Signify Something

By Donnie Thompson

For www.EliteFTS.com

Out, out, brief candle! (5.5.23)

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing. (5.5.28) —Macbeth

I hated Shakespeare when I was in college. But this popular verse stuck with me from English literature class. It applies to all of us at some point in our lives. Even the Bible says that our life is “like a vapor.” Twenty years ago, I was struggling to be the best center in football that I could be. I was consumed by football and lifting weights. But after rereading this verse and realizing its meaning, I wondered if all of my work was in vain. But I still pursued my goal!

Donnie taking a break in Arena Football 1993 for the New York Firebirds.

I was playing arena football in New Orleans back in 1991. We practiced at the Saint’s facilities. It was there that I met Joel Hilgenberg. He and his older brother, Jay, were the NFL’s best centers. I introduced myself to them, and we met at a restaurant later to eat with some other players. It turned out to be a “playing center clinic!”

Joel and I spent two hours going over centering techniques. He taught me things that I wouldn’t have learned from any coach. He even liked some of my ideas too. We covered the bullrush, rip and spin, swim and spin, and the club. I taught him the grappler technique (throwing your opponent to the turf by his neck and hips), and he loved it. Who would have thought that so much could be learned about playing center in the middle of a restaurant? The other patrons just stood around drinking beer, watching something that you won’t find at a restaurant every day.

Here’s my first 500-lb bench at 22 years old and 302 lbs with the Montanari brothers,

Richie and Darin, who helped me a lot in the gym business. I had just got cut from the NFL Tampa Bay Bucs.

Today isn’t much different. When I compete at the big meets, I talk to some of the guys I lift against, and we share training thoughts and gear issues. Paul Childress, Gary Franks (who always lies to me), John Stafford, Beau Moore, Brian Siders, Chad Aichs, Clay Brandenburg, Travis Mash, Ox Mason, Jesse Kellum, and even small dudes like Jeff McVicar—all extrapolate lifting knowledge from each other. Make no bones about it, powerlifters are doing their job. We are training harder and smarter, competing more, and increasing lifts and totals more and more each year. Even powerlifting websites like EliteFTS.com are getting over 1,000,000 independent hits per month! Powerlifters are on a roll to the big time. But what is the big time exactly? What is our “… hour upon the stage?”

I placed third in the Gold’s Classic New England Open in 1996. I weighed in at 232 lbs. Hideous!

Like it or not, powerlifting is here to stay. However, inconsistencies exist among powerlifters, meets, and the promoters who run the meets. No matter what federation you lift in, the inconsistencies are across the board. You’ll find that they fall within a wide spectrum from awesome to deplorable. I’ve seen state-run meets any powerlifter would love to take part in. I’ve also seen others so deplorable that if we were dogs, the humane society would have gathered us up and found us sympathetic owners and new homes. I’ve been to world meets that were top notch, but the judge’s lights didn’t work. You didn’t know if your lift was good or not.

Many times, I’ve been to meets promoted and run by powerlifters. These often go on without a hitch, and they’re fun. Bill Crawford and Gene Rychlik both run meets like this all the time in New York and Pennsylvania. Russ Barlow and his wife are nationally known for the top-notch meets that they host in Maine. They provide drinks, shirts, and most of the time, some grub. Will and Marge Millman run some top-state meets in my home state of South Carolina. Besides the occasional tough guy who yells f*ck at the top of his lungs when he misses a lift, they’re very family friendly.

This is at Dave Tate’s last IPA nationals in Columbus, Ohio in 2002. I call this the

“Dis-Banded brothers.” Left to right: Billy Warren, 242 lbs; me, Mike Johnston, 242 lbs; Marc Bartley, 242 lbs; and Keith Ferrara, 220 lbs! All have gone their own way.

The worst-case scenario meet is the one held in a school gymnasium at the state level. The meet promoter/director has an hour long rules briefing with mandatory attendance, in which the whole hour is spent telling the lifters that if they move an inch the wrong way they’ll be red-lighted. This can be very intimidating for those powerlifters in their first meet. Here’s a word of advice—when the meet sucks, don’t repeat it again the next year and the bad promoters will go away.

My point is that since powerlifting is more popular than ever, let’s get more involved with the sport than just lifting in it. Offer to help in meets near your area as a spotter/loader. Supply equipment that may be needed. Be a part of the meet and make it memorable. Many lifters are in small meets for the very first time. You’ll be part of their first contest experience. We need to think of how to improve meets instead of just bitching about them.

At the national level, lifters should have questionnaires to fill out and turn in upon completion of the contest. The questions should address everything from how they were treated to the organization of the meet. Their overall experience can be evaluated so that the meet director can make improvements for the next contest. At the professional level, it’s a whole new ball game. The professional meets need to be defined. Who qualifies as a pro? What governing body should be considered professional only? Professional means that you get paid so who’s paying you and do they have the monies in escrow? When professionals are invited to a competition, who will pay their expenses? This hasn’t been done since Gus Rethwische’s meets in Hawaii in the late seventies and early eighties.

One federation’s creed is “lifters for lifters.” It’s about time that we lifters get together and define powerlifting meets to an acceptable standard, no matter what federation we belong to. Once we set the standards, we can define our goals at every level. The powerlifting meets of the future will grow in a positive direction.

In addition to getting involved in the meets, we need to start recruiting new blood for powerlifting. It has to start at the high school level. Many of us have gone to high schools and performed lifting demonstrations. Big Gary Franks worked at a high school about five years ago and still has about ten of the kids he influenced currently training and competing at his gym. John Bott and Russ Barlow are school teachers, and both have recruited heavily over the years. Steve Goggins tripled an 800 lb deadlift in a demonstration at a local high school. The pay is lousy, but the return is priceless. I know most of you are big, strong guys so get over your ego and reach out to the young people. At the end of March, I’m doing a squat demonstration for a local high school. I’ll be doing about 800 lbs or more raw. I scheduled it for a lifting day so I’m considering it a training session. I’ve done countless kettlebell demonstrations, and I’ve let the high school kids participate. They loved it.

Donnie making an 810-lb attempt in Finland in 2005 with the help of his sideburns (chops).

Don’t take part in forum bashing and posting. Stop reading the crap, and it will go away. Forum bashing is addictive like listening about Anna Nicole Smith on the news. After you watch it, you feel like killing someone or yourself. We need to “put up or shut up,” or powerlifting will never take off past where it is today. I don’t want to see great lifters drop off the face of the earth because they were taken advantage of and nobody cares. Meet promoters/directors and powerlifters (like wives) come and go. But like it or not, powerlifting is here to stay! Don’t be the “poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” Instead of “signifying nothing,” care enough to do something about this.

I’m just as excited about a bigger total for my buddies and myself as I was about playing center all those years ago. It’s up to us to initiate change and strengthen the sport of powerlifting. If we actually pull this off, everything concerning powerlifting will progress exponentially. And I mean everything!

Blow, wind! Come, wrack!

At least we'll die with harness (squat bar) on our back. Macbeth!!

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