All done - bring on the fight.

Weight 68.4. I am confident of making weight (under 67.5) by Friday

I am entered into the toughest division being contested for the women. The Open. There are 5 other Masters women entered into the Masters Division. I am the only (at this time) Master who has entered the OPEN. Pussies!

I believe my closest competitor will be Tegan Colliver-Murray - a formidable light weight, who placed 2nd last year against another masterful light weight Teresa Manning, retired now with a impressive string state and national records and titles. I cannot afford to underestimate Tegan's desire to win this comp and she has the goods, but I am ready for the battle and neither of us will go down without a fight.

As Leigh would say "This is WAR".

Last deadlift

Friday night.
Suited sumo deadlift. 140 x 3 singles 145 x 3 singles

Tonight
Last squat workout - warmup in the power rack and then move to the monolift for the main lifts.

Massage scheduled for Wed at the Melbourne Sport Medical centre

Weigh-in Friday lunchtime at the venue.

Bench PB

As I expected, a new Personal Record for my bench press

Warmed up RAW to a double at 70kg
shirted up for singles
80kg
85kg
87.5kg
90kg (198lb)

Reverse grip press 60kg 3x10
Overhead rope pulls 100lb 3x10
Lying rows 170lb 3x10


No training tonight - rest.

Friday - last deadlift before the comp.

On target

The hard work, long hours in the gym and preparing for this comp is now bearing fruit and I am well on target for a total that will exceed my Victorian titles total.

Squat work last night - very very good result. Strong singles in the monolift.

Tonight will set a new PR for bench press.

I'm ready - Bring it on.

Non stop madness....

Things are getting busy as I head into the last week of training and being on pager for the rest of this week (including this coming weekend) just adds to the mayhem. Slight change in plans sees me doing my max squat tonight at Doherty's under Leigh's guidance. My weight is finally starting to shift as Leigh came around at the weekend bearing gifts... MAX'S Hydroxy Phase Fat Burner Tabs along with next series of 'The Shield' which he's managed to hook me on!

The vet has been out to Mojo again, my poor bank account...... This time he really does have a hoof absyss and so off with the shoe again and draining it via a poultice and easyboot. Got some extra sachet's of Buet (anti-flamms) to put in his feed but he's still hobbling along looking very pathetic indeed.

Not much else to report except that I am GOD-DAMN sick of not eating any chocolate. Grrrrr.

Mass production lunches.....

Stolen from Tom's blog..... "Death by Powerlifting"


THE SQUAT

Down this road, in a gym far away,
a young man was heard to say,
"no matter what i do, my legs won't grow"
he tried leg extensions, leg curls, and leg presses , too
trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he'd do.

from the corner of the gym where the big men train,
through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain
where the noise is made with big forty fives,
a deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees.
a very big man with legs like trees.

laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack
chalking his hands and monstrous back,
said, "boy, stop lying and don't say you've forgotten,
the trouble with you is you ain't been SQUATTIN'. "

-----------DALE CLARK-----------


COURTING THE DEADLIFT

I need to court the dead.
I need to send her roses, think about her while I am sleeping.
I need to tell her that her mother is not really a bitch, but funny in that uniquely stab me in the back kind of way.
I should laugh at all of dead's jokes, even the ones I have hear a million times before.
I should never tell dead she is getting fat, even when she is.
I will tell the dead what she wants, when she wants as long as she cooperates and gets her fat ass up off the floor when I need her to.
It's not like I am asking for a lot from her.
It's not like the squat when she has to get acquainted with my shoulders or the bench where we are having a conjugal visit.
Nope the dead only requires a touch of my hands, and maybe an awkward school boy at his first slow dance rub against my thighs.
Nothing more, not asking her to go all the way.
When I am done with her I promise to set her down lightly, so as not to upset the judges.

Come on Miss Deadlift, won't you be my girl?
I promise to never do the bad shit all men do but only some men get caught at.
I promise to hold you when you ask.
No means no, but never on meet day.
I will scratch your knurling, and make sure you never rust.
Come on baby, this will be great for the both of us.
Miss deadlift, join me in some fun...it will never be boring...
ok...yes
I promise to retire you to a commercial gym when I am done with you so the little bodybuilder boys will just hold you...
never putting any real weight on you...
and give you plenty of mirror time....

-----------TOM ALLRED --------------

Bench Bitch

FINALLY !!! A positive outcome on my max bench night. Got the bar to touch wearing the metal shirt and pumped out 2 singles at 8okg.... and they flew up!!! Would have to go down as one of my best bench nights in ages.....

Reverse grip bench 60kg 3x10
Overhead rope ext 100lb 3x10
Lying bench rows 170lb 3x10
Seated rear delt (light) 12.5lb 3x12 - purely to flush the rear delts.


For every great event there is an equally poor event - thus the balance of the universe is kept....

In other words.... I bombed on Monday night with my squat. 110 for 3 reps was a breeze. Then I bumped it to 125kg (95% of max) for 3 singles..... Darren (who works at the gym) spotting me. Down, up, rack - happy. Next single lost balance on the way down, recovered, went deep, started up and lost it, Darren wasnt able to catch me and so I had to dump the bar behind me before crashing to the floor and jamming my hand between the rack and the bar. Bruised knuckle.... bruised ego.... Cant blame Darren for not catching me tho', he's a lanky cricketer and I guess not ready to catch an almost 200kg ball! With that I moved on to the supplemental excercies.

Dumbell sumo squats off the boxes. 80lb 3x10
Good mornings (light) 40kg 3x10
Uneven barbell bends 25kg 3x6

Food Diary:
Tuesday
Porridge etc..
apple
Boiled chicken and Salad
Fruit and nut bar health bar (was in my welcome pack for the new offices - along with 2 chocolates which I have not eaten - stashed in my drawer which Leigh says I should surrender, to him I think was the implication.... )
Le rice (apple) (trained)
Max's post workout drink (as I had to run out the door for a VCE subject selection info night at the school for Madii)
Steak and little bit of chicken ravioli

Today
Porridge etc
Banana boiled Chicken & salad
Apple & mandarin (
no training tonight)
dinner.... undecided

The move to the new building has gone well and we've all settled into our tiny boxes. One poorly received comment from a colleague was "We look like a really professional call centre now" SHYTE!!! Included in the afore mentioned welcome pack was a $3 coffee card with which we get to keep the mug and of course I did and a loyalty card - so every 6th one is free. Yay. Nice coffee too - very strong, just what I need in the morning. The owner(?), Shaun, was pretty keen to introduce himself and remembered both my name an my order this morning (latte, no sugar right?). The barista even pointed out the cute little love heart he drew in my mug after I asked about their latte art skills! LOL. So I'll give them a plug here... Aromatic Espresso. Nice cakes, slices and savory things too.... (drool......) I'm allowed to look!!!

Moved.....

Finished packing my desk last Friday. As one of the 'early starters' I was able to collect my new Id badge and parking pass by lunchtime. Everyone had prety much finished by 3pm and rather than hang around for another 3 hours for the CR drinks I decided to head off home and beat the traffic. This meant I was able to train a little earlier - Speed Bench - with my Metal shirt on - you've got to be kidding. Loaded to 70% of max (60kg) Hopelessly trying to push out 3 reps in under 3.5 seconds. Nada chance..... Taking longer than that just o get the bar close to the shirt....

Speed bench this Friday will be shirtless.... no I didn't say topless... Shirtless.... On a positive note I was getting the bar closer to my chest than I was on Monday even with a lighter weight - so tomorrow's ME bench should see me getting the touch at 80kg.

Went to the all female classic INBA show on Sat night. Shaz was judging and so she put my name on the door. 50 competitors and what seemed like 50 divisions.... It bordered on ridiculous with only 3 - 4 competitors in each division. The show was well run etc etc but very drawn out at the end. It was a very mixed bunch of competitors ranging from your 'skun rabbit' to 'ohh was I supposed to diet??' However the final four competitors vying for the 'overall' Miss Figure (or whatever) were actually very good quality competitors.

Caught up briefly with Vicki Lucas who is the promoter for the Bendigo Show next weekend - should be some top Victorian competitors as well as some big Interstate names as well. All will be covered in her Aussie Mag.... HARDCORE MUSCLE Vicki is a tireless worker for the sport - giving it her all and putting on spectacular and entertaining bodybuilding shows.

Shaz introduced me to a friend of hers, Jo, who has moved down from the Northern Territory earlier this year. Jo is getting ready to compete in the IFBB state titles in 13 weeks and is meant to be starting her diet today. We exchanged mobile no's and I'll keep an eye on how she's doing leading up to the comp. Hopefully she'll come along and watch me take the National Powerlifting Title. Shaz is also dieting for the same Body building comp - she will look awesome if she can keep herself well enough (poor girl has has some bad flu's recently and to top it off tore her hamstring a few weeks back.... all on top of moving house - talk about stress!!)

And talk about dieting.... yes I've been good, but to no avail so far..... Still sitting around 69.4 kg and strong as an ox! LOL. Well at least my strength is not suffering. Leigh has suggested I try the MAX's carb block supplement - Hopefully he'll get me a sample to try and has also suggested I get myself some good creatine. I tried creatine once before as a bodybuilder but didnt get much out of it - perhaps a dodgy brand and it was quite a long time ago. So I'll give it another go - It might just be thing to puts me back on the record breaking streak I was on before....

Played around last night at home getting my deadlift suit on - by myself. This is another of Leigh's suggestions, to help me learn the quickest way to get the suit on. I still need to hang off something in order to 'drop' into the suit. Not sure what will be available at the comp, I really need to check in with Webby on that one. So for the remaining couple of weeks I need to practice practice practice getting the suit on. Last night took 17 mins, which is good considering the first time took much much longer.

That brings me to tonight.... M.E. Squat. Tonight I'll be loading up to 95% (125kg).

Food Diary:

7am porridge (oats n eggwhites) and supplements
10am Apple
2pm Steak and veggies
4pm Le rice (apple)
5pm MAX's Pre workout (will take some of this to replenish while doing the big squats)
Dinner tonight - Chicken in green light green peppercorn sauce and vegies.

Gotta find time after training to 'pre-pack' some lunches for work. Grilled chicken and veggies / boiled chicken and salads. That way I wont have to think about what I'm eating each day.....
Will likely cut out the pre-training LeRice after tomorrow's M.E. Bench.

Holidays...

Yes, I've been keeping to my diet.... no chocolate has passed my lips..... current weight - 69.5kg

Pre training meal - steak, potato and green stuff (yuck)

Trained arms with Leigh Sunday afternoon - something different, mostly light stuff with just enough weight to get some benefit. Cant afford to over do it with my dodgy elbow problems. Then off for a latte - He's been away this week on a kids camp - I was supposed to be in India....
Hmmm I miss him....

Monday - ME Squat day. Suited up and worked to a 115kg max for 3 reps. This is 85% of my best and I was not supposed to go any heavier. Felt pretty cruisy at that weight. Dirk watching from the other side of the room - still says I need to watch my depth. Problem is I feel like I'm deep enough and the between the suit and knee wraps its hard to get lower. Followed up with dumbell sumo squats off the high boxes and good mornings. Struggled with the GM's as it was taxing my lower back.

Tuesday - ME Bench. Used the Metal shirt - again the intention was to work up to a 3 rep max at 85% however with only 75kg I could not get the bar down to my chest. I'll talk to Shaz about using her denim shirt instead.... Supplemental work included lying rows, reverse grip press, overhead rope tricep press and dumbell rear delt work.

Now its Wednesday already and back to work tomorrow.... have just returned from having a remedial massage - my neck gets very bunched up with the benching - This afternoon taking the girls to see Harry Potter.

Friday is our last day in the current offices and we have to pack our desks into 3 small boxes - I guess this is to force us to throw out stuff as the new office has smaller desks and there simply wont be the room!! Friday night drinks with the cool runners - just a quick diet coke for me.

Comments:

Tom - Point taken on the over training.... Blog URL ???
Christine - Tagged! Will have to think about my response..... (thinking hurts....)
Suzy - The dates have changed for the raw comp...... This is a bugger too - its the same date as my daughters Deb Ball..... and my other daughters Birthday.

Sat 27 October RAW Push/Pull Titles and Novice Comp
VENUE: St. Paul’s College, Altona Nth

Right-o Time to eat..... ------------------->
mmmmmm Latte......

I have a plan.......

Final 3 weeks of training is sorted out. Loads more work in the suits - suited squat (max), shirted bench (max and speed) and suited deadlifts (speed). Some band work in the speed sessions but only in supplementals not main. Plenty of core work too. I'm not going to detail it out here just yet. I haven't even put it into a spreadsheet yet.

Dinner last night - Can I remember that far back? Umm oh yeah boiled chicken breast and 1 cup of basmati rice. Oh and I had 2 whole boiled eggs as my late afternoon snack (5pm-ish)

Today
Same old same old (brekky and morning tea)
Lunch - boiled chicken breast and 1 cup rice (yes I know I'm dieting when the food is bland)
3pm I have a Le Rice waiting for me
Before/during training Max's pre workout protein drink.

And before anyone asks... the bland food is for a reason. This is what works for *me*. Eating bland eventually stops me craving other foods and my eating can become mechanical - remember this is a purpose driven diet - not a lifestyle change. So the mainstays of my eating will be: Steak, Chicken, Eggs, Oats, Rice, Vegies / salad (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomato, beetroot, celery, cucumber, capsicum, mushrooms) If I were doing a bodybuilding show I'd have to cut down my latte's too and have short black's - limited dairy. Thank God I'm a powerlifter!!!

Suzy, I wont be competing at the Raw push/pull in November, however I will be there hopefully in a more official capacity for CAPO or as a helper on the day at least. I've put myself down to be on the committee since Tegan and her Mum Wendy have both stepped down from their official positions - this left the Victorian branch of CAPO without any female representation.

My next comp after the Nationals (should I even be thinking about this now?) is the National Postal Deadlift comp in December. I'm also planning to cut back the no. of comps I enter next year and concentrate on strength development under Leigh's expert guidance.


Me and my Dopod......

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

ME Bench

Try as I might, benching just doesn't come easy.

Floor press. 40kg x 8 50kg x 8 60kg x 6 65kg x 4 70kg x 2 75kg x 2 80kg x 1 82.5kg - failed

Dirk was in the gym training and watching while I did the last few and pointed out that I was flaring my elbow out and per Sharon's nagging... I am still not bringing the bar far enough over. Had a play around on the bench with just the bar, correcting my technique, before moving on with the rest of my training.


California press 15kg on the bar (not sure what the curly bar weighs) 3 x 10
Floor skull crushers 20kg on the bar 3 x 10 (speed work)
2-part pull down 100lb 3 x 10
Side raises 20lb 3x10

Dinner: Sweet&sour chicken with rice -> coffee -> bed

Today:
same as last 2 days.....
lunch - left over chicken and rice from last night.

bugger just realized that I have no mid afternoon snack....
(ok - managed to prise an apple off one of the support guys..... guess I have to be nice next time he asks for assistance or logs a bug....)



Tonight - no training per say but will have a sit down discussion to plan the final 3 weeks training into the comp.


==========================
==========================


Hey Suzy, thanks for dropping by - will you be over for the Nationals?? Thanks for the deadlift article links.... I started to read one but its quite long so I've printed them off for some bed time reading. Perhaps I can con Leigh into reading them to me like bedtime stories at the weekend.

Cancelled

The trip to India is 'postponed' until September. Even then, management is going to see if the instructor can be brought here to Melbourne as we can probably dig up enough people to warrant having the training here. Suits me fine. This way I can train through without any interruption. Still have the other training to attend on August 6 in Bangalore tho.

Since I am not expected in the office I have put in for a few days leave next week - just to chill out, do a few me things like get my hair cut and colored again - get the red fighting tips put back in, go to the movies and depending on the weather, get some work in the garden done ie shifting mulch and mowing the 1/2 acre up the back.


Squoze.... (errr past tense of squeeze) myself into the deadlift suit again- without damaging myself this time - timed it - 20 mins. Only had one helper.... I think John and Danny deliberately didn't train last night. Yes Christine, a pair of gloves would be a great investment!. Worked up to my 1 rm. Topped at 155kg (341lb) but could not get it locked out and I think this is more to do with it being sumo style. Will have to do some more web research on lifting sumo. But at least there is no problem with getting it off the floor!! I can work on lockouts by doing partials in the squat rack. Need to start practicing squats and benching in my equipment too. Hopefully Leigh will be able to help me out if I head over to Doherty's to train.

Food:

Dinner last night small amount of chicken ravioli and napolitana sauce - followed by a steak

Today
7am Porridge - same deal as yesterday and supplements (yes Louise that includes the coffee - essential vitamin C (Caffeine) )
10am Apple and Banana
12.00 Chicken and Rice
1.00pm More chicken and rice (still hungry)
3.30 Le rice
5.30 Pre workout protein drink

Tonight - ME Bench

Wiped out

The weekend was a disaster zone - paged from the minute I went on call right up to the last minute - both days. I feel totally exhausted and still have another 5 days to go.... (this will mean I have worked 12 days without a break. The wonderful life of a nerd....

Oh an important piece of advice for all you lifters out there.... If you get a pair of squat boots - wear the bloody things..... Forgot to take them last Thursday for my speed squat session and had to make do with runners. Oh boy did I ever notice the difference, thought my feet were going to rollout the sides - ick!!!


Today is 32 days to the comp - 31 days to the weigh-in.... Day 1 of d... di... dieting - arrghhhh!!
Already I am starving and I havent eaten any less yet! Actually its not so much of a 'diet' as a 'clean eating' aka no chocolate, muffins, cakes and other sugar laden yummies. Need to drop 3kg in 4 weeks and want to do it without compromising my energy or strength. Complex carbs to replace the simple carbs and plenty of lean meat - Of course the week in India will present a challenge.....

Tho'... India is a bit up in the air right now... the instructor, from Scotland, who was to be there this week to teach the first run of the course, well he umm hasn't made it into the country yet.... seems he didn't know that he needed a visa and was denied entry into India at the airport and sent back home. So I have to wait and see if the Instructor can get a visa quickly this week AND get a flight at short notice.

Tonight I have to squeeze myself back into the deadlift suit - just as my fingers are starting to heal...... but I'm looking forward to it - hoping it will be a little easier and therefore have a little more energy to hang on to the bar.

To keep myself honest I am going to publish what I am eating.... Note: if I'm doing well I will reward myself at the weekends with some indulgence....

Today:
6am coffee
7am 1/2 cup oats, 2 egg whites, tsp almonds, tblsp dried fruit - coffee, 1 multivitamin, 1 glucosamine and 3 fish oils - Hereafter know as the 'supplements'.
9.30am banana & apple
12.00pm Steak and vegies
2.30pm LeRice
5pm (will have Max's pre-workout protein shake)

to be continued........