The Member Minutes page will keep you up to date on what is happening with TPS members outside of the gym. It will include things like contest results, athletic achievements and more.

February 2012:

TPS’s Eric Dawson is in the final stages of training for the Arnold Classic Strongman show in Ohio next month. The Arnold is the BIGGEST show in the country and it is a huge honor to compete there. We wish Eric the best of luck.

Eric's training partner, P.J. Day just competed in the Genetix Gym Strongman contest where he took 1st place in a max reps contest.

The events were:

250 log clean and press each rep-   P.J. got 6 reps

500 2.5 inch axle  dead lift - 13 reps P.J. got 13 reps

250 keg over 48 inch bar - 15 reps P.J. got 15 reps

Watch for P.J. to be a HUGE threat as he continues to come into his own training with Eric.

The Haycraft Muay Thai seminar held last month was unbelievable! See Eric’s photos here.

 

Golden Gloves Update: Lyz-Marie Figueroa of TPS, our first female competitive boxer, is in the FINALS of the Golden Gloves. She has the finals this week. I’ll let you know how she did.

Check out some press form the Gloves here.

Here is some video from the Gloves:

 

 

January 2012

Coach Marc and Coach Eddie brought 6 fighters to a Muay Thai smoker in Quincy last month. In case you don’t know, a smoker is a fight card that is like an exhibition. There is no winner declared as it is unsanctioned.

By all accounts, the TPS crew kicked ass. They were more skilled and in better shape, as usual. Huge congratulations go to all of their opponents and their coaches for coming to the event as well as our athletes too.

TPS members that entered were:

Kamoundy Lamour 136 lbs

Long Lam 150 lbs

Carlos Hernandez 155 lbs

Chris Vaquerano 150 lbs

Samir Ramirez 165 lbs

Andrei Zdanovich 185 lbs

Paxton Strongman 7

Gina Melnik, PJ Day and Damon Curtis of TPS all competed at the annual Paxton Strongman event in December.

Damon had a tough day due to a severe lower back injury and we hope that he heals up soon. Gina won her class and PJ did very well in a STACKED heavyweight class.

Check out Eric’s pictures of the Paxton Show.

 

 

December 2011

TPS at the Whittier School

Last month, Murph and Mike “Mailbox” Pelosi were invited to speak at the Whittier School Health Fair in Everett. We were greeted by a room FULL of kids and their parents who were motivated to listen to what we had to offer.

Mike gave a very motivating speech on juvenile obesity and how he turned his life around through strength training. The kids were very surprised to hear that he once weighed 420 pounds! I really think he got through to a few of them.

We finished up with a discussion on basic nutrition geared towards helping the parents make better choices with the kids and a group workout that was FUN. We also gave them some great ideas on how to make fitness a part of their daily lives at home.

We would like to thank Kim Nicotera and Mike McLucas for making this possible.

NAS Strongman Nationals:

TPS’s own Eric Dawson and Gina Melnik went to the NAS Strongman Nationals last month and did very well.

Eric placed 12th in the Super Heavyweight class, and 22nd overall in the heavyweights, which had a HUGE amount of athletes. He also qualified as an alternate for the Arnold Classic Strongman show. If he did just a little better on the log and car deadlift he would have cracked the top 10.

Gina Melnik competed in the Women’s division. Gina trained very hard for this show and was rewarded with a top 3rd place finish at Nationals! Anytime you are in the top 10 at a National event you are looking good, top 3 is awesome. Congratulations to both of you.

 

 

 

 

November 2011

TPS Member Visits Pop Warner Football

TPS member and offensive guard for the New England Patriots, Rich Ohrnberger took time out of his schedule to stop by the Revere Junior Patriots football practice last month and give them some tips. All of the coaches and kids, my son included, were PSYCHED to get some coaching from one of the New England Patriots.

TPS would like to extend a HUGE thanks to Rich for taking the time to come by. It meant a lot to me, the coaches and the kids.

Team TPS just competed at the 15th Annual RPS Power Challenge at Boston Barbell in North Attleboro on October 22, 2011.

In the bench only division, Felicia Doucette of TPS set a New England Regional Bench Press record of 125 pounds in the Raw division. This was Felicia's first meet. She was going to do a full meet (Squat, Bench and Deadlift) but suffered an injury in training and decided to do bench only instead of bailing out. Great job, Felicia.

In the full power division, Carlos Moran lifted in the raw division and hit some impressive numbers. Carlos hit a 525 squat, a 365 bench press and a 630 deadlift. All New England Regional records. Awesome job, Carlos.

Russ "Russtache" Smith of TPS hit a 455 bench press in the bench only division; after bombing in the squat, he switched to Bench only. Must be all the sales training! This was Russ's second meet. Great job, Stache.

Steve DiLello had a tough day in the Bench only division. Steve was hoping for 610 in the bench and should have hit it. Due to some technical issues, he missed his attempts. I know Steve will be back and will dominate his next meet.

Thanks to everyone from TPS that came to support them and help out. If you live South of Boston and TPS is too far away, I highly recommend Boston Barbell. It is THE place to train South of Boston. They have all the toys TPS has for Strength! Tell them we sent you.

 

October 2011

Former TPS member Zac Gipson had a wardrobe malfunction this month, he got a few t shirts from us and mistakenly put on his wife's tank top. Apparently he thought it was his. He looks pretty good in it. Let's hope he's not starting a trend.

September 2011

 

No Corey for 2 weeks!

The TPS member named least likely to play nicely in the sandbox with others due to his inability to share the gym toys committed to sharing his life with ther yesterday. Yup- Corey and Erica tied the knot yesterday (9/17) at the York Harbor Reading Room. We will have 2 weeks of peace before he's back like a Tasmanian hurricane trying to burn off all of the honeymoon weight.

Congratulations to you both.

 

Dr. Chest does it again!

Lauren Cohen of TPS just lifted at the USAPL 2011 Boston Open. Lauren hit an unbelievable:

• Squat – 735
• Bench– 475
• Deadlift– 655
• Total – 1865

These were all pr's (personal records) for him.

He had the highest total at 198, and highest total of any weight-class at the entire meet.

Winning the TPS way.

TPS Powerlifters Hit It Big in Hartford, CT

On Saturday, June 30th, as part of the Europa Fitness Expo, Powerlifting legend Gene Rychlak hosted the 2011 Connecticut State Powerlifting Championships.

As usual, TPS was well-represented by some outstanding lifters, including pink-shirted, Pop-Tart-popping members of “Team Douchebag.” The haul of trophies was impressive.

The winning TPS lifters and their best lifts and totals were:

2nd Place, 275-lb Amateur Open Class

STEVE AMANTI TOTAL: 1,425

Squat: 500, Bench: 425, Deadlift: 500

(Steve competed with an injury and did a terrific job!)

1st Place, 275-lb Raw Amateur Junior Class

RICH MALLOY III TOTAL: 1,140

Squat: 365, Bench: 275, Deadlift: 500

1st Place, 275-lb Amateur Submaster

RUSS SMITH TOTAL: 1,555

Squat: 600, Bench: 405, Deadlift: 550

1st Place, 242-lb Raw Pro Open

BEST LIFTER, Raw Professional

IPA CT State Record for the Deadlift

DEVIN DRAPER TOTAL: 1,500

Squat: 500, Bench: 375, Deadlift: 625

Honorable mention goes to CARLOS MORAN, who even on a bad day would have managed to break the IPA CT State Record for the 198-lb Pro Open class with his 700-lb Squat had he attained a total/

Congratulations to everyone who went out and did their best!

See Eric's pictures of the event here

August 2011

Spartan Race

TPS has a crew competing in the Spartan Race. Eric and Chuck have been getting them ready for it. Let's wish them luck on August 27th when they go through hell just for fun.

It looks like the world's number 1 hockey fan had her photo taken with the "Stanley Trophy."

Carolyn Little, who has never seen a hockey game was lucky enough to see the cup in person at her place of employment. I'm psyched for her, but also a little jealous that it was not me. Oh, the pink hats.

July 2011

TEAM TPS Dominates in Strongman again!

Congratulations to everyone who competed at Art McDermott’s Fitness Revolution Strongman Challenge at his new facility in Tewksbury! The event was held on Saturday, June 25, 2011, and consisted of the Farmers Walk, Axle Clean & Press, Car Deadlift, Tire Flip/Sled Drag Medley, and Atlas Stones.

TPS winners were:

1st Place, Heavyweight Division: TPS Trainer ERIC DAWSON

1st Place, Lightweight Division: CHRIS BURKE

2nd Place, Lightweight Division: DAMON CURTIS

JON BALDWIN also came in at a fairly close 4th place in the Lightweight Division, a terrific achievement for his first contest and considering the top 3 were national-level competitors!

WAYNE McGUIRE, who is not a member but trains for Strongman at TPS occasionally, also took 2nd Place in the High School Division. MURPH took on judging duties and a big thanks to Mary Southworth and Russ Smith for making the contest run smoothly.

 

Tough Mudder

Dave Kinahan and Eddie Ciancarelli of TPS just finished the ridiculous Tough Mudder race. From the looks of the pictures, they had a lot of fun. I can't think of any better way to spend a Saturday.

 

Bad Apple Update:

In Powerlifting Watch’s rankings of All-Time American Multi-Ply Women Lifters, Jane Stabile placed in the top 50 for two weight classes in several categories.  For details, go to Powerlifting Watch and search the weight classes listed below.

Note that these rankings are for women of all ages, not just Masters.

In the 148-lb class, Jane holds all-time 25^th place in the squat, 25^th in the deadlift, and 30^th in the total.

 

In the 165-lb class she placed 40^th in the squat, 32^nd in the deadlift, and 42^nd in the total.

 

Her goal is to break into the top 50 for bench.  It’s going to take some work.

 

 

 

 

May 2011

TPS at the IPA Europa

TPS will have a ton of lifters at the IPA /Battle of the Champions/ Europa meet in Connecticut on Saturday July 30th. The meet will be run by Gene Rychlak who always puts on a great show.

As of now we have Team Awesome consisting of Kevin Delaney, Steve Dilello. Team Douchebag will be led by Carlos Moran and will consist of the following non-douchebags: Steve Amanti, Devon Draper , and Ben Puccio. Russ Smith will be heading up Team Moustache. Tracy DeJesus will probably be a part of Team Awesome. We haven't figured this out yet. She is pretty awesome, Steve will have to make a ruling on this. Rich Malloy should be on Team Douchebag, but as of now is not.

We expect great lifting from our crew. Matt and Vincent will be there too. It is looking like it's going to be an awesome Saturday.

 

Contest Update

The excitement is building, the entries are coming in. August will be here before you know it. On August 27th, TPS and Nathan Fitzgerald will host the 2011 NAS/Mass State Strongman Championships and the Police/Fire/Military Nationals here at TPS.

We've got some awesome sponsors lined up, including: Ironmind, Spud, Inc., Kayem, Muscle Milk, ANC of Everett, Bodybuilding.com, the Diesel Crew, Lisa Lynn Nutrition, and we are working on more. As usual, we will be donating a portion of the profits to the Chelsea Soldiers Home, so come on down and help us out the day of the show. You'll see the USA's best strongmen and women compete in your favorite events like the Atlas Stones, Tire Flip, and more.

We also need a staff of volunteers to work the day of the show for no pay. I know this sounds enticing, but it's a worthwhile cause and we'll feed you, give you a t shirt and pay for beer after. How can you go wrong with that?

If you are a local business owner or know someone who is interested in reaching hundreds of local consumers for a small investment, contact Murph or Jane at TPS soon. Most of our sponsors are long-time ones--that shows you that it is effective. For a small investment that helps us raise a charitable donation, you can reach potential customers the day of the show, and in the months ahead of it, too. We will list and link you on the website and in our newsletters. It's a no brainer.

April 2011

The TPS crew is going to be at the big IPA meet in Connecticut in July. Steve DiLello, Russ Smith and Tracy DeJesus will be lifting. This will be Tracy's first powerlifting meet. We'll have someone there to video all the action for you.

March 2011

TPS's own Tomasso Whitney aka Tomasso Ciampa is making his television wrestling debut  Monday March 14 on HDnet (783 on Comcast) on the Ring of Honor show.

Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd - he will be performing on two IPPVs (internet pay per views) for Ring of Honor. This will be his first ever opportunity on a live internet streamed pay per view event.

The shows will be streamed on www.gofightlive.com . Also, the shows will be taking place in Atlanta (the city hosting Wrestlemania this year) and the shows take place on the same weekend as Wrestlemania - This is major because Wrestlemania weekend draws the largest gathering of wrestling fans of the entire year

Boston Weightlifting Wins Atlantic States Championships

On February XXX, 2011, in Lynn, MA the Boston Olympic Weightlifting Team won the Atlantic States Championships, for the third straight year. Boston Weightlifting found a new home in January at Total Performance Sports in Everett, MA, and it showed in the results.

The meet was run in two sessions, with women and light men in the first session. Theresa Baker, our sole female competitor, won the 75kg class with a 54kg snatch and a 72kg clean and jerk for a nice 126kg total. This was a strong performance for Theresa after only a couple of weeks back in training.

Matt Delaney and Chris Dolan finished 1st and 2nd in the 77kg class. Chris looked a little sluggish from the beginning, but made all three snatches. Chris finished the snatch with 102kg. The real struggle came in the clean and jerk, when Chris missed his first two lifts. Chris came back out focused and made the third attempt to finish with a personal record in both lifts and the total (227kg). Matt snatched a strong and smooth 110kg, then made his first two clean and jerks (125/130kg) seem light. On his third clean and jerk, he asked for 134kg to qualify for national championships. Matt had a great clean but barely missed the jerk, finishing with a 240kg total. Matt and Chris will attempt to qualify for the national championships at our next meet in Connecticut.

In the second session, the meet became hectic. We had six lifters and the meet was run on two platforms. To help out, Matt and Theresa celebrated their wins by coaching their teammates. In the 85kg weight class, we had two lifters, Brian Smith and Franklin Herman. Brian’s warm-ups were rushed as we figured out the two-platform setup—he had to skip his last two to take his first attempt, likely causing him to miss his first snatch with 75kg. He recovered nicely and made his last two attempts to finish with 80kg. Brian clean and jerked 95kg, finishing with a 175kg total in his second meet.

Franklin Herman, a 57 year-old, had a phenomenal meet. Franklin made all three snatches (75, 80, and 83kg). His 83kg lift is a new New England Masters record in the 55-59 year age group. In the clean and jerk, Franklin broke the three-digit barrier for his first time, finishing with 100kg for a 183 total. Brian and Franklin are separated by 32 years in age but ended up separated by only 8 kg in the total.

We also had two lifters in the 94kg class. David Tao was competing in his second meet and made his first five lifts impressive ones. After missing his last clean of 105kg, David finished with 78/101/179kg for personal records in both lifts.

Jason Poulos was our second 94kg lifter. Jason also made five attempts, making all three snatches to finish with 100kg. Jason’s cleans were strong but he missed the jerk on his second attempt with 127kg. He came back and made the third attempt look easy. Jason finished with 227kg for a 30kg improvement over last year!

Our second master lifter, Jason Edmonds, barely missed the 105kg weight class and competed in the super heavy weight class (105+kg) for the first time. Jason made 5 out of 6 lifts. He finished with 84kg in the snatch. Jason’s clean and jerks looked stronger than ever and he finished with 115kg. The 199kg total was a meet record for Jason.

Our last lifter was Yasha Kahn (105kg), who will be competing at the Arnold Classic next week. He continued the day’s theme of making five out of six lifts. Yasha made all three snatches with a progression of 140, 147, and 152kg. The last snatch was a personal record for him. Yasha then clean and jerked 165 and 170kg. On his last attempt with 175 kg, he couldn’t turn his elbows over fast enough and missed the clean. Yasha looks ready for nationals right now; he dominated the 105kg class and won best lifter for meet.

All in all, this was a great meet for Boston Weightlifting. In tough conditions, nearly every lifter set meet records and performed admirably. Once again, I’m proud to coach and train with all of Boston Weightlifting!

Benjamin Fuller

Boston Weightlifting President

 

 

On June 12, 2010, at the AAU New England and Massachusetts State Championship, TPS's own Steve Brown was honored as the Overall Best Male Lifter. The meet was held in Scituate, MA, and competition for the best overall title was incredibly close. Congratulations, Steve!

February 2011

TPS member Bill Pietrantonio does it again!

Billy has set new world records at the FFCC, read all about it from Bill in his own words:

Firefighter-Combat Challenge World Championship

The Firefighter-Combat Challenge World Championship (FFCC) is now 20 years old. I have competed for 19 of those years. The FFCC is a test of firefighter skills and conditioning. It was developed for fire departments to help keep firefighters battle-ready for any and all types of challenges they might encounter on the fireground.

The course consists of six events. All competitors are in full gear and, with their breathing apparatus on, then proceed with a tower climb (six stories) carrying a 42lb hose pack. Then the firefighter must hoist up a 45lb hose pack, come down the tower on to a Kaiser machine. The machine simulates a force entry by using an 8lb sledgehammer and driving a 150lb weight 5’. The next station is the delineators, which is a 140ft run, which leads to the hose drag. In the hose drag, a charged hose line must be dragged 75’ and a target knocked down. The final station is the dummy drag. A 175-lb mannequin must be dragged backward for 100 feet to the finish line.

The World Finals have been seen on ESPN and Versus and are billed as the “Toughest Two Minutes in Sports.” Teams from Canada, Russia, Germany, Iceland and several other nations compete. In order to compete at this level I needed training help and five years ago, TPS offered to assist me to attain peak conditioning. The TPS staff broke down all the events and set up training segments and programs tpo develop the necessary strength and conditioning I needed to be competitive. Being one of the elder statesmen of the FFCC at age 62, I appreciated their expertise which has been invaluable to my training program and none more than this year at the World Championships. There are three categories of completion: Individual, which the competitor competes the course by himself, and the Tandem where two competitors run as a team. The final area is the Team. The Team consists of five competitors, each of whom runs a section of the course. In the Tandem, the Chuck LeBlanc and I set the World Record for the over 60 bracket. Also, using the TPS training program, I trained the Winston-Salem, NC, over-50 Tandem that won first place. In addition, again using the TPS training program, I trained and was part of the over-50 Team Relay that also won the gold and set a world record for that category.

Because of the TPS training program, I am, at age 62, able to compete against firefighters from around the world, most of whom are half my age. I have a renewed strength and energy that has inspired younger firefighters to compete and stay fit.

 

 

 

 

Connor Brickley of TPS was just drafted 50th OVERALL in the NHL Entry draft by the Florida Panthers. Congratulations Connor. He'll be training here for the summer before going off to Vermont for a year or two. We'll keep you posted on his progress.

Click here for an interview with Connor.

 

 

Josh Bagley of TPS who is currently deployed in Iraq just received the US Army's prestigious Army Commendation Medal.
Congratulations Josh, and come home safe soon.

 

Bad Apple Update

On May 8, Jane Stabile won Best Amateur (“amateur” means drug-tested) Woman at the annual Canadian National (CPF) meet in Montreal, competing against a field of strong Canadian women ages 13 to 57. She won using both age-adjusted and non-age-adjusted calculations. There is some confusion about what weight class she was in officially because of a paperwork issue, but she either (1) broke her own world drug-tested bench press record in the 148-pound,55-59 year old class, with a personal record of 193 pounds, or (2) set new 165-pound, age 55-59 class world records in the squat, bench, deadlift, and total. Either way, Jane is happy to have been Best Lifter, and she is determined to do much better at the squat next time.

Lauren "Dr. Chest" Cohen, the World's Strongest Harvard Professor of TPS just competed iat the USAPL New England Powerlifting Meet.
Lauren finished the day with some great lifts. His best lifts of the day were:
Squat - 711 (322.5kg)
Bench - 430 (195kg)
Deadlift - 650 (295kg)
Total - 1791 (812.5kg)
He also took :
1st place in Men's Open 198 - Powerlifting Competition
1st place in Men's Open 198 - Bench Press Competition
Overall Best Lifter - Bench Press Meet
Overall Best Lifter - Powerlifting Meet
Lauren used this meet as a tune up for the USAPL National Championships where we are confident that he will win!