Strato's Pursuit of Strength

[Strato]

I ended up taking all of last week off (except for some sled dragging on Tuesday) to give my elbows some rest before the meet. Last saturday I just warmed up to 225 on squats and my elbows were destroyed. I could not grasp or lift anything. Figured all I could do was rest.

So yesterday I competed in the Battle on the Border USAPL powerlifting meet in Charlotte, NC. This was my first meet and was the absolute most fun time I have ever had lifting weights. A few other guys from Lynchburg, VA who I have also gotten into Rippetoe's training methods also came down to compete as well. There were 118 lifters in total. I saw and met a few of the 70sbig.com crew there and was happy to meet and chat a bit with August West from this board and his wife and daughter.

I weighed in at 264.4 lbs and competed in the Men's Open Raw 275 lb class. I ended up going 8 for 9 and beat my gym PR's in every lift. Here is a breakdown of how my attempts went:

Squat: 150 kg (331 lbs) / 162.5 kg (358 lbs) / 175 kg (386 lbs)

Bench: 105 kg (231 lbs) / 112.5 kg (248 lbs) / 125 kg (264 lbs) **MISS**

Deadlift: 210 kg (463 lbs) / 230 kg (507 lbs) / 240 kg (529 lbs)

TOTAL: 527.5 kg (1163 lbs)

This total was enough to earn me a silver medal in the Men's Open Raw 275 class. I think there were only 4 or 5 lifters in the class (and one of them would have easily beaten me for 2nd but missed all 3 of his deadlift attempts and ended up not totalling), but it was still pretty cool to be able to walk away with a medal for my first meet.

As recommended by people on this board, I chose all of my openers to be very light. I basically treated them as my final warmup. For squats I warmed up to a single with 315 lbs in the warmup room and then smoked 331 lbs. I chose my next attempt to be slightly higher than my gym PR and it was heavy but no problems. I had in mind to do something around 375 lbs for my final attempt, but my lifting buddy knew I had 385 in me (whether or not he actually knew, I'm not sure, but what he did know was that I needed a weight that I was scared of to really get me fired up). So I pumped myself up and nailed it. Very happy with this lift and think I have 400 in me soon.

Not much to say about the bench, except that the squats put so much confidence in me that I tried to make too big of a jump on my third attempt. The paused bench really zaps my strength since I make good use of the rebound out of the bottom during training. I know I can do a set of 5 with 245 lbs, but I'm only good for maybe 255-260 lbs for a paused single. 248 lbs was a PR nonetheless.

I was starting to feel a bit tired by the time deadlifts rolled around. My last warmup was 405 lbs in the warmup room. I pulled 463 easily for my opener. Then went for the PR on my second attempt with 507 lbs. This felt extremely heavy, but 3 whites came up. The second attempt ripped a large chunk of skin off my hand. There was a good bit of blood and it was stinging pretty badly. A more experienced lifter just told me to "chalk the hell out of it." So that's what I did and chose 529 for my last attempt and got 3 whites again.

We went to a Brazilian Steakhouse afterwards and ate a few pounds of beef. I was pretty exhausted at that point, so I just crashed. Today it seems like every single muscle is sore. I'll probably take it real easy this week.

I've got videos of most attempts and may try to post next week.

[August West]

That was a fun meet, it was good seeing you there. Looks like you pulled big on deads, nice work! I missed the awards (long day for the baby) but glad to hear it finished up well for you. I hear you on the day-after aches, it's like all the stuff you were too psyched up to notice during the lifts starts to come back at you. Feels like it might be a few days before that goes away...

[Strato]

Due to laziness, I haven't updated my log since the meet a little over a month ago. But I haven't missed a workout.

Quick update: reset all of my lifts 10% after the meet and am now back in PR territory on most everything. Elbow still hurts, but I'm getting better at managing the pain.

Workout on 4/24/2010
Squat: 345x5x3
Press: 150x5x3
Deads: 435x5x1

Awesome day. Hit PR's on everything and was able to tighten my lifting belt a notch. I hope this means I'm shedding a little fat. I've been eating tons of protein, a decent amount of fat, and have cut out most carbs except on lifting days.

[August West]

Sounds like you've got a productive combination going on the nutrition end - I did a similar approach and also dropped a notch on the belt, so I think there's something to it.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for that VA state meet, that would a be a lot of fun. Keep up the good work, man.

[Strato]

4/27/10
Squat: 350x5x3
Bench: 242.5x5x3
Power Clean: 185x5x3

Squat sets were the hardest yet. In fact I missed the first rep of the first work set. Got all psyched up and then just lost my balance forward and had to let the safety pins catch it. First time I have ever missed a squat rep. I rested a few minutes and tried not to let it mess with my confidence and managed to get all 3 sets of 5 with extreme difficulty.

My elbows are really sore today. And now that I've hit somewhat of a milestone with the 350 squat, I think I'm going to switch to high bar for a while and see if my elbows can heal up. The tendinitis, or whatever it is, has gotten so bad that it's affecting things outside of the gym pretty badly. I can't swing a softball bat or throw a ball or spontaneously pick up something heavy without them aching pretty badly.