HardNHeavy's Post Competition Journal

[hardNheavy2011]

12-05-2012

Max Effort Deadlifts

Sumo with 100lbs of band resistance
320-2
410-2
460-1
480-1
430-1
430-1

Hip Thrusts-
410-10
460-10
500-8

Good Mornings-
185-8
205-5
215-5

Pull Throughs-
70-15
70-15
70-15

[hardNheavy2011]

Okay, I took a screen shot of a guy name Ben Rice, who is probably the best puller in the 198 class. He's pulled 733@195lbs. I took a screen shot of me pulling and put it along side of him. Why does he seem to have so much more leverage than I do? I stopped the footage where we have the bar about the same distance off the ground. My wife says I'm straightening out my legs too soon and I agree, but I'm also wondering if he has substantially longer arms than me. LOL Any thoughts on this?

[Getsum]

Insane intensity man, I love it!

Okay, I took a screen shot of a guy name Ben Rice, who is probably the best puller in the 198 class. He's pulled 733@195lbs. I took a screen shot of me pulling and put it along side of him. Why does he seem to have so much more leverage than I do? I stopped the footage where we have the bar about the same distance off the ground. My wife says I'm straightening out my legs too soon and I agree, but I'm also wondering if he has substantially longer arms than me. LOL Any thoughts on this?

It looks like he's using more leg at the beginning of the pull and you're pulling with your back, it's just what I see. His butt is down, arms almost looked relaxed and he's going to break it off the ground with leg, then lock it with back. Do you have the full video of him pulling that? I'm no expert by any means, deadz give me lots of trouble. I've always pulled sumo until the last year or so, it's my natural stance, but I haven't been pulling sumo at all recently. I should probably go back to it. I was alternating week to week, not really sure why I stopped.

Anyway, incredible strength man. It's really inspiring to the intensity you're putting in.

[hardNheavy2011]

Insane intensity man, I love it!



It looks like he's using more leg at the beginning of the pull and you're pulling with your back, it's just what I see. His butt is down, arms almost looked relaxed and he's going to break it off the ground with leg, then lock it with back. Do you have the full video of him pulling that? I'm no expert by any means, deadz give me lots of trouble. I've always pulled sumo until the last year or so, it's my natural stance, but I haven't been pulling sumo at all recently. I should probably go back to it. I was alternating week to week, not really sure why I stopped.

Anyway, incredible strength man. It's really inspiring to the intensity you're putting in.

Thanks brother, I really appreciate it! What kind of a stance were using for sumo? wide? modified? Narrow? I'm still messing around with it. LOL

I think you're right! How the hell do I start with more leg drive? I know I'm getting better at deads, but I still don't really have the right feel yet. :/

I do have the whole video. Let me find it. It's towards the end of this video. He does a damn good job of explaining things!

[Getsum]

Thanks brother, I really appreciate it! What kind of a stance were using for sumo? wide? modified? Narrow? I'm still messing around with it. LOL

I think you're right! How the hell do I start with more leg drive? I know I'm getting better at deads, but I still don't really have the right feel yet. :/

I do have the whole video. Let me find it. It's towards the end of this video. He does a damn good job of explaining things!

Good deal, that's one of the videos I just watched tonight. I'm going to post that in my journal and try to do some light weight sumo pulls this weekend. I'm really not sure how wide I am but I do use the rings to setup though, I'm probably close to where he's at I guess. The only way I can see starting with more leg is to focus on keep the butt down at the start but I'm just picturing this stuff in my head. You're light years ahead of where I'm at so take it with a grain of salt, lol.

I feel exactly like that, I feel I'm getting better with deadlifts but I just don't have that right feeling yet or that grip it and rip it mentality. Those box jumps he was doing were insane. I like his core work with the dumbbells as well...that video owns.

[fittofattofit]

Well, I've taken a few days off from BB.com, but I've still been training so I have a few workouts to log. I wanted to say that my knees are making my shoulder seem like it's healed up. LOL They are just stiff and sore and it's painful to even get up out of the chair. I've started icing them a few times a day to see if that will help. I'm not sure what I'm going to do since my squat is the only thing keeping me in the game.

I've been box squatting much wider and I'm hoping that I'll get enough hip flexibility to be able to get deep enough. I guess I'll have to start working a little more on flexibility. I think my hips can take a little more....well hell, they're going to have to! I believe that if I can get wider and my knee pain subsides, I'll be able to squat more. How much more, I'm not sure. I think I still had another 20lbs left during that 623 squat.

I'll go ahead and log some training days and I have a video from today max effort sumo work. I'll also have a question about my sumo form.

We can all do with more hip flexibility --- flexible hips save our knees and lumbar spine

Okay, I took a screen shot of a guy name Ben Rice, who is probably the best puller in the 198 class. He's pulled 733@195lbs. I took a screen shot of me pulling and put it along side of him. Why does he seem to have so much more leverage than I do? I stopped the footage where we have the bar about the same distance off the ground. My wife says I'm straightening out my legs too soon and I agree, but I'm also wondering if he has substantially longer arms than me. LOL Any thoughts on this?

^^^^ this is you with the 460+bands. I thought that that was a much better lift than your 410 lift. If you look at the difference --- this is more like his set-up: you've got your hips back, chest up and your shoulders are directly over the bar. In your 410+bands lift you are leaning forward of the bar and that means you have your hips higher, so more lifting from the back and less leg drive. I'd say that your set-up on the 460 is the same as Ben's in fact

I feel like a fraud though --- my deadlifts are a fraction of yours and I've lost over 40lbs on my best (weak) lift --- it's like telling an eskimo how to fish

[hardNheavy2011]

Good deal, that's one of the videos I just watched tonight. I'm going to post that in my journal and try to do some light weight sumo pulls this weekend. I'm really not sure how wide I am but I do use the rings to setup though, I'm probably close to where he's at I guess. The only way I can see starting with more leg is to focus on keep the butt down at the start but I'm just picturing this stuff in my head. You're light years ahead of where I'm at so take it with a grain of salt, lol.

I feel exactly like that, I feel I'm getting better with deadlifts but I just don't have that right feeling yet or that grip it and rip it mentality. Those box jumps he was doing were insane. I like his core work with the dumbbells as well...that video owns.

Isn't that dude unreal? LOL The weird part is that it actually looks like he struggles a little bit off the floor and then rips it right up! It's almost like the bar is frozen for a second and then boom! it comes right up. He's got some killer strength and him being that young makes it even more impressive that he's built so much strength at such a young age.

You gonna post up some vids of your deadlift sessions with your sumo stance? You and I are the same height so I'd be interested to see how wide you actually go. I think I'm at about my max right now though. haha I thought I was concentrating on keeping my butt down, but for some reason, I have a million things and none running through my head at the same time right before lifting. If that makes any sense at all. LOL

[hardNheavy2011]

We can all do with more hip flexibility --- flexible hips save our knees and lumbar spine




^^^^ this is you with the 460+bands. I thought that that was a much better lift than your 410 lift. If you look at the difference --- this is more like his set-up: you've got your hips back, chest up and your shoulders are directly over the bar. In your 410+bands lift you are leaning forward of the bar and that means you have your hips higher, so more lifting from the back and less leg drive. I'd say that your set-up on the 460 is the same as Ben's in fact

I feel like a fraud though --- my deadlifts are a fraction of yours and I've lost over 40lbs on my best (weak) lift --- it's like telling an eskimo how to fish

I'm searching for a good hip flexibility workout to see if I can loosen things up and get a wider stance going.

You're a wise man!! I didn't even think to look at my heavier sets because my form usually breaks down with heavier weights so I figured it wouldn't be worth looking at! You're right though, it was a pretty good pull and very close to the same position Ben Rice is in. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse now knowing that information.

It doesn't matter who lifts more. Apparently, you have the ability to see things that I don't. Besides, how much would I be lifting if I had all those shoulder problems that you have? Probably not nearly as much!! You know I'm always up for advice. I spend half my free time trying to figure out how to increase my lifts. LOL

Did you notice that Reverse Hyper in the background? I built that over the weekend, but I haven't had time to finish it yet. I've built about a dozen or more over the years and every time I build one, someone wants to buy it. This time though, I'm keeping it.

[hardNheavy2011]

Here's s few pics of the Reverse Hyper I built over the weekend. Yeah, the metal is basically scrap I had lying around and rusty since it's been sitting outside for at least a year. I'm wanting to work this lift into my workout to see what it can do for me.

[fittofattofit]

That is one heavy duty machine!
You're very strong on the good mornings so you should be able to start off with beast weights on the reverse hypers

[hardNheavy2011]

That is one heavy duty machine!
You're very strong on the good mornings so you should be able to start off with beast weights on the reverse hypers

LOL!! I built one a few years ago and used it quite regularly, but for some reason I sold it when someone came over and saw it. I remember using 300+ on it, but then I got to wondering if it's actual purpose is building up muscle or just for therapy? My whole thing has been that for the ridiculous price Westside charges for theirs, it should be a miracle worker. haha I used to build these things quite often for about $200.00 in materials. I can't imagine the profit margin. lol

[hardNheavy2011]

12-6-2012
Sledwork-
200ft distance

90lbs-
Push
Drag
Pull
push

135lbs-
Drag
Push
Pull

12-7-2012

DE Squat
Box Squats WIDE 15" box SSB
305x2 10 sets 60 sec rest intervals

Leg Press-
450-15
540-15
630-15
720-15

RDL-
230-10
230-10
230-10
230-10

GHR-
bwt-10
bwt-10

[hardNheavy2011]

12-9-2012
Max Effort Bench

Close Grip Floor Press-
230-8
280-1
300-1
320-1
330-1
340-1

Flat DB Presses-
85-15
85-15
85-15
85-15
85-15

Machine Pushdowns-
180-15
180-15
180-15

[hardNheavy2011]

12-10-2012

Barbell Rows-
140-15
160-15
190-10
190-12
190-12

Pulldowns-
190-10
210-10
220-10
230-10
230-10

Dumbbell Rows-
85-15
85-15

[hardNheavy2011]

12-12-2012

Max Effort DL

SSB+Sumo Deadlift-

SSB=110lbs

230-2
280-2
300-1
320-1
290-1
290-1

See video

Dimel Deads-
190+100lbs band resistance

4 sets of 12 reps

Reverse Hypers-
140-10
190-10
140-10
140-10

Good Mornings-
155-8
155-8
155-8

So I was wanting to try something different just to break up my routine a little. I've seen a few videos of people doing deadlifts with a SSB bar on their backs at the same time. So, I decided to try it. Bar none the most difficult exercise I've ever done in my life!! That 110lbs on my back felt like 1000lbs once I bent over into position. That pull of 320lbs felt more difficult than any pull I've ever done even with bands or chains or straight weight. I've been wanting to find something that will help with off the floor power and I think this might just be it. This workout was a total lower back destroyer. I shot a vid too...of course.

I know it doesn't appear to be that heavy or hard to pull, but trust me, that 320 pull was me pulling with everything I had!

[fittofattofit]

That's an impressive vid HNH! It looks like a good way to force you to keep your back in a perfect position --- no leaning over the bar at all or you'd just lose it!
Strong reverse hypers as well as those 340 floor presses from the other day.
How did the knee feel after those SSB/deads? (I would have thought there'd be a fair bit of stress on the knees)

[Getsum]

I'm speechless man, your training is truly on another level!

[hardNheavy2011]

That's an impressive vid HNH! It looks like a good way to force you to keep your back in a perfect position --- no leaning over the bar at all or you'd just lose it!
Strong reverse hypers as well as those 340 floor presses from the other day.
How did the knee feel after those SSB/deads? (I would have thought there'd be a fair bit of stress on the knees)

Thanks!! It's not quite as hard to balance as I make it look. LOL After a few sets I could barely tell the SSB was on my back. Not that it was light or anything, but I wasn't trying to fall forward the whole time. My knees are doing a little better. I found a natural supplement the other day at the health food store called Curamin and it's supposed to be a natural anti-inflammatory. I have realized that I can't live on anti-I's forever so I started searching for something else. Although my knees still hurt, the constant dull aching is gone which has allowed me to at least do deadlifts and pull my sled. I'll try box squats tonight and see what happens. For Nationals in Feb, I might just do push/pull....and dumb as that sounds with a torn RC.

I'm speechless man, your training is truly on another level!

Desperate men take desperate measures!! I'm just looking for anything that will help me with my pull off the ground. If I don't get a 600+ lift in comp, I'm going to freaking lose it!!

[hardNheavy2011]

12-13-2012

Sledwork- 200ft
90lbs-
Push
Push

135lbs-
Push, Push, Drag, Drag, Pull, Pull, Ropes


12-14-2012

Box squats- 13" box- WIDE- SSB
245x2 10 sets 60 second rest

Speed Deadlifts-
300x1 8 sets

Leg Press-
360-20
450-20
540-20
630-20

RDL-
300-8
300-8
300-8
300-8
300-8

GHR-
bwt- 10
bwt- 10
bwt- 10

[hardNheavy2011]

12-15-2012
DE Bench
Speed Bench
185x3 9 sets 60 second rest

Dumbbell Press-
90-20
90-15
90-15
90-15
90-15

Dips-
25-10
25-10
25-10

[hardNheavy2011]

Probably not an earth shattering revelation here, but I've decided that for Nationals in February, I'm going to do the Push/Pull portion and leave squats alone for awhile. Plus, not doing squats first should definitely help me hit my 600+ comp deadlift that I REALLY want!!

Shoulder is still hurting, but I'm getting used to it and it's actually beginning to feel a little stronger thanks to some exercises recommended by cmoore.

[fittofattofit]

Probably not an earth shattering revelation here, but I've decided that for Nationals in February, I'm going to do the Push/Pull portion and leave squats alone for awhile. Plus, not doing squats first should definitely help me hit my 600+ comp deadlift that I REALLY want!!

Shoulder is still hurting, but I'm getting used to it and it's actually beginning to feel a little stronger thanks to some exercises recommended by cmoore.

I was surprised at first because you're so strong on squats, but then if you really want to get the 600+ dead, then that makes perfect sense. It will also give you an opportunity to improve that bench and strengthen the shoulder.
What exercises did CMoore recommend for you?

[hardNheavy2011]

I was surprised at first because you're so strong on squats, but then if you really want to get the 600+ dead, then that makes perfect sense. It will also give you an opportunity to improve that bench and strengthen the shoulder.
What exercises did CMoore recommend for you?

Honestly, it's my knees. I have apparently done something to BOTH of them. I can barely get up off the floor still and it's been almost 3 weeks since that comp. I've still suffered through my workouts, but I'm getting to the point that I may have to have the Dr take a look at them. I can't imagine arthritis just showing up out of nowhere due to 3 Max Effort squats at that comp. I ice everyday, sometimes multiple times, I've been taking that Curamin, and honestly, that has taken away the constant aching, but I still have massive pain when I try and get up. I warm up thoroughly before my leg workouts and it helps me at least get through it, but I suffer for it later. I've also had to go back to conventional deadlifting. I'm wondering if switching to sumo may have caused additional pressure on my knees. I did a conventional deadlift workout this evening and everything was fine. Didn't feel my legs at all.

cmoore recommended those single and double arm hangs. They have helped tremendously!! I would say it's back to normal, but it's feeling stronger when I unrack the weight.

12-17-2012

I'm doing a different deadlift program since I won't be doing squats at my next comp. I am dedicating even MORE time to deads now. LOL
I breezed through this workout, but about week 5, I'll be pulling in the mid to high 500's for doubles and mid 400's for speed reps. LOL

Deadlift workout-
320-5
410-2
465-2

370x3 @ 8 sets with 60 second rest periods

RDL/Goodmorning Supersets
320-8
155-8

320-8
155-8

320-8
155-8

Reverse Hypers-
140-12
140-12
140-12

[fittofattofit]

Huge session ^^^^^^ and that would have got your heart racing
Great work on the deads with the 465s and then 24 reps of 370 in under 10 minutes
And huge super setting with the RDLs/GMs 320/155 x 8

Bad luck about the knees, but FWIW when my trainer gets me to do anything in sumo stance, my knees are aching the next day. I suspect that sumo is much harder on the knees and less hard on the hips than a conventional deadlift

[hardNheavy2011]

Huge session ^^^^^^ and that would have got your heart racing
Great work on the deads with the 465s and then 24 reps of 370 in under 10 minutes
And huge super setting with the RDLs/GMs 320/155 x 8

Bad luck about the knees, but FWIW when my trainer gets me to do anything in sumo stance, my knees are aching the next day. I suspect that sumo is much harder on the knees and less hard on the hips than a conventional deadlift

Yeah, my heart rate definitely was up there! The weights were pretty light compared to my normal deadlift day, but I'm starting a new program. I made another video of the above training day with audio kind of explaining where I'm going with all this. LOL

Not sure what I'm doing to do with the knee situation. It seems like I have more negatives right now than positives! LOL I'll just ride it out and see where it goes. haha

[fittofattofit]

Great vid and it's cool to hear the description of what you're planning
I love the way that you made 465 x 2 look so easy ( you 'didn't really do too much' )
I'll look forward to the updates now

[hardNheavy2011]

Great vid and it's cool to hear the description of what you're planning
I love the way that you made 465 x 2 look so easy ( you 'didn't really do too much' )
I'll look forward to the updates now

Thanks! I found it odd at first doing the audio thing, but I did another one today and it's just easier to get out what I want to say other than just typing it. LOL
That 465 should be easy!! If it isn't, I'm going to be facked by the time I hit week 4!! It's definitely something I'm looking forward to, as odd as that may sound. LOL
For some reason I like to torture myself on deadlifts of all things.

[hardNheavy2011]

12-19-2012
ME Bench
Close grip floor press-
230-8
300-2
320-2
345-1
310-1
310-1

Dumbbell Presses-
95-15
95-20
95-15
95-15
95-15

Machine Pushdowns-
180-15
200-15
210-15
230-15
250-8

Vid:

[hardNheavy2011]

On a totally off note. My wife and I purchased another dog about three weeks ago so that puts our total up to 9 now. LOL This puppy's parents are both Grand Champions so we are expecting huge things from him! And yeah, besides my family, my dogs are my true passion. This is probably one of the main reasons I have to build all of my equipment. LOL

[fittofattofit]

12-19-2012
ME Bench
Close grip floor press-
230-8
300-2
320-2
345-1
310-1
310-1

Dumbbell Presses-
95-15
95-20
95-15
95-15
95-15

Machine Pushdowns-
180-15
200-15
210-15
230-15
250-8

Vid:

You made that benching look very easy. I like how tightly you kept your elbows in to do that close grip benching as well as the DB pressing using a hammer grip.
You've got plenty to be proud of with building all that equipment --- I admire your dedication to training and to making it happen no matter what. That Pushdwon machine is bad@ss!

On a totally off note. My wife and I purchased another dog about three weeks ago so that puts our total up to 9 now. LOL This puppy's parents are both Grand Champions so we are expecting huge things from him! And yeah, besides my family, my dogs are my true passion. This is probably one of the main reasons I have to build all of my equipment. LOL

What a cute puppy! It's a beautiful animal (much prettier than my Staffy --- he's fugly even though we all love him)