This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/weightroom by /u/TheCrimsonGlass on 2023-11-11 22:14:00.

Eyyyy long time no whatever. A few months ago, I saw my local rec department was putting on a casual meet in November, so I signed up! My last meet was in 2017, and I have definitely not been consistently training hard in the last 6 years. It’s been intermittent at best. Since this was unsanctioned, they did everything in pounds. Singlets were not required, but typical USAPL rules for other attire and lifts applied.

TLDR on Instagram. I went 8/9 and hit some nice PRs.

Training

Earlier in the year, I used the Stronger By Science program builder to make a program that accomplished the same general principle as Jeff Nippard’s minimalism programming while doing just a bit more total volume and focusing a little harder on the big lifts (RDL instead of DL, because that’s what I like if I’m not training for a comp). I used this template probably 4 months.

Around 3 months out, I signed up for Stronger By Science online coaching, and I feel like that went quite well. My coach’s feedback each week was great. Training was 5 days per week, and sessions typically took between 1 hour and 1.5 hours. I won’t go into too much detail, but it was high frequency and high volume. It obviously worked well for me, but there were times where it was difficult to keep the schedule going between work and other commitments. I feel like this training commitment isn’t one I can be on perpetually, but every now and then is manageable.

I really was feeling beat up from like 5 weeks ago all the way up to 2 weeks ago. Squat was usually feeling good, but bench and deadlift were total crap shoots. The reps/RPEs I was hitting said my deadlift max should be ~522 lb, but I failed 510 as attempted training weights multiple weeks in a row. My previous best was 505.

A fun thing I had to deal with during this training was dislocating my shoulder twice, with the most recent occurrence last Saturday.

Diet

I use MacroFactor, so I just tracked everything on that. I was planning on competing in the 90 kg (198.4 lb) weight class, but they didn’t have enough participants to have separate classes. They used Wilks to determine winners, separated by gender. I typically just kept protein between 150 and 200 grams and planned to just slowly add mass from my 194 lb starting weight to fill out the weight class. I did a short sodium and water load starting Wednesday (I probably could have started earlier, but I didn’t care that much, honestly), tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to cut sodium Thursday and Friday while also drinking ~10 liters of water per day. I cut water intake around 5 PM Friday. I was consistently weighing 199-201 lb on my bathroom scale the last week. I weighed 197 lb on that scale the morning of the competition. I then weighed in at 194.2 lb an hour later at check in. I’m not sure where the 3 lb difference came from (maybe my scale is hot garbage?), but hey I’ll take it.

After weighing in, I at like 300 calories of Skittles and drank like 2 liters of water mixed with Propel powder and a Red Bull. I also took some Excedrin because why not. After about 40 minutes, I ate a banana. I really felt like I did a nice job getting some quick carbs in for energy then going for something a little more filling so I wouldn’t be hungry. I gradually ate the remaining 400 calories of Skittles in my bag throughout the morning. I was starting to feel actively hungry after squats, so I just ate a piece of wheat bread. I also drank another Red Bull after squats and after bench.

I will note that I eat a minimally-processed diet outside of protein powder and bars. The vast majority of my food is something I cook from scratch and fruits/vegetables. I also try to keep my saturated fat intake down. All that to say I believe the whole-foods-based diet contributed positively to my overall training experience and satiety.

I’m not going to make a whole section for this: Sleep hygiene is not to be underestimated. I’m typically asleep by 10:00 PM and wake up naturally (no alarm) around 7:00 AM.

Squat

Everything was feeling good during warmups. I recall in 2017 having trouble warming up and getting in the groove. I blamed this on lifting during the evenings. I now lift around 11:00 AM, and I think that made a huge difference today.

  • 1st attempt: 375 lb. I hit this earlier this week, and it felt pretty easy, maybe RPE 7.5. This was just a super safe attempt to get on the board. My previous PR was 390. It went up fast.
  • 2nd attempt: 395 lb. This was a PR for me. I originally signed up for 390, but 375 felt almost like a warmup, so I added a bit. This also went up fast.
  • 3rd attempt: 405 lb. I contemplated going for more here, but I wanted that 4 plate PR so badly and didn’t want to bite off too much and still not be there. I took the safe route. From the video, I obviously had more room there; I hardly slowed down at the sticking point at all. I’m satisfied going away with a 15 lb PR and big milestone, though.

Bench

Bench has always been more worst lift. I have long arms and a history of shoulder problems. In training, I hit 265 lb on paused bench, which felt like RPE 9. I was feeling good during training one day and went for 275, but it just wouldn’t budge. I then had trouble with 265 and ended up at 255 for my training weight. Bench is just so hit or miss for me. Warmups felt nice, though.

  • 1st attempt: 255 lb. Felt way easier than it had a couple weeks ago. Flew up.
  • 2nd attempt: 270 lb. Also felt easy. This is what I am showing in the Instagram post. Hardly felt the sticking point at all. Based on how my first attempt felt, I had considered increasing this to 275, which I kind of wish I had. My all time bench PR is 275, but my paused bench PR was 265 before this, so I’ll call it a 5 lb PR.
  • 3rd attempt: 280 lb - no lift. I was SO close to hitting this. At the sticking point, my left hand just crept down like an inch. I didn’t even realize it and bitched at the spotter for grabbing the bar. I then apologized after watching the video… I felt like I could have hit it if we had a 4th attempt.

Deadlift

I was still warming up when they started the first lifter. We had only 8 competitors, so that meant I was only a couple minutes away. I quickly wrapped up my warmups, which were also feeling pretty good. My leverages have just always made me better at deadlifting than anything else. This was the only lift of the day where I was scheduled to go last instead of second to last. They guy before me started at 475 lb.

  • 1st attempt: 485 lb. I actually thought I had told them 480 lb. When they put a 5 on each side instead of a 2.5, I asked them about it, thinking they got their plate math wrong. They then said, “You wanted 485, right?” I told them I thought I said 480. They offered to change it down, but since they’d already loaded the bar and were ready for me, I just said, “Nah this is fine.” We all got a good laugh from that. It went up super fast and felt easy.
  • 2nd attempt: 505 lb. I was planning on playing it safe with a 500 lb second attempt. 505 was my previous PR, and I’d been failing 510 in training leading up to this. I was afraid deadlifting just wasn’t going to go well. But 485 felt so good, and the guy pulling before me did 505, so I just told them to leave the 5 extra pounds on and went for it. Went up fast and smooth, no issues at all.
  • 3rd attempt: 530 lb. I was, again, planning on going for 515 here. I just had no clue how this was going to go based on how training had been. Well, the guy pulling before me pulled 525. He was like 50 lb ahead of me on squat and bench, but I thought I could at least go for the deadlift win. I told them to add 5 lb (they were running out of room on the bar; they’ll need to get some real plates if they keep doing this) and it went up quickly. I feel like I had more in the tank here, but hey, I’ll take the 25 lb PR and deadlift win.

Thoughts

They hope to make it a sanctioned event in the future. I came in second overall. The guy who came in first had a 399.4 Wilks, so I’m fine with “losing” to someone so ahead of me. It was tons of fun going head to head on deadlifts, though.

Everyone was incredibly friendly and supportive. This was such an enjoyable meet, and I’m proud that I’ve made some nice progress. I’ll need to dial things down a bit for the next few months, but I’ll probably sign up again next year.