Back on the Horse

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

~ Teddy Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic," speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.

The best lifting I ever did was for Training Anarchy's strength competition, which ended last October.  For four months, I lifted harder and more purposefully than I ever have.  Since then, while I've been "focusing" on fat loss (with poor results), I've really backed off the intensity in the gym.  Some of that was necessary, as I needed a break, but I am now done with that.  It is time to lift again.

Sometime in October, the APF/AAPF will hold The Wolverine Open.  I think that this will be my first powerlifting meet.  Right now, I want to compete in the 90 kg (198 lb.) weight class.  My goal for the meet is a squat of 405, a bench of 315, and a deadlift of 495.  This is pretty darn aggressive, particularly considering that I still need to lose more than 20 pounds to get to that weight class, but it's time to be aggressive again.

So here goes...

Tomorrow, I start 5/3/1 again.  I've taken my previous PRs and taken a 15% reduction to get the program started.  I'll keep the accessory work minimal, instead focusing on conditioning to drop weight, at least for the next few months.  After that, we'll see what happens.