Ep. 126 - Competing At The Highest Level In Powerlifting: An Inside Look (ft. Bryce Lewis and Ashton Rouska)

Iron Culture

The MASS Crew

Sports & Recreation, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2021

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does being a competitor require a competitive mindset? In some sports, yes. But in powerlifting, you arguably could just focus on yourself, progressing, and show up on game day ignorant to your competition, put up the best total you can, and see where you place. Indeed, some world-class competitors do just that. With that said, athletes are human. Some thrive off a competitive mindset and feel it drives them to athletic heights they couldn’t achieve on their own. Others, however, feel like this provides pressure, self-judgment, and saps the joy from powerlifting without adding any benefit. Ultimately there isn’t a right or wrong answer. Each person has to figure out what is most facilitative to improved performance for them individually. On this episode we’re joined by Bryce Lewis and Ashton Rouska, the top two 105kg IPF lifters in the world currently who’ve battled it out at USAPL nationals twice now, with Bryce coming away as the 2019 National champ and Ashton the 2021 National champ. They have a candid conversation where you’ll learn how they each approach competition, what they’ve learned, and how it can apply to you.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Eric, it's been some time since I've addressed publicly our competitors in the podcast space.
0:07.0	Do you mind if I just issue a statement that I think would neatly encapsulate how we feel about them?
0:13.9	Yeah, go for it.
0:15.4	Yeah, in the health and fitness space, all I would say is that you think you're close, but you have no idea.
0:23.2	Yeah, I think the words of the great Taylor Atwood are apropro in this specific circumstance,
0:33.0	my friend. And we understand what it is to be competitive.
0:41.7	And we understand what it is for others to think they're actually competing with us when they don't realize that we're on a whole other level.
0:44.8	And not naming any names.
0:46.3	And we aren't going to, let's say, write any checks with our mouths that our asses can't cash.
0:54.1	The check's been written.
0:55.5	Actually, I haven't written a check in probably over a decade, but the proverbial check
1:00.3	has been written and it has been cashed.
1:02.6	And if you think it hasn't, then you need to check our bank account, all right?
1:06.4	And if you're saying, what the hell is Eric talking about?
1:10.1	What we're talking about is competitiveness,
1:12.1	because today we have on the number one and number two, 2021-105 Open National Competitors,
1:20.7	Ashton Ruka, our new national champion, and Bryce Lewis on once again on the podcast to specifically have a candid conversation about
1:31.2	how to manage the pressures and potential benefits and downsides of one's competitive nature.
1:37.4	And they had a really interesting conversation after the smoke had cleared once the last deadlift was pulled in the 105 class about this.
1:48.1	And having debriefed with Bryce after Nationals, him sharing that conversation with me, my first thought was,
1:54.5	oh man, we got to get that out to the people because a lot of people can benefit from it.
1:59.2	And the boys did not disappoint no
	...

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