What is a Power Lifter? When I ask myself that question the first answer that comes to my mind is a man that lifts some seriously heavy weight. An extremely strong person that has a deep desire to be the best, the strongest and the most respected lifter not only at the power meet he is competing in but at all times.
I have had the pleasure of becoming good friends with such a man. This young man has really set himself apart from the average, the normal and the mundane. This young man is one of the strongest men i have ever met and his desire to excel is second to none. He is a true motivation and has always been a guy that is more than willing to help anyone at anytime. I would like you to meet Daniel Conner!
Matthew:
Daniel, I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me and do this interview my friend.
Daniel:
Thanks for having me, the pleasure is all mine.
Matthew:
Tell us a little about who you are Daniel, where you're from, what you do and how you got into power lifting.
Daniel:
Well lets see I am a 36 year old Husband , married to my best friend Katrina " Bubba" Conner , father of 3 kids, Amber 15 , Brittany 12, and John 9. I was born and live in Decatur, Illinois and well perhaps one day I'll leave , but till then its home. I got involved with power lifting back in 2004 when I entered my first bench competition , it was a move made after I competed in strongman.
Matthew:
Were you always a strong guy? Did you play sports as a kid?
Daniel:
I started lifting weights at the age of 18 after laying on a bench at a friends house and benching 215 for 2 reps, this with no training and a body weight of around 155#. I was never involved with any sports as a kid as I was always the real quiet type in school ( NERD) and always kept to myself at home. I got involved with martial arts - Tae Kwon Do at a very young age ,
But then came along the teen years and it was all about girls and music. I was always really good at wrestling in middle school and even the biggest kids in my class couldn't beat me , however I only wrestled when I had to . i never joined the team or anything just during P.E. and that's because we had to . I hated being singled out as I was so shy and nervous and was so skinny and small and nerdy I was made fun of allot. Hence why I was so good on the mat, it was my chance at revenge on those who laughed or made fun of me without getting into trouble.
Matthew:
What are some of your other interests and hobbies?
Daniel:
Well weightlifting pretty much takes up most of my time , however I have been training again in MMA which is something I used to do back in 1995-1998 . I had my first fight in 1996 in Kankakee, Il , I used to fight before everyone claimed to be an MMA fighter . So all my hobbies involve physical activity and i love every minute of it. I am returning to the ring in the Summer of 2011 at 205# and well when I left the sport I was 6-0 in mma and 11-0-1 in Submission grappling.
Matthew:
How much food do you eat a day, calorie wise? the amount of weight you lift must require a ton of food?
Daniel:
Believe it or not there are days that go by I barely eat at all . When training for a power meet I eat even less which is stupid but somehow I manage to keep my strength levels up. When I am training MMA I eat allot more as the weightlifting and MAM take their toll and then I eat around 4000 calories daily.
Matthew:
Tell us about your training, what is your main goal right now? What are some of your Power Lifting accomplishments?
Daniel:
With my training most who see or read about the way I train would call it insane and say I am over trained. Through the years I have followed every routine that the magazines pour out for us readers to absorb and have some sort of hope that the newest one will work. Well after years of training and never seeing results , I found West side Barbell back in 2002 and started training that style will give you one heck of a strength base, but I am not a believer in the pendulum style of training. I train by feel and lets say day 1 I bench heavy and the next day I feel good and I warm up and I feel I could go again - I DO . I mean if you can repeat the same workout from day 1 and perhaps with a few more pounds, one of two things happened. You either didn't train heavy enough on day 1 or not with enough intensity. Either case if there is something left in the tank I believe in emptying it. I go all out every workout and I am a firm believer in under training more than over training.
My goals for now are the same as they always have been and that is to be the absolute best . I have stepped away from 3 lift meets back in 2007 and have competed in Raw Bench only comps, but in March 2011 I am returning to a full 3 lift meet and looking at hitting at least a grand on the squat as that's my best lift. I have done over a grand before and because it was at a smaller federation and caught allot of heat from a few lifters. It was a legit lift and I did it in a Squat suit only no briefs I have it on VHS. There are allot of haters in the world and well no matter what one does they will have something negative to say . Most of the time this is because they are jealous and hate to see anyone else succeed. I say stop hating and start making your mark in the world, because no one else will do it for you.
Matthew:
Lets talk MMA. You said you had a fight coming up..? When and where is that fight and how do you feel it will turn out?
Daniel:
Back when I fought last I was 160# and never trained like I should have. Well its 2011 and I will be be 205# and I will combine cardio, skill and most importantly my strength. i would love to win the fight without throwing one punch the entire fight, and go submission only. I have been to many smaller venue shows and its a bunch of untrained guys throwing big windmill punches. Then 1 fighter will show up and show some skill and the crowd freaks out , I just want to bring the technical side back to MMA. If you wanna see 2 guys throwing wild punches I say go watch a tough man show. This is MMA and there is a seriously lack of Martial Arts involved at an amateur level anyway . I train like there is no tomorrow in both weightlifting and MMA and I don't see anyone coming in better conditioning and strength than me . As far as the outcome well this is MMA and anything can happen .
Matthew:
What are some of your goals for the future?
Daniel:
Right now I am focusing all my attention on my upcoming power lifting competition at the end of March in Kazakhstan. This will be the first 3 lift met I have done since Feb-2007. I would like to toss out some of the numbers I am looking at hitting , but I feel that could jinx me right now so I am staying quiet on that . Lets just say that if everything goes right ( Suit works, feel at least 50%, and the crowd lol ) I will hit some good numbers. At the moment I am focused mainly on my squat as that will be the only geared lift I will be doing unless I feel to tired to dead lift raw then Ill brief up for that, otherwise looking at Benching and dead lifting raw. As far as other goals,,,,, one thing at a time. OK one more, me and the wife are trying to have a baby right now so........practice, practice , practice.
Matthew:
If you could change 1 thing about the sport of Power Lifting and MMA, what would it be?
Daniel:
Easy - Power lifting- LESS GEAR. This of course is coming from someone wearing 2 ply briefs and 2 ply canvas squat suit in my upcoming meet. I would rather go RAW but when in Rome or Kazakhstan do as the Kazakhstans or whatever lol . I say gear has gotten way , way , way out of control. I hate going to shows and seeing all these little guys benching and squatting 3 times their body weight and raw well barely hit their body weight. Look when I compete I am usually the smallest guy there muscle wise. When I focus on power lifting that's all I think about , day and night. I keep the picture of the numbers I want in my head 24/7 . I turn away from the reps in the gym and focus on power , speed and strength. I lose allot of size when training for a meet because of the lack of repetitions. I say thank god for muscle memory so when I return to regular lifting I can gain it back fairly quick . Anyway at these power meets people are wearing 3 ply this with 3 ply that, they take it off and well a kids body comes to mind. I hate when people do nothing but train in gear. I go raw 99% of the time, even when squatting I want RAW POWER and Ill put on the suit a few times before the meet. Since I don't Bench in a shirt I have no worries with that . I could rant forever about the gear issue but hey its here to stay, I just don't have to use it I guess.
MMA - Simple and quick here with this answer - SERIOUS PROMOTERS. I would like to go to an event where the promoter cares about the fights and not about the $$. I see allot of promoters throwing anyone on the card just to fill it. No names here but there is a local group that calls themselves MMA fighters and none of them train , but because they are a group these promoters grab them up quicker than a porn mag in prison. I mean they are all over it and even after their first showing these promos lol continue using talentless fighters. So you and me buy a ticket go to the show and watch fights that we could have seen in the parking lot of the local " Piggly Wiggly" . I say if you must continue using these fighters lets make it a little bit more entertaining for the spectators and announce that these to guys are fighting for the honor of their lover, the love of their lives, their SISTER. I mean then its combining the best of both worlds MMA with Reality TV (Fist bump) yeah baby lol .
Matthew:
Daniel, again, thank you so very much for doing this interview with me. If people wanted to contact you for advice on training, fighting etc. how can they reach you?
Daniel:
I can be reached through my website WWW.SQUATMONSTER.COM or on facebook which is also on the website.
Here's to a new you!
Matthew Eubanks
