15 Feb Danny Vega – Off Season – SWOT 2016
I am currently in off season mode. Over the next 4 months I will be focusing on building my bench and working on some weak points until I start meet prep for next May’s RPS Redemption meet. I will be competing raw with wraps in the 242 weight class.
[wa-wps]Last week was a blur. I spent three days in Chicago for a national sales meeting and then had two busy days of work to catch up. Friday afternoon I took my wife and the boys to Jacksonville for the first annual SWOT (strongest weekend of training). Brian spent a lot of time and resources making sure this thing was planned and executed perfectly. We had itineraries for dinner, lifting groups/mono lifts and the whole weekend went extremely smooth.
First I want to thank the Carrolls for everything–your hospitality and friendship as well as coaching and advice. You’re two of my favorite people in this world.
Ria had a genius idea: take the boys to the zoo
Friday night we had sushi and stocked up at Target.
Saturday’s Lifting
I really had no idea what to expect because I was pretty much off all week and I was fresh but I knew we would be going heavy. Brian just advised I go up to heavy singles on all three lifts. He did give me some coaching on what he wanted to see with my squats (more hip hinge, focusing on not burying every squat because I tend to go too low for what is needed).
Gauging proper depth without burying them: work in progress
It was me, Will, Jason, Todd and Shane. I warmed up and did this:
55×10, 145×5, 145×5, 235×5, 325×3, 415×1, 465×1, 505×1, wraps: 555×1, 605×1, 655×1 (a little high but a training PR). Then Brian said I had to do 700.
WHOA. Was not mentally ready for that one but I took a few minutes to mentally prepare and went for it. First time, came forward out of monolift and had to rerack it. Second time I knew in my mind it was going up. Turns out it didn’t and I failed halfway up. But this was a mental win for a guy who is historically way too conservative with squat attempts (3 squat misses in all of my training and meets the last 3 years).
Beltless Pulls were on point considering I was beat up from all the squatting. Rushed my set up on my top set but pulled it quickly thanks to some low level retard strength.
315×1, 405×1, 495×1, 605×1
5 hours into our training it was time to bench. I decided to warm up and then hit some heavy singles. Huge thanks to Paul Key who tweaked my set up, grip and taught me how to properly wrap my wrists. I’m extremely grateful to Paul’s coaching and the attention he gave me (you’ll see his head on the side of my videos as he watched me and gave me great cues).
135×10, 185×8, 225×5, 275×3, 315×1, 385×1 (great speed), followed by a slow 405 single. This is only the 3rd time I bench 400+ and it was in the off season. First time was 400 at a meet, second was 405 in the last two weeks of meet prep. So I’m very happy with this.
Saturday night we ate some of the best bbq I’ve had and had a great time and a lot of laughs.
I’m so proud and thankful to be a part of such a great team. I’m also thankful for the support of my wife and kids, who all made some great friends this weekend with people are very close to me.
10/20/life and team PRS will continue to grow and thrive because I believe we are all down to earth people who want to help each other and others. Our philosophy is sound and I’ll say it–we are good for the sport of powerlifting. More and more people are learning to think about their training and take better care of themselves while they pursue their strength goals.
Danny Vega
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