As I mentioned in the last blog post, on August 11th, I made my return to powerlifting competition and Therese Miller and Samantha Skeen did their first competitions. I won deadlift with my 500 opener and struggled with 540 at the knees (which is a weight I could usually get more than one rep with, just need to start pulling heavy more frequently again). I also won the bench your bodyweight for reps competition by pressing 179 pounds for 28 reps (just missed 29). Therese took second for females with a 305lb deadlift and a 125lb bench (almost hit 140). Samantha pulled an easy 230lb deadlift and probably could have hit more. Congratulations to Therese and Samantha for putting on amazing performances at their first meet. Big things will be coming for both of them.
As for myself, I want to pull 600lbs by the end of the year and I want to post a 1500lb total in single ply gear and a 1350 total raw (as a 181). I've been training on a mission since that meet and have been hitting some nice PR's weekly.. I hit a recent PR with a box squat of 375lbs+170lbs of band tension and have been pulling rack deadlifts from mid shin level (I got stuck right at the knees at the meet) with bands for sets of 5-8 reps (close to 500 lbs with these). I have been hammering out lots of hip hinge/back extension exercises to really strengthen my back itself as well as the glutes and hamstrings. My hips and legs are stronger than ever with all of the heavy single leg work and now squatting work I've done. I now need to get my back back up to speed and prepare myself to pull huge weights again. Its been a long road back, but I'm primed to be stronger than ever (and really am with most things right now). Good Mornings, rack deads, back extensions, kb swings and exercises such as these are going to be staples again. I've added about 60-70 lbs to my squat compared to where it was before my injury and now once I get my "groove" back with my pulls, I think that big things are coming. I'm pretty pumped.
I've experimented with different training cycles over the last couple of years and what I have been doing that works pretty well is incorporating some block periodization methods. On average, I'll do a heavy/intense cycle for 3-4 weeks and then take 2-3 weeks to do less taxing workouts and exercises with just moderate to high reps and utilize supersets/trisets etc while pretty much eliminating barbell work and allowing my CNS to recover. When I come back to the next intense cycle, I usually hit new PR's and feel recovered and rejuvenated. The more advanced you get with lifting and the heavier weights you squat, deadlift, press, pull, etc. the more important adequate recovery becomes. I am getting much better and reading my body and at the end of a hard 3-4 week cycle, I can tell that I need to drop the intensity, and it works. Research has shown that you can maintain max strength gains for up to 4-5 weeks after a cycle, and it has proven true for me.
In general, my schedule looks like this: Saturday- Max effort lower+accessories, Monday Speed/Overhead Upper+accessories, Wednesday- Speed Lower/Heavier single leg +accessories, Thursday- Max effort upper+accessories, extra workouts/conditioning 2-3 other times. Obviously things get a lot more detailed and specific than that. I'll do a detailed report on that soon. Get ready for big things.
Without further ado, here are some of the videos from the state fair meet. Enjoy!!
As for myself, I want to pull 600lbs by the end of the year and I want to post a 1500lb total in single ply gear and a 1350 total raw (as a 181). I've been training on a mission since that meet and have been hitting some nice PR's weekly.. I hit a recent PR with a box squat of 375lbs+170lbs of band tension and have been pulling rack deadlifts from mid shin level (I got stuck right at the knees at the meet) with bands for sets of 5-8 reps (close to 500 lbs with these). I have been hammering out lots of hip hinge/back extension exercises to really strengthen my back itself as well as the glutes and hamstrings. My hips and legs are stronger than ever with all of the heavy single leg work and now squatting work I've done. I now need to get my back back up to speed and prepare myself to pull huge weights again. Its been a long road back, but I'm primed to be stronger than ever (and really am with most things right now). Good Mornings, rack deads, back extensions, kb swings and exercises such as these are going to be staples again. I've added about 60-70 lbs to my squat compared to where it was before my injury and now once I get my "groove" back with my pulls, I think that big things are coming. I'm pretty pumped.
I've experimented with different training cycles over the last couple of years and what I have been doing that works pretty well is incorporating some block periodization methods. On average, I'll do a heavy/intense cycle for 3-4 weeks and then take 2-3 weeks to do less taxing workouts and exercises with just moderate to high reps and utilize supersets/trisets etc while pretty much eliminating barbell work and allowing my CNS to recover. When I come back to the next intense cycle, I usually hit new PR's and feel recovered and rejuvenated. The more advanced you get with lifting and the heavier weights you squat, deadlift, press, pull, etc. the more important adequate recovery becomes. I am getting much better and reading my body and at the end of a hard 3-4 week cycle, I can tell that I need to drop the intensity, and it works. Research has shown that you can maintain max strength gains for up to 4-5 weeks after a cycle, and it has proven true for me.
In general, my schedule looks like this: Saturday- Max effort lower+accessories, Monday Speed/Overhead Upper+accessories, Wednesday- Speed Lower/Heavier single leg +accessories, Thursday- Max effort upper+accessories, extra workouts/conditioning 2-3 other times. Obviously things get a lot more detailed and specific than that. I'll do a detailed report on that soon. Get ready for big things.
Without further ado, here are some of the videos from the state fair meet. Enjoy!!
Last but not least, if you are around Milwaukee, come check us out at Rosencutter Ultra Fitness and Performance!!!
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