14 Mar Arnold 2016 – My Perspective (Wednesday & Thursday) – Part 1

By: Brian Carroll

I’ve done many Arnold weekends over the last decade. I’ve been to this weekend many, many times and competed, especially over the last 5 years. It’s no secret that with all of the distractions the weekend brings, that lifting well during this weekend is not an easy thing to do. With all the traffic, friends in town, crowded places to eat, things to do and the change in weather for many of us, it provides some very unique variables that can throw wrenches in your plans.

[wa-wps]

I started planning for the Arnold trip about a month out. Ordering tons of apparel, doing the logistics for the weekend so that the booth would be maintained, lining up and providing adequate help for the 13-14 people lifting on this weekend and at the same time making sure all my clients knew their numbers and had handlers in place as best as possible.

Oh, and making sure I was focused on making weight and my own lifting as well. It was quite a challenge that I grew to enjoy a lot – most of the time. I’m learning to be much more organized as I get busier – this has been a change for me.

Here’s a little background about me that some may not know.

One thing about me that some don’t know is that I have a photographic memory. Like calling me an elephant is an understatement. I don’t forget much for years and years. Ask those close to me and part of the reason why I hold such bad grudges at times. I remember vividly conversations, promises made, stories and fact stated to me, agreements and things said to me, about me and around me to a fault. This leads to both good and bad. Anyway, back to the weekend.

The long term part has always been a huge strength of mine. As I’ve had more repsonsiblitlies fall on me over the years, my short term memory has went into the crapper at times (it was always good in the past). I have been so used to simply remembering everything; what I need to do every day without much planning or scheduling, it’s been a change to actually start planning and being more organized. To give you perspective I can still remember all of my numbers and my training partners numbers in the gym, in their meets for their training cycles and all of their best lifts etc. In HS, I could remember what I wore each day for my whole school years. It’s just how my mind works. I can also tell you when lifts were made and where etc. Ask Byrd, lol.

Back to the weekend, even when you over plan, make the adjustments needed and cover all bases, things will still jump out at you that you cannot prepare for. More on this later on….

Byrd, Ria and myself had the same flight and landed in Columbus on Wednesday 3/2 at about 11am. I always give myself a buffer of a couple of days to make sure I’m never running behind with my prep for the cut. The weather? It was nice – snowy, but not too cold. We all were staying at the Sonesta in Dublin and Byrd, Ria, myself and a few others got settled in and ready to rest some. Jason Pegg came by the room for a bit and we caught up. It’s always good to see Jason Pegg, as we have been buddies for many years. He is always entertaining, as many of you know! I checked my weight and it was right on point at about 253. Right where I needed it to be. I always carry my own scale with me that I’ve had for years since I know it’s pretty close to all calibrated meet scales and I weigh myself on this scale every single day.

As the night wore on, we caught up with a few more people, got some supplies from the grocery store that I forgot to tell Jason to grab (thank you J) and got back and rested the rest of the night.

The next morning I woke up and went looking for my scale since Dean, Crystal and Morgan had to make weight. Well, the day started off shitty and because my scale no longer worked when it came back. Granted, it had a lot of miles on it. Literally, and to make matters worse, I really needed to see where my weight was since I was 24hr out from weigh ins. I didn’t let myself melt down though, haha.

Scott Paltos came by as he came into town and he and Ria quickly went out to Walmart to grab a scale for me so we could have over at the Rhodes Center to match up the meet scale with mine. Additionally, they helped set up the 10/20/Life booth for the XPC weekend! I matched up the scale and it was identical to the 1/10 of the lb. We were in good shape – 250.0lbs

We finished unloading the 10 suitcases of 50lbs full of swag and set it up. Lisa, Todd, Scott, Byrd and Channing and Courtny helped us set it up and were were good to go! Ria stayed back with Scott and they got it looking tip top! Thanks guys.

I headed back to my room and started pulling some water off. By this time I was around 248 or so, I was in perfect and great shape. Not feeling too bad. By this time, people starting rolling in from the team and we all hung out a bit in my room. Not too much later – Jason, Paul and Conrad landed and we all got together and chilled for a bit. After a while passed, Zane and Tuesday came by and we goofed off as we watchd the clown Republican debate.

Everyone then went to bed and crashed. I went to check my weight on my new scale and things started to go awry….I checked my weight 10x on the same scale and got reads from 245 to 252. FUCK. Not good – my scale was betraying me. Again.

I was tired by this time so just went to bed with the plan to get up at 3am and start sweating and probably run to Walmart to get some more scales. Oh joy. But luckily even though the scale was off, I knew I was no heavier than 246 so I didn’t panick too much. I popped some more water pills and went to bed.

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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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