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HEAVY TIMES IN INDIANA

BY DAVE GLASGOW

FOURTEEN LIFTERS TOOK TO THE PLATFORM FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL ‘MONSTER GARAGE’ POWER MEET HELD ON SUNDAY, 30 APRIL, 2012 IN GEORGETOWN, IN.  THE GET TOGETHER WAS PRESENTED BY LARRY (FLOYD) TRAUB AND WAS SANTIONED BY THE USAWA.  ALTHOUGH THIS PRODUCTION  WAS A POWER MEET, THE CONTESTANTS WERE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO FOR RECORDS IN THE ‘12” SQUAT OR DEADLIFT’ AND THE ‘FEET IN THE AIR BENCH PRESS’.  MANY CHOSE TO GO THIS DIRECTION SO THERE WERE MORE THAN A FEW NEW USAWA RECODS SET.

THE VERY VAST MAJORITY OF THE PARTICIPANTS ARE ALUMNI OF ST. XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL, AN ALL BOYS SCHOOL IN LOUISVILLE, KY.  IN THIS GROUP ARE NOT A FEW PAST NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPS AND FORMER DIVISION I FOOTBALL AND TRACK ATHLETES.  ALONG WITH THE ‘KIDS’ WERE TWO THROWS COACHES AND THE STRENGTH/CONDITIONING COACH FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM.  IN OTHER WORDS, THESE WERE FOLKS WHO KNOW, UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE THE WEIGHT GAME AND ARE MORE THAN ABLE TO HOLD THEIR OWN AT A MEET SUCH AS THIS.  I FELT AS THOUGH I WAS A DRAFT HORSE AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY!!!

YOUNGEST OF THE HERD WAS FRED SHARP, A MEMBER OF THE ST. X POWER TEAM FROM 2011.  AT 64K, HE PUT UP SOME REALLY GOOD NUMBERS FOR A ‘NO EQUIPMENT’ MEET.  TYLER BAINES RETURNED THIS YEAR AND TOOK A BREAK FROM HIS FIREFIGHTING TRAINING TO JOIN HIS EX-COACH.  HIS WIDE STANCE SQUATS WERE VERY IMPRESSIVE.

FORMER PROSECUTING ATTORNEY TURNED PRIVATE PRACTITIONER, JON HECK, SHOWED THOSE PRESENT THAT THIS IS ONE ATTORNEY WHO CAN HANDLE HIMSELF ON A PLATFORM.  COMING IN AT LESS THAT 95K, HE HANDLED SOME PRETTY FAIR WEIGHTS.

BLAKE DEDAS, FORMER NATIONAL COLLEGIATE CHAMPION, LOOKED STRONG ALL DAY AND CHALLENGED HIS FORMER MENTOR FOR TOP SPOT TILL THE END.  MIKE TULLIS, FORMER SUB-JUNIORS WORLD TEAM MEMBER, CAME IN WITH LITTLE TRAINING AND SHOWED HE’S NO SLOUCH!

THE OLDER (MATURE??) GUYS WERE NOT TO BE DENIED.  TIM HARBISON, FORMER ST. X TEACHER/WRESTLING COACH, RAY GANONG, CURRENT STRENGTH COACH FOR THE NCAA FINAL FOUR LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL TEAM, AND TOM CHAPELLA, A LEGENDARY RETIRED THROWS COACH, POSTED SOME GOOD NUMBERS TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT, JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE SOME AGE ON YOU, DOES’NT MEAN YOU CAN’T PLAY WITH THE KIDS!!  IT SHOULD BE NOTED HERE THAT RAY GANONG RAN A HALF MARATHON THE DAY BEFORE!!  AT 225 POUNDS, THAT IS QUITE A FEAT!!  TO PUT UP THE NUMBERS HE DID…….  WELL, HE HAS MY VOTE FOR THE ‘IRONMAN’ AWARD.

THESE ‘OLDER’ GUYS ADDED A LOT OF COLOR TO THE GATHERING.  THEIR COMMENTS AND JOKES KEPT THINGS LOOSE AND MADE THE EVENT THAT MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE.

KRISTIN TRAUB, AT A SOLID 78K, A FORMER TEENAGE NATIONAL CHAMP HERSELF, WAS NOT INTIMIDATED IN THE LEAST.  BEING THE ONLY FEMALE AT THIS TESTOSTERONE CHARGED MEET, SHE MORE THAN HELD HER OWN!!

WE WERE TREATED TO SOME VERY SPECIAL LIFTING BY A VERY SPECIAL INDIVDUAL.  SAM CHAPELLA HAS DOWN’S SYNDROME.  HIS DAD, TOM, HAS GROOMED HIM INTO, WHAT IS BELIEVED TO BE, THE STRONGEST DOWN’S SYNDROME LIFTER IN THE WORLD!!  INDEED, SAM DIDN”T SEEM TO MIND WHAT WAS ON THE BAR.  HE TOOK CARE OF BUSINESS WITH LITTLE FANFARE, BUT ROUSING APPLAUSE EVERY TIME HE LIFTED, ENDING WITH A 9 FOR 9 DAY.

THE ONLY ‘OUTSIDERS’ BESIDE YOURS TRULY, WERE LES CRAMER AND HIS PROTÉGÉ, MARCUS SNYDER.  THESE TWO DROVE A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE TO BE THERE AND PARTICIPATED WITH THE ALUMNI.  THEY ALSO SET MANY USAWA RECORDS FOLLOWING THE MEET.

HOWEVER, AGAIN THIS YEAR, THE OLD MASTER HIMSELF, LARRY ‘FLOYD’ TRAUB CARRIED THE DAY.  AT 58 YEARS OLD, HE SHOWED THAT PERSISTANCE AND PERSERVERANCE GOES ALONG WAY WHEN HANDLING THE IRON.  HIS 500 (12″) SQUAT AND 600 DEAD LIFT (12”) WOULD BE SOMETHING ANYONE COULD BE PROUD OF, REGARLESS OF AGE.  FOR FLOYD, IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY.  ONE OF HIS EX-LIFTERS SAID IT BEST, SHAKING HIS HEAD,  “COACH JUST HAS FREAK GENES!!”

SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO SCORE KEEPER,  ANGIE GANONG, FOR KEEPING THINGS MOVING WITH ACCURATE AND PRECISE SCORING.  BEING A LOUISVILLE ATTORNEY, THE LOGISTICS OF THE LIFTERS AND THEIR NUMBERS DID NOT PHASE HER IN THE LEAST!  HOW MANY POWER MEETS CAN BOAST PAST NATIONAL CHAMPS AND RECORD HOLDERS AS THE LOADERS???  NOT MANY, I AM GUESSING.  HOWEVER, DREW TRAUB AND JOHN CLARK WERE THERE TO SUPPORT OLD TEAMMATES.  FINALLY, THE JUDGES JIM YEATES AND MIKE HUBBARD WERE FIRM AND SOLID IN THEIR CALLS.  A HUGE THANKS TO ALL THESE FOLKS.  AS EVERYONE WHO HAS PUT ON A MEET KNOWS, THE SUCCESS OF THE MEET IS CO-DEPENDENT TO THE PERFORMANCE RENDERED BY THE SUPPORT STAFF!  A HUGE THANKS TO THOSE FOLKS!!

GOOD LIFTING, EXCELLENT FOOD, AND GREAT FELLOWSHIP FOLLOWED THE LIFTING.  WHO COULD ASK FOR MORE??  I CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!!!

Monster Garage Meet

BY DAVE GLASGOW

MEET REPORT AND RESULTS

POWER IN SOUTHERN INDIANA

Larry Traub squats 520 pounds in the Monster Garage Meet.

Abstinence of chemical assistance when building strength has long been the message of Larry Traub. His inclination and mind set are that anything worth having is worth working (hard) for and, thus, earning.  He has preached this message to hundreds of his high school lifters over the years.  That is what led the multi-time national masters powerlifting champ to the USAWA.  It was against this backdrop that 5 of his former high school pupils/lifters returned to their mentor, joined his current protege and took to the platform.  All to be a part of the first, and now to be annual, USAWA sponsored Monster Garage Powerlifting Meet and Record Breakers Day.  The pedigrees of each of these young men is impressive.  Even the spotters were former high caliber lifters!  One of the judges, Larry’s brother Barry, can even boast a 650 deadlift!  The only mongrel in the house was yours truly!!  This was, indeed, an exceptional day of lifting.

The premise was simple. The lifts contested would be the three powerlifts. The ‘catch’ being that the rules of the USAWA would be enforced (rules are no joke!).  So, all the lifts were truly raw, and as they used to say in drag racing, ‘run what ya brung!’  With only seven contestants, the action was fast and furious. As there were a wide range of weight classes being contested, so were the weights being handled by the lifters.

Monster Garage Participants: upper left - Adam Roth, upper right - Tyler Baines, lower left - Blake Dedas, lower right - Bobby Bonifacio

The youngest of the crowd was 18 year old high school senior, Adam Roth.  His flawless technique helped him accumulate a total of 930 pounds at a body weight of 58.8 kg. (he was voted ‘best lifter’ junior and senior years at st. ‘X’ high school, Louisville).  Tyler Baines kept the momentum rolling, posting a total of 935 pounds.  Another technician, he used that along with determination to secure his place in the meet (he was teen national champ/bronze medalist at sub junior worlds).  Showing true competition experience was Felix Rodriguez.  His 455 pound deadlift was outstanding and gave way to his final total of 1070 pounds (he was 2nd at teen nationals).  Blake Dedas came to show that strongman training has left him in good stead as he posted a fine 1485 total at a 220 pound body weight (he was a subjunior team member and collegiate national champ).  Drew Traub, Larry’s boy, provided proof that strength does run in families.  He took a break from his usual 60 hour work weeks and ran up a total of 1385 pounds with next to no training for the past year (he was a teen national champ and subjunior world champ).  The new kid in the house was Bobby Bonifacio, Larry’s son-in-law (and my god-son in-law, lol).  Bobby started training about 9 months ago and to say his lifts needed help, at that time, would be the understatement of the year!! Bobby has persistence, a great attitude and a top notch coach to thank for a very creditable total of an even grand. I am certain this will spur him on to even greater totals in the future.

When the final attempt was made, the tally sheets said that it was the old man, Larry Traub himself, who carried the day!  His bench presses made one of the spotters remark, “coach!!? is that your shoulder creekin’?? It sounds like someone is trying to open an old door!!” . His 520 pound squat and 560 pound deadlift would make most lifters days, however, this was a ‘down’ day for him. Regardless, it was enough to win by 175 points on the formula.

Monster Garage Meet Participants: left - Drew Traub, right - Felix Rodriguez

As a side note, I want to mention our loaders. Mike Tullis (who was a subjunior world team member) and his running buddy, Jon Clark (who was selected to be on the world subjunior team but subsequently passed up that opportunity to ‘walk on’ as a player at the University of Louisville, where he is today) spent the competition loading for their friends and adding good stories and commentary at the ‘after glow’.  These were great kids to be around, indeed!!  Although this meet was touted as a ‘record breakers’, I think the days lifting damped spirits for any further lifting as only four USAWA records fell; two by the youngster and two by the ole man.

Plans are already being made for next year’s version of the Monster Garage Powerlifting Meet. the last weekend in April will be the permanent date. We are looking for this meet to be much bigger by then!!

Good friends, great lifting and superb food/drink – what could be better!? Plan NOW to attend next year!!  YOU WON’T BE SORRY!

SEE BELOW FOR TOTALS AND PLACINGS

Monster Garage Powerlifting Meet
Georgetown, Indiana
April 30th, 2011

MEET DIRECTOR:  Larry Traub and the Ledaig Heavy Athletics

LIFTS CONTESTED:  Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift

OFFICIAL (1-Official System Used): Dave Glasgow

RESULTS:

Lifter Age BWT BP SQ DL Total Points
 Larry Traub  57  92.0  290  520  560  1370  1433.0
 Blake Dedas  26  100.0  355  545  585  1485  1257.9
 Adam Roth  18  58.8  205  320  405  930  1129.3
 Felix Rodriquez  21  75.0  255  360  455  1070  1070.0
 Tyler Baines  23  64.5  235  300  400  935  1033.5
 Drew Traub  27  128.8  310  525  550  1385  1032.2
 Bob Bonifacio  30  118.5  205  365  430  1000  776.5

NOTES:  BWT is bodyweight in kilograms.  All lifts recorded in pounds.  Total is total pounds lifted in pounds.  Points is adjusted points for bodyweight correction and age allowance.

MEET REMINDER – Monster Garage Contest

by Larry Traub

I need to get a rough idea of how many lifters to expect at the Monster Garage contest. Please E mail me back with yes, no, probably, maybe or whatever. If you have someone coming with you let me know. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be big, so I’m looking for entries. I know a lot of you didn’t have time to prepare properly but think about jumping in to post some numbers as a baseline for improvement for future years. There is still complete information at usawa.com. Click on Monster Garage under coming events. I also have two articles that I wrote at the site. Check it out if you get a chance. You will also fine some info about a machine I built. I’ve been working on it for over two years and it has been recently been painted and is taking it’s place in the weightroom. I’m anxious to get some feedback on it, especially from Ray, Doug, Tom, Tim and people who have been involved with strength training and athletics over the years. Just drop me a line and tell me where you stand. For the Iron Tiger alumni make sure the beverages you bring are age appropriate.