New Blog, New Training Cycle, and Hudson Open Review

This is my first post on my first training blog, and what better way to begin than with a brand-new training cycle? Thanks to Fawn Friday for her encouragement with getting this up and running. Back when I began full powerlifting training, I used to post my training days for feedback on a message board called Weight Trainers United, where the supportive veteran powerlifters literally coached me online, successfully placing me on the road to where I am today.

This past week, I started a new training cycle to get back into the gym and rev up for the upcoming 2009 USAPL Women's Nationals, Feb. 14-15 in Miami, Fla. I will be logging what I do each training day here. As a brief overview of this past week (for now), I deadlifted 275x1 and 245x3x2 (that's weight x reps x sets) last Thursday evening. Saturday, I benched 145x1 and 135x3x2. Today, I squatted 235x1 and 205x3x2.

If you are seeing any sort of pattern here, stay tuned. These are precisely some of those things that make you go "hmmm..."

For some background on my last competition, I lifted at the 2008 USAPL Hudson Natural Open, which took place on Nov. 8th in Wisconsin. I weighed 104.0 lbs. and totaled 760 lbs. My attempts:

Squats
1st attempt: 255
2nd attempt: 285 (missed due to depth, but came all the way up smoothly)
3rd attempt: 285 (missed due to... not being able to stand up this time)

This took 30 lbs. off my potential total of 790 lbs. (I realized immediately with a cringe that usually happens with this, my least favorite of the 3 lifts). Not cool. My coach and boyfriend, Mitch Edelstein, typically calls my depth for me as insurance, because I typically have a hard time sensing where "deep" is when the weight gets heavy. On that 2nd attempt, I thought I was deep enough and figured if I kept descending, it would be harder to stand back up (the panic mode sets in). So I beat his call. My bad. The weight went up smoothly, with no sticking point, so he believes I could have gotten if I had just kept going down about an inch or so more.

This sport is so "mental." Even a 1/2 second of panic will ruin much of what you have worked for, over a 12-week (or a 12-month) period.

Bench Presses
1st attempt: 150
2nd: 165
3rd: 170

I am content with benching in the 170s, but I am certifiedly stuck here for the time being and really should be progressing into the 180s by now. I think a lot of that has to do with only training 3 days a week right now; I am doing a heavy bench day each week, without a 2nd day of needed tricep and shoulder work, which I used to have in my routine.

Deadlifts
1st attempt: 305
2nd: 335 - Minnesota Open State Record and PR (Personal Record)
3rd: pass (called it a day)

Ahhh... thank God for this lift :) Every lift is an experience, as is every meet. But then there is the deadlift. The 335 lbs. was a personal record for me all around -- I had never pulled it successfully before anywhere, in training, single-lift or full-meet competition. It felt awesome.

Here is a neat video that Mike Siegler Jr. put together after he captured all the action, highlighting lifting by Maura Shuttleworth, Fawn Friday, and yours truly at the Hudson Natural Open...