2020 In Their Own Words

I asked my clients to reflect and describe the past year of their lives with respect to their health, fitness and performance. Here are the responses from six of my most disciplined pupils.

Janet White (pictured above training at home via video)

2020—The Curse of Quarantine Time and the Boon of Unengaged , Unscheduled Time

I am fortunate with easy access to nature, Skype for training, and a lane for swimming. I am stronger, more flexible, and leaner than a decade ago. The process of aging is not stopping. Acknowledging my lack of control, my intent is to remain upright, mobile, productive, and with as little misery as possible for as long as possible doing whatever it takes to accomplish that.

Daniel Borden

Reflecting back on 2020, I must say I am overall pleased with my fitness work in a challenging year. Even though COVID-19 forced me into a 3-month break from the gym. I did use this time to improve my road running, do some body-weight exercises at home, and allowed a nagging shoulder injury to heal. Prior to Christmas I achieved a personal goal of running 5 miles in 45 minutes (9 minutes per mile). I have made good gains in my strength. I am confident with continued effort I will finally achieve a set of 50 push-ups (42 max currently) and be able to do multiple reps of 200 pounds on the bench press before the end of 2021.

My personal motivation for fitness is to maintain the ability to do daily physical work and avoid injury. Jamie has been instrumental in helping me along this path. I will be forever grateful to him for all he has done for me since I first consulted with him in January 2018.

Nathan Staley (pictured above with his family at Halloween)

What struck me most was Mr. Ness’s ability to listen and assess the nuance of my particular fitness needs (even through a largely virtual format). He created a workout that has been great in building strength in areas where previous nerve issues had caused significant weakness. The results were confirmed during some very physically demanding annual field monitoring for work. In years past I have been very stiff and sore for days after. This year my wife commented that I seemed to be managing the effort much more easily… a difference which I attributed to my work with Mr. Ness.

*Editor's note: 5 year-old Reid, the ninja aboard Nathan's back held a plank for an impressive 12 minutes after joining his father for a few workouts.

Jared Sandfoss (pictured above in the CKY singlet)

I’ve been running cross country for a few years and have enjoyed the sport greatly, but this past year of training has completely changed my running style and has been a big learning journey for me. I’ve learned so much about running such as the right way to train, the right mindset to have while racing, and how to react to results, whether good or bad. My mindset and view of running has changed immensely from before. Instead of over-training or just blindly running, I’ve learned to focus on things such as my form, recovery, and general mindset. This past year has shown me how to train much smarter than I have before. While I didn’t meet all my goals all the time, I have no doubt that this training has been and is still doing it’s job. I continually see improvements, feel better than i ever have before, and have more energy both during workouts and outside of running. This past year has dramatically changed running for me in a way that has made it both much more enjoyable and much more rewarding.

Diann Reschke (pictured above helping her husband Steve with a workout in their garage in Alabama)

As I reflect on the past year I think of 2020 starting for me with setting the USPA DRUG TESTED National Record in the deadlift with a lift of 226 lbs for age group 65 to 69. This was followed by having to postpone rotator cuff surgery due to COVID-19 until June.

Training with Jamie Ness during the waiting period was what keep me going. Jamie adjusted my workout to what I could continue to do. After surgery working out was more difficult than what I expected. After going through PT at Resilience Physical Therapy with Dr. Terri, Jamie once again focused my workouts towards me getting back to a full recovery. He is very patient with me when I wanted to get a little ahead with lifting more than I should be lifting. We started with 20 lbs. and as of today I am lifting 100 lbs easily for multiple sets and reps.

It has been a difficult year with meeting goals but I am confident that with continued support and training from Jamie I will be on schedule to open with 226 lbs in the IPL Drug Tested North American Championships in October 2021 for what I hope to be another world record! I would not be lifting and continuing to improve without the training I receive from Jamie.

Steve Reschke (pictured above working out in his garage and on a plane prior to a powerlifting meet)

2020 the Year-In Review

Many want to refer to 2020 as the year of the Lemon, nothing went well by many standards. In looking back, January to March was quite normal, after that everything changed. I spent a lot of time with Jamie training for Powerlifting events in January and March along with the Spring Throwing Events for track and field. Jamie has been a tremendous asset to my overall well-being in both strength and friendship as we have blended to develop a keen sense of competition. As the year progressed, more and more Powerlifting events were cancelled including ALL of the Throwing events for 2020. As stated, the competitive spirit was still alive and Jamie came up with ideas to “host” small Throwing events and we also entered a “virtual” Master Throwing event. In the Throwing world the events are Shot Put – Discus – Javelin – Hammer – Weight and Super weight. As I am a novice in all of these events, Jamie and I would practice at Lykins Park or College Park or any area we could find a safe place to throw and Jamie would help me understand the proper technique to each element, thus the learning process began. As the year of COVID-19 continued, the small events expanded into four (4) events and a few Master Throwers from Ohio came to join in the fun. As the Summer of 2020 began to pass by, our garage was converted into a make-shift gym and Jamie would come to our home for the normal training sessions. As all of this was on-going, my wife Diann, was going through rotator cuff surgery and recovery, this also added to the homework for Jamie and the PT associate at Resilient. In the June / July time frame, Jaime and I decided to enter the 100% RAW STRICT CURL event in Bigler, Pennsylvania. As stated the joy of training and competition never fades. Jamie and I made this journey in August and later Jamie went on to compete in the World Strict Curl event in October, Jamie became a World Record holder for his class, a TREMENDOUS accomplishment. I can only say, when you train with a person who loves competition and enjoys seeing others succeed, the process is very rewarding. In October, I entered a RPS Powerlifting meet and set a World Record in my age group for squats, a record that stood since 1969 and a lift that Jamie has been working with me on for 2 years (and still, I do not have the technique quite correct). I then moved onto a Single Ply division for deadlift, once again I was able to set a National Record for my age group.

In summary, 2020 was very unique, through it all, Jamie has been so very easy to work with and through his dedication to his clients, results can be achieved no matter what the immediate issues are. Below are my results for 2020 which are direct results from Jamie’s individual training and the “competition” we both seek and strive for. Jamie converted a “normal” active person into a true amateur athlete, for this I am extremely grateful and I truly look forward to the years ahead… 2020 produced A LOT OF LEMONADE!!!!

2020 Results – Steve Reschke – 110 kg (242 pound division) – 67 years young

POWERLIFTING Events for 2020

USPA RAW DIVISION – DRUG TESTED:

KY STATE RECORDS SET: Squat (237 lbs) – Deadlift (330.7 lbs) – Totals 738.50 lbs – records set on January 25, 2020 in Florence, KY

USPA Raw Division – NON Tested

KY STATE RECORDS SET: Squat (242.5 lbs) – Bench-press (181.90) – Deadlift (336.2 lbs) – Total = 760.6 lbs -- records set on March 7 2020 in Winchester, KY

100% RAW Powerlifting STRICT CURL EVENT:

KY STATE RECORD -- 100.31 lbs – record set in Bigler, Pennsylvania on August 7, 2020

RPS (Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate):

WORLD RECORD – Squat – (245 lbs ) the record has been open since 1969 – record established on October 3, 2020

RPS (Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate):

KY STATE / REGIONAL Records: Squat – (245 lbs) – Deadlift (350 lbs *tied however my PR) – Total = 760 – October 3, 2020 in Covington, KY

USPA – DRUG TESTED – SINGLE PLY:

NATIONAL RECORD set and KY State Record – deadlift – 347 lbs – set on November 14, 2020 .. Crestview, Florida

2020 THROWING EVENTS – Personal Records Achieved:

Hammer Throw – 77 feet 0 inch – August 29, 2020

Javelin Throw – 80 feet 10 inch – August 30, 2020

Discus Throw – 95 feet 3 inch – August 30, 2020