A little about me

I have competed in both Olympic Weightlifting and Bench-Only Lifting. I competed in Olympic Lifting as a kid. Best lifts of 255 Olympic Press, 225 Snatch, 255 Clean & Jerk. I met many of the great lifters and coaches from the 60's and 70's. After a 20-year break to serve my country I started lifting regularly again and competing in Bench-Only. Best Lift: 419lbs "equipped".

Feel free to follow along on the adventure...

Steve Denning

2/27/10

2/27/2010 Island Strength

Lockout Day

Reverse-Band 4-Board Press
405x1
Put on 52" Katana
545x1
565x1*

1-Arm Incline Ext
35x16*
25x20

Womacks
130x10/10
110x15/20

Tony
Super Katana
545x0 no touch
615x1
665x1
700x1*

Raw CG Rev-Band 4-Board
405 5x5

1-Arm Incline Ext
40x17*
25x20

Womacks
130x10/10
140x15/20

Nice PRs tonight.

2/26/10

2/26/2010 Island Strength

Upper Back

CG Pull-downs w/Weight and Bands
140 8 sets of 8

Upright Cable Rows
120 8 sets of 8

Band Rear Laterals
3x10

Face Pulls
120x15 2 sets

Band Pull-aparts
1x10

Tony
Reverse-grip Rows

Squats

Face Pulls

2/25/10

2/25/2010 Island Strength

3-Board Press
Bar
135x5
185x1
225x1
315x2
Put on 52" Katana
405x1
440x1*
455x1* 30lb PR

DB Floor Press
70x12 3 Sets

Big T
405x3
Put on 52" Super Katana
515x0 no touch, easy press
545x1
585x1*
600x1* 50lb PR

DB Floor Press
90x12 3 Sets

455 for the Ancient One and
600 for the Next Big Thing. Very
cool.

2/20/10

2/20/2010 Island Strength

Lockout Day

Reverse-Band 5-Board
405x3
Put on 54" F-6
455x3
Put on 52" Katana
525x3*
600x0

Raw 405x3

1-Arm Incline Extensions
35x14*

Big T
455x3
500x3
Put on Blueberry Special
615x3*
Raw 500x3
545x3

1-Arm Incline Extensions
40x15

Tony did more shirted benching
but I couldn't remember. In any
case everything was real easy,
with PRs and plenty in the tank.

2/18/10

2/18/10 Island Strength

Bench Day

First day back in shirts...

3-Board Press
Bar
135x5
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1 3-Board
Put on 52" Katana
365x1
405x3*
Did 425x1 on 8/27/09

Fry Press
50x10
60x10
70x10

Big T
405x1 3-Board
Put on new Super Katana
500x1 Difficult Touch
515x1
545x3*
Did 550x1 on 8/27/09

Fry Press
70x10
90x10
100x10

Easy PR's all around. Really
proving the efficacy of the 10x3
program. We'll hit a heavy single
3-Board next week, a 2-Board
the following week, then a 1-Board.

2/13/10

2/13/2010 Island Strength

Seated Pin Press

225x3
275x3
315x1

1-Arm Band Push-downs
Blue Band x20 3 Sets

Tony

365x3
405x1
425x1
455x1
500x0 Had it off the pins but not locked

Rolling Extensions
3 Sets

We said that going above 300 would
happen on this pin setting, but I did
315 and Tony had 500 "hovering".
Awesome.


2/11/10

2/11/2010 Island Strength

Enhanced Reverse-Band BP
355 10 Singles

DB Flyes
30x12
40x12 2 sets

Big T
405 2 Singles
425x 1
445 6 Singles
475x 1

DB Flyes 3 Sets of 12

This was our last raw bench day in
preparation for the Cal USPF State
Meet in March. We'll see how the 10x3
protocol translates into shirted strength.
We'll start at 3-Board for 3, then to 1. Go to
2-Board for 1 and finally 1-Board for 1
before doing openers. Going to a single
doesn't mean going till we miss. It means
hitting a number we will know instinctively.
We will go for broke on 3rd and 4th attempts!

2/8/10

2/8/2010 Island Strength


Basic AGF Training Cycle


The 10x3 is working very well.

I've put together a plan following

our next competition consisting of

two 3-week mini cycles including de-load

weeks. It alternates raw full-range

movements with partials and some shirt

work.


I'll outline bench and tricep days...


10x3 on main movements, no change

to sets/reps on secondary movements.


Bench Day

Week 1) Floor Press w/Bands, Cable Flyes

Week 2) Super Rev-Band BP, DB Flyes

Week 3) De-load (DB BP or D.E. BP)

Week 4) Loose Shirt 2-Board, Cable Flyes

Week 5) Dbl-Band BP, DB Flyes

Week 6) De-load (DB BP or D.E. BP)

---Repeat---


Tricep Day

Week 1) 5-Board, 1-Arm Ext

Week 2) Rev-Band JM, Womacks

Week 3) Rev-Band 5-Board, 1Arm Ext

Week 4) S/W JM, Womacks

---Repeat---


Back Day: Pretty much the same. I like

to get two movements in at around 8 sets

of 8 each, plus pull-aparts or some other rear

delt or rotator cuff movement. But whatever.

Just get stronger.


I'm anxious to try the loose shirt 2-boards for

10x3 and high-volume 5-board work.
A pic of me and my lady from back in the day.
Damn hippies.












2/6/10

2/6/2010 Island Strength

De-load
DB Bench
50x10
70x10
90x10

Womacks
110x10 2 Sets

1-Arm Cable Rows
100x20

Big T
De-load

We will PUMP you up!

2/5/10

T-Bone Strength 2/5/10

Didn't train today, a ridiculous amount of work today and also this being a deload week made me not want to train but to rest, I'm actually fairly sore today and I know its from working with straight weight and even with the "chains". It got me to thinking...

The best success we have had in benching has been with board training (at least I think so). Also we have had great success with band training in one form or another; and I believe we would have great success with the "chains" that I came up with. With this said, I have felt a great deal of gains from the 10x3 program as is evident with myself benching 305 for reps with bands which I've never done before in my life. What if we had a 10x3 cycle for M.E. Bench work that looked something like:

S/W 3-board 10x3 Week 1
S/W 2-board 10x3 Week 2
Double Mini's/Monster Mini's 3-board 10x3 Week 3
Double Mini's/Monster Mini's 2-board 10x3 Week 4
D.E. Bench Week 5 (Deload)

My biggest problem is my lockout which I am beginning to fix. Sufficient warming up definitely has helped me out but also getting stronger but the problem that Steve and I both have is that when we get the weight off our chest with our shirts, it stalls occasionally and I think this would help to remedy the problem. Now I would consider this cycle the first cycle and have a second cycle with something similar to what we are doing now.

S/W Floor Press 10x3
Reverse Band (Enhanced or not) 10x3
S/W Raw Bench 10x3
"Chains" Raw Bench/Floor Press 10x3

I figure this would be a great way to increase our strength as well as our size. I've noticed since the change in my diet a great deal of more solid muscle mass and strength. 10x3 is the way I feel we can increase our gains greatly. As far as a triceps exercise. high boards, JM's, and extensions of all kinds will be a great way to go about our post state championship training. Opinions? Thoughts?

2/4/10

T-Bone Strength 2/4/10

Recovery Stuff

Raw Bench

Did the 330 column of the Iron Chamber:
255x6
275x4
315x2
295x3
255x6

225x20

Experimented with banded weights to simulate chains, my chest is pulsating still!

Cable Flies: 60x20 2 sets

Incline DB Bench: 70x20 1 set

I think there is definitely something to those banded weights that simulate chains. The weight bounces all over the place making the bar very unstable and makes it much more difficult to press. I had only 20 pounds on each side then added a plate to make the total "weight" 175 and let me tell you the resistance steadily increases as you press the weight up. For sure there is a 10x3 in there somewhere with that set up.