Haven’t updated in a couple of weeks, obviously. Had a pretty lousy training week 2 weeks back, but this past week was decent. I’m feeling pretty sore and beat up these past few days, but thankfully all of my heavy training is out of the way. Now I just have to do mobility, sleep adequately, and eat enough until the Arnold. The only really lift that will be moderately heavy this week will be bench. I’ll probably pause right around my 2nd attempt on Thursday, and that’ll be it for anything heavy. Spot?
20111210
This was the first meet that I’ve done that we didn’t peak for. There was no real tapering leading up to the meet, only a few minor tweaks so I wouldn’t become over-trained. Surprisingly, I did quite well, and hit what I had expected to do (and missed) at Nationals four months ago. I hadn’t squatted more than 545 since then, nor had I practiced pausing during any of my bench sessions. I was hopeful that things would go pretty well, although I played everything pretty conservatively. My first goal was to go 9/9, and my second was to total 1500+. I achieved both of those, so it was all in all a solid meet.
Squat attempts were 529/556/573
I opened up 10 pounds lighter than at Nationals, and made a 27lb jump. After Nationals I started thinking about opening up lighter in an effort to have more in the tank for my second, and certainly third attempt squats. Trying to go 539/556/573 at Nationals led to me getting really tired by my third attempt, and I wanted to fix that. 529 felt OK, but not as easy as I would have liked. I said screw it though, and made the 27lb jump to 556. I’m quite glad I did though, because it felt good. I thought I had 578 in me that day, but again, wanted to meet goal number one. I hit 573 for a solid third attempt, and thought that I had a few pounds left. This weight felt like crap at Nationals, so this was a big victory for me.
Bench attempts were 303/314/325
Three weeks out from the meet, my bench was going awesome. Then, it sucked for the three weeks leading up to the meet. There were a number of contributing factors. One, I got sick. Two, I had no one to spot me on my volume days, and that led me to try and scramble and try to get something done those days. Three, because of my lousy volume days my intensity days were garbage. Good sucky bench. I opened with 303 and it was alright. They waited a while to give me the start command, so that was fun. 314 was harder than I expected, but again, I decided to just go for the attempt that I had planned. 325 was definitely all I had that day, 326 probably wouldn’t have happened.
Deadlift attempts were 540/584/628
In the warm-up room I hit 495 and though it felt a bit heavy. Damn. At this point, if I didn’t go 9/9 I wouldn’t hit 1500 and I would be pissed. Thankfully, all of my attempts felt awesome. 628 wasn’t a joke, but it wasn’t that hard. I may have had 10 more pounds in me. I’m confident I’ll get to 650 for the Arnold, 644 at the very least.
This last week was pretty much a de-load. Not too much to report.
20111213
Front Squat 275 3×3
RDLs 185 3×5
I didn’t train until Wednesday because I got sick Saturday night. I felt like total shit until Tuesday, and didn’t train until Wednesday. I was worried it would affect my training for the week, but I made some adjustments and I was back on track by Saturday.
20111130
Bench 265 5x ladders
HB Squat 405,425,445 3×3
20111201
Chins +25 5×3
Curls…a bunch, I was quite sore Friday
20111203
I was curious how this would go since I haven’t paused anything in four months. Well, it went very well. I benched 319 at Nationals and it was a bit of a grinder. I hit 317.5 yesterday pretty easily, which means my bench is coming along very well. I’m going to play it conservatively and just go for 325 next week for a 5.5lb overall PR. I don’t need to get greedy…not until the Arnold.
Bench w/pause 305,317.5 2×1
Dynamic Squat 315 8×2
RDLs 280 3×5
This week was decent. Not great, not terrible, just somewhere in the middle. I learned that I need to bench Monday, even if it means driving to the Y after school on Monday night to get a spot. I tried benching without a spot last week, and that made me tired. Then I tried doing dips instead of benching this past Monday, and on Thursday I felt completely off. So the next two Mondays prior to the meet I’ll drive to the Y to bench.
20111121
Press 175 5×3 (these felt great, it’s been a while since I pressed first)
Dips BW 5x ladders (did not work as a substitute for benching, I learned this the hard way)
Chins BW 6×5
20111126
Squat 545×2 (this would have been a big PR, but Chris said the 2nd one may or may not have been deep enough, so I just won’t call this a PR, though it didn’t feel as hard as I expected it to)
Rack Pull 550 2×2
