SBBF and PRzzzz

SBBF. It's the "Slingshot Benchpress-Bloblift Federation". I got a new toy in the mail, a Mark Bell "Slingshot". Basically its a poor man's benchshirt. Since I found it on my porch when I got home last night after I had benched, I offered it to some of the gym members to try (guinea pigs). Paul K. got an easy 20 pound pr (with probably another 25-35 pounds left) and Larry M. did an easy single with what he said was right around his max weight (without all the grinding and crunching in his shoulder that he usually associates with pressing). So, informally we decided to form the Slingshot Powerlifting Federation. We have three members, all world record holders and world champions in our respective weight classes. We will probably have a national qualifier soon for the National Championships and we will pick the top three of each weight class to go to the world championships in the fall. We may present it as a push-pull format too. The pull part will be lifting the heads of broken dumbbells off the floor single-handedly (the "blob lift" Thanks Larry!) (I think they could be cool trophies too.) Or a guy could just enter the bench part of the meet or the Blob part or both! Bitchin' huh?!?!

Wait'll ya see our t-shirts,

Ed T.

Pullin'

In my effort to totally cornfuse my body with my training, I took Monday off and did my pullin' Wednesday.

Warm-up
a. Deads 345x5, 400x5, 450x8
b1. GHR 60
b2. Walking lunges 60
b3. Back raises 45
b4. Ab wheel rollouts 60

In true Bulgarian fashion, I pulled around 9, finished the accessory work around 12-ish and then benchpressed with 4board an hour or so later.

That went ok.
Warm-up
Benchpress 210x5, 245x5, 275x5 and Pull-aparts with monster mini band 4x12

The pressin' was ok. Matt said I was an idiot for training that way. I agreed. But it is what it is. On a pre-habilitative note, I started doing 100 reps of pull-aparts a day and 20 reps of GHRs daily. The pressin' was "ok" but I think I may have been overdoin' a bit at that point (third time training that day) as it felt a bit heavy. So the moral of the story is I do not recommend doing that, boys and girls.

Stoopid but strong. But not yet "Stupid Strong",
Ed T.

February 13, 2011

Sunday
Warm-up
a1. Press 100x5, 115x5, 130x5 then 5x10 lighter weight
a2. Pulldowns - bench grip 4x12/ 140

b1. Dips 60 reps 4 sets w/ 25#
b2. Wide grip straight arm pulldowns 2x12/ 85#

c1. Push-ups
c2. Lat stretches

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stay strong,
Ed T.
(sorry that's all I got...)

Deload Week-kinda

"ChampionChip Sunday, er, Monday"
Monday was Sunday because Sunday I got busy and blew it off.
a. Press embarassingly light
b1. Dips 30 reps
b2. Close grip lat pulldowns 6x8/ 150

c1. Pushups 60
c2. Wide grip straight arm lat pulldowns 2x12/ 80

Stretching/ Rolling

"A Page From The Book of Brooks"
So Monday became Wednesday and Wednesday was started with a round of "Stoopid Stuff" with my "friend" Matt 4board.

Reverse band bench-strong bands-pinkies at rings 225x5, 295x1, 385x1, 435x1, 465x1, 475x1, 505 miss

For some reason the idea of doing band benches has been appealing to me for awhile. But with my training going so well, it was hard to justify it or find a place for it. But 4board, my "friend", was going to do them so I joined him. I took a page from Brookszinski's training manual (the same one he used to set a state record in kentucky last year), using his warm-up routine; no rolling, tumbling, stumbling or any unneccessary movement, just liberal amounts of Blue Heat, elbow sleeves and a sweat shirt and a couple of singles. My first set consisted of a lot of popping and cracking coming from my wrists, elbows, shoulders, etcetera but that worked itself out after the first set. Apparently, the noise bothered Matt. He asked if I was ok. Anyway, the 475 was a misload (supposed to be 485) and the 505, that would have been a big PR for me was seized from my hands like defeat from the hands of victory, three lowly inches from my chest. Matt said it stopped. Stopped? Stopped?!?! WTF?!? Stopped. It wasn't coming back down.

In my mind, it had only slowed and I knew I just had to squeeze out a few inches more and I had it. I had it. I was this close (I'm holding my thumb and forefinger inches apart). Stopped. Sheesh. I never uttered the safe word. I was still defying gravity. Stopped. Remember the immortal words of Bluto, "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?! Hell no! It ain't over now. 'Cause when the going gets tough...........................................................................the tough get going!" Stopped. Not coming back down, not sprouting blood, no popping tendons or other silliness. Just, stopped.

Oh well, I will get it next time. (And I enjoy aggravating Matt).

"Part Reduex"

Warm-up (a real one)

a1. GHR 60

a2. Walking lunges 30/ side

a3. Back raises 30

a4. Spread eagles sit-ups 60

"And now for something completely different."

A safe word is "take it". Or, if the bar unexpectedly changes direction and seeks to cause me bodily harm. Then it is also acceptable to lay hands upon my bar. A safe word can be "untie me", or "quadratus lumborum" or "tippytoe" or "help" or "get this thing offa me" or any one of hundreds of other choices depending upon what sport you are participating in. For the sake of comparison, unsafe words would be, "I don't think that's flamable", "hold my beer and watch this", "My parents won't be home for hours", "the doctor gave me something to clear that up", I'm sure you, dear reader, could come up with many more. But you get the idea. 

On another note, 4board and I are thinking of starting our own weightlifting federation. If we keep the membership to only a "e-lite" few (like me and him), we figure we could trade our pseudo "world championship"/ "world record(s)" back and forth for years. Interesting idea. Unfortunately, others have beat us to it.

I'd rather be the weakest man in the room than the strongest in a two-person federation. Just sayin'...

It's shaping up to be an exciting week!

Stay strong,

Ed T.

Friday

2/4/2011

For once I actually trained on every day this week that I was supposed to.

Warm-up
a. Squat 325x5, 370x3, 415x1x7

b. Deadlifts against bands-sumo stance- 195x1x2 and 255x1x2 w/mini bands and 255x1x5 w/monster mini's

c1. Step-ups 3x20
c2. Reverse Hyperextension-weighted-3x20/50-pounds
c3. Hanging leg raises 2x20, 15 and OH crunches 3x25/20, 40, 60-pounds

Nice group of people lifting heavy stuff today. It was fun. Got a box full of original House of Health memorabilia (pictures, flyers, all kinds of cool stuff!) from Marylin Rainey today. So I can pick out some old photos, etcetera to decorate the gym. She says he has more stuff she will dig out when she does her spring cleaning! Can't wait for that! Very exciting day!

Oh and the Crimson defeated Princeton in women's basketball last night to take over first place in the Ancient Eight. Congratulations RE!

Stay strong,

Ed T.

"The Gargantuan Method"

(Adapted from a recent article in "Big Gunz and Heavy Stuff" magazine and written by Mike Battery.)

"It was a bright sunny day when all of a sudden, the light dimmed. Not a passing cloud overhead, it was Brookszinski, fresh from his tour of Middletucky. He was back in the gym in for his monthly training session after he successfully took the overall title at the Mr. Xenia contest recently. Slightly above his contest weight of 315, he declared he would keep his weight in that neighborhood rather than letting it drift into the Ultra Heavy Weight range. I asked him if he would share some of his dieting secrets with me and he declared he could stay within range by simply omitting a few meals a month. But he would not further divulge his secrets. He said, "I came here to lift heavy stuff, read magazines and listen to the radio, not talk about the evils of pork rinds or have a 'Is the Twinkie a better snack cake than the Ho-Ho' debate with you!" So I handed him a back issue of 'Power' magazine and rolled up a office chair for him and stood back to watch, listen and learn.

Brookszinski said he had recently dropped all HIIT training from his regimen and was performing a total body workout once a month. From his studies of ancient Egyptian strength manuals translated from heiroglyphics found inside one of the pyramids, he had refined his training methodology. Based on his knowledge of Bulgarian training systems he had altered the Egyptian methods to more accurately assist him in his pursuit of 'lifting heavy stuff'. This was all top secret stuff and he said he could not divulge more because he was still sorting through all the data, some of which was still classified as 'secret' by the pharohs. And with all of Brookszinski's methods, some were too intellectual for the average lifter to understand; thus he limits the desimenination of knowledge. But like I said, I was able to observe the Greene County Silverback as he trained. Here for posterity is as accurate a reflection of what he did as I can relate.

Deadlift: work up to 650x1

Seated Dumbbell Press: work up to two sets of 1 rep each with 150-pound DBs

That's it. And he did it in 60 minutes too! I asked him if he was sick or something or if he was going to the all-you-can-eat-soup-and-salad bar at Cadillac Jack's before it closed (and could I go too). He laughed and said to me, much like one says to a small child that doesn't know better, 'Now Mike, everyone knows that one's natural production of testosterone drops rapidly after 60 minutes of training. Besides, I have cut my rest periods between sets to introduce some conditioning to my training.' A genius! I thought. I did not know.How does he come up with such knowledge?!?!  There was so much more I wanted to ask him but he waved me aside and said, 'It is time to feast.' I said is there anything else I can tell my readers and with a twinkle in his eye he said, 'For now...it is enough.'"

(Mike Battery is a cubby reporter for "Big Gunz and Heavy Stuff" magazine, "a periodical for the intelligent lifter". He hopes to one day "lift some really heavy &^%$!!!" and be kicked out of a buffet.)

Wicked Lester

January 30, 2011
"100,000 years"
I like anniverseries. Sunday was a good one. Thirty-eight years ago Sunday, some dudes got together to make noise as a band called "Wicked Lester". You may now knbow them better as KISS (KIZZ, I can't make lightening bolts on my computer). To celebrate we listened to "KISS: Alive". It sounds better everytime I hear it.

a1. Press 115x5, 130x3, 145x1x7
a2. Close grip lat pulldowns 6x8/ 150

b1. Weighted dips 5x10/25 pounds
b2. Straight arm wide grip lat pulldowns 100x12x2 sets

c1. Push-ups 100 reps 6 sets
c2. Lat stretches hold for 60 seconds

4Board's meet is only a few weeks away now and he got a nice PR with his bench shirt.

"Cold Gin"
Monday 1/31/2011
Pullin' heavy today after squatting and pulling on Saturday, seemed like (one of those infamous) good ideas at the time. The weight felt good but overall I felt tired and was really dragging when I left the gym. But that's just the way training fell so that's the way it was.
a. Deadlift 390x5, 440x3, 495x1x5 (I think. Maybe 6. I dunno.)

b1. GHR 60 reps
b2. Walking lunges 40/ side

c1. Back raises 40
c2. Hanging leg raises 50

Wednesday 2-2-2011
"Hotter than h-e-double toothpicks" (not the actual song title)
I wish it was that warm. It's "barf" cold, everything is frozen over and I may or may not have power when I get home. But the gym is warm :-)
a1. Benchpress 240x5, 270x3, 305x1x6
a2. Band pull-aparts (monster mini) 5x12
a3. Fat man pull-ups (blue band)4x10 no weight and 4x10 w/ 25 pounds

b1.Blast strap push-ups (feet up) 50
b2. Overhead band (green) crunches 2x30

c1. Suspended flys 60
c2. Band (purple) pushdowns 4x20

I had trouble getting in my groove when I was pressing. About the fourth set, things started to feel better. My shoulder is feeling a bit irritated and I think that in my pea-brain I am trying to protect it. And that is screwing up my set-up which in turn screws up my press.

Time to man-up.

Stay strong,
Ed T.