USAPL Texas State Meet – Part 1

What’s the point in experiencing life if you can’t tell the story?

This past Saturday six lifters from the WFAC competed at the USA Powerlifting Texas State Meet. I coach five of them and handled those five at the meet. These lifters will be your cast for the story that I will be telling over the next few days. The meet itself was a marathon – weigh-ins started at 7:00 AM and lifting didn’t stop until twelve hours later. USAPL allows some gear to be worn, but all of my lifters were completely raw (with belts). Of the five guys that lifted, three of them were able to set six Texas State Records.

Throughout Friday evening and all day Saturday, I put all of my energy into preparing these five men to do well in each of their lifts. The meet had two platforms, so two flights were lifting at a time. There were eight total flights, and four rounds of flights. This means that at times, I had two lifters lifting at a time, and most of the time I had two lifters taking attempts on the platforms while two other lifters were in the warm-up room. I made sure they were all prepared for the task before them, which at times meant I ran or sprint back and forth between the lifting area and the warm-up room. When they weren’t lifting, I was concerned with their conservation of energy physically, mentally, and emotionally since it was apparent that this meet was going to take all day (I think I told all five of them to “go sit down” at least 300 times). I was able to eat once during the twelve hours and take a few bathroom breaks, but other than that my focus was on my lifters, who are all my friends (three of them are some of my best friends). I can honestly say that throughout the day my lifters and I experienced every emotion a person can experience in sport, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This is our story.

To understand the story, you’ll need to understand the characters, and these dudes are characters indeed.

Brent was the first person I had ever seen at the WFAC when I first set foot on the grounds. Back then he was a smallish Olympic lifter (5’5”) with a Korean afro of tizzy hair wedged on top of his glasses. Brent and I got along pretty well over the past 16 months (everybody likes Brent), and he is one of my best friends. Since last year he has grown (with the help of a linear progression) into a deadly strong Asian. It took me two or three months to convince Brent, an experienced Olympic weighlifter, to actually do the linear progression, but he finally flourished in size and strength (he routinely squats in the low 400’s at a bodyweight less than 180 pounds). Lately he has been on an intermediate type program that we devised to increase his strength while working on the Olympic lifts. Brent was competing in the 82.5 kg/181 lbs. class at this meet.

Mike is another best friend of mine who moved to Wichita Falls in the fourth quarter of last year because the Air Force told him so. When he got in town, he was quick to admit that everything he did in training over the previous four years was based on what he learned from EliteFTS. Nothing wrong with that, except Mike was lifting like a geared lifter and had never been coached before (and hadn’t ever really trained with anyone before, either). Slowly over time Rip and I broke his technique down, taught him our method of squatting and deadlifting (which I believe is for the best for the non-equipped lifter), and I switched him from a 5-3-1 to a linear progression. The 5-3-1 is a very good program, but Mike is young (24) and thus can handle more frequent lifting and volume (and needed the practice anyway). He has since moved onto the Texas Method but was still linearly progressing his presses (the press is a new movement to him and his bench is his lagging lift). After his PT test earlier this year, Mike went heavy and hard with his eating and gained 10 or 15 pounds – he topped out the 110 kg (242 lbs) class at this meet at 6’1″ tall. His goals included a 500 pound squat and at least a 550 deadlift (he’ll pull 600 soon).

Chris is very, very close friend of mine and is easily the strongest person I have ever coached. When I met him, he was nursing a pretty serious shoulder injury from the 2009 Texas State Weightlifting meet (hurt it on the jerk — he couldn’t lift a ten pound bar overhead). Over the last year we have been training partners and best friends – having a good training partner is one of the most intimate relationships that two dudes can have with one another (with the obligatory “no homo”). Early last year, Chris was deadlifting in the low to mid 400’s for five and we progressed that up to mid 500’s (he has pulled over 600 pounds before this meet). Also his bodyweight has gone up from around 245 to 285, and then back down to around 275 (at 6 feet tall). He was competing in the 275 class this past Saturday, according to a scale in the gym had to lose a few pounds in that final week. He weighed in 8 pounds under the weight – this was unintentional and I think the consistent inaccuracy of the scale is to blame. We set Chris’ goals a few months back, and they included totaling at least 1500 lbs total, squatting 600, benching 350, and seeing milking as much out of his deadlift as we could (which I think is around 700 if he were fresh).

Allen and Jorin are training partners and have been members of the WFAC for quite a while. They were bitten by the CrossFit bug a couple years ago, and their training revolved around conditioning workouts and barbell training. With the advent of 70’s Big, Allen got pretty motivated get stronger and a bit bigger (he did some powerlifting 15 years ago) as well as wanting to compete. Jorin committed to getting stronger full time a couple months back to prepare for this meet. Allen is about to turn 40 and Jorin is in his late twenties. These days their training has a good blend of barbell training and prowler and sprint work, and they dropped most of the conditioning to prepare for the meet. They are both good guys and have been good friends in the time I’ve been here. Oh, and both of their lovely wives also attended the meet and took pictures and video, so thank you to them as well as Allen’s daughter — thanks ladies. Allen competed in the 242 class and has talked about dropping to the 220 class in the future. Jorin competed in the 220 class (he gained ten or fifteen pounds going into this meet) and still has lots of strength he could gain if that becomes a primary goal.

Lon Kilgore was also competing in the meet, but was handled by his former grad student and friend, Dr. Mike Hartman. Lon had never competed in powerlifting, but he needed a total to qualify for Raw Nationals in July. Also he could set American Masters’ records in his weight class (82.5) and age group (low 50’s) in every single lift.

Our cast of characters is set, and the stage was Oakridge High School in Arlington, Texas. Chris, Mike, and I drove down the night before, and Brent drove from Plano to meet us at the hotel. When I stepped into the hotel, my mind was locked on powerlifting for the next 24 hours. I didn’t necessarily want it to be solely focused on this since it prevented me from sleeping well, but when you’re inexperienced in handling lifters at a powerlifting meet, have five lifters to care for the next day at a state meet, and have a website that is devoted to lifting, things get kind of hairy.

I have coached all five lifters in some way for quite a while and tapered them all in preparation of this meet so that they would hormonally peak for Saturday. This meant all five guys were physically prepared for the meet and got some good practice lifting according to the rules as well as foreign environments. The next morning, everyone rose nice and early, annoyingly chipper even though nobody got much sleep. Mike is routinely spastic and talkative when he’s hanging out with all of us, and 6:20 AM didn’t stop him from chattering away with his standard ridiculous comments. I stepped out of the hotel room after quickly showering and he took one look at me and said, “What’s up with your hair?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s outta control, you’re a loose cannon.”
Jesus, was it really starting this early? I shambled down the stairs and opened the door to his car, which has at least 500 random items that he seems to have collected over the past two years.
“What’s this baseball for?” I asked.
“It’s for soft tissue adhesions. What the fuck else would it be for?”
Oh god damn, Brent too? The only person not acting their normal self (meaning completely insane) was Chris, and this was because he was nervously stressed out. I filed this bit of info while Brent and I got in his car. He started the engine and immediately said, “Oh, I got something for ya,” and slams his tiny little Asian finger into his stereo. Daft Punk starts streaming out of the speakers. I looked at him, and he returned an empty stare and said, “You like that?” This was going to be an interesting day.

Well, it certainly got pretty interesting five minutes later when Chris and Mike almost died. Chris turned left at an intersection and either started drifting into the lane to his right, or was changing lanes. Either way, the blue mustang that was occupying this space wasn’t enthused, and slammed their horn as they swerved out of the way. Chris veered hard to the left to avoid the mustang, and Brent took this whole visual in and calmly said, “Awesome.”

It was apparent a few minutes later that Mike’s GPS device hadn’t been updates since 1937 since we were driving around as if we were trying to lose a suspicious tail. I called him on the phone.
“You’re on with Mike and Chris, go ahead. Okay.”
“Yeah, where the fuck are we going?”
“Woah, slow your roll. Why don’t you take some lean? We’re almost there.”
I hung up without saying goodbye.

We finally got to the venue, as Brent likes to call it, and the guys weighed in. Well, they did so after some fanatic trouble. There was confusion as to what was supposed to be done and in what order before actually weighing in (this pissed Chris off, mostly because he hadn’t eaten since the previous night). After the goofiness, they were all weighed in. Mike and Brent stood talking in front of me as I read over the handouts they gave us.
“How much did you weigh, Brent?”
“179, but don’t tell Justin.” He wasn’t 180.
“I’m right here you assholes.”
“Best Saturday ever!” Brent announced.

Mike ended up fitting in right under his 242 lbs. cap, and Chris weighed in 8 pounds less than his 275 cap. This astounded us since he was 275 on the gym scale the day before. We can do a better job of monitoring this in the future. Now that everyone had weighed in, it was time to feast. The four of us went and ate at a nice little sit down café down the street, then came back for the rules briefing. Lifting was supposed to start at 9:00 AM, but for some reason didn’t get started until 10:00 AM. And this is when my life morphed from a storm into a hurricane for the next 8 hours.

To be continued tomorrow.

26 thoughts on “USAPL Texas State Meet – Part 1

  1. I intended to at least get through the squat today, but I wanted to tell a good story. 2,000 words is enough for the first post, not to mention it’s late and the only pictures I have been sent are a few of Chris.

  2. Great post. Sounds like you 6 have a great relationship and that always make for better training. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the meet.

  3. Does Brent use interpretive dance to get psyched up for his meet attempts?

    He actually has no visual signs that he is getting psyched up for lifting. He appears to be abnormally calm.

    –Justin

  4. Awesome story so far. What I don’t feel like waiting to hear: did Chris hit 700 on the DL? If the answer is no, it doesn’t make the story any less interesting.

  5. wish I had known about this…I live like 20 minutes from Oakridge and would have been interested in watching (no homo)

    I didn’t post a lot about it, because I didn’t enjoy the feeling I had when I posted about the the Texas State Weightlifting meet in January and then bombed out of the meet. I didn’t want any more stress on my guys than was necessary.

    –Justin

  6. Good story, I’m relatively new to this community and now have the desire to get 70s big! I started wendlers 531 program a couple weeks ago, what are your guys thoughts on it? I’m seeing that you guy promote starting strength, do you think this would be better for me as a relative beginner who has been doing crossfit for about a year?

    531 is a very useful program, but I am of the opinion that it will yield slower gains to a novice like you if strength be your primary goal.

    –Justin

  7. @tyler. I think SS would be much better for you at this point in your training. As long as your eating right and following the program you will see much better gains as a novie on SS. 531 is good for a more intermediate lifter who has exhausted novice linear progression. Buy the book, read, train and eat…

  8. I’m upset that I missed this. I am in Plano and would have loved to see this. Let’s get a calendar going with all of the powerlifting and olympic meets coming up.

    Is anyone going to the meet in Van Alstyne on Saturday May, 8th?

  9. Good post. I’ve got a competiition in June in the T2 age category (16 to 17), hope I do well!

    Justin I’ve got a little question if ya don’t mind, does starting at 16 mean I won’t get as strong as quick as some older people?

    I don’t know what you’re asking. If you lift properly now and stay consistent with it, you should be stronger than someone who is older by the time you are their age.

    –Justin

  10. How did Chris rehab his shoulder? Did he just use rips “only do presses for a few months” advice?

    Im currently dealing with a shoulder injury and its frustrating as hell.

    I didn’t have him do any isolation movements, if that is what you mean.

    –Justin

  11. Nice lifting, lads. And nice handling, Justing. I saw some video, and it looked like a great first meet for most of the guys.

    And for the readers…you cannot comprehend the life force drain of walking into the crossfire of a Justin/Chris/Brent/Mike conversation. It’s a wonder they found the gym.

  12. Sweet freaking story, I can’t wait to hear the end result. As a PR of sorts my friends have started calling me meatstick or meat rod. I also saw the 70’s big seminar on the site and I really wish you could bring it up here to Virginia. Any chances of bringing it up more north?

  13. I attended the meet this weekend to get a feel for how they go before competing in June. I won’t ruin the surprise but I will make a couple comments on what I saw.

    First, I introduced myself to Justin and although he and the guys competing were very busy they took the time to talk to me for a while during some downtime. Doing this showed me a lot about what kind of people they are and I will definitely be making a trip to WFAC at some point in the coming months.

    Second, everyone from WFAC competing had great form, Justin did a great job handling the team and the other team members/supporters were all cheering each other on. Agian, I was very impressed with everyone their from WFAC.

    Third, Chris is 70s BIG. That guy is a monster and was outlifting a lot of guys competing equipped. He looked like he should be a starting defensive tackle for a D1 college.

    Justin, thanks agian for your time. I look forward to heading up your way.

    ‘Twas a pleasure.

    –Justin

  14. sweet writeup. looking forward to the rest of it.

    I just competed in my first weightlifting competition on saturday and it was a great experience. I went 5/6 and set a PR total, but the most important part of the day was just getting out there and doing it.

    Congrats. This is what I like to hear.

    –Justin

  15. Awesome recap of an awesome day. I was there and I still get excited reading about it.

    One thing I wanted to chime in on is that I weighed right around 212 lbs (up from 200lbs 5 weeks ago) on every scale I could come across in Wichita Falls, including the ones in the gym. However, at weigh-in, I came in at 205.92, so I think there was something wrong with their scale. Allen weighed quite a bit less than he planned as well. Though it was a fancy digital scale, it was weird in that the square surface you stood on was balanced on a central point so it rocked and if I’d have leaned a little bit more, I probably could have made the 198 class :-).

    Very strange…

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