CONFESSIONS OF A POWERLIFTER AND CAFFEINE ADDICT
Leah was out with friends, Laura, Danni and Azza who all came back and crashed for the night. Trying to get Azza out and about after the car accident a few weeks ago.
Adult Riding was on at the weekend also, despite some residual bruising from last weekend’s top effort I was still intending to venture into the arena for a jumping lesson. As I was riding down from the paddock I noticed that a couple of the jumps look awfully close – thinking that this must be a mistake…. No, as I discovered this is what they call a bounce jump – no stride in between. Quite difficult for someone at my lowly level… and I proved it too, nearly falling off after the 2nd bounce - winding up out of the saddle and up on Mojo’s neck! So lucky he’s patient with me as I worked my way back into the saddle and around again to attempt the bounce jump - have to make sure I finish on a good note! Well, think I’ve added to those bruises….
My latest news…. Im the proud owner (well the bank actually…) of an Amberley Horse float. OK - so I don’t have a car that can pull a float – minor detail… Thankfully my brother will come to the rescue and has offered the use of his car when I need to float and he’ll keep an eye out for a decent and cheap 4WD that I can use just for towing. Looking forward to being able to particpate in lots more events – as is Madi - who will probably make more use than I, by entering lots of pony club events and riding clinics. No excuses now!
Went out for my first run in ages Tuesday lunchtime – wow its been a while, I checked my calendar, I haven’t been running regularly since December/January. Anyway managed a 4k run, with the orthotics in place, but must admit that I had to walk up Anderson street (quite steep…) this was after 2k’s. The orthotics didn’t hurt as much as I had expected – perhaps the new shoes also made a difference. The total run took 35 mins – that’s including the 5 mins to walk up Anderson Street. I have a Polar SX625 HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) - Yes I like lots of toys! LOL It measures the time, distance and my heart rate during the run - pretty poor compared to what I was doing around Christmas, but what the heck, this isn’t my primary sport – I’ll just be happy to complete the 7.5k marafun in October – Glutton for punishment with all these things I take on.
Wednesday saw Andrea, the Chiro, first visit since the Nationals. Everything is holding up pretty well and only found that my left calf was tight – painfully worked through that. Probably the running…. Well that’s what I think.
Into the Gym again Wednesday night, deep wide squats at 70kg and as for bench, 6 sets of 6 as a speed movement. Hip a little niggly but overall nothing to complain about. Hammy curls next on the agenda, heav(ier) than I would normally do so only 5- 6 reps per set and finished up with some one-leg squats to really hit the glutes. Do I know it what…. Its Friday now and I’ still feeling it in the glutes when I get up! LOL
No training last night - had (and needed) a rest! I figured that I could afford the time off since tonight Madi’s basketball game is not until 9.30pm – yes, late for an under 16’s match, but it gives me the opportunity to train on a Friday night, which I normally do not do. Tonight will be bench work again – Very light technique work - I really need to get this under control if I’m ever going to be successful at using a bench shirt, more triceps work again, T-bar rows and some delt work.
Weekend plans… back in the saddle again tomorrow morning. Adult riding club for me and Sunday will see Madi in the saddle for her formal rally at pony club. None of the rallies for ARC (Adult Riding Club) are formal thank goodness! Usually our lessons are followed up with a few glasses of wine and a chat on the clubhouse verandah! I’m still hoping to get some pics from last weekend’s show jumping; I’ll put them up as soon as I get them.
Love Vicki
xxx
We’re in the finals! Friday night basketball and the girls had a resounding win in their last game against Camberwell. This week the finals start, currently Hawks U16/3 girls are placed 3rd on the ladder. We’re still hanging in there!
Saturday morning rush around, Madi and Mojo had a sleepover at Erica’s. Picked up Madi mid morning and then off to the local Shopping centre to get myself a new pair of running shoes – selecting from the list given to me by my podiatrist. First were the Brooks Vapour – nice fit and very comfortable. The guy serving me was very helpful getting out heaps of shoes including some not on the list that still matched the required “moderate motion control and high lateral stability” One pair actually tipped me forward – which might be ok for running but I really need to sit back in the shoes for squatting and deadlifting. After trying on lots of shoes I went back to Brooks vapour.
Over to Shaz’s place for a coffee and to return her bench shirt and other gear I’d borrowed for the Nats. Cheeked out some photos she took and I’ll post some of these here in the next couple of days. Then off training, christened the new shoes with a leg workout. Seeing how heavy we could go on the leg extension machine – Up to 70 on the stack – The total stack was 95. Worked on good mornings, getting correct form and also some low wide leg press movements. Box squats – they get really hard when your legs are starting to fatigue. No sooner had I fired up off the seat, I was back down again – balance and control totally shot by now! Tried some various ways to hit hammies using a type of dumbbell hypers but couldn’t quite get the feel – will have to work on that a bit more.
Sunday morning, up early to check out a horse float the member of the pony club is selling. Dragged Madi and her friend Talia with me – They both slept in the lounge and were not keen to have their photos taken early in the morning. LOL.
I’m a cruel mother!
Big day today – my first show jumping competition. So nervous!! 6 competitors I grade 5. I’ve never jumped more that about 5 jumps in a row and apart from last week I haven’t done any jumping for about 4 months. The AM7 course is 9 jumps which have to be done in order, plus, if you get go clear in your round and within the specified time, you have to do an immediate ‘jump off’ which is another 6 jumps – but out of order. My legs were like jelly about half way through the course and Mojo was fired up and wanted to canter and I’m pulling him back, finally around to jump eight and I’m telling him “OK Mojo we’ve just gotta clear this last one” Over it beautifully and I hear the bell ring signaling me to go straight on to the jump off. The idea here is to clear the 6 jumps in as fast a time as possible. I was just glad to clear them all and stay on!! What an adrenalin rush !! My heart was pounding and legs shaking….. What a team! 4th place ! An hour later and I’m in the ring again doing top score jumping - where each jump is given a point value based on difficulty. The rules are to jump as many as possible within 60 seconds – any order, any direction but you can only jump the same one twice. Needless to say I fared poorly in this event, however I did attempt the most difficult jump once and had a clear round – place 6th.
At the weekend, Saturday morning, I managed to get graded at Donvale Adult Riding Club (DARC) Finally have my grade 5 level assessment (bottom grade! lol) Even managed to make it thru the show jumping lesson without falling off! Go me! Then was ambushed on Sunday to enter the Doncaster BMW 5 Star show jumping series. I want sure if I could make it as I have a power lifting meeting at 2pm on Sunday to discuss next years Nats as we are hosting it here in Melbourne. Yesterday I received an email from the club president with my times for the show jumping... at this point I hadnt actually comiited but its seems everyone wanted me to have a go. Looks like I'll be giving my apologies for not attending the powerlifting meeting.
Tried out box squats for the first time this week - they’ll take a little getting used to and I certainly pulled up sore enough the next day. Performing sets of 3 at 60kg (just about half my max) and really powering up out of the bottom off the squat - speed work! Last night was bench night. Worked on technique and again speed - so just 55kg on the bar for 3 reps per set. Some sets performed with a wide grip - some with a narrow grip. Then onto floor work with dumbbells - pressing up fast hitting the triceps followed up with skull crushers (EZ bar down to the forehead and back up). Finished up with some delt work - side lateral raises and front bar raises. Surprisingly I'm not sore today - although my legs still have some residual soreness from a) last weeks good mornings b) box squats and c) horse riding (inner thigh) - Mojo is going to have to go on a diet - cant wrap my legs around his fat belly! LOLDoing some research on Westside training techniques and will tryout some of their methods - once I understand it a little better. I have someone in the gym where I do most of my training that is very well versed with Westside; he's a strength and conditioning coach. I had a chat with him the other night and he gave me some articles that he has on Westside and I'm also printing out some off the web. What I've read so far makes sense to me but I'll need more time to work out how I can tailor this training style to suit.
My training this week has just been 'back to basics’ doing some bicep / triceps work on Wednesday, back and abs last night and trying out some of the 'core' exercises of Westside. Things like heavy good mornings and pull thru's. Needless to say my hamstrings are quite sore today. I'm keeping up the cardio - summer is coming.... well ok spring is nearly here... LOL I'd like to get into a little running again and participate in the Melbourne Marathon. Not that I can run a marathon over even a half marathon for that matter, but there is a marafun which is 'only' 7.5 km on October 8th which would give me enough time to train and it falls between the next powerlifting comps (Bench press Sept 16 and the Raw push/pull on Nov 18) so shouldn’t interfere with training for those.
This weekend I’m getting back in the saddle too – literally! Adult riding club tomorrow and I might even finally get graded. Madi is graded at level 4. Maybe sometime I can catch up but at the moment I need to get my first grading – Level 5. seems like forever since I have been riding.
Carrying the pager this weekend for work so I wont be able to stay at riding for all that lonmg – probably a good thing, no doubt I’ll be sore. Fingers crossed that it’s a quiet one.
Up early Friday morning for a 7 am flight to Brisbane. Checked my weight at home before I left was looking good to make my weight class. Met up with Sharon at the airport and we went up to the Qantas lounge to drink foul coffee and wait for the flight. Arrived in Brizzy about 9am. Collected our luggage and Shaz picked up the hire car. Off to the Mecure for the weigh in.
As we came out of one of the shopping malls, who should Shaz spot? None other than the legend herself, Taylor Young. Now here is great female powerlifter and bodybuilder holding many Australian records and body buildings much coverted Miss Universe title.... With her was Susan Stewart who has just competed earlier this year in the figure division and cleaned up. Shaz and Taylor had a chance to catch up while driving them out to the airport (doing the taxi run - picked up Steven Brown and Maria Barba for the return trip!) - unfortunately Taylor and Susan weren't staying for the powerlifting comp but Taylor wished me luck and since I would be competing in her weight dvision I reassured her that her records would still be standing! LOL Watchout for Susan in future tho' - she's competing again in a couple of months and is bound to take the comp by storm!
Next discipline is bench. Decided in the warmup against wearing the shirt - a little concerned that my lack of experience with a bench shirt I could mess up the lift all together, so lifted 'raw'. Opened with 70kg - easy! Second attempt 75kg - also went up well. Third attempt at 80kg - arghhh almost - I could feel it but it wasnt meant to be. Maria on the other hand was able to press up an impressive 80 kg - well this is her pet lift and she's a very strong bencher! Well done Maria!
At the end of the day it was the light weight girls that took the honors as I had expected with their awesome more than double bodyweight lifts. Congratulations to Teresa and Tegan!!. When I get hold of the results sheets I can tell you what some of the other girls were lifting by comparison, but I was definately in the ball park with my lifts and still have a lot more to come!! Wait 'til I master that bench shirt - there'll be no stopping me..
Deadlifts on Saturday with Shaz and Charmaine - another great workout. Warmed up with 30 mins of cardio on the stepper waiting for the girls. This time at Fitness First in Chadstone.
Monday heralded in my last training session - bench. Had another try out with the Denim shirt - its far more suitable for the style of benching that Shaz is teaching me. Still I'm having a little trouble mastering it. We can use the denim shirt at the comp - Shaz cheked this out with the official up in Brisbane, Mason Jardine. So now its up to me whether to use it. At this point I can bench probably as much without the shirt as I can with - simply becuase I have not mastered the technique of using a shirt. I'm erring on the side of using it simply for the experience - and maybe I'll be lucky enough to wing on the day for a good lift.
Wednesday had my visit to Peter Larkins, the Sports Doctor. He's happy with the progress and reduction in pain but if its not totally clear 2 weeks after the comp then I will have to see him again and most likely arrange an MRI scan to accurately assess the problem. Normally he would just do an ultra sound, but in this case as with the footballers who have more than the usual amount of muscle tissue, the MRI will give more detail. The ultrasound would have been ok if it was a shallow area such as a shoulder but getting into the glute and surrounding area is a little more difficult. After that a quick re-adjustment at the Chiro and off to training.
Not as hard to get on as I had anticipated but hard work for Shazza nonetheless! Not as impressed with the bench shirt as I am with the squat suit. I could be that this shirt doesn’t suit the style of benching that Shaz is teaching me and that was certainly her opinion of the shirt. Definitely cuts in behind the arms when I pull the bar down - which is expected - both the pulling down and the cuts!! Benched 75kg which I know I can do - loaded it up to 80 but still needed spotting. Perhaps like the squat suit I need to break it in more? Or just adjust to it? I know I became comfortable with the squat suit at lot quicker though'.
Charmaine was pressing 50kg for reps with good form - that girl has some serious strength and rock solid determination! Great to train with too!
Had a quick whinge to Steve about the bruising on the back of my arms from the bench shirt - but little sympathy... LOL Start my warmup before Shaz limps in... Limping?!? Oh yeah... forgot to mention, she dropped the bench on her foot last night - ooouch - very sore and bruised! A few more sets and the I get to wear my Inzer superwoman squat suit again! Can you tell I love it! A little easier to get on this time - actually got butt into without help.... now is that because I've done it before or because I've actually lost some weight at last??? Yay! Weighed in this morning at 68.9 kg. Still needed to hang from the smith machine and Shaz tugging it up from all sides. Wrapped up, belted up and under the bar at 90kg. Still hard to sink it - Steve noted that I wasn’t getting deep enough so a little more added to the bar - 115kg. Shaz re-wrapped and adjusted my suit, belted up and under the bar again - much better. A couple sets and my legs are starting to fatigue. The last set I hit bottom and need to be helped up. A good rest and we try again at 120kg but just too far gone - Steve Brown spots me this time so Shaz can check form and depth but its just not going to happen. Down with the wobbles and failed to come up - big Steve's gotta help me up and rack it. But a good experience to learn from as Shaz points what I did wrong I can acknowledge how the rep felt and relate what she's telling me. Good work and leave it there. 
So, I know I always whinge about doing cardio. Actually it's the boredom factor that I don’t like, whether it’s running, walking or stepper. Which is why it was nice to have someone to chat too even for brief time, but I do love the feeling when its over and I don’t mean the elation of it being over - LOL. Rather the endorphins that are produced and the feeling of being totally exhausted at the same time - particularly after a run. Hope that answers your question Eddie!
Where did the weekend go? From Friday night basketball with Madi (yes they won again) thru to Sunday all day Pony club (again with Madi and Mojo) I don’t think I stopped!
Early Sat morning visit to Andrea (my Chiro) then off to do the weekly food shopping - its not easy feeding me! LOL Or should I be more specific and say not cheap feeding me! Afternoon in the gym for deadlifts. Plenty of warmup set, 60kg, 80kg, 100kg, 110kg 120kg and then finally the peak.... 2 sets 2 reps 125kg. No rack pulls today though. Over to train hammy's - leg lifts 8 sets30kg, 50kg then down to 30kg followed by 3 sets of back raises with the 15kg plate. Whoo-hoo - certainly felt that next day must have done some good work with the deads too - my lats are still sore today (Tuesday!)
Last night trained shoulders - felt really strong warmed up on the shoulder press machine at 100 progressed up 110, 120, 140, 160 and then blew it away at 180 - never gone past 160 before - 2 sets 8 reps and 6 reps. Side raises with the 30lb dumbbells were next but my delts were already spent. Just 4 sets.... On to biceps - seated curls for a change. 30lb dumbbells and 35lb dumbbells.... Bar curls 4 set 28kg and worked down 25kg then just the bar at 18kg for wide grip curls. Finished off with just a couple of sets of cable curls at 30 lbs.
Cardio, cardio, cardio..... There has to be a better way! Stepper for 20 minutes and my legs were screaming, I was out of breath and sweating like crazy.....
Home - dinner (6 eggs 2 yolks and stir fry veggies) then time to relax in front of the telly with my girls. Desp Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal - doesn’t get any better.... Ok, some chocolate would make it perfect!!
Keeping up the cardio today - out for a walk at lunch again today at 1pm - lap of the tan, a decent 40 minute walk at a brisk pace. More again tonight on that damn stepper after abs
Busy day ahead tomorrow - Back to see Peter Larkins, then another late appointment with Andrea. Then the highlight of the evening - Benching with Shaz and Charmaine - and I'll get to try out my bench shirt at last!! Tell you all about it on Thursday!
Started warmup raw (no accessories) and happy to report that the Chiro seems to be paying off. While not completely healed or pain free, there is a significant reduction in the pain. The warmup sets are when I usually have the most pain and this time I would say it was reduced by 60%. Started to give me a little trouble after the 3rd or 4th warmup set but still nothing like in the past, I'd say back up to only 40% reduction. Certainly heading in the right direction though will have a good report for the Chiro tomorrow when I have my next appointment. So I must give credit to Mr. Andrea Bisaz of the Melbourne Sports Clinic! In answer to the question about the electro accupuncture,... No it doesnt hurt - no more than regular accupuncture and that doesnt hurt at all.
Getting into the suit is a feat of it very own. Into the change room to get the suit up as far as I could on my own - which, by the way, was not very far past my knees. 
Shaz came into give me a hand and we almost had my fat ass into it with the crotch still at my knees. Shaz decided to enlist some help and a rather large guy came and started tugging at the suit, lifting me clear off the ground and shaking me into the suit. "Hi, Pleased to meet you" he laughed while still trying to get my butt into the suit. 
After getting myself at least ‘decent’ we went back out into the gym and over to the smith machine where Shaz proceeded to hook the shoulder of my suit onto the bar. "Ok, drop into it" she says. Well I swear I could hang there all day and not get any further into the suit! Over comes big Steve Brown and once again I'm being shaken and prodded into the suit, using the bar on the smith machine at the same time as Steve is pulling the suit up. When the suit is finally up far enough to get my arms in, its time to lunge from side to side to ease the leg further up and get the crotch higher. At long last the suit is on. "Perfect fit” says Steve. And to think this is actually 2 sizes larger than the recommended size on the Inzer website!!
Over to do some more squatting but first have to put on the knee wraps - ease myself onto the bench. I simply cannot bend. Knees wrapped, belt on... time to squat. 95kg on the bar. First attempt, to too deep, the suit is cutting into my shoulders. "Stick your butt OUT" instructs Shaz. OK down for the 2nd rep much deeper, hear this almighty ripping sound - oh God, is that me or the suit - LOL. The suit is pulling me off balance and as I come up from the squat almost 2/3 's the way up and I lose control and the bar comes crashing down onto the safety rails. WOW. Shaz points out how hard I am going to have to work inside the suit to keep control - like I hadn’t suddenly realized myself just how hard this was! Wraps off / wraps on, belt on and another attempt. Much better, now that I know what to expect. These couple of reps have moved the suit up a little more and is a little more comfortable - if that's possible - oh and the ripping sound - just the suit giving a little - no damage to it or to me!! Another dawning realization. NO PAIN! The suit, the wraps, the belt all together = no pain in the hip! MAGIC!! Load the bar up a bit more - wraps on, belt on. 3 reps at 115kg and a personal best!! What's more - it was easy! Hang in there for another set of 3. Only the last rep was not deep enough and again a slight loss of balance saw me step forward - which would have been a 'no lift' in a comp. Still an awesome achievement for me. Left off there - on a good note!
A couple more questions from the comments section I'd like to answer here: First - about how I lose the weight for a contest. What I am doing right now is just eating very cleanly - no treats, chocolate etc and watching the amount of carbs I am having. 
I still need to have carbs to train with intensity but I am a little more careful about which carbs I will have stick mainly to rice, a little pasta and of course my porrige in the morning. Frequent meals of chicken or steak with vegetables such as brocolli, cauliflower, a litttle carrot and green beans during the day. Of course cardio is on the increase, walking and stepper - I may need to increase this oveer the next two weeks as this week I've only lost 800grams and need to lose a further 2.5 kgs. Of Course prior to the weigh in I will dehydrate and reduce carbs further in the final week to make sure I make the weight class as light as possible and then have 24hrs to re-hydrate and build up energy levels again..
My favorite excercises for back and legs - well after using that squat suit I'd have to say squats!!! Seriously I like heavy leg press too. For back you cant beat deadlifts and another favorite is T-bar rowing. Love to feel the contraction in my back.
Well the contest is only a couple of weeks away now. Its being held at the Mecure Hotel in Brisbane. I'll be up there on Friday the 4th of August for the weigh in and the contest starts at 10am on Saturday the 5th.
Cheers
Vicki xxx
Has just dawned on me how close the comp is..... and somehow I've managed to mess up my training schedule and I'm ahead in my training. This week I should be doing 3 sets of 3 reps but my training log - the one I carry in the gym has me doing 2 sets of 2.... I guess I'll do an extra week of 3x3's for now..
toe is splayed from the next toe..... Sometimes I think you're better off no knowing! LOL Oh well getting all these thing addressed now is a good thing - because later on down the track when I'm really lifting heavy - the health of my feet will matter a lot!!
Off to the Chiro this afternoon - throwing everything at getting this hip/glute problem resolved for the comp. The cortisone has not helped.
Earlier in the week, last weekend in fact, after going riding at the Adult riding club in the morning (for the first time in what seems like months....) I trained with Shaz at Fitness First in Richmond and did my squat session while Shaz and Charmaine did deadlifts.
After a lot of (painful) warmups I got under the bar at 100kg - which is better than I have done in competition. Then Shaz wanted to see how far she could push me. Loaded the bar to 120kg. Felt good on my back - could hold the weight steady. Dropped down into the squat and it was so painful, I could not rise back up. Charmaine was unable to get me back up so the next best thing was to drop the bar on to the rails - but since the rails were so low this had the effect of 'wedging' me under the bar. With my belt so firm around my waist I was unable to bend to get out from under the bar and unable to breath either. Slowly I got my feet out from under me and collapsed on the floor, released the belt and laughed. Charmaine released the knee wraps as they were also cutting of circulation to my legs and I just laid there under the bar..... Of course not to let it get the better of me, once I recovered we put the bar back up and loaded to 110kg and I pushed out 2 reps! And then called it a day. Was I ever sore the next day!
Back to the present and now back from Sydney.... Brought home some yummy Krispy Kreme Donuts for a final feast before starting a short diet to get my weight down to under 67.5 before the comp. Weighed in at 70.6kg on yesterday morning. No chocolate for 3 weeks is going to be very hard!! I'm gonna be cranky!! LOL But we'll keep track of my progress here - for the most part the diet is just going to be a matter of eating cleanly - not really reducing my intake - this will allow me to keep my muscle size and strength while reducing a bit of body fat. 3 weeks should be plenty of time to drop 3 - 4 kgs. Of course increasing my cardio will also play a big part. Out yesterday for a walk around the tan - where I used to be able to run (jog) I am starting back with just walking for now - I already felt my shins swelling (its been a couple of months since I have jogged regularly) but I will progress to a little jogging on alternate days and using the stepper at the gym.
Last night, trained at my local gym. Benched well - very happy. Lots of warmup sets and very strict form. Then I asked Max, one of the guys that I have come to know at the gym, to spot me when I went heavy. Pressed 75kg for 3 reps and 3 sets with good form and holding the weight on my chest before pressing. When going heavy I put on the wrist wraps and my belt and then with a little help from Max on the last reps I was able to complete my benching for the night.
Right, time to head off to the Chiro, lets see what they have to say and I'll post a little update when I return.
Love Vicki
xxx
My upper back was already sore and tired and so I dont really think I did justice to my deadlift session. Still nice to know I can get the 130 up.
