A Powerlifters Diary Part 2 – Rhiannon Leake

Week starting 23/02/15

 

Almost immediately after sending Tim through my first blog, after stressing ‘did I

even check the grammar and is it written in coherent English?’ It dawned on me,

as much as I hate to admit, that I’m probably over doing things at the moment. I

mentioned in my last blog not getting enough sleep yet I have been walking at

ridiculous hours of the night, normally 8.30pm till 10ish, ok probably later most

of the time, which then results in me being wired and laying in bed for at least an

hour before falling asleep. So after careful consideration and much against my

Fitbit addiction that it is probably in my best interest to firstly; walk earlier and

secondly not as far or as fast. For those of you with Fitbits please feel free to add

me, rhiannonleake@hotmail.com, I love doing the Work Week Hustle and

Weekend Warrior challenges.

 

 

I have found my training sessions have been lacking energy, something I am use

to by this stage of my training cycle but also motivation. Some of my sessions I

have been just doing the bare minimum; my main lifts and skipping my

assistance work. I have found training alone the past weeks is probably part of

the reason, with Mr Carroll not there in my ear telling me to go harder. We had

an awesome routine before where the timing worked out perfectly, one of us

would do a set, we would critique it and then the other would go and by the time

we had both gone and discussed each others set thoroughly and then having

about a minute for me to lay on the ground like a star fish, it would be go time

again. This week I have just found myself getting side tracked between sets. With

my lifting it is not unusual for me to need rest breaks of up to 5 minutes for my

heavy squats, bench press and deadlifts. In saying that I have still been hitting

the numbers I have planned to and I’m on track for either getting PB’s (personal

best’s) or equalling my best lifts but at a lower bodyweight.

My diet has been easier to follow now that I am into a routine with uni and not at

home as often. I don’t find myself in the pantry wondering how I got there

anymore. I don’t pre-plan all meals but rather stick to a guide; I will give myself

3-4 options for meals and choose the night before or on the day depending how

much time I have for food prep.

 

 

Wednesday 25/02/15

 

So today I went to do the online entry for the competition I had been planning to

do and found out it had reached capacity 3 weeks ago! At first after finding this

out I felt gutted! I have my entire training block planned around this date so that

all my lifts and strength would peak March 15th. I then, after cursing several

times, looked at the comp calendar to see the next available one or if there were

any others on the same day in other states. Much to my dismay the next one in

Victoria is at the end of April and there were no other comps on the same day, so

I have decided I will wait till the end of April before I compete.

After letting it sink in I am actually happy to have a little bit more time to really

focus on my bench press, I suffered a niggle in my shoulder a few weeks ago and

had to have about a week and a half off from bench press to let it heal. So in one

way it gives a chance to get a full preparation in for this lift and also less stress to

cut weight so fast. I will still stick to my diet and really focus on getting more

sleep and doing things like meditating and a little bit of yoga for relaxation and

stress management which in turn will aid in my weight-loss.

In terms of my training I had to rewrite my program so that I can now peak at the

end of April. So this will be my final heavy weak before I drop the weights back

down again to about 75% of my 1RM (1 rep max) and I will slowly build back up

over the next 8 weeks. I have included a picture of what my program looks like, it

only has my main lifts planned and I go by feel for my assistance work. I am a

little bit OCD and have it colour coded as I find it easier to read quickly. My

training buddy has also returned so I am excited to start really smashing training

again. I will be checking daily for when the competition entry opens so that I can

definitely compete in April, otherwise I may go crazy!

So I shall continue to do a weekly blog with updates until I compete, you will just

hear from me a few more times than I first anticipated.

 

Rhiannon Leake 

Mobile Personal Training Specialist 

4 U Body Fitness