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

6/27/11

6/26/2011 Island Strength

Accessory Day

Pull-downs
4x10
4x5

JM Press
Bar with Choked Minis x15
135+Choked Minis x10
135+Minis w/1-Turn x10
135+Minis w/2-Turns x10

Slingshot Pushups
x40
x30

Band Rear Delts
3x20

Cable Upright Rows
x15

The Schmeck
JM Press
Bar + Choked Minis x15
135 + Minis x10
135+ Minis w/1-Turn x10
135+ Minis w/2-Turns x10

Slingshot Pushups
x 23

Thats it.

6/24/11

6/23/2011 Island Strength

Bench Day
Bar
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1**

Put on Super F-6 "The Pollack"
405x1 4-Board
475x1 3-Board
500x1 3-Board*

Tricep Death 2-5 Board
VCG 245x5 (Got 4-reps on 5-Board)

Rolling Extensions
40x12
50x12

Cable Curls
60X10
70X5*
80X5**

Big T
Raw 405x1
Put on Slingshot
455x3
495x1
545x0 Misgroove
500x2

Tricep Death 2-5 Board
275x5

The Schmeck
225x1
250x1* Easy!
2-Board 275x0 -Close

Tricep Death 2-5 Board
155x5


6/20/11

6/19/2011 Island Strength

Accessory Day

High Pin Press (Hole #9)
Bar
125x10
225x5
315x3
365x3
405x2
425x1*

Reverse M-Mini JM's
135x6
185x6
225x6
235x6

WG Pull-downs
120x20

1-Arm Straight-arm Pushdowns
50x10
60x10
70x10

Green Band Push-downs
1x50

Really tired after a double shift.
Didn't go balls to the wall but had
a strong workout with a small PR
on High Pin Press.

T-bone Strength 6-19-11

Close Grip 10x3

Extreme Close Grip Bench (Couple inches from smooth part of bar)
135x5
225x5 (3 sets)
275x3 (5 sets)
295x3 (5 sets)

DB Bench
70x20
85x20
100x20

DB Flyes
3 sets of 10

Rope Pushdowns
3 sets of 10

Abs

I'm going to work the hell out of my close grip bench. I feel like its a fairly weak area for me and I like discovering weaknesses in my strength. Means I can work on them. Decided to do 10x3 with a weight that isn't mega heavy but at the same time was challenging. I'll work boards next week with my close grip. Should be good.

Overkill is coming...

6/17/11

T-Bone Strength 6/17/11

Legs and Back

SSB Box Squats
135x5 (3 sets)
225x5 (3 sets)
315x3 (3 sets)

Barbell Rows
135x8
225x8
315x8

Rack Pulls (Pin Hole 1)
405x1
495x1 (3 sets)
545x1

Behind the neck pulldowns
3 sets of 12

Front Pulldowns
2 sets of 10

Dumbbell Rows
165x20 (1 set each arm)

Bent Over Lateral Raises
2 sets of 10

Abs

Getting there. Jacked up my wrist somehow from yesterday. Gonna take it easy for a little while. May deload next week to give my wrist a break. Back is getting stronger. Taking a tip from Gene Rychlak and squatting with the SSB to save my shoulders while allowing me to squat heavy but right now I'm just getting the feel of squatting down again. So far so good, will get stronger!

T-Bone Strength 6/16/11

Repeated Effort

Floor Press
Bar
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x1 (7 singles in under 10 minutes)

Floor Press Lockout
495x3 (5 sets)

Floor JM Press
3 sets of 6

Pushdowns
3 sets of 10

Rolling Triceps Extensions
2 sets of 10

Since I didn't have a spotter decided to play it safe with a Repeated Effort workout. Man, having little to no rest time really makes it difficult. I was dying on the 4th set, but I was determined to go through all 7 sets in 10 minutes. I'll get some back work in today and some rear delt training. All in all signs are pointing to a huge bench. Overkill is coming...

6/13/11

T-Bone Strength Last Two Sessions

6/10/11

Shrugs
135x10 (2 sets)
225x10 (2 sets)
315x10 (2 sets)
405x6 (2 sets)

DB Rows
100x15 (2 sets)
165x10 (2 sets)

Pulldowns
3 sets of 10

Bent Over Lateral Raises
2 sets of 12

Alternating DB Curls
2 sets of 10 reps (each arm)

6/13/11

Speed Bench (All very close grips, 3 second pauses at the top, 10 second rest in between each 3x3 then a 2 minute rest to reset the weights)

185x3x3
205x3x3
225x3x3

EZ Curl Bar Skull Crushers
3 sets of 10

1 arm Cable Side Crossover
2 sets of 20

Slingshot Pushups
2 sets to failure

Abs

Countdown to Overkill is on.....

Speed was extremely fast tonight. Felt like doing speed benching to give my elbows a break. Heavy lockout work really helps me, but also beats me up. I'll get back to it next week. All is going in the right direction. Back is getting stronger and I know its helping my bench. Overall feeling confident for the future!

6/10/11

Freak Strength 6/9/11

Reverse Band Bench (W/Green Bands)

Bar
135x5
Added Reverse Green Bands
225x3
315x3
405x1
495x1
Added Slingshot
525x1
545x1
585x1**PR
605x0

405x20
455x10

One Arm Reverse Band JM Press
2 sets of 5 reps each arm

Pushdowns
3 sets of 10

Steve
Bar
135x3
Add Reverse Green Bands
225x2
315x1
365x1**PR I Believe
Add Slingshot
405x1**PR I believe, was very fast and smooth
Add new Super F6 and 4-board
495x3
495x1
545x1

Reverse Band Raw 4-board
405x5 (2 sets)

Full Range Burnout w/SlingShot
315x20

Pulldowns
2 sets of 10

Cable Curls
2 sets

Solid session. Steve got his new shirt in and already is able to have a wide grip and work with some serious weights. Very pleased with handling 585 as I did. A very solid session that has us looking at very big weights in the future. Very solid session overall.

6/5/11

6/5/2011 Island Strength

Accessory Day

Bench Pin Press w/Rev M-Minis (#6 Hole)
135x5 2 Sets
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x2
335x1

Slingshot Pushups
1 x 51

1-Arm Cable Curls
50x5
60x5
70x5
80x2

Crossover Pulldowns
110x25

KB Rows
53x25

The Schmeck
Rev-M-Minis Pin Press
135x5 2 Sets
185x3
225x2 (Grinder)
235x2 (Easy, he's explaining how easy...?)
255x2 (?)
275x1 (This is getting weird)
285x0

Slingshot Pushups
1x20

Crossover Pulldowns
90x20

KB Row
53x20

Stress relief...



T-Bone Strength 6-05-11

Rear Delt Assault

Overhead Pin Press
135x5
205x5
225x3
275x3
315x3

Incline Barbell Bench
135x10
185x10

Triceps Paused Pushdowns
2 sets of 10

1 arm Cable Crossover Pulldowns
2 sets to failure

Bent over Shoulder Laterals
3 sets of 10

Band Pull aparts w/doubled mini
2 sets to failure


I will eventually put that record out of site....

6/3/11

T-Bone Strength 6-03-11

Back Assistance

Shrugs
135x10 (2 sets)
225x8 (2 sets)
315x6
405x6
495x6
315x15

DB ROWS
85x10
125x10
145x10
165x10

Pulldowns
5 sets of 10

Lateral Shoulder Raises
3 sets of 10

Grip Work
Wrist Roller
Suitcase Deadlifts

Must get that back strong for a huge bench. I will have a huge bench as I will not be deterred by anything whats so ever. Overkill is on the way, as is my way to the top!

T-Bone Strength 6-2-11

Bench Day

Bar
135x5
185x3
205x3
225x3
315x1
405x1
Add SlingShot
455x1
Add Super Katana and 4-board
585x1 +HOLDING IT FOR 20 Seconds extra!
3-board
585x1
605x1

5-board (worked on new form)
315x5 (2 sets)
405x5

Pushdowns
2 sets of 10

Incline Tates
2 sets of 10

Rolling Extensions
2 sets of 10

Big Steve (The Polish Experiment)
Bar
135x5
185x3
205x3
225x1
255x1
275x1
3-board
315x1
Add Slingshot, full range
345x1
365x0 (Could of made it but didn't grind it out)
Add A/S Katana and 4-board
405x1
3-board
405x1
405x0 (Brought it too far down)

5-board
315x5
335x5

Cable Crossover Pulldowns
3 sets of 10

Rolling Extensions
2 sets of 10

Scott
Bar
135x5
185x5
205x2
225x1
235x1
250x0 (Technical difficulties)

Close Grip Rep Out
155x15

Solved a problem with Scott's leg difficulties. By putting plates under his feet, we eliminate the over extension of his legs which by putting too much of a stretch on his legs causes them to cramp. With the plates under his feet, his legs aren't over extended and he can get more leg drive which should result in bigger benches for him. We need to do work on his set up and we should be golden with him.

Big Steve got some solid work in. What we need to do with Steve is really work on torquing the shirt and really jacking it instead of putting it on like a t-shirt. With this new Katana (bargain rack) the arms are a tad big which means we need to move the seams of the shirt towards his elbow and really focus on getting a big pop from the chest plate. With Steve's new foot placement also we have to focus on him getting tight and having a big launching pad for his bench.

With me, I myself am working on a new set up which is going to take some time to get down. I need myself to work on handling bigger weights more often. Steve pointed out that I was too far down on the bench when I was bringing weights out which made me too far away from the J-Hooks in terms of racking the weight. By just moving up on the bench a little bit, I smashed 605 like an empty bar. Getting back in my shirt more often will be extremely beneficial down the line I feel, especially with my new shirt coming in. Really need to hammer my lats more than I do and work the legs to get more leg drive.

All in all a good session with some valuable lessons learned. Next week is going to be Reverse Bands, with or without a shirt is unclear to me right now. Continuing to overload our CNS is going to be essential in allowing our bodies to be conditioned to bigger weights so its not such a shock when we get them in our hands.