110lb Total PR: A Year In Review

Ask me how I put 110lbs on my total and I'll confidently tell you, consistency. Simple, yes. Easy, no.

I started working with Aaron Thomas just over a year ago. When I started working with him my current total was 865lbs. In the beginning he just did my nutrition. I totaled 910 after my first cut with him. My lifts were a 360lb squat, 190lb bench, and 360lb deadlift. After this, I hire him to do both my programming and nutrition.

This is the beginning of 2015, before I had any nutrition plan in place. Around 134lbs here. 

The first thing we did was cut to the 114 weight class. I lost somewhere around 10-15lb in tissue and then cut 6lbs in water. During this time is when I learned a thing or two about consistency. I learned quickly that I was going have to stick to the plan 110 percent to make this cut happen. There is always a reason to not stick to the nutrition plan. ALWAYS. There is always a party, a family gathering, a holiday, not enough time, not enough energy, work, kids, there is always an excuse. I tell myself I won't let these things derail me, I will not allow any excuses. I was strict. Very strict. Strict as in I didn't take bites, I didn't take tastes, I didn't vary, I didn't sway. I was the asshole who showed up at Grandma's on Easter with tupperware meals. It didn't take long before it became easier. Tupperware at Grandma's didn't seem as sad after the first few times. It was during this time that I built more mental toughness than anything else. I could talk a lot about the training and I'll get to that, but this is the first layer. The training was hard. Much harder than I have ever trained. I totaled 945lbs at 114lbs. 370lb squat, 200lb bench, 375lb deadlift. The second highest total in the world.

This is the day of weigh ins, June 2015. 113.6lbs, with a 6lb water cut. 

Next up, meet without wraps at 123lbs about 6 months down the road. I did a mass first and bodyweight reaches around 140lbs. This was actually fun. Really fun. I got to be a little less strict, eat a lot and my boobs came back to me (yay!). The training was ridiculous. The volume was out of control. What about that sounds fun? Uh, food, lifting all the weights, getting all the muscles, and boobs......what's not fun? I also happen to get really strong. At the end of the mass, we tested my lifts and they landed with a 415lb squat, 220lb bench and a 405lb deadlift, all gym lifts done throughout the week.

My big take aways for this phase were:
1)Volume is King!
2) If your training isn't hard and isn't challenging you, it likely isn't changing you
3)There is a lot to be said for training just to get strong and put on some mass. It felt good to take a mental break from meet prep and bro out a little.

To give you an idea of the amount of volume I was doing, I counted the number of reps I did at the peak of the high volume phase. On a Monday, I did 56 reps with bench. Different variations and different rep schemes. On a Friday (deadlift day) I did 93 reps of various deadlifts and squats. NINETY THREE! I'm only counting my working sets, this does not include my warm ups.

September, 2015. Around 140ish pounds here. 

After the mass, we start the cut to compete at 123lbs. Somewhere in here, I get a job from hell. As training intensity builds so does the stress from my job. I start feeling the stress of my job creep into to my training. It sucks. Really sucks and I'm having trouble figuring out how to fix it. I'm persistent. I am a self proclaimed queen of the turn around. By the time I realize I need a turn around, it's a little too late. My right arm dies and refuses to bench. This happens somewhere around 5 or 6 weeks out from my meet. You can read about that on my other post: The Evolution of a World Record Squat: Pleasure vs. Happiness. I do the meet anyway. Turns out, doing the meet with a dead arm, made me better. Way better. The take away here is recovery. I knew this was important but I hadn't quite figured out how to read the signs. Being persistent and the self proclaimed queen of the turn around probably hindered me here. Nonetheless, I ended the meet with a 892lb total and an American record squat in sleeves at 363lbs. Before I started training with Aaron, the most I had ever squatted without wraps was around 305lbs in the gym. Just for some perspective.  

After that, I took a few weeks off, healed my arm up, and quit that awful job. Then I started training for my most recent meet where I pr'd my total.   

Working with someone remotely has it's own set of challenges. Communication is key. I should clarify. TRUTHFUL communication is key. I do my best to be up front about what exactly is going on. If my weight shoots up and I suck at the gym it doesn't do me any favors by keeping the fact that I went out partied all night and ate like asshole from my trainer. I need the plan to work, if I throw a wrench in it, I need to tell the engineer. I pay Aaron to make the plan. It's up to me to follow the plan. You've got to stay the course. You've got to go through some growing pains as a coach/athlete for it all to come together. As long as I'm holding up on my end, I trust he's holding up on his. The take aways are:

1) You need a plan

2) You need to follow the plan

3) Communication is important

4) Adjustments are ok, and a good sign people are paying attention

5) Consistency

6) Consistency

7) Consistency

So in just about a year's worth of time from our first full training cycle together, Aaron and I have managed to put 110lbs on my total by way of 420lb squat, 215lb bench, and 420lb deadlift.

Ask me how I put 110lbs on my total and I'll confidently tell you, consistency. Simple, yes. Easy, no.

Left is February 2015. Right is April 2016. 

Bodyweight is ~122 in both pics. In both I did around 7-8lb water cut.