Wednesday, March 30, 2011

APF IL state meet.

It has been since October 2007 since my last full meet. Since then (Sept 2009) I packed up my equipment out in Buffalo brought it to Indiana and put it in storage. So it was time to get back to competing. I wanted to make getting back in as easy as possible so I decided to weigh whatever my body wanted on meet day and just lift. Not even thinking about personal records just get good solid lifts on the board and go for a total. I felt that all in all I could possibly total 2000 if I put everything together. My strength was very close and if I did everything right meet day this could happen. Well Not everything went as planned but there were some glimmers of hope among the chalk and dust.

So Saturday I weighed in at 111.7 kg (246)

Sunday after driving 45 minutes to the meet site I warmed up for the squat and all went well and I felt pretty good. I have been working on my squat for for the last 3 months. I took a few steps backward knowing that it will help me to move forward faster in the future. I have a strong back and week hamstring and I squat that way. I lean forward rather than being upright and sitting into my hamstrings. This is still a work in progress and I know it is better than before I just need to display it.

So I opened at 717 in the squat knowing that on a bad day this is doable. Well On my first attempt it was not doable. I missed half way up. My form was good but no pop out of the hole. I was so afraid of missing on depth that I did not tighten my straps on my suit and so I missed. Now in a powerlifting meet missing your first squat is not a good sign....especially when you miss like that.

So 2nd attempt I take it again but with my straps cranked. It is good. I am in the meet so the pressure is off a bit. But it was much harder than it should have been as I went back to old habits an leaned forward rather than staying upright. But I am in the meet.

3rd attempt I go to 766. This is a bit off of the 800 I needed to get my 2k but I will build for my total. I sit it down there and my wife calls me up. It is good two to one. The squat was borderline but the judges called it good so why would I argue.

Time for a break and then on to normally my worst lift of the three. The bench has been my arch enemy since I started powerlifting. I have never put up a huge bench and not even close to cracking the top 100 in my weight class. By comparison I have hit 20th in the deadlift when I weighed 220.

So I open extremely light but heavy enough to touch easily. 445 came down easy and came up even easier. Again I am in the meet. My wife was shocked to see it come up so easy so we called for 473. Again nice and easy. It was a little out of the groove but still a much need improvement on past meets. So we called 501 and planned to hit what I wanted. Just like the first two it was easy and a pr bench in a full meet.

Now on to the deadlift, my ace in the hole. I am built to pull but have disappointed in the past dropping 700 more than a few times due to grip. Again a light opener at 617. It got way out in front but light enough to pull back in with no problem. If all went well I was going to take 685 for either a pr total of 1985 or 700 for a 2k total. Well the 2k was out the window so I will try for a pr total. To set that up I took 672. My setup was bad and loaded up my right side for some reason. I still pulled it and got 3 white lights. So what do I do at this point try to build upon my total that was sitting at 1939 or go for the pr total. Well I came for a pr total and I tried for it. I called 713 for my 3rd attempt. That was a eight pound deadlift pr and would give me a small meet total pr.

So on my 3rd attempt I made a mistake. I let my handlers talk me into using nose tork and I had not used any all day. Well it lit up my right nostril and right eye. It was hard to see out of that right eye even after I attempted to pull the deadlift. It was a mistake but I am not sure I would have even pulled the deadlift. I was set up poorly and the weight set to the right side.

Overall I was pleased with the meet but I left a few pounds on the platform. I am going to take a shot at redeeming myself in about 10 weeks. I have a few things I am going to try over the next 5 weeks then decide if I am gong to enter APF SR. nationals of skip it. I do have to give a huge thanks to my wife and Nick Detman for helping out a stranger.

Here is the video of my good bad and ugly lifts.

Training log up to meet

The last month has been busy as I was getting ready for my meet, I let my gym membership run out and started to train more at my wife's place.

So Here is what I did up until the meet.

2/16

Sled drag
behind the knees 90 3x50 yards
rear fly 45 3x50 yards

Roller hyper 225 4x8
leg curls on hyper 90 3x10
situps on ghr 3x10

2/17

reverse band purple
185x5
225x5
275x3
315x3
335x3
365x1
385x1
405 3x1

pin press 1 inch
315x5
365x5
405x5
455x5
495x5

A1 sled drag Y+T 3x50 yards
A2 rolling db ext 45 4x8

B1 barbell rows 185 4x12
B2 band pullaparts 4x20

curls

2/20

Drove an hour to get to a monolift. Band tension was a little lower due to a smaller base but it has been over 2 years since I have done circa max and 2 yars since I used a mono so I will just go with it.

16 inch box with blue and green band

briefs
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x1
add suit bottoms no belt
315x1
add belt
365x1
405x1
455x1
495x1

roller hyper 4 plates 3x8

Over all I was happy wth my squatting but was having issues unracking the bar and hunching rather than arching into it. You can tell on 495. It was a 40# jump but felt like it was 100#s. I have one or two more sessions in the mono before the meet so I can iron these things out.

Video of week 1 circa max


2/22

Sunday
speed bench with mini
135 3x3
155 9x3

Knee was giving me fits and could not get comfortable on the bench.

bradfords
95 3x20

pushdowns 3x10
elbow out db rows 35 3x15
neutral grip pull ups 5x3

2/25

Tuesday
Don't remember everything I did.

Long strap hypers
6 plates 3x10
7 plates 3x10

sled drag behind knees
3 x 50 yards

pulldown abs with stagger stance purple band
3x15

I know there was more to it but I really can't remember

Thursday
floor press

308x1
330x1
352x1
308x4 (mats were slipping out from under me)

tates 50 6x8

bb rows 185 3x12

2/28 (posted on another log so I don't have all the dates correct)

Saturday
Knee has been swollen the whole last week and I am not sure if it was from the squatting last Saturday or the benching on Sunday but it was pretty swollen all week. But I decided to squat as this is circa max.

Got up early as I had a 1 hour window to use a monolift about an hour away. I was 55 minutes into my drive and less than a mile away fromt he gym and my car starts to misfire and almost dies. I totally bonked and reverted back to my old squat style and was leaning much more that last week. Not sure if it was the knee or just me just doing things wrong.

circa max squat
Blue and green band
16 inch box and worked up to 365 3x2

At that point the owner had to leave so I drove to the garage to have my car worked on.

Sunday
Speed bench + mini
135 5x3, 155 7x3

bradfords
95 x16
135 x20,20,16

pushdowns
3x10

curls

Monday
goodmornings
225 2x5

long strap hypers
8 plates 4x8

ghr 2x8 (bothering knee)

sled drag behind the knees
2 plates x 50 yards
2.5 plates 3x30 yards

side bends 70 5x10

back raises x15 x12

3/3

Thursday

Bench
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1

3 board 365x1

add shirt
405 x3

445 2x1
455 x1

Felt more comfortable in the shirt today. Bench is coming back and I will need every pound to keep my total from being real bad. I am hoping at the next meet I am back to where I was before I moved.

4 board
315x5
365x5
405x1

neutral grip pulldowns
160 4x8

rotator bar face pulls
3x20


3/7

I felt terrible and my knee was bothering me some. My good briefs we in the other car so I put on sold old briefs that are used up and about 2 sizes too big.

box squat 275 3x2

speed deadlift 315 3x1, 365 3x1

Almost wish I would have not even squatted but I cant change that now.

short strap hypers 6 plates 3x10
pulldown abs 3x10
single leg rdls 70 # dumbells 3x8 each leg.

Sunday
speed bench
185 3x5
205 3x5

tricep death (2,3,4) boards
225, 275 3 reps each board
315 2 reps on 2 boards as the wife switched too early. Then did 3 reps on 3 and on 4 boards.

single arm cable rows 4x8
rear fly 15 3x15
dips 4x10
db curls

3/8

Monday
Pulled my opener. I will pull in my briefs as I feel much more comfortable and get into a better position.

Since the plates are in kilos i only know the last 3 weights
533
573
617

roller hypers
4 plates 4x10

leg curls on hyper 88 4x8

band pull aparts 2x50

abs against ghr with green band 3x12



3/14

Not much going on the last week. Been trying to rest up as I have a cold now and hope for all signs of it to be gone by the weekend. As far as training goes there has been nothing to write about and I have not felt like doing anything. I will update after the meet this weekend.