IDFPA Single Lifts 2009

kevpants

Hey all,

Just woke up after possibly the most tiring day of my life but definitely one of the most enjoyable!

Don't have much time, after subjecting wifepants to a 12 hour powerlifting comp on Valentines day I am at her beck and call. And rightly so! She was brilliant yesterday. Vida will follow tonight but just the results for now.

I signed up for all 3 lifts, squat, bench and deadlift but had to pull out of the deadlift due to my lower back injury that just didn't heal in time.

In the squat, I was nervous as hell in the warmups, there was pandemonium in the warmup room and you just had to push to the front to get under a bar for a few reps. I was really paying attentio to any back pain but thanfully it didn't seem to be affecting my squat. 160kg went up easy in the warmup belt-less os I felt confident that if I kept my head my 170kg opener would fly up. And it did.

My second attempt was for 190kg, my current "in the gym PR", but this was a different atmosphere altogether. I got under it and with Hanley's encouragement and vocal cues behind me it went up nice. I immediately went over to my wife and said "200 is gonna go!".

I was really psyched at this stage, nerves were gone. Hanley whispered to me as I stood at the side of the platform that this would be the biggest squat of my flight of lifters, I hadn't noticed! I usually go into myself and quiet but Iet a few roars at myself setting up which surprised me! :pac:

So I got 200kg on my back, popped it out managed to keep tight on the way down and it came back up slow and steady. I never doubted that I had it and got 3 white lights for it. I was stoked and as high as I've ever been!

I'm so happy with it there's a real spring in my step.

The bench was meh. I got 125kg fairly easily in the opener but failed at two attempts at 132.5kg. No excuses, wasn't strong enough on the day. I need to be better prepared for my next comp as I felt pretty drained by the time the bench came up. All my own fault but a good lesson. It's terrible but I wasn't that dissapointed! I kept reliving my squat in my head. Schoolboy error.

It was a shame to have to pull out of the deadlift but 140kg for 3 reps in warmup nearly killed me so there was nothing to be gained from trying to compete.

A big thanks to the organisers, it was a great day and to all who helped me. Wifey, sis-in law, Hanley, Malteaser (who really knows her stuff and was able to give me a few nuggets of info), the TF lads, Ger.

And a big congrats to Podge57 who was also competing in his first comp and is one seriously impressive deadlifter. A young guy with so much potential to get really strong. I'll let him tell his own tale.

Gotta run!:)

Malteaser!

What a long day yesterday but you were awesome.

Squats were really impressive they all looked so easy, from where I was standing anyway!!

It was a pity about the bench but you put up a good fight with them!

Are ya thinking about Nationals now so you can deadlift?

Btw...I bet you don't wanna even look at a Jaffa Cake for the forseeable future!!! :P

Podge, before I make an idiot of myself and say something about the wrong lifter, you were the guy sitting behind Kev for most of the day right?

Jimmy Bottlehead

kevpants wrote: »

Hey all,

Just woke up after possibly the most tiring day of my life but definitely one of the most enjoyable!

Don't have much time, after subjecting wifepants to a 12 hour powerlifting comp on Valentines day I am at her beck and call. And rightly so! She was brilliant yesterday. Vida will follow tonight but just the results for now.

I signed up for all 3 lifts, squat, bench and deadlift but had to pull out of the deadlift due to my lower back injury that just didn't heal in time.

In the squat, I was nervous as hell in the warmups, there was pandemonium in the warmup room and you just had to push to the front to get under a bar for a few reps. I was really paying attentio to any back pain but thanfully it didn't seem to be affecting my squat. 160kg went up easy in the warmup belt-less os I felt confident that if I kept my head my 170kg opener would fly up. And it did.

My second attempt was for 190kg, my current "in the gym PR", but this was a different atmosphere altogether. I got under it and with Hanley's encouragement and vocal cues behind me it went up nice. I immediately went over to my wife and said "200 is gonna go!".

I was really psyched at this stage, nerves were gone. Hanley whispered to me as I stood at the side of the platform that this would be the biggest squat of my flight of lifters, I hadn't noticed! I usually go into myself and quiet but Iet a few roars at myself setting up which surprised me! :pac:

So I got 200kg on my back, popped it out managed to keep tight on the way down and it came back up slow and steady. I never doubted that I had it and got 3 white lights for it. I was stoked and as high as I've ever been!

I'm so happy with it there's a real spring in my step.

The bench was meh. I got 125kg fairly easily in the opener but failed at two attempts at 132.5kg. No excuses, wasn't strong enough on the day. I need to be better prepared for my next comp as I felt pretty drained by the time the bench came up. All my own fault but a good lesson. It's terrible but I wasn't that dissapointed! I kept reliving my squat in my head. Schoolboy error.

It was a shame to have to pull out of the deadlift but 140kg for 3 reps in warmup nearly killed me so there was nothing to be gained from trying to compete.

A big thanks to the organisers, it was a great day and to all who helped me. Wifey, sis-in law, Hanley, Malteaser (who really knows her stuff and was able to give me a few nuggets of info), the TF lads, Ger.

And a big congrats to Podge57 who was also competing in his first comp and is one seriously impressive deadlifter. A young guy with so much potential to get really strong. I'll let him tell his own tale.

Gotta run!:)

200kg is fooking sweet man, nice one! How'd ya do in the lower back?

brianthebard

Fantastic lifting dude, 200 is massive. Hope you've gotten the back looked at by some smart people now and are on the road to recovery.

podge57

Malteaser! wrote: »

Podge, before I make an idiot of myself and say something about the wrong lifter, you were the guy sitting behind Kev for most of the day right?

yup, that was me - im guessing you were one of the girls sitting in front of me then

I had a great day too, squats and bench did not go to plan, but the deadlift really made up for it - got 197.5 and 212.5, just missed 222.5 at the lockout

vid of miss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXT2lf62ORw

its definately given me a taste for competition, but the main priorities are to add some more weight and get the bench and squat up right now

it was nice talking to you there kev, your squats were really impressive, you made them look so easy - sorry you didnt get to do the deads though, im sure you were probably looking forward to that the most

g'em

Congrats on the 200kg squat kev, that's some fantastic lifting!! Glad you enjoyed the day too, now you've got the competition bug there's no turning back

Malteaser!

podge57 wrote: »

yup, that was me - im guessing you were one of the girls sitting in front of me then

Yup, I was the one in the black dress with the purple cardy thing!

Just to echo what Kev said, you're a bloody strong deadlifter. I didn't see you miss the 222.5kg coz we had literally just left before you did it, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw your first two. For your age and weight (and height!!), that really is fantastic going. You were damn close on that last one.

It was hard luck on the squats and your competition could have gone one of two ways after them. You could have gotten p!ssed off, let it get into your head and drag you down for the rest of the competition or move on quickly and lash into the next lifts. Thankfully, it seems like the latter was the case and you came back strong for the DLs.

Congratulations on your first comp!!

BossArky

Well done Kev & Podge, nice squat & deadlift respectively! Inspirational stuff.

Hanley

That was some excellent squatting Kev...From behind it looked like you were good for way more. Can't wait to see the video of it. 210 (at least) has to be the goal for nationals now!! Ya shoulda let me know you were havin trouble getting warm ups in btw... I had to go in when Stevie was warming up and get him into the rotation. They were like half way thru the 3rd round of lifts and he hand't started squatting and couldn't get in!!!

Benching is a bitch after squatting... especially when you've been up since before 7 and stuck in a hall for like 8-9 hours with minimal food and water!! It's not something you can really prepare for, but at least you know now what to expect. And with a bit of a tweak to your form you shuld hit that 140 come April.

Podge, I figured it was you lifting. Ya were unlucky with the squats and bench. I think you probably pushed a bit too hard in training too close to the comp. Like I said above, the amount of time you spend at the venue, and the lack of comfort can really mess things up.

You came back well for the deadlift. It's a really nice pull at your weight and height. The bench and squat will continue to be a bitch for a while I'd say until you fill out a bit more. Because you're so tall and relatively light for your height (from a PL perspective), you don't really get any advantage in terms of leverage.

I was surprised yu missed the 222.5 after seeing the previous lift. You'll get it and more next time.

Ya gonna head to Belfast??

All in all, it was a VERY good competition. Judging was fair and consistent thru out +(for the most part). Which is something I was really glad to see. There were a lot of good young lifters there too. The future looks fairly bright for Irish powerlifting!

podge57

Hanley wrote: »

Podge, I figured it was you lifting. Ya were unlucky with the squats and bench. I think you probably pushed a bit too hard in training too close to the comp. Like I said above, the amount of time you spend at the venue, and the lack of comfort can really mess things up.

You came back well for the deadlift. It's a really nice pull at your weight and height. The bench and squat will continue to be a bitch for a while I'd say until you fill out a bit more. Because you're so tall and relatively light for your height (from a PL perspective), you don't really get any advantage in terms of leverage.

I was surprised yu missed the 222.5 after seeing the previous lift. You'll get it and more next time.

Ya gonna head to Belfast??

thanks,

i will definately taper back the training a lot earlier the next time i compete - the last time i deadlifted was about 4 weeks ago, and in the end it was the only thing i did well at
on the squats, i made the 150 opener relatively easily, but i stumbled before the rack command - i should have went for 150 again, but when i increased it instead, i put a lot of unneccessary pressure on myself

im not sure if i will go to the competition in belfast, i was thinking of running the intermedate 5x5 and just knuckling down and trying to gain more weight, but competing again would give me more experience, im not going to make a decision just yet

Hanley

podge57 wrote: »

thanks,

i will definately taper back the training a lot earlier the next time i compete - the last time i deadlifted was about 4 weeks ago, and in the end it was the only thing i did well at
on the squats, i made the 150 opener relatively easily, but i stumbled before the rack command - i should have went for 150 again, but when i increased it instead, i put a lot of unneccessary pressure on myself

im not sure if i will go to the competition in belfast, i was thinking of running the intermedate 5x5 and just knuckling down and trying to gain more weight, but competing again would give me more experience, im not going to make a decision just yet

Ahhh ok I didn't see that. A lot of people seemed to have that happen to em. How much weight did you jump for your second attempt?

There's not much happening later in the year as far as I know, possibly a Leinser open from the IPO in Dublin in July, but other than that it's all internationals I think so it might be no harm to get another comp under your belt!

podge57

Hanley wrote: »

Ahhh ok I didn't see that. A lot of people seemed to have that happen to em. How much weight did you jump for your second attempt?

There's not much happening later in the year as far as I know, possibly a Leinser open from the IPO in Dublin in July, but other than that it's all internationals I think so it might be no harm to get another comp under your belt!

i went to 157.5, got it out of the hole easy enough, sort of stalled in the middle, which has happened a bit lately - i need to startpushing my hips through and knees out more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQyUbPIjsfw

Hanley

You'd be surprisd how many people miss squats up there!! Looked good tho, if you'd just gotten thru that sticking point ya woulda had it.

The ability to grind out heavy reps like that will come with experience. At least it was a single lift comp so you could still bench and deadlift.

Good show tho... you'll look back on this in two or three years and be amazed at your progress.

Rocket!

Well done lads. Great to see people on here starting competitive lifting. Ye did yourselfs proud.

Be sure to keep us up to date on your progress and best of luck next time.

kevpants

Here is my vid.

See if you can hear the whispered "I can't look..." from wifepants in the squats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS_HUIQqMNw

I've never seen myself bench before. My sticking point is higher than what it feels when I'm under it. It needs a lot of technique work. I've managed to unlearn the bar path that used to work for me.

kevpants

podge57 wrote: »

i went to 157.5, got it out of the hole easy enough, sort of stalled in the middle, which has happened a bit lately - i need to startpushing my hips through and knees out more

Ya didn't do a whole lot wrong. Like the others said, you're fighting some mad leverages and you deserve credit for how much you can lift. I'd say if you even managed to put on a bit of a belly from bad diet your squats would jump up :pac:.

I found the best method of adding mass was weeks of 20 rep squats. There's a thread on them you could resurrect. You just pick you 10 rep max weight and do 20 reps with it. You'll suffer incredibly but after a few weeks you'll be investing in new pants cos your current ones will be too tight.

kevpants

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

200kg is fooking sweet man, nice one! How'd ya do in the lower back?

brianthebard wrote: »

Fantastic lifting dude, 200 is massive. Hope you've gotten the back looked at by some smart people now and are on the road to recovery.

Thanks lads. Loer back was a bit sore but didn't seem to weaken me in the squat. It was too sore to deadlift with though. Glad I didn't chance it now. Needs more rest and I need to get cracking on my physio-prescribed exercises.

Hanley wrote: »

That was some excellent squatting Kev...From behind it looked like you were good for way more. Can't wait to see the video of it. 210 (at least) has to be the goal for nationals now!! Ya shoulda let me know you were havin trouble getting warm ups in btw... I had to go in when Stevie was warming up and get him into the rotation. They were like half way thru the 3rd round of lifts and he hand't started squatting and couldn't get in!!!

Yeah it didn't feel too bad. Who knows maybe I'd have gotten 205 or 210 but it's nice to set a PR in competition anyway.

I was polite and stood back for all of about a minute in the warm up before just pushing my way in. There were a few younger guys who I don't think got the warmups they wanted. I think being a bit older and not as self conscious helped. I'd say a few years ago I would have been at the back of the room watching on! Stevie won't make the same mistake next time I'm sure. He's a brutally strong young lad isn't he?

podge57

kevpants wrote: »

Ya didn't do a whole lot wrong. Like the others said, you're fighting some mad leverages and you deserve credit for how much you can lift. I'd say if you even managed to put on a bit of a belly from bad diet your squats would jump up :pac:.

haha - thats the plan alright
im up about 12kg since this time last year (i was really, really skinny), and im aiming for another 12-15kg by the end of this year
My ROM for bench and squat are really long, i have long arms even for my height, so reducing them would help a lot. Im trying to make the transition to low bar squats

Im also starting the 5x5 programme, which ive heard is good for gaining size, but then again all programmes are good for size providing you eat enough, and if you dont, you wont gain anything no matter what routine you have

weightlifter

Is there anywhere online to view full results of this competition?

Malteaser!

weightlifter wrote: »

Is there anywhere online to view full results of this competition?

http://www.idfpa.plus.com/

Click on the results tab on the left and it's the top one listed.

Hanley

kevpants wrote: »

Here is my vid.

See if you can hear the whispered "I can't look..." from wifepants in the squats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS_HUIQqMNw

I've never seen myself bench before. My sticking point is higher than what it feels when I'm under it. It needs a lot of technique work. I've managed to unlearn the bar path that used to work for me.

I'm amazed by how rock solid you looked under those squats. Totally in control of the weight like. It's a testament to your core strength.

One thing I noticed now that I watched the vid was that you got a bit loose as you got to your chest on the benches. It's very subtle, but the last inch or two sees a bit of a drop of the weight.

Also, you're a bit behind the press command, but timing it is something that will come with experience I'd say.

kevpants wrote: »

I was polite and stood back for all of about a minute in the warm up before just pushing my way in. There were a few younger guys who I don't think got the warmups they wanted. I think being a bit older and not as self conscious helped. I'd say a few years ago I would have been at the back of the room watching on! Stevie won't make the same mistake next time I'm sure. He's a brutally strong young lad isn't he?

Sometimes you just need to be a bit forceful alright. It's usually a fairly charged atmosphere so you need to force the issue from time to time!

Stevie's just ridiculous. Someone that young and light does not deserve to be that strong! He works very hard tho in fairness.

tribulus

That same mouldy f*ckin squat rack, uuugh.

Great lifting Kevpants, well done.

Hanley

tribulus wrote: »

That same mouldy f*ckin squat rack, uuugh.

Great lifting Kevpants, well done.

Not tempted to make a come back....??

And the rack's a bit dodge alright. Gonna try bring the Hercs one up to Belfast with me.

tribulus

Next year maybe, depends on the job/country situation!

Hanley

tribulus wrote: »

Next year maybe, depends on the job/country situation!

Well if you wanna make a come back next year, you better start training for it now