Well, I’m back! Hello blog. Working and coaching became too much of a strain and I couldn’t find the motivation to train as well as write about my training. I’ve got some ideas of topics I would like to write about, so we’ll see how it goes!
I weighed in at 231, the heaviest I’ve ever been and my first time competing in the 242 weight class. I’ve already taken steps to get my body fat down by the time June rolls around for RPS Ohio State Championships (June) or maybe I’ll jump ship and give USAPL a try (July).
Since this is my first time using the conjugate method, I had gotten my openers a few weeks ago, decided my second attempt would be a bigger jump but something that I’ve gotten before, and my third attempt would be a smaller jump and small a personal record.
I had some problems in the warm up area with other lifters (which I will write about in further detail later) and the lever on my belt wouldn’t close. I’ve been having this problem for a while, I carry a screwdriver in my bag and then I just have to get a weight of some kind to hammer the pin back in. I asked a guy to hold the belt for me and he ended up just fixing the lever himself. I pretty much thanked him and had to hurry out because I was on deck.
For squats I opened at 405, easy peezy. I could have probably gotten it without a belt so no problem there. Jumped to 455 on my second attempt and I thought it also moved quickly. I had a buddy there who watched me, I asked him whether or not I should stick to my planned third of 475. 465 is my best squat in competition and I hit 470 a week later. My friend told me to take the PR so I stuck with 475 and got it pretty smoothly. My form looked good, I need to work on sitting back more (engaging hamstrings more) and my eccentric speed but I didn’t cave forward like I’ve done in the past so that’s good. 500 is definitely in the cards! I’ve been waiting to get it for about eight months now, I’m hoping it happens at my next meet!
Opener on bench was 315, which I was scared might have been high even though I’ve hit it at least a dozen times in competition. My second attempt was at 335 and was redlighted because I double clutched the weight (I was called to press the weight, sank the weight even further in my chest before locking it out). I didn’t realized it until I went to give my final attempt. I looked at the video, the weight flew up but the judges were right, so I stuck with my planned third attempt of 350. It was a grinder about half of the way up and my arms are very lopsided, but I got it. That’s a 15 lb paused bench PR and 5 lb lifetime PR (I had a touch and go bench of 345 at Chalk up or Shut up this year).
At about this time I realized that they were announcing state records, which in the past, this particular meet didn’t count for any records. I looked at the state records and I had broken the squat record already, and the bench and deadlift records were WAY out of reach (these were probably set by people who did bench only or deadlift only). The total record was 1350, so that would mean a 530 deadlift would break the record.
I opened with 465 and jumped to 505, they were my typical slow but steady deadlifts. For my third attempt I had to decide whether or not to try for a PR or to break the state record only. I thought it would be silly not to push myself so my final attempt was 540. I didn’t get any video to see what went wrong, but the bar only came about three inches off the ground before it stalled out. My cursed deadlift, seems to be the only lift I never make great strides with! Also, looking back at it, my best deadlift was 530 so I should have been doing 535 anyway, not that it really would have mattered.
So in the end I hit a 1330 total, which was a 10 lb PR. Personal records on two lifts and a total is a pretty good day! Although it sucks to know you left some pounds on the platform, it does help give me the confidence to know what I am capable of and how to progress further.
There’s probably dozens of people I could thank for the help in the past 6 months or so, but special thanks to Matt Wenning for doing my programming for the past 24 weeks and teaching me a ton about conjugate training methods. If you’re interested, visit his website for programming or seminar information!
http://www.wenningstrength.com/#!online-training/c1h3f
Ben Balthaser 