Powerful Memories: Photos from Women's Nationals 2009

Check out the outstanding photography taken by Christy Newman (IPF World Bench Press Gold Medalist) at her 2009 Women's Nationals photo gallery!

2009 USAPL Women's Nationals Results

My email to friends and family, immediately after I won my weight class at Women's Nationals last Saturday, Feb. 14th:

Hi -- a quick report from Women's Nationals, this Valentine's Day in sunny and warm Miami, Fla...

I am very grateful to say that I had a perfect day today and went 9/9 (all attempts good) for the first time in my powerlifting career!! I had the pleasure and inspiration of having my friend, the veteran and legendary Ann Leverett, on hand as a still-solid-and-strong Master competitor (breaking several American records herself).. and awesome and unexpected competition from another one of the legends in my weight class -- April Schumaker (who turns out was formerly April Delmore)!!! Because of this lady's mind-blowing huge bench press of 198 lbs. @ 104 bodyweight, getting all my lifts was necessary to win my third Nationals and remain undefeated...

My numbers:

Squat - 287 lbs. (state and personal record)
Bench - 176 lbs.
Deadlift - 336 lbs. (state and personal record)
Total - 799 lbs. (state and personal record)

Every one of my third attempts were in creeper mode... I had to give 110% to grind them out.

Thanks to Mitch for helping me pick the right numbers and with all my warmups and gear...

More to share later. Thanks very much for reading!


While I'm getting ready to blog a more detailed report of what went down (and up!) at Nationals in Miami, check out these links...

Official Results

Women's Nationals Open Champs (discussion on one of the USAPL forums)

Mitch's Congrats and Quick Report (discussion on same forum)

Observations/Speculation from PowerliftingWatch.com

YOU are on POWERLIFTING WATCH...

...well, OK...maybe not YOU (or maybe so, if you're one of those powerlifters Jon has tagged to shine the spotlight upon)... but I like to say this whenever someone I know is featured on the popular and unbiased powerlifting news site.

This time, it was none other than my boyfriend/coach, Mitch Edelstein and his recent Best Lifter win at the USAPL Minnesota State Championships last Saturday. Check the news and videos out here.

I took his 650 lb. video, below:



What's next for him? Coaching me at my third (and his second) Women's Nationals in Miami, Fla. this Saturday. I'm hoping and praying it will be my third National Championship victory and I remain undefeated. It should be interesting with this coach. When he lifts, he's Mr. Conservative/Play-It-Safe. When he coaches, he pushes me to let it all hang out/go straight for the jugular.

New gear, last day of SQ and BP training for Nationals

It was my last day of training for Women's Nationals, and I had to combine my final squats and bench presses due to coaching at the Minnesota State Championships yesterday (more on that later when I am able to post more...congrats to 12-time State Champ Mitch!! I have videos that I will add from that event, too, next time I blog).

I have been generously sponsored by Titan Support Systems once again and had a new squat suit and bench shirt in hand today, but I highly doubted the idea of trying brand-new gear on the last week before a high-level meet (or any meet, for that matter), because it usually takes a few weeks of breaking it in and getting used to it. BUT, thankfully -- and surprisingly -- the new gear fit me just fine and I was able to lift well today!!

Squats
45x10
75x3
105x1
135x1 - loose wraps
165x1 - new suit, a bit looser around the torso and straps, but tight around my thighs... put it on myself, like my old suit
195x1
225x1

Opener, for reps
250x2 - straps up, deep -- on my own, no depth calls!! yay :)

Here's video of it, thanks to Mitch for the spots AND hitting "record" and "off" --



On to the bench... (yes, it was a 2/3 mini-meet today)

Bench Press
45x10
65x3
85x1
105x1
125x1
145x1 - new F6...yes, it was painful to touch at first
160x1 - went up, but wasn't as easy as I thought...was out of the groove

Heavy single of the day...
175x1 -- hit the groove, have not gotten this in training for a looonnng time!!!

I am really thankful I was able to have a strong day in new gear, and it all worked out...that is really what I hoped for, just before this big meet!

Last Big Pull Before Nationals

My last lunch hour deadlift session before Women's Nationals...

Sumo Deadlifts
45x6 (conventional set)
45x6
135x1
165x1
195x1
225x1
255x1 - DL suit
295x1 - straps up

Heavy single of the day...
325x1

Just as I felt it slow down, it locked out already. Mitch thought I had 10 more lbs. in me, which was great news to me :) Hesaid we should have filmed it, but I was too focused on being in the zone...

And that concluded my last deadlift day before Nationals. If all goes well, I'm going to try for another state record/PR in Miami. We shall see.

Last Heavy-Single Squat Day Before Nationals

It's no fun spending too many seconds fighting through this position. Lately, that's been happening. Today, it was with 275 lbs. (instead of 265 as pictured above at the IPF 2007 World's in Austria).

Due to my work schedule, I've been squatting on Sundays, with Mitch making an extra trip into the gym to help me each week. Today, he joined me and did his squat workout as well, since last week (Monday, his usual SQ day), he unexpectedly found himself without any help at all. And fortunately, we were able to get some help from not only each other, but much-needed spots from Paul Balyeat and feedback from Maura Shuttleworth.

I also multi-tasked by bringing my 10-yr.-old son Glen through a deadlift workout, too, in between my sets and Mitch's! Talk about running around like a chicken decapitated. But well worth it.

Here's how my training day went:

Squats
45x10
45x5
75x3
105x1
135x1 - loose knee wraps
165x1 - suit, straps down
195x1
225x1
255x1 - straps up

Heavy single of the day...
275x1 - with Mitch's depth call, Maura watching depth also, and Paul spotting me.

Again, this came up way slower than usual, but it never stopped moving and locked out. I actually felt it speed up after the real odd, slow sticking point; and once it sped-up, it seemed to just spring into lockout. Weird. I meant to end this training cycle with a 285-290 deep squat single, but sometimes adjustments need to be made according to oddities/the unexplained.

Heavy walkout
305 x slow count of 10

Static hold
335 x slow count of 10

Leg curls
60x10
70x10

Hold the jammers, since this was my last heavy squat day...next week, I'll do a triple of my opener.