Post by gaz on Apr 20, 2020 15:09:22 GMT
Hey folks!
It's taken me a while to get around to starting this journal. I figured the first post was the main hurdle to get over, and it's something that's taken me some time to muster!
Quick recap for those who have forgotten, or didn't read my JSF journal: (2006) I used to play rugby (at a low level), started lifting, got in decent shape, got (2009) fatter, took up powerlifting, got to a modestly strong level, (2011) stopped, got even fatter, returned to rugby, (2014) lost a bit of weight, got into running, got to a modestly fit shape, (2016) stopped, got fatter, (2017) came back to weight training, (2018) came back to powerlifting, lost some weight, got fatter again, gained a modest amount of strength to comfortably surpass my previous bests, (2019) lost weight again, continued getting stronger, (Christmas 2019), got a bit fatter again.
My competition PBs at time of writing are:
222.5kg squat (490 lbs)
122.5kg bench press (270 lbs)
247.5kg deadlift (545 lbs)
592.5kg total (1,304 lbs)
All of these at a bodyweight of 93.0kg (204.6 lbs).
I've also benched 125kg in a bench-only comp, and 127.5kg in the gym.
Since early 2017 and now, my bodyweight has ranged between 89kg (196 lbs) and 100kg (220 lbs). Last year, I was 89kg in the summer, slowly gained as I trained for a late-year competition, and then gained 5kg over Christmas. I'm slowly working to remove that now, although it's going VERY slowly, heh, and I currently sit at 95kg, somewhere in the middle of that range. Still, I'm only 2kg above my weight class limit, and there's not likely to be any competitions for a while!
"Lockdown" started here in the UK on Monday 23rd March. For us that means we are only allowed to leave our homes for a few specific reasons: exercise (once per day); shopping for essentials (food, medicines, etc); working (if you can't work from home). It's not as strict a lockdown as in other places (non-essential businesses have not been closed, except for shops; public transport is still running, etc), but it's a major change in our way of life still. I've been working from home for nearly seven years, and we've been getting our groceries delivered from an online supermarket for over a year, so the only real change to our routines is not being able to go to the gym, or take the dog to nice beauty spots for a walk on the weekend. My wife was made redundant for unrelated reasons in February, and has been able to find a new position which starts next week; my own job seems secure so far and my company is in a stable financial position in a relatively well-protected industry (clinical research). So while things are certainly pretty weird, and I really wish that we could have been able to go on holiday to the Lake District two weeks ago, the reality is that for us, the pandemic has been mostly boring, with a few bits of news-induced anxiety thrown in! When I worry, it's about my parents (especially my dad, who is on immuno-suppressant medication), and my wife's dad (who is in his 80s).
Training-wise, I have to say I'm pretty fortunate as well. I've been training at a CrossFit gym for a few years, and while they have plenty of space and a lot of kit, they don't have much in the way of powerlifting-specific gear, so I bought my own powerlifting bar in early 2018. Previous readers may recall that I trained at home, outside in the garden, for a couple of years around 2014-15, and I still owned a lot of that kit, including five pairs of 20kg plates and a set of squat stands. The last "non-essential" journey I made before lockdown was imposed (and on the same day, in fact) was to drive to the gym and collect my plates and my bar and bring them home. As a result, I'm now able to perform a good amount of my normal training in the garden. At least this is happening in spring and not in late autumn/winter, and most of my sessions so far have been in good light, with dry, warm-ish weather!
I've had some pain in my left shoulder for just over two months, which hasn't resolved still, even with greatly reduced bench press volume since I started training from home. I've made the decision with my coach to drop all pressing movements for a few weeks, with the goal of seeing if I've got a minor tear that needs to heal fully. So bench has regressed somewhat, and in the best case, squatting progression has stalled while I get used to the difficult sensation of training on grass. Deadlift is still moving well though, I've been able to bust out multiple sets of 3 and 4 reps at 450lbs over the last few weeks.
My training split looks something like this right now:
Tuesday or Wednesday: deadlift day
Thursday or Friday: conditioning day (barbell complexes, KB stuff, etc)
Saturday or Sunday: squat day
I'm trying to get out for my one government-sanctioned exercise out of the house per day by doing walks of 60-90 minutes. That's helping to mitigate some of my poorer diet choices (i.e. eating a lot of cake).
That's it for now, I'll check back in when I've got something else to say!
Thanks for reading.
Gaz
It's taken me a while to get around to starting this journal. I figured the first post was the main hurdle to get over, and it's something that's taken me some time to muster!
Quick recap for those who have forgotten, or didn't read my JSF journal: (2006) I used to play rugby (at a low level), started lifting, got in decent shape, got (2009) fatter, took up powerlifting, got to a modestly strong level, (2011) stopped, got even fatter, returned to rugby, (2014) lost a bit of weight, got into running, got to a modestly fit shape, (2016) stopped, got fatter, (2017) came back to weight training, (2018) came back to powerlifting, lost some weight, got fatter again, gained a modest amount of strength to comfortably surpass my previous bests, (2019) lost weight again, continued getting stronger, (Christmas 2019), got a bit fatter again.
My competition PBs at time of writing are:
222.5kg squat (490 lbs)
122.5kg bench press (270 lbs)
247.5kg deadlift (545 lbs)
592.5kg total (1,304 lbs)
All of these at a bodyweight of 93.0kg (204.6 lbs).
I've also benched 125kg in a bench-only comp, and 127.5kg in the gym.
Since early 2017 and now, my bodyweight has ranged between 89kg (196 lbs) and 100kg (220 lbs). Last year, I was 89kg in the summer, slowly gained as I trained for a late-year competition, and then gained 5kg over Christmas. I'm slowly working to remove that now, although it's going VERY slowly, heh, and I currently sit at 95kg, somewhere in the middle of that range. Still, I'm only 2kg above my weight class limit, and there's not likely to be any competitions for a while!
"Lockdown" started here in the UK on Monday 23rd March. For us that means we are only allowed to leave our homes for a few specific reasons: exercise (once per day); shopping for essentials (food, medicines, etc); working (if you can't work from home). It's not as strict a lockdown as in other places (non-essential businesses have not been closed, except for shops; public transport is still running, etc), but it's a major change in our way of life still. I've been working from home for nearly seven years, and we've been getting our groceries delivered from an online supermarket for over a year, so the only real change to our routines is not being able to go to the gym, or take the dog to nice beauty spots for a walk on the weekend. My wife was made redundant for unrelated reasons in February, and has been able to find a new position which starts next week; my own job seems secure so far and my company is in a stable financial position in a relatively well-protected industry (clinical research). So while things are certainly pretty weird, and I really wish that we could have been able to go on holiday to the Lake District two weeks ago, the reality is that for us, the pandemic has been mostly boring, with a few bits of news-induced anxiety thrown in! When I worry, it's about my parents (especially my dad, who is on immuno-suppressant medication), and my wife's dad (who is in his 80s).
Training-wise, I have to say I'm pretty fortunate as well. I've been training at a CrossFit gym for a few years, and while they have plenty of space and a lot of kit, they don't have much in the way of powerlifting-specific gear, so I bought my own powerlifting bar in early 2018. Previous readers may recall that I trained at home, outside in the garden, for a couple of years around 2014-15, and I still owned a lot of that kit, including five pairs of 20kg plates and a set of squat stands. The last "non-essential" journey I made before lockdown was imposed (and on the same day, in fact) was to drive to the gym and collect my plates and my bar and bring them home. As a result, I'm now able to perform a good amount of my normal training in the garden. At least this is happening in spring and not in late autumn/winter, and most of my sessions so far have been in good light, with dry, warm-ish weather!
I've had some pain in my left shoulder for just over two months, which hasn't resolved still, even with greatly reduced bench press volume since I started training from home. I've made the decision with my coach to drop all pressing movements for a few weeks, with the goal of seeing if I've got a minor tear that needs to heal fully. So bench has regressed somewhat, and in the best case, squatting progression has stalled while I get used to the difficult sensation of training on grass. Deadlift is still moving well though, I've been able to bust out multiple sets of 3 and 4 reps at 450lbs over the last few weeks.
My training split looks something like this right now:
Tuesday or Wednesday: deadlift day
Thursday or Friday: conditioning day (barbell complexes, KB stuff, etc)
Saturday or Sunday: squat day
I'm trying to get out for my one government-sanctioned exercise out of the house per day by doing walks of 60-90 minutes. That's helping to mitigate some of my poorer diet choices (i.e. eating a lot of cake).
That's it for now, I'll check back in when I've got something else to say!
Thanks for reading.
Gaz
