Chris and Mike did a meet this past weekend and Rory did one about a month ago. We’ll go in chronological order.
Rory had a goal of breaking the collegiate American squat record in the 198 lb class. Jacob went to the meet to touch himself watch, but Rory’s coach/handler didn’t show up! The fuck? After pulling his beard in rage, Jacob stepped in and did a swell job handling Rory in his record setting quest.
Rory primarily used a Smolov squat cycle to get his squat up and pretty much neglected the other lifts. It worked well for him as he broke the record with a 230k (507 lbs) squat on his second attempt, and then got some cues from Jacob to come back and increase his record to 235k (518 lbs):
Chris and Mike didn’t really taper for the meet and used it as a training day. Both had solid days. They ate at a shitty restaurant for breakfast and apparently it wreaked havoc on their stomachs. Chris cites this diarrhea as the primary reason his squats didn’t go as well. He went 622 and 639 on his first and second attempts, then on the third attempt at 650 he farted at the bottom and missed the rep. I’ll also address a small squatting issue in the programming and he’ll definitely hit 660 at the Arnold.
Chris then worked up to a simple 380 on his third attempt bench after not really pausing in training (although he recently doubled 385). On deadlift we did the normal “first attempt is last warm-up” around 585, then an intermediate jump around 622, then he took 307.5k (677) on his third for a routine pull. Chris went 8/9 with two meet PRs and he’s geared to have a great meet at the Arnold.
(There isn’t vid of Chris’ squats, so it’s just his third bench and dead)
Mike continued his streak of very successful meets going 9/9 and hitting PR’s of 573 on squat, 325 on bench, and 628 on deadlift. Just fucking outstanding. I’ve said this before, but Mike is very in tune with his training. He usually knows exactly what he’s capable of in a meet based on how his training has been going. Lately he has been utilizing ladders on his bench volume and high bar and front squats on his squat volume with a lot of success (they will be discussed in detail in the new e-book).
(This vid is only of Mike’s third attempts)
Great job all around for everyone. Briskin also did a meet and PR’d on everything, although he’s unhappy with his progress. Go to the Facebook Fan Page for some more pictures and shenanigans from Rory/Mike/Chris’ meets.
7 thoughts on “Power Meets R’ Us”
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I love these meet videos – epic. Watching them before the gym helps me get my mind right.
Justin – still thinking about a DC seminar? I understand if that’s on hold/still in planning stage, etc but I will definitely be there. Thanks for the recent programming pointers.
DC seminar will be happening for sure, date will be solidified in a day or so.
–Justin
“then on the third attempt at 650 he farted at the bottom and missed the rep.”
I can’t stop laughing. I think we’ve all been victims of the squat farts.
On another note, these guys are effing strong. I see these vids and feel like I’m just spinning my wheels.
Hey Justin. How much did Rory gain on smolov?
I finished base with a 55lb PR from 370 to 425. 5’11, and bw went from 215-227. I’m currently in the middle of intense and up to about 231 bw. Hoping to hit 460 or so at the end and I’m trying to determine a good weight to attempt.
The Arnold should be badass his year, excited to see how these guys do.
Also, if Matt Nolan competes in the 231, him vs Scott Yard will be a battle.
Loucas – I’d let RoryT post for himself, but I’m not sure he’ll see this. I think his squat went from around 475 to the 518 posted here, while losing about 10 pounds of bodyweight (he was shooting for the 198 class, obviously). But his bench and deadlift suffered a bit. We have him working into a nice Texas Method plan similar to what’s in Justin’s ebooks now, and his bench and dead are coming along nicely, and I expect him to squat at least 540 in his next meet.
I think the Smolov cycles have their place, but it’s rarely a better option to most trainees than properly scheduled all around training.
Ksmash – party in Ohio? Let’s do this.
@Jacob the Cloud
Thanks for the response. Thats pretty nice gain, especially being as the fact he dropped 10 lbs of bodyweight in the process. Once I’m finished with intense, I’m going to go back to some sort of strength and conditioning program (and possibly buy FIT) to lose some bodyweight.
I didn’t completely neglect everything else, I kept doing chinups and pullups, and 3×5 bench and press throughout the base cycle. Once I started the switching I dropped everything else and started smolov jr. for bench. Going to finish out the next couple weeks of intense though focusing only on it.