My training History: I trained less than one year before competing in my first powerlifting meet as a teenager back in 1983. Before leaving the sport partially due to injuries in 2005 I achieved my elitefts status in the 198,220,242,275 & 308 weight class. Throughout these years I did have a 3 year run in the bodybuilding world. I have degenerative joint disease, have had two shoulder surgeries (right shoulder now needs replaced), one full hip replacement, knee surgery, and herniation's in all three regions of my spine, Bone spurs (all joints). I can't even begin to list the number of muscle tears I have had, surgical and non surgical. I am "The Mashed Up Meathead" and this is my story.
You can find my training log archives HERE and my most current training log posts HERE.
My best lifts are behind be but my best training is yet to come.
* Unless otherwise noted the tempo of the work sets is about 1/2 of what most would consider normal. In most cases, if I did the set with normal temp what I fail at with 8-10 reps in training I could do for 20 reps with a normal tempo. This is to keep the joint stress down while increase the stress on the muscle. I have found this to work best for me provided the conditions listed in my training history above.
Warm Up:
Front raises using the steel bells.
2 warm-up sets with 10 pounds, 1 set of 15 with 20 pounds, 1 set of 15 with 30 pounds, 2 sets of 15 with 40 pounds, and then 1 set of 30 with 30 pounds.
Kettle bell behind the back, side raises.
What I really like about this is these were not really side raises; they were more kettle bell swings, which is what I consider a John Meadows exercise. With a dumbbell swing, you basically just swing the dumbbells out in front of you like you do on a partial side raise from the bottom position. What the kettle bells allow, is they allow you to do the same movement, except let the weight where the kettle bells go behind your back, so you're actually getting a greater range of motion and more stretch on the deltoids because you're able to go behind your back and still do the swing motion. 2 warm-up sets and then 4 work sets of 25 to 30 reps, each set's a failure.
Neutral grip, Smith machine presses.
This is a really hard exercise to explain. The way that I do this is I can't grab the bar with a reverse grip or with a normal grip to do a seated front press, so I put my hands in a neutral position and I grab the bar between my thumb and my forefinger, so my hands are in a neutral grip position. Obviously, I'm not using a whole lot of weight on this. My shoulders can't handle a whole lot of weight on it anyhow, so 2 warm-up sets with just the bar, whatever that weighs. Our Smith machine has a Texas squat bar that we use when we manufacture these. That way it's a little bit wider, so people can squat in it. The bar's stronger and it's a little bit thicker, and it also weighs more. 2 warm-up sets with the bar and then 4 sets of 15 to 20 to failure with a dime and a five on each side. That weight is still light for me, so I make it heavy by using a much slower tempo to be able to fail between 10 and 15 reps.
Rear Delt Machine
Warm-up to a weight that I can do for 30 reps. When I get to that weight, 1 set of 30 reps, strip the weight in half and do 60 reps. Strip the weight in half again and did another 30 reps, 1 set.
Hise shrugs
using in a standing calf machine. No warm-up sets needed. Use about half the weight of the stack. 4 sets of 20 to 25 repetitions, each set to failure. Failure is controlled by the tempo that I use. If the weight feels light, I slow the tempo down. If the weight feels heavy, I pick the tempo up.
Neck raises lying flat on the bench
using a steel bells on my forehead, 2 sets forward, 2 sets with each side and 2 sets rear. That's it.