Shenanigans Complete!

As was foretold, I met up with Rafe at the gym today for macho shenanigans.

Today’s mission: determine our ten-rep max (10RM) for various exercises to help make our EDT workouts more effective.

On the agenda: barbell chest press, Smith squat, barbell deadlift, Hammer Strength leg press.

The results:

• barbell chest press: 135
• Smith squat: 335
• barbell deadlift: 225
• Hammer Strength leg press: 675

The chest press didn’t surprise me.  It’s what I pressed the other day, and seemed appropriate without a spotter.  I’m glad to see that I was spot-on with it, and didn’t need to increase the weight …yet.

The Smith squat was a bit of an eye opener.  The other day, I’d done 225 with relative ease, so I knew I could do more, but wasn’t sure just how much.  Adding 110 pounds to my squats was more than I’d expected, but I’m glad to see that I can do it.

Next up were deadlifts.  My left hand was still pretty torn up from the other day’s 1-arm snatches, so I’m pretty sure I can do more.  Not much though, since the biggest factor in my lack of weight was my grip.  My legs and back could handle much more weight than 225, I’m sure.  My grip on the other hand could not.  I could take the eay way out and use some wrist straps or lifting gloves, but I’m pretty solid in my old-school “if you can’t lift it on your own, you can’t lift it at all” mentality, so I’ll just work on my grip strength to improve my deadlifts.

Finally was the Hammer Strength leg press.  When I did my first EDT session last week, I pressed 315 pounds with ease.  I mean barely-breaking-a-sweat ease.  So, we started by slapping on an additional 45-pound plate to each side to make it 405.  Still easy.  Okay, time for more!  495? Cake.  585?  Doable.  675?  Okay, there’s ten reps.  Let’s try 765!  Four reps.  675 it is.

I’m still curious what my 1RM is on that, but that’s a flavor of insanity best reserved for another day.

I’ll let Rafe post his own 10RMs rather than outing him here.  The man’s a beast, and can more than hold his own.  He’s definitely got me beat on upper body strength, but I think I’ve got the edge on the lower.

After the gym, we headed over to Bill Jackson’s sporting goods where I picked up a pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSOs (pictured right).  I’m a big fan of training barefoot, or with as little sole as possible to increase my connection to the surface I’m standing on, not to mention my stability and as a result, strength.  At the gym, going barefoot isn’t an option, so I tended to train in my trusty Chuck Taylors.  I haven’t yet trained in the Vibrams, but I’ve been wearing them for the past 3 hours or so, and they’re pretty comfortable.  I’m pleasantly surprised, as my left foot tends to run about 1-1.5 sizes smaller than my right, but this doesn’t seem to be a problem, despite the shoes’ design.  The only major issue, really, is that my toes angle back from the big toe at a slightly sharper angle than how the shoes are designed.  Honestly though, it’s not that bad, and I’ll probably get used to ‘em in a couple of days.  I’ll be bringing them to work on Monday.  Rafe’s were definitely a conversation piece at the club today, so we’ll see if these are “acceptable footwear” for while I’m working with clients (during my own workouts, it won’t be a problem at all).

Stay tuned for more!