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The feeling of lifting weights 3x more than your body weight.
Interview with Patrik Lnenicka.

Personal achievements:
European record in the squat of the IPF federation: 222.5 kg (man -74)
Holder of 4 national squat records
Three-time champion of the Czech Republic in power triathlon

Best performances:
Squat 225.5 kg
Bench 127.5 kg
Deadlift 240 kg
Total: 590.5 kg
Coach: Jiří Prášek (coaches Patrika since 2020, head coach of the Czech Powerlifting Association)

Hi Patrick, at the beginning I would like to ask you, what was your journey to the Power Triathlon if you decided that this sport was the right one?
Hi, so I started training in elementary school, like everyone else, to gain some mass and look better. But over time, I found that instead of pulling down the pulleys and pumping the drum, it dragged me to a squat cage. I found out that it is a sport in which I could be good in 2017 when a competition was held in Svitavy, for unregistered athletes, POWER WARRIORS, which I entered without any ambitions and I did not expect any success at all. But I won the competition and so my journey began. I registered in the Czech Powerlifting Association and started competing in official competitions.

What do you like most about powerlifting?
In triathlon, I like overcoming myself the most. And the nice atmosphere in competitions, where opponents support each other and help each other.

What does it mean for you to lift weights up to 3x more than your body weight?
I'm definitely glad that I achieve such performances at such a young age.
And it's also an interesting attraction for other people in the gym, who mostly support me

Do you have a pattern?
In the IPF, it's clearly Taylor Atwood. What it can lift in the category up to 74kg is unbelievable and I like that it can maintain the perfect technique even with such weights.
In the last races he showed performances: 293kg squat, 199kg bench, and 320kg deadlift, for which even lifters, weighing twice, would not be ashamed.

What is your motivation to train every day?
I enjoy doing and fulfilling doing this sport, so I have enough motivation and I don't have to look elsewhere.
In any case, the closer I get to the planned competition, the motivation increases.
If I had nowhere to show my performances and trained "just for myself", I probably wouldn't train with such effort.
Motivation, on the other hand, declines when an injury comes or when it fails. But this belongs to the sport and it must be taken into account that it does not always succeed.

Do you have any advice that you would give to all those who are currently restricted by the Korona virus in the Czech Republic and cannot attend gyms? How do you "keep up" these days, for example?
Definitely yes! I would make the best use of it. Focus on things that we neglected during normal training, such as mobility, stretching, or. stabilization exercises and strengthening of small muscle groups.
How many times do there not be time or energy left for these things in training.
I myself neglected mobility exercises quite a bit in training, so this is also an ideal chance for me to move on.

Do you regularly do any exercises that you consider crucial to improving your squat?
I don't have any secret, special exercises. But the best thing you can do to improve your squat is to squat. But I don't mean just doing a squat racing variant over and over again, but always trying new variants. For example, change the position of the axis, the width of the position, change the time of movement… There are countless variants and training is also more fun.
My favorite variant is a paused squat, where the person in the lower position lasts for at least 1-2 seconds. In the current part of the training, we focus a lot on the front squat.
For the corpse, it is great to ride the classic and sumo variant. Since I have a problem in the lower phase, I include a deficit move or a paused dead move a lot.
For benchpress, I like the variant with a long negative phase and narrow bench.
It is also very important to observe your body and choose variants and auxiliary exercises according to where our weaknesses are and our difficult attempts fail and not choose the exercises completely randomly.

What are your goals and plans for the future?
My current goal is to break the national record in total, for which I am missing 4.5 kg
I do not have specific goals for the future, but I would definitely like to start in international competitions and represent my country because in my opinion, this is the most that an athlete can achieve

What do you do when you want to unwind from training? Do you have any hobbies?
My most common activity is riding a motorcycle, turning off your head completely while driving. It's definitely great to find something where you turn off completely and don't have to think about anything, which is actually also a kind of regeneration.
Another activity that I perform after training is consuming a large amount of food because just after training I am always hungry.

Writer Martin Pavlis - workout.eu