Meet Results and PlantBuilt 2014

I've been a bit delayed in getting my results posted up here. I don't have any pictures or video uploaded to the computer yet (so behind!) so this is mostly a wall of text...

I was in the afternoon flight so I didn't have to get up at an ungodly hour to weigh in. Instead, I was able to enjoy breakfast and some needed downtime before heading to Tacoma. After navigating traffic because of an accident on the freeway, going the wrong way from the off-ramp and then not being able to find where the gym was at the high school we finally made it in. It was a nice gym and there were actually bleachers instead of just chairs on the floor. The warm-up room was lacking however as the school's weight room equipment is older than I am. I weighed in at 88.4 kg so I had room to spare for the 90 kg class. For this meet I was smart about prep and packed a bunch of food, more than I actually needed. So I immediately sat down and started chowing down as I had an hour or so before I needed to start warming up.

Things were, of course, chaotic in the warm up room with everyone trying to work in on limited equipment. Luckily, most everyone at these competitions is super nice and friendly. I worked up to 275 on squat and then it was show time.

Squat
First Attempt: 147.5 kg (325 lbs) - Good Lift
Second Attempt: 160 kg (353 lbs) - Good Lift
Third Attempt: 165 kg (364 lbs) - No Lift

I got stuck right out of the bottom on the third attempt. After watching the video, there's no reason I should have missed this lift. 160 kg was fast and 165 should have been as well.

Bench Press
First Attempt: 82.5 kg (182 lbs) - Good Lift
Second Attempt: 87.5 kg (193 lbs) - Good Lift
Third Attempt: 90 kg (198 lbs) - No Lift

I had one red light on my first attempt because the judge said my butt came up. While I felt like this was probably true, I'm not sure why the other side judge didn't call it as well. On the second attempt, I concentrated on keeping my butt down, unfortunately this also led to me losing a lot of leg drive and it was a struggle finishing the lift. The third attempt was to go for broke and the second attempt just took it out of me so I got stuck at about 3" off of my chest.

Deadlift
First Attempt: 182.5 kg (402 lbs) - Good Lift
Second Attempt: 192.5 kg (424 lbs) - Good Lift
Third Attempt: 200 kg (440 lbs) - No Lift

This was a similar situation to the squat. On the last attempt, I had the bar about mid-thigh, but just couldn't lock it out. This is another one that should have been in the bag.

Overall:
6/9 Attempts
Total = 440 kg (970 lbs)

That's a 78 lb improvement from July and all lifts went up across the board. My squat and bench opening attempts were both higher than my 3rd attempt at the meet in July. I'm still disappointed with the missed lifts though, but I did win a medal!



The biggest thing I learned from my performance this time is that I need to deal with mental blocks. Whether this is just sticking with the weight and grinding as much as I can or finding new ways to clear my head. This is the most important thing I need to accomplish going forward.

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In other exciting news, I was accepted onto the PlantBuilt 2014 team! I will be a part of their first powerlifting team headed by none other than Patrik Baboumian. I'm so stoked to be a part of such a great cause and can't wait to show what vegan strength means! You can learn more about the team here at the link!

Competition Prep and Diet

It's been a few weeks since I last updated here. Rather than make a long and boring post regaling you with sets, reps and weight, I'll try to summarize. The meet is rapidly approaching in about two and a half weeks. We went through our last week of heavy singles with some ups and downs. Deadlift has still been a struggle lately and I wasn't able to get past the 430 lbs barrier again. Bench press went well with a competition pause max of 190. I'm confident that I'll have 195 at the meet at least. I maintained my squat at 350 lbs, but couldn't quite squeeze out the 360 attempt though I also believe that is in reach as well.



This was 350. Very clean without too much struggle. I could have had a little more depth though.

To add to this, I dropped a bit of weight over the last month or so, going from around 203 to 194-195. I'm trying to stay under 198 for this meet and then after it's game on for bulk mode! I haven't really said anything about my diet on here, but if you're looking for a relatively simple vegan bulk plan then this worked for me over the course of the last year or so. I went from around 155 to 203 on this basic template:

7 am - 1 Cup Rolled Oats and occasionally toast with peanut butter and jam

9 am - 12 oz non-dairy milk with 2 tbsp of peanut/almond butter and 1 scoop of Now Foods Pea Protein

11 am - Usually I would eat dinner leftovers from the night before so this varied greatly

1 pm - 12 oz non-dairy milk with 2 tbsp of peanut/almond butter and 1 scoop of Now Foods Pea Protein

3 pm - Builder Bar

6 pm - Dinner, I'm lucky enough to be married to a great cook who makes amazing meals for me each evening. I recommend you vary your main meals as much as possible. Buy a cookbook like The Veganomicon or something along those lines.

8 pm - Occasionally I would have a PBJ sandwich around this time.

Throughout the day: I would cycle out snacks with pumpkin seeds, trail mix, almonds, veggies + hummus etc.

I have since cleaned some of this up by replacing the oats in the morning with a tofu and tempeh scrambler that I make a giant batch of over the weekend. I've also cut out the builder bar in the afternoon. If I have a snack then, it's usually a field roast frank or something along those lines.

Week of October 21st

Busy week. My brother and his girlfriend came up to visit over the weekend from California so we showed them around Seattle. It was a lot of fun as this was their first trip alone together and both really like the pacific northwest (who doesn't?!). Both of them are from Roseville which is basically suburban moonland. Super wide roads, strip malls everywhere, hot and lots of brown grass. The other thing that it's missing is vegan options. There's just not much there for us, so introducing them to the wide variety of things available here was great.

On Friday we went out to Brouwer's after having some home made vegan pizza, expertly crafted by my lovely wife.



Saturday morning we went down to Wayward cafe for breakfast.


Not my picture, but this is what I had. LOOK AT IT AND DROOL!

We took our dog and went to Carkeek park for a nice long walk after breakfast to try and keep from drifting into a deep food coma. The sun kept trying to come out, but it was mostly gloomy. Great weather for walking about though.



Then we went to Plum Bistro for dinner. I'm torn when it comes to this place as their food is really really good, but it's so expensive. Definitely good for their first vegan "fine dining" experience.


This is what I call a power couple
Sunday we planned to go hiking, but it was raining when we got up. Our guests didn't have any proper rain gear, so we decided to go down to gas works park instead. Of course, as we set out, the clouds parted and the sun came out.



They had to leave yesterday to head back to California and real life. Hopefully they'll make it back up next summer.

Along with all these events I somehow managed to squeeze in a full workout week!

October 21st

Reverse Band Deadlift w/ Blue Bands
Warm Up w/o Bands:
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2

Add Bands:
405 x 3
495 x 3
545 x 2
525 x 3 x 2

Pendlay Row
135 x 5
155 x 5 x 2

It was an interesting experience using the bands. At the bottom of the lift they take off about 185 lbs and at the top about 100 lbs. 545 felt really heavy and I couldn't lock out the 3rd rep. 525 was a better work weight as it allowed for solid reps.

October 23rd

Bench Press
Bar x 10 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 2
155 x 1
170 x 5
180 x 5

4 Board Bench
180 x 3
195 x 3
210 x 3

Lat Pulldowns
140 x 6
150 x 6
160 x 6

Yeah! Another week of gains. Last rep was a grinder though but it went up.

October 25th

Squats
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 1
275 x 1
295 x 5
310 x 5

Pause Squats
255 x 3
275 x 3

Still moving. That puts my 5s up 15 pounds from last cycle.

Week of October 14th

10/14

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
365 x 1
405 x 1
430 x f x 2

Deficit Deadlift
315 x 3
345 x 3

I was sort of perplexed as to why my deadlift went down down. My weight is down 5-6 lbs, but my other lifts are up so it's just kind of weird. My coach decided to shift pulling to every other week up until the meet. On the off weeks we're going to include more assistance deadlift stuff like zerchers, deficits, bands, etc. This was even more frustrating as deadlifts are my favorite lift. I felt a little like this guy:



10/16

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 1
160 x 5
170 x 5
175 x 5

Bench Press w/ Green Bands
135 x 3
145 x 3 x 2

Bench is still inching up. Surprisingly, 175 didn't feel too tough so I think that 180 is obtainable next week.

10/18

Squat
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 1
275 x 5
290 x 5
305 x 5

Box Squat
235 x 3
255 x 3

Up 10 lbs for 5. Two of those only made it to parallel, so I still need to give up more depth consistently.

10/19

Overhead Press
Bar x 8
65 x 5
85 x 1
95 x 5
105 x 5
110 x 5

Bench Press
140 x 10
150 x 8
160 x 6
150 x 7
135 x 8

Slowly inching up on the standing press also, but progress is progress. I was spent by the time I got to those last two sets of bench, but I threw in some front, side and rear dealt raises as well as a couple sets of curls for the gunz!

Week of October 7th

Deloaded on Monday and had an exam so I didn't go to the gym. I went in on Tuesday instead to do some back work, but didn't write anything down. Tested 1 rep maxes on Wednesday and Friday however and it went something like this:

10/9

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 2
165 x 1
185 x 1
200 x 1
205 x f

Pause Bench
170 x 2
180 x 2
185 x 1

Finally! I'm not sure if I would have had 205 or not, but I got myself out of position pretty much immediately. Overzealous on the way down I think. Still, finally broke the 200 barrier, so I'm happy as that's a big hurdle for me.

10/11

Squat
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1
305 x 1
335 x 1
360 x f x 2

Pause Squat
245 x 3
265 x 3

Almost. If I had gone for 355 I would have had it for sure. Needed just another 2 inches or so through the sticking point.

In other news, I put in an application for the Plantbuilt team for next year. They are looking to expand beyond just bodybuilding so I'm really hoping I can make it onto the team. Also, I will be competing on December 7th at a local meet. I have a long way to go before then so it's time to get focused and move those numbers.

Week of September 30th

Today is two for one with posts!

9/30

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 1
365 x 1
385 x 3
405 x 1

18" Deadlift
365 x 3
395 x 3
395 x 2

2nd week in a row of disappointing pulls. 385 was slow and I couldn't lock out the second rep at 405. It's frustrating, but coach things I might be overtrained a bit. So next week will be a deload on deadlift and then we'll do singles the week after. Hoping to get 450+!

10/2

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 2
155 x 1
175 x 3
190 x 2
185 x 2

2 Board Press
175 x 3
185 x 3
190 x 1

A bit of progress. No way that third rep at 190 was happening, but I'm still happy with 2. I was pretty fatigued after that, so 185 was no fun. Singles next week!

10/4

Squat
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 2
265 x 1
295 x 3
320 x 3
325 x 2

Squat w/ Reverse Blue Band
405 x 3
425 x 3

I think I would have had that last rep at 325 if I hadn't just done 320, but we were working on depth. Still happy with the progress though.

10/5

Seated Shoulder Press
Bar x 8
65 x 5
95 x 2
115 x 1
125 x 3
135 x 3
140 x 2

Bench Press
135 x 10 x 2
145 x 8 x 2
155 x 6

Then did some upright rows, chin-ups, facepulls. Seated press is up a little and volume bench went pretty smoothly. I think I need to work more chin-ups into my routine. Coach doesn't like them much, but I suck at them so that's no good.

Week of September 23rd

9/23
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 1
365 x 1
395 x 3
415 x 1
405 x 1

T-Bar Row
90 x 8
105 x 8 x 2

Shitty day all around. Didn't have a great weekend and I think my body was fighting something off. 395 felt kind of slow, but I decided to push anyway. 1st rep of 415 was alright, 2nd rep I couldn't get my hips through so I got stuck just above the knees. Same thing happened when I took it down to 405. Coach said it looked like my hips were just fatigued. We'll see how the rest of the cycle goes, but coach wants to consider pulling every other week if this is a sign that I'm moving into more advanced territory.

9/25
Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 2

Pause Bench
155 x 3
165 x 3
170 x 3

Laying DB Triceps Extension
20 x 8
25 x 8
25 x 6
Finally got that 185 for 3. 3rd rep on the second set wasn't happening, but I'm ok with that since it's still progress.

9/27
AM
OH Press
bar x 8 x 2
65 x 5
85 x 2
105 x 3
115 x 3
120 x 3

Bench Press
95 x 8
135 x 10 x 3

Upright Row
85 x 8 x 3

PM
Squat
bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 2
265 x 1
295 x 3
320 x 3 x 2

Pause Squat
265 x 3
275 x 3
Need a little more depth on those squats, but they were all at least parallel.