How do all. I hope you are all well. Apologies for being quiet on here, I haven't really been online since the new year, I only really get chance to do so when at work and I was spending too much time on here during work hours, plus with a couple of people who I don't get on with watching what I'm doing I decided to just keep off here altogether to avoid being grassed up lol. I have been reading your journals on the occasional evening on my phone but don’t post using my phone as it’s a ball ache.

Training has been going well, bench and squat progressing steadily although deadlift still a bit stagnant. You can't progress on them all at once though I suppose.

GPC Midlands qualifier was yesterday, my first full power meet, my goal was to get a total of at least 500kg, and I got 507.5kg, so I'm pretty pleased. A lot of room for improvement, but that's my first total done with, and now I have a number to try and smash next year and hopefully aim for a qualifying total for the Brits.

Weighed in the day before at 85.75kg, bit less than I was expecting although not too worried. My weight floats around the 86-88kg mark all the time so it’s fair to say to see this is my normal weight, I don't want to go up a weight class either so at least I know I can still put on a few kilo's and keep within my class.

I was a little nervous on the morning, but more excited than anything, squats were my only concern as I had never set foot near a monolift before, so my warmups were my only chance to get a feel for them. Once you unrack, you aren't allowed to step forwards or backwards, or even adjust your feet, so it has to be right first time. Set first squat at 150kg, which I knew was a safe bet as I was repping them fairly easy last week, so as long as I didn't mess up commands or move my feet then I was ok. Moved fine, depth felt ok, and got 3 white lights. All nerves gone now, couldn't wait to crack on with the rest. Next lift requested 170kg, same again, moved fine and felt confident. Even the side judge said to me that it was a very good squat, meaning my depth easily met, so I was happy. Asked for 180kg on the final lift which was a goal of mine before I had started, but would decide on the day depending on how it was feeling. Got this again with no issues, may have had 185kg in me but 180kg was enough. My new strengthshop knee sleeves have definitely made a difference as I feel so much more support in them and they do add to the bounce at the bottom. I was the only one there not wearing wraps though, I did buy some but didn’t want the stress of learning how to use them only weeks before the comp, so stuck with the sleeves for now. But now I have a year to practice heavy with wraps for my next full power meet which should no doubt add some more to my total. New goal of 200kg+ squat this year.

Bench was my most confident lift beforehand, training has been progressing well with these the last couple of months. A couple of weeks ago I managed a fairly solid 127.5 single, but set my opener at 115kg, playing it safe, and hit it, not as well as I wanted though. Moved slow and felt weak. Decided on 120kg for the second, and for some reason I failed, the pause felt longer than I was used to, and I think this threw me off, half way up and it became a real grind. Usually I can grind a bench out but it just wasn’t happening, even felt a strain in my lower back when really going for it, which is when I gave up. Annoyed, as I know this weight should have been easy for me, I doubled it with no issues only 2 weeks before. However, I was also slightly relieved, as I very nearly picked 120kg for my opener, if I had done so and failed, then I would have been very p1ssed off. I decided to pass on my 3rd attempt, as I knew it would be another grind and wanted to save energy, also the strain in my lower back concerned me and didn’t want to risk aggravating further, especially with deadlifts next. So I was a bit annoyed with the bench result, although I decided to forget about it and take it as one of those things, just goes to show anything can happen at a meet, your most confident lift can end up being your worst. Need to practice with some longer pauses, and work on that lockout strength. My long arms will always be my disadvantage here, but its no excuse, I just need to get stronger. Goal is to get close to 140kg on this by the end of the year to at least feel like I have a respectful bench.

Deadlifts to finish, not too worried, although my lower back was feeling it after bench so did some stretches and it seemed to ease off ok. I know I hadn’t hurt anything luckily, it was just a bit tight so had to be a bit careful. Chose 190kg to open with, moved fine, although felt a bit slower than I have done in training, guess that’s the fatigue of squatting and bench beforehand. Decided on 205kg next, which would have made my total 500kg and I didn’t want any doubts as I knew I could hit this, which I did. Third attempt went for 212.5kg, which was just to get a new PB by +2.5kg, this felt slow off the floor, as they often do for me, but once past the shins it flew up. BOOM, new PB, and got my total above my original goal of 500kg so I was well pleased. My deadlift was still fairly insignificant compared to the others in my flight so I know I need to up my game now,  220kg is still my goal this year, but to be competitive I need to be getting at least 240kg.

Great day though, chatted to loads of people, knew some of them already from training, social media and last years push/pull comp. Everyone is easy to talk to, proper sound and they genuinely take an interest in what you’re lifting, even if it is so little compared to their numbers, everyone is they’re for the same reason, to beat themselves. I’m hooked.
Some incredible lifts, one lad was only 19 years, weighed in at a fraction under 82.5kg, squatted 300kg. It was on his 4th attempt so didn’t count towards his total, but it was for a British juniors record. I think he benched 160kg and deadlifted around 260kg. World class already. Nice lad as well.

Plan this year is to focus on one lift at a time, it’s too much for me to progress all 3 lifts together, so for 6-8 weeks at a time I’ll alternate between squat, bench or deadlift specific programs, whilst maintaining the others. I’ll be avoiding any specific hypertrophy blocks, as I find them too boring and of no benefit, unless my body is telling me I need to do them. If I alternate the strength blocks properly then the maintenance work will cover the hypertrophy stuff anyway. I also need to re-arrange my training days, my wife has had enough of me being in the gym all the time and with kids clubs etc we are not getting any time together which is fair enough. The comp is out of the way now so I can sacrifice a few days for the sake of my marriage lol.
As previously said I want to stay in my weight class of 82.5-90kg, I’m happy with how I look and I don’t want to get too much bigger, not just yet anyway, I’m fairly lean and the TRT is helping with that side of things. Going to do one or maybe 2 blast in the year but no idea when. Gonna get my bloods done soon just for a general check-up on how things are looking. The total in my class for qualifying for the brits is 547.5kg I think, which may be just achievable if I do the right things. If I went up a weight class then the total required goes up with it, which is definitely out of reach, for now anyway.

Thanks for reading anyway and thanks for the likes/comments on IG, I still love you all.

https://youtu.be/F5f6fBlazA0
https://youtu.be/LEkZ8Mv221E
https://youtu.be/eI7GB-MA-dU
https://youtu.be/bA1RJdbZsbQ
https://youtu.be/EcjXNRjvk-U
https://youtu.be/sCAhHHk6KfI
https://youtu.be/eggz2gzMvyU
https://youtu.be/CASp6X43Xd4

That's a pretty strong pendlay weight there dude

Cheers. Not sure where it came from tbh but it felt light which must only be a good thing.

Quote from: H0M3R on 18, December, 2019, 13:44:42 pm

Quote from: JayBoy on 18, December, 2019, 13:22:32 pm

Nothing wrong with too low every now and again if you plan on competing - A2G is a white light in comps don't forget...

It is too low if I can't get it back up again though lol.

The lower the better. You need to master the bounce. When you get deep into hole their is the stretch reflex which if you know what your doing gives you added momentum to drive up. It’s just practice practice practice.

Sounds like you just had the pins set too high and they put you off

Fair point. I'll drop the pins down another notch next time.

It will be interesting to see how you progress withe TnG reps.  I've done TnG before but never in the way Animal outlined, very interesting.

If its anything like my usual standard, probably little progress will be made lol.

Nothing wrong with too low every now and again if you plan on competing - A2G is a white light in comps don't forget...

It is too low if I can't get it back up again though lol.

Quote from: dirtyvest on 12, December, 2019, 16:31:50 pm

Nice work dude, I take it IG will have vids up. Tidy looking session tho

Nah im bored of putting fluff work up on IG and not on it as much at mo. Will try and put more vids up when start strength work

I agree, I find bro stuff on IG pretty boring to watch.

Except for DV's of course, I love watching them. 

Slow down the TNG mate. The whole point is to increase time under tension.. it needs a real slow tempo. Something like 2up, 1hold, 3 down.

But if you think speed work is beneficial keep it up to but do it separately. You want speed work to be first when you’re fresh.

Training all 3 lifts on the same day can work but it’s not real optimal for strength work. If you can only do 3 days a week training id do something like this

Heavy Deadlift
Speed Bench, Pulling accessories

Heavy Bench
Speed squat, Pressing Accessories

Heavy Squats
Speed Deadlift,  Lower accessories

Cheers Animal, I will slow down the TnG then.

I'm only doing 2-3 days a week at the moment during the xmas period, so fitting in the 3 lifts as and when which means doing them together sometimes. In the new year I will be back to 4 days a week, and I'll then be able to split them up properly.

Yep, focusing on the big 3 again along with the right accessories for my weaknesses. Sticking with heavy doubles approach and increasing weight each week. OHP will be dropped as well other than when used for accessory work.