Good stuff Wolf. My guess is that the rest this week will heal most of what's bothering you.
Are lifting at 120 or 120+ ?
Printable View
Good stuff Wolf. My guess is that the rest this week will heal most of what's bothering you.
Are lifting at 120 or 120+ ?
Based on the typical rates my body heals, my guess is I won't be at 100%, but I'll just make the best of what's there that day.
I'm lifting at 120+. I had planned a few months ago to cut down to 120, but dropped it after two weeks. The combination of the amount of time and energy that I put into my work schedule and training, the fact that competing is still recreational for me and is not a source of income or business, plus my general indifference to abs/being lean - all that added together = a lack of enough leftover motivation to do what it takes to cut. I love lifting. I love training. I love thinking about barbells. I love coaching. I love eating, I love enjoying food. I want to do what I enjoy and live life. Even though I compete in powerlifting and coach others to meets as well, I am a strength guy more than a powerlifting guy, if that makes sense.
After the Fall Classic, I'll probably ease off maximal training for the remainder of the year. That may be an easier time to cut, since I won't be pushing the volume and intensity as high. I don't mind being stricter with food for periods of time, but when I'm training hard my appetite makes it miserable for me to do so. Making weight at a meet isn't something I'm willing to be miserable for. Strength guy first, powerlifting behind that. When I'm not pushing training as hard, I can still eat and enjoy because my appetite is less.
After surgery last year, my weight plummeted from 270-3 ish down to 255 with no training and just overall less eating. I haven't been able to break 270 since but I've been holding around 260-5 with no effort. I think its because I'm getting old and my body wants to just be leaner. I might just let it do its thing this winter and be my old model self from the pre-2008 era. 105 here I come....not totally serious but it may be a possibility.
Ya, back last November-January, my weight went from ~270 to 258 when I basically couldn't train heavy at all in any lift. I had a lower appetite, ate less, and that was it. I could probably get it back down to 265ish while lifting lighter for 2-3 months without too much trouble.
I've seen those pics of you circa 2008. Can't imagine you as a 105 now though!
Hope you are feeling great and will get good rest going into Sunday! Best of luck and I look forward to your report.
Good luck Wolf!
Thanks guys. Will have a recap here when I get a chance.
Light day today.
Squat - rehbands
45x6x2, 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 325x3x2
Notes: Right knee bothersome but better than Monday. Been working on it a lot. Didn't feel great about these but they did help me loosen up.
Bench Press - beltless
45x10, 135x5, 195x5
245x5, 285x3 - first rep paused
310x2, 330x1x2 (last warm-up), 300x2, 275x3 - all paused
Notes: Didn't have anyone there who I could rely on to give commands so did them as best I could in my head. Worked up to two singles at my planned last warm-up with a little bit of work on the way up and back down to stay fresh and since I haven't practiced pausing much.
Power Clean
115,135,155,175,195 - all 1+2
215x2x2
Notes: Pretty easy. Back felt much, much better today compared to Monday. Only time will tell if it will be go for a big pull attempt on Sunday, but at least it is moving in the right direction noticeably now.
Press - did these in between sets of power cleans
45x8, 95x5, 125x5, 145x5, 155x5x2
Notes: Just to keep me in practice and keep my shoulders happy.
C2 Erg: 25/75x8
Paces mostly in the 1:35-1:40 range. Just staying loose.
Today was last workout before the meet. 2 days rest and hopefully healing, and then go time.
Meet recap. Video to come in a day or two. Short vids are up on my Insatgram @Wolf_Strength. It was great to compete with Dwayne and Tom, and special thanks to Brent and especially Dr. Petreeezo and Nick for traveling quite far to come help handle and cheer us on.
Body status before meet: knee was still very achey, pec felt ok, back felt a lot better - not quite 100% but way better than even 3-4 days ago - but totally untested with heavy weights.
Weigh-in: 125kg, I think on the money. Maybe 125.1? Heavier than I've ever done a meet but basically unchanged for the past ~5 months.
Meet ran reasonably on time (unlike yesterday, which was way over-crowded and went about 3 hours late). Not a surprise, but USAPL runs a very different ship than RPS.
Performance: 7/9, 702.5 kg / 1549 lb total. A bit disappointed but since this was mainly to get experience in the USAPL, I'm ok with it.
Squat: 3/3 @ 237.5 (523.5), 247.5 (546), 255 (562) - all good. Didn't see but I think 3 white lights for all. Very happy with this considering my right knee pain lately, which was under control and only minor today. Third attempt looked like I had at least 5kg in the tank.
Bench: 3/3 @ 160 (352.5), 167.5 (369), 172.5 (380) - all good. I think all white lights for all three here too. These were solid and fairly easy, but kept it conservative a. To save some erector burnout for the DL (which ended up not helping) b. Since I haven't been able to train bench most of the last 5 months c. Due to the narrower than usual grip I've been taking because of my b/my pec and d. So as not to actually strain my pec during any of the attempts. Given all those things, I'm ok with 380. I will not be chinning for at least a while, and think my pec will be ok with this narrower grip in the absence of chins. Hopefully. If it is, I should be able to get my paused bench back up to 405 and then beyond before too long.
Deadlift: 1/3 @ 275 (606), 290x (639), 290x (639). Hook gripped these, which may have been a tactical error. First attempt looked like a first attempt, but I could feel my back in the tweaked part not quite as strong and locked into extension as usual. Went up pretty fast but I got 1 red light for a soft lockout. Second at 639 was hard, I could really feel my back tweak here, but held extension pretty well. However, my hook grip wasn't solid and I didn't get a good, definitive lockout and got two reds. Didn't have anything left for the third, which I put down before getting it to my knees.
I'm very pleased with my squat, fine with bench under the circumstances, and very disappointed about my DL. My recent training numbers in the DL far exceeded what I did on the platform today. A small % of that is the tweak, but far more is my failure to convert. I need to work on this, and I will. With smarter planning and better execution, I still feel 660 is very close.
I will take 2-3 light weeks before beginning to train in earnest for the SS Fall Classic.