Give me strength, or give me death!

[Phedder]

W11D3

Deadlifts

5x60kg

5x100kg

2x140kg

2x180kg (B)

1x220kg (B)

1x247.5kg (B)

2x3x180kg (B)

Romanian Deadlifts

2x5x120kg

Pull ups

5

8

7

Face Pulls

15x60lb

3x12x70lb

So so session today, and it reflected in my deadlift technique. Weights felt okay, but the 220 was slower than usual and the 247 was harder than I was expecting as well. Could see in the video I didn't quite get my shoulders behind the bar. Next week calls for 255kg, and I'm not sure if I'll go for it or not. It might be smarter to do 3 singles at 230kg or so, which will likely be my opener.

Kept the rest of the session fairly light as I'll be squatting tomorrow without my usual day off after deadlifts.

[Northland Powah]

Good stuff with the lifting mate!

After your degree, have you any idea what you want to do with it?

[Phedder]

The current plan is after a cruisy summer to get a job PTing in Wellington. I still don't know exactly what type of population I want to work with so I figure PTing gives me the best exposure to wide range of potential clients. Chances are I'll end up loving it and want to continue, but I may also find that I really enjoying working with some young athletes, or rehab patients etc, who knows? I might volunteer or find some part time work with a local club team as well to get a bit more exposure working with athletes. Plenty of options I suppose, see what comes my way

[AZIDE]

.

[Phedder]

":39iqxq7q]you did a degree to become a pt..lol wtf man

Haha seems bizarre when you put it that way. That wasn't my intention when I started it, had no idea what I wanted to do then. I've been on a full fees scholarship + student allowance anyway so It's not like I'm massively indebt, and a four year degree looks a lot better than a 6 month certificate

I could end up with High Performance Sport NZ, but it's a hard market to get into. Building some experience PTing and figuring out where my passion lies could be a good stepping stone to anything really.

[tomsammce]

":1vm48c8w]you did a degree to become a pt..lol wtf man

A pt can make much more money than some person who specialises with a small group of ppl.

Do u wanna make money or do u just wanna be able to say ur a high performance strength and conditioning coach

[Northland Powah]

You may feel as if the option I'm about to give you is settling for seccond, although doing a teachers diploma on the end will significantly increase your chance of Job Opportunity. In NZ and over the world.

Like you I did a degree in the 'Sporting Field' and taught as a PT afterwards, Ive been teaching for the last 4 years and can go anywhere in the world with it now. Some big money out there if your that way inclined.

[Phedder]

I've got plenty of mates carrying on to the teaching front, I just don't think it's my thing. At least not yet.

Todays session I just did the minimum, could definitely tell I didn't have my rest day after deadlifts as usual.

Squats

lots x bar

5x60kg

5x100kg

5x130kg

2x5x150kg (B)

4x4x160kg (B)

Seated Leg Curls

3x10x90lb

Lying leg curls

2x10x80lb

Ab wheel rollouts

10xbw

3x10xbw+10kg

Hanging leg raies

3x12

No video tonight.

[Phedder]

Great session today, 3rd day of lifting in a row, I worked until 4am last night, and somehow I smashed my bench PB with ease, twice :grin:

Weigh in: 105.0kg

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg - First reps all paused from here

1x112.5kg

1x122.5kg PB I couldn't believe how easy this came up, I triple checked the plates to make sure

1x125kg PB \:D/ \:D/ \:D/

5x3x107.5kg

Weighted Chins

5xbw

5xbw+20kg

4xbw+30kg PB I think? I'm sure my previous best was a double at a total weight of 130kg, today 4 at a total of 135kg

5xbw+15kg

8xbw

Floor Press - Extended pauses, 3-4 seconds.

8x60kg

3x5x80kg

SS

Hang Cleans

4x3x60kg

Seated Cable rows

3x12x135lb

SS

Tricep Pressdowns

3x15x60lb

Really happy with this session, couldn't believe how well the benching went. If I manage to hit 125kg or higher at the BBro I'll probably do a little dance :pfft:

[Kalidane]

Great session today, 3rd day of lifting in a row, I worked until 4am last night, and somehow I smashed my bench PB with ease, twice :grin:

...

I'll have what he's having

That's pretty flash under those conditions :clap:

[Phedder]

Cheers mate, fatigue can be very misleading :shifty:

Spent most of the day on my hands and knees cleaning the flat before the big move.

W12D2

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

4x130kg

2x3x150kg (B)

2x3x170kg (B)

3x2x180kg (B) - Volume PB

2x2x170kg (B)

5x150kg (B)

Bench

lots x bar

5x60kg

9x3x75kg - Cycling grips, close - med - illegal wide

Done. All I had time for and still took me about an hour. Happy to survive the squats, warm ups felt horrible and my hip flexors were pinching every time I went down into the hole. Nothing felt very smooth or fluid but the bar felt light on my back and all the reps came up pretty well on video so I'm happy. Unsure when I'll manage to get the next session in, hopefully thursday but could be later. Still undecided if I'll go for the big deadlift single or just do a few at potential opener weight.

I'll hopefully get the video up later tonight, got pretty much all working sets on squat.

[Phedder]

[I Declare War]

Phedder, you've come a long way with your Squats and Deads!

Now work on that damn bench!

[Phedder]

Phedder, you've come a long way with your Squats and Deads!

Now work on that damn bench!

Haha don't I know it! I'm hoping (very optimistically...) that by the end of summer I'll have a legitimate 140kg paused bench. Going to be throwing a tonne of volume and assistance exercises at my upper body :twisted:

Okay, so a bit of an update. All settled in Motueka now, and settling involved drinking the last 5 nights in a row :oops: Yeah not the ideal way to lead into a competition... I've joined up at a tiny hole in the wall gym, because the other gym in town doesn't allow chalk. They have a squat rack and bench so I'm good. Unfortunately as I noticed on deadlifts, their 20kg plates are a fair bit smaller than competition diameter making it into a deficit lift.

Fridays training (Roughly as I remember it...)

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

2x180kg (B)

3x1x220kg (B) - I was intending 3 singles at 230kg, but realising the deficit this wasn't going to happen. My final single of 220kg was a 9.5 on the RPE scale, much harder than it should be.

2x3x180kg (B)

Along with the deficit, there's some squishy mats on either side of the squat rack for deadlifting on, and they sink right down when plates are on which makes loading more plates a total bitch, makes the bar roll into 1 spot and really throws me off when doing any reps. I'm hopefully just going to buy some solid rubber flooring to place on top of them, which should help get rid of the deficit and also stop the sinking problem.

Rest of the session...

Romanian Deadlifts

2x5x140kg

10x100kg

Bent over Rows

10x60kg

3x8x80kg

Pull ups

3x5

Inverted rows

5x8 - first 2 sets using a bar, last 3 using a trx suspension straps. Felt awesome.

Underhand Pulldowns

3x10x?

Made it in again this morning for some squats, a tad hungover but the gym closes at noon on weekends :x

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x130kg

2x3x150kg (B)

2x3x170kg (B)

2x3x160kg (B)

Lying Leg Curls

12x36kg

8x54kg

2x10x48kg

More issues... The carpet in the squat rack is also squishy, which kept throwing me off balance and onto my toes which is why I dropped back to 160kg. The pins are also at the most akward height for me, the only ones I can use are about 2-3inch too low and when I unrack it smashes into the pins above. Hopefully I'll get some rubber flooring for in the squat rack as well to help get rid of the squishy carpet and balance issue, and hopefully add enough height to let me use the next pin up.

One big positive though, apparently my reputation precedes me :pfft: When I was putting on my squat shoes the woman at the desk asked if I was Sam the powerlifter, and went on to say there was a group of 4 or so young guys interested in powerlifting and wanted to know if I could take a weekly training session with them. Of course I jumped at the chance and still need to find out a lot more information but I'm really looking forward to where this can go, look forward to meeting them probably next week and seeing what I've got to work with

So that's my long update with plenty of rambling...Doubt any of you made it this far :pfft:

[teamfatboy]

Motueka - CD's country

Nice to hear the exams are all out of the way, and to see a little of your plans.

Also great to hear of the junior interest... might make for a fun summer!

Have fun, relax - and get ready for an epic weekend at BBro and Record Breakers :nod:

[Phedder]

Cheers TFB, will catch you at The House

Went in today after my first day at work, gym closes at 7pm. From 5.45pm it was absolutely packed, literally more people that equipment. Luckily about 10 of those people were parts of boy groups who I saw just gas bagging the whole time and not even touch a weight :roll:

Warmed up with a lot of push ups and stretches etc before the bench freed up.

Bench

8x60kg

5x80kg

2x100kg

1x110kg

1x115kg

2x1x110kg

3x100kg

Pull ups

4x5 while warming up for bench

Close Grip

10x60kg

3x5x80kg

DB Rows

15x27.5kg

2x12x47.5kg

10x47.5kg - Heaviest DBs they have, will use straps and go for higher reps next time. Sets of 30 by the end of summer 8)

Chin ups

3x5

SS

Face pulls

3x15x56kg

Hopefully it doesn't stay this way, staff told me it's usually not that busy after work and it was mostly young school boys in tonight so they might usually be in earlier.

[Phedder]

In today for my final heavy squats

Weigh in: 105.3kg in my oly shoes.

Squats

lots x 30kg

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

1x160kg (B)

1x180kg (B)

1x190kg (B)

1x200kg (B) - Good rep, felt smooth but still dropped forward a tad on the way up, 8.5 or 9RPE. Pretty happy with that, bodes well

3x180kg (B) - Stuffed the first rep, stance a tad too wide and all the weight went forward onto my toes. Corrected my stance and the next 2 reps were smooth and easy.

Lying leg curls

12x42kg

10x54kg

8x66kg - Heavy as it goes.

2x10x54kg

Ab wheel rollouts

10xbw

3x10xbw+10kg

Hyper extensions

15xbw

3x10xbw+10kg

10 mins of stretching and mobility.

Pretty happy with squats, carpet still throwing my balance off but feeling strong and the weight is feeling very light on my back which is good news. The gym have also told me they can give me a key for training this small group of people which means I'll probably run it on Saturday arvos and we'll have the whole gym to ourselves (which isn't much :pfft: ) but will make it much easier than working around all the other people there. Stuff's getting exciting

I also measured the 20kg plates today, came out at 39cm diameter vs 45cm for regulation plates, so a fair bit of a height deficit there.

[Phedder]

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x80kg

1x100kg - paused from here

1x110kg

1x120kg - Harder than it should have been, slightly out of groove. All reps including 110 were quick and easy.

2x110kg

5x100kg

High incline DB Press

15x10kg

12x20kg

2x8x27.5kg

Tricep pressdowns

15x48kg

3x10x60kg

Face Pull

15x48kg

3x10x60kg

Pull ups

3x5

[Phedder]

Monday - Light deadlifts & back

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg

3x2x180kg (B)

Power Cleans

5x60kg

3x3x70kg

Bent over rows

10x70kg

3x12x60kg

Lat Pulldowns

3x10x?

Face Pulls

3x15x60kg

Today - Light Squats and Bench

Squats

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x100kg

2x140kg (B)

1x160kg (B)

2x2x140kg (B)

Bench

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

2x80kg

2x2x100kg

Ab Wheel rollouts

10xbw

3x8xbw+15kg

Cruisey last two sessions, just dialing in technique with some speed work. I've tweaked my wrist somehow so had to take a really wide grip for squats and ensure my wrists were dead straight and wrapped for bench. Should come right in time for Saturday with a bit of rest. Bring on the Bbro :twisted:

[M.T]

Awesome work Sam, see you Sat.

[Phedder]

Bledisbro competition.

Weighed in at 102.5kg. I was pretty shocked, I actually thought I was going to be near the limit. I obviously didn't eat enough in the last few days leading into competition.

Lifts

Squats

190kg - www

205kg - www, 2.5kg PB and 2xbw finally but technique faultered and I reverted to the good morning. More tech work needed at heavier weights I think.

215kg - rrr, wasn't going to happen. Lost it forward and no way I could power out of that, good catch by Drizzt :nod:

Bench

115kg - www

122.5kg - rrr. Really confused here, not sure what went wrong and I should have smoked it.

122.5kg - www, 7.5kg PB Exactly how it should have been the first time, fairly smooth. Frustrated I didn't get a shot at 127.5 or 130kg, but a 7.5kg PB on bench is still massive for me.

Deadlifts

230kg - www

250kg - rww, 10kg PB. Harder than it should have been, I didn't sit back into it enough. My goal was 260kg but by now my back was fairly tender and as I had no chance of making my total goal anyway I decided not to risk injury and passed on my 3rd attempt, first time I've ever passed on a lift.

Total

577.5kg - 20kg PB. Well short of my optimistic goal of 600kg. Next comp it'll be there for the taking and then some, wasn't at my best on the day but can't complain with 4 PBs and 4 Otago Records (though slightly hollow as those standards were ridiculously low...)

Video:

All in all it was an awesome weekend, and totally exhausting. Didn't get home until 3am last night after the ferry and driving, then work this morning at 8am...totally worth it :grin: Best run competition I've done, and watching the record breakers the next day was just insane. Massive props to Warren, Ruth and the rest of the Powerhouse crew. Truly a blueprint for how comps should be run and how lifters should conduct themselves :nod: Good to meet a bunch of new lifters, catch up with some old faces and put some names to new ones.

Looking forward to a solid off season and building up some weaknesses. Will be a big focus on pressing and upper back work, a lot of hamstring training and plenty of squat tech work again. It'll click one day :roll:

[OnlyHuman]

Well done. Good numbers :clap: :clap: :clap:

[drizzt]

Excellent comp bro, you've really come a long way in a pretty short space of time :clap:

[Phedder]

Thanks guys, easy to make fast progress at these weights though. I'll be happily struggling for gains with 100kg or so more on my total

Thanks for running the platform and spotting D, everything went smoothly and quickly and seeing a few good saves I think helped with everyones confidence, it certainly did with mine. Never thought I'd feel safe with 215kg on my back, peanuts to many but I definitely felt that one, appreciated bro :nod:

[drizzt]

No worries bro - it's nice and easy when spotting the afternoon flights and bigger-framed guys like yourself, little easier to see things go wrong slightly earlier, and easy to get a hold of if it goes south :pfft: It's the smaller morning lifters that are tough - such compact setups it is hard to know where to rescue them, so you end up just grabbing the bar around their grip and hoping your side guys are on point (which they were!). However, not awesome when you grab the bar and the lifter steps out from under it as one did on Saturday! Leaves you holding 180kg in a curl position Side guys saw what was happening though and helped quickly 8)

Anyway, probably see you up these ways again some time next year! Enjoy the xmas break :nod: