injury update and the next steps

Firstly, I AM ALIVE

Things have been a little cray cray and i'll explain why.  A few months ago I broke my leg playing roller derby, for the second time.  This stopped all roller derby and the majority of my power lifting training and meant I had to drop out of British Champs.  This was a pretty miserable time.  I went from being strong and athletic, to weak, broken, and lacking of identity.

Things have definitely improved and I've since got back to deadlifts, which make me feel like an actual human again!  I still can't squat, but I've been working really hard on my bench press and deadlift over the last 6 weeks and this Sunday I'll be stepping on the platform for the second time for a push pull competition!

I am very very excited to get back on the horse and see what I can do!  I would be very happy to walk away with a 62.5kg bench press (5kg pb) and 160kg deadlift (10kg pb) so i'll do everything on the day to get those numbers!

I don't know what the future holds for me with regards to roller derby, but I know I miss it desperately and also know I am terrified of hurting myself again.  I don't know how that will play out in the future, but I know in the meantime I have power lifting and I have many supportive friends who will help me.

I had meet!

This is a little bit of a late update but I had meet!

Me and Ashleigh got to Dundee a few days before the comp and had fun on HOLIDAY.  I ate lots and rested lots and it was fun.

On the day I went to the complex to weigh in.  I'm very far into my weight category (84+kg) so I wasn't worried about dropping weight or anything.  I ate every time I was hungry!

I weighed in at just over 105kg, which I was surprised at.  I was certain it was going to be nearer 110.  Great!  At the same time as weighing in I set my openers for all 3 lifts - 70kg squat, 57.5kg bench, 130kg deadlift.  Top tip: decide these before.  I didn't realise I had to have prepared that early in the day and one of the numbers I wasn't 100% certain about so had to YOLO a little.

Review: Myprotein chocolate brownie & cinnamon danish

I'm not going to waste any time here.  Go order cinnamon Danish.  That's all the review I need to give it.  If you like things (I love things) then you will like cinnamon Danish.  

Chocolate brownie, is a little more complex.  It is still *really* good, and if I hadn't of had it alongside the pleasure bringer that is cinnamon Danish, I probably would be raving.  Shame for chocolate brownie!  The one downside I would say that sometimes it doesn't mix so well and tastes a little watery.  That might be because I'm using an isolate when normally I buy a standard whey protein, who knows!  It's still a solid flavour and one I could easily buy 2.5kg of.

Chocolate brownie gets 7 cat faces

Cinnamon Danish gets 10 glorious cat faces

Squat squaaaat SQUUUUAAAAAAAAT

I have been working on my squats and they are going SO WELL.  I've worked up to a 1rm of 85 kg and considering a month before that my 1rm was 50kg, and my competition goal is 90kg I am pretty happy.  This is the most recent session where I had to do 5 sets of 3 reps of 70kg's and everything was going up easy.

I have added something to my training that has helped me stayed focused, encouraged me to push myself, and helps me load the bar...

Ashleigh has supported all of my athletic goals since I met her and now it's amazing to have her in the gym training alongside me!  It makes every gym session fun and amazing and I've felt so proud to see her improve in strength in such a short time!  We will PR together FOREVER. <3

End of cycle 2

It's the end of my second cycle of my current programme and things got EXCITING.

I ended up increasing my 1rm for all lifts:

Deadlift - 132.5kg
Bench - 60kg
Squat - 85kg

I tested each of these straight after the workout so I reckon if I had of been fresh I would have got more.  I got the 135kg deadlift off the floor and couldn't lock out, but I defo have that one in me!

Since I've been training every day for the last 10 weeks, I'm taking a much deserved de-load week before starting cycle 3.  My initial goals for the meet were 150kg+ deadlift, 90kg squat, and 70kg bench press and I feel like I've defo got the squat (going to aim for 95-100 actually).  For bench press I think I overestimated forgetting how slowly my bench strength goes up so we'll see what happens on the day.  Deadlift deadlift deadlift...that was a big goal.  I'm without a doubt going to go all out for it and hope that on the day adrenaline will help me push my strength to it's limits so I walk away feeling proud of my numbers.

The competition was capped at 40 lifters initially and it meant that there wasn't anyone else in my weight category.  This was shit.  Now, it's reopened and I have some healthy competition and I cannot WAIT to push myself over the next 7 weeks.

Gonna get the deload over with then hammer weights, grow some mass, and make some gains!

Moderation Not Deprivation

Before I start, I'd like to say that these are my opinions on diet.  If something else works for you, bash on.  But these are my thoughts.

Social media, and the internet as a whole, is littered with weight loss and dieting.  What strikes me most is the overall theme of deprivation:
"I can't have ---"
"That's not allowed."
"That's dirty, I'm eating clean"

I have done diets involving deprivation.  I remember being told when I was younger that you weren't doing a diet correctly unless you felt hungry.  I'm sorry, but I hate feeling that hunger all the time.  The thing about these diets is they make their participant unconsciously associate food with guilt.  At no point ever should food equal guilt - either good or bad.  Ever.  What food you eat does not determine if you are a good or bad person.  Every time I hear someone declare that they were "bad" because they ate a fucking cookie a little part of me dies.

What's wrong with "clean eating"?  Many things. Firstly, unless you are dousing your sandwich in fairy liquid, this term means nothing.  It simply cannot be defined because it means a different thing for different people.  It can either refer to a low calorie meal, a non-deep fried meal, a gluten free and dairy free meal, no refined sugar meal, or unprocessed meal, for example.  There is no universal definition.  And if your dinner is clean because you eat a boiled chicken breast and brown rice does that mean that my steak and potatoes are dirty?  What if I have a bagel and peanut butter, is that dirty?  It's a bullshit term and the sooner people don't use it, the better.

The phrase I wish I could go around and tell everyone about is: Moderation Not Deprivation.  I'll let you into a secret - you can eat anything.  ANYTHING.

What.

Yep, anything.  There is no such thing as a food "not being allowed", being "bad", and "dirty" etc.  If you are involved in a sport then performance is important and as such you will benefit from eating nutrient dense foods (uhhhh why can't people just say "nutrient dense foods" instead of "clean"!?).  This does mean eating high quality meats, vegetables, carbohydrates, and fruit.  At the end of the day a protein is a protein, a carb is a carb, and a fat is a fat regardless of where you get it from, but you will notice an improvement in performance if you get the majority of these from nutrient dense foods.

MAJORITY!

Life is short and is to be enjoyed so there is absolutely nothing wrong with eating 80-90% nutrient dense foods and 10-20% YOLO foods.  Like, couldn't give a flying fuck if this slice of cake was dipped in the tears of someone on herbalife and deep fried.

Moderation not deprivation.

Three ways to improve your deadlift

I am not an expert, but I can pull a pretty decent deadlift.  I have been working on my deadlift technique for the past year and although I can still improve, I feel I have some words of wisdom that could help others to improve the conventional deadlift.

1.  Line up with the bar over the mid-point of your foot.

I wear the same shoes for deadlifting every time so I found this position once and then I know from that point where the bar should be.  On the sole of your foot find the middle, see which lace that lines up, then put the foot under the bar using that lace as a reference.

A lot of people set up with the bar either too far away from their shins (resulting in it not being dragged up the body, which is the easiest path for the bath, and is best for the health of the back) or too close to their shins.  By having the bar over the mid-point of your foot you then have room to bend your knees enough to have the shins touch the bar and no further.

2.  Determine stance width.

There are two widths you can use in the conventional deadlift - narrow and shoulder width.  Narrow will look like this:

and shoulder width will look like this:

  

I have been experimenting with these stances and I'll be honest and say I have found I feel stronger in the narrow stance.  This will be different for different people, but give it a try.  

3. Engage your lats before pulling.

Your lats are large broad muscle that runs from arm put across the trunk of your back.

It is the muscle that is used during pull ups, chin ups, rowing, swimming, and DEADLIFTS.  By engaging and contracting this muscle before pulling the barbell off the floor you will tighten everything up, turn your upper body into a solid, strong mass, and then pull a solid, strong mass off the floor using...a solid, strong mass.  Simple!  So it's all well and good me saying to you "engage your lats" but how do you actually go about doing this?  The easiest way I can explain it is once you get into position and grab the bar you then squeeze at your arm pits.  You should feel this in your arm pit and on your back almost behind/beside the arm pit.  Doing this will make your elbows rotate slightly outwards so don't be alarmed if this happens.  It'll all help the tightness!  Tight is GOOD.

Lifting things is good.