With doing the last one early because of Christmas, it’s been a little while since i’ve done one of these! That’s means there’s lots of PBs to get through and even some first competition results of the year so lets get straight to it.
In our one to ones, Paul has been flying high hitting PBs in the Bench Press of 127.5 x1 and 117.5 x3. He’s also hit 3RMs in the Deadlift at 175kg, Front Squat of 105kg and Squat of 130kg (although he’s going to repeat his Squat 3RM as I wasn’t there and I feel he had questionable depth.
Standards
Standards are a weird thing, if you compete then your standards should be competition standards, but if you don’t what are they? Sure you could just adhere to the competition standards, but then why? What if your training goals or body doesn’t fit to those standards and it’s more trouble than it’s worth trying to adhere to them?
This is a conversation I had with Paul earlier in the month. He will be repeating his 3RM Squat because I know he can hit an unquestionable depth, however he doesn’t compete so on his Deadlift we discussed maybe making his main variation a low block (Bar raised literally an inch) due to it improving the quality and the consistency of his deadlift and in particular his start position. We also discussed why it doesn’t matter if he both, doesn’t need to pause on the bench and why it doesn’t matter if his bum comes off the pad a little on max attempts.
He’s gen pop who follows a predominantly powerlifting style split to get strong, but he’s not a powerlifter, so why do Powerlifting rules apply? I’d be interested to hear others thoughts on this.
Sam has been flying high and most things at the minute are PBs which is obviously a nice place to be. He’s hit PBs in the Deadlift of 145kg x5, 155kg x3 & 160kg x2 along with PBs in the Zombie Front Squat and Squat of 60kg x5 and 105kg x3. His Bench Press is flying hitting a new 1RM of 77.5kg and he also hit a new 8RM on RDLs of 105kg.
How do I know his Bench Press is flying? The you take a weight you’ve never done before for a whirl and are disappointed you didn’t get 2 or 3 through losing your line rather than a strength issue, you know you’re flying.
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Our hybrid athletes have had a great month and i’m going to start with James who hit a wealth of PBs, especially overhead, in the run up to UKNS. James hit Axle Push Press PBs of 112.5kg x3, 115kg x3 & 120kg x1. He also hit Axle FTOH PBs of 117.5kg x1 and 125kg x1. James lower body strength is also flying hitting a 170kg Front Squat and a Deadlift PB thats been 4 years coming at 240kg x1 and 220kg x3 online the way to that too. Finally in James weightlifting endeavours he hit PBs in the Snatch of 62kg x2 & Jerk of 105kg x2.
The Difference
Something I do with all my guys is keep an absolute load of PBs, basically for everything, whether it’s a bent over row, a side bend or a deadlift, you’ll have a max, not always a 1RM, but you will have maxes.
The reason I bring this up is that James max Axle Push Press is about 7.5kg lower than on a barbell and his Axle FTOH with a Jerk is around 12.5kg higher than his Axle FTOH with a Push Press. So what does this mean?
Different bars react differently due to the properties they possess and it means that if we weren’t to differentiate between the bars or the style in which you perform Axle FTOH, we could end up working at the wrong rep ranges and intensities causing problems within the training cycle.
Big Jo has had a nice training cycle since Christmas and has hit some nice PBs in the Good Morning at 150kg x6 and 160kg x5, and the Deadlift finally busting past that 260kg x1 and then taking his max higher to 270kg. He also matched his Push Press PB of 120kg putting him in a good place for UKNS Junior on the 28th January.
After Maries last competition it was apparent we needed to work on her Jerk… Well, I’m just going to give you a list of those PBs
Jerk - 52kg x4
Jerk - 53kg x4
Jerk - 54kg x3
Jerk - 54kg x4
Jerk - 55kg x4
Jerk - 56kg x3
Jerk - 57kg x3
Jerk - 58kg x3
Jerk - 58kg x4
Jerk - 60kg x2
Jerk - 61kg x2
I guess you cold say the plan worked well! Within the same training cycle she has hit Block Snatch & Block C&J PBs of 47kg x3 and 56kg x1+3 along with a Push Press PB of 47kg x4 and a new 3RM Squat of 90kg. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking to take that 100kg Squat then we’ll start to link together this new strength in the Jerk with her Cleans.
Liam is hitting PBs left right and centre in Prep for his second Powerlifting meet, however, they are all weights he’s done before, just not at those volumes. People talk about volume PBs alot, but for some reason they rarely track them. Liam hitting 6x6 at 180kg in the Deadlift is big because it sets a new baseline, a new minimum if you will in terms of what is regarded as a training weight.
Minimums
Everyone focusses on maximums, even in this blog I focus on the maximums and stopped off to talk about why you should track them, but the minimums are important also. Maxes are fleeting, your strength can fluctuate by up to 10% a day and to hit a true max you have to prep and ramp up your nervous system. The minimums are what i’d class as an everyday training weight. It’s something that’s repeatable and it’s a weight that will cause adaptation.
The further you get out from your max, the more repeatable it is, if your repeatable weights are trending up, thats a signal good things are happening, even if the 1RMs don’t say it yet.
Olivia hasn’t hit any PBs this month, but I do want to give her a mention. Olivia had her collarbone broken in a rugby match due to a high tackle in early January, her arm is currently in a sling so she is limited in what she can do. After the game it took her 4 days to get a diagnosis from the hospital and then back into the gym after a couple of conversations with me.
Does her training look different? Ofcourse. It’s currently very dumbbell and machine heavy. Resting stuff on her back or front is a no go, she only has use of 1 arm and anything thats impact based or a fall hazard like sprinting or jumping is out die to her ability to catch herself being diminished.
In terms of lower body, we can train both sides, but in terms of upper body we can only train one side, will that make her imbalanced? Short term no, and with any luck we’ll get a cross education effect to help retain strength and size on the immobilised side.
Anyway, I just thought that that was worth mentioning, both because it’s interesting and because Olivia is showing the mindset of a champion.
Scott is enjoying his first competition prep and has hit PBs in Axle CTOH of 65kg x1+5 and 70kg x1+2 along with a new 1RM Squat of 132.5kg while also ticking a stone off his list and putting the 100kg stone over a 48in yoke.
Competition Prep
Something Scott mentioned was how much focus he had for his training with a competition on the horizon. I always feel competition brings the best out of people and their training. It creates crystal clear unwavering goals and that is priceless. If you’re meandering around training not really getting anywhere i’d urge you to enter a competition. Mentally it’s probably the hardest time for you to enter a competition, but it’s likely the best thing to kickstart your training.
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In the Jen has had a nice month in the Weightlifting Club hitting PBs in the Push Press of 52kg x3, Hang Clean of 60kg x1 and Jerk Grip Strict Press of 40kg. We have a week left of this strength cycle (it’s been a long one) and then we turn our focus to the Nixon Rowell Memorial Cup in May and look to start piecing together the new strength levels with the Competition lifts.
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SM Club
In our Strongman Club Cori had a really nice January hitting a Front Squat PB of 80kg x3, Axle FTOH PB of 80kg x1 and coming 4th in the Teen League Qualifier to put himself into the Finals later in the year.
Moving Events
The Teen league qualifier was Coris first experience of Strongman competition and it was a ride, from having a rep disallowed on the Axle for not waiting for the down signal, to taking his max deadlift for a set of 6. It had everything and was a great learning experience, but rep events are just that, rep events and they’re often strength based and you’re only as strong as you are. Moving events are where you can make up or lose points. It’s where the details really matter and I think that dawned on Cori on the day where seconds separated 1st and 5th place in the sandbag load and the power stairs.
Cori had a near perfect run on the power stairs to take the win in that even, but a fumble on the first bag of the sandbag load cost him about a second and dropped him down the placings in that event.
It was all a great learning experience for him though which at 15 year old, is what it’s about.
George F Has hit 1RMs in his Double Overhand Deadlift of 220kg and Beltless Deadlift at 275kg. George is now starting his prep for BNSF Englands and the focus will now be fully in that going forward.
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In our Online Weightlifting Team Karen has had a nice month hitting a Push Press PB of 50kg as well as PBs in the Snatch of 45kg and what I would call a training make of 46kg.
Standards… Again
This is why I talk about standards, Karen is a Weightlifterand while she has no plans to compete, because of that I have to hold her to the standard of Weightlifting. The 46kg Snatch crashed on her causing a slight arm bend and what would be classed as a press out in competition. Was it good enough to be classed as a make in training? Yes. Would it have passed in competition? Probably not. We’ll work off 46kg as a max going forward because the error was minor, but with Karen being a weightlifter we do have to stick to competition standards when lifting and differentiate what would and wouldn’t be a make in competition.
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Jonny has had a nice time post Christmas hitting many PBs overhead. He’s taken Push Press PBs at 127.5kg x5 & 140kg x3, a Strict Log pb at 120kg x1, and PBs in Axle of 130kg x1+2 and 140kg x1. He also hit a Deadlift PB of 290kg x2 and will be taking an attempt at that long time coming 300kg on a stiff bar. By virtue of finishing on the podium last year, Jonny has already qualified for UKNS Worlds and as such has no competitions in the pipeline (just yet). This has allowed him to train freely with no time constraints and really focus on what he needs to do to fill gaps in his game.
Mark has rounded out his prep for UKNS Scotlands with 1RMs in the Front Squat of 140kg and Axle Push Press of 117kg. Marks goal is to take all the higher weights at the Scottish Qualifier for 1 or 2 reps which will all be PBs.
Oli has ended his prep for UKNS Englands strongly and I think we’ll see a strong performance in the U105 category from him in only his second ever Strongman competition. Talk about a baptism of fire.
We’l round this out with Stephen who finished his training cycle with a 15kg Deadlift PB of 230kg.
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Right, I’m out, I started writing this on my couch and i’ve finished writing it on the Jerk Blocks at the gym eating my lunch and now I’m off to coach Paul to hopefully some new 3RMs in the Front Squat and Axle Push Press.
I hope I’ve shown you value in tracking more than just your 1RMs.
Until next time
Adam
