Wednesday 31st July 2019

Week 1, day 2
Warmups
Bench: warmups, 165x5x4
Deadlifts: warmups, 190x4x3
Cable rows: four sets of 6, single armed
Pulldowns, face pulls

Notes
Felt too tired to deal with the morning, so trained in the evening.  Still tired but was pretty solid.

Monday 29th July 2019

Evening
Chins: 0x8x3
Shoulders raises, tricep pushdown and bicep curls

Notes
Additional work

Monday 29th July 2019

Week 1, Day 1
Warmups
Bench: warmups, 155x7x3
Squat: warmups, 160x5x3
Paused pin press: warmups, 150x6, 152.5x6

Notes
Ok day, tired like normal.

Saturday 27th July 2019

Week -1, Day 4
Bench: warmups, 167.5x4x2
Paused deadlift: warmups, 162.5x3
Pendlay row: warmups, 120x5
Paused pin press: warmups, 160x3, 165x3 @6

Notes
Long day traveling, buying new weights, and eating garbage.  Rushed the warmups so everything hurt.  Time to rest.

Friday 26th July 2019

Week -1, Day 3
Warmups
Highbar squats: warmups, 147.5x7
Chins: 0x8x3
Hip thrust: purplex12, purple+blackx12, purple+black+2redsx12

Notes
Eh, about that.

Wednesday 24th July 2019

Evening extra work
Rows: up to 35kg single arm x10
Pulldowns: up to 50x12x3
Facepull: purple band x12x3

Notes
Additional work in the evenings to get thing moving.  Also did one on Monday for shoulders, triceps and biceps. 

Wednesday 24th July 2019

Week -1, Day 2
Warmups
Bench: warmups, 160x5x3
Deadlifts: warmups, 185x4x1

Notes
Not a fast session but it was ok.  Light enough for both movements.  Also purchased a few second hand weights.  Likely its somebody profiting off the trademe weights I missed out on, but they are better than nothing, even if I pay a bit more, will give me a total of 345kg of plates, and 20kg of bar.  Likely wont fit on the bar at the same time :) but that' ok.  As long as I can fit over 250kg, I am ok with that.  Will also get a second bar, or a SSB at some point. 

Will do some rows and stuff tonight. 

Monday 22nd July 2019

Week -1 Day 1
Warmups
Bench: warmups, 150x7x2
Squat: warmups, 155x5x2
Long pause 1board: warmups, 140x6, 145x6

Notes
Will train some bodybuilder stuff tonight, along with back.  Starting a week early, hence the week -1, mainly to get me on track.  Long pause on the 1board was garbage. Don't know if it was purely from being sore outta Saturday, or that i let it sink too much, or that I tried a metronome to help time it, but it sucked.  Will move to paused pin presses, normal bench grip, set at Rack Height #24, so a good arch, and it touches the chest. 

Saturday 20th July 2019

Warmups
1board: warmups, 180x1, 200x1, 210x1, 217.5x1, 222.5x1, 227.5x1
Bench: 100x60
Walk: 30mins
Tricep extensions, pushdowns and stuff

Notes
Pretty fun mess around day.  Just kept adding weight and ended with a pretty good PR on the top of it all, for 1board (7.5kg heavier than my best ever 11 years ago).  Then my first time doing high rep benches at 100/220, which ended up hurting way more than I thought it would.   Woop.  Gonna start my program for nationals next week. 

Monday 15th July 2019

Warmups
Pause hibar squats: warmups, 140x8 @5-6, 120x8x3
Paused medium grip larson press: warmups, 125x8 @5-6, 110x8x3
Lu raises: 2.5x8, 5x8x3
Overhead tri-ext: 20x8x2, 22.5x8
Db curls: 10x8x3

Notes
A week off.  Had done a couple of messing around workouts, but no real bench work.  Transitioning for a couple of weeks before starting the block leading towards the national bench championships.  Tiem to raise the bar. 

Wellington and Central Powerlifting Association Bench Press Championships, 2019, Viking Brothers Strength and Conditioning , Pito-One

Ok.

Multiple weeks of training for less than an hour of real work.

Left home around 8.30, grabbed some fuel and then drove for ~1.5hours to Lower Hutt, NZ.  Grabbed some online purchases and then to Viking Brothers Strength and Conditioning gym.  Looked a bit smaller than I expected, but packed with lifters and really vocal crowd.  I weighed in at 12, #2 on the list so pretty quick - ~117.7ish kg, guzzled a ton of my drink to rehydrate, then gear check and out to grab some food.  McDonalds :)  Only because I had more time before my lifting than normal, as my bench meet was in the middle of a three lift.

Warmed up quite early, again.  I have to figure this one out a little better.  Started benching, and managed to snag a rack to myself and didn't have any issues with that, bar, 70, 120, 150, 172.5, more at the lower, less at the higher.

First attempt - 190kg - WPCA Open and M1 record.  Got a lift off for this one, waaaaay too low, so had to pull it back into position to start.  Down, up, good lift.

Second attempt - 202.5kg - Competition PR and WPCA Open and M1 record.  Lifted off myself.  Comfortable.  Fast.  Slightly slower on the right hand side, but thats normal.

Third attempt - 213kg - Competition PR, NZPF National M1, WPCA Open and M1 record.  Got a lift out.  Felt heavy as shit.  Got the start command, took it down, paused (which felt quite long) and then drove up, and ran smack into the sticking point and stopped.  No lift.

So, placed first in a class of one.  Placed second overall on IPF points - which I believe I could have achieved if I was a bit less aggressive with my third attempt.

So.  What do I have out of this meet.

Hunger to lift heavier.  That is a normal thing.

Happy that I hit a new PR.  Happy that I have the local records.  Happy that I took the attempt at the National record.  But never happy, ever.

1. I will do self lift-offs for my future competitions.  Its not hard, I am not a massive archer, just pick it up and then I can only blame myself.
2. Train with more of the competition pattern.  So lift off, hold, down, pause, up, hold, down, etc etc.
3. Do some heavier singles/practice during training.  Currently blocking out four weeks of moderate singles across the peaking phase of the block.
4. Considering a few items around the secondary movements.   Considered pin press, but think long pauses will achieve the loading frame I want.  Would also lower the absolute loading I use, so I think its ok. 
5. Follow my RPEish targets much more tightly than I have been.  Having a little freedom to move around the % base is fine, but going from 8 to 10 RPE is not so fine.  A bit of freedom is not an excuse to go for a new PR every week.

I have ~11 weeks until my next competition, the NZPF Bench Press Nationals.  I have a nine week program planned, and then a good 'off-season' aka, losing fat and gaining muscle season.  My next 11 weeks have a good plan.
Next two weeks is adapting to a new dietary pattern, with higher protein.  Then dieting for a few weeks, followed by maintaining until competition.  I want to come in underweight, not excessively, but I want to be able to eat through to my meet.   Not quite grow into the meet.  Then if required, do a small water cut to force through the weight class. 

Wreck on.

Wednesday 3rd July 2019

Week 11, Day 2
Warmups
Bench: warmups, 155x3x3

Notes
Easy enough day.  Shoulders hurt a bit, but may not have warmed up the best.  Trained in the evening. 

Monday 1st July 2019

Week 11, Day 1
Warmups
Bench: warmups, 185x1x3

Notes
Ok, sore, tired.  Resting up time.