Sunday 6/7-Chest w/ Dave
Sunday was a shorter session that involved just Dave and I. We trained chest and it began with slight incline dumbbell presses. The session moved a bit more slowly than the previous day but that is not by any means saying it was easy. After the bench we did pec dips and finished with spring bar bench with a spring bar contraction superset. I then proceeded to hit some rear delt work as Dave outlined it was a major issue of mine. Dave was generous enough to share a lot of knowledge in the realm of nutrition as well fill me in on the history of the company and some relations.
From the minute I left the session on Saturday I kept repeating over and over the cues Dave and Jon had provided me with. Everything I did I approached differently. Im slightly obsessive when I decide to learn something but I end up learning it in the end. I chose to participate in this drastically different type of training for two major reasons. Firstly, I plan on reaching some goals in the 198 and 231 class in powerlifting and strongman respectively which require some weight gain. Secondly, I was blessed with the opportunity to be at Elite and around the people I am so it was a perfect opportunity to learn and step out of my comfort zone.
My biggest take away from today was how I viewed certain exercises. Today was dips specifically Dave and I did a pec dip that was drastically different than any dip I have previously done with a much smaller ROM. Any movement can be adjusted slightly to give it a totally different intent, don’t over look the small details.
Saturday 6/13- Legs w/ Dave
Today was probably in the top three most difficult training sessions I have ever completed and I am certainly not a newbie in this category. John was in florida for the weekend so it was just Dave and I training legs. We only did 3 work sets for the whole training session. Plenty of warm ups led us into our first challenge set on SSB Yoke Bar box squats with chains. Dave completed somewhere around 20 reps at 333 with 6 chains on each side. At this point I had butterflies for the first time in any lifting related event since my first national level strongman competition. The session felt exactly like the crazy videos on youtube. Then it was my turn, Dave still trying to recover from the set made the call for spotters, and before I realized it everyone in the compound had their eyes on me as I stepped under the bar. I think I got 15 before Dave stripped the chains and made me go for max reps at three plates, then again at one plate. Brutal would be a major understatement but I survived. Next we did reverse band leg press where every 8 reps we added a plate until failure. We finished with seated leg curls with 100 partials.
This three work set training session changed me. I can’t remember the last time I had put so much effort into one session. It was equivalent to a competition in effort but in a much shorter span of time. I loved it. Somehow I did love every second of it.
My biggest take away from today wasn’t as much weight room related as it was life related. I was confronted with a unique but scary experience that left a lot of “what if” scenarios in my head. The best advice I was given was to let go of the “what if’s” because they didn’t happen. There is simply what did happen and how I choose to respond and learn from it. The “what if’s” can cloud your mind and impair judgement not allowing you to learn and grow from the experience, regardless of its connotation.
Sunday 6/14-Chest w/ Dave
The Sunday sessions always have a different feel to them. They are a little slower and much more intently focused. Saturday’s are all around intense with a different vibe all together. Chest training this week was personally much more effective as I find myself learning more and more about my own body and how to properly train the muscle. Training the muscles versus training the movement is amongst the many things Dave excels at explaining so I may not do him justice. However in the simplest terms I view training muscles versus movements as being inherently different based on their goals. Training movement is characterized by force production and has a goal of increasing strength or speed. Training a muscle group is typically characterized by a constant tempo with a goal of hypertrophying the muscle group. Each have a time and place in training and can even be utilized within the same session, just keep in mind the goal of the exercise or training day and approach it properly.
Andrew Triana is a Springfield College student studying Applied Exercise Science. He competes in Strongman.