Dave Brockway Coaching

All Englands 2nd 🥈
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First of all I want to congratulate Adrian Murphy on his deserved win. Amazing to see him back 💪. I also want to thank for an amazing comp. Plus all the volunteers who helped for the love of the sport. You’re all amazing 👏🔥.
It turns out we don’t just get 3 attempts at lifting. We also get 3 attempts at weigh in 😂😂. My weight has been spiking up & down for a while. I’ll go into detail in another post. This morning I woke up at 84.6kg. So headed to .performance and did rounds in the sauna. According to the scales I was 83.2kg. So journey and a light spit should sort it. I jump on the scales at the venue 83.7kg. Ok. Bin bag on, chewing gum and a few round in my car. Wild spitting and 3 attempts at weigh in I hit 83kg. Yay! I made weight 😂.
The past few months of training run me into the ground. I couldn’t pick up 190kg (37.5kg loss), my bench (15kg loss) & my squat about 20kg. I’d just buried under fatigue. I had shoulder issues, a strained bicep tendon, hip & knee issue & IT band issues. Trying a different approach to training. TBH I was going to pull out of everything this year. I then thought. Let’s use this as a challenge.
Today was definitely not my best performance. But from where I came from 6 weeks ago it was a massive step up. I’m really proud with how I tacked this. I cut volume by 60-70%. The injuries disappeared. Depending on how I felt I maybe did 2-3 sets a session keeping an eye on my velocity transducer. I increased calories by 20%. Slowly my performance started reemerging. If your house is on fire don’t add petrol ⛽️.
I finished with a lower total & made a lot of silly mistakes. 505kg (22.5kg less than the British masters last year) but better than where I was 6 weeks ago.
Best lifts
Squat - 185kg
Bench - 110kg
Deadlift - 210kg.
I’ve learned so much about myself over this period. I know that I don’t respond well to higher volume lower intensity approach. It buried me. I got weaker. 5 weeks to British Masters. I have a goal of adding 10-15kg on my total & starting work on next years performance.

How to enjoy food over Christmas 🎅
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Obviously food and overindulgence are a part of how we spend time with our families & loved ones. What I don’t want everyone to do is feel guilty or restrict & binge.

Here are some facts about weight gain over christmas.
* Studies have shown that most people from the end of November to the beginning of January gain 0.5 to 1.5kg of weight.
* Most of that weight won’t be an increase in body fat but water retained from increases in salty & highly palatable sugary treats (Higher carbohydrates will increase water retention by 1:3. 1 Part Carb to 3 parts water. Thats why on a low carb diet you lose water weight and fat is reduced at the same weight) . Studies have shown that body fat on average goes up by 0.5%.
* If your body is used to a certain amount of calories / food volume. If you overeat most of the food will not be absorbed by the digestive system. Digestive enzymes that break down food into nutrients absorbed by the body are secreted at the same rate as normal. Food that isn’t absorbed will be excreted.
* The body will store a certain amount of excess calories but the body only has so much storage space before it just stops storing food.

What should I do?
* Enjoy food and drink with your family.
* Try and get out for a walk. Some gentle exercise can help food digest.
* Set a date to stop overindulging and stick to it. Return to normal eating and your body weight will return to normal once your body does what it’s designed to do.
* Don’t feel guilty.
* Don’t be someone who looks for a quick fix. The quickest fix is understanding making good nutritional choices is a long game not a “6/12 Week Cut”. 

Remember there are a lot of people out there selling quick fixes. Every Meta analysis on the subject of fat loss shows fat is lost when you take in less energy than your activity levels require.