I met Ben Claridad last year at the USAW Senior Nationals when we weighed in, and we became buds. Later that summer, he let AC and I stay at his house when we did a workshop in Sacramento. Since then I helped convince him to start a blog for his artwork and training, and we still are yet to edit a story that he wrote (fucking call me, bro). Ben competed in this year’s Senior Nationals in the 105+ category so that he could get some extra points for his team, Hassle Free Barbell Club (shout out to Paul Doherty again — he helped me last year at nationals and is a really great guy). Anyway, last year Ben hit 132/160 at nationals and self-described them as looking “like garbage”. This year he hit 143/167 and totaled 310kg after rehabbing from a back injury.





Nice job, Ben. He put on some extra weigh for this competition and will be dieting back down. I assume he’ll be growing his hair too? Ben’s a really good guy and trains really hard.

Now for another video from the continuing saga of Justin and Brent hanging out. A lot of you probably avoid mobility work because it’s hard and uncomfortable. Yeah, it’s a lot of both of those. Here’s the proof.



I also made a video for Saul, because his life is on its last thread.