This is why I borrowed some nitrile coated gloves from work. Makes manual pre stretch much easier.
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1 re roll = 1 wrap. Is a bit of a bother with the whole rest of the wrap hanging all over the place but whether u put the elastic energy in beforehand or during is still same amount.
Also do you finish with like a plier or lifting strap or something to let you get the max out of that last revolution?
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For me the effort in pre stretching isn’t the rolling, it’s holding the wrap rolled while I stretch the remaining portion. That’s why I love wrap rollers.
BTW, another thing that occurs to me with Yuri is that his wraps may be older.
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Yep, just signed up! I’m in Florida for the first week of April, so my peak is likely going to be a little condensed or irregular, but I haven’t been on the platform since 2018 so I’m interested/excited to see where my lifts sit when I finally hit a few singles to start the peak.
Right now it looks I might have a bench PR in me, squat mayyy be close, but I’m not confident that my deadlift is where it was in 2018. Breaking my foot, building a house and having a kid seemed to have a negative affect on training last year…
That would be awesome if you could sign up for that competition.
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I use a shoelace, loop it and put it under the last layer and then pull the end of the wrap through, use the shoelace to pull it under. It works better than pliers I find, and I was doing it with my bare hands before but it’s hard and a couple times I almost pulled off a fingernail. I have big fingers which probably makes it worse.
Yeah, that combined with not being so big plus strong as hell would explain it.
Lucky for you, you’re already in Kingston. I was going to sign up for a CPF meet the week before but they moved it to Brockville and I get the feeling it might suck. I was looking at some stuff and the push-pull meet the same people ran a couple weeks ago which was held in a car dealership was actually in the garage, in pictures you can see the car hoists in the background. So it looks like EPC and WRPF are the best options around this side of the country.
Hey, with all that going on the main thing is that you didn’t stop lifting. With my first kid I was pretty burnt out for a while, barely slept for like a year and a half.
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The only two meets that I’ve been to have been hosted by EPC, and have been awesome. Zero complaints. I have nothing to compare it to, but can’t see a meet being run much better than these guys did.
Yeah, we were lucky that this only lasted for ~3 months. I still trained a bit, but knocked it down to 1-2x per week for awhile, while I was just in survival mode.
The other thing aside from how the meet is run is that a lot of these small town meets only end up being a couple dozen novice lifters, to take time off work and spend a bunch of money on hotels and stuff seems like a waste for something like that. EPC and WRPF is where all the top non-CPU/IPF guys compete around here, so I expect it to be a better experience.
Does EPC normally have multiple weigh in times or is it only once 24 hours before? I’m not cutting weight or anything so if I can weigh in in the afternoon that would save me having to spend an extra night in a hotel.
I should know for sure next week if I can get the weekend off. The problem is that I have to work every 2nd weekend and when I have the weekend off I work the Friday instead. It’s easier to get a Friday off than a whole weekend. Right now things are pretty dysfunctional where I work, but anything else that I’m qualified for seems worse and pays less so I’m stuck.
My first kid was a difficult baby, he cried a lot and it was like he would sleep a bit one night and then not sleep at all the next, plus I was mostly working 6am shifts then too. The 2nd kid was way easier, for the first few weeks he slept over 20 hours a day, my wife thought something was wrong and called the doctor but apparently some babies are just like that. I wasn’t really training so seriously back then and wasn’t trying to compete in powerlifting, if I was then it would definitely put things on hold for a while.
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I actually had a conflict with weigh in times for one of their comps (traveled to Guelph for it), so I had emailed them asking if there were any alternate arrangements that could be made, their reply was as follows:
“Sorry for the wait but yes we have options. Weigh in times on Friday will be from 9-11am and 2-4pm. If athletes are unable to weigh in on Friday you will be able to weigh in the morning of the competition but have to be officially weighed in before 8am. If you have anymore questions please ask! (We will be sending the schedule for Friday and Saturday tomorrow)”
They seem to be pretty flexible. I’ve been very impressed with their communication with lifters and their general attitude. I was a little stressed out going into my first weigh in and equipment check, but they were very helpful and encouraging.
Have you ever competed with CPF? I almost did last year before I broke my foot, but the guy that I was emailing with seemed fairly organized and responsive as well. I wouldn’t be opposed to going to one of their meets.
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Last 2 meets I did were CPF. Only thing I can really complain about is that the meet started about an hour late last time because the morning session took a bit longer than expected, but that’s not really a big deal.
I was just looking at the results from some of their other meets and it looks like a lot of them are mostly novice lifters, even the last one I did I came 2nd overall in the tested division and would have been 3rd in the untested, for whatever reason they aren’t really attracting the best lifters and I don’t want to go out of town for a 2nd rate local meet. Maybe my logic is fucked up on this, I don’t know, and it’s pretty much guaranteed I can get the time off for the weekend of the CPF meet plus I could use my 3m wraps for maximum cheating and set some national records. I’m just not about to jump on that one right now.
The story is that there is a guy named Curd Hos who is one of the people running the CPF meets around here. He used to own a gym in Orleans (east end of Ottawa) and all the meets were held there but the place had to close down last summer. Apparently there was water leaking from the restaurant above plus rats coming in the place because there were dumpsters at their back door, the landlord wasn’t doing anything to fix these issues and he was losing money on the business so he just decided to shut it down. They had a couple other meets on the calendar for Ottawa (bench only and push-pull) and they had to find alternate locations, the one in Brockville is in a gym at least so it won’t be that bad.
All I know is I don’t want to travel to a meet that sucks, and EPC sounds good.
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I tried to sign up for a CPF meet last year, but was put on the waiting list because it was full (it was being held at the Toronto Pro Supershow (I believe)). He contacted me about a month after I was placed on the waiting list to say he just noticed that my lifts would qualify me for the “Grand Prix Flight” and invited me to join. At this point I had already broken my foot, so I was unable. This was a nice little pat on the back since I have not been anywhere near the top lifter at the EPC meets. My last meet I came 12th overall with a 444 wilks.
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I had a point or two short of 400 wilks.
Dylan Polo, who is one of the guys running EPC, used to lift in CPF. It’s not like a garbage federation, just some of the meets are all novices.
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Now I see that CPF just yesterday announced that nationals are in Toronto in July. Looks like there are several options to choose from, and I don’t know if I really want to do 2 meets within 2 months because I don’t think I will make much progress in that time.
As far as the EPC meet or the CPF one in Brockville, I guess I will just wait and see which weekend I can get off. I was just disappointed when I saw it wasn’t in Ottawa as originally planned. Maybe I need to stop talking so much.
Wednesday, February 12 - Main bench day - short session
My pecs and triceps are still a little sore from last week, and part of my right pec (pec minor I think) feels a bit achy, I think it has to do with using my right hand so much at work plus sleeping on that arm sometimes. So my plan was to just see what I could do for the planned top set and cut it after that. I haven’t had a bench deload or easy session in a while, aches start to creep up if I push it for too long.
Bench press
380x1 - This wasn’t good, moved slow and felt heavy. I probably could have done another rep but it would have been a grinder and it wouldn’t really be a PR so I just stopped there. I could tell the way warmups felt that this wasn’t going to be a good day, sometimes when it’s like that the top set still ends up good but not this time.
I did some W external shoulder rotations with a super mini band and that was it.
I would have rather made Saturday an easy session and train as normal today but I wasn’t really feeling fully recovered and the way it went it’s not going to be good anyway so the decision was made for me. Next week I will do 385x2, pretty sure I can’t get a triple with that, and see how things go from there.
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The damn thing just erased everything I typed, I will have to make this quick
Friday, February 14 - Deadlift day
Deadlift
520x4 - Needed 6 for a PR and felt like the next was going to be a grinder so I stopped at 4, but it looked easier on video than it felt. Maybe should have gone for it, but at least I’m not getting weaker.
RDL
385x12
Barbell row
345x8 - Trying not to cheat so much, semi-strict on these
Chin ups - close neutral grip
+65x6
Barbell curl
115x18, 15
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Was just thinking so that row ur back strength must be surplus in your deadlift tru?
That’s why I’m not doing a lot of rows and chin ups now, just one set of each. Hip extension strength is what is lacking (glutes, hamstrings, adductors) and if I could get into a better position that would help too but it doesn’t look like there is much I can do about that.
Saturday, February 15 - 2nd Bench day
Warm ups were feeling extra good so I went for a little PR. I think I know how to peak my bench properly now, just have an easier session in the middle of the week rather than a full week deload.
Bench Press
415x1 - It went up, but two issues - my ass just barely came off the bench, like 1cm but still not good, and I hit the hooks on the way up. All feds have something like this for causes to disqualify a bench press: "Deliberate or intentional contact between the bar and the bar-rest supports during the lift. However, unintentional contact that did not assist the lifter is not reason to turn down the lift. " (USPA) I just don’t want to press my luck because it’s up to them to decide if it’s intentional or not. So this all comes down to the setup, foot position and hip/leg angle is what needs to be fixed to keep my ass from coming up and I need to always set up an inch or two lower than I did here so I don’t hit the hooks. Oddly I have never had either of these problems in a meet, but I don’t want to start either.
Slingshot Bench
435x3 - Maybe another rep in the tank, maybe not. Only one set since I went crazy with bench earlier.
JM press
270x10, 7 - This is definitely paying off, before my triceps had no ability to grind anything.
Neutral DB pushups
bw x22 - Tried to do them explosively, first 18 were blasting up and the last 4 slowed. I thought maybe I should drop the bands since too much bands is no good and it could potentially be contributing to my pec getting achy after several weeks striaght of heavy benching. Maybe I should figure out something else to do here instead, I don’t really have another way to load this. I thought of doing rest-pause but that is tiring and who knows, it might make me weaker too, too much of an endurance type of thing.
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Monday, February 17 - Squat day
Squat in wraps - 2.5m Super Heavies
545x3 - It wasn’t pretty but it happened. I did one warmup in wraps, 6 revolutions, felt like there was way less rebound than the 3m wraps but it was easy to hit depth and I could crank them down for a 7th rev so I did that here. There is nowhere to put the extra layer of wrap except around the knee and that changes the feel and makes it harder to hit depth (as I keep complaining about over and over) but I also get more out of the wraps so I will try to make this work.
Also watch the video to the end to see why I like tying off with a quick release, getting the wraps off might have been harder than squatting this.
Main issues are depth (looks close but questionable) and controlling the descent, you can see the 2nd rep was kind of weird. And you can hear my kids in the background if you are wondering what all that noise is, today is a holiday.
Down set:
495x3 - I cut depth a bit on the first rep but the next two looked good and everything moved well, RPE 7.5-8. If I felt better I would have done a couple more reps, after grinding out that triple and fucking around with the wraps I felt like my nerves were fried. I can never seem to do more than a triple in wraps anyway, regardless of the weight on the bar.
Squat in sleeves
415x5 - Could do a couple more reps if necessary but I’m too young to die. This feels like an empty bar after squatting 545.
Band leg curl
2 light bands (one for each leg) x10, 7
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Wednesday, February 19 - Main bench day
Bench press
385x2x2
First set - maybe had another rep maybe not, wasn’t planning for more than a double. However, while the first rep was fine, on the 2nd I hit the hooks, looks like I slid up the bench just slightly plus my ass lost contact for a split second, maybe not even an inch but still something. I wore my singlet to make sure. So seeing as it wasn’t too hard and I wanted to fix the technical issues, I tried chalking my upper back and setting up just a little bit lower on the bench for the 2nd set.
2nd set- Moved alright, chalking my back seems to have fixed the sliding issue. Only problem is that for some reason I moved my feet around between reps and then on the 2nd rep I may have raised my ass again, I saw a ray of light under it. I wasn’t really thinking about anything during the set, I guess my foot position felt weird but it was exactly where it needed to be to keep my ass down. At least I know what I need to do, it’s just a question of doing it.
Down set:
345x4 - could probably grind out a 5th rep which would match a PR. Ass stayed down no problem. This is an issue that I have had on and off for a few years, I always manage to fix it before a meet but it’s annoying. I make some more drastic changes to my setup to eliminate the issue but it would result in my bench going down temporarily, if I’m going to compete in May I don’t have time for that right now. It’s all about foot position, and chalking my back so I don’t slide will help too but mostly for rep work.
Floor pause DB flys
75’s x14, 11
Front raise
65x12, 11
superset with:
Side raise
30’s x11, 10
W external rotation
super mini band x 3 sets
So this was an alright session, 385x2 might be a PR (not even sure, I think my best double is 380) but the ass raising thing is bothering me. If I arch less and have my feet out further in front I can fix it, I’m also strong off the chest so it might not make any difference in the long run but totally changing setup and shoulder angle will be a problem right now so I’m not going to do it yet. When I do floor press regularly for a while it end up being just a few pound short of my bench, and the bar touches my chest plus I have no arch or leg drive so I wonder how much those really add to my bench. If I had a big fat ass like TD Davis this wouldn’t be a problem.
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Another thing, it looks like I’m going to compete at the EPC meet in Kingston in May. The only other good option is CPF nationals in Toronto in July, they are a little too close to do both for my liking and I was aiming for something in the spring. I don’t think that there is anything coming up in Ottawa other than some IPF-affiliate local meets and that doesn’t interest me.
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