First Raw Meet

[ehubbard]

IPA 2010 New Jersey Powerlifting Championships - Jan 30, 2010

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Weigh Ins - Woke up and the scale read 273. Had a small breakfast and coffee and drove to the meet. Initial weigh in had me at 277. I came back about 20 minutes later and made weight at 274.

Squats

465 - Good Lift

500 - Good Lift

520 - Good Lift.

The 520 is also known as the ugliest squat ever. Not only did I have some sort of spasm that caused me to twist and come up faster on one side then the other, the bar rolled and tweaked my shoulder and elbow pretty good. Looking at the video I cant tell if I am off center in my initial setup. Either way I should have someone beind me making sure I am centered. It seems to me that as fast as my hips rise in the squat I should be able to squat a bunch more raw if I can get my head to move in concert with them.

Bench

325 - Good Lift

350 - Good Lift

370 - No Lift

The 325 felt very very easy. I was suprised at how dificult the 350 was. During warm ups my elbows were screaming at me from the last squat. Either way, I felt strong enough coming in to hit that 370. My right shoulder wasn't feeling 100% so the plan is to really hit the prehab work hard because the next option is getting the labrum fixed.

Deadlift

630 - Good Lift

680 - Good Lift

705 - Good Lift

Moved my deadlift opener up 5 lbs so that I would have an even 1500. In the end I figured after the way 680 moved, that a 730 pull and 1600 total was more of a long shot so I went to 705 to secure a raw 700+ pull and 1575 total.

I was hoping for 1600, but going 8 for 9 is a good meet. I need to fix those squat issues and really work on my strengthening my shoulder girdle. My bench, while it hasnt necessarily stagnated, is not moving the way I would like it to. Someone I know made a comment as I was leaving about the lack of excitment I had on my last deadlift. Well, if I was satisfied with that lift I might as well stop training. One mediocre lift does not a lifter make. Time to get back to work....

[joey54]

Your squats are as much a form issue as strength. You come out of the monolift like you have nothing on your back, even your last attempt. Fix things up and you should be squatting in the 6's in no time. Very good strength and great total for your first meet.

[huskybear]

Great work E!

Watching that i felt as though you were just coming into your strength potential... great work and even greater things look like they're on the horizon!

[Sean S]

Looks like you have some more pounds in you on the SQ and DL with some technique tweaks. I think you are so leaned over in the hole with the SQ, that it is going to be really tough for the hips not to shoot up first. Also based on your back strength, it may be that your hips shoot up early to throw more of the weight onto your back, with appears to be stronger than your legs. It also looks like you might be trying to sit back too much for a raw SQ. Try opening your knees first as you begin your descent then only sit back as far as you need to to make depth. This may keep you a bit more upright. You'll ultimately have to work out these issues in training and see what works.
I also saw the bar swing out and away from you on all three DL's. It looks like you are simply using brute strength to pull the bar back in and complete the lift. You might consider trying to get your head and chest up a little more and starting pulling your head and shoulders back as soon as the bar leaves the floor. This usually helps me keep the bar in closer.

[Chris Rodgers]

Great job Eric! Your pulls were nasty...just grab the bar and pick it up!!

[ehubbard]

Looks like you have some more pounds in you on the SQ and DL with some technique tweaks. I think you are so leaned over in the hole with the SQ, that it is going to be really tough for the hips not to shoot up first. Also based on your back strength, it may be that your hips shoot up early to throw more of the weight onto your back, with appears to be stronger than your legs. It also looks like you might be trying to sit back too much for a raw SQ. Try opening your knees first as you begin your descent then only sit back as far as you need to to make depth. This may keep you a bit more upright. You'll ultimately have to work out these issues in training and see what works.
I also saw the bar swing out and away from you on all three DL's. It looks like you are simply using brute strength to pull the bar back in and complete the lift. You might consider trying to get your head and chest up a little more and starting pulling your head and shoulders back as soon as the bar leaves the floor. This usually helps me keep the bar in closer.

Are you saying I have skinny legs????

One thing I have noticed with my squat is that if I dont curl my toes up I end up good morning the weight down and leaving my hips high. So when I do get the weight back in my stance I will have a tendency to sit back pretty far for a raw squat. Honestly I think I am just still too much of a spaz to remember all the cues. I have been using Block Periodization, which is great, but I feel like I get my technique work in with light to moderate weight and it seems to get lost when I transition to near maximal attempts. So I may have to reconsider how I lay out my training going forward.

As for the pull, my plan is to try the toes up trick first to see if that will keep the bar away from drifting. That cue should help me stay in position to keep my head and chest up more at the start. The nice thing about pulling in a suit is that by the time the suit gives out I usually have the weight back in my groove.

Thanks for your input.

[NickAus]

Big deadlift!!

Nice work overall, I can't watch the videos at work but the numbers are great!!

[Sean S]

I'm still tinkering with my raw SQ too. I'm doing my first raw meet next weekend, so I guess I'll see then if I really know what I am doing. I brought my stance in compared to my multi-ply stance, but I think I came in too far and ended up too bent over in the hole. I think I've made the necessary adjustment, but I won't know for sure until the meet. I think part of trick is find that one cue that ends up fixing most of the issues you have. It's too hard to remember 5 things at once while you're trying to SQ.
The good news is that you seem to have plenty of strength. It's certainly easier/faster to fix a couple technical issues than it is to gain a ton of strength.

[Magilla]

Nice lifting!

[ScottYard]

Way to stay with that last deadlift!

[ehubbard]

Nice lifting!

Thanks!


Way to stay with that last deadlift!

Thanks! Do you mean the way it got forward at the beggining, or the fact that I am so slow locking it out? It was a long day and I was done at that point.

[Ruff Riff]

very nice...

[mchicia1]

Lmfao thats a monster DL...how tall are you?

[ehubbard]

Lmfao thats a monster DL...how tall are you?

6'4"

[mchicia1]

6'4"

Built for deadlifting :)