Shane Church Squats 1000 Pounds at the RPS Great White North Invasion

What a great event and venue! RPS proved it is the BEST multiply federation in Canada again!

My training leading up to this was by far the weirdest I have done leading into a powerlifting meet.

#squateveryday.

I hardly used gear. I hardly went "heavy". But, I trained a crap ton more than I am used too. The extra training paid off!

This was one of the biggest and best meets Canada has seen with 80+ lifters that flowed smoothly over two sessions and a long 13-hour day. Shannon and I had a team that consisted of eight regulars and three adopted teammates.

In the morning session there was:
Aneta Wilga: 225-130-250 = 605
Brenda Banning: 210-120-240 = 570
Sheri Wheatham: 355-200-440 = 995
Brett Burton: 315-215-390 = 920
Martin Lebrun: 530-350-545 = 1425
Brandon Evans: 335-225-425 = 985

In the afternoon session:

Sean Murphy: 415-245-505 = 1165
Jack O'Rourke AKA "Captain Baby Tummy" AKA "Baby Sasquatch": 430-350-570 = 1350
Anthony Kell: 535-320-560 = 1415
Matt Brass: 640-410-555 = 1605
Ken Wheatham: Didn't have the greatest day lifting. Had a good learning experience.
Shane Church: Write-up below

Squats: Goal was to go three for three.

Warm-up was quick because is was crazy hot and humid in the venue. It seemed to only be like that while we were squatting.

265 x 3
355 x 2 with Ace Briefs
465 x 1 with Ace Suit
645 x 1
825 x 1 with knee wraps

Shoe change. I warmed up in my Innov8 oly-shoes thinking I was going to squat in them. On my last warm up I shot forward massively and thought better of it. I'm not quite ready for them.

Opener: 875. Smoked it. This is exactly what I was looking for in an opener. I had no problem getting to depth and it shot out of the hole.

Second: 945. Same as the first one. All the front squats and paused squats have really been paying off. I could hang out all day in the bottom and it didn't seem too bad.

Third: 1000. Got it. It didn't have the sweet speed the first two had. Or the depth. But, I was right there and had no problem locking it out.

Bench: Goal is going three for three.

I had the honour of warming up with the greatest bencher to ever come from Canada, Clint Harwood. Clint is a stud and a great bench-only competitor. He ended up going three for three and crushing 750 on his third!

250 x 3
340 x 1
405 x 1 in the Metal Pro shirt.
455 x 1
500 x 1 touched

Opener: 555. Nice and fast

Second: 585. Quick like the first one.

Third: 605. Got it! Goal Achieved and everything is feeling good.

Deadlift: Goal is to again go three for three.

The heat and length of the day caught up to me during the deadlifts. After the first couple warm ups I felt like I had nothing in the tank.

Because I was so damp and sticky from sweating all day, I put my suit on right away and tried to get it all the way up. For the warm-up I took one-plate jumps from one plate to six plates. I was having a hard time getting into position.

Opener: 660. I got it. I had an internal battle with myself during this lift. I did not want to do it. It would be so much easier to just quit. Everything hurts. Stop and the hurting will stop. I didn't listen to those voices. I listened to the quiet one that said "you are almost done. All you need to do is three attempts and the pain will stop."
People told me it was fast. It felt awful. After reviewing the videos, they were awful.

Second: 685. I wanted a small jump because I wanted three for three. It again was torture to perform.

Third: 700. I was going to go with 695 and get a 2300-pound total. I decided to go crazy and go for 700. I missed it at my knees. Not happy with the result of this lift but I am happy with the effort.

When all was said and done, I finished with a 2290 total and went eight for nine. I'm pretty sure that is the most good lifts I've had in a meet!

I have so many people to thank as per usual after meets. Everyone knows I can't function as a human without my Shannon. She is amazing and a unicorn.

I always need to thank Mark Watts, Dave and Traci Tate, Rhonda Blankenship and the whole crew at elitefts. You guys are amazing!

This meet I have some extra thank yous. First Ken and Sheri Whetham. They are amazing people and amazing hosts! They let Shannon, myself, Jack, Aneta and Brandon stay at their house!

Gordana Lebrun and Wade Burton were amazing filming all 13 hours of the day. Thank you so much!

This meet I have two special thank yous. Jeff "Beaker" Williams and Martin "I don't have a nickname" Lebrun.

At the meet, Jeff just came to watch and ended up being my handler! I could see that Shannon was stressed out from handling all the people she was handling. I asked Jeff if he could help and wrap my knees. Not only did he say yes, he helped me through all the warm ups, wrapped my knees tighter than I thought was possible, back spotted my for my squats, handed off for my benches. This would not have been anywhere close to as awesome as it was with out you, Jeff. Thank you!

This meet would not have happened at all for me if Martin did not tell me like it is. Martin and I had a heart-to-heart and he told me to stop being a bitch, go to a meet, make smart choices and go 9 for 9.

I went 8 for 9. Close. I am very happy with m effort on all the lifts.

Thank you Martin!