Todays work out, 31 Oct 07

Happy Holloween!

BB Squats: 185×5, 205×5, 225×5
Box Squats 185×4, 205×4, 225x4x4
Sumo Deadlift 225×4, 315×4, 365×4
CV deadlift 315×3, 365×3, 405×2

bent two 12″X3/8 inch steel pole barn spikes
Broke a 60D in half
bent a Gr5

27 Oct 07 Kettlebell training with Ken Blackburn of Extremeathletics

Started off with some box squats off an 18″ box
185×3, 205×3, 225×3

10 minute jerk with 16kg
First 3 minutes with 2, then dropped down to one bell switching hands every minute

Over head wall squats with JS band. I need to arch more at the bottom of my squat. I can really feel where the brakes are at, and this has been recommended to fix it.

Snatch with 16kg
2 minutesL, 2 minutesR, one minute L, one minuteR

Push/pull drills with a 40kg

GS is no joke. If you are not doing it you are missing a tremendous aid to your strength-endurance and power. Going 10 minutes with a 36lbs weight and not setting it dow does not sound like much if you have never tried it, but i will bet it will humble you the first time you try. Ken and Steve Cotter have been giving me advice and training information and i will make this in to a strong suit for me.

Todays workout 25 Oct 07 Squats

Today was my light squat day. I am training with a 5×5 twice a week until i fix my weak ass squat. I will say that until i am standing up with 4 wheels.

BB squats 135×5, 185x5x2, 225×5, 245×5. Starting to feel much better. I took Rif, Brett, Thomas and Jacks advice and adjusted the following-Lower bar position, slightly wider foot position, wore my jump boots and stuck my chest out more. Way to early to know how much it is helping, but 245 felt much better today then 225 did Monday.

Afterwards i played with my new 2.5 inch fat bar
Sump DL 225×5 grip was very difficult
Press 95x8x2
Side Press 75×3
Curl 75×6
Played with the Club bells and finished off with one arm pinch DL’s with 2 25lbs plates.

My pinch is improving.

Make a Fat bar for less then 10 bucks

I love training with thick bars, but they can be hard to come by. I don’t need a Olympic or Worlds Strongest Man contest rated bar, i just need something solid to do some deads, rows, presses and wrist work. Enter the working mans solution.

Today i made a 2.5 inch fat bar
For this set up you need the following-
1 Olympic Barbell (standard may work, but i would stick to an O-bar)
2 Allen wrenches that will fit the lug nut in teh rotating sleeves
3 One vice grip plier
4 One bar 2 to 3 inches in diameter cut to 5 feet or snug to the inside of the sleeves (use a hacksaw or sawzaw) I used a 2.5 inch steel fence pole.
I also recommend a set of saw horses but that is optional.
Step 1. Measure the thick bar to the inside of the sleeves for the bar.
Step 2. Bite the bar with the vice grips and use the allen wrench to remove the lug which secures the rotationg sleeve. DO NOT STRIP OUT THE LUG TRYING TO REMOVE IT

Step 3. Slide the bar over the barbell
Step 4. Place the rotating sleeve back on the bar. You will need an allen wrench in place on both sides of the bar to secure it.
You now have a fat bar. You can change it back when ever you want just repeat the steps.

Double Under hand short bending

This week we will talk about my preferred and strongest bending style, Double under hand (DU). DU means your palms are facing you when you bend the spike or nail. I have been told by many of the top steel benders DU is best for those of us who have short upper arm bones/short torso’s (Trolls). If you want to find out if this is you, let your arms hang at your sides. If your belly button is below your elbow joint, you are one of us trolls. If it is at or above your elbow, your considered an Ape, and you will most likely be a better Double Overhand bender.

DU bending is two distinct stages, the drive to angle the spike, and the crush to finish it. Crushing down a nail is basically the same in all of the primary bending styles-Double Overhand, double underhand and reverse.

Before we bend a nail we have wrap it to protect the hand. Nails, bolts and spikes are all very strong, very sharp metal and cut hands equal lost training time. To wrap a nail DU, you place it about 5/8 of the way in the wrap

This will give you best padding for the bend. I only use Cordura wrap from iron mind, but leather wraps are the preferred wrap for the best benders. I know some people use things like shop rags or dish rags, and that is not good. if you get stuck bending you will mess up your hands. Cordura is very strong, Leather is very strong, use that.

Wrap up the nail and it will look like this-

Now you are ready to bend. grab the nail and squeeze it tight. lift your elbows and point them ahead of you. Aim to touch the bar to your throat and really load the lats. Note there is a line from my hand to wrist to elbow. This will give me the power production for the next step.

The Drive. Your rotate your hands downward towards your belly button and slam the spike on both sides as hard as you can. Both hands are anchors holding the nail in place, and both hands are drivers as they slam towards each other. Compress and unload on the nail.
Slam it all the way to your belly. DO NOT BEND OVER. I know, everyone does it the first time. bending over as in a toe touch does not make your stronger. If you have close the nail enough for a good crush then you turn it over. If it is not close to your liking, you slam it down again.

Crush down is a sum of your upper body power. compress the nail and slam it shut. I hold one end and press in with the other. I have done every single spike like this now, thousands of nails so i know it works for me. Learn your style and work it.

When is the spike finished? Legally, when it is 2″ closed from end to end.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

23 Oct 07, Steel scrolling, KB Swings and extra grip work

Today I worked with some bigger stuff, 1 1/4″X5/16X36″ flat steel and 3/8 X 3/8 X 36 inch cube stock. This is one of my better coils on the flat stock, it is very stiff so it bends well once you can get it to move. The bar weighed in at almost 9lbs for a 36″ piece so its a pretty good bar to work with. The cube stock gave me all kinds of problems. I wanted to twist it out and wrap it but i could not get a good coil, so i stopped that and just bent the crap out of it for 20 minutes, great upper body work out.

After that i did 6 minutes of swings 32kg/115 reps. I didn’t want to do swings today, so i only did a little bit.

Finished with David Hornes grip work out. 2 hands plate pinch holds, barbell roll ups (works your cursh grip), BB wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. After scrolling the bars my wrists were fried.