Maturity And Backing Off

 This is an observation and hopefully some words of wisdom. I have seen many people, people dedicated to training, willing to do whatever it takes.... but were they? when you are willing to do whatever it takes, this can also include doing things you don't want to do, sometimes this could be backing off and needing to know when to do this is very important for staying injury free and keep improving. 

Everyone wants to go beast mode especially if you have a competition looming in the not too distant future its very easy and I have done it myself, finding myself caught up in needing to smash it in the gym, needing to hit the numbers, needing to do a particular exercise because it is the day for it. You spent all day working yourself up getting pumped that you were going to do a certain weight or a certain number of rep's you have taken your pre-workout and done everything right throughout the day, now it's time! except during the warm-ups something doesn't feel right, something is causing you pain, it could be a muscle or a tendon, and deep inside you know its been getting worse recently, so what do you do? This is where training maturity comes in. 

The most dedicated people are so obsessed with the goals they have they will stop at almost nothing to do what is needed, this mentality bleeds over so they believe they need to push through it, when infact quite often its the opposite they need to back off, it maybe for a few days and just be a small tweak it maybe a few weeks for something more serious or even a few months if it is a real problem. Knowing when to do this and when not to can be hard but over time if you learn and listen to your body it will give you sign's.

 Now when you need to back off it doesn't mean stop putting work in but to slightly change the direction. Depending on how bad thing's are you may need to stop doing certain exercises, change to more friendly exercises that do not cause an issue to flare up or it could be as simple as needing more recovery so rather than busting your ass and going super heavy it maybe better to do some higher rep lighter work instead. Just because its not part of the plan or just because its not super heavy doesn't mean it doesn't have a use and adding work like this at the right time can really benefit you in the long term. 

Auto Regulation 

Every day is different, you may have not have slept well, or not had time to eat as much, you maybe going through a lot of stress in life, relationship troubles, or even very seemingly simple things like you are unable to get to the gym at your normal time which could completely change your routine. Most people do not think about these things but they can effect how you perform on any given day. If your program says you must do a certain percent and the warmups are feeling heavy, do not be afraid to drop it, or the opposite if it feel far too easy and your having one of those magical days do not be afraid to go the other way and increase it. No routine can program for life, but knowing how you feel will enable you to adapt, this way you can take advantage of the good days and adapt to the bad days, just like knowing when to back off in training or when to go full steam ahead. This is the auto regulation and as long as you can be true to yourself, true to how you feel and not make yourself believe what you want to believe this is the best way to train.

Many factors can play a role in auto regulation, technique can be one, if your technique is off you maybe lacking concentration or it maybe tightness or muscle fatigue, in this case it would be better to lower the weight. It could be bar speed, on a good day a certain weight your doing within the warm-up might feel like an empty bar and move super quick,on other days it might feel a bit slow like you are lacking power, if this is the case then you adapt. Feeling is another one but this is the toughest to figure out, you can see bar speed and technique in a video, I would recommend always taking videos and watching them back in a session to see bar speed and what you can improve in technique, feel is subjective, and sometimes something feels heavier than it actually is. This may or may not have happened to you but sometimes a weight can feel really heavy, far heavier than you feel it should do, yet when you look back at the video the bar speed is really fast. Sometimes your body can lie to you, you can have a cold and feel horrible yet go to the gym and still hit a pb. Make sure your body is not lying. Make the most of a good day and a bad day! you can always do something productive in the gym now matter how bad you feel, you just need to listen and figure out what to do for the best. 

Pressing Through

After a couple of sessions where thing's felt a lot heavier than they should and a few tweaks i listened to my body dropped down and did some rep work and some bodybuilding assistance and felt loads better afterwards


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Strict Press

100kg 3x3
80kg x 10


DB Strict press (both arms)

30kg 2 x 10


Front raises 

2x 20


Side Raies

4 x 10


Bent over rear delt raises

3 x 12


Tricep Pushdown 

2 x 20

#TryThis Banded Dumbbell Press

Now everyone has an opinion on resistance bands and accommodating resistance, if they are good or not we will leave that discussion for another day. I want to talk about a movement I have been utilizing in my training recently for a number of reasons ill speak about further down.


Banded Dumbbell Press

Now I am sure you are wondering how is this possible? so i have taken a video of the setup in order to give you a better idea.






Pretty simple really, just be careful to get the bands in the right place on your back because if they are too low or high then they will effect the press and possibly make it uneven.


Benefits of Banded Dumbbell Press

Banded Dumbbell press was something I came up with because I was unable to progress any further on my current setup of dumbbell's (only go up to 60kg) a lot of people specially with home gym's have loadable dumbbell's normally the spinlock variation and what you will quickly find is that they only go up to a certain weight even with the thinner 5kg plates. If you do have extra long dumbbell's you maybe able to go up to 40-50kg but you will then find the dumbbells are too long to perform the movement correctly. With a couple of different resistance bands you are able to do the exercise correctly and be able to load the exercise more than normally possible.

The main benefit of using bands on this exercise in terms of muscle development is in the triceps, think of this as a way to overload them as you press upwards the weights get heavier, it also requires you to press faster because normally when you press dumbbell's and it starts getting heavy the weights slow down but now the weight is trying to be pulled back down throughout the entire range of motion , the further the band stretches the more expontential the effect

Using Dumbbells also has the benefit of improving your stabilizing muscles because of the nature of dumbbell's being free to move in any direction. Even with the band's which you may feel hold the dumbbell's more in line you will find it more difficult than a regular bench and not be able to do the same weight.


Con's to Banded Dumbbell Press

Typically because of the setup to get into the best position will require you to have two people to hand you the dumbbell's although this is not entirely a bad thing as it will allow you to get into the same position you would for your normal competition bench press and focus more on pressing the weight.

Less weight in the hand will be achieved because of the overload of the band's so don't expect to be adding these to your top dumbbell bench press.


How to Implement Banded Dumbbell Press

I have found it best to be more the end of a pressing session as somewhat a finisher, where you finish off your triceps and work the smaller stabilizer muscles. I have found the best result from using a weight that you can be explosive with and to stop the set when the weight starts to slow down before you end up grinding the reps too much, this allows you to maintain form and focus on force generation throughout the movement. Be careful to not use a band that is too strong as you want to overload your tricep's but don't want to have the majority of the exercise as band tension. Using heavy weight dumbbell's is fine but I would not recommend going below 5 repetition's. Make sure that each repetition is controlled do not try and bounce at the bottom either a very slight touch and go or a complete pause then explode up throughout the movement to lockout.


Try it out and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Introducing RYOT Athlete: Josh Cannon

Josh Cannon at bodypower 2016 

 

What better way to announce our newest member to the RYOT team than a celebration of him breaking the all federation all weight class bench press record... again! This time Josh Cannon managed to bench 255kg in full power! extending his own record another 2.5kg.

This gives Josh Cannon the biggest bench single lift bench press and full power bench press in any federation and any weight class ever in the UK!

Josh Cannon u125kg Full Power GPC Eastbourne 2016

Back Strength

2inch Deficit Stiff Leg Deadlift

140kg x 5
180kg x 1
180kg 2 x 8


Frame Deadlift


200kg x 1
240kg x 1
280kg x 1
240kg x 6





Hyper Deadlifts (alternated width of grip on each set) 50kg 4 x 10 Lat Pulldown Wide Grip 4 x 12

More Pressing Session

More Pressing more variety

Axle Press(clean each rep)

950kg x 3
100kg x 2
110kg 2x2

One Clean
110kg x 8


Floor Press

100kg x 5
140kg 3 x 5


Banded Dumbbell Press

40kg x 10
45kg x 8
50kg x 5

The Power Row: The Real way

Now I am sure many people have cheated a barbell row before, but this is different, this is a row with a purpose. I don't want to claim to have invented this movement and I am sure many people have already done this, but this is something I came up with on my own in order to fix some issues I had. I always like to visualize a movement, even an isolation movement to see how it would carry over to the lift I am trying to improve. If hypertrophy is your goal that’s fine but normally people look to increase a main lift and base their assistance work around doing so. The best way to make your isolation work improve your main lift is by having similar motor patterns and similar muscle recruitment this will lead to a higher chance of carry over.

 Bodybuilding Row (barbell row) VS Power Row.

 A bodybuilding row is standing at roughly a 45 degree angle and pulling the bar into your belly button area and then controlling the bar back down while keeping a neutral spine. For as long as I can remember this was a staple in the 'back day' for nearly everyone. The weight you can handle on this movement is quite low because of the strict nature of the movement.the higher you stand upright the more traps you engage, the more over the bar you are the more lats and upperback with an increased loading on the spinal erectors

People use barbell row's to improve the deadlift but I have a few counter arguments on why not to.


Disadvantages of Barbell Row

If you are handling a large weight in the deadlift for example 200kg how much benefit will you see from a roughly 100kg barbell rows in the muscles that are used to moving and holding double the weight?

The traditional barbell row movement is slow and controlled by nature in contrast to a deadlift where you want to generate as much force as possible and move the bar quickly or as quick as possible given the resistance(weight). Moving the weight slow like in a barbell row feels counter productive.

The positioning in a barbell row is also a position you do not want to find yourself in when deadlifting. A traditional barbell row puts your shoulders over the bar significantly which is teaching you a bad habit and a bad motor pattern by strengthening your muscles to be in a disadvantageous position

 You are generally bent over a lot especially if your at 45 degree's. This teaches you a bad habit and motor pattern of being over the bar, and it is strengthening the lower back and other muscles in an angle that is not indicative of a good deadlift.

One of the things that people do in the deadlift especially as the weight gets heavy is they shoot there hips up, or they let their chest start caving, pointing down to the floor and end up over the bar. This puts most of the weight on your spinal erectors and hamstrings. We can practice perfect form on the lighter weights but more than likely the weight will pull you more over as you get heavy, especially if you have already built strength in that position and your muscle memory sends you there.

Imagine if you could do upperback work that allows you to be Explosive Create Force Overload upperback Ingrain correct motor pattern's.

The Power Row (Cheat Row) 

The cheat row or power row is almost a deadlift and row combo, you start in almost a deadlift position (normally slightly less leg bend), generate force off the floor with a little bit of leg drive but mostly upperback, start standing up and row the bar into your belly button, then return the bar back down to the floor. When it gets heavy you will naturally tend to stand up more this is fine, but try to aim for at most 65%. Make sure not to stand up then try and sink back down to meet the bar, this is silly and works against everything you are trying to do.

 The weight you will be able to handle on Power Row's will be approximately 20-30% more. This will allow you to overload the upperback muscles, learn to generate force, and keep you leading with your chest up (correct motor pattern) which will hopefully carry over to the deadlift. Do not worry about using straps, because the weight will be significantly more than what you can normally row, straps are fine we are not looking to be training grip, also when the weight gets heavy and grip gets taxed you will pull too much with your forearms and biceps, so putting straps on allows you to focus on your back.

The only downside is they are not an isolation movement, and will be less likely to build hypertrophy mass in a particular area but if your intent is to increase your deadlift this is the variation for you, and you will still get upperback benefits in terms of size just not as much.

 Just because its a Power Row doesn't mean you can be slack on form, there is a very specific way to cheat these rows anything outside that will have a negative effect on what we are trying to achieve.

This would be best added in on your back day after your main deadlift exercises. What I like to do is work up to a 3-5 rep max for a few sets then drop back down the weight and do a few sets of 10 with a more strict form, this allows me to hit all bases.

Try these out, and let me know what you think in the comments below, these are a staple in improving my deadlift.

#BeastMode Konstantins Konstantinovs

Konstantins Konstantinovs is 38 years old and russian, i should just stop there as we know all russian strength athletes are absolute beasts.



He is not the biggest deadlifter in the world but he is one of the men when you think of the deadlift you think of KK.

His biggest deadlift is 430kg in a suit @ 125kg which at the time broke the world record in all weight classes by 7kg!




Although a huge deadlift the feat of strength he is most well known for is his world record beltless deadlift of 426kg at 140kg! Which still to this day has not been beaten



Even though currently KK is not at his top strength due to injury he is back on the competitive scene regularly pulling 400+kg without a belt!

                                                                 "THIS IS MY FU*KING BELT"

#TryThis Snatch Grip Block Pulls

A snatch grip block pull is a variation on the traditional deadlift. Snatch grip deadlifts can be done from the floor, but require large amounts of mobility in order to do them correctly. Snatch grip block pulls on the over hand although seem a similar movement they are very different.

When doing a snatch grip deadlift off the floor you generate a lot of your power from leg drive mainly in the quads and then into the hamstrings, finally locking out with glutes and considerably more upperback than a traditional deadlift. In the block pull variation hardly any leg's are used, instead it becomes a lot more hip hinge dominant with the glutes and the upper back being the main movers while the lower back also plays a role.

These are great for improving the upperback and are a great variation to the traditional deadlift. Straps are advised as with the extra wide grip you are likely to lose grip before your strength fails. I recommend trying them off 4-6inch blocks in the higher rep ranges.  Start by putting your grip just outside the rings on the bar, when you get used to the movement you can keep bringing your hands out till your at the ends of the bar (if you are around 6ft this will normally be possible). Remember to keep your abs braced as hard as you can as these put you quite far over the bar and they will try and round you over.

Give them a try, let us know what you think in the comments section below!

The SLED CAM

Today was another back and bicep session, ankle is feeling a lot better, should be back to normal training soon.




Snatch Grip Block Pulls (max width)

200kg x 10
200kg x 10

Arm over arm

140kg
180kg
200kg
220kg
220lkg

Fat Grip V-Bar Pulldowns

4 x 10
2 x 8 (without heavier)

Cable Row Reverse grip

4 x 10

Seated Row Machine

3 x 10

Bicep Curls Ez

60kg 3 x 5
40kg 2 x 12

More Pressing

Do not focus on what you cannot do focus on what you can.

Strict Log Press

95kg x 3
100kg x 3
100kg x 5
100k x 5


Close Grip Bench Press

150kg x 2
140kg 3x4


Seated Dumbbell Press

40kg x8,9


Bicep Curls

40kg 3x10


Short and sweet session

#TryThis Hyper Deadlift

This exercise first came to my attention when i saw Pete Rubish and if it works for him then i thought it must have a benefit. 

I wouldn't recommend doing a 1 rep max on this exercise like Pete Rubish but then i wouldn't recommend training like Pete Rubish, he is an animal! I recommend keeping the exercise in the 8-12 rep range and treat it more for hypertrophy.

A Hyper Deadlift is where you set up a 45 Degree Back extension with a bar in a deadlift position. Grip the bar and pull up like a normal hyper extension, make sure you to keep your arms straight like a normal deadlift. Do not hyper extend at the top you only want to go up to where your back becomes straight. Hold this position then lower the weight down, touch the floor and repeat. Make sure to squeeze your glutes throughout the movement to get the most Benefit.

I feel this has a huge advantage over doing hyper extensions by holding plates on your chest because it is a lot easier to load this exercise, you cannot pull the weight in towards yourself like when you are holding plates and i feel that the movement targets your hamstrings, glutes and lower back better, also a small amount of upperback where your lats are isometrically contracting making sure the weight do not drift.

.  

Try this exercise for yourself and let us know in the comment's what you think to it. 

Under-Loading

What is Under-loading? 


Under-loading is where you take an exercise and specifically make it harder, which reduces the weight on the bar. There are many examples of under-loading that can be used effectively and there are different degree's of under-loading. As a general rule under-loading needs to be at least 10% from the regular amount you lift on a particular exercise.


Examples of Under-loading


Under-loading Squat: On a squat under-loading could be going from your competition low bar squat to a high bar squat, this will in most cases reduce the amount liftable, we can go steps further on under-loading, we could change the bar to a safety squat bar, we could keep going by adding in a 2 second pause.

Under-loading Deadlift: On a deadlift under-loading could be adding in a 2inch deficit increasing the range of motion and making it more leg dominant. Taking this a step further would be to do it beltless, and another step could be to add a 2 second pause at just below your knee. 

Under-loading Bench: Bench Press tend's to be harder to under-load but one example of this is the "Larson Bench" This is a bench press where you put your feet straight out, which means you have no leg drive and are less stable while bench pressing. We could take this further by adding in a controlled negative and further by bringing your grip in closer.

The more under-loaded you make an exercise the more it tends to be less specific to the original lift due to variations and things that increase difficulty. This will effect specificity which we will go into later.





There are many ways on every exercise to under load you maybe thinking why under-load?


Why use Under-loading? 


 There can be many reasons to under-load. Here are a few of the reasons/upsides to utilizing this method of training.

Injury/Injury Prevention- You may have an injury which makes you unable to perform the movement as normal, for example a knee injury could prevent you from doing normal deadlifts but less stress on the knee from a RDL or stiff leg deadlift might be fine and allow you to keep training or you could be using it as injury prevention because continuing progress on a particular lift or trying to push it too far depending on where you are in a training cycle could lead to injury.  

Recovery- It maybe that going really heavy on an exercise week in week out is effecting your joints,ligaments and tendons, so under-loading will allow you to give these a break or a different angle or range of motion while still challenging the muscles.

Adaption- You may have found that your training is not producing the results that you had hoped and you need a new stimulus to cause adaptions. Your body will only change and adapt to what it needs too, and it doesnt take long for your body to adapt to any given stimulus. Using under-loading could be a form of shocking a new stage of adaption. This will allow continued progression and is one of the methods used by Westside Barbell.  

Weakness Targeting/Muscle Targeting- You may find that when under-loading you struggle more than you should on a particular variation this could be due to a muscle weakness, or you may need to improve a muscle in order to improve your main competition lift an example of this could be stiff leg deficit deadlifts in order to improve hamstring and lower back strength/tightness for your normal deadlift.  

Fun- People always look for the best program the most optimal program, but one thing people forget is you need to enjoy training. It needs to be fun, a perfect program will be good scientifically but if you are not motivated and don't enjoy training the program will not work for you. You will tend to get the best results out of training when you are enjoying training and as humans we like variety. With under-loading you suddenly have many more lift's you are able to do and focus on to break the monotony of doing the same old lifts every training session  

The Downsides to Under-loading. 


Specificity- Because under-loading tends to be somewhat a variation , no matter how close to the original competition lift it's a variation or it has substantial differences to the competition lift. If you are coming up to a competition under-loading would not be recommended because it is not as specific as the lift trying to you're improve itself.  

Movement Patterns- If you spend too long doing a form of under-loading that changes the movement pattern/technique of a lift you may find that it can effect your normal lift. An example is spending too long doing stiff leg deadlifts may make your muscle memory change slightly to favour using less legs in the deadlift.

Ignoring Muscles- You may find that doing a form of under-loading can neglect certain muscles in the chain. Spending too long on a particular under-loading may also lead to de-training of muscles in the movement that aren't being worked as much as on the normal competition lift. An example would be again a stiff leg deadlift could end up de-training your quad's which could effect your floor speed on the deadlift if done for long enough.

Strengthening Dominant Muscles- If you have a muscle that tends to take over in any movement pattern, you want to make sure you aren't targeting your strength's because this will just make it even more likely for that muscle to take over.

 
Rules over Under-loading

• Never under-load for too long.
• Under-loading must be at least 10% or greater.
• The further you under load the less specific you make the movement.
• Don't make the movement unnecessarily dangerous.
• Never fail- Leave some in the tank will keep you motivated.
• Repetitions work better than lower rep's.
• Keep the technique correct.
• Do not be afraid to do things you suck at.

If you have any questions about the topic or want to share your experiences of underloading please leave your comments below.

Pressing Party

A party is at least 3 variations of an exercise in the same session. In today's session we had 4! Working on Shoulders and Triceps with various different pressing positions. Still looking after the injured ankle but was able to cautiously step out some strict press from the rack and plant feet on pressing on benches, although unable to get my normal foot position.


Working sets:

Strict Press
100kg x 3
90kg 3 x 5

Incline Press
100kg x 3
140kg x 1
100kg x10

Neutral DB Floor Press
50kg x 5
60kg x 6
60kg x 5

3 Board Press
100kg x 5
130kg x 7
130kg x 8

Face pulls
3 x 20 

#TryThis Rolling Tricep Extension

The Rolling Tricep Extension originally popularized by westside barbell is a great assistance exercise to really hit the triceps hard with good carry over to the bench press. This movement is less stressful on the elbow than skullcrushers it is a combination between a dumbbell bench press and a dumbbell extension.

There are two ways to do rolling tricep extensions:

1:

In this video i am doing Rolling Tricep extensions for the first time, the way i am doing them is to take the dumbbells in a neutral grip, bring the dumbbells down by the side of the head stretching the tricep's as much as possible, then moving the dumbbells from this position to full extension in an explosive manner. This way of doing rolling tricep extensions is more comparable to an extension.

2.

In this video the same movement is performed although slightly different, this time the dumbbells are brought into the eccentric part of a dumbbell bench press and then pressed to lockout, this allows a heavier weight to be used as it is a combination of an extension and a press. 

Both are a great way to finish of the triceps on a pressing or bench day, give either way a try and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Pete Rubish #BeastMode

If anyone has the right to be classified in the #BeastMode category it is Pete Rubish. This man is an absolute animal especially when it comes to deadlift. He's still young and has made some insane progression with his aggressive nature towards training and lifting.

Here you can see a video of his progression in the deadlift and he is now pulling 920lb (417kg)!! straps or not that is a huge weight that most will never get close too! Make sure to subscribe to his channel and follow him on Instagram as he continues to head towards 1,000lb!

 Follow Pete on Instagram

WPC European Championship 2016 RYOT Review

 

This year the UK had the opportunity to host the WPC European Championship which was a big step for Emma Ylitalo-James and the BPU team, but they took the chance with both hands and hosted  another amazing competition. Congratulations to all involved in making this event happen and also a huge well done to team GB for winning the overall Raw and to all the athletes that took part and hit some massive lifts.

The competition was at the Stanley Mathews Stadium Stafford and went on over the course of 7 days with some huge performances across the board.

RYOT was at the event with a stall although things didn't go as planned we had a great time and had our camera man (Radoslaw Biskupski ) , David Jenkinson (Platform Manager) 3 of our team competing  Scott Chafer (Owner) Ryan Hough(Owner) Holly(RYOT Athlete) and other training partners (Travis Hughes, Blaze Hughes, Owen Hodgson, Carl Thompson) from a local gym also representing.

RYOT came home with a very strong showing including worlds records in the deadlift from Ryan and Holly.

Holly: 160/100/192.5kg (4th lift 200kg)

•  Overall Winner Raw Classic
• u75kg Raw Classic 1st Place
• WPC World Record Deadlift 200kg
• WPC World Record Bench 100kg
• WPC World Record Total 452.5kg

Ryan Hough: 300/195/342.5kg

•  u140kg Raw Classic 1st Place
• BPU u140kg Raw Classic Squat 300kg
• BPU u140kg Raw Classic Bench 195kg
• All Federation u140kg Full Power Deadlift 342.5kg

Scott Chafer 250kg

•  Single Ply Deadlift 250kg 1st place M1 u110kg

Holly's WPC European Championship Performance

#WorldRecord Squat

The Squat has gone back and forward between a few lifters in the last couple of years but that man who always seems to take it back and make it look easy is also the main with the world record total(1135kg). This squat was done in Knee Wraps and a belt and is actually bigger than the world record deadlift (460kg) 

Andrey Malanichev Squatting 480kg! Raw with Wraps

Will Malanichev be the first man to squat 500kg in wraps?

Going Through The Ropes

Today i had a session with training partner and client Owen Hodgson, due to my ankle injury we decided to try some things not on our program and went with a Back and Bicep Hypertrophy day consisting of

•  Arm over arm 
• V-bar Fat Grip pulldowns 
• Cable seated row 
• Straight arm pulldowns 
• EZ Bicep Curls 
• Incline Dumbbell Curls 
• Reverse Grip Curls

Hopefully the Ankle heals up quick and we can both go back to our standard programming that has been set. 

No Leg Pressing

After getting shot by my girlfriend at paintball, running and falling over on my ankle in a ditch i have been walking around on crutches so had to massive adapt the session to compensate so ended up just doing 3 quick pressing exercises with no leg involvement meaning no additional power and less stability than normal.

Floor Press

140kg x 4

160kg x 1

170kg x 1

100kg x 12

Z-Press

60kg x 5

80kg x 4

80kg x 5

Incline Dumbbells (no leg support)

40kg x 10

45kg x 8

50kg x 5

Short and sweet session with Owen although getting up off the floor took a lot longer than usual.

#WorldRecord Bench

The Bench press has to be the most performed compound lift made in gyms all around the world, especially on international chest day (Monday)
When people know you are a lifter the first thing they generally ask is "How much do you bench?". Most people usually start at around 60-80kg  bench and in most gyms above 100kg is considered a good bench, then a bench of 3 plates 140kg is a great bench with very few people ever managing 4 or above plates 180kg.

The UK record stands at 252.5kg set by RYOT's very own Josh Cannon and although a massive bench (especially considering he only weighs 110kg) the all time world record is set by a Russian by the name of Kirill Sarychev who is only 27 years old!

What Kirill did was demolish the current bench record, so much so he opened on a staggering 310kg which made it look like a speed rep! followed it up with a new world record of 330kg the previous being set by Eric Spoto with 327.5kg. Kirill then broke the record again on his 3rd and final lift with a huge 335kg! With his slow yet methodical progression under the coaching eye of Sheiko how far can Kirill Sarychev push the biggest bench of all time forward?

New Category: #WorldRecords

In this new category #WorldRecords we take a look at all timeworld records being set across various different strength sports athletes showcasing what the human body is truly capable of.

What will go down as one of the greatest feats of strength ever was the day Eddie Hall from the UK lifted 500kg.

Eddie took his first lift of 420kg then on his second taking the record previously set by him from 463kg to 465kg then finally on his third lift to an astonishing 500kg! thats adding nearly 10% which just does not happen on World records in any sport! Its the equivelent of Usain bolt's 9:58 getting broken by a 8.x it is seemingly impossible. Not many people believed Eddie could pull 500kg he Eddie Hall believed in himself and pulled of the impossible, pushing the boundaries of what the human body is capable of!

Enjoy the Video of the 3 lifts Eddie Hall pulled in this competition 420kg like a speed rep! 465kg for a new world record, then the first any only person to ever lift 500kg in the deadlift! This is a strongman world record suits and straps allowed, very different style to powerlifting.

New Category: #TryThis

A new category is up! #TryThis this is a place to show new exercises that you can add to your tool box!

 Z-Press

Z-press is a lift supposedly invented by 4 times World's Strongest Man Žydrūnas Savickas.

 You will require a power rack. Set the pins to just below your shoulder height, sit down on the floor legs out infront of you, unrack the bar using the same grip as you would in a strict press and simply press the weight above your head without falling backwards! 

This move is incredibly hard because it requires huge amounts of core stabilization and shoulder stability even more than when stood up and it makes you unable to lean backwards unlike in the strict press while pressing making the movement a lot stricter than normal. Because you are relying on stabilizing the weight so much in the core and shoulders the power that can be put through the bar is limited so the weight you will do on the exercise will be considerably less than what you can strict press normally stood up, this exercise can be exceptionally humbling and make "light" weights feel heavy.

The twist on this exercise is Z-Press but from pins. It is the same as a standard Z-Press except rather than unracking the weight onto your shoulders you do each repetition directly off of the safety pins. This makes each rep from a dead stop, which means you gain no advantage from stretch reflect and no stored tension or energy in the muscles from the previous repetition, this makes starting each rep even harder as you have to exert explosive power to get the bar moving from a dead stop while fighting to stabilize in the shoulders and core. 

Try it out, see what you think and leave a comment below.

New Category: #BrainGain

Do you find yourself pitching forward when you squat? well good friend John Clark has wrote an article for www.breakingmuscle.com on this very subject, click on the link to get some gain for your brain!

How to Fix A Good Morning-Style Squat

New Category: #BeastMode

Within any sport there is always someone going beast mode, in this section we aim to share all the great lifters out there, names you have not heard and names you have.  

Dmitry Klokov
Klokov Is a world class Russian weightlifter, who competes in the u105kg but recently he has been promoting himself a lot through youtube and showing some rather interesting and crazy feats of strength, things i have never seen done before.

Got any feats you want to see mentioned on Beast Mode? send to ryottraining@gmail.com or comment below and we will upload them.

 

Always try something once

At R-Training we are always looking for new things to do, when training is stale, your bored, you feel weak oryou are NOT improving its a good idea to try some new things and have fun, you can also set new PB's while at it! You may find a weakness or something useful to use in your program in the future, always increase the size of your tool box! Not everything all the time needs a reason and a justification to why you are doing it.

 

 In the video I tried 3 things i have not ever done before or rarely ever done.

Chaos Press- This involves hanging kettlebells from bands on the bar. Even unracking the bar from the rack and trying to stabilize it is hard, hitting the upper back and small muscles in the shoulders to stabilize. Then when you are pressing, the kettlebells are oscillating causing even more stability needed by bracing the core. You will be very limited by the amount of weight you can do. A good addition at the end of the session to fry all the smaller stabilize muscles without having to load large amounts of weights on the main muscles, higher reps is advised!

Swiss bar bench- Using a specially designed bar called a swiss bar it hit the triceps hard, harder than i have ever felt from benching because of the position of the handles being neutral. This bar also limits the strain on the shoulders but more stability in the wrist is needed than normal benching. Expect to be less weight on this bar than your normal bench, A good addition after your main benching exercise to get more stimulus in the triceps, alternate this with CGBP.

Axle Clean and Press- Taxes the grip and because the axle doesnt rotate it is a lot harder to clean than a normal bar, you will generally be limited by your clean before you are your pressing ability that's why we decided to do higher reps with lower weight, also good for conditioning at higher rep ranges. Add this in on an overhead press session, if you use this as your main exercise then go heavier for less reps, if its more near then end of your session go lighter but do more reps and feel your lungs burn