Weakness Test

I am sore pretty much all over this morning and it even sort of hurts to type but I’ll soldier on.

Firstly, I should address some of the accusations of moaning. It’s true, I complain and moan a lot on the blog but I do get irritated by quite a lot of things. So I’ll try to hold off and make one good moany post per week to keep those of you who like a good rant happy, and for the rest of the week I’ll try to be a bit more positive and make some more qualitive contributions. Let’s start today.

Yesterday I strength tested. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do but I made a decision that I would stop if there was any pain in the wrist or if I was uncomfortable. I was expecting a decline of about 20% to all my scores aside from the deadlift, although I did expect the grip to be a factor there. I have been reading some studies on casting, atrophy and strength loss since I knew I’d be in the cast and by and large I was expecting to be weak as water. Here’s the results, along with my bests from before the injury and about 4 months ago.

1RM Bench Press- previous best 90kgs, expected 70-75kgs, actual score 80kgs (miss 85). This was actually more than I expected. The 80 went up nice and easy which was a bodyweight press, but my wrist gave a twinge on the 85 and it felt like my whole left arm crumbled. I look forward to pushing much more fairly soon.

Max pull ups- previous best 9 reps, expected 2/3 reps, actual score 6 reps. Again a bit higher than expected as I assumed the upper and mid back would be where the fall of would be. The first 4 reps were actually easier than I expected but the decline came very quickly which is borne out in my Inverted Row score below.

Max push ups in 60 seconds- previous best 39, expected 39, actual score 32. Very low score here. My push ups have always been the lowest of my scores for reasons as yet unknown, possibly due to my back issues, but I expected them to remain reasonably stable as, after all, they can’t get worse can they? Oh yes they can.

Max Inverted Rows in 60 seconds- previous best 30, expected 20+, actual score 16. Another low score with similar feel to the pull ups. Very easy first 12 reps and then a decline so quick it was almost funny.

Trap bar deadlift 1RM- previous best 170kgs, expected 160kgs, actual score 180kgs. Another score which exceeded my expectations. This went up quite easily but my form went to pot as you can see from the video below. This is about 20kgs above target and I think it’s quite interesting to note the decline in my inverted rows and the form slippage in the deadlift. Have a look and see what you think.

So overall, I’m happy that I have a benchmark from which to work. The hand is not totally healed by any stretch and I’m still in a splint which I’ve to wear most of the day but judging by the last few days workouts it won’t be too long before I’m back to full tilt training. It’s 7 weeks since the hand went into the cast initially and 3 months since the break itself – yes I was walking around with a broken hand don’t tell my doctor- so I hope to see some improvements pretty rapidly. I’m going to do another test pretty soon, perhaps in 4 weeks, as I think with the amount I’m going to train I’ll up these results pretty fast.

In other news, you’ve probably read about us banning someone from the gym as it’s been splashed on IP’s front page for the last few days. I don’t like to say too much about these things myself but I will say that as a coach, it’s my job to ensure everyone feels comfortable and has a good time in my classes. The individual in question made one of our female members extremely uncomfortable a while back due to some comments made so he was already walking a tightrope, and the fact that he had avoided paying for classes he had attended for some time, not just on the evening highlighted in the front page topic, has also exacerbated the situation. So if you think the topic on the front page was harsh, talk to me and make a decision when all the facts are in.

I’d also like to say a collossal good luck and kick his ass Seabass to The Paddy who will be fighting for the Irish Muay thai title on October 4th. I say Road Trip, what say ye? Paddy has been training hard and doing EVIL stuff with Will in the mornings to get ready for this. He’s in savage shape and he’s still got a month of training left. I want to see this.