2007 Wolverine Meet Report

By Matt Kroczaleski

For www.EliteFTS.com

The meet started off on the wrong foot for my training partners. Mike Brimhall in his first ever meet at 20 years of age missed his opener badly and ended up dumping the bar. Fortunately, he would go on to nail his next seven lifts in a row and totaled slightly less than 1700 lbs for an excellent first meet. You could see his confidence grow with every success. I expect this to be just the beginning for him.

Our next lifter up was my brother, and unfortunately right after taking the bar out of the racks, something in his right knee snapped and he went down hard. At first, he thought he had broken his leg because of the volume of the snapping sound, but now we think that he tore one of the ligaments in his knee. He will be getting an MRI soon to see what the damage really was. Unfortunately, that put him out of the meet, and we never got to see him give that 800-lb deadlift a ride. Still, I expect him to be back bigger and stronger before long.

Josh McMillan was our next lifter to go, and unfortunately, he went down even harder than my brother. After taking the bar out of the racks, he stumbled and his knees buckled. It appears that he tore muscles in both quads, and he was, of course, out of the meet too. Our two elder statesmen, Greg McMillan and Ken Richardson, both had solid meets but didn’t quite hit what they were capable. Ken got some tough calls and only an unusual grip problem stopped him from getting his first 700-lb plus pull.

Because this was just a local meet, I didn’t expect to have anyone there to push me, but I was thankful that Jose Garcia out of Ernie Frantz’s gym showed up and pushed me all the way. His last meet was the WPO Semi Finals in 2004, where he won the heavy weights with 2414 lbs weighing around 250 lbs. I didn’t cut any weight for this meet and weighed in at 238 lbs. Jose didn’t cut either and came in at 250 lbs.

There was $500.00 on the line for the best lifter in the squat and deadlift each, and we were both gunning for it. I opened at 970 lbs in the squat, and it moved really well. I received three whites. Jose opened with 1003 lbs and hit in nicely as well with his picture perfect upright squat style. I went to 1008 lbs for my second, and it moved easily but was turned down two to one for depth. Jose jumped to 1041 lbs (I think), and it was close, but he failed to come up with it. Even though I felt like I had a lot more in me, the money was on the line for the best squat so I stayed at 1008 lbs for my third attempt. This time, I nailed it for three whites. Jose repeated at 1041 lbs but missed again. I realize now that I need to be opening a lot heavier in the squat because I am leaving a lot of pounds on the platform here.

On the bench, I opened with 650 lbs and made a solid but not easy lift. I took 666 lbs (I’m sure Jim will like that), and it looked just like my opener for a 5-lb PR. I advanced to 677 lbs for my third and drove it up halfway before it stalled and hovered there. I have made some improvements in my bench technique and have gotten much better at touching and keeping the bar in my groove, but I’m still not getting what I should be out of the shirt. I talked a lot with Rob Luyando at the meet (more about his lifting in a minute), and I will be spending time with him and Bill Carpenter as soon as my shoulder is fully healed and ready for heavy benching. If Rob can teach me to bench half as well as he does, it should put a lot of pounds on my bench. Jose hit something in the low to mid 600s and at subtotal it was still pretty close.

Going into the deadlifts, I was feeling good and really looking forward to my first 800-lb plus pull. I knew Jose was a good deadlifter and normally in the 800 neighborhood as well. We both opened at 750 lbs and hit them easily. I took 788 lbs on my second and pulled it fairly easily, but when the bar was about six inches off the floor, I heard a crunching sound and felt a sharp stinging pain in my left lat right where it ties into my rear delt. As I locked it out, I was wondering what I had just done. Jose took 804 lbs and pulled it up strongly to lockout but lost his balance at the top and fell backward before getting the down command. I increased to 810 lbs for my third but was very concerned about my lat and discussed what the best course of action would be with my training partners. I really wanted to get that 800-lb plus pull, but they talked me out of trying it to prevent worsening my injury. Looking back, even though I really didn’t want to pass on it at the time, it was the smart thing to do. Jose tried 837 lbs on his third but wasn’t able to lock it out.

I ended up going 1008-666-788 = 2463 lbs weighing 238 lbs for PRs in all three lifts, and for the total, I received $1000.00 cash on the spot for the best squat and best deadlift. Mike White ran a great meet, and if anyone is looking to do a well-run meet where you know you will get paid, look into this meet for next year. I didn’t get my 800-lb plus deadlift or the 2500-lb total, but I know I have the strength for both. It won’t be long before it happens. Today, my lat is very sore, but there doesn’t appear to be any swelling or bruising. I am keeping my fingers crossed that whatever the crunching noise was, it wasn’t too serious.

There were a couple of very impressive benches in the bench only session with Clay Brandenburg hitting 941 lbs at a svelte 399 lbs, and Rob Luyando smoking 909 lbs at 260 lbs for best lifter and $1000.00 cash. In my opinion, if you are going to talk about the current best benchers in the world and you use consistency, performance in big meets, and big numbers as your main criteria, the two names that you have to look at are Ryan Kennelly and Rob Luyando. They both are very consistent, have hit many record breaking lifts, and rarely if ever bombout in a world where it is more common to see three missed benches than one good one.

Still, if I am pressed to give the nod to one lifter, I have to go with Rob. He now has the all time record in three weight classes (220 lbs, 242 lbs, and 275 lbs) and smashed the previous records in doing so. He has done over 900 lbs at 242 lbs and to my knowledge is the only lifter under 300 lbs to do so. He very frequently goes three for three and all of his lifts look exactly the same—smooth and controlled from start to finish. I have yet to see one that could ever be questioned. Simply put, if Rob hits a big bench, you never have to wonder how legit it was. And to top it all off, he is one of the nicest and most humble guys you would ever want to meet.

All in all, it was a great meet, and I feel good about fixing some things and atoning for my lackluster performance at the ProAm.

Matt made quite a statement at the 2006 Arnold Classic. Lifting in the 220 lb class, he squatted 926 lbs, bench pressed 617 lbs, and deadlifted 733 lbs and came away with the win. A cancer survivor, Matt has overcome many obstacles on his way to becoming one of the most dominant forces in powerlifting today. He currently trains in Michigan and has competed in the USAPL, WPO, and the APF.