I started resistance training about 4 years ago while training for the British Indoor Rowing Championships. I just started doing a few weighted chins or pull-ups, weighted dips and the odd pistol a few times a week.
This quickly became an obsession and over about 2 years I worked up to a double bodyweight chin, a double bodyweight dip and a half-bodyweight pistol at about 75kg (165lbs). I also worked up to a one-arm chin while I was at it.
However, I quickly discovered that my bodyweight style of training didn’t really translate particularly well to barbell lifting. So about a year ago I got in the rack and prioritised my squat and deadlift while putting my weighted pull ups and dips on the back burner. I have put on about 10kg – 12.5kg bodyweight since then and while I’ve made some decent progress, there is still a long way to go.
You’ll note that despite wanting to compete in powerlifting, I don’t do much competition style benching at the moment. This is because I was a competitive swimmer for many years and I’ve had some nasty (and quite unusual) problems with my shoulders. Strangely, they quite like dips, overhead pressing and partial range incline presses but they are not too sure about strict benching yet. I am making progress in this area but it is slow going.
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My goals
My goals for 2011 are very simple - I am aiming for a 185kg (405lbs) squat and a 230kg (505lbs) deadlift at a bodyweight of around 90kg (200lbs). When I get there, I’ll decide what to do next. I might decide to carry on hitting the barbells or I might decide to do something different.
I wrote a training bucket list last year that I am doing reasonably well with and will probably have to update soon, as I am nearly through it…
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My training philosophy
My training philosophy is inspired by Doug Hepburn, Andy Bolton and Dante Trudel, as you’ll see below. In general, I like very low reps and high sets and I have been accused by people of doing too much volume.
When I first started out, I made great progress with my weighted pull ups and dips using a very simple linear progression model. I tried this with barbell lifting with only limited success. I discovered that more steady progress is required to avoid plateaus.
I now use Doug Hepburn‘s 8 sets x 2-3 reps routine extensively in my lifting, which assumes that you train a lift twice a week and is described as follows:
- 8 sets of 2 reps for the first session
- 1 set of 3 reps and 7 sets of 2 reps in the second session
- 2 sets of 3 reps and 6 sets of 2 reps in third session
- etc.
If you are training twice a week, you should get through a weight in about 4 weeks, after which you can increase the weight by around 4 – 5kg for the big lifts and 1 – 2kg for the small lifts.
For deadlift training, I have used rack pulls at 14″ as my main lift to protect my lower back, as advised by Andy Bolton. To get the strength from the floor, I have used speed pulls and glute-specific work, mainly hip thrusts.
I have also used Romanian Deadlifts quite successfully and it is a lift I keep coming back to for many reasons. It seems to drive the hips back much more effectively than any other deadlift variation, which translates to more hip drive and therefore more strength. It is also great for posture, which I need at the moment, having a desk job.
Where I need an assistance exercise (like hip thrusts) or if I get the bug to do some bodybuilding work, I will often use DC (by Dante Trudel) style training. This is a single set of three clusters, aiming for a total of 20 reps, with 20 seconds rest between each cluster. I generally achieve around 12 reps in my first cluster, 4 – 5 reps in my second cluster and 2 – 3 reps in my third cluster. It’s all over in about 2 minutes and the pain tells you that good things have happened.
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Daily mobility and stability work
I am a big fan of staying healthy and pain-free by using plenty of soft tissue and mobility work, as well as some stability exercises to counter-act the damage I do by sitting at a desk all day.
My current programme looks like this:
- Soft tissue – foam roller: TFL, quads, calves
- Soft tissue – baseball: rotator cuff, psoas
- Soft tissue – self-massage implement: pec minor
- Mobility – thoracic mobilisations off step
I also do some mobility and stability work between my work sets of my main exercises and you can see those in my workout programme.
