So it's been an unbelievably long time since I've last posted, and quite a bit has happened. Nothing eventful really happened before my contest, so I'll just skip posting all the lame training.
First Annual Thanksgiving Classic Write-up-
This was Nick Courtad's First show, held at his training facility, Courtad Strength Institute. It was a very well run show, I had no complaints. I got there at about 11:15 after taking the wrong exit, but there were no problems. Everything went underway at about 12:15 after Steve Slater showed up with some stones and logs and other oddities. I weighed in at 235, just like I planned, and there was one other person in my division, a 19 year old from Pennsylvania who took 5th in Teen Nats as a Lightweight this past summer. First up was the log press.
190# 10" Log Clean once and Press for Reps- I trained for a 215# 12" log, so this was going to be an easy event for me. I got to go second on this event (thank god), so I would know exactly how many reps I'd have to get. The first kid got 6 reps, and I was thinking maybe it was a little heavier than nick had said, cause he looked like a pretty strong kid, but who knows. I stepped up and the 190# felt like nothing. I pumped out the seven I needed to win, and took a breather, then pressed out another easy three for a PR of 190x10. An easy win for me, and a good start to the day.
18" Max Deadlift, 3 Attempts- I was opening with 495, and the other kid went with 500 just to one-up me. I figured he couldn't have been much stronger than me if we was just going with that. We both hit our openers easily. I figured it would be a close battle, but then he went with 560 as his 2nd attempt, as I did 525. We both got it once again. I figured I'd go balls out and try 565 for my third attempt even though I'd never done it before. I missed it, but the other kid hit 580 so it didn't matter. I think he had the advantage because he was like 5'10", so he could kind of slide the bar up past his knees and lock it out, compared to me, when the bar was a good two inches underneath my knee cap. Oh well, we are tied after this event, as I start off the crucifix hold.
20# Crucifx Hold w/ Kettlebells- I wasn't really expecting much from myself for this event, especially since the advertised weight was 15#. I went, and got 31 seconds. The other kid went and got 34, just barely edging me out. I wasn't really that disappointed.
150# Sandbag to 180# Prowler Medley- I was pretty confident going into this event, seeing as how I've pushed a prowler with 500+ lbs. on it. I started and didn't have any problem with the sandbag despite not training with one, and finished the prowler with no problem. My time was like 14 something, a time I knew Steve would have to beat. He started, and got about halfway with the sandbag before tripping and dropping the sandbag. I knew I had the win after that, so I was pumped. We were tied once again, and I was going to go last in the stones so I would know how many reps I had to get to beat him.
250# Stone for Reps- I was pumped going into this event cause I could taste victory. That was until Nick came up to me and steve and was like "Alright, we have a tie between our two teen competitors, we are going to flip a coin to see who goes first" At that point I was like "FUUUUUU-" (for those who don't get it, http://fuuuucomics.com) Nick said I can call the flip since I won the last event, and I chose tails, unfortunately losing the flip, at which point I hated my life. I figured that it probably wouldn't matter, so I just decided to go as hard as possible. I ended up getting an easy 9 reps with a re-tacky break. Last time I attempted stones in training I got 250 for 5 reps, so another big PR. In hindsight, I shouldn't have retackied because that cost me the win, by one rep.
Overall it was a great day for me, I set a PR in the log press, as well as the stones. I got a sweet sword for coming in second place, even though the hatchet for first place would have been so much cooler. The winners of the stones got a 25# 8" slater stone, a slater stones and mold shirts, as well as a small container of PR tacky. No one loaded the heavyweight stone, so I ended up getting their prizes, not a bad deal. I also got a bunch of free stuff along with two shirts just for competing. I have videos posted on my new youtube channel which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/sdonnelly7?feature=mhum
As for the next few months, I'm not looking to do any competitions, just get my lifts up. I'll be following Rip's texas method til about february or march, at which point I'll start looking for another competition. I'll be training 3 days a week (M/W/F), Squatting every day, and alternating between benching and overhead pressing (split jerk/strict press alternating too) every day. I'm only deadlifting once a week, but I'll do some direct back work and Power cleans on the other two days. Monday will be a heavy day, Wednesday will be a sort of speed/recovery/light day, and on Friday I will work up to a new 5RM for each exercise.
I'm also trying to lean out a bit, probably to somewhere around 205-210. Depending on if i get there and can stay there for 5 months, I'll be going lightweight for teen nationals. In order to do this, I'll be starting a new diet including carb cycling, as well as doing some low intensity aerobic work (walking/jogging/biking) on days when I don't train, and doing additional conditioning work (prowler/sled/sledge work) on training days. One major goal that I want to complete for the next couple months, is to grow a ridiculous beard. I plan on shaving daily for about a month or two, so I can end up with a nice 5 o'clock shadow every day, at which point I will proceed with the beard growing process. I want it to look somewhat along the lines of what Chandler Marchman had during his video recap of the UGSS. As for my training goals, I want a 450/315/550 total. As for events, I'm looking for a 325 axle/log press, 350 farmers for 100' w/ turn, 800 yoke for 100', and a 350 stone to 48". I don't know how these are going to turn out with me being around 210lbs. in weight, but i'm sure as hell going to work as hard as I can to achieve them. Especially my beard goal.
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