column-gray-032715

I have been debating on whether or not to write what I am about to write for a while now. Probably no one will care what I have to say, but to hell with it.

Recent events have made me do a little thinking. When I started in the sport in 1997, the APF Senior Nationals and the WPC Worlds were the premier meets to go to unless you were on the amateur/single-ply side of the sport. You busted your ass to get qualified to go to the APF Seniors and hopefully get to represent the country in the WPC Worlds. World records could only be broken at national, or world events and at least two international judges had to be in the judges' seats. But where have things strayed?

No longer do lifters travel away from the comfort of their backyard to compete against other top lifters. No one goes to compete at the Senior Nationals. No one cares to be a national or world champion. It seems like people are okay if they put on a meet in their gym and get their friends to judge and pass sub-par lifts. To make things worse, every fucking person has a fucking cell phone to video the lifts and post that shit on the internet before the meet is even over. Before the lifter can even finish the meet, the videos have hundreds of morons posting their two cents on a lift that they were not even there at the meet to witness.

RECENT: Simple Meet Mistakes and Their Solutions

Recently a world record squat was attempted and the video got ripped apart. Let me just say, after watching the video, I would have to agree with the decision to not accept the lift as a world record. Here is why.

Many idiots have posted STUPID shit with regard to the lift. One comment I read was, “That’s the problem with multi-ply lifting. He did a three or four-inch squat, and they call that a good lift.” Well, dumbass, yes. This is powerlifting. If you can widen your feet, setup, get a squat command, then sit back such that the crease of your hip breaks parallel with the top of your knee, and can then return to an upright position to get a rack command, AND you only move the bar three or four inches, you are one lucky ass motherfucker.

Same with the bench. If you have a thick torso and short arms and your bench stroke is two inches, is that illegal or wrong? I used to compete at the WPO meets with Marcus Schick. The rules say you must be inside or covering the 81-centimeter lines on the bench. Anyone who knows Marcus knows that if he got his hands out to the 81-centimeter line, the bar would be sitting on his chest. So, since he has shorter arms, which would result in a shorter range of motion, is that illegal? Fuck no it isn’t! It just means he is perfect to bench big weight!

People bashed the depth of the world record squat, but it truly was hard to judge depth, as you could not see the crease of the hip from the front. In fact, once he got the up call, he dipped lower before coming up. The other part that all the internet geeks failed to miss, which was the true and the only reason I agree with the ruling to overturn the lift, is that the rules clearly state that even if the judge gives the rack command, the lifter must make a valid attempt to return the bar back to the rack. As clearly seen in the video, the lifter fell back into the spotters' arms after the rack command was given, clearly not being able to make a valid attempt to return the bar back to the rack.

To me, this sport has turned into a bunch of whiney bitches. WTF!? I’m a goddamn powerlifter, not a fucking two-year-old. Get off your fucking computer, quit typing and watching videos, and learn about this sport in the fucking gym. Take your Power Ranger's costumes off when lifting and do some real work. I’ll guarantee the man whose video is getting so much attention could care less what most internet idiots think, as he is too busy back in the gym training for the next meet and getting ready to move even more weight.

metal-shoes-ano