Today, records are broken around the world on a regular basis. After a successful attempt there is celebration. And while there may be a gear check in various organizations, no one questions the accuracy of the weights on the bar.
The topic of gear use in competition elicits reactions ranging from supportive (pun intended) to very negative. While some factions focus on the specific argument of whether one discipline should replace the other, there is an overlooked potential benefit of gear use regardless of discipline choice … protection.
1. Name: Mike Webber
Mike Webber Powerlifter
2. Married and family?: Married with three daughters
3. How long have you been lifting? 35 years lifting. 25 years powerlifting
4. Do you lift in gear or raw? What type? Geared. Super Boss briefs and suit, Evil Twin
Bench Shirt, Velocity deadlift suit
5. Are you a bench specialist or a 3 lift athlete? Three lift always
6. What are some of your accomplishments? Titles? Multiple WPC World titles, WPO
appearance, Squat 960, Bench 666, deadlift 716
7. What federations have you lifted in? CDFPF, WDFPF, WPC, GPC, IPL, WPO
8. What is your preferred federation? WPC/WPO
9. Best advice given to you/ Best advice you can give? Never fear the weight but always
respect it.
10. Training philosophy, beliefs, and/or methods? Conjugate/Westside
11. How many days a week do you train?> Four days a week for main lifting sessions with
extra sessions thrown in on off days
12. Training style? Conjugate/Westside
13. Some of your fondest memories? The Irish Pro in 2017 and the 2019 WPO Finals
14. Favorite lift and why? The squat by far. I’ve always been good at squatting and I always
look forward to it.
15. Do you have any records or championships? Multiple WPC World Masters records
16. Greatest motivation? Chuck V
17. What is your diet like? Follow the Vertical diet with a cheat meal every saturday
18. One thing nobody knows about you?
19. Any pre-contest superstitions? I don’t have any superstitions. I keep meet day the same
as every other lifting day
20. Future plans? Have the largest squat for anyone over 50
21. Describe yourself in one word? Stubborn
1. Name: Tara Webber
Tara Webber Powerlifter
2. Married and family?: Married
3. How long have you been lifting? 15 years lifting, 10 years powerlifting
4. Do you lift in gear or raw? What type? Geared. Boss briefs and Super Boss suit, Super
Katana Bench Shirt, Velocity deadlift suit
5. Are you a bench specialist or a 3 lift athlete? Three lift always
6. What are some of your accomplishments? Titles? Multiple WPC World titles, WPO
Champion 2019 , Squat 727, Bench 400, deadlift 529
7. What federations have you lifted in? WPC, GPC,USAPL, IPL, WPO
8. What is your preferred federation? WPC/WPO
9. Best advice given to you/ Best advice you can give? Train your weaknesses but don’t
neglect your strengths.
10. Training philosophy, beliefs, and/or methods? Conjugate/Westside
11. How many days a week do you train?> Four days a week for main lifting sessions with
extra sessions thrown in on off days
12. Training style? Conjugate/Westside
13. Some of your fondest memories? Visiting Ireland for the Irish Pro/Am, Winning the 2019
WPO Title
14. Favorite lift and why? I love to squat and always have.
15. Do you have any records or championships? Multiple WPC World Records and the 2019
WPO Championships
16. Greatest motivation? Laura Phelps
17. What is your diet like? Follow the Vertical diet with a cheat meal every saturday
18. One thing nobody knows about you? I am a cleanaholic
19. Any pre-contest superstitions? I don’t have any superstitions. Mexican food the night
before any contest.
20. Future plans? Help other lifters be better than I ever was
21. Describe yourself in one word? Determined
1. Name: Julia Vins
Julia Vins, Multiply Powerlifter
Dear Lifters and Officials,
As many of you are aware, there is a growing counterfeit problem in the sport.
Unfortunately, a number of companies are counterfeiting Titan products, using Titan graphics, logos and labels. Violators are most often from China and Pakistan.
To combat this problem, Titan is implementing a new authentication program.
Starting this month, Titan is phasing in security authentication coding located on the inside of our products. The lifter or official can check authenticity online.
* Log into https://genuinetitan.com/titan-authenticity-check/
* Enter the unique security code
* Authenticity will be confirmed or denied for counterfeits
1. Name Jezza Uepa
Jezza Uepa at IPF World Championships 2019
1. Name: Trevor “Tre” Thomas Jr
2. How long have you been lifting? I’ve been lifting for almost 12 years and competing for
3years
Trevor “Tre” Thomas Jr Powerlifter
3. Do you lift in gear or raw? I lift raw.
4. Are you a bench specialist or a 3 lift athlete? I’m a 3 lift athlete.
5. What are some of your accomplishments? Titles?
6. What federations have you lifted in? USAPL and WABDL
7. What is your preferred federation? USAPL
8. Best advice you can give? Be your biggest critic, never get comfortable with where
you’re at.
9. Training philosophy, beliefs, and/or methods? In all my years of training I made listening
to my body my top priority. I do a lot of bodybuilding style workouts and train low
volume on the big three lifts.
10. How many days a week do you train? I train 4-5 days a week.
11. Some of your fondest memories?
12. Favorite lift and why? Squat is my favorite lift. Its something about having the weight on
my back.
13. Do you have any records or championships? I have Georgia and Hawaii State Records.
14. Greatest motivation? The possibility of falling short of my goals.
15. What is your diet like? My diet is clean 90% of the time. The other 10% is whatever I get
my hands on.
16. One thing nobody knows about you? In my 3 years of competing I never programmed
long-term. I’ve always programmed day by day. Which is unheard of at my level
17. Any pre-contest superstitions? I must eat a burger and drink a beer the night before any
competition.
18. Future plans? Open a gym and make a difference.
19. Describe yourself in one word?
Dynamic
Thomas TD Davis Powerlifter
One of the very hard to accept facts of powerlifting and the activity of just getting a heck of a lot stronger is that “less is more.” Powerlifters are driven, often compulsive, analytic, have great attention to detail, and of course competitive. These are all positive traits for an athlete seeking success in what will always be our beloved though obscure sport. Certainly the general public’s interest and involvement in all fitness activities relative to the 1950s and ‘60s where most people’s focus was on “work”, earning a living, and doing not-so-strenuous-stuff when off from employment has given some awareness to powerlifting. However, in a world, during an era where most men worked a job involving some level of physical labor and often an incredible amount of physical labor that severely taxed energy levels and drained the desire to do physical activity when not required, any type of weight training was seen in a negative light. Among the iron workers in my family and those they worked with, my ability to lift and carry very heavy equipment and pieces of steel in the shop and on jobs earned respect, but most of the men, primarily immigrants or at best first generation Americans brought up in immigrant neighborhoods with immigrant values, thought I was short of common sense for dedicating time and energy to powerlifting and training to improve my football performance. It was an accepted adage that working hard at what were often brutal physical tasks made one stronger and of course it did, up to a point.