Motivation for USAPL Men's Nationals

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
21

[quote]daraz wrote:
Fuck this old broken down roidhead. When I compete, I compete for MYSELF. I don’t care what others are doing, I just want to improve.

Real men don’t give a shit about being the biggest dog around, maybe this baboon should read a self-help book or two and he would understand it’s all about self-realization. Men are not created to compete against each other like warriors, but to cooperate together towards a common goal with grace and dignity. That’s why I high five as many people as I can at meets, especially after they miss attempts so they feel better about themselves.

If it were for me, everybody at meets should have trophies,medals, etc. because everyone gave it their best on that day. Why would someone get a trophy only for themself just because (s)he has better genetics? Competing is not fun, winning is not fun, but achieving a new PR on the platform? Man there’s nothing more rewarding.

TL;DR Competing is for losers, winners compete with themselves and only care for PRs, not taking a shit on the best around[/quote]

I agree with competing with yourself, and that people should be rewarded through their hard efforts, even if they don’t win. But competition has been around since the dawn of time. Every living thing competes to stay alive. Pointless? It’s mother nature. It’s nice that you high five those that got on the platform and missed, gives a moral boost. But the competitive nature is part of every sport. Powerlifting is different in many ways, but not this one. I have friends and I know myself, we all want to outlift each other and put up the better numbers. It’s a way to motivate each other and to drive us to be better.

22

Oh my heavens everyone, can we please stop aruging?

My fragile heart can’t take this…

23

You want to be very confident and sometimes that can be difficult to differentiate from arrogance.

But let’s look at the greatest powerlifter Ed Coan. I don’t know him - fair enough - but the consensus (and from videos of him) seems to be that he is very modest!

You don’t need to be a dick to be a winner.

24

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
You want to be very confident and sometimes that can be difficult to differentiate from arrogance.

But let’s look at the greatest powerlifter Ed Coan. I don’t know him - fair enough - but the consensus (and from videos of him) seems to be that he is very modest!

You don’t need to be a dick to be a winner.[/quote]

You are 100% correct. You don’t need to be a dick to be a winner. You have to want to be a winner to be a winner though. That doesn’t mean you have to storm around and be an asshole to everyone. Obviously, I take this mentality of winning into a competition but I keep it to myself. If I walked up to someone and said “I’m going to fucking kill you after I go get this bench press” there would be something royally unhinged with me. Even though I do think this and don’t voice it at the meet, I still like to have an intrinsic drive for dominance.

I think I am much more in control of my emotions than most. You’ll never see me trudging back and forth in the warm-up room, stomping my feet, and grunting the lyrics to some shitty pop-metal song under my breath. I usually just stand there and wait for my turn. I don’t ‘turn it on’ until my hands are on the bar. I’m not an asshole to anyone. But, I do want absolutely demoralize everyone else and of course break my own records in the process.

To each his own. This works for me.

25

[quote]daraz wrote:
Fuck this old broken down roidhead. When I compete, I compete for MYSELF. I don’t care what others are doing, I just want to improve.

Real men don’t give a shit about being the biggest dog around, maybe this baboon should read a self-help book or two and he would understand it’s all about self-realization. Men are not created to compete against each other like warriors, but to cooperate together towards a common goal with grace and dignity. That’s why I high five as many people as I can at meets, especially after they miss attempts so they feel better about themselves.

If it were for me, everybody at meets should have trophies,medals, etc. because everyone gave it their best on that day. Why would someone get a trophy only for themself just because (s)he has better genetics? Competing is not fun, winning is not fun, but achieving a new PR on the platform? Man there’s nothing more rewarding.

TL;DR Competing is for losers, winners compete with themselves and only care for PRs, not taking a shit on the best around[/quote]

26

[quote]burt128 wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

This isn’t true all the time. Sure local meets are fun. I still try to do every meet I can in MD and VA especially when I wnat to show my support for a meet director that I respect. National and International competition is completely different. Either win or you have no right to be there as far as I’m concerned.[/quote]

I can see having this attitude for someone like yourself who actually competes at a national and international level…

But 95% of this forum? Meh…nobody likes a wannabe poser full of bravado.

I can’t see daraz’s comment other than the quotes, so that means I must have blocked him for saying something incredibly retarded in the past (and the trophy portion of this post certainly qualifies–honestly the trophy presentation part of the meet is by far the worst/most boring part) but for the VAST majority of us who do this RECREATIONALLY? I can see where he is coming from.
[/quote]

I feel the same way as you do. I’ve been to USAPL Nationals twice. Neither time did I have a chance at winning and I knew that going in – just qualifying and going was one of my long term goals in this sport. I’d rather lose by 100 pounds and set a pr total than win with a 3 for 9 day.

I can see how guys at the very top might feel differently about this and I can also see how older guys who competed when there was one real fed might feel differently. But for those of us competing locally and occasionally nationally with the current fragmentation of the sport, I strongly doubt this is about winning a particular meet and more about hitting total goals.
[/quote]

Unless I’m mistaken, qualifying for USAL Raw nats is just posting a total, so you can easily qualify as long as you don’t bomb.

27

[quote]detazathoth wrote:

[quote]burt128 wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

This isn’t true all the time. Sure local meets are fun. I still try to do every meet I can in MD and VA especially when I wnat to show my support for a meet director that I respect. National and International competition is completely different. Either win or you have no right to be there as far as I’m concerned.[/quote]

I can see having this attitude for someone like yourself who actually competes at a national and international level…

But 95% of this forum? Meh…nobody likes a wannabe poser full of bravado.

I can’t see daraz’s comment other than the quotes, so that means I must have blocked him for saying something incredibly retarded in the past (and the trophy portion of this post certainly qualifies–honestly the trophy presentation part of the meet is by far the worst/most boring part) but for the VAST majority of us who do this RECREATIONALLY? I can see where he is coming from.
[/quote]

I feel the same way as you do. I’ve been to USAPL Nationals twice. Neither time did I have a chance at winning and I knew that going in – just qualifying and going was one of my long term goals in this sport. I’d rather lose by 100 pounds and set a pr total than win with a 3 for 9 day.

I can see how guys at the very top might feel differently about this and I can also see how older guys who competed when there was one real fed might feel differently. But for those of us competing locally and occasionally nationally with the current fragmentation of the sport, I strongly doubt this is about winning a particular meet and more about hitting total goals.
[/quote]

Unless I’m mistaken, qualifying for USAL Raw nats is just posting a total, so you can easily qualify as long as you don’t bomb.
[/quote]

You are right, but I was talking about equipped nationals, which is the meet to which this thread is referring. There are qualifying standards for equipped nationals, but they have been lowered pretty significantly in recent years, probably to get the number of lifters at the meet up. Too bad in my opinion.

28

To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.

29

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]
Not demoralizing. Simply crushing.

30

Vinny Dizenzo and I were chatting at a meet a few years ago and said “look at these guys eye balling each other and looking all mad…the meet is the fun part, the training that got you here was the tough part…enjoy yourself”

I forgot how much he benched that day but I’m sure it was bigger than most of the deadlifts done.

31

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.

32

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

How many meets have you done?

33

Just because…

34

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

How many meets have you done?
[/quote]
He’s probably talking about wrestling for the most part

35

[quote]HARA wrote:
Vinny Dizenzo and I were chatting at a meet a few years ago and said “look at these guys eye balling each other and looking all mad…the meet is the fun part, the training that got you here was the tough part…enjoy yourself”

I forgot how much he benched that day but I’m sure it was bigger than most of the deadlifts done.[/quote]

I really like that.

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

No, fair enough, you can do both at the same time. It’s more I was questioning having a strong desire to demoralise other lifters. Of course in the heat of the moment when you’re all pumped up you might want to think that to help you get psyched up or whatever but in a normal, calm environment it’s a bit odd to think it.

36

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

How many meets have you done?
[/quote]
He’s probably talking about wrestling for the most part[/quote]

Yeah I’m talking about experience in sports in general, not necessarily powerlifting

37

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:

[quote]HARA wrote:
Vinny Dizenzo and I were chatting at a meet a few years ago and said “look at these guys eye balling each other and looking all mad…the meet is the fun part, the training that got you here was the tough part…enjoy yourself”

I forgot how much he benched that day but I’m sure it was bigger than most of the deadlifts done.[/quote]

I really like that.

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

No, fair enough, you can do both at the same time. It’s more I was questioning having a strong desire to demoralise other lifters. Of course in the heat of the moment when you’re all pumped up you might want to think that to help you get psyched up or whatever but in a normal, calm environment it’s a bit odd to think it.[/quote]

I wouldn’t go around telling other athletes that they’re complete shit and that they should just give up or anything like that, but I find it hard to believe that inside yourself you don’t silently harbor a feeling of hate for someone that beat you and that you should be doing everything in your power to repay the favor.

38

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:

[quote]HARA wrote:
Vinny Dizenzo and I were chatting at a meet a few years ago and said “look at these guys eye balling each other and looking all mad…the meet is the fun part, the training that got you here was the tough part…enjoy yourself”

I forgot how much he benched that day but I’m sure it was bigger than most of the deadlifts done.[/quote]

I really like that.

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

No, fair enough, you can do both at the same time. It’s more I was questioning having a strong desire to demoralise other lifters. Of course in the heat of the moment when you’re all pumped up you might want to think that to help you get psyched up or whatever but in a normal, calm environment it’s a bit odd to think it.[/quote]

I wouldn’t go around telling other athletes that they’re complete shit and that they should just give up or anything like that, but I find it hard to believe that inside yourself you don’t silently harbor a feeling of hate for someone that beat you and that you should be doing everything in your power to repay the favor.[/quote]

I don’t mean to be cynical, but if you’ve never actually down a powerlifting competition, why are you even commenting on a thread in the PL forum about competing in PL’ing?

I’m sure like most people here, you have engaged in some sort of athletic endeavour in your life (wrestling or whatever). I competed as a D-1 athlete and I can certainly tell you that unless you are competing at an international level in Powerlifting, it is not at all the same. I get more passionate about my co-ed rec basketball league than I do about Powerlifting competitions.

Do you know why?

In literally every other sport, the underdog can win. Football, basketball, wrestling, golf, whatever. If that dude is having a particularly stellar day and the person he is playing against is a bit off, then that guy can win. This absolutely does not happen in Powerlifting (save for cases where the competitors are roughly equal skill).

I could play Shaq in basketball 1 on 1 one hundred times and maybe win 5 of those. On the other hand, if I competed against Mike Tuscherer head to head 100 times in PL meets, how many of those do you think I’d actually come out on top in? Not to get down on myself, but I don’t stand a chance. The strength discrepancy is that large that it is absolutely ridiculous to compare myself to him or expect to “beat him”.

On the hand other, I can certainly compete against myself and smash my previous PR’s.

This is not even considering the fact that, as I mentioned before, PL is so divided and fractured, who the fuck are you exactly even competing against anymore? Each federation has their own nuances that makes comparing across them a bit silly.

Not only that, but in most sports, there is actually a set schedule for competitions. Meaning you start out the season, play a lot of your opponents, and the best ones keep advancing culminating in some sort of national championship. Along the way, if you are one of the better players (or teams) you will end up playing another one of the better players (or teams). In powerlifting, individuals deicde what meet they are doing and since there are so many of them, it is quite possible you could go your entire career not ever seeing one of your “competitors” at an actual fucking competition.

So considering this, how do people decide they want to act like flaming douchebags to people at meet, and get to the point where they think people are “out for them”, or actually even give a fuck about them in the first place? Maybe I lack the “competitive drive” or whatever people have been harping on here, but that makes you a chump in my book.

So as I said before, if you are actually competing in international competitions, where the actual cream of the crop are actually showing up and you are REALLY competing against them, then so be it. Go out there and do you man. But for 95% of the people on this forum swinging dicks? Its laughable.

39

I do local meets. Usually the only one in my age/weight. I cross over into open for fun, but my adversary is a number. I set a total in my head, for each lift, and a total for the meet. I get so focused into what I’m doing, most of the meet is a blur.

It’s the number that I’m against. It’s the number I want to destroy. That’s the dragon I have to kill. I figure everbody else is there to kill thier dragon too.

The down part is if I miss one of those numbers, its all I dwell on.

40

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:

[quote]HARA wrote:
Vinny Dizenzo and I were chatting at a meet a few years ago and said “look at these guys eye balling each other and looking all mad…the meet is the fun part, the training that got you here was the tough part…enjoy yourself”

I forgot how much he benched that day but I’m sure it was bigger than most of the deadlifts done.[/quote]

I really like that.

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
To each his own but I don’t see why you want to have the desire of demoralising others. Maybe that makes me a
loser, I don’t know.

I think it all depends if you are truly any good or not. I know that I’m not the next Ed Coan and I accept that. I won’t be dedicating my life to lifting and that’s what it takes to be a champion. But I’d like to think I still want to be a winner in my own right.

I’d rather people admired me than hated me personally. I’d rather hit a total and for people to think “Wow, he didn’t have great genetics or anything but he worked really hard for many years to hit that” instead of “Wow, what an asshole, I hate this guy!”. Of course people will think what they want to think but I’d rather give off that kind of mentality - to inspire - rather than demoralise.[/quote]

Why don’t you think you can inspire people by literally destroying them in competition? Don’t you get fucking angry when someone beats you? I don’t know if you do or not but losing for me is a kick in the ass I hate it more than anything and it only makes me go after people harder to absolutely demolish them the next chance I get.[/quote]

No, fair enough, you can do both at the same time. It’s more I was questioning having a strong desire to demoralise other lifters. Of course in the heat of the moment when you’re all pumped up you might want to think that to help you get psyched up or whatever but in a normal, calm environment it’s a bit odd to think it.[/quote]

I wouldn’t go around telling other athletes that they’re complete shit and that they should just give up or anything like that, but I find it hard to believe that inside yourself you don’t silently harbor a feeling of hate for someone that beat you and that you should be doing everything in your power to repay the favor.[/quote]

I don’t mean to be cynical, but if you’ve never actually down a powerlifting competition, why are you even commenting on a thread in the PL forum about competing in PL’ing?

I’m sure like most people here, you have engaged in some sort of athletic endeavour in your life (wrestling or whatever). I competed as a D-1 athlete and I can certainly tell you that unless you are competing at an international level in Powerlifting, it is not at all the same. I get more passionate about my co-ed rec basketball league than I do about Powerlifting competitions.

Do you know why?

In literally every other sport, the underdog can win. Football, basketball, wrestling, golf, whatever. If that dude is having a particularly stellar day and the person he is playing against is a bit off, then that guy can win. This absolutely does not happen in Powerlifting (save for cases where the competitors are roughly equal skill).

I could play Shaq in basketball 1 on 1 one hundred times and maybe win 5 of those. On the other hand, if I competed against Mike Tuscherer head to head 100 times in PL meets, how many of those do you think I’d actually come out on top in? Not to get down on myself, but I don’t stand a chance. The strength discrepancy is that large that it is absolutely ridiculous to compare myself to him or expect to “beat him”.

On the hand other, I can certainly compete against myself and smash my previous PR’s.

This is not even considering the fact that, as I mentioned before, PL is so divided and fractured, who the fuck are you exactly even competing against anymore? Each federation has their own nuances that makes comparing across them a bit silly.

Not only that, but in most sports, there is actually a set schedule for competitions. Meaning you start out the season, play a lot of your opponents, and the best ones keep advancing culminating in some sort of national championship. Along the way, if you are one of the better players (or teams) you will end up playing another one of the better players (or teams). In powerlifting, individuals deicde what meet they are doing and since there are so many of them, it is quite possible you could go your entire career not ever seeing one of your “competitors” at an actual fucking competition.

So considering this, how do people decide they want to act like flaming douchebags to people at meet, and get to the point where they think people are “out for them”, or actually even give a fuck about them in the first place? Maybe I lack the “competitive drive” or whatever people have been harping on here, but that makes you a chump in my book.

So as I said before, if you are actually competing in international competitions, where the actual cream of the crop are actually showing up and you are REALLY competing against them, then so be it. Go out there and do you man. But for 95% of the people on this forum swinging dicks? Its laughable.[/quote]

I understand what you’re saying but are you really gonna tell me that if you entered a meet and you knew that the guy you were going against was really close to your numbers, just a little over, that you wouldnt try to bust your ass to come out on top? I’m not saying like stomp around and be an asshole to everyone, but have a mental storm going and really want to be able to beat the guy?