Bob Mann

Age: 48 (12/27/1953)
Weight: Fluctuates between 165 and 183. I compete at 165 but may be moving up to 181.
Height: 5' 7.5"
Born: Ilford, Essex, England (an eastern suburb of London)
Moved to Winnipeg, Canada in 1967.

I started doing resistance training when I got a set of chest expanders for my 14th
birthday and with weights when I got a set of Weider weights and bench for my 15th
birthday. When I first arrived in Winnipeg I was 13 years old, 4'11" and 75 lbs. I was a
bit slow in growing.
My first foray into a gym came when I joined a local YMCA at the age of 16.
I have been lifting off and on ever since.
I didn't discover powerlifting until 1996 after joining a weight training newsgroup
(m.f.w.) and a mailing list that sprung out of it. That mailing list eventually grew into
this site after I invited Jason to join it and he ended up taking it over after the
original list owner decided to quit. It became the Strength list and Jason transformed his
personal site into Strength Online.

My first powerlifting meet was in June of 1997 where I competed with just a belt with
pretty mediocre results. my lifts being 286-275-402.
My bench qualified me to lift in the Bench Nationals the next spring in Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan where I got my first official 300 bench.
The experience and support at that first meet hooked me and I have now lifted in 3 Masters
Nationals and 4 Bench Nationals as well as 1 IPF Bench Worlds. (at least I didn't come
last)
My best lifts so far are:
Squat - 190 kg (419)
Bench - 152.5 kg (336)
Deadlift - 215 kg (474)
Total - 550 (1212)
Obviously not all at the same meet.

I have done better in the gym although they don't really count:
Bench 157.5 (347)
Deadlift - 227.5 (501)

I work for the City of Winnipeg as a Property Assessor. I have 26 years in so I can retire
pretty soon.
I am working towards a second career in computer programming which I hope to use to enable
me to do some travelling and living in different places.
I have a varied interest in music ranging from light stuff like Sarah McLachlan to
esoteric like Dead Can Dance and Heavy like Van Halen and Country like the Mavericks. I
like just about everything as long as the quality is good. Ironically, I prefer to lift
without music since I like to get right into the lifting and don't need to be pumped up by
loud music.
I my spare time (what spare time?) I play the guitar, spend too much time on the internet
and watch Strongman sports on TV. I am also taking French through the City and hoping to
become fluent.
I also like to follow English soccer, in particular West Ham United and listen to games as
often as possible over webcasts.
In Summer, I like to ride my motorcycle as much as possible.

In my training I like to switch training methods from time to time. I am currently
following Rickey Dale Crain's training program which, so far, seems to be going well. I
have also used a modified Westside program and just plain straight progressive overload.
I am hoping to be able to lift into my 50s since I think I have a decent shot at a couple
of Canadian Masters 2 records. Wish me luck ;-)


Email Bob