550 Bench in the Gym!!!
The first step to getting a Big lift barrier broken in a meet..is to give it a trial run in the gym.
Of course, in the gym there might not be a sufficient pause..the touch could be barely grazing the shirt..but what ever the outcome ..getting a BIG target lift ONE TIME is a euphoric feeling! That happened to me yesterday at Nancy's home gym..my friends Nancy and Bruce were there to help set the shirt,and save me in case of an accident.
I warmed up with 225 330 350 put on the shirt (A Katana I previously deemed "second string" due to loose fit )
It wouldn't touch with 440 462 or 507 and it seemed to have NO pop..the lifts that didn't even touch seemed really heavy..as if the shirt wasn't helping...but of course it was..it just didn't seem like it...then 529 --whoo a huge lift!!!.. EASY !! but Bruce pointed out that it was 2.5 inches from touching..DAMN !!!
So I sat on the end of the bench head down...said
"Well,I can do one of 2 things...quit,chicken out, or try 551...."
Nancy and Bruce were silent ..
after about 20 seconds I said..
'Load 250 KILOS' (551 lbs)
--we adjusted the shirt a bit...Nancy pulled down the shirt..belted me ...no, not that way...she secured my shirt with the small dress belt I use..
I got under the bar--this was excessively tough on Bruce..because the position of my arms were such that he had to lift most of the 551 for me--I must've initally given him only 150 pounds of force from my end..he got it out over me..I felt the full 551 and it was heavy..it began to go down.. and sideways..I thought for sure I was going to eat the weight..but not being in the mood for a funeral..I tried to straighten the course of the bar (rather than cry for Bruce and Nancy to grab it) it straightened...and went smoothly down to a perfect place on my chest...and wham !! UP IT WENT !!!!
Needless to say I was ecstatic !!! --it was the easiest lift of the day..after a 'near death' experience and an effortless pop with an all time PR--I was walking on air !
There was more to the workout--as Nancy and Bruce both hit PR's in the reverse band part of our workout..I followed what Bruce with doing with the bands...but I did the same weights WITHOUT the bands --IE: raw reps to speed the loading of the bar phase..I remember doing 225 for 10 286X6 308X6 330X3--this was after the shirted 551--kinda like repeating my warm up --
Then I started doing reverse Band work with the crew for 462 X4 496 X 3 507X2 and 529 for One final rep...Nancy and Bruce both seemed inspired and had all time GOOD workouts.. a milestone in Bench press poundage for me ..and reps and weight PR's for my partners...I wish there was a meet close to me soon..to do the 551 for real..alas,the Issaquah USAPL requires more expense than I can muster now (hotel-fees-gas etc)and the WABDL at the end of March--is the same deal only with a snowy mountain to drive over AND 6-7 hours driving added to the mix...
Job at hand ..get back to 3 lift training this week ..and send in the entry for CPO Nat's in May..hopefully one of my voice clients will accidentally OVERPAY me for something between now and then...or I could sell my first run of "Terrorist Donuts" by then.
Note --the Big Benching at The Arnold is winding up--hit the Powerlifting Watch link to the side, for info on how our own Clint Harwood did!
Of course, in the gym there might not be a sufficient pause..the touch could be barely grazing the shirt..but what ever the outcome ..getting a BIG target lift ONE TIME is a euphoric feeling! That happened to me yesterday at Nancy's home gym..my friends Nancy and Bruce were there to help set the shirt,and save me in case of an accident.
I warmed up with 225 330 350 put on the shirt (A Katana I previously deemed "second string" due to loose fit )
It wouldn't touch with 440 462 or 507 and it seemed to have NO pop..the lifts that didn't even touch seemed really heavy..as if the shirt wasn't helping...but of course it was..it just didn't seem like it...then 529 --whoo a huge lift!!!.. EASY !! but Bruce pointed out that it was 2.5 inches from touching..DAMN !!!
So I sat on the end of the bench head down...said
"Well,I can do one of 2 things...quit,chicken out, or try 551...."
Nancy and Bruce were silent ..
after about 20 seconds I said..
'Load 250 KILOS' (551 lbs)
--we adjusted the shirt a bit...Nancy pulled down the shirt..belted me ...no, not that way...she secured my shirt with the small dress belt I use..
I got under the bar--this was excessively tough on Bruce..because the position of my arms were such that he had to lift most of the 551 for me--I must've initally given him only 150 pounds of force from my end..he got it out over me..I felt the full 551 and it was heavy..it began to go down.. and sideways..I thought for sure I was going to eat the weight..but not being in the mood for a funeral..I tried to straighten the course of the bar (rather than cry for Bruce and Nancy to grab it) it straightened...and went smoothly down to a perfect place on my chest...and wham !! UP IT WENT !!!!
Needless to say I was ecstatic !!! --it was the easiest lift of the day..after a 'near death' experience and an effortless pop with an all time PR--I was walking on air !
There was more to the workout--as Nancy and Bruce both hit PR's in the reverse band part of our workout..I followed what Bruce with doing with the bands...but I did the same weights WITHOUT the bands --IE: raw reps to speed the loading of the bar phase..I remember doing 225 for 10 286X6 308X6 330X3--this was after the shirted 551--kinda like repeating my warm up --
Then I started doing reverse Band work with the crew for 462 X4 496 X 3 507X2 and 529 for One final rep...Nancy and Bruce both seemed inspired and had all time GOOD workouts.. a milestone in Bench press poundage for me ..and reps and weight PR's for my partners...I wish there was a meet close to me soon..to do the 551 for real..alas,the Issaquah USAPL requires more expense than I can muster now (hotel-fees-gas etc)and the WABDL at the end of March--is the same deal only with a snowy mountain to drive over AND 6-7 hours driving added to the mix...
Job at hand ..get back to 3 lift training this week ..and send in the entry for CPO Nat's in May..hopefully one of my voice clients will accidentally OVERPAY me for something between now and then...or I could sell my first run of "Terrorist Donuts" by then.
Note --the Big Benching at The Arnold is winding up--hit the Powerlifting Watch link to the side, for info on how our own Clint Harwood did!
posted by Thorndike Pickledish at 11:12 AM
2 Comments:
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I just found out that Clint Harwood got 771 in the Arnold !! That is some amazing lifting--it was kinda hard to find--but after seeing the final scoresheet --I also saw a note from Clint on Powerlifting Watch--all Canadian Benchers salute you big man !!
robo
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