get in some back work with scapular retraction type work with straight arms. I will do some higher volume benching for a little while with lighter weights as my body adjusts to stabilizing the right arm sans-bicep. Good workout overall.

Walking hammer winds

16lb hammer 2x10

22lb hammer 2x10

12lb shot

Standing toes to trig x5

Drop 1 one knee x5

Standing no reverse x5

Standing w/reverse x5

56lb weight entry drill x5

28lb weight

2 turns x10

1 turn x5

WOB x5

Hammer winds felt fine on the bad arm, even with the 22lb hammer. Everything else went well.

Warmup: Sled drags x3 trips, 45 degree hypers x20, reverse hypers x20, shoulder mobility work

Heavy hammer

Walking winds 2x10

10 winds x2

3 wind and released drill x3

3 wind throws x3

Light Hammer 

3 wind throws x3

Caber walks x2

Caber run x1

Caber turns x2

Went back to the gym and did the following:

Band pullaparts 2x20

1 arm landmine press 2x20

DE Fat bar bench w/bands

barx10

bar+doubled minis x10 (kept this tension)

125 6x6

Pressing was supersetted w/rev hyper shrugs 4x20

Finished w/some high rep bicep and tricep stuff for rehab work

I have had a tough go of it getting ready for this upcoming games, a few weeks ago I got a super nasty cold, then I detach my bicep, then sunday I get violently ill and puke all day from a horrible stomach bug. Finally today I felt well enough to get outside and throw although I am still not able to eat like I want to. I have not thrown a hammer since i detached my bicep throwing the heavy hammer a few weeks ago. Only a moderate amount of discomfort on the release but I think the longer I can stay, the less it will hurt. I just need to cinch down my arm brace, keep long and keep my expectations low on the event this sunday. Light hammer of course was painless and just felt great, too bad we are not throwing that event. Caber felt pretty good, my practice caber is small so we will have to see how the caber will feel at the games. Tomorrow I do some easy throws on the other events and then roll the dice and see how sunday goes.

After a rough couple of weeks, it was finally go time. On saturday I carbed up a good bit and tried to get my bloat on a little bit. I have been on a keto diet since the beginning of the year and between the diet and getting violently ill last weekend, I have gone from 272 to 261. I slept well the night before and woke up ready to go. I strapped my arm down with my inzer brace and took the field not knowing what to expect. Here is how it went:

Heavy Hammer: 80+, for my best, winds felt fine but the release just hurt too much to push it on so this was pretty much just token throwing here, far below my best, maybe got me 4th place.

Open Stone: 35+, just terrible! My form is garbage as usual despite the work I put in, unfortunately due to the injury I have not been able to press heavy for a few weeks so even my usual muscle something out there technique didn't work. I dont even think I was top 5 here.

HWFD: 35'1 on my opener, I blew through positions on my second and the third felt great but the handle got very tacky and I held onto it past the release point. Not a PR but all throws over 33 and got 1st place.

LWFD: 74'.5 for a huge PR! My first two throws were 72+ which was already a big PR and then I sped up my entry just a little and hit the 74+. I could not crack 70 last year and now I have blown through it. I really figured out optimal timing for myself on this event I think. 1st place by a good margin in this event.

Lunch time: Tried to hydrate, stay loose and motivated. I was expecting to go do caber, but they were having the East/West girls do that first so we got sent to do WOB.

WOB: 16'9 for 1st and another PR! I have been working on a bigger backswing and was unsure how accurate I would be. I came in at 12' and I won at either 14 or 15', I don't remember. At that point I wanted to go for a PR and 16.6' was my previous best. My first try was very close. D. Tennison was watching and told me I just needed to sink my hips a little more to get my legs into it. I took his helpful advice and cleared it pretty damn clean. I was very excited about this.

Caber: Started off with a relatively heavy and long stick, came close to turning it but it just hurt really bad on my arm so I couldn't pull with everything I have, normally I would have no problem with the stick. Nobody turned this stick. On the second round they broke it and we had to switch to a smaller stick which sucked because it became a shootout with almost everyone turning it, I think I had an 11 and a 1:00 and wasn't even top 3. This cost me big time.

16lb sheaf: Won with 30', took a few cracks at 34 on extras but it wasn't quite there. This was a super ugly, oblong sheaf that was catching my tines bad, hell I even missed 22 on my first throw because it stuck so bad. Nonetheless I hit a decent number so good enough for 1st place.

Overall: 3rd place.

Fraser Ewan took first by hitting a great hammer and being very consistent on the other events, this is a home games for him and I am very happy he was able to win it finally against a good class. I knew that by the way things went on stone, hammer and caber that my good performances on the other events would not do enough for me to win. At this point I need heal up and get back to feeling 100% with my torn bicep. I am not going to do any games until the SE FL games at the beginning of march. By then the detached bicep should be able to scar down and I can hit hammer and caber without being in severe pain. I also need to just keep plugging away at stone, hopefully I can get it together in this event somehow. All things considered, I am happy with how things went and excited about the PRs, I know if I get healed up I can do a lot more.