Saturday, April 27, 2013

Competition -- Iron Fest Open 2013

Despite having been unsuccessful in my last attempt at a water cut, I wound up giving it another shot for this comp. This time I drank about 6L water/day for a week before hand, and then cut out most fluid from about 10am yesterday. I did this because I realised that if I made it into the 66kg weight class, I'd make it into the top 10 ranked lifters of that weight class. My water cut was more successful than last time, but still not nearly enough to get me down to 66kg. So I weighed in at 67.5kg (I've been sitting around 70kg for the last couple weeks), and got straight into eating and rehydrating. Not making weight turned out to be a good thing, though. There was only one guy in the 66kg class, and I'm pretty sure he was stronger than me. There were four of us in the 74kg weight class, and it turns out I got the highest total. Consequently, I came home with some gold that I was not anticipating.

Videos were taken, although I don't have them on me, so I'll post them when I get them. In the meantime, here are my lifts, and some photos.

Squat

Warming up with 120kg

Opener

135kg
White lights. I started warming up about an hour before I should have, so once I got up to 120kg for a single, I tried to just maintain that. Ultimately, I went cold at some point. Still had the movement prepped, but needed to re-roll my left leg before opening. Consequently, my left side wasn't as solid on this lift, and it felt like my left hip did a dip on the way up.

Second Lift

142.5kg
PB lift. Felt much smoother/more stable than my opener.

Third Lift

150kg -- No lift
Got to ye olde sticking point and then the bar started disagreeing with me.

Bench Press

I think this is my third attempt

Opener

85kg -- No Lift
Technique was good. Touched chest, held it there, locked out. Shame I forgot to wait for the start signal, and thus disqualified the lift.

Second Lift

92.5kg
PB lift. Remembered to follow the rules. Felt good.

Third Lift

97.5kg -- No Lift
I felt that 100kg was a bit too ambitious, so decided to play it safe. Not safe enough, apparently. Like my third squat, I got to the sticking point and then my strength gave out.

Deadlift

I think this is my opener

Opener

150kg
Felt easier than my last warm up set (which was 140kg).

Second Lift

165kg
PB lift. I was pretty happy with this.

Third Lift

177.5kg
PB lift. After striking out on my third attempts of squat and bench press, I wasn't feeling as confident about my third attempt as I was to begin with. It was also getting late, and my drive wasn't what it had been earlier in the day (in the past, whenever I've done 1RM sessions I haven't had heaps of other guys training up to their maxes, too, which has meant getting it done in about 2 hours rather than 5, which has meant being more energetic by the end of it). Not trusting myself to give it all I've got when grinding becomes necessary, I opted for 177.5kg instead of 180kg. The weight pretty much flew up. Probably shouldn't gone 180kg after all.

I enjoy my gold medal. First time I've earned a medal for anything in my life.

4 comments:

  1. Absolutely brilliant. Something to keep hold of. Will you be going on to the next level, or was that stand alone contest rather than qualifier?
    You worked hard for it and did deservedly well.

    I won't tell you what place I came in my class but there was no metalwork awarded. In honesty don't remember the place, was middle ground somewhere.
    In the UK you got awarded a qualifier ticket to say you had achieved enough to be eligable for the next leve, which was nationals for the cometition I took part in. I got one of those, with adjusted weight of 2.3 kg to spare. Considering I matched deadlift and bench PB and my one and only 195 squat to date, I decided not to progress for fear of competing in a class where I could fail to lift minimum qualifying.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know how nationals work here, but I wasn't aiming for it, and wasn't given any notification of being qualified for it. Only mention of nationals was when I checked in my gear before lifting -- apparently if I ever compete at nationals I'll need different knee sleeves.

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  2. I used cheap gymnastics shoes instead of deadlift slippers, still do, and they weren't sure about allowing them. Had to assess if I got unfair support or anything else. They allowed them.
    Your water drop was good, 2.5kg is brilliant loss.
    Do you think you will compete again or is it time for a new challenge?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I plan on competing at least once, if not two more times later in the year. It'll depend on my study calendar (this meet happened to be 1 week out from handing in 3 assignments, which is turning out to be rather poor timing).

      Delete

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