Blog by Ricky Bakker

Finally I was allowed to test where I stand. Testing whether all technical work and reflection work are paying off. Testing in Wim style of course. In doing so, I realize that I ’train’ for 8 weeks with Wim and I didn’t have the expectations to gain alot of pounds – on the barbell that is 🙂 – .

I noticed during the week that I am still a bit nervous with high numbers. It gives me energy but distracts me from the work that has to be done during the week. So focus: on the deload week. Because we still want to pursue flawless work on my technique and posture.

Test training!
In the morning I felt the urge to train bubbling up. I even noticed that I suffered from nerves. Then I thought: hey, you like training .. make it fun. That calmed me down and ensured that I could reflect on what happened later in training with an objective look. In this blog I’ll share with you what happened.

Squats
Recently I have noticed that I enjoy squatting very much. I do not need extra motivation. I work hard, I am very stable (even if I say so myself). I also squatted my third attempt as if I would have a fourth attempt. So there is more in the tank. “That’s a NICE FEELING”. So far so good!

Bench press & Ricky
That is not exactly love. I notice that, partly due to hurdles in the body, I find it very difficult to motivate myself at this lift, and give optimal performance. High weights to me, myself and Ricky is equal to:
Lack of focus on technique + a$$ of the bench.

But does your trainer don’t say anything about that Ricky?
Of course he does! Only in the weeks before it didn’t happen. Nevertheless, bench press is feeling pretty strong, despite my a$$in relat from the bench #error.

So what I learned from this?
I made my second bench press attempt :). It felt pretty heavy, but I pressed it. Now the average, not well-thinking, lifter would say: Well come on with those pounds. I decided to play it safe. For me that means I weigh my options conservatively in relation to the extra few pounds that could result in one place higher or lower during a competition/meet. This is important to me because I’m learning to listen to my body.

Deadlift party
For deadlifts, Wim said ……. ! Well…. I’m not going to say what Wim said (I’m going to hold on that a little bit longer). The bottom line is I want to lift ever lift solid and hard. So I do too much. Of course it is not all roses. Because as I shared before, I also have many steps to make.

Reflection is KEY
I’ve come to the conclusion that reflecting on my training sessions works to my advantage. After all, it are the kilos that let you rank higher and not the Wilk’s points. My technique has improved so much. And because of that I experience less pain, and I’m able to load more kilos on the bar. When that time arrives that I believe I’m really ready to lift some more weight then I will definitely have a care free time in the gym and for sure a nice play date with all the plates. Until then, I’ll continue to train hard, play hard and enjoy the ride.

Thank you for reading!