Looking strong. Hope the ART gets you fixed up.

Thanks Rich!

9/15

squats
65x5
155x5
245x3

briefs
425x2
515x1

suit
655x1

knee wraps
705x1 - felt good mostly. Not great on the descent, but not bad. I buried it and it came up fast.

755x1 - I racked this very well. I got down ok. I might have got the up call a bit early, but it was close. Wife said she called me right at parallel and thought I would dip. It came up pretty fast.

I've been thinking lately that more squats are worse for me than less because of the lower leg issue. I have plenty of strength for squatting 800+. I just need to get everything moving well and feeling good. I'm going to squat sparingly the next several weeks and work on posterior chain stuff for secondary work.

RDLs - straps after 1st set & all beltless
315x5
405x5
495x5
545x5 - that was challenging


9/16
I skipped speed bench and did very little light pulling and band work as rehab.

9/18

DL
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit
545x1
605x1
655x1 - smoked it, despite not having right side grip perfect. This was 95% of my training goal. I thought about the way DLs have been going and how this moved so fast. I decided my training goal of 688 was too light, so I increased it to 711.
https://rumble.com/vagbsv-655-lb-dl....1mmhj&mc=1lchm

675 (~95% of 711) x 1 - not perfect, but never a doubt it was getting locked out.
https://rumble.com/vagbut-675-lb-dl....1mmhj&mc=1lchm


chain DLs raw
455 + 4 chains x 2
455 + 6 chains x 2
455 + 8 chains x 1
455 + 10 chains x 1
455 + 12 chains x 1 - fairly hard, but not too bad. There were no more chains and it was getting late, so I stopped.

Heheh.

Strong lifts.

lol

Thanks!

9/20

bench press

45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1

blue 3 ply shirt
2 boards
605x1 - super fast

touch chest
655xf - I had my collar in what I thought was an ok spot to touch this weight, but it was too low. I managed to barely touch, but I didnt have enough control of it to get a press command, so it just hovered a quarter inch off my chest until I ran out of gas. Bleh.

I raised the collar higher than I have probably ever had it in this shirt and tried again.
655x1 - yay, PR + 10. It was not fast and my right side isnt 100% as evidenced by the wobbly right elbow, but I got it.

https://rumble.com/vagmy9-655-lb-bench-press.html

I was having thoughts about opening in this shirt, but nah. That was way harder than I was anticipating. My other shirt is a lot easier to touch in. Maybe I will open worlds with ~628 in my 2 ply shirt.


3 board press
365x3
405x2
455x1
My shoulders felt beat up, so I stopped.


Machine chest supported rows
205x10
250x10
295x16

face pulls

Congrats on the PR!

Thanks!

9/22

squats
65x5
155x5
245x4

briefs
425x2
515x1

suit
655x1

knee wraps
715x1
765x1 - This is the most I have had on my back in a while. I got it and it didnt feel bad, but I dont feel confident squatting anything right now.

RDLs
315x5
405x5
495x5



9/23
I did some floor presses and the shoulder did not feel good at all. I stopped once I got to 275.

I contacted my PT and she stayed late the next day to squeeze me in. Lots of stuff in my neck and back was not firing at all. The things that affected the bench press the most I think were the right rhomboids and lower/mid traps. Hopefully the stuff she did to get everything firing again holds up.


9/25
DL
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit
545x1
635x1
695 x f. I started a bit forward and my right psoas was sore after doing this.

I pulled 475 + medium bands raw a couple reps and the psoas felt worse. It started bothering me when I was walking, so I figured shutting down was the best thing to do. Bah. DLs had been going so well too.

I texted my doc and my PT to see what to do about this. I put my TENS unit on both psoas and glutes for about an hour last night and the pain and tightness was about 95% gone. It came back after sleeping last night, but its about 75% better than yesterday. After some discussion, the three of us came to the conclusion that the L3/L4 herniation injury from 2011 is likely the root cause of the psoas tightness. I guess I need a little low back rehab again. Its not terrible, but I cant perform at 100% right now.

I hope you recover quickly from that. Hopefully it will take care of itself with a little therapy and rehab.

Thanks Rich!

9/27

bench
45x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1

black SDP (2 ply opener shirt)
2 boards
585x1

off chest
635x1 - This is the most I have pressed in this shirt off my chest. It was sort of hard to touch. Pressing it was not pretty. The right shoulder/back issue was getting to be more of a problem.I am having a hard time keeping my right shoulder from shrugging when I bench something very heavy.

blue 3 ply SDP
two boards
675xf. I should be smoking this. I shrugged the right shoulder and got it about 2" from lockout on the right side before giving up. The left side got lockout out, no problem.


9/29
squat
up to 705x1 in suit & knee wraps. The 705 was fine.

I put 775 on my back. My feet were off a little, which caused the bar to roll down my back a little. This gave me some right shoulder pain. It was not terrible, but it was enough for me to decide to shut down for the day. I did some light step ups.


9/30
I did some very light PNF D2 flexion and some other light pulling stuff to rehab the right shoulder/back.

10/1
Chiropractor figured out my subscap was all knotted up, which was causing the shoulder/back issue to not go away. It feels like getting this loosened up and moving again was the last thing I need to do to get the issue pointed in the right direction. I now have more rehab stuff to add, but it feels like I made more progress after this than at any point since the issue started.

10/2
DL
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit
545x1
605x1 (~opener) - smoked it
655x1 (~2nd attempt) - Very good form. It didnt go super fast, but it was not slow and form was probably near perfect.
690xf. I got it about 1" off the floor and then gravity hit. The right psoas tightness made an appearance. It was not nearly as bad as last week, but it let me know it wasnt happy. I figured I should stop pulling from the floor for the day. I think I can pull at about 95% or so of my max goal without issues right now, but when it gets near my max, I have problems.


wagon wheel DL (~4" elevated)
455x3
495x3
545x3
The psoas became slightly tighter after the 3rd set, so I figured I would shut it down for the day.

I need to get to this meet without any nagging injuries if possible. I am not worried about strength at this point. My plan is to take openers and 2nd attempts this week if I am feeling good. The following week (which will be 1 week out) I will take openers only. Hopefully this new strategy allows me to perform better at worlds.

Good luck at the meet! I hope you get there with no nagging issues.

Thanks!

10-4

bench
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1

black SDP
2 boards
585x1

off chest
635x1
Touching was less awful than last week. It went up slow and the right side was late, but I got it locked all the way eventually. The shoulder felt a bit sore, but less bad than last week. I figured it wouldnt hurt to try something a bit heavier off a two board in my 3 ply shirt.

2 boards, blue SDP
675x1
Right lockout was slow again, but I got it. Its coming back, but its a ways from being 100%.

I did a couple sets of 135x8 with bands hooked up to the wall behind the bench to make me keep my shoulders down. After the 2nd set, it felt like this wasnt helping anything, so I stopped and did some light pulling with bands.

10/4 bench vid: https://rumble.com/vanb2q-635-lb-ben...1mmhj&mc=1lchm

10/6

squat
up to 705x1. This actually went well, but as I was getting my right knee wrapped, I got a weird cramp in my right vastus lateralus. It wenbt away as the band compressed the VL & did not bother me during the squat. I thought about it for a while afterwards and I came to the conclusion thatt it was because the fibula tibia joint was compressed too much and that cause the VL to react by cramping up. I decided that being this close to the meet, I was not going to take any chances during training, so I shut it down.

https://rumble.com/vanb26-705-lb-squ...1mmhj&mc=1lchm


10/7
shoulder rehab & stuff

upper back and pec band warmup stuff

blast strap rows

PNF D2 flexion

blast strap fallouts - I need to do more of these with less aggressiveness than I used to. I worked lots of muscles that needed waking up.


10/9
physical therapy/MAT
She used her $50,000 TENS unit on my hips, back, shoulders and neck. It worked. Shoulder went from feeling like it has broken glass in it to being back to ~85 or 90% with very minimal bad feeling and it feels like most of the muscles that werent firing the past few weeks now are. All it took was two MAT sessions and an aggressive ART session

I see my chiro a week from Mon and my PT a week from Tu. Hopefully I will be near 100% for the meet the following Sat.


DL

225x5x2
315x3
405x2

Suit
545x1
605x1 – fast, solid
https://rumble.com/vanb12-605-lb-dl....1mmhj&mc=1lchm

655x1 – good form
https://rumble.com/vanb1m-655-lb-dl-...1mmhj&mc=1lchm

675x1 – as the bar was going over my knees, my knees sild forward, pushing the bar away from me a little. I powered through it anyway. 672 or 678 feels like a weight I should be able to get on a 3rd attempt. Assuming I get that, I will probably chip the WR of 683 on a 4th attempt.
https://rumble.com/vanb1w-675-lb-dl-...1mmhj&mc=1lchm

Looking strong Cha!

Watching the deadlifts, I see you grip the bar with the overhand hand first, which causes your body to twist slightly, pushing your knees out as you bring your underhand hand to the bar. I've been doing the same thing since brining by stance in and thought I needed to improve on grabbing the bar with both hands simultaneously while tracking the knees closer. Good to see I can simply retuck my knees and go.

Yes, my coach suggests overhand first, then underhand.

Keep in mind I am wearing gear, so there is no way I could get both hands to the bar at the same time, but even if you're not in a suit, I recommend setting one hand at a time.

Thanks Cha.

Not feeling great going into the meet, but I have been worse. The shoulder/right side of back thing and also the right hip thing have been worked on two or three times each by my chiro and my PT. Each time I leave their office I feel better, but at the gym, when I bench & DL, something is not right.

10/11
bench raw up to 365x1 - everything starting with the bar felt bad in the right shoulder.

opener shirt
2 boards
585x1 - smoke show

off chest
625x1 - brutal getting this to touch, then it was slow coming up. I did get it, but something bad might happen if I try opening in this range, so I borrowed a friend's shirt that is a size bigger than mine and it has arms that are way too big for me.

Todd's shirt - Its a size 60, two-ply SDP with stretched out arms - Fred gave this shirt to Todd and Fred has huge arms. The chest plate is perfect for me for an easier opener, but I get nothing out of the arms at all. I am guessing I could probably max out at about 615 - 620 in this shirt as it is right now at the body weight I am at right now (~265).

585x1
Not as bad as 625 in my shirt, but touching was tough. 595 next time.

I did some light pulling after this.


10/13
squats up to 705. Everything went mostly fine. Getting the bar racked sucks for the first few sets before my right shoulder gets warmed up, but the squats went well actually.

10/15 rehab ****.

10/16

DL

225x5x2 - right hip flared up right away on the 1st set.
315x3
405x1 - forgot to chalk and double overhand grip was giving out, so I skipped 2nd rep.

suit
545x1
605x1 - ok, not great. It moved fast enough, but something felt a bit off. I didnt record it so I cant pinpoint any form issues. No one watching had anything specific to say, just "I've seen you pull better". meh. I rested after this to protect the hip.



10/18
bench up to 345 raw. Same **** - right shoulder felt bar on everything starting with the bar. It felt slightly less bad with more weight.

Todd's shirt
2 boards
545x1 - super fast

off chest
595x1 - touching wasnt horrible, but it wasnt great. I cant get a feel for how hard to pull each side of the bar because my pulling muscles are so uneven right now. Pressing it wasnt bad. I didnt blast it super fast because I wanted to control it better on the way up. I went up somewhat slowly, but there was little doubt about getting it locked out. 595 looks like a good opener in Todd's shirt. That takes some stress off me.

I did some light pulling after this.

10/19 - chiro did great stuff.

10/20 - PT did great stuff. She recorded three vids of stuff I can do for my shoulder/back issue with my wife's help. We did that last night. It feels like more muscles are firing when I am finished with that. Hope this helps on Saturday.

I think I know what to do for the hip for temporary relief. I usually put my TENS unit on my glutes prior to squats & DLs lately and it is helping a lot. I also did my quads and hamstrings last Fri and that also felt great. But I did not do my adductors. I think my right adductor magnus needs this prior to DLs especially, as weakness/inactivity in it is one of the things that is ****ing my right hip joint up when I DL. I told my PT this idea and she agreed with me. I need to use the TENS all over my glutes, quads, hams and adductors prior to DLs now. My fingers are crossed that this will work.


Meet plan:

s - 705/739 - 755/755 - 804 (most likely 3rd attempt is 777 if I do well on the first two)

b - 595 in Todd's shirt/633 in my opener two ply shirt/ ???656 - 683 in my 3 ply shirt. I did touch and press 655 in it on 9/20, but I missed 675 off two boards recently because of the back/shoulder issue and that should be easy for me. Maybe 661 would be a good 3rd if all is going well.

d - 606/650 - 661/672 - 688. 683 is the WR. One thing I can do is take a 4th attempt at 688 (or maybe just chip the WR and take 684). If I do a 4th, it will not count on my total. The WR total is 2055, so that is another thing I have my eye on. That number might affect my 3rd attempt number.

A perfect day for me would be 2055+ total (WR), 684+ DL (WR) and not getting injured lol.

I decided to enter both masters and open for this meet. I should get a medal for 275. I have a pretty good shot at getting a medal for overall too. There are about half a dozen other guys who could beat me. One of them, Matt Minuth, will beat me for overall if he gets his openers & doesnt bomb. I think I could beat any of the other people in this meet. Its definitely a tougher field than nationals was. Minuth is probably one of the 5 or 10 best multiply lifters in the world. He should be in the WPO, but he bombed the qualifier. He has the all-time WR for 242 with a 2700 lb total from the 2018 WPO - that was the meet in which he tore a bicep on his DL opener, then dropped his 2nd attempt at the top before getting a good lift in on his 3rd attempt. Amazing to see. Its an honor to be competing with guys like that.

I hope you're recovered in time. Sounds like a great meet. When is it?

Sorry I didnt answer sooner. It was Saturday. I'll post a report shortly.

10/24

WPC worlds

I went 6 for 7. meh.

squat
705 - 3 whites


744 - 3 whites - 28 lb meet PR, buuuut, I tore my left hamstring on the way up. You can see when it happened by the look on my face. I figured since I was part of the way up already, I might as well finish the lift. That ended my day for squats.


I knew I would be able to bench ok based on how I felt after tearing a hammy a couple years ago.

bench - Todd's size 60 SDP
595 - 3 whites


I changed to my usual opener shirt, a 58 SDP with much tighter arms
633 - 3 whites. This is an 11 lb meet PR and an American and world record. Woot!


I changed to my 3 ply SDP, size 58 with tight arms
661 - near miss at top. I think if i had set the collar an inch lower I would have got this. On the rack at the tail end of the video, you can see that the spotters shifted the weight and smashed my left pinkie. Its not broken. It does have a nasty gash and a bone bruise, but I can grip with it.


As soon as I tore the hammy, I knew I needed to figure out a way to DL something, because otherwise my WR bench and PR squat would not count. Reaching down to the bar with conventional or sumo stance didnt work. I asked the head judge about possibly wrapping the leg. That wasnt going to work. I thought about it for a while and came up with the idea of setting my left foot way in back of the right one. The allowed me to reach the bar easily without hurting the bad hammy. I checked with all the judges and got the green light from them. I just needed to put my heel back down in the same place it came up.

Now how much to do? I pulled 1 plate and 2 plates in the warmup area. I figured at worst, I would get 225 without hurting myself.

1 legged DL
225 - three white lights.


I had a total, so my WR would count now. I wanted more. I came to this meet to put up 2055+. That wasnt going to happen now obviously. Healthy, I would have needed a 678 DL for the 2055 WR total. That was something I could have done before the injury, but not now. 623 would give me 2000. That wasnt going to happen either. 567 would give me a meet PR total. Ok. I figured I would do something sort of between 225 and 567 to see how things felt.

385 - three whites
The bad hammy felt tight on this because I needed to use that leg to balance. It was not difficult and it did not feel like I was going to make it worse on this pull (my plan was to drop the bar if I felt anything bad happening). But I was not going to be able to increase my total a significant amount without putting myself at risk for a worse injury, so I called it a day.


I totaled 800 KG, which was good for 1st (gold medal) in my age / weight class, and 2nd (silver medal) for open 275. If I had remained healthy and pulled my 2nd DL (650 or so), I would have won best lifter. sigh.

Wow. Sorry to hear that. I hope your recovery is quick. As you can still move it okay and stand on it, I hope it's just grade 1. Glad you got through the meet.

Congrats on the PRs and on winning your weight and age group.