7/27/2013 Week 1 of 10 Squats & Deads Training for XPC Semi's

Today I started my ten week meet prep program.  Brian sent everything to me Friday and it is a pretty big change-up from what he has had me doing in the past.  Brian has been coaching me for a little over a year now and this will be our fourth meet together.  Since I started powerlifting in October of 2010 this stretch since the Arnold is the longest I've went without competing.  I did do a bench meet but that doesn't really count.  I tried to talk Brian into a full meet but he was pretty adamant that I not, so...  He was right though, I feel that I am as close to 100% as I have since I started.  Thanks Brian for all the offseason programming that has brought me back to life...
The biggest change has been that I'm squatting and pulling on the same day.  Wednesday was my pull day but now it is all accessory work.   So, today was the first squat/pull day of this training cycle.  It went really well considering it was a pretty light day.  The only negative that I saw was that with 565 for the squats I couldn't get down very good at all.  It usually takes around 700 to be able to hit depth so as the weeks go by and the weight gets heavier then I'll start really worrying about it.  I did three sets of three on the squats in full gear once I got to 565.  Once I got the briefs and suit off I had to sit down for about ten minutes to chill and catch my breath.  My gear is super tight since I have gained this additional ten pounds and it is a pain in the ass to get off.  Then I had to put on my DL suit...  It's not so bad and I don't wear briefs with it and I wear Under Armour type underwear under it so it can move around.  I worked up to 475 for two sets of three.  My deadlift is sucking big time and I hope this new approach will make it move again.  After pulls I went to rack pulls and finished with a top set of three at 605.  As I was loading the bar in the rack I also hit my head on one of the pins and cut it.  Dumb ass...  It wasn't a bad cut at all but it wouldn't stop bleeding, Mindy finally took a paper towel and some masking tape and fixed me up.  Pulling the sled was up next.  It has been awhile since I had done that and it got my quads fired up.  Finished the day with some McGill crunches.  Good day.