YSU's Spirtos eyes world title

The Poland High graduate won a national title in March.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- A student at Youngstown State is a national powerlifting champion who now has a chance to become a world powerlifting champion.
Lew Spirtos, a 2004 Poland High graduate and a junior pre-medicine major at YSU, won a bench press championship at the National Powerlifting Championships March 12 in Philadelphia.
Spirtos, who has a 3.9 grade-point average in the B.S.-M.D. program at YSU/Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM), bench-pressed 340 pounds (raw) to win the 165-pound division title at the national meet sponsored by the World Natural Powerlifting Federation.
"Raw means that you don't use any equipment to help you, like bench press shirts. In the raw division, nothing can help you," said Spirtos, the son of Dr. Ted and Georgia Spirtos of Poland, who also was named the meet's "Best Lifter" in the raw divisions across all weight classes.
His selection was based on the best bench press-to-body weight ratio, which was about 2-1.
Rejects use of shirts
Spirtos said using very tight bench press shirts enables a lifter to bench press more weight, but he doesn't believe that is legitimate.
"[A bench-press shirt] keeps your arms locked into position and when you bring the weight down off the rack it kind of springs off your chest," he said. "[The shirt] constrains it so much that I saw a lot of guys have trouble dropping [the weight] down because [the shirt] wants to push it back up.
"There's not as many raw lifters because people want to bench more," he added. "I don't believe that it is legitimate because it's [an outside assist]."
Spirtos' 340-pound bench press -- 35 pounds better than second-place of 305 -- was just 10 pounds fewer than his personal-best of 350 pounds that he did last December. He didn't know if the second-place lifter who did 305 lifted raw or not.
Spirtos' national title qualified him for the WNPF World Championships in October in Atlantic City, where his objective is to bench press 375 pounds.
"I was hoping to do at least 350 [in the national meet], but a few weeks before the meet I had some problems with my chest with injured cartilage or a muscle," said Spirtos.
"I hurt something and that's probably why I didn't do as well. But, it is feeling better now and hopefully I can make some gains the next few weeks."
Eyes 375 in world meet
Spirtos is hoping to make enough gains in upcoming workouts to do 375 in the world meet.
"I would like to try 375 at a smaller meet before I go [to the world meet]," he said. "I would probably wait for a meet to do it. Some people 'max' out the most when they are just working out at a gym. But for me there is something about a meet [that motivates me so] that when I perform at a meet I do my best."
He said that when he was younger he would make big bench-press gains each year.
"When I was younger, I would jump 70 or 80 pounds a year," he said. "I'm not saying that I could bench 420 at the world meet. My goal for the world meet is 375."
Spirtos specializes in the bench press, which is just one of the three component parts of powerlifting. He doesn't do the other two lifts (squat and deadlift).
"[The bench press is] what I am best at. I used to squat and deadlift a lot back in high school, but then when I got older I didn't do those anymore," he said.
Extensive workout schedule
Spirtos has a busy workout schedule.
"I actually have a pretty extensive workout regimen six days a week and two hours a day," he said. "I do a lot of different exercises. It's kind of my own personal training regimen."
He got an early start lifting weights.
"I started lifting weights when I was in the sixth grade," he said.
"When I played football at Poland, the team would go to meets in the off-season. Then after I graduated, I went to bigger meets. I probably go to about six meets a year. "
Spirtos is following in the family footsteps in medicine. His father, Ted, a native of Campbell, is an emergency room physician. He has two uncles who are physicians, Dr. George Spirtos and Dr. Manuel Spirtos. Plus, Lew's brother, Charlie, is in his second year in medical school at NEOUCOM. They have a younger brother, Anthony, 17.
kovach@vindy.com