ONE TEAM, ONE GOAL, MANY METHODS [HD VIDEO INCLUDED!!!!]

The MONSTER GARAGE GYM/MAROSCHER COACHING LOG is a weekly Coaching Log by MGG owner, 2-Time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, Eric Maroscher, and is one of the Featured Coaching Logs at EliteFTS.
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Monster Garage Gym/Maroscher Coaching Log: (Log number LXXVIII). ONE TEAM, ONE GOAL, MANY METHODS [HD VIDEO INCLUDED!!!!]

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Loads of training philosophies exist regarding best practices and how a team should or should not train as a unit. This log explores this very topic.

Depending on what lifter's principals regarding team training that you follow, those principals vary depending on the view point an experience of that individual. Some believe that team training should be individual where as some feel that the group should all follow the same program. Is there a right method to these thoughts? Is there a Holy Grail answer?

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKS_wm-6ifU&feature=youtu.be]

In my 27 years of competitive experience and having been a part of some amazing teams and lifting under some legendary powerlifting coaches like Ernie Frantz, The Godfather Of Powerlifter, I have over the years developed some thoughts about these questions.

Left to Right: GOAT Ed Coan, Maroscher, Godfather of Powerlifting Ernie Frantz, Garcia, Carnaghi

My personal thoughts for what they are worth, or not worth, is that those questions are the wrong questions. The question in my personal experience is not, how should the team train when together, but what is the philosophy of the team and the philosophy/belief system of the lifters on that team. What I mean by that is this…..the mantra of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team and subsequently the MONSTER GARAGE GYM is Become A Part Of Something Bigger Than You. This is our belief system, that if you give your all to your team mate, when it is your turn “under the bar” that energy, that universal flow of power and karma will be given back to you ten-fold and will help you in your lifting exponentially beyond what you could accomplish if you were training on your own. That being our belief system, the collective mindset of each member of the competitive team is to become they best powerlifter that they can possibly be. And to that end, there are different methods for each lifter to achieve that status of, best they can be (which we never will achieve, thus the nature of the sport).

Breaking this down, we as a team want to support each other thus supporting ourselves. We as a team want to individually want to become as powerful and skilled a powerlifter as humanly possible, and we as a team will have our own ways/methods/training principals to reach our fullest potential. So basically, at the MGG, what works the best for us is we are all focused on each other, and on our own lifting, meaning being the best we can become but as no one shoe size fits all, no one item on the menu is the favorite of everyone, no one training method or principal or program will be the best for the collective team, thus within the overarching philosophies of the team there exists either individual program implementation, or minimally, pods of training programs taking place with subsets of the larger Maroscher Powerlifting Team.

For example, take a squat day at Frantz Gym back in Aurora in the early to mid-1990’s, Bill Nichols would be squatting on his monolift with powerlifting great Paul Urchick, Ernie Frantz and some of the other legends of the sport. They were training for their ALL TIME meet number attempts as they were at the zenith, the pinnacle of their powerlifting careers. At the same time, they were very aware of the other lifters who like them were striving to be there best but were perhaps in the beginning or perhaps the twilight of their lifting careers. Regardless, Ernie wanted each lifter to be there best, he would give equal attention to each lifter, but the lifters were not all training on the same program, but yet with the same ultimate goal, and that was to be the absolute best they could be and to squeeze every drop of power out of their lifting that they could, all the while supporting the team.

Left to Right: Nichols, Maroscher circa 1995

So all that said, the question in my mind isn’t about the method (as methods always change and evolve) but the question is about mindset. What is the mindset of the team?

The accompanying video is a visualization of this train of thought in that you have one team training under one roof all with the same mantra, give your all to the team/become a part of something bigger than you, and the team gives that all back to the lifter…also, become the absolute best powerlifter you can be as the window for your best years is fleeting window and every training session is precious toward that end. Lastly, my tag on though is, the lifters who understand the fleeting and precious time duration that is that window of your best years, and can balance that with the self-regulation that is required for a long career which works to expand that window as much as possible, in that lifter falls the mindsets of the greatest lifters. Being aware of your place in your own competitive longevity and taking the time to help others reach their best at the same time are components that the truly great lifters have.

While watching the video, note the differing movements that are happing as they are components of different programs and methods, but all transpiring under the support of the team as a whole and all under the belief that each session, if spent wisely helps move the lifter toward their never reachable goal of being the best they can be.

In closing, in powerlifting there frequently seems to be this search for “the best” method. A need to know “the secrets.” I observe this with the newer lifters especially as they have no long term perspective of the sport yet. This is no fault of their own, it is what it is and this scenario repeats itself over the decades as new lifters join our amazing sport. With regard to that search, it is like the blues man’s search for Robert Johnson’s 30th song. The answer is, there was no 30th song. It never existed except for in the minds of the blues players who were looking for that one all-powerful unifying blues song. So like Robert Johnson (The King of the Delta Blues), there is no one method, no one answer, no secret to find as all of those answers are right there in front of the lifter, but in a way that is so obvious, the lifter, mostly the newer lifter fails to see them. The secret is time under the bar….hard, hard, hard work….consistency….never ending learning about technique and methods and what works best for YOU (as what works best for YOU now, might not be the best for you ten years from now)….solid nutrition….the right amount of sleep and recover….hydration, hydration, hydration….having balance in one’s life (Dave Tate says it all the time, if your life is the gym alone, your symmetry is way out of alignment)….listening to your body….avoidance of mistakes….and the list goes on.

Left to Right: Maroscher, Tate

So be it everyone one is cookie cutter and all doing the same thing on the same day, or your training looks more like the one described above, there is no right answer, there is only the best answer for you as a lifter within your team. Wishing you and your team the best with regard to your training. Ever Onward, Eric Maroscher.

Equipment used in this video:
 3 different EliteFTS deluxe monolifts
 EliteFTS Buffalo bar
 Pasanella bar
 EliteFTS Monster Mondo Leg Press
 EliteFTS spud straps
 Zercher harness
 EliteFTS accommodating resistance chains
 Monster Garage Gym Monster Grip suit puller ( shop.monstergaragegym.com )
 EliteFTS Texas power bar
 EliteFTS bands
 EliteFTS 3x3 power rack
 EliteFTS accommodating resistance bands
 Reverse Hyper
 Ab roller
 Dhama SPORT band

MONSTER GARAGE GYM uses Universal Nutrition/Animal supplements.

The following HD training video features squat/deadlift/accessory training of members of the Maroscher Powerlifting Team at MONSTER GARAGE GYM. We hope this video will in some way help you in your training.

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As with all of our coaching logs, if you have questions about any of the information or need further explanation, feel free to message us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/MONSTER-GARAGE-GYM-122378057784944/

You can find ALL of the prior EliteFTS/Maroscher Coaching Logs at this link: https://www.elitefts.com/author/eric-maroscher/
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