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Muscle Pit - Pitside at Perth's Strongest Gym

Sumo

New member
Hi Everyone
We get a lot of enquiries at the Muscle Pit (or just “ the Pit”!) from people wanting to know what we do and how we train there so after speaking with Henry Day who owns and runs the gym I thought I would start a thread about what is happening at Perth’s strongest gym. Henry will also be jumping onto this thread on a regular basis and answering any questions and also telling people what’s happening at the gym and his thoughts and experiences of strength training and believe me you want to take note of what the guy says.
I thought I would kick the thread off by welcoming back Shannon Florissen and Les Milhinch who recently competed at the CAPO National Powerlifting Championships in sunny Albury on the weekend of the 25th and 26th of August 2012. Shannon had a great competition and belted out a 300kg Squat, 230kg Bench and 330kg Deadlift then deadlifted 342.5kg for a World Record which is a pretty impressive achievement for his first Nationals. Shannon has had a long layoff from powerlifting due to injuries in the past (before he started training at the Pit) but with Henry’s coaching has made a remarkable recovery and we will see a lot more to come.
Les also represented the Muscle Pit well by getting a 230kg Squat, 180kg bench and 292.5kg deadlift.
It was great to see Les and Shannon back in the gym this Monday training as hard as ever with Shaun– no downtime for these boys. One thing that Henry constantly stresses the importance of is “work ethic” and it is something that cannot be fully appreciated until you come into the gym and see how hard people train - every day.
Stay strong everyone and we will keep the thread updated on a regular basis
 
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Excellent Sumo, good write up & some freakishly strong boys there!

Subscribed :) Look forward to reading!
 
Pit side - week ending 16.09.2012

As usual a very busy week at the Pit with different groups experimenting with different exercises and pushing the envelope as always. We have been experimenting with speedy deadlifts with the bar suspended on chains and quadded mini bands looped over the bar - nothing speedy about these but they really force you to keep applying explosive power throughout the whole lift so we should see some big gains down the track.

Shannon's group have been doing a strongman medley on Sundays (tyre flips, yoke runs etc) which should increase their GPP significantly. Henry has been doing prowler runs consistently during the week - top marks to Dave and Steve and Devin for joining in with him and keeping up with him. Prowler runs will build up your GPP/conditioning like nothing else but more importantly it will build your mental toughness and the difference in the attitude of the people joining in with Henry is a joy to behold.

Corey and James have both been working hard on their benching and Corey's set up is pretty impressive and once he gets his injuries sorted we should see a monstrous bench and squat. James already has a pretty big bench and I cant wait to see what damage he will do to the records under Corey's guidance.

Keep strong everyone and don't get complacent in your training. Always remember the goals and objectives you originally set for yourself and strive to acheive them.

Oh and the new Pit T-shirt design has finally been decided upon.
 
Muscle Pit Sling Shot Bench Comp – Sunday 23 September 2012

Despite the disappearance of the George Okunev the Slingshot Bench Comp was held at the Bentley Tavern this Sunday the 23rd September 2012. George was the one who started the competition back in 2011 and hasn’t been seen since although there are rumours that he has moved to a secret Russian Black Ops training facility where he sleeps on a barbed wire bed and wrestles with bears as his warm up before he spends the next 18 hours benching using an alien hybrid sheiko bench template.

Anyway I digress. It was a beautiful day and it was a great chance to have a bit of fun with Mark Bell’s slingshot in a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere (which you would expect in a tavern of course). In a tradition started at the first slingshot comp everyone who was competing was given a nichname/stage name (whether they liked it or not – just ask Corey).
The day started off with a rep out challenge using 1.5 times the competitors bodyweight and despite a limited showing for this frivolity there was heated competition between Yianni the “Greek God” and Steve “the Boss” Higgins who was there to defend his title as Supreme Slingshot Repper . Despite a strong (not that you would expect anything less) effort from “Greek God” with an exhilarating 13 reps with 100kg Steve Higgins “the Boss” was back to defend his title from all challengers and thumped out 17 reps with 117.5kg to retain his title. Other notable efforts came from John Higgins with a very respectable 11 reps with 152.50kg.

Then came the main event and everyone pushed themselves into their slingshots (or in my case swam – why does everything come in large) for the max effort lift. What a fantastic competition with a field of 11 lifters with Henry Day in the head judges chair (and lifting off for people) and Shannon and Shaun loading and spotting. Top marks to Shaun who despite his ethnicity managed to load every weight correctly (as a bit of competition etiquette please thank the spotters and loaders after the comp as it is a hard job and these guys give very generously of their time to make these events happen it also doesn’t hurt to offer them a drink). A big thankyou also goes to Ross Semplice for running the scoreboard (this is actually a bastard of a job) and to Ben Talunga and the great Adam Coe for MC’ing.

The opening lifts got off to a great start with Steve Higgins “the Boss” completing an opening lift of 150kg at a bodyweight of 78kg. Not to be outdone Andrew Nguyen “Nando” and Josh McAlindon (Both from PTC -not sure what Josh’s stage name was) opening with 155kg and 170kg respectively. Nando ended up going 3 for 3 with lifts of 160kg and 165kg after his opener. Nando and Josh battled it out for top crown but Josh despite missing his third attempt at 185kg narrowly edged out Nando to take the crown with a bench press of 180kg at a bodyweight of 93.9kg.

Notable mentions must be made of the following lifts:
• Yianni “the Greek God” who did an over 2x bodyweight lift of 140kg at 67kg bodyweight and remember this was not long after he did the rep out challenge.
• The Higgins brothers for displaying great benching potential and of course to Steve for retaining his title for the rep out.
• Bryan “the situation” for putting up a very credible 145kg bench press at his very first comp – Well Done! (and not just for the benching mate).
• Corey Millar for lifting despite injuries and not complaining – one of my pet hates is people coming up to me at comps and making a big song and dance about how injured they are. Next time I will direct these people to Corey and you will see first hand where he got his nickname of “anger management” from.
• Rudolfo “the Latin Cobra” for making a valiant attempt to wrestle the crown of “anger management” away from Corey. Top effort mate.
• Josh – thanks for helping load the bench back into the trailer

Well done everyone and thanks again to all the Muscle Pit people that made the Slingshot Comp possible. I would also like to add that if we had used an age co-efficient in the formula I would have won (just saying-mind you I say that at every comp except when hercules is lifting). Henry and I also found out on the way back to the gym that it’s a really good idea to check that the trailer is properly connected to the tow bar – oops!

Ps- although I make jokes about George being at a secret special ops facility knowing George this is not as silly as it sounds.
 
Hi Folks here is a quick update Pitside and some of the achievements of the Frontline Crew:
Newcomer Tamara could barely squat x2 8kg kb's when she started - she is now flipping the 240kg tyre and log pressing above head (black one) in only 4 weeks! Pete F, 24 reps at 100kgs on the trap bar deads in 30 secs! Margaret remaining constant barely ever missing a session busts out 140 kg's rack pulls 3x8 from doing frontline alone (Margaret is a machine and if you ever want a humbling experience just turn up to a Frontline session and be destroyed by her). Mike B. returned today from a back injury- back on track. Had a few girls from Carlisle soccer club come down hunya and nicki to supplement their training. Therese is making a great recovery from a lower back injury and George, upping his fitness after a knee injury and several months of rehab before hopefully heading into pro rugby. The Frontline Crew are looking for some new recruits - not for the faint hearted.
 
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Well its all quiet in the gym this week as everyone rests up for the Wild West Shootout this weekend which will be the last 3 lift powerlifting comp in WA for 2012. Henry has organised some awesome trophies for this event so good luck to everyone competing and have a blast on the day ladies and gentlemen.
 
Hi Everyone

We had the Wild West Shootout powerlifting comp on Sunday 14th October at the Pit and wow what an amazing day. Henry Day and the rest of the crew from the Pit put on a lifting spectacle for the day and we saw a raft of new lifters on deck for this comp. Dan brought down 9 lifters from PTC Perth and UWA (University of W.A) had 6 lifters along for their very first comp.

I must say I was blown away by the lifting especially from many people for whom this was their very first comp. Unreal. We also had a team component in this competition for the very first time and it was good to see the "old" sheriff retain the post.

There were many, many standout performances from this day but for entertainment value Adam Alphabets performance was certainly the "Cream of the Crop". I will post up the full results soon and give a run down on the highlights.

For those of you for whom it was their first comp I salute you all for having the courage to step on to the platform and push yourself. You now have your first competition under your belt and I hope the powerlifting experience has sparked a fire in your belly for even greater accomplishments. I should also remind you that all your successful lifts were judged by 3 referees -these werent gym lifts where your mate was shouting "its all you bro" these were truly lifts where it was "all you" and if someone wants to better those lifts they will have to have the balls to step on to the platform at the next competition.
 
Sorry I havent posted for a while but things have been rather frantic and we are heading into another Comp - The Deadliest Deadlift which will be held down at Mews Park Fremantle (just outside Cicerrellos) this Sunday 2nd December 2012 at 12 noon. Training has been going well for everyone and Corey's group are setting the place on fire
 
Well had the Deadliest Deadlift comp at sunny Fremantle on Sunday and couldn't have asked for better weather after a week storms and rain. Some highlights were:
1. Seeing Trent breaking that 200kg barrier with a personal best of 202.5kg
2. Seeing Shaun fight 300kg for a full 6 seconds (awesome - pity it beat him).
3. just watching Rudolfo being Rudolfo
4. Greg fighting 190kg with everything he had and winning - that is what its all about folks giving everything you have and not giving up.
5. Peter Parsons making a comeback with a lazy 232.5kg at a suprisingly low bodyweight of 82.5kg
6. Watching first time lifters make some pretty decent lifts at their very first comp
7. Having Supplement Mart down there with some great products to try and doing a great job of helping out with the competition and the performance of the Muscle Pit crew
8. James for winning the inaugral Henning Bach Deadlift trophy - for those that dont know Henning he was a great lifter in his day whose deadlift record still stands and he is a giant of a man (there is a great picture of him on the front cover of Powerlifting USA spotting Ed Coan and he makes Ed look like a small child)
Many thanks to Ben and Adam who did a great job mc'ing throughout the day and to Henning Bach (the Legend), Simon Farey and Corey Millar for judging and loading and to Ross for running the scoreboard.
 
Well done guys sorry Paul and I couldnt be there to support and watch the fun.

It was a great day and good to see Henning Bach acheivements acknowledged in this way. His masters deadlift record in the WPC still stands.
 
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