Over the last month, meet prep has been everything but perfectly smoothly for Ben Pollack. About four weeks ago, Pollack was going through a routine squat workout when he suffered an injury to the quad coming out of the hole. On his Instagram page, Pollack expressed the hesitation to share the injury, but ended up doing so about two days ago.
After assessing his situation, talking to health professionals, his girlfriend, and mentors like Dave Tate, Pollack has figured out a game plan and is back on track to take the platform at The Tribute meet, which is kicking off August 25-26th. As of right now, Pollack still hasn’t figured out what exactly went wrong during the squat, but he’s recovered for the most part and it hasn’t stopped his latest progress, as evident from his latest deadlift.
Yesterday, Pollack pulled a huge 360kg/795 lbs at a record low morning bodyweight. In Pollack’s Instagram video’s description he writes, “When I said I had #comebackstronger I meant it. 795 after pulling reps and squatting 770 at a record low AM bodyweight of 198 flat. The cut to 181 should be a snap. I’m excited for the meet but I have no expectations— just stepping on the platform will be an enormous”
[Check out Ben Pollack’s BarBend author page to check out more of his content!]
For the meet, Pollack plans to compete at 181 lbs and potentially take a run at more all-time world records. In Pollack’s Instagram video discussing the injury, he talks about how the past three weeks have been the toughest ever in his powerlifting career. Being a weathered athlete and all-time world record holder, I was curious what the meant exactly.
Pollack told me,
“In terms of lessons learned: I need to keep the big picture in mind, not get so wrapped up in one individual meet or performance or injury.”
He continues saying, “That’s something that Dave Tate actually told me (with regard to this injury): it’s far better to plan for the long term than the short, because while you can’t control everything, you canmake sure that you’re consistently doing your best over your career.”
Pollack is a frequent contributor to BarBend, so we’re pumped to see that he’s back on track and ready to take the platform next Saturday. What will he put together come meet day? We’re pumped to wait and find out.
Related: How To Do The Romanian Deadlift
Feature image from @phdeadlift Instagram page.
