Johnson Strength Group Blog

Over the weekend, I went to Knoxville and judged the SPF meet there.  There was alot of great lifting and good to see so many folks. The SPF is growing like wild fire.

Spent the rest of the weekend with my son and that’s always a good thing and saw the Waynick’s as well while I was there and, that’s always a good thing as well.

I had some trouble sleeping. I woked up at 2:30 am and was up for about an hour. I dozed off and on till 4:30 and went ahead and got up. I had to move some stuff for the electrical inspection today and get some heat going in the gym as there was frost on the ground.

http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/cgi-bin/wdb.cgi?read=5511

I used my single ply Katana this morning. I haven’t been in it  in months. I did 3 sets of triples with 495. The first set to two boards, then one board and then touched all 3 on the last set. I’m still not feeling comfortable but, this is a stock shirt so it would be easier to touch and get used to the groove. My hope is to do this, then go to the custom and then get back in teh double as I get heavier. It took some time this morning to get all the shirted sets so, there was no assistance. I hope to do that this evening.

Yesterday we started back with some Oly stuff on the Aux day. I didn’t go heavy and basically worked on form. As fate would have it, I broke a 15kg plate…doh, figures.

Anyway, today was eventful int he fact that at about 4:50 am this morning, the power went out. Everyone arrived to train and we waited till about 5:15 and decided to head to the commerical gym. While the bench is narrow and the bars suck for what we do, we all managed a good session and it was good to use my Hammer iso row as it lives up there while the addition is being done on my gym/house.

To look at the workouts:

http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/cgi-bin/wdb.cgi?read=5428

http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/cgi-bin/wdb.cgi?read=5437

Since the meet, I have been extra tired so, I’m not being as good about cardio and extra abs this week. I hope to get some in tonight.

October 4th I finally competed again. The goal had been to finally break 2,300 for a total. Here is a quick rundown of what happened.

Squats

Aside from needing more 100’s, I think everything went well and as planned. Last warm-up with 860.

I opened at 930 and this is where the trouble began. This was a new monolift that performed pretty well on saturday. That being said, once we got to 900+, the jack was spongy so to speak and that meant when I stood up with the 930, the rack went up with me and I couldn’t clear. The attempt was a fiasco. The mono has a pull arm as opposed to just levering it and it falling away. When they pulled, I was off balance. Lowered the rack and then it was too low. I still tried but, I got way forward and aborted the attempt. To say I was pissed would be a monumental understatement.

I repeated the opener. Still had problems but, I got it. We figured out where to set the rack and 970, other than taking 8 seconds to get in the hole, went very well. I felt like I had a grand in me. Either way, all things considered, 970 was a new pr and 97p is what I felt I had to have to have a shot at breaking 2,300.

Bench press

Warm-ups went well. The last warm-up was 545 to a 2 board. Nice and quick. I never expected that my 635 opener would be so difficult to touch. I basically had to go as low as I could with out dumping it and knew it would be a grinder. I expect them to take it but, they let me touch and I was able to get it. 670 on the 2nd went pretty well. It was hard to touch but I locked it right out. I went for 700 and it flew up and went right over my head. It was very close. So, I’m 4-6 and have a 10 lb meet bench pr and a pr sub-total of 1,640 going into the pull.

This year, I decided to go to sumo. In the gear, I can protect my back and with the hook, it’s just a cleaner pull. I’m still learning the transition point once the weight gets above the knees but, I had pulled an all time pr of 680 in training. Warm-ups went easy enough, 315, 405 & 495. I opened at 635 and it went quick. I opted to go 660 to secure 2,300 and given the events of the day, I figured conservative was the way to go. It came up pretty smooth. I was going to pul a pr and leave it at that and then Melissa was all over my ass to load 700. I gave in and was more surprised than anyone when it came up. 700 was an all time goal for me when I started competing so, it was a very cool moment for me.

I ended up with a 2,340 total. I have no clue if that’s a record of any sort other than it’s a pr for me. I’m not sure where it ranks me anywhere if if it doesn’t but, I did what I set out to do and that’s hit some pr’s and break 2,300.

Now that it’s been a week, I’m deciding on what to do for the next meet, what to work on and what will be the goals.

I need to work on getting pace in to the hole with all the multi ply gear. It is so resistent but, I have to spend less time getting down. If you watch the video of 970, it takes 7-8 seconds for me to get to depth. At some point, you reach critical mass and pass out. I don’t want that, especially knowing that it’s going to be at a grand or more. So, for squats, pace in the hole.

For bench, it’s having the confidence to go heavier in training and on my opener. That’s just getting in there and doing it. I’ll work on being more explosive and pressing power.

For pulls, I have to get the transition point better from getting the bar above my knees to lock out. I’ve been a conventoinal puller all my life but, I hit on something last year with sumo and this year, i was able to turn that into 700 finally. So, the goal is to continue to clean up my form and get the transition point to a smooth movement.

I did not train Monday after the meet but, from Tuesday on, I’ve been in the gym. This week is the first real week of training though. Adding more cardio and abs as well. I just want to be in better shape and the added ab work can only help.

Here are links to the first two sessions this week.

http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/cgi-bin/wdb.cgi?read=5392

http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/cgi-bin/wdb.cgi?read=5412

Now I have to work on a better food plan, mainly be consistent and hydration along with being more consistent with my supplements.

Stay tuned…we add the oly lifting back tomorrow…

I’ll be competing at the SPF worlds in October right here in Nashville. It’s my hope to break 2,300 and if all goes well, maybe even take a stab at 2,400.

I’ll post daily my schedule and a link to my daily training along with my food and supplement intake. I hope you will find this information helpful and maybe even a little entertaining here and there.

Today was about cooking and cutting raw veggies for the upcoming week. If I’m prepared well enough, I should hit my goal of breaking 2,300.

My hope here is to give you an insight into what goes on daily in a powerlifter’s life. I will post my food and supplement intake, workout and schedule. I hope you will find it interesting reading and perhaps a way to be helpful with your own goals and motivation.

Thanks for reading!