GPP

Well 2 lots of GPP done in the last 2 days.

Last night was 60 mins of yoke walk or 20 mtrs there and 20 mtrs and the same thing with pulling a sled with 40kg of weight. 2 min break and repeat. Managed to get 12 cycles done.

Today it was some more GPP using the same track but it was 5 x presses of the 55kg Log onto farmers walk with a 20kg plate in each hand to one end then pick up a ex boxing bag and carry it back then pull a sled 20mtrs with 60kg on it. Rest 2 mins then repeat. Today was a lot harder as I was only able to get 7 cycles done.

Trying to bring my weight back to a point where I am able to start using my gear again. The drugs they had me on to help control the Myeloma had some side effects with one of them being weight gain. At the moment I am the lightest I have been since June 2017. Now I need to do a lot of stretching to complement what I am doing on the weight and GPP side of things

An update

I know long time no info so here goes.

Monday was squats day and things on this are slowly going well. A few weeks ago I went right back to the start, and have started working my way back up to some numbers again. A long way to go so that is why the weights are not huge at the moment. Also I am on some drugs for my condition (read a blog from a few posts ago) that one of the side effects could be weight gain. Guess who got the weight gain, pick me therefore I am a lot bigger than I should be so I am having to work around some things. I am working on picking a weight for the week and then doing working backwards to 90% for 4 individual reps. So on Monday it was 197.5, 207.5, 215 and 220kg. This is for the 220kg ( 220kg x 1 Buffalo Bar ). Felt pretty good doing these however my feet could have been out a bit wider and I could of sat back a touch more. The reason for the 3 mats is because the Dexamethasone has put on a lot of weight around my tummy and I am finding it hard to get to depth. As soon as I get off the stuff my weight should come back a bit and that will allow me to get down easier and I will take another mat out. Hopefully this will happen around September.

Tuesday is for Benching and ummmm yeah. I Should have been doing 150kg for a single and then on to 155, 162.5 and 165kg which should have been real easy as I work back up to where I want to be, However on my first set it did not go as planned so I had to start thinking why not and I have come to the conclusion that for some reason my back is not firing properly when I am right down on the chest. This is very frustrating as my back is big enough to be able to get me back to where I was before everything happened and probably more. Here is my first rep. At the moment this says that my triceps and shoulders can do a 150kg benchpress but I want my back to help out. If I can get it to work then I should be able to do 180 - 200 raw and who knows in a shirt. When we put a 3" board in the way I can get it done although by now I was a little off and had other things on my mind so that is why I am thinking it is something to do with a nerve shutting off something in the bottom part of the rep. I didn't notice it before as I was not getting close to the limit of what my triceps could do but I am now and it is showing up now. This is what the 3" board looked like

Thursday is for Deadlifts. Because of my size I am having to do these in the sumo style. I AM NOT a sumo deadlifter have never claimed to be will never claim to be but it is getting it done somehow. As above when the drugs come off and the weight comes back I will go back to my normal style. The way I have the bands set up here it gives me 60kg of tension at the top so this is 160 for 3 reps. This is what it looked like

Friday I went in and did some GPP to try and help bring back my weight but to also just get generally overall fitter. So tonight I did some Prowler pushes combined with Yoke walks. The distance to the end is 20 meters and 20 meters back. the weight on the Prowler is 40kg and the yoke weighs 85kg. Did this for 1 hour with a 2 min rest between turns. As I get fitter I want that time to come down to 30 seconds so still have a lot of work to do.
GPP Combo

This is only part of what I do each week however I will try to put up different things as we go though this process. I hope I can work out what is happening with my benchpress as I don't really want to be leaving 110kg -  150kg on the floor because my back won't fire.      

Okay here we go

Okay so after sorting a few things out mentally in my head and getting back into the groove of things I need to get back into things.

First thing: 2 yrs after being told I probably would never lift again competitively I was able to get back to the competition stage at the Canterbury Powerlifting Association (CPA) Champs on the 8th April. My main focus for this event was to have some fun and to come away with a total. Well we got the first part done but not the 2nd part. Because of a couple of the drugs they have me on for controlling the blood counts in relation to the Myeloma I have put on a bit more weight than I would like and was having trouble getting down to depth. Unfortunately this lead me to bomb on the squats. Interesting in that I wass trying to get 255kg down and it still wouldn't go. On reflection I should have started on 270/275. With the bench I did a raw 120kg then came off and got into my benchshirt. Went to 220kg and got right out of the groove and the bar came back towards the top of my chest instead of staying down towards my belly. Got a press but it stopped 1/2 way up. Wasn't to worried about it so for a play I went for 235 on the 3rd and it went down real well and I knew this ine was coming up, however waiting for the press call my left wrist started to roll forward and I was never catching that much weight. Damn cause that weight felt good and it was set to go back up. I was still having fun and deadlifts were up next. I have been having a real mental challenge with these for a few weeks and also been trying a new style of lifting with them so opened with a real light 200 which I got and then went for 220kg which I also got. Tried for a 250kg but it just wasn't going to happen so put it down. I learnt lots and had a lot of fun and enjoyed myself which was the big part.

Then the hard part: Self evaluation Hmmm, In reality yes I need to change the depth I squat to on a box, 1 mat should put me under and also a lot more work needs to happen on my benchpress either in a shirt or out of it, and I need to sort out what I am doing with my deadlifting. I was going to pass on the South Island's in June but have since decided I need to do them to motivate me to get better and to give me more time on the platform. I feel my training program is right but I just need to sort out some of the finer details. I do need to put in more GPP work to help get me fitter and to help bring my weight back to around that 138kg mark. I weigh in for the Canterbury's at a massive 149.9kg which is way to heavy. I also need to do a lot more mobility/stretching work and speed work. So plenty to work on over the next few months. So expect more updates over the coming months.