2010
05.13
05.13
Greg Panora suffered a stroke recently, Lexen Xtreme and its members wish him the best of luck in his recovery. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Greg and his family.
Training Tips From Chuck Vogelpohl and other members of Team Xtreme
Greg Panora suffered a stroke recently, Lexen Xtreme and its members wish him the best of luck in his recovery. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Greg and his family.
Group 1- Bandy, Pud:
This group just came off the Ironhouse Classic so they did some free squatting for reps. 64 year young John Bandy worked up to 415 X 5 and Pud, who’s finally wearing some gear but took forever to put his Inzer Z-suit from the 90′s on, did 415 for a few triples. We have to gradually move his stance out from shoulder width.
Group 2- The Underwoods, Bobby, TPH:
This group did stability squat training with the large hanging chains. The chains do not touch the ground and swing quite a bit, causing you to fall forward or backward if you don’t stay tight. Everyone in the group worked up to 145 lbs of bar weight plus 330 lbs of hanging chains.
Groups 1 and 2 then did rack pulls. I think Dave and TPH ended up with something over 600 and the others were in the high 500′s.
Group 3-Burke, McLovin, Sengos:
This group did low box squats with chains. McLovin and Sengos worked up to 325 bar weight plus 310 lbs of chains for doubles. Burke did 415 plus the chains for a very hard double in a new pair of predator briefs that only took him a half hour to put on.
This group then did 3 inch deficit deadlifts with chains, joined by Ltn Sansbury. McLovin, Sansbury and Burke worked up to 315 plus 200 lbs chains for singles then shut it down early. Sengos did triples, working up to a set of 5 with the same finishing weight.
Most of the groups ended with lower accessory work, light sled dragging and abs.
We’ll get back to updating the logs this weekend. We had a number of guys compete in the Iron House this past weekend, results will be posted once available, and everyone else’s schedules were shuffled since our monolifts were used for the meet.
Next up we have a handful of lifters traveling to Chicago in June for the APF Senior Nationals, so they’ll be starting their heavy squat training, and likely some guys coming off the Iron House and doing the Lexen Summer Slam in July, so a few down weeks for them.
Squat
Groups were shuffled around this week as a few guys were deloading for the Iron House, and a few guys squatted on Friday this week.
Group 1: Vogelpohl, Strong, Roush
These guys went with the lightened method using monster mini-bands and added monster chains to the bar. They took 5 work sets for doubles without a box, and Chuck added a box for a couple of heavy sets in the 900′s to finish. With this setup, the bands tend to pull you forward, while the heavy chain weight swings hard if you aren’t under control, so it is important to remain tight and under control both at the top and bottom of the squat or you’ll get knocked off balance.
Group 2: Henry, Halter, Gretsky
Suspended chains for this group, with the chains set at parallel. 5 works sets of 2, I didn’t catch exactly what weights were used but I know they were supposed to stay somewhat moderate and not too heavy in order to work on form.
Group 3: Dague, Fleming, Tattoo Dave
These guys also used monster minis for the lightened method, but went with a box and straight weight for doubles. Fleming finished with a strong double around 690, Dague somewhere in the same range
Group 4: Schwab, Gualtieri, Murph
These guys are a week out from the Iron House, so they put on their suits for a few very moderate singles. Anthony and Murph worked up to 4 plates, Schwab finished with 6. They all finished with some light accessory work, had some fun with knee wraps, and called it a day
Deadlift
Speed pulls against monster minis for most of the groups, stopping somewhere in the 3-4 plate range. Chuck’s group went heavier to work on form, particularly lockout, with heavier weight and “strong” band tension at the top. These guys are short though, so you can barely feel the bands at that height!
Reverse hypers, shrugs, back raises, and ab work for most everyone to finish up.
Bench
The floor press was the movement of the day, with Wenning and Panora going with chains, and Chewy’s group going with monster mini-bands looped around based of power rack. Wenning worked up to 500 lbs bar weight with 200 lbs in chains, while Panora worked up to 425 bar weigh + 200 lbs in chains. Chewy finished with 405 + the bands.
Schwab and Dague did some moderate shirt work on the bench, as Schwab is a week out from the Iron House and needed to work out some kinks. The kinks are not fully worked out, some meet day adjustments will be needed.
Triceps
For tricep work, the floor press groups did a few sets with their grips moved in and added some reps. I believe Chewy’s group removed the bands too and did straight weight.
Most everyone finished up with various back and shoulder work, including pulldowns, face pulls, and db raises.
Group 1:
The guys competing in next week’s Ironhouse Classic worked up to a last warm-up set in the squats in their gear to work on form then shut it down. They finished with some light lower back assistance, abs and sled pulling. No deadlifting this week.
Group 2:
Us old guys did stability squats for doubles working up to 200 lbs + 330 lbs of hanging chains then a single with 240 lbs + the chains. The chains swing quite a bit so it’s tough tp keep from falling forward or backwards.
We then pulled conventional with the double choked minis for triples. Ltn Dan finished with 315 X 3 and I finished with 365 X 3
We then did some reverse hypers, sled pulling and ab work.
Today was chaotic with several different groups going. It was impossible for me to keep track of what everyone was doing and I’ll forget names and weights so my apologies to any members I forgot.
Group 1: Vogelpohl, Murphy, Roush.
This group did chain suspended squats with straight weight and hanging chains in full gear. Chuck did something ridiculous like 6 plates plus about 500 lbs in chains. Chuck and Roush then pulled sumo with the plates on top of 3 mats and a 3 inch platform with Chuck hitting over 800. Rouse I think made it to 650.
Group 2: Melissa Henry, Ltn Sansbury.
This group did reverse monster mini band squats. Henry worked up to 535 for a single in briefs and suit and Sansbury I think went over 700 in just briefs.
Group 3: Cody, Dave, Christian, Bobby, Carter, Pud.
This group did reverse mini band squats in full gear in preparation for the Iron House Classic in two weeks. This is their last heavy squat day. Cody and Christian worked up to 685. Not sure what Dave did. Carter went up to around 500. Pud did 545 raw. Not sure what Bobby did. This group then pulled with the plates on top of mats, with most in the group stopping at 495.
Group 4: Burke, McLovin, Bandy, Schwab, TPH, Reiser, New Guy.
Most of the lifters in this group also did their final reverse mini band workout in full gear in preparation for the Iron House. 64 year young Bandy made 575 and missed 615 at the top. Burke made 845. McLovin hit 755. Not sure what TPH, Reiser and New Guy did. Schwab made 815 straight weight but he looks very uncomfortable under the bar with some kind of shoulder issue. Burke then pulled off the mats and made a nice 675.
Group 5: Halter, Sengos.
We did straight bar low box squats + chains in briefs for doubles, working up to a moderate weight. Halter finished with 385 + 250 lbs chains and I finished with 335 + 250 lbs of chains for a few doubles. Halter then disappeared when the bar went on the floor and I did deficit sumo deadlifts for sets of 5, ending with a moderate 405 X 5. I think I accidentally stole Carter’s deadlift bar. I hope that dude isn’t mad because frankly he scares the shit out of me.
All groups ended with lower back assistance work, abs and some sled pulling.
Look at this, an actual log of our bench training. The Thursday crew was a little larger than it has been, so we have some actual work to log for a change.
Bench
Group 1: Wenning, Panora, Meyers, Hauss
Lightened method with hanging blues today. Wenning went so raw that he didn’t even bother with a t-shirt, hitting a big 725 PR, a 10 lb jump over his previous PR prior to the August Pro-Am. Greg worked up to 800 lbs for 2 singles, breaking in a new shirt, I don’t recall if there were boards involved with both sets or not. This far out from a meet, Matt likes to work on raw strength as he has his shirt pretty dialed-in, at least until he makes the jump to his poly shirt.
Group 2: Dague, Chewy, Jerry O, Strong, Christian
These guys found anything you could attach to a bar and benched with it, using an incline bench. They had some plate weight, a monster chain per side, and a 25 lb plate suspended by monster mini per side. With this higher ROM, this really worked the stabilizers, because the suspended plate and the monster chain really caused the bar to swing.
Group 3: Johnston, Schwab
These 2 did some shirt work to get ready for the Iron House. Mike is still recovering from shoulder surgery, so isn’t able to grind much through his sticking point. Schwab is struggling with bar path and coming back too far over face when pressing to lockout. Couple more sessions for these 2 to get it figured out.
Assistance work
This varied by group. For triceps, we had a group doing kettlebell skull crushers using bands as handles. A group was doing skull crushers using the bamboo bar, and yet another group did close grip presses using a 4-board for reps of 10. From there, it was standing face pulls, and some dumbbell rotator work.
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.