Western Districts Powerlifting Championships

[Robert]

Today turned out pretty good considering i never placed. I made 'PRs' on all lifts.

Squats were first and i made my first attempt with 297 pounds with no belt or knee wraps. Went right down - ASS TO THE FLOOR and came back up. The last two lifts i used knee wraps but never wrapped them tight just enough and also a belt. My final 3rd lift was 335.5 pounds. It was about 5 pounds over my PR from my last meet. So i was abit worried. Anyway as i had the bar on my traps, it felt pretty light i went down to parallel or so i thought and came back up with ease. It was a great feeling. ;D The reason i say ' or so i though' is after looking at the video footage of myself after the competition all my squats went below parallel which was great. I was pleased with that.

Bench was next. I finished on 247.5 pounds which was good for me, the most i've done so far.

Deadlift now I began with 407 pounds for my first lift. I walked over, bent down and lifted it a 1/4 of an inch. It was hilarious, not for me but for the crowded spectators, lol! I couldn't bend down to grab the bloody bar, the flamin' belt was sticking in to my waist, so bad it hurt. So my next attempt i was lifting with my confidence abit shaken. I turned the belt right around 180 degrees so the buckle was on my back. Made a difference big time. I did this at my last competition but totally forgot to do so here at this meet. I made both my second and third lifts with pretty much ease. My grip was solid and i had more back strength in me to lift more weight. I finished on 423.5 pounds.

You would think i would be upset for not positioning in the comp but i came out the competition feeling great. I made my final squat look easy and it was, and that was the lift i was dreading as squats for me are hard. Turned out to be my best lift.

So i'm syched to get on with my training now. I have the seniors Scottish Powerlifting Competition on April 18th i think so i'll be looking to increase on all my lifts by about 20 pounds or so. The reason for that is i never expected to even come close with the lifts i got today as my training the last couple of months has been crap. My strength went down on squats over that period of time which is why by todays standards, i was surprised with my PR's.

I finished with a total of - 1006.5 pounds which is now the first time ever i have broken the 1000 pound mark.

My bodyweight for today was around 173 pounds.

My brother has video clips of me competiting today, if i figure out how to post them i might put some up.

Robert

[Tim Wescott]

Nice going Robert,congratulations bro. Setting new personal records is just as satisfying as placing a lot of the time.Your performance has improved a lot and this should build your confidence right up for the Senior meet.Did you do anything different this time around? Also how much time did you take off before the meet? Again congrats my friend and train hard .I got a good feeling you`re going to do even better in the meet to come. Good luck !!

[Robert]

Hey Tim,

2 weeks before that meet i began a new routine taken from the book - Dinosaur Training by Brooks D. Kubik. Great book. I began doing squats from the bottom position in a Power Rack, the same for bench presses. i began each lift with the bar resting just above my chest on pins in the Rack. I lowered my reps down to 1 for everything, added in grip training like Farmers Walk, Barbell Grip Holds etc, and did alot of 1/4 rep Squat training in a power Rack. All my training revolved around using the Power Rack. Apart from Power Snatches etc.

I never really took any time off from training before my meet. My workouts however were just basically crap. I never gained any strength, i lost strength doing full squats all the time, and my workouts were just long and boring.

Now i wana setup a routine for this Scottish Competition coming up. Idon't want to be altering my routines, just wana keep one and just add weight to each lift whenever i can. My squats and benches will all start from the bottom position which is alot harder but i like them. They will definetely help me to get stronger for my next event. ;D

Robert

[GerryT]

Heard a couple of raves about the Kubik book. It was mentioned on IOL forum a while back.

Congratulations! Agree with Tim, those personal best lifts are your victory. Good luck with future meets.

[Robert]

Thanks Gerry. That Kubik book is probably thee best book i have bought so far. I bought 'Super squats' too but to be honest compared to 'Dinosaur Training' its nothing. I wasted my money buying super squats.

If your thinking about buying Dinosaur training, do it, its a great read and has great info on strength and bulk training.

Robert

[Tim Wescott]

Robert, Many moons ago in the 70`s when I competed as a powerlifter we would always do partials on benches,and deads,then do mega-heavy half-squats to a bench.This type of training is great for adding poundages to your lifts.We would set the pins hifgh in the rack at times for partial benches then every week ,or when possible lower the pin by one hole.Doing this enabled me to bench around 230 at 126 pounds.Not much but not bad eother for a stick like me.I never got beat on the bench in a contest at my weight .I paused 220 at a meet with a long pause but felt if I had stck with powerlifting and didn`t overtrain so much I could have been prettty good.Rack training is the sh*t! No bands,chains,or box squats back then but pulling,and benching in the rack worked great for us!Good luck in the next meet ,give `em hell.

[Robert]

Thanks TJ. Rack work is great. Really helps improve all my lifts. You know, its never too late to compete in Powerlifting. You could do both Bodybuilding and Powerlifting.

[Tim Wescott]

I was thinking about doing them both but right now with my vehicle situation I have to put any goals I`ve set on hold and just train at home to try and maintain a bit of what I`ve gained.Very limited equipment wise...I feel like I`m racing the clock and have to try desperately to hold onto my size.Power will definately go down but it will come back fairly fast once I get back into a real gym. HELP !!!