Tweak's First Meet

[Brodie Butland]

Congrats on the decision to compete. Deciding to compete is precisely what got my ass in gear...I'm looking for another one to enter up here before summer 2015 as well.

You're at some pretty good starting weights to kick ass in the spring for your first meet. Keep up the good work, and stay healthy (to the extent it's within your control, anyways...).

[tweakxc03]

Thanks! I like to compete and work towards big goals, so this is just what I needed.

If you are up for the drive, from the looks of it the Muscle Driver Open is a good one. Something like 150 people turned out this fall. I wasn't able to attend the whole event, just the meet and greet, but it was really cool to meet some of the country's top lifters. Not to mention they compete that weekend as well.

[tweakxc03]

10/30

Last workout of the week, out of town this weekend and returning Monday. BW is still hovering around 220. Need to get bigger.

SQ: 300 3x5 these felt good. starting to get harder of course. felt the early signs of bicep tendonitis i tend to get when the weight gets heavy... back to stretching my shoulders a lot and getting out of the habit of looking in the stupid mirror.
OP: 167.5 x3, x3, x1 MISS. time for Texas Method on press and bench. Stalled hard today.
DL: 355 1x5 - felt fine. nice and smooth, no problems. back still not 100% though.

[tweakxc03]

11/4/14

SQ: 305 3x5 - felt great
BP: 220 5x5 First day of TM
PC: 207.5 5x3

power cleans feeling kind of sketch.... mainly b/c it's fucking heavy. i keep watching videos of the guys at muscledriver... my form def doesn't look that smooth. I just want to power clean 315 overnight. is that too much to ask?

[tweakxc03]

11/6/14

Light day. Felt pretty good. Power snatches are just awkward and terrible. hook grip blows. I still just use a standard grip on power cleans. Need to gain some effing weight.

SQ: 245 3x5 no belt
Press: 135 3x5 no belt
Power Snatch: 130 4x2, 125 4x2 -> I missed on both reps of the fourth set at 130. I was attempting to do 8 doubles. My form here is just terrible. I'll be getting some instruction within the next week or so.
Chins: BW x9 x5 x3

[tweakxc03]

11/9/14

Squat- 310 3x5 felt fine. 5lbs away from where I injured the QL.
bench- 212.5 5x5... setting up for volume day to be on sundays. Backed the weight off more to get a better start point on TM. 220 was too much.
Deadlift: 375 1x5.. nice and smooth. Dropping down to 15 or 10lb jumps now.

[tweakxc03]

11/11/14
BW: 222... need to gain some weight and move on up to 230.
Squat: 250 3x5 light day, felt kind of tired actually, esp my lower back, probably from the deadlifts.... probably need to eat more.
Press: 135 3x5 light day
Power Cleans: 210 5x3 -> back at my all-time PR... Deadlifting again on 11/13 as I move towards a TM setup, moving my DL's to intensity day. I'll hit 385 for 5.

Going to start logging some nutrition stats in order to get better about hitting those numbers.... i'm trying to keep things simple, just hitting a target for protein, with goals being: 350g protein, 21g BCAAs (35g on training days), and 10g creatine. not worry about anything else.

[tweakxc03]

11/13/14
yesterday's nutrition stats: 346g protein, 5g creatine, 21g bcaa's (throughout the day)
workout:
SQ: 315 3x5 - these felt good but heavy, the low back was pretty tired today. I took about 8minutes between sets. left QL was a little aggravated, but this is the weight where I tweaked my back about 7 weeks ago.

I AM FUCKING BACK. I probably have about one more week of advanced novice progression on squats before I go straight in to TM with no deload. I have always gotten stuck or stall out at 330-335, so I will head into TM from 325ish to try and break through with a running start.

BP: 240 1x5 - heavy, but a 5 rep PR nonetheless. elbow was a little irritated... probably from the squats.
DL: 385 1x5 Felt awesome, even on the short rest. Getting closer to my PR of 415. One more jump of 10lbs to 395 next week and then I'll probably drop down to 5lbs a week to bust through the 415 PR barrier.

SO. PUMPED.

[tweakxc03]

11/16/14
went to an oly class today run by one of the lifters at muscle driver. we worked on both snatch and CJ. I went to the gym after to get in my squats and volume day presses. Learned a ton improved snatch form quite a bit. I kept the weight light at 95lbs for the snatch, while working up to 205lbs for 5-6 power clean and jerks. Part of the practice on the power cleans I spent working on dropping down into the front squat after catching in the power position. Definitely have more in the tank, but that 205lb jerk is a 30lb increase from the first time I tried jerking from the rack a few weeks ago.

Snatch - 95lbs for a crapton of singles.
CJ - 135 for 3 singles, 155 for 2 singles, 165 for 2 singles, 185 for 2 singles, 205 x6
Squats - 295 3x5 -> my back and legs were TOAST after the oly work, so I backed off 20lbs
Press - 145 5x5 -> felt good.

[tweakxc03]

11/18/14
Light day. felt pretty banged up this morning, so going light today was quite welcome.
SQ: 255 3x5
BP: 195 3x5
Chins: BWx10, x6, x3