WNPF Worlds 2009

WNPF Worlds – October 17th
The WNPF World Championships took place this past Saturday in Atlantic City, New Jersey at Oceanside Sport and Wellness. Oceanside is a beautiful facility. It has everything that a strength athlete could want. Some of the equipment includes about 4 racks, a couple deadlift platforms, tires, sledgehammers, chains, bands, plyo boxes, box squat, boxes, outside area where I assume they pull sleds.

Coming into the meet I knew I was competing against two other competitors in my class, the 275 lb Open Raw class. One of the guys didn’t make it to the meet and the other got injured on his second squat attempt at 650. I didn’t see the attempt but I heard the weight crashing to the ground. He tore his groin on the descent and fortunately was able to dump the weigh over his head without further injury to himself and the spotters. I wish him a speedy recovery.

This left me to compete against myself which is what I do anyway. I hit all three squats at 585, 639, and 666 which netted me a PR. I felt like I had about 10-20 more in me that day. I now have my sights set on 700. Benching is my worst lift. I hit 385, 413, and missed at 435. I got 435 about half way up. It was encouraging that I didn’t get squashed at the bottom of the lift. Deadlifts went 585, 650, missed 677. 677 would have been a PR but missed at lockout. My deadlift has been stale lately. This is the first time I squatted more than I pulled. I think it’s time for another approach to deadlifting.

My partner, in his 3rd meet ever, hit 608 on the squat. I know he wanted that 610-620. He did well and I’m proud of him.

The meet was fun but it was LOOONG. The rules meeting started at 8:30 PM and the trophy presentation concluded at 8:30 PM. There were over one hundred lifters at the meet including six flights of bench. I think I managed to catch a 45 minute nap. It’s tough having to warm-up all over again after waiting for hours to lift again. I planned to hit the casinos after the meet but I was too tired so I ate and went back to the hotel.

There were some big lifts at the meet including a 750 deadlift @ 242, 771 raw squat at SHW, and a couple 800+ equipped squats. I also think a teenage female pulled 425 @ 181.
Despite the length, I had a great time. I got to see some friends I only get to see at the meets and also made some new ones. That’s what makes powerlifting so cool. We’re all competitors but there is a lot of camaraderie at these meets.

My future plan is to wait until about summer of 2010 to compete again. I think I need a long offseason to correct some technique issues and try some new things to strengthen my weaknesses. My goal is to definitely squat 700 raw my next meet.

I’d thank you to Brian my partner who helps me stay focused in my training and also the guys in the gym who I “recruit” to spot me on heavy lifts. I also want to give a special thank you to my fiancée who, despite having zero interest in powerlifting, hung in there all day Saturday just to support me.