I recently lifted in the 2019 USPA National Championships where I totaled 1767 in wraps at 198 via a 655 squat, 451 bench and 661 deadlift. I'm looking to compete in December to wrap up the year.
My main objective for this session was to figure out if I was ready to compete in November or need to wait longer. The key thing was whether or not a mildly strained pec had resolved or not.
It didn't. Which wasn't surprising. It had only been a couple weeks and one "bodywork" treatment. I had planned to work up to the 75% range for some triples but stopped at 275. It just felt generally sore and tentative. No pinching/pulling/tightness like when it is actually messed up, but clearly still healing.
My plan: Compete December 14th in Chicago at an APF meet. Relatively local and I'll get the chance to beat Christian Anto that day, assuming he doesn't run to a skinnier weight class.
Next week I will probably take another bench deload. After that will be a few more weeks of off season, where I will focus my pressing on close grip work, likely off of boards to give the pec more time to recover. If anything hurts, I will skip it.
As for my training last night- I did very little after the press. A little bit of dumbbell incline, some pressdowns and band curls. Mostly just coached a couple of our newer guys on how to bench.
My body isn't quite ready to start prepping for a meet. No big deal, another month to be ready should be fine.
