6/3

speed bench
45x15
135x10x2
185x6
225x3
280x3x8

cable rows
face pulls
high rep tricep pushdowns

Following up on #2...

When doing pulling motions (particularly horizontal), should they be done with the scapulae retracted the whole time? Or should I let them move forward and retract them as part of the pulling motion?

I can kind of see the argument for both, and in fact, should both ways be utilized? i.e. should I be training these muscles in both an isometric way and an active way? Maybe doing deadlifts is good for training them isometrically, but rows are good for training them through their full range of motion?

I was gonna say "pretty sick how in your avatar you really have to grind pulling 600 for a PR not that long ago while today you 'open' w 615 and it just flies off the floor", or is that mostly because of the suit?

How does a suit work anyway? How come it makes you stronger? Or what does it do exactly?

Watch this video for lots of great rowing info: http://www.ericcressey.com/strength-...que-8-ways-row

I'm pretty sure I'm stronger raw than I was a year ago when I grinded out that 601.

I think I'm getting ~40 lbs out of the suit. Its very tight around the shoulders & legs and gives back support. It makes it hard to reach the bar when its on tight, so that presents a lot of challenges with regards to form. I find it hard to reach the bar and not round my back with the suit on, but it helps me get better speed off the floor, and it feels like its protecting my back. I don't think it helps much with the lockout.

Lifting in gear is hard to learn. Its a lot harder than lifting raw.

edit: I meant to mention this as well. My coach says some people get something out of DL suits and some get hardly anything or almost nothing. He doesn't get much from his suit. I get more than most people do.

6/5

squat
55x10
145x5
235x5

briefs
325x3
415x1

suit
505x1

wraps
585 (~opener) x1 - hitting depth took seemingly forever, but once I did, the weight flew up. Eddie wrapped me. He does a great job - probably better than anyone else who's wrapped my knees. He's coming to the meet and will wrap me.

Cheers.

Good luck at your meet Cha.

Syndrom: Figured I would add a bit of info as to how suits/shirts work. Take this with a grain of salt as I have never used either. My info is second hand from talking to folks that do and it is very basic.

Think of a suit/brief/shirt as a spring or an elastic band. They want to retain their normal structure, so when you stretch it out they tend to snap back to their original shape when you stop exerting the stretching force on to it. This works well with squat suits/briefs and bench shirts because you are loading the weight of the bar into the suit/shirt. Once you start moving upward with the weight, the suit/briefs/shirt want to go back to their original state and help move the weight up. They tend to work well when coming out of the hole in squat or off the chest in bench because they are stretched out the most in those positions and less so with lockout as they are just about back to their original shape. They tend not to work as well with deadlifts as you cannot load the weight of the bar into the suit. From what I have heard most people get 10-20 lbs out of suits for deadlifts.

As cha said: it is a skill you have to learn. There is a grove (bar/body path) where each suit/brief/shirt works the best. If you get out of that grove then you are usually in for a bad time. This is due to the weights being really heavy and that the suits/brief/shirts will continue to get back to their original position which quickly moves you further into a bad position. An example of this is losing the weight forward in a squat. While you can usually good morning the weight back into a proper setup while lifting raw, it is exponentially harder to do that while wearing a suit and/or briefs. This is because the suit is continuing its quest to get into its original position, but it doesn't care if it is vertical, horizontal, or somewhere in between. So if you are out of position you have less time to correct it before it becomes un-correctable.

Thanks!


That's a very good description^.

Lifting in gear takes a lot of skill and practice.

6/7

heavy bench, up to opener
45x15
135x10x2
185x6
225x3
275x2
315x1

shirt
405x1 off 3 boards
465x1 off chest. It felt harder than I would have liked, but it touched fine and I got it locked out.

cable rows
face pulls
high rep rope tricep pushdowns

6/9

DL
225x5x2
315x5
405x2

briefs
495x1

suit
565x1 - I had the suit on too tight. It was really hard to get to the bar. The weight went up fast once I did, but I was out in front of it.

615x1 (opening at 612)
I made the suit a little looser and got to the bar better. It went up fast, and my form was good, but I could have started with my hips slightly farther back.

All done lifting until the meet now.

Planned lifts:
584/628-639/661-672
463/491/513
612/656/683

I know I can get all my squats if I can use good form on all of them. The guy who's going to be wrapping my knees is the best, so I have no worries at all about that. I'll be using my gym's monolift and squat bar, and I hit 665 with that stuff with no problem a week and a half ago. I just need to keep from letting my chest cave and keep my balance.

I dont feel confident about my bench beyond my opener. I think we're probably using the bench with the slippery surface, and in this federation, the judges are slow with start and press commands. Four of the five judges are teammates, but I'm not expecting any favors - they're strict.

I'm confident about getting my first two DLs, but not the third. I feel like I can get 655 any time I try it right now without everything being perfect, but if I am going to pull ~685, I need to get everything perfect.

gl man!

Thanks!

This is a good read:

http://www.powerrackstrength.com/why...ifting-career/

Why I Chose & Choose To Stay Equipped For My Powerlifting Career

Brian Carroll June 11, 2015

Good luck in your meet cha.

Nice article. I like how he gave a shout out to Jordan Wong. I dont know if you remember him but he won our class at IPL worlds 2 years ago and just set the all time 220 raw squat record.

Thanks!

yeah, I remember him. I rode the elevator from the parking ramp with his uncle on my way into the meet. He said his nephew was lifting in the meet and I had no idea who Jordan was then. After the meet, I remember his uncle going nuts after they announced Jordan won best lifter.

6/13

USPA MN state championship

squat
584 good
634 miss. My depth guy had me go too deep by several inches and I got buried when I tried to come up out of the hole. That has never happened to me before while in gear.
634 good. Apparently this was perfect depth according to a side judge. 3 white lights.

bench
463 good. 3 white lights.
491 miss. bleh. I didn't get tight enough, and had almost nothing off the chest.
491 miss. phht. I was tight, and I got the bar to my chest fine, but on the way up I didn't turn my elbows out, so I got stuck. Back to the drawing board.

One other note on the bench. This federation requires waiting for a start command. That makes a difference in how much energy you need to expend, so its a little harder than UPA in that respect. I still should have gotten 491 though.

DL
612 good, USPA national record. 3 whites.
656 good, USPA national record. 3 whites.
683 miss. My suit had slid up my legs from the previous lifts and when I tried to pull this, the suit starting smashing my nuts

1752.7 total

All lifts are state records. I needed a 1637 total to qualify for worlds. I was nowhere near any other national records.

The good:
- Didn't bomb out.
- 2 meet PRs (squat & DL)
- Crushed one American record by 55 lbs.
- Didn't smash nuts bad.
- Learned that I need to keep an eye on how high my DL suit rides up on me during a meet.
- Met local celebrity and former MN Vikings long snapper, Mike Morris. He actually approached me during my squats to compliment me. I talked to him quite a bit. Very cool guy. He has been doing powerlifting for a long time, but is taking time off due to some injury issues. He said his best squat is >800 in gear. He looks like he's still in great shape at age 54. His 25 year old son was lifting in his first meet today. I gave his son some bench and DL tips that he was very receptive to.

The bad:
- Missed opportunity to go for PR squat (I've done > 634 several times in the gym). I could have got 661 if I would have had the opportunity.
- ****ing bench press.

nice work man! glad them nuts are ok.

Thanks! yeah me too!

good lifts only^

Anyone want to see the missed lifts too?

Yeah buddday!

Nice lifting man. Good to hear your nuts are still there.

A Yugo sighting!

Thanks! lol

Nice work cha! You will figure out the bench thing the more you do them.

Haha, yeah. I still follow at least several logs, except my own, .

I have been lifting 3 days/week consistently so it's not like I gave up or anything. Just didn't feel logging was really helping me in any way recently.

great stuff!