9/27

Cervical/thoracic mobility
X band walks
Cat/camel
Bird dog
Side planks
Supine bridge
Clamshells
Side lying leg raise
Supine leg raise
Hip floss

I didnt know if I could or should be doing the bolded because of the left shoulder. All of these felt fine. I think all this stuff contributed to feeling great for DLs.

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
635x1
I came to the gym hoping I would feel well enough to pull 635. Everything moved really well and my form was was good. 635 moved so fast, I figured I'd be cheating myself if I didnt pull at least 675.

675x1 - This was the cleanest, fastest sumo 675 I have pulled. Please ignore the fact that I dropped it before the weight hit the ground. I frequently do that in training to prevent the possibility of jacking up my low back. Putting it down in a meet wont be an issue.




band DLs
315 + the gym's blue bands + my black bands x 2

315 + blue + black + my green bands x 1 - This was way harder than I was expecting. I did get it locked out, but there was no way I was doubling this. I didnt know how much band tension at the time. I looked it up later and now I understand why this was so hard. The blues are 50 lbs each, the greens are 120 lbs each and the blacks are 150 lbs each. 315 + 100 + 240 + 300 = 955 at the top. I wish I had a video of this.

I was spent after this, so I just did some hip flossing, which felt good.

9/29

shoulder rehab

Cervical/thoracic mobility
X band walks
Cat/camel
Bird dog
Side planks
Supine bridge
Clamshells
Side lying leg raise
Supine leg raise

I did about 8 or 9 out of the Buchburger 12

machine rows

rope tricep puchdowns

Shoulder feels good so far, but I am being very careful with it for now.

10/1

mobility & activation stuff including side planks, bird dogs & lots of glute activation

squats
65x10
155x5
245x3
335x3

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1

suit
695xf - I leaned forward, so getting to depth took forever. Also, the strings on my suit were way too loose. I replaced them and they are way too long, so that threw us off on how loose they were.

I tightened the strings and put some loose knee wraps on.
695x1 - smoked it.

770xf - I had the straps on the suit too tight, so it messed me up on the descent. By the time I got to the hole, there was no way I was coming up. My right VL tightened up bad after this, which prevented me from doing much secondary work.

I tried SSB box squats, those felt like ****. I took my briefs off and tried a lighter weight. It still felt like ****. I tried the belt squat machine. That felt like **** with 290 lbs. I dropped it to 200 and did a few sets. It felt less bad, but not good.

I did some standing hamstrings curls as well. Those felt ok.

10/2

mobility, core and glute work plus some pec activation

some shoulder rehab stuff including standing PNF D2 flexion - those made the shoulder feel pumped in a good way. I think the shoulder is improving.

10/3

ART
My left shoulder got worked over like never before. It was good. He also worked over my right VL and all the stuff that affects it. That is better, but still not 100%.

I've been doing some kind of PT stuff on the shoulder every day and taking all the supplements I can find that promote tendon and muscle health. I think I am on track to try shirted benching a week from Sunday. My fingers are crossed that it goes well.


10/4

Cervical/thoracic mobility
X band walks
ankle mobs
PNF D2 flexion
Cat/camel
Bird dog
Side planks
Supine bridge
Clamshells
Side lying leg raise
Supine leg raise

DL
225 x 5
315x3
405x2

Briefs were the tightest ever. Getting them on and keeping them on was brutal. bw was 267 1st thing in the morning. In addition to ~pr bw, I've been using this Liquid IV stuff that is supposed to make you way more hydrated than plain water or other drinks like gatorade. I think it works very well. I noticed that I filled out my briefs way more last Friday 9/27 and yesterday after drinking the Liquid IV right before lifting than I did on Tuesday when I just drank water instead. Costco online has the best deal on this stuff that I could find.

suit & tightest briefs ever
Initially, I tried leaving the suit straps in the same place as I had them last week. The suit/briefs were so ****ing tight, I could not reach the bar. I had to loosen the straps so much that they barely stayed on my shoulders.
495x1
585x1
635x1
Everything was good and fast up until this point.
675xf - The weight flew off the floor, but it stalled as my hands made contact with my legs, then I got pulled forward, so I let go. I'm not 100% sure what exactly happened. Something felt odd in my left hand, like maybe when the fingers made contact with the leg, my grip got loose, but I didnt drop it. Maybe my skin on skin contact stuck and that stopped me.

Whatever. I am not concerned about this. I will smoke this almost every time if I get my head right, and I am pretty sure I will smoke 711 on my 2nd attempt at the meet when that time comes (661/711/750).

What I am concerned with is not getting hurt again before the meet. For that reason, I decided to move on. Another reason to move on - I am helping my daughter move today, so I did not want to overdo anything last night.

I decided doing some GHRs would be a good way to finish.
15x5
Its been a while since I hit these hard. I was just moving slow and controlled and trying to pump up the right muscles, rather than moving with explosive speed. The first few reps felt a little wonky, but once I got going, they felt very good. Each sets was better than the previous one. By the last rep of the last set, my glutes were on fire and my hammies were pumped.

10/5

I helped my daughter move. I am too old for this ****. Back felt like **** most of the day. Its a good thing we had several other strong people helping, so it went relatively fast.


10/6

shoulder rehab

PNF D2 flexion
Cervical/thoracic mobility
X band walks
Cat/camel
Bird dog
Side planks
Supine bridge
Clamshells
Side lying leg raise
Supine leg raise

I did about 8 or 9 out of the Buchburger 12

heavy cable rows - felt good

T bar rows - picking it up felt bad on my low back, but the rowing part felt good.

rope tricep pushdowns

10/8

X band walks
band pec activation
ankle mobs
PNF D2 flexion
Cat/camel
Bird dog
Side planks
Supine bridge
Clamshells
Side lying leg raise
Supine leg raise

squats
155x5
245x5

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1 - the right VL felt bad the whole time, but it felt very bad on this one. I decided to back down and do a couple singles with 515.

515x1x2 or 3

My 6' 5" 200 lb teammate beat me to an 800 lb squat in the gym last night. A nationally certified judge said his depth was about 1.5" below parallel. I am a bit jealous, but very happy for him. I have been working with him on tightening up and improving his rack position and I think its helping a lot. Up until a couple weeks ago, I dont think he ever squatted over 730 to depth before. He's doing the Can Am meet in a few weeks. It would be very cool if he could squat 804 in that meet.


GHR
20
vs red band x 20
vs green & red band x 15


I saw the PT (daughter of my main PT) today, 10/9. She helped me figure out what's going on with the right VL and also did some shoulder & rib stuff.

I think the source of the VL issue is the TFL and I think it probably originated when I did a max effort set of belt squats a couple/few weeks ago. I think I have adhesions or some other sort of irritation in the TFL.

I'm going to try some IASTM on it. She approved that, but said go easy the first time to see how it reacts, then if its not bad, to go harder on it the next day.

The stuff she did to activate right leg muscles made it so it doesnt hurt to stand up from sitting on the toilet now, but I can still feel significant tightness in the TFL. Hopefully this holds up or gets even better.

The shoulder has way more range of motion than it did last time I saw her, and the pain is nearly gone. She gave me the green light to start pressing again, but said go light at first. I'll do some floor presses tonight. Assuming that goes well, on Sunday, I'll do all my normal raw warmups up to 365, then assuming that goes well, I'll put my loose SDP on and do a 3 board press with 5 plates. If it continues feeling good, I'll work up to some 2+ board presses with something over 600. I am hopefully optimistic that I will bench 600+ in Dec.

If I can get the leg working 100% again, maybe I do have a chance at an 800+ lb squat & put up big total in Dec.

I've been busy with all kinds of things, so I have neglected my log. Hopefully my memory of all this stuff is accurate.

10/9
Floor press up to 275 and some pulling. Shoulder was ok, but I did feel a little something near the bottom of the presses at 275.

10/11
DL up to 683 x 1 - I got a bit forward with this, but muscled it up. Its good to know I can pull this weight when it isnt perfect form, but I need to clean my form up. After this, I did sumo rack pulls in briefs with the bar about an inch or two below the knees - 495x2, 585x2, 675x2, 765x1. The last one was a little hard, but not bad.

10/13
bench press
I did warmups up to 225 off my chest. I could feel a little something in the left shoulder when the bar got close to my chest, so I used two boards for 275, 315 & 365 raw.

loose SDP (opener shirt)
3 board press
495x1 - smoked, felt good

2 boards
585x1 - smoked it, felt good
635x1 - smoked it, felt good. This made me happy. I was hoping I could do maybe 600 or 605 without shoulder issues, but everything moved so fast, I figured 635 would be fine. It was better than fine.

I did about 3 or 4 sets of 375 off 2 boards x 3 raw after this, then some pulling.


10/15
squat
I did up to 705x1. This felt very good with regards to my right TFL/VL situation, which is great, but I was starting to feel sick from a cold, so I shut it down.

10/16 & 10/18 - skipped speed bench & DLs due to sickness.


10/20
bench
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1
No shoulder issues - yay! I wasnt expecting this. I had planned to use boards when the shoulder started to tighten up, but it never did.

loose SDP
2 boards
585x1 - smoked

1 board
635xf - touching the board was fine. I got the left arm basically locked, but the right wasnt getting there, so I had the spotters grab it. This has been a common thing for many years. It has to do with right elbow positioning and not pulling hard enough on the left side. On this day, it also had to do with feeling sick still (I felt my sinuses during full exertion on this attempt), and losing about 5 lbs since the previous week (its hard to eat a lot when I'm so big and sick). I weighed ~268 a week prior. I was 262 - 263 on this day. Since the sinuses hurt, I stopped and did just a few light pulling things.


10/22
squat
155x5
245x5

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1 - this didnt feel great. I seem to not be able to descend well with 605 on my back in briefs lately. It had been because of the TFL/VL issue, but that wasnt hurting me last night. I hope I can fix this.

suit & knee wraps
725x1 - It felt great and moved pretty fast. It looked good on video to me initially too. Then my coach, who sees things no one else does, noticed that I didnt get my belly through smoothly - my hips probably shot up very slightly as I came out of the hole. This was no problem at all with 725, but if I am going to have 800+ on my back, it would probably keep me from squatting it. I felt the sinus issue a little during this, so I decided rather than attempt 805, I'd take a few singles with 605 in briefs only.

briefs
605x1x3
not great, but not horrible

belt squats - raw
3 plates x 12 x 2
3 plates x 15
VL/TFL felt fine - yay!

Once I kick this cold, I am getting more optimistic about everything.

squat - I'm probably going to open with 727 or maybe a little more. Then I'll make a big jump to 804. If I get that, I'll go for 854, which gives me a little hope for getting to 2309.

bench - I think the shoulder is near 100% and I think/hope its going to hold up. I'll do most of my heavy stuff with boards and I'll continue doing PT exercises for it. I think my opener could be anywhere between 606 & 639 depending on what body weight I'm at and how training goes. 2nd attempt could be ~633 - 655. 3rd could be ~650 - 705 (hopefully 705 isnt just a dream).

One excellent thing I have noticed the past couple weeks is I no longer get the horrible shooting pain in my piriformis, which is caused by my SI joint, after a heavy bench attempt. I had felt this issue basically every time I benched anything over about 500 for probably the past couple years.

I am sure the reason this is better now is because of the physical therapy and the warmup routine I developed which hits my glutes and core very hard. I think the left glute medius used to be very weak and inactive. The PTs got it firing, and my warmup routine fires it up right before I lift. In addition, I am no longer having low back issues. The glute stuff helps that too, but the McGill stuff is the main reason the low back is feeling well again. These two developments (no SI or low back related pain) are HUGE for me. I can still feel the right VL/TFL issue a little bit, but its definitely improving, and the fact is hasnt acted up on a squat in a couple weeks is massive.

DL - the plan is still 661/711/750. In order to get that 711, my form needs to be good. In order to get 750, I will need form to be perfect. I might have the strength to do this. This is a tricky situation. When I am ~268 bw, its very hard to get to the bar and stay in good pulling position, but I feel very strong. When I'm closer to 260, its much easier to set up well, but I'm less strong.

Heavier body weight will definitely help my bench, it should help my squat, but it probably wont help my DL and it makes sleeping / recovery difficult. I was having issues with sleep apnea the past few weeks at 268+ bw, especially when the cold was at its worst. The past several days, since I dropped below 265 and the cold symptoms have improved, sleeping hasnt been as bad. I might want to come in right around 265 bw, but that could change.

I might have mentioned this before, but a total of 2309 would give me the highest total of any lifter over 50 years old ever according to openpowerlifting. Right now, I'd say my odds of this are around 1%. 854/705/750 would be 2309. Gym PRs are 785/605/715, but I have hit 675 off 1 board and 725 off 3 boards benching. I do think 650 - 705 is not impossible. squat - I need to have perfect form on anything over 800, which I usually dont do, but I know I have more than enough strength to squat 804 if my form is good, and I think I have enough strength for 854 if everything is perfect. I think 711 DL with the 2nd attempt is probable, but the stars would have to align perfectly for me to pull 750, especially after having squatted and benched so much on the same day.

Goals in order of most realistic to least: Openers will be something near 2006, which will be a ~72 lb pr, but I want more than that.
- I for sure want 2000+,
- 606+ bench (APF American record and I'll be the first Minnesotan over 50 to bench 600+).
- I want to beat Louie Simmons best total which I think was 2100 at age 52 according to powerliftingwatch.
- top 3 in this meet would make me very happy. I've taken 4th place the last two times I lifted in this meet, just out of the money. Its like making the final table of a poker tourney and getting KOed 1 spot away from $$.
- I'd love to win this meet - I think it will take something well over 2200 unless Mike Taylor bombs out, and while he's the favorite, he isnt the only lifter I am concerned about. Dave Hoff probably wont be doing this meet, but he could, and there are about 9 other guys with a shot of winning that I am aware of - there could be more that I dont know. Of the guys I know, I think I am about the 4th favorite to win this meet if I'm healthy.
- I'd love to have the highest 50+ 275 total ever. That is currently Karl Tillman at 2276
- The highest 50+ total at all weight classes is currently Anthony Petrino with 2305.

I am attempting to use a bipap machine now, but havent been able to sleep at all with it yet. A doctor friend explained to me how these new automatic bipap machines work and it appears I am the perfect candidate for how these things work because of my sinus issues. I picked up a used one that had never been used a week or so ago. I need to keep making mask adjustments and/or get a different mask, and dial in the settings. In the past, 10+ years ago, I was diagnosed with mild to moderate sleep apnea and I tried to use a cpap machine for about a year. I've had several nights recently that I am sure the sleep apnea was way worse than "moderate". The old cpap that I tried to use 10+ years ago made sleeping worse, so I stopped using it and had no desire to try again. Shortly after giving up on the cpap, I lost a bunch of body weight and sleeping improved. Now that I am heavy again, even though I am leaner now, I probably need something. I really dont want to remain this heavy after the December meet unless I feel healthier than I do now with regards to sleeping and cardio (I get winded way more easily that I did ~10 - 15 lbs ago). If sleep and cardio improves, maybe I could stay heavy a while, but as of right now, I plan to drop ~20 - 25 lbs shortly after Dec 14.

10/23

warmup routine

bench
45x15
115x10
135x10
185x5
225x3 - I felt tightness in the shoulder, so I figured board presses would be good.

2 board press
315x3
365x3
405x2 - My feet were sliding because the floor at this gym sucks, so I got no leg drive. I could have forced more out of this set, but I figured this was enough pressing work for the day.

cable rows
210x15
260x12
300x10 - this was hard

face pulls
150x15
170x15

10/25

warmup routine

DL
225X5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
675x1
705xf - It came off the floor fast, but it was like it hit an invisible wall around the knees. I got slightly forward with it. The issue stemmed from letting my hips shoot up very slightly when I was pulling it off the floor. Two other things affected this as well - I felt the sinus pressure again after this, so I still havent kicked this cold, and I widened my stance a little. This made it easier to get in good starting position, but I dont think my lockout is very strong with the wider stance. I need to fine tune this.

The sinus pressure feeling didnt go away, so I shut down the heavy work and did some light stuff.

The gym got a new hip thrust machine. I tried it out.

90x10
180x10
230x10
270x8
320x8

I think I like that machine. I definitely felt the glutes working. I'll probably add some more weight as I get better at them and hopefully feel better.

10/27

bench press
55x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
365x1
Everything felt fine in the shoulder.

tight two ply SDP
2 boards
585x1 - smoked

1 board
655x1 - smoked - I am very happy with this. Depending on body weight, something around this weight might make a good 2nd attempt. I was 265 yesterday. If I weigh 265 at the meet, I think maybe 656 - 667 could be a good 2nd attempt.

I wanted to compare how my 3 ply SDP is vs my tight two ply, so I took the same weight to a one board in the 3 ply.
655xf. Same issue as always when I miss closely. I got this locked out with the left arm, but not the right. This shirt has sleeves that are too loose near the openings. The tight two ply shirt has very tight sleeves. Its obvious now that I am getting a lot more at the top from the tight two ply shirt than the three ply. I need to get the sleeves altered on the three ply. I dont know if there's enough time to get it fixed before the meet or not. I'll think about this.

I was spent after that last attempt, so I shut down benching for the day and did some rows and face pulls.

10/28 watched the WPO on ESPN 3.

This was very cool. They had great coverage. There were multiple angles of each lift and Donnie Thompson provided entertaining commentary.

My coach, James "Priest" Burdette got a last minute invitation and he was not ready for this. At last year's WPO, he tore some ligaments and had some other problems in his lower back. That took months to heal. He was doing some raw lifting for a few months and was not expecting an invite to this year's WPO. He had been planning to do a meet next year to qualify for the 2020 WPO. Then, two weeks prior to this year's WPO, he got a call asking if he wanted to participate this year. He accepted and did what he could in the gym. During the time between his invitation and the meet, he hit zero good squats in his suit (several attempts) and zero good shirted bench press reps off his chest. He had switched from conventional to sumo DLs in order to have less stress on his low back and those were going terrible. He tore the skin on his hand DLing a week out from the meet. I thought he was going to bomb.

ESPN requested that all lifters lower their opening attempts so that no one would bomb out. LOL - that didnt work. Priest somehow squatted great though. He lowered his opener to 881 (he has always opened with 903 since I have known him). He looked shaky on the descent, but hit good depth and smoked it on the way up. He smoked #2 903 as well, and then made a bigger jump and just annihilated 947 on #3 - the 3rd squat looked way better than the 1st & 2nd. Too bad he had no idea where he was at. I think he had 1000+ in him. 3/3 squats was amazing, considering what I witnessed int he gym leading up to this meet.

Bench press handoffs for Priest were just dreadful. They didnt allow lifters to have their own side spotters. The guy on his right was not paying very good attention and lifted it too high. The guy on his left barely lifted the weight at all. When he got each handoff, the right side was several inches higher than the left and he had to gain his balance before starting each attempt. He managed to get a good lift with his opener weight of 705 on the 2nd attempt and missed the other two.

DL was a hot mess. He did smoke his opener, but it was only 551. He missed 606 twice because the bar twisted a bit and got out in front of him. 2202 (I think) total, good for 10th place in what was the toughest field of lifters possibly ever. I am proud of him.

Dave ****ing Hoff - holy ****!! For those reading this who dont know much about Hoff: Prior to this meet, there had been a total of two lifters ever to break 3,000 lb totals in meets. Donnie Thompson was the first at 3,000. Since then, Hoff had beat that three times with 3,005, 3,009 (I think) and 3,014 at 2018 APF nationals, which I saw in person, which was awesome. After 3,014, he was completely spent.

This year, Hoff was in the best condition and the strongest he has ever been. He squatted 1,174 (yeah, 1,174 lb opener), then jumped to 1,273 to beat the all time world record. He smoked it, but since moving that kind of weight takes so much out of you, he skipped his 3rd attempt.

Bench, he smoked everything, going 3/3 and getting 1,014 on the 3rd. He had more than that in him.

DL was funny. As I was watching bench, I was figuring out what he needed to DL to break 3,100. After he benched 1,014, I figured his 2nd attempt was a slam dunk 815 for a 3,103 total. He took 750 and smoked that on his opener. His total was now at 3,037. As I watched this on tv, of course he came out and smoked the **** out of 815 for his 2nd attempt. I figured he had that planned all along - nope, see below. At the top of the 815, he held the weight a long time and was yelling something I could not understand. It was pretty funny. He set the weight down slowly and didnt take a 3rd. Too bad, because I think he probably had 3,202 in him. He had pulled 900+ in training and I think he probably had 914 in him. This guy is so much better than all the other multiply lifters in the world, it is ridiculous. I hope Blaine Sumner learns multiply so that he might give Hoff a little competition someday.

The funny part about the DL was that neither Hoff nor his handlers had any plan for what to take on his 2nd DL attempt. They were talking about getting to a 3,075 total or some other numbers around that. My teammate Fred looked Hoff in the eye and said "815". They started looking around and weren't sure. Fred looked Hoff in the eye again and said it louder - "815, take 815!!". Then it started to click with all of them. "yeah, 815!!".

The closest total to Hoff's was Bob Merkh, who lifted mostly very well and is a beast. He was a mere 491 lbs behind Hoff, lol.

Matt Minuth & Chris Della Fave both bombed out in squats. That was very disappointing to see because those two put on a hell of a show last year at the WPO. In 2018, Minuth set the 242 all time world record after tearing his bicep on his DL opener, missing his 2nd and then pulling a good DL on his 3rd attempt with the torn bicep. Della Fave had a chance to top Minuth if he had pulled 914, but it stopped before getting to his knees.

There was a lot of other great lifting as well. I encourage everyone who is interested in powerlifting to watch the rerun of this on ESPN 3.

10/29

I didnt squat because we had a going away party for my coach, Priest. He is moving to LA. He got a job there and will be lifting with Scott Mendelson again - that's pretty cool for him, and having Mendy on the team is cool. Priest is leaving the team monolift and competition bench here with us in MN - he owns those. He says there will now be two branches of Nemesis Powerlifting - MN & CA. Going forward, when we all do national &/or world meets, we can all help each other out. Apparently Mendy plans to start competing in PLing (bench only I assume) again - he had been doing professional arm wrestling for a while. Priest plans to come back to MN semi-regularly because his daughter from another marriage lives here, so we will see him once in a while, but it will suck to not have him around much anymore.

10/30

I switched DL & squat days because of the lack of spotters this day.

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
605x1
675x1
I'm not having trouble lifting the weight, but I am having a hard time staying in good position. The right side of the bar tends to drift forward on me almost every geared rep. I am going to have a hard time DLing 711 at the meet, let alone 750, if I cant do this better.

I knew I was squatting in two days and I had very little energy due to not enough sleep, so I moved on to some light stuff after this.

belt squats
3 plates x 10 x 3

hip thrusts
2 plates x 10
3 plates x 8 x 2

10/31

speed bench
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x3x2

2 board press
365x3x3

Shoulder feels pretty good


cable rows, face pulls & PNF D flexion

11/1

squat
65x10
155x5
245x5

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1

Everything moved well on the way up. 605 felt wonky on the descent, but my teammate said it looked ok.


suit & knee wraps
725x1 - this felt a little harder than it should have, but I got it without too much trouble. The right leg/VL/TFL issue is still affecting my squats a little. I probably could have exerted myself more on the ascent.

785xf. A couple things - my belt felt like one notch was a bit loose and the other notch was a bit tight. I went with tighter on this attempt. I lost my air right before I hit parallel. My ears were popping. It was no fun. The problem was that I descended a little too slow. I was spent after this.

I decided I needed something to help with stamina because I keep running out of energy lately. Part of that is just carrying around more body weight (I weighed 267 this morning), part is because sleeping isnt going all that well, part is because I'm not doing anything like sled pulls and part is because I was sick with a cold for a couple weeks. I decided light KB swings would be good.

KB swings
70 x 12 x ~12 sets
I need to do these more often. They work for conditioning and they really get my glutes firing hard, even with light weight. I laid off them for a while several months ago because they gave me some SI & low back issues when I snapped my hips. Last night, I focused on not overextending with the hips or low back and they really hit my glutes hard. I definitely need more of these because better firing glutes will help all my lifts and I really need more conditioning work.

11/3

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

loose SDP
2 boards
585x1

touch
615xf - weird attempt. I sort of twisted my torso right and the bar went down crooked. I had to have the spotters take it before I touched.

615x1 - My butt might have moved a bit. No one noticed it but me. I think this lift had a better than 50-50 chance of getting at least two whites.

tight two ply SDP
1 board
675xf. It shot up pretty well, but I must have pulled it slightly to the right because my left arm locked and the right didnt.


I did some rows and face pulls after this. My arms didnt feel great.

10/5

squats
65x10
155x5
245x5

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1

suit & knee wraps
725x1


785x1 - ties pr, but this was better than the previous 785

Not perfect, but a big improvement from most of what I've been doing. I want 859 next month.

briefs only
425x2
Right VL tight. I decided to move on.

belt squats
3 plates x 12 x 3

KB swings - one set every 90 seconds
70x15
The last couple sets of this got hard. Glutes pumped.

11/6

floor press
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x2
345x2
365x2
Arms werent feeling great, so I moved on.


1 arm cable rows
150x15
180x12
200x12

PNF D2 flexion
2 sets

face pulls
150x15x2

rope tricep pushdowns

11/8

DL
225x5
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
675x1
715xf - I pushed the right side forward. It got up to a little below the knees and then it felt like it hit a wall.
715xf. I got in good starting position, but just didnt have the strength to pull it.

495x1x4 - I practiced good starting position and it went well.

KB swings
70x15x7. I intended to do about 12 to 15 sets, but my forearms felt tired and overly pumped up. wtf. I had to stop. Not a good night.

11/10

Every other training session seems to be going well now.

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

loose SDP
2 boards
585x1

off chest
615x1 - I smoked it pretty good, but the handoff guy got a little jittery and grabbed it before I got the rack command. I am counting it as a good lift.


tight two ply SDP (I love this shirt)
1 board
675x1. I kind of got stuck on the way down, but once I got there, I ****ing smoked this. It ties a 1 board pr.


2 boards
725x1
2 board PR. This wasnt particularly pretty, but it moved fast on the way up. I feel hopeful about pressing 705 off my chest at the meet after this session. I have some work to do, but I am happy with how fast everything moved.


raw
3 boards
315x3
This was very easy and fast, but I felt a little tiny bit of discomfort in the right piriformis/SI issue that used to be bad. I figured I beat myself up bad enough with the heavy shirted stuff that doing more pressing would be counter-productive.

machine rows
200x15
250x12
300x10

face pulls - 2 sets

Nice work Cha!

Thanks Rich!

I got another cold, so I didnt go to the gym last Tues or Wed. I went in Friday hoping for the best, but I was not 100%.

11/15

squat
65x5
155x5
245x5

briefs
425x2
515x1
605x1

suit & knee wraps
745x1 - This went very well. I found my groove, got down quick and it came up super fast. This was probably the fastest 745 has ever gone up for me.

reverse blue bands
855xf
I got it about halfway down before my lungs couldnt handle the pressure. I just didnt have enough room in my gear to push my air into my belly, and along with being sick with lung and sinus congestion, I had nothing at that point, so I asked the spotters to take it. I was spent after this and had sinus pain, so I shut it down so I didnt get any sicker.

The positives:
-smoked 12 lbs over my opener
- handled 34 lbs more than I've ever had on my back before - I feel like I can probably squat this weight if I am feeling 100% healthy.

I think that my squat is improving a lot the past few weeks since my coach worked with me on gripping the floor with my feet - this happened at a seminar he put on at the gym a few days before he moved. He had been mentioning this concept to me on several individual squats over the past 5 + years, but prior to this recent seminar, he had never worked with me on it before in a way that I fully grasped what he meant. I finally get it (at least somewhat better than before), and I think its one of the main reasons why my squat was lagging behind my other lifts.

11/17

bench

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

loose SDP
2 boards
585x1 - super fast

off chest
615x1 - ties off chest pr. This is getting cleaner every week. I feel pretty good about opening with 617 in this shirt.

tight 2 ply SDP
675xf. It was difficult to get this down. I got it about 1/2" from touching when my sinus/lung illness reared its ugly head. I had lots of pain, so I yelled for the spotters to take it. I dont know what I will do for a 2nd attempt yet.

I figured going to a 1 board with 705 might be ok. I was wrong. The sickness got me, plus I had right arm pain on the descent, so I had the spotters grab it halfway down. I should have stopped one set earlier.

I finished with some light 1 arm cable rows and face pulls.