Road to First Meet

Some Stats As Of 12/02/18 (will update below)
Age: 16
BW:68.5Kg
Bench 1RM: M: 80KG
Squat 1RM: 97.5KG
Deadlift 1RM: 120KG

Workout 12/02/18
15 Weeks and 4 days out from first meet
Today was the first workout with my brand new belt (Strength shop’s 10mm lever belt FYI) and was the first day of the program i will be doing for the build up to the meet which is Calgary Barbells 16 week program. Now, because my numbers are still low, and i believe i may progress too fast for this program, I may increase the 1RM to an estimated 1RM at different intervals during the program. That said here was the first workout:
Comp Squats: 4x7 65KG
-This was my first ever time using the belt and it felt great. I did body weight squats at home and it felt like the belt dug into my ribs slightly so I put it slightly higher and it seemed to do the trick and i could still brace into it very well.
-All these sets were pretty easy and would put them around RPE 5

Paused Bench: 4x7 55KG
-I did use the belt on this although i didnt think it would help much, for some reason it helped a ton, and as i was just getting back into benching due to some elbow tendinitis, i thought this was going to be relatively hard. However, got all the reps easily on the first 3 sets, I would say about an RPE 7, then the last maybe around an RPE 8.5. The belt helping me a lot may just be placebo, however i will keep testing this, either way I will still use it as it gives me more confidence.

OHP: 3x8 37.5KG
-This way light for me, however was a bit beaten up after bench so decided to take it slightly easy, i would usually do about 40-45KG for a set of 8
-Overall went well, only using this as an accessory but will be progressing on it.

Barbell Rows: 3x12 55KG
-Again was relatively easy but it makes sure there is room to progress, will be doing at least 60KG for this next week, and then it goes down to 3x8.
-Thing to note is that I dont have chalk right now so the limiting factor on this is actually grip as when i go 65KG+ it tends to be very slippery, will be purchasing some chalk soon.

Overall was a good workout and the next one is tomorrow in which I will be doing some deadlifts and more (:slight_smile:

Hi Louie welcome to the forums.

In for progress on this one.
There is a ton of great lifters around here. They will chime in I’m sure.
And beat @duketheslaya to welcome you here.

Good luck young man.

Welcome, and good luck

Nope. Stick with it. All increasing your max will do is increase risk of missing reps. You don’t need to lift heavier and heavier to get stronger. What will make you stronger is perfecting technique, accumulating volume and recovering. Heavy lifting is for peaking and meet day.

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Thanks man will be updating tommorow :slight_smile:

Young man listen to @MarkKO, there is a ton of wisdom there.

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Ok thanks for the advice! What do you think, say if i am finding every rep easy on week 4, do i just stick with it?

Yes, absolutely. Easy reps are good reps. Any time you start grinding it’s time to call it a day and look very carefully at what you’re doing and how your recovery is going.

Okay, great, thanks for the help, just looked at your stuff and like it so keep it up aswell :smile:

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Nooooo!

Welcome @louiekirk24 we’re the same age.

Haha thanks bro thats cool

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Hopefully im doing this right im just replying to my first post (please help me out if this isnt how your supposed to do it)
13/02/18 Weighed in this morning at 69.1Kg, Im trying to stay under 74kg as thats the weight class however if Im over near the time i wont cut or anything ill just compete in the 83kg class.

Today I was doing some deadlifts and FYI i pull sumo.
I started warming up and felt amazing with the belt and not sure if it was the best thing to do but went for 130KG (10KG overall deadlift pr and around 30KG sumo pr) and hit it. Was relatively slow and legs were shaking a bit but got it up, and i guess thats what to expect with a sump deadlift.

My sets for deadlifts were comp deadlifts (sumo) 85KG for 4 sets of 7 reps which were easy even after the single, but i guess the program is having me build up to harder intensity’s as I go. I did these belt less as there was no need to do them belted.

I moved on to a 3 count pause bench for 3 sets of 7 reps at 47.5KG wand this was my first time doing this exercise and i enjoyed it, although again relatively easy.

Next I moved on to a squat variation and started with front squats. This is my first time doing these and I think i need to work on my wrist flexibility. At first my wrists were extended very far back with just 2 fingers supporing the bar which after the 5 reps made my wrists so stiff i could barely move them around. I tried again but then i didnt extend enough so I was just holding the weight in my hand which also wasnt very comfortable. I ended up just finishing the sets high bar squat although I think my comp squat is slightly more high bar than low bar anyway. I did this at 55Kg and again quite easy.

Lastly the more boring stuff, the program called for 4 sets 8 reps of cable rows mimic-ing your bench press grip. I did chest supported rows at 50KG.

Overall was a fun, solid workout :slight_smile:

I took a upper body progress picture aswell for anyone whos intrested, might do this every month or so:

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Nice workout there Louie :slight_smile:
And you reply as I think everybody does, I do like that.
You can respond to one by clicking reply in that persons post, then he’ll be notified that you did reply.
If you want to adress another person you do that with a @ followed by the name EG @louiekirk24 .
You’ll learn quickly as the log evolves.
If you want form checks lots of guys here are great at that. If you train with a great coach no need to that. Other than brag with some great lifting.
I’ll leave it here and say congrats on the 130 kg DL.
But it was Sumo, that’s the dark side
image

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See? Lots of easy reps and then a PR. Nice work.

Good call with the weight as well. Cutting isn’t a good idea unless you’re going to set some meaningful records.

Yeah man thanks for the advice, what do you think about me pulling sumo when im still quite weak? I hear lots of people saying I should at least build my base conventional first. Im about the same strength on both, but feel im built slightly better for sumo, what do you recommend I use as my comp stance or do you think it doesnt matter too much

It probably doesn’t matter. Whichever you pull on the platform, you should still train the opposite stance some. I could tell you more about which may be best to prioritise if you put up some videos of you pulling both styles with the same weight, maybe next time you’re pulling moderately heavy (so between 90 and 110 kg or so, whenever your program calls for that).

Okay Yeah will do, program calls for 4x7 at 90kg next week so ill do 2 conventional and 2 sumo and record it. I feel my form is a lot better on sumo as i can get my lats tighter and tension in my glutes whereas on conventional there is no tightness whatsoever in my posterior chain, maybe you can help that when i send some videos, thanks for the help, followed ur insta btw and saw u followed back :smile:

That would be an indication to pull sumo now, but also to work on conventional. Broadly speaking issues with the opposite stance can be symptomatic of weaknesses in your main stance. Improve the opposite stance and improve your main stance.

great thanks

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14/02/18
Weighed in at 69.5KG (I weigh myself first thing in the morning if i didnt mention that already.)
Today i was a bit gutted, when i woke up i thought i must have strained something yesterday it felt like, just at my lower rib. It was just awkward and a when i stretched my left side it hurt a little. I was gonna go to the gym and just see what I could do without it hurting, starting with squats. The bar felt fine and slowly built up and used the belt which was a life saver today because it allowed me to train. When i had the belt on im more stable so didnt hurt at all. So i did what my program said.

Pin Squats:
4x6 at 65KG
It said to put pins at normal depth but the power rack and the gym has large spacing between the holes so was very ass to grass, slightly lower than normal. Still was fine with the sets, I kind of pause at the bottom for a 1-2count, not sure if thats what your supposed to do so if anyone knows then would appreciate it, they felt good though.

Pin bench press:
4x6 For 8RPE
After warmups, started at 60KG but I called it more of an 8.5-9 RPE so i dropped to 55KG for a more definite 8 RPE and thats what i would have called it. I used the belt on this aswell just to be safe.

Rows
I was supposed to do 1 arm db rows but i felt that would put strain on that area near my rib so I decided to do some chest supported rows. I did 45kgx8 for 3 sets, nothing too exciting.

I went on to do some abs, some planks supersetted with situps and leg raises.

Overall i still hit all the numbers i needed to pain free so hopefully this heals soon.

Also another quesry, this belt i got is good, but i like to wear it quite low just over my belly button, but it kind of digs into my lower stomach and if i move it higher it digs into my lower ribs, i do have a bit of a short torso maybe thats why, but did anyone else have this problem and will it just fix overtime when i wear the belt in? I got small bruises just above my hip on either side from this, i do not wear it too tight either. Thanks

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With pin lifts I let go of tension when the bar is on the pins so I have to learn how to create tension in that awkward position.

Belt wise my belt still cuts the shit out of me for squats. You get used to it. I wear my belt lower and angled down towards the front for squats and higher and more level for DL, so that could be something to play with.

Good call on the rows, BTW.