This past weekend I coached a bunch of athletes at the RPS Jersey Rumble in Newark NJ.
I wanted to get a meet report out earlier than now, but I've been EXHAUSTED since it wrapped up Sunday evening. In addition to being there for 3 separate sessions, I was a little bit sick, which made the whole thing even more tiring. But that aside, it was an awesome week of lifting for a great group of clients and training partners.
Saturday AM
Saturday morning I coached 3 women who are a part of my powerlifting class at EVF performance in NYC. All of them have competed at least once before and were in the raw/no wraps category
Lindsey Cormack is the first of my crossfitters to start powerlifting and has been making steady progress ever since. She had a great day, setting meet prs in each lift, with a pr 525 total at 114
Rebecca Mulder was competing in the 134 class, and hit squat and bench prs of 220 and 150 respectively. She fell apart a bit in the pull, only making her opener, but still salvaged a 625 total.
Iliana Goldfarb was competing in her second meet at 181. She caught a case of the jitters in the squat, missing two attempts on depth, which kind of shot her total to hell, but managed to make meet prs in the bench and dead. I was especially proud of Iliana because she missed her second attempt deadlift of 230 badly, then came back to make it on a hard-fought third. Iliana is not naturally build to power lift, so progress comes a little harder to her than others in the group, but based on how she came back on her last pull, I know she has the mindset to succeed if she continues to put the work in. And stops being vegetarian.
By the end of the session, I was pretty shot, and I had already blown my voice out from yelling cues all day. And my weekend was nowhere near done.
Sunday AM
I started off the day with 3 guys in the Sunday morning session, but unfortunately one of my athletes, Jared Buchanan, tweaked his back on his opening squat and elected to pull out. Jared is as tough as they come (he's an NYC cop), and I know he would never have ended his day there if he wasn't really hurting. I was disappointed to see his day end this way, but I was proud of him for making the smart call. He already has another meet picked out, and if he's smart with his recovery, I'm looking forward to him killing it.
Also in the session was a second-time lifter, Zack Slayton at 220 (both of my remaining guys were also raw/no wraps). Zack came out swinging in the squat, hitting all three easily for a big pr of 375. Zack also got two benches in for a meet pr of 265, and two deadlifts to finish the day wth a 5lb pr total of 1140.
Finishing the session was my lone first timer, Josh Faucett, at 308. We went conservative in the squat, making an easy 440 on his third. We opened him up on the bench, where he also went 3 for 3 finishing with an easier than expected 425. Not bad for a first meet! Josh finished strong making it a 9 for 9 day with a 550 pull.
By now, I was pretty much shot, but my day was only half over. My training partner Karen Johnson was competing in the 148 multiply class. FINALLY some good old fashioned gear whoring! I feel kind of strange referring to a young lady as a gear whore, so lets call her "gear empowered".
Thankfully, I was not alone this time because our whole Eastside crew was there to coach Karen, so I just hung back, tried not to die and made myself useful where I could.
Karen started huge, going 3 for 3 in the squat, with a monstrous 450 on her third. I should note here that Karen did not cut weight, and weighed in at only 137.5.
She had some trouble in the bench, missing her first two attempts with 185 for a blown call and lifted butt. But she shows some good old fashioned grit by adjusting her position and making her third.
She finished strong going 3 for 3 in the dead, with a grinder of a 415 pull on her third. If I am not mistaken, her 1050 total was good enough to put her in the top 10 for multiply in only her first geared meet!
I really can't put into words how proud I was of everyone who competed. Some had amazing days, while others showed determination in the face of adversity. But everyone put everything they had into the day, and that's all a coach can ask for. I'm especially proud of my CrossFit group, just for the strides we've made in the last couple of years.
My lifting class basically started as a small class to teach crossfitters better technique in the power lifts. I never thought it would grow into a dedicated powerlifting team with 5 lifters competing and supporting each other at a single meet. I am truly humbled that they've trusted me to introduce them to a sport that I've dedicated my life to.
As always, part of the fun of the meet was catching up with my lifting friends from around the area, like Tone Barbaccio, Tim Gale, Brian Cain, Ellen Stein, Chris Della Fave, Swede, Rheta West, Carl Seeker and of course Gene and Ame Rychlak who somehow manage to put all this together.
Good times everyone, see you at the next one!