So in summary:
That’s still pretty decent. That experience will also make you more resilient at future meets, where the Mike Tyson quote about plans and getting punched in the mouth often applies.
Not to mention, you got in some decent numbers.
Also, stay out of the sun or get some of those long sleeved shirts surfers wear.
Yeah, it wasn’t a bad meet, I just had a bad day on bench and deadlift that I can correct for the future. It was my first meet too, so that is 1135 added on my total since my total was 0 before. I can only go up from here as I correct what went wrong. I also hit a beltless squat PR too, which was nice.
Also I am definitely going to either stay out of the sun or get one of those rash guard shirts to wear. I have learned my lesson with the sun and water.
I now have things to fix such as:
I thought it was your second meet. I’m quite impressed that you managed to keep it together enough to get a total under those circumstances in a first meet.
Nah, I couldn’t go to the one in March because of family stuff that was going on. And thanks, it was stressful.
I am going to start training again tomorrow. I will do coan/phillipi for my max effort squat/deadlift day and add a week of upper back in there at some point to lengthen it to peak at the right time for nationals. I’ll do front squats, lunges, and other leg work in place of a DE lower day to keep my leg drive and squat strength up. Bench will be normal conjugate
Bench max effort rotation:
Close grip bench
Bench against doubled minis
floor press
competition bench
repeat
DE work at a higher percentage since I am getting too fast for the current percentages of my current max. Spotto presses, and close grip floater benching as my heavy assistance on DE day. Some type of tricep extension/jm press type on ME day, Dave Tate has a pretty cool looking cycle for them it seems. Upper back/bicep work just to counter out whatever I do for benching/extensions.
7/25/16
Coan phillipi week 1
Deadlifts (beltless)
135X3
225X3
315X3
365X2
385X2
315X3 for 8 sets, 90 seconds rest
3 circuits of
SLDL 255X8
bent over row 225X8
fat grip chin ups 25X8
good mornings 225X8
Got a nice little rug burn on the bottom of my quad from all of that deadlifting. Gonna start mix gripping my SLDL’s, and adding 10 pounds each week to the SLDL and bent over rows until they are really difficult.
DE bench
Bench
215X3 for 8 sets, 1 minute rest
close grip floater bench
255X5
255X4
255X3
feet up reverse row (I am not sure what I was expecting, it makes it a ton harder with the feet elevated)
bwX3 per side
bwX2 per side
bwX2 per side
band pull apart
light+miniX10
light+miniX6
light+miniX5
Going to do a RE squat workout tonight/this morning, whatever you call it. I’ve been up writing something.
RE squat day
front squats
255X8
255X8
255X8
barbell step ups
145X10 per side
145X5 per side
145X1 per side
band hip abductions on parallel box
lightX10
lightX12
lightX7
barbell calf raises
225X23
225X16
225X12
225X8
Should’ve done abs, but my back felt like shit. I lost balance or something and my body like windmilled while doing step ups, very weird since I didn’t feel fatigued/like I wasn’t strong enough to keep my positioning.
8/2/16
Coan phillipi week 2
conventional beltless deadlifts
135X5
225X3
315X3
365X2
415X2
335X3 for 8 sets, 90 second rest
circuit for 2 rounds, 90 seconds rest between exercises 3 minutes between rounds then
SLDL 265X8
bent over row 235X8
fat grip chin up 30X8
good morning 235X8
third circuit
SLDL 265X8
bent over row 235X8
fat grip chin up 30X1
good morning 235X8
I am using the speed sets to experiment a bit with form. It feels like starting with the bar closer to my shins helps with a good bar path. Experimented a bit today with how many leg pumps to do (think of pete rubish) each rep. It feels like one pump, rebend my knees and lift works best, I think that is what I normally do. Seeing what grip width works with me, seems like outside of shoulder width works best (I normally do that anyway, for some reason I have been doing it shoulder width though). Overall I am cleaning up my deadlift form a lot.
I think that’s what I do for conventional too. Not that I really think about, it just seems to happen.
Same, it gets some sort of stretch reflex going and helps me get a really strong start. I started doing it because it just kind of happens, then I noticed people that a many times better deadlifters than me do it too.
8/5/16
DE bench
230X3 for 8 sets
close grip feet up bench press
255X5
255X5
255X5
one arm inverse rows
bwX10 per side
bwX8 per side
bwX6 per side
band pull apart
light+miniX15
light+miniX10
light+miniX8
curled the barbell 100 times.
8/8/16
ME bench day
I couldn’t get a spotter so
dead bench
45X5
135X5
185X3
205X3
225X3
245X3
265X3
280X3
wide grip OHP (dan greene style)
135X8
95X15
95X8
95X8
roll back tricep extensions
115X8
125X8
135X1
barbell curls
115X8
95X7
95X5
rear delts
35’sX25
35’sX25
35’sX8
Deadlifts later today.
I narrowed down my next meet. November 19th, push-pull/deadlift only nationals. I should be able to win my division. After that I think I’ll compete in the USPA (because screw buying an inzer belt, and because knee wrapped squats would be fun to do) after I have a nice off season.
Push/pull meets are fun.
Deadlifts
beltless conv+shoes
up to 435X1, missed the second rep
SGSLDL
225X5 for 3 sets
pendlay rows
225X5 for 3 sets
meadow shrugs
275X6
275X4
275X3
back extensions
45X20
45X8
45X6
roman chair situp like thing (basically just sat backwards on bench, hooked my feet underneath the supports and used my hips to pull me up while keeping back straight)
10X3
10X2
10X2
The second rep felt like it was glued to the floor. I guess I really overestimated my strength without a belt and with shoes on. I think it is my glutes not firing/my back (all of of it) and abs just not being able to transfer any force. Like I know my legs should be more than strong enough, I just can’t seem to support it. Already thought of how to work on it.
Max effort bench workout 8/14/16
3 second pause comp grip bench
45X5
135X3
185X3
225X3
245X3
265X3
285X1
305X1 I rushed my set up so my hips stayed up
315X1 hips stayed down, this felt like a speed rep
325X1 hips raised during it, I am not sure how, I was really hyped up when I was doing it
DB bench
100’sX10
100’sX6
100’sX6 I put a ton of effort into this set. The fourth felt like a last rep, then I made myself grind out two more. The sixth rep probably took 8 seconds to do
chin ups
bwX12
bwX12
bwX6
tricep extensions
115X12
125X5
135X2
I was feeling drowsy and had a headache so I stopped it here. I will do some rear delt and bicep work later tonight, or as an extra workout tomorrow to balance out my pressing/triceps
I am sure. I’d love to have a push and pull in which both my bench and deadlift behaved. I feel like I can only have two lifts go well for me, and the other goes poorly. If my bench and deadlift are doing nothing but rising, then that probably means I have hit a squat plateau, etc. These days it seems as though I can do one legged bosu ball split squats with reverse bands against doubled bands with contrast weights as my only squat exercise, and I will still gain strength on it.
Putting in a good performance on all three lifts in a meet is the hard part. A solid plan helps, but it needs to be adaptable on the day.
You’re not far off in training though, it’s rare to have every lift moving well.
DE deadlift day
Deficit deadlifts
300X3 for 8 sets
3 second pause front squats
135X3
225X3
275X6
barbell hack squats
135x5
135X3
135X2
one arm deadlift
185X2R
185X1L
185X1R
185X1L
Normal training that I don’t feel like logging. Nothing noteworthy, following normal progression, etc.
I felt as strong as a bull on the bench so I decided to start RSR for it as planned (except earlier).
close grip comp pause bench
285X2 for 6 sets
pull ups
bwX8 for 3 sets
bwX6 for 3 sets
The benching felt easy, and that was with no hand off and a weaker grip. I had to go close grip because I couldn’t unrack it with my competition grip (in fact I thought I tore a ligament in my wrist doing exactly that, didn’t though as I found out after writhing in pain for a couple minutes). On the road to a 2 times body weight bench.
edit: Also apparently my SGDL pr with shoes is 315X2 (missed the third rep because of shooting pain through my ring and pinkie fingers on one hand). That is embarrassingly weak, will cycle it frequently in my ME work and hammer it during my off season