Off-season training

[Alan H]

Wow, that's a big caber! I'm still struggling to pick our 16', 95-lb caber consistently. When I do it correctly, the pick is easy. Of course I still can't turn it. But most of the time, I can't even pick it...

You're plenty strong enough to pick it, it's just a matter of practice. Honest. You'll get it.

If you have room to store such a thing, you can make a caber from a 16 foot long 6 x 6 from Home Depot or Lowes. Use a circular saw to cut the corners off, lengthwise so that the stick is octagonal in cross-section rather than square. Then use a drawknife (I got mine off of ebay) round off the bottom 4-5 feet and make a nice round bottom end with a surform plane. Sand the bottom 4-5 feet nice and smooth so you won't get splinters and you're set. 15 - 16 feet is plenty to get you started.

You can also go to these guys, below, and just BUY a pole, though I don't know how much they cost. A bunch of the SAAA cabers are from here. They're in Pomona.

http://www.celumber.com/

round off the bottom, get some clear-coat...varnish or polyurethane on it, and start throwing.

[Alan H]

I gotta say...big deadlifts fry me like nothing else. I'm still recovering from Thursday. Lower back is still sore from my bad pull, but it's getting better.

I've ridden my bike in to work twice this week, it's great for my knees and to get everything moving around...work out the lactic acid and so on.

[Alan H]

Today......stretch and 45 minutes of foam roller on my butt. That's right, forty-five minutes. That's what it takes. MAN does my back feel better.

Oh, and I also did a mess of FAST curls...3 x 8 x 75
and some FAST incline bench presses .... 4 x 6 x 55 db's

got on the rowing machine for a little bit, just 6 minutes @ <2:25/500m enough to loosen up

and do I ever feel better!

[o1d_dude]

I've not been keeping up with posting my workouts. Been doing them, just not posting.

2-7-2012
41st anniversary of discharge from US Army

Bear
1x8x65
17" Snatch Grip Dead
1x5x135
2x1x225-275
2x5x305
Incline Pin Press
1x10x45
3x3x95-135-155
2x5x215-225 (mid position)
Core Blaster
1x10x75
Hanging Knee Raise
1x10
Short Range Chin Up
1x10
Dan John Curl
2x2-3-5-10x80
1x2-3-5x80 (50 reps total)
Good Morning
1x10x65

2-12-2012

Bear
1x8x65
17" Snatch Grip Dead
1x5x135
2x1x225-275
2x5x305-315
Incline Pin Press
1x10x45
3x3x95-135-155
8x3x135 (low position w chains)
Core Blaster
1x10x80
Hanging Knee Raise
1x10
Short Range Chin Up
1x10
Dan John Overhead Press
2x2-3-5-10x75
1x2-3x75 (45 reps total)
Good Morning
1x10x75

Went out to throw at the local park this morning but got blown out by 20-30 mph winds with gusts in the 40-50 mph range. Not sure what's up with that. Guess it was the tail end/clearing period following the rain from two days ago.

I was at Home Depot and Lowe's in the past few days and spotted orange traffic cones and thought about buying one to practice weight throws. The idea is to place the cone directly behind you, then go through your weight throw "wind up". As the weight swings back behind you, it should pass between your legs and the cone and as you cast it forward, it should pass behind the cone. Sink the hips, etc. Just another drill to help with proper technique and easily worth the $9 or so for the traffic cone.

Note to self: I need to apply some finish to the wooden roof rack that I use to haul cabers on my Bronco.

Note to self #2: I need to finalize the sheaf standards and bases I started on last fall. Nice design but it takes at least two people to erect them and three would be better. The drum majors want to use the standards for a mace over the bar (MOB) comp on the parade ground at the Sacramento Valley Games. These standards cannot be set up until just before the drum major MOB comp and have to come down as soon as the MOB is done to make room for the closing ceremonies. Did I mention they want the bar to go up to 40 feet? This is going to be a challenge right up there with Hercules cleaning out the Augean Stables.

[Alan H]

Note to self #2: I need to finalize the sheaf standards and bases I started on last fall. Nice design but it takes at least two people to erect them and three would be better. The drum majors want to use the standards for a mace over the bar (MOB) comp on the parade ground at the Sacramento Valley Games. These standards cannot be set up until just before the drum major MOB comp and have to come down as soon as the MOB is done to make room for the closing ceremonies. Did I mention they want the bar to go up to 40 feet? This is going to be a challenge right up there with Hercules cleaning out the Augean Stables.

Forty feet? Twenty five-thirty is pretty easy. Forty feet without a complicated set of guy ropes....not so easy.

[o1d_dude]

Forty feet? Twenty five-thirty is pretty easy. Forty feet without a complicated set of guy ropes....not so easy.

No guy ropes. Just three braces on each upright. We're using 20' chain link fence top rails for the uprights and the braces are 1" EMT conduit that bolt to the lower rail at about 7-8' above the ground.



These are the standards that the Denver club used at the MWC in 2010. They are very slick and the measuring tape is incorporated into the rig. The reason WOB takes so long our here in the West is the knock off bar and having to reset it a bazillion times. When the bar is fixed, WOB is a very quick event.

It's hard to get anyone out here to listen to that, tho. Same thing goes with the sheaf. It's a huge HUGE draw at the games back East and you can see the standards from anywhere in the park. They dominate the venue. Spectators ask "When do you guys toss the sheaf?" rather than the caber. Good marketing or what?

[Alan H]

No guy ropes. Just three braces on each upright. We're using 20' chain link fence top rails for the uprights and the braces are 1" EMT conduit that bolt to the lower rail at about 7-8' above the ground.


These are the standards that the Denver club used at the MWC in 2010. They are very slick and the measuring tape is incorporated into the rig. The reason WOB takes so long our here in the West is the knock off bar and having to reset it a bazillion times. When the bar is fixed, WOB is a very quick event.

It's hard to get anyone out here to listen to that, tho. Same thing goes with the sheaf. It's a huge HUGE draw at the games back East and you can see the standards from anywhere in the park. They dominate the venue. Spectators ask "When do you guys toss the sheaf?" rather than the caber. Good marketing or what?

The standards that the Idaho guys brought down to Ventura when the SAAA trailer got stolen last year used something much like that system. The only difference was that the uprights were square in cross-section rather than round. It was a knock-off bar setup. However the bar supports that held the bar were built on to little pieces of square-section steel that were one size bigger than the uprights, so they sleeved/slid over the uprights. A little pull on a halyard (actually they used a galv steel trailer winch with a wire halyard - major overkill, but whatever) would hoist the crossbar-supports up the uprights to wherever you wanted them.

It was pretty slick. They also used the three-point support system, like yours.

[o1d_dude]

Never thought about using sleeves to carry the cross bar. Great idea! Much simpler/sturdier than using U-bolts through cross bar.

Thanks, Alan.

[Alan H]

Back in the gym. I've decided to forget going for even bigger squat and DL PR's, and be content with 315/385. My lower back is still sore, I did a number on it the past couple of weeks. It'd be stupid to go strain it even more. So it's time to start moving stuff *fast*. I have a program for the next few weeks....

Stretch cage
Hang Cleans ... 3 x 3 x 135 / 2 x 3 x 155 / 3 x 165 / 3 x 1 x 175 .... Happy with this.
Core 1 ... Russian Twists on incline board...3 x 10 x 10 pound medball

db incline bench, now at a flatter angle than in the past ... 8 x 55 / 8 x 60 / 6 x 55 FAST, like almost throw the weights. I should have stayed with the 55's and done sets of 4's or 5's not 8's. I may try pin presses for this next week.

Core Crushers .... 3 x 8 x 205
hip snatches .... 3 x 6 x 105 thanks, Mike!

[Alan H]

Back in the gym...

Stretch Cage

Hang Clean (was gonna do high pulls, but what the heck) ... 3 x 4 x 105 / 2 x 3 x 135 / 2 x 3 x 155 / 2 x 175 / 1 x 185 PR! I got 185. huzzah!

Fast DLS ... good mornings 2 x 6 x 135 warmup / 4 x 4 x 225 ... then 4 x 1 x 315 to see if I could hold on, and I can but just *barely* on the last one.
Push Press, strict and fast ... 3 x 6 x 135 / 4 x 135 ... didn't make the last 2 or the 4th set

I was gonna do some split squats but the gym was packed, so single-leg leg press ... 2 x 6 x 180 each leg. a Dumb exercise, now I know.

"Donna's rowing intervals" ... 250 m @ 1:45/500 with 40 sec rest. She said to do 10. I got through four! Ha! ..... OK, got some work to do.