Herb Glossbrenner is a fixture in powerlifting, serving as its official statistician and historian. Herb recently had a stroke and is reaching out to the powerlifting community for help. Herb is 63 years of age and until the stroke, continued to train for powerlifting meets. Here's the Go Heavy post asking for help:

Herb, Joe & I want to thank everyone who sent good wishes and a special thank you to Louie Simmons and Amy Weisberger for their donations to Herb's recovery fund. But we need more help. Herb is home, but needs full time help and Joe is only one man and he can't do it all. Herb is an important fixture in Powerlifting and has written great articles about many of you. He keeps track of all of your lifts and records and is the official statistician and historian for the sport. He cares about you and your lifts as much if not more than your teammates and your fans. He needs your help. In this season of giving, please help one of our own. Send donations to: Herb Glossbrenner, C/O Powerlifting USA, Box 467, Camarillo, CA 93011. Thank you all and have a joyous Holiday Season! Nance Avigliano

A Monster Muscle poster who frequently watches powerlifting contests remarks on the appeal of powerlifting to him.

1. what other sport do you know where the fans can do more than just sit and cheer there favorites on, they can actually have conversations with them. 2. what other sport do competitors trade lifting secrets and try to help each individual competitor to be the best they can be, whether it be loaning a guy a belt baby powder bench shirts or just generally cheering each other to new heights (there may be a darker side to this statement but i have not seen it). 3. what other sport can you watch men women and children of all ages and size push there bodys to the limit of human strength. 4. where else can ya see a man drop four hundred pounds acrossed his midsection and still have the nuts to come back for another attemp.

Check out the newest high tech knee wraps at www.inzer.com/search_results_wraps.htm. ;)
What I could do with those...

Thanks to Go Heavy.

The whispers of Glen Chabot's return continue. Whether he will or won't has never been confirmed by Chabot himself. Many are hoping his return will mean a raw showdown with Scot Mendelson.

That's the question asked by a poster at Dr. Squat. He specifically wants to know the answer as it applies to a somewhat experienced lifter who is not adding any supplementation. Some think that it's not a good idea:

Heavy is a relative term not only in actual weight but in percentage of weight. Even the most "gassed" up WPO lifter would not try to squat with heavy percentage weights 2 times per week and they recover faster than any of us here. You are running the risk of injury and over-training especially if you include assistance work.

I reported at an earlier date on some details of Mounaineer Cup VIII. It seems some of those details have changed. Gibson Powerlifting has some of the newest information. According to Courtney Stanley, Bruce Derosier of the Atlantis Foundation will no longer be running the event. It sounds as though there may have been some philosophical differences between he and event founder Nick Busick. Additionally, Busick is back at the helm and trying to arrange for the event to be held at The Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort. There had been some reports of a New England or Las Vegas location.

There are a number of threads at the APF Outlaws forum examining the USAPL's out of meet drug testing policy. They are here, here, here and here. The anti-USAPL and out of meet testing position:

in the USAPL this guy can come to your house and test you or at a meet that is not his.Get Fucking real you "Drug Free" guys are being ran like this guy is your dad.There seems to me to be more bullshit in that federation than in any other.You the lifters need to take a little control and tell him to relax.I'll be damned if I wanted to lift in the USAPL a person could come to my door or see me on the street and test me.What are you'll on fucking probation?

There's a long thread over at Go Heavy which has evolved into a debate over whether a high speed lowering of the bar is beneficial or harmful to ones bench press. The original poster pointed out different techniques which have been used successfully by lifters:

What was unique about Tom [HARDMAN] was his style... He had the fastest descent or eccentric phase in the bench press that I ever saw. He would take the hand off, hold it for a second at full arms length, then almost let the bar free fall to his chest... I never saw any other record holder bench like that. He was the exact opposite of say Doug Young, who brought the bar down very, very slowly prior to the concentric phase. Mike MacDonald was more of a medium descent....controlled at a medium pace...then BANG!