Alex Wheatman Interview

What is your full name and where do you live?
Alex Wheatman, Crawley, west Sussex just outside of Gatwick

When and where was the last competition held?
June2006 in Vienna, Austria

What title did you win and what were your results?
European Junior power lifting title, 220 Squat, 115 Bench and 180 Dead lift

How did you feel on stage, were you confident?
When I'm getting ready to lift I tend to make a lot of noise before hand as the bar is being loaded. It's my way of physic myself up. When I get under the bar though it's a different Alex. I become calm and collective and focused on what I have to do. I am a very confident person; I think that you have to be in order to lift what a large amount of weight.

What does your usual training consist of? Did you have to change it prior to the competition?
Off season I train with high reps four days a week but still incorporating my three main power movements, then every three weeks I revert my contest period where I use less reps and higher weights from Monday to Wednesday then on the Friday I max out to 80-90% on all three lifts. By doing this I seem to have a lot more left in the tank on the day of the competition as I usually get through a Friday session in about two and half hours. On a competition day I could spend all day there from 10-18.00.

Then eight weeks out from my contest I revert completely to the low rep work out.

I also like to train in different gyms around there area with many of the guys that lift in federation. I think that's it's a good way to keep in touch and also you are not just getting used to one piece of equipment which will most probably not be at your contest.

How did you feel on the day?
When I woke up in the morning I felt really strong and a lot more confident then I usually do. My warm up was fine and I made it to the platform on time which can be a fine art.

My first and second squat was fine I felt abit tired after the second so I called for 230.
When I got the bar out of the monolift it felt lop sided, so I tried to shuffle it along. I squatted the weight but could just not lock it out. After racking the weight I found that the bar had been miss loaded on one side. So I had to ice my back which at this point was in a great deal of pain. I had to drop all of my weights for the bench press and could only manage my opening dead lift of 180KG which was a struggle even though I can pull that for high reps in the off season.

Sometimes these things happen, you cannot plan for them you just have to deal with them when they arise.

What supplements do you usually use and how are they improving your performance?
The best product that I have ever used would have to be Explosive creatine. I stopped using creatine many years ago as I used to get a horrid almost chalky film on the back of my teeth after I had drunk it.
My friend suggested using explosive creatine and I was taken back by it. Firstly instantly, the taste is out of this world. Secondly I have really noticed a great improvement in my training. I have been able to train for a lot longer and harder without any real fatigue or drop in training. I have been using sculpt and fat stripper which has helped me a lot in my last contest to make my weight category.

As well as these I have been using the protein flap jacks whilst at work and after my meals now that I'm moving up a weight class.

Now that you already have the title, have you decided to give yourself some time off training?
I'm not one for having a long rest. I love the idea that I'm in the gym training while the guys I compete against have given themselves some time off. I have a few days off and eat loads of pizza and other junk food then its back to training hard again for November.

When's your next competition and what title will you be competing for?
My next contest is in November for the World Championships which are going to be held in Limerick, Ireland. It will most likely to be my last contest as a junior.

Do you already know who you'll be competing against?
I thought that I would be up against Chris Wall from LA Muscle but he has had to drop out, so that just leaves an Austrian and a Dutch guy that I'll be up against. The Mexican team usually bring a big team with them so I should be up against a few of them as well.

How do you motivate yourself on a daily basis?
Just to better myself. Every contest that I have had I have totalled better each time. My training partner is a great role model; he is 48 now and a 110KG lifter so I push myself to keep up with him and to surpass him (soon anyway). Other then that there are a lot of guys that I have met through competition that keep me motivated, such as Justin Hurley, Craig Coombes, Dave carter and Keith Ellis.

What made you choose powerlifitng above other sports? Did anyone inspire you?
I used to run for the south of England track team. One day I said to my coach that I wanted to drop down from the 800m to the 400m, He said that I would have to put on a lot more weight so I joined my local gym and met my training partner now in there. We got chatting one day as I was interested in what he was doing so he said why don't you train with me one day, so I did and have been ever since. That's was six years ago.

What are your future plans?
I'm going to try and better my last placing in the worlds and come away with a win. Next year there is an invitational in Holland just a few days before my birthday so I would like to do that. After that the British and Europeans again and try and get a place for the worlds. That's a long way off at the minute and I'll be in the open class then and there are some really big lifters in there. I only really look at my training every three weeks at the minute.

Would you like to add anything?
I would like to thank my Coach and training partner Richard West for all that he has done for me over the years. I have never once been to a contest and he has not been there to look after me. He has to put up with a lot from me, whether it being new training techniques that I want to try or a new way of wearing equipment. Everyone else in the forest gym in crawley and to the G.B team for all there help and being a great bunch of guys.