So, you've got your eyes set on some all time world record lifts/total/whatever, and you think you have a real good shot at hitting them! You're set up on IG like all of us these days, and have a gaggle of chicken heads following you around blowing smoke up your ass about how savage and beastly you are, and man you are feeling good going into this meet.

Now let me paint a picture. This meet you're going to is one town over, and at a gym where you know a large chunk of members and they know you! Luckily, this means you don't have to travel, you don't have to stress, and you can set up EVERYTHING in your favor to have a great day. You come in, hit your numbers, get some favorable calls and maybe even have some nice people going out of there way to bring you food and all those nice things nice people do. End of the day, you hit that ATWR squat/bench/total or just a huge ass PR, and you came 1st in your weight class AND the meet (too bad there was only one other guy in your class you out totaled by 300lbs) and holy shit do you feel like your balls are the size of coconuts.

That sounds pretty similar to a lot of you I'm sure, and a lot of the "groupies" out there probably don't givre a fuck about it, and just want to see that maximal strength that you've worked so hard to attain. This was recently showcased by a poll put forward by Chance Mitchell on his IG (https://www.instagram.com/chancemitchellpbc/) showing that many viewers don't give damn WHERE a lift is done, just that it is done. This next part is where I'm going to go against the grain, and probably ruffle some people's feathers.

Other high level competitors? You wanna know what they think of you? They think you're a soft-ass punk, that is SCARED to come to a universal platform where you can go HEAD-TO-HEAD with other elite competitors and you might not have an ideal day due to travel or stress or whatever, but EVERYONE will be under the same conditions there, and you might actually have to......COMPETE. I am focusing on elite lifters here. Keep the novices going to the local meets as they are there for intermediates and beginners.

That's what has been lost in this sport over the past years I think, the desire for head to head competition against individuals. We have these arbitrary bullshit lists out there, that people get their eyes set on and want ot break those numbers or records, and it's all well and good but in a sport with so many different classifications and STANDARDS the rules are held to, there will NEVER be a true all time list, and anyone claiming otherwise is simply delutional.

Meets such as the US Open, such as Big Dogs, and such as USAPL/IPF Worlds for tested competitors are what we should focus on, not these individual lifts odne in a lifter backyard. There is a reason gym PRs and meet PRs vary so extremely. Environment plays a humongous role in performance, and until you actually have to COMPETE against someone, you are nothing more than a glorified gym hero in my opinion. I haven't competed in my home state of Ohio since 2014 and I don't plan to any time soon, as I would rather come in second place to a true competitor like Yury Belkin, than take home a $40 plastic trophy after winning a meet with less than a hundred people in the audience.

And this is all coming from a 24 year old, recently married, having student loans, with above average credit asshole! If I can afford to save some cash to travel twice a year, so can you! If you can't figure out how to do that, maybe lifting weights shouldn't be your number one fucking priority!!!

Glorify the travelers and the competitors. The Belkins, Pollacks, Malanichevs, and many more too numerable to name. And encourage the others to stop doing these small meets, allow those to be available for newcomers to the sport. Don't swing your dick around by being a big fish in a small pond. Because the sharks see you and are laughing at you.