Hexed

Training's been pretty good thus far, at least things seem to go well for the current week.

An old habit did resurface on the first week of training after 6 months of not lifting - the eagerness of getting back into the game, lifting a little more than I should with sub-standard form. It was, however, a trial by fire thing to gauge where my current strength level is at, and knowing the truth about that is an ugly, ugly thing. In spite of that, I'm optimistic that I'd be able to catch up pretty soon.

Speaking of training, I've been pulling with hexagon plates in my current gym. Those who have deadlifted with hex plates would know just how bloody annoying it is when the bar rolls forward after it is lowered to the ground. I've actually thought twice before joining the gym due to the use of hex plates, but eventually I signed up for a membership.. well, on a whim, actually, that stemmed from the fact that I've not been training for far too long and I don't intend to delay any longer.

After pulling with hex plates for 2 sessions, I found out that they aren't actually too bad if you know how to tackle the problem. I've been watching some videos and found out that the advise given was to place folded yoga mats underneath the plates and lower the bar in a fast & controlled manner. The latter suggestion worked really well, but I don't see much difference when I used the yoga mats. Well either way, as with everything, I think it's just about getting used to it.

Bottom-line is: hex plates suck, but to pull heavy with them is not at all impossible.

The come back

It has been 6 months since I left this blog totally untouched.

And for the past 6 months, I did no lifting whatsoever.

Truth be told, I've lost the motivation to lift. Why? Because, ironically, I was making so much progress within a span of a month that I wanted to lift more for more progress but I simply couldn't, and then I didn't want to.

The 3 reasons were:

- I was only able to lift during the weekends
- I spent half of my weekends lifting and the other half resting, which had affected my social life and I had to put a stop to my obsession with lifting (and then I spent more time hanging out)
- I was only able to lift during the weekends because I was still scouting for a job then and didn't have the funds for a gym membership

And then I stopped blogging. And then I stopped managing MPG, a page which I had initially spent so much time on trying to popularize powerlifting in Malaysia.

But never had I had any plans to stop powerlifting. The loss of motivation was just a temporary set-back; in fact, it's a pretty huge set-back for me as I've physically degenerated into my old, former scrawny self. Don't be surprised if I told you that I only ate 2 meals a day, some days.

Those days, from today henceforth, are over because I finally own my own gym membership (which took me aeons to get one). I'm gonna start lifting again tomorrow.

For personal motivation purposes, I'm going to attach a video of me deadlifting 110kg for 5's at a body weight of 61-62kg last June. I've to admit that the form wasn't perfect as my hips were a little too low and used too much lower back power instead of hip drive. Could've one-rep-maxed a 122kg pull but didn't do so as I didn't and still don't have a proper lifting belt. I did however attempted 130kg rack pulls for 5's, which felt pretty awesome for a supplementary work after a 5x5 routine.





There's plenty for me to catch up, definitely.

Magic number 5

Five is a really magical number in lifting. If you've been or are currently on a 5x5 program, you would know what I mean. Ever since switched to 5x5 and started lifting five times a week, I've been setting PRs every week - that's the power of 5x5. Though, I'm not too naive enough to think that this linear progression will go on with no end. Things will get tougher every week as I progress, and it's important that I get well rested so that I'm mentally and physically prepared for heavier weights. Gotta delay all possible plateaus for as long as possible.

Physical preparedness is done at home, ie. getting well rested and eating sufficiently; mental preparedness is done in the gym. I've got to admit that I sometimes wish I have a training buddy to give me back slaps (or face slaps, really!) to get me all amped up. Sadly, I've yet to come across any like-minded gym goer who can kick me in the ass when I'm feeling like crap or begging for mercy. Ever since I started strength lifting, I've been doing it alone. It's not really tough, but it would be a real sweet bonus to get kicked and slapped once in every while. Slapping myself would look way too awkward, and how the heck am I supposed give myself back slaps?


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Today's a squat day, and I just had the most intense session, ever (bolded, underlined, italized, colored & size-upped, rawr!). You know you've been given a taste of hell when pain follows you in just whatever you're doing, whether it's standing or sitting or not doing anything at all - that's what squatting in hell feels like. My ass and hips felt so painful that I cannot alleviate the pain no matter what I do (it's not an injury, mind you). Add that to the fact that I had to cycle back home from the gym, going uphill wasn't really a pleasant experience; I think I just sunk into the second layer of hell at that moment. Yes, my pre-workout and post-workout cardio - cycling to the gym and back.

If what I'm currently squatting already feels like 
hell, I wonder how would 300kg feels like?

But well, through the pain comes the gain, in lifting that is. And every second spent squatting heavy is worth it for the progress. I really hope I can reach my target goal of a minimum 140kg for the deadlift, 130kg for the squat and 90kg for the bench press by the end of the year. I would be so happy that I'd most likely shit in my pants if I score 150kg, 140kg and 100kg respectively. 

Let's see how this works out.

The first week after the break always sucks

I hate training breaks.

I know that it's essential to lay off from training once in awhile but every time I get back to training, my form is crap and this week is no exception. It's as if I've forgotten how to deadlift or squat. Poor muscle memory? Well, to be fair (to myself), my form wasn't abysmal but it wasn't on par either. It still sucks. The good news or rather the normality is that the following weeks will be better. Can't wait to get over with the current week.

As for training, I recently purchased a Fitness First 30-day pass for RM30 and will get to train 6 days a week. The following is my temporary workout plan for the next 30 days:

Monday - Heavy squat, 120%RM static holds

Tuesday - Heavy bench press, 120%RM static holds

Wednesday - Heavy deadlift, and maybe rack holds at 120%RM. Rack pulls will tax my CNS too much on a heavy day so that's a big no-no. Still undecided on the rack holds though.

Thursday - Light squat, light bench press

Friday - Light deadlift

Saturday - Light squat, light bench press

My squats and bench presses are weak so the additional light work sets are needed to improve form. For static holds, I'm doing no more than 3 sets, no more than 8 seconds per set. I'm not competing, but I'd like to play with the overloads to see how they will help with my training.

Seriously, I can't wait to get stronger.. and bigger. I'm looking to gain another 9kg within a 12-month period, without the help of a weight gainer this time. So, next year, this time, will I weigh 70kg?

I wonder.

Malaysian Powerlifting Group

I've created the Malaysian Powerlifting Group page on FaceBook.

Want to find out more about it? Click on the 'Malaysian Powerlifting Group' tab above.

The good kind of pride

I was just looking through some of the Dr. Hatfield's pictures on Facebook which he uploaded, mostly old ones during his earlier days as an active powerlifter. For those of you who don't know who Dr. Hatfield is, he is also known as Dr. Squat, the co-founder of the International Sports Sciences Association. In his earlier years, some of Dr. Hatfield's more notable contributions to the fitness community consist of the zig zag diet and the ABC bodybuilding program. What's most impressive is that he earned the nickname Dr. Squat when he squatted a whopping 1,014lbs (460.9kg) at the bodyweight of 220lbs (100kg), which is 4.6x his own bodyweight.


During the time in which he pulled off that impressive feat, he was only in his 40s; he is currently 69 this year. Speaking of his pictures, I get a feeling that he takes huge pride, the good kind of pride, when he looks back at the old pictures and talks about them. I know that I'd like to feel such pride when I grow into my golden years, to look back at all of the great achievements I did (or about to do) in these younger days. It's a sort of pride that I know I'll live with along the remainder of my years, and something that I'd also take to my grave when the time comes.

The glorious image above fronts the magazine cover of an old Powerlifting U.S.A. issue after Dr. Hatfield succeeded in his 1,000lbs squat. Dr. Hatfield had a similar picture on his FaceBook page, and it reminded me that life is too short to spend my limited time belittling my own potential. I once set a 200kg life time goal for both the squat and deadlift because I thought that it was naive to set the bar any higher than that. But as the saying goes: the sky is the limit. In truth, as ironic as it may sound, I was actually being naive thinking that I couldn't do better.. much better.

I know better now.

Get creative with bodyweight workouts