The By Product

I have been doing some research on strength, muscles, atrophy (when your muscles lose strenght) and hypertrophy (when your muscles increase in volume). Mario was talking to me the other day and he mentioned something about muscle atrophy and since I didn’t know much about it I decided to google it, which led me to hypertrophy. Today I was talking to Coach about training and he said he wanted to work on hypertrophy with me because I am light in my weight class and he wants to build some lean muscle. Now am I going to look like the guy above? No, there is a relationship between size and height. I’m not tall so I have a limit to how big I want to be and still be useful. I found this article that really breaks down some of the misconceptions of my sport and building muscle. It also has a lot of good info on hypertrophy and training. Check it out on www.tmuscle.com Here is a portion of it:

Tate Talks Hypertrophy, Part I
An Interview with Dave Tate
by Chris Shugart

“There’s no doubt that Dave Tate knows strength. He’s squatted 935, benched 610, and pulled 740 pounds off the floor. There’s also no doubt that Dave knows how to get big and manipulate his body comp. He’s obtained elite status in four different powerlifting weight classes and he even competed in bodybuilding back in college.

The problem is, no one ever talks to Dave about hypertrophy and bodybuilding. Let’s end that right now. T-Nation sat down recently with him to discuss hypertrophy, bodybuilding, hardcore warehouse gyms, and much more.
Testosterone Nation: Dave, when I first started watching EliteFTS powerlifting videos, I was surprised by how often the term hypertrophy came up. Why is hypertrophy important from a powerlifting point of view?

Dave Tate: Well, you can’t flex bone. When a person wants to get into powerlifting training, a lot of the times hypertrophy is going to be a side effect of the training. A powerlifter needs that mass for several reasons.

There’s always a height to weight ratio when it comes to strength. Regardless of what anyone says, if you’re 6′ 2″ and weigh 165 pounds, you might pull okay but you’re not going to squat worth a shit. You don’t have the thickness or the torso. I’m not saying you have to have a fat torso, but a light lifter like that won’t have the torso support for leverage.

So in that case you need to take that lifter and build him up, and you’re not necessarily going to build anyone up doing dynamic work or max effort work. It still comes down to the three ways to induce muscle tension: the repetition method, the max effort method, and the dynamic method.

Where the miscommunication comes in is when the beginners place all their focus on the max effort and the dynamic methods. They don’t understand the application of the repetition method. From a powerlifter’s standpoint, a bigger muscle is going to be a stronger muscle. While that’s not always the case, it is part of the equation.

It has to be useable mass or relative mass. You don’t want to send somebody into a weight class heavier if they’re just going to be weaker and have bigger muscles. It’s just going to be counterproductive.”

Read Full Article here.

Sorry its been so long. After the CA State Games I took a little break and went back East for some family stuff and then came back to the gym. My first day back my coach “Turns up the Volume!” on me! This is a new one for me. Heavy sets of 12/10/8/6. Its kinda hard to get back into it but I do like the way I feel after doing 12 in a row. Im looking forward to building more strength and my next competition.

So here is the good stuff. At the CA St Games I broke 4 state records so now I am currently the state record holder for Raw Back Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and Powerlifting Total in the 165lb weight class. Woohoo!! Now the next meet I have on the agenda is a practice meet in Sept and then CA USAPL regional meet in November where I am going to go for 2 American records one in the Back Squat and the other in the Deadlift. Im pretty close now so I think its doable.

Do it!!!

I had my first competition yesterday at the 2010 CA State Games in San Diego. Each lift has 3 judges and each judge had a white light for a good lift or a red light for a bad lift. The best 2 out of 3 goes. So a perfect lift is 3 white lights. Out of all my lifts I got all white lights for a perfect meet!!!

In the 165lb weight class I placed first and brought home the Gold metal. They haven’t posted all the results yet but I do know I had the best back squat overall. I PR’d on the back squat and the deadlift. And I reached my goal of doing over 700lb total with a 704lb finish.

This is me and Mario Pacione who also won the gold and is one bad motha! He did a 600lb squat, 540lb bench and a 661lb deadlift BUH BAAM!

I open with a 235lb squat, my last one was a new PR (personal record) for me but I felt as though I could have done more. But really happy with this finish.

On the bench I opened really low at 121lbs because you have to hold the bar in the bottom of the lift and I didn’t want to risk the lift going too heavy.

And last but certainly not least my favorite lift the deadlift. I opened at 286lbs and made my goal of over 300 ending with a 308lb deadlift that I am super proud of! that is 2 times body weight!

I am so very happy with my results and even more happy that everyone was there to support me!! Jeff – thank you fe being at the meet in the morning before I even got there to make sure everything went smoothly and I was ready to go. Thank you to Coach Max who left his entire Oly team at the meet to come support me. And thanks to my teammates Big Mike and Nate for your cheering and video skills. Special thanks to Mom for supporting and the Baker family who always have my back.

This video really touched me for so many reasons. Mostly it touched me because the passion and feelings that she has for what she does, I also have for what I do. I have to say that most days, driving to the gym to lift brings me more peace than all the other things I do that day.

I think its kinda funny how I found out about Lisa and her dream. My boss and I are the same age and we work pretty closely together so we have gotten to know each other. I talk to her about my training and what I do. Recently I was talking about how sometimes people don’t really understand why I lift weights and its not always received very well by some. So a couple nights ago she sent me a link to a video of Lisa on Yahoo of Lisa and I was so inspired I had to get more of the story so I googled her and got the video above. BUT she trained at Coach B’s gym with Sage! Thats where I learned how to do Olympic Lifting and I trained with one of Coach B’s trainers Ashley! How cool is that!! Weightlifting is such a small world. Coach B’s son and daughter in-law are at the Olympic Training Facility in CO right now training for the Olympics!

A lot of times we get caught up in the day to day grind, our responsibilities and just stuff…..and we forget to dream and set goals. I’ve always been that person that had to have the next step planned or I would have no purpose. Nothing to look forward to, nothing to be putting all my efforts toward. My new dreams of setting records and achieving all my goals with powerlifting have given me passion and a whole new purpose.

What are your dreams?

Now I have learned that 3 weeks before a meet is “Hell Week”. We are working out 3 days a week which normally would be a break. But no we are doing all three lifts, heavy, all three days. By the second day Big Mike and I could hardly move after, we were so tired and sore. We are used to doing all those lifts heavy only one day a week so it was a big step. I actually loved feeling tired and sore. Since we have been working out really steady its not too often that I get sore now with these slow progressions.

So on Sat I set my openers which will be my 3 rep max. This week we are still on 3 days and all three lifts but I am staying at my openers and just getting those done. I still feel tired and the bar feels heavy off and on during my lifts but overall I am really happy with the weight I am putting up and I am confident I will hit my 700lb goal.

As far as meet prep goes, I have all my gear. I am making a list of things I shouldn’t forget:

foam roller

chalk

handy wipes

my converse in case they don’t let me wear my lifting shoes

knee high socks that are required for deadlift so you don’t get blood on the bar when you drag it up your leg

:::more stuff to add as time gets closer.

On a sad note, the rest of my team didn’t get signed up in time and missed the cutoff. So now I am the only one lifting from the team. I hope they come to cheer me on tho. There are 4 girls in my class so I am happy there will be competition! Wish I could settle down the nerves……

My singlet is finally here! Thank God because it was getting close to meet time and I was thinking I was going to be in just a weight belt. ooooh!

At first glance I thought “wow those are some daisy dukes!” but when I put it on it wasn’t so bad. I also thought I would look like a super model but come to find out, I don’t.

I think it needs a built in girdle but I guess my belt will cover up my problem area.

It needs a big “Punky” across the but like my motorcycle race pants, then I will feel better.

Good stuff this weekend. First it started at Crossfit 714 with the Crossfit Football Certification. Big Mike and I were invited by our coach to come lift with the group. After listening to some good lecture from my favorite “King of Pain” Rolf (I think thats how he spells it?) we started on some back squat, did some dead lift and then benched. Mike and I both were jazzed to lift in front of people and we both put up some big weight. Our couch thought it would be good to be around a lot of people while lifting for the experience and he was right. I think it was good for us. They had a lot of good info at the football cert. I think I might want to do one someday, I highly recommend it.

 Sunday the Mens Powerlifting Nationals was going on in Palm Springs so I thought I would go check it out. I really wanted to see how things worked so I knew what I would be working with at my first meet. On a side note my mom decided to go cause she has a friend there she could visit while I am watching the comp. On a side side note my mom HATES weightlifting and especially the fact that I am doing it. ok I get there and go in and the first thing is I am greeted by this very cute little “older” lady who charges me $5 to get in. We start talking and I was asking questions, come to find out she is Deb Hairston world record holder for Masters Bench just 2 years ago in Germany!!! AND she started powerlifting when she was 48, and now is a full time coach in PA. Super nice lady. I kept thinking that I wish my mom could meet her and see how she is normal and a powerlifter. I sat down and met some other really nice people from Mississippi (I just love typing that name!) anyway their son was lifting that day and they had a teammate that lifted the day before watching with them. It was great, they filled me in on all the rules and how the  process goes. They answered all my crazy questions and did I mention how nice they were and with their accents and all.

My mom calls to say she is done with her friend and will come watch with me. When she got there I had to give her a little talking to in the lobby, went like this: “Now mom these are the SUPER HEAVY WEIGHT class. These guys are big because they are tall. I wont look this big because I am short. I will stay the same size I am now.” Followed by a “Please don’t say anything negative out loud or embarrass me.”  I have to give her credit, she did well. She only said “I just don’t understand why you would want to lift that much for no reason, its not feminine.” She watched like a trooper and now when she goes to my meet she will have that initial shock out of the way.

Regardless I thought the competition was AMAZING and I am so excited for my first meet. I just want to have fun and make my team and coach proud. I do have a summary of observations from the meet:

• Everyone was sniffing smelling salt before they went on the platform. You should try it sometime, its aweful but I guess it gets them all ampted up. Not sure how I feel about that.
• the judges were tough and can ruin your day.
• You don’t want to have too high of an opening weight cause if you miss all 3 you have lost the whole meet. Some guys came out and bombed the Back Squat which is the first lift. They miss all 3 and they just had a very expensive trip to Palm Springs to wear a leotard in public and hang out in a convention center.
• Apparently if you beat the crap out of yourself and have others participate in the beating, not only is it legal but you lift better as a result.
• Yelling crazy loud things can also help lift.
• My favorite was the guy who pounded his head into the bar and scraped the nerling (sp?) over his head as he passed under the bar. Hence the bald path down his head.
• last but not least, when the guys set up the rack for the next lifter it is like a car coming in to pit at a Nascar race. There are like 6 guys changing weight, the height of the rack, the angle of the rack arms, putting on the end pieces and then a guy who evens the bar out. It was a site to see.

Please God don’t let me pee or throw up on the platform…….or anything else in those categories. ::::knock on wood:::::

I had no idea when I got to the gym today that I was going to become super human. Well super human for me at least. Today was heavy bench day. I have been making steady gains on the bench but nothing out of the ordinary. The weight is usually heavy and I have been struggling a little with the elbows down form and keeping the bar away from my head. I even struggled a little last week. But came in tonight slapped on 2 45lb plate and did 3 sets of 3 like I had been doing it every week. I feel great and I am so happy to see progress in my weakest lift. I dream of benching 200lbs!!!

On the diet side of things, I am staying pretty on task with all the food I have to eat and keeping the calories down to 1700 ish. I am changing the time I eat my afternoon snack so that it gives me more energy and blood circulation for my evening work out. Instead of having it at 3 I am eating it just after 5 for my 6pm work out. I am not as concerned about being thin anymore because I am more into being healthy and lifting healthy. I still have 10lbs left to max out in my weight class and I am comfortable there. As long as the weight keeps going up then I am good!!! And tonight I am really good!!!

I want to give a little shout out to my partner “Big Mike”! He is a total power house and when he puts weight on the bar bends!! Keep it up buddy, lets lift some heavy weight and if you want to grease up and wear shiny spandex I will still be your partner. (but I will get it all on tape!) :::::knuckles::::::

Laura Phelps the first female Powerlifter to ever lift 10 times her body weight. To put that in perspective I lift maybe 5 times.

I love this article Critical Bench posted. its a great read especially the question they ask her “Critical Bench: What has been your craziest, funniest, favorite, and most emotional moments in powerlifting?” Its good to know even the best have their moments!

http://www.criticalbench.com/Laura-Phelps.htm

Mondays and Tuesdays are my heavy days. It’s the days I move up in weight (hopefully). The other 2 days of the week we do some tempo work and dragging the sled around which most of you know if you have been following along.

So today I am going to go over my records this week.

Back Squat – 3 sets of 3 at 231lbs. Looking back into the history books the last recorded one rep max I did was 235lbs and before I did that I completed a work set at 210lbs. So in 18 weeks I have put over 20lbs on my work sets. Im hoping I am close to 250lbs on a 1 rep max.

Deadlift - set of 3 at 277lbs. Last week I lifted 297lbs on a 1 rep max after doing a ton of work sets so I am pretty sure I can pull over 300lbs. My last 1 rep max was 285lbs. Thats over a 15lb increase.

Bench press – 3 sets of 3 at 132lbs. My last 1 rep max was 235lbs, biggest work set before was 120lbs. 12lb increase.

THE GOALS: So of course I have some goals in mind for the competition in July. I think they are pretty reasonable I think.

Back squat – 250lbs

Deadlift - 310lbs

Bench – 150lbs

My total will be 710lbs. My long-term goal is to qualify for nationals next year and I need to lift a total of 765lbs for that.

It’s always good to have goals. It’s even better to break records. But as you know it doesn’t come without a lot of hard work, messed up diets and probably some tears, oh and can’t forget the embarrassing moments!