Lexen Xtreme Training Tips

Squat

Group 1: Vogelp0hl, Wenning, Panora, Fought
The general setup for these guys was a blue band side.   But they ended up doing things slightly different, as Greg and Matt squatted into the giant foam block for doubles with plate weight with the bands, working up to 7 plates per side and bands for doubles.  The Chucks free squatted and added a monster chain per side with the blue band, taking doubles.  These guys were followed by Strong, Jerry O, Hauss, and Roush.

Group 2: Johnston, Meyers, Schwab, Dague
Johnston and Schwab started the next phase of their cycle for the Iron House, Dague and Jeremiah joined in for some hanging monster-miniband free squats with briefs and suits.  Jeremiah is battling some injuries and wisely shut it down early.  Dague worked up to a nice 800.  Schwab finished with 950.  Johnston was fighting his suit, and after not hitting depth at 860, switched to Dague’s Leviathan and looked much better with singles of 860, 910, 950, and finished with a somewhat shaky 1000 as he got off-balance, but came up with the weight.   Nothing like trying out unfamiliar gear with 860 on your back.

Group 3: Henry, Fleming, Gualtieri, Gretsky
This group used the foam cushion on the box, and chains setup to the floor, for doubles.  And for a change, they finished squatting before another group.

Deadlift
Straight weight deadlifts from the floor, using competition stance, for singles.  Most everyone stopped well short of a max except for the group doing the Iron House, who worked up to close to openers.

Powerpohl
No Powerpohl for me this week, so I didn’t see the exact setup, but several groups did it after pulling.  I believe the setup was 2 plates on the pole and then chains hanging off the end and dragging, for 30 yard trips.

Most everyone finished up with ab work and shrugs.

Squat
Group 1: Vogelpohl, Panora, Strong, Hauss
Very light turnout in the gym today, so the groups were shuffled up a bit.  This group squatted into the suspended chains, set to just break parallel, and a pair of hanging purple bands that are so worn they might deload 40 pounds.  Greg and Chuck  took worksets of 715 for doubles, Strong did 615, and Hauss was really working on form with 525.

Group 2: Schwab, Roush
This was a deload week for this “group” after 3 weeks of circa max, and Johnston deloaded by driving to South Carolina.   These guys took 525 for 5 sets of doubles, free squat, raw.  Schwab put on a newly altered suit for the last 2 sets to check the fit, as it”s briefs and suit and heavy weight next week for these guys, heading into the Iron House stretch run.

Group 3: Henry, Murph, Gulatieri, Gretsky, Fleming
Hanging monster minibands for this group.  It appeared that most of these guys worked up to 6 plates or so, but I lost track as they squatted for a good 2 hours, so they must’ve been taking 5 lb jumps from set to set.

Powerpohl
No pulling this week for most of the group, as the Powerpohl made an appearance with the warm weather.  This week it was 3-4 plates on the pole, walking backwards for 3 trips of 30 yards.  This really blew up the lower back and hamstrings, as we haven’t used this in awhile since it’s hard to find the space inside the gym for a good setup.

Hauss and Strong did some ultrawide sumo pulls with fairly light weight to work on hip strength, sets of 5.   At these guys’ heights, ultrawide looked like close stance to me.

Reverse hypers, kettlebell shrugs, and ab work to finish up.

Groups 1 and 2 took squat and deadlift openers for the Apr 24 Iron House. They will deload next week then start two weeks of reverse band circa max training thereafter.

Group 1:
Pud: 400 raw squat 500 deadlift
Christian: 545 squat 515 deadlift
Bandy: 505 squat 475 deadlift
Bobby: 595 squat 515 deadlift
Burke: 760 squat 570 deadlift
McLovin: 665 squat 615 deadlift

Group 2:
Dave: 505 squat 500 deadlift
Carter: 415 squat 385 deadlift
Cody: 545 squat 455 deadlift
TPH: Crash and burn

Group 3 featured 3 old men with a combined age of 136 years. Dan Dague came up with the bizarre combo of reverse mini-band giant cambered bar seat cushion box squats with hanging chains for doubles. Dan worked up to 425 bar weight + 220 lbs hanging chains. Lynn Halter and Pete Sengos worked up to 475 bar weight + 220 lbs of chains.

Dague and Halter then did pin 3 rack pulls against quad choked monster minis. Dague made it to 405 X 1 and Halter did 365 X 1, missing 405. Sengos pulled sumo straight weight off the floor and did 425 X 2, 475 X 2 and 550 X 2.

All groups ended with lower back accessory work and abs.

Good Mornings
The morning crew went with lightened method good morning’s, using monster minis hanging from the monolift, and taking this for reps of 5.  Chuck managed to not flip the monolift this week with his good morning sets.

The afternoon guys went with a similar setup, but used long chains instead of the hanging bands.  We stuck with a bar weight of 155 and added chains as we went, topping out at 155 bar weight + 255 in chains for sets of 5.

45 Degree Back raises
The morning guys used the light sand band behind the head, pausing for a 2 count at the top, then continuing to the next rep.  After the first few reps it is brutal trying to hold for the 2 count.  They did this for 3 sets of 10 reps.

I’m not exactly sure what additional accessory work the morning guys did, but I took the sled for a few trips since it was finally warm out, and we finished with grip work with the plate tree gripper, holding for a 5 count with thumbless grip, and then holding last set to failure.  Ab work today was on the decline bench with the 52lb kettlebell at chin.

Squat
Group 1: Wenning, Panora, Meyers, Jerry O
Lightened method box squats using monster minis from the top, and the giant cambered bar.   Panora worked up to 9 plates for a double, Wenning 9 plates and a quarter per side.  The group with Strong and Hauss followed, same setup and lighter weight.

Group 2: Johnston, Schwab
3rd and final week of Circa Max for this group, which was down to 2 guys today with no Dague or Chewy.  We replaced an older pair of blues with a brand new pair, giving us a pair of brand new blues, a pair of 2 week old blues, and a pair of week old greens.  The swap of blues was a huge increase in tension, so we wisely adjusted our plan.  Johnston took 335+ bands for 3 sets of 2 and 385+bands for 2 sets of 2.  Schwab was having trouble with setup, so he took 4 singles at 335+bands, finally dialing it in and hitting a 5th set of 335+bands for an easier double.  We left a little in the tank this week, and will deload next week before putting on the gear for a few weeks of lightened method.

Groups 3: Henry, Murph, Fleming, Gualtieri, Gretsky
This is the other group training for the Iron House, and they’re following our typical meet cycle, so today was their day to work to an opener in full gear.  Melissa Henry hit a pretty easy 475 in her loose suit, the rest of the group finished up in the mid-600′s.

Deadlift
Pin pulls from pin 5 today for singles.  Panora and Wenning both worked up to 855, Schwab hit 835, and Gualtieri nearly got himself a huge PR after some smack talk but couldn’t get 785 locked out.  He’s due for a nice deadlift PR at the Iron House.

Reverse hypers, shrugs, and abdominal work to finish up.  Sorry no video this week as our videographer was missing.

Group 1: Christian, Mark, Bobby, Bandy, Burke, McLovin:
This group did doubles with the hanging chains, then did one or two singles in their briefs. The chains help you work on stability because they never touch the ground and swing quite a bit. Mark, Bandy, Bobby and Christian all worked up to 195 lbs of bar weight plus 330 lbs of hanging chains. McLovin did 285 plus 330 lbs of chains and Burke did 325 bar weight plus 330 lbs of chains. No deadlifting today for this group. They finished with lower back assistance work like reverse hypers and ghr’s, ab work and light sled dragging. Next week they will go to their openers with full gear in preparation for the Apr 24 Ironhouse classic.

Group 2: Carter James IV, Cody, TPH, Dave:
This group also did the hanging chains for doubles then singles. Carter James, who weighs 97 lbs, ended with 145 bar weight plus 220 lbs chains, Cody did 195 plus 330 lbs chains. I’m not sure what TPH and Dave finished with.  This group opted out of deadlifting and did some lower back assistance work, abs and chain dragging.

Group 3: Halter, Sansbury, Sengos:
This group did reverse mini band box squats with the giant cambered bar. Halter did some double then ended with a single with 650. Sansbury worked up to a raw 515 for 5. Sengos is taking it easy on a recent back injury and worked up to 560 X 2.

Sansbury opted out of deadlifting after last week’s heavy conventional triples. Halter did sumo rack pulls off of pin 17. I think it was a 1/4 inch range of motion. Sengos pulled sumo triples off the floor against double choked minis, ending with 405. This group ended with lower back assistance work and abs.

There were a few other single man groups going. Sensei Daniel San did reverse band cambered bar squats, working up to 5 plates. His son Austin was working with him but I’m not sure how much he did. Brandon was doing some heavy singles trying to break in a canvas suit but was having some form and depth issues.

Stay tuned for the Saturday crew’s log. I hope Schwab didn’t kill himself today.

Squat
Group 1: Vogelpohl, Wenning, Fought, Panora
The setup today was long chains and plate weight.  Chuck and Greg went free squat in suit and no briefs.  Chuck V worked on pausing when breaking parallel to get used to the pressure in the hole, while Greg focused on hitting a quick dip to break parallel.  Wenning likes to do raw work when he’s this far out from a meet, so he did raw box squats.  Fought is still working his way back to squatting in gear with heavy weight, so he worked in briefs.  Everyone worked up to doubles with 6-7 plates + 120 lbs in chains.   These guys are all training for APF Senior Nationals, we’ll be sending a large group of lifters to Chicago this year.   This group was followed by Jerry O, Jeremiah, Nate Strong, Andy Hauss, and Alva Leisure, same setup but lighter bar weight.

Group 2: Dague, Chewy, Schwab, Johnston
This is the group doing everything backwards for meet training, doing their circa max 7 weeks out.  This was week 2, we added a set of brand new green bands to the 2 pairs of blues from last week, so we’re looking at around 600 lbs band tension at the top.   Chewy dropped out early when his already troublesome back had some problems with all the band tension, and Dague isn’t getting ready for a meet, so he took it a little easier.  Schwab and Johnston did 4 work sets of doubles at 335 + the bands, 3 works sets of doubles at 385 + the bands, and finished with a single of 425 + the bands, picture perfect grinders for both.   We were spent by the end of this, heavy weight, heavy tension, and a lot of work.

Group 3: Murph, Gualtieri, Fleming, Gretsky
Their setup was squatting into the suspended chains, in full gear, to work on form in their suits with moderate weight.

Deadlift
Most everyone did pin pulls from pin 2 with the lightened method, using purple bands.  Reps varied from sets of 5 to straight singles, most everyone stopped fairly short of a max as these guys will pull heavy next week.

Johnston and Schwab did straight weight from pin 4 for singles, working up to short of a max at 745.

From there, everyone broke off and did various things from reverse hypers, GHR’s, kettlebell shrugs, back raises, and ab work.

Group 1: Bandy, Bobby, Pud, Burke, McLovin, Christian.
This group worked up to 80% of their full gear max for 3 singles to work on form. They wore briefs only.
Bandy: 465 for 3 singles
Bobby: 465 for 3 singles
Pud: 415 for 3 singles raw
Burke: 595 for 3 singles
McLovin: 555 for 3 singles
Christian: 505 for 3 singles

This group then did rack pulls against quad choked minis. The bands add about 250-300 lbs of band tension. Bando hit 385 plus bands, Christian and Bobby hit 405 plus bands, Burke and McLovin both hit 495 plus the bands but missed 545 at the top.

Group 2 Old Man Division: Sansbury and Halter did reverse band squats with the monster minis. These bands deload about 75 lbs. Sansbury went up to 710 for a single in just briefs and Halter worked up to 760 plus suit and briefs.

This group then did conventional straight weight deadlifts for triples. Sansbury did 405 X 3 then 495 X 3. Halter did 405 X 3 then 495 X 2

Group 3: Cody, Ian, and Mike aka Dave
This group worked up to 80% for 3 singles just like Group 1. Cody I think did 475 for 3 singles, Ian did 605 for 3 singles and Dave did 475 for 3 singles. This group also hit rack pulls against the quad choked minis but I’m not sure how much weight they did.

Group 4-We had some guest lifters from out of town. The male lifter doesn’t look like he’s missed any meals. The two females had some righteous booties. I’m talking Big Booty Bonanza. Solid 9′s. They were doing some speed work with chains.

All groups ended with lower back assistance work and abs.