Brian Carroll Meat Write-up – Battle at the Board Walk

I “competed” at the Battle of the boardwalk in NJ this past weekend and in short, I laid an egg. I had a GREAT cut coming down from 267 to 242 and was one of the easiest cuts I’ve ever had, pretty much. I just didn’t execute on meet day.

The cut:
I put in some extra work leading into the cut and I think this helped me (I didn’t stuff junk food right before the cut like I have at times) which happens when I get hungry from eating clean.
It’s a sacrifice (dropping weight) to try do something nobody has ever done at 242 – total 2700. It may not make sense to much but that doesn’t matter. I want 2700 in a second weight class, I don’t want to weigh 280+ again (my back can’t take being that big), and don’t want to lift at 265 in the 275 weight class and be a tiny 275. This is my decision and I’m good with it, that’s all the matters.

Back to the cut:
The weight came down from 267 the last heavy training day and drifted down to the 260’s and then I cut carbs and started my traditional cut. It went very well as I said… I was 253 heading to NJ and I was 247 24hr out. Came off super easy! Here is the guide you can use yourself cutting weight ebook

Ria and I headed out to the airport for our flight to Philly early Wednesday am and landed in Philly at about 830am. Smooth sailing, direction connect and then started toward AC but a stop to Wawa first and then to Walmart for supplies. This was fun seeing all the food I couldn’t eat. Haha
We got to the hotel around 3ish after getting some food and got settled in. Aside staying next to some meth heads that stayed up all night, It was a very smooth process even though I was water loading and almost had my bladder burst a few times when we were driving. VERY FUN being stuck in the car.

We ended up meeting up with a few members of the team for dinner at Longhorn – and had a good time. My weight was pretty good so I ate quite a bit… but then I was hoping I didn’t just make a fool of myself. I was a little worried I may have made myself look stupid, then have to STRUGGLE to make weight LOL.

Got back to hotel and weighed 245… right on point. Time to sleep.

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Got up at 6am and after a few night pisses, I was at 242. Easy cut! Make weight at 241.6 the first time with no issues, no sweating or anything. I did spit in line like a crazed maniac to ensure that I was under the 242.5 mark because there was quite a line forming.

Went and ate, IV’d up and did everything I was supposed to and got up to about 267 that night. Pretty much where I wanted to be. Finished up for the night with Carrabas for dinner and then pedialyte and Gatorade all night with salty foods.

Woke up at 265, ate breakfast and headed to the Expo.

I had some great help with me Jason, Keith, Adam, and many teammates both hanging out and competing – Chris Della Fave, Bartl, DD and Byrd competing and others just there supporting – Ria, kelly, Mrs. Bartl, Mr and Mrs. Paltos, Bellmore, Weirs, Beth, Marc TJ, Wong among other very cool people. My client Jacob – soon to be teammate as well was competing and had his dad with him handling him.

All of us were in the same 3rd flight for the exception of DD. So we watched him warm-up and then we go to work.

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I was feeling good. No cramps, no issues of any kind and I was as ready as ever. The venue was at the expo with bathrooms and a lot of open space right next to the warm-up room so this was perfect. Gene always has great equipment and runs great meets so this was expected. Props to gene for having the same equipment in the back as the platform. This is HUGE.
Time to lift…
My warm-ups went as follows and are the normal deal
135
225
315
Pred briefs on
500
Added New Leviathan
700
850
950 – all went well beside an unrack issue. Rack was too high

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Opener – 1050 – beat Adams up call by a tad, but everything felt wrong with this squat and that’s why I came up a little early. It just felt wrong. The hip hinge, sitting back etc. I fucked it all up but almost pulled it off…. Barely

Second – repeat – form fell apart even worse. A real embarrassment and I flat out missed it. I came off the platform and told Adam to pass my third. I knew what it meant but things were just off and I’ve been through so much to injure myself due to not listening to my body. I feel like a third could blow something apart as my legs felt rubbery. I did not want to risk anything especially feeling like shit.

I was a little embarrassed but not as bad as I have been in the past. I’ve had bad cuts, like 8 years ago where I missed warm-ups. This was not a bad cut, it was just a bad showing.

So, I sucked it up, took off my gear, took a few moments to reflect on what happened to absorb it, then went and helped and made sure to support everyone (I had some clients in the mix) the best I could and also met some very cool people I’d only met online. It was hard to not want to be a bitch about not lifting well but it happens. It’s been a little over 5 years since I’ve bombed and such a poor showing but it’s just part of the game. It’s part of being a leader. You suck it up, get mad for a minute and then you move forward. That’s life. It’s not about one meet, or even the fifty that I’ve done. It’s about the whole process.

A few of my teammates struggled as well in this meet while looking great in the warm-up room but I’ll let them share in their own log. I don’t get why I felt so good in the back and then fell flat on my face but the only thing I can think of is not eating enough between breakfast at 7:45am and then lifting at 12pm. I snacked some but I felt as if I was very flat going into my second attempt and it showed when I missed. That’s all I can really think of but there’s no reason to not squat 1050 cleanly other than not executing.

I learned a few things going into this meet and it was not a waste as much as I’d like to think it was. I need to make sure to slow things down and listen to my own advice when training for a meet. I was called out quite a few times about ‘why I was traveling so much’ in meet prep and all that crap, which they were correct. ‘What would you tell your clients to do with brand new gear this close to a meet’ etc. All valid points. I guess I’d gotten away with it the last few meets and made it work but not this time. I need a little more time in my Inzer gear as I made the fast track conversion work enough to have a good meet, I just didn’t execute. Nobody’s fault but my own!

I still had a very good time and thought the meet venue in the expo was pretty awesome and even though it’s a long walk to and from the parking lot and a pain to park etc, it’s a pretty cool thing and I’d like to see more of these type meets all over the US.

Atlantic City is a very different kind of city, which I’ve never been to. Some really cool spots surrounded by some scary ones. You never know where you are really and could be walking into a bad spot without even realizing it. With that said, I had a lot of fun going out.
Saturday night, Most of us went out to the boardwalk and all hung out and drank until late and then a few stayed in town until Monday but most of my guys including myself shipped out on Sunday later on.

As I sit here typing this, I’m wondering how I’m taking this as well as I am…. to be totally transparent with you. I really am – I would have been a mess 5 years ago, left the meet, not helped, threw a gigantic fit, blamed everyone but me and been in denial that sometimes shit happens. I guess going through real hardships/ injuries and growing up & maturing goes a long way and I realize nobody is dead, I’m 100% healthy (as healthy as I can get at this point) , I have more meets to do whenever I want and I still have goals to hit as long as I want to put in the work toward them. Getting pissed, sour and angry does nothing but sidetrack me from what I’m going to be doing over the next year with my business, lifting and other goals. I’m just learning the hard way about some things.

As Jason Pegg would say – it’s lifting weights. Period. It’s not life or death. I love lifting and it bothers me when I don’t execute, having a bad showing or when I don’t the “high” one gets after an awesome meet, PR or great training session – that, my friend is ADDICTING AND WHAT I CHASE. But I realize that it can’t always be that way, no matter how bad I want it to be. You will be let down.

What I’ve learned the hard way is that it’s how you handle yourself after you get off the platform and more important than what you do when you’re on it. It’s easy to be a in a good mood and be around others when you have a great day. Not so much when you have a crappy day.

It’s gotten to the point that getting that 242 record is my nemesis and it’s funny, literally makes me laugh in frustration about since I’ve trained for it off and on for so long and it’s always just out of grasp. It will be all the sweeter when I put it together to get it. Nothing really has ever come easy to me, I’m a slow learner but I do learn from my mistakes and do feel bulletproof at times which I’m not! I just need reminders from time to time.

For the time being, I’m going to be knee deep making some additions and upgrades on/to the site and not worrying about training for a meet or peaking for a while. I have a bad habit of spreading myself thin and not focusing enough on just one thing at a time. I need to be more focused, period. I have some cool things I’m going to do with the site and can’t wait to get this rolled out.

Huge thanks to Inzer for their support for my team and for providing the best gear around! Thanks to my team for coming out, to my wife for standing beside me no matter what. Thanks to all who support what we are doing via swag, social media, coaching, programming etc. I really appreciate you!

More soon to come! This is not my first Rodeo!

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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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