Clint Goes to the Arnold !!

Canada's Clint Harwood has been invited to The Arnold !!
Clint has been benching amazing poundages lately, and when a coveteted slot opened Clint got the nod from KK to join this AMAZING line up!

Super Heavyweight

Ryan Kennelly USA
Clint Harwood CAN
Bill Crawford USA
Vladimir Kravtsov Russia
Vladimir Maximov Russia
Jani Murtomaki Finland
Jeff Peshek USA
Mike Wolfe USA
Scott Yard USA
Travis Rogers USA

This is going to be an amazing contest--And, being a precise and worthy Canadian Giant --Clint Harwood is going to do something almost unheard of lately...he will actually GET A LIFT (or 3) IN !!!
(Bombing is rampant among benchers who take CHANCES for the the 800-900-1000 pound level *and the prize money* in these HUGE meets--The Mendelson classic is a recent example)

Congratulations to Clint --this is an amazing honor !! Man, I know you'll do Canada proud !!

"Clint and Robo at the 2006 CPO Nationals"

Thanks to Tony Tomra for reminding me of the good news on Clint we received yesterday--"yep, I was on it"

The Power interview I keep mentioning that keeps getting postponed on Shaw Cable 4--is scheduled to play tonite at 6:00 pm and 10:30..here in the Vancouver BC area...the show is the EXPRESS--heck tonite, maybe we wont be bumped ! But will I still be 'too ugly for my shirt??'


My speed band bench day was super good today --bands on bottom of rack to retard the bar--2 sets each with 4 reps..of 225 245 265 285 and 2 sets of 2 with 315 AND THE BANDS--felt good --then 20 reps with 225 and no bands..I'll be ready for the heavy shirted workout Saturday!!

550 reverse band !

Today's Heavy Bench workout was a really good one..this was at the Kit's Community center...I commandeered the best squat rack..warmed up doing floor/pin presses from the safety bars very close to (if not,right ON) the level of my chest..warmed up 225 X10 315X4 405X2 then a single with 425 435 and 440...then I put the bands on a post a foot and a half from the top of the squat cage--the heavy blues...and did 2 with 500 then one each with 515 535 545 545 545 then 550 --the 545's (3 singles) were the first ones of the day that were a challenge and my tri's really felt good getting those lifts to the top..the 550 was very hard,but very rewarding..then I took off the bands and did 2 reps with 405 to tie that workout into a complete package...no shirts were used in the workout today,the bands,playing the role of 'enabler' here.

The Power interview for "THE EXPRESS" on Shaw cable wasn't shown on it's scheduled time and day...as I looked at the various shows they were doing, I wondered how they would tie US into their format of the day..one day it was..home show..chinese new year..lot's of "regular" sorts of subjects where the tie ins to the segment would have to BE very farfetched..like these imaginary ramblings!

1.
(Johanna) "That was Dr.Art Hister with his healthy suggestion for seniors, to take it easy and slow when starting an exercise program....now here's some fat old guy bench pressing over 500 pounds...that's not to say Dr. Art is a wimp..it's more to say this 'Robo' guy is NUTS !!--Jack where do you get these people??"

2.
(Johanna) "Today we're celebrating the year of the Boar...speaking of 'Boars'--here's some old guy bench pressing a small car..showing all of his Gung hay FAT Choy..
some of which, I wish he'd cover up."

3.
(Johanna) "Today we're covering the big Burlesque celebration in Vancouver..years ago Burlesque was synonymous with ladies taking off thier clothes, dancing and showing off their figures....speaking of bums and buzooms..this old guy here, has bigger boobs than ANY of our dancers today,due to a steady diet of bench presses and natchos..here's Robo,Nancy and Jody the Vancouver Power team...."

CUT TO CLIP--Robo warms up raw with 375--don's a shirt for 505 or 507--Nancy talks about visulization--goal attaining and NOT taking drugs!!!--Jody Does numerous partial deadlifts with over 500--and denies being reporter "Timko's" long lost older brother--Jack borrows a line from Woody Guthrie and OUT!

(Johanna) " Arent YOU glad we're back..more from the Burlesque celebration downtown..and hey...Robert O...Put it on ...Put it back on !!"
_________________________________
---A note to Tony or any would be CPO lifter...the Meet in Calgary in early March,altho possibly a good one..Is NOT NOW Sanctioned by the CPO...as reported earlier..some minor things have changed, and this meet may possibly fly under the CPC Banner...official word from Bert Merriman VIA Andrey Butenko..

Little work out & some news !

Yesterday I did the so called speed day in bench pressing..but didn't want to mess with the bands..so I just repped the following weights as fast as they would go..shooting for speed on the bar.. 225X6 225X4 X3 275X4X4 315X3X3 335 355 and 225 for 20 reps to warm down..that oughta hold me til heavy day !

On occasion Gene Knight another fine bencher who I met at a WABDL Worlds a few years back sends me his workouts and man are they impressive..he's now 60 and hasn't hit the 500 mark in a meet..but from his enthusiasm and training I know he will soon for sure...his training schedule is very impressive --he is in the 275 weight class and I think you'll see Gene break some records in this years WABDL Worlds in Anaheim...thanks for reading the blog and staying in touch Gene !!

The USAPL Womens National's happened over the weekend and the winners were
105 - Cheryl Anderson
114 - Sioux-z Hartwig-Gary
123 - Jennifer Maile
132 - Jennifer Perry
148 - Priscilla Ribic
165 - Disa Hatfield
181 - Liane Blyn
198 - Bonica Brown
198+- Jessica O'Donnell
this was posted by Priscilla over at the unofficial USAPL Forum..she also did a 'highlights' feature that told you the best parts of the meet..but in it she left her self out..hey ! strong classy and humble !!

Mystery of course---where was Lizzy Storm?? --I really wanted to see her make a great comeback--could it have been airline flight related??--

and, how in the world did Washington state master lifter, Patricia Tidmarsh bomb in the squat??? she has always hit super low depth..cant even begin to imagine her being called on anything..her Hubby/coach,Ron has her training and form down to an art !--I hope she comes back and gets on the IPF World team next time..she's always deserved it !!

speaking of great powerlifting sites..Fortified Iron is back up at a temp address --and to find everything interesting depend on Powerlifting Watch to put it together like a newspaper for ya !
"Here is Powerlifting watch click it"
It puts all things 'POWER' in one place !! great site !

507 and some good Band work !

Did a shirt rep with 507 easy and flawless--nice pause, no butt-liftidity...only 2 shirt reps today( 462+507 )...just needed to feel the heavy weight...later I did a reverse band rep with 529--those were the heavy reps today..
The 'raws' were good too...295 X 6...315 X 4...335 X 2...355 X 1..375 X 1 375 X 1..

In the reverse band workout we did lots of heavy reps and left the workout with some decent poundage moved...it was a perfect workout to end the week...

I feel the 'limbo' thing happnin' again where I dont have a contest on the horizon..actually there are 3 really good ones next month..but either schedule or budget makes doing them iffy..I have to get myself in gear for a 3 lift meet in May tho'--hmm Goody!.. strength AND burning more calories...Man, do I need that !!

A buncha 435's

YESTERDAY !
Did pin presses with the bar nearly ON my chest at lowest pin height--went 405X2 405X2 405 405 425 435 435 435 435 for singles to replicate heavy work..of course no shirt ..Starting with dead stop of the bar,breaking inertia making this as close to a raw Bench press as I get..yes,I use singles because they seem to work for me...a training technique of Hepburn,Anderson and Jim Williams...of course I do some reps..and there is ONE trick with reps that really seems to peak me..5 weeks or so out from a meet...at the end of my heavy day do a 'warm down' set with 225lb benches for reps..week one, say about 15 --week 2 --20--week 3--23 reps...week 4 27 reps...this is just an afterthought to my workout...when I do it this way..I seem to get a bigger lift on my 5th week at the Meet ! could be poppycock..but as a "ritual" I think it fools me into thinking I'm going strong into a meet !!
The ad I voiced for Priscilla Ribic is now in part 2 of her podcast by Steve Mann at purepowerlifting dot com...A friend of Priscilla's put pictures with the voice and the spot works very nicely "Priscilla's cast is here--click it" the training info Priscilla gives comes in very handy...she describes doing 5's and 8's to get conditioned for meets that might only have 5 lifters per flight..this has a person squatting almost as fast as they can lift--unwrap-sit--rewrap and squat again...it's a breathless encounter..I know,it happened to me in 2003 at the IPF World Masters --I had 6 in my flight..good thing I could win with 80% of max lifts or I woulda been "Mr Cardiac Arrestman" not 'Whirlled Chimpanzee' that year !

500 for the camera !

Yesterday was sposed to be my light day--when I do the bands and the 60% poundages for 4 reps of 12 sets as fast as the bar can possible travel...But our buddy Jody Cranston had arranged for the Shaw TV show "The Express" to do a shoot on how our 'away team' trains at Nancie's gym--so I quickly warmed up with 145 -245- and 375 raw--then put on a shirt and popped up a 500 T n'G bench press for the cameras..Jody did reps with 500 in the rack pull deadlift and Nancy did floor presses to show one of our best assistance exercises..Jody and Nancy got most of the camera time --I think Jack Christie the producer of the piece didn't want to scare the audience away with my rather Hitchcockian frame lately..we plugged the heck out of WABDL events --and closed with a mention of our local BCPA web site so that local people would know where to learn about the sport and the 3 lifts..Jody, Nancy and I were still sore from the meet in Seattle but we were troopers and popped some good demos for the camera!--and I gave Jack Christie a copy of my comedy animation DVD "A Terrorist Donut in your Fruit of the Loom" no doubt,therapy will be needed after he watches it...my 'Popeil Pocket Psychiatrist' is standing by !

Previous to the shoot/workout, I had spent the day producing a radio/internet/pod cast commercial for Priscilla Ribic's PLGEARONLINE store--I ended up going from a 'nice' sounding spot to a 'truck pull' type read..ha ha..my favorite lifting gal actually likes it ..and I'll be very proud when she uses it in future casts!!

Click here to listen to 'Audio-for-Priscilla-'

530 WABDL World Record !!

520 Bench Press

That's my 2nd attempt in Issaquah Yesterday --I went on to 530 to beat the current WR ...Poor Robert O. Smith I beat his record by ONE pound..oh wait that's me..good thing I looked at the name written on my underwear...

Our BC team lifted smoothly and precisely..With a First place in the bench press by Nancy Carpenter--a first place in bench only for me--and 2 first places for Jody Cranston.

My pals and helpers, Nancy and Jody, are actually getting a FAN CLUB in Washington state meets!

there will be MORE when I update my power web page-look for the pictures and story in a few days !!

Thanks to Richard Schuller and Bull Stewart for a great meet !!