*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***
- Thread starter Psymonkee
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Soldato
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Good luck guys.
LIGHT WEIGHT BABY YEAAAAAAAH
LIGHT WEIGHT BABY YEAAAAAAAH
Yeah so after getting amped up and ready to start warming up, it turns out the masters are doing all three lifts first so its going to be a while 
. They have only just finished squatting and are now having a 15mins break before they start benching. Think I might go for a walk 
.
. They have only just finished squatting and are now having a 15mins break before they start benching. Think I might go for a walk .
Soldato
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All the very best Ice and Dom
Cheers guys
There will be videos posted at some point, we got all of the attempts.
Here's my mini write up...
Making weight was actually pretty easy. The worst part of my prep was the several days of very little sleep, but that was completely my own fault. I've definitely still got more body fat to lose, and I think I'll do that in the next few weeks.
As I mentioned at the time, I spent a long time in the morning waiting around to actually get going. It turns out the seniors (23+ and younger than whatever the masters start at) had nearly 6 hours after first weigh in before lifting started, although I didn't know this at the time. It wasn't a huge problem, but I got pretty hungry.
Squats
I was always going to be very conservative with these due to my injury, but they actually went quite well. Warm ups were fine, although I was still feeling my injury.
1st attempt: 180kg - good lift
Probably one of the better reps at this weight that I've ever done. Nice and deep and very smooth. Minimal injury bother.
2nd attempt: 190kg - good lift
Still very comfortable weight wise, but I felt my injury biting a bit more here so I decided not to do my 3rd attempt.
Bench
Frustrating. Warm ups went badly due to me not noticing someone had put 25kg plates on instead of 20kgs, and also some oddly aggressive lift offs from the local spotter. They yanked the bar out of the rack so hard that I came off the bench with 110kg (I thought it was 100kg). This did something strange to my upper pec and the rep felt really weird on the descent. I was intending on pausing it but just popped it back up. I wanted to do 110kg again so I got Dom in to lift off, but the clueless other spotters grabbed the bar again and pulled me off the bench :/ I ignored Dom's pause commands because it felt strange on my chest again. At this point I didn't have time to work back up through my warm ups again, so the entire this was botched.
As I waited to do my first attempt my upper pec (clavicular, and generally around the insertion at the shoulders) felt as fatigued as if I'd done a few sets of 20. This didn't any get better throughout my attempts.
1st attempt: 120kg - good lift
Went up ok, but it wasn't as pretty as it should have been. The shoes I was lifting in were slipping around on the carpet so I might as well have had them up on the bench :/
2nd attempt: 130kg - fail
Probably shouldn't have gone straight to this given the build up, but it really should have been there. I'd swapped to my deadlifting slippers which helped with grip, but I received the lift off weirdly and had to re-steady myself.
3rd attempt: 130kg - fail
I wasn't confident this would go any differently, but I didn't have anything to lose and I was annoyed. I tried taking it lower down my chest to see if I could take my fatigued areas out of the lift, but I ended up going a bit too low.
This is the only real disappointment of the day, it should have gone very differently.
Deadlifts
Messy. Warm ups were good (even got a few "wow"s and "holy ****"s at my lockout speed
), but I had less than two minutes after my last warmup (200kg) before my opener.
1st attempt: 215kg - good lift
Felt a bit rubbish, bit it went up.
2nd attempt: 225kg - didn't even bother!
Again, I only had two minutes rest. I set myself up and took the slack out of the bar, but it was going to be ugly so I left it. This sometimes ends up happening, but it really shouldn't. It affected another guy as well causing him to miss his lift.
525kg total weighing 82.2kg, which won me my the 83kg class, but I didn't really have any competition. As I said, I'm only really gutted with my bench, the rest was more a triumph of good sense over ego
Given that my injury still played a big part in today I may have to rethink my plans for nationals. But for now, it's time to feast and do brocep curls.
There will be videos posted at some point, we got all of the attempts.
Here's my mini write up...
Making weight was actually pretty easy. The worst part of my prep was the several days of very little sleep, but that was completely my own fault. I've definitely still got more body fat to lose, and I think I'll do that in the next few weeks.
As I mentioned at the time, I spent a long time in the morning waiting around to actually get going. It turns out the seniors (23+ and younger than whatever the masters start at) had nearly 6 hours after first weigh in before lifting started, although I didn't know this at the time. It wasn't a huge problem, but I got pretty hungry.
Squats
I was always going to be very conservative with these due to my injury, but they actually went quite well. Warm ups were fine, although I was still feeling my injury.
1st attempt: 180kg - good lift
Probably one of the better reps at this weight that I've ever done. Nice and deep and very smooth. Minimal injury bother.
2nd attempt: 190kg - good lift
Still very comfortable weight wise, but I felt my injury biting a bit more here so I decided not to do my 3rd attempt.
Bench
Frustrating. Warm ups went badly due to me not noticing someone had put 25kg plates on instead of 20kgs, and also some oddly aggressive lift offs from the local spotter. They yanked the bar out of the rack so hard that I came off the bench with 110kg (I thought it was 100kg). This did something strange to my upper pec and the rep felt really weird on the descent. I was intending on pausing it but just popped it back up. I wanted to do 110kg again so I got Dom in to lift off, but the clueless other spotters grabbed the bar again and pulled me off the bench :/ I ignored Dom's pause commands because it felt strange on my chest again. At this point I didn't have time to work back up through my warm ups again, so the entire this was botched.
As I waited to do my first attempt my upper pec (clavicular, and generally around the insertion at the shoulders) felt as fatigued as if I'd done a few sets of 20. This didn't any get better throughout my attempts.
1st attempt: 120kg - good lift
Went up ok, but it wasn't as pretty as it should have been. The shoes I was lifting in were slipping around on the carpet so I might as well have had them up on the bench :/
2nd attempt: 130kg - fail
Probably shouldn't have gone straight to this given the build up, but it really should have been there. I'd swapped to my deadlifting slippers which helped with grip, but I received the lift off weirdly and had to re-steady myself.
3rd attempt: 130kg - fail
I wasn't confident this would go any differently, but I didn't have anything to lose and I was annoyed. I tried taking it lower down my chest to see if I could take my fatigued areas out of the lift, but I ended up going a bit too low.
This is the only real disappointment of the day, it should have gone very differently.
Deadlifts
Messy. Warm ups were good (even got a few "wow"s and "holy ****"s at my lockout speed
), but I had less than two minutes after my last warmup (200kg) before my opener.1st attempt: 215kg - good lift
Felt a bit rubbish, bit it went up.
2nd attempt: 225kg - didn't even bother!
Again, I only had two minutes rest. I set myself up and took the slack out of the bar, but it was going to be ugly so I left it. This sometimes ends up happening, but it really shouldn't. It affected another guy as well causing him to miss his lift.
525kg total weighing 82.2kg, which won me my the 83kg class, but I didn't really have any competition. As I said, I'm only really gutted with my bench, the rest was more a triumph of good sense over ego
Given that my injury still played a big part in today I may have to rethink my plans for nationals. But for now, it's time to feast and do brocep curls.
Nice work chap
Shame about the injury being a pain, but you're working on that so hopefully you'll be good in time...Shame about the damn shoddy hand offs though =/ You would think they'd get people who knew what they were doing to do them
Shame about the injury being a pain, but you're working on that so hopefully you'll be good in time...Shame about the damn shoddy hand offs though =/ You would think they'd get people who knew what they were doing to do them
Thanks.
Yeah I have a plan now for my recovery, so hopefully I'll be back to full power sooner rather than very much later.
The hand offs are frustrating, but it's one of the variables of a powerlifting comp. My brother had bad lift offs in our first comp, and that was caused by a guy from our own club.
However, all I really wanted from today was a qualifying total, which I got. Now I need to decide if I'm going to do anything with it this year...
Yeah I have a plan now for my recovery, so hopefully I'll be back to full power sooner rather than very much later.
The hand offs are frustrating, but it's one of the variables of a powerlifting comp. My brother had bad lift offs in our first comp, and that was caused by a guy from our own club.
However, all I really wanted from today was a qualifying total, which I got. Now I need to decide if I'm going to do anything with it this year...
Nice work ice, target archived now time to beat the injuries and see what you can hit at nationals.
I guess it's just a case of stick to your plans and evaluate the injuries as you go, if there still no gone by nationals then no point trying to push big numbers you could end up just putting yourself out of the game.
I guess it's just a case of stick to your plans and evaluate the injuries as you go, if there still no gone by nationals then no point trying to push big numbers you could end up just putting yourself out of the game.
Decided I'm gonna stop Stronglifts and move to a more hypertrophy oriented split (or rep range at least). I've never done a hypertrophy routine whilst in a calorie surplus so I wanna get on it .
Any thoughts on this?
Chest + Tris
Flat Bench 3x8 //Change to DB's once plateaued?
Incline Bench 3x8 //Alternated with decline weekly, maybe?
Dips 3x8 (Don't have a belt for this so will work up in reps weekly) //Might alternate cable x-over in here because I really like them for chest contraction.
Lying Tricep Extension
Cable Pulldowns
Back + Bi
Deadlifts, 1x5 'working' set. I'd still like to progress strength wise on these hence the smaller rep range.
BOR 3x8 //Alternate with seated row weekly
Chin ups 3x //Alternate with pull up weekly
EZ Bar Curls
Hammer Grip DB Curls
Legs + Shoulders
Squatz 3x8
Seated Leg Curl (Hamstrings need work more than quads) 3x8
Calves (Toe press on leg press probably) 3xLots?
Seated DB press 3x8
Cable Facepulls 3x8
DB Side Raises 3x8
I plan on getting my 5RM's from SL, and take off 25% for the start of a progression? Ie Squat 5RM = 115kg, so will start on 85kg for 3x8 still aiming to make that 2.5kg progression (or more if it's real easy) each week. I want to keep the linear progression element of SL but apply it to 3x8. SL has drilled workout logging into me so I'm confident I can do it.
Any thoughts?
.Any thoughts on this?
Chest + Tris
Flat Bench 3x8 //Change to DB's once plateaued?
Incline Bench 3x8 //Alternated with decline weekly, maybe?
Dips 3x8 (Don't have a belt for this so will work up in reps weekly) //Might alternate cable x-over in here because I really like them for chest contraction.
Lying Tricep Extension
Cable Pulldowns
Back + Bi
Deadlifts, 1x5 'working' set. I'd still like to progress strength wise on these hence the smaller rep range.
BOR 3x8 //Alternate with seated row weekly
Chin ups 3x //Alternate with pull up weekly
EZ Bar Curls
Hammer Grip DB Curls
Legs + Shoulders
Squatz 3x8
Seated Leg Curl (Hamstrings need work more than quads) 3x8
Calves (Toe press on leg press probably) 3xLots?
Seated DB press 3x8
Cable Facepulls 3x8
DB Side Raises 3x8
I plan on getting my 5RM's from SL, and take off 25% for the start of a progression? Ie Squat 5RM = 115kg, so will start on 85kg for 3x8 still aiming to make that 2.5kg progression (or more if it's real easy) each week. I want to keep the linear progression element of SL but apply it to 3x8. SL has drilled workout logging into me so I'm confident I can do it
.Any thoughts?
That's what I'm currently weighing up: train for nationals on an injury that may go away and hope to put in a performance that is competitive. Or, go back to basics for a while, get leaner (able to eat at maintenance for longer!), and come back stronger.
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