Old-School Iron

April saw the new coming of the Metal Gym card.
Since this was the start of the next round on the training cycle, I was in for heavy weights again. Heavy enough that the exercises would be difficult if not impossible to perform at the basement. Heavy squats, for instance, are a tad more challenging without a squat rack…

The first wrokout at Metal was back, rear delts and abs. Everything went as planned, going through the motions, trying to find a heavy enough weight to play with. I did Wide-grip Pull-ups for 11 reps. Then I stepped onto the scales, and was genuinely surprised. Training at the basement had felt like nothing was happening, because of the minimal increases made in resistance, but here I had “proof”.
I now weighed in at 94kgs / 206,8lbs, so basically since I had weighed (in the beginning of January) something in the order of 90-91kgs (198-200lbs), it meant that indeed I was again growing at around one kilogram per month. Photos need to be taken and compared to those taken in January. Seems to work for me, though.
If anyone’s intrested in trying this method, or you have questions about it, either post a comment or e-mail me: mans@mansrinne.com

Anyway, the next workout was chest, side delt and traps.
Decided to see what had happened to my 115kgs / 253lbs bench max. After having completed two regular, heavy sets. To my own and Kris’ amazement, I had increased it to 120kgs / 264lbs!
Yes, that’s only a 5kg / 11lb increase, but take into consideration there was no heavy training going on for the last two months and you see the amazement… Not that I’m complaining.

The workout after that one was Legday.
For the heck of it, I decided to take on Kris’ challenge and see how much I could lift, raw. I had never maxed out on the squat before, so I thought it’d be intresting to see what would happen. Since I rep with around 100kgs / 220lbs, I thought I might get something around 130kgs / 286lbs. This would be without knee wraps and no belt, since that’s how I always squat. I also don’t use straps for back training, since I feel that if you’re going to lift something (functionality), you had better be able to hold on to it as well.
I surprised myself and Kris by hoisting the 130kgs easily. So, 10kgs /22 lbs more on the bar, same thing. And again. I was weirded out by this time. I had just lifted 150kgs / 330lbs, and the rep wasn’t even slow. I thought for sure I had 160 in the bag, but alas it was not to be.

In retrospect, 150kgs squat max for a first-timer isn’t shabby. Considering I train bodybuilding style, that is. However, I think it’s a sign of some kind of mental stability that I don’t think I’ll be a world-class squatter anytime soon. Probably never is more like it… I just think I’m becoming decently strong.

The next couple of weeks went by pretty much “uneventfully”, training heavy, in addition to working heavy. I’m considering adding my working hours to my training schedule, since work is usually defined by lifting and carrying whole-wooden furniture such as chairs, tables (try carrying a 240cm x 105cm Oak table with a 3″ tabletop and you’ll know what I mean), armoires… Especially the days when we get a shipment and the truck has to be unpacked. Or those days of horror when we get a full container of the stuff… 45 cubic meters, I think it is. That’s a whole lot of lifting…

Anyway, last time we were at the gym I decided to see how deadlifts feel. No, seriously, I’ve never really done deadlifts except the stiff-legged kind. So I went for sumo after reading about it in Kris’ copy of Judd Biasiotto’s book and having a good laugh. He (Judd) said that conventional style deadlifts were for people short on brains. Felt comfy, did 1 set with 60kgs / 132lbs and three with 80 kgs / 176lbs to get the feel for it. Next time, I think I’ll be in for some heavier stuff…

Up to speed again… Whew! Clips will be in short order I’m afraid, since I don’t think I’ll be clipping just as much here as in the basement gym… There at least, I’m a part owner. At Metal, I’m just a customer. A happy one.

Next workout scheduled for…well, whaddya know! Today!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 8:44 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.