Longview

He paid about $600 but that was after brow beating them into giving him a deal. I guess it was originally around $800. It is real nice and smooth - I'll try and get a video of me squatting in it so you can see. Obviously it removes some of the challenge of maintaining form, which is why I was able to use such an insanely high amount of weight, but I really like the way it felt. I think Quad used to use something very similar with his setup.
It also works well for calf raises, I've been told, but I haven't tried it yet.

Next weekend, I hope to go back over there. I want to try and do a barbell squat with 4 plates per side. I think having someone there with me will help me. The most I've ever tried was that 360 that I squatted last month or the month before. It's hard to attempt PRs on squats compared to things like deadlifts, even in a rack, because of how much more potentially dangerous it could be...
So, having a spotter who is around my strength level, so I feel safe, and doing it with people watching, which makes me want to try harder, I think will help. I really want to see if I can get 405. If I do, I'm sure you all will be hearing about it.
I'm pretty sure he or his girlfriend have a camera or can at least take video on their cellphones, so maybe I'll have something to post about it. Don't expect perfect form though. I am self taught, after all.
 
I'm looking forward to you trying a 405. I think you should get it if you do a low bar squat. Your lower back is plenty strong enough so it'll just be down to ham and quad strength coming out of the hole. My 400 attempt was very close and that was with a deadlift of less than 500. If I hadn't just done a 396 a few minutes beforehand I think I would have got it.

Getting used to the feeling of carrying 400+ on your back will surely help get you prepped mentally for the challenge.
 
That machine is exactly the same movement as my Bodysolid. You can do monster weights on it compared to free squat; hits mostly the quads if I remember right. Maybe not, it's been a long time since I've used it. You wanna buy my machine?
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Jun. 16 2008,9:34)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">That machine is exactly the same movement as my Bodysolid. You can do monster weights on it compared to free squat; hits mostly the quads if I remember right. Maybe not, it's been a long time since I've used it. You wanna buy my machine?</div>
Does the machine give you the same movement as a normal Back Squat?
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Jun. 16 2008,9:34)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">That machine is exactly the same movement as my Bodysolid. You can do monster weights on it compared to free squat; hits mostly the quads if I remember right. Maybe not, it's been a long time since I've used it. You wanna buy my machine?</div>
I don't know if this one hit mostly the quads. My hams, glutes and inner thighs were extremely sore the day after. My quads were a bit sore too but no so much as the rest.

I think not having to hold the bar on my back was a huge help. Either way, this weekend I am going to head over there and see how high I can get my freeweight squat.
 
It's a much closer movement IMO than any other machines to a real squat, but you can go $#i+ heavy since you have no balance issues. Around 100lbs more than freeweight for me.
 
<div>
(Totentanz @ Jun. 16 2008,12:38)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Next weekend, I hope to go back over there. I want to try and do a barbell squat with 4 plates per side. I think having someone there with me will help me. The most I've ever tried was that 360 that I squatted last month or the month before. It's hard to attempt PRs on squats compared to things like deadlifts, even in a rack, because of how much more potentially dangerous it could be...
So, having a spotter who is around my strength level, so I feel safe, and doing it with people watching, which makes me want to try harder, I think will help.</div>
405 would indeed be a worthy lift, but you're gonna need more than one spotter for that much iron...!!
 
<div>
(TunnelRat @ Jun. 18 2008,2:04)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Totentanz @ Jun. 16 2008,12:38)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Next weekend, I hope to go back over there.  I want to try and do a barbell squat with 4 plates per side.  I think having someone there with me will help me.  The most I've ever tried was that 360 that I squatted last month or the month before.  It's hard to attempt PRs on squats compared to things like deadlifts, even in a rack, because of how much more potentially dangerous it could be...
So, having a spotter who is around my strength level, so I feel safe, and doing it with people watching, which makes me want to try harder, I think will help.</div>
405 would indeed be a worthy lift, but you're gonna need more than one spotter for that much iron...!!</div>
Not really, you just need to have a spotter who knows how to spot. After all, if it's a PR attempt it's not something which is way out of your league, just a bit more than you've tried before. Having someone there to watch the bar and to help should you stall is all you really need. Of course, safety is paramount so if you are trying something really heavy you might want to squat in a rack with safety bars set correctly.

As long as your spotter can deload the bar by around 30lb or so, that should be all that's necessary to get the bar up. I reckon I can easily take 50lb off the weight of the bar just by pushing up on it from arm's length if need be. Of course, if the lifter just gives up then you are stuffed (well, actually he is, so it makes sense for him not to do that!).

What this kind of spotting requires is real focus. As soon as you see the speed of the bar slowing you need to be ready with your hands just touching the bar. It is then easy to tell if the bar is stuck or if it is still rising slowly and you can gauge if you need to help or not. Over-zealous spotting is bad too, ie. when a spotter just lifts the bar as soon as the bar slows and when you feel pretty sure you still have the lift in the bag.

Often having two spotters doesn't improve the safety of the lift much either as one invariably 'helps' more than the other and totally messes up the balance of the bar. Just check some examples of spotting on YouTube.

My preference is to have a single good spotter. I'm happy lifting outside of a rack if it's a PR attempt for reps (like a 3RM) but I'll probably stick to inside a rack with safety bars set for a 1RM attempt. A spotter is still useful (if they know how to spot correctly) as you can then get the lift and, if the spotter helped, gauge how far off you were from getting it unaided.
 
I would agree that having someone of about the same strength in the room is motivational when shooting for a PR.

good luck squatting 405! that would be awesome.
 
Okay, I've kind of been in limbo since hitting all my goals a couple months ago, even though my finish date was set for July. Anyway, I've been doing 5x5 lately but I just feel aimless... I'm going to continue with the 5x5 for the full 8 weeks, however I haven't been eating enough so I don't think I'll hit the strength goals it has set for me.

The point is... it is time to set some new goals and set a new deadline. Within a month or so, I should have everything in my life sorted and will be able to focus more on my diet and my lifting. But I really need some solid, attainable goals to keep myself focused. If I don't have goals to reach, I lose track of things and end up doing nothing productive, spinning my wheels and going nowhere.

So. I want to get my squat, deadlift and bench all up. I don't really care that much about other lifts. I also want to reach an even heavier bodyweight than last time, which probably means accepting that I will go over 15% bodyfat. I don't care about that either, I just want to see if I am really capable of getting that heavy with my insane metabolism. The last goal is a vanity goal - I hit 16 inch arms, so now I want to hit 17 inches, just to see if I can come close to achieving it. I'm not sure if I can, since my long ape arms and fairly long biceps mean that I have to gain quite a bit of mass there for them to be that much bigger... but I guess we'll see.
I'm going to give myself 36 weeks once again, which would give me a finish date of March 2, 2009. The first part of this will be me finishing up my 5x5. I'm not sure what I will do after that. I definitely want to do DC again at some point during this 36 weeks, though I learned last time that I can't do it indefinitely because I'm pretty sure DC is what messed up my forearm.

I am going to look for some bench programs. 5x5 seems to work good for squats, so I might keep the 5x5 schedule for squats alone after I am done with this 5x5 phase, stack a good bench program on top of that, then do deadlifts on wednesdays, alternating that each week with rack pulls and maybe some light deficit deads, possibly even snatch grip deads, doing a different one each week. Add in some tri work twice a week and bi work once a week to try and get those arms built up.

Anyone know any good bench programs?


ANYWAY. To make it official:

GOALS

Squat 455 lbs (I picked 455 because I am positive I will hit a 405 any day now, maybe it is too conservative?)
Deadlift 585 lbs (six 45s a side)
Bench 315 lbs
Bodyweight 250 lbs
17 inch arms

All by March 2, 2009. That should give me plenty of time...
 
Goal setting is such a vital part of a progressive lifting program. I wish you well with all those goals and hope that life doesn't get in the way this time around. It's a constant struggle to stay with any long-term plan but I reckon you'll get this one. 250lb body weight is a bit scary though!
wow.gif
cool.gif
 
Stopping your old 36 week brigade two weeks early? (Remember, you started 10/26/07, so that gives you a finish date of 7/4/08) I don't know of any good strength programs for bench press other than sticking to an HST/5x5 format. Anyways, your strength right now is insane, and your goals are lofty, but, as always, not out of your reach.
 
Yes, it is early, but that's because I achieved all my goals, so I was left with pretty much nothing to do. It's hard to believe it's been almost 36 weeks already... Maybe I'll hit my goals a bit early again this time, but who knows.

For benching, I am still looking around, but I think I will look into more powerlifting oriented programs for that. I've been doing lockouts lately, doing only the top half of the movement, and I got up to doing 315 for 5 with that fairly easily, so clearly lockout isn't what I need to work on. I'm going to keep doing them anyway, just because I feel they are working my triceps like nothing has before, but I need to find a way other than simply benching a lot to get my strength at the bottom up.

Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence guys. I think the hardest part of all this will be hitting 250 lbs. I'm going to cut briefly in a month or so. I'm hovering around 12-13% bodyfat right now and I'd like to get down to 8-10% before I start bulking toward 250, so I don't end up as fat when I hit 250 as I inevitably will.

Another goal I want to add on to my list is to enter at least one local powerlifting competition by my deadline date. I'm still debating whether to get into using shirts and etc. All the local meets I've seen so far have allowed gear so I guess maybe I should start looking into it if I am going to get serious about all this. My friend went to one recently and said that the people there weren't squatting or deadlifting any decent numbers, so I'm sure I could clean house in that respect, but there were people there benching some somewhat intimidating numbers, so I've definitely got to get my bench up before I think about entering anything.
 
Where did you get the spreadsheets? All I saw on that site were pdf files... do you have them in excel format?
 
Joe Skopecs Powerlifting Heads Up website has some Sheiko spreadsheets as well as an Ed Coan bench routine. Just go under calculators and there's a list of different programs in different formats.
 
Tot, why worry about increasing your bench before entering a contest? If you can compete in the Squat and Deadlift, then there is no need to worry about Bench. I say do it for the experience and enjoy it. Let the other guys check their ego at the door!
 
I just want to get my total over 1200 at least before I go in. Nevermind that I'll probably be going raw and competing against shirted lifters... I do know that a lot of the guys that show up are big fatties who can't pull or squat very much for their bodyweight, so it would be fun to show up being relatively thin compared to them and pulling a lot more off the floor than they do. Last show I heard about, no one came even close to touching a 500 lb deadlift, which just boggles my mind. I think they are probably bench specialists who don't do other lifts. Or maybe they are just mistaken about how strong they think they are?
I even heard about one guy barely benching over 200 in a shirt, so that was kind of funny. I guess he'd probably be in the minority though, I hope.
I also guess this is all probably due to the fact that local powerlifting competitions aren't really bringing all the big, strong guys in. Those guys probably wouldn't bother going to one of these meets. I'm just guessing about that though.

Bax, thanks for the heads up. I'll check that out when I get home from work.

I also grabbed that spreadsheet off of bb.com and I'll probably give that a whirl sometime soon, since it is only a 4 week program. So finding out whether it works for me should be quick.
 
<div>
(Totentanz @ Jun. 23 2008,9:18)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Anyone know any good bench programs?</div>
Squat, Bench, and Deadlift make up the sole focus of Stephan Korte's 3x3 program on Deepsquatter.com. I had a lot of luck with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top