Road to Nationals Week 11 and a bit on how/why you get injured...

Hey all,

Below you can find my most recent training video. I wanted to show the video first so we can talk about a few things:

What you're seeing is an attempt at 96% (470) for 3.

If I REALLY wanted to, I could have gutted out that last rep... but I didn't.

I decided that if I was going to get injured (and I was well enough on that road, for sure... even after the first rep), I was going to save it for the platform next Sunday. Nobody wants to be the guy who says, "Yeah, I was going to compete, but I got injured... training."

There is a time and a place for everything, and if it isn't for a record, for a qualifying total, a medal, or a competition PR, then I don't think it's ever the time or place.

With all that being said, I've been under a lot of stress recently, and I also haven't been sleeping all that well. I've been under-eating, for sure (because that's what you need to do if you want to lose 10lbs...), and at week 11 of my training cycle, my body is finally telling me that enough is enough. Couple that with shit pulling form like you see above, and one poor decision in training could send me off the rails.

People like to poke fun at those who videotaping their training, but most of those people are either weak, stupid, insecure, or a healthy combination of all 3.

We don't film our lifts because they look cool. We film our lifts for healthy analysis. What did I do right? What did I do wrong? If you watch the clip above, I did plenty wrong. Luckily, I know how to fix it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to fix it in a week's time, so it's going to be a battle I have to fight after I take a few weeks off from the meet and get back into a program. Think about that. I'm looking at something right now that I may not have the time to fix until mid-February. But, alas, that's the discipline.

At the end of the day, though, if you don't reflect on these things pretty frequently, you're never going to get as strong as you could (should?) be.

Take Aways: 

• If you aren't sleeping, you aren't recovering (get off of your phone while you're in bed, people... unless you want to die young... ). 
• If you are putting yourself in a caloric deficit, it's going to be difficult to get strong, stay strong, and stay healthy if you are training at near-maximal loads often (Off season, you should be fine. But in-season, you can't eat like a bodybuilder and train like a powerlifter. Where bodybuilders are often at their weakest when they step on the stage for a show, a powerlifter needs to be at their strongest). 
• It's NEVER okay to break form. However, sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do in order to make that number. Don't be "that guy," who has more training injuries than he has competition attempts. 
• Film yourself and break down your attempts in an attempt to get better. Throwers (shot put/discuss/javelin/weight/hammer) do it ALL the time for good reason. You should be doing it as well. If you don't know where your shoulders should be at the point the barbell breaks from the ground in the deadlift, there's a problem. If you don't know what "below parallel" feels like, there's a problem. If you don't know whether or not your heel rocks up off the floor while you're bench-pressing (it shouldn't), there's a problem. 

I know there are a few meets coming up in the tri-state area over the next few weeks, so for those who are competing, good luck! For those of you who aren't competing but would like to start and have a few questions, shoot me a message, and for those of you who have never put a barbell in your hands but are toying with the idea of starting, I'd love to be a part of your journey, so hit me up. 

All best,
C