Sarah's Wreck-xas Method Log

[SarahBeth]

Thanks Got2squat! I'm trying [emoji12].
Thanks Lakshmi! Gotta have goals, right?
This week I've been playing catch-up again because of the long weekend trip. Flying with a toddler is the 3rd level of Hell, btw. [emoji64][emoji83][emoji107] I had to combine Monday's workout into Tuesday, then turn around and bench again today. Had some cramps in my left rhomboid during cgbp which lowered my increase, probably from being under-recovered. Oh wells.
Tuesday:
SSB squats: 45x5 (45# bar), 70x5x2, 100x5, 140x5x3
Bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 105x2, 115x2, 120(1+1 ass.), 118x2 new 2RM, 120x1 with slingshot just to try it out
https://vimeo.com/126543328
Rack-pull deadlift: 135x3, 225x3, 285x3x3
Thursday:
Close-grip bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 100x3, 107x3x5
Press: 45x5x2, 65x3, 75x2, 85x2, 83x3x4
Pull-ups: bwx2x5
Chest-supported bb rows: 75x10, 95x8x3

[SarahBeth]

Eek! My next meet is in 2 weeks and I'm already starting to get nervous! This week is singles for volume to practice form and commands.
Last Friday:
Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 165x2, 195x1, 205x2 new 2RM, 195x2x2
https://vimeo.com/126844545
Sumo DL: 95x5, 145x3, 185x3x3
Today (Monday):
Paused Bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 95x2, 105x2, 115x1, 120xf ack!!, 118x1x3, 117x1x2
DB Rows: 35x10x5
Dips: bw (5,4,3) rep PR

[SarahBeth]

Well today was a rollercoaster ride to Hell and back that I never want to ride again! I decided to work up to some heavy singles on squat and deadlift to get in some extra competition practice as my last heavy day before my meet. Squats went swimmingly at 200lbs, no problem there. Deadlift was going fine until I decided to jump to a new PR attempt at about 295lbs from 264. Fail. Then fails at 285 and 273, wouldn't even budge off the floor. What in the wide world of sports is going on?!?!? [emoji35][emoji33][emoji22] I come to find out that the bar I was using for deadlift was the stiff B&R squat bar THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW MY GYM HAD! Thanks a lot jerk gym owner for never telling me what equipment he had, after watching me fail multiple squat attempts at my last meet because I had only squatted with the whippy Rogue bars before! This is what I get for joining a Oly/Crossfit gym where they have zero training experience for competitive powerlifting. So I regained my composure, switched to the Rogue bar for deadlifts and banged out a couple of easy 273lbs pulls, whew!! Too bad I was totally exhausted from failing to try anything higher. And I also vowed to only use the B&R bar for squats from now on. Every day is a learning experience for me!
Squats: 45x5x2, 95x3, 135x3, 165x2, 185x1, 200x1x3
DL in kgs: (with B&R bar) 60x3, 90x2, 120x1, 134xf, 130xf, 124xf, (with Rogue bar) 124x1x2

[SarahBeth]

I ended up having a great day yesterday full of PRs! I planned this cycle so that I would end up with a lot of PRs at this time, and its working out swimmingly. I can only imagine my progress at the end of next cycle, as long as I stay healthy!
Thursday:
Close-grip bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 95x2, 105x2, 110x3 3RM PR, 115(1+1), 113x3 3RM PR
PRhttps://vimeo.com/127267655
Press 2.0: 45x5x2, 55x5, 65x3, 75x2, 80x1, 85x3, 87x3 3RM PR https://vimeo.com/127267849

[SarahBeth]

It's meet week so I hit my openers on squat and bench. And I worked out on Saturday too.
Saturday:
Squat (all squats from now on are with the B&R bar): 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 155x3, 175x2, 195x2x3
Sumo DL: 95x5, 145x3, 175x2, 195x2x3
Monday:
Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 165x3, 185x2, 195x1, 205x1
Paused Bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 95x2, 105x2, 110x1, 115x1x3

[SarahBeth]

Yesterday I went through my warmups for tomorrow, then I weighed in this morning at 147. I guess it was sort of good that I got sick since I didn't have to cut at all this time. Except for the gains-killing on bench of course.
Thursday:
Squats: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x3, 155x3, 175x2, 195x1
Paused Bench: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 95x2, 110x1x2
-threw an extra single in there just to grease that groove a little.
Tommorow's attempts:
Squat: 203, 209, 215
Bench: 115, 121, 126
Deadlift: 275, 292, 297
I want to try that 303 attempt that I barely missed locking out at my last meet, but I have low confidence that I'll get it since I was sick again and lost bodyweight, so I'll go for the modest 5lbs PR and save the 300 club for next meet. My ultimate goal is to go 9/9, we'll see!!

[kessg]

How did the meet go? Hope there will be some videos!

[SarahBeth]

Thanks for asking Kessg! The meet went great, I went 8/9 with a 35lbs meet total PR at 640.
Attempts:
Squat: 203, 209, 215
Bench: 115, 121, 126 fail
Deadlift: 273, 292, 303
Here's the compilation video with my highest lifts:
https://vimeo.com/128164345
I probably could've done more on squat but my confidence was in the shitter after missing 209 twice at my last meet. There's always next time! I knew I was going to fail the 126 bench attempt, no surprise there. Deadlift felt great after 292 flew up, so I went for the 303 I missed at my last meet and ground it out! I was very happy with how the day went, and it lit a fire under my ass to keep training hard and get that total up to 670lbs for a Class 1 ranking in USPA.
On that note, I revised my 2-Week Texas Method program to be a 12-week meso-cycle. There will be another USPA meet in Dayton sometime in September, so I'll do a shorter cycle afterwards to prep for that. This time around, I added in paused squats, sumo variations and rep max testing, conventional rep max testing, more bench volume with added dumbbell presses and more variations, and specific mandatory accessories, which I treated as optional last meso-cycle. Everything starts out at higher rep ranges then tapers down to singles by the end. Now that I'm on a role with not getting sick for a couple of months in a row, I think my work capacity has increased and I can handle more volume overall. I should be able to shorten the rest times between sets too. I'm also getting more sleep due to a restful toddler so that always helps! I actually love designing my own program, and it's kind of fun! I figure that if I can learn particle physics and quantum mechanics, how hard is it to plan to get better at squat, bench and deadlift? I do definitely give credit to Rip and SS for pointing me in the right direction though! Here's my plan:

[kessg]

Congratulations on a great meet! 8 for 9 and new PRs are awesome.

[Viola]

Great meet results SarahBeth! I like your programming template too.