Squats
bar x lots
65kg x 5
105kg x 3
125kg x 3
8 sets of 145kg x 3

Plate loaded Hack Squats
2 sets 80kg for 15
120kg for 15

Seated Leg extensions
2×15

Seated leg curls
2×15

Awesome session, squats felt mega fast, tried a narrower hand grip and felt better with the take out, 145kg felt like I was just lifting the bar from set 1 all the way to set 8. Just how a speed squat should be really!  Happy with hack squat, 15 deep reps with three plates a side, use to be a hard 8 for me but reckon got 4 plates a side in me for a good set of 8.

Getting stronger, loving being back to the raw side of things, motivated by raw lifters such as Brandon Lilly, Dan Green, Mike Tuscherer, Stan Efferding, Eric Lillibridge etc, would love to be at the same calibre of these guys one day, live and breath this sport. The fire is back and cant wait to step on the platform again. I leave you with a video I find motivating hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

I started lifting weights a little bit when I was in about the sixth grade. I was a runt of a kid, and I had no idea what I was doing. There were some curls and push-ups and I do not remember what else. When I got closer to high school, I discovered wrestling and I knew that was the sport for me. There were no middle school teams around, so all I could do was wait till freshman year and give it my best shot. Having two brothers (one being a twin slightly bigger than me) at least gave me some experience with grappling. So, I went out for the team, and there happened to be a bit of an opening at 119 pounds. Except for the very first week of the season, I was able to beat the other freshman and sophomores in our challenge matches, and I was our varsity 119 all season.

I was terrible. I think I had like 8 wins and 20 losses that year. Even worse, most of those wins were due to forfeit. Apparently, 119 was a tough weight class to fill. That was a tough year. Practice was the most grueling thing I had ever endured. The wrestling room stayed over 80 degrees, we took no water breaks, and the coach had no interest in explaining the basics to a freshman fish. I dislocated my shoulder in practice early that year, he popped it back in, and my shoulders stayed in a constant state of jacked-up-ness all four years. I constantly worried about making weight despite naturally weighing around 118 pounds at the time. I lived on half cups of white rice and chicken breast that season, constantly dehydrated. My mother hated the sport (due to worrying about me and my twin), but she cooked these alternative meals for me and helped any way she could. The dehydration and fear of gaining water weight were brutal. I would occasionally sneak to the kitchen and have the smallest swallow of apple sauce or a sip of fruit juice. In retrospect, I believe my body needed the nutrients and the coldness was satisfying in lieu of water.

That season was one of the most challenging times in my life. Each time I stepped on the mat, I believed in myself and that I could win this match. In reality, I got destroyed on a regular basis. Between my shoulder and the nosebleeds that never ended, I was a mess. The thing is, I never once thought about quitting. Not when conditioning would have us all near tears. Not when I had only had a half cup of sweet tea and a bite of a roll to eat all day. Not when my nose would begin bleeding yet again, and the trainer would jam half a tampon in there.

I survived that season, and I was immediately looking forward to the next one. Running, dieting, lifting weights; in retrospect, my training was pretty dumb. I did not know what I was doing, but I did it hard.  Mile-runs, power cleans, ugly squats, a terrible bench press.  I never became a great athlete. But, I used my focus and aggression over the next few years to become better. I was always a pretty smart kid, so my proudest moments were not about school or grades. Those just came naturally. As a lifelong runt and “wimp,” I was most proud to be a team captain and all-conference my junior and senior years.

I am not writing this to relive my “glory days”. Our lives go on. If all you have are things you achieved in the past, you are wasting your life. My excitement, my pride are for the things I am working towards. I just wrote this to say I am not discouraged that I am starting as a weak powerlifter. I am not writing this to cry and bemoan the plight of the “hard gainer”. We are all hard gainers in some aspect, and we all face challenges as we work towards our goals.

Nothing worth our desires, our energy, or our passion comes easily.  An achievement takes dedication and work.  It takes sacrifice.  Nothing truly worth it ever comes easily.

13.5.2013 I felt a small snap in my lower back during the max lift. As nothing hurt afterwards I did not think about it until last Saturday. My lower back felt really great! Apparently the sound came from my SI joint that found its place! Some way to crack a joint…

Should do PB’s more often!

Elbow pain is a common complaint with lifters, often described as ‘bicep tendonitis’. Typically this pain manifests itself when low bar squatting, push pressing, bench pressing and some isometric grip work such as carrying events.

As with so many things there are a whole host of causes, but they are mostly linked to a weakness, imbalance or neglected movement pattern. Frequently the key weakness in this example is external rotation at the shoulder, combined with tightness through anterior delt, chest, biceps and forearm extensors. This then leads to a disproportionate load at the tendon site, due to poorly functioning and sliding of the surrounding muscle fibres.

This flexibility needs addressing, you should be able to rack a bar on your shoulders for push press, in a similar fashion to a weightlifter. To me, the inability to do this immediately flags up something that needs work, whether that be wrist or tricep flexibility, or shoulder and upper back mobility. Similarly this manifests itself when low bar squatting as an inability to externally rotate sufficiently to grasp the barbell whilst across the upper back.

If you are looking at a reason to improve this rack position, it will make the press more efficient and you’ll move more weight, as the bar is fully supported across your delts, upper chest and collar bones. Then when you dip and drive all the impetus will move into the bar rather than being cushioned and lost by the movement in your arms. Secondly it will put a LOT less stress through your elbows and shoulders, meaning it will hurt less!

Its difficult to get into the rack position, but very important. Usual limiting factors are tight thoracic back, poor scapula and shoulder capsule mobility and tight triceps, along with inflexible wrists (but as most of us wrap our wrists this is less important).

Mobility and flexibility:
My first port of call would be shoulder dislocations, initially using a light theraband or resistance band, then progressing to a non stretchy cord such as a skipping rope, and eventually onto a dowel or broom handle. I would advise NEVER using a barbell to perform this movement, and NEVER force your arms to rotate backwards. This is a decent guide on how to do them, and I recommend doing the pec stretches and thoracic extensions he links to as well, great site with a lot of top quality advice.

http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/

Next is looking at the shoulder extension, again using a band, and this is how to do that:

Incidentally the guy in that video, Kelly Starrett of MobilityWOD is probably a genius, subscribe to his youtube channel and watch all of his videos, fascinating stuff from a guy who really knows what he is talking about. He has just released a book, which I have ordered, called ‘Becoming a Supple Leopard’. I’ll be reviewing it in due course.

Here he is talking about the rack position, some of this may well make you cry, so begin these mobility drills gently and carefully!

Strengthening:
Now, as for strengthening the posterior delts, supraspinatus and teres minor, there are two invaluable moves in my opinion; band pull aparts and face pulls. With pull aparts try and really open your chest up with these, should feel it stretch! Try and do these without squeezing your shoulder blades together so just the shoulder socket is moving. Face Pulls should also be done with a band initially, although I have progressed to a cable stack as a lot of guys do. Keep your elbows high and ensure that there is an element of humeral rotation at the end of the movement. Both the face pulls and pull aparts should be performed in a very smooth, measured fashion.

Foam rolling:
You should all be using a foam roller already to keep your whole body supple and healthy so there is no need to go into that too much here!

When to do them:
Before every pressing session I would look at doing the drills for improving shoulder extension, rack position, thoracic extension and dislocates in order to fully mobilise in order to perform your lifts accurately and safely. I would also do them, but less intensively, at least once more per week.

I also look to foam roll the chest, shoulder, biceps and triceps after every pressing session and once more per week in addition to the band pull aparts and face pulls twice a week, after pressing and after back work.

This is intended as documentation of the methods I have used to successfully manage my elbow pain, with advice from superb therapists. If you wish to mimic my approach I am sure it will yield results, as it has for many of the people I work with on a personal basis. If you are unsure on how to deal with your elbow pain, I suggest seeing a sports physiotherapist and sports masseur.

This work by David Whittington is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tier 1:

• 97.5 x 3
• 102.5 x 2 x 2
• 107.5 x 1 x 3

Tier 2:

• 90 x 3 x 8

Assistance: dips, chinups, DB rows, shoulder circuit, ab wheel, band pull aparts

Bench is going very well lately… hit everything with no trouble. I noticed today that my gym purchased more teeny bands, so I can actually do lots of band pull aparts without having to hunt all over the damn building. Obvious solution would have been to purchase my own, but I forgot to add them to my order when I bought my Do-Wins a few weeks back. Did 10 reps between each of my bench sets.

And then off to league scrimmage. We split into 3 groups: A-team, B-team, and the rest of the league. I am not usually a jammer, but I end up jamming a ton in pick up scrimmages like this simply because I’m willing to. Jamming is one of the few things I enjoy doing even though I’m not good at it.* Usually I hate things I’m not good at. I made an effort to actually wait for my blockers and take the holes they open up for me when they are available to play defense, instead of just plowing into walls ineffectively. Hitting the pack hard and going balls to the walls is the only way I can make myself aggressive enough to get through, yet this causes me to ignore my offense. It’s an odd balance I haven’t found yet.

*unless I’m stuck in the pack for 2 minutes falling down and wanting to cry (just kidding, I actually cry). Then I don’t enjoy it one iota.

Felt like doing the same this afternoon. Being an adult is hard. I feel hot and sticky and sunburned and tired. But I made myself go lift because I figured I’d regret skipping the gym once I got my head on straight, if that ever happens.

Sheiko #30 w2d1

I was nervous to see heavy singles on squats tonight. But I think slacking off for a few days did me well because these were probably the prettiest reps of 275 that I’ve ever done. Depth was not a problem and I was surprised at how laughably easy they were. On the final single, my setup was a little bit off and my knee did something wonky, but overall I’m really happy with how these went.

Bench felt good. I kept rest to a minimum and still managed to rep-out 120×6 at the end.

I skipped the accessory work but did do the second round of squats. I tried for a rep-out on these as well, but my legs just gave out and I only manged 4. Whatever. I’m consoling myself with those 275s.

Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. Gary is finally going to pull 405 and wants me to come cheer him on. I might tackle the accessory work I skipped today, or I might attempt to deadlift. We’ll see how I feel.

Food Diary

Lifting is not the only area of my life where I’ve feeling lazy. I couldn’t even bring myself to make a protein shake this afternoon, let alone cook. I’m also feeling like a bodybuilder who is 4 weeks out, but looks like they’re 12 weeks out. My weight is a fucking disaster and I don’t want to do a meet if my weigh-in is going to suck. I’m going to try low carbing for a while. Even though I just want to eat cinnamon buns all day long, I’m conscious of the fact that eating crap is really affecting my mood. I think it would just be best to say flat-out “No” to all sugar for a while and see if I can get a handle on myself.

Breakfast: Large Coffee with 2 creams

Morning snack: 4 pack of Paleostix, Large coffee with cream

Lunch:  3 scrambled eggs with spinach and hot sauce, coleslaw

Supper: Steamed shrimp with broccoli in coconut aminos

Morning weight: Really fat.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 @ EIRC

Stretching & Mobility

Squats - Unmemorable triples. Video showed my heels coming off the floor, hence the addition of the paused squats. All of my toes are badly blistered from walking in sandals over the weekend, and wearing shoes is absurdly painful right now, which I think was part of the problem.

Paused Squats – Three-second pause in the hole: Knees out, chest up, explode out. Really felt these in my quads at first and then the glutes woke-up and joined the party. The pause makes you bear down hard to keep your core tight for the entire rep.

Bench - Second week in a row I’ve benched the day before training with my coach. Strength wasn’t affected too much, but my tiredness eventually caught with me. Nailed my first set of triples at 65kg (143.2lbs) –my second attempt at the last meet– but a bad hamstring cramp and some discomfort in my wonky arm resulted in my bailing midway through the next set. That’s when my coach realized the extent of my fatigue and called it a night.

As always, I don’t record specific weights, sets, and reps when working with my coach, but triples means we’re working in the 80%-85% range.

I can say it now! I am officially a powerlifter! On top of being a marathoner, a figure competitor, an aspiring chef, a future nutritionist/dietitian, an artist and anything else I am passionate about. April 20^th and 21^st marked a very busy, high adrenaline weekend for Jason and I. Technically Jason’s second meet and my first. I want to talk about Jason first. He *censored* dominated. I am still so proud of what he accomplished that day. Chasing close behind of one of the world’s strongest and well known Lilliebridge boys, Ernie Jr. better watch out

A quick overview of what happened. I sat in the crowd as a nervous and shaking girlfriend, ready to somehow steadily film my boyfriend take on and squat over 600 pounds of weight for his first attempt, I just about freaked out when he didn’t come up on the stage. I ran to the back warm up area and found that he was alive. As much as I wanted to slap him for giving me a heart attack he explained that him and Ernie Jr. were skipping their openers because they didn’t get to warm up enough. So the flight goes through again and I set up to film Jay take his opener. Success! And thankfully my filming was too though you could not hear anything but me yelling my heart out. So figure this out really quick. You have three attempts but Jay skipped his first leaving him two. He had one left. I’m standing next to him in the back as he talks to Eric Lilliebridge and Jr. about what to do. Even I knew Jason was not going to be happy if he didn’t shoot for the number he had in mind. Without taking into account how much weight he was going to put up last all I said was, “It’s not like you haven’t done anything crazy before…” What happened next brought proud tears to my eyes and a grin from ear to ear. My crazy ass boyfriend not only PR’d, he dominated a 100+ pound jump to 744 pounds and he stole the UPA Raw record for squat in the 242 weight class. (You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/_pPPNeHww4k )

I clutch my heart and sigh with pride. He’s amazing. His bench was amazing as well, but I’m his girlfriend remember, I may be biased. He was injured with a strained pec/shoulder injury which even today is still healing. He still managed to press in the high 300’s. With ease… And as he was pissed that he could have done more to bring up his total he had to move on to deadlifting which he dominated as well with 727.  Seriously.

That Saturday was super special because not only did Jason breeze through his lifts, but his parents were there to witness it all. They are usually pretty busy so it was so awesome to have them come out to help me cheer Jason on. Even better, they stayed for part of Sunday to watch me! My parents came bright and early as well. I rarely remember any sport event even back when I was in middle school running track that my parents didn’t get to make it out to my events. They are my top fans and biggest supporters and my dad being my personal photographer.

A dieter’s worse nightmare.

Mind you, Saturday morning was my weigh in. I told the girl who was taking record of my weight that, “I hope for 132.” She laughed and said, “on the dot.” Huge relief. I only had to lose water weight but it’s still nerve wracking and draining. So Saturday marked me embracing my inner fat-ass. I’m usually extremely good with what I eat. But that day, I surprised a lot of people, including myself with how many donuts I put down, pop tarts, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with extra peanut butter, crackers… at least I started my morning off with a meat lovers omelet and a side of fruit. So I got a decent breakfast in. I also brought with me about 24 GIGANTIC brownies stuffed with Oreo cookies and of course peanut butter… They were gone by Sunday. I made them and I am pretty sure I am now expected to bring either these or muffins to our training dates. I got this recipe from Pinterest and it was soooo worth it.

My lifts were so much of a blur that it didn’t hit me till about 3:00 waiting for deadlifts to start did I realize how exhausted I was. And it wasn’t my body. It was my mind. And fast forward to this past weekend was when I really started feeling up to par with training again. Overview: I went 6 for 9. Missing my last attempts but it is what it is. My squats were 255ish and I smoked it. 275 easy. 303 *shaking my head* I know what I did wrong and that’s what matters. It won’t happen again. As my amazing coach tells me, “the strength is there…”

My coach always gives me last second words of encouragement. Photo courtesy of my dad @ http://www.MyPieceOfHeavenPhoto.com

Despite having a cursing outburst of anger after missing it, people clearing out of my way when I walked off the stage, I got over it and moved on. Bench was decent as well. 145(?) easy. 154, definitely struggled but I put it up and missed 159. And lastly, deadlift. And it was this very day that I truly understood why they call it that. Your body stays in the fight or flight, high adrenaline, high alert state of mind (especially if you’re not used to it) for over 6 hours and you tell me how *censored* strong you are. The deadlift made me appreciate what using every ounce of your energy and will at one single moment truly means. My numbers were 275, 308 and missed 330.

A funny moment that I must mention… For bench, an awesome guy by the name of WT Franklin was calling my press. As I went up for my first attempt I leaned and asked, “Could you call my bench a little louder? I’m hard of hearing.” He kindly said, “Absolutely!” I saw him lean closer to the bench and needless to say, I heard him. “PREESSS!” The weight seemed to have shot up because it practically scared me. He will be training under the same roof as my team at Jakked Gym in Montgomery. The very place where I first met my coach and the team.

I have a couple questions for anyone who might be able to answer regarding the after effects of competing in a powerlifting event. How long does it take for your nervous system to die down after an all-day event like that? Since your brain uses glucose as energy as the rest of your body does is it likely that you can lose weight despite consuming the maintenance level of calories? I would think that the high level of stress would prevent you from losing weight but boy I was wrong. I dropped down close to my weigh-in weight! I’m going to do a little research. That Monday and the following days after I had never been so sleepy yet so awake yet so exhausted in my life. Needless to say I slept like a baby the week after.

WT Franklin (white hat) yelling, “PRESS” and Jason watching intensely.Courtesy of UPA CEO Bill Carpenter

I don’t hold my misses over my head…too much. I can walk away saying I set national records or “I set American Records.” I can actually say that. But since the meet, I haven’t. It’s not that I’m not proud of my accomplishments. I have moments even today where I find myself smiling thinking of it.

It is just something about knowing you’re not done and that the world will live to see a very special moment that is made possible by you. Seems farfetched to some but my high strung ass became humbled by that day because I’ve come to accept quite a few things:

• In relation to powerlifting- the numbers in the gym mean nothing if you can’t put them up at a meet because that’s when it matters. There is no room for an ego because you’ll always be competing against one person. Yourself.
• Circumstances change because you can only control so much or have no control at all and  you just have to take it as it comes and press on.
• My body is PURE evidence of my work. I may have my thoughts of wishing clothes looked better on me but I’m beyond proud of my strength matching my looks. By no means do I look like a cardio bunny and my presence in the free weight section of any gym is respected. As it should be.
• My body is a temple of immeasurable energy, sacred and powerful and I will care for it down to the very thing I eat (minus the pop tarts).
• My purpose is to defy average. I have done more in my 23 years than most have done in a lifetime and I’m not even close to being done.
• When you find your niche, make it a calling, run with it… DO something! But don’t let your gift go to waste. My parents have been a witness of my determination since I was young. I never went into anything without going full throttle. Why half-ass something? Why not find out how incredible you can really be?
• Regardless of the work you put into your passion, everyone knows that you started at the bottom, knowing nothing, and doubting yourself. I am proof of my own work but I am a reflection of the people who got me there. I am not alone when I train and neither was I alone when I made or missed my attempts. The people you surround yourself with are determinants of the level of your success.
• Your mindset is everything. If you can envision your success, you can achieve it.
• The only limits that exist are the ones you set yourself and even if there are any, they are meant to be exceeded. As the saying goes, “Whatever you are…be a good one.”

There’s something I want to get off my chest. It’s actually not a bad thing either. Fair warning, I’m about to get a little cocky because I was once told by someone who thought they held a significant place in the fitness industry, that I was a “nobody”. That was sometime last year. I don’t talk to them anymore. But if our paths cross sometime in the future I can at least say something along the lines of, “I don’t see you setting national records…”. Although, I probably won’t say it, because again there is a sense of pride knowing that I accomplished more than most and I’m not getting worn down by chasing lost dreams. Granted, I’ve been called much worse, but being called a “nobody” is one of those things that fires you up to show them they are wrong, otherwise you would punch them.

I have much more than they ever will as well. I have an amazing coach, a powerful and motivating team, my ever reliable support system and an undying drive to get stronger. The human body is an incredible and amazing piece of work and my God… mine has taken a beating but it’s only going to get better from here. I need to send my thanks out to my massage therapist Mike Mcaleese at SOHMAR Institute in Downers Grove. His input on the health status of my muscles, his knowledge and support most definitely contributed to my ongoing success in the sports I’ve pursued. A special thanks to my parents for their patience and support as I discover myself through my athletic endeavors, and another special thanks to Jason for being real with me when I need it, for loving me no matter what mood I’m in, forever supporting me through my failures and seeing me soar to new great heights in my successes.

Please stop by my dad’s website www.MyPieceOfHeavenPhoto.com to check out the pictures from the meet. That’s about all the proof of my lifts at the moment because I tend to be the only one that films anything…Maybe my next meet? It would be nice to upload more videos of myself to my own YouTube site. As far as competing next, lets just say it will be much sooner rather than later.

Eat Healthy Live Happy Friends,

-Nell

There was not really any moaning. That was a joke. Anyway, this is about bench today, May 7, 2013. I actually took a couple videos, but one of them is at a little too much of an up-shorts angle, one shows me not pausing a rep that should have been paused, and the third is just close grip. So, to the singles and singles of my fans, I apologize.

Did anyone else watch Mankind/Mick Foley wrestle back in the day? He mimicked the Rock’s little speech about the millions and millions of the Rock’s fans, but instead, he would say “the dozens and dozens” of Mankind’s fans. I have been wanting to make this joke forever. I loved that guy.

So, after warming up, my sets were:

145 x 5
165 x 3
185 x 1
195 x 1
215 x 1

Bench felt pretty good today. My right shoulder has been unhappy for a little while, and I am not certain why. I have had glass shoulders for about as long as I can remember, so it is not surprising. I honestly thing it might be from the jumping jacks I have been doing as part of my warmup, so I am going to drop those for a while and see if this improves.

I paused 185 and 195. I intended to pause 215. However, my setup was off, and I rushed the lift. Instead of r-eracking and readjusting, I just hit it touch and go and it was crappy. Dumb.

After that, I did close grip bench. I am a big fan of close grip. It has got to be beneficial for my regular bench, because I already have a relatively narrow setup to protect my shoulders. Anyway, these went:

135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5

I paused all my close grip reps.

My last main movement was dumbbell bent over rows. I tried the experiment with barbell rows the other week. I just don’t like them. Heavy (it is a relative thing) dumbbell rows definitely help my grip and my back has grown in the last year and a half. Since I have mostly done pullups and db rows in that time, they obviously work. So, dumbbell rows went:

75 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 10

The last thing I did today was test my reverse grip straight bar curl. This is also in preparation for starting a couple months of rest pause training. I got 85 x 2, and that was it. So, I have an estimated 1 rep max to work with.

My weight is still hovering between 168 and 170. My lifts are slowly going up, so things are moving in the right direction. Lifting has never come easily to me, so I am grateful for every ounce of progress. I’m kind of planning to write another post about that. If it is terrible, I just won’t upload it.

Do something awesome today. Awesome is relative, too. Maybe your awesome is a new deadlift PR, reading a new book, or helping somebody with something. All valid, all great.

• Standard Issue SwoleFIT Recovery Prescription Just Do It

I recently discovered an active recovery program called “Recharge” by Joe DeFranco (creator of Westside for Skinny Bastards). Joe is known for training elite athletes out of his warehouse new Jersey gym and has built up quite a reputation by delivering solid results.

“Recharge” is a series of 6 different 10-15 minute routines (all on video), each of which mobilizes specific parts of the body. Each routine is 3 parts- foam roller or lacrosse ball work followed by a mobility stretch followed by a low resistance targeted “activation” movement. I’ve had lower back tightness on and off for about the past 4 years and after doing two of these routines, it completely disappeared. I mean completely. I’m going to continue to do these before I workout/ on off days; I’ll update you guys on its effectiveness.

>>> Click here to check out the program <<<

Motivation

• “Do you even lift?” One of the classic inquiries of our time. A bold Russian filmmaker sets out to discover if the denizens of his local township lift, provoking some unpredictable responses.

The military shoulder press is predominantly a shoulder exercise, hitting all 3 of the shoulder heads (the clue is in the name!) However when performed correctly, with optimal weight, the military press also hits the traps, triceps and ‘core’ muscles.
When teaching the correct form of the military press, my preference is to use an empty Olympic barbell. If an Olympic barbell provides too much resistance, simply use a broom handle or similar lightweight pole until the correct form is mastered. Using too much weight at an early stage can cause technique errors to manifest themselves and become habitual, which if left uncorrected, could cause less than optimal performance and injuries to occur.

The steps below will allow you to master this multi-muscle strength builder in no time! Ideally the bar should be set up at around chest height, similar to if we were using the bar for squats, however, this is not always possible. A training partner or spotter that can aid you in getting the bar in to position can be invaluable, especially when performing working sets.

1. The first step in the military press is the grip. Simple human mechanics dictate how and where to grip the barbell. Grasp the bar just outside shoulder width so that the forearms are in a vertical position. This allows the bones of the forearm to be placed directly below the bar, on the heel of the hand. Positioning the bar here is optimal for the early stages of the ‘drive’.

2. The position of the elbows is an important point to consider for the balance of the shoulder press. Elbows under or behind the bar can cause the barbell to be driven away from the body, making a less than efficient and therefore less than optimal movement. This can also place unwanted stress on the shallow shoulder joint. Ideally, we want the bar to be resting on the front heads of the shoulders, with elbows slightly ahead of the bar. This will allow the bar to be driven directly upwards to a point over the crown of the head, in-line with both the shoulder blades and the middle of the feet. Yes, this means the bar will move towards your forehead, but as you will see below, we move the forehead out of the way first!

3. The military press requires a firm base from which to drive from. Using a stance not too dissimilar to one that would be used to squat, we are able to provide a stable base of the ‘kinetic chain’. The kinetic chain is the various muscles and bones involved in the production and transmission of force between the base of support and the load being moved, in this case starting at the ground and ending at the bar. This is one reason why it is important that the correct footwear is used when performing barbell movements such as the press, deadlift and squat. The standing military press requires the longest kinetic chain of the human body and is therefore a great way of building stability whilst under load.

4. Once you have established a firm base, it is time to stabilise the upper back by lifting the upper chest or “showing off your boobs”. Imagine you are pushing your chest up towards your chin by contracting the upper erector spinae. This movement along with the correct positioning of the elbows lays the foundation of the pressing movement.

5. When you are ready, take a deep breath*, hold it and press the bar overhead until the elbows are locked out. The bar should finish positioned over the middle of the foot, the shoulder blades and behind the forehead, not infront. Once the bar is locked out at the top, shrug the shoulders up to support the bar, The arms and traps working together will support the bar overhead, particularly when using heavy weights. Locking the elbows out and shrugging the traps up with the bar directly over the ears, produces a stable position for the shoulder girdle muscles and prevents shoulder impingement.

6. In 1972 the standing shoulder press was dropped from Olympic weightlifting competition. One reason for this was the bench press was growing as a preferred choice as a pressing movement (a movement with a very short kinetic chain ironically). Another reason is the amount of ‘lean’ permitted by competition judges was just too varied. However, as we’re not under competition rules, ‘learning to lean’ is key to not driving the bar into our nose and forehead. As the bar is starting a few inches ahead of where it will finish, some lateral movement is needed as the bar moves vertically. Pushing the hips forward whilst the bar is resting on the shoulders helps us to achieve this. The knees and lower back must remain locked out during this movement, as the hips are the only part of the body required here. This movement can and should be practiced without the bar. Practice isometric contractions the abdominals and quadriceps to stabilise the lower back and knees whilst not using the bar. This can be invaluable when it comes to incorporating this technique to a weighted barbell.

7. The Military Shoulder Press does not use any momentum from the legs to assist the upper body in pressing the bar. Towards the end of a set, you may want to incorporate the ‘push press’ as the shoulders begin to fatigue. It is performed almost identically as the military press, with the addition of a small, explosive ‘push’ with the legs. This produces momentum from leg drive, which will allow you to push past the early sticking point brought on by fatigue. See Tip Box on how to incorporate this movement into the end of your sets.

8. Once you have practiced this motion and feel comfortable with its use whilst under a weighted bar, it is time to incorporate each element together. Take the bar out of the rack with the correct grip, elbows in the correct position, chest up and hips forward. Do not begin to drive the bar upwards before you have pushed the hips forward. Doing so will cause you to push the bar forward slightly to avoid hitting the face, instead of straight up which is what is desired. Once the bar has passed the forehead, move the hips back and the torso forward to get under the bar, don’t move the bar backwards. The forward movement of the torso aids in the lockout of the elbows and traps, bringing the upper arm and forearm into alignment.

TOP TIP

Utilising the push press is a great way to finish of the set, especially as fatigue has kicked in. From the standard starting position (A), bend the knees slightly whilst maintaining your stable ‘core’ (B). Drive the hips upwards explosively. With this momentum, drive the bar upwards and continue to lockout as with the military press (C).

As previously mentioned, this was squat day. After my 5/3/1 sets, I was set to work up to 85% and 95% of a meet goal. After warmups, I got set to squat. I made a couple minor tweaks to my setup today. For one thing, I put tape on the floor to show where to set my feet on my squat. I often waste a couple shuffle steps trying to get my feet where they feel right. Another thing I tweaked was head position and neck. I kept my neck neutral throughout my squats (instead of looking up, I looked just slightly down). I have generally driven my head up out of the hole, extending my neck. For whatever reason, I tried this today and things really felt good.

Squats were:

200 x 5
225 x 3
250 x 1 (belt, knee sleeves)
270 x 1 (belt, knee sleeves)
300 x 1 (belt, knee sleeves)

Last week, 295 was ugly and a grinder. 300 today felt great and went pretty fast (for me). Good day.

After this, I hit two paused singles at 225. This was 85% of my training max for this cycle, and I paused one second in the hole.

My main assistance lift was good mornings. These went 105 x 5, 125 x 5, and 145 x 5. After the heavy squats and couple pause squats, these were harder than normal.

I finished up with abs and upper back. I supersetted kneeling ab wheel and band pull aparts: 3 sets of 20 on each.

Today was a great squat session. This was definitely a confidence booster. This was not a personal record, but that was not what I was working for today. This is just another step towards my actual long term goals. In the wise words of Tallahassee, “enjoy the little things.”*

*from zombieland. I freaking love that movie.

Dan Greene on Powerlifting and Bodybuilding

Naturally, I threw in lots of DB work after my benching tonight. I also tried to bench in the method Dan described in a Facebook comment this week; allowing the bar to sink into the sternum and upper abs and exploding from there, rather than finessing it or just touching the chest.

Bench Press

• Bar x 10 x 2
• 95 x 2
• 115 x 2
• 125 x 2
• 135 x 2
• 150 x 2 x 5

Dead Bench

#8 pin

• 150 x 1
• 155 x 1
• 160 x 1
• 165 x 1

All of the above was done with 30 seconds rest between sets.

DB Bench Press and Incline DB Bench

• I did 2 sets on the flat bench and 3 on the incline, getting 50 reps total.

Close-Grip pull-up’s

• 5
• 5
• 5

I did a few sets of neck work in between sets of pull-up’s. My Farmer’s Walk Handles came in today so I dragged my son outside to try them out with me. We just put the 25 lb plates on them (for a total of 75 lbs per handle) and did 4 sets, resting only as long as it took for the other to complete his circuit. We went down the driveway, across the street, and back up the driveway as one circuit. It was a lot of fun and I now have two very enjoyable ways of getting some conditioning in: Farmer’s and swinging a sledgehammer.

• One Tablespoon of SwoleFIT Warmup

Dynamic

• Dumbbell Bench- 8 sets of 3 explosive reps @ 50-60% 1RM
• If you’re not sure of your dumbbell 1RM, just choose a weight that is fairly easy to do and allows you to work on movement control and explosiveness.

Volume (add 5-10 lbs to weights used from workout last week)

• [Superset 1] 3 sets, 6-8 reps
  • Dumbbell Bench Press
  • Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
• [Superset 2] 3 sets, 8-12 reps
  • Dumbbell chest fly
  • Bent Over Two Dumbbell Rows
• [Superset 3] 3 sets, 6-8 reps
  • Standing EZ bar curl
  • Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension
• [Superset 4] 3 sets, 8-12 reps
  • Single arm dumbbell concentration curls
  • Tricep rope pulldowns

This is the last week we’ll use this workout for volume day; we’ll be switching it up the movements next week to change it up, keep the muscles guessing.

 Motivation

• Arnold cruises around the town, comments on everything he sees to hilarious effect.

2) Dips – 5 sets of 10 reps

3) Chin Ups – 5 sets of 10 reps

I get asked what supplements are worth taking on a daily basis. As a sponsored athlete, I have the luxury of using a plethora of products, and trying new things that I hadn’t previously been sure about the test their efficacy. In my view, one person’s “stack” should vary significantly from another. This should depend on your eating/training habits, your goals, etc. Obviously a mass gainer isn’t an optimal product for someone trying to lose weight.

There are, however, some essentials that I always attempt to steer people towards. Taking a multivitamin, joint support, and fish oil are key for a number of reasons. My consistency on actually taking my fish oil has always sucked, and I have not really enjoyed the benefits of utilizing a fish oil, however they are numerous. As for multivitamins, they are required to have decent micronutrient levels on a daily basis, especially those which are difficult to obtain through dieting. Joint support is also a critical supplement for people at any point in their training careers. Training for powerlifting, the use of joint support is invaluable. The stress your body is under when you are attempting to lift very heavy weight multiple times a week is immense. Even at the age of 18 and now 19, I experience(d) knee and ankle soreness from squatting and deadlifting (NOT a form issue), as well as some elbow and wrist pain from benching and other heavy upper body exercises.

For non-competitive types, especially those a little older, a joint support supplement is also of great importance, especially as one ages and the body needs help with recovery and the maintenance of healthy, lubricated joints. These products I always recommend from the PHARMAFREAK lineup, not simply because they are my sponsor, but because I have compared the ingredients and dosages in VitaFreak (the multivitamin product) and FlexFreak (the joint support system), and both these products are superior to those of competitors (both in breadth of ingredients utilized as well as dosages).

Beyond the basics, what I recommend always varies by the individual. Personally, the use of a Pre-workout supplement has always been quite useful. With my energy/focus levels, the combination of stimulants in PWOs has always helped me significantly. The PHARMAFREAK pre-workout SuperFreak is the PHARMAFREAK product I have used for the longest. This is also due to my preferences of the dosages as well as the combination of stimulants in the product. I’ve used other PWOs in the past and got far too used to them too quickly, making them essentially useless.

All in all, my point here is quite simple. Many represent supplements as the end all be all of training, while others claim they are completely useless. Neither is a fair interpretation. The benefits to my workouts, my recovery, and my overall ability to train so heavily multiple times per week make supplements well worth it for me. I would never credit the use of any product to my entire success, even athletes that use illegal performance enhancing drugs do a considerable amount of work training and eating properly. The use of ANY product, legal or otherwise, does not make or break your success. Just like tons of steroid users could only dream of achieving a physique like Arnold’s, tons of people using legal, effective supplements are not seeing the benefits because their diet and training and not effective.

However, with a strong training regime and healthy eating habits that meet your macronutrient requirements for your goal, the use of supplements offers significant benefits.

I am not a sponsored athlete that over-prescribes supplements to anyone. I will pick and choose what, in my opinion, are worthwhile supplements for anyone to take given their goals and current level. No matter what you decide to use, one must never forget that the two main factors in your success are diet and training.

My first actual post will be coming soon.