Fortified Iron

Ireland took the team competition at last week's WPF Powerlifting World Championships in Vienna, Austria. The U.S. placed second and Great Britain earned third. In the bench press competition, Great Britain brought home the gold medal, followed by Austria and the U.S. Germany captured the deadlift competition. Austria grabbed silver, and the U.S. followed in third.

Critical Bench interviews Jim Hoskinson. Hoskinson is a man of resolve who has overcome a serious injury and continues to excel at his chosen sport of powerlifting. While working for the Christian Power team in Alabama, he tore both of his quads and ruptured his patella tendons.

Dave Tate answers a question in an Elite FTS video segment about how to increase ones bench press lockout and add tricep work without increasing elbow or shoulder pain.

On Monday November 17th, I got to be the guest again on Big Nation Radio. My interview starts roughly 5 minutes into the broadcast and lasts for about 40 minutes.

Topics discussed were:

Glen Russo's alleged accusation that Ryan Kennelly uses fake plates to set his records (as reported by Muscular Development's No Bull internet radio) and Glen Russo's alleged challenge to Ryan Kennelly (again, reported on No Bull Radio.)

Bobby Myers has resigned his position as the SPF Florida State Co-chair. At the SPF forum, Myers cites a lack of time as the reason for stepping down. Mike Witmer served as co-chair in Florida along with Myers.

Due to the increase in traffic to Powerlifting Watch, for the second time this year we were forced to upgrade to a more powerful server. With over 1.1 million pages served up every month, the site was both running slower and running out of space. The server move now should be complete. I apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced during the move. However, the result is that you should now experience faster page loading times and a better viewing experience.

Thank you to all of the Powerlifting Watch sponsors for their help in making this move possible. Also, thank you to the contributors, collaborators, and visitors for helping grow the site into what it is today. Stay tuned as even more features are about to be launched, with others planned for 2009.

Here is training footage of Al Caslow, 165, and other SOS gym members, preparing for the WPC World Championships. The Championships kick off today in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Caslow will compete head-to-head with Brian Schwab for the WPO Lightweight crown, as well as for the 165 class gold medal. In their last meeting, in August, they dueled to a tie, with Schwab winning on bodyweight.

In the video, Caslow squats 825 pounds and 875 pounds with reversed bands.

Finland's Jani Murtomaki, shw, bench pressed 804 and deadlifted 760 pounds at the WABDL World Championships which were held last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. He went on to miss a bench press of 859 pounds and a deadlift of 804 pounds. Murtomaki reportedly lifted in a single ply IPF approved Super Katana. Here is video of his lifts.

The WPC has updated the roster for its Powerlifting and Bench Press World Championships, which will take place November 20-23 in Palm Beach, Florida. Lifters representing 18 countries are scheduled to compete.

100% RAW has published the results (pdf) for its World Championships which were held November 1 in Hagerstown, Maryland. A total of 47 lifters representing twelve states and two nations (U.S. and Estonia) competed. Meet director Dan Corridean, 308, was named best lifter for his 1,702 pound total. Corridean is ranked sixth on the Powerlifting Watch Lifter Rankings.

(updated 11/20 to reflect additional changes made to the rulebook)

The IPF has updated its Technical Rules (pdf) to reflect the proposals that were passed at the November 2 meeting in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. The new rules take effect on January 1, 2009.

One of the changes, which didn't appear on the agenda, allows for the bar to dip in the bench press, provided it's not the entire bar. In 'Causes for failure in the bench press', the wording has been changed to: "Any downward movement of the whole of the bar in the course of being pressed out." The phrase "the whole of the" has been added. This proposal did appear on the 2007 agenda and was defeated.

The IPF has published the minutes (pdf) from the 2008 Congress meeting which was held on November 2 in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.

Sebastian Burns has debuted the first episode of his latest project, "Extreme Power TV". Included is an interview by Bill Crawford of Andy Bolton after Bolton broke the 1,000 pound deadlift barrier. Footage of the lift is included. The first episode also contains footage of Bill Carpenter and Rob Luyando bench pressing.

APA President Scott Taylor has put out feelers, at the federation forum, for potential meet directors who would be interested in running meets without any financial risk. Taylor says that he's willing to get beginning meet directors up and running without some of the normal costs they might be faced with.

Taylor: "How many of you would be interested in running competitions by yourselves if there was no financial gamble involved? I realize awards etc are costly.

Here is video of the highlights from last weekend's IPF Affiliate, Svenska Styrkelyftförbundet, Swedish Bench Press Championship held in Borlange, Sweden. The video includes Anton Kraft, 123, bench pressing a World Record 446 pounds; 275 class World Record holder, Marcus Hirvonen pressing 672 pounds; and Johnny Wahlquist, shw, benching 727 pounds, just a week after winning silver at the IPF World Championships. Also included is Wahlquist making an unsuccessful attempt at an IPF World Record of 782 pounds. Japan's Daisuke Midote holds the existing record at 779 pounds.

At least $11,000US will be up for grabs on December 28 at the unsanctioned Vladimir Mironov Memorial Raw Bench Press Championship in Omsk, Russia. First place will receive a paycheck of at least $3,000US. Placings will be determine by the biggest overall bench press.

Lifters from other countries are invited to compete.

Roster - Best Raw BP(kg/lbs)

Scott Yard, 275, has wrapped up his training for the IPA Senior Nationals which will be held Saturday and Sunday in York, Pennsylvania. Yard will be competing in the meet without equipment, although he has indicated his plans to compete in the equipped division in order to wear knee wraps.

The WUAP has issued a report (pdf) on the outcome of its Annual Governing Meeting. The AGM was held on October 3 in conjunction with its World Championships in Lauchhammer, Germany. Present were Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Ukraine, and the U.S.

Coming out of last week's World Championships, the WABDL has unveiled a new design for its website. Ron L'Huillier, creator of the design, says:

Results (men and women pdf's) are posted for the AAU World Championships which were held November 8-9 in Hampton, Virginia.