STRENGTH competition entry: Cakeface, Start Date:26-January-09

[Cakeface]

I am entering my (flat barbell) Bench Press in the strength improvement comp. I couldn't decide whether to do 3RM or 5RM so I split the difference.

Goals: Increase 4RM bench as much as possible. (However if it does happen to go up by 10kg(unlikely) I will increase reps as I'm an old man with dodgy joints so I don't want to increase the poundage too fast)

Current lift weight:- 84.25kg for 1 set of 4 reps
(bar+collars=8kg+plates at 2x(25+10+2.5+0.625))
If you watch the video you'll see that I might have been able to just about lift 85kg, but I might not.

My gender: male
My age: 39
Weight: 64.5kg (about 10 stones 2 lb)
Height: 5'6"(almost) 1.66m
Lifting history: I had a few brief forays into weight training over the past 8 years or so, but started consistently lifting weights about 2 years ago as a cure for being old, fat and depressed, well 2 out of 3 ain't bad I suppose, from October to 5th January (3 weeks back so far) I was unable to train so I'm expecting to regain some of my lost strength quite quickly.

Here's the vid.
YouTube - MP strength comp 26/01/09

[badshah]

Mr Cakefast,

84.25kg (4reps) @ 64.5kg bodyweight is 131%, I'm impressed dude

[Cakeface]

Hopefully my final lifts will be more impressive
I'm concentrating on bench after a break from lifting as I find it more motivational (always a problem for the 1st couple of months back into training). Then after the comp I'll be working more on my squats (prob bill starr 5x5 or similar) as they progress much slower for me and are anything but impressive at the mo.

[Cakeface]

Update.
I had flu for the last couple of weeks, from the evening I managed to bench 3 sets of 4 reps @90kg till a couple of days ago. I lost 3kg bodyweight ( I'd got up to 65.6kg) and this morning I weighed 62.3kg. I haven't lost much strength though as this morning I did a set of 4 reps @93kg. I probably should have filmed that as my son brought home another cold from school on friday so I'm bound to get ill again.

[Cakeface]

I will try for 93x5 on monday (my final day) but at the moment this is the most I could possibly lift for 4 reps
YouTube - provisional mp comp final
That is 95kg x4 (just about) (+10.75kg)
(bar+collars=8kg+ plates at 2x(25+10+5+2.5+1)
Yes, my form was not perfect and in any sort of pl comp none of my lifts would comply.

My stats:

Gender: male (unchanged)
Age: 39 (unchanged)
Weight: about 65kg (I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning under the same conditions as at the start)
Height: 1.66m (unchanged)

Review: All went well until about a month ago when I caught a flu like cold
which prevented me from training for 2 weeks, then 1 bench workout and a leg wourkout later my wife got 2 wks holiday at short notice so we took the kids on holls for easter. The video is from my 1st workout since before the holliday, so the last month has not been conducive to increasing lifts what with this being the 3rd bench session since 23/03/09 whereas the plan had been for 2/week . Still I made quite good progress in the 1st 2 mths and haven't slipped back since.

[Cakeface]

For some reason it won't let me edit that post so:

Weight: 64.2kg (-0.3kg insignificant decrease)

[Cakeface]

Well I failed on the 5th rep at 93kg, so my provisional end lift is no longer provisional.