But when he explained what he meant, it all made sense. The strength coach in my head was barking at me not to listen, to keep my chest up and pull my shoulder blades together as tight as possible. Now keep in mind that I’ve fallen victim to some really sloppy deadlift form recently. He told me to just relax at the top, to push my hips through and let my shoulders go once I got the bar past my knees. Berby, a Vermont lifting legend and eventual winner of the 198 class, pulled me aside and told me to stop being such a tight-ass with my shoulders. I opened at 475 and it was slower than it should have been. I got one red light for lifting my ass off the bench, but two out of three whites – count it!Įven though the deadlift was by far my worst lift during preparation for the meet, I was relieved knowing I only needed to pull 500 to secure a personal record 1330 total. I pulled it down evenly, got a quick press command and blasted through the midway point to lockout. 330 came out of the rack smooth and my setup was just about perfect. I warmed up completely pain-free which was a nice feeling since I’ve been battling shoulder pain for the past 10 weeks. I missed 330 last year and missed it several times in training between then and now. With a 500-pound squat in the books, a 330 bench was my longest-standing obstacle to overcome. It took a good five-count to get through the sticking point, but it got me the heaviest squat of the meet for the second year in a row. This was the single slowest successfully completed rep of my life. But I stuck with the plan and called for 501 for my last attempt. With first attempt jitters aside, I took 485 and it felt good out of the rack but went up slower than I expected. Good news is I smoked it and called for 485. Even though this was my third meet, I was pretty nervous and it’s always a trip stepping on to the platform for your first attempt. ![]() I opened at 445 and I honestly don’t even remember unracking the weight. There was only one flight of everything so it went quickly and we didn’t have to sit around too long between lifts. We had a separate warm-up room with three Rogue power racks, and everything felt light and breezy all the way up to my last warm-up set at 425. I got to the venue (Champlain Valley CrossFit – oh, the irony), weighed in, caught up with some old friends and chilled out til the rules meeting. Since this was a Saturday night meet and we had weigh-ins two hours before lifting, I didn’t cut any weight. ![]() My only concrete goals going in were to bench 330 and total 1330, so I was beyond stoked to lift as well as I did. I went 9 for 9, set PRs in all three lifts and missed winning the whole thing by 1.5 kilograms. I placed second overall in the Open 198 division with a 1371 total – a 91 pound meet personal record. At a body weight of 190.8 pounds, I squatted 501, benched 330 and deadlifted 540. On Saturday I competed in my third powerlifting meet – the Old School Iron Wars, sanctioned by 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation – in Williston, Vt.
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