First and foremost, I want to thank Travis Mash!! He has given me a program that has made me stronger than I ever have been and I continue to keep getting stronger! And I’m 40 (soon to be 41)!! Keep that in mind as you read this 🙂 I also want to thank him for coming down and coaching me! It was such a good day! I also want to thank Krystal Reynolds and her kiddos for always being so supportive and coming out to support me! Thanks to everyone who took time to wish me luck as well!
Wow! Just wow! It is such a surreal feeling when you exceed your own expectations.
I haven’t been on a platform since October when I competed at the USAPL Raw Nationals in Atlanta. I had set a goal for myself to total 800+ on that day. I missed that goal by a measly eight pounds. I competed at 69.1k in the 72k weight class. My best lifts on that day were 130k/286# PR Squat, 75k/165# Bench, and 155k/341# Deadlift. My total was 360k/792#. My Wilkes Score was 361.37 . I was a little disappointed in my performance (even with a meet total PR) because I knew I was better on the bench and the deadlift. In the end, it doesn’t matter what you think you should have done. It only matters what you did. The disappointment lasted only seconds before I was determined to simply continue to get stronger and consistent!
Fast forward six months to Saturday’s meet. I knew I could hit that 800+ goal with relative ease as long as I did my part and hit the numbers Travis told me to. I had that silly toothache for a couple of weeks before the meet and ended up having a root canal the Tuesday prior, so I could only pray it wouldn’t give me trouble.
My weigh in went better than Nationals and I finally filled out the 72k weight class with an official weight of 71.62k. My donut tradition continued post weigh in 🙂 I think I actually managed to eat five from weigh-in until I started warming up.
The meet ran three platforms: lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight. My weight class fell in the third flight on the lightweight platform. For the most part, the meet ran smoothly once it got started and the judging was accurate and fair.
Squats
I had hit a little above my openers the beginning of the week, so I was confident in hitting my first attempt no problem. This last couple of training cycles, we’ve really focused on my squats. Volume has been high and we lowered the height of the barbell to be more low bar (still not as low as most powerlifters). It is crazy still that I opened up 5k/11# higher than my third attempt PR just 6 months prior! I also broke my own North Carolina Masters 1a State Record with my first attempt.
First attempt: 135k/297#
Second attempt: 140k/308#
Squat attempt 3: 145k/319# (this matches my training PR)
Bench Press
This is my most inconsistent of the three lifts, but continuing to try to perfect my technique and work on consistency. And, of course always get stronger! I broke the North Carolina Masters 1a State Record with my second attempt!
Attempt 1: 72.5#/159.5
Attempt 2: 77.5k/171# (meet PR)
Attempt 3: 80k/176# (FAIL)
Deadlifts
To be honest, I am most proud of this lift. It used to be inconsistent for me. One day I would hit a number for three and then turn around and it be beyond hard for a single. I also used to have a terrible sticking point below the knee and a very slow start off the ground. It has improved so much! I also broke the North Carolina Masters 1a State Record with my second attempt!
Attempt 1: 150k/330#
Attempt 2: 160k/352#
Attempt 3: 170k/374# LIFETIME PR
Total for the day was 392.5k/864# which is a 32.5k/72# MEET PR in 6 months! This also crushed my own North Carolina Masters 1a State Record for total! My Wilkes Score also increased to 384.45!! This Wilkes Score also had my just shy of breaking into the top 10 of all time for this meet. I took 1st place in my weight class as well as Masters 1a overall.
It’s going to be a long off season to continue to get stronger and break that 900# barrier at USAPL Raw Nationals in October! Looking forward to whatever Travis throws at me next! Let’s GO!!