simon m wrote:Pub Bench Pressing - Genius!

I know - Love the idea - Great way to put the bicep boys in their place

Back from France - great fun weekend - Feeling a bit ropey - A bit of a storey now follows....

Boy was it hot - Event was in a sports hall with no AirCon - Sweated buckets.

Didn't completely go to plan but hey ...

Squat
190 opener - A bit slow but I was saving myself - or that was the idea ...
207.5 - Failed - Awful - Just not fired up at all
207.5 - Failed again - Idiot - I didn't do my belt up so was unstable - Spotter grabbed me a bit early too imo and boy was I cross - but too late now

Bench
125 - Opener - Easy
132.5 - Flew up
137.5 - PB Attempt - Failed - Would have been nice to get 300 lb

Deadlift
225 - Easy opener
240 - Got it up but failed on a technicality - Because I was looking down at the top they decided I hadn't locked out bastards ... 'cos I had.
240 - Ripped the bastard up and exagerated the lock out plus looked up at the ceiling lol - Good lift and a PB - The slap round the head to fire me up before I walked on thr platform certainly helped.

Total - 632.5 - 5KG below my PB - All down to the crappy squat choices.

I finished 4th overall - Will be interesting to see the full results As I have the feeling if I'd maybe gone for and got a 200 or 202.5 squat I'd have pinched 3rd - My own fault for being so agressive on my 2nd lift. A valuable lesson learnty and that's twice I've done that - Hopefully there wonl't be a third - Will save the PBs for 3rd attempts and concentrate on building the total - A 200/202.5 woudl have given me a new PB total and pretty sure I'd have nailed that.


So that was Saturday - Straight down the bar for a drink.

On Sunday I was helping out the equipped lifters - Pulling those suits - especially the bench shirts - Has killed my fingers - Plus I have a sore thorat from shouting at people to fire them up. Some world records broken and some great lifting.

And the Engalnd team won the team event - SO Cappello that's how you effing do it- You just need people in the team who actually give a shit.

The bad side of the weekend was our driver's people carrier broke down - We had to push it into the hotel as it broke down just down the road from the hotel. The car is stillin a French garage and we had to hire cars, use taxi and shit to get home - 2 of our party hitched a lift off someone else at the competition as we couldn't get another people carrier.

So thats' the end of the story - No pictures or videos of me that I know of- So nowt to post up.

Excellent work! A pleasing result I would agree considering the squat. Some good lessons learnt for the worlds you big Champ!

Nice work on the 240kg dead!

Cheers Cooop - I catually got the 240 twice as far as I'm concerned lol.

And yes some lessons learnt - My first overseas competition ever now done.

Not sure what i'm going to do between now and holdiays - had been thinking of concentrating on a beach bulk/cut before holidays - i.e. work on my biceps & lats and lose some fat But not sure now. Have some ideas so will see.

Also not sure if I'm going to the world's in Ireland as most of the gang I train/compete with aren't going and we all act as each other's support team so if they're not there it'll be hard for me. There's a 3 man team event at our gym that weekend for people who don't want to go / can't go / haven't qualified for Ireland and I'm half considering going in that and lifting equipped for a change.

Lots of time to think about it.

Probably back at the gym benching tomorrow & squatting/DLing on Thursday.

I have a video of my opening 190 squat - No problem ... why the hell was 207 so hard?

Good read mate, shame about the squat but these things happen.

I'm sure you can get more out of the bench press as well.

Anyway mate, you're now an International competitor - woahhhh dude!!!

awesome
make that esn'er on the european stage

Cheers guys

Have to say I sort of accept I'll never be a good bencher - I built up reasonably good leg & back strength from doing Oly lifting in my youth - And despite years of long distance stuff regained that fairly quickly considering. But I never really did any bench work so never built up a base as a kid so it's lagging and probably always will. I do recall trying to bench against my brother when I was Oly lifting (I was in early 20's and he was probably 16 or 17 I would guess) and he stuffed me so I sort of realsied then how crap my bench was - But bench and Oly lifting don't mix so benching was a no go area.

Gutted I missed the 137.5 on Saturday - I suspect I thought about it too much instead of just going for it.

Ader wrote:Cheers guys

Have to say I sort of accept I'll never be a good bencher - I built up reasonably good leg & back strength from doing Oly lifting in my youth - And despite years of long distance stuff regained that fairly quickly considering. But I never really did any bench work so never built up a base as a kid so it's lagging and probably always will. I do recall trying to bench against my brother when I was Oly lifting (I was in early 20's and he was probably 16 or 17 I would guess) and he stuffed me so I sort of realsied then how crap my bench was - But bench and Oly lifting don't mix so benching was a no go area.

Gutted I missed the 137.5 on Saturday - I suspect I thought about it too much instead of just going for it.

More triceps and back work might help?

simon m wrote:More triceps and back work might help?

Definately - Plus floor presses (which I have found helped) - plus shoulder work - plus chest work - plus inclines - plus ... well just about everything connected to bench

Don't worry about the benching Ade it is for gheys anyway. Oly lifting, deads and squats are for real men!

Coop_de_Ville wrote:Don't worry about the benching Ade it is for gheys anyway. Oly lifting, deads and squats are for real men!

Counts me out then.....

So why do I have medals.... Mmmmmm

Wednesday 30 June

A bit of messing about - Decided we do a bodyweight lift challenge:

As many reps as we could with body weight on bench and double body weight on squat and deadlift. Also we had teh 2" bar out and were doing some clean & presses, clean & jerks and dealits with that but I can't rememebr what. Also did some light roman chair (welllying on a bench with top of body hanging over the edge) bench presses.


Bench
60 x 5 x 2
85 x 20 x 1

Squat
60 x 3 x 1
100 x 3 x 1
140 x 1 x 1
170 x 7 x 1

Deadlift
60 x 3 x 1
100 x 3 x 1
140 x 1 x 1
170 x 10 x 1 - Very out of breath after this - fitness is obviously crap

So on the bodyweight challenged I did 37 r4eps today - A bit more pratice needed I think. I could probably have managed 1 or maybe even 2 more reps on the bench and DL but was realy struggling on the squat.

Then did some benching with the short on as I'm going to have a phase of equipped lifting ...

Bench - With 48" Shirt
60 x 3 x 1
100 x 3 x 1
130 x 1 x 1
140 x 1 x 1 - Just - Ugly and off line and all over the place but just about ground it up With a slight nudge from the spotter to get it back in line Need to re-acquaint myself with the technique. Also I was tired so maybe 140 was a tad ambitious today.

Total tonnage / reps 7,180 / 69
Intensity 104.06

Fun session - We may have a few more goes at that body weight challenge to see what's possible

Thursday 1 July

Going to be doing some equipped squatting on Thursday & Rack pulls and something like leg extensions / leg curls - So 1st try of that today...

Squat

Suit on
60 x 5 x 2
100 x 3 x 1
Wraps on
140 x 3 x 1
180 x 6 x 2 - Nose bleed both sides on this - Soo much pressure all done up in the gear - 1st set done with my tongue out to catch the blood
2nd set felt good - Very pleased with it.

So that was fun - Covered in blood blisters & stuff now. Suit ois very tight on my legs but the bstraps are not especially tight - Ideally it could do with being adjusted so straps are tighter - Plus I could let the legs out as the guy I've borrowed it off tightenend the legs up - Would be easy to do. Will see what he says next time I see him.

Rack Pulls
180 x 3 x 1
220 x 3 x 1
260 x 6 x 2
Kept my suit on for this just to see how it felt

Leg Extensions
25 x 10 x 1
35 x 10 x 2
Not too heavy today - WIll gradually up these- Done very slowly - Idea is to use them to bulk up my legs a bit - I can always hope
Crunches
15 x 3
Did these very slowly too

Total tonnage / reps 8,750 / 76
Intensity 115.13

Equipped squatting is very slow - taking the wraps on & off, wrapping them up between sets etc. takes ages. SO although not many rep[s the session took a while - Not helped by the breaks in between top sets while I sorted my bleeding nose out

simon m wrote:

Coop_de_Ville wrote:Don't worry about the benching Ade it is for gheys anyway. Oly lifting, deads and squats are for real men!

Counts me out then.....

So why do I have medals.... Mmmmmm

' cos ur 'ard

How come you are doing some equipped lifts Ade?

Ader wrote:

simon m wrote:

Coop_de_Ville wrote:Don't worry about the benching Ade it is for gheys anyway. Oly lifting, deads and squats are for real men!

Counts me out then.....

So why do I have medals.... Mmmmmm

' cos ur 'ard

25 metre breast stroke
Cycling Proficiency
Scouts - not wetting bed for 3 nights

simon m wrote:Scouts - not wetting bed for 3 nights

I managed a whole week once

A quick catch up

Sunday 4 July

People squatitng so I couldn't dive into rack pulls so joined in and did some squats with the squat suit on to start...

Squat
60 x 3 x 2
85 x 3 x 1
100 x 3 x 1
140 x 3 x 1
160 x 3 x 1
180 x 3 x 1


Deadlift
60 x 3 x 2
100 x 3 x 2
Aome light ones while waiting for the squat rack to free up

Rack Pulls
140 x 3 x 1
180 x 3 x 1
225 x 3 x 1
265 x 6 x 2

Deadlift
180 x 3 x 2
Supposed to be sped work but was horriby slow so stopped.

Was going to to some SLDL but was too donein from above

Bench
60 x 3 x 1
80 x 3 x 1
Bench shirt on - the 48" one
100 x 3 x 1
120 x 2 x 1
130 x 2 x 3


Total tonnage / reps 10,950 / 77
Intensity 142.21

I think that was what I did on Sunday but can't really remember properly

Tonights session ....

Wednesday 7 July

Bench
60 x 5 x 1
80 x 3 x 1
48" Bench shirt on
100 x 3 x 1
120 x 3 x 1
140 x Fail - Came up really fast and lost the line - D'oh
140 x 1 x 1 - A bit slower and more controlled - solid - Ideally I'd combine the speed of my first attempt with this line & control
High Block
150 x 3 x 2

Then did some high rep work ...

Incline bench press
60 x 10 x 2 - Slow down - pause - slowish up

Front / Lateral raise combo
9Kg (Well 20lb DB) x 16 x 2 - i.e. 1 lateral rasie then a front rasie and repeat so 8 layeral and 8 fronts = 16 reps - Burner

Rear delt raises
9Kg (20lb DB again) x 8 x 2

tricep cable push downs
50 x 10 x 2

Total tonnage / reps 4,876 / 109
Intensity 44.74

Shoulders and traps very pumped after the shoulder work - A nice feeling haven't done that for ages Triceps are very achey too. Am thinking the shoulder work has fatigued my traps which is a bad thing as I'm intending to do rack pulls tomorrow - oops

How is the suit feeling?

Coop_de_Ville wrote:How is the suit feeling?

Gradually getting there - I have bruises, blood blisters etc. on the top of my legs - Very fetching- Apparently I'll get used to it.

Squats tomorrow - Am aiming for reps with 200 Then rack oulls from a lower pin position than last week.

Thursday 8 July

Squat
Suit on ...
80 x 5 x 1
120 x 3 x 1
Straps up ...
160 x 2 x 1
180 x 2 x 1
Wraps on...
200 x 3 x 1- Got a nose bleed so scrapped the 4th rep
210 x 3 x 1 - Rather than go 200 again wacked 210 on the bar - PB & Easy! - Couldn't believe how well these went

Rack Pulls
180 x 3 x 1
220 x 3 x 1
265 x 1 x 1 - Only managed one rep
260 x 2 x 2 - Just about managed 2 reps
260 x 1 x 1 - Went for a higher pin - BUt was too knackered so only managed 1 rep - D'oh
The idea had been 2 sets of 5 - But the bar position was just below my knees so I have the feeling I lowered it too much as last time the pulls were only a few inches - and I did 2 sets of 6 easy - So I think I should have been a set up where it was slightly above my knees - Will have another go Sunday

Pull ups
Me (85) x 6 x 3
Not my forte these - So stuck with 6 controlled reps - Will gradually up the reps week on week hopefully - Then maybe add some weight.

Leg raises
15 x 3

Leg Extensions
50 x 8 x 2 - I think I,oaded it up to 50 but not sure - Whatever - Nice slow controlled reps - Burn time

Total tonnage / reps 7,765 / 64
Intensity 121.33

Very hard session - Am knackered now - Sort of spoilt it by going out for a chinese and a couple of pints - So much for the diet I knew I had no self control so would never make a BBer

Sunday 11 July

All on my own on teh gym so benching was out, so just did some bits n picese are DLing ...

Deadlift
70 x 3 x 2
120 x 3 x 2
160 x 3 x 1
200 x 2 x 1
200 x 5 x 1
Did these with teh suit on - Found it hard to get to the bar to even start - First set with 200 only managed a double - D'oh - But that bedded teh suit in a bit and then managed a set of 5 - Easy in some ways but the suit talkes some getting used to - Need more practice.


Rack Pulls
200 x 3 x 1
240 x 4 x 1
265 x 5 x 2
Set just so bar just above knee cap - On 2nd set of 265 I stood on some ply so effctivley lowere the bar about 1/2" - I think the bar was then about mid knee cap. Found these easier today than I did on Thursday. Last rep Not sure I locked out as my grip was going so I finished a bit quick

Deadlift
165 x 2 x 3
Supposed to be speed work but I weas so knacked at this point I only managed a few sets of 2 nbefgore giving up. My obliques/ very lower back was real really sore - And still is

Was going to do some SLDLs but realsied that I was too done in so did some bench work ...

CGBP
70 x 5 x 1
110 x 3 x 1 - Too heavy
100 x 5 x 3 - Hard but solid

Pull ups
Me (85) x 7 x 3
Last couple of reps were a bit short on ROM so may have to stick to 7's till I can do them ALL properly.

DB Lateral raises
11 (25lb) x 8 x 3

Curlz
11 (25lb) x 12 x 3


Total tonnage / reps 12,867 / 149
Intensity 86.35

Very tough session today - My left oblique and lower back is really feeling it - So rack ulls are obviously doing something for me ! Apart from the aching and the difficulty on form with the suit, was pleased with today

Quick catch up on training so far this week...

Monday 12 July

Decided as I was knackered I do the bodyweight squat challenge ...

Squats
60 x 5 x 2
BW 85 x 20 x 1 - Probably could have done more but had had enough at 20 reps
1.5 x BW 127.5 x 15 x 1
2 x BW 170 x 5 x 1

Leg extension
60 x 8 x 1
Nice burn

Leg raises
17 x 3

Crunches
20 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 5,543 / 58
Intensity 95.56

OK so that is what I think I did Monday - Hard on the legs!

Wednesday 14 July

Bench
60 x 6 x 2
100 x 3 x 1
48" Bench shirt on
120 x 3 x 1
140 x 1 x 1
150 x 1 x 1 - PB - A bit slow at the top but I don't care
High Block
160 x 3 x 2

CGBP
100 x 5 x 2
Triceps now getting sore

Incline bench press
90 x 4 x 2
Only managed 4 reps each time as my triceps were knackered - My ham string cramped on the last rep too just to rub in the fact I was finished.

Lateral raises
12.5 x 8 x 2
A nice bit of shoulder work to finish

Total tonnage / reps 4,550 / 60
Intensity 75.83

Very pleased with that tonight - The 150 attempt was out the blue - The 140 felt so good I decided to have a pop at 150 and got it - Yee Har

Oh and I weighed in after the session - 84Kg so I've lost a bit of weight - Hopefully all fat - Have cut down slightly on the carbs (mainly by cutting them out of my pre and post work out drinks plus I've reduced my breakfast a bit - No more huge bowls of Muesli ) So it seems to be working.

Next stage is to cut my lunch time carbs by having salad instead of bread rolls - If I can muster the will power to do that lol - Or maybe cutr teh carbs at dinner- e.g tonight had chicken in breadcrumbs, carots, croccoli, broad beans and a nice big slab of mashed potato - The mash potato may have to go soon

Good stuff mate.

Diet wise, I share your pain!