Something you could hear over and over again in the crowd and in the warm-up area, "this has been the best meet ever." Two days, two platforms. A ton of competitors and a huge crowd. What made it so great? Well, it was organized, efficient and the warm-up area was huge with plenty of equipment set up. There was no drama. Instead, everybody supported everybody. Seriously, the biggest competition each competitor had, was themselves and every person in the building wanted to see all of the competitors overcome and push through their lifts. There was no negativity. The venue was awesome! It was at The Tank Brewing Company, Miami, FL. Even though I am a non-drinker, I do enjoy seeing others let their shoulders down and having fun. I've had my limit is all and it was great to see people cheering with glasses of beer and great food. The teams both the Battle Axe Gym and Church LLC Gym put together were very professional, polite and helpful. I loved this meet and I look forward to being a part of it, one way or another so long as it exists. This weekend had a very huge impact on me and it's hard for me to even process without having to stop to cry and feel all of the wonderful emotions that come with the memories of one of the most amazing weekends of my life.
It wasn't just the meet. I bonded with my new family, the Ironbound Barbell Club. My heart is so full of love right now, but let me get to my results from the meet because they were so much better than I ever anticipated.
IRONBOUND BARBELL CLUB:
Before I do that, let me go over this prep a little bit. In June I competed in the Jenn, knowing my numbers would be sub max. I had been injured and training was coming along slowly. It was at this point that I backed off of "powerlifting" and focused on hypertrophy, still using the Conjugate Method; two dynamic and two maximum effort days. I went back to my bodybuilding roots because that was what got me strong in the first place. Well, it worked. Around 5 weeks out of my prep, I cut back on hypertrophy and accessories and even speed work and gave each lift it's own day, maintaining a four day a week program. At that point, I kept in at least one-speed day and the other three, maximum effort days (1RM for each lift). My goal for the Throwdown was to be back where I was before, at a lighter weight (nutrition counseled by Justin Harris). By the time I was three weeks out of the Throwdown, I had hit all of my goals for the meet. Not only did the (my/conjugate) programming work for me, it worked my clients, Kristie Strand, who also competed the same day as I, thousands of miles away in Utah and it had also worked for my bodybuilding client Benson, who crushed his own personal records just by following me around the gym for the last 3-4 months. Not only did I exceed my goal, but I also hit two PR's! I switched from Raw to Classic raw which made me the first 46 year old, 181 lb female to ever compete in Classic raw in Florida. Best Female lifter, two gold medals, three Master's FL state records and two USPA Master's National records: At 177lbs my new records are: Squat: 435lbs, Bench: 248lbs (sub max,) Deadlift: 441lbs, Total: 1,123lbs. SQUATS:
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BENCH:
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At 144lbs, Kristie also exceeded her goals and had three new PR's: Squat: 303lbs, Bench: 154lbs, Deadlift: 319lbs, Total: 776lbs. All three Utah Master's State records. Our motto is "train hard, meet easy," and that we did! Each of us walked away feeling great, and went right back to training. Both of us mothers, one a grandma, and in our middle age, came to kick ass and chew bubble gum and we ran outta bubble gum.
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BEST FEMALE LIFTER 2019 THROWDOWN, MIAMI, FL $$$
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