Aborting Mission (For Now)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
That is great news!!! That's still quite a bit closer than your brother's place, so hopefully you can get there a bit more frequently while you prep for your meet.
As I mentioned before when we talked about this, I do not envy you your work on getting the needed calories in during the short window while also getting sufficient sleep. But who knows, this experiment may surprise you in the end with meet totals. Good luck!
Thanks a bunch Bill! Unfortunately, it looks like I’m going to have to pull out of this meet. I wouldn’t say that I love the challenge of these circumstances, but I don’t like to make excuses or shrink away from them. However, there’s a difference between making excuses and recognizing valid reasons not to do something. And all signs in the last week and a half are pointing to me skipping this meet.
My goals were to 1) break the Maryland state squat record for Masters 1b at 93 kg, and 2) improve on my total from the meet in November. I would only need to squat 230 kg (507 lbs) for the record. But when I went to Gold’s last Sunday after a decent Planet Fitness session last Wednesday, I struggled with 425 after smashing 455 on my first visit there a week prior. Come to find out, I’ve lost even more weight and I’ve seen my lowest body weight in years looking back at me from the scale’s display (200.4 lbs). My sleep and eating are off since Ramadan began, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to do what I need to in order to perform the way I want to at the meet. If the meet was a month after Ramadan ended, then probably. But not 10 days.
So, looking ahead...
The last day of fasting this year will be May 12. My goals through that date are to 1) keep my body weight over 200 lbs, and 2) train at least once per week. Beyond that, my first order of business is to GET SWOLE. I’m figuring out my post-Ramadan training and diet now. In terms of competing, I’m looking at the same meet I did last year, scheduled once again for November.
45th Birthday - The Grind Continues
Sun. 5/9/21
My 45th birthday! I’m grateful that God has blessed me to see this milestone, and to be in the physical, mental, financial, emotional, spiritual places I am right now. I’m not blind to all the areas I need/want to improve, but I’m well aware of how much worse things could be.
I had an errand to run, returning an item to Home Depot. The Planet Fitness is in the same shopping center, so I ran in to do some quick ab work. It took about 10-15 minutes.
Cybex Sit-Up Machine - not the Hammer Ab Crunch I normally use. Lower body is stationary on this.
30/20
50/20
70/20
90/20
Hanging Leg Raises - elbows propped on a dip station
BW/10 x 5 sets
Tue. 5/11/21 - Lower #3
Biceps feel back to normal, so I went ahead and did them with lower body again.
Wall Curls - used some of the fixed weight barbells they have, with my back against a wall (strict)
20/15
30/10
40/10
straight set: 50/16 at 9.5 RPE
Wall Reverse Curls - done with a pronated grip to stress the forearms
20/10
straight set: 30/11 at 9.5 RPE
Biceps stretch for 45 seconds
Calf Press (on Cybex Leg Press)
70/10 - flex at the top w/brief hold, then 5-count on the negative through bottom stretch
130/15
straight set1: 175/10 - flex at top w/brief hold, then 5 second (timed) negative through bottom
straight set 2: 205/17 - nonstop, full ROM, deliberate reps
loaded stretch: 205/60 seconds at the bottom of the ROM
Seated Leg Curl - If I don’t use prone leg curl, it means I’m at my normal PF
40/15
85/10
rest-pause: 115/18 + 13 at 10 RPE (could not do a full rep anymore)
Smith Machine High Bar Squat - weights listed are just the plates. Bar is represented by “+”.
bar/12
90+/8
180+/8
230+/6 - added mouth guard
280+/6 - added belt
cluster-set: 320+/2 + 2, then immediately walked to leg extension machine
Leg Extension
rest-pause dropset: 155/11 + 135/10 - both at 10 RPE
Done in one hour.
Facebook threw an ad for this on my feed. I’m seriously thinking about doing it.
2021 USSF Powerlifting Summer Challenge | US Strengthlifting Federation