Powerlifting with a Legend

[Marcus]

I'm 5'9" I was usually thumbs length from the smooth part. Then earlier this year I moved to Pinkies.

Last night he moved me to ring finger no shoulder issues as long as my set up is on point.

The key for me is getting the rack set up perfectly to wear my elbows or locked out. Next I get my setup.

I grab the bar pull my self towards the spotter. Then push forward to get as tight as I can with my legs and upper back on the bench getting as much arch as possible. Pulling my scaps together.

The next big thing that I've learned since joining the team is the handoff from my spotter. With out him I can't stay tight. When he hands the bar off I'm pulling the bar as he is handing stacking the bar over my shoulders. This allows me to keep arms locked and let's my get even tighter by pulling my scaps down towards my ass. Now I'm driving my heels down keeping lower body tight.

All these changes have taken stress off my shoulders. I never used a spotter. I can feel my self break tightness many times unracking the bar. Unracking max effort weight by myself put the most stress on shoulders so I had to set up with my shoulders directly under the bar when I was solo.

Training with a team and a good coach has already added weight to my bench and deadlift just off of technical fixes.

Squat he hadn't pushed me yet. Hips still a bit tight. But getting looser. I believe on Saturday, which is our squat day he will push me.

Interesting... thank you for all the details here. I work out alone 98% of the time and hate asking for a spot. I'll have to try starting with my arms locked out the next time I do have a spot. I can understand what you're saying about keeping everything tight at this time though

 

[franchise24]

Interesting... thank you for all the details here. I work out alone 98% of the time and hate asking for a spot. I'll have to try starting with my arms locked out the next time I do have a spot. I can understand what you're saying about keeping everything tight at this time though

Yeah keeping everything can be hard to understand. Last night coach slapped my leg to make sure it was stable solid and I was driving my heels down.

Tight is being taken to a new level. Pretty much pull your shoulder blades together and down towards your back pockets. This should get your chest puffed up. Now I don't know if you bench with your feet flat or heels up.

I'm heels up do I have to drive my heels down which not only created stability but also leg drive. All the while squeezing my glutes.

Even on squats once we unrack lock knees out and squeeze glutes, break at hips and ascend under control to maintain tightness through out the whole body. My hip flexors are sore after my first two squat sessions with all this rigidity in technique. But it helps me in two ways driving out the whole as one single unit. No shifting left or right.

I had a tendency to shift to the left coming out of the whole, because I ascended fast and lost tightness. This has made me powerful. Not sure if he will change this up once this all becomes second nature.

But if you watch him squat when he competed. He ascended under a controlled manner. Was tight.

I never realized how a spotter was more than just a spotter. A good spotter knows his lifter. And he knows when to let go of the bar on the handoff during bench. The spotter can feel the lifter is set without any cue from the lifter.

 

[Marcus]

Yeah keeping everything can be hard to understand. Last night coach slapped my leg to make sure it was stable solid and I was driving my heels down.

Tight is being taken to a new level. Pretty much pull your shoulder blades together and down towards your back pockets. This should get your chest puffed up. Now I don't know if you bench with your feet flat or heels up.

I'm heels up do I have to drive my heels down which not only created stability but also leg drive. All the while squeezing my glutes.

Even on squats once we unrack lock knees out and squeeze glutes, break at hips and ascend under control to maintain tightness through out the whole body. My hip flexors are sore after my first two squat sessions with all this rigidity in technique. But it helps me in two ways driving out the whole as one single unit. No shifting left or right.

I had a tendency to shift to the left coming out of the whole, because I ascended fast and lost tightness. This has made me powerful. Not sure if he will change this up once this all becomes second nature.

But if you watch him squat when he competed. He ascended under a controlled manner. Was tight.

I never realized how a spotter was more than just a spotter. A good spotter knows his lifter. And he knows when to let go of the bar on the handoff during bench. The spotter can feel the lifter is set without any cue from the lifter.

I bench with my heels up. I'll change it up and try it out, see how it feels

 

[franchise24]

I bench with my heels up. I'll change it up and try it out, see how it feels

Heels down is hard for me to get any kind of arch and requires to have you legs out pretty wide. When my hips are tight benching flat footed is impossible.

Another cue I just remembered when getting the hand off or setting up. Is to pull the bar off the rack as if you were doing a stiff armed lat pulldown. This his hard if the j cups are deep. And it's hard to do for me with near max effort weight.

I actually do some stiff armed lat pull downs as a warm up prior to bench to get my lats firing.

 

[franchise24]

08/22/2017

I missed deadlift day with the team Thursday due to going to the doctor's with my wife checking on the baby. He will be here in three weeks. So I went in yesterday to go hit deads light.
I
I had Chiropractor work and neuromuscular therapy done. Then about 5 hours later hit the gym for deads. Bad decision. Neuromuscular therapy was great but working after wards is a bad idea.

I went in and started with 155 for 5. I worked my way up to 417 and felt like 700.

Considering I did 441 4x3 and 506 3x3 the week prior.

I had to drop down all the way 305.

I couldn't get tight in my setup. I know it was due to the neuromuscular therapy. I cut the workout afher 5x3 at 305.

I had flew like symptoms while I was working out.

My neuromuscular therapy was 1.5 hours long. On top of my muscles be nice and loose I'm sure there were plenty of toxins released.

Squat on deck for today. Hopefully I'm feeling good enough to go heavy or moderately heavy.

Deadlift:
407 3x1
353 3x3
305 3x3

Shitty session Every pull was hook grip.

 

[MindlessWork]

Hopefully the neuromuscular therapy will be of help and yes it's a bad idea to lift right after that session. I went to a chiro for an appt and afterwards went to gym, yes it was bad move as I was sore and the lifting only amplified the discomfort. But yes the day after I had felt much better and the lifting was much improved so wait till the next day after your therapy to lift.

 

[pitbull]

This makes so much sense to me, for years I have struggle with low reps on bench where lighter weights were easy. I never get a lift at the gym I usually workout at because they suck at it lol. I always thought it was best to just learn without one. Looking at your description, I loosen when it is heavy, beacue weights are far back and need to be unracked. I gotta try this more often and put in tests

damm this forum has helped me!!

The next big thing that I've learned since joining the team is the handoff from my spotter. With out him I can't stay tight. When he hands the bar off I'm pulling the bar as he is handing stacking the bar over my shoulders. This allows me to keep arms locked and let's my get even tighter by pulling my scaps down towards my ass. Now I'm driving my heels down keeping lower body tight.

All these changes have taken stress off my shoulders. I never used a spotter. I can feel my self break tightness many times unracking the bar. Unracking max effort weight by myself put the most stress on shoulders so I had to set up with my shoulders directly under the bar when I was solo.

 

[franchise24]

This makes so much sense to me, for years I have struggle with low reps on bench where lighter weights were easy. I never get a lift at the gym I usually workout at because they suck at it lol. I always thought it was best to just learn without one. Looking at your description, I loosen when it is heavy, beacue weights are far back and need to be unracked. I gotta try this more often and put in tests

damm this forum has helped me!!

The liftoff helps keep you tight from top to bottom. When I lifted by myself with max effort efforts. It hard to stay tight. I either broke tightness unracking the bar scaps becoming loose. Or feet shifting try to unrack. Or both the handoff is key. And if get some that knows you and can feel when to let go of the bar even better.

Now there's no counting between spotter and I before the liftoff.

Once I'm setup and tight and take a deep breath I nod my head and he knows it's time to go. Then once the bar is stack over my shoulders. I let the bar settle. Take another deep breath and begin.

 

[franchise24]

Hopefully the neuromuscular therapy will be of help and yes it's a bad idea to lift right after that session. I went to a chiro for an appt and afterwards went to gym, yes it was bad move as I was sore and the lifting only amplified the discomfort. But yes the day after I had felt much better and the lifting was much improved so wait till the next day after your therapy to lift.

Lesson learned man. My body has adapted to working out after a minor chiro session. But getting chiro and neuromuscular therapy same day. That's will be my off/active recovery day.

I just felt obligated to the team to make my session up.

Won't happen again though that's for sure. Thanks for the advice.

 

[MindlessWork]

Lesson learned man. My body has adapted to working out after a minor chiro session. But getting chiro and neuromuscular therapy same day. That's will be my off/active recovery day.

I just felt obligated to the team to make my session up.

Won't happen again though that's for sure. Thanks for the advice.

Good idea to gauge how you feel afterwards, so you can make adjustments to training without having to forgo it completely for that day.

 

[franchise24]

09/23/2017

I felt much better today.

Hips starting to open up. But being that I've been squatting a certain for a long time. I have to retrain my body to how I'm being coached. If we are doing 5 reps it's one rep at a time. So do one rep ascend reset get tight and repeat.

Hips break first and you you begin your squat. As you break your hips and ascend spread the floor with your knees. I've been just dropping down into my squat.

So I have to get used to ascended a little slower instead of dive bombing. Stay tight all the way through.

Now he is something that just fucked me and threw me for loop.

So we are taught to squeeze glutes and to push hips forward to unrack for the squat.

So when we hit the hole controlled manner everything tight. As we ascend we are be to begin squeezing our glutes. It makes the squat look harder but it is actually going up in a controlled manner and everything is tight from top to bottom.

With that being said coach was is out of town doing a seminar this weekend. I will speak with him about the meet in December and if I should compete or scratch it and continue to work on my squat technique. The meet in December is IPA. And the team isn't competing.

The big team meet will be in March in Tampa USPA. So that gives me a lot of time to get my squat right and to stay on TRT and recover.

Today's workout:

Squat: No belt or sleeves
407 5x5 hit depth on all of these. My warm-ups was missed depth a few times.

Leg Pres/Leg Extensions superset: 5 45's on each side and the leg press machine has a big blue band rigged to it.
3x10/3x10

Good Mornings:
145 3x10

 

[franchise24]

I'm learning so many new things I forget to add them to the log.

Good mornings are great for building the lower carry over to squat and for some deadlift.

Purpose of the good morning:

Build lower back, glutes hamstrings. As you near lockout you should forcefully be squeezing glutes.

Also good mornings are suppose to reinforce the part of the squat when ascending out of the whole to push your upper back into the bar.

 

[franchise24]

09/26/2017

Coach suggested I cut my warm-ups in half, including all my pre-hab stuff. So from a red band to orange band less reps.

Bench:
155 1x5
231 1x3
297 1x3
308 1x2
319 1x2
330 5x4
308 3x5
231 1x8

Pin Press 6 inches from chest:
308 3x3

Strict OHP:
135 4x8

The next accessory lifts were a tri-set:
Supinated EZ Bar Pushdowns: 3x15
Rope Pushdowns 3x15
Pronated EZ Bar Pushdowns 3x15

Recovery/Prehab
Banded Pull Aparts: 3x25
Internal/External Rotations 3x15

Spoke with coach. We will be scratching the December meet, for the following reasons:
Squat technique needs more work
It's IPA not USPA
No one from the team will be competing in that meet.
The big meet for the team will be March in Tampa.

That gives me plenty of time to hone in on my form and technique. And my gives me the opportunity to let my body recover.

 

[RodgerThat]

09/26/2017

Coach suggested I cut my warm-ups in half, including all my pre-hab stuff. So from a red band to orange band less reps.

Bench:
155 1x5
231 1x3
297 1x3
308 1x2
319 1x2
330 5x4
308 3x5
231 1x8

Pin Press 6 inches from chest:
308 3x3

Strict OHP:
135 4x8

The next accessory lifts were a tri-set:
Supinated EZ Bar Pushdowns: 3x15
Rope Pushdowns 3x15
Pronated EZ Bar Pushdowns 3x15

Recovery/Prehab
Banded Pull Aparts: 3x25
Internal/External Rotations 3x15

Spoke with coach. We will be scratching the December meet, for the following reasons:
Squat technique needs more work
It's IPA not USPA
No one from the team will be competing in that meet.
The big meet for the team will be March in Tampa.

That gives me plenty of time to hone in on my form and technique. And my gives me the opportunity to let my body recover.

Not that it's the most fun to not compete but I think that's he right move your body gets a rest and you'll come in with some seriously impressive numbers after being under goggins wing that long building instead of testing strength

 

[franchise24]

Not that it's the most fun to not compete but I think that's he right move your body gets a rest and you'll come in with some seriously impressive numbers after being under goggins wing that long building instead of testing strength

I took your advice and that was my reason with speaking with him and scratching that meet. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Wunderpus]

To those following along, or those who are new to this thread, it should be noted that @franchise24 is a rep for IA Super Pharma. He lied to us when he made a new handle, and only admitted this when he was caught. Everything he posts, as far as results, should be considered an advertisement for IA Super Pharma, and in my eyes, has zero credibility. This is, whether or not he will admit it, an advertisement for IA Super Pharma.

It's far too coincidental that he allegedly is being trained by some "world class" coach, right around the same time he took on the position of a lying gear whore. Do not trust a word that is said by this former member, as once a liar, always a liar. You'd be foolish to ever consider using this lab, too.

Please, I ask of you all, do NOT support Franchise or IA Super Pharma, as we would be encouraging lying to our community for profit. This should not, frankly cannot, be pushed under the rug. He will attempt to lie, cheat or steal again for profit.

Franchise believes he is exempt from following our established community guidelines, especially the one where reps do not post outside of their home/source threads. It is our job as a community to look after each other, and protect one another from being scammed. Do you believe this rep or source will have your best interest in mind, especially if shit hits the fan? I do not.

 

[franchise24]

To those following along, or those who are new to this thread, it should be noted that @franchise24 is a rep for IA Super Pharma. He lied to us when he made a new handle, and only admitted this when he was caught. Everything he posts, as far as results, should be considered an advertisement for IA Super Pharma, and in my eyes, has zero credibility. This is, whether or not he will admit it, an advertisement for IA Super Pharma.

It's far too coincidental that he allegedly is being trained by some "world class" coach, right around the same time he took on the position of a lying gear whore. Do not trust a word that is said by this former member, as once a liar, always a liar. You'd be foolish to ever consider using this lab, too.

Please, I ask of you all, do NOT support Franchise or IA Super Pharma, as we would be encouraging lying to our community for profit. This should not, frankly cannot, be pushed under the rug. He will attempt to lie, cheat or steal again for profit.

Franchise believes he is exempt from following our established community guidelines, especially the one where reps do not post outside of their home/source threads. It is our job as a community to look after each other, and protect one another from being scammed. Do you believe this rep or source will have your best interest in mind, especially if shit hits the fan? I do not.

Lol. You as a vet have gone pretty low and acting beyond childish. Lol is all I can say.

 

[Wunderpus]

Lol. You as a vet have gone pretty low and acting beyond childish. Lol is all I can say.

And it's a good try at baiting me to defend the lab a rep for out of my source thread

"The lab I (I assume you meant "I" here) rep for"

We get it. You'll never see why you're at fault, as you're foolish and following the money. Funnier yet, you claim you "don't need the money". So, you do it just for lack of morality...? At least be honest and say you're short on cash and this will help you out. Only a fool would take on the risk of repping an AAS lab for a hobby! Fucking dip shit.

 

[franchise24]

Wrong button

 

[Wunderpus]

Lol. I had this long big explanation for you. But you're nobody to me. And you don't deserve an explanation.

Take care @wunderwus my bad spell check did that @Wunderpus

Post some pics of your physique, I'd love to see what IA Super Pharm has built.