Category Archives: Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness

Plans for my power lifting meet at Albany Strength next Saturday…

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So now it’s one-week out of the Power Lifting meet at Albany Strength next Saturday, I gotta start planning all my attempts for the big three lifts for that day. I’m gonna go for the numbers that I can do with good form, but I think I’m gonna challenge myself on a few things to get new PR’s that day.

I’m gonna write these planned attempts on a piece of paper and bring it with me to the meet.

Here are my 3 planned attempts for all three lifts for March 30th meet:

 

Squat: Attempt 1 – 115 lbs. Attempt 2 – 135 lbs. Attempt 3 – 150 lbs.

Bench: Attempt 1 – 135 lbs. Attempt 2 – 150 lbs. Attempt 3 – 160 lbs.

Deadlift: Attempt 1 – 285 Attempt 2 – 300 lbs. Attempt 3 – 315 lbs.

 

For bench, I wasn’t able to get 160 lbs. at all lately. I’ve got it once before and hoping to get it again next Saturday. Maybe it’s because I’m so used to unracking the bar myself instead of having someone give me a lift-off? That could be the reason I wasn’t able to hit 160 ’cause I was unracking the bar myself and making me weaker. If I have a spotter give me a lift-off, then maybe I’ll definitely smash a 160 lb. bench easily? I’m gonna give it a shot.

As for deadlift, I’m planning to challenge myself with a 315 lb. Last time I maxed out on deadlift at the gym a few weeks ago, I smashed an easy 310 and felt like I could do a little more. I think I’ll be able to smash a 315 with no problem. 315 lbs. is gonna be tough and I’m probably gonna be a little shaky but I think I can do it. We’ll see.

When you do a powerlifting meet, you have to make your opening attempts an easy lift. When I watch live powerlifting online, a lot of lifters open too heavy which is why they miss too many lifts. I’m not gonna do that. It’s a smart thing to do is to open your attempt pretty easy. Your second attempt should be easy too, semi-heavy but something manageable, ya know? When you want to challenge yourself with the big ones, that should ALWAYS be your final attempt. Make the first two pretty easy and then challenge yourself last.

If I happen to miss the 160 bench and the 315 deadlift then who cares? Not the end of the world. Just move on and keep working for it.

I’m getting excited for the next Power Lifting meet, though. The meets at Albany Strength are such a blast. I love showing off what I can do and love watching other lifters as well.

Btw, it seems like people are already enjoying the “My Story” video. 30 views on youtube and almost 80 views on FB. Not too bad.

The next “My Story” video will be the Albany Strength powerlifting meet so I think that video will definitely get a lot more views then. I’m already thinking about and plotting what “My Story – Part 2” is gonna be. “My Story” is gonna be an ongoing series, I think.

Kev

Health and Fitness, Random/off topic posts

“The Brock’s Videoblog: My Story – Part 1″…. it’s online now!

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Hope you guys enjoy. I had to re-upload this video a couple of times ’cause I noticed some issues with “volume” in some scenes so I had to get that taken care of. Now I think it’s perfect and ready to go online.

Enjoy, y’all. This is only the beginning of “My Story” and I’m only getting started.

Kev

Health and Fitness

T-Nation article… 7 gym gym rules never to break… but sadly people break ’em anyways…

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This is a great article on T-Nation which a great fitness/bodybuilding site that is popular online. In this article, it lists 7 rules to never break and they’re all good ones too. Sadly, I see people break them all the time especially 1, 2, and 4.

Check out the opinion piece article here:

https://www.t-nation.com/opinion/the-7-gym-rules-never-to-break?fbclid=IwAR1P–aQJ5-I74B9fSx3IrB1loAMhqR-hWaftKpV7XkN9DlB7ITt5Y4_S14

My thoughts on No. 1, “Don’t Perv On Women”…

I do talk to women at times at the gym but I’m not there to hit on them or pick up dates. I respect the women’s time at the gym. Usually when I talk to a woman it’s just a quick “Hello, how are you” and that’s probably about it.

At the gym, I see guys chatting it up with the ladies all the time. It’s amazing to me how long they talk to each other especially in the weight room. They talk so long in between sets and it’s a waste of time for your muscles and your body. It’s not good to take really long rests in between your sets and that becomes a huge problem when people chat it up for so long. I see guys walking up to some random woman to chat her up all the time even when she’s working out! Crazy! I don’t use the gym to hit on the ladies. I go to the gym to get a good workout in and then I’m done.

Thoughts on No. 2, “Don’t Share Your Training Wisdom”…

Getting unsolicited advice seems to be a big problem and I’ve gotten that before. When people thought I was in trouble lifting weights, some meatheads would try to come over to save the day when I knew what I was doing. For example, I was benching 1 rep maxes by myself with no spotter but with these benches at my local gym, you don’t really need a spotter ’cause they have these side arms or safety arms whatever you want to call them. I missed a bench lift and some dude would try and come over and play “hero” to save me but I set the bar on the safeties and nothing happened to me. The dude thought I was gonna kill myself on the bench or something but I knew what I was doing. That’s what the safety arms on the bench are for, some people don’t realize that. I think they were built on there so you can bench alone without a spotter. This happened a couple of times when a dude was trying to save me from a missed bench when benching alone. I knew what I was doing and some dudes just want to play “hero” in the gym and nothing more. I appreciate them looking after me and looking out for my well-being, but dude, what they do is really rude. I do get a spotter when I think I’m in absolute need of one, though. I know what I’m doing when benching by myself and there are gonna be a few idiots that think I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m starting to bench in the squat rack more, though.

Thoughts on No. 4., “Pick Up Your Shit”…

Oh yeah, I hear this one. People leave weights on the floors and on equipment after they’re done and it’s annoying that people don’t pick up after themselves. It pisses me off really. Sometimes I have no choice but to go around the gym putting weights back to where they belong even if I didn’t use them just to be nice and respectful to the gym. Going to the gym maybe fun and all but there will be all kinds of inconsiderate jackasses in the gym too. People don’t put the weights back, they leave trash behind and all that stuff. Crazy.

Gym etiquette is a real problem at gyms lately and it continues to get worse. In the old days, we used to go to the gym to get away from annoying people but now annoying people are all over gyms. Real sad!

Kev

Health and Fitness

I’m so glad that I’ve gotten into powerlifting full time, it’s totally worth it!!!

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I’ve decided to get into powerlifting training full time ever since my first powerlifting meet back in Aug. of 2018. Before then, I never saw myself as a powerlifter. I always saw myself as a bodybuilder type of lifter. How did I discover and got myself into powerlifting?

Well, it’s kind of a funny story. What happened was I got these friends in facebook who are powerlifters. They do powerlifting meets all the freakin’ time and I watch their live videos of their meets every time they do one. I would comment on their videos a lot giving them compliments on their lifting and stuff. I told them that they are inspiring me to get into “powerlifting” and one of them ended up inviting me to a powerlifting meet at Albany Strength which was a push/pull meet. A meet that had only deadlifting/bench press. Originally at that first meet on Aug. 31st 2018, I wasn’t going to be in it and compete. I originally just wanted to be a spectator and just watch live in person. One of my friends who is a pro powerlifter ended up asking me to compete in the meet myself and I’m like, “Okay, as long as I’m going to be there might as well try out my very first powerlifting meet which was a success”. After that first meet, I became obsessed and hooked with powerlifting. Since that first powerlifting meet, I’ve been doing some serious strength training and doing a lot of barbell stuff. I’ve been doing the big three lifts: squats, deadlift and bench ever since that first meet.

I’ve always been a hypertrophy type of trainer and now I’ve gotten into strength training full time. It’s worth it, though ’cause I’m feeling stronger and stronger each week. Yes, you can get strong doing regular “bodybuilding” style of training but you’ll get stronger even quicker with powerlifting. Since I’ve gotten into powerlifting full time, does this mean I’m no longer a bodybuilder? No. I’m doing both full time. To get strong in powerlifting meets, you’ve got to continue to do hypertrophy training ’cause that’s part of building strength too. Big muscles helps get you stronger so you got to continue to build muscle too.

My goal in life is not only look great and muscular, I want to be able to get real strong as well. I want to lift the bigger weights and powerlifting will help me get there. I love powerlifting. It’s a great sport to get into and ANYBODY can get into the sport. I want to get real strong ’cause I hate being weak. At my first powerlifting meet, I admittedly started off pretty easy but it’s a good thing to do for a beginner powerlifter. I’m only getting started.

I’m noticing that my squat personal record has finally caught up with my bench press p.r. My squat personal record is 150 lbs. and my bench press is 155 lbs. I’m not quite at 160 for bench but I’m going to give that number another try at the meet on March 30th. I’ll do strength training on bench for the next couple of weeks to see if I can hit 160 on meet day. I want to get lucky and hit the bigger numbers on meet day. While my latest p.r. on deadlift is 310 lbs., I’m going to challenge myself and try to lift a 315 deadlift as my third attempt. I’m going to work up to that number too.

I’m getting stoked for my third powerlifting meet on March 30th which is in a few weeks. For the next few weeks, I got to do more strength training and one week before the meet, I’ve got to do something called “de-load”. What does “De-load” mean? It means you’ve got to lift everything lighter for a whole week and I plan on doing just that. I don’t want to fatigue myself and wear my body out before meet day. I want to keep my strength for meet day so I can lift the bigger numbers. I hope to lift a 160 bench on meet day and I’m gonna give it a try as my third attempt. If I can’t get it again then oh well, better luck next time but I promise March 30th will be a great day for me and I won’t disappoint the audience and won’t disappoint the judges. I hope to get three white lights on everything. Gonna do my very best.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Ray Williams, a powerlifter lifts a 1080 lbs. squat at Arnold’s Sports Festival…

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All weekend, I’ve been watching live powerlifting through online youtube streaming. I was watching powerlifting competition at Arnold’s Sports Festival online and it’s a blast watching them. Best thing that happened was Ray Williams lifting a 1080 lb. squat which was impressive and mind blowing.

Someday, I would love to compete at the Arnold Festival myself and it’s my dream. On my bucket list. In order for me to do that, I need to be a USAPL member and one day I will sign up with them. I may do that this year ’cause I would love to compete for some USAPL meets around NY State too.

I love to watch powerlifting meets live online ’cause it’s a great motivational and educational tool for me about powerlifting. It’s fun to watch other people lift in powerlifting. It’s the best sport in the world and I’m glad we have a sport that everyone can take part in.

Enjoy the video above!

Kev

Health and Fitness

I love weightlifting and going to the gym and all but there will be some downsides about it…

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Okay, I need to go on a little rant a bit. Yeah, I love weightlifting and going to the gym. It’s my second biggest passion in life right behind music. While I know that weightlifting is going to have a positive impact in my life, there will be some downsides about it like the title says. There will be some negative aspects of weightlifting for sure. Not only that getting injuries for weightlifting will be a huge problem, there will be more.

When you go to the gym and hit the weights to try and change your life, the problems you will have is how people respond to you. Yeah, you will get a lot of doubters, criticizers and worriers for sure.

There are going to be some people that will worry about me weightlifting ’cause of my scoliosis condition. Some will worry that me lifting heavy weights will make my metal rod in the spine worsen by lifting heavy weights all the time. Well, I just went to the doctor earlier this week for a yearly check up and I just found out from the doctor that weightlifting won’t worsen my spine at all. Weightlifting won’t make my curvature a lot worse. That’s what the doctor said. He did explain why it wouldn’t but I forgot what he said. Anyway, I was very happy and thrilled to hear my doctor say that so I’m good to do all the wicked heavy lifting in the gym all I want to. I knew it couldn’t worsen my spine and I’m glad my doctor sees that. So no need to worry y’all… I can get into powerlifting and strongman competition all I want to.

Would I get into strongman competition someday??? I don’t know, we’ll see. For now, I’ll just stick with powerlifting ’cause I’m loving that.

Another thing I want to say is that when you get into weightlifting, you’ll definitely be getting some criticizers after you. For example, I’ve been lifting in the gym for years and people still want to treat me like I’m a beginner. They want to act like that I just started and some want to treat me as if I’m a weak little kid in the gym. That’s how some people has been treating me online nowadays especially in forums and social networking. I’ve been lifting for years and I’ve got a great enough physique for my age and yet, people want to act like I know nothing about fitness and bodybuilding.

That’s the thing, ya know??? The more successful you are in the gym, the more doubters and criticizers you would get. Yes, you’re definitely going to make people jealous for sure, absolutely. That’s why you get people negatively critiquing your form and critiquing your physique ’cause they do it out of “jealousy”, in my opinion. They just want what you have and they don’t have it. They can’t lift the heavy weights and they don’t have the great physique like you have. That’s why you get doubters, criticizers and know-it-alls coming after you. What’s even crazier is that you’ll get advice from people who don’t even lift at all and I’ve gotten that a lot, lol.

When people are proud of your lifting and you earned respect from everyone around you, that’s when you’ll get the haters you see. They get all jealous that you won respect from people and you’ve earned a lot of supporters ’cause of your lifting.

When you get into weightlifting like bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman or whatever… you can’t listen to negativity when you hit the gym. I never listened to anybody. I just do my thing. I just ignore people and do things my way in fitness and working out. Yeah, people do critique my form a lot but I just do things that works for me. Everybody is different. I’m a self-taught lifter. I never had a personal trainer or a coach. Everything you see me do in the gym, I taught myself. I learned how to lift weights through Arnold’s “Modern Bodybuilding” book and through youtube videos.

You may think that no one is paying attention to what you’re doing in the gym but believe me, people will give you respect when they see what you do. You’ll never know who is paying attention. Don’t listen to the haters and negativity aimed at your lifting. Just do your thing and your thing only. When you’re getting haters and criticizers, it’s actually a good thing.

Yeah, people do SUCK in the fitness world and people are gonna be weird for sure but this is all about you. Not them. That’s what I do it for. I do it for me. I want to get real strong and get healthy. That’s a part of why I got into powerlifting to help me get strong. Yeah, I can’t lift the super heavy weights in powerlifting yet but I do want to get there and it’ll take some time. Someday I will be able to lift over 500 lbs. on the big three: deadlift, squat and bench. Just not rushing myself. I’ve been lifting for a longtime but I am a beginner at powerlifting. I’m already doing pretty good in powerlifting and I’m glad I got into the sport. I’m loving the sport. Best thing in my life right now.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Watch me smash a 300 lb. and 310 lb. deadlift which I did today…

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Well, I knew I could smash a 300 lb. deadlift which was pretty easy. It was such a piece of cake that I felt like that I could lift a little more so I threw an extra 10 pounds on and gave 310 lb. deadlift a shot. The 310 lb. deadlift was a successful lockout.

Yep, this what you gotta do before doing your 1 rep maxes. Gotta properly warm up beforehand so you will be able to lift the big ones.

I’m going to give maxing out on bench another try this coming Monday to see if I’m able to get 160 or a little more hopefully. Just gotta properly warm up so you won’t feel all fatigued and beat-up.

Getting ready for Marc 30th powerlifting meet and working hard for this one as you can see. I know I’m gonna kick ass that day and kill it!

Kev

Health and Fitness

Watch me smash a 150 lb. squat personal record…

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Here is me smashing an easy 150 pr. squat. It was a piece of cake that I felt like I could do a little more but I thought I would end my squat session right there so I won’t hog the squat rack, lol.

This time I smartened up and learned how to properly warm up before I max out. It felt great and it was easy lifting a 150 lb. squat. Ya know, if I started off the sets heavy and doing multiple reps, I wouldn’t have been able to lift that 150 lbs. So glad I smartened up and learned how to warm up better. Before maxing out the heavy ones, that’s what you want to do… lift light weights to semi-heavy but only doing a few reps so you won’t fatigue yourself. You want to save yourself ’til the very end.

I’m planning on doing the same when I max out on deadlift this weekend so I can hopefully smash a 300 lb. deadlift that I want to get.

I think the squat form in this video looks pretty good, though. I think the depth is good enough to get 3 white lights. I won’t max out on squats again for a long while. Not until meet day on March 30th but I’m thinking of challenging myself and plan on giving 155 or 160 a try. I probably will. That’s what powerlifting is all about is being able to challenge yourself. If you miss a lift, who cares. Not the end of the world. I’ll probably end up giving 160 lb. squat a try and I’m still going to do strength training up until meet day so I can hopefully hit that number.

I know I’m going to do real great on March 30th powerlifting meet at Albany Strength and can’t freakin’ wait! I really am working hard for that one!

Kev

Health and Fitness

Wasn’t my best bench day today… it’s my fault but I got it figured out, though…

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BuWtEX3lI04/

I was gonna go for a 1 rep max on bench and I failed. I tried to attempt a 155 lbs. bench today and couldn’t do it. At least I can lift 150 lbs. twice, though. I’m thinking to myself, “Why did I miss the 155 lb. bench when I did it lots of times in the past?” Am I getting weaker? Am I plateauing? The answer is no to all those.

I think I just figured out the problem. It’s because I started off the sets pretty heavy. Doing heavy sets and few reps which made me feel fatigue toward the end. That was like training for strength instead of “maxing out”. I felt fatigued is why I couldn’t lift the 155 lbs. again. I was wasting energy is why it continues to happen.

Man, I really need to learn how to properly warm up for my 1 rep max. I need to learn how to warm up to my P.R.. so I won’t feel fatigue and maybe I WILL be able to bench bigger.

To properly warm up for my 1 rep max, I need to do the first couple of sets doing light weights and do the last few sets heavier and few reps for example something like this:

Warm up: Just the bar for 12 reps

Set 1: light weight for 12 reps

Set 2: A little more weight for 10 reps

Set 3: A little more weight for 8 reps

Set 4: heavy weight for 5 reps

Set 5: A heavy single

Set 6: Then you can do your max out/ pr attempt

I know I’ve gotten 155 lbs. and 160 lbs. bench in the past before and now I just figured out why I haven’t been getting those numbers again.

Lessons learned. Got to learn how to properly warm up to my 1 RPM and I got to do the same for squats and deadlifts if I want to smash my best lifts, ya know?

When you want to test out your “personal record” (pr for short), gotta learn how to properly warm up beforehand so you won’t feel fatigued.

I’m pretty new to powerlifting training and I’m learning. I’m gonna make a lot of mistakes and I’m sure all powerlifters make mistakes too. They all have their bad lifting days too and everyone ends up in a “plateau” at some point ’cause it happens. I don’t think I’m “plateauing” at all like I said. Lifting heavy a lot in a workout will make you feel fatigue and all tired. That’s what you don’t want before doing a 1 RPM. I gotta stop lifting heavy a lot if I want to go for a new “pr”.

Actually, I did have a pretty good bench day today if you think about it ’cause I lifted 150 lbs. twice and did 135 lbs. for 4 reps so that’s pretty damn good.

Maybe next week when I give maxing out on bench another try, I’ll get 155 lbs. or more. Just gotta “properly” warm up. My mistake and my bad. I’ll keep this in mind for when I max out on squat and deadlift this week.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Next week will be max out “pr” week on the big three lifts… getting ready for powerlifting meet on March 30th…

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Now that this week is over, next week I’m planning on maxing out on the bench, squat and deadlift so I can find out my latest pr’s on those three lifts. I have a powerlifting meet coming on March 30th at a local gym at Albany Strength XXXL in Albany, N.Y. I sent in my registration and entry fee so I’m all set to compete that day and I’m definitely gonna do it. I’m really stoked to do my third powerlifting meet ’cause my numbers will be slightly bigger than the first two meets.

Next week when I hit the gym, I’m going to practice all 3 attempts for the big three lifts. At powerlifting meets, they make you lift three times for the big three so I gotta choose my numbers carefully and wisely and I will. I want to make sure I get three white lights on everything. When you watch powerlifting meets the lights represents the judges. If you get three white lights on a lift, the lift is perfect. If you get one red light and two white lights, the lift is still good. If you get three red lights then the lift is bad and that number won’t count. That’s how powerlifting goes. The judges makes the decisions on whether or not the lift is good. I love powerlifting meets ’cause they are honest and if you do a bad lift that can teach you a pretty good lesson. That’s what powerlifting is all about, improving your technique.

Earlier today at the gym, it was deadlifting day. While I did not test out my pr today, I did do one heavy single at 285 lbs. which was pretty easy. If I can do an easy 285 lbs., that means I could probably lift way more. I could probably smash a 300 lb. deadlift pretty well and that’s the goal that I hope to achieve on March 30th.

On March 30th, I hope to deliver a pretty good score and maybe I could win an actual trophy, haha. I want March 30th to be my best day and I’m doing all I can. I know I’m getting stronger on the big three lifts so I know I should do well on March 30th. My goal is to not disappoint at all and I won’t. Trust me.

Yes, I will be filming all my attempts that day so you can all see ’cause I’m gonna bring my Ipad to have someone else film me lifting.

I’m pretty sure I can smash a 300 lb. deadlift again ’cause lifting that 285 lb. felt easy and I felt like I could do more. Maybe I can do more than 300 lbs., who knows? I’ll give it a shot next weekend when deadlifting day comes!!! Maybe I can smash a 305 or a 310???

I love deadlifting. I’m beginning to love benching and squats more too. These workouts really are the kings of all workouts. Those who have negative opinions on them just don’t know what they’re talking about.

I hope to thrill the audience on March 30th and it’s going to be a great day. I’m not nervous at all as I know I’m going to do well and go in there and kill it.

Kev