2/8/20
I did a push/pull meet at Anchor Life + Fitness in Kennett Square, PA, today. This was an unsanctioned charity meet created to raise money for a young boy with leukemia. It ended up being a ton of fun and Cali and I met some very kind and caring people.
The gym actually had really nice Rogue equipment, and the warm-up area and equipment were better than some of the bigger, sanctioned meets I’ve done over the years. It was kind of weird just doing bench and deadlift without squatting first. I had absolutely zero expectations for the day since I just added barbell training back in about seven weeks ago. I haven’t benched anything over 200 pounds because of a shoulder issue or deadlifted anything over 365 pounds in about a year and a half. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with my lifts, even though they were still far less than impressive.
Bench - 198, 220, 242
Deadlift - 330, 375, 407
Everything felt pretty fast, easy, and solid. This definitely got me fired up for the Marty Gallagher/Kirk Karwoski/Jim Steel bench/overhead press workshop I’m going to in a few weeks and the Starting Strength seminar I’m going to next month. I may have to find a full meet later this year and get signed up.
I absolutely love having a home gym and the easy access to everything a gym rat could possibly want right in my garage/basement, but the one thing that I am lacking is quality training partners. When I first started getting serious about powerlifting, I didn’t really think about how big of an effect atmosphere could have on my performance or how motivating it is to be around a group of like-minded people who want to get stronger. Even the small audience at the meet yesterday, many of whom probably knew very little about lifting, made a huge difference in my mindset going up to the bar for each lift. I absolutely knew I was going to make my last deadlift even though it was 40 pounds over anything I’ve touched in a very long time. The crowd had me all pumped up and I knew it would come up.
One of the other lifters at the meet was this guy, Julian. He was one of those people with the gift of gab who came off as very personable. Julian trains at Iron Sport in Glenolden, and he said the atmosphere there is just incredible. Seeing 600 pound deadlifts on a regular basis gets a person out of his/her own head and makes it seem very ordinary and attainable. I need to find or create that atmosphere somehow or some way.
I’m going to take a deload this week and get rested up before starting a new cycle. Looking forward to things to come.