As I mentioned before, I was pretty bagged up going into last years Nationals. Wasn't able to train for the two weeks leading up to the meet. Talk about a confidence killer.
You will be fine. 90% mental. get your head right. remove all doubt and negativity. It's you and the bar. Get mad, Get angry.
GO KILL IT!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear about it.
Good luck at the meet! Is it your first?
Yeah, if it's any consolation I guarantee that 90% of the lifters there will be worried about a bum knee, a sore shoulder or whatever...
Best of Luck!!
caught your post on IG......BIG, BIG CONGRAT'S. GREAT JOB
Thanks both!
Sunday 8 February
Cycle 2
Week 6, Day 3
Competition
As expected I didn't sleep massively well last night and I was very nervous this morning, but I didn't feel bad physically. I had a decent sized breakfast althouygh it was a bit of a challenge to get it down.
I got to the venue at about 8:15 (weight in 8:00 - 9:30) and weighed in straight away. Due to the massive amount of headroom in my weight class I didn't even bother taking off much clothing.
Offical Weigh-In: 95.3 kg
Well, that was even lighter than expected. I went over the very pretty Eleiko rack to set my squat height. Coincidentally it was already at a great setting for me, so I just took that. They weren't taking bench heights.
Lift-off wasn't until 10:00, and even then I was in the 3rd flight (1st: 83kg, 2nd: 93kg, 3rd: 105kg and 120kg), which resulted in quite a bit of sitting around time. I tried to chill out and listen to music. There wasn't really anywhere else to sit in the venue other than the hard plastic chairs of the main spectating area.
I went to warm up my squats when the 93 kg flight started their attempts. I had a bunch of BCAAs and 200 mg caffeine just beforehand. I took exactly the weights that Jordan had given me and they all went well. No problems with my knee, groin or any other injuries. A fellow lifter's coach was very helpful and gave me practice commands during the warmup. Short of asking the desk there was no way of figuring out the lifting order until just before my flight started. It turned out I was third out of about twelve.
Squat
Belt, SBD sleeves, wrist wraps
160 kg: 1 X 1 @ 7.5
170 kg: 1 X 1 @ 9
177.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 9.5 [PR]
First attempt: Referee had to remind me to take off my elbow sleeves. Oops. There was masses of adrenaline and the rep was nice and easy. No problem with the commands.
Second attempt: A bit harder, but still straightforward. My feet were getting crampy, so I ended up undoing my shoes afterwards. I subsequently discovered I'd created a rather intractable knot, which I had to remove with my teeth in a slightly panicked state before my third attempt.
Third attempt: A little bit of a grind in the middle, but still not quite maximal. I was really happy with this PR.
After being psyched up through the squat I managed to relax a bit before bench and eat a couple of bananas. Although my knee tweak hadn't bothered me at all during the squat phase, I suddenly became aware that it was aching and ended up putting my knee sleeves back on for bench and taking some ibuprofen. I took one extra warmup rep beyond Jordan's recommendation since I was ahead of time. Coach guy gave me handoffs and commands here as well as the handoffs for the actual attempts.
Bench
Belt, SBD sleeves, wrist wraps
112.5 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8
120 kg: 1 X 1 @ 9.5
125 kg: 0 X 1 @ X
First attempt: Routine. The press command came nice and quickly.
Second attempt: My back cramped up and made this harder than I'd hoped for. There was no way I was going to get 127.5 kg for a PR, and 122.5 kg seemed like a pointless jump, so I asked for 125 kg before going and foam rolling my back.
Third attempt: Got it off the chest, but failed shortly afterwards. Bar path was a bit off.
I managed to eat a sandwich and take some more caffeine before deadlifts. My mid-back didn't feel great and the super-nice coach rubbed some tiger balm on me. Warmups felt fine although I was quite tired despite the caffeine.
Deadlift
Belt
185 kg: 1 X 1 @ 8.5
150 kg: 1 X 1 @ 9.5
160 kg: 0 X 1 @ X
First attempt: Straightforward enough, but I didn't really feel fired up. I ended up listening to angry music and jiggling around before the next two attempts.
Second attempt: Hard, but I felt like I had a little bit more in me. Still not angry though. I ended up asking for 202.5 kg as I hoped that the prospect of PR would get me going.
Third attempt: Pulled hard, but it wasn't there and I failed at the knees.
Total
7/9
492.5 kg
306 Wilks
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d7RP52JhS4
Reflections
- A squat PR was a great way to start things off, but I think the full meet format stopped me from performing as well on the other two lifts as I would do when prioritizing them (e.g. my separate tests days from the first cycle).
- I only went 7/9, although I don't think I left too much on the table. I could have perhaps done a little more on the squat, but the second attempts on both the bench and deadlift were already close to today's limit.
- Having an experienced coach help me out was a great assistance.
- I barely noticed everyone else's lifts. There was some impressive stuff being done, but it didn't really grab my attention until my own lifting was finished. The final lift of the day was a 700 DL, which was cool to watch.
Last edited by bean counter; 02-28-2016 at 01:20 PM.