Today I had the opportunity to lift at Victory Baptist Church, located in Rochester, NY. A lot of my friends have had nothing but great things to say about the guys who trained there. I met the assistant Pastor when I arrived, and he gave me a tour of the facility. I never would have thought that a community center located at a church would have a powerlifting team and MMA team training at the same time. The lead pastor helps coach the MMA team. Not something you hear on a regular basis. Half of the guys that benched last night are lifting in the WNPF meet I am on August 2nd. The other half of the guys are lifting in the RPS meet on August, 9th. Two separate federations on back-to-back weekends lifting in the community center of a church in Rochester, NY. It is great news for the sport of powerlifting for the same facility to have two separate meets by two very different federations on consecutive weekends. From what I hear about the RPS meet, one of the sessions has already sold out! My training last night went as follows: Bench: 45/10, 95/10, 135/10, 185/5, 225/5, 275/3, 315/1, 335/1 (PR), 350/1 (PR) The last two reps with the press commands similar to the WNPF. Huge post surgery bench PR by 25lbs., from what I lifted about a month ago with my brother Frank Lat Pulldowns: 10/10/10/10/10 at the 10th pin Orange Band Assisted Pull-Ups: 3/3/3 Push-Ups on DB: 10/10/10 DB Curls: 40/5, 45/5/5, 50/5/5, 55/5/5 It was one of the best bench training sessions i have had in years. Definitely the best since my surgery. I felt accepted right from the very moment I stepped foot into their gym. It is not everyday I get to train with guys in the 132, 181, 198, 220, 242, 275, and heavyweight classes at the same time. Jeremy, one of the lifters training for the RPS meet, hit bench numbers of 405/3, 455/1, 475/1, 500/1. Not a bad training session at all. Below is the video of my 350lb. bench. Charles
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I don't think I could have picked a more humid night to get a squat/sled session in. Last night I started my training at approximately 8pm, garage door open, and with a temp still over 85 degrees. As you can see from the platform, nothing but sweat last night. If my scale is correct,
Squat: 45/10, 135/10, 225/10, 315/5, 365/5, 415/5, 445/5/5/5 Deadlift (mid shin pulls in cage): 135/5, 185/5, 225/5, 275/5, 325/3/3, 395/1/1 Sled Pulls: 200lbs. x 5 trips around the backyard in 10 minutes 29 seconds. Much better and more efficient than the other night For some reason I just can't seem to get my deadlift going. I have never really had a great or good deadlift to begin with, but even 395lbs. should go up fairly easy. Something to work on over the course of the next 6 weeks. I should probably start channeling my inner "horseman" mentality. Over my left shoulder I have a picture of The 4 Horsemen; JJ Dillon, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and Ole Anderson. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson are wearing The Great American Bash t-shirts. I am guessing from the 1986/1987 Bash. In the dvd titled "Ric Flair and the 4 Horsemen", there is a segment in which Tully Blanchard states, "The is the symbol of excellence (holding up the horsemen hand signal of four fingers), be whatever you want, but be the very best". Not sure where I am going with this, but please bear with me for a moment. I have only been powerlifting for ten years. In those ten years I have competed in 7 full powerlifting meets and 1 bench press only meet. Right out the gate in my first two powerlifting meets, I broke 3 USAPL Junior (20-23) New York State age group records. The squat in the 242lb. weight class, and the squat and bench in the 275lb. weight classroom. Since then, the big numbers have been few and far between. I have always strived to be the very best version of myself. I guess I was a little spoiled hitting some pretty good numbers at 22 and 23 years old, or what I consider good numbers. Good enough for the USAPL of New York. In my mind, I look at being the best from two different perspectives. The first perspective is hitting a Personal Record (PR) or Personal Best (PB) in a competition, but not winning the competition. In track & field, this has happened to me more times than I can count. I hit huge PB's in the hammer, and lost competitions by more than 30, 40, and in some cases 50 feet. Same thing with the 35lb. weight, I hit huge PB's in competition, and still managed to lose by 10 or 15 feet. My other perspective has become more developed and evolved from coaching. When thinking about what to say to my throwers before Championship meets, I always try to bring a unique frame of mind to each athlete. While some are competing to win a championship, others are just happy competing. For the championship contenders, I always mention the fact that it is not necessarily about setting a PR or PB on this given day, but to throw far enough to win. Depending on the meet and goal of the athlete, winning the meet might not necessarily require a PB performance. This happened twice this season to my best weight/hammer thrower. At our indoor conference championship, he was seeded first in the weight by over 7 feet. He threw 5cm more than the second place competitor, throwing 6 feet under his PR. While the second place competitor set a PR by over 5 feet. I am not sure if he let the moment get the best of him, but he came out with a win and a not very good distance. In our outdoor conference meet, the same situation occurred. He was seeded first in the hammer by almost twenty feet, and barely came away with a win, throwing twenty feet less than his PR. Again, not sure if he was throwing down to his competition or just picked two championship meet days to throw horribly and still come out on top. Fast forward to the outdoor DIII ECAC championships held at RPI. Seeded 16th, he threw two huge PR's, made the finals, and finished 9th overall. He was extremely happy with his performance, but upset about his finish. The one constant I can take from coaching college athletes is that they are somewhat unpredictable. I never know what is going on between their ears, or what their mindset is at meets, whether championship or otherwise. Charles In approximately 6 weeks I will be stepping on this platform for the World Natural Powerlifting Federation (WNPF). It will be my 3rd powerlifting meet in 11 months. I don't often get the opportunity to squat out of a monolift, but I will start spending time training at Victory Baptist Church in Rochester, NY. This is the venue for the meet on August 2nd, and they have a powerlifting team. I'm going to start training there this upcoming week.
Tonight's session was what I consider a maintenance day. I very rarely train bi's/tri's in isolation. Tonight I worked those beach muscles, along with some barbell shrugs and sled pulls. Barbell Shrugs: 45/15/15, 135/10, 185/10, 235/10/10/10 Red Band Tricep Pushdowns: 20/20/20/20/20 EZ Bar Curls: bar plus 50lbs.10,, bar plus 80lbs.10/10, bar plus 100lbs. 5/5/5 Red Band 1 Arm Overhead Tricep Extensions: 10/10/10 each arm Green Band Upright Rows: 15/15/15 Sled Pulls: 200lbs./5 laps around the backyard in 13 minutes and 20 seconds-totally gassed out on these I am going to start incorporating some sled pulls in my regular training sessions. I will add them to the end of my training session. I don't feel comfortable having them come at the beginning of the session. Especially on a a leg day. I read almost daily on the various social media sights that people warm-up for their training sessions with bodyweight sled pulls, or some variation. I don't think I could warm-up with 273lbs. right now for five or ten minutes. It is certainly an acquired taste, but I would rather taste it at the end of the workout rather than before things get really started. Charles My thoughts going into last night's training session were to take a deload in the bench and to attempt some ring dips. That was basically it. Well, as I have mentioned before, even the best laid plans do not work out as well as we would like. My workout went like this: Bench: 45/15/15, 95/10, 135/10, 185/5, 225/3, 275/3, 315/3/3/3 (Huge Post Surgery PR) Orange Band Assisted Pull-Ups: 5/4/4/4/4 Ring Dips: 1/2/3/3/2/1- I did not attempt a ladder workout on purpose. That is just the way it worked out. Ring Rows: 5/5/5/5/5 After my tricep surgery in June, 2012, any major lifting accomplishments are tagged with a post surgery PR. Before my surgery, what I consider my best bench workout took place in 2008. Taken from my training journal back then; 315/5, 365/5, 405/5, 425/3/3/3. That really isn't that great in the big scheme of things, but I thought and still think that is pretty good. I am not sure I will ever get to those weights again, but time will tell. When I was throwing back in 2007 and 2008, I was convinced that if I had a good bench session the week of a meet, I would have a PR. I completed this training session on a Tuesday night, after school. That Saturday I competed in a meet at Baldwin Wallace College. It was a type of last chance qualifier for hammer throwers in the OH, NY, & PA area. I PR'd in the hammer by about 3m (10') that meet, and still finished about 50' behind the top guys. That was my trend back then. Whether by coincidence or not, every training session I benched over 405lbs. in I had a PR that meet week. As you can imagine, it did not happen very often. I went two years, from 2005-2007 without a hammer PR. I was still able to manage great performances and finishes, but without the PR. As a side note, my training partner and I are entered in a Powerlifting/Olympic Lifting type competition on August 16, 2014 at Crossfit Boomtown in Rochester, NY. The meet consists of 6 events; squat, bench, deadlift, front squat, snatch, and clean & jerk. Each person on the team will complete 3 of the events. The total amount of weight lifted in all 6 events will be added together, then divided by their combined bodyweight. The team with the best weight lifted to body weight ratio will be declared the winner. It will take a little bit of strategy in figuring out which events each of us will participate in. I am not and have never been a very good Olympic weight lifter. My best gym lifts are 260# in the snatch and 335# in the clean & jerk, at a bodyweight of about 290#. This was back in the summer of 2008. I say gym lifts because I have never competed in an official Olympic weight lifting meet. I will probably complete the squat/bench portions of the meet. My partner will complete the snatch and clean Exactly two years ago to the day, I had surgery on my ruptured right tricep tendon. My dad went with me to the outpatient surgery center here in Rochester, New York. We arrived at 7am. I had never had surgery before, so all of this was a learning experience. I was surprised that Dr. Raymond was able to get me into surgery so soon. After everything that transpired, others have had at least a week or two in-between their injury. I was in surgery less than 48 hours after my injury.
I checked in at the front desk, filled out some paperwork, and began signing my life away. Before entering the waiting room I must have signed at least twenty documents. Similar to when you buy a house, but totally different circumstances. Once in the waiting room, my name was called after ten minutes. I said bye to my dad, and went through the double doors. Not knowing what to expect, I asked my nurse if my dad could come back with me and hang out until my surgery. She said that was fine. I do not remember every specific detail immediately before going into the operating room, but I do remember the nurse assigned to me. She was about 5'5", and ripped. By ripped, I mean two garden hose veins running through each of her biceps. I asked her what she trained for, and she said powerlifting and a little bit of figure/bikini competitions. My mind was put at a little more ease knowing that the person going into surgery with me to help me understood my concern that I may not ever powerlift again. She had me sign a few more papers, and within an hour of entering the pre-op room, I was ready for surgery. I told my dad I loved him, and was wheeled off. When I entered the operating room, I remember it looking like something out of a television show or movie. I had never been in an operating room before, so television was the only thing I could compare it to. My nurse put a mask over my face, and told me to take deep breaths like I was getting ready to deadlift. I don't remember anything after the third breath. Upon waking up, Dr. Raymond was standing to my right and my dad was sitting to my left. "It was like sewing two mop heads together." Those were the first words I remember hearing after waking up. I asked him what he meant. He said that my tricep tendon looked like two mop heads. It took him an hour and a half to sew them back together, in his words. I asked him how long it would take for me to fully recover. He said I would probably be able to start lifting again in a few months, depending on how my tricep was healing. He also said the hole in my tricep would be there for a long time. I still think I have a hole in my tricep. I was able to wait in the recovery room for an hour before being discharged. My dad and I scheduled an appointment for the following week. Before leaving, I made sure to thank my powerlifting nurse and the other staff that worked with me that morning. We had a very busy weekend here at the Forza Powerlifting Club home. Between taking the little man out and the usual home items, I didn't have much time to train. Last night I attempted a squat training session, but their was no gas left in the tank. I started warming up as usual. I even included some military presses to start the workout.
Military Press: 45/10/10, 75/10/10/10-Loaded up 135, but it was a horrible attempt, and I am not counting it in the session Squat: 135/10/10, 225/5, 315/1-That is it, a whole rep at 315 Good Mornings: 135/5/5/5 Barbell Shoulder Shrugs: 135/10/10, 225/10/10/10 Green Band Upright Rows: 15/15/15 I am going to take this week as a deload week. In my last training session, I hit 445 for 7 in the squat. Last night 315 felt like a ton. With the little man being sick the past week, sleep has been pretty much few and far between. My meet is about 7 weeks away. I still have plenty of time to get back on track and implement a strong 6 week cycle before hitting my openers the week before. Getting back to my tricep surgery, two years ago today I had my appointment with who would become my orthopedic surgeon. It was a long few minutes in the waiting room. My arm was not really sore, but I had a huge bump at the top of where my right tricep should have been attached. My arm was not really swollen, and I actually slept well the night before. Dr. Raymond walked in and immediately asked me how I was feeling. I told him I was feeling pretty good, and not really that sore. I told him what happened as he was examining my right wrist and arm. I told him I went to the urgent care the night before, and that my x-rays came back negative. That was the best news of the day. He put his thumb right above the point of my elbow, gave a little pressure, and without any hesitation said I ruptured my right tricep tendon. He also said that the bump at the top of my arm was my tricep muscle that tore and rolled up my arm. I was not that black and blue. There was some discoloration, but nothing like when I broke my right pinky in high school. That little break caused my whole arm up to my elbow to turn black and blue. I asked Dr. Raymond how he knew that my tendon was ruptured. He took my thumb, and placed it above my left elbow. He then placed my thumb above my right elbow, and I could feel a hole. He said the tendon should be attached there. He scheduled me for surgery the next morning. I also went to get and MRI done after I left his office. He just wanted to make sure my tendon was indeed ruptured. I went to have my MRI done, and within twenty minutes of completion, I was officially scheduled for surgery. I received a call from the outpatient surgery office, and finalized what I could and could not do 24 hours before surgery. For the first time in my life, I was scheduled for surgery. Almost two years ago to the day I had surgery to re-attach my right tricep tendon. I won't mention how it happened because it couldn't have occurred in a more embarrassing way. This picture was taken a few days after my bandage was removed, maybe two weeks after my surgery. I spent a great deal of time at my first post-op appointment asking my surgeon questions. He told me that when he made the initial incision, and opened up my arm, that his first thought was sewing two mop heads together. It painted a very clear picture of how serious the surgery was, and how long it may take to get my strength back. It was not recommended that I start physical therapy before August 1st. I waited 6 weeks to schedule my first PT appointment. I will go into more detail in another blog this weekend. As for my workout tonight: Bench: 45/15/15, 95/10, 135/10, 185/5, 225/5, 275/3, 305/1-not a very good session at all Orange Band Assisted Pull-Ups: 5/4/3/4/4 Bench Press: 225/10/10/10-Not sure what got into me here. I felt I needed to feel that pump. Orange Band Face Pulls: 15/15/15 Skull Crushers w/EZ Bar: Bar/15, bar+20lbs. 15/15/15-Have not done skull crushers in over two years. This is a huge major accomplishment. Overall not a great training session, but certainly not the worst either. I felt I should have been able to take 305lbs. for a triple tonight. I guess it was not in the cards tonight. I am starting to believe that training after 9pm is taking its toll on me. On most days I am up at 4am. Training at 9pm or 10pm cannot be as beneficial as training at 3pm or 4pm, where I am most used to training. Charles My original plan for last night was to give 445lbs. a ride for a set of 10 in the squat. Sometimes the best laid plans do fail. Unfortunately, I was only able to get 7 reps. That is still a rep PR for me! My training looked like this:
Squat: 45/10/10, 135/10, 225/10, 315/5, 365/1, 415/1, 445/7 Deadlift: 135/5, 225/5, 295/5, 345/5, 395/1/1/1 The deadlift felt extremely heavy last night. I have never really had a very good or strong deadlift, but I have managed to pull 600lbs. in a couple of meets. It was also over five years ago. Initially my plan for this upcoming WNPF meet was to take as few reps as possible in training leading up to the meet. I have competed at meets in the past where I trained my deadlift two or three times a week, and then not have the energy when it mattered most. I have only had a couple of deadlift training sessions the last couple of weeks. I thought I would feel fresher, but that was not the case last night. Moving forward I will begin to incorporate some deadlift type exercises once a week. I have always noticed a big difference when I spent a majority of my deadlift training on pin deadlifts, usually mid shin. Looking back at some of my old training journals, it seems I got the most bang for my buck when incorporating heavy pin deadlifts. I will keep with the same squat training program as of now. I should have been able to handle 445lbs. for at least 10 reps last night. Rather than train at 9pm or 10pm, I should try and lift earlier in the day. Immediately before dinner has always worked best for me, but with the little man eating dinner at 5:30pm, I am not going to take away from the little family time I have during the week to ensure I hit my lifting numbers. Family will always be number 1. Charles After the little man went down last night, I got a pretty good training session in.
Bench: 45/20/20, 95/10, 135/10, 185/5, 225/5, worksets 275/4/4/4-it is getting more difficult to un-rack the heavier weights myself. Green Band Assisted Pull-Ups: 8/8/6/5/5 ... Gray Band Seated Press: 12/12/12 EZ Curls: 45's 6/6/6/6/6 Overall it was a pretty good session. I am really looking forward to my upcoming WNPF meet on August 2nd, 2014. Today I came across a competition that will be hosted by Crossfit Boomtown on August 16th, 2014. The competition will consist of a squat, bench, deadlift, snatch, clean, and front squat lifts. A team of two, each person completing three of the six lifts. I am extremely interested in this competition. Please bear with me as I ramble on here... I am not sure what my intrigue is with Crossfit, but ever since I came across the crossfit.com website a few years ago, I have had a desire to compete in a competition. My wife asks me on a fairly regular basis why I still have the need to "compete" in something. To be perfectly frank, it gives me a sense of accomplishment and achievement. I have participated in sports my entire life. Looking back on my college track & field career, I don't think I started actually competing until the 2003-2004 season, my senior year. Our track program was going through some major changes. A new head coach was hired. Someone that was not an alumni or had an emotional attachment as a previous assistant coach on staff. My throwing coach for the previous three years was let go. A couple of weeks before classes started, I was able to meet with our new head coach. I introduced myself, talked a little bit about my background, etc. I was more interested in what he had to say about how we were going to move forward that upcoming season, specifically about hiring a throwing coach. He told me he was going to be my throwing coach. Our new head coach, who by the way competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Trials in the triple jump, was going to be my throwing coach??? I actually told him I needed to think about it. As I turned around and was ready to leave his office, he said, "Don't you want to win this season?" I know that sounds like a scene out of an after school special, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I never had a coach call me out like that before. That afternoon the fuse was lit. It hasn't been turned off since. Coach Barr lit a fuse in me that was not previously lit. We spoke more before the semester started, and I asked him about his training, and bought in. I will speak more about that in a future post. Charles Tonight my brother and I got a really good training session. Frank tackled the infamous Fran Crossfit WOD. He finished in 5 minutes and 39 seconds. We are not sure if that is a good time or really good time. He said right before that he wanted to break 10 minutes. I think next time he could easily break 4 minutes 30 seconds. My session consisted of: Bench: 45/15/15, 95/10/10, 145/3/3/3 with an orange band 1 arm lat pulldowns super settled with orange band seated press: 15/15/15 Orange band Pushdowns: 10/10/10/10/10-A very big accomplishment for me! EZ Bar Curls: 25's 10/10/10/10 Sunday: Squats and Deadlifts Squats: Worksets 415/4/5 Deadlifts: Worksets 325/5/5/5 |
Charles InfurnaDr. Infurna is an active powerlifter and thrower. He has recently shifted his focus to training for Triathlon races. His next race is the Rochester Sprint Triathlon at the end of August, 2019. Categories
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