06 Oct Dan Dalenberg | Week 1 Offseason | SQ/DL

Currently in the off-season, working towards the Arnold Classic in March 2016. Working on getting heavier, adapting to an altered bench technique, and building up weak points.

After a month of playing around, losing some weight and just enjoying training its time to get back to work. The 5 weeks off was a much needed mental and physical break. I still hit a few decent numbers in that time; 405 triple close gripped, 675 pull off a 4″ block. My body weight got as low as 240 and is now back up to 250 in the morning. I’m learning that I am very carbohydrate sensitive, as soon as I pulled carbs from a couple meals weight started shedding off. Adding them back in and it has been a steady climb back up.

Squat- Fives up to top set at RPE 6. Up to a top set at 525. Very light. Ignore Randall’s comments and caption on the video- poking fun at a couple local bodybuilders.

Deads- Singles at 315 for a bunch

4″ Block Pull- Triples at 455. Kept this pretty light but it still felt like decent work. This is an awful starting point for me; I will be pulling at this height a lot.

Leg Extensions- 4 x 15

Off season Focus

The Squat- Depth, learning to use an up call and balance. Depth cost me a big squat in Atlantic City. My strength is clearly there to hit a big one, I really don’t want to repeat that mistake again.

The Bench- Pec health, mid range strength and flat footed style to take come pressure off my back. I keep straining pecs. About 18 months ago I hammered a 475 triple and felt strong as hell, like I was closing in a mid 500 bench. Then I strained a pec. Since then it has been a back and forth battle from side to side. I have to stay healthy. Not only healthy enough to make it through a training cycle but also healthy enough to actually push my bench training some.

The Deadlift- Mid range strength is still a weak area for me. No issues off the floor and never missed at lock out. Hence the 4″ block pulls. This position really makes me squeeze the weight off the blocks and grind a bit.

Getting Hungry Again

I read through my Atlantic City meet write up a second time the other day and realized that I really down played how I felt about that meet. I sucked. Execution was terrible and my performance was flat out embarrassing. It would have been one thing if the training cycle sucked and I got crushed by weights at the meet, but that’s not at all what happened. I executed poorly and fell far short of what I should have done.

A couple people reached out and encouraged me to jump into another meet for some redemption. I probably could have done that, I didn’t feel terribly beat up outside of the weird pec cramping/strain. A big squat and pull with a token bench would have been fine. However, I had no desire to do that. I was disgusted with myself and needed a mental break.

To be honest, I needed to be smacked around a bit. 6 really good meets in a row had inflated my ego a lot. I had a bad attitude: “2000 is a given, even on a bad day.” I thought I was going to stroll into New Jersey and hammer out a 2100 total. I had it in my head that I would be beating the tar out of the entire field and edge out a win over Casey Williams (he was originally supposed to lift in that same meet). Are you fucking kidding me DD? Casey is 82 pounds ahead of me. And lighter. 2100 would have been a 94 pound PR total. Why in hell did I think either of those things was going to be simple? I should have had a much better day but damn my expectations were lofty. My ego and mouth ended up being a lot bigger than my total that day. How’s that for honesty?

I needed a bad meet. I deserved a bad meet in a way. I’m getting hungry again; mentally and physically ready to take on another training cycle and compete to my full ability.

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Daniel Dalenberg

Dan Dalenberg is a pro level raw and equipped powerlifter with elite totals in the 220, 242 and 275 class. Best official raw meet lifts include an 804 squat, 507 bench press, 715 dead lift and 2006 total. Best equipped lifts include an 950 squat, 715 bench, 735 deadlift and 2400 total at 242. Dan has been training under Brian's guidance using the 10/20/Life methodology since late 2010.

Latest posts by Daniel Dalenberg (see all)

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