Category: Lifting

“My First Successful Sig Klein Challenge”

Setting :
Date/Time/Location
4/18/22 – 1020pm – Hotel Gym w/A Pair Of 75s

Upon arriving at the hotel (7pm ish) I did two sets about 20 minutes apart, 9 reps which had some left in the tank (my phone and therefore camera wasn’t on me – I decided not to hit 12+ here, reps were left in the tank), and 7 reps which was fairly hard, it felt due to slick grip.

With some lobby coffee in hand I told my uncle if I hit 12 reps going back to do so on camera late night ;

1. that I’d shoot off a text to one gym chick or another (that I hadn’t seen in around a year, nor hadn’t deleted the number lol – maybe this counts as motivation by girl)

2. I’d have video worthy of uploading

…..

1020pm – “Three Hours Later” (say in SpongeBob announcer voice) :

Yeah, hang cleans.
Outside the legs even – because, well, I can.

…..

6 months without a gym membership, The Cold Air Barbell Club (yard barbell – truly has) carried over.

A week or so back I was getting a bit of reps c&p, floor to overhead each rep, w/185lbs.

That told me I’d gotten better at all encompassing floor to overhead reps.

I’ve long likened a 185lb barbell press to similar in strength to pressing a pair of 75lb dumbbells.

The Cold Air Barbell Club – I’d actually lifted there earlier, 4pm or so, before the drive to the hotel.

Upon completion of the set I spoke briefly with the fit (5’10” 160lb) latino off camera to my left.

(The next night the same dude gave me a thumbs up, minutes later I ended up basically maxing the cable machine on one arm shoulder presses (maxed the stack left arm, half rep right arm- in a way it seems that I’m supposed to be ambidextrous))

You can barely hear the music he had running, which he turned off upon my entering, to which I told him it was fine to keep on – I made no comment about my not being the gym police hehehe, it simply doesn’t bother me for people to have something playing out loud at the gym – he was thankful, we both were polite to each other – I make gym floors wherever I go.

I MAKE GYM FLOORS WHEREVER I GO

I think he was bugging out how I walked in, grabbed the 75s, did my thing (one set), spoke a few sentences while gassed (out of breath – wrestler slang that few seem to know), then left.

In and out, in about two minutes.

I was quietly amped, committed to the set’s completion on camera as I left the room and walked to the gym my phone in pocket.

I told the guy in there of the Sig Klein challenge, how this set (and video) had been years in the making – I laughed and shared how it came after six months no gym.

He looked mind boggled at that.

Back to the room, my uncle asked “12? Did you get 12?”. He was impressed, I showed him the video.

(Then again walking in the woods the next day :)- )

The 9 reps upon arrival was a PR.
It could’ve been completion of the challenge.

The 12 reps on camera is a PR, and is FINALLY having a Sig Klein challenge success on camera.

The Cold Air Barbell Club hours earlier in the day had probably primed me.

The dumbbell c&p made easier by having been primed with barbell presses, jerks, cheat curls, and deadlifts.

If it’s worth doing it’s worth doing no warmup.
That’s honest ability.

An hour prior I had eaten an entire large pizza, a few meats with pineapple and onion.

The lobby coffee adulterated with swiss miss powder and flavored creamer at 715 ish plus that 915pm ish pizza were what I ate on the day.

The hotel room ac is set low.

I’m laying on a towel having taken a nice contrast shower.

Those 12 reps, completing the Sig Klein challenge have me on cloud 9.

CLOUD 9 !!!

I texted this off to a couple of my old training partners.

1145pm – another 50 pushups, completing 300 pushups on the day.

Rare that I do under 200 lately.

I do quite well on infrequent/whenever barbell lifts outside in any weather, alongside a daily pushup habit.

It’s not difficult to be strong & jacked – do what you can with what you have ever you are.

Commitment.

Persistence & Tenacity

My frequency of lifting at the Cold Air Barbell Club keeps going up and up.

Lifting a barbell in the fresh air, before work adds to my day – it makes me a better person, it makes me feel better with/in/within the world.

Today I noted that I lifted, but didn’t log the exacts.

I just got good effort in, and know as time progresses so shall the weight on the bar.

I’m not rushing it.

For the first time ever I’m viewing the weights through the lense that I’ve always viewed calisthenics – a journey where you put in effort, don’t consider numbers much, and progress as a guarantee since effort is put in consistently.

The lifts make me feel good – as said above the primary concern is not a number’s chase.

I’ve given myself permission to milk light bar weights for all their worth.

I don’t NEED to snatch heavier than my 20 rep overhead squat.

I don’t NEED to clean heavier than my 10 rep military press.

When I hit those overhead portion rep ranges I’ll obviously have enough pulling base to add 5 or 10lbs bar weight to the pull and progress the overhead reps portion to progression standard again.

An easy strength type progression.

Between sets of overhead squats and presses I was visualizing myself making a living training others.

This afternoon I could see it!
– like so many see it for me.

The obstacles were known by me to be surmountable!

↑ that’s why I was lifting.

Because it put(s) my mind in alignment with the universe.

After work I swung my tree branch “maces” and did some more pushups for even higher frequency.

Working in a kitchen I’m on my feet the entire shift – this is calorie burn, and all my mini PT and lift sessions throughout the day keep me building muscle.

It’s a great combination.

In a Dan John article the power snatch into overhead squat is referred to as “the exercise”.

In another Dan John article it is stated that you could do naught but the clean and press and be awesome.

The mythical strength blog recently spoke of floor to overhead as all you’ll ever need.

Bill Starr has an article about “no form points in weightlifting”, a paen to lifting weights, becoming stronger, and not considering form past function ie good enough.

That article is the permission you need to use “ugly” disadvantageous form lifting with metal plates outdoors in the winter.

I gave myself permission to thrive with it. I’m doing so! So. Can. You.

I’ll press off of what I call an “ugly ass muscle clean”, tending to be in straight/stiff leg, and not doing multiple pulls, but one pulling the bar into the catch.

Some would see this as limiting, however – remember I’m not chasing numbers, but focusing on the effort and the journey.

There are anecdotes of higher level lifters doing such things in training, so why not me?

“Why not me?” – an outlook that immediately raises your potential, while granting a freedom in methodology.

My other main movement is a power snatch, mostly with normal power form – I don’t purposefully ugly it up generally as I tend to do with cleans, into reps on the overhead squat.

Sometimes though I do still purposefully ugly up the snatch like I do the clean.

So to you, ye who struggle with programming, ye who trys to make excuses, ye who ….. Buy ye a 300lb weight set, put it outside, and lift it overhead any which a ways year round for many reps.

Why not be the one person to overhead squat bw x 15+ off of a power snatch?

Why not slpc & press 300+?

and enjoy the journey.

Persistence & Tenacity

My buddy was going for a 700lb deadlift tonight. I had the today, and tomorrow off from work, so I wrangled up the money for a day pass, and joined him for the session.

The first thing I did on the gym floor was an off camera really clean 70lb bottoms up press.

He was pulling plate by plate, so I singled from 135-495, mixed grip on the 405 and 495 singles.

This was my 1st 495 pull in 3+ years. I last did 495+ in 2017 or maybe 2018.

Maybe ten minutes after the first bottoms up press and deadlifting I took a few tries to get something okay for the camera, not recalling if I had a 70lb bottoms up press on camera or not from years ago.

And…

I did.

Somewhere around this time I got absolutely nowhere with a 340lb and then a 320lb atlas stone.

Having saw me press the 70lber, my friend suggested I go both hands, so I ended up with video (not the best set) with the 53lber on the weak side.

You can hear my friend doubling? what I think was 600 something in the background. Boom around the :28 mark.

It was no dice managing to get a pair of 53s simultaneously bottoms up.

At least for more than a fraction of second anyway.

I tried.
Double bell bottoms up pressing is far more challenging than one handed.

Fun day, guest passing at the little hole in the wall place.

While my buddy zoned out amping up for a second attempt at 700, I no warm up, no spot, and on a weird bench (yet designed for and liked by powerlifters) hit a 10×275 bench…

Lifetime PR!
+ that 50% set 5×275 a minute later both what I consider wide gripped, my pinkies on the ring.

With the rolling thunder I pulled 135 each hand.

Having short term access to toys I put a 135lb?/150lb? (my buddy and the board stating equipment weights disagree) block overhead a few times for a laugh.

A laugh, very fun, the type of thing to leave outside year round to mess around with.

I did a few good form 10 rep sets of pullups.

I went back to the bench taking
315 as a warmup after spotting a dude at something like 170lbs bar weight

Then I took a lift off for a 345 bench that kinda counts, the spotter (the guy I’d just spotted) may have touched the bar when I slowed down at a high ¾ to lockout sticking point, and then I hit the j hook on the right side before locking out.

Within a couple minutes I took 345 for another spin, wanting to make it solidly, to solidify a lifetime 1 rep PR.

I took the lift off, and made sure I didn’t get out of line and hit the j hooks this time.

I too clarified to this spotter (another guy this time) not to touch it unless I told him to.

He actually had acted hesitant to spot 345, thinking it heavy, and I assured him it would be fine, then had him laughing at my “when a brazilian girl spots you at the SoCal bodybuilding gym” story.

I did pushups there, kicked into a couple handstands, and goofed around trying to, and kinda succeeding at bottoms up pressing a small keg with some sand in it.

That was humorous. I carried the keg around bottoms up in my right hand awhile, more than a minute, trash talking my buddy all the while.

I ended with a handful of axle deadlifts with a wicked thick, probably 3″ bar.

I hit what I think was 205 on it, unless it was 245. I was unclear as to which axle supposedly weighed what.

When I was mostly waiting for my buddy to finish his assistance work I was goofing around flexing, flexing at him (a few different bicep poses, the come at me bro victory pose variation, and a front double bi in kung fu leg raised position), flexing behind him making it look like he had extra arms, the best being flexing a front double bi in stork/kung fu/tae kwon leap pose.

I even mimicked his curling.

I was having a blast lifting barbells, playing with the toys, and goofing off.

Maybe I’ll end up joining the gym, on a regimen of once or twice weekly lifting as the guideline.

Like every program that too works.

Today I was wicked strong.
Why? Cause I’m the Man.

I was having a blast, and testing out top end strength after doing what really had been lots of reps lately.

Why so serious?
You can treat the gym as play, and make great gains.

And as we drove off I joked “have you ever seen me have post workout protein”, as I ate a chocolate chip cookie dough met-rx bar and drank a 24oz thermos full of milk.

Persistence & Tenacity

Yesterday I smith machine squatted from the top.

This was the first time I’d done so in, well it’s probably nearing two years.

However, roughly every other day for the past 3-5 weeks I’ve done bottom position squats in the smith machine.

Whether in a rack, or using a smith machine – bottom position squats work.

That challenge of feeling 10-20% heavier, as it’s without the stretch reflex, it ends up building your squat quite well.

It’s brute force, and when you actually get to have the negative and it’s following stretch reflex…it feels like cheating.

I started doing the bottom position squats as I know it’s me, I’m at pf, and this is a way to make it more challenging.

Tending towards low reps, in the best spirit of the thing you pause on the pins at the bottom for a few counts each rep when not doing singles.

You don’t have to do this however, I’ve repped out before with just the first few reps paused like that.

It needn’t be low reps either, one could do progressive range of motion with higher reps to really diesel yourself up.

Whatever you do, starting squats from the bottom at least on an occasional but regular rotation in is going to move your strength up.

Persistence & Tenacity

You have access to an empty barbell?

Okay, good.

I want you try something.
You’ll learn the value of 50 rep sets.

Grab the bar, now with reasonably good form press it overhead for 50 reps.

Try not to pause.
On the first attempt in a long while, I paused twice, at 30 and 40 reps in.

Try not to pause. Getting the high rep count in one go is a form of progress when doing this.

Okay, you’ve done your 50, or more, or less.

35 is my minimal number, but this is your first time, and I readily admit to being strength-endurance skewed.

Sometimes I like to amrap across one “set” with two pauses.

Presses done drop the bar to waist height.

Don’t set it down.

Shrug x 50.
This’ll fly as compared to the presses.

Shouldn’t need a pause, though I may have shifted the bar from both into one hand to swat a mosquito or two.

I am lifting outside.

Eventually you add more movements, it’s my strange complex.

50 x press
50 x shrug
↑ the base

Sometimes 50 x overhead squat to start or end, and maybe a curl reverse curl, or gasp a btn press.

It’s a pretty simple program :

50 x press, 50 x shrug, as a complex with or without 50 x overhead squat as part of that complex, otherwise it separately as a second lift.

Though you can just do the press or press & shrug to make nasty shoulder girdle development.

Lifting is an individual endeavour.
Do it your way.

I tell you this :

You get to 50×185 on this, really the press and the overhead squat, and you will be the strongest man you ever come across.

Honesty the high rep press, wicked light, is like pushups – it punches far above it’s weight in benefits.

As do high rep overhead squats.

With high reps you are always stronger than the weight on the bar reflects.

This puts on both size and strength, while having pushed high reps makes low reps comically easy from a mental perspective.

Most stop sets too early, and never experience the power of true high reps.

Persistence & Tenacity

Weighted chins…immediately into dropset.

18 months ago on a good day I would superset machine curls with pullups, the best set being 9, I believe it was nuetral grip, pullups.

Now I’m getting weighted chins at bw+45 for a few immediately into 10+ chins unweighted.

I’m stronger.

Imagine 8+ reps at bw+90 or better, and repping past 20 unweighted.

What you visualize you will materialize.

The key to becoming a god at the gym/physically is to put in the time.

Persistence & Tenacity

Since being a member of ye olde commercial gym hell, the one where soon after my 22nd birthday I got kicked out of for deadlifting courteously (no joke) – I have had a running joke referencing my use of what I have long christened “poor man’s chalk”.

Not straps, and unlike actual chalk able to be found on most any commercial gym floor – I’ve long, as a running joke, refered to the paper towels used to dry my hands before grabbing the bar as “poor man’s chalk”.

Every commercial gym has some, even planet fitness.

“Hold on, I need to go get some poor man’s chalk.”

“Bro, have some poor man’s chalk.”

The looks can be golden, eventually they catch on to the slang.

Persistence & Tenacity

6/13/21 ~855/900-920pm

Right now my ribcage is cramping up. I walked into the gym about three hours ago, training with a buddy for awhile (two actually), then did my own stuff, the daily PT for awhile longer.

I’d done two sets of chins early in the session, I kept upping the number of mantra pushup sets.

At ten I decided to go to twenty, and was supersetting them with sets of 10 chins.

The rest being the long walk from one spot to the other, the pullup bar, and pushups in my burpees spot being on opposite sides of the gym floor.

I was applying “poor man’s chalk” (what’s available at commercial gyms) as necessary.

I don’t know whether I started with chins or pushups, so I did a set of chins to end making it definite that I’d done 10×10 in twenty to twenty five minutes with the superset.

The pushups my mantra count of around 25, the final set to 35. The final chin up set to 11.

The self talk from the middle sets to the end was amazing, strong, I was GUARANTEED to make it.

I KNEW. I STATED.

Extra credit reps on both, and this was the finisher at the end of the session.

10×10 pullups in 10:00 or 20:00 was something I set as a lifetime goal starting to train at fourteen years old.

At 27 I just roughly did it.

It’s cool to see these things happening, coming together.

Keep training. Always keep training.

Now to get the time down, and to get it as pullups in place of chins.

Persistence & Tenacity

There’s plenty of historical precedence showing that starvation and hard labor combined lead to leanness then an explosion of muscular growth once sufficient calories become present.

You can train and diet so super scientifically, or you can throw so much at yourself that your body has no choice but to become awesome.

At present I’m working, barely eating, and doing a good deal of volume in the evening.

I just throw more and more pushups at myself, mantra sets, and stacking up more and more ten pump burpees til the cows come home.

Sets are always 10+ reps, I’m doing 250-600 pushups every night.

Lean is guaranteed.

Between low calories and the daily workouts I’m seeing progress, my upper body more visibly muscular, and all the chins are putting on lat size.

However I don’t view this, what I do, as hard. I train cause I love it.

It’s natural to make more progress and become more invested in doing things right as you continue.

Persistence & Tenacity

If you’re going to pull in the smith machine pull from knee height.

Treat it as a rack pull, not a deadlift.

I’d also suggest using snatch grip, because snatch grip is better.

Always. Better.

Use the movement to bodybuild, don’t try to be a powerlifter here.

No one cares the #p in a smith machine.

It’s a smith machine.

I am set on making planet fitness work for me, it’s my personal challenge.

I love the fact so many view it as a limited place.

I love the fact most of the staff does, lifting instead at other gyms.

Love that!

I feed off of such bullshit, I’m the king of improv, of making pf work.

The “deadlifting” advice above suddenly makes it so that heavy pull is on the menu at pf.

I’ve benefitted, and I’ve been thanked for it.

Persistence & Tenacity