Dealing with Good Enough but not Great and Record Breakers Meet Prep

As the deload comes to an end in a few days and I sit at 6 weeks out I have this thought in the back of my head that I'm not where I should be. Coming off an injury, health issues, a poor offseason, or a long layoff it is hard to look back at what your numbers used to be and what they are now and think to yourself, yeah I am ready to compete and be excited about it. That is where I am at 6 weeks out, I am not as strong as I was last year and I am doing the same meet I did and I should be expecting to be better but that's not always how things work out. Progress is not linear and we all know that but if you are not where you want to be how do you get excited to compete? I look at the small victories and get excited about where I am headed and for me, that is my shoulder is feeling better, my strength is improving, and I can see how things are coming together to have a successful 2020 competition season. Every training block you have an opportunity to get better at something, it may not always be strength related and that's ok. You may improve your mental game, you may improve your health or your overall work capacity, and you may have learned something new that will help in long term athletic development. All of these things are possibilities but you may never see them if all you look at is numbers. Shifting your perspective can be huge for overall growth and maturation, just something to think about. 9-13-19 Stiff Bar Deadlifts- 545lbs for 3 sets of 3 reps Stiff Leg Deadlifts- 405lbs for 3 sets of 5 reps SSB Box Squats- 425lbs x3, 475lbs for 2 sets of 3 reps BB Rows- 275lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps s/s Band Abs- 3x20 Mag Grip Lat Pulldowns- 150lbs x15, 170lbs x10, 200lbs x10   9-14-19 SSB Good Mornings- 295lbs for 4 sets of 5 reps GHR- 3x12 s/s Chest Supported Rows- 100lbs x12, 120lbs for 2 sets of 8 reps Lat Pulls- 150lbs x10, 180lbs x10, 210lbs x10 s/s Med Ball GM's- 100lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps Kneeling Cable Abs- 3x15 s/s Single Arm Cable Rows- 3x10 ea arm