I love that photo of me, Rhodes, and Wendler. It was our "NOV" meet from last December and it was one of the best times lifting I have ever had, and I have done a lot over the years. For those of you who think NOV stands for November, you are wrong. NOV is an expression that Jim Wendler coined and if you don't know it, use your google machine. For the rest of us, that means it's time to put up or shut up.

Unfortunately I will not be able to compete with my brothers Wendler and Rhodes this time around. Travel is just too tough at that time. However, I know they are getting together in Ohio soon. Back East I'll be hooking up with my old training partner Brian, the Head Athletic Trainer at Choate. We're slated to throw down the weekend after Thanksgiving. That should leave me good and carbed up for a fun day of lifting.

A few months ago I invited everyone out there to join in. For those of you who missed it, the NOV Meet is just a way to challenge yourself. You can do it on your own or even better, get together with a group of lifters. It's not a formal meet. Just pick a bunch of lifts and test your strength. I'm going with a Safety Bar Box Squat, a Trap Bar Deadlift, and a Bench. Choose the bars you want. It can be for singles or for reps. Whatever your choose just make sure to go balls out!

The point of all this is, you don't have to compete in a meet to test your strength. I think most meets nowadays are impotent anyway. It's pretty embarrassing that just about every lifter at a contest walks away with a trophy. Between different divisions of raw, wrapped, singly ply, multi ply, traditional, master, sub master, etc, it's not really competing. So if you don't need to feel like a special little "Snowlfake" and walk away with a worthless trophy, just do an "NOV" Meet.

My training for the "NOV" Meet has been a much different experience than all my other competition preps. The two most notable changes are that my body feels increasingly better as each day passes, however, I feel pretty weak. I usually feel like I am on death's doorstep, but strong as a bull. So we'll see what happens.

During this last week of heavy prep I'll only be working up to around 90% lifts for singles. Funny, I just realized I miss-timed my peak. I usually only give myself one week of light work before competing, but this time around it will be closer to two. Maybe I'll be better off with the extra rest. Regardless, I'm not splitting the atom, nor am I getting ready for the US Open. It's just for fun. That's an important point for me to remember, powerlifting was almost like a second job or maybe my first. Now it's just a hobby that I love. As long as my body and mind are both willing and able, I'm doing pretty damn good.

Looking forward to seeing the results of all of those who will be participating.