Post by fish on Mar 25, 2005 15:21:02 GMT -6
Here is something from the kid next door. I have mentioned him to you, Jack, as a possible resource.
It is amazing how much one can do when one is young and determined.
End Jake, begin Eric: ...
Made weight on Friday morning. In fact, I'm getting too good at this. I didn't trust my scale, and wound up overshooting things; I came in at 163.
As it turns out, it really showed; in spite of eating like a horse all day yesterday, I still came in feeling pretty small today (the pics will show it). I just stepped on the scale at 4PM the day after; I'm only 170 after several meals.
Plan: Keep it to 165.25 in April, and focus on more calorically dense foods during my day-long carb-up. I tried to keep it too healthy and didn't eat enough during the meet. I'm stupid.
Tomorrow is an WPC qualifier, so the national judges were on-hand. As it turns out, they were big time hardasses. There was only one flight of ~15 lifters, yet four people got to the point that they had to make their third attempts in order to avoid bombing out. I must
admit; I got a little spooked myself. But anyway...
Squat
413.2 good
435.2 miss*
435.2 good
*Originally, I had planned to go to 447 on the second attempt. However, when I saw how tough the judging had been, I decided to play it safe. I was so dead-set on making sure that I got super deep that I went TOO deep. As a result, I didn't get much pop out of my suit, and got out of my groove. Managed to get it halfway up, but I almost lost my balance and had to step my left foot back. Anyway, took it again and just put the judges out of my mind, and absolutely smoked it. I hate overthinking things.
I squatted 407.7 last October in competition, and had hit 440 in the gym earlier this winter. I guess I'll take a 28-lb. PR, though.
Plan: Hopefully, the Metal Pro will arrive ASAP, because Z-suits are crap. I need to just do a lot more 1/3 squats to get used to having the bar on my back, too.
Bench
New shirt, so I was pretty worried. As it turns out, the heavier the weight, the easier the Rage-X gets. I like it!
314 good
330.5 good
341.5 miss, but I did lock it out*
*Tough call on this one. One judge said my butt came off the bench, but I didn't buy it. The other two probably just got me for an uneven lockout; my right side has a partial rotator cuff tear, so it kicks in a bit late sometimes. I've got the video; once I get it downloaded, I'll have to send it your way to get your thoughts. On the bright side, the weight felt very light, and if I had flared earlier, I would have had it easily.
I've hit 325 several times in the gym, but it was nice to get some good benches in with the competition environment. My competition best was 310. A 20.5-lb. PR is okay, I suppose.
Plan: More shirt work...but with heavier weights. You can't learn in this shirt unless you're going full ROM and at 90-95% 1RM. Flare earlier, too.
Deadlift
507 good
556.5 good
578.5 miss*
*The last pull was an attempt at a junior 165-lb. American record. I got it above the knees and fought it for 12 seconds (I'll post the video ASAP). My form crapped out; if I had kept a tight back from the start, I would have owned it. I've pulled 550 in training, and 540 in competition. I know that 570 would have gone up, so I left at least 14 pounds on the platform.
That's the nature of the beast, though.
Plan: Loosen up my hamstrings and get my chest up - basically follow my own advice from the article! I might even give a Metal deadlifter a shot; it seems like everyone and his brother was using one at this meet.
Honestly, though, I must say; it disappoints me that equipment is taking over the deadlift. Some really weak guys are using it as a crutch. One guy had a deadlift suit in spite of the fact that he got out-totaled by his
daughter at this meet! To her credit, though, she did pull 418 (age 22, and only about 180 lbs).
Total: 1332.2
This tops 1200.5, the pathetic effort I put up in October. 1405 will be the goal in April - 470-350-580ish. A little extra body weight should make a difference.
End of Eric's article.
It is amazing how much one can do when one is young and determined.
End Jake, begin Eric: ...
Made weight on Friday morning. In fact, I'm getting too good at this. I didn't trust my scale, and wound up overshooting things; I came in at 163.
As it turns out, it really showed; in spite of eating like a horse all day yesterday, I still came in feeling pretty small today (the pics will show it). I just stepped on the scale at 4PM the day after; I'm only 170 after several meals.
Plan: Keep it to 165.25 in April, and focus on more calorically dense foods during my day-long carb-up. I tried to keep it too healthy and didn't eat enough during the meet. I'm stupid.
Tomorrow is an WPC qualifier, so the national judges were on-hand. As it turns out, they were big time hardasses. There was only one flight of ~15 lifters, yet four people got to the point that they had to make their third attempts in order to avoid bombing out. I must
admit; I got a little spooked myself. But anyway...
Squat
413.2 good
435.2 miss*
435.2 good
*Originally, I had planned to go to 447 on the second attempt. However, when I saw how tough the judging had been, I decided to play it safe. I was so dead-set on making sure that I got super deep that I went TOO deep. As a result, I didn't get much pop out of my suit, and got out of my groove. Managed to get it halfway up, but I almost lost my balance and had to step my left foot back. Anyway, took it again and just put the judges out of my mind, and absolutely smoked it. I hate overthinking things.
I squatted 407.7 last October in competition, and had hit 440 in the gym earlier this winter. I guess I'll take a 28-lb. PR, though.
Plan: Hopefully, the Metal Pro will arrive ASAP, because Z-suits are crap. I need to just do a lot more 1/3 squats to get used to having the bar on my back, too.
Bench
New shirt, so I was pretty worried. As it turns out, the heavier the weight, the easier the Rage-X gets. I like it!
314 good
330.5 good
341.5 miss, but I did lock it out*
*Tough call on this one. One judge said my butt came off the bench, but I didn't buy it. The other two probably just got me for an uneven lockout; my right side has a partial rotator cuff tear, so it kicks in a bit late sometimes. I've got the video; once I get it downloaded, I'll have to send it your way to get your thoughts. On the bright side, the weight felt very light, and if I had flared earlier, I would have had it easily.
I've hit 325 several times in the gym, but it was nice to get some good benches in with the competition environment. My competition best was 310. A 20.5-lb. PR is okay, I suppose.
Plan: More shirt work...but with heavier weights. You can't learn in this shirt unless you're going full ROM and at 90-95% 1RM. Flare earlier, too.
Deadlift
507 good
556.5 good
578.5 miss*
*The last pull was an attempt at a junior 165-lb. American record. I got it above the knees and fought it for 12 seconds (I'll post the video ASAP). My form crapped out; if I had kept a tight back from the start, I would have owned it. I've pulled 550 in training, and 540 in competition. I know that 570 would have gone up, so I left at least 14 pounds on the platform.
That's the nature of the beast, though.
Plan: Loosen up my hamstrings and get my chest up - basically follow my own advice from the article! I might even give a Metal deadlifter a shot; it seems like everyone and his brother was using one at this meet.
Honestly, though, I must say; it disappoints me that equipment is taking over the deadlift. Some really weak guys are using it as a crutch. One guy had a deadlift suit in spite of the fact that he got out-totaled by his
daughter at this meet! To her credit, though, she did pull 418 (age 22, and only about 180 lbs).
Total: 1332.2
This tops 1200.5, the pathetic effort I put up in October. 1405 will be the goal in April - 470-350-580ish. A little extra body weight should make a difference.
End of Eric's article.