Avast me hearties! My strongman training facility is finally OPEN! 'tis called THE STRONGHOLD and has everything you could possibly want and need to become POWERFUL! That isn't to say you need to be strong and mighty to come along: it's designed to increase your power no matter what point you are...
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Having completed five tough weeks of strongman training, it was finally time to test my progress at England’s Strongest Man Under 80kg Novice competition. A few weeks before, I learned that my Ghost Squad amigo, Hakon Fram Stokka, was flying from Norway to Edinburgh to do a 50+ km Spartan Ultra...
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I woke up on Sunday 16th of July at 82.5kg. That’s the heaviest I have ever been, I’m usually 79-80g. I know: I’m much smaller in real life than people expect. I don’t really give a crap about my weight. The only thing that interests me about my bodyweight is its implications for my rela...
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After all my rambling about strength training, I decided I should put mine to the test. So I signed up for the novice round at England’s Strongest Man Under 80kg. That weight category is very important. I have loved strongman ever since witnessing Magnus Ver Magnusson conquer all mortals in the...
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After feeling like a combination of wrestling and Westside Barbell was going to kill me, I opted for something a bit more focused on my athleticism as well as my strength. The Juggernaut method is a vast and expansive all around athletic development program. It’s based on the idea that strength...
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Coming out of trying 531, I wanted to get back into heavy weight training, so I looked into Westside. The Westside Barbell program was developed by Louie Simmons, and uses Eastern European principles of weightlifting. Unlike most powerlifting programs that focus purely on moving fairly heavy weights...
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My God, 531. I swear I nearly gave up on life itself whilst reading up on 531. The sheer about of “debate” that exists online concerning the program must be crushing to anybody trying to work out whether or not it is for them. Every possible question has been asked and answered, and every answer...
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This was the first proper lifting program I ever adhered to. Why? Because it was simple. Other programs had dozens of variations of exercises and convoluted combinations of sets, reps and percentages of maximums, to the point that I always felt I spent longer reading and planning than training. ...
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After a LOT of consideration, I have decided to try Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 training program. It took a lot of thinking because, after 4-5 months of Faleev's 5x5 training (5 sets of 5: if you succeed, put the weight up 5kg next week), Wendler's approach seems ludicrously light. You see, traditiona...
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QUICK OPENING NOTE: I've been documenting some of this on Instagram at @edgamester, in case you're thinking about trying it out for yourself :) For the last 12 weeks I've been doing a strength-based routine designed by Alexander Faleev. It came to my attention via an article written by former Sov...
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The Good News My powerlifting raining is progressing slowly, but surely. At the end of week eight of dedicated training, my lifts currently stand somewhere around: Squat: 170kg (based on a 7 rep max of 140kg) Bench: 120kg (based on a 4 rep max of 110kg) Deadlift: 215kg (based on a 7 rep max of...
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I have spent the last six weeks in the novice phases of learning to powerlift. That may seem odd, given that my last post declared (self-righteously and with no real grounds for doing so) that powerlifting isn't a great test of strength because the ability to perform those movements doesn't necessar...
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I've never really been into powerlifting as a sport. It's presented as test of strength, but I've always felt like strength should imply the ability to perform a variety of physical feats - not just three highly practised movements (squat, bench press and deadlift). I mean, if a man can bench pr...
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It's brainless, really. There's a bit of biology, physiology and simple maths, but weight training is pretty straightforward. For me, that's its appeal. The simpler the better, too. Three lifts: deadlift, squat and bench press. Do one of them correctly every day, and you'll get stronger. ...
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Tonight, 30 months after I first discovered Lucha Britannia, I had my very first match on one of their shows! It was a London School of Lucha Libre student show, but the sheer quality of the wrestling was higher than almost any I have seen or been involved with. I would try and describe it, but t...
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Just a couple of bits from tonight's training at the London School of Lucha Libre! Special Luchadore Leg Whip, Monkey Flip and Head Scissors: Hip Toss Reverse to Springboard Arm Drag...Thing I'm running on about 2% energy at the moment, but I've got to keep it up! Somehow....
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If you're wondering why my blog has been rather scantily updated for the last few months, it's because I've been in the process of moving back to London. I have done this for many reasons. In no particular order, here are some of those reasons: Vikki has a new job here. I have a new job nearby...
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I know, I know; I have been a bad blogger. Hitherto, I have posted thrice a week on average for a few years in a row. Recently, however, I have barely posted at all. "WHY, GODS, WHY?" I hear you type into the comments box. Normally adventure-silence is caused by me not getting up to much of i...
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For my final morning of the first phase of my screen combat training, I was given a spear. This was the culmination of many a childhood (and adult) dream and not an opportunity I was about to approach with anything less than full enthusiasm. My body, on the other hand, had different ideas. 9 hour...
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Today was the start of my armed screen combat training. I was so excited that I arrived at the training centre so early that even the breakfast café wasn't open! Luckily, I had a spacious Citroen C1 in which I could nap... Physically, I wasn't feeling too bad. The previous day had been tough, bu...
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