USA POWERLIFTING OF MINNESOTA
2008 Raw Nationals
July, St Louis MO.
Contributors to this report. Brad Madvig and Maura Shuttleworth
Training for this meet was kind of odd because I was super focused on Bench Worlds for ten weeks. Then, I had only about four weeks before this meet once I got back to the U.S. Luckily for me, Fawn Friday kept me from missing any squat workouts leading up to Bench Worlds, and I jumped right back into squats on my second day back in the U.S.! Deadlifts went a little rougher. I didn't deadlift for about four weeks leading up to Bench Worlds. Oh well, everyone can use some time off from the deadlift. After I recovered from my Bench Worlds jet lag, training was great leading up to this meet. Anna White, our other female, Press Gym team member, joined Fawn and I for several workouts. This made things even more fun!
I am super lucky to train with these two women. Not only is Fawn a great training partner, but she has great support around her. Aaron Friday, Fawn's husband, and Ralph Friday, Fawn's father-in-law, drove us down to St. Louis for Raw Nationals. This was awesome! All Fawn and I had to do was chill out in the back of the mini-van! Fawn packed tons of healthy snacks for us to eat on the way down too. How lucky for me!
I was busy attending to my social life the last few days before we left - yes, lifters have social lives too! So, I didn't really follow my own advice that I doled out to the girls about getting enough sleep. Then, my last day at work went kind of crazy with a surprise election law project that took the whole day. Well, these things happen. Good thing we got to St. Louis a day early. I was able to rest up and hit the platform feeling on top of my game!
I had some really good competition from Diann Nelson. This woman is amazing. She is 52 years-old and lifts in the 114s and is freaky strong! I can only hope to be like her when I get to that age! I knew going into it that she has a great raw bench, so I was hoping to get a decent lead on her on the squat. Unusual position for me to be in!
It turned out to be my day! I opened light with 165 on the squat and sank it deep for three white lights. Diann made 154 on her opener. I went to 176 on my second to try to stay ahead. She went to 165. Both good lifts again. Not wanting to take a whole lot of risks at this point, I went to 187 on my third. Hit it perfect - three white lights again. My day was off to a great start. Diann missed her third attempt at 176. So, I was about twenty pounds ahead at this point.
I was ready to go show it off on the bench press! I opened with 137 on the bench press. For those of you who have read my shirt numbers, it really does make a difference! Diann opened with 143. I couldn't believe it - someone opening heavier on a bench press than me! We both made our openers. She jumped up to 154! This is a great raw bench! I played it conservative trying to maintain my lead and went to 143. I made 143 perfect - three white lights again! Diann missed 154 - not locking it out. I went to 148 for my third attempt. I made that and she missed 154 again.
By this point, my lower back was feeling sore from all that squatting and benching. I couldn't believe I still had the deadlift left! I just wanted to survive the deadlift at this point. I did 215 for my opener -three white lights! I jumped up to 231 for my second. Three white lights again! I then went to 248 for my third. Three white lights again! What a meet! Twenty-seven white lights! This has only happened one other time in my lifting career - Zumbro Valley Open 2003 where I first broke the Minnesota state record on the bench press.
This meet was amazing for me. Not because I did numbers that I hadn't done before. But I just felt totally on every lift. This was especially great having just come off Bench Press Worlds. It really does wonders for your lifting to have a phenomenal training partner like Fawn!
It was also great to see the other members of Team Press Gym milling around in their Zubaz. We had so much support and help! The two Gregs - Jones and Page were also on hand to help. These guys are great and super knowledgeable! Angela Simons, our Minnesota State chair was also helping out. How lucky for Fawn, Anna, and I!
Fawn and Anna both did great in their first national meet! I can't wait to see how they improve from here. I really want to say thanks to Dan Stock and the Press Gym. For those of you who haven't been there, the Press Gym is really the best place to train in the Twin Cities. I can't say enough good things about it!
Now it is on to Bench Press Nationals which will be Labor Day weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. I can't wait!
By Brad Madvig
This was a challenging endeavor for myself personally as I have suffered a number of injuries and illness during training. To be frank I have no idea how I got through the event. The venue itself was a challenge due to the heat and mass of humanity that was there. It was the largest National event (160+ lifters) present that I have ever seen or been to. Team The Press Gym was entered in this contest and had many scattered across many weight classes taking on teams from across the USA. Like events in Minnesota it could not be Nationals without the Reid's doing their thing. Sid Reid in the M3 and he was returning to the National scene after a 10 year absence. He competed with the Masters team at Nationals with MN greats like Hudyma, King, Dennis Green, and Tom Haggenmiller in 1998 were that team placed 1st. This event Sid hit National and American records all across the board. The thing is you see most lifters who enter National events they get a mind set of nerves like something is going to go wrong because its a 'National event'. I didn't see Sid phased in the least bit taking all his attempts with ease. He only missed his 2nd deadlift but coming back and getting it on its 3rd with a 314 kilo total.
The star of the MN team and the 3rd highest wilks in the entire event was Tony Reid. Tony like his dad really didn't get into the whole head case situation of what kind of event it was. It was just another Powerlifting event, but with a lot of other people. Tony also not being a stranger to raw lifting was able to set a comfortable lead in this event early on. His opener alone all the way to his 3rd squat kept him a a 15 kilo lead. This started to close a little bit with guest lifter from Russia Zurab Dzamikashvili who none of us knew anything about before this contest. His advances continued as Zurab got a 300 kilo deadlift then attempted a 312.5 attempt, but failed to catch Tony who finished with a 690 kilo total. Joe Warpeha also was part of Tony Reid's weight class. Dr Joe the super mind from the U of M rounded out this every deep class with a total of 490 kilos. Joe was all class about it who appeared more concerned about his team mates then himself.
Rich Edinger the ever charismatic lifter from Fargo joined The Press Gym team and found himself in the deepest weight class of the 275's . The top 3 of this weight class out totaled the top 3 in the supers if that tells you something. Rich had a rough going at first as squats were not kind to him. The spotters were not accustomed to Rich's squat style and grabbed the bar before Rich completed the lift. They gave Rich a 4th attempt, but the damage and I think wore him out for the rest of the event giving Rich a 665 total at the end of the day.
Along with Rich was John Dorsher in the 110 M2s. John is coming back from a very accomplished Olympic Weightlifting career to compete in Powerlifting and this was his first Powerlifting Nationals ever. When I have worked out with John he has expressed concern about many of his lifts. For me I brushed them off as just nerves coming back to Powerlifting. I think I was right for the most part. I knew John would come into this meet a little behind in the bench because of his weightlifting training, but his squat and deadlift would be tools of damage to his opponents. John right off the bat took the lead in his class with a big 205 kilo opener and pushed that farther with a 217.5 2nd attempt. He was up by 20 kilos in the lead. I and the rest of the team encouraged John to put his squat way ahead so he can ride through the bench ok. He went for a 227.5 squat attempt but had problems with his knee. Unfortunately this would haunt him through the rest of the event taking the wind out of his deadlift. Despite the major setback he still managed to pull off a 2nd place finish with a 350.41 kilo finish. Congrats to John... we look forward to seeing you back at it.
Jim Cahill and myself brought into the supers a long standing rivalry that started when we were teenagers. We faced off against each other at the Arnold Classic earlier this year and I managed to beat him by a thin margin both in total and in wilks. This time around was a bit different and strange to boot. First the venue was really hot from the word go and the platform crew was almost to good and fast for our taste. Found out later that the venue was a old hockey rink that was converted to a basketball court. As a result their were no air condition ducts in the whole place. It was an easy thing to miss as such a venue often only has 10 maybe 20 people in it. Now 300 like you saw. It got hot.. Cahill says about 85 degrees plus.
Cahill and I were soaked just after warm-up with squats. Fluid intake was a must or we would have died for sure. Spotting Cahill after just warming up with the bar he stumbled and looked at me with a look of shock. It was going to be a hell day for sure. I could see Cahill adjusting his lifts from what I saw of him in training. The oldest advice I remember is in Powerlifting is you need to lift what you can to win when things are tough. I saw Cahill doing it and I followed suit and rolled my attempts back.
The squat for me was a tough start. I got called on depth, but remembered the last training I had with Fawn Friday and how she used her Voodoo to fix my knee. I adjusted my stance and got my 2nd and 3rd attempts just fine. Cahill got through his squats with ease as he adjusted to the heat far faster then I did. The bench I think we both found our stride and were able to find ways to deal with the heat. I stole the use of a fan from the scorers table. When they saw how rough a shape I was in I think they were ok with it. Cahill and I both got perfect lifts throughout the benches.
Deadlifts is were things got really insane. We found ourselves dealing with a Master of great power named Jim Pope. Jim is someone we knew from the Arnold and was fierce despite having almost 15 years on us both. I know I at least did not think much of it of what Jim was doing, but to my error I forgot about his deadlift and how he could close the gap on anyone ahead of him very quickly. Cahill and I also were battling the type of bar at the event. Now I have been blasted on the USAPL forum for saying this, but the Q bar is NOT an ideal bar for deadlifting. Rock solid in the squat and bench but deadlifting is just not a good bar for.
But I make excuses. Cahill and I both knew Deadlifts were going to be tough, I know that I would have a lead on Cahill going into the deadlifts and Cahill knew that his deadlift could be the deciding factor. The stage was set, but in came Jim Pope from behind. Cahill and I did not care if he was registered as a Master lifter, it was a 3 way brawl for the best heavy of the day. My goal was to stay close to what he was pulling and force Cahill to make a big jump at the end and a possible miss. This was sound thinking, however Jim Pope started off with a big 322.5 kilo pull which took us both off guard. Cahill even said to me 'that opener can't be right'. I agreed with him, but Pope had no problem getting it to go.
Cahill and I had to pull it together with our strength fading in the high heat after seeing that attempt. Given we both had already put in our first attempts it was catch up time in a major way. Cahill with the better deadlift was able jump ahead in a position that would force me to take big leaps to secure the win. His 305 kilo attempt was solid and not a problem for him to complete. Jim Pope struck back with a 325 attempt which put him in the lead over both over us. With the help of Putt Huston whom was calling our numbers suggested an attempt a final attempt for me of 307.5. I gave it my all but could not lock it out. Cahill tried the same to take it all over Pope and myself with a 320 kilo pull and he faced the same fate. In the end Cahill and I were first and second place at the first raw nationals in USA Powerlifting history. But the heavyweight champ title should go to Jim Pope who ended up with a big total of 795.0 kilos who dominated in the Masters.
I am looking forward to the Arnold Classic to face off against Jim Pope and Jim Cahill again and hope to see a lot of Minnesota at this event.