Hyde’s Strength Odyssey

Hyde said:
3-4 weeks with no spinal compression or shear loading, trying to avoid barbell work, is probably in order. Try to stick to machines and unilateral db work, restore some GPP, mentally & physically decompress.
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I always loved a bodybuilder style transition from time to time because it feels like such a lazy day in the gym vs hard strength training or hard conditioning like when I was competing. about the time it gets boring for you, you'll be 3-4 weeks deep and ready to hit the barbell hard again.
 
Dustin07 said:
I always loved a bodybuilder style transition from time to time because it feels like such a lazy day in the gym vs hard strength training or hard conditioning like when I was competing. about the time it gets boring for you, you'll be 3-4 weeks deep and ready to hit the barbell hard again.
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Yeah and it’s not like I’m trying to grow a bunch of muscle either; this is just a phase to rest mentally. I will still go to the gym, but it’s more about maintenance of habit, muscle, & wellness than training. I don’t have to hit any particular numbers or need to focus so much on preparation or recovery.

I am traveling to 3 different states over the next 3.5 weeks for work, a wedding, and my wife’s competing. Last thing I care about right now is what I lift.
 
10/11/23

Miniband Pullaparts 3x25
Dislocations, Presses

DB Bench
25,35,45,55,65,75,85,95,105x15

HS Widegrip Incline Press
45 2x15

Went into the gym today to just shoot the ****, talk about the meet, & pump a little blood. Longtime friend/old training partner stopped by to catch up. Nobody did anything interesting but we all had a good time & some laughs.

Fasted until 12:30 the previous 2 days, eating 3 meals over about 9 hours.
 
Great plan, and enjoy your downtime. The ass busting is just around the corner...
 
Soon as I got home from gymnastics with my son last night, we had to move our 54” tall steel loading wall, drop platforms (layered plywood & horse stallmat), and our 193lb stone shaped like a shield from the garage into a truck bed. Then we drove it over to the gym my wife has been training her strongman events at & moved it all in.

This was definitely more of a workout than the morning session! That stone wall is a tank.
 
This is precisely what I took over the last 5 months, in conjunction with escalating diet of course, to grow from ~234 to 267lbs & perform the lifts I did. I have been using steroids for most of the last 12 years. My doses are not representative of what anyone else does or should do, or any indication of how big or strong anyone else can be on any amount of gear. This is just a look under the hood to help show what went into this for me:

Wk, Weekly Dose, Compound Key
t=test e, m=mast e, d=dhb, n=npp, tr=trest a, a=adrol, tp=test p, db=dbol, mt=mtren

1 300 t, 200 m
2 300 t, 200 m
3 300 t, 200 m
4 300 t, 200 m, 50 d
5 300 t, 200 m, 50 d
6 300 t, 200 m, 70 d
7 300 t, 200 m, 80 d
8 300 t, 200 m, 100 d
9 300 t, 200 m, 100 d
10 300 t, 200 m, 100 d, 50 n
11 360 t, 220 m, 120 d
12 330 t, 280 m, 120 d
13 330 t, 300 m, 120 d
14 360 t, 320 m, 120 d
15 300 t, 400 m, 120 d, 50 tr
16 300 t, 400 m, 120 d, 80 tr, 100 n
17 600 t, 560 m, 120 d, 400 a
18 600 t, 580 m, 110 d, 300 a
19 600 t, 580 m, 110 d, 50 a
20 300 t, 220 m, 90 d, 350 a, 75 tp
Meet 25 db, 1.5 mt

You can see the first 9 weeks are at 5-600 total mg. Then things climb modestly the next 7 weeks, averaging between 700-800mg. Almost all of the size and most of the general strength is built over this 4 months of work.

But the final month in the peaking/realization phase of training there is a pronounced spike in total androgen load, loading up 6cc per week as well as a stretch of 12 days of Anadrol while taking the heaviest lifts in training. Then a week off the Anadrol, then the final week only the first weekly long ester shot is taken, the Anadrol came back in 8 days out, and a little shot of test prop is administered day before comp to top things off. Dbol is taken on meet day for the good vibes, and Mtren for the extra spark & positive aggression.
 
Great post with the cycle layout. It is good to see it all laid out and explained.
 
Dustin07 said:
any new stretch marks with that speed in weight gain? that was over what, like 5-6 months?
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So if you look back closer again, you will see the entire blast was 20 weeks, about 5 months, but I mention at the end virtually all of the size was accrued the first 16 weeks/4 months on the lower doses. The last month was mainly about maintaining leverages while supercharging the nervous system.

No new stretch marks I’ve noticed - I have previously gotten up to ~120kg/265lbs 2 other times.
 
Hyde said:
This is precisely what I took over the last 5 months, in conjunction with escalating diet of course, to grow from ~234 to 267lbs & perform the lifts I did. I have been using steroids for most of the last 12 years. My doses are not representative of what anyone else does or should do, or any indication of how big or strong anyone else can be on any amount of gear. This is just a look under the hood to help show what went into this for me:

Wk, Weekly Dose, Compound Key
t=test e, m=mast e, d=dhb, n=npp, tr=trest a, a=adrol, tp=test p, db=dbol, mt=mtren

1 300 t, 200 m
2 300 t, 200 m
3 300 t, 200 m
4 300 t, 200 m, 50 d
5 300 t, 200 m, 50 d
6 300 t, 200 m, 70 d
7 300 t, 200 m, 80 d
8 300 t, 200 m, 100 d
9 300 t, 200 m, 100 d
10 300 t, 200 m, 100 d, 50 n
11 360 t, 220 m, 120 d
12 330 t, 280 m, 120 d
13 330 t, 300 m, 120 d
14 360 t, 320 m, 120 d
15 300 t, 400 m, 120 d, 50 tr
16 300 t, 400 m, 120 d, 80 tr, 100 n
17 600 t, 560 m, 120 d, 400 a
18 600 t, 580 m, 110 d, 300 a
19 600 t, 580 m, 110 d, 50 a
20 300 t, 220 m, 90 d, 350 a, 75 tp
Meet 25 db, 1.5 mt

You can see the first 9 weeks are at 5-600 total mg. Then things climb modestly the next 7 weeks, averaging between 700-800mg. Almost all of the size and most of the general strength is built over this 4 months of work.

But the final month in the peaking/realization phase of training there is a pronounced spike in total androgen load, loading up 6cc per week as well as a stretch of 12 days of Anadrol while taking the heaviest lifts in training. Then a week off the Anadrol, then the final week only the first weekly long ester shot is taken, the Anadrol came back in 8 days out, and a little shot of test prop is administered day before comp to top things off. Dbol is taken on meet day for the good vibes, and Mtren for the extra spark & positive aggression.
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It’s good to see your cycle, but honestly that’s not a crazy cycle at all and makes a lot of sense. The doses are really reasonable, and you really didn’t hit the high dose category until week 17. But those calories that fueled that growth and strength I bet were all together on a different level, and the amount of tonnage of lbs you moved in training was that impressive work that brought home first place. Definitely a good call to take it easy the next 4 weeks. Of course, like Dustin said, not too many of us are gonna call 105s x 15 light on DB bench. But hey, now we’re ready to cheer for Mrs. Hyde in her next competition.💪🏆
 
Hyde said:
So if you look back closer again, you will see the entire blast was 20 weeks, about 5 months, but I mention at the end virtually all of the size was accrued the first 16 weeks/4 months on the lower doses. The last month was mainly about maintaining leverages while supercharging the nervous system.

No new stretch marks I’ve noticed - I have previously gotten up to ~120kg/265lbs 2 other times.
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In my head I keep visualizing you at that 218 weigh in you have, but I suppose that's probably not accurate since you were dehydrated and whatnot at 218, your walking weight was like 6-10lbs heavier than that in actuality right? 4 months is a fast rate of growth though no matter what, especially considering how you carried it.

Hyde said:
I have previously gotten up to ~120kg/265lbs 2 other times.
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gphagan1 said:
It’s good to see your cycle, but honestly that’s not a crazy cycle at all and makes a lot of sense. The doses are really reasonable, and you really didn’t hit the high dose category until week 17. But those calories that fueled that growth and strength I bet were all together on a different level, and the amount of tonnage of lbs you moved in training was that impressive work that brought home first place. Definitely a good call to take it easy the next 4 weeks. Of course, like Dustin said, not too many of us are gonna call 105s x 15 light on DB bench. But hey, now we’re ready to cheer for Mrs. Hyde in her next competition
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still kinda mind blowing how well he carried that weight too well built rhino physique
 
I just realized I posted from my old account that has like 2 posts lol. You were probably wondering who the hell that was lol.

My apologies for that.

It's awesome to see all your hard work come to fruition on your meet day. I'm sure that was one of the best feelings for you given the amount of work you put in.
 
Resolve10 said:
I don't know much about these kinds of things, but what I do know is I can appreciate the level of thought that goes into planning something out well. :)
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I believe the PEDs ultimately need to be like food, and programming decisions: reactive. The only thing set in stone was that it needs to be progressive.

So I want to note that this was NOT plotted out in advance, just a record of how it shook out. Things were incrementally adjusted based on lots of feedback (body composition, weight gain, training performance, perceived recovery, side effects, etc).

Dustin07 said:
In my head I keep visualizing you at that 218 weigh in you have, but I suppose that's probably not accurate since you were dehydrated and whatnot at 218, your walking weight was like 6-10lbs heavier than that in actuality right? 4 months is a fast rate of growth though no matter what, especially considering how you carried it.
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I got down to a true 223 before starting the water cut, probably from a whoosh effect of holding cals down then having Burger King. So ~5-7lbs.

Then I think I gained about 10lbs over the next 8 weeks or so doing a lot of hypertrophy work while cruising & adding an extra small meal back in daily. My body was just ready to grow after cutting, plus the new training stimulus. I used like 150 test/wk and Anabolic XT, then after that test went to 210/wk. Food and training got me back to 235 with great ease.

Anthony_ said:
I just realized I posted from my old account that has like 2 posts lol. You were probably wondering who the hell that was lol.

My apologies for that.

It's awesome to see all your hard work come to fruition on your meet day. I'm sure that was one of the best feelings for you given the amount of work you put in.
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No worries; it was indeed a great & satisfying day. There is so much of prep that is not enjoyable, but overall it always feels worth it. I still love competing in powerlifting, the actual meet, as much as ever.
 
Hyde said:
I believe the PEDs ultimately need to be like food, and programming decisions: reactive. The only thing set in stone was that it needs to be progressive.

So I want to note that this was NOT plotted out in advance, just a record of how it shook out. Things were incrementally adjusted based on lots of feedback (body composition, weight gain, training performance, perceived recovery, side effects, etc).



I got down to a true 223 before starting the water cut, probably from a whoosh effect of holding cals down then having Burger King. So ~5-7lbs.

Then I think I gained about 10lbs over the next 8 weeks or so doing a lot of hypertrophy work while cruising & adding an extra small meal back in daily. My body was just ready to grow after cutting, plus the new training stimulus. I used like 150 test/wk and Anabolic XT, then after that test went to 210/wk. Food and training got me back to 235 with great ease.



No worries; it was indeed a great & satisfying day. There is so much of prep that is not enjoyable, but overall it always feels worth it. I still love competing in powerlifting, the actual meet, as much as ever.
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More people truly should understand that starting lower with anabolics and progressively working your way up, only when your body dictates is not only smarter, but overall the body responds better to gradual increases which gives better results, helps keep sides down, and your not wasting gear. So many people tend to think anabolics makes things easy, and they want it to take just a few weeks. They don’t like the truth that it’s the food, training, and hard work over time that gives results, and the anabolics just enhance all those good habits.
 
gphagan1 said:
More people truly should understand that starting lower with anabolics and progressively working your way up, only when your body dictates is not only smarter, but overall the body responds better to gradual increases which gives better results, helps keep sides down, and your not wasting gear.
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Hyde said:
So I want to note that this was NOT plotted out in advance, just a record of how it shook out. Things were incrementally adjusted based on lots of feedback (body composition, weight gain, training performance, perceived recovery, side effects, etc).
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that makes sense 100%
 
Agreed, I will be hanging at my current dose the rest of the month at a minimum then start increasing.
 
@Hyde What ancillaries, if any, did you use? Hcg, ai, cialis, telmisartan, ezitimibe etc? Also congratulations on the meet, definitely inspiring.
 
Mr Green said:
@Hyde What ancillaries, if any, did you use? Hcg, ai, cialis, telmisartan, ezitimibe etc? Also congratulations on the meet, definitely inspiring.
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Thank you sir!

Been using 5mg Ezetimibe daily the entire prep, as my bloodwork prior indicated my LDL was still over 100 - gaining weight & adding AAS both will generally hurt your LDL based on individual response.

I also needed to add Telmisartan at 80mg the last 5 weeks or so - as soon as I tried to add Trest in things jumped up unacceptably.

Took 12.5mg Exemestane just a few times while trying to introduce the Trest or NPP, but once dropping those back out the Masteron & DHB keeps the test well-balanced with just some DIM, 200mg, daily.

Some relevant supplements IMO were:
Nattokinase, Astragalus, Fish Oil, Magnesium Glycinate, Pine Bark Extract, SNS Cardiovascular Support XT, CEL TUDCA, SNS Curcumin, Ubiquinol, Zinc Piccolinate, B50 Active Complex, Creatine HCL, Collagen Peptides, Citicoline, Inj Carnitine, DIM
 
10/13/23
BW 261.6

KB Suitcase Carries
KB One-leg Deadlift

Step-ups
BW,35,53x12

Beltsquat Boxsquat
90,180x10
270 3x10

ss w/ NG Widegrip Pulldown
60,90,120x15
150x11+5+2 rest pause

Reverse Hyper
180,270x25

Intermittent fasted 3 days out of last 5, avoiding sugar besides fruit, and sticking to mainly quality foods. Once my fast is broken, if I’m hungry I eat. Got my weight down 5lbs in 5 days.

Also, started 10mg GW daily as of yesterday. Plan is to run the 60 cap bottle out to help clean up the lipids faster, start using glucose better while I get my weight down, help get GPP up.
 
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As usual a great recovery plan and reasons for everything you take the time to do.
 
10/16/23

Widegrip Lat Pulldown
45,90,120x15
150x15 + 7 + 5 rp

Underhand Seated Low Cable Row
60,90x15
120 + 5 + 4 rp

ss w/ Back-supported Hanging Leg Raises
2x15

DB CSR
45,50x20

ss w/ DB Lateral Raises
15,20,25x20

DB Rear Delt Raises
25 2x12

At a work conference Sun-Thurs in San Diego, resort right on the bay/beach. Got a good sweaty accessory session in about 40 minutes or so before breakfast at the resort gym; gave the sausage, eggs & fruit somewhere proper to go.

Hoping to hike out to the beach tomorrow morning, maybe take a cold swim before breakfast.
 
Hyde said:
10/16/23

Widegrip Lat Pulldown
45,90,120x15
150x15 + 7 + 5 rp

Underhand Seated Low Cable Row
60,90x15
120 + 5 + 4 rp

ss w/ Back-supported Hanging Leg Raises
2x15

DB CSR
45,50x20

ss w/ DB Lateral Raises
15,20,25x20

DB Rear Delt Raises
25 2x12

At a work conference Sun-Thurs in San Diego, resort right on the bay/beach. Got a good sweaty accessory session in about 40 minutes or so before breakfast at the resort gym; gave the sausage, eggs & fruit somewhere proper to go.

Hoping to hike out to the beach tomorrow morning, maybe take a cold swim before breakfast.
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Cool, that’s a good place for a work conference.👍
 
Spent about an hour total this morning before breakfast walking to/from the beach & swimming in the Pacific. Not cold like the fjords of Norway, but nobody else was in the water without a wetsuit! Not sunny this morning, but the ocean was bracing and wonderful. A great experience for start the day.


Foggy shot of the bay side
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Underpass to the beach
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Pacific
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looks like home, just different trees 😅

Hyde said:
Not cold like the fjords of Norway, but nobody else was in the water without a wetsuit!
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to be fair, you are a bit south... if you wanna do a polar bear cold plunge you're always welcome up here in the PNW lol. My lips went numb during my dive test and I had to use my teeth to hold my regulator at 45ft under 😅
 
Dustin07 said:
looks like home, just different trees



to be fair, you are a bit south... if you wanna do a polar bear cold plunge you're always welcome up here in the PNW lol. My lips went numb during my dive test and I had to use my teeth to hold my regulator at 45ft under
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Lol no no, definitely not up for a real challenge like that! This was quite comfortable once I adjusted, no shivering. Probably was out in it for ~25 minutes. Something about the ocean is so calming to me, even if the waves are slapping.
 
Hyde said:
Lol no no, definitely not up for a real challenge like that!
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haha, me neither. After I did the classes, pool classes, then open water certification I went diving only 1 or 2 more times and was never motivated to jump in the cold water again 😅
 
Water and nature calms me too. Tobacco, not so much... ZOOOM ZOOOOOM ZOOOM Nicotine be hitting like body blows from Rocky! The occasional cigar is a fun addition for sure.
 
Hyde said:
Lol no no, definitely not up for a real challenge like that! This was quite comfortable once I adjusted, no shivering. Probably was out in it for ~25 minutes. Something about the ocean is so calming to me, even if the waves are slapping.
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Agreed. We are about 1 hour away and sometimes do the drive just to sit for like an hour watching the ocean. For me seems to wash away all the bs in life just for the brief period.
 
Went to Virginia Beach like 3 years ago, was around this time of year. Place was a ghost town we ate awesome food right on the beach then laid out by the water and stayed out until like 3 am just looking at the stars and listening to the ocean. Was pretty awesome and was probably one of are most memorable trips.
 
Two of the best sounds in the world
1. the lapping waves of the ocean at night
2. the absolute silence of the woods when deer hunting miles and miles away from civilization.
 
10/20/23
BW 256.6

DB Bench
25,50,80,100x15
110x12
120x9

Plate-loaded Incline Machine
45/side x15
70x12
80x9

Seated NG DB Press
30 2-3x15

Back from San Diego. Spent all day traveling yesterday on low sleep, fasted til 5:30pm. Kept my eating pretty tight at the conference and a good amount of walking; stayed busy. I’ve managed to drop 10lbs in 12 days.

BP was down to 122/78, pulse 60 this morning. Still on 40mg Telmisartan, 17 days since last long ester shot.

With the wife getting ready for America’s in a couple weeks, and my travel invading on her training slightly, had to knock this out very quickly on my lunch break. Easy peasy!
 
Dustin07 said:
Three of the best sounds in the world
1. A big booty Latina calling you papi while you make her legs shake uncontrollably
2. the lapping waves of the ocean at night
3. the absolute silence of the woods when deer hunting miles and miles away from civilization.
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Fixed that for you.
 
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Things have been busy! Back from a wedding trip this weekend; I was the best man. Been feeling kind of sick since San Diego so I didn’t try to train early Saturday morning before we had to leave. Had a sore throat a couple days now.

Wedding went well & I am down to 254.0 - 13lbs down in 15 days.

Lower body tomorrow morning.
 
Hyde said:
Things have been busy! Back from a wedding trip this weekend; I was the best man. Been feeling kind of sick since San Diego so I didn’t try to train early Saturday morning before we had to leave. Had a sore throat a couple days now.

Wedding went well & I am down to 254.0 - 13lbs down in 15 days.

Lower body tomorrow morning.
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You had a wedding too? Last weekend, I was a groomsman and my wife was a bridesmaid. One of my coworkers apparently had a wedding that same weekend. And when I dropped my son off with his mom, there was a wedding happening at their place.

Apparently, the back half of October is the time to get married.
 
Jeremyk1 said:
You had a wedding too? Last weekend, I was a groomsman and my wife was a bridesmaid. One of my coworkers apparently had a wedding that same weekend. And when I dropped my son off with his mom, there was a wedding happening at their place.

Apparently, the back half of October is the time to get married.
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Yeah it’s been pretty nice weather too overall.

I forgot to mention, we got to take my son to the St Louis Zoo Saturday afternoon for a couple hours before the rehearsal dinner - it was 73* and sunny & it was like the last hurrah before the cold months start.

My boy was more hyped about all the Halloween decorations than the animals, but he still went ballistic watching them feed the sea lions! Good times

Dustin07 said:
hopefully that's the worst of it and it passes quickly for you, getting into that cruddy time of year
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Yeah I don’t even care for myself, best time in the training year to get sick for me, but we go to Orlando next Wednesday for my wife to compete at the Olympia so I do not want to impact her negatively at this point!
 
Hyde said:
Yeah it’s been pretty nice weather too overall.

I forgot to mention, we got to take my son to the St Louis Zoo Saturday afternoon for a couple hours before the rehearsal dinner - it was 73* and sunny & it was like the last hurrah before the cold months start.

My boy was more hyped about all the Halloween decorations than the animals, but he still went ballistic watching them feed the sea lions! Good times



Yeah I don’t even care for myself, best time in the training year to get sick for me, but we go to Orlando next Wednesday for my wife to compete at the Olympia so I do not want to impact her negatively at this point!
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Yeah it’s definitely the time of year when all the crud starts showing up. Glad it waited until after your meet. Hopefully you’ll feel better soon. One of mine and my wife’s favorite things to do now is take the Grandkids to the Zoo or the Aquarium. Now we are animal lovers, but the kids are what makes it fun. 😎👍
 
Hopefully you are feeling better or just dealing with some sinus drainage rather than an communicable type of thing.
 
10/24/23

Bird Dogs
Side Planks

Reverse Hyper
270 3x15

Beltsquat Boxsquat
90,180,270,290,310,330x12

Plate-loaded Leg Curl
90 3x10

Plate-loaded Leg Extension
90x12,15

I put genuine effort into everything, but ultimately another easy short session. Hard to get up today but happy to be back in the gym - plus I did feel strong.

Today is 3 weeks since my last long ester shot, so I pinned ~37.5mg test e upon waking. Last few days I’ve been feeling the low test levels, & coffee is no longer cutting it. Also did 300mg L-Carnitine postWO with my pro/cho shake.
 
Hyde said:
1st place in Men’s Open Raw 275lbs class by 20kg. Biggest successful squat of the meet.
9/9 successful attempts.

645/397/611 for a 750kg/1,653lb total

44lb total PR, 27.5lb meet squat PR, 5.5lb bench PR

Today was my day.
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Perfect meet!!!!! That is badass man! Be proud of that work.
 
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