my feet kept sliding and my shoulders would slide. Overall though I cannot complain too much
Quit lifting in those damn shoes and chalk your ass and back. Push against your belt and learn what your arch should feel like. Quit pulling sumo. At least try to sit back in your squat.
I'll introduce myself more formally sometime in the summer, but in the meanwhile, eat more food and squat more often. Oh, and quit pulling sumo.
Squat felt pretty good today. Resting this weekend definitely helped. The wrapped-365 came up pretty easy, probably an RPE 8.5-9. I still have to remember to drive with my hips/ass when I am in my wraps because sometimes I forget which causes me to use just my legs. The unwrapped-365 was a little harder but I managed it despite having a sweaty back in combination with a smooth bar. For some reason, I just could not wrap my right leg to save my life today. I had to stop and redo it about 3 times before the 365. Left leg wraps perfectly but my right leg, I must not overlap enough because I always have a lot of slack left. I will have to practice that a couple of times at home or something just to make sure I have it down.
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
Practice the fuck out of it. Make sure you are pulling it tight from all angles; a lot of lifters will--incorrectly--pull the wrap tight only twice when they make a revolution: at the top of the knee and around the bottom. Keep it tight at all times. Chalking your knee may help as well.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Practice the fuck out of it. Make sure you are pulling it tight from all angles; a lot of lifters will--incorrectly--pull the wrap tight only twice when they make a revolution: at the top of the knee and around the bottom. Keep it tight at all times. Chalking your knee may help as well.
I give a good tug every time the wrap come around to the inside of my leg and then I do a cross over the knee. I have not tried chalk before. Does that help the wrap stick a little better or..?
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Bench felt pretty decent today and nothing was sliding around. Getting into position was a little difficult because everything in my legs felt a little tight but nothing too serious. I definitely had the 3rd-250 but I just misgrooved by coming a little high and I got it about half way up before Seth had to grab it. Just decided to test my reps for 225 and I was pleased with that, especially since it was at the end. Definitely some big progress these past few weeks.
I have been thinking about my attempts and here is what I think: Squat: 336, 375 or 380, 396 or 402 Bench: 226, 254, 260 or 270 DL: 402, 452 or 457, 463 or 468
I am really going to have to hit the third attempt on squat, and I feel that it's certainly possible, to make 1100 within reason. I am pretty sure that I can hit 260 for bench. However:
1-If I miss my 3rd squat, I will have to hit 260+ on my bench and 463+ on DL to hit 1100. 2-If I miss 260+ bench but make 396+ on squat, I will need at most the 452 DL. 3-If I miss 3rd attempt on squat and bench, I will need at most 474 and minimum 468 on DL.
These are just my game plans for the most likely situations. There may be other rare outcomes but these are the most likely that I will see. Experienced lifters, any advice or comments are definitely invited.
Today was my last heavy deadlift day. I did not have a belt because I sent back my lever belt to exchange it for a single-prong. So it is a little hard to judge if today was a good lifting session or not. While I was pleased to pull 415 and 435 for two singles each, I was not expecting them to be so difficult; the second 435 was a real grinder but I did lock it out. Maybe I do get that much out of my belt but who knows.
Every day, I am becoming a little more and more nervous with my deadlift . I am wondering if I will really be able to lift that heavy after the other lifts. My reasoning is that if I can only hit 435 for two singles, what is it to say that I can hit 450+ ?? It is making me a little anxious but I keep telling myself that I have done it before and I can certainly do it again.
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
I feel the exact opposite. I did more planning than ever in October and had my best meet ever because of it. Of course, I have more meet experience and it took me a long time to get to the point where I could make an effective plan for myself. For a beginner lifter, I think that a bit less planning is good; you just have no idea how your body will react to being on the platform.
I would say just keep a goal in the back of your mind for each lift and get a rough idea of what you need to do to reach those goals as a makeable third attempt, and not worry about a total. Don't even worry about hitting PR's on your lifts unless you know you can rape it. Your goal should be to go 9/9.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Weighed in just under 180 wearing just socks and trousers; so that's good. Did not want to go too heavy today but rather get some reps, chest, and tricep work in. My triceps feel pretty strong and solid. However, the strength in my chest is a little behind. This is definitely something I will work on after the competition.
I have a little bit of pain in my upper left arm again. I noticed this after squatting on Monday and I think it's when the bar slipped down my sweaty back which forced my wrist to bend backwards and support the weight. Nothing too serious at this time but I will keep an eye on it and probably go back to squatting with wrist wraps again just to prevent it.
KevinAlvy Elite
Posts : 2446 Join date : 2011-10-30
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:58 am
do I smell a "two man enter, one man leave" between you and Logan?
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:38 am
KevinAlvy wrote:
do I smell a "two man enter, one man leave" between you and Logan?
I feel there will be something like that. I will push him and I am sure he will push me a little. The 181 class for this meet should be pretty interesting.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Squats felt absolutely terrible today. All of them were really slow and the weight felt significantly heavier than it should have. My roommate decided to have the bar-close after party at our place last night so I was unable to go to bed until 4:30 and had to wake up at 7:45 for class. I also did not have a belt so maybe some combination of the two caused a bad day. Nonetheless, I just focused on doing a little bit of volume today and not going over 85%. Last heavy squat with wraps is sunday. I am going to try and rest a lot this weekend because I have been sleeping more and more these past couple of weeks.
Take this advice with a grain of salt; I usually plan all my attempts. Lots of other people do, too. Some wing it, and some have a handler call their attempts. I mean, Ed Coan had someone else call almost all of his attempts; he never planned shit, and instead had someone else do it for him.
Sometimes, it's worth leaving your third attempt unplanned and just going for what you feel you have in you, but I generally think it's a good idea to have an idea of what attempts you need for a particular total, and how you can combine attempts to get there without too much trouble. Having a plan for at least second attempts has worked well for me, because I can usually find three lifts that will give me a nice PR total without biting off more than I can chew.
And everyone responds differently to deadlifting at the end of the day. Some people lose a bit on their deadlift; others pull really well. With the deadlift bars, the accumulation of an actual caloric surplus, and the rest, I usually feel better deadlifting at a meet than I do in training, but some people will see their deadlift drop a few percentage points after squatting. You've done a lot of high-intensity work leading up to this meet, so I think you'll be able to absorb the heavy singles and still be able to pull heavy. Just assess where you are before the deadlift session and be strategic in your choices.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:56 pm
Today was my last heavy squat day. While working up, I constantly reminded myself to explode up with the weight as quickly as possible. I think this mindset definitely helped because 375 came up pretty quick, easy, and no grinding. I unracked 405 and it felt lighter than I expected which is a big confidence boost. This week I will keep telling myself "it's big weight but you got it"
A couple other small things: 1-I weighed in with socks and underwear just under 179. I have only had 2 PBJs and water today but I think I should be set for weight. 2-Squatting today was all done without a belt because mine is being exchanged. I am not sure when it should be back but I expect Friday or Saturday. Nonetheless, squatting 375 like cake without a belt is pretty satisfying at this point
Chris Anderson Anabolic Furnace
Posts : 3023 Join date : 2011-11-02 Age : 31 Location : The City of Iowa
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:31 pm
KKeough wrote:
And everyone responds differently to deadlifting at the end of the day. Some people lose a bit on their deadlift; others pull really well. With the deadlift bars, the accumulation of an actual caloric surplus, and the rest, I usually feel better deadlifting at a meet than I do in training, but some people will see their deadlift drop a few percentage points after squatting. You've done a lot of high-intensity work leading up to this meet, so I think you'll be able to absorb the heavy singles and still be able to pull heavy. Just assess where you are before the deadlift session and be strategic in your choices.
And there are some people (ahem) who can pull 90%+ all day, multiple times a week, with no adverse effects.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Bench set up felt pretty spot on today. My feet were not slipping, my back stayed in place, and I was staying extremely tight. I widened my grip about 1cm for each hand and it felt pretty awesome. Kyle Kolb gave me a liftoff and a spot on 265, I sort of wobbled unracking it but once I was stabilized, he said I came down under control, held a good pause until "press" and came back up pretty smooth and explosive. The difficulty on this was an easy 9 and grinding was a minimum, if any. This gives me a big confidence boost to hit 270 or 275 in the meet and thus, getting me that much closer to 1100.
Quadfather Class I
Posts : 985 Join date : 2013-02-12 Age : 32 Location : Des Moines, IA
Just went through my warm-up weights. Not too shabby.
Squat felt a little slower than I would have liked but I expect that is from the heavy squat session on Sunday. The weight felt light and came up just fine but my legs were a little achy. Going light this week + some rest should put a little spring back in them.
Bench felt solid again and it is definitely because my set up is much better. It takes a little bit more effort and time to get set up but it is definitely worth it. I can feel myself driving through my legs which helps keep my butt barely touching the bench. Also with my hands just a little bit wider, I feel more under control and pretty powerful at the bottom and coming off of my chest.
Subject: Re: Grant Voshell's Log 
Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:34 pm
