All Aboard the Hamburgertrain

Russia was an interesting place. I can’t decide what my favorite part was. I think it is a big tie between the pterodactyl sized mosquitos, the complete and total lack of traffic laws that led to a horrific car accident every twenty feet, the serial killer like warmth and compassion of the Russian people as a whole, losing 10lbs during my week due to gushing night sweats from the 1000% humidity and the near 90 temperatures with no AC all week/eating half cooked bacon for every meal, and looking at Rob Trettins face for a week.

All of that aside, the actual town the competition was in is absolutely beautiful. There were a bunch of old walled in towns and monasteries. The food in the local restaurants was pretty good but you had to order at least 3 entree’s because of the portion sizes. Since everything in Russia costs under $2, that wasn’t a big deal ordering a bunch of food.

After a week of watching the most ridiculous display of strength sporting I have ever seen and slogging my way through a haze of jet lag and, what I suspect, was a case of west Nile virus, I woke up on meet day feeling pretty good.

Weight: 116.something KG or 256 in American. Everyone seemed to have dropped some pounds since arrival. I was the lightest in the 120 class.

Squats:
All three lifts looked like my last warm-ups. Took it very easy because my quad was still tight and I wasn’t sure if it could handle an actual max attempt. Went 515, 545, 575 for dead last place in the class.

Bench:
Smoked my 385 opener. 408 then felt like 50 billion pounds and then no lifted on 412. I attribute this debacle to a combination of not knowing how to bench press and the weight loss while I was in Russia. Again, dead last in the group.

Deadlift:
Blew up my 711 opener. It was seriously one of the best deadlifts I’ve ever done. 755 was easy as well but it got a little forward and caused some wiggles on the way up. The weight felt pretty light in my hands though. After talking to Matt Gary, who was doing an awesome job calling my numbers and helping with warm-ups all meet, he suggested 777 would be good for at least a silver. I wanted to go heavier but since I sucked ass the rest of the meet, I did not want to miss something crazy and then leave empty handed. I smoked the 777. It looked like an opener.

Then, for some weird and uncharacteristic reason, Mike T’s first attempt at 804 got turned down. The judges said he unlocked his knees after lockout. From my angle, it looked like he pulled it so fast that his hips pushed the bar forward when he snapped into his lockout position. It looked a little funny but still should have been a good lift. His grip gave on his second try. It took me a couple minutes after his second miss to realize that I won the gold.

Totalled 1759… which was less than I did at nationals… which was less than I qualified for nationals with. Even though I finished dead last in squat and bench, I still got 8th overall in the class.

I seriously can’t thank all of the Team USA coaches enough. They did and outstanding job all week and were dead tired by the time the whole thing was over.

After a 30 hour trip home, I got in around 5pm Monday evening, went immediately to bed, woke up at 6am and:

5 weeks till Raw Nationals:

Tuesday- 6/18/13- ME Bench

Tons of traction and soft tissue stuff

Close Grip-
135x10
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x5
350x5

Medium Grip- 235x5x6

Hedlesky Rows (the name was too long… so, now I have a row)- 135x5x12
Yates Rows- supinated 4 inch cambered bar- 135x3x15

OH Tri Extensions/High STR Curls- Green band- 4x20/3x20

On the Super Highway to Great Guns.

Glad to hear you got back safely Mike, I’ve seen a couple of those Russian traffic dashcam videos. What’s the plan for Nats?

Watching you deadlift was the highlight of my Sunday morning.

You’re right - I thought Mike T was robbed by the judges on his first attempt. Looked perfect and fucking fast to me.

Edit: your arms look like they are six feet long when you bench.

[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Glad to hear you got back safely Mike, I’ve seen a couple of those Russian traffic dashcam videos. What’s the plan for Nats?[/quote]

My plan is just to push the squat a little harder and do some work on my bench form to hopefully squeeze out some more pounds. There is not a whole lot I can get stronger on in 5 weeks.

[quote]Consul wrote:
Watching you deadlift was the highlight of my Sunday morning.

You’re right - I thought Mike T was robbed by the judges on his first attempt. Looked perfect and fucking fast to me.

Edit: your arms look like they are six feet long when you bench.[/quote]

Yea, his first pull with 804 looked like every other good deadlift I’ve ever seen.

I have an 84 inch wingspan. Good for deadlifts. Total fucking nightmare for bench pressing.

Great job on getting the top deadlift in the competition with an injured quad. :slight_smile: Oh, I checked out the external hip rotation/extension videos and my hips feel great right now (versus the dog shit that they normally feel), and noticed I have less mobility on my left side that is causing the problems. I’ll check out the other video that you recommended, thanks for the help.

[quote]DSSG wrote:
Great job on getting the top deadlift in the competition with an injured quad. :slight_smile: Oh, I checked out the external hip rotation/extension videos and my hips feel great right now (versus the dog shit that they normally feel), and noticed I have less mobility on my left side that is causing the problems. I’ll check out the other video that you recommended, thanks for the help. [/quote]

Nice man. Seriously, try to hammer that stuff whenever you can. It makes a huge difference.

Next stop, GAINSville!

[quote]csulli wrote:
Next stop, GAINSville![/quote]

This is the most amazing picture that has ever been drawn.

Alright, here is my plan:

5 weeks out:

ME work: 5rms followed by 30 reps at 55% of the actual competition lift. All assistance work at 60 total reps with an emphasis on core, triceps, upper back, and lat work… also… the Superhighway to Great Guns workout ?

4 weeks out:

ME Work: Beat some 3rms from Worlds training cycle followed by 30 reps at 65% on the competition lifts. Same assistance

DE Work: 80% for whatever the hell prilepins table says. Last couple of sets +20% in chains or bands Same assistance

2 Extra Workouts- Sledwork, prowler, 20-30% on comp lifts

3 weeks out:

ME: Same. 75% on comp lift extra stuff

DE: 92% and same

Same extra crap

2 weeks out:

ME: Same. 80%

DE: 95% and kill myself.

Extra: same and don’t die

Meet week:

75% mock meet one week out for 5-6 singles

50% mock meet 4 days out for 5-6 singles

30% mock meet 2 days out for whatever the hell

Weaknesses to work on:

  • My entire core. Seriously been neglecting heavy ab work. Need to hammer this

  • Continue grip work. I want the bar to shatter at Nationals when I grab it for my first warm-up

  • Arms… they are small and baby like. I must do exercises until this is not the case anymore

What doesn’t kill you can maim you terribly.

hahaha CHEWW CHEWWW

any videos of the meet?

Your meet week is intriguing. Is this how you always go into a meet?

Wow Quincy nice find on that pic. I can’t imagine how you must have felt STB. Just looking at that pic with you on the top tier and freaking Mike T. standing to your right is enough to send shivers down my spine.

Whoa nice job at Worlds, Mike! I’ve been following Mike T’s log recently and started implementing RPE logging as well. I’m thinking about buying the RTS training manual. Do you have an opinion on his methods before I drop 40 bucks?

[quote]csulli wrote:
Wow Quincy nice find on that pic. I can’t imagine how you must have felt STB. Just looking at that pic with you on the top tier and freaking Mike T. standing to your right is enough to send shivers down my spine.[/quote]
lol it’s his profile picture

[quote]browndisaster wrote:
hahaha CHEWW CHEWWW

any videos of the meet?[/quote]

All over facebook. There are a few on the IPF page. Also, the Maryland State Powerlifting Association page has my 777 pull. I have been too busy catching up on sleep to post anything. haha.

[quote]mahwah wrote:
Your meet week is intriguing. Is this how you always go into a meet?[/quote]

Pretty much. I’ve only got 5 weeks to train so it’s a little condensed. My “reverse wave” leading up to a meet usually lasts 2 weeks. Since 2 weeks is 40% of my training, I had to cut it down to one week.

[quote]TylerPK4L wrote:
Whoa nice job at Worlds, Mike! I’ve been following Mike T’s log recently and started implementing RPE logging as well. I’m thinking about buying the RTS training manual. Do you have an opinion on his methods before I drop 40 bucks?[/quote]

It’s an interesting read. It really is a good glimpse into Mike’s training and how to do it yourself. I would suggest forking out the money and hiring him as an online coach if you are really interested. He is constantly changing things with his own training and that book is about 5+ years old if I remember correctly.

After reading the book then watching his meet week prep first hand this past week (he worked up to his openers… twice) I am willing to bet the information he gives you personally will be much more than what is in the training manual.

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:
Wow Quincy nice find on that pic. I can’t imagine how you must have felt STB. Just looking at that pic with you on the top tier and freaking Mike T. standing to your right is enough to send shivers down my spine.[/quote]
lol it’s his profile picture[/quote]

Yea, it’s cool and all. But, it is not a crudely drawn ms paint picture of a hamburger train.