Good luck GV. Your body seems pretty adjusted to working in the heat and it definitely beats trying to drop ten or more pounds in 24 hours to make weight. Have fun!
Just got back from the meets this weekend. I went backwards from my last meet mostly due to lack of sleep and phasing my contest prep the wrong way. Judging today was fun and I will do a better write up in a while after I recover.
Patiently waiting for details.
So here’s how the meet went.
Friday night I weighed in at 211 lbs and I went to eat at a great seafood restaurant on the beach. I went back to the hotel and did therapy for a couple of hours while watching TV but I had a hard time getting to sleep. I was up to around 12:30 AM but I was awakened by a troop of children arriving at the hotel about 2:30 AM. The troops were staying in a room directly over me and began stomping, screaming, and yelling until around 3:30 when I got back to sleep. Lucky for me I was up by around 7 AM and couldn’t sleep anymore. After my coffee and some mobility work I thought I would be okay and went to the meet.
My first squat was an easy 535 and I got all green lights but I forgot to wait for the squat command and the squat was ruled no good. My next squat was a fairly easy 570 for all green lights-good squat. I called for 605 but I bumped the rack taking it out and then stumbled a bit setting up which through me off. So 605 lbs was no good and I got stuck in the bottom but I know I should have made that attempt. So 570 lbs was my squat.
Next I opened with an easy 270 lbs on the bench for all greens. Then I went for 305 lbs which should have been no problem but I couldn’t lock it out. I went for the 305 again but I was shot. Fatigue was suddenly on me and my body began to feel like crap. My lower back and hips were suddenly very achy and overall I felt terrible.
I then opened with 500 for my first dead and that about wiped me out. I moved it so slow. I realized at this point my day was over. My body was shutting down and I felt woozy. I declined any more deads.
My total was 1340 which was 110 lbs less than I just did last December. I had a bad day and I will do better next time. Sunday I judged the next day of the contest. I was extremely exhausted the entire day and ‘out of it’. Since the meet my body has been a wreck and I have been so fatigued. Usually I don’t feel this worn out. I haven’t lifted since the meet but I will probably begin again tomorrow. I think I will be doing a Bulgarian type routine for the foreseeable future.
the only thing I can say is the meet prep and all the hard work you put in will serve thee well in future endeavors on the platform…rest up sometimes our bodies have something to say when we take time to listen…All the Best
Hard to make sense of a meet like this when your training cycle leading up to it was so solid. I’m sure you are disappointed.
Ahh, well. Live and learn. I expect great things from you in the future!
Thanks Snap. Tonight was my first lifting in almost a week. I think I blew a fuse at the meet but now I’m going to recondition myself and get strong to hopefully compete in July. That means I have 3 months to get right. Started off with a light fast night.
Squats:(raw-no nuttin’)
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 3
Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 3
Standing OHP:
135 x 5
155 x 3
165 x 3
Standing Crunches:
70 lbs x 20
Lightly injured my knee or the quad area around my right knee at the contest so I’m doing a bunch of therapy to get it right but it hurts a bit doing squats and getting my legs under me for bench. Looking for consistent, every day small gains for the next 12 weeks of training Bulgarian style.
Your meet sounds a lot like mine. All the best my friend. You know you have it in you, just put it all together.
Almost sounds like you may have had some kind of bug. With your training there is no way the meet should have taken that much out of you.
Not to try to change your mind but for me benching 8 weeks seems to be the sweet spot for the Bulgarian method. When I went 10 weeks my shoulders and wrists were pretty beat up the last couple of weeks and it cost me some at the meet. I also tried seven weeks and felt like I probably left something on the table on meet day. 8 weeks the last time around worked out very well for me and I’m starting another 8 week run on Monday into my June meet day.
Thanks Crippler and Dave.
Crippler, I just had one of those days. Next one will be better.
Dave I find I can run the Bulgarian routine for a long time and I had good results but I have been speaking to several lifters who have done it for much longer than me about the program and learned some insights. I used to think I had to go up in weight on each lift every time I lifted but that is not the case. Instead I will only be doing 2 heavy days a week and doing lighter weights for 2 or 3 reps for each lift without over stressing myself. Then working up to the meet you taper off a quite a bit. I did well at the meet before last with this so I will return to it. Right now I am doing top sets of 3 for all lifts everyday and I am not going to lift to a max but maybe up to the 3 rep range in the 85% to 90% range.
Lifting went well tonight:
Saftey Squat Bar Squats:(raw-no nuttin’)
155 x 5
245 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 3
Fat Gripz(extremes) Close Grip Bench Press:
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
245 x 3
Lifting was fast and the session was short. My right knee(lower-quad) injury is beginning to dissipate and I’m feeling stronger. It’s hot and humid here. Working in the heat and sun was a killer today and it took me over 3 hours to recuperate and do therapy before I could lift. Oh yeah and I took my daughter for a 40 minute bike ride before I lifted.
I’m interested to hear other variations of the Bulgarian method. I know Eric Talmant was said to be using some methods that differed greatly from most. Long story short I reached out to him via a mode of communication I later found out he rarely checked and I didn’t use often.
I gave up after not getting a response for several months ended up checking the account about a year later for another reason and had a communication from him that said he would be willing to discuss his methods privately with me but by the time I received and responded his account was deactivated.
Dave, I will report anything I find out and also implement new material concerning the Bulgarian method here.
Tonight I waited until the temps cooled off before lifting. It was 92 degrees here today and still about 83 degrees fahrenheit for lifting at 8:30 PM. The humidity is a wet blanket of buggy, muggy yuck. Thank goodness the mosquitos weren’t that bad this evening.
Front Squats:(26 lbs front squat/zercher harness)
161 x 5
251 x 5
321 x 3
391 lbs x 3
Fat Gripz(extremes) Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3
260 x 3
Standing Crunches:
70 lbs x 20
Another fast lifting. The top weights were a little challenging but nothing too severe. Much room to grow.
Feeling a little worn out and beat today but the lifting went well.
Squats:
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 3
410 x 3
Fat Gripz(blue-regular) CG Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 3
Called it a night, which makes 4 in a row. Schedule permitting I will lift 7 days a week for the next month at least if not just a my regular. If the heat gets too oppressive and I need to slow down I may move to 6 days a week. Soon I will program in 1 or 2 days a week that will be one rep days at a higher percentage of my max on each lift. I will work deadlifts in soon too.
[quote]gorillavanilla wrote:
Schedule permitting I will lift 7 days a week for the next month at least if not just a my regular. If the heat gets too oppressive and I need to slow down I may move to 6 days a week. Soon I will program in 1 or 2 days a week that will be one rep days at a higher percentage of my max on each lift. [/quote]
I would burn out fast with this plan. Can your body handle seven days a week and so much maxing? If so, more power to you!
Snap-Although I will be going heavy twice a week I will do my best to avoid maxing or hitting 100% for any lift. Though I will be close to a 3 rep max on the other 5 training days my plan is to move up in weight steadily and slowly. I think I can handle the 7 days a week training protocol as long as I vary the big lifts. By continually changing the method for squats, benches, OHP, and dead work I hope my body and training will adapt to create a greatly superior strength growing environment. Before, I have done the Bulgarian program but I mainly used the same regular squats repeatedly which I believe burned me out some. This time I will change more often from squats, to SSB squats, to front squats. Bench work will be altered more too such as from Fat Gripz Extremes, to Fat Gripz, close grip work, incline work, decline, pause work etc. On dead work I will be switching from stiff-legged, to sumo, trap bar, etc. My goal is to do something a little different every day while still getting the full ROM on each lift, increasing in weight gradually and slightly, and being challenged by using movements that are harder than my comp lifts and making progress.
Lifting went well tonight.
SSB Squats:(raw-no nuttin’)
155 x 10
245 x 5
335 x 3
395 x 3
Fat Gripz(blue):
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3
266 x 2
Standing Crunches:
70 lbs x 20
Missed the 3rd rep with the 266 lbs tonight on the bench. My chest and arms were a little worn out tonight so I’ll probably have a better night tomorrow.
My chest has been a bit sore and the whole day I felt worn down but this evening I picked up after a 30 minute bike ride with my daughter and the lifting went well. As a bonus my daughter wanted to do what I was doing so I had her doing multiple sets of squats, benches, and a few OHP with a broom stick. She took direction well for form and did a boat full of reps. I think she is going to set some 5 year old lifting records.
Squats:(raw-no nuttin’)
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 3
425 x 3
Close Grip Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3
260 x 3
Decided this was enough for tonight.
Had to take yesterday off due to fatigue from work. Today work was a bit more forgiving but I did not fully recover from the previous day’s thrashing. Lifting was less than fun, I ached, and had little energy so I lifted.
Front Squats:(front squat/zercher harness)
161 x 10
251 x 5
341 x 3
401 x 3
Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3(paused)
270 x 1(paused)
Standing Crunches:
70 lbs x 20
Wanted more on the bench but my chest and arms were just exhausted and like I said my energy was low.
Wasn’t able to lift on Friday or Saturday due to heavy fatigue from work and family events. So far I haven’t been able to stick to my original plan of 6-7 days a week of lifting besides the first week but this is really only the 2nd week.
5/3/15(Sunday)
Squats:(Raw)
135 x 10
225 x 5
315 x 3
440 x 3
Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3(paused)
270 x 3(paused)
Sumo Deads:
225 x 5
315 x 3
Standing Crunches:
70 lbs x 20
Tonight’s lifting was fun(5/4/15-Monday):
SSB Squats:(Raw)
155 x10
245 x 5
335 x 3
400 x 3
Fat Gripz(Extremes) Close Grip Bench Press:
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3(paused)
235 x 3(paused)
245 x 3(paused)
Sumo Deads:(Raw-no belt)
225 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 3
Fast lifting and rests tonight and all was easy. Decided to take it easy with the bench and deads because I am working more than usual and need more recovery. Plus I am not going to be going heavy every time I lift.