Harry Balmer

North West Winter Open 2022
8/9, 562.5kg @ U74kg Junior, Second in the U74kg Class and British Juniors Qualification
Squat: 190kg , 200kg , 210kg ❌
Bench: 115kg , 120kg , 122.5kg
Deadlift: 220kg , 230kg , 240kg
Excellent day for Harry in his first competition. We completed the goals we set out to taking a podium place and clearing the British Juniors Qualifying total by 60kg. Not to mention that Harry typically trained at about 78kg so we had to cut a large amount of weight in a short time to meet the U74kg weight class.
By this point Harry and I had been working together for 5 months and he progressed ridiculously going from:
170kg Squat (+30kg)
120kg Touch and Go Bench (2.5kg paused)
210kg Deadlift (+30kg)
Meaning we added 62.5kg to his total, to competition standard with a paused bench press.
British Juniors 2022
Harrys British Juniors Recap in his own words 👇
"570kg (+7.5kg PB) total at 73.2kg BW
8th in the Uk 🇬🇧
What a day, Billy and I set the goal of coming in the top 10 in September. 8/9 months down the line, here we are having achieved that goal. It’s an immense feeling. I’d never done powerlifting before, we put in a lot of hard work to reach this goal. It was a hell of a ride with huge ups and downs, finishing my final year of uni and a 150 page dissertation while pushing my body to its limits.
I would like to thank Billy for being an unbelievable coach, and an even better person, and now friend. This is just the start, I’ve well and truly developed a love for powerlifting and have some huge ambitions…👀
Squats: 195 ✅ 205 ✅ 212.5 ❌ - I was gutted about this, 205 was a breeze and I’d done 210 in training. Got my stance slightly wrong, and didn’t keep my upper back tight. Also don’t think I really fought it; Small margins make huge differences at maximal loads …
Bench: 115 ✅ 120 ✅ 122.5 ✅ - Very pleased with how bench went. Throughout my prep, I had terrible elbow tendinitis and was worrying if I’d even be able to even perform all 3 attempts! 122.5 was the right call, some grind 😂
Deadlift: 230 ✅ 240 ❌ 242.5 ✅ - What a rollercoaster this was. Having missed my final squat, and my second deadlift for a downwards movement, it all came down to that final deadlift to achieve my goal, but also not bomb out and get a worse total than last meet😳. The pressure was on, but I pulled it out the bag, and what a feeling."
70kg Added to his total in 9 months and 8th in the UK at his age in only his second ever competition. Enough said.
