08 Oct Zane Geeting, Last weeks training and where I’m at.

I had been training for the APF Fall Open here in MI, this month. Unfortunately the meet filled up before I was comfortable committing to it because of the gear break in process I was undergoing. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue and I would get an exception, but the APF presence here in MI is so strong that they no longer make any exceptions. While I regret not being able to lift in the meet, I fully support there decision to stay true to their word and not do any favors, this is the only truly fair thing for the lifters. That being said, I’m back to off season training. Honestly, this is probably a good thing as I can pace myself in breaking in the gear and learning it better over the coming weeks. I will be keeping my eyes out for another meet to use as a tune up before the XPC finals in March.

This week was a busy one. I put in some long hours at work and was doing my crunch time work around the house/farm getting things ready for the winter. The next few weeks will likely be the same. Lots of little things that need to be done now in order to afford me more time for training in the winter months.

Tuesday night was my first night back to my off-season bench rotation. That meant it was a DB bench week. I was feeling pretty good so I pushed the pace of the training session as much as I could. Here’s what I did:

Warm up

Bird dogs, McGill’s, Push ups, Side laterals, Scarecrows

DB bench

3×20 up to 90 lb. DB’s

Incline DB bench

1 high rep set with 65’s. Did 30+ reps

1.5 rep DB bench

1 high rep set of a full rep, half rep, full rep, etc. to near failure

Tate presses

2 warm up sets of 10, then 65’s x8

Rope pushdowns

1 warm up set and 1 drop set

Lat pulldowns

3 sets of 10 and 1 drop set

Side laterals

1 warm up set, and 1 rest pause set with 50 lb. DB’s

Rear delt DB raises

2 sets of 15 reps

• That was the end of this session. I got a good amount of volume in, and kept it under an hour and a half. I’ve been putting some extra focus on the pecs to try to build what I have left as much as possible. They don’t bother me as bad as they used to, so I figure I may as well push them a little bit and see if I can’t get something to happen. If they start to bother me or get too inflamed I’ll change that up.
• Other than that I hit my normal focus areas, the triceps for lockout, the upper back for a strong setup, and the shoulders to keep them healthy for the heavy pressing to come. I’m pleased with the session and think I’m in a good spot right now.

My next session of the week was Friday night squatting. Since I had worked up into the opener range a couple times over the last few weeks, and because I’m now transferring back into off-season mode, I decided to keep this one pretty light, but still work in some gear to focus on technique and depth. To keep the weights light I chose to do briefs only. Also, since I pulled 655 for a few rep sets the previous week, I decided on not pulling at all this week. I will continue on the every other week pulling schedule for a while. Here’s how the session broke down:

Warm up

Bird dogs, McGill’s, Cat/Camel, KB swings, BW squat

Squat

Warm up to 420×1 raw

Briefs

510x2x3 sets

560×2

I took an up call on every rep here. Hit depth on all of them aside from the first rep of the first set.

Leg press

3 sets of 15 reps, RPE of 7 or so.

Reverse hyper

3×15

Calve raises/Machine shrugs superset

3 sets of 20+ on each

Alt DB curls

3 sets of 12-15, up to 50 lb. DB’s

JL planks

2 sets of 30 seconds.

• That was the end of this one. I didn’t do quite as much volume as I would have like to, but I did work hard felt good about everything I did. I’ll keep the gear worked in in this part of the off-season training so that my transition into a meet will be much easier, and can also be a shorter cycle if need be. It won’t all be in gear, but 50% or so, will be.
• Other than that, not too much to say. The only thing different is that I paid a little extra attention to the legs. I didn’t feel like doing any more squatting for reps, so I just stuck with some leg press to get that direct work. When training for a meet my legs always suffer a little bit. Not strength, but muscle loss. They don’t get as much rep work, and I’m a hip dominant squatter, so its always nice to try to pack a little muscle back on them after the meet training is over. Brian started programming this kind of stuff in for me years ago, and it has always worked well. Before that I thought the leg press was for wannabe bodybuilders who were afraid to squat, but it actually has a purpose for us powerlifters, and works quite well if you need extra attention in the leg muscles without any extra spinal loading.

Oh, and by the way, I’m like 220 lbs. when I wake up in the morning. Lightest I’ve been in quite a while, was seriously considering cutting to 198 for the Fall open.

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Zane Geeting

Zane Geeting is a pro multi-ply powerlifter with best lifts of a 935 squat, 625 bench, and 765 deadlift. He is coming back to competitive PL after a year and a half layoff that was a result of several serious injuries including a severe rupture of the right pec that could not be repaired. Zane has an extremely busy schedule that would make most people quit before Friday. He works 55+ hours a week as a finance manager. As a renaissance man, he is also currently restoring a 140 year-old farmhouse and maintaining a hobby farm. Despite all this, Zane still finds time to train 2-3 times per week, as well as coach other lifters.  

Latest posts by Zane Geeting (see all)

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