Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 10:50:51 -0600 From: Darcy Semeniuk Subject: APU Provincials - long ------------------------------------------- I thought I would give a little summary of the APU Provincials that took place this weekend. The meet was held about 2.5 hrs from my house, so I was up at 5am to eat and get ready to leave. I wanted to get there early because I didn't know where the gym was, and being late plays hell on my nerves. I was worried about my weight, so I didn't have any carbs for breakfast, just some scrambled eggs and a few cups of coffee. If you're looking at dropping some water weight, this is the ticket. I had to stop twice to take a leak. By the time we got to the gym I was feeling dehydrated and very hungry. We made good time, and the gym was easy to find (you gotta like cities that have a sensible street numbering system). After weighing in (which felt like it took forever, 'cause I was so hungry) I chowed down on my protein/carb shake and lots of water. Then I milled around talking to the other competitors at the meet. Once the first flight started, I went and started warming up. The Good: Well, for starters, I made weight, coming in ~4 lbs under my weight limit. I also Set PBs in all 3 lifts, including a long-time goal of deading 500 lbs. My new deadlift goal is 600 lbs. I guess my training routine is working well. The meet was very well run. It started right on time, and finished ~5 hours later. For 22 lifters (plus a couple of bench only) that is good. Judging was excellent, no high squats, non-paused benches, hitched deads, etc were passed. There was a big (I thought) crowd there. It was nice to see that there was no charge for spectators, as I think that powerlifting has to attract more spectators before it starts charging to get in. They cheered everyone on, which was nice. The lifters were a really great bunch. Everyone was friendly. In the warm-up room, people were sharing equipment, giving technique tips, checking squat depth, etc. During competition, everyone was helping everyone else with equipment, and cheering each other on. My mom commented that for people who were competing against each other, we sure wanted the other guy to do well. This factor alone made me glad that I'm a powerlifter. Several lifters qualified for nationals (4 I believe) and they were impressive to watch. There was a novice lifter there (Ian Diak) who had only been training for ~2 weeks. Once he learns the rules and gets some practice in, I think he'll do very well. He was also a very nice person to talk to. A couple people mentioned to me that after watching the meet, they were interested in trying it out. This is exactly what powerlifting needs. The Bad: There was no drug testing at all, even for the people who qualified to lift at the nationals. I thought that this was strange. One fellow was going to attempt a provincial record bench, but didn't 'cause they didn't have any drug kits. I thought drug testing was supposed to happen at all contests to some degree. Some people either didn't know the rules, or just forgot them. Squats were red lighted due to not waiting for the squat and/or rack command, and for moving the feet. Deads were missed for not waiting for the down command, etc. There weren't enough volunteers, and my coach had to help load and spot instead of coaching me. In truth, he could have helped me, but I didn't think I needed it (wrong!) and it was more important that the meet continue so I told him it was OK for him to help out. I missed my 300 lb bench, which has been a long-time goal.....I'll get it next time. Baby powder everywhere. I dead sumo style, and need to get good solid contact with the platform or my feet slide out. Why do people cover their legs in the stuff and then shake it all over the place? I heard a few comments on how (take your pick of stupid/funny/uncomfortable) the squat suits and bench shirts looked. I'll quote my mom "If that shirt lets you lift more weight than you normally could without it, isn't that cheating? I mean it isn't like the lifter is doing the work, the shirt is." Hmmm, someone who has never seen powerlifting who thinks that the shirts and suits are cheating. Is this how we want to portray powerlifting? The Ugly My 3rd squat attempt was brutal. My mind went blank and as a result, my form was horrible. My abs caved, I leaned forward, and the weight was on my toes. This is where a coach would have come in handy (maybe) as he would have been telling me to keep tight, knees out, weight back on heals, abs tight, etc. I think that physically I probably could have made the lift, but mentally I wasn't even close. I injured my right shoulder on my 3rd bench attempt. Probably a 2nd degree sprain of The A-C ligament (I know this 'cause I did the exact same thing ~18 months ago to my left shoulder, only worse.) We'll see how it feels after my week off. I hope it isn't serious. Overall Anyway, all in all an excellent meet. The best run one I've been to. Kudos to the meet organizers, judges, volunteers, and all of the other competitors. I can't wait until next year! Darcy Semeniuk NovAtel Inc. dsemeniuk@novatel.ca http://www.novatel.ca Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 11:00:18 -0600 From: Garry Holmen >Darcy lifted totally raw, just a wresting suit and belt. No supersuit, >bench shirt or wraps. Good to see Darcy. I was head judge for Darcy's >squats, and side on the bench and deads. Excellent form was shown on all >of his lifts. I would also guess that Darcy used wrist wraps during that meet for his squat and bench attempts. Our philosophy is that we want to be as strong as possible and trophies are a secondary consideration. As long as we hit new personal bests and make steady improvement we should be happy lifters. 8^) >Darcy's lifts: >Squat: 190 - 202.5 - 212.5 missed the last one. >Bench: 120 - 130 - 137.5 missed the last one. >Dead: 210 - 217.5 - 227.5 made all three. >Total: 560 kg. The interesting side note here is that Darcy made 4 personal bests with the totals above. All his second lifts were new personal bests and his third lifts were what we considered great lifts for him that he thought he could nail if he was totally on his game. The 500+ lb final deadlift was an impressive lift on his part. Seems I'm going to have to work harder in the gym just to keep all my beer bets safe. The other note is that all Darcy's openers were chosen to be light... I've seen him lift more for triples (except deadlift). Our opinion is that you have to be solid and absolutely nail the opener and we even consider it our final warm up set. Unless you're breaking a record in the lift on your first attempt I don't see why one would risk disqualifying by opening up with some maximal lift. We don't lift singles very often in off season nor meet prep. We base all our choices based on previous 1RMs and improvements in our 3RM attempts. Congrats Darcy on a well lifted meet... too bad I couldn't make it. Otherwise I'm sure you would have had a better chance on those 3rd lifts. Garry