This past week I handled my friend Al Reiss at the WPC Worlds on Wednesday, coached CJ at the Florida State Meet on Saturday, and cheered Jo Jordan on at the Return of the WPO on Sunday. It was definitely a Powerlifting filled week.
With only 3 days notice before the Special Olympics Florida State Games we were told that the lifters wouldn’t be allowed to wear squat suits or knee wraps. I’ve coached my athlete, CJ Piantieri, for over 10 years in the Special Olympics and he’s always worn a single ply z-suit and knee wraps (with the exception of one raw meet 5 years ago). The Special Olympics are run by the USAPL and they've been going back and forth on what equipment to allow for a while. With interest in geared lifting seeming to rapidly decline it seems that raw is the direction they're going with the Special Olympics. I just wish they would make a definitive decision so I can know how to train CJ. So, with only one training day left, when we would normally deload, I had to try to determine what CJ could squat and deadlift raw. The day of the meet we were informed that knee wraps were allowed, but at this point I had an idea of what he could squat without them and had never had him squat in knee wraps without the suit. We opened with a conservative 209 which was easy, went to 237 on the 2nd and he missed. Normally I wouldn’t have a lifter go up after missing an attempt, but knew he could get more out of the knee wraps. We opted for 248 and he fought threw it for 3 whites! I’m proud of how well he adapted.
CJ went on to bench 181 and deadlift 303 for a 732 total and his 80th gold medal in the 66 kg/145 lb class! Here’s video of his best lifts.