Aspirations for Nationals

So 9 days from today I will be getting on a plane bound for Melbourne Australia to join 180 GPC lifters for what appears to be a fantastically organised meet.

I can't speak for anyone else in the team but I feel like a fat kid in a cookie store with excitement. I am keenly aware as a beginner  my total will be one of the lowest but I am going to give it everything in the 75kg class and leave it all on the platform.

I have specific goals for this meet. First I want to refine my competition technique and learn to better control my nerves on the day: at States I burnt so much nervous energy.. Second and obviously I want to improve my total, more on this shortly. Finally I want to own the weight, I want to head out for each attempt so utterly   confident that it will go up.

My lifts have come along way in the last 8 weeks both just before States and in the prep for Nationals. My squat has improved and I have added 40kg to my PB (good to be a beginner!). Much of this is to do with confidence, getting under the bigger weights and trusting going deep in the hole. Bench is still a problem with my technique all over the place. Somehow I found myself with an ultra narrow geared lifter style bench. Consequently I kept missing lifts 6 inches or so off the chest as the bar path strayed off the natural groove. I had the good fortune to read an article by Dan Green which resonated and since I have been focusing on this my lifts feel much more in the zone. I feel comfortable I will double 2.5kgs more than my States lift. My deadift is the one I am less sure about. I would like to think I have a 180 in me which would be a 12.5 kg PB. I will know more on Friday as I attempt to double my current PB.

Overall if I have a great meet then my total is 30kg over States, but to be honest I will stoked with 5-10. Now it's important to put this in perspective, the 3rd best total in GPC in my class this year is 567kg a full 167 more than my current total. But here's the thing I am 43 I am new to this, I am hungry and I am going to give it a hell of a crack over the coming years!

I can't fucking wait!

Stay Strong
Thomo