Bench Press Updates....

As always, I like to start these posts off with a little inspiration. Pictured to the left is my good friend and former Ball State University powerlifter Matt Wenning. I'm assuming this pic is from ~2002 or 2003. At the time, Matt was benching in high 400's, maybe low 500's. I got word (via the latest PLUSA) that he recently benched 815! Matt is an inspiration to a lot of people and I wish him the best going forward.

After last week's post I figured I better keep everyone in the loop with my bench press training. Don't expect anything too huge, yet; my goal is simply to get healthy and back in the groove, then start pushing my numbers from here. Last night I trained later in the evening, which generally leads to sub-par training sessions. I'd love to train in the morning all the time, but lack of training partners and other commitments sometimes get in the way.

Regardless, I kicked off the session with some serious soft-tissue work using the Starr tool. If you have soft-tissue adhesions/scar tissue, you need to get your hands on one of these things. They rock! After about 5 minutes my pec was feeling better than it had in quite some time. I warmed up using the I/O drills, and then began the benching.

Again, keep in mind that the weights are not huge. Like I said, the goals are:

- No pain

- Clean, crisp reps

- Develop connective tissue strength

Luckily my boy Justin was in last night, and I've also made another promise to myself that I am going to get a hand-off for everything 135 and over. Can I lift it off myself? Sure. But when I do, I compromise my stability and I can't get my right scapula back into place. Lack of scapular stability = shoulder/pec problems.

I started with 185 for 8, and that felt pretty good. I honestly would've been happy to stay there, but with some goading I moved up to 195. Again, nice and smooth. I went up to 205 for my last set and the final rep was a struggle, but still clean.

Honestly, the biggest difference between tonight and other training sessions was the soft-tissue work before hand and the lift-offs.

All in all, this was a good session. Now the key is to string together a couple of weeks like this, and then eventually a couple of months. Only time will tell, but this was exactly what my body and mind needed.

Have a great weekend!

Stay strong

MR

BTW, if you like my bench chronicles, let me know as I've considered doing this with my squat as well. It's more jacked up d/t surgery and the ensuing compensations, but I really have no idea if people want to hear me ramble on about my own lifting week in and week out.

Rebuilding the squat

My first squat workout consisted of 8 repetitions at 185 pounds. I can still remember it to this day, as one of the football players made some wise-ass comment and called me "Squatasaurus."

Jerk.

In my first official powerlifting meet, I squatted a whopping 336 at a bodyweight around 176. Needless to say, I didn't know squat.

Over the years, I tried tons of different programs - clusters, wave-loads, bands, chains, 5x5, Russian squat cycles, the works. I also tried tons of different squatting styles; I started out narrow, then moved ultra wide (ala Westside), and then settled on something in between. All I knew was the squat was the most difficult lift for me, but I wanted it to be my best.

Over the years, I slowly built my squat. I think the numbers went something like this:

Meet #1 - 336
Meet #2 - 380
Meet #3 - 407
Meet #4 - 385 (yeah, this one sucked - that's another story!)
Meet #5 - 385 (this REALLY sucked - welcome to a National meet!)
Meet #6 - 424?
Meet #7 - 446
Meet #8 - 473
Meet #9 - 490 (couldn't eke out the big 5 bills)
Meet #10 - 515
Meet #11 - 530 (I think I could've gone 545-550 this day, but a miscue on the opener wrecked that notion)

I'm not 100% on all the numbers, but that looks pretty darn close. First meet was in December of 2000, last meet in May of '05. I did approximately two meets per year, except for '01-'02 where I did at least three.

Let's be honest: I was never a pretty squatter. I have a short torso and long limbs, so it's more of a squat/good morning hybrid. While I'm nowhere near their level, my squat looked a lot like a Brad Gillingham or Nick Tylutki. Being an athlete growing up, I inherently knew the best way for me to squat big was to squat fast. The slow, controlled thing just didn't work for me.

I think the thing that consistently drove my numbers up were hard work, a laser-like focus on my goals and always refining technique. I had a video clip up here last year where I was squatting again and the "stroke" has never felt quite the same after the surgery. The knee feels fine, but training has been inconsistent at best and without coaching getting dialed in is very hard to do.

My goal right now is to get the technical aspects back, and then to start driving the poundages back up. If you want to grow your squat, I think I've written some decent articles on the topic - be sure to check these out:

10 Tips for Flawless Squattin'

6 Tricks for a Sexy Squat

The Modified 5x5 Program (this is the routine I used to go from 420ish to 530)

Olympic vs. Powerlifting Squats

While it's not a quick and easy process, take the time and dedicate yourself to growing your squat. Whether your goal is jakt legs, aesthetics or just a big squat, your hard work will be rewarded over time.

Stay strong
MR

PS I'll do my best to find a video clip of a competition squat; I know I have one somewhere!

Nasty

A little training motivation for the weekend - you've got to respect Captain Kirk!



Stay strong
MR

Age ain't nothing but a number...

Following up on Monday’s post, here’s a video clip of Big Brad Gillingham pulling a massive 859 pound deadlift (390 kilos).



As I stated before, Brad is a guy that I really look up to in the sport of powerlifting. He hasn't cut any corners, and has trained hard over the past 20 years to become one hell of a lifter.

Stay strong
MR

Powerlifting in a Commercial Gym?

Last week, I was meeting with a new client and going through the traditional assessment. The guy was like most that I see:

- Imbalanced stiffness between the lumbar spine and hips; this leads to a flawed and inefficient squat and deadlift
- Poor gluteal motor control, especially in single-leg stance
- Excessively tight in the anterior hips
- Fairly weak in the serratus, although not too bad

However, that’s not the point of this post. Imagine my dismay when I walked into a commercial gym the other day and saw a 60+ year old wearing a bench shirt and getting diesel!

The point is, I SAW PEOPLE POWERLIFTING IN A COMMERCIAL GYM! And not only that, but there were probably 8-10 people in and out of bench shirts, all over the age of 40! Needless to say, I was more than a little stoked to see that.

This just goes to show you that powerlifting is one sport that you can continue to excel at, even later in life. Many of the world’s best powerlifters are close to or over 40 years of age. Brad Gillingham is a lifter I’ve always looked up to and admired, and he continues to set PR’s well into his forties.

Well, this post didn’t have too much of a point, but I had to share it with someone. I’m just glad to see that there are some people out there in commercial gyms that are serious about their strength and physique development.

Stay strong
MR

Some motivation for the weekend...

Another one of my favorite USAPL lifters, Caleb Williams, hitting a world record squat:



And here's a second clip that shows all his lifts from that meet. It's awesome watching him toy with the weights, especially on the squat and bench.



Stay strong, train hard, and have a great weekend!

MR

Squatting 8 Bills to Blind Melon

Wade Hooper is one of my favorite powerlifters of all time. Not only is he freaky strong, but he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. It's amazing how many top level lifters are great people to boot.

Here's a YouTube clip of Wade training for the Quest Invitational last year. Wade is a squat technician, so if nothing else watch the control and efficiency he displays when un-racking the bar and setting up. It's the basic three step approach I've outlined in several of my squatting articles.



Train hard and have a great day!

Stay strong
MR