Grab your pre workout and turn up that volume.
It is time for a new episode of the Power Lifters Den with your
host Cam Smith. So Power Lifters Den family want
to wrap the podcast and look good while doing it?
Check out my official merch store at PL. den dot company dot
site. We've got Tees, hoodies,
beanies, hats and more and gear that'll keep you motivated in
and out of the gym. Every purchase helps support me
and the podcast and keeps the den growing strong.
So whether you're hitting a heavy squat session or just
lounging in style, we've got you covered.
Head to PL. den dot company dot site and grab your merch today.
Listen, I don't have a beard. I've got this glorious mustache,
but even this stash deserves elite care.
That's where Wicked Wolf Beer Co comes into play.
Their oils and balms keep the face fuzz fresh, soft, and ready
for action. No crusty cowboy knots.
And here it smells great, feels great, and makes me look more
like I lift heavy things. Beard mustache or something in
between. Wicked Wolf's got your mug
covered. Wicked Wolf Beer Co respect the
stash. Head on over to Wicked Wolf Beer
Co and use code PL. DEN for 25% off your order.
Shout out to my guy Bear over at Summit Performance Therapy.
The only person I trust to scrape me, needle me and massage
me and fix my spot at the same time.
If your joints sound like microwave popcorn or you've been
limping since Tuesday's deadlifts, Bear's your guy.
He knows lifters. He is a lifter and he's got
magic hands, dry needles, and a deep understanding of how to not
let your body fall apart. Book a session and tell him the
PL. then sent you Summit Performance Therapy.
Reach your Summit powered by Bear.
Literally. Hello everybody.
Welcome back to another episode of The Pile Lifters.
Then I'm your host, Cam Smith. And today I want to bring on
another Massachusetts native. David Kaler is pretty, pretty
strong in the raw world, so David wants you to do yourself.
Hi. Yeah.
So my name is David Kaler, actually from New Hampshire, but
close, close enough. Yeah, I'd say so.
Like, yeah, been doing this for 8:00 or so years now, off and on
a little bit more compatibly, like 3 or 4, but best total
would be 2034 at about 2:50 in sleeves.
Yes, Hello dog. Yeah, so.
It's dog Bell. So I think we're in for a pretty
interesting episode. We're both biomedical, both
biomedical engineers that somehow managed to get degrees.
We both questioned it to this day.
And they just issue those things to anybody is basically what
they'll what they'll fucking tell you.
Cam and I also train together pretty frequently, so.
So we're kind of going into your background a little bit.
Obviously you've been in the game for about 8 years.
What were the kind of early days like for you?
What kind of was your your inspiration?
What got you onto the platform? Oh, they weren't great.
So I started. It was right about after I got
into college, so I played rugby at Wentworth Institute of
Technology in Boston. When I got there, one of my good
friends, my wanted someone who became my college roommate, who,
you know, it was actually Bob. He had already started and he
had gotten into it. And so it was just like a hey,
this is what I do. You want to fucking come join?
And from there, I would like rugby was a primary focus, but I
gotten pretty strong around like towards my sophomore year.
And so like strong for what was back in 2017 for a bunch of
juniors, right? I think I was I and then in the
summer of that year I competed once I totaled, I think it was
we're just going open power looking for this shit.
I think it was like 1428 or somewhere around there when I
was like 20 and just as like a OK, I'm doing this for fun while
rugby's in the offseason and then college went through, like
finished college or whatever. Rugby was kind of the focus.
And then after that and then after COVID hit, I kind of got
back into it because I was still in New Hampshire and now the
gym's closed. So it was like, I don't want to
say I had nothing better to do, but like it was a good way to
keep distracted while I was like still working and all that kind
of stuff. Yeah.
And for me, I kind of had the the same journey into it as I
kind of dabbled with it when I was still in football and
college. And then soon as college ended,
we're like, all right, we're pile of shoes now.
And that's kind of just how it went.
Yeah, that. That's literally exactly what it
was. But it was like, so back then
there wasn't really like any type of meats in the area.
Yeah. Especially because like at the
time you could do like, I didn't even know what any of it was or
whatever. It was just there was a gym, it
was TPS in Baldwin, which probably like 25 minutes from
the school or whatever. And that was the only thing.
And it was like that it, it was mostly strong men there or
whatever, but they had a couple power lifters there.
And they said that they all competed in the USPA.
And so the closest me to add, you had to drive to New York and
I got it up, I totaled 1422. There we go.
Yeah, so. Two O 1.
So I know obviously the Boston area like New England now we
have a lot of great gyms, but the Boston area itself really
doesn't have a lot of powerlifting gyms.
So where did? Where's your kind of early
training days besides maybe the rec center at your school?
Oh yeah, no, it was. So you'd actually be surprised.
There's a few good ones in the Boston area now, but I know that
like they're not necessarily as best set up for equipped just
because it's all like the focus is just all gone to like
USAPLIPF style, which I know you're rolling over and frankly,
I'm too fuck it. So I was like it was literally
rec center like our school. So we had like it was crazy.
Our school gym had like we had one that was just for any like
anybody could fucking go in there.
And it was like that. No squat rack.
They had a Smith machine. You would have people trying
like free barbell squat by like taking a barbell off of the
bench, like off of the spotter stands and take a vertical step
down. Oh God.
And then walk out and squat. And then like you'd be trying to
Max out on the Smith machine as best as you fucking could and
then doing like whatever dumbbells or whatever that you
had there, right, because it's a tech school.
They were not investing in any fitness equipment.
And then they had the athletes gym, which was like, just, it
looks like a high school weight room.
It was literally just like squat stands with the roller bench and
then nothing fucking else. Yeah.
And so I would do like, my squats and poles in there.
And then like bench, I can do wherever.
Yeah. And then I guess as far as
obviously you started with the 1400 total, when you've worked
your way up to the 2000s for you, when was that kind of
tipping point of like, OK, I can actually be pretty good at the
sport? I did.
So it wasn't until 21. So I competed once in 20.
It was in 2017 and then rugby had kind of finished.
I had done that circuit like as best as I could.
I'd gone all over the country, like done a couple tours in
Canada. And then after that it was like
I was working and it was like, I don't really want to push this
anymore. Like what I'm going to tell my
boss. I split my head open.
I got to take 3 fucking days off, like come on.
And so when I got into that, I kind of like all through 19 and
20 was just like training. I wasn't really thinking
anything. And then I probably, I don't
know what the hell happened, but it was like something clicked
and I was like, you know what, maybe I'll drop into a meet.
And then so in 21, I got back into it.
And then March, I totaled like 1687 or something like that at
like, still the same weight class.
And so it was like I hadn't competed in five years.
And I got like third at this thing, which like, it's a local
meet that doesn't fucking mean anything.
But also at the same time, it was like to a 20 kid who had
just turned 24 and hadn't competed in six years in ages.
Yeah. And fucking.
And then it was like, OK, like, maybe I start doing this a
little bit again. And then like the next time I
competed was 18. I was like, all right, maybe I
have a reason. I bumped a 242 then and it was
like, all right, I totaled like 1820 and I was like, all right,
maybe I'm actually good at this shit.
Yeah. And, and for you and me both, we
both, I was kind of adamant on staying in the 242 class for a
while. I think you had that same kind
of debate with yourself and finally went, decided to go 275
and now we're both struggling to get up to the 275.
But for you, Yeah. And so for you, when was the,
when did you make that decision that you're like, all right, I'm
done with this 242 class? It was literally at weigh
insurance for the ghost clash last year.
So it was like I had I got into that meet by winning a meet that
was just held at ghost Gym, Alex after.
And so Alex Uslar, who owns ghost Gym and he runs the ghost
clash and he's involved in a bunch of other things too.
He held a local. So after the whole USPA like
scandal thing that we don't really have to get into dropped.
I was like, OK, fuck this, I'm out.
I switched over to the WRPF and then the 1st and but there was
no meets anywhere nearby. It was either I was like driving
down to Maryland or it was like, pick something on the calendar
And it was like, oh shit. Like there's one that goes gym.
Like yeah, fuck, that's kind of cool.
Let me drop in there. And I did that.
And then I after squats, Alex walked up to me and he was like,
he was like, what the hell are you going to total here?
Because I had like, I think I had I squatted like 7 33 or like
738 and had a miss at 766. And if we're at like a local
meet and he was like, dude, what the fuck?
Yeah. And so he walked out.
I was like, I'm probably total in here.
Whatever. I think I might dot somewhere in
the low fives. And he was like, if you win,
I'll give you an invite. Yeah.
And then it like you'll go to it was like, I'll give you an
invite protein for free. And I was like, OK, fuck, sick.
And I ended up barely fucking winning that meet thanks to a
last deadlift. But as we were going to do it.
So I was like, all right, I'm the weakest dude in this fucking
like on this day. It was like, I had like my
qualifying tool. They're dropping everybody.
And it's like, Hack's got a 661 shot.
It's like Hunter Henderson's there, Briani, Like every big
name you can fucking think of. Jamal Browner, like, name it at
the time. And so I'm like, I'm getting
dead fucking last. Yeah.
I'm sitting in the sauna by myself.
I'm like 7 lbs over the night before.
And I'm like, what the fuck am I doing?
Like I'm going to cut this hard and fucking kill myself to get
11th place as opposed to like fucking 15th of my weight class.
Yeah, there's no point. And so I waited at like I just
cut. I just thought the cut right
there. And I was like, there's no
reason for me to do this again. I was like, I know I'm
competitive at a certain stage, but it was like at like, I'm not
fucking world competitive. And 242 was stacked at the like
last year too. A lot of people have made the
bump. And so I was like, there's no
fucking point. Like now I'm just as compared.
I'm more competitive at 275. Yeah.
And so it's like it's much easier.
Like I can feel more comfortable training and stuff like that.
Like my body floats somewhere in the two 50s usually.
I'm trying to push that kind of like you're doing the same,
yeah. And, and I think one of the, the
one of the bigger things with that too is obviously like we
have relatively large frames and by staying in the 242 class like
we're kind of limiting ourselves unless we're like a 5% body fat
at 242, like it's not going to help us well.
Yeah, And you're just not, like, I've kind of noticed this too.
Like housing training is just not health.
I don't want to say healthy, but like, it does more damage the
leaner you are, it kind of seems, if you're not, like,
uncomfortably heavy. Yeah, like I can't fucking push
when I'm that lean. Like I need a little bit of
cushion to kind of like your joints are fucking dry.
Like you can't fucking do that. Like especially you or can only
imagine if you're on equipment and shit like that.
Like when you go to squat, especially with how wide it is
out of a mono and shit like that, it's like that must feel
like hell when you're that lean. Yeah.
And another thing too, I mean, obviously like being lean and
like healthy is like going to make you stronger and perform
better and make it through a meat.
But like someone that's like maybe a little bit on the
fluffier side, like kind of like where I'm at, Like you get more
compression out of the gear at that when it fits like that.
Rather if I was like the same weight at a much lighter class,
like I'm not going to get as much out of the gear.
Yeah, well, it's it's like especially 2 with you like
trying to cut and shit like that, like your shit would fit
so weird. Yeah, like it's like, at least
with mine, it's like, all right, I don't what?
I'm going to pretend I get something out of a fucking
singlet. Like who are we kidding?
Obviously there's the whole knee sleeves thing like you're
wearing. Let's get in the pair that I.
Have yeah, let's get in that a little bit because so for
everyone that doesn't know I just bought I just bought some
A7 rigor mortis sleeves off of him because I I tell.
You how much you paid. $69 and which?
Was not the price I sent him by the way.
He said 70. I didn't change that on the
lower end because he's an asshole.
And anyways, I got his were three excels and they're tight
as fuck on me and I feel like I get £300 out of them.
So tell us about kind of just your experience with the
different knee sleeves and maybe your opinion on the whole
banning and stuff like that. OK, All right.
Yeah, 'cause like so I've been using so like those a sevens, I
use the same ones that you have once and then I don't I sides
down because they were a little bit fluffy in there.
They were a little bit loose like around the knee joint.
And so I sized down and I have two X's and they're fucking men.
But I think it was like probably 20, like early 23 that insert
dropped. They're like ergo pros and that
was like the first like stiffer, like everyone been using their
like SPD, like Gen. 2. It's the same trick that a bunch
of people had back then, right? And those were like they give
you a good amount, but they're not anything close.
Like it's not going to change how you squat or whatever.
Like if you have those on tight like it's it feels different.
Your motor patterns are literally different.
And it was like injure had come out with that and it totally
changed like the sleeve squat game.
It was like records left and fucking right were being
smashed. It like all over the place and
so everyone kind of got into like a big like how do we catch
up, right? And so it was like iron rebel
had that big thing where they tried to challenge the material
integrity of the of the actual sleeve.
And then it was like then after that, like it it got approved
right IBS like injured was approved and then it was like
everything fucking kept going like A7 came out with 1 Pioneer
has one. I think Titan has one now.
I think a bunch of. Other F8 also has one now too,
F. 8 does. I remember trying to pull that
thing off of Rupo's leg. Yeah.
That took his foot off and so it's like every fucking company
came out with one of them now. And it's like, I mean, given
there's so many people that fucking Oh, I need to have this
absolutely perfectly. Like otherwise like, Oh my God,
I don't have like the right pair of sleeves or I'm bloated too
much. Like This is why everything
moves so shitty instead of just being strong enough.
But like I've been using them since probably I got it.
I picked up a pair like I want to say like around like April
23rd was like right as I had started a prep and it was like,
especially with the way I squat, I have a very like for a raw
squat, like a very controlled descent and then you just kind
of just out of the hole. I'm as fast as I can possibly
be, but like that type like loads that stiff type of
neoprene like very, very well. And so I get a ton out of it
kind of similar to a wrap, like you would said, just fucking try
wraps at this point. But it was like I did that and
then so I'd stuck with injure or whatever.
And like that taper too is different.
Like you've you've seen it compared to like an SPD or
something like that. Like a lot of them.
And they make them now both ways as like the inserts are like a
cone where it's like, or sorry, like the old ones are like a
cone where it's like it's just wide up top.
It's an angled taper down. There's no curvature to
anything. And so it's like if you have a
big calf, it doesn't fit very well.
Yeah, it's OK, but it's not it's not great.
And so it's like now, so a lot of them are coming out with more
of like an hourglass shape. Or if you have like a big calf
that fits really, really nice. Because like you can get a
really good size sleeve to your leg while still not like it's
not cutting off circulation at your calf, which is what would
always happen to me if I went like if I use like a cone
sleeve. And so I did that through like
in 23. I picked them up and I'd use
been using those inserts for a while.
I'd replace them with a couple pairs And then like it felt like
the material got like a little softer.
I don't know what I picked up a pair around like last year.
It seemed like the material was a little bit more pliable.
I wasn't getting the same thing out of it.
So I was like going all over the place and like I tried ghost
ones and they had the cones or whatever that material is
fucking great. It was the same thing I was
looking for, but it was the cone shape.
And so it kind of hit or miss. And then I used I picked up
those A sevens. I tried Iron Rebels and I miss
sized and had to cut them off my leg.
Dude, it was a heart attack. Like legitimately Bob had to
fucking wedge a knife in between my leg and the sleeve and just
yeah, like I almost got, he almost just sliced an artery.
But like, I tried a few out and then I had those, I had those a
sevens or whatever. And those have been mint.
And so I keep, I've kept those and I kind of want to just use
them for my heavier shit to just kind of preserve them.
And then I've got like those softer, they're still the ergo
pros, but they're the same, like that same ends or whatever.
They're fine. You know what I mean?
It's not a bad sleeve, but like all that happened and then it's
like now it's ever. It's so focused.
It'd be like the same thing as like you changing out a squat
suit, which is like totally different.
Yeah. Like two different suits or
whatever a different fit is. Like the difference between.
It's like 50 to 60 lbs for you. Yeah.
Like a sleeve should be 10, you know, like 20.
It's like if I switch out a different, it should still be
able to do the same fucking thing.
Yeah. And.
And so it's like now 2 with this whole IPF thing dropping, it's
like the whole thing's a fucking mess.
Yeah, and I think just to like pull, pull strings and to just
like kind of tease people like put trying to put like I was
putting on those sleeves yesterday and I was also putting
on my briefs. They were just as fucking hard
to get on as the briefs. And it changes how you walk.
And that's why I'm like, if it's if it's considered raw, like
it's doing so much to your squat that I mean, like I'm all for
all facets of pile lifting, whatever, like we want to lift
the most. But I hate when people are like
equipped is stupid because and then they're using these sleeves
that are giving them 60 lbs. Yeah, it's it's weird.
I think Pat Horvath had a really good fucking take on it where he
was like the idea of raw and it's like it's marketing idea
that is like you can you can walk into your normal fucking
gym, like your fit lab or your Gold's Gym or God knows what.
And you can probably see someone using not as good quality
equipment as as that. But you can probably understand
like, OK, that's it's better equipment, but it's the same
style of equipment that like anybody who walks into a gym
probably has, if they're like like a like a gym rat, right?
Like they might have some type of knee sleeve.
It's not going to be fucking good or anything like that.
They might even have like a soft like a bodybuilder style wrap.
You're going to have a belt of some kind, right?
It's probably fucking made of Velcro.
But what do they have it? And then they probably have like
some wrist wraps and everyone knows what lifter shoes look
like. So it's like that's about, it's
like, OK, I get it like that is it's better equipment, but it's
the same style. So I can see what that looks
like. And understand what that means.
You can't like, you know, you then obviously you get to like
single and multi and now they have unlimited and all that type
of stuff, right? Like that's where you kind of,
it's different. And that's where it's like you
kind of have to understand powerlifting and like the actual
idea of it to not just look at it and say, OK, this is someone
squatting 600 lbs. Yeah, I can compare that to what
I do now. Exactly.
And they're kind of going on that too.
It's like politics, way too small of a sport to like have
segregation within the sport. So like, yeah, you may not ever
want to do equipped or you may think it's a little silly and
maybe equipped lifters think ever competing raw again would
be stupid, but. But it's yeah.
And it sucks and it like it sucks that you kind of have that
beef. And it is kind of funny that
like each side thinks the same thing about the other where it's
it's like, all right, I think you people are stupid and they
think you people are for like all the same thing.
And both of them are right sometimes to be quite.
It's like everybody's right. I think the big thing that I've
noticed is in the feds that merge the two and offer both the
divisions, especially at the same meet.
I think it's a big learning curve and that a lot of a lot of
like feds are trying to fucking figure that out.
And I mean, like in the USAPL and the IPF, they have only
single ply, but it it looks about the same.
And again, single ply you don't get nearly as much like it
doesn't like it's not to the point where like everyone squats
the same, everyone pulls sumo, Everyone like does whatever,
right, because the wraps are shorter.
The it's only single ply or whatever, right?
They're still in the stiff bar. They're walked out like some of
those type of things. And like on bench, you can't
bring your own liftoff guy like you you, it's a one person
liftoff. It's about 3.
It looks the same, but it's like I think in some of these other
meats that are trying to that were primarily equipped now
trying to bring in more raw lifters that it's like, hang on,
there needs to be some type of adjustment.
Like they don't know how to handle both at once.
Yeah. So I think we can kind of dive
into different like federation bias and standards for for you,
what's the biggest issue you see right now?
And like what do you think the solution is?
I think right now, so I don't necessarily know that it's a
federation thing, but I think right now it's it's a big issue
where, and this is so much more on the fucking raw side too,
where I think you see a lot of it's like a meat director wants
to bring attention to their gym or to their meat.
And in some of those in I guess you say about like federation to
some of those feds allow you to kind of pick like pick your own
judges to an extent where it's like kind of anyone can ref and
so and the standards for it aren't as enforced the same way.
And so now you have like this instance where it's like you
like the platform doesn't mean the same thing in the Fed.
It it's I don't know, like what's better or worse.
Like obviously I've competed in really only meets where they
fucking call you strict as shit. Like you look at the ghost
clash, like in which is power of the United used to be WRPF.
You look at that whole like you look at that, you look at USPA
to an extent, right? And I've done like their
international meets, like the IPL and you watch those refs and
they are like on all fours looking for your hip crease and
shit like that. And I think depth is the biggest
one that actually happens. Like, yeah, you know, sometimes
in bench you see like a bug come up or like a little bit of like
not an up and down, but like a wobbly bet or like a side bench.
I don't want to fucking describe it.
Or like sometimes you see like an unlocked knee on deadlift or
something like that, right? But like squad, I think everyone
can to look at and say OK wait, hang on, this is high as shit
like those because now there's not like 1 fucking in like on
the untested side. Mostly it's like because it's
like there's so many feds. One fed doesn't like a total on
one platform doesn't mean the same as the other.
Where it's like in the USAPL, the IPF, all those other ones,
it's like you have to qualify in their fucking fed.
You know what I mean? It's like I need a total 1650 in
this vet under this set of rules, under this same thing,
right? Whereas you know someone can go
squat 810 lbs in raps like and it's high as fuck and then all
of a sudden like it gets posted and then there's this big and
now everyone's trying to maintain credibility and just
becomes a shitstorm. Especially on the social media
too. Like if this was 5-10 years ago
or something like that. You just see something get
updated and then everyone be like what the fuck happened?
Yeah. And I think that kind of goes
into a little bit about like records and stuff and records
being overturned and obviously like having video footage,
especially on squats where it's like, can you really judge it
from a video? And this is and from like an
equip perspective or even a raw perspective.
It's I think the the consistency of standards across feds
definitely need some improvement.
But as an athlete's perspective, I think you're doing yourself
injustice. Say if like Dave Tate said this,
like if you go to a meet and you can get a squat pass that's an
inch high, why would you want to get caught lower?
Yeah, I don't see why you wouldn't like me like to go in
there and set A and try to execute to a standard that is
tighter than what they're allowing.
Doesn't make sense. Yeah, I don't get like if
they're going to white light, you fucking cheat the rules,
you're not blatantly trying to mislead them, right?
You're not like sneaking shit into your singlet or something
like that to make it look like you're like your hip crease is
different or something. Like, you know what I mean?
Like if you're not cheating, right, you're just taking
advantage of what is being allowed there.
It's like and you see it, I think you see it a little bit
more in Multiply and in other where it's like each meet gets
judged a little differently and you have to watch everyone kind
of adjust. And so it's like something like
you'll get to some of these and you're seeing it now with like
some of the like more pro beats that they're throwing on
together. It's like hang, you get there
and like hang on. They're calling this tight like
boys got to sing and some of them just fucking can't.
Yeah, and it's like a perfect example of that in the
multiplied worlds. Like you look at like the
perfect storm meet down in Florida or like the women's pro
AM. Like the people that show up
there, they know they're like, all right, it's strict today.
I might not be able to squat what I wanted, but I'll adjust
to it because I'm a professional athlete and I'll figure it out.
Yeah, and something and like you see it in on the raw side, you
see it where they just can't fucking adjust the amount of
meats I've walked into and someone's just bombed out
because they trained high and their hips just don't get that
way. And like it's it happens.
So back when I did, it was IPO N Americans in 23 or something
like that. And it was one of those it was
they had like this, it's an international championship style
meet, completely fucking. It was a low class meet with
some really with like some really strict judging.
It was extremely well run. But like the competitors there
were just like not what you would like.
Like the field wasn't what should have been there for that
style of championship, right? Like they asked if I knew that
my opening squat that I put in was in kilos and not pounds.
They thought I could qualify for this with a 300 squad.
That's literally what it was. And so it's like at that, it was
like you had a bunch of like backyard guys just coming in and
they thought that they could do whatever they did and it was
like 6 people bombed out on death.
And so it's like on the raw side, they can't adjust as much
because it's like, I think the jumps are a little smaller.
I think it's a little bit more of your body's limitation where
it's like in equipped, like everyone seems like they can get
that low, but just not under a certain amount of weight.
Like they can't descend properly to get to the right position.
So it's like they can adjust a little bit easier, but like
it's, I don't know, it's, it's interesting.
Yeah. And I think like, I guess for an
example, say like your opener and a multiply squat is you
literally can barely get there. Or like you've been training
high, which I think that's the the basis, the root cause of
this whole problem begin with is people training high than not
adjusting on the fly versus training to the standard and
then taking advantage of a lower standard when you're there to
meet. But as far as like, say I'm
going to, I don't know. For me, we'll just say like, say
I'm going to open super light, like 750 and I'm binding up
hard. Like we can make adjustments to
the gear. Like maybe we'll go a little bit
looser on the straps, but maybe we'll open up the lace a little
bit. But if you're raw, it's like,
what are you going to do, loosen up your knee sleeves?
Like no, you should have been training to depth the whole
time. Well, it's like, yeah, what are
you going to? You're going to fucking stretch,
like you know what I mean? And so it's like you see all the
fucking time, like in equipped it you'll see like red light,
red light scratch and they just say fuck it.
Yeah, what you see in raw is you see red is you see red on depth.
Then you see either like another red on depth, but it moves
slower. And then the third you get
fucking stapled or those second and third just invert.
Yeah, like it's red light on depth.
Then someone tries to sink as low as they can go and they
can't get out and they get folded.
And then they try and cut it somewhere in between and either
passes or doesn't or whatever, or it's just like you can only
do so much. It like if you don't have the
motor pattern, the strength, the flexibility to get down there,
you can't. There's nothing you can do.
Yeah. Where it's like, especially in
equip, you guys are so wide too that it's like, you fucking
should be able to talk. Like you don't have to move that
much. Yeah.
And as far as the IPL N Americans, I know that you said
that one of your favorite stories in pile of you kind of
came from there. So you want to tell us about
that? Which one?
What did they even put on the form?
I feel N Americans, 2022. Fuck yeah.
Oh, that was in 22. Damn.
I lied to everybody. Yeah.
So that's how, yeah, that's how it was.
So I had, I had competed late earlier that year.
It was like I was kind of, I didn't want to say just getting
onto the scene here because it's like, like, First off, it was an
1800. I had an 1800 LB total, which
doesn't in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean all that
much. I'm sorry to everyone who totals
less, but like as a 275 or like, I know it's competitive.
It's very, very competitive at the local boat.
Like you got to be number one or two in the world to really like
make it. That's kind of what I'm getting
at. And so I was kind of trying to
like, I was starting to like make a name for myself a little
bit, at least locally. And so I didn't know the scene
very well. I didn't know what was on the
pro stage. I didn't know any of that.
I think I had like a 496 dots for whatever, if that is
reference. And so I was like, all right,
let me try and find something bigger.
I wasn't qualified for the Ghost Clash yet.
I wasn't qualified for the American Pro.
There were some other options that I didn't know about like
Power Surge and a few other meats that had like qualifying
around there with like a little bit of cash prizes.
And so I just looked and I found it was like it was IPL N
Americans. And I was like, oh, this has to
be fucking legit. It was like, it was like
everything about this. I was like, this is probably
perfect because I was thinking of something that's more similar
to like USAPL Nationals where it's like you have a bunch of
platforms going on too. It's a massive, massive meat
that they throw on. And so I was like something like
that. I sent it to my coach and he was
all about it. Like it was probably, I probably
had like 6 months to like prep for it.
There was another meet in between there.
But I was like, yeah, this is this is a good idea.
And we get down there and my apologies to anyone from
Oklahoma, that state is a fucking shit head.
Like we get to Oklahoma City, we fly in.
It is myself, Bob, and my coach, Eric Hogan.
Bob almost misses his flight down there because he he tried
to bring baby powder in his carry on, which included his gym
bag because he didn't want to check something.
And so he, I guess they aggressively searched it because
they thought it was an explosive.
And so it's a mess getting down there.
We rent the car, we get to the Airbnb.
It's in the worst neighborhood I've ever seen.
It's like there's it's like a little like one story.
Airbnb, our neighbors cars on blocks.
Oh. My God.
We move in there and then we walk into this like this, just
whatever Airbnb, we're chilling there, we're driving around the
city. It's a shit hole.
Like there's just humble weep. There's nothing.
And so we go to like, we scope out the venue for meat day and
like, as we're weighing in or whatever, and all of a sudden,
like everything just changes. And you realize Oklahoma City
has like three blocks of actual shit.
Like you've got this the most beautiful Convention Center I've
ever fucking seen that they're hosting this meet at, which was
also, they were also hosting a furry convention.
Oh God, There's nothing else I need to comment on that.
I didn't exactly, you know, head over there between lifts.
Yeah, well, I mean the fucked up part is the the furry convention
probably had more people. It did.
Unfortunately, it did. I regret.
Yeah. It had more people and they were
in costume. That is true.
And so it's like that was also in the Convention Center, and
it's right next to where the Thunder play, too.
So it's like those are the only two draws in the fucking city,
and they're right next to each other and everything else sucks.
And so like we get down there and we weigh in.
The fucking thing about the squat happened where the guy
doesn't know. I put like, I, yes, I
understand, I can open a 678 lbs, I'll be fine.
We're OK, right? And I walk in and I have done
this entire prep thinking that I am going into a pro meet.
Every piece of my training, my nutrition, fucking every
extracurricular you could think of, I had dialed.
I walk in and realize I'm opening 150 lbs heavy and I'm
like, you have to be kidding me. Was like, maybe we can get on
the podium. And it's like, Oh no one.
I was like, oh, no one here in my weight class is squatting
over 550. Great.
I don't know what I'm, I don't know what I'm doing here.
And so like fucking I'm all like jacked up on pre workout and
shit like that. And I'm talking a bunch of shit
in the warm up room for some reason, I don't know, there were
allegations I knocked over somebody like like walking out
to the platform to take my opener.
Like the whole thing was a mess and like perfectly run me just
didn't get the draw that they expected to get.
Like, and it was like Bob had, Bob had like one kid that was
around what he could do. The kid like out benched him or
whatever, but just couldn't pull.
And so he was like he had to be like relatively executing or
whatever. And I think I won my weight
class by like 260 lbs or something like that.
Jesus. We have data, we can go to this.
Yeah, I think it's funny though, when you kind of just thinking
about like a local meet when there's that like one guy like
like say like Josh Fleming, is that like our one of our local
meats around here? You're like, well what the fuck?
Yeah, he's a good fucking dude. Yeah, he's just strong as fuck.
And you're like, all right, well, who?
Why is everyone else here? Everyone else can just go home
now. Let's just watch Josh and go
home. Yeah, that's kind of what he
did. The meat that I did, yeah, I won
my weight. I'm looking at it now.
I won by 265 lbs. Jesus Christ.
And I mean, like, it's not that everyone else put up a bad
total, but it's not North American champion total.
Yeah, and that's what. Actually happened.
The meat I had done before. Joshua just walked in and
cleaned the entire thing out. Nicest man alive.
Yeah. Yeah, warmed up on bumper plates
for squat, got all the way up to 585 and like, do you want to
work in here or not? Like on a power bar walking out
585 with just rope bumper plates on, didn't throw his knee
sleeves on, took 140 LB jump onto the platform and just
tilled Yeah for the rest of the day.
Yeah, and like I said, it's funny.
Like they kind of just walk in and clean house like that.
And when you go to like these local meats and stuff, it's like
someone like him like that, you don't see him on like the big
platforms and you're like, why is he not getting seen?
Is he not getting invites? And that's why it's like, I
think I forget who said it was a couple episodes ago.
There was someone that was saying like, oh, it was Nick
Forte about how like there needs to be a better like ranking or
classification system of like the weight glasses for invites
to these pro meets rather than just like, oh, I know this
person. He's cool.
Well, that's what, yeah, it sucks.
Is like there's a minimum expectation that you have to
hit, but it's not like someone goes on open powerlifting or
whatever and like just picks the top ten and just invites them
all. I mean, like in a weight class,
obviously like you can name the top ten in sleeves or wraps or
whatever. Like you can do it in single and
multi. You know, who would go out, like
who would get that invite? But it's like there has to be
some type of notoriety for you to like obtain that and know
that this person exists. And I think the other thing too
was like, and I don't know the fix for this.
It's fucking expensive sometimes.
Like it'd be one thing if, and obviously this is what
everyone's going to fucking complain about, but it's like,
all right, say someone in California wants to host this
big ass me or whatever. And I'm not going to pretend
that I'd get the first invite out there.
But it's like, all right. He was like, hey, I want you to
come out here. It's like, all right, I got to
spend fucking 2 grand to get out there.
Yeah, to, to win nothing. Yeah, You know what I mean?
So it's like it doesn't it? It doesn't mean that I'm not
like grateful for being invited or something like that.
Or it's like it doesn't, it's tough.
But it's like with all, like we don't make enough to do this
full time. You know what I mean?
Like we both have jobs. Yeah.
It's tough for me to take a week and even to like even to go to
Miami or to go to like one of these other sometimes even when
they're like drivable distances. Like it's fucking like it's
tough. You're going to do a hotel or an
Air B. Like I like to do an Airbnb just
so I can cook all my food through like the cut to the
refeed to like what I bring to the platform, like all that type
of stuff. Like I want to have all that
prepped. And so it's like, you need an
Airbnb that's fucking expensive. You need all that type of stuff.
Like it's a lot to do. And so it's like, imagine like
internationally, like you want to bring someone over from
Europe. Or if I want to go to Europe and
compete, it's like, yeah, maybe I'm ranked #4 and fucking God
knows, whatever. But it's like, all right,
doesn't mean I'm going to go to some random big meat.
And there's so many like people wanting to throw up, like pro
pro or like throw money meat at something or whatever.
It's like there's only a couple that can be.
There's only one that's supposed to be like a pinnacle, you know
what I mean? Like the IPF gets it right.
They have their World Championship, which is the
second biggest meet that they host.
And then six months later they take what there is like their
showcase, their Sheffield, and that's only the Champions and a
couple wild cards. So it's like you have only those
two meets. There's no just there's no
discussion over what's bigger than another.
Yeah, we don't have them. Anyone can throw X amount of
dollars at at a competition or whatever and a few good and as
they should, and a few good and a few stars are going to show up
and then they're going to fill the rest of the field with
people who are excellent but not at that level.
Yeah. And I think that's kind of it
kind of goes back into like the the IPL meet you did where it's
like these meats that call themselves like nationals or the
pro Invitational or whatever the fuck, the World Championships.
And it's like, it doesn't mean anything, especially when
there's 20 different feds across the country that are all running
meats every weekend. Like if you want to have a world
championship, it's one fed. And that's why I think the whole
fed thing is like there's so many feds because so many people
want to get their piece of pie. And kind of one of the things
with like the meat I hosted, like I don't, I would run it
under any federation. I think that's something that
any meat director should have that flexibility to do.
But with the cash prize and stuff, it's something that like
if you win, like if you can show up and win, it should be enough
to cover your flight, your stay your dinner that night and get
maybe get a new pair of nice leaves like.
Yeah, it should be. And it's like, I think what some
of these feds need to do is they need to say like, look, you're
it was like, you know what, you're going to host the prime
time of this fucking championship.
It was like instead of you just could, it was like, I'm going to
use this as an example or whatever, But it's right are
like when the USPA did pro raw or whatever, they were like, you
know what, we're just going to fuck it.
They were like, we're just going to do this.
Like this is going to be the pinnacle for our fed this year.
It's there. It's not going to be like a gym
owner or something like that. And it doesn't mean that like
like Al Tusar runs an incredible me at the go slash every year.
But like the pros go to that. They don't go to the right.
They're not going to go to the IPL championships or they're not
going to go to PLU nationals necessarily, right, because they
have money at this one and sometimes look like locations
matter. I think people need to like,
it's kind of conflicting because like these national events, you
get so many athletes that come in that there's a lot of income
from it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the
national championship. Yeah, what some of those.
People like what they need to do is say like, this is fucking God
knows what, this is regional, this is whatever.
And then your Nationals. Yeah, 2 fucking three flights.
That's it. Qualifying totals 1900.
Go fuck yourself. Yeah.
And I think that's why what you're saying.
The so the ABS does it very, very well.
Yeah. They have like a couple of meets
that they host in the United States a year and it's on my
bucket list to do one of these next year.
And I'd like they have it's going to be one event and each
of their sessions they call something different.
Yeah. And so it's like the morning
session is like you're your amateur session or whatever.
Then they have like what they like your Grand Prix or whatever
they call it, like the middle session.
All of these each have different qualifiers.
And then it's like at the end, it's like the top of it is like
either fucking invite only or it's like the QT is like the
lowest qualifying total I've seen.
My weight class is 19, and it's like, you know what?
Like that's how it should be. Yeah.
You want to get to an absolute like fucking earn it.
Yeah. And it should.
It should consistently change with like the current state of
the sport. Like if the top 1% is 19, but in
two years from now the top 1% goes to 2100, then that should
be the QD. Move it and it's like.
The other thing I like too is that it's not dot based.
It's tougher on our side because you don't have as many, you
don't have as many athletes. Like it's just the way it is.
And so having QTS based on weight class is difficult.
And so with everything being on dots, they don't, no one cares
what the weight classes are. They just cut as low as they,
they cut as low as they can go in total as much as they can.
And so it's a fucking mathematics equation, which
maybe us as engineers kind of like, but everything else is
just fucking bullshit. Like it doesn't.
There's no battles for anything unless you are sitting there
with lifting cast open or whatever saying oh what if this
person hits like 5 fucking pounds heavier.
Yeah. And I think that's, I think
that's why I kind of like the the reach rumble with or like
the you had the big dogs, you had the current like the total.
Yeah, it's like, you know what, there's no weight classes.
Go fuck yourself. Yeah, it's like you're going to
total what it is or like so in in the ABS, what they've done is
each they kind of lumped all the weight classes into couple
groups. So I think it was like, because
when I looked at what obviously I don't really care what the QTS
are at under maybe 242. So it's like anything above 242,
your total in 1950 to qualify or 1900 to qualify.
And then that middle group is like 220 to 181.
And then it's like then you have everyone else.
Yeah. So it's like it's not O at
148-160-5181, right? Like no, fuck off.
Like are you a small person? Are you an average size person?
Are you a big boy? Like exactly.
Those are the pools. That's it.
And if you think about it like from the strongman perspective
too, it's like they have like their middle weight or whatever,
then it's like all right. Everything else, it's like
anything over 2. I think it's 231 maybe?
Anything over that? It's weird.
Yeah, it's weird. So they have what they call like
subclasses or whatever. And so they're, I know they're
like 2 organizations that do it too, but it's like the weight
classes are so much farther apart.
I think it's like like they have like a they have like a one O 5
S 231. I think in some comps they have
a 264 and then everything else is wide open and then it's like
and then they have I think like a 181 as well and.
Then kind of backtracking a little bit as far as like the
maybe not the weight classes, but kind of what you're saying
before about location kind of mattering.
I think with like shout out Mike Skiba, obviously with like holy
wars like him, it's going to a different gym this year, next
year is going to move it to a different.
Gym. Yeah, yeah.
And then next year is going to try to move it to a different
place. So having like, I think being
able to have like these pro meets, like even the WPO does
that. They go from Vegas to Orlando.
They're doing it in York this year.
Like if you want to have these high level pro meets and stuff,
you should be able to move the locations around the country to
where maybe someone can qualify for it.
But maybe they are just a blue collar worker or they don't have
the time to take off. But oh, it's in their their
region this year, they can actually compete.
Well, yeah. So it's like, OK, so like in the
PLU right now there's I'll use last year as an example, right?
There were three big, I think 4 really big pro meets right.
You had you had the ghost Flash with the American pro, you had
power surge and then also fighter quit.
And so it's like there's one in Vegas, there's one in Chicago,
there's one in Miami, and then there's one in I believe the
American pros in like Virginia. And so it's like, but all right,
so you have three of the most expensive places in the country
for starter. It's like, OK, Vegas is insanely
expensive. Miami's very, very expensive.
I've never been to Chicago actually, or Vegas, but like
can't be cheap either. And so it's like you have all of
those and it's, I understand why.
It's like, all right, all the sponsorship money is being
thrown XY and Z or whatever. It's like, yeah, you want to
host this every year, but it's like, why don't you just, I
think it was Mike Greeno had this idea.
It's like just alternate years, Ron, you know, do the American
Pro and the Ghost Flash like 6 months apart one year.
Then the next year do power surge and say fighter quit.
Or if anyone else wants to get into the pot right, do those two
meets the next year and then alternate.
So it's like different locations.
You can get like a probably a more competitive meet.
More sponsored money, too. More sponsorship money.
You can raise the the qualifiers to get more people to watch and
TuneIn and then like it's also like it it otherwise it just
dilutes the pot. You know what I mean?
Like and so you have your pro meets.
Be real fucking pro meets. Yeah.
And I think kind of going back to you a little bit before we
kind of wrap things up and it's kind of a not much of A Segway,
but I know you've had some troubles with deadlifts and
meets. So maybe tell us about what your
biggest issue with the deadlift was in me and and how you
overcame that solution or are currently?
Assuming assuming I have I still I have not hit a third deadlift
in years so at this is something I noticed as I started to bulk
up. I have If you can see I have
very meaty hands and it gets much worse during meat day.
They fill up with water and so if you are cold, if you're fresh
and you're training right, like I'm agile, I'm nimble, whatever
my hands are very flexible. I can grab on to whatever I've
I've held on to north of eight and no issues right after
squatting, after benching and all of that.
My hands. Are you packing a lip?
Then. Same good boy after squatting
and bench or whatever, like my hands are really cocked back
too, because it's not something you guys see and equipped as
much you do and bench to no end. But like, OK, you like can
squat. Your hand is in a little bit
more like normal of a position, I'd say yeah.
So it's like it doesn't balloon like that or whatever, but like
there's a shit to a fucking watermark.
I can't make a fist. And so it's like I'll hit my
opener and drop my second and third and I'm like you fuck,
like fuck me, you know what I mean?
And so it's like, I've always had that problem.
Like I think I've, I haven't hit 3 poles in a meet in four years.
And so it's like it was like, all right, what like what the
fuck is the fix? I didn't know what to do.
It was like, and as I got heavier, it became more and more
of a problem. And so kind of what I've learned
to do is kind of fix like because I used to cut pretty
hard and I wouldn't do like a got cut.
So like, I don't know if you ever like really had to cut hard
for. So what you kind of do is
there's a there's a few ways you can do it.
You can manipulate water and sodium and you can manipulate
like the like when you call it gut cut, where you just
basically load up on unsaturated fats and that type of shit and
kind of flush out a couple extra pounds.
That way. It's it's so you don't have to
manipulate water. And then if you have to cut
really hard to do both, Yeah, with the water one, right.
You're so depleted on electrolytes by the end of it
because you're you're manipulating and you're using
the loss of sodium to flush everything out that it's like,
all right, I can't compete this way.
You got to put everything fucking back.
And so you absorb so much fucking water and you have so
much sodium in your system that you absorb water, you become a
fucking balloon. And so that used to happen to me
all the time where it's like I drop fucking deadlifts or, and
it'd be I wouldn't know what was happening about it because it
wouldn't even happen if I like the first thing I was like is
like, all right, maybe we got to make sure we squat and deadlift
in the same like session. I'll do like a shit ton of squat
volume before I even touch a pole.
And it was like, all right, like I thought that would work.
Still kind of didn't. And it was like I switched from
sumo to conventional with that. I still hit or miss or whatever,
but so it's like, all right, what am I doing?
And then so it was like, I think the only time I had it figured
out, dogs going a little crazy over there, but it was like at
the ghost clash last year, they had APT in the warm up room who
literally took my arms and threw them into Norma Tex.
Yep. And literally like I was sitting
there like this, literally just like fucking.
I just bought the leg ones, they're amazing.
He used the leg ones and he just threw my arms in them.
They use the leg ones on your arms.
Yes, they have arm ones. It's the coolest I've ever felt
in my life. Although my nipple was almost
removed as they were. And so it's like that fixed it.
But also, that meet was super slow.
It was kind of similar to what you guys do.
Where like, it was one session and four flights.
Yeah. So deadlifts took 2.
I had two hours between each lift where it's like some of
these meats like you look at like the app platform or
whatever. 20 minutes. Yeah, they absolutely.
They'll get through a session in 2 1/2 hours.
And so it's like you're fucked. You know what I like?
If your hands are blown, you have no time to get it out.
And so I've done like I've done icing like that helped a little
bit. Like when I did that IPL meet or
whatever, they had a complimentary drink cooler in
the warm up room and Carlos Reyes had given me the idea.
That's exactly what I did. Carlos Reyes was like, you
should try icing your hands or whatever to me.
I don't pass. Tonight.
I had a big issue and so I walked into the complimentary
cooler, just said get the fuck out of my way and just went.
Yeah, and. Just held it there for 20.
And that's something that that's honestly a very common issue in
multiplying. It's usually because when you're
benching seven, 800 lbs, like your hands just blow up.
It's the same thing. And some people just, they
fucking deal with it and they just don't have a good pole.
But I I've, I've known icing your hands worse, obviously
being able to like massage and remove that fluid from your
hands. Like there's, there's like
caffeine, yeah, there's caffeine creams that work too that can
reduce inflammation. There's there's you can try a
bunch of different things. Yeah, I haven't seen the
caffeine cream. I've done NSAID cream, that
helped a little bit. I did like AI got put on a
massage table and they did like some exercises to help flush.
That's helped. I've done the buckets of ice
that it's OK It's kind of a dumb way to think about doing it,
right? It's a little bit more old
school, but that still works to an extent, right.
The normal text has been aggressive.
And that's not exactly something realistic that you can expect
every single time. Yeah.
But like, all those type of things have kind of worked.
And I've become a much better meat puller.
Yeah, I will. Like, I usually, like, the first
time I ran into this issue, it was like I was expecting to pull
like 780 and I got stuck at 7:05.
Yeah, like I dropped 750 twice. And I was ready to do some bad
things afterwards, like it was not fucking good.
And so like now I think I have a better scope, like understanding
of it. And I think the meat that I'm
doing in December, which is RPS, it's kind of a platform at a
showcase, I think it's a little bit slower pace.
And so I might be able to like, kind of finally fucking hit a
third pole. Yeah, and I was going to be my
next question with the king of the platform kind of what's the
what's the game plan for that meet take?
Advantage of every RPS rule imaginable, which means I will
be fully naked for all three lifts.
And especially being in Florida, I kind of just want to compete
barefoot for some fucking reason.
I don't know why it's gross, but I kind of want to do it.
Interesting. And then I guess.
I'm kind of kidding, but like if I'm pulling conventional I'm
probably going to do a barefoot. All right.
I mean, I'm not I'm kind of a fan of it.
It's not like a definitely, especially if it's hot, you're
going to get that extra grip on the floor.
That's also true. And I believe the women go the
day after as opposed to the day before.
So the the platform will be a little bit cleaner.
Yeah, at least there will be a lot of sweat and blood on it,
but at least no other bodily fluids.
Yeah. So I guess kind of to wrap
things up. Kind of.
We'll talk about piss, yeah? Yeah, kind of beyond the
platform. So do you have any kind of long
term goals in terms of coaching, directing or maybe something
else with your your biomedical background and powerlifting?
So I don't really have any aspiration to coach, to be quite
honest. Like I don't it's kind of weird
now because like everyone fucking thinks that they're
entitled to a roster of athletes and things that they can make
this full time. Like and you see someone with
like a fucking 1100 LB total try and say like, hey, I'm ready to
take on fucking. So it's like, are you kidding
me? Like first I was like, you have
no business for starters. But it's like I've also, it's
like a little bit of imposter syndrome where it's like, who
the fuck am I to justify taking on clients or whatever and
charge a realistic rate for what would actually be Like this is
something that can truly supplement my income because
like I'd feel bad charging more than like 80 bucks a month.
You know what I mean? Because it's like, I don't have
a fucking like I haven't been coaching people forever.
And obviously I understand you ramp up.
There's only one way you can start.
But it's like, and at that rate, I don't like it's so much work.
Why would I fucking bother? And so it's like I I got AI
still. I was involved.
I've ref in the WRPF and then they transferred over the PLU.
And so I think I'm still in that program.
I still get to do the some of the trainings for it or
whatever, but just because there's no meats around me to do
it. But I'm happy to ref when I'm
not in prep. I do want to eventually direct
because it's kind of a big thing.
And like you've been a director, like it is a very rewarding
experience, especially fucking exhausting.
Oh. My God, I was dead.
The mental draining of it is fucking awful, but it's like I
do want to do that too, because like there's there needs to be
better meats that are like there needs to be a good model if meet
up here, to be quite honest, like I want to find a gym,
whether it be at evolve, whether it be at like, you know, like
lightning is a massive facility. I want to do like a real good
raw monolith with me and see who will go because I like I was
trying to direct for the WRPF last year, but their
requirements are very, very strict, which they should be.
Yeah, You have, you have to be a ref, you have to know how to,
you have to spot load, you have to do a bunch of other things
too. And so I was in the process of
get of like meeting those requirements and then the whole
thing happened where they split into this other and I was like,
I don't know. I don't know what to do.
Yeah. And so I definitely do want to
direct probably in like Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
you know, maybe Rhode Island or Maine or something like that.
Because like when I was doing that, I had 25 people say, let
me know when it drops. Like I want to do this, but like
I'm waiting for the right time to do it.
I think next next year I might want to and say, you know what,
whether it be whether I hit up RUPA would evolve or like
somewhere around there was like, you know, I want to fucking run
this. Like I have the it'll be like I
have the time because I don't really plan on competing too,
too much in 26. I want to do 1 meet.
I want a total 2K on a power bar and like walk it out.
And then other than that, I don't care because like I'm
competing in December, so I'm not going to do like 3 meets.
And so like, maybe that's the right time to direct, but like,
I, it just needs to happen. It sucks like New Jersey that
there's a group in New Jersey that runs fucking amazing meats.
It's run by the George Rosheni. And he has a couple people that
give him a hand and they do a fucking incredible job.
And like, and I've been talking to them about like, maybe like,
and they showed interest and slowly expanding up.
It was like, OK, we'll do 1 in Connecticut and then just see if
we can keep going right? But I don't know, like, I think
it's just they've had so much going on that there hasn't been
traction there. And so I like, I want to fucking
do it. Yeah, I think it'd be pretty
cool to see, but we can kind of wrap things up here.
So I'll ask you my last question.
If you could give a new powerlifter or someone going
into their first meet a word of advice, what would you tell
them? You said the only thing that we
can't say is have fun, right? Yep.
I think the big thing is so as you're leading, so at least no
people that like have competed before and they don't need to go
with you or anything like that. But like see if you can train
with some people who understand what's going on and make sure
you understand the rules or the cadence of how something's going
to go. Because like I can read the
fucking rule book and say, OK, it's kind of going to look like
this and you watch it and it's probably super fucking
overwhelming. Like that happened to me at my
first me too. And I, I had a handler.
It was my friend who was sitting in the crowd and he was baked
and just giving me a thumbs up for me to go up.
One of my best friends to this day.
But all that was all that happened.
I picked him up. It was a four hour drive to the
meet. So like I was all alone back
there for a little bit. And so like have an idea of what
it's going to look like, whether that means go into one, whether
that means like, you know, you kind of are around people that
do, whether it means trying to bring someone who knows going on
what to then can like handle you or something like that.
Like I think a lot of people know what the rules are and they
just kind of like have like a little bit of a brain fart and
just kind of fuck up and jump a command or something like that.
Or like because I know like in in some of the multiply meets
there's no start command on certain lists, like there's no
start command on bench. And I think it's the APF or
something like that. I'm not sure about them, but I
know for the IPA there is not. So it's like, say I were to do
it and I'm sitting there locking out fucking.
I have my own ground there for 15 seconds and I'm turning
around saying what the fuck? Like what are we doing here?
Right? Something like that.
Like understand the cadence of it and maybe you won't have like
a brain fart or something like that.
Or if it's like if you wanted to go do like a WRPF or fucking
whatever and it's like you just immediately get the bar and just
drop, you're like, you're going to look like a dumb ass.
So it's like I think the case if you understand that you won't be
as anxious going in and then like everyone's going to fucking
tell you to open light. But I think like I think that's
pretty fucking good advice. But it's but it's like, I think
it's like open light and under like I don't want to say
understand that you're having, but it's like, don't be afraid
to take a swing in a mess to be quite like open light.
So you hit like your first and 2nd and then like, you know
what, yeah, fuck it, you're not going to Like if it's your first
meet, you're probably not shooting for best lifter here.
Sure, take a stab at a 500 deadlift or something like that.
Like what do you fucking do? You drop it like at some point
in time, like you're be a little bit relaxed and you'll you'll
feel a little bit more normal. Yeah, I think I agree with you
with what you said before. I think kind of to put it
simply, like try to get some sort of learning experience
before you step onto the platform, whether it be like you
said, go into a meet talking to someone that's competed or even
kind of like running through like a mock meet type thing in
your gym. So.
Yeah, that does look very fucking corny though sometimes.
So. Yes, yes it does.
Depending on the gym that you choose, that may look really
fucking stupid. I totally agree.
Well, I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to
come on. It was my pleasure.
Yeah, no, of course. Yeah, this fucking kicked ass.
I'm definitely down to do it again.