USA POWERLIFTING COLORADO

Blaine Sumner who began training at Rocky Mountain Lifting Club (RMLC) in 2005 as a junior in high school continued his attack on International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Squat records in Melbourne, Australia on April 1st. After establishing the IPF Superheavyweight Equipped Squat World Record at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio on March 3rd Blaine went into a very brief raw training mode.  3 1/2 weeks after the Arnold he flew to Australia to compete at the Pacific Raw Invitational. The result was 3 new world records in the squat and 2 new world record totals as each of his squats were new world records and both of his successful deadlifts established new world record totals. Blaine opened well above the existing world standard with an 804 lb squat and his final squat was 882 lbs which the rest of the world calls 400 kg – quite a benchmark! Blaine added two successful bench presses (463 lb best) and two good deadlifts (711 lb best) for a 2055 lb total.

This was Blaine’s first international competition and he seemed to handle the jet lag well although he was disappointed with his bench and deadlift. He will be traveling to Stockholm, Sweden for the IPF World Raw Cup Championships on June 17th and then competing equipped at the USAPL Men’s Open Nationals in Orlando, FL only one week later. Blaine expects to add to his existing world records in the squat but is now putting additional focus on his bench and deadlift. Since he became serious about powerlifting on his first trip to RMLC he had used powerlifting primarily as a training modality for his other sports. In high school he competed in football, wrestling, lacrosse, and shot put and played football in college. When his football career ended in the summer of 2011 he was able to focus on powerlifting exclusively. His initial goals were focused on the squat world records which he knew were well within reach. Now that he has those records in hand he knows he can make big improvements in his bench and deadlift which will give him an excellent shot at equipped total world records and World Championships. As a USAPL/IPF lifter Blaine is particularly proud of the commitment these organizations have to drug-free competition: “The IPF is committed to getting powerlifting added as an Olympic sport and rigorous drug testing is a key component of that initiative. I hope to be able to compete for Olympic Gold before my lifting career is over.”

Blaine is currently a Wyoming resident working as a Petroleum Engineer at Devon Energy in Gillette. As often as he can he gets back to Colorado to lift at RMLC and support Colorado powerlifting. Blaine’s development as a powerlifter is a testament to dedicated training with supportive training partners and experienced coaches. As a freshman in high school he weighed 145 lbs and was thin as a rail. He knew as a linebacker and offensive lineman on the football team he had to get bigger and stronger. In his freshman class at Conifer High School there were probably 4 or 5 kids stronger than Blaine in the squat, today there is arguably no one in the world stronger than him in the squat. The difference between 145 lbs bodyweight and 350 lbs, between a mediocre squat at a small high school and a world record squat is only 9 years. That 9 years has been filled with many hours of intense, dedicated training. But Blaine will tell you that those hours have been the source of many great friendships with his training partners, coaches, and mentors. To all you young lifters out there Blaine says do not worry about where you are today, decide what you want to accomplish, find the people who will support your dreams, and give it everything you have. Blaine wishes to thank Dan and Jen Gaudreau, all his training partners over the years at RMLC, and his new training partners in Wyoming for supporting his dreams.

On March 31st Rocky Mountain Lifting Club hosted the 2012 RMLC Championships. With lifters ranging from 18 years old to 71 years old we saw a number of competitors set American records and many lifters earn their qualifying totals for upcoming national meets. Results can be seen here: 2012 RMLC Championsips and a thorough, fabulous set of pictures by Paul Logan can be found here: 2012 RMLIC Photos

Toni Kemper - 468 Wilks Total!

The 2011 Inductee for the Colorado Powerlifting Hall of Fame was presented at the meet – Frank Baja a long time record setting lifter, national judge and still setting national records on an artificial knee. Look for a profile of Frank in our Hall of Fame section soon.

Frank Baja is presented his Hall of Fame plaque by Dan Gaudreau

This was my 3rd Arnold Sports Festival to compete in and as always, it didn’t disappoint.  To walk up for an opening squat attempt and see almost every chair in the audience full, as well as people standing, was exciting.

Only making 5 of 9 attempts usually doesn’t make for a very successful meet but I feel differently about this one.  Leading up to the meet I had some lower back issues and had to back off of training a bit.  The last month I squatted one week and deadlifted the next to ensure my back stayed healthy.  I chose to go up to the 63kg instead of dropping to the 57kg weight class.  This allowed me to come in as strong as ever, and not very stressed, which always leads to a better performance on the platform.  I weighed in well under 63, coming in at 61.2 kg.

My squat opener was easy and deep at 167.5 so we went right for the big 182.5.  I came up with it but was turned down for depth.  Repeated on the 3rd and I got about 3/4 of the way up and just couldn’t finish.  It was a grinder, 4 seconds from the hole to where I lost it.  That is an eternity when you have that much weight on your back!  Many lifters in my flight struggled with the squat as only 9 out of 24 attempts were passed.  Most were completed, just not to the standards of the referee’s.

Bench was my most successful lift this meet and I finished with 107.5, which tied a PR for me.

Going into the deadlift I was trailing in 2nd place by 5kgs and she was opening 7.5kgs more than me so I knew I had to fight for it.  I was looking for my first total over 455kg (1000lbs) as well.  My second deadlift of 180kgs would have given me the total I wanted but it got out in front of me a little and I just broke it off the floor.  Repeated on the 3rd and got it about to my knees but it just wasn’t my day.  After the grinder I had on my 3rd squat, I just ran out of gas.

It was a great experience and I suggest that if you ever have the opportunity to be a part of the ASF, take it!  You will be hard pressed to find another meet like it!

A huge thanks to my amazing husband and coach, Dan.  He is the best coach in the business!  To all my family at RMLC, thanks for all the help and support in the gym.  Pete Alaniz and Derek Brixius at Titan Support Systems, thanks for the amazing gear.  Janel Brown, thank you for allowing me to chat and relax between attempts and telling me to get going when it was time, you know it’s how I roll

The 2012 Arnold was a fun meet for me.  We got into Columbus Thursday night and hung out Friday per my usual pre meet routine.  I checked my weight, watched some of the lifting at the venue, caught a movie with Alisson and mostly watched my weight during the day as I was right on the borderline of being too heavy as usual.

Saturday I weighed in at 263.5 (I think) and went right in to warming up.  Everything felt fine in the warm up room with my last weight being 675.

For squats, my first attempt at 750 was a little weird.  On the descent I lost my balance and stepped backwards.  The whole thing was confusing and didn’t feel right.  My wife Alisson pointed out that I had taken an extra wide stance when compared to training.  She was right.  After the first squat I was rattled and didn’t want to be there anymore.  I got ready for my next attempt and saw that Dan G had called 805 for me.  This surprised me, but Dan replied, “we came here to win this.”  Dan’s call was exactly what I needed.  I went out and set up with my usual moderate stance and got the weight.  Now I was fired up, the last attempt we went 816.  The attempt was hard, but I got it.

Into bench the warmups felt fast and easy.  The first attempt was 507.  Last year at the Arnold, my training was indicating a 550 bench and I could only muster out 507 at the meet.  I was very determined to not let that happen again.  My first attempt at 507 flew right up.  We went to 530 something and this weight flew up faster.  After that attempt both Dan and I knew I had 560+ in me that day.  We were trying to keep up with Mann and he wasn’t missing any attempts.  We took 563 for my last attempt.  I drove it off my chest but it immediately got crooked.  I had to grind and finally got my right arm locked out but it was sloppy and the judges said no lift for downward movement.  The bench is a crapshoot sometimes with me.  It seems like if I hit the right groove, and the shirt is pulled down, and everything clicks that I can drive 570 up.  But, any errors and you can automatically deduct 50 lbs.  My bench has gotten better each meet but it still is frustrating.

Into deads we were now behind Mann and I told Dan I wanted the 2000 lb total I have been trying to get for a while.  So, we opened with something easy on deads, then went to 300k to get my 2000 lb total.  The last two meets my deads have been strong in training and I have been confident I would hit a 700 lb dead.  However, after benching the guy in third was now attempting to jump past me with his attempts.  Dan played some strategy and put in like a 738 lb attempt for me, forcing that guy to pull an impossible weight to go ahead.  Well he went ahead and pulled it.  So, my last attempt was at 740 something, I pulled it to my knees and that was it.  This has been the second meet in a row now where my deadlift numbers do not represent my actual strength, but that is okay.  At men’s nationals this summer we are going to call 650 and then go to 700 and I get it, awesome, if not, so what.

So for the meet I hit a PR total of 2013 and had a PR squat.  I was very close to a PR bench.  The Arnold is my favorite meet and the funnest to go to.  After lifting, Alisson and I went to the saturday night finals for bodybuilding and strongman and that was very fun.  There are lots of great people watching at the Arnold, and is a very exciting venue.  It was also great to see Blaine Sumner hit the 1035 squat, even though it was overturned.  Very cool.

Leading up to this meet I switched up my training a little.  For some reason I found myself fascinated with the 1980′s lifters that won IPF championships year after year after year.  Specifically Doug Furnas, Ed Coan and Kirk Karwoski.  These guys all trained their squat the same way and had huge 1000 lb squats back in primitive gear.  The funny thing is that their squat training was super minimal, (one hard all out set) with little assistance.  And mind you they were all on copious amounts of exogenous testosterone to speed their recovery.  I find it curious that most drug free guys want to do 5 hard sets of squats three times a week ala Sheiko but then turn their head when you mention that the biggest, best drug using lifters of the past only did one hard set per week.  I trained this way for the meet and obviously I hit a PR.  I don’t know if it was the training method that yielded another PR, but it was a PR for me at 265 lbs nonetheless.  I am going to do another cycle this way, and I will see if there is some repeatability. 

Another thing that I have been battling is getting stronger while not gaining weight.  In the past if I put on the feedbag, the strength comes in no time.  I have a slow metabolism and keeping the weight down is hard.  This training cycle I cleaned up my diet more and I think that will be the answer for me for the meets to come.  I typically am an idiot and bloat up to 275 a month after my meet.  I feel good and my strength increases, then I have to start to cut weight coincidentally when the weights get really heavy.  My focus going forward will be to keep the weight steady.  Maybe even gaining a few lbs the last month of lifting would be glorious. 

Overall it was a fun meet, and even more enjoyable with fellow RMLC lifters Jen and Blaine there.  They had great meets and deserved it.  See you at Men’s nationals!

The Arnold was an awesome trip and everybody should go once to see the sights and events. I had a good training cycle leading up to the Arnold and had hit a 1,025 squat, 705 bench press, and 785 deadlift. My goals for the meet were around those numbers. I opened the squat with 954 and dumped the bar and pulled my calf in the process. Then I went to 976 and squatted it easy for 3 white lights. This beat the IPF Open World Record by 6 lbs. I then moved up to 1,025 and squatted it but got turned down 2-1 on depth. The bench press was very close but not all there. I pressed 635, 672, and got called on 705 for a soft lockout. The deadlifts went poor partially due to my calf. I opened with a conservative 715 to secure the WR and got called for a hitch – which was a surprise because I have never hitched a sumo pull in my life, so something was off. I repeated the 715 and got it, then went to 766 and got turned down 2-1 for a hitch again. I still have some learning to do in the gear but I walked away with 1st Place and had the highest Wilks among all men, women, ages, and weight classes. I am very grateful to Dan, Jen, my parents, and the Soehners. RMLC has a great support crew and we were really represented well at the Arnold!

Jen Gaudreau, Gage Soehner, and Blaine Sumner from Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Lifting Club made an impressive showing in the Brown’s Gym Pro Powerlifting competition at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio on March 3rd.

Jen took 2nd in the Women’s 63kg class with a 442.5 kg (975 lb) total. With a 5 of 9 performance Jen squatted 167.5 kg (369 lb), benched 107.5 kg (237 lb), and deadlifted 167.5 kg (369 lb). Jen’s bench was a PR and she was in contention for the win against a lifter 17 years younger.

Gage placed 3rd in the Men’s 120kg class with a 912.5 kg (2012 lb) total. Gage went 6 for 9 with a 370 kg (816 lb) squat, a 240 kg (529 lb) bench, and a 302.5 kg (667 lb) deadlift. Gage earned PRs in both the squat and total along with membership in the 2000 lb club.

Blaine won the Men’s SHW class and took Best Lifter with a 1072.5 kg (2364 lbs). Blaine got 4 of 9 lifts including a World Record 442.5 kg (975 lb) squat, a 305 kg (672 lb) bench, and a 325 (716 lb) deadlift. In addition to his World Record squat Blaine’s total puts him second all-time in the USAPL to Brian Siders. It should also be noted that although all his 3rd attempts were turned down, they were all completed and would have tied the World Record total.

Complete results for the powerlifting competitions at the Arnold Classic can be found at http://www.usapowerlifting.com/results/2012/2012_Arnold_Results.htm. Congratulations to these lifters. Each of them have written a post of their Arnold experience.

The Upcoming Events/Results page now has information on the March 31 RMLC Championships and the National and International events coming to Colorado in 2012. I also now includes the results for all Colorado 2011 events in both Excel and pdf formats.