It's been a little while since our last competition report so it's fun to get to sit down and write another one especially because I'll mostly be writing about my partner and fellow "Glitter coach" Coach V.
She decided a few months ago that she was going to diet down to the 52kg weight class from the 56kg class to try and get the British Bench record in two weight classes in the ABPU.
The reason she was going bench only was a big hamstring issue which luckily she is now on the way to fixing (I have no doubt this will make another blog post at some point.)
In the run up towards the comp we've had festivals, social occasions and various unavoidable events which resulted in her sitting just slightly too high a weight on the morning of the weigh in so on the 90 minute drive over to the competition venue we got her nice and layered up and got the heaters on full blast.
I had the luxury of being able to drink and take off my jacket but unfortunately she had 0.4kg to lose so did not. She certainly didn't feel great at this point, but the excess wasn't a dangerous drop that would effect her health.
About 45 minutes into the drive she finally started sweating so we knew we had a chance of making it!
I've never seen her face go so red with heat before!
When we went for attempt one on the scales and she was still 0.1kg! So back into the backroom we went to run around until that 0.1kg went away.
We got her back on the scales and boom!
She made weight!
It wasn't the perfect build up to a competition but now we could relax and had just over 24 hours to get her hydrated and in a fed state ready to smash the record on the following day.
During the drive over there the lift off time changed a couple of times and we had traffic issues so for a while we weren't even sure we were going to get there on time!
Luckily for us they then put lift off back half an hour meaning we had plenty of time to warm up.
She was opening at 62.5kg to match the current record so we planned the following warm-up:
Bar- 3 x 5 reps
40kg- 3 reps
50kg- 1 rep
57.5kg- 1 rep
60kg (optional depending on how 57.5kg looked)
57.5kg looked great so we didn't take that and saved our energy for the opener.
She was to open at 62.5kg. By the look of it, the lift absolutely flew to match the record but speaking with Coach V she said it felt unsteady so we took the planned jump to 65kg.
In hindsight I think I should have made her do the optional warm-up set at 60kg so we didn't have to make a 5kg jump but these are the little lessons you take away from every single competition you attend.
The 65kg attempt came around quickly and when it was time to lift it looked even easier than the 62.5kg opener.
She was a record breaker once again!
We then planned to go up to 67.5kg which was big for her because she'd failed it in training. Once again before we knew it, it was time to lift again and 67.5kg looked like the easiest of the bunch.
I know coach V wishes she had gone for 70kg but i know we made the right decision and set her up for more PB's (and records) in future.
All white lights and a flawless competition in the end!
So what lessons did we learn from the competition?
•Weighing in at 52kg isn't easy when you have a million social occasions to attend in the weeks beforehand.
•Sweating it out in the car for 90 minutes isn't the most pleasant way to spend a drive.
•Take small jumps when warming up for bench press to prepare as much as you possibly can.
Small jumps = Better preparation = Better opener = Bigger totals
Congratulation to Coach V who now holds two British Bench Records!!!
By Chris Kershaw
Instagram chris_kershaw_strength