SQ - 683, 722, 744x
Was really nervous about hitting depth as I had bombed out of the only two APF meets I've competed in. Kept it conservative to make sure I Q'd for Seniors. This worked but also set me up to miss my Elite total. On the 722, I lost my balance in the whole and had to pause squat it. No problem. When I took 744 out of the rack, I stood there for what seemed like an eternity before I got the squat command. I should have taken another breath. When I came up, I was thru the sticking point when I ran out of gas. I thought I was going to blackout so I asked the spotters to take it.
Evaluation? Pussy. Next time I'm taking 750 on a 2nd. The weights felt light but I wasn't able to generate the kind of force I wanted out of the hole. Something drastic needs to happen in training.
BP - 479, 501 PR, 523x
These benches felt the lightest of any competition benches I've ever attempted. Lockout was MUCH improved after adding high pin lockouts back into the mix. On the 523, I didn't want to hit the rack and miss the lift for something stupid, so I moved down on the bench. Mike and I couldn't connect to get it out of the rack. I moved back up to where I had been and the lift off was too low. I couldn't get my elbows under the bar. It was tracking forward the whole time. I'm lucky I didn't dump it.
Evaluation? Seems like bench training is the only thing working properly. I don't feel beat up anywhere upper body. I was also very happy to break into the 500 club. I can remember reading Louie Simmons article, "How to Bench 500 Easy" and thinking if only. Well, it was pretty freakin' easy.
DL - 600, 633 PR, 650x
Upper back too weak to keep the 650 in the groove. I pulled in the Metal Pro Squatter instead of the Phillips canvas. Going back to the canvas. There's more pop out of the hole.
Evaluation? My deadlift sucks. I'm built to deadlift but have managed to let it lag behind my other lifts. It's time for me to get serious about the dead and get it on the top 100 list. All the training we did worked for our conventional lifters but not for sumo. I'm going to enter a deadlift meet and pull conventional to see what I can do.
TOT - 1857 PR
At the end of the day this is all that matters. I made my 4th master total, PR'd, and Q'd for Seniors. I also held up a commitment with myself to lift aggressively and confidently all day. This was my biggest mental breakthrough yet. The meet was a success and so was my team. I had a big part in making this a good day for many lifters and for the sport. On this date, four years ago, I didn't have a total.
