Long due update to the blog! Bodypower Expo and all that goes with it.

I seem to start most of my blog updates with the fact that I have not been updating in a while. 

Well, this time my excuses are numerous. First off, I got a supplement sponsor, and delayed update until I had added his links to my page. Then suddenly Bodypower Expo (biggest fitness expo of UK) offered BPU a deal to host a powerlifting comp there with less than 3 weeks notice. Working towards that, arranging my own competition due to be held on 27th of September, then heading to compete in the European Championships and taking my referees exam also during the Championships in Latvia. During all this deciding to get married with few weeks notice one could say it has been busy!

But I will start an autopsy of the recent 2 months  now with a delayed report of the BodyPower Expo, and who knows, maybe I will get back on track with my updates!

Bodypower Expo

This was a devastatingly hard work for me, Emma and rest of the BPU people. On a few weeks notice we had to whip up enough competitors and activities to last through three days in a fashion worthy of the biggest fitness expo of the UK. Reason for this short notice was that the man usually holding the comp has been deemed a cunt by most of the powerlifting community and could not really pull it together. But desperate for preventing anyone else getting their hands on the comp, the sorry excuse for a man was promising to hold the meet up until the end. 

No examination of the size of his penis needed after that kind of behavior.

Well, at the last minute the Bodypower people realized that he is not able to arrange a mug of piss for them and  they need their attraction powerlifting there, so they contacted the only person able to pull it off with that notice, Emma James, president of the BPU (OK, most of you know she is also my wife, but even unbiased, it has to be admitted that propably none other in UK could have done it). 

The next step involved on top of all the normal competition arranging lots of personal messaging, e-mailing and general talking about it, because as a non profit organisation there is not a million dollar marketing budget to be used. So that was done with long hours sitting with a laptop and everything from cunning updates to chatting with lifters-to-be.

Besides that, it was the third weekend in a month for BPU to host a comp, so the men who AGAIN dragged the equipment and their arses on the venue were also taxed to the limit, so one more dealyed thank you to everyone involved, especially Darren Hammond, David Jenkinson and Dans Sharrett and Evans. 

So we worked hard, got a spiffing competition together and also attracted new lifters and crowd members to participate in the fun!

Andy Bolton did his share, and no small share was that! He put on a workshop for participants, and gave solid advice to a select small group. One of the most amazing results was a chap who pulled a 40kg PR in deadlift under Andys coaching! I also participated in hopes of getting tips for my crap deadlift.

Here am I being coached by Andy

And here is Rhianon Lovelace. Notice the crowd and the change of perspective by the photographer Hammond!

Competitors truly ranged from the best of the best (UK best ever under 110kg RAW lifter, David "Executor" Jenkinson" and over 1000kg total owner Artur Schrzazcz who met in a deadlift showdown which saw David pulling 350 to beat Artur and win their personal wager)

to first timers, some of whom made a huge impact.

Holly Caddy, first time competitor pulled a 170kg deadlift:

To media sweethearts, teenage superstars Bronwyn and Cosmo Taylor:

And everything in between disabled lifters like Terry Smith with artificial leg benchind AND deadlifting with the able bodied people, Scottish strongmen like Andy Cairney, and a first timer Alan Wilson who pulled a 250kg deadlift in his first ever comp, currently under chemotherapy and a cancer survivor!

!

I competed also, even though the training or the energy level was not really up for anything special. I had a wager also for best bench on points with the best equipped junior in UK, Jack Chambers. Not to rub it in (no pun intended) but I WON! Measly 262.5kg was my bench, but as we both did not so well, that was enough to beat Jack. Next time boy!

Jack Chambers and his favourite assistance exercise for the squat...

But tro be fair, me and Dan Evans sharing the announcing resposibilities, both of us participated and also had a wager, my bench against his deadlift. I lost a beer to him on, which he won by a 2.5 kilo margin! Damn you!

So that and much more was whipped up in 3 weeks, just wait for next year. We will have the European championships in Juneand Bodypower will serve as a single lift qualifier for those also. and with a full year to plan, it is going to be better than ever, that is a promise!

So that is the first installation of my catching up, hopefully more catching up later on in the week!

PS. Many people ask me about being married. well I skipped honeymoon to arrange at the BPU British Nationals, am sleep deprived, worked long days and had crap to eat. Still, every morning I think I have made the best decision of my life. So there is the answer to that.

And Mike Sweeney in his blog gave me the moniker of boytoy! Not bad either!

http://irnmike.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/cheersto-emma-and-boy-toy.html

Till next time, be strong!