Reverse band 550 !

Lately I've been guilt tripping myself cuz I've missed 2 mid week "Band" workouts..and have been been doing the usual going to friends houses for Holiday fare,lotsa Carbs and wine..and wine ..and wine...NOT the way to stay strong and healthy..at least to the extent I'VE been doing it ! and of course it increases my 'Lardissimo aspect' many fold, to the extent that I am your official "Yule Clog" and MY own 'Fativity scene'

But Today I gathered with Bruce and Nancy for a Heavy Bench day work out and got 2 shirted singles at 507...the heavy weights felt good ! before using the bench shirt I had warmed up raw with 225 X5 315 X 6 330X4 then a single with 350..and some faster singles with 330 again---to try to build confidence and speed for the shirt work..here, as I said I just did 4 shirt singles... the 2 heavy weights went up surely but were not the "rocket fast" reps I always describe my maxes to be..still I was satisfied with that part of the workout--Nancy and Bruce had very good workouts and are showing lots of progress,it seems 'old' heavy lifts have more speed and appear to be executed in an easier manner.."time to add some more weight to the bar"

One thing we are going to kick up --is the poundage with the reverse band work..for a while I'm going to use one of my goals for the year as my alternate heavy exercise to improve--today I did 507 again with reverse bands (blues) no shirt..then I did one at 550 Bruce was great at handing the bar out, and making the 550 seem light..from now on I'll use this heavier weight until I'm able to do 5 to 8 singles ..and like the Great Doug Hepburn taught us..when I get the 8 singles--it's time to add more weight to the exercise..gradually working to huge weights I hope to tackle in meets mid year...like 551 WABDL (single Katana)-- 562 CPO (Double Fury)...this work with more weight than has challenged me recently is the first step in getting used to it..then really tackling it in a meet...

Notice I didn't say I'd bench 600 in 2007 ?
heh heh --yeah, we all know OLD Grampa's cant do stuff like that !

Happy New Year !

Another "Heavy day"

Last night I trained at Nancie's gym ..actually, her loft /condo IS her gym..talk about 'living' powerlifting..her abode is 90% gym, 10 percent living space..her living room couch IS a bench and lifting racks..this nicely appointed dwelling has a kitchen,bathroom,up ladder bedroom..and a dining table...otherwise it's 100's of pounds of calibrated IVANKO plates-dumbells-2 platforms,numerous bars..yes,she has fitness clients she trains..and a perfect set up for a strength devotee..that's why the heavy shirt days for me are done there as to not freak out our local 'sensitive' gyms.

"Yo --Old Dude!..you're SCARING our customers..no more 5 plates bench presses!!"

So I go over to set a pin press PR raw in her NEW rack (the first hole heights seem to vary in all gym safety racks ) last week I got 402 at chest height and couldn't get 418.

(in the KITS gym rack I get 450 as a best..it's '1st pins' are higher)

Floor press/pin presses are done raw..I start with 225, I do many reps,not counting, just wanna warm up..jump to 308 it feels heavy but I do 8 or so..then to singles.. 402 --it goes easy--next is 418 it's easy too--I've beaten last weeks PR in this set up..then 424 for one, then 435 for one easy one..then to 441 and I get it--but my form errodes and the bar drifts behind on my 'weaker shoulder' side..it's ever so crooked ..but it's UP so it is my new PR when working in this new rack..441 not much behind my KITS 'best' --I then take the bar down to 402...and rep out...get this 7 reps..Nancy interrupts me on number 4 and says--"You're raising your butt off the floor !" I do a few more, and call it a 'workout' we ascertain (ASSertain??) that I wasn't lifting my butt during the single reps and the heavier numbers...I just got into the loose form when I hit the 7 rep set..a good workout..and even with skipping a "Band" workout earlier in the week..and having holiday wine..I've seemed to maintain my strength..so it will be Bands/speed on Tuesday then a shirt day on the 30th..
Nancy made me a SENSATIONAL Holiday meal, Morrocan chicken..which in my ex radio dj voice is pronounced..

"MORE ROCKIN CHICKEN ...More often"

"CLICK how my wine AND chicken met...sound on"

we had Naked Grape brand Shiraz with dinner --a great powerlifting gossip fest was had thru out--yes...we even mentioned YOU..and spoke of you kindly...!!

Merry Holidays

My so called Heavy Day !

Today I did pin presses in Kits center, here I have a rack that puts the bar 2.5 inches above my chest..Last week at Nancie's gym I tried floor presses at chest height..so,I now have 2 height criteria to get PR's for in this exercise,at Kit's my best is 450 from a dead stop one rep..so far at Nancies 420 has yet to fall (it WILL in the next training session tho ) no bench shirt on these movements of course.

My Son Zach was up from Seattle yesterday and during early holiday dinner..I drank with great abandon,funny how we always blame the holiday season for giving us license for that..anyway,I felt that the alcohol would hamper me today so I took my heavy day carefully..I did not want to prove booze would take 15 pound off my PR so --I lifted 'around' it..
starting with 405X3 405X2 405X2 then 425X2 435 435 435 435 --the 435's went like they always do --but yet I wasn't going to risk missing a normal BIG weight by trying it ..so I let it be..it felt like a good workout,one from which I will recover from quickly!

Just heard from Jody Cranston,who,with the flu that had him VERY ill..competed yesterday in the USAPL Fife Christmas meet in Washinton state...as usual, Jody won his division but the illness made him leave behind 30 pounds less than his best bench and 50 less than his best deadlift ! Wow !! That is one dedicated guy to compete and WIN ! and no,it wasn't in the "I just escaped from the hospital" division either..Jody is looking to get a 380 bench and a 600 deadlift this year..will he do it?? YES !! he definately will!!

In news of the impossible..Gene Rychlak has just benched 1010 in the APF ..in the video ..it starts out very dark then when he gets the handoff of the weight..neato!! the lights come on..he takes it down..gets the signal..and pushes it right back..it does go un even BUT both arms lock at the same time so it is INDEED a GOOD lift..the most ever !!

No, not single ply
no, not picky 'asswipe' judging
no,possibly not drug free !

But an astounding feat of strength and bravery !
way to go Gene !! this is the all time biggest bench AMAZING !
"Click on BIG Gene's 1010"

U give me Reason to Blog !

...But you can leave your hat on...

When I decided to use the training log format to Blog..I thought I'd enjoy writing down the gym workouts,thinking that some other older lifters could gauge their progress by them..well that got very boring to me..and I soon liked better,making notes on Contests--meet prep--friends BIG lifts etc.

What especially bogs me down is the report of the Dynamic day (speed reps/bands) the weights are light and the training nuances are not noticible --that is,I may use the same weights 3 workouts in a row..but hit the speed effort harder --or double the bands..or back off--yesterday, I had a speed day that was effective as exercise--but my speed on some heavy test weight was still a modicum slower than when I'm at peak strength..I came home and started to report my 'so so' day to you ..and I said ..ah..hell,why??--it's the same ol' boring log..today I look at the WABDL site and ...AHEAD OF SCHEDULE the years meets are listed..and lookee here ! There is a meet in Issaquah for WABDL FEBRUARY 3rd !! and a timetable of other NW meets..that is very encouraging !! and gives me the target I need to train for..so once the Holiday distractions are gone "Would you like some Champagne in your protein drink?" I can be back in my 'alive' state..leaving behind the limbo of "what am I going to the gym for??" I'm back feeling like a silverback with a full dance card !--I see at least 4 WABDL's -- 2 CPO's an AWPC worlds, and a GPC Worlds (It's close to home)in this years schedule...goals ??? get a 2ply max in CPO to see how close I can get to an ultimate inflated number in the bench press (560??)..and of course ONE WABDL Bench World record and yes,maybe even Break my WABDL World Deadlift record too...ahh, life is good when you have enough meets.. and liniment.

507 + Huge Volume !

I Put on a shirt yesterday and got a 507 bench press in contest form..I'm glad I didn't lose as much ground as I thought I had in the 18 day lay off...Last weeks heavy day had me so sore,that I wasn't recovered for my 'speed' workout--But I did it anyway on Wednesday,and was instantly sore again to an amazing "it hurts to do ANYTHING" degree..BUT after yesterday's heavy workout,today I am not sore at all and feel energized...The workout started with the usual warm ups 225 thru 365--then the shirt,a 440 a 462 then the 507..the bar felt heavy at the top so I thought I'd just be happy to be back in the 500 club so soon after my slothful ways...then we switched to reverse bands..I did about 6 sets to 3X 507 again ..then we did a huge amount of sets and reps in the floor press...I got to a 402 raw from chest height..in essence a raw positive from a dead stop...then we added small purple bands..and the poundages for all of us (Myself, Nancy n' Bruce)went thru the roof..all in all, we put in more sets than we ever have in the bench workout..we varied our reps and poundages and had a terrific workout,giving me the feeling that I could produce a STRONG lift as early as next week,makes me wish I was going to Martin Drake's AAU meet in Vegas...but it's Holiday season and I have to try not to do a contest a week..at least for awhile..meanwhile,I was offered a Santa Gig this week (turned it down) clever on the clients part, they wouldn't even have to pad the suit ! Ho Ho Ho !!

Going back after 18 days

I've never laid off 18 days before..but the circumstances in the blogs below explain how I missed all that training time.
Yesterday I got together with Bruce and Nancy for a heavy day, which usually means a shirted PR type attempt but I thought I wouldn't put on a shirt unless my RAW Bar speed was good--well it wasn't ..but I was glad to be trying out Nancy's new Rack, a Yukon, she picked up in Bothell ( a store called LIFTERS ) when we went to the Pacific Power meet in October..this has safety standards and seems to be way easier for my bench set up..I look forward to trying BIG Weights next year in Safety in the new power cage.
I did benches with 225 for warm up then to 275 for 4 reps 315 for 3-- 330 for 1, 350 one rep 3 sets-
-bar speed was slow-
-usually this weight flies..
went to 360 and did 3 singles there too.
Quickly I compute, 385 or so would've travelled at the speed of the 360..so I deemed that it was NOT a day for a shirt PR or test..we went to reverse bands I did 6 sets of bands some with reps moving to a best of 3 reps with 462--the work out felt good !

Bruce and Nancy had fine workouts too--Today my Pecs hurt like I've NEVER worked out a day in my life and am getting the soreness from my first set of lifting (you remember how that felt)

This weekend was the American Open in Palm Springs I was hoping to go but pulled out after the October meet..
I mentioned Priscilla Ribic was going ..yep, she lifted as a 165 pound lifter and squatted 551 benched 319 and deadlifted 529 needless to say that performance was the high spot of day one's lifting..

Yes, and the WABDL Worlds official results are up at

"WORLDS PAGE-CLICK"

A big and wonderful meet--19 countries and a huge turnout of BIG lifts..always my favorite place to lift !