TEST DAY

I've decided to reset my training to peak on the date of the Nov. USAPL meet. If I get the grant, then my training will be right for it. If not, I will just max on the same day and try to hit my attempts anyway. This is also my first time maxing raw in a VERY long time. Rene was there to help with spots/lift-offs. Also note that I followed no type of peaking program for today except one more day of rest, so these numbers are not really maximal in the competition sense.

Squat: 385x1, 405x1, 415x1

As you probably know, I've had a lot of trouble with my squat in the past year or so. Last fall I hit 405 raw, and then I had form issues, then my adductor/knee problems, and my squat was all over the place. About two months ago I re-tooled my squat form, and suffered the inevitable decrease in performance. It looks like my squat is back in good shape.

Rene said that 415 looked easier than 405. I had no major form problems on any attempts, and I left 10-20# on the bar. I'm a big believer in not failing during training, especially with my squat which has had confidence issues in the past.

This is a 10# PR over my best raw squat, 8# better than my (equipped) squat in the March meet. I also hit 425 a few months back with straps down, so I feel very good about my squat relative to previous performance. My next target is 200kg.

Bench: 265x1, 275x1

The 275 was the heaviest lift of the day, as I kind of expected. It wasn't my slowest rep ever, though (297 in March was). Only reasons to believe I might be good for 285 are: (1) I didn't peak, and (2) my left shoulder is totally fucked from a tetanus shot that I had yesterday, but this didn't seem to affect my lifting much. I think 275 is a good working max. It is also a 20# PR over the last time I maxed raw, but that was 2 years ago (I think)... It also means I'm only getting 20# out of my bench shirt. That needs to be fixed.

Sumo deadlift: 455x1, 495x1, 520x1

I only include the 455 because it was the slowest rep of these. I pulled a Dean and didn't take it seriously, so it came off the floor pretty slow. I was good for 530, maybe more.

Also, for all of the deadlifts I had to use straps because I tore my callus off on Wed and its still raw. I also don't have any chalk. I actually think this hurt my lifts, because it totally killed my set up. I've never had any grip issues on maximal deadlifts, so I think these numbers are legit.

This means I get ~50-60# out of my suit. That's a pretty good number.

Conventional deadlift: 495x1

The heaviest deadlift. I tried conventional to see if I should switch over, but Rene said my back didn't look good on this rep. (It looked good for the others, though -- fuck yeah.) Since form is an issue and I'm stronger sumo, I'm not going to switch.

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So what does this mean? I went 415/275/520 = 1210 which is class I raw status. So suck on that, Jake. Your turn to catch up. I'm sure I could hit these weights in competition barring some dumb technical disqualification. So my new goal is to match my March total RAW -- 1256. My plan is 430/280/546. It's a realistic but tough goal, and if I don't get it in November, I'll get it at the next one.

I think that pretty much sums it up.