Lifter of the Month May 2019

Scott Neary

Good morning, Thank you very much
Ive not completed anything like this before so ive done my best effort so far.

1) Who are you?

Scott Neary

2) Why did you start weight training?

I went to a rugby specific strength and conditioning session at A&O in Aug 17, the owner set a deadlift challenge to win 6 months membership, managed to pull 210kg and to my surprise won it. At first I used weight training to assist with rugby but I quit rugby and fully committed to powerlifting after a year. My deadlift still hasn’t improved much since then!

3) Which Gym do you mainly train at and why?

Alpha and Omega Performance in Salisbury, the main reason I train here and only here is the people, they have a huge powerlifting team and a wealth of knowledge and experience, the owner Adam Hindle is my coach. This is the only gym I’ve been to where the whole gym stops to support a Pb attempt 

4) Can you give us a quick rundown of your best competition lifts and where, and also your most memorable competition lifts which were not necessarily the biggest.

Classic raw-270/160/260 at the Midlands and South Yorkshire Qualifier 2019

Recently had a go with multi-ply before euro’s build up, So much to learn here.

Multi-ply – 330/232.5/260 at the Southern Qualifiers 2019 after a 7 week crash course learning kit

Most memorable lift – 330kg multi-ply 3rd squat at the southern qualifiers to steal a British record

5) How did competing happen? What’s the story?

I’ve always been involved in team sports, I tested the water with a novice comp ran at A&O and really enjoyed it. I went to watch the Barnstable qualifier last year and signed up straight after.

6) Who was your hero in strength training across all fields? Did you have poster of them in your room?!

I didn’t really follow strength sport when I was younger, I didn’t really notice sports outside of rugby, I had Sonny Bill Williams on my wall, He was and still is my sporting hero

7) How long have you been competing now and what other sports did you compete in?

I’ve done 1 novice comp and 3 qualifiers, I’ve played National 3 rugby before powerlifting stole all my ability to jog

8) Whats the ultimate fantasy – re your competing – keep it clean!

1000kg in kit whilst still in the ABPU is my biggest one at the moment, So much to learn so it seems too far away at the moment, considering spending all next year in kit to chase it

9) Where do you feel you are now in terms of what you believe you can achieve?

My realistic goal is the ER/WR squat record in the 125kg classic raw division, I’ve done it in the gym, but we all know it’s a different beast doing full power on the platform, haven’t got the psychology right on the platform yet

10) What do you think about social media and powerlifting?

I’m a big fan of social media and powerlifting, I’ve only recently starting using Instagram as a platform for powerlifting, I’m a big fan of sharing training methods and learning by watching the random things others do

11) What was the best bit of advice you ever got about your lifting – and by whom?

Open light! Adam Hindle attempted to reign a few of us in when our egos took over, one guy bombed on squats by not listening, thankfully I listened so I still haven’t experienced bombing, I’m sure it will happen at some point 

12) What has been the best training method or approach for you personally? – we understand everyone is different.

Conjugate method, Adam Hindle bases my programming around this with a few others in the team, Leigh Routledge also uses this method at A&O so plenty of people to help out. This method has destroyed mental blocks with numbers for me.

13) Tell us how you feel the morning of the competition?

I always feel rubbish the morning of a comp, with deload and rest planned before the comp I always feel weak, phantom illnesses and I always regret my opener selections! It’s not until the warm up room I’ll settle down, so far all warm ups have felt good, Shows the programming/peaking works

14) Is there any advice you would give new lifters that you think is one of the “keys” to success on platform?

Ignore your gym Pb’s! They don’t translate to the platform. It’s all about building the biggest total you can, forget other lifters and chase your own total

15) Tell us something about yourself the powerlifting community will no clue about.

I donate my hair to charity as soon as it’s long enough, so you may see my with some tragic hairstyles

Kind regards

Scott