EDITOR’S NOTE:
Welcome to the Athlete Journal of world champion powerlifter Chris Duffin. Follow Chris as he trains and competes in various events over the coming year. Chris’s journal will be posted every Tuesday. You can also read about Chris on his personal website KabukiWarrior.com.
Meet Results for Masters Multiply Nationals
The meet went well and I qualified for worlds which was my only real concern. I did have some personal goals at the meet that went unmet, but that’s the way it goes.
I flew into Baton Rouge on Thursday with two of my teammates who were also competing on Thursday. The Thursday flight allowed me to dehydrate on Friday without risk of thrombosis on the flight. The excess water weight fell off pretty easily and I only did three thirty-minute sessions in a homemade sauna Friday night. Apparently I didn’t even need that as I weighed in nearly a full pound under at 99.6kg, or 219.58lbs. The remainder of the day was dedicated to eating and taking in fluids to bring my weight back up. We did drop in and watch the Teen and Collegiate portion of the event on Saturday to see how the meet was being run and what judging looked like. It was good, national level judging, being consistent and tight.
SUNDAY – Meet Day
Weight was fully back up and I felt fully hydrated and ready to go. The meet was going faster than the day prior so we were rushed to get through the warm-ups as we didn’t provide ourselves enough time. Weights felt heavy as well. However as soon as I walked on the platform I was amazed at how light the bar felt on my back and knew I was going to have a good day.
SQUATS
For squats I wore my old Inzer Hardcore which is much less than the single ply gear that is available today.
- 804 Opener for 3 whites (white lights mean a thumbs-up from the judges)
- 870 Second for 2 reds – Judge said I hit parallel, but didn’t break it
- 870 Third for 3 whites – Played it safe even thought I really wanted to take it 920+lbs. Sunk it deep to make sure there was no doubt.
BENCH
Felt good going into the bench as there was plenty left in the tank after squats. For bench I was wearing an old Blast shirt that I hoped to get a couple reps in before it tore. It is such an old weak shirt with such minimal support I didn’t expect it to last.
- 450 Opener for 3 whites
- 512 Second for 3 whites
- 551 Third and the shirt tore on me. I still felt solid and was going to at least give it a ride, but the spotters grabbed it immediately… as they should have!
DEADLIFT
Wearing an old Max DL suit, which is same as the Hardcore I wore for squats just a little looser up top.
650 Opener for 3 whites
727 Second for 3 whites and the American Submaster record
782 Third – miss
That miss on the third kind of surprised me as it was my first real miss of the day. I think it happened in part as I was feeling so good going into the deadlifts I was already thinking about and planning my fourth attempt in the low 800s. Not being fully focused I don’t think I hit it fast and hard enough off the floor, and I just didn’t have enough bar speed once it cleared my knees to keep it moving. The 782 would have been the World Submaster record and I was, more importantly, hoping tocrack back into the 800s again but just didn’t happen. Grip felt awesome, however, so my grip training the last two months is really paying off!
I finished up the day with a 2110 total, which was less than my 2200 goal. It still gave me what I believe was the third highest total over the two days and out of all 150 lifters in all weight classes. Joe Norman in the 275lb class had close to a 2300 total and Henry Thomason came in well above that, I believe, as a guest lifter (he was too young to compete) in the 308lb class.
Overall the meet went really well and I’m very happy with how strong my lifts felt. I was taxed so little by the meet I’ll be back training on Wednesday as normal.