Dan and I have known each other for about five years now, and it was only fitting that he joined team EliteFTS during his preparation for USPA Nationals while working with me for a training cycle.
It was a pleasure working with Dan and I was honored that he asked to work with me for this meet. He's a professional in every sense of the word and I'm sure I learned as much from him as he learned from me. He has his training and routine down pretty well, but he was willing to try a new approach with most of his training. At one point he asked if I was trying to kill him, which was a good indicator that he was out of his comfort zone and we were riding that fine line between a great meet prep and potential injury. To Dan's credit, he made some great decisions DURING training sessions that kept him injury free and set him up for success on the day of the meet.
Summary of this meet prep:
- Dan successfully cut from 213 to make 198. He has used Brian Carroll's protocol with success throughout his career.
- He had some work to do on his depth after missing his opener, but finished squats with 655 for a PR at 198.
- His bench was strong all training cycle so after 451 he made a good jump to 468, was correctly called for downward motion but still finished the attempt. We both agreed that after an easy training PR that it was a successful approach to his bench for the training cycle.
- And his deadlift was a similar situation- hit a training PR during the cycle regardless of bodyweight- but didn't have enough in the gas tank to hit the 1800 mark.
- 655-451-661 (needed 694 for 1800)
Squat
We programmed squats with two weeks of straight bar followed by two weeks on the SSB, with the main goal being continue making progress while giving his shoulders and elbows a break.
The first few weeks were light doubles for the main sets followed by either a top set of 6-8 for time under tension or pause squats, regardless of bar selection. Obviously weights were adjusted depending on which bar we selected. Weeks 5 and 6 were heavy sets of five, pushing toward an RPE of 8-9. Week 7 was our first deload.
Example from Week 5:
| Straight bar squat | 505 wraps | 2 | 5 | 240 sec |
| Pause squat | 405 | 3 | 3 | 180 sec |
| SSB GM off pins | RPE8 | 3 | 5 | 120 sec |
The next four weeks were 5's then 3's beating previous weeks numbers. Followed by a deload. Then finally a peak where Dan hit an easy 625 and made a good call at 665 for his last heavy squat session.
Example from Week 11:
| SSB | 455-485-515 | 3 | 3 | 240 sec |
| Front squat (straight bar or SSB backwards) | 345 | 2 | 6-8 | 180 sec |
| Seated SSB GM | 185 | 3 | 12 | 120 sec |
Bench
This was a simple progression-
Weeks 1-3 Incline 5's and triples
| Incline bench | 315 | 3 | 3 | 180 sec |
| Close grip pause incline | 275 | 3 | 3 | 120 sec |
| DB bench | 100 | 2 | 20 | 120 sec |
Weeks 4-6 Floor Press triples
| Floor press | 365 | 5 | 3 | 120 sec |
| Close grip floor press | 315 | 2 | 6 | 120 sec |
| DB bench | 95 | 2 | 25 | 120 sec |
The last six weeks we got into competition bench working up to singles, progressively heavier week after week leaving plenty in the tank, and doing some backdown volume work.
Example from Week 10:
| Day 2 | WEIGHT | SETS | REPS | Rest |
| Bench | singles up to 415 | 1 | 1 | 120 sec |
| Bench | 375 | 3 | 5 | 180 sec |
| Spoto press | 325 | 3 | 6 | 120 sec |
Deadlift
Weeks 1-3 we worked on Conventional Block Pulls for speed.
| Ram Box jump- box/bench/tailgate- 36" | BW | 8 | 1 | 30 sec |
| Block pull- speed | 445 | 8 | 1 | 45 sec |
| Snatch grip RDL- 5 sec eccentric | 365 | 2 | 8 | 120 sec |
*box jumps done to the bed of a pick up because hillbilly
Weeks 4-6 were stiff leg deficit DL's
| Box jump 36"+ | BW | 8 | 1 | 30 sec |
| Deficit DL 1-2" | 535 | 5 | 2 | 120 sec |
| BB RDL | 495 | 2 | 8 | 120 sec |
After a deload, the next four weeks we went 525-555-585-615 (95%) for singles, leaving plenty in the tank each week. Dan actually took 645 the fourth week at an RPE just under 9.
His last heavy Deadlift session, 3 weeks out, looked like this:
| Box jump 36" | BW | 6 | 1 | 30 sec |
| Competition DL shooting for RPE 9-9.5 | 650-670 | 1 | 1 | 60 sec |
| Block pull | 405-495 | 2 | 5 | 120 sec |
| Stiff leg deficit DL | 225 | 2 | 8 | 120 sec |
| Partner GHR/Nordic curl (someone holding your ankles, ecc focused) | BW | 5 | 3 | 60 sec |
| Seated or kneeling banded lat pull down- loop band over rack | orange | 3 | 15 | 45 sec |
| Stir the pot | BW | 3 | 10 each way | 40 sec |
If you have any further questions regarding Dan's meet prep or want to talk about coaching/programming, email me at cwilliamsstrength@gmail.com
