Meet Recap: Mark competed at the USAPL Arnold Raw Challenge, where he was able to round out the day with a 557lb. squat, 386lb. bench, and a 661lb. deadlift for a total of 1604lbs! Mark took some time off powerlifting after USAPL Nationals last year, and we hopped back into things about 15 weeks out from the Arnold. The goal for the meet was to get back to a baseline of strength that was near his all time bests and execute a 9 for 9 day, and he did just that. Squat and deadlift in particular probably had some room in the tank, and it was almost hard to gauge where Mark’s strength would be on the day since he was getting stronger almost every week coming back from the layoff.  Coming back from some time away from powerlifting can make meet preps look a little different than usual, and I think Mark’s prep is a good example of what that process can look like. Things really started to click the last 4-5 weeks and we started seeing all three lifts make some meaningful upticks that rode all the way into meet day, especially on squat. Squat was the most detrained lift from the time off, and over those 15 weeks it progressed from a baseline around 235kg up to maybe 255-257.5kg based on how Mark’s 3rd attempt moved and his capacity to grind a lift. During times like this it’s very easy for an athlete to jump ahead. 6 weeks out 245kg moved worse than 252.5kg did on meet day, and I’ve found often people start self-manifesting what they think they’re capable of way too soon. In most meet preps, normally you have a fairly stable baseline of strength that you’re just trying to express on meet day. When you’re coming back from a layoff though, that baseline is still actively rising the entire prep. Every week Mark was genuinely getting stronger, even into the final week leading into the meet. Mark did a phenomenal job just taking the wins each day and week and letting the weights come to him instead of trying to force anything. Because of that mindset and the way he managed expectations throughout the prep, he was able to get the most out of training by the time meet day came around.

Division: Open

Weight Class: 75kg

Squat: 557lbs.

Bench: 386lbs.

Deadlift: 661lbs.

Total: 1604lbs.

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