This past weekend, I benched in the RPS Annihilation meet, in New York.
I hadn’t posted anything about it in my log because I wasn’t sure I would do it until the week of the meet. My real reason for being there was to handle three ladies that I’ve started training this past year. But since the meet happened to coincide with my last full-range shirt workout, I decided to use it to lock down a second attempt weight for WPC Worlds next month in true meet conditions. The girls lifted in the AM session, while I stuck around to bench in the PM session.
While I feel like I’m capable of more, my goal for the meet was to hit 665 on a second attempt and then shut it down. No need to shoot my wad now, with one of the biggest meets in the sport just around the corner. This was supposed to be a tune-up, and nothing more.
The biggest challenge was going to be handling lifters all day before lifting. Any veteran lifter can tell you that handling is just as tiring, if not more tiring, than actually lifting. I would be handling not one, but three lifters in the AM session. By the time the evening session rolled around, I was pretty damn tired, although I didn’t want to admit it.
Everything felt okay warming up. My training partner Steve made the trip up to hand off for me. Steve is not my usual hand-off guy, so a big part of warm-ups was getting him used to how I like to take the bar out. By the time warm-ups were done, we were pretty much in sync.
I opened with 625, which I made with no issue.
Jumped right to 665 (five-pound PR), and that’s where the fun began.
We got the 665 out of the rack with no problem. As soon as I started my descent, though, I knew that something was way off. I cut my elbows like I always do, but the weight wasn’t over my elbows, and I dumped it towards my face. Fortunately for me, the spotters were on top of it and I made it out alive.
I was pissed that I missed what I thought would be an easy weight, especially since this was only supposed to be a tune-up, but now I knew I HAD to make it, or else it would be on my mind from now until worlds. Rather than stay in the warm-up area, I stepped outside to clear my head. The fatigue from the morning session was making it hard to focus, and getting out of the noisy gym was helpful.
I re-entered the warm-up area after hearing myself called “in the hole”, and did my best to get locked in mentally.
Re-took 665 and made it. It wasn’t the prettiest bench I’ve ever hit, because I set up a little too far up on the bench and the weight clipped the j-cup towards lockout, which almost made me lose it. Thankfully, the judges ruled it incidental contact and passed the lift.
While I didn’t have quite the cruise I thought I would, it was still a very productive day. I’m confident that 665 will be a good second attempt, since was able to hit it not only at the end of a long day, but following a miss. Things are looking good for Worlds!
While I was happy with my performance, I was absolutely thrilled with how my girls handled themselves. It was a first meet for two of them (and a second meet for the third), and they made me prouder than I can ever put into words. They lifted their asses off, and while not all of them had the day they planned, they all found the experience to be positive, and are already planning for their next meet.
Big thanks to Gene and Ame Rychlak for once again putting on an exceptionally well run meet. We all had a blast!