12 Mar Powerlifting Influences
By Daniel Dalenberg
I’ve been actively competing for 13 years. My first meet was in February of 2004, I had just turned 15 years old and was lifting at 165lbs at the time. I think I weighed in around 150-155. I had no clue what I was doing, didn’t know anything about powerlifting besides I liked lifting weights and I’m not sure I had even heard of gear. I totaled 750 or so that day. Strong start, right?
Over those 13 years, I’ve done 25 meets. I’ve squatted 800 raw, benched 500 raw, and totaled 2000 raw. I have done two equipped meets and my squat is in the mid 900’s, bench 700 and sneaking up on a 2400 total in a hurry. In 13 years of competing, I’ve had my share of people who influenced me, helped me along the way and kept me going, sometimes when I wanted to quit.
[wa-wps]
Rowdy Fatheree
Mr. Fatheree was my high school English teacher. He was an amateur bodybuilder and generally a large human being. I remember him seeming larger than life considering he was 6 inches taller than me or so and close to 100 pounds heavier. He was one of the first people to take notice of me in the gym. Specifically, I knew I wanted to gain weight and be bigger so he was the first one I turned to. I remember sitting in his classroom before school, printing off page after page of nutrition articles and listening to him tell me what I should be eating and what I needed to do to get bigger.
He believed right from the start that I could be as big and strong as I wanted to be. I remember him looking me up and down and saying if I wanted to be a bodybuilder, I had the frame to carry as much muscle as I wanted to, that I could be a Lee Priest type if that’s what I wanted to do (his words, not mine). Of course, I was much more interested in powerlifting but I always appreciated that he believed that I could be as good of a strength athlete as I wanted to be.
East Coast Barbell
This is where I started to get serious about competing. This was a group of people; Cheryl Clodfelter, Scott Metcalf, Chris “Ox” Mason, Jasmine Jenkins, among others.
Let’s take a step back first though for some context.
ECBB was in Kernersville, NC, just outside of Greensboro. I found myself in Greensboro because of school. During my junior year of college, I went through a rough spot. I was half way done with my engineering degree and was burnt out. I hated it. I didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to be an engineer and didn’t want to be in Terre Haute, Indiana anymore. I was passionate about strength training and wanted to somehow make a career in the strength/fitness industry. So, I left Indiana. I ended up at the University of North Carolina Greensboro as a transfer student.
Look, I’ll be honest and admit I fit the engineering mold in a lot of ways. I’m generally an introvert. I struggled to meet people, struggled to make friends and in general had a hard time. It was tough coming in the middle of the year as a junior living in a freshman dorm where my roommate went home every weekend. The campus was beautiful; North Carolina is wonderful and I enjoyed my courses but my social life was bad.
Thankfully, I quickly found ECBB. A rag tag group of multi-ply lifters in a warehouse about a 30-minute drive from campus. These people became fast friends of mine and took me in as one of their own. I cherished my time at the gym and am grateful that I had them. In many ways that group helped get my mind clear enough to make the decision to come back to Indiana and finish what I had started. They taught me how to become physically stronger and served as a place that allowed me to grow mentally and do some soul searching.
ECBB taught me how to powerlift. They educated me on proper technique, gave me resources to learn more about programming and gave me an introduction to multi-ply powerlifting. They were my friends when I desperately needed that and gave me an outlet that let me get things figured out.
Ted Toalston/Steve Diel
These guys gave me a foundation of what I want powerlifting to be like, how I want to behave in the warmup room. From 2010-2013, I never had reliable training partners to travel to meets with me. I would wrap myself and then find someone random in the back to give a hand off on the bench. I met Steve and Ted at a meet in 2010 and found myself lifting in the same meets they did for a couple years. They would always notice that I didn’t have help and invited me to join in their little group. Ted has wrapped for me for probably around a dozen meet squats… I think.
I always admired these two guys. They were always willing to help even though I was basically a stranger. They made competing easy when I had no clue what I was doing really. I’m glad that I learned this early on because it certainly makes powerlifting more fun when we all work together in the warm up room.
Steve was also the first person to point me to Brian Carroll. I was struggling with my training and had hit a wall so I asked for his advice. He bluntly told me to email Brian and that Brian would get me straight. That was around 500 pounds ago on my total… I think Steve was right.
Brian Carroll
Just under 7 years ago, I emailed Brian asking what services he provided in terms of online training. I explained that I had been doing the typical new guy training, something I found on the internet, 5/3/1, etc. That stuff had all worked but I wanted something more. I was stuck and I was told he was the man to get with.
So, we started working together. I was a poor college student and tried to get as much mileage out of each training cycle Brian wrote for me. Usually I would have him write one, I would use it 2-3 times and then I would hire him again to write another one. Little did I know; I was one of the early 10/20/Life users. The structure was similar back then to what it is now, of course it has grown and evolved as he has learned and experimented but many of the same principles were applied. As a somewhat regular client, I saw the changes over time and got to experience some of that learning first hand.
By 2013, I had made a lot of progress and was still working with Brian. He was in the process of getting the first edition of 10/20/Life written and coming closer to getting his site up. He asked me at some point in there to help promote the book and share stuff on social media. Of course, I was happy to do that, after all I was so much stronger than when we started. I was likely one of the better “case studies” he had.
I still have Brian program for me. He helped me get through both my 2000+ raw totals, handling me himself. I still learn from him regularly. I get the benefit of learning his past mistakes, he took the hard route and now I get to reap the benefit and learn the lessons from him. He keeps me in the right direction and has taught me more about being a professional on the platform than he likely realizes. In many ways, I try to model myself after him. I’ve watched him help his direct competitors on meet day, I’ve been there when he was one of the first in the door and the absolute last to leave. I respect that, I want to do that and I try to do that.
Our relationship has changed over the years, more of a partnership these days. I appreciate how open Brian is to feedback and how unafraid he is to ask for my opinion. He wants to know what his team thinks and we have fostered a friendship that is based on candor, one where neither side is afraid to tell it like it is. I think these are ultimately the most important relationships you can have, having someone who will just say it, whatever “it” is. Even if it might offend the other guy.
Brian believes in me. I’ve learned that if he thinks I can do it, then I will do it.
Not all inclusive
I’ve had a lot of great training partners over the years, people who have helped me in meets, people who have answered questions about training. This group here though, they are the highest on my list. The people I owe the most to when it comes to my success as a strength athlete. I’m grateful for each of them and would not be doing what I am doing today without them.
Who are yours? Who got you started and who keeps you going?
Check out Daniel Dalenberg’s latest engineering creation: the Crowbar Single Prong belt adjuster.
Daniel Dalenberg
Latest posts by Daniel Dalenberg (see all)
- A Binge for the Record Books - August 20, 2018
- Training on the Go - July 6, 2018
- Dan Dalenberg | Deload and 5k week! - June 18, 2018
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.