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If it’s not completely obvious, “DECEMBOMBS” refers to bombing in the month of December. Bombing in the month of December is something I'm very familiar with. I’ve bombed three times in December over the past three years. Everyone knows I like to cause myself a bit of pain and misery, and everyone knows that I kind of prefer to be angry, but now it’s getting a bit out of hand.
Last year, as I was coughing up blood and mucous, I told myself that December meets were off-limits going forward. I promised myself I wouldn’t do this again. As I lay on the bench with what should have been an easy opener of 615, (but could have been 1615 as far as I was concerned) I was recalling getting crushed on the bench the December before. I could vividly picture the warm-up room two years before, where I was crushed by 200 pounds below my squat opener. Now I was seriously contemplating just dropping the bar on my face, rather than face another December bomb. (That’s a joke, I think.)
What was I doing? And why am I surprised that this bar feels this heavy? It is December. Things are supposed to feel heavier for me in December. I know why I did it, and though it doesn’t make me any less of a fool, I’ll explain it to you.
Tommy Fannon throws a great meet. The best time I’ve had at a meet was in May at Tommy’s place. It would be hard for me not to do his meet, especially just a few hours from home. Secondly, it was a team meet. A three person minimum, and with only four competing members and one injured, I had no other option. I couldn’t leave Team Samson out of a Florida Team Meet, even if it meant that I had to lift in December. Lastly, we had a real shot at winning. Even without our highest total, we still had a real shot at the title. I couldn’t just sit out and not try, even if that meant lifting injured. So now you have my rationale. However, there are a few reasons why I should have passed.
First, it’s December. I’m not going to rehash that. Secondly, I’ve been injured for months now. Every lift in every session causes me pain. My elbows are telling me to shut it down, and I don’t understand the message. Pain. Pain. And more pain. My mind says, more Motrin and tighter wraps will make it all better. My elbows are screaming for rest, and I hit them harder in hopes of pushing through one more meet. Lastly, I was sick. Not deathly ill, but sick enough that if it would have been anything but the Team Meet I would have sat it out. I’m not going to go into everything that was wrong with me that week, but I’m pretty sure every bit of it had to do with a training cycle that was too long and too heavy. There are a few reasons for that as well.
I originally committed to do the OBB Classic on October the 16th. It got pushed to the 31st. I also agreed to do the Team Meet on December 11th, which was close but do-able if I planned wisely. I knew it was December, but I was purposely ignoring my own good advice. Then, I got invited to the UGSS. That was November 21st and 22nd. It kind of threw a wrench in the planning, but it was the UGSS. I didn’t plan on going all out, but it was the UGSS, and my first. I was one of the new guys, and had to at least show I could hang. PI had to prove to the people who pushed for me that they made a good choice. So I went and for and successfully got 910 pounds on the squat, 710 pounds on the deadlift, and 615 pounds on the bench. Not all out on everything, but basically a mini-meet. If it sounds like I’m blaming everyone but myself, I am. None of this is my fault. Brian shouldn’t have moved the meet. Dave doesn’t know my schedule? And Tommy doesn’t already get that I can’t do December meets? I’m obviously joking, at least about the Dave part.
Point is, I should learn to listen to my body, and learn to say no when I need to. My elbows are shot, and now I have a small tear in the left brachioradialis. Nothing major, but now I’m forced to take real time off. Maybe that’s a good thing. I should have just backed out of this meet. Or swallowed my pride and opened raw just to get my team through it. On the other hand, I really didn’t think 615 was pushing it. I was sure it would go up. Either way, I bombed. I wasted a 25 pound PR on the squat, I disqualified my team, and I was the only person in the meet to bomb out. I’m very pleased with myself to say the least.
As for the meet itself, Tommy delivered again: loud music, great equipment and tons of fun. Jo Jordan and Brian Schwab both looked good. Not good looking by any means, their lifting looked good. Congrats to Jo on a great come back meet. Team Jax was stellar. All their guys did great. Lester struggled a bit, but he was beat up some as well. My training partner, Clint Smith, had a great day. He stumbled on his squat opener putting him just out of the 2500 range. He’ll get there on his next appearance on the platform. Tony Garland, my third competitor did his part with a PR squat, and great bench, but shut it down after his opener on the pull. He was dealing with a back injury, and with me out of it I encouraged him to stop there. There’s no since in getting hurt with the team already out. Thanks to Brian, Nathan, and James for making the trip and taking care of us. I promised Brian and Nathan that we will pick a hotel next time that has showers even they can figure out. Ask Brian about it, and picture him sponging himself off in a small hotel tub.
In the video are all of my squat attempts.
- 875
- 945 called for depth
- Two views of my third attempt of 965
I got three whites on my last, but I do want to take my squats deeper. I’ll work on it as soon as I can hold a bar again.