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Pete Rubish
06-01-15, 8:35 pm
Hey guys! First off, I just want to say that it's a privilege to be a part of the Animal team and I look forward to growing stronger and helping others grow stronger with a great company by my side. I'm starting this thread as a way for you guys to ask me any questions that you may have. Whether it has to do with my training, nutrition, supplementation, or really anything general, feel free to ask away!

A little background on me is that I used to compete in the 242 class, but now compete in the 220 class. I've totaled 1851 without knee wraps and my best meet lifts are a 667 squat without wraps, 418 bench, and 788 deadlift without a belt.

Universal Rep
06-04-15, 2:22 pm
Saw ur intraworkout shake mix of Juiced Aminos and Powerade. How does that bad boy taste?

knotahumanbeing
06-04-15, 4:40 pm
Congrats man, well deserved.

Pete Rubish
06-04-15, 9:59 pm
Saw ur intraworkout shake mix of Juiced Aminos and Powerade. How does that bad boy taste?
Pretty darn good, but I will honestly say that I've been using the Juiced Aminos only now and it tastes just as good. Strawberry Limeade is definitely my favorite. Loving all the new flavors.

Congrats man, well deserved.
Thanks buddy, I'm excited to have this opportunity!

Lethall105
06-05-15, 1:49 am
Yessss!! So excited for you Pete, well deserved! Will we ever see any lifting back in a basement with the washer/dryer going crazy again? On a more serious note, what are your current accessories for bench and deadlift? How do you go about choosing them, and how long do you incorporate them into your training for?

All the best
Lethall

Pete Rubish
06-07-15, 10:41 pm
Yessss!! So excited for you Pete, well deserved! Will we ever see any lifting back in a basement with the washer/dryer going crazy again? On a more serious note, what are your current accessories for bench and deadlift? How do you go about choosing them, and how long do you incorporate them into your training for?

All the best
Lethall
Well someday I do hope to own my own home and we will definitely be putting in a garage gym. So while it may not be the basement gym that we all remember, it will be similar. There's no doubt about it, I tend to get more intense when I'm in a private environment.

My current accessories for bench are primarily: military press, football bar military press, tricep pushdown variations
My current accessories for deadlift are primarily: safety-bar squats, barbell seal rows, and 45 degree barbell back raises with long pauses at the top (These are all done beltless of course)

I basically incorporate these movements and keep them as my only accessories for my entire 15-20 week meet prep. A common mistake is that lifters rotate movements all the time, whether it's main lifts or accessories. You find what works and you stick with it.

LoneWolf45
07-07-15, 9:42 am
Yo Pete, In the past you have talked about dieting down to stay lean, but also still want to be strong. How do you balance strength with staying lean. Obviously i could eat a ton to add a few extra pound to my total, and sacrifice looks for being stronger. I would rather stay in decent shape even if it means slower progress in strength, is that possible?

Pete Rubish
07-29-15, 3:05 pm
Yo Pete, In the past you have talked about dieting down to stay lean, but also still want to be strong. How do you balance strength with staying lean. Obviously i could eat a ton to add a few extra pound to my total, and sacrifice looks for being stronger. I would rather stay in decent shape even if it means slower progress in strength, is that possible?
Big time fell off the map this last month, so sorry for the late response here. It's been a hectic time with moving to a new state and all.

But to answer your question, I have always been blessed with pretty lean genetics although I certainly know what it takes to lean out even more. I've found that I run into problems staying strong on a diet when I cut out all processed types of food. I really think you need to still be getting in some of those not so good calories around your training. What would happen is that I'd eat baked chicken and rice, only to hit a wall and run out of energy very early on in my training. So my main suggestion would simply be to make sure you're still eating enough to be strong and get in plenty of food preworkout.

Strength Cleveland
10-22-15, 7:43 pm
Hi pete, know you tried smolov when you were younger, what was your experience with it?

GunRock
10-23-15, 6:55 pm
Hi pete, know you tried smolov when you were younger, what was your experience with it?

I'm going to see Pete tomorrow at our seminar, I think this is a great question to ask him. If I get to ask him, I'll video his response and post it for you.

GunRock
10-28-15, 10:23 pm
Hi pete, know you tried smolov when you were younger, what was your experience with it?

Strength Cleveland, I asked Pete your question, he basically said that programs like that run the risk of overtraining lifters. He prefers to use an RPE approach to training so he can train according to how he feels. He also said that your squat is going to improve but that it's going to come at a price because of all of the squatting. He thinks that sort of training frequency can be too much for lifters.

Pete Rubish
10-28-15, 11:51 pm
Hi pete, know you tried smolov when you were younger, what was your experience with it?

Strength Cleveland, I asked Pete your question, he basically said that programs like that run the risk of overtraining lifters. He prefers to use an RPE approach to training so he can train according to how he feels. He also said that your squat is going to improve but that it's going to come at a price because of all of the squatting. He thinks that sort of training frequency can be too much for lifters.
Yep, while Smolov is a short-term solution that can work and add a lot of pounds to your squat quickly, you have to also think about the toll it can take on your body in the long run. I always wonder if that had any role to play in my hip having the issues it's had. It's VERY tough on the body to be handling weights in the 75-90% range four days a week. The whole methodology behind smolov is that you build up such an insane foundation and volume tolerance, that when you back off from it your strength goes through the roof. But most people can't make it through the program or even the initial four week base mesocycle without suffering an injury. There's a reason why you don't see elite powerlifters using it. It's not because it won't work, it's because they wouldn't get through it without injury. So I am not big on it.

Strength Cleveland
10-29-15, 11:38 am
Yep, while Smolov is a short-term solution that can work and add a lot of pounds to your squat quickly, you have to also think about the toll it can take on your body in the long run. I always wonder if that had any role to play in my hip having the issues it's had. It's VERY tough on the body to be handling weights in the 75-90% range four days a week. The whole methodology behind smolov is that you build up such an insane foundation and volume tolerance, that when you back off from it your strength goes through the roof. But most people can't make it through the program or even the initial four week base mesocycle without suffering an injury. There's a reason why you don't see elite powerlifters using it. It's not because it won't work, it's because they wouldn't get through it without injury. So I am not big on it.


Thank you guys so much for your help! So much respect and admiration for you Pete.

C.Coronato
10-29-15, 12:45 pm
How'd the seminar go? I woulda loved to see that!

Pete Rubish
10-29-15, 6:20 pm
Thank you guys so much for your help! So much respect and admiration for you Pete.
I appreciate it man! Sorry I was a little late on the response there.

How'd the seminar go? I woulda loved to see that!
The seminar went very well! I have never done one before, but now I feel comfortable with it and would love to do plenty more. Leanna had a blast as well, so we're hoping to do some more together. I also have to give John Greaves props for organizing everything.

Strength Cleveland
10-29-15, 6:40 pm
One more question, I know in a video a long time ago you mentioned the Supple Leopard, what are some other good pieces of literature for powerlifting?

Pete Rubish
10-30-15, 9:46 am
One more question, I know in a video a long time ago you mentioned the Supple Leopard, what are some other good pieces of literature for powerlifting?
I'm not real sure as far as books, but I love to reference Kelly Starrett's mobilitywod youtube channel and the supertraining06 youtube channel puts out a lot of great informative videos with top lifters. Those have helped me a lot.

DJBraddy
11-02-15, 2:32 pm
yo Pete,

first off hope to meet you when i get back from deployment and i am on post leave. I am gonna try to get up with Gunrock and do some training, so maybe I will see you by chance.

second, do you have any recommendations on fixing the dreaded good morning squat. i just noticed today that when im dropping into my squat my bar path shifts forward from centered on my foot to my toes which i believe leads to my hips shooting up and thus causing a good morning squat....any help would be greatly appreciated.
I started strengthening my quads as i thought this may be the problem but im not too sure.


thanks for any response,
dylan

Pete Rubish
11-09-15, 11:01 pm
yo Pete,

first off hope to meet you when i get back from deployment and i am on post leave. I am gonna try to get up with Gunrock and do some training, so maybe I will see you by chance.

second, do you have any recommendations on fixing the dreaded good morning squat. i just noticed today that when im dropping into my squat my bar path shifts forward from centered on my foot to my toes which i believe leads to my hips shooting up and thus causing a good morning squat....any help would be greatly appreciated.
I started strengthening my quads as i thought this may be the problem but im not too sure.


thanks for any response,
dylan
Well if you're in North Carolina, then you're certainly not far from me. I drive through there on my way down to Georgia every once in awhile anyway.

If you're getting pitched forward on squats, that generally comes down to switching from a high bar position to a low bar position. Whenever I squat high bar, that definitely tends to happen to me as the weights get heavier and my back wants to take over. It's much less of a thing if you get the bar low enough. But the problem with low bar is that it can aggravate your elbow, forearms, and shoulders in some instances.

DJBraddy
11-10-15, 10:29 am
Well if you're in North Carolina, then you're certainly not far from me. I drive through there on my way down to Georgia every once in awhile anyway.

If you're getting pitched forward on squats, that generally comes down to switching from a high bar position to a low bar position. Whenever I squat high bar, that definitely tends to happen to me as the weights get heavier and my back wants to take over. It's much less of a thing if you get the bar low enough. But the problem with low bar is that it can aggravate your elbow, forearms, and shoulders in some instances.

I am dude. I am stationed at lejeune. I'll be back in Jan if all things go as planned for us. You plan on going to the cage this year? I am trying to get the money and leave together to go this year.
On to training though, I squat low bar, pull conventional. I think I had begun to ego lift a tad and that is what was leading to the squat problem so I backed off a tad and started 5/3/1 and thus far have met all of my goals on reps so we will see where this leads me. I also do not think I was focusing on driving my back into the bar, just driving my hips up so my chest was falling and making the bar drift over my toes a tad putting a lot of strain on my back. I am now trying to correct that but I am learning this all on my own as I have no coach.
My goals are 405/315/550 at my first meet maybe later next year.
Anyways man hope I didn't ramble on or soak up too much of your time, but thanks for the response.

-Dylan

Pete Rubish
11-11-15, 5:33 pm
I am dude. I am stationed at lejeune. I'll be back in Jan if all things go as planned for us. You plan on going to the cage this year? I am trying to get the money and leave together to go this year.
On to training though, I squat low bar, pull conventional. I think I had begun to ego lift a tad and that is what was leading to the squat problem so I backed off a tad and started 5/3/1 and thus far have met all of my goals on reps so we will see where this leads me. I also do not think I was focusing on driving my back into the bar, just driving my hips up so my chest was falling and making the bar drift over my toes a tad putting a lot of strain on my back. I am now trying to correct that but I am learning this all on my own as I have no coach.
My goals are 405/315/550 at my first meet maybe later next year.
Anyways man hope I didn't ramble on or soak up too much of your time, but thanks for the response.

-Dylan
I definitely plan to be in the cage this year pulling 880 with straps. I'm very excited about it!

That's interesting that you squat low bar and it still happens. Do you have any videos you can link me up? That would be a lot more telling as far as what's going on here.

DJBraddy
11-12-15, 10:22 am
I definitely plan to be in the cage this year pulling 880 with straps. I'm very excited about it!

That's interesting that you squat low bar and it still happens. Do you have any videos you can link me up? That would be a lot more telling as far as what's going on here.


I'll tag you in them on instagram dude. Thanks for taking the time to help man. 880 with straps would be effin sick!! I'm definitely stoked to see that go down.

Pete Rubish
11-12-15, 8:03 pm
I'll tag you in them on instagram dude. Thanks for taking the time to help man. 880 with straps would be effin sick!! I'm definitely stoked to see that go down.
In all honesty, I get so many notifications on there that I'll probably miss it. Just post it up here or pm me on here.

DJBraddy
11-15-15, 1:49 pm
In all honesty, I get so many notifications on there that I'll probably miss it. Just post it up here or pm me on here.

Thanks for the honesty dude. I am in the process of making a youtube page to post lift videos to so I can link them here.

ParkerT
12-10-15, 6:45 pm
Hey Pete, have a confusing issue going on with my deadlifts I'd like to ask about: The last meet I lifted in was the end of August this year, and I weighed in at 217. Since then, I've been doing a lot of cardio on top of my offseason work and eating better, and I'm down to mid 190's. Randomly, I came across this issue where my right leg is getting extremely tight and pushing hard in the ground at the start of the movement, but my left leg isn't contributing to the lift whatsoever. Is this something that could be caused by a flexibility/mobility issue after starting up cardio, or is this entirely in my head? Lifetime drug free, pulled 601 at that meet for a PR, now a triple with 495 is RPE 9001.

Thanks big man.

HardyBell
12-15-15, 1:07 pm
Yo Pete, big fan of yours man. Love the real talk and honesty on Youtube you give man, not a lot of people do that and I respect that! Just thought i'd ask you a question about my squat. Previously I have done the squat everyday for about a month and felt really strong in the squat with only a belt and just squat shoes, but then really got into the whole box squat/westide style of training and never really free squatted. For some reason I feel weaker after box squatting then I did when I was basically Olympic style squatting/Bulgarian training?

Thanks, Garrett.

Pete Rubish
12-16-15, 6:26 pm
Hey Pete, have a confusing issue going on with my deadlifts I'd like to ask about: The last meet I lifted in was the end of August this year, and I weighed in at 217. Since then, I've been doing a lot of cardio on top of my offseason work and eating better, and I'm down to mid 190's. Randomly, I came across this issue where my right leg is getting extremely tight and pushing hard in the ground at the start of the movement, but my left leg isn't contributing to the lift whatsoever. Is this something that could be caused by a flexibility/mobility issue after starting up cardio, or is this entirely in my head? Lifetime drug free, pulled 601 at that meet for a PR, now a triple with 495 is RPE 9001.

Thanks big man.
It almost sounds like you have a glute activation issue that is causing the left leg to not fire properly. What I would do is start doing a lot of glute activation work (see article below) and single-leg work. Things like bulgarian split squats, barbell reverse lunges, and even single-leg barbell deadlifts would be a good idea as far as working on minimizing the imbalance.

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/04/09/glute-activation/

Yo Pete, big fan of yours man. Love the real talk and honesty on Youtube you give man, not a lot of people do that and I respect that! Just thought i'd ask you a question about my squat. Previously I have done the squat everyday for about a month and felt really strong in the squat with only a belt and just squat shoes, but then really got into the whole box squat/westide style of training and never really free squatted. For some reason I feel weaker after box squatting then I did when I was basically Olympic style squatting/Bulgarian training?

Thanks, Garrett.
That is actually something I went over at the seminar I did this past weekend. I feel that box squatting has a very minimal carry over to normal squats IF you are a raw squatter. I never do box squats and for the most part never have my clients either for that reason. The only exception really is if someone is coming off an injury where they can't squat down all the way, or if I'm trying to teach someone to squat deep enough. But through my own trial and error I have noticed the exact same thing and that's why you'll never see me doing them anymore.

HardyBell
12-16-15, 11:28 pm
It almost sounds like you have a glute activation issue that is causing the left leg to not fire properly. What I would do is start doing a lot of glute activation work (see article below) and single-leg work. Things like bulgarian split squats, barbell reverse lunges, and even single-leg barbell deadlifts would be a good idea as far as working on minimizing the imbalance.

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/04/09/glute-activation/

That is actually something I went over at the seminar I did this past weekend. I feel that box squatting has a very minimal carry over to normal squats IF you are a raw squatter. I never do box squats and for the most part never have my clients either for that reason. The only exception really is if someone is coming off an injury where they can't squat down all the way, or if I'm trying to teach someone to squat deep enough. But through my own trial and error I have noticed the exact same thing and that's why you'll never see me doing them anymore.

Yeah man that helps a lot thanks for advice!!

HardyBell
12-19-15, 10:02 pm
Hey Pete thanks again for the advice, I've stopped implementing box squats and have been back on track. I usually am working out by myself every workout session and don't have a close knit powerlifting group to help me with my form, so i was curious if there is any way you could check my squat form, just to make sure cause i don't really trust random people at the gym I'm at.

Thanks, Garrett.

Pete Rubish
12-20-15, 3:23 pm
Hey Pete thanks again for the advice, I've stopped implementing box squats and have been back on track. I usually am working out by myself every workout session and don't have a close knit powerlifting group to help me with my form, so i was curious if there is any way you could check my squat form, just to make sure cause i don't really trust random people at the gym I'm at.

Thanks, Garrett.
Post up a link to a youtube video in here or in my training log and I'll take a look at it. Glad to hear everything is going better already though! Here's the link to my log.

http://forum.animalpak.com/showthread.php?43533-The-Comeback-at-220/page12

HardyBell
12-20-15, 4:55 pm
Post up a link to a youtube video in here or in my training log and I'll take a look at it. Glad to hear everything is going better already though! Here's the link to my log.

http://forum.animalpak.com/showthread.php?43533-The-Comeback-at-220/page12

Sent the link to your log!

HardyBell
01-11-16, 11:02 pm
Yo Pete, I respect your work man and your opinion which is why I am on again with a question! I've been in a caloric surplus, but have been thinking about cutting down about ten pounds from 205-195, but I feel like if I gain weight my numbers will go up also? Just don't want to get to fat, but my numbers aren't great so I am just curious if I should stay in a caloric surplus until I reach a substantial total then cut. My numbers are squat-395 bench-250 dead-430
Thanks once again man!

Pete Rubish
01-20-16, 7:15 am
Yo Pete, I respect your work man and your opinion which is why I am on again with a question! I've been in a caloric surplus, but have been thinking about cutting down about ten pounds from 205-195, but I feel like if I gain weight my numbers will go up also? Just don't want to get to fat, but my numbers aren't great so I am just curious if I should stay in a caloric surplus until I reach a substantial total then cut. My numbers are squat-395 bench-250 dead-430
Thanks once again man!
I typically believe that you'll see the biggest changes to your physique when you focus on simply getting stronger and putting on muscle. So I'm not usually a huge fan of cutting down until you have a substantial amount of muscle mass, but 10 pounds really isn't much and shouldn't take too long. I guess a lot of it depends on how lean you currently are right now. And you'll have a very tough time getting stronger if you're eating in a caloric deficit.

Spaceman98
01-27-16, 1:41 pm
Congrats man. Ive been watching you on youtube for years. Huge inspiration to me! Keep it up!

Pete Rubish
01-27-16, 10:53 pm
Congrats man. Ive been watching you on youtube for years. Huge inspiration to me! Keep it up!
Thanks buddy! I appreciate it! I was actually out in Pueblo on vacation in the summer of 2010. We were doing some hiking in the San Juans.

Spaceman98
01-31-16, 12:34 am
Thanks buddy! I appreciate it! I was actually out in Pueblo on vacation in the summer of 2010. We were doing some hiking in the San Juans.

Yeah San Juans is beautiful! Especially in autumn. Also congrats on your recent 850 pull! Shit was awesome! Ive recently pulled 515 @154. Just trying to jump over 160 is my goal right now. Thanks for replying to me and keep up the good work!

Pete Rubish
01-31-16, 2:47 pm
Yeah San Juans is beautiful! Especially in autumn. Also congrats on your recent 850 pull! Shit was awesome! Ive recently pulled 515 @154. Just trying to jump over 160 is my goal right now. Thanks for replying to me and keep up the good work!
Thanks man! That's been a life goal to hit 9 plates/side. I'm very happy with it.

515@154 is really good! Any competitions coming up soon?

Spaceman98
01-31-16, 11:52 pm
Thanks man! That's been a life goal to hit 9 plates/side. I'm very happy with it.

515@154 is really good! Any competitions coming up soon?

No not anytime soon but I've really thought about entering one with my gym buddy. We both love the sport and really wanna get serious with it. We thought about talking to one of the locals around here and getting some info on a meet maybe later this year. Any beginner tips?

Pete Rubish
02-03-16, 6:02 am
No not anytime soon but I've really thought about entering one with my gym buddy. We both love the sport and really wanna get serious with it. We thought about talking to one of the locals around here and getting some info on a meet maybe later this year. Any beginner tips?
The one thing I will say is that doing a meet is a HUGE learning experience and will make you a much better lifter overall. So I really recommend to my clients that they start competing sooner rather than later.

Spaceman98
02-03-16, 12:25 pm
The one thing I will say is that doing a meet is a HUGE learning experience and will make you a much better lifter overall. So I really recommend to my clients that they start competing sooner rather than later.

There is a powerlifting gym not to far from my house actually and ive been thinking of going in and talking to the owner. I know he has held some there and also trains alot of powerlifters as well. Thanks for the advice though Pete I'll definitely try and prep and get in one soon! Btw saw that 865 on instagram congrats man. That shit was crazy!

Pete Rubish
02-03-16, 4:20 pm
There is a powerlifting gym not to far from my house actually and ive been thinking of going in and talking to the owner. I know he has held some there and also trains alot of powerlifters as well. Thanks for the advice though Pete I'll definitely try and prep and get in one soon! Btw saw that 865 on instagram congrats man. That shit was crazy!
Sounds like you're on the right track there by seeking him out. And I appreciate the props. That 865 really flew up. I couldn't be happier with how things are going!

C.Coronato
02-04-16, 8:53 am
865 is absolutely incredible dude.

Spaceman98
02-05-16, 2:03 am
Sounds like you're on the right track there by seeking him out. And I appreciate the props. That 865 really flew up. I couldn't be happier with how things are going!

Yeah no sticking points or nothing clean all the way threw. Well if you wanna check out some of my recent pr's im on instagram. My username is "somekindofbread". Thanks for the advice and everything Pete! Hope to meet you in person someday at the cage!

Zharoon
02-06-16, 6:55 am
What kind of deadlift variations and assistance exercises do you use? And what do you think about training with high reps 15-20+ for powerlifting/in the beginning of a new training period? Cheers

P Diesel
02-08-16, 1:28 pm
saw ur last pull brotha. ur gna be knockin on the 9 door very soon. have u changed anything in ur training since last year that accounts for the increase?

P

Pete Rubish
02-08-16, 4:43 pm
865 is absolutely incredible dude.
Thanks Christian! I'm so happy with how things are going right now and I've got a big surprise in the works!

Yeah no sticking points or nothing clean all the way threw. Well if you wanna check out some of my recent pr's im on instagram. My username is "somekindofbread". Thanks for the advice and everything Pete! Hope to meet you in person someday at the cage!
Just took a look at some of your stuff and wanted to give you big props on the transformation and 515 pull. You fought like hell for that lift, but once it came off the ground, you locked it out with ease!

What kind of deadlift variations and assistance exercises do you use? And what do you think about training with high reps 15-20+ for powerlifting/in the beginning of a new training period? Cheers
When I'm between 4 and 12 weeks out from a meet, I'll do paused deadlifts right off the floor as a main lift on their own day. And during that time period I really like doing bulgarian split squats as well. Something I never take out though are the 45 degree barbell back raises. I train that movement twice a week and swear by those. As far as rep ranges I really never go above 10-12 reps on anything at any point in time. I believe in keeping deadlifts in the 2-4 range for most of your training as well unless we're talking max rep sets, which I love to incorporate.

saw ur last pull brotha. ur gna be knockin on the 9 door very soon. have u changed anything in ur training since last year that accounts for the increase?

P
900 is right around the corner! As soon as I finished that 880 pull the other day, everyone pretty much agreed that 900 was there. The main differences in my training have been the aforementioned barbell back raises now being done twice a week along with lots of paused deadlifts right off the floor early on in the training cycle. I swear by those two movements and those have always been prime indicator exercises for me. If I get stronger on those, my deadlift almost always follows. I will never at any point in time take out the back raises. That is how effective I believe that movement to be.

Strength Cleveland
02-11-16, 9:57 pm
Pete, congrats on 880! I'm wondering the kind of training structure you have. When do you start your meet prep and how do you increase the weight and hit bigger numbers toward the meet while getting in enough volume? What about the offseason, what do you change vs mett prep? Thanks so much!

P Diesel
02-14-16, 1:38 pm
Tried ur back raises yesterday. Like em. Gna keep them in.

P

Pete Rubish
02-15-16, 6:35 pm
Pete, congrats on 880! I'm wondering the kind of training structure you have. When do you start your meet prep and how do you increase the weight and hit bigger numbers toward the meet while getting in enough volume? What about the offseason, what do you change vs mett prep? Thanks so much!
I typically start my meet prep at 12 weeks out and rely heavily on doubles, triples, and sets of 4s in the building phase when I'm laying the foundation. So it would look like this for my next meet prep:

Week 1 Deads: 4x2x725, max reps 725
Week 2 Deads: 4x3x730, max reps 730
Week 3 Deads: 3x4x735, max reps 735
Week 4 Deads; 4x2x750, max reps 750
etc
etc

This is how I built such a strong base in going up to that 880. As the meet approaches, I start tapering the volume down and maybe only hitting one to two backdown sets and working up to a top set triple, double, or single.

Tried ur back raises yesterday. Like em. Gna keep them in.

P
It's my go-to assistance movement. Glad you liked them!

_bill
02-18-16, 9:53 am
It's my go-to assistance movement. Glad you liked them!

Pete, what sets/reps do you recommend for these? Currently I do 5x5, and I'm linearly adding weight every cycle.

Pete Rubish
02-18-16, 11:09 am
Pete, what sets/reps do you recommend for these? Currently I do 5x5, and I'm linearly adding weight every cycle.
I typically like to keep it around 5 reps or so, but I'll do anywhere from 5-10. Now if you were to do them with five second isometric holds at the top, that's a different story and you're going to want to keep the reps in that 2-5 range.

Kevincecio
03-04-16, 10:41 am
Whats up Pete!
so as a college student I'm living off of all microwaveable foods since i have no kitchen accessible to me. Do u know of any freaking delicious foods that i can eat with a decent amount of macros that i can survive on at school? Ive been living off of stouffers mac and cheeses (you should defiantly review these in a freaking delicious foods video), but most of the microwaveable chicken and other protein foods are gross AF.

Jamie Aaron
03-09-16, 4:13 pm
My question is whether one's target when working out should be the physiques or just the dedication to the exercise program and then the rest just fall into place; I mean the muscles, strength and all that. Must the body be the sole focus?

Pete Rubish
03-16-16, 3:27 pm
Whats up Pete!
so as a college student I'm living off of all microwaveable foods since i have no kitchen accessible to me. Do u know of any freaking delicious foods that i can eat with a decent amount of macros that i can survive on at school? Ive been living off of stouffers mac and cheeses (you should defiantly review these in a freaking delicious foods video), but most of the microwaveable chicken and other protein foods are gross AF.
Two pretty simple ones would be the Marie Calendar's Vermont White Cheddar Macaroni Dinner and the Marie Calendar's scalloped potatoes. Those are amazing.

My question is whether one's target when working out should be the physiques or just the dedication to the exercise program and then the rest just fall into place; I mean the muscles, strength and all that. Must the body be the sole focus?
Well it depends on what your main goal is. As a powerlifter, I'm always striving to get stronger, and my physique is just a side effect of how I train and the strength I gain. But as a bodybuilder, they train in an almost opposite manner. Strength is far less important to them, but they prioritize looking as good as possible.

Jamie Aaron
03-31-16, 5:00 pm
My main aim is usually body building. I do Deadlifts, Bench press, Pull-ups and push-ups. I recently started doing Head press. I used to see some people do it but then never gave it much attention. Then I recently met this great friend of mine Alvin on http://www.0web.me/vk.com who happens to have almost every single interest similar to mine. It was funny to discover that he lives only two miles away. He mentioned that head press is his favorite and sure enough he introduced me to his instructor. Both of them have been helping me through and i think it's actually great. Does any of you do it? And for how long have you been doing it? Are there any dangers that i may face? Someone with experience please give your thoughts.

Pete Rubish
04-03-16, 12:56 am
My main aim is usually body building. I do Deadlifts, Bench press, Pull-ups and push-ups. I recently started doing Head press. I used to see some people do it but then never gave it much attention. Then I recently met this great friend of mine Alvin on http://www.0web.me/vk.com who happens to have almost every single interest similar to mine. It was funny to discover that he lives only two miles away. He mentioned that head press is his favorite and sure enough he introduced me to his instructor. Both of them have been helping me through and i think it's actually great. Does any of you do it? And for how long have you been doing it? Are there any dangers that i may face? Someone with experience please give your thoughts.
I have done overhead press a lot in the past and really gave it a nice trial run for a 2 month period. My delts did get noticeably bigger, but from a strength standpoint, it didn't help improve my bench much. I don't do it at all anymore because I feel there are better ways to get my bench up, which is my goal since I do powerlifting. But from a bodybuilding and physique standpoint, then I think it's a great idea to do in that 8-12 rep range.

P Diesel
05-18-16, 10:46 am
yo congrats my brother! saw that 900 from training. long time comin'. super fucking impressive.

P

Pete Rubish
05-25-16, 1:48 pm
yo congrats my brother! saw that 900 from training. long time comin'. super fucking impressive.

P
Thanks buddy! I wanted that 915 yesterday but it's just not there yet. Time to rest up and get ready for this meet next weekend!

Universal Rep
11-11-16, 9:46 am
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwUJOAuYGn8

zanderkelley
11-13-16, 3:51 pm
Sup Pete, you're the f*cking man.

Quick question. If I recall correctly you used to be involved with JiuJitsu. I've been thinking of starting up at an academy and going on my days off from the gym. Did you find JiuJitsu to benefit your lifting at all? Did you help you loosen up in between lifting sessions? I have chronically tight hips and am thinking that JiuJitsu might help me out with that

Pete Rubish
12-22-16, 10:37 am
Sup Pete, you're the f*cking man.

Quick question. If I recall correctly you used to be involved with JiuJitsu. I've been thinking of starting up at an academy and going on my days off from the gym. Did you find JiuJitsu to benefit your lifting at all? Did you help you loosen up in between lifting sessions? I have chronically tight hips and am thinking that JiuJitsu might help me out with that
Apologies for just seeing this now buddy! The thread has been dormant for awhile, so just getting caught up.

I did BJJ and Muay Thai for a relatively short period of time. It was only three months or so. The biggest thing you'll notice by far is that you'll be able to move a whole lot better in the gym. It does wonders to your mobility and if you have tight hips like myself, you'll find they feel much better after just a few weeks of BJJ. The toughest part for me was the stretching, mobility, and warming up in BJJ LOL.

Sc0rpi0n
01-07-17, 6:44 pm
Hey Pete, watched all of your videos and just wanted to say that I'm glad you got signed to Animal, you're truly one of 'em.

1) I implemented those 45°... hyper-extensions deadlifts? Not sure for the name, but anyway, my lockout is the weak part of the lift, I rip it of the floor to like... midway above the knee and just freeze lol
But I did these extensions for like a month and took some other advices you gave through your videos and got my deadlift from 190kg (hard lock-out) to decent 210kg. I maybe could've tried 215, but I was so hyped I did 200, not to talk about 210, that I didn't want to ruin the day. So, my question is - when should I do these? And how? I talked to Dan Green (I mean through this forum) about a month or two ago and asked for thoughts about my program split and all and he gave me a pretty long answer and he said I'm doing pretty good. Don't want to drag this out, so I'll explain it as short as I can - I'm doing 2,3,4,5 or 6 sets of 2,3,4,5 or 6 reps. Like 3x5 or 4x6 or 4x2, depending if I'm doing intensity or volume and how I feel of course. Anyway, when I asked "how" should I do the 45's, I meant should I do the sets and reps like this or no? Also, my back day is: deads, deficit deads, pull-ups, one-arm dumbbell rows and cable rows for the stretch.

2) My bench sucks... it's stuck at 125kg and I'm not sure what's wrong. My reps went up when it comes to lower weight, 100, 105, 110, one day I did 110kg for 7 reps. But whenever I try 130 it gets stuck on my chest. I started doing 3sec pause bench press and started doing shoulders harder, since I thought that was the problem.

Btw, I'm new to powerlifting, it's only been 6 months, I switched because I wanted to strengthen my knees first of all, since I had some cartilage problems, couldn't even walk about a year ago, it was almost destroyed in the right knee... so after I switched, my squat went from practically only a barbell (after the therapy last year, it was a slow progress) to 135kg and is also stuck there, bench went up for 5kg, but deadlift went up 30kg. I got stronger in some lifts, like deadlifts, close grip bench, that went up like 30kg, dumbbell row went from 5-6 reps with 40kg to like 15-20 reps, barbell skullcrushers from only a barbell to 45kg for couple of reps.
Anyway, I really dragged this out, sorry for that, just wanted to "paint the picture" for you, so you know where I stand and kinda get the idea what might be the problem for my slow progress in bench press and maybe give me some advice(s) on everything.
Thanks in advance and sorry again for the long post!

Pete Rubish
01-11-17, 6:44 pm
Hey Pete, watched all of your videos and just wanted to say that I'm glad you got signed to Animal, you're truly one of 'em.

1) I implemented those 45°... hyper-extensions deadlifts? Not sure for the name, but anyway, my lockout is the weak part of the lift, I rip it of the floor to like... midway above the knee and just freeze lol
But I did these extensions for like a month and took some other advices you gave through your videos and got my deadlift from 190kg (hard lock-out) to decent 210kg. I maybe could've tried 215, but I was so hyped I did 200, not to talk about 210, that I didn't want to ruin the day. So, my question is - when should I do these? And how? I talked to Dan Green (I mean through this forum) about a month or two ago and asked for thoughts about my program split and all and he gave me a pretty long answer and he said I'm doing pretty good. Don't want to drag this out, so I'll explain it as short as I can - I'm doing 2,3,4,5 or 6 sets of 2,3,4,5 or 6 reps. Like 3x5 or 4x6 or 4x2, depending if I'm doing intensity or volume and how I feel of course. Anyway, when I asked "how" should I do the 45's, I meant should I do the sets and reps like this or no? Also, my back day is: deads, deficit deads, pull-ups, one-arm dumbbell rows and cable rows for the stretch.

2) My bench sucks... it's stuck at 125kg and I'm not sure what's wrong. My reps went up when it comes to lower weight, 100, 105, 110, one day I did 110kg for 7 reps. But whenever I try 130 it gets stuck on my chest. I started doing 3sec pause bench press and started doing shoulders harder, since I thought that was the problem.

Btw, I'm new to powerlifting, it's only been 6 months, I switched because I wanted to strengthen my knees first of all, since I had some cartilage problems, couldn't even walk about a year ago, it was almost destroyed in the right knee... so after I switched, my squat went from practically only a barbell (after the therapy last year, it was a slow progress) to 135kg and is also stuck there, bench went up for 5kg, but deadlift went up 30kg. I got stronger in some lifts, like deadlifts, close grip bench, that went up like 30kg, dumbbell row went from 5-6 reps with 40kg to like 15-20 reps, barbell skullcrushers from only a barbell to 45kg for couple of reps.
Anyway, I really dragged this out, sorry for that, just wanted to "paint the picture" for you, so you know where I stand and kinda get the idea what might be the problem for my slow progress in bench press and maybe give me some advice(s) on everything.
Thanks in advance and sorry again for the long post!
First off, thanks for the kind words buddy!

1) I would use the 45 degree back raises as your first accessory lift after the main lift. So you can either program them in for squat or deadlift day. And then I would keep the rep scheme as 3x10 or so and gradually taper the reps down as the weight increases each week. So eventually you'll get to a point where you're doing 4-5 rep sets but that will be after 6-7 weeks or so.

2) I would give plenty of dumbbell benching and/or pin pressing a shot. The only thing is that sometimes pin presses can be hard on the shoulders and some guys can't do them. But they would be worth looking into.

I would maybe do a 4 or 5 day split tops. Do two bench days and two lower body days. Do the back raises one day. On your bench days, use pin press as the main accessory lift on one of the days, and then use dumbbell bench as the main accessory on the other day.

Sc0rpi0n
01-13-17, 6:55 pm
First off, thanks for the kind words buddy!

1) I would use the 45 degree back raises as your first accessory lift after the main lift. So you can either program them in for squat or deadlift day. And then I would keep the rep scheme as 3x10 or so and gradually taper the reps down as the weight increases each week. So eventually you'll get to a point where you're doing 4-5 rep sets but that will be after 6-7 weeks or so.

2) I would give plenty of dumbbell benching and/or pin pressing a shot. The only thing is that sometimes pin presses can be hard on the shoulders and some guys can't do them. But they would be worth looking into.

I would maybe do a 4 or 5 day split tops. Do two bench days and two lower body days. Do the back raises one day. On your bench days, use pin press as the main accessory lift on one of the days, and then use dumbbell bench as the main accessory on the other day.

Don't mention it and thanks for the reply!

1) I do them straight after, yes, but haven't done the sets and reps like that, I'd do like... 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps... That helped a lot on my lockout, I finish way better now, but I'll try the way you suggested. Plus your style to "rip it off the floor" serves me great, since I can go 3/4 of the lift fast as hell, but slow down at the end of it, almost freeze lol

2) I kinda neglected the pin presses in the last month or two, but I'll see to add them in again, I started doing bench press with 3sec pause after the main sets, instead of the pin presses, thought that would be better.

And yes, I have a 5 day split:
1 - Heavy bench; wide, close, pause and floor press
2 - Low squats, 3sec pause squats and either deficit deads or front squats, depending on which one I feel like doing
3 - Shoulders and triceps; barbell press, then with pause, lateral flyes and some rear ones, and for the triceps, barbell skulls, dumbbell skulls and cable pressdowns
4 - Main deadlift, 45° back raises, pull-ups (or lat pulldown, again depending on what I feel like doing), one-arm dumbbell rows and some cable rows for the stretch
5 - Volume day for bench; wide & close bench, incline & flat dumbbell press and seated flyes (not sure if it's called that way) and after that hammer curls and preacher curls

I have a friend who is a competing powerlifter who actually got me into this half a year ago, because he said I would strengthen the knee which had cartilage problems and it did, along with everything else. So the base of my program is his, what he told me that is, then I changed some things, added what worked better for me, and then I added stuff from Dan Green and you (he wrote me a short essay in his thread), sooo... deficit deads he suggested, work great, my initial pull is even better than before, squatting is also better and my lock-out is also way better thanks to you, so yea, thank you, really, REALLY appreciate it.
I'll see to change things you've said and if my bench goes up even 5kg, that'd be great lol
Have a nice day!

Animal Rep
01-25-17, 12:01 pm
www.youtube.com/watch?v=43raGC1O4CA

Pete Rubish
02-01-17, 7:26 am
Don't mention it and thanks for the reply!

1) I do them straight after, yes, but haven't done the sets and reps like that, I'd do like... 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps... That helped a lot on my lockout, I finish way better now, but I'll try the way you suggested. Plus your style to "rip it off the floor" serves me great, since I can go 3/4 of the lift fast as hell, but slow down at the end of it, almost freeze lol

2) I kinda neglected the pin presses in the last month or two, but I'll see to add them in again, I started doing bench press with 3sec pause after the main sets, instead of the pin presses, thought that would be better.

And yes, I have a 5 day split:
1 - Heavy bench; wide, close, pause and floor press
2 - Low squats, 3sec pause squats and either deficit deads or front squats, depending on which one I feel like doing
3 - Shoulders and triceps; barbell press, then with pause, lateral flyes and some rear ones, and for the triceps, barbell skulls, dumbbell skulls and cable pressdowns
4 - Main deadlift, 45° back raises, pull-ups (or lat pulldown, again depending on what I feel like doing), one-arm dumbbell rows and some cable rows for the stretch
5 - Volume day for bench; wide & close bench, incline & flat dumbbell press and seated flyes (not sure if it's called that way) and after that hammer curls and preacher curls

I have a friend who is a competing powerlifter who actually got me into this half a year ago, because he said I would strengthen the knee which had cartilage problems and it did, along with everything else. So the base of my program is his, what he told me that is, then I changed some things, added what worked better for me, and then I added stuff from Dan Green and you (he wrote me a short essay in his thread), sooo... deficit deads he suggested, work great, my initial pull is even better than before, squatting is also better and my lock-out is also way better thanks to you, so yea, thank you, really, REALLY appreciate it.
I'll see to change things you've said and if my bench goes up even 5kg, that'd be great lol
Have a nice day!
The back raises will help things out a lot. I just wish I could train them right now seeing as how I broke the dang machine at my gym! But they do plan on getting a new one!

I really like the benching with 3 second pauses, but a lot of of my clients have recently been seeing a lot of success with the pin presses. Another great option are spoto presses with the pauses a half inch off the chest. By forcing you to keep that constant tension, they prove to be much tougher than a normal bench press.

As far as your routine, I like it for the most part. One thing I would do is do the low bar squats and then follow the up with paused deads and then on deadlift day do the deadlifts and follow the up with a squat variation like front or safety-bar squats. You could consider moving one of the benching movements to the shoulder day as well to spread things out to three benching days per week.

I have actually been doing deficit deadlifts to start off my deadlift day. I'll do 4 doubles on deficits and then basically an amrap without the deficit on my fifth set. It has been working well!

I really like your routine overall though! It's well structured!


www.youtube.com/watch?v=43raGC1O4CA
That was a lot of fun!

Sc0rpi0n
02-02-17, 4:16 am
The back raises will help things out a lot. I just wish I could train them right now seeing as how I broke the dang machine at my gym! But they do plan on getting a new one!

I really like the benching with 3 second pauses, but a lot of of my clients have recently been seeing a lot of success with the pin presses. Another great option are spoto presses with the pauses a half inch off the chest. By forcing you to keep that constant tension, they prove to be much tougher than a normal bench press.

As far as your routine, I like it for the most part. One thing I would do is do the low bar squats and then follow the up with paused deads and then on deadlift day do the deadlifts and follow the up with a squat variation like front or safety-bar squats. You could consider moving one of the benching movements to the shoulder day as well to spread things out to three benching days per week.

I have actually been doing deficit deadlifts to start off my deadlift day. I'll do 4 doubles on deficits and then basically an amrap without the deficit on my fifth set. It has been working well!

I really like your routine overall though! It's well structured!


Yes, I've seen a great improvement from them, and I've seen the video where you mentioned you broke the machine lol hope they'll get you a new one quick.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely have to add pin presses back in, since my bench started to freeze midway up (btw it did went up 5kg since my original comment, about 3w ago). I did a lot of dumbbell presses and finally pressed 130kg and it finally didn't get stuck on my chest!
Dan Green actually said the same exact thing when it comes to doing front squats after deadlifts, so I don't know why I haven't tried that yet, but will do, actually today, because it's deadlift day! When it comes to moving some benching movements to the shoulder day, I'm lost on what to move and when to do it, because I've never combined the two.

Just keep pushing it man, I always watch you "progression" video before I go to the gym, especially when I'm doing deads, gets me hyped up!

As for my routine, thanks, you've made a great contribution with some things, especially the back raises, I now find them the best accessory lift when it comes to deadlifts. About a month ago, I pulled 200kg, on regular deadlift, nice lock-out, and last week I pulled 4x200kg - I was only supposed to do two lol but I felt confident. So my 1RM is probably somewhere around... say 220kg, maybe even 225. I already said my bench went up, plus I did 3x130kg low squats couple of days ago (140kg was my previous max) and I'm really happy with that, since a year ago I was learning how to walk again, because of the cartilage problems in my right knee.

It seems everytime I write something on this forum, my lifts go up lol
Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions, I'll add things straight away!

SebRoch
02-20-17, 9:35 am
Just a shout out to you Pete. Keep posting those videos up. Your a fucking inspiration when it comes to heavy lifting.

Seb

spartan300
02-24-17, 4:38 pm
www.youtube.com/watch?v=43raGC1O4CANicely done Peter. I'm not a power lifter but I do like your approach to nutrition.

Pete Rubish
02-28-17, 1:09 pm
Yes, I've seen a great improvement from them, and I've seen the video where you mentioned you broke the machine lol hope they'll get you a new one quick.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely have to add pin presses back in, since my bench started to freeze midway up (btw it did went up 5kg since my original comment, about 3w ago). I did a lot of dumbbell presses and finally pressed 130kg and it finally didn't get stuck on my chest!
Dan Green actually said the same exact thing when it comes to doing front squats after deadlifts, so I don't know why I haven't tried that yet, but will do, actually today, because it's deadlift day! When it comes to moving some benching movements to the shoulder day, I'm lost on what to move and when to do it, because I've never combined the two.

Just keep pushing it man, I always watch you "progression" video before I go to the gym, especially when I'm doing deads, gets me hyped up!

As for my routine, thanks, you've made a great contribution with some things, especially the back raises, I now find them the best accessory lift when it comes to deadlifts. About a month ago, I pulled 200kg, on regular deadlift, nice lock-out, and last week I pulled 4x200kg - I was only supposed to do two lol but I felt confident. So my 1RM is probably somewhere around... say 220kg, maybe even 225. I already said my bench went up, plus I did 3x130kg low squats couple of days ago (140kg was my previous max) and I'm really happy with that, since a year ago I was learning how to walk again, because of the cartilage problems in my right knee.

It seems everytime I write something on this forum, my lifts go up lol
Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions, I'll add things straight away!
Thanks for the kind words again buddy! It looks like your lifts are taking off here with all of this advice you've been given. Definitely give the deads and squats in the same day a shot. I think you'll be impressed with the outcome!

And I'll keep pushing! We just got the back raise fixed, so that should help!

Just a shout out to you Pete. Keep posting those videos up. Your a fucking inspiration when it comes to heavy lifting.

Seb
I appreciate it buddy! I'll keep moving forward one step at a time. I have no idea where I'll end up, but I'll keep going!

Nicely done Peter. I'm not a power lifter but I do like your approach to nutrition.
Thank you!

Pete Rubish
03-21-17, 9:04 pm
Let me know if you have any questions guys! I'm going to be more active on here with my meet only 6.5 weeks away. I will be cutting to the 220 class and aiming for a 2100+ lb total in sleeves!

John Grey
03-22-17, 2:45 pm
Hey Pete.. What are your 3 "go to" yoga positions that really help you loosen up for training?

Pete Rubish
03-22-17, 9:35 pm
Hey Pete.. What are your 3 "go to" yoga positions that really help you loosen up for training?
Rather than having me describe these, how about I just make a youtube video called "my top three mobility movements".

John Grey
03-23-17, 9:00 am
Rather than having me describe these, how about I just make a youtube video called "my top three mobility movements".

That works too!

Pete Rubish
04-03-17, 4:48 pm
That works too!
Hey buddy, keep an eye out for it. I'll put it up tomorrow!

Sc0rpi0n
04-05-17, 4:43 pm
Hey Pete, hope you're having a good day. First off, you look way younger with that hair, or better to say you look your age now lol

As for my questions, first for the deadlift - I used to rip it off the floor mad fast to say half above the knee and then have a hard time locking it out. I started doing good-mornings, hip-thrusts and back raises that you suggested and it helped a lot, my lock out is way easier now, but there's a new problem... I'm starting to have a little bit harder time off the floor now and it goes slow all the way up, but everything feels a little bit heavy. I'm currently couple of weeks from my first meet (not sure if I'm going, cuz of the money) so is it possible that it feels heavy because of all of the stuff through the week? Heavy squats, bench twice a week and etc so I'm actually... I don't know, tired from it? Anyway, what to do for the off the floor problem? This is my first time ever having this as a problem btw.

Next I have a question for the bench - it started to go up, real fast, 130kg for 1 rep one friday, next friday I did it for double and on monday I did it for 1 one rep, but paused, two sets. So my left elbow is starting to hurt, like when I bend my arm it feels tight like it's not supposed to bend like that, plus I can't do skulls (I mean I can, but it's painful), barbell or dumbbells, because it hurts, actually above the elbow, where it connects with the upper arm, on the inside (I mean that part is closer to the body). Sometimes when I'm starting to bench, on first rep as I go down, my elbow just clicks, but not the joint, it feels like my... don't know the word in english, but like vein or something, moves a little bit suddenly, not sure how to describe it, hope you get what I'm saying, and as I go up it's all good, but it feels like it going to swollen up, even though it doesn't look like it, it just feels like my tendon or something is... I don't know, inflamed?
I guess that it's because of high intensity, plus volume (as I said I bench twice a week, volume on monday and intensity on friday) and because I'm always around my max in the past few weeks, but my question is what should I do for the elbow? Maybe ice it? And what to do for triceps since it hurts to do skulls? Or just wait for the meet to pass and then take some light weight or even rest?

And one more question, for the squats, but it's a short one - when I get to heavy weight for me and I struggle with it, my left arm and sometimes leg, start to... um... shake? It's feels like my arm is gonna pass out lol don't know how to describe it, it's really odd, it starts shaking and it feels like it's boneless, I just sit down and the feeling goes away after say 5sec, but what may cause it? I use wrist wraps when I squat, is it because of that? Also my leg usually starts to do the same thing when I use knee wraps, but it happened couple of times when I wasn't using them. Lack of oxygen maybe? That's my best guess, I have no idea what may cause it.

As always, sorry for long questions, but I tend to go into details, so you can get the best insight and reply with short answers cuz of it. And as always, thanks in advance!