Powerlifting Questionnaire - 7/12/05

1. What is your name, age and profession?

Chris Wessells, 30, System Administrator

2. Give us a BRIEF lifting history including your best lifts/total.

I tried to lift in high school but I didn’t have the attention span to really get into lifting. I did some body building stuff from 19 to 21. After a couple degrees I found the time to start lifting again around 2002. Again I started reading FLEX and getting pumped. I saw a flyer for the Idaho State Powerlifting Championships in Pocatello and decided to try. I took my weight class with some weak lifts but I was hooked.

1344 @181, 540 Squat, 352.75 Bench, 451.9 Deadlift

3. Give us a brief template of your training week.

:::Westside for Skinny Bastards::: for the summer and standard Westside during winter

Monday – Max Bench with 4 exercises, Tuesday – Max Squat with 4 exercises, Friday – Volume bench – 4 exercises with high reps, Saturday – Strongman training with 4 events (every other week)

4. What kind of workout did you do when you first got into lifting and how old were you?

I was about 19 when I really started lifting. I am a Dorian Yeats fan. I would warm up then try to hit one set all out. Usually turned into marathon workouts.

5. What kind of powerlifting workout did you do when you first started competing?

I really didn’t have a clue about powerlifting training. I just lowered my rep scheme to 6-8 reps.

6. What kind of powerlifting equipment (bench shirt, squat suit, etc.) do you use?

Centurion Squat/DL, Titan Briefs, Titan Fury Bench shirt, 2.5m Metal wraps (APF), 2m TP5000 knee wraps (USAPL), TP5000 Wrist wraps

7. What powerlifting equipment would you like to try?

I would like to try a canvas squat suit Frantz, Leviathan, or Ginny Phillips, Metal gear and a Titan Boss. I would also like to try a denim bench shirt.

8. What is the best advice anyone has ever given you about lifting?

Take your time and set it up.

9. What is the worst advice you’ve ever been given?

If you want a huge bench, do cable crossovers, (I actually just read that one from SOYG) I have been lucky in getting really good advice.

10. What is the worst injury you’ve had and what did you do to overcome it?

Pulled a muscle in my lower back. I have been working on my form and building the posterior chain muscles

11. What is the worst sticking point (on any on the lifts) that you had to overcome and what did you do to correct it?

I am working on my lockouts for Squat and Bench, before that I had a deadlift lockout problem so I did heavy rack pulls.

12. What exercises do you believe have increased your bench, squat and deadlift?

Bench – board presses, Squat – box squats, Deadlift – band deadlifts

13. What does your diet consist of?

Breakfast – cereal and yogurt, Protein shake if I remember, Lunch - sandwiches 2 fruit chips, protein drink, Dinner – ½ a large plate of protein and carbs, protein shake, the other ½ of my dinner

14. What kind of supplements do you use?

BooKoo, multi vitamin, protein shakes

15. Where do you get your training information?

I read online articles, posting boards, books, magazines, but mostly online.

16. What changes would you like to see in powerlifting?

I would like to see a fewer number of federations, and more standardized rules (ie squat depth). I like lifting in USAPL but I don’t like walking out. I like AAPF/APF but USAPL gives away better swag.

17. If you’ve ever had to cut weight for a powerlifting contest, what did you do?

Yeah, I started dieting a 3 weeks out from the meet to drop most of the weight. Then I dropped the last couple pounds the day before the meet in the sauna.

18. Is there anyone you would like to thank?

I would like to thank Alex for lifting with me throughout the bodybuilding year and continuing the powerlifting support and Donny for pointing Alex and I in the right direction for learning more about powerlifting. I would also like to thank all the people at the meet who were nice enough to help out a green horn like myself that helped draw me into the sport.