hannibal's 200kg bench journal

[hannibal]

4/2 (thurs)
lying twists.. 3x10 @ bw
deadlift.. 6x60kg, 5x110kg, 3x140kg, 3x6 @ 160kg.. back feeling fine
cg bench.. 6x60kg, 4x80kg, 6x6 @ 102.5kg.. this didn't feel right for some reason.. last week it felt hard but today just felt like pushing 60.. maybe sacrificing form
pullups.. 3x6 @ bw
squat.. 3x6 @ 70kg (first reps cleaned)
ghr.. 3x6 @ setting 7:1
incline situps.. 3x10 with 5kg weight

bodyweight down to 110.5kg.. will hit 110kg next week for sure

[hannibal]

7/2 (mon)
bench.. 6x60kg, 5x100kg, 3x130kg, 6x3 @ 145kg
two second paused bench from short block.. 3x5 @ 125kg
db incline press.. 3x6 @ 40kg
db tricep extension.. 3x6 @ 40kg
preacher curls.. 3x10 @ 40kg
deadlift.. 6x60kg, 3x6 @ 90kg
squat.. 6x60kg, 5x90kg, 3x110kg, 3x6 @ 122.5kg

[^toby^]

post before / after photos!

[hannibal]

post before / after photos!

will do, but after is still quite a way away.

missed a few sessions so this could be somewhat off...

11/2 (fri)
dl.. 3x6 @ 170kg
cg bench.. 6x6 @ 110kg
squat.. 3x6 @ 75kg
assistance.. glutes, pullups, etc

14/2 (mon)
bench.. 6x60kg, 5x90kg, 3x120kg, 3x145kg too hard.. finished up with a way too difficult 5x3 @ 140kg.. either i'm at breaking point (this 6x3 program is designed to break you) or the fact that i had hardly slept for three days was taking its toll. will try starting with 3x150 this monday and if that's too difficult will end the 6x3s. the down side of weight loss.
board press with two second pause.. 3x5 @ 125kg
seated db overhead.. 3x6 @ 35kg maybe, can't remember
squat.. 6x60kg, 5x90kg, 3x110kg, 3x6 @ 130kg
dl.. 3x6 @ 90kg
some sort of curling no

18/2 (fri)
dl.. 5x60kg, 3x110kg, 1x140kg, 1x160kg, 3x5 @ 185kg
cg bench.. 6x6 @ 110kg
squat.. 5x60kg, 3x5 @ 80kg
pullups.. 3x6 @ bw
db hammer curls.. 3x8 @ 25kg
db oh press.. 3x10 @ 25kg
glute ham raises.. 3x6 @ setting 4 down (with help)

[hannibal]

21/2 (mon)
bench.. 3x150kg, 2x3 @ 146kg, 3x3 @ 145kg. terrible but could have been worse
paused bench off short block.. 3x5 @ 130kg. some nice grinders towards the end
db incline oh press.. 3x6 @ 35kg
db tricep extension.. 3x8 @ 35kg
preacher curls.. 3x10 @ 40kg
deadlift.. 3x5 @ 95kg
squat.. 3x5 @ 150kg.. wasn't sure how this would go with the weight loss but surprisingly pretty easy

[hannibal]

24/2 (thurs)
dl.. 3x5 @ 195kg... very last rep bit of a hitch going on :s
cg bench.. 3x5 @ 80kg
squat.. 3x5 @ 80kg
quick session, will finish up tomorrow

[hannibal]

25/2 (fri)
the fail whale was with me today..
bench.. 3x5 @ 140kg very last rep just missed
dl.. 3x5 @ 100kg
squat.. 2x5 @ 160kg last rep missed, then finished up with an easyish 5x155kg
arm was screaming from way too much heavy benching lately so ditched the assistance again for a later time.. under 110kg now at least.

[hannibal]

18/3 (fri)
back to it, weaker and lighter than ever, flowers for algernon?
bench... 3x5 @ 135kg
dl.. 5x190kg, too heavy... 2x5 @ 182.5kg
squat.. 3x5 @ 150kg

[hannibal]

21/3 (mon)
2x2s at lighter weights than i've done 3x5s on, though in good news bench and dl felt like nothing
squat.. 2x2 @ 160kg.. ugh can't find the groove
paused bench.. 2x2 @ 140kg
dl.. 2x2 @ 200kg
it's game on to hit 105kg by this sat

[sosso]

You'll be back where you were in no time. It's always like that after a holiday

Hey did my order of Veg 1 go through on uproar? I know you've been away but just thought I'd check.

[Andrewc]

Don't tell me you're competing this weekend after being away? I'll be in Thursday to find out who's doing what but you've got to be crazy to be doing this.

[sosso]

Veg 1 arrived today. Thanks!

[hannibal]

26/3 (sat - raw nationals)

so basically this competition was all about making weight as a 105kg. i signed up for two comps on the day - the bench only in the afternoon as a 120kg (safety net in case of not making weight for the 3 lift) and the powerlifting comp in the evening as a 105kg. i weighed in at 106.5kg for the arvo session, dehydrated as all hell.. wasn't really expecting to do so well with only a few slices of bread and jelly beans for fuel, having been AWOL the last few heavy weeks of the cycle, and losing about 25 kgs in the last half year, but was surprised that the strength losses weren't too huge.

BENCH ONLY white lighted on 140, 145 (two whites one red) and 150kg.. the last lift was close to if not at my limit.. so that was another national title having defeated hordes of ferocious competition in my highly contested weight division :))

then it was time to navigate through the world of sauna and spit cups.. much to his later regret one of my club mates told me that if you chew gum it will increase your saliva so you can spit it into a cup which is all the less water you have to sweat out.. after i came out of the sauna barely able to stand or function i went to hang up my towel with spit cup in hand and somehow emptied it into his gym bag :(

the wooden torture box was terrible like being swallowed up by the mouth of hell. never again.. did three sessions of 15, 10 and 10 minutes each at about 90 celcius and that did the job where i could weigh in at 104.85kg or thereabouts. after making weight i drank powerade after powerade and then had visions of projectile vomiting all over the platform and chief ref pea soup style.

POWERLIFTING the comp itself was a bit of a catastrophe as predicted, lost huge amounts of strength, and i didn't have much to begin with, in squat and deadlift, though did passably in bench i guess..

squat.. opened with a tough 160kg, followed with a tougher 167.5kg and almost didn't get 172.5kg, came up like an aeroplane twisting and turning
bench.. opened on 142.5kg, second press on 147.5kg, then thought i was doing 152.5kg but the coach called 150kg and got that up solidly enough.
deadlift.. easy enough 202.5kg opener and 212.5kg second lift, wasn't expecting final lift of 220kg to be too much challenge but when i got it up close to lockout the old hitch instincts came in and then i just ran out of juice, held it for a second and then put it down. oh well.

ended up with a pretty abysmal 535kg total and fifth of eight, but i'm pretty happy to have something on the board in the 105s and at least now i've got something to build on.. plan now is to level out at about 108kg bodyweight and slowly build the strength back up over the coming months. next goal is making a 630kg fully equipped total in the june comp to qualify for equipped nationals.

despite the comp being a bit of a disaster i was pretty stoked to make weight, especially after being up to 130kg last year.

1/4 (fri)

back to training!

cg bench.. 3x10 @ 90kg.. i'm planning to go a little heavier on close grip this cycle to see if the extra tricep work will help bench
dl.. 3x10 @ 100kg
squat (each rep cleaned, pressed, squatted, and then pressed again from behind the neck).. 3x10 @ 60kg doesn't sound like much but these were hell.
incline situps.. 3x12 @ bw
glute ham raises.. 3x10 @ setting 7:1
pullups.. 3x5 @ bw

[knackers]

Hey I was wondering how you went.
I reckon thats a good showing considering your insane weightloss, definitely something to build on at your new weight range. Good work with the bench especially, a gorilla never loses its upper body strength even when dehydrated! haha

[baldy]

Great comp write up, making weight doesn't sound like much fun. Any videos?