Monday
Bench:
245x3, 220x3x3
Chins: 30
reps
TRX Pushups:
100 reps
Wednesday
Hang Clean
and Jerk: 220x1x5
Gun Show
Friday
Dead Lift:
506x1, 440x1x6
I actually
did some snatches before the clean and jerks on Wednesday. I’m very out of practice with them. I felt strong but very slow. It goes to show that you get good at what you
train. I haven’t done them in a while so
I’m not all that great at them right now.
My technique was good, just not fast and explosive.
Pressing
movements are slowly and steadily coming up.
It’s going to take a while. These
have been my slowest moving lifts. For
someone who can squat 500 and dead lift 600 my pressing numbers are pretty
sad. I know that to get better at them I
would really need to dial back the lower body training and put more focus into
the upper body. Just not real sure I
really want to do that.
I had a
client hit a dead lift PR the other day.
She pulled 216 lbs. It was the
first time she’d ever dead lifted anything over 200. It was one of those small victory moments
that stay with you for a long time. It’s
the reason why I love what I do. When I
first started working at NX Level I had more of an interest in strength
training. It has since grown into a
passion. In the beginning I thought it
was fun but didn’t really put much effort into the pursuit of knowledge it
takes to really be successful. I was
more than happy to just read exercises off of a sheet of paper and be on my
way. Now I take my self-study seriously
and am constantly trying new things on myself and those that I work with,
always trying to achieve better results.
Needless to say I’m very thankful with where I am in my career.
This weekend
Amy and I are hosting some friends of hers.
I’m going to be grilling up some BBQ bacon cheeseburgers where the bacon
is chopped up and mixed in with the burger meat. I’ve never tried them like this before. To say I’m excited would be an
understatement.
When it
comes to musical tastes around the gym Lance and I are on the outside of what
most people like. Most in the gym are
good with radio rock, modern rap/hip hop, or Top 40. None of those really interest me. I’m into punk rock and metal. For some reason this music, whether it’s the
loud guitars, screaming vocals, or just general awesomeness, causes people to
make snide comments. “Are there even
words?” “Why are they so angry?” And so on.
It reminds
me of a time when Amy and I were at her parent’s house. They had country music on in the house, and if
you don’t know that I despise most country music you don’t know much about
me. I’ve had just about everyone say to
me, “Just listen to the lyrics.” The
lyrics? It’s usually the contrived,
hackney, shitty lyrics that I can’t stand.
Not to mention the hypocrisy of multi-millionaires who apparently “live
country”. But that’s beside the
point. Amy mentioned to her mom that I
don’t like country music. Without
missing a beat her mom turns to me and asks, “You don’t like that heavy-metal
crap do you?” My reply was simply, “Mrs.
Bachler, I tell people ‘I don’t like country music,’ not, ‘I don’t like that
country music crap.’” We all had a good
laugh after that. My point is that
different folks are into different strokes.
It would be a pretty boring place if we all liked the same watered down,
formula driven, non-offensive, sophomoric music that populates the airwaves
these days. Sick burn.
A huge
congratulations to my great friend Eric Ficek.
About a year and a half ago Eric weighed 385 pounds and had done zero
exercise since high school football. His
only attempt at losing weight came during his freshman year of college when he
went on an oranges and Everclear diet.
It did not lead to long term success.
After Lance and I ran the Warrior Dash Eric started exercising
again. He got into powerlifting and
started cleaning up his diet. About six
months ago he was down to 340 but was essentially on cruise control.
He mentioned
that he’d like to lose some weight to compete in the 275 pound powerlifting
class. I offered up my knowledge and
began writing weekly diet plans for him.
His initial goal was to get to 265 so he could have lots of room for the
275 class. I thought he would be more
awesome at the 242 class. Well, last
week he sent me this picture.
 |
| 240.4 never looked so good. |
It takes a
lot of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice to lose 20 pounds let alone
100. The thing about Eric is that there
really isn’t anything special about his weight loss. He did a big chunk of it through the holidays
and got a little lose with things. He
didn’t bemoan his lack of fortitude; he just got right back on the wagon. No one has the iron will to resist every
single temptation that comes their way in a six month time span. As a coach I wouldn’t expect nor would I want
a client to resist every temptation. You
need to live a little too. The hard part
is to keep them very sporadic. I’m
talking weeks apart, not days. So if
Eric can lose 100 pounds and do a 180 on his physical status think about what
you could do.
And now a
little plug; if anyone is interested in online coaching send me an email at tdequaine@hotmail.com or just drop a line in the comments.
Whatever your goals are whether they are training or diet related
there’s a good chance I can help you out.
But keep in mind, it isn’t free.
I went sans
belt on all the dead lifts today. All of
them felt really good. I even pulled one
of the 440s with a double overhand grip (the hardest grip). Without the belt I really feel the stress
through my abdominal wall and obliques.
I think I’m going to keep the belt off for dead lifts for a while. Hopefully when I put the belt back on my back
and abs will be a lot stronger.
I don’t have
anything against training with a belt. I
think younger lifters, and especially athletes, should try to go as far as
possible without one though. You could
debate the topic of whether or not it’s cheating or safe for the other muscles
and joints doing the work until you are blue in the face. But the fact remains that you can lift more
with it than without it.
I couldn’t
tell you the last time I went to a movie in a theater. Wait, yes I can. It was Alvin and the Chipmunks:
Chipwrecked. But the time before that
was Due Date. That came out well over a
year ago. I even have trouble sitting
down at home to watch one. I’d rather
read or write or cuddle fight with Saxon. Also, I might be getting
AD- HEY A SQUIRELL!
I hope
everyone has a great weekend and thanks for reading!
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