Justin Mederios in powerlifting event

[eeyore5]

If you have been watching Justin Medeiros' YouTube channel, you've likely seen that he has been training for a powerlifting competition. Medeiros, the two-time CrossFit Games Champion, competed in the USAPL Holiday Hoist where he finished in 2nd place in his category, the Men's Raw Open 90kg division. Medeiros went 8-for-9 on the night with his only miss coming from a 2-1 judgment call on his second deadlift attempt.

Medeiros ended up with a 642.5kg total.

His best lifts were:

Squat: 232.5kg (512.6 lbs)

Bench Press: 137.5kg (303.1 lbs)

Deadlift: 272.5kg (600.8 lbs)

 

[patona]

@eeyore5 TIL that I can bench more than Justin Mederios.

He smokes me on the other two, tho.

 

[kirkjaj]

@patona He mentioned in an earlier you tube post, that because they want a 2 second pause at the bottom of the bench, he was going to need to take a good 20 pounds(maybe kilos, can't remember) off his best lift.

 

[chrisleishy]

@kirkjaj Did he really think it was a two second pause? That would be chaos at any powerlifting meet. More like .5 second.

 

[casie]

@kirkjaj It'll be pounds, needing to account for 20kg variance in pause length won't factor in until there's like 200kg+ on the bar and a bench shirt in the mix. I'd usually forecast +/- 5kg depending on how the pauses are being called on the day.

 

[eeyore5]

@patona My results are 455 dl, 355 squat and 295 bench.
So he is a little bit better than me :-D

 

[silentjohn]

@eeyore5 He squatted high bar too which is awesome

 

[chrysscrawford]

@silentjohn What is high bar?

 

[morebu]

@chrysscrawford Bar resting on your traps, more vertical posture, more carryover to front squats and olympic liftings. Depth is a separate thing but people choosing high bar squats are probably also going ass to grass because they are concerned with training effect for something else, not the maximum weight they can squat within a rule set.

As opposed to low bar squats where you rest the bar across the back of your delts which allows you to hinge at the hips a bit more with the bar still directly above your feet. With practice, and only going just below parallel, this should allow you to squat the most weight which is why it's almost exclusively how people squat in powerlifting, but it makes sense that Alex is just more familiar and proficient with high bar squats so stuck with that.

 

[chrysscrawford]

@morebu Great explanation, thanks

 

[maryellalong]

@morebu Alex?

 

[morebu]

@maryellalong Sorry meant Justin

 

[silykat]

@eeyore5 This was so cool to see! I love seeing CrossFit athletes show off their fitness in other realms (i.e. Hyrox, Olympic Lifting, etc.). It'll be cool to see how/if his powerlifting strength transfer over to the upcoming CF Open Season.

 

[rebecca16]

@eeyore5 Wow, that is very serious strength!! It’s hard to imagine someone of his size being able to lift that heavy. not that he’s small but I mean that is some serious weight.

 

[faithfullyfit]

@rebecca16 Lol sorry you're getting the powerlifting " Ummm actually". This happens everytime CrossFit athletes post anything that's straight comparable across sports.

Obviously he's not as good as athletes who focus only on powerlifting but he can also walk up a flight of stairs without needing to catch his breath. This is impressive strength no way around that, it's not world class but then you remember the man can also blitz out a sub 20min 5k.

 

[rsaravia]

@faithfullyfit It's pretty darn good. I transferred from crossfit to powerlifting, and out-totaled him in my first meet in the same weight class. He got me by about 10 lbs on squat, I got him by about 30 lbs on bench, and then I got him on deadlift by 50 lbs. I was still doing crossfit at the time and while I wasn't games level by any stretch, I did have about a 2:30 fran, 2:20 grace, 6:30 Jackie, and a sub 20 5k both for running and rowing. But I definitely always biased more towards strength and short time domains.

7 years later I still do crossfit, particularly during my off season, but I don't think I'm performing nearly as well as when I was still doing it 3-4 times a week in Adirondack to lifting. But no problems with stairs, fortunately.

 

[peachpie]

@rebecca16 You don’t really know powerlifting then, lol. That’s a low-mid level total if we’re comparing him to advanced/elite lifters at 90kg. I total more than that at 82.5kg and i’m not even strong for my weightclass in my opinion. A “good” total for a 90kg lifter starts at around 700kg.

 

[morebu]

@peachpie

You don’t really know powerlifting then, lol. That’s a low-mid level total if we’re comparing him to advanced/elite lifters at 90kg

I feel like "seriously strong" is an accurate way of describing someone that is low-mid level compared to advanced/elite powerlifters!

 

[nuka]

@peachpie Apperently not mid level since he got second place?

 

[kaitlynturner]

@nuka Every chance he was only in a class of 3-4.

Kudos to giving it a go - strong for CrossFit and good for him to go out there and work on a different sport