July 16th was a day the record books were re-written. It was my best day, and my worst day. It is a day I’ll never. 

I started out my day at 8am in the morning doing a radio show interview. It was the typical questions you’d expect, asking about the records I was going for, and the cause I was raising money for. I casually told them I was roughly a half hour away from attempting the one hour squat record which stood at 122,000 pounds. Later that day I would go for the one hour deadlift record which was 90,000 pounds. 

After a brief discussion about my powerlifting background and previous feats of strength for charity they wished me luck on my efforts and I was off to Goodlife fitness in Guelph. 

The first one hour squat record started a little after 9am. Never before in the gym had I ever lasted the full one hour while attempting to break this record. We had figured out the pace I would need to break the 122,000 pound record. Yet, I had never been able to keep up the pace over the course of the hour. 

The first half hour of the record attempt was grueling enough. By the half way mark I was tightening up in my legs, and had pain shooting up from my lower back. I gave the signal to my seconds to take off 30 pounds total from the bar I was lifting to lighten the load. This meant I would have to increase the amount of reps to reach my goal of totalling over 122,000 pounds squated over an hour. 

Initially it was a gutsy move, but it proved to be beneficial as I managed to hang onto the right pace up until the last-minute of the record attempt. Then with 30 seconds left, and still slightly behind of the record I blasted out 21 reps and sealed my place in history. I fell forward with the bar crashing onto the rack, and me colliding with the floor. 

There I layed as the ground spun underneath me over and over. I was too dizzy to get up, and could hardly catch my breath. I had lost 5 pounds of sweat, and was greatly depleted. The media snapped shots of me as I covered my face. After a few moments I got my breath back and my wits about me. I was helped up by my seconds and put onto a chair where I did an interview with the press. 

After fielding a variety of questions I was helped back to the dressing room where I took a minute to collect myself. It’s hard to put into words how it feels to be pushed to the brink so close to breaking. The strain you put on your body is a lot, but the battle quickly becomes mental. If you can imagine doing the squatting movement with no weight on your back for an hour straight you can picture how the burn in your legs would feel. Imagine doing it with enough weight on your back to total 122,000 pounds after hundreds of reps of squats are completed in that hour. Your body is close to shutting down, and your mind is fighting against it to keep going. 

The officials tally the results to find I broke the record!

Back in the locker room I am unable to even take my own shoes off.

I went back home to rest and eat what I could before my second record attempt in Hamilton at Ivor Wynne Stadium in front of 21,ooo screaming fans. What I ended up being able to eat was only a couple smoothies and some fruit and vegetables. It was not much, but with all the nervousness in my system I could not force much down. I had just taken a World record that some one else worked hard for. They likely took time off after the record attempt and left all the energy they had into that record. It likely sapped all their strength. They must have felt exactly as I felt. But my day was only half over… 

The crowd at Ivor Wynne Stadium was over 21,000 strong

I showed up at Ivor Wynne Stadium feeling like I had very little in my tank. I did an interview in front of the crowd in mid-field and told them I had taken a World record earlier that day and that I was sure I was about to take another one for them. They cheered my bravado. I was convinced I was just trying to talk myself into doing this again. I knew I was heading into hell one more time. 

My chief second, Aras Kvedaras, taped my feet as I got ready for my second World record attempt of the day. I was positioned on the side of the field under a tent so I was blocked from the mid-summer sun. Despite the tent, I lost more fluids through several more pounds of sweat. 

Minute after minute ticked by, and hundreds more reps were belted out as I broke another record. This time I deadlifted more than 95,000 pounds with the end of the record concluding during the football game’s half time. The crowd cheering my name as I belted off the final reps. Once again I had to seal the victory with a final salvo at the final 30 second mark. I  belted off so many more reps that I destroyed the old record by 5,000 pounds in that final half-minute. A lot can happen in less than a minute. 

With the half time on and my record complete I did an interview for the fans and asked them to please donate to the McMaster children’s hospital of Hamilton on my website. They cheered the cause and gave me a round of applause. Then they took to the field and I gave autographs and took pictures with them. My team tossed 6 Pack t-shirts into the stands for the kids (and some adults!) 

Hamilton Ti-Cats Vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers

6 Pack Lapadat preforming during the Hamilton Ti-Cats Half-time. Attempting to break a Guinness World Record for  the Most Weight Lifted in One Hour, Deadlifting.

6 Pack Lapadat performing Upright Row, Barbell.

This July 16th, 2010 Ryan “6 Pack” Lapadat will be attempting to break 2 Guinness World Records. He will attempt; Most weight squat lifted in one hourand Most weight deadlifted in one hour.  He will be attempting these records through out the entire day of July 16th. With one of the records being performed in front of 20 000 Ti-cats fans during a half time event.

This is being promoted as “Record Day” at Ivor Wynne Stadium. 6 Pack will not be the only one attempting to break records on July 16th. Although he is the main event this coming Friday July 16th, 2010. Also noted, we are the ones who approached the Hamilton Tiger Cats about breaking several world records and they decided to make a full event out of it. This whole “Record Day” came into effect mainly due to the work of 6 Pack and I (Louis Szpeflicki).

We are extremely excited and slightly nervous to see this day come. 6 Pack has been training vigorously and  tireless to ensure he takes these  Guinness World Records. As well as I have been working diligently to make sure everything is in order and goes off without a hitch. This is a very important day for 6 Pack and I. It is all worth it though, to know that we are in some way (either through fund raising or inspiring people and children) that we are making a difference with sick children.

So on July 16th, 2010 watch, listen or read about it in your local newspaper how Ryan “6 Pack” Lapadat took down 2 Guinness World Records in ONE DAY. Lets cheer on 6 Pack.

Also see:

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/659115

Look out for us.

Your dreams are just goals.

It doesn’t cost anything to have a dream or a drive. So dream big and drive hard.

Louis

This Canada Day Ryan “6 Pack” Lapadat will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for most weight lifted in Standing Upright Rows for 1 Hour. This event will be taking place at Andrew Haydon Park, 3169 Carling Ave, Ottawa. After the record is broken 6 Pack will then amaze the crowd by pulling a 26 500 lbs school bus 100ft.

We will be raising funds for SickKids Hospital in Toronto. Our goal for fund raising is set at $1500.00. Chemo treatment for one child at SickKids. I am hoping that we will far surpass that goal. This is a big event and its in our nations capital. Thousands of people flock to Ottawa to celebrate Canada Day. This should be more than doable for the Lift for the Kids Foundation. I will get the word out as much as possible to raise awareness of the event. 6 Pack and I always get media attention which helps with awareness. I will personally make this event the best Ottawa has ever seen.

Lets cheer on 6 pack.

Happy Canada Day

Look out for us.

Your dreams are just goals.

It doesn’t cost anything to have a dream or a drive. So dream big and drive hard.

Louis

Did 6 Pack win a Canadian Championship in his new heavier weight class?

The Canadian Powerlifting Championships came to Toronto this year, Saturday ( June the 12th), and featured some outstanding lifting. A new set of Canadian Champions were crowned, National and even a few World records were broken, and the level of competition in most weight classes rose substantially.

I was contemplating whether I was going to compete at these Nationals, my concern being that I had pulled back on my powerlifting training. I have been training for 3 Guinness World records, and adapted a crossfit style approach to weightlifting that emphasized muscular endurance rather than strength. The 3 Guinness World records are feats of muscular endurance over a set time frame. This is obviously quite different from powerlifting. It was like going from training for sprinting to a marathon.  The day of the event, I decided I was going to compete after all and let the chips fall where they may. I figured with a little luck, I might be able to pull out a win.

My last-minute decision to compete was so last-minute that I actually showed up late and missed my warm up. The lifters were already taking to the platform and squating! I knew something was a miss when I showed up and could hear the crowd cheering the lifters on the platform on. I litterally had to take my last warm up lift on the platform as my first attempt.

In powerlifting you have 3 attempts in each of the 3 events (Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlifting…in that order). Once you attempt a weight you can’t go lighter even if you fail at that weight. If you don’t successfully lift the weight in any of your 3 attempts you don’t progress to the next event. Your highest successful attempt in each of the 3 events goes toward your 3 lift total. The lifter with the highest total wins. There is also a competition for the bench press only (because it’s the most popular of the 3 events).

Having to start the meet basically throwing away 1 of my 3 attempts in the squats greatly set me back. Now with only 2 attempts to work with, I had to play conservatively or else I could bomb out if I shot too high. There was less room for error (and there was not much room to begin with). Having not done powerlifting training leading up to the meet already left me unsure what to set my attempts at. I knew I had to make my first attempt in all 3 events unusually low so that if my strength was way down I did not bomb out. If I chose my attempts as high as I normally would and found out on the platform I was not nearly as strong as I normally am…well, I’d be going home early.

There was tension amongst the lifters inbetween attempts

By the end of the squats event I was already trailing by a sizable margin and needed to catch up if I was going to contend for the Canadian title. All was not completely going against me though. One of my chief training partners, Alex Drolc, was coaching me that day and pointed out defending Canadian Champion Shawn Hislop was not competing! For that matter, neither was last year’s second place finisher at the Canadian Championships in the 198 pound weight class Jason Fabbian. I had seen those two battle it out in this weight class the previous year. At the time I was in the 181 pound weight class, and was training with Jason leading up to the Nationals.

I’d seen Jason and Shawn pushed to the limit, with Shawn doing some eye-opening bench pressing (breaking the 400 pound barrier). I was obviously rooting for my training partner Jason to take the title. It all came down to the last attempt in the last event of deadlifts. Jason had the bar loaded to take his total 5 pounds over Shawn Hislop’s for the win. I remember watching as Jason pulled with everything he had. He got the bar up to knees before the momentum stopped. There he struggled for several seconds and got the bar a few inches higher. With the bar within inches of victory, Jason had not enough strength left to seal the win. Shawn had defeated my friend and won the Canadian title in the 198 pound weight class.

I remember thinking I would have to face both Shawn and Jason in the future when I moved up a weight class. No body wants to face lifters of that caliber. As luck would have it for me, neither man showed up for this year’s Championships.  The lifters that did show up were new faces to me. Alex and me both figured they would not be as stiff of competition as Shawn and Jason would be. Turns out we both miscalculated…

I entered the bench press event tied for second. My opening weight of 330 pounds went by easy enough. I brought the weight down to my chest, paused it, and when the ref told me to “press” it came up with no interruption. The second attempt of 340 felt much heavier. After the pause on the chest, and the call for the ref to “press”, the weight felt much heavier than it normally did for me. My third attempt of 352.5 was a weight I had pressed in the past fairly easily, and ordinarily I would be looking past it towards something heavier, but finally I would feel the price I paid for not properly training for powerlifting.

Bar left my chest as fast as the previous attempt but when it was inches away from fully locked out it stopped. It stayed there hovering over me no matter how much I poured it on and pushed. For a moment that felt like forever I layed there with this weight hovering over me, moving no closer to lock out, no matter how much I pushed and strained. It was like there was a ceiling as to how high I could press the weight over me and it had hit it. The third attempt was a failed attempt.

Even though I had missed the last press, I had still outbench every one else in my weight class to take the Canadian Bench Press Competition. In fact, I had out pressed every one else by a sizable enough margin to take the lead. Heading into the deadlifts I was now the front-runner. I was also slightly worried about maintaining my number one position. 3rd attempts were usually the attempts were you extend yourself to get ahead of your competition. It was my 3rd attempt lifts I was most worried about not completing due to my slightly reduced strength. When I tried to extend my self for the first time in the competition, I failed.

Waiting for the deadlift event to begin (and sporting my trade mark chalk muscle outline)

The deadlift was the final event of the day. I hoped my lead I made in the bench press event was great enough to carry me to victory. I didn’t want to have to try to extend myself in the deadlift event cause I was not feeling as strong as I had hoped. If I had fallen behind in the deadlifts, I was hoping it was not more than the ground I had already gained. If I could just hold on in the last event of the day I might be able to win the Canadian Championship. If I was pressed to extend myself again, I was worried I might not have it in me.

My opening weight of 500 pounds was enough to put victory out of reach for most of the lifters. That is when one of my opponents opened up with a first attempt of 530 pounds! Once that happened the battle for the top 198 pounder quickly boiled down to me and him. My lead had been cut to a mere 10 pounds with only his first deadlift. His second attempt of 575 pounds was also a successful one, and he was now ahead by a long shot. The chips were down.

It came down to one final deadlift. Just like last year’s National’s with Shawn and Jason. I had to be successful in my last deadlift attempt to out total him. Unfortunately, I had to extend myself to do it. It would require a 550 pound deadlift, and would give me a total 5 pounds heavier than my rivals’. If I landed the deadlift the total that had won Shawn Hislop last year’s Championships would have done him no better than a third place bronze at this Nationals.

I paced back and forth waiting for the signal from the judges that “the bar is loaded”. Once I got the call to the platform I could feel my heart beating. The crowd knew I needed this lift to win the Canadian Championships. I needed to dig deep to secure the victory. I could feel the anxiety and pressure. Me and Louis had talked about how if I had won the Nationals it would be a great boost for our campaign to raise money for sick kids. It would also help promote my Guinness World Record attempts.

I grabbed the bar with my chalked up hands and as soon as I got the lift signal every muscle in my body flexed and I pulled with everything I had in me. I shot the weight up to my knees, the same place Jason Fabbian had the weight at the last Nationals, when all of a sudden it was stuck. My eyes were closed as I was pulling the weight, and for a brief second I opened them to look at the crowd. I saw Alex Drolc, my coach, with a worried expression on his face. It was a moment that lasted a second but felt like forever. The anxiety was now at its peak and I could feel my heart pound.

I used the extra energy to my advantage and I heaved the weight until I was upright. Just like that, I had won the Canadian Championship once again. This time it was by the smallest of margins (5 pounds on my total to be exact). I had collected both the Canadian Powerlifting Championships and the Canadian Bench Press Championships (though in that event Shawn Hislop’s absence greatly helped! I defeated his over all powerlifting score, but not his amazing bench press)

The final deadlift of the day sealed the victory for the new two division Champion

At the end of the day I was glad I didn’t pull out of the Nationals, and I was glad I used the anxiety and nervousness as a positive to perform. We all feel the pressure, we all get scared, but it’s those that recognize it’s there because it’s a moment to shine that get the chance to do something special. I got a little lucky that day as well, but when you take a chance and give yourself the opportunity, you make your own luck.

Those Guinness World Records will fall…

The Canadian Nationals of powerlifting are this saturday. It’s an event I have not missed in the past 3 years. It’s an event that is the apex of powerlifting for any Canadian lifter. It’s also my biggest dilemma closing in on my Guinness World record attempts.

Training for these Guinness World records has consumed my life and changed the entire way I weight train. My powerlifting training prepped me for one single lift of the heaviest weight in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Hours of lifting heavy weights for sets of 3 repetitions, over and over with hundreds of pounds acclimatize your central nervous system for heavy lifting.

Your central nervous system is much like your engine, and your muscles and bones the body to your car. Your central nervous system is why you can have two individuals both the exact same weight (say 200 pounds) and the exact same muscularity and muscle density, and by all optical judgement be the exact same to look at. But it’s not the muscle mass alone that makes some individuals stronger. That is only the body of the vehicle. The body of the vehicle may be designed for speed, but its the engine that really separates fast cars from others.

That is why some people gravitate towards powerlifting. In weight training, they discover that for whatever reason they are built to lift heavy weights. Their central nervous system is hardwired for their bodies to generate lots of horse power. More so than other peers who train as much, and often, and are the same size or bigger.

But the central nervous system (CNS) is a funny thing.

Powerlifting training gears your CNS for such heavy lifting. These Guinness World records I am attempting in July are records of muscular endurance, and switch the fast/slow twitch fibers I am recruiting in my muscles.

In training for the Record Day this July 16th, I have been lifting a relatively light weight (compared to my powerlifting training) for hundreds of reps over the span of hours straight. Although still weightlifting, it is actually the opposite of powerlifting training.

I have noticed in my training that my muscular endurance has improved greatly. The first few days of training like this were some of the hardest days I have ever endured. Training with a trash bucket next to me because I felt as though I was going to puke was standard protocol. I would sweat 3-4 pounds of water out of my body, and my muscles would tighten up as soon as the training day was over. It felt more like I was running a marathon than weightlifting.

I trained nothing but low weight/high rep squats and deadlifts for the past month with only one powerlifting day a week.  At first I didn’t notice much difference on my powerlifting day. A month later, the difference is impossible to ignore or deny. I no longer need a trash can by my side, as my conditioning has risen to the best shape of my life in terms of muscular endurance. My one lift strength however has dropped dramatically.

While it was standard practise to train with over 400 pounds on my back as a good working weight for repetitions a month ago, today it is a labouring task I can only do for a few sets.

An injury to my left hand has also considerably weakened my grip strength. hundreds of deadlifts a day every day have taken its toll. The left hand has been giving out when I go for what was a short while ago a fairly light deadlift.

My chief coach, Dr Aras Kvedaras, warned me this would happen. Dr. Aras is a master in understanding the human anatomy, and in some circles is so good he is nick named “the witch doctor”. He has been working with me to keep me healthy and as injury free as possible. Considering the work load I am putting my body through, he has a tough assignment.

He foreseen the lost of heavy lifting strength as muscular endurance grew. He encouraged me to bypass powerlifting, and if possible such feats of strength like towing airplanes and school buses. The ladder I may not be able to bypass as I have commitments to do such feats of strength to help hype the record attempts. These eye-popping  feats of strength bring in National media attention and, in turn, corporate sponsors to raise money for sick children. After all, raising money for sick kids is the reason for all of this anyways.

It’s a hectic schedule, and at the end of the day it is a game time decision. I won the Provincials, and I am already on the Nationals roster. My path is all clear for me to compete should I choose to.

This week I’ll monitor my body’s strength and have to make a tough decision come saturday.

This weekend 6 Pack Lapadat and I attended and raised funds for Oakville’s Relay for Life. We were on Team Emma. Emma is a little girl who suffered from and overcame a form of  leukemia. We met Emma’s family while doing our city to city tour with Camp Trillium. The day we were in Oakville with  Camp Trillium, Emma was too sick to attend but fortunately for 6 Pack and I we were able to meet and keep in touch with Emma’s family.

I met Emma this weekend and she is a beautiful little girl, who is funny, full of energy and very strong. I am very proud to have met her and her family. Her mother Jen, was very inviting when we got to the event, introducing us to family members and friends that we had not yet met. Jen’s mother Ali, was there as well. 6 pack and I had originally met her at the Oakville bus pull for Camp Trillium. If Ali hadn’t had introduced herself at the Oakville pull we never would have had the honour of knowing Emma’s family.She also did a photo shoot for 6, so we could put together a calendar (which is in the works!)

The event was something else. 6 and I had never been to a Relay for Life and did not know  what to fully expect. It was like a fund-raising Woodstock. For anyone who hasn’t gone, I’ll describe it. There were tents everywhere. Like a little shanty town of tents. There was a stage for music, performances and speeches. Events going on all the time, games, movies, songs and thousands of people. I can’t stress how many people were there. I believe they said there were around 110 – 120 survivors doing the walk this year. It is amazing that there are that many people surviving cancer! We are slowly beating cancer! One day we will get this horrible disease. I had an amazing time and look forward to doing this again, either with Team Emma or another group of people. This event really touched me and I believe everyone should raise awareness and come out to these events.

Look out for us.

Your dreams are just goals

Louis

The meet was held in Brantford at a local gym. I had to be there for 11am to confirm my slot in the bench press competition and for my weigh-in. I had been dieting and watching my weight all week to ensure I made weight, 181.7. I was a little worried I was not going to make weight that morning, even though I had weighed myself at home and I was well within the limit. You just never know if your scale is off. I did however make the weight right on the money.

The lifts started at 1pm, so 6 Pack and I had enough time to go eat and recharge our batteries before the lifts commenced. I was third in the lifting line-up. It was a little intimidating at first but once I lifted my first weight it was nothing after that. I started on 200 lbs for my first lift (a weight I knew I could do with little problem). My next lift was 215 lbs, I weight I have done before but not with a pause at the bottom of my rep. I was extremely happy when I lifted that weight off my chest. Lastly I wanted to go for a personal best of 231.0 lbs. This was the weight that caught me. I was unable to lift the weight the full distance (hopefully there will be video to follow).

All in all, it was one of the only physical events I have ever entered and it was an absolute BLAST. Ill be entering in more for sure. Hopefully I will have more of a challenge next time. Ill be hoping for a little competition.

Look out for us.

Your dreams are just goals.

Louis

I have a powerlifting meet coming up on March 27th 2010, in the benchpress only category. I will be in the 181.5 weight division and as Im writing this I weigh 187.6. This is my first ever meet in any of the three Powerlifting categories. I have to make weight by the morning of the 27th to be able to compete. This is also the first time I have ever tried to loose weight in such a short amount of time. Its proving to be quite the interesting battle. I LOVE FOOD and hate drinking a lot of water.

In order to loose weight by the 27th I am to ingest 10 litres of water a day. The day before weigh in, I am to stop taking in water and my body will be so used to getting rid of excess water, I will be able to shed extra water weight.  Im very, very excited to see how well the weight loss goes, as well as the benching.

This being my first Powerlifting meet, I didn’t get here by myself. I have had 6 Pack show me the ropes the whole way. He trains with me 3 to 5 times a week. Doing Powerlifting as well as regular weight training. I used to only weight train until 6 showed me powerlifting. Now Im stronger then I have ever been in my life. Thanks 6.

Im hoping that everyone will be behind me cheering me on even if they cant be there. Its gonna help huge knowing that I got support. That goes for anything in life as well. When you have a heavy load and there are people who can share that load with you, its not so much on your shoulders (or chest as it may be.)

Look out for us.

Your dreams are just goals.

Louis

We are working out the logistics of me towing one of their large ferries full of people a couple hundred feet to raise money for sick kids. People could pay for tickets to be on the boat with proceeds going towards the cause.

We are currently sorting the details of  the event, but we are targeting Canada Day (July 1st). I would also like to tow an airplane that day. Louis is working hard on getting a plane set up for me to tow. All these events will be to raise money for sick kids.

It will be a looooong Canada Day for me, but it will be fun too. Performing these feats of strength show the kids that nothing is impossible. It also shows these adults who have forgotten what its like to believe. Our imagination is our only limit.

Do you believe?