phase 1 complete in my plans to take over the world ....

[IrishPower]

just thought i'd throw some ren/stimpy humor in but today was an interesting day.

let me start off by saying i had high expectations. it was SUPPOSED to be the first sunny day all day long we've had out here in pac northwest in about oh say 6 FRIGGIN' months.

I decided to take off work, rest up and prepare for my friday squat session.

well... i woke up at 8:15 feeling like someone beat me with a stick... my hips hurt, my back and abs were sore (maybe it wasnt the best thing to implement my 'chuck vogelpohl ridiculous amont of abs every day program' the DAY before my squat day).

so... with high hopes of something better, i go down, stuff my face with an egg sandwich my wife made for me (bless her) and chug down a protein shake. I promptly return to bed for some rest and hopefully a better afternoon.

well, i wake up 2 hours later to discover that there is a problem at work. don't these bastards know i have a PR to hit today????

so, i creep down to my computer, spend about 2 hrs to clean up someone else's horseshit and then hopefully peer outside the curtains.

what do i see???? it is cloudy and miserable outside. what the hell is this? can we please see some sunlight before my skin turns the shade of alabaster. jesus, i need some coffee.


so i head down to starbucks and order up a triple coffee with my usual training partners, yack down a yellow jacket and wait.... i feel nothing... i swear i could go to sleep.... this is not good.

i am sure you guys are all waiting for me to get to the damn point.

well ok.....

so the squat workout starts out like crap. i promised my training partner rap for the day so this just adds to my already swelling headache. it takes me like 10 sets before i can get down to the box, and all my sets feel like crap. finally, i seem to wakeup, realizing that i have a goal to hit.... i NEED to break 700 pounds on that bar today. my parter, doing the CORRECT thing tells me i can't raise the weight because my sets are too slow. this really pisses me off.... i replace the rap with some respectable death metal (sepultura's arise to be exact) and i make them faster, finally earning my way up to a respectable weight. all my pains are disappearing.

well 8 sets are finally out of the way.... do we go heavy? my training partners look away when i ask them if i should go for my goal. i could tell this was going to be rough. i agree to take it in steps and stop if it was not going to happen.

heavy set 1: 475 + 120 lbs of chain--- EZ
heavy set 2: 535 + 120 lbs of chain --- soso
heavy set 3: 585 + 120 lbs of chain --- it aint fast but it came up.

this is the most weight i have EVER propelled off a box, even when i used to compete in the 308 class and had an 832 squat.

ok.... so now i am sitting here 6 beers later, wondering how the hell i am going to go to sleep. but as the ROCK would say, it just doesnt matter. the ROCK doesn't care how i'm going to sleep.

one goal down..... suit arrives next week. 11 weeks to go.... time for some fun.

just in case some of you want to put an image behind all the rambling, here you go:

http://207.202.218.110/training/videos/box_speed.wmv

http://207.202.218.110/training/videos/box_heavy.wmv


/irish

 

[vtec96]

Cool post man .. and those are some nice lifts!!

keep it up .....

 

[powerlifterjay]

Dam no sunshine? That must suck. Thats some good shit though. And big liften! You got 11 weeks to a meet, which one you doing? And what weight are you gonna compete at? I didnt see the videos it wouldnt work. But nonethe less thats big weight.

Post some of your workouts as we all get closer so we can see progression. We all have about 6 to 7 week ourself.

Do you box sqaut all the way up to the meet? Or do you free squat at all before?

 

[IrishPower]

i am going to do the oregon west coast open. its about the only real meet in the pac-nw with 3 lifts in it.

i am not sure what weight class i am going to go. id like to do 242 but that may not be possible. we'll see. i refuse to get on a scale for awhile. whatever happens will happen.

regarding box squatting.... i have never used box squat training as my number 1 focus before. when i was competing younger, i always free squatted and played around with the boxes a little. this will be a learning experience for me.

i am planning to start taking canvas lifts as soon as my suit arrives. i consulted with dave tate and he says they do about 1/2 their speed work and then do some suit work to get used to it.

i imagine when you are trained and compete once every 8 - 10 weeks, you dont need to do a lot of practice, but i havent used knee wraps or a suit in 4 years so i am going to start early.

like you, i will probably do somewhat of a hybrid as the meet gets closer. i need to feel 800+ on my back before i can take it at a meet. however, wide stance good mornings are really helping me get used to it. i have hit an 805 and i want to do it again, dropping the chain height even lower.


definitely, i will post some of my training sessions. its too bad you cant get the videos to work. do you have windows? its built into xp, but i think windows 2000 and windows 98 will autodownload what they need to play the files.

/irish

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

sounds like a plan man...

 

[powerlifterjay]

I look forward to seeing your workouts. 805 good morn? Holy shit! I thought i had potential as a powerlifter (working on it) but you have all 3. I wish i could pull like you do. Time is all i can say.

Like when i go to powermagonline or look at any clips, yours starts the same way. My real player pops up but behind it it says not responding. And the image never comes up. In fact yours was the first time. I will try again. I got this PC in 99 its a gateway nothing fancy but i got all the basic shit.

How wide are your wide stance good mornings?

 

[IrishPower]

my wide stance good mornings are approximately my squat stance.

hmmm.... some advice on the videos....

goto microsoft and download media player 7.1

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

its a big download so i hope you have broadband, but i will be able to show you all the different shit we are doing on max effort days.

/irish

 

[Deciever]

i think most of that is impressive as hell. One hell of a set up you got...For box squats, what do you prefer? bands or chains?

 

[brianmincher]

Irishpower,

How tall are you and what height box are you using for speed work? I am five seven or eight, and I cannot seem to find the appropriate box height. I thought I was squatting low enough, but then I videotaped myself from the side squatting last friday, and I was terribly unimpressed with my depth. this was my once every 6 or 8 weeks to free squat wearing a suit and wraps, and the session went very poorly. To get to what felt like a decent depth I had to good morning the weight to the point that my belt buckle was digging into my thighs, and I still was not deep enough.

I don't know if my hamstrings are not strong enough to allow me to sit back and keep my back fairly straight, or if I have been squatting on the wrong box or what.

Last night I did narrow low box squats with no briefs, and got about 200 lbs less than I have done to a parallel box with a wide stance and suit bottoms on. The box last night was about 11.5 inches.

Thanks a bunch.

B.

 

[IrishPower]

Brian:

I am going to start a new thread regarding box height.

/irish