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EFS Classic: 10 Things I Learned from Vincent Dizenzo

10 Things I Learned from Vincent Dizenzo

elit eft s Sunday edit ion

Ive been training with my man crush, Vincent Dizenzo, f or about three-and-a-half years. Over that time, I learned a whole bunch of things, some of which are just plain common sense and others that are not-so-obvious at f irst. Id like to share a f ew of these in hopes that they may help you get where youre going. So here they are: 1. Psychology T his is probably the best one of them all. I saw this f irst hand at the IPA Worlds in June 2007. Vincent was going af ter his 600-pound bench f or the third time. Everything was of f that day. T he rack was too high, and we were having trouble with the lif t-of f . T he bench was too high, and he was having a hard time driving his heels into the ground. We miss-timed the warm-ups, and he sat f or about 45 minutes af ter his last attempt in the back room. Nothing was f alling into place the right way. At one point, I looked over and saw Vincent with his eyes closed, talking to himself . I took this as a sign to leave him alone. As it turns out, he pretty much talked himself down f rom the ledge. He WILLED himself to succeed, and he did, setting the IPA unequipped bench World Record at 600 pounds. No matter how he f eels, hell always answer, Im f eeling f ***ing great! T here are no excuses f or having a bad day. Its your job to put yourself in the right f rame of mind to succeed. 2. Breathing T his is another lif t-saver. T his is very simple and ef f ective. When you get nervous and start hyperventilating or thinking about the lif t too much, just start breathing. Its as simple as that. Breath your air deep into your belly and let it out. While youre breathing, count. For me, its three seconds in and three seconds out. If you count in your head, you wont be able to think of anything except your breathing. It will take your mind of f of whatever it is thats bothering you, including your girlf riend or wif e. 3. Toes up T his is great f or squatting, pulling and benchingif you bench f lat-f ooted. We all know that we need to have most of our weight on our heels when we lif t. T he easiest and most ef f ective way Ive f ound to do this is by lif ting my toes up in my shoe. Every time, I relive ym childhood. Remember the times you used to get new shoes? T he shoe helper would always ask us to pick our big toe up so he/she could see where it was in relation to the f ront of the shoe. T his same tried and true method of sizing shoes will also help keep your weight on your heels while smashing PRs.

4. Video Video all of your lif ts. T his is not to include sex with your girlf riend/boyf riend/wif e/husband, unless you or they are good looking and you want to send me a video. T his is the best way to see what youre doing. Your training partners can tell you what youre doing wrong or right, but it will only really click when you see yourself doing it. Cameras are cheap and an invaluable way to better all of your lif ts. 5. Leg drive in the bench Its just like youre on the bottom. Drive those hips as if whether youre a f latf ooted or on your toes bencher, the key to victory is keeping your hips up just like youre f ornicating with your signif icant other(s). Bef ore you take the hand-of f , get your hips up by squeezing your glutes and hamstrings. Your hips should stay up throughout the entire lif t. Once you get the rack command, you can let them drop back down. 6. Breathing revisited Hold your breath. If you let your air out, you change your body position under the bar. T his isnt so important while squatting because in some f ederations there is a squat command and you need to take another breath. However, on the bench, itll kill you. Hold your air in until youve completed your set. If youre doing more than three reps, try to keep it in. Its a must in the 13 rep range. Vincent is a 300pound asthmatic. If he can hold his breath f or the f irst 25 reps at 225 on his way to 40 with only one more breath, you can do it. Besides, almost blacking out is a sweet high. Very inexpensive. 7. Diet and supplementation Put the good stuf f in your body. Every big bastard (275 and above) eats crappy f ood. We love it. T he cholesterol f lows through our veins and our hearts skip beats as if to say, WT F is wrong with you? Why are we so big? But, at the end of the day, all of us f at guys eat a pretty clean diet. Im no nutrition expert, but there are a f ew very simple things that Vincent taught me: get at least your body weight in grams of protein eat lots of dead animals drink milk eat pasta/potatoes/rice eat lots of eggs do this every day drink a gallon of f luid do this every day As f ar as supplements go, do what you will. T he supplements that Vincent and I use are:

protein powder BCAAs creatine multivitamins Whatever you choose to use, be consistent with it, just like your f ood intake. If you put the pieces together, itll turn out well f or you.

8. Sleep Youre supposed to get one hour of sleep f or every two hours that youre awake. T his is how you know how much sleep you need every night. If you have the next day of f , go to bed at your usual time as if you had to get up f or work. Dont set your alarm. When you wake up, look at the clock. Do some simple math and thatll tell you about how long you need to sleep. If you get enough sleep, you should not need an alarm to wake you up, no matter what the hour. If youre a f ellow f at guy with apnea, go get a sleep study. Do ALL of the things you need to do so that you get a good, restf ul sleep. Sleep deprivation will destroy your lif e, not just your lif ting. Ask Chad Aichs about his sleep deprivation. Its a serious problem that can be f ixed if youre willing to do it. It took me almost making out with a bridge abutment at 80 mph bef ore I got my study at the behest of Big Vinny. It turns out that I hold the record in the Southside crew. I stopped breathing 136 times per hourten more than the next man. 9. Expect to move big weights T his one is as simple as it sounds. Expect to lif t big. Just because you might not be able to do it now doesnt mean you cant do it in the f uture. Vincents worst lif t was the bench. He was a 750-pound squatter and a 700-pound deadlif ter in the 242-pound class (that sounds f unny, doesnt it?) and he had a single-ply dishcloth f or a squat suit. Two ruptured discs led him to being a bench specialist. Along the way, he held a World Record in the 275 class and a World Record unequipped and was one of the f irst guys to bench 800 pounds. T he list goes on. He didnt go into benching thinking that hed hold these records and accomplishments. He just kept training and the numbers kept f alling. He expects me to squat 1000 pounds. He expects me to deadlif t 800 pounds. He prays that I learn how to bench, but thats a whole other story. Expect greatness f rom yourself and youll get it. Greatness isnt measured in World Records. Its measured in setting and breaking your own goals and records. 10. Its ok if you get turned on by tranny porn Some of you know what Im talking aboutand some of you dont.

I hope some of these things help you. Theyve helped me a ton!