Lexen Xtreme Training Tips

Group 1- Burke, McLovin, Sengos:
This group did reverse monster mini band squats with Sengos getting ready for the July 10 meet. McLovin worked up to 725 in briefs, Burke hit 755 in briefs and Sengos hit 775 in full gear.

This group then did deadlifts off mats with Burke and McLovin hitting 635 and Sengos hitting 675. Sengos is done pulling for this meet.

Group 2: The Underwoods, BOBBY, Pud:
This group is also training for the meet and they went up to their openers with straight weight followed by a few overload sets with the reverse monster minis. Both the Underwoods worked up to 600 straight weight and 705 with the bands but Dave was cutting his squats a little high. Bobby worked up to 550 straight weight and I believe 655 with the bands. Pud did 530 straight weight and 615 with the bands.

All groups ended with lower back assistance and ab work. Those of us competing in the July 10 meet will use the reverse mini bands next week, trying to hit something close to the same weight we did today, then shut it down for the meet.

Bench meet in the gym tomorrow moved most of us to Friday and shuffled the groups a bit.

Squat
Group 1: Vogelpohl, Pegg, Fleming
Suspended chain squats for these guys today.  Didn’t see exactly what they worked up to, Chuck took it somewhat easy today after a heavy couple of weeks, while Pegg went heavier after squeezing himself into a pair of Chuck’s briefs, and finishing with a few sets in his suit.  Mark got to squat with the big boys today and hung in there.

Group 2: Sengos, Johnston, Chewy, Schwab
Free squats with hanging purple bands for this group, as all are doing the July meet (push/pull for Chewy).  Johnston just took 1005 for a ride 5 days ago at the APF Seniors, and wisely shut it down early after getting some work in.  He’ll get back to the meet cycle next week.  Chewy went to a box today, working up to 805 for a double in briefs.  Sengos and Schwab put their suits on for the last 2-3 singles and finished 25-50 lbs heavier than their planned 3rd attempts, with Sengos finishing at 795 and Schwab finishing with 975.  Hot as balls in the gym in just clothes, full gear made it miserable and ran us out of gas.

The usual Friday crew was also in there, my brain shut down when I was done squatting, no idea who did what but they were free squatting in gear to openers for the July meet.

Deadlift
Chuck, Pegg, Chewy, and Fleming pulled from the floor today, but Chuck had them pause for a 2 count just below the knees, and then finish the pull.  It looked brutal on the back, and forced you to work through what is a normal sticking point by removing any momentum you get from the floor.  They worked up to around 600.

Everyone finished with some ab work and other accessory work and quickly sought water and cool air.

Squat
Group 1: Vogelpohl, Roush
Chuck is working on stability when unracking, so he’s been really overloading at the top lately.  Today was 3 blue bands per side, which I think scared everyone away from this monolift.  Actually, a lot of us on Saturday are heading into our July meet cycle, so today wasn’t the day for this much band tension for most of us.  Chuck worked up to around 600 in plate weight to go along with the 600 or so in band tension.  Mike worked to 325 + the bands, progressively getting better as he got used to the bands and learned that he needed to stay or get folded in half.

Group 2: Chewy, Billings, Schwab, Gualtieri, Tattoo
Hanging purple bands for these guys onto a box.  This is a deload week for Schwab as he starts heavy squatting for July meet next week, so he worked up to a double of 705 and bowed out.  The rest continued on and finished with a heavy single to a higher box, with Chewy hitting 875 to finish.

Group 3: Henry, Fleming, Gretsky, Earl, new guy
Free squat in gear for this group, as a few are also getting ready for July and worked up to near openers.

Deadlift
Most everyone then did speed pulls against double monster mini bands for singles.  Most worked up to 4 or 5 plates, Billings took 6 and tore a callous, Chuck worked to 7 plates.

Everyone finished with various accessory work, including ab work, shrugs, and some hip work.

Group 1: The Underwoods, Pud, Bobby, Ryan-
This group did full gear squats with moderate weight to work on form. Most ended with around 500. Pud had some kind of mental block and almost got killed with 555.

Group 2: Bandy, Sengos, Burke-
This group did low box squats with the choked blue bands. Bandy and Sengos did light doubles with 285 and 325. Burke went a little heavier and did 505 for a double then 555 for a single off a slightly higher box.

This group then did low pin 2 rack pulls with chains. Underwood finished with 495 + 160 lbs of chains for a single. Sengos did doubles up to 495 + 160 lbs of chains, singles up to 495 + 230 lbs of chains and missed 495 + 270 lbs of chains. Burke finished with 495 + 230 lbs of chains and missed 495 + 270 lbs of chains as well.

Group 3: Ltn Dan-
Ltn Dan is getting ready for his police meet in two weeks. He did a very easy 605 and a pretty ugly 655. He wanted to go to 705 but we were able to talke him into saving it for the meet.

All groups ended with lower back assistance work and abs.

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Group 1: Halter, Sengos, Sansbury
The old guys had work commitments so they lifted on Saturday. Halter and Sengos did reverse monster mini low box squats with the giant cambered bar. Halter worked up to 560 for a few triples and Sengos worked up to 510 for a few light doubles. Sansbury is getting ready for his police meet and worked up to 645 for a single in full gear, straight weight.

This group then pulled for singles off the floor. Halter did 545 conventional with just a belt, Sengos did 585 and Sansbury ended up getting injured with 545.

This group ended with reverse hypers, GHR’s and ab work.

Group 2: Henry, Murphy, Fleming, Gualtieri, Gretsky
This group did reverse mini band box squats with a straight bar for doubles. Henry made 505 for a double then 555 for a single, Murphy did 645, Fleming worked up to 685 then 735 off a higher box, Gualtieri went up to 685 or 735. Gretsky made it to 735 but missed 775.

Not sure what these guys pulled as I had to leave. Stay tuned for the log from the big guys.

sorry for the lack of squat log from this past weekend, I had a schedule conflict and had to do some boring solo raw work, which nobody on the planet is interested in

Bench Day
Group 1: Wenning, Mello, Hauss, Meyers
This group, with the exception of Meyers, are a little over a week out from the APF Seniors, so they worked up to about 50% in their shirts just to keep a feel.  Wenning finally has his Ace dialed in, should hit a big bench if things goes as planned.  They followed up with some cable pulls and various other back work

Group 2: Chewy, Jerry O, Strong, Gaultieri
Benching into foam blocks for these guys.  I didn’t see exactly what everyone worked up to, but Chewy hit 5 plates raw with a closer than competition grip.  They then did some suspended kettlebell benching with the football bar, and various other back and tricep work to finish

Group 3: Johnston, Schwab, Dague
Dague is 2 weeks out from his bench meet, so today was his last heavy shirted day, and worked up to the range of an opener of 535.  Mikey worked up to 5 plates off a 3-board, shoulder is getting stronger but no point in an injury this far out from the July meet.  Schwab took 555 and 585 to the chest to get some full range work in, since his issues are usually at the bottom of through middle of the lift.  They followed this up with close grip bench off the 3-bard, 3 plates for 3 sets of 5, and finished with pulldowns and various other back work.

Group 1: Wenning, Meyers, Mello, Hauss
Matt is done with his heavy bench training for the APF Seniors, so these guys benched against doubled purple bands today, which I know from experience can be pretty brutal. It didn’t look like these guys went too terribly heavy today, but I wasn’t catching all of their sets since the gym was pretty full.

Group 2: Chewy, Johnston, Strong, Dague, Schwab
We talked Chewy into shirting up, and Nate hasn’t been in a shirt in quite awhile either. Dague is winding down his bench training for his bench meet, so today was shirt day for us, with hanging blues thrown in so we could overload at the top. Nate finished with 605. Chewy finished at 785 and just missed locking out 815. Schwab and Dague finished at 705, Johnston somewhere in the mid 600′s, his repaired shoulder getting stronger each week while the rest of us try to keep ours together.

We followed the heavy bench work with a good amount of tricep work, starting with close grip seated overhead presses for sets of 10, and then followed with decline close grip bench for sets of 6. Triceps were shot by the end of this.

Finished up with some back work, rows and face pulls.

Chuck V goes on vacation and half the gym doesn’t show up to squat.  Funny how that works

Squat
Group 1: Chewy, Dague, Tat, Schwab, Johnston
Box squats against single blue band on each side using the buffalo bar.  Chewy is working his way back, so he kept it somewhat light to get reps in.  Tat worked up to 4 plates for doubles and finished with 4 and a quarter for a grinding single.  Schwab took a few doubles with 5 plates then added a 6th plate for a single to finish.  Dague worked with 4 plates for singles in his suit.  Johnston is working on depth in his suit, so he went suit only and worked up to 6 plates for a single, then took a couple doubles at 4 plates and paused in the hole to feel the pressure.

Group 2: Gualtieri, Fleming
These guys went with lightened method using hanging monster minis, taking singles on the box.   From what I remember, they finished in the 6-7 plate range.

Deadlift
Pin pulls from pin 5, working up to a max single.  Chewy hit a PR at 815, Schwab a PR At 855.  Johnston finished at 795, then decided to make a jump with Schwab instead of Chewy since he lost track of the weight.  Wrong choice this time.  Gualtieri finished with 745, two times in a row he’s been strong from this pin height.

Chewy, Johnston, and Dague then did some back raises with the SSB on shoulders.  Abs and shrugs to finish.

Group 1- Bobby Scott, John Bandy, Pud, McLovin, Burke:
This group was messing around with box squats in their briefs. Pud lost his Inzer Z suit and put on a real suit. Most did doubles then worked up to a single.
Bobby: 415 X 1
Bandy: 465 X 2
McLovin: 555 X 1
Pud: 595 X 1
Burke: 685 X 1

Pud then did some conventional pulls against purple bands working up to 365 X 3 and a game of rock, paper, scissors.

Group 2-Brandon:
Brandon worked by himself in the second monolift and worked up to about 500 using the reverse black bands.

Group 3- Halter, Sengos
This group did low box squats with chains. Sengos worked up to a moderate double in briefs and Halter worked up to a single with suit and briefs.
Sengos: 415 + 250 lbs chains X 2
Halter: 555 + 250 lbs chains X 1

This group then did conventional pulls against 2 double choked mini-bands. The tension was brutal. Sengos worked up to 275 X 2 then 295 X 1. Halter did 275 X 1

Everyone finished with lower back assistance work, abs and light sled dragging.

Group 1: Wenning, Mello, Jeremiah, Dague
This is Matt’s last heavy bench day prior to the APF Seniors, so they went with hanging blue band lightened method to put some weight in their hands.  Matt worked up to 900-ish in his Ace shirt, which is finally loosening up and maybe usable for this meet.  Jeremiah hit 715, which was an impressive grinder.  Dague stayed raw as he’ll be back in the shirt next week to head into his bench meet.   Not exactly sure what these guys did for their accesory work, think I saw some tricep work using the strap reverse hyper, tricep pushdowns, and some back work

Group 2: Chewy, Schwab, Johnston, Tony Tiger
Raw work for this group today, floor press against the short EFS purple bands.  This was pretty rough on the shoulders, and was also very tough at the top with the band tension.  We worked up close to a 5 rep max, Chewy finishing in the mid 300′s + bands, Schwab in the mid 200′s+bands, Johnston kept it slightly lighter to get some reps on his repaired shoulder without overdoing it, Tony the Tiger stayed close with Mike.  We followed this with close grip floor presses, sets of 10, and then close grip pushups, with hands on bench bar and feet (or in my case knees, with the broken foot) for sets of 10 (20 for me), with varying bands looped behind our backs.  Followed this with bent over rows for sets of 10, and face pulls.

Murph and Avery showed up late, so they don’t earn a log mention, despite showing impressive Roadhouse knowledge.  And I’m pretty sure Gretsky did 20 different accessory movements after his speed bench, then came back and probably pulled and squatted.

Chuck V showed up to squat today since he’ll miss this weekend.  He took singles in suit only, using single blue band on each side, and worked up to 7 plates.  Then he put on an impressive pin pull display, working up to 1005 from pin 5.