From March 3-6, 2011, my wife and I attended the Arnold Sports Festival for the 4th straight year. This was the 2nd straight year I was blessed to compete in the USA Powerlifting Raw Challenge. My training leading into it was going great, until a 5 weeks before the meet. I was hit with a sinus infection, followed by a simultaneous bout of flu and strep throat, followed by minor injuries from a car accident. Needless to say, my health and confidence both took a hit. However, I rebounded with a performance that included 2 PR lifts and I tied my PR total! Plus we got to meet Baltimore Ravens linebacker and future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, plus many more inspiring athletes. It was one of the best weekends ever!
Rather than take a lot of time and effort writing a recap, I'll invite you to watch this 4 minute video that tells the story of the competition and weekend. Enjoy, and thanks for watching!
I plan to compete again in August, at the USAPL Raw Nationals in Scranton, PA. I hope this will be my last time competing in the 198 lb weight class. I need to gain some more weight if I'm going to realize my true strength potential. I took a week off, then started training again on March 15. For a few reasons, I've returned to 5/3/1 programming, which I last used in preparation for Raw Nationals in 2009. 2 years ago, I used the program as written in Jim Wendler's original book on the subject. This time, I'll modify the program a bit. Most of the tweaking involves adding heavy singles as has been discussed on many boards and forums. I'll also do more than one set with the heaviest weight for the day, but not necessarily more than one set with as many reps as possible. I can see time constraints becoming an issue in the next few months because of a few things going on in real life, and these workouts tend to take less time. By the way, the last time I ran this program, I hit a PR squat, deadlift, and total at Raw Nationals. We'll see if lightning can strike twice.
Here's how the first week has gone...
Tue. 3/15, Core lift: Overhead Press, 5's, Working max = 170
warm-up: OHP/bar/15 reps + pulldowns/50/15 reps
1. OHP
70/5; 90/5; (65%) 111/5; (75%) 128/5
(85%) 145/9, 5, 5
120/9 - failed a 10th rep
Never felt like I hit the right groove for any of these.
2. Pullups - wide, overhand
pulldowns/100/8
BW/8; 25/6; 45/6; 25/8
BW/4 + 3 + 2 - this turned into a rest pause set. I didn't realize how tired I was. I had no gas left.
3. Dips
BW/10; 45/10; 50/9, 8
BW/12
4. Curls
DB Hammers: 45s/6 each
DB pronating: 40s/7 each
barbell: 85/6 + 65/6 - sort of a rest-pause-drop set by accident.
Total time: 1 hr 23 min
A decent first session. I could tell I'm weaker on these lifts. It could be because I haven't trained them in over a month, and it could be due to my recent weight loss. Probably a bit of both, but all that will change with time and effort. I was just glad to be back in the gym.
Thu. 3/17, Core lift: Squat, 5's, Working Max = 425
Warm-up = walking my route (I'm a mailman for my 9-5) plus overtime
1. Squat
bar/5; 135/5; 225/5; (65%) 276/5; (75%) 319/5
add Rob's belt: (85%) 361/10 - This wass an all-time 10 rep PR! I worked for it too. Reps 7-10 were preceded by 3-5 deep breaths for each. I felt like my muscles could take 1-2 more, but my lungs were cursing at me. Before the set, my buddy Rob saw my belt laying on my bag and said it looked "flimsy". He offered to let my try his Inzer Forever 1-prong that's 2 weeks old.
add my belt: (85%) 361/5, 5 - Rob was right about my belt. Huge difference. I'll be replacing mine soon.
2. Barbell Glute-Hip Thrusts - I'll probably abbreviate these as GHT's from now on.
135/8; 225/6; 315/8, 8, 8
3. 1-arm flat DB bench press - I'll do some pressing at every session, not always heavy
35/12 each; 50/16 each
4a. Calf press - on Cybex machine
150/15; 210/10
4b. Leg press - on the same Cybex machine
250/10; 310/13
Total time: 1 hr 43 min. I know this flies in the face of my desire to save time, but I had nothing pressing to do and ended up using the gym as a place of refuge. I was very liberal with rest periods for the whole session after that 10-rep squat set.
Fri. 3/18, Core lift: Bench Press, 5's, Working max = 265
Warm-up: mailman GPP + empty bar OHP, BB rows and BP
1. Bench press
95/5; 135/5; (65%) 172/5; (75%) 200/5; (85%) 225/6, 5, 4
This was pathetic. I expected to be somewhere in the 8-10 range on the "5 or more" set. There may be a few contributing factors: 1) I didn't sleep enough the night before. 2) I hadn't recovered from the previous day's squat workout. 3) I need to eat more. 4) My bench is doomed to suck. Who knows, but I intend to figure it out.
2. Seated cable row - Separate handles. Turned hands from pronated to neutral during each rep.
70/16; 110/13; 150/10; 190/10; 170/17
3. Seated calf press
135/15
4. Standing calf press
200/11
5. Incline DB press
70s/13; 80s/10; 90s/6
Time: 53 min
If you made it through all that, I thank you from the depths of my heart! But now you're all caught up with me as far as what I'm up to in this part of my life. I hope you'll continue to keep up with me.
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