Currently I am in contest prep mode for a meet coming up at the end of January in New Jersey. It will be an equipped only meet, so it will be good to have some fun with more like-minded lifters. This past week marked 8 weeks out, so I completed all of my 9 weeks out lifts the week prior. I was heading back home to visit family in Ohio for about 4 days and had the opportunity to lift at an amazing gym up there in Cleveland called Old School Iron. I had been wanting to visit there for quite a while now, so I packed all of my gear to get my squats and benches in while I was home. Old School Iron had 4 monolifts, 4 competition benches, and all of the chains, bands, boards and specialty bars anyone could ever want. Both times I was there it was very easy to find knowledgeable guys that were willing to spot, run the mono, and talk about powerlifting. Any time I visit home in the future, I’ll definitely be making a stop at that gym.

Monday Deadlift Day

I was still in Florida at this point, so I took all my pulls at the home gym of Boynton Barbell Center. I worked up to 3 top sets of 3 at about 75% (545).

Birddogs, Rolling Planks, McGill Curl Ups

Dynamic Frog warmup

Clam Shells

135×5

225×5

315×3

405×1

Top Sets (Suit on) : 495×3, 545 2 sets of 3

Thursday Squat Day

Excited to get some squats in at the gym in Cleveland, OH I brought my brother and a friend to help out with my suit and run the monolift. There were plenty of people there to help out, but the legs just didn’t feel 100% that day. Instead of hitting triples I just decided to take 75% for a few speedy singles and focused on technique.

Birddogs, Rolling Planks, McGill Curl Ups

Dynamic Frog warmup

Clam Shells

Empty Bar x 20

145×10

235×5

325×2

415×1

Suit on

515×1

605×1

640x 3 singles

Leg Extension

Belt Squats

Saturday Bench Day

My plan for bench was to work up to 2 doubles to help break in the shirt off of a 3 board. It is the same shirt I had for my last prep, but if I plan on jacking the shirt down at all, it’s going to need a little more breaking in.

Banded shoulder warmups

McGill Big 3 warmup

Empty Bar x 20

135×10

185×5

225×5

275×1

315×1

365×1 4 board (Shirt On)

425 3 sets of 2