“Why men fail”

Today in my risk management class, the teacher handed back last weeks tests. The diamond stud earring wearing, affliction shirt rocking, spiky haired BRO sitting in front of me turned to his buddy and gave a loud commentary on his performance “66 man, God must hate me.”  This kid refused to admit that maybe he was unprepared because he was pounding brew all last week with his other bros (another loud story we all endured before class last tuesday).  Rather than accept responsibility, he shifted the blame elsewhere. The statement he made can be interchanged with with the popular college kid statements “this teacher’s tests are confusing” or ” I had too much going on last week” but at the end of the day all these statements are all equivalent to “This just can’t be my fault.” Let’s face it though.. its much easier to assume “God hates you” and he doesn’t want you to pass risk management than to admit it was up to you to succeed and you didn’t make the magic happen. The “its not my fault” way of thinking rids you of blame, the other leaves you with the idea that you have to somehow become motivated and give a better effort the next time around. The first is easier to swallow and leaves you with no guilt, the second is tough to admit but ultimately its the truth.

All this reminded me of an article my roommate Chris was telling me about this weekend called “Why Men Fail.” The concept is that all men who are successful ( success measured not only by money and fame but also by  happiness, success in the context of family, etc.) share one common ideology, success requires a sincere belief in the following: the cause you’re working towards, your own ability to perform, and lastly the system in which your performance takes place (paraphrased).

An impressive line of studs were interviewed and/or referenced including Matthew McConaughey, CEO of Tom’s Shoes, Steve Jobs, Bono, Pixar’s creative team, Obama, and Bush (the last two, people will argue their success but either way they did something right to be elected president). The emerging concept was that the people we envy in life are never cynics. A cynic is basically a skeptic; someone who thinks the world is working against them and things are just not going to work out no matter what they do. Statements to expect from a cynic: “its impossible to get ahead in this economy”, “All girls are crazy” (that might be true actually), “The government is out to screw us,” “The cops are out to get me,” or “I’m destined for failure.”

Does it make you feel better to complain about the circumstances that keep you from your goals? Absolutely. Does it change those circumstances and make it easier for you to overcome them? No way. All it does is put them in the spotlight of your focus and energy, right where creating a solution and overcoming those problems deserves to be.

I don’t have much to brag about myself on in life, but I can say that when I fail a friend, perform poorly in powerlifting, fail a test, or screw up a relationship, I can always admit the reason is that I didn’t work hard enough or that I didn’t have the particular skill level required in the first place and my failure is no one’s burden to bear but my own.

So on that note.. the video today is of the kid who crushed me at teen nationals last summer. Could I blame it on the fact his dad is a powerlifting legend? Sure. Does the fact he’s sponsored and gets the best gear help him? Of course. Has he been lifting longer? Most definitely. Do any of those excuses put me a step closer to beating him in the future? Hell no. All that matters to me is that on any given day, he is better than me. There’s no defense in powerlifting. I can’t change how much Knute can lift… all I can do is beat down the weights week in a week out and creep up pound by pound and hope it eventually pays off.

This is unrelated but I saw this in an interview with Dave Tate and Jim Wendler and it made me think of all the guys I know who take lifting wayyyyy to seriously:

TMUSCLE: What makes a lifter “hardcore”?

JW: I’m certainly not one of them. Dave, do you remember seeing a hardcore lifter that one time?

DT: No f****** lifter is hardcore. Hardcore is taking shrapnel in the ass fighting for your country. We’re lifting weights. You know what I’m saying? Everyone that walks around the gym trying to look badass, they’re just f****** wannabes. You ever walk through the mall and see guys wearing that Tap-Out gear? You think they actually fight people? Hell no. Years ago guys would wear Gold’s Gym shirts to make it look like they lifted. Meanwhile the truly “hardcore” guy doesn’t need to promote it.

JW: Yeah, they don’t need validity from any outside source. To me, hardcore is a single mom with two jobs supporting her family. Lifting weights helps build and refine character but that’s generally 30 years down the road.

Two workouts

Saturday:

RDLS:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 5

405 x 5

Shrugs:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 5,   405 x 5

495 x 2

Neutral grip pull ups:

BW x 10 x 3

Band pull aparts

Monday:

Squats:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 3,   365 x 1

415 x 3 x 2

Bench:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   275 x 1,

315 x 3 x 2

Shoulder Press:

135 x 8

205 x 5

255 x 2

Weight is down over four pounds in 12 days. Should keep coming off. Basically my “diet” consists of cutting out all the pizza I eat (offseason is usually one whole pizza on the nights before I train), consuming less saturated fat and sugar, drinking green tea (caffeine speeds metabolism, not a miracle worker but it doesn’t hurt), lower carbs but not by too much particularly before bed (dinner is usually plain chicken breast with some sauce), and not indulging on the weekends. I’m at 192 now. Once I’m down to 187 the gear should fit fine and I won’t have to worry. Hoping to be down to 187 in about two weeks. Going to have to make the gear fit before then. No video today. Crazy busy week, but I’ll post a good one on wednesday.

Squat with video and bench

Squat:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,    315 x 3,

knee wraps:

405 x 1

455 x 2

475 x 2

505 x 2

Bench:

135 x 5,    225 x 5,    275 x 1,    315 x 1

Bench shirt

3 board:

355

1 board:

370 x 1

390 x 1

3 board:

380 x 3

400 x 3

420 x 3

Here’s the video of 505 x 2. It was fairly difficult but not too hard.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ugamarkfree#p/a/u/0/vV23uGR9akU

If anyone has any advice on form, me making too much noise, my clothes not matching I will accept it all from anyone.

Okay this should rap up the raw squat training. I SHOULD be in gear by next friday. Mark came to quest with me on friday, made the hour and a half drive in traffic a lot more bearable. Sherman wrote me out a bench program. Its basically one board or to the chest singles which are a little on the light side followed by heavy triples off the board. It focuses on the lockout which is what I need based on my last few meets. The intensity varies. Last night (9 weeks out) was a really easy workout for me but then I look at the stuff thats 3-4 weeks out and I’m like no way I can hit those weights!!

PR Friday and sick dead lift video

Alright second PR friday. Hoping to see some big PRs again this week. Just click on the comment  button below this post and put your name your PR and your bodyweight if its powerlifting.

Here’s KK hittin a 948 dead lift. In my opinion the only man on the earth right now that has any shot of breaking andy bolton’s all dead lift record within the next five years. And even his chances are slim.

Heavy pulls (reverse band PR)

Dead lift:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 3,    405 x 2,   495 x 1

565 x 1 (missed the second)

545 x 1 (missed the second)

Reverse band deads:

405 x 1,    495 x 1,   545 x 1

605 x 1

635 x 1 (PR)

Incline bench:

135 x 5

225 x 5 x 2

Heavy Gripper:

hg200 x 5 x 2

inverted x 4 x 2

Glute-Ham Raise:

45 x 10

Well really disappointed I couldn’t pull 565 for two. Shouldn’t have even been too difficult of a double. I got it close to the top but couldn’t lock it out. Then somehow I hit a huge PR on band pulls which is pretty much all lockout. Pretty confused about that. Not letting myself get complacent but I always do better in the meet than my training leads on when it comes to to the dead lift.

I can’t remember if I’ve posted this but I’m going to anyways. This is Doc Holloway the guy who trains me along with Adam and Sherman. He’s one of the strongest 148’s right now ( I think he’s ranked second). He hits a low six hundred squat and dead lift and a high three hundreds bench in this video… yeah he’s sick. Me and Mark will be heading up to quest friday for some solid coaching from the legend D holloway:

Update on my weight: Down to 193 from 196 in one week. Need to get down to about 188 by the friday after this one so I can fit into my squat suit.

Light squats/ Bench

Squat:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 3

405 x 3

425 x 3

405 x 3

Bench:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,    275 x 1

315 x 3 x 2

Adductor/ Abductor

Heavy gripper:

200 x 3 x 2

inverted 200 x 3

Note on the heavy gripper training: I can’t actually close it with my left hand so those three reps are as far as I can get it closed. Looking to buy the 250 pound gripper as soon I can close the 200 for two sets of 5 both regular and and inverted.

So this is the second injury video in one week, but I can’t pass this one up its pretty bad:

Also, just wanted to throw this out there.. there’s a lot of talk about which federation has the fiercest competition but I think Raw Unity meet last weekend helped clear this up a little bit… even tho mike tuchscherer only got second best overall lifter and didn’t break the all-time 275 raw dead lift record.. next time.

http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/14313

Also isn’t it pretty ironic that the only federation that is an all raw fed got last at raw unity?

Collegiate training cycle- day one

Squat:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 3,   385 x 2

Put squat suit on

455 x 1

485 x 1

515 x 1

515 x 2

Bench:

135 x 5,    225 x 5,    275 x 1,   315 x 1

Put Old rage bench press shirt on

3 board:

355 x 3

1 board:

385 x 3

405 x 3

3 Board:

435 x 2

435 x 3

Training was all over the place. Squatting was supposed to be for triples but I was having major problems in the squat suit. Going to spend the next two weeks cutting weight before I try to put it back on. Bench went really well esp considering its my old shirt.

Raw unity is this weekend so I’m gunna have a large pool of videos to pick from to post next week. For now I’ll just roll with this one. Quest Gym’s very own Caleb Williams squatting a drug-free, junior world record of 722 pounds in single ply gear at 148 pounds body weight.

First PR friday

Okay everyone. Post your PRs for the week. Preferably in the bench/squat/dead lift… but if running is your thing or losing weight or gaining weight or whatever you do… post it. Hopefully this will be a big motivation for everyone. One thing I’ve learned from helping a few guys out at ramsey is that I get just as fired up watching up people make progress as I do myself. Let’s see how this goes..

I just purchased the Heavy grip 200. I can’t close it for one rep yet it is intense. But like everything I do… I’m going to be at it obsessively for the next few weeks then hopefully move up to the 250 and one day become a man with the 300. Here is a video for anyone looking to increase their grip/forearm strength with this product. This is great for wrestlers, MMA guys, powerlifters (dead lifters), and businessmen with a weak ass hand shake.

Dead lift/ Light bench

Okay I’m finally updating daily like I promised I would at the beginning of January.

Dead lifts:

135 x 5,   225 x 5,   315 x 3,   405 x 2,   475 x 1

545 x 3

545 x 2

Bench:

135 x 5,    225 x 5

225 + average band x 5 x 2

GHR:

45 x 10

Okay well I’ve got a serious problem as far as my powerlifting is concerned. I am 196 in my boxers in the morning. That means I am legit 14.2 pounds over my weight class. Moving up a weight class is not an option. The next one is 198 and the lifters there typically train at around 205 so I am far too small to be competitive there. Either way cutting 14 pounds isn’t a huge dilemma in and of itself bc lets face it… I used to be a wrestler I’m a pro at cutting weight. The major problem is that I’m a geared lifter not a raw lifter. AKA my training cycle was supposed to begin friday, but my gear is fitted for Brooks at 180-185 and if you’ve ever seen a squat suit, its extremely tight when you’re at the weight you’re supposed to be at (it takes about 7-20 minutes to put on) and that’s why it works.  Now that I’m 10 pounds over my typical training weight it most likely won’t fit. So I have to take the next two week and cut 5 pounds (not wrestling style like dehydrating myself, legit lose 5 pounds) before I can start my geared training phase. This is kind of upsetting because I need all the time I can get to get used to the gear again because my last true geared training phase was last april through june and I’m gunna need all the time I can get to get used to the gear again. But one thing I’ve learned is you’re never 100% going into a meet. You’ve gotta roll with what you’ve given.

Here’s my video of the day. I chose this bc Scott Mendelson recently made three attempts of 1081 pounds to reclaim the all-time multiply bench record. He missed terribly on all of them. People talk a lot of smack about him about how he’s never going to get it, because he’s attempted and missed it so many times. To that I say.. who cares? He has the all time raw bench record and thats more impressive to me.

Maybe I’ll get Erica to slap me like this before I bench at collegiate’s. Completely kidding.

Don’t forget about PR Friday’s starting this friday. If you’ve made any kind of progress in anything slightly resembling a sport… post it!!

Don’t watch this video

Wish I didn’t watch this video… but I did ,so every other powerlifter I know should experience my pain. Ed Coan, the greatest powerlifter of all times, at not his greatest moment: