Not Just a Man's World

I am serious about wanting to qualify and compete at powerlifting, but at the moment there are a few key problems:

1. I’ve just spent the last two years trying to improve my form and find the weaknesses that were being masked by poor form (like my abs) and working hard at eliminating weaknesses.  I’m not there yet, but I’m definitely moving in the right direction.  However, the flip side of that is that I’ve not done any proper powerlifting moves for a while and my good form weights are below qualifying weights.
2. My hip mobility is dreadful so I can’t squat deep enough and it hinders how much I can deadlift.
3. When I bench, I can’t stabilise the bar once there’s a mildly heavy weight on it and I tend to fail about halfway up.

This series 

This week has been the end of the second week of a new program designed to see me through into the New Year.  Fixing the problems while also driving up the strength numbers are the priorities of the program.  I’m recording my progress in this series: powerlifting progress.  It is serving as a journal and makes me a bit more accountable to my goals.

This week

I’ve had a bit of a dud week.  I had a great workout last Saturday (except for the fact that the previous week’s issues had meant I had had to drop the push press weight back down to 30kg) but then I powered into the gym on Sunday to deadlift 82.5kg and hit a big problem.  I could barely budge the bar with 75kg.  What was going on?  I’d done 80kg the previous week.

My emergency strategy for that evening was a deadlift workout based on speed using a baby weight (55kg) and then to complete that workout as normal.  I had to do something to avoid depression and because I’d already eaten my pre-workout snack…

Since then, I’ve had 5 days complete rest with a dedicated 30-60 minute rolling and mobility session every evening to focus on my weaknesses of hip mobility and lower back strength.

So here is what the daily mobility drill has looked like for this week.

Rolling

• Legs with a roller: all over, including quads, inner (Sartorius, pectineus and adductors) and outer (tensor fascia lata) thigh, calves etc
• Hip flexors (psoas major) with a hockey ball
• Lower back (spinal erectors) with two balls taped together

Stretching

3 sets of 30 second stretches (on each side where appropriate)

• Hip flexors (both kneeling and standing lunges)
• Groin stretch
• Lower back, using the cat stretch
• Thoracic spine, off the top of the stairs

Activation

A single rep held for a decent length of time.

• Plank (for lower back strength and general back posture)
• Glute bridge
• Plate squat

Testing

When all that is done I have tested periodically with overhead squats, facing the wall with my palms on the wall (if you’re too tight you probably can’t get very far down without falling over) and empty bar back squats when Chris has the time to watch me and make sure I’m not tucking under.

Let’s hope that next week is better.

Related posts:

1. Powerlifting progress 2010: week ten
2. Powerlifting progress 2010: week thirty-seven
3. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-one (fat loss: week three)
4. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-four (fat loss: week six)