IPA Senior Nationals

[Saverio]

Anyone else going this weekend? I'm doing the raw bench only and lifting in 198's. I hit 455 pretty strong last Monday and if this triceps tendonitus doesn't get any worse, I should hit that and maybe a little more at the meet. I missed 445 twice at the last meet I did in June, so this is my shot at redemption. My body weight hasn't gotten over 202 this entire training cycle, so making weight shouldn't be an issue.

Preparation is complete. All that's left is to go and git 'r done.

[ScottYard]

Good luck man,

Nationals Always has about 100 lifters or so. Great venue!

[NASAKYCHAIRMAN]

Anyone else going this weekend? I'm doing the raw bench only and lifting in 198's. I hit 455 pretty strong last Monday and if this triceps tendonitus doesn't get any worse, I should hit that and maybe a little more at the meet. I missed 445 twice at the last meet I did in June, so this is my shot at redemption. My body weight hasn't gotten over 202 this entire training cycle, so making weight shouldn't be an issue.

Preparation is complete. All that's left is to go and git 'r done.

Good luck! Also, ice your tricep for 20-30 minutes twice each day until the meet begin.

[vdizenzo]

I won't be there until Sunday. I am helping out at the CT Special Olympics PL meet on Saturday. Best of luck with your lifting.

[joey54]

I will be there on Sunday handing off for a lifter from our gym. We have three guys lifting Sunday. Vincent it would be great to meet you there.

[KarstenDD]

I'll be heading down Saturday. I'll probably get there around noonish. I'm lifting on Sunday.

[shortguy]

i will be there competeing saturday and helping to spot and load on sund, should be a great event , we are setting up tonight.

[robchris]

Good luck at the meet bro!

Awesome raw bench #'s BTW...

[shortguy]

thanks

[Ryan Celli]

I have some lifters competing, I'll be there Sat/Sun
Good luck to everyone.

[joey54]

Any updates from the first day?

[Saverio]

Well, unfortunately I can only speak for myself. I weighed in at 198.25 on the nose and managed a 445 raw bench on my second attempt. I had done 455 in the gym, but the IPA uses a 50 lb. bar and I really wanted to see those two 100 lb. plates on each side, so I attempted 460 for my third and missed it at the top like I always seem to do.

The tendonitus wasn't an issue until AFTER the meet. But damn that **** hurts like a bitch now. I'll be glad to take a break for a while.

[joey54]

Two guys from our gym missed all 3 of their bench attempts. No one did all 3 lifts. 2 of the threee benched and pulled. I believe one, Darren, set a PR in the deadlift, but am not sure 100%. The guy I helped with hand offs on the bench, Bentz, actually did better as he went up in weight. He missed a world record attempt for his class on the third. It seemed like his best go at it, but his behind came off the bench. May have actually started too light because it was a struggle for him to get his first attempt to touch. He went 505, 530 and 542.5 lbs on his bench attempts. I think Darren wound up with 425 lbs on the bench. Unfortunately our bench only guy, Will missed all 3 attempts at 570 lbs. I know he has been working in the phenom and apparently has moved the weight before. He usually goes to Allentown to train bench Sundays, so I did not see any heavy shirt pressing from him during training. Hopefully he destroys that weight next meet he does.

As for the deadlifts, in warm ups Darren decided he was going to pull sumo with his squat suit after training conventional leading up to the meet. He planned to go for 600 lbs. 525 went up fast and I suggested he to jump right to 575 for the second. As he was going up for his attempt, the gentleman running the show suggested he pull conventional, since he never saw Darren pull sumo before. So at the last moment he switches to conventional, but with his suit on he had trouble getting down to the bar and missed. He went back to sumo at 575 lbs and got it. It seemed like his second attempt took a lot out of him. Bentz did 500 and 540 on the deadlift pretty well. He missed a 565 lb attempt, which I believe would have been a PR for him in the class he is attempting now.

First meet I have ever attended. Was a fun time. It was quite the sight watching Cartwright attempt the 1100 lb squat. He gave it a good go and hopefully he can come after it again sometime in the near future. It was also nice to meet Vincent. What an approachable, polite person. I know he was busy, so I appreciate him taking the time to talk briefly. I was able to watch 2 of Karsten's bench attempts. I am not sure if he hit a weight or not. He missed the two I saw, so hopefully he can give an update.

[KarstenDD]

Call me "Operation Rolling Thunder" because I bombed the hell out. Apparently my fat ass came off the bench on my opener and my third. And I smoked both of them. On my second I pressed straight up and that was that.

[Travis Bell]

Two guys from our gym missed all 3 of their bench attempts. No one did all 3 lifts. 2 of the threee benched and pulled. I believe one, Darren, set a PR in the deadlift, but am not sure 100%. The guy I helped with hand offs on the bench, Bentz, actually did better as he went up in weight. He missed a world record attempt for his class on the third. It seemed like his best go at it, but his behind came off the bench. May have actually started too light because it was a struggle for him to get his first attempt to touch. He went 505, 530 and 542.5 lbs on his bench attempts. I think Darren wound up with 425 lbs on the bench. Unfortunately our bench only guy, Will missed all 3 attempts at 570 lbs. I know he has been working in the phenom and apparently has moved the weight before. He usually goes to Allentown to train bench Sundays, so I did not see any heavy shirt pressing from him during training. Hopefully he destroys that weight next meet he does.

As for the deadlifts, in warm ups Darren decided he was going to pull sumo with his squat suit after training conventional leading up to the meet. He planned to go for 600 lbs. 525 went up fast and I suggested he to jump right to 575 for the second. As he was going up for his attempt, the gentleman running the show suggested he pull conventional, since he never saw Darren pull sumo before. So at the last moment he switches to conventional, but with his suit on he had trouble getting down to the bar and missed. He went back to sumo at 575 lbs and got it. It seemed like his second attempt took a lot out of him. Bentz did 500 and 540 on the deadlift pretty well. He missed a 565 lb attempt, which I believe would have been a PR for him in the class he is attempting now.

First meet I have ever attended. Was a fun time. It was quite the sight watching Cartwright attempt the 1100 lb squat. He gave it a good go and hopefully he can come after it again sometime in the near future. It was also nice to meet Vincent. What an approachable, polite person. I know he was busy, so I appreciate him taking the time to talk briefly. I was able to watch 2 of Karsten's bench attempts. I am not sure if he hit a weight or not. He missed the two I saw, so hopefully he can give an update.

That's too bad about your training partner. That's terrible advice to switch from sumo to conventional between attempts.

The only person I've ever seen do that and make it work is Chuck Vogelpohl.

[C-Sobrino]

That's too bad about your training partner. That's terrible advice to switch from sumo to conventional between attempts.

The only person I've ever seen do that and make it work is Chuck Vogelpohl.

In other words... NO ONE SHOULD EVER DO IT!

[shortguy]

In the time that i trained with darren he was always stronger pulling conventional and most times only pulled sumo as accesary work to strengthen his hips. This is why i can understand him being advised to pull conv. that being said i dont think its a good idea to switch in the middle of a meet but i understand why there was some confusion to why he used conventional. I think that once he is comfortable getting to the bar in a conventional stance his pull will jump greatly. Also wanted to mention i am impressed with his bench results, great improvement.

[vdizenzo]

Two guys from our gym missed all 3 of their bench attempts. No one did all 3 lifts. 2 of the threee benched and pulled. I believe one, Darren, set a PR in the deadlift, but am not sure 100%. The guy I helped with hand offs on the bench, Bentz, actually did better as he went up in weight. He missed a world record attempt for his class on the third. It seemed like his best go at it, but his behind came off the bench. May have actually started too light because it was a struggle for him to get his first attempt to touch. He went 505, 530 and 542.5 lbs on his bench attempts. I think Darren wound up with 425 lbs on the bench. Unfortunately our bench only guy, Will missed all 3 attempts at 570 lbs. I know he has been working in the phenom and apparently has moved the weight before. He usually goes to Allentown to train bench Sundays, so I did not see any heavy shirt pressing from him during training. Hopefully he destroys that weight next meet he does.

As for the deadlifts, in warm ups Darren decided he was going to pull sumo with his squat suit after training conventional leading up to the meet. He planned to go for 600 lbs. 525 went up fast and I suggested he to jump right to 575 for the second. As he was going up for his attempt, the gentleman running the show suggested he pull conventional, since he never saw Darren pull sumo before. So at the last moment he switches to conventional, but with his suit on he had trouble getting down to the bar and missed. He went back to sumo at 575 lbs and got it. It seemed like his second attempt took a lot out of him. Bentz did 500 and 540 on the deadlift pretty well. He missed a 565 lb attempt, which I believe would have been a PR for him in the class he is attempting now.

First meet I have ever attended. Was a fun time. It was quite the sight watching Cartwright attempt the 1100 lb squat. He gave it a good go and hopefully he can come after it again sometime in the near future. It was also nice to meet Vincent. What an approachable, polite person. I know he was busy, so I appreciate him taking the time to talk briefly. I was able to watch 2 of Karsten's bench attempts. I am not sure if he hit a weight or not. He missed the two I saw, so hopefully he can give an update.

It was great to meet you also. I wish there had been more time to talk. We gotta try to have a WBB get together sometime.

[douglasoh5]

If you practice both sumo and conv its not that big of a deal to swtich....steve flaming did it at the pro am....hurt his groin with like 675 sumo then came out and pulled 730 conv....He trains both ways though...

[Chris Rodgers]

If you practice both sumo and conv its not that big of a deal to swtich....steve flaming did it at the pro am....hurt his groin with like 675 sumo then came out and pulled 730 conv....He trains both ways though...

If you have similar strength on both, then yea. Also, I have noticed it is much easier to go from sumo to conventional than the opposite. Sumo will have you ready to pull conventional anyway, but your hips/form might not be ready to come out and pull a max effort sumo after warming up and pulling conv.

[shortguy]

If you have similar strength on both, then yea. Also, I have noticed it is much easier to go from sumo to conventional than the opposite. Sumo will have you ready to pull conventional anyway, but your hips/form might not be ready to come out and pull a max effort sumo after warming up and pulling conv.

agreed

[joey54]

In the time that i trained with darren he was always stronger pulling conventional and most times only pulled sumo as accesary work to strengthen his hips. This is why i can understand him being advised to pull conv. that being said i dont think its a good idea to switch in the middle of a meet but i understand why there was some confusion to why he used conventional. I think that once he is comfortable getting to the bar in a conventional stance his pull will jump greatly. Also wanted to mention i am impressed with his bench results, great improvement.

Yeah, I wish he would have stuck to what he decided when he started warming up. Especially being in his suit at that point. I think he could have got the 600 sticking with the sumo for the second attempt. He still is probably stronger conventional, but wasn't feeling that stance on Sunday and warming up his sumo pulls were moving fast.

I know he was pleased with his bench as well. I believe he is switching to a phenom now, so it will be interesting to see what he can do in that. Darren has a lot of potential and it has been great to train with him, as well as everybody at Max Fitness. Anyone at the meet who lives near the Harrisburg area and is looking for a great training environment can always check it out.

[1400total]

I lifted in the amateur division. I train at Celli's and Ryan was extremely supportive. I lifted in a champion suit and an F6 bench shirt, as this was my first geared meet. I weighed in at 342.5 lbs (can you say fat??) My squat opener was 700 but i shifted my weight onto my toes and leaned too far forward. 2nd attempt nailed it and 3rd I got 770 with no problems.I also hit a 520 on my 2nd attempt for bench (yeah I no not too impressive but I was happy), and pulled 650 (I deadlift raw). totaled 1940 and I happy with that.
One thing I need to stress is the importance of a team. Several of us trained together and supported each other all day long (and it was a long day). Ryan mentioned a few key things to keep in mind which made the day sooooo successful for me.
all in all an awesome experiance.

[KarstenDD]

I should probably mention that I posted a legit write up in my log.

[AdamBAG]

If you practice both sumo and conv its not that big of a deal to swtich....steve flaming did it at the pro am....hurt his groin with like 675 sumo then came out and pulled 730 conv....He trains both ways though...

Ha, Rich I was about to bring this up. I train with steve and he's an idiot.

Opens 675 and pulls his groin, miss.
Repeats 675 with a closer stance and barely makes 675.
Run to back, throw on conventional suit, and pulls 730 even though we told him just to go 7.

Only pull of the day, including warmups, was his pull at 730 for a pr.

No way this should have worked.