BenchMonster, BigOkie, and screwball training pics

[benchmonster]

Thanks Arioch,

Deciever,

I am 27 years old, will be 28 this summer, and have been actively lifting for the last 10 years. I lifted a little starting at age 16, but played all 3 sports, and only lifted between seasons, did manage a 255 raw bench at 155 bodyweight my senior year, though.

When I first benched I weighed 135 and was 14 years old, and was able to bench my bodyweight for about 5 reps. But when I started to get serious at age 18, I was benching mid 200's weighed 155, and was five foot seven and 1/2 inches tall. As of this writing, I am still same height, weigh 225 to 230, and am benching a little over 500 with a shirt. Raw, I have no idea and could not care less.

I have been powerlifting for 10 months. My first meet was July of last year, and I hope to outbench last year's mark by 150 to 175 lbs this year.

I will let Screwball and bigokie tell their own tales, but I can say that Screwball's transformation has been much more dramatic than mine. bigokie is very young. When he has been training for 10 years, you may very well be reading about him challenging the total records in the superheavies. His potential is unimaginable. If I knew what I know now at his age there is no telling where I would be right now.

B.

 

[Deciever]

wow, so when you first benched you were my size right now... but i can my bodyweight for 10+ reps.

Looks like you were just built to bench... 255 at 155 is pretty damn good, especially for not powerlifting at the time. and now your mid 500's and still have plenty of time left to improve.

When i first started i could hardly bench 90 lbs, and weighed about 95... boy have i changed.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Good pics guys. Ya'll do got it down to a science.

I myself have done these with no shirt and my carry over with no shirt is abou tthe same with a shirt. Excellent exercise though and hell ya with the shirt your able to lock out a house! Excellen tfor the top end.

We use the green suspended mostly for our board work, but found the blues are about what my shirt is. I did like 635 loaded suspended in blues with no shirt and that is roughly on a good day what i can bench shirted. I do know (at least was) that kenny Patterson found his max doing the blues no shirt.

Keep hittin Pr's and see where it goes. That is the name of th egame. Who knows you may get to a 700lb bench doing these. When you hit a plateu then do them another way.

YOu guys are huge! Dam Scewball is a thick ass cracker! Big Okie how old are you? Benchmonster looks like a maniac! YOu look intense bro. Cool!

Dam we all know what each other looks like now. Except a few. I am sure everyone else will put picks up in the future. Good job fella's i would love to train with you guys sometime if i could.

 

[benchmonster]

bigokie is only 21, I think.

Jay, I would love to get together sometime to train. I know we live a long way apart, but who knows what the future may bring. You and I are the same age, but you are way ahead of me on this road, but a get together when we are both around age 30 would be insane. Hide the women and children!!!

I videotaped this workout as well as Screwball taking still pics. I don't have a digital video camera, so it is just on regular tape right now. If someone is willing and knows how to transfer video tape to something that will play on the net, I could edit the video to show just the best lifts from each of us that day, and mail a vhs tape. Just throwin out an idea.

I agree that the suspended bands should be around where the shirt max is. I did a close grip with 495 after all the board/shirt work, which I think is shown in one of the pics, and it was all I had in the tank. I am thinking with a wide grip and a fresh body, that I could have done around 525 or 530 which is about where I estimate my shirt max to be. What is so cool about these exercises we have been doing lately is that I absolutely know I can lock out 550 to 600, so when I have 500 sitting on my chest, I know it is going up, because bigger weights have gone up before.

I appreciate the comment regarding the intense look. At my miniscule size, intensity is about all I can bring to the table, but what I lack in physical stature, I try and make up in intensity and insanity. We will post a pic of all 3 of us side by side with a normal sized person for reference. Even in those pics, you cannot appreciate how big and massive bigokie and Screwball are, or how good lookin I am.

B.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Well i know one day soon you will want to test your max against the best and since the WPO is Based in Florida, when you feel the erge to hit it big at the bash take a week or so Vac and we can hit it then.

Dude without intensity i couldnt move anything. I have apartner who trains wih us (no Computer) he is 181 and is around 500lb bench, i swear he can talk about women , sit down on the bench yawn and hit a PR. No intensity. He is the only person i know that is like that. The rest of us need it.

You guys keep pushing each other big numbers will fall.

Shti Screwball looks like a 700 bencher already. I cant get over how big he is. Good back up!

Musclehed275 sent me some pics of him and Ryan Kennelly at teh Arnold and at the gym. Dude his arms are massive! He looks about the same size as screwball. Guys like us can hit big numbers true. But a guy thats 300 lbs and low fat and big bones has potential that we only could dream of. Gray Frank comes to mind. I am sure we'll here of some rising numbers from all of ya'll! Way to push each other!

 

[musclehed275]

I kinda agree with Irish here...im not bashing, but giving my .02 also...I pretty much hit the same weights in a meet that i hit on two, or even 3 board press, and this is counting total lockout weight, for example, I went 335 bar weight, blue bands and purple and one set of chains for a total of around 555, two board, this was before I ever had used the denim, the next week i popped an incredibley easy 535 paused single, with my denim! My wife hit a 310 two board, this was lockout weight, she broke the Florida state record with 275 and had 300 at lockout but got out of the groove, and she just uses a poly!so i think it carries over, In the old days, I used to squat "raw" up until about 8 weeks out, then go with straps down, for 2 weeks, then full suit for the last two weeks, point is, save a little boost for the meet, I practice in the shirt the last 4, not max singles, just an opener, after my ME exercise...Great pics guys!! Enjoyed looking at you beasts slingin Iron!

 

[Screwball]

Reply to IrishPower & Musclehed275 concerning the use a bench shirts while training and Deciever concerning my training history:

I'll start with my training history. I played defensive back and tight-end in highschool. I also ran track and was a sprinter. I ran the 100, the 200, relays and sometimes the 400. I was all-conference in football and should have been all-state but that's another story not worth getting into. I went to state in the 100 & 200 but did not place in the top 5. I could have played Division 1 football but made a very poor decision to go to the University of Oklahoma (no football offer - Sooners were stacked in the mid to late 80's) because all of my friends were going there. How pathetic! I could have played football and had my school paid for. Young, dumb and full of cum. Well, the decision is something I regret to this very day but live & learn I guess. Anyway, back to training. In high school I lifted in the off-season but did not take it seriously. When I graduated highschool I was 6'2" @ 185 lbs. Very skinny! And weak! My best lifts at that time were close to a 350 lb. squat, a 185 lb. bench and a 405 lb. deadlift. My legs and lower back were pretty strong from sprinting but my upper body was pitiful. In college I lifted when I was in school but when the Summer came around all I did was party. So, I would lift for 8-9 months each year and take 3-4 months off. Once I graduated and began working, I was very sporadic in training. I would lift for a few months then fall out of it, then pick it back up for a few months. Consistancy was not there at all. Each time I got back into training I would surpass my previous lifts and push them up and my bodyweight would go up as well. I always worked the compound movements hard when I trained even though I was basically doing the bodybuilding thing. On October 2, 2000, I got back into lifting with an emphasis on powerlifting. I researched everything I could find on powerlifting and eventually stumbled onto Westside. I have trained Westside or a slightly modified version ever since. It will be 2 years straight for me next Oct 2 and I won't ever stop training again. I'm 32 now and have been training on & off for 15+ years. I trained naturally up until about 8 weeks ago. I was 292 lbs. when I began and reached a high of 303 lbs. My future with "supps" is still being determined.

My goals right now are as follows:

Offseason Bodyweight: 320-325 lbs. - 12%-15% bodyfat
Competition Bodyweight: <308 - 10% bodyfat
Squat: 800+
Bench: 500+
Dead: 700+
Total: 2,000+

All of these goals by the time I turn a Sub-master. 34-35 depending on Federation.

In response to the use of equipment in training question. I was a die-hard raw and gearless trainer for much of my career but recently I started to incorporate more equipment (shirts, suits, wraps, etc...) into my training and my strength is climbing again. The additional poundage I can handle with gear allows an overload and my body is adapting to the stress. If I was training raw with my ME exercises I would be working in the 350 lb. - 450 lb. range but when I add the additional gear I can work up into the 600+ lb. range. It's working for sure. Do I think we should all throw on maximum gear everytime we step into the gym? No way! I think a balanced attack is the way to go. Raw sometimes and gear sometimes.

My shirt (Double Denim courtesy of Karen) was brand, spanking new so I had to throw it on. I mean if we had been squatting I would of thrown it on and squatted in it. I had to use it! My plan for upcoming ME days is to lift raw until I fail and then use the shirt for a couple of reps to see if I can get more. I need to spend as much time in the shirt as possible before July 4. July 4 is a bench meet. I really want to hit 500+ at this meet. With the help of Benchmonster & BigOkie I have an excellent chance.

 

[bigokie]

History: played football and football in high school, nothing else. The only real sport so why mess with lesser sports Had quite a few injuries and decided against going on, I only had one offer to play ball in Missouri at a little school, shoulda gone, but too late now. I was always big, weighed about 225-235 in high school at 6'5". I grew up on a farm and working there made me pretty big, but not real strong. I could do all the chores, it's just I wasn't real strong in the gym. So I did the bare minimum to get by in the gym. Once in college my strength really went up. I'm only 22 now and 6'5" and 270+. Haven't weighed recently. Hope to break 300-310 this year. No doubts I'll break it by the end of this year. I'd prefer to weigh in the neighborhood of 350-360 at 12 or so bodyfat, I definately have the frame for it. I just don't think I'll do much good until I fill my frame out.

Screwball will definately hit 500+ in July. Brian will go around 550.

In response to the shirt press with bands question. It definately trained our lockout. It was a killer. But I think alot of people get too caught up in the exercises that they are strongest on. People like to show off how much they can lift, everyone does it. I think alot of people work the exercises that they are strongest on and neglect the ones that they are weaker on. You want to work the ones that you are weaker on and in doing so your stronger ones will go up, too. I think eventually this will cause a muscle imbalance and you will get hurt. But on the other hand you have to handle heavy weights to get used to them. It's a fine line and one that has to be learned, I'm still trying to figure out which ones work best for me. Hopefully in the next few years I'll be able to get it figured out and my bench will make a big jump.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

I think that is a great point BigOkie. I am very guilty of that myself. Often opting for the exercies I am stronger instead of focusing on the weaknesses.

 

[Screwball]

Too often, I don't focus my training around my weaknesses but I'm getting better.

Personal weaknesses:

Squat - Core muscles (erectors, abdominals, obliques)

Bench - Triceps (arms in general)

Deadlift - Core muscles (erectors, abdominals, obliques)