Just finished Shreveport meet

[cmillett]

Just finished meet yesterday,I benched in the mens open 220's,I weighed in at 210,opened with 450 x 1,then 465x1 ,missed 485(just got tired) those lifts got me 3rd,my friend(who weighed in at 204) that went with me was also a 220,he opened 500 x miss,500 x 1,and missed a 510 that got him 2nd and best overall bencher,we both train for whole meets,so I think we did pretty good to be going up against benchers at a bench meet.This was my 2nd meet,I've never competed before this year,finally got the courage to go do it and now I'm HOOKED,if you've ever had the itch to do something like this,all I can say is you won;t regret it and you will probably surprise yourself.

[RJstrong]

Just finished meet yesterday,I benched in the mens open 220's,I weighed in at 210,opened with 450 x 1,then 465x1 ,missed 485(just got tired) those lifts got me 3rd,my friend(who weighed in at 204) that went with me was also a 220,he opened 500 x miss,500 x 1,and missed a 510 that got him 2nd and best overall bencher,we both train for hole meets,so I think we did pretty good to be going up against benchers at a bench meet.This was my 2nd meet,I've never competed before this year,finally got the courage to go do it and know I'm HOOKED,if you've ever had the itch to do something like this,all I can say is you won;t regret it and you will probably surprise yourself.

Good job! I know the feeling... I've been hooked since my 1st meet also.

[cmillett]

What class are you in RJ and what kind of numbers are you putting up ? just curious.

[RJstrong]

What class are you in RJ and what kind of numbers are you putting up ? just curious.

242... my last contest I hit 865/600/722 for a 2188 total. I'm competing in less than 3 weeks in Vegas at the Sr. Nationals and really hoping to break into the 2200+ range.

[cmillett]

242... my last contest I hit 865/600/722 for a 2188 total. I'm competing in less than 3 weeks in Vegas at the Sr. Nationals and really hoping to break into the 2200+ range.

great numbers bro,good luck w/2200+,what do you think about westside splits,or what I'm asking is whats your favorite program/split?

[Doc.Sust]

congrats on the meet. good pressing, what type of shirt do you where?single or double ply? IMO, west side id for the birds, works great for a shirted press, not very good for a raw strength. and as for legs,especialy the deadlift westside doesnt work at all for me. i lost 50lbs off of my deadlift using the conjugate method. it makes sense in any sport to train a movement that mimics the action closest to the one you use for your particular sport. in our case it would make sense to me deadlift to get deadlift gains instead of only doing good mornings and reverse hyperextensions. it makes as much sense as training your squat by only doing leg press and not really squating often. there are more sucessful lifters in the sport that dont use westside methods, ed coan, gary frank, brian siders,kirk kaworski,andy bolton, mendelson,mikesell,billcrawford,lattimer the list goes on and on. a few of these guys i have spoken to and alot of them think speed work is a total waste. now i dont agree 100% but i do agree it is silly to sacrifice 2 of your training in an entire wk solely to speed work and neglecting working on core strength and neglecting competition lifts like the deadlift.

[cmillett]

congrats on the meet. good pressing, what type of shirt do you where?single or double ply? IMO, west side id for the birds, works great for a shirted press, not very good for a raw strength. and as for legs,especialy the deadlift westside doesnt work at all for me. i lost 50lbs off of my deadlift using the conjugate method. it makes sense in any sport to train a movement that mimics the action closest to the one you use for your particular sport. in our case it would make sense to me deadlift to get deadlift gains instead of only doing good mornings and reverse hyperextensions. it makes as much sense as training your squat by only doing leg press and not really squating often. there are more sucessful lifters in the sport that dont use westside methods, ed coan, gary frank, brian siders,kirk kaworski,andy bolton, mendelson,mikesell,billcrawford,lattimer the list goes on and on. a few of these guys i have spoken to and alot of them think speed work is a total waste. now i dont agree 100% but i do agree it is silly to sacrifice 2 of your training in an entire wk solely to speed work and neglecting working on core strength and neglecting competition lifts like the deadlift.

I use a rage-x double(fits a little loose),When I said I train westside I didn't mean I follow it step by step,I like the splits (every 4th-5th day,ME then DE),Ikeep to the basics ,if I'm training deads,I'll train deads or low box squats,on ME days I'll start of with a ME (after warmup)then work on my weak spots say for example,ME bench say I felt weak in my shoulders,well after some lat work I'll pound my shoulders or tris what ever I need to work on,same goes for squat/dead days,DE days I'll work on form and put some blood on the muscle,Iagree with you 100% Doc Sust if you want a big squat,bench or dead train by doing them.

Tues. thurs. sat.
bench ME squat/deads ME bench DE

tues. thurs sat
squat/deads DE bench ME squat/deads ME

[RJstrong]

great numbers bro,good luck w/2200+,what do you think about westside splits,or what I'm asking is whats your favorite program/split?

I use some of the westside concepts at times for the squat and bench... rarely for the deadlift. I hardly ever work any type of speed work, and if I do it's usually because the body is telling me not to go heavy. My training split has been the same for a while now with some minor adjustments here and there. here is a quick look

Mon-Squat
Tues-off
Wed-off
Thur-Bench
Fri-Deadlift
Sat-Close grip/Arms

my accessory work comes and goes as needed and typically stops around 8 weeks out from a contest. Off-season I will incorporate more of a bodybuilding style work-out while doing much less volume on the 3 lifts. I do like to use bands and chains on everything and I normally train right up to that over-trained feeling before backing off. Oh, and once again good job on the contest...