The more road you have under your belt, the better equipped and skilled you become at identifying patterns, foreseeing trends, and predicting the cyclical nature of things. In large part, this is based on your lived experience. As you increase the number of times that you have "been there and done that" with a given situation, each additional trek down a more and more familiar path assists in developing your familiarity with foreseeable occurrences and predictions of emerging patterns.
Observe and Learn
I recall working with white-albino lab rats in graduate school and observing the patterns of those housed socially versus those housed in individual surroundings. When placed in an unfamiliar maze and individually released to explore, rats (both social and isolated) have similar explorational traits. Although there were nuanced differences due to housed-environmental conditions, many of the behaviors were similar based on instinctual drives, the nature of that given animal, and the number of times they explored a familiar or new maze. The more rats we observed, the more equipped we, the observers, were able to identify and predict the emergence of likely exploratory patterns.
Humans, like their furry red-eyed, white-haired rat friends, also engage in foreseeable behavioral patterns. Patterns that those with a little more lived experience can often predict in others. Predict as the observed person begins to metaphorically explore a particular "maze in their life," a life maze that the observer already has experience with, exposure to, and knowledge and observations of.
In regards to the world of strength and power, some new to competitive powerlifting have predictable patterns of behavior when viewed by observers who have quite a few years or decades of experience under their lifting belt.
Eating into the Next Weight Class VS BUILDING into the Next Weight Class
A very familiar pattern observed in many new lifters is an abandonment of taking that slow and steady, tried and true approach to a continual increase of body weight through skeletal muscle gain. This approach is often abandoned once the progress in strength and power muscular advancements at the beginning of this journey begins to wane. As one begins their journey in the world of weights and the gym, improvements in these areas are rapid and fairly easy to achieve. As time passes, earning increases in muscle, power, and strength becomes slower and harder due to the diminishing effectiveness of the accustomed training efforts.
Subsequently, we often observe that the slow and steady approach is being replaced with a rushed and hurried approach coupled with the "see-food" diet (see food, eat food). This is a pattern we see that is, more often than not, accompanied by the desire to move into the next heavier weight class. Said another way, the inexperienced lifter is not so much building oneself but more so eating oneself into the next class. The short-sighted view is that a bigger weight class must equal a bigger total.
Recent: Strength, Power, and AI
One of the most influential powerlifters and coaches, and someone I am proud to have called my mentor, coach, and friend, is the late powerlifting legend Ernie Frantz. Ernie would state that as a strength athlete and as a powerlifter, you should always be in tremendous muscular shape and condition. So much so that a lifter should appear as if they were able to compete in a physique or power event given 16 or so weeks of notice. In other words, always train in a state where you are very strong, powerful, and muscular with a clearly visible abdominal plate of powerful and functional wall of abdominal muscles.
Do not get it twisted; we are not remotely talking about being "shredded" or ultra vascular, as a powerlifter does not need to be sub-10-12 percent body fat. Nor are we remotely suggesting to do this, as powerlifting is powerlifting and bodybuilding is bodybuilding. What we are absolutely saying is to be in the type of athletic condition one achieves (powerful, strong, explosive, and muscular) through the foundational powerlifting pillars of hard work, perfect technique, consistency, proper nutrition, proper hydration, and sufficient recovery.
Powerlifters are athletes, and as newer lifters hit their first roadblocks in regards to increased strength and power, the low-hanging fruit approach is to eat more, weigh more, and hope to lift more. This is not the athletic path. It is not the path to success in the sport long-term, and ultimately, it will not serve them best for the duration. The point is, train to be packed into your skin with a physique built through very heavy weight training, quality nutrition, hydration, rest, recovery, and the other essentials.
Learn and Pass On Knowledge
Ernie Frantz would speak of building yourself into the next weight class. For example, being a full, muscular, and extremely powerful 198-pound class lifter that slowly builds their muscle, tendon, ligament, and body mass, strength, and power into a solid 220-pound class. This verse being a 198-pounder who over-eats themself up to a soft and bloated 220s and who lacks both the muscle and power to be the best powerlifting version of themselves in that weight class. This approach has always been and will always continue to be short-sighted and a road to regret. It is a pattern, a trap, the Trojan Horse that those new to the sport powerlifters fall for and succumb to.
While making the 90-minute drive to do my heavy big three training at Frantz Gym on the weekends, I would train my other days at a gym located a few minutes from where I lived and worked during the weekdays. When training at Frantz Gym, you had exposure to lifters like legendary lifters Bill Nichols, Ernie himself, Stephnie Van De Weghe, a then-teenaged Jose Garcia, and a trove of some of the best powerlifters of that time, and some of all time. Besides being supremely powerful and amazingly gracious with their knowledge (LIVE, LEARN, and PASS ON), they all were in great condition, and they all built themselves versus stuffing their face with drive-through food to cross over into the next heavier weight class.
Hard Work Will Pay Off
It is better to need baby powder (pre-suit slickers) to help you slide your muscle-packed powerlifting self into your squat suit than merely to be ten pounds of bloat and water-retentive fluff stuffed into a five-pound casing. Again, this is not suggesting to walk around "stage ready," but what is 100 percent being suggested is not doing mouth reps with Dunkin Donuts to reach the next weight class. Consume the requisite calories for the workload and make those calories count.
My question to those new lifters on the verge of making this very newbie and very predictable mistake is this: "Why the rush to get into the bigger class? Powerlifting is a journey, not a race. It is a lifelong trek, not a single destination. For them, the rush is often based on the fact that they have never hit a plateau or stalled out before. The reality is that they are neither stalled nor plateaued; they are just running smack into reality. That reality is that "gains" come easy at first, then you hit a certain point, and this is when you have to strap and buckle things down and work your tail off.
Hard work pays off, and if championships or competition success were created out of a paper bag from a drive-through, well, then anyone with enough change in their pocket to super-size it would be the next greatest thing.
Beware of Sharks
Additionally, the grass is not always greener in the other weight class when it comes to powerlifting. Beware, and as a warning to the newer powerlifter in a rush to move up a class, as lurking in murky black waters of the next weight class, there might just be a shark. A powerlifting great white shark looking to feast on the soft, doughy, overfed, and under-built newbies.
Case in point: Sometime in the mid-1990s, one of the few powerlifters at my weekday gym was getting ready for a meet and was knee-deep in their drive-through feeding bag training plan. I recall watching him as he had his pre-workout bag and post-workout bags of super-sized calories. I simply asked, "Why?" His answer was that he would be more powerful at a heavier weight and in the next weight class. Well, there is some truth behind that theory. A bigger truck tire can manage a slightly heavier load, but that said, start by building a bigger engine, training to build a more powerful transmission, and developing through the weights that larger payload area. Build a bigger, more powerful, and complete truck, part by part, versus merely oversizing the tires alone.
It Is Not Always Better In the Weight Class Up!
The conclusion to that story was that the lifter was absolutely successful in eating his way to his heavier weight class. He even lifted a little more weight. That said, pound per pound, he was actually less powerful, and he also succeeded in having his head handed to him on a silver platter at the meet. As forewarned, those murky black waters of that new weight class did contain a shark and it was the greatest, most ravenous great white shark of them all. He ate himself right into the massive jaws of Ed Coan's weight class. The weight class that Ed built himself into. Ed (The GOAT) Coan, who, by the way, trained for the now famed 1985 Hawaiian Record Breakers meet (the Woodstock of powerlifting meets) with none other than the legendary Ernie Frantz at Frantz Gym.
My point is this: if you are training hard, I mean truly putting in the work (not that do a set, scroll on the phone for ten minutes, do a set, set up your phone camera on a machine, do a set, post from your phone your lift, nonsense) and you are coupling that work with discipline, consistency, a half-way decent training method, size, weight, muscle, and power will come with time. So will the bigger weight class if that is a goal.
Slow And Steady For A Reason
The bottom line is that all successful lifters with life's road under their belt know that slow and steady is the way, as there are no shortcuts. The harsh reality is there are no secrets either. Success has been and will always be built from the foundation of hard work done consistently, over a duration of time, and done with a passion and indomitable spirit. And that is the beauty of powerlifting: you will get out of it exactly what you put into it. There is no hiding from or bargaining with the realities of this great sport. Powerlifting is what it is, and you can become only as good as the work you put in. There is no rushing the process as the powerlifting is the process, and every day builds upon the prior day.
The goal should never be to simply "be" in the next heavier weight class or to add empty weight to your frame. The goal should be slowly and surely growing into that weight class through the consistent building of power and muscle, tendon and ligament strength, and to be as successful as you can in that weight class before even considering a move upward.
Contrary to how your social media algorithms may make it appear, nobody actually cares how much you weigh, nor what you post, nor what you say you could have done, or how many more pounds you feel you had in you that day. The only thing "they" care about is your total…and they only care if you are lifting against them. This is a fact, and this is regardless if you are in the 165-pound class or the 308-pound weight class.
The path to the greatest success, fewer injuries (as injuries are inevitable), and the most longevity in the sport is through a slow, methodical approach built on a foundation of quality.Remember this, powerlifting is not just about big numbers, but about big numbers sustained over a long duration of time. It is about the journey.
Conclusion
The more road you have under your belt, the better equipped and skilled you become at identifying patterns, foreseeing trends, and predicting the cyclical nature of things. Thus, the better you can help those new to the sport avoid these all too common beginner mistakes.
I wish you the best in your training and competition endeavors! Ever Onward!
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
You might feel eager to move up a weight class, but you never know who might be lurking in the class up. Make sure you’re ready, follow these tips!
They open the door to the local corporate gym you belong to. They walk over to the bench... they put some weight onto the bar. So, they do a set…they send a text. They do another set…they send another text. They prop up the phone to take a video, and work for a time to get the angle just right…they do a set. Then they sit down…they post about the set. After a length of time, they ponder another set…but instead, they stay seated on the bench and begin checking for “likes.” As time passes, eventually, they do another set…they miss the attempt. They sit on the bench, text about why they missed the weight…explaining how they were “probably good for ten more pounds.”
Is there a modern solution to this high-technological issue? An app perhaps that someone like you, a serious lifter who reads elitefts, can use to get them off of your bench?
Perhaps there is an emoji that symbolizes your emotions when you have to wait for them to get off the very piece of equipment you need while they just sit and scroll.
The Difference Between a Lifter and an Influencer
The gym is your fortress of solitude, but clearly, it is their local Starbucks. And yes, that IS the piece of equipment you want to train on, and yes, they continue to use it like some worn-out sofa in their living room.
You are the lion, they are a lamb. You are goal-driven. They are somewhat rudderless and drifting along the social media currents. You are the type of lifter who understands that each day is fleeting and training time is more precious than gold, because once the training day is over you never get it back. But here, in this place, your two starkly different ideological views of the gym collide.
As far as you are concerned, one’s training day has either been invested or it has been wasted. There is no middle ground, there never has been, and there never will be. Anyone telling you differently is only trying to make themselves feel better. You understand this so you invest, you covet, you savor and you utilize every moment of that finite training time. They squander it with a collection of texts, only to go home and continue more of the exact same.
The lion could care less how the lamb chooses to spend their time, but they do care if the lamb's non-training time is happening whilst occupying the very piece of equipment the lion requires for their training.
Recent: Strength, Power, Muscle and AI
An Inner Dialogue Conversation with a Phone-Obsessed Gym Goer
Your philosophy is what it is, and that makes you want to share with them your thoughts that might read like this. Phone scrolling gym goers, by all means, stay on the device and enjoy texting and posting and “liking.” Stay on it as long as you wish. Scroll to your little heart’s content. While you are at it, stay the same today as you were yesterday. Stay the same today as you were last month. Stay exactly the same today as you were last year. Actually, feel free to be the very same as you always have been. Never any strong(er) never any bigger, never any healthier, never a single bit more powerful. That all said, make absolutely sure that as you scroll and stay exactly the same as you always have been, do so while staying off a piece of equipment actual lifters require the use of. That piece of equipment we train on to become better than we were last year, to become better than we were last month, to become better than we were yesterday, and to become better today and every day going forward.
To you, anyone and everyone has the right to waste a perfectly good training day, or for that matter, a lifetime of training days. But nobody has the right to impede the ability of others to reach their training goals due to their lack of discipline, drive, determination, desire, diligence, work ethic, intensity, and consistency while at the gym.
Solution
The corporate gym problem is a difficult one as you and that bench-scroller both pay a membership. There is no high-tech answer, however, there is absolutely an old-school solution. That solution is right here on elitefts, as far as I am concerned. Make the leap, take the plunge, and build your own fortress of solitude. Build your own basement or garage gym. Be the King or the Queen of your own training castle.
Do not be discouraged by all of the machines in your current fitness center, instead, start logging the machines and items you actually train with. That list is going to be much shorter than you thought. Having been in the lifting game for decades, some of the strongest, most powerful, best built, and heavily muscled lifters I have trained with, built themselves with the basics and did so in their garages or gyms that were a thousand square feet or less with those very few who were like-minded.
No, there is no app to get someone off of that bench you want to use, but once you are the master of your own gym domain, the only ones using that bench will be you and your training partner.
Think it over. Create the vision. Build the plan. Make it happen. Carpe Diem. Seize the day!
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
As more people spend more time on their phones in the gym, reclaim your training time and take control of your workout environment.
Sarah Connor, Skynet, Cyberdyne Systems, and the end of the world aside, AI has the potential to assist in a myriad of ways—even with your training.
For basic daily convenience and use, AI-powered recommendation systems analyze user data to provide personalized recommendations for movies, music, books, and products. Virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant use AI algorithms to perform tasks and answer questions. AI-powered translation services can bridge language barriers by quickly translating text or speech from one language to another, and the list goes on and on and on.
AI on the Medical Scale
On a grander and more noble, and dare I say human scale, AI has already been used to exponentially speed up medical research that has implications that could benefit millions of people around the world. For example, and in the most basic of terms, since the 1950s, scientists have been working to decode proteins and predict protein structures. Over the past 70 years, scientists have decoded structures of approximately 194,000 known proteins. Artificial intelligence, specifically DeepMind's AlphaFold program, when given this very task successfully deciphered and predicted 1 million structures in 2021 and that number is (as of this writing) over 350 million predicted structures. This exponential rate of scientific data has incredible potential for understanding diseases, enzyme design, drug discovery, personalized medicine, bioengineering, etc.
DeepMind's AlphaFold has analyzed the genetic codes of various organisms with sequenced genomes, and by predicting the structures of millions of proteins, scientists have already utilized AlphaFold's predictions to aid in developing new medicines. So for those not really paying AI much mind, the speed and power of AI is not something that is easily digestible and can be somewhat overwhelming for those who do understand the possible ramifications, both good and bad.
AI in Education
As a gym owner for over 15 years and powerlifter since the late 1980s, much of my life is spent in the gym. That said, my life outside of the land of barbells and weights is quite busy with my “real job” as an assistant principal. As an assistant principal, we have been utilizing AI for several tasks to expedite some educational processes in teaching and learning systems.
That said, we have also been dealing with AI in other ways. AI, in addition to being an incredible tool for science and efficiency in systems and data analysis, is also a pretty effective tool for students wishing to cheat their way to a better grade. As powerful as AI is, the low-hanging fruit for some is not medical breakthroughs, personal growth, or other honest versions of self-improvement, but rather as an incredibly effective tool for some nefarious means. More on that in a moment.
In addition to practical applications, convenient daily applications, world-changing medical improvements, science applications, and 99 percent of the non-end-of-civilization as we know it applications, if used correctly, AI can also be an amazing tool regarding your pursuit of strength, power, and muscle.
How AI Can Help in the Gym
AI such as ChatGPT can be utilized to analyze personal dietary data, including food intake and nutritional content, thus being an assistant in providing customized meal plans and recommendations for muscle growth. It can help factor in macronutrient requirements, calorie intake, and dietary preferences. AI systems can help deduct and make inferences about your training data and provide detailed performance information. AI can identify and deduce strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, enabling individuals to adjust their training strategies for better muscle or strength development. Also, AI can generate workout routines with diverse exercises to target different muscle groups and prevent plateaus or help work around injuries.
All that said, AI is only as useful as the data you can provide. Also, remember that nothing can beat one-on-one person experience when it comes to strength, power, and muscle. Learning from those who have successfully been there and done that for a lifetime is key. AI can not tell you how 800 pounds on your back feels nor can it tell from your day-to-day lifting if you are shutting down your CNS from too much deadlifting and over-training. But it can be utilitarian and supplemental for other aspects of one’s strength and power and hypertrophy pursuits.
Best Practices to Ask AI Questions
Examples of AI in Education
Although nothing beats the experience of accomplished seasoned lifters as a main source for information, the reality is at most corporate gyms there are no significantly experienced lifters, and those new to the sport have difficulty veting the good online trainers and avoiding the snake oil salesmen trainers. This is where AI, specifically ChatGPT, could come in. But with ChatGPT, like training, what you get out of it is what you put into it. For AI language models like ChatGPT, it is all about how to ask the questions and what data you submit.
That is the massive difference between merely utilizing something like Google vs ChatGPT. ChatGPT can exhibit a degree of inference and deduction based on the patterns it has learned during its training. It can make educated guesses or provide plausible responses by leveraging the information it has been exposed to in its training data vs merely spitting out facts. ChatGPT is to Google what Google is to your local library. The difference is stark, to say the least.
Let’s go back to our high school academic dishonesty AI issue I mentioned earlier. A student looking to better a grade without putting in the time or effort could submit a request to ChatGPT that looks something like the following, “ChatGPT, please write me a summary of the book, Of Mice and Men.” Well, ChatGPT will do that with alarming speed and produce that summary quite nicely. It will write you something like this,
Chat GPT's Response
Of Mice and Men is a renowned novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. Set during the Great Depression, it tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two migrant workers trying to survive in a world of economic hardship. George is intelligent and caring, while Lennie is mentally disabled but possesses great physical strength. The novella explores their deep friendship as they navigate the challenges of finding work and holding onto their dreams.
The narrative delves into the themes of companionship, loneliness, and the pursuit of the American Dream. Steinbeck portrays the struggles faced by marginalized individuals, emphasizing the vulnerability of those who are different in society. The tragic consequences that unfold reveal the harsh realities of a world that often crushes hopes and dreams. "Of Mice and Men" is a timeless tale that continues to captivate readers with its exploration of human nature, friendship, and the quest for a better life amidst adversity." -ChatGPT
Being Specific When Using AI
So in a way, ChatGPT did exactly what the user, in this case a high school student, wanted it to do. It created for them a summary of the book so they could get back to more pressing issues - like TikTok.
Now, what if the student had used ChatGPT this way, “ChatGPT, please write me a three-page summary of Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men. Please include three run-on sentences and two misspelled words, but make those words fairly complex so as not to misspell basic words. Please then grade this paper based upon state proficiency levels of a high school senior.” Then ChatGPT spits out this paper to the student in a matter of moments. The student looks at the paper with its three run-on sentences and two misspelled words and sees that the paper earned a letter grade of an A based on the submitted proficiency level. This student, who is not an A student, then cuts and pastes the summary back to ChatGPT and says, “ChatGPT, please re-write this paper as it is, but with the quality only worthy of a B letter grade.”
See where I am going with this? ChatGPT and all of the AI systems are only as good as the information and questions you give to them.
Examples for Lifters
Here is another example. You could say, “ChatGPT, please write for me a calorie deficit meal.” ChatGPT would then spit something out like:
"Grilled Chicken Breast: A four-ounce (113 grams) serving of grilled chicken breast is a lean protein source that is relatively low in calories. It provides essential amino acids and helps promote satiety. Steamed Broccoli: Broccoli is a nutritious and low-calorie vegetable. A serving of steamed broccoli, around one cup (156 grams), is rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, while being relatively low in calories. Side Salad: A side salad consisting of mixed greens, such as lettuce or spinach, along with sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and a light vinaigrette dressing can be a refreshing and low-calorie addition to the meal. The salad adds volume and fiber while keeping the calorie content in check." -ChatGPT
But that does not help at all. Now, if you say to ChatGPT, “ChatGPT, I am 5’8”, 223 pounds, a 35-year-old male with 14 percent body fat who trains with weights five days per week for 80 minutes per workout and does cardio three times per week for 20 minutes each day with my heart rate averaging 105 beats per minute. Please create for me six daily meals, consisting of a total of 35 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrates, 25 percent fats, and no more than 15 grams of saturated fat that will be low enough in total calories to help drop my body fat down to nine percent in ten weeks without losing muscle mass. Well, ChatGPT will give you a completely different type of answer.
First, ChatGPT will explain the formula for basal metabolic rate and TDEE. Then, it will make the adjustments for one’s height, weight, age, gender, and energy expenditure.
Use AI as a Tool, Not THE Tool
This is not unlike when you go online and Google "powerlifting programs." You get an abundance of answers. But when you ask that successful veteran powerlifter in your gym to help you put something together, a good powerlifter will start with questions. Questions like: how many days can you train per week, what are your max lifts, what are your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, and do you have any injuries to work around? If they are really good, they will take a look at your technique.
So, like that experienced lifter, AI can be a tool to help you when you do not have those experts to reach out to. But its ability to be of use to you comes down to the information you supply it with.
RECENT: The Urgency of Meet Prep Training
One more quick example. I asked ChatGPT about protein powders and got an answer based on the data ChatGPT has in its database. That said, and based on information from a friend of mine with a PhD in nutrition, I fed ChatGPT data inquiring. I inquired about the most effective combination of three types of protein powders out of the many powders I listed based on amino acid profiles. Also, I asked for the most effective percentages when combining those three. I asked it not to go over 30 total grams in weight when combining the three.
The specificity made the difference and my PhD friend verified the answer supplied that AI came up with the correct answer based on actual nutritional and scientific data. All that said, know that ChatGPT is not perfect and will make mistakes. As high-tech as it is, it is also currently as crude as it ever will be and its database, according to OpenAI, is only through September of 2021. So keep that in mind.
AI is a Tool for the Future
Nutrition and lifting aside, I have asked ChatGPT fairly sophisticated questions over the past months, and each week I ask the same type of deductive type questions. Each week, the answers are getting better and better to the point of it being a little scary, to me anyway. If you have already stuck your toe into this AI world, you know that uneasy feeling quite well. If you have not, this is a feeling straight out of Alvin Toffler’s 1970s book, Future Shock.
A word of caution, as with anything in the world of strength, power, and muscle, beware of those big online voices with little or no personal competitive experience on the powerlifting platform or bodybuilding stage, as they are also using ChatGPT. They are using it, but then they are charging you for their financial gain without knowing the nuances of you as a power athlete. The solution is to seek out expert human assistance first if you are lucky to have that at your gym. Or seek out a reputable, seasoned, and knowledgeable online expert, such as Dave Tate, who has been there and done that for a lifetime. Utilize AI as a supplemental tool to learn from and to use as an additional resource for your strength, power, and muscle goals.
Conclusion
From the library to Google to AI, it is not just information that can make a difference in your training, but sound, quality, and accurate information. What you provide the AI model you choose will be a determining factor in what you get out of it. But keep in mind that even the current AI models are only as good as the data they have. So again, use phrases such as, “Based on scientifically reviewed data found in reliable and reputable published studies,” when you are asking questions and want vetted answers.
Feel free to consider AI as a possible supplemental tool, as your strength, power, and muscle destiny are in your own hands. Or, as it has been similarly stated, "The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."- The Terminator, Cyberdyne Systems Model 101.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
Use AI to supplement your strength, power, and muscle quest. Eric Maroscher shares how to use this tool.
Picture a scene out of a horror story. The protagonist is walking, lost in the desert sun's scorching heat. He walks with the soles of his shoes on fire as he continues through the blowing and stinging sand of the seemingly endless desert.
At one point, he turns around to look at where he came from, and far off in the distance, he sees it: a figure shrouded and cloaked all in black, distorted by the waves of heat, leaping off the hot-to-the-touch desert sand. The figure is far off in the distance, and although it stands still and motionless, it is clear to the protagonist that the tall, powerful, and ominous figure is pursuing him.
The day turns to night and then back into the morning. Our protagonist, weary, dehydrated, and growing steadily weaker, continues his ever more difficult trek through the desert in desperate hopes of an oasis. As the day slowly unfurls, our protagonist has a feeling. It is an unsettling feeling that causes him to pause, then stop.
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He shuts his eyes and slowly turns around to address his feelings, all the while afraid of what he might see. He slowly and with trepidation, opens his eyes and looks behind him at his footsteps in the sand. Standing in a pair of his footprints in the distance, once again, is that figure. It stands, as it did yesterday, tall, powerful, ominous, and without doubt, in pursuit. But unlike yesterday, the figure today is much, much closer.
As Each Day Passes…
The protagonist turns back to look at where he had been. Each day, the figure in black is there, relentlessly following, and it is undeniably closer each day.
As the final day approaches, the protagonist reaches the summit of the largest of the desert’s dunes. As he looks over the precipice, he realizes that hundreds of miles of barren desert wasteland lie ahead. At that moment, he falls to his knees, dehydrated, emaciated, and now broken of both the spirit and will to continue. He can walk no further.
With his last remnants of energy, the protagonist looks behind him one last time. He looks up from his kneeling position in the blowing sand and squints to block out the blazing sun, only to see that ominous figure he now recognizes standing directly over him. The figure who he suspected all along is as he feared. The figure, Azrael, is the angel of death.
The story ends with Azrael finishing his purpose with our protagonist, only to turn a different direction in his slow but relentless pursuit of his next soul.
A Story Told Many Times Before
In that story, as in so many others like it, Azrael exists as a metaphor, allegory, and representation for many things in life. Azrael can represent, for example, innocence lost, the loss of a dream, or an opportunity in life that was frivolously squandered.
For strength athletes preparing for a meet, Azrael represents the ever-dwindling amount of time one has to train for their competition. Where Azrael represents the taking of souls in some stories, he also metaphorically represents the taking or passing of time.
Time is unique as it can be both endless and very much finite, but that all depends on how you measure it. For you as the competitive powerlifter or strength athlete, time is not only finite but fleeting.
I share this story of Azrael following a conversation between two newer powerlifters at my gym. Their meet is some sixteen weeks out, or in their words, “four long months away.” I watched them “train” for the meet in a lackadaisical manner. I asked them about the meet and if they felt a level of urgency to perform.
They said, “Eric, the meet is like four months out. That’s a ton of time to train.” I sat, I listened, and I heard them out. I asked them, “Tell me about your training program.” They said they followed a standard powerlifting template and shared their sets, reps, RPE, etc.
The ingredient lacking from the otherwise solid intermediate training template was often overlooked: urgency.
A training program needs a sense of urgency to be an effective plan.
There must be an understanding that each rep builds the set, and each set builds that day's training, and each day of (good) training compounds as the days and weeks go by. Eventually, months crescendo into one’s competition peak of strength and power.
Time is Fleeting
But for those whose meet experience can still be counted merely in single digits, urgency is often misunderstood. It’s misunderstood because there is a significant difference between working out and training with an urgency for an upcoming meet.
To the non-competitive world of nine to fivers, the reality of time is that there are twenty-four hours in the day, seven days in a week, and so on. But for those residing in the powerlifting world of meet training, that is not the correct method to measure the passing of time.
Time is of the essence, and in meet prep, every single rep is critical. Show me someone who does not think every single rep when training for a meet is important, and I will show you someone who has never won a competition of significance. Chances are, that same person never attempted to become the strong(est) version of their potential self.
I have been around the powerlifting block for three decades and in weight rooms for four decades. So, with decades of experience and perspective, I can tell you that the most common trait of successful lifters is their focus on every rep, set, and part of their training session. Staying engaged for the entire duration of the meet preparation is critical. Without locking things down and training with purpose and urgency, the strongest and most powerful version of yourself never comes to fruition.
Eat, sleep, train hard, repeat is now: do a set, scroll on your phone, set up the tripod, film, edit, post, scroll more, text, repeat. This is commonplace, pervasive, and perhaps the absolute best recipe for stagnation. However, those who break that cycle and do a set, write it in their journal, take a sip from their water jug, spot their training partner, and then hit another set are destined for success. These lifters are cooking with a time-proven recipe for improvement because there is focus, purpose, urgency, and consistency.
Urgency Breeds Success
Successful powerlifters with a lot of experience understand that meet time is transitory; a lifter needs to feel and live an urgency, or they will never put the correct amount of healthy pressure on themselves while training in the gym.
Those who put that healthy amount of stress and urgency in their training do so because they understand that the metaphorical Azrael IS coming. The day Azrail arrives means the next day IS meet day. Most who train without urgency learn two things when meet day arrives.
- They learn regret since they lacked urgency in their training and squandered away that fleeting time to prepare for the meet.
- They learn that someone in their weight class trained with urgency, and victory was theirs for their taking at the end of the day. And they took it.
Meet prep time is about being all in with one’s training, nutrition, sleep, and recovery while focusing on their journey, mission, vision, and goals.
Meet day IS Azrael, and the final training day IS coming for every lifter, much faster than they could ever imagine.
Are You Ready?
Use those heaviest squat, bench press, and deadlift sessions wisely for those new to the world of competition. Don’t forget your ancillary exercises, as they are the mortar for your powerlifting bricks and the rivets for your powerlifting steel girders. But all of these movements are finite because before you know it, it is meet day. Will you be ready? Regardless of your answer, know this, someone competing against you will be.
While the majority who enter meets scroll and post while at their gym, a few soak up every precious moment and stay connected to their training. The end of the training cycle will come for both lifters, but at the end of the meet, one will rejoice reflecting on their hard work, and the other will regret and post excuses.
Use your fleeting meet prep time wisely, as Azrael, the killer of training time, will be coming for you... Make sure that when he arrives, you have already taken advantage of every training day, set, and rep that comes your way. Above all else, stay connected and in the moment.
This way, when he comes as a representation of the end of your training days for the meet, you will have already burned away every part of them through your relentless pursuit, and with the sense of urgency you applied to that finite period of time.
Pursuing the strongest and most powerful version of yourself must include urgency.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep.
Header image credit: Meana Albersworth
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
Use your fleeting meet prep time wisely, as Azrael, the killer of training time, will be coming for you…
In the sweltering heat of August 1979, in a small town in Southern Illinois, Robinson's Gym was a tiny storefront gym. It was located just off one of four main street arteries branching from the town's tower square. There was Robinson's Gym, and in the opposite direction off of the same tower square was Drew's Gym. Both gyms were from the same vintage, pre-corporate gym era—when mom and pop gyms were sparsely sprinkled throughout small town America in tiny storefront locations.
Aside from some of the legendary trailblazers like Bill Pearl's and Gironda's single-building gyms, options for serious lifters were the mom-and-pop owned gym, the local YMCA, or one's garage or basement gym.
As Bally Total Fitness and their acquisition of the remnants of Nautilus, LaLanne, and Vic Tanny were still a few years down the road, lifters from that era would have looked at you like you had two heads if you said, "One day there will be 30,000 square-foot corporate owned gyms with ceiling-mounted television monitors, air-conditioning, 'lunk alarms,' and polo-shirt wearing, clipboard-carrying certified trainers."
The family-owned gyms from that era were owned by callous-handed, thickly muscled lovers of iron and steel. The gym owners unlocked their gym in the wee hours of the morning for their early-rising members and then went off to work their 9-to-5 job. After the day's work concluded, the gym owners returned to their gym in the evening, trained with like-minded individuals, and hit the weights with passion and conviction.
Robinson's Gym
Unlike other store-front gyms from the late 1970s and early 80s, Robinson's Gym was a family-owned gym that provided a place for the Robinson brothers (both amateur bodybuilders) to train and for others cut from that same cloth.
In the summertime at Robinson's Gym, the glass front door was propped open by an old, heavy pedestal fan to bring any air movement into the front room. Hot summer air blew from this industrial-sized fan set on low, the only speed that worked, onto a tattered and sweat-soaked Robinson's t-shirt. It was as reviving and energy restoring as taking the "Nestea Plunge." Google it.
The gym was a small storefront consisting of a series of open rooms that, if viewed from an aerial view, would appear somewhat like a maze.
Each of the carpeted rooms in this simple but utilitarian gym was home to a sparse couple of pieces of equipment from the prior era, the late 1960s and mid-1970s. Additionally, each room had a mirror or two on the walls, some weights on a weight tree, and barbells propped up against the drywalled corners of each room. No expensive barbell storage was needed. The corners sufficed, and the cratered drywall from the bars told a story.
For the most part, the gym had only a few people lifting in it at a time. In hindsight, it was probably 2000 square feet in total with 9-foot ceilings that made the rooms feel smaller in contrast to the sheer size of the weight equipment.
Robinson's Gym had a small single-occupancy restroom, and a water fountain was directly outside the restroom. That water fountain during the summer was a Godsend—an oasis where the water was ice cold and the stream had enough velocity and height to dip your face into as you quenched your thirst and restored your life energy.
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In the very back room of the gym, where the military press bench sat, was a small wall-unit air conditioner. While the heat just hung in each of the other rooms, the back room was a sanctuary, a retreat, a shelter from the heat during the hot summer months in southern Illinois.
That summer at Robinson's Gym and my time training at Drew's Gym helped shape and form my frame of reference of what a gym can be with regard to an atmosphere conducive to great training sessions. If one's memories could somehow be rewound and rewatched like episodes of a Netflix series, I would relish rewatching this summer's training episodes over and again. All gyms have weights, but very few gyms have an atmosphere, an energy, or a gravitas to them.
I reflect on Robinson's Gym every time I watch the movie Pumping Iron and that scene with Lou and Matty Ferrigno at R&J's Gym in Brooklyn. They were examples of the storefront gyms of that era.
I paint this picture of my memories of this gym for the younger lifters that might never have the opportunity to train anywhere but a 30,000-square-foot fitness center. A fitness center with the air conditioner set on 68 degrees and where 100-pound chrome dumbbells show no sign of use. Where a collection of individuals are working out at the same time, but aren't interacting together. Where all the soul, texture, grit, and heart have been sanitized away for the benefit of the 30 cardio crowd and to the detriment of the serious lifter. Where training has been dumbed down to merely exercising or worse, where members waste away their precious gym time texting, posting, and holding a smartphone instead of gripping a dumbbell. For the most part, those younger lifters will be robbed of the opportunity to have trained in one of these Mesozoic-esque era fortresses of solitude. A place where effort, consistency, and desire symbiotically collided and produced strength, power, and muscle.
As a young person all those decades ago finding my way in the world of weights, these lifter-owned gyms would pop up on one side of town as another lifter-owned gym would close on the other. The outgoing owner sold all of their equipment to the incoming owner. I recall seeing the same dumbbell set move to three different gyms in three different buildings in my hometown in about a six-year span. This is the circle of life for barbells, dumbbells, and the mom-and-pop gyms of the 70s and 80s.
Why?
For the most part, gyms don't make their owners money. Gyms make their owner's dreams come true.
The original Gold's Gym of Arnold and Franco fame was established in 1965 and sold three times before 1972 as it continued to lose money. Ultimately, mom-and-pop gyms are about the love of muscle, strength, power, and weights, regardless if they stay open for six months, a year, a decade, or in rare cases like Gironda or Frantz Gym, for virtually a lifetime.
As for the lifters who are gym owners; a life with weights, training in their own gym with others cut from that same cloth, providing a place for the like-minded to grow strong(er) and more powerful, well, that is the only way they would ever want to live their life. For the gyms I trained at in my youth, be it Robinson's Gym, Drew's Gym, Pumping Iron Gym, Bobby V's Gym, Mark's Gym, Heavy Metal Gym, or Frantz Gym, that was the case for all seven of those gym owners.
This Guy
One particularly hot summer, I recall both sipping and cooling my face in the cold water from the fountain while watching one bodybuilder work out. The regular handful of guys training there shared the same training time as me at the gym, but then there was this guy. He was just different. His physique looked different. He trained differently. How he moved the weight was different, his focus was different; everything about him was different, unique, better. The only thing I or the other handful of lifters who were striving for muscle and strength had in common with him was we were all meeting at the same place at the same time on the same days. He seemed like he was from another planet, a planet where the gravity was turned all the way up, and all its inhabitants were strong, powerful, and muscular as everything on his planet was heavy, and everything required immense strength and power to move.
A thought occurred to me as I stood by the fountain pretending to be thirstier than I was so I could watch this guy train. I couldn't help but think that "he must know something that I don't know when it comes to lifting," as his physique was heavily muscled. Picture Danny Padilla and the way he went about the business of lifting. It was just that, business-like. Not that other lifters were lollygagging around, but he was just honed in, purposeful, deliberate, and seemed more inside his head. For his amount of muscle, much smaller men were lifting much greater weight. That also had me scratching my head as I was a young person trying to make muscle. This guy had enough muscle for five of me yet was using far less weight than other much smaller men but lifting it in a manner that told me if he wanted to, he could lift a great deal more.
Where some lifters were slinging weights around, he was precise and exacting in his movements. Where some would do a set and then sit and read from the piles of muscle magazines of that era that were lying around the gym, he would complete a set and then sit down and write notes about that set in his log book. It seemed like he wrote down everything in that book. He would close his eyes and breathe when others would yell and scream or shake the weights. He appeared to mentally "will" the weights to move.
As I stood and watched, he put several 45-pound plates on the chain of the dip belt and climbed his 5'6," 200-pound, 10% body fat physique onto the dip machine. From there, he performed 15-20 slow, purposeful and seemingly effortless dips. He repeated this for a number of sets until I had to move on as other overheated lifters were approaching the ever-in-demand drinking fountain.
One evening that summer, I found myself sitting outside on the sidewalk. My back leaned against the gym wall as I waited for my ride home. Sitting about ten feet away, writing in his book with his back resting against the gym's outside wall, was that guy—that alien from the heavy gravity planet.
He sat on the sidewalk writing copious notes in his book, a thick-weathered black book that looked like an old diary or something Indiana Jones would scrawl in. I kept watching, and he kept writing. I had seen him outside of Robinson's Gym because he also trained at Drew's Gym down the road on the opposite side of the tower square. I recognized him from both places. He had zero idea I even existed.
"What are you doing?"
Without looking up and still focused on his writing, he explained, "I am writing about my training session."
"Why?"
Again, without looking up, he quickly replied, "I can't plan where I'm going unless I know exactly where I've been."
He then took the worn, frayed towel resting on his neck and shoulders and folded it, rolled up his lifting belt, closed his book onto his pen, and put all three neatly and meticulously into his worn but clean gym bag. I watched him walk away from the gym. His massive hamstrings burst out of his cut-off sweatpants. His forearms looked solid as granite with protruding veins thick as if Earthworms were glued to them.
As a kid lifting in a gym with primarily grown men, you do very little talking and quite a bit of listening, observing, watching, studying and analyzing of all that is happening around you. It is quite amazing what one can learn when the mouth is closed, and the ears are open.
In listening, I learned that this lifter was a mailman working for the US postal service. I also learned he was a competitive bodybuilder in training for the Mr. America title. In observing, I noticed that it was within the nuances, the almost imperceptible nuances, that made all the difference.
I recall one of my professors in graduate school talking about the power of observation. That what seems so simple, watching and learning, is a practice in patience and a skill that can help you unlock many of life's secrets. The world can be a place where we become trapped in the cycle of routine, where there is so much visual stimulus that we often miss things.
You can, for example, look at a field of flowers, or you can focus on one single specific individual flower. If you look closely enough, you can see the pedals, peduncle, stamen, sepal, and pistil, and suddenly beyond the simple beauty of the field as a whole, you find amazing complexity, the nuance, the detail, even the systems that comprise this quite complex structure. Observation is all about the nuance, the subtle, and the tiniest variances.
The Power of Observation
The skill of observation has never been more important than it is today. There's so much available information and little regulation. There is an inordinate amount of bad information, especially in the world of strength, power, and muscle. When money is pumped into something, "everybody under the sun becomes an expert." Where else can you find folks who train others for a living but have never set foot on a powerlifting platform, a strongman field of competition, or a bodybuilding stage?
I reflect on the sweltering heat of that August heat at Robinson's Gym. Observation, in many ways, was your Google. Take two lifters, both following methods from the same book. Both perform the same sets for an exercise; both use the prescribed amount of reps per set, and both follow the same three exercises of four sets per exercise to arrive at the prescribed volume. Yet, within those similarities and prescribed templates, a world of observable nuance illuminates a universe of differences between those two lifters.
The power of observation is a master course in the subtlety of training. It is often the smallest cogs, the most precision gears that make the machinery run smoothly. In watching many of the lifters of Robinson's Gym, you could see and hear the similarities through their conversations about nutrition, food supplements, training routines, sets and reps, and volume.
Through authentic observation, you really could see how one lifter would bring his physique to life. The cadence to his reps was different, how he stayed within his technique was different, how he stayed focused for each rep was different, and how with some motions, how he squeezed his muscle at the end of the movement was different.
If you were to compare his log book with another, the numbers would look virtually identical. Still, as you watched those two lifters doing the same exercises, program, sets, and reps, they could not be more different. What was written on the page was one thing; the observable and remarkable difference was how it was performed or not performed.
Conclusion
To this day, I tell young lifters that your power of observation can not only help you learn what to do, but it can also help you learn what not to do. As a young person lifting during an era pre-internet, some of my most valuable lessons came from observing others. Observing others provided a menu of so many things to absolutely never do.
The road to strength, power, and muscle is not always perfectly lined and paved. On the contrary, the road to strength, power, and muscle is also a road strewn with potholes to avoid perilous stops along the way that should be avoided at all costs.
My suggestion has always been this; before you take as gospel something you hear or read from those 'experts' selling something, hit the pause button and invest some real observational time before spending your money on those who talk a good game but have no actual experience to back up their claims.
There are no, have never been any, and will never be any secret methods for success in the weight game. So heed these words and be cautious about those who teach but have never done. Avoid those with merely a handful or perhaps no competitions under their weight belt, yet espouse as if they have accessed all the answers to the universe's questions. Snake oil salesmen and women have always been and will always be. As the quote often attributed to P.T. Barnum goes, "There is a sucker born every minute." Utilize that intrinsic tool of observation and let someone else be that sucker.
Watching that bodybuilder so many years ago, I learned about subtleness within the barbarity of the weight game. I learned this as I observed the ten other guys doing the same basic routine but without the key ingredients that made the difference. Ingredients like how he engaged with the weights, his consistency, his diligence, the amazing work ethic he brought to every workout, and his extensive note-taking (along with his ability to shut out all the distractions like heat, periodic static on the old radio, or others). These collective yet non-measurable things were his "secret."
That summer, I would watch smaller non-competitive lifters sling much larger weights than this man aspiring to win the Mr. American title. They would sling the weight, yet he would "feel the weight." I observed them sacrificing the nuanced tactile aspects of the lift upon the altar of momentum. I watched other lifters spend far more time in the gym than he did. Ultimately, the duration of time in the gym didn't matter. I observed that what mattered more was what happened between the start of the workout and the last plate being placed back on the weight tree. Some would do a set, thumb through a magazine, do a set, and thumb some more through the magazine. Sound familiar? Just swap out the word magazine for the word cellphone as some things never change. Bottom line, his focus, and vigilance persevered the entire duration of the workout, undeterred by distraction.
Ultimately, as Mr. America, Mr. Universe, Mr. World, and bodybuilding's golden era philosophical north star Dave Draper would say, "There are no secrets."
There are no secrets.
Dave draper
Suppose you are a new lifter, perhaps a young person in high school or just starting your lifting career, or a seasoned lifter looking to improve. In that case, I suggest veering from the noise of social media salespeople and internet gurus selling the latest and the greatest. Instead, spend some time observing lifters at your very own gym. Those observations will tell you all you need to know about their training without them ever having to whisper a word to you.
Observe those lifters that continue to get strong(er), bigger, and more powerful and remain healthy and relatively injury-free. Observe how they lift, then observe those lifters who look the same today as yesterday, as last year, and the years before. Observe lifters who run 100mph into the same wall repeatedly and think "hardcore" means compromising one's health and future lifting endeavors as they throw caution to the wind. Those lifters are a dime a dozen, here today, gone later that same day. They are living representatives of the potholes to avoid on the road to success. Use them as the observable template of what not to do.
Observation is a master teacher as sometimes a set is more than a set, and sometimes a rep is more than a rep.
Wishing you the very best in your training journey. Ever Onward.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
He seemed like he was from another planet, a planet where the gravity was turned all the way up, and all its inhabitants were strong, powerful, and muscular.
The other day following our training session, I was talking with some of the lifters from my gym. We sat around on the various elitefts benches, some sipping away on their post-training protein shakes, others jotting down their training numbers in their training journals. These are lifters (myself included) who have been in the game for years or even decades. All of whom, like you, couldn't fathom a life without the world of barbells, dumbbells, and weights.
On this particular day, we were in a somewhat reflective mood. It was just a few days after the passing of legendary golden-era bodybuilder Dave Draper, The Blonde Bomber (1965, Mr. America, 1966, Mr. Universe, 1970, Mr. World), who passed at age 79. We spent some time reflecting on his life with weights, as many of us had read Dave Draper's Iron In My Hands and were all fans of the purity of his lifting journey. Iron In My Hands is not a sets-and-reps book but a narrative about all aspects of wielding iron and steel and all things muscle and power. The book is somewhat of a philosophical perspective of the nature behind why we lift, as lifting is our life-blood and the gym is our fortress of solitude.
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Although most of us engaged in this day's conversation powerlift or power-build or train for strongman/woman, we all have also done some aspect of hypertrophy training along the way. Hypertrophy to powerlifting is what lobster is to steak—the two different but spectacular sides to the same strength, power, and muscle coin.
Ernie Frantz
I recall training with legendary powerlifter Ernie Frantz in the 1990s through the early 2000s. Ernie was not only an immensely strong powerlifter, but he was also very heavily muscled. Of all Ernie Frantz' powerlifting accomplishments on the platform and those related to his highly inventive and uniquely innovative powerlifting gear, Ernie Frantz is probably most famous for his 1974 accomplishment of winning the Powerlifting Worlds and placing second in the Mr. USA contest on that very same day. Both of those sports venues were located a few miles apart that year, one in the a.m. and the other that same evening.
Photo via Maroscher/Monster Garage Gym
Part of Ernie's training philosophy with regard to the sport of powerlifting was what makes you strong(er), plain old makes you strong(er). Also, full power at full throttle all the time will shorten the competitive life of the powerlifter and rob them of their full strength potential.
Ernie's powerlifting training also involved bodybuilding movements and hypertrophy work and the massively heavy training he and the Frantz Power Team engaged in. Training produced some of the best and most muscular powerlifters to roam this great Earth. Ernie would say that you should possess and maintain the physical conditioning for 12-16 weeks from a powerlifting meet or an amateur bodybuilding competition. For even the most avid, serious and purest of powerlifters, bodybuilding/hypertrophy has its place in quality powerlifting programs. Look back in the 1980s at the lifters like Jim Cash, Ernie Frantz, Dave Pasanella, Kirk Karwalski, and notice the powerlifting numbers they posted and the powerful, conditioned, and muscular physiques.
Photo via Powerlifting USA
Newbies and slogan following-lifters will say, "curls are for the girls," but trite and platitudinous marketing taglines aside, the reality is biceps are the antagonistic muscle group to the triceps and development of one without the other is a recipe for asymmetrical injury. The point is, even in the world of strength sports, hypertrophy matters. Its significance is heeded by those who are serious about their lifting.
Dave Draper
Those of us sitting around the gym that day talking about Dave Draper's passing have lifted for many years. Thus, we all share some commonalities based on the amount of time in the weight room. We all appreciate strength, power, muscle, and size. We all started on this journey of lifting via some bodybuilding-type template. To a person, we all still incorporate some bodybuilding movements in our power routines.
Additionally, even as strength athletes, we all share the common vernacular of those who bodybuild. You know the lingo, the pump, super-sets, forced reps, drop-sets, negatives, etc. All of the terminology associated with the bodybuilding/hypertrophy nomenclature and those colloquialisms used today just like it was used in the day of Vince Gironda, Bill Pearl, Reg Park, Dave Draper, Steve Reeves, John Grimek, and the-one-namers like Arnold, Franco, Zane, Sergio, Ferrigno, Platz.
Photo via muscle and fitness.com
As lifters cut from this same cloth and who are fairly long in the tooth, we spoke to one another about how at some point in our lifting past, we followed the sport aspect of bodybuilding. At one time or another, we each read about bodybuilders from the era we started training. For most of us sitting around on this day, that was the mid-1970s and the mid-80s.
As we talked, we reflected on lifters who have since passed and gyms we had trained at that have long since vanished. We juxtaposed the gym scene in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s with the present day. We discussed, compared, and contrasted the simplicity of goals and the individual and personal aspirations of putting on some muscle here, adding to the squat, bench, and deadlift max there. We talked about all the fun and excitement as a newbie training with weights, changing and improving your physique, nutrition, food supplements, rest, recovery, and hydration for muscle growth and strength development.
As the conversation unfurled, we also talked about the evolution of bodybuilding as a lifestyle or sport—to be strong, powerful, muscular, healthy, and vibrant or on the stage where the potential for money prizes and titles are involved. These two faces of bodybuilding have aspects as mutually exclusive and opposite as can be.
Over the decades, there has been a significant transition in bodybuilding. Meager prize money transitioned to significant financial winnings and lucrative sponsorships that the elite-level professionals aspire to attain. There has also been a transition in what is physically required to achieve a look now worthy of the win. With regard to the look, the conditioning specifically, and this is the case for both the professional and amateur divisions.
Bodybuilding Lifestyle
In the larger perspective, there has become a growing philosophical division between the hardly changed lifestyle of bodybuilding and the constantly changing sport aspect of bodybuilding. For those into bodybuilding as a lifestyle, the modern-day lifestyle of bodybuilders is not far removed from those of the bronze era (1894-1939) and silver era (1940-1959) bodybuilders.
Although there is more research and information on nutrition, the food supplements are arguably better. The equipment used for bodybuilding has expanded beyond only barbells and dumbbells. The daily routine for lifestyle bodybuilders stays the same—pack up the gym bag, train with purpose, intensity, discipline, consistency, consume the proper foods and calories, hydrate, rest, recuperate, track the progress, make changes as needed and continue on the journey for self-improvement, increased muscle, decreased fat, improved health, strength, and power.
As the lifestyle version of bodybuilding remains the same, very little fanfare is likewise involved with this individual endeavor. As the bodybuilding lifestyle is about self, those truly on that given path often go about their way in relative and preferred obscurity. They do so as there is no bright light shining down on them, and they steer clear of the trap that is socialookatmedia. The lifestyle bodybuilders are more focused on sets, reps, and growth than likes, followers, and clicks. This obscurity of the lifestyle bodybuilder is often the polar opposite to that of the sport version of bodybuilding, especially now that there is a financial element. And with that money element comes the compounding factors like sponsors and the active and purposeful pursuit of followers, likes, and clicks.
For those young people new to the concept of bodybuilding/hypertrophy, it is difficult to even think of the bodybuilding lifestyle. The sport version takes up the majority of online bandwidth, leaving the impression, especially to those younger folks new to the muscle game, that there is only one avenue to travel.
A Haitian proverb says, "Beyond mountains, there are mountains." A perfect metaphor for our life in the gym and our world of weights.
Those seeking the lesser-known lifestyle of bodybuilding seek the journey and thus reject any shortcuts, inauthenticities or external motivations. Lifestyle bodybuilders reject the trappings of sport, and they represent the antithesis of their pursued lifestyle journey. Lifestyle bodybuilders seek the mountains to climb, fully knowing that beyond the successfully climbed mountains lay even more mountains that need climbing. Their lifestyle journey is one of inner travel, and it is full of self-purpose. Any shortcuts or external motivations are rejected as that robs them of the mountains beyond the mountains.
In other words, bodybuilding during the bronze, silver, and a small portion of the golden era was all about the individual's struggle. Enduring the struggle was the purpose, the reward, and the point of the endeavor in the first place. Part of that lifestyle journey is stops along the way to bigger muscles, more bodyweight with less body fat, and the struggles that occur along the way.
This journey of the lifestyle bodybuilder presents its own set of successes and failures as it makes bodybuilders who they are. Success and failure help them learn and grow in the process. The failures, the challenges, and the mountains beyond the mountains make us look inward for self-satisfaction vs. seeking outward affirmation.
For the most part, bodybuilding in those aforementioned eras, the eras of what was once the bodybuilding lifestyle that lifters like Dave Draper embodied, is the antithesis of the bodybuilding sport he recoiled from. Following his success in winning the 1970 Mr. World title, Dave Draper left the world of competitive bodybuilding, one of stress and pressure and external counter incentives. He continued the lifestyle of bodybuilding for the rest of his life—a lifestyle of stress-relief, self-imposed healthy pressure, and internal motivation.
Photo via Laree Draper
While discontinuing all the competitive and sport aspects of bodybuilding, Dave Draper continued with all the lifestyle aspects of weights, muscle, power, and iron. His journey went in a direction that would be the antithesis of the path many, especially today, follow. He went against the popular grain to remain true to the inner journey he wanted for himself. That understanding of self often resonates with the more philosophical lifters interested in growing strong(er) and more muscular for the sole purpose of self-satisfaction through attainment.
Are all of the sport aspects of bodybuilding (the money, sponsors, being Insta-famous) bad? That is a great question, but the wrong question. The point isn't about why people bodybuild, but what is bodybuilding? Is bodybuilding a lifestyle, a sport, or two mutually exclusive things?
The target audience for this thought debate is a lifter like you, a lifter who lives deep within the subculture of all things weights and dumbbells—lifters who aspire to be healthy, strong, big, powerful, muscular for themselves and who do so without seeking external affirmation. And for those cut from that same cloth as a Dave Draper, he turned his back on a successful competitive bodybuilding career. He lives on as the Polaris for legions of lifters who seek the private lifestyle aspect of bodybuilding. A road traveled less, the bodybuilders back then were seen as outcasts, over-muscled health nuts with overdeveloped physiques, wheatgrass, wheat germ, and the original Rheo Blair protein shakes.
Competitive Bodybuilding
For those following competitive bodybuilding at the professional level, the highest rung on the sport aspect of the bodybuilding ladder, it is glaringly apparent that for a number of those at this pinnacle, the focus is winning by any means necessary. This is indicative of the inordinate number of deaths of this sport's pros, who, age-wise, should be amazingly healthy and in the prime of their lives. That of course is the extreme, but within the community of those who compete in bodybuilding, the majority put the win over the lifestyle for their reasons. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. Each person on this good Earth has the right to follow whatever pursuit they desire and to the extent they desire.
For those following the sport aspect of bodybuilding, one can see how the sport itself is trying to self-regulate and find some equilibrium. It is seeking some equanimity through the emergence of men's divisions like physique and classic physique.
"Beyond mountains, there are mountains."
Haitan Proverb
Ultimately, there are two vast and different worlds within bodybuilding to choose from. Both have aspects to them that are alluring to different personality types. One size does not have to fit all. Although the world of socialookatmedia shines a bright light on the sport of bodybuilding and often all things extreme, it does not mean that the sport version is the world best suited for you. Likewise, some could care less about building muscle for the joy of the struggle and care even less for any health or longevity aspects. Those individuals want mass, paper-thin skin, anatomical chart vascularity, and they want that as a means toward an end. That end is victory on stage in competition and the spoils that go with it. For the pro bodybuilder, this can be money, sponsors, endorsements, a place in history, notoriety, or the feeling of satisfaction of dominating over others and pushing oneself past the red line.
Where these Venn diagrams of lifestyle and sport merge is with the discipline, consistency, and drive to succeed. Regardless of the endeavor chosen, there is no forward traction, no advancement, no progress, no self-evolution for any lifter of weights without these factors. You see it everyday at your gym; those who lack these essentials are the individuals whose physique is the same month after month, year after year. As with all aspects of life, what you put into it is what you get out of it. Work ethic is extremely demanding in either of the two forms of the successful bodybuilder.
Without this perspective, those young people following bodybuilding via social media have only that single perspective—bigger is better, by any means necessary to grow, and more likes and followers equates to more success. Those who bodybuild for self-improvement, longevity, love of health, adoration of muscle bursting out from shirt sleeves and well-earned callused hands often do so in the privacy of a garage or basement gym. In reality, what may appear as training dungeons are secret fortresses of solitude, where affirmation comes from the mirror's reflection vs. the sport aspect. These self-made fortresses of solitude where less is more and where the lifestyle, the journey of the self is more fulfilling than any sporting aspect.
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Suppose you are newer to the land of hypertrophy or perhaps a veteran who has grown disenchanted with the direction of the sport and the blueprint that needs to be followed to find success in today's competitive world. In that case, the original lifestyle blueprint is worth your exploration.
There are reasons why greats such as Dave Draper left the competitive world of bodybuilding but never stopped bodybuilding as a lifestyle. These are the same reasons perhaps pursuing the lesser-known lifestyle world of bodybuilding vs the competitive sport of bodybuilding might fit your life goals and ambitions better. Lesser-known does not equate to lesser fulfillment, and new and trendy does not always equate to better. To the contrary, many could and have successfully argued that with the lesser-known comes greater fulfillment.
For those of us who have enjoyed strength, power, weights, and muscle as a staple of our lives over the decades, we borrow from the sport of bodybuilding to enhance our powerlifting or strongman pursuits. When we do, we engage exclusively in the lifestyle world of bodybuilding. We do so as powerlifting is about muscle for go vs. muscle show, and functional muscle is a large part of the lifestyle aspect of the more global term bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding is single in name yet has a duality to its essence. It can be the perfectly fitting glove for those seeking out financial potential, titles, the desire to compete and show their progress to the throngs who attend such competitive events. For others, it can be that inward journey that produces the outward evidence of the journey's success in the form of muscle, strength, and power. But it can also be a lifestyle enjoyed for a lifetime as it has for the countless masses who are anonymous, purposely obscure, and who fly under the radar, only known as "bodybuilders" by family, immediate friends, and perhaps co-workers.
For so many young people, say high school-aged, they have never known a world without social media. Sociologists and psychologists will tell you that for most of these young people, they can not delineate between real life and life online. For that reason, what they see more of in their online life is the sport aspect of bodybuilding since it has a massive online presence, and thus it might be all they know about it. And within that sport aspect, there is a far brighter light on the pro bodybuilding division than the far less popular natural bodybuilding division. Even less illuminated is the lifestyle aspect of bodybuilding, yet that might be the Goldilocks zone for many young people who want to pursue a lifestyle of building muscle, strength, power, health, and self-fulfillment.
Ultimately, there are many out there, and perhaps you are one of them, who seek that bodybuilding road less traveled. Maybe you seek that self-imposed and lesser-followed bodybuilding lifestyle of hard work and anonymous failures and successes.
For those on that glorious journey, enjoy the struggle and enjoy that universal truth that beyond the mountains, there are mountains.
Wishing you the best! Ever Onward.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
Is bodybuilding a lifestyle, a sport, or two mutually exclusive things? Learn how the greats used hypertrophy along their journey.
A marriage between the precision of technique and the barbarity of unharnessed power and strength is what the best deadlifters possess.
Over the decades, I have lived in a number of different towns and cities, eleven to be exact. Some moves were when I was a child and related to my dad's job promotions, some related to my education; undergraduate school, graduate schools, and some moves resulted from my work, life, and job advancements.
Of all the places I have lived, two stick out in my mind for their linguistic vernacular and colloquialisms. These two are New Orleans, Louisiana, and the southernmost part of Illinois. These two areas have a lexicon that pulls from colloquialisms from simpler times when certain words painted a detailed and perfect picture of something.
There is More Than One Way to Skin a Cat
"There is more than one way to skin a cat" is the phrase that is such a picture painting way of saying that there are many ways to do something to achieve a given or desired result. As lifters of weight, builders of muscle, seekers of strength, power, and size, "There is more than one way to skin a cat," is applicable to so much of what we do in the gym. There are often many different ways to build power, strength, power, muscle, and size.
If you were to ask John Q. Public something universally related to weights or muscle or size, to that layperson what might immediately jump to their mind is a flexed biceps. Universally known and iconic in vision, if someone says that they work out, often the layperson's response is "show me your muscle."
With regard to big biceps, this historically recognized symbol of strength and muscular development, "there is more than one way to skin that cat." There is more than one way to go about building the biceps. One doesn't need to be a Larry Scott or Robby Robinson as even the most novice of lifters could rattle off some methods to achieve this—standing barbell curls, preacher curls, single-arm dumbbell curls, seated incline dumbbell curls, cable curls, concentration curls, drag curls, hammer curls, lying inclined cambered bar curls, 21's, etc.
When it comes to the deadlift, there are also a number of ways to skin that cat as well. However, when it comes to the deadlift, there is more to building the deadlift than variety, and there is also a point of diminishing returns to consider.
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Although the deadlift is one of the ultimate big three lifts, there are nuances involved, critically important nuances that are often overlooked. There are considerations for the lifter to ponder and weigh about the ways to build strength and power in this lift.
Based on my life experience under the bar with some 30 years of competitions and 40 years in the world of weights under my belt, there are commonly preached methods touted as deadlift building movements that are better left alone. They're better left alone as the benefit to risk ratio is not in the lifter's favor.
Deficits to Build to the Deadlift
Additionally, as the deadlift is a leverage-based movement associated with maximum effort attempts, the deficit deadlift is a movement that requires caution and a good deal of years in the game, and a full understanding of the mechanics involved. Deficit deadlift is not just some grip-it-and-rip-it approach to improving one's overall deadlift.
Over my decades in this most amazing world of strength, power, muscle, and size, I have worked and trained with some of the pound-for-pound best deadlifters ever to grace the platform. Their attention to detail regarding this most brute strength of lifts was something that they all had in common. I recall as if it were yesterday the legendary Ernie Frantz working with us (conventional pullers) and really putting the time and energy into teaching this simple in appearance but, in reality, amazingly complex lift.
The Duality of the Deadlift
In my experience, what makes the deadlift so fantastically simple yet simultaneously complex is its duality. The duality of the deadlift is the fact that it is a marriage of two opposites that work together symbiotically, which makes these two aspects the yin and yang of the conventional deadlift.
Technique
The first ingredient in this symbiotic merger is the technical aspects of the deadlift that must be executed with calibrated exactness. The technique utilizes the proper angles, pivot points, torque, and equilibrium of balance to bring the most out of the fulcrum and lever aspect of this ageless compound movement.
Aggression
The second ingredient in this symbiotic merger is the sheer ravenous aggression involved in this lift. It's the mental requisite to know the bar is coming off the floor and being metaphorically willing to die on the platform while relentlessly pulling until that weight is locked out. It's the ability to Let Johnny Out Of The Bag—five to eight or so seconds it takes to pull a slow grinder off the floor, bring it to lockout, and then set it back down in a controlled manner. If scaled up in size and scope, that grinder would be the NASA equivalent of the tork requisite to shake the bolts loose from a Saturn 5 rocket. The five to eight or so seconds of gear grinding metal on metal effort requires your entire soul to be absolutely and unyieldingly committed to bringing this deadlift to successful fruition.
It is that marriage between the precision of technique and the barbarity of unharnessed power and strength that only the best deadlifters possess. Only the best pullers, as one without the other either, leaves weight on the platform or leaves the lifter injured. It is that plain and simple, and anyone who has pulled big weights for decades knows this. There is also a world of difference between a couple of big pulls in the gym for those socialookatmedia types and a lifetime of big pulls when it matters during competition.
This relationship between these two halves of the lifter, the technical and the aggressive, is a relationship that is constantly being balanced, measured, calibrated, and re-calibrated.
This is the dichotomy when it comes to the deficit deadlift, where the lifter's intellectual prowess or lack thereof plays a critical role.
When it comes to the deficit deadlift, if the lifter's technique is lagging, the deficit aspect will only amplify nagging technical issues, which spells danger for the strength athlete. If I have seen it once, I have seen poor to average deadlifters utilizing deficit pulls in hopes to enhance their already technically deficient pull a hundred times.
In these far too many to count cases, before they know it, their lumbar vertebrae are shot. The discs and pads that need to be healthy to deal with the substantial pounding that a big squat and big deadlift puts on them over the decades are already compromised, and their race is over before the starting gun has even been fired.
Over the decades in this sport, there is a vast powerlifting wasteland strewn with what once were promising deadlifters who missed their opportunity at greatness only to sacrifice it at the altar of bad lifting, poor movement choices, not heeding the technical, and over-embracing the intensity aspect of lifting. Intensity without the technical is just a Kawasaki Ninja H2R driven by a novice rider.
Observe the novice put that machine full throttle, take off like a rocket, and crash head-on into the first turnwall they encounter. There's too much tork and too little know-how. This is the scenario you get with a movement that has the body in a position where the back is at a vulnerable angle, but the grip and rip mentality is still the focus.
The idea of the deficit is to hit an angle below the actual angle of the competition deadlift and to make that portion of the back strong(er). The issue here is there is often no leverage at that angle. This is especially true for a taller deadlifter (tall deadlifters who are practically bent over with the traditional deadlift due to their height). Further, the technical aspect of the lift has been altered, the back is in a vulnerable position, and pretty much all lifters train this movement with far too much weight to achieve what they originally started doing this movement for in the first place.
Just because one can dumbbell press with 135-pound dumbbells for pec development doesn't mean they can train dumbbell flyes with 135-pound dumbbells for pec development. But, that is the template some deadlifters use with regard to the deficit. They use this method as a staple to their training and apply a heavy regular deadlift approach to this compromised angle movement.
There is a vast arsenal of movements to train this portion of the back without compromising the integrity of the deadlifter's back for those who lack the technical prowess requisite for this movement. I would submit that of them all, the deficit gives the least bang for the buck. I say that as unlike a rack pull or elevated deadlifts, which movements that are in the actual path the deadlift would pass through, there is no real-life direct application to this deficit range of motion.
In my experiences with some of the best deadlifters ever to pull on a meet platform, this movement is not a realistic option for most lifters who are not elite level and highly technically proficient. It is absolutely not a realistic movement for the taller lifter who is already stooped over with their regular deadlifts.
Have you ever seen those 500-pound deadlifters who lift the weight, lock it out, then slam the weight onto the platform to impress their 200 IG followers? We all have, as the landscape of the wannabe-instafamous is littered with them. To them, all you can say is, "Congratulations…you just blew off the entire eccentric part of the lift." It makes no sense to train like that, and neither does using this deficit method if you are not already a highly technical puller.
Using the deficit deadlift as a major component in our arsenal to train the back at a disadvantaged angle when other movements build the same area but without the stress, wear and toll on the lower-lumbar region is not the path to a great deadlift.
More often than not, Robert Frost is right on the money about, "the path less traveled makes all the difference." Still, that is not the case with the deficit deadlift and the non-polished deadlifter, as that path leads to a dead-end road. The difference is the deadlifter ultimately suffers as nothing on the powerlifter or strength athlete's body takes a beating each week as the back. As you know, the combination of heavy squats and deadlifts is the bedrock of the sport of powerlifting.
Unlike the squat and bench press, which due to the dynamics of those lifts produce kinetic energy during the initial down phase of the weights, the deadlift is void of kinetic energy. Posture and technique are even more important, and why the deadlifter's back must always be in the proper position when pulling.
My cautionary tale is this: over the decades, I have trained alongside a number of 700- and 800-pound deadlifters, and as a lifter, they have all experienced the same thing, for the minor positives they gained out of this movement, they ended up with far more negatives.
"There is more than one way to skin a cat," and more than one way to build a bigger and better deadlift. Do so by building that back in a way that does not put a disproportionate amount of torque on that vulnerable area.
Deadlift to Build the Deadlift
I reflect on my friendship and the coaching of Ernie Frantz often.
At 198 pounds, Ernie pulled a massive 777-pound deadlift using a 1980s era deadlift bar (no super-thin deadlift bars back then) when he was in his mid-40s. He would share with the Frantz Team in the 1990s that nothing builds a deadlift like simply deadlifting. That was sound powerlifting advice from a powerlifter's powerlifter and advice I share with those of you looking to pull three-and-a-half or four-and-a-half times bodyweight or 700-800 pounds, depending on your bodyweight.
Although technology and some powerlifting equipment has changed/advanced since I got that great training advice, what remains a constant is that plain old straight weight deadlifting for the sake of building the deadlift has, is, and will continue to be the brick and mortar that builds a huge deadlift.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep. Ever Onward.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
There is more to building the deadlift than variety, and there is also a point of diminishing returns to consider.
Somewhat recently, I had put pen to paper and had written about the iconic golden-era bodybuilder, Dave Draper, "The Blonde Bomber." Recently feels like a decade ago with the pandemic separating then from now, but in reality, it has been only a few years.
The first article, It Has Something To Do With The Struggle, was published on elitefts.com in September of 2018. The second article, The End Of An Era? was published on elitefts.com in December of 2019. Two different articles about one significant individual. An individual whose impact and influence on the sport of bodybuilding began back in 1962 when he became Mr. New Jersey. An impact and influence that continued through the end of the golden era, while collecting Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and Mr. World titles along the way. And an impact and influence that continued tangibly for nearly another five decades through to 2019 via his films, appearances, books, and Iron Online newsletter. Iron Online newsletter ran from 1999 through 2019 with an estimated 800 issues. As someone who writes for elitefts, I can tell you that 800 issues is a staggering amount of work, and that volume of writing is an embodiment of passion for all things weights and the gym.
If you are a true student of the iron lifestyle, someone that literally can't imagine a life without weights and you are somehow not familiar with Mr. Draper, I highly suggest reading both articles starting with It Has Something To Do With The Struggle as learning about Dave Draper is the first step toward learning from Dave Draper.
Many students of the sport learn from Dave Draper through his books. His books are a collection of stories, experiences, life adventures, lessons, and personal observations put to paper (and audiobooks) that anyone with a passion for muscle, might, strength, iron, and steel would find themselves enamored with. Although I have read the books, I also have his audiobooks as well, as listening to his thoughts as one drives to the gym gives you more pre-training focus than the hardest of rock or rap anthems you could ever blare through your vehicle's sound system.
In this so-called "modern" world of 15-second video clips, 280 characters, quippy sound-bites, sensationalized bullet points, and short attention spans, Mr. Draper, through his writing, remained active and relevant through his meaningful sound advice vs. meaningless sound bites. Writings that unfurled the nature of the "why" one might lift vs. the low-hanging fruit of "what" one should lift.
Food for thought steeped in the authenticity and gravitas of personal experiences presented clearly and concisely, never shrouded in verbosity to sell the longer-lasting lightbulb or the latest and greatest ultra-trendy super-widget you never knew you needed. Instead, Mr. Draper waxed philosophical about what was true then, what is true now, what was true yesterday, and what will be true tomorrow and always...and that there are No Secrets.
No secrets. You get out of it, what you put into it; albeit said in the wonderfully beautiful and poetic writing style that Dave Draper is known for and that brings deep-seated common sense and honesty to his message of self-improvement through the world of weights, muscle, and power.
On November 30, 2021, Mr. Draper passed away at the age of 79, as confirmed by his wife Laree Draper.
In a 21st century world where loud voices attract attention yet have nothing of worth to say, Mr. Draper's soft-spoken words were and are, to this day, deeply saturated with insight and steeped in meaning, value, and worth.
During this time in history where the day's so-called gurus are here today and gone later that same day, Mr. Draper leaves a legacy to the lifting world through his books, newsletters, Q&A's, and timeless teachings. Timeless and invaluable as teaching from experience for the pure sake of wanting to help others become better versions of themselves is the noblest of pursuits. A pursuit that most men, when they all inevitably take a "Glimpse In The Rear View," will never have come close to attaining.
I hope you enjoy It Has Something To Do With The Struggle and The End Of An Era? as they introduce or perhaps re-introduce you to one of the faces of the golden era's Mt. Rushmore, Dave Draper, "The Blonde Bomber."
In closing, I wish to convey my deepest sympathy and condolences to Laree and the family and friends of Mr. Dave Draper.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
The iconic golden-era bodybuilder, Dave Draper, passed away on November 30th. Read more about his life, legacy, and impact on bodybuilding.
Although apocryphal concerning its authenticity, we have all heard that saying about the first year of Harvard Law School. The saying is often ascribed to Harvard Dean, Christopher Columbus Langdell in the 1870s. The saying goes something like this with regard to incoming freshmen at Harvard Law School, "Look to your left, look to your right, because one of you won't be here by the end of the year."
This axiom has been applied to countless other pursuits of a rigorous nature. That said, it can also apply to many aspects of life through a societal lens.
With regard to the great sport of powerlifting, this saying (look to the left, look to the right) can also apply, but not for the sake of seeing something through. Although universally founded in the 1950s, powerlifting has its mighty roots of strength and power that can be traced back to ancient Greece. So the essence of strength and power and the organization of this harvested muscle into a competition or sport is anything but new.
Pick it up, put it down, repeat, and over time the weight of the implement and amount of times it can be hoisted should increase. The goal is to test one's mettle against another, be the one hoisting the most weight. Although there are many methods toward that end, this is the essence of powerlifting.
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The sport is what it is, and as long as there are those wanting to compare their strength and power to another, it will always continue to be what it is. What is wrong with powerlifting? Nothing. Absolutely nothing is wrong with the sport in and of itself. Powerlifting is what it is. It will be what it will be, and that is simply that.
Now, let's reflect back to Dean Langdell's statement, "Look to the left and look to the right….". When you do that you see other humans at each side and within their humanity come all the flaws. Flaws that come with all humans like their mistakes, missteps, misinterpretations, miscalculations, lapses in judgment, lack of experiences, lack of understanding, pettiness, petulance, and the list goes on and on.
So to know what is wrong with powerlifting, merely look to your left and look to your right and one of these three people is a part of the answer. I submit to you that the sport itself, its equipment, its rules, etc., are just fine. That said, what someone to your left or your right does with regard to things such as equipment, rules, etc., constitutes what is wrong with powerlifting. Stated another way, the collective "we," the collective humanity around this great sport is what is, has been and will always be what is wrong with this great sport of powerlifting.
The rules are the rules, but when judges, for instance, allow for uneven lockouts, high squats, hitched deadlifts, or inconsistent judging, those mistakes should not be a reflection of anything wrong with the sport, but more so an accurate reflection of the fallible nature of humankind.
The sport of powerlifting does not post on social media, the sport of powerlifting does not point out the shortcomings of others, the sport of powerlifting does not make negative comments for the sake of likes and affirmation due to its low self-esteem, the sport of powerlifting does not shave squats high and award undeserved white lights at its competitions. The sport of powerlifting is a perfect, unflawed, and massive slab of granite, and any and all flaws to it is caused by the humans carving and chipping away at it. What is wrong with powerlifting is what you see when you look either to your right or to your left.
Do you want to improve the sport of powerlifting? You can't. It has no flaws.
Do you want to improve how the sport of powerlifting is run? Start by improving yourself as you too are either to the left or the right of someone else.
In closing, I leave you with this maxim,
"If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him." —Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Wishing you the very best in your training and powerlifting journey. Ever Onward.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
Absolutely nothing. That may not be the best question to ask if we’re looking to improve this wonderful sport.
Enhancing your training through detoxification….
Detoxification sounds like some amazing antioxidant elixir that eviscerates free radicals on sight. Some supermolecular concoction to get your body back into a state of homeostasis, or a newly discovered TOP-SECRET Russian compound that, when ingested, results in a body detox and subsequent enhanced training. Or, perhaps a lab-produced superfood that cleans out the gunk and allows your body's engine of power, strength, and muscle to roar back to life.
Although powerful antioxidants and superfoods enhance training, the detox I am referring to might be akin to the technological-free radical that led you to this article in the first place.
Here is the back story. A little over a year and a half ago, my wife and I found ourselves active participants at a peace rally. A gathering of those, who like us, found ourselves compelled to attend by yet another death of one human by the hand of another human. The timing of this event coincided with the COVID-19 outbreak, as it was approximately two months after the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
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During the months leading up to the peace rally and subsequent months following, the atmosphere on social media was then, is today, and most likely will forever remain critically toxic. I found myself dreading to go online to post about my gym's lifters' accomplishments, an upcoming event, or pretty much anything, as posting information required some exposure to the pervasive and mounting tensions and conflict between people residing in differing philosophical, political, societal, and ideological camps.
Even the quickest jump online required for a brief post or to check on family or friends meant encountering the world of keyboard warriors and those online personas who only seem to point their phone's scrolling finger and shake their social media fist at others with differing views.
Those personality types close their ears to alternative views and rebuke any benefits of listening. And amongst those obstinate personality types is even a darker category of those characters who wish to cast aspersions and ostracize rather than seek a deeper understanding of another's viewpoint. You absolutely know the type as you have run into it yourself over and again. Those who think that speaking in harsh tones, four-letter words, insults, or ALL CAPS will somehow change another's mind or better illustrate a point of view.
I would imagine you have read your share of back and forth and thrust and parry between parties on social media but something I would submit you have never read is this; one person proclaiming tersely worded points in a sharp and curt manner at the intended receiving party during an online war of words and the receiving party responding to those jagged words with the response, "Wow, what a great point you made. I never actually thought about it that way. Thank you for taking the time to enlighten me. This opens my mind up to so many new horizons."
Speaking for myself alone, the aforementioned peace rally was a turning point for me. It was powerful, moving, and compelling. The fact that there had to be a peace rally in the first place filled me with sorrow, that to this day is difficult to articulate in mere words on a page. Difficult as truly articulating those emotions through the keyboard would take far more skill at writing than I possess.
After returning home and silently reflecting on not only that day but this crescendo of societal discord, I made many life decisions. Some decisions were philosophical, some were moral, some metaphysical, and some tangible. Among those many life decisions far more important in the big picture, I also made some small and more individual decisions. One of those small decisions was hopping off that toxic merry-go-round that is social media.
Between the ever-increasing racial hate, the ever-increasing and toxic nature and finger pointing between political parties, and the ever-increasing media interpretation one inevitably runs into online from those who are just plain Debbie-downers, I concluded that I have no room in my life for those avoidable negative forces. Nor do I wish to actively bring those avoidable negative forces into my life via my computer or phone's screen.
This tiny individual decision was also based upon the fact that my life is primarily one of optimism and positivity. My life as an educator and assistant principal for nearly three decades and simultaneously as a gym owner going on 15 years has been and continues to focus on helping others become the best versions of themselves. Within this life, in my individual view, there is just no room for the negativity and pessimism of others.
The reality is that there are already unwanted negatives and pessimists we all encounter in our jobs or professions, most unavoidable. Thus, not snuffing out the negatives we can absolutely control from entering our lives in the first place, for me, simply does not make sense.
So my decision was to shut down and board up the proverbial social media door. But not simply shut down and board it up, but in its place, create and then open another type of door, a door leading to things more akin to my nature. Things that require some time, time then being occupied by this sinking ship called social media. So, as some sort of social media swan song, I shared my thoughts about the rally, closed out and deleted that app, and washed the toxic social media dirt from my hands and fingers. In essence, closing out a one-way dark avenue that on first blush appeared to be a way to connect with family and long-lost friends and training partners from the past.
For me, and I can only speak for myself, the cost to benefit ratio of what you get out of being socially connected and being privy to others often disappointing inner thoughts was too high of a price for the few rare moments of getting to wish someone a happy birthday, to celebrate a lifter's success or console a friend who had encountered some hardship or was faced with difficult times.
What this did not mean was washing one's hands of current events or ignoring those in society who are wronged or facing other life impediments. I say that as my wife and I continue ever onward with supporting the causes we believe in, and that will never change as I firmly believe those who are blessed and favored enough to have success, power, health, strength, and size need to use those attributes to help those who lack such or who have been denied the freedoms to build those attributes on their own. There is a saying by George Washington Carver:
“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.”
I have tried all along and continue to this day to try and live my life this way as much as possible, as Mr. Carver's saying was one of the aspects of my business plan for my gym when I opened it some 15 years ago. A mantra for the gym as helping others become physically strong and powerful could, for those who have conviction, help them use their newfound confidence to bring others up. This was something that Ernie Frantz and I would discuss often. It was how Ernie lived his entire life and something I to this day I continue to aspire to achieve. Indeed, the axiom, "a rising tide lifts all boats," has a deep and meaningful truth.
Strange, wonderful, and unexpected things began to occur when I closed this proverbial door to this toxic aspect of my time online. One was a new realization of time itself. I was shocked at the actual amount of time I had spent being exposed to others' toxicity while thumbing for something, anything inspirational. Shocked may be an understatement as stunned is more an appropriate description. I couldn't help but think how much time was wasted which could have been invested on a phone call to a friend, a nap with our pugs, or more time under the bar.
Stunning as one begins on social media to connect with friends and family and share aspects of all things weights and training. And online with those looking for a place to train and as a teaching tool to help others with aspects of this great sport of powerlifting that you have learned along the way over your many decades in the sport. Aspects of all things weights, strength, and power that you have learned through your own years under the bar, and those you learned from great lifters and from mentor figures in your life.
But that squandering of time, that fault lies squarely on my shoulders and my shoulders alone. One naively starts off wanting to connect with family, friends and do a little educating along the way and then you get friend requests from folks, in my case, mostly lifters you personally know. But then also lifters you have never met, but somehow they know of you and thus ask to be connected with you on this communication platform. You don't know them personally, but think that is just another lifter to share information with, almost like you do in education when there are forums that fellow educators join to problem solve and learn best practices when it comes to all things pedagogy.
As an assistant principal in my life outside of the gym, I am involved in a good deal for educational forums used to share information, so naively, it seemed somewhat like that. So right away, by inviting in others you might not be like-minded with, you have strayed from your vision of connecting with those you know and sharing educational information. With that, a door has opened to your online house, and with that door open, your own set of morals and standards are now exposed to negatives that you would never actually sit and listen to in person.
It is a strange brew that gets cooked up in the boiling cast-iron cultrand that is social media. As there are in the tangible world, there exist people who seem to seek out the negatives in all situations and verbosely point out the imperfections and annoyances with all things, further, they do so ad nauseum. If these personality types were co-workers in an office they would simply be ignored but for the most part, they would never express so freely their views of others as they would quickly be shown the door as creating a toxic work environment is not something good for the bottom line of any business. Yet, from behind the keyboard, toxic words flow and the "Ring of Gyges" comes to life.
For those not familiar with the "Ring of Gyges," I find it perfectly suits those who pollute and contaminate the waters of social media for others. In the simplest of layman's terms, the "Ring of Gyges" is discussed in Plato's book, The Republic. The Reader's Digest version is that humankind has no intrinsic reason to be just or good, other than to avoid the consequences of actions that are in fact, unjust and not good. The story of the "Ring of Gyges" comes about as a result of a debate between two philosophers; one stating that man is largely selfish, with the other holding a contrary view that man is more intrinsically good.
The story tells the tale of a shepherd in the service of a King. A long story short (it is actually a great story and I highly recommend it to those interested) the shepherd finds a ring. When he wears the ring and twists the ring on his finger he can become invisible. To the argument of the philosopher, that man/womankind is in its essence selfish and nefarious, the question is, does the shepherd use his invisibility for good? The answer to that question is in this case, no. On the contrary, the shepherd, now with the cloak of invisibility committed Macivalian acts and ultimately plots to kill the king he works for and plots to take over the kingdom.
The point being, that possessing the ability to be unseen can bring the true essence out of an individual. Stated another way, "The Ring of Gyges" did not make that shepherd turn evil, but rather the ring merely exposed who he always was on the inside.
Social media and the pseudo-invisibility that it provides, in a sense, is a modern-day version of the "Ring of Gyges." People are somewhat invisible when they cast aspersions as they are not expressing their terse words to a person directly and in front of others, but from a somewhat hidden, quasi-invisible locality behind the computer and only to those they choose to let into their online lair, who in-turn affirm them also from a somewhat hidden vantage point.
That microchip bravery gives the illusion that what one says or argues somehow matters to their select audience. The irony that you already know so well is that political arguments and conspiratory posts that are a constant on social media platforms convince nobody except for those who already share the same beliefs.
For years, well for decades, while I was training at gyms like Frantz Gym, Heavy Metal Gym, Drew's Gym, Robinson's Gym, Lantz Gym, and some other places from the late 1970s through the early 2000s, there was just you and the weights and your lifting partners. That time in the gym was never compromised as there was nothing to compromise it. It just was what it was, a place to become the best version of yourself through the world of dumbbells, barbells, squat racks, weights, bench presses, etc. These aforementioned gyms are now all gone except for images trapped in the amber of my and my lifting partner's memories. These were gyms where you lifted for yourself, and the conversations about lifting took place after training with both parties sipping their protein shake and talking sets and reps.
During those times at these gyms mentioned above, pre-Zuckerberg, I honestly could not tell you how any of my training partners voted or what political ideations any of my training partners had. Less is more, pick the weight up, put the weight down, then repeat with progressively heavier weights.
Knowledge of my training partners' political or other views outside of the world of weights was not something I was, nor am I now, interested in. I was and am still interested in training with someone like-minded about all things training, weights, and competition.
What I found, and this is merely my own experience, is becoming social media "friends" with someone who trains does not spawn great conversations about lifting, technique, or programs, but instead becomes online traffic and social media noise. In reality, talk of all things weights remains the best when done in person at the gym or eating after training with a fork in one hand, a knife in the other and a plate of steak and eggs occupying the space directly in front of you.
Gym time is the most sacred and precious time where you and your training partners can work toward a state of symbiosis and achieve together what you could not in isolation. That special time when you and your training partner work together should never be allowed to be cheapened with such trivial talk during a time set aside to be a little selfish and strive mightily toward bringing one's lifting vision and mission to fruition.
I often say, leave the talk of politics and such for the barbershop and honor your precious and fleeting gym time with silence during training. Talk about training after the fact as you break bread together with your lifting partner or sit outside on the stoop of the gym, sipping your protein shake and planning the next deadlift session.
Although I spend a tremendous amount of time at work in my professional life, at home in my family life, and a good chunk of time in the gym outside of work and family, I found myself with a bit of a surplus of time that had slowly and discreetly eroded with the posting, the scrolling, etc. I was able to reinvest that time into my lifting life, home life, and work life. Time that would've been spent wading through the online negatives as one scrolls to find that positive nugget from a friend or co-worker. That time became incredibly valuable, as if I had found something that I had overlooked that I had even lost in the first place.
I found myself not scrolling or texting on the phone but talking on the phone. Speaking more to Ernie Frantz and using that time, among many other projects to write about Ernie for a project Dave Kirschen had graciously invited me to be a part of. Part of the result of this now re-found time was a 70+ page chapter in Dave's amazing ebook, and now hardcover book titled Gear, The Ultimate Guide To Equipped Powerlifting.
With this sacred and detoxified time, I got to share the chapter to the book I wrote with Ernie before he passed away. Imagine if I had missed that opportunity or if I had squandered that time away little by little just scrolling and posting. Not some huge all at once waste of time, but rather that hardly noticeable leaking away of time. A leaking of time like some old rusted pipe under a basement sink that slowly and silently begins to rot away the wooden floor underneath. It is the slow but ever so relentlessly dripping of that rusted, leaky pipe that causes the damage; the rotting you are completely oblivious to.
This newfound time created a new training program as I continue to evolve in my lifting journey—a training program that was complemented by a nutritional and supplemental guide that I now had time to research, study, and create, modify, and improve. I made time to meet with and learn from a sports nutritionist who has forgotten more about nutritions' role with strength, power, and muscle than I will probably ever know. I had time to work with new-to-the-sport lifters and not just coach, but now actually train with my good friend Jerry.
Time to train with Jerry then break bread with him as we talked over our post-lift meals and protein shakes as I did for the vast duration of my time powerlifting and training with weights. Time that was not just well spent but invested, as nothing is guaranteed. Nothing as on July 7th of this year, my dear friend and my wonderful training partner Jerry Lezon passed away after his years-long valiant, fearless, and courageous battle with cancer.
Spending time in the false world of socialookatmedia where the constant drips of wasted time would have taken authentic time from the real world and the here and now with Big Jerry. I am so grateful for that time with him, as we loved talking about all things lifting and life. (Take a minute and read The Strongest Man In The Gym about Jerry Lezon, as it will be an investment of your time.)
Outside of the gym, a chunk of this once lost but now re-found time serves as an investment in training. An investment in training, meticulously logging workouts, and tracking their path along the training sigmoid curve. An investment of time that is unplugged time to truly relax, recover, and rejuvenate for the next training session, which only enhances all the things that happen in the gym.
There is something powerful and cleansing about reading the morning paper and developing your thoughts and views. One's thoughts on what you read vs. reading one-sided rants, opinions, and conspiracy theories from others about something from the news that they regurgitate about on socialookatmedia. The silence I can tell you is golden and detoxifying, and serves to build my energy and restore positivity, all of which greatly serves me in the gym.
Without that toxic, unhappy, and negative cloud of 'only my opinion is right,' the world is a quieter, more introspective world where you can truly hone in on your vision and carry out your training mission. A world where what and who matters to you are those you physically interact with regularly rather than read about passively amongst the negativity that is all too often strewn about. The silence is restorative and the lack of toxicity held in your hand and flipped through by your very own fingers creates clarity. A clarity as one's time online is time in the shallow end of society's pool. At the end of that day, life online is more about reactions instead of responsibility, with little if anything pointing toward self-improvement, lifting one's fellow man/woman, and becoming a better version of that self each day in the gym.
Those of us with more of our life spent under the bar than not, have the ability to reflect through the passage of time at a gym life before the advent of socialookatmedia. It is very difficult to explain to those who have only trained during a world with social media. It is not their fault that this aspect of life is disproportionately large compared to those who have lived lives without this platform.
Think about that for a moment. Those who began lifting after social media truly became the cerberus it is today have never lived that quiet life where the world's information stopped after the evening news and didn't begin again until the morning's newspaper. And a world where there was not exposure to what we have all been witness to, and that is an ever-growing cascade of negativity that can permeate one's life and ultimately impact their time in our Fortress of Solitude, the weight room.
With several decades in the gym without social media, and now some time with it, I can compare one world against the other. The difference is stark, and with that ability to compare the two, is very easy to see how this one mode of quasi-connectivity to others permeates one's life in and out of the gym.
In the US, the average person spends five hours per day on social media. For many, to reach that astronomical number mean s the phone comes out during the workout. We all see this. Do a set, scroll on the phone, do a set, text on the phone, do a set, take a video of a set, do a set, post the prior set with an explanation of how the weight could have been better if it weren't for factor X, Y, Z.
Not only do the sets take up far less time than the scrolling on the screen, but the focus on each set is diminished. It's diminished to the point whereas a gym owner, you can clearly and distinctly see two diverging cultures or micro-societies of lifters. There's a micro-society of those who tuck their device in their gym bag and train. And there's a micro-society of those who pull out their phone between literally each and every single set—whose workout is a mere collection of half-hearted and viscerally vacant movements. The time they spend in the gym gets longer and longer, and the work output becomes shorter and shorter.
I have seen this at the gym for years now. The one group, group A, is focused, sweating, panting and driving fiercely through their training whereas the other group, group B, is arguably not only not training, but losing ground. Losing ground, as without the mind in the muscle, to use Vince Gironda speak, a training session becomes at best a workout and at worst a nuisance. A nuisance, as now other lifters from group A, are waiting for the scrolling person in group B to get off a piece of equipment that they used for their set some eight or nine minutes ago, as the bench press has become a place to sit and scroll, and a bench board has become a camera tripod.
To be clear, those in group B who are training in a rut are not totally at fault. At initially no fault of their own, they have lifted only in a world of social media. They can't see what those in group A see, as they sit disconnected between sets, head down, and without a glisten of sweat on their brow. At some point, though, it does become their doing. At some point in time, everyone needs to be Neo and wake up from the Matrix. Said another way, take the red pill...
I am trying to imagine the docudrama Pumping Iron, but filmed in modern times. I just can't see it. I can't see Arnold doing a set of squats with Ed Corney, and while one of them trains, the other scrolls through their social media feed or texts Franco Columbo. Or they both sit and text in between sets, never connecting with the weights nor their collective vision of the contest-ready physique they strive for every training session.
The reality is, even when one is training and the training partner is simply gasping for breath, the training partner is sending energy to the other and they are engaged in each other's training even when at rest. Now, this is where someone says, "Yeah, but I just use the phone when I rest in-between sets." And that is where those with years of training before social media, based on years and decades being connected to the session reply, "Then you have never been truly connected to the training. Once you break the flow of training with the blue screen of the device, that connection is absolutely and unequivocally lost."
This loss of flow due to the screen is irrefutable, and research details this proven fact. This loss of being in the now, is also the phenomenon we see with people not moving forward with the green light as it changes from red. They are trapped at the moment on the phone. Just like those who text, just for a moment while driving, but get caught in that moment (there is no true multitasking as the brain is not wired that way), they smash into the car in front of them.
All this disconnectivity research also shows this happens at the gym too. So couple the absolute overabundance of negativity strewn throughout the bombed-out mine-field that is social media with the loss of attention while training. Add to it the other four hours online that could be spent on the other pillars of one's life (family, friends, spirituality, work) that help balance, feed and work symbiotically with training, and you have the perfect recipe to neuter your training.
I can't see Arnold doing a swet of squats with Ed Corney, and while one of them trains, the other scrolls through their social media feed or texts Franco Columbo.
Bottom line: Connectivity one has online pales in comparison to the connectivity you have in the gym with your training partners and those who are training around you. It is the difference between a real classroom where a teacher works with each student by their side and a Zoom classroom where things are not connected.
The longer one trains, the more they understand that everything from your life outside of the gym ties into your life in the gym. Every aspect of our lives ties together with every other aspect of our lives. Just like all of your body systems (cardiovascular, muscular, digestive, nervous, etc) are all intertwined, if one of those is in imbalance, everything is thrown off balance, which means symbiosis is diminished. Training is a holistic venture and not merely about protein, barbells, sets, and reps. It is also about the negative things outside of the gym that can penetrate the inner sanctum of your time training in the gym.
There is something palpable, something emotionally tangible, and something beautiful about the collective connectivity of people in a gym striving for the same goals. But there is also something powerful and restorative and rejuvenating and cleansing to shut down connections and unplug from it all. Unplug as we recover, prepare meals, tweak and assess our training program, and invest in the time to electronically detox so we can grow stronger, bigger, healthier, and more powerful. We can best continue on this amazing journey that is all things strength, muscle, and power.
As a lifter of weights and lover of all things strength, muscle, size, and power, I enjoy a life with a huge part of it steeped in many aspects of the weight room. With the passing of my friend, mentor, and coach, Ernie Frantz and now the passing of my friend and training partner Jerry Lezon, aspects of the gym that I have always believed in and that are such a huge part of my life have become perspicacious.
With their passing, I am sharing with you that this world of weights and training that is such a part of your life can be even more amazing. If the gym and the moving of weights truly mean a great deal to you, and if you have taken the time to read this far, consider tossing away your blue pill and taking the red pill instead. Those of you who already have, understand what I mean.
Wishing you the very best in your training goals, competitive goals, and life goals. Ever Onward!
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
I can’t see Arnold doing a set of squats with Ed Corney, as Ed scrolls through his social media or texts Franco Columbo. Can you?
There is a large group of people, about 35 million to be exact, known as the Yoruba. Yoruba are an ethnic group from western Africa, specifically from Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. The history of the Yoruba is ancient history (pre 7th century BC), and their culture is one of introspective depth, steeped in meaningful and thoughtful philosophical beliefs.
The Yoruba Proverb
The Yoruba proverb, "Where You Sit When You Are Old Shows Where You Stood In Youth," refers to is the decisions that one makes in their youth have a direct and binding impact on one’s own future. For example, good, sound, well-thought-out decisions can have a future impact that yields spectacular rewards. Contrarily, poor, unsound, and not well-thought-out, or worse, short-sighted or reckless decisions, can have tragic effects on one’s future self.
As powerlifters, bodybuilders, strongmen/women, as individuals who pursue strength, power, muscle, and size, this proverb absolutely applies to the vast majority of endeavors in our own future. Our future that exists for all after youth fades and when one inevitably grows older depends on our own personal agency, conscience, and direct actions in our lifting youth.
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One's decisions and choices in youth can lead them toward, or away, from where they want to sit when they are older. Said another way, one’s physical body of work and the potential for sustained accomplishments when older rests squarely on the shoulders of our own selves in our youth, not on someone else's, not on some coach’s, not some training partner’s, not on any other human’s shoulders, but squarely and firmly on our own.
Young Lifters
In a sense, as young lifters, we are our own future, brother’s keeper. There are very few things that are certain, very few that are givens, but time passing is one of life’s certainties. Knowing this, we can use this Yoruba proverb to our advantage for our here and now selves, as well as future selves. That said, one can also ignore these certainties, and instead of suffering the worthy path of the pain of discipline, they choose, by default, a far worse pain, the pain of regret.
The trick bag to this mindset laid out by the Yoruba is that the decisions of where one sits as a master lifter lay in the hands of their younger selves. Their younger selves are still very inexperienced, still very naive, seemingly bulletproof, seemly invincible, and impervious to injury or mishap. When one’s younger-selves inexperienced aspirations to achieve are purposely sped up, purposely accelerated by throwing caution to the wind, one’s older-selves in the future will suffer by their own hands. The hands of the inexperienced younger-selves incorrect perceptions that injury or mishaps only happen to other lifters.
What the Yoruba proverb means (when applied to strength, power, muscle, and size) is simply this: how one trains, what one eats, how one treats or how one mistreats their body in youth, how one plans or how one did not plan one’s training in their youth, either leaves their older-selves with options or painted into a corner.
The Future of Young Lifters
Although the statement, “Youth is wasted on the young,” has merit in many instances, what this proverb does is take that universal truth a step further. Further, as this proverb is not merely a statement or warning, it is of equal importance, a gift—a gift of possibilities more so than merely warning of a fait accompli. A gift from the Yoruba to heed, as knowing and living this means avoiding pitfalls.
A gift to heed toward a future of becoming an even better, bigger, more powerful, and strong(er) version of oneself. A future that, when juxtaposed against the hastier version a future self, one of rushed and reckless shortcuts, rises above, as slow and steady and smart training always prevails over the short-sighted exuberance of one’s youthful self. It prevails as that youthful self operates devoid of experience, sophistication, and hindsight of one’s future, experienced and educated self. Intensity is an attribute for sure, but it is not a strategy, as a strategy must be sustainable. A strategy, a plan, a sustainable vision incorporating appropriately applied intensity is one’s master key to unlocking many more doors of future opportunities.
What this proverb does not mean is hold back, what this proverb does not mean is keep too much in the tank, what this proverb does not mean is never push to the brink just shy of the red line, what this proverb does not mean is never explore calculated and well thought out risks. Those who misunderstand that as their message are missing the nuance of life and a life of training. That some aspects of life, as well as one’s life in the gym, require a volume knob and not a toggle switch. Strength, power, and muscle are not an all or none proposition. The sooner that is understood, the sooner one will begin to understand the layers of lifting strata. The true lifting strata collectively adds up to help best complete the future of our strongest, biggest, and most powerful selves.
Although often viewed this way by newer lifters and our younger selves, the world of weights, when it comes to training, is not a world of black and white or on and off. Rather, the world of weights is one of subtle shades of grey that ebb and flow, that crescendo and decrescendo as one’s training is constantly in a state of evolution, evaluation, adaptation, modification, transformation, progress, and development.
A Lifter's Journey
A lifter’s journey is constantly evolving as lifters of weight are not simple machines on an assembly line. Instead, they're individuals who have a complexity to them that requires their lifting engine to operate at various speeds and various RPMs over the course of not only their current training cycle but over the course of their lifting and competitive careers. One’s older self understands that there are many, many gears available for advancement in strength, power, and muscle that exist between drive and park.
When applied to training, the Yoruba offers this: That one’s younger self literally sets the stage for their older self and thus must develop and then utilize the mental capacity to ponder deeply into their own unknown future. To peer into that possible future and realize that a lifetime of smart, wise, intense, consistent, intentional, and disciplined training does not merely meet their short-term goals but also meets long-term and perhaps even the loftiest of aspirational lifting and competing goals. That in one’s youth, going about one’s training based on a strong foundation of lifting education and not simply guessing or not simply taking wreckless stabs at training, means that you as a lifter of weights and steel and iron can continue unfettered by (serious) injury toward lifelong and career goals.
Lifelong and career lifting or competing goals are achieved by consistency, intensity, drive, work ethic, sound technique, effective methodology, utilitarian nutrition, sleep, and hydration of one’s younger self.
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Yoruba proverb is akin to the story of the tortoise and the hare. The young kid puts a little bit of money into an empty jar, then a meager 401K when he starts his first job. As his salary grows, he puts the same or an increased percent in that 401K, which grows over time. In fact, it does not just grow, but with compound interest, the growth is just that, compounded. That young kid still enjoys his life. He goes out on the weekend with his friends, but they hang out together and do things that come with no financial cost. They meet at the gym (the best bang for the buck ever) and train. They sit around on weekends playing some video games at a buddy's house. They take a drive to the beach and spend an evening talking and sharing food they all contributed.
This slow and steady investment where that person stood in their youth now allows for their future self to sit in a chair of comfort and luxury. A chair where there is a sundry of options in life vs. the continued hustle and work—no early retirement of their peers who in their youth, stood by living for today and not investing for their tomorrow. Where they stood in their youth dictated where they now sit in their old age.
Over some three decades in this great sport of powerlifting and four decades with regard to all things weights, is lifting landscape strewn with the lifting careers of those who fell prey to cheap marketing slogans like “No pain, no gain.” Strewn with those potentially great lifters who cut their competitive days short by years or decades by speeding down the road of hype instead of driving the more difficult path of slow and steady, of consistency, of learning and knowing and sticking to the basics. The more difficult but unerring paths followed by career powerlifters like the great Ed Coan, who put up monstrous numbers for literally decades, or like bodybuilders like Robby Robinson, who now in his 70s has a physique that any 20-year-old aspiring bodybuilders strive for.
Powerlifting Greats
To that end, many strongmen are still competitive at the highest level, like Mark Felix, who is 55 years old. Mark has qualified for the World’s Strongest Man contest in 2021 at 55 years of age. What's more impressive is that he also has qualified for this most prestigious event in this incredibly competitive and injury-laden sport every single year from 2007 to 2021. So Mark Felix has not just worked his way up the strongman ladder but has reached the WSM qualifier level and has sustained that level for nearly a decade and a half. The Ed Coan's, Robby Robinson’s, Mark Felix’s, and Dexter Jackson’s all sit today in greatness due to where they stood in their youth.
Vince Gironda famously stated, “Don't hit yourself on the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop." The Yoruba provide food for thought of passing on the whims of “No Pain, No Gain,” and rather living the journey of being ALL in—into nutrition, technique, hydration, recuperative sleep, adequate supplementation, tried and true programs, and training templates.
For us lifters, the easy part is going full blast in the gym with the loaded bar on one’s back. All lifters love that part of training. The hard part is the disciplined aspect of power and strength and size, and that is not just becoming as strong and powerful as one can be, but becoming as strong and powerful as one can be for a duration. Ed Coan competed in the 165, 181, 198, 220, 242, and 275-pound weight classes. He built himself into each class and would routinely out total his nearest competitor by 300-500 pounds.
Ed embodies the Yoruba proverb as his first of six IPF World titles beginning in 1984. His first USPF National win was in 1988, and his last USPF meet was in 2007. Think about it, just shy of two decades later, he squatted 931 pounds (walked it out, benched 518pounds, and pulled 810 pounds. Where Ed Coan stood in his youth is where Ed Coan, now the greatest of all times, sits as a master-aged lifter.
Wishing you the best in your training, meet prep, and lifting journey. Ever Onward.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of the Monster Garage Gym. Cofounded by Phil Daniels, NFL Defensive End, Monster Garage Gym is a premier powerlifting gym in the United States. Eric is the leader of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team, a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and a multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
What does Ed Coan, Robby Robinson, Mark Felix, and Dexter Jackson all have in common? You’ll find the answer in a Yoruba proverb.
Allow me if you will, to paint you a picture with words. Specifically, as you are lifters, a picture with words describing an evening meal.
This meal is comprised of a savory and grilled to perfection filet mignon. The filet is cooked to your liking, be that rare, medium rare, medium, whatever suits your taste. Surrounding the filet is the perfect strip of bacon and topped with a savory garlic herb butter, creamy parmesan, or if you prefer, nothing.
Sitting on the dinner plate next to this exquisite cut of meat is a steaming hot baked potato with your choice of butter, brown sugar, or sour cream melting into the opening of the potato skin lying in perfect accompaniment to the filet. Sharing the plate are glazed and glistening long cut green beans with Harissa. You have a warm loaf of Italian bread on a separate plate and a pad of melting butter at the ready or to add as needed to your baked potato.
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On a plate next to this trifecta of foods, and replacing the now-empty bowl of your favorite dinner soup, you enjoyed a perfectly prepared salad topped with your favorite dressing and a few well-placed and decorative croutons. For dessert, Tiramisu and a cup of coffee prepared to your liking.
Elena Veselova © 123rf.com
Can you see it? Can you practically smell it as you imagine the fork in one hand and the razor-sharpened steak knife cutting into this juicy filet mignon with the other?
So in your mind's eye, picture this amazing meal. A perfect lifter's day before a meet meal with protein, veggies, carbs, and fats all prepared for you to feast on.
Now, for a moment, let’s hit the pause button with that steak dinner and put that on the warmer as we digress for a moment.
In my life outside of the gym as a lifter and gym owner of Monster Garage Gym, my professional life and means to my financial ends is my career serving students as a high school assistant principal. I am highly blessed and favored to get to work with, educate and help form young people’s minds through my life experiences, training as an educator, and my nearly 30 years in this career field. In my other life, as an aforementioned gym owner and powerlifter with some 30 years of powerlifting experience under my lifting belt, I am also highly blessed and favored to work with young powerlifters or older lifters who are new to the sport. New meaning sometimes with mere months or those first few basic years of powerlifting experience. Said another way, my life has and continues to be about helping others, and the longer one gets in the tooth, the more one learns, and the more one can help others.
As either group, high school students or newbies to powerlifting begin the learning process, questions arise. For that part of my life as a gym owner and powerlifter, a question that often arises as new lifters are in the midst of learning technique and the fundamentals of this great sport is, “How often should I use accommodating resistance? Every day, every other day, four times per week?”
The answer to that question goes back to our steak dinner. This perfect filet dinner is the new-to-powerlifting powerlifter’s metaphorical template. Their steak dinner represents their squats, deadlifts, or bench pressing. It represents their rudimental essentials, basic technique, consistency, focus, and work ethic. It is well-balanced and also represents their fundamental sets and reps and basic linear periodization. The steak, baked potato, veggies, bread, salad, dessert, and coffee represented in this perfect powerlifting dinner also metaphorically represent their barbells and weights.
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So what about those few well-placed and decorative croutons and salad dressing? What part of powerlifting do they play for the new lifter? The answer to that question for the brand new lifter is that they are the bands and chains. Said another way, they represent accommodating resistance, no more and no less. Bands and chains at this novice level are arguably the mere crunchy topping to the roughage portion of the meal for a brand new lifter. The fact of the matter is, they don’t really contribute to the meal as their role is not of importance, yet. Yet, as a lifter who is still in their infancy with regard to the world of powerlifting needs to stick to the basics, the steak, potato, and veggies—the technique, the form, squats out of a rack, bench press, and deadlift.
The staples, the foundation, the fundamental tools in the toolbox (the hammer, saw, screwdriver, and mastery of these) will eventually lend themselves to the utilization of more ancillary carpentry tools, be it an air compressor.
Can the new lifter partake in some croutons? Sure, absolutely, and 100 percent no harm there. That said, the tendency is for the newer lifter to emphasize, in this analogy, the croutons over the steak, potato, and veggies.
One typically sees young lifters, new to the sport lifters, making their whole meal out of croutons. They use bands and chains when they squat, they use bands and chains when they bench, and they use bands and chains when they deadlift—too many croutons, not enough beef.
To use another analogy, it would be like someone brand new to the art form of painting. A brand new aspiring artist who has never painted as much as a paint stroke going out and purchasing the most elaborate and decorative and sophisticated brushes, paints, easel, canvas, and frame for a painting they have no idea how to paint, and with these tools they have no idea how to use and without understanding the basics of painting and how to mix the paints. They are still learning the difference between the brush types, the differences between oil and acrylic. All the nuance and basics are overshadowed by the focus and fixation on the tools they see the successful artists use who have already mastered the art of painting.
For the new powerlifter, it is important to keep in mind that methods that use a great deal of accommodating resistance are designed for the powerlifter who has already totaled elite. Understandably, the new-to-the-sport lifter wants to do what they see the elite lifters do, but doing what those elite lifters do is missing the mark. Focusing instead on what they did to become elite, well, that is the better recipe for success.
I recall the first time I read Louis Simmons' book on the Westside method. It's an interesting book as he writes just like he talks and required, for me anyway, to read the book then re-read several additional times to decipher his information. One thing that he made quite clear in his book, however, was that accommodating resistance for his lifters is critical but that each of his lifters are elite and once elite, utilizing accommodating resistance is a way to avoid falling victim to the trap of the diminishing sigmoid curve in training. A way for the elite totaling powerlifter to avoid stagnation, a plateau, burning out. He spends a great deal of time breaking the method down into smaller chunks involving percentages and the reasons behind the methodology. So to those new to the sport, they see some of the best using bands, they see them using chains, but without context of what got elite lifters to the elite level in the first place, the new-to-the-sport lifters build an entire training program based on this one aspect of his methods.
It would be like a lifter passing on the complete meal described above in lieu of nothing but protein shakes. The shake is the supplement to the meal, and for the newer lifter, the meal is the foundational aspect of a training program. Thus the bands and chains are at most a protein shake at the end of a six full meal day.
Now, more than ever before in the history of powerlifting is the sheer tonnage of information for the new lifter readily available. That said, now more than ever before in the history of powerlifting is the availability of sheer tonnage of really bad information. Bad information packaged as something new, shiny, and cutting edge. The newly discovered secret will make the duration from strong to strong(er) substantially shorter. The bad information that takes one aspect of a method designed for elite lifters and contorted and bastardized it into something it was never meant to be, Then marketed to those who know no better, but who simultaneously look up to those they see using these aspects of this larger program.
I have trained with some of the best lifters and some lifters who weren’t that great. The difference between the two is far less about genetic potential yet far more about malleability. The malleability of the new lifter, the ability for a new lifter to be shaped, formed, and honed through understanding training and focusing on and then mastering the basics helps establish the forward trajectory of the lifter. Providing them with the critical traction to slowly but surely overtake those who feast on the croutons rather than learning how to prepare then devour the steak dinner.
Although there is a time and a place for newbies to use such tools, those first three years of powerlifting will, when properly applied, yield the greatest power gains and strength increases proportionally than at any other time in the lifter’s powerlifting life. So we want to get the best out of those fleeting years and focus on technique and plain old-fashioned squatting, benching, and deadlifting. Whereas bands and chains are also great for the elite powerlifter to feel greater weight without being under constant greater weight, it also provides them time between their heavy straight weight days. At the more elite level, a serious squat training day could take weeks to recover from fully. There is a big difference between a 900-pound squatter’s max-effort workout to the 275-pound squatter’s max effort workout. The plain truth is although they are both exerting 100 percent effort, the recovery for these two is vastly different. New lifters can make great strength and power gains without risk of injury, whereas one minor error under a 900- to 1000-pound squat can end a lifter's career or slice a year out of their lifting life waiting for a detached tendon to repair after surgery. The sheer muscle recruitment is not there for those squatting 275 pounds vs. 900 pounds.
Bottom line, enjoy a crouton on your salad on occasion as a newer lifter but put your time and energy where you are going to get the most bang for your newbie buck, and that is on the meat and potatoes of your powerlifting training. Your first years set the stage for your powerlifting journey, be it a long and successful journey or an often derailed trip down a road to nowhere.
Don’t be in a rush. Be deliberate. Invest your time as a newer lifter and learn the basics. Build your foundation, hone your proper technique, apply intensity and discipline, consistency and work ethic, as these initial years will roll by quicker than you could possibly imagine. You are only a new lifter once, and that is a gift to take seriously and not to be squandered by dabbling in the post-elite aspects and methods of training. Be steeped in the foundational pillars that all great lifters have used from day one till their last meet and at all points in between.
A final thought you might ponder as you become a student of the sport is that you can also pass on the croutons altogether. Just as there are unworldly strong athletes who utilize bands and chains today, there are also names and faces from decades gone past who walked like giants among mere mortals and who dominated the powerlifting landscape yet not a chain nor band was utilized. They might not be names that are familiar to you as they come from a time when lifters trained for numbers vs training for followers. Names of gravitas and historical impact on the sport during their competitive years like Don Reinhoudt, Dave Pasanella, Ted Arcidi, Jim Cash, Ernie Frantz, Ed Coan, Bill Nichols, and Vince Annello. Food for thought as you create your own powerlifting dinner menu for success.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet preparation. Ever Onward.
Eric Maroscher is the owner of Monster Garage Gym (one of the premiere powerlifting gyms in the U.S., founded by Eric and Phillip Daniels, NFL Defensive End). He is also the leader of the Maroscher powerlifting team. Eric is a two-time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, two-time APF National Powerlifting Champion, WPC North American Powerlifting Champion, and multi-time APF Illinois State Champion.
You are only a new lifter once, and that is a gift to take seriously. Don’t squander it by dabbling in the post-elite aspects and methods of training.
Between the ongoing pandemic, the omnipresent political divisiveness, and one’s ever-present life stressors, a positive constant and thankfully relentless counter to the negative narrative trying to permeate our lives is our individual love for all things strength, power, and muscle.
Training with weights is something that we can, more than not, control when we are surrounded by the uncontrollables and the negatives of the world. Somehow, when things are really dark, having a great training session has the propensity to lift you right back up, to fill your tank with positivity during that sacred time in-between that first set and when the last weight is placed back into the rack.
I have been around the block with regard to the world of gyms, strength, power, and muscle for several decades now. What I find is often what keeps your train’s engine moving forward down the tracks, even when those tracks are headed up the steepest of inclines, is continuously learning something new about all things iron and steel.
From the 30,000 foot view down to the individual nuance impacting the individual, both the global pandemic and political landscape test one’s mettle without a doubt.
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So with the backdrop of the pandemic and an omnipresent bipartisan political system that is ever eroding people’s ability to civilly disagree with one another, I, like many of you, choose to control my controllables. In doing so, among other things during these trying times, I dove into a book a little bit each evening after my post-workout meal and just before shutting it down for the night.
For this exercise in literary self-medication and self-education, I chose the four-hundred-plus page book Vince’s Secret Locker. Four-hundred pages, albeit often in an eye-straining size six font, thus making for an even longer book. After pondering my purchase, I figured that if the book was great, I'd learn something new, and that information would become of value to my training. Likewise, if the book was a four-hundred-page dud, I would utilize it as the written alternative to the nightly warm glass of milk or counting sheep before hitting the hay. So, be it a good book or a four-hundred-page sleep aid, it was a win-win scenario for my purposes.
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As it turns out, Vince’s Secret Locker, by Karl Coyne, was an amazing read on several different levels. Before we delve into the book, for those few who might not know of Vince Gironda, the exceptionally short version of his unbelievable resume reads like this: Vince Gironda was the original Iron Guru, before the word ‘guru’ was tossed around as flippantly and carelessly as the word ‘legend’ is these days (but that is a topic for another time). Vince Gironda opened the famed Vince’s Gym in the late 1940s—a force in the bodybuilding community until it closed in the 1990s. Vince was the teacher of bodybuilders, athletes, celebrities, and all types in-between. He was also the developer of some of the gym equipment used today and is literally the source of hypertrophy methods used by bodybuilders competing today. With regard to those he taught during the zenith of his career, those include bodybuilders like the first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott; seven-time Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger; three-time Mr. Olympia, Frank Zane; Lou Ferrigno; Rick Wayne; Don Howorth; and Freddy Ortiz.
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That elementary background aside, let’s talk about this amazing book. To begin with, the book provided insight into several specific periods of time, from the 1950s through the start of the 1990s. Each period of time was fully preserved for the reading as if that given era was trapped in amber. In a sense, the era was trapped in this published amber, as the author, Coyne, has compiled virtually every possible piece of information Vince Gironda ever published. The volume of material is profound, to say the least. Secondly, Vince Gironda's perspective from each decade can be juxtaposed with what strength athletes and bodybuilders ascribe to currently. You can read what Gironda taught in the 1950s and how those theories align with or run contrary to today’s practices and research then and now. You can read through each decade and analyze those lifting tactics with the tactics of today.
Another intriguing aspect of the book is the human clay that is sculpted by Gironda and his methods. His gym, the famed Vince's Gym, his methods, his pupils, and the vast population of this bodybuilding subculture back in the 1950s were unadulterated. Unadulterated, as gyms back in that early era of Gironda were vastly, worldly, completely, wholly, and utterly different from the corporate gyms of today. Designed for those few and far between purests during that era. Purests who were searching for power, muscle, size, and health. The gym members of that era were ahead of their time, labeled and shunned as health nuts by most of society. Their pursuit of health and fitness ran counter to the two-martini lunch and the anytime-is-a- cigarette-break-time at the male-dominated workplace during that particular era. Individuals who sought out these gyms, gyms like Vince’s Gym, were individuals conscious about health and fitness and enamored the pursuit of building more muscle.
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Unadulterated, as those pursuing muscularity and strength and size were doing so in an environment virtually void of enhancements. Unadulterated as training that resulted in hypertrophy and strength and power was due to the training methods, nutrition, recuperation, consistency and without the mitigation of pharmaceutical factors as that simply was not the norm back in that era of Sputnik, the development of the hydrogen bomb, and the birth of rock and roll. Said another way, if the average someone was becoming strong(er), more muscular, and more powerful, it was more than likely because the Vince Gironda methodologies were developing, preaching, teaching, and publishing.
In many ways, the world in 1950, some 70 years ago, was much smaller and slower moving. For perspective sake, in 1950, there were three television stations, the transmitter for these three stations shut off at midnight, the US population was 150 million (less than half of what it is today), and of that 150 million, by the end of the 1950s, only one in three homes had a television. With that perspective as the backdrop, the world of bodybuilding, muscle, strength, and health...well, that was hardly even a blip on the cultural radar. With that all said, this perspective serves to illuminate the impact of Vince Gironda’s work concerning hypertrophy during a world where the average American would be hard-pressed to answer even the most basic questions about the world of strength, power, and muscle. For sure none of them in 1950 would know what a preacher curl was and how it helped one develop biceps, as Vince Gironda hadn’t invented the preacher curl yet.
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I often speak about the fact that there are no secrets to success in the gym, no magic potion, no super Russian formula, but rather hard work, with that hard work done according to a logistic and pragmatic template and methodology. Understand that it is not the template or methodology that alone produces the desired results, but rather the unseen factor—the lifter's personal makeup applying the temple or methodology. It is the lifter’s internal fortitude and single-minded focus combined with best practices that equate to results. Said another way, fifteen sets of chest is good, but that does not mean two-hundred sets is better, and thus success is more than just following the written word on the page, as the magic is in its smart application of a smart program. With that in mind, this book is a treasure trove of the tried and true as created by Gironda’s work rather than empty promises of muscle growth touted by the snake oil salesmen and saleswomen today that flood the internet with the latest and greatest ‘newly discovered’ this, ‘top secret’ that.
Vince’s Secret Locker is a trip into the past where a measured amount of science and a tremendous amount of trial and error and hard work helped establish a foundation that today’s so-called “guru’s” borrow and steal from. But more than that, this book provides the reader the ability to look back in time at a completely different world in a completely different era and see what worked for bodybuilders back then. An era where for the most part pharmaceutical use would not cloud which training methods moderately worked and which methods worked extremely well. When looking through vintage muscle mags of the 50s and 60s, it is clear that the top lifters were dipping into anabolic elixirs. Still, for the hundreds and hundreds of Gironda’s everyday lifters responding with muscular growth in this smallest of small worlds, those results are directly linked to the information Vince Gironda teaching and publishing.
Coyne’s book provides the ability to see what worked on bodybuilders and why, without the static and distraction and the noise that is social media “coaches” trying to make a quick buck by putting out their programs without having to face those customers and look in their eyes when their result claims fall dramatically short of the promised hype. For Vince Gironda, if his programs and guidance and teaching fell short, that person would stop training at Vince’s Gym or stop paying for his training. In other words, it behooved Vince to create more muscular, more powerful, and stronger clients or that financial well would dry up. But of more importance to him was the fact that his information was also a reflection of his knowledge and calling. As Vince was the producer of many great physiques from the 1950s until the 1990s, it is clear that when the rubber hit the road, Vince’s methods had to be real. Real then vs the social media hyperbole that has made murky the waters for those lifters looking for actual, tried and true methods, not just the newest, trendies and shiniest objects.
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Larry Scott, the first IFBB Mr. Olympia (1965 and 1966), was one of Vince Gironda’s clients and for bodybuilding connoisseurs, a figure whose gravitas has been etched into the history book that is bodybuilding. By today’s standards, if you were to compare Larry Scott to one of today’s Mr. Olympia competitors, it would appear to be a comparison of two entirely different species. That said, if Larry Scott’s physique belonged to any member of a local gym, they would be looked at with admiration as human DNA has not changed in 300,000 years and physiques like Larry Scott’s are still few and far between.
Larry stood five-foot-seven and weighed no more than 200 pounds, with his tiny waist and wide back often overshadowed by his famed twenty-inch biceps. Twenty-inch biceps, a staple measurement still sought after by bodybuilders to this day. Biceps created in part with the assistance of what is known to this very day, as the preacher bench, used for preacher curls or also referred to as Scott curls. The bench was imagined, designed, and fabricated by Vince Gironda himself in the 1960s. The point being, Vince Gironda didn’t merely work with bodybuilders; he helped develop the equipment to help them develop the physique they were aspiring to achieve.
Vince’s Secret Locker is a wonderful glimpse into the history of bodybuilding, and you can feel as you read, how as the decades continue to progress, advancement does not always follow the same pace as the passage of time. As you read, you understand that although time and technology are moving forward, the body does not evolve as quickly, as the limiting factor is always the human factor, the human condition, humankind's constant search for the newest and shiniest vs. the gritty, rusted, dinged and scratched tried and true. What stops lifters from progressing today is what stopped them from progressing then, and that is often not applying the required focus, intensity and consistency into the program or method.
Often we mistake newer methods as superior to those of the past, but it is not the newness of the method but the variable of enhancement that is creating more musculature than the work output would be providing absent that enhancement. Vince was vehemently opposed to the use of anabolics as he was steeped in the belief that building one’s health, muscularity, and feelings of well-being all intersected and worked symbiotically together. Anabolics had no place in what he felt the world of bodybuilding was during his time. His era was one where there was no real money to be made, no sponsorship, and no socialookatmedia audience to impress the bodybuilding lifestyle. It was muscle and health for the sake of muscle and health.
Vince saw first hand through hundreds and hundreds of clients the ability to achieve big muscles and robust health. He developed methods allowing for the natural ability to attain sleeve filling eighteen-inch biceps but understood the allure that those methods combined with enhancements would serve to create the arm measurements we see today.
Vince’s materials were published in many forms, and today, you can find some of them scattered about for anyone who aspires to develop greater hypertrophy and muscular development through their application. But being out there, strewn about in the difficult to find vintage magazines and in some places on the internet, pales in comparison to having this massive quantity of his works put together so meticulously in this one book.
In my personal opinion, having read the book in its entirety, it is more than this massive collection of information. One can literally utilize the book’s stated and restated lessons on a continuous basis making it less of a four-hundred-page library and more of a usable star chart to guide your ship during those times when the path leading to your hypertrophy goals seems less obvious.
At minimum, this four-hundred-plus-page book is a deep look into the past, the infancy of bodybuilding as told through the publishings of a man well ahead of his time. At most, this four-hundred-plus-page book is a guide for those natural athletes looking to sink their teeth into what works without the enormous variable of enhancements that can give the illusion of something working extremely well when in reality, its benefit is minor. Its effectiveness is blown completely out of proportion by the enhancement variable.
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In either case, if you have an affinity, a fondness, a proclivity for aspects of lifting history, Vince’s Secret Locker is a book for your consideration.
Having said all that, not everyone has the time to sit and read four-hundred pages, so I have compiled a list of sorts of what I would submit are some of the essential takeaways from Vince Gironda’s publishings. Bullet points that can be pondered if you are considering purchasing this book. In looking at this list, you will see that much of what is used today is based on the groundbreaking work of Vince Gironda decades and decades ago. Keep in mind that the book itself contains the significant meat to these mere bullet point bones I am providing. That all said, here are some of the essentials in short that the book goes into in great volume.
Less is More
Vince Gironda preached, taught, and lived a life of less is more with regard to all things hypertrophy. A major theme in Vince’s Secret Locker is Vince’s emphasis with regard to pace of training. He espoused shorter training sessions, but toward that end, sessions with a significant depth of quality. Quickly paced, as in a short duration of time, but with quality, focus, intensity, and purpose.
Vince felt workouts should be timed. Additionally, he believed and taught that one should increase the amount of work or the amount of weight in that given time duration, rather than just tacking on more work. With non-beneficial increased rest time, sessions can be hours long. Beyond that, Vince believed in, and his results verified by hundreds of lifters over decades, trying to shorten the workout as you have sufficiently adapted to that workload in that given time with short rest intervals in-between plays a significant role in stimulating muscle growth.
In the same vein with regard to less is more, as Vince worked with primarily non-enhanced bodybuilders, his decades of successfully building muscle in his lifters led him to the conclusion that twelve sets per body part is a tested guideline for a total set number. Vince often refers to Clancy Ross and Bill Pearl, who both believed that if you can’t get your body part workout in fifteen sets, you are simply not concentrating properly. Stated another way, they felt those lifters performing twenty to twenty-five sets per muscle group simply aren’t training fast, hard, and intense enough, or they would be spent after the twelfth to fifteenth set. Training fast, not meaning the pace of the set, but the pace of the session between sets, specifically an extremely limited time between sets.
Part of the reason for this belief was that Vince worked to get the muscle full of blood, and after too many sets, the lifter lost the pump. This is something that bodybuilders of the classic era, Frank Zane and Franco Columbu, would refer to frequently. “Don’t go past the pump” is a warning they wanted those seeking hypertrophy to heed.
Vince went further to caution about a big pump workout no more than once per week. The other days were about the work where a pump is involved, but not merely focusing on that massive load of arterial blood into the muscles, trapping and slowing the exit of venous blood. He further emphasized the fine line between enough work and too much work. Wanting it so badly that one spends all day in the gym works counter to the less is more. The shorter duration with a concentration on the short time interval between sets and form allows for the muscle, not the momentum, to move the weight.
Vince wrote in detail about how too many sets and too many repetitions, too many exercises, and too many hours in the gym take the lifter past the pump and the confines of their blood sugar levels and thus loss of the pump. Once the body goes past the pump, you pass the threshold to where you are overtraining, subsequently sending the body into a catabolic state resulting in hormone loss and capillary shrinkage.
Vince provides lessons from the 1950s that are still being ignored today. He cautioned and advised that “to achieve a maximum pump, exercise until you notice your pump diminishing. At this point, check back on the number of exercises, sets, and repetitions and the time and tempo required to achieve this effect. This is your personal exercise requirement level.” He continued...” To achieve maximum results, train hard but sensibly. Never exceed your body’s capacity to function and its optimum level. Once you have reached your maximum pump, change to another body section before you pump yourself back down by overworking. You will progress much faster when you apply my tried and proven method of calculating your optimum pump.” This reads pretty differently than the go to failure, go heavy or go home, or forced reps all the time talk of the “gym bros” today. But that said, Vince’s message was what works for the natural athlete, not the athlete utilizing other means of performance enhancement. Enhancement changes limit ranges. Vince simply had no tolerance for that enhancement.
Much of this less is more covered in the book seems at first blush counterintuitive, but in the pursuit of hypertrophy, and when reading his rationale completely, less is more actually advances the muscular growth over a drill-and-kill approach. Or said another way by eight-time Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney, “stimulate, don’t annihilate." Ultimately Gironda is not promoting less work, but concentration, pure concentration with the absence of today's dilly-dally phone scroll time, is actually a tremendous amount of effort, and the challenge of that type of muscular work is difficult to sustain. So less, referring to the duration of time between sets, the number of sets beyond twelve to fifteen per body part.
Karly Coyne’s book contains example after example of Vince’s published beliefs and anecdotal stories from interviews of lifters from that era. One of the so-called “secrets” to muscle growth was concentration. Gironda considered bodybuilding and the larger physique culture like an artform. It had to be meticulously done with precision, focus, intensity, consistency, and expeditiously with regard to time between sets.
As commonsensical as it sounds, Vince Gironda preached not to use more weight than you can handle without losing good form. If you use a weight you can’t handle properly, you call on all the conjunctive muscles around the muscle you are trying to work and therefore cut down on the work you are trying to give the muscle you are trying to develop.
Complete Focus
Vince Gironda was an original and a purest. One aspect of his purest approach was one of complete and total focus. To that end, he was a proponent of connecting with the body in the gym, not just during the training session but literally every rep of each set. Typically, when you go into a gym today, each lifter has some form of headphone/earbud on their head. In less corporate family-owned gyms, the stereo blasts out some type of music to help set a tone. This was not the case in Vince’s Gym. On the contrary, there was no music in his gym, none. In fact, Vince was not a fan of talking during the session either, as time in the gym was short and intense.
Vince wanted people to focus. He espoused that his gym, Vince’s Gym, was not a place to talk but a place to attain results. Vince’s Secret Locker is full of anecdotes where at the end of the account, Vince kicks someone out of his gym as they are either talking too much, or simply not focusing. Although not a great business strategy, Vince’s focus was more so on trying to create an atmosphere where extreme focus could be achieved, and that meant the only soundtrack playing was that of the natural ambient sounds of plates clanging interspersed between the moans and groans and grunts of Vince’s lifters putting their all into their training session. None of the distractions, all of the focus.
I came across an interview with Frank Zane, and during the interview, he spoke at length about when he passed on being in the movie Pumping Iron. Frank Zane was one of the primary training partners with Arnold during that time, as most are aware Arnold trained with many lifters. Zane preferred a quiet atmosphere to train in as he was cut from the same deep focused cloth as Gironda. When he saw the cameras, crews, and distractions of filming at the original Gold’s Gym, Zane passed, and as he tells it, the focus of the movie honed in on Arnold training with Franco, when in reality, they all trained like a family together. The point being, as a three-time Mr. Olympia, Frank Zane also espoused complete focus as he was cut from the same focused cloth as Gironda.
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After reading his book, I wonder if Vince were alive today and still had Vince’s Gym, how long would it have taken for him to chuck someone’s cell phone across the room when being used during a training session.
Trust but Verify
Through his experiences training and the results of training his clients and watching their improvements in muscularity, Vince found that what he learned in readings from 1925 from a German scientist translated to the weight room. This scientist, whose research 30 years prior to Gironda’s personal findings, discovered that to acquire larger muscles, you must increase the intensity of the work done within a given time. It doesn’t matter how much work you do. What counts is how fast you compile the work. Again, not the pace of the reps, but shortening the duration of time in-between sets when not moving weights. This is what is commonly referred to as the overload principle. Vince would read studies but would verify how the study related to his real-life training experiences with those seeking a life of muscle vs. taking part in a study or research.
Overload principle, a principle today that, although intrinsically known, is all too often shot in the head by the lifter's frequency and duration who disengages. Today we see this with the set done, the barbell is put down, the cell phone is then picked up, and the mind is now disengaged. The phone that we now know through studies kills the fight or flight responses. That phone has thoroughly penetrated the sanctum of the gym and has permeated what used to be a continuous flow of exercise during a session. That flow has been reduced to merely small disconnected chunks of work separated by long periods of head down, thumbs scrolling up. Gironda’s lifters didn’t have the phone, but distractions still presented themselves if the focus was not on point.
Vince compared real-life to the science studies. This trust but verify was a theme with Gironda. He was highly educated about all things muscle, but adding to that was his decades of actual application of his findings over the years and decades and when applied to hundreds and hundreds of his lifters, watching them build quality muscle.
What he learned then, we know now, and that is that the discontinuity of interrupted workouts, regardless of adding to the duration of the time in the gym, virtually ensures that that training session will at best, maintain a lifter's current muscularity and at worst will ensure no additional muscle.
Genetics
Vince knew that the number of muscle fibers stays constant, but the volume of those fibers grows with proper training, nutrition, and recuperation. He knew that those who have more fibers genetically are at an advantage. He also knew from decades of working with his clients that if the person with fewer fibers works the muscle with proper form, where the muscle (not momentum) does the work, keeping the duration of time between sets short, and with extraordinary focus, the volume of those fewer muscle fibers will surpass the muscle size of the more naturally genetic gifted lifter who negates these essential principles of Gironda.
The book provides examples of Vince bringing the best out of the genetically average, especially to those who might not be rich in genetics but possess a wealth of heart, grit, work ethic, desire, and determination. It also chronicles his work with those who coupled hard work with genetics, those like the first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott.
Tell It Like It Is
Coyne’s book on Gironda chronicles examples of lifters he worked with who truly rose above the rest through his teachings. Lifters like Bill Pettis sported twenty-three-inch biceps during a time when seventeen-inch biceps were considered exceptional. Pettis eventually migrated over to Gold’s gym in the 1970s but was at Vince’s Gym around the time Ah-nold arrived at Vince’s so Vince could work with Arnold on his yet unpolished and blocky European looking physique.
Photo credit: www.muscle-fitness.sk
The book covers the story of that famed meeting of Gironda and the Austrian Oak in mere passing fashion, as the book is more so a massive collection of the writings of Gironda.
If you are looking for a book detailing almost the day-to-day events of the bodybuilding scene back during that era, the book West Coast Bodybuilding Scene: The Golden Era by Dick Tyler is a book I recommend highly.
At the time, Arnold, who was touted as this beast from Europe, arrived at Vince’s Gym weighing 255 pounds. Arnold had clearly not transitioned into the American bodybuilding scene where quality and cuts won shows vs. sheer mass. The story simply goes like this as Arnold entered Vince’s Gym: "I am Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Universe." Vince removed his cigar out of his mouth and replied, "You just look like a fat f*ck to me!” That, tell it like it is, attitude is found in account after account in the book. The book paints a very clear picture that those seeking muscularity attained such if they followed the guidance of Gironda. Those seeking a warm, friendly interaction with Gironda would be greatly disappointed.
A Supplement is Just That
Just as they are today, supplements are a product of a team of advertisers trying to get the customer to purchase their product. Vince believed in keeping whole food the focus over supplementation, but he did believe in some supplementation.
Vince was an avid believer in desiccated liver as it is liver that has been concentrated by a process of vacuum drying at a low temp. For the most part this spares the nutrients. The book goes into quite a bit of detail about desiccated liver. Vince was also was a believer in the benefits of vitamin C, kelp, wheat germ oil, granulars, calcium, and digestive enzymes. Vince’s Secret Locker delves into Gironda’s published list of supplements, and his reasons why taking these supplements are important.
In 1975, Vince supported that three meals were essential, but if at all possible, he proposed six small meals per day. Does that sound like what the “gurus” say today? The book details a number of his pre-contest, off-season, and overall health nutrition plans, as well as his thoughts on steak, eggs, raw eggs, heavy cream, proteins, fats, and carbs.
The Mind is the Body
As a purest, Vince Gironda believed in never merely going through the motions as there were plenty of lifters who showed up every day and went through the motions, for but really putting all your concentration into the movement and bathing that in positive visualization.
He understood the body was tied together by the body's systems working symbiotically together vs. merely looking at the muscular system. He viewed this as short-sighted. He looked at the muscular, skeletal, digestive, endocrine, circulatory, integumentary, immune, nervous, renal systems, etc., collectively. When one system was out of whack, the whole body was then off balance.
He looked at how good food was critical to keeping the body’s system in balance so that the muscles being broken down in the gym could properly heal themselves from the gym. With all systems functioning properly, the body could then focus on healing the muscle damage inflicted in the gym. The book chronicles the bigger picture of symbiosis over a training mindset of an isolation of the muscular system. By his lifters being wholly healthy, their ability to achieve muscular advancement was never fettered by the body having to prioritize a deficit response function over the function of muscular repair and growth.
Tying this all together was Vince’s view of the mind being the key to this whole process. With the body firing on all cylinders, Vince could then have his lifters put their mind into the workout, utilizing absolute focus and concentration as well as visualization.
The Scale of Things
Vince also had a copious understanding that one should never confuse body weight with muscle growth. Those on the hypertrophy journey should understand muscle. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and cheese, for example, were staples to muscularity as it is muscle size, not body weight from the extra water molecules’ weight that comes from an excess of carbohydrates. He conveyed to his lifters aspiring to compete in the then even more sub-cultured world of competitive bodybuilding, that the mirror tells the real story as the scale is far too blunt of an instrument to serve as a good feedback tool.
Getting up in the morning to check one’s weight was useless vs. checking the mirror and examining the body’s muscularity, definition, separation, and vascularity. The mirror he felt was the correct assessment tool. He believed that the scale should be limited to those in power sports looking to land in a given weight class.
Devil's in the Detail
Details matter when teaching, as Vince was really more of a teacher than a coach. He would discuss the best angle for bicep growth and how the preacher bench should be up against the lower pec area not the upper pec (where most lifters place the padding). All that we typically read today about hand placement on the curl bar stems from Vince Gironda’s published writings decades ago now passed off.
He would talk about the brachialis anticus (the muscle under the biceps) and its role in the full development of the biceps. Larry Scott is an example of his lessons brought to fruition. Vince would get microscopic in his teachings, and for those who were all in, that was the difference between a person with a training certificate hanging in a frame on the wall and someone who not only trained others but had a competitive career and decades of successful clients as a living resume.
The Dinner Table
Vince warned against eating until full, as he felt for the body's overall balance, eating until a feeling of well being vs. loosen the belt after the meal. He was the first to talk about not mixing proteins and the liver’s role in so much of the body's functions and how an unhealthy liver meant that the body would spend its energy on working on the liver rather than trying to make the muscles larger.
He was a big steak and eggs proponent. When eggs were considered “bad” before they were reconsidered “good,” Vince maintained all along their value vs. the real “bad” of stress and cortisol and processed foods as the actual health villains as they related to inflammation.
Additionally, Vince also cautioned about too much protein at one given time. When working with natural athletes, he felt thirty to thirty-five grams of protein was the max per sitting that the body could utilize and the additional protein converted into sugar. To that end, Vince saw supplement companies constantly pushing the grams of protein as a marketing war between them with regard to who had the “most” protein. Vince recognized the advertisement ploy and kept his lifters to the thirty to thirty-five grams with multiple meals built into the day for the purpose of the grand total of protein throughout the day. He was skeptical from day one till his last day of those in the industry solely to make money vs. make healthy and strong bodybuilders.
Cliche
Although magazines and internet ads put in bold print cliches like, “no pain, no gain,” Vince has his lifters look at things differently. He saw the lifting world being about consistency, the pump, the day-after-day work coupled with solid nutrition and recuperation that makes the difference. With regard to “no pain, no gain”, “go heavy or go home,” and the many cliches intended to motivate, Vince Gironda instead stated the following, “Don’t hit yourself on the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop.” He really stressed the very fine line between a full workout and overtraining. That more is not always better and that most who spend three hours in the gym do so because they are not putting the actual focus into the movements and their rest intervals between sets are extensive and counterproductive. That in actuality, the few that do put in that focus can only train an hour and complete much more actual work than their three-hour counterpart. Further, those putting in full focus for the hour with mere fifteen- to twenty-second rest intervals produce far superior muscular growth to those spending more time in the gym but with less actual muscular stimulation.
Be Meticulous and Pay Attention to Nuance
When calve training, Vince felt that no shoes was the way to get the full range of motion.
A simple statement but steeped in decades of experience, Gironda touted big concepts but they were based on meticulous details and he was keenly aware of nuance.
Gironda was a believer in squats for power and powerlifters but not for hypertrophy and bodybuilders. Through his experience, he found that squats worked against the lifter's aesthetics. He felt you got a better feel of the legs and could focus on contraction with a hack type squat and a sissy type squat without the thickening of the waste or pressure on the lower back. Vince believed in the hack slide, a forefather to the hack squat. He was not a fan of the leg press for the same reason he avoided the squat.
For the chest, Vince Gironda avoided the bench press. As a power building requisite for powerlifters, the bench press was great, but for hypertrophy, Vince found great development from flys, dips, and hands-facing-in dumbbell presses. With his eye for nuance and body mechanics, it was elbows pointing outward vs. close to the sides with regard to dips. He also believed and found great results with decline flys with pulleys. Bodybuilders like Rick Wayne are a testament to Vince’s pec routine as even by today’s standards in the classic physique division, Rick would put many to shame with his shape and size.
Photo credit: Old-School Bodybuilding Magazine Facebook page
Vince looked at hypertrophy beyond the muscle building. Within the pursuit of muscularity, he also felt bodybuilding was a lifestyle and the pursuit of well-being both mentally and emotionally. That in a circular fashion, that balanced mental state would come back to help the bodybuilder produce larger muscles as lifting when feeling complete and whole, produces far superior training sessions.
Vince believed in eating every three hours and keeping carbs low— not a surprise for today, but for the 1950s and 60s, it was a revolutionary statement. To chunk down his detailed view, he would simplify with key statements: "don’t overtrain...workout like a sprinter, not a long-distance runner…bodybuilding is 85 percent nutrition, use muscle confusion.” These are all of the things you hear today, but nobody heard before Vince Gironda’s time.
Certified by Who?
When asked about personal trainers, and again, this is many decades ago, Gironda’s purposely sarcastic but completely valid answer was one we should ask today, “Certified by who?” Meaning, a piece of paper does not equate to the experience of living a hypertrophy lifestyle and the trial and error that comes with working with hundreds of lifters over a lifetime.
Over decades of experience, Gironda felt trainers typically overwork clients to feel they are getting their money's worth rather than training them for growth and development and the long haul.
Quick Hits
- Vince was a believer and user of the drag curl. Chances are it's not something in most arm routines, but once added, it's a keeper. Try it!
- Vince mandated rest intervals were to be 15-20 seconds in between sets. He felt that the overload principle, the most work in the shortest amount of time with the proper technique, was the North Star for those seeking muscle growth.
- His view on nutrition was similar as he felt most did not fully understand the role of protein.
- Vince never took anything at face value concerning nutrition without looking past that basic and into the reasons why. He would often speak about the role of macrominerals and trace minerals.
- He often cited the 1935 Senate bill number 264, where American’s were informed that US soil was deficient in 22 minerals back then (estimates of 45 today) and that because of this, Vince believed that the body, especially the body under the stress of hypertrophy type training must take in 1000mg of chelated or ionized calcium daily. He believed in the aforementioned macrominerals and trace minerals. He recommended Celtic sea salt (which has come into vogue again as of late) as well as liquid minerals. He informed his clients that these serve to stimulate your hormone-creating muscle tissue.
- Vince believed that one got the most out of the body’s hormones through sound nutrition, recovery, hydration, and sleep. As deeply as he believed in these natural methods, he was equally abhorrent of any form of synthetic hormone.
- He felt that bodybuilding was akin to meditation, to the perfect state of strength and muscles, health and well-being, and that the use of anabolics was the complete antithesis of this. Those lifting for self-fulfillment and setting and achieving goals for their own personal growth and health were true bodybuilders. Those taking anabolics were the polar opposite of this, and his tolerance for this was at absolute zero. He worked with his natural athletes, and this is one of the reasons why his teachings are of benefit for natural lifters today as he believed what works for the enhanced person is not a valid template for those on the path of health, a strong sense of wellbeing and all things holistic.
- He prophesied that anabolics would destroy bodybuilding and ruin the symmetry and classic lines of the natural physique and negate the purpose of the gym, which he felt was creating a healthy body and overall feeling of wellness.
- Vince found over his decades that when bodybuilders hit plateaus, they always add exercises and sets and reps, and this never works. Instead, the real secret is to actually cut back on volume and use better form, more concentration, and greater intensity of effort. He frequently states to use slower movements and do every set as if it were the last set you could do.
- Vince promoted keeping the routine the same, that changing too often is really an indication that one must control their mind. Some of his lifters, like Freddy Ortiz, have used the same routine for decades. Freddy had a physique in the 1960s that if he walked into any gym today, he would be one of if not the best built natural physiques in that facility. In his 70s, Freddy was still holding a great deal of muscle on his physique, with the only difference being that the weights he uses are lighter, but the routine is the same. Program hoppers would do well to heed these words of Gironda: Be patient but also be locked into your mind and routine. Be intense and purposeful with every rep and set as if it were the last.
Photo credit: www.greatestphysiques.com
In closing, the era of Vince Gironda is clearly long gone. An era where those with decades of experience worked to help others down the path toward self-improvement has been in large part replaced by the instafamous who stand on the shoulders of giants and tout the information that came before them as new and exclusive to them.
They sell routine X or program Y to the new and unsuspecting lifting novice, often making them feel grateful for a code providing them with 10 percent off a routine or program actually created by those who have long gone and who did the research and hard work in the first place.
There is nothing wrong with making money with one’s knowledge and experience as Vince’s Gym did in its day. Vince's Gym was a building owned by Gironda himself, and it was in that building that he made his livelihood. There is something altogether different when the person selling a service has a personal relationship with the buyer of that service. To that end, the customer comes back to help the seller when the results are achieved as promised.
Vince’s Secret Locker highlights the complexities of Gironda, the knowledgable man with the antithesis of a warm-fuzzy personality. The delivery method and affect aside, the lessons Gironda taught many generations of lifters are relevant today.
As I stated prior, at minimum, this four-hundred-plus page book is a deep look into the past—the infancy of bodybuilding as told through the publishings of a man well ahead of his time. At most, this book guides those natural athletes looking to sink their teeth into what works without the enormous variable of enhancement, as the enhancement variable can give the illusion of something working extremely well when in reality its benefit is minimal at best.
In either case, if you have an affinity, a fondness, a proclivity for aspects of lifting history, Vince’s Secret Locker is a book for your consideration.
Wishing you the best in your training. Ever Onward.
Header image credit: www.behindtheworkout.com
He taught the first Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott; seven-time Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger; three-time Mr. Olympia, Frank Zane; Lou Ferrigno; Rick Wayne; Don Howorth; and Freddy Ortiz. Learn more…
It is with mixed emotions that I submit this article. Mixed emotions as on January 13th, 2021, the legendary powerlifter, my friend, and my mentor, Ernie Frantz passed away at 86.
As I submit these 70+ pages on Ernie Frantz in the form of the chapter, “Ernie Frantz And The History Of Frantz Multi-Ply Gear,” I wish to take a moment and convey to his family my deepest and most sincere condolences for the loss of Ernie. I cannot imagine the emptiness they must be feeling.
My heart is broken from losing Ernie, but my soul is so amazingly rich and full from having him in my life. Ernie was someone I revered for the person and man he was and how he lived his life, and I am ever thankful to his family for sharing him with me and with so many others whose lives he changed for the better. I am forever a better man for having known him.
In retrospect, our chance meeting nearly three decades ago was not so chance as I believe the Universe put us together at that given time and that given location. A meeting for each of us on our own life timelines to intersect and forever be connected. From that single meeting and his gracious invitation to come to his fortress of solitude, his life-changing Frantz Gym, where he took the time and chance on someone so young and so unformed, I am forever changed and forever grateful.
WATCH: Ernie Frantz Lost Interview on The Eras of Powerlifting
Ernie Frantz has been, on many occasions, my North star. On many occasions, my guiding light illuminating the course of my direction when I was unsure of life’s path ahead. On many occasions, Ernie was my litmist test whether to make one decision or the other as I would ponder what decision Ernie would make as he always made the morally right and ethical decision.
Since the pandemic and the shutting down of meets and such, I have enjoyed my phone conversations with Ernie, even a few beautiful conversations when he was in the hospital. I feel so fortunate that I was able to tell him on each occasion what he meant to me and how much I looked up to and cared for him.
Some months ago, I received a text from my colleague at elitefts, Dave Kirschen. Dave, who is an exceptional geared powerlifter is also a columnist with me at elitefts. Dave was in the process of working on a project he had been chipping away at for some time, in total, his 472-page manifesto about all things geared powerlifting that he planned on putting out as a free eBook for those interested in geared lifting. A way for Dave to give back to this sport. As Dave toiled away at his chapters, he also called on some other geared powerlifters to consider contributing to his larger eBook. Dave contacted me and inquired if I would be interested in writing about the history of powerlifting gear. That meant writing about Ernie Frantz, as Ernie Frantz was an extremely pivotal figure in the history of our great sport of powerlifting. Pivotal for the huge numbers he posted, for his absolutely massive positive impact on other lifters, and for this eBook’s purpose, his creations, innovations, and modifications with regard to powerlifting gear.
Over a few months, the piece came together, resulting in a document comprising some 22 parts and 91 total pages once in eBook form: “Ernie Frantz and the History of Frantz Multi-Ply Gear.” Although I implore you to read the entire eBook, The Legacy of Ernie Frantz begins on page 374.
While writing the chapter, Ernie and I would talk via phone, but later, calls became texts. Sometimes my texts were answered by Ernie, sometimes through a family member.
As the time in between my texts and Ernie’s or his family's responses increased in length, the speed in which I would write also increased. It increased, as did my sense and deep fear of what could be on the horizon. On December 9th, 2020, I emailed his family my completed draft of the chapter to share with Ernie. That chapter ultimately became the final chapter in Dave Kirschen’s eBook, GEAR, The Ultimate Guide To Equipped Powerlifting.
Closing in on 15 years ago, I opened my own gym, Monster Garage Gym, in the likeness of and modeled after the eternal spirit of Ernie’s gym where I trained in the 1990s and early 2000s. Although we have had many powerful men and women training at my gym over this nearly decade and a half, the real purpose beyond the obvious of strength, power, muscle, and numbers was and always has been to provide a place for those looking for some sort of family and for lost souls who need a place to feel pride in themselves, as well as a place for those needing some type of redemption. Although many could only grasp the stronger and more powerful aspects of the gym, that was OK as Ernie and I knew the real purpose and we were just fine with that. We talked about that on many occasions. I learned through the many experiences Ernie shared of his gym that some would understand but that others simply would not have the acuity to see the big picture. But Ernie’s point was this, you plant those seeds and over the years lifters will come and lifters will go. As the roster changes over the years, some take that opportunity, those planted seeds, and grow into a better version of themselves, building their self esteem and become massively powerful in the process. In turn, they pass that on and build up the esteem in others in hopes that this iron sharpening iron cycle continues and repeats itself. Dave Tate would call that, Live, Learn and Pass On.
Many of my life’s most fulfilling adventures were via the world of powerlifting. The sport Ernie guided me through took me to many, many places. Meets ranging in location from the west coast to east coast, meets just a good road trip away, meets up North to our friends in Canada, and meets overseas as far as South Africa. This was the case for so many lifters, but the common thread that formed the fabric between so many lifters was Ernie’s belief in them and being the best and strongest version of themselves. Ernie instilled that into all his lifters. Some only picked up on his strength aspect but for those astute few, they saw that he also was teaching life lessons along the way. Life-changing lessons from a man who was pure of heart.
Ernie and I often talked about the journey of life and the pursuit of strength and power, and the role a gym can play in that endeavor. To the end, Ernie Frantz was about doing for others, and that will be remembered far longer than any of his truly legendary lifts.
I thank God for gracing this good Earth with his wholesome and a fully lived life. I thank God for putting Ernie in my life. I thank his family for sharing the greatness of Ernie Frantz with the rest of us mere mortals.
I will love and miss and smile broadly always when I think of Ernie Frantz, and I feel highly blessed and favored that Ernie got to see the final version of this small portion of his story before it was published.
With all that said, I humbly present to you my contribution to Dave Kirschen’s eBook, GEAR The Ultimate Guide To Equipped Powerlifting, this eBook's final chapter, titled, “Ernie Frantz and the History of Frantz Multi-Ply Gear”—page 376.
Wishing you the best, stay well, and Ever Onward.
What you are about to read is a truly loving portrait of a powerlifting legend, written by one of the few who knew him best (and a great powerlifting coach in his own right).
To say that there are many aspects of 2020 that fall under the title of tumultuous is a gross understatement.
Although I was born in the late 1960s, a time of tremendous turbulence, upheaval, social strife, and unrest, I was merely an infant during those last years of the decade. Thus, I was far too young to understand the volatility of that decade. My formative years actually occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. After finishing graduate school, I began my adult life and career in the 1990s through till today.
So excluding the decade of the 1960s, when I personally reflect back over my five and a half decades on this planet, I find these most recent few years and especially 2020, far more volatile and divisive than at any time over the previous five decades of my life.
Today’s cauldron of toxic societal stew is comprised of an array of key albeit rancid ingredients. Included are hearty portions of haves vs. have nots, partisan politics, growing racial division, systemic prejudice, a worldwide pandemic, rampant conspiracies that cascade the political landscape, as well as an abundance of overflow from the slop sink that is today’s social media.
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As a result of this perfectly prepared and noxious meal that now feeds our society as a whole, we find ourselves searching for fundamental truths as individuals within this 2020 global society. We find ourselves searching for the ideas and ideals that are constants. We find ourselves seeking for the North Star, that guiding light, that beacon in the darkness that can lead us to anything real, lasting, unwavering, reassuring, meaningful, purposeful, and positive. As lifters of weight and steel and iron and stone, we look for these truths as we continue to strive to be better, strive to lift more, strive to become more—as that is what lifters do.
Are there any undeniable, non-debatable truths left in this world as it is currently in 2020? Is there anything that we, as men and women of muscle, power, and strength, can still hang our collective hats on? The answer to this question is a resounding, absolute, and emphatic yes!
In this world of vehemently opposing sides, where valuing one another’s differing opinions has been replaced with “my way or the highway,” here is a list of five things that you as a strength athlete and lifter of weights can still count on and believe in today as well a lifetime of tomorrows.
Something You Can Still Believe in During These Unbelievable Times
1. Hard Work Still Pays Off!
Countless barriers are surrounding us throughout this journey of life. In your life of work, you might be the best at what you do, but your employer might also fetter you. Your hard work at the office might put the next person at your job to shame, but if that next person is friends with the boss or related to the boss in some way, or the boss has issues with your race, religion, or orientation, among other aspects, your efforts at work may only take you so far. That said, even if the boss was impressed with your performance and hard work, the boss has a boss or a CEO, or a board of directors that could impact you negatively regardless of your efforts.
That all said, in the gym, you are not the employee fettered by the boss, nor are you the boss held at bay by the CEO, nor the CEO held in place by the board of directors. If you want the promotion, you can attain it as it is self-promotion and self-promotion is granted or denied by your own hand. The bigger bench, the larger quads, the deeper squat, the wider shoulders, the heavier stone, the bigger total, whatever it is you are striving for, you and you alone control those outcomes, and those outcomes are established by your inputs. You alone can improve as your work ethic is pure and true and unobstructed by other’s values, unobstructed by other's influences, unobstructed by systems, and uncontrolled by other’s views or judgments.
If you put in the work at the gym, the hard work, the consistent work, the disciplined and well-educated work, success will be achieved. Likewise, if you don’t do the hard work, the failure to achieve falls soundly, directly, and squarely on your shoulders. Training with weights is one of the few things in this world that you can be 100 percent sure, “You get out of it, what you put into it.”
Hard work pays off in weight training, and that is a truth you can still believe in during these unbelievable times. The results you achieve in the gym that you worked hard to bring to fruition can not be negated by social media, political rhetoric, or systemic racism. The 500-pound bench you put up is YOUR 500-POUND bench. The 20” biceps you have built are YOUR 20” biceps. Your 350-pound loaded stone is YOUR 350-POUND successfully loaded stone.
In situations involving judges, biases do exist. In your gym, in your garage, in your basement’s weight room, there is no bias. Ultimately you will either achieve these things through your hard work and efforts, or you don’t. Your hard work will determine these outcomes, and that is and always has been and will always be the magic of the weights when combined with hard work.
In the late 1980s, I remember a bodybuilder named Victor Richards (Google him, it is worth the search). He was a mass monster, but with a V taper, and came onto the scene over a decade prior to the emergence of today's mass monster bodybuilders. Victor was massive and symmetrical, without merely just adding mass for the sake of adding more mass and minus the distended belly we have sadly grown accustomed to seeing on stage.
Victor competed only four times and became quickly disenchanted with the negativity surrounding the competitive bodybuilding scene. But as a lover of lifting weights, of building his physique, of the meditative nature of training with weights as he would describe it, Victor continued living the bodybuilding lifestyle. Victor would continue doing all of the photoshoots that he enjoyed doing for the muscle mags of that era, but he passed on the Mr. Olympia stage, he passed on the money and passed on the fame as he was all about the work in the gym and the spirituality he felt while training.
Victor Richards is an example of not only benefitting from the self-satisfaction of hard work but that his hard work paid off as it created his massive build by his own hand that nobody could rob him of. And to that end, he is arguably the best known non-Olympia competitor to this day for his ahead-of-the-time size, symmetry, proportions—all created by his hard work. More importantly, his results are what mattered most to him and his hard work absolutely paid off for him. The hard work you put into your personal training goals is something you can believe in today, believe in tomorrow, and believe in every single day that follows. It is something you can still believe in during these unbelievable times.
2. It Is Always Simpler Than We Make It Out to Be
As lifters, we often go hunting and searching for the “secrets.” We can become unsuspecting victims to those snake oil salespersons who promise amazing results from a magical potion, that never before available to the public elixir, that newly discovered concoction, that training program claiming to be the one and only road toward success.
The secret to muscle and power, as the legendary Dave Draper states to this day, is that there are no secrets. In the world of weights, it is always simpler, always less complicated than we make it out to be. Be it voices from the past like Vince Gironda, Chet Yorton, Vasily Alekseyev, Robby Robbinson, Paul Anderson, Ernie Frantz or the contemporary knowledgeable voices of today, they all tout that there are no secrets to success in the weight game, but rather the simple, the tried and true. They discussed an array of avenues that have worked for them as well as what can work with virtually anyone. There is no one road and only road.
Although they all have achieved great success, they all did so with different training programs and routines. Vasily Alekseyev won his Olympic gold medals and set his Olympic records without a coach as he, like most of these others, trained himself. The motto of these champions in short; train with correct form, train with intensity yet not recklessly, take your nutrition seriously and be consistent and diligent with it. Train hard yet compliment that hard training with adequate and requisite recovery. Stay hydrated as that matters more than you realize. Attain the proper sleep and recuperation and make each training session count as all sessions are the building blocks for the sessions to follow. Find the sets and reps and weight scheme that works best for your body, your goals, your future success—each wonderfully simple but also with tremendous depth and appropriate nuance vs. complexity for complexity's sake.
If success were found in a pill, if success was achieved by wearing brand X’s squat shoes or if success was located within pages of that top-secret Russian 8-week training program, EVERYONE would be an Ed Coan or EVERYONE would be an Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Even during these unbelievable times when so much is rubber-stamped with fake, “It is always simpler than we make it out to be” is something you can still believe in, something you can bet the farm on, and something you can count on as everlasting truth. Toward that end, there is a saying, “Don’t do what the champions do...rather do what they did.” Meaning, do the basics that build a strong foundation that serves the infrastructure that is the framework for all development of strength, power, and muscularity to come. A newbie lifter can make their program as complex as possible with the widest array of specialty bars and combination of chains, and bands but sometimes it just comes down to plain old sets and reps, good form, intensity, and back up to item number one, hard work.
Brand new and shiny, complex, multi-layered and multi-faceted all wrapped up in a big cost and available with the click of an app often falls short when juxtaposed with time-tested, dulled and faded, linear and single-purposed with no cost and available as free content at elitefts or from the veteran lifter who is still at it after all those years and decades.
Bottom line, when it comes to our training and programs, it is always simpler than we make it out to be, and it is something you can still believe in during these unbelievable times.
3. Talk is Still Cheap
This is never more true than in today’s socialookatmedia society. If someone is spending their time online yelling their views, that is because most likely they have nothing of value to provide and shouting or ALL CAPS keyboard screaming is the only way they can be heard over the quiet voices of those who actually have something of value to offer.
Volume is often the only way they can gain the social media attention needed to nurture their fragile ego and attain the attention that they clearly lack. One would hope the cheap talker’s rants are founded in something more complex than the need for attention and to feel more relevant than they really are, but alas, that is not the case. Jean Piaget’s theory of the stages of cognitive development is still the highly accepted clinical explanation of these unfortunate types.
Talk is still cheap is a simple way to also explain in part the Dunning-Kruger effect. The what? In brief, the Dunning-Kruger effect is psychologist David Dunning and Justin Kruger’s explanation of a cognitive bias. Specifically, those who perform poorly reach wrong or erroneous conclusions and make poor and unfortunate choices. But because of their incompetence, they lack the ability to realize this, thus they hold inflated views of their actual skills and abilities. Said another way, people with a low ability to perform a task or function overestimate their ability to do the task but their inability to recognize their lack of ability in that task or function.
This is precisely why you see the struggling powerlifter, the one who continues to bomb out, or who is simply not as strong as others, pointing out the shortcomings of everyone else. Yet they do not possess the requisite insight to see their own lack of ability.
You hear this all the time from those whose talk is cheap…"Sure, he won the bodybuilding show, but his calves are nothing.” “Sure, he benches 600 pounds, but that bench shirt does all the work.” “Sure, he squatted that much, anyone could if they took that much gear.” And so that story goes. Even during a worldwide pandemic and during times of great social injustice, you will find the cheap talkers looking to spend their energy criticizing rather than building others up.
Regardless of the era, generation, decade, country of origin, profession, socioeconomic status, etc., cheap talk has and always will be the business card of “those who can’t...criticize.” This is a constant, but knowing this arms you with the ability to stay far away from those negative souls and continue on your path toward your lifting goals. You choose to lift others up vs. point out their shortcomings. During these unbelievable times, talk is cheap, and that is something you can still believe in, as that also means that some walk the talk and spend their energies and efforts lifting others up vs. working to bring others down.
All that said, I leave this point emphasized with the words of President Theodore Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."- Theodore Roosevelt
4. Knowing Yourself Never Goes Out of Style
Rober Frost is a multi Pulitzer Prize winning writer, famed for his poem, The Road Not Taken. The well-known excerpt of the larger poem goes like this:
”Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
There are many roads we as lifters can travel down. Knowing oneself helps us choose the best one that'll make all the difference. With regard to lifting, this is something you can still believe in this year, next year, every year, and has been the case for centuries since the dawn of humankind.
Knowing yourself, knowing what you believe in, knowing why you do what you do in the gym, knowing what is right for you in the gym, and being true to your own beliefs is part of knowing one’s self. Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, spoke about man’s existence preceding his essence with regard to his works on existentialism. In layman's terms, every person is individually and solely responsible for who they are and who they become as we are the constructors of our own actions. Sartre submits that we are born with a blank slate future. That our essence (our purpose) precedes our existence ( our physical presence in this world). So we fill that blank slate with our actions and deeds and the results or consequences of those actions and deeds. In regards to the lifter, this is forever a truth, forever something one can believe in even during the most unbelievable times. Something we can believe and trust in, as training is part of every lifter’s essence, part of every real lifter’s life-blood and existence.
The Greek philosopher, Socrates, spoke of consistency of life, and that an unexamined life is not worth living. As lifters we know that we must not merely go through the motions, not merely move through aimless sets or rep schemes, random programs or half thought through plans for a meet’s training cycle. This too is a large part of knowing yourself. We see “monkey see, monkey do” training all too often where the newer lifter sees the successful veteran lifter and does what they currently do at the expense of missing the years of doing what it took to get to where they are today. Further, what works for one lifter might not work for another. The legendary powerlifter and mentor Ernie Frantz would put out a framework, a template for a lifter to train within. But it was up to each individual to know what does and does not work for them and carefully and deliberately modify and improve the nuances within that framework, within the scope of that general template.
All lifters need a starting point, a general set of guidelines which within they can start a process, but knowing themselves, their strengths and weaknesses and internal motivations is something often lost, overlooked, or completely negated as many programs today are touted by those sharing information not so much for the sake of serving as a mentor, but those selling a program, making a buck and serving their own financial purpose.
As within the pages of William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, and with regard to something you can still believe in during these unbelievable times, you can still believe in, “to thine own self be true.”
5. The Words of The Beatles
Even during these unbelievable times, you can still believe in the words of The Beatles. The Beatles song, The End, off the 1969 album Abbey Road written by McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney, pretty much sums it up. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” What does that have to do with weights...only everything.
What Lennon and McCartney wrote all those decades ago, is in its essence, the same message elitefts' proclaims with “Live, Learn and Pass On.” “Live, Learn and Pass On” is more than a catchphrase, more than a motto, more than words to heat-press onto the front of a t-shirt. “Live, Learn and Pass On,” is a way of life for the lifter. It is a way of giving back to the world of weights to those lifter mentors that gave so much to Dave Tate, to those columnists and coaches of elitefts, to all those who write and publish columns and logs as they share aspects of their love and knowledge of weights with those still finding their bearings in powerlifting, weight lifting, strongman, bodybuilding and all sports where weights are the tools used to become better, to become more.
Make no mistake about it, your time on the platform, your time ‘under the bar’ and the spoils that come from your victorious performance on the day of the competition are exclusively yours. That said, powerlifting, strongman, any weight moving pursuit is a pursuit where giving to, and taking from, are a symbiotic dance where the balance between the two is the essential key. No lifter arrives at greatness either in the sense of personal achievement or achievement against the collective without encouragement, affirmation, guidance, truth-telling, and the motivation and mentorship from those who came before. Those individuals who took the time to look back over their own lifting career and lifting life-lessons, and who strive to help their fellow lifter up onto the rungs of the ladder to success.
Thus exists the unwritten universal rule that giving back as much as you took in, is the appropriate measure to ensure you as the recipient of the gifts from others are subsequently the giver of such gifts as you aspire to the status of mentor. Those gifts are of course the gifts of experience and knowledge
Training with weights is a brother and sisterhood. A tight-knit community of those cut from the cloth of steel, iron, muscle, strength, and power. The “love you take is equal to the love you make” might as well have been written for training partners as to when heavy weights are being lifted, we are our brother’s keeper. When a true group of lifters train with one another, they put political ideation, petty grievances, their differing ways and self-serving needs aside and focus on one another’s training session, one another’s safety, one another’s competition, and one another’s goals and aspirations.
“The love you take is equal to the love you make,” can be translated into ‘lifterease’ to simply this, ‘you get from the world of weights what you have put into the world of weights.’ So even in these unbelievable times, you can still believe in the words of The Beatles, you can still believe in your fellow training partners, and for the most part, you can still believe in the collective good of humanity.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet preparation. Stay well and Ever Onward!
Aside from Santa’s elves personalizing your hand-made gifts. Oh, and Santa traveling from the North Pole to your residence to deliver your gifts with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
A long time ago, in a land far, far away…well actually, to be a little more precise, about 35 years younger and about 70 pounds lighter ago…I was a student in high school and a member of the varsity track relay team.
As a track athlete, specifically a sprinter, I recall quite vividly a conversation with our sprint coach one day after track practice. Our coach, Cleothus Hudson, was an art teacher at the high school. But of far more importance to us as members of the relay team was that Coach Hudson had been an alternate in the Olympics in the 110-meter hurdles. Quite the resume, and now post-track career and settled into a life as an educator; he still looked very much the part. Tall, ‘cut’ and with those Olympic sprinter muscles filling out his shirt sleeves. Built a little like a young Hershal Walker but with the most perfectly manicured afro and in vogue clothes. He was always stylish and meticulously pressed.
In every practice, Coach Hudson was seen with his whistle around his neck and a green apple in his hand. He ate an apple during practice each day while coaching track. We all secretly aspired to be as fast, talented, and as put together as he was. Lofty aspirations for the four of us on the relay team, inspired by a coach more than worthy of our collective admiration and respect.
RECENT: If It Makes You Strong(er), It Makes You Strong(er)
Coach Hudson was a soft-spoken coach with a southern accent, self-assured presence and gravitas, yet who had a velvet delivery to his instruction with a vernacular and colloquialisms that perfectly displayed his southern upbringing. For those bodybuilder historians out there, he had that Lee Haney-Esque southern drawl that added to the mystique of his impressive build and the type of swagger that only someone who sprinted against the likes of Renaldo Nehemiah could possess. Far too cool, experienced, and valuable to be working with a group of high school sprinters. Having him as our sprint coach was sheer good luck on our parts. The turnover for high school students is a constant and a student’s varsity years in high school athletics are finite and fleeting. That said, Coach Hudson invested in us, he had a belief in us for those two years, and that belief was palpable. An amazing feeling and privilege bestowed onto us, still forming young people, from a man with such a revered athletic past.
Coach Hudson let the four of us know one day after the conclusion of a practice that we would be working with the long jump coach for a while starting the next day. He discussed how good sprinters could become good long jumpers and explained how more individual wins in a track meet equates to more total points. The goal being for the team to win as a whole vs. mere individual wins in individual races.
So the following day, the four of us did our warm-up drills, worked on our start out of the blocks, and baton exchanges all with Coach Hudson, then he handed us off to the long jump coach. He pointed while palming his green apple over to the long jump area located near the 300-meter mark of the track back in the grassy area—a familiar area beyond that curve of the track where the third leg of the 4x100 meter would hand off to the fourth leg of the team. There we found a long narrow runway that ended abruptly at the mouth of a long and deep pit of perfectly flat, smoothed out, and slightly damp sand.
Now gathered around the long jump pit, the long jump coach explained to the four of us that we were to run fast, basically sprint as fast as we can down that runway. He instructed us that we were to sprint hard all the way to a white board that was built flush into the runway. The board was located at the end of the runway and just a few feet before the sandpit. Once reaching that board, we were to leap as far as we could, up and out from that white wooden board, and land as far into the sandpit as possible. It seemed pretty simple; run fast, hit the board on the runway, leap, and land.
One by one, the four of us ran down the runway as fast as we could. When we reached the board, we jumped from it, leaping as far as we could, and landed into the pristinely raked sand in the pit. After each of the four of us jumped, the coach would take out this huge tape measure and measure from the end of the white runway board to the closest point of the disturbed sand in the long jump pit. There were a couple of 17-and-a-half foot attempts, several 18-and-a-half foot attempts, and one 19-footer as well. I distinctly recall how pleased the coach was. But as fans of Carl Lewis, who then was the Olympic long jump king and now a long jump legend, we thought those seemed like meager jumps at best. After all, Carl Lewis would leap and bicycle his legs while high up in the air, landing some 27 feet into the pit. Turns out that our jumps in the context of high school jumpers were solid leaps for a handful of first leaps. So we were excited, but mostly we were excited to go back and tell Coach Hudson.
Over and over that day, we all ran as fast as we could and hurled ourselves into the sandpit. The long jump coach who was working with us took measurement after measurement, and at the end of the practice, we had long jumped quite a few times, which was allowing him the time to note our technique or lack thereof.
With that day’s practice now over, the long jump coach then spoke with us as we all sat nearby, shaking the sand from inside our shoes, socks, and track shorts. He stated that he would teach us how to long jump properly and stated how his exemplary instruction and years of expert teaching would immediately result in a long jump averaging about two feet less of a jump for all of us. We laughed at his joke but immediately felt a little awkward when he didn’t laugh back. Looking at one another, we asked if he meant to say that with his exemplary instruction and years of expert teaching, that he would “add” two feet to our average jump. He responded seriously, “No, I mean exactly and precisely what I said. You will absolutely lose two feet as I am changing how you jump, and that will initially have a negative impact on how far you jump. Years as a long jump coach tell me this.” He continued, “That said, once you become accustomed to these changes, accustomed via jump after jump after jump coupled with the proper technique, religious-like consistency, and hard work, you will then add many additional feet to your current jump.”
His words could not have been more prophetic, as the more we worked with him over the next few days and weeks, the worse our jumps got, and the shorter the distance became. Our initial 17-and-a-half through 19-foot jumps turned into confounding and ever frustrating 16-foot jumps. Of course, that is when we were not completely overrunning the board, fouling, missing the board altogether, or having to stutter step to try and hit the board after losing speed and momentum in the process. This was a confounding process as we were literally re-learning how to properly do what we all initially felt was instinctual and second nature.
As time passed, our long jumps continued to get worse and worse. They got so bad and discouraging that the four of us talked after practice in the locker room about chucking the whole thing. Chucking the whole long jump practice. Basically, the plan was going to the meets to run, jump, and blow off all these new aspects to the jump. If we do that, we are sure to hit those original numbers and thus score more total points for the team in addition to all the relay points. After all, that was the point of this whole long jump thing, right? More points, right?
We greatly respected Coach Hudson, so we shared our plan with him. He listened intently to everything we said. Coach Hudson was the type of coach that would listen, truly listen; not listen waiting to then pounce in with an answer he had ready and waiting, but attentively listen to not only what we said, but how we said it. He'd consider where we were in the thinking process and where we as young people and individuals were in our journey as aspiring athletes.
After hearing all we said, Coach Hudson let some silent time pass, making sure we had said all that we felt needed to be said. After a long break in the conversation, he then spoke. He spoke at length that day and that conversation took up the entirety of our practice. As he knew from his own personal experience working with coaches on the US Olympic team, practice involves more than just the physical aspects of training, but the understanding of why we do certain things in training. That in order to excel in something, one must first believe in that something as conveyed by someone who believed in them. He knew that there was and is a world of difference between taking a leap of faith and having faith. Faith knowing the person saying to take the leap had made that leap themselves, succeeded in that leap, and that they also believe in your ability to make that same leap.
At the end of the day, Coach Hudson encouraged us to fight that urge to go the easy route but to stick with the more difficult path. “If it were easy,” he stated, “everyone would be a great long jumper.” But more importantly, know that sometimes things come easy to those who might be a little more talented. Yet it is the athlete who works harder and stays the course that often becomes the victor even over the more talented athlete.” Finally, he added that when talent and hard work are combined, that is what makes a very formidable athlete.
Coach Hudson had a way of packing a huge lesson into small little sound bites. Each sound bite was espoused as he took bites from his green apple.
After talking with Coach Hudson, the four of us absolutely committed to learning the correct, albeit frustrating proper long jump technique. For us, it wasn’t so much about understanding that technique was the key, that things take time, or that practice makes perfect. Those aspects, all which are individually true, were lost on four 17-18-year-olds. For us, what was true was that our coach, our own personal track hero believed in us. So we did the right thing for our long jumps, not because we suddenly understood what it took to become better jumpers, but because we believed in the words of the man who believed in the four of us. Said another way, the lesson Coach Hudson was teaching was absolute in its truth and steeped in the experience and lessons learned of an Olympian. But what was the selling point for us was that the information was coming from someone who truly felt we accomplish this task.
Outstanding lessons from highly trained and experienced coaches, regardless of the truth and value of the lesson or educational prowess of the coach and teacher, are often lost on their athlete. Lost as lessons without a belief in that coach, that mentor, that teacher are, to an extent, hollow. Those lessons, even from the most experienced coaches, will only be followed up to a point, and that point is typically when the road gets rough. The athlete feels like reverting to something that seems to have worked better than this new thing, be it a new technique, a new program, a new training cycle, etc. We didn’t follow through with Coach Hudson’s instructions merely because he was an Olympian; we followed through because he was an Olympian who believed in us, and we then trusted him completely.
Our collective long jump was just shy of 20 feet by season's end, with one jump over 22 feet. I would love to say the 22 footer was mine, but alas, that is not the case.
Now some three decades later, since my experiences with Coach Hudson, I find myself having powerlifted since 1989, and I have been an assistant principal in a high school since the 1990s. That is a good chunk of time working with powerlifters, with students, parents, staff members, and community members. The story of Coach Hudson serves to illustrate one of the truths that has stood the test of time with regard to working with strength athletes, powerlifters, students, and people in general. That truth is stated best in a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. That quote is this, “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” The four of us young people in the Coach Hudson story did not believe in the long jump methods being taught as the results proved counterintuitive to the lesson. But, because there was a belief in the coach, the lessons were adhered to until that time when the lessons began to manifest, eventually leading to our exponential success as jumps in addition to sprinters.
Roosevelt’s quote and lessons of the Coach Hudson’s of the world hold true regardless of age, skill level, athletic prowess, experience, years in the sport, and prior success. They hold true regardless of these or any other variables. They hold true because regardless of variables, the constants involved is that all of humanity individually yet universally falls in place somewhere under Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. More on Maslow in a moment.
The question often arises from fledgling coaches is, “Does this mean that as a coach, you need to have a soft-spoken demeanor or a Mr. Roger’s or an affect like a Coach Hudson?” The answer to this question is clearly no, as countless numbers of amazingly successful coaches come in all forms of demeanor. Jackie Joyner Kersee, one of the greatest American Olympians ever, was coached by her husband, Bob Kersee. Bob was brutally honest with her, and he was hardly a soft-spoken person, often doing more shouting than talking while coaching her, Florence Griffith Joyner, and other Olympic female greats. But as her coach, he put her future success as his number one mission in life. Jackie Joyner Kersee knew that as her coach, Bob Kersee was all in, that he believed in her ability, and it was his passion, his drive, and his relentless focus on her success that was the compelling factor to stay his course when she was unsure of his methodology. As the holder of the title, Greatest Woman Athlete of All Time by Sports Illustrated, the combination of her monumental and herculean efforts combined with listening to, following, and sticking with his training program and all aspects of his coaching was the winning combination.
Coaches, teachers, and mentors all come in all different types with all different personalities and styles: the Phil Jackson, Cus D'Amato, Vince Lombardi, Pat Summitt, Ernie Frantz, Louie Simmons, Dave Tate, or the Ed Coan type of coaching style. Whomever and whatever the coach's style, the athlete, the pupil, and the student needs to believe in their coach, especially when they might not even be able to believe in themselves. Rookie coaches, much like fresh out of college teachers are often of the belief that being hard on the pupil is the way to hammer in the point of the lesson. These coaches are easy to spot as they focus on themselves and how they come across to their clients/students. Unless they evolve, these coaches will continue to miss the point that it is about truly believing in your pupil/athlete/mentee first, having them pick up on this belief, then delivering content be that technique, program, etc. through their own unique style and presentation. Coaching is never about the coach; it is always about those being coached.
Great coaches bring the best out of their athletes because of their symbiotic relationship, coupled with an absolute belief in their athlete. This is the reason why the teacher is as important as the lesson; the coach is as important as the plan. One without the other is a half-empty vessel, merely a how-to book, or an instructional Youtube video. If it were just about the lesson, then every athlete would be great after reading a helpful pamphlet on the topic.
As a side note, I submit to you that the term coach is tossed around incorrectly and frivolously. The word coach has, over the years, lost the weightiness it once deserved. The word coach is currently used by anyone who spent $500, read a book, passed an exam, and now has a sheet of paper with the words “certified trainer” on it. A certified trainer and a coach are very much not the same thing, but that is a story for another time…
Regardless of the depth of experience you have, the technical prowess you possess, your years or decades in the sport, the volume of books you have read, or the sheer number of clients you have worked with, if your client doesn’t first believe that you believe in them, then the potential of that lifter under your care has been compromised before their journey has even begun.
Coaching, as with so many aspects of humanity, starts with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Without those essential needs, those foundational pieces firmly in place, the athlete never sticks with or fully commits to the plan when the plan inevitably gets tough. Maslow’s motivational theory is still touted to this day as the structured approach to becoming self-actualized.
I submit that for the athlete to achieve their greatest success, their fullest potential, they are absolutely dependent in some way, shape, or form on their exposure to someone who knows more than they do about their sport. But, the knowledge hosted in that other person will always fall short when shared. It will merely be a suggestion until the coach first reaches their athlete as a person, discovering where they are within Maslow’s hierarchy, and becoming that coach the athlete believes in—as the coach in return believes in the athlete.
Without fulfilling those essential basic needs as adapted for this relationship, the athlete never gets to that all so critical point where effort, technique, consistency, intensity, work ethic, athleticism, and belief in their coach intersect. It is at that ever so crucial intersection of the athlete’s ability, when steeped in a foundation of believing in the coach, that makes all the difference in the world.
What new-to-the-sport lifters fail to recognize due to their lack of experience is not just sometimes, but most times, it takes making one step backward to take two giant leaps forward. Sometimes, for instance, it takes changing one's poor squat form, where they can easily squat 500 pounds, and changing that form to a technically sound form that will, through time, effort, consistency, and hard work, evolve into a 700-pound squat. But that growth and strength and power comes at the expense of the lifter’s current numbers, and that is what they need to understand and get past. Knowing you can, right here and now, muscle up a 500-pound squat with a bent-over back and collapsing inward knees but never quite getting any better is often more attractive to a new lifter than committing to being a 365-pound squatter who is working on their technique—and working their way back up slowly to again be a 500-pound squatter, but now with superior technique. It is easy for the ego side of us to rule over the side of us that can see the bigger picture of strength and power two years from now. There is no “great technique powder, just add water,” just as there is no “Secret Russian Formula” to get strong, powerful, and fast in 30 days or your money back.
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This is an all sports occurrence and often results in the average athlete falling back to the prior poor but temporarily effective habits. They have been told, shown, demonstrated the new form, but it just won’t stick as they were having greater success before. They don’t take that sound advice from the person playing the role of a coach. When the lesson sticks is when the athlete who does not believe in the technique or the program, or who is following the steps but not yet seeing results continues to work at it as they believe in their coach and believe that in the end, this new form, technique, program will come through for them as the coach does in fact believe in them, in addition to having the background of experience. Because the athlete believes in their coach, they continue with the currently non-working plan until it does. They continue until their proverbial long jump increases those several illusive feet into the pristine pit of dampened sand.
As athletes and lifters, many of us have been fortunate to have had a Coach Hudson in our lives. Some of us have been favored to have more than one amazing coach as I reflect on my experiences with Ernie Frantz. These coaches/mentors have proven to be living illustrations of what we can be as coaches and as what our athletes, clients deserve as the pupils.
The strongman, powerlifting, or bodybuilding coach must essentially develop the gravitas of a Coach Hudson, which in part is due to the experience of having been there and done that. They need to be able to walk the training talk. But more importantly, couple that real-life experience with the ability to access the confidence of your athlete clients to trust you and stay the course. That takes effort on the coach's part and is mutually exclusive from just experience notches on their lifting belt.
The strongman, powerlifting, or bodybuilder, must not merely settle but search to find a coach that embodies these aforementioned traits. Traits of real-life experience, experience beyond the theoretical frequently pontificated about in personal trainer manuals. Traits, however, that also exist beyond the mere experiences or success in the sport. Traits such as the ability to see the best in the athlete and believe that the athlete can reach their fullest strength, power, and muscle potential.
For the coach, knowledge is requisite, but being able to present that knowledge in a way that is tied, blended, and conjoined with their perceivable belief in their athlete is an art form in and of itself. An art form where knowledge meets presentation meets bringing the best out of the athlete and allowing them to feel self-assured enough to take calculated and smart risks. That step into the unknown where the road you have them on is a long one where one step back to ultimately take two giant leaps forward takes time and a strong belief when their prior way was yielding greater benefits.
If you are a new coach/mentor, strive to develop all of these aspects to benefit your athlete clients. If you are the pupil, do your part and seek out only those to mentor and coach you that have not only the real-life experience, who believe in your ability to succeed beyond even your own goals, but also one who possesses that all too elusive ability to convey that experience and knowledge—in a way that will bring out the best in you as you combine that knowledge with hard work, consistency, and a passion and love of your weights laden sport.
Although few in numbers, there are still the coach Hudsons of the world out there, and they make all the difference. We are collectively thankful for them. Thank you for believing in us so we could then believe in the process, the journey, and ultimately become the best versions of ourselves.
Wishing you the best in your training and competition prep. Ever Onward.
As athletes and lifters, many of us have been fortunate to have had a great coach in our lives—we are collectively thankful. Without someone like this in your life, would you tweak squat form to go from a 500-pound squat to a temporary 365-pound squat? What if that 365-pound squat evolved into a 700-pound squat?
You might be familiar with the story of Priorities and a Jar. It is a story that has been around for a good while, but worth a quick re-telling to set the stage for what we mean by If It Makes You Strong(er), It Makes You Strong(er).
The story goes like this...
[A professor of philosophy stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about two inches in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was full.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and watched as the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asked the students again if the jar was full. They chuckled and agreed that it was indeed full this time.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining open areas of the jar.
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar signifies your life. The rocks are the truly important things, such as family, health, and relationships. If all else was lost and only the rocks remained, your life would still be meaningful. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life, such as work or school. The sand signifies the remaining “small stuff” and material possessions. If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. The same can be applied to your lives. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are truly important.]
This lesson helps illustrate the priorities in life, but with regard to training and especially for elitefts readers who are newer to the strength and power scene, it is quite apropos as it relates directly to our journey of becoming strong(er). Those who have been in the strength game for some years or decades will espouse, if a movement makes you strong(er), then that movement makes you globally/holistically/comprehensively strong(er).
So the question becomes, is there a competing interest for movements that individually make you strong(er) but perhaps in conjunction with the goals of competition, might work against becoming as strong as possible with regard to a specific strength movement within that context of competition?
For example, a newer or intermediate lifter might ask, "Might flipping tires make me strong(er), would training with Atlas Stones make me strong(er), will those smaller ancillary movements like a side-lat raise or some type of biceps curl make me strong(er)?
The answer to these questions is "Yes," because repetitively lifting something will make you globally and holistically strong(er) as that is one of the effects of progressive work on skeletal muscles. So perhaps the better question while reflecting on the philosopher's story is, how much of the jar should these non-powerlifting movements fill and which of our training lifts are the rocks, which movements are the pebbles, and which exercises are the sand?
With regard to powerlifting, the big rocks, those most important priorities are the squat, bench press, and the deadlift. They are in fact the bedrock (pun intended) of your strength and power development with regard to powerlifting. These are the lifts that will be tested at the meet and the three lifts that ultimately will comprise your total. We are competing against ourselves as we strive to attain the largest total possible while simultaneously measuring ourselves against our fellow competitors.
That said, some of the pebbles are also critical to becoming globally strong(er) but more so in a symbiotic way. With powerlifting, these ancillary movements (pebbles) make for the strong(er) rocks (squat, bench press, deadlift).
When it comes to exercises like the tire flip or Atlas Stones, those are movements that build strength and also add to the power and strength of the big three powerlifting movements as they make the lifters globally strong(er). Still, these are pebbles to be leary of as too many or much of these movements will ultimately produce a point of diminishing returns. For a powerlifter, a movement can make you overall strong(er) but can simultaneously hurt the top end of some specific lifts. It is this situation that we find most of the newer to the sport lifters taking their missteps. These are the lifters with love for all things weights and strength. These are the lifters who have passion for the gym, power, and muscle. Yet, these are the lifters we often lose as they either get injured, burn out, or see no progress as their zeal to train overshadows their knowledge of when to say when and to know how much is too much. They don't know when to train vs. back off as those aspects relate to the end goal of a larger total.
So knowing what movements are your big rocks, pebbles, and such are essential, but also knowing the duration and volume of these elements are key too.
The passion and work ethic we see in some newer lifters to the world of powerlifting is fantastic, as they are embarking on a potentially life-long journey of self-improvement, strength, power, muscle, competition, and one day, giving back with regard to lessons learned ala Live, Learn and Pass On. But that passion alone is not enough. That passion should also be honed, tempered, and focused so the energy is applied appropriately to the sport. If It Makes You Strong(er), It Makes You Strong(er) is true but does not necessarily equate to the best possible total at the competition.
In your training template, one must have a good grasp on the type of object you are putting into your training jar and how those objects work with the larger movements/rocks (like the squat, bench and deadlift, but not against the squat, bench press and deadlift). The moment your squat training begins to suffer because your back has not recovered from a movement like Atlas Stones or bent-over rows, then you need to re-calibrate.
Stones, bent-over rows, and other movements can provide enhancement to the squat, but when those movements become the rock vs. the pebbles, that is when too much of a priority has been placed on them. This can be the case for everything in the world of strength and power.
Each aspect of our training, rest, nutrition, sleep, recuperation, and the like needs to be prioritized in the proverbial jar. Each has a figurative volume control knob on it, and all aspects of our power journey should not be redlined at a volume level of ten. If so, the potential of a life-long journey of ever-increasing numbers instead merely becomes a one-way ticket to injury, stagnation, and a failure to reach our fullest potential.
In closing, going back to the original intent of the philosopher's lesson intent of the jar, part of our powerlifting journey, not just the training aspects, must find balance in the jar.
"...recognize that this jar signifies your life. The rocks are the truly important things, such as family, health, and relationships."
If the only rocks in the jar of one's life are training alone, that too will produce sub-maximal results.
Over my three decades in this glorious sport of powerlifting, I have seen that misstep time and again. The passion to be great under the bar without the balance of training, family, work, friends, and spirituality leads to an imbalance in the jar, and those lifters rarely ever last. Further, the time they are competitive, unfortunately, does not reach a level proportional to their actual potential.
Life-long lifters with a road behind them full of PRs, championships, experiences, constant increases in their totals, and a book filled with satisfying life experiences and friendship attained in this sport have both their jar of life priorities and training priorities well balanced. Proverbial life jars and lifting jars balanced with the proper blend of rocks, pebbles, and sand have always produced the best lifters living their best lives. One without the other only serves to dilute from the success potential of the lifter.
For you, the newer or intermediate level lifter, take time during this pandemic when there is an inordinate amount of time to think, and truly take this time and reflect on all aspects of your training. Is your pursuit of becoming globally and holistically strong succeeding? Does the balance need to be adjusted, so becoming strong(er) holistically is not inadvertently causing a decrease to the three lifts?
There are no secrets to this sport, but there are universal truths (the importance of hard work and dedication being two of these truths). The one universal truth of powerlifting is there needs to be a smart balance of priorities in both one's life plan and one's training plan. Make the time to align those priorities and become the absolute best you can be and be so for a lifetime.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep. Ever onward.
The only way I know how to explain this concept is by retelling the familiar story of Priorities and a Jar. What are you filling your empty jar with?
Records keep falling. The all-time records list continues to be updated. So, powerlifters are strong(er) today than ever, right? Maybe, maybe not.
The falling records are a reflection of a few things. First, they are a reflection of the incredibly hard work, dedication, and consistency of the lifters who have honed their technique and who have a drive and determination to compete and win. It is a reflection of the individuals who have combined their physical prowess with the mental focus required to reach powerlifting's upper echelon. It is a reflection of years and or decades of ever onward thinking in this body violent (meaning coming back from injury after injury) sport.
What falling records are also a reflection of is the ever-evolving equipment and tools of the industry that is competitive powerlifting—equipment like the: legendary Pasanella bar, the monolift, the poly shirts, suits and briefs, the wider uprights and bench pads on the modern bench press, the thinner longer deadlift bars, the thicker and longer bench press bars, casting knee sleeves, and the like.
For sure, the top powerlifters today are at the tip of the pyramid of power. They represent the pinnacle of strength for this given frame of time. But they also represent the status of equipment the industry fabricates today.
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Before we get into all of that, let me make a quick and simple comparison and contrast of two gifted athletes from two different eras. Both are the best in the world during their era, but watch how the equipment and technology catapults one gifted athlete beyond his counterpart from an earlier era.
In this case, we are talking about the legendary Jesse Owens and his blistering fast 10.3-second hundred-meter race some 80 years ago during the Berlin Olympics in 1939. We juxtapose this with Usain Bolt's 9.63-second Olympic record. As stated prior, when you reflect on the two men, you have two champions. You have two genetically gifted individuals who complimented the genetic gifts from their parents with hard work, training, dedication, devotion, mental focus, and a drive to excel, overcome, win, and ultimately become the best on the planet at that time.
Diving deeper, however, although there are so many similarities between these two champions, the tools at their disposal to get these records are vastly different—a stark difference in the time it took each of them to get from the start to the 100 meters to the finish line. Meaning, both were the champions of their era, but the difference in their time, not their speed, is marked by the tools available.
Those of us who were sprinters in high school or college know that the start of a sprint is of critical importance as there is not the distance to make up for a slow start in such a short race. But looking at the tools for this start is the first difference between these two sprinters. Usain Bolt used the best starting blocks made, the industry-leading blocks, and they served him well as he (a notoriously slow starter) blasted out of the blocks, and then his feet hit the highly engineered and fabricated track surface. With regard to Jesse Owens' starting blocks, well, he had none. Jesse went from nothing to push off of, onto a track not composed of the fastest running surface ever engineered, but onto a cinder track composed of burned wood and ran his 100 meters in the day's heavy leather shoes with the ultra-long cinder spikes required for that surface. Picture the difference of running on a track vs. running on the loose sand on a beach, and you get the point.
Those are the obvious differences. Throw in the recuperative advantages that a Usain Bolt and current athletes have such as ultrasound, Russian stim, micro-current, the Game Ready machine, and each workout becomes exponentially more beneficial building on the prior workouts. Toss in some nutritional supplements and the like, and you start to wonder, how fast would Jesse have run that same race if he were afforded within these advanced technical parameters.
So you get the point: same amazing athletes, totally different training, and competitive equipment and means.
To get back to the sport of powerlifting, the same holds true for today's powerlifting greats. Take a Lee Moran. Don't know that name? Google it. Part of being a well-rounded powerlifter is to know where your sport came from and his 1,000-pound squat. To this day, strapping a grand on your back and squatting down with it is a whole different league of lifter. Now make that 1,000-pound lift on an old fashioned barbell (think corporate gym bar), not the longer and thicker bars of today (which are the evolution of the Pasanella bar), think singlet and think walking it out with that bar bouncing and whipping. Today's powerlifter squatting a grand with a squat suit, monolift, modern wraps, and a 55-pound or 65-pound extra thick and long bar is still fairly rare and always amazing. Put that same lifter today, but in the conditions Lee Moran faced. Now that amazing feat becomes phenomenal.
This comparison doesn't take anything away from the modern era 1,000-pound squatter, but what it does do is illustrate that the human body, the training methodology, the DNA of a lifter hasn't changed, but the apparatus surrounding that lifter has. One could make a compelling argument that the old-style training methods are better as guys were squatting a grand with inferior equipment. Food for thought for all those program hoppers we all know.
Ted Arcidi is another great example. This is a lifter who in 1985 slipped on, like a t-shirt, his "bench shirt" and pressed out a massive 705 pounds. This press was also done with a standard barbell. To this day, very few have pressed 700 pounds RAW, never mind doing it with a substandard barbell.
This takes nothing away from today's 700-800-900-1000-pound shirted bencher; it just provides perspective.
The takeaway from this is that records will continue to be broken as more people compete—the larger the pool of athletes, the greater the gene pool of strength under the bar and on the platform. RAW records will also continue to fall, also by the increasing pool of lifters, but also the equipment. Ed Coan's 901-pound deadlift, after squatting (deep), benching is a great achievement. That number has been bested in a meet once, but then again, we look at the bars today vs. the bar fabricated in the late 1980s he pulled his 901 pounds with...
The best today is the best today, just as the best from the '70s, '80s, and '90s were the best in their era. We take nothing away from the lifters at the zenith of the sport regardless of their era. Still, it behooves us to see the bigger picture as bigger numbers today do not necessarily translate to the training methods or programs of today being better.
What makes a champion is what has always made a champion and that is the person using the method, not so much the method itself. As I share with my newer-to-the-sport lifters at my gym, if there was a superior training method, everyone would be the strongest. What makes the difference is not a program that can be viewed on a computer or read in a book. What makes the difference is what cannot be seen, and that is the heart and soul of the lifter. What is unseen is the absolute dedication, devotion, consistency, intensity, recovery, and persistence all wrapped around the genetic prowess of the lifter.
Unless you begin to see RAW (no wraps) lifters using the older bars and equipment smashing all-time records left and right, don't dismiss so quickly the training methods of those champions and record holders from two, three, four or five decades ago.
The first Indianapolis 500 showed an average speed of 70mps. Last year's Indy, the average speed was 175mph. Indy 500 drivers didn't just become better drivers; the technology is what has evolved. As humans, we have been evolving ever so slowly over the past 200,000 years. So it is mathematically and scientifically improbable that within the last twenty years, humans' DNA changed so drastically that their total, collectively, is many hundreds of pounds greater. That is simply not the case.
We, as a species, strive to become the strong(est) version of ourselves, competing against our own DNA. As we do, we utilize the modern tools of the trade to our advantage: the elitefts monolifts, Mastodon bars, Texas deadlift bars, and squat suits. So keep in mind, the contest has always been you against you. As you continue down that journey, look beyond methods and training tools of the here and now. Newer is not always better. You owe it to yourself not to miss out on something that is tried and true vs. shiny and new.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep!
Is it mathematically and scientifically probable that within the last twenty years, humans’ DNA changed so drastically that their total, collectively, is many hundreds of pounds greater?
I hope this article finds you and your family well and with gyms beginning to open, ready to get back after it.
For many serious lifters, this is the longest they have ever been away from heavy training without being injured. Being away from the gym for a time can have some positive merits: Gives the body a chance to heal, allows lifters to reprioritize their training goals, gives a new updated perspective on the sport as a whole, provides a time to focus on nutrition, and provides time to create or modify one's training program.
That said, in this case, we are talking about an extensive break, and that can be a dangerous thing. For the weekend warrior who kinda-sorta trains, but more so works out, this extensive break means they can come back hard and, for the most part, merely face being really, really sore. One can get over being really, really sore.
For the serious lifter, however, coming back hard could spell injury as some will come back like they never left as if there was no extensive time away from the big weights. These more serious strength athletes have far more power involvement and muscle recruitment involved when lifting than the average Joe or weekend warrior.
As I reflect (waaaay back) when I was competing quite a bit and training very heavy, I sustained a quad injury. Nothing detached, but a muscle tear, serious enough to put me on the sidelines for a few months.
When I came back, I jumped right back into heavy deadlifts. During this particular workout, I worked right up to what was typically my final warm-up weight prior to attempt number one in a competition. So I loaded up the bar and took the easy 605 pounds. Even with the time off, I was still strong; 605 pounds felt like 305 pounds, and the weight popped off the floor like nothing. The problem being, my bicep tendon popped as well.
What I learned then and which is 20-20 hindsight now, is that the tendons are always working and are built stronger with the big ballistic power movements. Explosive moves like the deadlift. They have been worked and trained and tested for your whole lifting life, many days per week for years and years or decades. But when you are laid off for an injury, you are still training other muscles but maybe in a more hypertrophic manner. So the muscle continues to be worked and trained and continues to grow larger and somewhat strong(er). On the other hand, the tendon is not being called upon to move extreme loads that built its strength over the years.
So with so many gyms closed, those not training heavy (either they don’t have the equipment or the spotters) found something to lift, and that typically equates to reps and some hypertrophy training so at least the muscles are being worked.
As you head back to the gym (depending on the state), my recommendation is to heed this advice. Keep the volume higher and the weight lower for a time to allow the tendons to rebuild their tensile strength as developing a larger hypertrophied muscle does not mean the tendon is growing stronger in proportion to the muscle size.
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Said another way, if you deadlift 700 pounds, you have built your tendons from the time you were pulling just 500 pounds, and as the weight progressed over the years, so did your tendon strength. So an inordinately large layoff can be something to carefully plan for when coming back.
Serious powerlifters want big weights, and that is why they are serious. So consider taking the time to invest the extra time crescendoing up into the bigger weights. Not taking the time now means, unfortunately, you might have to make the time to wait out another chunk of time as a result of a blown pec, or quad or bicep tendon.
This was the good advice my mentor and powerlifting legend Ernie Frantz gave to me some 20 years ago when I had come back from that aforementioned quad tear. It was the good advice that I did not take at the time, and that resulted in even more time away from the gym due to the surgery and subsequent recovery. From that point on, I listened to and adhered to everything that Ernie would say about training, and it has always proved to be the road to follow. Ernie would often say, be aggressive with your lifting. Be very aggressive, but don’t be foolish. So with gyms re-opening, I share with you his sage advice to me.
Food for thought as you make your return to the gym. Stay well, stay strong. Ever Onward.
This was the good advice my mentor and powerlifting legend Ernie Frantz gave to me some 20 years ago when I had come back from a quad tear.
For those new to the sport of powerlifting, more specifically, competitive powerlifting, the warm-up area at a meet can be a tumultuous place. In my opinion, the warm-up room at a powerlifting meet is best described as controlled chaos. This is especially true if the meet is a large-scale meet.
A great example of this is the annual APF Illinois State Powerlifting Championships. This meet is typically a two-day affair and at the meet traditionally there are a couple hundred lifters competing. This particular annual meet I have competed many, many times, coached many times, and even hosted a few times back in the late 90s, early 2000s. This meet has a rich tradition and over the decades has been well attended. Being that Illinois is the land of Frantz powerlifting, it only makes sense that with the gravitas of the Frantz history to it and his impact on powerlifting in this state that the APF State Meet is a packed-house event.
This particular meet is now and has been for many years run by Eric and Jackie Stone as well as the APF’s secret weapon, Amy Jackson. Because of these three individuals, this particular meet runs like a well-oiled machine. Two days of multiple platforms, hundreds of lifters, and at the end of the weekend, the meet was virtually flawless with no misloads and no issues. The three meet directors control every and all of the competition variables, and no detail gets missed.
That, however, is the platform side of the meet. The warm-up area—now that is a totally different story. The warm-up area is something that is out of the control of the meet directors beyond the equipment that they might supply and their postings of flights and lifter orders.
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The point is, no matter how perfectly a meet is run, the warm-up room is chaotic. It is a place where all the lifters go in mass, and it is a critical ingredient with regard to your success or failure at the meet. The warm-up area is where all of the lifters’ friends, the lifters’ buddies, the lifters’ pals, hangers-on, and frankly too many non-lifters who have no business in the warm-up room come to occupy. The warm-up area is the area where the vast majority of the meet’s lifters camp.
The warm-up area is packed full because there are always lifters warming up, there are always lifters waiting for their flights, lifters who have just lifted, lifters who are changing from squat suits to bench shirts or from their bench shirts to their deadlift suits, lifters who are eating in between flights, lifters who are talking strategy, lifters who are stretching out, or lifters just sitting there dejected after injuries or bombing out.
Larger meets like the aforementioned APF IL State Powerlifting Championships always have small groups of exceptional lifters competing at the meets. These are the lifters who are at the top of the pyramid and represent part of the backbone and stability of the APF in the state of Illinois. These powerlifters are at the top of the powerlifting food chain if you will. These are the chalk-laden warriors who make our sport and who have competed for years and in some cases for decades. These veteran powerlifters know exactly what they want to do in the meet, they know the protocol for the warm-up area and they are the skilled athletes that make meets like this worth coming to. They are the powerlifters using this state meet and similar meets as a warm-up or run-up to the big WPC and WPO meets. They are the successful, the pillars, the good examples for the newer lifters to emulate and learn from. They embody the mantra of “Live, Learn, and Pass On.”
Then, there are the newer-to-the-sport lifters at this meet. These are the lifters with little if any competitive experience that we welcome with open arms to the sport. But as welcome as they are, these are also the unintentional creators of the aforementioned chaos, part of the controlled chaos in the warm-up area.
To digress for a moment, the reason I mention state meets for the controlled chaos warm-up areas is that those are solid, often large meets and are often packed with newer lifters. It is at the more prestigious meets requiring given totals or placings, such as the WPC Worlds, the WPO meets, the APF Senior Nationals, and the like, that the more meet-savvy lifter, the more veteran lifter, the more polished lifter, the more experienced lifter competes in. As they have more road under their belts, those meets have far less overall chaos in the warm-up area.
It is when the newer-to-competition lifters come into the warm-up room that the room becomes chaotic. Once the chaos begins, the warm-up room can go from the warm-up area to free for all, and that is when tempers can flare. That is mostly happening with the more veteran lifters, who are now getting frustrated with the disorganized process, as it is interfering with their warm-ups. For those lifters, warm-ups are often critical lead-ups to attempts that can either break records or break the lifter.
There are countless reasons for the disorganization in the warm-up room, and hopefully, some of this information will help those new or newer to the competition scene to survive in the warm-up area and benefit from it, as to how one’s warm-up go is often what sets the stage for the work that will come on the platform. Hopefully, this will also serve to provide a template of information that will keep that warm-up area a little more orderly, keep it safer, and keep the more pro lifters from having to blow their stacks when the newbie to the sport starts to unload the 900-pound bar to take some empty bar warm-ups as the pro lifter is getting his or her knees wrapped. If you have been around for a time, you have seen this all too many times.
For the newer person to the competitive aspect of sport lifter, to whom this article is addressed, warm-ups are the linchpin to success for nine attempts. If you get your timing wrong, you might not be warmed up enough, and you might end up having to make too large of a jump to get to your opener. And we all know that the body can, when warmed up properly, lift some 30 percent more than when lifting cold.
There are a number of warm-up area issues that can contribute to the chaos, and we will address some so that you can avoid these issues in your next meet’s warm-up area.
Something to keep in mind is that warm-up attempts in a warm-up room are a whole lot of “hurry up and wait.” Unlike your gym, where you can do a warm-up at your leisure, the warm-up room is a combination of getting work in when you can and keep an eye on either the clock if you are in the first flight, or the flight if you are not in the first flight. You need to be ready when the meet judges are ready to start the flight, and that means it is better to err on the side of over-warmed up (you can always rest after the squat and prior to the bench) than to not be warmed up enough. The more meets you do, the better you will be at your timing, but that will not be the case for your first few meets.
In the warm-up room, there will be some squat racks, and hopefully some monolifts, some plates, and some bars. As a newer-to-the-competitive-scene powerlifter, try to grab an area when you get to the warm-up room where you can easily get to your stuff and where you will camp in between flights. But make it not so much in the beaten path that everyone is trampling around you, your food, and your lifting gear, and basically getting in your way as you are in theirs.
With regard to the squat racks, bars, and weights in the warm-up area, try to find the one that best matches what you are going to do on the platform. If you are going to walk the weight out on the platform, don’t take up space in the warm-ups at a monolift.
For the been-there-done-that, 800+ pound squatters, they try to pick the best bar in the warm-up area. The bar they warm up with can make a difference in their warm-up lifts. Most warm-up rooms have those slick, whippy corporate gym bars, and one or two good Texas power bars. If you are a newer lifter, the bar will not matter so much for you. That said, if you are a newer lifter but you happen to squat 600 pounds or more, look for the better bars as well, or better yet, warm up with the stronger lifters so as not to waste time for the 200- to 500-pound lifters who have to wait for your larger weights to be loaded when the majority of them are all within a 50-pound span of one another.
While you are choosing a barbell for your warm-up squats, grab collars, too. Meet warm-up areas seem to always lack enough collars. Remember that there are also people warming up on the bench for the bench-only portion of the meet, and that means more people warming up and using collars.
Take time to gather all of the plates you will need for your warm-ups. Having plates set up next to your squat rack means that you are not having to go search for plates while you and the other lifters are trying to get their warm-ups in. That said, once lifters are warming up at their racks, do not take weights from around their racks that they have gathered. In other words, be on time to the warm-up area, and don’t take plates from those in the throws of warming up. That is only going to cause conflict, and conflict in the warm-up area means attention goes from warming up to drama. Nobody wants that.
Know your warm-ups, and better yet, warm up during your meet prep at your gym like you will do at the meet. My personal advice is, if you can, warm up with 25s and 45s so that you are not needing 2s or 5s. Those little plates might as well be like gold in a warm-up area, as they are often rare finds and, like gold, just as precious. Bigger lifters will be fine with this, but if you are newer or still under that 400-pound squat threshold, you might have to grab those 2s and 5s. That means you need to get in that warm-up room on time or early and hunt them down and have them at your rack so that you can use them for your warm-ups.
With the warm-ups, look at the group of lifters sharing your warm-up rack. Either you or your handler can be assertive and get an order among that group, ask who is taking a plate, then who is taking a plate and a quarter, then who is taking two plates, and the process continues. Also, look at the caliber of the lifters around you. If you are a 148-pound novice lifter, avoid if at all possible warming up at a rack or monolift with the 275-pound lifters who are going to be lifting a lot more than you. This is for the benefit of you and those larger, strong(er) powerlifters.
If you are going to wrap your knees for a warm-up, be wrapping when the lifter in front of you is approaching the bar, as you want to be wrapped and ready when it is your time to warm up. This makes the warm-up room like a little mini-meet, where there is an order and where the weights go up until they need to come back down.
You should be prepared for that one lifter who will inevitably show up late to throw a wrench in the whole thing, and you should also not be that lifter. In my competitions, I have asked those late to the warm-up room to use other racks where the lifting is just starting or their weights are lower and the person can get in their 135, 185, 225, etc., on another rack rather than ruin the flow of your already established group has going. I am not saying to be rude or pushy or exclusionary, but realistically, if your group is at 500 pounds in the warm-ups and the new lifters want to take the empty bar, move them along or they can wait till there is a lull in the progression as the weight gets heavier. But by all means, do not be that lifter showing up late and wanting to stop the show for you.
While we are talking about the issues to avoid in the warm-up area, I have to include something that is a newer issue, and I almost can’t believe it has to be stated, but alas, it does. For God’s sake, keep your phone out of the warm-up room. Post, text, film, apply a filter, do all of that lemming and sheep and socialookatmedia stuff after the meet. The warm-up room and the platform are for the shepherds and lions of the sport. Stay in the moment, and pay attention, as the warm-up room has a life of its own, and the last thing you want to do is be slowed down by some socialookatmedia clown. That said, do not allow yourself to be that socialookatmedia clown that every other lifter warming up is waiting on. Know that if you are “that” lifter, the serious lifters already know that since you can’t stay off your phone, even on meet day, you are actually tonight's dinner for the serious lifters, and serious lifters love nice and tender mutton. So yeah, do not be that lifter in the weight room.
I tell my newer lifters the following: “Know your rack height in inches.” Here are the specifics in this article. The short version is this….after your heavy squat at the gym, measure the distance with a tape measure from the bottom of the barbell while it is still in the rack/monolift you just took your heavy squat from and measure down to the floor. That distance between the floor and the bottom of your barbell is your rack height in inches. Take your tape measure to the meet so instead of trying to guesstimate how low or high to make the squat rack pins or how low or high to set the monolift, just pull out that tape measure, and set the bar at your known and measured rack height and you are ready. Don’t cause delays trying to figure out the right height when others are ready to go.
Those who don’t measure ahead of time can wait forever in a long line, and when they get up to the bar and monolift, they can try to simulate where they think their stance is while dressed in sweats and under an empty bar. But you can walk up to that monolift, pull out your tape measure, have your exact inches of metal tape showing, bring the bar to that level of the tape, and glance over at the pinhole… done! You are off to warm up while the masses are in line for another 30 minutes. Even after their long 30 minutes, all they end up with is a best guess of where the bar should actually go. In other words, a mere approximation of that perfect bar setting that they have used so successfully at their gym for so very long. Make sense? So, measure your squat bar height so that you are not the lifter everyone is waiting on, and of equal importance, not the lifter wasting your own precious warm-up area time.
Just like in other social settings, there is a protocol involved when it comes to the warm-up area. The warm-up area works best when things are symbiotic, when they work together. As the new lifter, don’t be the “it’s all about me” lifter. If you have a bad lift, miss an attempt, the meet is not going your way, don’t be that lifter having a melt-down in the warm-up room. Keep your head in the game, or as “the kids say,” “Get over yourself.” If you made a mistake in the meet, you made the mistake, nobody else caused it, and they shouldn’t have to hear the residual meltdown. We all have made mistakes during a meet, and that is actually a learning opportunity so that you avoid that mistake at the big meets in the future. Pitching a fit only throws off the flow of the warm-up area and in the process you make yourself look like an armature. I say this not in a scolding tone, but with the intent to teach, as we have all been there. The powerlifting community is a small, tight-knit community, and there is no room for more drama or additional prima donnas or powerlifting divas. Trust me, this sport has them, but rarely do these folks know how ridiculous they look to the other lifters. So again, don’t be that lifter.
At the end of the day, think beyond yourself. If you are at a larger meet, lots of lifters mean lots of mess at the end of the day. Someone has to clean that up. If the meet is held at a high school, as they often are, the custodians along with the meet sponsors have to clean up after the mess. As you were part of this collective experience and as you are part of the powerlifting community and you helped contribute to the mess, then by all means, help clean up the warm-up area.
Once the squatting is over, those plates go onto the benches, then subsequently onto the deadlift bars. Help to strip those still loaded bars and put the weights away. Take that extra 10 minutes and clean up the area you and your friends were at. Chances are, trash was not being dumped during the meet as paying for weekend custodians is very expensive, so if the cans are full, pack up your garbage and take it with you and throw it away at home, or throw it away in another can that is not full somewhere else in the building.
If you made a mess with chalk or baby powder, or spilled something, don’t be that newbie who leaves his or her mess for others. Instead, try to leave the place how it was when you arrived, or maybe even a little bit better than when you arrived. Meet directors do a great job running the meet, but more often than not, they are also the folks who clean up the mess in the warm-up area. So, don’t be that lifter who leaves a mess for others to clean up.
Powerlifting is a community and the warm-up area is a social setting within that community and these are some things for you to consider as you prep for your first or first few powerlifting meets. Powerlifting is a journey, not a destination, and the sooner a lifter realizes this, the more successful he or she will be, and that helps not only the lifter but also this sport as a whole that we all love so very much.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep.
There are countless reasons for the disorganization in the warm-up room, and hopefully, some of this information will help those new or newer to the competition scene to survive in the warm-up area and benefit from it.
When you wanted to train back in the late 1970s, in the 1980s and the early 1990s, you did so in a lifter-owned gym, a mom and pop gym.
The gyms during that time were owned by lifters, maintained by lifters, planned by lifters, and it was those owners, those serious life-long lifting owners who had tremendous knowledge and experience which they handed down to their members. These members were also cut from that same steel and iron wielding cloth.
I can only personally speak to the aforementioned decades in which I have trained (1970s-today), but lifter-owned gyms, those most serious of gyms existed well before the ’70s. This is evidenced by places like the legendary Vince’s Gym opened in 1948 by Vince Gironda. Gyms like The Dungeon, made famous by Dave Draper and home to the misplaced lifters of the early 1960s when the gym at muscle beach in Santa Monica was closed down by the city council. Of course, there is the original Gold’s gym, opened in Venice Beach, California in 1965 by Joe Gold and seen in the famed 1977 docudrama, Pumping Iron. The original Gold’s gym being home to Joe Gold’s homemade gym equipment. Joe was a bodybuilder and a businessman when the term bodybuilder was known only to other bodybuilders. Joe had been a machinist when he was in the United States Merchant Marine, thus his ability to fabricate some of the first serious gym equipment.
These lifter-owned gyms were created for the purpose of training, for the love of training and for the lifeblood one attains through training.
Dave Draper (1963) The Dungeon gym. Photo via Dave Draper's FB page
It wasn’t until the early 1980s when things started to change, and when these changes would eventually impact those small, hardcore lifter-owned gyms. This start of what would be a turning point for the lifter-owned gyms was the founding of Bally’s and corporations that, through their sheer volume and consequently low membership fees, helped snuff out so many small hardcore lifter-owned gyms over the decades.
In 1983, arcade game and slot-manufacturer Bally Entertainment entered the scene. Specifically, Bally Total Fitness came into the scene when they purchased Tennis Corporation of American as well as Lifecycle (now called Life Fitness). Following this, in 1987, they bought the American Fitness Centers and Nautilus Fitness Centers. This was the start of the 24-hour fitness center, otherwise known as the corporate gym.
Corporate gyms today like the original Bally’s have their place. A place to watch TV and jog on a treadmill, a place to ride a stationary bike while thumb scrolling social media, and a place to take a shower, so those folks can then go to wherever people who watch TV and jog in place, ride a stationary bike then shower end up going.
The hardcore lifter-owned gyms of yesterday, although sparse in numbers exist today. They were and are created out of the passion for the weights, for strength, power, muscle, the drive to be more, the desire to lift more. They are a place to create a vision and a place to engage in the mission of hunting down those goals one rep at a time, one set at a time, one training session at a time, for months, years, and decades, until their last day.
A corporate gym by nature is just that, corporate. It is a business, a place that exists to make money. It just happens that this business is full of equipment that first appeared in lifter-owned gyms decades ago. The same type of equipment as back then, only tamer in look and created for the comfort of ‘exercise’ over the utilitarianism for performance.
Original Gold's Gym (circa 1975). Photo via builtreport.com
As of this writing, COVID-19 continues on its path, doing what this virus does, and that is create casualties. Casualties in human currency, casualties in business, and all points in between.
What is intriguing today with the backdrop of COVID-19 is observing the few remaining relics of an era gone by. The hardcore lifter-built gyms. These modern-day dinosaurs that refused to become extinct, those few and far between lifter-owned, lifter-operated, created out of the passion for weights, steel, and iron gyms.
What we see unfolding are the Goliath corporate gyms falling in contrast to the survival of the throwback, not a dime to be made, operating on a shoe-string budget, fueled by little more than passion, and determination, hardcore gyms.
Why the difference between the two? The ingredient to this survival of that small hardcore gym is the same ingredient that was used to create these lifter-owned gyms in the first place. That ingredient is the passion for all things strength, power, muscle, size, and weight. The desire to make strength, power, and muscle over making money. To that end, the result of this ingredient is the loyal hardcore gym members, lifters like you.
These are the serious lifters who keep paying a membership for their gym that has been closed for (as of this writing) months now due to this pandemic. It is the loyal members and hardcore lifters such as yourself that keep their membership fees active. It's those lifters that send in a monthly membership check or cash to the owners, those always supportive members who change their daily pass status to a monthly fee to keep their gym open.
Members of these gyms do this as they know that although the doors are closed tight due to executive orders, the bills keep pouring in as they always have. Members do this so the gym they love, this family of loyal and true lifters can have their chalk layden fortress of solitude stay open and alive for when this is all over. So we can again collectively feel the bending steel on our back, the heavy iron in our hands, and the grit of gym chalk between our fingers.
There is nothing wrong with a corporate gym, nor is there anything wrong with exercising in a corporate gym. But that said, there is rarely family and loyalty in that atmosphere. A lifter’s gym, a lifter-owned gym where its members work to serve one another, train one another, support one another, inspire one another, talk truth to one another. It is simply a different animal altogether.
Frantz Gym (circa 1964) Photo: Ernie Frantz
These hardcore gyms, these lifter-owned, few and far between gyms, these relics of days gone by were opened out of love for training and the brother and sisterhood of hoisting weights and all that comes with it. It is that same love and loyalty that created the serious hardcore gym that is felt by the members of these gyms and that loyalty and family is saving these gyms during the financial crush and devastation of these pandemic times.
Who are the saviors of the hardcore gym? Those saviors are lifters like you! Lifters who get that these trapped in the amber of time gyms reflect back to an era of a Vince’s Gym, The Dungeon gym, to the original Gold’s gym, and a Frantz Gym.
To all the lifters out there who train at these hardcore, small in size, huge in heart lifter-owned gyms, thank you for your loyalty and support. You are the reason this subculture of the serious gym and serious lifter will endure through this time.
On behalf of the small, hardcore lifter-owned gyms, thank you, stay well and ever onward!
Header image: Larry Scott and Freddy Ortiz circa 1962 in front of Vince's Gym. Photo via Gene Mozee via x-rep.com
What is intriguing today with the backdrop of COVID-19 is observing the few remaining relics of an era gone by. The hardcore lifter-built gyms. These modern-day dinosaurs that refused to become extinct…
As the world catches up with the surreal events unfolding around us every day, there are mixed emotions that we experience. Emotions that hit like waves on the shore, intermittent, but continuous. And depending on one's experiences with or around or caused by COVID-19, the waves are of lesser or greater intensity.
Like the rest of the world, we as lifters have these same waves of emotion. But also as lifters, there is the additional thought. That thought is this, once this is over and with all hopes, over with health, family, job and finances intact, what will it be like getting back to the gym? The answer to that depends on what that lifter was like at the gym in the first place.
For those music lovers out there, you might have familiarity with the music of the band Pink Floyd. They have always been a favorite of mine, but in addition to their music, I still find meaning in their lyrics. For our purpose today, I share these following lyrics for you to read and think about for a moment, then finish reading this post. The song is called Time, and the album is The Dark Side of the Moon. Read Roger Water's words…
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.
Within the larger pool of lifters, some, that very small percent of the hardcore lifters are "lifers" like yourself. These individuals are those whose training life is indistinguishable from their life outside of the gym. Just like family, friends and work, training is a staple of who they are. For those cut from this same cloth of iron and steel, these "lifers" still are lifting something, picking up something, hoisting something, most likely training with the few weights or that lone barbell doing high reps with what little weight they have lying around in their garage or basement. They are working hypertrophy, chasing 'the pump,' doing whatever they can to feed their need to be moving weights. For those who are competitive powerlifters, strongman/women, bodybuilders, and have a home gym, they are going through the movements alone, but not going all out heavy as the spotters aren't there. The smart money is on not injuring yourself at a time when going to the hospital could be more dangerous than the injury. They also know that one's non-life-threatening injury will have to wait as so many in hospitals are fighting life and death battles against this virus. Thus they don't risk popping something off that requires surgery to staple back on. So that group is doing what they do, and that is lifting something, lifting anything, it just currently looks a little different. But when they come back, they are back on the freight train of big weights, strength, power, size, muscle, and the intense training required to achieve their lifting goals.
That said, there are those others, the vast majority of those who go to the gym with an intent to work out. Those others, who when gyms were open, spent half their time at the gym on the phone, ticking away the moments of a dull day. Those individuals who fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way. They are the young, and life is long and there is time to kill today, gym-goers. But then one day they find ten years have got behind them. No one told them when to run. They missed the starting gun.
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To you the serious lifter, this time away from the gym is time to fall even deeper in love with the weights, time to become more enamored with the training, time to spend rethinking or restructuring your routine, time to hone in on your nutrition, time for planning how to achieve your goals, achieve your numbers, your everything that makes the gym a foundation, a pillar, the bedrock of your life as a lifter.
There are sheep, and there are shepherds, there are lions, and there are lambs. There always have been, there always will be. When this all passes, and with hopes when it does, you and your family come through healthy and well, you as a true lifter, a "lifer" will continue on your path even as 'the flock' also returns and occupies the same gym space as you do. As they inevitably will do a set, check their phone, do a set, post a photo, do a set, video a lift, do a set, chat with someone, do a set while waiting for someone or something to show them the way…the time is gone, the song is over, thought they'd something more to say.
During this time the real lifters become a little less strong, but remember, your less strong is strong(er) than most would ever hope to achieve, and 12-16 weeks after gyms are open again, you will be fully strong, still living your authentic life as a lifter, as you too know that time will continue. We will grow strong(er) by our hand, while others become victim to that same time, also by their hand.
Ever onward, keep the faith and carpe diem!
Header image credit: PIOTR PIATROUSKI © 123rf.com
The song is called Time, and the album is The Dark Side of the Moon. Read Roger Water’s words…
So while most of the US is worried about toilet paper or hand sanitizer, lifters like yourself are worried about how to get their training in. By now you have been home a day or so from your gym, or perhaps longer if you were at a large corporate gym. Here in Illinois, as the big corporate gyms were closing, the smaller hardcore powerlifting and strongman gyms remained open a little while longer as they were a gathering place of fewer than 50 per the guidelines at that time.
As of this writing, all gyms in Illinois, the land of Coan and Frantz, are shut down until April 8th, although that is only as current as this post. That reopening date could be pushed back at any time. Things are very much in a state of flux so keep that in mind reading this, as the more time that passes, the more out of date this post may be.
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Lifting stuff around the house is for sure a way to get in some training and the exercises one does are as limitless as their own imagination. Throw in some bands and you have a great way to maintain some muscle through the blood flow ala “the pump” and the higher rep range of hypertrophy.
This for sure will get folks through the Governor’s executive order if that maintains an April 8th return date (for Illinois). But with regard to those looking for a little more training security for the future, I have some thoughts.
What I don’t know about the COVID-19 could fill a library, so I am no help there beyond what the CDC is stating. But what I do know about gym equipment might be useful. My gym, Monster Garage Gym is one of the premiere powerlifting gyms in the US. I say that not as a boast but to give some perspective as it started out literally in a two and a half car garage, hence the name and thus my experience with a garage gym lifting setup.
I had no intention at that time (a little over a decade ago) of starting my own gym, but out of necessity with regard to training for larger scale meets, and moving further away from the legendary Frantz Gym I needed the basics to get me through the times I was not able to train at Frantz Gym. What I also needed was a place close by with equipment where I could lift the type of weight I needed to without the corporate gym issues, and frankly their lack of appropriate bars, benches, and racks. Nothing was closer than opening the door to my own garage gym. Over time, more lifters joined me at my home garage gym and one thing let to another, and over a ten plus year period, and moving into ever larger sized warehouse units, the Monster Garage Gym, now located in Waukegan, Illinois has produced some of the best current lifters in the game and some of them ALL-TIME record holders in the process. Although we have literally tons of equipment the original elitefts equipment from the home garage gym is used to this day and by some of the best in the power game.
So what we are talking about with regard to the gym's closing, is an emergency home gym and that goes back to my roots in the garage. You are looking for something you can throw together to get through a worst-case scenario with regard to all that is rapidly evolving around us. We are also talking about doing this without breaking the bank as many are having to stay home from work and until-or-if money comes through the government for those people, building a gym in a hurry and on a budget is the goal here.
First on the list, FAT BAR OLYMPIC DUMBBELL HANDLES. You might never have seen these highlighted on elitefts, I know I haven't. But these are pretty much the best-kept secret at elitefts in my opinion. Dumbbell sets are great, but they are very expensive (over a thousand, and much more once you cross that 100-pound dumbbell threshold) and take up space even with a rack (which again is expensive). We are on a budget and in a hurry and we don’t have the space, we just need stuff to press, hoist, lift with and not break the bank.
If you have any Olympic plates laying around, you can put them on these handles. These bars are 22 pounds each 23" long, 2 3/8" thick and machined ends to fit any collar. You put two or three 25’s on each end and you have some weight for presses or rows. Some 10’s or 5’s and you have more options for training, triceps, biceps, shoulder work. Some 45’s and you have farmers’ walk, shrug, weighted step-ups, calve work on a front step, goblet squats and lunging options.
Go online be it Facebook or wherever social media you choose, and there are always folks selling Olympic plates they have laying in a pile in their garage or basement for cheap. While putting this together I took a quick look online and there are a ton of Olympic plates for sale within a 20-minute drive for practically nothing. Nonlifters just want to get rid of them.
Even during times like this, someone is going to be willing to set the plates out for you in their driveway and you can drop the cash off in their mailbox, ala social distancing. Old rusty Olympic plates will do the trick. Half of the plates we have at Monster Garage Gym are from old gyms going out of business who needed to dump plates. Nobody cares how a 45-pound plate looks, they just care that it can be picked up and put down.
With regard to collars, elitefts has some phenomenal collars to choose from, but for our purpose, the OLYMPIC EZ SPRING COLLAR PAIR is the way to go. They are like eight bucks and they don’t take up a lot of room on the bar.
Remember, you just need something to get you through this time. We are going cheap as this is not the time for filet mignon, this is the time for cans of tuna.
If you have a little more cash, same deal but add to the aforementioned, the ELITEFTS GARAGE LINE DUMBBELL FLAT BENCH (BOLT TOGETHER). It is about $179 but as of this writing, is on sale for $161.10. By adding the bench, instead of floor pressing with the dumbbells, you are pressing with full range of motion, doing flys, dumbbell step-ups, pullovers with a plate, tricep dips with feet on a step, and a hundred more exercises that combine that bench with the Olympic style dumbbells.
If you have a little more cash for the emergency home gym add a $299 ELITEFTS POWER BAR. It has a 2000-pound capacity, and knurling you would need for pulling, pressing, squatting or really any movement.
Keeping the price down, your go to is the ELITEFTS GARAGE LINE 3X3 POWER RACK for $679 but as of this writing is on sale for $611.10. This rack is bread and butter. It is like the old Ford model T, meaning it comes in either black, or black. Here are the specs on this rack. There is no weight storage, no band peg attachments, it is super basic for squats, bench press, pin press lockouts, pull ups, shrugs, rack pulls, military press, if you have bands you can tie them from the top. You can do reverse band squat, reverse band deadlift, reverse band bench press. You can also go old school with your bands and put them around the bottom horizontal support as you are bolting this into your garage or basement slab.
This rack is really one of the very first items the original Monster Garage Gym had and we had several guys squatting 800-900 pounds, and benching 600-700 pounds out of it.
Here are the specs:
- 1 1/4" pull up bar
- 1 set of J-hooks
- 1 set of safety spotters
- 7.5 feet tall* Squatting area is 30 inches
- 3-inch hole spacing
- 3x3 tubing
- 11 gauge steel
- 3" x 3" 11 Gauge Frame
- Backer plates on all bolt points
- Powder-coated finish
- Total footprint of 36"L x 49"W x 90"H
The point of this post is just to show you some options and selfishly to have an answer in one place as I keep getting text messages asking me “What should I buy as they need to train and my gym is closed, and I don’t know for how long.” So this is beyond the obvious, which are bands and household stuff to lift during this time out of the gym.
Speaking of bands, they are amazingly versatile and really cheap, so get what you need. If you have no clue what you need in bands, you can do the MOUNTAIN DOG BAND PACK which is $84.95. Personally for the purpose of emergency home gyms, and saving money, if you got a pair of monster mini-bands and a pair of light bands you are set. Monster minis are somewhere around $14 and light bands are about $18.
Hopefully, this article will all be for nought and you will be back at your local gym fairly soon. Or minimally, if you were thinking about how to slowly start a modest home gym this will be of value. But for those going through massive training withdrawal, and if gyms are closed for a longer duration, this information might give you the direction you were looking for.
In any case, during this time of uncertainty I wish you and your family health and wellness. Ever onward.
We are on a budget and in a hurry and we don’t have the space, we just need stuff to press, hoist, lift with and not break the bank.
The last few weeks, but specifically these last few days have made me reflect on the world events that are tying us together as a global community. Regardless if you are in the camp of 'much to do over nothing,' or 'this is really, really bad,' one thing is certain and that is the world is caught up in this happening.
It makes me pause and think back to a similar feeling that I had, and that feeling was on September 11th, 2001. There were those in the world who were then, like some now, gripped in fear of the unknown. That September event nearly 20 years ago now and this rapidly evolving worldwide event are each in their own way surreal and to that end galvanize the world in a manner of speaking.
That said, the world always has and always will have challenging times. Times that challenge us individually but also as communities. A professional mentor of mine stated to me some decades ago and it sticks with me to this day...."Only in a crisis do you know the type of leader that you truly are." That can also be modified beyond the professional world to, "Only during a crisis do you know the type of person you truly are." I say that as a crisis does not make the person, a crisis exposes the type of person one actually is.
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During the race riots in LA during the early 90’s, vast portions of that city were shut down. It was vacant as stores everywhere closed, not unlike we are seeing today with schools, businesses, and gyms as well. During the race riots in LA triggered by the beating of Rodney King, the only place that remained open on the most riot riddled street was a gym. I recall reading an article back in that summer of 1992. I remember reading that this gym, full of all manner and color of lifter, was open during that chaotic scene because lifters, lift. That is what they do, that is what they did, and that is what you do as well.
In Dave Draper speak, with regard to strength, muscle, power and might, the beat goes on. We lift, we train, we compete, we hoist the weight, move the weight, feel the weight, grow stronger by the weight, get challenged by the weight, get built by the weight and become humbled by the weight.
Today (as of this writing), under the executive order of the Governor of the state of Illinois, strongmen and women, powerlifters and those chasing 'the pump,' were training at MONSTER GARAGE GYM on this last training session until the order is lifted, tentatively on April 8th. There is much debate about whether closing a gym or a business is the right or wrong thing to do, and on that, I am hardly an expert. What I do know is that true brothers and sisters of the iron train. Be it during a race riot, a terrorist attack by suicidal cowards or a rapidly spreading virus, right or wrong, we train. That is what we do, that is who we are, that is the cloth we are cut from. We lift, we train, we compete, we hoist the weight, move the weight, feel the weight, grow stronger by the weight, get challenged by the weight, get built by the weight and become humbled by the weight.
During this time while gyms are closed, lifters will find something to hoist, something to push, something to pull, something to carry, something to lift. They will rig up bands in all ways imaginable and they will exercise to maintain during this executive ordered and mandated deload.
Forced time away from the gym and training can have a value. It makes one appreciate what we often take for granted, our strength, power, and muscle. It makes us appreciate the training partners we have that we also take for granted, even those who work our last nerve. It makes us appreciate the feel of the weight in our hands, the steel bending on our back, the grit of the chalk on our fingers, the sting of ammonia in our nose and the dripping of sweat from our brow.
We are lifters and as much as we love training and love the gym, being forced to lose that for a moment in time has a value. It rekindles the flame of our training into a fire and that fire after a time away from the gym ignites into a raging inferno.
Take this time to recommit to your goals, short, medium and long term. Take this time and hone in on the nutrition you always talk about but never seem to do. Take this time and rest and recuperate, take time and put away the devices and open up a book about training methods or nutrition. Take this time you have away from the gym to enhance your focus and commitment and apply those to your training once your gym is open and you are back at it. Take his time to become even more ravenous for the weights. Lastly, use this time to reflect on the now undeniable fact that you never realized how much you took your training for granted until it was forced away from you. That is a feeling some lifters have after catastrophic and sometimes career-ending injury, but you are being granted that insight without having to endure the surgery and the limitations, sometimes permanent, that follow the uncertain road to recovery. Remember this feeling and recommit to seize the day each and every day when you return to the gym and that oh so sacred of things, hard training.
I close with this quote during these unsettling and uncertain times.
“Fate whispers to the warrior, ‘You cannot withstand the storm.’ The warrior whispers back, ‘I am the storm.”
Wishing you health, wellness, strength, power, and size. Ever onward.
A crisis does not make the person, a crisis exposes the type of person one actually is. What type of person are you in these unsettling and uncertain times?
If you have ever been to a circus, you have undoubtedly seen the highly comical clown car.
The clown car has been a circus staple beginning in the 1950s through to today. For those unfamiliar with this circus act, here is the gist....
The clown car is a circus routine that utilizes an extremely small car, like an old Volkswagen Beetle, from which an inordinately large number of clowns (typically 15-20) seem to endlessly emerge from the inside of the vehicle, one after another. They emerge from the tiny car in full-blown clown mode—the makeup, clown nose, big clown shoes—and they begin their clown routine.
The secret to this is that the clown car has been hollowed out. No seats, and no guts to the small car whatsoever. Just filled to the brim with clown stacked on top of clown stacked on top of clown.
That said, the circus clown car is not just an act. It has become a metaphor for acts that are clownlike, and those where the people committing these acts seem to endlessly emerge. You see this metaphor in political cartoons frequently.
Walt Handelsman/The New Orleans Advocate
A real-life example of the metaphorical clown car clowns involves those living, breathing clowns on social media who we have all been saturated with. Those are your dime-a-dozen online trolls, keyboard cowards, mom’s-basement warriors, self-proclaimed experts, or whatever term of affection you wish to use to label them. They are like clowns from a clown car because just like the circus clowns, they just keep coming, one after another after another, and they do their clown routines over and over again.
There are tangible places you can see the clowns of the social media clown car. In fact, sometimes you simply need to go to your local gym and you can see a clown routine virtually on a daily basis.
If you frequent a corporate gym, you can see these performances over and over again. The good news is, their clown routines come FREE with the gym membership, so bonus.
Although the clowns who emerge from their car into the gym are dressed a little differently, they are clowns nonetheless. Every gym has a few clowns, and they are always entertaining. Think about your gym: can you picture them in your mind’s eye? Yup, that is them.
Sometimes their clown routine is to be the loudest, most obnoxious clowns in the gym. Sometimes they entertain you by doing more posting and taking more photos while at the gym than actual lifting. Sometimes we are treated to their comedy when they pull a couple hundred pounds but slam it down to the ground as if they were handling Ed Coan weight. The bar slamming is always a crowd favorite and a clown specialty, like balloon animals at a kid’s party.
But then there are the times when they entertain us in more subtle clown ways. This is a little less showy and flamboyant but still a great form of clown humor in and of itself. You will see this subtle clown humor when the clowns from the car preach their “programming” secrets, especially to the new-to-the-sport lifters. They share their perfect advice that only they know, and they are quick to point out how you and all of the other inhabitants on this good Earth have it all wrong.
The best part of the clown car show—the part that is the most intriguing most humorous to you as a spectator—is that the gym clowns don’t even realize that they are the punch line. It is exponential humor: the harder they work on their clown routines, the more they illuminate to the audience that they are, in fact, punch joke.
With the explosion of social media, you are now in for a real treat. Now, you can “follow” your favorite clown car clowns. These are the clowns who have 100K followers or more but have never set toe one on a competitive stage or platform. Their clown routines are absolutely, Ringling Brothers, spectacular. Their routine is one of trying to sell you their “secrets” cleverly advertised with clown filters and clown posed photos. These clowns provide endless hours of fun for the entire family. They post their “do what I say,” regardless of having never done anything themselves.
If you are new lifter or new to the gym world, you might not be able to sniff out that more subtle joke, which is that the clowns don’t know they are the clowns. But the longer you train, the more gyms you train at, the more meets you compete in, the more obvious that this reverse joke will become to you but not to them.
In all seriousness, as this is obviously a little tongue-and-cheek metaphorical inference at the expense of the social media clowns we see on a regular basis, if you are a newer lifter, you undoubtedly will have questions. And with an Internet over-populated with lifting information, and with some corporate gyms full of self-proclaimed experts, it is difficult to know what is good and what is not-so-good information. You will see an array of people at the gym, and as a newer-to-the-scene lifter, it is often difficult to see the difference between those who are really good lifters and those who are the clowns who just talk a good game.
Perhaps the easiest way to differentiate between authentic and the self-serving is to be a good listener. Sit back, observe the lifters, and listen. When listening, consider heeding the words of the legendary Walter Payton. Mr. Payton stated the following: “When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you.” The self-serving clowns will rarely miss an opportunity to tell you how good they are. The “been there, done that” athletes in the power game tend to keep to themselves and let others toot their horns, as that is not the style for authentic and successful lifters and champions.
I have been involved with powerlifting for several decades now and have been fortunate to have been able to train with some truly great lifters. There are many traits they have in common. But there are three of note for those of you who are new to the sport. Trait Number One: Great lifters will rarely share with you what they have done that is great. Rather, they will readily share with you what they have done wrong. They will share the mistakes they have made so that you might be able to avoid those mistakes. Trait Number Two: Great lifters, if asked, will share with you what they have done for consideration, not what you must do, as they know that every new lifter has to follow his or her own path. After all, “The learning is in the doing,” as Dave (the blonde bomber) Draper often states. Trait Number Three: Great lifters will lift others up rather than cast aspersions on others. Those taking up space in the proverbial clown car frequently make the time to put down others and highlight other’s shortcomings. Great lifters, too, find the weaknesses of others but do so for the opportunity to teach.
These three traits I have seen over and over again throughout the decades, and they will help the newer lifter to illuminate who the great lifters are and who the clowns who talk a great game are.
Never in the history of the world of weights, strength, power, and muscle have so many snake oil salesmen and women, and so many clowns been so prevalent and so difficult to identify as such. Gone are the days where authors of books were deeply vetted by their publishing companies. In their place are those who preach from Mt. Media and have a voice as loud as, if not louder than, an actual authority on the sport. When social media personalities with no actual accolades have six and seven times the audience at event booths than an actual champion of that sport does, well, you get the point.
Robby Robinson, a legendary bodybuilder who, now in his 70s, has a physique and a muscularity comparable to his competitive physique from back in the 1970s, says the following in his book, The Black Prince 2, Diary of a Bodybuilder: “.....to make matters worse, over the years new training systems, diet fads, and a saturation of supplements...confused the simplicity of achieving a fit, strong body. The best way in my experience is not too complex, but because it takes hard work, time, and patience, entrepreneurs have touted quick and easy ways. But they do now work.” “Our bodies are organic material adjusting to its environment and responding and changing to its surrounding conditions, sustenance and mental experiences. Always growing, always adapting. We’ve been given the power over our own evolution during our lifetimes.” Robby Robinson has a vantage point of some 50 years “under the bar,” and his word, “entrepreneurs,” is a polite way to say “clowns” from the clown car.
https://www.facebook.com/robby.robinson.33
There are a lot of great resources out there (from elitefts to Ed Coans and the Robby Robinsons of the world of muscle, strength, and power) for new lifters. But new lifters, beware of the clowns emerging from their social media clown cars. The sermons of these false prophets lack a depth of experience and knowhow that the been-there-done-that shepherds use to tend to their flock, as they are truly invested in making a difference rather than in expanding their followers. Less is sometimes more when quality and experience are concerned.
Wishing you the best as you start your journey into the world of iron, steel, sets, reps, strength and power.
Header image credit: Vadim Guzhva © 123rf.com
Every gym has a few clowns, and they are always entertaining. Think about your gym: can you picture them in your mind’s eye? Yup, that is them.
Recently I finished reading a book titled The Operator by retired US Navy SEAL, Robert O’Neill. For those unfamiliar with Robert O’Neill, his resume looks like this: Former United States Navy Sailor, former US Navy SEAL, served on SEAL Team Two, SEAL Team Four, and in 2004 joined the elite Navy Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team Six.
During his time in the SEALs, Robert O’Neill served in over 400 missions, including the mission with the SEAL Team that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden. At the time of his retirement from the military, Mr. O’Neill had risen to senior chief special warfare operator. Included in his 52 decorations are: Two Silver Stars, four Bronze Star with Valor, Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit Citations, and two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals with Valor.
Perhaps like you, sometimes I read a book for entertainment, but more often than not, I am looking for something that I can apply to either my family life, work life, or my life of weights, strength, and power. This book is packed full of lessons that can be applied to all three.
Although the book details Mr. O’Neill’s life, it is also paints a larger overall picture of what the experience is like to try out for and, ultimately, to operate as a US Navy SEAL. In telling these stories, Mr. O’Neill elaborates on the life lessons that come from a highly disciplined way of life.
In The Operator, Mr. O’Neill talks about the stress applied to the aspiring SEALs as they attempt to graduate from BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL School). The application of stress by the SEAL instructors is injected into all areas of BUDS training. It is a constant, as the larger purpose of its application is to teach the applicants how to recognize stress and thus learn to eliminate it from one's life altogether. He also disaggregates three major entities: Stress, danger, and fear. At first blush and to the untrained civilian reader, one looks at stress, danger, and fear as synonymous with one another; branches from the same family tree so to speak. What Mr. O’Neill does is break these three independent items down with regard to their value and importance, or lack thereof.
Ret. Army Special Forces, Rich Auxer
Danger, he says is important and has tremendous value. It serves to identify that there is a real threat to you. Real threat in his world means something that can end your life, the life of other Navy SEALS, and innocents in the area.
Fear, he states, also has its value, as fear helps you to think more clearly. When in a situation where you have identified danger, the fear you feel helps provide you with the crystal clear, rapid thinking required to respond. He delves into the difference between reacting versus responding, but that is a story for another time.
Lastly, after talking about the merits and value of danger and fear, he discusses stress. Stress, he states, is a self-made item and unlike identifying danger or feeling fear, stress has absolutely no value whatsoever. To paraphrase, Mr. O’Neill says the following:
“In life, all stress is self-induced stress. It is what you do to yourself, it is in your mind, stress is a choice. Stress is a bag of bricks. You can wake up in the morning and it is laying right there. You can pick it up first thing in the morning, throw it over your shoulder and let it ruin your day, carry it around with you and ruin everyone else’s day, but with stress at any time you can put it down and forget about it and you should because it is doing you absolutely no good and it is in your mind. You only feel the amount of stress you allow yourself to feel.”
This information is utilitarian to us both in our lives in general and in our gym lives as strength athletes. As a gym owner and a powerlifter with a couple decades of meets under my belt, and as someone who works with new to the game lifters, this take on stress — that bag of bricks Robert O’Neill so vividly describes — is something we as lifters often choose to pick up and carry around with us come meet time.
I recall my very first WPC World meet in 2000. Although many, many years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. During one of the days during the almost weeklong meet, I was sitting at a breakfast table after weigh-ins in some huge hotel in Vegas. In my mind’s eye I can recall seeing these huge and powerful looking lifters who had traveled from all over the world to compete. They were sitting in groups at different tables throughout this same restaurant. At each table, these massive lifters were speaking their native language to other massive lifters at that table. It was that moment when I, the big fish who had been competing in small ponds, came to the realization that nobody flies halfway around the world to lose. The moment filled me with stress. I was sitting there, holding this proverbial huge bag of bricks in my booth, waiting for my breakfast to arrive — breakfast I was no longer hungry for.
As I wallowed in stress, a calm came over me as the words of Ernie Frantz, my mentor and the namesake of the legendary Frantz Gym and Frantz Powerteam, came back to me. Ernie had said on more than one occasion, “As a competitor, you need to worry about only one person and that person is you.”
You are competing to complete 9 successful attempts. Your openers are written in ink as it is your last and heaviest warm-up, but it is done on the platform. Your second attempt is written in pencil, as based on your opener, you might increase or decrease it a little depending on all the variables that come with meet day and their impact on the targeted third attempt. Your third attempt, based on how the second attempt went, it is the absolute sheer heaviest lift that you can successfully complete.
The key being successful completion, which could mean perhaps leaving a little bit on the platform as you don’t want to have your best attempt being your second. Also, Ernie spoke often about titles and world meets back when they were the largest of events. Those meets he would state, are about the win. Federation level powerlifting and personal records come and go, but a title is a snapshot of your life now trapped in the amber that is the history of the great sport of powerlifting.
After reflecting on Ernie’s thoughts, I again looked at the tables of lifters all around me. I still saw the big 275 pounders and 308 pounders, but this time with the clarity to realize that I am competing in the 100K category so they were not my concern. As far as the tables with 100K lifters speaking German, Russian, etc., they most likely flew in from these countries and spent many, many hours on a plane, are dehydrated, and suffer from jet lag and the stiffness one gets from sitting for an eight to twelve-hour flight. Suddenly, that bag of bricks — that self-induced stress — became non-existent. My appetite began to return and my concentration was once again on the task of nine attempts and doing the best I could do with the variables I could control.
In hindsight, and after juxtaposing my personal experience with Mr. O’Neill’s explanation, it became evident that stress is a self-induced phenomenon. We have all felt it. I had always looked at stress as being caused by a situation or an event. I had never honed in on the fact that I was causing the stress.
Clearly, powerlifting, even at its biggest and most competitive meets, does not come even remotely close to the ultimate life and death stakes faced by the US military in combat. That said, the lessons presented in Robert O’Neill’s book, including the impact and worthlessness of self-induced stress, are of tremendous value to us in the civilian world when applied properly, consistently, and rigorously to both our lives in general and our lives as strength athletes.
Although injuries are prevalent in our world of powerlifting, thankfully there is no real danger (as in, nobody is trying to ambush and kill you). Fear, on the other hand, does exist in powerlifting. Don’t think so? Ask some of the top lifters out there who have sustained catastrophic injuries while ‘under the bar.’ Ask top lifters who have blown apart tendons and ruptured muscles. Ask those lifters once they have recovered from surgery and rehab, and then a year or two later find themselves staring down a fully loaded barbell. Ask those lifters if there is fear in powerlifting.
So, reflecting on Robert O’Neill’s thoughts on fear; fear when competing and in training has extreme value. That fear helps you think clearly. When thinking clearly, you make sure your technique is perfect and you are absolutely and completely engaged both mentally and physically in that attempt, especially after coming back from surgically repaired injuries.
Throughout the book, stress is something that the Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces are trained never to pick up on, as it serves no good and can only lead to panic. With panic comes bad things...really bad things.
So just as fear causes clarity in thought and danger is important to recognize, stress is the only one of the three that is self-made and we, as competitive lifters, should strive to never pick up this bag of bricks as it serves us no good whatsoever.
As humans we are all different. Ernie Frantz never wore stress on his sleeve and maybe that is because he worked at it. Maybe it was programmed that way in his DNA or maybe having been a Korean War veteran, everything was put into perspective when juxtaposed against actual life-threatening dangers faced in combat. To that, I don’t know the answer and for you, that is something you will need to figure out on your own with regard to stress.
Everything is always easier said than done. Eliminate stress. Don’t hoist and carry around that bag of bricks is an easy phrase to say, but something that has to be practiced over and over again just like reps in a set. The SEALs in this book all had to learn how to walk past the metaphorical bag of bricks and, because not owning stress was of such great importance and because that takes so much training to achieve, the totality of their training to make it into the SEALs was deeply steeped in massive amounts of stress. Bags upon bags of bricks dutifully supplied by the SEAL instructors who were themselves SEALs, and who knew the importance of being able to negate stress and eliminate if from the situation.
Reading about individuals who can first identify self-induced stress and who can eliminate that stress is a great learning tool for one's own self-improvement. That said, getting to see and work with this type of individual up close and personal, although rare, is an amazing bonus.
On a daily basis I work at Monster Garage Gym with Rich Auxer, retired United States Army Special Forces (also known as Green Berets). Rich is one of our business partners at Monster Garage Gym and runs the operations during the day. A powerlifter since the 1980s, Rich regularly still bangs out 700 pound pulls even with his (military earned, military provided) titanium shoulder.
So, as a powerlifter, Rich gets powerlifting and understands powerlifters. But as someone who has been in the United States Army Special Forces, and who has been trained to assess, manage and eliminate stress, Rich is just plain old calm. If I had a dollar for every time I was telling Rich that I was about to boot someone from the gym, only to hear Rich calmly and quietly inquire, “Let me talk with them first if you don’t mind,” I would be writing this article from my home in Jamaica somewhere on the beach under a palm tree.
Rich has been awarded multiple, six to be precise, Bronze Stars with Valor for combat. He has seen his share of danger, fear, and stress. I tell you about the Bronze Stars with Valor simply because Rich would never do that.
Rich, his K9 Jasmine, and his band Special Forces brothers
To a fault, Rich plays down his role in the Special Forces, but we all at the gym know and we all recognize and appreciate his calm.
Robert O’Neill states in his book that of those who attempt BUDS, some 85 percent fail. He talks in detail about how the instructors make it so very appealing to just ring the bell and quit. So, for that 15 percent who survive BUDS, learning to eliminate stress is something that was practiced over and over again and has to become a way of life for them.
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As stress in your everyday life at work can have a negative impact on your training and meet prep, being able to compartmentalize stress and negate it is a tool that many of the best athletes employ on an everyday basis. They control what they can control and don’t stress about what they have no control over. In the 1977 docudrama Pumping Iron, Ah-nold talks in an interview segment about what he refers to as “negative forces”; about how not letting in any negative forces as they will destroy your workouts. He cites the example that, if his car is stolen, he would just laugh and have his secretary call an insurance company, as he can’t be bothered with it. Said another way, negative forces equal stress and they have no place in a lifter’s life.
As strength athletes, the physical is only one part of one’s success or lack thereof. The mental aspects of the sport play a tremendous role and stress management means, among other things, cortisol management and the ability to focus on the task at hand. Our Venn diagram of performance includes training, nutrition, hydration, consistency, recuperation, and the proper mindset that involves negating stress — that crushing bag of bricks.
Just like at the meet, you can only control one variable and that variable is you. You are the one in control of creating your own stress, as well as being the one that is negating any and all self-induced stress. Identify that you are the one creating this stress and when stress raises its ugly head, chop that thing off and eliminate it altogether. Ultimately, we want to reach that point where we do not create stress, thus having nothing to eliminate.
Lastly, I wanted to take a moment to thank the active and retired members of the United States Military; the warriors and defenders of our American way of life as detailed in The Operator. Guys like Rich Auxer who are high speed, low drag, and off the radar rarely, if ever, get the recognition they truly deserve. Thank you for your service.
Ever Onward.
Header image credit: zabelin © 123rf.com
What can a retired Navy SEAL teach us about managing stress and fear in our lives? Robert O’Neill says carrying stress is like carrying around an unnecessary bag of bricks.
I have written for elitefts for some years now, and as a columnist, I am actually a fairly selective reader when it comes to strength and muscle education.
I am a selective reader due to my self-imposed schedule. Like you, my day-to-day is packed with responsibilities and duties. Like you, I have a dual-identity life: my work life with “regular” people, and my gym life with strength athletes. In my particular case, my day is split among three buildings. Up with the alarm at 5:30 a.m. and throughout the work day, I spend my time in the educational setting of a high school as an assistant principal with teachers, staff, and students. Upon leaving that building, I climb into the Jeep and head to another building, the gym I own, Monster Garage Gym. Upon entering that space, I enter the world of the physical, powerlifters, strongman competitors, dumbbells, weights, barbells, strength, and muscle. At the end of the evening, after the lifters have gone and the gym is closed up tight for the night, I head to my third building. That is my house, where time is spent with family and pugs, food, sleep. Then, the pattern repeats itself.
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So, like you, with time throughout the day being occupied with many facets and forms of duty and responsibility, when there is that precious moment of available time for reading and learning and growing with regard to the world of weights, I choose my content carefully.
There are a few staples with regard to content about muscle, power, and strength. My primary go-to for the vast majority of content is elitefts. elitefts is second to none with not only the highest quality of information but also the sheer tonnage and volume of this high caliber of information on all things strength and power and muscle….oh yeah, and it is FREE! But aside from the amazing elitefts columnists (I enjoy them all, but like you, I have those whom I tend to relate to more) and my home library of books and materials on this topic, my writer, author, or philosopher of choice who I tend to read habitually has been around the block longer than most. Furthermore, this writer has seen, experienced, lived, and succeeded in the world of iron and steel for the duration of his lifetime. At the same time, he has achieved the kind of success that has permanently established him a place at the big boys’ table with regard to the history of all things weights, muscles, and power.
Dave Draper courtesy of Laree Draper
This author is the legendary Dave Draper. For those unfamiliar with Dave Draper, here is a short look at his quite impressive resume: Dave is a former Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and Mr. World winner, and he placed fourth in the Mr. Olympia. Dave is one of the faces on the Mt. Rushmore of classic bodybuilders from that golden era of the sport. Dave has been a successful gym owner, had his own brand of protein powder, is a member of the Bodybuilding Hall of Fame, and is a published author of several books (written and audio). He has a quite lengthy list of television and movies to his credit as well.
Dave has been steeped in the world of muscle and power for decades and decades starting when he was a very young boy. His Mr. America title was won in 1965 at the tender age of 24. Dave as of this writing is now 77 years of age, still actively writes about the world of muscle and might, still enjoys chalk-covered calluses and iron in his hands, and lives a fulfilling life with his wife, Laree, in California, the land of the classic era of bodybuilding.
For some 20 years, starting back in 1999, Dave Draper has put out a weekly newsletter, and it is this newsletter (in addition to his books) that I am referring to when I talk about carefully selecting reading material. My free time is limited, and I need to go to a reliable source when it comes to finding material that will educate, motivate, or inspire me in some way, shape, or form. So along with the content from my team elitefts columnists, when I am looking to grow, to learn, and to find inspiration and/or education, I have turned to Dave Draper’s writing. I have done this because lifting, training, competing, and the pursuit of all things strength, weight, and power is part of a grand and ever-learning journey. Those who think the world of weights has a definitive destination are unfortunately on the wrong path.
This past month, it seemed like I had waited an inordinately long time for Mr. Draper’s newsletter to come out. Turns out that as Dave lives in California, his power along with thousands of others’ in the state was shut off by the area’s power company so as to prevent further fires that had engulfed large areas of the state of California. When the newsletter finally hit my email inbox, it was not really a newsletter but more so a short statement that the prior newsletter was his last newsletter. Wait, what???
I found myself rereading the newsletter over and again to make sure that I had read the information correctly. Here is what Dave Draper wrote:
“It's time to wrap up the weekly IronOnline newsletter, old friends.
We began IOL 20 years ago during the last months of 1999. Having dabbled in math all my life -- counting sets and reps, and pounds and tons lifted and assorted bodypart combinations -- I estimate we published 800 issues of the iron column during this, the 21st century.
Whatever, we’ve decided it’s time to pack our bags and take the next train outta Dodge.
Here’s how the decision came about: our electricity was shut off by PG&E for a few days a couple of weeks ago to prevent a potential wildfire during high winds. No power, no internet...no newsletter.
The following week, we relocated our website and endured the delirious complexities and disappointments that change entailed ... ugh ... No IronOnline newsletter topped the list.
... hmmmm . . . mmmm . . . mmm . . .
No responsibility for a weekly newsletter two weeks in a row was . . . how do you say it? a Relief, capital R . . . We liked it! A lot!
Twenty years later, cool as it has been, (we’re on the verge of burnout)(borderline burned out). KaLunk, Boink, Bomp!!!
So, with affection and eyes crossed, mighty hands clenched and a tear in the eyes, we’re signing off.
Brother Dave - Uncle Nutso”
As someone who has been favored enough to write monthly articles for elitefts, I understand the feeling of relief. This is the relief that all elitefts columnists feel when they finally finish an article and hit the “submit” button. Once submitted, our articles go to the elitefts editors who make sense of our zealous overuse of punctuation and make us sound far more literate and far more in command of the English language than we truly are. For me at least, it takes the full duration of the month to finish the monthly article. The process is odd, as once the article has been “finished,” as the saying goes, “that is when the real writing begins.” And that is the process of transforming 14 pages of unwieldy thought into four pages of a coherent theme and meaningful message. With that comes the self-imposed pressure to hit a deadline and more importantly to create content worthy of the mighty elitefts. That said, I could not imagine the stress of creating a weekly version of this as I imagine that would require just enough time to hit the “send” button, have a protein shake, and then immediately have to begin the next week’s newsletter. And to have repeated this more than 800 times is frankly mind-blowingly impressive.
So, with Relief (with a capital R) in hand and heart, the “Blonde Bomber,” Dave Draper, called it a “day” with regard to his weekly newsletter. To be clear, a “day” here is a 20-year-long, packed-to-the-brim day.
Photo collage constructed from golden_era_athletics and gains.world photo(s)
Let’s backtrack a bit, like several decades back. At the height of Dave Draper’s competitive career, after his Mr. America, Mr. Universe, Mr. World and a 4th place in the 1970 Mr. Olympia, Dave Draper simply walked away from competitive bodybuilding. He did not walk away from bodybuilding training nor the allure of all things barbells, dumbbells, weights, chalk, iron, grit, determination, and self-improvement. He did not walk away from the big weights, the “pump,” nor the high protein low carb green-leafy meals and healthy lifestyle that was bodybuilding during that classic era of bodybuilding when biceps were big and round, abs were flat and tapered, and bodies were built on hard work, nutrition, hydration, sleep, recovery, and consistency.
In other words, Dave walked away from the self-imposed stressful part of his sport, the competition, yet stayed true to the philosophy of the sport (as it was back then), the training, lifestyle, nutrition camaraderie, brotherhood, sisterhood and more training. To walk away from other’s expectations at the zenith of one's competitive career and to instead follow one’s own destiny is a totally different kind of self-discipline. It would be like a person today casting away their social media “life” with a 150K followers for the true and authentic life of self-growth, inner and external growth and maturity, and their small circle of actual friends and loved ones. That is a rare person, but those few are the most self-fulfilled and self-actualized, we just don’t see it as their life is not plastered with a filter all over socialookatmedia. Do you know what the most common first word used in a socialookatmedia post is? The word is “I.” Let that sink in for a minute or two or ten.
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So, once again, but decades later, Dave Draper takes the road less traveled, and the one paved with authenticity, discipline, hard work and self-improvement and that means cutting out negative stress and honing in on inner pursuits. Stress, as Seal Team 6 Robert O’Neil states in one of his presentations, “In life, all stress is self-induced stress. It is what you do to yourself, it is in your mind, Stress is a choice. Stress is a bag of bricks. You can wake up in the morning and it is laying right there. You can pick it up first thing in the morning, throw it over your shoulder and let it ruin your day, carry it around with you and ruin everyone else’s day, but with stress at any time you can put it down and forget about it and you should because it is doing you absolutely no good and it is in your mind.”
These are the aspects of training, muscle, power, and strength that Dave Draper writes about that I have found inspiration in. If you are a person looking for sets and reps and programs and “secret Russian training methods,’ do this x times for x sets on x days, Dave may not be your guy. If on the other hand you are looking for those nuggets of truth and wisdom that can only come from someone who has not only been there and done that but also has done so successfully and for half a century (half a century ...let that sink in for a minute or two or ten as well), then the books and newsletters that Dave has religiously pumped out might just be what you are looking for.
Dave writes in plain speak, in an almost poetic style. There is zero jargon, and all the commonsense one can digest, and then some.
Is there a place for sets and reps and programs, yes, absolutely and 100%, especially for those newbies who are trying to find their way, as telling them that at the beginning levels of the sport, any program will work (when combined with consistency, hard work, technical proficiency, recovery, nutrition and hydration) falls on deaf ears as the newbie needs to feel an allegiance to a program or the person writing the program. Those who have been around for several decades see this and know that this is part of the newbies’ learning process. Nothing wrong with that at all, it is part of their maturation. Those who have been around know that if there was that “one method/program,” well, everyone would be Ed Coan, but that just isn’t how it works.
So, for those beyond the need for programs and who are looking for more, Dave’s writings have you covered.
Now, this is the part where the new to the sport say, “That guy built his 1960’s-70’s championship body based on information from the 1950’s. So that is all antiquated information. Heck, back then we hadn’t even gone to the moon.”
For those, there is no winning them over as they equate modern with better, and they already know everything with their extensive 6-month voyage “under the bar,” but the reality is, if you took a Dave Draper or a Franco or Arnold, or Paul Anderson and transplanted them into the present, they would still rise to the top. It is not nor has it ever been the era that makes the person, it is the person that makes themselves no matter what the era or environment.
Dave’s writing is not time sensitive; it is not like milk or fish that spoils beyond a use-by-date. Dave’s experiences and those of that ilk are not at risk of going out of style, nor on the other hand, will they ever be accused of being trendy. Dave Draper’s content is based on real experiences, a lifetime of trial and error, of successes and failures and of authentic work for work sake versus some contemporary content posted for likes, or followers. As Dave Draper would say, “The learning is in the doing.”
Read Dave’s work from the prior month or the prior year or the prior decade and the content rings true as the essence of humankind and the pursuit of self-improvement, the quest for muscle, size, power, strength and success has not nor will it ever change.
Nobody of sound mind would say, “Don’t read the Iliad, or the Odyssey, that stuff is so very old.” Similarly, nobody with any ability to see the larger picture of life would say, “James Baldwin wrote stuff back in the 50s, so how could Notes of a Native Son be relevant today?”
Now, don’t get it twisted, I am not saying that books about muscles, power and strength have the gravitas or philosophical weightyness or staying power of the aforementioned, as the point I am making is that content that can stand the test of time is often more important that the new and shiny object that might just be here today, and gone this very same day. How about these supplements that were “game changers” the “secret formulas” to muscle and strength some 20 years ago (Smilax, Ultimate Orange, Vanadyl Sulfate, V2G, Boron, Dymetradine 25, Dibencozide, Hot Stuff, and Cybergenics). The fickle jumped all over and swore by these shiny new objects that we now know were snake oil. The tried and true lifters stuck with their basic protein drink with a scoop of peanut butter and a banana thrown in.
Be it Dave Draper or Ernie Frantz, Ed Coan, Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev, or “Ah-nold,” these men of strength, power, wisdom, and experience fall into that category of this old anonymous saying: “Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young.”
As Dave Draper’s newsletter has come to an end, that timeless information lives on through its too-be readers as it does in his books (his new book, A Glimpse in the Rear View, to be published in a few months). The information is about the human condition and how that condition is interwoven into the fabric that is strength, muscle, power and health. The cessation of his newsletter is hardly the end of an era as that information is timeless and is now trapped in the amber that is the internet and his already published works.
So, as you continue to read and learn from your favorite columnists at elitefts, as you continue to read from the essential books with specifics like those on Dave Tate’s reading list (Book of Methods by Louie Simmons, Supertraining by Dr. Verkhoshansky, Block Periodization by Issurin, Periodization of Strength by Bompa), consider taking the time to also learn from the writings of Dave Draper. Learning from the experiences of someone steeped in a lifetime of iron and steel will serve to give you food for thought as you learn from your own experiences. That said, I will leave you with these words: “The secret is, there is no secret.” -Dave Draper
Wishing you the best in your journey of strength, muscle, and power.
Header image Nikita Chisnikov © 123rf.com
Hardly. Those who think the world of weights has a definitive destination are unfortunately on the wrong path.
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
There is some question about if the origin of this saying was C.S. Lewis, a paraphrase, or a Charles Marshall book. Regardless, it is universally understood what the saying means, and it is universally recognized that we tend to behave or act or perform differently depending on who is or is not watching.
One might act a certain way at a concert Saturday night, but act entirely different at church Sunday morning. One might behave one way with a group of lifelong close friends but behave differently when meeting a significant other’s parents or family for the very first time.
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In each different setting and in each different circumstance, we act or behave or perform based largely on who is watching.
That said, what if no one was watching? And beyond that, what would that mean for one’s training?
Žydrūnas Savickas is not only a famed World’s Strongest Man competitor but is also the only modern-day competitor to win every one of the major strongman titles. Here is the shortlist of some of his competition titles:
- 4-time World's Strongest Man
- 2-time IFSA Strongman World Champion
- 8-time Arnold Strongman Classic winner
- 3-time Europe's Strongest Man
- 1-time IFSA Europe's Strongest Man
- 2-time Strongman Champion League winner
- 2-time Strongman Masters World Champion
- 5-time World Log Lifting Champion
- 15-time Lithuania's Strongest Man
When he was training for major strongman events, Žydrūnas was known for training alone and in an area beneath an arena where there are only the implements and Žydrūnas.
When interviewed in a recent documentary about strongman about why this given environment of solitude, his rationale was this: if he can lift the weight, move the object, hoist the implement without the external stimuli of an audience, without the boost from the fierce competition, without the rush of adrenaline that comes with the atmosphere of a world championship competition, then he can surely lift the weight, move the object, and hoist the implement with all those things happening around him at the competitions as he did repeatedly over and over again when no one was watching.
For the lifter who is not the most highly respected of all modern-day strength athletes like Žydrūnas, there is still that option to lift in isolation, but it is safe to say that today, even when training by oneself in their home garage gym or at their gym where the other members are doing their own thing completely, there is somebody watching. There is someone seeing part of a lifter’s every training session, their meet preparation, their current numbers, their training regiment. These many sets of eyes on the lifter are there all the time, but it is neither their training partner nor other gym members. That someone watching is a self-imposed audience. It is an intrusion into what at most should be, or at a minimum could be, serious training under the radar, in radio silence, and devoid of all distractions. Here is what we mean.
It is a familiar scene for those with years in the game. The gym is fairly empty, save for a few serious lifters with the vast majority on a piece of cardio equipment or the stray member who comes into the weight room for a quick moment. In the weight room area, the only two serious competitive lifters are training for their meet and going from set to set to set, hitting every rep with that combination of technical excellence and contained and focused aggression.
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Then there is that third lifter. They grab a bench board, that nice heavy three-board. But they do so not to work their shirted bench, but to stop their training in its tracks, spend time with perfect precision placing that board in just the right spot, just the right height, just the right angle. They then put their smartphone on that three-board, that former training tool but current camera stand. They set that smartphone on the board and get ready for the scene. Ready, lights, camera, filter... action!
The lifter approaches the bar, goes through the pomp and circumstance seldom seen when no one is actually watching, then completes their set, not for the training session but for the camera, all with their focus on the footage’s destination, not the weight’s function. Following that, the lifter goes back to the camera stand, picks up their smartphone, sits down at a bench, and watches the video of the lift. Then they stay seated, scrolling past filter after filter, trying to choose just the right one, adding just the right wording to complement this filter, and then they send it out for others to watch. In essence, bringing the audience into the gym.
One might act a certain way at a concert Saturday night but act entirely different at church Sunday morning. One might behave one way with a group of lifelong close friends but behave differently when meeting a significant other’s parents or family for the very first time. And for sure, one might lift a certain way for the sake of Instafamousness and socialookatmedia versus how they should lift and train for the pending meet or competition.
What if no one was watching? How different would their training be, not just for that rep or that set, but also for all of their training sessions during their preparation for a meet and those other times when they are hitting a hypertrophy phase or slowly crescendoing in weight as they approach their final 16 weeks?
Perhaps the larger more philosophical question is, why the posting of meet preparation in the first place? As lifters, athletes, and competitors are we lifting and training and competing for intrinsic affirmation or for the affirmation of others. Said differently, if there were no need or desire for the likes, why film and post in the first place? What if there was no socialookatmedia? Would a lifter email their friends every day about their training?
The deep dive is in the why, the compulsion, the need or desire or necessity to have others see one’s training. What is missing for that lifter that they need to display their training in the first place?
“But I am just checking my form.” Then why post? Perhaps the posts are because this is a lifter who is not a competitor, thus there is no title or win or record to train for, hunt down and attain, so the hunt is instead for followers. That could be the case as there have never been as many Instafamous-never-competed lifter’s booths at the big events than there are booths for the actual athletes who compete. When the expo booths for the Instafamous have lines longer than the top strength athletes, which was the case at many of the major expos this year, then something has shifted. Perhaps the every day, every workout posts are because something lacking or missing when it comes to their self-confidence or self-esteem.
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Regardless, what if no one was watching, how would their training be different? I submit that with no one watching, their efforts are for the lifting goal versus the social media goal. I am going to go out on a limb and say that you have seen the following at a meet as well. A competitor with phone in-hand, not just between events, but posting between attempts. What if no one was watching in their social media circle of friends? Would they be more dialed into the meet? Or do they not see that the lifters engaged fully in the meet are lifting for the here-and-now versus the look-at-me-here and look-at-me-now?
Those reading this who post versus train I have already lost. They stopped reading several paragraphs back, or they are busy preparing their “I post to get feedback on my form” retort, as this hits a little too close to home for them. Readers like yourself who are still reading know exactly of what I am describing, and you can see this in those others at the gym, whose phones are literally in-hand in-between every set, head down, eyes glazed, shoulders slumped, thumbs moving up over and over and over again as their body temperature cools, their natural hormones are being secreted less and less, and the steep crescendo in weight jumps turns into mere slight elevations in weight as the body’s fight or flight, so imperative for training, has been killed off due to that blue light from that handheld door that leads to the pseudo-world.
We live and train in a time where kids just discovering the gym have never trained a complete training session that is phone-free, that is fully engaged in that mini-battle that is leading to the epic battle weeks away on the platform. We live and train in a time where kids finding this great sport telegraph their every move to those they are going to compete with rather than train hard in radio silence, to then sneak up on their competition and figuratively slit the powerlifting throats of those they out trained and out totaled. Those they defeated were concentrating more on filters and angles than technique and intensity.
There is no evil to these lifters posting, and scrolling and shifting back and forth. There is no evil between having a barbell in their hand for a few seconds then phone in their hand for several minutes. What there is, is the compromise of what could have been authentic and impactful training. One needs to merely be honest with themselves and their purpose in the gym. Knowing the why, knowing the reason they feel compelled to film and post and film and post and film and post, do a set and scroll, do a set and scroll, do a set and scroll is the real question. If it is for leisure and likes, so be it.
But for those looking for more out of their training but have only trained during the timeframe of the smartphone, I submit to you for your consideration the following... if no one was watching, their training would be 110 percent for themselves, their goals and their aspirations, and without the need for any affirmation but rather self-accomplishment.
Once the competition destinations we stop at during this journey we are on called strength sports, powerlifting, and strongman are for our own self-improvement, our own self-interest, our own self-worth, those destinations and the journey itself is far more authentic and personally rewarding because at the end of the day, the competition is always between us and ourselves.
Wishing you the best in your training and competition.
One might act a certain way at a concert Saturday night but act entirely different at church Sunday morning… and of course, one might lift a certain way for the sake of Instafamousness and socialookatmedia versus how they should lift and train for the pending meet or competition.
Although it is the holiday season, it feels a little like the movie Groundhog Day. Just like last year and the year before, you have run into the same exact problem.
The problem is you have a couple of different gym friends, and “different” in this case is the keyword. They are both very important to you, but because of their differences, the two require separate holiday gift lists, and that just plain old takes a lot of planning and time.
That said, we’ve got your six and have put together one single list for you. But that one single list will perfectly apply to both of your close gym friends.
So you have these two friends, they both go to the gym, but for very different reasons. Your one friend — let’s call him Dave — is a very serious lifter. He has competed, he knows his sport, the history of it, and he also works with other lifters helping them to get strong(er). Dave is the real deal, and the list is very much geared toward his goals in this sport.
Your other friend — let’s call him Brad — is very serious about how he is perceived as a lifter. He is all about the socialookatmedia aspect of the gym. He has never competed, has no total and no real clue about this sport, but he wants to look like he does, as building his followers and his number of likes are his real goals in the pseudo-world of thumb-scrollers.
The beauty here is this one single list will serve you perfectly with regard to both of your gym buddies. And it will do so regardless of how polar opposite they are when it comes to why they go to the gym.
Stick with us and read on as the pragmatism of this list will become self-evident in mere moments.
1. Bench Boards (specifically the three-board)
Your gym buddy Dave is going to love this gift. The three-board is great for Dave as he loves to train in his old canvas bench shirt, and the three-board allows him to really work the lockout aspect of the shirted press. It is also great for his raw training. Dave can hit higher reps and sets on his hypertrophy days, and when the weight is getting tough, you can put the three-board on Dave’s chest, and he can bang out a couple more reps really emphasizing his triceps.
The three-board is pragmatic, fits in Dave’s gym bag, and if nobody is there to hold the board on Dave’s lighter days, he can simply place it under his T-shirt, and the shirt will hold the board in place for him as he bangs out some mini bands or chains to bench press for a few sets and reps.
Now, as much as Dave will love this gift from you, so will Brad. In fact, Brad finds the three-board so utilitarian that he literally uses one from his gym each and every time he is there and uses it for multiple sets. Brad, too, finds the three-board to be his favorite as does Dave, but as Dave and Brad are very different, Brad’s reasons for being so enamored with the three-board are different albeit no less important to him.
Brad uses the three-board when he benches, too, as the three-board is the perfect size and weight to hold Brad’s brand new three-camera lens iPhone. Brad can place his phone safely and securely on the three-board so he can then film either via landscape or portrait as the three-board gives Brad the versatility he really needs. Then Brad can easily remove his iPhone from the three-board and post to his multiple socialookatmedia sites.
Brad sees the promise of the one- and the two-boards, but the three-board, that really works for him, as he knows there is enough weight and area with the three-boards to keep his iPhone safe from falling off, or more importantly, from missing the all-important perfect angle of the shot.
Because there are three-boards, there is that extra amount of surface area for Brad to get the angle of his iPhone just right for all of his sets and reps. Really, if you think about it, this gift you are getting for Brad is also a gift, albeit indirectly, for all of his adoring socialookatmedia followers. It is truly the gift that keeps giving.
There it is, your first gift on this list. One single item that serves perfectly your two very different friends at the gym. OK, moving on...
2. Strong(er) Embroidered Flexfit Hat
This gift is a phenomenal gift for both of your friends. And here is why. For Dave, this hat is great because it allows Dave to train with the bill pulled low over his eyes. This is a must for Dave when he is training as Dave likes individuals, but he hates people. There is wisdom in that statement if you think about it for just a moment. With the bill pulled low, Dave can focus on his training, keep his mind right, block out all the distractions in the gym, and get after whatever set and rep he is chasing at that moment.
Dave also likes the logo on the hat. Strong(er) is a statement with multiple meanings for those who are serious about their training but also their place in life and when setting forth to attain goals both as a person and as a powerlifter.
Lastly, Dave likes the fact that this hat is available in size XL, and this is great for Dave as he has a significantly bulbous head. No medium or even a large hat will do for Dave, so the strong(er) embroidered flexfit hat in size XL is awesome. As for the color, Dave likes to wear black and always will always wear black until of course they come up with something that is darker. So, score another win for you with Dave as gift two is a flipping hit and that makes you happy, as Dave is a good friend to you.
Much like the three-board, both Dave and Brad will love their hat, but again, just like the three-board, they do so for very different reasons. For Brad, the Strong(er) embroidered flexfit hat is a superior gift as Brad too loves everything about this hat.
First, like Dave, Brad loves the bill of this hat. Not to block out all the visual distractions and annoyances Dave uses the bill to block out, but because when Brad spins that hat around backwards, he can have the bill cocked just a little bit to one side or the other. Brad knows that this is the visual indication to his fan base that Brad is now in full gym mode.
When the hat gets spun around, this means Brad is 100 percent Lincoln Hawk, and that means he is gettin’ serious in the gym. It means the three-board has been put in place, the brand new iPhone’s perfect location has been honed in on, and one of several carefully chosen filters are awaiting to be applied to the masterpiece being filmed. None of that happens without the strong(er) embroidered flexfit hat being spun backwards to set the tone for the video.
Brad, like Dave, also likes the size choices, and his choice is small, as a small hat does not take as much attention away from his Insta-smile. Plus, Brad knows from his followers that the fewer and/or smaller the clothes, the better.
Yup, we are on a role. Two of the exact same gifts chosen for two totally different gym buddies and with the same single outcome, holiday joy as the gifts were well thought out and well received. Moving on to Gift 3.
This third gift is a biggie. It is a little more costly, but both Dave and Brad are worth it, and besides, the holiday sale price was killer good. This single gift choice will be loved by both of your friends as it will mean so much to them, but again, for totally different reasons.
3. Texas Deadlift Bar
Let’s start again with Dave. Dave will love the shiznit out of this bar. First, as Dave is a competitive powerlifter, he knows that the meet is about the biggest total and a strong deadlift is of critical importance toward this end.
Dave loves the 27mm diameter of the bar for a couple of reasons. First, it means a heavily loaded bar will give a few inches prior to coming off the ground and that means less stress on the back and more kinetic energy when the bar finally comes off of the ground. Dave also likes the 27mm diameter as he goes hook grip to prevent from tearing a bicep off. Most of Dave’s muscles and/or tendons have been torn off and either put back on, left dangling, or replaced.
Dave also likes this bar because he knows that all serious competitions where a deadlift bar can be used will be using this bar. And he knows the rule of training with the equipment you will compete with.
Lastly, Dave likes the fact that the bar is 7.5 feet long as that means room for lots of 45-pound plates. Dave can deadlift quite a lot as he trains all of his deadlift and that means the all too often forgotten eccentric of the lift.
When Dave sees that you got him the Texas Deadlift Bar, his eyes will tear up just like they do when he cracks open and sniffs from a brand-new ammonia cap. Once again, you have made your friend Dave’s holiday more than special.
Well, as happy as you have made Dave with the Texas Deadlift Bar, it pales in comparison to Brad’s jubilance. Brad will lose his mind when he opens this gift. Like Dave, Brad has always wanted a Texas Deadlift Bar.
Brad, like Dave, likes the 27mm diameter, but not so much for the bend of the bar and kinetic energy, nor the hook grip rationale, but for the plain old fact that Brad has the littlest hands at the gym. Brad also likes the 27mm diameter because once Brad has locked out his deadlift, he likes to slam the bar to the ground.
Brad is pretty observant, and he knows that if you have a weak pull, you’d better slam the bar as that will make people look at you and your backward-spun hat and not your itty bitty pull. Brad knows this is important, and he makes sure to slam the bar down after every set that he films on his iPhone which sits securely on his new three-board, as Brad knows the socialookatmedia people prefer a loud slam over a heavy pull.
Well, we are three for three. Both of your lifting buddies are totally satisfied, and we pulled off this holiday season of gift-giving for two with the help of just one single holiday shopping list.
But before we go, and because Dave and Brad mean so much to you, let’s get them both the same last gift. Let’s call it their New Year’s holiday gift. But this time, we will name the gift and you will comment on why Dave and Brad, for different reasons, both like this New Year’s holiday gift.
4. Rehband 7051 Original Knee Sleeves
Now, based on what you know about both Dave and Brad, comment below on your reasons why Dave will love this gift and the completely different reasons why Brad will also love this gift.
We look forward to reading your reasons for both.
Happy holidays.
Share your 2019 wishlist with us for a chance to win $500! Click here for more details.
If you have gym friends with different focuses, no worries! The gifts on this shopping list are sure to please both of your powerlifting pals, regardless of their goals, focus, or social media presence.
During the time I was finishing up my first master’s degree, I was spending time studying, powerlifting, enjoying the freedoms and experiences of the university, preparing resumes for the ensuing interviews that come post-graduation, and thinking about life outwardly and toward the future. That said, as a young man in his early 20s, I was also thinking about life inward during those years. I had selfishly chosen a minor in philosophy as a way to satisfy my curiosity as to the why with regard to all that life has or might have in store after schooling ends and work life begins.
As my major helped me secure my career in education (my life outside of the gym and powerlifting, I am an assistant principal at a high school), it was ironically my selfishly chosen minor that really opened my thoughts and mind to just that, my thoughts and mind.
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These philosophy classes were my introduction to Thomas Hobbes, Kant, Nietzsche, Socrates, and other amazing, thoughtful, and insightful minds. In particular, for me was Jean-Paul Sartre.
Sartre was a French political activist, novelist, playwright, and most notably, a highly respected philosopher. Sartre was the author of Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology — in short, a writing about free will, of our ability as humankind to have a direct impact on our own lives, on our own consciousnesses, and on our own existences. Existence, which he stated, precedes our essence. Existence, meaning the mere fact that we exist, and in essence, meaning the why we exist.
Sartre postulates, and I am very liberally paraphrasing, that basically everything living thing in the food chain of life on this planet has a place and a purpose. Everything that is but humankind. He submits that we exist, but what makes us so unique is that we are aware that we are aware; we know that we know; and we are conscious of our consciousness. Because we as members of the human race, we know we have an endpoint, there must be created a meaning, a created purpose for our lives. That we, as members of the human race, must have a reason to be here as we have an inescapable expiration date. An expiration date that is going to arrive for each person who was ever born, every person who ever existed, every individual who has ever taken a breath, everyone who has ever lifted a weight, squatted, pressed, or deadlifted the bar.
Sartre delves into ontology and the categories of being. Crudely simplified, some go through life without a plan, without a mission, without a drive or manufactured purpose. They go through life being selfish and myopic. They are the ones addressed in Roosevelt’s impactful “Man In The Arena” speech.
Others go through life with a goal, with a mission, with a deeply personal and meaningful purpose, and do so while trying to become the best physical, mental, and philosophical versions of themselves. They do so all the while helping others to be better along the way. Dave Tate would call that Live, Learn, and Pass On.
Paraphrasing Sartre, humankind is actually condemned to be free because each individual is responsible for every single choice they make while living their life, and that not making a choice is, in fact, a choice. He postulates that our lives are a culmination, an embodiment of our choices. A well-lived life is one of growth, one where the choices are wise and the hard work one does to achieve a given end is part of the journey that is our essence toward a meaningful existence.
Having one's essence be worthy of the miracle that is our existence is a difficult balance to achieve, and many who exist do just that: merely exist. They never reach the fullness of their potential essence as they spent their lives judging others’ shortcomings rather than building others up while creating their own path toward fulfillment, achievement, success, and value.
Recently while scrolling through my newsfeed, I was saddened to read about the loss of bodybuilding legend, powerlifter, and two-time Mr. Olympia, Dr. Franco Columbu.
Deeply saddened by the passing of one of our greatest champions. Franco Columbu won the Mr. Olympia in 1976 and 1981 inspiring an entire generation. We’ll never forget you, Franco. pic.twitter.com/N93ItIh7cU
— Mr. Olympia LLC (@MrOlympiaLLC) August 30, 2019
As you are a reader of elitefts, I hardly need to go into the impact Dr. Columbu had on bodybuilding. His fingerprints are all over the sport, like chalk marks on your favorite deadlift bar. His influence in the world of weights is palpable, so much, so that just like with the name “Arnold,” when we say “Franco,” in the context of the iron game we all know of whom we are speaking.
Photo courtesy of Chess.com
With his gym roots steeped in powerlifting (750-pound deadlift, 655-pound squat, 525-pound bench press under 200 pounds), Franco was a bodybuilder’s bodybuilder.
Photo courtesy of zacheven-esh.com
Photo courtesy of Muscle and Fitness
At a modest five-foot-five in height, Franco was quite heavily muscled, powerful, and deeply cut and striated for that era in bodybuilding’s history. He was built with the equipment (barbells, dumbbells) of the time and without the technology behind the food supplements or modern isolated hypertrophy equipment of today.
Photo courtesy of FitnessVolt.com
As a self-diagnosed history nerd of all things weights and muscles and power, I have enjoyed reading a good number of books from that golden era of bodybuilding. By all accounts of those from that era of the sport, Franco was never caught up in drama or controversy. He was caught up in hard work, a love for the gym, and provided a generation of bodybuilders, powerlifters, and those who love iron and steel, a positive entity during that time of the classic physique.
In his life outside of the gym, Franco worked as a chiropractor and authored, among others, the book, The Bodybuilder’s Nutrition Book. For those interested, this is a good read with regard to how nutrients play a role specifically within the world of gaining muscle and losing fat. Beyond his chiropractic work, his books, and the gym, Franco was a husband, father, and enjoyed his life, frequently traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Italy.
It is always a little disheartening when someone who has spent a life taking care of themselves, eating healthy, and lifting weights passes, even when they do so while swimming as that day’s exercise at the age of 78 years old. If you were a follower of his IG page, you saw a spry man for his age, smiling with his chiropractic clients while he provided a few seconds lessons on some aspect of chiropractic care. If you are one of the countless hoisters of iron and steel, you remember Franco from Pumping Iron, strong, powerful, healthy, seemingly indestructible, and living life to its fullest.
It is that living of life that takes us back to where we started, and that is with Sartre. For an entire lifetime, Francesco Maria Columbu lived an authentic life whose essence made worthwhile his existence. A life rich in health, love, happiness, success, wealth, strength, power, and muscle. As you read the stories from those who knew him (maybe the only worthwhile function of social media), you read nothing but story after story of his generosity, humor, humanity, and love as well as muscularity, strength, and power.
Dr. Franco Columbu, by all accounts, old and new, lived a full life that demonstrated that one can rise to the zenith of one’s chosen pursuit, in his case, bodybuilding (twice with Olympia wins in ‘76 and ‘81), while also balancing their education, career, family, friends, kids, and other interests. Keep in mind, Franco finished his chiropractic degree in 1977 at the same time he was training for the Mr. Olympia and part of the filming process of the now-iconic Pumping Iron documentary.
Photo courtesy of francescocolumbu.com
What is so inspiring about Franco’s life is the complete fulfillment of it. Someone who managed to actually live life to its fullest by attaining his education and building a successful chiropractic business that he enjoyed, which served his clients and served to provide for his family, a successful family life full of love and happiness as a husband and father, a successful social life full of friends in both the United States and Italy, and a successful bodybuilding career with a capstone to it of reaching the very top of that sports ultimate achievement, attaining a Mr. Olympia title not once but twice.
Franco Columbu is the embodiment of a life full of health, muscle, strength, power, happiness, fulfillment, and more. He is an inspiration for many, not only for his training prowess and competitive success and accolades in the world of weights and iron but for the completeness of life, as that is the real trick.
A powerlifting acquaintance of mine, Tom Krawiec (top-5 all-time total in the 181-pound class), talks about balance as a Venn Diagram. He talks about how life’s Venn Diagram is comprised of intersecting circles that independently increase or decrease in size depending on what one is going through at that time in their life. For instance, their circle of training is larger during meet prep, whereas the circle representing family is larger during other times.
For there to be balance, no one single circle should ever grow too large or become small. Further, as seen with Franco, his Venn Diagram circles were never compromised, never diluted with negativity nor trivial matters.
Remember the other Eleanor Roosevelt quote: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
I submit to you that where you find someone with the time, the energy, and the desire to put another down or cast aspersions on others, you find someone who has a life devoid of essence as they go through existence pointing out how the strong man stumbles. You know someone like this; in fact, you have known many like this throughout your life. Those who put others down, but in doing so, they only illuminate the emptiness of their life essence.
As lifters of iron and steel and makers of muscle and strength and power, many are often looking or in search of the perfect program or regiment. Dr. Franco Columbu has provided an example of a perfect template, a perfect program, a perfect regiment not just for life, but for living that life to its fullest, and that is, in my opinion, Franco Columbu’s true legacy. A legacy of a life rich in giving and receiving and fulfillment. A life where one’s essence is truly and wholly worthy of this gift we have, this gift of our existence.
Wishing you the best in your strength training and life pursuits. Ever onward.
Header image credit: Pumping Iron © HBO Home Video via kolotv.com
I read about the loss of bodybuilding legend, powerlifter, and two-time Mr. Olympia, Dr. Franco Columbu. I hardly need to go into the impact he had on bodybuilding. His life was a life well-lived, one with a deeply personal and meaningful purpose.
From the street, the building looked sturdy, well-built but otherwise nondescript. That said, the reality of what was happening inside defied description. Legendary powerlifters whose training feats remain mostly unknown to the world now except for in the retelling of the stories from those who were there. They were unknown, as this was a time prior to social media, a time prior to the smartphone and a time prior to the Instafamous. The Instafamous, whose high visibility today, when juxtaposed to scarcity of footage of these great lifters, sadly, can hardly be avoided.
Inside of this innocuous-looking building were powerlifters who were laser-focused on their training as well as the training of their partners. These powerlifters competed during an era when the chance of someone being aware of their achievements was remote at best. That said, all the better, as none of these lifters sought any attention but rather sought to live a life of mental and physical discipline that was requisite to achieve success in a sport that most had at best vaguely heard of.
These were power athletes who were all cut from the same cloth. A cloth that was steeped in anonymity, silence, and power. A cloth that was saturated in work ethic and the battle cry of “train hard, train with immediacy, train to become strong, then train even harder.”
The legendary Frantz Gym was the place where these powerlifters trained, where the collective whole was greater than the sum of its parts. But rest assured, each of these parts was unearthly strong. That phrase, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” can often be tossed around, but that was a large part of the magic that was Frantz Gym. The reality was one could never reach their ultimate zenith of strength without the symbiosis of the Frantz Power Team around them.
This was based on the simple fact that this amazing training environment surrounded them and permeated who they were and who they were striving to become as a powerlifter. The lifter was enhanced by the power of the team, and the team as a whole was enhanced by the power of each individual lifter. As the centuries-old saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In this case, the collective Frantz Power Team was the mighty tide that lifted each of its lifters.
The aforementioned building was a brick and mortar Fortress of Solitude that originally opened in the early 1960s, as the Frantz Health Spa. At that time Ernie Frantz (often referred to as “The Godfather of Powerlifting”) was coming up at the same time as many of the famous bodybuilders from that golden era of the sport were also coming up.
Ernie Frantz is probably most famous for his 1974 accomplishment of winning the Powerlifting Worlds and placing second in the Mr. USA contest on that very same day. Both of those sports’ venues were located a few miles apart that year; one in the a.m. and the other that same evening. This would be akin to competing in Major League Baseball and the NFL at the same time, which has only happened seven times since the 1970s.
Open in 1962 and ultimately closing 49 years later in 2011, Frantz Gym was a launching pad to a litany of powerlifters synonymous with success in the sport. I can’t speak to the time prior to the mid-1990s when I was there, but I can tell you what I remember about this legendary gym as those memories are etched in my mind as they are for so many others who trained under Frantz’s roof and under his watchful, seasoned, and mentoring eyes.
You entered Frantz Gym from Broadway Street in Aurora, Illinois. Upon entering the main level where the entrance was, there was an area that served as a holding place for some dated plate-loaded equipment. It was vintage ‘60s and ‘70s, yet pristine in condition and usable that day as if it had been trapped in amber.
The main area of the first floor was well lit by the sunlight that filled the room through the huge windows looking out onto Broadway. On the inside of those windows was a large counter area; behind it were gym supplies, chalk, that generation of equipment (canvas squat suits, canvas and denim bench shirts, knee wraps, briefs) as well as vitamins and nutritional supplements, including protein powder that was designed by Ernie Frantz himself, were sold. (Ernie worked out a deal with his friend and owner at that time of NOW Nutrition, and they formulated a specific protein powder, created and developed for Ernie based on his specifications to be sold exclusively at Frantz Gym). There was a large magazine rack with latest powerlifting magazines such as Powerlifting USA as well as Ernie’s book, the original Ten Commandments of Powerlifting, available for purchase.
LISTEN: Table Talk Podcast Clip — The Glory Days
Amy Jackson and Mike Sweenie
Working behind the counter was the APF’s Amy Jackson, Ernie’s secret weapon and the organizational force behind the sales of countless canvas squat suits, canvas and denim bench shirts, the often imitated but never duplicated, TP 5000 knee wrap, and Ernie’s homemade ammonia. At that time, Amy was the organizer of all things Frantz, as she is today the organizational heartbeat of all things APF/WPC.
In the back of the building was Ernie’s office. Ernie’s office was home to a very heavy, sturdy, wooden, and presidential-looking desk. Behind it, a throne of a leather office desk-chair befitting a man of such power, renowned, prominence, respect, and gravitas within the power community.
On the office walls were large and ornately framed photos with Ernie and so many legendary lifters of the time, along with photos of Ernie and Joe Weider, Clint Eastwood, and other celebrities of that era who were involved in the iron game. That whole first floor was quite impressive, to say the least... And then, there was the upstairs.
A walk upstairs took you into a large room. A large room that, like the first floor, was flooded with the natural light of a very large floor to ceiling windows, which comprised that entire wall that looked over the street below. In this room, there was more equipment that was plate-loaded with sparkling padding, not unlike a banana-seat bicycle, which were popular during the 1970s.
There, in that room, was a tiny and clearly added-on bathroom. Then, in the very back of that floor, there was a benign, doorless opening in the wall. An opening in the wall that, at first blush, looked to be a small room, an afterthought, perhaps. Looks can be deceiving, as this opening didn’t lead to a different room. This opening was the threshold to a completely different world. A world where the powerlifters of that era of Frantz Gym trained.
When you walked into that room, to your right was a deadlift platform built up to some eight or so inches off the floor. Straight ahead was an old pair of squat uprights bolted to the floor, and to your left were three monolifts and a single bench press.
On my first day walking into Frantz Gym, this hugely inspiring and life-changing gym, I was greeted by Ernie, and in the place of greetings and typical pleasantries, Ernie immediately inquired about my goals for that day, my intermediate goals in the sport, and ultimately, my vision for my powerlifting journey.
Ernie spoke in a manner that was pressing and imminent. In a way that conveyed his ever-present philosophy of “The time is now” and “Each day in the gym is solely and individually important, solely and individually essential, and solely and individually critical.”
Ernie expressed, with the passion, conviction, confidence, and authority of a man who had been there and achieved virtually everything, that each workout is built on the last. That ultimately, the clock was relentlessly and ruthlessly ticking away. And as time quickly wound down, the meet date was simultaneously and rapidly approaching, regardless of whether you were ready or not. There was an aura around Ernie, an energy, a presence that would take you out of your own head and help you to see beyond the here and now.
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I have written in the past about Eleanor Roosevelt's famous statement, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.” Ernie was a great mind, as he discussed ideas — not just big ideas, but enormous ones. Additionally, he discussed your potential and how to unlock that potential.
Ernie never dwelled on problems; rather, Ernie created solutions. He talked about vision and mission and purpose, and how one need only compete with themselves, as self-improvement throughout the journey will ultimately take care of all of one’s other goals. Ernie believed in his lifters more than they might have believed in themselves as he had the uncanny ability to see what one could aspire to be if they were fully committed to the process of improvement.
During the week, lifters in the area would train at Frantz Gym, and I would make the 90-minute drive on the weekends to train squats and deads, training during the workweek at a gym near my home. I was truly favored to be training in this amazing place and with amazing lifters, many of whom I still run into either at meets or online (Ray Rodriguez, Jose Garcia, Bill Nichols, Rudy Rosales, Noel Levaro, Tom Carnaghi, Mike Goldman, Mario DeBenedetti III, to name a few).
In 2011, Frantz Gym closed its doors for good. The equipment that once served some of the most powerful men and women in the sport was divvied up and those three monolifts went their own separate ways, and their history with them. Soon after the doors shut for the last time, the building was gutted by a fire, serving as a final coda to this legendary place.
This place existed in quiet, non-assuming triumph, conquest, and success for some 49 years. During its time, the mighty Frantz Gym, under the master design and veteran tutelage of Ernie Frantz, produced some of the greatest powerlifters in the history of the sport. Some, as of this writing, who are still at the top of the sport (Tom Krawiec and Barzeen Vaziri, both top five all-time powerlifters).
The three monolifts I saw during my first day at Frantz Gym are now physical relics of what was once the mighty Frantz Gym, as Frantz Gym now only exists in the mind’s eye of those who were fortunate enough to train there. Monolift 1 was for the lifters who squatted 700 pounds or less; Monolift 2 was where Ernie and some of the ladies, like multi-time world champion Stephanie Van de Weghe squatted from. Stephanie, trained and competed (Stephanie routinely squatted 700 pounds at 165 pounds). Decades before, there was the amazingly strong Laura Phelps, the great Becca Swanson, and today’s mind-blowingly strong and equally non-assuming and humble Crystal Tate. And then, there was Monolift 3, where the likes of Paul Urchick, Jose Garcia, Noel Lavaro, the great Bill Nichols (the World Champion’s world champion), and often Ernie himself squatted.
Squatting in the basement of Frantz Gym on his hydraulic monolift, 2001
I recall the first time I squatted 804 at Frantz Gym on Monolift 1. I was thrilled with that number but knew good and well there was not a chance in the world I would ever presume to venture over to monolift number three as the guys on Monolift 3 were still warming up with 804. Secretly, all of the powerlifters on Monolift 1 aspired to train on Monolift 3, but as we grew strong(er), so did the guys on Monolift 3. And it remained that way.
A DIFFERENT TAKE: Brainstorm: Was "Back in the day" Really That Good?
A career move would eventually take me too far from Frantz Gym to train there. That is when the reality hit. The reality is once you lifted at Frantz Gym, it was simply understood that no other gym would live up to that experience.
When that reality set in, I began training at my home, collecting gym equipment along the way and starting my own team, all the while trying to recreate to the best of my ability aspects of that environment that Ernie had so masterfully created. That delicate environmental balance of a family and supportive team juxtaposed with the raging and requisite undertones of lifting aggression and the passion and intensity that comes from a collective group of like-minded powerlifters all striving to grasp the brass ring of success.
For one to even think they could create something that would even be a whisper of Frantz Gym was an audacious ambition. But then again, this is precisely how Ernie wanted you to think when ponding all things powerlifting. He wanted you to think with audacity, with a boldness and fearlessness. He wanted you to forge forth in your power journey with a temerarious and reckless ambition. From his lessons of boldness and audacity came my gym, Monster Garage Gym, carefully built on the legacy that every Frantz disciple immediately recognizes as familiar.
Recently, I received a message from Barzeen Vaziri (964-pound bench press, No. 5 all-time), who treks to Monster Garage Gym on Sundays. Barzeen was a Frantz lifter starting with Ernie back in 2007 as the gym was in its final few years of existence. When the three Frantz monolifts from Frantz Gym were split up, Monolift 3 had made the rounds, and in addition to being squatted on by the legends at Frantz, it was also used by the more modern Frantz era lifters like 1,000-pound raw squatter Eric Lilliebridge. Over time, Barzeen ended up with obtaining the monolift, which was fitting with him being a Frantz disciple and as someone who understood the history and significance of this piece of equipment.
The message from Barzeen was an inquiry if I would be interested in the Frantz Gym Monolift 3 for Monster Garage Gym. Interested, as:
- With Barzeen’s knee issues, he could no longer squat heavy on it;
- Barzeen wanted it to be used and squatted on as Ernie had intended;
- He wanted to keep it in the Frantz family where the Frantz history was known and respected, and;
- He knew Monster Garage Gym had the squatters who would keep the monolift purposeful and utilitarian.
At Monster Garage Gym, we have a triad of elitefts Deluxe Monolifts. Now with the Frantz monolift, we have a mighty quartet of monolifts with the fourth being steeped in the history of this great sport of powerlifting and bathed in the history that is the legendary Frantz Gym.
Each day as I enter Monster Garage Gym, I take a moment and scan and take in the gym. As I do, I feel a sense of pride and of history, as each piece of equipment has a function, a purpose, a meaning. Each item mounted on the wall, from the American flags to knee wraps worn by all-time record holders, were hung purposefully.
READ MORE: Putting Our Equipment to the Test at Monster Garage Gym
The Frantz monolift has taken its rightful place in this gym, which was designed and planned with a vision and mission and credo that closely mirrored Ernie’s. A belief system that in fact, a rising tide lifts all boats, and that we, as a collective, can help raise up each lifter and those uplifted lifters collectively are the tide that brings the best out of every powerlifter that is serious about becoming a part of something bigger than themselves.
As you move along on this timeline that is your life’s powerlifting timeline, the group around you can help to elevate you or have the potential to drag you down. We are truly an average of our five closest friends, and I submit that this holds true for our training partners as well. Training with someone who complains more than they train or training with someone who is more about likes than reps will neither help propel you nor help you gain traction to your training and competitive goals.
Archilochus, back in the 600s B.C., proclaimed, “We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” Finding a gym whose vision is aligned with yours or finding a training group who are focused on ever-forward motion is like the rising tide. That said, if the gym you seek does not exist, plan it, build it, create it, and will it into existence. If the group of lifters you need to help spot and load and work with symbiotically does not exist, find it, organize it, and will it into existence.
A gym need not be some 10,000-square feet facility but a garage with an elitefts Power Rack, a flat bench, some weights, a few horse stall mats, and an elitefts Texas Power Bar. The minimum weights required for any weight combination are two 25s, four 10s, two 5s, two 2s, and however many 45-pound plates you need.
Any and every gym is merely a place to lift the weights. What makes it special is the vision that it is created to become and the lifters that breathe life into that vision and bring that vision to fruition.
“If you build it, they will come.”
Field of Dreams is a cinematic representation of how anything of worth or significance begins. Build your own team, build your own area to train, bring your concept to life. Bring your concept to life as your own personal time on the timeline that is your powerlifting journey is on an unstoppable trajectory to its final endpoint, and somewhere along that timeline, somewhere prior to the end of your lifting timeline, you will want to have worked with a group of lifters who, together, create a massive tide of strength, power, and muscle.
A massive rising tide that lifts all lifters just as a rising tide lifts all boats.
Wishing you the best in your powerlifting journey. Ever onward.
The legendary Frantz Gym was the place where the top powerlifters trained, where the collective whole was greater than the sum of its parts. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” can often be tossed around, but that was a large part of the magic that was Frantz Gym.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then footage of a powerlifting training session is worth ten-fold. With that in mind, it is one thing to read about elitefts equipment online, and it is another thing to see this equipment in action, and it is something altogether different to see it put to the test on the backs and in the hands of competitive powerlifters today.
To that end, here is a front-row view of elitefts equipment being put to the test at one of the most serious powerlifting gyms in the U.S.: Monster Garage Gym.
I was born in Ohio. For the vast majority of my life, I have lived in Illinois, the land of Lincoln, Coan, and Frantz.
I am an assistant principal and have worked in the field of education for over two and a half decades. I have master’s degrees in psychology and educational administration and a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy.
With regard to my background within the world of powerlifting and weights, I am one of the owners and co-founders of Monster Garage Gym, located in Waukegan, Illinois.
Although I began lifting in grade school like many reading this, I consider an individual’s birth as a powerlifter as the time immediately following one’s first successful powerlifting competition. So, my birth in this great sport was following my first powerlifting meet in 1989. Subsequent to that first meet and over the next two and a half decades, I competed, on an average, four times per year, so some 80 meets, including some single-lift meets to hone my competition skills and for the sheer love of competing.
Through powerlifting, I have been able to travel and meet so many amazing people. Along the way, I was fortunate to win the WPC Worlds twice, the North American Powerlifting Championship, as well as a number of APF National meets. During those years through today, I have found that whether competing internationally as far away as Cape Town, South Africa, or as close as your local backyard meet, the powerlifting community is comprised of some of the most caring and giving people on the planet.
Two of my primary life pillars outside of family are as follows: I love training with weights, and I find great satisfaction working with people, especially the underdog. With that as the backdrop, I chose to pursue the field of education to help bring the best out of young people to help guide and mentor them through the difficult times in their adolescent lives and to help them to grow mentally and emotionally during that four-year duration of time they are in high school. Ever since I was a little boy in grade school through the present, I have always loved lifting weights and have enjoyed all aspects of training and competing.
I met powerlifting legend Ernie Frantz in the 1990s and trained at the legendary Frantz Gym during that time. Back when I trained at Frantz Gym, I watched Ernie Frantz train, and I watched him train and help others. I watched him do some amazing things in his gym to transform lifters physically, strength-wise and physique-wise, but also emotionally and mentally. I saw how Ernie was reaching people through weights and how that aligned with what I was doing in schools.
At that time I was training at Frantz Gym, I was also working as a dean of students and spending a lot of time with kids who were involved with gangs and were fairly rough around the edges. As I worked with these amazingly resilient kids who were dealing with some amazingly difficult situations, I was also learning so much about myself, life, weights, and the journey of powerlifting and life through Ernie’s mentoring.
I had always wanted to own a gym and via Frantz Gym and Ernie Frantz, I saw what a gym with the right vision and mission could accomplish. The desire to have my own gym transformed from a vision to a mission, ultimately reaching fruition when I opened Monster Garage Gym.
In owning the gym, I have managed to merge these two life pillars: helping young people and training. Through the weights and through the journey that is the acquisition of strength and power, muscle and self-actualization, victory, setbacks, and learning and growth, I have the opportunity to try to help shape and bring the best out of others through the vehicle that is the world of weights.
I have always wanted to own a gym. And I am sure like most who love weights, every association with the gym was one of complete satisfaction and joy. I love everything about training with weights in a good gym. In hindsight, what I did not realize is that this experience I was able to have would change for those coming up decades later. I say that as those mom-and pop-gyms — those family-owned, bodybuilder-owned, strongman-owned, powerlifter-owned gyms — I grew up with and was fortunate to train during my youth were becoming fewer and farther between as corporate fitness facilities started to pop up in each town, thus putting a lot of those family-owned gyms out of business.
In my opinion, there is a world of difference between a real gym, a place with weights owned by someone who values training and values the gym’s members and that is built for the like-minded, versus the cold, sterile feeling of a stark corporate gym that exists for mere profit, and that difference is stark.
I wrote an article detailing this frame of reference, as I think gym owners — owners of real gyms — are cut from the same cloth. And that is a desire to become better and to also have their lifters experience the same, all through the journey that is the world of weights.
If you don’t count the years we lifted at my home gym under the moniker of Monster Garage Gym, my first LLC that’s now a corporation, began 10 years ago this summer with the first gym, a tiny warehouse that was some 800 to 1,000 square feet in total. To this day, some of those same lifters that trained in the first building still train at Monster Garage Gym but now in its fourth and much larger location.
My first business partner was Phil Daniels of the Philadelphia Eagles. At the time, Phil was an NFL defensive end for the Redskins, and we trained together prior to owning Monster Garage Gym together. Phil is an amazing person and a great friend.
As I mentioned earlier, the history began in a home garage and subsequently moved as it grew into four different buildings, each larger than the last, but all with the same vision, mission, ambition, atmosphere, and intensity while still maintaining the focus that no one lifter is any less or any more than the other, and that our collective power comes from our diversity — be that black, white, brown, gay, straight, transgender, rich, poor, geared, raw, pro, or amateur. We accept all and embrace all.
But the moment you see yourself as better than a newer or not-as-strong lifter, the minute your negativity begins to impact the gym, the minute your own personal drama spills onto the gym floor, at that instant, you can go find yourself another gym. There is no tolerance for prima donnas or drama queens here. Fortunately, having to remove someone from the team has been a rarity.
With those negative souls all gym owners encounter, I always maintain, far be it for me to be the one who stands in front of another person’s self-destructive behavior or their inability to see anything except for the bad in the world or the stumblings of others. As the owner of the gym I say they can continue to wallow in their own misery, just not at the expense of another’s training program and meet prep.
To be clear, this is not to say that everyone who trains at the gym has to get along. Trust me, there are some folks at the gym who work my nerves, but once inside the walls of the gym, we put our energy into our training, and into one another’s training, for a rising tide raises all boats.
As the owner, it is not my place to decide who is a good person, who is wasting their life, who is squandering their precious time in the gym on that ridiculous phone, or who could have built an entire business during the time they have lost on social media. That is their business. But it is my place to step in when someone is preventing others from reaching the goals they are striving for, and that is the bottom line.
Over the years, the names and faces constantly change in a gym as the membership steadily increases; the squat, bench, deadlift, and total numbers climb and climb on the record boards; and the place gets more equipment and sometimes moves locations.
Regardless of how many years pass, the Monster Garage Gym mantra of “Become a part of something bigger than you” is omnipresent. The original mission: “To create a lifting environment that will bring the best out of each lifter. To provide the best powerlifting, strongman and weight training equipment for the lifter. To provide superior coaching and technique assessment. To work symbiotically as a team to get members to exceed their own lifting and competitive goals, all the while training as a supportive family unit” remains unchanged.
And much of that vision, as I mentioned in an earlier question, is based on the values I absorbed from Ernie Frantz and Frantz Gym.
Monster Garage Gym is not nor has it ever been about one person or about one lifter. It is about this place where people come to become the best and strongest version of themselves.
Our members range in lifting prowess from the all-time record-holders to the person just discovering the world of powerlifting. But they all are in under this roof to attain their goals. Some want to learn the basics, some want to be the best that has ever been, and everything in the middle.
As far as what they do professionally, their careers are as eclectic as their personalities. From chemists to military personnel, to lawyers to psychologists, to carpenters, to engineers, to construction workers, you name it. But as unique as their professions are, collectively, they are cut from the same cloth, and that is that type of individual who is striving to be more. It is just the degree of that more and their level of drive that is tiered, as is typically the case in all walks of life
I don’t know if I really have specific wants or expectations. Admittedly, it is tough for people to come to the gym as they see the highlight videos, and although the videos inspire many, they are intimidating so some newer lifters or those who are bigger fish in their smaller pond gym. Those lifters often self select themselves out, feeling they have to be at a certain level of strength to join, but that is not the case.
I can never tell from who comes in to see the gym, who will come back to join, or who will leave and head to the nearest corporate cookie-cutter gym, or who will have found their lifting fortress of solitude for life.
What I love to see is that lifter who, regardless of natural ability or lack thereof, becomes great due to plain old work ethic. And that work ethic is enhanced and supplemented by the atmosphere created by those striving for their goals, those willing to help with technique and lifting knowledge, and the best equipment being manufactured today.
What I expect once someone is a member is for them to adhere to our one rule, and that is the golden rule. Basically, help others and don’t think for one moment you are more important than someone else. Everyone has struggles you are unaware of, demons you are unaware of, and goals and aspirations you are unaware of.
What I don’t so much want or expect, but hope for, is that over time, those who train at Monster Garage Gym will get the very most out of this journey that is this great sport of powerlifting
There are several things that comprise that list. In no particular order, the knowledge base for one. We have an inordinately large number of powerlifters with decades of successful training and competition knowledge under their belts. It is more than rare for this number of world-caliber powerlifters to train all under one roof.
This serves our new lifters because you are constantly being mentored either directly or indirectly to what the best do and how they train. This serves our most elite powerlifters as well because they are all ravenous for bigger numbers and the collective feeding frenzy that comes with great lifters training together helps the best get even better.
For all lifters, they know that be it new lifter pressing 225 on elitefts Bench Press 1 or the world-class lifter pressing 925 on elitefts Bench Press 6, if you are going for a PR you get the same attention and support from the team as no one member’s PR is more or less important than another’s, just as no one family member is more important or less important than the other.
Atmosphere is another separating factor. If I could bottle what it feels like on a day when the gym is roaring, I would sell that and have this interview from my three-story beach home in Jamaica.
At the Frantz Gym and some of the other amazing powerlifting gyms in the U.S., there is something powerful and palpable in the air when the like-minded collectively strive to be their best and bring out the best in others. It is something that can’t be manufactured, and there is no formula to create it. It occurs organically when those who train together, trust one another, push one another, and believe in one another work to become strong(er).
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” is an absolute truth.
We brought Rich Auxer on board a couple years back. Rich is a powerlifter who has decades of powerlifting experience and is a tremendous deadlifter. He recently retired from the Army Special Forces. Rich would never ever tell anyone, but he was awarded the Bronze Star for combat valor. When asked about combat, Rich is the kind of guy who talks about everyone but himself.
The late Walter Payton once said, “When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you.” Because Rich won’t, that is why I tell his story, as it deserves to be heard as Rich’s service to our country is worthy of our respect and pride.
In addition to his legacy of service to country, these days, Rich is in charge of daily operations at Monster Garage Gym, he drives the ship from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays until the 5 p.m. crew comes in to run it. Rich is a great business partner, as his vision for the gym is lockstep with mine and that of my wife Dawn, who is a powerlifter and co-owner of the gym.
Rich has helped carry a good chunk of the load that comes with running a gym and that makes things better for our lifters. To the layperson, they think you buy some equipment, rent a space, and presto! It is a gym. That is hardly the case. There is a ton of behind-the-scenes work, and Rich has been a huge help with that. Having seen as much intensity in battle as he has, he brings calm to our decision-making when things are getting heated, as he has a bigger perspective than most.
We are working hard on growing our strongman team and strongman equipment. We are well known for our powerlifters, but we also have nationally ranked strongman athletes at Monster Garage Gym as well. What we are also doing to improve is striving to be better not just as a gym but also to be better people.
Toward that end, we have been hosting nonprofit events. We have held powerlifting competitions to raise money for A Safe Place, a local women’s shelter; Underdog Dog Rescue, a nearby dog rescue; the Military Muscle Foundation; as well as helping run, spot, judge, and load at the annual powerlifting meet hosted at the local Naval base.
We have run technique seminars at the gym for military lifters at those annual meets for no charge. Also, with regard to the military, all of our gym members who are in the military, police, or fire department have a discount as we appreciate their service.
We are also working with one of our powerlifters and strongman athletes who resides in Florida on a Monster Garage Gym Florida. We are in the process of working out all the legal aspects that come with an endeavor like that. The person with whom we are working is cut from the same moral and ethical cloth, and he, too, believes in bringing the best out of every lifter.
In addition to these larger aspects, we are constantly chipping away at the stone, be it a new piece of elitefts equipment or our lifters, or our new Patreon page, which we created for those who are looking to learn more about powerlifting.
I knew of elitefts as I had purchased equipment from them years back, and I knew of Dave Tate, as he is approximately my vintage.
I received a call some time back somewhere around 2012 from some personnel at elitefts asking if I would be interested in being a columnist (back in 2007, I had an article posted in elitefts). In the past, I had articles published in Monster Muscle, PowerMag, and Powerlifting USA. Writing those articles was great, but this was an invitation to write a column each and every month. I said, “Thank you for the call and interest. I will think this over as with a full-time job in a school system, a family, my training, competing, and Monster Garage Gym responsibilities, I would need to see if I had the time to do this.”
I needed to weigh this opportunity because if I was going to do this, I was going to put my all into it, and that requires time and commitment.
So, I began to write an article to see how long that process takes, as well as taking the time to vet elitefts and Dave. I knew the high quality of their equipment because I owned a bit of it, but I didn’t know all there was to know about the company and what it stood for.
In the process of drafting an article, I realized that it takes every bit of that month to put together an article worthy of not only your name but worthy to be posted along the side of the other elitefts columnists and the name elitefts. I also realized that Dave Tate’s elitefts was just that: Dave Tate’s. Dave puts his everything into elitefts, but more than that, it is a business based on his values, his vision, and his mission.
The more I vetted elitefts, the more I realized how much work went into elitefts as an entity, what it stands for, what it believes in, what its mission is, what its core values are, where it has been and where it is going. The more I looked into elitefts, the more similarities I found between elitefts and Monster Garage Gym, and that was the selling point for me philosophically and morally.
Of course, little did I know that prior to vetting elitefts, elitefts had vetted me. elitefts vets all their columnists and coaches, as you are representing them as well as creating content to share with athletes. So the more I read up on elitefts and Dave, the more respect and belief in them I gained.
Also with regard to writing for elitefts, I think it is one thing to get to write educational content for powerlifters and strength athletes, but it is a solely different thing to do so for a company steeped in this particular belief system of “Live, Learn and Pass On,” and do so from amongst a team of columnists comprised of such great powerlifters and strength athletes.
The bottom line is my choice to write for elitefts has everything to do with the quality of the company, the authenticity of its vision and mission, the superiority of its products and its customer focus.
Each time in the past that I had ordered from elitefts, I was impressed with their staff behind the scenes: folks like Ronda in customer service and Matt in sales. If Dave is the machine that is elitefts, people like Ronda and Matt are the mechanics behind the scenes who keep the machine running at full speed.
- Monster Mondo Leg Press
- 4 Signature Competition Benches
- 4 Power Racks
- 2 Band Racks
- 3 Deluxe Monolift
- Belt Squat Machine
- 3 Texas Deadlift Bar
- 2 Rackable Cambered Squat Bar
- 4 SS Yoke Bar
- Spider Bar
- Mastodon Bar
- 10 Power Bar
- 2 Sabertooth Bench Press Bars
- 6 Proloc Collars
- Bands
A couple pieces of advice. First, do your homework before you spend any money. As someone with a ton (literally) of elitefts equipment now, I could tell you why elitefts is the way to go, but you need to personally compare apples to apples. Once you do that, you will see for yourself why elitefts is the way to go, and that is important, as it will give you the information to make a great purchase as well as the peace of mind required when making a significant investment for your gym business or home gym.
What I will share with you from years and years of experience training with elitefts equipment is this: At Monster Garage Gym, we have some of the strongest powerlifters competing today using our elitefts equipment. With a number of guys on the team who have squatted over 1,000 pounds, benched over 800 pounds, a couple in the 900s, and have pulled over 800 pounds, our elitefts equipment has never failed, never broken, and never compromised the safety of the lifters nor the spotters. Never, not one single time.
I don’t know what price you can put on peace of mind, but when 845 pounds on a bench bar comes crashing down toward a bencher after the bar comes out of his hands and the loaded bar hits the face-saver metal safeties rather than cutting the lifter’s head clean off, well, you have never been more glad you own the best and safest equipment made today. I will take elitefts’ heavily reinforced welds over other companies’ easy-to-be-mailed bolts, nuts, and screws any day.Same goes for bars. Your gym might not have 1,000-pound squatters (yet), but the 500-pounds squatters deserve a bar that has great knurling, is balanced, won’t whip them around when doing reps and will last a lifetime of lifting and training.
In the video that accompanies this interview, you will see virtually every piece of elitefts equipment and bar being used. We have not once had buyer’s remorse, as there is no doubt in my mind and with my 30 years under the powerlifting bar that elitefts is the best-made equipment for powerlifting, period.
Keep being the beacon! It used to be that in order to put training material out there, you had to have an expertise and enough experience and success to fill a book that costs money to publish, and that book was published only after being highly vetted by the publishing firm.
Today, you can hardly get away from information as the vetting to get it seen and the expertise and success to create it are no longer requisite. The reason is that most online voices are the same volume, be they an expert like Ed Coan or the snake oil salesperson. Unfortunately to that end, everyone with an opinion has a blog, IG page, etc., regardless of the lack of knowledge, experience, and success.
Keep being the beacon because elitefts is a source of truth for those involved in power, muscle, strength, and performance. elitefts has vetted, proven, authentic, quality, and diverse information on all things strength, power, muscle, and performance. And its content is free.
In other words, the information from elitefts comes to the athlete from an experienced lifter at no cost, unlike the snake oil rhetoric coming from a $70-per-session trainer who has never competed but who has passed a test stating they are certified. There is a big difference between having vast experience and having a social media following. Said another way, it is quality content over clickbait.
My other advice is to continue to keep the caliber of columnists and coaches high. Behind the scenes, just like on the platform, the elitefts columnists are competitors, so don’t think for one second that each columnist isn’t trying to write the best column and blow the others on the team away with their content. The elitefts columnists and elitefts coaches all support one another, speak with one another, advise one another, and some train with one another.
At the end of the day, each columnist and each coach wants to put out something so valuable on elitefts.com so their peers on the team take note. The team that writes and coaches for elitefts are amazing, but at the end of each month, we want to see who put out the best stuff.
In 2018, I was fortunate to land on the Top-5 Columnist list for the year. That is something I worked very hard for, as I have a deep respect for team elitefts and for the responsibility we have to put out great content. elitefts is the beacon, and my feedback for elitefts is to continue to be just that, regardless of how clickbait-y the online world gets around it. Clickbait is everywhere, and that is why we need Dave Tate and elitefts to continue to be what they are and who they are.
It’s one thing to read about elitefts equipment, but it’s something altogether different to see it being used in the hands of competitive powerlifters at Monster Garage Gym.
It was the summer session, the semester prior to my first year of graduate school. I had completed my undergraduate work in science and psychology, and there was an opportunity to take a geology course, which would serve a dual purpose. The first purpose was exposure to the physical world of the science I had merely read about, and the second purpose was to make a trek out West to areas where the Earth still appeared as primordial as it did billions of years ago.
The trip spanned nearly a month in duration and the geology spanned in variation from the igneous material that formed Devil’s Tower, to the sedimentary rocks of the Badlands, to the molten rocks, which were miles underground Yellowstone, whose thermal signatures can be found all over that region.
During the trip, we engaged in a dig that culminated in extracting fossils from strata. Each layer below the next reached back into time further and further and more and more ancient the deeper you would delve into the strata. We went spelunking and relished in awe of the land of total and complete darkness within the belly of the caves. Then, when illuminated with the light from a helmet lamp, your state of awe expanded tenfold as you beheld the wonder of the caves’ mighty stalactites and stalagmites that took tens of thousands of years to form, and there they were right in front of you to gaze at for as long as you desired. As the trip ventured on, we had the opportunity to take readings and collect supervised samples of the 200-degree water from geysers in an area that formed eons prior.
I recall coming back after each day’s exploration to the dorm-style overnights we sometimes stayed in along the way or the tents we used on other nights. You would find yourself laying down on the thin mattresses cot or the tent floor and looking over the day’s notes and trying to wrap your brain around the sheer volume of time involved to create what we had been seen that day and each day prior. The time frames involved in the creation of these wonders blew my mind back then, and to this day, that month-long experience helped shape how I look at duration, time, patience, and longevity.
Galyna Andrushko © 123rf.com
It is through this type of experience that one can apply the view of time with regard to virtually all facets of your life, one being your strength training. Time, as it relates to the time involved in a training program, the length of time in between meets, that confounding time during injury when you are not able to train at your maximal effort, and the span of time that you, as a competitive powerlifter, will be at your strongest in this body-brutal sport of powerlifting that we love, hate, adore, loathe, and can’t seem to live without.
Time is the healer of wounds as well as a thief in the night that, in the end, can take everything. But time is also the most precious of gifts that is squandered with a thoughtless and frivolousness that only those with the perspective of time behind them can appreciate and fully comprehend.
With a distance behind me of 30 years since my first powerlifting meet in 1989, I can see the weightiness of time and the urgency that my mentor, friend, and powerlifting coach, Ernie Frantz, conveyed to me back when I was working with him in the 1990s.
He was in his early 60s at the time and had a perspective that I did not understand but one I trusted, and because of that, I heeded his words about time without actually understanding the why behind the urgency. I would look at a training cycle of 16 weeks as a full-blown four months between day one of training and the meet. Ernie would look at that time period as a mere 14 heavy squats with a moderate 15th squat and nothing the week of the meet. That is a big mental difference.
Four months is loose and has no urgency to it. But 14 precious squat sessions, each lasting about an hour and a half, so a mere 21 or so hours of squat time. Less than a day of squat training, to put it another way. With this perspective, you clearly visualize that each squat session is fleeting and it must be exceptional as each subsequent session is deeply dependent on the success and all out, empty both barrels, effort of the session, and precious sessions prior.
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Listening to Ernie and thinking about time in the context of geology, one starts to see that nothing worthwhile or stands the test of time is built quickly or haphazardly. I would watch Ernie work with his athletes, and when they were banged up, he made them back off because he knew that blasting through an acute injury for the sake of the upcoming meet could lead to a chronic injury that would compromise the long game of the many, many big meets and titles that are in one’s future.
Just as a stalactite becomes mighty with the relentless and steady mineral drip of time, a great powerlifter that burns out via injury never achieves greatness, as greatness is not solely about big numbers — it is about big numbers put up consistently and over a long duration of time.
Ed Coan was great because of his huge numbers, but Ed Coan is the GOAT because of his huge numbers produced over and over and over, for not years but decades.
The point I am illustrating is that there is this balance when looking at time, and that balance is training with an urgency, as time is very much fleeting in your competitive powerlifting career but also knowing when to go slow and to heal and regroup, as there are long-term goals ahead, as powerlifting is not a destination, but rather a journey.
With time in mind, here are some aspects to heed:
- Invest the time to finish the program. Program-hopping is for the myopic and the impatient. By finishing the program, you find out after the fact if it just seemed too hard or too easy, as it later became easier or more challenging. In either case, you will know because you actually took the time to finish the program and thus learned if it is something to dump, keep, or modify to your personal physical nuances (ability or inability to recover, the need for more or less volume, etc.).
- Invest in the time to heal. Don’t just blast through an injury. The duration of time it would take to overcome the injury pales in comparison to the time it will take to recover from the injury that’s now requiring surgery that you pushed yourself into. Save that hardcore go-out-guns-blazing BS for the “here today, gone later today” crowd. Those lifters are a living cliché, and they are a dime a dozen. The gyms I have trained at over some three decades are littered with the battered and broken bodies of those driven by ego versus those willing to put in the required time to slowly and consistently drive up their totals.
- Look at your training program with the time frame of the number of lifts and hours, not the totality of the duration of time that includes your time outside of the gym. A 16-week training cycle is not months away; it is 15 heavy squats, benches, and deadlifts, and that is it. If you go with a light week and heavy week in your squat cycle, the meet is seven heavy squats away. Frame the time duration with this perspective and you quickly see how precious each and every squat session is, and why lifters who jump on their cell phone in-between each training movement simply do not get it. That stated, don’t let your lifting partner try to justify the use of their phone, as it 100 percent means their training is simply not priority one, and they are using that ridiculous thing even though mounting studies about training and phone use shows it destroys the fight and flight response and obliterates the continuity of one of these critical training days. I will go as far as to suggest if they can’t keep that thing in their gym bag for the duration of a training session, they need to be replaced with a training partner as serious as you. A training partner like you who realizes that the gym is your fortress of solitude and there is an urgency to your training as they, like you, realize the fleeting nature of time.
Time is the healer of wounds, but it can also be a thief in the night that, when squandered, can and will take everything.
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In closing and keeping with the theme of geology, I leave you with Charles Darwin, naturalist, biologist, geologist, and author of On the Origin of Species. Darwin stated, “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
I submit to you what you this truth for consideration. When you see someone in the weight room, eyes glazed by the dummy screen of the cell phone, or you see those half-committed to their meet training because they will get serious next week, those are the lifters who have not discovered the value of time; nor have they discovered the fleeting nature of time, nor the finite reality of their own timeline that is their life as a competitive powerlifter.
We all have that timeline, and it is in fact, very much finite. Understanding this and understanding the preciousness of time is the difference between the pain of discipline and the pain of regret.
Wishing you the best in your training and strength journey. Ever onward.
To this day, that month-long experience of a geology class at Yellowstone helped shape how I look at duration, time, patience, and longevity. That experience helped me apply the view of time to virtually all facets of life, including strength training.
The elitefts Spider Bar is the sinister and villainous offspring of the elitefts SS Yoke Bar and the elitefts Rackable Cambered Bar.
To put it in a quasi-Marvel context, the universe is full of heroes and villains. Most powerlifters are familiar with the SS Yoke Bar and Rackable Cambered Bar as they are staples to the elitefts arsenal of specialty bars that are must-haves for the serious powerlifter.
If specialty bars could be heroes or the good guys, the SS Yoke and Rackable Cambered bars would fall into that category. They work to help every aspect of your squat game. When you put in the work, their unique designs help you achieve the squat progress you are looking for.
Now, if a specialty bar could be a villain, you can bet your monthly paycheck that the Spider Bar would represent the dark side of specialty bars. Why? Because virtually everything about the Spider Bar is challenging and difficult. But it is precisely that difficulty and challenge that makes the Spider Bar so valuable for your training. It has a challenging and difficult balance, challenging and difficult angle, challenging and difficult everything. If you are looking for easy, DO NOT get this bar.
Keeping with our heroes and villains theme, sometimes you can have two awesome heroes hook up and produce a wickedly sinister villain. For example, Ant-Man and The Wasp hooked up and produced an evil offspring, Red Queen (depending on which comic lines you might follow). As stated at the onset, the elitefts Spider Bar is the sinister offspring of the elitefts SS Yoke Bar and the elitefts Rackable Cambered Bar.
In essence, elitefts took a Rackable Cambered Bar and the padded shoulder and handle carriage from the classic SS Yoke Bar and welded that apparatus permanently into place onto the Rackable Cambered Bar. But when they welded it, they did so at an angle, and that angle changed everything that once was, as the combination of bars and the change in angle and balance created something very different and very ruthless.
Like the SS Yoke and Rackable Cambered bars, the Spider Bar does not have sleeves that rotate, and very unlike a traditional squat bar, the weights on the Spider Bar are placed on these non-rotating sleeves located far below the lifter’s shoulders, so this can cause a pendulum effect. This pendulum effect must be controlled, and in addition to the challenging angle, these variables cause instability for the lifter, which adds to the already challenging dynamics of this bar.
The Spider Bar is very unforgiving, and if there are weaknesses in your technique, be assured, this bar will not merely expose weaknesses but amplify them. Dealing with the amplified weaknesses will force you to divert your attention to these lacking aspects of your technique.
Villains are the antithesis of the superhero, but we need them in our world as they serve a specific purpose. They remind us that to achieve your goals, you must fight adversity and the evil that can come your way.
The Spider Bar is a necessary evil that stands squarely between you and the squat power you are striving for and the squat goals you are training to achieve.
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Some might read this piece as reasons to not add the Spider Bar to a lifter’s arsenal of bars and truth be told, for those lifters who come away with that feeling, this bar is 100 percent not for them. But for those lifters who know that “if it were easy, everyone would be doing it,” this bar represents the very villain they have been looking to fight, overcome, and reap the benefits from doing so.
The accompanying video features a few of the squatters at Monster Garage Gym, including 1,085-pound squatter and WPC World Powerlifting Champion Steve Brock, 800-pound raw squatter Bill Lee, 815-pound equipped squatter and multi-ATWR holder Crystal Tate, multiple time Masters WPC World Powerlifting Champion John Ponzetti, and others.
This bar is not easy even for some of these highly respected squatters, and that is exactly why they train with it, and exactly why we have this bar available for our lifters at Monster Garage Gym.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep. Ever onward.
Header image courtesy of David Grigg © 123rf.com
If you’re a Marvel fan, you might know that Ant-Man and The Wasp produced an evil offspring, Red Queen. Likewise, elitefts’ heroic Rackable Cambered and SS Yoke bars came together and created the nefarious Spider Bar. What makes this bar so villainous? Read on if you dare…
10. Your use of the word “legend” is reserved for an actual legend
If I had a dollar for every time the use of the word “legend” was tossed around, I would be writing from a vacation home off the beach in Hawaii somewhere. Having a large social media following does not a legend make.
Legendary status is not about a single accomplishment, but of a lifetime of work leading to that accomplishment. Accomplishments with far-reaching impact, where one’s legacy stands and withstands the ultimate test, the test of time. Weathering the storms of time is far different than being the flavor of the month.
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We can think of a lot of truly legendary athletes, and that is not something that is to be measured in terms of followers or the size of the social media footprint. Save the word legend for those who embody the significance of the word and let the Insta-famous bask in their glory. Their glory of being really, really good at talking about and promoting themselves. Walter Payton said it quite well:
“When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you.”
Ed Coan is the perfect example of this. Unearthly numbers (901-pound pull at 220, for example), top numbers, records in several weight classes for multiple lifts and totals, and decades as the pinnacle of the sport. You want more? Add to it how Ed is constantly giving back to others. This is the proper use of the word: “In powerlifting, Ed Coan is a living legend.”
9. You have actually read several books about strength and power
Instagram clips and YouTube “how-to” videos are available and convenient, but sometimes the devil is in the details. Aspects of training are not always simple and can take several chapters of material to expose those details. Powerlifting for the serious powerlifter is not about bullet points; it’s not about clicks or views; nor is it about likes.
In powerlifting or any endeavor that has complexity to it, more often than not, it’s about taking the deep dive and reading and re-reading the content. You have come to realize that practical experience, hands-on training, and in-depth knowledge contained in the pages of books penned by authors and athletes who have not only been there but have successfully been there, equal a far better opportunity for your own success.
Leave the “Add 50 Pounds in an Instant by Watching This Video” to the amateur hour lifters. Continue on your path of combining the written along with the moving of iron throughout your powerlifting journey.
8. You train the whole deadlift
There are actually three parts to this lift: the pull off the floor, the hold at the top, and the controlled eccentric down portion of the lift. The non-serious powerlifters love to hear the sound of their 400 pounds hit the floor, whereas the serious deadlifters prefer to set their bar down (compete with 700- to 800-pounds of weight), as it is the eccentric of the lift that built their erectors to the point of being able to pull massive weight in the first place. The group of erector muscles (Iliocostalis, Longissimus, and Spinalis) protrude like thick steel cables in great deadlifters, and the eccentric is critical.
There is a negative correlation between the volume of the deadlift hitting the floor and the prowess of the puller. The louder the deadlift comes crashing down, the more of the eccentric that was utterly wasted. To put it another way, they just blew off an entire portion of the lift. One would never do just half of a bench press or squat only to dump the bar and not finish the lift.
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The serious powerlifters train for a total; the not-so-serious drop their deadlift to be noticed. You have seen this and you avoid it because you know the entire lift needs to be trained and you are also well aware that confidence requires no attention from others. Moving on...
7. You couldn't care less if someone competes raw or with gear
You are focused on your training and the competition. The competition that, with each and every day, draws closer and closer. You can’t be bothered with the trite, the mundane, or the inane.
Your non-serious counterpart, on the other hand, is quite busy as well, but with different things. One being the keyboard thrust and parry of who are the “real” powerlifters, and who is right. They focus on the differences between raw versus geared lifters.
Let them continue wasting their time and energy on apples versus oranges, you continue on your vision, your mission, your training, your competition, and your next PR.
6. You can survive an entire training session without having to look at the phone
Of all the telltale signs of who is not in it to win it, this is pretty much the easiest to observe. They do a set, zone out for eight minutes with eyes frozen on the blue light, doing thumb reps over and over and over and over again. Time is precious in the gym, and the gym is your fortress of solitude. You know it, and you do what so many just can’t, and that is simply leaving your phone in your gym bag while you push your body, muscle, and mind to the brink for that fleeting and oh so precious time you have for that workout.
The science is irrefutable with regard to the phone and losing your fight and flight response in the gym. But for some, the phone is truly a greater priority. They justify and mightily say, “My program is on my phone” or “I log my training in my phone.”
But you know the truth and you know the science, so you log your training with pen and paper and keep your mind in the muscle and our phone in a bag.
Kai Greene talks in bodybuilding terms that if a bodybuilder doesn’t have discipline in the kitchen, there won’t be success on the stage. I submit that if a powerlifter can’t keep from the distractions of the online world during a training session, they are not a serious powerlifter. You see the phone-scrolling sheep in the gym, and so do the other lions training in the gym. You train, they scroll; you progress, they stagnate.
5. You can make your own program decisions
Prior to the Internet, lifters read up (see Item 9) on programs. They ran the program, they noted what worked and what did not, what needed to be kept, what needed to be tweaked, and what needed to be tossed out. They knew that intrinsically they have the ability to see what works for them and what doesn’t work for them.
Like those pre-Google and pre-online “program guru” lifters, you have come to realize that one size doesn’t fit all and that there’s no one perfect program because if there was, everybody would be getting huge numbers everybody would be on the program and everybody would be a legend... er, I mean, champion.
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Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it works and just because something is old doesn’t mean it is not effective. You know this, and therefore you continue to make well-educated decisions on your own. Let the others pay for that Top secret Russian template that will get them 700 pounds on their total in 30 days or your money back with free shipping, act now.
4. You have the ability to differentiate between someone who is hardcore and someone who is merely being a douchebag
Contrary to popular belief, being hardcore is not about yelling at people; it is not about talking in disparaging ways about other lifters; it is not about putting people down; nor is it being loud at the gym and throwing a temper tantrum.
Being hardcore is about self-discipline; it is about consistency, and it is about educating oneself and applying that acquired knowledge. Being hardcore is in the understanding of the history of the sport as to have a larger view and context of aspects that might impact your training and ultimately your total. Being hardcore is the ability to realize that there’s a time to push and risk potential injury but there’s also time to walk away and shut it down. It is the ability to have the self discipline to recovery, and having the awareness to want to be great but not just great for a minute but great for a long period of time.
Hardcore is the powerlifter who can go 110 mph but also knows when to go slow around the curves of the road that is this brutal sport of powerlifting. Training at 110 mph without using the other critical gears takes the pseudo-hardcore lifters flying right into the wall, game over. Here today, gone later that same day.
Continue to delineate from those who are hardcore and those who are merely a douchebag. Ask anyone who has been around the sport for a few decades, they will tell you that you will run into douchebags disguised as hardcore all your life. The quicker you can ID which they are, the less time you waste.
3. You realize your true competition is with the powerlifter you are training to become
Unless you are an Ed Coan, Dave Pasenella, Chuck V., Becca Swanson, or a lifter of that caliber, there’s always gonna be somebody strong(er). The goal is to be a strong(er) version of yourself each and every day. Along the course of your powerlifting, if you’re constantly becoming a better version and a stronger version of yourself, you will defeat competition over time just by being better than who you were the meet before.
You recognize this and that puts more wins under your belt, a bigger total in your personal record book, and maybe along the way, you will find out you are cut from the cloth of those mentioned before. You never know and continue on your own path comparing you with you while drawing inspiration from others along the way as well.
2. You paid attention in biology class
There are a balance and symmetry to the body, energy you can expend, and then there’s time for recovery. But there’s also feeding the machine that is the powerlifter. You paid attention in biology, genetics, and chemistry classes, and you realize that when the body is busy breaking down processed foods, preservatives, sugars, chemicals, and it is also running on a lack of sleep (CPAP), or trying to digest tons of chemicals, the body can’t focus on this job, which is to recover from training and become strong(er).
You are a serious powerlifter, and you know that the body can only deal with so much demand, and you are smart enough to know how to fuel your body, what nutrients play a role in growth and recovery, as well as what not to ingest. The see-food-eat-food diet of the 1990s has died a fat, water-logged, and bloated death.
1. You took the Red Pill
This life we live is comprised of sheep, and it is also comprised of shepherds. Followers or leaders. The flock goes where it is directed. It makes decisions, but they are within the structure allowed for them by the shepherds, who are the ones setting the course for the journey. The shepherds are the ones who create the plan, set the path, and consciously work through the inevitable objects and challenges that they will face. The sheep follow the other sheep.
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To frame sheep and shepherds another way, consider what The Matrix’s Neo would say. And that is, “Take the red pill.”
“You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill — you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.”
You just might be a serious powerlifter if you do just that and take life’s red pill. I say this because in powerlifting there are no secrets, there is no one path, there is no one method or ultimate program. There is not that perfect supplement or that one movement or exercise that will break things wide open for you.
There is not one road to follow, for it is the thousands of little and individual decisions that you make over the course of your powerlifting journey that land you on the road that is right for you. In order to create this road, this path to your own personal success in the sport, you need to be making the decisions; you need not be a part of the wanding flock of sheep, but the shepherd who leads the way because the shepherd knows where they want to go and must find their own path to reach that destination.
Blindly following Program X or Exercise Y because what the flock is doing might inadvertently lead someone to progress, but purposely choosing the methods, following the methods, learning what did and what didn’t work from these methods, and then making individual decisions on how to proceed —this is the way of the shepherd. This way is selectively learning from other powerlifters who achieved success, as well as learning from those who were or are not successful, and avoiding their pitfalls. It is reading and educating oneself, trying and failing and succeeding by one’s own hand while moving toward one’s own vision and mission for their powerlifting journey is paramount for the authentic life in this sport that is both intrinsically rewarding as it is body brutal.
Wishing you the best in your powerlifting training, competition, and journey.
This life we live is comprised of sheep, and it is also comprised of shepherds. Followers or leaders. The flock goes where it is directed. Shepherds set the course for the journey. Are you part of the flock? Or are you a shepherd? Are you a serious powerlifter or not?
In our lives, we have boyfriends or girlfriends or husbands or wives or significant others. We also have acquaintances, friends, close friends, family, and co-workers. We have a lot of individuals in our circle who are important to us, and they don’t require anything from us. They don’t require our money, or our praise, our influence, or anything specific for them. What they do want, however, is our honesty.
Honesty is a word that is comprised of so much nuance and the power of honesty helps define us as a person, as an individual. But honesty also helps define our role with others, like the roles in life that I mentioned above. Honesty can involve our honor, our integrity, our ethics, and moral compass. In some ways, it is synonymous with virtue, worthiness, and sincerity. So much is packed into that powerful word and so much comes with the weightiness of its meaning.
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Honesty is key to all of our relationships, as it takes a lifetime to build trust yet mere moments to lose it. Honest mistakes can be forgiven over time, but being lied to is something different. Honesty is the key to our relationships growing stronger, as honesty can mean sometimes that honest statements are hurtful for a time, but those constructive criticisms said with both candor and care, are made intentionally. And through the lens of the honest friend, spouse, co-worker, or family member, improvements from the one spoken, too, may result, and that is often the reason behind honest words that can temporarily have a sting to them.
In powerlifting, bodybuilding, strongman, or any weight training endeavor, the people who can propel us forward, the people who can help us gain traction when our wheels seem to be spinning without forward movement are our training partners. Training partners are the individuals whom we see multiple times per week, and in some cases, time spanning over many, many years.
Training partners are the people in our lives we trust will have our back when our squat or bench fails. Where their spot is always ready and our safety is important to them as it is to us. These are the people in our lives who are as focused on the prize at the end of the work you put in at the gym as they the prize at the end of the training cycle for themselves.
Training partners are a staple to our training and are one of the pillars we depend on for stability in our workouts, vision, mission, and journey that is the gym, the platform, the stage, or the field of battle as a whole.
Not unlike with your spouse or significant other, the relationship between training partners depends on many things, but at the central core to this relationship is the quality of one’s honesty with their training partner.
Just like a relationship, being honest can be challenging at times. When your significant other asks how the meal was, you can be less than honest and say, “The meal was great,” when in reality, it was far from that. That can spare feelings but serves to ensure equally non-tasty meals for months and months to come.
Sparing feelings by being less than honest is not a luxury we have with training partners, as our feedback has the same impact as the aforementioned example. If our training partner squats and then asks us for our feedback, and we know the squat was high, but we respond with a response like, “That was below parallel,” they will continue on that path of high squats for that workout and potentially all the meet prep workouts to come.
At the end of the day, there aren’t just a few bad meals via a bit of dishonesty, but instead, a meet or championship that ends in three red lights and a training partner who can’t understand how all their training squats met with your approval in the gym, but were turned down by each of the three judges for each of their three attempts.
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In powerlifting and other strength sports, true training partners don’t have the luxury of being anything but 110 percent honest, nor should they be. After all, their whole purpose beyond pushing, inspiring, and motivating their training partner, beyond keeping them safe and building confidence and the like, is to be that one individual that is honest, who keeps the training real and calls it like it is. “Hey, how was that squat depth?” “Honestly, it was high, and not just a little bit, but significantly so.”
As lifting partners, honesty is not the best policy, it is the only policy; in fact, it is your absolute responsibility. You are not there to stroke fragile egos with false feedback; you are there to help build their total with truth, honesty, and transparency. Impressively heavy high squats might cut it with the Instafamous social-look-at-me-dia folks, but international judges don’t care how many followers you have or how many filters you used. Judges care about if you made depth or not, and when in doubt, the red lights come out.
This all said, providing honesty in your assessment of your training partners is your part of a two-part equation. Part 1 is your requisite honesty, the truth you supply to help bring the best out of your training partner. But Part 2 of the equation is your partner’s follow through with your honesty. I say that as providing honest feedback does not necessarily mean your feedback will be heeded, absorbed, listened to, or followed. To that end, their response, or perhaps lack thereof to your feedback, is not your responsibility. You can lead a horse to the platform, but you can’t make him squat deep.
I have a gym (Monster Garage Gym) full of lifters, and I enjoy training with them all. I will joke and kid and goof around with them after training or at El Durango restaurant for carne asada, where we often eat post-training. My gym’s lifters are vastly eclectic and come from all backgrounds and have a wide range of professions, goals, personalities, races, and backgrounds. I like them all, even the ones whom you can’t save from themselves. With the diversity in lifting and life experiences comes thoughtful flexibility.
What I won’t ever bend or provide flexibility or give one little inch away is when it comes to honesty about their training, technique, depth, attempts, or anything lifting-related they inquire with me about. I would never cheapen or diminish my relationship with them by telling them something they might want to hear when the truth is something entirely different.
If your squat is high, I am absolutely going to tell you that because I take my job as your training eyes seriously. I do them no favors by reinforcing their bad habits, poor technique, lazy eccentric work, high squats, or the inability to put a bar to a bench after months of nothing but board work.
My lifters know this, and some ask me to check their depth because they want my decades of judge’s eyes and powerlifting experience to provide them with this view, but most of all, they want my honest assessment and know I will always provide just that. Others never ask me to look at their depth because they already know they are as high as a kite and don’t want to hear that truth. That, too, is OK.
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As the provider of feedback, of truth, and of honesty, your job as a training partner is to live up to the standards of the sport, the responsibility of your job, to be authentic with your partners, and call it like it actually is.
My lifters know I will never sugarcoat my feedback with them, and that is exactly why some want my insight and exactly why others do not seek it. I am not concerned with injuring egos of the lifters at my gym with the truth because serious powerlifters don’t lift with their egos. They lift, they train, and they compete for the challenge, not the Insta-affirmation. If you are not being truthful because you are concerned you might bruise your training partner’s ego, then your training partner might have issues far more concerning than a high squat.
Intrinsically, you already know if you are providing honesty or if you are not. If you are not, take a look inward and explore the “why” to that reality.
A great lifting partner can be one of the single most important resources for success in the sport, and I submit that in order to be a great lifting partner, that one of the most critical ingredients to that formula is honesty. Calling reds in the gym helps attain whites at the meet, and at the end of the day, that is what matters to the true powerlifters.
Be the authentic training partner and be the truth teller as when it comes to your role in your training partner’s life, honesty is the only policy.
Wishing you the best in your training and competitions. Ever onward!
Not unlike with your spouse or significant other, the relationship between training partners depends on many things, but at the central core to this relationship is the quality of one’s honesty with their training partner.
Sports fans have always wanted to see the legends do what they do best. They wanted to see the greats, like a Michael Jordan slam-dunk in a way that seemed to defy gravity. They wanted to see Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, blast one out of the park in the bottom of the ninth. They wanted to see Nolan Ryan blow a fastball right past the batter like a flash of lightning. These are the feats we want to see from our sporting heroes.
To that end, nobody wanted to see Jordan practice a free throw, nobody got to the park early to see Reggie practice his bunting, and nobody wanted to see Nolan Ryan work on his change-up.
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In powerlifting, the same thing goes. Powerlifting fans want to see the squatter grind out a grand as that bar bends on their back and blood comes streaming out of the squatters' nostrils from the tremendous pressure. They prefer that over watching these squat kings focus on their form or meticulously work on the hundreds of little body mechanics that collectively add up to that perfect technique. That perfect technique, which allows for the power of that lifter to successfully move that 1,000 pounds from rack to depth, back up, and then back to the rack.
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general feed a lifter’s interest with the flashy over the technical, the showy over the slow and steady and the visual sound bite over the whole story. You can say to your friend, “The shark eats people,” or your friend can delve into the pages of the original book, Jaws, and when that final page has flipped over, they have grown too terrified to ever go swimming in the ocean. The details matter, the story matters, the whole picture matters, the meat on the bones matters, and in powerlifting, the eccentric portion of the lift matters.
If only I had a dollar for every time I saw some Instafamous persona slam a deadlift down, I would be writing this article from a luxury beach home in Jamaica with a little tiny umbrella in my Universal Nutrition protein shake. I have touched on this before, but it bears repeating and perhaps said in a different way, or maybe I am transforming into Don Quixote and all the slamming deadlift bars are actually windmills spinning peacefully in the wind.
Don Quixote aside, the bottom line question is when did everyone become allergic to the eccentric? The eccentric, the down, or put another way, the other, really, really, REALLY important 50 percent of the deadlift and every lift, has become as scarce as the ability to complete a workout without having to post the fact that a workout was actually completed. We get it, friend, you went to the gym today, and yesterday, and the day prior to that, and we understand. We understand because you post after each trip to the gym. What we do not, however, get the Insta-important qualifier statements, “This was my heavy set, a little high, but felt good,” or “This was my big set, I think I am good for 100 pounds more,” etc. Seriously, what is with that? Just squat to depth, and if you have the 100 pounds in you, then do it. No more Insta-excuses, thank you.
Because the attention span is short, powerlifting Insta-clips need to be eye-catching, and what is more eye-catching than showing how “awesome your pull was” by slamming that bar down to the ground? Of course, this means complete neglect of the eccentric part of the deadlift, but if the goal is more likes versus a bigger powerlifting total...
Instafamous lifters aside, what makes a great deadlift is training the deadlift, and that means training it properly, which means training the concentric as well as the eccentric part of the movement.
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For decades, research has demonstrated that the eccentric movement is stronger than the concentric, and it is that difficult aspect of the lift that requires discipline and self-control to master. It is from that work that comes exponential total power when the eccentric is completed after the concentric aspect of the lift.
For bodybuilding great Dorian Yates, the barbell curl was lifted up by his lifting partner when all concentric muscle function had been exhausted/depleted, but the eccentric portion was still functioning; it was his eccentric work bringing that weight down in a controlled manner that was one of the staples to Yates’ training that help him construct his six-time Mr. Olympia body.
In powerlifting, the eccentric portion of the deadlift was trained also in isolation at the legendary Frantz Gym (in addition to training the entire deadlift prior to this isolated movement). That eccentric work Ernie Frantz had his legendary powerlifting team do helped create one of the largest groups of 800-plus-pound deadlifters from one single gym in the history of the sport. The eccentric is of critical importance to your training and it must not be neglected. That is, if the lifter is actually serious about increasing strength and power.
When pulling that heavy deadlift, with all the explosive force required to get that bar off of the ground, it is that controlled down where the bar kisses the platform versus being dropped onto the platform that builds the erectors and sharpens the tools required to get that bar moving off the platform in the first place.
In general, the eccentric portion of the lift, regardless of the type of exercise, causes a greater amount of desired muscular damage. It adds to your time under tension. The eccentric helps build and reinforce your connective tissue strength, as you can’t compete with a blown out tendon. It allows you to utilize heavy negatives when called for in training.
Like a broken record, you hear it said over and over again in real powerlifting gyms from successful and seasoned lifters to the newer lifter: “The louder the deadlift when it hits the platform, the more you just robbed yourself of power.” No lift starts from a dead stop like the deadlift, and no lift requires attention to the eccentric like it as well, as there is no kinetic build up of energy like there is with the squat and bench.
As an assistant principal for over two decades in my “real life” outside of the gym, I see the cycle of requisite information get redistributed over and over again to a new group of freshmen every year, and powerlifting is similar in that aspect. There is a new crop of powerlifters that pop up each and every year, and that is one reason why new elitefts articles about old issues are restated over and again in different forms as there will be that one reader out there who will heed these words and transform their training completely by giving the attention to this key component of the power game. For that reader applying this essential information will work to increase their overall power and tendon strength, it will complement exponentially their concentric work, and it will create PR after PR after PR.
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I am all for the celebration after a big lift, but that said, work that eccentric so there is actually a deadlift poundage worth celebrating. I can assure you for every hundred Insta-famous-wannabes out there slamming their mediocre deadlift down to the ground, there is that one powerlifting killer out there. That killer is a student of the sport who is training in radio silence, working the complete lift, focusing on the entire movement, and preparing to chop down any challengers who dare stand between them and victory. That type of powerlifter is the one that you never see coming up behind you as they don’t expose or post their progress.
Rather, powerlifters cut from that cloth keep their progress under lock and key. That is until they raise their hands in victory come meet day when the deadlift actually matters. By then, it is all over for the Insta-slammer who left half of every single training pull at the gym as they were too busy slamming than training.
Bottom line is this: Train for the platform and leave the slamming to those with tiny pulls and fragile egos who are looking for attention rather than a big total. Avoid being one of the thousands of deadlift slamming sheep headed to the slaughter. Be the technician who trains the whole lift and then feast on your pick of the sheep because, at the end of the day, the sound of victory is louder than any slammed deadlift bar could ever hope to be.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep. Ever onward!
Nobody wants to watch their favorite athletes practice what they do best. But if you want to be the Michael Jordan or Reggie Jackson of powerlifting, you’ve got to work on the eccentric.
Saturday Night Live, a show steeped in political comedy where Number 45 is played by actor Alec Baldwin. For some, they remember the original not-ready-for-primetime cast with members like the amazingly talented Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd, and where Number 38, Gerald Ford, was famously portrayed by the legendary Chevy Chase.
Somewhere lodged in between these time periods and political figures was a Saturday Night Live cast with talents such as Farley, Sandler, and Spade. During that period on the show, David Spade had a recurring sketch called “The Hollywood Minute.” “The Hollywood Minute” segment took place during “The Weekend Update” news sketch.
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During Spade’s “The Hollywood Minute,” he would take a look at something current in the culture and juxtapose it with something more historical. For example, Spade would display a photo (remember, this was back in 1993) on the show of singer/songwriter Jackson Browne. Spade’s comment was something like, “Hey, Jackson Browne, 1973 called, and they want your head back,” of course referring to Jackson’s haircut that he has exactly maintained for his entire career of albums, spanning from 1972 to his latest album, now download, that came out in 2014 — the same haircut he had for a 42-year musical career.
Spade’s comedy aside, the idea of looking back at something that has spanned a few decades can reveal that something current can have lasting relevance. Or on the other hand, that something current has an irrelevance today, and perhaps was something that never made sense in the first place.
This exercise of comparing something done then with something done now is a way to help measure the worth, value, or effectiveness of something. Or it can measure the lack of worth, value, or effectiveness of something.
Reflecting back several decades, one can look at what was once a current and freshly filmed cigarette ad where the doctor in the commercial touts how wonderful his brand of smokes is.
Reflecting back at that and juxtaposing it with today, you think to yourself, “How did that commercial ever get made? Who thought this was a good idea?”
With regard to the cigarette ads of that time, one can plead the fifth and say, “Hey, they just didn’t know back then that this was really bad for you.” That could possibly be a true statement, but what is the excuse for those who begin smoking now, in a time where there is irrefutable scientific data showing the negative effects of cigarette smoking and one’s health? What is that phenomenon known as when people do something that is just not healthy, but they do it regardless just because it might have been done in the past? Is it plain old denial, or a disbelief in the science, or that through luck or magic, it will be a different result for them?
So, borrowing from David Spade’s “The Hollywood Minute,” and that unnamed phenomenon of doing something that is just not worth doing, we say to those new to intermediate powerlifters out there, “The ‘90s called, and it wants its diet back!”
Having powerlifted internationally in the 1990s as well as the early 2000s, I have a little perspective of why some things happened then and are now being emulated without all of the historical contexts by today’s lifters. Although there are so many drawbacks to growing older, the obvious being closer to one’s final and inevitable rep, there are some benefits as well, with one of those benefits being the benefit of experience and perspective and with perspective can come to a context.
I recall training with weights in the 1980s with lifters much older than I was. Looking back at my old videotapes and Polaroid One-Step photos of these guys, they were put together with shoulders like cannonballs, huge deadlifting built backs, and abs that were muscular, utilitarian, powerful, and looked like the back of a deeply carved tortoiseshell.
The guys I trained with were as strong as an ox and as muscular as the original classic era bodybuilders with strength and power to spare. I remember going out to eat with these guys, and they ate as big as they squatted, but what they didn’t do was mistake more for better or quantity over actual quality.
Looking back, none of these guys had sloppy guts, and if the food wasn’t going to help their body to gain additional muscularity, additional strength, and increased power, it wasn’t going into their mouths. Although they could eat a ton, and they did, their meals were largely comprised of steak, eggs, rice or potato, some type of green veggies, milk, and coffee, as well as the protein powder and other supplements in vogue during that era — mainly egg and milk protein powders and desiccated liver tablets.
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As the lifting gear changed from that first generation stuff, which honestly is almost indistinguishable from those rubbery singlets of today, to the canvas and denim of the 1990s, there was an advantage to the gear fitting tighter. This is when I began to see a change from eating to feed the body to eating to fill out the gear.
Fast food has been around since the 1950s, but in my experience, it wasn’t until the 1990s when lifting gear began to really help put up a larger total that I saw this type of food being used as a potential tool for a larger total. And with this equipment change, so changed many lifters’ idea of consumption. The change went to a “more is better” and “quantity over quality” approach, which was used to fill out those suits out and fill them out quickly.
With first generation shirts, a big chest equaled a big bench. Prior to these shirts, the deadlift would win or lose the meet, as one does not get a great deal out of the gear with regard to a deadlift. So a 600-pound puller could pull 600 pounds raw and a bit more with their deadlift suit or erector shirt. But a 500-pound bencher could now add 100 to 200 pounds on their total by pressing 700 pounds, so totals changed and strategies had to change, and for the bencher with a garbage deadlift, suddenly, they were on the hunt, and a big belly and body to fill the gear was an advantage, as their deadlift was already poor to begin with.
For these reasons in the 1990s, as the canvas shirt transformed into the denim shirt then into the precursor to the first poly shirts, a big belly became the focus for a big bench as there wasn’t a chest plate in the shirt to load, but merely a really tight closed back shirt that a belly and a layer of fat helped to make tighter.
Eating calories for the mere sake of calories, regardless of grams of protein, was now in vogue as the race for bigger numbers in this new gear was on, and the staple diet of steak(s), eggs, rice, spinach, and the like disappeared faster than you can say, “super-size me.”
“Cleaner” meals disappeared, along with the lifter’s abilities to see definitive abdominals and see below their waistline. Nutrients like magnesium, responsible for mitochondrial production of ATP, took a distant second to large fries, preservative-laden, what-used-to-be-beef burgers and what would never pass the FDA’s definition of food if the food industry was actually concerned with health rather than profit.
I saw this first-hand, and I saw bench numbers climb. For a single year, I was caught up in the chase myself. From a skirt steak, eggs, oatmeal, some smoked salmon, green leafy stuff, and a potato, I tried the stack of pancakes, a plate of bacon, loads of French toast, eggs with hash browns, coffee, and washed that all down with a double serving of biscuits and gravy and a strawberry shake.
Brent Hofacker © 123rf.com
That year, I fit in my Frantz canvas suit like 15 pounds of sausage in a five-pound casing, but that year was also the year I felt the worst.
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My deadlift actually went down, and I had eaten myself into a weight class that was comprised of much taller and larger-framed powerlifters, some of who were on an equally horrid “see-food, eat-food” diet, but also others who had earned that larger weight class by putting on quality muscle through quality nutrition, patience, and time.
Those who built themselves into that larger weight class were just plain old in better condition and more powerful than those who strapped on the fast food feedbag lifters. Their self-discipline in the kitchen made all the difference on the competition platform. These guys looked like the guys I had trained with years prior. They wanted the numbers just like the super-sized eating guys but were just willing and disciplined enough to wait for it and work for it. The difference was stark.
Though some equate a cleaner diet with a bodybuilding diet, their equation is short-sighted at best. Some powerlifters during that era successfully avoiding the allure of the “see-food, eat-food” diet and realized cleaner doesn’t mean chicken, rice cakes, and broccoli. Cleaner to those powerlifters, those still in the game from the decade prior, meant steak, eggs, oatmeal, milk, spinach, and lots and lots of it.
“Cleaner” doesn’t mean a lack of calories or meals totally devoid of a treat now and again. “Cleaner” was just a name given by lifters eating garbage to these highly successful lifters who avoided not just empty calories, but the calories full of preservatives and lacking in the quality protein and nutrients that are required to build a powerlifter’s muscularity, strength, and power as they moved into the next weight class through solid muscle versus sodium laden water retention.
Looking back, the 1990s was an era of powerlifting that was off the charts with intensity and lifters were ravenous for numbers for numbers' sake, not for numbers of followers or for 10%-off discount codes or “likes” on social media. In many ways, 1990s powerlifting was as pure a sport as 1970s bodybuilding was. It was a subculture within a subculture, and because of that and its authenticity, because of the caliber of lifters at a meet (a meet of 100 killers versus a meet today of 300 lifters with 200 on the phone in-between attempts), that lifestyle of eating wrongly became synonymous with that era of awe-inspiring powerlifting.
The one part of that era that missed the mark was going off the tried and true path of feeding the machine because the body system of an athlete or a powerlifter is a machine. Feeding the machine morphed into gumming up the engine with a focus solely on calorie count versus taking in the required calories comprised of what the machine truly needs to consume for sake of performance. This took place for a short amount of time, but the legend of it has been emulated by the misguided and misinformed and that has breathed into the myth of this being the lifestyle for all powerlifters in that golden era of number chasing.
What I am very happy to see is the likes of lifters with a good chunk of road under their belts, like guys like Stan Efferding talking about nutrients for performance versus eating garbage just to fill a suit, or for the short-term leverage advantage, they will end up losing as their health issues slowly but eventually mount.
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The 1990s diet was a very short-term method that worked until it didn’t. And anyone who is not on a death march and has eaten themselves into a larger weight class in this fast food versus grass-fed beef type of muscular way will tell that to your face. If they are truly being honest with themselves, they would quickly inform you that the method quickly reaches a point of diminishing returns, and by the time the lifter realizes this, that time has already been wasted. Then it is more time spent dropping the garbage weight versus having stayed the course from day one.
Having been in this game since my first meet in 1989, I have seen lifters fall into this cycle over and over and over again, even though that era has come and gone, and these lifters have yet to compete on a regular basis and still have technical issues.
Some catch on and quickly figure out that more, with regard to empty calories, is not better, Oreos are not a food group, and quality food easily out-performs empty quantity. Others are not so quick on the draw and they pay for it in lackluster performances on the platform, and waning health in the form of high blood pressure, which is nothing to play around with — that, and injuries.
For those who don’t think there is a correlation between eating garbage and increased injury potential, they need to revisit their college biology and anatomy curriculum because the extreme demands placed on the tendons and muscles via powerlifting requires adequate sleep and nutrient-rich foods. This is science, this is chemistry, and this is fact. This has been proven time and time again, and those telling you otherwise are the same lifters that are here today and gone later that day.
Congratulations to those fellas, as they have just confused irresponsible and shortsighted for hardcore. Hardcore is the self-discipline it takes to stay the long course and see powerlifting for what it really is, a journey of the self. Hardcore is the ability to constantly chip away an ever-larger total, and do it, as Clay Brandenburg would say, “Brick by brick.”
On your journey in this sport, seekers of secrets and shortcuts will always be seekers of secrets and shortcuts. And they will always be a day late and a dollar short, as there are no fast-food super-sized secret methods, programs, or diets.
Hard work, adequate sleep, and quality nutrition are the staples to success, and when combined with intensity, diligence, technical prowess, an indomitable spirit, and love of the weights, these things comprise the not-so-secret secrets that have been laid out in plain sight all along.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep. Ever onward.
When I tried out the fast-food dirty diet in the 1990s, I fit in my Frantz canvas suit like 15 pounds of sausage in a five-pound casing, and worse yet, my deadlift went down. Don’t make the mistake ’90s lifters (myself included) made — learn from it. Eat cleaner to lift better.
All the ingredients are there, they have always been there, and they will always be there. The ingredients in our sport are the essentials, and if there is a secret, it is just that these ingredients, these essentials, that are there for the taking. To achieve great success in the sport, one must learn the essentials, learn the basics, learn the tried and true, then apply them with virtuosity, consistency, and might and do so for the duration of the journey.
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Often those who find themselves regularly shopping for the latest thing are those that didn’t, to their fullest effort, apply themselves to their latest thing, nor did they apply their fullest effort to the thing just before that, nor the thing prior to that.
These are the lost lifters you see jumping from one diet to another, hopping from one program to the next, randomly adding a band to this odd lift or attaching a chain to that specialty bar in an effort to emulate something they have been sold as a secret or have bought after being told it was a long-lost ingredient to the stew that is strength and power. But the actual missing ingredients are basic and are right in front of them, those being consistency and a full understanding of the basics, the essentials… the key ingredients.
Whatever vernacular you wish to use, call it old-school training, meat and potatoes training, or fundamentals training, the vernacular is a moot point because the bottom line is that tried and true training or the newest and most shiny program are both useless if the lifter does not fully invest the time to educate themselves with the nuance of either.
If you’re a bodybuilder and think those Weider Principles from back in the day don’t make quality muscle and work toward quality hypertrophy because they are now passé, there are a whole load of serious lifters stacked with thick quality muscles who would chuckle at that simplistic statement, as forced reps, drop sets, and supersets are being used successfully by many heavily muscled lifters in today’s sport.
The same rings true for powerlifting. Touting that Prilepin's Chart is out of date is to negate what is arguably the most researched-based training regimen ever applied to the sport of powerlifting.
If Prilepin doesn’t work for the powerlifter and those old-school Weider Principles that were actually created by the successful pioneers of the sport of bodybuilding like Draper, Grimek, Scott, Columbu, Arnold, Vince Gironda, and others don’t work for the aspiring bodybuilder, it is highly probable that the missing ingredients are work ethic multiplied by consistency, multiplied by duration. Truly, there is nothing to reinvent, as all the tools are there in the lifters’ toolbox. They have been there and will remain there, whether used or neglected.
Sometimes I feel like a broken record as I find myself saying or thinking the same things over and again when I hear, “Yeah, I tried to program this or that or method x, y, and z, and it didn’t work for me. I just don’t think those are good programs.”
In my mind, I just think to myself, “You spent half your workout on the phone, and when you finally put that thing down, you did another set with the same incorrect technique as the set before, and the set before that, as well as the sets for the previous six months.”
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In all honesty, if a lifter can’t stuff their phone away into their gym bag for a lousy hour or two in the gym and let their mind completely be immersed and completely dedicated to the time under the bar, the time in-between sets (which is critical) and the time as they get ready to lift again, then no program, no diet, no coach, no template, no gym, no lifting partner is going to get them where they aspire to be.
There is nothing to reinvent program- or training-wise, and there is nothing to reinvent when it comes to mindset. And it is that, mindset, which is something that you don’t see advertised because it is tough to make money on a mindset because the mindset is intrinsic to the lifter and far more difficult and complex than slapping together a training regiment or nutritional template.
The bottom line is the training part is what we love, the nutritional aspect is what fuels our training, and the time recovering is where the growth begins, but it is our mindset that, when absent, allows for these components to flail in the wind like a tattered flag abandoned on its pole.
Take three different lifters from three different eras: Frantz, Coan, and Thompson. They all had different training programs and yet the thread that they all had and/or have in common is a mindset that when applied to their specific training routine equated to great powerlifting. I have said it before, and I will say it again, I can’t imagine the great Ed Coan doing a set, then spending 15 minutes scrolling up on a phone, then trying to get his mind right again for his next set. Nor could I see any of these three lifters shopping for the latest program as the reality is any quality program will get a lifter strong and powerful if that lifter has an ironclad mindset and has not only learned the essentials, the foundation, the fundamentals, and the ingredients and has applied them to every set and rep for the duration.
For a lifter who is struggling with their individual lifts or total as a whole, it is absolutely critical that, before they look at their program or the type of bench shirt or knee wraps they wear or some other variable that can be bought or purchased or downloaded or borrowed from another lifter, they deeply vet their mindset and commitment and their approach to not just each training session but to each set, every rep, and that absolutely critical yet often negated time in-between each set.
That time in-between sets is like that baton exchange between two sprinters in the relay race. It is the link between two things that, if handled poorly, compromises the whole. A poor baton exchange between the third to the fourth leg of the 4x100 can negate the huge lead provided by the first three sprinters in that brief moment in time during that baton exchange between the final two sprinters. Time in-between sets is rarely, if ever, mentioned, but how it is utilized is a critical ingredient to that day’s training.
We can’t always control the variables in a workout. Some days you are at work, and the meals just don’t happen due to meetings and the like, and the workout can suffer. Some nights you are up late with a sick child, spouse, friend, or pet, and your lack of sleep can make the workout suffer. These are things we can’t always control, but what we can absolutely control that time in-between.
The time spent in-between sets either on that workout-destroying phone, or that time wasted BSing instead of keeping one’s mind right for the next set is so often overlooked, and it is one of the easiest aspects of our training to control, and it is one of the most critical.
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That time in-between sets has existed for as long as there have been sets and reps. There was time in-between sets for Paul Anderson, there was time in-between sets for Robby Robinson, and there is that critical time in-between sets for you. And as sets and reps are the work that leads to the results, the time in-between sets the stage for the next successful set of reps — or the unsuccessful set of reps.
We look for data in aspects of our training programs, and data is a powerful tool. The data about the time in-between is very clear but often overlooked. It is akin to recovery after training. So much value goes into the time we have weight on our back and in our hands, but it is that time outside of the gym, where sleep and nutrition serve our training because, without recovery, the training greatly suffers.
As is the case with the time in-between sets, as it is the time to both mentally and physically digest what we just did, and then to prepare to build from there. Time in-between sets that is spent letting our minds stray from the training at hand is a mistake, just like failure to eat a good meal after a serious training session.
The more studies that come out about cell phone use and exercise, the stronger the evidence is stating that picking up that phone in-between sets has negative causation with regard to training intensity. It is proof gained at the expense of many well-intentioned workouts that demonstrates the power of the time in-between.
The good news is these studies indicate that the cell phone for the use of listening to music while working out does not hamper training, provided there is just listening and not that scrolling and inviting that world to invade your time in-between sets, as that is the death of training, and the body of research showing this is growing exponentially.
Think about the last great rock concert you’ve attended. Reflect on how the band started with a killer opening song and each song seamlessly blended into the next, with the audience on their feet the entire show. Finally, the last song of the night comes and it is the icing on the cake, the best song from the album (remember albums?) making the entire show phenomenal.
Now, imagine that same band, same audience, same venue, but after each song, the band pauses for 10 minutes and scrolls through their phones on stage. That inertia, that musical crescendo would never build as that momentum coming from song one — or let’s call it, set one —would die prior to the next song, as the band’s momentum would have been stopped in its musical tracks. It would stop in its musical tracks as the band sat and scrolled, creating a disconnect between songs instead of cultivating a musical bridge with the time in-between them that would have served to bring the audience to a fever pitch as each and every song would build onto the next.
The time in-between is the mental and emotional connective tissue required for cohesion and for each set to grow in its intensity. I have seen lifters come to our gym, lifters with great potential and a fire in their belly, but who end up turning into nothing much more than a dimming ember once they started murdering their in-between time with the phone. It is that slow demise of a lifter that is painful to watch as their obsessive, addictive use of a device erodes away a potential that will never be fulfilled. The phone kills it. Training with an unfocused and undisciplined lifter who just talks about his or her weekend kills it.
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So many things can bludgeon to death that time in-between, and you must hold that time as critical as your sets and reps must be tied together. They must all flow, and when one part is lagging, it all suffers, as when we are talking about the various parts of a training session, we are ultimately talking about symbiosis. And it is the power of the symbiotic that allows for exponential progress during the training cycle.
The time in-between sets matters. Just hitting the sets and reps hard is not enough as training involves synergy and killing that during the time in-between sets by disengaging the mind will always serve to produce sub-par results. An hour of connected sets, of training in a synergistic fashion with intensity and a mind-body connection, will always produce results that are better than a three-hour training session comprised of gaping holes and a drop of focus in-between the sets.
The quantity of time in the weight room matters, but only when the quality of training is there first. The body is not forced to grow bigger and stronger by merely one’s duration in the gym; the body is forced to grow bigger and stronger by the productive muscular damage inflicted on it and that it must recover from, and a connected time in-between sets equates to creating more of this productive muscular damage.
The time in-between sets is an ingredient that is rarely, if ever, discussed as it just exists. There is no template to follow; it is simple and pure, but until it was contaminated with, bombarded with, or we can safely say, destroyed by the use of the smartphone in the weight room. It never had to be discussed because it is so simple it can be ignored, but make no mistake about it, connecting the mind and the body and connecting each progressively heavier set and mentally digesting each prior set, the time in-between is an essential ingredient. It always has been and always will be, since the first dumbbell was hoisted and then put back down.
Don’t let this seemly innocuous ingredient come up missing in your training. Because the bottom line is when it comes to the time in-between sets, the best have always used it, and the rest have always squandered it.
You see lost lifters jumping from one diet to another or from one program to the next, thinking they bought a long-lost ingredient to the stew that is strength and power. But the actual missing ingredients are right in front of them: consistency and an understanding of the basics.
There is a tool for every job, and as there are many jobs for the powerlifter, there are many tools at their disposal. The key to success with these jobs is to apply the proper tool to the proper job at the proper time.
Wrist straps are one of these tools for the powerlifter with regard to the job of building a strong and powerful back. With regard to this specific tool, there are times to utilize it, times not to, and some confusion along the way.
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Let’s begin with the purpose of this tool, and that is while during pulling movements, the wrist strap serves as the primary way to grip a given apparatus as not to over engage the hand, forearm, and biceps. For example, an old fashioned pull-up is a great movement to build the back, but for lifters who are heavily muscled or carry weight in other areas, the wrist strap allows for them to focus more on their back and less on having to grip that pull-up bar. The same holds true for the barbell bent over row. It’s a meat and potatoes movement for back development, where the straps work to keep the strain and focus on the back, not the limiting factors of the hand, forearm, and biceps.
Now and again you will hear beginner- or intermediate-level lifters mention that when you use the wrist strap, you are not building your grip strength. Although that is a true statement, it is also a basic surface statement, as the pull-up and bent over row are about building the back, and the side effect of those back builders is utilizing some grip strength. We work our grip loading up 800 pounds of plates on the squat bar, too, but that is not why we squat.
Working the grip specifically and purposefully to build tremendous grip strength for your deadlift and other movements is it own separate training, so let’s not negate developing our back fully at the sacrifice of a mere ancillary benefit. Let me put it another way that our true powerlifters can relate to. You grill a nice thick steak to eat the steak, not for the sauteed mushrooms and onions on the top.
So to be clear, all barbell and dumbbell movements have the residual effect of helping develop some grip strength, but in both my experience as a powerlifter and having worked with powerlifters for decades, once you start pulling over three times your bodyweight, you need to add specific grip work into your training. Not using wrist straps for some other back movements based on a rationale of potentially negating grip is faulty logic and myopic in scope.
Back to the straps. With the straps in place, less grip is needed, and with that comes less forearm and biceps engagement, as when training back, you want your back muscles to encounter the brunt of the movement and to ultimately do the lion’s share of the work. That is the desired outcome, as a small muscle like the biceps or forearm or the muscles in the hand will always tire and fail faster than will a massive back.
So, should you get advice from lifters (good lifters wait to be asked to give advice; hacks and the lifters who "know it all" tend to give advice unsolicited, by the way) that using straps is not how “real powerlifters” train, take a good hard look at the big pullers in your gym, as well as historically, and you will see that they never compromise a strong, thick, muscular back for the sake of the modest grip work they would get from some movements if they negated the wrist straps. Real and uncompromised grip development comes from purposeful grip movements, be they farmers walk, Rolling Thunder work, Captains of Crush, elitefts Gripper Machine, Fat Gripz, and the like.
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With that misnomer now taken care of, we can hone in on when to use wrist straps. Let’s begin with the deadlift. In my experience, deadlifting is something that needs to happen without the benefit of wrist straps for the most part. The over-under (mixed) grip will allow for you as a puller to be able to lift/hold a tremendous amount of weight, and deadlifting in a meet does not allow for straps (strongman competitions aside), so train like you are going to compete.
Training your deadlift is the ultimate strength movement, and unlike any residual grip benefit like with other back movements, deadlifting builds tremendous grip strength versus mere residual grip strength, so for your deadlifts, there should be no straps for the vast majority of your training. That said, there are some times to use straps when deadlifting. For those who are hook grippers, this applies to you.
First, as someone who uses the hook, I can tell you that we are by far in the minority when it comes to deadlifting. When the hook is used properly, you get the benefit of squared-off shoulders, no windmilling, no bicep engagement thus avoiding torn biceps, a little less distance to pull, and a grip like a vise. That said, the hook grip is viciously brutal on the thumbs. Most who “try” the hook grip try it once as in Johnny Dangerously once. The hook grip is something one must be committed to 110 percent and with a never look back mindset. Hook grip is difficult to learn and even more difficult to stay with, but for those who do, “to the victor go the spoils.”
So for those using the hook, on deadlift days where you are doing high volume work, lots of sets and reps, and under 80 percent max weight, don’t destroy your thumbs and thus, use the straps on those training days. Save the thumbs for your heavy single and double training days. For those on the fence, take solace in powerlifters like Steve Goggins, a hook grip puller who has consistently pulled over 800 pounds for over three decades. Steve hooks but uses straps for those rep days. If it is good enough for Steve, it is good enough for 99.9 percent of the powerlifters out there. For those few who should disagree, that is fine, too. In fact, we will listen to what they have to say on the matter after they, too, have 30 years of 800 pounds pulls under your belt like he has.
When it comes to your shrugging, there are those days when you are going to do sets of 20 with 315 pounds and other days when you are doing just a few reps with 500 pounds. In either case, use the straps, as shrugs are for the pronated grip movement, and you want to have your traps feel the brunt of the work and not have your hands get tired first. Thus going back to the rule that grip work should be purposeful to attain its greatest development, it should not be something that is an add-on bonus.
For your selectorized movements, low rows, pulldowns, and the like, you are working those machines on non-deadlift days to complement your powerlifting through hypertrophy and blood flow and are working to engage the back for reps, so the use of straps is recommended again to allow you to focus on the squeeze of the back and not on the limitations of failed hand grip prior to the back becoming exhausted.
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Dumbbell rows fall into this category as well. Do dumbbell rows to help develop grip, absolutely. But again, they do as an ancillary effect, so avoid compromising the reason you are doing the rows in the first place as we do heavy rows to build a powerful and heavily muscled back — not to work grip potential.
What we are saying is don’t lose sight of the reason for the movement or the tool. You use chalk to help your bench press; you don’t bench press for the purpose of getting to chalk your hands.
Quippy little sayings are just that — quippy— but most never really made sense, nor were they originated by lifters who understood the mechanics of systemic training. “Real powerlifters don’t use lifting straps.” It is a saying without merit spoken by lemmings who spout quotes instead of understanding the mechanics of the human musculature. Avoid being led astray from the proper training path by lifters who train with their vibrato and ego versus knowledge and experience. Quippy little sayings are trite, and powerlifting is for the serious-minded. Remember, bullet points of mere anecdotal data can never impart the copious information that the full document can. Said another way: clever sayings can’t override pragmatism and real results.
Bottom line: There is a tool for every job, and as there are many jobs for the powerlifter, there are many tools at their disposal. The key is to apply the proper tool to the proper job at the proper time. I have been in the powerlifting game since my first meet in 1989, and I have been fortunate enough to have trained with some of the very best.
Based on a lifetime under the bar, when it comes to training grip, you train grip. When it comes to your back movements — big pulls aside — use wrist straps to help build your back. Never negate the intended purposeful and correct implementation of a lifting tool and its positive impact on a given movement for the sake of an incorrect perception of that tool’s non-existent deficiencies.
Wishing you the best in your training! Ever onward.
There is a tool for every job, and as there are many jobs for the powerlifter, there are many tools at their disposal. The key is to apply the proper tool to the proper job at the proper time. Let’s focus on the tool known as the wrist strap.
It was such an ironic moment, as I was just watching, for the umpteenth time, Pumping Iron, when I read Laree Draper’s (Dave Draper’s wife) post about Ed Corney’s passing on New Year’s Day.
I myself am very much enamored with two eras in the world of muscle, strength, and power, with the first being powerlifting from the 1990s, and the second being the classic era of bodybuilding from the 1970s.
In the ‘90s, powerlifting was steeped in the philosophy of competing for one's own self, for one’s own love of the sport as an internal challenge to lift more than should be possible while collecting, fostering, and growing lifelong friendships along the way. It was an era before socialookatmedia, when great training sessions, believe it or not, actually occurred without having to be shared for validity or to stroke one's tender and oh-so-soft and needy ego.
I competed internationally during that era, and its authenticity with regard to one’s own individual and internal lifting motivation was inspiring. Are there individuals like that training and competing today? You bet. Is the whole sport today cut from that same ‘90s cloth? Hardly.
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I am likewise enamored with 1970s bodybuilding for the same core reasons. Looking at footage from that era, which I grew up during, I was merely a spectator living vicariously through those athletes’ journeys, and now watching interviews of those folks (Draper, Robinson, Arnold, etc.) talk about that era, you can glean, that like ‘90s powerlifting, the ‘70s were also all about personal accomplishment, and if others found out, then that was a mere bonus.
No Instafamous, no here-is-my-discount-code sponsorship this or that; it was just a subculture within a subculture, training for that delicate balance of muscularity, symmetry, and definition in the hopes of earning a place on a page of the history book that was the sport of competitive bodybuilding. Is there anything wrong with making a buck, getting a break on supplements, or selling one’s online training through modern bodybuilding? Absolutely not. Is the sport of bodybuilding the same sport as the one Ed Corney, Draper, Scott, and the like lived? Hardly.
Personally, I enjoy looking back at how lifters during those eras trained with one another and reflecting on that brotherhood and sisterhood of iron that ran so deep and true. I think back to the many, many gyms I trained at over the decades (Drew’s Gym, Robinson’s Gym, Pumping Iron Gym, Lantz Gym, Bobby V’s Gym, Mark’s Gym, Son Light Gym, Heavy Metal Gym, Frantz Gym, and Monster Garage Gym) and reflect on some of the wonderful training partners I have had over the years (Keith Early, Tom Carnaghi, Larry Tischer, and Mario DeBenedetti) as well as the gang I enjoy training with today.
One of my hopes in this new year (and really each year) is that even with the stresses and complexities of life happening all around us, we will take a moment to hit the pause button and look around and enjoy those individuals with whom we train. We should also take stock in our own health and make sure we maintain it through balance, as our health is the mighty fulcrum required for our lives “under the bar” to exist.
Although there might not seem to be a ton of those magical moments in life or in the weight room, the reality is they are happening all of the time and all around us. Some might not be able to see this reality, as they are slaves to their phones’ reality, or they are stuck perseverating on petty differences or submerged in the inane. We all know people like that. Those who are so deeply wallowing in their own excuses and woe-is-me, focusing on others’ imperfections that they have become unable to see the amazement of the forest for the trees.
The way the film Pumping Iron captured some moments from that classic era with guys like Ed Corney is simply wonderful. Imagine if that footage never existed. Imagine if we could not look through that window of time and see how things were then.
I filmed a lot of footage at the Monster Garage Gym and actually have good chunks of training and competition footage from the late 1980s and the 1990s through the 2000s of larger-than-life characters like Bill Nichols and Ernie Frantz. That time period from the late 1980s through the 2000s is becoming a long time ago now, and I am glad I have footage of it.
We film a lot of workouts today of lifters moving the big weights, like Steve Brock, Tom Krawiec, Barzeen Vaziri, Crystal Tate, and others whose weights are not so great, but their efforts are just as mighty.
I filmed a lot back then, not realizing how important it would be decades later to have captured on film great training sessions with great friends, all in pursuit of becoming the best and most powerful versions of ourselves while at the same time working to help our training partners toward their goals and aspirations.
Today, I purposefully film as I know, although they don’t realize it now, that in 30 years, some lifters at my gym will look back at this footage of weights lifted, competitions held, sights seen, and friendships forged in iron and steel. And if we are all lucky to live into our 80s like Ed Corney did, and like Ernie Frantz still is, we will have clearly been smiled upon from on high.
Reading about Mr. Corney’s passing and more importantly, his life, a life well spent, brings back into focus something that often gets blurred by the everyday routine: Life is too short not to take a pause and see all the pretty amazing things around us, with our time moving iron being one of them.
Maybe it is just me, but after watching a work like Pumping Iron (how many times have you seen it, I wonder?), you feel like you know those guys, and with Mr. Corney passing, well, it just makes me take a moment.
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It causes me to reflect on Eleanor Roosevelt, or a quote that often is attributed to her, as it is always something to heed as well as take stock in, especially as we are a species that measures things often in the context of time and with this being written on January 1 of the New Year. The quote reads, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
Great moments in time, those uncommon moments that are actually quite common, so much so they blur and blend together and thus seem mundane or passé or almost trite in nature. We all know someone fighting with a serious health issue, and oh, how they would love to be able to have a merely “mundane” training session. Oh, how they would love to take for granted going max effort and hitting a PR. Great minds are those who discuss ideas are the ones who see the mundane for what it really is: spectacular.
And those small minds that discuss people are so busy spending precious energy, time, and resources pointing out how others fail that they couldn’t see the miraculous and great moments even if one smacked them in the face. You know the type, the one whose each and every social media post points out something wrong with someone or something else. So full of petty venom and strife and so myopic in vision, they fail to see they have exposed themselves for who they really are and what little they actually have to offer. Social media is today’s ring of Gyges. It does not make a person who they are; it reveals who the person actually is.
Pumping Iron’s Ed Corney is a reflection of the pursuit of self-improvement, living in the here and now, and a life well spent as he competed from 1968 all the way until his last competition in 1998.
Looking through the window of time provided by this film and seeing all of these great pursuers of their own created destinies is so strong and powerful that reading about one of their passing can make us reflect on our own mortality.
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In my humble opinion, reflection is a good thing. Hitting the pause button to reflect helps us to look with a critical eye to see if we are on the right path, not only physically and training-wise, but in our moral and ethical journey as well.
Are we doing all we can to be the best version of ourselves? And are we also working on our essence, who we are and what we stand for along the way? There is something to be said for putting on the blinders and going 110 miles-per-hour in our training. And in some instances, that can work for a time.
But there is also something to be said about taking off those blinders and finding our bearings first, then going 110 miles-per-hour in the right direction in our training. One way will get you the furthest on your training journey, and the other merely slams you into the wall, derailing you from ever reaching your zenith of strength and power.
Having symmetry and balance between the drive and determination for physical achievement, as well as an overall strong morality and an ability to find the good around one, is the symbiosis that makes each of the parts of this balancing act exponentially powerful.
The founding fathers of what we look back at as the classic era of bodybuilding, the Ed Corneys, Arnolds, Zanes, and Drapers are getting older. Some are in their 70s, and some are in their 80s. For me, as an aficionado of that era, it is becoming more apparent that how they trained and lived still provides valuable life lessons for future generations of powerlifters, bodybuilders, and strongmen/women, and that is this: along the journey, while collecting victories, attaining PRs, amassing titles, and racking up big numbers, we also should work to collect and gather and cultivate friendships, relationships, memories, and goodwill.
When combined, these two worlds, the world of cold steel and the world of warm humanity, are parts of the critical formula that helps make a life well spent.
Wishing you the best in your training and lifting journey. Ever Onward.
Header image courtesy of Muscular Development
Whenever one of the greats of bodybuilding or powerlifting passes away, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on the present and learn from the past. With the recent death of Ed Corney in mind, let’s take time to do just that.
Originally published in February of 2018
As both a powerlifter since my first competition back in 1989 and an assistant principal working in high schools since 1993, I find myself living simultaneously within two vastly different worlds. The educational world, among many other things, is one of patience and care with students. It is working hand in hand with parents and the community and becoming well versed in the world of pedagogical and social nuance. It is a land of a thousand moving parts all happening behind the scenes. It requires a massive collective effort to get the students to grow as much a possible academically, socially, and emotionally in the 720 days of their high school existence. The powerlifting world, among other things, is one of individual effort and training with a relentless drive to better yourself. It is an endeavor where we work to add our names to the mighty book that is the history of powerlifting via championships and records. It is working to become well versed in the world of moving huge amounts of weight through controlled muscular aggression, all the while constantly honing our ability to properly assess and apply disaggregated strength and power enhancement data. At times, these two worlds could not be further apart.
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Having said that, there are far more similarities than differences between the two sides of this one complex coin. Teaching and learning are the two similarities that come to me first. Be it a freshman in high school who is lost in the halls while trying to find their way to their classroom in the midst of the land of seniors, or a brand new lifter trying to find their way through all the lifting apparatus while in the midst of the scarred, overdeveloped muscularity of the brutally strong seasoned powerlifters, teaching and learning takes place with both. Both the freshman and the newbie lifter are living and breathing potential. One day, if all goes well, the freshman will become a successful senior and the newbie lifter will become a decorated seasoned veteran. Both might potentially be capable of great things but in order to reach their maximum potential, they must be taught — and taught well. Even the great Ed Coan had a first meet, a first mentor, and a first lesson.
Point being, when you get past the contrast of the superficial—the school personnel in their shirt and tie with their Chromebook and lesson plan, and the lifter in their squat suit and briefs with kilo conversion chart and training program—you find endless similarities. That said, there is a specific and distinct trait that is a similarity between the two that neither should possess. Fortunately, both can rid themselves of it, but only if they can become cognizant of its existence and how it serves as a direct detriment to their growth.
Not so long ago, while in my educational world, I was in a meeting with my school’s principal and a number of other educators. We were listening to him speak about how schools can become “Christmas tree schools." He was referring to the concept created by Dr. Michael Fullan, a global leader for learning. Looking past the "taboo" religious reference in a public school setting, the concept of a Christmas tree school was foreign to me, so I listened as the principal elaborated about how schools can and often do fall victim to the trap of adding program after program after program, curricular concept after curricular concept after curriculum concept, initiative after initiative, bright and shiny new trend after bright and shiny new trend, in the attempt to get the most growth out of their students.
He spoke passionately about how schools are like people who just keep finding new things to put on their Christmas tree. They keep putting ornament after ornament and string of lights and tinsel after string of lights and tinsel while also adding a load of silver trinkets here and a load of golden trinkets there. Under all of this bedazzled and ostentatious bling, the tree itself can no longer be found. The goal was to highlight a festive tree, where the ornaments would subtly enhance the beauty of the tree, but in the zeal to improve the tree we lost it and its symbolic purpose.
Schools often fall victim to this when they add new and too many curricular initiatives. It can take years just to nurture and grow one or two solid, data-supported initiatives long enough to attain some measurable data points regarding student academic growth. There is a time element as well. What additionally adds to this problem is trading out old initiatives for new ones on the sole criteria of newness.
I listened to this presentation and reflected on my own school. Even as a highly performing high school with a rich history steeped in student success as far as the eye can see, there have been times we have fallen into this very trap. We, a high school consistently in the top five high schools in the state, had at times been a Christmas tree school due to our mentality of always moving forward and our relenting drive to help our students grown and learn. In our zeal for student growth, we keep adding ornaments to the tree.
This thought about the Christmas tree school continued to resonate with me as I drove to the gym after work. The thought was so penetrating that it stayed with me even at the gym. As I sat on the bench press in my powerlifting world, changing from my dress shoes and tie into my beat-to-pieces Chuck’s and Frantz Gym shirt, I watched and listened to the conversations of the lifters as they arrived at the gym, talked, and warmed up.
As I listened to them, to one conversation then another, I began to reflect on the current landscape of our sport, which is a sport that is being filled with a somewhat disproportional crop of new lifters. I began to think of this new influx of lifters and brand spanking new “coaches” at meets and it hit me like ton of bricks. Many of the newer to intermediate lifters were not fortunate to have seasoned mentors or true powerlifting gyms to help them navigate the informational-overloaded waters of powerlifting. Because of this void, in their zeal to become strong(er) they had become Christmas tree lifters, no different than some schools.
Just like the schools with the very best of intentions, some of these hard-working lifters were also collecting ornaments and covering their trees with so much ornamental bling you could no longer recognize the trees. They were collecting training programs from this person and from that person, tips from a presenter at this seminar as well as from that coach from another seminar, exercises and methodologies from this online trainer and auxiliary movements from this other online trainer, etc. They were mixing and matching programs, rotating from this specialty bar over to that specialty bar, adding bands to this movement and chains to that movement, adding bands to the chains, adding bands to the chains, then changing to another bar and re-adding bands and chains, then using all of those things on a box. They were putting on this brief while having alterations to that brief, letting out this suit, trying to stretch out this chest plate and then trying that shirt with a different chest plate, trying this brand of knee wraps, then switching to that style of knee wrap. There were so many ornaments on some of their powerlifting Christmas trees that there was no more room for anything else. And the thing that mattered the most—the powerlifter, the tree—was nowhere in sight and nowhere to be found.
The Christmas tree is the metaphor for the powerlifter. The Christmas tree is the object to be highlighted by the ornaments. But instead, ornaments for ornamental sake now obscure the tree. Thus for the powerlifter, the programs, the gear, the bars, the trainers, the coaches, and the supplements meant to highlight the powerlifter had slowly over time become the focal point and were now overshadowing the lifter. As it is with Christmas tree schools it is with Christmas tree lifters. The tree alone, the bare pine tree, should be the foundation; the ornament is the bonus plan. Thus, the powerlifter and their training is and should be the focus; the cool specialty barbell and specialty movement is the bonus, as it was never intended to be the other way around.
In my articles, I refer to Ed Coan and Ernie Frantz a lot. The reason for this is that there is a lot to go back to with these powerlifting icons. They are living examples and tangible illustrations that it is the focus of the lifter—their work ethic, their technique, their drive, their meat-and-potatoes, straight-up, no-frills program—that makes one legendary. All their success was created by their own hand and through their ability to focus on the lifting. Ed Coan and Ernie Frantz never became Christmas tree powerlifters because their focus was never on the shiny new object, the secret Russian formula, the synthesized supplement, or the amazing powerlifting program that would add 600 pounds to their total in 30 days. They knew and still know that the tree, the lifter, is what is important.
There is a plain and simple truth about the successful non-Christmas tree lifter. They know, train, and live by the wisdom that success in this world of steel bars, iron plates, calloused skin, and chalk-laden hands is the lifter’s technique, the lifter’s diligence, the lifter’s work ethic, the lifter’s consistency, the lifter’s perseverance, the lifter’s indomitable spirit and passion, and the lifter’s intrinsic ability to know when to hit the gas and when to pump the brakes. They know the value of the lifter’s deep understanding of their program and the ability to be truthful with themselves about their squat depth and actual strength. They know the value of the lifter’s understanding that you only have a couple of precious hours in the day to train, so you should take full advantage of every single minute of that time and train with passion and a plan. They know to put that absolutely ridiculous cell phone down and pick up the weights.
The unfortunate reality is, some lifters are slaves to their little black mirror. For them, at minimum, I say save the social media time for those times in the restroom (the toilet is where that phone belongs, in my opinion) and keep that workout-killer out of this sanctuary where greatness is prepared for. Non-Christmas tree lifters know that training time in the gym is fleeting and the meet date is barreling toward you like a freight train hauling the heaviest of cargo. They know that while some lifters are wasting time at the gym “liking” another Christmas tree lifter’s post, their competition is taking full advantage of that time to lift something heavy.
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There is, in fact, a time and a place for the ornaments, the programs, the equipment modifications, the boards, the chains and bands, and the coaching. But the minute that the ornaments obscure the tree, that the emphasis shifts from training hard to searching hard for secrets, that specialty movements become more important the main lifts, or that a technique is added without deep understanding of it, the lifter becomes a Christmas tree lifter. It is when this emphasis on the extrinsic overshadows the intrinsic, when the show overshadows the go, when the Instagram photo setup takes more thought than the bench press setup, that the lifter has lost their way. It is that very moment that the rising tide of serious and purposeful lifters will blow past that Christmas tree lifter, never once looking back except perhaps for a final glance at them drowning in their wake.
Let the other lifter be the Christmas tree lifter. Let the other lifter flounder and spin their wheels while they major in the minor things. Let the other lifter get bogged down in the minutia, the trivial, the shiny ornaments, and the false world of “likes” and “views.” The ineffective and stagnant reality of the Christmas tree lifter is that they have never and will never elevate themselves to reach even a fraction of their ultimate zenith of power and strength.
Take the reflective step back. Don’t just look at what you do in the weight room but delve into why you do it, why you added it, the data supporting it, and the results (if any) it is yielding. If the reason for utilizing a movement or technique lacks critical depth and specificity, the aspect you are examining might be nothing more than a shiny and useless ornament.
Header image courtesy of gtranquillity © 123RF.com
As you add ornament after ornament, string of lights after string of lights, and trinket after trinket, don’t lose sight of the tree underneath.
The monolift, in many ways, is the holy grail of gym equipment, and for the serious powerlifting gym, it is an absolute essential.
The modern-day monolift is built like a steel fortress and with its never compromising welds, it will last a lifetime. When it comes to putting up your absolute max poundage on the squat, it is the quintessential piece of equipment for that purpose.
That all said, if you don’t have frequent and repetitive use of a monolift, it also the piece of equipment you are sure to get hurt on if you don’t know how to use or fail to respect this metal monstrosity.
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My first experience with a monolift was back in the 1990s at the legendary Frantz Gym, and Ernie Frantz had several monolifts in the top floor of his gym (they later found their way to the basement when the lifting eventually moved to the basement of his building). Ernie’s monolifts were solid, solid enough for the 1,100-pound training squats of Frantz’s disciples like world champion Bill Nichols.
That said, these first generation monolifts would have some difficulty serving lifters today for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that the feet of the monolifts back then were much closer together than they are today. As lifting gear has graduated from thin-single-ply to canvas to the suit and brief polymers of today, this gear change has allowed for the ultra-wide stances we began to see in the early 2000s. With the first generation monolifts, the ultra-wide stanced lifter’s feet would press up against the monolift feet for sure. Also, these first models did not physically weigh what a modern monolift weighs, so too much band tension on those original models would cause that generation of monolift to flip over as the lifter stands with the bands around the barbell and the bottom of the monolift.
Those structural issues aside, what remains the same between monolifts of decades ago and the modern day versions, like the elitefts monolift, is the protocol for using the monolift, and those lessons I learned back some 20-something years ago still stand true to this day.
Using this piece of equipment and not fully understanding how it works, or not respecting it, will ultimately end in injury, and over these decades I have seen injuries happen with the monolift more times than I can recall, some of these with career-ending results.
That all said, here are my Top-5 Monolift Commandments. Monolift commandments for those new to the monolift, monolift commandments to heed today as a way to avoid tragedy in the future, and monolift commandments to help get the most out of this amazing piece of powerlifting equipment.
Let’s climb the Mount Sinai of powerlifting and examine these metaphorical tablets of stone.
1. Thou shalt not slam down the squat bar onto the monolift hooks.
This sounds more like common sense than a commandment. But I have found that when it comes to powerlifting, common sense in the weight room becomes less and less common as the use of social media becomes more and more frequent.
With those who are less experienced with this amazing piece of equipment, using the monolift will, at first, take pounds off of your squat, but eventually it will add them back and do so in a big way. I say this because lifters who are used to walking the weight out of a rack do so in a way where their final step back locks them into their final stationary position, and they are ready to squat. They have walked that weight back a thousand times, and those motor patterns have cut grooves into their squatting neural pathways to a point where those mini-steps back with the loaded bar are second nature. So naturally, when setting up in the monolift, there is no step back. You just need to stand up, squat down, and stand back up. But that is where the lifter must re-learn what position they are in without the walkout, in order to be squat-ready. They must find that sweet spot, where they are squat ready, but find it without the guidance of those familiar steps back. So the first time using that monolift, the lifter will stand up to unrack the weight, move their feet in a bit or out a bit, and ultimately, the squat just feels wrong and the weight is thus more difficult to lift. It is like that famous scene in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where Robert Redford’s character is asked to hit a target from a stationary position. Although he is the best gun in the west, he can’t just aim and shoot, he has to find his shot through his familiar movement of the “quick draw.”
Squatting from a stationary position without having stepped back first can take time to perfect, even though that sounds so counterintuitive. Once the lifter gets used to setting up under a loaded bar in a monolift, that is when the magic happens. That is when they really learn how tight they can get without the walk out and that they can have a wider stance that might not be practical when taking actual steps back with a loaded bar on their back. Without the steps back, the lifter is ultra-tight, wider in stance, and ready to squat. Once those monolift arms swing out, and with that new ultra-tightness that can’t be replicated with a walkout, that is when the lifter starts to put up more weight than they ever had before. Compound that with not having spent the extra energy to walk the weight out and you are really about to start squatting some all-time weight for yourself.
As the weights get bigger and bigger, the feeling of dominating the weights grows. And with no longer a need to carefully walk back a max effort squat, just like those “I wanna be Insta-famous” deadlifters do, the squatter finishes their squat and slams that squat bar down onto the monolift hooks with that reserve of energy they still have from not having to carefully walk back a large amount of weight.
Besides the mere fact that this is a very expensive piece of equipment that needs to be respected and taken care of, when that bar is slammed down onto the hooks, it often bounces up and then away from that hook. When this happens, one end of the loaded squat bar is headed for the floor and the other is laying properly on the other monolift arm hook.
This is something I have seen at literally every powerlifting gym I have trained at except for Frantz Gym. The slamming of that bar onto that small area of the monolift hooks bounces up just high enough to clear the monolift hook, and from there, I have seen the bar crash to the ground, I have seen the bar crash down on the spotter whose side was bounced off of, I have seen the bar crash down on the lifter him/herself, and every combination thereof. Where a deadlift slammed to the ground has an entire platform of wood and rubber to absorb that kinetic energy, the monolift hook is very narrow and made of steel, and when the steel barbell hits that steel metal hook, the area where the barbell hits the hook generates that kinetic energy as the bar bends, and it shoots that barbell up, off, and away from the hook like a rubber band being released from your finger and thumb.
This is mostly something you see from newer lifters or those more seasoned lifters who are enjoying that thrill of figuring out the monolift and adding huge weights but do not have the experience to see the dangers ahead of dropping the bar onto the hooks. I have also see this with lifters who train for “show.” If they were training for “go,” they would be lifting weight that would require then to place, rather than slam the bar in the monolift because there is no extra energy for show when you are actually training.
But those bar slammers, just like those deadlift droppers are all about “please pay attention to me,” instead of letting their total do the talking for them. We all see it, we all know it is ridiculous, but those little deadlifters slam down their deadlift, and they are the same bar slammers with little squats and big egos to feed, who continue to think that the sound of the bar slamming impresses more than the weight being lifted. These are the same amateurs you might have to spot at your gym. So be careful of them as you, the spotter, might also be the one that gets hurt. Heed this commandment: Don’t slam a squat bar down on the monolift arm hooks, as that bar eventually will bounce right off of that monolift hook.
All this brings me to monolift commandment number two.
2. Thou shalt always tap and slide.
The reason there were no violators of commandment number one at Frantz Gym is because these were world class powerlifters, and they all did the “tap and slide.” When they were finished with the squat, they would lock the weight out, the monolift operator would swing the monolift arms, and lock them into place. The squatter would tap the squat bar against both arms, and with control, slide the bar down against the two steel arms and safely into the monolift arm hooks.
The tap and slide does a couple of things for you as the lifter. One, it ensures that the bar is over both monolift arm hooks. Why is this important? Because we have all twisted a bit with a max weight, and if, say, the right-hand side of the squat bar is centered over the right-hand hook of the monolift arm, but the left-hand side of the squat bar is not quite over the hook of the monolift, that lifter is set up for catastrophe when they drop the bar into what they think is two hooks. For the newbies, the slide is your guide. Why the tap is also important brings us to commandment number three.
3. Thou shalt always be cautious of the monolift operator.
The tap portion of the tap and slide is key because as a squatter, you are always a bit of a slave to the guy or gal running the monolift. You can have your max weight or sub-max weight on the bar, but if you think the monolift driver has locked the monolift arms into place and you go driving your bar hard into the arm racks only to find out they did not, in fact, have the arms locked into place with the handle, you are in trouble. The reason for tapping the bar into the arms is to quickly make sure the arms have been fully locked into place by the person running the arm of the monolift. It also gives that extra moment, that quick instance for the arms to get locked into place, as some lifters are quick to rack once locked out. This tap will be a process that the new lifter and the newbie to the racking the monolift will go through, and as time passes and after reps and reps and reps of standing, unracking, squatting, and reracking have occurred, this will become a rhythm between the monolift operator and squatter and the injury potential for mishaps will become less and less each training session.
This is just like when you have been training bench with someone for a good amount of time. You know when you need to spot their bench reps, when they are getting near their failure reps and your spotting becomes ever more ready as the reps near that point of failure. Same with this cadence of the squatter and monolift operator. Over time this will be second nature, but always be leery of a monolift operator whom you are not familiar with. Also, make sure they know how many reps you are doing, so they know when to be ready to rack it, but they should be always on the listen for the dreaded “Take it!”
4. Thou shalt use Spud Straps.
The monolift operator is crucial for your safety as are the side spotters and the spotter behind you. That said, sometimes things still go wrong. I have been around the block long enough to have seen training injuries that frankly I wish I could unsee, but you can’t, and you learn from them. When a squatter’s knee goes or leg breaks, or they simply lose balance and come crashing down with 800-900 pounds on their back, even the best spotters can’t always protect the lifter, and this is where the spud straps come in. Spud straps that are set up on the monolift can be a lifesaver, literally. When the weight comes crashing down and the spotters can’t save you, the spud straps are always there and can turn a bad injury that caused the bar to come crashing down from a career-ending injury when that bar staples the lifter to the floor.
Now, having said that, a critical part of commandment number four, Thou shalt use Spud Straps is this: If you are going to do so, you need to make sure you are putting them on a monolift that is bolted down. Spud straps without the monolift being bolted down or a bolted-down monolift without spud straps are not the way to go. Use the straps and bolt down your monolift, as the last thing you need is for the straps to catch your 800-pound bar from crushing you, only to have the monolift flip over and crush your spotters because it wasn’t bolted to the floor. Sound like too many precautions? Stick around the sport a while, and you will quickly change your tune. You can’t reach maximum strength, power, and muscularity without risking injury, so although you can’t eliminate injuries from happening you can control, what you can control through proactive safety precautions so when using a monolift, bolt-er-down and use the spud straps.
5. Thou shall bolt when using bands.
For those lifters thinking, “OK, I get it, use the straps and bolt down, but really, I don’t go that heavy, I mostly do band work off the box, so there really is no reason to bolt down the monolift.” As I mentioned before, Bill Nichols had some amazing 1,100-pound squats on the monolifts at Frantz Gym, and that was without any bands or box squats, but that was then and this is now. Lifters see the big boys and girls doing using bands and they, too, want to give this a whirl.
Having hundreds of pounds of band tension on a monolift and lifting that weight off the rack when the monolift is not bolted down is a great recipe for a big squat. It is also a great formula for flipping over the monolift that is not bolted down. Those of us who have seen the advent of the bands over the years have also seen this. It is as common as as seeing someone unloading their 500-pound squat bar from one side of a bar first and watching that barbell launch into the air as the bars right sleeve has five 45-pound plates on it and the other just had its final 45-pound plate removed. If you are going to put serious band tension on the bar, bolt it down!
BONUS
6. Thou shall never lift here again.
I have seen people use a monolift for a number of movements, incline bench out of a monolift, barbell curls out of the monolift, hanging straps from the hooks and doing gymnastic type rope push-ups from the monolift, even pull-ups from a barbell on the monolift. These are all fine and fall into the category of no-harm-no-foul. That said, I once (as in Johnny Dangerously “once”) saw a lifter at a gym that shall go un-named, doing a set of heavy rack pulls out of a monolift. This was the lifter’s first and last day at the gym and rightfully so.
The monolift is the pinnacle piece of gym equipment, built like a steel fortress, and built to last a lifetime. But it is also an expensive piece of equipment, and be you the owner of the gym or a lifter at a gym with a monolift, the moment you see someone misusing this awesome piece of welded metal, show them the door. If they don’t realize how special a gym is that has this piece of equipment, they should not be using it.
Monolift commandments for those new to the monolift, monolift commandments to heed today as a way to avoid tragedy in the future, and monolift commandments to help get the most out of this amazing piece of powerlifting equipment.
You are friends with a serious powerlifter, but the gym he/she goes to is anything but serious. This can be because where he/she lives has no powerlifting gyms, or because he/she travels during the week and is training out of the hotel’s fitness center, or because he/she works days and can train only late at night, which requires him/her to go to one of those 24/7 fitness places where there is “no yelling, no chalk or pretty much no anything you would require for serious training.”
With that as the context, here are the TOP FIVE gifts for the serious powerlifter, trapped in a corporate gym.
Gift #1: Liquid Chalk
True story: my friend Rob was training at a cookie-cutter gym before he began to train with the other powerlifters at Monster Garage Gym. Rob had his Tupperware container of chalk out, and it was sitting on an empty bench. He chalked his hands and proceeded to bench with one of those corporate gym bars that have no bite to them and bend like crazy with even just 500 pounds on the bench. Anyway, “the gym guy,” you know, the guy in the short-sleeved polo shirt that has the corporate gym’s name embroidered on the chest, comes over and tells Rob, “Sir, there is no gym chalk allowed in the facility.” Straight-faced, Rob confidently says, “Yes, I know, but this is magnesium carbonate.” To which the polo-wearing gent says, “Well, in that case, okay. But make sure you only use that magnesium carbonate, as we don’t allow gym chalk.”
Not every corporate gym desk jockey is going to be this obtuse, and those slick bars that have no knurling require chalked hands. That said, given these dynamics, gift number one for the powerlifter trapped in a corporate gym is: liquid chalk. This stuff comes in a little plastic bottle, it is easy to bring into the gym in a gym bag, and it is small enough to stow in a pocket, to be discreetly applied when needed without creating that ploom of chalk dust or the little chalk pieces created when you’re using a block of chalk….er, um, magnesium carbonate. It is easy to wipe off the barbell when done, and what those corporate gym owners don’t know won’t hurt them.
GIFT #2: Two Micros and Two Minis
The chances of finding any accommodating resistance in a corporate facility is pretty much zero. Having said that, if you go into the facility with a gym bag containing two sets of micro bands and two sets of mini bands, the chances of having access to accommodating resistance is 100%, as the accommodating resistance is with you at all times. As the corporate gym setting is, well, corporate, hooking up light or average bands can be a red flag. Thus, it’ll alert and send your way the aforementioned polo shirt guy, and that can quickly end your workout with bands before it even got started. That said, micro bands and mini bands have a far more innocuous look to them. You can mix and match these bands for more or less resistance. You can even double them for some movements. Combining them all at once can provide a significant amount of accommodating resistance to work with, and it’ll do so in a way that brings far less attention to you than if you were to use the thicker and more “threatening”-looking light or average bands for your training, all the while serving the same purpose.
Gift #3: Orange Rubber Wrist Straps
If you are limited to the corporate gym world, you are most likely surrounded by machines. So, at minimum, you want to get the most you can from them. That means when training back, use wrist straps so that you can engage the lats, rather than utilizing your grip and thus engaging your biceps first. This limits the sheer amount of weight you can use, thus compromising the amount of muscular damage you can bring to this big muscle group. In my quarter of a century of powerlifting and moving weight, I have used tons of different wrist straps. I was training at the elitefts compound while visiting there after watching some of my powerlifting team compete at the Arnold one year, and I had forgotten my wrist straps at Monster Garage Gym. I saw Matt from elitefts there, and he gave me a pair of these exact straps. I have never looked back. They are actually a set of straps sewn onto a larger set of straps, with an additional layer of rubber grip sewn onto them as well. The rubber really lets them grip a smooth cable handle and provides for a sure grip on one of those cheesy corporate no-grip barbells. The strap itself is longer, so it’ll go more times around the handle, and for ultra-heavy rack pulls, nothing comes close to them. This is the longest lasting pair I have ever had, and after several years, they are still in great shape. When and if these ever reach their end point, I will simply fill their void with the exact same pair.
Gift #4: Red Shoulder Saver
They can’t use chalk at this place. But the liquid chalk has no accommodating resistance. And with the bands, there is zero chance they are going to have any bench boards anywhere in the facility. Thus, the fourth gift you should get your powerlifting friend who is trapped in a corporate gym is the elitefts Red Shoulder Saver. At my gym, Monster Garage Gym, we have all of the accommodating resistance tools, we supply the chalk and ammonia, and we have every size bench board….but we also have a couple of the EliteFTS shoulder savers. These are great when you are training alone and have nobody to hold a board. My favorite of our Red and Black Shoulder Savers is the Red, as it comes out to about a 1½ board and is perfect for RAW benching as well as close grip bench work for tricep development and lockout. And it fits right in your gym bag with your other essential items.
Gift #5: Black/Red Crescent Duffel Bag
All of the above items will fit nicely in gift number five, the elitefts Black/Red Crescent Duffel Bag. You will walk into the corporate gym you are trapped in, with all of your essentials—liquid chalk, resistance bands, orange rubber wrist straps, and red shoulder saver—all concealed-carried and ready to be used. As you know, the elitefts logo is a universal symbol for strength, power, muscle, and a commitment to training. On the off chance there is another powerlifter also trapped in this same unfortunate corporate setting as you, the bag’s elitefts emblem will be a beacon, a signal to him or her as to who you are and how you train. Perhaps from there, you will end up with a kindred powerlifting spirit, and that person, too, can conceal-carry his or her own elitefts essentials in his or her bag and double up on the probability of making the best out of the training surroundings available.
Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas!
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They’re here because they travel during the week and are training out of the hotel’s fitness center, or they work days and can train only late at night, which requires him to go to one of those 24/7 fitness places where there is “no yelling, no chalk or pretty much no anything you would require for serious training.”
The gym is a sacred place. It is your sanctuary, your Fortress of Solitude; it’s your place to go to get inside of your own head and actively pursue your dreams, goals, and aspirations. It is the place to put forward into motion the components of your plan that will successfully bring your mission and your vision for yourself to fruition. The gym is the place where your relationship with the weights is tested and retested, where you are sometimes the victor, and where sometimes the weights conquer you. It is the place where you, and you alone, can create out of the figurative clay what you want to achieve with regard to strength, power, and muscle.
Each and every day of your life is comprised of no more than 24 hours. But of those 24 hours, the majority of what seem like your hours are actually dictated by someone or something other than yourself. Those hours are controlled by your job, your boss, and your responsibilities, obligations, and duties. Those hours are filled by the needs and requirements of your family and friends. Those hours are divided up by things that require your time, attention, and presence. Some hours are filled by the exigent, and some hours are taken up by the mundane.
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A constant in the universe is that time will have its way with us; time is always fleeting, whether we are consciously aware of that or not. Within those 24 fleeting hours, there are those precious couple of hours in the gym that are as life-sustaining as the air you breathe, the food you eat, and the water you drink. These are hours that you – and you alone – own. These are the couple of sacred hours that are totally at your disposal, that you can use for whatever goal you are striving towards, be it a competition, a PR, breaking a record, or coming back from injury or from time away from the gym after a lifting hiatus. These are the hours that you fiercely protect. You know how it goes, as you have said these things a hundred times before: “Nope, sorry, that is when I train...I wish I could, but I squat on Saturday...I would love to but I need to be in early that night as I train in the morning...Maybe some other time as I have max effort deadlift tomorrow.”
There are two worlds in which we all reside. There is the “gym world”, the land of weights, chalk, barbells, and ammonia; a world where everything pertains to the gym and your training, where your goals and aspirations for the platform are created, pursued, and lived out. The other world is the outside world, which is comprised of everything else. The outside world can be marred with distraction; it can be full of problems and issues, political strife and conflict, and a clashing of views. It’s the constant thrust and parry that one can about read in the morning paper, see in your hands as you scroll throughout the day, and watch on the news every night on your screen or TV. That outside world is a world that should never breach your gym world.
There is plenty of time and opportunity for the outside world to permeate your day when you are not in the gym – and as you are well aware, it always does. Discussions about politics are heard by the water cooler or coffee maker. This person is a Democrat, that person is a Republican, this person's views are to the left, that person's views are right – and so on and so forth. As you don’t own this outside world, these conversations are all around you. You can engage or not, but you pretty much have come to realize that in public settings, the political soundtrack constantly plays in the background non-stop, the same being true on your social media feed as you flip through it during a break in your day.
Where this outside world and political talk ends is at the front door of the hard-core gym – and that is gospel, truth, fact, bottom line and end of story. There is no room for it, and there is surely no time for talk about who is right or left, or wrong or right in a serious gym. For those who think otherwise, I would submit that they need to get right back into their vehicle and go find a corporate gym with the other folks who are either there to pick up somebody, debate politics, or sweat off a few pounds to better fit into their skinny jeans.
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The few remaining hard-core gyms are sacred ground – that holiest of land is for training. For those bound and determined to talk about the political landscape while training, to them I extend a warm and friendly offer to back away from my training session. Or better yet, they can take that conversation and save it for the barber shop, where talking heads can pontificate and chat politics while wasting away the hours of a Saturday afternoon.
These are times of political jousting – no doubt. But keep your armchair, political quarterbacking out of the gym, as no serious lifter wants to hear your views, be they like-minded or different. People are going to believe what they believe, and I have yet to see a hotly-contested debate end with one party responding, “Wow, you know, for 15 years I have voted for political party X, but after hearing your well-rounded and convincing political diatribe, I will be in the future, voting for political party Y. Thank you so much for helping me see the light.”
The point is, if someone is poisoning your training by bringing the outside world into the training world, either show them the door or show them your back, as these are your couple of hours. By the same token, if you are the type of person that is sharing your political views in a hard-core gym full of serious lifters who are in the throes of meet prep, know that they want you to stow it – and do so expeditiously.
Keep this final thought in mind: In every single gym in every single town, there is always that one lifter that the other lifters can hardly tolerate. If you are the lifter who talks politics in this sanctuary of weights, chalk, ammonia, and barbells, then take a good, hard look in the mirror – that one lifter is you.
Header image credit: Prathan Chorruangsak © 123rf.com
There are two worlds in which we all reside. There is the “gym world”, a world where everything pertains to the gym and your training, where your goals and aspirations for the platform are created, pursued, and lived out. The other world is the outside world, comprised of everything else.
The world of strength and power finds its origins far back in history. This early history is depicted in the details of organized challenges that took place back in Greek and Roman times.
More recently, the foundation for what is now recognized as powerlifting dates back to the 1950s, thus putting powerlifting somewhere around the seven-decade mark as an organized sport. The first national powerlifting championship occurred back in 1964 and in some ways can be considered the birthdate of our great sport.
There is a huge list of things the sport of powerlifting has produced over these seven decades. Within this sizable list, the sport has consistently produced two specific items over and again, each and every single decade. The first is Elders, and the second is Icons.
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Elders are those individuals in powerlifting whose lifetimes have been embedded into the fabric of iron and steel, chalk, and sweat. Elders in our sport are those individuals who have not merely powerlifted but who have lived this powerlifting lifestyle and have done so year after year after year, decade after decade after decade. Over the decades, these Elders have been collecting information and disaggregating data, and they have been doing this through firsthand experiences during lifetimes “under the bar.” These sources of knowledge, knowledge that only life experience can produce, are contained within a given era’s Elders. Elders are more than just the keepers of information; they are those individuals who have not only the ability to share, to teach, and to mentor others with their amassed perspective, but also the desire to do so. Elders are those unique and few-and-far-between individuals who are critical to the growth of sports’ future generations, as they have not only survived in this body-violent venture but also thrived in it. Elders are those who found success not only in the weight room, not only on the platform, but also at the big high-stakes, high-pressure meets where strength alone won’t suffice. Meets instead where strength and experience and strategy and drive and contemplation and power and athleticism all must intersect at the precise right moment as the best in the world compete to see whose name ultimately ends up making it into the book that is the history of competitive powerlifting. Time, successes, failures, lessons, and experiences serve to elevate these Elders above the masses of weekend warriors, above the shoulda-woulda-coulda lifters, above those who talk the game but have never walked the talk, above those who are here today and gone later today. Elders are the Yodas of our sport, as their mentorship is immeasurable in its value.
Over the seven decades of our sport, Icons of eras are also created. Icons are those figures who in some way represent our sport in a given era, a given timeframe during the history of the sport. Icons are those special individuals whose footprints are larger than those of the other champions who fall within their peer group, and these individuals somehow transcend time. Thus, they are always associated with the given periods during which they competed. For example, Paul Anderson is an icon in strength sports, and he is an Icon synonymous with the era of 1950s strength sports. Another Icon in the world of weights is Arnold, “no last name needed.” Arnold, although he is an entity who is clearly larger than the sport, is an icon for 1970s bodybuilding, along with his training partner and fellow iron Icon, Franco. Both are iconic images of the 1970s and are so significant in their statuses that this entire period is now considered to be the golden era of bodybuilding. A more modern Icon in our sport of powerlifting is Ed Coan who is considered by most Elders, peer Icons, and lifter historians to be the greatest powerlifter of all time.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing” is how the saying goes.In a sport that financially costs its participants money rather than pays them, powerlifting is a sport comprising those primarily bitten by the iron bug, those who lift for the love of lifting and to whom the competition is an excuse to get to train and to get to train hard and with a purpose at the gym. Those who without an organized sport would still toil and sweat and lift for the love of lifting in their own garages or basement weight rooms.
I can’t personally speak for meets prior to the 1980s or as far back as the 1960s, but from my perspective, having competed since the late 1980s, the Elders and Icons of this sport we love, who were our teachers and sources of motivation, were easily identified up to a certain point. These were individuals who were steeped in the sport and who ascended to the top of it. These were individuals who served not only as sources of inspiration but also as precious sources of information. These were individuals who not only possessed this information but who also relished in the sharing of that information. Just as paying out of one's own pocket to travel to compete was par for the powerlifter’s course, so, too, were the gift and joy of sharing lifting knowledge by the Elders and Icons.
The days of the old-school, hard-core powerlifting gym have, with a few exceptions, gone the way of the dinosaur. This mass extinction is partly due to the fact that there is money to be made in the “fitness industry,” and the corporate cookie-cutter gyms have choked out the mom-and-pop gyms and the hard-core gyms that were the breeding grounds for serious lifters in the 1970s, in the 1980s, and through the mid-1990s. One is hard pressed to find a throwback gym, a gym whose members clap off the excessive chalk from their calloused hands, breathe in ammonia, and strive to be as great of a lifter as their bodies, training, and drive will allow them to become.
Powerlifting has always been a subculture within a subculture, but as the man-bun has become vogue, ironically, so has, to a degree, powerlifting. Powerlifting has gained popularity through the feeder programs out there that charge $150 monthly fees, and where a squat shoe has become a fashion statement rather than the utilitarian tool it was designed to be. This recent popularity is fertilized by those who confuse the importance of a big socialookatmedia footprint with the importance of a big total. Said another way, there is money to be made off of powerlifting now, and with the prospect of money come the numbers but also the false prophets. With money comes marketing, with money comes the sales pitch, with money comes the snake oil sales men and women. With money comes a large social media footprint and thus an internet bursting at the seams with self-proclaimed Elders, and Instagram-manufactured Icons. With money come those who use smoke and mirrors and train with fake plates and those who try to impress with gym lifts but have never tested their mettle on the platform. With money comes not only too much information but also inferior-quality and even inaccurate and plain-old-fashioned false information.
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This popularity that one could successfully argue is unwanted by the serious powerlifting all comes, of course, at a price. And that price to pay is paid in full by the lifter who is new to the sport. That new lifter who sees the IG posts but doesn’t know how to evaluate what they are being force fed through their screens; thus, they acquiesce to them. Through this acquiescence, they purchase that program, buy those shoes, hand over their cash for that newest “secret method,” never having a chance to learn from the real Elders or authentic Icons whose statures in the sport were hard earned.
Instead, they have been snagged by those false prophets who sell information for a price rather than invest information into aspiring new powerlifters. They have been entrapped by those selling a program rather than helping to build a foundation. They have been lured into drinking the Kool-Aid that celebrates slamming down a successful 400-pound deadlift rather than setting down a controlled 700-pound deadlift. They have been exposed to the pursuit of LIKES rather than to the pursuit of a massive competition total. Those caught up in the popularity of this 70-year-old sport often can’t see beyond the acquisition of followers to the reality that powerlifting is a journey that has no final destination but rather critical stops along the way. Stops where the lifter finds himself or herself ever striving to improve.
I, along with other lifters in Illinois, the land of Lincoln, Frantz, and Coan, have been fortunate to grow up under the bright light of true Elders and Icons, and without the fog of and haze of social media false prophets. True Elders and Icons of powerlifting are individuals who not only know the sport but also often know individual lifters personally because they train at their gyms. In those instances, these mentors care for an individual, they impart knowledge to the individual specifically, they invest in the individual because they believe in that individual. They know their strengths, their weaknesses, their technique, their training, their nutrition, and their life circumstances, as all of those things play a critical role in that lifter’s success or failure or struggle or ascension in the sport.
What we are not saying is that a person is not entitled to make legitimate money from this sport. So, don’t get that twisted. By all means, make money and help make people strong(er). But what we are absolutely saying is, BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS, those who come to you in sheep's clothing. Remember, Elders and Icons possess knowledge, but so do the charlatans. However, it is the intended use and the origins of said acquisition of that knowledge that differs. Elders and Icons acquire their knowledge base through years and decades of work in the trenches. Charlatans, these false prophets, acquired their knowledge by cherry picking from those Elders and Icons and others who came before them. They try to be seen by standing on the massive shoulders of those who have earned the right to be revered, honored, respected.
There are two factors that are limiting one's exposure to true Elders and Icons in our sport. One is, there simply are not the powerlifting gyms today that there once were, so those who possess this wealth of knowledge are fewer and further between. Second, it is harder to find the ones who still exist, as the internet is flooding the market with a seemly neverending onslaught of false prophets. False prophets are working hard to be found on the net and social media so that they can sell their snake oils, whereas the Elders and Icons are working hard on training their precious handfuls of serious powerlifters at their gyms.
During this current Kardashianesque era of what is powerlifting’s current timeline, where one can be famous for just being famous or be held in higher esteem through purchased followers, the newer powerlifter must be discerning in his, her, their search for mentors. In a time when today’s lifters search for their influences on a screen, perhaps it is more beneficial to find one of those hidden-away gyms where experienced lifters train in radio silence. Where powerlifters focus on technique, the journey, and the sizes of their totals, rather than the sizes of their social media followings. Be that eight-track lifter in a download society, and find the real McCoy with that Elder at your gym, that Icon in your area. Find those who have been there, done that, versus those selling you on who they are and what you can buy from them.
Wishing you the best in your powerlifting journey.
There is a huge list of things the sport of powerlifting has produced over these seven decades. Within this sizable list, the sport has consistently produced two specific items over and again, each and every single decade.
The first television set I remember us having was the kind of set that anyone reading this who grew up in the 1970s would vividly remember. It was a large piece of furniture resting upon four sturdy legs with a decorative golden strip of metal just above its feet. It was the centerpiece of the shag carpet living room. Big and bulky and sturdy enough that you could display other decorative items on top of it.
Sometime during its lifetime, the knob to this television had come off (whipping around the channels too fast, like your Mom and Dad told you not to do, would do the trick with these analog moving parts). So, to turn the channel, you used a set of needle-nose pliers to grab the metal nub remaining from the broken knob to turn the dial to any of the 13 or so channels you got. The bulky two-button remote was missing in action, and you personally don’t remember it ever working. So, whatever program was on, that is pretty much what you watched, cigarette commercials and all. For one, it was a pain to get up off the deep couch and walk over to the set and change the channel with the pliers, as they could never quite grip the nub, and the more you used them, the more the nub grew smooth and more challenging to turn. And two, with 13 channels and not all of them actually having content (some routinely featured television shows with a vertical hold issue), if you found a decent show, you stuck with it.
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Fast-forward a few years. The year was 1977-78, and I was in fifth or sixth grade. We had a new television. This one came with a working remote and sat legless and boxy in a wall-sized piece of furniture that was in vogue at that time. As I was sprawled out on the couch, the Incredible Hulk TV series appeared on the channel I happened to be watching. This show starred the famed Bill Bixby, who I remembered from the television program he had been in prior, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (Google it). Also in the show, playing the Incredible Hulk was a young and powerfully built Lou Ferrigno, just a year or two out of his most recent Mr. Olympia contest. I recall watching the episode and enjoying the whole sci-fi aspect of it, as it appealed to my nerdy side, which continues to this day. However, when Bill’s character, David Banner, transformed into the Hulk and Lou stood there, suddenly, this became for me something far greater than a new television show playing on our new television set. Even though I now could click to the next channel plier free, I wouldn’t dare to do so, as I was transfixed by this program and by Lou.
I recall watching every episode after that, and instead of enjoying the sci-fi, Marvel aspect, I felt the plot was now a nuisance, as I just wanted to get through with the story and onto seeing Lou. He would appear toward the end of each episode, and he would go through this process of transformation, his metamorphosis from Banner to the Incredible Hulk. So, I was watching the entire program really just for the few minutes that Lou’s character was featured in his ultra-muscular self.
This was a moment of discovery for me, as this was my introduction to strength, power, muscle, and ultimately, the weight room. Because this was decades before you could Google anything, I began to look for information on this whole “How do you get strong and big like Lou did?” phenomenon I had stumbled upon.
I began to talk with some friends of mine about this show, about muscle and the like, and we discovered some old bodybuilding magazines. Also, one of the kids’ dads had an old weight set and some dumbbells in the corner of his basement. So, after school, we would go straight from our bus stop to our friend’s house, where the old weight set was and where we kept and studied these magazines. For me, this is when the doors to this whole world of muscle and power and strength, of which I was totally unaware, blew wide open.
There on the pages of these magazines were lifters like Lou, Dave Draper, Sergio, Arnold, Franco, Robbie Robinson, Frank Zane, and others from what we now call the golden era of bodybuilding. These were guys who were living a lifestyle I didn’t even know existed. They were training with weights, building strength and muscle, and it simply looked like the best life you could ever have.
Photo courtesy of Laree Draper
The months passed, and as their interest in lifting and muscle and strength diminished, so did the number of my friends who would meet up at our little space in the corner of my friend’s basement. That year, I found a gym, Drew’s Gym. Drew’s Gym is one of the many magical gyms that no longer exists except in memory. Drew’s Gym was owned by a guy that was built like one of my current powerlifting buddies, Big Steve Brock (although I have never shared that with Steve—until now).
Drew was a shorter, massively thick and powerful guy but whose size and power were juxtaposed against his calm demeanor. He was a deeply spiritual man, peaceful and reflective, and he found strength not just through his weights but through reading his Bible(s). I use the plural because he had loads of Bibles, and they could be found in several of Drew’s reading spots located all around the carpeted area of the gym. The carpeted area was this little section of the gym set back from the weight room area of the gym. The area was literally carpeted in a short shag-type carpet, and in that area was a well-worn La-Z-Boy recliner, an old couch, and a wooden coffee table covered with several of Drew’s Bibles (each one highlighted with a different colored highlighter) as well as piles of muscle magazines, like the original IronMan, Muscle Builder/Power, and the like.
The gym itself was in a very old building with very tall and ornate off-white ceilings. The main front wall of the building faced the street, which came directly off of the town’s square. This main wall where the entrance was located was all windows, floor to ceiling, and sunlight poured into the gym on sunny days. The surrounding walls were covered in a style of wood paneling. The floor was this old and actually quite luxurious hardwood floor with rectangularly cut pieces of carpet laid over it every so many feet where the various weight stations were. Clearly, the intent when this very old and distinguished building was constructed was for it to feature a grand showroom, never a gym. But there was something perfect about the contrast between the ornate sculpings throughout the ceiling and the 1960s- and 1970s-era barbells, plates, and dumbbells that made the place so perfectly unique for finding your way in the world of strength and power. Close to the carpeted area hosting the lounge, coffee table, and couch were two bench presses. Toward the middle of the gym were stationed a couple of squat stands, dumbbells, and pre-loaded straight bars, and the perimeter consisted of plate-loaded pulley machines of the era and the era before that. Looking back in my mind’s eye, I now realize that none of the equipment was new, but that is hardly something I was aware of at the time, as all of it was new and foreign to me.
To me, this was the best place in the world. A place where you would go after school and move weights up and down while not having the slightest clue as to whether you were doing it right. In hindsight, mostly bodybuilders trained at Drew’s Gym, so I did what most people did at a time when your strength and power sources were limited to magazines and the library: you read and studied the lifters as they trained. So, after I would do what I thought was a workout, I, too, would sit on the sweat-stained couch next to Drew, who was sitting on his sweat-stained La-Z-Boy recliner. There was Drew reading and highlighting his Bible, with me reading and highlighting the content of the muscle mags. He was reading about the apostles of the Bible, and I was reading about the apostles of the golden era of bodybuilding. I would sit, read, and highlight, all the while watching the contrast between how the muscular lifters in the gym worked out versus the guys who were making the same amount of noise but never got any bigger or strong(er). There was a US postman who trained there, and he was a Mr. America competitor. He was put together, muscular and powerful, so what I saw him do, I did. On the same training day schedule was this rail-thin guy. I looked at him and his lack of muscle and power and made a mental note not to do what he was doing. Seemed logical in the mind of a now sixth or seventh grader.
While reading the old magazines, I looked at the physiques of guys like Dave Draper, the Blonde Bomber (who is 76 years of age as of this article). I studied his photos and then read the magazines stated as his training. It was like you were reading about these lifters, like Draper, whom you would never meet, yet they were somehow teaching you from afar through the pages of these magazines.
The magazines talked about many aspects of the lifting lifestyle—for example, nutrition and training—and the photos were inspirational. Most days I would work out at Drew’s Gym, and some days I would lift in my parents’ garage. I would use my one piece of equipment, my barbell (the kind with the thin metal bar and two sand-filled plastic plates at the ends). I would do bicep curls and overhead presses while looking at my reflection in the convex side window of our 1972 Chevy Malibu. The convex nature of the glass was like a circus mirror, and depending on where you stood, it could make you look huge.
I vividly remember reading about health foods and how to make your own health shakes. My first shake comprised all of the ingredients I read about, all purchased individually at the local family-owned vitamin store (I still prefer a mom-and-pop-owned nutrition store like that versus the big corporate mega stores that sell supplements today). We had a heavy glass pitcher for the blender, and I set out all of the individual powdered ingredients to the side on the kitchen counter. One by one, I would put a tablespoon of each ingredient into the milk-filled blender. I had desiccated liver powder, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, lecithin, oats, honey, a whole egg, peanut butter, and a banana. As vividly as I remember reading about health shakes, I also vividly remember that the first shake I made tasted like hell. I mean it was exquisitely horrid—but nothing that a spoonful of Nestle Quik and a scoop of ice cream added to the mixture couldn't fix.
With these as starting points for a lifetime with weights, the lifting continued throughout junior high school and high school. I worked with weights during wrestling season, during track season, and throughout the remainder of high school. It was in college where I discovered powerlifting. There was a world of difference from guessing at how to lift on your own to being formally introduced and coached by an experienced powerlifter about techniques, training programs, and virtually every facet of the sport in between. My first powerlifting meet was in 1989, and the meets continued, three to four meets per year, for a couple of very fulfilling decades. Quite often I traveled to compete, be it competing at meets close to home or at meets as far away as South Africa. The competing, the simple act of picking up the weights and putting them right back down but making sure that yours were always heavier, was deeply fulfilling. The moving of weights is a major part of me as it is a part of you, and my training continues to this day, each Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
If you’re like me, after going from a grade schooler in the 1970s to a master age lifter now in his 50s, you note often how life around you changes, as does the world around you. Both are in a constant state of evolution, or de-evolution, depending on how you want to look at it. What’s interesting is what doesn’t change but rather is a constant. One of these things constants is that precious time at the gym when the weight is in your hands, on your back, or over your chest. What doesn’t change is where you want to be in this non-symbiotic relationship you have with the barbells, dumbbells, plates, and weights. You want this relationship to allow for you to slowly but steadily move, inch by inch, pound by pound, toward constant self-improvement, be it in your strength, power, or muscularity.
A couple of years back, my brother, Kirk, and I were making several weekend trips to visit our mom, who was in the hospital. For a little more than 10 months, we would work during the week and then drive some seven hours to spend each weekend with her in the hospital as she clung to life, eventually clawing her way back to a full recovery. During those months, I considered removing myself from Team elitefts as a columnist. I was not sure I could find the focus or the time to write, and the last thing I wanted to do was let my fellow elitefts team members or Dave Tate down by not holding up my end of the bargain. Additionally, I was having trouble finding the focus required to move big weights, as my mind and energy were focused on my mom and on what she was going through. I remember speaking to Dave Tate about both of these concerns. Dave Tate shared that he had gone through something similar a couple of times. He shared his thoughts about my keeping my mind sharp during these very dark and worrisome days. How writing can be as much therapy as it could be an escape from worry, and how it could be a tool to keep your mind sharp while in the midst of such a life-altering event. Dave Tate said write when you can, keep your mind in the game, and don’t worry about deadlines. Dave Tate also shared his thoughts about how I could keep training. He talked about how being strong physically was the way to stay strong during the week, strong while driving seven hours each Friday and seven hours back home each Sunday, and how being physically strong served as a source of strength for my mom during each and every visit. The recipe for that was hypertrophy work, as you can go deep within yourself for many reps and sets and increase your size, maintain your health, and protect your central nervous system, which is easily compromised with heavy training. Having powerlifted for nearly three decades, all I knew about hypertrophy was what I had observed back at Drew’s Gym as a little kid, and that was clearly not going to cut it. So, just like when I looked at the old bodybuilding mags, read the books on lifting from the library, and studied the difference between the muscular guys versus the rail-thin ones back in the 1970s as a kid, I again found myself trying to obtain useful information about hypertrophy, this time online. As a kid, I could barely find this information, and now, there was too much of it. I spent a significant amount of time weeding through the information, as a majority of the information online was garbage. I found some of the most useful information right under my nose from the elitefts guys, like Dugdale and Meadows, and that was amazingly helpful. Then, one day when googling some more on hypertrophy, I stumbled upon a name I remembered from all of those years ago. I stumbled onto a blog of sorts, a newsletter from none other than Dave Draper — 1965 International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness Mr. America.
Photo courtesy of Laree Draper
It was a little surreal, as I was now considerably older than Dave Draper was back then when I had originally read about him in the late 1970s, all of those decades ago when I was with my grade school friends in the corner of a friend’s basement lifting weights and reading old muscle magazines. It was like re-discovering this amazing thing you once had but thought you had lost so many years ago, only to find that it was there all along. What a great happenstance and a great resource. Turns out that Dave Draper, now in his 70s, had a great deal of content out there. The difference was that his content wasn’t about the latest thing, the newest trend, or the best-kept secrets. In fact, his content was virtually the antithesis of this. Dave Draper’s content mirrored what Ernie Frantz used to tell me in the 1990s and what I share with the newer lifters at the Monster Garage Gym to this day. Dave Draper and Ernie Frantz talked about the secret: that there is no secret. That long and complex explanations are often created by those who overanalyze or who are trying to sell you something. Dave Draper’s blogs and books spoke about how the things that worked in the 1970s still work today. That the bedrock of success in the weight room is simply hard, hard work, consistency, intensity, good nutrition, a solid program, great form, rest, common sense, and a deep passion for what you are doing. So, I started “following” Dave Draper….for a second time, now some several decades later. I read about how these guys trained back some 50 years ago. How they developed strength and power and muscularity with plain and simple barbells and dumbbells. I say this because clearly all of the innovations in the weight room are not the difference maker or everyone coming out of Corporate Gym A through Z would be pulling 700 pounds and be built like Sergio Olivia was.
During the months that my mom was in the hospital, through her full recovery, and through today, I have found great value in reps and sets as a means to an end. When my mom was sick, that end was seeing her through health-wise and maintaining and improving my training at the same time. Reading Dave Draper’s question-and-answer content, then his blogs, and then his books, I kept finding this same theme in his writing: how lifting can be applied to all aspects of your life. I found this all to be true, as the weights have always been there for me.
Now, long gone are the days of making my own horrid-tasting healthy shakes. I instead do a rotation of manufactured protein shakes. One day it is an egg protein, and the next day it is a casein protein, both by Universal Nutrition. The third day I take a mix of a whey and casein protein from none other than Dave Draper. The rotation of the proteins keeps food allergies at bay, but that is a story for another time. I discovered Dave Draper’s protein, as it was almost buried within his Web page. Clearly, his emphasis is on the content of his message, and his protein is almost like an afterthought. It is like, “Oh yeah, by the way, I’ve got protein and books for sale, too.” Kind of reminds me of Dave Tate. There is a ton, and I mean a ton, of content at elitefts, and “Oh yeah, we sell lifting stuff, too.”
So, for a good while, this was routine. Train, maintain a good bead on my mom’s health, work, family time, Monster Garage Gym time, coach powerlifting, eat, sleep, learn, rotate proteins, follow the Daves (Draper and Tate), keep in contact with Ernie Frantz, repeat.
Then, I got an email.
The email was from Laree Draper. Laree Draper is Dave’s wife, and she was sending a bulk email to all of the buyers of Dave Draper’s Bomber Blend protein powder. The long and short of it was that she and Dave were going to call it a day after a 20-year run selling his unique protein blend (whey and casein). They were going to discontinue making the Bomber Blend protein. With shipping prices going up nationally, Amazon Prime providing free shipping and the manufacturers wanting more sales, it was the perfect storm as well as an appropriate time to call it a (20-year) day. Even as they were pondering this final decision, other companies were wanting to put Dave Draper’s likeness on their existing proteins, not his specific ingredients. This was not an option they were going to consider. What? Ethics and morals in the industry portion of strength, power, and muscles? With the Drapers, yes. Knowing that he could have gone on and sold a compromised product, he designed only served to affirm the collection of words that Dave Draper had carefully sewn into the stories, lessons, and perspectives contained in the books he had written. Books written from the perspective of one who had spent a half-century with iron in his hands.
Anyway, with the pending cessation of the protein portion of Dave Draper’s online business, I found myself reflecting on how it must feel to have something that was created with a lifetime of knowledge—something that had rested on a solid bed of morals and ethics—only to have to end it due to business factors totally separate and irrelevant from the glorious intent of sharing the love of strength and power with others. Also, in some strange way, I was feeling as though I had discovered the inspirational Dave Draper decades ago when I was a kid and then re-discovered him as an adult through his online content and books, so the termination of his product, albeit by his own iron-wielding hands, felt strangely like a little loss yet again. After a few days of reflection, I emailed Laree Draper just to share how I felt about Dave Draper, his protein, his amazing books, and his inspiring life with the weights. In all honesty, my email to Laree Draper was really more for my sake than anything else, as although he had been a presence in my timeline of lifting. To him, I am one of the thousands of unknown lifters who supplements meals with his protein and reads his books and content as a way to better my training and gym experiences. Anyway, I typed some words onto the screen and hit send. I am sure, like so many others who used his protein powder, that I purchased a few extra canisters knowing from Laree Draper’s email that these final orders were coming from the last batch ever made. So, with a few extra tubs of his protein powder on my shelf, I went back to my routine: train, maintain a good bead on my mom’s health, work, family time, Monster Garage Gym time, coach powerlifting, eat, sleep, learn, rotate proteins, follow the Daves (Draper and Tate), keep in contact with Ernie Frantz, repeat.
A day or so later, I got an email. It was from Laree. She had received my email and shared its contents with Dave. She also indicated that she and Dave had owned a gym for some 15 years and wanted to support mine (Monster Garage Gym). They sent to the gym one of their fabricated gym pieces, the Top Squat (similar to the handles of the safety squat bar that you would see at elitefts). I felt completely honored that the powerlifters in my gym would be using this gift from Laree and Dave Draper, and I was now fighting a losing battle not to come across like a “fanboy.” But then, an email from Dave Draper himself came across my screen.
Photo courtesy of Laree Draper
In it, he talked about the Bomber Blend, mentioned the Top Squat, and took the time to thank me for the “kind words” of mine, which he quickly downplayed with, “If only I was half the person you describe….”The saying goes, don’t meet those you have looked up to, as they will inevitably disappoint you. I can assure you that reading Dave Draper’s email—even though it was merely an email—was the antithesis of disappointment. I emailed Dave Draper back as the elitefts columnist in me was screaming in my ear, “You are corresponding with ‘the’ Dave Draper; ask the man some questions!” I wrote Dave and stated, “Perhaps one day, should you ever feel the urge, I could interview you by emailing you questions for you to answer also in email form. As an amazing writer that would capture your thoughts the best.” Dave Draper emailed back, and in his poetic style of writing, he kindly turned down my offer. Then, just below his closing salutation was a trio of dots and the words, “I’ve got an idea; send me one question, and we’ll see how it goes….” So, now I have bodybuilding legend Dave Draper willing to answer my single question. What will my single question be? How do I limit to a single question what I want to know from a man who has not only seen but also lived through the evolution of bodybuilding and weight training and is, in fact, one of the founding fathers? What do I ask a man who built a physique back in 1965 and if he walked into any contemporary gym today in his Mr. America condition, every lifter in the place would stop to behold a build somehow created with nothing fancier than barbells, dumbbells, steak, eggs, and elbow grease?
I took a couple of days to ponder my question, and this is the question I posed to him: “Of all of the lessons you have learned over your entire lifetime about lifting, what is the most important lesson that you have learned; likewise, of all of the lessons you have learned over your entire lifetime about life itself, what is the most important lesson that you have learned?” Prior to finally hitting the send button, I found myself re-writing the question, which was really two questions, over and again, hoping he would answer both. I was hoping for both to be answered; if you have read his books (which I highly recommend) and are a lifelong lifter, you would understand why.
When you read Dave Draper’s writing, you notice right away that his writing style is part lifter, part historian, part philosopher, and part poet, so I was fully expecting to read an answer that was equal parts lengthy and esoteric. To the contrary, the answer I received was succinct yet all-encompassing, two things that are amazingly difficult to marry. Dave Draper’s perfect answer was as follows:
“The answer has something to do with the daunting struggle confronting the determined lifter who does not have the natural qualities to achieve a strong, shapely, and muscular physique.”
As I read and re-read his words over again, I found them to ring so loud and so true. After all, the journey you are on as a lifelong lifter is just that—a journey. There is no destination, merely stops along the way. Lifting, be it powerlifting, strongman, or bodybuilding, is absolutely, purely, and at its core about the struggle. The very thing a person tends to curse or even avoid is the very thing that makes the journey worthy of a lifetime of pursuit. It is the daunting struggle confronting the determined lifter that makes the little victories along the way so wondrous. It is the daunting struggle confronting the determined lifter that keeps us humble. It is the daunting struggle confronting the determined lifter that prepares for the unforeseen and unavoidable challenges that lurk ahead on our paths. It is the daunting struggle confronting the determined lifter that forces us to grow as athletes, as lifters, as part of this thing called humanity. It is the daunting struggle confronting the determined lifter that helps us to, brick by brick, rep by rep, set by set, work toward becoming better versions of ourselves and to lift up others along the way. The daunting struggle comes in different shades and textures. The struggle can be as benign as simply finding your way through a strength sport, or the struggle to balance work, family, spirituality, and the gym in such a way that none are compromised and all are fulfilled. The struggle can be as challenging as decades of intense training, competing, and recovering from inevitable injuries that often require surgical solutions. The struggle can be as monumental as training around or through life-changing illness or the loss of a loved one. The daunting struggle gives our time in the gym meaning, and it is the thing we rise to overcome, as this is a universal measurement. “If it were easy, everyone would aspire to greatness” is far too cliche` of an explanation, and it was created for those who have never embraced or perhaps endured true struggle. But for those who have, who truly have, they know that these words absolutely capture the essence of a lifetime, a lifetime with iron in your hands.
Embrace the daunting struggle that confronts you, you, the determined lifter. You’re a lifter who perhaps does not have the natural qualities to achieve your own personal greatness, but you realize that it is how you fight to surmount the insurmountable that defines you.
Ever onward.
What do I ask a man who built a physique back in 1965 and if he walked into any contemporary gym today in his Mr. America condition, every lifter in the place would stop to behold a build somehow created with nothing fancier than barbells, dumbbells, steak, eggs, and elbow grease?
There are always new programs, new training regimens, new supplements, and new pieces of equipment that promise to make a difference—that promise to give one lifter the advantage over the other come the day of the meet.
For you, as a serious powerlifter who has aspirations of achieving greatness in this amazing sport, the advent of a single technological implement just might be the one thing that delivers on all of the aforementioned promises. That device is the smartphone—specifically, the use of the smartphone during training.
Now I am not talking about using the smartphone to search the net for training information, nor am I talking about using it to track nutrition or to log your sleep data in conjunction with your continuous positive airway pressure machine or Fitbit. What I am talking about is religiously, virtually, and compulsively using the smartphone during training. I’m talking about physically checking the smartphone in between sets in the weight room as well as during each and every single set, every training session, throughout the duration of an entire training cycle, and even during the competition itself—inbetween attempts. The use of the smartphone in this way will be your greatest advantage over the other lifters who are training for your meet.
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Let me pause for a minute just to clarify something for you, as we don’t want anyone getting confused. When I say “religiously, virtually, and compulsively using the smartphone during training. I’m talking about physically checking the smartphone in between sets in the weight room as well as during each and every single set, every training session, throughout the duration of an entire training cycle, and even during the competition itself—in between attempts” as a way of gaining an advantage over the competition, the clarifying statement is that YOU are not the one using the smartphone in this manner. THEY are.
Let me back up for a moment. I came to a point of clarity some time ago as I pondered this technological pandemic. I came to the realization that the portion of the overall herd of powerlifters who are using their phones while training is not something that should be frustrating me. Rather, it should be making me smile that knowing smile—you know, the one you have only when you realize that you have just stumbled onto something you thought was a nuance but now realize was a gift in disguise.
As you are cut from the same cloth as other serious competitive powerlifters are, you often find yourself aggravated by the guy or gal checking his or her phone between each set. You catch him or her out of the corner of your eye as you reach for your water in between your sets. You observe this person, head down, shoulders hunched over, eyes transfixed on the device’s blue screen, the device clutched like a drug in an addict’s hands as though his or her thumbs are the only things being trained that day. You find yourself aggravated as you put in five sets to his or her one. This other person has lost his or her sense of time just like the guy texting in the car in front of you at the stop light. You know, that guy who is just sitting there even though the light turned green and the cars in the other lane are halfway down the road ahead. It aggravates you because you see the waste involved. You understand how our time in the gym is limited, finite, and precious. You couldn’t wait to come from work and get after it in the gym. Seeing the squandering of this gym time we hold with such value, with such great reverence, has become an agitation.
I now personally embrace this former nuance, as this wonderful distraction is serving to thin the powerlifting herd that desperately needs to be thinned. I’m talking about thinning a herd that was once 100 hardened veteran powerlifters at a meet, powerlifters steeped in years upon years of iron, chalk, and steel, those who trained at serious powerlifting gyms. Now that herd is at a meet of 200. Half of them are socialookatmedia keyboard warriors who spend more time setting up for their training selfies than setting up for their training squats. I’m talking about thinning a herd that was once lifters whose time in between sets was merely the amount of time it took for each of their partners to finish a set and reset the weights. Now that herd features lifters who spend 10 minutes between sets with their phones nestled between their hands, scrolling compulsively upward. I’m talking about thinning a herd that was once powerlifters who were keenly aware that you have only a few precious training hours a week. Now that herd features those who steal not only their own precious time on the phone but also their training partners’. They steal from their partners because instead of contributing their energy and positive engagement to the session, they contribute slumped-over backs as they bend and slouch to better see the screen of a pseudo world.
This thinning of the herd goes on at gym after gym after gym, whereas others from the prime stock of the herd train in the here and now. The serious lifter understands that every training day is a fleeting thing. A squandered day of training is something one can never get back, and a series of these by this distracted portion of the herd helps with the continued thinning.
So, the reality is, in fact, beautiful in its simplicity. Just as your father told you as a young man, “Don’t worry about the guy talking trash; worry about the guy standing in silence, the one who is not uttering a single solitary word,” I submit to you this: “Don’t worry about the lifter scrolling during training or the one who does more posting than training; worry instead about the lifters who are training in radio silence, because they are the ones who are getting ready to hunt you down and best your numbers come meet day.”
The smartphone is your greatest advantage in meet training because when you see your competition using it, it is like seeing him or her wave a big white flag of surrender. The phone is literally telling you that the phone is the priority over his or her training. And for those lifters who will get all in a lather about you saying this, telling you that “it is not a big deal” or that “this is how people train now” or that “this is the new school,” worry even less about them. The only thing better for you than seeing your competition using their phones during training is hearing your competition defend their usage of their phones during training. After all, justification and defensiveness are the universal calling cards for the inability to accept one's own unwanted shortcomings.
We could provide article after article at elitefts.com about the ever-growing mountain of evidence on how the use of smartphones during athletic training kills a training session. This includes a Princeton study on these devices as well as data on how the phone neurologically kills your fight-or-flight response during training, how these devices turn a connection of sets that were designed to crescendo into a final big set into mere individual and disconnected sets, how they destroy the brain’s ability to perceive time, and how a minute or two between sets becomes eight, nine, 10.... But the point of the article is not to enumerate what you already know, as you are already seeing this over and again. The point of the article is not to detail the nuanced research that has shown over and over and over again how the smartphone destroys athletic performance. The point is that because it is a scientifically proven fact that the device kills athletic training, the competitive herd around you is thinning, and you can take advantage of these non-threats as you continue to move in the opposite direction, continually stepping up your training each and every session.
Training device free is not old-school training, nor is it hard-core training. Training device free is plain and simple, training. In my wildest imagination, I can’t produce a mental picture of Dave Tate or Ed Coan or Captain Kirk or Ernie Frantz sitting around after a set in isolation, staring at their hands as their teammates trained around them. Or in the vernacular of those times, going over to the gym’s payphone, making a call, and having a short conversation in between each and every set while the rest of their partners trained together. As ridiculous as this sounds, that is precisely what is happening now, and you see it every training day at your gym.
I am dedicating this article to the lifters who have emailed me to put pen to paper, or rather hand to keyboard, about this very issue. These are athletes like yourself who train device free, who know the difference. You know the difference because you see the sheer disconnect that those using the phone can’t and, sadly, won’t. Free yourself of the wanting to again help them to see what they can’t, as you have already tried to do this, and good for you for trying, but enough is enough. There is nothing more important during your training time at the gym than the training, and that is both the mental and the physical aspect of it. That is the bottom line and always has been.
I submit to you that this is a new branch off the tree that is natural selection with regard to a competitive powerlifter. Not being able to adapt to this new technology within the powerlifting environment naturally selects those who can adapt. Those who can and have adapted move on and continue to survive and thrive in the world of competitive powerlifting. And there are those who can’t and won’t adapt, as they literally cannot put the outside world on hold, not even for that precious training time. Ultimately, those who “train” with the phone will never know how lost they truly are, nor will they ever know how they look to you and to the other serious lifters around them as they stare motionlessly and blank-faced into their cupped hands.
This is a new reality in our old sport. It is without a doubt an advantage for you and other serious powerlifters like you to exploit as you train for your meet. The herd is being thinned, and those being thinned out are unwittingly doing this to themselves. This is good for you and for the sport as a whole. As for the reason WHY this thinning is good, I leave you with the words of Heraclitus: “Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior,... And he will bring the others back.” - Heraclitus 500 BC
For you, as a serious powerlifter who has aspirations of achieving greatness in this amazing sport, the advent of a single technological implement just might be the one thing that delivers on all of the aforementioned promises.
The deadlift as a power movement is unapologetically unique, different, stubborn, and unyielding in its simple defiance. If it were a person, we would describe it as completely and totally obstinate as it sits there, stationary on the ground practically mocking the lifter. Personally, these are the aspects I love about this lift. The deadlift is the standout of the three powerlifting movements. It is unique compared to the other two main lifts for a few of critical reasons, four of those reasons being the following:
- As the movement begins, the loaded bar is stationary on the ground, motionless and void of energy. This is unlike the other two lifts where the lifter has the bar on their person, locked and rested into place as the movement begins.
- Deadlifters use a mixed grip, which you would not find with the bench or the squat.
- For the geared lifter, there is not the massive potential increase in weight lifted you find with the squat and bench press when juxtaposing an equipped lift with a raw lift.
- The grip requirement aspect of the lift itself is unique. People don’t bomb out in a meet because they couldn’t maintain their grip in the squat or bench press.
Let’s expand on these four reasons.
It begins stationary.
With regard to the first point, the squat begins with the lifter in a locked out position. If their setup is correct, the lifter can get himself or herself into perfect position "under the bar" for the movement, and from the first downward motion the lifter is building up kinetic energy as they near that point of reversing directions from a controlled downward movement into an explosive upward one. The same goes for the bench: the bar is allowed to be handed to the lifter perfectly as they hold that bar perfectly in place (assuming their setup is correct). As is the case for the squat, from the first downward motion the lifter is building up kinetic energy as they near that point of reversing directions from a controlled downward movement into an explosive upward one.
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This is especially true for the equipped lifter, as the energy is building during these two lifts. With the deadlift, this is simply not the case. Think about it this way: if you can press 400 pounds raw, picture that in your mind’s eye. Your training partner lifts off to you, you hold the bar for a moment as the weights settle, you bring the bar down to your chest in a controlled fashion, legs tight, shoulders in tight, then when the bar touches your chest you transfer that building energy and drive that bar up, in essence, with your entire body force. So, with that in your mind, let’s go through that same mental exercise in a different way. 400 pounds is loaded on the bar, but this time you are laying on the bench and two side spotters hand that 400 pounds bar all the way down to your chest. The bar is sitting there on your chest, motionless. The maximum amount of weight you can press is just sheer weight lying there. Now, imagine yourself trying to tighten up and then having to press that weight from a dead start.
Once you go through a mental exercise like this you start to see the energy that the downward motion serves you when it comes time to shift direction and press that bar up. A max effort deadlift has none of that energy built up — in fact, there is none until you get to reps off the floor, but we will cover that in a bit.
Lifters use a mixed grip.
With regard to the second point, most lifters have a mixed grip, which you would not find with the bench or the squat. There are benchers who have unique grips. Those who have been around the block for a good while remember the late great Anthony Clark. Anthony was a super heavyweight powerlifter with an 1,100-pound single-ply squat, 771-pound deadlift, and an 805-pound shirted bench press. 805 pounds in the bench is a great bench today, but in 1997 when Anthony pressed 805 pounds, the shirts were nothing like they are now. What made his bench so unique was that he used a reverse grip — reverse grip meaning palms facing inward when he benched, like you would grip a barbell for performing barbell curls, palms in. That said, the unique bench reverse grip is still a grip where the hands are both facing the same direction, and when squatting the hands also face the same direction.
Only with the deadlift (hook grip aside) do we have a pronated hand and a supinated hand. The mixed grip causes issues down the road that newer lifters would not yet be aware of, as their weights are not heavy enough to see these future issues. The deadlift’s unique mixed grip causes the exposure of the supinated hand’s biceps tendon, which over time and with enough weight puts that biceps tendon against massive, massive stress and strain to hold together. While supinated, the weight that the entire back and legs have leveraged off the ground is also on that exposed biceps tendon. You can see hints of tendon ruptures to come when the deadlifter starts to windmill a little bit when they pull. Their trunk twists sideways just a few inches or you start to see the shoulder, at lockout, of the supinated hand start to dip an inch or so below the shoulder of the hand with the pronated grip. The other two lifts don’t have this additional obstacle and weak point built into them. In this aspect, like with the first point, the deadlift stands alone.
Gear carryover is less.
With regard to the third point, the deadlift has more uniqueness for the geared lifter. Bottom line: without the aspect of the build up of kinetic energy, there is simply not the massive transfer in weight lifted you find with the squat and bench press. Geared meets in the 1990s, much like raw meets today, often came down to the deadlift. With gear being what it is, an average deadlifter who is a strong bencher can more than make up the weight needed to compensate for a subpar pull with a huge increase in weight they gain with a shirted press. This has changed the dynamics of the game’s strategy quite a bit in favor of the benchers who can also squat, versus the pullers who can also squat. Put another way, some benchers can press up to and more than 200 pounds from a bench shirt, and that is simply not going to happen in the deadlift. This is why some of the biggest pulls in the history of the sport are still raw deadlifts, where as many of the all-time best raw benches from a couple decades ago are within pounds of the current raw all-time records, but shirted all-time records are literally hundreds of pounds over what they were fewer than 20 years ago. This is just a fact, and elite deadlifters need to plan for it in their training.
A strong grip is required.
With regard to the fourth point, unlike the bench press and squat, ultra heavy deadlifts require an exceptionally powerful grip, because having the power to pull 700 to 800 pounds off the floor is useless if at the meet you can’t hold that much weight in your hands long enough for the lockout call. Do you need a good grip for benching and squatting? Absolutely. But squatters don’t bomb and benchers don’t bomb because they lose their grip; that alone is a challenge for heavy deadlifts.
3 Critical Deadlift Lessons Most Lifters Never Learn
So, all that said, with regard to the three critical deadlift lessons most will never apply, this brings us to lesson number one. And let us preface this with saying that perhaps you are that lifter that will implement these lessons already. If that is the case, you are light-years ahead of the game. The vast majority simply will not implement these lessons, because they fall outside of the standard programs, technique talking points, and are flat out challenging to consistently implement.
1. Hook Grip
This directly relates to points two and four. Hook grip not only negates the issues with grip strength; it also protects the biceps tendon, stops the windmilling, squares up the shoulders with both hands in the same pronated direction, and to a degree lessons the distance to the floor. Here in lies the question, “If the hook grip is all that and a bag of chips, why wouldn’t every powerlifter use it?” That simple question deserves a simple answer: because the hook grip is pretty much horrific. Forget about how hardcore you think you are. The vast majority of powerlifters who try the hook grip can’t get through a single training session without throwing in the towel and going back to business as usual — and that is the business of exposing their biceps tendon, windmilling, being asymmetrical in the shoulders due to the mixed grip, and being slave to only pulling what they can keep in their grasp.
Some lifters will talk about small hands as a reason not to hook. That does make this difficult grip a little more challenging, but the good news is that all one needs to do is look at the tiny women’s Olympic lifters who hook grip to see that hand size is not an excluding factor. Others will talk about the aggressive knurling on a good deadlift bar. Look at a real powerlifter's hands. Those huge calluses will develop in time on the side of the thumb as well.
Most of the lifters I encounter fall into two categories with the hook grip. Category one is they are not doing the hook grip correctly — and the only thing that hurts more than a hook grip is an incorrectly applied hook grip. The second category is they just hook properly but the pain is excruciating, thus they don’t stick with it. I can tell you from experience that the first time you hook grip it hurts, but unfortunately the 100th time you hook grip it still hurts. You need to wait for calluses to develop and you need to understand that the hook is in large part about squeezing tighter than you ever have squeezed before. As counterintuitive as it sounds, the more you squeeze your thumb into the barbell, the less that barbell will crush your thumb once the weights come off the floor. I have put a great deal of information on how to hook grip in the article linked below for you to read. Like I said at the onset, this article is about critical deadlift lessons that 99% of the readers looking for a bigger pull will never apply, as effective lessons are not always easy nor convenient. But I am putting this out there because you might be that one percent. Here is the link to the hook grip information I am referring to. It is worth the read if you are serious about your deadlift.
2. Controlling the Descent
Loads of readers will not heed the hook grip advice because it is pretty brutal. This lesson will also not be heeded, but not because it is difficult. It will not be heeded because of ego. In the world of socia-look-at-me-dia, sounding strong often takes a front seat to actually being strong. If I had a dollar for every sub-par deadlifter I have seen throwing down the deadlift after they lock it out at the top, I would be the richest powerlifter in history. I can tell you, having come up in this great sport since my first meet in 1989, that this slamming and dropping the deadlift bar down on to the platform is a new thing in an old sport. I have been blessed and absolutely favored to have trained for decades alongside of the some of the best pullers in history and they would all place that bar down on the platform virtually in silence. They understood that the descent—a controlled downward motion—is a critical key to an explosive pull off the floor.
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I can’t imagine a bencher only training half of the movement or a squatter squatting down, only to dump the weight off their shoulder in celebration prior to driving the weight back up. Yet this is what we see: serious lifters literally blowing off half of the movement. I suppose if you can’t be strong you need to sound strong, and thus hear the weight crash to the floor. But that is not really the sound of strength; it is the sound of half of the movement being wasted because the lifter was about show and not about go. I recall many a deadlift session at Frantz Gym (a legendary powerlifting gym that is no more), which was home to an inordinate number of 800-pound pullers. The work they put on the eccentric—the down portion of their deadlift alone—would make these modern day weight-slammers break in half.
So lesson two is to set the deadlift down, control that weight, keeping your head up on the way down as to keep your shoulders and chest from pitching forward. To this end, the nuts and bolts to this lesson I have also put together for you in a link here as well. So again, the 99%, will keep on slamming their way to a below average pull. But for you, the one percent, if you are not currently implementing this lesson, it will make a huge difference in your ability to pull more than you have ever pulled in your lifting career. I have decades of real-life data having trained with guys and gals who have silently placed the bar back down on the platform, rep after powerful rep, backing this up. Bottom line is that those with a huge deadlift place the bar down. Those who don’t, slam. Here is a full link of information on this for you. As stated earlier, it is worth the read if you are serious about your deadlift.
3. Step-Back Reps vs. Stationary Reps
When we squat and bench press, we take that moment at the top, re-stabilize, then take the next rep. As we have discussed, the deadlift is a different powerlifting animal than either of these lifts. There is no re-stabilizing needed, so we see reps that look like this: the weight is pulled up, the weight hits the platform, and with that little momentum from the platform the weight is yanked back up and the cycle repeats.
This issue we get into here is that when we re-stabilize on the squat and bench press, we are back in position for a single lift like at the meet. So in those two lifts (squat and bench press) a set of five reps is really a collection of five singles. With the deadlift, however, because there is no need to re-stabilize, the reps are just that: reps. A set of five deadlift reps is not a collection of five singles, but is not really five deadlift reps either. It is a single in-position deadlift followed by four reps where the body is no longer in single-lift posture, thus the deadlifter is using momentum and is also not pulling from the meet start position. Looking back at point three with regard to gear, this comes into play even more so, as you can be out of position and still pull back against the suit straps to get the bar up.
For building a big back, deadlift reps without a reset are outstanding, but for building a big deadlift, doing step-back reps are a must. Like with the hook grip question, you may ask, “If step-back reps are the best, why isn’t everyone doing them?” From my experience over the decades, I can tell you that lifters can’t see the bigger picture of taking that step backward in pounds and weight as an investment in lifting bigger weights in their future. A lifter who is used to training with the traditional rapid-fire reps with 500 pounds for five reps now suddenly has a good deal of trouble with their familiar 500 pounds loaded on the bar as they try their step-back reps. What they find is with each of the five reps having a step-back and re-approach to the bar, they have eliminated momentum and now they can only get three reps with 500 pounds, so they need to lower that training weight.
They have a disconnect with the fact that step-back reps are far more difficult, as the momentum—which will not be there when you compete—is gone. They are caught up in the training weight for reps, not the greater amount of weight they will be able to lift for a single attempt at the meet. This is a little like those beginner benchers who bounce the weight off of their chest each rep. Step-back reps are more difficult, so even the lesser weight still feels heavy, which again is why the 99% who do the traditional reps will not heed this lesson. But the one percent who does will take that reduction in weight, put their ego in the dresser drawer where it belongs, and come meet day they will see the fruits of their weight room labor. As with the prior two lessons, I am including a more extensive train of thought on this aspect for you to dig into as well. Here is that link.
As we stated at the onset, the deadlift as a power movement is unapologetically different, unique, stubborn, and unyielding in its simple defiance. If it were a person, we would describe it as completely and totally obstinate as it sits there, stationary on the ground practically mocking the lifter. Because of this uniqueness to the deadlift, these three critical deadlift lessons I am sharing with you are not simple ones, as if they were, most powerlifters would already be implementing them. These three challenge us in many ways, not least of which is the challenge to our ego.
- The hook grip makes you feel like a newbie lifter, as it truly will humble you with even as little as 315 pounds on the bar.
- Controlling the descent means you will have to impress with the work ethic of the lighter weight, not with theatrics, and that can be tough for powerlifters whose egos are fragile.
- Step-back reps initially means having to use less weight to get in the same amount of reps. That requires us to step back from our ego and use our ability to see long-term and perspective as less weight can incorrectly make you feel like you are losing ground.
The game of powerlifting is and always will be a choice of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. My two cents is to choose the pain of discipline with regard to these three lessons. Apply them now and endure—even welcome—with open arms the pain of discipline. I maintain that this pain will pale in comparison to the pain of regret from looking back two years from now at a deadlift that has not moved forward, or worse, has gotten weaker. You can never get those two years back, and in a body-violent sport such as powerlifting when a major injury is always just a rep away, each year of training is a precious and sacred thing. Embrace the challenge, welcome the discipline, engage in these three lessons, and reap the rewards.
The game of powerlifting is and always will be a choice of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. These lessons challenge us in many ways, not least of which is the challenge to our ego. Will you follow them?
The land of powerlifting is strewn with landmines, and the number of things for novice lifters to avoid is practically endless. There are the obvious things: don’t program hop, don’t sacrifice technique for weight, don’t do a weight cut for a first meet, don’t open with your max weight, and the list goes on and on. However, what we are talking about in this article are the more philosophical things to consider when navigating the world of powerlifting as a newer lifter. Some aspects require deeper thought and reflection and are more nebulous in nature, as powerlifting is far more than its essential sets and reps. As you read, keep in mind that your future in this sport deserves to be worked on not only at the gym and with your physical strength and power, but outside of the weight room as well, with your mental focus and contemplation.
RECENT: Dusting Off the Past to Answer Questions for the Present
Allow me to digress for a moment. Outside of my life in the powerlifting world, my “real world” job is assistant principal. As such, I work closely and on a daily basis with teachers, staff, and other administrators. The high school environment in which I work is one where every four years there is a complete turnover in the young people you are working with. The students come in as 14-year-old freshmen and graduate as 18-year-old seniors. In essence, you have a small and finite window of time and opportunity to work with these young people to help provide them with the tools for future success. As the assistant principal, my work is often with those students who have issues and challenges to overcome in addition to their curricular work. As I work with them, although there are many unique situations and circumstances, there are definitely patterns and mistake-loops you see them fall into, and I along with their deans work to help them get past and grow from mistakes. Additionally, we spend a large amount of time and energy working to make sure that they avoid many familiar mistakes altogether on the front side.
With regard to my life away from the world of education, I have been a powerlifter since my first competition in 1989, as well as a powerlifting gym owner for a good chunk of years. I see many parallels between the two worlds of education and powerlifting. The parallels are strikingly similar in many aspects. As you observe the maturation process during those four years of high school (freshmen evolving into seniors), you likewise see a parallel change-cycle with a new powerlifter during their first four years in the game.
In powerlifting as in education, the names change and the faces too, but the change-cycle is eerily the same, lifter after lifter, generation after generation. In the world of education, trying to avoid the mistakes that can either slow your progress, or worse, derail you entirely, is critical. For the powerlifter, this is also true. Simple mistakes one can typically recover from, and in some cases those mistakes are great learning tools. Bigger mistakes, however, can be the end of what otherwise could have been a great powerlifting career and journey.
That all as context, here are some mistakes outside of the gym to pre-identify and avoid as you begin your powerlifting journey. With that said about a journey, let us begin.
1. It Is a Journey, Not a Destination
Powerlifting is a sport, and no doubt a glorious one at that. But it is so much more than just a sport, and cannot simply be contained by that label alone. To the serious powerlifter, the lifelong powerlifter, powerlifting is a lifestyle. It is a calling, and for many, it is something that we can’t imagine living without. That said, powerlifting is not about a start and an end. It is not about the first barbell you pick up and the last barbell you ever lay down. Powerlifting is about the times between those days. It is and has always been about the journey.
Powerlifting is a metaphor for life. Failure to know, understand, accept, and embrace this ultimate truth is the first mistake you can make even before picking up that first barbell. As I mentioned earlier, from my lens as both a powerlifter and an educator in a high school, the powerlifting journey is not unlike your high school journey. You don’t think back to your days in high school merely as “I got on the bus as a freshman and then I tossed my mortar board in the air at graduation four years later.” Rather, as you reflect back on that time in your life, you get that global perspective and look at the change and growth you went through during that span of some 1,460 days. You grew from the 14-year-old freshman who didn’t even know where the bathrooms were, to the senior who knows every square foot of that high school, knows virtually every student and teacher in that building, and is ready and prepared to leave home for the world of college, military, trade school, or work force. If your high school senior self was approached by your freshman self, the senior version of you would be shocked at how little you knew and how naive you were a mere four years prior.
Likewise in powerlifting, the difference between the first time you walk into a powerlifting gym and your eighth meet as a lifter with four years of training and experience, there is a stark difference. Until you reach that point, one must have faith that powerlifting is not about the destination but the journey. Powerlifting is not all about one meet, one squat, one program, or even one year of training. It is about the journey that, if you do things right, will last you decades. Failure to see the longer-term journey will cause you to make mistakes like putting too much emphasis on one given meet. Seeing powerlifting as a destination is shortsighted, but knowing that one meet builds to the next meet and to the next and to the next, crescendo-ing slowly into a better and more powerful version of yourself, will yield you greater success in the long run.
2. Knowing Why
Keeping in mind the prior concept of the journey, knowing the "why" behind your powerlifting journey is something to think about as you embark on this path. There are many things we do in life, because our life can be among many, many things, a collection of activities. But within those activities, we have major or primary things we do. Our career is one of these things. In your mind’s eye, you can think of people who adore their career. They look forward to getting up each and every morning so they can begin their workday in a career they love. We also know people who live for the weekends, and they do so because they don’t look forward to their career or even dread their job. They are going through the motions, sometimes because they need the money (sometimes you have to do what you have to do) but sometimes simply because they didn’t choose a career and instead just ended up with some job. When applying for a job, the job they now abhor, they never asked the "why" question, so they just ended up in this place.
As a novice to this sport, know why you are powerlifting. If you are powerlifting based merely on the fact that your buddies compete in powerlifting, great. However, if your "why" is to win championships and break records, be aware of what that takes. Being successful in powerlifting with regard to wins, records, and the like takes hard, hard work and sacrifice. It takes knowing the sport, creating a vision, and carrying out that vision to fruition. For those who love powerlifting, they love going to the gym the same as the person who loves their career loves getting to work. If you don’t love powerlifting but are expecting success, powerlifting will merely be another unfulfilling job that you find yourself just going through the motions of. I can tell you from firsthand observations, those in this sport who are competing for their boyfriends, for example, or for other external reasons, powerlifting quickly becomes an undesirable job, a drudgery, and not the fantastic journey it is for those who love of the sport.
Going back to our high school parallels again, it is not unlike the students preparing for life beyond high school. You can end up in an unfulfilling job if your "why" was not part of a clear vision. Or you can find a fulfilling and successful career because you not only knew the "why" but you also took the appropriate steps to attain your goals. Whether you are doing the sport to be an all-time great or doing so because you want to fill out your clothes with some bulk, neither is right or wrong. But be honest about why you are doing this or the outcome of your efforts will never match the work it takes to get the outcome you are striving for.
3. Training for Go, Not Merely for Show
If a powerlifter is all about the journey—if the answer to the "why" is for the love of the sport—that lifter will most likely avoid the trap of being about the superficial show rather than the grit and sweat-stained go. Picture in your mind’s eye the great Ed Coan or the legendary Ernie Frantz. (As a novice lifter, you might not know these names, so hit the pause button, do a Google search, and come back to this point in this article.) Think of the decades these two great powerlifters had in the sport of powerlifting. Now think of all of their records and victories. It is truly impressive if you really stop to think about it. Now, ponder this: Each workout for these legendary powerlifters was well-planned, well-executed, and the training was comprised of total concentration, with a work ethic that was second to none. Now string together days of training to comprise one single legendary training week. Compound those weeks into months and those grueling months into a single year. Take that brutal year of training and re-create that over and over and over again to create an unheard of decade of inspired training. Then if you can somehow imagine, take that decade comprised of days upon months upon years and duplicate that for another couple of decades. It is truly mind-boggling.
These training sessions actually happened, one after another, day after day, for years and decades. These powerlifters were about go. They trained not for people to praise them, but because they were about the journey, they knew their "why" was to be the best and strongest and most powerful and victorious version of themselves. We know these sessions happened because the proof is found in their legacy of numbers and championships and longevity. They were about the go, not the show. The trap of the show is what you most likely see on your socia-look-at-me-dia each day. You see lifters not training for the go, for the meet, for the journey, or for the eventual body of work they will have put into their decades on the platform. What instead you see is their social media posts they crave or require (or whatever other needy, low-self esteem term you can conjure up). Their training is about “look-at-me, pay-attention-to-me, notice-me.”
MORE: Observations of Beginner Powerlifting Mistakes
The serious powerlifters throughout the history of the sport trained basically in secrecy. They did not want their competition to know what they were doing, the strength they were gaining, or what meet they were training for. These were lifters on a mission, with a vision in their mind and a plan in hand that they were executing and putting into action every training session. Stop and reflect on the lifters you see posting their every workout. Why do you suppose they feel the need to do so? Truth be told, you don’t have to ponder long nor hard. You know the answer. Those with the numbers win; those without the numbers post. Let's go back to the "why" for a minute. If you are finding yourself compelled to constantly post aspects of your training, stop and ask yourself, “Why is that?” If you are in the sport for the journey, for your own self, for your own personal strength and power development, why the need for affirmation? Avoid the show and live the powerlifting lifestyle for the go.
4. Cliché vs. Hardcore
Common sense says that if someone continues to say things of little or of zero value, eventually no one will listen to them. Likewise, if they have to say it loudly, they probably don’t have much to say, as if they did, they could whisper and others would lower they voices to be able to hear them. That said, there are a lot of folks you will come across in this sport who are constantly telling you how hardcore they are. First of all, if someone has to inform you that they are hardcore, well, that is your first warning sign that they are anything but that. Ask yourself if they are hardcore because they are loud, if they are hardcore because they use shocking and colorful language, or if they are hardcore because they put others down. For those on the true path, the journey of powerlifting, they know that none of these three things matter when it comes to the meet. And like the constant posting of lifts and those who show instead of go, powerlifters that can put up a great total are the ones who are hardcore, because they put in the real training to get there. Those who have to be loud, who need that socia-look-at-me-dia acclaim, and those who find fault in others, are powerlifting’s punchline. They are a dime a dozen, yet they can’t even see it.
Hardcore as a term has become just as cliché as those lifters who say they are “going to war” when they are headed to a meet. I highly doubt someone with a career in the military who spent time in actual combat would equate driving in their air-conditioned SUV to a meet, going one-for-three in the squat, then driving to Subway, eating two foot-long meatball subs, driving back to the meet venue, warming up, benching, settling for an opener, then pulling maybe two-for-three on the deadlift with “going to war.” So be aware that those who are really hardcore won't be heard talking loudly, nor be heard casting aspersions on others. Nor will they have to use colorful language to get their point to be heard.
You won’t hear the pseudo-hardcore talking about these mental aspects of the game either. If they understood them, they wouldn’t have to be loud and boisterous in the first place. Try always to go back to item number one: if you are about the journey—truly about the journey—then you are going to lift others up along the way. True strength and power comes from giving and sharing, not putting down or taking. Give a listen sometime to the GOAT, Ed Coan. Not a bad word spoken about anyone. Leave the negativity and egocentrism to the powerlifting perpetrators and keyboard cowards. Maintain your focus on the journey.
5. Know Your History
It is in our nature to look to the future for the answers, but sometimes the questions have been answered in the past. I have written on this very point recently. Rather than edit down this important information at the risk of making this article too lengthy, I will leave this link below. The article's link contains exactly what I am talking about. If you have read along this far with me and are getting something from this article, come with me a little further and read this article, as there is no future miracle pill nor future answer to age-old questions. Truth be told, these questions have already been answered ad nauseam, people just don’t like the answers. Read that article now and I will meet you back here for the closing of this article.
As I stated at the onset, the reality is that the land of powerlifting is strewn with landmines, and the number of things to avoid for novice lifters is practically endless. There is much more to successful powerlifting than the essential sets and reps. If the sets and reps are the bricks with which you build your strength and power, the mindset and philosophical checklist you use to make sure you are on the right path during this journey is your mortar.
As a novice to the sport of powerlifting, don’t just go through the physical motions. Engage in the larger thought process as well. Look back and reflect on these five points to consider. The cycle of powerlifting is repetitive for those in their first four years. Those with many successful years and decades under the bar witness the new lifters fall into these five pitfalls over and over. Sometimes they are derailed for a time and get back on track, but other times they get caught up in believing they already know everything and stop learning. Like the high school student, you want to not only evolve physically but also mentally during your initial four years in this sport. The mental aspect of this sport is undervalued by most. Don’t make the mistake of chalking 100% of lifting success to the physical or you will be selling yourself short.
Your future in this sport deserves to be worked on not only at the gym and with your physical strength and power, but outside of the weight room as well, with your mental focus and contemplation.
The world is as technologically advanced as it has ever been. Knowledge that took a century to double in size back in the 1900’s now doubles every 13 months and data models suggest it will soon double every 12 hours. As this occurs, medical breakthroughs, for example, seem to be a routine part of your daily news feed. The individual needs to look no further than the phone in their hand to personally feel this technological impact. For perspective's sake, that smartphone is roughly a million times more powerful than the computer that landed a man on the moon.
As a species, we appreciate, bask, savor, utilize, enjoy, overuse, abuse, squander, and take for granted all of this wonder that the 0.0001% who invent things have created for the other 99.9999% who use those innovations. It is often human nature to look for the fix, the cure, and the answers to our inquiries, our wants, our desires, our longings, and our destiny. We seek these solutions in that Holy Grail of places for such answers — that place being the future. After all, the future will cure our frailties, give us the answers, provide us the shortcuts, and supply us with the tools to attain what we want, desire, long for, and dream of. Right?
In our world of iron, chalk, and weight, the tendency too is to seek the future for our wants and needs of the now. It seems logical that the answers to the questions would be wrapped up in the gifts that the future brings. When it comes to unraveling and unlocking the mysteries of the present, the future seems as promising as any other place to look. After all, polio (poliomyelitis) struck fear in the hearts of mankind. In 1952 alone, polio infected some 60,000 children in the US, and then in the future, in 1955 Jonas Salk’s vaccine for polio was being administered, eliminating this menace in America by 1979. Once the atom was a mystery to be solved, then in the future, through Ernest Rutherford’s work the atom was split in the summer of 1945, thus giving birth to the atomic age. There surely is a sub-text here that saving people from disease comes a decade after testing the first atomic bomb (but that is a story for another time). There is often hope—or dare it be said faith—that "the future" is the timeframe where many problems and questions of humanity will be solved.
That all said, sometimes the questions have already been asked, pondered, explored, researched and answered. But as a civilization, it can be the case that we might not like the answer, we might ignore the answer, or we might feel there is a better answer than the current answer. My friend and powerlifter Tatum Susberry from Monster Garage Gym is a lifting buddy of mine. As students of the history of the world of strength and power and muscle, he and I often simultaneously read two different books, then swap and read what the other read, comparing notes along the way. (Our current book swap is two books by Dave Draper, 1965 Mr. America and 1966 Mr. Universe. At 75 years old and with a lifetime of insight into the world of weight, he provides an amazing perspective). Recently Tatum brought in a 40-year-old issue of Iron Man magazine. Specifically, he brought in the January, 1978, Volume 37, Number 2 issue of Iron Man, with Chet Yorton on the cover.
Photo: Chet Yorton on the cover of Iron Man magazine, January, 1978, vol. 37, no. 2.
When someone says “Iron Man,” non-lifters might think of Iron Man the movie, or others may envision the Black Sabbath jam off the 1970 Paranoid album. For folks like you in the iron game, Iron Man congers up images of contemporary lifters, but for those in the power game who are longer in the tooth, Iron Man congers up images going back deep into the golden era of bodybuilding and well prior to that. Iron Man is the oldest fitness oriented magazine in America, founded back in 1936. Prior to its 1986 sale to another owner (when its focus became more hardcore fitness), Iron Man was nearly equal parts power, muscle building, training, nutrition, and supplementation.
Photo: (Left) Powerlifter Tatum Susberry of the Monster Garage Gym, and (Right) GOAT, Ed Coan, post-training at Quads Gym.
As I sat around at the gym post-training sipping on a protein shake and writing in my training log, I began to thumb through this little gem that Tatum left for me to explore. I first flipped through the pages, then started to actually explore the issue. As I looked through the issue, I played a little mental game with myself. I imagined that it was not today after a training session at Monster Garage Gym, but that it was in fact 1978 and I was finishing up a training session at a similar non-corporate gym (which was much more the case back then). As I let my imagination transport me back in time, I started to peruse the magazine. Although the prices of the products in the ads were much less expansive, there were, in fact, the ads: ads for gym equipment, ads for training programs, and ads for food supplements. Then I began to read the table of contents to see what I was in store for reading-wise.
Photo: Table of contents, Iron Man magazine, January, 1978, vol. 37, no. 2.
I sat there in the gym lobby, drinking my shake, beginning to read through this issue from 40 years ago. It took me back in my mind to the 1990’s when I would do the same exact thing, but the shake wasn’t whey (it was egg), the magazine was Powerlifting USA, and the gym was Frantz Gym (a legendary gym, which is no more). But the more I reflected, it took me back to any given day after working out in the 1980’s as a teenager, reading from any of the bodybuilding magazines strewn all over the gym’s three-legged coffee table and spilling onto the floor. That shake was milk and egg and the gym was Drew’s Gym (another amazing gym from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s that exists now only in memory).
So while having these mini-flashback moments, I began to read from the contents — articles about training philosophy, articles about food supplements, training routines, moderate versus heavy training, nutrition, world lifting champions, bulking exercises, and more nutrition and training articles. As I sipped my shake and I finished the table of contents, I began to read the articles one by one. The magazine itself contains fewer than 60 pages of content, although I swear the font must be a size six or eight to help keep pages few and the costs down.
The more I read, the more those mini-flashbacks and feelings of deja vu began to occur. Although I had never read this issue before, the reality is that what was being covered in this 1978 Iron Man — or the muscle magazines of the 1980’s or Powerlifting USA’s of the 1990’s or anything from today—has the same hidden message. That message is that individual physical improvement, individual muscular improvement, and individual strength improvement is just that: individual. Training programs of successful lifters have been published since Iron Man began over 82 years ago, as have food supplement articles, training principal articles, inspirational articles, and the like. As I mentioned in the onset, it is often human nature to look for the fix, the cure, and the answers to our inquiries, our wants, our desires, our longings, and our destiny. We seek these solutions in that Holy Grail of places for such answers — that place being the future. After all, the future will cure our frailties, give us the answers, provide us the shortcuts, and supply us with the tools to attain what we want, desire, long for, and dream of. Right?
The more I ponder this thought, the more I feel that the answers for competitive lifters are not waiting to be discovered in the future, but have already been answered time and time and time again. Those answers are not found by gazing at the computer screen of the future, but wiping the dust from the written pages of the past. Those universally sought answers might not be found due to some scientific breakthrough. Sometimes the answers are simple and have been hiding in plain sight all along. The answers are often our basic intrinsic tools, and when applied can lead to the success of gene splicing, as well as a bigger deadlift. Those essential and basic and omnipresent tools are used by some and negated by others. These are tools like hard, hard, hard work in the gym — an extra rep when there is nothing left in the tank, channeling a burning desire to win into an action plan to achieve that win, a ultra-focused vision, and a relentless resolve to achieve that mission.
If the training programs written about from the 1936 issue are what caused the lifter writing about the program to be the best, why weren’t all the lifters using that same 1936 program all champions as well? Could it be that it is not really their secret program, but rather what makes a champion is their hard, hard, hard work, their determination, and their never-say-die unrelenting commitment to their training? Dave Draper in his books talks about how there is in fact nothing new. This is from someone who put up numbers in the 1960’s that most raw lifters today would kill for, and who had a build that most today will never achieve. So is a modern program a solution, or is the vintage trait of nose-to-the-grindstone the secret that is sitting there in plain sight?
Many want easy answers, and easy answers are a dime a dozen. Do this plan, take this supplement, use this exercise, buy this program, pay me for this method. Not a lot of lifters can put up the weights that Ernie Frantz did back in the 70s and 80s, and Arnold created an unreal build that transcends time with little more than free weights and a few pulley machines. Why was Ernie Frantz (who incidentally was featured in this 1978 issue) a force back then, and at over 80 years old is still someone who can crack open your mind and fill it with priceless insight to this day? The answer could be that some just do. Some just conquer. Some just create their mission, and with undeterred and unrelenting drive and determination pursue a goal and grab it by the throat until they dominate that goal and then move onto the next.
Photo: Powerlifting legend, Ernie Frantz in the pages of Iron Man magazine, January, 1978, vol. 37, no. 2.
I submit that for individual excellence in the iron game—be it powerlifting, bodybuilding, or strongman—the secrets are not discovered in the technological advances of the future, but are located in the words of those who were successful in the past. What made the individual successful is not the secret training program, but what he, she, or they did with that program during their time in the gym. Those individuals placed a high value and did not compromise when it came to their work ethic, their vision, their focus, their determination, their nutrition, their sleep, their rest, their recovery, their food supplements, their sets and reps, or their short-term and long-term goals. They did not waiver in their ability to foresee themselves as successfully achieving what they set out to, and doing what was required to bring their vision to fruition.
Technological advancements are good. A safer barbell, a well-built and safer power rack, and a machine for this or that to work around injury or isolate a muscle group are all good things. But the bar alone, the machine alone, the food supplement alone, the numbers on a training program alone are not secret answers. The secret ingredient is the fortitude of the individual, as it is the individual efforts alone that serve to create their own success. There are sheep and there are shepherds. There always have been, there always will be. Just like there are those who program hop and who spend thousands of dollars a year having high priced "trainers" construct programs for them, there are those who train hard—very hard—and smart, and who heed their technique and focus on their goals and the intrinsic qualities we all possess to varying degrees. The secret is that one must call on those intrinsic qualities that all the champions of the past and present have not just called upon but have applied with consistency, determination, grit, and an unrelenting drive to reach that pinnacle of desired success. Those intrinsic qualities when applied without compromise are the unequivocal forces behind success. As they are intrinsic, this can give the illusion that it is that lifter’s program, sleep pattern, routine, or food regimen that is somehow the secret to their success.
It is much easier for the onlooker to see a program or exercise than it is for them to see indomitable spirit, an iron will, or an internal passion and fire to move ever onward, regardless of what obstacles might be in their path. As the intrinsic is not as obvious to see as the physical, following that individual’s physical pattern, imitating their routine, wearing the same type of squat shoes, or using the same supplements are the illusions many think will somehow transform them into the same successful lifter whose visible traits they are trying to emulate.
With this new and refined lens, look back at the champions through time, over the span of more than years and decades and instead through the eras of the strength world. Develop the ability to utilize that lens to see beyond their program, routine, and exercises, and instead peer keenly into their nature, their drive, and their ability to create a vision and carry it through to a successful end. To a degree, all lifters have these intrinsic abilities, traits, and characteristics. It is a wise investment of time and energy to fully and completely develop these inner-invisible abilities, as they will serve you exponentially once applied to that given external program, routine, exercise, etc. It is forging the successful combination of intrinsic and the external that will make all the difference.
There is often hope that the future is the timeframe where many problems and questions of humanity will be solved. But sometimes the questions have already been asked, pondered, explored, researched and answered.
This is not about a hashtag. It is not about a social media post. This is not a statement about a president, nor a view that is pro or anti [place your firearm views here]. It is not about a social movement, a cause, a charity, or a political affiliation. This is not an attempt to talk louder than another’s voice, or an attempt to convince a person, people, or group of a given viewpoint. It is not about a conspiracy theory. It is not about Americans or Russians or Martians. It is not about who is right, or who is wrong, or that the truth might actually lie somewhere in the middle. It is not about anything deep or of grand social or philosophical gravitas. It is not about a time period in history or some amazing medical breakthrough or a radical social change agent. It is not about someone with a hallowed epiphany, nor someone too obtuse to notice anything at all. It is not about saying too much and being thought of as verbose or saying very little and being viewed as vapid. It is not about presenting the most lofty and grand of ideas nor juxtaposing them with something anyone can conceive, believe, or achieve.
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It is about the most essential, basic, simple thing. A thing that, for some with the right makeup, can manifest as lifelong passion, or a companion, or a soulmate, or sometimes a nemesis. It is about the most simple of tasks that can prove to be the most challenging of pursuits. It is about merely moving something from Point A to Point B. It is about hardly being able to move something from Point A to Point B. It is about failing from time to time to move something from Point A to Point B. It is about a lifelong pursuit to move something from Point A to Point B, but never succeeding.
For some, it is a chore. For some, it is a challenge. For some, it is a calling. For some, it is the key that unlocks the fabric of the entire universe. It is and is not a belief. It is and is not a spiritual experience. It is and is not the beauty in the eye of the beholder. It is one thing to one person and a totally different thing to another person. All one knows is what it has been for them. All one knows is what it does for them, and although others have their reality, an individual's reality is unique to them and no other person will share that same exact relationship.
How dare someone postulate what lifting weights means to you? How dare you presuppose what lifting weights is to someone else? And that is simply how that goes. For me, lifting weights is a symbiosis, although the reality is that the weights get nothing from me whatsoever. Anthropomorphically speaking, lifting weights has been the friend that has always been there and has always told me the truth, every single time. The weights weigh what they weigh and I can either lift them or I can’t. They never try to convince me of anything. They are what they are and that is what they will always be. They have been an inspiration as well as a challenge and everything that falls in between.
The weights were there for me when I was a little boy in grade school, lifting in a sweltering garage during a summer day while looking into the convex window of a 1972 Chevy Malibu as my mirror. The weights were also there for me when I was a grown man, driving seven hours to the hospital every Friday and back home again every Sunday. They were there for me each night between those drives for ten consecutive months as I visited my mom. As a child, they were my delight during those grade school summers. As an adult, they were my solace where I could lose myself deep within the reps during those life-changing months visiting my mom. The weights were keeping me strong so I could in turn be strong for my mom each and every day.
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The weights never speak to me and never answer when I question or talk at them. They are my silent partner. They are like magic and seem to suddenly appear, no matter where I have moved in life. Each new town I moved to and each gym I joined (and there have been many), I got to know those specific weights. The plates become very familiar to those who spend time with them. Like people, each plate has a unique feature: a bit of rust here, a paint chip there. Some 45s are thick, some 45s are thin, some 45s weigh 47 pounds, and some weigh 44 pounds. Over four decades, there have been many. I can recall each gym’s weights in my mind’s eye: Drew’s Gym in the late 1970s. Robinson’s Gym and Pumping Iron Gym in the early 1980s. Bobby V’s Gym, Old Lance Gym, New Lance Gym, Son Light Power Gym, Mark’s Gym in the late 1980s. Heavy Metal Gym and Frantz Gym in the 1990s, and Monster Garage Gym in the here and now.
Over the decades, the weights on the squat bar crescendo: 200 pounds, 300 pounds, 400 pounds, 500 pounds, 600 pounds, 700 pounds, 800 pounds. As the decades pass, you run into the same weights climbing down the ladder as you did while ascending the ladder. You might care, but the weights do not. They are still the friends that have always been there and have always told me the truth, every single time. The weights weigh what they weigh and I can either lift them or I can’t. They never try to convince me of anything. They are what they are and that is what they will always be. They have been an inspiration as well as a challenge and everything that falls in between.
The weights weigh what they weigh and I can either lift them or I can’t. They never try to convince me of anything. They are what they are and that is what they will always be.
The holiday season is a great time to catch up with family and friends, recharge your life-energy, and take some time to pause and reflect on the prior year. For me, this is also a time to be able to catch up on a little reading. As the year moves quickly I find myself, as might you, reading the headlines of the New York Times on my app and realizing I don’t have the time to fully read the article. When this happens I save it for when I have a few extra minutes. Follow me down this path. It will lead to the gym, I promise.
Over this winter break and holiday season, I looked back over the articles I saved and played some catch-up. By far my favorite article was a New York Times article titled, "Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program." Here is the link if you are a science and alien geek like I am.
The short version of the story, for those in a hurry, is that the Pentagon was secretly funding a program called, “The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.” The program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, (not that dissimilar from Project Blue Book which ran from 1952 to 1970) and this now widely-read article included previously unreleased cockpit video footage of a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet’s encounter with an unknown object. The article also detailed the work of Robert Bigelow and his company Bigelow Aerospace. The story goes into how Bigelow’s Las Vegas company, which is the current storage area for metal alloys and other materials recovered from what officials call "unidentified aerial phenomena." This is a rabbit hole for another time.
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Anyway, the story was interesting, to say the least — and great for those alien believers out there. But it was also one of those stories that gets you clicking link after link after link. You know what I am talking about: when you find an interesting video on YouTube, then one video leads to the next and the next. Then suddenly you realize that over an hour has passed and you are not even sure how you progressed from the initial video that started this process to the seemingly unrelated video you ended up on. Anyway, this New York Times article on the UFO’s, the Pentagon, and the Department of Defense got me clicking, as I now had Area 51 and little green men on my brain.
The article I landed on after a number of clicks from this original New York Times link was, as all tangential clicks are, somewhat related, but with a slightly different bend to it. The article I now found myself engaged in was the Fermi Paradox.
Let me start with Fermi. Enrico Fermi was a physicist, but not just any physicist. He was the physicist who in part created the world’s first nuclear reactor. He was also a Nobel Prize winner in physics and he was one of the original big brains behind quantum theory and particle physics. Enrico Fermi, who died in 1954, has his name stated often to this day as many things science and physics bear his name, including world-known Fermilab, a particle accelerator. Point being, Fermi was an incredible mind who, in addition to his work on the Manhattan Project, also asked the question, "where is everybody?” This led to the Fermi Paradox, which examines the highly mathematical probability of the existence of non-Earth civilizations versus the massive lack of evidence of such existence.
This is where the alien story from the New York Times piece converges with Fermi. With regard to the Fermi Paradox and his question, Fermi, speaking of alien life, looked at what he knew about the universe. Being physics and mathematically minded, Fermi understood the highly mathematical probability of the existence of non-Earth civilizations and juxtaposed that with the massive lack of any tangible evidence of such existence. He knew that the universe was made up of hundreds of billions of galaxies like ours, the Milky Way galaxy. There are some 400 billion stars alone in our Milky Way galaxy. Fermi knew mathematically that if “merely” 20 billion of those 400 billion stars in our galaxy were similar in size and type to our star, the sun, and if merely 20% of the exoplanets (scientists have already discovered over 2,300 confirmed exoplanets) in our Milky Way galaxy are in the Goldilocks Zone (the zone with conditions ripe for water thus life due to their proximity to a sun-like star) and if a mere 1.1% of those exoplanets had life, Fermi knew that would mean at minimum, mathematically there should be over one million planets with life on them in our galaxy alone. Knowing this lead Enrico Fermi to ask the question based on these nearly mind-blowing numbers and highly probable life estimates, “where is everybody?” Meaning where is all the life, AKA where are the aliens?
Well, the more I read about Enrico Fermi, the more I realized that Fermi was the kind of guy that would not simply ask a question, but try to answer that question. So he set out to do just that. The Fermi Paradox has a load of moving parts to it, but the part of the theory that really caught my attention and that is germane to this article is that in order for a life form to be able to travel to other worlds, it must be very advanced and very intelligent. It must have the mental ability, the physical ability, the drive, and determination to develop the technology to travel to other worlds over these mind-boggling distances.
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One of Fermi’s theories as to why we are not being bombarded with signs of life from other planets is that it could very well be the case that the ability to develop that remarkable technology to travel to other worlds is also the very downfall of that species' existence. That this ability, which serves as a civilization's greatest strength, could be, as is often the case, its greatest weakness. In other words, developing technology is one thing, but harnessing that technology for an ultimate good, space exploration, for example, might be difficult if not impossible. Fermi theorized that the same intelligence, drive, and determination needed for the development of the highest of technology could be the very same traits that cause the end of a civilization before that civilization could truly learn to hone and properly use that given technology.
The point Fermi was contemplating was that the requisite tools it takes to get to this point of technological space exploration take on a life of their own until that civilization develops the appropriate philosophical, moral, and ethical symmetry required to aim its technological prowess in the direction of what is good, just, positive, and beneficial. He postulated that it is likely that, prior to the species developing the morality and philosophy to use that technology for a peaceful pursuit of exploration, its more primitive self would have already misused a more primitive version of that technology to its own demise, thus never reaching that critical mass of development for the greater good. Are you following me so far? It is a little like our own civilization. As a civilization, we developed the technology to split the atom, but for all of the positive intentions for utilization of that power, we as a civilization have amassed 14,900 nuclear warheads worldwide, all pointed at one another.
Who knows how our brains work, or in this case how my brain works. But as I read these thoughts of Enrico Fermi’s—that the same tools required for creating something amazing are often those same tools that destroy that same amazing creation—my mind connected this to a subject matter that is a staple of yours and my life.
As I was digesting all of this information, I reflected back to something I saw on one of the elitefts videos, and this is where this all ties into powerlifting. It was either Dave Tate personally talking or Dave referring to what Meadows or Dugdale said, (I can’t recall exactly, as I follow a good deal from each of these three experienced athletes), but the statement from one of his seminars was (paraphrased) as follows: “Once a lifter reaches an elite level, they have about a seven-year window of time before the wheels come off.” In other words, there is this tremendous amount of work that a powerlifter or bodybuilder or strongman competitor puts into his sport. There is grueling training, day after day, month after month, year after year in the gym. But it is that training that, if combined with a set of essential tools (drive, focus, insight, perseverance, will-power, never relenting mentality, to name a few) can help a lifter achieve an elite level of performance while competing. Upon reaching that level, there is approximately a seven-year window for them to really excel and take advantage of this level of strength, power, or size they have developed. So, it takes practically a lifetime in the weight room just getting to this elite level, then a seven-year stretch at that top level, in which during that time the athlete works to achieve all they can while in that zone of power, strength, size, health, and know-how.
Two things are really important takeaways from the message of that clip. One is the sheer amount of hard, hard individual work it takes just to reach that window of time to take advantage of one’s elite level. The other is the fact that 90% of the lifters never reach that elite level in the first place. This second part, that 10% who actually do become elite in their field, made my mind circle back to Fermi and his take on civilizations that never make it to the point of being able to utilize their technology for exploration of space, as they destroy themselves before they even get there. These three seemingly non-related concepts (the New York Times article, the Fermi Paradox and the concept about the seven-year window as an elite strength athlete) absolutely intersect. It is this intersection that I have seen play out for decades, as you have or as you will see in our strength world time and again, whether you are consciously aware of it or not. These are lifters who have the tools to aspire to greatness but fall prey to those tools, which serve to destroy that lifter as they are climbing that ladder toward success.
So there are a few categories here:
- The primary herd of lifters who toil away, training at the gym, but who never quite achieve an elite total.
- Those lifters from the herd who toil away, training at the gym, who actually achieve that elite level but never get deep into that seven-year zone of being on the top of their game. These are the Fermi Paradox of lifters.
- Those rarer-than-rare lifters from the herd who toil away, training at the gym, who hit that elite status, but then manage to stay at the tip top of their power game for nearly a decade (that seven-year period) racking up wins, records, and personal accolades. They, in essence, add length and significance to their own chapter of the book that is the history of their sport.
The Fermi Paradox is, in essence, the elite powerlifters’ paradox, in that the required tools to make it to the destination you are striving for are the same tools, when not honed, not respected, not cherished, not matured, not well thought-out, and not carefully calculated, that can absolutely destroy the lifter before they reach their fullest potential and sustain that full potential for the seven-or-so year duration. It is that unbridled drive for success that helps a lifter reach an elite status, but it can be that same drive that, when not used responsibly or with meticulous wisdom, destroys the same lifter it has served to create.
That unchecked drive, when the lifter becomes injured, causes the lifter to ignore the warning signs ahead and, instead of working around an injury, listens not to common sense but rather to that inner drive. And thus the lifter plows straight ahead past the clear warning signs into a full blown serious injury requiring a surgical repair. After a successful surgery, as that lifter heals, that required drive to succeed can also derail the healing and rehab. When that internal drive pushes past the plan for recovery—when that drive overrides the rehab protocol and the duration required for biological healing to occur—a repaired injury that has been pushed too hard, too fast re-ruptures and the promising lifting, bodybuilding, or strongman career is over before it even reached its full potential, never to reach that seven years of dominance.
What is it that helps constitute a legendary powerlifter like Ed Coan ("the GOAT” who dominated powerlifting for decades), a bodybuilder like a Robby Robinson (“The Black Prince” who is still in competition shape at 70 years of age), or Žydrūnas Savickas (who has been an unstoppable force in the world of strongman for some three decades)? What is the commonality with athletes who had the tools (work ethic, love of sport, drive, consistency, diligence, intelligence, etc.), to aspire to the highest level, achieved that elite level, but then manage to maintain that level and dominate even beyond the seven years, stretching out their dominance for decades? Perhaps the better question is, "What are the commonalities between the elite powerlifters, bodybuilders, and strongmen who are like shooting stars, here today, gone the same day?" How has legendary powerlifter Steve Goggins managed to pull over 800 pounds for nearly three decades? How does a top level bodybuilder like Dexter Jackson at nearly 50 years of age continue to land in the top three in the Mr. Olympia when guys half his age reach the Olympia level but can’t hold onto it and fade away into obscurity even before they become known?
And of most importance, where are you in these categories? Are you a member of the primary herd of lifters who toils away, training at the gym, still striving hard to reach an elite level? Are you perhaps one of those lifters from the herd who toils away, training at the gym, who has achieved that elite level, but has not begun the seven-year journey of dominance due to injury after injury? Or perhaps you are one of those rarer-than-rare lifters from the herd who has toiled away, training at the gym, who has aspired successfully to that elite status, but is still managing to stay at the tip top of the power game for nearly a decade, racking up wins, records, personal accolades, and adding length and significance to their own chapter of the book that is the history of their sport?
Synthesizing all of these themes together and reflecting back on them as we start a new year, 2018, I surely don’t know if aliens or intelligent life have visited our planet, and I also don’t know the correct solution to the Fermi Paradox. What I do know, having had a couple of decades of skin in the powerlifting game, is that one's competitive time “under the bar” is a sacred time. That time when a lifter is a the top of their game is a delicate balancing act between utilizing the tools that got them to an elite status and backing down from those tools at appropriate times so as not to tip the scales from continued success to prematurely landing at the expiration date for one's top-level competitive pursuits.
Make no mistake about it; every single elite level powerlifter who is walking this good earth has an expiration date, no different than the expiration date of your simple gallon of milk in the fridge. Keeping that expiration date from arriving sooner than it is supposed to is something that requires insight, reflection, thought, planning, and being totally honest with oneself. As we have closed the chapter on 2017 and we have entered this new chapter of 2018, now is absolutely a time to reflect and really take an honest look at your lifting. If you have not yet achieved your elite total, are you on the right path? Are you making progress toward that end? Or are you content to remain a part of that larger 90% of the herd? If you have hit your elite totals and are firing on all cylinders, are you finding that balance between training aggressively and training wisely so you can relish in those suggested seven years of competition at the very top of your game? If you are in that pocket of being at your best and are, one by one, checking the boxes of the things you want to achieve as a powerlifter, are you working to go beyond that seven years and into that time span like the great Ed Coan, who put up huge numbers for decades?
If you have the tools that can launch you into the direction of your elite status, are you calculating and methodical with these tools so they work for you and not against you? This is a new year, and with it comes an opportunity for you to examine your own Fermi Paradox of powerlifting — an opportunity to determine what you can do, are willing to do, need to do, in order to become the best powerlifting, bodybuilding, or strongman version of yourself. But more importantly than just reaching your personal pinnacle of power is staying at your zenith of power by being ever cognizant of the paradox and not destroying yourself in the process.
Wishing you the very best in 2018!
Image credit: Vadim Sadovski © 123RF.com
The period of time that a lifter is a the top of their game is a delicate balancing act between utilizing the tools that got them to an elite status and backing down from those tools at appropriate times so as not to tip the scales from continued success to prematurely landing at the expiration date.
It is a regular event at the Monster Garage Gym: Someone new walks into the weight room area and comes up to the counter to ask questions. If it is a competitive powerlifter, the question is usually, "Where do I sign up?" More often than not, it is someone who has only just discovered the gym and is inquiring about what we are all about, as aside from our coaching logs, articles, and some social media, we do not advertise the gym.
Over the years I started to play a little game with myself, which I call, “Will they come back?” What I have learned over the years of owning a gym is that you can never tell if someone will come back to the gym and train for years, or ask a few questions never to return.
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The old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” plays out in front of us on a regular basis. Predicting who you think will come back or not come back simply can’t be done by the stereotype of appearance, as some of the biggest, tatted up guys and girls come by but can’t handle not being the big fish in a small pond. Juxtapose that sometimes with a brand-new-to-the-sport lifter who might not have any strength development at this point in their training. They sign up and never leave, as they are about personal strength and power and are hardly intimidated, but rather inspired by others with greater strength levels. I will let you in on a secret: those are the lifters who go the furthest in our sport. You also can’t tell who is or is not coming back by the questions they ask, how they look, what their total is, how long they have been training, or who they know. Who comes back after inquiring about the gym is simply not something you can predict.
With this being the case, when there is a potential new lifter inquiring about the gym, we answer their questions, give the quick tour, and let things unfurl themselves naturally. We don’t do contracts, we don’t do a sales pitch, and we don’t compromise on who we are. Pick up the weight, put down the weight, add more weight, repeat, and help spot and support our fellow lifters at the gym who are also doing the same. That is the recipe for the day, every day.
That as a backstory, I remember the day that Jerry walked through the doors to the Monster Garage Gym. At about five feet eleven inches, 165 pounds, 65 years old, and with an awesome full head of Elvis-esque salt and pepper hair, Jerry was not a physically imposing figure, nor did he look like someone who had trained with a ton of weight. In fact, Jerry looked like a regular guy but with a disarming and genuine smile. As I said from the get-go, you just can’t tell who is going to sign up and stay, or who is going to walk out of the gym never to return. So I started my secret will he come back game with Jerry.
Monster Garage Gym, owner, Eric Maroscher, with powerlifter Jerry Lezon
Jerry walked in and came right up to the counter to me. There wasn’t much inquiry. He basically stated that he wanted to train at a powerlifting gym and asked if I would be willing to train him.
I don’t specifically train anyone, meaning I don’t work with anyone for every set and every rep, creating a specific routine for them to engage in and making sure all of the thousands of moving parts that go with that huge responsibility fall correctly into place. If someone is new to the gym and they ask for help, I love to work with them on their technique, as I feel that technique is the critical foundation that everything else is based on. I will share if they inquire, any information that helped me during my decades in the world of competitive powerlifting, and I will wholeheartedly answer any of their training questions. But I don’t specifically train anyone. Training someone—truly training them—is not some lackadaisical thing you do. It is something that requires as much commitment from the trainer as the trainee.
Between running the gym with Dawn and Rich, writing coaching logs, writing articles for elitefts, tending to the responsibilities of my own actual job as an assistant principal at a high school, spending time with my family, and focusing on my own training, time is limited. So I spread the balance of that precious limited time with the full-time lifters at the Monster Garage Gym on technique, technique, and more technique, as well as sharing with those who ask for the applicable nuanced information that comes from decades of competition and training with some legendary powerlifters.
So to be crystal clear, when I am referring to training someone, I am talking about selflessly training someone. What I am not talking about is what we see all too frequently, and that is anyone with a clipboard, a singlet, and two meets under their belt claiming to be a training expert. I don’t have the stomach for watching that sham, as truly training someone is a deep commitment and a serious responsibility.
Mini-rant: Speaking of the two-years-of-experience-only-now-an-expert-trainer, whatever happened to trainers and coaches learning over years and years of training on an experienced team at a powerlifting gym, paying close attention, asking good questions, applying the answers, being humble, competing over and again, and keeping their ears open and their social media mouth shut? When did anyone with a pair of $150 squat shoes and a two-cent opinion become a “coach?” Okay, end of mini-rant, but can you see what I am saying? I am sure some will, and some will not, but I digress.
Point being, I don’t specifically train individuals, as I feel I can help more new lifters with my somewhat limited time in other ways. All that said, there was something about Jerry. Something about his youthful enthusiasm contained in a 65-year-old vessel that I really found intriguing. He has this love for life, an inner light kind of a thing going on. Figuratively speaking, Jerry wasn’t looking for someone to read him all the answers. Jerry was looking for someone to tell him where the good books were, as he was willing and ready to study them all himself. So I told Jerry, without going into all that detail, “I don’t train people.” But Jerry just seemed different. Plain old different than the other 99%. He seemed like a guy that had a few extra gears to him that he could shift into when needed. So, being intrigued by his aforementioned demeanor, and his overall unique effect, I asked him, “So Jerry, out of curiosity, why exactly did you want me to train you?”
Monster Garage Gym owner, Eric Maroscher with powerlifting legend, Ernie Frantz
Jerry explained. In the 1990’s he had been lifting weights, doing lots of benching, and he really loved it. He told me about a powerlifting gym he lived by back then that he wanted to train at, but for a variety of reasons, it never materialized. So I asked Jerry, “What was the name of the gym you wanted to train at?” Jerry explained, “The gym was the Frantz Health Studio.” I asked, “You mean to tell me, you wanted to train in the 1990’s at Frantz Gym? Frantz Gym in Aurora, Illinois?” Jerry said, “Yes, have you heard of it?”
My mind was racing because, as many of you know who read my articles, Ernie Frantz was and is my mentor, and I learned pretty much everything about the sport from the great Ernie Frantz, training at his gym and with powerlifting legends like Bill Nichols, Stephanie Van De Weghe, and so many others. You cannot train with a group of now-legendary powerlifters like that, in an atmosphere like Frantz Gym and not soak up a ton of applicable powerlifting knowledge. Which goes back to my earlier statements about being a student of the sport. But rather than go into that with Jerry, I asked why now and why this gym. Well, Jerry went on to explain that about three years before our meeting he had been diagnosed with stage IV, medullary thyroid cancer. This is a rare disease and was treated by removing Jerry’s thyroid and right neck dissection. Beyond brutal stuff.
About a year and a half later the disease spread to his chest and he had a sternotomy. More surgery, more life-altering events. After five or so months after this surgery, Jerry was able to work out, but he was getting nowhere. He decided to do some things he had wanted to do in the past and one was to get to a powerlifting gym and take care of some unfinished business.
I have seen some amazingly strong individuals during my decades in the power game. 1100-pound squatting men. 700-pound squatting women. So many feats of strength and displays of unbridled power that I find myself rarely impressed by sheer poundage anymore. But strong—impressively strong—can and does come in many different forms. Jerry is strong. After hearing Jerry’s story and being sort of a believer that some people are destined to meet up, I couldn’t help but think that if Jerry had come to Frantz Gym in the 1990’s, we would have ended up training together. And somehow, some 20 years later, here the two of us stood, together in a powerlifting gym that I designed based on my experiences at Frantz Gym.
All I knew was that this gentleman took on stage IV cancer and fought his way back, and that is a form of strength that is rare, special, and worthy of respect. So, that day, March 1, 2017, Jerry and I began our training journey together.
There was a lot involved in this process, as there were existing health issues with Jerry well beyond the typical gym injuries and the like. On the plus side, Jerry is an expert in his nutritional health and wellness. He sees his primary doctor on a regular basis and is also seeing an herbalist, who communicates with his doctor and Jerry’s health team. Jerry’s goal from the onset was to gain strength and put on some muscle so he would no longer look like he had been sick. So, we started very slowly with some assessments, looking at his technique, examining what he could and could not physically do, and going about developing a plan that would help him re-build his foundation, put on some muscle, increase strength and power, and move forward in a manner that would achieve these goals without compromising his health in any way.
Jerry, Eric, Ron and Rich at the Monster Garage Gym table during the 2017 AWPC Worlds.
We maxed Jerry to get a strength baseline and Jerry pressed out 115 pounds on the bench. He has some wrist and arthritis issues, and we designed a routine that would work cautiously around those issues.
When you are training Jerry, you notice a few things right away. Jerry is a great listener. He listens, he learns, he applies what he has learned, and he has the ability to hone in on each rep within each set. It is actually quite impressive. As the weeks passed, Jerry grew strong(er) and strong(er) and strong(er), and his body was looking more and more healthy. Each session Jerry and I would dance this dance of pushing his body hard within the framework we created, but never so hard that he would fail a lift or require more than a nudge to get the bar moving. We wanted to cause good muscle damage, but not compromise his CNS health, as we were training to put on some muscle and build strength. We did not want to go past a certain point to where he was compromising his immune system.
Each session Jerry would work up a great sweat. Each session he would meticulously track his sets and reps, pounds, water, and nutrition, and we would follow closely to the plan. But we would always heed to the strength levels that Jerry had that day. It was a plan based deliberately on being instinctive and safe with the health issues involved.
I don’t remember when it was exactly, but around the third month I realized that, although Jerry was leaving our sessions saying, “Eric, I feel like a million bucks”, I was the one driving home saying, “Man, Jerry made me feel like a million bucks!” I mean, there is something to this guy. He is 65 and went to hell and back more than once, yet he finds joy in every single day, be it in preparing a meal, spending time with his beautiful wife, talking with his kids, or blasting through one of our training sessions. In so many ways, this guy is more of a free man than most I know. He looked death in the face, said "back off," then proceeded to move straight forward living and enjoying his life. He has an amazing perspective. Jerry finds the good in all things and has this ability to savor the moment, be present in the moment, live in the moment. Jerry uses those extra gears for getting the most out of his life. The more I was training Jerry and helping him build back his body, the more I was learning about living life through my time with him. I started wondering, “Who is training who, exactly?”
Anyway, here we are. As of this writing, we are about seven and a half months into our training journey together, and about eight weeks ago we decided to enter Jerry into a powerlifting meet for novices in the bench-only raw category. Jerry does squat and deadlift, but for where we are in our training and where we are in our overall goal for health, training and competing in bench-only is the way we want to go.
So, Jerry and I did some more planning and started to prep for this meet. Last weekend Jerry, at 65 years old, not only entered his first sanctioned powerlifting meet, but also pressed a raw 187.4-pound PR with a pause and rack command! It was absolutely spectacular. In my eyes, Jerry was the strongest man in that competition, and although we have had a number of 1000-pound squatters and 800-pound benchers at the Monster Garage Gym, I can tell you—and so would the majority of the powerlifters at the gym—that Jerry is the strongest man in the gym. It is not even close.
All this time I thought I was training Jerry, but in reality, Jerry was training me. You cannot work with Jerry and fail to see the world with a little more clarity. I feel pity for folks who actually spend time out of their day spewing negatives onto others at their workplace or on social media, or who complain ad nauseum about how they had to wait 10 whole minutes for their frappugrandelattefrothy whatever at a Starbucks. Their lives are so without issue that they create issues to get upset about.
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You know these people. You can name these people. They are all around you, at your work, in your neighborhood, perhaps even in your family. You know the negativity they are going to speak even before they open their mouth. You know the ill they will post even before they post it. These folks are consistent in their squandering of life. They are nothing more than mere passengers on the ship, whereas Jerry is the captain, plotting the course, setting the destination, and arriving only after having experienced a great and bold adventure on his lifelong journey.
Jerry can find the joy in a good set on the bench. He can find the satisfaction in working hard in the gym and striving for his day’s goals. He can look back over his hard, hard work and rejoice about adding 72 pounds to his raw bench max in only seven and a half months and hitting a PR in his first-ever sanctioned meet.
I have used Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote in prior articles: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Jerry represents the great minds and embodies what we should all strive for. That is, to be someone who can see the best in the world. To be someone who never gives up. To be someone who works hard not to squander this gift of strength, power, and health that we are all favored to possess. To be someone who lives every day to its fullest by recognizing our precious time on this planet.
I can still never tell if that new person coming into the gym is ever going to come back or not. But what I can tell is that when the right person comes back, an entire gym can become a better place for it.
Wishing you the best in your training and meet prep. Ever onward.
Although we have had a number of 1000-pound squatters and 800-pound benchers at the Monster Garage Gym, I can tell you—and so would the majority of the powerlifters at the gym—that Jerry is the strongest man in the gym.
“The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.” —Mark Twain
I begin this article with Mr. Twain because—and I believe all those who write for elitefts will agree—this quote is 110% accurate. About a month ago I, along with others at elitefts, was asked to share a story or experience we had at in the S4 Compound. To back up for a moment, in case you were not aware, Dave and his crew have been working on the elitefts S5 Compound, a facility that is 20 years in the making (along the way there has been the S1, S2, S3, and S4). This is what led to the request to write a short story or experience we had at the S4.
I thought to myself as I was reflecting back at my experiences there, “This will be cool!” Then I paused as I re-read the request, which started with the words, “In 200 words (no more, no less), share your story.”
To borrow from Mr. Twain again, “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” As I began to reflect on my experiences at S4, my thoughts became more and more vivid. As I began to look at some of the footage I shot when at S4 and then some photos, my thoughts were bombarded with details that the photos and footage jarred free from the recesses of my brain (my 25 years of ammonia-smelling, pre-max effort brain). With each new detail that emerged, I found myself drifting further and further beyond the 200 words.
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When I came back to the Monster Garage Gym office after a coffee break from a Saturday afternoon of writing, I sat back down to see what was originally in my head typed onto the Chromebook and uploaded into the cloud. That is when the realization hit: I had not merely drifted past the 200 words, I had sailed full steam ahead with the throttle all the way down, to the point of the 200 words being so far behind me that there was no return.
So, all that said, if “writing is easy" and "all you have to do is cross out the wrong words,” my problem was that I didn’t have wrong words, but too many essential words. Better writers than I have taken on this challenge and honed and honed until they hit the 200, but for me—a powerlifter who writes, not a writer—whittling down to the 200 was also watering down what I wanted to share about the S4, and that was not something I found acceptable, for myself if no one else. I wanted my few but very significant experiences at S4 to remain intact and in living color.
During the time I was getting my first master’s degree, I would spend a lot of time at the library at EIU. Something about leaving the dorm to go somewhere to study and being surrounded by volumes and volumes of work researched and compiled by those who came before helped me get in the right frame of mind for the cerebral tasks ahead. EIU’s library, no doubt, often did the trick. But from time to time I would drive a bit down to the University of Illinois and study there at their historically famous library. The University of Illinois library is a place that lives up to its reputation of being able to inspire with its sheer gravitas, but it can be somewhat intimidating as well.
In its own way, and for some similar and some different reasons, S4 had that impact on me — I think in part because I have not been there nearly as often as some of the folks who live closer or who have been on the team longer, so in a way my infrequency to this mecca of powerlifting keeps the mystique in the forefront, untarnished by routine.
If you are a serious powerlifter, you know of the S4 Compound, you know all about Dave Tate, you know he is an original branch of the WSBB family tree, you have heard about the Underground Strength Sessions at the S4 and the sheer tonnage that has been lifted during those sessions, you know the names of those who have trained there from the past, you know about the immense knowledge that has been shared under that roof and within those four walls, and you know how the willingness to share such sacred and expert knowledge embodies the mantra, "Live, Learn, Pass On." So very much like my experience in graduate school, the S4 Compound is able to inspire with its sheer gravitas, yet can be somewhat intimidating as well.
The first time I made a trek down to the S4 compound was for the Powerlifting Experience II. It was a gathering of many of us, elitefts coaches, whose purpose was to assess, critique, and correct technique, then to apply that corrected technique all the way up to a max effort lift. That weekend some 60 aspiring powerlifting students came to the compound. After assessing, critiquing, and correcting their technique, these eager to learn powerlifters applied their vastly improved technique. At the day’s end, the 60 lifters performing all three lifts with corrected technique produced an unreal 164 PRs. Dave Tate put the elitefts coaches with the pupils together at the S4 to put the theory of "technique matters" against the theory of "just lift heavy shit." In this one weekend, the team turned the theory of superior technique into fact.
Stop reading right here and watch the footage I shot at this event. Come back when you are done with this quick video.
The video that you just watched is five minutes of a weekend seminar, and those five minutes alone show enough information for any level of powerlifter to stop and take a good hard look not just at their lifting but also at their entire mindset regarding technique and its role in our sport. The weekend was chock-full of this type of critically important information, presented by coaches like living powerlifting legend Steve Goggins and so many others from elitefts who routinely gather for sessions like this at the S4 Compound. These are the experiences at S4 that require a writer better than I to convey in 200 words or less the mystique and the impact.
At the S4 Compound, even a somewhat routine training session gets sucked into the power-vortex of the place and gets transformed into an experience that remains with you for years to come. Following a trip out to the Arnold Sports Festival I, along with some of my fellow powerlifters from Monster Garage Gym, rang up Dave and met for a workout at the S4. This was some random weekend, there was no seminar going on, there was no Underground Strength Session, but as we entered the facility, there stood pro bodybuilder and CEO of Granite Supplements John Meadows (there for a photo shoot), elitefts team members Brandon Smitley, Julia Ladewski, Ken and Sheri Whetham, and of course Dave Tate himself. Point being, the typical day at S4 is not ever typical because this place and Dave Tate are magnets for the upper echelon of powerlifters. It is an unlimited resource of the highest quality information for any and all powerlifters, novice to elite level.
Watch our workout at S4, including photo shoot footage of John “made of granite” Meadows.
Most every training facility is similar in appearance, especially a warehouse type facility. There’s a roof, four walls, some type of heater, lights, and a couple ways in and an egress out. The S4 is that type of physical structure. But what is so unique and special about this facility is what has happened there, and that is palpable when you enter the building. It has an actual physical effect on you. You are forced to stop and take in the moment, soak it all in. You can sense the history and virtually feel the knowledge when you enter the S4 Compound. When you walk over to the monolifts, you can visualize in your mind’s eye the training that has happened on that spot over the years. It has a visceral quality to it, from the chalk on the bars to the bloodstains on the platforms. It is a space that lacks in appearance yet excels in utilitarianism, is short on amenities yet deep in pragmatism.
But the best feature of the S4 is that it is transcendent, and because of this all, that is embodied in it—all the history, all the depth of meaning, all the blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice and giving—will live on as those traits will come to life and are reborn with S5. The core values that have lived and have been breathed into S1, S2, S3, S4 and now S5 are the embodiment of Dave Tate — and where goes Dave Tate lands the essence of all that is elitefts.
To end where we began:
“The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.”
As I have finished this article to my satisfaction, looking back I could write this article ten more times and I would still not do justice to the S4 Compound. But I hope this article, if nothing else, helps paint a tiny portrait of this giant masterpiece which was the S4 Compound.
Closing in on Our 20th Year in Business
All that the S4 embodied—all the history, all the depth of meaning, all the blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice and giving—will live on as those traits come to life and are reborn with S5.
There is an old adage that goes something like this: “Don’t bring up a problem unless you have a solution.” That is the intent of this article — to examine a problem that you have undoubtedly seen, encountered, or perhaps even experienced personally, and then offer a solution to consider. With that all said, let’s begin.
I really have to concentrate to think of a more pervasive single entity that has done more to derail a training session than the smartphone. In past coaching logs and articles we have touched on this topic, but more than discussing, we have provided the science base behind the disruption (meaning the “why” behind the training disruption, well beyond the obvious annoyance factor). I have looked at the research behind it, because with over two decades of competitive powerlifting under my belt and over 40 years with some type of weight in my hands, I have never seen one singular thing that has, through its permeation, caused so much disruption to a workout. But of more concern, it is more often than not an unrecognized disruption.
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There have always been those folks in the gym that come up to talk with you after a set, and after catching your breath and exchanging some pleasantries, you politely end the brief conversation and head back over for the next set. It is an unstated rule that you don’t interrupt the serious lifter with idle chitchat, and for the most part we all live by that code. We are of course not talking about the corporate gym atmosphere, where the venue is often a 50/50 mix of water-cooler chat and exercise. We are speaking specifically of the training environment where you have precious limited time to hit your numbers, as each session is one day closer to the meet.
So in our powerlifting subculture, there is etiquette. A code of conduct. An unspoken rule, so to speak, that you just simply don’t interrupt a serious training session. This rule of non-interruption is the absolute antithesis of what the smartphone can do in the training environment. The irony is that the disruption of the powerlifters training is actually caused by the athletes themselves. Said another way, a serious lifter would never tolerate a disruption of their training from another individual, yet with their own smartphone, they personally create and actually invite that very disruption into their own training session.
The vast majority of serious powerlifters tuck away the cellphone deep into their gym bag during training, as they can see the disruption. None the less, some who have seen this training disruption in other lifters (which is detailed below) still sometimes allow for the smartphone to invade their own training as they dig into the gym bag to look at the phone in between sets.
No lifter would intentionally want to discombobulate their training. The only possible explanation behind this self-sabotage is that the user doesn’t understand what is physically happening to them each time they gaze into the screen of their phone during training. They don’t realize that unlike a conversation, where you still maintain your sense of time, the fight or flight response is significantly disrupted by the smartphone and the lifter becomes lost in time, and thus one scroll turns into 100 scrolls, and one minute holding the device turns into eight, nine, and ten or more minutes.
The time between sets—the time it takes to walk over and take a sip of your water, coffee, or BCAA’s and write in your training log—is actually connected mental time where your mind processes the last set and is still engaged and growing ready for the next set. In other words, each set crescendos into the next set so our workout is a buildup of strength and power, set after set after set, and our mind (the key ingredient to training) is constantly readying us for the next bigger weight. What is troubling is the significant impact the smartphone has on the lifter that a brief in-person conversation does not have. Looking at the cellphone substantially disrupts this essential mental process of connectivity between sets. It turns a constant flow of working sets building up to the big max effort sets into fragmented individual sets that, due to their disconnected and disjointed nature, compromise the big sets.
In fact, without the mental connectivity of the building sets, the big sets are often missed. This is because the weights on the program are designed to get progressively heavier, but as now the mind is not connecting the sets, absent is the connectivity to handle the greater poundage on the bar. The problem is simply that when the mind is not connected, the body is not connected. As the pattern of the training crescendo is disrupted, the buildup of our natural hormones that help in the gym are disrupted and the time between sets is increased exponentially beyond the time needed to simply catch our breath. The great Lee Haney used to say, “The muscle without the mind is nothing. You must at all times in the gym keep the mind-muscle connection.” This lack of connectivity is the very reason so many automobile accidents occur while texting. The driver simply loses the fight or flight mechanism and the sense of time is lost, so as the driver gets lost in the text, they plow head-on into a car, truck, or telephone pole.
We see this play out so much with younger lifters in the gym, as they have probably never lifted without a smartphone. I use the word "lifted," as the science suggests you can’t “train” using the smartphone, for all of the aforementioned reasons. What we also see unfortunately is the more seasoned lifter fall prey to this as well. I have seen lifters who were once ravenous during their training stop in their tracks as they go into that motionless trance we have all seen. Standing upright, with their head looking down to the phone in their hand, they scroll and scroll and scroll, all the while their mind-muscle connection and continuity between sets fades away until there is a disconnect and the momentum from the prior set is lost.
The non-cellphone users see this; in fact, you can’t miss it. They see the extended time between sets and they see the absolute disconnect. The newbie to the veteran cellphone-lifters are unknowingly, unwittingly stealing their own time, eroding their own strength, and compromising their own training and their own competition goals. If they could see themselves in that motionless, zombie-like, frozen head-down stare at the screen while others complete three sets to their one disconnected set, they would be aghast, and they would never bring that workout-killer into the gym again.
Over the decades I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing lifters and amazing mentors, coaches, and teachers of our sport. Over these years I have never had the privilege of meeting the legendary powerlifting coach, Mr. Louie Simmons, but I am going to take a wild guess and say that I highly doubt his lifters at WSBB whip out a cell phone and check their social status or send a text or message between sets during one of his training sessions. My guess is they are most likely trying just to catch their breath, are completely engaged in helping the other lifters they are training with, and are beginning to focus on their next set.
Studies suggest that even those who use the cell phone for logging their progress through an app fall prey to this blue light issue. The apps are great for tracking lifts, but the blue light is still there. Science says with the blue light present so then also is the mental disruption you need to avoid if you wish to maintain the aforementioned lifting crescendo.
So we know that writing in a training journal fosters connectivity between sets. And we know that the cell phone causes major neural disruption to the training. But we also want easy access to our training on the computer, as that is our data that we study. That is the data that we can plot into a sigmoid curve. That is the data that lets us know if we are on the right trajectory with our training.
As I said at the very start, there is an old adage that goes something like this: “Don’t bring up problems unless you have solutions.” That is the intent of this article. So the problem is, science informs you that using the smartphone during training is counterproductive, but you are a serious lifter who wants to be able to have your training on the computer in nice, neat folders so you can track your progress or lack thereof. The solution to that problem that I am going to offer and layout below is the Rocketbook Wave. If, on the other hand, the problem is that the lifter is simply someone who can’t stop using their phone while training, and again, the data has been laid out for them that using the smartphone while training is counterproductive, I submit that they are not truly 100% in. And of this, there is no rebuke.
Unless they have an issue with a loved one in the hospital, someone is expecting, or there is some emergency that they must monitor with the device during training, there is simply no reason not to have the phone stuffed into the gym bag, bottom line, end of story (double negative intended). The science is irrefutable, we can intuitively feel it when distracted by the device, and the Princeton study is the nail in the blue screen coffin. So, for those who use the device for logging lifts, detailed below is a solution to consider. The lifters who fall into the other category and who habitually check the thing between reps will continue to compromise their training, which will erode their full meet capability.
Business Insider states that, according to the research firm Dscout, the average smartphone user touches their cell phone 2,617 times per day, which includes taps, swipes, and clicks. What we also know is that those who are habitually checking their phones actually build up cortisol when they don’t check their phones. Lots of clicking and building up of one's cortisol are two counterproductive ingredients for a great training session. This is in addition to the overwhelming data regarding the blue screen and attention derailment, for lack of a better term.
All that said, let’s talk Rocketbook Wave as a solution for the initial training log data problem. Recently for my life outside of the gym, I have been using a thing called Rocketbook Wave for work and business. So, what is a Rocketbook Wave and how can it help you with your training?
The Rocketbook Wave is literally a notebook, just like your training log. The lifter opens the Rocketbook Wave or notebook, and as their training session unfurls, the lifter simply logs the relevant sets, reps, and any other notes onto the page. Pretty simple, and lifters have done this since day one. As mentioned in the article linked above and the parallels drawn when looking at the research of the Princeton study, logging of the training day gives the lifter mini downtimes between sets, and the tactile impact of the pen to paper allows the lifter to process the set they just completed while keeping them totally engaged in the complete session. As there is no blue light with pen and paper, the fight or flight response and time acuity stays intact. It also serves the obvious purpose of documenting the session, as each session during a training cycle produces a micro picture of the larger program. Notes from the prior squat day, for example, are to be reflected on before the next subsequent squat day.
Where the Rocketbook Wave differs from the old school training log is that after you finish the training day, you can store that information on the cloud so that your training data is organized the way you like it. What? How does that work?
I was thinking about how I would describe this process of seamlessly moving the written data to your Google drive in detail, but rather than reinvent the wheel, here is a two-minute video on how it works. Watch this video and we will meet down in the next paragraph. See you in two minutes.
Now that you have seen the video on how the Rocketbook Wave works, it is pretty obvious how this pen-to-paper technology serves two masters. First, for the lifters who want to roll old school with pad and paper training logs, they can use the Rocketbook Wave to take all their notes while avoiding the pitfalls of the cell phone. Having said that, the second point is that they can open the app, snap the photo of their training page(s) at the end of their training day, hit send per the app, and instantaneously have their training logs in the cloud (or whatever storage vernacular you want to use). For me personally, I have Google folders and documents set up for the different days, but also one for days when I hit a PR on a given movement, as this makes it really easy to find and also eliminates flipping through pages and pages of log entries to find the last, say, rackable cambered bar max for five reps.
If you like to use an app to track your sets and reps but are deterred by information about blue light (the aforementioned article link goes into a study at Princeton University that is a deeper dive into this topic, so you will want to check that out) the Rocketbook Wave is a great option. The book sells for approximately $25, which is a great deal for 80 pages. You can reuse the book over and over again with the microwave feature, and this price includes the pen, which of course you can purchase more of.
The bottom line is this: You are now armed with some crucial information that can impact your lifting. This is information based on fact that we feel can benefit your training and meet prep, thus the mantra of elitefts: Live, Learn, Pass On. That said, what you do or what you do not do with that information is up to you. Either choice you make will impact your training.
Wishing you the best in your training and competitions. Ever Onward.
I have never witnessed a singular item more capable of disrupting a training session than the cell phone. There’s a better alternative that gives all the benefits of technology with none of the downside.
Recently I came upon The Egg, a short story by American author Andy Weir. I am placing the video link here, so take a moment to watch it. Then we will meet back here in the article. Take the time and watch the video, or you will lack the inferences required to follow the remainder of this article.
Now you have watched the video. And yes, there were subtitles (sorry lifters, but those are good for you, like spinach). So, let’s move along. As I initially read The Egg (here is one of the many links to the written version of this story) then later watched this video, I couldn’t help but see this reincarnated type of pattern in all facets of life, as we all continue to grow and mature. We grow and mature as people in general, as individuals in the workforce, as boyfriends or girlfriends, as husbands or wives, as sons and daughters, as parents, in all facets of our lives, and in every role in our lives.
There was a clear parallel in our lifting worlds as well, as we also grow and mature as powerlifters. And as powerlifters, there is a reincarnation effect as well. Like in the video for The Egg, we keep and/or retain our essence from the prior lives, but continue to strive to become a better version of ourselves as the time passes.
We meet a vast variety of people in our lifetime. Some of the people we meet fall into the broad expansive categories with attributes like crass and rude, or matter-of-fact and common, but a few are old souls, meaning they possess and emit that rare depth of maturity — that inner confidence, that gravitas with the ability to pause, to reflect, and to listen that makes them seem above the fray. Those are the leaders we aspire to be with or like. They are the great-minded individuals that Eleanor Roosevelt spoke of when she said, "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people."
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As powerlifters we are, in the sense described in The Egg, reincarnated. We live and die and are reborn several times over our lifting career.
Most powerlifters start off not as powerlifters, but as a young person picking up weights to become more muscular, a strong(er) version of themselves, or perhaps to become better at some other sport or an activity. We start off with little more than a cursory understanding of lifting weights. But having seen photos or scenes from films like Pumping Iron, we are all somewhat aware of the possible outcome that could result from weight training. At that stage, or in that “life,” or in that incarnation, we are anything but an old soul, and the lifting is done out of joy and with a method that is little more than trial and error. Instinctively, we know sore muscles mean worked muscles, so often at most, we lift and become sore. Based on what is sore, we know what muscles were affected by the exercises we did to get them sore in the first place.
As that version of you continues to lift, that version learns and grows. And as more education is obtained and some experience begins to mount, this new-to-the-world-of-weights version of yourself prepares to move into its next phase of development.
So, figuratively speaking, that lesser version dies and is reincarnated into a lifter who has managed to uncover information and has discovered the world of powerlifting (or at least the concept of the sport). Within this larger world, this new version of your old self finds application for three of the lifts they have already been experimenting with, as they did in their prior incarnation of themselves. They discover that there is a proper form to these three lifts that are the crux that is the sport of powerlifting. As they discover this, their old self dies and they are reincarnated into the novice lifter.
Now as a novice lifter, one hears about training programs and methods and, as they try new and adventurous things with their lifting, they simultaneously begin to make their first mistakes. They try all the movements, indulge in all the programs, spend money on supplements that don’t work, and fall into the traps and bad advice of the loud voices of the never-have-beens who are selling their snake-oil programs and “secrets” to these newly reincarnated novice lifters (who have also yet to develop any skepticism of powerlifting's used car salesperson types).
As time passes, so too does this life. The novice powerlifter begins to filter information, and as they step further away from the shoreline of their little island of information, they begin to feel the slope of the sand deepen quicker and quicker as the current of the powerlifting ocean becomes stronger and stronger. The lifter discovers that what was once the point (just lifting the weights) now has changed, and the weights are now lifted to reach the point of the sport, and that point is to compete. As the powerlifter starts to wade into the sea that is this new (to him or her) world of competitive powerlifting, the novice powerlifter dies off. Again, as with the story of The Egg, the lifter is reincarnated into a more mature version, with all the experiences and life lessons of the novice lifter's life intact.
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As the novice to intermediate powerlifter is born, they begin to compete. With competition can come an overconfidence, as they are now as learned as they have ever been. But because this is the furthest they have ever been from their island of experience, they have no idea how vast the ocean ahead of them truly is, nor the storms that can pound on the deep shark-filled waters in which they are now starting to swim. Because they only know what they know, to this novice to intermediate lifter, they see themselves as possessors of knowledge and experience. That mindset, coupled with a few meet trinkets and shiny objects, gives them a false impression of their depth in the ocean, and they stop learning, as they all too often feel they know so much already.
You see this played out in living color when this incarnation is online. Virtually every post or mention or comment is how someone else is doing it wrong, or is on the wrong path, or is somehow lesser. Remember, small minds discuss people. The average life of a powerlifter is less than 18 months, and the few that last beyond that rarely get beyond three years. So this specific stage, this incarnation as the intermediate lifter, regardless of the number of reincarnations, is tough to get past. This stage, as viewed by those in the sport for decades, takes the longest to mature in, and most do not develop past this stage of development.
For those few who do, they are likely to become lifelong competitive powerlifters. When they can’t compete any longer, they find a way to create their own competitive goals in their mind and strive hard for them in the weight room. These are the lifters that, when reincarnated, come to the realization that they don’t know everything — that although they have accumulated years and decades of knowledge and experience, there is always more to learn. The learning never ends.
And with that knowledge comes humility and the desire to help others find their way, the same way these lifelong lifters were helped. Their knowledge, regardless of how vast, is always leading to more and more. These are your old soul lifters who spend more time listening than talking, who spend more time lifting others up than putting others down, and who spend more time looking at the big picture of teaching others than posting their own pictures online. They do this because they lack the self-discipline to work on themselves and help others, thus they spend their energy pointing out the other lifters' flaws. Not unlike Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena.”
In The Egg, Andy Weir says to the man in the story who was again being reincarnated, “Every time you victimized someone, you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you have done, you have done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”
The story explores the idea of how we are constantly being reincarnated all across the dimensions of time and all of the humans we run encounter are incarnations of ourselves on these different time dimensions. Further, Weir delves into the idea that this entire universe was created for the individual for the sole purpose of maturing to the point of reaching our destiny on the next higher plane.
The point we are trying to make is that the very point of powerlifting is for the lifter to be the best version of themselves they can be. To develop their knowledge of the sport, its history, its present, and its future. To develop a deep, copious, and full understanding of technique and methodology and complete grasp of all that comprises training. To be as strong as humanly possible inside of the gym and have the ability to demonstrate this strength when it counts, at the meet. To do all this while helping the other, lesser incarnations of you. To be parallel to the story, your own self at a different stage in your powerlifting maturation. In other words, to be the most complete, powerful and competitively successful powerlifter you can be, but at the same time making sure that along the way you live, learn, and pass on!
As powerlifters we are, in the sense described in ‘The Egg’, reincarnated. We live and die and are reborn several times over our lifting career.
Coauthored by Eric Maroscher and Kristian Johnson
The LA riots took place back in 1992, some 25 years ago. The riots were a reaction to a jury acquittal of four officers in the Rodney King trial regarding excessive force in the videotaped arrest and beating. The trial, the verdict, and the riots split a community among racial lines. During this time virtually all the businesses in the area were closed down and/or boarded up.
During that time, a portion of the LA area was literally ablaze as the riots raged on, with widespread arson, looting, and with property damage estimated over a billion dollars. As the violence subsided and that community assessed the damage, both economic and human (over 2,300 injured, 12,000 arrested, requiring the intervention of the California National Guard, the 7th Infantry, and 1st Marine Division), I remember reading an article somewhere at the time about one of the lone businesses that remained open in the area during the rioting. It was a business where black and white continued on with their “life-routine” as if there was no chaos around them. The business was a local gym where the lifters and bodybuilders continued to train along side one another, within the four walls of their gym, while portions of the city and many, many other businesses literally burned around them.
This was a quarter of a century ago, and although I can’t recall where I read that, what I vividly remember and what has stuck with me all this time is the article identifying that in this society, the gym society, the societal lines were not black and white, but rather big and strong, vs. not big and strong. In other words, the inference was that there is the general society and then there is the lifting society or subculture, which resides within that larger culture. It was that commonality within the serious gym culture of training with weights that superseded, for those lifters in that LA community, what was going on in the world directly around them.
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As a lifelong lifter, like many of you, the existence of this subculture felt very real to me, and was something I was aware of, but it was this article that helped to put my feelings into a focus as I looked out across the gym I was training at back in 1992. The gym I was training at those many years ago was a serious gym and like other serious gyms, was full of a cast of diverse characters, all of different backgrounds, races, and religions, where former inmates trained with current law enforcement and other seemly mix-matched training partnerships were formed. Strength, power and the internal drive to succeed served as the great unifier. The differences within the lifters of that serious gym were varied, but those differences all paled to the commonality that everyone under that roof had. That commonality was that they were there to train and to train hard. This training was the common thread that not only permeated but saturated this gym’s environment and created this subculture of lifters that valued strength, power, and size over the larger societal labels established by the mostly non-training “regular” society as a whole.
I had lived and lifted and trained in this lifting culture my entire life. Although I intrinsically knew and felt this brotherhood of iron, I never actively explored this on a more conscientious level until that LA gym story caused me to pause and reflect. For me, after I became consciously aware of what I already knew intrinsically, I have always relished in that fact and this truth, as I have seen it manifest in every real gym (meaning every serious, or lifter-owned, or hardcore, or what ever vernacular you choose) I have ever trained at or visited.
With this information of the lifting subculture as a context, think about your own life. In your own life, there is the lifting world, and there is the “regular world.” The serious gym culture is the world where you train and push yourself and strive to achieve something that can only be achieved by your own hand, your own work, your own toil, and your own inner drive to continue past and beyond barrier after barrier. The regular world is full of “regular people” who do “regular” everyday things that everyone else can do. These two very different worlds exist in our one larger society. Consider your job. Your workday. During your work day, your job is filled with “regular people” looking at you and questioning with their eyes, your build, your gallon jug of water, your protein shake, the super-sized container of the day’s food, your post-squat limp, your broken blood vessel eyes, etc. You work with the “regular people” in that “regular culture and society” where they, the sheep, often look strangely at you, the shepherd, and your shepherd's staff.
It is this serious-lifters-society that exists this bond that overshadows the things that separate the vast majority of society. When I am in the serious gym today, just like 25 years ago, big and strong and powerful is the bond with others who are big and strong or striving hard to be so. It is this bond—or this “iron subculture” to borrow a term from the awesome podcaster Steve Colescott— that allows lifters to work together in the gym regardless of race, religion, political ideation, or gender identity. If you bench 800 pounds, no other serious powerlifter could care less if you voted for Sanders, Trump, Clinton, or not at all. Other serious lifters couldn’t care less of your race or what gender you identify with. What they care about is the fact that you can press 800 pounds!
In all transparency, I can tell you that I have had training partners that post about their political views as if their view was the only way to view the political landscape. They post to the point where I just click that button and shut their political views off. But regardless of their preachy, “I know what is better for you than even you,” pontifications, when we are at the gym, all talk about anything non-lifting is silenced and the big picture is this: we are brothers in iron and my job is and will be to make sure each lifter has the perfect lift off, the safest spot, and the best feedback on their lifts.
Within the environment of the serious gym, race, religion, political ideation, and gender identity fall a far second to the bond of power and strength and living life to its fullest.
It is the latter on this list of things, gender identity, that typically divides the “regular people,” but for the most part is inconsequential to the serious lifter, and that is the focus of this article today.
This is the story of strongman and powerlifter Kristian Johnson. Kristian is very successful yet undoubtedly the most unknown man on the strongman scene. This is in spite of his amazing feats of strength, years of training, national strongman championships, and a top 10 finish at the prestigious 2017 Arnold.
This is Kristian’s story of transformation. And as Kristian is steeped in the lifting sub-culture, yet works and resides within the larger “non-lifting” culture, his story is being shared here, within his power community, first via elitefts. It is being shared here first because the lifting community as a subculture is Kristian’s family. And first, because the lifting culture is often ahead of the larger American society when it comes to embracing, understanding, or at its barest minimum tolerating the actual essence of a person over the societal labels placed upon a person.
Given all of the stereotypes of the lifting community, it would seem almost counterintuitive that a group of people who spend the vast majority of their free time lifting iron, rep after brutal rep, set after grueling set in the testosterone-laden environment where barbarity appears to rule the day, would be the community to embrace the individual over the label. Yet this is the observation I have made over my decades in the world of highly competitive powerlifting.
At this time I am going to hand my keyboard over for the remainder of this article. And with that said, it is my great honor to introduce to my readers professional strongman Kristian Johnson, and his story of strength, power, and transformation.
Live, Learn and Pass On. Ever Onward.
Monster Garage Gym owner, Eric Maroscher with Strongman Kristian Johnson
“It isn’t about ‘becoming’ another person. I already am who I am. I just want my body to reflect that. It’s not like I’m suddenly changing from the person you’ve always known – this is more about your willingness to see who I’ve always been,” Cooper Lee Bombardier.
On March 21, 2017, I dropped two letters in the mail, one to my mom and one to my dad. My heart sank like a ton of bricks as I heard the envelopes hit the bottom of the giant, metal box, not knowing if I would ever hear from them again. I poured my heart and soul into those letters, putting myself out there in the most vulnerable of ways. I’ve always found it easier to say things in writing, especially the hard things. After 34 years of living in a shell, I never felt comfortable in, I was writing to tell my parents that I have finally started the process of becoming the person I have ALWAYS been inside. Here is a summary of what those letters said.
All my life I have felt wrong. And I do mean all my life. Ever since I can remember, before I even knew what gender was, I knew I felt off in my own body. It was as if the world I expected and wanted did not match up with what was going on around me or happening to me. I remember arguing with my dad when I still had training wheels on my bike because I didn’t want to wear a shirt but he insisted I had to. I remember throwing a fit when my mom’s best friend wanted me to be her flower girl, and I was ecstatic when I got to wear a tiny tux as the ring bearer. I responded to a comment, from a female classmate, when we were in kindergarten, about what genitalia I had, because I never thought of myself as a little girl. I was a little boy. I wanted to be called “Cody,” “Shane,” or “Elijah,” when I was very, very young. All these things were before I knew what gender was. All I knew was that in my head, I was a little boy; I hated being called a little girl, and it has been this way for the entirety of my existence.
Imagine, for a second, what that would be like. Imagine waking up tomorrow, in the body of the sex you don't identify with, and being unable to do anything about it. You see the world one way, but you must now live as the opposite, pushed along by what society expects of you, what religion expects of you, what traditional gender roles are expected of you, and an identity that is extremely uncomfortable for you, where you know it’s wrong. Everything about your existence would be laced with lies, and it would feel like there’s nothing you can do about it.
Looking back, when I first “came out,” it was because I thought that was what I had to do. I didn’t realize, precisely, what I was feeling because I figured I was gay; I didn’t know what transgender was. The ONLY reason I thought I was gay was because I was attracted to women. I have never felt like I was gay, and I never identified with the word “lesbian.” It has always made me uncomfortable being referred to with female pronouns, which was especially difficult to handle in the sport of strongman.
Strongman Kristian Johnson competing at the Arnold
Earlier this year, at the first Arnold Pro Strongwoman Championship, myself, along with nine other competitors, took the stage for two days, making life-long friendships and making history. Going into this event, I knew this was going to be my first and last pro strongwoman competition. The hardest part of the entire weekend wasn’t competing on a stage, in front of thousands of people. It wasn’t pulling and pressing weights I failed at in training. It was being referred to as “she,” “her,” “strongwoman.” It was having to put myself back in the shell I finally busted out of a few months prior. I had to pretend to be someone I wasn’t, keep a smile on my face, all while being a face of a professional
athlete. What kept me going that weekend was seeing how proud my mom was, seeing how proud my girlfriend was, knowing I had an angel (my step dad, who was laid to rest two hours before I got my Arnold invite) looking down on me, who was with me during every event and finally, knowing I had plans to fully start my transition when I got home.
After the first leg of the flight, traveling from Columbus to Jacksonville, I sent an email to my incredible therapist, Kristie Overstreet, saying, “It’s time!” I purposely waited to officially start my transition until after the Arnold, as a way of starting a new chapter in my story. See, I spent my entire life, feeling like there was nothing I could do about what I was feeling and I was terrified to talk to anyone about it. Not surprisingly, this did nothing but hurt me more, making me feel like I was completely alone, and I would never truly be happy. This is not like a habit I can break, a mindset I can force my way out of, or something I can treat with pills from a doctor. This is a genetic construction that will never, ever change. Studies have shown that certain structures of the hypothalamus (what controls some aspects of sexual behavior in the brain) don’t always match up with biological sex. What this means is that my brain resembles a male brain, not my biological sex.
As it turns out, there are things that can be done about how I am feeling, but until very recently, I had been too terrified to make it a reality. It took
time, a lot of time, for me to build up the courage to admit to myself that it would be a mistake to continue living in the shadows, living a lie, with the world seeing me as a female. So, I’m doing something about it, and I am in the process of transitioning from female to male. This is the only thing I can do to ensure there’s nothing holding me back from living my life 100%, and I am thrilled to take it on!
So what does this mean? It means that I will be undergoing hormone replacement therapy, with my doctor. It means that I will undergo the long and tedious process to shift all my identification to reflect my male identity, which includes a name change. Paperwork was filed, with the court, and I am now Kristian Johnson. I wanted to keep my name similar to the name my parents gave me (Kristin), while making it fit me.
Now for the hardest part. This is the part where I want to make it clear that this is not a choice. I am not deciding to become a man. I am allowing myself to be who I am, who I have always been, but I’ve been too scared to admit to myself, and more so to the people I care about. I am done lying about who I am. During and even after my transition, I am going to be opening myself up for discrimination and hate. I could potentially jeopardize my career. I am opening myself up for abandonment and rejection by those I love. I jeopardized losing a partner who loves me, but I have been blessed with the most supportive, accepting, loving partner. And what is very real is that I could potentially jeopardize my life. These are things I would never do if I had a choice. Nobody wants to be a target for discrimination. Nobody wants to be abandoned by the small
circle of people they truly love. This is my next chapter in life, of my existence, and of my development as a human being.
Strongman Kristian Johnson with his Monster Garage Gym lifting family
Coming to grips with this was absurdly hard, and it constantly sent me into depression and loneliness. The bulk of this was initially being figured out when I first moved to Florida in 2015. So, in addition to being away from my family and my friends, the people I love, I was finally seeing myself for who I was. But I was hidden and I was terrified.
When I finally found the courage to tell someone about this, I was vague with what I said because I was so scared. I lied about what made me sad or I just didn’t say anything at all. Coming out and actually telling someone exactly how I was feeling, how I’ve felt for over thirty years, was a prospect far too scary to even consider. Instead of talking, I sank inside myself, jealous of the people that were braver than me. It took feeling completely beat down and hopeless to finally tell someone everything, the raw truth, and that someone was my girlfriend, my rock. It was soon after that that I started working with Kristie, a well-known, amazing therapist. The first session, she told me, “You have been living your life for everyone else. Give yourself permission to live your life for you.” Those words changed my life, and I knew she was right. So now, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I'm giving myself permission and I’m living MY life.
What does all of this have to do with the lifting subculture Eric spoke about? Well, to put it simply, the lifting culture doesn’t care about age, race, sex, religion, political views, sexual orientation, profession, financial status, or gender identity. The lifting culture cares about ensuring each lifter is striving to reach their individual potential, safely, each and every training session.
When I first walked through the doors of Monster Garage Gym, in November of 2013, I knew I was home. I walked in, late on a Sunday morning, and briefly spoke with Eric about pricing and hours. The next day, I walked through those same doors, for my first bench session with the team, and I knew I had found the most supportive, encouraging, strongest, loudest, most tattooed, humble family I have always wanted. MGG is where I was introduced to the sport of strongman and it was pretty much love at first lift. I had been lifting (like a gym bro) for almost ten years, and at the time I was running about sixty miles a week. The combination of lifting odd, heavy things, and cardio was like a dream come true for me.
I competed in my first strongman show in June of 2014, which qualified me for the National Championships. However, I was already registered to run the Chicago Marathon the same weekend so I passed on the opportunity. I competed in a few smaller shows, in addition to powerlifting meets, while continuing to run marathons, until June of 2015 when I won Illinois’ Strongest and got another Nationals invite. The weekend of Nationals, I had just packed my entire life into a moving truck, on its way to Jacksonville, Florida, where I was headed, directly after this competition. It was this competition where I really started to feel uncomfortable, competing with women and being called a “strongwoman.” I always felt uncomfortable competing in the women’s division, in both powerlifting and strongman, but it was this show where it really hit hard that this wasn’t me. The amount of cognitive dissonance I faced was extremely difficult, especially when I continued to do well in competition, leading to an Arnold Amateur Strongman Championship invite in 2016. Part of me wanted, so bad, to say “forget this,” because I felt like I was lying to everyone else, but more importantly, I felt like I was lying to myself. And part of me wanted to continue to compete until I couldn’t anymore, be it physically, mentally or emotionally. See, I love the sport of strongman. I have met and competed against some of the strongest athletes in the world, and I’m honored to call a lot of those people my friends. I have achieved things in my short athletic career that I never dreamed of, making records, breaking records, earning my strongman pro card in August of 2016, and getting the opportunity to compete as one of ten professionals, in the world, at the Arnold Strongman Championships, the first show EVER of its kind — and the last for me.
Strongman Kristian Johnson with Bella Fede
So where am I going from here? Well, I’m starting over. I’m starting from scratch, as Kristian, “the most unknown man on the strongman scene.” Will I compete again? It's not a question of “if,” it’s “when.” All I can say for now is that I will be competing in the lightweight men’s open class before the end of 2017, so watch out! Completely starting over, in the novice class, isn’t an option for me, simply because I’m not a novice. To me, I don’t care if I take first or last, if I get all the points or if I “zero” every event. What matters is actually being true to myself, through everything, from here on out.
It's an honor to have the opportunity to share my journey with the world, to educate, encourage, and support anyone working through this as well, personally or as an ally.
I’m beyond excited to show the world what happens when strong is all you can be.
In strength,
Kristian Johnson
Within the environment of the serious gym, race, religion, political ideation, and gender identity fall a far second to the bond of power, strength, and living life to its fullest. This is the story of strongman and powerlifter Kristian Johnson.
This is a multi-part series on perspectives for the beginner and intermediate powerlifter to consider as they make their initial step in this journey we call powerlifting.
One’s perspective grows as their breadth of experiences deepens. In part one, we discussed at length the rationale behind perspective. Based upon that rationale, through articles two and three we have now shared the first fourteen, of many, perspectives for the beginner and intermediate powerlifter to consider. The first fourteen perspectives are:
- There are no secrets.
- Sometimes the loudest guy at your gym is only that: the loudest guy.
- "All you can eat" is a fallacy.
- There is only one best way.
- Great lifters are not always great teachers.
- Meet day should be the easy day.
- The longer you are in the gym, the better. Right?
- Do what the biggest guy in the gym does. Right?
- If you didn’t do it in training, don’t try it during the meet.
- If you are not going for all-out numbers, why compete. Yes or no?
- Will wearing gear help or hurt my lifts?
- Don't make the “heights” of your meet a guessing game.
- Put the phone down!
- Develop meet sophistication.
Read their full descriptions in parts one, two, and three. Let's move on to part four and discuss five more things you should know as a new powerlifter.
15. Is it the gear or the technique that needs to change?
Over the years, as with the prior 14 items, perspective shows us that this is a trap that the seasoned lifters watch the newer to intermediate powerlifter fall into over and again, generation after generation. The newer lifters see the truly seasoned veterans wearing and using their gear and being successful doing so. As with other aspects of the game, the newer lifters try to emulate what they see these battle-tested vets do.
But also as with other aspects of the game, they are watching the finished product and do not see what these, “been there, done that,” lifters did to get to the point of wearing the super-refined gear. The new lifters see the geared lifters and they “see” that the gear is often really tight. But what they don’t see is that the gear is tailored toward that specific lifter, that lifter’s body-type and technique, and that there are a dozen or so years that have gone into making things that way. The wide stance squatter will have their briefs and suit dialed in very differently than a lifter who has a close stance, or who is thicker in the thigh area.
So every year, the veteran lifters see the gear worn by the new lifters dictate the form and technique of the newbies, instead of the gear being honed in a way to best serve that lifter’s form and technique. Think of it this way: if you are a Larry Bird kind of player, don’t try to play like Jordan. Both were great players, both were arguably the best at what they did, but both were incredibly different, and one trying to emulate the other would spell disaster.
PART 1: The Gift of Perspective: Things to Know as a New Powerlifter
So, know that you want your form, body type, and leverages to dictate the style and fit of your gear, and not the other way around. The process of wearing gear 99% of the time begins with the more novice lifter borrowing someone’s hand-me-down gear. My two cents on the matter is, rather than trying to work around ill-fitting gear, invest the money into this sport you want to become better at and buy some gear that properly fits. Do this so that you spend the next year training in your gear and not fighting your gear. Also, there is a big difference between a seasoned lifter searching for depth in a new set of briefs or trying to hit their chest in a bench shirt, and an inexperienced lifter risking injury trying to touch their chest or reach depth as they're just learning the gear. Bottom line: after you get a taste of gear by borrowing some, take the time to get properly fitted and drop some coin. You will be glad you did.
16. There IS something to being humble.
There is something to be said for being humble. Walter Payton used to say, “When you are good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” Perspective over the years has demonstrated that there is this time frame, about two to three years into the sport, during which the newer lifter starts teaching other lifters. This is a good thing, as nothing helps reinforce what one knows like teaching. Having said that, being in possession of a nice chunk of foundational information does not mean that someone is an expert, as there is so much more to learn. How much more? A lifetime more.
In other words, the learning never stops. Show me a lifter who says they know it all, and unless their name is Ed Coan, Ernie Frantz or Dave Tate, they are selling you snake oil. Lifters who have been around a few decades see this over and over again. What I can tell you is that the more I am around the sport, the more I rediscover that there is so much to learn. The pitfall to avoid is thinking you have learned it all, when in reality, we never stop being the student. The information is endless.
Helping out a newer lifter if you have a little bit of experience is great, but coming across like an expert or casting aspersions for those who have yet to find there way in the sport is a problem. Bottom line: As a newer lifter, helping out an even greener lifter is a great thing, but keep your eyes and ears open to the successful lifters who have been around for many, many years, as there is always, always more to learn. Lastly, be leery of the new guy wanting to help who tells you how great he is. Again, “When you are good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.”
17. Cashing it in at a meet after missing a lift is short-term thinking.
Why is it that the successful powerlifter can keep their poise after blowing a lift in a meet, whereas the newer lifter’s whole day goes flying off the rails when this happens? Perspective after so many meets teaches you that anything can and often does go wrong in a meet, as the variables are so different from the training atmosphere. Perspective after so many meets teaches you that you might have blown your second and third squat, but your competition might just bomb in the bench and you can still pull off that big win. Just like a fighter in the UFC won’t cash it in after getting knocked down, if you are really in the meet to fight it out, you know that there is really no winner until the totals are tallied.
Over time we are witness to this again and again. The newer lifter gets far too wrapped up in their own head and pre-meet InstaTwitterFacebook hype that when they miss a lift, mentally they are game-over. Powerlifting is about perseverance, indomitable spirit, and a never-quit mentality. If you blow a lift as a newer lifter, keep yourself mentally and physically in the game because you have other lifts and a meet to finish. You might not get the total you wanted, but you will have learned something, and the more you learn, the fewer lifts you will miss in the future.
I won’t go so far as to say, “If a lifter can’t stay in the fight after missing a lift, then they might not be cut out for the sport,” but I sure am thinking that. Be in it to win it, and know that sometimes “winning it” means growing from the experience and working to do better the next meet. All that said, avoid putting all your emotional and ego needs in one basket. Take the meet as it comes, one lift at a time, and you are more likely to avoid this rookie mistake.
18. There is subtlety within the brutality.
I think it is safe to say that one of the things we all love about the sport of powerlifting is the sheer brutality of it all — that feeling of going as heavy as we can, and all the ceremony that accompanies those days. Something to keep in mind is that within the brutality of the sport are degrees of subtlety. Those who have lived through being a beginner and have not only aspired to but achieved success over a long duration of time know the benefits of subtlety within the parameters of an all-out sport. Slapping on one big 45-pound plate after another is great, and jumps of 45-pound and 25-pound plates are commonplace.
PART 2: The Gift of Perspective: Five More Things to Know as a New Powerlifter
But as much as we loathe the other plates, there is an important role the two-pound, five-pound, and 10-pound plates for all successful powerlifters, especially those newer to the sport. When you are building your foundation (which is critical in order to move forward in this sport), the function of a two-and-a-half pound plate on each side of the barbell is of great value — more than one might think. It is the subtlety in the role of these less-than-impressive plates that, over the course of many reps and over the course of many training cycles, set the stage for those big, showy piles of 45-pound plates stacked on each side of the barbell.
Sometimes less is more. Or in powerlifting terms, sometimes less gets us to more. Through the lens of perspective, we see the newer lifter neglect the little weights, as they sometimes see them as a symbol of going less than all-out, when the reality is that the little plates are to the big plates like the mortar is to the bricks. Don’t neglect the little plates. This leads me to number 19.
19. Leave your ego at the door.
For the newer lifter, I say the following to be educational and honest, not to be demeaning: you are not impressing anyone. Here is what I mean by that.
If you are a 250-pound squatter, but you keep putting 315 pounds on the bar, and you keep missing 315 pounds, you do not impress anyone by putting on that third big plate, especially the elite lifters at your gym. In fact, in many cases, even if you successfully squatted the 315 pounds, and that was the most you ever squatted, that might not be impressive. The reality is, as a beginning lifter (really any level of lifter), the focus should be on getting strong(er), and the focus should not be on trying to impress the other lifters. This is a dangerous trap that new lifters fall into over and over again. What I am trying to illustrate is that there will always be someone strong(er), as you are a newer lifter. So keep the tendency to try to impress out of your plan for personal strength gains.
I say all that to make this point: Missing weight because you put too much on the bar in an attempt to impress other lifters is something that the perspective of age and longevity in this sport has shown us is unimpressive. To the contrary, what is impressive is watching the newbie lifter work hard and make tremendous progress month after month after month, as they are unconcerned what others think, but rather focused on how much their strength and power are progressing.
Wishing you all the best in your training and competition. Ever onward.
Through articles two and three we have now shared the first fourteen, of many, perspectives for the beginner and intermediate powerlifter to consider. Let’s dig into the next five.