Brian - 2/27 AAU Meet Report

The meet was this Saturday. I felt very prepared, rested, and ready to go. Goals for the day were 300 squat, 240 bench, and 400 deadlift.

I didn't even attempt to lose a single pound. I figured I would just eat like normal and I'd probably make my weight class. If I was over by a lot I didn't care enough, so I'd just compete in the next weight class and get crushed by frank.

I showed up with BW @ 165.5. Sighhh. I had socks and underwear on so I take off my socks and try to pee, but I couldn't. Then I step back on the scale and I see it flicker between 165.0 and 165.5. Bigger sighhhhhh.... who the hell uses a scale that rounds to 0.5 lbs for competition weigh ins? Anyway, I guess I exhaled enough and it stopped on 165.0. Yayyyyy 165 weight class.

I don't remember the exact kg #'s for each attempt except my best ones, so the others are round # in lbs.

Jon's HD videos are linked.

Squat;

275lbs (3 white) - video
*I was in the second flight so I got to watch the judges white light an entire flight of what we would call in the gym as "way too high." There was a lot of talk in the back of 'cut it higher than normal', esp since I go WAY to deep to begin with. Well, I had this on my mind during this squat and I misfired in the bottom trying to cut it high... and ended up going deeper than normal. Just a train wreck, but I gutted it out. Harder than it should have been...

291lbs (3 white) - video (+1 lb PR)
*I wanted to hit a solid # here so that I could go for my goal weight on my 3rd attempt with some confidence. Happy with this. Decided to neglect the entire 'cut it high' thought process and just squat whatever felt right. Still too deep but I decided to correct this in training and not change things during the meet.

297.5 (3 white) - video (+7.5 lb PR)
*Stupid kgs. Couldn't attempt 300, so it was either 297.5 or 303.5. I opted for the lower weight, but I'm still super satisfied with the result. I'm pumped to get back to training and work on my depth. I guess it's a better problem to be too deep than too high, cause I still get white lights for it! :)

Bench;

215lbs (2 white) - video
*I got a red light on this because a judge mis-understood a rule or something. He said that because I was holding the bar with the weight unracked and my butt in the air that it was a failed attempt.... even though I didn't start the lift until I put my butt down. Nathan talked to the judge and straighten it out. I got 2 white's anyway without that guy.

231.5lbs (3 white) - video (+1.5 lb PR)
*I notice that I have zero leg drive on these bench attempts. In the gym I think I have great leg drive and I recently fixed my technique so I don't lift my butt when I do it, but I think I was a bit paranoid that I'd f up a lift by raising my butt. Probably shouldn't have thought about it too much, but I still nailed this weight. Happy with it.

242.5 (3 red) - video
*Stupid kg's again. Couldn't attempt 240 so it was either 236ish or 242.5. I decided that I was happy with my 2nd attempt weight even if I didn't hit the third attempt, so I had room to be ambitious. Opted for 242.5 and failed.

Deadlift;

Wow, deadlift.

375lbs (3 white) - video
*Good start. After seeing the video I'm actually a little surprised at how little my back rounds compared to what I thought. I mean, I know I have it there on the upper weights, and I need to work on it a ton (as I have been), but the way pat and kik usually talk at the gym I thought it looked like I was wrapped around a wheel.

405lbs (3 white) - video (+2 lb PR)
*Nice to hit 5lbs over the goal on the 2nd attempt.

418.9lbs (3 white) - video (+15.9 lb PR)
*Never thought I had this in me. I was deciding between 413 and 418.9 after my 2nd attempt. I think I should have been deciding between 418.9 and 424. Either way, incredibly happy.

Total: 947.9
1st overall, 165 lb weight class
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So, overall I'm satisfied and motivated to improve on everything. It was fantastic having clearly defined goals with a set end date. Definitely helped my training. Setting 3PR's twice in 2 weeks is just great. I was also glad that they did an "overall" champion in each weight class because there was no one in junior 165 with me. This way, I got to beat someone! :)

Looking back, I would change my goals to #'s in kgs because I had a little trouble deciding on my third attempts due to the odd numbers. I'm about 30lbs away from Class I standard, and 130 away from Masters total. Those will be good short and long term overall goals. I need to talk to Kik about what we are going to do for our training from this point forward.

I wanted to say something about the atmosphere at the competition as well. It was seriously awesome. Everyone was so positive. Before my lifts there were multiple people who I never met that were giving me encouragement, and during the lifts nearly everyone yells and supports you. After the lift a few of the organizers that were sitting next to the platform would shake my hand and congratulate. One of them said after a deadlift "man, I don't envy you... you have to move the bar a mile!" I thought it was funny. When I was setting up on the bench for an attempt someone in the crowd said, "He's so.... lean!" It was like the nicer version of Danny's 'you're anorexic!'

Thanks to everyone involved. I couldn't have done it without training partners P,J,K, and advice from everyone in the gym (gordon, nathan, frank, dee, +others) and danny. Thanks also to Tab, Jon, Pat, and Eric for coming to support the team. I had an awesome time at the meet. We have a really fun group and I hope that we choose another meet a few months from now to do together.