Vlastimil Kužel is undoubtedly one of the most significant personalities of Czech powerlifting. But do you know how this star remembers his beginnings, which success has the greatest significance for Vlastik and where he gets his motivation after all these years? Don't you? Then today's interview will be just for you!

Vlastik, could you first of all introduce yourself? How would you introduce yourself to someone who doesn't know you at all?

Hi guys, my name is Vlastimil Kužel, I compete in bench press RAW, I am a multiple world championChampion, holder of several world records across federations, member of Extrifit Team and Extrifit Power Team. I currently weigh 110kg, I am 189cm.

When you say "multiple champion", do you even mean...how many medals you've won, how many titles, how many overall wins.....?

I have seven world championship titles, three European championship titles, seven Czech championship titles and about three absolute world championship titles.

And which of these victories has the most value for you?

The biggest value is always the biggest performance, and I did that at the European Championships in Greece in the GPA federation, where at under 110kg I won 262.5kg, so I also won overall.

You just mentioned the GPA federation, we are at the WUAP federation world championships now, you were at the GPC and WRPF competitions a few days ago. Could you say which of these federations you think is the best? Which one takes the best care of the competitors, provides good conditions and maybe has some prestige?

Most of the time it depends more on the organizers, the specific country and the people. For example, WUAP in Slovakia is great, it cannot be compared to the Czech one, which is much lower. As far as some prestige is concerned, for sure WRPF, GPC, GPA are the best, they are higher and you have to somehow nominate your performance for the competitions.

In the next question I would like to ask about your beginnings. Do you still remember how long ago when you started training, what did you do wrong, what do you remember?

I started working out at 14 and I was this skinny kid who wanted to get bigger. At about 22 I found out I had the strength to bench because I was already lifting 200 kilos, which was a terrible achievement for me at the time. I didn't do my first competitions until I was about 31, before that I didn't even know there were any competitions.

So where did the motivation come from? Did you say you wanted to appeal to girls?

Yeah, I started working out to look good and people laughed at me for being skinny. I wanted to show them that it was possible to get bigger. And within about five years, I was laughing at them.

Where do you get the motivation after all these years? Have you ever lost it?

I'm a little demotivated now because I'm winning everything by a piece and I have no competition in my weight class. But I'm planning to move up to a higher weight class, so hopefully I'll have new opponents there and make new records.

How does your training look like? Most people probably can't imagine what training looks like for someone who only does bench press.

When I'm out of training, I train everything normally. But during prep, I only do what I need to bench- so back, shoulders, chest, and triceps. And that's why I'm performing so well. When you focus on everything, you can't be TOP at one thing.

So it's probably pointless to ask how much you lift for squats and deadlifts, right?

I did deadlifts once in my life with Jirka Tkadlcik, who came to my gym. I lifted 200kg, Jirka himself said I could do maybe 250kg, but I'm afraid of injury and I don't need to prove anything. Even 250kg wouldn't be enough for competition level. And I've never done squats. I do front squats, legpress, trenches,... I have serious knee problems because of the athletics I used to do. But I guess I'm gonna have to start squatting so I can keep moving in benches.

In the next question, I'd like to ask you your opinion on benchpress in a jersey. Have you ever tried it? How did you perform and how did it feel?

Of course I tried it. It was at the time when I was RAW bench pressing about 230kg and I managed 300kg in single layer katana, but then I had problems with my limbs for 3-4 months because I don't have fat on my arms, only muscle.

So you're not tempted by the prospect?

I'm sure not. It's not pure strength in my opinion, I know enough benchers who bench over 300 but can't lift 150kg RAW. It's a lot about a good jersey, technique and how fat you are. The fatter you are, the more the jersey stumps. And I definitely don't want to be fat.

You're a role model for a lot of people, but do you still have someone you look up to?

I'm sure my role models used to be Lada Kurcik and Arnold Schwarzenneger, who got me into exercise. Of the powerlifters, probably Laszlo Meszaros, who is still lifting unbelievable weights for his age and is an icon of benching.

Is there anything in powerlifting that you've been craving for and haven't achieved yet?

Hey, I definitely want to lift 300kg RAW. I believe that when I gain weight, I can do it. I've already benched 280kg at 119kg in the gym, but of course that doesn't count. Still, I know it's realistic.

What do you think about people who dope and are under 18?

I don't support it at all, especially not with people that young. They'll ruin their health. I'm not saying that everybody in this sport is clean, I'm not saying that, but if ...people should take it up at a later age, when they're no longer performing at a higher level. But I know a lot of people who started at 15, but they're de*ents, and they haven't even accomplished anything because of it.

What's your diet like? Do you follow a strict diet, or do you have some freedom?

I don't follow a diet at all, I eat horribly and everything. But now I've changed it a bit. Vojta Koritenský helped me with that, I started eating more carbohydrates and it's true that I have much more energy.

And do you think it's important for performance?

I'm sure it is, if you don't have carbs, you don't have energy. Protein isn't that essential, but without it you'd be losing mass and you need it to perform, so of course I give plenty of it too.

Because for a lot of people, powerlifting is synonymous with being able to eat whatever you want. So that's not what you think?

It is. But you mustn't put chocolates and stuff like that in there, but use complex carbohydrates, even gainers. But if you want to look good, you can't eat too much. However, it's very individual, everyone has a different metabolism.

Since you brought up supplements, which one is the most important for you?

So I take mainly BCAAs, some pump (Actinox, arginine,..), post workout protein/saccharide. Well, and definitely vitamins and minerals, because nobody should lack that.

So you're saying a gainer is important to you? Because it has too many detractors.

I can't speak for bodybuilders because I don't do bodybuilding. When I want to get in shape for the seaside, I don't use that stuff much, but it gets my metabolism going so fast that if I take it off, I'm out of shape in a couple of days.

As we're slowly coming to the end of our conversation, I'd like to ask you about the Extrifit PowerTeam you run. How does one get on this team? Do I just have to say I want to race or do I have to have some TOP results?

The Extrifit PowerTeam is more for selected racers, so you definitely need to have some performances. If someone hasn't raced yet, they have to email me their performance, I will compare it to my spreadsheet and decide accordingly. If someone doesn't have those performances written down, I want them to come and show me those performances. The rating is definitely not strict, it's all about getting it up.

Before I close, I'd like to digress and ask you about your assessment of Peter Petras' performance, who competed at Big Dogs. What did you think, did you expect him to win?

I obviously knew he was going to win it. I watched his performances and of course I know his opponents. Malanichev wasn't there because of an injury, so it was obvious to me. But I thought he would give a little more. His deadlock didn't work out because he has grip problems and usually drops out, but I think he'll be somewhere else next year.

I'm still wondering if you think powerlifting is an underrated sport. After all, we have a lot of athletes like you, Petr Petras, Jirka Tkadlcik, who are among the best in the world, and yet it basically doesn't feed them.

It's definitely an underrated sport here. If we lived in Russia or Australia, I'm sure it would be different. People don't know much about it, and let's face it, the sport is pretty boring, unless there are extremely big performances, then it's very interesting. It has moved on a lot in the last two years though and maybe one day there will be a time when it will feed these guys.

Thank you so much for this interview and on behalf of the entire MyFitnessio team we wish you every success in the future, not only in sport but also in your personal life.

Second video interview on our YouTube channel:

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