Titan Support Systems, For the Best in Powerlifting Perfomance

JANNE HEITTOKANGAS

Here is some information about me and about my lifting background. You may find some further info on my performance and records from Illini Powerlifting website

I am 35 years old and I have been lifting weights since I was 14. Back then I weighted in at 130 lbs, I benched 110 lbs, and I squatted about the same. So I was not a freak of the nature. The first few years I concentrated in bodybuilding as I wanted to get bigger. I went to high school at the age of 16. Then, after two years of training, my bench was 220 lbs and I weighted in at 160 lbs. The first two years of high school I did some weight lifting but I did not achive much. The third and the last year of high school I did not lift at all since I had to use all the time I had for studying to get better grades at school.

After the high school I served 11 months in the army. Military service is mandatory in Finland. There was enough of exercise in the army, so there was no energy left for lifting weights. That was my second year off of lifting weights.

639 lbs at the Finnish Bench Press National Championships, March 2007, Gold medal lift

After the army I went to the university to study mathematics. Then I was able to start lifting weights again. I started with power bodybuilding, which is a mixture of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Soon I found new friends who taught me some secrets of powerlifting. I participated in two full power gym meets in 1996 and 1997, at the ages of 24 and 25. Back then my bodyweight was about 220 lbs, and my best lifts were 530+400+510 lbs for a 1440 lbs total, all in full gear. Needless to say that the gear back then was not as good as it is today.

I started to suffer from low back pain, so I went back to bodybuilding and bench press. Years went by, and nothing special happened in my weight lifting career. In 2000 I got my PhD in mathematics, and in 2002 my first daughter was born. I got a post doctoral position in the University of Urbana-Champaign, IL, in the Fall of 2002. My wife and my 6 months old daughter moved to Illinois with me. The first year in the States was all work and almost no play for me. I went to the gym about 2 times per week just to stay in shape. My raw bench was about 365 and there was no hope of getting any stronger in that schedule of work.

My second daughter was born in the Fall of 2003. As she was born in the US, we had an American in our family! Actually she has two passports, one for Finland and one for the US.

In the turn of 2003 and 2004 I ment John Hudson, who talked me over back to powerlifting. He had just co-founded Illini Powerlifting with a couple of his friends, and I joined in. What a journey it has been ever since!

700 lbs bench, all time Finnish record (IPF) @ 275 lbs, in the Katana.

I did a WABDL bench meet in the Spring of 2004. I placed second in the 242 lbs weight class with a 413 lbs bench in a grummy bench shirt, which was certainly not from Titan. I have been a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger all my life, and it was awesome to meet Gus Rethwisch, the president of WABDL, since he is Buzzsaw from Arnold's movie "The running man". I was honored and amazed to have a friendly conversation with a movie star. Later I learned that Gus has an outstanding career in powerlifting, both as a lifter and as an organizer.

Gus suggested that I was good enough for WABDL Worlds. After hesitating a bit I started training for that meet. I tried several shirts but all of them were disappointing to me. The Worlds was closing in and I was really frustrated. Then John Hudson let me try his Titan F6. That shirt was way too big for me as I was able to touch with 220 lbs. Even so, I felt like there was something special in that shirt that I needed to explore more carefully. John suggested that I should contact Ken Anderson and order an F6 that would fit me. And so I did. Ken sent me a size 50 F6. In the very first workout I benched 500 lbs with a small pause. There was no time for more workouts, so I left to Reno for WABDL Worlds after just one workout in that new shirt. I won the Class 1 bench in the 242 lbs weight class with a 507 lbs bench. Needless to say I was thrilled.

The trip to Reno was awesome. The meet organized by Gus was super.

In the first workout after the Worlds I benched 515 lbs, and in the second workout 525 lbs. Then I decided to give Ken another call and ordered a size 48 F6. That shirt was a tighter fit and it took me a while to learn the groove. I did board presses with 600+ lbs and I craved for more. During the Spring of 2005 I ordered a couple of 1-ply shirts, a couple of 2-ply shirts, a Centurion squat suit, and whatnot from Ken. Then I started to make experiments with my new gear. During the Spring of 2005 I participated in one gym meet, a couple of SLP meets, an AAPF meet and a WABDL meet. The AAPF meet was a full power meet, and I did 650+580+550 lbs for a 1780 lbs total. I got my first official 600 lbs bench at an SLP meet in the May of 2005. That was my last meet in the US as I moved back to Finland in June of 2005.

After returning to Finland I started lifting in the FPO, Finland Powerlifting Organization, which is under WPC. I did a small bench meet in September of 2005 in which I qualified for WPC Worlds. At Worlds my opener 672 lbs was simply too much for me, so I bombed out. That was my very first meet to bomb out.

In 2006 I participated in the Finnish Bench Nationals and a couple of smaller meets, all run by the FPO. The shirt I used was a 2-ply F6. At the Nationals I benched 661 lbs, which is 300 kilos, and I placed second in the 308 weight class. I was fat, but a 300 kg bench was a new century mark for me. I had been doing some squats but my suits were getting too tight as I was gaining weight. So I ordered a Boss squat suit from Ken. I did a couple of 700+ lbs gym squats, and the suit worked very well, but my low back didn't. After a while a stopped squatting in full gear and started bench-only once again.

In the late 2006 I started loosing weight and bought my first Titan Katana shirt. It was love at first sight, so to speak. Since then I have bought several Katana shirts. The best Titan dealer I have dealt with is Ken Anderson. He knows his stuff very well.

Since the beginning of 2007 I have competed in the SVNL which is under the IPF, the International Powerlifting Federation. Since I am a drug free lifter, this was a natural choice for me. In January of 2007 I qualified for Finnish Bench Nationals run by the SVNL. The Nationals were on March of 2007 and I won the 275 lbs weight class with a 639 lbs bench. I knew I had more in me, but as this was a remarkable meet I played it safe. The gold medal was all that mattered.

In April of 2007 I participated in a another SVNL meet aiming to break an all-time Finnish bench record of 678 lbs in the 275 lbs weight class. My opener 680 lbs went up smoothly and the record was mine. My second attempt 700 lbs was even easier. Another century mark under my belt. Then I got really exited and wanted 722 lbs on the bar for an unofficial IPF World record. Unofficial in the sense that there were no World class judges, and that the meet did not have the status for official World record attempts. I lowered the bar smoothly on my chest, waited for the press-command, and pressed the bar half-way up. This time 722 lbs was too much for me. I wasn't ready for it mentally, as my primary goal had been 678 lbs and my secondary goal 700 lbs. So I wasn't prepared for 700+ lbs.

So far I have been using a stock-size Katana shirt without doing too many tricks with the shirt. By tuning up the shirt and with a custom sizing I know I can do a lot more. The IPF World record 718 lbs by Daisuke Midote from Japan will be mine to take.