In the last year, I've had dozens of people messaging me about my blog and asking me how my training is going. THANK YOU. It means a lot.
And, since being in Power Magazine this July/Aug issue I've had handfuls of people messaging me about the blog....so, I decided to stop avoiding a first "BACK AT IT" post.
Here it is...and it's going to be UNEDITED AND SLOPPY because if I don't do it now...who knows how long I'll keep putting it off for. FUCK where do I begin...it's been a year.
Since my last post I have done two competitions. Clash 4 Cash in NOLA, Sept 2012 and RUM 6 in Tampa, FL Feb 2013.
Both competitions were done with major injuries that left me not training the deadlift and squat for over a month going into the competitions... AND not even being sure whether or not I would compete...that decision being made depending on how the warm ups went. But the tickets were bought and my training partner Kade Weber was ready to kill shit ...so, at the very least, I couldn't NOT go to see what The Kade Weber Project would do.
ME BITCHING AND COMPLAINING ABOUT MY INJURIES(Skip if you hate pussies...).
Clash: My last post involved a great squat session...the next day my groin was messed up...I couldn't even body weight squat for 2 weeks, let alone put weight on my back. I was miserable....fucking miserable....At the competition, it felt good enough to squat and didn't hurt until my last warm up set 595lbs, I opened with 715, got it, and made it a lot worse. I literally lifted 4 attempts that competition. 1 squat, 1 bench, and 2 deadlifts. 3/4... I basically just wanted to share the platform with an awesome cast. A lot of records were broken at that meet notably, Dan Green got 2030@220, Kade got 2000@242, Jamie Lewis got 1705@181, and Jesse Kellum squatted 690lbs@198.
After, I spent a lot of time doing bitch shit such as hundreds of bodyweight walking lunges, pistols, step ups, and crying.....until eventually it started healing up to a point where I could squat manly numbers again.......started thinking of RUM.
RUM: Patellar tracking issues... since about December of 2012 I have squatted over 600 lbs on 3 different occasions....THAT IS IT. 2 weeks out from RUM I figured I needed to know if I could even handle the weight and was willing to risk the pain. I did 700x2. At RUM I did 694 and failed 733 twice. About 6 weeks ago, none of my pictures were good enough for POWER magazine because I had zero HD pictures....so I squatted 675 for a picture. EVERYTHING ELSE has been around 60%. It's fucking garbage...boring...and I feel like a crossfitter....no offence to crossfitters(love you..just don't want to be you). I'M TRYING TO MOVE MOUNTAINS, NOT RUN UP AND DOWN 'EM.
I want to write so much more.....about how not knowing what to train, or how to address injuries, and waking up in pain every morning to remember that walking hurts.. ...because venting about injuries is relieving...but feeling like a person bitching about things is not so relieving...because I hate people who bitch without action.....so I will stop.
POST RUM and BULLSHIT...nothing really to do with powerlifting.
I did a lot of work on my hips, quads, hamstrings, and calves. A lot of rolling, distracting, just straight up mobilizing and getting on the floor and doing the nasty with a lacrosse ball...sometimes 2.
As the pain went from 9/10 to 6/10(with 10/10 being falling,yelling and gasping in pain), I slowly decided to play around with things again. Weighted step ups, weighted walking lunges, heavy quarter squats. I really felt lost not knowing if the issues would go away... but at least I had purpose in working past the injuries as best as I could.
Upper body was fun, I just fucked around with muscle ups and handstands, and basically just did pump up workouts.
But lower body was a shit show. It's still a shit show when it comes to squats.
Some vids of me fucking around when I can't powerlift.
Muscle ups: (here's my first day practicing them. I think I did 5 sets of 8. Eventually, I was able to work my way up to a set of 13 as a max or as sets and reps 5 sets of 11...I'll get back to them sometime...they're fun and make you feel jacked...I'd like to be able to do 20 in a row).
Crossfit's Diane Benchmark done in approx 1:48. (walked through it because I wasn't sure how it would feel, could have done faster for sure, a few shady reps here and there also....) Check out the warm up...intense. Crossfit workouts are fun....but anyone who understands my most cherished training principle, the SAID principle....will understand that I AM A LION TRYING TO HANG WITH THE BIG LIONS...AND ACTING LIKE A LEOPARD DOESN'T HELP. So these WODs are, to me, detrimental. Why teach my body to pick up 225lbs when I'd rather pick up 800?
286 Power Snatch- my second time doing snatches since Oct 2008..PR previous best was 120 in 2008. My mobility in the shoulders sucks from so much pressing, my knee was still in a lot of pain so I didn't want to get under it. Technique was really early...but with shady technique, still a PR...Strength is a wonderful thing. I actually loved this session..i missed the violence of the Oly lifts. At some point I need to tackle my bucket list goal of a 200kg clean and a 160kg snatch...but thats far off the priority list....I want to that ALL-TIME TOTAL RECORD AT 220 FIRST!!
RECENTLY...THE GOOD SHIT...POWERLIFTING
Anyway, I am starting to feel healthier again. So I will be posting every now and then....
I have placed my deadlift as priority number 1, benching is on the back burner(just moderately building my volume and working on technique), and squatting is sitting in the fridge basically doing modified CAT squat sessions @ 60% and no more...twice a week.
I love the deadlift because it's such a primal lift that requires a good amount of violence...BUT at the same time it is also the lift that I feel the most inadequate at as a 220 lb powerlifter. 800lbs PLUS is the new standard at which these not so gentle gentlemen have decided to deadlift. Belyaev, Green, Posdeev, Omelchenkov, Cass...they all pull over 800lbs.
I have been building volume in the deadlift. Building up the structures. Actually getting myself used to deadlifting!! My mind and my body. Going from always doing multiple sets of 1 rep...to performing sets of multiple reps...has been a good move.
Here are some vids from the last 3 weeks of deadlifting.
715x3repsx2 sets
700x1, 750x2, 771x1, 515x10
Max out fail...I had my sights set on 800 this day...took 785 for granted...and I failed...it cooked me.....but I will get this and more in the next little while.....TRUTH.
****I APOLOGIZE FOR THE TERRIBLE WRITING. MAYBE I WILL COME BACK AND EDIT THIS IN THE FUTURE. IN THE MEAN TIME...GO BUY A COPY OF POWER MAGAZINE AND READ MY INTERVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. :)
ANYWAY, IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK AT TRAINING WITH HEAVY WEIGHTS...HOPEFULLY I CAN STAY HEALTHY AND INCUR LESS OBSTACLES IN REACHING MY GOALS.
