West Midlands Comp 23/2/14
So, this is my first comp in in a year, and the first comp as a proper 93kg lifter after a year of getting fat. The timing wasn't great, coming out of Christmas/New Year I was pretty sure this wasn't going to happen and so was pretty happy to leave my weight quite high. Then three weeks out everything gets confirmed and it's time to drop weight. ****. Squats continued to feel pretty good throughout my calorie deficit, but I was also attacked by the fear of not making depth after last years debacle. Filming from my left side in training (not always possible) told me I was right on the borderline. Bench continues to be at the mercy of my almost separated left shoulder, so I wasn't expected anything big. Despite changing up my deadlift technique a few weeks ago things were feeling pretty good, although I hadn't tested heavy weights.
Thankfully, dropping weight and water manipulation went really well this time, possibly due to a few tweaks. On Sunday morning I didn't feel like I was dying, so I was on a peeb already.
Weighed in at 92.3kg, and started rehydrating/carbing up as quickly as possible. Again, some changes I made to my routine seem to have prevented massive bloating at this stage.
Squats
I had quite a long time to warm up, which was great. Even had time to bring out the car buffer, which confused (impressed?) everyone in the hall. When it came to warming up with the bar, I was feeling pretty good, and everything was moving well. I got Dom to check my depth, which he said was fine
First attempt: 210kg
This might seem a little conservative given my recent squatting, but I wanted to absolutely smash it. It turned out to be extremely easy, so my confidence was somewhat restored.
Second attempt: 225kg comp PB
I was going to ask for 222.5 for a 2.5kg comp pb, but was told I was being stupid given how easy that was. This was still pretty comfortable, although I received one flag from a side judge for depth. It turns out that my hips have actually become slightly asymmetrical, leaving the left side looking to be not quite at depth while the right side is. The videos I have been taking in training now made sense.
Third attempt: 237.5kg comp PB
I was advised to do either 235 or 237.5, and chose the latter because of how good I was feeling. 240 would have gone too, but I can save that for my next comp.
Bench
My shoulder was behaving well through my warm ups, but the floor was slippy so couldn't warm up with leg drive. Benching had gone terribly in my mock meet on Monday, so I was only hoping to scrape 140 or so.
First attempt: 130
Absolutely smoked it. Intredasting.
Second attempt: 140
Again, easy. Well this is new...
Third attempt: 147.5 comp and all time PB
BOOM! Very pleasing. My shoulder moved a little bit here, but I was able to muscle through it.
Deadlift
Warm ups felt good until 200, which felt slow and uncoordinated. 220 was a little better, but I was happy with my choice of opener...
First attempt: 240
Easy enough, but my line was a little off.
Second attempt: 250 comp PB
Much better, things somehow clicked back into place.
Third attempt: 262.5 comp and all time PB
Pleasantly fast. Hamstrings were fatigued at this point and caused me to do a little dance on the way up, but this was still the easiest 260+ has ever felt. With more time bedding in my technique and conditioning my hamstrings, there would definitely have been something big here.
Total: 647.5kg PB
Bodyweight: 92.3kg
WILKS: 408.3
For comparison, here is Monday's mock meet:
