Varsity House Strength & Conditioning - 184 Central Ave, Old Tappan, NJ 07675 - 201-767-1305 - info@varsityhousenj.com - Bergen Counties Premiere Sports Training Facility

Big Mike’s Blog #2
Competitive Strongman, Certified Sports Performance Coach

Hey everyone hope training went well this week. This week I was working triples on all my max lifts. I worked up to 320 for3 on the overhead, 475 for 3 on the box squat with 2 chains on each side, 465 rack deads with the band for power and speed, and 300 on the bench for 3 with 1 chain on each side. Friday I did some active recovery work such as sled pulling 6x50 yards, 5 min bike, 15 min tread, and 10x15 yard prowler sprints with a 10 second rest periods.

For Strongman on Saturday it was a beautiful 14 degrees and it was time to train like a true Viking! I started off with a log/axle medley for time with the focus still on speed and power. The log and axle was 240lb each and I had to do each twice and finished with a time of 29.22 secs. Next we brought it outside to do some farmer’s walking focusing on speed, I did a 250 farmer’s in each hand for 65ft with a time of 11.44secs(need to move faster). The third event of the day was meant for work capacity on the 750 tire, working up to 20 flips each between the four of us we did 80 flips in about 12 minutes. Lastly were the stones with no tacky and I worked up to 280x3 and then 280x5.

This Sunday was also spent outside in the cold by jumping into the Atlantic Ocean for the Wounded Warrior project. This plunge was for a great cause, helping support the Wounded Soldiers of our country. On that note we all need to remember that things can always be worse and that is one of the reasons we need to push ourselves to the limit every week.

For the upcoming week I’m going for some singles on my max lifts, so check back next week and until then keep lifting and keep eating!

-Big Mike

Bad-Ass Burrito Recipe

Ingredients
½ Roasted Chicken (store cooked)
½ cup sautéed peppers and onions
½ cup prepared Spanish rice
1Tsp Chili Powder
3Tbsp salsa
2Tbsp low fat sour cream
3 Whole Wheat Tortillas

Directions
Sauté Peppers and Onions in saucepan over medium high heat until cooked through. Add chili powder to pan and cook for 2min more. Meanwhile debone and dice chicken. Place 1/3 chicken, 1/3 peppers & onion mix, 1/3 rice, 1Tbsp salsa, 1/3 sour cream onto tortilla and roll into Burrito. Makes 3 servings.

1/20/10

1/25/10

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1/31/10

Team Varsity House Goes Polar

Big Mike’s Blog #3
Competitive Strongman, Certified Sports Performance

Hey everyone hope everybody survived another week in the New Jersey cold. This week was focused on singles and on Monday I went for a single on the overhead. I just missed 350 but my goal is 350 by the summer. On Wednesday I looked for a single on Box Squats with 2 chains on each side and my singles were 405, 455, 505, 535, and I ended up with 550 which was a new p.r. for me. The day ended with some super setting with DB reverse lunges using 70’s followed by glute ham raises. On Thursday I hit 325 on the bench with one chain on each side and continued my extra dumbbell work. On Friday I did some active recovery work along with my prowler sprints which I have been doing every Mon., Wed., and Friday.

Strongman Saturday started off with the same axle/log medley as last week but this week I worked up to 250 on each implement having to clean and press each as fast as I can and my time was under 30secs. Next was a 605 yoke for speed for 50ft focusing on speed and my best time was 9.44secs. The third event was reaching 10 flips with the 900lb tire (needs work). The last of the day was stones and I worked up to 5 singles with 330 stone. It was another hardcore week of training, in the upcoming week I will be deloading and next Saturday I’m going to go for some max numbers.

Sometimes I may not have the ability to thank everyone but I really appreciate the support from everyone, so thanks everybody. Check back next week and until then keep lifting and keep eating!

Big Mike

2/1/10

Coaches Joe, Mike and Dan all took a plunge in the frigid Atlantic ocean down in Long Branch New Jersey for a charity event to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. .