Powerlift88’s BodyBlog

Yesterday was the competition, which was amaing. It was the WNPF Raw Nationals, WNPF Pan American Championships, and the WNPF Lifetime Elite Nationals, making for a big competition involving just around 80 lifters. The strongest guy there was straight out of Russia. His opening attempts were 840 on squat, which he buried easily, 575 on bench, with the same result, and 625 on deadlift, again with the same result. He ended up finishing with an easy 890 squat, an easy 610 bench, and a 650 deadlift, totaling 2150, the highest ever in WNPF history. He missed his last deadlift of 675.

There was another guy there, who Ive lifted against before, who really on deadlifts. He is about 6′7 which is incredible that he pulls the weight he does. He opened with an easy 675, made his 2nd attempt at 710, but didnt get his 3rd at 750.

There was a bunch of guys deadlifting in the 600’s and squatting in the 500’s as well.

As far as my day:

I weighed in at 252, putting me in the 275 weight group. Then I found out my money to get into the competition never came in for who knows what reason, so thankfully my coach could spot me $80.

This was my first time doing a full meet powerlifting in just over 2 years. I have avoided heavy squats due to knee problems, but I came back to being a full meet lifter just cause I was tired of Iron Man - bench and deadlift combined.

Squats:

Warmups - 135X6, 225X3, 315X1

1st attempt - 385: Got called a no lift because of depth, go figure being 6′4. I flew up with it though at least.

2nd attempt - 385: Buried beneath parallel and flew up. Good lift.

3rd attempt - 410: again called no lift for depth. Gotta work on depth, gotta bury these. Apparently I was so close too… ah well Im not sad for only squatting for 5 weeks or so then competiting.

Bench:

The competition was the first time I have been in the shirt in easily 6 weeks. Ive just been training without it because Ive had no one to help me get it on, so I was nervous about my bench.

Warmups: 135X6, 185X3, 225X1

1st attempt - 230: I was really surprised by how this flew. It went like nothing.

2nd attempt - 240: I was nervous because this was a weight I have had trouble with. Not today! Flew just like 230 and I was excited.

3rd attempt - 260: A new personal best. I bought it down to my chest and it didnt feel too heavy at all. I shot it right off my chest and it got half way up and then…my back cramped up and I couldnt go further. It wouldve gone if I hadn’t of cramped. All in all, I was very happy, and now I know my bench will go up since I have adjusted into the shirt.

My new bench technique: raise my head up as I lower the bar to my chest. This causes all your power to be bunched up in your arms, chest and upper body. When you press the weight off your chest, push your head down into the bench with your shoulders, and the weight just seems to fly!

Deadlifts:

I had no clue how these would go considering I hadnt deadlifted in exactly 3 weeks to the day of the competition. 21 days without pulling weight…this made me nervous…

Warmups:

135X8, 225X6, 315X3, 405X1, 475X1

1st attempt - 515: came right off the floor easy. 1 lift down, 2 to go.

2nd attempt - 535: This actually went even easier then the 515. Im happy and its on to the last lift.

3rd attempt - 555: A new personal best and PA state record. I pulled this and as soon as it cleared my knees it never stopped until lockout. I was so happy.

Overall, a total of 1180. Not to bad for my first full meet in 2 years. I ended up taking 1st place overall in powerlifting for Teens 17-19 in the 275 weight group.

Now its time to rest and let the pain subside. Time for the summer to be filled with training. September will come quickly and bring the WNPF Pennsylvania State Championships. With a summer of hardcore training, these are my goals:

Squat - 500

Bench - 300

Deadlift - 600

Total - 1400

My first competition in the Junior division. Lets see how this goes, and what the summer brings.

Last night I spent my night focusing once again on the Rickshaw deadlifts for strongman. I must say it was a good night. On the bottom grips I got 315 for 8, 405 for 6, 495 for 4, 585 for 2, and 650 for 1. On the top grips, I got 705 for 2, 765 for 1, 820 for 1 that really flew nicely, and I attempted 865 and got it half way up, but once again, my grip decided to go against me and I dropped it. Ah well no big deal. What is a big deal is that I have officially maxed out the machine, even to the point where I am hanging 25 lb plates off the bottom handles just to add weight. Back in on Sunday for regular deadlifts just to figure out my opener for the competition.

I decided to hit my shoulders and traps for a bit last night. I hit 225 for 3 sets of 2 on my seated military presses, and followed it up by side lateral dumbbell raises at 30 lbs for 3 sets of 10. To foucs on the back part of my shoulders and my upper back, I did bent over dumbbell rows, also known as Kroc Rows. I started with a 70 lb dummbell each side, and knocked out 10 each side. My previous best was a 75 for about 5. I went up and did 90 for a set of 8 on each side. My workset ended up being a 110 lb dumbbell for 3 sets of 3 on each side. I was definitely feelin it.

For my traps I just did some heavy machine shrugs while my girlfriend finished up her cardio. I started with 295 for a set of 12, then moved up to 385 for 3 sets of 10. Running short on time, I moved up to 475 for 2 sets of 6.

Not to bad. Competition coming up on the 31st, and its gonna be big! Bench tomorrow, and probably figure out my opening lifts for squat and deadlift on friday. Then its time for a summer of hard training, preparing for September.

Went to the gym this afternoon with my girlfriend, and I was just in the mood for some heavy squats today. My girl hung out with me, and was really interested in learning how to wrap my knees. I had to only show her once and she picked it up right away, and I havent had my knees wrapped that tightly! Buried 365, 405, 430 real well. I moved on to box squats down to a bench that sat right around the parallel mark. Started with an easy 405, and was pressed with time cause the gym was closing, so I went for 450. It sat so well and comfortably on my back and when I went down to the bench, I purposely sat there for a few seconds, made sure I lost any momentum, got my air, and came right back up with it.

Overall, not a bad day. Finishing training for the competition May 31st. Thats the serious day.

Ive been watching a lot of Strongman videos online and shows on tv lately, and it really makes me want to get into strongman stuff. I already started doing truck pulls with my chevy trailblazer, and those are actually starting to get easy. Been focusing on heavy rickshaw deadlifts lately. I did the first rickshaw workout the other night in a powerlifting suit and with my heavy hernia belt. I will say it made quite the difference! I ended up pulling 650X2, 705X2, and a very easy 765. I tried 820, had it half way up, but my hands were sweaty and that made my grip go. Ah well at least it went up.

I saw on elitefts.com a new thing for guys who want to train for strongman but cant get most of the equipment, especially for the stones lift. They have a piece of equipment that you can load up plates and lift it off the ground just like stones. Im thinkin about getting it soon and spending the summer not only powerlifting, but training heavy in strongman stuff too.

Anyone have any ideas on what I could do more for strongman training??

Ended up moving my deadlifts to Friday. My coach suggested I try 530X2, 540X2, and 550X2. For some reason, probably because I was so stressed from the last week of school, I had no spark and no drive whatsoever. I only pulled 530 once and it was like my body was done. I tried it again, and something popped behind my left eye, radiating pain through the left side of my head. I dropped down to 500, which is easy weight normally, but being stressed and now my eye, I only managed to pull it once. The rest of the night my eye decided to let itself twitch, but thankfully thats stopped. Now that schools done, its time to get that spark going again. Time for some serious training. None of the light stuff. Back to the training where you sit in the corner, letting everyone stair at you as you bleed. Back to serious stuff here.

Havent gotten a real chance to update this this past week. Its been a great week though…

Monday I had some things to do..so I wasnt in the gym.

Tuesday I hit deadlifts. I pulled 520 for a triple, but that took a lot out of me, so I finished with 2 sets of 2. Next week is 540 for 4 sets of 2…hopefully.

Wednesday I once again had no one to help me get the bench shirt on…this is really getting old now. Ended up just working on my shoulders, hitting 185 for 3 sets of 5 on seated military presses, followed by 25 lb dumbbell side lateral raises at 3 sets of 10, same weight for 3 sets of 8 on front raises. Followed all that up with some bicep work. 35 lb dumbbell incline curls for 3 sets of 8, followed by cable crosses at 90 lbs for 3 sets of 10, and then concentration curls with 20 lb dumbbells for 3 sets of 10. Not to bad of a night.

Thursday I ended up working on some chest work. I started with 60 lb dumbbell presses on a flat bench for 3 sets of 10 then  80 lb dumbbell presses for 3 sets of 6, which felt great. I then moved on to machine incline presses, at 190 lbs for 3 sets of 6. Seated flys felt great, at 165 lbs for 3 sets of 6, and ending with seated chest presses at 190 for 3 sets of 8. I wasnt sure if I wanted to hit my triceps, but pushed forward and started with overhead dumbbell lifts at 50 lbs for 3 sets of 12. Then I moved on to cable overhead extensions at 60 lbs for 3 sets of 12. I moved on to straight bar pushdowns at 90 for 3 sets of 12. At this point my triceps were burnt out horribly, but I finished with short rope pulldowns at 30 lbs for 3 sets of 12.

Friday (today) - The day of squats. Today was the first day I did a squat workout with my powerlifting coach. His training method is…If he didnt like your squat, or you didnt bury yourself beneath the parallel mark, no matter what the weight and how much you struggled, you do another rep. Thankfully I didnt have to worry about that. Did all the warmups up to 315 for 2 then started my worksets of singles. Buried 365 and flew out of the bottom with it. Moved on to 385 and did that twice, just because I thought I would stay there. Buried both and flew with both. I had just enough in me to go on to 405. Now I know I did 3 of these about 2 weeks ago. I did bury them, but not to the depth I wanted. I sank 405 down beneath parallel, and didnt stop till the back of my legs, according to my coach, were about an inch from hitting my calves, which is DEEP. I flew out of the bottom no problem. I am very happy.

Thats all so far this week. 540 for 4 sets of 2 in deadlifts next week. Hopefully Ill get shirted for bench, and hopefully Ill hit around 425-435 on my squat next week.

Things are going well. How is everyone else?