Keosawa's Powerlifting Log
- Thread starter Keosawa
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Mad props on that pull. That's some serious shit.
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Thanks. I wanted to jump into traffic after squats, but I kept my shit together long enough to actually do quite well on everything else.
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Okay, folks: time to do a meet report.
Earlier today, I competed at UPA Battle on the Mississippi in Dubuque, IA. It was my first UPA meet, and I will most certainly be back--the venue was great, the environment was very cool, and the people there were very nice. Everyone was nice to me, and I had a really good time.
The meet itself gave me a lot to process, and my view on my performance is mixed, though I'd like to say that the positives outweigh the negatives. But I'll start with the bad, since I started my meet off with it:
First, my squat was atrocious. I don't know what happened, honestly. The weight cut was pretty small and went fine, and I did a good job recomping up above my normal training weight. I had energy, I felt good, and I moved my warm-ups well. 446 flew up a lot faster than it had in April, and I was completely convinced 496 would be no problem. I called for it for a second attempt, and when I came out of the hole, I just hit a wall and got crushed. In looking at the video, I might have lost my balance too.
I retook it, but the second attempt was even worse. It was an awful start to the meet, and I honestly felt like I would have rather bombed out than gone through with the rest of it. I heard people talk about the stage being unstable, but I really had no issues. I was tentative on my descent and I just didn't have enough gas to get out of the hole. I can't blame anything or make any excuses--I just didn't come ready to squat today. That is why I will have to start making some more changes to my training.
Anyway, after going one-for-three on the squat, I warmed up on the bench and knew I had a lot of strength, because everything flew up. I opened at 276 and crushed it, but I couldn't get good footing on the platform and my arch was really well. I switched to my wrestling shoes, and this helped on my second attempt, but I was still having all sorts of problems on the apparatus. For me, it was really tough to unrack my benches, and I was losing position most of the time. My arch didn't feel right at all and my setup just felt weird. It wasn't that I was doing anything wrong--the bench was just different from what I'm used to, which was the problem. Someday, I need to get myself a competition bench to train on.
Well, 276 was smoked, and I called for 303 and hit it really easily. I talked to Janis about going immediately for 308, since the meet was a bust anyway, but she convinced me to just stay with my progression. After 303, I went for 308, and that attempt was an absolute mess. We botched the hand-off, and the j-hook on the left side caught and held the bar. As that happened, my left foot slid a couple inches forward, and my arch started to collapse. I benched with a staggered stance, basically. But 308 moved great and was an easy meet PR. I felt like I had another ten pounds in me, and I don't often say that about my benches! It gave me confidence to have everything go wrong on an attempt and still be able to handle it cleanly and easily.
After the bench, I was four-for-six, and I at least had one lift go really well, so I was feeling better. My deadlift training has gone great, and I was ready to be real aggressive with my attempts. I was going to open light, hit a small meet PR, and then go for broke on a third, because fuck it.
Warm-ups felt fantastic (again), and I jumped from 405 straight to 518 on the platform because we didn't start warming up until about ten minutes before the start of deadlifts (this wasn't exactly my fault). 518 moved as fast as it ever has, and my lockout was really quick. Nobody at the UPA knows me at all, and one of the judges said something like, "well, that was easy" after my opener--I don't think they realized I was opening very light. I then took a 60-lb. jump up to 578, which would be a small meet PR. In April, I pulled a really tough 573, and 578 by comparison was MUCH easier here. I slowed down a little at the top, but the lockout was smooth. It felt much easier than I thought it would coming into this meet, and so I made another big jump up to 601. I didn't imagine taking this before the meet, but when your total goal is scrapped, you have to find new ways to keep yourself invested, I suppose. 601 flew off the ground (to my surprise), and though the lockout was slow, I never stopped moving or lost position. It was the perfect attempt called at the perfect time, and I wouldn't have tried it had it not been for the mess that was my squatting.
So, the good news is that I made my cut easily, recomped up to the low 160s, smoked my benches and deadlifts, and felt great doing it. The bad news is that my squat no-showed. Here's what I'm going to do:
Starting ASAP, I'm going to widen my stance a little. It might just be a few inches, but I feel it will make a big difference. It's time to admit to myself that I'm not consistent enough with my squat to justify this technique any longer. Even if I have to take a step back, it is time to put in the work to adopt a more "conventional" style.
Now, I'm still going to be using a narrow stance; it just won't be THAT narrow. And yes, my squat will likely take a hit, but I'll train it like hell in preparation for a mid-November meet. I have almost four months to get this right, and I'm going to work at it.
The second thing I'm going to do: start heavy squatting again. I don't squat with 450+ very often anymore. I do a ton of sub-max wrapless work, and a lot of high-rep sets, but my intensity is lagging. I'll be doing more wrapped squatting, and I'll also be returning to reverse bands when I don't feel like using my wraps. The first couple of months' worth of training will likely feature a lot of reverse-band squatting as I re-acclimate to heavy training weights--as I get closer to the next meet, I'll start wrapping up every week. I still want to be putting up 30-40 unwrapped bar-lifts per week at a reasonable RPE, but my goal is to reintroduce intensity and rep PRs into my squat training.
I was advised to try narrowing my grip on bench, and I'm going to give this a shot, too. I'll still be utilizing my wide grip once or twice per week, but I'm going to move my hands in a bit and do some normal grip training to see if I can bring my triceps to the party a bit more. My bench is going well, but I want to keep trying to make myself stronger, and that means being willing to tinker with technique when it's reasonable to do so.
As far as the deadlift goes, it'll be more of the same. Here's hoping I keep making insane progress on that one.
Anyway, I have a lot of thank-yous to say, but that will have to wait, because I'm tired. Thanks for reading.
Earlier today, I competed at UPA Battle on the Mississippi in Dubuque, IA. It was my first UPA meet, and I will most certainly be back--the venue was great, the environment was very cool, and the people there were very nice. Everyone was nice to me, and I had a really good time.
The meet itself gave me a lot to process, and my view on my performance is mixed, though I'd like to say that the positives outweigh the negatives. But I'll start with the bad, since I started my meet off with it:
First, my squat was atrocious. I don't know what happened, honestly. The weight cut was pretty small and went fine, and I did a good job recomping up above my normal training weight. I had energy, I felt good, and I moved my warm-ups well. 446 flew up a lot faster than it had in April, and I was completely convinced 496 would be no problem. I called for it for a second attempt, and when I came out of the hole, I just hit a wall and got crushed. In looking at the video, I might have lost my balance too.
I retook it, but the second attempt was even worse. It was an awful start to the meet, and I honestly felt like I would have rather bombed out than gone through with the rest of it. I heard people talk about the stage being unstable, but I really had no issues. I was tentative on my descent and I just didn't have enough gas to get out of the hole. I can't blame anything or make any excuses--I just didn't come ready to squat today. That is why I will have to start making some more changes to my training.
Anyway, after going one-for-three on the squat, I warmed up on the bench and knew I had a lot of strength, because everything flew up. I opened at 276 and crushed it, but I couldn't get good footing on the platform and my arch was really well. I switched to my wrestling shoes, and this helped on my second attempt, but I was still having all sorts of problems on the apparatus. For me, it was really tough to unrack my benches, and I was losing position most of the time. My arch didn't feel right at all and my setup just felt weird. It wasn't that I was doing anything wrong--the bench was just different from what I'm used to, which was the problem. Someday, I need to get myself a competition bench to train on.
Well, 276 was smoked, and I called for 303 and hit it really easily. I talked to Janis about going immediately for 308, since the meet was a bust anyway, but she convinced me to just stay with my progression. After 303, I went for 308, and that attempt was an absolute mess. We botched the hand-off, and the j-hook on the left side caught and held the bar. As that happened, my left foot slid a couple inches forward, and my arch started to collapse. I benched with a staggered stance, basically. But 308 moved great and was an easy meet PR. I felt like I had another ten pounds in me, and I don't often say that about my benches! It gave me confidence to have everything go wrong on an attempt and still be able to handle it cleanly and easily.
After the bench, I was four-for-six, and I at least had one lift go really well, so I was feeling better. My deadlift training has gone great, and I was ready to be real aggressive with my attempts. I was going to open light, hit a small meet PR, and then go for broke on a third, because fuck it.
Warm-ups felt fantastic (again), and I jumped from 405 straight to 518 on the platform because we didn't start warming up until about ten minutes before the start of deadlifts (this wasn't exactly my fault). 518 moved as fast as it ever has, and my lockout was really quick. Nobody at the UPA knows me at all, and one of the judges said something like, "well, that was easy" after my opener--I don't think they realized I was opening very light. I then took a 60-lb. jump up to 578, which would be a small meet PR. In April, I pulled a really tough 573, and 578 by comparison was MUCH easier here. I slowed down a little at the top, but the lockout was smooth. It felt much easier than I thought it would coming into this meet, and so I made another big jump up to 601. I didn't imagine taking this before the meet, but when your total goal is scrapped, you have to find new ways to keep yourself invested, I suppose. 601 flew off the ground (to my surprise), and though the lockout was slow, I never stopped moving or lost position. It was the perfect attempt called at the perfect time, and I wouldn't have tried it had it not been for the mess that was my squatting.
So, the good news is that I made my cut easily, recomped up to the low 160s, smoked my benches and deadlifts, and felt great doing it. The bad news is that my squat no-showed. Here's what I'm going to do:
Starting ASAP, I'm going to widen my stance a little. It might just be a few inches, but I feel it will make a big difference. It's time to admit to myself that I'm not consistent enough with my squat to justify this technique any longer. Even if I have to take a step back, it is time to put in the work to adopt a more "conventional" style.
Now, I'm still going to be using a narrow stance; it just won't be THAT narrow. And yes, my squat will likely take a hit, but I'll train it like hell in preparation for a mid-November meet. I have almost four months to get this right, and I'm going to work at it.
The second thing I'm going to do: start heavy squatting again. I don't squat with 450+ very often anymore. I do a ton of sub-max wrapless work, and a lot of high-rep sets, but my intensity is lagging. I'll be doing more wrapped squatting, and I'll also be returning to reverse bands when I don't feel like using my wraps. The first couple of months' worth of training will likely feature a lot of reverse-band squatting as I re-acclimate to heavy training weights--as I get closer to the next meet, I'll start wrapping up every week. I still want to be putting up 30-40 unwrapped bar-lifts per week at a reasonable RPE, but my goal is to reintroduce intensity and rep PRs into my squat training.
I was advised to try narrowing my grip on bench, and I'm going to give this a shot, too. I'll still be utilizing my wide grip once or twice per week, but I'm going to move my hands in a bit and do some normal grip training to see if I can bring my triceps to the party a bit more. My bench is going well, but I want to keep trying to make myself stronger, and that means being willing to tinker with technique when it's reasonable to do so.
As far as the deadlift goes, it'll be more of the same. Here's hoping I keep making insane progress on that one.
Anyway, I have a lot of thank-yous to say, but that will have to wait, because I'm tired. Thanks for reading.
L
LegioTitan
Guest
This feels appropriate given your reaction to a shit-house day of squatting:
Enjoyed the write up.
So, overall you were happy with the UPA and how they ran the meet?
It will be interesting to see how your squat numbers and technique develop over the next few months for sure. Once that guy can be consistently called on for 95+% of your gym numbers on game day.... easy 1400 fo sho'.
Tell Janis to get on the ball with this bench video. This staggered stance chill-ass bench PR must be made public. It sounds hilarious.
Way to keep your shit together and come back "like a fuckin' warhorse" as my good buddy says.
Enjoyed the write up.
So, overall you were happy with the UPA and how they ran the meet?
It will be interesting to see how your squat numbers and technique develop over the next few months for sure. Once that guy can be consistently called on for 95+% of your gym numbers on game day.... easy 1400 fo sho'.
Tell Janis to get on the ball with this bench video. This staggered stance chill-ass bench PR must be made public. It sounds hilarious.
Way to keep your shit together and come back "like a fuckin' warhorse" as my good buddy says.
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Congrats on the pull and bench bro!
That's a really cool shirt! When watching the deadlift video I thought it would be so awesome if he yelled "Keo-ken!" before the lift (if somebody understood the dbz referance).
I wore this shirt today, and I believe it helped me not totally screw up on 2/3 handoffs. Ugh though, I'm still really pissed at myself about the 308 one. I NEVER do that!
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Congrats on the 600 pull. I find this especially awesome because there was a 240 pound man at Steve's meet that was trying to get the crowd excited (by being really obnoxious) for his 600 pull and then he missed it. And you rocked that at 148!
Sorry if I missed it, but what about your training or this meet prep do you think contributed to your lockout improving so much? I mean, its significantly faster! Nice job again.
Sorry if I missed it, but what about your training or this meet prep do you think contributed to your lockout improving so much? I mean, its significantly faster! Nice job again.
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Using a wider stance and turning my feet out slightly helped. For my training, I basically dropped deficits and started only either pulling from small blocks or pulling from the floor. I hammered heavy work sets and continued deadlifting from my accessory work. I'd do sets of ten with 405 just about every week, and that made a big difference. The key to fixing my lockout was basically just to a.) tweak my technique so that it was more "lockout-friendly" and b.) do a lot of deadlifting.
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Great job man. Sick pull. Anytime you tie your best it's a meet to be proud of. Reevaluate the squat and move forward.
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600# pull, damn. Even more impressive considering you bombed your squats.. yet came back to finish your meet with a 601 pull. Congrats.
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Shame about the squats but fantastic work with the bench and deadlift.
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That was a beastly deadlift pull for 601, congrats Keo! Definitely looking forward to seeing your squat progress as much as your BP and DL!
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Just a little something for ya when you decide to move up a class.
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On Sunday, I just did a little foam rolling after my meet.
Monday:
Floor Press (w/ reactive slingshot)
Barx20
95x8
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3ish
315x3
225x8 (normal grip)
225x8 (normal grip)
225x8 (normal grip)
Notes: I still felt good coming off of the meet, so I wanted to get one more good pushing session in before my carb-load drops off. 315x3 is a PR; I didn't quite get it the first time, but I did on the second attempt. After that, I worked on some reps with my grip in a bit--I'll be doing one "normal grip" session per week on bench.
Tuesday:
Reverse-Band Squat (w/ doubled minis--about 120 lbs. at bottom, 60ish lbs. at top)
185x5
225x5
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
435x3
455x3
475x3
500x3
Leg Curls, BWx200
Leg Extensions, three sets
Hip Abductors, three sets
Notes: Doing the reverse-band thing for a little while as I work on my stance. After this week, I'll start integrating more unwrapped volume. In a couple of cycles, I'll start working in my wraps again.
Wednesday:
Paused Bench Press
Barx20
95x10
135x10
155x25
155x20 (tng, normal grip)
155x20 (tng, normal grip)
External Rotations, three sets
Band Pull-Aparts, three sets
Notes: I suck with a "normal" grip. Triceps are definitely a weakness now. I'm not sure how well this grip will transfer over to my competition bench, so I'll tip-toe into these changes.
Monday:
Floor Press (w/ reactive slingshot)
Barx20
95x8
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3ish
315x3
225x8 (normal grip)
225x8 (normal grip)
225x8 (normal grip)
Notes: I still felt good coming off of the meet, so I wanted to get one more good pushing session in before my carb-load drops off. 315x3 is a PR; I didn't quite get it the first time, but I did on the second attempt. After that, I worked on some reps with my grip in a bit--I'll be doing one "normal grip" session per week on bench.
Tuesday:
Reverse-Band Squat (w/ doubled minis--about 120 lbs. at bottom, 60ish lbs. at top)
185x5
225x5
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
435x3
455x3
475x3
500x3
Leg Curls, BWx200
Leg Extensions, three sets
Hip Abductors, three sets
Notes: Doing the reverse-band thing for a little while as I work on my stance. After this week, I'll start integrating more unwrapped volume. In a couple of cycles, I'll start working in my wraps again.
Wednesday:
Paused Bench Press
Barx20
95x10
135x10
155x25
155x20 (tng, normal grip)
155x20 (tng, normal grip)
External Rotations, three sets
Band Pull-Aparts, three sets
Notes: I suck with a "normal" grip. Triceps are definitely a weakness now. I'm not sure how well this grip will transfer over to my competition bench, so I'll tip-toe into these changes.
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