We didn't leave the squat rack all day long!

As the Title says, we were stuck in the squat rack, well at least for 20 sets. Wow this was pretty crazy! This was on Thursday and now its Friday and I'm not even sore, WTF! Seriously! Leg work outs are getting a bit ridiculous. Anyways the sets went like this


Sets
135 x 5 x 1 set ( plus 70 in chain's )
225 x 5 x 2 sets ( plus 70 in chain's )
315 x 5 x 2 sets ( plus 70 in chain's )
405 x 5 x 1 set( plus 70 in chain's )
455 x 5 x 1 set ( plus 70 in chain's )
500 x 4 x 1 set ( plus 70 in chain's )
275 x 5 x 2 sets ( plus 70 in chain's )
225 x 5 x 9 sets ( plus 70 in chain's )
225 x 28 x 1 set ( plus 70 in chain's )
225 x 7 x 1 set ( plus 70 in chain's ) I did 7 here because the set before was supose to be 35 and it didn't happen lol

and here is a video of a few sets of that day.



After all this craziness we decided to call it a day. Looking back thou we should have done at least another hour, leg curls, leg ext and any other thing I could think of maybe lunges.. oh well... Next Time

Oh you scared me! what?

So I was told today I scared them when I did the dead lift because it was loud.. are you kidding me, this is a gym and I wasn't making much noise. Damn I could have been A LOT louder if she wanted me to be.

Anyways got up to 3 set's of 405 for 2 reps each, then I did a bunch of trap bar dead lifts I think 6 sets of 3 reps of about 350 lbs. Like I have said before I am taking the dead lift slow this year as I am trying to avoid injury. This is very important to me this time around. I have rushed this in the past and suffered for it.

I am sure I will pull over 500 this meet. I know its nothing crazy but id rather do it this way and hit over 600 at worlds then try to push it to quick and regret it later.

after these pulls we did some bent over rows on a hammer strength leg press machine and then some seated rows. Following this was 30 min of cardio work on the treadmill doing intervals.

Right now I'm sitting at a steady 269 the last few days but my food intake has been a bit high so I need to watch this a little more closely so the last few days are not as bad.

So right now I'm thinking my lift attempts are going to go something like this..

Bench Press 473, 540, 584 and maybe a 4th attempt of 600
Dead lift 435, 501, 534 or 540

So we will see how it goes..

So the nerves are getting a bit more as we get closer. I always worry about the form and everything on the bench press. Even thou I do this lift a lot and is my best lift I still worry about it.

Till tomorrow!

Finally 600 in the Bench Press! ( 2 board )

Hey whats up all? So today was Max Effort Bench Day. So today was shirt work as were only a few weeks out from Nationals in the WABDL here in Portland. Wow its getting close and I'm getting ramped up.

So we lifted today at Golds up here in Vancouver WA. The reason we did that is most of Primal Power was at a USPF meet in Oregon today. We would have gone but we really needed the time under the weight to prep for this WABDL meet coming up. So we did our warm ups as normal. Today was a 2 board day for myself and AJ. Tamara was going full range today working on her form on the bottom end as that is where she needs it most. Today I got up to 405 raw off 2 board for 3 reps then shirted up. AJ was around 275 as his shoulder has been bothering him. Tamara was I think 150 off 2 board.

Then we shirted up and went at it.

Shawn

Raw

135 x10

225 x 8

315 x 3 - 2 board

405 x 3 - 2 board

Put on shirt loose shirt

495 x 3 - 2 board

585 x 3 - 2 board - miss bad hand off and had a very hard time holding the weight with the loose shirt

Put on Comp Bench Shirt

585 x 3 - 2 board - hard but made all 3 reps

600 x 1 - 2 board - solid and felt better than the 585

AJ only went to 405 for a few reps as his shoulder was really bothering him today.

Tamara took many trys at 185 trying to control her form and the weight in full range. the top 85% of her range is very solid but that bottom 15% needs more form work. more reps more reps. she did get a 175 full range to go. and we finally got her shirt to sit right on her, since boobs get in the way. So we pulled them up, yep pulled up the boobs in her shirt a good 6 inches, lol.

Much better support !

The Picture above is the weight I did on my last set.

After all the benching was done we did some dumbbells, and some decline. nothing major there.

www.prowriststraps.com

Funny as hell!

This was way to funny so I had to post it. I read this on team super trainings forums.. wow this is so true haha..

you know your a gear whore when...

1. You have more gear in your gym bag than clothes in your closet.


2. You tell friends and family that gear is for protection from injury and support, and conveniently leave off the fact that it adds hundreds of pounds to your total.


3. Your arms and legs dramatically taper in where your gear fits - even when you’re not wearing it…


4. The lines of broken blood vessels where your gear pinches your chest, underarms, hips and legs haven't gone away in ten years.


5. You structure your max effort day by layers of added gear, and everything after 315 is hard. You keep going anyway - adding piece by piece - toughing it out, because you know that if you can tweak that gear just right, you might get a 5 pound PR.


5. Your favorite gear is from when you were two weight classes lighter and you still try and see if it will fit.


6. Your gear is so tight that you often black out during warm-ups


7. You think that RAW stands for Really Angry Weakling.

Gotta CUT!

Alright, so today I decided I will go down to 242 weight class for nationals. That means I need to loose a little over 30 lbs. Right now I am 274.8 lbs. So we are gonna watch this carefully. Basically the plan is to cut the calories and start doing about an hour or more of cardio a day. That is about a month away so it shouldn't be a problem. At this weight with my current bench press or at least what I'm shooting for it should put me in the top 15 in the nation ranking wise. (all fed's included ) I say this isn't to bad.

So today was a bench and triceps day and was a dynamic day. So we did a good amount of chain stuff. I got up to 295 plus 70 lbs of chains for a set of 3. And the chains were just off the floor at the top on these. So I had 365 at the top. These were pretty easy lock outs and just good dynamic strength curve sets. After about 4 or 5 sets of benches on chains, AJ and I had some fun and had a little contest. We took all the weight off the bar except the chains. Then we did as many bench presses as we could for 20 seconds to see who could get more. Well I deffently had the advantage here as if you have seen our bench videos you know my range of movement is half of AJ's. AJ got 30 reps in 20 seconds and I had 33 in 20 seconds. I WIN!!!!!!

After this we did some heavy lock outs in the power rack and I got up too 515 for 3 reps with a mid grip and AJ had 405 for 5 reps easy. Tamara locked out 225 for 3 reps for a few sets. (hers were set at a lower pin placement than ours. So she had to work harder. Great job, Tamara!

Then AJ and I did a few other dumbbell and cable exercises including kennelly style tricep presses but with 60 lbs in chain one arm at a time. Here is a video of doing this. This was the 4th or 5th set.

After these I closed off the work out with 50 chain push ups. I took all of our chains ( 70 lbs worth ) and laid them criss-cross across my back and did 5 push ups then Tamara took off 1 chain and I did 5 more and the cycle continued till I had no chains. Wow this was hard as hell after a 3 hour chest and tricep work out! Good way to get a tri and chest burn! I was pretty dead after this.

BTW remember if you guys need wrist wraps, knee wraps or any other weight training gear check 1st with APT. Great prices and the best products on the market period!

www.prowriststraps.com

TILL NEXT TIME, STAY STRONG!

Down to Oregon City again on Sat for max effort bench day! I haven't been feeling the greatest lately and I deffently didn't feel the strongest I have. I manged a 585 off 3 board for 3 but was heavy as hell, also a 545 raw off 3 board, that set felt strong. I had a hard time grabbing the bar the way I should with my finger being damaged and I'm sure that was part of it, but also just being sick is not helping.

Adrian and Ben are both getting ready for a comp next week so they went down to 1 board and full range. I took a video of Adrian doing a easy 695 1 board press. he will hit over 700 for sure this meet. Ben should hit 650ish range I think.

Here is a video of Adrian's press

Next sat I plan on doing a 2 board 585 for 3 reps in my looser shirt to see if I can tweak it just right to get the support I need for the meet. and probly a 455 raw 2 board.

I dont need that finger do I?

1st off sorry for no video today. My phone died that I use to record video most days. Well today was a leg day and we all know what that means, SQUAT!

So after a brief warm-up I got to warm up squats.

135x10

225x8

315x8

405x5

add reverse bands

495x3 ( could have done 10 )

add knee wraps

585x3 (Felt easy but after last rep while trying to rack the weight the bar sliped off my back )

675x2 (easy, could have done more reps and more weight)

So after that I called it a day on the squats because the last set I smashed my Left ring finger while racking it. I definitely had an over 700 this day maybe even 750 to 775 range. (what if, right?) wow my finger is jacked up right now. very hard to type. Sat max effort day will be interesting in Oregon city with team primal power.

after this we did some hack squats with 400 lbs and some 800 lbs leg presses followed by some leg extensions and called it a day.

Got a pump way to early!

So today we did shoulders and well after doing the chains yesterday, it seemed like we had be doing our shoulders all day. What were thinking is moving our shoulder day to our speed bench day. These can just as easy be put together. Since today was just shoulders, we kept it pretty simple and just did some dumbbells.

Tomorrow = Legs! that is one of my favorite days.

O.K. so here it is. I am looking for more sponsors to help with the cost of training and competing in the sport I love. Ideally I would like a supplement sponsor or two and another power lifting gear sponsor and maybe even a sport's company sponsor of some kind to help off set the cost of travel and competing. Of course I would do my best in promoting these companies everywhere I go and whatever I do. I'm pretty much a walking billboard for APT right now.

thanks and have a great day!

Rattle them chains!

Today was a lighter speed day for us. So we started off with some warm ups, grip machine, some dumbbell forarm twists (to warm up the elbows) and some kennelly dumbbells. Then we went to the flat bench with chains. I got up to 275 with about 70 lbs in chains. This felt good and easy. I concentrated on form and tightness trying to quickly drive off the bottom. AJ did 225 and Tamara had 85 lbs plus 50 lbs in chain.

Then we mixed it up with some incline as we haven't done these in at least 6 months. I got up to 225 for 10 reps. Not bad felt pretty easy. After this we hit a lot of dumbbells for chest and triceps, even 2 sets with 115 lbs dumbbells on flat bench, and a few cables for triceps as well.

So were just about 4.5 weeks out from WABDL National Championships in Portland. I know myself is looking for a 600 lbs bench and 550 dead lift, AJ would be happy with anything over 430. (I know he has that in the bag) Tamara is looking at about 185 to 200 lbs. Last year was an awesome meet and I'm sure this year will be no different. I would guess probably about 200 lifters.

So here is some videos of the training today!

Let the Weights Hit the Floor!

Dead lifts, yes DEAD LIFTS.. that is what you feel like after your done doing that lift. So some of you know about 11-12 years ago I blew out 2 disc's in my low back from doing dead lifts. (665 at 165 class) So now in my dead lift training I take it slow. Especially when its off the floor work. So I got up to a couple of sets of 365 for 3 reps each set and had 70 lbs of chains on as well. These were easy lifts but the bars where I work out SUCK! Very hard to grip.. So its very hard to do heavy dead lifts. So I may in the future get a new Texas bar to help with this type of stuff.

So for the last week almost I have been taking this supplement from USPLabs. "PowerFULL" seems to be a good product, I think its helping with the strength.. but one thing I notice for sure is that it definitely helps me sleep. That alone will help with strength and growth so I'm happy with that as I do have a hard time sleeping anyways. I think I feel a bit more energy and strength while working out. I will keep you guys up to date with this as it goes.

You can get this at www.usplabsdirect.com

here is a video of me dead lifting the 365 with 70 lbs of chain.

CURRENT SPONSORS

WWW.PROWRISTSTRAPS.COM

PRIMAL POWER, Yes we train'd with them today!

Today I woke up extra early because we had our work out at 11 am in Oregon City, with Primal Power. Today was intense workout, and we had some PR's all around! Don't worry I got lots of videos from this day!

So when we got there I knew things were gonna be different and that is welcomed because new and different leads to learning and growth for everyone. After we got changed and got out of the sauna (old mans cheat to warming up quicker) we headed into the weight room to do warm ups. Well we did quite a few things right there that we have never done. We did some forearm and elbow exercises to loosen them up. We also did these rubber band snatches to warm up our shoulders. That was pretty hard cause we have never done thou's before. To top off the warm up's we did some Kennelly style triceps presses with dumbbells.

Now it was time to Bench! So after about 3 more warm up sets on the bench we got into 4 boards for the day. So we went up to our 3 rep max on 4 boards. ( for me 4 board presses are like 3-4 inch lock outs, I have a very short stroke) I got up to 495 lbs and get 5 reps out of it. AJ got 405 and Tamara had 135 raw for 3 reps on the 4 board. I say that was a great job right there. Nope we had a lot more to do. Time to shirt up! So we went up I got 585 on 4 boards for 3 reps.. much better than my 2.5 board 1 rep fail a week earlier. So then I stepped down in weights and moved my grip in closer to lengthen my Range of movement (ROM). and I did a set of 5 with 500 lbs then a set of 10 with 500 lbs. AJ did 2 different sets of 3 with 2 different bench shirts with 500 lbs. And Tamara had an awesome day and did a 225, 245 and 265 lbs sets all with 3 reps. WOW go Tamara!

So here is some videos Enjoy. Don't forget to goto my Youtube page and subscribe! and there is more videos of the day there too!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Powerliftershawnr

Day OFF! What about the gear?

So here it is, 2 Videos (since I couldnt get it to fit on 1) about my gear and what I use. These are pretty basic on subject manner. So if you want more info on something please ask and I will do my best to provide it.

So today I got some chains for training as well. I just need to find someone with heavy duty bolt cutters to cut them to length! But I got about 100 lbs in chain for about 70 bucks today! not bad.

A little better, and its shoulder day!

Well, today was mostly shoulder's and that is what A.J., Tamara and I set out to do. So we hit the gym doing a some dumbbell shoulder presses. Then we had a little fun by modifying this by tie'n bands to the dumbbells and using the bands as handles letting the weight dangle down to the floor bouncing around out of control like wild animals. OK, maybe it wasn't that dramatic but it add's a whole new level of difficulty to the exercises. Working our shoulders to almost tear's, God I love that!

Here is a video of one of my dumbbells sets.

Well after the band fun, I set out to do some heavier rack pulls getting me use to pulling weight again as it's been probably about 10 months since I did dead lifts. I take it slow when it comes to them as to avoid injuries. I'm not getting any younger you know! but I got up to a 585 for 2 and 600 for 1, even managed to rip off some of my skin on my hand on the 585 reps. Pretty sweet I know, you don't need to tell me! haha

here are videos of thou's set's

Today I also have started a new supplement from USPLabs called "PowerFULL" I may try stacking this with 2 other products they recommend, "Anabolic-Pump" and "PRIME" as to give the best results. I know a few who take and and they have seemed to have gotten much stronger and put on a good amount of muscle. But what I will do is keep everyone informed on what I think of what I am taking.

Speeking of just that I guess now would be a good time to list what I do take and why I take it.

1. 1 a day Multivitamin ( I take 2 of them a day, as my body needs more than most do.)

2. Osteo Bi-Flex Joint Shield (I take 2 of them a day as well as my joints go thou hell most days)

3. L-Glutamine ( for work out recovery time and I have been told helps absorb creatine)

4. Creatine Monohydrate ( speeds up Recovery time a lot and helps me get stronger because I can work out harder and longer )

5. HSP Active ( this helps fold the proteins in your body after you work out to build muscle, your body cant use the proteins unless they are "folded". This just lets it happen easier and faster for longer.)

6. PowerFull ( this is a natural growth hormone releaser, basically it helps keep up your own natural hormones to help build strength and muscle)

7. Muscle Milk ( this is protein and other nutrients your body needs pre and post workout to help give you energy and build thous muscles as well as help your body recover faster.)

So these are the things I take daily to help my body recover and grow. This of course does not include all the food I intake. I try to take in about 5 meals a day. I don't really count calories or anything like that but I just try to take in as much as I can. If you want to lift massive amounts of weights you need to take in a lot of calories and protein. They say a power lifter needs about 2 grams of protein a day per pound of body weight. so for me I'm 275 lbs = 550 grams of protein, I don't think I get that or even close but I try. I might start to try to count them.

I know I said I might do a video today on my gear and why I use it ect but with working out today and I have a day off from the gym tomorrow I will go into that tomorrow as I will have time to do it.

Getting Better

Well it seems I am getting a bit better, hopefully tomorrow ill be back at the gym pushing more iron!

I think tomorrow I will also do some reviews of my gear I use and talk about why I use what I use. I'm gonna do this because a lot of the time I see people who don't have a clue as to what I'm wearing and why, So I'll do a video for it! What do you guys think?

And I was wondering if anyone would like tip's or maybe workout plan's/ ideas, maybe how to do a certain exercise, anything like that? The reason I'm looking at doing that is for a few reasons, I want to have good content you guys can enjoy, and also im planning on getting certified as a personal trainer and strength coach as I have been doing this on and off for years anyways, right? I think it sounds like a good idea. But please if anyone has any ideas regarding content they would like to see here please comment and let me know. I want this to be a growing and fun page for everyone to enjoy in the fitness/ exercise world! ( I know that did sound a bit chessy, haha oh well!)

So I broke down and took some Emergen-c (something I never wanted to do, just cause everyone seems to be doing it) WOW I must say it made a big difference very quickly. No wonder a lot of people use this stuff, damn why didn't I jump on this band wagon?

Back to some weight training talk. Today was suppose to be shoulders, but since I have been sick and I had 2 days of benching near or over 600 lbs with only 1 day of rest between my shoulders could use the rest. That kind of weight is hard on the joints you know! So I think I will do shoulders tomorrow but not go over board because we have another heavy day of benching come Sat. in Oregon City. This will be our 1st time working out with Adrian, Ben and there team.

Here is a video of them a few weeks back training!

Amazing power huh?

Our hopes of getting stronger and pushing our limits will defiantly be granted Sat by the looks of that! When there is that competitive drive we all get better and isn't that what this sport is all about?

I'm Going to close by saying, If you are interested at all or intrigued by my blog please follow me, and tell your friends to as well. Thanks, talk to you all tomorrow!

SICK!

Well after yesterdays workout (very heavy day) I feel hella sick. So today being super sore and sick together is not fun at all!

Yesterday I did have some great lifting though, I was able to get 500 lbs for 2 reps to 1 board fairly easy. I was real close to a 585 lbs press as well. I think I just got a bit out of line with it. So I know that weight will come in the next few weeks im sure. then I dropped it down to 425 lbs and pumped out 7 partial reps as I couldn't get that weight to touch in a shirt. Right now I'm just trying to get more time in the shirt as it will help in the coming months. As wells as getting use to heavier and heavier weights.

here is my attempt at 585.

Here is 500 for 2 reps easy

Right now im just relaxing and taking a day or 2 off extra from the gym as being sick and lifting will only result in poor performance and lack of gains. Better off just getting better 1st.

AJ had a great day yesterday too got 500 lbs for 2 reps to about 2 board depth. right now hes just breaking in a super katana bench shirt. and this shirt is probly to small for him by far as its only one size bigger than the one im using now. He is about 65 to 70 more lbs of body weight than me if that gives you an idea.

Tamara also had a very heavy day we got her under 205 lbs for 1 and did 2 sets of this. After that she felt like she had been run over by a truck. She is getting closer to her goal all the time of 200+ lbs bench press at a meet. She should get this some time this year maybe even by nationals in March.

After our shirt work we went to bands and boards raw. this was a great work out. Though I did have one mishap. Tamara was filming and I laid the boards on me and was doing my set of 295 lbs plus green bands and well after I hit the boards the 1st time with the weight, the boards slid down and smacked me in the face.. haha (well not so funny when it happened) the result was the weights coming down super fast and me loosing control as they slam into my gut. Good thing I'm big other wise I could have hurt myself. This was pretty funny to watch on video though.

The Start

Well here we are, in the beginning. This is going to be my power lifting/ bench press blog. Here I hope to track my progress into the 600 lbs bench press and beyond into the 700 and 800 and more!.

My name is Shawn Rainey and I started power lifting as a soft-more in high school. I did well, set a few records but being a 3 sport athlete took its toll on my body. Suffering from some back injury's slowed me a bit. I did put in 1 full year in the WABDL (World Association of Bench-pressers and Dead Lifters) but again was riddled with injuries.

After 10 years without touching a weight, I was just getting out of shape so I went back to the gym with the intentions of just getting healthy again. Of course the competitive spirit reared its head up and I seemed to be getting stronger than I had ever got in the past. Quickly after just 4 months of training I was benching near 500 lbs. So I decided to do a meet again. That meet would be near my home town of Vancouver, WA at Portland OR. The national WABDL championships were being held there. I ended up doing a 518 lbs bench at 256 lbs body weight in the 259 lbs weight class. Setting a new WA State class 1 mens record for that class. Not bad after 10 years!

This year I have my eyes on setting a new WABDL WA state record in the 275 weight class Open men. This so happens to be held by the great Ryan Kennelly with a lift of 655 lbs. For thous of you who don't know he currently holds the all time bench record of 1075 lbs. You can Google him, hes pretty insane.

So I plan in writing here a few times a week about my work outs, supplements, sponsors ect. Currently I'm in week 4 of my cycle, and have had a lot of positive workouts and displays of strength. Just 2 days ago myself, buddy A.J. and my Girl Friend all attended a benefit meet to help a family locally. There I did a Bench Press Demo, since this meet was more for beginner and new lifters. I was able to do a 2 board of 500 lbs for 5 reps, 1 board 585lbs for 1 rep and 635lbs for 1 rep. Felt decently strong that day but was having a few form problems. I'm very happy I have a team of great spotters and lifting partners.

So I will post videos and talk about how my training is going ect. see ya'll on the next blog!