Archives for general (page 9)

This is already the second time I get to congratulate a reader for breaking a world record! Last Sunday Marie Rochat broke the WABDL world record in the deadlift with a 353.6 lbs/160 kg deadlift in the Teen women 16-19 148 lbs/67 kg class. She thus deservingly won the World Championship in her class with a result that pound for pound was the best of all the Teen deadlifts. And most incredible of all, it was done unequipped! What can I say, except that her blog Barz-a-Bending still reads like good fiction, only it’s not. Amazing.

The Åland Islands, a Swedish speaking island province of Finland, is fairly well-known in the country for the strong lifters coming out of their powerlifting club Ålands Kraftsportklubb (ÅKK). This reputation is well-deserved as the club has won medals in competitions ranging from National Championships to World Championships and was awarded the “Finnish powerlifting club of the year” award in 2003. Two days ago, the club posted a bench press challenge that, translated loosely from Swedish, reads as follows:

The bench press can be seen as a decent universal indicator of upper body strength. As we all know, there is more than one way to better one’s chances at benching big weights including arching, lifting the buttocks off the bench during the lift or by forcing oneself into a tight bench shirt. A more fair indicator of actual strength could be the bench press with feet in the air. This page was born to collect your numbers in this lift. It would be very interesting to see how all you proficient benchers out there perform on this lift!

[…] The rules are simple: The feet must remain in the air for the complete duration of the lift, the bar must go down and up. We don’t care about pausing on the chest and so on as this will only result in speculation on whether the lift was acceptable or not; it is raw power that matters here!

As an example, the club has posted an 11MB video clip of club member Ove Lehto benching 235 kg/520 lbs at a bodyweight of about 125 kg/276 lbs. He has quite a hefty bounce at the bottom reminiscent of the way shot-putters train with extra padding (clip of shot-putter Manuel Martinez bouncing 300 kg/663 lbs off his chest), but you can’t argue with this 1.88 times bodyweight lift that currently makes Lehto the leader of the small pack that has submitted results. By way of comparison, Lehto benched 262.5 kg/580 lbs raw in the same workout and has posted a 300 kg/663 lbs shirt bench in competition.

Speaking of the devil, benching with feet in the air has become an official sport here in Finland. Developed a few years ago in the army, hence known as “military bench” (sotilaspenkki in Finnish), the objective is to bench bodyweight (2/3 bodyweight for women) for max reps with feet in the air and a bare upper body (t-shirt for women). A counter is placed at lockout to keep track of the reps (picture). The Men’s Finnish National Records in the three weight classes are currently 53 @ 60 kg/133 lbs (below 80 kg/177 lbs class), 44 @ 80 kg/177 lbs (80-100 kg/177-220 lbs class) and 32 @ 102.5 kg/227 lbs (above 100 kg/220 lbs class). In the two women’s weight classes the records are 45 @ 37.5 kg/83 lbs (below 65 kg/144 lbs class) and 27 @ 50 kg/111 lbs (above 65 kg/144 lbs class). Military bench competitions have also spread abroad (link in Finnish) through Finnish peace keeping forces, but so far it appears to be a peculiarly Finnish pastime… although not quite as peculiar as wife carrying, boot throwing (not long ago Nokia was most famous for its rubber boots) and air guitar… but I digress.

Jamie’s blog, apparently started four days ago, is another Westside report from the trenches. He already posted his first video clip, so I like it already.

Been busy sleeping for the last few days (really!) and am somewhat behind on both e-mail and announcements. Got an e-mail from Mike who told me he started a new journal with Diaryland.com with the intention of documenting his way towards a 550 lbs/250 kg bench by the end of 2005. Mike is also going to a meet on December 11, so his journal should provide an interesting read.

If anyone competing in the IPA reads this, you might also be interested in the new IPA Power message board.

Ano approved of my WPC/WPO Bench Bash meet report and cleared the clips I took. Thanks Ano!! For official results and more meet footage see the meet page at gometal.com.

WPC

Murtomäki’s phenomenal 300 kg/661.2 lbs opener - young guns indeed.

WPO

Lightweights

Tchesnokov nails 225 kg/496 lbs.

Middleweights

Ponomarenko redefines triple bodyweight with 310 kg/683.2 lbs and 320 kg/705.2 lbs lifts. I predict this guy will take the Arnold’s middleweight division.

Vinni gets a slow start with 290 kg/639.2 lbs, but up it goes.

Heavyweights

Hämäläinen’s controversial 330 kg/727.5 lbs followed by a convincing 340 kg/749.5 lbs lift.

Rantanen didn’t get further than this 330 kg/727.5 lbs opener - but it was enough to propel him into the Arnold’s.

Kravtsov fails at 332.5 kg/733 lbs.

Women’s guest class

Hayduchenko proves women can do it too with an amazing 190 kg/418.7 lbs lift.

Finnish lifter Eero Jälkö with 250 kg/551 lbs under the attentive gaze of head referee Mike Sweeney (WPC Bench Bash 7 November 2004, Helsinki, Finland).

This blog is not particularly well-known for its thorough meet coverage; in fact, it is rare to see any mention whatsoever of the latest results in the powerlifting world. But when the World Powerlifting Organization (WPO) arranges their inaugural bench meet outside of the States in my home town… well, then I’m all there and excited like the rest of Strength Finland. I must say the occasion left me with newfound respect for competitive benching, shirts and all.

There was a lot at stake in this WPO Bench Bash for Cash since the event was the last qualifier for the WPO World Record Bench Bash at the 2005 Arnold Fitness Weekend in Columbus, Ohio. This meant an open door to Arnold’s for any lifter who could outbench someone on the US dominated qualifying list. As it turned out, the Americans chose to sit tight back home and await the outcome. In retrospect, a few of them shouldn’t have.

The minimum requirement to even lay down on the WPO bench was a result of 205 kg/451 lbs in the lightweights, 250 kg/551 lbs in the middleweights and a whopping 317.5 kg/699 lbs in the heavyweights. The meet was left open to new competitors until the very last minute and total radio silence was kept on who was going to show up until the meet actually began. The meet was also preceded by a World Powerlifting Congress (WPC) Bench Bash where anyone who managed to break the minimum requirements were entitled to stay around for the real deal in the afternoon. Finnish lifter Jani Murtomäki, only 23 years old, had unofficially announced his intention to do just that in the heavyweights and his tremendously explosive opener at 300 kg/661.2 lbs left the audience with little doubt over his seriousness. In the end, 317.5 kg/699 lbs turned out to be too much for his first meet ever. By afternoon all WPC lifters had abandoned their bench shirts for the audience.

Whereas the WPC meet was a predominantly Finnish affair lifted in three groups, the WPO meet had a more level field of Ukrainians, Finns, Swedes and Russians lifting in a single group. Those among us who are not so knowledgeable about federations and powerlifting politics could only silently wonder whether there are no great benchers in the rest of Europe. This thought did not stay around to haunt as the speaker, whose English was perhaps not quite the best at all times, announced that several lifters had opening attempts that, if successful, would qualify them for the Arnold’s immediately. After the opening round was dispensed with the middleweights saw Ukrainian middleweight Vitaly Ponomarenko (310 kg/683.2 lbs) push Jim Kilts (280 kg/617.2 lbs) off the qualifying list, while Finnish heavyweights Mikko Hämäläinen (330 kg/727.5 lbs) and Tomi Rantanen (330 kg/727.5) sent cold greetings to Bart Quinn (305 kg/672.2 lbs) and Joe Ladnier (325 kg/716.2 lbs). Next round, Russian lightweight Andrey Tschesnokov (225 kg) joined the club, then it was middleweight Finnish lifter Esa Vinni’s turn with a new Finnish (and European?) record of 290 kg/639.2 lbs. The only lifter not having a ball was Vladimir Kravtsov of Russia with no passed lift due to what seemed to be a problem at achieving lockout with the right arm. If he had made his 332.5 kg/733 lbs lift he would have been in too. What a show!

The WPO event also had three female guest lifters who posted some impressive numbers. Anna Rosén, Swedish WPC lifter Göran Rosén’s better half, worked up to 155 kg/341.5 lbs with a smile on her face, while seasoned Finnish lifter Tarja Rantanen fell just short of the Finnish Record with a 160 kg/352.5 lbs lift. Strongest among them was Lyudmila Hayduchenko with a 190 kg/418.7 lbs third lift.

All in all this was a well-organized meet, something Mike Sweeney was quick to point out on several occasions. The meet ran without a glitch, on schedule and with a judging policy that appeared fairly strict to the untrained eye. Faith for arranger Ano Turtiainen is indeed high as Helsinki has already been promised the WPC World’s and WPO European Championships for 2005. Turtiainen’s now legendary Metal gear, the official sponsor of this event, was not only well-represented on stage, but they also had a big booth selling everything from training pants to bench shirts. Besides some supplements and a little something at a small booth manned by Sakari Selkäinaho from Voimaharjoittelu.net, there wasn’t too much else on sale. In the end, that was not why most of us were there anyhow, but a few videos would probably not have hurt sales.

The warm-up area was just behind the main lifting platform and it was fun to follow the lifters warm up in the background, which provided good opportunity for further reflection on bench set-up and foot positioning… A grip contest arranged by Rautakoura.com (”iron grip dot com”) was also held in the breaks between groups (gallery from the event). Two 75 kg suitcases were to be gripped with one hand. Anna Rosen managed to break the current Women’s world record (1 second) in this novel grip competition with a 7 second hold. The main prize in the men’s competition was taken by a construction worker with no lifting experience.

Below are the WPO results as gleaned from the scoreboard. These are not official, but I have no reason to doubt that they will change. I also have clips of many key lifts, but I am going to clear them with Ano before I add them to this entry. In all fairness it did say “no videotaping of this event”, so nobody really expects him to say yes.

WPO BENCH BASH FOR CASH, HELSINKI 7 NOV 2004 RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL)

Women’s guest class

Men’s lightweight class

Men’s middleweight class

Men’s heavyweight class

And finally, the results put into the Men’s qualifier list presented at the event (picture). Again these are unofficial. Last year’s top three (boldfaced) plus the five best benchers of the three qualifiers are eligible to receive an invitation to the Arnold’s. Newcomers from today’s meet are marked with an * and outgoers are striked out. Note that the lightweight class only had three lifters out of five in it, hence no dropouts in that class.

WPO WORLD RECORD BENCH BASH, 2005 ARNOLD FITNESS WEEKEND QUALIFIER LIST (UNOFFICIAL)

Lightweights

Middleweights

Heavyweights

First it was sets of Sushi benches, then a week later Salmonella presses. After the initial confusion about Jim Wendler’s new exercises cleared the game was on.

Hey Jim, I was wondering what new terms for raw benching we have to look forward to over the coming months beside sushi and salmonella?
[..]
I’ve got a new one brewing for tomorrow. In fact, I’m going to do some raw benching just so I can use it.

…which he did of course. I’m too jelly brained right now to do what any self-respecting blogger would do (i.e. give his own punny contribution or turn the tables by renaming shirt benches). Regular readers will no doubt know that I consider one of Wendler’s contributions just perfect anyway.

Tired, little motivation. Did some standard rehab stuff, then played around with doing a little of this and that including deadlifts, zercher squats and even some good mornings - all with a bar bending load of 40 kg/88 lbs. No complaints from the back department, so unracked again for a few deep sets of pause squats. Perhaps time to attempt a slow return to heavier weights again before the circle closes.

Got some more feedback on Monday’s bench video from Mike who contacted me earlier about obtaining the XTM video. While stationed with the army in California, he trained with mega-bencher Scot Mendelson, a Blakley protégé, for a year and apparently reached a 475 lbs/215 kg raw bench in the process. A couple of weeks ago he also embarked on the Blakley 4x6 program, which you can read more about in his log over at Monster Muscle. He graciously gave me permission to publish his comments:

Examined your benching video. Your form seems very good. I am also a fairly flat backed bencher with feet flat, although I flare my elbows a bit more than you (If you saw my shoulders you’d realize why). Anyway, I wish there was some critiquing I could do, but your form does look flawless. I couldn’t tell on the tape but the only suggestion I would make would be to try and get up on your traps more and pull your shoulder blades together throughout the lift. It seems tough but you need to get extremely strong rear delts to do this right. I do the reverse pec dec with over 300 lbs. for 8-10 reps. Until next time, good lifting.

Mike also mentioned that he really likes Ryan Kennelly’s benching style (video of Ryan benching a 600 lbs/271 kg double raw) and added that it mimics the form of past greats Ken Lain and Chris Confessore. This inspired me to deshelf my copy of Kennelly’s book (perhaps better called a booklet of 55 pages) The Kennelly method to reread his pointers on technique. Kennelly advocates arching with feet flat on the ground with vertical shins and pressing the bar straight up from the point where the stomach meets the chest muscles. His thoughts on foot placement caught my attention:

In my opinion, your feet should be straight in line with your knee, with toes pointing out if you don’t have a problem with your butt coming off the bench. If you have this problem, then point your toes inward a little. But, try to keep all the pressure and pressing coming from the heels, that’s were the power is.
Kennelly, Ryan: The Kennelly Method, pp 42-43

Never heard about driving with the heels before. At least that’s what I thought until I did a quick google search for bench heels westside and found the first link pointing back to an entry in my own blog where I cite Tate: “Learn to drive your shoulder blades into the bench by driving your heels into the floor”. This particular entry dates back to when I had just began the transition to powerlifting and had to learn to bench from scratch. At the time, I probably figured heels equals feet and got busy with the big questions on what to make of elbows and arches. When I later gleaned more knowledge from the Westside benching tapes and Blakley’s Building the Perfect Beast there was no mention of heels either; the former didn’t say much explicit about technique in the first place, and Blakley’s extensive analysis didn’t concern itself with heels either since he advocates benching with feet tucked back on the toes. If Tate had advocated benching with eels instead it might have stuck.

My interpretation of leg drive has been to push with feet as a whole back towards the shoulders to help support the moderate arch. Pressing from the heels seem to imply pressing more up than back, which in turn would probably help get the weight further back on the traps as opposed to the shoulder blades. Brushed the dust off the Westside Barbell Bench Press Secrets tape and began watching the first segment of world record holders George Halbert and Kenny Patterson going through a speed benching workout. Superficially, my form resembled theirs in terms of elbow tucking (if anything they tuck less), foot placement (they seem to have shins a bit more vertical than I do) and bar path (nearly straight up with a tad of drift back at lockout). Then suddenly I saw George Halbert doing a set where the toes of his left foot actually came off the ground on the ascent of every rep (highlighted in picture). This only happens on one set, but it clearly shows how redundant the rest of the foot is; the toes could just as well be pointed upwards. Guess who will try benching with toes in the air on Monday?

Another thing I need to relearn is how to set up on the bench. I thought I got the weight about where it should be by just wiggling my shoulders into place with back on the bench, but in retrospect I now understand that getting the weight on the traps is a fully other matter. Quoting Kennelly again:

When you set up on the bench, grip the bar and pull yourself all the way back until the bar is over your upper stomach. Then swing up and away from the bench and come down on your upper back instead of flat on your shoulder blades.
Kennelly, Ryan: The Kennelly Method, pp 42-43

Indeed, this is the way most experienced benchers seem to set up. The screenshots from Bench Press Secrets shows how Kenny Patterson does it.

As a side point, Blakley suggests doing a few light sets in the bridge position Patterson is in the first picture to learn how it should feel to have the weight on the traps/neck area. The same feeling should then be strived for with feet on the ground. I actually did this way back, but never realized that my weight was not in the same place with feet on the ground, i.e. on the shoulders instead of traps.

Getting up on the traps not only hinges around technique; you also got to have something there to provide a stable base.

When we do upper back and rear delt work it is for size, thickness. You must have a tremendous upper back to be a big bench presser. You cannot take a weight up and get flat down. You have to be able to stand up on your shoulders.
Louie Simmons on Westside Barbell Bench Press Workout, tape I

Stability. This is also where the rear delts Mike talks about come in. On Building the Perfect Beast, Blakley does a great job of showing how the shoulders should be pulled in on the bench to get a measure of support from the bench itself. If this is not done, one will “bench into nothing” since the shoulders are essentially hanging in the air with no bench contact. Keeping them in takes strength.

The plan

1) Practice pushing from the heels by keeping toes in the air (if feasible) for the next few weeks. I might also need to pull feet in a few centimeters to get shins roughly vertical to better support leg drive towards the ceiling as opposed to straight back.

2) Learn how to get up on the traps instead of the shoulder blades. First do some light benching in a bridge position with feet on the bench to get the right feel, then try to get into the same position by swinging the upper back into place instead of just wiggling into position.

3) Focus a bit more on the rear delts for the time being. Since I’m not doing much direct shoulder work at the moment, I could start working them twice a week along with the back. For both rear delt and back work keep the reps around 8 to focus on hypertrophy (size).

4) Try to retain the current elbow tucking and bar path despite the other changes.

Big thanks to Mike and Scott for helping me see a bit more light.

Jump Stretch Inc. has largely become synonymous with band use in powerlifting with their Flex bands strongly endorsed by Westside Barbell. Yesterday, famed powerlifting club Nazareth Barbell sent out an e-mail to their subscriber list announcing the arrival of “great bands very strong and comrable [sic] in quality to jump stretch at 1/3 the cost”. A quick price comparison shows that a pair of bands giving ~50 lbs resistance on the bench retails for $40 at Jump Stretch (light bands) and $24 at Nazareth Barbell (#2 bands); not quite 1/3 of the price but nonetheless a 40% saving. Comparing pricing is not quite trivial as the band resistance does not seem to match those of Jump Stretch precisely nor are the bands color coded the same way. It remains to be seen how the powerlifting community will react to the new bands on the block and whether they will affect Jump Stretch pricing.