bencrush Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 The BBB2 is done and gone. I did very well for myself and now it's time to start training my butt off for the MCG5. I have committed to being a competitor there. I've been meaning to get over to MI for quite a while but haven't been able to mostly due to work conflicts. Don't have that problem anymore so things are looking up! Here is the lineup for the MGC5: THE EVENTS Grippers: Close the hardest gripper you can with a parallel set. One hand to be contested, 4 attempts. Thin Two Hand Pinch: Two handed pinch on a 1/2 inch steel plate (approximate), otherwise standard two hand pinch rules. 4 attempts, raise it to 16.5 inches. A favorite Don Larkin hand strengthener. LGC V-Bar: Both hands will be contested. Euro rules, with calibrated plates. One Hand Olympic Bar Deadlift: No hook grip. Rules to be announced. One hand will be contested. Don Larkin Steel Bending Challenge: Fat bastard stock and fat bastard rules. 4 attempts, 2 minutes per attempt. So with 5 events to focus on I can really make a good showing I think. I am already decent on grippers, vbar and bending. The other 2 will take an enormous amount of work to get me even to a mediocre level. That's okay because I'm willing to put that time in. I'll also be working on my strong points so that I can amass the most amount of points possible. I think the contest will draw in a large group of ultra strong guys (prize money for bending!) so I'm hoping for a Top 3 finish which would be a great achievement with the freaks that will be there. A nice well rounded grip should help a bit. Time to get stronger! That day starts now. GOALS FOR MGC 5: GRIPPERS=Super Elite (current=Hard Elite) THIN 2 HAND PINCH=Top 3 (current=HAVE NO IDEA) LGC VBAR REPLICA=705 total (current=? on LGC Vbar Replica) ONE HAND OLYMPIC BAR DEADLIFT=275 (current=@225) BENDING=Magnificent Hexabastard (current=Magnificent Bastard) Notes: Just closed a Hard Elite at the BBB2. That won't be a problem to at least maintain that level for the MGC5. I'd really like to improve a bit though to try to gain some points from the pinch and vbar freaks. I am a terrible pincher so I am a bit worried about the Thin 2HP. But I'm going to at least try to find out the specs so I can make one and train the heck out of it. As long as I can minimize the ass kicking I'm going to take on it that should help retain a Top 3 position. Never had access to an LGC Vbar Replica so I am very excited about finally getting my hands on one in August. I'll just keep training with my FBBC vbar until/unless I buy an LGC Replica. It should carryover just fine I'd guess. I pulled 351 with my left at the BBB2 after all the other events. It was a max pull for me though. Only went to 316 with my right and probably could have done 331 with it if needed that day. But for now I'll just say that my vbar total is currently at 667. I picked 705 because the LGC Vbar Replica #1 spot is currently 702. One hand Olympic bar deadlift is probably about 225 right now. Maybe lower though. I expect 300 to rise for a few of the guys in August so I'm going to have to try not to lose very many points to the monsters. Bending is one area that I'm not too worried about lately but I will definitely have to improve as much as possible to garner some much needed points for the final tally. I would also like to see the time limit increased to 5 minutes (per FBBC rules) because then I'd be able to take my time finishing something BIG off. But it's Blobert's contest and unless I can sweet talk him into changing the rules to 5 minutes (maybe if we bend in groups of 3) then I'll do whatever I need to do in that 2 minutes to get some points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Awesome ben, good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeGrip Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Givem hell big Ben! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 Thanks guys! I'm doing my best. 10-23-06 GRIPPERS MM-Trainer-->25 reps-both hands MM-#1-->10 reps-both hands MM-Easy #3-->5 reps, 6 reps-right hand -3 reps, 4 reps-left hand MM-Easy Elite-->1-right hand AttemptX1-left hand MM-HG350-->1-right hand AttemptX1-left hand Notes: The 6 reps with the Easy #3 is decent for me. Even though it's an easy one I'm still pretty sore in the forearms and every other muscle group known to man from the contest. The HG350 is like an Easy Elite too. Missed it by quite a bit today with my left which is odd. Almost got the Easy Elite though with my left. Closed a Medium #3 with my left at the BBB2 which made me feel okay. ---------- 17 minute dog walk ---------- Bodyweight was 209 today which is about 9 over what I'd like to be at currently. The honeymoon certainly didn't help me lose any weight even though I walked about 40,000 miles it seemed like. Travis and I plan to drop quite a bit of weight (@20 pounds for me) by this time next year. I want to be a lean, mean fighting machine. ---------- 10-24-06 Midnight just came and went about 15 minutes ago. So since it's another day past the BBB2 and my recovery should be closer to complete, I went out to the garage and let loose a bit. FBBC VBAR 186-->at least 2"-both hands 256-->at least 2"-both hands 306-->at least 2"-both hands Notes: At this point I was surprised that the weight didn't just tear my skin off like a glove. But I pushed my luck a bit more... 336-->at least 2"-left hand -clear the floor-right hand Notes: Right hand was about to let loose of its precious skin. So I stopped there. But only with the right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 All the best Ben i know you will give a good account of yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 10-24-06 Started the day off right by taking the dogs out for a quick 20 minute walk. Then later in the day did the same route with the dogs but went slower and took 23 minutes. ---------- Decided today to choose one exercise from the MGC5 and do a few attempts. Had a busy day but still managed some singles. ONE HAND OLYMPIC BAR DEADLIFT -135-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Very easy of course. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Not as easy as I thought it was going to be... -235-->clear the floor-both hands-chalk Notes: Very detrained on this lift! -225-->clear the floor-both hands-chalk Notes: Same as above. Good thing there's plenty of time to train for the MGC5! -205-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Good form with a short pause at the top for good measure. Guess I'll consider this my current MAX. -205-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: No pause and a bit tilted at the top. -205-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Felt heavy but managed a brief pause at the top. ---------- Not very happy with how far I've slipped with this lift. But it's to be expected when not training it I guess. Anyway 275 is a long ways away right now and good thing I've got so much time to climb back up there. Next time I do this I'll attempt 210 or more. Keep steadily elevating my MAX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 " The HG350 is like an Easy Elite too. Missed it by quite a bit today with my left which is odd." Geeze, talk about variation....... My HG350 isn't anywhere close to my Elite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 " The HG350 is like an Easy Elite too. Missed it by quite a bit today with my left which is odd."Geeze, talk about variation....... My HG350 isn't anywhere close to my Elite. Maybe you have a hard Elite. Tmmicklabs has a new HG350 that is harder than my Elite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 10-25-06 BENDING-DO-NEW LEATHER PADS -5/16"X6" Grade 2-BJC-@ 90 degrees. Notes: Stopped at 90 degrees because of pain in the fingers. The new pads are very long and are very nice and cushy but I'm just not used to them yet. So it'll take a little breaking in period. -7" Red Nail-46 seconds Notes: Pads slipped a little bit because I had them set for a piece of .323 Drill Rod. Should have gotten them as tight as I could. ---------- BENDING-DO-DOUBLE PADS -.323X7" Drill Rod-62 seconds! ***PR!*** Notes: Got 2 pieces from Acorn the other day but couldn't really give them a shot until after the BBB2. This was my 1st attempt with this stuff. Very hard on the kink. Maybe 6 or 7 hits until it finally started to yield. But once it did I just ran it down to less than 90. Then took off the pads too early and had to put them back on to crushdown the final 1/4". -7" Edgin-NOTHING! Notes: These are crazy hard! I thought that since I got the .323 Drill Rod that I was really getting strong. Time for another reality smack! ---------- Gave a 30 minute foot rub to my wife for "active recovery" during the movie "Nacho Libre." The movie sucked but I like Jack Black. The foot rub actually brought some blood into my hands and forearms. So I went back to bending work. ---------- CRUSHDOWN PAD TRAINING First I'd better explain a bit. At the BBB2 I saw that Franky was using a pair of crushdown pads. So I asked to see them. They were about 2"X2" square. 2 pieces of what appeared to be leather belt glued together to form the pads. Very simple. So I bought a leather belt at the hardware store and spent a bunch of time cutting it into 2" squares. Then used Gorialla Glue and let them sit for one night to cure. So the finished product was put to use today. -Hard 60D Nail-from 90 degrees to 5/8". Notes: The Crush Pads are not very good for the wide distance work. They are much better when the tips are very close together. Felt like I could have crushed the tips until they touched. -7" Red-from 2" to 3/4"! Notes: The amount of force they let you put right to the tips is awesome! -.323 Drill Rod-from 1 and 7/8" to 1"! Notes: This stuff is still hard even with the Crush Pads. Had to do it in increments. About 3 or 4 shoves. -7" Red-from 5" to nothing. Notes: Knew that the Crush Pads weren't good at that distance but wanted to see if I could make them work regardless. Couldn't do it. Lesson learned. ---------- time for more bending! ---------- BENDING-DO-DOUBLE PADS -5" Magnificent Hexabastard-4 penny kink Notes: Got a 4 penny kink in this monstrosity. Technically a PR since I've never even attempted one before. It's my new goal by the first of the new year. -5/16"X4.5" CRS-to 3 and 7/8" Notes: This equats to about 45 degrees. Even though it's not a Red or Bastard stock this was hard! Fought it for 3 minutes and then called it quits. It wasn't going ANYWHERE. -1/4"X4.5" Grade 8-Triangle-to 4" Notes: 45 degrees again! Dang it. I was complaining about not being able to get any leverage on this bend, and Travis reminded me that if I can bend a 4.5" Grade 5, then I can sure as hell bend a 4.5" Grade 8. Just need to get stronger. Me playing the leverage card was just weak. So I slapped myself. -5/16"X5" CRS-to 3.25" Notes: Felt just like the Magnificent Bastard to me but I was already a bit fatigued. My palms were starting to hurt so I called it quits. May have been able to finish it if I had pushed through. I wasn't willing to risk injuring myself though. ---------- It was about this point that I realized I needed to just put the steel down and back away slowly. 10-26-06 FRONT SQUAT -135X2 -185X1 Notes: Normally 185 is just a warmup on the way to a hard single (for me) with 205 or 225 if I'm feeling really good. Well today it felt very slow and hard. I don't know what was going on but decided not to do any more front squats in case I am close to an injury. ---------- ONE HAND OLYMPIC BAR DEADLIFT-STRADDLE STYLE-NO HOOK -135-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Very easy with a pause at the top. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: A bit hard so I must be overtrained a bit. -210-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Hard but still got a pause at the top. New current MAX. ---------- Got a wild hair to try the conventional method of standing behind the bar. ---------- ONE HAND OLYMPIC BAR DEADLIFT-CONVENTIONAL STYLE-NO HOOK -220-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Surprised myself by holding at the top for a 3 count on both hands. Felt very good this style but I'm usually more comfortable with the Straddle Style. New current MAX. -270-->nothing-both hands-chalk-belt Notes: Felt like if it was 10 pounds lighter it might have cleared the floor. -240-->clear the floor-both hands-chalk-belt Notes: May have gone all the way up if I hadn't done a few singles already. ---------- Bodyweight was 207 today. There is no weight limit at the contest but I'd like to be around 185 then. ---------- GRIPPERS MM-Trainer-->10 reps-both hands MM-#1-->10 reps-both hands MM-Easy #3-->2 singles-both hands Notes: Easy like usual. Could feel that I wasn't quite "on" today though. Slower than usual. MM-Easy Elite-->1-right hand AttemptX1-both hands Notes: BARELY missed the 1st attempt. Then BARELY got the 2nd attempt. Left was @ 1/4" off. MM-Hard Elite-->AttemptX1-right hand Notes: Off by @ 1/4". This is a stout Elite loaned to me by John Eaton. Thanks John! It will help tremendously for the contest. I'm relatively positive that I could have closed this at the BBB2 if I had tried it then. So it's a good solid gripper for sure. ---------- Until tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 10-27-06 Overall it went pretty well for not focusing on pinch for quite a while. Besides, even when I did focus on it I was still very weak. YORK BLOBS -37.5-->full deadlift-both hands -40-->full deadlift-right hand -clear the floor-left hand -42.5-->nothing-both hands -nothing-both hands -50-Finger Press-->full deadlift-both hands Notes: Still very hard even with the finger press. Feels GOOD to get this beast in the air even when it's cheating. -42.5-->clear the floor-right hand -nothing-left hand -clear the floor-both hands -42.5-->full deadlift-both hands! Notes: That's more like it! I actually did this and the next few York attempts AFTER the entire workout that I will list after this. So my hands must have been really warmed up. But the weird thing is they were probably way too warmed up. I did a lot of pinching. -50-->nothing-both hands Notes: Slid it around the floor. It's obviously not even close to lifting the Blob but it felt good anyway. And at least that way I know I'm exerting some upward pressure. -50-NEGATIVE-->both hands Notes: Used 2 hands to lift it to about knee height and then rode it down to the ground with my right. Maybe a 1 second negative before I reached the ground again. Good start though. Probably didn't even get half that with my left hand. -50-NEGATIVE-->both hands Notes: Should call this a mini-negative from now on. I used 2 hands to lift the Blob about 6 inches and then held on with one hand. Held on until the Blob touched the ground. Which was very quickly. Not even a second with either hand. I will start progressively increasing the distance that I use one hand at. Like eventually raising the Blob with 2 hands and then holding on with one hand from the fully deadlifted position. And just riding it down to the ground. The 42.5 feels LIGHT after messing with the 50 though! Thanks again John! These things are addictive. I am going to hammer away on them until I am a Blob lifter too. Next year at the BBB I refuse to get under middle of the pack on this. I want a Top 5 finish next year with the Blobs. ---------- 1 HAND PINCH -(2)22s-->full deadlift-both hands -(2)25s-->full deadlift-both hands Notes: Felt pretty easy but I think I'm FAR away from (2)35s for now. -(2)35s-->nothing-both hands Notes: That proves my point unfortunately. -(2)35s-Pipe Through Middle-nothing-both hands Notes: Just not strong enough. Period. -(1)35(1)22-->full deadlift-both hands Notes: Felt pretty easy with my right hand and moderately hard with my left. 57 pounds total and a good way to start training towards getting the (2)35s again. Thumb went on the lighter plate. -(1)35(1)25-->full deadlift-both hands Notes: Pretty smooth pull with my right hand and hard pull with my left. 60 pounds total. Getting closer! Thumb on the lighter plate again. -(2)35s-->nothing-both hands Notes: At least I'm persistent. Almost felt it leave the ground with my right hand. ---------- 2 HAND PINCH -71-->5 reps-->at least 20" -121-->at least 20" -141-->at least 20" Notes: Consider this my current MAX. So at least I've kept a little bit of my pathetic 2 hand pinch strength. ROFL. My best earlier this year was 151. I want around 180 before the contest and the higher the better to have some carryover to the 2 HAND THIN PINCH that will be at the MGC5. -151-->nothing- Notes: Just wanted to make sure that I couldn't pull it today. This will be the short term goal for 2HP. -70-->5 reps-->at least 20" Notes: Just doing a little bit more to get some extra work in and pulverize the last bit of skin on my thumb webbing. ---------- And then some miscellaneous bending that I won't even list because I need to REST! I have to grow some willpower before my pec/shoulder/tricep/bicep or something just blows sky high from the repeated stress of 3 or 4 days in a row bending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booyah!!! Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Way to Kick Ass Ben!!! You have heart!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted October 30, 2006 Author Share Posted October 30, 2006 Way to Kick Ass Ben!!! You have heart!!! Thanks Mike! From your bending videos I know you have a TON of that precious commodity too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 10-28-06 GRIPPERS MM-Trainer-->10 reps, 10 reps-both hands MM-#1-->1, 10 reps-both hands MM-Easy #3-->1-right hand -17 singles-left hand Notes: Very easy closes today with the left. They're usually on the easy side but not quite this easy. So I could have gone past 50 singles but stopped there out of boredom. MM-Easy Elite-->21 singles, 2 reps-right hand -AttemptX5-left hand Notes: Was strong on the right today! Yes it's only an Easy Elite but I've regressed so far that the EE was giving me troubles sometimes recently. How I managed to pull that Hard Elite out of my ass at the BBB2 is a mystery to me. But I'm going to step the grippers up quite a bit and mash something hard at the MGC5. Count on it! MM-Hard Elite-->AttemptX1 Notes: Barely missed by slightly less than 1/8". Only attempted it once after a single on the Easy Elite. So I wasn't too tired. Just not strong enough. Yet. Bodyweight was 206 today. 10-29-06 Some volume work with my 55KB. Good times. Little bit of pressing, windmills, side bends, and a few cleans thrown in for good measure. Before the day was done I'd done 3 walks all a bit over 20 minutes in length. Trying to lose a bit of weight before the MGC5. Maybe around 185 by then. Or not if I don't like the feel of that weight. Then some pullups. Dips. Knee ups. And some more pullups. 10-30-06 Did some volume vbar work today. Nothing spectacular really, but did a bit of volume with the FBBC vbar. Anything over 5 singles I like to call "volume" because my normal amount is about 2-3 warmups then 1 or 2 big pulls. Then I'm done for the day. Seems to have worked for me so far, but why not change it up and see if something else like what Mikael Siversson recommends will work? No reason not to with as much time as I have until the MGC5. FBBC VBAR -221-->at least 2"-both hands-chalk Notes: Hands burned a bit even with this low weight. Knew it wasn't going to be the best of workouts but wanted to make the most of it anyway. -256-->at least 2"-both hands-chalk-belt Notes: Felt easier than the 221 did. Starting to feel it in my lats though from the pullups and assorted kettlebell stuff I did too much of last night. -306-->at least 2"-left hand-chalk-belt -nothing-right hand Notes: Ripped a little skin on the left hand but it went up moderately anyway. Right palm still hurts from all the steel cutting I've been doing lately with my bolt cutters, so I didn't pull hard enough to make the weight leave the floor. Saving my hand for another day. Here is where I started switching things up a bit. I decided to use Siversson's suggestion about the tea towel to protect the hands from tearing and allow more volume to be done in a workout. Used a wash rag for these next sets until I specify that I stopped. -186-->at least 2"-both hands Notes: First time using the wash rag over the vbar method. Felt good not to have my hands burning right from the start! And of course I had to grip the vbar tighter to lift it because of the extra layer. Might be the best thing I've ever added to my grip workouts. Time will tell. -221-->at least 2"-both hands Notes: Not bad! Felt much harder than the weight might suggest though. Felt like around 256+ does when I am only using chalk. -256-->clear the floor-both hands Notes: Wow! Surprised I missed this low weight. Very surprised! -221-->at least 2"-both hands Notes: Nice and solid. Even feeling my hands burn a bit through the wash rag though. -231-->at least 2"-both hands Notes: Felt much harder than the weight would suggest. -231-->nothing-both hands Notes: What? Don't know what happened but I seem to have lost strength in record time on this one. -221-->nothing-both hands Notes: Don't know... Then I switched back to no wash rag and just using chalk. -221-->at least 2"-both hands-chalk Notes: Whew! My hands burn now. I've got to toughen up my hands if this low volume work is chewing them up and making them burn. -221-->at least 2"-both hands-chalk Notes: Ouch. -256-->at least 2"-both hands-chalk-belt Notes: Burning is the norm now. -221-->at least 2"-both hands-chalk Notes: May stop here for the day because of the insane burning. But I don't want to. My mind is telling me to keep going while my red hands are "suggesting" that I stop. LOL. A good day on the vbar though. Next time I do vbar I'll try to go higher than 306 for a single and then go directly to the wash rag work. See where that leads me in a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankyBoy Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 You are trying to lose some weight? Why? Don't you think that will affect your bending? How long you usually need to get your full crush back after a contest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 10-31-06 ONE HAND DEADLIFT -115-->full deadlift-both hands Notes: Very easy. -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Flew right up. -225-->full deadlift-right hand-chalk-belt ***current MAX*** -nothing-left hand-chalk-belt Notes: Felt hard! Went up but not easily and some of it may be the fact that it was 40 degrees and I was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt. Or it could be the fact that I'm not nearly as strong as I'd like to be. Plenty of time to correct that. SWITCHED TO STRADDLE STYLE -230-->clear the floor-right hand-chalk-belt -nothing-left hand-chalk-belt Notes: Thought I'd switch to straddle style to see if I was stronger that way. And the answer was NO. SWITCHED BACK TO CONVENTIONAL STYLE -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Doing some form work at this point. And it will only help raise my work capacity for the One Hand Deadlift. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: I'm experimenting with a modified frog stance on the pull and it seems to help get my knees out of the way so that I don't run into them when pulling the bar up my legs. -190-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Didn't quite like the awkward feel of the modified frog stance so I went to a more conventional @ shoulder-width stance. SWITCHED TO SUMO STYLE -195-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Figured that sumo, since it's my preferred stance for the DL, would bring up my poundage. That was not the case and it felt very awkward with 1 hand. SWITCHED BACK TO CONVENTIONAL STYLE -200-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Flew up with both hands. -205-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk-belt Notes: Big effort on this pul, especially with my left hand. Didn't help that I had about 30 minutes between this lift and the one before it. SWITCHED TO SUITCASE STYLE -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Felt this in the obliques. Not the most efficient pulling style for the contest but I wanted to get some ab work and a bit of grip work at the same time. SWITCHED BACK TO CONVENTIONAL STYLE -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Very easy. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Bit hard. Hands are burning now. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Flew up. Used the modified frog stance again. It does really help not run into the knees, even though it feels a bit weird at times, like I'm going to lose my balance. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Not bad. -185-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: I'm going to feel this everywhere tomorrow. -195-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Not bad except for the burning hands. -205-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk-belt Notes: Hard and my hands are on Elton John fire now. -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk -165-->full deadlift-both hands-chalk Notes: Hands burned on ALL of these last lifts with 165. But I had to get a little more work in because it was about time for Carrie to get home and my workout usually ends then. Besides, I needed to get back to studying. So I did the 205 with both hands and then immediately unloaded some weight and then went from left hand to right hand with no rest doing the singles until I had done 4 sets of singles with the 165. Good times! And that is a crap load of volume compared to what I would normally do on a lift like this. Course it's not a lot of weight either, so there's not much chance of burning myself out really. Adds up to 21 full lifts with my right hand and that 1 attempt where I only cleared the floor with 230. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 You are trying to lose some weight? Why?Don't you think that will affect your bending? How long you usually need to get your full crush back after a contest? I'm trying to lose some weight because I don't work at the jail anymore. That was one of the biggest reasons for being heavier than 200. It just helped a bit when things went bad. Anyway, it would be better for my fitness too to be a bit lighter and not carry around as much fat. It will be a long process but I'm ready for it. I don't even know if I'll get there or not. I had to stop taking my creatine tabs today because my weight has gone up to 209 (it was 205 at the BBB2) and I have probably taken in a grand total of 2,000 calories on average for the past 4 days. And I am normally well above 3,000. So it must be the creatine that is "allowing" me to hold on to water weight. Because I am leaning up a bit but I still want to go lower in weight, not higher. So it had to go. And no I don't think it will affect my bending strength. As long as I keep dipping or at least doing something for tricep strength (crushdown) I should be fine. I have become a better bender at 205 than I was at 230+. A far better bender and some of that was due to increased flexibility with that bit of weight loss. My full crush usually comes back in a day or two after a contest. My normal crush that is. The contest setting is one of those times when I can pull something extra out of my body. Before the contest though I was closing an Easy Elite for a few singles. But it was difficult. Today for instance, I slammed the hell out of my Easy Elite. But missed a Hard Elite. So it's coming along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankyBoy Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 Thanks Ben. See, I try to add some weight (though I don't plan to go into jail ). You really think crush down is triceps? Thats interesting. Due to my terrible weak left triceps I'm sure that the triceps isn't much used at all in the crush down. I've a lot of scar tissue there which hurts on several occasions and still own an 'OK' crush down. When doing the crushdown you move your upper arms and keep the forarms at about the same angle. So for me its more shoulder/pecs/traps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted November 2, 2006 Author Share Posted November 2, 2006 I think that it's a lot of pec and shoulder involvement. Coupled with some lat action. And I believe the triceps are there both isometrically and they also help push, or at least mine do. I think that if the triceps aren't strong enough to isometrically relay the force of the pec/shoulder/lats combo then the crushdown will fail. I have no idea if I'm wrong or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamidon Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Bodyweight was 209 today which is about 9 over what I'd like to be at currently. The honeymoon certainly didn't help me lose any weight even though I walked about 40,000 miles it seemed like. Travis and I plan to drop quite a bit of weight (@20 pounds for me) by this time next year. I want to be a lean, mean fighting machine. Where did you and Travis spend your honeymoon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted November 3, 2006 Author Share Posted November 3, 2006 Bodyweight was 209 today which is about 9 over what I'd like to be at currently. The honeymoon certainly didn't help me lose any weight even though I walked about 40,000 miles it seemed like. Travis and I plan to drop quite a bit of weight (@20 pounds for me) by this time next year. I want to be a lean, mean fighting machine. Where did you and Travis spend your honeymoon? Bastard. We didn't want to tell anyone...because everyone knows how hard strong homophobic grip guys can throw rocks. We went to Paris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamidon Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Bodyweight was 209 today which is about 9 over what I'd like to be at currently. The honeymoon certainly didn't help me lose any weight even though I walked about 40,000 miles it seemed like. Travis and I plan to drop quite a bit of weight (@20 pounds for me) by this time next year. I want to be a lean, mean fighting machine. Where did you and Travis spend your honeymoon? Bastard. We didn't want to tell anyone...because everyone knows how hard strong homophobic grip guys can throw rocks. We went to Paris. Sorry dude, I couldn't help myself I knew you would see the humor in it, I laughed my ass off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted November 6, 2006 Author Share Posted November 6, 2006 I laughed myself right out of bed. And then Travis picked me up. He hates you now by the way... Little bit of updating here: TNS repped my Easy #3 for 3 reps with my right hand yesterday. Got 8 MMS reps with my right on the Easy #3. 4 with my left. Got a triple with my Easy Elite the other day on my right hand. Only got a single with my left. Actually a few singles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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