Mobster trains Grip HARD! And other stuff too...

[Mobster]

Wednesday
Legs @ GN
Leg Press
0-kilos x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 reps, 240-kilos x 8 reps, 360-kilos x 8 reps, 480-kilos x 8 reps (sb only) 650-kilos x 8 reps (off of safeties, SB and W)

Leg Ext
60-kilos x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 negs (16 up, 8 per leg down).

Leg Curl
20-kilos x 8 reps, 30-kilos x 8 reps, 45-kilos x 8 reps

[Mobster]

Just back from some DHWD work. Kept it brief but, as per, it's brutal. I also need to work on my form (working/bending hand more forward). But I started to visualize maxing out (hole 8 both sides) using the orange spring.

DHWD work
B/H: 1/1 x 6 reps @, 3/3 x 6 reps @, 4/4 x 3 reps @
L/H: 5/5 x 2 x 1 hard reps. Enough for me to be hopping around in discomfort
R/H: 5/5 x 1 rep, 6/5 x 1 rep, 6/6 x 1 hard rep, as above.

[Mobster]

And back again this time for some 2HP.

So...

2HP at 44mm
BEST SESSION EVER.
The thought process was I wanted to get in a set number of sessions before the Euros and having eaten well felt ok. On arrival, coffee still in hand I was in half a mind to go back. But I started anyway and once the lads (Mike and G) turned up as I started to go heavy and I was using the new (or more correctly put -forgotten) technique I carried on. Once it got heavy I started to think I could pull more and each rep was solid. Here's how it went:

Equ x 6 reps, +30-kilos x 3 reps, +50-kilos x 1 rep, +70-kilos x 1 rep, +75.5-kilos x 1 rep, +80-kilos x 1 rep, +85-kilos x 1 rep, +87-kilos x 1 rep, +90-kilos (111.7kg) x 6 x 1 rep At attempt No 4 I gave serious consideration to loading up in excess of the current WR but decided to save that and did some more volume.

[Mobster]

Thursday
One hand deadlifts.
Basically shot to hell from the monster session on 2HP yesterday. So stopped at the working sets as there was nowt there to give after two failed attempts

Friday
Trained with Stew Killick this morning in a sort of knowledge swap meet. I showed him some gripper stuff and he showed me some DHWD stuff.

T/Gripper - max
B/H: Usual warm ups
L/H: BBE x 6 x 1 VVN
R/H: 3.5 x 2 x 1 reps, BBSE x 2 x 1 reps, CoC 4 x 2 x VNa

DHWD - tech session only

[Mr.Bones]

What level Captains of Crush are you on? I just started gripping in hope of making my forearms huge and I plan on buying at least a level 4 COC

[Mobster]

Saturday
Trained late for me as I was waiting on a delivery. Nick McKinless dropped in after to say hi to Mike, G and myself.
Chest n back
CG Bench Press
First time with free-weights since Xmas.
60-kilos x 8 reps, 80-kilos x 8 reps, 100-kilos x 6 reps, 120-kilos x 6 reps, 140-kilos x 2 reps. usual weakness in stabilizers from only doing machine bench for months

LPD in lieu of pullovers
60-kilos x 8 reps, 90-kilos x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 reps, 140-kilos x 8 reps

Low Rows
60-kilos x 8 reps, 100-kilos x 8 reps, 142.5-kilos x 6 reps

[Mobster]

What level Captains of Crush are you on? I just started gripping in hope of making my forearms huge and I plan on buying at least a level 4 COC

I've closed a 4 and as per my log yesterday did some assisted closes or near closes with a 4. I can do a 3.5 most any time. Check my You tube account in the name of 'gripperbookguy'.

[Mobster]

Sunday
Double over hand deadlift
had to use a standard bar (thick bar was in use elsewhere). Worked to 205kg x 3 x 1 reps. Hard work.

2HP (thick)
I worked to 103.6-kilos x F, F, 1, F, F. I was fried so called it a day

Monday
Forced rest day

Tuesday
2HP @ 44mm
equ x 6 reps towel, +30-kilos x 3 reps towel, +50-kilos x 1 rep towel, +70-kilos x 1 rep, +75.5-kilos x 1 easy rep, +80-kilos x 1 easy rep, +85-kilos x F, F, 1 rep (made a small change), +90-kilos x 1, F, then 5 x 1 reps (equals last best ever session). I scaled the weight and rather than a marked 111.7-kilos it came in at 110.7kg so one less. Mind set was based on the idea of being at the Euros and competing.

Bwt: 294.7lbs. Not bad for our scales and after one meal and a little water.

[Mobster]

Wednesday
Legs @ GN
Leg Press
0-kilos @ leg x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 reps, 240-kilos x 8 reps, 360-kilos x 8 reps, 480-kilos (sb) x 8 reps, 680-kilos (sb/w) x 8 easy reps

Leg Ext
60-kilos x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 reps, 125-kilos (added a 5kg plate to stack) x 6 negs (12 up, 6 down a leg)

Leg Curl
20-kilos x 8 reps, 30-kilos x 8 reps, 50-kilos x 8 r/p reps

Tired after but good for more during. Took 1 x 8mg eph

Bwt: 21st 4lbs on their scales

[Mobster]

Saturday
@WG
Double overhand thick bar deadlift
bar x 8 reps, 70-kilos x 4 reps, 100-kilos x 1 rep, 130-kilos x 1 rep, 160-kilos x 1 rep (sb), 190-kilos x 1 rep (both belts), 210-kilos x 1 rep (PB and a British record if in comp), 220-kilos / 485lbs x 2 attempts. 1st was a rock, 2nd came a little off the floor. Had I managed it it would have been the 2nd best of all time.

[Mobster]

Sunday
Had a hell of a day and then night yesterday. Boring stuff involving missing money and what is almost certainly two tenants skipping out owing this months rent. Suffice to say I wasn't in the best frame of mind before we set off for my business partner Mike's stag do.

Now I know it's an old line but I genuinely think I DID have a dodgy pint when we were at Swindon dog track. That formed part of a very, very late night (try back to the hotel at 4am or later) and the usual 'oh my god why do I still wake so early when I'm away' 7.30am arising. All things considered I didn't feel that bad as we (I was sharing a room) had drunk some water to stop the dehydration hangover from hell along with a painkiller before crashing for the few hours we got. But, mid flow through a training chat, I suddenly had to leg it into the toliet and say 'hello Huey!' to the great god that is the 'bog' as we Brits call it.

Back home around 1pm
So... that meant a missed breakfast and not much of a lunch although I piled in copious amounts of fluids and glucose through the day. Finally, and as per a promise to myself, my penultimate training session before the Euros (tomorrow is grippers and that's it). A very large liven-er in the shape of a massive cup of coffee and it was the last 2HP session.

Two hand pinch at 44mm
Usual warm ups working to +90-kilos thus: Fail, ugly but successful rep, good (* started wearing sb from this point), good, good, good (tried to double it as I felt I could. I did a single and started up on the double when it started to give) and another good sixth and final rep. I wont say what I intend doing before the Euros but 110-kilos is, failed reps aside, more or less a banker.

[Mobster]

Monday
T Grippers

[Mobster]

Monday
Silly o'clock in the morning at Amsterdam airport...a few minutes left on the clock so here I am posting before I catch a 1050 flight back to Bristol. Then feed the cats, pack orders and crash and burn in that order.Bare in mind thesestupidkeyboardsticks(yes) and I'm tired. I'll get it all down asap.

This weekend I won my second (and consecutive as I won the last one) European Grip Championships. It went exactly as predicted.I hated every minute of an otherwise uneventful journey out. More on that later,arrived well enough then had problems using my mobile in Spain (+ or 0... why would it not work!!) eventually the host and promoter found me (no doubt looking moody ha ha). The Hotel, as I later found, cannot understand emails (2 nights with breakfast morons, not one without grrr). But I'm wasting time so lets get to the show.

Saturday
There was, as per, 5 events. This time it was grippers, 2-hand pinch, thick bar (axle) double over hand deadlift, one hand deadlift and weaver.

Grippers: I came 2nd. Although I closed a harder gripper with my right Gabriel Sum closed a better combined total to take the lead but by a small margin (important as we will see). There were no mistakes unlike the last Euros.

Scores (left/right and total)

Right Hand
1. Steve: 3.54
2. Gabriel:3.45
3. Jorge: 3.17
4. Stew: 3.1
5. Pablo: 2.84
6. German: 2.7
6. Rene: 2.7

Left Hand
1. Gabriel: 3.59
2. Steve: 3.26
3. Jorge: 2.84
3. Stew: 2.84
5. Pablo: 2.32
5. Rene: 2.32
7. German: 2.19

Total:
1. Gabriel: 7.04
2. Steve: 6.8
3. Jorge: 6.01
4. Stew: 5.94
5. Pablo: 5.16
6. Rene: 5.02
7. German: 4.89

Two hand pinch I killed this. The next best was Gabriel's 88-kilos or so (88.85kg) and I did a mahoosive 112+. This made me not just 1st but first by some margin. Indeed, I won with my opening lift (97??) and then carried on to make the damage worse. I think I went 97.2, 102.2, 107.2 and ended on the 112.2. The Spanish humidity made an attempt at an WR not a great idea.

Scores
1. Steve: 112.2 k
2. Gabriel: 88.85 k
2. Stew: 88.85 k
4. Pablo: 79.35 k
5. Jorge: 71.35 k
6. German: 64.35 k
7. Rene: no valid lift

Double over-hand thick bar deadlift. I followed this pattern again by opening with 165-kilos where the 2nd place guy ended up, then doing 180, 200 and finally taking 216kg. As it was not an official IM Apollons Axle it may not count as a record but I'll let everyone else worry about that (too tired to give a **** right now). The official scores show Gabriel pulling 170-kilos for his final best effort (a bunch of guys bombed as the weigh fell from their hands) but I opened with 5kg less!

Scores
1. Steve: 216 k - New European Record.
2. Gabriel: 170 k
3. Stew: 150 k
3. Jorge: 150 k
3. Rene: 150 k
6. Pablo: 142.5 k
7. German: 130 k

One hand deadlift (thumb over): again the same pattern. Most were done and dusted at 120kg and I'd pulled WR level 152.5kg once in training. So I did 120kg, 130kg, 140kg and then (as above) using the promoters record breaker discs (so-called little gems of 125g, 250g and so on) I pulled a tiny bit more than the old 151kg WR. So now I had potentially not only a EU record (?) but a WR in the same meet. One might say it was going according to plan...

Score
1. Steve: - right hand 151.95 k - New World Record
2. Gabriel: - left hand 120.45 k
3. Pablo: - right hand 112.95 k
4. Stew: - left hand 110.45 k
4. German: - right hand 110.45 k
4. Rene: - right hand 110.45 k
7. Jorge: - right hand 105.45 k
Weaver to the rear: Some of the guys had been a little confused by the rising bar rule earlier on and now Gabriel was thrown by the clearly explained 'if you used you right on the one hand deadlift you must use your left or vice versa. Speaking to him he said that he'd only trained one hand- wtf? I'd been nagging/advising fellow Brit Stew Killick, throughout and now, with this event his anyway, here was his chance to get a few percentage points ahead of Gabiel and take 2nd overall behind me. So it was, Gabriel did 4kg and with everyone else out, it was just me and Stew left. Using my left hand (one hand deadlifting with my right) I did enough for another 2nd place (3 firsts and 2 2nds meant I was about 80+pts ahead of the next guy). Not only had I won but it was a British 1 and 2 so our team slaughtered Johhny foreigner ha ha

Score
1. Stew: -right hand 7 k
2. Steve: - left hand 6.4 k
3. Rene: - left hand 5 k
4. Jorge: - left hand 4.75 k
5. Pablo: - left hand 4.5 k
6. German: - left hand 4.25 k
7. Gabriel: - right hand 4 k
More when fed, watered and rested...

Final Results:
1. Steve Gardener (England): 487.99
2. Stew Killick (England : 405.59
3. Gabriel Sum (Germany): 394.22
4. Jorge Gonzalez (Spain) : 355.54
5. Pablo Garcia (Spain) : 348.42
6. German (Spain) : 320.29
7. Rene Kirschner (Germany : 282.44

By teams:

1. England: 13 points
2. Spain: 9 points
3. Germany: 6 points

As Jose says elsewhere we then went out with Feleces (?) a huge Spanish powerlifter and loader for the day and talk utter shite and BS (as one does) about all things strength. The beer and burgers helped. I had an issue with the hotel in that they'd emptied my room even though I had booked for TWO NIGHTS!! via the internet. This was followed by being out of the room at 12 noon on Sunday which meant I literally sat around, slowly getting sun burnt, until my pre-arranged pick up six hours later. As my phone battery had died it was all I could do.

All was well at Madrid airport but the 11 hour wait at Amsterdam is BORING!! and time I will never get back. Then, minutes after we took off (around 11am the next day) we had to make a u-turn over the North Sea as an engine was playing up. That's a first. I started goofing off and laughing (scenes from Father Ted etc played through my head) otherwise my tired ass, gritty eyes and surly demeanor for what was an already over long journey would have meant a popped blood vessel.

Regardless of my usual old age grumblings on the journey, the bed, etc I must pass on my thanks to Jose. A stellar promoter and ref and he took me everywhere I needed to go with good grace. Cheers Jose.

[Mobster]

Thursday
Chest n back
@ WG
Took my Euro cup in and had a bunch shake my hand and wish me well. Kiss off of Phyllis!

V Bench
arm a side x 20 reps, 20-kilos @ x 15 reps, 40-kilos @ x 12 reps, 60-kilos @ x 10 reps, 85-kilos @ x 8 reps, 105-kilos @ x 5 reps

Pullovers
8p x 8 reps, 12p x 8 reps, stack+20-kilos x 8 reps,

@ WG

Low Rows
80-kilos x 8 reps, 100-kilos x 8 reps, 120-kilos x 8 reps

Bwt: back to a reasonable 286lbs

[Mobster]

Friday
Andy P at w/gym egging me on

DH WD
Tough!
B/H: 1/1 x 6 reps @, 3/3 x 6 reps @, 4/4 x 3 reps @
L/H: 5/4 x 5 reps, 5/5 x 2 x 1 reps
R/H: 5/4 x 6 reps, 6/6 x 2 x 1 reps

Double overhand thick bar deadlifts.
I'm keeping these in for the time being cos I like them and got good at them and might see if I can beat the WR by years end.
bar x 6 reps, 70-kilos x 4 reps, 100-kilos x 3 reps, 130-kilos x 1 rep, 160-kilos x 1 rep (sb on), 180-kilos x 1 rep (sb on) and 200-kilos x 3 x 1 reps (both belts on, made me dizzy on 1 and 2, dropped 2nd).