USAPL 2011 Raw Nationals Meet Report

Finally getting around to writing the report...

Weigh-in: 194. I think I might have cut a bit too much on accident. I took a hot bath the night before, which felt great but I think I was more dehydrated than I would have liked. Pounding water felt meh, but by the time warm ups rolled around, I was back in the game.

Squats:

512 x 1

540 x 1 @ 10

551 x 1 @ 10

Warming up was fairly interesting. Guys in the back room were warming up with 525. The warm ups felt good though. Opener was light. 540 was harder than I expected. I twisted a bit, which made it slow. I originally thought 556, but I went with 551 to stay safe. 551 felt easier than 540, so I might have had 556 in me after all. Oh well, better to have that extra 10.

Bench:

304 x 1 @ 9

319 x f

319 x 1 @ 10+

Warm ups went well with minimal should discomfort (though it was still there). Opener felt light. The first attempt at 319 just stalled hard. EFFF. I was expecting to hit that with some effort, but not fail. I think this is where the weight cut hit me hardest (as always). It was do or die on the third, so I just kept grinding no matter what. I am honestly amazed it kept moving. I was pushing and it just felt like it was moving but i didn't know why...

Deadlift:

650 x 1

688 x 1

716 x f (.9)

With 650, I went from like 15th to 2nd, haha. The right judge red-lighted me for apparently dipping at the top. I didn't see it in the video (the bar only moves slightly sideways as I rock into place). I was not in the mood.

I was thinking 699 on the second, but the competition was insanely fierce so I went conservative with 688. The lift was hard, but definitely not a max effort. It also sent a message to those after me to choose their third attempt knowing I could pull more.

For the third, I told Matt and Greg to put in whatever I needed to win. Had Anthony Parella hit his third, I would have needed 727. However, he didn't so we went with 716 (there was some confusion though, because Matt thought Tony had hit his third, so we had to redact the change to the third attempt.) In the end, I couldn't pull it all the way but managed to get it almost to lock out. I was still pretty happy with this. It was a long day, with the meet running 7 hours at that point and after a heavy squat, 688 wasn't too bad.

Overall, very happy with the meet. I would have liked the win, but it was a good battle with Tony and he is an awesome dude to compete with. Clearly, I'm not going to win a national championship with a 319 bench, so getting my shoulder healthy is key. Also not neglecting my upper back work so I can finish those pulls.