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!