2010 R.A.W Untied Mike Witmer Memorial Recap by Ken Morris
I drove up to Tampa Saturday morning to make it to early weigh-ins at 5pm. I hadn’t eaten a thing all day, I was starving and dehydrated. My scale told me I weighed 274 so I didn’t want to take a risk. I sat around until 5 o’clock rolled around and immediately jumped on the competition scale. 270.4 pounds, I easily made weight and immediately started hydrating with a mix of half Gatorade and half water. I gave the score table my openers of 520 Squat, 400 Bench Press, and 620 Deadlift. I ate and relaxed for the rest of the day and just tried to prepare my mind for the upcoming day. As I lay in bed I couldn’t shake my nerves. I always get nervous before a meet but this meet made me especially nervous due to the fact that it was being filmed by Fox Sports for a new show called Xtreme Power TV. They are filming a 13-week series on powerlifting and it all began with this meet. The pressure was on me to perform well because I was told I would be a featured lifter. So, I ended up falling asleep around 12:30 am and I woke up at 6:30. I ate oatmeal and drank Gatorade with creatine, glutamine, and some BCAA’s to support me throughout the day. I left for the meet around 7:45am.
Once I arrived at Jackson Springs Recreation Center I took a look around at the way the lifting platform was setup like a stage, surrounded by cameras and bright lights. All 275 and 198 pound lifters were called into the warm up room for the rules briefing. It was at this point when the nerves started to turn to excitement, it was time and I was ready to go to work. The flight (group of lifters) was only about 8 guys including me and everyone was going to be lifting some big time weights. My flight consisted of probably the best 275er in the world Mike Tuchscherer, two of the best 198ers in the world Ryan Celli and Dennis Cieri, and the rest of us were ranked nationally in either 198 or the 275 weight class.
I mixed up a cup of USPlabs Jack3d, chugged it, and started warming up for the squat. The weights felt good as I finished warming up to 455. I was called to the platform for my opener of 520. I sank it deep and drove it up fast for 3 white lights, good lift. My next attempt was 550, and once again I drove it up fast and got 2 white lights, good lift. After this lift the Fox Sports guys pulled me aside to do my first ever TV interview, I was excited to say the least, so excited that when they asked me how my last lift felt I answered to the tune of, “It felt heavy, but I can do more”. Instant classic. Next time I work on my interview skills before the meet. Anyways, after the interview I called for 580 pounds for my 3rd and final attempt, this would be a meet personal best. I got under the bar and unracked it and it felt lighter than ever. I sank the squat a little to deep and fell forward too much and couldn’t recover from it. No lift.
I was disappointed I didn’t get that last squat but I knew I could make up for it in the deadlift. Next came the bench press. I nailed my opener of 400 and called for 415 on my next attempt. I took the bar out of the rack and it felt light, but when I brought it to my chest and began to press it up my hamstring locked up hard. This causes a slight downward motion of the bar and even though I recovered to make the lift, I got red lighted. No lift. To be safe I called for 415 again for my last attempt. I nailed it easily. After my 3rd attempt Fox Sports grabbed me again for another interview and flattered the heck out of me by calling me an up and coming superstar in the sport. Now I had to finish big.
620 on the bar for my first deadlift attempt, I grabbed it and ripped it off the floor fast. 3 white lights. I called for 640 on my second attempt and again nailed it for 3 white lights. On my last attempt I wanted to be conservative and go with something I was pretty sure I could handle so I called for 660. I pulled it like it was my first attempt and I was hyped about it. This was a 20 pound personal meet record. Fox Sports interviewed me again after my lift about the sport, so I got to talk about what a great sport powerlifting really is. After the 3rd deadlift I was lit up and I knew I had more in the tank so I asked for a 4th attempt of 680. I only had maybe 3 minutes of rest but I hyped myself up with some ammonia and a slap on the back and attacked the bar. I pulled the bar hard off the floor and got it to about an inch before lockout and it just stalled, I just missed it. No lift.
I ended with a 1625 pound total and a nice trophy to bring home. The Mike Witmer Memorial was my one year anniversary being a competitive powerlifer and in that year I’ve taken my total from 1435 to 1625. Best part of this meet was just being around great lifters and great people. Powerlifting has the best camaraderie out of any sport I have ever seen and I encourage any lifter at any level to get involved.
To check out pictures from the meet…. http://www.xtremepower.tv/Raw-United-Federation-June/Flight-E-198-275-Mens/12672362_CyYnR#911431636_GXDZG
I drove up to Tampa Saturday morning to make it to early weigh-ins at 5pm. I hadn’t eaten a thing all day, I was starving and dehydrated. My scale told me I weighed 274 so I didn’t want to take a risk. I sat around until 5 o’clock rolled around and immediately jumped on the competition scale. 270.4 pounds, I easily made weight and immediately started hydrating with a mix of half Gatorade and half water. I gave the score table my openers of 520 Squat, 400 Bench Press, and 620 Deadlift. I ate and relaxed for the rest of the day and just tried to prepare my mind for the upcoming day. As I lay in bed I couldn’t shake my nerves. I always get nervous before a meet but this meet made me especially nervous due to the fact that it was being filmed by Fox Sports for a new show called Xtreme Power TV. They are filming a 13-week series on powerlifting and it all began with this meet. The pressure was on me to perform well because I was told I would be a featured lifter. So, I ended up falling asleep around 12:30 am and I woke up at 6:30. I ate oatmeal and drank Gatorade with creatine, glutamine, and some BCAA’s to support me throughout the day. I left for the meet around 7:45am.
Once I arrived at Jackson Springs Recreation Center I took a look around at the way the lifting platform was setup like a stage, surrounded by cameras and bright lights. All 275 and 198 pound lifters were called into the warm up room for the rules briefing. It was at this point when the nerves started to turn to excitement, it was time and I was ready to go to work. The flight (group of lifters) was only about 8 guys including me and everyone was going to be lifting some big time weights. My flight consisted of probably the best 275er in the world Mike Tuchscherer, two of the best 198ers in the world Ryan Celli and Dennis Cieri, and the rest of us were ranked nationally in either 198 or the 275 weight class.
I mixed up a cup of USPlabs Jack3d, chugged it, and started warming up for the squat. The weights felt good as I finished warming up to 455. I was called to the platform for my opener of 520. I sank it deep and drove it up fast for 3 white lights, good lift. My next attempt was 550, and once again I drove it up fast and got 2 white lights, good lift. After this lift the Fox Sports guys pulled me aside to do my first ever TV interview, I was excited to say the least, so excited that when they asked me how my last lift felt I answered to the tune of, “It felt heavy, but I can do more”. Instant classic. Next time I work on my interview skills before the meet. Anyways, after the interview I called for 580 pounds for my 3rd and final attempt, this would be a meet personal best. I got under the bar and unracked it and it felt lighter than ever. I sank the squat a little to deep and fell forward too much and couldn’t recover from it. No lift.
I was disappointed I didn’t get that last squat but I knew I could make up for it in the deadlift. Next came the bench press. I nailed my opener of 400 and called for 415 on my next attempt. I took the bar out of the rack and it felt light, but when I brought it to my chest and began to press it up my hamstring locked up hard. This causes a slight downward motion of the bar and even though I recovered to make the lift, I got red lighted. No lift. To be safe I called for 415 again for my last attempt. I nailed it easily. After my 3rd attempt Fox Sports grabbed me again for another interview and flattered the heck out of me by calling me an up and coming superstar in the sport. Now I had to finish big.
620 on the bar for my first deadlift attempt, I grabbed it and ripped it off the floor fast. 3 white lights. I called for 640 on my second attempt and again nailed it for 3 white lights. On my last attempt I wanted to be conservative and go with something I was pretty sure I could handle so I called for 660. I pulled it like it was my first attempt and I was hyped about it. This was a 20 pound personal meet record. Fox Sports interviewed me again after my lift about the sport, so I got to talk about what a great sport powerlifting really is. After the 3rd deadlift I was lit up and I knew I had more in the tank so I asked for a 4th attempt of 680. I only had maybe 3 minutes of rest but I hyped myself up with some ammonia and a slap on the back and attacked the bar. I pulled the bar hard off the floor and got it to about an inch before lockout and it just stalled, I just missed it. No lift.
I ended with a 1625 pound total and a nice trophy to bring home. The Mike Witmer Memorial was my one year anniversary being a competitive powerlifer and in that year I’ve taken my total from 1435 to 1625. Best part of this meet was just being around great lifters and great people. Powerlifting has the best camaraderie out of any sport I have ever seen and I encourage any lifter at any level to get involved.
To check out pictures from the meet…. http://www.xtremepower.tv/Raw-United-Federation-June/Flight-E-198-275-Mens/12672362_CyYnR#911431636_GXDZG
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