First Total in Metal

I had a busy week leading up to the Orlando meet. I was running around like crazy, trying to get some last minute stuff done for my business. Then, I was off to Orlando at 7:30 AM on Friday to make weigh-ins at 10 AM. I popped some water pills at 6 AM to take me down from 281 to 275 pounds, and by the time I arrived, I was 275 on-the-dot perfect.

Over the course of the last few days leading to the meet, I really thought hard about my failure in Kansas, and some of the things that were bugging me. So, I did some research and much to the sadness of my little heart, I realized a very simple thing that I had overlooked and underestimated last time – the recovery of my CNS. It was my fault and nobody else’s, but you can bet I didn’t follow the same protocol as last time. This time, I took taurine, pyrosine and amino acids two weeks prior to the meet to help with recovery.

Everything went fine as I made weight and then proceeded to pound food all day long. This included hashbrowns, eggs, Gatorade and my favorite- Carrabba’s fettuccini alfredo. I felt great all day and pumped to lift.

Meet Day
I was in the third flight, so I had some time to loosen up and settle in. Once it was time to warm-up, my body and mind were ready to go. However, it was pretty crazy warming-up with one monolift, but once the flight before us finished, we used the platform.

Squat Warm-ups:
135
225
350
550
*added 50 Ace Brief and 58 Ace Suit
750 – straps down
950 – full gear with knee wraps
*all of these felt great and I felt solid

Squat Results:
1st Attempt: 1070 – good, speed squat
2nd Attempt: 1110 – good, easy PR
3rd Attempt: 1150 – no lift, heavy as hell and I smiled as they picked me up from the floor

The second attempt was easy, but not quite perfect and the third attempt smashed me . It was another level of heaviness and pressure.  I had an idea of what 1110 felt like, but it’s amazing what 40 more pounds will feel like.
It seemed like they loaded the entire building onto the bar, because it felt like a few tons. Oh well, another time it will go and hopefully even more. Even after being picked up off the floor, I was fine except for some weird feeling in my ribs, but that’s expected after such pressure.

Bench Warm-ups:
135
225
335
425
*56 Ace on
565 – 3 Board
725 – 1 Board
*all felt nice and smooth
1st Attempt: 760 – no lift, I couldn’t groove it down right, so I had them take it. No worries.
2nd Attempt: 785 good – not bad, it matched my PR
3rd Attempt: pass – I didn’t feel like benching anymore, and since the last squat crushed me, I wanted to save some gas in the tank.

1 hour later…
Deadlift Warm-ups:
315
515
655
*these all felt good, but it had been a long day, so I knew things could change. I kept with the plan.
1st Attempt: 750 – easy
2nd Attempt: 805 – missed at the top

*as I was trying to lock-out some ribs popped out of whack and I tried to fight it, but I should’ve let it go.
3^rd Attempt: no matter how bad I wanted 2700 – it wasn’t happening because I couldn’t even bend over to reach toward my shoes.

This was very disappointing. It came up so fast that it pitched me a little out of groove. As soon as it did a “POP!” occurred in my rib/oblique area. Before I realized what had happened, I tried to correct it and, “POP! POP!”  so I had to drop it.

I ended up going 1,110, 785 and 750, for a 2,645-pound total. It’s 15 pounds off my best total ever, and my first total in Metal. No complaints there. Because of how my opener went, I’m not second-guessing myself about going for a PR deadlift. If the opener would’ve felt bad, then I would’ve went to a more conservative second attempt. If I would’ve gotten it, I would’ve totaled 2,700. Oh well, I wasn’t going for a win, I was going for PRs. Stuff happens. I should’ve benched and squatted better, then my opener would’ve put me over 2700!

I’m going to take some time off, get this area fixed/healed and be back at it for the Pro-Am this summer. I’ll provide updates on this in my log.

Brian Schwab ran an excellent meet as always. Much props to him! He’s a great guy, had a great venue and spotters.

Jo Jordan did an uber-fantastic job on the Mic and kept everybody updated and fired up. I just want to snuggle with Jo, whenever I see him. I wonder if he could actually be disliked?

Many great lifts hit that day. Too many to name, so I won’t go into that now. There were so many great people there to help and cheer us on.

Special thanks to my girlfriend, Ria, who was holding boards, spraying shirts, pulling belts, screaming, running for food etc, etc, for us and not thinking twice about it. What a fantastic person to have in my corner! I’m speechless – for once!

Thanks to Team Samsun Powerlifting for all of the help that day and congrats to all of them.

Thanks to: Dave Tate and EliteFTS for the gear and support, Mike Westerdal and Critical Bench for his help and support over the last two years. Thanks to Kiefer for all of his guidance and thanks to everyone that has been there for me in anyway – you know who you are, and know who your friends are when it counts. Thanks.

DEADLIFT 750

DEADLIFT 800

1110 SQUAT

BENCH 785

Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.

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