This is the last heavy bench session for Jimmy Overkill, Pat, and Frankenstein before the UPA meet on December 3rd. Jimmy is doing bench only and Pat and Frank are going full power. Also joining in the group today was Burke and New School Mike.
The group worked in shirts today taking an opening weight plus a little some after.
Pat works up to 505 and 515 to the chest and then 545 off of a 2 board.
Frank hits 405 off the chest. He then hit 435 off one board and 445 off 2.
Jimmy Overkill hits 405 from the chest and the same numbers as Frank off of boards. These two had quite the verbal war going back and forth which seemed to either piss each other off or motivate them. The jury is still out on this one.
Mike has surprisingly solid form for only being in a well fitted bench shirt for the second time. He took 345 off the chest and then had to bolt.
Burke nailed 455, 495, 545, and 585 all to the chest in his phenom. He’s got that shirt DOWN.
The group then finished with close grip benches, shoulder work, and light pushdowns.
Today everyone looked really good in their shirts. Seems like all the dedicated lock out, and speed work is paying off for everyone. I had never done a drop set to a lower board for a double, but I think it will be a good tool to add in time to time. I had to really work to stabilize for the second rep. Plus I feel like that is a confidence builder.
(1 rep is a full up, down 4-5 inches then back up. Legs locked. Absolutely MURDERS your hamstrings.)
3 x 10
Leg Extensions
3 x 20
Abs (Some crazy movement Chuck dreamed up to kill us)
3 x 10
Grip Work
3 x 30 secs
People have asked me what is “Abs” and “Grip Work”. Well imagine the worst thing in the world that would hurt your abs and hands the worst and that is it. Most of the time the movements are beyond description or at least would take a good paragraph or two to describe. This brings me to my next topic: Videos. They will be back. We do so many unique movements, with holds, and odd body positioning its hard to write about, much easier to watch. Days like today that dont look so bad on paper, make me want to smack people when they say “Thats it?” All of us were dying. My lower back feels like…. I had a really off color insert here, but decided to pull it. Basically I am dead. Exhausted from this. Maybe its because Chuck counts our reps. And by counts our reps I mean only counts the ones you do to his liking. So for me on one set of Back Raises, 10 was actually 14. Get YOUR Weight Up!!!
Deads Just Below Knee (Except for Nate Who Was Locked Out When He Grabbed the Bar)
Warm-Ups (We did triples up to the last weight)
Nate- 655
Jimmy- 745
Brandon- 835
Mike- 855
Hypers
3 x 12
Abs
3 x 12
Cat Back Shrugs
275 x 10 x 3
Grip
Today was absolutely brutal. 700 on the first 5 or 6 sets felt great, but then the fatigue factor set in, and by the end the weights were still moving fast just suffered some form breakdowns. Mike is showing lots of improvement in his ability to hit depth comfortably and consistently. We have worked a lot of weeks on our free squat just trying to build some muscle memory for depth. I was consistently missing depth at first, or if I forced myself into position my ass would roll under and Id lose tightness so all in all I think this work is paying off. Chuck had the day off as his foot is healing up from a little injury, and he was there coaching us. Chuck on Starbucks with extra shots is about like a Pitbull with electricity plugged to its sack. He was super intense, I think even more so coaching us, because when hes training he still focuses on his lifting. Today it was all on us. My back feels like it has been put through a meat grinder and Im sure I will sleep soundly, just dreading the pain in the morning.
Group: Burke, Frankenstein, Jimmy Overkill, Roush, Pat, & Mike New School
Jimmy, Frank, and I are approximately three weeks out from the UPA Meet so we took openers in our shirts. Burke tagged along. Roush put on a raw strength show, and Mike asked Frank “What are we dooooing” and then went home.
Jimmy Overkill worked up to 405 straight weight.
Frank hit 455.
Pat went to 505.
Burke smashed 570.
Roush worked up to around 500 raw and then did a few drop sets with 405. He then finished training with shoulder work with the gigantic sandbag and other accessory movements.
The rest of us then moved to the power rack to overload with a hanging silver band. Instead of working off of higher boards we feel it would be more beneficial for Frank and Jimmy to overload with bands so they are confident touching in their shirts.
Frank hit 500 twice and shut it down.
Jimmy hit a nice 475 with a near miss at 500.
Pat hit 585.
Burke hit a nice pr of 675.
The group then split off for accessory work.
Thanks to Roush and Danny for sticking around to coach us in our shirts. Frank seems to be grasping the equipped bench concept very well. I’ve been working at keeping my head planted against the bench and not flattening out at the bottom. Burke has his phenom dialed in. We expect him to hit a mid to high 600 bench in his next contest.
Gym was pretty empty today. A few guys were out killing bambi, and to be honest, I have no idea where everyone else was. Since Frank and I are in for the UPA meet on December 3rd, we decided to take an openerish weight today on the squat.
Group: Frankenstein, Grizz, Zach, and Pat.
Grizz and Zach stayed raw today and put on an awesome display of raw strength. Both of these guys hit a triple with 510 and then added reverse silver elite bands for singles with 600lbs and 690lbs. The Grizz is a newer Lexen member. He is about 5’6″ 300lbs and only 18 years old. This guy is just brutally strong for his age and we expect good things from him in the future.
Frank works up to 510 in briefs and then adds his Leviathan. He takes 590 straps down and then 655lbs in full gear for a relatively easy squat. I’ve been very impressed with how Frank is progressing over the past few months since we have started training together.
I take 600 in briefs, 690 straps down, and 745lbs in full gear for an easy opening weight.
I’d like to thank Grizz and Zach for sticking around and helping us with our equipment today. We would have had a very difficult time getting everything squared away without you guys. After Frank and I finished squatting these guys took off after doing some accessory work.
Frank and I then did full range raw deadlifts with a hanging silver band. The band took off about 70-80lbs at the bottom according to Frank’s extraordinary calculations.
We both did reps ranging from 2-5 until the weight was above 500lbs. We each worked up to 645lbs raw. Next week we will begin pulling in our equipment in preparation for the UPA Meet. Below is a video of Frankenstein’s squat opener. He’s still working on a few technical issues with his equipment, but he’s learning very rapidly. I expect him to do very well in his debut equipped competition.