THE GPC NATIONALS!
.........Wow.
What more can I say?
Its a full week since the first Australian nationals, and I'm still lost for words. The amount of support we have received from the Australian powerlifting community blows me away.
Who would have thought, a federation that has been around for 6 months could achieve such an awesome result.
Well over 90 official competitors, including 21 females, the largest group of powerlifting females in Australian history.
With 265 National records, and 105 world records, it was a phenomanal weeked of lifting!
By all accounts, the GPC Nationals was the best run, organised and produced powerlifting competition Australia has ever seen.
As the promoter, I must admit, I'm a little chuffed when people say things like that. It means we are in the right track, and GPC will continue to grow.
On behalf of the members of GPC Australia, and myself as the promoter, I'd like to thank the following people for helping out on the day. It was your constant help and guidence that not only saw this event be the most successful PL meet ever, but ensures the sport of powerlifting is stronger than ever and will only continue to grow within Australia
Frank Manning, Ron Birch, Lee Marshall, Michael Brook, Adam Coe, Damian Rohrlach, Martin Nguyen, Zach Turner, Jacskon Murrie, Max Markopoulos, Jesse Markopoulos, Kris Baldry, Tish Kerr, Kelly Munro, Allan Morton, Sean Gallagher, Emad Nayeff, Sean Turner and Markos Markopoulos........ Thank you.
On to how our lifters did at the comp.
On the first day of lifting we had 2 teens represent PTC.
Zach Turner, and Jackson Murrie.This was Jacksons first nationals, and Zachs 2nd.
Jackson has been training with us for about the last 3 months in preparation for this event, and he did an outstanding job. When he walked into PTC he was around 240/140/250 at 110kg. Not bad for a teen at all!
After ironing out some technique issues, he puts in a solid 12 weeks of training. Hits the platform and goes 275/170/272.5 to total 717.5kg. Simply outstanding.
Then we have Zach, or Bub as he likes to be called.
This powerlifting event marks 14 months of training at PTC, and 12 months of competition.
12 months ago, Zach entered BUSTA-NUT, our first novice comp. He went 165-130-180 and totalled 475kg.
At the GPC nationals, Zach goes 290-187.5-250 to total 727.5kg. Yep, 727.5kg. That's an improvement of 252.5kg in 12 months..... and he is still only 18!
After his performance he backs it up the next day with the equipped bench press comp, in a single ply shirt. He bashes out a modest 240kg, for the best teen bench in Australian history. Fuck. Massive things to come from Zach in the future so watch close.
Next up was the women's section where we had Tish Kerr, Michelle Marshall and Rebecca Zepackic on deck.
Ive talked about Michelle in a previous newsletter, the one that wanted to deadlift 70kg by the end of this year.... 5 months on, she is competing at her 2nd powerlifting comp, which happens to be the Australian champs. I bet if you had told her 5 months ago that she would be on a national stage, she would have just laughed. She goes out and squats 105kg, benches 37.5kg (missed 40kg for not waiting for the rack call) and pulls 112.5kg.
Michelle has been a pleasure to train (and wrap), but she has now decided to move back to WA. It will be sad to see her leave, but everybody from PTC wishes her all the best for her and her family on the other side of the world.
Tish also did very well.
At the start of the year, she could barely squat. She had 2 left feet, and I think they were made of jelly. She has been training very hard over the last 6 months and the results speak for themselves. Tish walked away with a 95kg squat, 40kg bench and 105kg deadlift. Brilliant improvement.
Bec. I don't know where to begin..... So maybe I'll start at the beginning.
Bec came along and watched the QLD state champs with a fellow strongman. She pulled me aside and expressed interest in doing a PL comp. I told her to shoot me an email and we can work out a time to get some coaching done.
A few weeks later Bec arrives, and shows me how to squat 3 inches above parallel.
She had a great deadlift at 160kg, but her other 2 lifts needed much work.
We worked from a box for many sessions, and well as "hanging about in the hole" which I now see why it looked inappropriate to write on somebody's FB wall if you're not into lifting.
I think her best bench was 55kg, and best pull 160kg, and Im going to say..... Never "squatted" before.
At nationals, she walked away with an astounding 155kg squat, 62.5kg bench, 175kg deadlift. 4 national records, and 4 world records. BRILLANT
Loz Johnson and Matt Dixon represented us as juniors.
Loz had been quite crook the last 4 weeks before nationals, and had decided not to do the event. Markos being Markos called Loz and told him that was not acceptable. Loz enters the comp with limited prep and goes 230/130/265 without knee wraps. Not a bad performance at all!
Matt is another who hasn't had the best prep due to having a very demanding job as a rigger. Constant all nighters and hard labour makes training hard. With that in mind, he made every possible session he could, and had the best meet of his life. His last comp he totaled 600kg flat and at this one he went 235/160/260 for a 655kg total.
The representation of PTC was apparent in the open class.... We had 8 lifters here.
Justin Payne, Alex Zerba, Steve Psaltis, Ricky Goodyear, Kurt Patrick, Alex O'Reilly, Ben Bouchereau and myself.
Justin started with PTC 8 weeks ago, and couldn't even squat to a box, 2 inches above parallel. Having him go from that, to squatting 230kg without a belt or wraps is an awesome result. He also benched 130kg and pulled 240kg.
Alex Zerba had his best meet so far. He went 265/170/250 for a total of 685kg for the equal biggest total in the senior men (20 lifters) and a 15kg total PB.
Steve left nothing in the tank when he got under that mono lift. We have been smashing his squat in the lead up to nationals, and were confident he would get a considerable gain. At states 3 months ago, Steve totaled 610kg with a 220kg squat. At nationals he totaled 635kg with a 240kg squat. Now its time to hammer his bench!
Ricky had a pretty good meet, well good enough to with the Australian nationals, but he was still disappointed with his performance. He went 305/200/315.5 for a 820kg total. 4 national records, and a number of world records.
We were expecting around 850 at this comp, but Ricky got quite sick the week before the comp, and cut weight.... It all takes a toll. No excuses though, he will have another chance to crack 850kg in Slovakia this year at the world champs.
Kurt got competition PB's on both the squat - 222.5kg and deadlift - 225kg, but missed his 2nd and 3rd benches. This will be an area we will work hard on over the next 5 months coming into the GPC National Push/Pull.
Alex O had a great meet also. He missed a bench that he should have been able to nail, but still walked away with a 40kg total PR in 3 months. That's an outstanding improvement.
I also had the my best meet to date. I went 250/150/285 for a 685kg total at 89kg, and equal biggest total in the senior men. All things considered I'm happy with my result, but I know I could have done better. You will see 700+ next meet I assure you.
Last but not least, we have Ben Bouchereau.
I've known Ben for a few years now, and always enjoy competing against him. I got to catch up with him at the GPC QLD states where he squatted 210kg and totaled 577.5kg.
He asked if it was ok to train out of PTC between states and nationals even though he lives in Marooka and passes 50 gyms to get here, of course I told him it was a great idea.
Our main foucus was to move out of the 75kg class and into the 82's, and bring his squat up..... When I said bring it up, I was implying 10-15kg....... not over 40!
At the QLD state titles, Ben squatted 210, benched 147.5kg and pulled 220kg
At the GPC Nationals Ben squatted 250.5kg, benched 152.5kg and pulled 230kg - just missing 240kg. His squat was a World record.
It has been awesome coaching and training alongside Ben, he just comes in and gets shit done. He has now decided to move up to Toowoomba, and will not be able to train with us regularly anymore which is a real shame. I'm sure I can speak for everyone at PTC when I say you will be missed in the gym, but we wish you and Karyn all the best for your future.
To finish up, I'd like to thank all the members of PTC for being understanding with the gym being a little insane the last 2 weeks, but normality has finally returned.
Until the next one, stay strong.
Scott Wasson