02 March 2016
Recovery Night A rewarding night at the gym for a light night. I got to the gym and had to wait on the rack but it gave me time to do some warm up with a band around the knees. So I did some walking up and down, and side to side, and leg swings.. Once the rack freed up I was ready to go.

 SSB Squats - The warming up didn't hurt tonight, The hips felt good once I got under the bar and got to squatting. My top set of 182.5kgs went really well and was a rep PR on the safety bar...

OHP - these didn't go too bad but it was supposed to be doubles all through. The 87.5kgs just wasn't going up for a second rep tonight. I got it part way on the second rep but that was it.

Rows - back to two wheels for rows and it felt good. No problems and I could feel it in my lats.. More muscles for bigger lifts..

Cable pull downs - I added a couple of kgs tonight and next week I am going to hold at this weight. My form was all over the place after rep six on the 2nd and 3rd set.

Happy with how things went really. Even with a missed rep on ohp it was a good night.

29 Feb 2016
Squats Vol./Bench Intensity Another day of driving and meetings on little sleep and not much food but felt really good to get to the gym.





 
















Squats - I wasn't sure how many sets I was going to get on these but I pushed and got all 5 sets.. 15 reps at 185Kgs.. Some kind of PR that is..

Bench Press - This was a good one on the bench. I got a spotter just in case but I cranked out the double with no problem. My usual pre-set up stretching usually cracks but this time I felt a slight twinge where my back sometimes gets a pinched muscle. Something to consider at this point in the comp cycle.

Slingshot bench - I added in some overloads today to build up some strength. The 140 and 150kgs went ok and the 160kgs single took some serious pushing...

 Due to breaks between heavy sets time ran longer than normal and the twinge in my back I flagged RDLs today. Last week's deadlifting has left my traps sore and the rest might not be such a bad idea for deadlifts. I'll be doing some testing in a couple of weeks.....

26 Feb 2016
Intensity squats/volume bench/Deadlift LP It was a big night at the gym. Things went well and things should be looking good for testing in a couple of weeks...

 

 Squats - a standard warm up with bands on the knees up to 180kgs x1 and then a rest for a few minutes to get ready for my work set at 205kgs x3. I made all 3 reps but the weight was there tonight and I ended up making a little noise.. depth was pretty good but the middle one was just slightly high.


Bench Press - tonight was a lighter night with just one set on the bench. No problems with 105kgs x5

Sumo deadlifts - hookgrip -ht again tonight but no big issues. I am locking in a decent form on sumos but not to the point to make it my go to for competition yet...

Deadlifts - hookgip - heavier tonight but I think the sumos lend some fatigue and that affects the conventional. So I am not to worried that the reps weren't as fast as I might have wanted. Also after 9 sets my grip was still going strong.. I also wore my lever belt to deadlift and was able to be comfortable. I'm not sure if it is the tweaks to my form or the losing weight but it was good to have the extra support.

24 Feb 2016
Recovery Night Home from work on time for a change and off to the gym for a nice relaxing workout.
 

SSB Squats - I screwed up and did the same as last week. Not a big issue really since the jump was supposed to be 10 kgs. I might jump double next week. I'll see on the day how things feel. Today though was good, I got some good depth and stretched the hips nicely.

OHP - I realized that I hadn't advanced weights and moved these along. For a lift that I had despised for a long time I am happy that tonight was a 3 rep PR at 82.5 kgs x3. I didn't get video to check on how much bend my back may have had in it but I pushed up all 3 reps.

Barbell rows - No problem with rows. Next week it is up to 2 plates

Cable Pulldowns V handle- added weight again this week and finally had to put in some decent effort to get it done. Next week I'll add more and do it again.

Cable Pull throughs - Added a little weight and got some good pulling in and some good stretching of the posterior chain.

Looking forward to Friday and heavy squats...

11 April 2015
Canterbury Powerlifting Championships
Over the past few weeks I have been really trying to focus on my lifting and had a lot of outside things trying to drag me down. The focus really paid off on the platform on the day with 2 good PRs and a breakthrough with some insight into my training methods and needs.

I lifted in the afternoon and not being worried about making weight I had a couple pieces of French toast for breakfast and a protein shake. After weigh in I picked up the wife and went for some real powerlifting fuel... a whopper with cheese fries and diet coke... 

I was pretty nervous about how things were going to go but once I started warming up I felt pretty good.

My numbers for the day looked like this-
Squats -
205kgs good lift
210kgs good lift
220kgs no lift 1 white, 2 reds

Bench Press-
125kgs good lift
135kgs good lift
140kgs good lift PR

Deadlift
175kgs good lift
185kgs good lift
190kgs good lift PR
Comments-
Squats - my squats felt really good. My last warm up was 190kgs and it flew up. After that I was ready to go. my first 2 lifts went smooth. My 220kgs attempt felt really good but 2 judges called me high. a couple guys commented I had it but the judges' call is what counts. I'll be going 225 and my next meet.


Bench Press-
I have really worked my bench press and it has paid off. My first lift of 125kgs is a weight I missed a couple times last season but now I rep it. My second attempt went easy. 140kg was my goal for this meet and I was able to go 1 rep no worries. I think I might have been able to hit a double. My new goal is 150kgs by the end of the year.


Deadlifts-
My deadlifts have been my biggest worry but I have figured out how I need to train for it. Andy Bolton doesn't lift his max during training he goes up to 85% or so and saves the big stuff for comps. This is my training strategy going forward. I am going to be doing more speed work with low reps and high sets. I'll also push the RDLs like I have been.
Hitting 190kgs was a huge boost for me. My back felt good and I came right up with it. I will make 200kgs by years end.


I'm really happy with the way things went and that I am showing progress. I am feeling good that by the end of the year I will squat 127.5kgs, Bench 150kgs, Deadlift 200kgs

Thanks to all of you that have been here for me and stay tuned for bigger and better things.

1 December 2014
Volume Night
Well I thought I would get this logged on the day since I actually had a great feeling day in the gym. I'm not sure why (certainly not extra sleep, we had the grand daughter most of the weekend) maybe it was the giant can of Monster, 2 Reese cups and gummi alligator I had 45 minutes before the gym.... Whatever it was it was nice to finish a workout feeling good about how it went.


Squats - I had to wait in the rack (no surprise on a Monday) so I put some time into some much neglected mobility and stretching. I have been rushing to get to the gym and skimping on the stretching and tonight I realised how much it has effected my lifting. Once I got squatting my hips felt much looser than they have in awhile. My warm ups were smooth and fast right up to my work sets. I decided to add 2.5kgs on my work sets My middle set felt a bit suspect on depth and checking the video I thought I needed a couple more inches and on set 3 I took my time and adjusted depth for 3 good reps.

Barbell Rows - Since I had to wait in the bench I reordered things a little. While I was squatting a few clowns were doing bent over rows with about 40kgs. it was the blind leading the blind and so sad but they didn't ask me for help and I don't usually offer clowns. They finished about the time I finished squatting so I grabbed the bar doubled the weight they were using and smashed out 3 sets. I could them checking me out in the mirror. More work and less play is the way to go.

Bench Press - it is hard to figure what to do at this stage. I have felt like my bench has been a little off so I warmed up to 100kgs and I was going to do 5x5 but I decided to step up and do some paused reps to prep for competition. 3x3 at 110kgs felt good Friday I will be doing heavy pauses for more prep work.

Cable Pull throughs - I think the stretching helped on these also I didn't feel it as much as I have been. I still got a good stretch in and post comp I'll look at moving these up to help the back out.

After I did some distractions on my left hip and walking out of the gym I noticed how well my hip was moving. Tomorrow it is off to the physio to see what he can do for my back. Hopefully I'll get cracked and stretched so I can loosen up.

29 November 2014
Intensity day
I don't make it to the gym on Saturdays very often but the place was all but empty. It was lovely to not have to wait on anything and no dweebs getting in my way.
 
Squats - I was considering where to go on these tonight and settled for 200kgs which is going to be my opener in Melbourne. I decided 2 singles would be a good place to be. Between 160, 180 and 200's I slowed up and took a couple minutes break to try and be a bit fresher. I watched the clock when I started and finished all of my squats in about 17 minutes. I had a good sweat going by the time I was finished and ready to move on.

Bench Press - The one draw back to no one else in the gym is there is no one to spot the bench. Benching in the power rack is nice and safe but the catches are either too high or too low. It takes almost half a rep to unrack the bar. I opted for more volume at a higher weight and 110kgs was about where it was comfortable in the rack I did an ugly rep at 120kgs but he set up was not good to do more.

Deadlifts - I thought I would stick with higher reps and go up. I did the 60 and 100kgs off of two plates and 120kgs off of one plate. The reps fatigued my quite a bit and when I went for 160kgs my hips and back were screaming. I won't be deadlifting again until competition time.

Next week I will keep Volume and Light day as usual but intensity day will be similar with the exception of deadlifts.

Also thanks to all you guys who keep checking in on me. I have been really slack on checking in and my brothers. So cheers and after this competition I'll try and be more on to supporting my brothers and sisters.