Slowjoe's Second Go

[slowjoe]

Great. Another old guy that kicks my butt and he's 15 years old than me....!


Nothing really special, just add a little to where I am. I'd like to close grip bench 425x1 before the end of the year. Ease my squat back up into the low 500's and I'd fine, no interest in really squatting heavy again. I really am though chasing a 400lb front squat. I'm just not quite man enough for that yet, though getting close. A 600lb deadlift would be nice, but I'll take a couple years to add that last 50lbs and be happy.

The dumbest of goals is in the curl. Looking for 160lbs for 31 reps. And a bodyweight curl would be nice to add to the resume. 235-240ish.

Why have you focussed on narrow grip bench? Working around an injury?

And where on the dartboard do you hit to decide that 31 is the perfect number? BTW, it's worse than we thought: Ernie pulled 215kg at 83kg: search for his records at http://www.british-barbell.co.uk/gre...GLrecords.html

Anyway, nuff chat, this is a business log

Tonight:

Bench:
20/44 x 5 x 3
50/110 x 5 x 3
85/187 x 3 x 9 Speed on the minute
All sets 3 grip widths.

Box Squats
20/44 x 5
60/132 x 3
100/220 x 3
145/319 x 2 x 10 Speed on the minute

Out under the moon - hard work, but good times.

107.6kg this morning. Will need to start taking walks.

[Oldster]

I'm likin' the speed benches. I've had great luck with them for at least 15 years.

Why have you focussed on narrow grip bench? Working around an injury?

Yep, have a bum shoulder that screams when I take a grip wider than about 17"-18". I can close grip 3X per week and never have a twinge.

And where on the dartboard do you hit to decide that 31 is the perfect number?

Heh, simpler than a dartboard. Someone a while back posted a video where a pretty strong looking fellow curled 160x30 reps. 31 seemed like a good goal. Last friday I was able to bang out 155x20 so you see, I have a long way to go. But I still think I can do it.

BTW, it's worse than we thought: Ernie pulled 215kg at 83kg: search for his records at http://www.british-barbell.co.uk/gre...GLrecords.html

I'm a gurl.....

[yonkyogirl]

How did it go????

[slowjoe]

How did it go????

Came last ( 2 of 2 ).

Squat:
195 fail - step forward before rack
202.5 - 2 white 1 red
207.5 - 3 white - PR

Bench
120
122.5
125/275 - = PR, comp PR

Deadlift
207.5/456
217.5/478
222.5/489 - PR

Proper report to follow when I get home.

Before I go, props to Mark, Yonkogirl's coach/event promoter and his team. Him and his spotting team could tell I was inexperienced, and were yelling "wait" at the top of the squat and top of the bench. I liked that, because when I lift, it's not really conscious.

[slowjoe]

Last workout before British Classic.

Don't remember the details. Was suffering from Hayfever pretty bad, so the actual workout was more modest than planned.

Squat:
200/440 x 1

Bench
125/275 x 1 f
Had the smallest of spots, but it was a fail.

Deadlift
210/462 x f, 1

Failed first pull, bar never left the ground. Thought for 30 seconds, then made it on the second attempt.

Also did some pull-throughs and hamstring curls, don't remember the details.

[Oldster]

8 for 9 and 3 PR's? FANTASTIC!

[slowjoe]

Because the weighin was at 3pm, I was more aggressive in losing weight for this than for the previous meet (8 am weighin).

I cut out junk-food/potato/chocolate for the last week entirely. I kept record of my weight in the morning after waking up/going to the head, and later, right before going to bed.

I also started going for a walk for 30-40 minutes in the park near home. I'd do 3-5 laps of the park, and also do 3 sets of chinups as I went past the chinup bars. I didn't keep a record of which days I walked.

8-28 - 107.8
8-29 - 107.4
8-30 - 107.8
8-31 - 108.1 - 108.1
9-01 - 106.9
9-02 - 107.2 - 108.0
9-03 - 106.6 - 107.2
9-04 - 106.2
9-05 - 106.5 - 106.5
9-06 - 105.8 - 106.7
9-07 - 105.2 - 104.7 - Skipped evening meal.
9-08 - 103.7
Weighed in at 104.3, Had a pint of milk instead of breakfast, and the started eating and drinking half an hour before weighin, having nipped into the weighin room with the food and water bottle, and weighed myself with the contents to ensure no surprises would happen.

I was very risk-averse on the meet day - clearly I could have eaten close to normally, but the Fed rules are ambiguously worded. It isn't clear whether I could have lifted as a 120 despite hitting the qualification total having weighed in as a 105.

[slowjoe]

I travelled up on Friday. This was a change of plan. Originally, I had decided to drive up Saturday morning, then stay Saturday in a hotel with other lifters from the club I train at, but I was worried about tiredness driving while fasting. Rather than impose more work on the woman who had arranged the hotel, I decided to stay on my own Friday.

It was a fairly uneventful drive, and I stayed in place off Expedia called the Penny Farthing, in a village called Timberland. Brought my weighing scales with me, for extra OCD points.

In the morning, the place was empty. Had to drop the keys into the postbox. Then went for a walk around the village. The place was deserted - I saw no-one on a half-mile walk until I reached the post-office/small shop. Bought a pint of milk for breakfast.

I drove over to the venue, and arrived at roughly 9.30. This was a sadly ironic - the rest of the posse from Bethnal Green were staying in Lincoln, and the road out of Lincoln to the venue in Horncastle was remarkably badly sign-posted. To make matters worse, Lincoln was hosting a major stream-punk convention, which resulted in most of the hotels being booked solid. We'd randomly chosen a hotel exactly on the opposite side of town to the road we needed, so the lads were thoroughly disoriented leaving Lincoln, and two separate cars got badly lost. One of our lifters, Ernie, got an extention to the weighin time, and hit his opening squat without a single warmup. The second, Al, arrived to see the first attempt of the competition, and was unable to compete.

Ernie, then had major problems with tough judging. This was a problem for a lot of people, but the first lifting group, the Masters weight classes up to 83, had big problems. One of the judges was apparently known as "Red-light Rod", and was proud of being a hard-ass. A lot of guys got into trouble. Two bombed, and Ernie passed only one squat, and that on one red light. OTOH, I was calling a few squats as high that passed, so there is probably a failure of training partners.

Anyway, after Ernie, another BG lifter, Sarah, went in 63kg the Women's lifters. Unfortunately, she had apparently decided to starve/dehydrate from Thurs. This meant that she was in poor condition come game time, and missed a couple of third attempts.. Considering that she weighed in at 62.1kg, there was clearly room for some food there.

Yonkogirl lifted in the same flight with Sarah. I didn't see her until game time, so introduced myself fairly briefly after a lift, then buggered off again so she could concentrate. We bumped into each other a couple of more times, and I cracked a couple of jokes, but we couldn't talk much, because first, she was lifting, and right after, I was on.

It's a shame, because she's clearly "good people" - cheerful company.

She was lifting in the town she trains in, and there is a sense of a thriving club there. One of the loaders was a man-mountain who was picking up 25kg plates with finger and thumb. Someone said he is the U18 world champ in the 120+ class. Her coach was also meet promotor. Generally, a good job was done - warmup area was nice, but I think he missed a trick with regard to filming.

So then there was me. The coach from BG, Martin was up, but he was handling Sarah during the Squat warmup. I did the following:
60/132 x 5
100/220 x 3
140/308 x 1
170/374 x 1

Lifts
I opened on 195, because I wasn't taking any chances with the judging and depth. I sat in the hole a good few inches below paralle, and then missed it because I didn't wait for the rack command. Really, I'm in my own little dream world in the squat especially.

That meant that the next rep had to be careful also. I chose 202.5/445, and made it 2:1. The centre judge failed the depth.

Then I went for PB with 207.5. The rep itself was the first I had an element of good-morning to. Might have made 210 - not sure. But I got three whites for the first time.

Then it was time for the bench warmup. Without the obligations to Sarah, I had the assistance of both Martin and Al. I didn't touch a single plate during warmup - it was star treatment, and I'm very grateful.
60/132 x 5 narrow
60/132 x 5 normal
80/176 x 3
100/220 x 2
105/231 x 1
110/242 x 1
115/253 x 1
130/286 x f - this was supposed to be a negative. In my first meet, I panicked with 125 in my third attempt, and reflexively started to press when the bar touch my chest, realised that I shouldn't, brought it back down, got the press command, and fought the rep to lockout.

The rep with 130 was supposed to be an attempt to just work the negative, then practice holding a heavy bar at my chest. Instead, I paused for maybe 3/4 of a second, and then drove the bar up to sticking point maybe 6 inches above my check. Martin wasn't happy. "I thought that was supposed to be a negative?" "So did I, mate. My reflexes screwed up again. Sorry."

Lifts
First attempt - 120, was slow.
122.5
125
Not sure I had any more than this in the tank.

Deadlift Warmups
60/132 x 5
100/132 x 5
140/308 x 2 DOH
175/385 x 1 Mixed
195/429 x 1 Mixed
Let's just say the way I deadlift isn't the way Martin approves. He wanted me to keep the bar closer, because I generally have an inch or so between me and the bar until it gets past the knee. I also have developed a habit of keeping the bar solely in the fingers. I do this because catching in the palm just hurts. Martin wanted me to hold the bar in my palm. I said no.

Martin also wanted speed off the ground, and a more pronounced, belly-forward lockout. The final coaching cue was "Stick that big old belly through!"

Lifts
207.5/456 - I chose this as a safe opener, because of the fail the previous Saturday at 210. It was slow off the floor, but the lockout was powerful. The "stick the belly through" coaching point worked beautifully.

I asked Martin what he thought about going 215, 217.5 for the two remaining attempts. He asked what my PBs were. I told him I'd pulled 215 this year, and 220 two years ago.
He chose the attempts.

217.5/478 - Again, slow off the floor, but really strong above the knees.

222.5/489 - Seemed easy, considering I was never sure I'd even move it off the ground. This is huge PR for me, because I'd developed something of a complex about not making progress on deadlift. Thanks to Martin for choosing the attempts.

There was me and one other in my age/weight class. He was a proper lifter - beating me by 40kg on each lift. But I still got a trophy for second. I picked it up right after finishing lifting, so we could leave before the 120 and 120+ class finished the deadlifts.

I'm quite pleased with 8/9 successful attempts.

[yonkyogirl]

Great job, sorry I couldn't stay and cheer you on, I was absolutely shattered. Look forward to meeting you again and actually having a proper chat. Congrats on the PBs!!!

[hbriem]

Congratulations on a very successful meet. Great lifts too.