The following meet recap is by Yosh, a 70’s Big reader and mustache enthusiast. The recap gives you an idea of what to expect at a meet, a unique view of a bench/pull meet, and some info on impressive local lifters.

2011 WABDL Montana State Bench Press and Deadlift Championship

My fiancé, Alicia, and I both deadlifted at the 2011 WABDL Montana State Bench Press and Deadlift Championship this past weekend. The meet was organized by Gus Rethwisch. WABDL is an equipped federation but we both lifted raw. Most of the lifters had equipment, but it also seemed like quite a few people lifted raw. This was Alicia’s first time deadlifting at a meet and she did extremely well. She lifted 4/4 and got a PR and setting the state record of 192.7lbs in the 105lbs class.


I got a deadlift meet PR on my first attempt at 512.5lbs and couldn’t seal the deal on the lockout for my second attempt at 545.5lbs. After nearly passing out from my second attempt, I was out of gas on my third attempt and barely got the weight off of the platform before I red lighted. I’m typically more conservative in my attempts, but in my final workout leading up to the meet I pulled 540lbs and then 545lbs so I felt confident that I would pull 545.5lbs without a problem.



I signed up for the 181 weight class and the Monday before the meet I looked at the scale and it read 194lbs so I had to cut some weight. I have cut weight for most of my powerlifting competitions, so it wasn’t anything new. Alicia also had to cut about five pounds to make weight. I cut back on my complex carbs and food portions and drink a lot of water from Monday until Thursday afternoon. Then I went without food or water for about 24hrs until the weigh-ins on Friday afternoon. As I’ve never had a meet closer than a three hour drive, I have developed a water weight cutting technique where I blast the heat in my truck to sweat out the last few pounds while I travel. I made weight at 181.2lbs and then headed to Famous Dave’s for a BBQ feast. WABDL has weigh-ins 24 hours before lifting, so Alicia and I both rehydrated and refueled.

The meet was at Ruby’s Inn and Convention Center in Missoula, MT. The inn offered discounted rates and I always like when the meet is at the hotel I’m staying at. Not having to worry about finding a random school or gym in a new town is one less thing to stress about. The inn also had a full breakfast buffet which is another plus. The warm up room was small and felt crowded so that could have been improved. The rules meeting started at 8:15am Saturday morning. It was sort of funny at the rules meeting because everyone was walking into the room and there was a lady sitting at a table by the door to get admission from spectators. She totally called out Alicia saying that this meeting was for lifters only. Alicia had to tell her that she was a lifter too. Being 5’2″ and in the 105lbs weight class, she did seem to be an odd one out in the room. The meeting had the typical directions on what commands there would be and Gus Rethwisch also spent a little bit of time on a tangent talking about steroid use. He stated that there are no drug free federations but just drug tested ones and that WABDL does do drug testing and wants a level playing field. He also said that if anybody is thinking about starting to take steroids that it isn’t worth it. Gus said that he used them in the past when they were legal but didn’t feel like he had any gains from it. He stated his PRs from the 1970s that he accomplished clean with minimal equipment. Even though WABDL is equipped, I think Gus deep down likes raw lifting better.

The lifting started a little bit after 9:00am. There were three flights of bench pressers and two flights of deadlifters with about a total of 60-70 lifters. People came from the Spokane area of Washington, Idaho, and Montana to lift. There are many great lifters from this area. Some of the highlights were the bench pressers that train at Baldwin’s fitness center and the Goosetown Athletic Club to include Terry Baldwin, Don Linerud, Charlie Farmer, Dustin Hanson, and Chris Hinkey. Dustin Hanson has the world record WABDL bench press record in the 148 lbs weight class in single ply at about 445 lbs. Don Linerud has about a 606 lbs bench press in the single ply 181 lbs weight class. These guys drive up to 2-3 hours from Spokane or all over western Montana to train together. I don’t know anything about equipped lifting, but those guys are always impressive.

Other highlights include the lifters from Idaho that I see nearly every meet. Curt Tewalt is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, but on the platform his intensity is through the roof. He lifts raw and weighs in around 250-260lbs. If I can remember correctly, I think he benched 407 lbs and pulled 767 lbs at the meet (see video below). Trent Rodgers is an up and coming lifter who is only 19 or 20. He weighed in around 260 lbs and benched 374 lbs and pulled a little over 600 lbs raw as well.



Seeing some of the guys in the master’s division were also very impressive. There was a 77 year old man who benched 303 lbs raw. It kind of funny seeing him need help to get off of the bench after being able to push over 300 lbs in a t-shirt. Gus, during the award ceremony, also said that he was a decorated Korean War veteran.

All in all, it was a smooth meet. The spotters/loaders were very quick and efficient. All flights were finished lifting with a couple breaks by 1:00pm. The results were quickly tabulated and pretty much rolled right into the award ceremony. This was the fifth meet I’ve competed in and the award ceremony never happened that quickly. I’ve typically seen the meet officials looking over a computer or score cards for 20-30 minutes before the awards were ready so kudos to WABDL.