OK crew get-together

[brianmincher]

Sunday, the Oklahoma crew got together at Brian's house for Dynamic Effort bench. I can now tell you what it feels like to have your house invaded by giants. Bigokie is 6 foot 5 and 275 plus, and Screwball is 6 foot 2 and 295-300 and neither of these guys is fat. It was an awesome experience, very inspiring to be around such big, strong, smart, motivated people. I got some great training ideas from my giant friends, and possibly IMHO gave out a training idea or two myself.

After speed bench, and taking a couple of singles we did JM Presses, which I know are a big topic on this board. I filmed the workout, and watched it later, and it looked to me as if everyone's form on the JM's is pretty close to the same.

Another thing that amazed me watching the film was the speed that Bigokie and Screwball displayed when benching. I thought I was fast, but I need to get a lot faster when guys this much bigger than me are moving the bar so much faster than I am.

All in all a great session, despite the fact that I am still feuding with my shirts, and you guys come back any time to train.

B.

 

[Screwball]

Mincher's Dungeon

Brian's new home gym is awesome. The Okies came from the four corners (well 3 anyway) of the state to test our mettle. What a gathering it was... The attendees were Brian "The Bencher" Mincher, BigOkie and Screwball. There was so much testosterone flying around the place I thought we were going to commence "whooping" each others asses. By the way, we don't know what a "tapout" is in OKlahoma. You either "whoop" or get "whooped". That's a little sucker punch from the Okie Crew to the Florida Crew (AKA - The Sunshine Boys) (He, he). We managed to contain ourselves and decided to put an "ass-whoopping" on the weight instead.

First, a brief description of Mincher's Dungeon. The Dungeon was filled with implements of torture: There was the Rack (power, that is), the arm stretcher (lat pulldown), whipping bands & chains and the stability ball of death. Needless to say, I broke out into a cold sweat when I stepped through the Dungeon's doorway. I was praying to the Iron Gods to give me strength.

We began the workout with speed bench. We used three chains per side and added 5 lbs. to each set for a total of 6-7 sets. Even though there were three of us we still moved pretty quickly. I thought that everyone used good form and good speed. BigOkie was the quickest. More weight for BigOkie in the future. (He, he) After, we hit a few singles to test our speed and Brian "shirted up" and gave 450 lbs. a ride a couple of times. 500 lbs. is not far from falling my friends - stay tuned.

Next we did JM's. I admit that I don't do these very often beacause I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Anyway, Brian and BigOkie showed me the proper form and I think I got somewhere close to good form after a couple of sets. We worked up to 315 lbs. and my triceps are feeling it today. Thanks for the help Brian & BigOkie. I will definitely work on these more often and try to perfect my form. My tris should benefit.

Then we did low pulley rows. We just kept adding weight (25-35 lbs.) for 4-5 sets and pulled 8-12 reps. Last set was in the 250 lb. range I think. BigOkie looked like he was in a damn racing skiff on the Thames River. His range of motion was twice mine and three times Brian's. He must of done 3-4 times the actual work that Brian & I did. Ain't it a bitch to have long arms. Damn, I thought my arms were long. Big Okie should be carrying a Housefeld (sp?) stone for GPP & AR.

Finally, we finished up with some rotator work and pushdowns. Brian showed me some exercise variations for rotator work which I will be using in the future.

All in all, it took about 75-90 minutes - not too bad. I was sweating like a freakin pig and I was winded a couple of times. I don't think Brian or BigOkie even broke a sweat. Thank god, Brian gave me a towel during the workout so I wasn't dripping all over the equipment. My GPP is for shit!

After the workout we debated training techniques and Brian & his wife grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch. We ate and talked and ate and talked and, well... I think you get the picture. BigOkie gave me some good advice on assisted and unassisted band pulls for my deadlift as well as stability ball work. Both Brian and Big Okie gave me good advice on GPP & AR exercises which I intend to incorporate into my own training. We decided that Brian may need to work in his shirt more and hit 3-5 boards in a shirt with band tension to work the beginning of his lockout (transition point) and maintain the shirted groove. BigOkie needs to continue to hit his triceps hard and his bench will make big jumps. I expect for BigOkie to be well over 300 lbs. by the end of the year. As for me, well, I need to work my damn middle. Abs and lower back 4-5 times a week from now on.

Thanks again to Brian and his family. I had a great time and it was nice to train with like-minded people who are knowledgeable and dedicated. I hope to do it again soon See ya!

- Screwball

 

[bigokie]

Well I guess I should give my take on what happened Sunday. First, I want to thank Brian and his family for there hospitality. Dinner was great and a lot of info was spread about.

The Dungeon was awesome. Someday I will have a similar one. We started with dyn bench, everyone had good form and speed.
Brian and Screwball both worked up from 185-205 over there sets. Then Brian shirted up and barely missed 450. Mostly shirt related. It looked to pull him out of the groove, slightly. More shirt work and 500 will fly. Screwball worked up to the mid 300's(can't remember exactly). Screwball benched fast on his singles. JM's next, found out that I do them like the others. That's a relief, I've never seen anyone do them until then. Pulley rows came next. Awesome machine that he had for these. Plate loaded pulldown and row machine. All worked up to 240 on these and everyone kept good speed and form. Then came cable shoulder work, something I've never done. Need to add them in before I get another injury.

Definitely picked up some good information and possibly passed out some. I'll be implementing most of what I learned this week. Screwball is just about to break the 300# barrier, weight wise. Once he gets his core(abs) stronger I think he'll be breaking all his pr's. I think he's competing in May, maybe bench only. From the looks of it 450+ will fall. His total will be huge and I bet he'll total elite someday. He's real strong and has lots of years of lifting left. As for Brian, 500 will fall this year, easily. And more to follow, he's only 27 so he has many, many years left of lifting. I don't know if he's planning any 3 lift meets, but from the sounds of it he's already got a good total. As for me, my only goal right now is to keep getting stronger without getting hurt again. I will hit 300# bodyweight this year. And probably more next year.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day and very informative.

We definitely need to do it again. Give me a holler when and where.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Awesome stuff guys!!


Gonna have to get the Northeast representin on here.

 

[Screwball]

Hey Brian...

Let me know if you saw anything in the video that I need to do with form, placement, etc...? What were some other observations, if any, that you have from watching the training session video?

 

[bigokie]

Update

Well went into the gym today for ME lower body. Tried the goodmornings off of pins like Brian suggested on an earlier thread. Worked up to 405, got it. Went to 425 and flopped. Many reasons I think, first not enough rest between sets. And also mental reasons. I'll be back to these in 6 or so weeks and at that time 495 will go up.

Now to the real reason I wanted to post again. Tried some of the suggestions that Brian and Screwball gave. Worked like a charm. First was correcting my c/g/hr technique. I've never been able to do these until Brian suggested moving the pad back. I got four sets of these after trying this. Next was getting out of the squat rack and spreading my stance out some more. Tried these with just the bar to see how they worked. After a few sets I got it figured out and it seems like it is much easier. I think this will make a huge difference in squat weights. Thanks Screwball.

Well for those of you who have never trained with a training partner, it's definitely worth driving to meet some guys to train with.

Brian and Screwball, we definitely will need to do this again. Either in Tulsa, Stillwater or Lawton. I don't care where. Maybe next time we can try Dynamic Squat. Thanks again guys for all your help.

 

[brianmincher]

yes, I did see something in the video. You need to put some more weight on the bar. You are moving the bar faster with your working weight than I moved the empty bar. Other than that form looked very good. Glad to hear your M.E. lower body workout went well.

I went home for lunch and deadlifted, just missing a P.R. and did reverse hypers. And later this evening, I will do Glute ham raises and sled dragging and abs. I am going to change up some things I have been doing and incorporate some ideas I got from you guys this weekend.

B.

 

[bigokie]

Sounds good. I am gonna start sled dragging again this month. I think with the form help and with sled dragging my squat will go through the roof. Might just have to enter a 3 lift early next year.

I was watching the Reactive video again. It showed three different ways to rehab your shoulder. If we don't train again in the next week or so I will just mail it to you. I think that will help you tremendously. Dick Hatzell is a smart dude. He also shows some stuff to help with elbows, which I think me and Screwball should start doing. I'm starting tomorrow on the elbow and shoulder stuff, no need to wait til I hurt my shoulder to start prehabbing it. Good luck and let me know if you want to train again.

 

[Deciever]

sounds like a great day. I would love to see some pics of"The Dungeon"

 

[k1401]

great post
and glad you guys had a good time!