Not Just a Man's World

I am serious about wanting to qualify and compete at powerlifting.  When I started out on this series there were several key problems, such as poor hip mobility.  Having had some reasonable successes at the end of 2009, fixing the remaining problems while also driving up the strength numbers are now 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

This was the ninth week in the program.  I’m starting to feel the need for a rest week.  The last workout of this week, I abandoned my last assistance exercise since I felt physically exhausted.  I’ve got one more week before I go on holiday so I may back off a bit for next week.

Here’s how I got on in relation to my powerlifting goals.

Squat

Action plan

• Maintain – leg strength and ab strength
• Develop – hip mobility and lower back strength

Progress this week

A second attempt at zerchers and I have to confess that I still dislike them.  However, I got a really good max effort out, increasing it by 5kg on last time and taking it up to body weight.  Definitely something I can be proud of.

I’ve kept quite quiet for the last few weeks about the work I’ve been doing on my ab strength.  Zerchers, dumbbell bent over rows and various other exercises in the current program all work my abs by default, but I’ve also been working on doing a five rep max of hanging knee raises.  I’ve added weight twice each week with a view to slowly working towards being able to do a bent leg raise. 

This week I completed 5kg of added weight on my hanging knee raises.  It was a momentous event (because it took me onto the next size of plate).  When I then had a play about with bent leg raises I found that I can now get my lower legs parallel with the floor.  This may not seem like something special but I’m really pleased with it.  I love watching the gymnastic moves and would love to be able to do them myself.

Bench

Action plan

• Maintain – technique
• Develop – lat and shoulder strength

 Progress this week

Floor press this week and my max effort improved on the previous week by a big jump, but having identified that my problem point on my bench is getting it off my chest, I struggled to get excited about the improvement to my floor press.

Of more interest to me has been the work I’ve done on my Viking presses as an assistance exercise.  Tuesday (my last upper body workout of the week) saw this move up to 32kg (for ten sets of four reps) and for the first time I really felt this working specific muscles in my upper back and shoulders.  Up to then I had felt it working my raw strength pushing it up off my chest, but I’d not felt it hitting specific muscles.  It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference to my bench press next week, though it’s hard to know how much improvement I can get from four sessions of Viking presses.

Finally, pull ups and its various variants (chin ups and narrow grip chin ups) have been really impressing me.  I’ve consistently added weight to all of them and I finally hit a weight I couldn’t complete for narrow chins this week.  It might seem odd to be pleased that I couldn’t complete a weight, but it makes me feel that I’m in a new zone of difficulty.

Deadlift

Action plan

• Maintain – leg strength and ab strength
• Develop – hip mobility and lower back strength

Progress this week

Deadlift clusters.  Not the horrific experience I was expecting.  Perhaps I set the weight too low, but I completed them with none of the pain of my first week of sumo clusters.  That said, it was refreshing to be able to walk after doing deadlifts without my hip flexors screaming at me.  An extended session of sumos can leave my hip flexors stretched and worked beyond the point of comfort.

Particular highlights were that my form was good and I’ve dropped the height of the bar so good news for both glute engagement and hip mobility:

• Last time I did conventional deadlifts I had to stand the bar on a standard household brick (so raised up about 2.5 inches).  This time it was on a plate that was only an inch high. 
• You may also recall that last time I did conventional deadlifts I had to terminate the workout because my right knee was bowing inwards.  This time I could feel it trying to do that but I’d picked a weight where I could really work my glutes to keep my knee pulled outwards. 

So good news all round.

Related posts:

1. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-four (fat loss: week six)
2. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-six (fat loss: week eight)
3. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-seven (fat loss: week nine)
4. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-two (fat loss: week four)