A Great Day at the PB Strength and Fitness Lifting Competition.

Apr 28

6 min read

On April 6th, PB Strength and Fitness Mentoring hosted its third lifting competition. Competitors and spectators gathered to witness a fantastic display of raw strength and sportsmanship and to enjoy being a part of our lifting community, where all ages, abilities, and experience levels are welcome.

The Weigh-In: Setting the Stage with the Wilks Co-efficient

Upon arrival, we asked competitors to weigh in. For the final results, we used the Wilks Co-efficient, a formula designed to level the playing field across different body weights, eliminating the need for weight classes; this meant that the winner of each lift wouldn't necessarily be the person who lifted the heaviest weight but the person who lifted the heaviest weight relative to their body weight.

The Challenge: A Test of Strategy and Strength

The competition consisted of back squats, bench presses and deadlifts. Competitors had three attempts at each lift, with their heaviest successful attempt counting as their score. We celebrated the winner of each lift and crowned the overall champions who had the heaviest total across all three lifts (based on their Wilks score). Most competitors opted to open with a weight they were confident they could lift to secure a solid score early on. From there, the challenge intensified as subsequent attempts pushed competitors to their limits to pursue personal bests and top scores.

The Men's Competition

The competition got off to an exciting start as the men began their back squats. Many of the guys lifted very similar numbers, striving to add a bit extra while ensuring they could still hit full depth and stand it back up successfully. It was particularly close between Martin, Steve, and Nick, who lifted 158, 160, and 161, respectively!

Chris stole the show with a final lift of 180kg!! After a very slow and sticky (yet successful) second attempt at 170kg, 180 seemed ambitious. However, Chris used his adrenaline and the support of everyone to his advantage and performed an excellent rep at 180kg, securing his win in the squat category.

Peter managed a very impressive PB of 110kg—even more remarkable given that he was the lightest athlete in the field. It was his first lifting competition, and it has been less than a year since his knee replacement surgery. Well done, Peter! Peter also went on to achieve personal bests in the bench press and the deadlift, so it was a fantastic day for him!

Things were really heating up by the time we got to the bench press. Dan managed an excellent PB of 85kg, and Steve achieved treble figures of 100kg in his final attempt. Still, the standout bench press performance was Nick, who won the category and lifted a massive 121 kilograms in attempt number 2! He tried 125 for his final attempt - it has a nice controlled descent, but unfortunately, despite trying for several seconds, it just didn't want to go back up. I can't wait to see Nick achieve this in the future!

The deadlift was very exciting! Paul managed a lifetime best of 145kg. He, too, was one of the lightest athletes in the field. It's also only been a couple of years since his knee replacements—what a comeback! Dan got a very impressive PB of 160kg; Martin managed 180kg - this weight has been his nemesis for a little while, having had a few recent unsuccessful attempts at it, but the competition was the day it finally went, and it looked solid - like there is a little more there even!

All eyes were on Steve, though! His opening lift of 190kg was heavier than any other men had reached even by their final attempt, showcasing just how impressive this was! The weight flew up, as did 201 kilograms on his 2nd attempt - this was a PB for him and where he wanted to get to coming into the competition. We had a chat about what his final effort should be and settled on 210! The weight moved smoothly and comfortably - such a remarkable demonstration of strength, with more to come - this could well be his opening lift by the next competition!

Calling a winner was particularly challenging, as different athletes claimed victory in each lift: Chris in the squat, Nick in the bench press and Steve in the deadlift. The uncertainty of how the Wilks Co-efficient would ultimately impact the final standings further heightened the suspense. This is the first time we've seen such a close finish: Nick emerged as the winner with a total score of 468kg, just edging out Steve's total score of 470kg by less than half a Wilk's point.

The top three athletes, Nick, Steve, and Chris achieved the status of joining the 1000 lbs club by obtaining a total of over 1000 lbs (454.5kg), an incredible achievement! Fantastic work, guys!

The Women's Competition

It was equally exciting on the women's side, with Annie, Jo, and Kashmir all achieving lifetime bests in the squat! Kashmir did exceptionally well, achieving a successful lift of 75kg—the heaviest squat of all the women, despite her being the lightest competitor—giving Kashmir a well-deserved win in the back squat event.

The bench press was my time to shine! Despite being 7kg under my PB, following some recent health issues, a successful lift of 51kg was enough for me to win the category with 56.35 Wilks points. Close on my heels was Jo with a 50kg bench press (good for 42.86 Wilks points). We've only recently introduced bench presses into Jo's programme, so it's very exciting that she can manage so much weight so quickly! Based on the apparent ease at which she did this, she could well be out lifting me in the bench press by the next competition!

Whilst no stranger to training, Annie is relatively new to the gym and to being on a barbell strength programme. She continued to impress by setting a PB on the bench press of 31kg. This trend continued into the deadlift, where she successfully lifted 65kg, giving her three new personal bests; well done, Annie!

My favourite deadlift for the women was Frances's 95kg lift; this equalled her personal best from six years ago, which had gone unmatched until the day of the competition. The nice thing about this was that the form was much better this time, and felt more comfortable and controlled. After successfully lifting 95kg, Frances attempted 100kg for the final lift - the bar cleared the floor, but unfortunately, she could not lock it out. Frances could feel a slight twinge in her back, so she made the very sensible decision to put the bar back down, demonstrating a very smart training approach.

Jo had the biggest deadlift of the day on the women's side, with 107.5kg. And there is plenty more where that came from - she's destined for some huge numbers! As with the bench press, these have only recently been a part of her programme, so it was a case of finding the balance between what she could safely lift without risking injury.

I wasn't far behind with 106kg, which was enough for the win based on Wilks' points. Combined with my win from the bench press, this was enough for me to win overall in the ladies event, with Kashmir placing second and Jo in third.

The Results

Here are the results of each lift based on Wilks’s score (WS), and below that are all of the lifts that were, to my knowledge, personal bests and deserve equal recognition!

Overall:

Men:

🥇Nick 468kg (WS: 281.60)

🥈Steve 470kg (WS: 281.13)

🥉Chris 460kg (WS: 273.71)

Women:

🥇Cat 215kg (WS: 237.56)

🥈Kashmir 195kg (WS: 218.25)

🥉Jo 212.5kg (WS: 182.16)

Back Squat:

Men:

🥇Chris: 180kg (WS: 107.10)