Knocking out multiple international accolades in one weekend, Chris Duffin and Chris Janek made it clear why they belong with elitefts™. Janek, the newest equipped lifter of the team, won a world title at the GPC World Powerlifting Championships in Argentina. Duffin set a new all-time world record squat for the 220-pound weight class, breaking his own previous record. He now holds the heaviest-ever four-times bodyweight squat, at 881 pounds.
And the new guys aren’t the only one putting on amazing shows. Chase Karnes, a month after celebrating his one-year anniversary with team elitefts™, took second place in the North American Strongman National Championships. Marshall Johnson, for the second weekend in a row, put on a show with his amazing deadlift. He hit 765 with a sumo stance in single-ply briefs, having done the same weight in a conventional stance a week before. He helped raise $2,000 at Deadlift for Hope.
You know Karnes and Johnson. They're two of the most well-known elitefts™ names. Now it's time to make Janek and Duffin as equally associated with the name. Here are their reviews from a weekend of world records and world championships.
Chris Janek
My training cycle for the GPC World Powerlifting Championships was great. I felt the strongest I have ever been and I went into the meet looking to get a total over 2800 pounds.
The meet was held in Iguaza Falls Argentina. My flight down went well and there were no issues. When I arrived at weigh-ins the day before the meet I was half a pound under weight. Right where I needed to be.
At weigh-ins I checked out the equipment and noticed right away that it was average at best. I tried to keep this off my mind and stay optimistic for the next day. The GPC is associated with the SPF in the United States, and they have always had great equipment.
On the day of the meet my squat warm-ups felt great. I worked up to around 970 pounds in the warm-up room. I set my opener for 1060 and starting getting ready. I wrapped up and made my way to the platform, but was then told to unwrap and wait. They didn’t have enough weight on the platform. Five minutes or so pass, I re-wrap my knees, and smash my opener.
I took my second squat attempt up to 1106. Just like the first attempt, I wrapped my knees, headed to the platform, and got another crazy “hold on” look. The monolift broke. I unwrapped and sat back down while they removed the monolift and brought out a different one from the warm-up room. This took about ten minutes. I re-wrapped and finally took attempt, but got stuck in the bottom. I was pissed. I’ve done 1100 many times in training.
I set my third attempt around 1130. When I took it out of the rack I was pushed forward. I stopped, readjusted and descended, but the spotters were grabbing the plates on both sides. I wobbled back and forth on the way down ad came up with it, but somehow got called for depth. I was beyond ticked off. Two missed squat attempts I should have gotten.
I tried to refocus for squats. My warm-ups went well and I took my opener with 777. I took it down and up easily and it felt great as I was locking out the bar. As I finished the lift, the bench broke. The pad side almost fell to the ground and the bar and all the weight started to fall forward. Every spotter grabbed the bar and I was pulled out. I was so pissed that I took off my shirt and refused to take my last two attempts. It wasn’t worth the safety risk. Missing my last squat and then giving up my last two bench attempts killed my total.
Deadlifts for warm-ups went as usual and I opened with 775 before going to 850 for my second. Got both attempts. For my final deadlift I went to 900 pounds. I gave it an effort, but had no energy mentally or physically. Missed it.
Argentina is way behind where we are in powerlifting and equipment. I don’t say this statement hatefully, just honestly. I lifed at the 2010 GPC Worlds in Prague and had zero complaints.
My total for the day won my weight class and best lifter, but was still a lower total than my last meet. The weight was in kilos, so my total (in pounds) was about 2660.
I get the rest my Metal Gear soon and am playing around with the idea of Laura Phelps’ meet in December. If I feel comfortable in the gear by then, I will do the meet. If it takes longer, I’ll wait until the Arnold Classic to be back on the platform.
Chris Duffin
Last weekend I did a meet that was meant to be a test meet to lead up to the GPA World Powerlifting Championships in Sydney. The meet will be in late November and I wanted to test some of the new weight-cut changes I plan to use for it.
Because this meet wasn’t planned as a big competition for me, I only did a minor reload with no prep for the meet. The goal was to test the new methods for cutting weight and get an idea of what I needed to do to prepare for November.
Things worked out a little differently, and I hit a new world record: the heaviest four-times bodyweight competition squat ever — 881 pounds at 220 pounds bodyweight.