Waiting....

The meet is 8 days away now. I am starting to feel a little better and recovered a little bit now thankfully. I am and will be doing some foam rolling and stretching a little every day to help facilitate recovery. I am drinking more water and loading up on my branch chain aminos (afterglow) and that normally makes me feel much better. My weight is hanging right around 321-323 # right now. I will probably try and weigh right around the same at the meet since my equipment won't hold much more. As always everything is subject to change but right now here are my planned openers:
Squat: 1005
Bench: 765-775
Dead: 675

Still have to try and stretch my shirt out a little more so I can actually touch at the meet, but I figure a couple of nights stretching will give me enough room to touch. we shall see.

Last bench night of the cycle

Raw bench work:
135 X 2 sets of 10
225 X 2 sets of 6
315 X 2 off 2 foam boards
365 X 2 off 2 board
405 X 2 sets of 2 off 2 board
455 X 2 sets of 2 of 2 board
495 X 2 off a 2 board. Nice and fast
495 X 1 off 1 board. Pretty good speed. Pretty happy with how the weights felt tonight.
Floor Press: 225 X 10, 12, 15 reps
DB Side Raise: 30,35, 40 # all for 1 set of 10 each weight.
External Rotator work: 2 sets of 15 each arm.
Arm Bars: 2 sets of 1 minute holds each arm with 16 Kg Kettlebell.
Done for the night there. I did some more biceps, pec, and shoulder stretching, but nothing monumental.
My wife, dog, and I went to the mountains for the week end with her family. Overall it was a great time and fun. I did have a minor melt down when I found out that the $ we paid for the house we rented gave us a pull out couch to sleep on......It was a blur of anger and curse words. It all worked out sort of, and we had a good week end until There was an unexpected 4 mile hike up and down a freak'en mountain!

Squats and Pulls in one night

Wednesday was our last suited squat day. I had an opener planned, but decided to back off a little and just do a set of doubles.
Bar X 8
255 X 2 sets of 6
345 X 1
455 X 1
Briefs on
655 X 1
Suit on straps up with light knee wrap
855 X 2

Deads: The plan was to do an opener and maybe one or 2 more singles just below my opener
405 X 1 I managed to get into my briefs that I wore last meet when i weighed 310. Strange that now i can't get down to the bar in them at 325.....
Wardrobe change: Karl offered the services of his Metal King Deadlifter that is WAY to big for him to ever wear, so I gave it a try.
545 X 1
675 X 1 It went pretty decent. It didn't feel all that speedy, but looked solid on video. The King Deadlift suit is not what I am used to so I wanted to try on a pair of titan briefs the next size up from the ones I outgrew.
635 X 1 in the different briefs. It felt ugly and looked the part too. Still too tight to get down to the bar right. Going with the King Deadlifter at the meet! Opener is planned at 675 and not likely to change. This is the meet to be aggressive.

-Back is wrecked, time for a week-end recoup

Another productive night benching

The title is a little misleading, but every night is a learning experience so...I guess it was productive.
I used my 58 Phenom tonight instead of the 56 I have been using....lessen learned. I got zero pop from the 58. I will save you the warm ups: Everything shirted.
635 X 1 off 3 board
700 X 2 off a 2 board (felt like a raw press....a slingshot at best)
725 X 2 misses off a 1 board. For once touching was not a problem. Both attempts touched easily, but i had no Drive off the board and did not lock either out. A little frustrating that there is that much difference in one shirt size, but I guess that is what I get for trying to be a girl and use a shirt that is too big for me. I put my 56 on after the two misses.
56 phenom I touched a two board with 725 (never touched a two board that light before), and the press felt great. I stretched the 56 with kettlebells in the arms overnight this past Saturday, so I will continue to do this a few more time until meet day, and it should be good to go.

Side DB Raise: 30,40,45 lbs all for sets of 10

External Rotator Work: 3 sets of 15 each shoulder.

Now to the learning part of the night. After taking (4) 700 lb benches that all felt like 800+ I was a little irritated. So as soon as I got ready in my 56 and got the hand off I just went with it. I brought it down much faster than i normally do and it touched much easier even though I didn't tuck my arms enough. I guess its like getting out of a moving car. Commit to it...then, Tuck and roll with that shit!

Speed Pull'en

Speed deads: 5 sets of 3 with 455. I backed off the weight a little this week to work on good form and hip extension.
Stiff Leg deads: 315 X 5 standing on a bumper plate. This set felt pretty crappy and jacked my already jacked back up a little so I forwent any other sets with that.
Glute Hams: 4 sets of 8
Standing band crunch: 4 sets o 15
Benblique raise: 3 sets of 12
Standing crunch with Spud,Inc. Long Ab strap: 3 sets of 12

My wife and I went to Chauncey and Leah's baby shower Saturday. Best baby shower I could hope for. Plenty of beer, fried chicken, BBQ, and cake!

Squat openers again

Squat with straight bar:
145 X 2 sets of 8
255 X 2 sets of 4
335 X 1
455 X 1
Briefs on from here on
655 X 1
Suit on from here on
855 X 1 straps up
1005 X 2 singles. Both were decent, but not great. I needed a little more depth and still have to dial my form in to maximize my squat potential for the meet.
Rack Pulls right below the knee:
315 X 3
405 X 3
495 X 3
585 X 3
675 X 3 (straps)
675 X 2 no straps. I have been working on dragging the bar up my leg and popping the hips hard at the end, and it has kinda beat up my top hand a bit banging against my leg, so my grip isn't it's strongest right now.
Reverse hypers: 2 sets of 15 with 400#
I am writing this on Thursday and feel absolutely smashed. Must have done some good last night then.

Me not touching again...

Bench in shirt. I will save you the warm ups.
Shirt on: 635 X 1 off 4 board
675 X 1 off 2 board
765 X 1 off of an air 1.5 board
815 X just hanging out in the bottom trying to get it to a half board, then said take it....kinda like last week.
Floor Press:
315 X 8
365 X 2 sets of 5 or 6
Rolling triceps ext:
45,55,65 all for 10 reps each
I can't remember if there was anything else or not. If there was, you are not missing much (obviously since I can't remember).

I have been using a 56 Phenom for the cycle, but I will give my 58 a go next week to see if I can get something to touch and still have the drive I want. If not, we will wing it with the 56 at the meet.

Finally speed pulls from the floor

Warm up: 2 sets of 10 reverse hyper with 400 #
After what seemed like forever we get to go back to normal speed deads from the floor:
495 X 5 sets of 3 Most sets were pretty clean and fast (2/3 reps at least).
Glute ham raised 8-10": 4 sets of 6-8 reps each set. Never have been good at these, but getting better.
Hanging high leg raises: 3 set of 6
Gray band standing crunch: 4 sets of 12-15
Ben(o)blique raise: 75 X 10, 85 X 10, 85 X 10
Reverse hyper: 500 # for 2 sets of 15

I will have 1 more speed pull day, and then pull openers on squat night in a week and a half. All downhill after that...

Bench night in shirt

The plan was to touch an opener to a 1 board or half board, then go up to a heavy reverse band...not the case tonight.
145 X 3 sets of 8
235 X 2 sets of 5
325 X 2 sets of 1
415 X 1 off 2 board
put my shirt on
645 X 1 off 4 board
735 X 1 off 2 board
795 X dump off 1 board
795 X 1 airboard press (would have been a 1.5 board)
825 X miss off 1 board. It still didn't quite touch, but held it down to help stretch the shirt a little. After looking at the video, I noticed I was not tucking my arms as much as I normally do, so that may be one of the causes the shirt was locking up.
Flat DB Press: 70, 85, 95 all for 10 reps.
monster mini band pull aparts: 3 sets of 20

I was pretty smashed from benching so I called it there. Not a great night by any means....but always something to be learned from those nights.

Sped pulls

Reverse Hyper Warm up: 2 sets of 15 with 400 #
Sped Pulls off of 3" of mats:
405 X 2 sets of 3 most pretty decent speed and pop
455 X 2 or 3 sets of 3 1 or 2 reps were decent per set
405 X 3 Better than last week, but still not the pop and synchronicity I would like.
Glute Hams: 2 sets of 8 body weight
2 sets of 6-8 with a 25 # plate.
Floor barbell somewhat sit ups (picking shoulders up 4-5" off floor):
95 # X 5 sets of 10
Oblique crunch with barbell with 95 #: 4 sets of 10 per side.
Reverse Hyper: 500 # X 2 sets of 15
Stretched my hamstrings and used the stick on them and my hip flexers. The only downside to deficit pulls (other than they are hard and suck) is they make my hip flexers a little angry (but then again it may just be the emphasis on overextending the lockout that cranks them up).

I should write my logs after a few Rum and cokes more often....I remember more and ramble even even more.

* and yes I know I mis spelled speed pulls, but they were not particularly fast so they are only deserving of being called sped pulls.