My training History: I trained less than one year before competing in my first powerlifting meet as a teenager back in 1983. Before leaving the sport partially due to injuries in 2005 I achieved my elitefts status in the 198,220,242,275 & 308 weight class. Throughout these years I did have a 3 year run in the bodybuilding world. I have  degenerative joint disease, have had two shoulder surgeries (right shoulder now needs replaced), one full hip replacement, knee surgery, and herniation's in all three regions of my spine, Bone spurs (all joints). I can't even begin to list the number of muscle tears I have had, surgical and non surgical.  I am "The Mashed Up Meathead" and this is my story. 

You can find my training log archives HERE and my most current training log posts HERE. 

My best lifts are behind be but my best training is yet to come. 

* Unless otherwise noted the tempo of the work sets is about 1/2 of what most would consider normal. In most cases, if I did the set with normal temp what I fail at with 8-10 reps in training I could do for 20 reps with a normal tempo. This is to keep the joint stress down while increase the stress on the muscle. I have found this to work best for me provided the conditions listed in my training history above.

 

Monday. Arms.

 

Angle-grip bar and the Iso rack, reverse grip bench presses, stripping the rack.
The way this was done is the bar and the pressing was performed inside the iso part of the iso rack. After un-racked, the bar is pressed up and down using the rack as a guide to slide the bar up and down with and against. As you're pressing up, you're also pushing into the rack at the same time. I like to use the cue of trying to strip the paint off the rack, or strip the paint off the bar because you press is into the post so hard.

 

Seven or eight warm-up sets and then four progressive sets of six reps, progressive meaning working up a dime per side on each set until we got to a weight that was hard to do for six reps. This was not a spectacular heavy weight. It might have been about six or seven times per side with a group. Once we got to that weight, six working sets of six reps with partner rest between. When I write partner rest between, what that means is one person goes, then as soon as they're done, the next person jumps in. There's no dialogue. There's no conversation. There's no talk about what was going on last night. This is banging your sets out back after back until they're done.

 

 

Using the same bar but not using the close grip, the V - bar handles. Two warm-up sets to determine what the weight was, and then right back to the partners rest sets. Eight sets of eight reps with partials at the end of each set. The eight reps were close to failure, probably two reps shy. Then, the number of partials determined how many you could do until you hit failure.

 

Comfort grip ladder push-downs.
One set of six reps per space holder. With this cable attachment, there are three different handle positions. Six repetitions were done with the bottom position, and then six with the middle position, six with the top position, then back down to six with the middle position, and six with the bottom position. That was one set. It's all we did. It's one set.

 

Seated dumbbell curls using a straight-back bench.
The bench is not angled at all. It's actually at a straight 90 degree angle, shoulder blades pinned against the bench pad, elbows back. Six sets of 10 to 12 reps. Each set failure.

 

Fat v-bar face curls.
Five sets of eight to 15 reps. Each set was taken to failure.

 

Seated tricep push-down machine.
This exercise was done with the eccentric contraction only. You begin by standing and using your body weight to get the handles down to the bottom finished position. From there, keeping the shoulders back and bending your elbows, you let the handles come up using a 10 count, and then stand up and go back down again. Before you bend your elbows to start the 10 count, you hold for a three second contraction. Five sets of this was performed. That was it.