The Arnold - I will not be able to attend
without sponsors, so I am TBD
Oct, 19th, 2008 - New Personal Record Squat
of 804 pounds at the USAPL North East USA
Regional PL Championships and wins Champion
of Champions award with a 2011 LB Total!
August 14th, 2008
Jan. 11th, 2008
I am honored to have been selected to the
Atlantic division of the Quest Invitational
Powerlifting Championships, held March 1st
in Columbus, Ohio at the Arnold Sports Festival. I found out I will be lifting just 10 weeks
from the event. This is the biggest sporting
event I have attended as an athlete in my
lifetime. This as usual is a drug tested,
drug free event, sanctioned by the International
Powerlifting Federation.
I am training with the highest amount of
focus I have had in a long time and I am
hoping to bring my A game to one the biggest
stages I've been on.
July 20th, 2007
YouTube Version of my 551 LB Bench Press
at the 2007 Men's Nationals
YouTube Video of my third DL attempt at 683
at the 2007 USAPL Nationals
Missed attempt, my left hand had a calais
tear
July 19th, 2007
Well I end up placing 5th in what was the
most competitive contest I have competed
in the United States. I took only 2 squats
based on a groin injury and tied a PR in
the squat at 782. Then I took 534 as an opening
bench, went to 551 and double locked, so
I had to repeat the lift and was successful
with this third attempt at 551. Not what
I expected to do in the bench, had hopes
on at least matching my PR in that lift.
Then came the deadlift, I opened with 611
and hit it easily, took 661 on my second
and I also hit it easily. On my last pull
I was in 4th and needed to much to get third,
so I focused on hitting a PR Total and Deadlift.
I went for on my last pull, but I tore a
calais on my hand and lost my grip. I believe
I could have completed the lift, if my hand
didn't tear. Although this was one of my
lowest finishing at Men's Nationals in 5
years, I can't be overly upset with my numbers,
considering I was injured much of the training
cycle.
Congrats to Anthony Harris who won the class
with an American Record Total!
July 11th, 2007 - In the News
May 16th, 2007
I am now the last 9 weeks of training for
the USAPL Men's Nationals. I have had some
health setbacks and this year's competition
in the 242 LB. class is going to be fierce.
This is a big year for the USAPL making the
Arnold a main event in March 2008. The last
qualifying for that event is in St. Louis.
So regardless of health and economics, I
must go and put up a good total. If I don't
compete or don't finish in July, then I am
not eligible to make the Arnold event, not
to mention not making the 2007 World Team.
I believe again this year the 242 LB Class
will be tough and deep. I am going to give
what I have and let the cards fall where
they may.
March 29th, 2007
I forgot to mention in my last post, I was
out of contest drug tested without notice
Saturday, March 24th, 2007. I am proud to
be drug free and am happy to be tested at
any time.
March 28th, 2007
This week I am 16 weeks out from USAPL Men's Nationals July 15th, 2007 in
St. Louis. I have had a few weeks of rest for a groin
injury. I am hoping to put a solid training
cycle together and represent myself better
at this year's Nationals.
January 24th, 2007
Back to training, but not to much sleeping.
Going to do a test lift at a benefit event
in Philadelphia on February 23rd. I will
be doing all three. Not sure of how much
I am going to push it. I have had some minor
strains, with some off season work I have
been doing. It will be a game time decision.
On a high note, my pec has completely recovered
and I have done some things to address the
elbow issues that helped create the pec tear.
Focus is set for July in St. Louis. Even
with the pec tear, my health is better then
last year's offseason,. For example, at this
point last year I could barely walk, based
on a knee scope and gout.
December 19th, 2006
Well on December 6th, my wife and I welcomed
our second child, a baby girl, Kaylee Jean. She was 4 weeks early and weighed 6lbs.
6oz.. Mother and child are doing great! So
now it's time to set my lifting up for 2007.
I am looking to hit one event before the
USA Powerlifting Men's National Championships
this July in St. Louis, MO.
October 13th, 2006
Well it's been a while, as I expected. My wife is still doing well with the pregnancy,
so everything is on track. As far as lifting, I have had a few setbacks.
I have been dealing with tendoitis in my
eblow for a good part of this year. I started
a bad habit of compensating for it and it
caught up with me. I have small tear in my
right pec and trying to get it right before
I get back to pushing solid weight. The root
of the issue is my elbow tendoitis, better
know as tennis elbow, but believe me I don't
play tennis to get this. Even as recently
as this week, my elbow flared up after doing
volume squats, mid 500 lb squats for sets
of 5s. My squat numbers are up, but so is
my bodyweight. I am eating for two! :0) Going
to have my bodyweight back in the low 240s
by December. Was planning to peak out my
training in the gym in December, but my chest
isn't going to be in any type of shape.
August 31st, 2006
Sorry for the late update, things on the
non Powerlifting side have been crazy. I
ended up doing ok at the Motivations BP event.
I opened with 500 pounds, nailed it. Then
I jumped all the way to a personal best of
580 pounds and hit it. I would have red lighted
my lift, for uneven extension, I am my worst
critic, but it was called a good lift. Then
I went for the 600 pound barrier, pressed
it great off my chest, but was to tight to
the racks and caught the bottom end and went
back down. All and all, it was a good day.
Need to work on a few things, recharge my
battery mentally and physically. My wife
Jenny is now almost 22 weeks pregnant, with our second child, with certain medical
conditions she has, she could have the baby
as early as 28 weeks, normal is 40 weeks,
hopefully not, but the possiblity is there.
So I am staying close to home, I'm not focusing
on anything but the arrival of our second
child. I will train to hit peak out my training,
in the gym, around first or second week of
December. Then reset my numbers, hit a tune-up
in the fall, the get ready for 2007 Men's
Nationals.
August 7th, 2006
This Saturday, August 12th, I will compete
in the Motivations III BP Competition in
Dunmore, Pennsylvania. It's one of my first
Bench Press only competitions. I normally
have only done just three lift competitions,
but with recent problems in the Bench Press,
I have decided it would be good to compete
in this lift alone. I will compete at whatever
bodyweight I show up at, which will likely
push me into the 275 pound weight class,
since I am currently weighing 248. Current
state record at 275 is 529.
Lifting Begins at 10 AM
Motivations Fitness Center
1128 Meade St.
Dunmore, PA. 18512
570-341-7665
July 12th, 2006
I write this post as I am returning from
what “could” be considered one
of the worst contest performances in my 16
year powerlifting career, the first time
I have EVER been disqualified or bombed out
of a powerlifting contest.
This is top contest every year, the only
contest I really care about. Every lifter
there has put in the time and energy and
everyone deserves a good day, but it’s
not always meant to be. I have to say going
in, I had put my attention and effort on
my weak lifts or the lifts I thought I had
the most potential to gain on, the squat
and deadlift. It ended up the bench press
became the lift that disqualified me from
the contest.
I had my concerns going in on the setup of
the contest, in that we had only 7 lifters
in our flight and session, so that would
mean, a short rest between attempts. About
6-7 minutes time between multiple 700+ pound
attempts, then only 15 minutes down time
between the last squat and the first Bench
Press.
I was able to open up with a 744, then a
771 pound squat. On my third attempt I took
an aggressive jump at a new personal best
of 799.75 pounds, previous best was 783 pounds.
This was a long draining attempt, that I
just missed. I had made some minor step errors
on the setup I then had to take the time
to make sure the weight settled. As you would
expect, letting nearly 800 pounds settle
will take some energy out of you. This time
likely zapped my strength enough to prevent
me from making this lift, not that I didn’t
give it every ounce to push out. This woulda, coulda, shoulda been a 16 pound
personal best. Maybe this was a bit to aggressive
of a jump, especially at a National contest,
but at the time, I saw it as my only way
to have a chance to win, plus I was confident
I could hit it. Maybe I'm a fool, but I still
think, if I did things just a little better
with the setup, I could have hit it.
Going into the Bench Press I was a bit beat
up from the missed squat attempt and with
so little time to get my shirt on, it became
what would mark the end of my day. I made
the mistake of taking a weight I was successful
on in the 2005 USAPL Nationals and 2006 USAPL
PA States. I should have picked up and acted
on the signs of fatigue and lowered my opener.
That’s one of those things, where you
take for granite the weight, when you’ve
done it before, but don’t take into
account when the conditions have changed.I guess I should have left my ego home, as
I normally tell people and taken the fatigue
more seriously, but I didn’t.I was able to lock out the weight of 562
pounds on my second attempt, but because
of downward movement during the upward press,
I was rightfully disqualified for the attempt.
I took it a third attempt, but didn’t
get it to go.
This was one of those humbling days, where
I need to go back and take a good look at
things. Maybe there are some quick adjustments,
maybe some more complex ones, but as you
can see, even after 16 years of dedication,
we all have our bad days and I am going to
put this one up there as just one of those
days. Everyone has those days and when it
really comes down to it, this is a sport.
I walked away healthy and a little embarrassed
by my performance.
Where I might show up for a contest next
is anyone’s guess, I am thinking about
getting back on that horse I fell off of,
as my plane home is about to land back in
Pennsylvania.Let’s put it this way, I don’t
think it will be long. I will have to see,
I have to give my body a week of rest and
then I will determine if it’s smart
to try and hit something this year. I have
a feeling I can fix a few of my issues fast,
but won’t know that, until I return
to the gym next week.
This week my wife Jenny is going to have
preventive surgery related to her pregnancy.
That’s where my focus will be and should
be. I wish everyone who made the World Team
good training and let’s bring the IPF
Open World Title back to the USA!!!
May 3rd, 2006
Ok I am working on raising money for travel
to Men's Nationals. As most of you know,
there is no cash reward for this sport. Although
we are hard working athletes, we don't get
any funding for our travel. So if you can
dontate, even if just a little, it would
be greatly appreciated.
There are two ways to donate.
1) Donate $30 or more on-line and you will
get a PurePowerlifting.com T-Shirt 2) Donate by mailing your donation to USA
Powerlifting and get a tax exemption on your
donation. Print and mail the form here!
With either donation, we can display your
company logo under the MannOfSteel.com sponsors
section.
May 2nd, 2006
It's official: This year I will lift as a
Member of Team Titan! I have been sponsored by Titan for a few
years now and this year I will officailly
be listed on their team. If you want the
best gear today, lift in Titan!
I have placed 3rd the last 3 years at the
USA Powerlifting Men's National Championships,
each time raising my total up, last year
almost 50 pounds! I have to treat the next
few weeks as the heart of my training program.
Now is the time where gains or progress is
made, not when it's a month before the show.
If I am lucky enough to win this contest,
I earn a spot on the IPF Men's Open World
Team in Stavanger, Norway. I made it to the
IPF Junior World Team in 1998 that traveled
to Gyor, Hungary and there was nothing else like it. 50+
Countries send their best in each division.
I don't make money on this sport, this is
an amateur event, but you can sponsor me
and get a tax exemption. What to find out how, e-mail me by clicking here.
IT'S OVER! Man what a day. I knew I didn't
have a whole lot to give in the squat, so
I was only planning two attempts. Erik Steiner,
my college training partner, called my numbers
perfectly. Calling 766 on my second attempt.
I was twisted and pushed, grinding and exploding
just about all my blood vessels in my head,
but I got it up and it was good. I will for
sure be putting that video on-line Happy
with that I passed on my third squat.
The Bench, well I went risky and I opened
with 575 (573 + Record Plates) which was
not only a personal best, but also and American
and State Record attempt. I almost thought
I blew it. I setup poorly on my first attempt
and was uneven from the top and couldn't
lock it out because of that. I of course
took the same weight on my second, this time
getting myself on the bench correctly. This
time I pushed it, like it was even the same
weight. My triceps got pretty beat up on
the first attempt, so a third attempt was
a long shot, so we jumped only up to 578.
As expected, I just didn't have the triceps
to push it out.
The Deadlift started and I just wanted to
get my first ever Open American Record in
the Bench Press to count, so I opened with
584 and hit it without a problem. I have
made some improvements in this lift over
the last couple years and it showed again.
I jumped to a personal record attempt of
661 and nailed it, for what would give me
a 2000 total. Then I took sight on 678, to
exceed the current USAPL PA State Total record
of 2015, which is held by Beetle Lowe. I
had just enough to hold on and lock out with
678, which for me was 18 pound personal best
in the deadlift. To give you an idea, up
until last year, my best Deadlift in contest
was 633 and I have been in that area from
620-633 since around 1998. To say I have
struggled for improvements in this lift,
would be a huge understatement.
This gave me a personal best total of 2017,
along with a State & American Record
Bench Press at 575 and a personal best deadlift
at 678. It was a great, great day!
I'd like to thank a few people. First off,
my wife for dealing with the time I take
away from her and my son Jacob to train like
I need to. Thanks to Janel Brown for putting
on such a good show. Jim Brown for providing
such a great facility to lift at. I have
only been training there since the first
week of January and look already!! Erik Steiner
and Seth Abrams for being there to help me
in the back, it was a great day and I'm glad
you could help me so much. Thanks to Jimmy
Kavarnos who has been training with me at
Brown's and has helped keep me motivated.
March 17th, 2006
2 Days Out
The training this program cycle, pretty much
stopped two weeks out. With the short training
cycle I had, I was able to end up pushing
some good training numbers. My body took
the abuse and it wasn't really ready for
how fast I went from 0 - 60. So the last
few weeks, have been mending weeks, trying
to feel healthy again. I got enough weight
on my back and in my hands, to at least take
solid attempts at weights I should be doing
in competition. I will likely have to take
some aggressive attempts, since my endurance
at peak weight is not going to be there.
I really want to have a good day, but if
I don't hit my normal numbers, it shouldn't
be a real big surprise. Goal #1 Stay Healthy,
well as healthy as I have been. Goal #2 Have
Fun. Goal #3 Get enough attempts under my
belt to knock the rust off for Men's Nationals
in July.
