I’m glad that I got the total I wanted and hit a bench and deadlift PR. I JUST WANT TO MAKE MY GEAR DADDIES PROUD.
Check out how some of your favorite lifters did this past weekend at Great Lakes Raw, IPA Buckeye Brawl, and APF Raw Power Challenge.
I was very fortunate at this meet to have had excellent help at this meet. Dear friends helped manage the meet, wrapped my knees, called my depth, and gave me coaching advice and lifting cues.
This competition was preceded by my dad’s unexpected death, a delay in his death certificate, and burying him the Monday before my wedding. It’s been a tough year, and my training and diet reflected that. Still, I did pretty well all things considered.
2018 was not a good year for my powerlifting career. 2019 has been better. My training’s gotten better, I’ve gotten better at caring for myself, and I competed better. I want to do better next time around, though….
Two years ago, I injured myself at a meet. The pain was so bad I nearly pulled out of the meet. After talking with some experts, I decided to hop into the APF Nationals without a weight cut and with a quick prep. Let’s just say it’s good to be back.
My training was more organized than it was for the IPA meet. But I decided to experiment before this meet: I trained using my squat suit without the briefs. It actually improved my speed, depth, and how much weight I could handle.
Now that I had the trip paid for thanks to a seminar event, I could focus on helping my lifters at the US Kern Open: the reason I’d flown all the way from the East Coast to begin with.
When a friend invited me to a bench press-only APF meet that also raised money for Autism and Autism Awareness, there was no way I could say no — even though I haven’t competed in quite some time.
I told Dave to listen carefully because this is the only time I’ll ever say it, but this was a pretty good meet. I’ll take a 50 lb meet PR.
My goal for this meet was a 400-pound squat until Dave asked, “What’s the Pro total for your weight class?” In that moment, I knew that was no longer the goal — it became a Pro total.
Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. That’s pretty much a solid description for how the Tennessee State Championships went for me. But hey, good job to the victors. Now it’s time to prepare for my next meet…
This was the first meet that I attended neither as participant, lifter, nor spectator; instead, I was a coach, cheerleader, and go-fer. At this meet, Flex Gym proved it is as much a family as any group I have ever seen. Everyone is there for everyone else.
Before I get into my recap of the 2019 XPC World meet, I want to say, I took second place — even with my fifth 2,200-pound total and seventh 900-pound squat — for no other reason than I wasn’t strong enough that day.
I moved back to northeastern Ohio and started training with a new group to prepare for the 2019 XPCs. For the last couple of years, I’ve only done the 21-Deadlift Salute. This year, though, I decided to come back and do the full meet, and here are the final results.
It was my first time representing Team elitefts at a meet. The support I got from them was unreal. Oh, and the team shirt was pretty cool, too.
When I entered these very senior divisions, there was no bar, no standard, no records. Now there is.
Four weeks out is when I suffered a quad tear—I should have dropped out at that point. In fact, I talked to Dave Tate, and that’s exactly what he told me to do.
Two meets in less than a month? I know I’m 76—not 26— but when Joey Smith told me to get in the meet, I got in the meet.
I had help getting into my single-ply suit and didn’t have to wrap my own knees, but there was still the hand to deal with. There’s a long way to go and I’m taking it one post-surgery PR at a time.
Team Nebobarbell and I went to Murfeesboro, Tennessee, where I took a crack at one of my competition bucket list lifts.
At the beginning of this year I lost 60 pounds in less than eight weeks. I couldn’t stand longer than a few minutes because I was so tired. I couldn’t go up or down stairs without losing my breath. It was humbling, to say the least.
Some days you go yard and sometimes the pitcher gets you reaching. You take what you can get and learn from your time in the batter’s box.
This was my first meet in a year and a half, since October 2015, when I was battling through a torn supraspinatus and a half torn right biceps. Training went well, but the meet reminded me of a few crucial powerlifting lessons.
With this meet, I wanted to prove to myself that I could go from competing equipped to qualifying for USAPL Raw Nationals.
I’ve had a taste for where I’m meant to be, and now I will be training with an unmatched ferocity. I may not have been strong enough to beat the colossus on this day, but I faced him prepared to die.
I’ve already written about my training strategy going into the meet, and what I’ve learned from my meet prep, but I didn’t share a few things for competitive reasons.
I went into this meet to total 1800 at 180 pounds bodyweight, but learned an important lesson about having backup plans.
My first meet as part of elitefts was the first Lexen Pro/Am ten years ago. Last weekend, in Columbus again, I finally got to 2400.
If I had a lot riding on this lift before, everything was riding on it now. Making it would be the highlight of my powerlifting career. Missing it would probably be the beginning of the end.
This meet was about a few monster numbers that have been weighing down on me. All of the lessons from my elitefts teammates are starting to pay off.
I hated that I fell short of my goal at the XPCs…90 pounds short to be exact. Each and every pound I left on the platform back in March is what fueled my training for my off-season and meet preparation.
Since competing at the XPC Finals in March, I took the last few months to regain control over my physical and mental health. In the process, I transitioned back to raw.
I am not leaving the sport. I love this sport and even more so, the people in it, but the juice is no longer worth the squeeze.
Team elitefts did more than just compete this year at the Arnold. Everything we did is compiled here in one super-sized article.
For over six years I have watched CJ overcome many obstacles. I am always impressed by his competitive tenacity and love for powerlifting.
Another year of RUM, another weekend of 5thSet lifters kicking ass on the platform. Thank God no one I work with broke a world record, right?
Life. It’s difficult. It always manages to throw you curve balls when you’re expecting a straight shot.
A record setting bench launched Yard to the third highest total in the USAPL.
With several years under his belt, the biggest meet of Schillero’s career earned him a highly-coveted powerlifting honor.
At the RPS Lexen Extreme Fall Classic, Smitley cements his legacy with an impressive day of lifting.
Despite energy-sapping travel and a flurry of first-time events, Chase was able to pull off a podium finish.
In powerlifting, a perfect storm of prep, weigh-in, refeed, and nine-for-nine execution is a rarity. David Kirschen pulled that off at the recent XPC Finals.
