—Wallace Stevens, “Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing
Itself”
One of my favorite moments in the history of powerlifting is Doc
Rhodes’ third deadlift at the 1977 IPF Worlds in Australia. Rhodes was in the
165-lb weight class and had squatted 512 lbs and benched 374 lbs. He needed to
deadlift 655 lbs on his third attempt to win the gold over Great Britain’s Peter
Fiore. Despite severe arm cramps before the attempt, Rhodes gutted out the 655
lbs. Legendary powerlifter Vince Anello was one of Rhodes’ teammates and has
called it “one of the most hardcore efforts in powerlifting history.”
See 39 seconds at:
Every powerlifter knows that feeling, the transformative exhilaration of a
maximal lift done on the platform. Reality becomes brighter, and one is never
the same.
During this ritual of total effort compressed in seconds, our species
displays some of its finest qualities—courage, intensity, and tenacity. I
recently had the privilege to see these qualities in a friend who started
competing this year.
On July 24, my friend, Cathy Cox, competed at the USAPL Raw Nationals in
Charlottesville, Virginia. After setting a personal record on her first
deadlift, Cathy went to 275 lbs on her second attempt. She attempted this weight
about two weeks before the meet, and the bar didn’t move. The same thing
happened on her second attempt.
This is where a lifter disintegrates or dominates. I loosened Cathy’s belt by
a notch to enable a more extended back and told her to tighten her triceps
before driving her legs.
As Cathy began her third attempt, the bar seemed glued to the
floor once again. But then it moved and kept moving all the way to a glorious
lockout.
This is how it should be—nothing left on the platform and all of one’s
training realized in the only place that matters.
The poet James Dickey once observed, “Hard, intense work of the body…is the
most conclusive evidence of our own being that we could possibly have.” Every
time we train and compete, we justify our bodies and establish purpose in
ourselves. We transcend the ordinary and prove we are passionately alive.
Myles Kantor is a personal trainer and powerlifter from Boynton Beach,
Florida. He has competed in the APF and USAPL.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
