My powerlifting journey

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-13-2010, 02:58 PM

12/2/2010
DE Squat
Squat 12x2 70kg.
Deadlift Standing on a block 8x1 90kg
Dimmel Deadlifts 3x15 130kg
Pullups 3x4 I just give up. Gonna do some T-bar rows instead.

I will be making a slow and steady cut to 75kg from 80kg for my contest in May. Should be more than enough time to do it. It hits the triceps and the shoulders really hard since you can't get as much assistance from your legs and back. I think it works the bottom part of the bench press really well. A great exercise for raw lifters such as myself.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-16-2010, 06:24 AM

14/2/2010
DE Bench
Bench Press 6x3 60kg
JM Press 3x8 30kg. I will get this exercise down eventually. Remeberring that the bar is not supposed to be able to touch my throat and my elbows should stay up and at a 45 degree angle.
Chest Supported Rows 5x10 60kg
Leaning One Arm Side Raises 2x10 6kg

15/2/2010
ME Good Morning
Seated Good Morning 3RM 120kg
RDL 5x10 100kg
Pulldown Abs 6x10 22.5kg

**crashcrew56** · 02-16-2010, 10:02 AM

Your training is looking good, how much longer do you have on this training cycle?

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-16-2010, 10:05 AM

Gonna stop 10 days before my first comp on May 1st. Starting Monday I am going to cut my calories and plan to lose 0.5kg a week and end up at 75kg BW. It is a 2 hour weigh in. I keep on reading mauro's book and then forget what weight i am supposed to be at and what foods to eat close to a meet.

**crashcrew56** · 02-17-2010, 10:19 AM

May 1st, so about now is the time when you really ramp up your intensity. What ME lifts do you have from now until the?

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-18-2010, 06:52 AM

17/2/2010
ME Bench Press
Close Grip Bench Press 3RM 80kg
Technique was really bad and the bench I was using was too narrow. For some reason when I am pressing my torso twists to one side. It really fucks up my groove. Not having a spotter didn't help either.
DB Rows 5x6 45kg
Panora Press 6x10 27.5kg
Seated Rear Delt Raises 3x10 12kg
Medial Delt Raises 2x10 10kg

**crashcrew56** · 02-18-2010, 09:13 AM

Do you have a problem with your torse twisting on regular flat bench too?

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-18-2010, 09:47 AM

Yeah. With maximal weights it just happens. I stepped on the scale and I weighed in a 78kg today. Do you think I should still just go with my plan of gradual weight loss starting from Monday? I probably lost the weight in just water.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-20-2010, 12:10 PM

19/2/2010
DE Squat/Deadlift
Squat 12x2 75kg
Worked up to 125kg
Deadlift standing on a block 8x1 100kg
Dimmel Deadlifts 3x15 135kg
Side Rack Deadlifts 6x10 30kg

**crashcrew56** · 02-22-2010, 10:04 AM

I think you should keep going with your weight loss plan, it sounds like the weight is coming off fairly easily.

As for your problem with twisting on the bench, you could try to spread your feet out a little more, and try to make sure you really dig your upper back into that bench when you set-up, that's where you really want to put a lot of your weight at.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-23-2010, 04:33 PM

23/2/2010
ME Deadlift
Worked up to 180kg. Managed to do this without too much trouble.
Tried 190kg but only got it to the knees. I no motivation to train today. Just dragged myself to the gym. I don't know why I decided to max out. Need to learn to resist that temptation. My technique was bad. I just felt the bar slipping away from me. I will always remind myself to just go for triples the morning of every ME day from now on. I am also going to doing my main lifts one day and the assistance work the days after.

Will try to spread my feet out more then.

**crashcrew56** · 02-23-2010, 09:21 PM

We all have bad days in the gym from time to time, those are definetly the days that you nee dto resist taking it to an all out max.

**Mr.Bones** · 02-24-2010, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by crashcrew56

We all have bad days in the gym from time to time, those are definetly the days that you nee dto resist taking it to an all out max.

amen.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-25-2010, 10:36 AM

25/2/2010
ME Bench
Floor Press 85kg 4RM. I thought I had one left in the tank after the 3rd rep so I just went for it. Form was disgusting but it went up. This was done with no spotters.
Single Arm DB Row 3x5 50kg. It's a shame these are the largest DBs in this gym.
Key Presses 6x10 15kg
Seated Rear Delt Raises 3x10 15kg
Standing DB side laterals 3x10 6kg
Standing Abs 6x10 15kg

I went on the scale today and I weighed 79.5kg. I must've made some big mis calculations. I still think I have enough time for it to come off though. I need to learn to tense every muscle when I am benching not just my upper body.

**crashcrew56** · 02-25-2010, 10:58 AM

Using leg drive isn't as important on floor pressing though.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-25-2010, 01:31 PM

Still enough to make your lower body twist around which would fuck up anyone's bench.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 02-28-2010, 04:41 PM

28/2/2010
DE Bench
Bench Press 9x3 60kg
JM Press 3x6 35kg
Chest Supported Rows 5x10 75kg
H rolls 3x10 5kg
Leaning DB side laterals 2x12 4kg

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-01-2010, 02:52 PM

1/3/2010
ME Squat
Worked up to 130kg for 3 reps. Pretty easy. Decided to hold back there to build fire up for next time. Feels good to be squatting very close to my previous max for a triple. I try to clear my head by visualising how chilled out Ivan Chakarov is before he does his squats.

**crashcrew56** · 03-01-2010, 03:18 PM

Good stuff, there's nothing like seeing progress. Did you do any assitance work?

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-01-2010, 06:42 PM

Doing it tommorow.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-04-2010, 12:00 PM

2/3/2010
RDL 1x10 105kg 1x5 1x5
Stopped making progress in this. Type to switch it up.

4/3/2010
ME Bench
Bench Press 3RM 90kg. I didn't really trust anyone in the gym to spot me so I went into the power rack. The benches there suck though. They are too narrow, don't allow you to bring your feet back and move around when you use your legs. I pretty much did this without any leg drive at all.
DB Rows 3x6 50kg.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-07-2010, 05:35 PM

5/3/2010
DE Squat
Squat 10x2 85kg
Deadlift 6x1 110kg

DE Bench
Bench Press 6x3 60kg
JM Press 3x6 37.5kg
Chinups 3x5
H-Rolls 3x12 5kg
Leaning DB Side Laterals 3x12 5kg

**crashcrew56** · 03-07-2010, 05:46 PM

What's an H-roll?

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-07-2010, 05:48 PM

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm17uUuuH5A"]YouTube- George Halbert - Rotator Work - ALN Strength Training[/ame]. Really hits them hard.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-10-2010, 10:26 AM

9/3/2010
ME Good Morning
Wide Shallow GM 3RM 130kg.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-16-2010, 07:38 AM

15/3/2010
ME Day
Seated Shallow GM
Worked up to 135kg. Could have gone higher. Pleased with the PR. Done with no belt cos I forgot it.

Gonna order some omegalyse now that I can get it in the UK. Not quite sure about the dosage that I am meant to take though.

**Mr.Bones** · 03-16-2010, 11:20 PM

Oh that looks hard.

**crashcrew56** · 03-17-2010, 12:43 PM

Congrats on the PR, a lot of times in my training I stop once I hit a PR

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-19-2010, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by Mr.Bones

Oh that looks hard.

Were you being sarcastic?

18/3/2010
ME Bench
Incline Bench Off Pins 1RM 85kg
bar
40kg 3
60kg 3
75kg 1
85kg 1
90kg 0

Key Presses 6x8 20kg
Chinups 2x6 1x5
Seated DB Side Laterals
H-rolls

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-20-2010, 03:39 PM

20/03/2010
DE Squat
Squat 12x2 70kg.
Deadlift 8x1 90kg.
Reduced the rest time to 30 seconds. My hamstrings got very sore during the squat. My speed in the deadlift has gone up considerrably. After reading starting strength I realised that my shins should have been an inch or two behind the bar when I was standing. The reps felt a lot easier.
Contrast shower

Weighed in at 77.5kg this morning. 3.5kgs were lost within just a few days. I'm guessing this is all just water. As long as it is not muscle I am not complaining.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-23-2010, 03:22 AM

22/03/2010
DE bench
Bench Press 6x3 60kg
JM Press 3x6 40kg
Chinups 3x6
Seated Rear Delt Raises

Weighed in at 76.something. Looking forward to my splurge.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-25-2010, 05:20 AM

24/03/2010
ME day
Deadlifts 165kg 8-10 reps. Didn't plan to do this many. Lost count on the reps. Could have gone even higher if the gym instructor or w/e she is didn't come over to me and complain. I don't really care about my partner anymore lol. It is seriously time to change gyms. Unfortunately Hull is the worst place in England to accomodate a PLer. The set became a rest-pause set as I found that I had to take a few seconds every set to reposition myself.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-26-2010, 12:05 PM

26/03/2010
ME Bench
CGBP 4RM 85kg
I planned to get 5 but the final rep went badly. Only got it half way up. The bar just suddenly jolted away from me on the way down. Also was forced to go into the power rack with a less than adequate bench. Anyway it is a 5kg and 1 rep PR over my previous record.
Panora Presses 3x9 20kg Decided to stop after I got a nagging pain in my left pec.
Chinups 3x7
H rolls
Seated DB Side Laterals.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-29-2010, 05:53 AM

28/3/2010
Afternoon
DE squat
10x2 75kg
Deadlift 6x1 100kg
Low Back Machine 3x8 Full Stack
Evening Workout
Band Leg Curls
Standing Pulldown Abs

Because of money issues I will not be able to go to the contest on May 1st. My parents were gonna give me some extra cash by things just didn't turn out as we had planned. I only have enough money for my food, rent and gym membership atm. I will still go for the new PRs on May 1st. I will have the lifts put on youtube.

**crashcrew56** · 03-29-2010, 05:28 PM

Good past couple of workouts, why did you hit so many reps on the deadlift? I'm sorry to hear about the meet, there will always be more down the road though.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-29-2010, 05:30 PM

I just ended up performing a lot better than I thought I would.

**crashcrew56** · 03-29-2010, 07:16 PM

You probably should have upped the weight then

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-29-2010, 07:17 PM

The manager just came in and complained to me saying i should lower it slowly etc.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 03-30-2010, 07:17 AM

30/03/2010
DE Bench
Bench Press 9x3 60kg.
JM Press 3x5 42.5kg
Chinups 1x8 1x7 1x7
Rear delt work
Don't know what this exercise is called. You lie down on a bench sideways with one a DB in one hand near the floor. You then raise the DB 180 degrees and lower it back down keeping your arm slightly bent.
3x8 5kg.
Leaning DB side laterals 2x12 On the second set I just felt it on my joints rather than the muscle so I just stopped.

Found some new inspiration in Oleksander Kutcher. Just found him whilst browsing. I haven't heard anything about him recently though. He must've just disappeared off the face of the Earth like a lot of lifters do. Enjoying my pizza and chocolate. Am I supposed to be doing lat work on my squat days? Kinda confused.

**crashcrew56** · 03-31-2010, 11:42 PM

Looks like a solid workout.

Yes, you are supposed to be doing some sort of upper back work on your squat day. Pretty much every day on the WS template you should be doing some sort of upper back movement, your upper back is very important to every lift, and since there is no one day to devote to it you kinda have to do it every work out.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 04-01-2010, 08:48 AM

1/04/2010
ME Squat
Beltless Squat 1RM 140kg. Planned to get 2-3 but just kept getting stapled at the bottom.
Zercher Squats 3x8 50kg
Pullups 3x4

I need to get my alignment sorted out and remember to push against the bar with my back first before I engage my other muscles. I didn't feel anything in my hamstrings at all but my hips were really sore. This technique struggle is really irritating me. I think I am also going a bit too far down.

**crashcrew56** · 04-01-2010, 09:54 PM

I don't usually feel squats in my hammstrings, mostly the quads and hips for me.

**UK_Powerlifter** · 04-03-2010, 10:06 AM

03/04/2010
ME Bench
Floor Press 1RM 102.5kg Felt a lot lighter than I thought it would. May of been because of my spotters. I asked them if they helped and they said that they did not. I was incredibly tight though. I should've gone even higher by myself to make sure it was all me and not the spotters. Too me even putting your fingers on the bar is helping. You can lift 50 pounds by pulling on a bar with 2 fingers.
Tate Presses 6x10 20kg
Chinups 3x8
H-rolls 3x10 8kg

**UK_Powerlifter** · 04-08-2010, 11:02 AM

8/04/2010
Had to miss a day due to the gym being closed.
DE Bench
Bench Press 9x3 65kg. After being told that the bench is a flat wave principle where the weight is kept the same for 3 weeks and then increased as long as the user is able to maintain good speed I decided to take the weight up. My speed ended up the same so I think I made the right choice.
Ez Bar extension 6x10
Chinups 1x9 2x8
Standing DB Side Laterals
That rear delt exercise that I described last time.

**crashcrew56** · 04-10-2010, 11:36 AM

Good stuff, I think it's important to test your DE limitations from time to time, I get in the habit of sticking with the same weights that I am hitting easy on DE bench, and then the other week I am training with my friend and we bump the weight up and I could still maintain speed at a heavier weight than I have been using.