Meet Report

Sunday 2/14/2010

NASA 2010 Ohio State HS Championship

Kevinfng aka Latzilla aka T2 decided approximately 5 weeks ago that he wanted to enter a meet. So we found this one. There was not much time to "prepare" obviously. But he wanted to get his feet wet and thought that this would be a good opportunity to do so.

"The Training"
Basically his training since he started training with us in December has been based on Jim Wendler's 5-3-1 program. It differs in that we do dynamic effort benchpressing on Sundays (Matt 4board aka 4Board aka 4B aka RaySunshine and I also do dynamic effort box squats on Fridays. T2 squats on Fridays. I am not sure how much, if any, "carryover" there is from the box squat to the conventional or free squat. I think the difference is if one is training as a powerlifter using equipment or one is training as an athlete. I still think it is a fantastic way to achieve posterior chain muscle improvement. And it is a great strength builder when used as a max effort movement. It is also a great way to teach some segments of the population how to squat. For the raw or unequipped powerlifter I do not think that box squats are of much benefit because of the difference in the way the movement is performed in competition. So Kevin squats. End of speech.)

In the last four weeks leading up to the meet, his training changed in the following way. Instead of going for a rep record on the last set of the main exercise(squat and deadlift), he did the required reps (5 or 3 or 1) then did some heavier singles. He continued to floorpress but would benchpress on the "deload" weeks (there were 2) using 60-70% of his benchpress 1RM. This allowed him (and us) to practice his bench technique too so he didn't just get good at floorpressing (i.e. carryover). Approximately 3 weeks out he benchpressed as his main exercise working up to an easy single with 260. He followed that with his "scheduled" 3x3 floorpress. He took his last heavy floorpress approximately 10 days out from the meet and his last heavy squat 8 days out. The week of the meet consisted of some light upper body work on Wednesday. Other than that he rested. (He was sick the beginning of that week and had lost a few pounds so we had him just rest and eat). He still gave up four-and-a-half pounds competing in the 198 class.

"The Meet; where the rubber meets the road!"
So meet day we travelled to Clark Shawnee High School near Springfield. Kevin would compete in the unequipped high school division (junior) at 194 pounds. Typical of these things, we arrived at 0800 and he didn't start warming up to squat until 1030. The meet started on time but I had forgot that NASA also has a Power Sports division which consists of three lifts, one of which is the curl. Yes that curl. The biceps curl. The two-handed biceps curl with an EZ curl bar. That ate up the first hour. Kevin was fired up about this as he loves his curls and opined that he wished he had known about it sooner as he would have trained for it("Hey fellas, I can't go out with youse guys tonight I have to train for my curl contest!") Have you ever seen spotters for curls? And why do you need three judges? I digress...

So anyway we found that there were five lifters in his class. The warmups went well. The most difficult part all day was timing them so we had a minimum of downtime before he lifted. His openers were all light. The goals of this exercise was to a) get in the meet b) finish it and c) total 1000 pounds.

His first squat was at a easy 309 lbs. (the weights are "off" because kilo plates were used), which he got 2-1. He asked me about the one red light and I told him if he was getting three whites he was going too low so don't worry about it. Squat number two, 353 lbs., came up a little slowly as Kevin got a little forward on the ascent. He smoked 364 lbs. for squat number three but lost it when he failed to wait for the rack signal. (Here Matt's presence would have helped as he could have coached him on that issue.) He said he was just so excited that he forgot to wait for the "rack" command. Still it was his easiest attempt.

On the benchpress Kevin started with 226 lbs. which was passed without incident (the head judge inquired why he was taking "warm-ups on the platform"). The next attempt was with 259 lbs. which again passed. Not getting the 364 squat passed left us a little light for the "1000 pound" goal so every additional pound counted. His third attempt at 281 was the easiest yet. His benchpress PR is 300 pounds so I asked Kevin if he wanted to take a shot at that. He said yes and we asked for a fourth attempt at 303 lbs.. I handed the bar off to him and he brought it down quickly. It exploded off his chest. Then he realized that he had jumped the "press" command and brought it back down! And there it died. (The judge's command came after Kevin had pressed the bar approximately 2+ inches from his chest.) He may have sneaked it by had he finished the lift but it was not to be today.

Going into the deadlift Kevin had a 634 sub-total so he only needed 366 pounds to reach his goal. He had pulled 365 in training a few weeks before so I had no doubt he was capable of at least that. And taking into consideration that one's competition max is higher than a training or gym max lift, he would be able to make up any ground he needed too. He had originally listed an opener of 336 lbs., which was changed to 353 prior to his first attempt. On the platform, he made it look like another warm-up. Next he took 375 lbs., to ensure the 1000 goal. He ripped that from the ground and again I was chided by the head judge as to when I was "gonna let the kid lift?!?" Well, he had the 1000 so I suggested 402 lbs. for his final attempt. So the bar was loaded to 402 lbs. and Kevin went right out and again defied gravity. Three bright whites and a very nice PR to end the day. And after all the lifts were tallied for the day, he ended up in second place in the 198 lb. class! Not bad for a first effort!

The meet lasted from 0930 until 1800-something at night when all the awards were passed out. There were over 80 lifters entered, so considering that and the additional lifting catagory, it went smooth and without any major delays. I think the longest break was a 15 minute one between the benchpress and the deadlift. It was fairly judged and well organized as well.

Congratulations!!!
Ed T.