Bench Press Nationals 2009 Cleveland Ohio
Friday, 9/11 (God Bless the United States of America)
Pat and I left Manassas Va. at about 9:30 am. Garmen routed us west through Winchester and into West Virginia. We traveled past Eddie’s Tires “they’s good for the money” into Berkeley Springs then up to Breezewood PA. passing Phantom Fireworks on the way.
Now let me tell you, for white knuckle driving of the worst sort, poor cracked concrete paving, constant construction, narrow lanes and basic non-driving truckers, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is the place to be. Yes sir, this piece of America’s interstate road system has not changed since the last time I drove it from Philly to Pittsburgh in the early 70’s. They just move the Jersey wall barricades from one side of the road to the other, repaint the center line on a new track and lay down a new uneven lane of asphalt, collect tolls for six months and repeat.
Once past Pittsburgh it is a very short distance to the flatlands and Ohio. We rolled into Cleveland just after 4:00pm. The Cleveland Renaissance Hotel is pretty spectacular, and nearly impossible to get into or out of with luggage. After negotiating a series of elevators, stairways and escalators we were finally checked in and were ready to explore the venue.
Friday, 9/11 (God Bless the United States of America)
Pat and I left Manassas Va. at about 9:30 am. Garmen routed us west through Winchester and into West Virginia. We traveled past Eddie’s Tires “they’s good for the money” into Berkeley Springs then up to Breezewood PA. passing Phantom Fireworks on the way.
Now let me tell you, for white knuckle driving of the worst sort, poor cracked concrete paving, constant construction, narrow lanes and basic non-driving truckers, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is the place to be. Yes sir, this piece of America’s interstate road system has not changed since the last time I drove it from Philly to Pittsburgh in the early 70’s. They just move the Jersey wall barricades from one side of the road to the other, repaint the center line on a new track and lay down a new uneven lane of asphalt, collect tolls for six months and repeat.
Once past Pittsburgh it is a very short distance to the flatlands and Ohio. We rolled into Cleveland just after 4:00pm. The Cleveland Renaissance Hotel is pretty spectacular, and nearly impossible to get into or out of with luggage. After negotiating a series of elevators, stairways and escalators we were finally checked in and were ready to explore the venue. Now the ritual begins:
“Hey big man, what’s happening?”
“Same ole stuff, you’re looking strong”
“How’s the training going”
“Hurt my wrist two weeks ago”
“Want to get something to eat”
“Oh I can’t man, I’m 4 lbs over”
“You seen Klinger?, I hear he’s going 750.”
“No man, but I saw Horace Lane, Wow”
Etc. etc. etc………
The hotel restaurant, the Sans Souci, is rated in the top 100 in the country, so Pat and I went there with Fran Houston, Deb Dufy-smet, and Ivan and Wanda Zwick. The seafood was delicious. The girls were lifting in the morning and I was going to be helping a number of them so it was early to bed.Sat, Sept. 12,
Hit the warm up room at 8:00am. My Sunday lifting partner, Leigh Haines, was fourth in the first flight. Leigh dropped 10 pounds in the two weeks before the meet. At 123, that’s almost 10% of her total weight. Consequently the shirt she had been training in was way to loose. I explained that because of the loss of muscle mass combined with the altered fit, I could not see her making a lift in that shirt. Therefore, after warming up we squeezed her into a much tighter shirt she had in stock. She was very anxious; this was the tightest shirt she had ever lifted in. I refreshed what we had been practicing, which was, pull the bar down and inhale deeply bringing the chest up to meet it. This would prevent the bar from following its own course out of the groove to the belly. This would load the bar even more and hopefully provide the momentum to get to lockout without the strength lost from dieting down.
I handed her off to her husband Allen and took her two boys out front to watch her opening attempt. Three whites! She just didn’t have the triceps left for the next two attempts. I keep telling her that she either has to stay at 123 or lift at what she normally weighs, because the extreme weight loss is decimating her awesome power. She still took silver and achieved her main goal of qualifying for the Master Worlds in Orlando.
Hit the warm up room at 8:00am. My Sunday lifting partner, Leigh Haines, was fourth in the first flight. Leigh dropped 10 pounds in the two weeks before the meet. At 123, that’s almost 10% of her total weight. Consequently the shirt she had been training in was way to loose. I explained that because of the loss of muscle mass combined with the altered fit, I could not see her making a lift in that shirt. Therefore, after warming up we squeezed her into a much tighter shirt she had in stock. She was very anxious; this was the tightest shirt she had ever lifted in. I refreshed what we had been practicing, which was, pull the bar down and inhale deeply bringing the chest up to meet it. This would prevent the bar from following its own course out of the groove to the belly. This would load the bar even more and hopefully provide the momentum to get to lockout without the strength lost from dieting down.
I handed her off to her husband Allen and took her two boys out front to watch her opening attempt. Three whites! She just didn’t have the triceps left for the next two attempts. I keep telling her that she either has to stay at 123 or lift at what she normally weighs, because the extreme weight loss is decimating her awesome power. She still took silver and achieved her main goal of qualifying for the Master Worlds in Orlando.In the next flight I was handling my very good friends Paulette Calhoun and Holly Oxford. You could not ask for two more compliant world champions. By this I mean to say that they will take your instruction and run with it. Paulette was on fire. She cranked the first two attempts out like a machine. Her third was a PR attempt but she just couldn’t lock out the weak side. She took first in three divisions and secured her spot on the world team.
Holly and Fran joined the bomb squad. I am a charter member with multiple service pins. There is no bright side to being in this predicament. If you look at it with an open mind and the intent to learn from it you can glean some very valuable information. Here are my thoughts on why these two world champions did not get a lift in. Holly suffered a wrist injury recently that held her training back just enough physically and also mentally to keep her from maxing out her lock outs. Fran, though she will disagree, uses a shirt that has no pop left in the material. You can tighten it up until it squeaks but it won’t give her the explosion off the chest necessary to take it through to lock out. If she continues to use it she will need to work her triceps considerably harder than she presently works them.
My old work out partner Dr Demetrius Maoury was in the last flight of the first session. I wanted to be there to help him out as well. Pat and I went to lunch with about an hour and a half to go before Demetrius would lift. We waited and waited for our lunch. By the time I finished it was very late and I left Pat at the restaurant and returned to the back room. I found Demetrius at the water fountain putting water on the sleeves of his bench shirt. Apparently he had made an error when he had the shirt custom made. He had them shorten the sleeves two inches but did not request to have them tapered. When he brought the weight down the sleeves would slide up and release the shirt front panel. He thought he could make the sleeves stick by wetting them. I explained that people loosened the chest panel by spraying water on it, so he was probably aggravating the situation. The mechanics of the shirt just were not working. I had him take the shirt off. I then rubbed his arms and shoulders with chalk and then replaced the shirt. This helped a lot but by then he was fairly fried and unable to get a lift in. Demetrius has developed a very unusual set up in the time that he has trained alone. I need to get back with him and straighten this out. I think he may be ready to listen. If he is, I think I can help him reach his potential which is incredible if he can bring it all together.
Because I was lifting the next day I had to take the rest of the day off and return to the room where I could kick back and watch TV. I went back down at 5:30pm for early equipment check. There was a big party for those who had lifted and those young enough to handle it at the Cadillac Ranch. Pat and I returned to the Sana Souci for dinner and then called it a day.
Sun, Sept. 13,
The Browns were playing Minnesota at Cleveland Stadium so the hotel was full of people in purple jerseys with blond braids wearing Viking helmets. They had partied their way through the night in the halls and rooms on either side of us. About 3am it sounded like someone knocked over the TV console/armoire in the room above us. I stayed in bed until around 8:00am which is like sleeping in for me since I usually arise at 4:30am on work days.
I weighed in at noon and hung out in the back room. I needed to clarify some information that would affect my lifting plan. My original plan was to open at 468, go up to 485, and then try 496 for a new national record. However, I found out from Dan Gaudreau, who coaches the US masters national bench team, that my lifts at Raw Nationals were not qualifiers for the team but that my lifts this day would be qualifiers for the M3 (60-69) spot. So I changed up my plan and decided to open raw with enough weight to secure the automatic position on the national team going to Worlds in Orlando next spring. You see I was lifting in the 55-59 division but I will be 60 in January. Anyway, I put up 165 kilos (364 lbs) raw, which was what I needed to secure the spot.
I went with the 212.5/468 for my second attempt. It pulled it down but it still slipped to my belly at the bottom. I pressed it up but the head judge had the spotters take it because it was already three reds for the touch.
I knew I needed more weight to touch so there was no question about repeating the weight. I then had a choice. Go to 220/485 which I had made in the gym or give the record a shot. You know me. I gave the record a shot, 225/496. I pulled it right to the spot and it blew off my chest. I took it almost to lock out when it stopped. I gave it a big push but it double pumped on me and the spotters took it.
I have a theory about this situation. I did not train much shirt this cycle and I think that when you really explode and are not used to it you are so surprised by how fast it is moving that you miss the follow through. By the time you regroup you have bumped the bar. This is where the intermediate lift with the shirt may have helped to get the last lift. So, I ended with a spot on the national team going to Worlds in Orlando and second in the 55-59 275 class.
If you read this far you may have noticed a similarity in all the missed and/or unfinished lifts. There were problems with the gear. The gear was too tight, the gear was too loose, the gear had no pop, etc. etc…. A weight difference of a few pouinds will affect the mechanics of the shirt. How many lifts you have made in the shirt will affect the mechanics of the shirt. Washing the shirt will affect the mechanics of the shirt. How the shirt is seated will affect the mechanics of the shirt. I have not made a successful lift in a bench shirt since Nov. 17, 2007. Watching the videos of my meet lifts I can see that I am not really in control of the weight. I do not train regularly with the shirt any more. This is due to the number of training partners who lift in a shirt and/or can help with the weights I use when benching with a shirt. I will be looking to rectify this in the near future or I will be benching Raw from here on out.
If you read this far you may have noticed a similarity in all the missed and/or unfinished lifts. There were problems with the gear. The gear was too tight, the gear was too loose, the gear had no pop, etc. etc…. A weight difference of a few pouinds will affect the mechanics of the shirt. How many lifts you have made in the shirt will affect the mechanics of the shirt. Washing the shirt will affect the mechanics of the shirt. How the shirt is seated will affect the mechanics of the shirt. I have not made a successful lift in a bench shirt since Nov. 17, 2007. Watching the videos of my meet lifts I can see that I am not really in control of the weight. I do not train regularly with the shirt any more. This is due to the number of training partners who lift in a shirt and/or can help with the weights I use when benching with a shirt. I will be looking to rectify this in the near future or I will be benching Raw from here on out.
