BACKGROUND

Well its official, I have competed in my first ever Raw Powerlifting meet.  With the further deterioration of my right elbow not only have I been dealing with near constant daily pain and inability to perform basic daily tasks, but I have lost all advantages of using a bench press shirt.  With my pressing abilities limited by my elbow I decided to squeeze in a Raw Meet (3/31) before my Elbow surgery (4/4) and the due date for our Daughter (4/10). 

MEET WRITUP

APA State Chair Rudy Kadlub and Nick Horton of PDX Weightlifting put together an amazing Dual Powerlifting and Olympic lifting meet.  They had a total of 70 competitors between the two events.  And unlike a typical Powerlifting meet there was an actual audience present all day.  It was standing room only at Elite Performance Center for nearly the entire day!  It was great to see all these people out supporting the strength athletes.  Even MMA Star Chael Sonnen was present to root on his favorite powerlifter in full force.

Despite being a full day with nearly 55 lifters in the full powerlifting meet it went smoothly and finished in a good timeframe for an event this size.  Especially considering the Olympic Lifting Event was running concurrently.  This smooth running was facilitated by excellent spotting and loading by EPC members and support staff.  In addition it didn’t hurt that nearly 90% of the lifters were in fact Lifting Raw…with some awesome totals thrown up I might add. (Hopefully I have these right as I’m going off memory…will correct later when results published)

TOP RAW LIFTERS

1946 @ 220 Chris Duffin (USP Labs Sponsored)

1918 @ 275 Justin Randall (Received Prize Pack from SNC Sports Nutrition Center)

1841 @ 242 Jason Payne

1703 @ 242 Ryan Stills

1680 @ 275 Cody Hyatt

1601 @ 308 Will Rogers

1587 @ 220 Kameron Ross (USP Labs Sponsored)

I was also very Proud of how all the EPC team members that competed performed and handled themselves today.

Judging was consistent and clean all day long as Rudy rounded up some excellent judges.

• John Hare – Ex IPF/USAPL World Judge

• Rick McClung – Current USPA state chair, Ex APF State Chair, Hardcore PL Judge

• Dave Clapp – Head Judge at Multiple APF and APA meets in NW for last 5 years

My personal lifting went to the plan.  I won’t go into a lot of detail as I think the video speaks for itself.  I would have liked to have finished with a deadlift that was 20-30lbs higher.  My recovery/rehydration from my cut to 220 put all the weight back on but still left me dehydrated and I woke up Saturday with a dehydration headache that never quite fully went away.  By the end of the day it was taking its toll on my and on the deadlift I just never quite got my setup and positioning correct the way I wanted so I dropped my 2^nd and 3^rd attempts 20-25lbs.  Once I get that setup dialed and get my grip up I hope to make some big jumps here… heck I hit 785x3 last month with straps.  On the bench it’s pretty clear I left a few lbs on the platform there and hopefully can make some further gains after surgery as my bench has been stalled for years due to this.  I am excited about this. 

On the squat, I just simply need to get damned stronger if I’m going to move more weight.  Overall the plan was to take it slightly conservative, get all my lifts, and set the stage for a bigger total in the future.  I believe I accomplished this. 

If you want to take a look at my training methodologies/cycle leading up to this meet I posted them up a few weeks back:

Over-Reaching Vs Over-Training

My deloading Method is very simple and detailed here:

Meet Countdown Preparation