Greg Alvarado hit a 565 bench with a near miss at 600 at this past Southern States
Greg does a combination of shirted work and quite a bit of heavy raw training. He follows a different protocol, but lately he has been making some great gains. I predict he will very soon break into the top 5 bench list at Tampa Barbell.
On another note, something funny has happened. A lot of the gym has converted over to the rotating schedule, giving it a try. This is pretty cool, as I think it has a lot of potential. Again I caution that its benefits will be negated if you miss many days, but it is off to a decent start. It is ironic. One of the benefits of having the gym on mixed schedules was a more even distribution of equipment as the weekly guys were often on different exercises. Now, we have everyone pretty much doing the same thing again thus negating one of the benefits. May have to buy a fourth monolift and eliminate the preacher curl station. :)
I could put people on alternating rotating schedules so while one group does upper, the other does lower, but then we lose the unity of people all pushing each other.
So we roll with it. I predict some will have great success, some will say "the hell with this dumb stuff", and it will be an interesting ride.
Approx 3 weeks till the TBB hosted SPF Outlaw meet. Lots of work.
Remember guys: I am counting on everyone Friday and Saturday December 9th and 10th.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The road to 1005 or "what the fuck took you so long?"
I mentioned that I may blog on what I think contributed to the 1005 lb squat. Actually, I happen to be in a really pissy mood tonight, so I will do something that will cheer me up: talk about squatting.
This was something that did not just happen. I have, in fact, taken 3 shots at 1000 in competition, the first dating back to 2007 at the team meet in Georgia. The lift was turned down with 2 reds.
I took another shot at it at the 2010 Tampa Barbell invitational right after a 940. I did not complete the lift. There were various injuries, surgeries, and a random bout with pericarditis that caused me to shed 50 lbs in the hospital within a 3 week period, but finally on October 29, 2011, I hit the magic number at an APF meet in Orlando, FL.
I do not take a lot of fully geared max free squats in the gym. Meet conditions and adrenaline can make up for a lot. I was not, and am still not a big fan of maxing out in the gym on the competition lifts. In my mind, a few things happen when you do this:
You will invariably work up to something that is heavy and you either fail or come close to failing. Because you did not have meet adrenaline and preparation, the weight probably felt heavy. You have now just taught your mind that something off your theoretical max was heavy and it becomes a limiter. 1000 has been a mental barrier in my mind for a long time. And I played a large part in creating that barrier.
As an example: I felt very strong this past Februrary, so one day about 3-4 weeks before a meet, I decide I am going to come in and work up to 950, which was 101% of my PR of 940. I thought to myself: "If I am a 1000 lb squatter this should be easy". Well, I missed it. Not only did this destroy my entire training cycle, but I aggravated my groin to the point where it set my training back for months. In reality, I think that had I trained smart, I may have hit 960 that meet bumping up my PR nicely, but I wrecked the entire training cycle with a bad call because I needed 'to feel some weight'.
As an example: I felt very strong this past Februrary, so one day about 3-4 weeks before a meet, I decide I am going to come in and work up to 950, which was 101% of my PR of 940. I thought to myself: "If I am a 1000 lb squatter this should be easy". Well, I missed it. Not only did this destroy my entire training cycle, but I aggravated my groin to the point where it set my training back for months. In reality, I think that had I trained smart, I may have hit 960 that meet bumping up my PR nicely, but I wrecked the entire training cycle with a bad call because I needed 'to feel some weight'.
Let me give some perspective to let this sink in. If you are properly trained and rested, you usually complete a lift at a meet and feel like "wow, that was easy. it was like nothing was on my back that day". In fact, when I look back at a few of my meet lifts, such as my first 903 squat in Oregon in 2005, and a subsequent PR in New York of 920, they both looked crisp and relatively easy, like I could have put another 40-50 lbs on my back. Could I have? I won't know, but I can tell you I have never maxed out in the gym and felt that "Gee, I could add another 50 lbs to this". Again, you are conditioning your mind that the weight feels heavy and you are burning out your nervous system.
So, does this mean I stopped training squats heavy? No. Not really. But heavy is all relative. I DID stop training squats above 93%. In fact, if you look at graphs in LiftTracker, the average intensity was probably in the 70s, and there were some spikes of 90% or so.
Without getting all mathematical on you: here is a formula that has worked for me. Go heavy with some degree of frequency, but stay around 90+% and try and do multiple sets. Two weeks before this meet, I performed 5 lifts @ 90%, all pretty easy. The heaviest I went was 935. I rarely make predictions because I think nothing good comes from them, but after that weekend, I told my wife: "I feel like this is the one." I had not said that about a 1000 lb attempt, ever. I had hoped for it before, but this was the first time I felt I had programmed myself correctly and was not relying on a meet miracle or a gift to get it.
One of the reasons I could predict this was because when I went to New York and hit 920, the heaviest I went in the gym was 865, but I performed multiple sets at this range. Back then, I knew nothing about percentages, but somehow I had stumbled onto my personal magic formula. I just hadn't realized it yet.
I hear this a lot from lifters: "I need to put the weight on my back to teach me what it feels like or condition myself to the weight". I don't really buy this. Let me tell you something: everything over 800 lbs feels heavy to me. It did when I was an 800 lb squatter and it still does as a 1000 lb squatter. The human body has limits and the supporting structures all acclimate to heavy weight at different paces, but at a certain point it will always feel heavy, no matter how strong you get. The best thing you can do is train yourself to perform consistently. Being able to do this and seeing how at meet time this translate to PRs will lead your mind to stop equating heavy load with freakout and failure.
If you perform lifts at a certain percentage, IN YOUR MEET GEAR, and with the same form you do in meets, you will be able to perform the heavier weights in a meet without form breaking down, and you will not need heavy bands, overloads, or absolute maxes to achieve this. Not that these aren't all nice tools, but don't tell yourself you have to 'feel' the weight before you can do it in a meet. This is a fallacy which leads to overtraining.
Practice and Coaching
If you look at how major leaguers practice (and this has started trickling down to the junior levels), you will see one thing in common. Repetitive drills. By taking thousands of fly balls, ground balls practicing turning the double play, etc, these things will come naturally in a game. Your body is a computer. You program the computer through repetition. This is a principle behind many eastern-block training programs. I am not going to get all Sheiko on you, because I don't understand that, and I find a lot of that type of training mind-numbing, but the takeaway is you can program yourself to perform without maxing all the time.
Clearly, we can't spend the same amount of time under a weight as we can fielding grounders, but some of the principles are the same. You will do in a meet what you do most often in practice. If you clown around on your warmups, drop your head, grip the bar half-assed and only ratchet up your form on a few max effort sets, come meet day: you are highly likely to revert back to what you did the most in the gym. At meet day, my mind enters a different place. I forget shit, I get tunnel vision. I rely on my mind reverting somewhat to autopilot to complete things. This is why it is important during your warmups to pay attention, have your teammates give you proper queues and constantly make adjustments.
Here is a maxim I heard long ago: "Treat your warmups like you are preparing for a max and your max will go like a warmup".
Sometimes, I feel like the gym turns into cocktail hour before people buckle down and get serious. I try not to cramp people's style and fun in the gym, but in reality I'd like to throw a plate at your head if I see you joking around during warmups.
I experienced the hard way (several times in fact) that what you do in training carries over to a meet. In preparing for Georgia a few months ago, I did not have Sara, one of our lifters and my depth caller, in the gym. Her voice has a pleasant, harmonious ring, so when she wasn't there, I decided I didn't feel like listening to anyone else. I basically 'winged it' every heavy day. Because I did a combination of free squats and squats to a box where I was at or below parallel, I figured I had my bases covered. I could get that extra inch or two in the meet no problem. Well, when I went to Georgia, I performed exactly how I trained my free squats: that is I squatted high and got my ass red-lighted by my good friend Adam Driggers. I was disappointed as the weight felt light. When I went and looked at the video, I was annoyed with myself. The 950 was easy but clearly high, and it's because I got lazy in the gym.
The takeaway. Perform how you need to in a meet. Again, you don't have to max out to parallel, but you better be performing your 70-85% at parallel. Now to be perfectly honest with myself, as I ratchet up my training again, I will highly likely not hit every rep to parallel. In fact, when you are far out of a meet, I don't think this is as critical as long as you rely on also building strength through secondary movements, repetition, box squats, etc. But when I enter into meet mode again. I expect to go 50% as far as hitting depth.
If you are truly going between 80-90%, hitting depth will be fine and not an ego-killer because you are not maxing anyway. The nice thing about training at a lower percentage is when your partner says "you were high", you can just do it again. That doesn't happen when you max out. You get 1 or 2 and you are spent or risking injury to continue.
The aging body and the need for change
As I've gotten older, I have accumulated a laundry list of injuries. I have ruptured and repaired 3 tendons, had my right shoulder completely replaced with a titanium ball, and most recently had spurs removed from my neck which were impinging on a nerve. There is no doubt in my mind that my body is slower to heal than it used to be. Certain movements are more problematic for me. I also have been pursuing other interests which occupy some of my free time. I used to live for training 4-5 days a week, and getting the rest and nutrition needed to maintain this.
For the younger lifter, especially one who is new and likes to lift to look bigger in addition to just numbers, there is no problem putting in these extra workouts. Get the rest, eat right, and you will be able to do both powerlifting and pseudo-bodybuilding. In fact, do not confuse doing a lot of shit in the gym with practicality. One thing I still see is nowhere near enough attention paid the secondary lifts yet curls and tricep pressdowns are pretty consistently done even in my powerlifting-only gym. I just roll my eyes at the youngsters when I see this. But as Richie and Trent have said: "sometimes it's just about being thick" to which I can now reply: "1005 bitches" and stroll over to my chair and sit down and watch them curl.
Volume applied to the proper exercises is essential. I think the numbers and percentages are a topic for a different blog post.
I decided I really wanted to accomplish a few things (namely a 1000 lb squat and to get my bench back up to something decent just because I think it will be cool to say it can be done with fake parts) before I walked away from competition. I also have started pursuing some hobbies in a more serious form (the LiftTracker app has become an obsession which consumes a shitload of time). I have a limited amount of resources (namely time) so I need to spend them wisely. I started pairing down crap that was not directly benefiting my competition lifts. I went from doing 3 main lifts and 2 accessories per workout to 1 core lift, 1 core accessory, and lots of lats because I think a thick back carries to all lifts, and then sitting back and coaching. I do NOTHING that I feel does not carry over. I have noticed that I rarely have workouts anymore where I feel drained. My repetitive hip and groin injuries finally subsided, and my squat and bench press have moved nicely over last few training cycles.
I have also tweaked my rotation a bit which I have blogged about in the past. Personally, I was having some difficulties because I was following a weekly schedule:
1) when i squat on saturday, i go heavy. i am mentally incapable of deloads (in fact, in my mind a deload is a complete was of time. just stay home)
2) after squatting heavy saturday i was not able to come in tuesday and train another exercise which hit the low back. doing so led to low back and groin issues
3) i was not getting enough variety to maintain interest. i like the specialty exercises but was not getting enough recovery to perform them
Consequently, I moved onto the rotating schedule, which was probably the most effective tool that directly addressed my particular issues.
It was first blogged about here, and most of what is in here still applies. Have a read, especially if you are entertaining thoughts of trying this:
I do not think everyone 'NEEDS' a rotating schedule, and if you have a rigid mindset, this may cause you problems adapting to its dynamic nature. Also, younger lifters can recover faster and probably will make gains faster on the standard westside split. However, it can benefit everyone who commits to it. I will caution that missing days on a rotating schedule is much more problematic than missing on a weekly one as it takes awhile to come back around. So commit to it for real. If you know your schedule will require you to miss with any degree of regularity, just stay put.
I am going to end this post here as it is already information overload. A large percentage of my gym is now trying a rotating schedule. I also have added the ability in LiftTracker to track PR changes over time. What is going to be really neat is to see in 4-5 months how everyone's training has changed and hopefully how the PRs have moved to go along with it.
Squatting rules! By the way: Tampa Barbell now has (3) 1000 lb squatters, all still actively training. I know this puts it with the most 1000 lb squatters in a gym in this state. In this country I know of only two other gyms with this: Westside and SuperTraining. Fine company to be in.
I am going to end this post here as it is already information overload. A large percentage of my gym is now trying a rotating schedule. I also have added the ability in LiftTracker to track PR changes over time. What is going to be really neat is to see in 4-5 months how everyone's training has changed and hopefully how the PRs have moved to go along with it.
Squatting rules! By the way: Tampa Barbell now has (3) 1000 lb squatters, all still actively training. I know this puts it with the most 1000 lb squatters in a gym in this state. In this country I know of only two other gyms with this: Westside and SuperTraining. Fine company to be in.
As would be fitting of this post, squat day falls in 2 days. See you there!
-TF
Thursday, November 3, 2011
November 2011 - a long needed update
You may wonder why the blog doesn't get updated very frequently. I can only respond by saying that life gets in the way and I get busy.
Most of you who know me know I have spent an enormous amount of my free time on the LiftTracker application. This started out as a way to learn a new technology (programming for mobile devices), and it turned into somewhat of an obsession when I realized it could make a coach's job much easier. Over time, it came to fundamentally change the way I approach my own training and led me to hit an all-time PR squat of 1005 this past weekend. More on that later though......
We have certainly had our share of ups and downs in the gym over the past half year. It is inevitable. Humans are humans. However, the gym is my second family, and I really take pride and a personal interest in how we overcome adversity, just as we strive to learn to get stronger physically. Just like it hurts to see your child fight, get hurt, and even cry, it also fills you with immense pride when they pick themselves, dust off and return to battle.
The thing is: we have no parents to help us. We learn ourselves and move on. Every single person in the gym, no matter their age, and myself included is constantly having to learn how to not only make themselves stronger but conduct themselves better as a person in the future based on experiences in the past. I am almost 40 yrs old, and I feel like I still have lots of ways to learn and grow.
Anyway, we have had two meets over the past 6 weeks that, in my opinion, brought us closer as a team. The first was the meet in Georgia, which involved carting our equipment 10 hours both ways to Atlanta and back to support the NGBB meet. The amount of people who stepped up and participated, including those who came only to help when things got tight was awesome.
Also, this latest event, the annual OBB meet, was another trial for us as a team. Once again, I was filled with gratitude for all the folks who did it, and particularly those who had to deal with me gearing up 6 weeks straight after Georgia to finally hit something I have been trying for a LONG time.
On a sad note, one of our members, Brandon Novatko felt it was time to move onto a different career path and was forced to adjust his training to prepare himself physically for his new career. I will remember Brandon as a student of the sport and someone who had a keen insight into things that made training successful. I know that I have had a chance to say goodbye, but I felt it was also appropriate to thank him publicly for helping to coach me, try whacky ideas, help me refine the rotating schedule, and always willing to step up to come extra to the gym, help clean, help coach, etc. I wish you sincere success in your next endeavor.
Funny Brandon story: for the past 6 months we started playing a lot of rap during training. Brandon never usually comments on the music. In fact, I thought he couldn't hear it. One day, "Tupac Back" comes on and the intro has Tupac rambling something incoherent. "blah, blah, blah... Know what I'm saying?" Brandon looks up and says: "No, I have fucking idea what you are saying.". Priceless. You probably had to be there, but I will never forget that.
Anyway, that is all for now. I have a lot of thoughts on what I think has been working for me and my group personally I will share in the next installment.
Also, in 5 weeks Tampa Barbell will host its first meet outside the confines of our facility. We will see lots of new faces, and we will get a chance to grow the SPF and lifting in Florida. I dread the hard work that will go into it, but I look forward to the fun people will have and positive reviews I know we will get.
Until next time...
-Blotron
Most of you who know me know I have spent an enormous amount of my free time on the LiftTracker application. This started out as a way to learn a new technology (programming for mobile devices), and it turned into somewhat of an obsession when I realized it could make a coach's job much easier. Over time, it came to fundamentally change the way I approach my own training and led me to hit an all-time PR squat of 1005 this past weekend. More on that later though......
We have certainly had our share of ups and downs in the gym over the past half year. It is inevitable. Humans are humans. However, the gym is my second family, and I really take pride and a personal interest in how we overcome adversity, just as we strive to learn to get stronger physically. Just like it hurts to see your child fight, get hurt, and even cry, it also fills you with immense pride when they pick themselves, dust off and return to battle.
The thing is: we have no parents to help us. We learn ourselves and move on. Every single person in the gym, no matter their age, and myself included is constantly having to learn how to not only make themselves stronger but conduct themselves better as a person in the future based on experiences in the past. I am almost 40 yrs old, and I feel like I still have lots of ways to learn and grow.
Anyway, we have had two meets over the past 6 weeks that, in my opinion, brought us closer as a team. The first was the meet in Georgia, which involved carting our equipment 10 hours both ways to Atlanta and back to support the NGBB meet. The amount of people who stepped up and participated, including those who came only to help when things got tight was awesome.
Also, this latest event, the annual OBB meet, was another trial for us as a team. Once again, I was filled with gratitude for all the folks who did it, and particularly those who had to deal with me gearing up 6 weeks straight after Georgia to finally hit something I have been trying for a LONG time.
On a sad note, one of our members, Brandon Novatko felt it was time to move onto a different career path and was forced to adjust his training to prepare himself physically for his new career. I will remember Brandon as a student of the sport and someone who had a keen insight into things that made training successful. I know that I have had a chance to say goodbye, but I felt it was also appropriate to thank him publicly for helping to coach me, try whacky ideas, help me refine the rotating schedule, and always willing to step up to come extra to the gym, help clean, help coach, etc. I wish you sincere success in your next endeavor.
Funny Brandon story: for the past 6 months we started playing a lot of rap during training. Brandon never usually comments on the music. In fact, I thought he couldn't hear it. One day, "Tupac Back" comes on and the intro has Tupac rambling something incoherent. "blah, blah, blah... Know what I'm saying?" Brandon looks up and says: "No, I have fucking idea what you are saying.". Priceless. You probably had to be there, but I will never forget that.
Anyway, that is all for now. I have a lot of thoughts on what I think has been working for me and my group personally I will share in the next installment.
Also, in 5 weeks Tampa Barbell will host its first meet outside the confines of our facility. We will see lots of new faces, and we will get a chance to grow the SPF and lifting in Florida. I dread the hard work that will go into it, but I look forward to the fun people will have and positive reviews I know we will get.
Until next time...
-Blotron
Friday, June 17, 2011
A special post for Suzanne
...who politely told me she had no idea what we were doing training-wise. This is fair enough, as my programs tend to change as often as my underwear err.. well you get the point.
Trent and Brandon wanted to experiment with a hybrid approach to training where they weren't tied to the powerlifting movements, equipment, and rep-schemes week-in, week-out. We all brainstormed a bit and came up with the idea of a rotating schedule, whereby each day of the week was no longer dedicated to a particular lift. This gave them the chance to vary the aspects of the training, working mass-building variations one day, dynamic variations another, and a heavy movement on the 3rd. I have hesitated in the past to do this at my gym because of the inherent confusion the schedule would cause on the groups. It is much easier to say "We squat Saturdays, pull Tuesdays, and Bench thursdays" than it is to explain a mystical rotation. So... they went on to do it, and I continued to squat too heavy every saturday, come in trying to pull tuesday, and hurting my back yet again for the umpteenth time.
Screw it. The groups are mature enough and leaders are in place that can I can experiment a little too. I switched over about 6 weeks ago and completely reset my expectations for squat and deadlift. I also spoke quite a bit with Dave Bates, who trains lifters in a more russian-styled way. I tried to pluck some of that knowledge, particularly the intensity zones and plop that into the program. This is also modeled in the LiftTracker software I have been writing.
Anyway, more on zones later. Here is how the program works.
Squat/Deadlift
Saturday Day 1 - Heavy Geared Squats (either jacked briefs, or briefs and suit) - Mostly free weight, straight bar. We are dropping the heavy overloads and specialty bars on this day. The target is 5 - 7 worksets @ 80 - 90% load.
Secondary exercise: Dynamic conventional deadlifts or total rest (for me, 7 worksets in a suit is draining as hell so I skip pulling).
Thursday Day 6 - Pseudo-Dynamic Box Squats (normal briefs, squat to a slightly below parallel box) - 5 worksets @ 60-75% load using bands or chains and a specialty bar.
Secondary exercise: Hvy Geared deadlifts. 5-7 worksets @ 80 - 90% load.
Tuesday Day 11 - Raw volume training. Usually some sort of narrow stance squat followed by a conventional pull with no gear. Good mornings may also be used here as some sort of variation. Rep range is 5-8 and 3-6 total worksets. Have to be careful because 4 days later the cycle repeats and you need to be ready to handle heavy loads on the squat.
Bench
Tuesday - Day 3 - Dynamic bench, 8 triples with light accomodating resistance (chains or bands)
Secondary exercise: board work, floor presses, or close grip
Saturday - Day 8 - Heavy shirted bench OR Heavy reverse bands so you can handle for reps what you target in a shirt. 5-7 work sets @ 80-90%
Thursday - Day 13 - Volume work - Some sort of raw flat bench work (football, straight, foam) benches.
Secondary - Board Presses 5x5 or 5x3.
That is it in a nutshell. The training days stay exactly the same (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) but the cycle rotates. In a pull test, Richie and Brandon hit pretty convincing PRs last night. I am working for multiple sets what killed my back just 2 months ago.
One of the pitfalls of this program is that you really cannot miss a day. If you do and do not make it up, you are not going to get enough work. In a tradional weekly rotation, missing a day may actually lead to more rest and better lifting. That is not going to cut it here as the deloads are already built in. The other thing is we have more emphasis on repetitive heavy training rather than adrenaline-filled gut-busting singles. It is not quite as exciting, but our groups are moving away from 100% maxes.
There is a place for testing your limits. We call those meets. In addition, we are going to schedule internal gym meets every 10 weeks or so for this purpose. The first one is August 20th.
Trent and Brandon wanted to experiment with a hybrid approach to training where they weren't tied to the powerlifting movements, equipment, and rep-schemes week-in, week-out. We all brainstormed a bit and came up with the idea of a rotating schedule, whereby each day of the week was no longer dedicated to a particular lift. This gave them the chance to vary the aspects of the training, working mass-building variations one day, dynamic variations another, and a heavy movement on the 3rd. I have hesitated in the past to do this at my gym because of the inherent confusion the schedule would cause on the groups. It is much easier to say "We squat Saturdays, pull Tuesdays, and Bench thursdays" than it is to explain a mystical rotation. So... they went on to do it, and I continued to squat too heavy every saturday, come in trying to pull tuesday, and hurting my back yet again for the umpteenth time.
Screw it. The groups are mature enough and leaders are in place that can I can experiment a little too. I switched over about 6 weeks ago and completely reset my expectations for squat and deadlift. I also spoke quite a bit with Dave Bates, who trains lifters in a more russian-styled way. I tried to pluck some of that knowledge, particularly the intensity zones and plop that into the program. This is also modeled in the LiftTracker software I have been writing.
Anyway, more on zones later. Here is how the program works.
Squat/Deadlift
Saturday Day 1 - Heavy Geared Squats (either jacked briefs, or briefs and suit) - Mostly free weight, straight bar. We are dropping the heavy overloads and specialty bars on this day. The target is 5 - 7 worksets @ 80 - 90% load.
Secondary exercise: Dynamic conventional deadlifts or total rest (for me, 7 worksets in a suit is draining as hell so I skip pulling).
Thursday Day 6 - Pseudo-Dynamic Box Squats (normal briefs, squat to a slightly below parallel box) - 5 worksets @ 60-75% load using bands or chains and a specialty bar.
Secondary exercise: Hvy Geared deadlifts. 5-7 worksets @ 80 - 90% load.
Tuesday Day 11 - Raw volume training. Usually some sort of narrow stance squat followed by a conventional pull with no gear. Good mornings may also be used here as some sort of variation. Rep range is 5-8 and 3-6 total worksets. Have to be careful because 4 days later the cycle repeats and you need to be ready to handle heavy loads on the squat.
Bench
Tuesday - Day 3 - Dynamic bench, 8 triples with light accomodating resistance (chains or bands)
Secondary exercise: board work, floor presses, or close grip
Saturday - Day 8 - Heavy shirted bench OR Heavy reverse bands so you can handle for reps what you target in a shirt. 5-7 work sets @ 80-90%
Thursday - Day 13 - Volume work - Some sort of raw flat bench work (football, straight, foam) benches.
Secondary - Board Presses 5x5 or 5x3.
That is it in a nutshell. The training days stay exactly the same (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) but the cycle rotates. In a pull test, Richie and Brandon hit pretty convincing PRs last night. I am working for multiple sets what killed my back just 2 months ago.
One of the pitfalls of this program is that you really cannot miss a day. If you do and do not make it up, you are not going to get enough work. In a tradional weekly rotation, missing a day may actually lead to more rest and better lifting. That is not going to cut it here as the deloads are already built in. The other thing is we have more emphasis on repetitive heavy training rather than adrenaline-filled gut-busting singles. It is not quite as exciting, but our groups are moving away from 100% maxes.
There is a place for testing your limits. We call those meets. In addition, we are going to schedule internal gym meets every 10 weeks or so for this purpose. The first one is August 20th.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
What's new @ TBB?
I've been working like a madman getting the Tampa Barbell website online. Please have a look.
I have to give a lot of credit and thanks to my friend and old training partner, Blaine Stussy. He came up with the template and has been working patiently with me through revisions. My goals for it are the following:
Describe the gym in a manner that gets across the intent of the gym yet is not off-putting to potential members. Feedback I have gotten was that the old website and even my blog give off the impression that the gym is for elite lifters only.
Showcase the accomplishments of all current members.
Loads fast and looks nice on web browsers AND tablet computers. If you have not heard one of my recent rants, I can tell you this. Within 2-3 years the tablet will have replaced the desktop pc and laptop in 80% of the population. If you don't believe me, email me and we can make a private bet.
On the competition front. Mike Schwanke returned to competition and finished the day with a hard-fought 770 pull. Suzanne upper her best total to 1200, and Greg Alvarado hit a 545 bench.
The team prepares for an intramural competition tentatively scheduled for Aug 20th. Our subgroup put our suits on and returned to the beauty of the 3hr competition. Joy.
-TF
I have to give a lot of credit and thanks to my friend and old training partner, Blaine Stussy. He came up with the template and has been working patiently with me through revisions. My goals for it are the following:
Describe the gym in a manner that gets across the intent of the gym yet is not off-putting to potential members. Feedback I have gotten was that the old website and even my blog give off the impression that the gym is for elite lifters only.
Showcase the accomplishments of all current members.
Loads fast and looks nice on web browsers AND tablet computers. If you have not heard one of my recent rants, I can tell you this. Within 2-3 years the tablet will have replaced the desktop pc and laptop in 80% of the population. If you don't believe me, email me and we can make a private bet.
On the competition front. Mike Schwanke returned to competition and finished the day with a hard-fought 770 pull. Suzanne upper her best total to 1200, and Greg Alvarado hit a 545 bench.
The team prepares for an intramural competition tentatively scheduled for Aug 20th. Our subgroup put our suits on and returned to the beauty of the 3hr competition. Joy.
-TF
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Recent updates
I know it's been quiet on the blogging front. I have spent an inordinate amount of time on LiftTracker app and have switched from my cushy day job to one requiring me to wear pants to work. The Horror!
Things @ TBB are going pretty well. It has been a busy spring with a lot of work/school stuff affecting everyone's schedule. Fortunately, there are enough people at TBB to allow for makeup sessions so it has not affected the team's training. I think we are just gonna call winter/spring a write-off and target summer for a big meet.
I have taken the Florida state chair position for the SPF. I went ahead and beefed up our equipment arsenal so we have 3 monolifts that can be disassembled easily. I also got another Forza competition bench. As much as I hate benching, we now have 4 of them in the gym.
On a personal note, I am starting to feel the need to switch off a fixed weekly schedule. I have been contemplating this for a long time but have held back worrying that it would adversely affect the training groups in the gym. We piloted this with Brandon, Trent, and Richie giving it a try over the past month. I really think it has the potential to allow for more focused training and recovery.
Again, TBB has enough lifters where we can vary the groups and try new things without screwing everyone over so I look forward to seeing the results. If you read this, it does NOT mean I want everyone switching over to this. I'd prefer the gym to remain on the current schedule as we test this out.
Here's to the summer of 2011.
-TF
Things @ TBB are going pretty well. It has been a busy spring with a lot of work/school stuff affecting everyone's schedule. Fortunately, there are enough people at TBB to allow for makeup sessions so it has not affected the team's training. I think we are just gonna call winter/spring a write-off and target summer for a big meet.
I have taken the Florida state chair position for the SPF. I went ahead and beefed up our equipment arsenal so we have 3 monolifts that can be disassembled easily. I also got another Forza competition bench. As much as I hate benching, we now have 4 of them in the gym.
On a personal note, I am starting to feel the need to switch off a fixed weekly schedule. I have been contemplating this for a long time but have held back worrying that it would adversely affect the training groups in the gym. We piloted this with Brandon, Trent, and Richie giving it a try over the past month. I really think it has the potential to allow for more focused training and recovery.
Again, TBB has enough lifters where we can vary the groups and try new things without screwing everyone over so I look forward to seeing the results. If you read this, it does NOT mean I want everyone switching over to this. I'd prefer the gym to remain on the current schedule as we test this out.
Here's to the summer of 2011.
-TF
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
TBBs Gabe Naspinski takes Best Lifter at the Orlando Barbell meet
TBB put on another strong showing at the OBB meet this past weekend. We sent 5 lifters, 3 of which are new TBB members. Every lifter PR'd and Gabe took best lifter.
Gabe: 825-565-630 for 2020 (new lifter)
Sara: 320-130-235 for 685 (70lb PR!)
Richie: 460-365-425 for 1250 (125lb PR!)
Geoff: 550-405-455 for 1410 (new lifter)
Brent: 650-405-565 for 1620 (new lifter)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
