Last Saturday June 4th and Sunday June 5th the Iron Mongers Gym, formerly Smash Academy, hosted a 2 day power lifting extravaganza in Vista. Last year the event was 1 day with 60 participants. This year the event grew to 2 days with 45 participants each day performing in 3 categories which included Bench Press, Deadlift, Squat and the overall Winner. There was a total of 200+ people in attendance and participating coming from as far away as LA and all the way to the San Diego Border.

George LeBlanc won best male lifter in the Open division.
George trains at Iron Mongers Gym, his best lifts from the competition were Squat 622 lbs,
Bench 391 lbs and Deadlift 622 lbs.

One of the participants was Norman Black Jr. He was born in National City, CA and graduated from High Tech High International (2014) in San Diego. He began to pursue powerlifting seriously recently as of January of this year. He previously set 4 California State powerlifting records in the 18-19 y/o 308 lbs heavyweight classic raw division in the squat, bench, deadlift and overall combined weight in his 1st competition. This is his 2nd competition where he set 2 new American records for the 18-19 y/o 308+lbs super heavyweight classic raw division in the bench press (407lbs) and deadlift (622lbs). He also set a personal competition best in the squat (589lbs). Currently he is taking courses to become a certified personal trainer and strength coach.

Iron Mongers Gym members

Team Photo:

Top photo is all men 181 to super heavyweight weight classes.  Bottom photo is Day 1 all women and men up to 165lbs. Around 30 members from Iron Mongers Gym competed in this competition. Not all in were in the picture.

The Owner and Strength Coach of the Iron Mongers Gym is Rick Simmons which is located at 2496 S. Santa Fe Ave, Vista, CA 92084. The gym is open Monday – Friday 9am-9pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am-4pm.  www.ironmongersgym.com