teh Forum

for the third time now. This time I'm going to compete in both the dead lift and the bench press and I'm jumping up two weight classes from 181 to 220 but I'll be weighing a bit light at 213lbs. Usually you want to be right at the top of your weight class but I haven't been able to gain any more weight for a while and there is no way I want to diet down to 198lbs so I'm just staying where I'm at.

I think most people have numeric goals when they go to these things like how much weight to the pound they want to lift but I figured out that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because if you are training as hard as you possibly can and you are getting the greatest possible results from your training then you have to accept whatever the results are when the time comes. So when the time comes you just lift as much as you possibly can - and that's all there is to it.

The problem is I didn't get as much from my training as I needed in the bench press. The end of all my training cycles in the past is when it is the most intense period because I'm giving it all I have and I am usually unsure of whether or not I'm actually going to be able to move the weight or not - so I'm as close to 100% as I can be. This time I got to just over 90% which is actually a pretty big deal so at the end this time instead of being a time where I was wondering if I could move the weight I was wondering why my coach/trainer/friend was not upping the weight. And on top of this I'm going into a competition using a bench press shirt that I did only one single repetition in - typically it would be about 20 reps. And in my main shirt I've never been succesful in completeing any rep with it. So I have no clue what is going to happen - but if I'm super fortunate and I am able to do what I want to do I'll piss off my trainer because I'm going to attempt a weight that he considers insane for me to even think of trying because there is no way I could possibly get it. Great confidence boost there eh? I beleive I have just enough strength to pull it off but we shall see...

My deadlift training went really well so there will be no surprises there except if I am able to outperform one of my lifting partners that I am competing against. He dieted down from the 242lb class to compete in the 220lb class and his best lift is 70lbs higher than I have ever done in a contest so he should be able to take first place with me in second however we both have the strength to break the current state record so one of use should be coming home with it.

Alright then, off to Pasco where glory and victory await...Heh, man that's pretty cheesy...

Will Buzz-saw be there?

Wait, how can you drive to Pasco if you are blind?

Good Luck

And what good is a phone call if you can't speak?

Buzzsaw was there - he shook my and hand and handed me my trophies. One for second place in the bench press for 402.2lbs and one for first place in the dead lift for 602.9lbs which broke the state record so I hold two of them now.

I went for 418.7lbs on the bench press on my third attempt but I lost control of the weight half way up, stalled and then somehow regained control and locked it out but it didn't count because the bar dipped at one point on the way up.

I went for 611.7lbs on the dead lift for my third attempt but I was out of energy and couldn't get it. I didn't have enough endurance at that point, if it were my second lift I could have done it but not on my third at the end of the day after benching first.

It was a very tough meet this time because all the other times I only benched or dead lifted but this time doing both really took it's toll. My friend Henry should have been able to defeat me by pulling 622.7 pretty easily but he was only able to get 556 because he benched too and like me didn't know how much impact it would have on strength later so he overestimated his strength and lost to me.

Are you the first founder of Pasco yet?