Kirk Karwoski – Prototypical Purposeful Primitive

I took this photo in the hotel room the morning Karwoski lifted raw and squatted 826. He weighs 241 and had just rolled out of bed. “Let me take some pictures.” He said, “Damn, can’t I get some coffee first?” I insisted. He displays 16 inch forearms and 20 inch upper arms.

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Kirk Karwoski captured seven straight National Championships, six straight IPF World Powerlifting titles and got bored with it all. One evening at Maryland Athletic Club at about the time of year he would normally need to start serious preparation for the upcoming National Championships, training partner Bob Myers, and I reflexively tried to convince Kirk to mount yet another assault. We wanted him to win an eight Naitonal and seventh World title. He informed us that he was bored to tears with the entire process and would not mount another campaign. It was final: he was “all done.” The title was his for the taking. He had built up such a huge cushion over the rest of the world-level lifters that the “flee” phenomenon was occurring.

The flee phenomenon is when a particular lifter becomes so dominant within a weight dvision that the other contenders within that division “flee” to the next weight class either up or down to avoid the dominator. At that time, the only other IPF lifters in the world that inflicted the flee phenomenon were Ed Coan, Dan Austin and Gene Bell. Kirk was causing 275 pound lifters to add a few pounds and become heavyweights or drop down to the 242 pound class.

I suggested that kirk might spice up the process by lifting at the World Championships wearing no supportive equipment. “What if you won the World Championships wearing no squat suit, no knee wraps, no bench shirt and just a belt? Hell, you could still squat 850, bench 500 and pull 775 for a 2125 total! He steadfastly refused.

I had another idea. “What if you won the World Championships without training for it?” Kirk looked puzzled, Bob too was puzzled. The three of us stood in the main weight room at Maryland Athletic Club in winter of 1997. I related my “No Training” angle. “Has anyone in the history of the world ever won a National or World title in any sport without training for it?” I think NOT! In other words, without any training at all you could still squat 825 wearing gear – am I right? Kirk thought a minute and nodded. Encouraged I continued. “You could certainly bench press 475 using a shirt? Hell, you could roll out of bed in the morning and do that – right?” Kirk nodded. I delivered my closer: “And you can certainly deadlift 750 anywhere, any time! So why not skip training? Take off completely! Show up at the Nationals, total 2075, win and get selected for the World Championship team! Now that would be a freaking first!” I was fired up and loved the pure gonzo weirdness of the idea. I wasn’t done. “Then … still not training … show up at the World Championships, total 2100 and win a world title! All without ever setting foot in the gym!” Bob and I hi-fived each other: Genius! Become the first National and World Powerlifting Champion to win without training for an entire year!

Kirk had had enough of our hair-brained ideas. Big Bob looked like Bluto trying to cheer up Flounder in Animal House by breaking a beer bottle over his head. Karwoski got hot. “No, No, NO FREAKING WAY! NO!” I’M ALL DONE! Look: I’ve had it! I can’t stand the idea of training – or not training – I’m sick of powerlifting and want out. Why am I going to go through all the trouble and aggravation? Kirk took his left hand, licked his index finger and made an imaginary line on an imaginary chalk board. He wanted no more notches on his pistol handle. He left and that was the end of his complete domination of national and international powerlifting in the 275 pound class.

As this is being written, ten yearsafter his retirement that night in MAC, Kirk still holds the IPF World Record in the squat at 1,003 pounds. His 2,306 World Record total was only recently exceeded and that was completely attributable to the allowing of bench shirts that inflate bench presses by 40%. In Karwoski’s day, his bench shirt added 40 pounds to his bench press – not 40%. Had he worn the shirts allowable today, his 595 pound bench press would have turned into 700 and his total would jump for 2,300 to 2,450.

Coaching History

I worked with Kirk from the time he was 18 years old and over the subsequent decade helped guide him from being a really good lifter to a hall of fame power immortal. My role was that of a strategist and coach. When I started helping him he was a tremendous squatter, albeit wild and inconsistent. He was not dropping his squats deep enough. Over time we developed a squat style that fit his unique proportions. I took him to bench press master Ken Fantano for help on his lagging bench press. Pre-Ken, Kirk was a 440 pound bencher and had been stuck there for almost two years. Ken showed Kirk the Fantano technique and Kirk took to it immediately. He eventually bench pressed 600 using the patented, low touch-point, integrated leg drive style.

He worked the hell out of his deadlift and despite having the smallest hands I’ve every seen on a big time lifter, he eventually pulled 800 for a dead-stop double and 825×1 without straps. He never duplicated these pulls in competition:  his humongous squats affected his deadlifts to such an extent that he was unable to register more than 771. (He pulled 777 at 242 after a relatively light 826 squat.) His 950 to 1,000 pound squats wreaked havoc on his pull power and 771 was all he could manage after walking out and squatting 940+ three times, as he would do in a competitive powerlift competition.

Kirk Karwoski succeeded because he had a fierce single-minded focus and a maniacal determination to be the best. He had a demonic work ethic and was a smart trainer. For ten years he centered his entire existence on powerlifting. His laser-beam focus paid huge dividends. Kirk totally revamped his physique.

At one point early in his career he was so disproportional and bottom-heavy he was called T-Rex. With huge thighs, huge calves and huge glutes, he had a smallish, underdeveloped torso and short arms. He looked as if God had accidentally grafted a 190 pound bodybuilder’s torso onto a 350 pound football offensive tackle’s lower body. Kirk looked like on of those mythical creatures, a hallf man/half horse Satyr. It was obvious why he was a great squatter and equally obvious why his bench press was okay and why his deadlift lagged so far behind.

He was his own worst critic and had a gift for seeing things as they truly were. It took five years to bring his torso into proportional balance with his massive lower body. Most men continually play to their strengths and avoid addressing weaknesses. Not Kirk, he ultimately achieved muscular balance because he steadfastly attacked his weak points. His approach towards training stayed basically the same throughout his career.

I broke my leg in 1983 and turned my full attention to coaching. I had been working with Mark Chaillet, Ed Coan and Doug Furnas when Kirk approached me. He was a kid that I had first met at Marshalls Peck’s basement gym in rural Forestville, MD. At the time Kirk was a very junior guy among a crew of hard-ass men … Joe Povinale, Joe Ferry, Jeff B., Frank H., Pat Brooks from Baltimore, Pete Lumia … we’d gather and train all three lifts on a single day in long extended power sessions. Kirk was there, and already had a reputation for being a good squatter and not much else. Had someone told that crew back then that this kid would become on of the greatest powerlifters of all time. he would have been laughed out of the room.

Kirk could squat, though not as much as the guys at Marshalls. Jeff B for example could double 550 in the bench press without a bench shirt weighing 265. Lots of us had deadlifted 700-plus. We continually goaded and challenged Kirk. Marshall bet him he couldn’t squat 500×10 without gear and within a month he did it. Even back then he rose to the challenges. After we all gravitated to Chaillet’s Gym, Kirk dropped out for a while to play college football and while he liked playing ball and the college coeds, he couldn’t get his head wrapped around the books.

He got a great job as a Union Pressman and settled in. He bought a small condo and worked his union job. He’d get off at 4 every day and stayed in this groove for the next decade. Kirk wanted to lift in the Big Leagues, the USPF/IPF. I told him his squat depth wasn’t near low enough. He held all kinds of records in the fledgling ADFPA, but in the USPF squats had to be unquestionably below parallel. Plus the level of competition in the 242 class  was stratospheric: Thor Kritsky had played football at Virginia Tech with Bruce Smith; Dave Jacoby was the dominant 242er in the World; Willie Bell was a stud with an 800-plus deadlift; and Joe Ladiner was positively frightening … the 242 pound class was a meat grinder.

Still he was the hottest young prospect on the scene. So we went to our first USPF nationals. He promptly bombed out: three straight squats, nine red lights, and bam! He was gone! The next year the same thing: another bomb out! The following year we yet tried again. He was insistent about starting with 804 in the squat, a Junior World Record. I tried to talk him into starting lower, but he would hear none of it. His first attempt squat was turned down 2 to 1. Still, he had gotten one white light. His second attempt was turned down 2 to 1. He flipped out and threatened mayhem. He told me point blank that if he missed his third squat  and suffered the embarrassment of bombing out in his third straight National Championships he would quit powerlifting forever. He was super serious and I believed him.

As we stood at the chalk box prior to the do-or-die attempt, he chalked his hands. I chalked his back to keep the bar from slipping and happened to notice Ed Coan and Doug Furnas sitting in the front row. All of a sudden they started laughing about something totally unrelated, I quickly jabbed Kirk, hard in the ribs, and said, “LOOK! Look at Furnas and Coan – they’re LAUGHING AT YOU!” He looked over at his idols and instantly morphed into a demon. He finished chalking his hands and continued to glare at the dynamic duo of Doug and Ed. As they finished laughing at their private joke, they coincidentally happened to look at Kirk and I at the chalk box, their smiles still lingered on their faces, their shared joke must have been a funny one. The look on Kirk’s face went from nervous, disjointed and apprehensive to a look of pure evil. Hatred cubed. “I’LL TEACH THOSE SON-OF-A-BITCHES NOT TO LAUGH AT ME!!!” He yelled. With that he stormed to the platform in front of a packed house and attacked the 804 like a maniac.

It would be nice to say he slaughtered the poundage and made it look easy … but I can’t … it was absolutely agonizing. Kirk did something he had never done before; he took the barbell all the way down to parallel, his usual turnaround point … then he took the poundage down another 3-4 inches – way below parallel – before he began an ascent that was so slo, so horrific, so excruciating, so intense and torturous that the jaded, seen-it-all Mike Lambert, powerlifting’s major domo and guru, later called this particular attempt, “The single most difficult lift I have ever witnessed in my entire life.”

Finished, Karwoski collapsed coming off the platform. The judge’s lights came on … one white … one red … (“Oh SHIT! I heard him moan) then … a second white light! Pandemonium ensued! The auditorium went nuts! He had set a Junior World Record, stayed in the competition, place third at the end of the day and went on to become one of the greatest powerlifters in history. We came within one red light of having him quit the sport altogether. Later on Ed camp and asked, “What the hell was going on with The Kid on that last attempt? He looked insane!” I shook my head and said, “I owe it all to you and Doug.” Ed looked baffled. “Call it elemental child psychology.” I said. The boy became a man that day.

Karwoski’s Power Training Program

Kirk was a methodical, determined, patient and intelligent trainer who took a long-term approach and never went crazy in training. Towards the end of his illustrious career, he never missed a rep over an entire 12 week cycle in any lift. Can you imagine? A man sits down with a pencil and paper four months prior to a National or World Championship, writes out the projected poundage, reps and sets for every single session for every workout for the next twelve straight weeks then never misses a single predetermined rep!

His prognostications were so realistic, his self-assessment abilities so accurate, he was so devoid of training ego and wishful thinking, that in each and every one of his four weekly workouts for each successive week, week in week out, he never missed anything. And it wasn’t like he was handling pee-wee poundage and yawning his way through the workouts. Prior to his World Record squat of 1,003 his last five successive training weeks produced the following top squat sets: 900×5, 940×3, 960×2, 980×2, 1,000×2.

Interestingly, he used virtually the identical training template as Ed Coan, at least insofar as the workout structure. He was not near as comprehensive in his attention to the assistance exercises as Ed was, still Kirk’s similarity to Coan’s training template was no accident. I conversed weekly with Ed for years and purposefully infused Kirk’s training template with Coan’s ideas and strategies.

Ed, Doug and Kirk all felt that the 5 rep set, be it squat, bench press or deadlift, was the key to power and strength success. Each of these men sought to become as strong as possible in key lifts in their 5 rep sets. Initially, each would use as little equipment and gear as possible, then as they moved deeper into the power cycle, they would add supportive gear in conjunction with dropping the repetitions. Each man felt that the key was becoming as strong as possible in 5 rep sets without gear. When it was time to power train, they would be perfectly positioned to exceed previous bests. This love of 5 rep sets resonated with what I learned from Iron Scribe John McCallum, and later in my power apprenticeship with Hugh Cassidy. Hugh, Doug, Ed and Kirk all loved the 5 rep set. Ed, Doug and Kirk had squat “bests” of 900 x 5.

Karwoski Reemerges

You ‘assist’ you don’t ‘coach’ men like Coan, Furnas, Chaillet, Karwoski, Jacoby, Lamar or Mike Hall. I assisted Ed when he posted the highest total ever (at the time) regardless of bodyweight. Ed was the greatest lifter I have ever seen, with the possible exception of Paul Anderson. I have assisted all-time great lifters like Lamar Gant, Dan Wohleber, Dan Austin, Joe Ladiner, Mike Hall, Dave Jacoby, Phil HIle, John Black and Bob Bridges during national and international competition. The point is – I’ve been around. I’m grizzled and tough to impress and I though my time was over insofar as bearing witnesss to truly amazing strength occurrences. I was wrong.

Through a weird combination of chance and circumstance I bore witness to yet another absolutely incredible, all-time strength feat. It was an amazing display o pure hellacious strength. On December 9th, 2004 I assisted Kirk Karwoski when he totaled 2,066 in the three power lifts wearing nothing but a lifting belt. It was a retro-throwback powerlift festival staring Captain Kirk Karwoski in his first public lifting appearance in eight years. Physically he had never looked better: he lifted in the 242 pound class and was shredded and ripped. Through a combination of muscle maturity and low body fat, his arms and legs rippled and roiled with every step. Like a lifting Ulysses, Kirk had been away from powerlifting for nearly a decade and everything changed in the interim. At this competition, the AAU World Championship held in Laughlin, Nevada, Kirk went backwards in time. Rather than to ‘gear up’ he decided to ‘gear down.’ He made eight out of nine lifts and started things off with a squat exhibition.

In staggering succession he made squats of 749, 804 and finally an explosive 826 pound effort. He wore a loose tee shirt and a wrestling singlet. Kirk experienced a severe thigh pull on his final squat with 826. On the previous 804 he barely averted a total wipeout. He lost concentration and tension on the descent for a split second and his lapse caused him to be pushed downward way past his normal turnaround point. He caught himself and through sheer willpower and guts pushed 804 to completion. His post-lift analysis was that he had ‘set up’ with his feet slightly narrow. This gut buster lift took a lot out of him and the selection of 826 pounds on his 3rd attempt was conservative. Had the 804 gone the way it should, 840 was to have been the 3rd attempt. The 826 actually went a whole lot better than 804.

As Chuck Deluxe would say using another of his endless football analogies “Kirk ‘jus needed to get the snot knocked out of him to clear his head.” Karwoski took the 826 down quickly and exploded it upward from 3 inches below parallel to 3/4’s erect. As he pushed through the sticking point, the vastus internus on his right thigh tore. He actually heard a noise. He recalled that, “I heard it (the thigh muscle) go pop, but I was through the hard part and I was not going to lose this weight after getting 2/3rd’s erect.” This lift was a thing of beauty; pure athletic poetry in motion, 8 and a quarter squatted deep and explosive by a guy weight 239 in a lifting belt and nothing else. This was as fine a lift as I’d ever witnessed by anyone anywhere.

In the bench press Kirk made an explosive 446 opener and a fine 463 second before experiencing his only miss of the entire competition: a 479 3rd attempt bench press. He had trained hurt. “I had been nursing a torn rotator cuff for the last ten weeks. It was a work related injury, nothing to do with training, and before injuring it I had bench pressed 500 with a pause without a shirt.” Kirk said. “Even injured I had hoped for a double body weight 480 pound bench press.” This was not to be.

The deadlift would be touch and go on account of the thigh injury. He decided to dramatically curtail the number of deadlift warm ups. Julie Scanlon, Kirk’s lady and myself were his only handlers. We applied ice to the injury, but it would be anyone’s guess if he would be able to deadlift effectively. He felt confident of being able to pull 705 regardless how bad the leg hurt. The competition was dragging on and on and on, and fatigue was becoming a real factor. His opening 705 deadlift “felt ok.” His second attempt with 749 felt better than 705. The thigh injury was not a factor, but fatigue might be his u ndoing. Kirk had taken his first squat at 10am and pulled his final successful deadlift, 776 pounds, at 7pm, a full nine hours later.

I remember way back when Kirk was campaigning as a kid 242 pound lifter, going against hall of fame guys like Dave Jacoby, Willie Bell and Thor Kritsky. Kirk was a young man trying to break into the ranks of the true champions and we were in shock and awe over the poundage these men were lifting. Clean, legal lifts wearing single ply squat suits, standard length knee wraps and single ply bench shirts. Kirk was now matching those awesome lifts made by those awesome men without wearing any supportive gear! At age 38 Karwoski’s lifting was truly transcendental.

777 pounds was the most Kirk had ever deadlifted in competition. Over the years he physically transformed from disproportional to super proportional by working on his weak points. Too many athletes continually play to their strengths and this eventually results in physical and psychological imbalances that become impossible to overcome.

I had the great pleasure of working with this man from his athletic infancy through his ultimate maturation. I passed along to him the collective insights I had gleaned from my many mentors. He absorbed the collective knowledge and added his own unique training twists.

Check out the links below for profiles of remarkable strength athletes I have coached over my many years in my strength career. Also included are posts on how are readers can use elite methodology to work on their weak points.

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