Lexen Xtreme Training Tips

Most of the JV crew took openers in full gear for the upcoming Pro-Am. The rest of us did low box squats with just briefs.

Full gear openers:
Nate Strong-720 (181)
Anthony Gualtieri-640 (198)
Nate Gretsky-695 (220)
Mark Fleming-630 (198)

Low box squats-briefs only:
Tim Sansbury: 565
Pete Sengos: 600
Lynn Halter: 600
Melissa Henry: 380

We finished up with reverse hypers, ghr’s and ab work.

Squat
Group 1: Chewy, Johnston, Schwab
Used the buffalo  bar with long chains for box squats onto the foam cushion.  The cushion forces you to maintain tightness on the box, as it has a lot of give and won’t allow you to push off the box as well.
Eight work sets with 3 plates + 200 lbs in chain for doubles, then added a plate and took 2 singles

Group 2: Dague, Meyers, Wenning, Vogelpohl
These guys put all their gear on (Dague went suit only) and took heavy free squats.  Chuck and Matt are 5 weeks out from the Pro-Am, so is their last heavy day with straight weight before starting the circa max phase.  On this week, we typically work somewhere in the range of what an opener will be.
Dague worked up to 725 and called it a day since he’s further out from a meet.
Meyers took 855 and 875 for singles, which are gym PR’s since he hasn’t free squatted this heavy in the gym (he’s taken heavier to a box at his previous gym) despite having a competition 950 under his belt.
Wenning went 855, 925, and finished with an even 1000.
Chuck went 905, 995, and 1070.
Deadlift

Chuck and Nate Strong pulled from the floor, with Chuck working up to 765, which is the heaviest he’s pulled full range in the gym in a long time due to nagging injury.

The rest of us did pin pulls from pin 4, working into the 700′s.  Meyers made a run at 865 off the pins, which ended up being about 700 by the time the bar got to his knees as plates fell off the bar like dominos.   He somehow held onto the very uneven bar.  Three weeks in a row of heavy pulling.

Most finished up with some heavy abdominal work and various other accessory work after a very long morning in the gym.

Squat
Group 1:  Chewy, Johnston
Mikey’s first day back after shoulder surgery, so these guys went with the giant cambered bar for box squats, usings green+purple bands.
Work sets:
365 + bands for 5 sets of doubles (Mikey)
405 + bands for 5 sets of doubles (Chewy)

Group 2: Dague, Schwab, Myers, Wenning, Vogelpohl
A bit of a deload and form work this week for this group, 5 work sets of box squats with blue+purple bands using the big straight bar, then 2 sets of free squat with same setup.

335 + bands for 3 sets of doubles (Dague, Schwab, Myers took all 5 here)
385 + bands for 2 sets of doubles, then 2 free squat singles (Dague, Schwab)
Wenning worked up to a double of 515 with bands to the box, then 2 free squat singles
Vogelpohl worked up to a double with 565 and bands to the box, then 2 free squat singles

Deadlift
Most everyone did speed pulls from the floor against doubled mini-bands, with an added twist of Chuck giving a 3 count on the descent, which really worked the lower back.
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 3 (the Nates)
405 x 3 (Schwab, Dague)
455 x 3 (Chuck, Chewy)

Wenning and Myers went with pin pulls from pin 5, Schwab jumped in for a few sets to get some extra heavy lockout work in in the 700′s.
245 x 1
335 x 1
425 x 1
515 x 1
605 x 1
695 x 1
745 x 1 (Schwab)
765 x 1 (Wenning)
785 x 1 (Myers)
840 x 1 (Wenning)
860 x 1 (Myers)

Powerpohl
The guys that didn’t pull heavy then did some Powerpohl work, a few trips with 3 plates for around 25 yards, walking forwards.  They then finished with a stationary hold of 20 seconds with 4+ plates, which is brutal on the lower back and really fatigues the muscles.

A few finished up with some dumbbell shrugs and everyone with abdominal work.

Low box squats (Ltn Dan, Mike, Burke, Pete, Preppy)
warm-ups
335 plus blue bands X 2
385 plus blue bands X 2
425 plus blue bands 3 sets of 2
475 plus bands X 1 (Burke)
515 plus bands X 1 (Mike)

Sumo defict deadlifts-standing on 3 inch platform:
315 X 2
405 X 2
455 X 2
495 X 2

Reverse hypers:
210 for 3 set of 10

Standing Ab pulldowns
3 sets of 10

The first squat group did some reps with straight weight.  63 year old John Bandy did some 5′s with 385 and a double with 425.  Lynn Halter did several doubles with 425 then put his suit on and worked up to 715 for a single. 

The kids were squatting with the hanging chains and then did some moderate deadlift singles.

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ME Bench (Sengos, Halter)
warm-ups
Added loose Karins training shirt
315 X 2
365 X 2
385 X 2
405 X 2
425 X 1 (Halter)
430 X 2 (Sengos)
440 X 1 (Halter)

5 board raw lock-out work (Sengos):
365 X 3
405 X 3
430 X 2

Skull crushers with bamboo bar-90 lbs of hanging weight:
3 sets of 12

Finished with rear delt rope pulls, side lateral raises and ab work.

Today we did some rep work in our shirts to get ourselves conditioned to handling heavier weight. Our group consists of three 43 years olds who have been training since dirt was invented so we have to be careful with how heavy we go. We don’t use any help and we’re not going to get much stronger at this stage in our careers, but we’ll manage a 10 lb PR here and there.   I’m at a point where I can’t bench twice a week anymore, so I normally bench heavy two weeks and a row and on the third week I’ll do some speed work or the bamboo bar for reps, followed by some dumbell pressing. The bamboo bar is a God send for anyone with shoulder difficulties. It also helps my bicep tendinitis when I curl with it. The trick is to not use too much suspended weight and do sets of 10-20 reps.

We all also have different strengths and weaknesses so we’re not going to train the same way most of the time.   Hopefully some of the older lifters out there can benefit from our training.

Squat
Group 1: Chewy, Schwab, Jerry O
This group went with speed box squats, using the foam cushion on the box.  Work sets of 315 + green bands over the plates, for 8 sets of doubles.

Group 2: Vogelpohl, Wenning, Meyers
The big guys went with free squats in suit only (no briefs) to get a feel for the suit as they head into the February Pro-Am training cycle.  They took singles in the suit, with Vogelpohl working up to 900, Wenning stopping at 800 to not push an aggravated groin any further, and Meyers in this same ballpark in a borrowed suit.

Deadlift
Not everyone pulled today, those that did pulled sumo to work on hip strength and flexibility.  Schwab worked up to a raw 585, then joined the Powerpohl group outside.  Wenning and Meyers went to a near max, with Wenning hitting a sumo PR of 710 with a little left in the tank, and Meyers pulling 715.  Wenning’s conventional pull is usually 100 lbs more than his sumo, so he’s right on track for a big pull in Feb.

Powerpohl
We typically will use the Powerpohl on weeks that we do not pull heavy, or pull at all.  It is a very useful tool for conditioning and strengthening the the deadlift without actually deadlifting.  Look for a video tip from Chuck on this topic very soon.   Today we loaded 70 lbs in plate weight and had a good amount of chain weight dragging on the ground.  We took this for 3 trips of 30 yards, with a forced time of 20 seconds each trip, which took us to near muscle failure on the 3rd trip.

Everyone finished up with various forms of abdominal work and misc other assistance movements.

Today the old people did low box squats with chains. Sengos stayed at 65%, the rest worked up to heavy doubles:
warm-ups
Sengos: 330 plus 160 lbs of chains for 5 sets of 2
Halter: worked up to 465 plus 200 lbs chains X 2
Bandy: worked up to 330 plus 200 lbs chains X 2
Ltn Dan: worked up to 380 plus 240 lbs chains X 3
Ben the MMA guy: 1 plate plus 200 lbs chains for several doubles

The kids took some singles in their equipment:
Underwood: worked up to 560 X 1
TPH: worked up to 650 X 1

A third group did the swinging chains for doubles. I”ll get a video of these next time we do them so you know what they look like.

Speed pulls- 5 sets of singles
Carter James Pillbeam III: 225 plus double choked minis
The rest of us did 325 plus double choked minis

Finished up with reverse hypers and standing ab pulldown work.

Sorry, no 800 lbs benchers here today, just us old people. We have 2 lifters at 435-455, a 220 at 535 and a 220 at 600 so hopefully the regular lifters out there can learn something from us.

Main ME Bench:

bar + 40 lbs chains X 8
bar + 80 lbs chains X 5
bar + 120 lbs chains X 5
bar + 160 lbs chains X 3
bar + 200 lbs chains X 3
bar + 240 lbs chains X 3
95 + 240 lbs chains X 3
135 + 240 lbs chains X 3
185 + 240 lbs chains X 2 (Sengos)
185 + 240 lbs chains X 3 (Sansbury, Gretsky)
225 + 240 lbs chains X 3 (Gretsky)

3 board lock-out work:
185 + 240 lbs chains for 3 sets of 2 (Sengos)
225 + 240 lbs chains for 2 sets of 2 (Sansbury)
275 + 240 lbs chains X 3 (Gretsky)
295 + 240 lbs chains X 1 (Gretsky)
315 + 240 lbs chains X 1 (Gretsky)

Tricep extensions with trap bar:
3 sets of 10-15

Rear delt rope pulls:
5 sets of 10

Standing ab rope puldowns:
3 sets of 10

Another group came in after us and did some raw benching for sets of 5. Nate Strong (181) did 315 for 5 raw. He’s been back for only a few weeks after an extended layoff. Chewy worked up to 405 X 5 raw.

Greetings from the Friday JV crew. We had three separate groups going today, each doing their own thing. The first group did low box squats with chains, working up to 335 bar weight plus 200 lbs of chains for doubles. This group included 63 year old John Bandy who has a 600 lb squat and a 530 deadlift at 198.

The second group took a deload day, squatting with the 65 lb bar plus 330 pounds of hanging chains for 8 sets of doubles. The chains never touch the floor and they swing quite a bit. If you’re not tight throughout the whole movement, the chains will force you to fall forward or backwards.

The third group consisted mostly of younger kids and they took some heavy singles. Cody Underwood, I think he’s 17, worked up to 545 at 220. Teen Powerhouse Esterline worked up to 700 at super but he’s having some depth problems. Carter Pillbeam got 445 in a poly squat suit from the 80′s and he weighs all of 140 lbs. I think he’s 19 or 20 years old. The first day he joined us, he was facing the wrong way on the deadlift platform. We told him to turn around because we were using the left handed bar.

Some of the kids did some pin 4 rack pulls but us old men opted out.
We finished with reverse hypers, 45 degree back raises while holding a heavy kettlebell and straight leg sit-ups while holding the bamboo bar with suspended weight behind our necks.