BEYOND STRONG

Just breathe

Saw the doctor Monday.  She said the incision looks great and the pacer checked out great, all is well.  However, she told me she wants me to wait another 2 weeks before I jump back into lifting.  She says the pressures of heavy weight could still possibly force the incision open and cause a hell of a mess.  I told her I would compromise and give her another week, thats it.  So, my official day back will be Wednesday, December 26th.  I will do close stance squats, pull-throughs, supermans, and ab work. 

The incision feels great and I have full range of motion back, but I understand her concern.  Not many pacemaker patients have 700+ on their back routinely, so they aren't sure if the pressure will pop it out or not.  It may not be 100% healed on the inside yet, and they are being cautious.  At first I was very upset over all of this, but now after some time to think, I understand that they have to cover their own asses.  If they tell me to lift and I rip it back open, they are liable, so to be safe, they tell me to wait another couple weeks. 

I wanted to go back today, but the doc has the wife worried too, so I compromised and told her next week will be go time.  Time to prepare for the Pittsburgh Monster dead in March and the April IPA Iron Horse full meet.  I am anxious to see how much strength I have lost not lifting in 4 weeks!  The doctor said to come back slow, I told her I had no choice, 4 weeks is a lot of strength, but I full expect to pull well over 700 in March, so I hope it comes back to me fast.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!  Be safe, remember the reason for the season, and I will be back to logging my workouts after the holiday.

-Rick

750...almost...RAW!

Not much else to say really...Laurence Shahlaei deadlifts 340kg/748lbs raw (well a belt and straps but the grip is NEVER a problem for him) in freezing weather. Impressive you say...you wait till he really starts his winter training!

Nick

748lbs Deadlift

Gripper Sale!

I am selling a bunch of my grippers and other physical culture items off on Ebay. If anyone interested in grip or weightlifting memorabilia keep a look out as I am having a clear out. Check here and click on 'view sellers other items' to see more.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110206178281&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=001

Nick

Goodbye Stripper Gripper...

Some things never change...

My good friend, stunt coordinator, stuntman and general good guy, Spike Cherrie, sent me a brilliant Xmas message I thought you'd all enjoy.

Once a stuntman always a stuntman I guess?!?!

Nick

PS...refresh the page to make it play again!

 

Chasing Coan

In my opinion, Ed Coan is the greatest 220 pound lifter to ever grace the platform.  Yes, he competed at 242, but I think since Ed there have been better 242'rs to come along.  However, at 220, no one was even close to Ed.

On July 27th, 1991, Ed Coan did something that has stood the test of time.  He stood up with 901-pounds in the deadlift to 3 white lights.  As we roll into 2008, that record has stood for nearly 17 years.  And will most likely stand for another 20.  Just look at this years top 20 deadlifts in the 220s:

Deadlift

Rank	Name	Federation	Date	Deadlift
1.	Matt Kroczaleski	WPO	2007-03-03	782
2.	Larry Hook	WPO	2007-03-03	760
3.	Mike Schwanke	IPA	2007-08-19	755
4.	Dondell Blue	WPO	2007-03-03	744
5.	Sam Byrd	APF	2007-09-15	732
6.	Joe Norman	APF	2007-06-17	721
7.	Husain Abdulaziz	APF	2007-10-20	715
8.	Tee Myers	WNPF	2007-02-10	710
9.	Travis Mash	WPO	2007-03-03	705
9t.	Pat Roberts	APF	2007-04-14	705
9t.	Shawn Frankl	WPO	2007-03-03	705
12.	Konstantin Milyutin	IPA	2007-08-19	680
13.	Lance Mosley	APF	2007-06-17	677
13t.	Marcus Brandon	APC	2007-06-23	677
13t.	Clint Smith	APF	2007-12-02	677
16.	Rick Walker	IPA	2007-06-24	675
17.	Tom Bollig	APF	2007-11-10	673
18.	Brad King	APF	2007-03-10	672
18t.	Tyson Hubbard	APF	2007-03-24	672
18t.	Chris Mason	WPO	2007-03-03	672
21.	Ken Richardson	APF	2007-03-24	666

No one is even within 100 pounds of Coan 17 years later.  I might add I am #16... ;)

So why did I title this blog post "Chasing Coan".  Well, one day not too long ago my training partners and I were discussing deadlifts.  I told them that I would like to take a run at Ed's record of 901, and at first it seemed so far in the distance.  My PR is 715, a massive 186-pounds away from Coan's huge pull.  But then I got to thinking.  In 2000 my best pull was 560.  In 8 years I have added 155-pounds on my deadlift.  Now, there were a number of years in that time frame where I focused on strongman and grip and didn't do much deadlifting, so let's cut that down to 5 years.  In 5 years I have put 155 pounds on my deadlift.  That was in a time frame from age 22 to age 30 without a real heavy focus on pulling or powerlifting in general.  Now I am 30 and I plan on competing, God willing and if my health holds up, until I am 40.  If I can add 20 pounds a year to my deadlift, by the time I am 40 I will be at 915-pounds.

Doable?  I don't know.  When you look at it like that, 20 pounds a year for 10 years, it sure seems doable.  I mean, I added 155-pounds in 8 years, most of which wasn't spent focusing on the deadlift.  And now I have access to better equipment and a great training crew to push me.  What it comes down to is am I motivated enough and can I hold up long enough without an injury or some other health problem?

It is going to be a fun and crazy ride, but I am ready and willing to get on it.  7 more days till I get the green light to resume training.  I see my doctor next Monday and I am praying everything is good and she green lights me to get back to it.  Keep me in your thoughts.

-Rick 

My Dad and my hips

My Dad's out of hospital. Far from better but he seems to be over this latest infection to his lungs. I think he's gonna be good for Xmas but he may not get the ok to go to Hong Kong to see my brother early next year. You can't win 'em all but this is good news. Thanks to all the well wishers!

In the same week I got good and bad news about my own injuries. My lower back problems, mainly degenerated disc damage, was confirmed and also cleared for what would seem no further damage for the next 10-20 years. Although not great it means I will be able to not worry about it other than the pain and stiffness that will obviously build. Lots of stretching, anti inflamms and not pushing it hard have helped a lot. The damaged disc looks like a skull which is COOL!

The bad news that was since I damaged my groin/adductor sprinting on a film I have had considerable pain at the joint and in those areas. The results came back as a hip flexion deformity and bilateral dysplasia. This is osteoarthritis of the hips which I am told will not improve and because of my relatively young age there's little to be done right now. Eventually it will be hip replacement I guess.

It's not all doom and gloom but it will mean I will never sprint like I used to and will have to watch the loads I put through the hips and back. This has been hard to swallow! The weight loss will help so I should be getting down to 210lbs slowly over the next few months.

I squatted today after about 6 or 8 weeks of hip belts. I went up to 140kg for sets of 5. They were SUPER easy. I brought my stance in so as to take the stress on the quads and away from the adductor. Still some pain there but not as much.

These things are sent to try us but not make us fade away!

Nick

Nick, Nick's Mum and his Dad

Good news, good food, and sunny days

Winter in Western PA is a bummer.  I read somewhere that Western PA has the most amount of overcast days, second only to Seattle, WA.  Crazy.  That leads to a very high amount of suicides.  Even crazier.  However, in the clouds I find solace and comfort.  In my pain I find the silver lining.  There is a quote I like that goes,

"I have discovered that strength is not about a burden a person can remove from themselves.  Real strength is uplifting the people who are around you.  Giving others the ability to remove their burdens, their barriers to success in their lives." John Anthony

Pretty damn cool.  I am healing fast and feel decent.  The pain is all but gone, but I feel decent and like I could start lifting a little lower body.  I wont though until next Sunday, and even then I am not sure what all I will do.  I am able to touch the incision site now without pain and it is itchy as hell so it must be healing ok.

My step-son got a nice sized doe on the last day of deer season.  He and and his granddad chopped it up yesterday and he brought the meat down.  We got about 40+ pounds of protein out of that thing, lots of nice tender steaks and back straps and 20+ pounds of roast.  I cleaned it and packaged it, and threw 2 big pieces in the crock pot.  They should be nice and tender today!  Venison is nature's perfect food.  Not quite as much protein per 3 ounce serving as beef (about 25 grams versus about 31) however it has only 3.5 grams of fat and 66 mgs of cholesterol and 160 total calories versus beef's 10 grams of fat, 92 mgs of cholesterol, and 215 total cals.  Also, with beef you are getting all those wonderful chemicals and hormones they inject into them.  YUM!  I would like to get my big stand-up fridge packed full of it, so when black powder season re-opens, we are going to try to get a few more.

More good news: my step-daughter has expressed a strong interest in powerlifting.  She is 16 and strong as a bull.  Much stronger then boys her age.  I have watched her countless times ball up her older brother.  When she was just 12 she picked up my Inch Dumbbell with 2 hands to lockout-that is 170+ pounds!  With some good instruction and motivation I think she can be a force in woman's powerlifting within a year.  I think I am going to take her to Cullen's this coming Sunday and get started with the basics.  I have a feeling she is going to be strong right out of the gate which will give little Trevor a boost.  He wont want to be beat by a girl!  LOL!

It is good to see the internet is still the internet, and there are still people out there ready and willing to bash, discredit, and otherwise spit in the face of lifters out there just trying to do their thing.  I am done with it.  I keep thinking things have to get better, somewhere out there, there has to be a forum that is full of people helping one another, people lifting one another up, encouraging each other to be stronger, better, but I can never seem to find it.  All strength forums are full of the same shit.  It will be this way forever, and moderators just allow it to happen.  So I am done.  Hell, I only ever posted on the Gripboard, but that place has gone down hill fast.  The guys who made that place; Heath, Pat, Big Steve, Steve W., Nick, Greg, Dave M., Tommy, the Vigeant's, etc. have not posted or even been around in forever, and in their places are people I don't really care to be associated with.  I am a fairly strong supporter of the board, but I believe this may have to be stopped.  I have a very small, very select group of sites online that are worth anything, and none of them have forums.  Nick is kicking around the idea of a forum, and I think it can work, but it will have to be POLICED and the trolls and fake named haters who bash on everyone will have to go.  I think that will only drag BEYOND STRONG into the gutter with the rest of the garbage that is out there.

I just want to thank Nick for allowing me my own little place in cyberspace where I can go and talk strength, hopefully help some people out, and just be myself.  I can't wait for this site to get bigger and better Nick, you are doing a great job bro and the ideas we talked about will only make it better!  To those who read this blog I ask this: Did you spend time today bringing others down, or did you help to build someone up? 

-Rick

Get ya orders in!

David Horne has again designed a winner. His new Vulcan Hand Gripper is designed around his own Wrist Developer with an adjustable spring to take you from the strength of Ironmind's Trainer to the No.4 and beyond!

 

David is offering them at a special price so check them out.

Nick

Incision

Took the bandage off tonight and I am letting it air a bit before I put a new one on.  After tomorrow I should be able to leave the bandage off and start showering.

That shiny spot right above the tape is the old scar from the first pacemaker.  Now I have a matching one.  In 50 years I am going to have 8+ matching scars.  Nice!  I heard sometimes they go through the old scar...maybe they will do that next time.

-Rick

Healing

It has been 3 days since the surgery.  I feel very good, some pain left over, but overall not bad.  The incision site is a little swollen and bruised, but it looks good considering.  I was thinking about going back to work today but I was just too sore and stiff still.  I will try like heck to get back to work tomorrow.

Being laid up I have had a lot of time to think.  God willing and pending any kind of set-backs with the new pacemaker and incision site, I plan on hitting 4 meets in 2008. 

March: Pittsburgh Monster Bench Press/Deadlift.  I did this last year after taking a solid 3 months off from training.  I pulled a disappointing 625 and got 700 to my knees at around 225 pounds.  Plan is to get to come in at 220-242 and hit 730+.

April: IPA Iron Horse.  This is in Ohio and I will need to do it to get a qualifying total so I can compete at IPA Nationals.  Goals are 750+ squat, 405 bench, 730+ deadlift at 220 which will be enough for 220 elite.

August: ADAU Single Lift Nationals.  I need to reclaim my 242 deadlift record so I hope to do this meet and get around 600 on the squat and deadlift 715+ in the 242 class raw.

November: IPA Nationals.  Should back to true form and strong as hell by then.  I will go to the 242 class and hope to see 820-450-750+  which will take me over the 2000 pound mark and get my 242 elite.

That is the plan, of course all of this is dependent on health and injuries.  I have a very good training plan going into April and I might be able to take a crack at that 800 squat then if I decide to stay at 242.  If I can stay focused and committed I also think I have a shot at pulling close to 800 by November. 

Squatting wise for April I am going to train 4 week waves with the the 4th week culminating in a max effort attempt in full gear.  Week 1 will be safety bar squats to 1 rm off a box with bands, week 2 will be cambered bar squats to 1 rm with bands, week 2 will be safety bar squats to 1 rm off the box with foam plus bands, week 4 will be straight bar, straight weight, full gear 1 rm.  Goal is to have an increase every 4 weeks.  Safety bar squats will be done in briefs and suit bottoms, cambered bar squats will be in full gear.  Band tensions will vary week to week.

Of course, I will follow squatting with my deadlift training.  Deadlift plan is alternate weeks between sumo and conventional.  Sumo first week, conventional 4th week.  After work sets on the 4th week I will pull a heavy single.  On sumo days I will follow the sumos with rack pulls with 2-3 mini bands quadrupled on each side of the bar, plus weight.

On the days I do the sumos and rack pulls, I will finish with glute-hams, higher rep reverse hypers, and abs.  On the days I pull conventional I will do some sort of goodmorning, glute-hams, heavy reverse hypers for low reps, and abs.

Upper body days will be focusing on raw bench strength.  I will probably lose a lot from not being able to train upper body until the pacer site is completely healed.  I am going to test out a couple different shirts and see how I fair.

That is the plan.  All of this will be kicked into gear hopefully after the 18th.

-Rick