It's Been A Long Time!

40 for 10
50 for 10
60 for 8
70 for 6
80 for 6
90 for 4
100 for 3
120 for 1
130 for 1
140 for 1
100 for 3 x 3 sets.

It's been some time, but I got back to deadlifting tonight after a few weeks away. I've not lost my enthusiasm in the slightest. It was just a case of circumstances and priorities. My focus was on the British Bench on 9th March, where I did superbly well and finally achieved my long term goal of benching 200 kilos (440 pounds). I've attached a photo of me in the act, so to speak!

No sooner had I got the bench out of the way than I came down with a really bad dose of the flu either side of Easter. I was able to manage the occasional bench session, mainly because I could lie down while doing it! But anything standing up, and especially deadlift, the hardest lift of all, would have half killed me so I had to back off for a bit.

I also have the World Masters Bench in Bratislava in two weeks time, so my priority for the last week or so has been on peaking for that, but at least I got a session in today.

It felt hard, but then it should after that amount of time away. I managed a single with 140, only 10 kilos off my 1RM, and I wasn't at my limit, so it's pleasing not to have lost any appreciable strength. But the flu has hit my stamina and recovery hard, and today I found doing reps really difficult and recovering between sets was hard and took absolutely ages. But it got done.

I'm on a bench-every-other-day routine up to and including my last session on Saturday 12th April, and I hope to fit at least two more deadlift sessions into the non benching days before I fly off to Bratislava. I'll be staying around the 100 - 110 range for now, trying to reactivate the deadlifting muscles and get my technique right again. It felt horrible tonight and really strained the back. Nothing a couple of sessions of ten sets of three won't put right again.

It now seems unlikely that I'll be hitting 185 by mid-May. Unless I can get into the 170s in the gym by round about May Day, it will have to wait until next year. And I don't see myself getting through this plateau any time soon, especially with all the bench press competitions coming up, which have to be my first priority. C'est la vie!