Mark Your Calendars: Fife Holiday Classic

My next competition is right around the corner, 9 days away. The Fife Holiday Classic will be held on Saturday, December 4th, in the Fife High School gym, located at the following address:

5616 20th Street East
Tacoma, WA. 98424

I have yet to receive flight information, so I don't know when exactly I'll be lifting, but the competition begins at 9am. If you want to see what powerlifting is all about, or if you just want to cheer me on, come check it out!

Day Two, Week Four: Squats--Plus New Personal Best!

Because my gym is closed today for Thanksgiving, I did my squat workout yesterday instead, and managed to lift a new personal best! In competition in June, my third lift was 480 pounds; yesterday, I did two consecutive reps at 490! A successful lift at 520 here in a week and a half seems well within reach.

Also, this morning I weighed in at 279.0 pounds. That leaves me with 9 days to lose 4 pounds. It's really coming down to the wire...

Squat Day
Exercise	11/4 2010	11/11 2010	11/18 2010	11/24 2010
Squat	135x10	135x10	135x10	135x10
	185x8	185x8	185x8	185x8
	380x5	410x4	440x3	225x5
	385x5	415x4	450x3	470x2
	390x5	420x4	460x3	480x2
	395x6	425x4		490x2
Seated Row	140x12 (P)	160x12 (Y)	170x12 (P)	170x12 (Y)
	160x12 (P)	170x12 (Y)	180x12 (P)	180x12 (Y)
	180x11 (P)	180x12 (Y)	185x9 (P)	185x12 (Y)
Hang Clean	115x12	115x12	115x12	115x12
	115x10	115x12	115x12	115x12
	115x10	115x10	115x10	125x10
Back Extensions	0x12	45x12*	85x12*	90x12*
	25x12*	60x12*	90x12*	90x12*
	45x12*	70x12*	90x10*	90x10*
* Plate/dumbbell held to my chest (P) Machine used at the PRO Club (Y) Machine used at the YMCA

Day One, Week Four: Light Bench Press

Last week of training before a 4-day rest leading up to the Fife Holiday Classic! Light bench press workout from Tuesday:

Speed Bench Day
Exercise	11/2 2010	11/9 2010	11/16 2010	11/23 2010
Bench Press (Explosive)	135x10	135x10	135x10	135x10
	185x5	185x5	185x5	185x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
	245x5	255x5	265x5	275x5
Seated Shoulder Press	45x12*	60x12*	60x12*	60x12*
	50x12*	65x12*	65x12*	65x12*
	55x12*	70x8*	70x9*	70x8*
3-Board Press	275x5	285x5	295x5	305x5
	280x5	285x5	295x5	305x5
	285x5	285x5	295x5	305x5
Cable Triceps Extensions		120x12 (P)	130x12 (P)	130x12 (Y)
		140x12 (P)	140x12 (P)	140x12 (Y)
		140x10 (P)	145x9 (P)	145x10 (Y)
* Weight is per arm (P) Machines used at the PRO club (Y) Machines used at the YMCA

Day Four, Week Three: (Disappointing) Deadlifts

The good news is I was down to 280.4 this morning, leaving me with just over 5 pounds to lose in 12 days--well within reach. The bad news is, my deadlift workout was very discouraging. I failed at 550, and then again at 530, which is making me wonder how ambitious I'll be able to be in competition. However, I was stuck using a thicker and heavier bar than usual at the YMCA, and my friend failed as well, leading me to believe the bar may have largely been the culprit. We'll see next week when I try the standard bar.

Deadlift Day
Exercise	11/8 2010	11/15 2010	11/22 2010	Week Four
Deadlift	135x5	135x5	135x5
	225x3	225x3	225x3
	315x2	315x2	315x2
	405x1	405x1	405x1
	440x1	455x1	490x1
	460x1	485x1	510x1
	480x1	515x1	550x1
	500x1	535x1	530x1
	520x1
One-Arm Row	70x12*	75x12*	75x12*
	80x12*	80x12*	80x12*
	80x11*	80x11*	80x12*
Box Squats (Explosive)	245x3†	250x3†	255x3†
	255x3†	260x3†	265x3†
	265x3†	270x3†	275x3†
	275x2†	280x2†	285x2†
	285x2†	290x2†	295x2†
Rear Delt Fly	20x12*	20x12*	20x12*
	25x12*	25x12*	25x12*
	25x10*	25x10*	25x12*
* Weight is per arm † Used adjustable height box at lowest setting, rather then traditional bench, increasing difficulty

Day Three, Week Three: Heavy Bench Press

My bench press workout on Friday wasn't as encouraging as I'd expected it to be, but I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and a couple sets of 340 ain't bad. As for my weight, I went up a pound or so for a couple days but this morning (Sunday) I was back down to 282.6, so I have just under 8 pounds to lose in just under two weeks. Boy, it's really comin' down to the wire...

Squat Day
Exercise	11/5 2010	11/12 2010	11/19 2010	Week Four
Bench Press	135x10	135x10	135x10
	185x10	185x10	185x10
	285x5	315x4	335x3
	290x5	315x4	340x3
	295x5	320x4	340x2
	300x7	325x5
45° Smith Press	140x12*	140x12*	140x12*
	150x11*	150x9*	150x12*
	150x6*	150x9*	155x9*
16" Floor Press	135x12	165x12	175x12
	155x12	175x12	185x9
	185x11	185x10	185x10
Triceps Pressdown	90x12 (P)	90x12 (P)
	95x9 (P)	95x9 (P)
	95x8 (P)	95x9 (P)
* Not counting weight of bar (P) Machine used at the PRO Club