Here's just a quick round up of Sunday's Powerlifting competition which 5 BRB lifters competed at.
On Sunday 21st April, 5 Bridge Road Barbell Lifters travelled to Cheltenham, Gloucester to compete in the GBPF Southwest Championships. For Alex Bond, Nate Shaw, Dan Rakauskas, Graham Carter and myself it was our first powerlifting competition.
After an early start and a long drive, we arrived at Bodysports UK gym in Cheltenham. We all weighed in at 9am and settled in for a long day of lifting. The women and lighter weight classes prepared to lift in the morning while myself and Graham waited until 3pm before we got started.
Nate Shaw, (18yrs old), competed in the 66kg weight class, and posted a total of 387.5kg, with a 140kg squat, 87.5kg bench and 190kg deadlift. This qualifies Nate for the British next year. Nate will be looking to break the junior record for the deadlift later in the year.
Alex Bond, (who dieted down to the 83kg class) after a shaky start and dropping the bar when walking the weight out on the squat, Alex came back to hit a 160kg Squat, 100kg Bench and 200kg deadlift (460kg total). Alex also qualifies for the British with this total.
Dan Rakauskas (competing in the same class at Alex) smoked his first and second attempts on the squat, but was unlucky to miss his 3rd attempt. He came away with a 190kg squat, 110kg bench, and 227.5kg deadlift. Dan also qualifies for the British next year.
Graham Carter, competing raw in the 105kg category, gets a 197.5kg squat, 132.5kg bench, and 242.5kg deadlift (562.5kg total) All these lifts were personal bests for Graham so a great day for him. He also qualifies for the British.
I competed equipped in the 105kg class, and got a 700kg total (250kg squat, 195kg bench, and 255kg deadlift). Albeit I was hugely pleased with my performance on the day, this unfortunately left me 15kg short of the qualifying total to go to Nationals. However largely this was down to missing my second and third attempt (narrowly) on the deadlift. I have planned to compete in the West Midlands regional in November (24th) and will be focussing on at minimum hitting a 750kg total to ensure qualifying for the British with room to spare.
All in all a great day for the all the lifters and for Bridge Road Barbell. The guys all performed extremely well and I am hugely proud of all of them and thank them for representing the gym. Great to get the first competition under all our proverbial belts and has ignited a new passion for competing in Powerlifting. Looking forward to both competing again myself and seeing all these guys develop in strength and experience over the forthcoming months. Best of luck guys.
If anyone is interested in having a go at competing in powerlifting and would like more information on how to do so then I am keen to bring new people into this sport and would be happy to help. It is not necessary to be at a certain level before you compete, anyone no matter whatever level can have a go, and I would strongly advise you do. It is a non-judgemental sport and all lifters are given a huge amount of support and appreciation just for turning up and having the guts to get up on the platform and lift.
Please contact me with any questions.
Phil
