Hactenus Invictus

Circuit training time

2006-08-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

I have been at the beach with the family for the last week. I wanted to sneak a little workout in so I took one 53 lbs kettlebell with me and found a large rock on the beach. I did a kettlebell snatches, presses, kettlebell for height, running up sand dune and Kayak sprints, and swimming sprints. It was a lot of fun and it made me think that It’s the time of the year for circuit training Gellatly style!!!

Circuit training time

1) Kbell 2 hand high pull 5 reps (heavy)

2) Kbell press 5 reps per hand

3) Farmers walk 50ft

4) Big rock clean and press 3 reps

5) Sled pull 10ft

6) repeat

Ty Phillips Interview

2005-12-29T13:45:00.000-08:00

1. What sports /hobbies did you participate before strongman
I started in the martial arts and practiced and fought for about 12 years. Both of my parents were martial Artists and I wanted to follow suit.
I was and am an avid reader and book collector.
2. How long have you been competing in strongman
I have only been lifting for 2 and 1/2 years. My first strongman show
was in May of 2005. It was KY's Strongest Man, I had the flu, and did horrible.
3. Was there an athlete or a competition the inspired you to try strongman
I started lifting to help my fighting. A friend of mine gave me a video tape of the 2003 WSM and I was hooked from that point on. I stopped training in the martial arts and dedicated my life to strongman from that point on......as far as athletes,I was impressed by them all, but Svend
Karlsen stood out as my overall favorite. He just had a great personality....and he is really strong!!!!
4. What is you favorite/ best event
My favorite event is probably the log press, but that is also my worst event. My best events are lifting and carrying events. I do well in stones, giant tire flip, and the deadlift.
5. Do you and or can you workout in a "normal gym"
Yes I can. We(my training partner and myself) work out in a gym twice a week. We do full body workouts those days, that focus on 20 rep squats, which are always over 300lbs....usually 300-400 for 20 reps along with some heavy doubles like 500x2x2. The super squats program is great for increasing over all body strength and mental endurance. Monday and Thursday we do the SS routine...after the squats the routine is split. Monday we do all lower body, mostly back, with dead lifts, bent over rows, heavy shrugs, leg curls, calve raise and then finish off with curls. Thursday we do the 20 rep squats and then do all upper body focusing on overhead press instead of bench...bench press is the secondary exorcise. Saturday, is all strongman event training. We rotate events from Saturday to Saturday....Joke, log, stones and then Farmers, Axle, Giant Tire....on my off days, I do 10 sets of 20 suicide crunches for my gut....
6. What would be noticeably different in one of our workouts verses a
body-builders workout
Strongmen are there for POWER not looks. If you want to dress up in short pants and wear oil, go into body building...if you want to be able to flip cars, you are a strongman.
7. What would be a typical strongman workout consist of As mentioned above, the routine rotates from week to week so that we get good training on all events. One workout would be Joke, Log Press, Stones and another would be Farmers Walk, Axle Press, Giant tire flip.
8. Do you have a strict diet
I do and I don't...I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS drink LOTS of milk..close to a gallon of 1% a day. Lots of chicken breast and lots of pasta. I can and do cheat when I want to, but try and stay focuses because diet will affect my performance and power.
9. What are your goals
To compete against the best pro's in the world...and to beat them.....to stand on the Dais with the WSM trophy in hand and tell my wife and my little girls, I did it all for you.
10. The media has paid a lot of attention to the use of illegal performance
enhancing drug how for performance enhancing drug effect your sport.
yes they have and rightly so. An athlete should rely on his ability alone and not cheat by using speed, steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. If you can't do it on your own, YOU DIDN'T REALLY DO IT..you cheated and you are a coward...but that is just my opinion.
11. Why do you think the US is not as dominate in strongman as it is in
other sports
Strongman is the hardest sport in the world. If we payed our athletes the same as we did football and baseball players, you would see the US dominate that sport. Until we market strongman like we do football, our athletes will struggle...it is hard to be a pro, make small paychecks and travel all over the world. We need bigger and better sponsors, more TV time, and more media coverage..when that happens, watch....more Bill Kazmiers will pop out of the woodwork and the US will be on top.

So you want to turn a Caber?

2005-12-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

So you want to turn a caber? The caber toss is an event that you can not simply use stupid strength to win. You can take the worlds strongest man and if he has never done it before it will be virtually impossible to turn an average caber his first try. My first year in competing in highland games I did not turn caber once. This year I have turned a caber in all but two competitions and personally think that nothing feels better than watching the caber flip. Below I break down the steps to turning a caber.

Pick – I have seen many men stronger that me lose it in the pick. First when the other athlete gives you the caber make sure it is balanced before you descend down the caber. Lock you hands together and set the caber rest on you shoulder but be careful not to let it lean to fall in to you. When you are ready to pick the caber your hands should be no higher than 5 inches from the ground and you FINGER MUST BE LOCKED TOGETHER. I personally have my hands almost touching the ground before the pick. Now time to pick up the caber. I have tried explain this several time to people but they usually don’t get it. It kind of like explaining a jump shot you just have to practice it. So you low on the caber, your hands are locked and the caber has a slight pressure on your shoulder….Stand up Yse I said STAND UP don’t pull with your hands use you lower body and torso and stand up. The caber will com with you. Once the bottom of caber is about waist height quickly move you hand under the caber. I your fingers are not locked this where you will drop the caber.
Balance – OK you standing up with a caber in you hands this is where balance comes in you may need to pull the caber up a little bit to about where your belly button is this will help you move “under the caber” instead of man handling it. The “caber dance” something else that come with experience I basically describe it as moving under the caber until it is perfectly balanced.
Run – The bigger the caber the more speed you will need to turn it. You must keep the caber perfectly straight during the run. In order to keep it straight you must push with your shoulder…but not to hard. If the top of the caber starts to fall to far behind slowdown and apply more shoulder pressure. If the caber startes to pull away from you shoulder you must decide to accelerate under the caber or PULL now.
Pull – If you get to the pull and you end up not flipping the caber you probably pulled to late. Stop dip and POP the caber straight up as hard as you can. Remember the faster you are running the faster you pull must be. Pull hard straight up and fallow through.

Great Lakes Medieval Faire Highland Games

2005-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I competed in the Geneva Highland games it was a lot of fun I came in a solid 3^rd behind Styborski and Olson. New comer Tony Gia and Ty Philips also had strong showings. Had a new PR in the 22 lbs hammer See the pictures in the link below

http://myweb.cebridge.net/cghighlander/genevaohio2005/

-G-

Head-on Collisions Hornets and killer Cabers

2005-08-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Head-on Collisions Hornets and killer Cabers

I was on my way to work last week when a car went left of center and ran into me. I’m OK the car is totaled but cars can be replaced. Then this weekend I was testing a new caber when in guess I stepped into a hornets nest and got stung several times. Then on Monday I was trying to turn the caber again when I slipped on wet grass and fell on my back. The caber was coming down at me of course so I put my foot up to block it, the caber broke it to two peaces on my foot!!!

Stone Pics

2005-08-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Highlander on vacation, lake Erie

Water Stones

2005-08-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a mini vacation on Lake Erie. I had a lot of fun finding stones and simulating my stone throw in the water. I got the idea from an article I read about Vasily Alexeyev the great Russian weight lifter. It said that one of his training techniques was to lift in the local river!!(see pic) So I practiced throwing the stone in chest deep water from the power position. I also found a nice new granite throwing stone that I took home for personal use. I will be competing on Saturday at the Great lakes Medieval Fare which should have a lot of good competition and all the events. It will be me Vs. the infamous Strunk Stone!!!

Hammer Training from the Scottishmasters.org

2005-08-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am going to try this after my Games this Saturday(I don't want to hurt myself the day before)

Hammer Throw Training - Dan DeWelt

The following tip comes from Dan DeWelt, three time masters champion at Pleasanton, CA. Dan is constantly seeking for ways to improve his already impressive throws. Look for lots of tips from Dan on this page. After you see his tips, get on your sweats and shoes and get to work because you better believe the rest of us are trying them too and you don't want to be left behind.

I must share with you a real breakthrough training tip being used by Matt Sandford, Karl Dodge and Mike Smith. In fact, here are two BIG tips.

If you notice Matt does two very easy winds on the hammer, then rips the living hell out of the last wind. Matt does actually start his final pull at the bottom after his second wind. Here is how he trains which results in this style. One day a week Matt does winds with a VERY HEAVY Hammer. He takes a 22# Hammer and slides #10 barbell plates down the handle. Then he does three winds just like you would do three reps with a weight in the gym. Then he adds more weight and repeats, working up to an 80# Hammer!!! He does this to build strength just like you would if you were adding sets to build strength in the gym. I have started doing this, going 22#, 27#, 33# and 38#. In a couple months I expect to get up to 62#. It is extremely important to keep long arms, smooth form and a very explosive pull on the third wind (rep). This is done once a week and a couple days later a regular Hammer workout with the 16# is done to maintain correct timing and speed.

First Blog

2005-07-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

OK my friends have been harassing me to start a blog so here it goes. I know the reason they want me to post is so they can say what a freak I am.
I am preparing for my next highland game at the Great Lakes Medieval faire the competition will be tuff a lot of good throwers from PA should be showing up. I feel kind of week today I think its because I over did it a couple days ago. On Tuesday I gave blood then that night I helped my mom move a air conditioner, the next morning I threw for about an hour and half before work, 56lbs Weight for distance, 28lbs Weight for distance, 16lbs stone, and sheaf plus about 4-5 runs with the caber. Thursday I had short lifting session squat 5*5*300, bench and some light power cleans. I think I will take today off then hit the throws on Saturday.