Marilia’s Powerlifting Blog

I know, some of you are going to say: “but haven’t you had enough? Haven’t you learned your lesson about safety and powerlifting?” I did, but this is different (it is always different when you are having fun)! It is a regular gym, but a real big, well equipped, well manned gym. The instructors are all Physical Educators or Ph.Ed. students, really knowledgeable, probably because they pay better.
I used to workout there two years ago, in another, pre-powerlifting era. Then, I used to be just a curious, reckless, experimental practitioner, reading and trying anything that sounded cool. Muscular but cut, small.
Last year, I received a sponsorship from the Company and that includes training a few days a week at their facility. My team remains Nautilus at Santo Andre.
When I started training at the big gym, many people remembered me from the old days. Having me back with a few titles and a lot of extra knowledge and experience was exciting – I have been treated with kindness and respect from day one. Not only that, but many of the instructors and more advanced practitioners crowd around me for some powerlifting or strength training tips. A few of them, though, got really interested in learning.
Yesterday I explained the Bench Press to one young instructor. We did a load test and he is quite strong. Since BP technique demands quite a bit of adaptation, he felt unstable at first. I decided to stop at 286lbs (he weighs 165lb). He wanted to keep loading the bar, but I decided he needed to adjust to the technique first. Then he asked me:
“May I do more exercises for chest and triceps or is this over?”
I said “no, go on, they will be your assistance work – we will fix that later.”
“May I really ?”
That “really” should have told him off to me, but I was focused on my own shoulder work. When I looked back, the boy was doing a million and a half extra benching reps.
“Oh boy”, I thought.
A few days ago I sent an abstract (which I invented, please don’t believe all I write) from the International Journal of Human Genome Research to my friend Mendinho about the discovery of the Powerlifting gene. In homozygosis, the gene coded for a compulsive lifting behavior triggered by the contact with an Olympic bar. We had a good laugh. Yesterday, though, I wondered if that wasn’t a true abstract, and the other, on leptin reaction, was the one I invented…

This is going to be a busy year, with an awkward distribution of meets: they crowd in the middle of the year (your Summer, my Winter) and space out up to December. Deciding the right periodization strategy is not going to be so easy. The sequence is: 

March 2/3 – State/upcountry regional (WABDL) 

April 19-21 – State WABDL 

(maybe: May 17, battle of the countries, USA x Canada X Brasil – WNPF) 

August 8/9 – National WNPF 

September 13 – Bench Press World Cup (WABDL) 

October 25 – South American WNPF 

December 13 – Caramello’s meet (gotta go) 

I have been told there is something in July, but haven’t received it yet and will probably decline. This is already a big number of meets to prepare for. 

More later. 

I’ve been on training vacations. I should be doing some sort of “basic” or light training, or whatever that may prepare me better for the competitive year. I used to be good at this type of stuff… But the truth is, without the lifting itself, I just keep postponing everything except running.
Maybe this is all for the good. Some schools claim lifters need a “nothing” long period for CNS recovery. Others prefer some kind of low intensity training, with light loads. Until December 29, that is probably what I was doing. No lifts were included in my routine, which is painful, but ok.
I spent the holidays with friends at the beach. They own a gym with powerlifting equipment, but I totally avoided that corner.
Today is January the 9^th and since January 2 I haven’t done anything besides running and rubber training, and even then, just a couple of times (the rubber, which is really boring). This is wrong… I know it is… I know physiotherapists disagree over that matter and cannot find a consensus. I have been prescribed these exercises while recovering from my first acro-myo-clavicular injury episode. It is chronic and reflects on little rotator cuff or anterior deltoid tendon insertion inflammations. The rubber really helps in my case, and I don’t know why I am not doing it.
The end of the year was a total disaster: a disorganized team, the tragic end of an important relationship, friends falling apart all around me, disrupted projects – I just couldn’t handle it anymore. Got tired. Holidays make everything worse. I am so glad they are over. Can’t wait until “Carnaval” (Mardi Gras like holiday, which literally stops economic and social life in Brazil) is done with, early February. Until then, we live in suspended animation – no one takes anything seriously.  
Yesterday I started my Tai-chi and qigong training again, which brings more focus to the competitive year (and to life itself). And Monday I will resume lifting proper. I know this is when I get serious. And I am putting my best hopes that now I will lift this curtain of depressive smoke that seems to have settled over my life.