THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL POWER -

 Chapter 14 – The Bent Press

By Arthur Saxon

Constant practice is the only way in which one may succeed in raising a heavy

weight in this position. It will, no doubt be useful to read below how the
lift is performed, but it will be no use to expect an immediate increase in
your present lift simply by reading my instructions as to this position.
PRACTICE is the great thing, all the time endeavoring to find a position which
will
suit yourself. I will describe the bar-bell lift, as in a bar-bell more may be

raised than in any other way. The bell may be raised with two hands to the
shoulder, as described in the preceding chapter, or it may be raised to the
shoulder with a clean pull in, although, of course, when one reaches a very
heavy
weight, it is impossible to get it to the shoulder except by raising two
hands, and this is allowed in all professional contests, unless otherwise
stipulated.

This is what life is all about though the journey and have goals as the vision for your life. Being healthy is one of the most important things you can do for yourself in being a great dad, and to be a Warrior Dad. We need to keep out energy levels up to be the best we can be for our kids in addition to being the role models that they need us to be.

Though I have some very good strength and very good strength endurance, the goal now is to get leaner as I am aging it is not healthy or conducive to being big in middle age.

I will share the journey here and also I am posting on the Anthony Robbins community where there is a thread dedicated to getting and staying healthy.

One of the programs I will be following that I have not tried before is “Static Contraction”. This program has been touted for many fantastic results. In addition I think it is a great program as it will allow me the time both in terms of recovery and schedule to continue to increase my endurance. However when I talk about increasing endurance there is also a strength piece to that endurance and that is why I love to lift barrels (beer kegs filled with sand) to help me improve this.

Though you are not to follow other routines while doing Static Contraction I will monitor myself as I do my barrel lifting and my walking/running routine. Working out is one of the best ways to reduce stress and stay feeling young with spring in your step.

More to be continued.

Technorati Tags: strength, Anthony Robbins

Did you know how popular the Bench Press is amongst younger lifters, and the Bench Press was not a important exercise until the exercise equipment companies wanted to sell more equipment and had to come up with ideas.

Did you know that the Bench Press is a shoulder wrecker?

Look I started this website to share the things that I am passionate about and to share them with like minded men. I am not selling this magazine however I am highly recommending it that it is something you get and if you can afford get all the back issues.

The name of the magazine is MILO and it is published by Ironmind and you cannot buy it anywhere in stores. You can only get it through mail order.

So visit www.ironmind.com today and check out MILO and there other training equipment. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

The Bent Press

By Arthur Saxon

Constant practice is the only way in which one may succeed in raising a heavy weight in this position. It will, no doubt be useful to read below how the lift is performed, but it will be no use to expect an immediate increase in your present lift simply by reading my instructions as to this position.

PRACTICE is the great thing, all the time endeavoring to find a position which will suit yourself. I will describe the bar-bell lift, as in a bar-bell more may be raised than in any other way. The bell may be raised with two hands to the shoulder, as described in the preceding chapter, or it may be raised to the

shoulder with a clean pull in, although, of course, when one reaches a very heavy weight, it is impossible to get it to the shoulder except by raising two hands, and this is allowed in all professional contests, unless otherwise stipulated.

If anything like a heavy weight is to be raised, then it is imperative that the centre be accurately marked, so that you will not have to move the weight about whilst it is held at your shoulder, as this is certain to exhaust your strength and spoil the lift. Having got the bell to the shoulder with the elbow

firmly placed on the hip, the first thing to do is to get the feet in the proper position. As may be supposed, when one is pressing, say 200 lbs., it is not easy to shift the feet about without destroying the balance, and causing the weight to fall. Therefore, get your feet placed in the correct position before you commence to press.

Another point I will mention here is that the eyes must not, at any portion of the lift, be taken off the weight. Holding the bell at the shoulder, fall away from same, but do not allow the elbow to move from same, but do not allow the elbow to move from off the hip until compelled to do so, as you can support far more in this position, without tiring the muscles, than you could if you allowed the weight to fall on muscles alone, without supporting same rather by bone strength than muscle strength. In allowing the body to fall forward, the speed of the movement must be at all times governed by the balance you feel you have attained.

Of course, it is best to get the lift over as quickly as possible, but a fair speed in pressing may only be obtained when it is felt that a perfect balance has been gained, otherwise to hurry will only be to cause the weight to fall.

Another hint is that the bell should not be held any longer than absolutely necessary at the shoulder before commencing to press, as your strength begins to wane immediately the bell reaches the shoulder. Having pressed the weight to a straight arm, then you must not endeavour to rise until you are certain that you have again got thorough control over the weight. Your position at this point should be such that your hand is held over your shoulder, which, in turn, should be over the shoulder belonging to the disengaged arm. This shoulder, in its turn, should over the left knee, so that a straight line could be drawn from the right hand to the left foot, and if this line be broken or thrown out in any way, the weight, if a heavy one, will pass out of your control and fall to the ground.

If you feel that your are holding the weight firmly, then you may bend leg a little to bring yourself well beneath the weight, and, by pushing firmly with the left hand or forearm at the left knee, you will be able to stand erect, when the bar-bell may be changed from one hand into two, and so lowered to the chest, and from thence to the ground.

In the body press, I hold my elbow well to the back and fall forwards. Some weight-lifters hold their elbow more to the front and fall sideways, and such men will, of course, have to be very supple, and a disadvantage, to my mind, in this position is that in falling sideways the right shoulder has to be pulled up close to the right side of the face, and it becomes very difficult to lock the shoulder in its right position at the end of the lift, so that often such a lifter will press a weight to a straight arm, and then be compelled to drop same.

I do not allow the bar-bell to swing any more than can be possibly helped. Some lifters commence with the bar-bell at right angles to the shoulders instead of nearly parallel to same, which latter position is the one I adopt. The men who hold the bell at right angles allow the body to turn and the bar to revolve as they allow the body to sink. One thing I cannot recommend is that the disengaged hand be placed on the floor. I hardly consider this fair, but when this be so or not, it is not a good position, as the balance is apt to be destroyed by the jerk necessary to bring the body erect. Do not bend the body any lower than you are compelled. A good practice for strengthening the muscles used in this lift, and for giving you better control over your bell, is, after pressing same aloft, to bring aloft with the disengaged hand, a ring weight or small dumb-bell.

This is first raised to the shoulder and pressed aloft, your eyes being all the time kept on the bar-bell in the right hand. Still another exercise or practice is to load your bar-bell up to such a weight as can be turned over to the shoulder, as described on page 68 then go with the left hand and twist the

body into position for the press, and after holding the bar there for a second or two, return to the ground. It is reasonable to suppose that if a man can only press 150 lbs. with one hand, and he turns over and holds at the shoulder 224 lbs., when he returns to his 150 lb. bell, he will handle it with greater ease, comfort and assurance than he could do before, and he will eventually in this way reach a higher limit than if he always held in awe such a weight as 2 cwt., and he will further

have a better idea of what 224 lbs. really means if he handles the bell, than if he has to rely on his imagination when considering what can, and what cannot be done with a two cwt. bar-bell.

What is Strength Endurance Conditioning?

Strength Endurance Conditioning is where you take a weight and lift it continuously to gain both strength and endurance. See you get to combine 2 elements in the same workout. Also this type of training is the most fun as I will explain further in the article.

Let me first run a scenario for you:

Would you rather have the ability to bench press 500LBS for a maximum single or would you rather lift 365 lbs over 50 times in less than an hour. There was a book I read where the lifter talked about this experiment and it made a lot of sense. Typically your 500lb bench presser (at least in this example) was only able to lift it once and needed at least a half hour to recover.

Now there are many ways to train, and sometimes you cannot “have it all”, but the closest to having it all is Strength Endurance Training. You can adjust the weights in the sample above for your fitness level, I just wanted to show and example.

Barrel Training is what is called “Odd Object Lifting” in the strength training world. It is a lot harder to lift an odd object, then a straight barbell.

This type of lifting has also become very popular due to the popularity of the “Worlds Strongest Man” contests. If you look at the top competitors in those events those competitors are in top condition able to move tremendous amounts of weight over a period of time.

So this workout helps give you the best bang for your buck!

So let’s take a look at a Barrel Workout

Let’s say your barrel (empty beer keg) is filled with sand of about 200lbs. You lift this over your head, then you drop it or place it down.

Repeat 49 more times, you may get the first 20 in a row, you will be huffing and puffing and your heart will be racing while your breathing is extremely heavy.

Don’t you see how this has a cardio effect?

This first 20 reps will be done let’s say in 20 minutes, and then you have 40 minutes to do your remaining 30 reps. You can only get 25? Then stay at that weight until you can get the full 50.

Now you can play with your time limits the point is to be moving fairly continuously to keep your heart rate and breathing weight up, while lifting something medium heavy.

A barrel is hard and you do not want to hit your feet, if you feel a little unsure of yourself use an army duffel bag filled with sand.