I've had this happen a few times when I've trained. I remember taking my youngest brother Mike to a gym in Peckham (owned at the time by Gladiator 'Wolf'/Mick Van Wyck) and benching with dumbbells. I was capable of using, so I thought, 90's per hand. However, having managed to push up a rep Mike pointed out one was a 90 but the other... 105! I very nearly dropped it on my face in surprise.
Today, on what is my 2nd only session on one hand deadlifts with the thumb over style in many a year (2+) I thought I was pulling, one hand at a time, 130-kilos left and then 140-kilos right but one of the lads pointed out (always someone else ha!) I was pulling 160-kilos right which meant the left had been 140-kilos. I'm pretty sure my best previously was around those numbers.
In other words, as well as having a great session (rather than drop down I did 4 singles with the loaded weight) I also had proof of the adage - if your mind doesn't know what's loaded it'll pull whatever. Obviously if it had been loads more - not a chance. But a little more?
The only other aspects which MAY have helped was:
1) that the bar is very slightly, and I mean slightly, cambered.
2) I'd had 2 cups of coffee about 1 hour apart
3) I trained later than usual and
4) I was showing one of the lads some 'geeing up' techniques
Don't let your mind be the limiting factor when you lift.
Saturday 27 March 2010
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Ronny Rockel
Thanks to IB on MT for a great find. Here's one of many photos of Ronnie taken 10 days after the Arnold (click on image to see full size photo):
Monday 22 March 2010
Sunday 21 March 2010
the worst website for advice I've ever seen
And to make it double - they're serious: http://www.creatine-monohydrate.org has so much mis-information it makes your eyes water.
Among side effects, according to them, is penis shrinkage... why and how is not explained. Another is that creatine 'takes water from the muscle cell' when in fact its action is to pull water in. Another comment was that the body uses amino acids for energy... remind me what carbs and fats are for then!!
They also contradict themselves left, right and centre.
Avoid like the plague.
Among side effects, according to them, is penis shrinkage... why and how is not explained. Another is that creatine 'takes water from the muscle cell' when in fact its action is to pull water in. Another comment was that the body uses amino acids for energy... remind me what carbs and fats are for then!!
They also contradict themselves left, right and centre.
Avoid like the plague.
Thursday 18 March 2010
Well that's embaressing
The latest issue of the UK edition of Flex has Jay Cutler on the cover and a 'a how he came back to tip top condition' article inside. Unfortunately he has been signed, as of last month, with Muscular Development. Can I say 'foot in mouth'? LOL
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Lee Priest getting back in shape
Originally set to compete in Australia last weekend he's now looking to do the Atlantic Pro later this year. But here's a sneak preview of his return to form from Oz.
Monday 15 March 2010
Sunday 14 March 2010
Mindset of a champion
I've written loads on this but one aspect is we don't see limits the way some do. I've a few buddies in this grip stuff we do that are, at least by what they say, limited to 90-kilos/200lbs or under and, in their words 'not able to get past it'.
There in lies the rub. I can and do write out plans for increases in my 1 rep max (1RM) usually looking to hit an on-platform PB of 105% (5% more than my old PB). While right now I am using a longer type of program due to the frequency of competitions of about 1 per month I'd usually aim for a big number once a year (around the British).
Whether I'm doing 4, 6 or 8 singles and the more I do the higher the 1RM there's a small but obvious rise in what is added to the bar so that close to the competition, say a few weeks out, I'm doing multiple singles with what last years 1RM/PB.
You can see from that I am not limiting myself to some predetermined number, as in the above example 200lbs, but am constantly looking forward. If there is an upper limit among the elite grip guys at the moment it's 120-kilos or 264lbs. Like 500lbs overhead back in the 70's it MAY be our imagined limit... although I'm hearing hints of in gym numbers a little above. I also know, like the 500, that once it's done our aim will become higher. Equally those struggling with 200 should set out a plan for 205/210 and then I'd hazard a guess once it's done they'll add even more because 200 will soon become but a memory.
There are other aspects to the elite athletes make up which makes them so and I'll touch on one more today. Hunger.
Not the 'feed me now' kind but that which makes them want more, more, more when it comes to weights. At a certain level ALL sportsmen and women push their bodies to places they aren't normally seen to go. So the prevalence and likelihood of injuries rises. Be it a wrenched back or, for grip guys, hand strain, tendons aching or, more usually, torn skin. The elite knows this will happen and is, if not exactly happy when it does, willing to accept the toll. Others are not. They stay at under 200lbs.
Read into this what you will.
There in lies the rub. I can and do write out plans for increases in my 1 rep max (1RM) usually looking to hit an on-platform PB of 105% (5% more than my old PB). While right now I am using a longer type of program due to the frequency of competitions of about 1 per month I'd usually aim for a big number once a year (around the British).
Whether I'm doing 4, 6 or 8 singles and the more I do the higher the 1RM there's a small but obvious rise in what is added to the bar so that close to the competition, say a few weeks out, I'm doing multiple singles with what last years 1RM/PB.
You can see from that I am not limiting myself to some predetermined number, as in the above example 200lbs, but am constantly looking forward. If there is an upper limit among the elite grip guys at the moment it's 120-kilos or 264lbs. Like 500lbs overhead back in the 70's it MAY be our imagined limit... although I'm hearing hints of in gym numbers a little above. I also know, like the 500, that once it's done our aim will become higher. Equally those struggling with 200 should set out a plan for 205/210 and then I'd hazard a guess once it's done they'll add even more because 200 will soon become but a memory.
There are other aspects to the elite athletes make up which makes them so and I'll touch on one more today. Hunger.
Not the 'feed me now' kind but that which makes them want more, more, more when it comes to weights. At a certain level ALL sportsmen and women push their bodies to places they aren't normally seen to go. So the prevalence and likelihood of injuries rises. Be it a wrenched back or, for grip guys, hand strain, tendons aching or, more usually, torn skin. The elite knows this will happen and is, if not exactly happy when it does, willing to accept the toll. Others are not. They stay at under 200lbs.
Read into this what you will.
Friday 12 March 2010
Mighty Mitts gallery up
The last few photos etc are still to be added and I'll (finally) get the write up done tomorrow (I've been catching up between rest all week. Go HERE Check the videos too.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Wednesday 10 March 2010
April 2010 magazines
Quick mention for the last/latest issue of Body Fitness as it had a at least 6, if not 8, page forearm training article for da grip boyz. Buy it. Also coming soon are...
Argghh!!
Bloody email. It's a royal pain in the ass sending large data via my PC as I'm trying to send a package of photos over. As and when I do there will be a gallery of the Arnold stuff for you to look at on my personal site.
If there's another 'arrggghh' in the works it's based on the 'paint not yet dry' breakdown of the only just taken place MM event. Mere days have passed and I'd guess some of us (me etc) have yet to fully recover and already it's being picked over. Yet, again as per my own nagging, where's the structure needed in the US? Let's not over analyze an event before we have in place the association needed.
If there's another 'arrggghh' in the works it's based on the 'paint not yet dry' breakdown of the only just taken place MM event. Mere days have passed and I'd guess some of us (me etc) have yet to fully recover and already it's being picked over. Yet, again as per my own nagging, where's the structure needed in the US? Let's not over analyze an event before we have in place the association needed.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Still recovering...
I'm not even to the end of page one of my Arnold write up and I caught myself having to NOT calculate just how long I was awake from Tuesday am through to Wednesday pm as a result of my hospital visit. Man... it was a LONG TIME!! I'm just about caught up on most of the rest, hence this post, and I'll get it done real soon. The photos have been loaded on picasa so it'll be show time any day now.
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
