Alright, to start off the brand new LTS blog; we're going to just dive deep into how our athletes performed at the most recent Powerlifting Singapore Junior and Tertiary Nationals. Personally, I wanted a more casual, yet informative way of reviewing and recapping competitions without the need to make it so concise and short through social media posts. I may in the future, use the blog to discuss other topics, but for now; let's get right into it.
Sean Ng - Under 66kg Sub Junior:
3rd Place - 150kg Squat / 105kg Bench / 187.5kg Deadlift / 442.5kg Total on 6/9 Attempts
Sean has an interesting storyline leading up to this competition. He and I have been working together for nearly a year and a bit now. What's so interesting is that he competed at last year's SPO and had a freak accident on his 3rd attempt squat and his hip just gave out. He soldiered on through that competition to at least finish it off, although we did not have the day we had intended. So in some ways, this nationals was to put up a total he could be proud about. We spent months and months rehabbing post-SPO and amidst all that, Sean had moved to the UK as well. We built his strength and confidence back up for the squat and deadlift, slowly but surely, we got him stronger than ever and we managed to sting together a really decent prep leading into nationals. Now although we had done everything to prep him for comp day, some things just didn't go our way and he learned a few new lessons through this experience. His 3rd attempt squat, he went out with only one knee sleeve because he had taken them off after the 2nd due to the lack of blood circulation. Mistake #1, he couldn't get them back on in time and went out and attempted his third attempt which he still managed to move despite having only one knee sleeve on. Unfortunately, the attempt was red lighted 2 to 1 due to depth - something we will be working on. As for bench and deadlift, for the most part; these two went according to plan. We missed the 2nd bench attempt due to a technical issue and the 3rd attempt deadlift was just too much for the day.
Kaeden Ong - Under 74kg Sub Junior:
1st Place - 212.5kg Squat / 92.5kg Bench / 232.5kg Deadlift / 537.5kg Total on 5/9 Attempts
Maybe it would be better for Kaeden's coach to speak on this, but since I handled him; I'll give my take on it from my perspective. The TL;DR version is anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the squat anyways. Just gotta sink those squats to be very honest. I didn't expect much from the bench since he had strained his pec about 1 week out so we took what we could and got a little too ambitious on the third. Secured the W with his 2nd attempt deadlift and just tried to squeeze a bit more on the third which just did not want to budge. A very tough learning lesson, but better here than at Asian's (the next comp Kaeden will partake in, allegedly).
Samuel Kwan - Under 66kg Junior:
2nd Place - 207.5kg Squat / 145kg Bench / 247.5kg Deadlift / 600kg Total on 7/9 Attempts
Slowly and steadily, Sam has been closing the gap between himself and Tristan. Not the most ideal conditions, but he made the most of what was given to him on the day. We started off really strong with a 7.5kg PR on squats, but after that; he just seemed to have been gassed out. Bench didn't show up the way we had imagined and he made a rookie mistake for his 2nd attempt deadlift (changed his normal routine and slapped his talced up thighs which caused the bar to slip right out of his hands). Either way, we snagged a cheeky 5kg PR on total and can finally tick off the 600 mark. Now we look towards (potentially) Junior World's followed by going up a weight class (where he's much more suitable for).
Tristan Ho - Under 66kg Junior:
1st Place - 223kg Squat / 153kg Bench / 235kg Deadlift / 611kg Total on 5/9 Attempts
For a really bad day for him, objectively, it wasn't all that bad. Junior squat record, Junior & Open bench record, and first place in his class; you would think this would be a good day for anyone. Not for this kid. He has the highest expectations for himself, but as I've said it to him multiple times; you have to do the things outside of training as well to ensure you can be at your best. Low hanging fruits which we can easily manage, and they WILL be managed leading into Junior World's, so expect nothing but his best when the time comes. Again, better at this comp than at World's. He went from platform coaching / handling the whole day before and crash course dieting which resulted in a less than ideal performance for his standards. Of course, we were both disappointed with how things turned out, but we both learned many things through this experience and on a personal level, I do hope it was a very much needed wake up call for him to ensure that he's doing everything in his abilities to set himself up well for Junior World's and to not repeat the same mistakes again.
Xavier Toh - Under 83kg Junior
7th Place - 210kg Squat / 115kg Bench / 260kg Deadlift / 585kg Total on 7/9 Attempts
This being Xavier's first and only competition before he enlists, we made a risky call going into his 3rd attempt deadlift. But first, his squat and bench. Squats went according to plan, whereas bench is where he made the rookie mistake of jumping commands (which was easily fixed with his 2nd attempt anyways). Now, back to deadlifts; I have no regrets about that decision regardless if he had missed it or made it (he did indeed make the lift). He's pulled 250-260 regularly in training, although his 260 pull in training wasn't locked out and he lost it at the top. He missed his opener of 230 because it was too light and he lost his balance cause it moved too fast. We nailed it on the 2nd and it looked like an RPE 5. So we made the call to just jump to his planned 3rd attempt and just had him zone in and lock in (it was the first time I've seen Xavier get that serious before). But it showed me that the kid's got it when he wants it bad enough. Nonetheless, I wish him nothing but the best while he serves the country and I do hope to see him back under a barbell when that's all over!
Alldan Chan - Under 83kg Junior
6th Place - 212.5kg Squat / 120kg Bench / 252.5kg Deadlift / 585kg Total on 6/9 Attempts
Now, Alldan has been with me for quite awhile and this was our 3rd comp working together. He had finally committed to moving up a weight class and his lifts were blowing up. His squat especially, although his comp performance wasn't reflective of the gains he has made (albeit, there were other considerations as to why his squat didn't quite show up.) I won't highlight why the squat didn't show up, but he at least knows now what NOT to do to ensure it does show up next time. Bench took the biggest L the entire prep with overshoots and lots of helicoptering. We went it with very little expectations of that lift and we took what we could. As for deadlifts, we managed to end the comp on a high note. 250 had been Alldan's biggest boogeyman number that he had missed twice in prep. So since that number was cursed, we added 2.5 to it and just went for 252.5. Low and behold, he got it. We unlocked some huge keys to his numbers and he passed the 400 dots mark.
Lankston Ong - Under 105kg Junior
4th Place - 250kg Squat / 140kg Bench / 285kg Deadlift / 675kg Total on 6/9 Attempts
Last, but not least, the big boys. This was probably the most stacked (competitive) weight-class of the men's junior category at nationals. We didn't meet our goals, but we made the most out of his circumstances. We started off really strong with a good showing on squats, going 3/3 and securing a PR to keep up with his competitors. Unfortunately on bench, we jumped the rack command on first attempt and his butt came off on his second. We were close to bombing out, but with some grit and gumption, Lanksty pushed through the pain and nailed his third. At least keeping him in the race. We dropped his opener deadlift since his lower back was giving him grief. Nailed his first and second attempt and we were waiting to see what we needed to potentially pull for 3rd place. We secured 4th place no matter what with his 2nd deadlift so we had nothing to lose at that point. We waited to see how things would play out and upon seeing his competitor miss his 3rd attempt, we made a weight change for his 3rd attempt deadlift to pull for placing. Unfortunately, the bar just slipped right out of his hand as it started moving and that was a wrap. Lots of learning lessons, but we move forward and learn and adapt. It won't happen again.
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