The past two weeks have been an exciting and climactic time for local power sports. Local talent was showcased locally and abroad in all three sister sports of weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding.
After building a solid foundation of power, simply enjoy your gains or step onto the competitive platform or stage and hit the ground running- Matthew Muscat Inglott
The national weightlifting team kicked things off a fortnight ago in Luxembourg at the European Small Nations Weightlifting Championship coming home with a silver medal in the team event.
On May 5, it was the turn of the national powerlifting team to show once again during the European Championships in Italy that Malta is a truly dominant force in the WDFPF (World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation).
Later that evening, Malta’s newest Bodybuilding Federation, the MBPF (Malta Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation) hosted some of Malta’s best bodies on full display at its third national championship event in Floriana.
Soon there will be yet another exciting new addition to our local iron game. The sport of strongman will be contested in Malta for the first time at Malta’s Strongest Man this summer, adding to an already thriving local power sports scene.
So what do all these sports have in common? You guessed it: power, and lots of it. The thousands of men and women who lift weights recreationally in gyms across Malta and Gozo also form part of the iron game family, and there’s never been a better time to get involved.
Even if you have no competitive aspirations, at least for the time being, the moment you got hooked on lifting weights for whatever reason, you joined the brotherhood too. Almost all inductees to the power sports scene start out as regular gym users eventually attracted by the thrill of competition, and the motivational drive it provides. If you would like to get stronger and more muscular than any of the power sports will help you achieve your goal faster than you ever imagined.
While some of our athletes are indeed of international standard, most strength athletes in Malta derive immense satisfaction simply out of taking part and bettering their own performances, and some wise athletes even compete simply as a means of conditioning for other sports.
Whether you would like to lay the foundations for a possible competitive career in any of Malta’s selection of power sports, or just want to develop some more muscle and might, today I shall set out the foundations of power. Anybody interested in increasing strength and muscle mass can follow this basic programme for the awesome results it can deliver, or indeed as a stepping stone to any of the iron game sports.
After building a solid foundation of power, simply enjoy your gains or step onto the competitive platform or stage and hit the ground running. Old hands in the gym of intermediate to advanced experience can also give this programme a shot if they are interested in a back-to-basics routine to be performed as a two to three-month preparatory cycle.
Our foundation of power consists of two workouts, entitled simply ‘push’, and ‘pull’. Simply alternate the workouts and allow enough time between each for soreness to subside before training again. As a minimum recovery time, take at least one day off to rest between workouts; it is not advisable to work out on consecutive days, despite the fact we are distinguishing between push and pull and targeting different muscle groups on each day.
It is beautiful in its simplicity, yet brutally effective. The basic repetition scheme we will follow is four sets of six to 10, with an easy warm-up set or two beforehand which we won’t actually count as working sets.
Hit the same weight in each working set, resting three minutes between. Start out with a weight you can lift at least six times over the four sets, and strive for that extra repetition or two every time you train. When you can successfully perform 10 repetitions on all the sets, increase the weight by five kilos, and start the sequence all over again working up towards four sets of 10 again.
For the push routine we will enlist the squat, bench press, standing barbell press, parallel bar dip (with extra weight held between the feet, if required), and core work (any two abdominal exercises, not necessarily weighted).
For the pull routine, we will enlist the deadlift, standing barbell shrug, barbell row, cable lat pull or pull up, and upright row. Consult the exercise and muscle directory at exrx.net for detailed instruction on how to perform all of these moves.
In bodybuilding terms, we can stimulate virtually every muscle of the body with this routine. All the major muscle groups are recruited and the big movements ensure adequate stimulation of testosterone and growth hormone levels both during and after training.
In powerlifting terms, we are hitting the ‘big three’ – the squat, bench press and deadlift, progressively increasing capacity every workout. If you find you can handle impressive poundages after several months on this routine, then powerlifting could very well be the sport for you.
In weightlifting terms, we are strengthening the most crucial phases of the pull with the deadlift and squat. We are also developing overhead strength using the standing barbell press. From a strongman point of view, we are strengthening all the major functional movements of the body including upper body pushing and pulling strength in the horizontal and vertical planes both high (standing press and lat pull) and low (dip and upright row).
Start building your foundations of power now, and who knows where it could take you?
info@noble-gym.com