2018 was a big year for me, a year of growth and change in both training and life. In this post, I want to go back and look at all the challenges and successes of my training over the past year.

2017 was a hard year, I was unhappy with where I was in life and knew I needed to make changes. I finished the year with a 959 total and it was a rough ride mentally. In my mind, I was capable of much more than my total and that wore on me.

2018 became a year of standing up for myself, learning from my past mistakes, and well... let's just say I finally grew a pair. I decided to do my own programming for the majority of the year, which ended up being pretty successful, giving me a 50lb total PR, something I'm pretty proud of. It gave me more confidence in myself and proved that I could do it on my own. With school stress and wanting to have a coach close by, I finished the year working with Brian Schwab after moving to Florida, and after only a few months of programming, we accomplished a 1025 total, a 66lb total PR from 2017. I'd say it was a pretty successful year.

Here's a look back at what my training looked like this year.

 

Jan-March
Bench volume was higher, 6-10 rep range for 4 sets
I had a secondary incline bench day weight was around 115-155 for 3x10

Squat volume was very high, for the first time I had two programmed squat days. Week one was back squat with a secondary front squat day and week two was yoke bar squats with front squats as the secondary again. I was only squatting in sleeves and hit some rep PRs.

Deadlifts I would pull from a deficit week one with moderate volume and week two I would pull from the rack with lower volume and follow the rack pull with a light sumo pull.

 

April-June
In April I decided to start running my own programming, it was something I've wanted to do for a while, and at the time I couldn't to pay for coaching. I had signed up for a meet on June 9th.

Bench volume was still fairly high. My best bench to date was done after an equipped training cycle where I did a ton of board work. I would work up to two top sets to my chest, then do two heavier sets to a board after. I had a secondary paused bench day where I would work up to 165x5x5 each week. I took my last heavy bench one week out.

Squat training was spent figuring wraps out. I tried the metal orange wraps and just couldn't get them to work for me. Once I switched back to the Patriots it was a great time. I kept the cycle of one-week heavy w/wraps one-week lighter paused squat for this whole training cycle as I've done leading up to most of my other meets. I took my last heavy squat two weeks out.

This deadlift cycle was the best I've ever had, more so because I focused on resetting my reps instead of touch and go for the first time in years. I felt much more explosive and was able to hit much heavier numbers in training than before. I worked off of the previous training cycle, switching between deadlifts off the floor week one and pulling off blocks week two. I took my last heavy pull off 2' mats two weeks out.

I totaled 1011 at this meet for a 50lb PR.

 

July-Sept
I really wish I had been able to keep the ball rolling after things were going so well over the last few months of training. Seth and I moved across Canada and it took about a week to drive, camping along the way. I had a hard time with the move at first and found it really hard to get the ball rolling in the gym. I felt sluggish and frustrated I was having a hard time. I focused on bodybuilding/volume work and hired a nutrition coach to help me get my shit together. Towards the end of the summer, I was looking lean and starting to get used to the gym... Just in time to move across the continent to Florida.

 

October-December
M2 Method

I decided to hire Brian Schwab as my coach while I'm in Florida. I wanted to have a coach I could trust and who is close by if I need any live input. I competed on December 1st in the 132 class after only 10 weeks of training under Brian. I totaled 1025, 66lbs higher than I totaled in 2017 and 14lbs more than my last meet in June.

I'm nothing but excited to see what training under the M2 method does in the longer term.