OK, one more sill video, measuring my hand span

Measuring my handspan since a 7'5" friend on youtube says his is 12", so I had to know how I compared.  I guess it's kind of related to my grip training.  I've read average for a man is about 8".

Another silly video

I was frustrated with being too big for my truck, so I made this video to convince the wife that I need a bigger on.

Height check, ie too BIG for front door.

6'8" ( actually a little over ) 330 pounds and time to get a bigger/taller door/house.

DE deads and grip work

DE deadlifts with doubled over mini bands

8 sets of 2 with weight ranging from 185 to 205 plus about 200 in band tension at the top.  I was feeling pretty good with these.  I know I don't look fast, but I've got a long way to move the weight too.  I think my hips are staying down slightly longer, which is what I want, so I'm happy.

A few sets of pull throughs.  I think these are helping.

Grip work:

Rolling thunder just barely missed 180

Grip machine with 4 plates

Wrist roller

And then I tried plate hub pinch lifts.  I hadn't tried these before, but I could a 45 pound plate, woo hooo!  Very cool.

I think it's getting better

DE bench in AF. I'm continuing my experiement with doing only bands, no weight.

12 sets of purple bands only x 3

These felt really good today, even after squatting yesterday. My grip/forearm training must be working. The jury is still out about doing bands only for DE bench, but I did feel unusually explosive today.

Tricep rope presses. Several sets with entire stack + 45 pound plate.

Face pulls. Several sets with entire stack.

I felt really really good today, explosive and strong.

Monday Skiing in the morning, Squatting in the evening

Skiing

Today was the last day Mineral Basin is going to be open, and since yesterday was raining but today was pretty clear and sunny, I had to go up to ski in the morning.  It was decent, I could still ski to the bottom of the tram, but I'm guessing this will be the last weekend that's possible.  Mineral Basin was really good, lots of snow, I'm wondering why they're closing it down.  Even with SPF 50, it looks like I got yet another sunburn though. 

Training at Golds on 13th

Squats:

bar x 7

135 x 6

225 x 6

315 x 4

405 x 2

495 x 1

This was by far the easiest I've done 495 raw.  The weight felt really light tonight.

Rack pulls a few inches below the knee:

315 x 8

405 x 5

495 x 3

545 x 1

585 x 0.5 miss.  I pulled a callous off my hand, URG

495 x 3

Dumbell rows

125 x 8

125 x 8

125 x 8

125 x 8

Man these felt REALLY light tonight.

Body weight's at 335, but I'm not sure how accurate their scale is.  Usually I weigh myself at ripped.

2 PR's Thursday night at Ripped

SSB + rack pulls

135 bottom 145 top x 6

225 bottom 145 top x 5

315 bottom 145 top x 3

365 bottom 145 top x 2 (PR)

365 bottom 145 top x 1

365 bottom 165 top miss

365 bottom 145 top x 1

One arm deads with rolling thunder grip

105 x 3 right and left

145 x 3 right and left

170 x 2 right ( PR )

145 x 2 right and left

Few sets on the wrist roller 

Driving range during lunch

I decided to go to the driving range during lunch and see how it felt to swing a club again ( there's one right down the street from Omniture ). Not too bad, I've lost some flexibility which I'm sure will be easy to get back if I work on it. After warming up, I could hook and slice , but couldn't control how much, and pretty much hit one straight when I wanted to. It looked like my longest drive was in the 260-275 yard range. Not bad for not having touched a club for about 2 years, and for a club that's too short for me. My right forearm/elbow is a little sore, but I think that may be more from my grip training than the driver.

Captains of Crush #2

I got my CoC #2 and #2.5 gripper yesterday. I closed #2 after 3 tries, but then couldn't do it again. I didn't try the #2.5. So, I now know where I'm at and have the right ones to train with. I'm curious how long it will take to close the 2.5.

DE bench

Warmup:

bar x 8
bar x 8

DE benching ( urg, my usual bench is broken, the one I had to use was SHORT )

mini's only x 3
mini's only x 3
mini's only x 3
6 sets of purple only x 3

Since I wasn't feeling I was making any progress with becoming explosive by what I was doing, I decided to do bands only, no weight. As long as my joints don't feel stressed, I'm going to do this for the next few DE sessions to see how it goes. But it felt good today, and I think even with the purple bands I was prettty quick and getting close to explosive.

Tricep rope press downs, 5 sets with whole stack + 35 pounds.

Dumbell rows
125 x 8
140 x 5
140 x 5

face pulls, 5 sets of 12 with whole stack.

Body weight back down to 322, time to eat a ton of food, lol.

I felt really strong today, probably partially because I slept better than usual last night.

Monday night DE squats

DE box squats, straight weight

bar x 8

135 x 3

135 x 3

225 x 3

275 x 2

275 x 2

275 x 2

315 x 2

315 x 2

275 x 2

225 x 2

Based on how things felt tonight, I think my max squat is probably around 530.

A few sets on leg curl machine.

Wrist roller, and grip machine.

I then maxed out on the one hand deadlift with rotating grip, the rolling thunder grip. I got 168 pounds on my right hand and 152 pounds on the left ( I think my crooked left thumb from being broken may limit me on this with my left hand, maybe not ). Cool, I know where I'm at, and it's considerably more than the first time I tried it on a saturday a while ago when Brad said "hey Brian try to pick this up". Only another hundred pounds and I'll be close to a record, lol. Actually I can eventually getting there.

My body weight was at 327 pounds, and it's not fat ( mostly ).

Beyond spring skiing

I was able to make it up to Snowbird Sunday to enjoy the warm temps, sunny skies and slushy snow. I would say it was spring skiing, but it's beyond that now. Skiing down to the bottom of the tram is now considered back country. The bridge is now completely snowless, and now there's just barely enough snow to ski to where I like to park. I'm guessing there's may be one more weekend of being able to ski back down, after that it's riding the tram back down. The skiing was great today though.

The antics on the tram were fun (as always). My second ride up, I guess people were being unusually slow and the tram operator was telling people to hurry up ( not me though, he knows I'm always last ). Then this guy goes, "there's the enforcer ( talking about me, LOL ), he'll get everybody pushed back into the tram". Just to be clear, I'm NEVER a jerk getting on the tram, but I do like being last on ( it's my spot ), and I do make sure people move back ( as they're supposed to), but now I'm known as the enforcer, lol. OK, yes I kind of like it.

While riding up, this guy next to me started asking me tons of questions: You don't see big guys like you up here on the ski hill ( he's right it seems most skiers are little skinny guys ), you ever break your bindings off your skis? I'm surprised you float in the powder on those, ( I replied that although they're powder skis ( my 105mm's ) they aren't *my* powder skis, my powder skis are 140 mm under foot. ) "How much do you weigh? (330) What team did you play for?" ( I played golf in high school, although I'm pretty sure he wasn't asking about high school. )... LOL.

In talking to him though, I did have a thought, I bet with my added muscle mass and strength I could drive the crap out of a golf ball, but I bet with the right driver ( which I don't have, my clubs are too short ) I could really drive one FAR. I may have to try sometime.

Max effort benching at Ripped

Flat bench straight weight:

bar x 8

85 x 6

135 x 6

185 x 5

225 x 5

275 x 3

315 x 1

put shirt on

365 3 boards x 1

385 4 boards x 1

405 4 boards x 1 miss

405 4 boards x 1 less of a miss

405 4 boards x 1

Although I didn't get all the 405 attempts, I'm feeling much more confortable holding the weight. I'm still super slow on the way down, but I'm seriously wondering if that hurts me that much, especially since when I try to let it come down faster I loose strength.

More grip work, grip machine and wrist roller. Tricep press downs.

some videos

Last raw warmup set, benching 315 x 1. I know, I know I'm not explosive, I'm starting to wonder if I should care, or it's just how all 6'8" guys would bench ( if there were any others, lol). I know my technique is nowhere near perfect, but although I lift my left toes off the ground, I can see my leg drive now, which used to be non existent.

Loading up the grip machine ( I'm liking all the grip work lately )

Deadlifts

Deadlifts:


135 x 6 225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1
495 x 1
535 x .75 ( maybe about 5 - 6" from locking it out )
535 x .5 ( urg, it seems like with deads I never get a missed 1st attempt on the second attempt )

I'm not happy with my deadlifts. It seems from talking to others, my deadlift technique is closer to right than my bench technique ( I'm not really sure I agree ), but benching is progressing and deadlifting is not. I think part of it is that my technique is never going to look like other people because I'm taller than most ( if not all ) powerlifters an my arms are probably a foot longer than most powerlifters. Oh well.



Dumbell rows
130 x 6
150 x 4
130 x 6
These felt really light, I think mostly because the grip work I've been doing. I used to have a hard time keeping a good hold on the 150's, that wasn't an issue in the slightest today.

Couple sets of CGM with the SSB
Couple sets of pull throughs.


I got my Captains of Crush #1 gripper. It's pretty easy to close, even after heavy deads. Here's a video...

DE bench and some more grip fun stuff

Warmup:
bar x 8
bar x 8

DE bench:
3 sets mini's only x 3
3 sets 135 + mini's x 3
3 sets 135 x 3

I don't know if I'm anymore explosive, but I'm trying. Hopefully I'll get there someday.

Supersets of triceps, face pulls, and standing pulldowns in from with arms straight ( whatever that's called, ie the exercise stump showed me a while ago ).

Then on to some more grip work. I can pick up pinched 35's, at least I could today. I'm liking this grip strength stuff.

Max effort squats and some grip work

Squats with reverse bands

225 x 6

315 x 5

405 x 3

495 x 1

575 x 1

Wow, that's the first time I've had that much weight on my back.  It wasn't all that bad, taxing but it felt really good.

Grip roller, worked up to a TON of weight, LOL.  Like 5 plates.  Pretty much maxed out on the other grip thingy that I need to learn what to call it.  I'm really enjoying this grip work, and my forearms feel perfect even after holding 575 on my back ( which before I started doing the grip work anything over 445 or so would bother my forearms ).

Sunday spring skiing

More spring skiing on Sunday at Snowbird.  There's still lots of snow, judging on how things went last year I'd say there's enough snow to stay open at least until the beginning of June.

Benching with Stump and Jeff at Golds

For a change of pace, I decided to bench with Stump and Jeff at Golds, and had a great time.

Flat bench:

bar x 8

bar x 8

135 x 7

135 x 7

225 x 5

275 x 3

(shirt on )

350 4 brd x 4

365 4 brd x 3

405 4 brd x 1

I was happy with my benching especially since I didn't want to go 100% today, and I didn't but am still making gains, ie I've never done 405 except when doing rack lockouts and it felt relatively easy, easier than the 395 last week.  I like lifting with both Stump and Jeff they're good guys and gave me some good advice today.

Accessory work

Tricep stuff, face pulls, nothing special.  I actually felt pretty strong today, surprising since I felt like poop yesterday.

Spring skiing at Snowbird.

After benching and lunch, I went up to snowbird to enjoy the snow and warm weather.  I love this time of year in Utah, warm temps but still lots of snow in the mountains.  It was close to 60 at 10,000 feet, and with all that snow on the ground it makes it feel like 100.  I skied in my westside tank top to work on my tan, lol. 

DE deads at ripped

warmup
135 x 7
135 x 7

Speed deadlifts:
8 sets with 135 + mini bands doubled over x 3

More grip/forearm work.

The workout was much harder than it should have been, and I'm not feeling the best today (friday). I hope I'm not getting sick.

DE bench in AF

flat bench

bar x 8
bar x 8
9 sets of 135 x 3

Today I really focused on trying to arch more, sticking my belly up, and starting the press off my chest first with driving my heals into the floor ( something which I don't do very well ). I think all of these things will increase my max bench, especially when shirted.

Dumbell rows
115 x 8
125 x 7
140 x 6

Superset of tricep presses/face pulls.

URG, even with all the eating I've done, the skiing on sunday and squatting on monday has dropped my body weight down to 320. Im starting to think that I'll never stay above 320, as I'm not going to stop doing any non powerlifting activities to just keep my weight up. Maybe I'm worrying about the bodyweight too much, but in the past there's been a pretty good correlation between my body weight increase and my lifts increasing.

Sunday and Monday night at ripped fitness

Sunday:

Spring skiing up at snowbird. Gadzoom & Peruvian are closed so now I can ride the tram again. I love riding the tram. It was pretty much cloudy, but in May it doesn't take sunshine for spring skiing snow. But at 18 until 350 I'm much to heavy for my 105mm under foot skis.

Monday night at ripped:

SSB DE box squats, I wanted to stay rather light

bar x 3
bar x 3
145 x 3
145 x 3
195 x 3
195 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
145 + mini x 3
145 + mini x 3

supersets of leg curl machine and leg extension machine

I've been doing lots of grip/forearm work on squat days because apparently my forearms are a weak spot for squatting. But today was the first time I really maxed out on any of these. I put 3 plates and a quarter on the wrist roller thing, and about the same on the other grip thingy that I don't know the name of.

Saturday night weighing

Holy crap, I got on the scale tonight ( because for some reason I didn't this morning ), 325 pounds on my scale that weighs a good 10 pounds lighter than the one at ripped 0r golds.  OMG!  Maybe it's time to start cutting...?  LOL, no way.

Getting close to 400 pound bench

Benching at rippped

bar x 6

bar x 6

95 x 6

135 x 6

185 x 3

225 x 3

275 x 1

315 3brd x 1

365 3brd x 1

385 3brd x 1

395 3brd x 1  ( cj put his hand on the bar because mike dumped one right before this he said he didn't help ).

Here's the video of the 395

I was pretty taxed after this, so nothing else today.  Wow, two decent ME bench sessions in a row.