(page 44)

As I anticipated back in June, Gold’s Gym Helsinki is back after originally having been shut down in December 2001 after the lease on its premises next to the Helsinki railway station expired. Instead of immediately reopening, the gym forked into a new gym chain, Wellness, with much of the original Gold’s equipment placed at the Ruoholahti branch in Helsinki. Since Wellness caters for the average health oriented person on the street, the new gym chain apparently made a conscious decision to avoid such hardcore elements as power racks and heavy dumbells (which were limited to 40 kg/88 lbs, lest the heavy Gold’s dumbells scare away customers). As a result, part of the Gold’s crowd made the switch to Wellness with many others disappearing to more hardcore gyms such as, presumably, Töölö Gym or Metal Gym.

Apparently for some the Gold’s nostalgia became too much bear. The original Gold’s equipment was pulled out of Wellness and relocated in another premise in Ruoholahti, Helsinki. There is only one gotcha. The gym was opened to the public two days ago not as Gold’s but as Mayor’s. The reason seems to be that some licensing issues still remain with the Gold’s Gym franchise headquarters. If they are resolved I believe the idea is to unveil the second coming of Gold’s in Helsinki. Logo issues aside, the equipment is the same regardless of the name so I don’t really care all that much. Have power rack and donkey calf machine, be happy. The characteristic dark dungeon atmosphere is gone, but the music is loud and the equipment sturdy. Results should follow.

Not surprisingly, good mornings in the power rack became the first exercise of the day. My adductors were still really sore, but they did not seem to hamper the stiff-legged deadlift too much.

Had so sore abdominals and legs that just getting on the bench was a chore. Serves me right for not easing into my training after a month’s layoff. Trained outside at a sunny Toffe’s gym. Not very good lifts today, but I enjoyed doing lying rear delt raises, which used to be among my favorites. I don’t know why I haven’t done these in a while.

Not much to say about this workout. I felt quite slow off the box after not doing it for over a month. I pretended to compensate for the lower weights on the box by doing a very hard three sets of kneeling cable crunches…

First workout after a month in China. Besides working the grippers once or twice per week, my workouts consisted mostly of walking, talking and climbing (including three days on Mt. Emei — where I also sneaked in some presses with a concrete weight before limping on up the never-ending staircase with my cane).

Whereas my grip improved to the point where I could very nearly close the number I Captains of Crush gripper, the question is how much I lost on my other lifts. Going for a max bench today I got an easy 80 kg/177 lbs as compared to the 85 kg/188 lbs bench I did in mid-July. My groove wasn’t so good and it was midnight, but I’m quite happy with the result. A few workouts, and I should be back on track pushing for more records.

I had only slept three hours before this workout and felt a little foggy; after good gains in the Powersmith floor press the rest of the workout was nothing to write home about (naturally, the web is another story…).

The lack of sleep is explained by a lot of things that had to be done before leaving for China tomorrow. From a lifting standpoint it is a little sad to have to cut this cycle short as I was just getting up to speed with Westside, but a sinologist has to do what a sinologist has to do. No complaints there! The grand scheme is to take this opportunity to work the grippers hard for a month to improve ye olde grip, and possibly catch a workout or two with the locals. It might take up to a month for the next installment, until then, I bid you zaijian!

Set out to improve last week’s 130 kg/287 lbs deadlift. My legs were in much better shape today and it didn’t hurt to squat down deep enough (i.e. legs slightly above parallel with the floor). Managed to pull 135 kg/298 lbs without straps to full lockout (no belt or other gear as usual). Still 15 kg/33 lbs short of my best ever dead, but I am getting there.

Like last week, I spent a little too much time fiddling with the deadlifts and ended up getting in a hurry. When I failed to produce a good setup for reverse-hypers using whatever straps I could find lying around I settled for a single set of pull-throughs. Still, 70 minutes is pushing it. No calves today either.

Now for the punch line: a nice video of Matt Smith deadlifting 825 lbs/373 kg conventional style with picture perfect form (my eyes) at the IPA Nationals in Columbus, Ohio 17 November 2001 courtesy of Monster Muscle.

Tried close-grip inclines for the first time (i.e. with elbows tucked in). Used a fairly steep incline and felt a little weak, but a nice exercise it is.

Another first timer was face pulls. Did them in a lat pulley sitting down on the floor (on a step board actually, as the weights hit the top otherwise).

Think I set the box height correctly this time. Will need to start carrying a measuring tape to make sure the height is indeed consistent and at the height I state in this blog. I sure miss my own 13 inch box.

Watched Monday’s taped deadlift session. The reps did indeed look pretty much like stiff-legs owing to my adductor soreness; by the time the bar was halfway up my shin my legs had already finished their push and the lift from there was strictly lower back. Might go for another deadlift session next week to see what happens when I don’t have sore legs.

As I’m still waiting for a proper power rack I opted for doing floor presses in the powersmith. With a powersmith I am referring to a smith machine that has a bar that can also move sideways since the pipes along which the bar travels are also on a pipe at the top and the bottom. Consequently, it does not lock you into the straight up-and-down plane of motion a normal smith does. Hope you understand what I’m getting at; please e-mail me if you know the proper name for this kind of smith.

I don’t know how much the empty bar in the powersmith weighs. I guestimated it at 35 kg/77 lbs since it is basically a normal bar with heavy duty attachments that attaches it to the pipes. I guess it could also be 5 kg/11 lbs lighter or heavier. On the last set with 95 kg/210 lbs my training partner had his fingers on the bar, which might have contributed slightly. He is my training partner in the sense that we train together although using completely different routines (he bodybuilds, I powerlift); if he needs assistance with his sets I help him out and vice versa. It is indeed good to have a spotter handy and someone who can give instant feedback on my form. Not to mention someone who owns a video camera…

Once I got to the inclines I felt like breaking the mold a little and do a little heavier inclines to test my strength. After doing a triple with 70 kg/155 lbs I switched to singles. Got 75 kg, which is decent for me, although still a little short of my bodybuilding best.

Did a first short session on the Captains of Crush grippers I received yesterday. Cranked out as many as I got with the Trainer (45 kg/100 lb), next time I’ll see how many I get with the number one. Great grippers, with great handles.

Ordered my Captains of Crush grippers directly from the US manufacturer Ironmind on 21 June. Today they suddenly broke into my flat via the mail box.

As you might know, I live in Finland. Therefore it was natural to first check the Finnish powerlifting web store Voimaharjoittelu.net, where they sell for 29 euros/33 dollars a piece. As they were out of the number ones, I also looked at the Swedish lifting mag B&K Sports Magazine webshop. They had all of them in stock, but at a price of 398 SEK/43 euro/49 dollars! What a rip-off! Not surprisingly, I settled for the 19.95 dollars/17 euro ones directly from Ironmind.

The States are still cheap for us Europeans; complete with air mail shipping a trainer and number one gripper cost me a total of 56.90 dollars/50 euro, which is 18 dollars/16 euro cheaper than Voimaharjoittelu.net. I do admire the latter site though, for keeping the prices very decent and not shamelessly ripping everyone off like B&K webshop seems to. If they had the number one in stock I would not have hesitated to support them as they sell some darn good equipment.

Plan to start on the grippers tomorrow. Hopefully they will help me hold on to those pulldowns and deadlifts!

More reading material

The final installment of Tate’s The eight keys is out. A great summary with stuff on GPP and recovery. In light of the example routines given it seems like, contrary to my earlier impression, that Tate does not recommend doing speed deadlifts every DE Squat/Dead workout.