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Hi! My name is Dejan. I live in Sweden, Jönköping and I'm currently an amateur in powerlifting. I train for JSK, Jönköpings Styrkelyftar Klubb (or in english Jonkopings Powerlifting Club) and I've been there since January, 2008.

Before I got involved with powerlifting I was at a local gym called Sense for two years. The only reason why I changed gym and started with powerlifting was because of the fact that I didn't gain much in strength and I also needed some professional advice from experienced lifters.

Ever since I've changed gym, I've become much stronger than I use to be. I train right, eat more healthier and my training routines are very strict.

Back then, I had a minor injury in my left shoulder that kept me away from exercises that involves the shoulders, such as military press and benchpress. But since I started to train with blocks in benchpress, my injury healed properly and now I currently bench 310 lbs (140 kg) raw. Back then I couldn't even bench 200 lbs (90kg) properly (since I would usually cheat and never go all the way down with the bar to touch my chest). I would constantly feel a pain that kind of reminds me of being stabbed with a rusty knife. The pain went all the way from my shoulder to the back of my neck. I got injured in October 2007.

The only reason why I got injured in the first place was because of stupidity. I was too much of an idiot, thinking that 250 lbs (112,5 kg) was easy for me to bench since I already managed to bench 220 lbs (100 kg) a week earlier with no problems at all. I also wanted to impress my friends as well but that only led to causing more damage into my left shoulder.

It took me nearly three months before I had the guts to try the benchpress and in January 2008 at JSK I saw some people training with blocks and I had no clue why they did that. They explained to me that when you're using the block you're activating the triceps properly and it allows you to bench heavier than ever. Since you're not going all the way down with the bar to the chest, you're basically only using the strength in your triceps. It sounded tempting, but I quickly replied by saying that I had a bad injury in my shoulder and that I didn't want to make it even worse. They said that there is a high probability that I might just have a muscle inflammatory and that it will heal properly if I would train with a 4 inch (10 cm) block. I tried it out for a month and I was amazed with the results. The ache in my left shoulder disappeared.

For each and every month that went by I got much stronger than I use to be and not only that but I've also mastered the technique in benchpress (and deadlifting) as well within that period, which means that I don't cheat like I used to do.

My goal is simple. I want to become strong and compete in powerlifting. Ever since I stepped into JSK, not only did I become much stronger but I've gotten more efficient as well. I'm not in a hurry to become one of the best (at least in Sweden and hopefully in Europe) because I know for a fact that it doesn't take a few weeks of hard training to achieve greatness, it takes years.

Enjoy my video clips and please, feel free to comment.