25 Feb Brian Carroll Week 8, day 1 – All lifts together at Bayside Barbell

Currently training for the XPC Arnold weekend March 7

This is NO DISRESPECT to lifters like current and former 242 greats Juha, Panora, Hoff or ANYONE at all. It’s in reach and I want the total record, especially since I was pretty close a few months back. I’ve actually chased it on and off for the better part of 10 years.

I’m not predicting shit, calling my shot or anything like that. The fact is that I’m pushing toward that 2700+ at 242. Will I get it? Let’s see. I’ve hit it quite a few times at 275 while not being 100%. Either way, I’m on the path toward it, I just hope I get there, and will log pretty much everything about the process. This will also keep my accountable to make sure I’m doing what I need to be doing.

Arnold is less than 2 weeks away from now, give or take.

This cycle is flying by like nothing I’ve ever seen.

Feeling good about training and my goals overall, but have to execute and step up to the plate.
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Last heavy training session was scheduled for Friday at Bayside Barbell with Chris Bartl, Scott Paltos and Beth Thomas.

Huge thanks to Bruce and all of Chris’ training partners for stepping up and helping.

To start, Chris and Beth looked awesome and are more ready than ever for the meet. I can’t wait to see how they do.

Actually a great deal of the team is doing the XPC Finals in about 10 days and we should have a really good showing overall.

Beth took her opener on the Squat bench and dead and smashed every one of them like a warm-up. I adjusted a couple things with her bench slightly and she was good to go.

Chris was pretty dialed in too. A couple of tweaks on bench and he was good to go.

Paltos trained some SWOLE for about 3hr and really was a HUGE help in getting everyone motivated and staying on task. Scott is a HUGE asset in many ways. Thanks Scott.

I was still too big for my squat suit so I only made it to 900. The good news is I’ve been here before, have already had the suit taken back out and will squat some weight tomorrow night to ensure that it fits properly.

My bench and dead were good and I blew through them.

Here is what my session looked like

Normal warm-up
Mcgill
Swings
Goblets

Keep in mind, I took normal warm-up progressions as I would on meet day..

Training
Squat
905×1 – last warmup
Legs dead with unrack of 1005. Was very unhappy for about 10min then got over it.

It pissed me off quite a bit and fuel injected my next hour of training in such a way that I got done with bench in about 30min and same for dead.

Bench
400
500 – 3bd
600 – 2bd
705 – 1bd – last warm-up ish

Dead
315
500
700 – opener

DONE.

Very happy with how the bench is going. I turned around after my heaviest bench day on Monday and still benched on friday and it felt fine.

Dead has never felt this good. Very grateful.

The squat will be just fine. I’m not worried about it, and you probably shouldn’t be either. Unless you are competing against me.

I can’t wait to cut and make weight and then go after this total the best way I can. Smart lifting and taking what is there for me on the squat and bench, then making it happen on the dead.

Interested in seeing how some Freaks do like Yarmybash and Tory Peltzer in the heavies. They are very good lifters (yarmybash is proven for a decade) and really will be tough to beat for the overall. Tory doesn’t even know how strong he can be, I dont think. hahaha

Look for Jonathan Byrd to have a good showing in the 275 class and PR on every lift. I bet he makes the top 2 in that class. If Peltzer is off, he could win the class.

Actually look for ALL of Team PRS to do well. I would name them all, but then I’d forget someone. hahahah.

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com

Brian Carroll is committed to helping people overcome back pain and optimizing lifts and movement. After years of suffering, he met back specialist Prof. McGill in 2013, which led to a life-changing transformation. In 2017, they co-authored the best-selling book "Gift of Injury." On October 3, 2020, Carroll made history in powerlifting by squatting 1306 lbs, becoming the first person to break this record. He retired with a secure legacy and a life free from back pain.

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