johnnyd2’s BodyPowerBlog

2nd week of training after my meet, and i’m feeling pretty good.  I’ve been doing a lot of kettlebell work.. ie, snatches, swings, and clean and press, with a 45lb and 55lb kettlebell. I think this has greatly helped my conventional deadlift, and I’ll explain why shortly.  My conventional deadlift sucks, and for the longest time I’ve had issues pulling 405.  My first competition back 4 years ago, I pulled 415, and just missed 455 conventional.  I haven’t made much progress since then in the conventional dead.  I’ve moved on to sumo deadlifting and I am nearing the 600lb mark.

Anyway, we weren’t sure what we were going to do yesterday for our heavy squat/deadlift.  We have one kid training for a meet in a few weeks, so we were helping him out with his ME (Max Effort).   We have access to 50 kilogram plates, and I love using them.  They are solid.  The bar doesn’t have much play in it either.  The bar we squat with is a Frantz bar, 8 foot long, 55lbs, thicker handle.   We didn’t do anything crazy squatting, warmed up, 225×5, 225×3, 275×3, 325×3, 365×1, 385×1.  The kilos were messing up the numbers in my head, and I didn’t know what I was squatting until after we were done.

Onto the deadlift, we were doing 5’s.  135×5, 225×5, 315×5 and then I was asked where I wanted to go from there.  I was just thinking 365, but then said let’s do 405.  Rob did his 5, then it was me.  I pulled 405×4, something I’ve never done before.  The 4 plates has been such a mental block for me in conventional dead, that I just surprised myself, and Rob.  Usually, I’ll attempt 405 and I get stuck at the knee, or it was hard as hell to pull.  Anything over that forget it.  The first 2 felt like I was pulling 315.  It was a BIG confidence boost.

We did some rack good mornings (starting in the bottom position, and standing up) after and went up to 315 for 3.  We haven’t done them in a while and think they could have boosted  up our numbers for the meet.  After that we just did a few sets of hyper extensions.  I felt good yesterday.  I’ve got about 5 weeks until we start training for the next meet, so we’re adding and revamping up until then.

I had a weight issue going into this meet.  some of you know i was trying to lose a few pounds so i could compete in the 75kg (165lb) class.  my first weigh in when i arrived on friday was 75.5kg (166.5lbs) Oops!  i went to the sauna fully clothed, put a towel over my head and stood over the heat bouncing and waving my arms around.  25 min later, i weighed in at 74.5kg (164.25lbs).  Lost over 2lbs…Success!  i just don’t want to have to do that next time.

I started off good in the squat, opened with 585, went to 628, and i missed 661.  i didn’t squat down low enough on that one.  next time.  i wasn’t too happy with my bench/dead numbers.  i opened on the bench with 395 easy.  went to 429, which i have done many times with no problem… but today was not my day here.  missed that twice!  with my first 429 attempt, i think i adjusted my shirt too much as i wasn’t able to bring it in where i usually do.  the second attempt at 429 felt good getting it down, but after i got it off of my chest, i just had nothing left in the tank.  on the deadlift, i opened at 507.  i picked it up so fast that i lost my balance forward, and no good.  i did it again, under more control, to make sure that i got it.  went to 556, which i’ve done before, picked it up no problem, but halfway up, my right heel slipped outward and i wasn’t going to try to finish it out of position.  no need to risk injury.  so i totaled 1530, ended up with 1st, and i should be getting my invite soon to compete at the AWPC World’s later in the summer.  need to start revamping in a about 6 weeks… i may be doing a local meet (bench and deadlift) in wallingford mid/late august for those interested.

I just found out from one of the kids that I’m training, that I hold the APA (American Powerlifting Association) Bench Record for the state of CT.

http://www15.brinkster.com/ctapapower/benchrecords.asp?sexorall=M&radiobench=includevacant

I did this over a year ago and had no idea.  I hold the record at 410lbs.  I’ve surpassed that number a few times now and I want to reach the AAPF American and World Records @ 512.57 (232.5kg) and 474 (215kg) respectively.

Competed down in Monroe, LA this past weekend and had my best meet thus far.  For those that don’t know, the AAPF (Amateur American Powerlifting Federation) is a drug-free federation.  8 out of my 9 lifts were good.  Squatted 589.73, Benched 429.9, and Deadlifted 556.66.  Totaled 1576.29lbs at a bodyweight of 163lbs.  Earned an invite to the AWPC Worlds Competition this August in IL.  All the numbers were personal records for me.  I went into this meet relaxed which, I think, made a difference.  I get some time to recoup, get a little work going and then start training again for August.