07 Oct Brian Carroll Fort Myers RPS Meet Results!
I lifted in Bert and Mindy’s RPS meet last weekend and had a great time.
WHY
My initial plan was NOT to lift in this meet but after having such a pathetic showing in NJ on 8/29, I had to do something prior to the Arnold 2016.
WHAT I DID TO IMPROVE
I made some adjustments to my approach to post weigh in, my squat form & training overall, and felt pretty good about what I needed to do and the changes I made in about 4 weeks. Mostly stopped my walking 5-6miles per week and adding in more direct quad work. I actually stopped walking completely. Think running won’t hurt your strength? LOL I was simply walking my legs into fatigue with only 5-6miles per week. Granted, I’m 265lb but still, I took it away and my legs went from a constant state of fatigue that I formerly concluded was due to being too lean, to them feeling like concrete pillars again. Weirdest thing was I was recovered now (my legs were constantly shaky 24/7 as if I was overtrained), lighter, bigger and more full than ever. NOTE: I will add walking back in but 2-3 days per week. Lastly I also was more aggressive with my post weigh in protocol and feel that it worked out very well.
THE MEET
I loved the meet, the venue and the vibe. No meet is going to be perfect and without people ripping on it to some extent. They busted their ass to put on a meet that is for the lifter. I will be going back to support and lift at their meets in the future as they are always listening to feedback and ways to make the meet better in every way.
The spotters and loaders were all over it. I thought they did a great job!
Bert and Mindy are both very passionate about powerlifting and want lifters to have everything they need to do well. Issues come up and they always do everything they can (within reason) to cater to the lifter and provide the best equipment, bars and atmosphere possible.
Every meet, judge and lifter will make & have bad call happen. You will get bad and good calls in lifting, period. The majority of the lifts I saw were judged well.
It happens at just about every meet – with people getting gifts and the shaft on lifts. Bert and Mindy have admitted some lifts slipped through (I agree, some lifts look bad and have been reversed since) and are going to make changes going forward. This is like their 3rd full meet they have ran and I think each one has gotten better even though this is the first full meet I’ve lifted in of theirs. It’s not like Bert and Mindy were lifting in the meet themselves and just flat out overlooked stuff because they were too selfish to have the correct people in place and wanted to participate in the meet.
I want to thank Bert and Mindy for treating us so well and providing an ever-improving place to lift that will get better each time out. I’m sure MAY REPEMPTION will be no exception.
The people with agendas will always rip on (especially) equipped squats even if they were 3” below parallel. I’ve been around enough to know this and have seen it happen over and over. When they can’t bag on depth, they go right to how ridiculous the suits and shirts are and look, ‘how much can they squat raw’ and how everyone should lift raw and how gear is stupid. And they have the right to state their opinions.
BUT…
I choose to surround myself with positive people and try to look at the good in things and let people lift how they want to lift, no matter how they choose to. Nothing is perfect.
I know that my lifts wouldn’t pass in an IPF meet, no doubt. Most lifts would NOT, actually.
BTW I’m not lifting in the IPF.
As far as my lifting at the meet, I have things that I need to work on 100% and that’s all I’m worried about. I’m still transitioning into all new gear and adjusting to a new weight class.
THE DAY
Here is my day in a nutshell:
I weighed in at 242.5 and had a smooth cut from 267. I changed a few things to bloat up vs the last outing in NJ and I think it worked pretty well, I was MUCH MORE full this time around. I filled out great. This was one of the big adjustments I made.
I felt good warming up as well and strong.
Bert and Mindy had great equipment in the back and lots of room with plenty of time to get ready. BTW the venue was nice and cool so I was not sweating my balls off trying to get my gear on.
My squat attempts were:
1025
1075
1100
All were good lifts. This was a 35lb PR at 242. For my sake, I want to make sure I have my form and dip locked in 100% prior to training for the Arnold. I don’t want any question on my squats come Arnold time, so I’m going to get deeper prior to the dip and not depend on dipping so much when it could be hit or miss. I always squat borderline and this is not a secret.
Bench
750
780 – miss threw it over my face
780 – repeat – good
Not too happy with my bench performance and execution. I really didn’t execute as well as I had hoped but my shoulders were dead after the 3 squats over 1000. I’ll need to make some adjustments to this in training. Not happy with it.
Dead
700
760 to lock in 2640 total #2 alltime total. Moved well, but my hands were fat & fatigued and I didn’t have much left in the grip tank. The bar fell into my finger tips and I almost dropped it. I ended up deciding that I’d regret not tugging on 820 for the record.
820 for the total record- MISS. LOL – embarrassing. I made myself go out and at least give it an effort. I wasn’t even close, but I know I was second guessing it all night if I didn’t. I tried.
Not very stoked about my pulls but I pulled enough to salvage the day.
2640 total, 30lb PR – fell a bit short of my goal of 2700 BUT came out injury free and redeemed myself (somewhat) from the NJ bomber that happened 5 weeks ago.
HOW I FEEL
I feel good about my 3rd total ever at 2600+ at 242 since ALL have been post injury. My best total prior to moving up to 275 and prior to injury was 2570. Very happy when I look at it like this since I’ve even gotten better since being hurt. My body actually feels great as I write this!
On the other hand, I’m not all that excited about the meet results either. I fell short of my goals and didn’t bench very well and didn’t total 2700.
I have quite a few things to work on and that’s all I’m worried about at this time. Here are a few things: timing my dip, adjusting to the new gear and tweaking it. Figuring out how to still bench good after big squats. This is something that has really impeded my total since my squat creeped over 1100 6 years ago and really does a number on my shoulders and biceps tendons. Benches that feel light on training feel like whole houses in competition, especially after I squat big.
OTHER LIFTERS IN THE MEET
Todd, Lisa, Byrd, Filipe, Shane, Clint, Shane and everyone else we were lifting with had very good days. Todd Squatted 600 and so did filipe. Shane S got his first 600 squat in, Shane F got his first 700 single ply squat, Clint squatted a nice 760 raw, Lisa 370 pull (3x BW) and byrd went over 1000 pretty easy.
WHO DESERVES CREDIT
HUGE thanks to Wayne, Danny, Channing, Jordan, Ria and KIETH for the HUGE help all day. Kieth busted his ASS so much to get us ready to lift and prepared that he was more beaten down than any of us who lifted.
Really, the whole team helped handle, but the peeps above went over the top.
You are nothing without your handlers and training partners to help you navigate through the day.
I wish Filipe a speedy recovery as he incurred his first real injury in powerlifting. He tore his triceps off the bone during a 3rd attempt bench and has surgery to reattach this week.
THANKS
Huge thanks to Shane and Shane’s wives for helping Ria run the 10/20/Life booth during the meet. Huge thanks to my wife Ria for all her help and support. Thank you for everything that you do for me and put up with. I appreciate you so much!
Now that I have a pretty good grasp of what my body can take physically and how to stay as injury free as possible, what’s probably going to get me to stop lifting competitively quicker than my body is my attitude. It becomes horrible when a meet get close and I don’t like this about me. I’m really working on being a more patient person and Ria always takes the brunt of it and I want to apologize to her and anyone that I get short with around meet time. This is probably the biggest thing I have to work on and has always been one of my biggest struggles.
Thank you to Dr. Stuart McGill for your friendship, help and advice to me over the last 2.5 years in helping me get back to lifting at a high level. I’m completely confident that I’d be done lifting anything worth a crap if not for his help. Thank you!
Huge thanks to Inzer Advance Designs and their support for me and my teams lifting! Thank you IAD, for supplying the best gear around and a massive supporter!
I want to take the time to thank all of the PRS team for their help, posts and support last weekend, all of team Samson for their help and support. Huge thanks for adam for such a great place to train! Thanks for the well wishes and checkins!
Special thanks to those who had a hand in my programming and coaching this whole summer: Byrd, Beth, Scott, Danny, Zane, Adam, Clint, DD and everyone else for the advice and support.
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
I have a few things I want to work on this offseason – Leg conditioning, work on bringing up my pec and triceps mass even more. This is something that I really did well last offseason. I want to find the happy-medium with my cardio/walking as well as stay in good shape and not get too fat. I’m guessing that the Arnold XPC will be my next meet.
Heal up Filipe!
Brian Carroll
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