Want to know how to have a better deadlift lockout? Look at what Pete Rubish has done in recent years and you’ll see it.
With this meet, I wanted to prove to myself that I could go from competing equipped to qualifying for USAPL Raw Nationals.
I’ve had a taste for where I’m meant to be, and now I will be training with an unmatched ferocity. I may not have been strong enough to beat the colossus on this day, but I faced him prepared to die.
I’ve already written about my training strategy going into the meet, and what I’ve learned from my meet prep, but I didn’t share a few things for competitive reasons.
Training goals after powerlifting, quality time with children, training at Westside, leaving Westside, thoughts on training methods, the purpose of life, the challenges of being a mentor, and more — all in this video.
A good training program has three main parts: the main lifts for technique, the secondary movements for strength, and the accessory exercises for muscle-specific work.
A big yoke equals instant respect. No one wants to screw with a guy that has a big neck and a thick yoke.
I went into this meet to total 1800 at 180 pounds bodyweight, but learned an important lesson about having backup plans.
You’re never going to build a big total by going into the gym and lifting as much as possible every session, week after week, year after year.
I’m going to share my strategy and reasoning behind it here, so hopefully, you can get some inspiration for whatever meet you’ve got coming up.
A lot of strong lifters have come and gone through this sport, posting two or three big totals to then never to be heard from again. The best lifters are there, year after year, finding new ways to stay healthy enough and hit PRs. How?
I recently made a transition from someone who had a decent amount of experience and was relatively advanced in one sport, to someone who is a true beginner in another sport. It’s taught me a lot about training and shooting.
We might look dysfunctional, but this lifting family is like a Swiss clock put together with a hodgepodge of parts that somehow still always has the right time.
A few weekends ago, a world record squat was attempted. The lift passed, but the video got torn apart on Facebook. Want to know my thoughts on it? No? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway.
How do you get your mind in the right place for a big lift in training? Should you treat it like meet day?
At least, not at this point. As it stands, we are left with adding up our heaviest successful attempt for each of the three lifts and the sum of those is how a powerlifting total is born.
When you look at the best lifters, you find that they have several things in common. Make these behaviors a regular part of your life and you’ll continually see progress, too.
Clint walks through simple adjustments to help an experienced weightlifter and current CrossFit competitor overhaul his deadlift.
I know why I lift and compete, and you probably do too. But our reasons aren’t the same as new lifters who enter the sport of powerlifting. If we want powerlifting to grow for the better, we need to listen.
While raw powerlifting circles have been discrediting the merits of a concurrent approach to training, many have been using a program that is congruent with the very principles that conjugate is based on.
Single-ply, multi-ply, 20 different kinds of raw — what is the right way for you to compete?
Continuing the perspective series, I look more closely at training, meet day, and who to look to for advice.
Powerlifting is a sport of continual evolution. In understanding federations today, it is important to note not only the evolution of powerlifting athlete, but also the history of why most powerlifting federations came into existence.
Using these two cycles together is a great template that I guarantee will make you a stronger bencher.
I don’t recommend this big of a cut for anyone. It is detrimental to many bodily processes and overall health. To be clear, this is not a how-to guide; it is a documentation of my process.
You may have heard or read a few things about Dave’s second hip replacement and the PRs that led to his surgery, but no one has heard the full story. Until now.
If you’re still looking for the most important thing to becoming a top athlete, here it is: not letting anyone or anything tell you what was meant to be or what your destiny is.
Do you need ammonia? Loud music? A slap to the back of your head? Your training partners screaming?
He beat cancer, he set an all-time world record, and he’s soon to hit another huge squat PR. This is how Brandon’s doing it.
I’ve gained 100 pounds over the last seven years and I’m going to share my journey and my experience, both good and bad, this has had on my general health.
Say your quads, hamstrings, and glutes are capable of handling 500 pounds in the squat, but (because of weakness, tightness, or overuse), your adductors can only handle 400. Not a good look.
If you don’t start on the right path, you might spend years training hard and making no progress.
If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, give one of these a try: Intensity-Based Hypertrophy Wave, Working Set Volume-Based Hypertrophy Wave, or Exercise Volume-Based Hypertrophy Wave.
My first meet as part of elitefts was the first Lexen Pro/Am ten years ago. Last weekend, in Columbus again, I finally got to 2400.
If I had a lot riding on this lift before, everything was riding on it now. Making it would be the highlight of my powerlifting career. Missing it would probably be the beginning of the end.
Judging the SPF Ultimate Powerlifting and Bench Press Championship in Georgetown, Kentucky, I saw a lot of lifters make easily-correctable mistakes. Here are the ones to look out for.
Rather than explain, in great detail, when and how I think it would make sense for you to do this, I’m simply going to recount how I did it while coming back from a pec injury.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw that it has been a year since I joined elitefts. In honor of the anniversary, here are five lessons from my first year.
In this first part of the perspective series, I share five perspectives for you to consider as you make your initial steps into the journey that we call powerlifting.
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing”, and over-applying a cue when it’s not needed can really jack up a lifter’s technique.
After 20 years of service, I have come to realize that a powerlifting style of training is best for members of the military.
Here are some of the tried-and-tested methods that helped me finally break through the 400-pound barrier, which had been a monkey on my back for years.
Use this principle to analyze your training program, your technique, your diet, your recovery, and your time.
When thinking about conjugate training, we often look at all the specialty bars, bands, chains and other goodies that we use in training. But when you boil it down, conjugate training doesn’t need those things.
Surrounding myself around top-level powerlifters for over 30 years, I’ve noticed a trend.
It is almost as if lifters don’t think training starts until the weight gets heavy. I’ve got news for these kinds of lifters: a training session starts right after the last one is finished.
Caring about someone doesn’t always mean agreeing with them — sometimes it means telling them they’re making a stupid-ass decision.
Bottom line: all that matters is results. You are either creating or you are disintegrating. If this requires breaking from orthodoxy, so be it. Here are five ways we did this with Matt.
Number of competitions? Severity of injury? Conditioning and size? Powerlifting total?
In this article, we reach the end of our journey. You will read about how original home gym owners made different choices and changed their lives as they followed the iron.
This article is for the grizzled veterans who are now getting up in years. If you’ve fallen off the exercise wagon here are seven easy tips to get your training back on course.
The lessons I have learned from powerlifting help me with situations I come across in my life. I recently experienced this while on my first mule deer archery hunt.
Mark and Dave share their combined knowledge in both powerlifting and bodybuilding, gained from multiple decades honing their respective crafts.
Just like you have lifting data, you also have life data. As the New Year has begun, let’s review 2016.
In this case, we examine a young competitive athlete who has limited experience and is facing several serious issues in his squat, bench press, and deadlift.
As the first man ever to break the 2100-pound barrier (2160) in the 220-pound class, Joe Ladnier rocketed to the top of powerlifting world more than 30 years ago.
Looking for an unconventional use for bands?