A heavy topic

Mike spent this weekend down in south Florida, competing with the FSU powerlifting club. When I saw this license plate in the commissary parking lot a couple days before the meet, I thought it might be a good sign:



Turns out it was! In his own words:

Went 3 for 3 on squat. Per my coach’s advice, I stuck with relatively light weights and smoked all of them. 413 for my 3rd felt like nothing. My all PR is 425, so while it wasn’t a new record for me, it was reassuring to know that I have a lot more in me than that.

Bench was good until it wasn’t, and even then it was really close. Opened with 231- easy as pie. 248 for my next attempt- easy. The problem began with the fact that the lifting order got all screwed up and nobody knew who was up. I ended up getting called up for my 3rd attempt without enough to prepare and was a bit shaken. Long story short, I fought with 259 and missed it at the lockout.

Deadlift was good. By that point I was pissed about my bench and just wanted to leave. Opened with 396- easy. Hit 424 next- easy, but not super easy. Instead of going for 451 like I had planned, I went with 440 instead and smoked it. It was faster than 396.

Unwilling to settle for 440, I went into the warm up room and pulled 451 for an unofficial 4th attempt and 15lb PR.

For comparison purposes, here are the numbers from his last meet in October 2011:

Squat: 330lbs -> 413lbs (83lb increase)

Bench: 220lbs -> 248 (28lb increase)

Dead: 419lbs -> 451 (32 lbs increase)

His girlfriend Sarah went along for moral support for Mike and to get some photos and video for me.

Here is his squat:



Here is his unofficial fourth attempt at the deadlift for a 15-pound PR:



And here he is receiving (and eating?) his medal for winning the collegiate division for the 220 weight class:





Nicely done, Mike!