Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 17:25:58 -0500 From: Tom Goodwin Subject: ADFPA/USAPL MI Champs ------------------------------------------- Hi everyone, Awhile back, I had been hoping on competing in the ADFPA Michigan Champs. However, about 10 weeks ago I had a fairly bad car accident and fractured my tibia. I have had the cast off for 2 weeks now, so was not ready for the meet. This was my first PL meet that I have ever watched in person, and some of it you might find interesting. The meet was "scheduled" to start at 9:30am and we arrived around 10am. Luckily, the meet did not start until 10:30am. The meet was held in a fairly large sport complex (basketball, etc.). A little corner (a basketball court) was cornered off for the meet. There were 2 platforms operating simultaneously and the bleachers were set up a long one wall. My friend and I got seats directly in front of platform A. What an awesome view. I was able to be a backseat judger ;-) I would say that overall the judging was very fair, however the judges on Platform B were being a bit more strict than platform A. I was truly amazed at the number of squat attempts lost because of shallow depth. I would be willing to guess 25% of ALL squat attempts were given reds due to shallow depth. Many spectators around me (mostly parents and non-lifting friends) were starting to get mad at the red lights, and of course I tried to describe to them how a squat should be done and how it is judged. Without rules, there can be nothing left. Every single squatter used some time of non-belt PL equipment (all but one used a suit, and the one that didn't, used knee wraps). Near the end of the benching, we decided to go to lunch..since both of our butts were in some serious pain from the benches ;-) The Deadlifts I liked the most (duh, you could have guess that ;-). There seemed to be a lot more excitement and energy involved with them. However, there were only 2 people who deadlifted over 600#. We finally left the place at 6:00pm (after all the lifting, but before the awards). There were 3 lifters that displayed awesome talent (in my eyes at least ;-). First, was a man I am sure that Jason Burnell knows ;-) His name is Craig Terry. He was indeed great. He squated 650# and benched in the mid 300's. Then came the deadlift. He opened with 660# and pulled it like it was an empty bar. Then he tried 715# and again pulled it fairly easily. He took a third attempt at 740#. However, the barbell was misloaded (weight was 745#) and they would have had to take off several plates to remedy the situation. Craig said don't worry about it, he would attempt the 745#. It was pretty obvious that he is flusterred though. He got it up close to his knees and then started tipping to his left, and it was all over. Perhaps next time. Another great lift was in the 123# class. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name. He was short (duh), and fairly lean looking. The audience enjoyed his antics quite a bit. He would first put in his mouth piece. Then he would whip out this smelling salt container. For his first squat attempt, he actually put it into his mouth and bit off the end (and threw it back ;-). After that, he would just smell it for a few seconds, then throw it violently backwords. He squated 405#, benched around 230#, and deadlift around 430-450#> The third guy was Decker (I *believe* his first name is Chris). He was there with about a group of 10 people (3 of them lifted too). I remember seeing him awhile back in the ADFPA records list for teenagers. I think he is a junior now (looks about 19yo), but it is hard to tell, since they only announced the lifter, his home city, and the weight attempted. They never mentioned class (except for master lifters) or bodyweight class. He squated in the mid 500s and deadlifted 560. Well, I was prolly taller than 96% of the powerlifters there ;-), however many of them were HUGE. Much bigger than I had imagined. A few of them could place very high (or win) a regional bodybuilding show. Well, overall the meet was great. I am SOOO psyched up ;-) That 715# deadlift of Terry's really got me going 8-) Peace, Tom