Spezzy Aims to Even Lift a Polar Bear

[spezzy]

16 hours ago, bigm141414 said:

 

"Base level of strength" is the understatement of the year. And 2020 just started

 

 

I knoooooow. But a nerd can dream can't he? 

 

 

These days it'd have to have lots of Cs. Or we could hold one at your place and could put to use many consummate Vs! That way we could lift, we could compete, and I could play with your adorable floof of a pup! 3 birds one event!

 

I so so so wish. We're likely not staying here though - and are unsure about the new location or the timing NEXT 4LETTER

[spezzy]

Wheeeee soooo this weekend threw a wrench in things.

 

I have a bladder infection, which is about to be expected because I get at least one every year and I'm pretty sure I went all last year without one, so here we are.

 

The good news is, I get them often enough I know what they are immediately, and I have a phone doctor option so I was able to get antibiotics yesterday easily (for under $10, including the phone doctor visit, and I feel like that's the first time in a long time I've felt a big 'win' from our healthcare, haha).

 

The bad news is, antibiotics. Not just because I don't like taking things and the normal side effects of antibiotics (nausea, tired, belly aches, etc), but it's not the best idea to lift heavy while on them either. The doctor said this one SHOULD be fine, but it's a 3 day course so just going to take till at least Thursday off from heavy.

 

So a few things with that:

 

I met with my PT last week and she sent me a full new plan on Friday, so I'm going to use the time I would have spent lifting focusing on watching all of the videos and incorporating her stuff into my plan.

 

Since I need to take a few days off of heavy anyway, that means I had one heavy lifting day for this week (yesterday, before I picked up the antibiotics) - so instead of my normal lifting schedule, I decided to use yesterday as an opportunity to do a little mini mock meet thing at my gym. The goal here wasn't to full on max out, but to work up to a number I'm thinking of opening with at the meet.

 

I haven't done a full squat, bench, deadlift day in years (at least since before my last meet, in 2015) - so I have been a bit nervous about the meet because of that, not being sure how my hip is going to hold up.

 

In addition, I have two main gyms - one has brand new equipment, bars, and platforms, but no competition equipment, and the second one has competition racks and competition kg plates, but uneven platforms and the deadlift bar is seriously bent. So I normally do my powerlifting days at the gym with the new equipment, even though using the bumpers on deadlift makes it so the bar bends a bit more, making it easier off the floor.

 

So I decided to go into the gym with the competition equipment and do it there. 

 

I also did not allow ammonia or any sort of psych ups for the lifts, or to wear headphones.

 

I squatted heavy friday night, so considered skipping squats but decided that if I could hit a solid number less than 48 hours after a heavy squat session, while sick, I could hit that number any day with my eyes closed

 

I also realized that I had no food with me after squats (I was anxious to get to the gym) so that was a huge mistake. Ended up getting a gatorade and that got me through deadlifts, but barely.

 

One of my big goals for this meet, numbers wise, was to open with meet PRs. My meet PRs are 122.5, 80, 185.

 

Squats went great, and I ended up doing 125, 130, 135 (275, 286, 297)

 

Bench was harder than I'd have liked, but ended up with 85, 90, 95 (187, 198, 210)

 

Deadlifts was also harder than I'd have liked, and ended up doing 180, 190, 195 (396, 418, 430)

 

Here are videos (Idk if the swipe option will be here in the forum, but all 3 are on IG)

 

 

[mitch_dee]

I bearly (pun intended) know any of what goes into lifting heavy, but I do know I loving seeing your videos!  They are so great, you can see the push and the hard work behind getting to this point it but you make it look so easy.

7 minutes ago, spezzy said:

Squats went great, and I ended up doing 125, 130, 135 (275, 286, 297)

Bench was harder than I'd have liked, but ended up with 85, 90, 95 (187, 198, 210)

Deadlifts was also harder than I'd have liked, and ended up doing 180, 190, 195 (396, 418, 430)

Dem number's. You can literally deadlift me....holy shit!!

*swoon*

 

[bigm141414]

41 minutes ago, spezzy said:

NEXT 4LETTER

 

SPEZZY's SECRET SITE STRENGTH SHOWDOWN

 

5S!!!!! 

 

23 minutes ago, spezzy said:

Deadlifts was also harder than I'd have liked

 

You really need to have snacks on hand at all time. Embrace your inner squirrel and just start hiding them all around your car, your gym bag, maybe a secret compartment in your dead lift platform. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, bigm141414 said:

You really need to have snacks on hand at all time. Embrace your inner squirrel and just start hiding them all around your car, your gym bag, maybe a secret compartment in your dead lift platform.

[spezzy]

On 1/20/2020 at 11:07 AM, mitch_dee said:

I bearly (pun intended) know any of what goes into lifting heavy, but I do know I loving seeing your videos!  They are so great, you can see the push and the hard work behind getting to this point it but you make it look so easy.

Dem number's. You can literally deadlift me....holy shit!!

*swoon*

 

haha thank you! 

 

On 1/20/2020 at 11:20 AM, bigm141414 said:

 

SPEZZY's SECRET SITE STRENGTH SHOWDOWN

 

5S!!!!! 

 

 

You really need to have snacks on hand at all time. Embrace your inner squirrel and just start hiding them all around your car, your gym bag, maybe a secret compartment in your dead lift platform. 

 

hahah normally I do, I was just out. Time to restock!

 

On 1/20/2020 at 1:54 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

 

hahaha secret bacon compartments everywhere

[spezzy]

This week has been rough, just not feeling well still. But trained Wednesday (just did some snatch complex stuff:

 

Other than that have been focusing most energy towards work, feeling better, and Felix, so not a ton of progress on other goals. But starting to feel better and am amped to get back to the gym tomorrow!

 

[bigm141414]

4 hours ago, spezzy said:

did some snatch complex stuff

 

The only complex thing in life should be in your training program #WarriorWisdom #BarbellBuddhism #TaoOfTraining #MetConMeditations. 

 

 

I just wanted to use a lot of hashtags...

[bigm141414]

So I can't sleep and I've been mindlessly reading some old strength bookmarks I had. I clicked into this article (which in and of itself is n interesting read) which led me to what is probably the weirdest accessory I have seen: The Stallion. Since you are my go-to person for weird gym strength stuff I was wondering if you'd ever seen/heard of this one before. Definitely new to me. It looks interesting and I would totally try it if I had access to the equipment. Thoughts?

[spezzy]

On 1/26/2020 at 6:25 AM, bigm141414 said:

So I can't sleep and I've been mindlessly reading some old strength bookmarks I had. I clicked into this article (which in and of itself is n interesting read) which led me to what is probably the weirdest accessory I have seen: The Stallion. Since you are my go-to person for weird gym strength stuff I was wondering if you'd ever seen/heard of this one before. Definitely new to me. It looks interesting and I would totally try it if I had access to the equipment. Thoughts?

 

ha, I have seen it - and actually use the kneeling squat with clients a lot, just not with the safety squat bar (sometimes the band, but often just bodyweight). It's definitely good for glutes and posterior chain overall. They also can be a really easy way to teach activating glutes with a movement that is less awkward in a public gym than the hip thrust

[spezzy]

 

Alright, a bunch of big updates. 

 

Let's start with the good:

 

I AM A PERSON WHO HAS THE PERFECT PUPPER

This goal is going great, even though he is now 5 months old and is turning into a teenager. But we're rocking the goals   

 

I AM A PERSON WHO IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING

So I haven't actually worked on this goal - but I DID start a book club at work, which I'm super psyched about and am reading the first book for now.  So while I DO want to start working on this goal more this week, I would say that I haven't been NOT evolving, I've been building some systems to help myself evolve

 

I AM A PERSON WHO DOES NOT STRESS ABOUT FOOD AND ENJOYS COOKING

This has been... interesting. I have been making new recipes, but haven't been doing meal prep in the traditional sense. The other day I made a ton of veggies for prep, and I bought some chicken which I'll make tonight. So I've been kind of hodge podging it. 

 

I haven't yet found a timer/alert system I like, but I have been prioritizing eating more.  And eating when I need to take Felix out has helped, because he has to go out often, so I can ask myself "hey, do you need to eat?" every time he has to go outside. 

 

And that brings me to the last two:

I AM A PERSON WHO LOVES TO LIFT AND HAS FUN WITH IT

I AM A PERSON WHO TAKES CARE OF HERSELF

 

I talked to my PT and I am going to have to drop out of the meet at the end of February. I wasn't 100% on it anyway due to a ton of other things, and apparently I have the most resistant infection in the world, because I'm now on my second week of antibiotics because it won't go away. The one they switched me to last night has a high risk of tendon rupture or tendinopathy, so it's not worth the risk. Thankfully I can transfer my entry to another meet run by the same people, so working on that now, but it won't be until later in the year.  My PT referred to this meet as me "trying to mash my face in the dirt trying to make things work at the wrong time" and that sounds a bit accurate  

 

The good news with that, is that if I continue to train (after I'm healed, of course), I should be able to deadlift that polar bear easily at the next meet (for the record, polar bear is 501). If I had done this meet, I was aiming for 475-485, so not quite there. 

 

The other good news is that I've got my PT on my side to help me use this as an opportunity to go all in on my physical therapy work, so maaaaybe in a month or two I can walk Felix more than 15 minutes without being in pain. 

 

I can also work on starting to implement that nightly routine, because I have felt so shitty that I just haven't, at all. But hopefully these antibiotics will do the trick (they did a full panel to figure out the right ones) and I'll be back up and running fully by the end of the week

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I hope you defeat the plague this time. 

[miss_marissa]

ahhh man, hope you kick that infection soon.

 

Good to hear you can still do the meet in the future. LOL at your PTs description of trying to do a meet. 

 

What are you reading for book club?!?! Some of my friends and I are starting one and have our first meeting Sunday  

[spezzy]

On 1/29/2020 at 3:26 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I hope you defeat the plague this time. 

 

Thank you!! It's still not great but it will get better

 

 

On 1/31/2020 at 11:07 AM, miss_marissa said:

ahhh man, hope you kick that infection soon.

 

Good to hear you can still do the meet in the future. LOL at your PTs description of trying to do a meet. 

 

What are you reading for book club?!?! Some of my friends and I are starting one and have our first meeting Sunday  

 

Thanks!! One reason why I love her is she's super realistic but still encouraging and fun It helps a LOT. 

 

For book club! We're starting off with Change Maker by John Berardi and it's great so far!

[spezzy]

I MADE IT TO THE GYM YESTERDAY that was the best

 

Other than that working on getting all of my ducks in a row and feeling good. Have a massage this week so suuuuper excited about that  Self care ftw

 

[spezzy]

Okay! I've gotten in a workout Monday and Tuesday, Massage tomorrow - while weights have been low, I feel like my strength is still here which is nice. Just gotta build back, but I'm good at that, soooo it will be easy

[bigm141414]

1 hour ago, spezzy said:

Just gotta build back, but I'm good at that, soooo it will be easy

 

Just like Janet. Gettin' moar powerful every reboot cycle. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, spezzy said:

Okay! I've gotten in a workout Monday and Tuesday, Massage tomorrow - while weights have been low, I feel like my strength is still here which is nice. Just gotta build back, but I'm good at that, soooo it will be easy

Enjoy that massage. You'll build back up in no time.

[spezzy]

15 hours ago, bigm141414 said:

 

Just like Janet. Gettin' moar powerful every reboot cycle. 

 

[spezzy]

14 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Enjoy that massage. You'll build back up in no time.

 

IT WAS THE BEST

[Mike Wazowski]

Woof, that's a rough sinus infection - glad you're staying with high hopes, though!!! And glad you're able to go all in on PT for a bit, I was completely unaware that 15 minutes walking the pup was where your pain threshold was currently at.

[spezzy]

1 hour ago, Mike Wazowski said:

Woof, that's a rough sinus infection - glad you're staying with high hopes, though!!! And glad you're able to go all in on PT for a bit, I was completely unaware that 15 minutes walking the pup was where your pain threshold was currently at.

 

Yeah, I don't talk about it a lot because I have had a hard time not going down the negativity vortex once I think about it - because I'm still holding on to some anger at the car accident I was in - but I'm working through that and getting much better  

 

With my hip, I'm completely good with movements that are controlled and use all of my focus - so lifting is perfect here. I set up, I brace, I lift. Depending on the movement, I've had to change positions a bit so it doesn't irritate my hip (I have an impingement in there along with the labral tear, so it rubs in certain positions) but I've been able to find good positions for most lifts. And with the tear, I need to be lifting to keep it strong. 

But movements that are a bit less predictable - like walking, where the ground can be uneven, I'm not focused 100% on what muscles I'm using, and can get distracted - are really bad. Add in the endurance element and not being able to modify positions as easily, every step irritates it. 

So powerlifting is fun and all, but my real number one long term goal is to be able to walk and do regular every day movement without pain. So this shift really just supports that goal. And all of the work I do in PT will support getting stronger, anyway.

[miss_marissa]

funny that deadlifting 400+ lbs is easy, but walking is hard

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

4 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

funny that deadlifting 400+ lbs is easy, but walking is hard

This is why she joined the Warriors and not the Scouts.

[Harriet]

5 hours ago, spezzy said:

 

Yeah, I don't talk about it a lot because I have had a hard time not going down the negativity vortex once I think about it - because I'm still holding on to some anger at the car accident I was in - but I'm working through that and getting much better  

 

With my hip, I'm completely good with movements that are controlled and use all of my focus - so lifting is perfect here. I set up, I brace, I lift. Depending on the movement, I've had to change positions a bit so it doesn't irritate my hip (I have an impingement in there along with the labral tear, so it rubs in certain positions) but I've been able to find good positions for most lifts. And with the tear, I need to be lifting to keep it strong. 

But movements that are a bit less predictable - like walking, where the ground can be uneven, I'm not focused 100% on what muscles I'm using, and can get distracted - are really bad. Add in the endurance element and not being able to modify positions as easily, every step irritates it. 

 

Well, shirt. I never imagined you hurting so much from walking after seeing your amazing feats of strength on your videos here. I'm super envious of your lifts, but I should also remain grateful and patient that I can keep working on my own modest lifts, because it's not guaranteed, right? I'm glad you're working through the anger at the car accident. I guess it's normal to feel some grief when our abilities or freedoms or quality of life are seriously impacted by something outside our control. It's a loss, and we need to process it. Wishing you the best in recovering both physically and emotionally.