You at 175 is gonna be insane!!!
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OLD THREAD REVIVAL INCOMING!
Thinking about starting my log back up. A lot has happened since I last posted anything here. Some of this will just be for posterity so I can look back and remember why this gap exists in my log.
2020, year of the covid. My last post was about a show I did as a lightweight competitor, and I had shared that I was going to shred myself down to 175 to try to make it to the Arnold. Well, that qualifying show was supposed to go down in April, and it was, of course, cancelled. So I never had that opportunity.
When the world shut down, none of us really knew what was coming next. Here in Texas, things were a mess. I had a lot of friends who just kept going to the gym, found ways around the rules, etc. I had/have a lot of ‘at-risk’ people in my life, so I just decided to take a short break from lifting. Figured it couldn’t hurt, and we’d probably all be getting back to our normal lives in a month or so. I would take the time to get better at meal prep, improve sleeping habits, all that kind of stuff, and give me body a chance to recover and come back stronger than ever.
LOL NOPE!
I did alright for awhile, but complacency and apathy set in after a few months. I bought some training equipment for myself eventually, but I just couldn’t find any motivation to lift, with no shows to train for, and no people to see. It wasn’t until March 2021 that I ended up back in the gym, after my first vax shot. A full year out of the gym. My bodyweight had dropped into the 170’s, and my strength felt absolutely depleted. But I showed up. And things started to get better. Every session I started feeling more like myself. I started to put weight back on. And it wasn’t long before I signed up for another show.
I believe the show was in May. And I won it, as a lightweight, minimal water cut. I dominated it, easily winning 4 of 5 of the events, and skipping the 5th, which was yoke (sound familiar? LOL).
So I signed up for another show, which did not go so well. In late June, I competed in Houston, and the first event was a max axle deadlift. Once again I was competing as a LW. On my next to last attempt, I set a new state record for the axle deadlift in my class, and my last attempt was meant to set a bigger record. Well, I partially tore my hamstring, and failed the lift. I tried to continue with the show, but I just couldn’t make it work. First show I’ve ever failed to complete.
Over the next 6 weeks or so I healed. I got all the way better, and got to the gym a couple times. Then, my son got back from a vacation with his mother, and brought Covid back with him. So I was out again. At this point, I was struggling with mental health a bit, dealing with personal life stuff, and I didn’t get my ass back in the gym when I was recovered from Covid.
So about 2 months went by, taking us to this week. I trained on Sunday, and my conditioning was POOR. So is my strength. But it will come back fast. I signed up for a show at the end of January, and I intend to win it, in the 200 lbs class. Right now I’m waking up in the low 180’s. But fuck it. I’m going to eat everything in sight, and train my ass off for the next 2 months, and I’ll fucking win.
That’s all I’ve got for now. #letsgo
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Always good to see you around, man. It’ll be awesome to see this return. Go get it!
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And get leaner in the process.
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I’m eating a pop tart right now, and I can just FEEL the fat melting off of me.
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Awesome Flip. Good to see you.
Bloody good to see you back Flip. I’m up fo the ride as you build yourself back to awesome.
Man, I just read my first post back, I can’t believe that was only 9 days ago that I was ‘waking up in the low 180’s’. I haven’t woken up at less than 194 the last few days. Before bed last night I hit 199. So far so good. My overhead strength is poo poo, but my deadlift doesn’t suck. I did 500 without issue last night, looked pretty fast, so I should be approaching 600 max by the end of January. Conditioning is coming back pretty quickly, not worried about that at all, as long as I keep showing up consistently. The key will be sustaining exactly this much effort from now until the end of January. I’m going from not training at all, to what is essentially a ‘peaking’ training cycle, overnight. Not ideal, but I’ll get it done.
I do have another note about the show in January, which I learned over the last week.
The lightweight class is decent, but it’s winnable. If I were to decide to cut to 175 (I don’t plan to, but it remains an option at this point). But I was wrong when I said I could win the 200 class. I looked at the competitor list, and holy shit it’s stacked. And this isn’t one of those ‘well try your best, you never know what could happen’ things. I’m decidedly outclassed against a couple of these guys. I could still podium, but two of the top 6 finishers at nationals this year will be there. It’s brutal. I’m hoping one or both of them decides to compete up a class, but it’s not likely. So this will be the first show in a long, long time that I’m not walking into expecting, or even really hoping, to win. But I think that will be a good experience for me now, because over the next year, I DO want to get to the point where I feel like I can stack up against literally anyone in this class.
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Stones yesterday.
This was an interesting training session. In warmups, I recognized right away that my left bicep was significantly strained. Not sure if I actually did something to it during warmups, or if I was still dealing with something from a previous session. Anyway, it felt pretty bad. I did a 265 stone and thought maybe I should just skip the session to avoid injury. I usually would when I feel a bicep acting up. BUT, this was at a stone seminar, a lot of people were there, including a few guys I hadn’t seen in awhile… and I just said fuck it let’s go.
I made some adjustments to my setup, and 280 felt better than 265. Then we jumped to 315, and our 315 stone is reallllly shitty. Rough and uneven and just not a fun stone. But, I ended up getting it. The next one was 330. First shot at it, I gave it a tug, felt my bicep, and backed off. Came back to it a little later and got it! So that was pretty cool. At my bodyweight, and where I am in training right now, 330 is solid. 280 for reps over a bar will be the weight we use in my comp at the end of January, to a lower height than what I took 330 to, so this is a fantastic starting point for me.
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Well I’m about 2 1/2 weeks out of my next show! Yikes.
I didn’t train much in December. Life got in the way, I lost my motivation again, I just didn’t get the job done. Because of this, my bodyweight didn’t go up as I had originally planned, so the new plan is to compete as a 175! This is going to be an extraordinarily tough show though, even at the lower weight class. One dude competing against me has pulled 700+ in training, and took 3rd at nationals. And the other guys in the class aren’t bad either.
My overhead press is garbage right now. I’ll be lucky to get more than 200 at this show. It’s very frustrating, I feel like I have zero press-out strength. My deadlift is fine (not compared to 700 guy, but whatever). I’ve gotten 4 reps in training with contest weight (495) and it’s improving fast. A week before I got 4, I got 2. Stones are always fine for me. And the truck pull… who the fuck knows.
I need to improve my conditioning in the next two weeks to be ready, but other than that, I’ll pretty much be who I am today, lol. My bodyweight is generally in the high 180’s right now, so I’m in cut range already. I’m going to completely eliminate sugar from my diet for the next two weeks, that should help a little. Maybe get me down to 185/186.
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Funny that this was exactly a week ago. Last night I got 230 on the axle press! And 210 felt easy. Things just kind of came together for me, finally. Just in time.
This has continued to improve. Over the weekend I pulled 495 for 6, with strength left in the tank. I only cut the set off because the weight was slipping off of one side, but it was still moving really well. I imagine I could’ve gotten 8.
I also did some stone work. Got 6 reps with contest weight after deadlifts, so I’m fine with that. On contest day I’ll have more in me if I need it. Doubt I could go over 10, but I can definitely do more than 6.
Started my water loading yesterday. A gallon a day to start (really a little more, that’s just the minimum). Woke up this morning between 188 and 189.
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Excited to see how you go flip. Good luck mate
Man, water cuts are fun…
It really is such a wild ride. Last night after dinner I weighed myself at nearly 196 lbs. I weighed myself this morning, about 12 hours later, at 185. Before noon, I’ll be back up around 190 or so, and then the actual weight cut starts. I’ve done well with my prep this time, I’ve been about as strict as I’ve ever been, and it’s not a huge cut, so I’m hoping it doesn’t get too uncomfortable.
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Hey guys!
Well, I guess first things first, I made weight. I struggled a little more than I expected to, it took more baths than I thought it would. I never really felt bad though, so that was nice.
My refeed was good, but I think this time I drank too many pedialytes. I relied almost exclusively on these over other liquid options, and usually I mix it up between this and things like gatorade.
Anyway, comp day. I took second overall, and also second on every single event. I knew going into this that there was a guy there who would be better than me, so I’m not unhappy with the result. I was pretty sure this was gonna be a fight for second before I showed up, haha. But that being said, I’m pretty happy I took second so dominantly.
First event, axle clean and press. The jumps were 20 lbs. I hit 235, which was good for a tie for second. Missed 255. I’m kind of fine with that. I got close with the 255, about halfway on the press but couldn’t finish it. The guy that beat me opened at 255, finished at 315 for a national record. I wasn’t touching him on that event.
Second event, deadlift ladder. I knew that I’d be a solid second on this one, with the possibility of first, depending on how good the other guy was on the day. It was relatively close. I got 7 on the last bar (497), and I MAYBE had 8 in me if I had paced myself better. But he got 10, so it didn’t matter. The next best score on this one was just 2 reps.
Truck pull was next. I was beaten by a little over a second on this one. It was like 23 seconds to 22 seconds. I was fine with this result. I knew the truck pull was a bit of a crap shoot. Nobody practices this, and the start is really the only time you can gain an advantage. So, whatever.
Last event was stone over bar head to head. At this point, I couldn’t really do anything about my placing, so I kinda mailed it in. It was a 265 stone. I did 7 reps for second, he did an 8th to win. I believe I could have pushed him on this one, but I just had no desire to do so. I was tired, hungry, and ready to get my medal and go home.
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Nice work man. Sounds like the other dude was a bit of a freak for the class haha. Way to crush it after a decent chunk of time away.
Congrats on a good contest Flip!
He was. He finished 3rd at Nationals a few months ago, and that was only his third show ever. He’s fantastic. I could absolutely see him making waves at worlds in the next year or 2. He could be a world champion if he sticks with it.
Sucks not winning, but it’s fun competing against someone who is just at another level and seeing where you can hang with them. Even cooler when it’s someone at the top of the game because it speaks highly of your own ability.
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Oh! and shout out to @strongmanbrett , he killed it! Hell of a run on stones, landed him in 3rd overall in a VERY strong 200lbs field. The two guys that beat him are some of the best 200 guys out there.
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It’s becoming pretty impressive how easily I fall apart these days, lol. Every time I get into a good place, get to training regularly, get my head on straight, I fucking lose it.
For once, I’m not going to share details, because it’s a very personal thing I’ve been going through. I WILL be alright, I’m getting there, and may even train this Sunday. So that being said…
The week/weekend of my last show was rougher than I suggested. I actually dealt with something pretty traumatic unrelated to my weight cut DURING THE FUCKING WEIGHT CUT. I was about 10 lbs or so down, dehydrated as fuck, and a thing happened that was pretty brutal. I almost quit my cut and dropped out of the show. Somehow, I pushed through it, and ended up having a decent comp and not a horrible few days after. But, unfortunately, the trauma got worse. I lost a very significant amount of weight over the next week or so. I barely ate, and I drank and smoked my way through my days. It’s been a shit show for me.
I’m on the road to recovery though, and today has been the best I’ve felt in weeks. I’m eating again, and I don’t feel like I’m dying. So that’s something. Today was also the first day I haven’t had a drink before noon in… awhile.
I know people here care about me, and follow my training and stuff. And I’ve always wanted to share the good and the bad. Thanks for listening 
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