Finding Out that the Iron Never Lies

[bustermonkey2]

Oct 8, 2016

Bench, 1st rep paused w/ wraps @ 320 lbs-2,2,2,2,2,2 Rpe 9.5, although some sets were 9. Big bonus here was no shoulder pain at all. The plan is to keep working up the weights a bit at a time while decreasing number of sets until the Oct 22nd meet.

Chins-20. I decided to just do one all out set. I think this is a pr.

[bustermonkey2]

Oct 10, 2016
Bodywt 209 lbs. Ate too much restaurant food and beer while out of town this weekend so I'll have to reign it in.

Bench, 1st rep paused with wraps @ 325 lbs-2,2,2,2,2 Rpe 9.75 although some sets were 9's

Sumo deads @ 480 lbs-1 Rpe 9.5
Sumo deads @ 405 lbs-4,4,4 Rpe 9.5. My hands were pretty sore and red by 3rd set but better than last week.

[bustermonkey2]

Oct 12, 2016
Bodywt 206 lbs

I could tell I probably wasn't recovered yet even before I started, but I thought it might work out after warming up. I was wrong as this was another bad session.

Bench w/ pause w/ wraps @ 330 lbs-1,1. I could tell it wasn't happening because while warming up at 225 my shoulders and pecs were pretty sore. Lack of food is screwing up recovery.

Squats @ 465 lbs-2, 3 PR, 0. I wanted to hit this for 3 sets of 3. On 1st set the weights felt a bit off balance so racked it after the 2nd rep. 2nd set was an rpe 10- a real grind. I was pretty spent after that and tried unracking it for another set but it wasn't in the cards.

[bustermonkey2]

Oct 14, 2016
Bodywt 205 lbs

Bench, 1st rep paused w/ wraps @ 330 lbs-2,2,2,2 Rpe 9.75. Right shoulder a bit sore but not terrible. I've definitely lost a lot off my bench due to weight loss- probably 30-40 lbs.

Sumo deads @ 495 lbs-1 Rpe 9.25-9.5. Not completely terrible. Hopefully I'll get over 500 at meet. Still a 50 lb drop from my April meet but I've really screwed up my training and programming on deads the last few months. The 25 lb weight loss may play some part too.

Sumo deads @ 415 lbs-4 Rpe 9.5
Sumo deads @ 425 lbs-1. Fail- I wanted to get 4 but I was just dead fatigued at this point. I'm sure calorie restriction is really affecting stamina.

[bustermonkey2]

Oct 17, 2016
Bodywt 207 lbs.

This was a light workout as I wanted to be fresh for meet on the 22nd and I'm not recovering as quickly as I'd like.

Bench, 1st rep paused w/ wraps @ 335 lbs-2,1,2 Rpe 9.75. Missed 2nd rep on 2nd set because I lost all tightness.

Squat w/ wraps-@ 455-1 Rpe 8. Pretty easy but I could tell my lower back wasn't fully recovered.
Squat @ 405 lbs-5 Rpe 9. Fine.

[bustermonkey2]

Oct 18, 2016
Bodywt 206 lbs

This is my last session before meet on the 22nd so I was just going to do a few assistance exercises.

Press @ 165 lbs-5,5 Rpe 9

Chins-15,15

Bench @ 315-1. I thought about trying to do a bit of bench but it was clear that I wasn't recovered from yesterday so I just stopped it here.

[idlehands]

Good luck at the meet

[bustermonkey2]

Good luck at the meet

Thanks. This is probably last time I'll try to compete at 198 lbs. The weight loss has been difficult and I've had a substantial strength loss, especially in bench. After I get through this I can start working on building strength back as I gain weight.

[idlehands]

Thanks. This is probably last time I'll try to compete at 198 lbs. The weight loss has been difficult and I've had a substantial strength loss, especially in bench. After I get through this I can start working on building strength back as I gain weight.

Bench needs so much volume. More so when cycling down. Bench every day !

[bustermonkey2]

October 22, 2016 NASA Iowa Regional Meet Report

This meet was a real mixed bag for me that I'm going to call the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was also the smallest meet I've ever been in with around 35-40 lifters total as there was another powerlifting meet in Des Moines on the same day. I can't ever remember 2 being held on the same day before.

The Good- NASA 90 kilo Master's Pure American Records Set

I made weight on Friday October 21st at 7:00 p.m. at 197.5 lbs. I went 6 for 9 and set 4 NASA American records in the obscure class of 90 kilos (198 lbs) Masters Pure (Over 40 years of age and Lifetime Steroid Free) in: squats at 205 kilos (452 lbs), bench at 155 kilos (342 lbs), deadlifts at 225 kilos (496 lbs) and total at 585 kilos (1290 lbs). Getting NASA American records was my main goal here as I had seen that for whatever reason the numbers for this particular, very obscure, class at 90 kilos looked to be very achievable. Also, my 15 year old daughter competed in her 1st meet and she really enjoyed it, especially as she set state records in all lifts for high school and it was very rewarding to compete with her.

The Bad- Making Weight

Making weight was a miserable process for me. Since April when I weighed around 225-230 lbs, my main goal was to drop to 198 lbs to make a run at the Masters Pure American records. In NASA, every 3 years you can attempt American records at all meets, not just the National ones and this was my likely only chance for 3 years as I just do the local meets. I had done pretty well in slowly cutting down to 205 lbs over the last few months, but near the end I made several poor decisions and almost didn't make it. On October 20th, one day before weigh-ins, I weighed 205 in the morning and planned on eating a light early lunch and then watching fluid intake until morning of weigh ins when I would stop fluids. Based on past experience, I figured I would then get up on weigh in day around 202 lbs and should be pretty close to hitting target weight. Instead of that plan, I went to eat at a Mexican restaurant for a big salty meal at around 1 p.m. Then, that evening I went out with friends for craft beer that evening, staying out until around 10 p.m. I justified it in my head by thinking that since I wasn't really eating solid food, the liquid wouldn't matter so much. The next morning, I didn't have time to weigh myself as I had to rush into work at 7 a.m. but I knew I'd be home by 11 a.m. so I could see where I was then. When I got home at 11 a.m., I panicked when I saw I was at 207 lbs. I am guessing the large salty Mexican meal combined with 5-6 craft beers was causing me to retain more water than normal. I only had 3.5 hours before I had to leave to make the 3 hour drive to Des Moines, so I followed the protocol of alternating 20 minutes in very hot baths with 5 minute breaks until I had to leave. At that point at just before 3 p.m., I was already feeling a bit woozy with a headache and I still weighed over 200 lbs. I then drove for 3 hours in the car while wearing an extra long sleeve t shirt and hoodie with the hood on and car heat on high for 20 minute intervals with 5 minute breaks. I arrived in Des Moines around 6:00 p.m. and was just under 198 lbs. Unfortunately, by that point I was very dehydrated and was having muscle cramping, a first for me. After weigh ins, I went out and drank a lot of water and gatorade and ate a huge meal and was back to 204 lbs by 9 p.m. I was exhausted from the dehydration process and continued to have muscle cramping until around 11 p.m., which caused me to sleep poorly.

The Ugly- My lifts

On Meet day, I got up and after breakfast I weighed 207 lbs but felt really tired. This meet was really small with small flights, so it meant that there wasn't really any down time. I consistently felt rushed from the platform to take off wraps to hear that I was fourth or fifth out from lifting again. There also wasn't even enough of a break between flights to get a full meal or relax.

Squats: I opened at 205 kilos (452 lbs), which should have been easy as I hit 520 in the gym just a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I got red lighted for depth on my 1st attempt, and I knew I was too high. I repeated the same weight on 2nd attempt and got 2 reds for depth. At this point I was really frustrated as the weight didn't feel that heavy and I thought I'd been deep enough on the 2nd attempt. I don't know if they were judging depth a bit more strictly because it would be a record, but I haven't had depth issues since my very first meet in 2011. I've never bombed out before and really didn't want to do so here after all the work at making weight. on 3rd attempt I kept weight the same and had a friend give me an audible when I hit depth. I did it very slowly as I really wanted to make sure the judges knew I did it and got it with 3 whites. This was about 50 lbs off of where I wanted to be and 50 lbs lighter than my last meet in April, although it was also a regular state Master's record.

Bench: I opened light at 135 kilos and got it, then did 145 kilos and got it and ended it by getting 3rd attempt at 155 kilos (342 lbs). All whites on each attempt although the 3rd was a bit slow and uneven. I might have had another 10 lbs in me, but maybe not. This was about 40 lbs off of my April bench, but around where I thought it would be after cutting.

Deadlift: I was pretty worn down by this point so I knew it probably was not going to go well. I have been doing semi-sumo but have had some training issues with my grip and stance over the last few months. I hit 210 kilo on my opener and then struggled to get 225 kilos (496 lbs)on 2nd attempt but did get it. I tried for 237.5 kilos on 3rd attempt but couldn't budge it as I was just worn out. A loss of about 50 lbs from April on deadlift.

My total of 1290 lbs here represents a big drop from my April 1429 total. A big part of that represent the weight cut, especially the last 10 lbs, and a big part was the depth issue on squats. I also had wanted to set new state Master's records on bench and total, but instead only did so on squat.

I'm going to take maybe a whole week off and then start some new programming, maybe some Hepburn inspired stuff. I know I need to get lots more deadlift and bench volume. I am going to move back to 100 kilos bodyweight too. This weight cut was just awful.