the 2016 US Powerlifting Association New Mexico state championships report

190/120/185/495k
Wilks 275.814

Today I competed in the US Powerlifting Association (USPA) New Mexico state championships in Albuquerque New Mexico . I entered in the masters Super Heavy Weight  (SHW) division and the Open SHW division. I weighed in at 142.8k.

First up was the squat. I love the squat. It's my best powerlifting event. I assumed I was stronger than the last time I competed in a powerlifting meet in April because I've been training really hard the last 6 months for olympic style weightlifting. And usually weightlifting transfers over well to powerlifting. Oh boy was I wrong! In warm ups everything felt heavy. When I tried 396 pounds for warm ups I barely got it up. My opening squat for the meet as 418 pounds. It was highly likely that I'd bomb out in the first event! On my first attempt I was able to lift the 418 pounds (190k), but it was close. I went up a few kilos and missed my 2nd and 3rd attempts. But that's ok, with one good lift i was still in the game. And my one squat was actually a state record!!!! I was pretty disappointed to find out my squat has gotten weaker in the last 6 months. I've been training so hard!

The 2nd event was bench press. I hadn't trained bench at all since April, and I was afraid pushing out a max on my first time bench pressing in 6 months would cause an injury, so I successfully lifted a 265lb (120k) bench on my first attempt and stopped there. And amazingly that was a state record! Ha! It's good to be a 40-44 age group SHW. There aren't that many of us left! Victory through attrition!

In olympic style weightlifting I never deadlift heavy. The most i deadlift is a 130k to warm up for clean and jerks. So I started light, 407 (185k). I had a birthday party that I invited a dozen people I've met since moving to Albuquerque so I had to leave after my first deadlift or I'd be late to my party. And believe it or not my one light deadlift was a state record!!

My total of 190/185/120/495 was a state record. I took first place in the 40-44 age group SHW raw division and the open SHW division. That makes me the New Mexico state champion in both of those divisions! It was a good day.

Once I got to the house I was pretty disappointed to see only one of the twelve people I invited showed up to the party. I'm finding it difficult to build a group of friends here in Albuquerque.