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Tye Botting · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:55 am Post subject:

APF Southeast Powerlifting Challenge in Beaumont, TX - 7/29/06

194.5 lbs at weigh-in last night, got 7-ish hours sleep before the meet

Got to the hotel after weighing in and getting some food. Just hung out and watched Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, geek that I am. Wink

Tried to go to sleep earlier, but realized I LEFT MY WRESTLING SINGLET at the gym! Argh! Color me dumb, D-U-M. Hopefully they would have one for sale at the meet.

Show up at the meet, and no, no singlets. They were all out. Sad

Started asking around sheepishly and came across our own Ragin' Cajun dudes here on the forums. Travis Werner (werner) and everyone were real gentlmen and offered to help. Tim (165lbPL) actually had a spare old one believe it or not and he let me buy it off him. He's my new favorite guy! Jesse had me and a couple other mavericks covered for bench - another new favorite guy. Met a guy named Tom who trains with Tiny Meeker and was there to bench only; like me he had some new shoulder problems but felt reasonably confident. His arch was impressive! Ragin' Cajun Craig was awesome and inspiring as was Matt, who had some decisive and perfect sumo DLs. Another Ragin' Cajun (sorry I forget his name) was on the earlier flight and did some great lifting of his own, breaking his own total record. Travis was a great ringleader and great lifter as well. I was happy to see him going conventional on DL even though that's not his preferred method. Tim was quite impressive on his SQ warmups but the monolift couldn't get low enough so he never could get a good lift in. He was understandably pissed and took off early. All in all, my hat's off to the Ragin' Cajuns big-time! I think Louisiana came out really well at this meet.

Other highlights were I got to see a 1050 squat and a near-miss 850 DL by big Mike from Beaumont (got Best Lifter). Craig from the Ragin' Cajuns got I think the biggest bench and made it look easy; he also had some great SQ and DLs. I got to meet Gene Bell and chat with him a bit; he was there helping his son do some impressive lifting of his own. Got some good advice on lifting for my age from one of Mike McDaniel's crew who were all gentlemen and helpful as well.

For my own part, here we go... On my opening squat I felt something tear - SKRTTTTCH! - on top of my left quad... still got the lift (491), but it was Not Fun (tm). I decided to try another squat and see if I could at least do one of the things I came for and break 500 at a meet so I called for 502 - it went up fine but was a bit of a struggle. Decided to skip my 3rd lift and hope I wasn't screwed for the rest of the meet - probably left only 10 lbs on the platform given my injured quad. I took 800mg ibuprofen and hoped for the best. And of course squatting really tweaked my elbow quite badly. In any case, warming up for bench was rough since you use your top quad quite a bit. Elbow and shoulder took awhile to loosen up, but no hint of twisting like I did a few days ago. Got my opener at 386 so I went up to the record-setting 413 I wanted. Got it, but not really - raised my butt while I gave it everything I had. On my third attempt, I had nothing left sadly; probably should have done my 2nd at 402 to break 400 and would have gotten that, so I left 15 lbs there. So 1 of 3 in BP only, and didn't break 400 in a meet. Argh. DL went much better - went 3 for 3 and the first two (480 and 502) flew up fine. The third at 518 was almost a grinder was fine and a big new PR (by 18 lbs) and all three would have been successive state records if I was a Texas resident. Total: 1405 lbs.

All in all, pretty good - did most of what I came for: all my lifts and total were meet-PRs, broke 500 on SQ and DL in a meet, broke 1400 in a meet, DL was an all-time-PR. Got first in 198 Master's Full Meet, BP only, and DL only, though only BP had anyone competing against me in Masters - I beat him by a mere 5 lbs. Not too shabby all in all though. Pretty good way to come back to competing, especially with all my upper-body injuries and my quad pull on my first lift!
_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

Ken Armstrong · Regular Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Posts: 56 Location: Sacramento

Great job ,i hate those pesky injuries, Evil or Very Mad

not only have to deal with the pain ,but it seems that the mind is the hardest to conquer,looks like you achieved some goals ,thats always good news.congrats Cool

Tye Botting · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:26 am Post subject:

Thanks Ken. Leg is actually pretty good today - just feels like the day after a particularly bad cramp.

But overall, I feel like I was in a train wreck. People had said that before, but this is the first time it has actually happened. The other 7 meets I've done never had any post-meet aches and soreness. This time seems to have made up for that. Wink

The good thing is that my shoulder doesn't seem worse, the leg seems inconsequential, and the only thing that is slightly worse is the left elbow, which is something that I know can heal on it's own. Left shoulder is sore, but not in a scary way. Back is sore. Everything is stiff.

It was a good day. Very Happy

And I couldn't get those records I was after since I am not a TX resident. All 3 of my deads would have gotten it, but the only goal I didn't get was that bench one. I probably should have taken an intermediate weight so I could have at least broken 400 in a meet easily. Ah well, got a meet in a coupla months that I'm hoping to do that in, unless I have to spend more time recovering and thus lose too much strength.
_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

boingyman · Moderator Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 730

Tye congrats on breaking the PRs...It was just unfortunate you got injured, but it only makes it that much better to own it up for your next meet. You know the strength is there so hopefully you'll have everything put together at your next meet.
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SPAM + RICE = STRONG

Tye Botting · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:10 am Post subject:

Thanks boingy. This afternoon things are feeling pretty good; almost back to how I was feeling the whole week before the meet. I'll still give it until Thurs to hit the gym and do some evaluation lifting. Looking good for now though.

I'm still pretty happy with this meet - every lift I made was a meet PR and the last 2 deadlifts were weights I couldn't even get in the gym. Pretty dang good for hurting my leg on the first lift and for going in with injured shoulders and elbows. And I guess it's kinda nice to have a leftover goal of breaking 400 bench in a meet; it gives me an attainable goal and lights a fire to train smarter for next time.

The next meet is only 2 months away, but I think I'll focus on rehab and retaining bench while seeing if I can hit squat and deadlift better. I'll cut bench back down to 2/week and deads to heavy every other week alternating with speed deads every other week. I'll work up a new 8-week workout plan over this coming week and I should be ready to rock and roll.

Still not sure what I did to the leg for it to be in as good shape as it is today. That tearing feeling was quite pronounced, but I guess it could have been a mid-squat cramp or something instead. ? Everything seems to be in place but is sore to stretching. *shrug*

All I know is deep would have been proud - I buried those squats attempt by a giant margin. You should have seen the looks I got about going so deep, LOL. Cool

That, and the narrow stance. Wink

_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

Barrett Marum · Exhalted Grand Poobah Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 361

Congrats on your first meet back after your break. And congratulations on overcoming adversity to get your meet prs. I think it's on the tough days where you really make your progress in this sport -- if you're able to prevail on them then when things go well, they REALLY go well.

Tye Botting · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:49 am Post subject:

Thanks Barrett! That's exactly how I'm trying to take it.

I see you're getting ready to knock 'em dead in August still - looking good there.
_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

SyntheticKiller · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:36 am Post subject:

I just checked out your results. ALL in ALL sounds like a good meet bro. You seemed to have pulled things together despite a few setbacks. Thats how lifting should be. Balls to the wall without doing anything TOO dangerous. Congrats on the PRs, thats a lot and whats great is that they are offical.

So whats your next meet?

Tye Botting · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:24 am Post subject:

Thanks, SK. Wink

Next meet is Sept 23, here in Natchitoches, LA. It's APA Louisiana Record Breakers, so I guess I'm becoming a lift-anywhere kinda guy. I'll try for a Masters 40-44 BP record - just have to beat 400. We'll see though...

This APF meet felt like the USPF meets I used to do though I personally thought some of the squats were kinda high. JMNSHO. My perspective could have been off, but that's what it seemed like to me.
_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

BigIslandSumo · Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:54 am Post subject:

Solid meet my friend. Impressive, to get state records. They wont post em cause you're not a resident?, need to smack them fools.

Congrats.
_________________
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao/ The name that can be named is not the eternal name/ The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth/ The named is the mother of ten tousand things

Tye Botting · Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:13 am Post subject:

Thanks man - no biggie on the SR's though. All 3 of my DLs would have been SRs if I was eligible, which was cool - I can still say I beat the TX state records after all. Still bummed about the BP though - stupid butt most likely came up to compensate for my injured arms and leg.

BTW, I keep meaning to say "cool sig" - that's my favorite conversation in Conan the Barbarian. The "religious discussion" part is also great. Laughing

_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

Tye Botting · Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:38 am Post subject:

Assuming I can get back to training soon (will know more this Friday), I've started putting together a less bench-aggressive workout plan. It's almost done, but I am missing one part:

Sun
Cardio (running)

Mon
Bench press pyramid to double
Rows
PL Raise
ABS

Tue
Squat pyramid to double
Shrugs
Bar Holds

Weds
Cardio (elliptical or bike)
ABS

Thur
Bench press various grips sets of 6-ish
something????
bench lockouts up to max

Fri
Deadlifts (alternating weeks of speed deads, and pyramid up)
Box Squat
ABS

Just not sure what to put in the bold area....

Keeping much the same (since it works for me), but cutting back from 3/week bench to 2/week, and hitting lower body harder. My SQ and DL have been lagging due to my big push for bench. Embarassed

Comments? Suggestions? Again, these have to fit in my lunchtime, so just under an hour.
_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting

SyntheticKiller · Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:47 am Post subject:

Barrett Marum · Exhalted Grand Poobah Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 361

I'd make something a row of some type, or upper back work. Otherwise you're only rowing once during the week.

Tye Botting · Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:19 am Post subject:

Thanks guys, that was quick!

SK, my weakest part of bench is the top, hence the lockouts (though these will start from about an inch lower this time around). I have good power off the bottom and when I fail on a lift I still can get stuff off my chest that I can't lockout anymore - the training raw with pauses really helps me on that. Next meet will still have the shirt for sure. The plate raises are to help the transition between chest and delts off the bottom before triceps come in fully.

Barrett, I was thinking the same and was going to put rows there again, but I was wanting to hit that area just a bit differently. If my elbow wasn't tweaked I'd do chins or cheat curls or some such, but that's not an option right now. Maybe barbell rows or close-grip pulldowns? Haven't done them since my elbow got bad so I don't know if I can. I suppose if it had to, it could be one day cable rows and the other barbell T-rows in the corner.
_________________
502/386/518 best meet (40-44 / 198's)
450/360/500 RAW meet (40-44 / 198's)
400/360/500 RAW current meet (44 / 181's)
Powerlifting