TSC Results, Weightlifting

Posted on by

TSC Results

View it webpage style HERE.



Thanks to all the participants and congratulations to MaceJunas (Men’s Elite winner), tommcadam (Men’s open winner), and mthornell (Women’s Open winner). Also congratulations to Men’s Elite runner up Antigen — who organized this 70’s Big TSC and compiled all the results — for tying an all-time TSC record of 24 pull-ups with a 10kg load. I believe Antigen was at an organized TSC event, so he had some strict judging.

Weightlifting, Squats

Glenn Pendlay joined the 70’s Big Chat the other night for longer than he probably wanted to. He had some interesting comments on “macro weightlifting” — or things that concern the sport as a whole and how we compare with the rest of the world. One topic in particular was this notion that American weightlifting coaches don’t focus on strength. Glenn kindly pointed out in this post that it isn’t the case. Max Aita aimed to do 5×5 with 260kg. That’s fucking 572 lbs. Glenn points out that “he doesn’t quite make it, but ends up doing 27 total reps in 7 total sets, rep counts were 4,5,4,4,4,3,3.” The video gets fucking intense, so watch all the way through.



As an aside, here’s Donny Shankle push-pressing 130kg for 11 reps from behind the neck. That’s 286 pounds. More on this topic in a future podcast with Glenn.

26 thoughts on “TSC Results, Weightlifting”

  5. Question: why is Max’s sticking point so high?

    Also, every single one of Max’s reps sounds like a buffalo that has been shot in the lung.

    You’d have to ask Glenn. There is definitely a subtle technique issue that causes him to miss those, especially on some of those later sets where he destroys a few reps then gets stuck. If I had to guess, the bar is moving forward or backward over his balance point. If 573 pounds is not balanced, it won’t work. That’s my best educated guess without talking to Max or Glenn.

    –Justin

  8. As to his sticking point, that’s just where it is on Max. I don’t think I would read too much into it, sticking points happen at different places on different people.

    As to the technical issues, when watching in person it looked like on the misses he got his hip too far out, or another way of looking at it was that he didn’t begin to push his hips through (meaning drive them forward) soon enough. It is not as apparant on video as it looked in person, although there are still 2 missed reps that make it very apparant that he did that even on the video. He even mentioned on one miss that he felt like it “bent him over”, which is how it would feel if he had his hips too far out too late in the lift.

    But, I am not of the opinion that this is some great technical flaw, I just think the weight was really freaking heavy and its hard to do 5 reps in a row perfectly when the weight is really freaking heavy. Take 10kg off the bar and I am confident that on that day he could have made every rep perfectly… or add a little strength and I am sure he could have made the 260kg with no position problems for all 25 reps.

    As for the situation with his injuries, Max need another surgery, and honestly the prognosis isnt all that great as far as the wrist healing well enough to do the competitive lifts. But we can all hope I guess.

    Oh, I agree the weight is big time heavy and the source of the misses. I didn’t think it was a technique flaw, but merely something that the heaviness causes. The same thing was said in an IronMind article about a 1,000 pound squat.

    The wrist injury is unfortunate, yet Max still inspires with those damn strong squats.

    –Justin

  10. Awesome video.

    And thanks to Antigen and 70’s Big for the work on the TSC.

    It was largely Antigen’s organizational job, so thanks to him.

    –Justin

  11. @dave h
    glad you liked it.

    Like last year under 200lb BWs are colored red as a joke and it’s notable both winners were 200+.

    * means you didn’t use a kettlebell so you didn’t do quite the same competition as those who did, but luckily no one using a DB won.

    I’m going to buy a 2 pood this summer and improve my snatch by the next TSC. It’s also about the right weight to do curls at home with so double the benefit.

    Here are the international results for spring 2011:
    http://www.tacticalstrengthchallenge.com/results/?tsc=12

  12. last fucking place. *sigh* It was still really fun competing and I can’t wait till the next challenge. Good job everybody.

    I think that video of Max is a great example of doing something HARD, over and over again. All those misses would’ve put a big dent in my ego. Kudos for getting after it and getting 2 extra reps.

  13. Question: thigh chafing, anyone else got it; what can be done to prevent it?

    I wear boxer briefs to account for thigh rubbage. I’d rather not have rubbage over sweaty junk, but that’s debatable depending on the weather.

    –Justin

  17. The only real question is this- i wonder where he gets his pants tailored, to house those massive balls of his. Seriously, if you aren’t motivated by that, you might wanna look elsewhere for workouts.

  18. this question probably toes the “homo” line, but:

    Justin, do you have the issue of the legs of the boxer briefs riding up the thigh? This happens all the time to me and proves to be fucking annoying. Maybe a longer-leg boxer brief is required I guess…

    Yes, this is a huge problem and the source of major annoyance. Regular cotton boxer briefs will stretch out too. I was getting Sonoma brand which are threaded with something other than cotton, although those still rode up on the thighs (but not as much). Khol’s has stopped carrying them, though. I tried the Adidas brand, but they are WAY too small. There is no crotch pouch, so my junk is all smashed together like wearing spandex, and that’s not okay during the day. I hate boxers because they just ride up and don’t address the thigh rubbage (and neither would briefs).

    –Justin

  19. Justin and smithb9,

    Nike used to make a product that was like the “tights” that you sometimes see overly modest women or men with no testosterone wear under short-shorts only made out of a cotton material. They had the ample “crotch pouch” that Justin enjoys, they went all the way to just above the knee, and they didn’t ride up. When worn in the place of underwear, they completely eliminated the thigh rubbage problem. I have not seen that particular probuct for sale in a long time, but they sure did work well.

  20. Glad I’m not the only one with the boxer brief riding up the leg problem. Also those squats are amazing. It was good to see that after waiting for the only squat rack in my college gym for half an hour because two dudes are doin 8 sets of 15 of half squats with their backs bent over like they’re doing good mornings. Sidebar- how often should push presses be done?

  21. I imagine the boxerbriefs that underarmor makes that have the longer legs would probably fit the bill, but like all underarmor products they are horribly overpriced at something like 25/pr

    Fuck that company.

    –Justin

  22. Yeah, it’s mainly the boxers riding up that bothers me, I freeballed today and it helped.

    A fellow blocky told me that baby powder helps reduce the chafing.

    I used a lot of Gold Bond a while back, but it encouraged a fungal rash. Since I have not used Gold Bond, I haven’t had a problem with “jock itch”.

    –Justin

  23. Since I think the push press question might have been generated by the video of Donny, I will answer. Hope I am not overstepping my bounds here, sorry Justin if I am.

    I believe a great training schedule if you want to increase your push press is to do medium or close grip bench press on Monday, push presses on Friday, and something lighter in between on Wednesday, like military press or some dumbell work.

    You are more than welcome to comment any time, Glenn.

    –Justin

  26. Dang. Second place. So close. And I just hit a 518 DL on Friday weighing in at a light (for me) 192, a wee bit too late for the comp.

    Congrats to all those that participated and won.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.