A bit of progress, still not what I want, but as I try to do a couple of times a year, I showed up and lifted on the record. Everything below in kg:
Previous meet (6 months ago)
SQ: 85, 90, 95
BP: 75, 77.5, 80
DL: 155, 165, 172.5 fail
This meet
SQ: 95 (pretty easy)
BP: 80, 82.5 (52-second video, link below)
DL: 152.5, 162.5, 172.5 fail
The plan was: less before before the DL in the hope of finally getting breaking my old DL PR of 170 kg. Still didn't get my last DL.
I won my age/weight/division because I was the only person in it. I thanked the judges but didn't stay for the medals.
Other:
1. My life has been hectic - about six weeks after my previous meet in October, 2023, my wife's step-mother passed away and I am the executor of her estate. She left us a mess and we've been doing our best to close up everything but it became another job, taking an hour or two of my time on a daily basis until quite recently, and it's still not done. Between this and because my professional life has been busier than ever, my training leading up to the meet was less than ideal. The right choice - your strength has a higher purpose - was to let my training suffer somewhat.
2. If you want to see what a 1RM BP effort looks like from a man with a stiff, arthritic back looks like, here you go. The weight stopped ascending three times, but apparently it didn't lower so I got the lift. When they asked me if I was going to take a 3rd attempt, I told them what they'd just seen was a 1RM and, no thanks, I'd be skipping my third bench.
I required assistance to get up after the lift - you'll see that if you want until the end of the video.
3. Making weight was harder for me than usual. I didn't cut as well as I could have leading up the meet, leaving myself with about 1.5 kg to sweat out the morning of the weigh-in. I did make weight: 67.2 kg for the 67.5 class.
4. My wife and I had a great weekend - we drove down Thursday night, I weighed in on Friday morning, we got to walk on the beach on Friday afternoon, the people at the meet could not possibly have been nicer, we got to walk on the beach again after the meet was over, and then we drove into Brooklyn to cheer our oldest son running a half-marathon the next day and spend the rest of the day with both our sons, their girlfriends, and a lot of their friends. Got home last night and am looking forward to a few days without touching a barbell.
-S-
Previous meet (6 months ago)
SQ: 85, 90, 95
BP: 75, 77.5, 80
DL: 155, 165, 172.5 fail
This meet
SQ: 95 (pretty easy)
BP: 80, 82.5 (52-second video, link below)
DL: 152.5, 162.5, 172.5 fail
The plan was: less before before the DL in the hope of finally getting breaking my old DL PR of 170 kg. Still didn't get my last DL.
I won my age/weight/division because I was the only person in it. I thanked the judges but didn't stay for the medals.
Other:
1. My life has been hectic - about six weeks after my previous meet in October, 2023, my wife's step-mother passed away and I am the executor of her estate. She left us a mess and we've been doing our best to close up everything but it became another job, taking an hour or two of my time on a daily basis until quite recently, and it's still not done. Between this and because my professional life has been busier than ever, my training leading up to the meet was less than ideal. The right choice - your strength has a higher purpose - was to let my training suffer somewhat.
2. If you want to see what a 1RM BP effort looks like from a man with a stiff, arthritic back looks like, here you go. The weight stopped ascending three times, but apparently it didn't lower so I got the lift. When they asked me if I was going to take a 3rd attempt, I told them what they'd just seen was a 1RM and, no thanks, I'd be skipping my third bench.
I required assistance to get up after the lift - you'll see that if you want until the end of the video.
3. Making weight was harder for me than usual. I didn't cut as well as I could have leading up the meet, leaving myself with about 1.5 kg to sweat out the morning of the weigh-in. I did make weight: 67.2 kg for the 67.5 class.
4. My wife and I had a great weekend - we drove down Thursday night, I weighed in on Friday morning, we got to walk on the beach on Friday afternoon, the people at the meet could not possibly have been nicer, we got to walk on the beach again after the meet was over, and then we drove into Brooklyn to cheer our oldest son running a half-marathon the next day and spend the rest of the day with both our sons, their girlfriends, and a lot of their friends. Got home last night and am looking forward to a few days without touching a barbell.
-S-
