Home gym chronicles, Part II; mind over fatter

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by Mr.Silverback

Squats looked good Soldier and that is an awesome setup!

Thanks! It works. . .for now. One day I'll have a real cage.

[Mr.Silverback]

Epic WIN

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Good news! My wife and I talked it over, and we decided to spend some of our incoming tax return on some lifting stuff. Actually, I wanted to buy lifting stuff and she wanted to buy furniture, so we set aside some money towards each.

I just ordered a bar, a slingshot, a slingshot for my wife, and knee wraps from roquefitness.com. I'm going to use the rest of the money to get chains. This is going to be awesome. My bar sucks, and things like chains and the slingshot will help me get the most out of my training. I can't wait to start utilizing this new stuff and getting freaking strong as hell.

Sweet.

Nice! Congrats. Nothing beat shaving your own schtuff.

[Soldier]

Went and picked up a chain rig today. Annoying, knowing that there are so many miles of old, rusty chain sitting in barns around the world, and I have to buy brand new ones from home depot. BUT, I got 30lb of chains, 15 a side, along with everything I need to hok them up. It's a good start, and I can add more as I get used to training with them.

By the way, if you want a good laugh, go to youtube and search for "powerlifting chains". WOW. People don't seem to get what chains are used for. Weak people who can't lift their bodyweight using them, and using them completely incorrectly.

Check out this yahoo-

Barbell pushpress with chains - Ben Thompson - YouTube

Barbell pushpress with chains - Ben Thompson - YouTube

1. Chains don't even touch the ground.
2. Same chain hooked to BOTH sides of the bar?

[Soldier]

Decided to do something a little different today. I've been training movements mostly lately, focussing on powerlifting. Today I decided to change it up and take it easy on my body. Also, I'm losing some size in my mirror muscles, and. . .well, screw that. SO, today I did some bodybuilding training. Slow eccentrics, focussing on and keeping tension on the muscle. I did shoulders, back and bi's.

I still kept things simple though. No 40 different movements for me.

Landmine presses-
bar x12
15x12
25x12

Landmine rows-
bar x12
25x12
40x12

Landmine presses-
25x15
40x12
40x15

Landmine rows-
25x12
40x12
40x12

Curls-
45x12
45x12
45x9

Holy crap. I've been doing explosive movements for a while, training for performance. Today I got so much of a pump that I couldn't curl the bar for 10 reps on the last set.

For the landmine rows I put one end of the bar in a corner, then grabbed the other end and got to some pullin'. Again, bodybuilding style, so huge stretch and squeeze, and focussing on feeling my back and pulling from the elbow.

This session felt good. training like this lets me train every day, even though I don't have the energy to put into a full powerlifting session. And I'd be lying if I said that I don't want to keep some muscle along with my strength during this cut.

So I'll be doing this again, every now and then, when I don't feel up for training strength, and don't have some cardio planned.

[Soldier]

Just finished my training for the day with a nice 3 mile ruck run. My pack was a little over 35lb, and I completed the run in a little over :40, which is a good pace. For Air assault I'll need to complete a 12 mile ruck in 3 hours, which means I need to beat a :15 mile pace. Essentially, I'll need to do what I did today, but for 4 times as far. I'll have to keep training. I did the run in my boots, and felt my left heal start to burn after the first mile. I stopped, loosened my boots, and kept going. I never even felt my right heal, yet when I took off my boots both heals were blistered.

It was just the left one, the one that burned, that was bloody.

Whatever, it comes with the territory, and I've got some tricks up my sleeve to make sure they don't get too bad.

Probably deadlifts tomorrow. It'll be tough to do them knowing that my knew bar is on it's way.

[Soldier]

I had planned to do deadlifts today, but I just can't find the motivation to pull knowing that my new bar is coming. So instead I decided to do some speed squats and try my new chains out. I liked the chains alright, but there just weren't enough of them. No worries though, after a couple sets I had a breakthrough. I can't afford any more chains, but I figured out that I can hook up plates to the chains in such a manner that the plates go down to the ground halfway through the lift. This worked REALLY well, which gets me super excited.

I think these chains are going to take my squatting to a whole new level. 405 will be mine even quicker now!

Speed box squats (all + numbers are chain weights)-
bar+30x5
135+30x5
225+30x3
225+50x3 (video)
275+50x3 (video)
225+80x3 (video)
225+80x3
225+80x3

You'll see the plates hanging among the chains in the video. Theoretically you could do the same thing with a single chain and hang multiple plates you already have down the length of the chain, as long as you don't mind the noise. I'm surprised I haven't seen this before, considering how expensive chains are.

Sky's the limit now! New bar, slingshot, and knee wraps coming soon!

You Tube

You Tube

[BigJosh]

You are doing some legit work in here. Keep killing it

[SecondsOut]

lol @ the guy push pressing...so much "wtf?" in that video

Strong workouts, man. It's cool reading about all the stuff you're trying out.

Originally Posted by Soldier

Today I got so much of a pump that I couldn't curl the bar for 10 reps on the last set.

Haha that happens to me pretty much any time I do curls b/c I do them maybe a few times every 6 months.

Originally Posted by Soldier

I never even felt my right heal, yet when I took off my boots both heals were blistered.

It was just the left one, the one that burned, that was bloody.

damn, that's nasty! hate having injured feet. pretty damn hardcore that you plowed through the run. like Bruce Willis in Die Hard walking through the glass barefoot, taking out terrorists lol

Originally Posted by Soldier

I can't afford any more chains, but I figured out that I can hook up plates to the chains in such a manner that the plates go down to the ground halfway through the lift. This worked REALLY well, which gets me super excited.

I think these chains are going to take my squatting to a whole new level. 405 will be mine even quicker now!

that's an awesome idea. i noticed you were able to blast through the part of the lift when the full weight came off the floor. nice. i'm guessing the negatives felt more difficult?

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by SecondsOut

lol @ the guy push pressing...so much "wtf?" in that video

Strong workouts, man. It's cool reading about all the stuff you're trying out.

Thanks! I love experimenting.

Haha that happens to me pretty much any time I do curls b/c I do them maybe a few times every 6 months.

I think it had more to do with how I was doing them, focussing on the muscle and keeping tension on it. VERY different from powerlifting style training

damn, that's nasty! hate having injured feet. pretty damn hardcore that you plowed through the run. like Bruce Willis in Die Hard walking through the glass barefoot, taking out terrorists lol

Haha, not that hardcore. Ruck marches/runs are all mental. That's why the Army likes them so much. Walking or jogging slowly seems easy until you add distance, time, and a heavy load.

that's an awesome idea. i noticed you were able to blast through the part of the lift when the full weight came off the floor. nice. i'm guessing the negatives felt more difficult?

They did, mostly because I was trying to push my ass WAY back, which is tough with my closer stance. The chains felt awesome. knowing the weight was coming forced/allowed me to push hard from the bottom all the way up. I can't wait to do a heavy day with the chains! It's gonna be a blast