Not Just a Man's World

I took delivery of some new barefoot trainers this week.  There are so many different brands of barefoot shoe on the market now that I decided to give one of the other brands a go when my Vibram KSOs finally gave way.  With a huge hole in the sole I decided I finally needed to do something – all the rain and cold temperatures in the UK during the last two weeks has made it unpleasant since the choice was cold wet feet or soggy damp feet in wet socks that wouldn’t dry out.

The retired Vibram KSOs – several 1000 kilometres covered and a big hole in the sole

I’m trying some Merrell barefoot trainers.  Once I’ve had time to get used to them I’ll write up a review.

The new Merrell barefoot trainers

Meanwhile in the gym I’m carrying on using my Vibrams.  They are now worn so thin that it’s almost the same as being truly barefoot but without the distraction of the cold floor.

Results for last week

Workout 1: (Monday)

• Back squat: 78kg – 1×3 (or at least match 77kg) – well this was achievable and can definitely go up, but not by a significant step quite yet.
• Back squat: 59kg – 1x max rep effort (minimum 12 reps) – 12 reps done but incredibly tough.
• Hip thrusts: 120kg rest-pause method (10s rest, minimum 11 reps total) – I managed more reps this time: 9,4,2 giving a total of 15 reps.  It hurt a lot and I felt totally broken at the end but this rep total means I need to put the weight up.  I think we’ll be working on smaller weight increments at last.  Perhaps 2kg?
• Assisted glute-ham raises: Blue band support & full yellow and black slings, 3×7 – these don’t get any easier and were incredibly tough.

Mid-week rowing: (Wednesday)

• Concept 2 intervals: 8x30s (60s rest) – target 1.59.5 – I’m finally admitting defeat and will set a more reasonable target time while my dieting continues.  Hopefully times will start improving again once I’ve sorted that out.  I had a problem with my iPod cable on the second interval hence the extra interval (and strange time): 1.59.4, 2.05.9, 2.00.3, 2.00.1, 1.59.9, 1.59.8, 2.00.3, 2.00.0, 2.00.1

Workout 2: (Friday)

• Back squat: 82kg – 1×2 (or at least match 81kg) – I succeeded at this but felt very creaky for the whole workout.
• Back squat: 60kg – 1x max rep effort (minimum 8 reps) – I only got 8 reps out.  The creaking was still carrying across to the high rep work.
• RDL: 88kg 3×6 – Completed and really not too bad.  In fact, I was pretty pleased with my form.
• Assisted glute-ham raises: Blue band support & full yellow and black slings, 3×8 – well technically I managed this but it was seriously tough.  I was struggling to get off the floor on the last few reps and felt like there was no support left in the system.  Of course the RDLs had gone particularly well so I’m not surprised the glute-ham raises were tough afterwards.

Plan for this week

Workout 1:

• Back squat: 84kg – 1×1 (or at least match 83kg)
• Back squat: 60kg – 1x max rep effort (minimum 9 reps)
• Hip thrusts: 122kg rest-pause method (10s rest, minimum 8 reps total)
• Assisted glute-ham raises: Pink band support & full black sling, 3×4

Mid-week rowing:

• Concept 2 intervals: 8x30s (60s rest) – target 2.00.0

Workout 2:

• Back squat: 76kg – 1×4 (or at least match 74kg)
• Back squat: 60kg – 1x max rep effort (minimum 9 reps)
• RDL: 88kg 3×7
• Assisted glute-ham raises: Pink band support & full black sling, 3×5

Related posts:

1. Powerlifting progress 2012: week thirty-three
2. Powerlifting progress 2012: week thirty-two
3. Powerlifting progress 2012: week thirty-seven
4. Powerlifting progress 2012: week thirty-eight