LiE's Log Part 2

[LiE]

Thanks Paz I'll let you know once I'm up and running.

 

[LiE]

Do it! Wall of chains

How was benching?

Terrible. The bench was slippery, narrow and I couldn't get any stability. Sacked it off and going to my old gym tomorrow to do it.

 

[LiE]

That's good to hear. I pulled a bench into the rack to try and bench in there but that was bad too. I had to half press the weight to unrack or it was too high. FML lol. Literally just got up and left the gym. Never again.

 

[LiE]

Paused Bench
40x10
60x6
80x3
100x2
120x1
135x1
145x1
150x1 - nice clean rep. Held it unracked for a while and also a decent 2s at the bottom. The press was slow but came up smoothly with no sticking

Normal Bench
90x7 x2 - keeping it light

Dips
12, 10 - nothing taxing just to finish off.

Shoulder/Pec/Leg Mobility

 

[LiE]

Yea me too, 150 was my best paused rep to date.

Tonight was squats. Started off with a lacrosse ball in the knees and some quad/TFL rolling. Moved onto shoulder and pec stretching. Didn't do my normal hip opener, instead I did more warm up reps on the bar. It felt fine.

Squat
BARxlots
60x10
80x6
100x3
120x2
140x1
160x1
180x1
195x1 - So I start off setting up OK, then at the last minute move my right leg for a uneven stance... weird. The actual rep was all kinds of good, the power was there and it shot up. Check out the video.

Vibrams are damn good.

Off to the gymnastics centre in an hour or so. Will have to take it easy but I'll be on the rings and in the foam pit for sure.

 

[LiE]

Thanks
Need to start thinking about my openers/comp weights.

 

[LiE]

Not sure mate. As it's my first comp I'm mainly looking to get some experience rather than trying to set PBs.

Squat
1: 170
2: 190
3: 200

Bench
1: 140
2: 150
3: 155

Deadlift
1: 220
2: 240
3: 250

 

[LiE]

Interesting question. Tried lifting with smelling salts already?

kd

Yea I've done my bench and squat with smelling salts, pretty good, but I'm easing myself in i.e. not taking bit sniffs just yet.

When is your comp LiE?

Sunday 3rd Feb. Ice and Dom are also competing.

 

[LiE]

Here are the details.

3rd Feb: West Midlands Masters, Warwickshire and 4 Counties Divisional
Hatchford Brook Youth Centre, Old Lode Lane, Solihull B92 8JE.
Bench only and 3-lift Powerlifting. Equipped and Unequipped.

 

[LiE]

It's in Kingston behind Tesco.

 

[LiE]

Cheers Dom. Like you I'm doing singles on Monday up to my openers so should give me some idea. I'm holding back a bit on the squats just to give my hip a break.

 

[LiE]

With the numbers above there is a risk I may miss my 3rd lift on each. Think I should dial them all back by 5kg?

 

[LiE]

The 3rd lift is basically my current PB, which I've done in my gym and on separate days. Took me 2 attempts to nail 200 at the mock meet on squat, and I'll only have 1 try at the comp. However, the 195 that I did this week was comfy.

I'll see how my openers go on Monday.

 

[LiE]

From seeing your lifts recently I'd say your lifts look safe enough. It's one thing to be slightly conservative, but you wouldn't want to miss too much.

I haven't seen your benching actually, but I think you should trust your judgement.

Either way, we can talk about it on the day and make adjustments.

Sounds good. I'll get a video of my lifts on Monday.

 

[LiE]

All 3 main lifts tonight up to my opener weight for a single and as prescribed by ice, no psyching up aloud

Started off with lacrosse ball in the knee area and quad/TFL foam rolling (this makes a big difference when squatting). I then did shoulder and pec stretching as usual.

Squat - made sure not to look in the mirror.
BARxlots
60x10
80x6
100x3
120x1
140x1
160x1
170x1 - easy.

Bench - had to share the bench so this took longer than I liked
40x10
60x6
80x3
100x3
120x1
140x1 - no drama.

Deadlift
70x8 (RDL)
100x5
120x2
150x2
180x1
220x1 - jumped to this as I didn't want to get tired.

Pretty happy with everything. Take a look at the video, it has all 3 lifts.

 

[LiE]

Thanks looking forward to it now.

 

[LiE]

Last day of training tonight before the comp

Usual soft tissue and band work before training.

Squats - speed at 50%
Bar
60x8
100x3x3

Paused Bench
Bar
40x10
60x6
80x3
100x2
120x1
137.5x2 - no problems.

Deads - speed at 48%
70x6
100x3
120x3x3

 

[LiE]

Not one of those lifts looked difficult!

That's the idea

 

[LiE]

OK so I have to say the last few days leading up to the comp I was getting a little nervous and thinking over my lifts to make sure they were good. I was happy with how my bench press and deadlifts were, but having not squatted without a mirror I was concerned I'd not hit depth or cause my hip to die again.

I arrived first with my little bro and proceeded to weigh in, where I made 81.7kg. Really impressed with my home scales because this is the exact weight I'd been maintaining all week. I gave my openers and proceeded out to the hall to have some food. Ice and Dom turned up a short while later looking juicy.

We did some mobility work before starting our squat warm ups and ice/dom got a few looks as they did some crazy band/bondage routine in the warm up room. I smashed my shoulders and did a bit of pec rolling. It was then time for squat warm up, which was fun as ice pointed out the floor was super slippy. Lucky one of the squat racks was on carpet so we cracked on.

The nerves were still there during warm ups and I made a few blunders. Squatting with more weight on one side of the bar, doing a heavy single with no belt, and completely forgetting to roll my legs. As ice said, we messed up the timing of the warm ups so didn't have much time between finishing those and our openers. I was 3rd up after Dom.

I choose 170 for my opener, it's an easy weight for me and meant I could get a good feel for the stage before doing something heavier. I got out there and got under the bar and for some reason was waiting for a non-existent command to unrack. After being kindly told I can go, I proceed to smash out 170. Next up was 190 and again this wasn't too much bother. I planned 200 next but ice said I should add 2.5kg for a little PB, so I did (it's a trap!). I was pumped walking up to the last attempt, I know I've failed 200kg a few times in the past, but that doubt was gone. I got under the bar and did a pretty good walk out, braced myself and went for it. I surprised myself how this went up, my best squat PB to date! The depth on my squats was pretty deep for me, no idea where this came from, I can only assume this is what 'felt' right, and using a mirror I had been stopping myself a little higher.

Bench press next, my lift where I'd put in a big opener for the class. Clearly this guy is a dick, I heard ice say I was talking to ice about not having a hand off from the spotters and he wasn't sure it was possible - I mean what kind of idiot does this?! After ice and dom did their openers and I heard they had weird hand offs my mind was made up, I asked them to step away from bar 'I got dis brah'. Smashed out 140, and left the stage, then there was some confusion about what one of the judges was trying to tell me about my lift - something to do with my head.. but it didn't come up and I got pass, weird. Next up 150 and I have a nice clean rep, but this time I understood the issue they had with my head. Looks like my head was too far up the bench and off the edge a bit, making it hard to judge head lift. A pass was given still. Last up 155, only having done this once before I was pumped. I setup, made sure my head was good, and commenced the lift. Surprisingly, it was a really good rep, not the major grindfest I was expecting.

We moved onto deadlifts, and needed to warm up dat PC. Ice looks at my vibrams and says I should change into my deadlift socks and slippers.... what? I thought I could do deads in my vibrams. FFFFUUUU! I thought it was good night sweet comp, but luckily ice and dom managed to track down a spare set, phew, that was close. 220 first on the bar, no problems. I could feel fatigue creeping into the lifts now, the finish line was insight. Next up 240, and I got myself pumped up to smash it out. I gave it a good go and it went up really well. My next planned weight was 250 so I walk over to let the organisers know, to which Matt (ice and dom's big welsh friend) gave me a WTF look, and told me 255 at least... and in my testosterone fueled state I accepted. I've only every pulled 250 once before, and this was in the gym, fresh, and not having done 8 singles already. The time came, and after some pep talking from the guys, I went full beast mode and pulled 255kg! Such great feels to finish off my first comp.

Such an amazing day. It goes so quickly, you're in a constant daze of smelling salts, screaming and heavy ass lifting. I'm really happy with what I've achieved and I doubt I'd have done any where near as good if it was for Ice and Dom, so thank you for everything.

It was nice to meet FF for the first time, he's a top guy. Thanks to Steedie, Delvis and FF for the support on the day, it was good to have you there.

/endwalloftext

 

[LiE]

I'm hoping to have my home gym ready in 2-3 weeks, until then I'm still in DW fitness.

This week is going to be beach weights, I don't want to see a heavy weight at all.

After that I'm going to increase squat frequency to twice a week. I want to get a good rack pull session in and see where I can get to with that. Need to keep working on some single leg stuff, and hammer the core. Gain a little mass and work on a 160 paused bench.

Off the floor power needs to be improved for deadlifts, at the top end I'm lacking and I'm hip raising more and more.