no PRs after 24?
Interesting day. First, due to a sudden change in my schedule, I will not get a chance to hit the gym again until Fridaybut I’ll try to get some jogs in. I also got a comment on my blog from Kris who has a blog of his own. I checked it out and it’s some good stuff. He’s working on the Ketogenic diet, a 9 week Russian program and ,finally and coolest, a Virtual Raw Powerlifting Meet. The basic idea is that you tape yourself doing the big three on one of a few set days and that is your attempts. I think it’s a great idea. Obviously you could make a big deal out of the potential flaws but he seems more than aware of them and the whole thing is good fun.
Got to Dumbarton today, I really need to get some photos for you guys of this place, it rocks.
Squat
135 X 2
225 X 2
315 X 2
405 X 2
425 X 1 PR
315 3 X 3
I found that I was really in good form on 315, at 405 my form came apart. I really tried to focus on it more and moved up. I focused as I went for the PR and my form was much better. Part of the reason I went back to 315, other than the reps, but also so I could work on my form. I think it was beneficial.
Dumbell Press – 95lbs
5, 5, 3, 3, 5
I found thes to be pretty tough, that said, I think I can get all 5 of 5 in another try or two. I haven’t quite figured out what to rotate into it’s place at that point as my gym has no dumbells over 95. Icould take in my 2″ dumbell handles and do it that way but only some of the plates at the gym fit my bar and finding all the 25s I needed would be a pain. Besides, I’m not sure we have enough of the right kind of collars. I’m thinking about doing bottom position bench.
Prior to my last set I got too loking at the dumbell thinking”I could snatch that”. So I did. I was actually kind of surprised by how easily it went up. It went up easy enough to snatch that I decided that a windmill was order. The for good measure, I did the other side as well.
Pull downs 150lbs 5 X 5
I tried these in place of pullups. I was surprised by how little weight I had to use to get the reps. A little disappointing but “every journey begins with a single step”.
Dips – Bodyweight
6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 4
I think the dumbell press had to to with me coming up short.
Romanian Deadlifts 250lbs
5 X 5
Steinborn Lift
135lbs X 2 – one to each side
225lbs X 2
Just playing with these, good fun and training, besides I get stares even in my oddball gym. They leave me trembling by the end. It’s not the squat that sucks, it ‘s holding the bar in place and lowering it to your body. The real workout is in the upper body.
The title comes from a guy I chatted with while I was at the gym. in between reps of Steinborn, there was a guy benching, he was kinda surprised when he managed to actually hit ten reps. I replied with, “Time to up the weight”. He told me his days of that were over. I really didn’t know what he meant. He went on to tell me he was 58 and hadn’t hit a PR since he was 24. I was a little taken aback. I wanted to say, “it’s obvious you aren’t doing it right”, but I didn’t. I told him a bit about Chris Rice and his jaw dropped that a guy close to his age could still hope for, set and make PRs. Training with no hope of ever progressing, it’s omething to think about. Espcially at an age when I think it’s still very possible.
on December 5, 2006 on 10:18 am
I admit I was lost when I read the title. Mike – take him the websites for some of the Masters programs in Powerlifting, Olympic Lifting, Highland Games etc. Get this guy to believe that his life’s not over yet – 58 is old? I missed another memo, didn’t I?
on December 5, 2006 on 7:45 pm
I second that. No PRs after 24…?! Either he has developed a very destructive attitude to training or he truly does not know what he is doing. For his sake, I do hope that his PRs were good enough to serve as some solace. Makes me feel very old at 31, and somewhat guilty for my periodic PRs. Not. 😉
Thanks for the kind words regarding my blog. You are naturally most welcome to enter the virtual meet if you feel like it, the more the merrier! You’ve definitively got some good lifts going for you if you do.
on December 5, 2006 on 10:00 pm
Not to deviate from the current thread, but what’s the RSS feed URL for this blog? I haven’t been able to find it.
on December 5, 2006 on 10:06 pm
Kris and Chris,
The PR thing bugs me, a lot. I’ll try to talk to the guy some more next time I see him in there. It’s totally possible he was just having a bad day.
Scott,
hmm, I seem to have broken this. I’ll fix it and get something posted soon.
on December 6, 2006 on 12:16 am
Maybe he was a World Record holder at 24 – and hasn’t been able to beat it ever since – now that I might understand.
on December 6, 2006 on 6:51 am
I’ve heard that even Kirk Kowoski (sp?) is still setting PRs. In fact, I read an interview in which he said that he never gained so much, so fast as when he decided to retire from powerlifting and only lift 2 – 3 days a week (interesting because he probably came off the juice at that point too) but yeah, I’d accept wordl record holder as a viable excuse. His 185 lb benhc (sub bodyweght) makes me think otherwise 🙂