CON-CRĒT Concentrated Creatine Blog

The six-foot, 230-pound 21 year-old athlete, John Norcott took home the Junior Nationals Title this month at The USAPL Raw Nationals in Denver, CO, on July 16-18, 2010.  Last year John (from Norton, Massachusetts) placed second in his weight class.  However this year, even after bumping up to a heavier weight class (242 lbs), he pushed past his competitors with a total of 1,531 pounds.  This total was an all-time best and new American record in the 242 lb weight class, with records also broken in the bench and deadlift.  John’s final results were:  556 lb squat, 369 lb bench press, and 606 lb deadlift.  John was actually able to get up a 584 lb squat, but missed on his 2nd and 3rd attempt.

What’s even more impressive with John’s final results was his condensed training schedule leading up to this competition.  Focused on his school work and off-season football training this past winter and spring, John only started training for the National Powerlifting Competition two months prior to the Nationals event.  Even with a shortened training schedule of strict lifting in preparation for Nationals, John believes he was still able to perform at explosive levels due to his regular conditioning for football ( including plyometrics) and his healthy protein-rich diet and supplementation routine, consisting of CON-CRET Creatine HCl pre-workout and on off-days, and Serious Mass (a protein blend) 3 times a day, 5 days a week.  As starting fullback for Angelo State University’s football team in San Angelo, TX, John has been trying hard to gain weight and get bigger.  Since coming to Angelo State, John has increased his weight from 205 lbs up to 230 lbs, with his goal weight at 235-240 lbs.  He attributes much of his increased strength, explosive lifts, and the ease of  his intensive workouts during conditioning drills to his supplementing with CON-CRET.  CON-CRET also helps John with muscle recovery.

“My lifts during training for Nationals were strong, but my hip has just been a reoccurring injury that has always been painful, affecting my squat,”  said Norcott.  “However, it never hurt enough to the point that I couldn’t go heavy,”  he continued.

John’s strength coach, Kelsey Hite, determined after the competition that John may have over trained for his squat, which may have contributed to him missing his last two.  John also feels that he may have opened too high. 

“Warming up for my squat, I could tell that I just wasn’t feeling it,” said John.  “I tried doing dynamic stretches and static stretches, but sometimes you just have bad days, and I had a bad ’squat day’ at Nationals I guess.”

John felt however, that his bench was really strong and was consistently getting stronger throughout the year.  Although he benched 369 lbs, John felt he could have even done 380 lbs if he had given it his all.  At a full 16.5 lbs behind the competition after his squat, John knew that he needed to work hard to make up ground.  After the bench press John passed his competition by 22 lbs, which gave him a 5.5 lb lead going into the deadlift.  Anyone who knows John well will tell you that he can make up a deficit with his deadlift.  And that he did! John opened up with 556 lbs, just trying to stay ahead of his competitor, who opened with 550 lbs but then jumped to 584 lbs.  Aware of his top competitor’s results, John jumped to 589 lbs himself.  His competitor then jumped to 600 lbs!  John jumped to 600 lbs as well.  John quickly noticed that his competitor had changed his lift, and then John adjusted his to 606 lbs to out-match the competition and win the title. 

A member of Team CON-CRET, John Norcott has won many powerlifting competitions over the years, including the Mass High School Championships in 2006 and 2007, the Teen Nationals in 2006 and 2007, the New England Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and the RAW (no lifting suites allowed, only a lifting belt, wrist wraps, and knee sleeves) Nationals in 2008.  Last year Norcott finished first in the RAW Challenge at the 2009 Arnold Classic and second place at the Junior Nationals in Denver, CO, 2009.

With another title under his belt, John is switching gears again to focus on college ball and end his college career on top.  He has hopes and dreams of helping his team, the ASU Rams to win a NCAA National Championship this year.  John reported that the team has a great coaching staff and a lot of great players, with many seniors on the team this coming year.  So they definitely have a shot!