Jamie Reeves quotes from recent seminar!
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| mascllem |  | Jamie Reeves quotes from recent seminar! | 01-12-2017 @ 05:11 |
Member 6314, 5 posts | https://ibb.co/eqDqub On his pedigree before entering World's Strongest Man in 1988: I won the 1985 BAWLA Yorkshire North East Junior powerlifting title at over 125kg with a 280kg squat, 227.5kg bench and 310kg deadlift after only two years training. I always had a denser bone structure than other boys in the school sports teams, always a rugby forward or throwing rep for school and county. I'm 6ft3, long levers and a long torso to fill out there. I couldn't get time off work to go to the British powerlift championships, I was booked in for double time on weekends at the coalmine I worked to save for my gym. My upper body was always freak strong and when I doubled my caloric intake for the 1986 National Truck Pull championships my lower body started catching up. I did a few domestic shows in the 1986/87 season where Bill Kazmaeir was a guest and I trained with Bill on his seminar tours of 87/88, after opening my gym with my missus at the time, Debbie. I went rep for rep with Bill pretty much in every workout and actually beat Jon-Pall at the '88 Europe's Strongest Man. I was bench pressing 272.5kg sometimes multiple times a week in 87/88 in seminars, raw with Bill lifting it off, not close to my max really. We would do standing presses with the biggest dumbbells at the time which were 75kg, cleaning them up and just repping out without locking out. I was pulling 387.5 from below the knees for sets of 5, at 25 years old and 145kg bodyweight. I would pause squat 280 Olympic style down off the pins set below parellel for 5 sets of 5 with 5 minutes between each set, and I would knock 20 seconds off when poss til I was down to 2 minute rests before the World's in '89. My joints and and tendons and ligaments were so healthy and lubricant at 25, 26 years old. It wasn't until I was 28 or so that I ruptured my bicep locking out 387.5 from the floor. I had lowered the rack pin and volume til I was peaking at 387.5 from the floor. I rushed the rehab and ripped it off the bone in my next strongman competition. I was already World's Strongest Man at this point. I wanted to be the strongest that ever lived, but when you push the envelope too soon, your body falls apart. It is a marathon rather than a sprint, I just didn't have that mindset. On the subject of running, I would do my running on the weekends. At 22 stone I got me 100m sprint from 19 seconds to 16 seconds, at 23 stone I was running 100m 12x in one hour all under 20 seconds, peaking up to that. On Eddie Hall: Very proud of the guy. A mountain of mass, a lot bigger than all of us back then, as they all are today. It is night and day really. You look at a Mark Higgins up to Bjornsson or Brian Shaw, a great role model Brian Shaw, the difference in tissue quantity on the frames; (is) not even funny. I was the big guy who won the static events of my day, as Eddie Hall is today. The other guys were 120 to 130kg, max. The boys are 60 to 70kg heavier now, and practice the events in the gym. We wouldn't stand a prayer, maybe the stronger guys would like Kaz, Riku Kiri and me, but we're outsized and outgunned. The only time I touched the apparatus was on the day of a contest, I wouldn't know what the events would be til I showed up, you know? The logs were wooden and uneven. When I did my 180kg in South Africa, I had only done log lift still on only 4 or 5 occasions in my life. Riku Kiri never onced trained events, even in 1998 when it became compulsory to keep up with the likes of (Jouko) Ahola. Kiri was from the old school and was still trying to just outmuscle everyone, and getting injured. On Eddie Hall in powerlifting: He'd do good. He's a super, super heavy. Even the late O.D Wilson, he was 30 stone but he was 6ft6 or 6ft7. O.D had massive power in his glutes, hips, hamstrings, legs; his bench press was still 80kg short of Bill or Riku. I don't believe Eddie Hall is deadlifting 450 after a three-lift same-day powerlifting meet, he might beat Badenhorst's 402.5 but you'd expect him to weighing 40kg more for that leverage advantage. Your nervous system is severely jolted when you max out on all three in a day, at 95 to 105%, say twice in each lift. You are shellshocked after one squat at 95%. Eddie Hall will tell you that, he was definitely jolted after his big one-lift deadlifts. Overhead I don't believe I'll ever see a behind the neck push press with no split with 272.5 in my life time, like Gary Taylor did at less than 120kg bodyweight. I once saw Jouko Ahola deadlift more than three times his bodyweight for three dead-stop reps without bending his knees! Svend Karlsen in my Fitness World Gym in '96 pulled 400kg from the floor for three dead-stop reps with straps at the end of a huge back workout, with abs. Eddie Ellwood did exactly the same years later. So pound-for-pound, with barbells, there's no leap really. The human genetics haven't improved since day dot, they just don't. Human growth hormone is massive, it's increasing their skeletal size massively as well as allowing them to consume more calories; so the leverages in a deadlift from the floor are through the roof today. We didn't have that. On his heaviest bodyweight: The biggest was actually 170kg at the 1992 World's Mighty Man which I dominated from start to finish against all the greats from Magnus to Manfred to Jon Pall and Gary, Gerrit! That was my peak. It was on the Johannesburg Roadshow in South Africa and I was paid nicely. I was standing military pressing 180kg for 5 sets of 3 in my gym with no leg push but the logs we used there were of great circumference. There is footage of this event on YouTube. I didn't need to do World's Strongest Man in '92 but Forbes Cowan withdrew late and I went over to Iceland 25kg lighter having not trained or prepared for it, and still placed joint runner-up with Magnus Ver! On his training routine in prime: It centered around the squat, bench and dead, Mon, Wed and Fri. I believed in hard work and then recovering. I would squat high bar, shoulder-width stance and to failure, with pauses deep in the hole. If it was the 5th rep of a 5th set, a 6th rep was attempted and it was that extra rep that put me a step ahead of my competition. The harder I worked, the more of a right I felt I had to win. With deadlifts I would sometimes pull to momentary failure from below the knee, rest for 20 seconds with my hands still on the bar, pull another rep to allow training partners like a young Andy Bolton to take two plates off each side and drop the pin one and repeat this process til I was repping out from the floor - sweating, shaking, bleeding, puking, and continuing. Going through the pain barriers in the gym is why I won the Europe's in '88, World's in '89 and World Mighty Man in '92. Monday was leg day and after squats I did leg presses with all the plates that would fit onto the machine, about 800kg on this one, and to progress I would try to beat the reps I could do in 30 seconds, 60 seconds or 90 seconds. Then step-ups and all the other leg machines I had in the gym. After bench press on Wednesday would be standing strict machine presses which I brought to strongman competition in '98 as viking presses, and standing dumbbell presses going up and down the rack. Then heavy front raises, and dumbbell side raises going up and down the rack. I wanted my shoulders to be screaming; that's how I won the crucifix and forward hold events. I would bench with regular grip up to 220kg for 8-10 reps, then bring the grip in by one thumb and take a plate off each side, again and again down to 60kg thumb to thumb. Then sometimes dips for tris. Friday was back day, usually deadlifts from 18 inches to resemble strongman deadlift, then bent over barbell rows from the floor with 220kg, and pulldowns and pulley rows with the full weight stacks. If I deadlifted from the floor I followed it with clean pulls rather than bent rows. Sometimes I did chin ups for biceps. At weekends it was running and throwing at the Hallam University after it opened in '87. I would practice weight for height with a 15kg plate from the gym over the pole vault bar, and use the track there for interval sprints where I wanted my throat to feel like it was on fire. You've got to be a bit of a masochist, and I'm definitely a sadist when training others. I see a lot of ego lifting in gyms today. I see half squats, even quarter squats. I tell them to half the weight and aim for that weight as a goal through a full rep. In my day you left your ego at the door. I still see most lads pressing these big dumbbells on a bench where they stop six inches off the chest. I tell them to grab lighter dumbbells and do fuller reps or there will come a time you can't stop the weight on the way down, and because you've not built your strength through a full range, from the bottom off the chest - and done it the hard way, the proper mans way - your pec will tear off or rotator cuff (will) rupture. Another thing is these lifting straps which are unnecessary. If you never used them, you never need to, because your grip strength goes up with your back strength. I liked barbells even with no knurling, very rarely used chalk other than big max attempts, and used a double overhand grip up to 300kg. What the bodybuilders don't understand is that the harder you squeeze your grip, the more your nervous system is activated, which benefits performance... and growth. | ||
| MJG |  | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 07:16 |
 Member 5560, 769 posts | Very interesting thank you for sharing. One thing I'd love to find out from Jamie was why he stopped competing in WSM after 92 even though he was still a major force at other contests and could easily have been in the mix for the podium. | ||
| Wayne_Cowdrey | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 09:07 |
 Still got a little bit of strength Member 400, 22040 posts | Interesting reading, thanks  | ||
| The_Lone_Wolf | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 10:55 |
 I eat a lot of meat Member 5124, 2996 posts SQ 245, BP 130, DL 275650.0 kgs @ 105kgs UnEq | A very enjoyable read. | ||
| Darrenmac1988 | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 11:20 |
 Your living your dream buddy, never forget that! Member 1873, 923 posts SQ 260, BP 165, DL 335760.0 kgs @ 118kgs UnEq | Great read! | ||
| Wiegieboard | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 12:48 |
 as crimson as my last victims underclothing..... Member 899, 11329 posts SQ 180, BP 132.5, DL 190502.5 kgs @ 118kgs UnEq | That was good | ||
| matthewvc | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 13:28 |
 ‘downsizing’ Member 5704, 3219 posts SQ 280, BP 210, DL 320810.0 kgs @ 96.3kgs UnEq | enjoyed that. jamie would be a WSM potential winner if he was in his 20's now: full time pro, properly training events and 20kg heavier. | ||
| John | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 17:12 |
#biggef Member 5263, 3492 posts SQ 260, BP 195, DL 260715.0 kgs @ 130kgs UnEq | Fantastic thank you | ||
| KevC86 | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 18:35 |
 Member 5141, 4197 posts SQ 300, BP 180, DL 350830.0 kgs @ 130kgs UnEq | A great read, thanks for sharing. | ||
| cowie | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 20:40 |
 Member 3740, 1578 posts | Nice read that I trained in his Sheffield Gym once about 22 years ago | ||
| mascllem | | ... | 01-12-2017 @ 20:44 |
Member 6314, 5 posts | https://youtu.be/pYjt-V1esM4 https://youtu.be/CaoP3svMMkc Interesting. WSM on BBC was only tip of iceberg. Shame no internet back then. There was loads in Finland and Iceland throughout the year | ||
| peanuts | | ... | 02-12-2017 @ 17:20 |
 Beef liver and peanuts Member 3618, 222 posts SQ 240, BP 160, DL 280680.0 kgs @ 118kgs UnEq | Fantastic read,thanks for posting bud | ||
| 93hopkinsonr | | ... | 03-12-2017 @ 00:27 |
 Mr.Potato deadlift Member 2675, 4628 posts SQ 300, BP 200, DL 300800.0 kgs @ 110kgs UnEq | Good post thanks for sharing. It's sad to see Jon Pall Sigmarsson in the 1992 comp knowing he died a few months later. He's still my favourite strongman of all time | ||
| 93hopkinsonr | | ... | 03-12-2017 @ 00:29 |
Mr.Potato deadlift Member 2675, 4628 posts SQ 300, BP 200, DL 300800.0 kgs @ 110kgs UnEq | Jamie Reeves was a true beast too. 180kg log in 1992 with an unbalanced log! I wonder what his biggest ever gym lifts were or powerlifting totals? | ||
| dannyboy73 | | ... | 03-12-2017 @ 10:56 |
Mask it or Casket !! Member 4600, 8166 posts SQ 240, BP 162.5, DL 255657.5 kgs @ 90.5kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 03.12.2017 @ 10:58 AM by dannyboy73 You and me alike sir. He's the reason that so many started strongman in the first place. I think JPS is the Arine of strongman. I think, looking at the pair of them Jamie and Caz had very similar genetic potentials. I recon, all being equal both would have done well in modern comp conditions with modern training tec. 93hopkinsonr said:Good post thanks for sharing. It's sad to see Jon Pall Sigmarsson in the 1992 comp knowing he died a few months later. He's still my favourite strongman of all time | ||