Looking back on the last 10 weeks of meet prep, and off-season.. I'm pretty hesitant to say it.. but.. I feel good. Comparing this meet prep to last cycle (March '15 meet).. this cycle things went pretty good.. I hit all my lifts.. made progress.. and gained some confidence in my multiply gear while adding predator briefs in. I remember when I first put these briefs on in June a few months ago, I thought there was going to be a LONG road to get to depth in these things.. thank God they broke in since then lol.
Last cycle was my first meet prep in multiply gear, and squats went ok - but I wasn't able to find my groove in the Metal Jack shirt.. I didn't even have one good clean touch before the meet.. and ended up with a 500lb bench PR. This time around I've gotten good, clean touches - and worked up to 530lbs off a 1 board. Hopefully if all goes well, I'll grab another bench PR. At this point, its looking like 480-505-520 for attempts.
Regarding squat, I really like how the meet prep cycle we've been running has me hammering the geared squat openers for the most part in weeks 4-5-6.. basically the theory behind the meet prep is make the lifts reliable and confident.. Its not so much about getting stronger during the meet prep (properly peaking - yes.. strength building..not so much).. but rather making sure the lifts will pass on the platform.
6-7 weeks out I was still a few inches high on the squat.. but by weeks 4-5 I was able to get passable depth.. my last opener was last week (3 weeks out) and I feel pretty good about it. Main cues are to make sure I drive my knees out and arch hard in the hole. Bringing my grip in on the bar a little (about one-hand width) has helped me tighten up my back as well. Right now, I'm looking at 605-660-700 for squat attempts. I'm going in with the plan that if anything goes bad on the opening 605, I'm going up no matter what. I PR'd last meet at 630, and I'm not going backwards. Its champ or chump in my mind. I might drop the 2nd a little (From 660) to maybe 650.. but I'm going all in. Not interested in going backwards at this meet.
As far as the deadlift, we ran a good 12 week cycle of Deadlift work back in late-spring/early summer, and my deadlift feels stronger than ever, with form seeming to be dialed in. I hit a 605 deadlift PR in the gym in July.. my best meet PR is 550.. so anything over 550 will be a win. At this point, I'm thinking 520-560- ?? see how it feels after a long day.
My best total was 1680 back in March, and I'm hoping to break into the 1700s. 1800 would be a gift, and its do-able .. but it requires a perfect day of 700-520-580 to do it.
Time will tell.
This upcoming week, I plan to do some lightweight/bodyweight stuff just to stay loose .. I've been following a good high-protein/low-shit diet (my trademark lol) and my bodyweight was down to 268 this morning.. so weight doesn't seem to be a problem.. any lighter and my gear isnt going to fit!
Last week training plan:
Squat- (Sunday)
A few sets w/225 x 1 or 2
Some foam rolling/hip mobility stretching
Air squats
Bench- (Tuesday)
A few sets w/225 x 1 or 2
More mobility work.. some band flyes/triceps
Deadlift- (Wednesday)
A few sets w/315 x 1
Some reverse hypers/mobility work
Thurs/Fri ... Then rest up for the meet and help support my training partners on Saturday.
We have a bunch of lifters from our team competing on Saturday and Sunday, and everyone's prep seems to have gone well and inline to hit some PRs.. now its a matter of supporting each other, and git-er-done.
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