Week 12 Competition Results, Review of Program and Road Ahead

After doing my last weight workout on Jan 31 I came down with a good head cold that killed my energy. I stayed away from lifting any weights except for Feb 8, I dragged my ass into the gym and forced myself to do a light workout. This workout was the only weight training I did for 9 days leading up to the competition. Lady luck was on my side because if I was to get sick, it was the perfect time. The layoff did not effect my strength too much but I did pick conservative numbers going in because I had no idea how strong my body would feel until I started to warm up.
My opening squat attempt was light enough to guarantee success. This sets the stage for the rest of the meet. My goal for the squat was to hit about 405 lbs and I smoked 402 lbs with ease. Goal one down.
Next up was the bench press which I had question marks about how well it would go. My training for this lift was sub par due to nagging injuries and I knew hitting anywhere near a new PR was impossible. But I was confident I could break the existing record BC record and the Canadian record but that would be unofficial. In order to help my left shoulder I had decreased my hand distance, which actually gave me some issues at the meet. With my hands closer together, when I was done pressing the weight my arms felt fully extended but in actuality they were not. I still had a slight bend in them which results in red lights and a failed attempt. After I figured out from the judges what was wrong I repeated the same weight for my final attempt and got all white lights.
The last lift was the deadlift and this lift went the best out of all three for me. My goal here was to break the existing record and nothing else. After all the fucking around I did with my form on this lift leading up to this event, I just wanted to pull three good lifts and break the BC record. My final attempt weight felt like it moved off the floor slowly but once it was a few inches off the ground it just flew up. With my sumo style and the way I setup the first couple of inches are the hardest and the rest is easy.
Final Results
Squat 402 lbs 182.5 kg
Bench Press 347 lbs 157.5 kg BC record masters 2 and unofficial Canadian Record 93 kg class
Deadlift 506 lbs  230 kg BC record masters 2 93 kg class
Total 1255 lbs 570 kg BC record masters 2 93 kg class
My attempts
Squat 1st 145kg, 2end 165kg, 3rd 182.5kg
Bench Press 1st 145kg, 2end 157.5kg, 3rd 157.5kg
Deadlift 1st 185kg, 2end 215kg, 3rd 230kg

How I felt about the program I used leading up to this competition. Overall I was happy with it for my squat and deadlift. Different story for my bench press, I changed this part of my training program about 6 weeks out from the competition. I did feel the program was about 4 weeks too long for me. Doing a 8 week peaking program I think is better suited to me or even shorter. Doing AMRAP sets with my training max in the deadlift for me hurt my progress but was no issue for the squat. For the deadlift going forward AMRAP sets with a heavy weight will be off limits for me. The way the program is setup for monthly 10 lbs increases I think is golden and has worked awesome for my squat and deadlift. This has eliminated injuries for me because I'm slowly increasing the weight and allowing my body to adjust and compensate to the heavier loads. It keeps you away from hitting max 1 rep attempts which I think are progress killers, if done on a consistent basis. Anytime I have deviated from the program and pushed the weights up faster has resulted in only two things injury or setbacks. The deloads are also golden if done properly. I walked a fine line after the 7 week point and came very close to overtraining. When I look back I think the tipping point for me was one workout Week 7 Day 2 Sumo Deadlifts. That last set took too much out of me and I even called the set with a rep in the tank. Felt great but the after effects took there toll. Hard to describe the feeling other then a full body hangover that continued to haunt me for weeks after. This AMRAP set was programmed for 475 and I changed it to 495, which was a mistake. You MUST have patience with this program and stick with his philosophies, if you try to rush it pay the price. 
Start of this training block
Week 1 Day 2  Sumo Deadlift 1RM: 514 lb
Week 1 Day 3 Bench Press 1RM: 335 lb
Week 1 Day 4 Squat 1RM: 370 lb
Top Lifts Achieved during the training block
Week 9 Day 4 Squat 405 lbs
Week 11 Day 3 Bench Press 355 lbs
Week 7 Day 2 Sumo Deadlift 495 lbs for 5 reps

The road ahead will be working on my speed and strength base and using the 5/3/1 program to slowly improve my 3 lifts. I'm looking at running a version he calls the advanced 5/3/1 for all my lifts. I'll explain it more once I kick off that training block. It's a boring routine...but I'm used to those for me because they work. My big focus is going on improving my bench press which has gone backwards. As part of the advanced program I'm going to incorporate the sling shot, more to follow on that. My next goal will be the 2018 BCPA Provincial Powerlifting and Bench Press Championships on June 23-24.  For the next week I'm going to train lighter and avoid the three main lifts, just do variations of them like the front squat, hex bar deadlift and flat bench dumbbell work. Kick this cold to the curb and decide from there when to kick into the new program.