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

Hurrah!  I had an excellent week in the gym, at last, after such a bad week last week.  I’ve gone back to seriously high density workouts for three of my workouts though I’m keeping the strongman workout as the first workout of the week to kick it all off.

As the week progressed I saw improved ability to deal with the lactic acid in my muscles.  On the first big workout of the week I felt physically sick by the third exercise and was convinced I was going to throw up all over the garage floor, by Thursday I could take a clean run through the full compliment of exercises and actually saw an enormous improvement on my numbers from the start of the week.

The increased density to my workouts has also seen a complete step change in my body composition.  I was planning a post about high density workouts, so look out for more about this soon.

Strongman events

Yet again, I added weight to my farmer’s walks (54kg, though I missed half of the last rep) and my sandbag (52.5kg).  I also put the weight up on the sled-pulls and did so well that I carried on and did an extra 2 reps!

My form on my sandbags is pleasing and I’ve included a video below.  The small size of my sandbag means that I have to go a long way down to get my arms round it.  However, you’ll see that my hips then come a long way up before the bag starts to come up.  Technically, this is a significant inefficiency. 

If I was deadlifting a bar then I would want to start with my hips high enough that the bar started moving at the same time as my hips.  However, I tire less quickly in this lower squat position so I can take my time getting a good hold on the bag and moving it into my body until the weight is in my arms rather than on the platform and my arms are resting on my thighs instead of being out in front of me.  On this basis, I propose to stick with this inefficiency for now – hopefully as I increase the weight my bag will get bigger (Chris’s sandbag is twice the height) and I won’t have to go so low to get my arms round it.

Apologies for the incredibly unflattering training outfit.  The benefit of training at home is being able to wear whatever happens to come out of the cupboard first.

I’ve also just found this video of sled pulls from the first week we tried it out.  My shoulders looks quite high in it, but I think I’ve got better at using my lats to pull the sled since this first week.

Bench

Action plan

• Maintain – technique
• Develop – lat and shoulder strength

 Progress this week

Super!  I’ve dropped the weight and moved up from 3 rep maxes and did two workouts with 10 sets of 4 reps on 90 seconds.  28kg on Sunday and 29kg on Thursday (I was being a bit of a chicken, I came out of the workout thinking that I could probably have managed 30kg).  Good form with the bar following the same path for nearly every rep and the 29kg workout felt much easier than the 28kg one implying good improvement on my strength too.

I’ve got rid of the blocks under my feet and seem to be able to maintain a much tighter and steeper arch in my back as a result.  I’m also managing to keep my shoulders tucked under and squeezed together so it’s all looking good.

I’m also seeing continued improvements to my numbers of reps and form on my pull ups too, since I increased the reps that I’m doing.  Hopefully this will push some proper lat strength again.

Squat

Action plan

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

Progress this week

I’ve resolved the squatting form problems of last week (there’s been a lot of rolling going on every morning, despite 6am starts for work).  As a result I’m now kicking off two of my workouts with 10 sets of 3 reps of heavy back squats. 

I’m not sure whether to celebrate or cry about doing so many squats, but I do know that it’s solidifying my form and strength.  You can’t beat a good set of back squats.

I’m also doing a nasty set of Good Mornings for back strength.  Nasty because they’re unpleasant at the best of times but I now do them after clusters of deadlifts.  We’ll see how the strength develops.

Deadlift

Action plan

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

Progress this week

My shins are black and blue!  I’ve gone back to clusters but this time I’m doing them on 2 minutes instead of 3 minutes.  Since it took just over a minute to do a cluster of 4 reps, I didn’t get much rest.  I may need to increase the rest in a few weeks if I’m ever going to increase the weight, but we’ll see how it goes.  I certainly needed 5 minutes lying on the floor after my deadlifts before I could continue my workout!

Related posts:

1. Powerlifting progress 2011: week seventeen
2. Powerlifting progress 2010: week thirty-five
3. Powerlifting progress 2010: week forty-four (fat loss: week six)
4. Powerlifting progress 2010: week twenty