icecold's training log

icecold · 16 May 2012 at 01:27

The Chronicles of a Wannabe Powerlifter

Ok, finally getting around to starting this.

Best lifts as of June 2011:
Squat 225kg
Bench 130kg
Deadlift 235kg

All with a bodyweight of around 87kg.

Then I was beset by various injuries, including: glutes, hamstring, proximal bicep tendon, severe ankle sprain...

With the excuses for my lack of progression out of the way, here is the new plan.

I intend on competing on June 17th, but I'm not aiming for any PBs. The big goal is to get decent numbers in this comp that give me a qualifying total for nationals in August.

So now I'm basically in pre-comp mode for a few months, which is a little boring! Well, when it comes to routine and exercise choice anyway. My most important goal for this period is to not get injured again :mad:

Weight is currently back down to 87kg, so I need to drop that down to 85kg in the next 3 weeks - easy enough.

So, I'm going to document my training in here, starting with a catchup write up of the last few weeks.

Wednesday 2nd May

Deadlift
2x187.5kg
8x3x150

RDL 3x8x100kg
BOR 3x8x70kg
Chins 3x8xbw
Good mornings 3x8x60kg

Everything really easy, although the deadlifts were really sluggish from smolov which I aborted on the Monday. Treating GMs super cautiously, but they felt fine

Friday 4th May

Nothing

Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th

Weightlifting/olympic lifting workshop, many hours of lifting! Was meant to go for a bench PB on Saturday but ran out of time.

Monday 7th May

Squat 6x2x170kg - some sets paused

Bench 6x6x95kg

Bulgarian Split Squats 3x5x20kg

Core stuff

I was still tired and a bit stiff from the weekend, but it didn't really affect anything. Aiming to smash the depth of the squats, was comfortable. Bench was a little rushed because of time, but it was fine considering that I'd worked up to a pretty easy 130kg on Saturday.

Wednesday 9th May

Deadlifts
2x200kg
8x3x162.5kg

Bench 7x5x100kg

RDL 3x8x110kg

BOR 3x8x75kg

Chins 3x8xbw

GM 3x8x70kg

Friday 11th May

Squat 6x3x170kg

Bench 8x4x110kg

Saturday 12th May

Bench 10x3x115kg

Monday 14th May

Squats 6x2x170kg

Bench 6x6x100kg

Single Arm Cable Row 10x120, 8x130, 8x140

BSS 3x5x26kg

Shoulder cable stuff

WG pullup 3x8xbw

Squats were good again, despite my weird glute injury. All sets paused and very deep. Bench was a little tough today for some reason, but that's actually what it should be like at this stage so it's fine.

Morba · 16 May 2012 at 01:45

Like.
Will keep an eye on this one

LiE · 16 May 2012 at 09:45

Looks good mate. Where are you competing?

Freefaller · 16 May 2012 at 10:04

Will keep an interest in this. I still feel your squat is monstrous compared to your other lifts. So impressed!

MoNkeE · 16 May 2012 at 10:06

WIll be great to see how you progress leading up to the competition, will be utterly gobsmacked if you don't place with such big lifts

SMed · 16 May 2012 at 10:07

Sub'd.

Freefaller · 16 May 2012 at 10:11

I'm on holiday on the 17th of June else I would have offered to come and support you (in every way possible

).

LiE · 16 May 2012 at 10:13

MoNkeE said:
WIll be great to see how you progress leading up to the competition, will be utterly gobsmacked if you don't place with such big lifts

I don't think you actually have to place to go to nationals, just need to get over a certain total which is pretty achievable.

Djdom56 · 16 May 2012 at 13:14

It's boring and rubbish. Mine is better :| . . .

Good to see you have finally got this up. Also we forgot about memberships

, I'm on it though.

icecold · 16 May 2012 at 13:40

I appreciate the support guys

My squat is pretty big compared to everything else, or rather everything else is small. Bench has always been a weakness, but I injured my glute just before I peaked my deadlift last June (I knew I should have added more detail to my excuses section...).

The qualifying total for the 83kg weight class is 512kg, which is all I have to get to qualify for nationals. My "gym total" is 590, so on any given comp I might expect 10-30kg less than that.

I won't be pushing it for that much on the 17th though, I'm more fitting a comp in around peaking for nationals. If I feel good on the day then I might get adventurous, but I've got the next weeks training to think of.

LiE said:
Looks good mate. Where are you competing?

It's at Woking Powerlifting Club, and it's this comp: http://www.gbpf.org.uk/calendar/ViewCalendar.aspx?id=319

Freefaller said:
I'm on holiday on the 17th of June else I would have offered to come and support you (in every way possible ).

If anyone wants to come and watch me and Dom, I'll be the one tomato-facing when I squat.

Djdom56 said:
It's boring and rubbish. Mine is better :| . . .

Good to see you have finally got this up. Also we forgot about memberships , I'm on it though.

Ah, good point! I'll call you later.

...and singlets!

I've decided that I'm definitely doing the deadlift shirtless this time. I feel that this is important for success.

GarethSouthgate · 16 May 2012 at 13:42

If you get time, could you detail your injuries please?

Guessing they weren't related to form.

Should be an interesting thread, good luck (not that you'll need it).

LiE · 16 May 2012 at 13:47

I need to get my membership sorted for gbpf, then maybe I can compete next year

Freefaller · 16 May 2012 at 13:49

Not that I'm interested in competing, but what are the weight classes and the minimum lift requirements? Just curious to see how I stack up!

LiE · 16 May 2012 at 13:50

http://www.gbpf.org.uk/docs/WILKS_QUAL_FIGURES_2011.pdf

Djdom56 · 16 May 2012 at 13:51

Also there is no membership form that I can see for that comp :confused:

, I remember this happened last time but I don't remember how to fix it.

LiE · 16 May 2012 at 13:52

Dom have a word for me and see how I can get joined up

Freefaller · 16 May 2012 at 13:53

What's the junior / senior cut off?

Djdom56 · 16 May 2012 at 14:12

After 23 it goes into open which I believe goes up to about 40. Don't quote me on it though.

icecold · 16 May 2012 at 14:13

Glute from June '11: not really sure what it was, it only hung around for a few weeks. I just rested it and attacked it with a hockey ball.

Ankle sprain: happened playing football two years ago. It didn't bother me for at the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011, but around October last year it really started interfering with my squat. At first I didn't really notice it, but it was causing me to gradually change my stance and style. Treatment was a pain and seemed completely ineffectual up until about 3 weeks ago, when all of a sudden the pain was vastly reduced and I could access a lot more range.

Hamstring/adductor: related to my ankle. I was having to bend over a lot more in the squat which put a lot more stress on those areas. It was only relatively minor though and cleared up in a few weeks. It happened a few times between last October and a few weeks ago.

Proximal bicep tendon: I hate this guy. In a round about kind of way, this has held back my bench for years. What fixed it was weeks of pec stretching, and completely changing my bench technique.

Phantom weird glute thing that felt like death: I think it was due to this guy cramping up and going into spasm. According to my physio it's a stupid, useless muscle. It happened when I was warming up to squat, and at the time I felt shooting pain in my adductors and hamstring, and also that weird feeling you get in your guts when you've been kicked in the balls. Had to lie down for about 30mins and couldn't speaking without feeling like I was going to pass out or vomit, but after than I got up and finished benching. This was a month ago and I can still feel it now, but it doesn't hurt consistently and doesn't stop me doing anything.

icecold · 16 May 2012 at 14:24

Djdom56 said:
Also there is no membership form that I can see for that comp , I remember this happened last time but I don't remember how to fix it.

You could try emailing the contact for the Woking Powerlifting Club from this page http://www.gbpfsoutheast.co.uk/wheretotrain.html