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rhino

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Posts posted by rhino

    Weight Lifting Q&A

    in Physical Training

    Posted

    Continued from another topic ...

    Who actually holds the bar when they're bench pressing? Git yer thumbs outta tha way.

    Yeah, that way is good until the bar flexes a little and pops off of your hands. If you're lucky, it'll land on your chest instead of your neck. ;)

    [Thread drift]

    rhino, was there anything special that you did to get your bench press weight up so high? My press weight sucks, whereas everything else is pretty decent (475lb squat (set of 8), 1310lb leg press (single rep), 125lb curl (sets), 225lb clean [years ago dropping the bar caused a shoulder injury that doesn't let me do shoulder press very well anymore]).

    Those are all excellent numbers! I couldn't do a single curl with 125 without cheating like crazy! But I know how it feels to have one lift out of proportion with the rest.

    I'm not sure the basic training concept is much different from any other lift. The main thing is to put a majority of your effort into the heaviest weight you can move for the desired number of repetitions. I see a lot of people lifting to failure on every set, increasing weight a little each time, and repeating. That works okay for a while, but eventually you'll hit a plateau. It's also a waste of energy! It makes no sense to put so much effort into sets that are essentially warmups.

    I'm sure the state of the art training methods have changed since my time (late 80s and early 90s), but I can tell you what worked best for me.

    You pick a weight that you know will be a challenge for you to do for maybe five or six reps. Warm up with the bar, and then maybe do singles or doubles with weights intermediate to your target. Then do two sets with for as man reps as you can get with clean form. Don't cheat, and if you need help on the last one, that is the LAST. Don't do negatives or forced reps. We're working on building a foundation.

    Then you stop and move on to some assistance work.

    Here is an example. Let's say lifter A can do 225 for five reps, but it's hard. He'll try something like this:

    bar (45#) x 10-15 reps

    135 x 1-2

    185 x 1-2

    210 x as many as you can get without help

    210 x as many as you can with a tiny bit of help if necessary on the last

    You're done. Do not go back down in weight.

    Lifter A will do this until he can get two, clean sets of ten reps with 210. Then he moves his top sets to, say, 230, and does the same thing until he can get two sets of ten.

    Keep doing that to build your foundation, which requires the combination of heavy weights plus enough reps to do some good. You continue with this until it's time either based on your strength level or the calender (like an upcoming meet) to start a peaking cycle. That's when you will do much the same thing, but you will use gradually lower reps on your top sets until you're doing the heaviest triples and doubles you can do.

    That's the basic idea we used, anyway. The guy who taught me was IPF World Champion in 1984. His best squat was 1003, bench was 650 (raw), and I'm not sure what he did in deadlift. He was about 5'5", weighed 340 at the time, and you could see the muscle fibers in his quads when he flexed! Obviously he was "enhanced," but he really knew how to train too.

    Assistance work you'd do in a more conventional manner. Incline benches were one of my primaries, as well as flat benches with a cambered (bent) bar that allowed your hands to go several inches below your chest level. I also did a lot of tricep work, as they were my primary movers (my strongest body part).

    Today, however, the competition bench press has changed. The bench shirts they wear now can add 100-200 or even more to the lift, believe or not. Another key thing is that rules have changed to allow foot movement and for heels to be raised off the floor. This may not sound like a big deal, but it allows the bigger guys to arch their backs drastically more than if they had their feet flat and motionless (like we used to have to do!). That means they can use their lats, the strongest muscles on the upper body, and the rear delts to help with the lift. Consequently, the numbers have skyrocketed since I retired.

    For a more conventional technique (like I use), you still need to work lats and rear delts for stabilizers. In fact, if you can get your lats big enough, they will help you even if your back is flat by helping with the initial push as well as offering a "platform" for your triceps to rest on when you're at the start position of the lift (bar touching chest, motionless).

    Last quarter of school begins mid-March, early-April and I'd like to take that 10 weeks to get my bench weight up to something respectable (4 reps at 225-ish). Right now I'm doing 4 sets of 10 reps at 135lb on the inclined press and the last set has me working (ultimately resulting in me torquing my body to fight the shoulder injury). I don't really do the regular press, but the last time I did it I maxed at 195 for a single rep.

    Try what I outlined above, and cut back on the sets you do on the inclines and increase the weight so you are doing a couple of sets of six to eight after a warmup. Do some tricep work (lying extensions, cable pushdowns, etc.), may 4-5 sets total, then go home and rest.

    If you're doing 10 with 135 on the incline, I think 175ish is the ballpark for your top sets on flat bench. Give it a try and adjust the weight to get the reps you need.

    #4 or #6 1 1/8 oz

    in Shotgun - Technical

    Posted

    Thanks, guys!

    Yeah, no two gun/choke combinations are the same. That's why ya gotta shoot it on paper and experiment until you get the right choke for your load in your gun.

    Of course, I just slapped a modified in mine and hope for the best. ;)

    Shell holders

    in Multi-gun Gear & Accessories

    Posted

    How did you hold the bar for weights.... :P

    It was actually a significant handicap on the deadlift, especially when training for it. I trained in the same gym as a former SHWT world champion (1984, 1003 lb squat!) who had hands almost identical to mine (although he was only about 5'5" or 5'6"), and his deadlift was never comparable to his squat and bench press.

    It's not a problem for pressing of any kind, though!

    Being sick

    in What I Hate

    Posted

    Dude ... there must be something in the air, or maybe February is National Injury Month or something. I sympathize and empathize!

    I'm getting over a wicked cold and I fell down on Saturday. Sprained ankle and some kind of damage to my hand. Fortunately the ankle doesn't hurt much since I have enough nerve damage on that side to make it numb. BWA-HAHAH!

    Getting a pistol "nicked"

    in What I Hate

    Posted

    I trust you stay in a better class of hotels than I - or else keep something handy in case of an uninvited "guest" to your room....

    The motel I patronized to attend the Indiana State match in 2003 was one of the sariest places I've been. I don't know why I stayed instead of just going somewhere else, but it's the only time I ever slept with the AR loaded right beside in a motel (usually it's in its case near me).

    Here is where I remind everyone that you have $1000 worth of insurance on your guns if you are an NRA member, plus you can get more coverage at very reasonable rates.

    Shell holders

    in Multi-gun Gear & Accessories

    Posted

    I have small hands and I can do it fine. 100% technique. You should have no problems.

    Okay, I'll believe that technique and practice are the key, but if you can shoot a Glock (which I think you do), your fingers are nowhere near as short as mine.

    I have Billy Barty Hands. I used to be able to do two at a time, but that was pushing it. Three is questionable, but probably possible given the amount of practice I am unwilling to do. Four is quite simply not possible for me.

    Nor is it possible for me to run 100 meters in 11 seconds. ;)

    Help did I screw up!

    in USPSA/IPSC Rules

    Posted

    In fact, part of the reason Tactical Division exists (as I understand it) is because so many people like to shoot limited pistol and shotgun, but need a dot or telescope on their rifle for vision reasons.

    So not only did you not screw up, LA Kid, you found a good solution for your needs!

    3-gun vs multi-gun

    in Multi-Gun, Rifle & Shotgun Match Announcements

    Posted

    Hey Rhino buddy; I'll try not to be tired and artificial in the future and please tell me about the old days. I started shooting this game in 1980 and don't remember any scrambler matches :).

    I should have been more specific. My comment was only peripherally related to your topic and was intended to express my opinion of people who continually "correct" someone when they call a 3-Gun match a 3-Gun match instead of "Multi-Gun Tournament," even if there are no stages where more than one gun is used. It was not directed at you as I have no idea who you are. I apologize for being unclear and I'll ignore the sarcasm.

    I started shooting 3-Gun in 1994 or 95 (had to borrow rifle and shotgun then). We called the match a 3-Gun match, but stages that had more than one gun we always called a "scrambler." Typically we only had one per match because of the logistics involved. Perhaps the term is a regional or local thing.

    I started this question to get responses about which 3 gun shooters preferred.  I did not mean it to be one pitted against the other.  Probably should have titled it 3 gun/multi gun, which do you like.

    Again, that's not what I was saying, but I can see why you read it that way. My fault!

    I actually like both equally. When I'm shooting, I like the stages with more than one gun more, but when I am running or designing the match, I like single gun stages because they are easier! ;)

    The most fun I think I've ever had on a stage was a combined rifle and shotgun field course at our old club (Deer Creek in IN). You started shooting the rifle at an array straight ahead about 75 yards down range. Then you moved (ran if you could!) to that area, and engaged some more targets about 40 yards to your left. Then you ran around the berm where the initial targets were and engaged some more from 125-150 yards to the far backstop. After that, you went to the edge of the woods, put your empty and safed rifle in the rack, then went into the woods with your shotgun to hunt some very heavy and cleverly hidden steel plates. Going into the jungle after already being out of breath and having to find the targets just to shoot them was awesome. The whole thing took me over ten minutes and they had to send a pickup truck to fetch me from the edge of the woods because I was pooped!

    when mike and charlie visit us...

    in Match Screw-ups

    Posted

    I had two misses yesterday. In both cases, I know I saw my front sight centered over the A zone (one was classic and the other was metric) before I pressed the trigger. What I don't know is where the muzzle was pointed during the time after I started pressing and when the shot exited the barrel. :lol:

    I had a hard time with the Texas Star too. I've never taken more than nine rounds, and this time it took me at least twelve or thirteen. I started with eleven in the gun and I know I fired a few after I reloaded (standing) too. One of my Mikes was on that same stage later!

    Of 40 S&W 1911's and mag releases

    in General Gunsmithing

    Posted

    BigDave ... if your gun is running well as it is, you probably want to stay with the STI, but get the one that is tapped for a screw and button.

    As you know, the STI mag catches themselves are "elevated" and hold the mags higher than standard mag catches. That's why I have them in three of my guns, because the standard parts would not hold the mags high enough. I have no way of knowing if the hole for the part is different for Trojans, but I guarantee the little ledge where the mag tube rests is higher than a standard 1911 part.

    If you do switch to a different brand, remember that your Tripp mag was intended for that elevated mag catch.

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