Tough Love at ESP.........
Me: Feels like I'm dumping the bar....
Martyn: Probably because you are....
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CONFESSIONS OF A POWERLIFTER AND CAFFEINE ADDICT
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
August 24, 2010
The joys of breaking in a new shirt.....
Speed day - 60kg with chains deloading at the bottom.
Self critique: A little unstable, but my arch is not collapsing nor are my shoulders rolling up. Wrist are bending, didn't have my wraps done up properly. No leg drive. Third rep looks to be the best groove. Martyn and Chucky will no doubt be able to offer more constructive criticism.
Struggling to get my setup under the bar. Need to practice setting up / adapt my setup to suit, probably best done as a separate exercise. i.e. just getting under the bar in the shirt over and over. The catch here is the sleeves are extremely tight, particularly the left one so by the third set my hand has gone numb and I cant hold the bar - and its a little bit painful, so leaving the shirt on any longer than necessary is.... ummm... difficult.
=====
Speed day - 60kg with chains deloading at the bottom.
Self critique: A little unstable, but my arch is not collapsing nor are my shoulders rolling up. Wrist are bending, didn't have my wraps done up properly. No leg drive. Third rep looks to be the best groove. Martyn and Chucky will no doubt be able to offer more constructive criticism.
Struggling to get my setup under the bar. Need to practice setting up / adapt my setup to suit, probably best done as a separate exercise. i.e. just getting under the bar in the shirt over and over. The catch here is the sleeves are extremely tight, particularly the left one so by the third set my hand has gone numb and I cant hold the bar - and its a little bit painful, so leaving the shirt on any longer than necessary is.... ummm... difficult.
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Saturday, August 21, 2010
Aug 21, 2010
Chaos! Turmoil!
The only way to described it. The tour that Robyn and I booked for Europe has been cancelled....arghhhhhh. More on that later.....
Last weekend (14/15) was the CAPO Nationals, held here in (I'd like to say sunny Melbourne but that would be a lie). It was a miserable cold and wet weekend - perfect for powerlifting! I wasn't able to make it to the Saturday sessions when the women's divisions were being contested but I was able to get there to see ESP's Martyn Girvan and Shaun Bostock in the bench press comp on Sunday morning and stayed on to watch the novice and juniors where two more ESP guys, Luke Vella and Glen Krutli were competing.
Martyn put up a PB bench at 250kg and Bro a new National record with a massive 335kg bench. Luke put up some impressive numbers at just 63.25kg bodyweight (lighter than me!) 185/115/225 for a 525 total and Glen, pushing thru a back injury, with a 210/150/240 for a straight 600 total at 102.45kg bodyweight. So Luke pulls away just when I thought I was closing in on his squat - LOL. The bar has been set high!
Other impressive lifts come from Coralie Weir from Queensland, trained by the awesome Frank Manning. Coralie competed the day before in the 3 lift comp and then came back on the Sunday for the bench press and not only beat her previous days bench of 80kg but set a new world record at 85kg, not once but twice by taking a fourth attempt and beating her best with a massive 87.5kg - all at a tiny bodyweight of 52.65kg. You bloody ripper Coralie!
Anyway, what I saw of the comp it was really well run. Congrats to Steve Brown for putting together a great event with top class equipment both on the platform and out back in the warmup area. It was so good to catchup with my CAPO friends that I haven't seen in a long while.
But back to the disaster..... Got a call from Tom at STA travel, after having picked up all the travel vouchers two weeks ago, with the bad news that the European Cosmopolitan Tour is not going ahead. Fortunately, they have offered us the option of switching to the European Cavalcade Tour which is a couple of days shorter, but still covers most of the cities/countries that we wanted to visit. Missing Barcelona and Vienna but adding in Sorrento and and optional day tour to the Isle of Capri both in Italy. With a couple of extra days at the end before we head home, we've decided to take a trip up to Scotland and see the Edinburgh Castle as a bonus.
We've also finalized our 'gypsy' part of the trip. ie. the time between Masters worlds finishing and the tour starting. Train tickets and accommodation booked for travel from Pilzen to Prague and on to Berlin for 2 days, then overnight train to Brussels where we'll spend the day before boarding the Eurostar and going under the Channel to London where we have 4 days at leisure and then off on the whirlwind Europe tour.
All I need now is some spending money! :-)
=====
The only way to described it. The tour that Robyn and I booked for Europe has been cancelled....arghhhhhh. More on that later.....
Last weekend (14/15) was the CAPO Nationals, held here in (I'd like to say sunny Melbourne but that would be a lie). It was a miserable cold and wet weekend - perfect for powerlifting! I wasn't able to make it to the Saturday sessions when the women's divisions were being contested but I was able to get there to see ESP's Martyn Girvan and Shaun Bostock in the bench press comp on Sunday morning and stayed on to watch the novice and juniors where two more ESP guys, Luke Vella and Glen Krutli were competing.
Martyn put up a PB bench at 250kg and Bro a new National record with a massive 335kg bench. Luke put up some impressive numbers at just 63.25kg bodyweight (lighter than me!) 185/115/225 for a 525 total and Glen, pushing thru a back injury, with a 210/150/240 for a straight 600 total at 102.45kg bodyweight. So Luke pulls away just when I thought I was closing in on his squat - LOL. The bar has been set high!
Other impressive lifts come from Coralie Weir from Queensland, trained by the awesome Frank Manning. Coralie competed the day before in the 3 lift comp and then came back on the Sunday for the bench press and not only beat her previous days bench of 80kg but set a new world record at 85kg, not once but twice by taking a fourth attempt and beating her best with a massive 87.5kg - all at a tiny bodyweight of 52.65kg. You bloody ripper Coralie!
MG
Bro
Coralie
Luke
Glen
Anyway, what I saw of the comp it was really well run. Congrats to Steve Brown for putting together a great event with top class equipment both on the platform and out back in the warmup area. It was so good to catchup with my CAPO friends that I haven't seen in a long while.
But back to the disaster..... Got a call from Tom at STA travel, after having picked up all the travel vouchers two weeks ago, with the bad news that the European Cosmopolitan Tour is not going ahead. Fortunately, they have offered us the option of switching to the European Cavalcade Tour which is a couple of days shorter, but still covers most of the cities/countries that we wanted to visit. Missing Barcelona and Vienna but adding in Sorrento and and optional day tour to the Isle of Capri both in Italy. With a couple of extra days at the end before we head home, we've decided to take a trip up to Scotland and see the Edinburgh Castle as a bonus.
We've also finalized our 'gypsy' part of the trip. ie. the time between Masters worlds finishing and the tour starting. Train tickets and accommodation booked for travel from Pilzen to Prague and on to Berlin for 2 days, then overnight train to Brussels where we'll spend the day before boarding the Eurostar and going under the Channel to London where we have 4 days at leisure and then off on the whirlwind Europe tour.
All I need now is some spending money! :-)
=====
Friday, August 13, 2010
August 13, 2010
ESP Spotswood is officially open!
Much to the relief of us regulars in the morning crew :-) It was bit of shock having to go back to Apollo after having a taste of heaven at ESP. Not that there's anything wrong with Apollo, but with a few more restrictions in a totally commercial gym it made our sessions a little more errrr... challenging :-)
With Masters Worlds looming, I had a chat with Martyn to discuss my goals and how to get the best out of the remaining few weeks. Sticking with the normal template I can get 2 cycles in and a deload week. Focus will be heavily on technique and picking assistance work to bring up some lagging areas. One such area being my upper back strength, for that Martyn has suggested I put in some extra training sessions specifically targeting upper back. Noticeably on Wed morning I struggled with benching, not that my back was sore, but rather fatigued. This is to be expected tho' for the next couple of weeks while my body adjusts to the extra workload.
Again today fatigue was obvious while trying to hold my back tight for squats - or should I say that my lack of upper back strength/tightness was obvious. No doubt the extra training sessions will start to sort this out.
Technique will be key in getting a bigger squat for worlds and to that end I'm getting a bollocking over my poor squat technique after each set and just as I'm getting it right, there is that gentle reminder that today is a speed day. Sheesh ! OK, so I'm slow when I concentrate. Now, for some, this would probably make them just want to quit but the masochist in me is loving it...
In all seriousness tho', I'm actually being well guided and getting a lot out of the one-on-one attention I'm getting. I feel a bit like teacher's pet - LOL. But at the end of the day its up to me, when I put it all together I'll get a first class squat.
There are some updates to the PA website - headline news write up about the Nationals along with ranking and records updated. Woo-hoo, I am ranked no.2 in Australia and my masters record total is acknowledged!
Well, I am truly knackered right now and still have one more early morning training session to get thru tomorrow - Roll on Sunday morning sleep in!
Good luck to all my friends competing in the CAPO nationals this weekend. Lift big!
=====
Much to the relief of us regulars in the morning crew :-) It was bit of shock having to go back to Apollo after having a taste of heaven at ESP. Not that there's anything wrong with Apollo, but with a few more restrictions in a totally commercial gym it made our sessions a little more errrr... challenging :-)
With Masters Worlds looming, I had a chat with Martyn to discuss my goals and how to get the best out of the remaining few weeks. Sticking with the normal template I can get 2 cycles in and a deload week. Focus will be heavily on technique and picking assistance work to bring up some lagging areas. One such area being my upper back strength, for that Martyn has suggested I put in some extra training sessions specifically targeting upper back. Noticeably on Wed morning I struggled with benching, not that my back was sore, but rather fatigued. This is to be expected tho' for the next couple of weeks while my body adjusts to the extra workload.
Again today fatigue was obvious while trying to hold my back tight for squats - or should I say that my lack of upper back strength/tightness was obvious. No doubt the extra training sessions will start to sort this out.
Technique will be key in getting a bigger squat for worlds and to that end I'm getting a bollocking over my poor squat technique after each set and just as I'm getting it right, there is that gentle reminder that today is a speed day. Sheesh ! OK, so I'm slow when I concentrate. Now, for some, this would probably make them just want to quit but the masochist in me is loving it...
In all seriousness tho', I'm actually being well guided and getting a lot out of the one-on-one attention I'm getting. I feel a bit like teacher's pet - LOL. But at the end of the day its up to me, when I put it all together I'll get a first class squat.
There are some updates to the PA website - headline news write up about the Nationals along with ranking and records updated. Woo-hoo, I am ranked no.2 in Australia and my masters record total is acknowledged!
Well, I am truly knackered right now and still have one more early morning training session to get thru tomorrow - Roll on Sunday morning sleep in!
Good luck to all my friends competing in the CAPO nationals this weekend. Lift big!
=====
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Aug 1, 2010
160kg squat - Oh so slow descent, but came up without a hitch.
and some actions pics :-)
Nominations have closed and are up on the IPF website for the upcoming World Masters Powerlifting Championships.
I see that Jeannette has nominated for the 60kg class, lets hope she's able to confirm her entry soon.
But who the hell is Victoria O'Brien ? That's not the name on my birth certificate!
=====
and some actions pics :-)
145kg
155kg
155kg in the hole with the PA Power Kangaroo
85kg bench setup
Nominations have closed and are up on the IPF website for the upcoming World Masters Powerlifting Championships.
I see that Jeannette has nominated for the 60kg class, lets hope she's able to confirm her entry soon.
But who the hell is Victoria O'Brien ? That's not the name on my birth certificate!
| 60kg | ||||||||||
| GEVERS Jeannette (AUS1962F1) | 1962 | AUS | 162.5 | 105.0 | 162.5 | 430.0 | ||||
| VASQUEZ Rosemarie | 1970 | PHI | 150.0 | 102.5 | 150.0 | 395.0 | ||||
| AAS Anita | 1965 | NOR | 145.0 | 70.0 | 152.5 | 367.5 | ||||
| IP Wing-Yuk (HKG1961F1) | 1961 | HKG | 122.5 | 70.0 | 145.0 | 337.5 | ||||
| BOMMERSBACH Sabine | 1964 | GER | 115.0 | 57.5 | 122.5 | 295.0 | ||||
| HESS Kerstin | 1968 | GER | 95.0 | 47.5 | 105.0 | 247.5 | ||||
| 67.5kg | ||||||||||
| ORSINI Antonietta (ITA1964F1) | 1964 | ITA | 215.0 | 145.0 | 210.0 | 570.0 | ||||
| O'BRIEN Victoria | 1962 | AUS | 160.0 | 90.0 | 185.0 | 435.0 | ||||
| DE SOUSA Michelle | 1966 | RSA | 145.0 | 60.0 | 162.5 | 367.5 | ||||
| CRAWFORD Tinamarie | 1965 | USA | 125.0 | 60.0 | 142.5 | 327.5 | ||||
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