[quote]cparker wrote:
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Strong stuff dude
Mind getting into your training history a bit? where you started, what programs you did, what you made your best progress on?[/quote]
Thank you for the compliment and of course I don’t mind at all
When I was about 18-19 I started training MMA 3-4x a week, I was pretty undersized. About 6’1" and 170lbs soaking wet. This kind of led me to transition to strength training even though I had no clue what I was doing. I kind of fell off the wagon during college, and then fucked around and joined the army in 2010. I deployed to Iraq in 2011 and began lifting more seriously, I was about 195lbs.
I basically followed my own program I guess you could say, a normal week would be squatting 2-3x a week, sometimes leg press and front squat. Lots of back work with dumbbells and pullups. Bench and OHP 1x a week. and Deadlift once a week. I usually was in a low rep range for about the first year of lifting. I deadlifted 500 the first time after training about 8-9 months, my bodyweight was up to around 220.
After that I got a little more specialized, did mostly sheiko 29 and 37, and ran 531 for about 6 months or so. I think the best progress I made was just from frequency, I started benching 2x a week and deadlifting on my squat days as assistance. I did my first powerlifting meet in 2013 @242 (though I weighed about 235) I hit a pretty shitty squat of 440, benched 344, and hit a 623 deadlift. So this was after about 2 solid years of training.
Currently my training resembles the cube mostly, as I alternate my deadlift and squat weeks (heavy/light). Also around this time last year (weighing about 250) I decided to move up in weight as I was still lean and having a large bone structure I didnt think 242 was my weightclass anymore. I’m now around 273 morning weight, remained as lean as I was last year and all my lifts have gone up, tested my maxes over winter at 600/405/700.
if I had to pick exercises that I believe helped my 3 lifts the most:
squat: heavy back raises, stiff leg DL
bench: seated BB OHP and weighted dips
DL: paused DL and front squat
Im gearing up for my first strongman event in June so my training is a little different now but I still have to deadlift 800lb before I can step away from powerlifting completely
Also I think the best advice I can give for beginners is to do a ton of back work, do upper back everyday you lift. It will pay off by giving you a thick set of lats, rear delts and traps. If people are concerned with looking like they lift this is a good place to start. My arms grew without ever doing arm work this way.[/quote]
awesome dude. thanks for the write up. I kind of spun my wheels for awhile, but I’ve kind of stumbled on a lot of the things you mentioned, the higher frequency, upper back work daily, and it’s really helped me.
What’s your most ‘troublesome’ lift? And what did you do to improve on it? Do you have any videos of you lifts? Obviously you out weigh me by a ton, but tall lifters aren’t the norm so I’m always trying to see how longer limbed people tweak their form to accommodate weird leverages.
Sorry to bombard you with questions lol
