3/17/2010

The Big Iron Meet some of us at SOS were training for has been canceled as of now, so we switched over to a 14 week training cycle Al is using to prepare for Senior Nationals June 5-6, 2010.  Myself, I'm performing the same work as Al but really just getting used to the gear and learning the technique.  We'll see about possibly doing my first meet in the fall if one comes along.  If not, we'll look towards the Spring of 2011.  I really need to get all of my lifts up before I jump into it.

A little about what has been going on since my last update:

I ordered my first squat suit - an Overkill Strength double-ply poly.  I struggled a bit the first couple sets I tried it with but I think I'm getting the hang of the suit itself the more I use it.  I also got some new briefs, Titan Centurions.  They came in a bit big and we were going to get them altered but Al had some concerns about getting to depth using the brief/suit combination so we're going to continue to see how this goes.  We might still end up getting them altered if necessary.  I'm still using an Overkill bench shirt and really liking it.  I've felt my technique has been off for the past few weeks, as I've found it hard to find the groove.  I'll keep at it and hopefully get it down.  I really look forward to bench days though!  It seems to be my best lift at this point.  We're using the following for maxes at this point.  Some are probably a little bit high just because we're making adjustments based on bar speed, etc. without actually getting a max, but they're probably pretty close.  I've definitely been seeing some improvements and am pretty excited about them.

Week of 2/14/2010

This week starts the first week of my training leading up to the Big Iron Meet 4/17.  I think I'm going to stick with the Overkill bench shirt, but this week I tried out a few different squat suits (Frantz denim and Inzer poly).  Not sure I liked either of them very well but they don't fit optimally either.  Going to keep going with the testing.  I didn't have any issues getting to depth with either of them though, so that was good.  It was still pretty light weight to start with so we'll see how it goes going forward.

2/14/2010

Briefs Squat

195 x 2 sets x 5 reps, 215x2x4

Geared Squat

295x1x3, 315x2x3

Week of 2/7/2010

This week was run a bit different than most weeks due to the Best of the Best in the Midwest meet held on 2/6.  We didn't have the monolift reassembled for those of us that did not participate in the meet for Sunday's squat day, so we had to tweak it a bit.  I got in gear for all training days for the first time since I started training at SOS.

As far as the gear goes, I'm using borrowed stuff, kind of testing different brands until I find something that works really well.  I had been using an Inzer Black Denim for the first few times I put one on and switched to an Overkill shirt custom made for Al Caslow this week.  I figured I'd give it a go and see how it felt.  I have to say, the fit wasn't optimal (obviously Al has bigger guns than I do so the arms were a bit loose) but the shirt was awesome.  Now, I don't know much about shirts, but it felt like there was a ton of pop compared to the denim shirt.