Uh so I’m sub 160lbs bw lol

– snatched up to 230lbs
– pressed out a 290lbs c+j
– benched 280lbs x 2 <– haven't benched 280lbs before
– back squat 405lbs x 5, 3, 3 <– high-bar squat 5rm PR
– weighted ring dips at +90lbs x 3 <– PR

Mechanically I've never felt this good. I've never felt more fluid and controlled in my jerks, especially now with better hip extension and internal rotation. I still pull to my left on heavier attempts, but it's a lot more manageable now and it's more an issue of me splitting, then slowly twisting to the left as I recover, as opposed to me splitting and everything on my left side immediately collapsing. I pressed out 290lbs probably because of being sick earlier this week and having lost some weight so this was the first heavy session of the week and I was a little dizzy on the clean.

Benching and ring-dips both felt really good after I did scap mobilization with an internal rotation bias. It felt like my bench stroke was shortened because it was easier to keep my shoulders pinched back while my shoulders were in extension at the bottom of the bench, and it felt a lot easier to keep my shoulders squeezed back at the bottom of the ring dip. I’ve done this same mob when I was attacking my gleno-humeral internal rotation deficit with my shoulders but haven’t done it very much since then, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the benefits I can still get from doing it.

Picture this for a moment:

I am sleeping in the same room as four dudes. It fucking blows. The beds are twins and Chris and Mike are 300lbs+ and 270lbs at this meet, good fucking luck sharing a bed with either of them. My sleep could be better, I’m losing mobility from sleeping on an unforgiving surface (the floor), and paying too much money for low-quality food (we ate at the same bar next to the hotel multiple times a day, every day we were there). I couldn’t be grumpier. One morning Justin goes down for breakfast and I join him when I’m finished lying on the carpet weighing the benefits of just fucking ending it or somehow finding the will to continue living.

I want waffles. There is a substantial line for the waffle iron so I give up. I sit down with an omelet and some bacon and Justin immediately starts talking to me about shit that I don’t give a FUCK about. I chew listlessly. I can pick out the people who are competing fairly easily in the breakfast hall.

Then I see her leaving the breakfast hall. Cue this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgFCTy5_Zig

In the brief moment I see her face, I see dark mahogany hair and soft brown eyes behind her glasses. My heart catches and I stop chewing my omelet. As she turns to leave, I say completely monotone,

“Who’s that?”

Justin turns to see her leaving. He turns back to me, perplexed. “I don’t know?”

After all of us have had breakfast, we stand in line at the Starbucks in the hotel. Justin and I will be training at a local gym and we need the caffeine for the copious amounts of curls we will be doing later. Someone steps into line behind me and I turn and it’s her, looking real cute in training pants and her team t-shirt and with excellent thoracic extension. Her eyes are dark and captivating and I am lost in them and don’t realize I am staring until it’s been about three painfully awkward seconds.

I say, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she responds.

I spend the next three minutes trying to make conversation with her. I’m Brent, what’s your name, did you compete?, how’d you do?, oh that’s great, way to go. I find myself intrigued with her speech. She is intelligent, unimpressed with herself, and probably not impressed with me when I asked her “did you lift” and she points to her team t-shirt wordlessly as a response as if to say, “What are you, new?” I think to myself, this is a girl I want to hang out with. I wonder what her sign is. What she wants to be when she grows up. If she could be any animal, which animal would it be (currently existing species only).

She won’t remember any of it.

You can stop the song now.

matt_15 writes:

What’s the weirdest thing you have ever found when performing an xray on someone?

Nothing like light bulbs in someone’s rectum, coins, sewing needles, etc. I’ve seen surgical staples, wire mesh (for some not uncommon surgical procedure), joint replacement hardware, a long nail in some dude’s hand from a work accident, pretty routine stuff. That’s about all I got. I don’t work in an ER so I don’t get too much crazy stuff or stat chest x-rays on someone who isn’t breathing.

Mark writes:

Just tried bubble tea, it’s good but you oversell it.

See a psych or a therapist and tell them you suffer from anhedonia. I have this problem too. It doesn’t really get better but sometimes it helps to talk with someone.

squattingIsbetter writes:

And what was your pre-workout meal?

Typically 1lbs ground beef or roast, a few small red potatoes and carrots with the roast or a half cup of white rice with the ground beef, followed shortly by a 50g whey and 70g waxy maize and some coffee (by that I mean Starbucks, go fuck yourself thanks). This has been a pretty solid pre-workout template for me and I attribute my generally positive and productive training the past few months to having learned what I need to eat pre-workout and how much time I need before inserting (and mobbing).

Broseph writes:

Also,
How many days a week do you squat?
It seems like you do the lift (somewhat) frequently.
I BS 6-7 times a week and FS twice a week. It’s worked out well for the last year. Just wondering what you think of ultra high frequency.

I squat like 2x a week, one BS and one FS so uh nah I don’t squat very frequently. I want to add another day for squatting. I seem to be progressing fairly consistently though so I won’t do that until I stall out.

High-frequency seems pretty necessary for advanced athletes. I’m not there yet but at some point it’s something I’m gonna have to do.