I made my way down to Miami on Friday after a good 3 hours of sleep on Thursday night due to anticipation and excitement. I finally made it to the Airbnb that Bery & Mindy Underwood had rented for the lot of us (Amy, Tom, Shelly, Daniel, Bert, Mindy, Owen, Billy, Billy's girl, Jon, Chris, Me, Preston, Michelle) around 4 pm after navigating through the Miami traffic which is no joke. I thought Orlando was bad...wow. Billy Tutko, his girlfriend (who's name escapes me...Sorry Billy) and his two pits Hera and Apollo were already there so it gave me a chance to sit and relax and talk to a really cool guy for a bit. Everyone else started showing up around 8:30 so we went out to get some grub at a steakhouse I found through Siri. Once we got there and sat down we saw that the cheapest steak was $39 and most expensive was $99.50. Needless to say we promptly made our way to the front door and found another place down the road which was much more our speed. haha We made it back to the house late and sat around shooting the shit for a bit and finally made it to bed around 2 only to have Jon Shackelford and Chris Della Fave come barreling through the door around 3 am and scared the shit out of me. LOL . So I'm pretty sure we all got about 5, maybe 6 hours of sleep before we went out for breakfast before heading to Iron Addicts.
When I made it to Iron Addicts there was a line down the block of people waiting to get in and I knew what I had expected this to be was completely wrong. I got inside and was really impressed with what they'd put together. Plenty of room, a ton of equipment, a monolift, two competition benches, two deadlift platforms and plenty of weights. There were supplement companies there, a DJ, caterers, fitness celebrities (I SAW KEVIN LEVRONE!) i was a bit in shock. We set up by the monolift where Della Fave and myself started warming up and getting ready to try and put on a show for the attendees. They started filing in just before I got my briefs on so I had a few people stop and stare as I hung from the monolift by my Gear Gripper, but no one asked what I was doing which was a surprise. I did a couple sets in my briefs and in true Jo Jordan fashion I lost my balance at the top with 600 and fell backwards and surprised the spotters so they helped me sit all the way down to the floor. Just a smidge embarrassed, but unhurt so onward and upward we go. I followed Chris's lead and did whatever weight he did up until we got to a grand. I saw he was doing 1000 so I told the spotters to add 10 pounds after he was done so I could try and one up Chris. What I didn't know was that he was going to double the G and I was in no mood to double anything at this point since I was feeling like poo. Chris wins!! I went up to 1010 and moved it pretty fast, but I'm pretty sure I cut it about an inch. I called it a day at that point and became a spectator and cheerleader for the rest of the group.
I watched and spotted Billy as he squatted up to 785 raw i think and then watched Chris, Billy and Daniel Tinajero put on a deadlifitng show when Danny and Chris pulled over 800 (Danny also benched 855 to a 2 board) and Billy pulled 725.
After hanging out for a bit Dana Lynn Bailey and her husband Rob showed up and you'd have thought the pope walked it. They were mobbed!!!! People rushed from all over the gym to get to see her and get a picture. The kid that was squatting even waited for her to come over to the monolift before he'd attempt his final squat of 805. I wasn't sure what to think of that.
By the time CT Fletcher showed up I was not feeling well at all and was ready to head home. My head was throbbing and my throat and sinuses were not happy. I slipped out the backdoor after saying good bye to everyone and made my way back home to my family who were ecstatic to see me and mobbed me at the front door....I felt like DLB!
I had a great time at Iron Addicts and hope to see a lot of good lifters come out of that place. I appreciate them having us there to lift and share our love for our sport.
Thank you Bert and Mindy for inviting me...it was great experience. And thank you George DuPree for wrapping my knees. Great job!
I have to say the weirdest thing I had to overcome was looking up as I was unracking and having 20-30 people standing in front of you with cameras and not really having anywhere to fix your eyes on. What I started doing was locking eyes with whomever happened to be in front of me and giving them the most awkward stare they've ever had for the next 20 seconds. haha
925 squat
1010 squat