2007 Virtual Meet: February 09

I had military work on the 10th and 11th so the only real day available to me was the 9th. After work and making sure the family was fed, that meant starting the lifting at about 9:30 PM Pacific Time. Since I have no real friends nearby and my wife was manning the camera, I had to make sure the pins were set on the rack. But despite all this, I was hyped and ready to go. What I will write will get revised when the results get published on Virtualmeet.net: I know about some of the lifts passing and am waiting on the others.

I warmed up with a 5-3-1-1 rep progression for a warmup, using a 13" box touch and go to get my depth dialed in the squat and 5 minute rest periods. After a final warmup set at 255, I went for a 295 opener and sunk it. The 315 went, too, but was tougher as I might have held it at the bottom too long to 1.) make sure I got depth and 2.) to make sure I didn't hit the pins. I bombed on my final attempt at 330 lbs, I just couldn't rise with it. No surprise there, really: with a 30 lbs carryover, my 14" box squat the Saturday prior hinted at a 315 max. I'm back to where I was and can now build from there.

I went 1 for 3 on the bench. My first attempt at 215 was well controlled, paused, and pressed ( I was happy, since I haven't been training with a pause.). I had nothing left to lift 225 on my second attempt. The third attempt was disqualified for two reasons: 1.) I had gone down in weight to 220, and I was told you can't go down on an attempt (that had never occurred to me) and 2.) the bar hit the left pin because I couldn't fully control the descent. In retrospect, I should have set my attempts at 210, 220, and 225 but now I know.

I'm gonna guess and say that I went 3 for 3 on deadlifts, since Kris told me that my deadlifts were smooth. I decided to pull conventional since I can pull more this way, and felt that the snatch grip deadlift/front squat work I have been doing would lend itself to a better conventional deadlift. Since I haven't been training this way, I based my first attempt on my squat and opened with 315, and that was easy. 345 also went up quickly. My wife (cameraperson) wanted to get to bed and I had to get up early in the morning to drive to work so I took my 365 third attempt 2 miinutes after my 2nd attempt. I put my all into this one, and got it: the most I have ever deadlifted is 400 super slow, and this was my fastest 365 ever. I think I've found what works for me for the DL: lots of GHRs and upper back work, twice a week deadlifting, snatch grip work, and front squats.

I'll post the videos as soon as Kris gives me the final word and a link. This was lots of fun and I can't wait for the next one.