Marilia’s Powerlifting Blog

As I always say, I am a newcomer to powerlifting and I tend to observe everything with unfamiliar eyes. Only recently have I come to actually appreciate this lack of familiarity. It is the same lack of familiarity that, years ago, allowed me to look at a biochemical system and “see” something the rest of the lab ignored. Of course: they were looking at those protein-cell surface interactions for 10 years and I had just been introduced to them. What stuck out like a sore thumb to me was unseen to them.
Back to powerlifting, just as the colored disks support looked to me more like a post-modern sculpture, the slapping, hitting, pulling ears and screaming act previous to lifting at meets was just too fascinating. I remember staring at one lifter who couldn’t find anyone to hit him and started slapping his own face, which was a pretty arduous task since he was wearing a very tight bench shirt. Looking at this apparently bizarre self-abuse behavior, I wondered what it was all about.
“Adrenaline” – they told me. “Testosterone”, others said.
When I started taking part on competitions, I wondered if that would help me. My first lift was always done under already so much anxiety and stress that I could not possibly imagine what an extra production of those hormones could do to my body or mind.
So one day my coach gave me one big slap on the back before my first deadlift. I missed a REAL light load. And concluded that hitting and slapping was not for me.
One month later I broke a regional, a national and a South American bench press record by doing exactly the opposite, with the help of my friend Fernando Canteli. Canteli is an experienced lifter and holder of several national records. He noticed I was under a lot of pressure and feeling uncomfortable and isolated me from the crowd, allowing me to close my eyes and focus.
So: focusing is for me. Not slapping. Focusing. Not screaming. Silence.
That is a nice starting point: some lifters quench anxiety to focus and succeed, others prefer to increase their stress level to achieve the same goal (channel all aggressiveness to lifting the weight – another form of focusing).
Researchers in the field of sports psychology, anxiety and performance have been struggling with the relationship between the various components of stress and performance for years. There is an obvious complex relation, but which is it? Some studies propose a model with multiple anxiety (or stress) components, each behaving differently but feeding back into each other (at least a physiological and cognitive component).
A single “optimum” relation seems unlikely, but situation-specific optimum levels of stress components seem to describe individual performance.
This is the closest academic research gets to it.
And I still wonder what sort of western explanation may account for the incredible results observed in the martial arts. They come under concepts such as “Qi (chi) energy”, “meridians” and the like. For some reason, I feel they could be helpful to us, or at least very insightful.
So: what do we do now?
Read more:
http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol4Iss2/Competitive_State_Anxiety.htm
 

I couldn’t, after all, take part  on the last Bench Press championship. Pity, but maybe for the best: the full-leg cast was really uncomfortable and would require a lot of help moving about. Monday I took it out and started wearing a Velcro half-cast. Now I can bend my knee, but not enough to have a decent bridge.
There is another nice BP championship on August the 4^th in which I will have to wear this.
So, what to expect?
There are two possible answers: the first would be the scientific prediction of around 100kg – a little more, a little less. The second would be: the unexpected.
Cast and all, last week I did 4 sets of 4 reps with 68kg (149.6lbs) (raw) and called it a day. Went home and calculated the 1RM with this value and came to 75kg (165lbs). Adding 32% of bench shirt carry-over (that is what Fury Titan gives me), that comes to 99kg or 217.8lbs. With cast – moderate to no bridge.
The following week I tested the 1RM raw lift. The result was… 75kg (165 lbs)! What a surprise.
The question is: why did I lift 165 lbs? Because the formula based on regression analysis accurately describes the biological phenomenon of BP lifting? Or because I was biased by my own prediction? Predisposed to accomplishing the predicted, or fulfilling the prophesy?
A few months ago, I wouldn’t blink to answer: “option one”. Now I am not so sure. Mental barriers in strength (and maybe other sports as well) have as much to do with the known physiological phenomena of muscle contraction as the tip of an iceberg reflects its actual water content. There is much more to it – in physiological terms – than what we have empirical documented data about.
More later

It has been a week since I have been using them. I broke my fibula last Monday and since then, I have been doing practically everything as before, but much slower. My brother drives me to the gym for teaching and training and the rest of my work is at home, on the computer. With time, I learned how to cook, wash the dishes and then the more difficult tasks: fill the water and food containers for the pets (three dogs and a rabbit) and take a shower with a full-leg cast. 

I don’t like asking for help. Actually, I might not like help at all. My daughter came here and offered help – not really sincere, if you know what I mean. And in her second “help” attempt she tried to impose a deadline for a task in which she should assist me. I sent her away. Don’t need that sort of help. I’m not sick – I just have a broken leg. And no one will abuse me for that reason. 

And… don’t expect me to keep away from the big bench. I haven’t been treated all that well after my marks went up and I won all the champs… broke a couple of records… If “they” expect me to be down and blue, then my message is “in your dreams”. 

If I can get my friends to go with me to the BP meet this weekend, I will. Not only I will, but I will win. Not only I will win, but I will probably break another record – even with my stiff leg up, no arch, no good form, no nothing: just my desire to lift heavy and kick some ass. 

Squatting. It was a light weight for me: 130kg. I am training for a 145kg mark at the next championship. Or rather, “was”… It’s ok: I’ll be fine. At the third rep I heard the bone breaking, like a little “cleck” inside the leg. Weird… Then it became painful to step.
I went to the emergency room at a fancy hospital and they wanted to push me to surgery, immediately. I wasn’t on my best mood, you may figure: pretty upset about losing championships, some pain (funny… I don’t FEEL too much pain at all) and confusion about how to organize my life without a functional leg. Frustration, insecurity and pain. Real nice combo.
So I had no patience to handle the stupid physicians. They sent me home without the RMN I had the right to, no matter how much I argued. Either I agreed with THEIR surgery, or no RMN. Which meant scheduling it by my own, taking days or even a week to find a date. Wow…
What I really felt nervous about is that my cell phone was losing battery (with all those equipments around) and I didn’t have my own orthopedist cell with me.
Finally I gave up, with too much pain killer to think. Went home and next day called my “ortho guru” Fabiano. He called me to his hospital and saw me between one surgery and the next – he’s a big shot. He called and older and simply too-nice-to be true doctor, the general director of Orthopedics to help the DX. They said there was no need for surgery at that moment, no ligament commitment and if – and only if – surgery was required, it would be because of the bone. They didn’t believe it, though.
Now: why did it happen?
Too many hypothesis… I feel extremely stronger after this 4 week rest – like 20% stronger in my raw BP and who knows how stronger in the squat. Reason? Wild guesses. But neural adaptation and strong muscles don’t go side-by-side with bone and ligaments, necessarily. Maybe…
The physicians think the knee wrap was possibly wrapped wrongly, because it was towards the outside and the tibia might have twisted against the fibula and broken it. I saw many lifters using it that way and nothing happened. However, I have a crooked kneecap – it is already somewhat twisted and usually I wrap my knees towards the inside.
A third opinion says the knee wrap was too tight. The friend who wrapped me is extremely strong and I feel very little pain. So I just grabbed the bar and squatted.
Who knows?
But I’m ok: many BP championships, I’ll do my best on them and let’s see next year.
 

http://www.japmaonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/93/4/340 - 

http://www.mc.uky.edu/Surgery/sportsmedicine/healthInfo/Fibular_Fracture.html - 

http://www.orthopaedicweblinks.com/Orthopedic_Topics/Trauma/Tibia_and_Fibula/Tibia_Fibula_Fracture_Abstracts/index.html - http://www.hwbf.org/ota/am/ota02/otapa/OTA02745.htm -