My Journal Main Page
TRAINING PROGRESS FOR JANUARY 2003
Hey guys, welcome to a new year of training. I'm glad to be back from a two week
layoff on the holidays. January was a very productive month. A lot of new things
were added to my system during this month. We added a speed bench day which will
help with the explosive strength and we also added a new exercise called board
presses which helps every area on the bench. Plus I added a speed squat day to
help with my squatting problems. We me and my partner Jon came back from our
break, we were both pretty sick.
He had gotten the flu from his wife and I had
gotten my cold from working inventory at work. So we trained every day but
Tuesday because we needed to rest. With our workout, we started to alternate
exercises every two weeks and at the same time getting stronger on them. Also,
during this month, I hit my peak on the bench without a shirt with 355. When I
did 355 for 4 sets of 3 with a 30 second rest between sets, I hit my limit on
these. I thought that this was damn good without a shirt which meant that my
max had to be higher than 405.
Jon hits 275 for 4 sets of 3 at the same time.
Also at that time, my old shoulder injury came back so I was glad for the speed
days where I don't have to go as heavy. On speed day, I did 235 for 8 sets of 3
reps and Jon did 210 for 8 sets of 3 reps. Since we are currently awaiting our
bands, we added weight on these slowly, but at the same time we wanted to move that
bar as fast as we can. I think I'll be doing this up to my meet come this March.
Also, we started doing board presses and we slowly added a board every workout(
there was a total of 4 boards). Just in case you guys don't know what board presses
are, they're the bench press with boards on your chest in the simplest terms.
We started with 2 boards doing 6 sets of 3 and then we eventually got up to 4
boards currently doing a three-rep max on them.
We quickly realized our weaknesses.
Mine was at the bottom while Jon's was at the top of the movement. This meant
more lockouts for Jon and more half-rep death sets for me. Also during this month,
Jon did 315 for 2 singles and did 335 for 4 singles which shows his lockouts are
coming along. I also realized that you have to do lockout with a semi-close-grip/
normal grip. My bench squats, I started with 315 for 10 sets of 2 and eventually
worked up to 365 for 4 sets of 2 during my 10 sets. I can really feel these working
me and I feel that doing 500 is possible if not more.
We also took up a challenge
from a buddy of mine, Jon Darty. Me and Jon D. are startin a powerlifting team
he's been motivating me this last month. Jon is a really strong guy and did
120s on DB bench press for 23 reps!!! All I can say is DAMN!! So me and Jon H.
decided to do the same on DB bench press. We didn't start doing these until the
end of January and on the fly I did 100s for 3 sets of 15 reps and Jon H. did
80s for 3 sets of 15 reps.
Guys at my gym are amazed at how many time we
did these weights and since I broke the 150s at my gym, doing high-rep DB
bench presses isn't a bad idea. We also started doing Rack Shoulder presses which
work a great deal on your shoulders. I started with 225 for 8 sets of 3 reps and
Jon did 185 for the same. These also help your bench press as well and helps
with strengthening your lockout. We also started back doing grip work on Monday
so I can help to get some thick hands. We're going to get some Captains of
Crush Grippers. Jon H. was able to close the #2 which was good so were going
to get the #2 and the #3 to start with. Jon D. going to bring some grippers
with him when we get together next month.
On the Close-Grip bench press, I
did 345 for a single and Jon does 315 for a single. We do this exercise once
a month to help with building strength. We also do Rack Deadlifts once a month
and I did 705 for 3 reps and Jon did 335 for 3 reps. Not bad for the first month!!
I'm real confident about doing 600+ from the floor. We've also been doing
Good Mornings as well. Now, that's about all for January as far as our strength
is concerned. Jon's arms are at 18.25" inches, which made me proud. I measured
my arms as well and they are at 20.25" inches which meant that I've reached my
goal. Flexed they are 22.25"!!
My system is continuing to evolve as I add even
more training methods to it. I'm currently working on "Keys to Gaining Size and
Strength 2" which is only available thru MXOnline. It will go over what I've
have been doing the last year or so. I'm also doing a full meet come this
March here in Montgomery, Alabama. I plan on shooting for a 500 squat, 430 bench,
and a 615 deadlift which should place me in national competition later this year.
I also plan on having my team together by then as well. So if you are in or around
Montgomery, Birmingham, or Tuscaloosa, visit my personal site:
http://zap.to/naturalfreak
for more infomation. Well, I hope everyone's training is going well and I have
received a lot of emails about the challenge I issued to everyone on trying my
training system and it still stands as people have taken up the challenge and are
experiencing the results themselves. So don't get left out!! Well, like I said,
glad to be back and I look foward to telling you about my training in february as
I prepare for my first full meet in two years. Take care and stay big!!!
Curtis D.
STRENGTH & HONOR
http://zap.to/naturalfreak
hybridstrength@yahoo.com
http://www.angelfire.com/al3/optimummuscle/system.html
hybridstrength@yahoo.com
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