02/11/2026
It’s been 420 days since the last time I stepped on the platform. I know there were rumblings about “being done”, but this should be a good indication that I ain’t going anywhere yet 😉 so now that we’re past that … let’s talk about Holy Wars III.
I know there’s a lot of negativity swirling around the meet, but one thing I’ve learned during my time is sport is that the people who are usually chirping the loudest weren’t good enough to be invited, nor interested enough to be there and that is what leads to these issues.
“These” people did not see all the positives about the meet ( & did a phenomenal job), they didn’t see the time and effort put into making sure the majority of all the little things were taken care of - for the lifters- and they sure as s**t didn’t see all of the quality lifts and consistent judging. “These” people want to bash something that they don’t understand, that they didn’t see live, and from a camera angle that doesn’t do anyone or anything justice. There were ~40 lifters which means ~120 squats took place. Did the judges get them all right? Absolutely not. Did some things get whites that shouldn’t have? 100%, but that’s sports. In my opinion, if 95% of squat calls were solid - that’s a pretty good day! (Most Umpires in the MLB don’t have that high of a correct call %) So with that being said, the judging and bashing from people that weren’t there/don’t even compete in the sport is a joke and it does nothing but further a divide. I’m never getting an award for squatting deep, but I have been around the block long enough to know what a badly run meet is vs a well run meet, and this was 100% the latter.
Now that I’ve given my 0.02, let’s get into the lifting ..
S: 2/3 1074✅ 1163(3lbPR)✅ 1223 (ATWR)❌ Handled it well, but didn’t have it.
B: 2/3 727❌ 727✅ 749 ✅ Bench woes continue
D: 1/1 815✅ A lot of people asked why I only took one pull and didn’t take another for the win. While I did smoke my opener, the space was cold and I never was able to get warm all day and we unfortunately pulled a hammy. I didn’t feel it was the smart move to take another one and make it worse, so we shut it down (more in comments)