USPA Ultra Nats Recap for Coach Monica

I am a sucker for new people in this sport. I want to help them all. I want them to know the things I wish I knew sooner. There is a part of this experience where you just have to jump in with both feet and say I am doing this and go for it. Warnings and anecdotes only go so far. The lived experience, even on hard mode, can teach you how invested you really want to be.

Jesus met me where I was right away. Eager, diligent, and willing to correct things immediately. His background as a soccer player told me he understood hard work and discipline. Ben vouched for him and I couldn't agree more.

I want to be transparent about the hand Jesus dealt himself, because I don't think he fully realized it at the time. This was only his second meet ever. At his first meet in Vancouver he qualified for nationals, which meant he locked himself into the 67.5kg weight class. That required a water cut. Being underfed in the most important moments of prep is a rough process, and the athletes who do it well have years of good and bad experiences to draw from. He did everything right. It is just hard, and if it can be avoided it should be.

I got him at about nine weeks out, with some technical clean up to do first. That is a short window with a new athlete, especially with the pressure of peaking a second time in less than three months. He had already hit his best at his qualifying meet a few weeks earlier, which had us in a scramble to recover. I have done it before and felt confident I could improve the progression for him. The challenge sounded fun. He gave one hundred percent intention, effort, and communication from day one.

Squats he opened with 150kg, his best at his qualifying meet, and advanced to 160kg for a solid second, a 10kg PR. He took a crack at 165kg, and got stuck in the hole. Two for three on squats, good start to the day!

Bench is his favorite lift and the one that gave him the hardest lesson of the day. Bench comes after squat. We try to replicate that fatigue in training, preparing the body to perform after heavy squats, but it is a big ask to put a squat PR on the board, after a water cut, after a nerve racking squat session, after a missed lift, and expect bench to show up the same way. In our conversations leading up to the meet he was adamant about opening heavier. As a collaborative coach I let him take the increase, him full well aware it might not go as planned. The last thing I wanted was for him to bomb out on a missed opener. I don't know Jesus well enough to not believe him, but I also have all of my knowledge telling me what a person is going to be capable of on the day. It is the hardest part of coaching to tell someone their desire may not line up with reality. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. That is the kind of drive that turns boys into beasts. That self-belief that makes them unstoppable at life. It is part of powerlifting to get the occasional serving of humble pie. It can either leave a bitter taste in your mouth that makes you want to ditch the pie altogether, or try remaking the recipe and giving it another go.

I just want to say upfront, Jesus has a freaking nice bench. You can tell it’s his favorite lift.  During warm ups I think he realized the lighter opener would have been ideal. He tried to change it and it was too late. He committed to it. 127.5kg was a hard opener. He took his second at 132.5 and missed. He scratched his third to conserve energy for deadlift.

Deadlift he had made so much progress in the gym and I was really excited for him to have some fun with it on the platform. He opened at 185kg, also his last comp best, and advanced to  195kg with a speedy and beautiful pull, and a 10kg PR. The third attempt at 200kg just wasn't there. Gym PRs don't always carry over to the platform. In fact, the first couple meets that is often the case. Does it mean it doesn't count? It may not count on the platform, but every rep, every set that happens in the gym is practice for the performance. He executed so many awesome reps leading up to this, I wish we just had a little more time here, but that wasn’t in the cards.

I cannot stress enough what a battle this kid gave himself, without really even knowing it. This was a crash course in peaking, cutting, performing, and repeating that back to back at a high level. He placed 4th in the 67.5kg drug tested division with a 482.5kg total, up from 472.5kg at his qualifying meet. He has a ton of potential, especially moving up a weight class or two. Jesus, the recipe is worth remaking. I really hope he does. It takes grit, determination, and a whole lot of encouragement from the people around you. He has all of that at Olympia Barbell. He has got what it takes. And let's not forget, getting to nationals is not an open invitation. The qualification is there for a reason. He earned his spot.

Thank you for giving me your best, welcome to powerlifting Jesus.

I first met Ben in 2018 at my second ever powerlifting meet in Bremerton, Washington. It was his third meet. He made an impression on me, and not just because of his thing for shoes that rivaled even my own obsession. He had infectious energy and he brought it to the platform. Strong and confident. I did not see him again until his name showed up on registration for a meet I was hosting last year. My first thought was, he's back! He showed up to that meet and arrived on the platform in everyone's favorite fit of the day. Head to toe pink, glitter belt and all. Bold, flashy, and absolutely my kind of people.

A few months later he reached out to Dave and me about opening a powerlifting gym in Olympia and partnering with OPS to offer his members an exclusive coaching rate. Ben had made a great impression on me and I really wanted to support the people who are actively trying to grow this sport in the PNW. We started working with a few of the Olympia Barbell crew, set some goals, and got moving.

The original plan was PLU Nationals. When that filled up before they could get their qualifying total, Ben pivoted without hesitation and lined up a different route through USPA Nationals. The goal didn't change. The timing shifted by a couple weeks. Nothing we couldn't navigate.

Working with a coach is a new experience for a lot of athletes. Suddenly there is someone in your ear who wants all the information, all the time, including the bad stuff. The weight on the bar, the variations, your opinion of the experience. I am greedy like that. I was incredibly excited to work with Ben because I could see a clear path through his pain and toward his goals, if he was willing. The first few weeks were a little rough on the communication curve. I called him out on it directly. Told him we can't get anywhere without this information. I am not a programmer, I am a coach. This is me coaching you. There was not a moment of communication deviation from that point forward. He accepted it, moved on, and gave it everything. That is a coachable athlete.

When Ben first started with me he could not train regularly under a squat bar. His shoulders and elbows were beat up. We put him on cambered bar squats while we worked on improving his range of motion and reducing pain. He also came in with some mentionable squat anxiety, that I was excited to tackle. By the time he hit his qualifying meet in Portland in March, he was in a much better spot.

Heading into USPA Ultra Nationals in Anaheim California, he traveled with some of the Olympia Barbell crew for a five-day competition, three platforms, multiple flights. A big undertaking. All week leading into his day he sounded fired up. His positive self-talk was good, his expectations were realistic, and he had confidence in what he was capable of. I genuinely had so many fun moments during his prep where the joy of success was felt far and wide, and I knew he was going to have a great day!

I was not on the floor with Ben during the meet, but stayed in communication throughout meet day, as I was firing off voice messages, shouting with excitement and cheering him on from up north.

His best squat coming in was 264kg. He opened at nationals with 300kg, a massive lifetime PR before the meet even got going. He had reported it felt heavy, but it looked fast. I agreed the speed was there. Then he took 320kg for a second, got called for depth, took it again on third, called again. Nationals is a big stage. Five spotters on the platform, a combo rack, weight that is unfamiliar on your back, it is hard not to feel crowded. This is powerlifting! We now know he can handle it, walk it out, now we just have to conquer. it. I really appreciate that Ben is honest with his feelings but he does not live in them. That is a superpower. He brushed off squats and moved on. I’m so glad he did, because he was about to blow both our minds.

What came next exceeded both our expectations. His bench performance isn’t his greatest of all time, but that isn’t what this is about. About a month out he had a minor pec tear and had not touched much over 165kg more than a few times in prep. Getting anywhere close to 182.5kg had been a challenge with everything his shoulders had been through. Bench was about getting him healthy and confident, not digging him a deeper hole to figure out how to get out of.

 During warm ups everything felt better than good. We had a great strategy with attempts. All we need is a solid opener to move from. He did exactly that opening at 165kg with a perfect lift.  Making a 17.5kg jump to his second at 182.5kg, another perfect bench. His third was a great call with a 7.5kg jump finishing at 190kg, plenty left in the tank. Perfect touches, excellent execution. He was in first place heading into deadlift, ahead by 10kg. That was not just a good bench day. That was everything the first half of our work together was building toward. All the dumbbell work, all the ISO bench, foam rolling… it all came together and showed up when it mattered most!

Ben could probably pull a sub-maximal any day of the week. This man is a human crane. Deadlift is his lift. Because the pec strain was on his supinated hand we kept pulls conservative through the peak to protect it, but both of us were confident when it mattered. He opened at 320kg, a beautiful pull. Took 332.5kg on his second ALSO, a world record and sealed the deal for the win.

He won. He scratched his third, and enjoyed the victory. 140kg Open Men’s National Champion!

Jesus was in his corner, along with Carson who Dave coached, and other members of the Olympia Barbell crew who showed up to handle and support. That is what a good gym culture looks like.

But what Ben did this weekend goes beyond what happened on the platform. I have been following Olympia Barbell's journey on Instagram, watching more members show up, more equipment get added, events get hosted, and most importantly a community getting built. After the qualifying meet in Portland, Ben reached out and asked me to coach Jesus for the remainder of prep leading into nationals. He sponsored him. As someone who has a sponsored athlete myself, I know what that means. Time and resources are valuable. When you sponsor someone you hope they wear it with pride and work hard. Ben chose correctly. Jesus was a hard-working athlete who showed up and gave everything. These are the steps forward in building the kind of community I keep talking about. This sport is for everyone, including the fast-growing younger generation finding their way to the platform. Someone has to teach these kids. Ben is laying the framework.

I cannot wait to rewind it back, and take another run at it with Ben in January 2027. It has been a really fun ride, glad we aren’t ready to get off of it yet.