Don't let the coward in your head, control the badass in your heart

Alf Veedersane

What would you say is the highlight...?

COH

So... since testing at Christmas (and after a significant deload) I've been training away with non-specific goals and no real end point but playing around with a big reduction in training volume and frequency in comparison to the template I was running before.

At the moment the rough breakdown is

Day 1
Squat (3 singles + 2 back off sets)
Pause Squat (3 singles + 2 back off sets)
Bench (5x5)

Day 2
Bench (5x5)
Closer Grip (3x6)
Deadlift (3 singles + 1 back off set

Day 3
Light squat
Bench (3 singles + 2 down sets)
Board Press (3 singles + 2 down sets

Day 4
Bench (5x5)
Snatch Grip SLDL (5-10)
Rows

Generally throw in a couple of accessory/isolation movements after each of the 3 exercises above if have time/am bothered. The singles are never max effort... always a rep for a good few kgs to spare. Not wearing knee wraps but do plan on throwing them on for the craic soon enough. I also casually PR'd my deadlift yesterday after a 5x5@130 bench and 3x6@140 narrow grip bench.

Have been playing around with trying to get into a better start position for the pulls, leaving the belt relatively loose seems to be helping (1-2 notches out from where Id wear it for a heavy squat) ... maybe its working but yesterday went as follows

A) Bench (5x5)
Narrow Grip (3x6)
C) Deadlift
75kg (2x5)
115kg x5
115kg x5
175kg x1
195kg x1
*belt*
215kg x1

Now this moved pretty well... so the question in my head was should I take another 'heavy' warm up and go from there? Then I was thinking the number that feels right is only another plate each side and given how smooth things felt I said yeah just put the plates on, pull it and go home. So...

255kg x1 (PR)
235kg x3 downset after.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeVocnKFm-U6e8p_lRSCVYstmEeJTamx7kmd_A0/

Heaviest pull since 2013 and on the eleiko bar/extra gravity plates and all (my 250 last year was on a deadlift bar/gym plates). Anyway... nice and casual, no real struggle and technically a bit closer to where I want to be. Anyway... will finish the week off and deload again next week then see which way the wind is blowing from there.

COH

Been a while since I posted a meet report having not competed since July 2016!

Had a fairly disrupted prep.... had been firing on all cylinders since the turn of the year but six weeks ago I hurt my calf squatting a heavy double in knee wraps and as a result I didn't do any of the plannned heavy squatting or deadlifting the month into comp. So, instead of pulling out I said I'd take token lifts where necessary and just lift to blow the comp cobwebs off... and thinking that I'd be putting up a sh*t total I decided to cut to the <100kg category for the craic as I hadn't cut for a comp since 2012 :eek:

Last Sunday (after a fairly pint and takeaway heavy weekend) I was about 106kg....

Monday - Went zero carb, ramped my sodium intake up and drank 4 litres of water with a BCAA mix to flavour.
Tues - Water intake up to 6 litres
Weds - Water intake up to 8 litres
Thurs - Water intake constant but with no BCAA mix. Dropped all Sodium at this point. Started taking dandelion root extract also.
Fri - 2 litres of water and a jar of almond butter and a few scoops of whey isolate. Cut all intake at 6.30pm as I was due to weigh in at 2.30pm in Limerick the following day.
Sat - Woke up feeling depleted but still a bit over. Wanted to avoid the sauna at all costs so wrapped myself in black bags for the drive down and chewed on cinnamon powder to keep spitting.

Arrived at the venue knowing that it would be close - weighed in at 99.8kg... phew! Openers set at 240/150/230...

Had two liters of a mixture of coconut water, lucozade sport, creatine, scitec xtend and creatine monohydrate and sipped on that until the dizziness passed then started to carb up keeping it pretty simple.... fresh pineapple, heavily salted plain chicken sandwiches, bananas and more water. Next few meals were chicken & pasta that I brought with me and later that night I ordered a burger and chips to the hotel room. In previous yearsIdhave just eaten a load of takeaway and pizza etc but f*ck that... didn't want to feel like ****. Started urinating again about 10pm that night and all in all despite feeling wrecked from the low carb week etc. I fell asleep around 11.30pm feeling grand.

Then, despite keeping it pretty clean I woke up at 7am with the runs :eek: More dioralyte, bananas etc then went to breakfast and just had fresh fruit, lots of dry bread, a small bit of bacon and about a liitre of apple juice. From there up to lunch I continued to feel really lethargic and contemplated dropping my intended openers...

Got to the venue early after a small lunch of plain pasta and coconut water in case of any flight changes ... lifting to commence at 3.30pm. Having not really trained in ages I felt loose, REALLY loose.. which is not ideal but meant that I didn't really do any mobility work.

Squat warm ups went
60kg x5
100kg x5
140kg x2
160kg x1
*belt/sleeves*
180kg x1
200kg x1
*knee wrap and fingers crossed*
220kg x1 ... calf felt uncomfortable in the knee wraps but f*ck it!


Squat 1 - 240kg - Good lift. Nerves settled.
Squat 2 - 260kg - Good lift.
Squat 3 - 272.5kg - Good lift and an absolute grinder. The atmosphere was UNREAL... Everyone screaming (incl. the judges) to finish the lift. Was moving so slow I was worried that the spotters were going to jump in but fair play to everyone on the platform they let me fight it out.

Bench warm ups felt slow... a result of the last squat and also wrapping my own knees.

60kg x5
80kg x4
100kg x3
120kg x2
140kg x1... lost balance at lockout somehow A bit shakey on confidence for the opener

Bench 1 - 150kg - Good lift. Easy
Bench 2 - 160kg - No lift :mad: Felt easy, but a small double movement on the press command.
Bench 3 - The lads said to go for 170kg based on the bar speed but decided to take the comp PR and stick with 160kg as I'd have been raging not to get that monkey off my back. 160kg - Good lift, handy enough.

Finished bench a bit annoyed as after the squat I had hoped to be taking a second deadlift for a 700 total but left a bit to do so knew it would have to be a third. (I generally feel like I've only got one good heavy pull in me n any given day)

Deadlift warm ups were a total non event. I try not to get too outwardly psyched up for deads

70kg x5
110kg x4
150kg x2
175kg x1
*belt*
200kg x1


Deadlift 1 - 230kg - Good lift. Easy
Deadlift 2 - 250kg - Good lift - moved really well!
Deadlift 3 - 267.5kg - No lift. Died at the knee... would have been an all time comp PR too but not to be.




Anyway ened up winning the AIPO (tested) mens open <100kg class. Went down the last pulls. If I had got mine and if he had got hit he would have beaten me by 5kg... however we both missed and ended up beating him by 7.5kg. Despite missing the bench and dead attempts I wanted for the total I REALLY wanted I still had an all time total PR of 682.5kg @99.8kg, my previous best being 675kg @105kg and my previous best at <100kg being 665kg @99kg many many moons ago. The squat was +2.5kg on my last comp, then bench was +7.5kg and the dead was +7.5kg so progress in all fronts!

The result was a total surprise given the disrupted run up and last minute decision to cut .... but 2 days later I feel great and can't ask for more then that.

Now firmly back in the running for numbers that I haven't believed possible for years. F*ck injuries, f*ck getting diarrhea , f*ck quitting, f*ck motorbike accidents, and f*ck the doubt that creeps in. Honestly next time I compete I'll be looking not for the 700 total but to blast right through that barrier to something really big, and for once I'm absolutely CERTAIN that I have it in me.

However, that's unlikely to be until next year.


So, until then....


See you on the daily achievement thread (and instagram) :pac:

EDIT - Added bench and deadlift videos

160kg bench - https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg0vFOil09dLPImuZgUQ5IIW-C3hc5D5n0B7Oo0/

250kg deadlift ... https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg0uoEilzSdf-004rcpWevmLTQA2q6WCJDc57k0/

Mr. CooL ICE

Delighted to hear it. You've been dealt an unfair share of unlucky blows in the injury department, yet you keep on going.