I showed up in Columbus Saturday evening at 5pm to weigh in. I had eaten all day long and still only weighed in at 236. I need to fix that. My training partners and I headed to grab food and the night ended there for me. I was in bed by 11 for a 7am wake up.

My training partners, who weren't competing, decided to go out on the town. One of them ended up hooking up with a friend of a friend while the other one was passed out on the bed next to them. Now in all fairness my friend that was passed out was crying at the bar earlier that night- over what I don't know- neither of them could figure it out minus a few fuzzy details. But regardless hearing all of this made my morning.

Kat and I met up and I walked her through getting her rack height and finding a good spot to settle in in the warm up area. Each of the three flights had about 20 lifters, and the meet was run efficiently so I felt like the day went by at a good pace.

The goal for the meet was 1820 at 242 to qualify for the Arnold. Also don't get hurt.

As I was warming up to squat, Matt Smith came barreling in with a big smile on his face. He's a huge guy and looks imposing until you get to know him and he'll talk to anyone and share everything he knows about lifting with you. So I went plate-plate-plate... for 6 singles up to mid 500's (threw a quarter in there somewhere). Onto the platform for 600. Weight moved well. Then 650- again moved well. So I felt like I needed to get some confidence back with a 700 squat. I took the weight, it moved fine (only 85%) and I felt like I was a man again.

The bench, which I was really confident about this training cycle, didn't go so great. I took 450 and it moved like it should have. Then 500 and was planning on cutting it here anyway. The last 2" of the eccentric I dumped the bar on my belly and struggled to recover it. My back cramped up pretty good but the lift was good and I could rest a little easier going into the dead.

I needed 620 at this point to qualify. My opener was set at 650 but I kept it there. It moved fast and I thought I haven't pulled 700 in awhile so I'll go for that and cut it there to end at an even 1900. I pulled it. It felt heavy and slow. I didn't like my positioning which I'll talk to Steve about this week. I'm pulling like he does but I'm not built like him. My arms are too short. So it's going to take some tweaking.

I met Jason Pegg for 30 seconds. We were shooting the shit before my last deadlift attempt and unfortunately I couldn't find him after that. He moves like the wind.

I also met Duke from Duke's Iron Zoo near Akron. I know a handful of guys that have trained with him and as an ambassador of the sport, there are few that are better. His lifters were well prepared and most did very well that day. I wish I would have caught up with him sooner in the day but we agreed to getting together sometime in the next few months.

As always thanks to my friends at work and training partners who support me unconditionally. And thank you to Dave and Traci of EliteFTS for trusting me to represent the brand they have built.

Onto the Arnold- 2150 at 220 or bust.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UlTRFL6Cg&edit=vd]