Sam's Second Powerlifting Competition

WABDL Bench and Deadlift Championships, 2003

I just got back from the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters California State BP and DL Championship in Monterey. It promised to be a sizzler and delivered accordingly. Let me give my impression in another post about the meet itself but use this post to track an outline of my journey to this record breaking event. In the second part (in another post), I will also provide you a sense of my feelings on the day of competition.

As most of you remember, I competed in my first meet last month. It was great getting my feet wet. In the back of my mind, I remembered Gary Edwards telling me that I ought to look at the record books of some of the associations and felt at the time that I had a good shot at breaking some of them. At this stage of my journey, I am more comfortable doing push-pull meets while honing my squatting skills further before going into a full meet. So I looked up the WABDL site <<www.wabdl.org>>. There I found my category for my age and weight class. Lo and behold, there was the record staring me straight in the face, all 451 lbs plus change (since they use kilos). I just did 450 easy at the APA meet. So I thought, "I can do this." Being one month out and still recovering from an extremely sore back, I decided to go to the drawing board right away. Normally, you should not compete in a meet so soon but I really wanted this one. In fact, one guy told me, "Sam, why the hurry? the record will still be there later."

I got into a very vigorous training program. I DL twice a week in some form or another. I did high rep DL'ing off a platform every single week with some variation of a rack DL to aid my lockouts. There was little to no DL off the floor. In order to ensure that I grip the bar well, I had to work my grip with a homemade version of thick bar four days out of five. I did lots of movements with it including static grip, bench press (of all types), curls and even reverse curls. My grip was very strong. I also made sure all my assisting muscles get really heavy and hard load. Triples and singles were order of the day. I worked up to pulling 545 off the third pin. The unfortunate thing was the minor injury I sustained probably through my first meet. I had a bruised right hand where the bar lands on the right hand but once I set my mind on this record, nothing would stop me.

On the nutrition front, I was loading up on protein with a generous amount of carbs. In the process, I gained 5 lbs but lost it all in the last week before the meet. I weighed in at the same weight as the last meet. I was also tracking my sleep. If I did not get enough sleep in one day, I'd take off a little early from work and take it really easy on weekends to make up for the sleep. When it comes to sleeping in the Tsang household, it was serious business. YOu'd find me in bed as early as 9.30 in some nights. I did not have a life. LOL. Nothing was going stop me from winning and setting a record.

I must admit that I had some doubts as to how far I could take the record. The mental struggle can drift in and out in this kind of training. Some days, the hand was really bothering me even when i was shifting with the stick in my car. There were days when the lift went so bad that I just wanted to back out, but I told myself that if I did not do this, I'd never be able to forgive myself for missing the chance. Other negative factors can also come from others. I remember telling this lady friend of mine at the gym what I planned to do. She told me, "Allow yourself some room to fail. Aren't you nervous? It's the STATE record." Those were such well-meaning comments and in them contained a certain amount of wisdom. Nevertheless, such words could also play mental games with me and cast doubts on my own ability to do something. Of course, I retorted in the most macho way, "I ain't failing and that's that." She shook her head and had this helpless smile on her lovely face. Of course, after I got my record, rumors spread in the gym and she told me with a big hug, "I know you could do it." Right!! At the training stage, I ain't got time to entertain doubters. The more doubts came in, the harder I trained. I was even doing pull-throughs on the sled on my off day (it's a painful exercise, try it, you will like it). Having trained for quite a while, I realize that if I could get 545 off the third pin and do a comfortable single off a 4 in. platform with 405 (one of those aerobic pieces of rubbish), 470-480 was conceivable. I ate, slept, and drank iron. I needed this record and I wanted it yesterday. This was my Super Bowl, my Olympia and my World Cup.

The mental struggle was really wearing me after a while. At this stage, it helps to have a great support system from athletes who know the ropes. I turned to my faithful friend Stella. She had no patience for self-doubts. She told me NOT to fail. Thanks, pal. Of all my friends, I think she understands me the most in terms of training and she has the ability to bring out that harder edge in me when she writes to me. I also had a young friend who won the jr. nationals last year and he was all gung-ho for my competition. It helps to have people in the gym (my young friend) to support you but people outside (Stella) can be just as important.

The worst time for self doubts is one week out from competition. I usually take my week off. Not training drives me crazier than having a bad training day. The week out from competition is the waiting period. All that can be done is done. There is absolutely nothing you can fix in training to help you at this point. This is when you are completely left alone to your own thoughts.

Instead of occupying my mind with negative and useless thoughts, I set my mind to work on memorizing lifting techniques I need. I recounted every move I need in my mind at least a couple of times a day, "Check for slippery platform, chalk up thumb and pinkie area more, feet in place, head-up, butt down, breath and lift off, wait for down signal, let down as fast as allowed, look at white lights (absolutely no room for red lights)." I wanted everything on auto-pilot.

The day before competition was torture. I got out of work early to weigh in. Obviously, the meet was going to be huge. The hall was big. The lifters were big and everyone had a serious face. This was going to be IT. Since I wanted to be as ready as possible, my wife rented a beach front condo for the weekend and we were to sleep there. The problem with sleeping in a strange place never bothered me, not until I had a state record to beat. I tossed and turned while trying desperately to block out lifting scenarios in my mind. Since my wife felt that it was too hot, she turned DOWN the heater. Initially, it was too hot and then things drastically cooled off. I spent a good part of the night watching the alarm clock numbers reading "twelve thirty, two thirty, three thirty ..." Somewhere after that, I heard the alarm go off. Darn, it's 8 am. Rise and shine. I felt like I had not slept a wink. This was going to be a long day as I was barely able to drag myself out of bed.

The morning of the meet day was one gigantic rush. My friend Mike who was always a bit of a braggart at the gym was there to bench. Without him, I could have slept in but i was up early to help. I decided to skip the bench this time.

The night before at the weigh-in, Mike realized that he only had one guy competing against him. So he was quite good nature and did not have any jitter at all. As for me, my nightmare was slowly coming true. I looked at the lifting order and could practically identify half the names there from reviewing the association record book. I told Mike, "I don't think we belong here." He said, "I am just concerned that I don't come in last." And then the nightmare happened ... I recognized a name out of the record books in my class. To make matters worse, his opener was 468. When I inquired of this lifter, the official answered very matter-of-factly, "Oh yeah, that's Yasu Kuroda." as if they knew this guy all his life. Crap, my memory told me that he was the one who set the record and he was OPENING at ABOVE his record lift? I told Mike, "You know, beating this guy will prove impossible. The best I can hope for is that he does not completely ruin my chance of ever cracking his record."

As predicted, my buddy Mike who's in the 230 lb class, was completely blown out of the water by the other guy but still had a trophy to brag about. In fact, all Mike's opponent did was his opener and was saving himself for the DL. BTW, I blew Mike's competitor away in the DL even though the guy outweighed me.

The presence of Yasu weighed on my mind heavily, even as I was watching all the benchers going through their lifts. Nothing was registering. All I was searching for the whole time was Yasu. I did not spot any other Asian except for the two guys I already recognized from magazines. So where was Yasu?

After Mike's got his trophy at 1.30pm, the ladies' DL immediately started. We had only half an hour to grab a BK sandwich (yuck!). I was in no mood to eat and was barely able to keep my food down. I wanted to find Yasu. If he was going to rain on my parade, at least I wanted to meet him and see for myself. I was anxious also that I'd miss my lifting time as all lifting times were pushed forward due to an efficiently run meet. So I rushed back way ahead of time to allow for food to settle. Even as i was watching the ladies lift and even as my buddy Mike pointed out ladies with "interesting" (translation: Mike is a major horn dog) built, my mind was only repeating one mantra, "Yasu, Yasu ..." When the time for warmups came for my flight, I went back to the warmup area to do a few lifts and lots of stretches. Lo and behold, sitting in a chair with a wry grin on his face was my nemesis. This guy was going to win and he knew it. He did not even look nervous. He and his girlfriend were laughing and hamming it up. From the looks of him, he had exactly the same built as I, except for the hair. Yasu had a long pony tail. I went up to him and muttered something like, "Hi, you must be a 165 lb'er. I am Sam, another 165 lb'er." He was not unfriendly and laughed a mischievous laugh, "Nice to meet you, Sam. So, what's your opener. Mine is 468!!" Oh boy. I answered, "Ah ... 390 plus change. You are going to blow me away, man." In saying that, I was actually hoping to put his guard down in order that he would not go as aggressive with his numbers from thinking I am easy kill. My next lift was going to be 460 plus change (due to kilos). We made small talks and wished each other good luck, shook hands and I left the area with greater anxiety than ever.

The time between seeing Yasu and lifting seemed forever. I kept asking myself, "Did I warm up enough? Is 460 too high for second try? What if I bomb? There could be another 165 lb'er who can cream me. My right hand is not feeling better. Shoot!!" etc. etc. "Sam Tsang is on deck", the announcer woke me from the conversation in my head. I thought, "Let's get this thing over with." 390 went up easily. Then came the next run. I went to report that I wanted a state record to the officials and sure enough the record was 451 but Yasu was NOT the record holder. So who was he? As it turned out, I think he must have held the class-1 record and had now gotten into the open category. Whew!! ... "Sam Tsang is on deck." I chalked with relief and watched the 165 lb'er before me just bombed his second. That could be me. NOT!!! "Sam Tsang is up and he is going for the state record, please give him some encouragement," yelled the announcer again. The whole thing was like a blur. I was told before that you can get caught off from the platform lighting and staring down from the stage at the crowd. I would have none of it. With Yasu out of the way, I focused much better. I just took a deep breath, put in my mouth piece, nodded at the head judge, grab the bar and lifted. The down signal seemed forever which gave me a good chance to look INTO the crowd's eyes. Now that was a good feeling. Yeah, baby, I got it and will hold on for as long as necessary. After the down signal and before I could turn to look at the lights, I heard the announcer say, "The lift iiiiiiis ... good." Then I heard the crowd. It was surreal. I came down and shook the hands of my friends Tony, Elaine, Vicki and her husband Pete. Then I kissed my wife. I don't know about you all. I can do strange things in moments like this. Even though I am not catholic, I crossed myself as if to say, "Thank God it's all over." My wife laughed.

Now came the decision to whether to take it to the next level. I had one more try. So I went for 471 plus change on the third attempt. The weight went up a bit slow but was a sure lockout. The announcer pronounced, "The lift is good. Sam just broke his own state record." Somehow just for that split second, the pain in my hand seemed to disappear. Now I can go for a fourth attempt since they allowed for four attempts if one were to go higher to hit a state record. I told Vicki, "I don't care how bad my hand feels. I want to take it so far that the record book will be untouched for a while." I went for 479. Unfortunately, I only moved it off the platform but the drive was not there to get it to the lockout position. Breaking a state record three times per meet proved to be too much of a good thing even for me.

You are probably wondering what happened to Yasu. He went straight for 505 on his second and had never got his second or third attempt. I felt a bit sorry for him. I'd like a closer chase between us than that. For some strange reason, they even drug-tested him. I found him afterwards in a slightly more somber spirit and wished him luck. He wished me the same as we shall meet again. He was a good chap and a great sport..

It was great having state record and PR all in one day. Getting a trophy was not too bad either. Some days, the iron wins and some day I win. Saturday had been one of those days when I won over gravity for just a split second.

Thanks for all the on-line/off-line congrats, encouragement and good wishes. This record is dedicated to all the little guys in IOL who are tired of people telling them "You can't. You lift weights?" You know what? YOU CAN and I am the living proof. Pain? What pain?

Just in case some of you wonder how it feels to go to a power meet, here are my own impressions:

When I first arrived for weigh-in, the place was already buzzing. The sound system was being set up with large speakers being put in place. Chairs were already put up by the crew so that the audience could have a place to sit. There was a warm-up area with three benches and various DL platforms. The bars were all top rate. The weigh-in area was a bit cramped naturally since the purpose for weighing in was to get you in and out fast. In the weigh-in, lifters traded small talks and waited to have their gears checked. By the time we got there, the lifting schedule was already up with various flights and heats for various divisions roughly sketched out. The most amazing thing was the number of record setters that were there. When I reviewed the roster on the lifting schedule, many names sounded very familiar as they were ranked national lifters. The more amazing thing was actually seeing these people in person. The first thing that came to mind was, "They don't LOOK like they can lift that much" but this was no beauty contest.

The day of the lift really gives you the true feel for the daunting task ahead. Since this was a national qualifier (a meet where the first three places qualifies for the national competition held at the end of the year, the big daddy of them all) and a state championship, lifters all looked friendly but serious. The crowd was coming in and visiting the t-shirt and program booth etc. Everyone would stop by the board containing final order of lifting for the day. Occasionally you'd hear a sighing remark such as, "Oh man, he's here? I might as well have stayed home." Many were going through final pointers from their trainers. A few were talking to themselves. I felt a bit out of place quite frankly. We are not talking about single lifters here and there. We are talking about teams of lifters and certain prominent lifting "families" (yes, as in mom and dad to baby, all lifters) were running about in groups.

In general, the meet was run very well. One small and somewhat unfortunate glitch happened when a young girl slipped on a DL from the baby powder on the platform. They took a while to clean it all up while someone had to carry her off the stage. Looked like she was in no small amount of pain. In her case, having a trainer proved to be a wonderful backup as he immediately got his first-aid kit out with ice packs to keep the swelling down. The trainer was Bobby Sanders, BTW. Sanders is a 123 lb'er who held some world records in the DL. He was a lifter from the Santa Cruz area. I wonder if Dave knows him. Sanders actually recruited from my gym last year to put together a team of lifters. I was not ready at the time to tackle a large meet. This time, Sanders had a team of young girls lifting there. They were all well-disciplined. He obviously cared about them a whole lot and took personal care in handling and coaching every single girl. This is a man who is giving something back to the sport for the sake of the next generation. I really wanted to greet Bobby but he was so busy that I felt that I would intrude on his coaching.

Another guy I met that was quite interesting was a guy named Randy who owns a hardcore gym in Pacifica called Pacifica Health and Fitness Club (I think). Apparently, this is no fru-fru gym,as the name "fitness club" could indicate. I could tell the hardcore attitude from one of the lifters who set a record. She said, "I went to the gym to lose weight and I ended up gaining but who cares? I am getting stronger." Good for you, girl. Randy is a very prominent bencher whose training takes him beyond 600 lb. for bench press. In this meet, he was coaching and his team did very well. Many on his team were first-timers but all did exceptionally well. Randy was extremely generous with his time and gave me lots of tips on all aspects of the bench and DL. It was good to see him demonstrate techniques and explain in details. All the teaching he gave was worth many readings in different PL mags (which are already much more than a cut above most BB rags). One thing I found encouraging was that Randy was a guy who would shoot for the stars. I told him to watch my record attempt. He gave me pointers on stuff that's specific to my needs and not the general training cliché. I told him that I'd be happy to be hitting 500 some time soon and his reply was illuminating. He said, "C'mon. That's small change. If you can crack this record, go for 600. Reach for the highest possible potential." 600 would find me cracking the WABDL masters world record. That’s pretty high in any book. We also talked about training program and he pointed out a few things I had done backwards. His estimation was that if I had adjusted my program a little better prior to this meet, 500 was within the realm of real possibility. Then on the bench, he told me that he expected me to be able to handle well above 300 but had a few very important training tips for me. These tips gave me some additional ammos to fire from. Apparently, his training partner is a close friend of Scott Mendelson an internationally renown bencher. BTW, Scott will be benching at the Arnold. Anyone going to it should watch him bench. The battle between him and Ryan Kennelly will be interesting as both men aim to go beyond the 800 lb. barrier on the bench. Kennelly was planning to have a opener above 800.

In this meet, there were a few lifters I was watching out for and was hoping to know. One guy I was particularly interested in was Taylor Tom, an Asian lifter who benched 435 last year at the BW of 148. With that number, he won the WABDL world championship. This guy had a tremendous arch and I was keen to learn from him the technique of arching. Unfortunately, he bombed out all three attempts as he opened with 435. I guess he felt confident enough to hit that weight. Another guy was also an Asian named Steve Wong who weighed a hefty 300 lbs while benching 670 state record and apparently also holds the USAPL state record. Wong opened with 600, well under his max. In fact, he went raw on his first attempt. Unfortunately, this was just not his day. He bombed all three as well. Someone told me that Wong did triples in the gym with 670 RAW. Wow, and I thought he was opening too high. He was having a real OFF day. At the end, I felt bad for these lifters and did not approach them.

One really amusing thing to watch was the way lifters psyched themselves up. I guess most ordinary commercial gyms would not allow for such antics. Many slapped each other on the face and even head butted each other. Others would talk to themselves while standing in line for the lift saying such things as, "Yeah baby, you got the weight. Oh yeah." There was one lifter who got so excited that he got on the platform when his name was called. His name was called to be "on deck" and not to lift just yet. It's great that the judges and the announcers caught him. He just ran and sat down on the bench and began his ritual of psyching up. I bet he felt like a complete moron. For me, I prefer to keep my eyes on the bar while waiting for my name to be on the platform. One thing I found help loosening me up was to pace back and forth and occasionally step on the towel there to keep my shoes dry. The walking around keeps your knees from locking up. I only think of ONE thing I needed to focus on and try not to think too much more. The act of lifting is neurological and not intellectual.

Most people do not get to see what is going on in the warm-up room. Frankly, I stayed away from that room as my nemesis Mr. Yasu was in there. The whole place had the atmosphere of a football locker room before the players head out for the field. The pressure around some lifters was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. I always prefer to take it easy and take my mind off the task a bit so that when I need my mind to work, it'd be fresh. Overall, I was in there for no more than 5 minutes. I liked seeing my friends and laughing with them. After all, it's only a game.

Another impression I had was the same as Vicki's. Watching power meets can be boring for the untrained eye. But for those who train hard, it's a thoroughly educational process. The support from the crowd was really great and nothing beats the feeling of winning and getting PRs all at once. It's a great time to analyze lifters and think about WHY they did what they did.

Finally, it is amazing how quickly people learn your name when you break a few records in the same meet. Afterwards, a few people were talking to me and calling me by my first name. Some even remembered my record number. This keeps me accountable to this community of lifters. I must strive to do better and be a good ambassador for the sport.

Yours in blood, sweat and chalk,

"little" Sam Tsang

Click here to see the WABOL state records

Click here to read of Sam's first contest

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