Meet Recap: Mark competed at the USAPL Arnold Raw Challenge, where he placed 2nd overall, taking home a nice paycheck of $1,500 and a Pro Card! Mark’s best lifts on the day were a 563lb. squat, 386lb. bench press, and a 661lb. deadlift that added up to a 1,610lb. total. Squat and deadlift on the day were extremely strong, and I know it pains Mark not to have been able to take full advantage of that. Unfortunately on squat in particular, Mark got called on his 1st and 2nd attempt for a supposed issue with his knee sleeves not being tight enough, which even though his 2nd attempt was 3 red lights, it was then overturned to a good lift after deliberation by the jury. At that point momentum had taken a bit of a hit and we played it conservative on squat, not knowing what to expect from the refs. The planned 3rd would have been 260-262.5kg, but went 255kg to be safe as we couldn’t risk not securing some additional kilos to the total. That carried into deadlift as well, and just frankly was a weird day to put it lightly. Big props to Mark for staying focused, as I know he was incredibly frustrated, but still went out and did everything he could to perform his best on the day and not let things that were out of his control ruin the day. The goal was top 3 and that was definitely achieved, but I know he has a big chip on his shoulder for USAPL Nationals in June.

Division: Open

Weight Class: 75kg

Squat: 563lbs.

Bench: 386lbs.

Deadlift: 661lbs.

Total: 1,610lbs.

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