T-Bone Strength 3-31-08

USPF California State Meet Report

So I bombed! I went to the restroom, come out and my first attempt time had passed already so I took my opener on the squat, a extremely easy 622 on my second attempt, walked it back and it slipped off my back! So I got a heavy chalking on my back, took 650 for my third attempt, came down with it, almost had it at lockout and my knee buckled and missed it, in the process literally popping my eyeballs a bit! So I have red eyes on a temporary basis!

Went on to the bench where I was going to open with 435 which I destroyed in training and couldn't make it on any of my three attempts.

The biggest thing I took from this meet are a few things. One is that I'm the strongest Junior lifter in California as I would of absolutely destroyed my competition if I nailed just my openers I would totaled around 1500+, if I hit my goals I would of totaled nearly 1800. Two is that I would of been best lifter in the competition. Three is that I need to squat in my TRX more often. Four is that I'm never ever going to cut weight in a sauna again as my strength was severely drained. Big Steve pointed out that something like 6% of your strength is lost via 1 pound of bodyweight cut via water in reading that he did or something along those lines. In the sauna I cut around 5-6 pounds hence losing around 30-36% of my strength! Thats absolutely mind blowing!

I'm still good for nationals. I'm a little banged up (eyes all busted up, right chest muscle feels funky, left quad feels out of place, right quad feels out of place) but other than that I'm alright. I'll go back to the gym Wednesday to train with Peyton and to teach him how to properly squat, do rack pulls, pullthroughs, things like that. I'll personally probably train again on Friday and do a light bench workout, maybe work up to 385 raw or something and do some prehab work on the pec dec for my chest. I feel fine otherwise, not too tired as I said, little banged up but nothing crazy. A few days rest and I'm back at it. 2000 will be mine!

(And yes I've thought about being a bench specialist...stay tuned!)