“Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example and not his advice.” – unknown
It is interesting when you hear how many of the rising names in powerlifting were exposed to weights by one of their parents. Being about a decade older than many of this new group of lifters, I recall the frustration of parents that were just never going to get it. “You want a workout? There is about four hours worth of wood chopping waiting for you in the backyard,” was my mother’s usual commentary on the values of exercise. As my mother had not read Supertraining, or any of the translated Russian manuals, it is doubtful that this suggestion was based on her desire to increase my GPP. She just didn’t get the point of extreme exertion without an immediately observable benefit.
With new elitefts™ team member Mickey Manley, I imagine the experience was quite a bit different. Mickey began lifting at the age of 14. His impetus to start hitting the weights was because he felt that he did not have much in common with his father at the time. Mickey’s dad was a successful bodybuilder that won Mr. Nebraska, and this seemed like something they could do together.
As is often the case, the interest in exercise and health was instilled in the son, but the application took a different course. Mickey was less interested in quarter turns and posing oil and preferred chalk dust and ammonia inhalants.
Enter the Mentor
Because of the close-knit lifting community in Nebraska, Mickey grew up knowing the legendary Rick Hussey through his father. When he was out-totaled by one of the female lifters from Big Iron Gym (in her first meet), Mickey realized that his do-it-yourself approach was not going to cut it. He asked Hussey if he could join the lifting team there and saw his lifts quickly increase. “My first squat day there,” Mickey recalled, “he had me in full gear doing a max attempt, which was 50 pounds heavier than I ever did before.”
Hussey, who passed away from cancer on December 30, 2010, left an enormous legacy as a lifting coach and personally touched the lives of hundreds of lifters. He possessed a skill for programming that only comes from experience and a memory for numbers that would stagger most mathematicians. Mickey said, “When I first joined, there were usually 10-12 people per squat rack on a Saturday and then three benches with 4-5 lifters each. Rick could remember all of those people’s numbers from the previous workout and direct them on what to do on that particular day. He had a similar plan for each lifter, but if you looked at their logs, it would be completely different; some people would be doing triples on squats, some doubles, some singles, some would be doing straight weights, and some would be doing bands. He knew what each person needed to progress. He would also modify your workout based on how you looked that day.”
As a person, Rick was known for his generosity. “I cannot tell you how many people Rick allowed to stay with him because they had no place to live,” Mickey said. “He would spend hours training people at the gym that were not even on the team just because he loved seeing people reach their goals. He was a funny guy…serious when it mattered, but kept it light the rest of the time.”
Mickey was there to see the fast decline of his mentor’s health. “He was less engaged,” Mickey said. “He used to be there, loading weights and wrapping people’s knees. Towards the end, he just sat there, calling out people’s weights. I know there were times where he had [chemo or radiation] therapy and he would postpone it because there was a Pro/Am and he didn’t want his guys going out there without him. He would postpone treatments just so he could be there with the guys. That is how dedicated he was to his lifters. He would put his health second to that.”
Big Iron just recently started to brighten after the pall left by Hussey’s death. “You still go to the gym and expect him to be there, joking around, making fun of you,” Mickey said. “He had a lot of funny nicknames for people. He liked to bust people’s balls. His death really took a toll on me. The first time I went into the gym after the funeral was difficult.”
Hussey’s son, Dicky McWilliams, is currently operating the gym. In a reversal of Mickey’s situation with his father, McWilliams is more into bodybuilding than his powerlifting coach father. In both cases, the iron influence is felt, but it is up to the sons to forge their own path.
Big Lifts & Future Goals
Under Hussey’s tutelage, Mickey rose to powerlifting prominence as a 181-pounder. One of the two accomplishments in which he is most proud include an early meet in which he beat the 181-pound class junior squat record that was held by Mike Cartinian. The lift was done while competing under a drug-free sanction. The 788-pound squat beat the untested junior record and smashed the drug-tested record by over 200 pounds. “This was also the first meet in which I benched over 400, which was a milestone for me,” Mickey said. “I also pulled 633, which was the biggest pull I have ever done. This gave me a total that was 10-times bodyweight at 181.”
The second accomplishment took place at a recent meet in which Mickey totaled 1,977 pounds weighing 195 pounds. This gave him a total that was 10 times bodyweight at a higher weight. Mickey said, “It was also the first meet in which I squatted over 800 pounds and actually completed the meet. I did it before but hurt my subscapular and wasn’t able to bench, so I bombed out of that meet. I also pulled 700 [pounds] at that meet, which was a first for me as well.”
Mickey’s future goals include competing in the upcoming UPA meet in Dubuque, Iowa in order to pre-qualify for the XPC meet. His longer-term goals include capturing the 181 all-time deadlift record. “It is my favorite lift and Big Iron has never had the open DL record,” Mickey said. “We have had the open squat record at numerous times in different weight classes and the open bench record numerous times, but I’d like to bring an open deadlift record home to Big Iron. I would also like to take a shot at Cartinian’s open total record at 181. I have to get my bench figured out before I even get a shot at that.” Mickey intends to stay in the 181s for as long as he can because Shawn Frankl’s 198 records are seemingly untouchable.
Mickey isolates the factor he feels is most important to ensure success as, “The ability to manage everything that needs to be done to be your best. You need to get your sleep, get all the meals in, and consistently train. You also need to convince your wife or girlfriend that what you are doing is worth the time. A lot of guys can do one or two of these things but by not completing the other aspects required to get you to that elite level is where people fail. A lot of people can make it to the gym every week, but like to party so they don’t get enough sleep. Or, they train hard but don’t get in enough food to help them recover for the next workout. Trying to do all the necessary things is a big task. In my case, I find that I need to do more recovery work so I have to make it a point to do my foam rolling and stretching and getting prepared for the next workout. My second worst thing is diet. Ever since I was little, I never really liked eating. I’m not like other people that really love to eat. It is a chore for me. When I was a sophomore in high school I only weighed 120 pounds. I am meant to be a tiny person. I compete in the 181-weight class. Most 181ers are 5’4”. I am 5 inches taller than them just because it is hard for me to get heavier than that without being sick from eating all of the time. Right now, I am trying to eat pretty clean and lose fat while gaining a little bit of muscle, so that I am a big 181-pounder.”
“The biggest thing that I ever learned from Rick was that you never want to miss a lift,” Mickey said. “Hardly anyone ever missed a lift when he was calling our numbers. When they did, it wasn’t because they were too weak to complete the rep, it was generally a technical issue – they got out of the groove or their shirt was not jacked right or they just touched too low or something like that. About 95% or more of the lifts that Rick called, the people got. I think the main reason for that is that, if you never miss in training, you never even have a thought about missing in a meet.”
Mickey feels that many lifters get so caught up in numbers and are trying to make such huge lifts in training, that they miss lifts. “They want to make too big of jumps. If you get it in your head that you can miss, that messes you up in a meet. It is not good to be missing in training because if you push it to failure in the gym, you are pretty much done for the day.”
As one of the newest athletes to be sponsored by elitefts™, Mickey has the support of the company and other team members, which will only help him reach his future goals. On this point, Mickey said, “In my opinion, elitefts™ IS powerlifting. They have done so many innovative things. While rooted in powerlifting, they exposed mainstream lifters to things like the Prowler®, sleds, specialty lifting bars and bands. They have the best gear with METAL Gear. If you look at other companies, they had the same shirts and suits for the past 5 or 6 years. If you look at METAL, they are constantly coming out with new materials and new designs and being innovators. It's nice to be a part of something like that, but as far as the team goes…I’m really good friends with Al Caslow, Brian Carroll, and I recently got to know Zane Geeting. He is a super cool guy...the team is an amazing thing to be a part of as well. All of those things coupled together, and there is NO other place I would rather be a part of in terms of powerlifting than elitefts™.”