[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4OJGGjvouA]

The good:

  • I won the 242 class and defended my title from last year.
  • I hit a 6lb PR on the squat and bench, and an 11lb PR on the deadlift giving me a 22lb PR from last meet and a 77lb PR from RUM7. (I know the math doesn't quite add up but the kilos throw the pounds off.)
  • I got to spend time with my teammates- Bob Youngs, Brian Schwab, and Jo Jordan.
  • I was able to catch up with some fellow lifters, some old faces and some new, to talk about training and life and everything in between.

The bad:

  • I did not get 'up' enough for first and second squat and bench attempts. When I watched the videos I could see how much better my third attempts were in both.
  • I hit a deadlift PR, but still well under what I'm capable of pulling. Hitting PR's in the other lifts will obviously take away from the deadlift, but I get lazy and end up in bad positions which is preventable and unacceptable. I have to figure out exactly what the issue is and make that the emphasis of my offseason.
  • I took third (by coefficient) in the superclass to two great 220lb lifters that actually weighed more than me on meet day...maybe I need to learn how to cut or at least manage my weight. Some of those guys are amazing at how much they can cut and then put back on for meet day. I think they both weighed 250-260 on meet day where I was 238-240.

Short rundown:
Friday- Flew in late afternoon and met Matt Wenning and a couple of his handlers from Ludus Magnus for dinner. We caught up and laughed and stuffed our faces because neither of us were close to being overweight. Bob Youngs drove in later that evening so we caught up and watched some TV.

Saturday- Slept as long as I could because the 48 hours before a competition is the most important time to get your rest. The night before is important, but you don't want to oversleep the day of. I showered and took my time getting ready then we headed over to weigh ins. Hit the scale at 239 give or take and we headed to breakfast. The rest of the day was filled with watching the Saturday flights and running out to eat.
We got back to the hotel and after I showered I was sitting on the edge of my bed sending a text. Bob said "Holy shit," out of nowhere and kind of startled me. I asked what the problem was. He said "I can't hear the TV over you breathing!" I must have been a little bloated. Mission accomplished.

Sunday- Game day. I slacked a little on my stretching the last couple days. I hit some light stretches Saturday night, but I felt tight all day. I had some pain in my glute that I was struggling to get rid of as well. I did a quick contrast shower in the morning which helped a bit. But by the time we got to the venue we had to wait about four hours before we started. Fortunately after a couple warm ups it stopped bothering me, and my adductor felt good so I was ready to go.

  1. Squats-
    I went with my heaviest opener to date on squats at 733. The speed was there so I'd stick to the plan-788 on the second. I lost a little tightness on the second attempt and caused me to pitch forward. I finished it without a problem but I wouldn't make my third if I did it again. Brian Schwab got in my ear and told me to get my chest up on the unrack. Worked like a charm and I hit 810 better than my previous two attempts.
  2. Bench-
    i went with the same opener from last meet at 485. It felt good so I stuck to the plan- 520 on my second which is 14lbs under my best bench. I hit that, although it slowed down considerably. I didn't have anything to lose at this point based on the subtotals so I went with a 6lb PR at 540. I'm not sure how or why I do this but 540 was better than my second attempt.
  3. Deadlift-
    Warm ups felt God awful. I was tighter than all hell. I took 2 plates, 4 plates, 5 plates, 6 plates, then hit the platform. 705 went up like it should have. I went to 740 to pad my total and put it out of reach for the 242's. It was a grind. I got in a bad position and ended up stiff legging it. Then we went 750 for a 2100lb total, but that wasn't even close. I was gassed. So I ended with 4 PR's including the total, but that 2100 still eluded me. i'll get it next time and then some.

Thank you's-
There are plenty of people to thank so I apologize if I miss anybody. Thank you Dave and Traci for the opportunity to represent EliteFTS. Thank you to my teammates for their help this training cycle and just being good friends and mentors(you know who you are). Thank you to Bob Youngs, Jo Jordan, and Brian Schwab for helping me all day and holding my hand (mainly just Bob holding my hand awkwardly). Thanks to Schwab's crew at Orlando Barbell for wrapping my knees (Frye)  and filming my attempts. And thanks to the readers of EliteFTS that support me and all our lifters throughout the year.