Originally Posted by
Vince Cifani
01/16/2016
USAPL "New Year Open" - Bath, OH
Had a great meet today. I went nine for nine for the first time and hit a deadlift PR. Three white lights on every single lift. My sister has video on her phone so I'll see if I can get it to post here later.
1. Squat:
185 kg / 407 lbs
207 kg / 457 lbs
227.5 kg / 501 lbs
My groove was near-perfect and I hit depth fine. The one spotter was giving me crap for a really easy opener ("Put some weight on that bar, Vince!") and second attempt ("I'm gonna make you do fifty reps with this!"). On my third attempt, the bar got just a little forward of mid-foot and I had to grind hard through the sticking point. The crowd was screaming at me when the bar slowed down, but I almost smiled to myself; I knew I had it.
2. Bench press:
120 kg / 264.5 lbs
127.5 kg / 281 lbs
132.5 kg / 292 lbs
Bench was uneventful. I had planned on unracking the bar myself, but the hand-off guy working the meet was superb so I let him help me. (Same guy who was taunting me on squat.) My bench setup was spot on and all reps were clean. 292 was a little slow but it was smooth and I never doubted making the lift.
3. Deadlift:
227.5 kg / 501.5 lbs
250 kg / 550 lbs
260 kg / 573 lbs
First time pulling sumo in a meet. I had been very concerned about the wound on my right hand opening again and even more concerned about dropping the bar. Thankfully, the hook grip held firm for all my attempts. I lost a little bit of skin at the base of my thumb on my right hand, but it didn't even bleed.
573 was pretty smooth, slowing down just a tad as the bar passed my knees. If I had had a little more faith in my grip I could have handled 10-15 pounds more, for sure.
Total:
620 kg / 1366 lbs
It felt fantastic to hit all my lifts, exactly as planned. I surpassed my performance in my last two meets and hit a PR that I had barely missed last time. I could have easily cut water weight to make 93kg but there was no point for this local meet. I ate a big breakfast beforehand and felt well-nourished and strong, weighing in as a very light 105 kg (can't remember exactly how light).
This is the first meet I've done where I didn't feel nervous or anxious in any way. I felt no pressure and I was able to have a great time, chatting with the other lifters and joking with the refs. There were a lot of brand new lifters competing and it was really exciting to watch them lift on the platform for the first time.
Overall, I couldn't ask for a better meet experience. The director did a great job keeping everything running on time. The spotters/loaders were also very good, as were the judges.
I'm probably going to take a week off training but am definitely looking forward to the next contest.
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