Fought with the flu again today, did my best to get my meals and fluids in, lots of powdered bcaas and crystal light, minum 3 litres a day. rushed my warm up a bit, which I didn't like. I've taken a lot of time on my warm ups, and stayed relatively healthy for almost 2 years, I haven't always made progress but that was for other reasons, impo. I'm doing my best to iron them out now. and I'm hoping it will show at the meet in form first, then numbers later.
back squat
315x1
365x1
405x1
455x1 - all felt deep to me, but my training partners let me know they weren't looking as deep as usual, this close I'd rather chill, know I did some work that I'm going to recover from, to be able to hit a big squat 2 weeks out, then maybe another 10 days out, then slow it down a bit, but keep volume up. Kinda got carried away tonite, and that can happen from time to time, but it's just turning it into a positive as fast as possible to keep things going well. everyone got through their main sets very well tonite, Cameron did some strong doubles with 425, and he's so stiff and tight right now, I know he's going to recover with the week off, and just smash all his old weights. He's so controlled you don't even need to spot him. he's starting to look explosive. After this we may need to loosen up his hips a bit, but right now he's getting into position on squats and just smashing them, but I feel it's a bit touch on his deadlift. He smashed a 315 and chain bench, that I got 363 off of, and he did it better than me, narrowly missed 325 with chain, and this was after doing about 6ish reps with 350 over a few sets. I think he's definitely going to bench 380, on his way to 405 for May 2012.
Jordan hit a strong rep with 205 tonite, but missed with 215, his technique has come a long way, and still has a ways to go, and I'm trying to get him to the technique that he'll need to squat 315. He's twisting much less all the time and is now just working on his timing out of the hole, I'd love to get him in olympic shoes, hopefully for xmas, then I think he's going to be on his way to 315, he can do a lot of work at top end weights and doesn't seem to get tired. He's 16, 6'3'' 180 pounds, and I have him eating his way up to 200 first, then 220 after that... I think kade was squatting 315-365 around that age, but if jordan is doing that by 17-18, then that's pretty good I think, and honestly, I'm more than confident I can get him there. I try to squat with him as often as I can right now, he's my height and pulls his weight and does a ton of extra stuff for everyone, this makes it very easy to work with him so much. I've been squatting and pulling with Cameron a lot lately, he's a great training partner. hard worker, and really positive guy.
Looking forward to the weekend, have a few small things to do, but mostly rest up to start another week strong.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
thursday heavy bench prep
Warmed up a bit more than usual tonite, low back was getting tight so made sure to loosen my hips up.
foam roll hips and biceps
dynamic warm up
60 hyperextension
75 face pulls
had a good sweat going after this and got into position easily.
Bench with 45lb chains
135x3
185x3
225x2
260x1
285x1
295x1
315xf - missed about halfway up, lost the bar over my face, had to flare a lot to compensate, just ran out of gas.
285 1x2
275x2
Last time I made 315 I hit 350 in training and almost got it for a double. I'm feeling a lot more confident with my bench now, and I think 350 right now will be great and a 20lb pr would be wonderful for a 12 week period. I think anything above that will be fantastic and a good indicator to keep doing a lot of volume in the low 80% range. I used to have a very tough time benching more than once a week and my shoulders would quickly start to ache everytime I tried. I think my posture improving so much puts a lot less strain on my biceps during squats, so now the constant ache in my brachials is totally gone, and benching is now just a ton easier. I like doing reps with chains as for me at least, it really simulates how I feel during a max attempt when I'm fully amped up, and teach me how to strain through a lift. I've been having some tough shoulder pain lately, but I loosened my hips up a bit more and it's gone away. Finally figuring out how to lower the bar with my lats is a huge help, as well as learning to keep my wrists straighter. I've always felt my bench should be much higher as I don't have the longest arms of all time, I think now that I've figured this out, I should be able to get much closer to the 405 mark within a few more meets. I'm going to slowly keep gaining weight so that will be a big help as well. Feeling a lot of momentum overall with my training right now, and that's a big positive heading into the meet.
I'm definitely feeling some nerves heading into the meet, but I just do my best to turn it into excitement and just let any pressure I feel go. It's been 12 weeks, and I've gotten stronger, and I just need to keep doing that over and over and getting a bit better all the time, I trust in Marks program, i'm feeling healthy and tight in the right spots and loose in the right spots, not feeling burnt out like I did at the last meet, feeling like I'll be able to have a bit more fun at this meet. The boys look great, and I'm confident all of them will finish the meet and hit some PRs and have some fun.
foam roll hips and biceps
dynamic warm up
60 hyperextension
75 face pulls
had a good sweat going after this and got into position easily.
Bench with 45lb chains
135x3
185x3
225x2
260x1
285x1
295x1
315xf - missed about halfway up, lost the bar over my face, had to flare a lot to compensate, just ran out of gas.
285 1x2
275x2
Last time I made 315 I hit 350 in training and almost got it for a double. I'm feeling a lot more confident with my bench now, and I think 350 right now will be great and a 20lb pr would be wonderful for a 12 week period. I think anything above that will be fantastic and a good indicator to keep doing a lot of volume in the low 80% range. I used to have a very tough time benching more than once a week and my shoulders would quickly start to ache everytime I tried. I think my posture improving so much puts a lot less strain on my biceps during squats, so now the constant ache in my brachials is totally gone, and benching is now just a ton easier. I like doing reps with chains as for me at least, it really simulates how I feel during a max attempt when I'm fully amped up, and teach me how to strain through a lift. I've been having some tough shoulder pain lately, but I loosened my hips up a bit more and it's gone away. Finally figuring out how to lower the bar with my lats is a huge help, as well as learning to keep my wrists straighter. I've always felt my bench should be much higher as I don't have the longest arms of all time, I think now that I've figured this out, I should be able to get much closer to the 405 mark within a few more meets. I'm going to slowly keep gaining weight so that will be a big help as well. Feeling a lot of momentum overall with my training right now, and that's a big positive heading into the meet.
I'm definitely feeling some nerves heading into the meet, but I just do my best to turn it into excitement and just let any pressure I feel go. It's been 12 weeks, and I've gotten stronger, and I just need to keep doing that over and over and getting a bit better all the time, I trust in Marks program, i'm feeling healthy and tight in the right spots and loose in the right spots, not feeling burnt out like I did at the last meet, feeling like I'll be able to have a bit more fun at this meet. The boys look great, and I'm confident all of them will finish the meet and hit some PRs and have some fun.
Tuesday/wednesday
Tuesday - night off
Knew I was cutting this one kind of close, and went a bit too hard on Monday, woke up at 6am with a burning stomach, and a fairly nasty flu bug I've caught before, butt kicked me for a bit, but just stayed chill and it went away. Rested a fair bit, went in and did a bunch of nothing, but still went in. Megan was really good to me, and got me neo citran, and in general played nurse for me, and it really helped.
Wednesday - pulls
feeling better, knew to watch out for straining too much tonite on limit weights. If I had this one to do over, I think I would have done a bit more for my hips during my warm up, the gyms been packed lately, and you've gotta grab a bar and platform and get going or people are going to use it.
warm up
dynamic work
50 hyper extension
50 face pulls
25 swings
Sumo deadlift with 45 lb chains
315x1, 365x1,405,1, 455x1, 495x1, 525x1, 435x1, 435x1, 445x1, 455x1 - stopped there, felt like enough work to stay on the positive side. 525 was a slight grind, felt like 545 would have gone up depending on psyche today, that's a good sign for me I think. I really like the chains, they force me to kind of develop really good technique on reps that feel a lot more like meet reps, but I find just don't drain you as much. For me they reinforce staying in good position off the floor, which I tend to panic on and rush, then the weight gets heavier towards lockout, and I strain very hard to remain neutral. I'm working all the time to be able to get my hips lower for my start, but overall, this is something i can work on and develop and technique should be good enough to hit my planned meet attempts.
Had a really fun night working with the guys, Jeremy and Andrew and Chris Hebb all had very good nights, Dash and Megan I'm pretty sure did great, Cameron is fighting over training like crazy right now and should be fully peaked for the meet provided he can grind until he gets there... which he will. Jordan worked hard tonite, I should have slowed him down a bit, his overall forward hunch is something he really gravitates towards on his deadlifts, I need to slow things down with him... it's very difficult, as he's just having a hard time on co ordination, and I'm not sure what i'm missing... he'll easily PR at the meet on all lifts, but he's nowhere near even challenging himself in my opinion, we just need to iron out his stiffness, which combined with sitting in class all day, then most likely video games and tv most nights, is actually really hard, but his squats and benches look great, so we'll teach him how to pull sooner or later, lots of talent.
Knew I was cutting this one kind of close, and went a bit too hard on Monday, woke up at 6am with a burning stomach, and a fairly nasty flu bug I've caught before, butt kicked me for a bit, but just stayed chill and it went away. Rested a fair bit, went in and did a bunch of nothing, but still went in. Megan was really good to me, and got me neo citran, and in general played nurse for me, and it really helped.
Wednesday - pulls
feeling better, knew to watch out for straining too much tonite on limit weights. If I had this one to do over, I think I would have done a bit more for my hips during my warm up, the gyms been packed lately, and you've gotta grab a bar and platform and get going or people are going to use it.
warm up
dynamic work
50 hyper extension
50 face pulls
25 swings
Sumo deadlift with 45 lb chains
315x1, 365x1,405,1, 455x1, 495x1, 525x1, 435x1, 435x1, 445x1, 455x1 - stopped there, felt like enough work to stay on the positive side. 525 was a slight grind, felt like 545 would have gone up depending on psyche today, that's a good sign for me I think. I really like the chains, they force me to kind of develop really good technique on reps that feel a lot more like meet reps, but I find just don't drain you as much. For me they reinforce staying in good position off the floor, which I tend to panic on and rush, then the weight gets heavier towards lockout, and I strain very hard to remain neutral. I'm working all the time to be able to get my hips lower for my start, but overall, this is something i can work on and develop and technique should be good enough to hit my planned meet attempts.
Had a really fun night working with the guys, Jeremy and Andrew and Chris Hebb all had very good nights, Dash and Megan I'm pretty sure did great, Cameron is fighting over training like crazy right now and should be fully peaked for the meet provided he can grind until he gets there... which he will. Jordan worked hard tonite, I should have slowed him down a bit, his overall forward hunch is something he really gravitates towards on his deadlifts, I need to slow things down with him... it's very difficult, as he's just having a hard time on co ordination, and I'm not sure what i'm missing... he'll easily PR at the meet on all lifts, but he's nowhere near even challenging himself in my opinion, we just need to iron out his stiffness, which combined with sitting in class all day, then most likely video games and tv most nights, is actually really hard, but his squats and benches look great, so we'll teach him how to pull sooner or later, lots of talent.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday squat workout
Been having a lot of bcaa's lately in powder form in crystal light all day long... I originally got the crystal light for general hydration, then started to add in bcaa's, and it's just been much much easier to stay consistent, and I can usually have about 25-35g a day in powder form, that was like $40 for way over a ton of it, and I'm actually starting to feel recovered a bit, still a lot of general fatigue, but nothing seriously spasming currently, and for me that's a good sign. Today was very tight, just in the quads, that I'm seeing was probably one of the reasons I couldn't seem to stay upright today, and just felt out of position, strong in that position, but felt much tighter more upright. Today I was really practicing meet conditions, where I just tried to feel my way through the lift. This is what I do at at a meet, and just sorta force myself to not think about too much. I've had questionable results at meets for sure in terms of form or weights, but I'll generally get my attempts at meets regardless of what weighst I chose... so I keep doing it. I've pulled my hood a up a bit and not having peripherals is something I've enjoyed getting more used to... I've in general felt off balance at meets, and I typically lose my perhiperal vision when I know I'm aroused enough to hit limit weights... anything less, and I generally can't. However, during the WSP, I lost my peripherals most days just due to how horrible I felt, which in general made maxing out a breeze, and I think is something people are used to or they have to develop it. I realize i'm trying to justify squatting with my hood up today... I think it's kinda retarded, I promise I won't do it longer than I feel I need to. lol.
Back squat
315x2?
365x1
405x1 - very very sore quads still
425x1 - felt good about my core strength after this I'm going to be making sure I'm getting my torso as strong as possible for this one.
455- shifted my weight in the hole to my right side, slight enough for the rep to be slower than it should have been, nothing serious. continue
475- this was a smooth grind, strained extremely hard to keep proper technique, was very balanced all over, got a bit on my toes, but maintained balance and position. Very happy with that rep, but too much strain to contine, and in gneral got overpsyched. I find it good to practice a lot in that state, as that helps to build meet confidence I find.
435- sat back a bit too much, made the squat seem harder than it should have been, looked smooth.
435- lost technique, pithced forward, sat back way too much, needed to stay more upright, this is a minor thing on video, but I felt all over the place.
405- couple singles, just made sure I could keep my form
365x2 - felt fine
315x2 - felt fine
Face pulls 75 total reps
hyperextension - 75 total reps
- these should help keep my hips a bit looser, my chiro dimitri recomended them, and I find the moer volume I can do with them, the looser my hips get as well as my pelvic tilt seems to be affected as well.. and my shoulder flexibiltiy keeps getting better as I keep getting my upper back tighter... sometimes I do get some really annoying spasms, but over my posture has really improved since I let that happen.
Good sessoin, Eric hit a 335 single no grind, then did some downsets of singles working on form. Jordan did a pile of singles with me with chains, he'd ironing out his imbalances, and as he loosens his hips and shoulders, he's able to keep much better position overall... soon his posture will start to improve even more, then look out. Cameron just did a general light day... which is harder than it looks, even when he makes it look easy. Andrew and Jeremy both were hitting good singles. We were very spread out tonite, rack wise, but everyone did a good job commincating. Dash did some great looking pulls at 80%, he typically maxes on pulls a few times a week, but isn't going over 80% on them until after... I think after the meet he stop going so heavy on pulls, i'm interested in seeing what happens, I think he's going to recover so much, he'll smash all his chosen weights. Megan had a challenging night, but rolled tight on through it. Good training session, everyone was very focused and working together well.
Back squat
315x2?
365x1
405x1 - very very sore quads still
425x1 - felt good about my core strength after this I'm going to be making sure I'm getting my torso as strong as possible for this one.
455- shifted my weight in the hole to my right side, slight enough for the rep to be slower than it should have been, nothing serious. continue
475- this was a smooth grind, strained extremely hard to keep proper technique, was very balanced all over, got a bit on my toes, but maintained balance and position. Very happy with that rep, but too much strain to contine, and in gneral got overpsyched. I find it good to practice a lot in that state, as that helps to build meet confidence I find.
435- sat back a bit too much, made the squat seem harder than it should have been, looked smooth.
435- lost technique, pithced forward, sat back way too much, needed to stay more upright, this is a minor thing on video, but I felt all over the place.
405- couple singles, just made sure I could keep my form
365x2 - felt fine
315x2 - felt fine
Face pulls 75 total reps
hyperextension - 75 total reps
- these should help keep my hips a bit looser, my chiro dimitri recomended them, and I find the moer volume I can do with them, the looser my hips get as well as my pelvic tilt seems to be affected as well.. and my shoulder flexibiltiy keeps getting better as I keep getting my upper back tighter... sometimes I do get some really annoying spasms, but over my posture has really improved since I let that happen.
Good sessoin, Eric hit a 335 single no grind, then did some downsets of singles working on form. Jordan did a pile of singles with me with chains, he'd ironing out his imbalances, and as he loosens his hips and shoulders, he's able to keep much better position overall... soon his posture will start to improve even more, then look out. Cameron just did a general light day... which is harder than it looks, even when he makes it look easy. Andrew and Jeremy both were hitting good singles. We were very spread out tonite, rack wise, but everyone did a good job commincating. Dash did some great looking pulls at 80%, he typically maxes on pulls a few times a week, but isn't going over 80% on them until after... I think after the meet he stop going so heavy on pulls, i'm interested in seeing what happens, I think he's going to recover so much, he'll smash all his chosen weights. Megan had a challenging night, but rolled tight on through it. Good training session, everyone was very focused and working together well.
Friday, November 18, 2011
thursday heavy squat - friday light squat
Physically felt very good today, mentally not very good. Did a good general warm up, made sure I was warm all over, tight in the right spots, loose enough for form in the others, smooth form was easier to time than sets of 4.
went: squat with 45lbs chain
bar x4
135x3
225x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
445x1 belt on
465x1
480xf - good miss.
375x4x1
405x3x1 - wanted 4th, but wasn't feeling like It could be a good one.
Felt great, got home, promptly felt horrible, extremely tight left hip.
Friday
-just went up to a 315 front squat, was looking forward to trying front squatting again, and my hips were so tight I could barely get my shoulders into position under the bar... was looking forward to 365, interested to see how I'll do with that, then I'd like to get to 405 in this style, think it would be respectable.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
tuesday light squat workout
warm ups have been feeling good. Still feeling a twist in the hole that's interesting me... I awkwardly hit my ankle recently, and then squatted on it, feels fine during my sets, but bothers me during the day and is fairly noticeable. I felt my right hip take a bit more of the load tonite in the hole, and I think generally my knees hurt so much recently, as well as my belt, that I may not have noticed. Tried a few reps with slightly different cues in my head, one where I curled back slightly, and one where I sit between my knees, both pushing my knees out, generally the between the knees felt much more upright. Sets weren't very much fun, as my lower quads, right above the kneed are aching pretty good, that pain moved down from the rec femoris, and is not one I've ever experienced before. Going to look into that to make sure it's ok... which involves me asking Megan who either tells me, or tells me where to look. Such a keeper.
I wasn't expecting to have such a difficult workout, the last few months, it takes 365 with my belt on before I actually squat pain free. I used to feel pretty ok right from the start besides the low back, but after WSP I've just gotten extremely tight all over to more how I was in the begining of my career. Back then when my hip would bother me a lot, I'd just warm it up until I could squat. Or if my knee started to hurt, I'd buy knee sleeves. I was always kind of hurt, but I just expected it, I never got seroiusly hurt, and I was happy with the way i was progressing back then. Then I kind of got carried away with gear and competing and stressing myself out for no reason.
Back squat
200 6x1, 255 4x1, 300 4x1, 320 4x1, 330 4x1
Thursday is some reps with 425, and just having that on my back is going to make me feel a lot better confidence wise. Looking forward to see what mark wants me to do the last couple weeks.
I wasn't expecting to have such a difficult workout, the last few months, it takes 365 with my belt on before I actually squat pain free. I used to feel pretty ok right from the start besides the low back, but after WSP I've just gotten extremely tight all over to more how I was in the begining of my career. Back then when my hip would bother me a lot, I'd just warm it up until I could squat. Or if my knee started to hurt, I'd buy knee sleeves. I was always kind of hurt, but I just expected it, I never got seroiusly hurt, and I was happy with the way i was progressing back then. Then I kind of got carried away with gear and competing and stressing myself out for no reason.
Back squat
200 6x1, 255 4x1, 300 4x1, 320 4x1, 330 4x1
Thursday is some reps with 425, and just having that on my back is going to make me feel a lot better confidence wise. Looking forward to see what mark wants me to do the last couple weeks.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Messing around with the form
Disclaimer* you probably don't want to read this, I'm just putting it somewhere I won't lose it.
Felt pretty good today, overall the volume has been quite a bit to handle. The last few months, anything over 405 has felt pretty hard, and I've trained really hard the last few years, but doing so much volume, right where it gets hard is pretty rough. Not something I've really understood before now, I think it's been good for technique, Low bar feels the stongest, but I can't make it work well enough to get consistent depth calls, high bar is good, my squat looks pretty, but just too hard on heavier weights, moderate bar, has worked the best to just get good quads out of the hole, solid depth, and a high sticking point I feel I'll be able to handle in competition provided I can hold form.
I've had descent problems lately, where I've been trying to hold my back position too hard from the start, as I'd been leading with my knees, lately I've just been sitting between my legs, then arching harder the lower I go so I'm arching the hardest during my rebound out of the hole. Before, I was so rigid I had a tough time getting into position as I descended, rushing most of my reps with torso position where I'd be almost too upright for the depth I was trying to get, so my torso would get a little push into the right position from the rebound, and just making the squat feel uncomfortable.
Today I set up in an annoying rack, where there's a bit of a tilt, and just decided to not focus on it, things did feel just a little off and I still felt a slight twist in the hole, most likely as I'm just mistiming my quad to hip position, I've felt out of allignment there a bit lately, but I think I can adjust it right now witch a conscious effort rather than worry too much about it.
I've been paranoid about losing reps forward for a while, and it was just from messing around with double ply, and sitting back into a squat too much, where in double ply you just have to go high bar, and I generally prefer a lower bar position for powerlifting. It was more the technique I was using at the time, my torso should be more than strong enough, though planks have seemed to help a fair bit. I still feel a lot more comfortable doing gh sit ups and side bends, both I think I've learned a better technique on so that they help a lot more. I think working on those, as well as just getting my left shoulder more externally rotated, should make all of this a lot easier, and I'll be a lot less injury prone, I've made pretty decent strides already. I feel the only thing that may hold me back at this meet on my max attempts will only be my form, lately however I've been able to stay more focused at meets, whereas before I just blocked everything out and tried to not think at all. I don't want to get crazy about it though, as that will just turn into another problem altogether.
Before, I also noticed where I'd hit the hole, and my body would shift forward, I did understand that before, and chalked it up to my torso, where I feel it was just not loading my quads enough, and now when I go past parallel, I try to push my knee forward as hard as I can while arching as hard as I can, then swicthing to pushing through the floor as fast as I can, I felt before my knees should come in more, but they come in very slightly and stay out for most of the movement, I'm not realy sure my that happens, looking forward to figuring it out. Sitting between my legs is the smoothest way to do this so far, leading with my knees does get me out of the hole well, but it's uncomfortable, and I don't make it work.
Mark told me Brandon Sommers put 70lbs on his squat using this program, he also gained a weight class, I've let myself gain 8 lbs, so we'll have to see how that affects things. My only problem is I had to start late, and I'm running out of time before the meet, so I'm worried about my peak, just doing my best to try to remember I recently went from weeks of 405 for singles, to getting 500 on my back the next week, and I do feel my technique has improved a lot, just hoping it shows in time for the meet.
Felt pretty good today, overall the volume has been quite a bit to handle. The last few months, anything over 405 has felt pretty hard, and I've trained really hard the last few years, but doing so much volume, right where it gets hard is pretty rough. Not something I've really understood before now, I think it's been good for technique, Low bar feels the stongest, but I can't make it work well enough to get consistent depth calls, high bar is good, my squat looks pretty, but just too hard on heavier weights, moderate bar, has worked the best to just get good quads out of the hole, solid depth, and a high sticking point I feel I'll be able to handle in competition provided I can hold form.
I've had descent problems lately, where I've been trying to hold my back position too hard from the start, as I'd been leading with my knees, lately I've just been sitting between my legs, then arching harder the lower I go so I'm arching the hardest during my rebound out of the hole. Before, I was so rigid I had a tough time getting into position as I descended, rushing most of my reps with torso position where I'd be almost too upright for the depth I was trying to get, so my torso would get a little push into the right position from the rebound, and just making the squat feel uncomfortable.
Today I set up in an annoying rack, where there's a bit of a tilt, and just decided to not focus on it, things did feel just a little off and I still felt a slight twist in the hole, most likely as I'm just mistiming my quad to hip position, I've felt out of allignment there a bit lately, but I think I can adjust it right now witch a conscious effort rather than worry too much about it.
I've been paranoid about losing reps forward for a while, and it was just from messing around with double ply, and sitting back into a squat too much, where in double ply you just have to go high bar, and I generally prefer a lower bar position for powerlifting. It was more the technique I was using at the time, my torso should be more than strong enough, though planks have seemed to help a fair bit. I still feel a lot more comfortable doing gh sit ups and side bends, both I think I've learned a better technique on so that they help a lot more. I think working on those, as well as just getting my left shoulder more externally rotated, should make all of this a lot easier, and I'll be a lot less injury prone, I've made pretty decent strides already. I feel the only thing that may hold me back at this meet on my max attempts will only be my form, lately however I've been able to stay more focused at meets, whereas before I just blocked everything out and tried to not think at all. I don't want to get crazy about it though, as that will just turn into another problem altogether.
Before, I also noticed where I'd hit the hole, and my body would shift forward, I did understand that before, and chalked it up to my torso, where I feel it was just not loading my quads enough, and now when I go past parallel, I try to push my knee forward as hard as I can while arching as hard as I can, then swicthing to pushing through the floor as fast as I can, I felt before my knees should come in more, but they come in very slightly and stay out for most of the movement, I'm not realy sure my that happens, looking forward to figuring it out. Sitting between my legs is the smoothest way to do this so far, leading with my knees does get me out of the hole well, but it's uncomfortable, and I don't make it work.
Mark told me Brandon Sommers put 70lbs on his squat using this program, he also gained a weight class, I've let myself gain 8 lbs, so we'll have to see how that affects things. My only problem is I had to start late, and I'm running out of time before the meet, so I'm worried about my peak, just doing my best to try to remember I recently went from weeks of 405 for singles, to getting 500 on my back the next week, and I do feel my technique has improved a lot, just hoping it shows in time for the meet.
Monday squat
warm up went very well, didn't need to stretch much to get into position, just a dynamic warm up and good to go. First few sets felt pretty painful, takes my knees a bit to get going right now, felt good curling my body around the bar today instead of lowering the bar. Moved my buckle on my belt more to the side and my stomach cutting feeling went away.
Back squat
315 4x1, 375 4x1 (belt on), 395 4x1, 415 4x1
pin squat
475 4x1, 525 4x1, 560 4x1 (belt on)
Got through this workout fairly quick, never felt I needed to rest for any of these sets.
Back squat
315 4x1, 375 4x1 (belt on), 395 4x1, 415 4x1
pin squat
475 4x1, 525 4x1, 560 4x1 (belt on)
Got through this workout fairly quick, never felt I needed to rest for any of these sets.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Friday bench
Started focusing on my biceps quite a bit more lately, it helps, and once they get warmed up, I don't feel anything in my shoulder.
I'd been hesitating just a little bit, but today I was getting a good flow, and felt like i was doing singles rather than sets of 4 and felt really strong and in control off the chest, i think that's a good thing.
did a good hip warm up, bicep curls, quite a few face pulls, got more comfortable arching as the weight got heavier.
went 265 for 4x4
-I'm looking forward to getting to heavier weights and seeing how I can handle those.
Close grip
235 5x5
- these are pretty hard
flyes
45 10x5
Did a few sets of face pulls for 20
I'd been hesitating just a little bit, but today I was getting a good flow, and felt like i was doing singles rather than sets of 4 and felt really strong and in control off the chest, i think that's a good thing.
did a good hip warm up, bicep curls, quite a few face pulls, got more comfortable arching as the weight got heavier.
went 265 for 4x4
-I'm looking forward to getting to heavier weights and seeing how I can handle those.
Close grip
235 5x5
- these are pretty hard
flyes
45 10x5
Did a few sets of face pulls for 20
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Thursday squats
I've been trying to not give it any thought, and just focus on the positive, but lately, I've just been feeling burnt out and sore and tired, and typically I'll feel good for my practice, then come home and an hour or two later, just tighten up to the point where I don't even want to move. It's a different feeling than maxing out every day, which was just brutal in ever sense, this is almost an overwhelming swelling at times.
I do my best to chalk it up to that I'm actually powerlifting now, and I'm a lot stronger than my technique and tendons/joints... this can cause problems, whereas someone like Willie has been lifting like this since he was 15, has perfect posture, and has tendons made out of iron. I think I'll adjust, and hopefully my oly lifting background is going to let me adjust fairly quick. It sure has been intersting seeing it happen, but a pain in the butt when middle aged customers are asking why it takes me a good 45 seconds to get from a laying to standing position.
Had a quick meeting in person with my nutritionist Hassan Jama today. He asked me to meet him and I just said ok, wasn't the best timing, but if he wants to meet, that's cool by me. Had a quick chat about where we were going, he's feeling I'm on track, I've got a great rhythm with my diet, and cooking and cooler. My business partner Katrina works with him as well, so we eat around the clock together, and support each other in it, then when I get home my girlfriend Megan eats the rest with me. She's been slowly leaning out since we started dating and is down to 115, no idea where she started, and I'm not asking. Either way, she looks hotter everday.
Squats
top set of: 400 4x4
- first set I did a double, my belt has been digging into my guts brutally, and I was susrpised I wasn't bleeding, put a towel in the area, and felt great. Hit the hole very well and smooth tonite. One hip is feeling a little tighter than the other, so I twisted slighlty on the way up, but nothing serious.
Good mornings
270 5x5
-I'm not as good at these as I used to be, but I control them a lot better. The eccentric phase I let my knees bend a bit, concentric, I really straighten my legs, and make sure it's a good morning, and not half assed squat.
Sit ups on gh
2x15
- going to start donig these again, along with planks on the gh and side bends. I've tried the whole not training the core thing, but for a fairly long torso guy, I just don't think it's going to work as well as making sure my torso is strong.
Marks pretty busy right now, and I'm a little worried about the program as I started late, and the 80% are freaking me right out, but I look back on my vids where I was doing 10 singles with 405 everday, and each rep of my sets of 4 looks a lot better than any of those reps, and my first day maxing I hit 475 when I didn't think I could get out of bed... so I'm feeling good. I've been actually stressing about this meet, and then I took a step back and realized how totally retarded that was. I'm just going to try to hit a 10lb pr on my second attempt, and use the 3rd for something fun, or retake my 2nd, and just knock it off. I'll have a better idea of what I'm capable of after getting up to 90-95ish and seeing how those feel. Even if nothing good comes from this meet, there's just too much good stuff in my training right now for it to really matter.
I've been just starting what I see to be a good 3 year run of refining and perfecting technique in all lifts, and figuring out the loading and volumes I'll have to use to get there and stay healthy so I can lift when I'm 35. Took a while, but diet is finally under control, lifts are at a good consistent technique and I'm surrounded by young positive people that just love to lift. I hear how important is to lift with strong people all the time... and that's cool... but my #1 priority is to lift with positive people at all times. I've been overloaded with negative people the last 7 years, just brutal customers and employees where if I make any mistakes they try to get every single thing they can out of me... and it was really making me miserable. For people that know me in person, or have seen my other logs... I'm basically a huge goof, and that's how I like to be outside of work. If powerlifting, or anything in my life every gets to the point where I'm surrounded by negative people, who always see the glass half empty, and choose to try to tolerate everything rather than face it... well, I'll either train solo again, or find new people. I don't love powerlifting, I love positive self improvement, and right now powerlifting is just the most measureable way of doing it for me. I'll be doing this the rest of my life.
I do my best to chalk it up to that I'm actually powerlifting now, and I'm a lot stronger than my technique and tendons/joints... this can cause problems, whereas someone like Willie has been lifting like this since he was 15, has perfect posture, and has tendons made out of iron. I think I'll adjust, and hopefully my oly lifting background is going to let me adjust fairly quick. It sure has been intersting seeing it happen, but a pain in the butt when middle aged customers are asking why it takes me a good 45 seconds to get from a laying to standing position.
Had a quick meeting in person with my nutritionist Hassan Jama today. He asked me to meet him and I just said ok, wasn't the best timing, but if he wants to meet, that's cool by me. Had a quick chat about where we were going, he's feeling I'm on track, I've got a great rhythm with my diet, and cooking and cooler. My business partner Katrina works with him as well, so we eat around the clock together, and support each other in it, then when I get home my girlfriend Megan eats the rest with me. She's been slowly leaning out since we started dating and is down to 115, no idea where she started, and I'm not asking. Either way, she looks hotter everday.
Squats
top set of: 400 4x4
- first set I did a double, my belt has been digging into my guts brutally, and I was susrpised I wasn't bleeding, put a towel in the area, and felt great. Hit the hole very well and smooth tonite. One hip is feeling a little tighter than the other, so I twisted slighlty on the way up, but nothing serious.
Good mornings
270 5x5
-I'm not as good at these as I used to be, but I control them a lot better. The eccentric phase I let my knees bend a bit, concentric, I really straighten my legs, and make sure it's a good morning, and not half assed squat.
Sit ups on gh
2x15
- going to start donig these again, along with planks on the gh and side bends. I've tried the whole not training the core thing, but for a fairly long torso guy, I just don't think it's going to work as well as making sure my torso is strong.
Marks pretty busy right now, and I'm a little worried about the program as I started late, and the 80% are freaking me right out, but I look back on my vids where I was doing 10 singles with 405 everday, and each rep of my sets of 4 looks a lot better than any of those reps, and my first day maxing I hit 475 when I didn't think I could get out of bed... so I'm feeling good. I've been actually stressing about this meet, and then I took a step back and realized how totally retarded that was. I'm just going to try to hit a 10lb pr on my second attempt, and use the 3rd for something fun, or retake my 2nd, and just knock it off. I'll have a better idea of what I'm capable of after getting up to 90-95ish and seeing how those feel. Even if nothing good comes from this meet, there's just too much good stuff in my training right now for it to really matter.
I've been just starting what I see to be a good 3 year run of refining and perfecting technique in all lifts, and figuring out the loading and volumes I'll have to use to get there and stay healthy so I can lift when I'm 35. Took a while, but diet is finally under control, lifts are at a good consistent technique and I'm surrounded by young positive people that just love to lift. I hear how important is to lift with strong people all the time... and that's cool... but my #1 priority is to lift with positive people at all times. I've been overloaded with negative people the last 7 years, just brutal customers and employees where if I make any mistakes they try to get every single thing they can out of me... and it was really making me miserable. For people that know me in person, or have seen my other logs... I'm basically a huge goof, and that's how I like to be outside of work. If powerlifting, or anything in my life every gets to the point where I'm surrounded by negative people, who always see the glass half empty, and choose to try to tolerate everything rather than face it... well, I'll either train solo again, or find new people. I don't love powerlifting, I love positive self improvement, and right now powerlifting is just the most measureable way of doing it for me. I'll be doing this the rest of my life.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday bench/ wednesday pulls
This is a bit of a down week, and pretty good timing, starting to feel all around rough, but even just a few days lighter and I'm feeling a lot better.
Tuesday - bench
worked up to 265 x4
-nothing serious, biceps are still very strained, so a lot of shoulder pain, but overall, nothing too bad
Rack lockouts
315x4
-ouch
340x0
-just had to stop, thought my shoulder was going to rip off
Flys
5x10
with
face pulls
4x20
Wednesday - deads
-been trying to do a bit more conventional work would do the first 2 conventional, then switch to sumo, felt fine
went up to
460x4 - did these all sumo
rack lockouts
545x4 conventional
620x2
-missed the first conventional, got a sumo, but couldn't finish the set.
Shrugs
330 2x20
Looking forward to tomorrow.
Tuesday - bench
worked up to 265 x4
-nothing serious, biceps are still very strained, so a lot of shoulder pain, but overall, nothing too bad
Rack lockouts
315x4
-ouch
340x0
-just had to stop, thought my shoulder was going to rip off
Flys
5x10
with
face pulls
4x20
Wednesday - deads
-been trying to do a bit more conventional work would do the first 2 conventional, then switch to sumo, felt fine
went up to
460x4 - did these all sumo
rack lockouts
545x4 conventional
620x2
-missed the first conventional, got a sumo, but couldn't finish the set.
Shrugs
330 2x20
Looking forward to tomorrow.
Monday, November 7, 2011
frustrating
Just couldn't get a rhythm tonite, smashed my ankle walking in the gym the other day, and it actually really messed it up. Couldn't get it to handle my weigh today, and i was twisting like crazy, probably handled 135 almost 10 times just trying to get it to feel normal-ish, but it just wasn't happening and I was putting a pile of weight on my right leg.
This week was a bit of a down week anyways, and the total volume in this program of heavy lifts is just higher than I think I've been used to handling lately, and is actually beating me up quite a bit. Wasn't my best night, and had a hard time concentrating because I really wanted to train tonite, but couldn't get it going. A day on my feet tomorrow will definitely get it back working normal again, and I`ll jump back in on bench and let the rest of the week roll out. I always find it hard to relax after not training, but really looking forward to getting to a new day and moving everything forward again.
Eric always has an itch to lift heavy stuff, and when I wasn't lookinghe hit two 315 singles, and he said they felt really easy. This kid always works on his feet, so his posture is really good already, and has progressed really fast. I do my best to keep his reps on the higher side as his muscles are likely developing a bit too fast for his ligaments, and ive given him a lot of time in higher rep ranges to give his tendons time to adjust... the kid is overall tight, but in the right areas. the consistent work in the 80% range has really helped him to flatten out his back on deads lately, and lets him practice very good technique on all lifts. I let him do some extra back work as it will only help him out, and he has a very high work capacity I`ve noticed, more so than most of us I think. He`s going to be really good, I push him, but I try not to let him progress too fast the rest of the time. I full expect him to take a ride at a 350 squat at his next meet, and I think it will be cake for him, and leave room in the tank as well. Getting young lifters used to making attempts at meets are very good habits, Willie made sure to set me up like this at meets.
This week was a bit of a down week anyways, and the total volume in this program of heavy lifts is just higher than I think I've been used to handling lately, and is actually beating me up quite a bit. Wasn't my best night, and had a hard time concentrating because I really wanted to train tonite, but couldn't get it going. A day on my feet tomorrow will definitely get it back working normal again, and I`ll jump back in on bench and let the rest of the week roll out. I always find it hard to relax after not training, but really looking forward to getting to a new day and moving everything forward again.
Eric always has an itch to lift heavy stuff, and when I wasn't lookinghe hit two 315 singles, and he said they felt really easy. This kid always works on his feet, so his posture is really good already, and has progressed really fast. I do my best to keep his reps on the higher side as his muscles are likely developing a bit too fast for his ligaments, and ive given him a lot of time in higher rep ranges to give his tendons time to adjust... the kid is overall tight, but in the right areas. the consistent work in the 80% range has really helped him to flatten out his back on deads lately, and lets him practice very good technique on all lifts. I let him do some extra back work as it will only help him out, and he has a very high work capacity I`ve noticed, more so than most of us I think. He`s going to be really good, I push him, but I try not to let him progress too fast the rest of the time. I full expect him to take a ride at a 350 squat at his next meet, and I think it will be cake for him, and leave room in the tank as well. Getting young lifters used to making attempts at meets are very good habits, Willie made sure to set me up like this at meets.
the 4 hour work week
Recently, I've made the decision to consider personal development as important as everything else I do in a day. I used to feel guilty, and would not even have books around me during my operating phases, as I sincerely enjoy reading so much. Since a young age, my older sister Stephanie and I spent entire days just reading and writing and drawing. I loved sports, but I loved to read. fantasy, comic books, magazines, whatever. I actually got 100%+ in art class a couple years when I was in high school, and until hearing from one of my idols that he was a loser at art school because he was normal, I had fully intended to head in that direction. In the 7th grade, we had to write short stories, and I handed in a 90+ page novel that I worked on for almost a year. I had sort of assumed that I would always be a writer, but I've literally started about 35+ stories, stopped, looked back, decided they were retarded, then stopped. It's always so much fun for me though, as every character is always the important people in my life, and I write about them, and get to put them into screwed up situations, and try to figure out how they would react. One of the reasons I've always enjoyed studying psychology so much and working to understand why people do things, right down to their childhood experiences.
I'd heard about this book from quite a few people in the last couple years, but I was never attracted to it. I work 80 hours a week, 7 days a week for 6-10 months in a row... what could this book have for me? Well, my bad. The only reason I looked into it was because it was on of Matt Britts top reads, and since I'm trying to follow in his footsteps, it seemed like a good idea to listen to while I was painting away with katrina.
I've currently been ablt to get to chapter 3 on the audio book, and it's fantastic. Timothy Ferris has made a fortune from basically thinking outside the box, and I love his mindset. He won a national kickboxing tournament by pushing opponents out of the ring due to a loophole. For a guy who spent a couple years honing a squat style to just nick parallel, and squat the most weight possible, I can relate to the guy.
And he is just a guy. but a really cool guy who just believes in himself and lets shit happen.
The one I liked the most was to stop asking for permission and start asking for forgiveness.
- If you know me at all... this is pretty much me to a T... except I sometimes have a hard time asking forgiveness... but I'm working on it. He focuses on all of his strengths and doesn't bother with worrying about the details. I'd recommend reading or listening to chapter 2 whenever you have the time.
I'd heard about this book from quite a few people in the last couple years, but I was never attracted to it. I work 80 hours a week, 7 days a week for 6-10 months in a row... what could this book have for me? Well, my bad. The only reason I looked into it was because it was on of Matt Britts top reads, and since I'm trying to follow in his footsteps, it seemed like a good idea to listen to while I was painting away with katrina.
I've currently been ablt to get to chapter 3 on the audio book, and it's fantastic. Timothy Ferris has made a fortune from basically thinking outside the box, and I love his mindset. He won a national kickboxing tournament by pushing opponents out of the ring due to a loophole. For a guy who spent a couple years honing a squat style to just nick parallel, and squat the most weight possible, I can relate to the guy.
And he is just a guy. but a really cool guy who just believes in himself and lets shit happen.
The one I liked the most was to stop asking for permission and start asking for forgiveness.
- If you know me at all... this is pretty much me to a T... except I sometimes have a hard time asking forgiveness... but I'm working on it. He focuses on all of his strengths and doesn't bother with worrying about the details. I'd recommend reading or listening to chapter 2 whenever you have the time.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
100% Raw bench meet
This was pretty cool. I got to know Curd Hos a bit through Paul Vaillancourt when I was training with him, and do my best to stay in touch, he's done some really cool things with his store and training studio. Great selection of APT wrist wraps and nice belts. The basment has 5 nice power racks, and more bars than I had name for. Curd was asking about our lifters competing, and with our next meet only 6 weeks away and busy exam schedules, it wasn't the best fit. I love helping out at meets with whatever needs doing, and helps me not to feel gulty for all the world class coaching I've received free of charge in my life.
I was fortunate enough that I got to help out in the warm up room with spotting and loading and generally had the best seat in the house for all the heavyweight benchers. There were some big big boys from Cornwall in these meet, and all benching huge under Scott McDiarmid, who went home with a nice little Canadian record himself. My favorite part of the entire meet was how I literally only knew 2 guys out of 25 competing. I love seeing this sport grow, and the popularity increase. I remember Curd one day at Pauls talking about his big plans for meets and putting on multiple meets a year, I remember thinking that if he could get the people out it would be nuts... and honestly that's right around the corner, and I expect his meet to double in size by next year easily.
I was fortunate enough that I got to help out in the warm up room with spotting and loading and generally had the best seat in the house for all the heavyweight benchers. There were some big big boys from Cornwall in these meet, and all benching huge under Scott McDiarmid, who went home with a nice little Canadian record himself. My favorite part of the entire meet was how I literally only knew 2 guys out of 25 competing. I love seeing this sport grow, and the popularity increase. I remember Curd one day at Pauls talking about his big plans for meets and putting on multiple meets a year, I remember thinking that if he could get the people out it would be nuts... and honestly that's right around the corner, and I expect his meet to double in size by next year easily.
Friday, November 4, 2011
friday bench
Had to try to get thru this quick as we were headed out to all you can eat shrimp, I didn't see this as a threat to the diet, but I forgot restaurants in general try to get you fat. Wasn't a horrible cheat meal, but as long as I only mess up once a week I'm not disapointed.
warm up
hips, static stretching lots
reverse curl to press
bodyweight squats
- i was either rushing, or I may need to rethink this warm up as I just never felt warm this entire session.
Bench 150 6x1, 182 6x1 220 6x1, 264 4x1, 275 3x4
- reps were fast, generally looked a lot easier than they felt, but overall, felt pretty good.
close grip
230 5x5
-these just hurt
flys
-biceps were so strained I didn't want to do these tonite with dumbells, did them on the machine
superset with barbell curls
- decided barbell cruls are just going to be a part of the program for a bit, the way they're hurting tells me I'm just missing something there, and they're really being used on the bench right now.
Shrimp was great, spoke with Dave Hesiel, multiple time canadian champ and arnold powerlifting winner. We talked about all the lifters we'd seen come and gone, his forray into olympic lifting, his knee injury, then I never actually knew this, but Dave trained with Willy for 5 years at one point, he explained how Dave Gratton helped get him and his brother involved and their time before the Y at the OAC. It was really cool to see how everything playeed out... There's quite the story behind how powerlifting in Ottawa was grown, and I've always enjoyed hearing about it. Also made me realize how my time with Willy had such an impact on me long after, seeing form that good all the time and simply expecting it afterwards... was probably a good thing and bad thing looking back.
Looking back always helps me to see the boom that we're in the middle of right now, and how it's only about to get even bigger in the next 10 years. It's always nice to stay ahead of stuff like that.
warm up
hips, static stretching lots
reverse curl to press
bodyweight squats
- i was either rushing, or I may need to rethink this warm up as I just never felt warm this entire session.
Bench 150 6x1, 182 6x1 220 6x1, 264 4x1, 275 3x4
- reps were fast, generally looked a lot easier than they felt, but overall, felt pretty good.
close grip
230 5x5
-these just hurt
flys
-biceps were so strained I didn't want to do these tonite with dumbells, did them on the machine
superset with barbell curls
- decided barbell cruls are just going to be a part of the program for a bit, the way they're hurting tells me I'm just missing something there, and they're really being used on the bench right now.
Shrimp was great, spoke with Dave Hesiel, multiple time canadian champ and arnold powerlifting winner. We talked about all the lifters we'd seen come and gone, his forray into olympic lifting, his knee injury, then I never actually knew this, but Dave trained with Willy for 5 years at one point, he explained how Dave Gratton helped get him and his brother involved and their time before the Y at the OAC. It was really cool to see how everything playeed out... There's quite the story behind how powerlifting in Ottawa was grown, and I've always enjoyed hearing about it. Also made me realize how my time with Willy had such an impact on me long after, seeing form that good all the time and simply expecting it afterwards... was probably a good thing and bad thing looking back.
Looking back always helps me to see the boom that we're in the middle of right now, and how it's only about to get even bigger in the next 10 years. It's always nice to stay ahead of stuff like that.
400-300-500
Like many, I had my first introduction to powerlifting through Dave Tates articles on t-nation. I remember him saying to find people stronger than you, and to train with them. If you've noticed the authors on t-nation, a lot of them have left over the years, and I'd heard the cause for this was a lot of them couldn't stand the armchair experts questioning everything they wrote about. What I heard from that was that they were sick of the negativity.
Since forming a powerlifting team, I've felt a lot of pressure and questions about whether I should be coaching anyone at the powerlifts, and rightfully so, I don't even know if I have an elite total. However, if you're aware of the concept of champions and leaders, you'll understand, I'm just fine. I'm certainly not a champion by any means, however, I've been thrown into very intense leadership positions my entire life, and moreso I've managed many employees and trained them from scratch. I've personally coached almost 200 people right now on how to paint in the last 7 years... not many people have coached that many people in anything. I've been coached on this process, and coached again, and take a refresher course every year, and it's gotten to the point where I'm considered one of the strongest coaches and leaders in North America in a multi million dollar franchise, with hundreds and hundrerds of franchisees. This is a skill that I have, and I find many people take this one for granted as to believe simply because they can do it themselves that they are also a good coach.
However, if someone comes to me and is better than me, I'm still thrilled to have to them.
Kevin Cancian is one of these lifters. We're very close in formula, and I'm fairly certain he would have won the best lifter award at my last meet had he not had bench troubles. We also have a wonderful relationship and I consider him one of my best friends. I can't really add to his training knowledge, I can help him with a few things, but honestly, the terminology in lifting compared to someones own knowledge, and how they cue themselves in their head makes this pretty tough. To get past this I take a lot of videos, and have conversations about their sets, mostly so we can agree on the terminology then work from there. But honestly, I'm not going to demand he take my advice or immediately change his style, as has been the case with other lifters attempting to do so with me in the past.
Can I take Kevin to a 600 pound squat, 400 pound bench and 700 pound deadlift? well, probably... there's a ton of coaches that have taken their students further than them, but honestly, I don't know if that would be appropriate, and it's just not my passion. I rely on friendly challenges, and compete against kevin every chance I get, and I'm as thrilled at besting him as I am when he bests me.
90% of lifters quit in the first 5 years. That's been going through my head like crazy since I first read it, and it rings extremely true. I've seen it happen now since I've been back in Ottawa, to the point where Sue Thompson, Kade Weber and myself are the only YMCA members from when I first got back to Ottawa that are still training and competing. What more, both have taken their training elsewhere... and only pop in now and then. Steve Mackie still trains here and there, but injuries and life have kept his hands more than full.
My passion is getting people involved, getting those kids that are watching from across the gym too nervous to ask questions, putting them under the bar, and helping them learn for themselves. I get so many benefits from this it's insane. The only powerlifting still competing that Willie Albert has mentored over the years is Kade Weber, Willie has mentored many other young men, but all lost interest and quit. Willie got to the top almost by himself, besides one or two other reliable training partners, and spent his days training Drs and Lawyers how to squat.
My goals are simple, I wish to take ANYONE to a 400 squat, 300 bench, and 500 deadlift. This in my mind is strong. I'm sure there are some high level lifters who aren't impressed with these numbers at all... but honestly, that's there problem. I'm inspired by stories of how I hear westside barbell started up, where Louies methods were so great, that he would grab anyone off the streets and turn them into champs. I also heard that Chuck Vogelpohl would kick people out all the time for slacking.
What I'm trying to do will be more difficult, and may hold some people back, as I'm just looking to get them to 400-300-500, not make them the best in the world. I take on every young man, and make it my job to not lose them, keep them interested, and get them to a level that 99.9% of the population of planet earth will never get to in their lives. I don't care if they've never lifted weights, are professional atheletes, or whatever, I simply don't care. I don't demand them to come to me, I'll actively seek them out, and encourage them to join and to compete, and to embrace our team atmosphere, and just flat out have fun. I make sure that everyone gets along, and that the lines of communication are always open, and that any problems or squabbles are dealt with. These skills aren't natural for me, but have been learned from years of interacting with customers and employees. I'm honored to say every member of my team are great friends, and I've never seen an argument, or back talk or anything like that. I've seen countless challenges thrown down, quite a few to me, and none of us will ever back down, but we also understand our goals are our own.
I'm quite frankly sick to death of powerlifters, who have no soical skills or lives, lording their abilites over others, and feel their 500 pound bench press makes it ok to suck at life, and be a miserable human being. I've encountered these lifters all over... it's a testament for what sort of mindset it used to take to get to the top... but with the internet and facebook, and the wonderful job crossfit has done marketing themselves, it's now cool to be strong.
It's very cool to set a big goal, come up with a plan of action to attain it, then work your ass off, make corrections as needed, go and compete, and use that feedback to determine your next plan. People love seeing that passion, and love seeing someone go out and do it.
For third strength powerlifting... our outlook is that we do not care about what happens at the meet. We let it all go, the meet is nothing more than a review to get feedback, it doesn't say or mean anything about ourselves.
What we care about, and all we care about it is what happens in the gym, monday to friday everynight. I care about my 11 training partners lifts as well as my own, and no one else's. I cannot comment on lifters who have set their goals to "win"... but that's just ego, and only hurts you in the long run. How can somone beat a man competing against himself? How can someone beat a man who's goal is to squat 500 and he does? that's true victory in my mind, and that's true accountability to continue on if you miss it.
Where the 400-300-500 comes into play, is that is my goal for every member of the team, and I hold myself accountable for that, and nothing else. Every lifter on this team who has attained this, I've encouraged to go seek out other mentors who are more specialized, and let them know I will absolutely not be offended if they move on, as my former mentors have not been offended as I moved on.
So far, everyone has chosen to stay, and from the members who have attained this, I expect a certain level of coaching from them, as this is part of what will help get them to their next goal, but I also expect them to be my comrades, and we move forward together. I'm aiming to get things to the point where I simply coach the higher level members, and they coach the lower level members... but this will take a bit of time, and I'm more than willing to give it. I still love seeing someone hit their first 225 pound squat just as much as I love seeing someone hit their first 400 pound squat.
Either way, I've never had so much fun lifting, and considering about a year ago, I was very seriously considering pursuing other things, this has been amazing. I've never been so excited to learn new things, and have never felt accountability like this, where I fully realize that my own abilites will be holding back my friends in their quest for their goals. I've also never been so stress free about it. I've finally been able to understand the role of a mentor, and how to receive a mentor as well.
But at the end of it, I make sure we're all having fun, and if we ever lose that... it may be time to start thinking about a good chess club.
Since forming a powerlifting team, I've felt a lot of pressure and questions about whether I should be coaching anyone at the powerlifts, and rightfully so, I don't even know if I have an elite total. However, if you're aware of the concept of champions and leaders, you'll understand, I'm just fine. I'm certainly not a champion by any means, however, I've been thrown into very intense leadership positions my entire life, and moreso I've managed many employees and trained them from scratch. I've personally coached almost 200 people right now on how to paint in the last 7 years... not many people have coached that many people in anything. I've been coached on this process, and coached again, and take a refresher course every year, and it's gotten to the point where I'm considered one of the strongest coaches and leaders in North America in a multi million dollar franchise, with hundreds and hundrerds of franchisees. This is a skill that I have, and I find many people take this one for granted as to believe simply because they can do it themselves that they are also a good coach.
However, if someone comes to me and is better than me, I'm still thrilled to have to them.
Kevin Cancian is one of these lifters. We're very close in formula, and I'm fairly certain he would have won the best lifter award at my last meet had he not had bench troubles. We also have a wonderful relationship and I consider him one of my best friends. I can't really add to his training knowledge, I can help him with a few things, but honestly, the terminology in lifting compared to someones own knowledge, and how they cue themselves in their head makes this pretty tough. To get past this I take a lot of videos, and have conversations about their sets, mostly so we can agree on the terminology then work from there. But honestly, I'm not going to demand he take my advice or immediately change his style, as has been the case with other lifters attempting to do so with me in the past.
Can I take Kevin to a 600 pound squat, 400 pound bench and 700 pound deadlift? well, probably... there's a ton of coaches that have taken their students further than them, but honestly, I don't know if that would be appropriate, and it's just not my passion. I rely on friendly challenges, and compete against kevin every chance I get, and I'm as thrilled at besting him as I am when he bests me.
90% of lifters quit in the first 5 years. That's been going through my head like crazy since I first read it, and it rings extremely true. I've seen it happen now since I've been back in Ottawa, to the point where Sue Thompson, Kade Weber and myself are the only YMCA members from when I first got back to Ottawa that are still training and competing. What more, both have taken their training elsewhere... and only pop in now and then. Steve Mackie still trains here and there, but injuries and life have kept his hands more than full.
My passion is getting people involved, getting those kids that are watching from across the gym too nervous to ask questions, putting them under the bar, and helping them learn for themselves. I get so many benefits from this it's insane. The only powerlifting still competing that Willie Albert has mentored over the years is Kade Weber, Willie has mentored many other young men, but all lost interest and quit. Willie got to the top almost by himself, besides one or two other reliable training partners, and spent his days training Drs and Lawyers how to squat.
My goals are simple, I wish to take ANYONE to a 400 squat, 300 bench, and 500 deadlift. This in my mind is strong. I'm sure there are some high level lifters who aren't impressed with these numbers at all... but honestly, that's there problem. I'm inspired by stories of how I hear westside barbell started up, where Louies methods were so great, that he would grab anyone off the streets and turn them into champs. I also heard that Chuck Vogelpohl would kick people out all the time for slacking.
What I'm trying to do will be more difficult, and may hold some people back, as I'm just looking to get them to 400-300-500, not make them the best in the world. I take on every young man, and make it my job to not lose them, keep them interested, and get them to a level that 99.9% of the population of planet earth will never get to in their lives. I don't care if they've never lifted weights, are professional atheletes, or whatever, I simply don't care. I don't demand them to come to me, I'll actively seek them out, and encourage them to join and to compete, and to embrace our team atmosphere, and just flat out have fun. I make sure that everyone gets along, and that the lines of communication are always open, and that any problems or squabbles are dealt with. These skills aren't natural for me, but have been learned from years of interacting with customers and employees. I'm honored to say every member of my team are great friends, and I've never seen an argument, or back talk or anything like that. I've seen countless challenges thrown down, quite a few to me, and none of us will ever back down, but we also understand our goals are our own.
I'm quite frankly sick to death of powerlifters, who have no soical skills or lives, lording their abilites over others, and feel their 500 pound bench press makes it ok to suck at life, and be a miserable human being. I've encountered these lifters all over... it's a testament for what sort of mindset it used to take to get to the top... but with the internet and facebook, and the wonderful job crossfit has done marketing themselves, it's now cool to be strong.
It's very cool to set a big goal, come up with a plan of action to attain it, then work your ass off, make corrections as needed, go and compete, and use that feedback to determine your next plan. People love seeing that passion, and love seeing someone go out and do it.
For third strength powerlifting... our outlook is that we do not care about what happens at the meet. We let it all go, the meet is nothing more than a review to get feedback, it doesn't say or mean anything about ourselves.
What we care about, and all we care about it is what happens in the gym, monday to friday everynight. I care about my 11 training partners lifts as well as my own, and no one else's. I cannot comment on lifters who have set their goals to "win"... but that's just ego, and only hurts you in the long run. How can somone beat a man competing against himself? How can someone beat a man who's goal is to squat 500 and he does? that's true victory in my mind, and that's true accountability to continue on if you miss it.
Where the 400-300-500 comes into play, is that is my goal for every member of the team, and I hold myself accountable for that, and nothing else. Every lifter on this team who has attained this, I've encouraged to go seek out other mentors who are more specialized, and let them know I will absolutely not be offended if they move on, as my former mentors have not been offended as I moved on.
So far, everyone has chosen to stay, and from the members who have attained this, I expect a certain level of coaching from them, as this is part of what will help get them to their next goal, but I also expect them to be my comrades, and we move forward together. I'm aiming to get things to the point where I simply coach the higher level members, and they coach the lower level members... but this will take a bit of time, and I'm more than willing to give it. I still love seeing someone hit their first 225 pound squat just as much as I love seeing someone hit their first 400 pound squat.
Either way, I've never had so much fun lifting, and considering about a year ago, I was very seriously considering pursuing other things, this has been amazing. I've never been so excited to learn new things, and have never felt accountability like this, where I fully realize that my own abilites will be holding back my friends in their quest for their goals. I've also never been so stress free about it. I've finally been able to understand the role of a mentor, and how to receive a mentor as well.
But at the end of it, I make sure we're all having fun, and if we ever lose that... it may be time to start thinking about a good chess club.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Mentors
I've had a ton of mentors in my life, and not really even knowing it. I started young with my older sisters boyfriends, and I just sort of always was looking for a big brother. Unfortunately, when I was a younger man, as most young men are, I was insecure and very ashamed of myself... Sometimes I'd have mentors where things would go great, and I can still stay in touch now, although I regret not leeping in touch more, I didn't always realize what these men meant to me. But I found it hard to not feel critized even though I was fairly desperate for these men's approval, I didn't always realize these things until hindsight kicked in.
One of my mentors, a karate black belt who also taught kickboxing and was just an all around really cool guy in his 40's and the kind of man a girl in her 20's would want. I admired this man for his general outlook on life, and self confidence, and just the way he was always highly respected and respectful. He told me about his days one time and it was like this... he'd wake up, have breakfast with a few of his business partners, go spar, check on his crews at his brothers eavestroughing company. He was there to make sure the guys were under control and had what they needed, and to do general customer service. From speaking to him, I could tell he simply expected a high level of accountability, and if the guys couldn't live up to it, they couldn't work. he'd go lift weights, drive back to Kemptville, teach a few hours at his dojo between instructing black belts and teaching fitness classes and kickboxing. His club was like a family, and he'd taught the members how to coach each other to be able to coach themselves, so that he only instructed the highest level members, and generally performed along with them, and would always hit the bags in kicboxing that night as well.
This was basically my template for how I wanted to live my life, I had to part ways, as I was going about getting my life together with that, and just fell in love with powerlifting. I haven't spoken to him for a few years, but I'm positive it's still the same story.
That was a tough time when I was closing out high school, and really working to get the grades for university after not giving school any attention for a few years. I was also a young man, and was busy doing what young men do, and that always got in the way of things as well. But when I think back, that was always a wonderful experience for me, and something I try to carry with me always.
However, I've definitely had other mentors, and having to always be in charge running a business 24/7 and being a young man... this was a difficult balance. I have definitely made mistakes and don't stupid things in the last few years, I've done some great stuff as well, but overall, a big feedback I had from business coaches was that i wasn't very open minded. During an insance operating period, it's really hard to work on something like that, surrounded by negative customers and employees, and feeling somewhat at everyones mercy, then to have a business coach try to focus on all your mistakes in a week as well, was just literally more than I could handle. I'm not saying this is an excuse, but believe me, I've seen it happen time and time again to young business owners to a startlingly high degree. The succesful ones were just more upbeat and seemed to turn negatives into positives no matter what the situation, and they were human. I just hadn't developed that yet, and I didn't even know to be aware of it until the last few years. I haven't had the results I've truly wanted in business or in life in general, so that typically means you have to change things, so I've been reading and researching like a madman lately, and I've just seen it time and time again that success in general, whether it be physical, financial, business, sport, spiritual or even ending an addiction is all in the mindset. All succesful people that have gone onto teach have made this connectino, and people who are naturally succesful will tell you the same stuff, but just using different terminology. I've become convinced of this, and have just seen it all over, they go over it in the secret, happiness advantage, 7 habits of highly effective people, secrets of the soviet sports, financial planning, various leadership books, it's all the same stuff.
I could go on and on about that, and sometimes do, but it's lead me to look back at a lot of past mentor relationships... I've made mistakes, and done some good stuff. I always tried my best, but at times that led to my worst. Hindsight can be a serious pain, but I feel to truly be able to take accountabilty you have to just forgive yourself, but that also involves knowing the real reasons everything happened. And once you can do that... you still do a bunch of dumb stuff, but it's much easier to understand it in order to make changes. I don't bother looking at any mistakes my mentors made, those don't matter... It's nothing I can control. But the things I can control I try to make sure I do. One of the things about being accountable, is you have to trust people to come to you if there are problems. Nobody can read minds, but it is my job to hear what they're saying, and to make sure I understand what is actually being said. If you don't understand this, listen to the 7 habits of highly effective people.
I grew up in an environment where it was not acceptable to be upset, or to really talk about it at all. This led me to try to read peoples minds a lot, but generally that just led to expecting the worst, and that's just a sour outlook. I'm not worried about asking now, I typically just love people, and will do anything I can to help someone, I just need them to say something most of the time. If they don't, there's not much I can do. Knowing this about myself, and really believing it make facing situations in general not so bad. It's a lot easier when you only really try to surround yourself with people who will let themselves be happy.
Anyways, I've just been very grateful to all my past mentors lately, I've thought about it a lot, and look forward to gaining new ones, as recently once I started seeing learning as part of my job once again, I've been so excited everyday to learn new things. All usccesful people have a laundry list of mentors, and I look forward to gaining new ones and using past experiences to make the relationships even better than the great ones I had before.
One of my mentors, a karate black belt who also taught kickboxing and was just an all around really cool guy in his 40's and the kind of man a girl in her 20's would want. I admired this man for his general outlook on life, and self confidence, and just the way he was always highly respected and respectful. He told me about his days one time and it was like this... he'd wake up, have breakfast with a few of his business partners, go spar, check on his crews at his brothers eavestroughing company. He was there to make sure the guys were under control and had what they needed, and to do general customer service. From speaking to him, I could tell he simply expected a high level of accountability, and if the guys couldn't live up to it, they couldn't work. he'd go lift weights, drive back to Kemptville, teach a few hours at his dojo between instructing black belts and teaching fitness classes and kickboxing. His club was like a family, and he'd taught the members how to coach each other to be able to coach themselves, so that he only instructed the highest level members, and generally performed along with them, and would always hit the bags in kicboxing that night as well.
This was basically my template for how I wanted to live my life, I had to part ways, as I was going about getting my life together with that, and just fell in love with powerlifting. I haven't spoken to him for a few years, but I'm positive it's still the same story.
That was a tough time when I was closing out high school, and really working to get the grades for university after not giving school any attention for a few years. I was also a young man, and was busy doing what young men do, and that always got in the way of things as well. But when I think back, that was always a wonderful experience for me, and something I try to carry with me always.
However, I've definitely had other mentors, and having to always be in charge running a business 24/7 and being a young man... this was a difficult balance. I have definitely made mistakes and don't stupid things in the last few years, I've done some great stuff as well, but overall, a big feedback I had from business coaches was that i wasn't very open minded. During an insance operating period, it's really hard to work on something like that, surrounded by negative customers and employees, and feeling somewhat at everyones mercy, then to have a business coach try to focus on all your mistakes in a week as well, was just literally more than I could handle. I'm not saying this is an excuse, but believe me, I've seen it happen time and time again to young business owners to a startlingly high degree. The succesful ones were just more upbeat and seemed to turn negatives into positives no matter what the situation, and they were human. I just hadn't developed that yet, and I didn't even know to be aware of it until the last few years. I haven't had the results I've truly wanted in business or in life in general, so that typically means you have to change things, so I've been reading and researching like a madman lately, and I've just seen it time and time again that success in general, whether it be physical, financial, business, sport, spiritual or even ending an addiction is all in the mindset. All succesful people that have gone onto teach have made this connectino, and people who are naturally succesful will tell you the same stuff, but just using different terminology. I've become convinced of this, and have just seen it all over, they go over it in the secret, happiness advantage, 7 habits of highly effective people, secrets of the soviet sports, financial planning, various leadership books, it's all the same stuff.
I could go on and on about that, and sometimes do, but it's lead me to look back at a lot of past mentor relationships... I've made mistakes, and done some good stuff. I always tried my best, but at times that led to my worst. Hindsight can be a serious pain, but I feel to truly be able to take accountabilty you have to just forgive yourself, but that also involves knowing the real reasons everything happened. And once you can do that... you still do a bunch of dumb stuff, but it's much easier to understand it in order to make changes. I don't bother looking at any mistakes my mentors made, those don't matter... It's nothing I can control. But the things I can control I try to make sure I do. One of the things about being accountable, is you have to trust people to come to you if there are problems. Nobody can read minds, but it is my job to hear what they're saying, and to make sure I understand what is actually being said. If you don't understand this, listen to the 7 habits of highly effective people.
I grew up in an environment where it was not acceptable to be upset, or to really talk about it at all. This led me to try to read peoples minds a lot, but generally that just led to expecting the worst, and that's just a sour outlook. I'm not worried about asking now, I typically just love people, and will do anything I can to help someone, I just need them to say something most of the time. If they don't, there's not much I can do. Knowing this about myself, and really believing it make facing situations in general not so bad. It's a lot easier when you only really try to surround yourself with people who will let themselves be happy.
Anyways, I've just been very grateful to all my past mentors lately, I've thought about it a lot, and look forward to gaining new ones, as recently once I started seeing learning as part of my job once again, I've been so excited everyday to learn new things. All usccesful people have a laundry list of mentors, and I look forward to gaining new ones and using past experiences to make the relationships even better than the great ones I had before.
Thursday heavier squat
really not feeling good lately, but work has had a fairly negative focus lately, and it's important stuff I have to do, but I find it has a fairly negative effect on me at times. Having a cold as well made it difficult to focus on more positive things, although I'm expecting a few good bounces. Overall just gotta do a few more things I really don't wanna do, then I'm fully expecting things to be back to fun mode.
Warm up
light foam roll on just hips, and calves- front and back
30 second hip stretch - static
reverse curl to press - for biceps
ankle/calve stretch- toe way up and leaning forward
hyperextension - dimitri told me to do a lot of them
body weight squats 2 x25
did everything as lightly as possible, and let the body weight squats get any more kinks out. Knees ached the entire session.
back squats - medium bar - I've decided to compete like this, most reliable for depth, and I'm going to just keep working this technique from now on. Overall, I need to look a bit closer and get better vids, CPF is calling tight depth these days, but these should be more than legit. It's such a different program, that I don't really know where I'm at right now. This can get kind of scarey for me, but I look at other vids where I was handling this weight much slower, and for singles, and even my last reps look much much better and faster. I hope this is a good sign, but some days these weights are heavy, and that really freaks me out. If I don't have heavier weights on my back semi regularly, I get nervous... But Marks pretty much a pimp, and if he's telling me to do this, there's a good reason.
225 6x1, 275 6x1, 325 4x1, 400 4x1 415 4x3
good morning - took a vid tonite, these are harder than they've ever been before, Gotta check with mark if these are good or not.
265 5x5
chin ups
10,10,10,6,6
- these are harder than they've ever been before.
planks of glute ham
10 for a long count of 30 in my head
25 for a long count of 15
Overall, I think I'm making improvements form wise and speed wise, I find it really difficult to tell. I know 500 is going to happen I went in a couple days after my last meet, and hit a deep high bar 435 with 45lbs chains, I was still pretty peaked even though my body was trashed... but until i get something a bit heavier on my back I have no clue. It's hard to tell because my style has changed so much, but i basically got gifted with my squat at my last meet, so I really don't know what i'm capable of. I based my max for this program off of 500, which I felt was honest, I've gotten faster and faster with my reps, form looks more solid everytime. I'm slowly gaining weight and set a goal for this meet at competing at 218 weight wise, If by the stars aligning and and I suddenly start tossing high 4s around like nothing, I'll consider a cut to 198, but my eating habits are under control right now to the point where I can gain weight under control and not worry about anything. That's going to help. I really had hoped for a 550 squat at this meet with a deeper style, but I honestly don't know, so I'm just going to say hit a PR squat and I'll take it. My bench and dead have just come such a long way form wise, I know I'll PR on those. I'm not fatter, so I think my pull should be fine, I'm really looking forward to the deadlift, to see how I do, and I know I'm just going to gain enough weight that I'll come in at a good bench. I'm worried about this meet, but I'm just going to let it happen. My dream is 550-350-610, but as long as I go 510-350-590 I'll be fine with that. Using this style of technique is very new.
Warm up
light foam roll on just hips, and calves- front and back
30 second hip stretch - static
reverse curl to press - for biceps
ankle/calve stretch- toe way up and leaning forward
hyperextension - dimitri told me to do a lot of them
body weight squats 2 x25
did everything as lightly as possible, and let the body weight squats get any more kinks out. Knees ached the entire session.
back squats - medium bar - I've decided to compete like this, most reliable for depth, and I'm going to just keep working this technique from now on. Overall, I need to look a bit closer and get better vids, CPF is calling tight depth these days, but these should be more than legit. It's such a different program, that I don't really know where I'm at right now. This can get kind of scarey for me, but I look at other vids where I was handling this weight much slower, and for singles, and even my last reps look much much better and faster. I hope this is a good sign, but some days these weights are heavy, and that really freaks me out. If I don't have heavier weights on my back semi regularly, I get nervous... But Marks pretty much a pimp, and if he's telling me to do this, there's a good reason.
225 6x1, 275 6x1, 325 4x1, 400 4x1 415 4x3
good morning - took a vid tonite, these are harder than they've ever been before, Gotta check with mark if these are good or not.
265 5x5
chin ups
10,10,10,6,6
- these are harder than they've ever been before.
planks of glute ham
10 for a long count of 30 in my head
25 for a long count of 15
Overall, I think I'm making improvements form wise and speed wise, I find it really difficult to tell. I know 500 is going to happen I went in a couple days after my last meet, and hit a deep high bar 435 with 45lbs chains, I was still pretty peaked even though my body was trashed... but until i get something a bit heavier on my back I have no clue. It's hard to tell because my style has changed so much, but i basically got gifted with my squat at my last meet, so I really don't know what i'm capable of. I based my max for this program off of 500, which I felt was honest, I've gotten faster and faster with my reps, form looks more solid everytime. I'm slowly gaining weight and set a goal for this meet at competing at 218 weight wise, If by the stars aligning and and I suddenly start tossing high 4s around like nothing, I'll consider a cut to 198, but my eating habits are under control right now to the point where I can gain weight under control and not worry about anything. That's going to help. I really had hoped for a 550 squat at this meet with a deeper style, but I honestly don't know, so I'm just going to say hit a PR squat and I'll take it. My bench and dead have just come such a long way form wise, I know I'll PR on those. I'm not fatter, so I think my pull should be fine, I'm really looking forward to the deadlift, to see how I do, and I know I'm just going to gain enough weight that I'll come in at a good bench. I'm worried about this meet, but I'm just going to let it happen. My dream is 550-350-610, but as long as I go 510-350-590 I'll be fine with that. Using this style of technique is very new.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
book review -Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance by Stuart Mcgill
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=137&pid=1426
This was a really cool read, i also plowed thru it while I was traveling, and finished it recently. If I've ever been good at one thing in life, I've always been a very fast reader, and this wasn't so bad just with my anatomy background. Here and there I had to bust out google, but overall, I got through it cover to cover.
Planks
- this was one section I'd like to review a bit more, as I'm starting to see this kind of strength is very important to lifting, and one I think I'm lagging in. I've been doing these off the glute ham with a plate behind my head, when I was squatting everday. I could put a 45 behind my head for 15-20 seconds pretty easy, right now a 25 is really hard.
Hip mobility, shoulders, ankles
- there was a lot of indepth info on how important flexibile hips are for lifting, and just back health in general. Overall the message was to improve your posture. The entire book was a lot about this actually.
bird dogs
- do these
Pretty cool stuff, it's just something I've gotta get better at cause the last thing I need is one of my kids getting hurt and someone trying to sue me.
This was a really cool read, i also plowed thru it while I was traveling, and finished it recently. If I've ever been good at one thing in life, I've always been a very fast reader, and this wasn't so bad just with my anatomy background. Here and there I had to bust out google, but overall, I got through it cover to cover.
Planks
- this was one section I'd like to review a bit more, as I'm starting to see this kind of strength is very important to lifting, and one I think I'm lagging in. I've been doing these off the glute ham with a plate behind my head, when I was squatting everday. I could put a 45 behind my head for 15-20 seconds pretty easy, right now a 25 is really hard.
Hip mobility, shoulders, ankles
- there was a lot of indepth info on how important flexibile hips are for lifting, and just back health in general. Overall the message was to improve your posture. The entire book was a lot about this actually.
bird dogs
- do these
Pretty cool stuff, it's just something I've gotta get better at cause the last thing I need is one of my kids getting hurt and someone trying to sue me.
Book review - Secrets of Russian sports training
Borrowed this off of Megan, and read it during my trip to Atlanta. A lot of it I already knew, but there was some really cool parts. I can tell Louie Simmons has read this book from a story my friend Shane told me about him, where he was called to do a speech at the US weightlfting yearly conference. They asked him what he felt they needed to do to catch up. He replied that they needed a grass roots program, better coaches, and to get them on whatever the track team was on. They never asked him back.
grass roots
-russians are given the choice at 9 years old to go into the advanced athlete program, and these kids were encouraged to do so, as athletes are given priority in job placements in russia. The children aren't specialized but encouraged to learn sport in general and not to compete, but to build fundamentals.
sports psychology
- russian athletes are taken through many visualization processes, and taught how to be able to feel each individual muscles without actually contracting them, then to play out their competitions in their heads repeatedly to prepare. They also visualize themselves beating their opponents in all aspects of sport, not just their discipline. I've always been interested in these kinda of things just from my sport psych background.
In general, the russian coaches are paid to win, and when this is the case with all the studies they've performed and data their disposal, this is easily another reason why they've been so advanced.
A very cool book and a highly recomended read.
grass roots
-russians are given the choice at 9 years old to go into the advanced athlete program, and these kids were encouraged to do so, as athletes are given priority in job placements in russia. The children aren't specialized but encouraged to learn sport in general and not to compete, but to build fundamentals.
sports psychology
- russian athletes are taken through many visualization processes, and taught how to be able to feel each individual muscles without actually contracting them, then to play out their competitions in their heads repeatedly to prepare. They also visualize themselves beating their opponents in all aspects of sport, not just their discipline. I've always been interested in these kinda of things just from my sport psych background.
In general, the russian coaches are paid to win, and when this is the case with all the studies they've performed and data their disposal, this is easily another reason why they've been so advanced.
A very cool book and a highly recomended read.
Tuesday bench/wednesday deadlift
The weeks flying by, and I've caught a cold, probably just from working outside so often right now. Feeling very run down, but I just called into work sick, took some time to rest today, tried to get some errands done that i put off, and roll back into it fresher.
Tuesday - bench
tried to train, warmed up as best I could, stretched out my hips, did some bicep work and stretching, but even after a full warm up, and doing a few light sets, things were just not coming around. Called the night, watched the guys a bit, headed home and just about passed out from what felt like a lack of sugar or something, just an intesne brain fog and just felt like shit.
Wednesday - deadlift
440 4x1, 460 4x1, 475 4x1
rack pulls at knee
315 4x1, 405 4x1, 495 4x1 switched to sumo, 545 4x1 - stopped there as I need to check with Mark about these, all my guys are missing reps.
shrugs 315 2x20
- went in deciding to just take a warm up weight and do some reps and see how I felt after doing a really good hip warm up. I wound up just doing all the reps as they were all pretty light, I just didn't have the same pop that I usually felt, but a much better positioning after seeing how i looked the week before when my hips were tight.
I'm really starting to get a feel for what muscles need to be tight, and what ones to loosen that won't hurt performance. I've completely let my quads and hamstrings get as tight as they want, this gives some knee pain just about all the time. I'm not concerned with an injury in these areas, so I just let them ache, not a huge deal. I keep my hips as loose as possible, and will stretch them as often as I can, just about whenever. I do a dynamic warm up on lower days, and more static on bench days. I stretch my ankles and calves quite a bit, whenever I do this I get much deeper much easier, what it might take away in stretch reflex, it just helps in me building my form. I've started doing a lot of shoulder stretching, the laying on the side and putting hand on the floor one. My shoulders have pulled back a fair bit more from this, and a lot more squat volume has helped as well. I do some light chest stretches on lower days if my biceps are aching, just to help let my back get into position easier.
I'm always trying to do less and less, and let perfect form build my flexibility as Willie Albert advised me on, but at times, I can't get to form without doing all this. I'm either not a good enough coach, or general lifestyle has made it so a lot of my new kids have to do this a ton to be able to get into position. Young people these days are tight in all the wrong spots and loose in the others... but it's seemed to be helping all the guys a ton, as well as more appropriate volumes and intensities. By this I just means a ton more lifts around 80% but at a high enough volume that everyone is still getting plenty tired and sore. The guys get 16 really hard practice reps on squats twice a week... the weights are just heavy enough to be challenging, but just enough volume so we don't die. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on supertraining, and more books on Vershansky, and other older russian texts. It's going to be fun to see how people have taken their findings from these to influence their powerlifting.
Willie also told me that he used to sit infront of his tv when he first started to learn sumo, this is really the first time I've ever done it, I pulled in that stance before, so I don't mind doing extra stretching until I get to that flexibility, then letting myself tighten up there. I'm not far now. I looked back over my videos, and the way my form has changed has been pretty cool. I think I need to train my conventional a bit more lately tho as it feels very unnatural these days. I look forward to getting around to that. Still, I'm seeing how to use my quads in the sumo, to sort of snap my knees as the bar gets to them, as I've lost a lot of pulls at the knees, and this seems to really shoot the bar past my sticking point, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this change will help me when I take 590 on my second attempt, at my next meet.
I never stretch or roll my upper back anymore, I just let it get tight. Once I saw my posture dramatically improve after squatting everyday, and my upper back being sore to the touch at this time as well, I started to understand. My shoulders still have a bit futher to go, but I think it will come along as I get stronger.
My glute meds were spasming for a while pretty good, I think this was a combo of form change, and starting to be used a lot differently, and hips just needing to adapt a bit to the increased rom. This was pretty painful for a bit, but they've chilled out now. I'm looking forward to pushing the volumes and instensities up for my meet after this one. It's going to take me a bit to understand the volume I'm going to need to get there, but I look forward to learning that.
Tuesday - bench
tried to train, warmed up as best I could, stretched out my hips, did some bicep work and stretching, but even after a full warm up, and doing a few light sets, things were just not coming around. Called the night, watched the guys a bit, headed home and just about passed out from what felt like a lack of sugar or something, just an intesne brain fog and just felt like shit.
Wednesday - deadlift
440 4x1, 460 4x1, 475 4x1
rack pulls at knee
315 4x1, 405 4x1, 495 4x1 switched to sumo, 545 4x1 - stopped there as I need to check with Mark about these, all my guys are missing reps.
shrugs 315 2x20
- went in deciding to just take a warm up weight and do some reps and see how I felt after doing a really good hip warm up. I wound up just doing all the reps as they were all pretty light, I just didn't have the same pop that I usually felt, but a much better positioning after seeing how i looked the week before when my hips were tight.
I'm really starting to get a feel for what muscles need to be tight, and what ones to loosen that won't hurt performance. I've completely let my quads and hamstrings get as tight as they want, this gives some knee pain just about all the time. I'm not concerned with an injury in these areas, so I just let them ache, not a huge deal. I keep my hips as loose as possible, and will stretch them as often as I can, just about whenever. I do a dynamic warm up on lower days, and more static on bench days. I stretch my ankles and calves quite a bit, whenever I do this I get much deeper much easier, what it might take away in stretch reflex, it just helps in me building my form. I've started doing a lot of shoulder stretching, the laying on the side and putting hand on the floor one. My shoulders have pulled back a fair bit more from this, and a lot more squat volume has helped as well. I do some light chest stretches on lower days if my biceps are aching, just to help let my back get into position easier.
I'm always trying to do less and less, and let perfect form build my flexibility as Willie Albert advised me on, but at times, I can't get to form without doing all this. I'm either not a good enough coach, or general lifestyle has made it so a lot of my new kids have to do this a ton to be able to get into position. Young people these days are tight in all the wrong spots and loose in the others... but it's seemed to be helping all the guys a ton, as well as more appropriate volumes and intensities. By this I just means a ton more lifts around 80% but at a high enough volume that everyone is still getting plenty tired and sore. The guys get 16 really hard practice reps on squats twice a week... the weights are just heavy enough to be challenging, but just enough volume so we don't die. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on supertraining, and more books on Vershansky, and other older russian texts. It's going to be fun to see how people have taken their findings from these to influence their powerlifting.
Willie also told me that he used to sit infront of his tv when he first started to learn sumo, this is really the first time I've ever done it, I pulled in that stance before, so I don't mind doing extra stretching until I get to that flexibility, then letting myself tighten up there. I'm not far now. I looked back over my videos, and the way my form has changed has been pretty cool. I think I need to train my conventional a bit more lately tho as it feels very unnatural these days. I look forward to getting around to that. Still, I'm seeing how to use my quads in the sumo, to sort of snap my knees as the bar gets to them, as I've lost a lot of pulls at the knees, and this seems to really shoot the bar past my sticking point, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this change will help me when I take 590 on my second attempt, at my next meet.
I never stretch or roll my upper back anymore, I just let it get tight. Once I saw my posture dramatically improve after squatting everyday, and my upper back being sore to the touch at this time as well, I started to understand. My shoulders still have a bit futher to go, but I think it will come along as I get stronger.
My glute meds were spasming for a while pretty good, I think this was a combo of form change, and starting to be used a lot differently, and hips just needing to adapt a bit to the increased rom. This was pretty painful for a bit, but they've chilled out now. I'm looking forward to pushing the volumes and instensities up for my meet after this one. It's going to take me a bit to understand the volume I'm going to need to get there, but I look forward to learning that.
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