Tuesday 24th July
Squat taper
60kg x5
80kg x3
100kg x2
110kg x1
120kg x1
130kg x1
You say squat taper, I SAY V-TAPER!!!
Saturday 28th July
Got a pair of actual neoprene knee sleeves, so I wore them for my squats.
Squat
60kg x5
80kg x3
100kg x2
110kg x1
120kg x1
130kg x1 - all fast and easy. Will open at 130kg next Saturday, looking to hit at least 150kg
Bench
60kg x3
70kg x3
80kg x3
90kg x3 - open at 92.5kg - 95kg, looking for 107.5kg - 110kg
Deadlift
100kg x3
120kg x1 - so fucking fast
140kg x1
160kg x1
170kg x1 - will open at 160kg-170kg depending on how I’m doing, aiming to hit 185kg+
Pull ups
3x10
supersetted with
Hanging leg raises
3x10
MEET - 4th AUGUST
All-England Powerlifting Championships at The Farm Powerlifting Club
Had to wake up at 6am to drive up to Northampton. After a 2 hour drive I finally found the place and went to weigh in.
Weighed in at 78.6kg. Much lighter than I thought I would be. This put me in the <83kg class.
The warm up area was really good and there was no shortage of stations.
SQUAT
Opening squat was 130kg. This flew up easily for 3 whites.
I took 145kg next. This moved a touch slower than I had anticipated, and I didn’t feel I had 155kg in me. 3 whites.
152.5kg for my third, and a 5kg PR (10kg competition PR). Slowed in the middle but drove through for three more lights.
BENCH
Opening bench was 92.5kg, could do this all day. 3 whites.
Took 100kg for my second. I drove this up fine, though I kinda fell out of the groove on my left arm. This was red-lighted 2 to 1, and I couldn’t figure out why. I asked the two refs that gave me the reds why. They couldn’t decide on a reason, but one of them thought that the bar on the left side came back down for a moment. This was absolute bullshit but I couldn’t do anything about it. I decided to re-take 100kg so I wouldn’t fuck my total, and risk being too tired for the deadlift.
100kg for third attempt, drove this so fast it felt like my opener. 3 whites. Kinda pissed that I didn’t go for 107.5kg in hindsight, but oh well.
DEADLIFT
Opener was 165kg. As I was warming up for the pulling I was feeling tired and slow, despite having taken 800mg of caffeine in the previous 2-3 hours. Tired from squatting I guess. Anyway the opener was slower than I would have liked, but still no problems, and 3 whites.
Second was 175kg. This didn’t move too quickly, and wouldn’t have set me up for 185kg. 3 whites
Decided to take 180kg for my third, to make my lifetime goal competition official. Ammonia’d up and tore it up for three whites.
Totaled 432.5kg.
Now here’s the cool part: This was the All-England Championships. I was the only one in my age and weight class (Under 18, <83kg), so I won the championship for my class. So now I’m the British Champion U18 <83kg lifter. (As far as the GBPF/EPA are concerned)
All in all, a great meet. Very very pleased with my squatting, as I’d put a lot of work into that. Compared to Nov 2011, this was 20kg more, at 10lb lighter bodyweight.
I’ll try to get some videos/pictures up if I can find them.
7th Aug
I’ve decided to go a slightly different route with my next few months training, and so I’m going to aim to put on some mass and build some muscle. I’d like to hit 200lbs sometime in the next year so I need to get some higher reps in.
Keeping this in mind, I’ve decided to give Paul Carter (Lift Run Bang)'s program Big-15 a shot. It reads well in his book and seems to line up with my goals.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the first session done today.
Upper body #1
Wide-grip bench
45kg x5
55kg x4
65kg x3
75kg x2
85kg x1
75kg x AMAP - 14 reps
50% set - 7 reps
Weighted pull up
+5kg x5
+7.5kg x4
+10kg x3
+12.5kg x2
+15kg x1
+12.5kg x AMAP - 10 reps
50% set - 5 reps
DB incline press
18kg 2x20
Nice pump to finish.
In case anyone doesn’t know, the general idea of the program is to increase your 10RM to make it your 15RM. Each week you take about 77% of your 1RM (roughly your 10RM), and hit as many reps as possible. Then you wait 60 seconds and do the 50% set. In this set, you aim to hit half the number of reps you did in your AMAP set. You also do an over-warm up before your work sets, working to a 85% single.
As you might see, I misjudged my strength on the wide grip bench, thinking my 1RM to be just a bit under 100kg. I hit more reps than I should have done in the first week, but no big deal.
Looking forward to the rest of this cycle, especially the squat sessions. Haven’t done 12+RMs in a long long time, if ever.
8th Aug
Small session #1
Curlz
5x20
Tricep pushdowns
5x20
Situps
5x20
God, I’m gassed after this session. I suck shit at high reps. Stupendous pump though.
20th Aug
Squat
60kg x5
80kg x3
100kg x1
110kg x1
100kg x12
50% set - x6
Puked after this session - partly due to being hungover, partly from high-rep squatting. lol
Holy fucking shit dude, where have you been?
Due to being absolutely slammed with work for the last few weeks, I’ve had almost no time whatsoever to do anything but sleep and work. So my training has really fallen behind.
Though now I have some more time, I’ve decided to restart my Big-15 training cycle, as I fucked up the first time.
Anyway:
29th Aug
Upper body #1
Bench
70kg x5
75kg x4
80kg x3
85kg x2
90kg x1
80kg x AMAP - 10 reps, surely a PR
50% set - 4 reps, failed on 5th. Attempted again after about 10 seconds rest, failed again.
Weighted pull ups
+12.5kg x11 - PR by 1 rep
50% set - 5 reps
Incline DB presses, focusing on muscle contraction - didn’t count reps
3 sets
8kg DB lateral raise holds for time
Good to get back in the groove.
30th Aug
Abs - Hanging leg raises
5x20
Hammer curlz
5x20
Tricep pushdowns
5x20
31st Aug
Squat
70kg x5
80kg x4
90kg x3
100kg x2
110kg x1
100kg x AMAP - 13 reps (PR)
50% set - 7 reps (PR)
Stiff-leg deads, focusing on hamstrings
70kg 4x10
Calf presses
3x15
Good session today, really hit the squat hard.
1st Sept
DB lateral raises
6kg, 5x20
DB rear delt rflyes
7kg, 5x20
2nd Sept
Military Press
42.5kg x5
47.5kg x4
52.5kg x3
57.5kg x2
62.5kg x1
52.5kg x AMAP - 10 reps
50% set - 5 reps. Last one was a nice grind.
BB rows - really focusing on muscle contraction, no ego-lifting at all.
50kg 4x10
40kg 1x10 - these really hammered my mid traps and rhomboids.
Incline DB press
22kg 3xF (3x10)
3rd Sept
Curls
5x15
Triceps
5x15
8.5" x AMAP - 10 strokes
Quick nut
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
8.5" x AMAP - 10 strokes
Quick nut[/quote]
lol
5th Sept
Squat
70kg x5
80kg x4
90kg x3
100kg x2
110kg x1
100kg x AMAP - 16 reps - 3 rep PR
50% set - 8 reps - 1 rep PR
These squats fucking ruined me, I couldn’t stand for at least 10 minutes afterwards. Kinda ruined the rest of my session, but the main work got done here, so no big deal.
1-leg calf raises
3x20
Back extensions, focus on hamstrings
1x20
Completely finished. My vision was kinda weird, it felt like I was drunk. Also it felt like I was trying to fall asleep after my squats, which was also odd.
6th Sept
Curls
x50, x30, x20
Triceps
x50, x30, x20
Leg raises
5x20
7th Sept
Bench
70kg x5
75kg x4 - this was probably the single worst bench set I’ve done in my life. This may as well have been 90kg for 4.
80kg x3
85kg x2
90kg x1
80kg x AMAP - 11 reps - 1 rep PR
50% set - 5 reps - 1 rep PR
Weighted pull ups - I’d made the mistake of cutting off my callouses yesterday so these were killing my hands. Schoolboy error.
10kg x6
15kg x4
12.5kg x AMAP - 10 reps
50% set - 6 reps - No PR here. But this is probably because I’m 5-6lbs heavier than the last time I did these.
Incline DB press
22kg, 3xF
Very mundane day today.
8th Sept
Small workout
DB lateral raises
7kg, 5x20
DB rear delt flyes
7kg, 5x20
Just keep the wheel turning
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
Just keep the wheel turning[/quote]
Ofc, as long as I’m hitting the sets I’m making gains. I can’t expect to crush every session.