Well, February was a much shorter month that January!
That motherfucker flew didn’t it.
Still let plenty of time for new PB’s though so here we go!
Jen smashed it this week and its almost just easier to put her PB’s in a list because of it…
So…
Push Press - 50kg
Block Snatch - 34kg (+2kg)
Block C&J 2+1 - 52kg (+4kg)
Front Squat - 74kg (+6kg)
Snatch - 33kg (+1kg)
Squat - 92kg (+1kg)
Jen worked hard and was at the end of a training cycle so these PB’s make loads of sense and really how much work she put in and how consistent she was. The next thing for Jen is to start prioritising training for a Marathon. This doesn’t mean she’ll stop lifting, but it does mean we’ll prioritise the running and allow the lifting to be tapered back when necessary.
Paul hit some great PB’s adding 2.5kg to his Push Press making it 87.5kg and adding 5kg to his Deadlift taking it to 180kg. Pauls PB’s in the Push press are what i’m most proud of, we’ve really cleaned up his technique allowing us to really utilise his leg strength. A first 4 plate Deadlift is pretty cool too!
Dan T a great month overhead hitting Push Press PB’s of 92.5kg x3 and 100kg x2 for his first triple digit set for reps! He also hit 72.5kg x3 on the Block Press. Dans making great progress overhead and on his big weakness making him a much more well rounded strongman.
Jo also hit PB’s on the Block of 70kg x3 and 60kg x5 along with a Yoke PB if 240kg x 30m in sub 24 secs (15m D&T) a big Squat rep PB of 165kg x4 and a nice rep PB of 190kg x10 on the Deadlift. I’ve recently told Jo to take rep PB’s where he can and to become a little more autonomous in terms of training. What does this mean? What it doesn’t mean is go ham and off program every session. What it does mean is to take a rep PB if its there on the last set and it won’t mess you up later in the training week. People put a lot of stock into 1RM’s but hitting rep PB’s not only feed into your 1rm, they also build momentum within your training.
Liam T had a big month of training, entering his first competition at New Levels First Timers. He finished 11th in a big field, which I know he’ll be disappointed about, everyone want a podium don’t they, but I believe he put in a great performance with a rep PB on the Deadlift - 150kg x16, Rep PB’s in the Overhead Medley and a great yoke run at 200kg that, before he started prepping for this, he could barely pick up 170kg. He also hit a rep PB on Squat to pins at 120kg x16. Obviously the medley and Squat to pins are hard to keep in your pocket as PB’s to drive training as they’re not something you’d usually train if its not in competition, but its a great way to look back and see how far you’ve come during a prep.
George F had a great month hitting the Silver Dollar Deadlift for 290kg x4, a ludicrous Sandbag run of 140kg x 20m, Farmers Pick Ups of 145kg p/h x 20 secs and a nice PB triple on the Deadlift of 250kg x3 after 4x2 at the same weight. George is ticking along nicely to compete in BNSF in March.
David W like Liam also competed at new levels competition in the Novice category coming 4th which is his highest ever placing which hitting a PB in the Deadlift at 200 x12 and Squat to Pins at 160kg x16.
Lastly Sean W has been putting in the graft for a couple of competitions and recently pulled 230 x2 for a rep PB in the Deadlift.
Its great month for the team and to finish I want to touch on something I wrote about Jo. one of Jo’s PB’s was ‘Yoke PB if 240kg x 30m in sub 24 secs (15m D&T)’. Obviously thats a lot of information but its worth it, tracking weights and yoke speed or on any moving event is important, it will let you know at what weight speed drops off while also allowing you to differentiate between weights when it comes to training an event and make decisions on whether you need to get stronger or faster.
I used this for my most recent competition, it was a light yoke at 250kg over 15m, so this event for me was about speed. I didn't go over 250kg once in training and instead focussed my efforts on being as fast as I could be with 250kg on my back. First off this was great for recovery and I believe I ended up with the fastest yoke time in the competition.
Anyways, that leaves the question, how much should your track on moving events…
I’m not going to tell you to track every single possible time and your max weight for that…
In my opinion the best approach and what i track is…
For maximum strength:
10m, 15m & 20m with no drops (untimed).
For speed
20m @sub 12 seconds
40m (D&T) @sub 25 seconds
The speed times aren’t random, 2 metres per second works really well for speed then add on around 2 seconds for each pick up. Track your top weights for these metrics and you’ll not only know where you lie when training for events, but you’ll also know how to approach an event given the set weight as you’ll know where the speed that will give you a good placing drops off.
Until next time
Adam
