TRAINING LOG: ADAM KEEP

Well I am hoping to keep up with my training here. Let's see if I actually keep it up! Haha! Little bit of background on me I guess...I was/am a pro 105kg strongman, getting kinda bored with the strongman route and would like to try HG, some best lifts for me are a 740lb deadlift (belt and straps) 715 no belt and straps, 140kg snatch, 180kg clean and jerk, 230kg front squat, 170kg log press (unofficial world record for 105kg class). I've done 1 NAHA event and 1 HG event. I threw ok at both of them I guess. I ended up throwing the braemar 38ft at both shows and the open stone in the 40's (can't remember exact), WFH went ok too going 15' both times as well. I have been having an ongoing back problem since June of last year, but I think I am on the trailing end of it and things are coming together. I saw an osteopath yesterday and he set me straight with some good stretches and such. Turns out my hams are underdeveloped to my quads and hip flexors and is causing me a bit of pain...weird I know! Anyhow, I am kinda rebuilding right now, but a journal will be fun to see the progression in. So here we go!!!

Jan 18
Snatch tech work-lots of hang power snatches, hang squat snatches, and overhead squats. Top weight was only 80kg. I need to work on my tech, especially catching the weight in the bottom. I tried a wider grip today to ease some shoulder pain and it worked, but was much harder to stabilize. Gonna keep at it!

Stiff leg deads
100kg for 4x8 (sets x reps) was told to do these to help with the back issue and bring them hams up. Went very light as I haven't done these in donkeys years!

Front squats
Warm ups then, 10x3 with 140kg and 40 sec rest

Reverse Lunge
70kg for 4x5 per side

Finished with abs and grip and called it a day! Normally I finish with a lot of conditioning, but had things to do so had to cut it. I'll get it next time!

Looking forward to learning to throw!!!

That's awesome that your posting. I think alot of athletes can learn
from the way you train. Your definitely one of the most powerful
people that I've competed with._

Just did a buttload of swimming! This was a really good cardio session. Tomorrow will be cleans and upper body training.

I learned today I am fine at swimming, but terrible at floating!

Today felt good!

Warm up with power snatches and power snatches with an over head squat. Did lots of reps.

Snatch
90kg x3, 100kg x3, 110kg x3, 120kg x3

Snatch grip high pull
120kg x2, 140kg x2, 160kg x2

Box squat (going for explosiveness on these, reps were FAST! The bar was popping off my back on these and it felt awesome)
120kg x3, 140kg x3, 160kg x3, 180kg x3, x3, x3, x3, x3, x3

Snatch grip half deadlift and shrug (went down to just below knee level)
120kg x6, 140kg x6, x6, x6, x6

Finished with conditioning of 5 rounds as fast as I could of run 200meters and smack a tire with a sledge hammer 10 times. It was cold and windy out and my lungs were smoked!!!

casinonman wrote: Nice to see you posting.  I hate how your light workouts, make me feel so weak :) Jesse

Thanks dude! Your lifts have been getting insane man! I really want to get into throwing bad! After that summer out there training with you I really got hooked! I am trying to tailor my training to work on more explosiveness. I know it's never been an issue for me, actually it's been a strength of mine, but I really want to make something of this so I am going to make it miles better.

If I ever get back to the US I am gonna come out to your place for a few more sessions! It was a ton of fun training out there dude!

Sean Betz wrote: Nice workout Adam.  Impressive numbers out of the gate.

Thanks dude! I am working on getting more and more explosive! Training to compete in HG has given me new goals and has made training fun again!

What the hell is this, Adam Keep benching!!!  Its official hell has froze over, as I don't think I have ever read a workout or heard you talk about benching.

Jesse

Walked into our squadron gym today and found they had bought literally 3 tons of bumper plates, 2 GHR's (3 in the gym now), a shed load of medicine balls up to 30lbs, and a handful of kettlebells! So lucky!!!!!! I had a pretty good session today, I am a little worn from switching to night shift this week and it showed, but it still felt good.

Cleans

135lbs x3, x3, 225x3, x3, 245x3, x3, 275x3, 295x3, 315x3, x3 cut it here, had strength for more (pr is 180kg), but my timing was all sorts of off today.

High Pulls

335x3, x3, 365x3, 405x3

Deadlift to explosive shrug

455x3, x3, x3 (this was actually the most I've deadlifted since the back injury, a long way off from the 740lbs I've done, but little steps forward are still steps forward!)

Front Squat

225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x3, 405x3 (holy hell my core was shot by this time for some reason! My left buttcheek cramped twice during these sets too, ouch!)

Kettlebell swings superset with sledgehammer smacks on a tire

90lbs x12 and 12 smacks for 4 sets

30lb med ball dunks over a 8ft bar. Did 15 reps per hand.

Done and dusted!

 

Forgot to add to my last workout..... Was in the base's main gym and was sitting on the bench kinda staring off into space. Some guy covered in sweat, just dripping all over the treadmills and floor, looks me in the eyes and mouths the words "I am so sweaty!". What the EFFF???!!! Hahaha!!! Why would he tell me this?! Why would he tell anyone this?! Why would he MOUTH the words to me from across the gym?! Weird freaking dudes out there these days! I blame the rap music!

phatmiked wrote: strong fellow.  serious volume. too.

Thanks man! I didn't always train this way, but when I was asked to be on the Air Force olympic weightlifting team and saw how much volume a real oly lifter does I realized that oly lifters aren't strong because they do the oly lifts, they are strong because they do these motions over and over and over. They teach their bodies that walking, eating, sleeping, pooping, and lifting is exactly what their body is made for. Before my back injury I was shifting much higher weights at much more volume than this and I felt amazing. I am just getting back into it and I am sure it will all come back, but I know it takes time. With deployments taking up most of my year it will be rough with the oly lifts, but I will crank on the other lifts I am able to in the provided gyms and keep the volume high!

 

Had me a good one today! Didn't feel as strong as i would like, but everything is coming together nicely!

Clean complex: deadlift x2 + high pull x2 + hang power clean x2 + jerk x2

135lbs x 5 sets, 185lbs x 5 sets

Clean and jerk: 1 clean and jerk and then 2 more cleans for all sets (rest was only long enough to load the next weight, man this was a burner!)

135, 185, 225, 275, 295, 315

Hang power snatch

225 for 10 sets of 1 rep and 40 sec rest.

Box squat (low box, well below parallel) all sets done for 3 reps

225, 225, 275, 295, 315, 365, 405, 435, 500 for 1 (this is a post back injury pr so I cut it there, I just don't want to push it yet)

Finished with conditioning of 3 minutes of 10 x 30lb med ball slams and 10 x GHR situps. Ended up with 4 and 1/2 rounds.

300 rope skips as fast as I could. Made it to 214 with no mess ups.

Very happy with my workouts lately. I have one more here in England before I go off to Greece for 2 months. They don't have any oly equipment where I will be going so my workouts will be simple, but I am going to make the most of it and just get strong. Looking forward to the next session!

First day of deployment workouts!

Got some cardio done today with 300 rope skips, 1000 meters rowing, 400 rope skips at 50 skip sprints, 300 skips as fast as I can, then finished with a 1 mile run.

Gonna lift tomorrow. Feeling great!

Did some conditioning today. did 1500 skips with the rope and ran a mile. Good stuff! Certainly not missing any training during this deployment. I can't wait to get throwing though! When I get back to Mildenhall I will be able to continue oly lifting and trying to make it back on the Air Force team and competing in the HG.

Yeah man I'm in Greece and the gym here on the base isn't too bad. They don't mind the grunting or the chalk, but I can't drop weights so oly lifting is out. I am gonna try to keep up with hang movements while I am here to keep the explosive movements in. We are gonna go on a hike in a few days and I plan to look for a rock to toss so I can start practice here.

Had a great session today! I wasn't as strong as i wanted to be, but everything I did lift was explosive!

Power cleans from rack, bar height was set so i could pull only a few inches before having to explode, shrug, and drop. These were hard as hell!!! All sets were 2 reps.

135, 135, 225, 225, 275, 315, 335 (only went this high because it was all i could control down without dropping), finished with 6 sets at 275 with 30 sec rest.

Strict press. All sets were 2 reps.

135, 185, 225, 245, 275

Push press. All sets were 2 reps.

295, 315, 335 (upper back was too beat up to continue, do think I had 355+ in me though)

RDL on 1 plate and a shrug at the end. I was supposed to be doing these once a week as prescribed by my osteopath, but i am a goof and forgot. NEED to do them!!! All sets were 8 reps.

135, 225, 275, 275

Pullup frenzy! Did pullups till my arms were ready to fall off using a towel for handles, the fat gripz, and then normal bar. Yikes I'm gonna be sore!

Finished with some curls for the girls and called it a day. Conditioning tomorrow! BW is right at 235lbs right now, not too heavy.

casinonman wrote: Adam, Do only do 2 reps even on your 135 sets?   Thanks, Jesse

 

Yeah man I do! I mean what better to warm you up for doubles than doing doubles? I do a lot of warming up before all this though. I like to skip rope, do plyos, dynamic stretches, all kinds of stuff. So by the time I lift I am fully warmed and just go into it.