Road to elite

[Iron Island]

2/8

Squats

135 6
225 3
315 1
405 1
495 1
585 1
655 1

I felt very unstable today. The 655 was high but it was only my last warm up weight so thats not a big deal.

2/9

Bench

45 15
135 6
245 3
295 1

ADD OLD RAGE

425 MISS

ADD NEW RAGE

425 1 no touch
425 1 TOUCH!!

Pushdowns

70 12reps 3sets

I don't know what happened to my bench. After I missed the 425, I was ready to throw int he towel and not do the meet. Scott Sceppe talked me down and told me to try on my other shirt that didn't work last week. We made a few form adjustments and it worked.

The meet is next Saturday. My openers will probably be 715, 425, 605. My goal is to total 1825 at 220 which would give me my first elite total.

I'll do a VERY light bench workout Tuesday and thats it. I'll try and rest up all week. Lower back is very tight so I'll do some foam roller work on it.

Body weight is 225.0.

[BRINO]

Good job man, youre a strong dude

[T-Cake]

Exxxxxxcellent! Sorry you didn't feel stable today, though -- you've got a week. Take the rest of the day today and try to do something to relax and mentally ready yourself. :)

[Blut Wump]

Good luck, II.

Elite, eh? Stay focused and nail that sucker.

[CK]

IN!!!!

[Beverly McD.]

Today would have only been a confidence booster for you. It has no bearing on how you perform at the meet, unless you let it.

Try to do mental walk-through of every detail of every lift, over and over. Not the way it's felt the last couple of weeks, but the way that it NEEDS to feel. The way it SHOULD feel. When you get under that bar, everything, from the deep breath, to flexing your back and ass,getting your feet and toes placed properly, etc. should have been performed over and over and over in your mind. YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN WEAK in just a couple of weeks. It doesn't work that way II. Get your head on straight. If you do everything you've trained to do and prepared for all these weeks, the numbers will fall into place. There is no doubt in my mind the strength is there. I've watched your videos.

[Big Sky Guy]

Good Work I!





I'm Officially Repping Bev for those comments :)

[Sarge]

great stuff, kick ass at that meet!

[Dragon Wolf]

Great job! Awesome numbers.

[kook]

Good luck next weekend II!

SFW

[claire]

Good luck next week!

[Iron Island]

Thanks everyone! :)

Bev, you are 100% correct again! I have been very negative these last few workouts but I have been trying to think positive and focus on what I know I can do.

BW is 225.2 so I am not to far off. I have been trying to drink 1 1/2-2gallons of water to cause a natural dieretic effect.

My back is still sore and beat up. I will be going to the chiropractor on Wed to get an adjustment.

[jpt]

keep ya head up and think postively! things will fall into place....

[Beverly McD.]

Use caution when thinking of getting a chiro adjustment less than 4-5 days before the meet. The adjustment itself will probably cause some inflammation. Tell the chiro about your meet Sat., so he can have the opportunity to be conservative in his methods, if he chooses to. The water is for sure a good idea. Are you icing every day? (hint, hint;))

[IliekFude]

I WANA SEE DEAD BODIES IN HERE, LETS GO!

[Iron Island]

Bev, I made the chiro appt. for tonight instead of Wed. Yes, I have been icing lol

[Beverly McD.]

Can you believe my husband Mike thinks I'm a little "pushy" sometime????:rofl:

[Iron Island]

I can't believe it Bev :D

The chiro went well. He adjusted my hips and back. I'm going to ice my back and my arms.

[Beverly McD.]

Great! Glad it went well.

The toughest part now will probably be staying out of the gym when you know everyone else is in there and training. It has a tendency to mess with your mind some when your normal routine gets disrupted.

Rest, ice and rest some more. Then ice again! LOL!!!!

You're ready II. Being mentally prepared is an important goal for you now. Remind yourself again and again to BREATHE between attempts. Slow, deep breaths. I see a lot of lifters who let nerves get the best of them. Before their first lift, and between their lifts, I see them sitting in a chair taking quick, shallow breaths. Your body uses a ton of oxygen under load. Slow, deep breaths help get/keep oxygen in your bloodstream. It also helps to keep you from getting such a huge adrenaline dump you feel shaky and weak. VERY VERY common, even with a seasoned lifter.

You might want to get you a "honey bear" to use between lifts too. They are easy to carry in your bag and give a quick energy boost between lifts. Our lifters use them a lot.

Really wish Mike and I could be there to watch. You are going to have a good day. You seem to have some great coaches, and that is a HUGE advantage. You are very well prepared. All the really hard work is behind you now. Just show up at the meet, listen to your coach, and do what you are very capable of and well prepared to do.

I'm not sure, but I think Garry Frank may be there. He and his crew will be more than happy to give you any kind of help you could need. He is very friendly and easy to talk to. And he can talk PL from sun-up to sun-down. So don't hesitate to talk to him if you see him.

Now, go get that Elite total!!!

[CK]

I am happy the chiro went great!

Your going to ROCK!

[Nick]

Brother those openers are a dream come true. Remember u started off benching 65lb way back when ??? :)

Get that elite total, savor it and enjoy the fruits of your labor. And NO MORE STRESSING!

In, In, In.

[Iron Island]

Thanks again everyone! 4 more days! Im doing everything I can to stay positive and be mentally ready. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.

2/12

Bench

45 15
135 8
185 5

Pushdowns

60 15
60 15
60 15

Foam roller work

Thats it untill the meet. It was obviously a fast and easy workout. It snowed here in NY so it was harder to get to the gym then anything else. But it was good to see the team and we bull$hited about the meet.

My biggest problem right now is my lower back. I used the foam roller to try and get out the many knots that are in my back. It was very painful but hopefully it will help. Most of my knots are on my left side and I really tried to dig them out.

Bodyweight was 224.0 today. I lost a pound since yesterday just by upping my water intake.

I'll be sure to get vids of all my lifts and maybe even some behind the scenes footage lol

We have a couple of guys doing the meet from my team.

Scott Sceppe 220 bench only... plans to hit a big number but I cant say :grin:
Big Nick will squat a HUGE number raw
Dom doing the meet raw at 220 and could total 1600

I'll be leaving Friday morning so I can weight in and gain my weight back. Can't wait!! :evil[1]:

[IliekFude]

Good luck on the weigh in, hopefully its not too rough on ya.
Save that psyche man n fuckin flip it when ya need it.

[Iron Island]

ILIEKFUDE, my weight is good. At 8am I was 224.0. Now at 330pm I am 221.8.

My back is still killing me and I don't know why. I'm sure the 3 1/2 hour drive tomorrow won't help.

[Beverly McD.]

You're right it won't.

Just keep in mind that everyone there is going to have something that hurts. Most of them won't be able to sleep the night before. A shitload of them will have a fight with their wife/girlfriend just before they leave to go to the meet. About half of them won't be able to decide if they want to throw up or if it's the other end thats bothering them. A whole bucketload of them will cut weight wrong and will feel weak as a kitten.

Have I cheered you up yet? LOL!

My point is this.....the perfect meet day is a rare thing. The strongest lifter doesn't always win the meet. Too many things factor in. A bad break on squat that causes the lifter to tweak his back, may cost him the winning pull on deadlift. Or his guy that hands off on bench can't make the meet. Any of a huge number of things can go wrong. Or right.

You'll be fine II. Go, and have the best meet you can on that day. That's all anybody can do. It'll play out the way it plays out, win or lose. Either way you'll learn things that will help you in your NEXT meet. It's all about improving. The number one guy you're competing against is yourself. Everyone will be proud for you if you get that Elite total, and no one will think any less of you if it doesn't work out this time.

[IliekFude]

thats it man, like bev said.
get in yr car, drive to the meet and do everything your body will let you do on that day and leave it at that. dont fill yr head with what ifs and maybes just hit yr openers and go from there and do what ya can cuz thats all anyone can do.
good luck brotha.

[Iron Island]

Bev... ILIEKFUDE... Good or bad I have no excuses. I trained very hard for this meet. I am very determined and can't wait to leave tomorrow morning. Just being with people I haven't seen in a while, talking about lifting etc makes the meet worth it. I've got tons of Icy Hot and my GF will be rubbing it in my back all weekend lol

Bev, I read your posts 1000x and wanted to thank you again for all the advice.

[IliekFude]

sounds like yr heads in the right place! go get it!

[Iron Island]

Where to begin... what a weekend. The ride upstate NY started out bad and ended up with us getting a ticket right before the exit we needed. I made weight but cut to much and was 218lbs. I began to rehydrate and went to an italian buffet. After that I was able to nap and ate and drank more. We all met up for dinner in the hotel and I got a bacon cheese burger. About 3AM, I woke up shivering even with the heat blasting. I ran to the bathroom and began vomiting and other stuff I wont go into . This happened all night and I only got a 2-3hours sleep. Seems the bacon cheese burger gave me food poisening. I got to the meet unable to eat or drink because I was still feeling sick. I had 2 prezels and a sip of water as my breakfast.

Now onto the meet...

Squats

715 MISS DEPTH
715 MISS DEPTH
715 (10LB meet pr) Video 100_1100 - 715, squat, 2/16, meet - Dailymotion Share Your Videos (http://www.dailymotion.com/IronIsland/video/x4ett1_1001100_sport)

Bench

425 (40lb meet pr)
440 (55lb meet pr) Video 100_1116 - 440, bench, 2/16, meet - Dailymotion Share Your Videos (http://www.dailymotion.com/IronIsland/video/x4eu2b_1001116_sport)
460 MISS

Deadlifts

605
650 (5lb meet pr)
670 (25lb meet pr) Video 100_1131 - 670, deadlift, 2/16, meet - Dailymotion Share Your Videos (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4eua0_1001131_sport)

Total

1825 @ 218lbs for ELITE!!!!!!!

I had Chris Taylor call me on my squats. He has been in the game for MANY years and he said I was below parallel on all my squats but the judges did not agree. I have never missed my first 2 squats so the pressure was really on the last squat and I was able to hit it.

At my first meet 6 years ago I totaled 1100 and I have busted my ass to total elite. It all came down to my last pull and there was NO WAY I was going to miss it. It was probably the hardest deadlift of my life but I got it!! It was one of the best feelings I ever had.

A BIG thanks to my girlfriend Jessica for helping and being my biggest fan. My entire team, Chris Taylor, John Bernor and everyone else who helped me. Thanks to everyone on this board for all your support!

Next stop 1900!

[Dragon Wolf]

Awesome!!! Glad you were able to get it done! Like the vids, they were cool.

[CK]

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x276/carbac2006/fantastic.jpg

That was AWESOME!!!!

[IliekFude]

"next stop 1900"
thats what im talkin about!
congrats.
set goal, train for goal, get goal. check.