back to blogging? or switching sports?

This season I qualified and was training for the tested powerlifting national championships in July and the IPL tested world championships in November. I asked my coach to let me push harder this year in training. He said he thought that was a bad idea but he'd program it if I wanted him to. Well apparently it was a bad idea, just like he said. I got my first two lifting related injuries. Nothing terrible. A pulled glute and a pulled oblique. They were bad enough I had to bail out of the national championships. I still had time to train have a good showing at worlds though. But when I was fully healed and got back to training I found I was severely burned out with powerlifting. So after about a month of contemplating I decided to switch sports top training for the 1500 meter, or mile track and field meet. It's not too terribly out of the blue. I competed in the 2018 and 2019 New Mexico games track and field 100, 200, and shotput taking 2nd, 3rd, and 1st respectively. 

One thing I noticed was blogging about powerlifting was BORING! But for done reason blogging about endurance athletics I have always enjoyed. Now that I started endurance athletics again I guess I'll start blogging again. 

Finally quit CrossFit

There was a three or four year period where I was struggling to decide if I wanted to do powerlifting or weightlifting. Dec 2017, after changing my mind a thousand times I decided to stick with powerlifting. I've been training and competing in powerlifting for 9 months and love it more and more every day.

Another struggle I've had is trying to figure out if I should do CrossFit or track and field training for cardio. I've been doing CrossFit since December and hate it. CrossFit is more effective than anything else I've ever done at making me lose weight. But the problem is I absolutely love training for track and field and despise CrossFit. It's not as effective as CrossFit. But I enjoy it more. Sunday I made a decision. After 9 months of lamenting I cancelled my CrossFit membership and started track training. Today was my first day of track and field full time for my cardio. I had a blast! I think I made a great decision.

The New Mexico Games and The State Games of America

I've competed in The New Mexico games in the sport of weightlifiting the last 4 years in a row. The New Mexico games were considered the weightlifiting state championships here in New Mexico. I knew The New Mexico games had numerous sports in the games. Everything from Archery, arm wrestling, badminton, baseball, BMX, pickleball, weightlifting, track and field, basketball, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, Beach wrestling, bowling, Bocce, Judo, & more. I never took the time to find out what the state games are. While investigating my next powerlifting competition I found more state games in Colorado. I found out that there is something called the State Games of America. It's an Olympic style competition of many sports that happens every other year. And the cities that host the State Games of America Changes each time also. In 2017 over 200,000 athletes over 50+ sports competed in the state games. I'm thinking of trying to qualify for the State Games of America at the Rocky Mountain State Games on July 21st in Colorado Springs CO. If I qualify the next State Games of America will be in Lynchburg Virginia July31st- Aug 4, 2019.

Bad reasons to quit CrossFit

I had almost quit CrossFit. There were a few reasons why. It wasn't until I ran and played with my kids this weekend that I realized quitting was a bad idea. I hadn't been able to run and play sports with my kids like that in years. I realize it's because CrossFit has gotten me in MUCH better shape incredibly quickly. After such a wonderful weekend with my kids I realized how stupid all my reasons to quit were. Here were my three big problems I had with CrossFit and the the honest answers to those problems.

1) I've never been as bad at a sport as I am at CrossFit.
Truth: I've found a weakness in my athletisism. The best athletes in the world don't avoid weaknesses. They fix them when they find them.

2) I want to be a great Powerlifter. I'm afraid CrossFit will prevent or limit that.
Truth: in moderation CrossFit won't inhibit my streangth gains at all. But CrossFit will absolutely prevent me from becoming an unathletic, fat, slow, and unhealthy Powerlifter.

3) CrossFit is expensive.
Truth: it's cheaper than massive health problems from not staying healthy and active. And more years alive in my kids life is priceless.

Now that I've come to these realizations I've decided not quit the CrossFit cult. And now I'm even thinking about getting my CrossFit level 1 coaching certificate. The CrossFit version of becoming a deacon at the local cult faction.

The beginning of a new adventure

 I've struggled the last 2.5 years trying to decide if I should train exclusively for weightlifiting or powerlifting. I flip flopped between the two more times than I'm comfortable admitting. It wasn't until a few weeks ago I finally decided that powerlifting will be my #1 girl. I'm the type of person who throws himself into a project full force once I'm fully committed.

 Today was my last workout before my powerlifting meet. The next training block I do will be significantly more difficult. The last training cycle I did was to get back in shape and to prepare my body for heavy lifting. But after the powerlifting meet on Saturday things will get harder and more intense. So as i threw my last workout into the trash at the gym I got a little sentimental. That little piece of paper is the last piece of the first step of this grand adventure I've decided to partake. Goodbye old me.

Hello to a new adventure, a new lifestyle, a new me, and a huge new goal.

Train less, gain more, hire a strength coach

For years I was a hard gainer. That's a term powerlifters, bodybuilders, and strength athletes use for someone who doesn't gain size or streangth easily. Someone who has to train harder and still takes longer to get gains than most. For years I'd heard how the majority of streangth athletes over train. And of course I thought I was training perfectly. I felt I was doing the proper amount of everything. And then I hired my powerlifting coach Vernon Smith. I'm training less now than I ever have. And now I'm getting the best streangth gains I could ever have dreamed. Turns out I was just like every other idiot amatuer athlete out there. To much training and not enough rest. All I needed this whole time was a good coach. I only wish I had figured this out when I was younger. I wasted a tremendous amount of time and effort in my twenties training religiously with hardly any gains.

If your an athlete. Do yourself a favor. Hire a coach. You'll be great full you did.

Weightlifting, CrossFit, and powerlifting

Weightlifting is my baby. Has been for about a half decade. I'm not saying I'm great at it or consistent. Just that I love it. It's the most complicated and rewarding sport I've ever competed in.

In addition to weightlifting I also enjoy competing in powerlifting. Weightlifting training transfers well into squat and deadlift, but not bench press. So not only will I be doing weightlifting and CrossFit I'll also be training bench press. I maxed out on bench this morning and I was pleasantly surprised. 285lbs! That's the 3rd most I've ever maxed. 

I completed 3 CrossFit workouts in the last 4 days. I woke up this morning and was exhausted. I needed a day of recovery. Tomorrow I'm doing another CrossFit workout. And then on Monday I'll be starting a weightlifting program with coach Dylan McGwire out of Bear Canyon CrossFit. It'll be my first training session with coach McGwire. I'm exited and nervous. I'm hoping it's quality weightlifting coaching. If it's not then I'll have to start training at High Dessert Athletic Club with Joaquin Chaves or Iron Soul with Vernon Smith. Going to two different gyms, one CrossFit box, and one weightlifting gym would make training much more difficult and costly. I'll keep you informed on how the coaching and training is.

Breaking up is hard to do

My family and I returned from vacationing the North East. I planned on training while on vacation. I didn't. But I didn't overeat much while gone. So that's a plus. When I returned I realized something that I've known for a long time. I don't enjoy training powerlifting. I love competing in powerlifting meets. But I don't enjoy the training. I miss weightlifting. I love weightlifting training. And I love weightlifting meets. I miss obsessing over my former goal of qualifying for the Masters national weightlifting championships (I did qualify once in my 5+ years of weightlifting). So I guess what this means is I'm going to stop powerlifting. That sucks because I love my new powerlifting coach, Vernon Smith. He's awesome. I love the way he programs and I think the world of him as a person. I'm not sure how to break this to him. I think, honestly, I need to approach this like a business transaction. I tend to get overly attached to my coaches and feel guilty and stressed when I choose to move on to another coach or another sport. Especially my last few. My weightlifting coach Joaquin Chaves and my nutrition coach Barry Schroeder. I adore botth of them. I still feel guilty when I see them or talk to one of them. So long story short I want to go back to weightlifting. My current work schedule doesn't work with my two favorite weightlifting coaches here in Albuquerque, Joaquin Chaves or Vernon Smith (Vernon coaches both powerlifting and weightlifting). So I need to try and figure out something. Not sure what yet. But I'll work it out somehow.

High quality training and recovery on the return

I've lost 20 pounds since hiring a powerlifting coach, a track coach, working less, sleeping more, concentrating on nutrition, and putting myself first for once. On Sunday I did deadlifts from the blocks and my biggest weakness, lunges. On Monday my quads and glutes were so sore I dared not do my sprint training for fear of injury. On Tuesday I was recovered enough to do another strength training session. I was able to squat 15 pounds more than I did a week ago. And today I completed 5X125 meter sprints on an incline in front of GI Sanchez middle school before going in to watch my daughter's volleyball game. I already feel faster now with less training than I did earlier this year. Getting enough sleep and not working myself to death is the key to gains. Who knew?

Back into it at 41

For the last three weeks I've been running stairs during my lunch, track training (100 & 200 meter) two days a week, powerlifting four days a week, and eating low carb. I hired a powerlifting coach, Vernon Smith. As of this morning I've lost 16 pounds. 106 more pounds to go.

My ultimate goal is to get back down to 224 pounds and compete in the 105k weight class of weightlifting. You may wonder, if his goal is weightlifting, why is he training powerlifting? I've tried losing weight with weightlifting before and it didn't work. I can easily maintain my weight with weightlifting. But not lose. I've heard this before from other people too. Im not the only one. Once I get down to 224 lbs I'll transition back to weightlifting. But until then I'll be doing low carb, powerlifting, and track training.

Training starting and working much less

Earlier this week my boss cut my hours from the 73 a week I had been working. At first I was freaking out. But I eventually realized this was the best possible thing for me. I emailed coach Vernon Smith and told him I wanted to hire him as my powerlifting coach. He had an opening for a client! The only down side was the days I'll be working out would be Wed, Fri, Sat, & Sun. Three days in a row is not a perfect training scenario. So today I called up my boss and told him I didn't want to work a 2nd shift on Monday's anymore. He agreed. So now I'll be able to work out Mon, We'd, Fri, and once on the weekend. From here on out I'm going to be spending more time working out, spending time with my kids, and sleeping. I'll never allow myself to be forced into working 70-90 hours a week ever again. I'll still be working 52 hours a week. So it's not like I've become a complete lazy slacker...... Could this be the fist step in me becoming happy for the first time in 11 years?

Powerlifting training

Well, I hate to admit it, but I'm not enjoying powerlifting training at all. I loved training for weightlifting. I thought they would be about the same. But it's not. And my work schedule doesn't allow me to train at High Dessert Athletic Club (HDAC), a Weightlifting gym here in Albuquerque. So if I don't like powerlifting and can't train weightlifting what now....

This is the 2nd time I've hired my powerlifting coach Rich Kahle. He's a great coach and fantastic person. I don't want to fire him​ a 2nd time. I'm unsure what to do. It doesn't make sense to continue to do something I don't enjoy for fear of upsetting someone I like and respect. Should I fire him and do nothing at all until I can get enough seniority at my job to start training at HDAC again? That could be a few years.....

Powerlifting and weightlifting weight classes

I'm a super heavyweight in both weightlifting and powerlifting. I'm currently topping the scales at 332 lbs. I'm excited about transitioning into powerlifting because there's so many more weight classes than there was in weightlifting. In powerlifting I only need to drop 25 lbs to get into the next weight class. In weightlifting I'd have had to drop 113 lbs to get into the next one!!!! In the NASA powerlifting league the 5 heaviest weight classes are:
 (kilos/lbs)

90.01-100k/ 198.01-220 lbs

100.01-110/ 220.01- 242 lbs

110.01-125k/ 242.01- 275 lbs

125.01- 140k/ 275.01-308 lbs

140k+/ 308lbs+

I'm looking forward to all the possibilities in powerlifting. This is going to be fun. I'm not saying I'm going to actually lose weight. That's probably not a possibility. But there's a lot of great possibilities in powerlifting and it'll be great fun.

Ready to train

I competed in Olympic style weightlifting for 3 years. 2013 until November 2016 when I was sidelined with a back injury. I haven't done anything at all for the last 5 months. Now I'm all healed up and ready to start training for something, anything really. I've really missed training. I miss working hard. Sweating. Training for goals. And accomplishing things normal people don't.

My new work schedule started on Tuesday March 28th. My new powerlifting coach, Rich Kahle, and I were planning on me to start training then. I haven't received my training schedule. I'm assuming he's either going to wait until my check gets to him, which should be by today or tomorrow. Or he might still be sore at me because last year I had hired him as my powerlifting coach and after three weeks decided to go back to weightlifting. His programming was excellent. I only went back to weightlifting because I missed my weightlifting coach,, Joaquin Chaves. I know I may have ruffled some feathers. So I'm planning on not saying anything to my PL coach until April 1st. I want to make sure to handle this with little kids gloves. I don't want to piss my powerlifting coach off. He's one of the biggest names in powerlifting in New Mexico. I'd like to stay in his good graces. In such a small sport, he's not the kind of person that I'd want to anger.

2016 and 2107 NASA Powerlifting records

Even though I haven't done any athletic training at all since November due to a back injury-i got ran over by a car at work- i still plan on competing in the 2017 New Mexico NASA state powerlifting championships on April 24th 2017 in Gallup NM. It's only 4 weeks away. I realize I'm going to have to attempt some very very light weights since I've been without training for 5 months. But there's a bunch of state records that are vacant. All I have to do is have one good lift and I'm the state record holder. While I was going through the NASA New Mexico state powerlifting records yesterday I saw both of my sons own state records in their age group and weight class. I knew there probably hadn't been any lifters competing in their age group or weight class because they were so young and light (scrawny). But I hadn't thought about the fact that they had set state records. They were pretty excited when I showed them their names under the state records page on the NASA website.

Rion owns the unequipped bench press record for 6 year olds weighing 48 pounds. He benched 11kg.

Cody owns the retro powerlifting state records for the 8 year olds weighing 57 pounds. Sq 20k, BP 15k, DL 20k, TL 55k.

This year I'll be entering Rion in the unequipped bench press division.

Cody will be in the unequipped powerlifting division.

I'll be entering the:
1) power clean police division
2) unequipped powerlifting masters pure
3) retro powerlifting masters 1
4) unequipped bench masters 1
5) equipped push pull police division
6) unequipped push/pull masters 1

Starting training again

A few days ago I bid for my shift/days off/post for the next 7 months at my new career. I'm going to start training for sports again after my new post starts. Depending on what my hours were going to be would determine if I was going to train for weightlifting or powerlifting. My new schedule works really well for powerlifting, and doesn't fit the hours for weightlifting at all. I called up powerlifting coach Rich Kahle out of Las Cruces New Mexico and asked him to start coaching me again. He agreed. We start on March 29th. I will also be training for track and field too. Between powerlifting and track I'll be training 7 days a week. I haven't trained 7 days a week since 2011 when I was a hard core triathlete. It looks like my tentative schedule will be:

Powerlifting on Monday's, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. 

Track on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The New Mexico Track and Field state championships will be held on June 24th and the NASA New Mexico state powerlifting championships will be held on April 29th. That doesn't give me much time to train for either of these. But even if I do poorly I can use those performances as a starting point. 

my first powerlifting workout

Today I'll be doing my my first powerlifting workout. For the first month so I'll be doing hypertrophy to build volume and more muscle to be able to tolerate the eventual load increases. It's all high intensity and short rest training for the next month.

My last two training sessions were tests. Those two tests were the hardest thing I've done in a very long me.  I was so sore after both of them I had to have my wife help me get dressed. It was a struggle to walk.

Both test/workouts were: do 5 reps starting at 135 lbs and go up 20 lbs each set until I can't do 5. Then go down to 3 reps and increase 10lbs each set until I can't do 3 rsps. Then go down to 1 rep and  and increase 5lbs until I couldn't get any more.

The 1st test I ended up doing a total of  16 sets and 54 reps of squat, 9 sets and 34 reps of bench. The second workout I did 15 sets & 65 reps deadlift and a ton of overhead press. To be honest, I think this was way to much. I was right on the edge of an injury on the squat workout.

Tonight I'll be doing the following, all with 45-60 second rest intervals.
Barbell bench 9x1 @ 225 lbs
Tate press 4x6-1
Superset the next two exercises
1) 5 sets incline DB press
2) one arm DB row 5 sets with 3 second negative, 2 seconds positive, and second pause at top
Superset next 2 exercises:
1) 4 sets Gironda DB swings x8 reps
2) 4 sets zottman curl x6-10 reps 3 second neg, regular up, then one second pause at top.

from weightlifting to powerlifting

A couple weeks ago I competed in the USPA New Mexico state powerlifting championships. Even though I'd been training really hard since I moved to Albuquerque in April my strength has decreased. After the meet I've been sitting on my butt, not working out, trying to figure this whole thing out. My training and eating has always been symbiotic. When I'm kicking butt at one I'm doing well in the other. So the last couple weeks has not been pretty. Of course I'm a weightlifter, not a powerlifter. But still.....

I trained with a guy, Philip Christopher, who was an AMAZING weightlifter. I could squat the same as him, but when it came to weightlifting he'd smoke me. I mean he crushed me into dustl! I can lift a 100k & a 125k. He could cllift lift a 130/160k. The difference is form. And the difference is frustrating as fuck. I still love the sport. But I think I'd be a much better powerlifter than weightlifter. I'd be a lot happier, successful, and less frustrated as a powerlifter. So yesterday I contacted a powerlifting coach, Rich Kahle out of Las Cruces New Mexico, and asked him to start training me. So, after 4 years of dedicating myself entirely to weightlifting I'm on to a new adventure. Powerlifting.

resuming bench press

I stopped training bench press after my last powerlifting meet in March so I could concentrate on fully on weightlifting. Now that I've decided to compete in the USPA New Mexico state powerlifting championships I need to start benching again. On Sunday I maxed out. My max is 275lbs. That's a pathetic bench. But I think that's pretty decent considering I haven't benched once in 6 months. So tonight I start training bench again. I have 6 weeks to put on as much strength as possible. I'll also be doing Pendley rows to keep the muscles balanced.

powerlifting and a great sports nutrition coach

This December is the Natural Athlete Strength Association Christmas powerlifting classic. Last year I competed in this event and set 9 state records and 4 national records. It was a really great event. I'm going to compete in this one again later this year. I looked up the state records and it looks like if i can drop into the 275-307lb weight class I'll be able to set 8 more state records. Plus my 9 year old wants to start training for powerlifting and go compete with me. He could already break 2 state records of his own in the youth under 100 pounds RAW powerlifting division and the youth under 100 pounds clean division. What a wonderful father/son weekend that would be. We'd both remember that fondly forever.

I rehired my sports nutrition coach. This is the 4th time in the last year I've worked with him. Everytime I start working with him again I get great speed, strength, and explosiveness gains. I should start being more consistent and dedicated to what he's having me do. If I did I know without a doubt I'd make my weightlifting goals. Speaking of that:

I sent my nutrition coach my weekly nutrition report. On one of the days I screwed up big time. I didn't hit any of my goals. Usually he'd send me an email telling me I needed to work on consistency, hit my daily goals, etc and that word have made me stop working the plan and quit. But this time he sent me an email saying "That's a great week." That got me really motivated to do better next week. And that's what made me realize why I struggle so much with online coaching of anykind. I'm hypersensitive. I think the old term for that is a sensitive Sally. And that's not good. Not everyone is willing or able to learn how an athlete responds to situations as quickly as my sports nutrition coach, Barry Schroeder. Most people would have given up on an athlete/client who is as willing to quit as I am when I get my feelings hurt. Not to mention that's piss poor people skills and horible life coping skills on my part. But anyway, he seems to have figured out how best to deal with his most tempermental pain in the ass client. I'm hoping he can get me down to 308lb by December so I can set more stare powerlifting records. Just call me a glory whore. A hypersensitive glory whore.