2011 July - N.A.G.S.C - Brent Barbe

[barbe705]

Time for my ggc write.

Several weeks ago I jacked up my right ring finger at a highlander. I had to quit training and work rehab everyday so I could hopefully do something with it. It healed up pretty well and was almost 100%. Then the Tuesday before ggc I got a phone book tossed to me at the gym. Well, I had to tear it. It was probably an inch bigger than any phonebook I had torn to date. I got through it. In the car I realized I had re-injured my right hand. And injured my left. couple days of rehab before the comp.

Showing up my hands didn’t hurt but they did ache. Got on the elbow sleeves and gloves and started warming up. Every one started filing in and I was trying to remember names. I started playing with grippers to see where I should open. The Monday before I had tested at home. Right handed a 1.5 gave me some discomfort. And, I am a terrible block set closer. Going in I was hoping for a 150#. Working my way up I tried a 139#. I felt like a brick and I couldn’t be sure I had shut it.

First attempt was the 139#. It felt like nothing and all the sudden my hand wasn’t bothering me. I believe I went 139, 149, 159, and 164(miss). I was really shocked at how things turned around after the warmup and the little break for rules.

2hp. I think this may be the first time I’ve had to go first on 2hp with my thicker width. I played it safe since I hadn’t pinch in nearly 2 months. It didn’t feel especially good so I came in very early. I think it 215, 220, 230(miss), and 230(miss). Not at all happy with that but, I know I was way off my mark. So, while the lifts were bad I was happy that I had played it as smart as I had.

Medley went okay. There were a lot of items I missed that I should have gotten. There were a lot of items I don’t think I even tried since there was so much stuff. Lots of block weights. My wide pinch was killed by the hand injuries so, that didn’t help things. I liked the high platform loading. Jedd and I have trained that in the past since the wrist has to change angle it makes it a very different lift than just to a bench. I think the high load was a good addition. The power stairs were also a new twist. I would have liked to see something other than block weights for them though. Not sure what could be done though. DB??? Certainly not v-bars.

Wrist roller. Shocked by my performance here. At andrew’s qualifier in the early spring I came in last on this. Including the novices. Dead last. The only people who beat me at ggc were Struse and Andrew. The rocking/wavey motion from the gravel was weird. It almost felt like it never really got moving. I think that a lot of people got their skin chewed up on this. I ended up with a dime-sized blister on my right ring finger that would end up tearing off during PB.

Plat Buster. I expected to do better on this. I knew I had to play it safe since I wasn’t sure how much the wrist roller would take it out of me. On my second lift I tore the blister I got in the wrist roller. So, I switched to lefty. On my last lift of 450 something popped in my left calf. Iced it right away and it turned out to be not to bad. It’s still bugging me a little a week later but, almost gone.

Looking on it, I felt terrible for about a month going in with my hand injury. I was pretty angry with myself for re-injury/new injury the week before. Especially since it was something stupid. I was shocked by how well things turned out, all things considered. One of the things the lack of training hurt me most on was skin toughness. I think if my skin had held up during the roller I could have gone a bit higher on the PB.

As always, good to get together with everyone and meet new people. It helps push the sport forward when people of that high of a caliber can push each other.

And thanks to all of the Rices for the space, food, help with everything, etc. it really made for a good experience.

Thanks to Doc for judging.

Good job to Jedd for making it all happen. Lets not forget that just a couple of years ago the US had no nationals. Things are really moving forward in a very positive and strong direction.