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Nick Manders

@n.manders

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Your favourite lifter’s least favourite lifter.
Projects:
@cleanstrengthfitness
@cleangrip.ca
@arenapowerlifting
Sponsor:
@sbdcanada

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2023 IPF Open Classic World’s Recap:

S: 255/262.5/265
B: 160/165x/165
D: 340x/340/367.5
T: 797.5 @ 82.5, good enough to podium 🥉

Imposter syndrome is something I’ve struggled with as an athlete. For the first few days in Malta I saw lifters whom I respected and admired and considered “above” me and felt irrelevant in comparison. Hearing any conversation about the 83kg class in preview of the competition that included me in it as a legitimate contender felt… incorrect. Despite any shit talking on my end, I was certain that I’d need a perfect day if I wanted even a bronze medal on my neck. My sights were set on 3rd and nothing more.

The day was less than perfect, and by pulls I didn’t even have any idea where I was in regards of placing. I just went out, pulled, and figured that I would end up where I belonged at the end of it. When Graeme and Garrett told me I had won bronze I genuinely just didn’t believe them.

I came into the competition hoping to sneak onto the podium, and I left the competition pissed I wasn’t standing at the top of it.

There’s been a shift in my mindset since this meet. More to myself than to anyone else, I have proven myself as a contender. Next time I’m setting my eyes on Gold, nothing less. taken in St Julians, Malta by @n.manders

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3 years ago

First World’s, last loss. by @n.manders

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4 years ago

i dont need the tactical advantage i pull 800lbs

see you at Worlds taken in Kings Fitness by @n.manders

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4 years ago

Nick Manders is your 2026 Canpl Westerns best open male by @n.manders

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6 days ago

CSM post went up a week ago but I want to get my thoughts about the meet out, plus do a little self-coached recap/debrief on each lift because there might be some value to that.

Goals for this meet were to patch up my ego and put up a big enough total for #1 spot in the CPU + hit my lifetime goal of 831 (to beat out Brett Gibbs’ 830.5). Fell short of both of these, but not by so much that I consider the meet a failure.

Faith based weight cut stayed mostly loyal; spit about a cup worths half an hour before weigh ins to be safe and ended up at 82.6 so it didn’t end up being necessary, but better safe than sorry. Experimented with the recomp and felt better than I ever have on the platform in regard to energy levels and hydration. Needs a bit more testing before I divulge the nitty gritty, but I’ll say this: just going straight carbs has always left me feeling sick; tempering a bit with fats and proteins seems to keep me much more even keel. Possibly also due to the fact that my cut isn’t very extreme and the Hooters Milk is anabolic.

I’ll go into detail on each lift on their respective slide.

Overall, I’m mainly just excited to be able to truly say: I’m back. Left the meet feeling healthy and hungry to train. The last few years have been a gruelling test and I have learned so much during it all. I feel reborn.

2027 will be redemption.

250/270/277.5 (7.5kg PR, 10kg PR @ 83)

Really experimented with programming on squats this meet. I have always had an issue of just feeling flat come comp day. Tried to rectify this by taking my heaviest single in the penultimate block for the sake of data (wanted to see where 2nd attempt would be around, ended up being 1:1) and then spamming doubles into the meet.

Actually managed to hit a volume PR (250kg 3x2) a week out from comp which would usually mean I’d just peaked early but it seemed to have translated decently well.

After 10 years of training, I have still not managed to quell my first squat nerves. So to cater to that, I’m embracing the light opener into massive jump. Truthfully, 250 felt kinda shit. I was just ready to take a leap of faith and it paid off.

Still, there remains the issue that squats just by @n.manders

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7 days ago

All the steps to join a class are on the website and remember that if you are a CSF athlete this opportunity comes at no extra cost! by @n.manders

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9 days ago

Nick Manders breaks the Canada Powerlifting Open 83kg total record with a 820kg performance here at the 2026 Canpl Westerns in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan taken in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by @n.manders

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13 days ago

#fitcheck by @n.manders

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16 days ago

If you wanna be in the game of testing your limits you gotta accept that one day your limit will be tested. And that’s a great thing.

@cleanstrengthfitness by @n.manders

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17 days ago

My athlete Orson recently competed at Sub-Junior/Junior Worlds and about 5 weeks later, Commonwealths. Despite the extremely tight turnaround, we managed to squeak out a 5kg PR. Here’s how:

Firstly, we did not consider Commonwealths at ALL for World’s prep. Orson told me he was planning on doing it, and I said that until World’s is over I simply did not care. We were going to treat World’s as the more important meet (because it is) and put all of our effort and peak into that. This set expectations, which were extremely important to have.

Once World’s did wrap up (with PR’s on all 3 lifts after a prep where we had to manage an old hip injury that threatened to remerge constantly) I let Orson have his well earned week off of safari’ing and socializing. We did not get back into training immediately. R&R after a meet is crucial for athlete longevity, imo.

Upon returning we had two crucial things: fresh data from World’s (we left juuust a bit of kilos on the platform which gave us goals/caps to shoot for come Commonwealths) and enough time for a block, but only one. This was the challenge: how do we get an athlete BACK to World’s level readiness after a week off and with only 4 weeks before the next?

So I set about creating a plan, modifying the prior block we had into World’s slightly and setting prescribed loads much higher than I normally would, but not so high that Orson would just fail the week 1. The plan was to force the body back into the swing of things, ramp aggressively but intelligently, and hopefully land at a state of readiness precisely on comp day WHILE ACCEPTING that the body was going to probably feel overly sore the entire time. Again, me and Orson discussed this and set expectations so when the novel, newbie DOMS-esque soreness inevitably came, he was mentally prepared.

But these were uncharted waters. Orson has never done a 1 block prep before (shocker) and was also taking on a bunch of non-PL responsibilities with school and multiple jobs. A 4 weeks prep turned into cramming something more like 3 weeks into a convoluted schedule, and Orson’s aforementioned hip again threatened to flare up.

Concluded next slide:

And so as any good pl by @n.manders

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18 days ago

Curiosity is a dying virtue. Stop assuming everything has been figured out. Powerlifting is NOT a solved game; theory-craft every aspect of it relentlessly until you become a meta-definer yourself.

Flip over every rock you see until you find a cool bug.

@cleanstrengthfitness by @n.manders

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20 days ago

Check my fit and check your facesavers.

@cleanstrengthfitness
@cleangrip.ca by @n.manders

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21 days ago