Alright, on to the meet! As posted, I won Best Untested Male Lifter, so you all know it went great already


Woke up Saturday weighing 220.2lbs at 6am:
Went to the strongman show to handle my wife, loading weights & helping lifters out of gear while occasionally remembering to try to sit down. Check-ins went very smoothly and weighed in at 98.3kg - 216.7lbs just after 2pm. Took 30mg Mk677 and pinned 25mg Trest Ace right away.
Focused on rehydration since there was so many lbs to put on (you can’t eat 20lbs+ of food). After the first half gallon of carbs & electrolytes, had some white rice with soy sauce. Things were fairly boring food-wise: dried fruit, low fat ramen, Hawaiian rolls, lifesaver gummies, rice snacks, pickle juice, cookies, Kraft mac n cheese, pasta & bread at dinner. Got about 4,500 calories in and close to 2.5 gallons through me by 11:30pm (which was brutal as you might expect). Went to bed 235.0lbs, and took 40mg Tbol.
Woke up meet day at 229.0 after bathroom. Really laid into the 7am continental breakfast: many cups of juice/soda, rice Chex with sugar, waffles & syrup, banana, yogurt, bagels with jam, made biscuit sandwiches. This got me back to 234.0 before we checked out at 11am. Did a bunch of rolling and mobility in the hotel room around 9am. Took 50mg Anadrol & 40mg Tbol at 10:15am.
234.0 Sunday:
Met friends at a local Panera for a small sandwich and apple at 11:30am, then 30mg Halotestin at 12:30. Got over to the meet at 12:45pm probably weighing close to 236lbs.
Our flight started at 2pm, so it was time for preworkout drink (30g Hooligan), 200mg Ubiquinol, B complex, 1mg SLU-PP, ATP Elite, Neurogize XT, Amentoflavone, Tums, extra AlphaGPC, a lots of sodium, 2 caps of Imodium, and to get moving. Took half a Bronkaid at 1pm in the middle of my general warmup, and got a cc of injectable Carnitine/Citicholine in before rules at 1:15pm. Then, onto squatting!
Took 165, 275, added equipment, 385, 452, and finished with 496 in the warmup area (4 reds/side). Opened up with a very fast 534, made a 15kg jump to 567, and when that moved nearl as well I knew I needed to stick to Plan A: I called 600 for my final attempt. This took a LOT of guts for me. I was only 9 weeks off the right knee tear at EFS, which happened because of hip shifting since the previous left quad injury last meet (that was still happening often in training because of some intermittent left hip pain at full depth!). Then also with the back strain 6 weeks out, there has been VERY little in the way of proper squat training with any weight of consequence in the hole. I basically squat 507 a month out, worked up to 578 3 weeks out, and did a few singles with 500 one last time 2 weeks out to get ready to handle this. I knew in my heart I could pull this off IF I could squat it properly in the groove - but also that if I shifted it could be catastrophic. There was no shift on 534 & only a tiny amount on 567. If I could correct that with 600 I would be golden.
I visualized the lift, took a big whiff of ammonia & a back slap, and flipped the switch. There was no fear, hesitation or thoughts of goals or injury when I stepped onto the platform - just execution of ritualized setup & total resolve before unracking the weight. The squat command was given, a big brace before lowering the hips to depth, then blasting upwards to stand tall at lockout! This is what this meet was really about to me. 600 was a 71lb competition PR at 220, but most importantly it truly scared me. This was not a safe endeavor, but the cost that this goal at this time demanded was to let go of my fears if I wanted to realize my current potential.
Bench went really smoothly. I took more 10mg Halotestin right after squats, then rolled right into warmups. 155, 265, and then 308 with commands was all it took to feel ready. 330 looked like the cherry opener that it was, then 352 for my second (a 5lb 220 PR) was quite the smoke show as well. Stuck to Plan A and called 375 for my 3rd. This would have been another 22lbs of PR AND chip what I did last meet at 242, but unfortunately as it came off my chest I pressed it out of the groove towards my feet! As I fought to recover it back into the groove, I felt my butt start to lift, so I told them to take it. This was really frustrating to accept afterwards, because I believe I was strong enough to make this lift & still don’t understand how I let my technique falter under max effort - but I did. My wife was a blessing to help calm me down, accept the opportunity had been lost, but now deadlifts remained front & center!
They say the meet doesn’t start until the bar hits the floor, and in a lot of ways I’d say there’s something to that. People take their sweaty shirts off, someone seems to turn the music up a hair louder somewhere, and all that’s left is whatever you can give to yank a weight off the floor. Did some RDLs with a plate, pulled my long socks on before hitting 265, 375, 441, & 485 in the warmup area, then went out to 540 for a fast opener. Made a jump to 584 that moved me to the last deadlifter of our flight. It moved well enough, but I felt like my underhand grip had been challenged. I knew jumping 33lbs to 617 would be reckless given that (573 was all I’d gone up to in training). At the score table I asked Albert, the president of the fed & extremely seasoned lifter, if he thought I had 611 after that. He told me 606/611 was what he’d call for me, but 611 was gonna be pushing it. I wanted to end 8/9 and get my first 600 ever at this size, so I had them load the bar to 606.
This was the final deadlift of our flight, and after a previous lifter bled all over the bar they stopped to clean it while my chosen deadlift song came blasting on. This really helped pump me up, all the tension as the audience waited for the last big pull to start; it also set me up to have the absolute best grip surface possible. I came out charged up with determination, locked in, and made a clean pull with 606 for a 27.5lb weightclass PR.
This ended the day with me going 8/9 attempts to total 707.5kg/1,559lbs @216.7lbs bodyweight for a 438 DOTS coefficient. This was a significant step up from my last meet’s 432, which was previously my most competitive total ever. It also earned me Best Lifter medal, a new pair of Lockjaw barbell collars, a cute little knit flexing Sun stuffy for my son, and a cheap (but radically expensive to me) coffee mug

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Our buddy that used to train with my wife had an amazing first meet experience: 8/9 (missing 3rd bench as well) & totaled 1,470 raw, drug-tested weighing in at 254. Another guy from our gym did his first 600 squat ever after just becoming a father, our gym beat the home gym for Best Team award, and the whole thing was just a load of fun & fellowship. Best part was seeing the tears of joy in my wife’s eyes when I finished deadlifts - she was so proud of me! And I am proud too, squatting and pulling 6 under 220 for the first time, plus a 115lb total PR in this class
