Back Story:
Last year i entered this event as my first Full Powerlifting Meet, having done 1 deadlift only event a few months before. I ended up doing a fair amount of training with singles leading into the meet, and had a very aggressive plan for my Squat. I opened with a Squat of 485lbs. In Warm-up i did a single with 455lbs and it felt really heavy.... i went out to the platform and failed, and followed it up with 2 more failed attempts... I packed my stuff and headed home- dumbfounded... i ended up driving straight to my gym to try to answer some questions.. I tested out the only theory that i could think of, and i began weighing the 45lb plates i had been training with. Consistently the plates came in at 41-42lbs... at least i had an answer, i had been working with bar loads that were 20-25lbs lighter than i thought... 2 lessons learned: don't trust what the plates say and don't open a meet with too big a weight.
This Year:
So clearly i had something to prove. I am not sure anyone really noticed what had gone down in 2012- but i felt like an idiot, and i wanted to come back and do well... so i signed up for the 198lb class in the M1(masters 40-49yrs).
The Training:
i didn't really change anything up in training from my regular weight program for cycling. I was eating tons and trying to pack on mass and build strength before we slim down for Kilo Season... The packing on mass is easy for me. We changed up my normal 3X5 program about a month out from the meet and switched to the "Texas Method" for Squats and my weakest lift, the Bench Press... training was hard, but i was progressing well and hit PR's on 5-rep sets in all three lifts. I was feeling good going into my meet...
The Cut:
Like i said- putting on mass is easy for me! so 7 days out from the meet it was not a big surprise that i weighed in at 201lbs. I was a little stressed to say the least. I did not want to compete with the 220lb guys! i began a "Water Manipulation Cut", that started with 4 days of consuming 1.5gal of water per day.. this was pretty miserable. I tend to pass water pretty quickly, and the added volume resulted in me being in the restroom a ton. I had to limit my car time to make sure i didn't end up in any uncomfortable situations..
| 14hrs before weigh-in at 194.5 |
The Meet:
The alarm went off at 5:15am. I was quickly on the scale- and showing 195lbs, but remember i have no reason to believe my scale is accurate. I got dressed and hopped in the car, headed to Joe Camachos house. Joe got in the car at 5:45 with a quad espresso for me, and some cooked bacon for after weigh in.. The espresso was the only thing i consumed. We arrived at the Cross Fit Gym at 7am and quickly signed in. Weigh in was at 7:30, so i got my rack heights entered into my card for Squat and Bench Press and waited.
At 7:30am i stripped down naked in a cramped bathroom with the meet director and hopped on the scale. 97.2 kilos or a little over a pound under... the director joked about how close i was..
I headed back to the gym and started drinking a quart of pedialite and eating bacon (replace salt), i also had hard boiled eggs and dates and a few bananas..
I returned to the bathroom around 9:30am, to change, and the scale showed me at 201lbs... mission accomplished.
A fellow 198lb'er named Daniel was stressing about making weight. This was his first meet not competing with the 220's and he was a pound over. He had to drive to a near by 24hr fitness and use their sauna to just make the cut... Daniel is a 20 year vet of Powerlifting, and he quickly began coaching me on warm-up sets and conserving energy before our lifts..
The Squat:
I was feeling good about my Squat, and I had set my opening weight at 452lbs, which was my last 5-rep set. 452lbs also happened to be more than 30lbs over the current State Record for men 40-44. I started warming up, and Daniel was keeping me posted on how long we had. I noticed I had a slight weird feeling in the tops of my thighs. Maybe a symptom of dehydrating myself- not sure. I headed out to the platform for my opening squat, with a lot of nerves. I executed what felt like a fairly easy lift and was happy to get credit from the judges, although it was only 2 white lights, so a judge felt it was high. But it was low enough to pass- and that made it officially a state record.
On my second squat, at 474lbs- things didn't go so great. I hit the bottom, felt a little off, and couldn't get out of the hole.
3rd attempt I felt like I sort of busted out of the fog, I dug a little deeper and pulled off the squat- but quickly heard the squat was not good. The judges called me high.
The Bench
I suck at the bench! My short legs and long arms, that make me a great dead lifter, conspire against me on the bench.. Too much bar travel, weird mechanics... I have never been good at it.
That said, I had improved my bench a lot. I decided to open at my last 5-rep set, 240lbs. That weight went off well, as did my second lift of 252lbs. I was very pleased. My 3rd attempt was at 264lbs. It was heavy, and I felt myself start to ratchet, or push unevenly. I fought it and gave it all I had, I completed the lift, but was not surprised the judges did not pass the lift.
The Dead Lift
I am a strong Dead Lifter. Long arms, short legs, the mechanics work, and its a slow lift and I'm good at grinding it out. The questions of depth in the squat are not an issue.. Typically if I can break the bar off the floor- I will successfully complete the lift.
I opened with 495lbs, which is just over my last 5-rep. It was about the easiest lift of the day. Fast and painless. Also that 495lbs pushed me into the State Record for Powerlifting Combined Total... The second dead lift was a little harder, at 533lbs. It still went off easy, and made me the State Champion in that discipline. So easy I almost went for a new PR, of 565, but decided to attempt my previous PR of 551lbs. I am very glad I did, because it ended up being everything I had to complete the lift.
The lift was a grinder! The bar broke from the floor ok, then I just dragged it slowly up my legs. At some point my stomach was burning in pain from pushing against my weight belt, but I pushed on, locked out my knees and leaned back to show I was fully extended.
The lift was good, and I had exceeded the previous State Record by over 20lbs, I had also raised the PowerLifting Total record by over 60lbs
Immediately after the lift I was in extreme pain. Joe ran back to check on me, he could tell I was hurt after the lift... I was hurt! But it passed, and a few minutes later I was ok.
Results
My coach for the day Daniel, was having a good day as well in his new weight class. He is 46yrs old, so we were not competing for records, but we were competing for the win in the State Championship in the M1 Masters division... In the end Daniels total was slightly higher. I had out Squatted him, he had out benched me and we finished with the same deadlift.
My Total of 1255lbs would have scored me the win in the typically more competitive "198lb Open" category- but today the real battle ended up being between two old guys!
Huge Thanks to JoeCamacho- Camera Man, Go-Fer, Cheerleader, and good friend!
Best lifts:
Squat: 452lb
Bench: 252lb
Dead: 551lb
Total: 1255
State Masters Records:
198lb 40-44 yr old
Squat/ Dead/ Total
Missed Lifts:
