18 Mar The Arnold 2016 – Part 3 – Squat & Bench
By: Brian Carroll
*Note – full Meathead Movie Maker Video to come*
It was about that time. Byrd and I gave each other the nod and I got my McGill warm-ups in and walked around for a little bit as I always do to start a sweat going and to get my mind right. I was pretty relaxed overall and got my sweat going & got ready to get under the bar.
Here is what my squat warm-ups looked like…
(Keep in mind that you have to be flexible on meet day. It’s always nice to have rituals and such that get you in the right place, but at the same time you have to understand that at meets, and especially during big meets, you may have to skip sets, move faster on your warmups, wrap and unwrap and overall be ready to get out of your comfort zone. The bar was already loaded to 265 and really nobody needed 155 so I went right with the hundo on each side. )
265
355
Added briefs
550
Added suit
750 x1 – no wraps
940×1 – full gear. Didn’t feel too great honestly, but was ok. I didn’t feel as locked in and explosive as I would have liked. My top end felt a little slow. By this time my good buddy Shawn Frankl had shown up and was there to support me and the team. It’s always good to see this guy as we go way back.
Went to the platform with a lot of time to reflect and get the vibe of how all was going to go. About 12 minutes passed and I was about to be in the hole. I was feeling a little bit flat and not as fired up as I would have liked. Luckily we had a ton of help on the platform during the squats and the whole day for that matter.
1020 Opener. Good. A little slow… not too happy with it. I let Frankl and the team call the numbers.
1060 Second. 2-1, no good. Depth. I was thinking it was deeper than the opener and after feedback from the judge on how far off it was, we passed my third. Not a good start but I went and shook it off.
This was about 1pm and we had quite a bit of time before benches. A long time…
I ate a ton of food, helped coach the team and drank a crap-ton of stimulants. I admit I took too many and this came back to get me. Well, it got me not feeling so flat! Haha.
Around 5pm it was time to bench. Yes, long ass day.
Here is my bench warm-up…
(again, you have to be flexible with what you have to work with)
250x a few
Added shirt
450×1 – 3bd
600×1 – 2bd. Went out cold on the way down. Not a good sign as the shirt was super tight and my BP was probably out of whack with all the culmulative crap I had taken all day, as it adds up as the day gets longer. Now that it was after 5pm it was catching up with me in a bad way.
Settled down and ate more aspirin. It’s happened more than once to me before.
705×1 – 1bd. Hard to touch but flew up and I felt good. Stayed awake.
Went over to the platform and got my spot and waited for my name to be called.
750 Opener. Took forever to touch. I mean too long. I dumped it to touch and almost pressed it up but was too gassed. NO good, went into the racks.
750 Second (retook my opener). This one was a match made in hell. I didn’t get my breathing right and went back to black as I took the handoff and started to lower the bar. No good. That could have been super bad.
Now I was at a very funny, but not so funny point. I needed more weight since I was so fat at the time. There are a lot of excuses we can throw around, but no need. I needed to get this bench in or I was done. The problem was my CNS couldn’t have been happy going out 2x in an hour and then pushing my body to the limits after. At one point I told them to scratch me but they ignored me, mainly Byrd. I knew I needed some Lisinipril (I used to take some here and there for bench day) and if I didn’t have any, I was done.
My Wife/team found meds and I chugged bottles of water, poured water all over my shirt and chewed up the tabs and said ok, let’s see what happens. It was 750 so I didn’t have to be full strength to press it, I just needed to be awake. Thank you Brandon Luedtke for the meds! I was not as prepared as I thought, no excuses. I need to make sure I have some on hand at all times and take some for precautionary measures.
750 Third. I was smiling going into this one. Why? Because I knew I should get it, but also knew I fucked my day all up and it would cost me first or even second place! It’s a meet and this is exactly why gym lifts are not real numbers, not even close. There are variables that can’t always been seen or accounted for.
Anyway, I made it pretty easy and smooth. I think my new shirt finally broke in on this lift. Good lift and in the meet. Made for a good laugh afterward!
I went back and iced my hands for a bit and chilled with the team. By this time the rest of the flights were warming up for deads and I was sitting in a bad place at subtotal. I didn’t panic. Why? Because I’ve always found a way to wiggle into the top 2 overall at every meet the last 5 years and always the top 3 in my whole career. Minus the bombs of course, so I knew I’d do what I needed. I needed to execute and be smart in every attempt I took. It was almost time to warm-up, but not quite yet, so I went and supported the team and watched some awesome lifting as I got mentally ready to pull.
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Brian Carroll
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