16 Mar Zane Geeting, 2016 XPC finals write up with video
I recently competed in the XPC finals at the Arnold Classic sports festival in Columbus OH. This was my first meet of the year, and unfortunately it didn’t go as planned. But I still have 9 months to make up for it.
In this write-up I’m going to focus on the meet itself, even though the entire weekend was a blast and it was great seeing old friends and making new ones. The Arnold Classic weekend is one the coolest things you can do if you’re interested in any kind of fitness at all. Here’s some video of my lifting, and the skinny on what went down:
As you can probably tell, lifting didn’t go quite as planned. Here’s the deal, I got extremely sick with a stomach flu the Saturday before the meet. I’ve never been so sick in my life, and I just could not kick it. It was late Wednesday night before I could eat normally and my bodyweight was down to around 215. Since most of the training cycle I was 225-226 in the morning, and 230 when I was lifting, I was in a bad spot. I did manage to get my weight back up to 220 for weigh ins (gaining instead of cutting was weird) and 222 the day of lifting. So 8 lbs, was not as bad as it could have been, but my gear was still super loose (Thank God for the adjustability of the new Inzer Leviathan Ultra Pro)
So, now that that’s out of the way and I sound like a huge excuse making pussy, here we go…
Squat warm ups felt surprisingly good, way better than I expected, here’s how I progressed through those after my McGill big 3 warm up.
Squat warm ups
240×8, 350×3
Briefs on (slipped right on by myself, not good)
440×2, 530×1
Suit bottom on (Thank God for the adjustability)
620×1, 700×1
Full gear
750×1
From here I took the platform for my attempts
Opener- 800 good
2nd- 840 good
3rd- 880 miss
– I opted to take smaller jumps than I had planned, and thank God I did, because my strength was definitely off. Still I was in a good spot to place well, maybe even win the 220’s. I just needed 2 benches and 2 pulls and I would go in the 2160-2170 range. A good third on anything would put me over 2200. The third squat was entirely my fault, I had adjusted my suit tighter than the previous attempt and was much more fired up for it. As you can see from the video, I actually came out of the hole faster too. But if you watch my first move you’ll see that I made a huge error and had to fight to correct it the whole way. You may even ask why they took the weight as it was still moving, its because I tipped forward because I started forward with that shit move. Ahh well it wasn’t the first time I made a mistake, and it probably won’t be the last time. On to the bench.
Now, this was a long ass meet, so there was about 4 hours between squat and bench, maybe more. I did a good job of eating and drinking in between. Here’s how warm ups went:
Bench warm ups
145×15
235×5
Super loose single ply Phenom
325×1
58 SDP
415×3- 3 board
445×1- 2 board
475×1- 1 board
– That was it for warm ups. My shirt was super loose as its already too big and I was still around 8 lbs light from my normal training weight. I hit the platform for my attempts:
Opener- 500 good
2nd- 550 miss, not even close
3rd- 550 miss, kind of bitter about this one
– The third attempt still has me kind of pissed. First of all, I feel like it was locked, maybe I’m wrong, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time, but I know that I couldn’t have pressed it any further than I did without losing my shoulder position. The next thing is that holding it locked, I wound up badly straining my left pec tendon and spraining some ligaments in my shoulder. At first I thought the pec was torn, but my PT said that any tearing I felt was just superficial (fascia). Now, those of you who follow my lifting know the issues I’ve had with my pecs, and know that benching is already super risk for me as I only have one of them. It really sucks to not only miss the bench, which put me out of contention for the win, but also to have another setback.
– I decided to pull anyways, maybe take a shot at second place. I had already overcome enough at this point that there was no way I wasn’t going to finish the meet. So after another long break, some food, fluids, pain killers, and whiskey, I started warming up to pull:
Deadlift warm ups
135×10, 315×3
Suit bottom on
495×1
Straps up
605×1
– That was it, I never waste too much time warming up for deadlift. Especially after I’ve been lifting all day. Here’s how my attempts went
Opener- 700 good
2nd- pass, strap tore off my suit
3rd- 770 miss
– The frustration was so real at this point. My strap ripped off the body of my suit on my second attempt, so I had to hurry back to the warm up room, get the suit off, and get a brand new, never used LUP on. If you’ve ever tried pulling in a brand new canvas that isn’t broken in, you know how awesome this is. Thank God for Scott, Will, Lisa, Jason, and the others who helped get me out of the one suit and into the other on time to make it back on stage right in the knick of time for my third attempt. I needed 770 for 2nd place, so that’s what I took, unfortunately with the brand new suit, the rush, etc. I just couldn’t make it happen. It doesn’t get much closer than that pull, but that’s the way it goes in this sport. Shit happens and there’s nothing you can do about it. So I finished with my worst total at 220 since 2010 and probably in dead last place in the 220’s. Disappointing to say the least, but with all the shit that happened I guess I should be glad that I finished at all.
– The good news is that there’s obviously much more in the tank. If I can make it into another meet this year healthy, I should be ready to go well over 2200@220. I look forward to doing that.
– A huge thank you goes out to everyone who helped out this weekend. Will, you’re the man, top notch handler, couldn’t have done it without you man. Would have never made it through. Paul, you almost got me that third bench, thank you man, you’re a solid dude that I’m glad to call a friend. Lisa, you were there for me all day, making sure I had everything I needed. Tuesday, you did an excellent job making sure I had food, drinks, and anything else I needed. You got some great video, and your moral support is unparalleled, I love you. Ria, you got your 10/20/Mamma bear on all weekend and made sure all of us were taken care of just like you always do, you rock. Mundo, thanks for the help and side spots on bench, man. The moral support was much appreciated too, it was good seeing you again. Scott, you really stepped up and helped me make it through bench and deads, thank you for that. Without you Jason (thank you too) and the others I would have never even gotten to take a shot at that third pull. Brian, Thank you so much for believing in me, and helping me with the gear, training, advice, and friendship. You were huge in helping me get the weight back on after the huge weight loss from being sick. The awful peri workout nutrition you suggested did the trick and picked me up a few valuable lbs.
– The Power Rack Strength team is the best team in powerlifting, bar none. I’ve never been a part of something that is so truly a team before, and I’ve played sports my entire life. I love all you guys and gals, you’re a bunch of badasses, believe that.
Zane Geeting
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