|
|
|
Janek carries 'weight' of Blaze
|
Courtesy: Erin O'Grady
|
|
Release: 12/08/2008
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Courtesy: Bryan Jones/Utah Blaze
Blaze DL Chris Janek |
|
The Arena Football League offseason gives players a chance to relax and pursue other interests. Some players use the time to coach high school football or work as college football analysts. Others work in family restaurants and substitute teach. Yet none of them spend their offseason quite like Utah Blaze DL Chris Janek. A week after the Arena Football season ends, Janek is back in the gym. Only this time, he’s lifting the weight equivalent of a Volkswagon Beetle. Janek uses his offseason to train as a powerlifter. He first began heavy lifting in high school and started competing in powerlifting events last year. “At the gym you always hear guys saying how much then can bench press or lift. I didn’t want to just be one of those guys,” Janek said. “I’ve always thought if you say it, you need to prove it, so I wanted to start competing.” At his most recent meet, the Southern Powerlifting Federation Record Breakers competition in Chattanooga, TN on Saturday, November 29, Janek not only won his weight class (308-pounds), but was also named “Best Lifter of the Meet”. Not that it’s needed, but Janek proved at the meet that he can carry the weight of the Utah Blaze on his back, literally. With lifts totaling 2,425 pounds, the equivalent of a Blaze quarterback, four wide receivers, four defensive backs, a kicker, and a linebacker, Janek improved on his total from last year’s competition by 170 pounds. Yet, despite lifting half a football team, Janek was not completely happy with his results. “I did well, but I’m still a little disappointed,” said Janek. “I know that with more training, I can do better.”Janek’s three lifts included the squat (1,000 pounds), bench press (700 pounds) and dead-lift (725 pounds). He posted the highest lift totals for all competitors in the meet. Having signed a two-year contract extension last season, Janek is now turning his focus back to the Blaze. After taking a week to relax after the Record Breakers meet, he will spend the next nine weeks adding more agility drills to his training and is also taking boxing classes to prepare himself for football season. “I know I’ve got the strength, now I just need to get the quickness back,” Janek said. Once Janek’s football days are over, he is confident that he will continue competing in powerlifting events.“My goal is to be in national and international meets,” he said. “I know that if I train full-time, I can compete with the best lifters in the world.”Janek has already qualified for a national powerlifting meet, yet is unable to attend because it conflicts with the AFL season, something that doesn’t bother him at all. “Right now I’m excited to get back on the football field,” said Janek. “At the end of last season, I knew we had something special going on. Losing to Colorado in the first round of the playoffs, a team we had beaten a couple weeks earlier, was disappointing and just really motivates me to come out and do better this season.”
|
|
|
|
afl_101_sponsor
|
