Lessons Learned from Raw Nationals

I’m often asked when my next competition will be. I love competing in lifting, and I will always lift throughout my life, but right now I’m not committed to competing in lifting. Other things like hobbies, writing, running a business (I run all facets of my business, albeit poorly), and coaching get in the way of entering a meet or competition. Until you’ve traveled for almost two months straight and only get to train several times or pull 12 hour days to write a book, you won’t understand that. It used to bother me that I wasn’t a top weightlifter or powerlifter, but I’ve come to accept it and not worry about it. But I think people forget — and I sometimes do too — that I compete all of the time.

I get huge spikes of adrenaline when Chris, my former training partner, lifts

This past weekend I coached 11 lifters; I competed 11 times. Those lifters had 99 attempts; I competed 99 times. Each of those lifters had warm-ups, psychological factors, and physical variables that had to be accounted for. I don’t merely count attempts and push them to the platform; I try to manage their life. It may be that what I do doesn’t have as much of an effect as I think it does, and it may be that the lifter doesn’t ever notice what I do, but I’m constantly evaluating them and making decisions on their behalf to perform optimally and get the most out of what they can do on that day. I competed all weekend.

For me, coaching is competing. I get adrenaline spikes for each lift, and they are higher than any psyche up I’ve had in my own lifting in at least a year. The difference is that I have to stay in the moment and try to minimize error. In 2010 when Chris missed his last deadlift, I literally took a walk and cried because I was so spent physically and emotionally from coaching. Pretty dorky. Nowadays, I do that three days in a row with more than twice as many lifters. Someone asked me why I opted to handle so many people. I don’t get to sleep, I don’t get to eat, and I really don’t get to hang out with my friends. The only conclusion I can come up with is because it’s a challenge, it’s a competition. That’s the first lesson.

There were ups and downs over the weekend. My philosophy as an athlete and a coach has always been, “Let’s find out what went wrong, then figure out what we need to do to fix it.” Remember our lifters from the meet recap (Part 1 and Part 2): Courtney, Wendy, Brent, Sean, Jordan, Andrew, AC, Norman, Drew, Mike, and Chris.

Second Lesson – “National Meet Syndrome”

Raw Nationals is a big meet, and it’s run differently than local competitions. If you’ve never been to one, you won’t really understand how it’s different. In truth, it’s still a powerlifting meet, but it’s the human psyche that builds it up to more than it is. And even if you think you are immune to it, you will fall victim to the fact that it’s not the same as your local USAPL meet. Here’s why.

You traveled to the meet. If you get on an airplane to go compete, you are automatically at a deficiency from what you normally are at home. It’s because you had to go to the airport, dick around in security, sit down on a plane for a while, and eat shitty food. If you’re traveling by air, then you are staying in a hotel for at least one night and your food intake is inherently different than when you’re at home.

You cut for the meet. If you are still relatively new to cutting for a meet (fewer than five times), then this process will be debilitating, even if it’s only a few pounds. It may be that you are slightly physically weaker due to losing weight. But it’s more likely that you have stressed about making weight, even marginally. People freak out about cutting weight. Even Mike still gets worried; he debated not eating or drinking after 4 PM the night before, I told him not to do that and he still weighed in 1kg/2.2lbs under. The stress of making weight, the unknown, is enough to reduce the ability of a lifter, especially when that lifter is less experienced.

It’s a national meet. Especially your first national meet. Especially if you’re still inexperienced (it was the second meet for several lifters). Automatically most people will be over zealous. They’ll be nervous during weigh-ins, getting their rack heights, and warm-ups. They don’t understand that because of all of these things, but especially because it’s a national meet, they are not going to hit the high end weights that they want to. It’s not that nationals are stressful, it’s that in the back of the lifter’s mind, they know they are going to and at a national meet. That little bit of nervousness or stress is enough that physically and psychologically drains them. This is easily treated with some psychological tactics; I implement these tactics with the regular lifters (but it leaves the scope of this post). I had one lifter tell me that it wasn’t a big deal. I’d like to think it’s because I did my job of keeping them calm (which I was actively doing at all times), but the more experienced people are with competition in general, the less phased they will be from big competitions. There’s no substitute for experience, even if it’s another sport.

All of this means that a lifter should adjust their goals to account for being at a national meet, traveling across the country, and/or cutting weight. A lot of powerlifting mentality comes from geared lifting, and raw lifting is a bit different. First attempts probably need to be lower, and third attempt aspirations need to be lower. Shit, even Chris wanted to deadlift 15lbs more than what he actually did. Wendy opened with a 303 squat and it took her until her 3rd attempt to get a good lift. She only had to jump in the car for a few hours of travel but the fact that it was a national meet, albeit her second one, was still a factor. Accept being conservative at a national meet. Gym PRs are not meet PRs. If you meet PR at a national meet, that is very good.

Third Lesson — Prevent A Weigh-in Fiasco

As a lifter, make sure all of your information is correct. As a coach, triple check this. Andrew wanted to open on squat at 200kg. Whether the judge heard him wrong, or he said it wrong, 220kg was written on the card. Then he signed it. I wasn’t present because I went to eat breakfast, but I still felt responsible (I had already briefed him on what to do and gave him a piece of paper with his openers). I could have rectified this by triple checking his opener on the board, but I didn’t. I sure as fuck will forever in the future.

Also, Chris’ second bench was set for 611. Brad Gillingham, Chris’ hero, came up to him and said, “Hey man, are you actually opening with 611 on bench?” Chris said, “Yeah…nah, I’m just kidding. They put it up wrong.” In this case, it was correct on the attempt card but put into the computer wrong (it was his squat opener).

Also, double check equipment before and after the equipment check-in. This is not exactly our fault, but AC’s socks were cleared at equipment check-in and on his first attempt (there’s a judge that stands there specifically to check the attire of the lifter and they will notify you if anything is amiss). On the second attempt, she said his socks were not high enough. This, by the way, is fucking bullshit. Don’t accept them at the check-in and on the first attempt. And if you do, take us out to dinner first, because I like to be wined and dined before I’m FUCKED IN THE ASS. While another judge would apologize for this, as a coach I’m not going to allow socks that are questionable. Check the equipment, don’t let the socks touch the knee sleeves, and don’t wear underwear or spandex under the singlet (you might be sneaking some squat briefs).

Fourth Lesson – Third Attempts

Only 4 of 11 lifters made their third attempt squat. Courtney, Wendy, AC, and Mike did. Sean missed his because we went for a record (probably a bit more of a jump than normal, had to pull the trigger though). Andrew didn’t have a chance to do his because of the “wrong opening attempt” fiasco, so he’s not a good data point. Drew is a shitty data point because he was not actually squatting correctly. I just realized I forgot to recap Drew’s meet — SORRY DREW. He had this hunkered over squat with the bar two inches below the crease of his armpit. This means that his torso was inclined forward more than 45 degrees, and that does not fly in USAPL, at least not at the stricter national meet. In any case, he had a crack at an attempt on the third attempt after changing the bar position and standing up more to get a rack command, but the squat was high. He is not a good data point because it was literally the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen and unacceptable in the meet. Brent, Norman, and Jordan missed there thirds, and for each of them I would point to the programming leading into the meet. Jordan and Chris were more mechanical issues — they both came forward slightly to not engage their posterior chain and didn’t have hip drive. So 4 of 9 lifters made their attempts, and 3 of those 5 that missed can easily hit a third with modifying their program.

5 of 11 people made their third bench, but two of the misses were due to injuries, so it’s more like 5 of 9. Courtney, Brent, Sean, Andrew, and Chris made their thirds. AC and Mike missed due to injuries. Then Wendy, Jordan, Norman, and Drew — the four who missed and didn’t have an injury — all had reasonable jumps. Had I planned Wendy’s attempts I probably would have gotten her a third, but she had hit openers and went based on feel. The rest of the fellas just had 5kg jumps after second attempts that were around moderate difficulty.

4/11 made their third deadlifts. Two misses are artificial here. Wendy actually locked out her third attempt, but she hitched it on the way because she didn’t have baby powder on (my fault). Mike missed his third because it rolled his singlet up and got caught on it. Those are two issues that are easily correctable. So 5 of 9 legitimately missed. Courtney’s miss was due to her programming; she didn’t have any high intensity pulling (it was low intensity, high volume), and that has to be there for powerlifting. Brent, Andrew, Drew, and Norman missed because of their programming. Deadlift, more so than the other lifts, has to be trained so that the body can lockout heavy pulls when it’s already fatigued. Norman in particular was completely exhausted; he hadn’t done a meet since December, I think. The other guys just missed weights that should have been doable (all the weights were below what they wanted to hit) because they hadn’t trained specifically to hit a third dead. Brent even said that he hadn’t deadlifted a lot in training.

Let this be a lesson. Unless you are specifically doing things to account for third attempt possibilities in training (which is taught and explained in The Texas Method: Advanced), then plan on more conservative attempts. Everyone, except for Mike, always has an unrealistic view of what they want to hit. I mean, Courtney was talking about hitting 375 (she’s done it before, not in a meet), and she finished with 325 (missed 353, which is doable with proper programming). AC and Chris weren’t unrealistic because we decided what we wanted to hit a couple of months ago, though Chris still was hoping high for his deadlift.

Just trust me on this. This lesson ties in intimately with the second lesson: the fact that it’s a big meet means you won’t do as well. That could be the case for a variety of reasons, but that’s just the way it is. Until you have done a few of these big meets, you will fall victim to this reality, so plan around it. I’ll be talking more about this in the future.

The Lessons

Like I said, there were ups and downs. When you look at the completion numbers, it’s not exactly pretty. However, four people medaled (were at least top 5), Mike was a singlet malfunction away from 5th place, and AC was 15kg away from 5th place (doable with a healthy shoulder and a chance on what we wanted for the third deadlift). Two younger guys bombed out, one because his attempt was wrong (and I didn’t fix it) and the other because he’s squatted silly all year. 6 people qualified for the Arnolds, and if Brent hit one more lift he would have qualified (I should have kept an eye on this, but no one was talking about it that day). 

1. It’s a competition for everyone, so everyone has to be on their toes. I learned a lot as a coach that will help me prevent a lot of the bad things that people had to go through.

2. National meets mean the lifter won’t lift as much. That’s just how it is unless they are experienced. Plan around it.

3. Triple check everything. This will prevent any equipment or attempt card malfunctions. And then check them again.

4. Since lifters won’t lift as much, plan the third attempts accordingly. A small PR is still a PR, and it’s better than missing a lift. Account for malfunctions with baby powder and get singlets out of the way.

If you guys have any questions about this meet, or other meets, drop them in the comments. The meet was awesome, there were a lot of big lifts. Powerlifting legend Brad Gillingham, possibly one of the best super heavyweights in history and has pulled over 800 pounds in over 80 competitions, competed and only placed second! Kimberly Walford was red lighted on a 507 deadlift (she locked it out) in the 148 pound weight class. Ian Bell deadlifted 705 on his second attempt in the 198 weight class and LOST (made 2nd place). Our friend AJ Lareto deadlifted 650 in the 198 class and only placed FOURTH. This is raw lifting, folks, and the standards are strict. It’s a good show.

2012 USAPL Raw Nationals – Part 2

Read Part 1

Arin Canecchio returned to the “national scene” (his last national meet was in 2010) in the 220 class. He’s had a few things get in the way of training including surgery to remove a cyst on his ass earlier this year and recently a shoulder issue (his acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular joint — I think it’s due to elbow flare on the bench). The shoulder would give him some issues on the platform during bench. He’s looking forward to the opportunity to consistently train without set backs.

AC, Justin, Norman, and Chris

We opened with an easy 518 on the squat (AC has routinely hit 10 or 15 pounds more than this for doubles). AC is a pretty emotional lifter and induces huge spikes of adrenaline. Sometimes I wonder if he’s getting too amped for his early attempts and I wonder if it would be better to save them for later attempts (especially over a long meet). In any case, he destroyed the opener and we moved up to an equally successful lift of 540. I called for our plan of 562 for the third; I had been telling AC for a couple of months that I wanted him to hit this weight. He got amped, un-racked it, took it for a ride, and had consistent speed on the ascent for three white lights followed by a victory scream. He’s fun to coach.

AC took an easy bench opener of 364, but the aforementioned shoulder issue (left side) made 386 difficult. He got it, but the bar wasn’t even on the way up and it was a grinding rep. I gave him a 2.5kg jump to 392, which would have been a meet PR, but it was too heavy with the shoulder tweak. We’ll get this issue taken care of.

We opened deadlift with an easy 502 as the last warm-up. Then, as he was about to do 546 for his second, the judge at the chalk stand told him that his socks weren’t high enough. Mind you, this was after they were not only verified at the equipment check-in, but she allowed him to do his first attempt with them on. AC was livid when the clock ran down as he was trying to change socks. I did some quick thinking and put in a lighter third attempt than we planned (you can change 3rd deadlifts twice) and then took him in the back, had help quickly loading 545 in the warm-up room, and had him hit it. It wasn’t as fast as I would have liked because he wasn’t able to get psyched like he would have on the competition platform, so I stayed with the 573 I called for.

AC gripped it, ripped it, and had a pretty simple white lighted third attempt at 573. There was some weight left on the bar; he had at least 584 and probably 590, but I don’t regret the decision given the circumstances. It was a pretty good meet for AC, and consistent training will let his numbers push on up. I’d like to see him squat 600, bench over 400, and deadlift over 600. I think he could hit those numbers by next spring. The bench is there, we just have to address the shoulder issue.

Norman Palencia was in the same 220 session as AC. I think this was his second meet and first national meet. I’ve known him for a few years and he has really improved as a lifter since he’s gotten out of the military (i.e. he’s been able to gain some weight). Norman’s squat technique is pretty good, and he hit simple attempts at 419 and and 441. He missed the third at 463; if I remember correctly he had a shift forward and lost his hip engagement (when force production shifts to the quads and leaves the posterior chain, there is less musculature helping to move the weight).

Norman took an easy opener at 298 and followed it with a successful second at 314. The 5kg jump to 325 proved to be too heavy that day and he finished 2/3. We opened with a low 474 as a last warm-up on the deadlift. Throughout the day, Norman wasn’t really emotionally aggressive like AC, which is fine, but his energy levels seemed to be dwindling. He had a crack at 513, but the miss was over pretty quickly. It’s a weight that he’s pulled for multiple reps in the past, and just the intermediate jump to around 540 or so, but he was, in his words, exhausted. Meets, especially national meets, are a bit different than training. Factor in that he dropped a little bit of weight and traveled by airplane, and it wreaks havoc on a newer lifter. I wish we could have hit some better numbers with Norman because powerlifting won’t be his primary focus due to a future job, but he will still improve if he chooses to dabble in the future. As a side note, Norman is one of Brent’s favorite people now.

Mike Battaglino competed in the 275 class and was coming into this meet off a recent PT test (which always require dropping weight and not lifting as much, though I wonder if he can do it without disrupting the training schedule next time). We opened the squat with an easy 529. Mike was red lighted on his last two attempts at the Arnold so he’s modified his squat so that it’s without question. He made good on a jump to 557, and then he requested 573 on the third, which was a bit lower than the high-end plan of 579. He came out, got rowdy, took it for a ride, and ground through a pretty simple squat. There was weight left on the bar, but it probably felt good to hit a third attempt knowing he had more in him (it tied a meet PR).

Photo by Ryan Carrillo

Mike’s bench has really improved lately, but a few weeks ago he tweaked his distal biceps un-racking a bench without a hand-off (do not do this). His warm-ups were fast and felt good, yet his bottom position was very unstable on his opener of 325. What happened is the bar went down, then settled quickly on his chest which made it bob up and down, then finally stopped while he was relaxed. Since he wasn’t tight, and the pause was so long due to the movement, he had a harder time with the attempt. This same position occurred on the second attempt and his injured side trailed during the miss. We attempted the same weight of 342 on the third attempt, and I gave him the cue to “drive right” to over-emphasize the right arm’s drive. It turned out that the soft bottom position was too much to overcome, though it was slightly better, on this third rep. Mike was bummed but there wasn’t anything we could have done about the injury.

Mike opened on deadlift with an easy 562 as a last warm-up, then his a slightly slower 611 on the second. We decide to go for 639, which is well within his grasp. On another note, Mike is battling with Randy Cairns for a fifth place (i.e. medal spot). As long as he hits this third attempt, he’ll beat him. It’s not that we don’t like Randy — he’s a good guy — but he has beaten Mike twice and it’s a friendly rivalry. Randy missed his third deadlift, so we could have changed Mike’s third attempt lower to make an easier pull for 5th, but we weren’t gunning for 5th. We were more trying to get a solid pull on the third since he missed his third deadlift at the Arnold.

Mike approached 639, gripped it, and then started the pull. He’s fast off the floor, but due to his short torso, it always slows right around the knees. We knew it’d be a battle, but the bar was moving well up his baby powdered thighs…until the left side of the bar — the side I’m standing on — gets caught on the band of his singlet. He’s wearing a weightlifting singlet, and it pulls the band inside out so that the rubber coating is now in contact with the bar. This causes the left side to fully stop, and if you watch the video, the right side actually continues moving up while the left side is stationary. I’m fully convinced that if his singlet was pulled up into his testicles, the bar would have slid up his thighs no big deal. Mike missed this third deadlift, and it left a sour taste in our mouths. You hate to see a lifter go through something like this, especially when it’s one of your best friends.

It turned out that Randy and Mike totaled exactly the same. And they weighed exactly the same (the lighter body weight will win when totals are equal) at 124kg. Since Mike had the chance to change his attempt after Randy’s third (and make a change to beat him whereas Randy couldn’t make a change), the decision was awarded to Randy. Mike was given a “participation” medal, which only pissed him off.

Mike is good powerlifter. He has made consistent progress in everything since I met him. He is meticulous with his training, makes good programmatic changes, is good at planning attempts for himself and others, and will be a very good coach some day (he is one now). Whenever his next meet is, he’ll squat at least 579, bench at least 353, and deadlift at least 644. It’s just a bummer to have this one meet swing on the completion of one lift, especially when it was due to an equipment issue. He’ll be back.

Chris Riley was looking to improve on all of his solid numbers at the Arnold in a heavily stacked super heavyweight class. Raw nationals gets more competitive every year because the first place winner makes the world. Brad Gillingham, one of the most legendary super heavyweight powerlifters of all time (he has pulled over 800 in over 80 competitions) didn’t even place first!

Photo by Ryan Carrillo

We opened with a no big deal 617 squat, then moved to the planned 644 on the second. He got it, but not without struggle. I saw him shift slightly forward and lose the hamstring/hip engagement that I’ve talked about prior in this meet write up series. Had he thought “push butt” up, then I think he could have kept the mechanics and had more musculature involved to have an easier rep. I asked Chris if he wanted me to cue that, and he said that he could correct it. We originally wanted to call for 666, a 2.5kg PR over his 661 at the Arnold, but since it looked slow, I called for 661 to tie it. After talking with him, I might have changed the third to 666, but you can’t change 3rd attempt squats.

Well, the same thing occurred on the ascent of the third squat, and Chris got hung up in the middle of the rep and missed it because of a lack of hip involvement. I think that this is due to Chris getting in the habit of getting “into his knees” on his heavy squats, so we’re going to make a point of making sure he gets and keeps tension on his posterior chain. I might modify the actual programming to, so we’ll see what happens.

Chris bench opener was 364. The particular guy giving the hand off was different than the first flight (Mike’s flight, he had done it all weekend), and he unfortunately wasn’t very good at it. When he gave Chris the bar on the opener, he brought it way out over his chest. Chris got the rep, but he had to pull the bar back into the right position, wasting time, and throwing him a bit off mentally. I called for the planned 386 and Chris and I both asked the guy to not bring the bar so far out. On the second attempt, the back spotter just lifted the bar straight up, and Chris had to pull the bar down into position while under a load, which is the same position that Mike injured his biceps in a few weeks ago. This pissed Chris off again, made him use a bunch of energy stabilizing the bar, and wasted time. He ended up missing the rep. I called for the same weight (we had planned to go up to 402 with Chris’ close grip style) and asked the judges if we could get a different person to hand-off. The loaders all did a great job, but this one particular guy probably wasn’t experienced in hand-offs and it had an effect on Chris’ performance. They brought the original back spotter out, and he gave Chris a good lift-off and he made the 385.

We opened with a frighteningly fast 611 on the deadlift opener (last warm-up); the plates bobbed up and down at the lockout. Then we took 666 as the intermediate jump for the second attempt. Chris had been wanting to try and hit as high as 727 coming into this meet, but in truth I had always planned on calling 711 or 717 (him reading this will probably be the firs time he hears this). The 666 was slightly slower than I would have liked, and Mike and I agreed on 711 (though I almost pushed for 717). I settled on the former because I would rather him meet PR on the deadlift since he missed his third squat and only matched his meet PR bench.

Chris stepped into the room as they loaded his bar, adrenaline surging. The meet was located within a church, and I hope that they didn’t mind that we were summoning the demons. I pulled his headphones out and said some choice words and pushed him to the bar as he grunted loudly, nips sticking out of his singlet. He gripped the bar with his double overhand hook grip, took a breath, set his back, and started the pull. Chris has beautiful technique, even with heavier weights. His long torso, giant back, long arms, and short femurs make it possible. The bar never strays away from his legs, and he has long ago learned to make the lockout smooth. He knows how to battle. If I call the right weight, he’s gonna lock it out. And he ground through that rep with the crowd yelling, my throat straining for the last time that weekend. And then he finally locked 711, a full convenience store, out for three white lights. This was particularly satisfying for me as a coach and a really good cap to the long weekend. Chris screamed to the crowd, I screamed and jumped behind him, and we tackled each other in celebration. I was still slapping the wall when we walked down the hall and the old men who were running the church’s food services said, “Well, I suppose you got it. Congratulations.”

I joke around that I hate powerlifting when the meets are over, but I don’t really hate it. In the next post I’ll talk briefly on coaching and the lessons learned over the course of this meet. I felt that I owed it to the lifters to recap their experiences. They all chose to buck up and compete at a national event when so many people shy away from competition. They all did the best they could with the circumstances presented to them, and that counts for something. Through victory or defeat, and their were both this past weekend, competition is something that defines the soul.

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who strives…who spends himself…and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

–Teddy Roosevelt

2012 USAPL Raw Nationals – Part 1

I’ve been trying to figure out how I’m going to write about this meet for a while, and I think I’ll talk about some general stuff, quickly recap the lifters, and then tomorrow expand on the lessons learned (mostly the hard way). I handled 11 lifters over this three day meet, but had some help here and there. I’d like to thank the following people for helping:

Mike Battaglino, one of my closest friends, has a good coaching and programming eye; he’s going to be a very good powerlifting coach. He helped choose some attempts and managed some warm-ups in the instances where I had multiple lifters in the same session. Elliot Rowe handled all of the filming duties on Saturday, and for that we are grateful  Jacob Tsypkin, Elliot’s coach, would drop whatever he was doing and help load warm-up bars for the lifters. Chris partially took the handling duties of one of the younger lifters from Wichita Falls while I handled AC and Norman on another platform. Brent, AC, Norman, AJ, and Big Cat also helped at various points that made it possible for me to focus on preparing the athlete and counting attempts. Thanks everyone.

L to R back row: Jacob Tsypkin, Norman, Chris, Mike, Brent, AC, Sean Culnan, E.C. Stumpf.
Front row: Elliot Rowe and Justin

 

Of the 11 lifters, I’d say that 6 of them had pretty good meets. I personally played a role in the preparation of AC, Chris, and Mike (Brent does his thing, but he gave me more control of his attempts). Courtney, Wendy, Sean, Jordan, Andrew, Drew, and Norman had prepared on their own. I helped Jordan taper, have coached Courtney before, and have been friends with Norman for a while yet never coached him. Handling lifters is all about getting the most out of what they can do on that day, and I think I did that for pretty much everyone, especially Courtney, Wendy, Sean, Jordan, AC, and Chris (the others typically had circumstances they couldn’t control). In chronological order:

Friday

Courtney Modecki is a strong little girl who has been involved with CrossFit for a while and lifted in the 132 class. She trains at Outlaw CrossFit, was on their affiliate team, and rotates through strength training, CrossFit regionals, weightlifting, and now powerlifting throughout the year. She has a lot of potential in both powerlifting and weightlifting. Since Jennifer Thompson dropped back down to the 132 class, our goal was to get second place and hit meet PRs. Note that gym PRs are not the same as meet PRs; they’re largely irrelevant for competitors. I planned all of her attempts based on her high-end goals and what she hit recently in training.

Courtney opened the squat with a no-big-deal 253. She was then red lighted for depth on her second squat of 275. The squat wasn’t hard, and I was confident I could cue her to fix it, so I made a 5kg jump to 287 lbs. We originally wanted closer to 297 on the high end, but missing 275 changed things. I gave her the cues, sent her out, and she made good on the 3rd attempt of 287, setting a meet PR (she may have had enough for 292, but I’m happy with the 287 call). Courtney then went 3 for 3 on bench, hitting 127, 138, and 148 in succession. I don’t remember any issues on bench; as she focuses on this sport, her bench will improve. We opened lighter on the deadlift at 292 and then  hit a medium to moderately difficult 325 on the second. It wasn’t hard enough where I didn’t think I couldn’t make a 12.5kg jump to 353, but Courtney was out of gas on the third attempt and missed it. I attribute this to her training — a Sheiko volume program doesn’t allow any higher intensity lifts, so she wasn’t adapted to hitting several maximal lifts on squat and deadlift. Not to mention she traveled, was at her first national meet, and was tired. In any case, finishing with 287/148/325 gave her second place at her first raw nationals. Courtney has the most room to improve on the deadlift (she’s pulled 365 in the gym), but her squat and bench will steadily improve with consistent attention.

Brent Kim is Brent Kim. For the most part he has a template he sticks to, but it’s broken up by his work schedule and biceps curls (I think). I guess his training was regular leading into this meet, but he had commented that he hadn’t deadlifted a whole lot. A difference between last year and this year is that Brent high bar squats. He had decided on some openers, but I talked him into changing some of them (he beheld the instrument of his liberation). We took 418 on his opener, then a 7.5kg jump to 435. We then made another 7.5kg jump to 451 and he missed it. My guess is his training hasn’t been conducive to multiple high intensity squat sets. This can be easily rectified, even if Brent keeps splitting time between weightlifting, powerlifting, and swollertrophy. He’s looking good, by the way (the fire rises).

Brent went 3/3 on bench, which I think might be a PR, but he meet PR’d with 275 on the third. I think it was satisfying to him to hit that milestone, because he was abnormally happy after the lift. Brent wanted to open kind of heavy on his deadlift, and I talked him into opening lower so that we could get his third. He hit 386 as a “last warm-up on the platform”, then 430. It didn’t look fast, but I still called for 463 on the third. He missed it after getting it off the floor (he didn’t feel in charge). At the time I felt that it may have been something he could have ground through (he seemed to just turn off when it it slowed), yet it’s a function of apparently not deadlifting a lot, and therefore not being used to the tension at that intensity. Squatting and deadlifting around 430 at 154 pounds is still good, but I felt that I could have gotten a bit more out of Brent and it’s bothered me since. Maybe it’s because Rachel wrote a leh-uh, and in that leh-uh, she chose Hah-veeh. Even though he didn’t hit the numbers we wanted, Brent still got 5th place.

Wendy Hajik is my new buddy who trains at the same gym as Brent (he avoids speaking with her along with any other female). Brent sort of introduced us and I asked who she was there with, and she was about to compete in her second national meet by herself. II offered to at least count attempts for her if she wanted it. She accepted, so I helped her warm-up and got her ready for squat. Wendy has short, explosive upright squats with a high bar; short femurs are good for that. She was set on her openers but said she would “figure it out based on how it felt”. That’s not really how I roll when I handle someone, but I didn’t want to interfere or change much since we had just met.

Wendy opened with 304 pounds on the squat. She crushed the opener and…then stepped forward before the rack command and was red lighted. I felt terrible because I always tell my lifters to wait, especially on the first squat. I had the impression she was more experienced than her four previous meets (I found this out later); it was also her first national meet. I still feel like it was my responsibility, I just didn’t want to over step my bounds as a handler when I had just met her. In any case, she took the same weight on the second attempt and…shifted her hips backwards and missed the second attempt. I would later find out that her weightlifting shoes were stolen a couple weeks prior; the minimalist running shoes she’s wearing undoubtedly attributed to the technique miss.

At this point Wendy is borderline freaking out at bombing out of the meet. People keep coming up to her and talking to her. They all walked away and I said, “Look, I don’t know what all of these people are saying, but you’ve done thousands of squats before, right? This next one won’t be any different. Take a deep breath. Visualize what a normal squat feels like. You’ll be fine.” I had her relax and visualize a few times as she waited. When her bar was loaded, she walked out, went through her routine and…squatted the weight up for three white lights. When they beamed, she IMMEDIATELY burst into tears, sprinted, and jumped into my arms. And stayed there for ten seconds. I actually walked back to the warm-up room carrying her. I didn’t realize how nervous she was, because, in her words, she “gets pretty zen” before doing a lift. It was a high pressure situation and she came through for an impressive 304 squat — a bit more than double body weight (148 lb weight class).

Wendy went 2/3 on bench, hitting 134, then sort of a hard 148 (a 7.5kg jump). I made the smallest jump (2.5kg) to her third at 70 and she missed it. No big deal; who benches anyway? Wendy opened on deadlift with a simple 314 lbs. Then we took 331 for a moderate second attempt. At this point, things were getting fun. She was competing with another lifter, Jill Joiner-Wong for second place (1st place was locked up by world champion Kimberly Walford, who had a completed deadlift of 507 red lighted in this meet!). Jill called for 342 on her final deadlift and so we called for 353 to have a 2.5kg edge in the total (Wendy squatted more than Jill, Jill benched more than Wendy, and  success with Wendy’s 353 would mean she totals 2.5kg more [Jill was lighter, so tying the total would have let Jill win 2nd]).

I asked Wendy four times if she wanted baby powder on her thighs. She insisted in wouldn’t be an issue. This would prove to be a regrettable decision. Wendy pulled a very hard third attempt with 353 and slowly locked it out…yet her leg movement and the bar sticking to her thighs resulted in the judges red lighting it for hitching. Had I applied baby powder to her legs, she would have gotten it.

Not a bad meet, especially with how the squat started. I know how I’ll handle these situations in the future by always cuing the “wait” before the first squat and applying the baby powder, but I’m pretty sure Wendy will use it forever from now on. Wendy also qualified for the Arnold, so we’ll see her again there.

Sean Dunston trains at Outlaw CrossFit and has posted on 70’s Big since the beginning. He competed in the master’s and open 181 class (I handled 2 other lifters in this class). He squatted 435 and 457, so we went for a national master’s record of 480 on the third attempt. Unfortunately it just wasn’t there that day, but I think it’s doable in the future. Sean then went 3/3 on bench hitting 220, 237, and 254. He opened deadlift with an easy 440, hit a second attempt of 474, and then hit a meet and lifetime PR deadlift of 507. There was more in the tank as well, but he was happy with that pull and it capped off a great meet. Sean finished 8/9 and I think he got second in his master’s class.

Jordan Feigenbaum is a meticulous lifter who was competing in his second meet (first nationals) and aimed to qualify for the Arnold. His body fat sits at sub 7%, so he’ll eventually move into the 198 weight class (he has room to fill out, he’s around 5’10” or so). We opened with 419 and then hit 441 on the second attempt. He missed his third of 463, and I sort of recall it being a mechanical issue. Had he been thinking “push hips”, he would have kept his posterior chain engaged instead of shifting forward into the quads. Jordan opened on bench at 308, then hit 320, but had a crack at 331 before missing it. He opened with a solid 507 opener, qualified for the Arnold with a 529 second attempt, and that had a really solid battle on a successful third attempt at 551. I was really happy to see Jordan hit the 551, especially since we didn’t get his third squat and bench. I think modifying his training can facilitate the third attempts on the other lifts. Great second meet for Jordan, he qualified for the Arnolds, and he finished 8th overall in a very competitive 181 class.

Andrew Pichardo is a friend of Chris’ from Wichita Fallsand was also competing in the 181 session in his second meet (first national meet). I wasn’t present at the fellas’ weigh-in because I went to get breakfast (one of my two main meals of the day), so I missed the fact that Andrew’s squat opener was incorrectly labeled as 220kg AKA 485 — higher than what we planned for his third attempt. The actual attempt was supposed to be 200kg AKA 441, and I just didn’t pay attention to what was on the chart projected on the wall. As the coach, I should have double checked all of the openers (there were two instances of openers being wrong later in the weekend, one was the lifter’s fault, the other the judge’s fault) and I feel that this is my fault. I didn’t find out about the wrong weight until Andrew was pinned on his first attempt. When the bar was loaded it was too late anyway, because he signed the card. Still, I could have prevented the snafu. I took him in the back to hit 445, and it was a grinder; he barely got it. I had to tell him that he wouldn’t be getting any squats that day and I waved his third attempt.

We had trouble on his first two bench attempts at 270 (I can’t recall exactly what the problem was), but he came back and made good on a third attempt at the same weight. At this point I feel terrible and only want Andrew to deadlift well since the world has gone to shit on squat and bench. We hit 463 on the first, then a moderate 507 on the second attempt. It wasn’t slow enough that I didn’t have issues calling for 546 on the third (lower than what he originally planned if I recall), but when you aren’t adapted to multiple high intensity pulls and you cut weight for the meet, it results in being fatigued for third attempts at a national meet. The 546 didn’t go. Andrew and I both learned a lot at this meet, and I felt terrible for him because I knew I could have prevented it from happening. This experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I messed up, but he got to experience his first national meet and still hit 507 in competition.

The next update will have the rest of the lifters.

 

Doyle Kenady Is A Model Citizen

903 pound WR deadlift by Doyal Kenady



Doyle Kenady weighed 305 pounds of, as you can see, grizzled muscle. Dr. Fred Hatfield (AKA Dr. Squat) pays tribute to Doyle (he gives him the honor of Dr. Deadlift) in this excellent article written in Powerlifting USA (November, 1986). The world record at the time was Bill Kazmaier’s 886. This may not seem like much nowadays since the 1,000 pound barrier has been breached and there are amazing deadlifters like Andy Bolton, Benedikt Magnusson, and Konstantin Konstantinovs. Yet it was still the world record, and Kazmaier was a powerlifting phenom before he transitioned to a career in strongman competitions.

Kenady’s performance in this meet is amazing. I’ll let Dr. Squat give you the recap:

Doyle’s lift will take a special place in the history of great lifts because he did his record buster after massive attempts in the squat and bench press only minutes before. His deadlift was done under the most trying of circumstances possible, under near crippling conditions of fatigue.

Moreover, it was his third attempt that cracked the 900 pound barrier. Imagine! Two attempts in the squat, one of which was over 900 pounds; three attempts in the bench press, all over 500 pounds; then two attempts over 830 pounds in the deadlift before pulling the heaviest, official record breaking deadlift of mankind to an erect standing position.

Hatfield also recounts how Doyle called for a 4th attempt (allowed after setting a world record) and got it to just above his knees despite having to follow his own attempt. I’m sitting here in disbelief; breaking past 900 pounds — when it has never been done before — to set the world record without taking token squat and bench attempts is amazing. No wonder they called this guy “Sasquatch” and “Grizzly Bear” — two of the most bad ass nicknames ever.

Kenady was an amazing athlete, yes, but I want to point out that all of the people that met him or knew him said that he was a very laid back guy. He was kind, supportive, and helpful. Humble and amiable. Kenady had the look of a bad ass but was a genuine nice guy; what a man should be. In a time where athletes trash talk each other and want attention, I look up to Kenady for his “old school” personality. I look up to him as an athlete as well as a man; he is the epitome of a 70’s Big attitude.



Edit: Doyle is no longer living; apparently he died of heart disease. His training consisted of the three big lifts without much assistance work, and his schedule had more rest days than training days. Read Dr. Hatfield’s article and he tells a story of training with Kenady a few weeks before the meet — Doyle pulled 895 for a triple!

IPF Weight Class Change

The Internationa Powerlifting Federation (IPF) has re-structured their weight classes.
The old weight classes:
Men (kg)
56/60/67.5/75/82.5/90/100/110/125/125+
Women (kg)
48/52/56/60/67.5/75/82.5/90/90+

New Weight Classes
Men
58/66/74/83/93/105/120/120+

Women
47/52/57/63/72/84/84+

I don’t know what to make of it. In both cases the cap for heavyweights was lowered and the minimum changed (men’s increased, women’s decreased). I know that Chris won’t be slimming down to the 265 lbs weight class, so it looks like he’ll be a super heavyweight. There’s speculation of why the weight classes were changed, but I’m not familiar with the variables that went into the official decision (I’m sure there are a lot of pissed off dudes). Feel free to share any info you find.

Additionally, I always look at the USAPL as the standard in powerlifting. I’ve had issues with their judging (and other people have echoed the same), but it’s one federation that is prominent throughout the country. I’m not a fan of having eight thousand different federations (Hitler is most definitely NOT a fan either, see video below). It seems that the changing weight classes will just stir the pot around a bit more and promote disparity between feds. Thoughts?



Beard of the Day goes to Brian Daboll, Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator, who called a HELL of a game against the New England Patriots last Sunday. He sported a decent beard (and a shaved head, so he looks extra creepy) in the big victory in which running back Peyton Hillis rushed had over 200 yards of offense (184 yards of bruising, biceps-led rushing), and Colt McCoy pulled his weight in completing 74% of his passes, making key third down throws, and scoring a rushing touchdown. More importantly, this fired Daboll the. fuck. up. He basically attacked McCoy after his rushing touchdown and almost knocked him over. Finally…something to be glad about as a Browns fan.