Saturday, November 29, 2008

In the door

Just got home from the Colac comp and have got half an hour to kill before heading out to pick up Madii from the movies. So here's a brief update.

Quite a big turnout for a comp so far out of town, took over two hours to get there but it was worth the drive. Really good standard of competitors and I was very impressed with the 'Southern Belles' (the Chickies from Southern Powerlifting Club) Very strong and excellent technical benchers. I'll have to wrangle an invite to bench with the club. I was also surprised at the number of lifters from Marty Girvan's gym Apollo (ESP?) Some big guys!

The comp moved along at a slowish pace, well it seemed that way after lifting in the fastest comp ever in Perth. Sheesh, like we were hardly off the platform from the bench press when the deadlift was being called. Seriously I got to warm up with a double on 100, a double on 120 and a single on 140 before Leigh dragged me to the platform to do my 160 opener with the finals words of "you can catch your breath after you've done your opener..." And I was not the only one caught out by the fast pace.... Maria had to *cut* her squat suit off in order to make time before benching...

Anyway back to today's comp. As I said it was moving slow... (or regular pace) and unfortunatley leaving a t 5pm, (The comp started at 12.00) I didnt get to see the deadlifting section, my favorite! :-( But just couldnt stay any longer. I have some photo's from the squatting which I'll post a couple of them here once I get them off the camera and I'll check out both the PA and Souhern websites for the final results.

Well that's it, hanging to go to bed.... tired, once I get Madi home I'm off. Squatting tomorrow morning - extra light speed work, my legs are still sore from Thursday's training - must have been the leg press! :-)

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Friday, November 28, 2008

Previous applicants need not re-apply.

I would rather remain single for the rest of my life......... No 2nd chance so don't bother with the 'how'r doin' txt message some 18 months down the track. Foff.

Squat
Had a squat partner at Definition last night. Steve is training under George Mariolis, who has had awesome sucess this year at the various federation's body building shows with his clients. So we 'shared' the squat rack.

85x3 x8 (down up down up down up - rack)
80x3 x5 box squats - belt, light wraps and the safety squat bar just to add to the degree of difficulty!
100x8x2 140x6x2 Bottom leg press (partial press only)

Seated Calf raise 4x15
incline situps 5x20

Some new features on the side bar, a widget for following the blog and a chat style comment box - we'll see if this encourages some feedback.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

It's a BOY

MAX RYAN - born November 20 2008.

Congratulations to Mumma Jo and Daddy Ryan.

Joanne is finally a Mum !!!!


Poker Pro's

Corporate games 2008 - Poker. I still question how poker is classified as a sport but what the hell, $1500 in Casino chips to play with - aka lose. I lasted about the same as last year - 45 mins, had a couple of good hands beaten by ever so slightly better hands and when the blinds started doubling it got too rich for me and I was out. Adrianna on the other hand made it thru to round 2 today and gets allocated $10000 in chips. What a pity they cant be cashed in :-)

On the training front, working backwards from today, squatted this morning at 6.30am - yuck!

Side note: I am getting damn tired of this bloody hip pain, I've kept up the stretching as suggested by the physio but its just not working. My flexibility has improved in that particular area, but its not relieving the pain when I squat, and I've go no more physio allowance on my health insurance until January when the new year limits are reset again. Wouldn't it be great if I could use Madii's allocation of physio benefit....

Where was I? Ahh squatting....
2 x 5 x bar (20kg), 5 x 40kg, 5 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg
5 x 5 x 100kg wraps and belt.
4x5 x15kg standing leg curl.

Friday
Poker - no training....

Thursday
Madii - spray tan for her school formal (this coming Monday eve)
Out shopping with Leah at the recently re-opened Westfield Shopping Town - trying to find a nice keepsake for her 21st -without any luck. Stopped in at Koko Black for one of their infamous hot chocolates and indulge in a couple of their hand made chocolates - yummmmmm. Felt sick after.....
No training....

Wednesday
Deadlift - warmed up to 5 x 120kg using conventional style and then 3 x 5 @ 140 with belt on sumo style. Probably should have warmed up a bit more in sumo rather than changing style for the last heavy sets. Felt strong with the conventional method for a change. Went on to do rack pulls (conventional) @ 160 but struggled and was not tight so rather than risk doing something stupid and getting hurt I moved on to do some shrugs. Could have really done with a massage the next day... grrr.. have run out of massage benefit too!

Carrying the p1 pager this weekend (have been on pager all week...) No time to train tomorrow. Gotta be at Bunnings for the DARC sausage sizzle in the morning for an hour or so. Then the pager will kick in. Monday benching after Madii goes off to her formal. Will train straight thru Mon - Thurs. Out Friday night for dinner with an old friend Andrea, who I have not seen for a couple of years - we have so much to catch up on!

Saturday - off to Colac to watch the PA/IPF Victorian Extravaganza.

But right now... I could do with a nap!

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Tuesday Nov 17

Watched the funniest show last night. Nip/Tuck. Its on quite late and I just happened to chance on it last night, I know its been around for a while but I had never seen an episode. Hilarious, strange but hilarious! Have setup the Toppy to record this each week.

Talking of the Toppy - yes I finally mastered the network issue. I needed to have a 10 digit hex passkey - I had only setup a 5 character ascii key. Found this juicy little tidbit on the Topfield forum. Nowhere is it documented that this is required. Anyway, this messed up the laptops and my Dopod, had to change the passkey's on them also. End result: I now have the wireless modem/router over by the window were it gets the best 3G reception and everything connects, IceTv & Interactive is working, I can ping the Toppy and FTP to and from it !! Yay!!

Benched but still didnt crack the 5x5 on 70. 5 sets of 3 reps was best with belt on. Funny how 60 can fly up for 8 reps easy, just a little 10kg more and flat!
Dumbell press: 45lbx8 55lbx8 65lbx4 55lbx6 50lbx6
Doh - should have done some flyes....
Rope pulls 100 x8 4sets
Wide grip rows 110 x8 4sets
Ab crunches 3x20

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Monday Nov 17

Training plans a little messed up on Saturday, so settled for some arm work: close grip presses, french presses, reverse cables, ez-bar curls, machine curls....
Breakfast at the cafe around the corner afterward.

Sunday afternoon squat:
warmed up to 5x5 @ 82.5 (raw/raw)
Low box squats (belt and lightwraps) 70kg 4x5 too easy with equipment but engages the hips better.
Bottom hack squats 30kg 4x8
Leg extensions - crap not doing these any more, every 2nd rep I could feel my knee cap slipping out of place - doesn't hurt but is totally off putting and who knows what damage it might be doing.

No residual soreness today, Benching tonight at Definition. Plan is to stick with 70kg 5x5 until it feels easy. Deadlifting later in the week, maybe Wednesday.

Another failed attempt at getting my Toppy to connect to the wireless network last night - feeling quite frustrated by this network issue. Everthing else can connect to the wireless network - why not the Topfield 7100? Will see if disabling the WEP security works.

Working from home today and tomorrow - aka working in pjamas :-)

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

November 12

Benched Monday as planned - wasn't feeling particularly strong and the 40kg warmups felt really heavy. Still, fought thru 5 sets of 3reps at 70kg, I did cheat some what by having my belt on. Lockouts @ 80kg were also lack lustre. Tricep JM presses, still protecting my elbows... then Chest supported rows 35kg each side: 2 sets of 8 and 2 sets of 6 followed by pulldowns 15,15,15,10 V-handle, wide, reverse, wide...

No training last night - stayed in and did the nerd thing - played with my toppy. Still no luck getting wireless working. I've downloaded some instruction off the Topfield forum which has some extra steps, but I wont get around to trying these out until Friday or at the weekend. Installed Icetv onto my Facebook page but its reporting some dodgy error which I've reported on the forum.

Traffic along the eastern freeway has been shocking the past few days - how is that on a freeway we can come to a complete halt and then crawl, stop, crawl, stop and then suddenly if frees up and back to doing 80k... then suddenly stopped again. Hoddle street / Punk road has also been bad and I've been getting to office after 8... Great case for working from home!

Managed to get off my seat at work today and sit outside in the sun - so nice. Just sat out the front of the building and soaked in some vitamin D for 10 mins.

Off to Leah and Andrew's tonight to try and figure out a problem they are having connecting/resyncing her IPOD.... Jack of all trades...

Tomorrow night - Deadlift training

Monday, November 10, 2008

Yowser

Not walking like an Egyptian... walking like a cowboy.

Not riding for a couple of months will do that to you. No matter how hard I train legs there's nothing like going for a ride to kill your inner thighs. I was thinking of deadlifting on Tuesday - forget it, I'll aim for Thursday, maybe then I will have recovered.

Did train legs Saturday afternoon - after riding as planned. Lacked a bit of spark, speed work (supposedly) 9sets of 3reps at 80kg, followed by ultra low box squats at 60kg - fun. Then out for dinner down Lygon street.

Madii rode on Sunday afternoon. Clear round in show jumping and one refusal on the cross country. We're all (all 3 of us) unfit. Mojo held up well - no sign of lameness (touch wood). Still supplementing his feed with glucosamine but no BZT's at the moment.

And on the supplement line... Chatted to Tony Torcasio From MAX's at Doherty's on Saturday, Leigh had been telling him about my successful lifts at Nationals. This also prompted me to check my supplies when I got home.... ughh getting low on my post workout protein shakes and I'd really like to try Max's Reload HGF... However I still haven't renewed my Doherty's membership and I need some new equipment ie: bench shirt and some bits n pieces for when I compete next year... so the supplements are gonna have to wait....

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Friday, November 07, 2008

Sore all over.

Training like a bodybuilder hurts - LOL - only because they are movements to which my body has become unaccustomed. dumbell bench, flyes, bicep curls.... my body hurts! Never mind I plough on.

Deadlift-y stuff last night. (back to powerlifting basics)
Rack pulls @ knee level - warmed up to 140kg for 5x5 with belt and straps - note to self adjust belt out one notch (yes the weight is coming back on.... bang on 70kg)
Then just for a bit of fun went for a 1 rep max, 150x3 160x2 170x1 180 fail. Just a bit knackered by then.

Dumbell shrugs - 50x12 60x10 75x10 x2
Dumbell snatch thing-y - never done this before so very light while getting technique right. 10x8 12.5x8 15x8 20x8
Cable pull thru's - 100x12 120x10 140x8 x2

Toddled into the city yesterday - replenish my supply of supplement from Evelyn Faye. $128.00 later I have just 3 bottles of goodies: Glucosamine, multi-vitamin and CoQ10 - Ouch. I had dropped all my supplements bar fishoil and glucosamine after the comp, but its time start loading again. I still have half a tub of creatine and half a tub of glutamine, so have started back on them. The loading phase for creatine is always difficult. I drink coffee way too often and rarely have an empty stomach! (LOL) I think there are some creatine's that don't need loading - I'll look into that when I run out, although I'm still not convince that creatine does all that much for me personally. Some of the other supplements I'll leave until I'm in a competition cycle. I don't believe in supplementing all year round - I feel it devalues the benefit (and it devalues my bank account).


Today my traps are sore... Thankfully tonight is rest night, my only one this week. Tomorrow afternoon squatting at Doherty's - my membership has runout - hopefully Tony will be there and I can get a good deal with him to rejoin.

I'm hoping to get down to DARC tomorrow morning, although the weather is looking pretty nasty. Just want to get in one lesson - I haven't ridden for such a long time, a few months at least. Probably not the best thing to do before squatting but no chance on Sunday - I'll be wayyyy to sore from riding to even consider training.

Finished reading the latest book by Lynda LaPlante 'Deadly Intent'. Now I have nothing to read :-( :-( Started re-reading Red Dahlia, with a sense of deja-vu strangely enough. This is why I've never re-read any of my books in the past.... Both Madii and Leah do it all the time..... Ughhh. Got hold of DEXTER season 3, but only the first 6 episodes. There'll be a DEXTER-FEST over the weekend with Madii :-)

Still on the todo list:
Configure the Toppy to connect wirelessly
Change the network from DHCP to Static (better see what address is available outside DHCP)
Create website for DARC

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Monday, November 03, 2008

After training....

Had a great workout tonight - felt very strong. Very bodybuildery.. LOL

Bench (in the power rack) worked up to 70kg 5x5
Dumbell press 35lbx12 45x10 55x8 60x8 x2sets
Dumbell flyes 20lbx15 x4

Wide seated row 80x10, 90x10, 100x8 110x8 120x8
Wide pulldown 80x10 100x8 120x6 80x10

Hanging leg raise 2x8 2x8 (weighted)
Cable crunches 60 x12 x4

Shepards pie and vegies for dinner followed by a latte made from freshly roasted beans from Atomica - Does it get any better?

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Homeless

In limbo, homeless. The change is underway. Some will know what this means, but until the transition is complete I feel lost

Thursday night squat and deadlift. A brief chat with Paul Nay, CAPO president, Jojo and their training partner (I am so bad with names) who, if I understood correctly, may be competing in IPF here.

warmed up to 80kg then 5x5

First full on deadlift since the comp, an easy 80kg 5x5
Played with 140kg, but my hands were soft and not gripping the bar , bit like the guy at the olympics, my hand wouldn't stay closed around the bar. Left it alone as my head was not in the right place for anything big.

Friday - legs sore! I've really become unaccustomed to reps....

Brought home the new baby Friday night, a Toppy 7100, $650 from 'The Good Guys' Nunawading and HDMI cable for $45 (was 70). Pretty happy with those prices. Ripped out the old set top box and DVD recorder and hooked up the Toppy. Worked nicely out of the box. Spent Saturday on the couch fiddling with it and installing the lastest firmware so that IceTV would work. Couldnt get it to connect with my wireless network, but once I hooked up the ethernet cable it was fine. Still I want to get it going wireless so I'll get onto that tomorrow.

Gorgeous day yesterday, mowed the grass (again) - such a big job. Got a blister on my littte finger. Fell asleep in the recliner watching Indianna Jones 4.

Today (raining) - working from home, it's 1pm and I'm still in my PJ's. Tomorrow Cup day holiday, plenty of time to mess with the Toppy. I might even make a start on the DARC webpage. Taking Madii into Fitzroy to Atomica for a latte this afternoon. Will train at Definition tonight. Bench stuff and squeeze in a couple of hours tomorrow for legs again - accessory stuff.