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The Best Meet Ever Training Logs, Part One of the Great Spud Market Crash
My thoughts originally were to make this a one-off article/log just so you could see what I did and the reasoning behind some of it. But as I got to thinking, this is a really good three-part story leading up to my quad tear in 2007 encompassing the 2006 WPO Finals, 2006 WPO Semi-Finals and the 2007 Pro-Am. The quad tear is not the awesome part of this story but it is the epic conclusion. In the meantime, leading up to that, it was the constant grind and battle to keep getting better and reach for what I thought was the ultimate prize and the finish line. That prize was not winning the titles, as it ended that way, but it was only the total which at the time was 1205lb squat, 800lb bench and 800lb for 2805lb. It was really all I thought about since my first 2403lb total in 2004 realizing at that moment the limitless potential of the spirit. I spent countless hours visualizing all the lifts and thinking about how to get there. The preparation changed each round as it has to, but at the time, there wasn’t anything I didn’t think I could do in powerlifting. I simply believed, planned and fought every day to get it. These monumental battles with myself, at this time in my life, helped me to overcome a lot of my own self-doubt, self-hatred, low self-esteem and seemingly real pain and suffering that we put ourselves through daily. Most of it was not real in retrospect but it took powerlifting, for me, to lift, pun intended, that veil.
The following is the actual weights and training prior to what I feel was my best meet. I ended up with 1107 squat, 744 bench and 711 dead for a 2562 total in the 275lb class. I left a lot on the plate at this meet on all the lifts but the meet prep and set up were the best I had put together at one time in. I included a lot of GPP work to bring my volume up during training and to survive past the bench press. Prior to this meet, I always came in gassed out for the deadlifts and barely survived in most of the other meets. This meet prep was also the first time I went with a sumo style deadlift and had to learn it from scratch in about four months to take it to what was at the time, the biggest powerlifting meet in the world. There are no percentages here, just the raw weights on the main movements. It is based on a Westside 4 day format but modified based on our experiences that we found worked better for us. Everyone’s programming should evolve over time and change as needed to continuously improve. AS you will see, sometimes the situation called for one thing but given how the day arrived meaning beat up from previous sessions or the body just plain not cooperating, I would have to adjust but still make the most out of each session. During this time, I was in my mid 30s and I was well into finding my own way with training and programming. This is truly one of the best times of curiosity and learning for me even though all of the things that I found that were working for me had been done by many before me, it was still my time for finding it which can only be found by your own trial and error. From here, I would go way down many other rabbit holes of training and life that I continue to learn from today. I have searched high and low for the perfect training but in the end, it is all one big pot that will taste different to each person. Sprinkled in here are tidbits of leftover stories from my training days with old partners I may have missed taking out so enjoy. Thanks to Dave at EliteFTS for keeping all the old archives around so I could pull them up for you to check out, enjoy and use in your training! Find your own way and always keep learning.
November2005
11/14/2005 –
Training Log
Light Upper
-Incline Press 315x8x3 sets
-Cable Crossover 2×8 reps
-Pushdowns 4 x10
-Pulldowns 4×10
-Prowler sled(100Lbs)1/3 mile push
11/17/2005 –
Training Log 11/16
-Kinda of a deload session. I started to wear briefs but my back was cramping badly so I dumped them and went raw.
-Buffalo Bar w/ 1 blue band raw 505x3x5 sets
-Reve hyper 4×10
-Ab work 5×10
11/18/2005 –
Training Log 11/18
Speed Upper
-Fat bar with Kettlebells hanging from ends. I took purple bands and wrapped around Kb handle so they hang off bar about a foot from the floor while in the rack. This makes the bar very unstable as you drop is and go to press the bar goes all over the place. 255x3x3,285x3x3,305x3x2
-Dave Tate short fat bar pushdown. Wow, what a pump!4×10
-Short fat bar standing pulls to chest
4×10
-Kb swing front raises,53×10,65x10x2sets
-KB hammer curls
-rev hypers 3×10
Fatso was just getting up at 1200.So much for getting a job.
11/20/2005 –
Training Log 11/19
Lower speed deads
-505x3x5sets/3 conventional,2 sumo. After being in Europe and watching all these other guy’s great deads I noticed they were mostly conventional which I have always snapped the bar better from so I am working on both, but, the sumo felt much easier than the conventionals did. I don’t think the Europeans are stronger, they just work it more. Kinda like what we do on the bench here. There form is a little different too. More throwing of the shoulders way back instead of standing straight up like we do here. It looks like a trick, the bar slows down over the knees and it looks like they are going to miss it and then it suddenly is locked out.
-rev hypers 4×10
-Leg press wide stance with pause on pins at bottom 3x6reps,900,1000, 1100. I think this will help my pop at the bottom for the sumo dead. I did them kinda of fast. I don’t know if that makes better or not. I stole it from George Herring’s dead routine.
-Side twists with green bands 4×10 per side
-#1 hand gripper 4×10 per hand
11/21/2005 –
Training Log 11/21
Upper
Nothing eventful. Fatso broke out the Kong Bar which is this ridiculously big bar with absolutely no real use except to tear your shoulders off the hinges. To top it off, we also did them off the incline with two chains each side. I’ll be glad to get back to the shirt work in December
-275 x6x3sets
-Kb floor press and stability ball presses with KB for 2 sets each of 10 reps with 66s and 88s
-Green band rows 3×10
-Dumbell rows off raised bench for 3×10(110lbs)
-Kb sides w/106 3×10 per side
-Ab pulldowns 3×10
Fatso has almost got his resume together. Maybe there is hope he will get a job but I am betting against it. Will keep everyone posted.
11/23/2005 –
Training Log 11/23
Squat Night
-Raw squatting again with buffalo bar 505x2x4sets,595×2,685×2
-Reverse Hyper 4×10
-ab work 4×8
-KB windmills 72x2x3 per arm,88×3 per arm
-Light stretching
11/26/2005 –
Training Log 11/26
Speed deads
-515x3x5 sets,3 convential/2 sumo
-rev hyper 4×10
-leg press wide stance with pause on pins at bottom 3 sets x 6 reps/1200 or 1300
-ab work with green band 6×10
-stretching 20 minutes
-I am actually enjoying the leg press and the deads so far. It’s only been 2 weeks but I feel a little faster and more solid pulling. That’s the whole purpose anyway.
11/30/2005 –
Training Log 11/28
Upper-Kinda
-Prowler sled 100lbs,1/3 mile, went twice as fast as usual
-Chest supported row 10 sets x 8 reps
My shoulders and hands still hurt so I wussed out while I could. I wasn’t going to do anything but “the guilts” got the best of me so I did a little.
— end the article —
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