02 May RPS US Open – Part 1

By: Brian Carroll

The RPS US Open was a meet that I planned on doing when I first heard about it in 2015 when Gracie sent me an invite to come out and battle for the cash. Around this time I made up my mind that I wanted to peak for this meet and win the cash as it had the biggest payout of any meet that I’d seen in some time.

The payouts went as follows:

Prize Money & Awards (Schwartz for men, Malone for women)
$5000 – Best Multiply Male
$5000 – Best Raw Male
$1500 – Best Raw Female
_______________________
$1500 – EVERY ALL-TIME WORLD RECORD BROKEN (score table must be notified before you take your attempt or no record/payout

There was also a HUGE amount of Inzer Gift Card Cash given to the best female equipped lifter and TONS of awards and prizes given out everyone who placed as well as AWESOME gift bags for each competitor with Inzer Gripper wraps, Inzer gift cards, cookies, sweet meet shirts and the like for each competitor.

The promoters and sponsors

Gracie V and Russel Kern put on a HELL of a meet with what everyone wants with powerlifting – a good venue and MONEY payouts. They are well on their way to having meets with even bigger payouts in the near future according to Russell after the meet. And holy Crap, did Inzer come through with a very nice sponsorship for the meet that really allowed everyone to see that Inzer is about powerlifting growing and being positive. Giving back to the lifter to help their lifting excel. I think this is why the meet went so well – the sponsors Inzer Advance Designs, Russel Kern and other really went the extra mile for this meet and it showed.

I was super happy to see that equipped lifting was getting such a big payout and this is what initially drew me to the meet. Money talks right? Well, then I saw how much work, time, money, sweat and tears gracie was putting into this meet and I KNEW IT was going to be good. I’ve known Gracie ever since she was a tiny shy little thing about 5-6 years ago and she’s become quite the lifter and promoter.

Going into the meet…..

The XPC didn’t go that well for me and I had a hard time during the 7 weeks in between staying motivated and staying on track. It’s hard when a meet kinda goes sideways while you’ve put so much effort into it. The support from my friends and family allowed me to do this – namely my wife Ria, my PRS & Samson teammates and best friends (too many to name) made it possible.

The fact that Byrd, Channing and Jason K were so motivated to come and help me achieve my goals halfway across the country were sometimes the only thing that kept me going when things just weren’t going that well in training. At times, you name it, it went wrong! But that’s how things go in training and in life. Thankfully Inzer Advance Designs has my back and always came through in the clutch for me.

I finished up training very strong with some of my best training in years and got ready to go to the meet optimistic to battle Jimmie and Tory, both of who can beat me on any day with the Schwartz formula as Jimmie can go 2500 and Tory could go 2700 – both which are very hard to beat by formula. I was confident I would be in the mix and it would come down to the last few lifts. I was right.

I landed in San Diego on Wednesday – 4/20 around 11:30am with my wife Ria. We got our luggage, headed to the meet site, California Elite Training Center and talked with Gracie for a bit and then went grocery shopping, then got settled in the hotel and relaxed. When I landed, I was sitting about 253-254 so my weight was right on point as it always is for a big cut, otherwise you will have a mess on your hands and a bad cut. My methods are laid out here.
The next day, I wasn’t feeling the best due to the cut and starting to drop water, so Ria went out sight-seeing and got some pretty cool pictures with some ugly mammals. As fate would have it, Jimmie P and Emily’s room was right next to mine so I ran into both of them literally, and got to know them a little bit the day before weigh-ins and had some fun chatting and hanging out. By bedtime, I was down to 245 and was in a good place. Around 10pm, I took more Shred RX (over the counter water pill) and hopped in bed for the night and watched some Netflix.

I woke up at 6am at around 243.5 and started spitting as we got ready to head to weigh ins. Weigh ins were right at 9:00am on the dot and NOT a minute earlier, per the RPS rules so getting the meet site early was NOT in vain, we got on a weigh in list and this worked well as Jimmie and I were second to arrive. After more spitting and time to weigh in, I jumped on the scale at 242.2 and got off and immediately started drinking and eating, then it was time to bag up.

I spent the rest of the day stuffing my face, laying down, drinking and relaxing as much as humanly possible. Got some really good food in me for dinner and the day absolutely flew by like a whirlwind, before I knew it, time for bed.

By the evening around 8:00pm I was sitting at 267 nude and actually backed off my eating for a bit so to not be too heavy for my gear the next day.

I had my sights set on doing enough to win, and having a chance to get the total record once that was secured. I knew I was going to be in for a battle and was up for the challenge. Both Jimme P and Tory P are not chumps and both could have huge days pretty easily.

I also couldn’t wait to watch the raw lifters in the meet as well as my client Rachel lift along side me. Sharing the platform with so many legends was going to be fun and I couldn’t wait.

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Brian Carroll

Owner and Founder at PowerRackStrength.com

Brian is a retired world-class powerlifter with over two decades of world-class powerlifting. From 1999 to 2020, Brian Carroll was a competitive powerlifter, one of the most accomplished lifters in the sport's history. Brian started off competing in bench press competitions 'raw,' then, shortly into the journey, he gravitated toward equipped lifting as there were no "raw" categories then. You only had to choose from single-ply (USPF) and Multi-ply (APF/WPC). Brian went on to total 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He's totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. With 60 squats of 1000lbs or more officially, this is the most in powerlifting history, regardless of weight class or federation, by anyone not named David Hoff. Brian realized many ups and downs during his 20+ years competing. After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. After years of back pain and failed therapy, Brian met with world-renowned back specialist Prof McGill in 2013, which changed his trajectory more than he could have imagined. In 2017, Brian Carroll and Prof McGill authored the best-selling book about Brian's triumphant comeback to powerlifting in Gift of Injury. Most recently (10.3.20) -Brian set the highest squat of all time (regardless of weight class) with 1306 lbs – being the first man to break the 1300lb squat barrier at a bodyweight of 303 lbs.

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