Grant Voshell's Log

7 February 2014

Deadlift: 1x 415, 440, 460 (+10 PR), 470 (Another PR +20), 485 (3rd PR +35lbs)

Lat Pull-Downs: 3x12
Reverse-Grip Lat Pull-Downs: 3x12



Deadlifting was pretty phenomenal today. I felt kind of stiff and tight coming in today but i made sure to move around a bit and be as explosive as i could with the warm-ups. The speed/acceleration felt just a hair slow but it was still pretty solid. The 440 set felt kind of heavy but it was fast enough. Moving up to 460, it still felt heavy but i didnt feel it slow down much or at all and a similar story for 470. My top set just said "470+" so i debated on pushing it and after watching the film, recalling how i felt, and some reassurance from the elite 22nd Street lifters i decided to go somewhat big but leave something there. Surprisingly, 485 went pretty well and while it was heavy and a little slower, I still felt like i had a few more pounds in the tank. This was a monumental PR and has me rethinking of my attempts. I will sit down and reevaluate my attempts but i kind of want a 497 or 502 as a third (obviously if things feel good that day)

9 February 2014

Squat: 1x 365, 405

Bench: 4x3 225; 1x 250, 275



The lighter warm ups on squat felt pretty awful. I kept the weight at 135 until i felt some good pop then i progressed. I mainly did triples until 225 then did singles at 275 and 315. I was debating on how heavy to work up but 365 felt pretty solid so i went to 405 which also felt great. Squat is starting to feel spectacular and it has not felt this good and strong since i did 4x415 back in late august. I expect i should hit a solid third and possibly an overall meet PR next sunday.

I waited about 20 or so minutes before benching just to rest up a bit and wait for a couple others to finish. Benching was not too bad but not great either. The weight was moving fine and fast and the bar was a little more level than previous sessions but i was hoping for a little more. Nonetheless, i just did some triples at 225 to get a little bit of volume before progressing and just enough to feel barely fatigued. The singles at 250 and 275 were solid but i felt like my butt just barely left the bench on 275. I asked Kevin and Josh to watch and said they did not see it leave so i will have to take their word for it. I had a similar feeling at the meet and Daveman said it did not leave either so maybe i am a little paranoid. This could be from just a slightly wider footing than normal. I think today i went just a hair too wide so i will probably bring it back in just an inch total like last wednesday.

So I have been thinking about possible attempts for the meet this weekend and here is what I have:

Squat: 172.5-185/187.5-195/197.5 kg ... 380-407/413-429/434 lbs

Bench: 120-127.5-132.5/135/137.5 kg ... 264-281-292/297/303 lbs

D Lift: 200-215-222.5/225/227.5 kg ... 441-474-490/496/501 lbs

Most of the second attempts are just under what I have hit this training cycle in the gym. The exception of course is bench but this is because I have hit 125kg/275lbs consistently over the past couple of weeks. Third attempts are just small but obtainable jumps (roughly 2-5%) and enough to give me a PR. I have a couple of third attempts in mind for each lift with the lower one being something i should hit if things do not feel great and the upper being a goal as well as a reasonable number. Either way, I should be walking away with some PR(s) here.

After talking with some fellas and ladies at 22nd Street, a few said these attempts may seem a bit conservative but I did this is for two reasons: First-i want to set some PRs and/or establish some accurate numbers for the next training cycle. Second-the last meet was unfortunate so i am trying to have a successful meet and walk away pleased with my performance.

11 February 2014

Bench: 1x 231, 251, 261; 3x2 189

Speed Pulls: 2x 233, 7x1 273 w/ 1 min rest



Today's sessions was just meh. I had some trouble sleeping last night and i woke up a couple of times throughout the night. It felt like I was constantly in REM and not in a deep sleep which is unfortunate but worked with what i had. If these weights seems weird it is because someone came in and weighed the weights and most are heavier than specified.

Bench was about what i expected having benched heavy less than 2 days prior and not having a lift off but i managed. I paid some extra attention on the placement of my feet to make sure i had the best set up. I felt that by unracking by myself, i was losing some tightness in my set up and i did not engage my lats the way that i wanted so no more of that nonsense in the future. Nonetheless, i still managed to hit my opener somewhat easily despite being tired, having less than 48 hrs rest from the previous heavy bench session, and not having a lift off so that is reassuring.

I did some light but speedy pulls today just to keep the movement fresh and i was not disappointed there. After pulling 233 and 273 and saw plus felt how fast they were, i am feeling like i have a big deadlift in me this weekend (knock on wood). The singles were around 59% of my training max and about 56% of my recent 485-pull so this was a good range for singles with a short rest time.

REM = deep sleep, brohan

Chris Anderson wrote:

REM = deep sleep, brohan

oops sorry. i meant delta waves. that sort of transition from light to heavy... i couldnt cross that bridge

Been thinkin bout going into UPA, is it a better FED than NASA?

lowerpower25 wrote:

Been thinkin bout going into UPA, is it a better FED than NASA?

I like UPA more than NASA because the venue is big and awesome plus it draws in a ton of big names lifters from around the midwest, some of which are good friends of mine. You also have a 24 hr weigh-in option which is pretty convenient. As far as which is the better fed, i would like to keep my opinions to myself

I take that as UPA is legit, after NASA state im doing UPA in november, just wondering what peeps thoughts were

Hope u pull 500 soon man looks like you're good for it

Brometheus wrote:

lowerpower25 wrote:

Been thinkin bout going into UPA, is it a better FED than NASA?

I like UPA more than NASA because the venue is big and awesome plus it draws in a ton of big names lifters from around the midwest, some of which are good friends of mine. You also have a 24 hr weigh-in option which is pretty convenient. As far as which is the better fed, i would like to keep my opinions to myself

Seeing as we're no longer affiliated with a certain institute of higher learning, you can be forthright with your opinions.

lowerpower25 wrote:

I take that as UPA is legit, after NASA state im doing UPA in november, just wondering what peeps thoughts were

I like both, but for very different reasons. NASA meets are well run and welcoming if you want to be a member of one fed, but UPA meets are more exciting and are held at a bigger venue. The latter usually has tougher competition too. I would say that the judging at UPA is overall looser, but I personally have received stricter judging at UPA than at NASA. It's just all a matter of what you prefer.

Nathan Poage wrote:

Seeing as we're no longer affiliated with a certain institute of higher learning, you can be forthright with your opinions.

reps on reps on reps

Kyle Keough wrote:

lowerpower25 wrote:

I take that as UPA is legit, after NASA state im doing UPA in november, just wondering what peeps thoughts were

I like both, but for very different reasons. NASA meets are well run and welcoming if you want to be a member of one fed, but UPA meets are more exciting and are held at a bigger venue. The latter usually has tougher competition too. I would say that the judging at UPA is overall looser, but I personally have received stricter judging at UPA than at NASA. It's just all a matter of what you prefer.

NASA is also stuck in the early 90's and it's always nice to see quality mullets, so they have that going for them.

I guess since we are no longer affiliated the i will speak my mind: i did not like nasa mostly because of what poage said in regards to being behind with the times. I also did not like nasa because it seemed cheap because they would use venues that were owned by friends and did not want to spend a little extra on a nicer and cleaner venue

I did enjoy the friendly atmosphere and as keosawa said, it was a well run meet. Only 1 error if i remember correctly

LOL, my above post was not a negative one. I legitimately like mullets and American flag Zubaz pants.

I had no problem lifting at DMSI, in fact I like lifting in smaller venues. The USAPL one was probably my favorite because I couldn't actually even see people up in the bleachers.

My beef is with certain people's double-talk and hypocrisy.

lol sorry for getting this going

Nathan Poage wrote:

LOL, my above post was not a negative one.  I legitimately like mullets and American flag Zubaz pants.

I had no problem lifting at DMSI, in fact I like lifting in smaller venues.  The USAPL one was probably my favorite because I couldn't actually even see people up in the bleachers.  

My beef is with certain people's double-talk and hypocrisy.

Smaller venues can be nice if they are still of decent quality. I don't mind the Des Moines Strength Institute at all and seeing as the guy who owns the place cuts out the collars of his shirts (and makes it fucking work), it's a pretty cool place.


I'm not going to turn this into an anti-NASA forum, but I will say that I will no longer affiliate myself, in any way, with the federation. The only exception is to use the remaining gold card entries to get our lifters a discount at a meet.

Meet Recap - UPA Nationals (16 Feb 2014)

*waiting on last bench video from commanderson*

The whole prep started on Thursday when i went to see a woman from 22nd Street that is a powerlifter as well as a chiropractor. She straightened me out a bit and i felt good after the adjustment.

I drove up Friday afternoon and was Bill Carpenter was kind enough to allow me to check my weight before weigh-ins the next morning and i was roughly 177 which was very light so i joined Andy G at hu hot and put down 4 plates then later 3 protein bars and about 48 oz of water. The next morning i weighed in at 80.6 kg = 177.7 lbs so i must have put on about 3 lbs the night before. Looking back to earlier in the week, i increased my water intake as well as reduced my "bad" food consumption so i must have flushed my system out.

After weigh-ins, i left fairly quickly to get off my feet, away from the meet, and began trying to add pounds for the next day. I did not stuff my face right after weigh ins but rather just ate some here, waited a bit, ate some more, and repeated this fashion for most of the day. I consumed a gallon mixture of 1:1 gatorade and water with 2 tsp of table salt, 32 oz of milk, and 32 oz of water and i could tell that i was significantly heavier and retaining the fluids pretty well.

The day of the meet, i tried to stay out of the main room and in the lobby as much as possible because it was not as warm and did not have the "chaos" atmosphere of the meet. Pretty much if i was not warming up or lifting, i was out in the lobby trying to relax a bit and stay cooled off. I think this made a huge difference because i always felt refreshed when i reentered the lifting room.

Squat: i felt a little slow during the warm ups and was kind of worried that i was not generating enough upward acceleration during the concentric portion. Commanderson and keosawa arrived just in time to see my 1x 315, 365 and they reassured me that it was fast. I asked commanderson to accompany me on the stage to make sure i set up in the center of the bar and just to have a friend up there. I was the only one in my flight squatting w/o wraps so i was receiving quite a few stares from team Jakked when i was pacing before my squat since they were wrapping. Squatting w/o wraps felt so much better because i could pace and get my blood flowing. The 380 first and 413 second were absolutely splendid and everyone kept telling to for 440 (200 kg) but i stuck to my game plan and hit 435 for the planned third.

Bench: I snacked a bit and drank some fluids before warming up for bench. Bench was feeling pretty solid from the start; set up and bar acceleration all felt wonderful. However, i was feeling a little tired but i did my best to ignore it. Around 225, fatigue started catching up and i felt the acceleration start to slow down more than i was hoping for so i crossed off a 303 third. My last warm up of 245 did not please me so i eliminated 297 for a third. The first attempt of 264 was decent but i do remember the head judge making the others and myself holding the bar at bottom for a decent hold (just like last meet). I just to the planned 281 and the press call was hair faster this time and 281 moved pretty well. I called 292 as planned and the press came about as soon as it hit my chest and i came up with it. I remember my quads and glutes being a little sore so i knew i used my entire body to get it up.

Deadlift: I snacked some more and really put down a bunch of fluids before deadlift because the venue was getting pretty warm/hot and i could tell i was sweating a bunch. My lower back was started to feel a little sore/fatigued but nothing serious, just noticeable. Warm ups were meh, the acceleration was there but my technique felt just a bit off. The first attempt of 440 went smooth and pretty fast. I had 473 for a planned second and keosawa did the math and 473 gave me a 1201 total. That came up with little difficulty and 1201 was in the books. Third attempt had some mixed feelings but i wanted 9/9 and a PR so i called 490 and i was pleased to get that. A 496 third may have been there but not worth the risk.

Overall, i went 9/9 with 27 white lights a 1218-pound total which is an 89-pound meet PR. I had big meet PRs on all of the lifts: 5.5 lbs on squat (despite wraps), 27.5 lbs on bench (16 lbs overall), 27.5 lbs on deadlift (5.5 lbs overall). I want to say thanks to keosawa and commanderson for making the trip to dubuque, i greatly appreciated your assistance, company, and advice.

Way too many white lights, brah. Regardless, congrats on the PRs

Bench video will require some ingenuity--the file is too big to email. I can try to trim it, but it will likely still be too big. Right now I think I will upload it to the Dropbox and you can take it from there.

Keo had the same problem with my bench videos and I don't even have an extensive set up.

Nathan Poage wrote:

Way too many white lights, brah.  Regardless, congrats on the PRs

Rule #1 in the iowa powerlifting handbook "never miss depth on squat" ha thanks poaghurt

Chris Anderson wrote:

Bench video will require some ingenuity--the file is too big to email. I can try to trim it, but it will likely still be too big. Right now I think I will upload it to the Dropbox and you can take it from there.

I wondered if this would be the case. dropbox works for me. keep me informed commanderson

awesome meet

Here is my meet video:



in other news: after my post-meet chiropractor adjustment, i came home and logged into facebook then about 5 minutes later, gracie vanasse messaged me back and said

"I decide (I) do want to help you. U still interested?"

so i am awaiting her response at the moment. i am not sure if she will be writing my program or just giving some friendly input but i have been wanting to give a conjugate training a go. i am currently in the process of reading the book of methods as i write this (taking a short break now).