Margus Silbaum reflects on the World Championships

Silbaum writes on his page: Margus Silbaum

To sum it up briefly, the World Championships did not go as I had hoped. A squat personal best of 360 kilograms and a deadlift gold medal for lifting 340kg were the highlights. Unfortunately, in the bench press I had to accept the referees’ decision: my second attempt at 225kg was ruled invalid by a 2:1 vote, leaving me without a total.

For those familiar with the sport, here is a more detailed account of my competition

7 hours before the official weigh-in, I was already within the weight limit for my class at 92.9kg. To replenish at least some of the energy I had used up traveling, I decided to have some more muesli before the official weigh-in, spread over four servings.

We went to the competition venue 30 minutes early to check my weight and discovered that I needed to lose 410gr in the remaining half hour. I immediately put on a tracksuit and went out for a 20-minute walk in 35-degree heat. By the time I got back, the official weigh-in had started. My turn came straight away. I held my breath as I stepped onto the scales and watched the numbers approach 93 kg. I was afraid I would go over the limit and have to weigh in again after everyone else. Luckily, the scales settled at 92.98kg: 20 minutes of brisk walking had made me 430gr lighter. That was taken care of.

After the weigh-in, I ate and headed to the warm-up room, as there were only 45 minutes left before the competition. My squat warm-up showed that I was in good form. Unfortunately, when I put on my new squat suit, I realized it was not giving me the support it should around my hips. To make the best of a bad situation, I had to take the suit off and put it back on after every attempt. On my first attempt at 345kg, I really felt the lack of support from the suit. We chose 360kg for my second attempt. In Marko Terasmaa’s assessment, I missed it because I sat back onto my hips instead of loading my knee wraps on the descent. The third attempt was brutal: Marko wrapped my knees as tightly as possible, and it really hurt, but I knew that only a good wrap could save me. As I came out of the bottom with 360 kilograms on my third attempt and reached the sticking point, I felt that I only needed to push a few more millimeters to get through it. At that moment, Marko reminded me about my knees, so I pushed them out to bring my hips further under the barbell. Reacting straight away gained me another 1 millimeter of upward movement, which made me feel that it was still possible. I felt I only needed another couple of millimeters. Knowing that a medal in the total could depend on this gave me a huge incentive. I pushed through those last few millimeters and stood all the way up. I had set a new squat personal best and was pleased. At international competitions, 99% of medals in the total generally go to men whose squat ranks among at least the top 5, and that was exactly where my 360kg placed me.

Now I had to move quickly on to the bench press and put the intense pain from the knee wraps out of my mind. I also took painkillers as a precaution so that the pain from my scraped knees would not interfere with the rest of the competition. We rushed through the bench press warm-up because time was running out. My own bench shirt was completely new, so we did not put it on: the risk was too great. I used a shirt I had tried 1 time before. Two board presses, and we were out of time. We went backstage to wait for my first attempt. The barbell was loaded with my opening weight of 225kg, and I felt a little uncertain because we had not had time to lower the barbell all the way to my chest even once during the warm-up. As I set up, I felt my feet slipping badly. That is the worst possible situation for me because I rely on leg drive when I bench press. As I lowered the barbell, I could feel that the shirt was not tight and that the barbell was reaching my chest too easily. Naturally, without support from my legs or the shirt, I could not press it back up. For the second attempt, we tightened the shirt properly, and I wet the soles of my shoes to improve traction. It was a much better attempt: I felt the shirt working, and the barbell went up. Unfortunately, the referees’ 2:1 decision showed that the side referees had seen my buttocks lift off the bench. For me, that usually happens when the floor is slippery and I cannot use my legs. I decided to wear my squat shoes for the final attempt and to take the shirt off and put it back on, as my arms had gone numb. Unfortunately, the right sleeve ended up too far up my biceps, severely restricting circulation in that arm. Marko kept massaging it to get at least some blood flowing. On the third attempt, I felt that my feet had traction and my buttocks stayed on the bench, but I could not finish the lift because of my numb arm. Three failed bench press attempts left me utterly deflated, but I decided to carry on with the deadlift and take gold as a consolation.

During the deadlift warm-up, I could feel that my legs and back were in very good form. My only concern was my wrist, because the barbells were very poor and the knurling was not rough enough. After my final warm-up at 270kg, I put on my equipment and went backstage. We chose 340kg for the opening attempt, which at that point was enough for gold. I was completely calm as I went out to lift: after all, I had deadlifted 370kg in training. The weight came up easily, but the barbell slipped out of my hands at the top. We kept the same weight for the second attempt. There was no point taking a risk when my grip was so poor. On the second attempt, I held onto the barbell securely, and the lift was passed. We put down 355kg for the third attempt while keeping an eye on whether anyone else would lift 340kg or more. Luckily, no one managed more than 340kg, and gold was secure. During my third attempt at 355kg, I could feel that my back and legs were handling the weight comfortably, so there was no need to worry about them. But my left hand gradually lost its grip, and as I reached the top, the barbell slipped out.

The bench press cost me a 925kg total and fourth place. Along with working on my grip, I need to do considerably more bench pressing in training.

Thank you to my helpers, Marko and Piia-Piret, who gave their all and did an excellent job. A big thank you to my home club, Sparta, which has always supported both my training and travel, and to Fitness.ee, whose recovery products have been a great help.

Author: Margus Silbaum

Source:Turg.Fitness.ee

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