Meet Write-Up - APC Meet 4/7/2012
After cutting weight (21 lbs the day before) and making weight (82.1 kg in 82.5 kg class) I was back up in weight to about 205 for the meet. A bit tired but feeling good.
Squat:
Warmups went well dialed things in. Shut it down at 405.
Attempt 1: 451 or so (canâ??t recall kg equivalent). This was ridiculously easy, probably the best squat I had all day and it felt like it was 225. Just hit the groove smooth. Best type of opener you can have, one that feels light and boosts your confidence.
Attempt 2: 227.5 kg - 501 lbs. This is the attempt that pissed me off. I rushed the setup and didnâ??t have good balance. I started going down with it and just decided to shut it down and come back up because my balance wasnâ??t right. I basically wasted an attempt and had to retake it in the 3rd instead of going for a new PR and big lbs.
Attempt 3: 227.5 kg - 501 lbs. New APC record. This wasnâ??t a bad squat, came up quick and even though I didnâ??t hit the groove perfect it just goes to show me how much more I had left in the tank. This should have been an attempt at 545 or so.
QuickTip Squat - slow down the damn setup and find your groove. I left 45 lbs on the platform eat least.
Bench:
Attempt 1: 125 kg - 275 lbs. Easy opener, didnâ??t hit the groove perfect but it was light.
Attempt 2: 137.5 kg - 303 lbs. Still pretty easy.
Attempt 3: 147.5 kg - 325 lbs - maybe? Misloaded bar. Right from the start I knew something was wrong. Upon getting the lift off I felt as though the bar was way out to the right. I asked my center spotter (and teammate) to bring it back over to the left but he had brought his hands off the bar so unable to do so. I lifted my left hip up to shift the weight some (big mistake) and started my attempt.
I came down, got the press command, and then it flew off my chest. Right when I started to drive with my legs my back spasmed massively and tons of pain which is where I lost the lift - I donâ??t really recall the next few minutes. Basically the offset in my hips from raising up caused me to be out of alignment in my spin and I paid the price. I managed to get out in the hall way before falling to the ground in pain and just laid there.
Luckily the powerlifting community is awesome and I had teammates, and other competitors help me out getting me ice, advil, elevated my feet and even had one father/coach - whoâ??s daughter destroyed it at the meet - that was a chiropractor adjusted me and worked out the pain in my back and eventually my hamstring which apparently was strained bad. I canâ??t thank him enough - not sure if youâ??ll ever read this but thank you!
Quicktip - bench. Misloads suck, deal with it and move on.
Deadlift:
Attempt 1: After the disaster in my last bench attempt I decided to bump down my opener on deadlift so I wouldnâ??t bomb out if it really started bothering me. Went down to 451 lbs and smoked it. No pain though still some tightness in my hamstring and back.
Attempt 2: Went back up to what my opener was originally - 227.5 kg. This also flew up, no pain. For some reason I got really really tired after attempt 1 and was yawning a ton and felt like I could go take a nap. Not good before deadlifting obviously.
Attempt 3: Since I didnâ??t have any pain I figured Iâ??d go for the APC record in deadlift as well. Attempted 555 lbs (canâ??t recall kg equivalent). Because I was so tired I decided Iâ??d take a few hits of ammonia and get myself jacked up. This ended up being dumb as I got so jacked up that my setup was rushed.
I ended up pulling quick, shooting my hips some and the bar never even touched my shins. It got way too far out in front of me and I ended up having to bail on it at about my knees. This royally pissed me off because it was just technical and I absolutely had the strength for it. Left those lbs on the bar.
Finished with 1300 total and left about 125 lbs on the platform all said and done. Iâ??m happy about the squat record but pissed with my overall meet performance.
Things to change:
More sodium after making weight and during the meet. I was told to go with pink sea salt and add it to my water - 1.5 tsp/day by the chiro that worked on me at the meet. I was still dehydrated some and I think this is why I strained my hamstring.
More food/fluids post-weigh in. I got my weight up but I really should have been up heavier. I also didnâ??t get enough sleep.
Bring my IPOD. I should have brought my ipod so I could zone everything out while I was in the hole/on deck helping me stay focused and visualize my lifts.
Bring more food to the meet. I definitely didnâ??t have enough solid food during the meet.
All and all as I said, pretty disappointed with my performance but I did qualify for nationals so Iâ??ll be going through all this again in 8 short weeks. Definitely have time to fix some things and hopefully gain a bit more strength (not expecting much). The big thing at nationals I want is to simply put a good meet together.
Iâ??d also like to go 9/9. I also intend on bringing my hard weight down to about 195-197. The last 5 lbs of the weight drop were fricken terrible so Iâ??d like to avoid that if possible. Iâ??ll put videos/pictures up of the meet soon as people put them up online for me to get.