Squatting, Sculling, and the RTD Project

After deciding to compete in the USAPL meet July 31st, I realized my current cycle is of course not set up to peak at the end of July. Because of that, I've left my program behind and I'm lifting intuitively which can actually work quite well if you have enough experience to feel what your body wants to do.

Tuesday I was squatting with K.S., and it went:

45 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 3 wrist wraps on
275 x 3
315 x 1 wrist wraps and belt
345 x 1
375 x 1 wrist wraps, belt and EFS Heavies on

375 was easy, and I quit with 400 in the tank. C.H. has agreed to handle me at the meet, and he's going to be good at it. On his first try he got the knee wraps tight enough to leave bruises, and he promises to improve before the meet.

I'm not sure what I'll do next week, but I might hit a single for 395-405, or if it feels right I might single 375 with one set of chains - 375 bottom, 415 top. I'm sure I can smash 400 at the meet, but the walk-out in wraps is death-defying. 375 with chains trying to knock me over might be the way to go.

On 7/17 I'm going to try a squat cluster, probably 340 x 25 in 2's and 3's trying to keep the time under 25 minutes. After that it's just eating ultra-clean and making sure I come in at 181 pounds.

Sculling was fantastic today. On reflection, I can't say my quad is good, but we're much less amateurish than we were two or three weeks ago. I think I'm a natural born stroke, but I rowed in three today which wasn't bad, and we're thinking about putting me in bow again. As a coach/athlete, I try to shut the hell up and do what I'm told in the boat, which I can usually do, but I'm also simultaneously critiquing Coach Deb McCabe. It is amazing to watch how the right cue can transform me from a monkey to a reasonably proficient sculler. I'm trying to catch some of this coaching voodoo and use it in my own practice.

I continue to be angry on a daily basis over things that shouldn't affect me. I'm sure the long term solution is to keep reading Marcus Aurelias and associating with the fantastic people around me. Since that might take a while, a lifetime or more, I've decided to launch the RTD project. With the way my body feels, I've been thinking about an early retirement from power lifting after I squat 455 at 181, but now I want to squat 500 and do it in a sheltered RTD bus stop.

If I can do one thing before I die, I want to show people that they don't need Five Fingers, Progenix, Max Muscle, carpeted toilet seats, chrome faucets, 3-D televisions, constant hand holding, endless shit talk, and so on. Seriously, just shut up and try anything. Preferably for more than two weeks.

Of course I'm aware that things are never as bad as I tend to think they are. I taught Finn Walden to head-bang today, and that's pretty good.