3 Weeks Out

Coming to the final stretch here. 3 weeks to go from today as I type this. Gary changed up my diet one more time yesterday. I can't say that it is brutal, by any means, but this is going to be a looooooooooooooooooooong 3 weeks.

Rob and I are training again at the Firm Fitness Center in Rehoboth Beach. It is a nice change of pace. The owner,Paul, is a serious triathlete himself and understands what real athletes need to do to train properly. It is nice to be able to feel like we don't have to hold back for fear of offending anyone. Not that we get obnoxious or anything, but real sport athletes need to be able to do what they need to do to excel.


Anyhoooo I am getting freaky ripped, very hard, and striated everywhere. 3 more weeks to carve it all in. You shall be able to grate cheese on my striations when we present the final product!
:)

4 Weeks Out

I didn't realize it has been soooooooo very long since I posted anything here. I am a FaceBook addict, lol, so that's where my postings and pictures usually wind up.

However - here is my 2010 Nationals progress update:

I apologize to many for leading them to believe that I might be competing as a lightheavyweight.

Unless I cut off one of my arms or legs or emaciate myself into a shapeless stick, my plan has been to be a heavyweight all along. I only said that because there are a few people who have no business to be, but are always up in my business. Just threw in a little curve to confuse them.

I'm 4 weeks out, and hanging around 153 today. I don't do what most typical bodybuilders do in the last couple of weeks before a show, with carb depleting, dehydrating, recarbing, rehydrating, and diuretics, so I will probably only lose a couple more pounds total in the next few weeks. Heck, we were way too far ahead at one point and had to add food, mostly carbs, back into my diet. I am right where we want me to be at this point. I have striations coming in everywhere, and the glute striations are showing more every day! Enjoy these progress pictures taken yesterday at 4 weeks and 1 day out.

11 weeks out

I'm sitting at 11 weeks out and feeling pretty darned good about my prep for the Nationals. I'm wayyyyy ahead of last year, condition wise. I don't even have much more weight to lose, which almost makes it difficult to diet but keep enough weight on ! After seeing the results of last weekend's Masters Nationals, then seeing the trend at the USA's, I'm more confused than ever as to where they might place me.
How do Competitors A,B,C,and D wind up 1st, 2nd,3rd and 4th in order and less than 15 minutes later wind up 2nd,4th,1st and 3rd ???

Absolutely tragic, the Masters, and we'll never get an explanation. With the USA's it seems they went for natural structure with "ok" conditioning over everything else. Thats fine when the natural structure has decent muscle on it, hence the term body"building", but way too often we see so called natural structures with "potential" beat out a "built" physique...

I got to hang out with two really great friends who competed in Pittsburgh. Gary and Tim. I got a trainer pass for backstage and got to oil up lots of muscular manly physiques... I rather enjoyed that :). Met two wonderful FaceBook friends in person - Matt and John. John Casciato is in training to become a licensed massage therapist, and brought his table over to the hotel and I got the most wonderful deep tissue massage. Nothing like a 290 pound powerlifter bearing down on your sore spots...OWWW!!! (but AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH ). If you are in Pittsburgh and seek a most competent massuere, you can probably track him down at Celli's Fitness Center, in Pittsburgh.
Had a nice photoshoot with Mark Shaffer. I wonder what Janet Kauffman needs to do to get the

judges' nod. She looked exquisite, should have definitely won her class if not one of the pro cards at the Masters!!

I'm training totally bodybuilder style now. My arm is healing, slowly but surely. There are still many exercises I cannot do, but for the most part I have been able to pick up my training back up enough to brutaly trash myself each workout. I do so miss the heavy stuff, but I'm convinced that even after my arm heals, I'm going to need a couple of montwhs or so off to rest, recoup, recover before I dig into the power training again. I suppose that will be next year....woe is me.

2010 DE Summer Special Olympics

I was honored once again to partake in the Special Olympics this year, acting as judge for the powerlifting as I have done for the past 3 years. This year was extra special as I took on the task of coaching one of the athletes. Robert Smith is his name, he is from Oceanview, Delaware, and he had a great day on the platform. Robert hit PR's in both the bench, by 15 lbs. and the deadlift, by 5 lbs. He benched 115 and deadlifted 205! Congratulations Robert - you worked hard and your medals were well earned.

Me, Robert with his 2 bronze medals, Mike - director of the SODE Powerlifting, and Ann Smith (Robert's mom).

Here I am spraying my friend Jon Stoklosa's mohawk purple for him! He sprays it a different color each time he competes.

Jon after completeing a big 370 bench. Jon is going to the National Special Olympics next month, as well as my friend David Hill, also a powerlifter, and Forrie Brown - basketball.

Bring home the medals fellas!!!

I weighed in at 164.6 the other day. I'm told I look bigger than that, but no, that's all. I attribute it to all the different techniques I've used over the past year, both in training and diet. I imagine my diet, should I continue on to the Nationals (remember, for the record - I have NOT commited yet) would begin sometime next month - YIKES!!! Though with about 25 lbs to lose I am wayyyyyyyyyy ahead of where I was last year, when I lost a total of 41.

My arm is doing quite well after training last week. I will add a little bit more weight each workout, but no huge weights for me for a while to come. :( I was doing some cardio over the weeks that I could not train, but now that I am training again with weights, I must stop the cardio, as it is causing me to become terribly overtrained. My legs hurt so much I couldn't squat the other night and had to train them extremely light. Hah! Most people pick up thier cardio on contest prep - I have to curtail it...lol...whatever!!!

Update

Update on the bicep tear: I fiinally went back to training my upper body last night. 10 whole weeks of curbside...it was tough on the old mindset, but I made it through. I only benched 135 last night, 20 to 15 rep sets on those and everything else, nothing to failure. Now comes the really hard part - reigning myself in each and every workout for awhile to come. Obviously I won't be hoisting anything substantial for awhile, so the plan is to resume training in a full bodybuilding type mode. Sets of reps, and volume, pumping blood through the tissues.

Gary feels that I can be ready for the Nationals should I choose to compete, but as I was off for so long and didn't gain the size like I had wanted, the most rational way to go about it would be to come in as a lightheavyweight, on the very upper end of the scale. I haven't withered, miraculously, but most of the heavies are taller, or structured to appear larger, so I think that he may be right. I am very much leaning toward doing just this, but I shall keep you posted. The next few weeks will tell the tale so long as my arm holds up and I take it slow and easy.

Here is a photo from last year's Masters Nationals that shows how incredibly dry and hard I was!

Delaware Power Classic 2010

DELAWARE POWER CLASSIC 2010 took place this past weekend. I can honestly say it was the best one yet! OSX Fitness in Newport DE and proprietor Steve Oldham welcomed us with open arms. The venue is perfect for a powerlifting meet, as both sides of the building have oversized garage doors that open. The weather was perfect! The crowd was huge. We had 43 lifters, and many big lifts. It was alot of work on my part, but I wouldn't trade putting these meets together for anything! Results can be found here:

http://www.apa-wpa.com/2010MeetResults/DPC2010RESULTS.pdf

Pictures and videos can be found here:

http://sode.smugmug.com/Sports/DE-APA

Hank Stoklosa - how do we ever thank you for all of your work taking the pix and video??!!!

Dynamo Club Powerlifting- I love you guys! Thank you also to Kathy Fields, Derek Hill, Len Walker, Julie Trincia, 4G's Catering, Steve Pulcinella and Iron Sport Gym, Rob Haas and Sussex Fence, the list goes on, and especially THANK YOU to Steve Oldham of OSX Fitness - !!! Can't wait til November 13 for the next meet - same place - be there!!!

I now own a monolift, yes I do...but instead of housing it in my garage to rust, I have sent it up to IronSport Gym in Glenolden PA. I want it to be used, and I know there aren't any other monolifts in the area. So if you are a Powerlifter in the DE, PA, NJ, MD area and want to train on a monolift - IronSport Gym now has one!!!

April 30

I officially fell apart - i hve been nursing what seems to be a left bicep tendon strain, and probably a bit of a tear. I haven't trained in a month! I'm going batty, but I have been busy focusing on the upcoming Delaware Power Classic (May 08) and some other non-training related issues. I have started training a Special Olympian for the DE Special Olympics in June.
Robert has participated for the past few years, and I think we can get him up to benching and deadlifting both with new PR's.

Last week I played announcer at the Pennsylvania State Boys' Powerlifting Championships.
It was a huge meet. I was very impressed with the athletes and thier enthusiasm. The meet was well expedited. They had 4 platforms of lifters all competing at once, so my guess is there were at least 100 lifters if not more. It was held at Glen Mills Schools in Glen Mills, PA - a gorgeous, rolling and lush campus dotted with beautiful old stone buildings.

NO - I am not giving up bodybuilding!!! Hah - how many people read that statement of me being currently "sick" of it and misconstrued that statement????
My plans have to change again due to the injury, but I'm not going anywhere. I will probably be sidelined for 3 - 4 more weeks. It sucks, but this is what happens when you know you need to back off, but don't.

Absent

I am living in absentia....pardon my invisibility, but nothing is happening. I am on mandatory hiatus from training, due to severe overtraining, and strained biceps tendon, and God-awful leg pain that has returned not only in a vengenace, but double-fold. Boo! Boo-Hoo!!!

I am about sick of bodybuilding - I don't even want to go there, just leave it at that I am powerlifting this year. Period. Exclamation mark! I know I'll lose my national qualification if I don't compete this year, but who the heck cares. Not I. I'll get it back next year, no doubts, no worries.
One cannot excel at both of these sports simultaneously. Key word = excel. I love my strength. I want to be strong. I have powerful goals this year. Stay tuned.

Another No Go :(

I had been preparing for the IPA DE State Championships next weekend, March 13th. Of course, as per usual, something always happens to me that prevents me from making it to the platform. No change in that status quo -
This time the meet was cancelled due to lack of entries. Woe is me, I feel I was well prepared. My bench and deadlift were on. My squat has been up and down, but I would have at least been able to do one. My legs are starting to give me a bit of problem again, but I think I can nip it by going back to an every other week squatting regimen.
I went in on bench day and did my planned opener, 285. Went up smooth and quick. Decided on 305 for a second - I have pushed 305 legitamately several times before, but I must say, this one was the best I have ever done. Smooth and quick. That was it. What the third attempt will be remains to be decided on meet day (whenever THAT shall happen again! ).

Since almost everyone else in the world including my training partner Rob went out to the Arnold Classic this weekend, I travelled up to IronSport Gym to train deadlifts with my good friend Steve Pulcinella. I knew my dead would be decent, having pulled a good 370 x 8 a few weeks back. It is hard for me to jump out of the car after driving for 2 hours and feel like training at all, much less pulling, but it went much better than I expected. First you have the awesome atmosphere of a real hardcore gym, an ATHLETE'S gym. Then there was a small group of guys on another platform doing deadlifts as well. (yes - several real lifting platforms!) When I go back and look at these videos I can see and still feel my sluggishness, but they were good and I still had "a little left in the tank"....
Steve filmed these :
first a 405 x 4. I should have stopped at one or 2, but I was "caught in the moment" .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHvr38sbOzk

Then a 440 x 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LwinyIgBAs

I have been training recently at times off a 100 lb plate, and I think that is really helping my initial pull off of the floor putting more leg drive into it, however I am also not putting my back into it now as quickly. If I can do that again a little faster - hah! Look out world!!! . Actually, I havent done all that much pulling in the past year, so I am happy to have the strength back up to where it was last year - FINALLY! That bodybuilding stuff just saps me!!!

Steve popped off a nice 675. He has a shoulder injury, hence the double overhand grip and straps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbunPzKrb3M

I will be "deloading" this week - was going to anyway because of the meet, but now just because I NEED to. I feel just this side of a train wreck. I have another meet in mind to prepare for in the not too distant future. I just need to keep from falling apart.

No Snow is Good Snow

I'm not sure it really has anything to do with the mandatory "rest" I have been subjected to, but whatever - last night was a really good bench night. I popped 4 really good 280's up. I've done 4 before, but they weren't nearly as nice as these. I actually surprised myself. The snowy cold and dampness was definitely making me feel like I was never going to warm up. My first working set,250, felt heavy and I felt sluggish. For some unrational reason I decided to go with 280 even though I thought that one was going to be a struggle and voila - I guess I did warm up enough. 4 easy breezy beautiful reps. Then 230 for 11. My weight - 170 lbs. I've been doing less volume with the focus being on strength now instead of aesthetically building. Our second movement was flyes - 3 sets.

We have been doing this exercise for our shoulders that I like/hate. I don't know if it has a name, and I haven't yet figgered what to call it. You stick the end of the barbell in the corner, and the plates on the other end. You push up against the wall using delt "hoist".... holy moley - they work my shoulders like nothing else ever has. It is like doing real work, as opposed to a machine that fabricates motion, if that makes sense. Just one deltoid exercise, but this one was more than sufficient for trashing our shoulders.

My back is not sore from shoveling, but only because I don't own a snow shovel - HAH!!! I went out Monday searching for one at various stores, but the lesson here is Supply and Demand - don't go looking for something when everybody else needs it too. I could not find one anywhere. So I let a couple of strapping young fellows that knocked on my door shovel part of my driveway, yet I still have to wade through the snow to get to my car from my door. High steppin' cardio ?

Blizzard Be Gone

Here I sit during the second blizzard this week! Third snow storm in 2 and a half weeks.

Ok, you mid-westernerers and northerners tell us we Mid-Atlantic babies are whining, but it isnt just snow. These are actually full fledged "Nor'easters" coupled with snow. 60 mph gusts of wind - you'd be whining too. We aren't used to t here on the lovely Delmarva Peninsula. I think I got off with a mere 20" or so total. It's hard to tell I can't see out the window right now!!

Training - besides the gym being closed alot because of the weather, I had some personal issues keep me out of the gym for a week or so... however, typically I don't rest much from the gym unless it is forced rest, and by cracky this forced rest has done me good! My muscles look really big and full right now.

I still have abs at 171 - 172 !!! And veins in my arms and shoulder striations...My

strength has been up and down because of the time off and the drain of the personal issues, but I foresee it going in the right direction once again rapidly - UP!!!

We did dealdift the other night, that of which I really have done very little of lately. I did them off a 3" block, 370 for 5 - all resets. I have no clue what that would translate into off the floor. I really like pulling out of a deficit position. It feels good in the hamstrings and glutes. Today WOULD HAVE been chest day....grooooan. It's just turned into nap day. ZZZZZZZZ

January 18 2010

I am training. I am just quiet. Things are going well, for the most part. I really want to get to a meet to compete before I fall apart or get too old.

Rob Haas is a great training partner. Even though we don't always do the same exercises. he is always good for motivation and I like training with him.

I attended a very informative bench press clinic the other day at IronSport Gym in Glenolden PA. Shawn Lattimer really knows his benching. Shawn benched a perfect 875 at one of my meets a couple of years ago.

I picked up a couple of good tips, let's see if I can translate them into my own benching program!

Still hanging with a low 300's max bench.

Enter Stranger

I will tell you what happens. It is that I miss a few postings, and it gets so overwhelming when I think of all of the things I need to catch up on. Then I postpone my blog for "just one more day". 2 months later, here I am.
I will just begin fresh again, and not worry about the old news. Maybe some of it will work its way into my blog here and there.

It is so exciting to be able to squat again! I am still working on learning a new technique, but as of last week I think I finally nailed what works for me. Still climbing back up in the weight, but dedinitely I am getting there. I am still using sleeves only for reminder of leg and knee positioning. Every time I try wraps these days it becomes a disaster. Somehow I will need to reincorporate knee wraps, but for now is without.
One of the adjustments I have to be aware of is keeping the bar positioned in the proper place on my back. I keep wanting to sneak it up higher, which will throw me out of alignment and place the stress on my back ,throw me forward, and disallow the depth I am striving for.



That is a 370 x 3 .
I have been training recently with my friend Rob Haas, who is proving to be a great training partner!

So Happy Holidays.

I was just sitting here thinking that last year I made resolutions for the first time in many years. They didn't workout very well. I am contemplating trying one for this coming year or not.... I haven't decided yet.

November 01

Time is just slipping, not even flying.
Training has been absolutely right on track, with the exception of re-twinging my knee (yes I made up that word). My chiro says it feels strong, but the meniscus tells me other things.. :(. I did squat an easy 440 a couple of weeks ago, but then silly me I went and did a set of roman chair squats...not a good idea to do after squatting. So I'm resting my knee.
I had to change my foot placement because of the knee pain, but, lo and behold, putting my feet back the way they used to be proves to give me more stability, hence more TORQUE! So I benched a 300 the other night, on a tired and lazy night. Went up good, but GW says I am still sinking wayyyyy to deep in my chest. So he says to do one more. OK, I'm game, let me go to the ladies room first. Whilst I am gone he sneaks 5 more pounds on the bar, 305. Didnt tell me.
I concentrated on touching and not sinking the bar, and it went up easy as pie,mooth as silk, pretty as a bench can be.... coulda woulda done another rep, but I'm saving my energy for..... :)

Aches and Pains

Squatting update -
I put up a very good 410 the other day, no knee wraps! My knee was a bit angry with me, but not too terrible My chiropractor said it felt really good when I went in for my weekly visit, so I'm not going to get too worried about it, not yet anyway. I just can't get bounce out of the wraps because I deescend way too slow. They actually hinder my performance at this point.
I benched 300 for 2 reps last night. It was a bad performance day, at that. I was all stiff and tight from this terrible front of bad weather that has moved in, along with being in the car all day and going to my Uncle Bill's funeral (we miss you Uncle Bill! ). So 300 for 2 is more than I could have hoped for.
My body is certainly reminding me of the difference between powerlifting and bodybuilding. I am sore, I ache, I am stiff....and I can't wait to go back for another dose, lol!!!

I would like to say congratulations to Scott Yard as he has just accepted the position of APA Pennsylvania Chairperson. It is good to know that my comrades are so competent and accomplished!

Iron Sport Gym

Nothing about training is even worth elaborating on this week, except for the fact that I was able to visit with Steve Pulcinella at Iron Sport Gym in Glenolden PA on Friday. I was able to train with Steve and his workout partner, Frank for some deadlifting and back training. My deadlifting sucked. That's all i can say about it, but Steve is awesome and so is the gym. I'd sell my soul to train at a gym like that on a regular basis, I swear I would.

Steve really caters to the serious Iron Athlete - whether it be Powerlifting, Strongman, Bodybuilding, and is one of the very few places anywhere in the USA where you can go to train in Olympic lifting.

If you live anywhere within reasonable driving's distance to IronSport, it is worth the journey - pure Iron Heaven. :)

Steve knows his stuff, too, if you need some training advice or help with any of the Iron sports.

www.Ironsport.com

groooovy

I am always playing catch up here -

I was away at Tank's last week. I did manage to squat up at the Breakfast Club again in New London CT on Sunday. I was feeling extremely tight in the hips and legs from all the driving I did on the trip up and the next day driving us to and fro. I didn't expect much of a workout , but I did manage an EASY 395, could have and should have done 2 reps, and I squatted again without wraps. I'm actually liking the no wrapping. Let's see how far I can get without them....

Tank got to shoot in a commercial that will air during the Superbowl! It's a NutriSystem commercial with Dan Marino and Lawrence taylor and some other notable football players in it.

I did an interview with Ucwmagazine.com lst week. It bores the heck out of me, but if you are interested, the link is www.ucwmagazine.com/katebaird.html . It is about an hour long. Louis Velasquez is a really groovy guy - groovy...love that word. Why does no one use that word any more???

I know - MIA again, I have been. It gets difficult for me to get excited about posting and elaborating on my training when my training isn't exciting me. I have been so slow to recover from the Masters prep - I sure did throw myself through the wringer for that. I have felt my strength brewing and twitching within - but I just haven't been able to get to it! Usually I go in , do one set, and I am tuckered out...
I deadlifted 320 x 10 the other night. I felt more reps in me, but it was just like, man, I'm done, and that was that.
Stupidly I squatted again on Sunday. I know better than to squat so soon after deadlifting, but I am just so darned excited to be able to do it again! I put 320 on my back and I could feel my hips scream NO!!! at me. But I sucked it up and did 8, then 370 for 3, which is no better than last week, but I will consider the overhelming soreness in my hips. That was all I could do.
Switch gears to tonight! Oh, I feel regenerated all of a sudden. I give credit mostly to my mp3 player, and the loud metal playing in my ear helping me to amp up. Our gym plays this awful not even disco music, and you cant gear yourself up to lift big iron with that playing. Soomeone said tomight that it makes him want to go home and lay his clothes out on the bed...lol
Anyhoo, the loud head banging music gave me the groove, and I used it. Benches- 260 x 7, and then an EASY 300 x 1, though I wanted to do another but GW didnt know so he pulled the bar back to help me rack it. Yes indeed, I am almost back!
I found my strength again!!! I need to be careful to keep it.

Recent Summary

OK - been awhile, so let me try to catch younz up in a nutshell.

Training has been good for the most part. The Masters prep really took its toll on my strength this time, and I am still easing back into it, but I am getting there - ALMOST back to where I was. I am still only 160 lbs, abs still in, still have striations in some places, but smoothing out and I need to to perform well.

I haven't deadlifted but very lightly one week since the show. My bench was up to 230 for 7 or 8 the other night - ok, we'll take that. Going to go a bit harder this week on the bench :).

I AM SQUATTING AGAIN!!! I started with the bar on week #1, graduated to 135 the next week, then 225, then 275, and have been at 315 for the past 3 weeks. Each week I add a rep. Today I did 320 for 5(no wraps)...it was so fucking hot in the gym this morning- don't think that the air conditioning was on in the back room at all. Everyone was melting, it was horrible. I even got dizzy on my last set because I could not breathe. I did one rep at 370, would have attempted another, but just couldn't muster the air. That's ok, next time... then we did some speed trainng with the blue bands...lol...need some help with this stuff.
My IT band has been so quiet and so good. My right knee, however is off and on problematic, but I amazed how well it holds out for the squatting. I do go to the chiropractor for knee adjustments every other week now. It is getting better.



Tank and I went to Miami a couple of weeks ago for Lisa Gaylord's Fitness Blitz weekend. What a whirlwind trip! Thanks and many hugs to Lisa and Erin Milchman for allowing us to be part of this event, and allowing us to meet so many wonderful and special people whilst we were there.
Both Lisa and Erin are like Energizer Bunnies and they kept us busy but we had so much fun!



I then spent another week in Connecticut with Tank :) I don't think we stopped moving the entire week. I'm still exhausted. We went to a taping of Deal or No Deal while I was there. Thank God I have callouses on my hands already. My hands hurt from clapping so much through 3 tapings of the show.

Tank took me to the Breakfast Club in New London again last week when I was in CT. Those guys are great! They gave me nail bending lessons, and I bent both of my first attempts, probably much to thier surprise! Nail bending is my new hobby :)

I miss you Tank when we aren't together! xoxox

alive

I'm alive - really I am. So much going on, lots to elaborate on. Usually when so much happens I get overwhelmed and keep putting things off, such as I am doing now...
and I am putting off this post until tomorrow - HAH!!! Just checking in to say I have not evaporated.
Stay tuned -

photo by Women's Physique World

Masters Nationals 2009