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Screwball
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BigOkie and I trained together on Friday night. We missed the Benchmonster but he had family obligations to attend to. Hopefully, next time the entire Okie Crew will be present.
I met BigOkie in his hometown and we trained at his gym. It was very respectable and had a couple of pieces of equipment that my home gym doesn't have (i.e. glute/ham raise). It was dynamic squat day so we set some bands up in the power rack. We used the blues and the tension was high. I'm 6'2" and BigOkie is 6'5" so at the top the tension really is heavy. For every additional inch the band is stretched it is probably adding at least another 5-10 lbs. of tension per band. So the difference between me at the top and Big Okie at the top is 3" or 30-60 lbs. of tension. Very significant! We worked up in weight until 225 lbs. of bar weight and hit our sets there. I tried a set at 275 lbs. but tweaked my right oblique walking the weight out. It is the same injury I sustained about 6 weeks ago doing heavy walkouts and static holds. It's sore today but not as bad as the first time around. Next, we pulled some speed deadlifts. We worked up to 315 lbs. alternating both conventional and sumo pulls. BigOkie is really helping me with my bar placement and technique on pulling. I feel better about my deadlift. Both of us had really good speed. Then we did some Glute/Ham Raises. This is the first time I have ever done these and I sucked at them. It was hard for me to hold my upper body in a rigid position and it's just another sign that my core is weak. I felt it in my rear chain but it was more like a hyperextension when I did them. Once my core is strengthened I will benfit more from these in my hams and glutes because I will be able to fully contract the muscles over a larger ROM. BigOkie had no problem repping the GH raises and he even used additional weight. If I had access to a GH Raise and a Reverse Hyper then I know that I could make some significant gains in my rear chain strength. We finished off the workout with ab work. We did standing pulldowns for reps and static holds, hanging knee/leg raises and oblique twists with a high cable.
I want to thank BigOkie for allowing me to train with him. He bought a one-day membership for me so that I could train and he bought the post workout meal. There is nothing better than sitting down after a hard training session to eat and have a couple of beers.
Hopefully we can get together next week and do it again. Thanks again BigOkie!
- Screwball
I met BigOkie in his hometown and we trained at his gym. It was very respectable and had a couple of pieces of equipment that my home gym doesn't have (i.e. glute/ham raise). It was dynamic squat day so we set some bands up in the power rack. We used the blues and the tension was high. I'm 6'2" and BigOkie is 6'5" so at the top the tension really is heavy. For every additional inch the band is stretched it is probably adding at least another 5-10 lbs. of tension per band. So the difference between me at the top and Big Okie at the top is 3" or 30-60 lbs. of tension. Very significant! We worked up in weight until 225 lbs. of bar weight and hit our sets there. I tried a set at 275 lbs. but tweaked my right oblique walking the weight out. It is the same injury I sustained about 6 weeks ago doing heavy walkouts and static holds. It's sore today but not as bad as the first time around. Next, we pulled some speed deadlifts. We worked up to 315 lbs. alternating both conventional and sumo pulls. BigOkie is really helping me with my bar placement and technique on pulling. I feel better about my deadlift. Both of us had really good speed. Then we did some Glute/Ham Raises. This is the first time I have ever done these and I sucked at them. It was hard for me to hold my upper body in a rigid position and it's just another sign that my core is weak. I felt it in my rear chain but it was more like a hyperextension when I did them. Once my core is strengthened I will benfit more from these in my hams and glutes because I will be able to fully contract the muscles over a larger ROM. BigOkie had no problem repping the GH raises and he even used additional weight. If I had access to a GH Raise and a Reverse Hyper then I know that I could make some significant gains in my rear chain strength. We finished off the workout with ab work. We did standing pulldowns for reps and static holds, hanging knee/leg raises and oblique twists with a high cable.
I want to thank BigOkie for allowing me to train with him. He bought a one-day membership for me so that I could train and he bought the post workout meal. There is nothing better than sitting down after a hard training session to eat and have a couple of beers.
Hopefully we can get together next week and do it again. Thanks again BigOkie!
- Screwball
