Around seven or eight years ago, I drew up a Top Five board for our strongest lifters.
We’re not a “powerlifting gym” by most accounts (none of our current members compete), but we tracked the best of the best in our roster for trapbar deadlift, squat, bench press, and deadlift.
Once records were set, there was a good amount of friendly competition to get to the top spot or, at the very least, make it into the Top Five.
Some records were so far above the norm, that reaching the number one place seemed impossible for many.
However, over the last several months, we’ve had clients who’ve started to carve out their paths into those highly coveted first place positions.
Take, for example, our Ken K., a RevFit member for over nine years, who has held a Top 5 position in squat, trapbar, and deadlift, patiently worked his way into the top spot in squat back in July with 415 lbs.
There’s also, Laura E., who’s been with us a little over a year. She currently holds Top 5 in all four lifts but in September she took first place in deadlift with 340 lbs. She now has distance in that lift with an all time best of 345.
And I can’t talk about Laura without also mentioning the other woman who has been neck and neck with her in the lifts. Amanda has been training with us for about two years and she also holds Top 5 in all four lifts. She and Laura are so comparable in strength that any given day at the gym, they manage to bring the best out of each other.
Last week, Amanda managed a feat that we’ve never seen her do before. She came in with the expectation that she would put another 5 lbs on her previous best (from 385 to 390.) When she hit 390, it looked so easy that she told us: I just want to know what 410 feels like.
We loaded the bar up to 410 and she killed it.
And with that, she took over 1st place in the trapbar.
Which brings me to the next person of mention, Amanda’s husband, Chris.
Chris started with us about two months ago, and during the time that Amanda has been training at the Rev, she had mentioned on more than one occasion that Chris was strong.
So, when he joined the roster, we started pushing his numbers and two weeks ago, Chris also took the number one spot in the trapbar.
And these are just the numbers we’ve seen since the summer.
Currently, Faith G. holds the number one spot in squat with 320, Sammy P. is number one in bench with 175, Dan S. is first in bench with 330 and David L. and Ken are tied at first in deadlift with 465.
And we have a load of clients aiming to hold on to (or make their way into) the Top 5 rankings.
I should also remind readers that many of our clients aren’t focused on the Top 5 at all. That’s the beauty of having a wide range of diversity at the studio. Every one who’s there celebrates victories in ways that are unique to them.
But with so much recent movement, I wanted to pay a small tribute to the people who are bringing the best of the friendly competition out of each other.
You know our tagline: We make great people greater.
(Clockwise from top left: Ken K, Laura E., Chris and Amanda S.)
