04 Dec Tales from Team Samson: Name Calling, Bicep Tears and Naptime

By Jonathan Byrd

Training with people smarter and stronger than you will often push you to a new level that you did not think you could achieve. I was very lucky to be welcomed into training with Team Samson in the summer of 2013. I was rehabbing my pec tear and wasn’t sure where powerlifting would take me. Adam Driggers opened a door for me that otherwise might have been closed for me. I have trained with some strong guys over the years, but as a group it is hard to argue against how talented the group of lifters at Samson are. With that being said, at times training with this group of misfits can be crazy.

[wa-wps]

Adam is very protective of his gym, as well he should be. The lifters in the gym are also very protective of it for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that Adam really does us a big favor by letting us train there, and of course we take pride in that. Since my time started at Samson we have had a lot of lifters come and go.

We had a younger lifter ask to come out and train, and Adam gave him a shot to see if he fit in. Being the group of difficult to get along with individuals that we are, we put this young man to the test early on. At no point did we ever call him by his name. In fact we called him by a different name every training session. See a big part of training and competing is being mentally strong. If the new guys can’t handle a little joking then they will never make it as successful lifters. This particular young man only made it about a month, and we have not seen him since. Much like we figured, he didn’t have what it takes to make the cut.

Some moments can be funnier than others, and at times they become funny later. One that jumps out in my mind is from Clint Smith at Raw Unity a few years ago. The warm up room was a fair distance away from the platform, and there were multiple rooms between the warm up room and the stage. During the last deadlift flight Clint was still in the warm up room with us, rather than being near the platform ready for his attempt. Just as Brian was going to ask Clint why he was back there, Mindy Underwood comes into the room and yells “CLINT YOU ARE UP!” So in typical Clint Smith fashion, he runs from the warm up room, grabbing his belt from a table in the other room while hitting a spin move. During this time what is playing? The “Rocky” theme song, “Going to Fly Now”. Yeah I can’t make this shit up! Clint runs right to the bar, gets his grip, gives it a pull………BAM!  There goes his bicep. Clint drops to one knee, jumps up and takes off walking! We get him to the back where he gets some ice and medication. Of course none of this is really funny at the time, but as everyone is just sitting in the room Brian asks, “Hey Clint, you know you just bombed out right?” I couldn’t hold back from laughing at that point! Of course the good news is that Clint got his bicep fixed and has since hit a PR total.

There are often arguments in the gym, some funnier than others. Even last week Brian was breaking in some new bench shirts and having some issues staying awake. Depending on who you ask, there maybe someone else to blame, but doesn’t take away the funny factor. As Brian was helped up off the bench by Filipe, he decided to take a nap. Brian ended up on the floor and immediately an argument begins. As Brian is trying to wake up, Clint and Filipe begin to blame each other for Brian’s recent nap. This argument continued for several minutes as Brian eventually makes it off the floor. We are really some great teammates!

The environment of Team Samson is part of what makes it special. We have our own style of love, but mostly we are assholes to each other.  The only reason this works is because when it comes down to it, we always look out for each other.

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Jonathan Byrd

Jonathan Byrd is a competitive powerlifter, with over 16 years of training experience. Byrd has been ranked nationally for the past 6 years under multiple categories. His total has ranked as high as second nationally in the 275 class. He currently has a best total of 2500lbs. Best individual lifts include a 1040lb squat, a 750lb bench press, and 735lb deadlift. His 1040lb squat ranks him 26th all-time squats at the 308 class. Jonathan currently trains out of Team Samson Gym in Jacksonville, FL. Before powerlifting Jonathan was a college athlete at Methodist University as both an all-conference football player and track athlete. Following graduation he played four years of arena football in various leagues.

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