Bench Improving!

Not going to go for any 1 reps for a few weeks but Iv been sticking to 3-5 reps for my flat bench while cutting. In my first week I have dropped 2 pounds in weight and my bench is improving which is great.

Usually it would stay the same or decrease, so in my last 3 bench sessions my results were....

1- 4 reps-110kg 3reps-112.5kg 3-112.5kg
2- 3 reps-112.5kg 4 reps-112.5kg 4 reps 112.5kg
3- 4reps-112.5kg 3reps-115kg 2reps-115kg

I will have four more sessions before a 1 rep attempt but hopefully in that time I will be able to manage 3 sets of 4 reps at 115kg! Then my aim will be to nail 130kg! Will have to wait and see!

Going for the British Bench Press Record!

The record I will be aiming to beat is in the senor 75kg weight class and is set at 147.5kg. Im currently weighing in at 84kg and holding a fair bit of bodyfat so I will be on a slow cut until the end of the summer to get down to this weight. Hopefully it will not affect my lifting but we will have to wait and see. I will have two opportunnitys to compete this year so I will be hopefully aiming to attept to beat the record next year and become Brtish champion and record holder. I have had some shoulder promblems that hindered my progress but I just pressed a personal best of 125kg, but im sure i could get 130kg. So in the next year I need to increase 20kg so I will be hoping to increase 2 kg per month all the way until next year. I'll keep posting every four weeks as I attempt my 1 rep max.

Everybody Loves Nandos!

Everybody loves Nandos I know I do, but when dieting it can be quite hard to stick to the same boring bland foods.

I have only recently found out to my surprise that you can buy their sauce in the local supermarkets. So I read the nutrition info on the back of a medium hot bottle and with every 40g portion there is only 40kcal, which I thought was very low. So now when I have a boring chicken salad I will use this tasty sauce to spice things up and to keep my cravings at bay.

Weighted Belt!

A great piece of equipment to help increase those all important body weight exercises. You know you are getting strong when you can manage 10 reps of dips or pull ups, and the only way to keep progressing is to use a belt so you can keep adding weight.

Its very easy to use and reasonable priced, not to mention how much of a legend you will look with 30kg dangling between your legs while you rep out some wide grip pull ups or dips.

Back to Powerlifting

After 9 month out and constant injuries I'm going to go back to powerlifting this year started with a bench press only comp in October then main comp in December!

My weight had increased a bit so after the summer will be aiming to cut down to 75kg. Training as been going that well since but in the last month I have had some big changes and now have some serious goals for the end of the year. This month I have managed to beat my deadlift and bench press PB by 5kg each so I managed a 195kg deadlift (nearly 200kg) and a 125kg bench. My squatting is my weak link as my knee has been playing up but I'm sure i can get it back up to 170kg.

Goals for December 2008:

Squat- 170kg

Bench- 130kg

Deadlift- 205kg

Total- 505kg

Functional Training

I have been doing some of research on this and what it actually means! Functional Training is training your body related to things that you do in everyday life, training that will help you become stronger and more stable in everyday activities from getting out of a chair to lifting something off the floor and putting it on a shelf. Its main aim is to try to train people with full body movements rather than isolation movements because in isolation you become strong in a restricted range which will have no real affect on everyday strength.

A big issue with conventional training is people do to much to fast, if your deep and inner muscles cant work together properly then the exercises will be affected as you only as strong as your weakest part. To many of us pick up bad technique which in the long run will injure our body's as well as disturb our posture and body alignment.

People need to look at the bigger picture and not only train to look good but to maintain posture, stability, muscle balance2 which in the long run should keep you injury free and keep you away from muscle and joint damage in the future.