You’ll smash it mate!! Thanks for that bit of insight, I think I’ll see how I feel over my last 2 cycles then work out my opener and targets from there.
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That could work. I find for myself the best way is to have a total and third attempt target pretty much within a week of the last meet, and you have those numbers quietly hanging around at the back of your mind as you prepare for the next meet. This in turn helps evaluate your training as you go - you get an idea if it is getting you in the ballpark of where you want to be. It also means by six to eight weeks out you pretty much know whether you’re in a position to realistically hit those third attempts.
For my first couple of meets I just trained and a few weeks out set my targets, but I much prefer how I do it now.
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Oh, and I’m squatting at Burley Strength tomorrow morning. The PL coach at Elite had a tantrum when a mate of mine decided not to get him as a coach and took the safety straps off the mono and the Texas squat bar. The gym owners don’t seem to care. In their words, not enough people use the mono for them to want to spend money on straps let alone get a new squat bar. The only other one is old and a bit bent.
I think I may well move to Burley. I can do the hours they’re open now, and although Sherro isn’t perfect (who is) he’s being very welcoming. I had a longish message chat to him and he’s happy for me to do all my own programming which I was actually surprised by.
Plus some of the strongest people in Canberra train there, not to mention it has two monos, an SSB, two squat bars, two DL bars, a bench bar, competition benches and the rest like bands and chains and multiple racks. Also Atlas stones and a yoke and stuff.
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That sounds like a good way of doing it and i’ll deffo do it for my next meet, with this being my first I have no idea what to expect, or how much of a hit my other lifts will take after doing heavy squats to start!
I’ve got a target set at a 1400 total for my first meet, but the breakdown of that Im not so sure on yet as my DL isn’t where I’d like it to be, but my squat is progressing quite fast.
Burley sounds like a good gym to be at mate, especially if the coach at the other place is bein a dick!
Depends how big the meet is. If there are two flights you’ll often have much less time between lifts. With three flights, I’d guess you’d have two hours at least. Personally, I’ve found bench isn’t really affected much but just by virtue of it being a long arse day you tend to be a bit jaded by the time DL rolls around.
Then stuff like how tired your back is from squatting comes into play if you have a massive arch for bench; or how much your arch tires your back for DL, etc.
You’ll find out, but don’t worry too much. You could always try benching reasonably heavy on a squat day just to see how it feels.
That’s a damn fine first total. What do you weigh?
It is. I could probably get around the crap at Elite but I really prefer not to have to. Plus it’s an excuse to go to Burley.
The place you train:
If it’s not an advantage, it’s a disadvantage.
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Im not even sure how many flights there is, I know it was only a smallish meet, capped at 30 lifters.
I hover between 203 and 206lbs atm, not really eating much above maintenance, maybe 100-200 cals a day so shouldnt go up too much before November!
I figured it was an achieveable target given my current gym lifts, but we’ll see 
Jeebus. That’s a very, very respectable total you’re aiming for. Even 1300 would be decent.
Quite. Plus, it’ll take me YEARS to become one of the stronger lifters at Burley. At Elite, it’d take maybe a year, maybe less. I only just realised that.
Ahem. Squats didn’t happen this morning.
For some reason after working for 14 hours, sleeping for about four hours and waking at four am saw me nowhere near willing to get up and squat. It may have been a good thing I went with it because when I shamefacedly messaged Sherro to apologise for not showing up he told me he overslept and didn’t wake until five minutes after he was meant to open Burley. I’m going there Monday.
Granted, I’ll still have only four hours sleep but on Sunday I’m working a regular eight hour shift and it should be a nice a quiet one. I’ll need to get into the whole up at four mode for joining Burley.
One advantage to having next week as a deload: I can do my 531 week squats on Monday and not have to move anything significant around. It means I’ve rested Thursday to Sunday, squat Monday, light press Tuesday, light bench Thursday and rest through to Monday the week after.
For the record, feel pretty pathetic for having bitched out of squats today even though I know it was a sensible decision.
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Good choice mate, bitching out every once in a while wont hurt ya, rest up as best ya can over the weekend and slip it in on Monday!
Cheers bud, I’m not sure I’ll get the 1400, but I’m going for it! Something like 515/315/570, I’d be more than happy with that!!
I guess when you put it like that…
Still, I’m looking at it from the perspective that I’m aiming to go just over 1400 and I’m over 10 lbs heavier with multiple meets under my belt.
Yes, I’m going to be glad I didn’t squat. Squatting heavy on little sleep is one thing, on little sleep after a long arse shift something else entirely.
It’s called auto regulation - use the jargon man!
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Heh I may be over estimsting myself, but I’d rather aim high n fail
Gives me something to push that little bit extra for
I’m the complete opposite in competition. I like to know I can hit every single attempt, or at least be 95% sure I can. I prefer to have left a few pounds off each lift and go nine for nine.
My bad. I’ll remember that for next time.
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Yea i can understand that bud.
I’ll probably end up with the same mindset after the first meet! Maybe the egos running away with me a bit atm.
It’s a personality thing. Plenty of people perform better in meet. Experience would suggest I’m not one of them.
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ur a beast bro keep doing that
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This happens to me too much, too much work hours, little sleep hour, the result is shifting my workout for one day or two. In general I try not miss a week, so my weekly workouts are the same. Wish you good luck in both work and training.
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