World Powerlifting Championships of Powerlifting

9 November 2013


In honor of the IPF World Championship, today I did a 1RM testing day at my gym. The goal was to set a new 1RM for the squat and deadlift and work up to a heavy single on the bench and standing military press.

In preparation I took almost the entire week off training (did some light stuff on Tuesday) and took creatine every day from Monday to Friday

Weighed in this morning at 213.6 lbs.

Had a light breakfast and took some BCAA tabs and a banana directly prior to leaving for the gym.

Squat:

Worked up to 365 lbs. 'raw', then hit 385, 405 and 455 with belt and wraps. All felt strong and solid. The "attempts" went like so:

500 lbs. x 1 - this one felt a bit shaky
515 lbs. x 1 - tied old PR, but I knew I had more in me and the weight felt lighter than 500.
535 lbs. x 1 - new PR, this one was pretty solid. I now regret I didn't try 540 just to get a round number :)

Bench press:

Bench press was going to be uneventful because I had no spotter (I was videoing the attempts and didn't want to creep anyone out, as I didn't know any of the people at the gym). So I warmed up to 295x1 and played it safe from there.

315 lbs. x 1 - very light
335 lbs. x 1 - felt heavier than it should have, since this is a weight I can press for three reps even on a bad day
355 lbs. x 1 - much smoother and faster. I have doubled this weight in the past so I was confident it wouldn't crush me. Good, solid weight.

Deadlift:

At this point I was psyched from how well the squat and bench press went, but also starting to fade a little. Stupidly I had not brought any energy bars or Gatorade or anything to pick me up. My legs and lower back were definitely feeling the squats. So I did a few reps adding one plate per side to 315, then 385 and 425. All fast and explosive, which I wasn't expecting.

Last week I had worked up to 475 and it felt heavy, so I decided to start lower this time:

455 lbs. x 1 - smooth, confident pull, but by now I was thoroughly exhausted. I really wanted to set a new 1RM.
515 x fail - as often happens to me with the deadlift, the bar came off the floor with speed but died somewhere below the knee. My hands now felt like hamburger and my hopes were pretty low, but I had another go so I decided why the hell not.
515 x 1 - this time the weight went up with only a slight grind near lockout. Like I had taken 30 pounds off the previous try, or something. New deadlift PR, and first pull over 500 lbs.

Standing military press:

I didn't expect much here, because I was already starting to feel faint, but the last warmup at 185 felt ridiculously light, so away I went:

205 lbs. x 1 - lighter than the 185
225 lbs. x 1 - same here, I had to check to make sure I had actually put the right plates on
245 lbs. x fail - went halfway up, then stalled. Still very happy with this.

Points to ponder for next time:

- Eat more before lifting.
- Bring energy food and drinks to the gym.
- Take more rest between lifts. I feel like nerves got the better of me and I sort of rushed through the squats, then didn't have much energy for the later stuff.
- Pick better camera angles for videos. I had to move after my first squat because I had placed the camera on the nearby lifting platform, and someone wanted to use it. Also on the bench press the first camera angle was a pretty ridiculous shot of my legs in the foreground, so I changed to a side view.
- Video editing is not my strong suit.