Again light weight session today. Even with less weight compared to Monday. Just focused on technique, speed and feeling. Friday is the final training and then I”ll see if my body can increase the speed with a little bit more weight.
Today a recovery training…. and now step by step getting ready for Sunday’s meet 🙂 Up till that day I 2 light trainingsession ahead 😉 Like ‘always’ light weight 🙂 This trainingsession lasted 45 minutes….
Today I had my final semi heavy light weight training session befor next week meet. I made doubles with weights just under the openers I planned for next week. Although I’m looking forward lifting on a platform, IÂ feel I got a mental barrier.
Due the lack of control of my energy and current mental capacity (belastbaarheid), I’m curious if I can handle the crowd and the amount of incentives (like noice). The easiest way to handle your fair is to face it….. Nevertheless the coming week will cost me some energy. It is awesome for myself that I will lift next week, although the weights are less than I’m used to lift compared to what I lifted in the past.
I consider it as a challenge to lift (sub) maximum, within the possibilities I got. The biggest boundary will be to keep (maximum) pressure out of my head 🙂 So therefor I’m lifting with my mouth open. This makes it easier to manage the breathing towards my stomach and when I’ve got pressure on my head it will be at the back of my head.
Back to today’s training 🙂  To honour the start of my lifting career I worn my retro lifting shoes. The NIKE Air Force I (25th Anniversary edition). Just to keep to focus on my technique and bring some Ointment in the training, so Manion was there.
Here I worn them at my first Nationals (juniors 1987, which I won) 18 years old 🙂
This week has been one of the toughest for me. Up till now! It was even harder than week 2 were I was struggling with 90KG’s on the bar for reps.
.
This past week I had a hard time juggling my daily activities like work, training, social life, eating and sleeping. Not all of this went as planned. Leaving me feeling kind of restless and unbalanced. It does not take a genius to figure out that this had an effect on my mindstate and the central training. Something most people can relate to every now and then. For me it is something I dont want to be familiar with. I strive to be on top of my game and forget that I’m still human.
.
Training with a head full of thoughts makes lifting a way more challenging a.k a. H E A V Y.
I had a hard time seeing things in perspective. Instead of focussing on what is there and the progress I allowed my low energy to take over and made me only see what is not there.
.
Coach gave me a hard time. He didn’t had time to join my pitty party and told me to get my
S H * TÂ together. No mercy was his mindset. And If my intention was not what it needed to be I should not aspect the weights to move at all. It took me more than a minute to suck it up and not let my mood get in the way of my GOALS. “Not during this central training and for sure not @the long run.”
.
Can I have one KILO/LBS of well developed P E R S P E C T I V E please?
Meaning: the proper or accurate point of view or the ability to see it: objectivity!!!
.
Well for me that is some food for thought. Some soulfood that is much needed and appreciated to recognise what I’m doing and am able to do. Putting all my doubts away and allow myself to be disoriented learning new stuff. Feeling out of control & trusting the proces.
.
Despite all of this I was still able to work myself through an unforgettable training. Alongside coach Wim, my sister @ilyscious helped me by literally having my back. If you ever need a spotter just give her a call. Eventhough she told me ‘I’m hard to spot’. That is the understatement of this week.
.
《《 Key note》》: I’ve got my squat and deadlift suit tailored. They are tighter than before. I’m so happy, because now I feel what compression does when the technique is right. For now I’ll save you my experience on how things go down hill when the technique is off ?
.
Click here to watch a recap of yesterday’s training. (or below)
3×135KG SQUAT
3×150KG SQUAT
3×160KG SQUAT EQUIPPED
3×72,5KG BENCH
                                                                                3×185KG DEADLIFT EQUIPPED
.
.
â–ª Gratefull & Pleasedâ–ª with all the progress â–ª
Because I’ve got one semi heavy light weight session planned for the Dutch Classic Powerlifting Nationals on Sunday, I challenged myself in the variation of the excersises. Due this variations it’s help me to focus on Sunday, because my body will have some reaction although I trained with light weights today 🙂
After the normal warming-up I did the following variations:
Wobbly squats with bands + chains. Loaded normally 90kg, each side 15kg dumbells and each side approx. 15kg chain. Approx 150kg in total, 3 sets with 2 reps.
With Deadlift I was standing on a platform of approx. 10 centimeters. 3 sets of 2 reps with 160kg + chains.
Bench press 3 sets of 2 reps with loaded normally 70kg + chains + each side 10kg hanging in bands.
Tomorrow Iris will have another equipped trainingsession 🙂
My first week of training is over. In general this is called ‘light’. It would be, if you take long and long breaks, technicalities neglected. But let this be exactly what we are working on.
For me, this is, for the time being, a super way of training. Why you might think! It’s all because I notice that my aches have the time to recover. I also feel that I can become less uncertain during the lifts. Due to the fact that a lot of attention is paid to my technique. I have had one training that was high in the amount of kilos. I can not yet notice that a transfer has been made but that will undoubtedly come. What has come to my attention is that I am much more aware of my technique and even more aware of this sport by making a small evaluation after each training session. That even after 1 week. That is why I am more curious about what is yet to come. After all, I am only one week away. In any case, this promises to be an interesting ride!
Yesterday I got the results of the neuro psychological tests. The results have determined that there is no memory disorder. Unfortunately the test results indicate that my memory is average compared to the people who have my work and / or level of education. Some tests are above average and some are excellent. So that is the good part. Medically there is no problem and yet I experience there is. My energy level isn’t what it used to be. Hopefully the sleepingtest can give the doctor and myself the information I need to change my current sleep rhythm to a normal “regular” sleep rhythm. I’m hoping that this helps me to charge my personal battery, so I can manage to do at least the same (or even more) like I did before.
Due the tough 2,5 years my mind can still be overloaded. Especially because of my bad sleep rythm. The most important thing remains; still after 1 year the pain is still gone :-D. I have to treasure that…….
Today’s training went steady….. after I did some personal steps…. 🙂
After normal warming-up and squat warm-ups I did:
Wobbly pause squats 3×3 110kg (plus 30kg dumbells) total 140kg
Followed by normal warm-up deadlift with
3×3Â 160kg (plus chains) total I don’t know yet, because I don’t know the weight of the chains.
Finally I bench pressed and did my normal warm-up. Finished with
wobbly bench press 3×3 90kg (plus each side 7,5kg) total 105kg.
Every SUNday I review my week and all my sins 🙂
Well today it’s evaluationday. This comes after judgementday a.k.a. the weekly central training.
.
.
Five weeks @ following this new programm feels like a rollercoaster. An interesting and unpredictable ride I must say. Eventhough we know where we are working towards. Ahum….at least one of us does.
.
.
My third equipped training is a fact. Squats were a big challenge. I’m much aware of being out of my comfort zone. My head and body are trying to speak the same language when It comes down to  speeding up the lift. But mostly to ‘let go’. I’m not affraid of failing a squat…I’m just not looking forward to get comfortable staying down..d.d.d.down there.
.
.
.
.
I’m stunned about the fact that my light training sessions seem to pay off. Especially when it comes down to my technique. I’ve noticed that my style is changing and I think for the better. When my lifts are wobbly, tensionless, look like dive bombs; ‘you name it’ I’ve done it… I can reproduce what I did wrong and am able to act on it in the next set/rep/training. Click here to watch a part of yesterday’s training and know what I mean.
.
.
All the mobility exercises are beneficial to my bench press. There is still a lot work to be done. Focussing on my set up…leg drive…and placement of the barrrr
.
.
On deadlifts I’m amazed about the KG’s the suit is making me pull. And the speed that comes with it. Needless to say that I almost started with squats in my deadlift suit :-). Lucky for me coach keeps an eye on everything. Especially on me and makes sure I don’t get lost in this world of endless possibilities, reps and sets.
.
.
If it was not for him I would still be walking around in my suit this weekend. Because I couldn’t get out of my belt. It must have something to do with being : EQUIPPED IN BEING CLUMSY.
Today I did a semi heavy light training session. This gave me the information for the upcoming meet that’s planned within 2 weeks.
Watch the final sets below in the video. Glad that my big friend Brad Gillingham sent me a video of his latest deadlifting session 🙂
This gave me the Ointment to get Manion ;-)….. The squat warm-up went a little bit roughly….. so I had to push myself to hit my final set. Glad I squatted 2x 202,5kg… Besides the normal focus that it requires to train, the biggest challenge for me is to be aware that I have to keep the pressure out of my head…. Therefor I squat, bench press and deadlift with my mouth open…. The habbit is ofcourse to close your mouth, so you can put pressure all over your body…. including your head ! As you can see in the photo of my final IPF Worlds Masters Powerlifting……
After squats I did my deadlifts….. for me that are the easier excersises where I can focus on  keeping the pressure off my head….. Bench press is the hardest….. Although deadlifting warm-up felt a little bit stiff….. it is easier for me to push the button “turbo” :lol:….. Final deadliftset was 2x 215kg + chains on each side 🙂 The last two weeks bench press is going better, because my left arm is becoming “stronger” and I was able to finish with 2x120kg…. Coming week I have some recovery work outs on the menu, like always…… light weight baby 🙂