USAPL Raw Nationals Preview

83kg looking fun this year

We are just a little over a week away from the USAPL (USA Powerlifting) Raw Nationals, which is one of the biggest powerlifting competitions out other than IPF (International Powerlifting Federation) Worlds and within the powerlifting world, things are staring to heat up. A lot of people including myself are ready to see the competition in the 83kg/182 weight class. We have Russel Orhii “Russwole” looking to 4peat after being dominant these past 3 years but, the competition is starting to catch up. Angelo Fortino “14o” is looking to see what he can do to stop Russ.

Angelo Fortino

Analyzing Angelo’s lifts, I would say the only thing that looks to be comparable to Russ is his deadlift. In late April Angelo was able to pull 766lbs off the floor for a very quick PR and just recently, pulled 751lbs last week. However, Angelo’s Bench and Squat are not up to Russ’s, his most recent bench PR was a very solid 374x1 which is fantastic but when you have Russ benching 429x1 and has done 374x4 there will have to be a lot of mis-grooves on Russ’s performance that day for Angelo to take bench. As for squat, Angelo does not stand a chance. He just recently squatted a 644lb PR which again, extremely good but when you have Russ squatted 644lb for reps of 4 and having squatted a 705lbx2 I think Russ will have it. Now these are all just my opinions, obviously a change in location from their home gyms to competing with judges in convention center is different. Nutrition, sleep, time, rest, and so much more can impact what happens on meet day. Also, keep in mind that every lifter gets 3 attempts with each lift so a total of 9 lifts between squat/bench/deadlift and only 3 numbers are added up; The best squat, best bench, and best deadlift of lifters are added together to give them a total number and whoever has the higher total wins. So, someone can have a better deadlift than someone else but still lose, same with squat and bench. I have been a Russwole fan ever since I started to take the gym more serious and am 100% backing him to become a 4peat champ in the 83kg weight class.

Russel Orhii