Reuben Simanu, Iron Giant
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Oh yeah, there's nothing seeing big guys heaving
and pushing super heavy weights around. Seeing the strain of
the huge weights on their backs and hearing the many weights
clanging on the barbell as they squat or deadlifted...aahh I was in
iron heaven as the big boys came out to play on the last day of the
Commonwealth Powerlifting Champs. In particular I was following Reuben Simanu and
Lance Stewart. Reuben, who lives in Whakatane, is quite a
legend in powerlifting circles and is renowed for his
size and strength. Standing at 6'2" and weighing in at
155.70kg Reuben does look very daunting but really
he's a big softy (but ssshhh don't tell him I said
that!). |
 Lisa and Reuben |
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Lance, who competes in the Masters 1 class (40-49 age group), competed a day earlier also presents quite a sizeable figure himself. At around 5'10" Lance weighs in at 152.5kg and has the biggest thighs I've seen for a long time!! and I've seen a few recently at these champs!! |  |
| Lance is a seasoned powerlifting competitor and has been competing off an on for over 10 years - hence how he got his thighs and strength no doubt. He's won numerous regional and national titles but probably his biggest claim to fame is being Ali G's coach!! and I'm sure he'll agree. | ||
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Lance had a wee mishap in his squat. Although he successfully squatted a massive 360kg in great form, his knee seemed to collapse freakishly as he was ready to rack the bar which lead up to go to ground. Luckily the spotters caught the bar and didn't fall on him. Otherwise it could've been worse. Everybody had their hearts in their mouths when this happened I think but fortunately his knee was ok. | |
| Lance soldiered on like a good sport he is and bench pressed 175kg and took it 'easy' in the deadlift to have final lift of 240kg which placed him 1st in his 125+kg class. | ||
Reuben Rules. So, we're at the powerlifting and people are here to see athletes push big weights. Not sure what is with us iron lovers and the thrill to see other humans push their bodies to the limit, but we just love it don't we??!! and that's why the crowd just loved seeing the gigantuan stature of Reuben come out to squat, press and deadlift some serious weights.
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And this 37 year old electrician didn't dissappoint. He sparked the crowd into a frenzy everytime he came out to conquer his weights. In the squat Reuben finished with 350kg squat. His favoured lift is the bench press and he was all fired up to push hard. In his first lift he cleared 282.5kg, then successfully cleared 292.5 in the 2nd and setting a new commonwealth record. In the 3rd, he didn't make 300kg but a commonwealth record's pretty good. left: Reuben's massive 350kg squat. below: setting the bench record |
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Next up is the deadlift which Reuben admits is his achilles
heel. Relative to his deadlift, he said he can bench more than he
can deadlift - go figure! But as this being his last competition for a while he was out to give it his last big effort, which he did. In his final lift he lifted a new PB of 307.50kg. |
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| His overall lifts totalled 950kg which was enough
to win him the overall 125+ title and overall commonwealth
lifter! After that mammoth weekend, Reuben is hanging up his
weight belt to concentrate on spending time with his young family.
However he'll still keep training and compete in bench press
champs. So no doubt he'll be aiming to bench over 300 and we wish
him luck!! Here are some facts about Reuben you may or may not know: - training now since 1994 after damaging both knees from his rugby days. Only started in the gym to rehab the injuries but liked the weights so much he stayed with it (it must be a polynesian thing because we all seem to love lifitng heavy weight!!) however he didnt do his first powerlifting competition until 2000 and then in 2001 officially joined the NZPF. - His best official squat is 365kg and best official bench press is 305kg that he did back in 2005 which at the time was a unofficial Commonwealth record. - He was first person in the Commonwealth to bench press 300kg (661lbs) in 2004. Lisa |
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Check out NZ Powergirls pics and story here
A Powerful Team!
Reuben, Ali and Lance
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