Montreal Barbell The PR GYM

Dec 31 Shirted bench

Pre-Workout meal

Went to the dinner next door with Joffrey, Ross and Shawna for a good ol breakfast...

Raw warm-up

bar, 135 x 10

225 x 3

275 x 1

315 x 1

4 Board

375 x 1

Shirt on

405 x 2

not sure but i think i went straight to 495

495 x 1

525 x 1

565 x miss

565 x miss

455 x 2

Form is more solid and steady...energy was not good cause i was tired at my second attempt with 565. It was fun to train with Joffrey again...i miss him while he was gone. Joff will bench 600 soon!! Strong mofo! Chris is making huge progress.... he had his first 500 in a short time training with us and his technique is getting good, fast. Shawna was impressive with huge pr! The girls are rocking the house recently...

2 sets of tricep extention...20 reps each

Jan 02 Squat (at my commercial gym)

box squat

135 x 10

235 x 5

brief on

325 x 3

put reverse mini-bands on

415 x 3

505 x 3

595, work set. 4 set of 3 reps

415 x 2

Seated leg curl

4 set of 8 reps

Back raise

2 set 15 reps

Was at a party last night and i had 4 plates of food and later eat 14 chicken wings and onion ring. My appetite is back so my energy level is better. Today with lack of sleep...i felt pretty good. Like i told you last week, i expected my test level and energy to be back and it seem like i was right. I started to take omega 3 again and i take more than i was use to...i recover better and feel better. I think that omega 3 might be the best friend of the drug free lifter...good stuff. 

Was out of town for 2-3 days so i skipped the raw bench on tues... but that is not a bad thing cause it will give me more energy for friday's shirted bench. When i went back home on wednesday night i decided to go do my deadlift but lack of sleep and low energy level mix with soreness in the body did'nt gave me the will to deadlift so i put my brief on and did box squat with bands.

warm-up

135 + double mini-bands 5 reps

225 + bands 5 reps

brief on

315 + bands 2 reps

405 + bands 2 reps

365 + bands

7 sets of 2 reps

Wanted to do some light deadlift and some accessories but i was wasted and felt tired and sick...went home and took a hot bath. Felt better after that.

We are thursday and i had good sleep. Looking foward a good shirt bench training tommorow. Feeling better!

Today i wanted to work on depth.

145 x 8 ?

235 x 5

Brief on

325 x 3

415 x 2

505 x 2

Put suit on Strap down

595 x 2

595 x 2 Again, Strap up. Good depth

645 x 1 Good depth

685 x 1 Good depth

add knee wrap

750 x 1 Bad form...don't remember but i think i did'nt hit depth

735 x 2 Good depth on the last one

775 x 1 Good depth

Now i know that i can hit depth and it's not that hard... Actually, when i'm in the right spot it's easier to come up. My balance is still bad with the heavy weight...need to work on that. There's 4 week left of training before the January meet so Ross will tell me what to do in my training to get ready. I asked a drug test kit for the meet cause my goal is to take all the 220 amateur (tested) Canadian record. But more than that i just want to make PR meet number in all my lift...

I did one set of pause squat, raw, for 5 reps with 350.

Belt squat

3 sets of 5 with a couple plates

Bodyweight is between 212 and 215. Ran out of omega 3  two weeks ago so recovery is not good. My mind is strong but my energy level is down...i know my body so i am confident my testosterone will get better next week.

Did'nt had help for shirted bench at my comm. gym so i did slingshot instead.

Full bench raw

bar

135 x 12

225 x 5

275 x 1

315 x 1

Add slingshot for work set

375 x 3

375 x 3

395 x 2

375 x 3

There was someone doing bicep curl in the power rack...lol...so i did 4 board instead of the rack lock-out.

4 board raw

315 x 5

355 x 5

375 x 5

395 x 4

All of my raw bench felt heavy lately... but i don't train for raw and my shirted bench is doing fine so i don't really care about my raw numbers. I'm still feeling strong minded in my training and looking foward a good squat session on sunday at montreal barbell. My plan is to work on depth...and smash some weight!

Tuesday Raw bench

Decline bench

135 x 12

225 x 6

275 x 1

315 x 6

315 x 9

315 x 8

315 x 6

1 set of pause bench with 275...form was bad so i stop there.

Tricep rope push-down

1 sets of 40 reps

1 sets of 30 reps

Wednesday Deadlift

Tried the loose Inzer Hardcore suit. Did'nt had lots of hip support... brief did a better job last week.

sumo strap down

145 x 10

235 x 5

325 x 3

375 x 1

415 x 1

465 x 1

505 x 1

555 x 1

575 x 1

Felt like i needed to do some rep so i did :

415 x 3 sets of 8 reps

First time i rep with this kind of weights...that was good work.

Lat pull-down

4 sets 6-10 reps

Lat machine row

4 sets 10 reps

Seated leg-curl

4 sets 10 reps

Leg extention

1 sets 20 reps

Because i went to MBB last friday, today i trained at the commercial gym. Ross told me to do raw squat for set of 5 reps. It's been a long time since i did full squat raw and it will take a long time before i do them again!! It hurt the hip and it's just not fun...

Warm-up

bar and 135 for 12 reps

225 x 5

325 x 3

385 x 1

415 x 5 for 2 sets

added loose knee wrap to help to not mess my knee before a meet.

415 x 5 for 2 sets

Went to abductor-adductor

4 sets of 10-12 reps

did one round of ab solo...to see if my abs are still working. lol

In gear i trust!!

Oh Boy, what a night at Montreal Barbell!!

Started by getting a pre-workout cocktail...

3 x 8 mg ephedrine

2 Vinpocetine

2 scoop of NOZ pre-workout with 5 gram of creatine mix with an AMP energy drink

Some of the guy at the Gym was laughing at me saying that it will kill me so i asked Dr. Shawna opinion and she said...HEART ATTACK!! lmao. One thing that was sure is that it got me fired up!

Raw bench

bar, 135 x 10

225 x 4 or 5

275 x 1

Elbows was sore from tuesday raw bench so i asked Dr. Bench (Shawna) what should i do and she said go straight to shirt or do board to feel the weight.

4 board

315 x 3

365 x 1

Shirt on

405 x 3

455 x 2

510 x 1

545 x 0

545 x 0

Something was wrong with my form and Shawna told me that i was on my toe... i didn't wanted to stop with a failure so i decided to do what Ross told my a while ago... To go down in weight, get my technique right and go up.

So i tried to put my feet more away from me so i could heel down more and get some leg drive...and it worked.

495 x 2

545 x 1 !!!!

Was so happy...form felt great

Did a round of pin press with the boys to fry my tricep...went up to 4 or 4.5 plates and i was doneeeeee

It was an intense night at the gym...everybody tried hard and never gave up.

Just want to let you know that it's 1:45 in the morning and i'm still feeling my pre-workout supplement...but no heart attack!! ha ha

Was not sure about doing deadlift because my body was still sore from the meet...but my head said to go for it. Forgot my suit at home so went to brief only.

145 x 10

brief on

235 x 5

325 x 3

375 x 1

415 x 1

455 x 1

505 x 1

The weight felt good, so decided to go for 555...a weight that i don't do unless i'm with the suit.

555 x 1

It felt like i had more in the tank...good feeling.

I was thinking a lot about the technique and the setup, more than to explode the weight of the floor... it kind of work out. I did'nt had a tight suit or some strap to pull me foward and i guess that the setup was more easy than with the suit. When i was down, i grab the bar with straight leg and sit down to a squat position and put my back as straight and solid as possible and then...was thinking more about keeping my back straight and pushing with leg instead of my speed speed explosive thinking. Think im on the right path...

Seated leg curl

4 sets 10 reps

Lat pulldown

4 sets 6 to 10 reps

Left the gym with a smile

UPA MEET write-up... i bomb on the squat!

Seriously, shawna describe very well what happen to me in her log. I don't feel like writting up what went wrong on my meet cause there more than one...first by being sick all week and a 5 pound lost. But let's just say that i learn a lot. I mean, powerlifting is a learning experience and you have to fail sometimes to understand what's wrong and then work on those weak point and get ready to the next battle. One of the things that i learn is that in meet, because of the crowd and excitement, i lose my focus... Need to work on feet position to feel more balance in the squat... need to work on throwing back the weight on the bench and not push straight up... and some adjustment on my deadlift gear to be able to lock-out the heavy weight. Ok, for someone who did'nt wanted to share my problem, i have tell a lot! ha ha. Just want to thank Ross and Shawna for all the support. Congrats Cheryl for such an inspiring performance and being supportive as well. Lifting in a meet as a team is the best experience you can have... I owe them a lot and i wish they will get ready for a meet in wich i will be able to give back! Was proud of being part of the metal militia family...lifter from all chapter felt like brother to me. There's some good training left before the battle of Montreal and i promise myself i will be ready for this one. No excuses, just results.

Started with some raw bench for 6 reps...full rom.

bar

145 x 6

225 x 6

275 x 6

Pec injury still bother with raw bench and it seem it's better doing decline then when im warm enough i can do my pause bench.

Switch to decline bench

315 x 6

315 x 6

315 x 6

335 x 6

335 x 6

Full rom pause bench (5,4,3,2,1 system)

275 x 2 sets

Tricep accessories

Pull-down

4 sets of 10-10-8-7 reps with heavy weights

My desire to smash some weight is getting back slowly...need to get that eye of the tiger!

What a night at Montreal Barbell...!!

Raw bench warm-up

135 x 10

225 x 5

275 x 3 or 4

315 x 1

Shirt on

405 x 2

455 x 1

475 x 1

500 x 1

Raw strenght was good...think i could have bench 365 raw but i didn't needed too. All shirted bench felt really good. Didn't felt much pain from the injury. 475 felt light... 500 felt good too. Was expecting some trouble getting 5 again but it felt so good in my hand. I am happy cause i know that i will be able to lift 500+ at the meet next week. It was the first time i had an injury in 12 years of lifting weight and i'm glad it's in the past now... it was quick recovery and i have to thank my teammate cause they never let me down. I never quit on myself too...

It was a great night, new guy Chris was AMAZING! He tried the shirt for the first time and had good form. Ross did a great job showing him the technique. Chris is a great example of mental toughness. He did many many sets and reps trying to touch and get that 405 bench he did. He never gave up and was not complaining at all. He wanted to try again when most of the people would have probably stop and call it a night. For me, Chris showed me that he is a metal militia warrior!! He inspired me a lot.

Cheryl did 260 getting her opener ready for the pro-am... i'm 100% sure that she will do great at the meet cause she's determined and strong minded. It will be a pleasure to lift by her side again at the pro-am!

BIG Leo Tilli was a true example of hard work and dedication... he his a wonderful teammate  and training with him is always a good experience. Leo, you are a BEAST!

Ross, training at your gym and wearing your color is a privilege and i can't thank you enough for what you are doing... i feel bless that i met you and your family.

I am getting a little emotional here but people have to know that powerlifting is a big part of my life. Lifting heavy weight and pushing my mind and my body to the limit may sound stupid and useless but it make me a better person in every aspect of my life. I know i don't make money out of it (actually it cost a lot!) and will never go to the olympic...people always wonder why i do this, they just don't understand and i don't expect them to. In powerlifting you have to go over your fear, go beyond your limits... nothing come easy in this sport. When you achieve something that you tought was impossible...you might look at the little problem in your life with a different perspective. I drive two hours to train with the best at montreal barbell and yes, it's hard for my girlfriend to be alone with the kids and sometime i feel real bad about it...but powerlifting make me a better person, a better friends, husband and...dad.

I want to end  by telling you about why i do this.........

 What kind of dad would i be if later  i'm telling my children's to live their dream if i did not live mine?