3x Contest

May 16, 2009

The day before my 47th Birthday. (Yes, I’ve been officially old for a while now.)

This week there have been a few developments on the training trail.


1. Receipt of BellaDonna. This is my 48 kg Kettlebell. I’ve used her for Suitcase Deadlifts and Farmer’s Walks.

2. Reviewed Pavel’s Return of the Kettlebell (RTK) DVD. This is for the advanced girevik, of which I am not one. It is very interesting and very intense. However, I must complete the goals in Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell (ETK) first. Which are: a. Press the KB nearest half my weight (This would be BellaDonna, aka ‘The Beast’ which is the largest KB that DD makes.); and b. Snatch the 24kg KB for at least 200 reps within 10 minutes. I’m a ways away from finishing those two goals, and the goals and techniques in RTK are even more intense. Time to renew my commitment to the ETK goals, that does not however exclude goals and corrective exercise which have been proscribed by my trainer.

3. Swami sweet talked me into joining him, Galan, and Lard in a contest for largest percentage gain in strength as measured by Squat, Dead Lift (DL), and Bench Press (BP) 1 rep max (RM). Their contest site. I consented to join even though I don’t train DL and BP and my training in the squat is my of a strength endurance (ie 5 x 5) that a maximal strength training. My original thought was to see what sort of gain I would make base on a sort of a WTH effect or rather carry over from my KB and Squat training.

I am positive in the scheme or things this contest is close to irrelevant and to train for it properly would interfere with my KB training. However, I do realize that life takes many unexpected yet wonderful turns. My biggest concern though is injury prevention. I’m obviously not getting any younger and every day not training is a hit. What I mean to convey is that I am concerned for injury because these lifts are outside of either my sport specific movement training or are contrary to my training objectives (if that makes any sense). Any way I may train some grease the grove (GTG) on these movements, and maybe even some partials. I’m still pondering the plan.

Training:

Bench:
Bar (45lbs) x 5
135lbs x 1
205lbs x 1 (I figured – what the heck, throw 70 lbs on there. Turned out to be a good guess.)
215lbs x NA, gently lowered it to the pins confirming that the correct pin/rack setting is #5 for the bench.

I didn’t really expect much out of this one; it is probably the least like anything I train for. The last recollection I have training for this from a 1RM perspective was as a freshman in high school. I think it was 110lbs. Also, I hate pushups. My man bubs are big enough.










Dead Lift:
135lbs x 5
225lbs x 1
295lbs x 1
345lbs x 1
265lbs x Nope

Here’s a question that I’m wondering: When Swami says:

“I warmed up with 135 (5) , then added another 90, then 50, and another 40. I was at 315lbs. I felt I could go another 50lbs, but my back was feeling tired and there was not reason to push it.”

Tassels anyone?


I agree he shouldn’t push and injure himself, however if he has 50lbs more in him that gives him a 16% advantage at the outset. I’m thinking another pull might be in order.

Squat:
135lbs x 1
225lbs x 1
345lbs x 2/Nope I know it’s a big jump. I tried twice, but did not break parallel. (and both Swami and Galan know I love to go deep.)
295lbs x 1 I broke parallel, but I faltered a little at the top. If I was at a meet it probably wouldn’t count, but I’ll call that my max.

Usually I perform squats with a safety squat bar, but this was with a plain bar. It was a little uncomfortable on the shoulders and the balance felt slightly different than what I’m used to.

Maxes:
Bench: 205 lbs
Dead Lift: 345 lbs
Squat: 295 lbs