Plague of Strength

RAW UNITY 5- Post-Weighin, Meet Day, and the Week After Diet

Jamie Chaos
Apparently, my incredibly detailed run-down of my meet prep and meet were insufficient.  As such, I’ll expand upon them further.  To be covered: my meet day diet, post-meet diet, the reasoning behind my use of reverse grip bench press, and why I eschew the use of a belt.

Sodium, carb, and glycerine loading leaves me looking like I haven’t slept in 6 weeks, apparently, but big as shit- I weighed in at ~180 and weighed 198 in this pic.

Diet
I began planning my post-weighin meal at about 1PM the day before my meet.  I arrived at the weigh-in with 3 one-liter Powerade Zeros and a G2, all of which had about 3 oz of glycerine in them.  Within minutes of weighing in, I’d drunk 2 of those, then sat down to eat a 6oz burger and drink a Diet Coke.  In the next 3 hours, I alternately napped and watched the girls and lightweights compete, and in process consumed half a box of Cinnamon Life and 4 packages of Trio-Plex cookies.  Somewhere in there I drank the G2 and another liter of water.  I then went to Sonic and got a large popcorn chicken and tater tots with a humongous Diet Coke, and shortly thereafter to Landry’s for another burger, since I despise seafood.  Interesting to note is the fact that I’d drunk well over a gallon of water by the time I got to dinner, but didn’t actually piss until my fourth or fifth Diet Coke at dinner.  Before going to bed, I ate half a large thin crust pizza topped with pepperoni and sausage and drank the last Powerade Zero.

Unfortunately, I had a fat, congenial, mustachioed Mexican Dominos delivery person rather than this broad.

Upon waking, I ate the other half of the pizza, had a Monster Milk shake, and went downstairs.  During the meet I ate a few Titan protein cookies and a roast beef sandwich and fries.  I was attempting to get as much in the way of calories, carbs, and sodium into my system, all while keeping my protein higher than a fratboy at a Dave Matthews concert prior to his obligatory festival of date rape and douchebaggery.

Even made some bulgogi maki for a marathon of Call of Duty (since I don’t take pics of my food I just stole that from Flickr).

Following the week of the meet, I took a sort of “regain my sanity week”.  I only lifted three times, ate whatever I wanted each day, and relaxed a lot.  The only thing I ensured during the week, diet-wise, was that my protein stayed extremely high to ensure full recovery.  Before you ask, that means above 300g a day, and within shouting distance of 400g.  I’ve been dieting hard and training between 5 and 12 times per week nonstop since last May, so I felt it was time for a bit of a vacation.  This week, I’m probably as lean as I was, having awesome dreams at night and sleeping like I got snuck with a sack of wet pennies.  Additionally, my strength is good and I’m acting like a fucking animal in the gym again instead of doing the clock-watching I had been for the last couple of weeks prior to the meet.

The Reverse Grip
Initially, I started doing reverse grip bench presses because my left shoulder was bothering me.  As it turned out, there was no real injury there- I simply had the most incredible knotting radiating from my armpit to my wrist that anyone’s seen since the Incans tried to calculate the circumference of the Earth (google quipu if you aren’t nerdy enough to get the reference).  In any event, I found I progressed rapidly in the reverse grip and actually doubled 375 once a couple of weeks out from the meet, which I’d never come close to doing with regular grip.  Additionally, I’m a bigger proponent of making a spectacle of myself than Caligula, so going reverse just kicks that up another couple of notches.  Fuck, if fatassed Anthony Clark could succeed with it, I sure as fuck can.

The Belt Issue
A couple of years ago I had my belt stolen out of Mark Bartley’s gym, SC Barbell.  I rarely used the fucking thing for anything other than heavy partials, and quickly came to realize I didn’t need a belt for them, either- I’ve gone over 1200 lbs for back squat lockouts without a belt, so I’m relatively confident that the only thing that could injure my lower back or abs is a low-yield tactical nuke.  Given that one rarely encounters those in  powerlifting meets, I felt that the use of one would be superfluous.  Additionally, I found in a meet at SC Barbell (the first time I deadlifted over 600 in a competition or without straps) that I actually deadlifted less with a belt than without one.  As such, fuck belts.

This guy.

One dude, Jason Manenkoff, with whom I chatted during the meet actually made a fairly witty comment with which I didn’t totally agree, but thought was hilarious- he compared having my belt stolen to getting his track cleats stolen.  To him, just saying “fuck it, I don’t need it” was akin to him saying “fuck it, I’ll just fucking run barefoot” at the NCAAs.  In that scenario, though, I’m pretty much akin to a Kalenjin runner competing barefoot in the Olympics- they don’t fucking need shoes.

There you have it.  Simple enough, right?  Eat a shitload, and fuck everybody.

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Jamie Chaos Avatar
Jamie Chaos
I am a former all-time, all federation world record holder in raw powerlifting at 181lbs, a record I broke just to say fuck you to the internet’s “lifting” community and the powerlifting community at large. Over the last ten years I’ve written over 500 articles on strength training, nutrition, and supplementation, and continue to do so simply to fight the tide of weakness and sadness that currently pervades the scene I’ve called home for the better part of three decades. I’ve got personal trainin certs, BodyPump and BodyCombat certs, a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, and MBAs from the Vienna University and University of South Carolina on my side, in addition to some sick lifts and a hell of a lot of rage. What the fuck have you got?

15 responses to “RAW UNITY 5- Post-Weighin, Meet Day, and the Week After Diet”

  1. byukid Avatar
    byukid

    Thanks for both write-ups. Good reads for sure. Question about the reverse grips bench: how wide do you go with your grip? I tried these today and had to go pretty wide to be able to press. It seems the general recommendation is shoulder width, but my flexibility did not allow that.

  2. Prion Avatar
    Prion

    Good to see you posting again. But I'm really waiting for the conclusion to the predator diet series and the nutrition ebook. Any updates?

  3. manbearpig Avatar
    manbearpig

    This is good shit. I still think a Jamie Lewis Iron Radio interview has the potential to be hilarious, as most episodes are circle jerks of recovery worship and apocalyptic warnings of the dangers of burnout.

  4. sperrin Avatar
    sperrin

    Thanks for the great blog! I love your intensity and anger! I'm 195, you give great inspiration to the under 200 group.

  5. W.L.C 2 Avatar
    W.L.C 2

    Damn it!!! I got that Inca thing. Im such a dork! 🙁

  6. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    I'm kind of amazed that you won't wear a belt but will wear those knee sleeves. Seriously, fuck those things. As far as I can tell, they don't do a godamned thing to improve performance and they hurt worse than tight knee wraps to boot. My leg hair still hasn't forgiven me for trying them.

    Do you have any idea why belts make you deadlift less? I'm just curious. I don't have any intention of throwing my belt away any time soon.

    Stumbled uppon this, and I figgured this blog could always use sources of naked chicks who look like they lift: http://www.sexymusclegirls.com/pages/april_hunter.html

  7. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    tk knee sleeves rock especially if you dont wanna waste that much time getting warmed up. i put em on on the drive to gym get my knees warm somewhat ready. helps with warming up the joints more than anything. also if you got a cold/cool gym it helps if you dont like wearing layers of clothing. a lot of muscle connects in and around the knee last thing you want to tear or injure besides upper hams/back.

    also if i dead i just slide them down if im wearing shorts to save the shins.

  8. CJ Avatar
    CJ

    When ur diet ebook coming out?

  9. Raw Finn Avatar
    Raw Finn

    Umm, who's that blonde?

  10. Walter J White Avatar
    Walter J White

    Im loving the ultra low carb diet. I never though id have it in me to do something along the lines of keto. Shredding up real quick and getting stronger in the process. You are right about the diet focus transcending into the weightroom alright!

  11. Jason Manenkoff Avatar
    Jason Manenkoff

    hahaha… Thanks for the shout Jamie.. I'll be sure to post your blog on my fb page….
    I'd also like to know how wide a grip you take for your rev grip work? I did rev grip for the first time last week and my secondary movement and only got up to 185×8 and the entire time felt like the bar was going to slip out of my hands…. Pretty shitty for a 400 lb. bencher huh??? Since you are able to get above the 375+ range with it I'd be interested to know what your reg BP is… no fkn way in helllllll its less than or even equal to your reverse grip… what was Anthony Clarks #'s rev grip vs. reg grip.. on wiki they have his numbers but I'm sure they are equipt…

    http://www.youtube.com/user/JasonManenkoff165

  12. Sam Swanson Avatar
    Sam Swanson

    Yeah i agree . Fuck belts. Fuck regular bench. Fuck track cleats.

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