Hi all, here's some background:

 242 Class lifter, primarily in the CA USAPL

Concentrating on raw lifting

Best raw meet numbers are:

S: 451

B: 352

D: 529

These were done under crappy prep conditions, so I'm hoping to do a lot better at my next contest on Nov. 7.

Previous logs were under blogspot, but I'd like to post here to get some feedback:

http://uclapowerlifting.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/phil

 http://www.bearlodgetraining.blogspot.com/

Here's a re-post of my stuff from Monday:

Back Squat (Belt):
410 x 4

Bench Press:
320 x 4

Deadlift (Belt):
451 x 4

This was supposed to be 5s-day, but turned into 4s-day. Considering I just did two high-stress weeks, not bad. Volume is low because I have contest in less than two weeks. This week is Low Volume/High Intensity and next week is Low Volume/Low Intensity aka Lazy Week.

Back Squat:

345 x 5 (no belt)

 Standing Overhead Press:

225 x 3

Chin-ups:

BW x 10/6/5

Friday's session

 Back Squat (Belt):

405 x 1 (easy)

425 x 1 (pretty easy)

455 x FAIL (wutt??)

Not really sure what happened with the 455. I just stopped in the middle of the lift and had to dump it. This is the point where my lower back has to grind through until my legs fully extend, so I assume its just fatigue. Need to rest up to make sure the lower back is in top shape.

Bench Press:

315 x 1

335 x 1

345 x 1

These all felt good, slower than usual. Another sign of fatigue.

Bent-Over Row:

235 x 5

Plan is just to do one session at ~70% on Tuesday and just rest otherwise. My openers will be:

Squat: 457

Bench: 358

Deadlift: ~540

It's all a matter of rest at this point....

Back Squat:

335 x 5/5

 Bench Press:

275 x 5/5

Chin-ups:

BW x 9

This was 70% day. I feel a little overtrained right now. Just tired in general and have mild flu symptoms. Should have just done two sessions last week and rested more. Need to really rest for the final three days before contest. Of course, the Indian Carb Bomb dinner the night before will help....

 In other news, I mourn for 4 Star Gym. Crossfitters have officially shown up. They were practicing the power clean with plastic bars. This is sort of like practicing your fast ball with a wiffle ball. BLEH 

USAPL Meet Results (Santa Clarita, CA):

 Squat:

#1 457 Good

#2 468 FAIL

Passed on third

Bench:

#1 358 Good

#2 363 No good (minor rules infraction)

#3 363 Good

Deadlift:

#1 496 Good

#2 540 FAIL

Passed on third.

 This was a frustrating meet. I hit a 5 lbs Squat PR and a 11 lbs Bench PR, but my total was actually less than in July. My deadlift was way down today. I think this is due to a combination of things. Here's basically the list of things I need to work on:

#1 Deadlift with heavy weights more often. Start doing rack pulls below knee again, having to pull heavy weights from a bad starting position made me stronger.

#2 Be more consistent about deadlifting. Need to a primary deadlift variation at least 1x a week.

#3 Lose 5 lbs. Weighed in at 109.7, but this was after not taking in much water and food on Friday. I need to weigh ~238 the day before the meet so I can eat a lot the night before the meet. My good meet experiences have always been after feasting.

I have a lot to work on. In other news, my friend Dave Jurgens won Best Open Lifter via 571/402/702 in the 198 class. He's been trying to pull over 700 for a while now, but couldn't pull it off in the 181 class. Props to Dave, he even beat out one of the guys from Super Training.

Back Squat:

335 x 5/5/5

315 x 5/5

Bench Press w/ Pause:

275, 5x5

 Stiff-Leg Deadlift w/ Quarter Plates:

These are basically deficit stiff-legs. Using a quarter plates just makes the deficit a standard length.

356 x 5

345 x 5

305 x 5

Squat felt harder than I wanted, but shouldn't be suprised this close after contest. Bench felt ludicrously easy (like it should). Stiff-legs felt pretty good.

 The CrossFit-ters were there again. Considering that 4-Star is only slightly bigger than some people's living room, it was a bit cramped. 

No belt etc.

 Front Squats:

285 x 4 (all-time PR)

275 x 3/3

265 x 3/3

Standing Overhead Press:

195 , 5x5

Chin-ups:

BW x 6/5/4

Front squats felt GREAT, hit an all-time PR on them. Standing press felt shaky, although I hit all the reps I wanted. Chin-ups sucked. Back to it.

Rejoice, the Cross-Fitters have officially been kicked out for shenanigans by the head trainer.