Well, meet #103823478 in the books. Just kidding... but that's what it feels like sometimes. Meet week itself was pretty low key. I didn't need to cut weight or water load and even Christian water cut was smooth and easy. He headed up Friday to weigh-in. I stayed back to train some clients and get the kids from school. Finally made it up there around 8:30pm. Thankfully it was only a 45 minute drive. Go read Christian's log to see how Saturday's meet went. He did well and the other guys on our team all hit some pretty rad PR's. Weigh-ins went smooth. Weighed in about 3 pounds under. Had my girl and training partner Ang there as well as two other girls on the IPA team. Squats Warm ups - bar, 2x10, 95x5, 135x3, 185x1, 205x1, 235x1 (light wrap) Opener - 265, super easy and smooth and I finally felt like I knew how to squat again. 2nd attempt - 292, again, really really smooth and feeling confident. 3rd attempt - 319, miss. I felt myself buckle on the way down which led to a small break in my mid back. and just couldn't recover. Going into the meet, I was hoping to hit 340ish, so I was well off what I squatted at the Arnold (330) but considering that I was just salvaging pieces the last 4 weeks, I just went with the flow. Little upset but got over that quickly. Bench Warm-ups - bar, 2x10, 75x5, 95x3, 115x2, 135x1, 155x1 Opener - 170, good. Not "as fast" as I would've liked, but smooth 2nd attempt - 181, miss. Not really sure here, just think I wasn't tight. 3rd attempt - 181 good. Recovered it nicely and it actually moved really well. Overall, 9 pounds off my best meet bench of 190, but again, working with broken pieces. Deadlift Warm-ups - 135, 2x5, 185x2, 225x1, 255x1, 275x1 Opener - 300x1, Good. Should've moved faster, but something in my set up has been off. 2nd - 319 good. Tough off the ground, but stayed with it. 3rd - 330 good. I knew if I could get it moving, I'd lock it out. I pulled 350 at the Arnold conventional and 360 the year before (conventional). So I know it's there and I'll just have to see if sumo is what I should keep working with. Not a great meet. Barely broke 800 total, but I kept my head out of my a$$ and had a good time. Christian and I put together a video talking more in depth about the training cycle, what was good and what was not so good. So stay tuned for that.
Julia Anto
Tagged: Coaching Logs

EliteFTS Table Talk— Where strength meets truth. Hosted byDave Tate, Table Talk cuts through the noise to bring raw, unfiltered conversations about training, coaching, business, and life under the bar. No fluff. No hype. Just decades of experience — shared to make you stronger in and out of the gym.

Join the Crew!

Support us and access premium content monthly!