I just wanted to give some shout outs to some guys that were at the meet this last weekend. For those of you who don’t know, this year’s USAPL Raw Nationals drew an impressive crowd because the top lifters from this meet would be selected for the Raw World Championships next year in Sweden.
Mike Tuchscherer
I wouldn’t think that you guys haven’t heard of Mike by now, but we’ve always watched his videos at 70’s Big. He runs Reactive Training Systems, is an officer in the Air Force, and is a really nice guy. We briefly met him, but I didn’t really want to bother him with the meet going on. He did very well in the 125kg/275lbs weight class weighing in at 120.2kg (120 is the new weight class with “super heavies” being 120+, so he wanted to get experience there). You can read his meet recap here, and this video is what he did one week out:
I’m sure there is plenty to learn from him.
Matt Nolan
Matt has been posting as “NolanPower” on the site for quite a while, and is a friggin’ awesomely strong 100kg/220lbs lifter. I’m not the most experienced powerlifting coach/handler, and it was Matt who encouraged me to use the “last warm-up on the platform” method that I implement at meets. More importantly, he was in a tight race all day in the 100kg class. After squatting 573 (his first PR since some time in 2010) and benching 380, the competition was TIGHT going into the deadlift. This of course didn’t stop him from talking to Brent and I about RTS games (not Mike T’s website, but real time strategy games) in between sessions. Anyway, it all came down to his third and final pull; it was either hit it and win, or miss it and walk away with second place. Honestly, this was the most entertaining lift I’ve ever seen — maybe it’s because Matt posts on the site, maybe because he’s just a real nice guy, and maybe it had something to do with the do or die situation. Here is some footage I took of the lift and seeing him immediately after the pull. Nice job, Matt.
It also looks like Matt will be keeping a training log on RTS here.
Ettore Ewen
There isn’t any footage of this fella on YouTube…under this name. He is also known as Big E. Langston in the WWE stable in Florida. I can’t explain to you guys how big this former Iowa football player is. He’s about as tall as me, but 135kg/297lbs of fucking yoke. He is absolutely massive. When he walked in the room, Chris just stared and said quietly, “That guy is JACKED.” He won the super heavy class and benched an easy 240kg/529lbs. I watched the second attempt at 512…he fucking killed it like it was me doing 225. I’ve never seen anyone that big in person before. He looked bigger than he does in this video:
Edit: I posted the wrong video (he got one hit in and lost the match). Here is the other one I watched that shows more of his strength):
He also had a shirt that said, “I got 99 problems, but my bench ain’t one of them.” He was pretty badass.
There were lots of other good folk, like the girls from Pretty Powerlifting and some other guys that hung out on Saturday night, so it was good fun. Nationals meets can be long, tiring, sometimes boring, but there were really good people and excellent lifters.
I remember seeing Mike at the Academy before I was into lifting heavy and knew who he was. I remember thinking that he was the most solid looking person and that I thought he was going to rip his blues uniform when he was walking around.
His name is badass, too. Ettore Ewen.
Pretty sweet to be mentioned in the same breath as Mike T. Not that I’m anywhere near the caliber of lifter he is.
The Matt Nolan vid was awesome.
In other news, anyone got a recommendation for cheap (but decent) whey in the UK? My only real need is that it dissolves.
@Behemoth – bodybuilding warehouses’ own make it pretty good. Think I got 4kg for a little over £40.
Matt Nolan is a beast!
That PR squat went up so easy too
The 99 problems shirt used to be sold by Mark Bell. The shirt is cool but I can’t back it up. My bench is, like, 3 of my problems.
Great lifting Matt, very impressive deadlifting.
@HardGraft
Thanks dude. Good flavours by the looks of it too, I was expecting unflavoured dust.
Ettore Ewen competed at my first meet in a local Florida state meet and I was like wtf. I didnt get to catch him lift on sunday cause we left in the morning but he is a very big man. Good hangin with u on sat night Justin funny shit.
Watching Matt makes me feel weak and womanlike on the battlefield.
This is pretty sweet. I’ll get there next year.
Wait….is Ettore the one being tossed around by the smaller long-haired dude?
I was searching for the “got 99 problems” shirt and found it, on the same site that has this thing. Looks like a fun thing to have maybe just to work on the top of a movement? Perhaps kind of the same thing as using chains. I’m not into using this kind of thing yet but it looks interesting. I could sort of imagine Suzanne Sommers or Chuck Norris selling it.
Maslow – I know some very strong benchers (raw and geared) that swear by using the slingshot in their training on a very regular basis. It can be pretty useful, though I don’t have one.
It helps keep the elbows in external rotation and obviously helps apply some overload. Never used one.
–Justin
I have seen Mike T in my trolling. He is amazing. Seeing him here on this site makes him more real to me and thus more inspiring. Great vids all around, good to see the pure excitment brought on by winning a meet with a huge lift at the end. Great stuff, Nolan.
Are we going to get to see Mike, Alex or Chris do there thing? I would love to see that 666 (SIGN OF THE BEAST) deadlift of Chris’s.
Yeah. The guys decided not to record anything on my camera, and did it on Mike’s phone instead. All of the lifts are on his computer so I guess we’ll wait on him to edit them? (Unless he intended to give them to me)
–Justin
Hey guys and gals. Sorry to use this forum for this, but I need help. On Sept. 23/24th 2011, my wife is walking in the Relay for Life in Santa Fe Springs, Ca. My wife Michelle has been battling cancer for the last 11 years, walking in the last 5 years. Any support would be appreciated. Look for her “Michelle Salazar-Berg.” Thanks guys and 70sbig for life.
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11CA?pg=entry&fr_id=31887
Link up and look for Michelle Salazar-Berg team’s page
If you send me the link, I’ll post to it. I’ll e-mail you.
–Justin
Behemoth, I’ve used the unflavoured powders from MyProtein and BulkPowders and would recommend them both. Not great tasting, but they’re cheap, mix well, and the companies are trustworthy.
This Marine is doing some good work. The video clip shows more then him just benching. He is doing deep squats as well.
http://www.kwch.com/sports/kswb-us-marine-sets-bench-press-world-record-20110822,0,2397259.story
Good to see Matt Nolan make it to nats and win it. Killer performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLKrFhA1Fm8&feature=channel_video_title
Misha Squats 310kg for reps NBD @ the Russian Training Center. But there’s this dude in the back just chilling out in a speedo. Hilarious.
Feeling sick as a dog (cold? flu? whatever) but have decided to go train anyways. Will report results in PR Friday. Don’t stop me now.
1)Make A’s in this upcoming term
2)Go camping/backpacking more
3)Stop surfing internet so much
4)Read more books
5)Train to my potential
Long time lurker 1st time poster with a misspelled username
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