USAPL Battle on the Border Recap

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USAPL Battle on the Border Recap

I was looking forward to this meet for a while since it is only the second USAPL meet I’ve been in. The week prior to the meet was my spring break, so my friends and I went to my Lakehouse, A.K.A. Dickhouse. It was dubbed “Dickhouse” due to the large amounts of sausage that were present the first few times. I spent the week maxin’, relaxin’, and tryin’ to eat as much as I could. On Friday my friend Dylan, who was also at the Dickhouse, and I started our drive up to Charlotte. 69 miles out Dylans car decides to break down around six o’clock. After this point everything that could gowrong WENT WRONG. The car broke down, then we had to get a tow truck to tow the car to a shop (which was closed), then we got a taxi to the closest rental car place — which happened to be the Greenville, SC airport, then we finished the drive up to Charlotte. In other words, it was the worst fucking day of my life. I fell asleep that night a little after midnight.

Second attempt squat


The morning of the meet Pat (another friend who would also compete in the meet), Dylan, and I ate some quick breakfast and were on our way. I will give you guys the recap of what happened to me, I won’t do Pat or Dylan any justice if I try to tell their story. So I went and weighed in and took care of some loose ends and I started to warm up. My dad drove up to the meet and gave me some encouragement in the warm-up room. As I warmed up the people at the meet couldn’t have been any nicer. All of the guys there were very respectful and courteous. My first attempt was 505. I have found the first squat of the meet is the most nerve-racking, but I got my first attempt no problem. The second attempt was at 534. I got real amped up for this one. Usually when I get ready for a max effort lift I begin to tear up before I approach the bar because of the adrenaline. One of the judges said that I had the most passion there for squatting. I nailed it. It felt easier than 505. My “limitless reserves of strength” gave me the courage to go for 570. With my dad saying go for it I decided to go big. Well I got into the bottom of the squat, got on my toes, and failed it miserably. Realistically I could have gotten around 555, but I went for the big number instead. Woops. 

First bench attempt


2 hours later after the Bench Only flights (which I am not a fan of) went, I was ready to blast my pecs. My opener was 358. My previous 1 RM was 368 and I crushed 358 like it was no problem. The next lift was 385. It felt really heavy. I got it about half way back up and my arms gave out. I attempted it again, but I just knew it wasn’t gonna happen. I wasn’t too excited to bench at this meet because in training my bench was around the same as my last meet. I had to reset it. But the shopowner and his son… that’s a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really. But, sure enough, I went on to the best lift ever. The deadlift.

Eight hours had gone by since my first squat attempt. I think everyone there was exhausted. I hit 562 pretty smoothly. I proceeded to go for 585 and failed it on two attempts. The third attempt actually came up higher than the first one. The meet was over. I didn’t do as well as I hoped with a total of 1,455, but I still won my division. I was so excited to show off my 70’s big shirt to the crowd to get in some free advertising, but instead in the locker room peeing into a cup while a grown man looked over my shoulder at my tiny dong. I was lucky enough to be drug tested. I came back up to find out that I had won first place. I gave a nice little cheer. I was happy. The end.

...nailed it


———-

So, essentially, AC had a weird meet. The week leading up to the meet may not have been ideal for eating and lifting, and then the day before the meet was a complete disaster. This battle of the border meet was quite popular, especially with the Bench Only division. It apparently took over three hours to get through all of the benching. Furthermore, it is hard to coach yourself on your attempts, and one should be more conservative than not. Because of the large jumps that were made, AC was unable to have some big PR’s like he is capable of doing — he will turn some heads at his next competition, I’m sure. Nevertheless, he still did well and won his division. And I’m proud of him, because he’s my beeeeeeest friiiiieeeeeend.

A guy named Steve that AC met at the meet (who also competed) was kind enough to film, edit, and post his lifts on YouTube. Thanks, Steve.

46 thoughts on “USAPL Battle on the Border Recap”

  6. I’m going to assume he was competing all raw. What class was he in? 242’s?

    Nice writeup. Sucks about the car.

    Raw 220

    –A.C.

    He weighed in at 210. Naked.

    –Justin

    The naked part was optional. That was AC’s choice.

    –Gant

  7. I did not PR as much as I wanted too. Actually I had some huge mental errors and that caused me to not even place. I will get those PR’s in our stupid school hosted Powerlifting meet. It was a great learning expirence for me and now I can tolerate big crowds wich might of caused my mental screw ups.

    I also meet a girl at Wal-Mart that night after the meet and went home with her. You might me a Redneck if….

  9. It was a fun meet and my first Powerlifting event. I entered in the 165 weight class and took 3rd. I trained using Crossfit Football for the event and felt fine on everything but the bench — there is a real art to benching the “power lifting way”. I need to practice that.

    It was a cool event for me. #1 and 2 in my weight class beat me pretty good. It was cool though, because the 4th place guy helped push me. I beat him by 5 kg on the squat, but he beat me by 10 kg on the bench. So it came down to the deadlift for 3rd place. He did 162 kg and I did 190 kg on my last lift. Lots of fun and I think next time I will push myself harder. After lifting 190 kg (396 lbs), I went to the warm up room and did 405 lbs pretty easily, so I wish I would have pushed myself harder on the deads, but I wanted to ensure I got 3rd place.

    AC is a beast. The guy is huge and seemed pretty nice. I spent a good half hour talking to one of the his friends (former football player who hurt his knee). He was a really cool guy that had some cool tips and fun stories about college football. A fun day, but a really long day.

    And I completely agree — Bench only sucks.

  10. My best lifts at the event:
    Squat: 342 lbs
    Bench: 204 lbs
    Deadlift: 396 lbs (405 in warm up)

    I feel like I should have pushed to 350, 210 and 410, but I was really trying to get 3rd place (which I did).

    This is not only okay, but what you want to happen. Nice work.

    –Justin

  11. Good shit, AC. That DL pic is one of the 70s Biggest that I’ve ever seen. (what is the superlative of 70s Big?)

    I also had an interesting weekend, because I attended a CrossFit seminar wearing a “squats and milk” t-shirt, and bringing two half-gallons of said milk in my cooler. If you go to crossfit.com and check the entry for yesterday, I’m in the front row of the bottom picture…unfortunately they didn’t use the shot of me in a 70s Big pose.

  15. Congratulations on winning your division. Although my lifts are still pretty weak, I wanted to join a PL meet. Not much is happening in South Jersey though.

    Justin, I’m just curious..what is your vertical leap?

    I have no idea. Some time last year it was 32 inches or so after I squatted and deadlifted.

    –Justin

  18. PS – What’s up with the avatar/profile pics? Some people have them, I’ve lost mine since the change over, and I don’t seem to have the option to put up a new one anymore?

    And can we get a sneak preview of the t-shirt designs or do we have to wait until they’re ready to sell?

    The t-shirt image is getting tweaked by the graphic artists, so they will be up soon. And I will check on the avatar issue.

    –Justin

  23. jimmybob, I mis-typed.

    180kg. After I did that lift, I went to the warm-up room and pulled 405 lbs pretty easily without my belt (friend was using it for his lift). I think I might be able to pull 190kg, but I did 180kg to ensure 3rd place. If I went higher and failed, I would not have placed.

  26. @ ChadTheMeatBeast.

    The meet in Edison is a little short notice for me. I have no idea what kind of steps to take to sign up and what not. I have no idea what the rules are, ect. However, there is a meet in Paulsboro (closer to my house anyway) May 15 that I would LOVE to compete in. If anybody has some good advice on the kinds of steps I would need to take that would be appreciated.

    The federation for this meet is IPA. Also, what exactly does Push-Pull mean in regards to the competition? Thanks in advance fellas.

  31. I think this performance (even though I’m sure AC could have obtained an even better total) reall demonstrates what focused, smart and dedicated barbell training can get you in terms of strength. In other websites and forums we have people working out 20 times a week, doing esoteric exercises and loading waves… after all that they are still weaker than AC or any of the other 70sbig crew.

    Mad congrats.

  32. Crouton…thank you. That makes sense. On the entry form it says squatting will start at 10am. Is that for warming up? I am so lost, haha.

    Somebody hook me up with an old belt, I’m broke!

  33. @WCM025

    I assume this is when the actual first squat attempts will begin and warm ups would occur prior to 10. My suggestion would be to check if there is a contact on the entry form and to reach out to them. I am sure they would be more than happy to provide more details etc.

  34. There is nothing only the flyer about squats. Just bench and deads, hence “push-pull”. I will most certainly contact the director. Thanks again bud.

  39. simply awesome.

    off-topic:
    I repped 3 plates yesterday on the squat. I also managed to squat 150kg few weeks ago, but this is the first time I rep 3 plates:

  41. @The Sun

    Nice job on the squat. I hit three plates on my linear progression starting strength set on Monday and oh did it feel good.
    I’m glad A.C. provides such a good example because the douchey frat boys in my gym do not get me pumped at all.

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