4/30

WDC world championships - I did "silver dollar deadlifts" or SDDLs, which are about 9 or 9.5" above standard DLs.

ok, this meet itself isn't the whole world championships. They do local meets all over the world until November, at which point they have the final meet in Scotland. All these local meets and the final meet count. Whoever puts up the biggest Wilks/McCulloch scores wins.

I barely made weight for the 115 KG class at 114.8.

No world record yesterday. Not even close. The records for this federation are open and 40+. The 115 KG bw, 40+ record for SDDLs is 960. Maybe next year, but not after a four month break and then ~2 weeks of training.

This was strongman rules. Hitching and ramping are allowed. Any type of shoes are allowed. Any type of socks are allowed. Bare feet are allowed. Any straps are allowed. Any clothing is allowed. Any DL suit is allowed. There's no limit on how many layers. Knee wraps are allowed lol. The only things not allowed are oil or stickum.

There are no flights like in powerlifting. The bar weigh goes up until the event is finished. Everyone gets as many as four attempts.

All the women and weaker lifters did all their lifts before my opener. My buddy, who had not lifted in about five weeks and had a previous PR of 645, went 600/650/700/725. In jeans. With baby powder on his jeans. And a phone and a wallet in his pockets, lol. I was really happy for him, but I was even happier that someone would lift after my 725 opener so I did not have to go twice in a row.

I opened at 725. It went up pretty fast. Then my buddy pulled 725. The next three lifters, all massive super strong guys, opened with 825, 850 and 860 I think. I could take 800 with only one guy pulling between my attempts or take 825 and have two other guys pulling between my attempts.

I decided to go with 825. It was pretty difficult as my front to back balance was a little off and the bar was whippy with all the weight on it. I got it. Video link:

https://rumble.com/v1354s6-826-lb-si...-deadlift.html

The next lifter was taking 850, so I figured if I wanted any rest, I better take 850 too. I could not get it off the floor. I think if I had a 10 or 15 minute rest, I had about a 50% chance of getting it yesterday, but that wasn't going to happen on ~5 minutes of rest. I gave everything I had to that attempt, so there was no reason to attempt a fourth.

I'm pretty sure my coefficient won the meet locally, but I have no idea where I stand with the other lifters doing this all over the world. I hope to do this meet again next year and pull something well over 900, maybe over 960 for the wr. It was fun.

edit: The meet director added 1 lb chip to the bar, so all lifts at this meet were actually 1 lb more than what I said above. My best was 826, not 825.

Meet results for the local people from last Saturday in Wilks/McCulloch numbers:

me with 826 lb pull - 276.17
big dude, 42 years old, pulled 941 - 240.89
young big dude who pulled something under 900 - 220.5
450 lb young dude who pulled 901 - 217.2
my friend who's ~50 and ~260 lbs, 726 lbs - 215.00

Others:
142.47
119.52
114.47

Mrs Cha had the best female high pull score of 214.94 (401 lbs).

I'm interested to see how I do vs the other people from all over the world in this event. The finals are in November.

Congrats on the win!

Thanks!

5/3

DLs from the floor - I figure since I have to do these at nationals in 4 weeks, I better start now.

Up to 605x1 in suit.
Moved fast, felt ok, not perfect form.


5/4

blast strap pushups & rows


5/6

DLs
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit
495x1
585x1
645x1
Not bad, but the 645 felt challenging. I have more in me, but not 80 lbs more.


rack pulls below the knee
up to 705x1 sumo
705x1 conventional

GHRs

blast strap fallouts


5/8
bench press
45x15
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1

blue shirt
3 boards
495x1 - smoked it
585xf - I almost got it, but form was subpar and I am weak after not benching heavy for a long time. I pushed the weight straight up and never turned out my elbows on the ascent. It felt heavy and took a lot out of me, so I stopped there. No injury concerns though.

machine rows
195x12
250x12
190x10

light pulldowns
2 sets

face pulls

Double win! Mrs. Cha too!

woohoo!!

5/10

core & other warmup stuff

I went to the gym intending to do some trap bar DLs. The team was squatting. The trap bar was missing from the power room. I decided rather than tracking down the trap bar and messing with loading up 100 lb plates onto the trap bar, I'd see how squatting onto a high box felt.

squats to 20" box
205x5 - box was a bit too high

18" box
295x5
385x3

briefs
475x2 - left shoulder felt bad so I waited until everyone was done with the straight bar and switched to the Marrs bar

Marrs bar squats
515x1
565x1
605x1 - this was the best one all night. I figured I had just got warmed up.
655xf - I let my hamstrings get loose when I sat on the box. Then one spotter lifted one side way up and the other guy basically dropped his side. Both spotters were new guys who hadn't dealt with a miss this heavy before. Luckily I didn't get hurt. We had a talk about how to spot properly.

GHRs - Rogue machine
20
15 vs black band - the band connections on this machine really stretch the band out, so the tension was very significant.

RDLs
405x5x2

5/13

DL
275x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit - I got a new (slightly used) suit. Its a Metal Jack sumo. Its a lot more of a DL suit than I have used before. It needs to get broken in more and I need to get used to it. I think I will use my Fusion at nationals.

495x1
585x1
635x1

switched to Fusion suit
675xf - This is probably very close to the most I would be able to pull at my current strength level if my form was perfect. As this started to come off the floor, I pushed the right side a little bit forward. I'm not strong enough right now to recover from that.


GHR
25
+ 25 lbs - 20
+ 45 lbs - 15

I'm bummed I'm so late to this thread. Very inspiring. Absolute beast. Love it.

Thanks, I appreciate that very much!

5/15

bench press
up to 315x1 raw

blue 58 SDP shirt
2 boards
495x1 - smoked
545x1 - smoked
585xf - I set up bad and it was too heavy to recover from that. Heavy benching really beats the crap out of my SI joints when I tuck my feet, which I did on all three shirted sets. Tucking felt great for a couple sets, but I started feeling that familiar pain from my SI just a little, so I stopped benching.

machine rows up to 300x10

light cable pulldowns

face pulls

5/17

conventional rack pulls from the top of the knees
265x10
375x5
485x2
595x1
All double overhand to this point

suit & straps
705x1
815x1
903x1 - Harder than it was several months ago, but it felt good to get 900 again. The arm feels fine. Back is fine when I am solid with my form. As a matter of fact, the constant tingling I have been having in my heels went away for about a day after I pulled the 900. DLing with perfect form cures almost anything, lol.

GHRs
20x2

reverse hypers
90x20x2

5/20

DL
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

suit
525x1
605x1
655x1

switched to new suit
675xf - I did something I have never done before. I got the bar above my knees and then failed a DL. This was all ****ed up from the start and it was pretty incredible that I got the weight off the floor at all. I was way forward as soon as the bar started coming up. Somehow, it kept going up, and pretty fast. As it got to about knee level, it kept pulling me more forward to the point that I would have fallen over face first if I had held on. If I can break this suit in and figure out how to maintain good bar path, I think I will like it.

reverse hypers



5/22

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

new (slightly used) SDP blue triple ply size 56 (too small) - figured I'd break it in a bit and use it if/when I get light enough
7" of boards
495x3

5.5" of boards
495x3

3 boards (4.5")
545x1


sled pushes - light

sled pulls - row style
I am guessing this sled is ~90 lbs
Each trip was ~60-75' down and back
290
390
490
580


face pulls


I got sick. I started feeling it late Monday night 5/23. I was really out of it Wed & Thurs. Fri I started improving. Today, I am almost well enough to lift. I don't know if I am going to do anything more before nationals or not. I should be over being sick by then, but its sucks to have to go through this right before. I lost ~7 lbs and am probably going to be weak. We'll see.

5/31

Needed to see where I was at and not over-exert myself too close to a meet.

DL
235x5x2
325x3
415x2

suit
525x1
My form isn't sharp, but this moved plenty fast enough to tell me I am strong enough to pull at least an opener and probably something over 650 at nationals.

good luck man. eat well, get extra rest and then trust your training and muscle memory and the strength of your mind.

what's your plan for the opener?

Thanks!

I'll open with 600. Assuming that goes as expected, I will probably take 655 after that. I have very little idea what my max might be.

6/3

APF Nationals, DL only
600 - 3 white lights
656 - 3 white lights

I decided to change into my new suit and take a shot at 711. I figured the suit gives me more pop off the floor, so even if my form isn't good in this suit yet, it would give me a shot if I caught lightning in a bottle.

The WPC world record for 275/55-59 years old is 750. In APF/WPC national & world meets, if your 3rd attempt is good and it is within 20 KGs of a WR, you can take a 4th attempt for the WR. I figured I had little to no chance of pulling 755 in this meet, but I knew I had an outside shot at 711, so I figured why not line up my attempts to take a shot at the WR on a 4th attempt if I can pull 711.

711 - missed at the knees. It came off the floor fast, but I was out of position and a bit forward the whole time. I actually felt like I might be able to pull the bar back and muscle it up, but my right hamstring started to tighten as I was trying to correct the bar path. As I pulled back harder, the hamstring felt like it might tear if I pulled any harder, so I dropped it.

I only had about 4 weeks of training pulling from the floor after basically pulling nothing from the floor since last year. Also, I qualified for worlds. The DL only field was really weak. I had by far the heaviest pull of anyone in DL only. I think a guy who pulled 606 and badly missed 633 was the only other guy over 600. I should have signed up for open and masters. I only signed up for masters thinking that I would not do very well considering how little I trained for this. All things being considered, I am happy with basically everything.

The heaviest multiply pull by anyone over 55 (all federations, all weight classes) is 755. The heaviest multiply pull by any American over 55 is 722 (me at my previous meet, prior to tearing tendons in my arm and having low back issues).

My arm is now better than it was prior to tearing the tendons and it will get even better over the next month or two, so that won't be an issue going forward. I know I can do better at WPC worlds later this year if I can strengthen my hamstrings and learn to pull with good form in that new suit.

My goal as of right now is to pull 760 at WPC worlds this year so I can say I pulled more than any other multiply lifter over 55 in a sanctioned meet ever. I know if Andy Bolton keeps competing past age 55, he's likely to surpass whatever I can do, but it would be a great honor to have that record beaten by arguably the greatest DLer ever, the 1st guy to pull 1000+ and the only to pull 1000+ twice in sanctioned powerlifting meets.

Meet videos:

https://rumble.com/v17isgz-apf-nationals-2022.html

https://rumble.com/v17isnx-2022-apf-...s-dl-only.html

https://rumble.com/v17iyup-apf-nationals-2022-711.html

Nice job.

congrats on another win! great stuff with so little prep.

I'm no expert but with the speed 711 got to your knees it certainly looked to the untrained eye that you could have muscled it up, but it surely wouldn't have been worth it to pop a hammy.

well done and good luck getting some good prep in for Worlds

Thanks!

Thanks!

Yeah, some "trained" eyes at the meet wondered why I did not finish that lift. I think I had some knots in that hammy. My wife worked on them later and it feels good now.

6/10

I did some work on my DL platform at home. I took out the middle raised wood area and basically replaced it with new horse mats so that its more level in the middle with the sides now, and its easier to vary sumo stance without standing between the wood & rubber. I also got a good piece of thin carpet to lay over it.

When I was finished, I decided just to do some high (9.5") sumo block pulls.

236x5x2
326x5
416x2
506x1
596x1

suit
686x1
776x1


6/12

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

blue 3 ply SDP size 58
2 boards
515x1 - smoked, good form
565x1 - bad handoff. That made me a little unstable during the whole lift. I got it down and up ok, but I need to get better at correcting a bad handoff.

bench press vs lots of bands
95x3x2

I added another doubled red band
95x1 - left wrist felt bad, weight moved slow, so I stopped

plate loaded machine rows
2 plates each side x 12
3 plates x 10
4 plates x 10
5 plates x 10

face pulls

Nice lifts!

Thanks!

6/14

DL
225x5x2
315x3
405x2

I got another used DL suit. It fits a little better, a little looser than the last new used suit. This one is an orange Metal Jack sumo.

suit - Note: I moved my feet out a couple inches because these Metal Jack sumo DL suits really support the hips when you widen your stance.

515x1 - I was forward with it. I got it all the way up, but was leaning so far forward at the top that I had to put it down to keep from falling over.

605x1 - This was better, but I was still slightly forward.

video: https://rumble.com/v18pjk7-605-lb-deadlift.html

645x1 - This actually looked better than the two lighter reps. I'll keep using this suit for now. I'm much closer to having good form in this suit than the smaller black one. I'd guess my 1 RM in this suit is between ~675 & 715 right now with very good form. I need to get stronger.

video: https://rumble.com/v18pjmz-645-lb-deadlift.html

I'm competing with a teammate for worst color coordination while lifting. He's going to have to take his game up a notch after seeing this, lol.


sled pulls - alternating forward and backward with the belt around my waist/back

up to ~500 lbs for a few trips across the fake grass & back at NE gym (our team's home gym)

I was happy to see they brought a sled into the fake grass area here. I need to do a lot more sled pulls.