Scott Smith Interview

 
    Interviewed by: Deepsquatter

Q: Can you give us some background info on yourself (age, education, occupation, funny middle name, etc.)? 

I'm  29, a high school graduate and I'm a  personal trainer, I played football, baseball, and race BMX. OH YEAH, I'm good at Sony Play Station games!

Q: How did you get involved in powerlifting? 

The gym I started lifting at had a group of powerlifters there and they talked me in to going to a meet that was in 1986 

Q: What is your favorite lift? Least favorite? 

My Favorite is the squat. Least favorite the deadlift because I have small fat hands which makes it hard for me to hang on to the bar.

Q: I've got to admit I knew your name but didn't know who you were until seeing you at the Mountaineer Cup.  I watched you at the Cup and you are one of the most explosive lifters I've seen. That opening squat blew my mind. You took it down nice and slow and then just popped up. It was one of the prettiest squats I've ever seen. Actually, all your lifts looked pretty easy but that one really surprised me. What are your best lifts? The ones you're most proud of? Titles you've held/won? 

Best lifts: 
squat 859, 
the bench 650, 
the deadlift 744 
total 2236. 

I'm not proud of any of them yet they're still too low for me.

Titles: 
1988-1990 USPF Teenage National Championships. 
1990 APF JR. National Championships, 
1993 USPF JR. National Championships, 
1993 IPF JR. Worlds Championships, 
1994 USPF SR. National Chapionships, 
1994 IPF World Championships 2nd place to Victor Nalakin(sp?)
1995 USPF SR. National Championships, 
1997 USPF Bench Press National Championships,
1998 WABDL Bench Press and Deadlift World Championships, 
1999 APF Bench Press and Deadlift National Champioships, 
2000 Mountaineer Cup runner-up to Ed Coan, which he cost me $8,000 Thanks Eddie!

Q: Any meets you'd like to Forget? 

The1996 IPF World Championships, I kind of went off there.

Q:If you don't mind talking about it what happened? 

I hurt my back at the SR. Nationals and I thought if I was about 90% I could still win the World's. In training I only went 785 in the squat, 565 in the bench, and 705 in the deadlift the winning total was 2066 which I could have done more with no problem. Anyway I open with 760 in the squat my first attempt all red lights depth, second attempt again all red lights depth, I started to get pissed off so on my last attempt when I was at the bottom of the lift I let all my air out and let the weight push me down as far as I could go came up with it all red lights again, so I tried to push the squat rack over and the referee said something so I walked to him and told him I was going to kick is ass when the meet was over, another thing that pisses me off about the IPF is your not allowed to talk to the referees, like if you get red lighted your so called coach has to go 
to the jury table to find out why you got red lighted which I think is total bullshit. One more thing that made me mad was you travel across the World to compete with your own money and you get there and the team coach says he is going to call all your attempts what the hell is that about? if they paid my way then I would not have a problem with that. Well anyway after the meet I had to talk to the President of the IPF about what they where going to do about my actions at first they where going to give me a 2 year suspension but Peter Thorne talked to them so I only got 2 years of probation instead. 

Q: What are your future goals in the sport?

To total over 2300.

Q: What about supplementation? What kind of diet and supplement regimen?

As for supplements: multi vitamins and minerals, extra vitamin C and E, glutamine, BCAA'S, Parrillo's Max Endurance, no fat burners.
Diet: that is a four letter word!
 

Q: I mentioned that you remined me of a buffed Fred Flintstone. When I saw you at the hotel I was like. Who the hell is that guy? You are  about as thick as you are tall. How big were you when you started and were you always bigger then....well everyone...or did this result from your PL'ing? 

When I started training I weighed 120lbs. It's had to be from Powerlifting because I will never Bodybuild.

Q: Who has influenced you in this sport? Helped you the most? 

The first person to influence me was JB Adams he was an IPF Masters World Champion. Plus all the people who said I would never be strong.  Ed Coan has helped me the most.

 Q: The Strength Site is about training. Would you share some of your squat training ideas with the readers? After seeing that squat I have to ask how you train the squat. I'm sure the rest of the world wants to know about your bench. After all, 600 plus is an awesome bench but the squat is the king of the lifts around these parts so I've gotta know. 

 When I was 19 years old I squatted 760@ 197lbs. that was in 1990. So in the last 10 years I've only added 10lbs. per year which ain't very good, so persistance is the key and a positive mental thinking which I have not had the last few previous years but now I'm on the right track.

Q:You mentioned that "the people who said I would never be strong" influenced you and that you now have positive mental thinking which you lacked in the past. How did you turn the negative external forces into positive action and how did you develop a positive mental attitude? I  talk to a lot of lifters and many people seem to have huge doubts about what they will be able to do. "I could never do that"  is a comment I hear from people too often. When I talk to Eddy or Rickey Crain or other
successful lifters, I don't hear the negative from them. They seem to have belief systems geared towards success and if they have doubts, they don't let them surface. What is your secret?

In the past I would always compare myself to other great lifters, I think that held me back. I used to be so hard on myself I would saying to myself your weak, your small, your fat, whatever it was to try to motivate me to make a lift if you do that long enough you'll start to believe that. I always knew that I was stronger then I was so I decided the heck with this negitive attitude and get my shit together and I did you seen the results of that at our last meet. Now it seems that I can lift anything if I train smart and stick to my training cycle. It's not an easy thing to do but anybody can do it but it will not happen over night. You must surround yourself with positive people and you can't let negitive people bring you down. 

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

About 20lbs. of muscle and 200lbs. on my total!
 

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
 

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