Closing in on 400 pound Hack Squats

Hack Squats felt awesome last night. Closing in on 400 pounds for them. Nailed 4 sets of 5 with 385 pounds and it felt really strong. Here's the final set.

Parallet Combo 1

Rough day for the first parallet combination. Out of 5 sets, I think I had 3 good ones. Here's one of the good ones. Lol! Shout out to my beautiful bride who's on vacation in the background :)  !!

Some more posing practice fun

Hitting A Back Pose

Some fun posing practice

Playing around with the front double biceps pose

A little bent arm lever fun

Having some fun practicing the bent arm lever

Always a fun one to do!!

Some improvisational play

It's always fun to finish up practice with some playful improvisation.

Garage fun part 2

Back in the garage, having fun and practicing my back archer and back Steve Reeves poses.

Always fun!!

High bar work, a fun addiction

I'll admit it, I love my high bar work. It's awesome!!

Having some garage fun

Having some fun in the garage and practicing the archer pose.

Some High Bar Fun, Too!!

And, having some fun on the high bar, too!!

Having some handstand fun

Having a ton of fun playing around with handstands at a variety of places this morning.

You have to love handstands, they're result producing, powerful, awesome and fun!

195 pound barbellc concentration curls

Jumped up in weight and hit 3 strong sets of 8 reps with 195 pounds.

Rear delt raise heaven

Jumped up to 108 pounds for the rear delt raises, and nailed them. Felt awesome!

Pushing the Handstand Push ups up to 30 reps

Pushing the reps up to sets of 30 for last night's training. Felt good.

Doing my best Steve Reeves

Steve Reeves has long been one of my favorite people in all of physical culture. Here's my best try at his classic pose.


Me:

And Steve:

A little double biceps pose for the day

Having some fun in between rings movements this morning.

Have you gone out and played today?

Have you gone out and just played today.

I finished off my morning practice with some fun, improvisational play. It felt awesome

Floor Circle Combination

This morning was my first time practicing this combination, and I think it went pretty well. Cast position to floor circle front split to straddle up handstand to forward roll. Fun stuff!

Yeah! Hack Squats

Started off last night's training strongly with some nice sets of Hack Squats. Nailed all of my sets of 5 with 365 pounds, felt pretty easy. Definitely have to up the weight next time.

A huge reason why I love the old school

One of the things that I'm sick of in a sport that I love is the bloated gut!!

Of course I'm talking about bodybuilding, and I'm talking about all of the top pros that are out there competing while looking pregnant.

Now, I'm not dissing these guys, it's the direction that the sport has gone. And, I love guys like Phil, Kai, Jay and the like. But the bloated, distended bellies just suck!

In the quest for sheer, freaky mass for mass sake, I personally think that we've really lost something.

Bodybuilding used to be about health, athletics, and beauty.

The old school bodybuilders used to have a look that made women swoon and made every man want to look like them.

Now a days, I can't imagine how many people actually look and say, "Damn, I want to look like that. Look at that belly."

Symmetry, proportion, aesthetics and beauty used to be the name of the game. And     the bodybuilder was a physical artist.

Look at these physiques and see how they compare to the caricatures of today's athletes.

Bob Paris:

Frank Zane:

Lee Labrada:

Marvin Eder:

Steve Reeves:

John Grimek:

Don Howorth:

Don Ross:

Sergio Olivia:

Chuck Sipes:

Reg Park:

All of these men were supremely muscular, strong and fit. They also carried a look that resembled a Greek God.

Personally, I'll always admire those physiques over the freaky look.

Butt, that's just my opinion.

Parallet combo 1

From this morning's practice. These were feeling really good today. Nailed some really strong reps during the 5 sets. Here's the final set. Nice movement overall.

Still one of my favorit abdominal movments

At the end of Thursday night's training I hit a nice super set of Leg Raises and Tight Arch Rocks. Here's the final set of leg raises. Made sure to try to bring the legs as high as possible, in a slow and controlled fashion, and used a pause at the end of the final rep. Great stuff.

The Almost Forgotten Barbell Concentration Curl

These are almost forgotten, but I love them. They hit the biceps so beautifully. The Barbell Concentration Curl. Threw these in at the end of Thursday night's training and hit a strong 3 sets of 10 with 185 pounds. Here's the final set.

Iron Cross Pumps are Improving

Hitting my 4th of 4 sets of iron cross pumps from this morning's practice. They are feeling deeper and stronger. Getting the shoulders and body position better, and the wrist strength is really coming along.

What happends when you're fooling around during practice?

If you're me, apparently you take cornball pictures, lol!

 

Reverse Yewki Variation

Here's a Reverse Yewki Variation from Tuesday night's training. A lat killer on it's own, but even more so when sandwiched between Front Levers, Scapula Work, 1-arm Rows and Isometric Shrugs. Awesome stuff. Keeping the lever part in a tuck at the moment, looking to move to a half lay soon. Here's the final set.

Floor circle to Front split

My 2nd time practicing these. Not too bad.

Butterfly kick to aerial cartwheel take 2

2nd time working on these. The butterfly kick to aerial cartwheel. Needs work, but getting better.

Have you butterfly kicked today?

Have you Butterfly Kicked today? If not, I highly recommend that you do. They're fun and addicting! Lol!

The Sissy Squats I mentioned earlier.

Since I mentioned them in an earlier video, here is the 3rd of 3 sets of sissy squats. The key is to get as deep as you can, make sure the legs are doing the work (not the arms, they're only there for balance), and pause in the stretched position. Awesome stuff.

Some Back Squats from last night's training

Awesome training last night. Nailed 4 set of squats, 3 sets of sissy squats, 3 sets of 1-leg isometric leg extensions, 3 sets of 1-leg hip thrust/leg curls, 3 sets of Romanian deadlifts,3 sets of 1-leg isometric leg curls and 3 sets of v-sits. Felt strong and awesome. Here's the final set of squats. Nailed 4 sets of 15 with 405 pounds.

Level Change Pull Ups or the Salmon Ladder Pull Up

How do you train for the Ninja Warrior Salmon Ladder without the Salmon Ladder? Well, you use Level change Pull Ups. Played with these at the end of practice today for 5 sets. Felt fun and strong.

Have you monkey flipped today?

If you haven't, I highly recommend it.

100.5 pound Read Delt Raises

Last night, after nailing 100 handstand push ups, I felt the need to break the 100 pound barrier on my read delt raises. Hit a strong 3 sets of 6 per side with 100.5 pounds. Used an 88 pound K-bell with both a 10 pound and a 2.5 pound weight plate tied to it. Felt awesome. Hit some shoulder Isometrics afterwards, and a little more.

Eccentric Tiger Bends

Decided to work seriously on the tiger bend, so I started out hitting the eccentric portion hard. Here's one of the reps from the 5th set.

206 pound 1-arm rows

Awesome night for 1-arm rows. Felt awesome to hit, at a bodyweight of 188 pounds, 3 sets of 5 reps on each side with 206 pounds. The bottom bell is an 88 pounder with a 20 pounder and a 10 pound weight plate tied to it. The top bell is another 88 pounder. Feeling strong.

I'm not saying that I invented these, but.....

I'm not saying that I invented these, but I've never seen them before, lol. I was thinking to myself, why not try to go from a push up right up into a handstand and it worked. Hit a nice strong 5 sets of these to finish off the morning practice.

Butterfly kick to Aerial Cartwheel (No handed cartwheel)

First day for trying these ever. While they were a little sloppy (this was the final set of them), I have to say, not too bad. Especially since I haven't been practicing the aerial cartwheel for the past few weeks do to weather conditions. I'm excited to see where these go to next.

Some Hack Squat Fun

Started off last night's training with 4 strong sets of Hack Squats. Felt awkward since I haven't done them in many years, but still strong. Nailed my 5's with 365 pounds. Great movement.

parallet combo view 3

From this morning's practice, here's the 3rd angle of the new parallet combination. And, I really have to get those feet together, lol.

2nd time practicing the new rings combo

 the 2nd time practicing the new rings combo. Feeling foreign and challenging, but coming along. V-sit hand to inverted hand to front lever to inverted hand to tucked back lever to inverted hand to pike to German hand to pike to inverted hang to pike to v-sit in top support to beginning. Rough and not pretty yet, but getting there.