Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 03:03:35 -0700 From: Deepsquatter Subject: USAPL Nationals 1999 Well, I'm back home. Its 2:30 am so I'll give a brief rundown before I go to bed. First,thanks to everyone for their encouragement and kind words. Thanks also to Roger, Tony Cardella, Robert Smith and Tony's buddy Mark (never caught his last name) for all the help in the warmup room. I didn't have to do anything but lift. These guys realy kept my head together when I started freaking out...."WHERE ARE MY WRIST WRAPS?" LOL! OK heres a rundown... Squats - opened with 644, up and down - no problems. Good. 2nd attempt...688....got hung up on the racks on the way out....never quite got my balance back. Normally I take 3 steps to set up. I took 5 aqnd was still cockeyed. Started down about 4-5 inches...felt really goofy. Took a step backwards to steady myself and reracked it. I got ribbed about that one immediately..."hey Jason, that one didn't look to deep LOL" 3rd attempt...repeated it. Had Tony lower the bar height. Setup and nailed it. Whew! I wanted 705 but knew that the hunt for placings was going to be close (well, except for Tony Harris) so opted for the repeat. Better to get 688 than to come close with 705.... funny note for this one....I was told I got a red from the head referee for DEPTH! Now, you all know what great respect I have for the refs and I'd never challenge a call because I think they are all perfect.... BUT I can't say I place a lot of credence in this call as the refs were seated on the floor 24" BELOW the platform and I got whites from the side judges....I can no imagine how an accurate view of my hip joint could be gained from the head position....plus I saw the picture of the lift......but hey, I could be biased..... Opened with 385 in the bench...nailed it. Then called for 413 for the second....When I took the handoff, I realized that the weight felt incredibly heavy...I took it down and got it part way up before it died. I pushed as hard as I could but it wasn't budging. As I got up My mental state wasn't great. I was thinking " if 413 felt that heavy I'm in trouble"...I took off my wrist wraps ....and then I heard the shouts of "Misload, Misload"...apparently the bar had been loaded to 440. That explained the heavy feeling. SO, I got to take the 413 over at the end of the round. I got it. Unfortunately, two lifters later I was up again for my 3rd attempt. 424 went up but got out of the groove. Oh well, Some people said I got screwed but I look at it a bit differently...If I had been a bit stronger 440 would have gone up. If I hd been in a bit better shape I would have been recovered for the next attempt. Shit happens...this time it just happened to me. Next time, I'll have my mind and body ready for it. Again, Tony was invaluable in taking it to the jury for me and allowing me to take a breath between reps. If the guys weren't there I'd have been running around instead of catching a few breaths. Deadlift. 644 opener...up and good. Next 672..also up and good. This was something of a personal triumph. I'd pulled 672 last April. Since then I had been unable to repeat it or better it. Getting that pull really boosted my confidence. Took a 683 third attempt but it stalled just above the knees. Learned a lot during the meet. First, I need to put on some weight. The only guy that weighed less than me was a guy that didn't make weight in the 198s. Second, I have got to get more consitent in the little things. The setup for the second squat cost me an attempt.. Not much I could have done with the misload but if I was in better shape mentally and phyically, perhaps it would have affected me less. I've still got some learning/growing to do but it went better than last year and I did get a PR squat and total this year. I'm happy but not "overhappy" because the class wasn't as strong overall as last year - factor in James Morton and Bill Windsheif and I'm down to 5th - still with a bit of bodyweight, some conditioning and the implementation of a few twists in my training, I'm very confident that I'll be much better in Chicago.......(looking ahead to 2000) Jason W. Burnell STRENGTH ONLINE: http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 06:58:24 -0700 From: "Mike Trupiano" Subject: Re: Strength_List: Re: ROGER - Jason 8 for 9? You made the right choice on that 2nd squat. Don't know if you got picture or video, but I was actually worried you might get hurt if went for it. I was pleased to see you correct it and get a nice one on the 3rd. The judges were maybe lower than they should have been for the best viewing angle, and the head judge was indeed harsh. You didn't let any of that play with your head and did great anyhow. There may have been at times the appearance of unequal treatment from judges, but mostly everyone competes in the with same standards in place. As for Tony Harris, I got to spend some time with him. He's a hell of a nice guy and an amazing lifter as well. A little too much straight leg deadlift kept him from getting his last dead, but it didn't look hard for him at all. Had you been strong enough to get the 440 bench it's still too big a jump in weight. Mistakes can happen and you dealt with it perfectly. Don't worry about how you might of placed if some other lifters might have been there. They weren't and that's what matters in the end. Just Keep setting those PR's. Mike