IDFPA National Champs 2008

So here�??s the story of my weekend…

I weighed in on Sunday morning at 98.7kg at 7.20am (which is pretty much my training weight, so I was glad to come in at that). I pretty much fell outta bed and down the stairs into the weigh in before going back to my stilll warm bed for an hour. My flgiht wasn�??t up until about 11.30 so it meant I had loads of time to go and get some breakfast and have another quick rest to let the food settle.

The squat warm ups were a bit hectic. Everyone was scrambling around trying to find enough weight and get a good rack to use and as a result it was the most enjoyable experience and I had to take a couple of bigger jumps than I would like to have becuase we were running out of time before the flight started.

Once I got going under the bar on the platform everything just started to click together. I took 230kg out for my first attempt and did it easily. It could have gone either way with the judges but having got screwed last November it seemed like the powerlifting gods were smiling on me and I got 3 whites and my first PR of the day. I jumped to 240kg for my 2nd attempt which was really the ultimate goal for the day, took it a little bit deeper this time just to be sure and came out of it nice and easy for another PR. That left me with one attempt so I figured another 5kg�??s would be sensible enough, so it was 245kg for my final attempt and to be honest it was probably my best squat of the day. I came out of it so strongly and it really looked like it could have been an opener. My squat training was just perfect this time around, so hopefully I can replicate it for the next comp and get some more PR�??s.

I started my bench warmups about 15 mins before the rest of the flight because I knew I would need some time in my shirt since I�??d only done 2 full reps in it before the comp. I raw-dogged it up to 120kg and stuck on the shirt for 140,150 and 160kg. None of which touched. I had put 165kg in as my opener and I knew there wasn�??t a hope in hell of it touching so it was time to start worrying. I jumped to 170 in the warm up room and preceeded to dump it and had to have it pulled off me. I had no chocie but to take it again, I took it lower this time and tucked more and pressed it well. Changed my opener to 170 and headed towards the platform…

My first bench attempt yesterday was without a doubt the most nerve wracking thing I�??ve ever had to do in comp thus far. I had a 25kg squat PR that I sure as hell didn�??t want to lose because I bombed. So I just said screw this, lets go. I pulled the bar down towards my balls and threw it back towards my face for a good first lift and a 5kg PR. I pretty much dumped it on my stomach as you�??ll see in the video but I maganed to recover and press it. I had no idea what I was gonna be capable of today so I took a safe enough jump to 175kg, touched a little bit higher and pressed it strongly for another PR. I hit 180kg in the gym months ago, but it was really raggy and not very clean press so I figured with nothing to lose today I may as well go for it. It ended up being a good choice and I pressed it well, with a little stall, for a good 3rd attempt and a 15kg comp PR. I tried 180.5kg for a european on my 4th attempt but I only had a 2 lifter break so I was pretty wasted going into it. I jacked the shirt up a bit it threw me off a bit. I touched in a good spot but threw it back too early and the bar ended up flipping out and the spotters did a great job. 6 for 6 and a 40kg PR on my subtotal so far.

Deadlifts. I was wrecked by the time these came around. Struggled thru the warm ups but pulled a good first attempt with 245kg. This is where things started to go downhill tho. The platform was rubber coated for the deadlifts so once all the talc and stuff started to fall offf lifers legs it started to get very slippy. They tried to keep it was clean as possibe but it just wasn�??t happening. I took 255kg on my second attempt and pulled it really easily to my knees, but as I did that my left foot started to slide. I ended up damn near doing the splits, dropping the weight on my left leg and smashing up one of my right toe�??s pretty badly. Not only that but I went forward with the bar as it hit the groudn and just end up in a big heap. I have a pretty bad bruise under my arm for where i smashed off the bar on the way down too. I retook 255kg for my 3rd attempt but I was just too wrecked at that stage to finish the lift.

So I ended up with a 25kg squat PR, 15kg bench PR, 35kg PR total and 7 PR�??s in total thru out the day. I went 6 for 6 on the squats and benches and really thought I was on course for a 9 for 9 day. Not to worry tho, there�??s lots more to come in June.

I have to say a MASSIVE thanks to my fantastic girlfried for putting up with me thru all of this and for driving me down to the comp. Also it couldn�??t have been done witout my fantastic training partners who both had massive days themselves. And last but not least I�??d have to thank the other lifters form the gym who came down to help out with warm ups and equipment.

Here�??s a vid from the day 2008 IDFPA National Champs - YouTube

Watch this space… there�??s alot more to come in June.

Nice lifting Hanley. Great set of PRs there. Fuck knows how you pressed that first bench!

Great job, man!

James,

Hope your toe is OK. Good lifting, more to come. See in In June

Congratulations!!

[b]TRAIN HARD

“BIG WILLIE” J.T. HALL [/b]

congrats hanley on a hell of a day. Man that foot shot looked pretty painful. Dont worry about it you put up some bad ass numbers and i expect to be hearing more about your upcoming comps…i know reading this gets my juices flowing for my next couple coming up.

Hanley, awesome stuff! Of course I watched the video before reading your recap of the day and didn’t expect the slip on the DL. Way to man up and go for the third attempt.

You looked powerful as hell out there, and you looked like you were having a good time. Keep up the strong work!

Dude, great job. Congrats on the PR’s

awesome work man, never cease to amaze. hope your toe recovers quickly!

nice friggin job hanley, great to see a post on here from somebody who actually competes in something. Congrats on the PRs

Thanks everyone!! Things clicked together nicely this time around. Alot of the new things I tried out worked really well and considering all of it was done 9 weeks after the world champs I couldn’t be happier. It might explain why my deadlift was a bit flat too. The last time I did a meet with only an 8 week gap I lost about 5kg off the first meet’s pull too. I’m happy enough for that to happen if I’m still hitting PR totals tho.

The foot’s ok. My toe’s pretty purple, really swollen and minus a nail, but it coulda been a lot worse I suppose!!

Excellent work. That was a pretty good crash for a deadlift, glad you didn’t take too much damage.

Good job man ! Hope the foot heals up quick .

Awesome man just Awesome

BIG POPPA

Great work Hanley!

The squat looked very solid! It’s definitely going to continue to rise.

Thanks guys. I’m particularly happy with my squats and benches this time around. My squat had stalled out for a while and I just decided to do lots of volume and lots of raw work this time around and it worked a charm. I can’t wait to get back under the bar again!

Great stuff Hanley! looking strong.

Outstanding, man.

The squats looked easy – great depth, good pop. Nicely done.

Glad the failed pull didn’t do any serious damage.

Great stuff.

Damn that must’ve smarted a bit.
Ecellent performance !
BTW I’ve subscribed to your vids.

Nice work Hanley! Is trying to eat a bar a red light in IDFPA?