So in the matter of weeks you’ve added 95lbs to your squat. 275 to 370 (in case your math is dodgy). Those are some freaking great socks you’ve got.
You have to get much higher totals than we do to qualify for Provincials and Nationals. Do a lot of women compete in your state?
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
So in the matter of weeks you’ve added 95lbs to your squat. 275 to 370 (in case your math is dodgy). Those are some freaking great socks you’ve got.
You have to get much higher totals than we do to qualify for Provincials and Nationals. Do a lot of women compete in your state?[/quote]
Yeah, the coach said he gets about 100 lbs out of wraps and a suit, so yay.
I wouldn’t say a lot of women compete in CO. My coach has several women (some of whom compete), and there’s another guy who trains several women, and then the Air Force Academy has a PL team. We also have Jen Gaudreau out here, and she’s really awesome.
Things get so watered down between weight, age, and raw/equipped that the only time I’ve competed against other women was my first meet last December - and that one wouldn’t have been head to head if it happened today because I was raw and the others were equipped.
This is really one of the reasons I want to get to Nationals and all that. I want to compete against other women head to head. Of course, I’m not quite at the top level yet, but we think I can get there. 
Great job on all your PRs. You have made some incredible progress. It looks like the 798lb total will not be a problem.
You will get to meet firebug at nationals
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
ouroboro_s wrote:
So in the matter of weeks you’ve added 95lbs to your squat. 275 to 370 (in case your math is dodgy). Those are some freaking great socks you’ve got.
This is really one of the reasons I want to get to Nationals and all that. I want to compete against other women head to head. Of course, I’m not quite at the top level yet, but we think I can get there. :-)[/quote]
OK, I want those socks too, those are some great lifts!
Your reasoning for going to the National’s is dead on. We have the same issue here in Canada, although it looks like you have many more women competing than we do.
I just hope I can talk O. into coming to our Nationals in the spring. The experience and being able to compete head to head with other women of our age/weight would be worth the money.
Powerlifting is a Colorful Sport.
I’ve been bruising, re-bruising, and adding to the bruises behind my right knee for several weeks now. Fortunately, they don’t hurt…but I do look beaten!
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
Powerlifting is a Colorful Sport.
I’ve been bruising, re-bruising, and adding to the bruises behind my right knee for several weeks now. Fortunately, they don’t hurt…but I do look beaten![/quote]
I just tell people that my non-existent boyfriend beats me. It’s an easier explanation that the reality. Once I tried to explain the bruises on my left shoulder from getting up my squat suit straps to a concerned guy at work. He had a confused and even more concerned look from the explanation.
Sunday and Monday - 30-45 min light cardio, bike and treadmill walking uphill.
I felt great after the hard workout Saturday - no unusual aches, soreness in all the expected places.
Tuesday: Upper body
Clap pushups - 3 sets of four. Quit when 1) a bench opened up and 2) Coach warned me that clap pushups may transmit the clap. That would be hard to explain.
Bench - 7 sets of 3 reps at 100 lbs, fast and explosive, fully arched. Toward the end, my right arm started feeling a little funny.
Band chins - 5x5 - used a blue rubber tube wrapped around the dip bars a couple of times because I forgot my bands at home.
Barbell overhead presses - 12x65, 12x70. Shoulders felt GREAT with these, and the weight felt light.
Supported row - didn’t have a bench available for this, so I just did the normal standing bent over not too scary row. 3x10x120, felt light.
Tri pushdowns - 3x10x72 - weight felt heavier than usual. Who knows!!
Curls - curl bar was taken, so I did alternating DB curls with 27.5 lb DBs. 2x9. THESE HURT my right arm. From the bottom of the delt, over the top of the forearm, and into the wrist almost, esp. on the way down. Ouch. Icing and compressing right now.
Incline crunches - 10x10
There were about a million people at the gym tonight. I suppose they’re trying to make up for Thanksgiving in advance. The cool thing was that even though I was clearly doing upper body, one of the regulars asked if I needed the cage before he used it, lol.
Of course, the same guy proceeded to use the cage for shrugs…using those hook strap thingys…while telling his buddies that they could go to Walmart to get the grip strengthener things to help with their grips…
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
There were about a million people at the gym tonight. I suppose they’re trying to make up for Thanksgiving in advance.
[/quote]
Yeah, I can’t wait to go to the gym Thursday morning. I’m sure it won’t be packed with people trying to get in a workout right before they have their Thanksgiving feast.
Friday probably will be a mess too. This reminds me of my old newbie, ‘redshirt’ rant. I’ll have to see if I can find that old email and post it in my log.
Wednesday - Legs
Squats (all raw, no belt):
2x5x135
10x3x135 with blue bands (medium - third from heaviest), working speed and pop
Leg extensions - 3x10x160 (felt light weight, for some reason)
Single leg calf presses - sets of 10 - 20, total 100 per leg
Suited deadlifts
5x135, 5x185, 3x225 (all raw, 'cept suit with straps down) 3x315, 5x305 (fully geared with light chalk). These felt good, except I could actually feel myself shifting my weight to the balls of my feet after breaking the weight off the ground. Not sure why?
Glute ham raises - Five sets of four reps, short rests in between.
The right arms is still giving me trouble. It got sore from holding the bar during squats, and during the GHRs, I was pretty much pressing back against the bench with 75
% my left arm.
Coach says take a hot bath and have a great Thanksgiving (at least, that’s how I interpreted his “gobble gobble”). He kicks ass.
Thinking of opening the meet with a 305-320 squat, 180-185 bench, and 315-320 deadlift. That way, if I hit my openers, I qualify at 165, and everything else is gravy.
Feeling like crap today - girlie time and my whole body aches. At least it is now and not next week. I should be past this by tomorrow, when I will do some benching and, if I’m up for it, raw squats.
sorry you are feeling like crap, that sucks…tis the season! 
Congrats on all the recent PR’s, that is great.
One thing that may or may not help. I really like to take knee wraps higher up my thigh, I find I get more out of them that way as opposed to just looping over and over again right around the knee. Hope that is helpfull Good luck with the meet prep, you are getting close!
Monopoly
[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
Congrats on all the recent PR’s, that is great.
One thing that may or may not help. I really like to take knee wraps higher up my thigh, I find I get more out of them that way as opposed to just looping over and over again right around the knee. Hope that is helpfull Good luck with the meet prep, you are getting close!
Monopoly[/quote]
Yup, the coach wraps em pretty high when he does them for me; I’m still learning, but I definitely get more out of them when he does it. Thanks!
Bench:
Worked up to three singles at 185. Touching in the size 40 shirt was a little tough, but not impossible. It felt good.
side lateral rows - 3x15x10lbs
Blue band pullups 6, 6, 5, 2x15 second holds
CG Bench 12x45, 12x65, 3x12x85
incline crunches - 50
Squat - 5x135, 5x135 blue bands, 3x5x185 blue bands. Squats felt heavy, I felt inflexible, kind of a crappy workout. The belt is too loose when I’m not wearing the suit. Didn’t go deep enough for my reps.
Leg extension - 3x10x170
Leg curl - 3x10x100
Hanging leg lifts - 3x10
25 minutes light on the bike. I’m watching The Wire right now for boring cardio. It totally makes cardio bearable.
Legs felt crappy, bench felt great - no significant shoulder pain, but I didn’t push it. I am so anxious about Saturday! One week!!!
[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
Bench:
Worked up to three singles at 185. Touching in the size 40 shirt was a little tough, but not impossible. It felt good.
side lateral rows - 3x15x10lbs
Blue band pullups 6, 6, 5, 2x15 second holds
CG Bench 12x45, 12x65, 3x12x85
incline crunches - 50
Squat - 5x135, 5x135 blue bands, 3x5x185 blue bands. Squats felt heavy, I felt inflexible, kind of a crappy workout. The belt is too loose when I’m not wearing the suit. Didn’t go deep enough for my reps.
Leg extension - 3x10x170
Leg curl - 3x10x100
Hanging leg lifts - 3x10
25 minutes light on the bike. I’m watching The Wire right now for boring cardio. It totally makes cardio bearable.
Legs felt crappy, bench felt great - no significant shoulder pain, but I didn’t push it. I am so anxious about Saturday! One week!!![/quote]
Is this your last workout before Saturday?
Today is my last heavy one before Saturday. In September I did nothing from Sunday until the meet on Saturday. This time I’m going to do a bit of light bench and stuff on Wednesday.
Have you done much experimenting with what works best for you pre-meet? My tendancy is to be like a hummingbird and feel and perform better with higher volume. I hope Wednesday won’t be a mistake but the only thing it will affect either positively or negatively is bench which already is sucky.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Is this your last workout before Saturday?
Today is my last heavy one before Saturday. In September I did nothing from Sunday until the meet on Saturday. This time I’m going to do a bit of light bench and stuff on Wednesday.
Have you done much experimenting with what works best for you pre-meet? My tendancy is to be like a hummingbird and feel and perform better with higher volume. I hope Wednesday won’t be a mistake but the only thing it will affect either positively or negatively is bench which already is sucky.[/quote]
We’ll still do some workouts, I’ll add some light cardio in, but I won’t be in the suit or anything heavy. We don’t want me to be sore, and I won’t be working things like triceps again until the meet. I will do some gentle stuff, mainly just to keep the blood moving. The coach likes to let our bodies “charge up” before a meet, do some visualization, etc.
I’ve had two light weight workouts this week, and spent some quality time with the bike. Lots of stretching, foam rolling, and rolling pin rolling (great for thighs and calves!).
The dude pictured supersetted curls in the cage with plate twists while I stood next to him warming up for squats with the bar.
Everything is feeling pretty good, although I am amazed at how much more confident I feel in a suit. I will definitely have to re-learn raw lifting if I want to do Raw Nationals next year!
Still a few pounds over on the weight, and coach’s lovely wife is forcing me to go to a work lunch tomorrow (yes, it is important and good that I go, but sheesh!). I’ll either eat beforehand, pick at the chicken and salad, or fake testicular cancer.
Expect pictures of the dessert.
I got a haircut yesterday, so that dropped a few ounces. 
I bet if I finally shave my legs, that will drop a pound alone!
You take those ugly, masculine, calloused hands and do as well as we expect you to do.
Seriously though, good luck. I can hardly wait to hear how you make out.
Good Luck PMPM, you and your callouses.
White lights, light weight!
Good luck!!!
Claire
