icecold's training log

[icecold]

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

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.

 

[icecold]

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.

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

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.

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.

 

[icecold]

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]

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

 

[icecold]

At nationals I'd be hoping to total well in excess of 600kg

 

[icecold]

 

[icecold]

I think it changed last year.

I'm aiming for a 2 kg drop in 3 weeks (down to 85kg), then it's fairly trivial to drop the other 2kg with a bit of carb depletion and water manipulation. In reality it should be fairly easy, less tasty foods from now on though

 

[icecold]

The next weight class up is 93kg, which I'd be very light for. Seems like you're ready to roll in the 93s though FF, I'll forward you the relevant info.....

A 600+kg total will be really tough, but that's what I'm aiming for.

LiE, slimfast+ice+celery diet. Super negative calories!

 

[icecold]

Afaik Jack3d is banned. Music and smelling salts it is!

 

[icecold]

Weigh ins are normally a few hours before you lift.

If I was 83.5kg when I woke up, I'd put on a load of clothes and turn the heating up in the car and sweat it out D:

 

[icecold]

Thanks, I'll certainly try!

You have to remember that, a) those are only qualifying totals, and b) comp lifts are very strictly judged. You can't mess around at about parallel on squats, and sometimes the pauses called by the refs on bench are brutal.

A crazy example is this guy's first squat:

...especially considering he was squatting and benching easy weights so he'd be fresh for the deadlift. I've seen far more cruel bench pauses as well.

edit: I wasn't really trying to counter your point, I'm just saying it isn't as simple as plugging in the lifts from the "Powerlifting Totals" thread.

 

[icecold]

I stalk his log quite aggressively. I want his recent powerclean!

Dom, that is both good and annoying news, I'll explain later.

 

[icecold]

Training 16/5/12

Deadlifts
2x212.5kg
6x3x175kg

Bench 7x5x105kg

RDL 3x8x120kg

BOR 3x8x80kg

GM 3x8x80kg

Chins 3x8

Decent session. Deads were a little strange, 200kg was nice, but I didn't have a good line for the 212.5kg. It felt like it was spinning anticlockwise slightly, but at least the second rep was faster than the first. The triples were fine, but tiring.

Bench was good, but I was knackered by the end.

I did a lot of soft tissue work on my pecs and stretching for my pecs and glutes for the first time in months, which felt good.

 

[icecold]

 

[icecold]

Yeah I've got a measure of what it feels like now, so it should keep getting better.

I forgot to mention, the last deadlift set that was belted was much easier to brace fully. I think I'm just very used to my belt now.

 

[icecold]

Training 18/5/2012

Squats 6x4x170kg

Bench 8x4x112.5kg

Leg press 3x8xsomething

Reverse crunch 2x10

TRX bodysaw 3x8

TRX pushups 15

Loooong session! Squats are a little funny, glute/ham was a little tight as was my ankle, and I didn't loosen them up very much. I got the first two sets videoed (thanks Alex!), and you can see I'm folding over a little bit too far on the first set. Second set is better, and the depth is the same if not better dispute what it looks like. I wasn't happy though and on the remaining sets I found an extra inch. They felt strong throughout though.

Bench was HARD today, my triceps hate me. The very last rep was assisted, but I think that was general fatigue.

Oh, and I've had two vertebrae in my t-spine that have been locked up for the last two weeks that I've just managed to manipulate loose... ALL KINDS OF TENSION released in my upper back/traps!

 

[icecold]

Smelling salts arrived, missed delivery note for ab wheel also arrived

 

[icecold]

Yeah it was hella tight, a bit of light lacrosse ball action helped.

Just google "mackenzies smelling salts". I think I got them from amazon.

Also not looking forward to benching...

 

[icecold]

Ice could you explain how you are structuring your sets/reps over the weeks for the main lifts.

Sorry, missed this.

I don't actually have a full plan any more. I made a nice sexy spreadsheet, but then I changed some stuff and didn't bother updating it

It's pretty similar to what Dom has posted a screen shot of in his thread, but I'm doing another round of smolov jr bench.

 

[icecold]

19/5/12

Bench 10x3x120kg - sacked it off. First set was fine, but trying another two was a fail. It'll be fine by monday.

Snatch derivatives - many, many sets and reps. Started to feel pretty good.

Kettlebell swings - 5 sets of 30-40 reps

Overhead lunge - 1 length of the gym

Stretching/soft tissue work