Update. It has been a month since a post, which is far too long.

So, I’ve been training, but very light over the last month except for last week, where I began a new training cycle. This new cycle will be box squats, Wagon wheel deadlift, and floor presses. I’ll update more on this soon with another entry, but week one was very enjoyable.

As I explained in my last post, I underestimated how long it would take for me to get back into the entire grove for a powerlifting meet as I was living in ‘Fantasy land’ and thinking I’m 25 again.

For the last month, I’ve only done belt squats for squat, DB’s for bench, and just supplemental work for the pull. Nothing substantial, just going through the motions and recovering after a very busy November and December. Lots of walking too. 3x10min walks a day. Which I guess isn’t a lot, but when you’re 300lbs vs 265, it’s a lot.

I’ve cleaned up my diet quite a bit the last couple of weeks and have finally curbed my crazy cravings. Eating around the holidays is very difficult for me, and once I eat bad, it’s all I crave. It took a couple of weeks of a reset to get back out of the ditch, but I’m back.

My bodyweight is right at 300lbs in the am, down from about 313-315 in Mid December, and this was ridiculous. Far too fat. Optimally, I want to sit around 285, but with the same composition, I carried at 262-ish. I think this lead to some sleep issues with my CPAP as well that took a bit to figure out.

I and the guys will be heading to the Arnold in a few weeks to watch and see some good friends. This will be my first trip to Arnold in 3 years and the first time I’m going to hang out and not lift. I’m looking forward to being able to relax and see everyone else stress out and panic. The weekend is flat-out crazy and stressful. Especially when you’re cutting weight and then lifting.

As far as a meet coming up I need to be less focused on training and more focused around my house these next 2 months, a meet can wait. I’m still going to train hard; I’ll be tossing on my Inzer gear but I can’t be hyper focused right now.

And this featured image is something that I’m proud of. If you can’t be better than Hoff, be better than everyone else if you can.

To be honest with you, I’m not very happy with my lifting over the last 21 years. I can point out 3 things I did wrong for every 1 thing I’ve done right. It’s just how I’ve always looked at things, especially when I’ve had the likes of Frankl, Panora, Frey, and then later on Freaks like Minuth and then Hoff comes and makes it look too easy. At times I’ve really struggled with the insanity that goes into trying to compete at that level for decades now. I feel good about my place on this list, and am honored to have my name next to guys like Hoff, Coker, Minuth, Daniel, Kalle, Della and others. I really admire these guys and how long they’ve been near or at the top.

I still have some goals left that I want to hit and I’m really enjoying training right now. I’ll keep these to myself, but I’ll look at doing something this fall or whenever the insanity has calmed a little bit after my life is significantly changed in April. In the meantime, I’m going to keep working on getting my weight dialed in/ in my gear to get a few things worked out, namely my bench. A couple of the guys will be prepping this spring and summer, so I’ll pick things up from time to time until I get a meet figured out. I’ll be pushing here and there with them to keep them on their toes.

Happy New year!