On the weekend 26-27 July 08 I competed at the Drug-Free British Single Powerlifting Championships after Qualifying at the Northern England Champs a two months prior. Overall it was a great competition, and great to see an entry line up of nearly 170 lifters!!

My results were as follows:

Unequipped Bench Press; Junior 1^st place, Overall 1st place Official World Record, new Police / Fire and Military record

(Previous World Record stood for 10yrs)

Unequipped Deadlift; Junior 1^st place, Overall 1st place Equalling my own British record, new Police / Fire and Military record

Due to my high aspirations in terms of what I believe my body can lift I was happy to win the competition but felt more disgruntled at the fact I didnt make the lifts I would have liked. However due a hint of food poisoning the day before and during the competition the result could have been far worse!!

I will now be travelling to Antwerp in October to compete at the World Championships, I see this as another opportunity for me to prove my strength to myself and hopefully not only win but hit the lifts I would like to achieve.

The time is well under way for competitive athletes to map out their plans and aspirations for the forthcoming year,.. I am no different! However I feel a change of path for this year is appropriate for me.

So what’s on the scope of JH this year?!

I have a few aims I want to achieve this year, priority being on the Natural Powerlifting scene. I have just competed in the Northern England in order to qualify for the British Finals, Here I achieved first place in both Bench Press and Deadlift disciplines breaking my own British records in both lifts and also gaining new unofficial European and World records also.

My training however has not much altered, I still see myself as a natural bodybuilder and train as such, 20 - 30 sets per body-part with reps ranging from 100 down to 2 reps are common place in my regime. I truly believe that both light and super heavy workouts have their place in overall physical training.

All in all, I have made some new resolutions and will do everything I can to follow them through, however if my plans are cut short I will make an earlier return to the natural bodybuilding stage than planned. I dont believe in big talk or getting concerned in politics surrounding my sport, I have a dying passion for training and competing with intentions of being the best in the world.

Check out the Photos of the recent competition below,

Keep posted!!

Jay

 

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Power Training:
To develop the body, gaining muscle size and shape, an individual must complete a lot of endurance training, - in the context of doing a number of sets and repetitions. However, I believe that in order to achieve that hard, dense muscle, the individual must include heavy, low rep strength training into a regular training regime.

I personally consider being strong just as important as having a good looking physique, further more I am of the opinion that this shows immediately onstage, the muscle appears to be a much softer on the physiques of those who train light year round. There is an abundance of scientific and physiological evidence to show this, mainly being more muscle-fibre hypertrophy, and increased density of these fibres, there are also studies which state that the actual muscle cell walls grow thicker and tougher, and therefore resists shrinking! By including some power sets into a strict training regime will also strengthen the attachments of tendon to bone, minimising the likelihood of injuries such as an avulsion fracture (separation of tendon from bone), and also be less likely to strain tendons etc.. whilst high repetition training.

Besides this, it is a mental voyage, you discover what your body can really do, how much weight you can really move, and if logged, the improvements can be seen over a period of time, and will give you a mental edge over an individual who never includes power training into their program.

The basis of bodybuilding for me is developing a muscle mass by lifting heavy iron, however this certainly doesnt mean that bodybuilders should train like weightlifters or specialised powerlifters. I recommend a program that incorporates a number of basic compound power movements, with a number of higher, maximum intensity repetition sets to supply you with the advantages of both styles of training.

At last weekends Single Lift North East Championship Jay won his class in both the Bench Press and Deadlift Categories, setting new British Records in both also (175kg and 270kg respectively).  Its very rare to find a bodybuilder (especially a natural one) who can so easily switch between the very different disciplines of powerlifting and bodybuilding, and conquer all in his path.  He is now qualified for the European competitions in powerlifting and is also planning on competing in the BNBF this year.  It could prove to be a big year for Jay!