Barbell Meet Report: IPL (USPA) North American Championship, 27 October 2023

[Steve Freides]

IIPL meet in Niagara Falls, NY.

11 months ago, I did one SQ @ 85 kg, one BP @ 75 kg, and DL'ed 150/160/170. I was saving myself for the DL and it worked out well w/ a new PR.

This time, the plan was to open with the same SQ and BP as last meet and, if things felt good, take a 2nd attempt and maybe a 3rd. The idea was to keep SQ and BP efforts relatively low for a meet, thinking 92%-ish. Well, things felt good.

SQ: recent PR is 107.5. Today I went 85, 90, 95.

BP: recent PR is 87.5. Today I went 75, 77.5, 80.

DL: 11 months ago, hit a recent PR and went 150, 160, 170. Today, opening with 155 and planning 155, 165, 175. Went 155, 165, changed to 172.5 for 3rd and did not make it.

There were 3 WR up for grabs: DL-only, Powerlifting (3 lift) DL, and total. I got the first two.

More thoughts later on my training leading up to this, my lifts today, and the meaning of life and lifting to come.

-S-

 

[silveraw]

Nice job getting both the deadlift records!

I'm curious as to what you did differently this prep, what your nutrition was like (did you start eating more than 60g of protein a day?), and what your lessons learned were when you get around to your more thoughts post.

 

[Steve Freides]

7 hour drive home, just got back, will post more tomorrow. Short answer regarding diet - I do often take a protein shake when dropping weight, and I did that for the last week before the meet. 28 grams of protein with a some milk and some water and a few ice cubes. That would make a typical day something like 10 gr in my morning protein bar, perhaps another 10 gr if I have another, and perhaps 20-30 grams at dinner. So with the shake, make I made it up to 1 gr per kg of bodyweight for the last week.

FWIW, I'm very fat-adapted, if there is such a term, and if there is such a thing, in my eating. E.g., sometimes my midday snack is a nice hunk of cambozola cheese on a thin cracker. The package says for one serving it's 12 gr of fat, 4 gr of protein, and 0 carbs. That's my idea of good eats. I put a ton of cheese on my burgers and if I'm eating out, I always order extra cheese. Me and dairy fat get along very well. I don't try to eat a keto diet but maybe I do.

I have absolutely added muscle over the last year. My bodyweight was up about a kg, which isn't much, but I am, if anything, a little less fat around the middle than I used to be. And I don't know why but making weight for this meet was the easiest it's ever been for me. I woke up the morning of the meet only 0.2 kg (0.4 lb) over, and after a nice, hot bath, I weighed in at 66.9 kg (147.5 lb).

-S-

 

[ShawnM]

IIPL meet in Niagara Falls, NY.

11 months ago, I did one SQ @ 85 kg, one BP @ 75 kg, and DL'ed 150/160/170. I was saving myself for the DL and it worked out well w/ a new PR.

This time, the plan was to open with the same SQ and BP as last meet and, if things felt good, take a 2nd attempt and maybe a 3rd. The idea was to keep SQ and BP efforts relatively low for a meet, thinking 92%-ish. Well, things felt good.

SQ: recent PR is 107.5. Today I went 85, 90, 95.

BP: recent PR is 87.5. Today I went 75, 77.5, 80.

DL: 11 months ago, hit a recent PR and went 150, 160, 170. Today, opening with 155 and planning 155, 165, 175. Went 155, 165, changed to 172.5 for 3rd and did not make it.

There were 3 WR up for grabs: DL-only, Powerlifting (3 lift) DL, and total. I got the first two.

More thoughts later on my training leading up to this, my lifts today, and the meaning of life and lifting to come.

-S-

Well done Sir!

 

[SteveRogers]

IIPL meet in Niagara Falls, NY.

11 months ago, I did one SQ @ 85 kg, one BP @ 75 kg, and DL'ed 150/160/170. I was saving myself for the DL and it worked out well w/ a new PR.

This time, the plan was to open with the same SQ and BP as last meet and, if things felt good, take a 2nd attempt and maybe a 3rd. The idea was to keep SQ and BP efforts relatively low for a meet, thinking 92%-ish. Well, things felt good.

SQ: recent PR is 107.5. Today I went 85, 90, 95.

BP: recent PR is 87.5. Today I went 75, 77.5, 80.

DL: 11 months ago, hit a recent PR and went 150, 160, 170. Today, opening with 155 and planning 155, 165, 175. Went 155, 165, changed to 172.5 for 3rd and did not make it.

There were 3 WR up for grabs: DL-only, Powerlifting (3 lift) DL, and total. I got the first two.

More thoughts later on my training leading up to this, my lifts today, and the meaning of life and lifting to come.

-S-

Congrats!

 

[Brett Jones]

Well done Steve!

 

[Steve Freides]

Well done Steve!

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words.

It was an OK meet - I really didn't stick to my plan and I really didn't get the results I wanted. My best total to date is 352.5 kg, and last year, I totaled 330 by doing only a single SQ and a single BP, but got a new deadlfit PR - that was plan, I stuck to it, and it worked. This time, I was neither fish nor fowl - compared to a year ago, my SQ was up 10 kg, my BP was up 5 kg and my DL was down 5 kg.

The training "news" is that i did the same DL cycle leading up to this competition that I did a year ago but I added 10 kg to everything, and it was too much. About 8 weeks ago, my DL workout called for 91% weight for 5 reps x 3 sets - I did it, but in retrospect, that was my PR for the training cycle. I felt great about doing it but I also noticed that my subsequent training sessions had that post-PR feeling to them. I cut back the volume, got a few heavy singles in there, but at yesterday's meet, I wasn't able to pull anything heavier than I'd pulled in training leading up to the meet, and that was disappointing. Noteworthy is that I definitely get stronger as a result of this cycle, but I didn't handle the peaking properly and I paid the price for that. In my mind, 91% for 5 reps x 3 sets means it's not a 91% weight any more which is why I say I got stronger.

I have some pretty clear ideas about what I need to do differently in my training in order to both break through to a new DL PR and get a better total, too. I'd like 3 new PR's if I do this meet again a year from now as I get ready to exit my current age group and move, G-d willing and the creeks don't rise, into my 70's. Going forward, I'm going to trust my own judgement a little less, get some help programming my training, and also try to be more consistent in the volume of my training. PlanStrong is looking pretty good to me.

-S-