Update: 6 Days Out from the Meet

This semester has been crazy. Class has consumed my life between Chemistry and Physiology. Learning alot. Luckily training hasn't suffered much if at all except for my lack of diet. It has been basically whatever the hell I can get my hands on. With my class schedule next semester things should really come together.

Congratulations to Jason Wells on being named to the Arnold Challenge Roster! That's an awesome accomplishment and he is a great inspiriation. Which leads me to my next topic...

My original goal of going to USAPL Junior Nationals 2011 is being put on hold. I decided I want to stay RAWDOOOOOG and will be attending USAPL Raw Nationals next August in Scranton, PA. I'm so pumped! But I need to stay focused on this meet and hitting my 1450 total goal. I'm hoping to be up around 1550 by the time Nationals come around. Mike Robertson has some tricks up his sleeve that should do the trick and really make my total skyrocket!

That's about it for now!

Check out my YouTube if you want to stay up to date on training and all that good stuff. User name is SteviGX

Thanks for reading...Now go hit some Nose Tork

Steve-O out

Keeping the Goal, the Goal

Keeping Goals Goals

So I was watching a Dan John Seminar DVD this past week and something he said really got me thinking. “The goal, is to keep the goal the goal” Not everyone’s goals are the same. Some ones goal might be to total elite, someone’s goal may be simply to drop 15lbs of fat and get healthier, other could just be as simple as moving better.
I know for me over the past few years my goals have changed short term. With an original goal of say a 500lb squat, or a 550lb deadlift, yes I have no reached those goals but those weren’t the true goal. My goal ever since I started was just to get leaner and feel better about myself. It’s a work in progress but I feel like I have accomplished both of those goals. Now maintaining and keeping myself feeling that way is the challenge.
This past weekend I met A.J. Roberts at the Midwest Performance Enhancement seminar that MR put on. Now meeting A.J if you ask anyone that has talked to me since was a huge thing for me. I mean come on, the guy squats 1100lbs and totaled 2650lbs. Now the question that I’ve been asking myself, “Is aspiring to be as strong as A.J. a problem on my road to getting to a better feeling me straying away from the goal?” Yeah I might not hit a 1000lb squat or bench 800lbs, but my goal is total Elite in Single ply. Setting realistic long term goals that you are determined to hit and setting up short term goals along the way to keep that long term goal your goal is the key.
Basically what I’m trying to say is, no matter what the modality you use to keep your goal your goal, make sure that you keep in check and make sure that what you are doing is striving towards ultimately achieving that goal.

Just have to add in some SKWAAATZZZ from yesterday. My first back squats since the meet.

Smitty Iron Works Meet

So this weekend was my first meet. Basically to put it simply, I had the time of my life. The weekend started off Friday morning with getting everything together. Ended up leaving and getting to I-FAST to pick up Lance at about 3:30 when I wanted to be there by 2 at the latest . We dropped off my little sisters and continued up towards Midland. We ended up getting there around 9:45. Went to Logan’s Roadhouse after we checked in at the Midland Resort where the meet was being held. I ordered and I was starving so I just wanted it as fast as possible and the waitress goes, well it will be 30 minutes at least for the fillet so I was like just give me whatever steak is fastest but ended up with the fillet. Lance, goes to order and totally confuses the waitress! He wanted two entrée’s like usual and the waitress didn’t understand! It was great. Got back to the hotel around 11:30, did my warm-up showered and tried to get to sleep.

Meet- Day. Woke up at about 6:30 day of the meet. Equipment check-in was at 7 so I decided to be early. Took a shower and headed down there. Up to this point I was super super confident and thought I had it in the bag. When I walked down there all I saw was a bunch of MASSIVE dudes. I was extremely intimidated leading up the first lift. Did weigh in’s and was 315. Got all my rack heights and stuff. Headed back up to the room to get everything together and clear my head before the meet.

Got down to the convention center about 9:30 and they were already almost done with rules. Good thing about being me is I read the rulebook once a week for the last 7 months and had commands smashed into my brain. If I was going to miss a lift it was going to be cause I wasn’t strong enough, not cause of commands.

The first flight started and moved fast! Warm-ups went well, the rack was way too low but was fine. Hit my normal and did my last warm-up with a tight belt at 365 and just shot it up! I opened at 435.4lbs (197.5Kg’s) and it flew up. I was in the meet, I crushed my first lift. I had a smile that wouldn’t go away. Second attempt was 474lbs (215KG’s). Absolutely crushed it. Felt light as hell so I decided to go balls out. I knew I had 500+lbs in me so I went for broke and decided for a 518.2lb (235KG) third attempt. It was light off the racks, I hit the hole and it was a grinder but I finished it. I was so happy at that point I knew that today was going to be a great day.

I’m not a bench enthusiast. It’s my worst lift right now and something I really need to focus on for this next meet. I opened at 237lbs. Felt so light in my hands. Second attempt was 253.5lbs. Again was pretty easy but felt heavy as hell in my hands. Once again, I went for broke and attempted a PR. 275.4lbs. I felt my butt come off the bench and after I locked it out I started laughing because I hit it but knew I was going to get red lighted for my butt but only got 1 red. The only red of the entire meet for me.

Now came my favorite lifts. Deads. These moved so fast because a couple people dropped. I thought I was 3 out but was really on deck. I didn’t get my glass’s off and pulled my eaaaasy 474 opener. Second attempt was 511 or something and was ridiculously easy. Once again went for broke and called for 551.2lbs. It broke the floor easy but about 3 inches from lockout my glutes were smoke and had some trouble getting it but finished the lift for a 77lb PR. Squat PR was +92lbs and bench was +10lbs. Not bad for 7 months of powerlifting type training experience.

Won Junior SHW RAW division and qualified for Collegiate Nationals which was huge for me. I had a 1344.8lb total and only was expecting to hit about 1300. Overall had a great time and was glad I did it. My next meet is probably going to be Nov 20^th in Cleveland, Ohio. My goals for that meet realistically are going to be a 540lb Squat (+22lbs), 295lb Bench (+20lbs), and a 575lb Deadlift (+23lbs) = 1410lb total. Those are my goals. I feel like if my taper and conditioning go as well this cycle that I should be able to get relatively close to that. I felt like I had some left in the tank on both bench and deadlift this meet but with it being my first meet going 9/9 was more important to me than anything.

Four Weeks Out

It's getting down to crunch time. Training is going well. Feeling a little beat up this weekend but nothing to bad. Going to continue to work the mobility daily and hopefully put up a respectable total. I'll have a full recap blog before. As for now though, I'm getting pretty excited for the meet and to just get there and do it. I've got a list of things I want to do.

1. Don't Bomb Out!!!
2. Total 1300lbs
3. Have a good time and enjoy it, cause this is the only first meet I'm going to have!

If you don't happen to read Mike Robertson Blog he did a case study about some elbow problems I was having a few weeks back if anyone would like to check it out. Here's the link...http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/Case+Study%3A+Lateral+Epicondylitis/


Steve-O

Finals!

Well, it's "dead" week before finals this week, and boy do I have a ton to do. Being the procrastinator I am, I have put off a 3-5 page paper, a 2 page health project with powerpoint, along with 2 other powerpoint assignments for my computers class.

But enough of that. I found out that the meet I am planning on participating in has not been sanctioned yet. As of now, I am going to continue to stay on course for the meet and hope for the best. Pulled my previous PR of 475 for a triple this past Monday and destroyed a 425 squat for a triple. After that, hit a 455 squat with a light knee wrap job for a pretty easy single.

Just wanted to put out an update for those following. Hope everyone has a good week. It's a deload week this coming week but I will keep everyone updated with training before the meet.

Get It,

Steve-O

Pulled PR!

Well, I pulled a huge PR yesterday! Switching and training at I-FAST has really taken me to a whole new level! Not only have I dropped nearly 20lbs but to go from a 415x4 to 455x4 in 4.5 months is just insane. I've only really pulled 6 sessions since December at that.

On another note I received one of the best compliments since I actually started training. It was from my buddy Lance via Facebook video comment. It went as following...."You are now, officially, someone I would not fuck with."

I'll end this post with one simple saying....FIST PUMP!

My First Post!

So I wanted to start off this first blog post with a little bit of background on who I am. From the time I was in 3^rd Grade I had been a soccer player. At the time it was normal because I was still a Regular Joe, not the 6’3” 300lb Mongo that I am today.
October 2008, I started training at the Hancock Wellness Center in Greenfield Indiana. I weighed 360lbs, and being honest was probable well over 35% body fat. Here is a picture In my first semester at IUPUI, I had a class with Lance Goyke. It was P245 Teaching and Performance of Resistance Training, I have no idea what would have happened if we had not signed up for that class.Funny story actually, I had always been a distant fan of Powerlifting and commented on his bench press technique one day in class. He told me about where he trained and about Mike Robertson and at the time I had moved closer to school and was training at Cardinal.Being the researcher that I am I stumbled upon a Modified 5x5 article he had written on TMUSCLE. I put it into action, saw a pretty good gain in strength followingI made the decision to talk to Mike about making switch this a permanent thing. I wanted to train at I-FAST because I knew that they were the only people that were going to be able to help me attain my goals. I had my first assessment at I-FAST Wednesday, December 16^th, 2009 and weighed in at 319lbs (40lbs less than October 2008). Little did I know how drastic the changes in my body, strength, mobility, and how I just generally felt would end up being. I started my first program that next week. I finished that and the next month of circuit style, fat burning, workouts and by everyone’s accounts, had a drastic body comp change. In March 2010, I started my first Powerlifting Program to prepare for the 2010 USAPL Indiana State Powerlifting Meet on May 29th. After 3 weeks of deadlifting, I pulled a PR of 445x4 at a bodyweight of 305lbs. This being my first meet I am not expecting to get some unrealistic total. Do I have numbers I would like to achieve yes, but I realize that this is only the beginning.

I love training and want to be an inspiration to people that don’t feel they can do it. I want to help people better their lives and learn that just cause you don’t look or feel how you want right now doesn’t mean that you can’t later. My journey has just begun, things only get better from here. It’s never to late to start.

My Goals which I feel should be attainable….

· By then end of this year I would like to be in the 286-292lbs range.

· To pull 550lbs by the end of the year.

· To bench 3 wheel (315lbs) be my birthday (June, 10^th)

· To Squat 500 by the end of the year

· Attend at least 2 national conferences

Thanks for reading,

Steve-O