Baking A New Cake

Training Over 35 Lifter
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Saturday July 18

PL Meet - Ottawa Bench Freak and Open

CPU - IPF affiliated

Well, it was a great learning experience. Met a lot of good people, including Ourobouro_s, who was there competing, and Court, who was there working the scoring system. And a big thanks to Julie and Frank for taking me in hand and showing me the ropes.

I squatted in a Metal suit and used wraps for my 2nd and 3rd attempts. I benched and deadlifted raw.

Here’s how it went:

Squat
1st attempt - 385 - NO LIFT - I thought I’d go a bit light, to show the refs that I had good control and could easily hit depth. Well, I really overthought this. At the bottom I paused, thought “I wonder if I’m low enough?” and went lower. I started back up after a long stop, but couldn’t get it up past a quarter of the way.

2nd attempt - 402 - 3 whites, easy.

3rd attempt - 430 - 2 reds - Was easy, but apparently not quite low enough.

Bench
Well, things got a bit messed up. I came out with my flight to lift and didn’t get called. I thought I’d be called first since my opener was going to be so light, only 176. Check with the scoring table and they tell me I bombed out in the squat. WTF guys? Fortunately, I was so obviously dumbfounded by this, and me and my son argued enough (he mentioned that he had it on tape), that they relented and changed my 2nd squat result. However, by this time the flight had all been through their first bench attempt and were starting their second. Eventually, they had me lift back-to-back. I thought that meant all 3 attempts.

1st - 176 - NO LIFT - Forgot to wait for the “start” command. Oops.
2nd - 176 - 3 whites - Easy
3rd - put in attempt card for 192.5 (87.5 kg) - scoring table said I was only allowed two attempts, because I waited too long to point out the error, so that was that.

DL
1st - 440 (200 kg) - 3 whites, easy
2nd - 468 (212.5 kg) - 3 whites, pretty easy
3rd - 501 (227.5 kg) - NO LIFT - got it up a few inches and my back just didn’t feel good about it. So, live to fight another day.

Big lessons learned:

  1. Always wait for the ref’s commands
  2. It’s good to have someone to help you with attempt cards, food, etc
  3. Always look at the scoring screen immediately after your lifts, not just at the lights or the refs’ cards, so you and your helper can raise a ruckus, if needed. Mistakes are made and the best time to challenge is as soon as it happens.
  4. There are some seriously strong older guys (over 50) doing this
  5. Most PLers are friendly and helpful - they want new people to come out, if they are somewhat serious
  6. I’ll keep on competing - the meets are a great motivator. It’s fun to be one of the strong(er) guys in the gym, but it’s a lot more motivating to see how far I can push myself, for myself

I’ll put up some vid links tomorrow.

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Gonna have to change your thread title now that you’re not a virgin anymore. Sounds like quite an experience. Important thing is you learned and came away wanting to do it again. Time to set some new goals and set your sights on the next meet.

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Meet Videos

2nd squat @ 402

3rd squat attempt @ 430 NO LIFT - depth

1st DL

2nd DL

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[quote]hel320 wrote:
Gonna have to change your thread title now that you’re not a virgin anymore. Sounds like quite an experience. Important thing is you learned and came away wanting to do it again. Time to set some new goals and set your sights on the next meet.[/quote]

Exactly right hel. Learn, and move on.

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Excellent - overcoming adversity and getting to all lifts.

That 430 squat sure looked deep enough on the video and it went up easy!

Congrats!

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[quote]soldog wrote:
Excellent - overcoming adversity and getting to all lifts.

That 430 squat sure looked deep enough on the video and it went up easy!

Congrats![/quote]

Thanks SD. The squat felt easy, but the refs felt it was a touch high and they have the experience and the best possible view of depth. I have no argument with their decision. I just have to keep on with those low box squats, to reinforce correct depth.

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Cakewalk, it was great meeting both you and your son. It’s good you had him there to help you as you discovered when you needed someone to argue for you. When you’re in the middle of a meet, things can be busy and disorienting. Personally, I need someone to hold my hand and point me in the right direction because I easily forget things.

You are right in that most people are really helpful. That’s something that really struck me about the sport. Quite a number of people have gone out of their way for me.

I’m so glad you had a good first experience. When they’re good, they’re a blast. Even when they’re kind of sucky, you can salvage a lot of fun out of it.

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[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Cakewalk, it was great meeting both you and your son. It’s good you had him there to help you as you discovered when you needed someone to argue for you. When you’re in the middle of a meet, things can be busy and disorienting. Personally, I need someone to hold my hand and point me in the right direction because I easily forget things.

You are right in that most people are really helpful. That’s something that really struck me about the sport. Quite a number of people have gone out of their way for me.

I’m so glad you had a good first experience. When they’re good, they’re a blast. Even when they’re kind of sucky, you can salvage a lot of fun out of it.[/quote]

Hey Ouro, it was great to meet you. Your thread, and Court’s, were two that inspired me to think that I could and should commit to competing. I’m glad that I did. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you at future meets.

I know you had a bit of a tough day, but as you said in Ottawa, every lifter has that experience eventually. It’s great that you still enjoyed the meet and are already focusing on training for the next one.

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[quote]cakewalk wrote:
soldog wrote:
Excellent - overcoming adversity and getting to all lifts.

That 430 squat sure looked deep enough on the video and it went up easy!

Congrats!

Thanks SD. The squat felt easy, but the refs felt it was a touch high and they have the experience and the best possible view of depth. I have no argument with their decision. I just have to keep on with those low box squats, to reinforce correct depth.[/quote]

I thought they were pretty strict on Saturday, but at least they were consistent through all flights. I got to watch every single squat and knowing what they were calling high and what they were passing had me able to predict their calls by the middle of Flight B. Going on what they were calling that day, that third was high.

Sorry I wasn’t a tad more personable when you introduced yourself, but I had only 30 minutes total break all day and was hungry and really out of it. I was trying to pressure the people I was with to hurry up and finish talking so we could go eat.

Are you thinking about turning around and competing again in London? I won’t be lifting for sure as I fly out a week after that and will likely be too busy and stressed to prepare properly. Depending on how many lifters (and who) my club has competing, I may go and make myself useful. We shall see…

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Sorry on the late congrats! Feels good getting a meet under yout belt. I messed up my first meet racking my bench before the rack command. First meet jitters. It must have been great having your son there and meeting some of the people from this site.

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Excellent work Cake!

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Cake,

  1. Excellent job in the meet!!

  2. Can you post the pdf/article/program that you used throughout this prep? (The Tate program)

Thanks!

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[quote]Court wrote:

I thought they were pretty strict on Saturday, but at least they were consistent through all flights. I got to watch every single squat and knowing what they were calling high and what they were passing had me able to predict their calls by the middle of Flight B. Going on what they were calling that day, that third was high.

Sorry I wasn’t a tad more personable when you introduced yourself, but I had only 30 minutes total break all day and was hungry and really out of it. I was trying to pressure the people I was with to hurry up and finish talking so we could go eat.

Are you thinking about turning around and competing again in London? I won’t be lifting for sure as I fly out a week after that and will likely be too busy and stressed to prepare properly. Depending on how many lifters (and who) my club has competing, I may go and make myself useful. We shall see…[/quote]

Hey Court. I’m a complete novice to PL competition, but I thought the refs did a great job. It must be hell to have competitors, coaches and the audience second-guessing you. I suppose you develop a thick skin and ignore the grumbling.

No worries about the brief “hello” after the meet. I know you were at that table from start to finish.

Regarding London, I probably won’t compete. It’s just six weeks away and my wife comes home next week, for a 3 week leave. We haven’t seen each other since January, so we have a LOT of catching up. However, I’ll probably come down for the day, to cheer and maybe jeer. It’s a lot closer than Ottawa.

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[quote]ecogenx wrote:
Sorry on the late congrats! Feels good getting a meet under yout belt. I messed up my first meet racking my bench before the rack command. First meet jitters. It must have been great having your son there and meeting some of the people from this site. [/quote]

Thanks eco. It does feel good. I had those first meet jitters for sure. I’m really happy that my son came with me. It’s hard to find time to spend two days with a busy 22 year old. And I was happy for the opportunity to meet a couple of T-Nation’s powerful women.

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[quote]MorphingMatt wrote:
Cake,

  1. Excellent job in the meet!!

  2. Can you post the pdf/article/program that you used throughout this prep? (The Tate program)

Thanks![/quote]

Hey Matt.

Thanks for the congrats.

I got the program from a post on Precision Nutrition. Here’s the link:

I think you need to be a PN member to access the thread.

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[quote]daddyzombie wrote:
Excellent work Cake![/quote]

Thanks daddyZ. I’ll get back into the gym tomorrow. I need to focus much more on bench over the next few months.

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Time to start posting again.

I had a massive cold, or maybe it was the dreaded lurgi, hit me a couple of days after the meet. I had to take time off work and training. My wife got home from Tajikistan on the 28th, so we had a LOT of catching up to do after 7 months apart.

I finally got back into the gym on Saturday August 1, driven there with a good prod from my son. So far, I haven’t decided what “program” I’ll do next.

My plan for competing is to go to the Ontario Provincials in Ottawa on October 3/4. Beyond that? No idea yet. So, I’ve got 8 weeks to focus on bench numbers, consistent squat depth and adding some weight to my dl.

Saturday August 01
Long warmup - everything was stiff. Foam rolling, dynamic crap, facepulls, scap pushups, etc

Squat
Bar X 20 - 2 sets
95X10
135X10
225X10 - 4 deep sets, and fast

Bench
Bar X 20 - 2 sets
95X10
135X10
165X5 - 2 sets

HS Decline - close grip
45 per side X 10
90 per side X 10
115 per side X 6 - 2 sets

HS Incline - close grip
45 per side X 10
70 per side X 8 - 2 sets
90 per side X 6

Dips
3 X 12

I was totally fried at this point.

Did several long, fast walks over the next few days. Achilles tendons were sore as hell, but the long walks seemed to help.

Tuesday August 4

My son just finished the 3rd week of 5/3/1 and convinced me to give it a go. Here’s how it went, with the Boring but Big accessory work:

Long warmup.

Military Press (1 RM is about 135 - 90% is 122)
80X5
95X5
105X7
55X10 - 5 sets

DB Rows
55X15
75X15
85X15
100X15
85X20

Abs - Swiss Ball Rollouts
4 sets X 20

Home to homemade wholewheat pizza!!! dripping with pesto, tomato passata, fresh herbs from the garden, roma tomatoes, peppers, red and vidalia onions, dried sausage, sliced bocconcini - a labour of love from my wife; and washed down with a Fuller’s London Pride, one of my all-time favourite beers.

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Glad you’re back in the gym and the wife’s home. Keep up the pizza and beer and you may have to go up a weight class.

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Watch out - women make the legs weak.

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Hey there. Keep your eye out for the latest issue of the OPA newsletter. There’s a pretty stellar picture of you squatting in it.