Going to be less training to report on this week as I maximize my recovery for Saturday's meet. Biggest challenge and prime objective is to keep my back feeling good. It was sore yesterday after squatting and deadlifting in the same session on Sunday but already feels better today. Sleeping on my back on the firm mattress side made a bigger difference than any amount of rehab exercises, although I'm still glad I bought a reverse-hyper with how many different uses for it I have.

I also haven't reported that I've been taking creatine for a few weeks now and I noticed a big change in how full I look from it. Never noticed this drastic a change in my youth, but I was never taking it while cutting carbs to the extent I have recently, either. Very interesting. I did a very unorganized loading phase, taking anywhere from 2-4 servings a day for roughly a week and a half. Studies show you eventually get to the same point by 30 days - loading just does it faster.

Keeping my cardio minimal this week. Just jogging and some light martial arts practice purely for fun. Those two activities are primarily how I listen to music and destress.

Ordered a new King Kong powerlifting bag. My old duffel is a cheapie off Amazon that's 12-years-old and coming apart. It'll be a good upgrade - it even has a place to store my belt on the outside.

Wrote my openers down:

Squat:
450lbs / 204kg

Bench:
315lbs / 143kg

Deadlift:
515lbs / 233kg