Upper body work today: flat bench, bentover BB rows, bicep curls, lateral raises, tricep kickbacks, DB rear delt, lying Ls.
Saw something interesting today. A guy who was doing doubles of SL deads with decent form at 495 at a BW of 187. Pretty impressive. Goes back to the little debate I’m having over in the PLing section regarding strength. I guess I’m most impressed with relative strength rather than just “numbers.” But I seem to be in the minority on that.
But the interesting (bizarre?) thing was that this guy was using a knee wrap as his belt and had rubber ties (that kind they use as a tournaquet before drawing blood) right above his elbows. Of course, I had to ask him about it all. He said he likes the customization he gets by using a knee wrap as a belt. I pointed out that it didn’t seem like it would provide much support. But, he was handling a lot of weight . . . The rubber ties were for tendonitis, he said. He removed them before pulling. He said there was some research on blood flow restriction, blah, blah, blah. Interesting, nonetheless.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Upper body work today: flat bench, bentover BB rows, bicep curls, lateral raises, tricep kickbacks, DB rear delt, lying Ls.
Saw something interesting today. A guy who was doing doubles of SL deads with decent form at 495 at a BW of 187. Pretty impressive. Goes back to the little debate I’m having over in the PLing section regarding strength. I guess I’m most impressed with relative strength rather than just “numbers.” But I seem to be in the minority on that.
But the interesting (bizarre?) thing was that this guy was using a knee wrap as his belt and had rubber ties (that kind they use as a tournaquet before drawing blood) right above his elbows. Of course, I had to ask him about it all. He said he likes the customization he gets by using a knee wrap as a belt. I pointed out that it didn’t seem like it would provide much support. But, he was handling a lot of weight . . . The rubber ties were for tendonitis, he said. He removed them before pulling. He said there was some research on blood flow restriction, blah, blah, blah. Interesting, nonetheless.[/quote]
You’re not alone on the relative strength thing. I base a lot of my opionions on a lifters abilities on their wilks. I’m sure a lot of that is driven by the fact that I’m not a very big person and am unlikely to ever have big numbers. I was pretty stoked though when my wilks went over 400.
However, I’m also the person that compiles our federations rankings for women so that creates a certain awareness.
I’ve been much interested in relative strength since the contest. I studied the listings of people in the flights and one thing jumped out at me. Everyone was ranked according to stated opening weights. Given my opener of 225, I was listed in the first flight, not surprising. But everyone else with a similar opener weighed much less than me.
In the next several flights, those who weighed as much as me had much higher openers. The whole thing looked like a linear of body-weight vs opener - except for me, I was the one anomaly. It really bugged me - do I have more fat than I think? Bad leverage? Neural inefficiency?
Snap I was thinking of you when I was looking over some recent open results when I was updating our site. We have one M1 lifter that weighs in at 39.7 kg or 87 lbs. She’s a big deadlifter and pulled 130kg at that meet. That’s almost 3.3 times bw.
She weighs 87 lb? And pulled 286? Incredible. I would LOVE to see that. But who weighs 87 lb as an adult? That’s just super tiny.
Don’t get me wrong. No one loves to watch someone squat/bench/DL obscene numbers more that I. But I also pay very close attention to that strength-to-weight ratio. Certain people here in the O35 have incredible strength based on their size. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to it because I’m so small.
Cav: I’ve found that it’s healthiest to just compete against myself. Maybe that would work for you? I can see progress and that provides continued motivation. It’s only been recently that I haven’t been the lifter who opens the meet!
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
She weighs 87 lb? And pulled 286? Incredible. I would LOVE to see that. But who weighs 87 lb as an adult? That’s just super tiny.
Don’t get me wrong. No one loves to watch someone squat/bench/DL obscene numbers more that I. But I also pay very close attention to that strength-to-weight ratio. Certain people here in the O35 have incredible strength based on their size. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to it because I’m so small.
Cav: I’ve found that it’s healthiest to just compete against myself. Maybe that would work for you? I can see progress and that provides continued motivation. It’s only been recently that I haven’t been the lifter who opens the meet![/quote]
She’s very tiny and thin. tbh, it isn’t a very good look. I was surprised that she was only M1. She’s kind of like an ant with how much she can deadlift but with her size, she’s probsbly one of the biggest female deadlifters in the country.
39.7kg??? that is TINY. how tall is she? four foot something??
i suppose we gotta carry fat somewhere. i think i carry most of mine around my belly (which i’m very sensitive about). i guess things might seem worse for you with your powerlifting gear that is supertight which sort of squishes the fat in unflattering ways? that is how i feel about higher-cut pants - so i don’t wear higher cut pants!
i think the big guys (or guys who want to get big one day) tend to just focus on who lifts the most. smaller guys seem more interested in strength to weight. women, too, since they tend to be smaller - but also more interested in how they compare to other women around a similar size.
Today I squatted. Last time before the meet. I worked up to my opener and did a triple. I won’t say it was easy, because it wasn’t. But I did it. It always amazes me how heavy the weight feels. I just never seem to get used to it.
Squat
5/45
5/95
3/120
1/135
1/152 knee wraps
1/177 suit straps down
1/187 full gear
3/192
Will bench up to my opener tomorrow and be totally done till show time this weekend. I must admit that I’m already a bit nervous.
Last training day. Worked up to my opener in bench and tripled it. All has gone well leading up to the meet. I’ve hit all the numbers I wanted to hit. I can only hope it all comes together this weekend. I’m very nervous about the squat. Not as nervous about the bench. And not nervous at all about the DL. Time to relax now.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Last training day. Worked up to my opener in bench and tripled it. All has gone well leading up to the meet. I’ve hit all the numbers I wanted to hit. I can only hope it all comes together this weekend. I’m very nervous about the squat. Not as nervous about the bench. And not nervous at all about the DL. Time to relax now.[/quote]
I know how you feel there. You’re right where you want to be so no need to worry. But of course that’s easier said than done.