New Jersey Seminar Review
By Mark Crook
For EliteFTS.com

Throughout your life, you are influenced by the events and people around you. However, there are certain events or people who have a dramatic impact and actually cause you to alter a direction in life you may have been moving in for years. Some impacts are negative and some are positive. They are unpredictable and you never know when you will experience them. This past weekend, I met someone who has had one of those unexpected but very positive impacts. His name is Jim Wendler.

I am a member of Renegade Barbell Club in Warren, NJ. The owner and Head Strength Coach, Jason Ferruggia (Jay), hosted an Elite Fitness Systems Seminar on April 24th and 25th. I had been looking forward to this seminar since its announcement. I am a frequent reader of EliteFTS (articles and Q&A), Westside Barbell and other powerlifting sites. As a result, I considered myself pretty well read on the Westside “method”. In addition, Jason utilizes the Westside template in our gym programs and I feel we have done a good job practicing proper technique and adhering to Westside fundamentals (note: I like to think that Jim was impressed with the technique from the RBC lifters as Jason is extremely knowledgeable and pushes technique). My expectation for the seminar was to clear up some of the finer points, have my form critiqued and to meet Jim Wendler, a guy who has me laughing out loud with some of his comments on the Q&A/ training log board (i.e. shrugs….you can go look for this yourself).

Jay and I had dinner with Jim on the Friday night before the seminar began. The man with the bee stung traps and evil on his arms was big… bigger than his pictures. He’s the kind of guy that you would cross the street to avoid if you were walking toward him on the sidewalk. And quite honestly, because of his look and the stereotype that goes with it, had he said only 2 words, grunted or looked through me instead of at me during dinner, I would not have been surprised. Fortunately, Jim was just the opposite. I’m not saying he is always like this, as I really don’t know the guy. So if he doesn’t know you, don’t run up to him in a bar and say, “hey bud!” and slap him on the shoulder and expect a smile. But he was cool to us. Jay and Jim shared training war stories while I spoke about heavy metal music (my brother is a pretty well-known metal guitarist and you all probably know Jim is a walking metal encyclopedia). I had a good feeling about the seminar. 

I got to the gym early on Saturday morning not only because I was psyched up but I also wanted to witness everyone’s first reaction to meeting Jim when they walked in for the seminar. It may sound corny but the fact remains that Westside is famous (or infamous) in the powerlifting world and lifters of all experience levels and ages who don’t compete or do so sparingly and read about Westside lifters are excited to meet these guys. It was cool to see how amped up people were when they met Jim. It set the tone for the day.

I’m not going to share the specifics of what Jim taught during the lecture portion of the seminar as I won’t do it justice. What I will say about it is Jim does a great job of communicating, “dumbs it down” when necessary and is very patient with questions and generous with his answers. But where he really shines is in the demonstrations and coaching portions of the seminar. He looks at every possible flaw from setup to completion and makes corrections. He provided us with some great vocal and physical cues to use with our lifting partners. And when someone corrected something, he shouted his approval and appeared genuinely excited and happy for the lifter. To say this guy is passionate about what he does is an understatement. But the best was yet to come. Because Renegade Barbell Club is fully equipped (plenty of Elite Fitness Systems equipment) and Jim needed to workout, we were going to go through a DE bench workout as part of and in addition to the seminar on Sunday. 

I came in Sunday on fire. Yeah, this was still a seminar but I was also working out so I had to get into that aggressive mindset. I was determined to not let an opportunity to work out with Jim pass me by with me being in a “classroom” mindset vs. in that “controlled chaos” stage. So while I was listening and watching Jim review proper bench setup and technique, I felt like I was going to rip out of my skin. Then Jim said, “Let’s workout”. I had burned a cd with an angry, nasty mix of metal for the day and turned it up. The group was split among a few power racks. Jim was in my group DE benching with straight weight and was coaching each of us through our lifts. He split his time by teaching and watching some of the other guys bench with mini-bands. We all moved to triceps work. My group did 4 board presses while the other group did rack lockouts. Again, Jim was very attentive to each lifter and encouraging and shouting out cues as each one got under the bar. Jim was also lifting but I’m sure it was a bit difficult to dial himself in as he was concerned about the lifters and spending time with everyone. But I did catch a very small glimpse of Jim’s intensity on one set. While getting setup for 495lbs, he transformed a bit and ripped through a set of 5. I think it energized quite a few guys as I sensed a definite change in the air. What I also noticed was that every one of Jim’s reps were identical…impeccable and efficient. 

We finished up our routines with some dumbbell presses and pull-ups. You always hear big, heavy guys say they can’t do pull-ups because they’re big. Jim killed that theory as he ripped through a few sets. And then just as quickly as it began, the seminar was over. Jim thanked everyone and out the door he went. I spoke to a few guys (not from Renegade Barbell) and everyone was very satisfied with the seminar.

So back to the first paragraph…events or people who impact you. Sure, the information we received from the seminar will be invaluable to our training and was money very well spent. But what really impacted me was the man. Jim brought an energy into the gym. He was passionate and intense but there also was this intangible that I can’t quite put my finger on. Most of us will never be as big or as strong as Jim, yet everyone in that seminar connected with him. When he left, you sensed the vacuum effect of that energy leaving the room. Perhaps it’s the intangible that certain gifted people have. I don’t know. But his impact was big. And though Jim is back at Westside where he belongs, his influence at Renegade Barbell (and I’m sure with the other seminar attendants) will remain…the workouts this week from the RBC guys who attended the seminar have been amazing (2 new box squat PR’s as a result of Jim’s technique tips). 

So a big “thank you” to Elite Fitness for offering these incredibly valuable seminars. But more importantly, a huge thanks to Jim Wendler. Your knowledge, attitude, intensity and passion made a huge impact on me and it reinforced the attitude I bring into the gym. I have the best crew to work out with and we just got better because of you. 

METAL,
Mark Crook