NAPF Arnold Raw Challenge
Before I go into the meet, I'll give some background.
Background Info
I wanted to get on the biggest stage a raw lifter could find...and then win. That was the USAPL Raw Nationals. First, I had to qualify. I entered the PA stateThis was my first international meet. Last year, I decided to give the USAPL a try. s for this in March of 2011. I weighed 260 pounds that day and hit a 600 pound squat, 490 bench press, and a 650 deadlift. I stood up with 650 twice, but missed on depth. After that, I did another USAPL meet in May and hit a 640-pound squat, 440 bench press, and 700 deadlift. My first true test of where I ranked in the scheme of this sport, came in August of 2011 with raw nationals. I dropped down to the 242-pound weight class for the first time and WON nationals with a 605-pound squat, 462 bench press, and 622 deadlift. I also set a new national bench record. With a decent year under my belt with the USAPL, I decided to stay with the USAPL and do the Arnold with the NAPF in 2012. The NAPF is a meeting place for the USAPL and the North Americas.
The Meet
Now that the stage was set, the big kicker here was trying to choose between different weight classes. I had to choose between the 231 class and the 265-pound class. Since I struggled to get to 242 pounds for nationals, I decided to take a big risk and make a run for 231 pounds. I decided in January to get some help with my diet. I enlisted the help of Kiefer and his backloading methods. I dieted for Nationals by myself and while I made weight, I felt awful and had zero gas when I finally made it to the deadlift. I went to Kiefer at 255 pounds on January 12, and asked him to get me as close to 231 as possible the day before the meet. The NAPF has two hour weigh-ins, so I had to be able to loose maximum fat in order to cut minimum water the day before the meet. Kiefer laid out a plan and after a few tweaks along the way, I ended up at 236 the day before the meet. I lost 19 pounds in 46 days. Weigh-ins started at noon, with lifting scheduled between 2-2:30PM. Luckily, my lot number was six and I weighed in around 12:15PM. I was 231 pounds on-the-dot! Because I was so close to my goal weight the day before the meet, I only needed to skimp on water the day of weigh-ins. I actually had about 2 gallons or so, the day before the meet. Now, throw in two hot showers and some spitting and 231 was the result. Matt Gary, a long-time USAPL lifter and coach, gave me some great tips on water cutting and meet day "do's and dont's." Thanks Matt!
Now, that I made weight, I had to lift. I knew that since this was my first meet at 231 pounds, that I needed to be more conservative in my attempts. This meant small jumps and to always round down with the kilos. Since I never competed at 231 pounds, it didn't matter what I did because everything was a PR. I played my own game and made attempts on what I thought I could do – not what I thought I needed to do. Training went well. I used the elitefts™ Yoke Bar constantly and brought speed work back into the mix, but only on my heavy bench days. I did sprints two times per week for fat loss and my conditioning was great.
Squat
I did make one goal for the meet lifting-wise. I wanted to go 9 for 9 and pull three deadlifts. I never accomplished this in any of the 30-plus meets I did. In the squat, I opened at 501 pounds. This was super low, but the judging was the tighter than I ever saw it before and I needed to bury my opener. I did so and got three whites, for a good lift. Next, I jumped to 551 pounds...this was again, down and up. Now I had a call to make. Should I take 578 or 582 pounds for my third attempt? I rounded down to play it safe. Again I sunk it and came back up. This was not a smoke show and I knew it was the right pick.
Bench
I was still feeling good. Again, I opened very light at 401 pounds. This was down and up. I then decided to go to 440 pounds. I knew that some guys were big pullers and that I needed a good bench to get a lead in the subtotals. After 440 pounds went up nicely, I knew I had a choice to make. I felt strong and had my eye on a double body weight bench – 462.8. After talking with BOH we decided that 452 was a better choice as I needed the separation from the big pullers. I went for 452 and missed about half way.
Deadlift
So, after the bench I had a 40-pound lead for my subtotal. I was sitting in first place and felt great. I knew my deadlift wouldn't be a deal-clincher for the meet. My back was jacked up and I couldn't even pull the last month of training. Knowing this, I wasn’t too worried, as I hit my lats and hams hard. My upper back also felt strong from all the elitefts™ Yoke bar training. I opened light at 575 pounds and felt strong. I then went to 622 and made that. At this point in the meet, first through third place changed about 10 times. Rick Cancelino and John McDonald had big pulls and (luckily with my bench), all three of us took turns at first place. With the last pull to go, I went for 644 pounds. I needed to hit this and Rick Cancelino needed to miss at 699 pounds or so. I nailed 644 and had to watch. Rick locked out 699, but his grip slipped and I was still in first. Then, John McDonald took 699...and after a slow grinder, he locked it out for the win.
Results
This dropped me down to second place by 2.5 kilos and I bested Rick Cancelino who was in third by only 5 kilos. It was a great battle. Matt Nolan unfortunately pulled a lat in warmups, or he would have been a contender for first as well because the guy pulls around 725 pounds raw in the low 200-pound weight class. This was the most intense meet I ever went to and every attempt changed the placing. In my class alone, there were two national champs, one runner up national champ, one Canadian champ, and multiple top fve finishers at nationals. I didn’t even know what my total was until after the meet, as it was irrelevant. So, John from Canada, beat me fair and square by 2.5 kilos. DAMN you John from Canada! But seriously, he's a very nice and deserving winner. I think I won in the end though, as the poor guy was also signed up for the equipped meet the next day. The pain and hell he will endure sitting on the plane for hours on end after two meets in a row, will at least make me feel better for losing. Ha!
I’m looking into the future and looking at the PA state Championships on March 31. The USAPL still goes by old weight classes, so I’m going to eat some grub this weekend then get back on the backload party and hopefully walk into the meet at 242 pounds very comfortably. A big thanks go out to elitefts™ for the support. It goes along way. Also, thanks to Kiefer for handling my diet and getting me where I wanted to be.
