Give me strength, or give me death!

[Phedder]

Chins would have to be one of my favourite exercises, they should add it to Powerlifting :pray: Would love to be able to chin 2xBW one day.

Yeah the 120 was a bit of a grind, so was skeptical of 125. Was working in with one of the few strong guys at unipol though so had him pushing me and helping with cues etc. He reckons if I can get my elbows up a little higher I'd have been able to drive through that sticking point.

The addition of a belt will be quite interesting. Could give me nothing, could be what's been missing the whole time and give me 20kg or more. I'm hoping for the latter :grin: (Strong delusions :oops: ) Just need to get some money together first!

[samuelNZ]

Haha can you imagine 130kg+ powerliftering trying to drag their BW up to a bar? :pfft:

Have you got a camera? Would be keen to see some of your lifts instead of just imagining lol. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with a belt. Certainly makes a big difference for me (mainly because I have weak as piss abs) but I find it keeps me so much tighter and feel a lot more solid under the bar. You might be able to pick up a reasonably cheap belt from the Powerhouse site?

If your keen, make an account and then head here and start up a thread.

EDIT: Oh and while we're on the topic of PL, hurry your ass up and enter a comp! :nod:

[Phedder]

I've tried taking video before on my phone, but then couldn't get it across to my laptop. Wrong format and wouldn't send or some crap. I'll be up at CBC over summer though so will definitely get some lifts filmed then. I'll also do the Push/Pull comp on the 10th of Dec. I've got a week of tramping and then a week of swimming which I finish on the 29th of Nov so can't really do a proper build up, will treat it like a skills session.

I'm also saving up to make an order from Titan, grab a belt, their new neoprene knee sleeves, and some wrist wraps all in one go

[Phedder]

Today's training, brought to you after 2 solid days of studying, remaining largely motionless and sleeping 4 hours a night...I wonder why my hips were stiff today :think:

I only really wanted to get some deadlifts done as I hadn't gone heavy since my upper back issue.

Front Squats - waiting for deadlift space to free up.

5x60kg

5x70kg

3x80kg

3x3x90kg

Deadlifts

2x5x60kg

5x100kg

3x140kg

1x160kg

3x1x180kg - All over the place. First single was easy enough, but didn't quite feel right. Second single was like a speed rep, third single was a grind :shrug:

4x160kg

5x140kg

Wide grip pull ups SS Close grip chin ups

6 - 4

5 - 4

5 - 3

3 - 2

Face Pulls

2x15xP10

Will make it in for another session later in the week, not wanting to do too much leading up to this tramp. Will do a few more sprint sessions and a run or two though.

[Phedder]

Spent all day yesterday moving furniture and other crap into the flat for next year, so just did some upper work today and took it easy. Will be my last session for a week and a half or so.

Bodyweight, 92kg flat.

Bench

lots x bar

10x60kg

5x70kg

5x80kg

3x90kg

2x2x100kg

2x5x90kg

2x5x80kg

10x60kg

Wide Grip Pull ups SS hammer grip chins

7 - 4

6 - 4

6 - 3

Face Pulls

3x15xP10

Seated Press

10x10kg

5x5x20kg

Seated Cable rows

3x15xhalf stack

And done in 35 mins or so, got there later than expected and had to meet a friend to borrow something.

Adding the link to my recent pics here, cbf putting it all up in the journal too viewtopic.php?t=14023

[samuelNZ]

Cmon' slackass.. Wheres the updates? :pfft:

[Phedder]

Cmon' slackass.. Wheres the updates? :pfft:

Can't you read brah?

Will be my last session for a week and a half or so.

It's kinda hard to do sessions and then log them from mountain tops

Got back from tramping today, such a great experience in the most beautiful part of the country I've seen yet. Great test of will power too, after carrying heavy packs up the mountains, I'll never look at high rep squats the same

Our group stayed within the Rees valley, exploring the mountains on both sides. Will have to go back some day to explore the other valleys too. The 2 worst weather nights we spent sleeping under the rock bivy at Kea Basin, snowed both nights. At one point during the day when we were trying to get to the peak of that mountain we got a complete white-out so decided to head back down and do some bush whacking instead.

Diet was terrible though, cooking and eating as a group wasn't easy and I took plenty of extra food for myself but still wasn't enough. Drinking fresh cold melt water is amazing, nothing better. I don't know why the girls couldn't believe me when I kept saying I was still hungry, 2 pita breads with some salami, cheese and sauces does not count as a meal when you're being that active. Definitely down a few kilos, will see just how much tomorrow. The bus on the way home stopped in Cromwell so I got 2 foot long subs, barely touched the sides. Got a 16 inch meat lovers pizza for dinner, after 6 slices and a double shot protein shake I saw no reason to keep going for it to come back up :oops: 16 inches is a bloody huge pizza!

I'll chuck up some pics once those who had cameras upload them, for now some google image ones will do.

Rees Valley:

Kea Basin Bivy:

[Shutupandsquat]

I'm jelly

[I Declare War]

Amazing scenery there, Phedder! Makes me want to get out and go for a hike! wow man

[samuelNZ]

Haha sorry bro!

Trip looks like it was awesome! Pictures are amazing! Tramping is such a relaxing (sometimes) and beautiful thing to do IMO. Did the same sort of thing at the start of this year and had an absolute ball!

Now.. BACK TO TRAINING! :twisted:

[saniaa]

The discussion of the ways in which one`s death date can effectively be predicted has recently been rapidly spreading over the net. A few months ago one priest filed suit against a the site http://yourdeathdate.info when this site predicted that his death was only a year away. What got him especially worried was the fact that just about seven months before that his colleague had taken the same test and died exactly on the predicted date. Sad but true.

[Shutupandsquat]

oh ,hey. I finally saw it

[Phedder]

oh ,hey. I finally saw it

Annoying buggers they are :doh:

Makes me want to get out and go for a hike!

To quote Nike, 'Just Do It'

Haha sorry bro!

Trip looks like it was awesome! Pictures are amazing! Tramping is such a relaxing (sometimes) and beautiful thing to do IMO. Did the same sort of thing at the start of this year and had an absolute ball!

Definitely. I'd done 5 days around Great Barrier a few years back but nothing significant since, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. I've got no idea how the real pictures will come out, hopefully get some goodies to throw up.

Now.. BACK TO TRAINING! :twisted:

Yes Sir! :salute:

[Phedder]

Weighed in at 91kg so hadn't lost as much as I thought, but that was after refilling with 2 feet of subway and then 6 slices of a 16 inch pizza yesterday. In any case I'm looking a bit leaner than when I left. Wasn't the goal at all, but I'm not really going to complain. Just gotta work on slowly bringing the weight back up over summer.

I've got 6 days of swimming 4-5 hours a day starting tomorrow and I'm not sure how intense that's going to be, so took it semi easy today. I'll know after tomorrows session what I'll be able to manage for the rest of the week.

Bench Press

lots x bar

5x60kg

5x70kg

5x5x90kg - Harder than I expected it to be but managed ok.

CG Bench

2x5x80kg

16x60kg

10x60kg

8x60kg

Chin ups

10

8

CG chins

2x8

Face Pulls 5x15

Tri Pressdowns 3x10

Seated Cable Rows 3x10

Curls 2x10

[samuelNZ]

How do you think you'll go getting back into the daily squatting after a stint off?

[Phedder]

I've got no Internet at the flat now, just nipped into one of the lecture halls to steal theirs.

The aquatics course has been more intense than I expected, hard to do any decent training after swimming 4-5 hours a day. On the bright side we had a relay yesterday against the staff, won the freestyle and lost the medley. Had been quite a while since the students last won at all so was stoked with that. I was up against the guy who was refining our freestyle technique, beat him by maybe 2 body lengths. Power > technique haha.

Anyway with all the swimming I've only trained twice since the last update, did a deadlift session where I worked up to 180 for a few singles and then did a heap of power cleans. And a squat session working up to 130 for a few singles, then doing fronts up to 100 and some speed deads. Will head in later today for some bench and upper back work.

How do you think you'll go getting back into the daily squatting after a stint off?

I'm actually thinking I might jump on a 5x5 program similar to that which Drizzt, MT and you have been doing. Thinking of swapping out wed light squats for front squats instead. Still pondering the options though. I find it hard to keep up with training over summer, and I'll be at CBC which is a 20min+ drive so if I'm only heading in 3 times a week that'd be great.

[Phedder]

Back up north and first session back at CBC, forgot how hot it gets in there. Always good to chat to Steak, and I'll be able to put a lot more faces to nzbb aliases over the next few weeks. Really looking forward to the Push/Pull next Sat.

Todays session;

Back Squats

bar x lots

5x60kg

3x80kg

3x100kg

3x2x120kg

3x100kg

Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

3x140kg

1x160kg

2x1x180kg

3x140kg

GHR negatives - Ouch :shock: So much different using a proper machine

4x5 - Couldn't bring myself to the 5th set, next time

DB lunges

6x32.5s (I think, not family with the DBs yet and didn't read :pfft: bit heavy anyway)

3x10x20s

Then had to shoot off to pick up the girlfriend from work. Everything felt a bit harder than expected, I'll blame the heat :oops: Should adjust over the next week or two hopefully, definitely going to grab some sort of electrolytes though. Way too much sweating. It's great to be training in a serious gym surrounded by competent people, really looking forward to the next few months :grin:

[steak]

Welcome back bro 8)

To deal with heat = roller door right up, fans on, harden.

[Phedder]

Welcome back bro 8)

To deal with heat = roller door right up, fans on, harden.

Bugger, I couldn't find the switch for that one

Weighed in at 90.4kg today :shock: Turns out the uni scales weigh heavier than I thought. MUST EAT!

Spent a lot of time today working on bench set up. The uni benches are crap, slide all over the place and wrong height too. CBC benches = :jive:

Bench (think it went like this) - every rep with long pauses and really focusing on staying tight and leg drive.

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x60kg

3x80kg

1x90kg

1x100kg

5x1x90kg

2x3x60kg

Got nice and uncomfortable with set up, which is how it should be. Being able to actually dig my traps in means my leg drive felt like it was helping for once

Attempted Incline Bench rows

2x10x20kg

10x30kg

Couldn't quite get it to feel right on the bench so just switched to strict single arm rows, no body english.

4x10x30kg

Various lat pulldowns - I changed handle attachment each set.

5x10x95

Tricep pressdowns

4x10x45

Then gave the sled a whirl to get some blood in the legs.

Sled

20kg - forwards 1 length, backwards return

60kg - forwards 1 length, backwards return

100kg - backwards 1 length, forwards return

I like :nod: 100kg is a bit much to keep a steady pace, will try 80kg next time.

[hhhh1]

Welcome back bro 8)

To deal with heat = roller door right up, fans on, harden.

Bugger, I couldn't find the switch for that one

Weighed in at 90.4kg today :shock: Turns out the uni scales weigh heavier than I thought. MUST EAT!

Spent a lot of time today working on bench set up. The uni benches are crap, slide all over the place and wrong height too. CBC benches = :jive:

Bench (think it went like this) - every rep with long pauses and really focusing on staying tight and leg drive.

lots x bar

2x5x60kg

3x60kg

3x80kg

1x90kg

1x100kg

5x1x90kg

2x3x60kg

Got nice and uncomfortable with set up, which is how it should be. Being able to actually dig my traps in means my leg drive felt like it was helping for once

Attempted Incline Bench rows

2x10x20kg

10x30kg

Couldn't quite get it to feel right on the bench so just switched to strict single arm rows, no body english.

4x10x30kg

Various lat pulldowns - I changed handle attachment each set.

5x10x95

Tricep pressdowns

4x10x45

Then gave the sled a whirl to get some blood in the legs.

Sled

20kg - forwards 1 length, backwards return

60kg - forwards 1 length, backwards return

100kg - backwards 1 length, forwards return

I like :nod: 100kg is a bit much to keep a steady pace, will try 80kg next time.

they exaggerate your weight by about 1kg

[Phedder]

Weighed in at 92.4kg today, so I think I might have just been a bit dehydrated the other day.

Warmed up with the sled

20kg 2 lengths

40kg 8 or 10 lengths?

Front Squats

2x5xbar

5x60kg

3x70kg

1x80kg

2x1x90kg

3x80kg

2x5x60kg

Speed Deadlifts

5x60kg

3x100kg

3x3x120kg

3x140kg - a tad heavy for speed reps

3x3x120kg

Power Cleans - spent ages on these, practicing catching them properly. Can't remember exactly but was something like this;

3x60kg

2x5x40kg

3x3x60kg

2x1x70kg

1x80kg

6x3x60kg

1x70kg

1x80kg

0x90kg - I'm not dropping under the bar enough/at all

1x80kg

3x3x60kg

6x60kg

Face Pulls

15x25

3x10x35

I'm loving being able to attempt semi-proper power cleans. Having a platform where I can drop them if I mess up is great, at the uni gym I'd get kicked out haha, hence never trying to catch them with a clean grip before.

[Shutupandsquat]

Just looking at your photos, although the first picture in your journal is a little blurry, you're looking so much leaner than you were back then and a little heavier. So uhh, good job! Oh, and good shit for beating that teacher in swimming haha

[Phedder]

Just looking at your photos, although the first picture in your journal is a little blurry, you're looking so much leaner than you were back then and a little heavier. So uhh, good job! Oh, and good shit for beating that teacher in swimming haha

Cheers, time to work on getting quite a bit heavier

[Phedder]

Made it in this morning for a final session before the push pull. Really just wanted to practice my bench set up and leg drive again.

Bench Press - every rep paused and explosive.

lots x bar

4x3x60kg

5x1x80kg

3x2x70kg

2x3x60kg

Chin ups

3x8

Lat Pull downs

3x10x85

Face Pulls

4x10x35

Landmines

20xbar

3x15x20kg

Landmine Shoulder Presses? Just pressed the bar up explosively and caught with the other hand. High reps, didn't bother counting just went until it burned good and proper.

3x20-30xbar

[Phedder]

CBC Push/Pull comp - What a day :grin:

Weighed in at 90.4kg, bit lighter than I was expecting as I've been trying harder with the food. More olive oil me thinks

Bench

100kg -WWR - Pulled up for slightly lifting my heels

105kg - WWW - much better lift, after some advice from TT to force my knees out more everything felt much more solid.

112.5kg - RRR - 4-5 inches off the chest, stall for 4-5 seconds and no chance of getting it. Flared my elbows a bit too much and strength maybe not quite there yet. Was hoping to finally break past 110, but wasn't meant to be.

Deadlifts

180kg - WWW - felt like a speed rep, good omen

195kg - WWW - another great rep, nice and smooth

205kg - WWW - PB - Finally broke past the 200 \:D/ Quite a bit slower but still a clean lift. 210 possibly there but wanted to claim the PB.

A great first outing into powerlifting. Awesome environment and a great bunch of people, can't thank Damo and Rach enough for putting on these events :clap: Was great to finally meet and put a bunch of faces to forum aliases as well, the banter on the forum is nothing compared to real life with half of them :pfft: Was nice being around more like minded people, being able to talk training and eating.

Amazing day watching some of the bigger guys throw around massive weights, Opti and Panzer head to head in the shirted bench, and then Big John and Opti in the deadlifts. Sneaky 2.5kg in it. Good BBQ to finish the day off, then I had to head off to pick up the gf from work then back home for a big 500g steak, chips, eggs and salad

For me, I'll test my squat later this week and then Jump into a 9 week 5x5 cycle that'll see me through until I head back to Dunedin. Plan is to enter true totally raw maxes, and in the next few weeks I should be getting my belt, sleeves and wrist wraps in. So if I start hitting some rough sets, I'll be able to chuck some gear on to help me through it. Will be interesting to see what some extra support does to my lifts :nod: