Just testing this out (“Pressing” another’s blog), because I feel like this is a must read for everyone out there
Dan John’s Ten Commandments of Fitness
Source: Dan John’s Ten Commandments of Fitness – Mahler’s Aggressive Strength
Xtreme Xmas Xplosion meet recap
Well, I’m back! Hello blog. Working and coaching became too much of a strain and I couldn’t find the motivation to train as well as write about my training. I’ve got some ideas of topics I would like to write about, so we’ll see how it goes!
I weighed in at 231, the heaviest I’ve ever been and my first time competing in the 242 weight class. I’ve already taken steps to get my body fat down by the time June rolls around for RPS Ohio State Championships (June) or maybe I’ll jump ship and give USAPL a try (July).
Since this is my first time using the conjugate method, I had gotten my openers a few weeks ago, decided my second attempt would be a bigger jump but something that I’ve gotten before, and my third attempt would be a smaller jump and small a personal record.
I had some problems in the warm up area with other lifters (which I will write about in further detail later) and the lever on my belt wouldn’t close. I’ve been having this problem for a while, I carry a screwdriver in my bag and then I just have to get a weight of some kind to hammer the pin back in. I asked a guy to hold the belt for me and he ended up just fixing the lever himself. I pretty much thanked him and had to hurry out because I was on deck.
For squats I opened at 405, easy peezy. I could have probably gotten it without a belt so no problem there. Jumped to 455 on my second attempt and I thought it also moved quickly. I had a buddy there who watched me, I asked him whether or not I should stick to my planned third of 475. 465 is my best squat in competition and I hit 470 a week later. My friend told me to take the PR so I stuck with 475 and got it pretty smoothly. My form looked good, I need to work on sitting back more (engaging hamstrings more) and my eccentric speed but I didn’t cave forward like I’ve done in the past so that’s good. 500 is definitely in the cards! I’ve been waiting to get it for about eight months now, I’m hoping it happens at my next meet!
Opener on bench was 315, which I was scared might have been high even though I’ve hit it at least a dozen times in competition. My second attempt was at 335 and was redlighted because I double clutched the weight (I was called to press the weight, sank the weight even further in my chest before locking it out). I didn’t realized it until I went to give my final attempt. I looked at the video, the weight flew up but the judges were right, so I stuck with my planned third attempt of 350. It was a grinder about half of the way up and my arms are very lopsided, but I got it. That’s a 15 lb paused bench PR and 5 lb lifetime PR (I had a touch and go bench of 345 at Chalk up or Shut up this year).
At about this time I realized that they were announcing state records, which in the past, this particular meet didn’t count for any records. I looked at the state records and I had broken the squat record already, and the bench and deadlift records were WAY out of reach (these were probably set by people who did bench only or deadlift only). The total record was 1350, so that would mean a 530 deadlift would break the record.
I opened with 465 and jumped to 505, they were my typical slow but steady deadlifts. For my third attempt I had to decide whether or not to try for a PR or to break the state record only. I thought it would be silly not to push myself so my final attempt was 540. I didn’t get any video to see what went wrong, but the bar only came about three inches off the ground before it stalled out. My cursed deadlift, seems to be the only lift I never make great strides with! Also, looking back at it, my best deadlift was 530 so I should have been doing 535 anyway, not that it really would have mattered.
So in the end I hit a 1330 total, which was a 10 lb PR. Personal records on two lifts and a total is a pretty good day! Although it sucks to know you left some pounds on the platform, it does help give me the confidence to know what I am capable of and how to progress further.
There’s probably dozens of people I could thank for the help in the past 6 months or so, but special thanks to Matt Wenning for doing my programming for the past 24 weeks and teaching me a ton about conjugate training methods. If you’re interested, visit his website for programming or seminar information!
http://www.wenningstrength.com/#!online-training/c1h3f
Clint Darden Seminar – August 15, 2015
Some time ago, way back when he had a YouTube channel, I became a fan of Clint Darden. I found his videos to be informative, hilarious, and motivational. One day he posted an throwback video and was wearing a Sigma Pi shirt. From that day on I have been mildly obsessed a big supporter of his. The day that it was announced that he would be hosting a seminar at EliteFTS, I had no less than two people instantly telling me about it and I was website checking it out (but definitely not on my work computer haha). It took me a day or two to actually sign up, I’m glad I did because it sold out the very next morning.
After arriving at the S4 compound and exchanging pleasantries with everyone, Clint gave an outline for the day. Everyone was split in to two groups. One group was to be coached by Sheri and Ken Whetham and Bruce Mason while the other group would be working with Matt Ladewski and Brian King. I chose to work with the Whethams and Bruce (well, it was the closest monolift so I chose to walk the least amount of distance).
Any time getting hands on coaching from people way better and more seasoned than you is an amazing experience. Though I’ve been powerlifting for 13 years, Ken had to show me how to properly unrack the bar in a monolift. I do not usually train in a mono, only if someone is in the squat cage already at my gym. So this is something I’ve never really practiced nor even thought about. Everyone got practice on working the mono, loading, and spotting. It always amazes me the amount of people who don’t know some of what I consider the simpler aspects of lifting. But that’s why we go to seminars like this, to learn! Not everyone there was an experienced powerlifter. Some where newer to the sport, some were strongman competitors. There was also a rumor that there was a crossfitter there!
There was some miscommunication with the planning for the day. I talked to Clint and I figured that I would use this day as a substitute for my max effort lower day. But the way the day didn’t go as planned so I just rolled with it. I was going to work up to a two rep max with a two second pause and three chains on either side. I worked up to a bar, two red plates and a green plate on either side. They were in kilograms so no one knows how many pounds it was. It felt like the bar was moving fast! But then squat time was over and I hadn’t worked up to my max yet. But it was awesome just to use top of the line equipment…a good monolift with a bar that wasn’t bent, chains of uniform length, EZ loaders that were super easy to hook the chains to. Things that my small gym doesn’t have. I don’t think I got heavy enough to where my form would start to break down so I didn’t receive a lot of critiques. I’ve been really focusing on upper back tightness and speed. The rotation of lifters started out moving along slowly until Sheri started to yell at us. I can see why she is affectionately referred to as Mama Bear. I was also told that she wrestles alligators, but I won’t believe it until I see it.
Next we moved on to bench. My weakness on bench has been similar to squat (and deadlift) with a lack of upper back and lat tightness. My other main focus right now that I’m trying to fix is a lack of leg drive. Since my max effort lower day was kind of shot, I knew I was going to hit some modest number on bench and just concentrate on getting the coaching. I think throughout the session, my upper back was doing quite well. The only major mistake I kept getting queued on was my foot placement for leg drive. I modeled my set up somewhat after Chris Duffin, who goes very wide. Bruce Mason was the leg drive guru for this day, moving everyone’s feet around so they could get as much out of their legs as possible. He moved mine forward a little bit and it felt like it was helping. Brian King came over to show how to wrap wrists better. I finished with 320 for a quick double.
Although I wasn’t gunning for any kinds of PRs, one of Clint’s former clients hit a HUGE 35 lb PR with 405 lb in a single ply shirt. He failed at hist first attempt and most of the participants had gone to lunch. Just about the only people in the gym were Clint, Brian, Joe Sullivan and I who were spotting. To me, that’s what makes the sport beautiful, as with most things in life. People with a common interest supporting each other so we all can reach our individual goals. Joe and I had no real interest in this stranger’s accomplishment, but I knew he and I were going to stick around as long as he needed us.
After lunch we moved to deadlifts. These seemed to take forever, I felt like I did about 100 warm up reps and I think I could tell by the end. I pretty much did triples all the way up to 405 and I failed to budge either 475 or 495. Again, I wasn’t out to set any records but I was pretty angry that a sub-500 deadlift got the best of me. As deadlift is my worst lift, I made sure to try and pull every rep perfectly…lats tight, shoulders back, pull the slack out of the bar. My biggest coaching queue was to not use a Spud belt, so I guess that’s a good thing? I’ve had trouble deadlifting in my level belt and I’ve been thinking about buying a new one. I’ll have to try some things out before I decide for sure.
When we finished up with deadlifts, the coaches broke up in to individual stations for accessory work. I got to use a cambered bar for the first time. We worked on good morning variations. If you ever get to train somewhere that has a variety of bars, take advantage of it! I’ve done good mornings for years, but using the cambered bar for them was a whole new ball game. We were supposed to rotate to the next station but somehow the rest of my group got broken up and I don’t know where everyone went.
I ended up going to Matt Ladewski to listen to hear him talk about some awesome life stuff. He talked about making decisions in life, and simplifying things down to being either a 1 or a 10. Make everything in your life a 9 or a 10, if it’s not a 9 or a 10 then it’s a 1. Pretty simple stuff! It’s very similar to the quote I heard from Dan John which he attributed to Olympic gold medalist Dan Gable: “If it is important, do it every day, if it isn’t, don’t do it at all.” Priorities and stress can muck up your day to day life, try and keep it simple!
The seminar finished with a Q&A, and as usual my mind had a thousand things going through it but none of them worth sharing with the world. One thing I did pick up on, was that Dave Tate is really freakin’ wise. Someone asked Clint about business and Clint deferred to Dave who gave a 10 minute answer. Even though I have no interest in starting my own business, everything Dave said made perfect sense.
Clint gave a brief example of how he sets up his programming with a simple triangle. Major lifts go towards the top, prehab/rehab goes to the bottom, and everything has a place. It’s one of those things that’s so simple that it’s brilliant.
I am beyond lucky just to live where I do. This was my third trip to EliteFTS, a whopping 45 minute drive, and each time has been beyond helpful. If you ever want to learn from the best, you have to make the effort to do so! I wish more people would go to more seminars. It doesn’t even have to be about lifting, just whatever you’re passionate about!
A big thank you to EliteFTS, Clint Darden (who took most of the pictures seen), Ken and Sheri Whetham, Bruce Mason, Brian King, Matt Ladewski, and Dave Tate for all the help!
Week 6 of Conjugate Training
8/8/2015 – ME Upper
Close grip bench to 2 board with Reactive Sling Shot, 2RM – 135, 185, 225, 275, 295, 315, 335, 355, 365, 375
Burnout set with 50% – 2 x fail @ 185
Dumbbell rows – 3×10 @ 55 lb, 65 lb, 75 lb
Dumbbell extensions – 2 x 45 sec @ 25 lb
8/9/2015 – ME lower
Close stance squat, 2RM – 135, 185, 225, 275, 315, 365, 385, 405
Rack pulls from 3 pin, sumo stance, 3RM – 225, 275, 315, 365, 405, 425, 455
Lying leg curl – 2 x fail @ 40 lb
Side bend – 3 x 12 @ 100 lb
Ab wheel – 2 x 10
8/11/2015 – DE upper
Bench – 10 x 3 @ 115 lb with double red bands and 1 chain
Military press, 8 RM – 95, 115, 135, 155
Tate press – 3 x 1 min @ 30 lb
Band pull aparts – 4 x 25 with red band
8/12/2015 – DE lower
Paused squats – 10 x 3 @ 40% (185 lb)
High pulls – 8 x 2 @ 225 lb
Paused front squats – 4 x 10 @ 135 lb
Leg curls – 3 x fail @ 100 lb.
Where is week 5 you ask? Well it was a scheduled deload week and the start of the football season so I just took the week off completely.
Not much to talk about for this week of training, but high pulls and front squats….what am I, an Olympic lifter? amirite?!
Week 4 of Conjugate Training
Sunday July 26, 2015 – ME lower
Paused front squat –
3 x 45 lb + 130 lb in chains
3 x 95 lb + 130 lb in chains
3 x 135 lb + 130 lb in chains
3 x 155 lb + 130 lb in chains
3 x 175 lb + 130 lb in chains
3 x 195 lb + 130 lb in chains
3 x 205 lb + 130 lb in chains
Stiff legged sumo deadlift –
185 x 6
205 x 6
215 x 6
225 x 6
Cable pull through – 3 x 15, 130 lb
Alternating leg extension – 3 x 70, 30 lb
Tuesday July 28, 2015 – DE upper
Bench – 10 x 3, 130 lb
Incline dumbbell press – 2 x failure, 50 lb (20, 18)
Band pull apart – 4 x 25
Face pulls – 5 x 20, 50 lb
Wednesday July 29, 2015 – DE lower
Squats – 8 x 2, 260 lb
Straight leg deficit deadlift – 4 x 8, 185 lb, 205 lb, 225 lb, 245 lb
Hamstring curl with average band – 3 x failure
Paused front squat, each set add 1 more second to pause – 3 x 10, 135 lb
Saturday August 1, 2015 – ME upper
Bench with reverse average bands (hard for me to guess the amount of weight this took off, but 135 didn’t even touch my chest) –
3 x 135
3 x 135 (with bands)
3 x 225
3 x 275
3 x 315
3 x 335
3 x 355
3 x 375
3 x 385
2 x 395
Close grip bench, 50% of ME lift, with Sling Shot, paused – 2 x failure, 200 lb (18, 20)
Pull ups – 3 x failure (10, 8, 7)
Lateral raises – 3 x failure, 20 lb (20, 16, 15)
Walking out the bar with chains on it sucks, doing it on front squats is terrible. My best ever front squat is 315 WITH a belt and WITHOUT a pause, my top set was 335 at the top WITHOUT a belt and WITH a pause for 3 reps. That was rough.
So I’m never recording a whole training session again. It’s taken me a week to upload everything, crop it, and piece it together. I don’t have the software for it and using YouTube editor sucks. Also, you will never see me recording cable pull throughs again haha.
I bought my first bar this week, it was $79 off, plus free shipping, plus free Croc Locks ($40). I couldn’t say no. Can’t wait to use it.
A photo posted by Ben Balthaser (@benbalthaser) on Jul 28, 2015 at 6:40pm PDT
This upcoming week is a deload, perfect timing because football practice begins this week and it’s going to be a tough 10 weeks or so of trying to get training in as well as proper rest and nutrition, but I honestly wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Week 3 of Conjugate Training
Monday 7/20/2015 – ME lower
Squats
135×5
135+120 lb of chains x 5
185+120 lb of chains x 5
225+120 lb of chains x 5
275+120 lb of chains x 5
295+120 lb of chains x 5
315+120 lb of chains x 5
Stiff legged sumo deadlift
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5
Kneeling cable crunches – 3 x 20, 120 lb
Back extension on Roman Chair – 3 x 8, 3 – 3 tempo, 25 lb
Tuesday 7/21/2015 – DE upper
Bench – 10 x 3, 120 lb with doubled mini bands
Wide grip triceps pushdown – 3 x 1 min, 100 lb
Band pull apart – 4 x 25
Internal/external rotation – lots, 10 lb
Thursday 7/23/2015 – DE lower
SSB squats – 2 x 2, 185 lb. 4 x 2, 205 lb. 2 x 2, 225 lb.
Sumo deadlift – 10 x 3, 225 lb, 45 seconds rest.
SSB good mornings – 3 x 1 min, 135 lb
Hanging leg raises – 3 x 1 min (~30+ each)
Shrugs – 2 x failure, 100 lb dumbbells
Saturday 7/25/2015 – ME upper
Close grip bench with Fat Gripz –
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 1
265 x 1
275 x 1
285 x 1
295 x 1
305 x 1
315 x 1
3 x 205, failure (~13, 8, 7)
Triceps push downs – 3 x failure, monster mini bands (~40, 35, 35)
Bent over rows – 3 x failure, 75 lb (10, 8, 8)
Reverse curls – 3 x failure (~20, 15, 15)
So Monday was fun…my first time using chains for squats, I worked up to about 435 lb on my back, plus my shirt was kind of thin, and it was about 85° in the gym. This led to a lot of missing skin, bruising, and cramping followed by football camp for 2 hours…so like I said, fun!
Close grip bench with Fat Gripz was interesting, I kept thinking I was done and the weight kept flying up. I was only supposed to go to 90% so I thought 3 plates was a good stopping point.
For the banded push downs, I tried something I saw recently. Westside Barbell shared a link to an article saying that if you’re having tendonitis, a good way to combat this is ‘over speed eccentrics’ (use a band to do a movement violently with lots of reps). I had slight elbow pain on me DE upper day, so hopefully this will help a bit.
Hopefully I’ll have some exciting things to share this week…or, at least they’ll be exciting to me!
Week 2 of Conjugate Training
Tuesday 7/14/2015 – ME Lower
SSB squat to ultra low box – 160×3, 180×3, 210×3, 230×3, 250×3, 270×3, 300×3, 320×3, 340×3, 360×3
Deficit deadlift – 135×5, 185×5, 225×5, 275×5, 315×5
Lying leg curls – 3 x failure, 40 lb
Standing banded ab crunches – 4 x 25
Reverse hyper – 3 x 10, 100 lb
Wednesday 7/15/2015 – DE upper
Bench – 10 x 3, 115 lb
Cable overhead extension – 3 x 1 min, 80 lb, 60 lb, 40 lb
Band pull aparts – 4 x 25
Friday 7/17/2015 – DE lower
Squat – 10 x 3, 250 lb
Deadlift – 10 x 1, 225, 245, 265, 275, 295, 315 (hips hurt too much to continue)
Stiff legged deadlift – 3 x 1 min, 50 lb dumbbells
Reverse hyper – 3 x 15, 20 lb
Saturday 7/18/2015
Close grip bench with reverse light bands and 3 sec pause – 135×3, 185×3, 225×3, 275×2, 315×2, 335×2, 355×2, 365×2, 375×2
Burn out set – 3 – 3 tempo, 195 lb. I think I got 9
Incline chest supported rows – 3 x 45 seconds, 55 lb dumbbells
Hammer curls – 3 x 1 min, 20 lb dumbbells
Lateral raises – 3 x 1 min, 20 lb, 20 lb, 15 lb
Training was extra rough this week, I think it’s because I’m trying to rearrange my days in preparation for football where I will do my max effort stuff on the weekends when I have more time and can do the dynamic days at night. That means I did 2 ME days/DE days in 6 days instead of 7, hopefully after this week things will be on schedule and I get the right amount of rest. The top of my quad (rectus femoris) was in so much pain I had to shut down my speed pulls. I’m going to have to put more effort in the my recovery (it finally put me over the edge on whether or not to buy a massage stick).
I’m really loving the amount of sets my programming has set up. Powerlifting is as much a technique sport as it is a pure strength sport. Yeah, people who are flat out strong are going to do well, but people who practice their technique are going to get more out of their lifts and probably last longer in the sport. It’s much easier to get your set up right and focus on technique when you’re doing more sets and less reps than a few sets and lots of reps.
If you’re looking to add something new to your workout, you should definitely try the timed sets. They are absolutely brutal. Today during my side raises, a 15 lb dumbbell flew out of my left hand, which you might know as the hand with my screwed up wrist. Instant reminder than I need to build some grip endurance in that hand.
Next week I get to do squats with chains…I can’t wait!
Week 1 of Conjugate Training
Wednesday 7/8/15 ME lower Squat -225×5, 275×5, 315×5, 345×5 (belt), 365×5 1″ deficit sumo deadlifts – 225×5, 275×5, 315×5, 335×5 (belt), 355 (video)
Lying leg curls – 3 x a 3-3 tempo. 40 lb, 40 lb, 30 lb Ab wheel – 3 x 10 Glute bridges – 3 x 1 min, 80 lb, 80 lb, 60 lb
Thursday 7/9/15 DE upper Bench – 10 x 3. 110 lb with double mini bands Tate press – 3 x 1 min, 25 lb Band pull aparts – 4 x 25 Suitcase holds – 3 x 30 sec, 115 lb Lateral raises – 2 x 1 min, 15 lb
Saturday 7/11/15 ME upper Bench – 135×6, 155×6, 175×6, 195×6, 225×6, 245×6, 255×6, 265×5 Close grip 2 board bench – 2 x failure, 3 – 3 tempo, 2 sec pause on board. 205 lb, 185 lb Dumbbell rows – 5 x 10. 60 lb, 60 lb, 65 lb, 65 lb, 75 lb Dumbbell triceps extension – 2 x 45 sec. 30 lb
Sunday 7/12/15 DE lower Squat – 10 x 3, 2 sec pause in the hole. 135 lb with light band. Deadlifts – 10 x 1. 225 lb for 3 sets, 275 lb for 3 sets, 315 lb for 3 sets. Cut it short to go tour a new store and watch the USAPL State Championships
So going from 531 to conjugate is weird. Having my programming done by Matt Wenning is brutal. I’ve never done real sumo deadlifts in training before nor really glute bridges. First day out having to do both was awesome. The tempo training and lifts for time are also different and brutal. I had to use less weight or drop down weight from what he suggested just to do them. For the glute bridges I did 33 on my first set, 30 on my second, 30 on my third. I don’t think I’ve ever done 30 reps for one set in my entire life. I’m hoping that my body will get conditioned to doing the reps like this so at least I’ll have the energy to finish sets.
I’m thinking about buying a camcorder. I could use it for coaching as well as for my lifts which is the only reason I’m really considering it. Or I could save money and just use my phone propped up on random equipment to do the job. It’s hard to get a good angle.
On my sumo pulls, everything looked okay, but I bet if I could have gotten a higher view then things would be off. All in all, I’m pretty excited about this new programming and can’t wait to see what the next week brings!
MY FIRST POST!
Hi, welcome to my Myspace blog….wait…no…sorry…I’m having a flashback.
So the reason I wanted to start writing again was twofold.
First of all, I needed a creative outlet. There has been a lot of things I have wanted to write about lately and this will give me a platform to do so. I don’t like posting long statuses on Facebook, so this will give me the platform to write longer musings. I don’t know how much or how often I’ll write something. I may give up after a few weeks. That won’t bother me at all. If I’m not getting what I wanted out of this, I will not continue to do it. What will I write about? Powerlifting? Football? Why an all female cast of Ghostbusters isn’t the worst thing that could happen? Yes.
The second reason is to educate the readers, who will probably be 99% my friends and 1% spam bot telling me that I need to give them my credit card information (I hope that’s the ratio I get and not the other way around). I’ve had great opportunities to talk to and meet some amazing people in both the fitness community and in the coaching community. I hope to pass along what I have learned to whomever will listen to them. I know that I’m not anything special, I have no college education in the field of exercise/physiology/kinesiology etc., nor would I be considered an elite athlete who has accomplished many impressive things. But I am someone who enjoys to learn and enjoys to teach. There are too many people out there who enjoy one or the other, but not both. I’m just hoping this blog will be beneficial both to you and I.
When I am through learning, then I am through
– John Wooden
Ben Balthaser 