Post by RustoleusMaximus on May 19, 2009 8:03:50 GMT -5
I have been competing on and off for the past 30 years having begun in the 181 lb. class and most recently competing in the 275 lb. class. During those years, I competed in the ADFPA (USAPL) and never used any juice. I religiously read my PL USA issues and learned from whomever I could. This included some Buddy Duke disciples; a Mr. Georgia winner; numerous power lifters and Olympic lifters at college along with a vast assortment of magazines over the years.
I trained for a couple of years with Louie Simmons back in the early 90's at his gym here in CBus. One thing that I did learn from Louie is that you can build strength using speed. Over and over again, I have had great results using pre-determined percentages of my max and using compensatory acceleration (Fred Hatfields term). I have seen my lifts go up using 60 - 70% of my 1 rep max. I rarely train at 80% or above as I train alone (although at the gym) ... and I have found that too much heavy training fries my nervous system. I don't use bands or chains; although, I might use a band or two down the road. My training has been kept simple on purpose as I believe in KISS.
Also, as Eddy Coan has often said ... I leave "a little in the tank " not training to absolute failure on any body part. This has worked well for me and I have only incurred a pulled hamstring and partially torn triceps in all my years of lifting and competing. I have never used a bench shirt as I tried one once and split it into on my first rep with it. After laying off and totally out for a while. I am going to be coming back and intend to use my same old tried and true formula that doesn't leave my nerves frazzled and seems to work for me. I have also always made a point of training with pauses in the bench and squat (box squats) and not leaving my best lifts in the gym ... but rather for the contest (where they belong).
As we are all individuals with varying degrees of recuperative ability based on our daily lives schedules; physiology; rest; factors outside of lifting etc. it behooves us to experiment and find what type of training works best for us as individuals.
I thank Louie for opening my eyes to the use of speed in building strength as well as using accessory work to build strength in the main lifts. As Louie would say ... "there's more than one way to skin a cat." ;D Oh ... I am 48 years old ... squatted 450; deadlifted 450 and benched 345 in my first RAW meet which was actually a USAPL meet weighing 247 lbs.
I trained for a couple of years with Louie Simmons back in the early 90's at his gym here in CBus. One thing that I did learn from Louie is that you can build strength using speed. Over and over again, I have had great results using pre-determined percentages of my max and using compensatory acceleration (Fred Hatfields term). I have seen my lifts go up using 60 - 70% of my 1 rep max. I rarely train at 80% or above as I train alone (although at the gym) ... and I have found that too much heavy training fries my nervous system. I don't use bands or chains; although, I might use a band or two down the road. My training has been kept simple on purpose as I believe in KISS.
Also, as Eddy Coan has often said ... I leave "a little in the tank " not training to absolute failure on any body part. This has worked well for me and I have only incurred a pulled hamstring and partially torn triceps in all my years of lifting and competing. I have never used a bench shirt as I tried one once and split it into on my first rep with it. After laying off and totally out for a while. I am going to be coming back and intend to use my same old tried and true formula that doesn't leave my nerves frazzled and seems to work for me. I have also always made a point of training with pauses in the bench and squat (box squats) and not leaving my best lifts in the gym ... but rather for the contest (where they belong).
As we are all individuals with varying degrees of recuperative ability based on our daily lives schedules; physiology; rest; factors outside of lifting etc. it behooves us to experiment and find what type of training works best for us as individuals.
I thank Louie for opening my eyes to the use of speed in building strength as well as using accessory work to build strength in the main lifts. As Louie would say ... "there's more than one way to skin a cat." ;D Oh ... I am 48 years old ... squatted 450; deadlifted 450 and benched 345 in my first RAW meet which was actually a USAPL meet weighing 247 lbs.
