The Dungeon Workout...
I've been on the road all day. I was a walking zombie and my ass is wore out! The training yesterday drained my central nervous system and my shoulders and triceps are smoked. I feel like I competed in a 3-lift meet. Well, enough with the whining.
First, I want to thank Brian and his family for allowing us the opportunity to train. We basicly monopolized an entire Sunday day. Thanks for lunch too. It was unexpected but greatly appreciated. Oh, thanks for the shirt use and videos. Damn, talk about hooking a brother up! I guess pay-backs are in order and will be dealt with accordingly.
Now, to the training. My workouts are so much better when I train with Brian & BigOkie. When I train as usual, it's probably a 6 or 7 on a scale of 10 but when I train with the "Okie Crew", it's a 10 on the scale. I can't tell you how much better it is to train with motivated, experienced and knowledgeable partners. If anyone can get me to a 500+ bench it will be Brian and BigOkie knows more about Westside training then anyone I have ever met. I have new ammunition from BigOkie to help with my deadlifting technique. I have learned so many things from both of them. Damn, it's good to be me! Thanks to both of you.
My new double-denim is tight as hell. That's the good thing. The bad thing is, I'm not strong enough to use the damn thing yet. I just can't decide whether I want to have it altered or just wait until my lock-out strength improves. As is, I estimate it will take 525+ in order to touch. If I had Brian's (or Jay's or IrishPower's - I wish) lock-out strength I would be good to go. Alas, I am just a wanna-be and have much work to do on my tris. The EHPHD shirt that Brian is letting me use is a LOT of shirt too. The shirt is actually one of Kim Brownfield's old shirts so the shirt has pushed 600+ a few times. Kim owns WABDL world records in the 220 & 242 classes. I guess this will give you an idea of how big Kim's upper body is when I can squeeze into the shirt at 300+ lbs. and it is actually a little loose in a couple of spots. Brian & Big Okie got a workout just getting the thing on me. When it was finally on I was huffing & puffing and they did all the work - go figure. I tried a single to see how close I could get it to my chest but I misgrooved (totally different groove then my denim) and I damn near broke my stick arms in two. My arm pits are black and blue, big time. It felt tight on the descent but when it got half way down it kind of fell to my chest (or almost)? Anyone have an idea of what's going on??? I need some more time in the shirt to get it figured out.
BigOkie, is young and really only started powerlifting training a few months ago. He is going to be a monster when he allows his body to mature and his training takes off. I wish that I knew a tenth of what he knows when I was his age. I think his plan is to focus on training for the next few months and compete in early 2003. My plan is to watch BigOkie's weight so that I can compete in a weight class other than his. If all goes well he will shoot up to Super Heavy's and leave me with the 308's. I don't want to have to pull weight to get to the 275's. I like food and supplements. Prediction for BigOkie: tremendous gains in weight & strength in the coming months.
Brian, knows more about bench shirts then anyone that I personally know. He gave me many tips for using both a denim and a poly shirt. When he benches in a shirt it looks smooth, stable and controlled. When I'm in a shirt it feels like all Hell is breaking loose. My shit is all over the place. I will learn. Anyway, his 3-boards were solid and fast. At 550 his left hand drifted back toward the upright but I stopped it and he pushed it right on up - only a little slower then the previous reps. Very impressive! He's working on that freaky-status tricep strength. When he does these next he will hit 575+ I'm sure, because we took too many attempts to work up in weight. I bailed out at 485 and it was truely a max effort attempt. I saw pretty little birds when I was done. That's how I know! BigOkie, commented that my face was a nice shade of "maroon" or did he say "moron". I'll never know, as I was incapacitated.
Next, we did 5-boards with the blue bands choked and looped once. It was a lot of tension (150+). More than I had ever used for an upper body movement. I know that there has been a lot of hype lately for this movement due to Halbert's article but this exercise is the shit. If you can't improve your bench, whether raw or shirted, with this movement then there's no hope for you. I'll probably do this movement for the next two months for tri work; I liked it that much. My triceps are mush today. We started with 5's then went to 3's. I struggled to get three at 275 bar weight. Brian went up to 315 and popped 3 quick ones with a slight struggle on the last rep. Did I mention that Brian has great lock-out strength? Very strong triceps. The rest of the workout is a bit fuzzy because my ass was spent. Some rows and rotator/shoulder work. Prediction for Brian: 475+ in May and 500+ in July. By the end of the year, who knows? He's making some very quick gains.
It was one of the best workouts I've ever had. If I could train like this consistantly I know my numbers would improve tremendously. If I can get my shirt problems worked out, I'll be really happy with a 450 lb. bench. Anything higher would be gravy!
Jay, you and your crew are lucky to have each other. I know you guys push each other each & every time you train and that's what it takes to maximize your gains. Every time I read a post by a Florida Crew member, I'm truely impressed. You boys are strong as Hell and good people to boot. I would love to make the trip to Florida. We'll see what happens. I have family in Tampa. Oh, and stay away from the floor presses. I'm convinced the devil himself invented this exercise to cripple the unwary lifter (Bwahaha!). I gave them up a while back so just be careful with your shoulder.
Thazzit! - Screwball
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. I havn't been able to keep up with anything on this board hopefully once I graduate things will be better, especially for my training. 
