What did your training look like before you began this training? Give us a sample week/template that would be fairly typical of what you did.
You can build a powerful looking body without ever entering a power rack. But you’ll never really be strong. Stronger than the average guy, sure, but not the type of strong you dreamed of when you first set foot in a gym. For that kind of strength, you need a heavy bar on your back.
How many times per week should you train the main lifts?
The plan for the training session was to squat but the bodybuilding group had a lot more in mind.
Want to be lean, muscular, strong, and conditioned, with the ability to move without pain? There are many variables, but these guidelines apply to everyone.
I finished 7/9 with a 799 squat, 424 bench, and 815 deadlift (raw with wraps). That was good enough for a 2039 total and an all-time world record in the 198-pound weight class, plus a 592 Wilks and best overall lifter.
My key indicators (as well as yours) take time to know and develop. They also will change over time, so always be on the lookout and always monitor your training.
I have trained with three classes of people in the last few months, including young college men, 50-year-old women, and two very strong powerlifters. Each group has encouraged me in its own way.
Some days you go yard and sometimes the pitcher gets you reaching. You take what you can get and learn from your time in the batter’s box.
To be on the board at Westside, at the time, meant you had to break the all-time world record, because that was pretty much everybody that was on the board.
This was my first meet in a year and a half, since October 2015, when I was battling through a torn supraspinatus and a half torn right biceps. Training went well, but the meet reminded me of a few crucial powerlifting lessons.
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.
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.
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.
I walked away with a two-pound squat PR and breaking my all-time world record, a fraction of a pound PR on bench, and a 12 pound PR total. Soon enough, 1400 will be mine.
If you or your clients are failing to properly load your glutes and hamstrings during a competition squat, this video will show you how.
This meet was about a few monster numbers that have been weighing down on me. All of the lessons from my elitefts teammates are starting to pay off.
There are a lot of things we work on with fixing lifters’ squats, let’s start here.
Without that experience in their back pocket, they simply get eaten up and spit out by the industry.
You can have the holy grail of training programs, but if it doesn’t fit your job, it isn’t any good.
This weekend I cried more tears than I thought were possible. It was emotional, the entire thing, from start to finish. But, it’s something I had to do, for me.
Box squats have been around for years but the debate still hasn’t been settled.
After three injuries in a half a year, I was pissed. I was depressed. I was dumbfounded. But I found my way back, hitting a PR total for my first single-ply meet.
You need a lot in a strongman program: basic barbell lifts, accessory work, practice with the events, conditioning, flexibility, mobility, and recovery work. Use these ideas to build your own training program.
I hated that I fell short of my goal at the XPCs…90 pounds short to be exact. Each and every pound I left on the platform back in March is what fueled my training for my off-season and meet preparation.
There are three very important priorities for a strength athlete to keep in focus during a competitive year.
Are you getting beat up from squatting, benching, and deadlifting? Here’s a handful of tips to help cure what ails you.
You have questions, team elitefts has answers. Today’s topic: building muscle through rep ranges and exercise selection.
Every lifter has their own reasons to love or hate this sport. Here are mine.
I don’t know how many questions we’ve gotten about how to train certain weak points. Of course, almost every question is in regard to a weak muscle group or a certain portion of a lift.
I needed to regain confidence in myself as a lifter and take a step out of my comfort zone. I accomplished this at USPA Nationals.
You have questions, team elitefts has answers. Today’s topic: the squat.
Knowing how to properly spot is not only important for the safety of the lifter but also for your own.
This week Dave answers the question: If you could only pick one exercise as a secondary movement for squats, what would it be and why?
My viewpoint runs counter to much of the current climate, which is dominated by the short-term perspective of a “hypertrophy phase.”
What I overcame for this meet is far more than I have for any other.
This list and the included video give you what you need to know before, during, and after the meet to help your lifter reach their competitive goals.
The journey was difficult but I walked away accomplishing something much more important at the Women’s Pro-Am than a big total.
Through a lot of ups downs since 2002, I’ve learned things both the hard way and the easy way. In one quick read, here are 137 of the best things to remember about conjugate.
The whole point of the US Open was to show Tarra and instill some confidence in what I already knew: that she would still be able to perform well at a lighter bodyweight.
So, you want a big squat, bench and pull? You better learn how to breathe.
Nobody wants to waste hard earned money on equipment they’re not sure about. Use this overview of the SS Yoke Bar and the Rackable Cambered Bar to make your next purchasing decision is an educated one.
With a clinic and meet scheduled on back to back days, I was surrounded by influential members of the strength community and made a few discoveries.
Where is your confidence and what are you willing to do to strengthen it?
You will have the opportunity to learn about any topic in strength training you choose, from execution of the main lifts all the way down to minute details of accessory work.
The concept is simple but undergoing this challenge will feel anything but easy.
Entering the time period away from pre-season or in-season training, our head coach made his expectations clear: “I want to see bench presses go up by 20 pounds and squats by 40 pounds in the next five to six weeks.” Easy, right?
Team elitefts did more than just compete this year at the Arnold. Everything we did is compiled here in one super-sized article.
I’m making some changes and have employed the knowledge of several lifting legends to answer these crucial questions.
These mistakes in the squat, bench, and deadlift seem small on their own. But add them to together? You’re leaving pounds off your total.