On Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the North Eastern USAPL Nationals Qualifier with my buddy Andrew Hollenbeck and roommate Alex Alexander. Upon getting there I learned that to qualify for Raw Nationals all I need is a total, there’s no requisite numbers so I could have qualified even with my piece of **** back injury right now. Definitely kicking myself for that, but I have a meet in Albany lined up on the 26th for that reason.
This was Andrew’s first time competing equipped in over a year and he destroyed some PRs. His 639 squat was a little ugly but almost a 30 lb PR. He’s been battling tendonitis and during warmups with shoulder was killing him but he still made his bench and passed on a 3rd attempt. Now the deadlift was where it got interesting. He opened with 585 and it rolled out of his hands at the top. So at this point he’s pissed, and ups his second attempt to 635. He pulls it fast as hell, but it slips down at lockout and he has to rebend to get it. No lift. So now he’s missed 2/3 attempt and is in danger of bombing out. I’ve never seen the guy this angry before. So what does he do but up his 3rd attempt to the magical 300 kg. Strides up to the bar, pulls it like a warmup. That’s me jumping over the platform at the end. He’s like the Hulk, his strength increases proportionally with his anger.
Now for the Raw (RAW!!!1!!1!zor) comp:
This was my roommate Alex’s first competition and he had a lot against him going into it. He finished an intense cycle of Smolov Jr for the squat in January, pulled 600x2 the week after and tore his adductor magnus going for the 3rd rep. He was very worried about it going into the comp but played it smart and didn’t make any rookie mistakes. He stopped his squat at 435 (the last week he was using either 420 or 430 for the 10x3) and went on to the bench which he does close grip. Almost jumped the rack command on both but they were good lifts. Deadlifted 605 as well, his current PR is 645 in the gym. So a great showing for him especially with the injuries.
Everything else at the meet was overshadowed by Tom O’Malley’s raw 711 pull at 198. I don’t think there’s a youtube video of it up, but here’s the Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1537078146749&comments
Unfortunately Tom bombed on the bench so the record doesn’t count : /
