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Crushed it at the APF IL State Meet on Sunday. I went 9-for-9 (27 white lights), got PRs on all lifts, a national record, and won best lifter.
Squat: 250, 265, 275 kg (0.5 kg PR, 25 kg Meet PR, AAPF Raw National Record)
Bench: 150, 157.5, 165 kg (8.5 kg PR, 15 kg Meet PR)
Dead: 240, 247.5, 265 kg (9 kg PR, 25 kg Meet PR)
Total: 705 kg @ 108.5 kg Bodyweight (52.5 kg Meet PR)
https://youtu.be/mNbKYC1oEj4
Lift Summary
Squat
My opener of 250 was the same as my opener at State & Nationals last year. Last year I failed to squat 260 at both meets, despite having hit 600 in a CrossFit competition in January 2014. I was a little nervous going into it; historically I do rather poorly at powerlifting meets. I know 250 is easy weight, but I worry I'll go on my toes or something stupid and end up taking a step. Blasted it up, felt like 500 lb.
After 250 I had no question in my mind that 260 was a waste of time and that 265 would be achievable. I felt it slow down just a little compared to the previous lift, but still "easy". Felt like 550 should have.
I decided to go balls out and squat 275. This was 5 kilos more than the AAPF American record and 1 lb. more than my best training squat (which may have been high). I told myself that I was going to put everything into it, no matter if I shit myself or passed out under the bar.
Well, this was the hardest squat I've ever done. I knew if I went onto my toes even a little that I was going to be buried; so I cued myself "mid-foot" and "kill". Felt good on the un-rack. Usually un-racking 600 feels heavy and I'm wobbly; not today. Went down fast, balanced, and tight getting a great stretch-reflex to get me about 6" out of the bottom. Then the bar stopped. A little voice in my head said, "Oh no. The bar stopped". However another voice was screaming, "RARRRRRR! STFU! SMASH! KILL!". I listened to that one. I stayed in my hips and kept moving. Temporarily went insane upon completion of lift.
Bench
This is the least interesting of my lifts. Opened with 150, my best lift at Nationals last year. Easy as expected. Went conservative with 157.5 which would be a 2 lb. PR over my best paused training bench. Easy as expected. I really wanted to go crazy and try 375 lb. but decided to just try ~365 instead: 165 kg. It was just a little hard. Strained a muscle in my thoracic a wee bit on the third attempt, and I started to worry about my deadlift.
Deadlift
I downed 800-1000 mg of ibuprofen after the bench and rolled around on a foam roller for about 15 minutes. My back kept spasming periodically which sucked. Finally things calmed down. I was worried because I didn't want to lower my opener from 240, but I thought I might have to. I wanted 240 because it would have been a 1500 total (nearly: 1499) which was one of my goals. However, 535 was slow and shaky 2 weeks prior, and 530 was slow and rushed just 1 week prior.
Warmups went great: 2x5x225, 3x315, 3x405, 1x455, 1x495. Back felt fine; 495 was easy. I finally had confidence that I could lift 240 even if it was slow and terrible, which I expected it would be. It was laughably easy on the platform to pull 240. Still not confident in my deadlift I took a conservative jump to 247.5 simply because it seemed attainable. It slowed a little bit, but not much.
At this point, having gone 8 for 9, and cinched the AAPF 110 kg 1st place (by a long shot), I decided to just get crazy. My best deadlift was 565 and hadn't improved in 14 months. I kinda wanted to play it safe and do 257.5. But, I was in 2nd place amongst the APF (untested) 110 kg lifters, and #1 was doing 265 for his second attempt. I figured, if I get 265 and he gets 265 then I would be in the lead since he weighed 1 kg more than me. And, if he missed his 3rd lift then I'd beat him. (He ended up successfully pulling 275 on his third attempt).
The third pull was a hell of a grind. In video it doesn't look as slow as the 275 squat, but it sure as hell felt worse. I was committed to standing up whether I shit myself, threw up, passed out, or all three at once. Once I locked it out I was mentally begging the center ref to say down. It felt like forever.
It took me several minutes to enjoy this victory. Immediately after walking away from the bar a severe agony set into my pecs. I'm not sure what this is. It feels kind of like a cramp, but worse. No one else seems to know wtf I'm talking about when I describe this. The muscle bellies aren't contracted like a cramp, but they are just blindingly painful. It took like 2 minutes to recover from this and then it felt like nothing had ever happened. Weird.
Results
- APF Open Raw - 110 kg - 2nd Place
- AAPF Open Raw - 110 kg - 1st Place
- AAPF Open Raw - Best Lifter
The best lifter was completely unexpected. I've always wanted to get this, but it's always been one of those "maybe someday" things. I know that I'm strong, and yes I've "won nationals" but that's partly because no one good showed up that year.
I walk around in life knowing that I'm usually the strongest person in a 1 mile radius at any given time. But I know that is mostly the small-pond phenomenon. Hell, even when I was at the meet yesterday some of our supporters commented to me: "Wow Dave. You don't even look big compared to these guys". I agree. I always feel like I look "ordinary" when I'm at a powerlifting meet. That's not to imply that "ordinary" is a bad thing, but rather a little part of me feels like I might not belong. Yes, I usually win 1st in my weight class, but sometimes I'm the only one in that class. To win Best Lifter amongst 90+ lifters is an amazing honor and validation.
T-minus 3-weeks to AAPF Nationals.
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Jeez, Dave. Impressive is an understatement. Congratulations!
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Couldn't agree more with Manveer. Truly inspiring work.
Three weeks though... quick turnaround. What's your plan for preparation?
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I saw that 3rd attempt squat live. It was epic. Great performance all around David.
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Congratulations on a great performance, Dave.
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Thanks guys!
Nick, I'm going to play it by ear. I've never done two meets so close together. My rough plan is:
This Wednesday: 3x3x485 Squat, 3x3x305 Bench
This Saturday: 5x1x550-ish Squat, 5x1x350 Bench, 1x535 Dead* (depends how my back feels)
Tuesday: 3x5x500-ish Squat, 3x5x325-ish Bench, 5x3 Power Cleans
Thursday: 3x3 Squat & Bench
Saturday: 1x550 Squat, 1x340 Bench (my openers)
Wednesday: 3x3x315 Bench
Saturday: Meet
I'm open to better ideas or suggestions. Thoughts?
Planned Openers -- S: 250, B: 152.5, D: 240
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Catching up again. PR'd my squat again at AAPF Nationals, got 2nd place in my weigh class.
Wednesday, Mar. 25
Squat: 3x3x485 (felt damn heavy)
Bench: 3x3x305 (felt fine)
Saturday, Mar. 28
Squat: 3x1x550 (felt bad, didn't want to go for 5 singles)
Bench: 5x1x350 (easy)
Dead: skipped
Tuesday, Mar. 31
Squat: 3x5x500 (felt better)
Bench: 3x5x325 (good)
Thursday, Apr. 2
Squat: 3x3x485 (felt ok)
Bench: 2x3x305 (felt heavy, skipped 3rd set)
Sunday, Apr. 5
Squat: 1x550 (felt OK)
Bench: 1x345 (felt great)
Dead: 1x530 (felt OK)
Thursday, Apr. 9
Bench: 3x3x315 (felt ok)
Sunday, Apr. 12
Squat: 250, 265, 277.5 kg (2.5 kg meet & lifetime PR, new AAPF Raw Nat'l Record and AAPF Submaster Raw World Record)
Bench: 150, 165, -175
Dead: 240, 265, -270
Total: 707.5 kg @ 108.1 kg bodyweight (2.5 kg meet & lifetime PR)
Standing: 2nd Place - 110 kg Raw Open
Well, I was a little worried that I would perform worse at Nationals than at the IL State meet three weeks ago. My training in the interim felt mostly shitty, but I stayed smart and took things easy. I felt good about my openers 1-week out. They didn't feel great, but they felt equivalently as not-great as they did one-week prior to the IL State meet. My goals were to try to match my performance, and maybe eek out a few pounds on the bench (the only lift that wasn't an absolute 1RM).
Squat
First two lifts felt great. Since 265 felt better than it did at states I decided to just go for it and get a PR. So glad I did. The 275 kg squat 3-weeks ago was a 10/10 effort. The 277.5 kg squat at Nationals was a 8.5/10 effort. The bar slowed down a little bit, but only after I blasted way out of the hole. Side video shows bar path went an inch or two forward at the same time it slowed, then resumed going up as I pulled it back. I remember nothing but animal rage.
Bench
I had a 50 kg lead going into the Bench. Dude in my weight class was benching 405 with blinding fast speed for a warmup; the plates rattled. I can barely make an empty bar rattle. He opened with 200, got 220 kg, and had 230 kg (507 lb.!!!) planned for his third attempt. This would give him a 15 kg lead. I tried to get ballsy and take a 20 lb. jump on my bench to 175 kg, missed it after pressing it about 4 inches off my chest. I figured I would need as much of a lead as possible going into the deadlift since I didn't think I could make up all 15 kg there. He got the 230 with a rather significant amount of sunlight coming between his ass and the bench, but oh well. He still man-handled that weight.
Deadlift
I had a small amount of hope that he would have a shitty deadlift due to his T-Rex bench arms. He opened 10 kg less than me, but matched my 2nd lift of 265 kg with his. At this point I knew it was over since I couldn't get 290 kg. I attempted 270, a 5 kg PR, but only got it to just below the knee.
Overall, I'm happy with my performance, and I hope I can get some gainz in before AWPC worlds in September.
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Monday, Apr. 20
Bench: 3x5x285 lb. (easy)
Dips: 3x10x280 lb. (+35)
Tuesday, Apr. 21
Squat: 3x5x445 (slow start, good finish)
Halting DL: 1x8x465 (really crap first rep, next 7 were solid)
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Thursday, Apr. 23
CGBP: 3x5x255 lb.
Press: 3x8x175
Friday, Apr. 24
Squat: 3x5x445 lb. (easy)
P. Clean: 3x185, 3x205, 3x225, 3x245
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Congrats on the prs Dave. Those are some big lifts.
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