Two questions:
I know you’re a fan of the West Side method but recently I’ve seen you asking questions about Block Periodization. Are you going to switch to a BP model? If so, what is your reasoning for doing so?
You posted a thread about getting a 500 raw bench press – how’s that going and do you care to elaborate on anything different you’re going to try?
Sorry everybody, just saw people starting posting in here again. I suck at technology so, don’t be offended.
[quote]Gaius Octavius wrote:
How important have you found abdominal work to be and what are your preferred exercises for abs? [/quote]
It’s important to know how to use your abs during the powerlifts. So, conventional ab work is out. I actually started up a blog and wrote 2 articles on why traditional ab work is terrible for everyone. Check it out here:
Six pack abs part 1 is pretty much just shitting on P90X. Part 2 gets into some exercises that are awesome.
More stuff that works the shit out of your abs, not for looks but for strength, are jumps, sprints, planks arent that terrible, just anything where your spine stays neutral/arched but not super hyperextended.
Did that answer your question? Sometimes the things I saw only make sense to me. haha.
[quote]Adam-F wrote:
Excellent posts STB, I have to say I recently had great success following the korte program, about as basic as it gets!
Would definitely recommend that for beginners, moving along to something similar but working on my weaknesses now too! Thanks for all the info.[/quote]
No problem, man. Just keep in mind, once those weaknesses become strengths, you’ll probably need to change your training up again.
[quote]Power Tower wrote:
This thread rules
StB, is there any reason you take Kre-akalyn instead of creatine? Have you found it better or had bad experiences with creatine?[/quote]
I just dont like that you have to have a loading phase. And during that time, I feel bloated as shit. You dont load your steaks when you eat them, even though they have creatine in them… actually Steak Loading sounds pretty awesome.
Kre-alkaline agrees with my stomach much better and I like having more control over my doses because I cycle my creatine depending on how far away a meet is. I went to a seminar once and Anatoli Bodachuk (Spell Check) talked about his athletes and cycling creatine. It’s works pretty well.
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
teach me how to dougie?[/quote]
airey-body does it?
[quote]frankjl wrote:
Two questions:
I know you’re a fan of the West Side method but recently I’ve seen you asking questions about Block Periodization. Are you going to switch to a BP model? If so, what is your reasoning for doing so?
You posted a thread about getting a 500 raw bench press – how’s that going and do you care to elaborate on anything different you’re going to try?[/quote]
After the Arnold, I only have six weeks to train for a full meet. I was looking around for other programs geared towards shorter prepatory times. I am going to stick with westside though. I have been messing arouns with my relative training volumes with RIDICULOUS results. I would like to get all that dialed in before I try something else.
Its been going good. I want to get 500 by december and I will be pretty close. The only diference in my training has been more tricep work and more strict shoulder work with various bars, these are 2 huge weaknesses for me.
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
[quote]Gaius Octavius wrote:
How important have you found abdominal work to be and what are your preferred exercises for abs? [/quote]
It’s important to know how to use your abs during the powerlifts. So, conventional ab work is out. I actually started up a blog and wrote 2 articles on why traditional ab work is terrible for everyone. Check it out here:
Six pack abs part 1 is pretty much just shitting on P90X. Part 2 gets into some exercises that are awesome.
More stuff that works the shit out of your abs, not for looks but for strength, are jumps, sprints, planks arent that terrible, just anything where your spine stays neutral/arched but not super hyperextended.
Did that answer your question? Sometimes the things I saw only make sense to me. haha.[/quote]
It sure did. Thanks!
What do you do for max effort and what works better for you, triples or singles? And what do you do for assistance in terms of volume/intensity/amount of exercises?
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
teach me how to dougie?[/quote]
airey-body does it?[/quote]
fo’ sho’
now in terms of pulling do you do any psyche ups prior to the lift that might give you an advantage
You said that at first (2005-2007) you basically only did heavy squats, deadlifts and bench presses. Would you do something different if you could start powerlifting from scratch again?
I’m just asking cause it sounds like you made good progress, but also got injured from that workout routine. Sou was it worth it (going heavy all the time), or would you do things differently now?
Hope this makes sense.
[quote]Onemike wrote:
What do you do for max effort and what works better for you, triples or singles? And what do you do for assistance in terms of volume/intensity/amount of exercises?
[/quote]
Singles. Year round. I alter assistance work/dynamic work based on how far away a meet is. In competition, the person who can handle the most weight wins, not the person who can do 85-90% the best.
Like I said above, assistance work varies depending on how far away the competition. Eary training cycles invovle a ton of volume and more of “bodybuilding” style template. So, after a max bench variation, if the meet is pretty far off, I would go to something like incline db benches for 5-6 sets of 10-15, Tri-extentions at various angles for 60 total reps, Something for lats for tons of reps, then work the shit out of my side/rear delts with various raises with dbs, bands, or even chains… oh yea, then curls of course. Closer to a meet, that assistance work would then be something like board or floor presses for a 3 to 6rm depending on how I am feeling, HEAVY rows with a bb or dbs, something heavy for shoulders then call it a day.
Dynamic assistance work looks about the same except I will usually no do any closer to a meet. If I do it will be a moderate sled pull/push or light hamstring or tricep work.
Exercise selection really depends on whats weak/tight/feels like shit. So, it changes constantly.
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
teach me how to dougie?[/quote]
airey-body does it?[/quote]
fo’ sho’
now in terms of pulling do you do any psyche ups prior to the lift that might give you an advantage [/quote]
Nothing prior to getting to the bar. I like total detatchment from the lift until I am a few seconds away from the execution. Those few seconds prior are pretty intense. I tend to visualize scenes and scenarios of intesne violence that are probably a little to explicit to describe on here.
[quote]Hrastnik wrote:
You said that at first (2005-2007) you basically only did heavy squats, deadlifts and bench presses. Would you do something different if you could start powerlifting from scratch again?
I’m just asking cause it sounds like you made good progress, but also got injured from that workout routine. Sou was it worth it (going heavy all the time), or would you do things differently now?
Hope this makes sense.[/quote]
I made awesome progress using just the powerlifts and training them very heavy very often. I wouldn’t have changed that at all. It wasnt even a program really, just something that made sense to me and it worked well. Progress stalled eventually and thats when a change had to be made.
The orginal trauma to my back was done playing football and I never got it looked at. It finally just gave one day when I was doing rack pulls. So, it really wasnt lifting heavy that messed me up, it was my own stupidity.
Crucial thread, everyone appreciates your answers, Storm. Good luck at the arnold. I’m gonna take a
look back through your log and drum up some questions.
Ghost
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
[quote]Onemike wrote:
What do you do for max effort and what works better for you, triples or singles? And what do you do for assistance in terms of volume/intensity/amount of exercises?
[/quote]
Singles. Year round. I alter assistance work/dynamic work based on how far away a meet is. In competition, the person who can handle the most weight wins, not the person who can do 85-90% the best.
Like I said above, assistance work varies depending on how far away the competition. Eary training cycles invovle a ton of volume and more of “bodybuilding” style template. So, after a max bench variation, if the meet is pretty far off, I would go to something like incline db benches for 5-6 sets of 10-15, Tri-extentions at various angles for 60 total reps, Something for lats for tons of reps, then work the shit out of my side/rear delts with various raises with dbs, bands, or even chains… oh yea, then curls of course. Closer to a meet, that assistance work would then be something like board or floor presses for a 3 to 6rm depending on how I am feeling, HEAVY rows with a bb or dbs, something heavy for shoulders then call it a day.
Dynamic assistance work looks about the same except I will usually no do any closer to a meet. If I do it will be a moderate sled pull/push or light hamstring or tricep work.
Exercise selection really depends on whats weak/tight/feels like shit. So, it changes constantly.[/quote]
Ok, but now I have a couple more questions for you 
Thanks
[quote]GhostOD wrote:
Crucial thread, everyone appreciates your answers, Storm. Good luck at the arnold. I’m gonna take a
look back through your log and drum up some questions.
Ghost [/quote]
Thanks buddy. The Arnold sucked for more reasons than I could possibley describe. I hit a PR and thats all that matter to me… that PR will not be in any record books for some technical reason that no one could explain to me but Ian Bell, 197 and pulled 788… at 17, still would have kicked my ass.
[quote]Onemike wrote:
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
[quote]Onemike wrote:
What do you do for max effort and what works better for you, triples or singles? And what do you do for assistance in terms of volume/intensity/amount of exercises?
[/quote]
Singles. Year round. I alter assistance work/dynamic work based on how far away a meet is. In competition, the person who can handle the most weight wins, not the person who can do 85-90% the best.
Like I said above, assistance work varies depending on how far away the competition. Eary training cycles invovle a ton of volume and more of “bodybuilding” style template. So, after a max bench variation, if the meet is pretty far off, I would go to something like incline db benches for 5-6 sets of 10-15, Tri-extentions at various angles for 60 total reps, Something for lats for tons of reps, then work the shit out of my side/rear delts with various raises with dbs, bands, or even chains… oh yea, then curls of course. Closer to a meet, that assistance work would then be something like board or floor presses for a 3 to 6rm depending on how I am feeling, HEAVY rows with a bb or dbs, something heavy for shoulders then call it a day.
Dynamic assistance work looks about the same except I will usually no do any closer to a meet. If I do it will be a moderate sled pull/push or light hamstring or tricep work.
Exercise selection really depends on whats weak/tight/feels like shit. So, it changes constantly.[/quote]
Ok, but now I have a couple more questions for you
Thanks[/quote]
-ME work gets rotated every week. DE work will stay the same during each cycle but I will mix up the bars, amount of bands and chains, sometimes use boards, etc. pretty much whenever I feel like it. As long as whatever you are pushing/pulling is moving fast as shit, it really doesnt matter how its done.
-I have used well over 200 ME exercises. I only use onese that really count when a meet is getting closer. I keep exercises very general up till that point in trainging. So, say I am 4-6 weeks from a meet and have had 4-6 hard weeks of training before this cycle. I will only use exercises for this time period that have a direct carryover to my competition lifts. So, a breakdown of thses exercises:
For Squatting: Parallel box squats, Chain suspended GMs (for 3’s usually, but will hit singles sometimes, SSB Box Squats
For DLs: Rev Band DL’s… and thats about it. I guess you could include SSB Box Squats and Chains supported GMs on here too
For Bench: still figuring this one out but I have noticed when my fat bar floor press and chain bench max’s go up, so does my competition bench.
The key is being honest with yourself and destroying the stuff you suck at. For example, I suck out of the hole on squats, concentric only work and box squats help this. My lockout on my pulls suck, rev. band DLs help this TREMENDOUSLY. Everything on my bench sucks and nothing helps that. Maybe I should just bench more?
-I have a hard time figuring this one out. My arms are a mile long and my leverages for bench are shitty. So its tough. I know I need stronger shoulders and triceps so I am going to start incorporating some ME overhead work. I’ll let you know in the future if this helps at all… which it probably wont because of my long ass arms.
Hope this helped! I appoligize for spelling and grammer errors but I have been sick and my doctor has me on cough medicine that makes me feel like the walls are melting around me.
First of all this thread needs to stay on the first page, lots of good info in here.
Storm, could you go through your deadlift technique and setup thanks.
[quote]Malaka79 wrote:
First of all this thread needs to stay on the first page, lots of good info in here.
Storm, could you go through your deadlift technique and setup thanks.[/quote]
Sure man, I’ll keep it as simple as I can because this is hard for some people to understand. I do a lot of things different than most lifters.
When I approach the bar, I line the last lace of my shoe (knuckle of my big toe) parallel with the bar. I then split my big toe between the smooth middle part of the bar and the rough knurling. This puts my feet about 10 inches apart and the bar is about 6-8 inches from my shins (I wear a size 15 shoe). While still standing, I take 3-5 double breaths. I judge how many I need by how tight my belt gets. This is the last time I will breath until the completion of the lift.
To get my hands set, I shoot down to the bar as fast as possible and measure a thumbs length out from the smooth part of the bar with my right hand (pronated grip) and a thumbs length out from the smooth ring with my left hand (supinated grip). Once these are set, usually takes less than a second, I squeeze as hard as I can and pull all the slack out of the bar. At the same time I pull all the wiggle out, I get my hips set. I judge where my hips need to be by how much tension I develop in my hamstrings to conteract the slack coming out of the bar. If you are pulling hard enough, it should feel like your hamstrings are compound ruptureing out of the back of your legs. Again, this whole process probably takes another second or so. Once I feel good to go, I explode my hips forward as hard as I possibly can while keeping all of the weight on my heels.
Keep in mind everything I said and watch this, its probably the best deadlift I have ever done. And it didn’t even fucking count:
I think that is about everything I go through before big pulls. Let me know if you have anymore questions!