by Brady Stewart

This article is intended to be a progress report on how some of us at the Belleville Weightlifting Club have performed as of late.  Our results have been quite remarkable. 

 

Josh Hunt has improved his raw competition total @275 by 25kgs / 55lbs since his last contest in October 2009.  Personally, I believe that he was good for another 15kgs on top of that.  Josh has been continuing to train hard and work on his technique/execution of the competition lifts.  He totaled 630kgs in his second contest with a 5kgs improvement in the bench press, 10kgs in the squat (with about 7.5kgs left), and 10kgs in the deadlift (again with about 7.5kgs left on the platform).  He went 9 for 9 again.  We chose conservative lifts for this contest to improve his total and gain some momentum with his competition and training mentality.  He made some last minute technique changes and lifted very well.  I was surprised that he was able to make the changes so quickly and perform the way he did.  To make a long story short…he still had trouble in training making depth in the squat, and his deadlifts never appeared legal in training.  At this contest, he buried his squat well below the legal depth and stood completely straight up in the deadlift.  Now with another contest under his belt, we will be able to train him more effectively and try some new methods to increase his total…that is if he can maintain his magical new form he learned overnight before the contest.  Josh has stressed to me personally that he’d like to drop a weight class and get in better shape.  I think that this is a great idea.  Will his total suffer?  Possibly.  Right now he is sitting at a full 275.  Getting down to 242 won’t be easy, but it may be a blessing in disguise.  Other than that, if he stays at 275, I believe that he could total 680kgs/1499lbs within the year, but I have no doubts that it is a possibility for him even at 242.

 

Tim Thomas…  About 3 months ago, Tim ‘Too Tall’ Thomas bench pressed a 15lb PR of 450lbs.  In mid march, Tim benched an 18.5 lbs PR on top of that with a lift of 468.47 lbs.  Tim is well into his 50s and is training harder than he has ever trained before.  The main difference in his training improvements can be attributed to his weight selection for his exercises.  Before he would over shoot his estimated maxes and would lift at higher intensities than intended and would run into the ‘wall’.  You know the ‘wall’.  It is that mystical invisible pain in the ass thing that halts all progress and makes you unsure of everything you are doing in the gym.  For this contest Tim broke that wall down, took his ego out of the equation, trained within his limits, and succeeded greatly.  I look to see Tim bench 500 lbs within the year if he keeps this up.  He has been bringing an intensity and focus to the gym that everyone at the BWC should be envious of.  It is incredible that Tim is in his 50s, killing weights, and improving so dramatically.  He is showing no signs of slowing down.

 

Shaun Bales (275) is a guy that I haven’t written about yet, but will in the near future.  I want to give him time to get into a regular training schedule.  Shaun has been having some nagging shoulder and neck injuries that has kept him from lifting more than a couple hundred pounds for weeks at a time.  His best bench press a little over a year ago was 551.  He just bench pressed 557 this month.  This is quite significant improvement for Shaun.  He overcame an injury, is back to benching over 400lbs raw, and is hitting strong numbers again with a bench shirt.  He is a long time training partner of mine and it is inspiring seeing him bounce back from adversity.  I believe that Shaun will be the next 600lb bench presser in the club and has the potential to do some damage at the national level if he really wants to.

 

I was selected to compete at the IPF Pro Titan Bench Bash at the Arnold Classic.  I bench pressed a 5kg PR of 282.5kg.  I felt good for plenty more, but it just wasn’t there.  If I had another shot at my third attempt of 290kg, I firmly believe that it would have been good.  I made mistakes on that final attempt, but still managed 3rd place out of a field of monster heavyweights.  My wilks improved 163.62 to 164.XX.  I can’t be upset about that seeing is that I was only able to bench 580 back in December.  I made some training/programming improvements that I will discuss at a later time.  Right now, I am planning on competing in a full meet with plans to achieve a raw total over 1700 @242.  Focusing more on the squat and deadlift has been refreshing to my regular training schedule.  After that it is off to bench press nationals and finally push that elusive mid 600s bench press that I’ve pressed in training.  I may do an equipped meet this year as well and go for a 2000lb total and to break the USAPL American Record Bench Press @ 242. 

 

I want to close this progress report with something that each of you should be thinking about on a regular basis.  Ask yourself…Am I doing what it takes to achieve my goals/dreams?  Am I doing everything I can to achieve my goals/dreams?  How bad do I want it?  Am I training harder/smarter than my competition?  What is holding me back?  (In my experience…it has been myself.)  We are ultimately in control of our personal achievement (aside from accident or unexpected reasons).  You can’t rely on anyone or anything but yourself.  No one will keep you from eating unhealthy foods.  No one will care if you don’t train today.  If your goal is to make a world team, hit a PR total, or break a state record, YOU have to start moving towards this goal NOW.  Even if it takes years, if that is your goal, you can surely achieve it.  Educate yourself, understand how to train properly, keep your mind moving forward, and don’t hold yourself back.

 

Last but not least, I’d like to wish Dana good luck at the IPF Master’s Worlds Bench Press Championships.  Dana is on the US team and is gunning for a top performance in the M50 / 198’s on April 2nd!!!!

 

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