Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Mark E. Hurling]

Terrible night. Besides the back issues, I was struggling with heartburn that kept me awake and trying to put out the fire with antacids and alka seltzer. Then there was the deluge of rain, lightning, and thunder that resulted in flooding one of our rooms which had to be dealt with.

BUT: Conditioning is not to be neglected, even if approached with great caution and while coasting on fumes. Speed bag, SciFit, medicine ball toss, recumbent bike, interspersed with some more than usual walking to round things out.

The chiropractor said my L4 and L5 were waaay out. I'm feeling better now, even if still pretty creaky. This guy is the same one who treats Deanna Price, so he knows how to treat some top tier athletes and not some aging wanna-be like me.

[Meshuggah]

Man, I hope things get better for you and all goes well at World's. I saw your conversation yesterday,
I could have told you that he wont even take a leak without "Sully's" say so.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks for the good wishes Shug. I'm better still than yesterday. Here's hoping it stays that way.

I took a rest day to let the back get good and settled in from realignment. Squats tomorrow, which have always been my curse. Going at them VERY carefully.

Going forward, I'll definitely be looking at some form coaching and try to figger out how to cobble together a lifting program that works.

[Mark E. Hurling]

On final approach for the Worlds. It's all getting real now.

Squat: 45-5, 95-5, 135-3, 185-1, 225-1, 245-1, 270-1.

Music: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Running With the Devil, Heavy Metal, Immigrant Song, Highway to Hell, Mars the Bringer of War.

I wore my newly delivered Lets Go Brandon ball cap and to my surprise, the young guy working the Rec Center desk said he liked my cap. Didn't expect that. His female co-worker steadfastly refused to look up during our exchange.

The squats were essentially a dress rehearsal for my attempts. I went back to the narrow rack that allows me a collar to collar grip on the bar. It made all the difference. The wider grip had the bar settled in just where I like it on my traps and everything felt solid. All reps were to depth. The 242 will be my first attempt, and 270 my second. I may try for heavier depending on how the 2nd attempt goes. I have no illusions about my squat, it sucks. But 270 will be a national record and I can live with that.

Squat
S: 110/242
S/N: 122.5/269
S/N: 137.5/286

Bench Press
S/N: 85/187
S/N/W: 102.5/225
S/N/W: 105/231


Deadlift
S/N/W: 152.5/335.5.
S/N/W: 160/352
S/N/W: 167.5/369

S: State record
N: National record
W: World record

Hoping the deadlifts will go this well in a few days.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Ball Cap.jpg

Working on more control techniques tonight. Lots of work on finger and wrist bars that hurt A LOT! Also some ground control techniques that have to be taught and executed wisely and carefully to avoid either excessive damage to the person being restrained or the guy doing the restraint getting clocked by friends of the guy on the ground. I made sure I was working slowly and carefully so as to not injure Ken and not get injured myself. Not this close to the main event.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Deadlift: 115-3, 185-3, 255-1, 305-1, 335-1.

Music: Bohemian Rhapsody, Thunderer March, Fire Down Below, Her Strut, Bad to the Bone, British Grenadiers, Folsom Prison Blues, Urgent.

The last lifting before the meet. Once again, a dress rehearsal with 335 being my opening attempt and a World record. It was not challenging at all, as it should have been. I debated about lifting today or tomorrow, a kind of juggling of recovery between the squats on Wednesday and still having a little fatigue in the lumbars or waiting another day or so and having not enough recovery for next Sunday. So today. Git 'er done and quit mulling it all over.

[BrooklynJerry]

Good luck at the contest!

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks Jerry!

[Mark E. Hurling]

I can't sit still easily. No lifting, but the creeping willies (not Halloween related) had me into the Rec Center to do SOMETHING.

Which consisted of speed bag, cable rotations, box jumps, SciFit, kettlebell swings, crunches, and crunches.

I've been thinking over my attempt selections carefully as well as how I train for meets. I've reviewed my past 3rd attempts and have discovered that I haven't gotten over 370 in the deadlift since I was at Nationals in 2016. Even though I managed a 385 deadlift in the gym early this year, I haven't gotten close to it since then. Same with the squat. Yet I persisted in using those weights as the basis for my 1RM and the 90% of that as my training weight. I managed 300 one time months ago and never again.

This probably explains some of my back problems and the overtrained draggy sensations I've had.

One thing at a time. Hit this meet, hit my record attempts, and move forward from there.

[Mark E. Hurling]

More keeping on the move to ward off the willies this morning. I started off with working up a single with 225 in the bench press, despite declaring this a rest period before the meet. I've been haunted by the specter of those two missed bench presses in Indiana last December and just had to prove to myself I had this. Locked it out on the tempo of having followed all three commands without too much strain. I finished out with some elliptical and rower.

Then off to the chiropractor to get just some minor tightness in the usual suspect L4-L5 lumbars.