Overseas Gym Move

Top 10 Lists - 

Most Used Most Important

1. Barbell
2. Plates
3. Squat rack
4. Bench
5. Dumbbells
6. Pull-up Bar
7. Ergs?

Hard to Replace

1. Vintage Plates - AFA Falcons and ROC-MO
2. Larry Scott Preacher Curl
3. York Roundheads
4. Jackson Dumbbells
5. Grip Equipment

Used Less often

1. Bulgarian Bags
2. Hip Thrust bumpers and wedge

Stuff that would have to go

1. 45 Degree Back Extension
2. Med Balls
3. Dead Balls
4. Strongman Equipment
5. Hoist sit-up bench
6. Plyo Boxes
7. Hurdles

Bicycles in order of keep

1. Gios
2. Surly
3. Pinarello
4. Quattro Assi
5. Mercier
6. Cervelo

Sports equipment to get rid of

1. Climbing gear
2. Lacrosse sticks
3. Fishing equipment

Stuff to take with me

1. Tennis racquet
2. SCUBA gear
3. Hurling gear

Some stuff will be tough to decide.  I would like to keep some Highland Games stuff (fork, hammer head), but sell the rest.

Bike-Swim-Bike Brick

Monday, July 21, 2026

Bear Creek Lake Park

1800

Bike-Swim-Bike Brick

5.70 mile ride to Bear Creek Lake - 36:43

250 yard swim - 7:48

5.71 mile ride home - 26:43

I wanted to get a brick workout in and I also wanted to do a test swim without any additional buoyancy.  The brick workout was tough.  Part of it was the elevation, but the more significant factor was the wind.  The swim was good, but it did feel weird to swim "naked."  The mental ease and comfort of a little buoyancy is hard to describe.

I moved well and had a good workout.  Logistically, I would like to have a drawstring bag next time for a towel, phone and goggles.  I should have also brought eye protection.  All of my tri gear worked great (shoes, shorts, jersey).

I did not track transitions.

Back Squat - Grip

Monday, July 20, 2026

Basement Gym

1200

Concept 2 Bike Erg - 5 min

Back Squat

10x45

12x95

12x95

12x95

Grip Testing

3x4 NN - 75, 85, 95 pounds

Inch Pinch - 25, 35 (L), 35 (L) pounds

Jug - 95 pounds

Just breaking out equipment ahead of GSI Rocky Mountain Regional Championship

3x4 NN PB - 136 pounds (DGC 2024)

Inch Pinch PB - 48 pounds (RH 2024)

Jug PB - 146 pounds (KK 2023)

Clean House

Fringe Sport Wall Mount Rig - Acquired May 22, 2023 for $0 and never installed.  Listing for $300

66 pound and 35 pound strongman logs acquired August 4, 2025 for $20 and never used.  Listed for $100.  Sold in 1 day to Snake who trains athletes and has a facility in Kansas that he travels to regularly.

95 and 70 pound Atlas Stones acquired April 6, 2019 for $60 and rarely use.  Listed for $80.

Starting to list things slowly ahead of eventually moving from our very large house with 3-car garage after the kids are both in college.

Dub's Grip Classic III

I decided to go ahead and register for Dub's Grip Classic III.  Jaland always runs a good contest and I was a little disappointed to only see (10) athletes signed up.  I also liked the event line-up.

The drive up to ATR was pleasant enough and took 1:45.  I left at 7:25 AM and arrived about 9:10 weighing in a 95.6 kg (210 pounds).

I took some time to chat with the other athletes and then started a general and specific warm-up.

• Grippers - I had good closes at 75, 80 and 85 pounds (PR!).  I attempted 90 pounds and it was not even close.
• Apollon's Axle - I had good lifts at 186, 216 and 236 pounds.  I went for 261 pounds and had it to my knees before dumping it.  At Dub's Grip Classic (2024) I made 241 and 251 before missing 261 and wanted to take another stab at it.  With (4) attempts, I probably should have opened higher.
• 3x4 Saxon Bar - I had good lifts at 90, 100 and 110 pounds.  I missed 120 pounds and gave it a good squeeze falling just short of lock out.  At Rolling Hills (2024) I made 106 and 116 before failing 126 pounds.  I was definitely off on this lift
• Finnish Ball - This felt really good.  I made lifts at 31, 36, 41 and 46.6 pounds.  This was just off of my 51.7 pound PR set at King Kong 2023

Relative to my training numbers, I was crushing it.  I had continuously been closing 73 and missing 87 pounds in training.  I had not tested my Axle.  My Saxon was at 100 pounds.  My Finnish Ball was at a mere 35 pounds.  Engaging the second knuckle helped a lot.

I was well behind Joe and Alan on the leaderboard but really happy with my performance.  I am also glad to jump into a grip contest.

Along with awards, Jaland recognized some outstanding folks with swag from Sorinex.  Jeremy for all his support with the comp.  Derek coming out from California.  Kevin for all of the improvement.  Marc for outstanding newcomer performance.  I was recognized for positive attitude with a loading pin ($29 value).  He also had a stack of t-shirts, hats, patches ($10) and stickers.

The drive back was tougher and took just over 2 hours.  I stopped and grabbed Chick-Fil-A.

Lessons learned

1. Pack mouthguard and smelling salts
2. Do not get too amped up for deadlifts
3. Pack more food - 1 Propel and 2 Clif Bars was not enough.

Phil, Derrick, Jaland, Lewis, Alan, Marc, Joe, Jeremy, Kevin, Matt

Mary, Sanjiv

• Mary and Phil were a couple.  Competitive strength athletes, but relatively new to grip.
• Jaland, Lewis, Joe, Jeremy, Kevin and Matt I have competed with frequently
• Derrick came out from California
• Marc is new to grip and an absolute beast.  We overlapped at Liberty for a bit.  He now works at Occidental Petroleum
• Alan is incredibly strong.  He seems to have a background in strength sports but I am not sure about grip

There were also lots of fans in the crowd that made for a good energy.

Crossroads Fitness - Grand Junction

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Crossroads Fitness

1800

General Fitness

Bench Press - 3x3 @45 pounds

Seated Dumbbell Strict Press

Ab machines

10 minutes treadmill

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

1800

General Fitness

Zercher Squats - 14x135 pounds

T-Bar Row - 45 pounds

Russian twists with med ball

While in Grand Junction for a conference, the Springhill Suites offered guest passes to the local commercial gym.  Crossroads Fitness was nestled in the basement of the Alpine Bank Building.  It had well appointed locker rooms, free towels and a fair selection of equipment including bumper plates, dumbbells from 5 to 105 pounds, squat rack, flat bench, adjustable bench and a variety of odds and ends like t-bar row, calf raise machine, various cable machines, and a cardio section.

I enjoyed a couple of good workouts there.  It was certainly not as nice as Colorado Mesa, but the price was right.

Strict Press - Metcon

Friday, July 10, 2026

Basement Gym

1600

Warm Up

Ski Erg

Arm Circles

DB Halos

Air Squats

Strict Press

5x5

5x80

5x90

4x100

5x90

5x90

Metcon

Every 4 minutes for 4 sets

200 m ski erg

12 abmat sit-up

5 push-up

8 Bulgarian Bag swings (26#)

5 Laser Target hits

This was pretty fun.  I moved well and was getting about 1 minute rest before the next set.  Diya trained with me and seemed to enjoy herself.

The Detonator

The With $20 and 15 minutes at Home Depot, you can make one too! Good for thumb

1x3in black pipe nipple (one) - $3.68
1in black pipe cap (one) - $1.87
1in to 3/4in black pipe reducer (one) - $4.35
4in 5/16 carriage bolt (one) - $0.87
3/8 washers (two) - $0.46 each
3/8 nuts (two) - $1.95 each
Pack of compression springs (one) - $5

250 for 250

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Basement Gym

1400

250 for 250 challenge

Perform a load x repetition challenge incorporating 250 to celebrate 250 years of the nation's founding.

I opted for 250 reps of a 150 pound deadlift.  Colorado is celebrating its 150th year of statehood this year.

I finished the lifts in 65:37.  I was doing sets of 5 originally every minute (for the first 100 reps) and then slowed to about every 1:30.  It was a challenging load and rep scheme.

I would like to work on other high volume rep schemes in the future.

Metcon

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Basement Gym

1100

Warm Up

PVC pass throughs

Plank - 30 sec

Clean warm-up

Strength

EMOM 8

3 touch and go power cleans

95 pounds - This went pretty well.  I might have been able to go heavier, but this allowed me to move well and get back in the groove of Olympic liftiung.

Conditioning

Every 3 min for 5 sets

5 Power Clean

15 Sit-up

10 Deadlift

15 Sit-up

Intermediate Load was (165/115).  I decided to stick with 95 pounds and was moving well.  Rounds 1 and 2, I finished in about 2:30, but my abs were certainly feeling it.  Rounds 3, 4, 5, I scaled further to 10 sit-ups and 0 sit-ups and was finishing in about 1:40.  It was nice to train CrossFit again.  Programming from Westbound CrossFit.

Finished with some grippers.