Wednesday 20th February;

Deadlifts:

40 for 10
60 for 8
80 for 5
100 for 3
120 for 3 x four sets
140 for 1
150 for 1 (PB)
120 for 3
100 for 3


It's been a week since I trained deadlifts, but I have a good excuse! I missed last Saturday's scheduled session because I was competing in the BWLA North West Counties Raw Bench Press competition. And I did rather well. I exceeded my own British Over 50's record twice, finishing up with a bench press of 165 kilos (363.5 pounds).

In one of these quirks of fate, I didn't win the NW title. There was only one person out of the 28 competitors who lifted more than me, and he was in my weight class. Chris Edwards broke the British Over 40s record three times. I lifted more than all the 110s, the 125s and the 125+s. Not bad for a little 52 year old! Being the second strongest competitor out of 28 is quite an accomplishment.

The break from deadlifting seemed to do me no harm. It was the first time I had repped with 120, and although I had to work there was no question that I would get them. After four sets I decided to try a couple of singles and, to my pleasant surprise, I took my PB up to 150 (330 pounds).

That's a 50% improvement in five weeks.

I thought that was worth a paragraph all on its own! The 150 felt right at my limit. Normally the strain is on my lower back. On the 150 my hamstrings were fully engaged and it's inevitable that the progress will slow down now. After the 150, I still managed my fifth triple with 120.

My plan is just to plod along with the little system I've got. It seems to be working so far. When I hit a plateau, that'll be the time to re-evaluate my training, but until then, if it's not broken, don't fix it!

I had planned to do more down sets, but on my third rep with 100 I felt a little twinge in my back and I just left it there and walked away. The hard work had already been done and there was no point in risking injury. I had the sense to follow my own advise - 'Do what you would tell someone else to do'!

And so I lived to fight another day. Five sets of four with 120, here we come...

Oh, and my non-training on Sunday was nothing to do with excessive celebrations on the Saturday night. Sunday was the divisional BWLA AGM and by the time the meeting was over and we had planned for the year ahead over Sunday lunch it was gym closing time.