On My Way to 2000lbs

Training Training Logs
241

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
sweet paste bro … congrats[/quote]

Thank you sir!

[quote]stefan128 wrote:

[quote]frankjl wrote:

Here’s the meet video. I didn’t get a shot of my opener bench, and I left out the 700 missed pull.[/quote]

First off, wowwwwww, you are strong as fuck! Good job at the meet. I was curious, during your last squat attempt it looked like the guy behind you was pushing or holding your chest up. Obviously the lift counted but I was just curious what that was. [/quote]

Thanks for your kind words. That is an interesting observation. I think he’s just watching closely. I’ve back spotted guys before and it’s an odd position because you can’t really see anything. So usually your hands are very close to the lifter and if you feel the lifter coming forward then it probably means that they are about to get bent in half. Also, I got kind of loose in the bottom so I’d imagine he thought I was about to face plant.

On my first attempt, one of the spotters grabbed the bar even though I had started to come up with it and it counted as no lift. I’d much rather this happen than dump the bar into the chains. So in the case that he helped me on that one I’m sure they’d also throw some reds at me.

Both of you guys – thank you for stopping in I appreciate it.

242

Thursday 8/30

Did some bench work today. Trying to give my body a break from the heavy weights since I’m 5 days out from the meet. Decided to work on my Flat DB Press. I never do these, which forced me to be conservative with what kind of weight I used. Also, I did a lot of volume so when the weights got heavy I was already pre-exhausted.

Flat DB Press
30 x12
55 x12
75 x12
85 x10
95 x10
105 x12 (heavy, but left a few in the tank)

Bamboo Bar Bench
110 x15
110 x15 (close grip)
180 x12
180 x12

These felt awful.

DB Shoulder Press
60 x15
60 x15

Band Pushdowns 3x20

Band Curls 3x10

Just an easy day back. Everything felt good, already looking forward to some heavier weights.

243

Friday 8/31

Low Box SSB
bar x10
135 x10
185 x6
225 x6
275 x6
add pad
315 x1
add another pad – now parallel box
365 x1 +10lb PR LOL
385 x1 +30lb PR LOL

We had a new kid start this week who worked up to 405x3 for 4 sets, and here I am messing around with 385. This bar ruins me.

SSB Good Mornings
185 x10
185 x10
185 x10
185 x10

Sumo Pulls double overhand
225 x3
315 x3
315 x3
315 x3
405 x1

GHR
2x8

GHR Situps
bw x10
bw + 2 mini bands x10
bw + light band x10
bw + sandbag x10

On paper this might not seem like a lot of work, but it kicked my ass. Because of my build (long torso), the SSB completely wrecks my shit. My upper back is toast, my lower back is toast and all I want to do is eat ice cream and play video games now.

The other half of the group continued their preparation for the XPC Semi Finals. In the coming weeks I’ll be joining in with them trying to get strong.

Now I’m going to eat and stretch and get my shit right for Ohio State’s season opener and the first game under Urban Meyer. If Chad Dresden reads this, I know you’re a little worried.

244

So reading about your meet and whatnot, I was wondering, what do you do to your brain to convince yourself that that first squat attempt fail wont ruin the whole meet?

My biggest fear in competiting is that I’ll eefff up my very first lift and it will throw me off for the rest of the meet or whatever.

245

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
So reading about your meet and whatnot, I was wondering, what do you do to your brain to convince yourself that that first squat attempt fail wont ruin the whole meet?

My biggest fear in competiting is that I’ll eefff up my very first lift and it will throw me off for the rest of the meet or whatever. [/quote]

Experience and the meet training cycle. I’ve hit 730 or over 3 times during the training cycle. 730 once (without knee wraps), 740 once and 750 once. Then overload sets that was probably heavier than 730 at the bottom. All of these came up easy. If they hadn’t, I would have opened up much lighter.

I’ll be honest, after that squat I sat down deflated and humiliated. I was absolutely stunned. I’d never missed a squat like that. My team mates said I looked like a puppy who had just been scorned. I don’t even think I said anything to my training partner when he went up to squat, I was just dead.

Sometime between sitting down and getting back up for the 2nd time, I just realized that I didn’t take that rep as seriously as I needed to. All my focus was on my 3rd attempt, and I just did not execute the fundamentals the first time. If I wanted a shot at my total, I could use my 2nd attempt to get my confidence back and still come out and hit 770 on my third.

I came out on the 2nd attempt and went extremely slow and deliberate (as you can see in the video). I just focused on doing everything right. Head up, belly full of air, sit back on my heels, and squeeze my upper back hard. My training partner kept screaming in my ear “JUST LIKE FRIDAY NIGHTS AT THE GYM”. He was right – this wasn’t a weight that I was unfamiliar with. This turned out to be probably the best squat (technique & depth wise) that I’ve ever done.

I missed 2 lifts that day just because I wasn’t focused on THAT lift. I missed my 2nd deadlift because I went nuts on ammonia and tried to stiff leg 700 pounds. I SMOKED 705 in training about 8 weeks before that, I had no business missing it at the meet.

And actually, now that I think about it – my best meet was my first meet. I was raw, I went 8 for 9. I think it was my best because I had no idea what I was capable of, I had no numbers to chase. Every lift was a PR, so every lift was the most important. I guess I’d never thought about it like that – hell of a question you asked me!

246

WOW thank you for the detailed response.

I really wish I had a couple powerlifting buddies, maybe that would be the confidence booster that I need to stop me from thinking that I’ll fail every lift, Lol.

There is a meet dec. 1st and I would really like to not chicken out. I want to like open with a 100lb squat so I know even if I do it totally wrong I wont miss it, ha-ha.

247

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
WOW thank you for the detailed response.

I really wish I had a couple powerlifting buddies, maybe that would be the confidence booster that I need to stop me from thinking that I’ll fail every lift, Lol.

There is a meet dec. 1st and I would really like to not chicken out. I want to like open with a 100lb squat so I know even if I do it totally wrong I wont miss it, ha-ha. [/quote]

Despite training my ass off, hitting PR after PR in training I was very nervous about this last meet. I even had a nightmare that I hit my opener bench and passed on my 2nd and 3rd attempts. I woke up all pissed off at myself. Why the hell would I pass on my bench attempts?

Talking with the other guys, apparently they had a similar feelings of nervousness.

By the way, I think that’s a great idea. Open up very very light. And calm the hell down. That’s one thing I always forget to do at meets. I get overly excited and lose focus. I think I opened with 360lbs on the squat in my first meet. At the time, my best good morning was 430lbs. So even if I got bent in half by that squat I knew I could probably recover and come up with it. My attempts were 360 / 405 / 450 so that means I opened up at about 80% of my max.

If I were you, I’d email the meet director and explain to him or her it’s your first meet. We always try to help new guys out at meets if we see that they need help. The meet director might be able to find someone to be your handler for the meet. Even simple stuff like helping you get warmed up, handing your bench out and having another set of eyes on your form can go a long way. Regardless, you’ll have a great first meet experience and will likely meet some people with similar goals that can become great friends and training partners.

Sunday 9/2 – DE Bench

Bench w/ 80lbs chains
135 3x3
155 3x3
175 2x3
195 1x3

Bamboo Bar Bench
75lbs x20
75lbs x20
110lbs x15
110lbs x15
180lbs x10

Bamboo Bar Skullcrushers
75 x12
75 x20
75 x20

Chest Supported Rows
160 x15
160 x15
160 x15

Wide Grip Pulldowns
180 x12
180 x12
180 x12

Band Pushdowns
Green band x20

I got really drunk yesterday and am still really hungover at 7pm. It was the start of college football, I mean what are you going to do? This was about all I could handle today.

Tomorrow we’re going to do some Labor Day pulling.

248

Monday 9/3

We decided to do our lower accessory day today instead of Tuesday because we had the day off work.

Raw Box Squats against Average Band
240 x2 (8 sets)

Speed Pulls against Average Band
225 x1
315 x1 4 sets
365 x1 3 sets
415 x1 1 set

I did these with my deadlift suit on. I still haven’t figured this thing out. Weights today were moving extremely well. My best without a suit on this is 515 I believe so the last set was pretty heavy for speed work.

Roman Chair Abs
bw x20
26lbs x15
26lbs x15

Back Extensions
bw x20
bw x20

Shrugs
315 x20

Great session today. I decided that I’m going to do all of my speed and ME work in my deadlift suit just because I’m not as comfortable in it as I need to be for the meet. I still haven’t figured out how I like the straps and just how to pull in it in general. It feels like my man parts are about to come off whenever I pull in the thing, and as a result I get out of position easily.

Taking Tuesday and Wednesday off and then a heavy bench on Thursday.

249

Thursday 9/6 – ME Bench

Max effort 3 board today. I feel like this will help me work through my sticking point on my geared bench.

Raw warmups
135 x6
185 x6
225 x6
275 x3
add 2 board
315 x3
add 3 board
365 x1
385 x1
395 x1 (took about an hour to finish this rep)

I think the last time we did this I hit 390 x1 and missed a 2nd rep. Either way it’s a 5lb PR and I’m happy with it. I’m 10 lbs away from that magic raw 4 plates.

Supplementary work
85% 3 sets of 3 (I stole this from StormTheBeach)
335 x3
335 x3
335 x6 (decided to push it hard on the last set)

Chest Supported Row
4 heavy sets –

Tate Press
35 x10
45 x10
45 x10
45 x10

Plate Raises
45 x12
45 x12
45 x12

Kettlebell Curls 3x10

250

Friday 9/7

I don’t know if it was the heavy training yesterday or the lack of sleep or what but I didn’t feel too good today. Everything felt heavy as balls. Today was back into the gear and feel some weight on my back to get ready for the next meet.

Squat w/ Reverse Monster Minis
265 x10
355 x3
add briefs
445 x3
535 x3
625 x2
675 x1
725 x1
765 x STAAAAAPPPPLEEEDDDD

I should have shut it down after the 725 (which was a 100lb PR since the last time I did this like a year ago) but didn’t listen to my body. I was on my toes the entire time and couldn’t even get the weight out of the rack. I reset twice and took it down and was able to stop the weight from crushing me but that’s about it.

Reverse Hyperextensions
140 x10
140 x10

GHR
bw x10
bw x10

GHR Abs
sandbag x10

This was all she wrote on this one.

251

9/9 DE Bench

Fat Bar Speed Bench w/ Monster Minis
135 x3
135 x3
135 x3
135 x3
185 x3
185 x3
185 x3

My right shoulder was killing me so I cut it short. I hope I just slept on it wrong or something

Lat Pulldowns
160 x15
160 x15
180 x12
180 x12

Bamboo Bar Skullcrushers
50 x20
70 x15
100 x12

Dumbell Skullcrushers
35 x15
35 x15
35 x15
35 x15

EZ Bar Curls
50 x12
70 x12
70 x12
70 x12

Static Holds w/ Mastodon Bar
240 for 20s
240 for 20s
330 for 20s

Farmers Walks
2 trips 40 yards down and back

252

Reverse Band Deadlift

The way the bands were setup, they took off about 100 at the bottom and went completely limp about an inch from my knee. My PR on this was 700 even.

250 x3
340 x1
430 x1
520 x1
610 x1
680 x1 ← DIED

I decided to stop here because I felt like garbage and almost passed out. 680 wasn’t a max effort but I was not looking forward to anything heavier.

Deficit Reverse Band Pulls
410 x10 (no belt)
460 x5 (no belt)

I cashed out here. I am mentally zapped and my body is aching. This is probably my body’s way of telling me to back off for a little while, so that’s what I’m going to do. My traps are killing me, my grip is shot, my bicep tendons are inflamed and I can’t seem to keep my hamstrings or glutes loose to save my life. It’s probably just my time of month.

I’m going to do some reps on the foam press on Thursday, and take Friday and quite possibly Sunday off completely. Hopefully by Tuesday of next week I can push it again.

253

9-13 Shirted Bench

I am definitely sick. I’m constantly light headed and I’m exhausted all the time. My stomach is upset and I don’t have much of an apetite. Its like I’m pregnant. I took the day off work to rest. I felt ok by 5 o’clock so I went to the gym. I probably would have taken the day off but I’m only about 6 weeks out and I’ll only have one more shirted bench day before the meet It’s important that I feel some weight in my hands. Before I walked in, I set a goal of hitting my opener off a 2 board and shutting it down there.

Raw Bench Warmups
135 x8
185 x6
225 x6
275 x3
315 x1
add 3 board
365 x1
add shirt / 3board
405 x3
2 board
455 x1
475 x1 ← Opener

This rep was slow and grindy but that’s alright.

Raw Close Grip Foam Press
315 x8

I did some other light tricep movements here but that’s about it. I’m going to be out of town for tomorrow’s squat session and then it’s time to hit it hard for the heavy meet training again.

254

9-16 DE Bench

I felt like ass all day today. This weekend I was visiting some family in the nether-regions of Western Kentucky (funny story about this below). It was around an 8 hour drive from there back to my home so by the time I got to the gym I didn’t have much energy in me.

I decided to do something different with my DE bench. I stole this idea from Vincent Dizenzo’s training log on EFS.

DE Bench w/ Monster Mini Bands
135 x3
135 x3
185 x3
185 x3
185 x3
add 1 chain
185 x3
185 x3
add 1 chain
185 x3
bands & chains off
205 x3
205 x3
205 x3

By the time I got to the sets with 205, it felt like I could have thrown the weight through the roof. It just kind of hovered down and I was able to punch it off my chest at a lightning quick speed.

Chain Lockouts (arms slightly above parallel)
225 x10
315 x5
365 x3
405 x2

Decline Skullcrushers
85 x15
85 + 2 chains x15
85 + 4 chains x12
85 + 4 chains x12

Hammercurls
35 x15
35 x15

That’s all she wrote on this one.

So this afternoon, we stop in the middle-of-nowhere Indiana, approximately 1 hour west of Louisville, KY. I walk in and see a man with giant arms and a beard. I get closer, and sure as shit it was Mike Tuchscherer. He was eating so I didn’t want to bother him much, but I got to shake his hand and chat him up for a minute.

I guess it’s a small world after all.

255

WOW THAT IS SO COOL!!! I get excited just seeing people squatting to a semi-acceptable depth, let alone a real live powerlifter!

256

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
WOW THAT IS SO COOL!!! I get excited just seeing people squatting to a semi-acceptable depth, let alone a real live powerlifter![/quote]

2 days later I still kind of can’t believe it happened. I wish I could’ve chatted him up a little more and maybe tried to get a free e-book out of him.

Tuesday – Deadlift Assistance

Camber Bar Goodmornings
bar x10
150 x10
240 x5
330 x5
380 x5
420 x5
add blue bands from the bottom
225 x10
225 x10

Belt Squats
90lbs x15 (low)
180lbs x10 (add 1 pad)
270lbs x10
270lbs x10

Reverse Hypers
210 x15
210 x15

GHR Abs w/ Heavy Bag
x15
x15

257

9/19 – ME Raw Bench Day

Raw bench today and then the start of the pre-meet squat cycle starts again on Friday. Today’s movement was floor press.

Floor Press
bar x10
135 x10
185 x6
225 x6
275 x3
315 x1 (felt like shit, decided 345 was a safer jump than straight to 365)
345 x1 (felt better)
365 x1
385 x1 +5lb PR

Close Grip Floor Press
315 x4

All of the weights today seemed heavy as shit, like they were going to crush me. I can think of 3 reasons why:

  1. I didn’t sleep well last night
  2. We usually bench on Thursdays but moved it up to Friday’s this week
  3. I did some heavy lockout work on Sunday which I usually never do

Literally everything after 275 felt like it was going to snap my arms but they kept coming up so I kept putting more weight on.

Chest Supported Rows
135 x10
160 x10
180 x10
180 x10

DB Rolling Tricep Extensions
45 x15
45 x15
45 x15

Bodybuilder Curls
35 x a bunch x 3 sets

Overhead Band Tricep Extns
green band x20 2 sets

Good day today even though I didn’t feel all that well. Everybody else in the group had a rough day too, so I’m inclined to believe it’s a result of being burned out from yesterday’s session or the switch in days. Regardless it won’t be an issue anymore.

My bodyweight is a little high at the moment, around 277 or so. I might try to push it a little higher going into the XPC Semi Finals up to 282-283. Because the meet is in my hometown, I can be a little more aggressive with a weight cut and re-hydrate. Hopefully the extra obesity will help my total.

I am very much looking forward to taking about a month off heavy ass training after the meet!

258

Friday – Geared Squats

First time back in my suit since the meet. I was prepared for today to be a disaster so I tried to take as many sets in my suit as I could as to get some work in it. I’ll squat in it twice more before the meet so I wanted to get up to my opener and just get 1 or 2 overload sets in.

Squat
raw dawg
bar x10
bar x10
150 x10
240 x6
330 x3
add briefs
420 x3
530 x3
add suit, straps down
580 x3
620 x3
690 x1
straps up, knee wraps on
730 x1 ← Planned opener
add reverse bands
850 x1 ← Tie PR

Today went very very well, much better than I had anticipated.

GHR
Did these a little different today, I really focused on the negative … building up tension in my hamstrings then pushing my knees into the pad hard
bw x15
bw x12

Decline Abs
25lb plate on forehead x15
25lb plate on forehead x15

Reverse Hypers
210 x15
210 x15

Time to get obese.

259

Sunday 9/23 – DE Bench

I stopped by the APF Ohio State meet this morning to help my buddy Jon Taylor out. I was surprised to see that Matt Wenning was competing. He ended up hitting 600lbs raw and he looked like he had more in him. He said that he trained his lower triceps right above the elbow really hard. So that inspired me to switch up my training a little bit today.

Also I saw Chuck V at the meet today, he said “you’re looking big, Frank”. I was pretty pumped he still remembered my name.

DE Bench
185 x3 (4 sets)
add 80lbs chains
185 + chains x3 (6 sets)

The weight moved really well today so I added some chains to slow the bar down a little

High Press
95 + 80lbs chains x10
145 + 80lbs chains x10
165 + 80lbs chains x6
165 + 80lbs chains x6

Lat Pulldowns
160 x15
210 x10
210 x10

Decline Skullcrushers
105 x15
105 x15
105 x15
105 x12

DB Curls
45 x15
45 x15

260

HOLYSHITYOU MET MY HERO@@!!!
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