The last push for the WPC Worlds with a new nutritional sponsor, METAL NUTRITION!

It has been ages since I have updated my blog in any way, so once again a small recap is in place!

The second year of Uni started and now, finally, I have four solid weeks. It has been a whirlwind of traveling and occasions and with that whirlwind I almost had to flush my World Championship goals down the toilet, and actually I partially had to.

The traveling takes its toll!

After a long seven month off-season I had a good off-season shape, going up to 300kg for a touch on the bench, weighing around 117kg. Did also 290 in a competition that we were running, which is a severe handicap and therefore a satisfactory result without peaking.

From the end of semester in Uni and after pushing through the amazing European Championships here in UK with my wife and the fabulous BPU team we headed for a deserved “holiday” (working, writing, training, checking universities, renewing our vow etc.) in Texas! Texas treated us well and we both gained strength, Emma didn’t gain weight but I gained it on behalf of her also… But the most important thing was that strength went up good. Even when I had to switch to less heavy duty single ply bench shirt (became too heavy for my Metal Pro that is meant for me at 110kg class) I still did 333kg for a touch after just 3 weeks in Texas. I was setting my dreams on either dieting down to 110kg and doing 330+ there, or doing 125kg class and going for the biggest UK bench ever, 352.5kg.

Neither of those goals held.

Weight gain was mostly water, but there was enough muscle gained through off-season to ditch the dreams of 110kg class without a severe dieting, and with traveling I deemed that too stressful a plan. So the alternative seemed realistic and fanciable, benching more than anyone in UK before. Now as a resident, married in and citizenship pending I am almost a British gentleman, and they record my lifts in the all-time UK list. It would have been fitting to snatch that title, if for nothing else then just for the piss-taking rights when training with Big Andy Bolton, a man who actually holds the biggest squat, bench, deadlift and total in the UK ever. And I felt it doable in single ply, to add insult to injury! But talk is cheap and in all honesty that goal is now toned down a bit. Not forgotten though! The best part of it is that Andy himself is actually helping me to achieve that goal as we train in Leeds. That is sportsmanship!

Andy B.

Then the traveling, organising, stressing and all that goes with it started. Countries and cities changed, everywhere there was too much to do. Countless hours spent on coaches, trains and otherwise sitting down, equipment being hauled and lifted and competitions ran. People to meet, things to do, paperwork calling from the background. All of my own doing though, and most of the stuff done very much my own choice.

One of the recent trips, a trip to Finland to Metal Nutriton Expo!

I have always despised people who hide behind not having time if they truly do have. And I did. By cutting some time from sleep we almost always got our workouts in. The effect was shite, they were done in the puniest gyms, sometimes even those dreaded commercial mouse wheel storages where everybody wears brand clothing and electronics worth more than a monolift. And therein lies the problem. Too much resolve and stubbornness, too little self-reflection. All those half-assed, ground out workouts did was to exacerbate pre-existing naggles and injuries and take away from the recovery of the main workout. Old story. You tell your clients to tone down training, your friends to tone down training. In the same situation you yourself push through and end up injured or just plain weak.

The result of those weeks at the end? Weight down a little, shoulders inflamed, torn groin and bench down about ten kg. So time to cry and ditch all dreams?

No.

Now I made a reasonable, recoverable plan for the rest of the time I have (namely, four full weeks) to maximize what I can. On the upside I have been handling 300kg+ (biggest board press 365kg) on the bench press for about 12 weeks every weeks so that has certainly normalised as a weight to handle, and technique is relatively good. The base is built so now focusing on the essentials, benching twice a week and doing less assistance, I believe a decent shape will be found. Goals have been set to only beating the 330kg mark, in 125kg weight class. That will bring me a new PB and this has been a valuable lesson altogether. If on the day more is possible, of course it will be lifted.  The plan was hatched together with Emma’s coach, Mike Womack and will be put to fruition starting now!

The sponsorship

To make the best out of these four weeks I will for the first time in my life embark on a serious mission with food and supplements. Eggs, Skyr, rye bread (Finnish rye bread, not the nonsense British one), cucumber, tomatoes, turkey, potatoes and assorted other veggies are the mainstay. On top of that I will attack the supplements with my sponsorship stuff accordingly:

Morning and night time I have a shake of their Protein 100, forest berry flavour is really good and agrees with my stomach so that’s the choice for me.

During training: Iron zone, EAA drink to be drank during training. First time ever testing this and
hoping for it to give me an edge in recovery. This and a bottle of fruit juice keep me going for the training!

After training: Ano’s after, a glutamine and creatine fortified recovery drink with half and half carbs and proteins, I mix about 150 grams of the powder in a pint of filtered water to be consumed after training.

On top of that some vitamins and minerals like D, C, zinc and magnesium. But on the micronutrient field I think I am covered with healthy food and lots of veggies and fruit.

Starting point:

Morning weight: 127.4

Newest InBody machine-measured fat percentage: 26.8 (horrible, hopefully down a bit next time I step on the machine with EasyWay who I count on doing my measurements)

Bench press comp PB:

320kg@124kg,           302.5@109kg

Gym lifts:

333kg single ply touch@131kg,

4.5” board press 365kg

This weeks training sessions and their main lifts:

Monday: Ralls Gym Leeds

Bench with single ply Katana: 5x180, 3x220, 1x260, 1x290, warm ups as low as it gets, the last one toa  1.5” board.

4.5” board: 3x295, 2x315, 1x335, and ending up with fooling around with 260, doing ten reps to a good lockout.

Raw with minibands 4x3x120-160

Recovery work

The final set:

Tuesday: London, Hammersmith

A tired assistance workout for recovery, 3x10 and 1x20 with 100kg on the bench to recover from Monday and assorted assistance

Wednesday: London, Waterloo

Some deadlifts to warm up

Emmas Partial deadlifts 3x10x140, 190, 220

Strict barbell rows, no belt, wrist straps. Working up to a drop set of 10x132.5, 10x100, 10x70

Upper back and abs

Thursday: Manchester, Olympic Gym

Behind the neck presses to warm up

Speed bench with Bench Daddy: 6x1x220, 3x220

Triceps pushdowns on pulldown machine 4x6-20x30-90kg

Assorted stretchy assistance

Some speed benching with a bit of a wobble and swearing.

Friday: Olympic Gym, Ashton

Squats 6x5x100-140, 1x160, 1x180, 3x3-5x140 First time going over 100kg after the groin tear. Felt good, even though very careful descent.

Rounded back straight leg deadlifts: 4x5x100

Leg press, adducto/abductor , twisted lunges, calf raises and one leg curls, all kinda stretchy and just to fix the groin.

Saturday:
70 minutes of stretching.

I must say with the new supplement regime, adequate sleep and relatively steady living (this week we visit 4 different cities but they are all within 300 miles so we count that as little traveling) I feel really good. Next week the idea is to push the shirted bench work sets up 10kg with the same reps!

A big thank you to the amazing staff at Olympic Gym and Rall’s Gym, to my sponsors Metal Sport and Wear and Metal Nutrition and of course my wife, having the best female bencher in the world and the best strength sports psychologist in the world in ones bedroo.. I mean corner, is a great asset! 

Next update coming next Sunday!

To fly like an eagle or to lift like an ox, everyone needs his moments.

Half a year has elapsed since my last blog post, and the reasons are full time University studies, helping in the running of the British Powerlifting Union with my wife Emma and of course training, traveling, competing, announcing and everything that goes with it.

But today I felt compelled to write! My wife is writing on almost the same topic as I am, as we are both unbelievably enthusiated by one thing: 

Eddie the Eagle Movie!

What a phenomenal piece of work it was. It is a story of Eddie Edwards, a young plumber from Cheltenham who wanted to be in the Olympics. And he did not win, he did not place, but fuck me he got there. Most of us know Eddie's story before as he has been the crowd favourite in Finland as well as his home country of UK.

But that movie embodied so much that you sometimes miss, even in the sporting movies that root for the underdog. A feel good family movie but packed more punch than boxing, running or other memorable sporting movies. And it all boiled down to one thing: 

It is not about winning, it is the frigging struggle!

I felt incredible pride in what we are doing with the BPU right now and what I do in my home country of Finland with beginners competitions and the Nationals I am promoting. As many know, we have in BPUthe drug tested side and the non tested side. And the idea is to make everyone equal in that sense, respect everyone's choices to compete using steroids or compete on an even playing field without them. Compete with supportive equipment or to compete RAW, once again in level playing field. And, more importantly than the level playing field, give everyone the platform. We have had 220kg RAW benchers crying for joy over 100kg deadlifts by teen lifters. Not because it is a World Record, but because it is the effort they know have gone into it.

I do admin and run comps and haul equipment, and Emma does even more. I feel like a damn accountant sometimes, trying to send a hundred letters of memberships etc. more often than not late. But I feel pride in giving the platform and being part of something that is so unbelievably positive. 

We have hundreds of members, including all time record holders and world champs, but the truth is, most of the lifters will never achieve that. And it is for those lifters and because of those lifters the federation runs. They bring in the joy, the support and the mass of members. The world champions lift in multiple feds and will always fit in, because they are alfa males and females, at least in some sense. But even they cheer for the small guys and the underdogs. Because they all earn the respect by doing what they can, within limitations and desires, to the utmost personal best.

I often as an announcer overuse hyping up a lift as a lifter;s personal best. That is simply because I see that as the single most important record one can break. It sounds tacky, but that is the way it is. 

Movie hitting home

The number one reason why I (as Emma) felt compelled to write something, was that the movie struck me hard personally. I was close to tears one dozen times for Christ's sake. The reason is, that Eddie did not win. And everyone told him that he would not.

When I was lifting as a kid, I was told the same thing over and over again. I was told to go to some other gym, as a fat, long haired kid did not fit certain gyms. At the gym's Christmas party I was asked to perform a posedown because of it's humour value, I would have even be paid to be the laughing stock with m long hair and seriously obese physique. And I was shit at every single sport there is. Not good even at throwing stuff.

10 years old and 90kg or more. Not a climber or a distance runner. (although a wicked hiker compared to any modern fit kids)

I was envious, but never bitter, to guys who could pop open a can of steroids and lift 3 days a week with a shit program and bench 200 RAW, whereas I remember struggling with shoulder injuries before benching 100 the first time (at 125kg bodyweight, mind you). I had, and still have, moobs and everything nowadays proclaimed worthy of having male body image issues.

But I stuck to it. Not because I thought I would be in the Olympics, but because I felt my small successes would make me prouder. And I did not go to the lengths of Eddie by jumping off giant hills, but I did, and will always do, pretty insane shit at the gym, numerous times brushing with actual Death (300kg on the throat on bench for example) and have injured myself more than I can count.

And I have read literally thousands of pages of books and articles to get better.

And I feel in my own way I did what Eddie did. I got something I was proud of. Even though it was not the best result ever, I benched my long time dream of 200, then 300. I got the World Champion title of the two biggest Pro federations in the world in 2014 and 2015 respectively. But those weren't the star moments. My star moment was bronze at the Nationals in Finland, 2008 or 2007. My first comp as an Open lifter at National level, after I had been sure and assured by many I can't do it. That is the only time after competition I have cried of joy. And ever since I haven't really cared about the naysayers patting me in the back. It doesn't matter when you know what you have done and what makes you proud.

Las Vegas and bronze at the WPC Worlds

My bench record is almost 100kg less than the all time record that some freaks in the same weight class has lifted. I am not even in the top 20 of all time benchers in my classes, and maybe never will be. But that is not the point. I had my moment, like Eddie. I did something that cleansed my soul and will keep on doing it. And set new goals.To some they are big, to some they are shit. For me they are mine.

The moment I surely knew I have made it.

Frankly, I don't give a shit if I ever break any all time record of everything. As long as I have my moments and my pride. And through BPU and my own competitions in Finland I will offer those moments for other people. The scrawny Asian kids who don't know you have to wear long socks in the deadlift, those housewives who have rehabbed thei backs and want to lift, men making their powerlifting debuts at the age of 63, the guys going for the all time world records, the rank novices and everything in between. 

To anyone who wants, just for a moment, to soar like an eagle.

Eddie the Eagle, made it to the Olympics