On the way to somewhere..or nowhere

Taking Malc’s lead on new logs, I thought I’d start one of my very own.

I’ve been training for more years than I care to remember, although only in the last few weeks have I dared to enter the world of triples, doubles and singles. My first comp is going to be the Adders OH challenge on Saturday, and my first powerlifting comp will be the BWLA Lancs/Cheshire in June where I roundly expect to come last…After that I plan to compete at the Police champs at the end of November where I am planning to be in the 100kg class.

Ok so this is my training today

Squats (done in a weird squat machine thingy)

225kg x3
250 x 3
275 x3
300 x3
325 x3
350 x2
375 x2
375 x2

Overhead Press

40 x3
50 x3
60 x3
70 x3
85 x2
85 x2

Then 12 sets of some hypertrophy stuff (leg curls, side laterals and rear laterals)

That’s it really…squatting singles on Friday, but no shoulder work as I want to be fresh for Saturday

Sounds like an interesting 'machine'. Looks like leg press numbers for some?

Best of luck Tony, you've got a great base to start from so it'll be interesting to see how you do!

Good luck with this and the upcoming comps mate.

Iain, It is kind of like a front squat machine if you like. There is a stack (225kg)on the end of a lever which reduces the actual weight and I've added 150 kg. So the actual weight squatted will be nowhere near 375 kg. At a guess I would say that it equates to a less than half that if it were on an actual bar. Hope that makes sense.

Tony

Brilliant attitude, & I genuinely mean that. So many novices wont consider competing until they can attempt world records, it's nice to see someone just jump in. See you Saturday T. Lifting starts 1ish but a few others will be down for 12 to attempt other none OH lifts. Get down early for a chat and catch up if you like.

Will do mate, maybe get some pointers on technique while I'm at it

No lifting today – but had cardio planned. Was going to do to rowing intervals, but instead I thought I’d take advantage of the nice weather and turn to the dark side and do some hill sprints. They weren’t very long (probably just over 100m) and interspersed with some steps. I did the sprints with a walk back recovery (maybe a minute) and by god I was blowing out of my arse after 3!! Managed another two though and was just about to puke my guts up1

Good fun though, and providing the weather hold out, I’ll do some next week

Christ! My knees feel like they’re giant burning footballs this morning! Got some ibuprofen down my neck and some ice on them this morning. You never mentioned the after effects of the hill sprints Boar!!

Thursday 15th

Squatted today on the squat machine thingy.

225x5
250x3
275x3
325x3
350x1
375x1
395x1
395x1

4 sets of SLDL x 8 reps
4 sets of goblet squats x 8 reps
4 sets of leg curls x 8 reps

No shoulder work as I want to be fresh for the OH challenge



Friday 16th

Deadlift

50x3
75x3
100x3
150x2
175x1
207x1
207x1

Bench

50x3
50x3
90x3
90x3
130x1
130x1

The 130s flew up and I had a load more in the tank

4 sets of dumbbell flyes x 8 reps
4 sets of pulldowns x 8 reps
4 sets unweighted dips


Felt really good today. Hope it carries on!!

Fantastic day at the Adders OH challenge on Saturday..I'll run my experiences as a novice strength athlete past you. Got to Adders at about 12.30 after leaving Rochdale far too late. Fortunately, my inate sense of direction, coupled with a merifully traffic free M60 and 61 and the might of the Megane, meant I got there on time. Stood around for a bit looking like a plank until Joni and Andy thankfully introduced themselves . Warmed up with some 60kg presses that felt pretty light. I knew that most of the guys would be doing some sort of push press or jerk, but I decided to stick with the strict (ish) presses due to lack of technical knowhow.

Anyway, went over to Rick to put up my starting lift and saw a number of people had alredy put theirs up. Unfortunately for me, what I thought were weights in lbs were in fact kilos, so I was the only starter in double figures. Anyway, my 70kg start went up easy, as did my 85 kg second and 90 kg third. So easy that I went for the magic 100 kg, which also went up for a brand new PB!! The 105 that I tried for the 5th didn't go up, but I think that was not wanting it enough. Still it's a new target. Some truely awesome lifting all around but Joni's lifts really impressed me as did Mark Felix's and Big Mick Ashurst.

Thanks to everyone that was there for making it a fantastic inititation into the strength world. Kudos to Martin on the mike and Rick for scoring and to Pete, Aaron and Phil for spotting and loading.

Onward and forwards now to the Lancs/Cheshire in 3 weeks for more newbie fun, this time on the P/Ling platform

Well done Tony sounds like a great effort mate

You've got the right attitude, Tony, and you'll go far in this game. Some guys in my gym want to be at British Championship standard before they go on the platform in case they get beaten and they'll just end up as strong gym lifters who won't achieve anything because their primary motivation is to avoid losing. Especially to guys with no real strength who rely purely on technique.

overhead-tastic! nice one.

This squat machine thingy you keep doing your legs on...I'm assuming the place you train at has no squat rack. How often do you manage to get a proper squat into your workouts! lol

good work man.

now onwards to the PL comp!

Do you have someone to judge your squat depth and give you the bench press commands? If not, maybe a visit or two to adlington or other PL gym before the comp would be useful?