CR's Powerlifting Journal

[Sidior]

not dying sounds key man

[Can'tstopnow]

Your strength reminds me of a stick of dynomite, great stuff here. Best of luck at the meet this weekend!

[Big o Boy]

good luck bro!

[8.8]

nice training in here




good luck at your meet this weekend!!!

[Franco]

Good luck at the meet Chris

[KevinStarke]

Good luck at the meet man.

[Bob]

GL with the meet Chris.. can't wait to see your results... you should kick some arse!!

BTW.. I think your sig is off:
@165- 620 SQ 360 BE 530 DL.....1460 total - actually it =1510!!.. unless the 1460 is your best total in one meet...

[Chris Rodgers]

Thanks for the well wishes everyone.

GL with the meet Chris.. can't wait to see your results... you should kick some arse!!

BTW.. I think your sig is off:
@165- 620 SQ 360 BE 530 DL.....1460 total - actually it =1510!!.. unless the 1460 is your best total in one meet...

You are right. 1460 is my best on one day.


Well, the meet didn't go very well for me, but I got the bomb-out monkey off my back. I drove up early Friday morning sucking on sweet-tarts and spitting into a cup. I ended up weighing in at 146.4, which is the lightest I'v been in 2 years. So then I spent the rest of the day drinking more fluids than I have ever fathomed and eating like a fat bastard. I went through 4 liters of pedialyte, that I mixed with 4 liters of water. Then I drank some more gatordae mixed with water and also a high card protein shake and more water. After we had eaten two big solid meals at around 7:00 at night, I weighed 157!!! After that I drank some more fluids and had some pizza before bed. I woke up and had a small breakfast and weight 158.5!!!!!!!!!!!!! I put on 12 lbs and was actually heavier than Ihad been for months. Figured this would either be great or screw me. So here's what went down.....

SQ
555- miss(came down to upright/went to push and went nowhere)
555- miss(put the bar lower/went to push and went nowhere)

so now here is where you start to be like oh crap here we go again. I had bombed out of my last 3-4 full meets and I was one miss away from doing so again. Plus, I got crushed twice, so it wasn't like the confidence was high. I ran in the back to attempt to switch briefs. Had the new ones half-way on and said screw it and put the old ones back on. This time I had my buddy wrap my knees instead of me and I made my belt one notch tighter. I also made the straps looser on my suit.

555- 3 whites(phew/very pissed at myself that I didn't get those things worked out on warmups because I felt like with that setup I was good for more than one squat, but oh well I was in the meet.


BE
300-miss(uh-oh)
300- 3 whites(had my other buddy fix my shirt and hand me off)
320xmiss(right at lockout/would have been PR@148)

DL
475- 3 whites(easy)
515- 3 whites(lockout was rough/almost lost my grip and held on with fingertips/5 lb full meet PR)
530xmiss(cranked my suit tight as balls, missed at the knees)


Total- 1370(lower than my PR, but at this point a total is important to me. My training leading up to the meet was not good and I overtrained. I did not allow proper recovery and lost a lot of my speed. The start of my next training cycle is going to be better planned out and I have some new ideas for the weeks leading to a meet. When I go to a big meet like this I take advantage of picking apart the brains of some very knowledgable/strong bastards with lots of experience. So I made sure to park myself near John Bott to talk for a while, who is an amazing guy and always willing to help.

As I mentioned in the powerlifting section my buddy John Bernor totaled 2600@308 going 1110-780-710!! Sick day!

Also, just want to wish the best on a safe/speedy recovery for one of our training partners who shattered a bone in his forearm/wrist benching at the meet. It is one of those freak things that you never expect to see. I hope he will be able to come back because he loves the sport.

[Sidior]

Sounds like you did great bro. ****ty about bombing the first two squats, but sorting it out then hitting a dead PR later on is awesome none the less.

[Big o Boy]

great job Chris. I envy your ability to go to meets and compete. I agree with Sid, getting your wits about you with the squat and hitting the bench and deadlift strong was key.

[Chris Rodgers]

Thanks guys. Back to work tomorrow. My new training split will look like this.

Mon-Bench assist/raw work
Tues-Squat day(as outlined above)
Thur-Heavy bench(boards/lockouts/shirt/etc.)
Sat-DL/GM day(as outlined above)


Tomorrow I will go in and do some light/hiph rep recovery bench/upper body stuff. Then on Tuesday we will start our squat cycle off. Rest is for the weak.

[8.8]

what does 3 whites mean? that you wrote after all your good attempts

[Chris Rodgers]

what does 3 whites mean? that you wrote after all your good attempts

In a meet, there are three judges. Each lift you need to get 2 out of 3 to pass the lift. They give a white light or red light. I receieved 3 whites on all the lifts that I completed.

[1mmort4l]

Well done Chris. You must have been committed to the 555 to actually try it again for the final attempt. Props to you man.
Are you going to be working more on your bench this time around, or not in particular?

[Chubrock]

Already back to lifting man? I figured you would've taken a week off or so after the meet.

[Chris Rodgers]

Well done Chris. You must have been committed to the 555 to actually try it again for the final attempt. Props to you man.
Are you going to be working more on your bench this time around, or not in particular?

I really want to improve my bench a lot. My form with my new setup is good, I just need to work my RAW strength and my lockout with bands/boards and I should be back into the mid 300's soon enough.


Chub- I took the week off before the meet, so we are all itching to get back in the gym. Since I do feel like I got my ass kicked by Chuch Norris, the first few sessions back should be light.

[Big o Boy]

don't lie... if you got your ass kicked by Chuck Norris, there'd be no way you'd be writing in this journal...

Mon-Bench assist/raw work
Tues-Squat day(as outlined above)
Thur-Heavy bench(boards/lockouts/shirt/etc.)
Sat-DL/GM day(as outlined above)

I noticed you said your speed wasn't as good in this last meet as before. I'm not sure what the (as outlined above) means... but I was assuming speed work is included? Good luck with it, bro. I keep going back and forth separating dead/squat or putting it together on the same day.

[Chris Rodgers]

Yea man, I am starting my box squat cycle tomorrow. My Speed will come back. I am usully a very explosive squatter, but near the end of the cycle and at the meet I felt slow. It'll come back quick though.

2/19
Bench assistance

Decline Press(ring finger on rings)

1@095x10
1@135x10
1@185x5
1@195x5
1@205x5
1@215x5


Incline Hammer strength Press(medium grip)

1@090x8
1@140x17


Illegal wide bench press(first time ever trying these)

1@095x10
1@115x10(took these light/both easy)


Lying rear delt machine- 3 sets

Face pulls- 2 sets


All day yesterday and today during work I felt like crap. I really felt like I got hit by a truck, but once the end of work neared and I was thinking about the gym I started to feel better. By the time I got in there and grabbed the bar, I didn't feel bad at all. Most of my Monday sessions should look something like this. I'll do like 2-3 bench movements, with reps from 5-20 and then finish with rear delt/rotator work. Hopefully my RAW strength will get better this cycle.

Tomorrow I start the box squat cycle. Depending on how my back and legs feel, I may just start it off with a straight weight, kinda deload day since I'm coming off the meet. Then I'll start the band wave next week.

Calories were high today which I will keep up and hopefully get my bodyweight over 165 by the time the meet comes.

[HeavyBomber]

Good job at the meet dude. You're inspiring to me.

[1mmort4l]

CR, i have never seen these before.. What is the logic behind them?


"Illegal wide bench press(first time ever trying these)

1@095x10
1@115x10(took these light/both easy)"

[Stumprrp]

im into the decline also, nice lifting!

[Chris Rodgers]

Thanks HB and Stump.

CR, i have never seen these before.. What is the logic behind them?


"Illegal wide bench press(first time ever trying these)

1@095x10
1@115x10(took these light/both easy)"

I am trying to build up my RAW bench strength this training cycle. These are supposed to hit the pecs hard. I did them real light and will move them up slowly. They seem like they could be hazardous to your delts, rotators, and/or pecs if done too heavy.

[Chris Rodgers]

2/20
Speed squat

Box squat(~14"/SSB/Loose Metal briefs/belt)
All sets done with a light(purple) band around the monolift

8@245x2(speed felt pretty good, back still a bit beat up from the meet)


RAW squat(belt)

Here is where I was supposed to squat RAW, but I don't know what I'm doing. I went up to 2 plates for a few doubles, felt all over the place. Back to 185, still weird. Back to 135, ***** this. I'll do them next week when I don't feel so beat up. I have to learn what a RAW groove is first and what stance to use.


Pull thrus- 3 sets


Chins

1@BWx12(overhand/wide)
2@BWx8(underhand/close)


Abs- 2 sets


The Box is back. I was supposed to just go straight weight, but since we were there and the bands were there, we figured what the hell. The briefs I was wearing are so damn loose that it was kinda rough on the hips. I'll see how I feel next week, but I may use my tighter pair of Metal briefs. The way I have the cycle setup, we move to a green band next week and then the following week we do blue bands and work up after the speed stuff. Should be fun, especially with the SSB kicking our ass.

[Detard]

awesome workout chris!

[Big o Boy]

What is the SSB? (safety squat bar?) Are the metal briefs pretty nice?

I'm sure the raw squats felt wierd after doing all those geared doubles. If I switch from bands to barbell weight it feels very ackward for at least 2-3 sets, no matter what lift I'm doing.