Tag: CAPO
Post CAPO, GPA World 2014 Meet Write-Up
FORETHOUGHTS
My initial goal was to come in and make a run at a 2100+ total for the All-Time record but my primary goal was to win the meet. I wasn’t planning on making a run for my 2204 (10kg) total at this meet yet as I had not been able to train the deadlift heavy. This was due to a recent elbow surgery and some bicep tearing when I tried to ramp up the weights to early at 6 weeks out form the meet. So the last 6 weeks I was letting my bicep and arm fully heal and was hoping on still getting a decent enough pull in for at least the All-time record.
It began as a challenging week. With being unable to sleep on the 20hr flight to Sydney then arriving and getting settled in I ended up going 2.5 days without sleep. After one fuller, but still incomplete, night of sleep I started my water cut to the 220lb class. Interestingly I was stuck in a hard place with making this cut. If I came up a 1lb short I wouldn’t be weighing in at 221 for the meet as the 242lb class was scheduled for the following day so it would leave me having to cut 2 days in a row or just recomping and competing in the 275’s. So missing by even .2lbs would essentially move me up two weight classes and change the day I competed, and require me to change my flight plans.
WEIGHT CUT
I ended up having put some weight on this last 8 weeks since my last cut to 220. While it was only about 5lbs it was 5lbs on top of an already hard cut. I cut out fluids at 8pm on Wednesday night and let the initial water drop begin. At 6pm on Thursday night I began hitting the sauna at 15min 15min off with Sam Byrd (going for 198’s) and Brantley Thorton (going for 181’s). Brantley got sick and was out somewhere around 10pm which is when Sam and I added Sauna Suits. Sam stuck with it till about 3-4am when he realized he wasn’t going to make it.
I always find the weight cut to be a bit of a spiritual experience. Perhaps because they are so hard for me due to my inability to sweat due to my nervous system disorder. As a side note this is why I always have my shirt off in the gym to help control my body temperature due to this. Sitting there next to Brantley and Sam with sweat just pouring off them while I barely beaded up made a very visible contrast. I find it spiritual as you never really know who you are in the moment when the going gets tough and you choose to either push on or give in. It’s an opportunity to test yourself and know who you are and I find this a nice cleansing ritual before a meet. Unfortunately this cut ended up being very large and it took its toll on my performance. But I had been feeling lately that I had lost my mental edge, my mental toughness. And when it got towards the end of the cut I didn’t think I had it in me and thought I had given up. With the last sauna session at 7:45 after thinking I didn’t have it in me to finish I turned around and had the longest single session all night bringing my body temp up high enough that I kept sweating the entire drive to weigh ins.
I weighed in at 99.7kg (219.8lbs) after the all nighter. Then immediately went to eating, drinking, and then adding in training sessions for blood flow and fluid pulling once my weight was up. All I wanted to do was take a nap or go to bed early but I had to keep at it and got my weight all the way back up, but also meant getting to bed late after the 2 days of no sleep. Here is me training at an anytime fitness that day:
MEET DAY
Saturday I woke up feeling pretty good despite never having the chance to catch up on sleep. A full meet video will come out later but I’ll post up some video’s taken from the livefeed of the event for now.
Warmup ups felt solid going into squats. Judging was very strict on the lightweight day and several known lifters warned me as they came off the platform that I was going to have to sink the depth to get a squat in. I hit my first attempt deeper than normal but still got red lights to both myself and numerous top level competitors watching all thought was below. After that I decided to play it safe and repeat my opener and also just kill the depth on my squats to leave no doubt. My second attempt at 804lbs got 3 whites but I bent over coming out of the hole after going that deep and it scared me so I chose a small jump to 832 for my third attempt. My third attempt I finally hit my groove and it was a nice clean squat with plenty left in the tank.
On bench press warmups I could feel the toll the weight cut had taken on me. The bar was moving very fast but it felt heavy. My planned opener was 440lbs and I dropped it to 424lbs. I went 424 and then 460 for good lifts and missed 480lbs halfway up. If the press commands had been as fast as they were on the following heavyweight day I believe I would have still been good for 480+lbs.
I started warmups for deadlifts with my elbow mobility work for my left arm and it felt nice and mobile. Warmups progressed well with no elbow pain or grip issues. The weights felt light and barspeed was good, but I knew based on squats and bench that I wasn’t going to be at my best so I dropped my planned opener of 722 down to 705. At this point I was still hoping for 2100 if I could pull an 806+pull out for a third attempt. With my opener of 705 the I accidently pushed the bar out in front of me twice while setting up and the second time I couldn’t get it pulled back in. Instead of setting up again I went ahead and pulled it anyway. It went up fine and I was still feeling pretty optimistic at this point of hitting my goal. But my second attempt with 749 I missed locking it out, and on the third attempt I didn’t have anything left.
Despite missing these pulls I was really happy with deadlifts as I had no grip issues and no arm pain. My arm was still pushing the bar out in front of me but nowhere near what it was doing prior to my surgery a few months ago. I felt confident about being able to start training my deadlift properly again and getting my groove dialed in for a big pull in the future.
RESULTS
I finished with a 2000 total @ 220 for my 4th raw meet and my first international competition for an easy 1st place. Sam Byrd took 2nd with I believe a 1900 total. Out of all the heavy weight classes I think only a couple people out totaled or out squatted me.
POSITIVE AFTERTHOUGHTS
- The biggest piece of the meet was getting to meet and spend time with a number of top level lifters that I have only had the opportunity to interact with online. These interactions and watching them lift helped bring back my competitive fire that has been lacking this last year.
- I also had a great time interacting with my followers. Hearing first hand from so many people on the progress they have made from implementing the training and technique approaches I promote.
- I can start training the deadlift again!
Me and Ed Coan
Photo Ops
LESSONS LEARNED
- Don’t ever cut as much weight as I did again.
- Don’t combine international travel with large weight cuts.
- Make sure I’m competing on main show flight/day in the future.
- I’ve still got it.
THANKS
Huge thanks to Sam Byrd and Andrie Miclea for seeing me through my overnight weight cut. There is no way I could have pulled it off without you. Zorahgail and Matt Murrin I can’t thank the two of you enough for all your support over the week. Jessica and Brandon Lilly for your assistance with the weight cut. Amit Sapir for your diet advice heading into the meet and support that week. Team EliteFTS and USPLabs for both of your ongoing support. And of course the EPC team back home in Portland!!!
Dan Green Winner of 242’s on Right, Zahir 275 Champ in Middle, and me taking the 220’s on the Left.
Cutting Weight - Powerlifting, Strongman, Olympic Lifting
Cutting Weight - Powerlifting, Strongman, Olympic Lifting
Both powerlifting and strongman often offer 18-24hr weigh-ins prior to the start of the meet. This creates an opportunity for you to plan and manage your weight class with different objectives that cannot be realized when faced with a 2 hour weigh-in.
You may wonder why an athlete would wait to the last minute to cut weight instead of having the discipline to slowly diet down to the desired weight class over weeks or in some case months. The answer is simple: Performance. Properly managing your weight ABOVE your weight class can actually improve your performance on meet day. In this short piece I’ll detail the approach I take with the lifters that I coach.
In the slowly-dieting-down-to-a weight-class approach there are some negatives that come into play. Let’s take an athlete that’s 10-12lbs over their weight class. At two months out from competition this lifter will begin diet restrictions and slowly get down to their weight class for the meet. Unfortunately this will leave you training at a weight higher than you will be on meet day for majority of your training cycle. Of particular importance is the last 1-4 weeks when you’re finally getting close to your weight class. This is a time for 1) de-loading and 2) handling submaximal weights. These two factors combined give you a false sense of strength and don’t allow you to learn the impact of leverage changes due to weight loss. During the heavy training completed at one month out from competition you’re still quite a bit heavier than you will be on meet day. Additionally, in the last few weeks as you get close to the target weight, heavy lifts are reduced if not all together removed. You won’t get the chance to learn the balance and leverage changes at your meet day bodyweight. This approach may lead to underperforming or unrealistic meet day expectations.
Another important aspect to consider is taking advantage of the supercompensatory effects of both carbohydrate and water restrictions. A small weight cut and re-composition that can be done with an 18-24hr weigh-in can actually INCREASE performance on meet day when properly executed. The restriction period puts the body in a state of supercompensation. The body will take in and hold additional fluids and blood glucose that it wouldn’t normally retain. This is very similar to the supercompensation effect provided by weight training sessions. Typically anything over an 8lb cut isn’t going to net an increase in performance on meet day, and 5lbs for the lighter lifters. If done properly you can actually be a few pounds above your typical walking around weight on meet day after refueling and rehydrating giving the meet day performance boost.
With these factors in mind I like to see my athletes diet until they are 5-8lbs above their weight class at 4-6 weeks out from competition. This gives you the opportunity to spend several heavy weeks training at the weight you will be at on meet day. At one month out you can hit your max attempts (or close to) at your meet day weight and know exactly where you will be. Once the goal weight of 5-8lbs above your weight class is hit that weight must be sustained. If it begins dropping you need to UP your calories and keep your weight at the target.
To execute the weight cut, carbs are slowly cycled down over the last 3-4 days with zero carbs the day prior to weigh-ins. If you’re on the upper end of the weight loss spectrum, consider zero carbs two days prior. Water intake should be at 1 gallon a day the week prior to meet week with supplemented electrolytes (calcium 1000mg, magnesium 1000mg, and potassium 100mg all taken 2 times a day). Water is ramped up by ½ gallon a day to arrive at 2-2.5 gallons a day by 2 days out from weigh ins. Sodium intake is restricted to half normal daily amount at 2 days out and zero sodium the day prior to weigh-in. Water intake stays high keeping the athelete superhydrated till we cut off water at roughly 18hrs out. Timing may vary on this within a 12-24hr range based on actual weight to be cut and how the individual has responded in past. When water is cut off you should take 1500mg vitamin C, 2g of Dandelion root, and 1-2 Coors lights (or equivalent light beer) as your last fluid intake.
If any sauna time is needed, which it shouldn’t, do it at 15min on 15min off while making sure to fully dry off immediately upon exiting sauna each time. You want to be within 2lbs of your weight class when you go to bed the night before weigh ins, and this should have you at your desired weight upon waking. If your not there before bed that night then plan on sauna before bed to get to that point, or upon waking before weigh ins.
Food intake is allowed as either 4oz chicken on 2-3 occasions or a tablespoon of unsalted almond butter (or equivalent) the day prior to weighing in. Make sure the chicken has not been soaked in a salt solution is often the case.
Eat and drink all day post weigh in, forcefully pushing past state of being full. Mix in some pedialyte or Gatorade during the day and on meet day. Stay away from slow digesting heavy meals. Eat sweet and salty foods and nothing that has the potential of causing GI distress. Hitting some light training later that day after refueling and rehydrating with just a bar (I only use 1 plate) for a few 20 rep sets of Squats, Bench, Deadlifts, and Rows. This will help pull the fluids in through to your muscles and help everything fill out. NOT HEAVY, just enough to stimulate blood flow.
I do not recommend cutting more than 12lbs in this method unless you are chasing large world records or doing something very big. That’s elite level stuff that should not be ‘explored’ without an extreme understanding. I will not publish the modifications to this approach to achieve more weight loss. This is the reason I never list my actual walking around weight or my weight cut amounts in public forums.
Take this approach to the platform at your next meet. Now go out there and move some weight because… It’s time to get strong!
Chris Duffin CAPO Training Log - EliteFTS
Definitely upped my volume dramatically this week and also condensed my schedule to make room for Clinical based DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization) course from the “Prague School To Athletic Development”. The course was well worth the adjustment in schedule and cost to shore up some gaps in my knowledge and assessment ability. This was just the first 3 days with another 3 days this spring as well as an additional 2 day DNS Exercise course I have planned to take.
MONDAY
Mace Swings 3×10/side
Curls 35 x16,16,16
Bench Press
135×20
225×10
275×5
335×19… damn not 20
405×8
455×1,1
Dips
BW+180 – felt to heavy
Overhead Tricep Extension
Stack+ band x20,17,14
WEDNESDAY
Sumo Deadlift – Hook Grip
155×5
265×3
375×3
485×2
595×1
705×1 nice and easy with a holdout – tore hand due to bar rolling
add straps
771×3
(see the rest of my log here)
Chris Duffin