September 4, 2013 - Deads

I'm back!

Sorry for the huge delay (an entire month) since my last post, but life got crazy and I have been out of town more than I have been in town. Regardless, I have been training as much as possible, and while not with the consistency and focus I would like, training has been going decently well. Yesterday however marked my return to full out training and what better way to kick it off than with some good heavy deadlifts.

Deads
405 x 3
495 x 3
585 x 5
495 x 10

I believe both of those bolded sets are PR's, but I'm not 100 percent sure. Either way a pretty good day of pulls considering the month I had prior to this. Had a pretty nice nose bleed going on those two sets as well.

No real assistance work as I managed to screw something up in my shoulder wake boarding this Labor Day weekend so I have a limited range of motion in my right shoulder. It's improving every day, so hopefully it'll be good to go come next week for some heavy benching.

Last Week's Training Recap

This is definitely a little late, but better late than never, right? Life and especially work has gotten hectic the last week or two. I am still training, but have been forced to make adjustments. Hitting the gym on different days, at different times, and often for shorter lengths of time. It looks like the entire month of August is going to be choas in terms of trying to maintain a training schedule, but I'll power through.


Tuesday, July 22, 2013 - Bench - Reps

Bench
275 x 8 (all paused)
315 x 6
315 x 5

Close Grips
225 x 10
225 x 10

Super Wide Grip Bench
135 x 15
185 x 15

Definitely wasn't feeling it on this day. I hit 315 for 8 (almost 9) reps on my previous rep day, so the numbers clearly weren't there. I was pushed for time as well so I kept this workout short and sweet. The really wide grip bench was a great way to end the workout and really demolish the pecs.


Wednesday, July 23, 2013 - Deadlifts - Explosive

Deficit Deadlifts (off 3" block, no belt, and approximately 60 seconds rest between sets)
415 x 6 sets x 3 reps

Sumo Deadlifts
315 x 5
405 x 5
495 x 5

DB Rows

Pulldowns

KB Swings

Really good workout overall. The deficit deads were brutal because of the short rest times. Sumo deadlifts are continuing to improve as my form gets better. Got some good assistance work in after too.


Thursday, July 24, 2014 - Accessory Day

Seated Barbell Military
135 x 15
185 x 12
225 x 5
225 x 5

Upright Rows
3 sets x 15 reps

Lying Barbell Tricep Extensions
3 sets x 15 reps

Curls
3 sets

Very solid workout overall. I had been forced to miss my dedicated accessory day the past two weeks, so it was nice to be able to get in and have a dedicated day this week. Seated military presses felt really strong and got some good work in with the other exercises.


Saturday, July 26, 2013 - Squats - Heavy

Squats (walked out, no knee wraps)
375 x 3 (no belt)
415 x 3 (no belt)
465 x 3 (belt)
485 x 1 (belt)
485 x 2 (belt)

Just a terrible workout overall. Last time I threw on just the belt I hit 505 for an easy triple, with a lot left in the tank. Just overall fatigued at this point, so I called it a short day. The first set of 485 felt like complete shit, so I came back and hit it for a decent double. Rested up over the weekend so I can be ready to go next week.

Kitchen Stuff - Easy Smoked Salmon

This is a new topic area that I am going to start trying to make frequent posts about. I am nutrition nut so hopefully I can pass on some of what I have learned throughout the past couple years, whether it be recipes, cooking tips, nutritional strategies, etc.

 

Over the past years I have experimented with about every different type of dieting methodolgy that is out there. I have learned from each of them and have learned what works for me, and what does not work for me. The two biggest influences on my current nutritional philosphy have been John Meadows and John Kiefer.

 

I am a huge John Meadows fan and I recommend anyone who is unfamiliar with him and his work to check out his website Mountain Dog Diet and consider signing up for the Express portion of his site. I'm a member there and it's definitely worth the money. You will see a very strong influence from his dieting strategies on what I currently do. Meadows is one of the few guys out there who put a strong emphasis on health, in addition to achieving phenominal performance and aesthetic based results. His work has lead to me putting a much greater emphasis on the quality of my food, particularly my protein sources, than I did so in the past. My protein sources now are limited to cage free chicken, grass fed beef, wild caught fish, cage free eggs, and raw and grass fed dairy. I also try and buy organic foods when I feel the extra money is justified.

 

Kiefer is the mastermind behind the Carb Backloading (CBL) movement and I have implemented CBL with great effectiveness, in terms of dropping fat while holding onto muscle. With that said, I do believe there are some significant flaws in the logic surrounding CBL and as such I have shifted away from following a CBL diet, at least as it is laid out by Kiefer. While I no longer follow a strict CBL diet, I took one invaluable lesson from it, and that is the importance of peri and post workout nutrition. Meadows actually hits on this pretty hard too, and his writings have certainly played a role as well, but it was CBL that really drove the nail home for me in terms of nutrition surrounding your workouts.

 

 

So now that I have given you a very short background on my nutritional journey and how I arrived where I am today, I am going to kick things off by showing you my favorite way to prepare fish, particularly salmon.

 

Wild caught fish, especially salmon, is a major player in my diet. My wife is a vegetarian and as a result fish is one of the few things we can fully agree on. So simply put, we eat a lot of fish. One of the problems people have preparing fish is that it's often difficult to grill and when baked it is often bland. Well I have found the perfect solution.

 

I purchased a smoker box for my gas grill from the world's most expensive cooking store, Williams-Sonoma for about $40-$50. From a quick Google search it looks like I might have even overpaid for mine. Mine is made of steel and has held up great for over a year now. This appears to be the same one I have and it's only $32 online at Williams-Sonoma. You may be able to find cheaper options, but what you don't want is one of the small boxes that are just meant to hold the wood chips and sit in the grill. What you want is a box that has two seperate compartments, one for the wood chips on the bottom and another on top for the meat or fish. This way the meat/fish and all of the smoke is contained inside the box. You end up with a much stronger smoked flavor and it also eliminates the frustration that is often associated with trying to grill fish. This is an example of what you do not want, an open faced smoker box that is not meant to be cooked on.

 

The box essentially allows you to turn any gas grill into a smoker and it produces the most flavorful and juiciest fish I have ever had. The salmon I make on my grill in my smoker box is better than any salmon I have ever had at any restaurant, and it's so simple to do. I have also done chicken and it is also great, but it is fish that I really love to cook with the smoker box. I have yet to try pork or steak, but I'm sure they would also be amazing.

 

 

Step 1:

 

Get a smoker box, a bag of wood chips, and some fish of your choice (as long as it's wild caught). Wood chips can be found at any grocery store and they are dirt cheap. I get the Publix store brand and it's either $1.99 or $2.99 a bag. You can mix up the type of wood from time to time to add some more variety to your fish as well. On this night I was grilling a salmon fillet that I had marianted in some EVOO, with blackening seasoning, fresh basil, and garlic.

 

Step 2:

Soak about 2 cups of wood chips in a bowl of water. This is important because you want the wood chips to smoke, not to actually catch flames and burn. I say soak the chips for at 20-30 minutes, but honestly the longer the better. Also note that it does not take a lot of wood chips. I could probably get away using even less chips, but they are so cheap I figure I'll use a little extra and make sure I get the full smoke effect.

Step 3:

Spread chips evenly across the bottom of the smoker box and then place the box on the grill and preheat the box. I generally have my grill turned all the way up to high, but your grill may be different.

Step 4:

After about 10-15 minutes you should see smoke pillowing out from under the lid of the smoker box and you'll know it's ready. So just take off the lid with an oven mitt, spray some non-stick (I just use a little EVOO spray), throw on the fish, and replace the lid. Now all you have to do it wait until it's done, probably about 15-20 minutes. The awesome thing is that you really do not have to worry about the fish drying out. If you could it a little longer then you'll just get a stronger smoked flavor, but still get a very juicy and tender piece of fish.

Here's the final result from that night.

A final tip, buy some steel wool to make cleaning the box a breeze and thank me later. Otherwise you'll be hating yourself when it comes time to clean the box.

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - Squats - Explosive

Squats (No Belt, No Wraps, Walked Out)
365 x 8 sets x 3 reps
** 60 seconds rest between sets

Front Squats
315 x 3
365 x 2
405 x dumped it
315 x 3
315 x 3
** Just felt shitty today. Not sure why, but I couldn't maintain my form. Everything was trying to roll forward on me and once I got to 405 I could no longer fight the weight back and had to dump it.

Tsunami Bar Squats (Elevated Heel)
185 x 15
225 x 15
275 x 12
** I don't know what the actual bar weighs (it's significantly less than 45 pounds) so I just pretend it's a normal 45 pound bar to make record keeping easy.

Pullups


Thoughts

Really good workout overall. My lower back was fried halfway through the back squats which may be why I couldn't maintain my positioning on front squats. Disappointing front squats especially because I was expecting to PR on them.

First time squatting with the tsunami bar and I have to say I was impressed with it. If you're not familiar with the tsunami bar, check out the video below of Dale using the bar. The whip the bar gets when you hit the hole and reverse the weight is crazy. It really overloads the bottom position of the squat and absolutely fries the quads. Did these with a high bar setup and with a mat under the heel to put even more focus on the quads.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - Deadlifts

Block Pulls (no belt)
405 x 3
495 x 3
585 x 4
635 x 2 (wore belt on this set)
495 x 10

Pendlay Rows
135 x 15
185 x 10
185 x 8

Pullups
3 sets

SSB Squats (no belt)
135 x 12
185 x 12
225 x 12

Pulldowns (pronated grip)
3 sets of 15

Thoughts

By far the worst workout I've had in a while. I think I was just fatigued. Last time I pulled off the blocks I worked up to 675 x 3 and 725 x 1 with a belt. I was expecting 5 plus reps on the 585 set. Even my grip was giving out by the end of my 585 and 635 sets, which never happens to me. Rows and pullups went about as shitty as the pulls, but I was able to get some good work in. Anyways, I'll just scratch this one up as an off day, especially since training has been going great overall lately.

Monday, July 15, 2013 - Bench - Heavy

Bench (Slight pauses on all reps)
275 x 3
315 x 3
355 x 3
355 x 3
355 x 3

Buffalo Bar Bench Press (extremely slow decents and all reps paused)
145 x 15
195 x 15
235 x 8

Prontated Dumbell Bench
65 x 20
65 x 15

Skull Crushers
75 x Repped Out to Failure
75 x Repped Out to Failure
75 x Repped Out to Failure

Band Pull Aparts Supersetted with Band Pushdowns
3 sets


Notes

My body felt completely wrecked going into this workout due to a long day out on the lake wakeboarding Saturday. So with that said, I am pumped I was able to work up to 355 for three triples on a day I was clearly less than 100%. The reps were all a little bit slower than I would have liked, especially on the third set, but on a day like today, I'll happily take that performance.

This was the first time I have ever benched with the buffalo bar and they are brutal! The added range of motion at the bottom puts a lot of extra stress on the pecs. Not to mention the thickness of the bar makes for a good forearm workout. I can see a lot of benefit coming from these, so I will definitely be adding them to my workouts every couple weeks as an assistance exercise.

Saturday, July 13, 2013 - Squats - Reps

Squats (Walked Out)
415 x 10 (No Belt)
465 x 5 (Belt)

Pause Squats (Walked Out) (No Belt)
285 x 3
325 x 3
375 x 3
375 x 3
375 x 5

Glute Ham Raises
3 sets holding 25 pound plate


Thoughts
I was a little rushed for time, but very good workout overall. The set of 10 on squats was a real grinder and I don't think I had quite fully recovered for the 465 set, otherwise I believe I could have grinded out more than 5 reps. The paused squats were a great addition to the workout and 375 x 5 is a big PR for me. The pause squats really help me to find my strongest position in the hole and to focus on my movement patterns coming out of the hole. I have a tendency when I start to struggle to shoot my ass up and lean over, and essentially turn my squat into a half squat/half good morning. The pause squats really help me to break this habit.

Thursday, July 11, 2013 - Deadlifts - Heavy

Deficit Deadlifts (No Belt)
425 x 3
515 x 3
565 x 2
565 x 2
565 x 2

Sumo Deadlifts
425 x 3
425 x 3
425 x 3

Pullups

Pulldowns


Thoughts
A really good heavy deadlift day. My back and forearms were pretty sore before I even started due to some wakeboarding on Tuesday and I could definitely feel it in my pulls. There was definitely more back rounding than I would have liked and my grip was noticably fatigued, but I was very happy to hit three doubles with 565 with no belt. I am still trying to get a feel for sumo deadlifts and as a result I am keeping the weights really light for now and am going to start adding them in occasionally just to to see what happens.

Monday, July 9, 2013 - Bench

Bench
225 x 3 reps x 8 sets (less than 60 seconds rest between sets)

Incline Barbell
225 x 12
275 x 7
315 x 2
225 x 12

Seated DB Military
50 x 19
50 x 12

Thick Rope Pushdowns
80 x 20
100 x 18
100 x 15

Reverse Grip Bench
135 x 15
185 x 9
185 x 8


Notes

Today was explosive training day for bench. Kept the weights low and the rest times even lower. One of my training partners and I just alternated our sets back and forth with no added rest time. I probably knocked out my sets with 30-40 seconds between each one.

First time doing heavy incline barbell work in a while and it felt pretty good. The incline at our gym is the one thing I hate in our gym, but you have to work with what you have. The bench isn't straight. It literally rounds off at the top of the back. Regardless, I know I have a lot more in me as far as the incline goes, but I am happy with those numbers for today.

The reverse grip benches were added at the end just to get in a little more tricep work. It's an exercise I really like to do, but I do not like going heavy with them, due to the akwardness of the exercise. My triceps were absolutely fried after the rope pushdowns, so I figured it was a great time to throw in a few sets of reverse grip benches.

Saturday, July 6, 2013 - Squats

Squats (No Belt, No Wraps, Walked Out)
375 x 3
415 x 3
465 x 3 x 3 sets

Pullups
3 sets of 7

Leg Press
3 sets of increasing weight x 25 reps

Straight Leg Deadlifts (standing on 3" block)
225 x 15
315 x 15

Ab Work



Thoughts

Nothing fancy here, just some heavier volume, but overall a very good workout. Squats were not as explosive as I would have liked, but it was just one of those days. I am also still learning how to walk out heavier weights. It sounds stupid, but there is a big difference between taking the weight straight out of the mono ready to lift and walking the weight out and having to then establish your starting position.

I have never gone to 465 without a belt before, so hitting three triples with that weight was a good day.

My left adductor is still a little sore, but I can tell that it is improving. Hopefully in the next couple weeks it will be back to 100 percent.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - Deadlifts - Explosive

Deadlifts (straight bar and no belt)
8 sets of 365 x 3 with 60 seconds rest between sets

Barbell Rows
225 x 10
225 x 10

Pullups
3 sets to failure

Hammer Strength Machine - Low Rows
3 sets of 15 focusing on really squeezing at the top

Thick Bar Pulldowns
3 sets x 15 reps

KB Swings
40 kg x 20
48 kg x 20

Core Work


Apparently I didn't get the memo that everyone is suppose to take the day before the fourth of July off from training. Doesn't matter if I had gotten it anyways, because my ass would have been there anyway.

I was running about 30 minutes late today due to work and fully expected to see the rest of our team well into their warmup sets when I arrived at the gym. Instead I walked into a wasteland. Even my wife couldn't make the trip today because she was bed ridden from a debilitating migraine.

Sometimes it's nice to train alone though. I plugged my iPhone into the sound system there at the gym and went to work. Today was explosive deadlifts and since I was training alone I was really able to focus on maintaining shorter rest periods. Every consecutive set started 60 seconds after the previous set ended. Sometimes training with five to eight other people can make it difficult to pop off one set after the other, but that certainly wasn't an issue today.

First time in a good while that I used a regular straight bar and not a deadlift bar for my pulls. I love pulling with a regular bar because it forces you to really become conscious about getting everything tight before you even start the pull. Training with a straight bar is a great way to build explosiveness off the floor.

I also did a couple sets of conventional barbell rows and was quickly reminded why I had decided to drop them from my training in leau of pendlay rows. I simply cannot get the same type of targeted muscle activation in my back from a conventional barbell row that I get with pendlays.

Monday, July 1, 2013 Training Recap - Bench - Reps

Bench
275 x 3
315 x 8 (missed on 9)

2 Board Bench
335 x 6

Floor Presses
225 x 10
275 x 5
315 x 5
315 x 1 (stopped here)

I didn't feel great warming up, but the top set on bench felt great and 315 for 8 reps is a PR for me. I absolutely hate to miss reps and I almost had 9, but couldn't quite lock it out. I am not a huge fan of board presses, but decided to do a set just for a little overload since 315 felt so good.

I am becoming a big fan of floor presses, as it is a lift I haven't really utilized to a great extent in previous training cycles, but that is changing. I allow the my arms to completely come in contact with the floor on each rep, to the point that the weight actually deloads to some extent before I press the weight back up. The weights felt good today, but for some reason on the second set of 315 something tweaked in my left pec, so I cut it off there.

It's nothing serious, and it's not the same pec I previously tore, but it was sore the day after. I don't expect it to keep from benching next week.

Finished the workout up with some tricep work, being careful to keep stress off the pec, so lots of isolation movements for high reps...

Lying Tricep Extensions with Straight Bar
kept reps at 15 and continued increasing weight until I could no longer get 15

Cable Extensions using the rope attachment
2 sets of a million reps

Recap of Last Week's Training

Been really busy as of late so the updates are lacking, but I am going to try and fix that starting now. Training is back at full force following last month's meet, so there will be a lot more training related posts to get us started. I also have some other ideas on how to get this blog more active.

Here's a simple recap of the rest of last week's training. I didn't include any of my assistance exercises in the wrietup, simply in an effort to keep things a little more concise.


Wednesday June 26, 2013 - Deads - Reps

Deficit Deadlifts with No Belt (Standing on about a 3" block)
315 x 3
405 x 3
495 x 8

I felt pretty winded from the start of this workout, so I was very happy with the performance on that final set. Deadlift form is feeling right on point and all of my pulls are feeling very smooth.

If there is one thing I hate, it is pulling reps on deadlift. Anything five and over leaves me completely gassed and I could literally still feel the effects of that set at the end of my workout. Some will say I need to improve my GPP, which is always something that is worth trying to improve, but for those who can do a set of high reps on deads and recover in 5-10 minutes, I believe you are not even coming close to pushing yourself hard enough.


Thursday, June 27, 2013 - Assistance

Standing Overhead Press - Olympic Style
185 x 10
205 x 5
135 x 15
135 x 11

I do all of my standing overhead pressing in an olympic style. No need bend and a close grip. I am not claiming my lift would pass in an olympic weightlifting competition, but it would be close. I see so many people do standing overhead presses in a push-press sytle, using a shit-ton of leg drive. Unless your training for strongman competitions, you're wasting your time in my honest opinion. I am going to write more about this later.


Saturday, June 29, 2013 - Squats - Explosive

Squats (Walked Out/No Belt/No Wraps)
8 sets of triples with 325

Front Squats (No Belt)
315 x 5
365 x 3
365 x 3

First explosive squat day of this training cycle and it was a good one. The bar was moving fast and as the sets went on the weight continued to feel lighter and lighter and each set was more explosive than the last.

Fairly heavy front squats today and 365 was a new PR on front squats without using a belt. If you have never tried front squats without your belt, I encourage you to ditch the belt next time and see just how much harder they really are.

Training Updates & Plans for Future Meets

I took some time off to recover after the June 8th meet and then took a mini vacation at the end of last week so training has been sporadic until this week. Regardless, I did manage to get in a couple good workouts and even hit some PR's along the way. This Monday was the official start of this newest training cycle, so expect more frequent training updates.

My plans had been to compete at XPC semi-finals in October, so that I could qualify for their finals which was suppose to be held at The Arnold. With the announcement that the XPC was not going to be able to have their finals at The Arnold this coming year, I have decided that I will no longer be doing those meets.

I have decided that I will be competing at next year's Raw Unity Meet (RUM) in Florida and am absolutely stoked about it. It will be my first time competing against that level of competition. I will do another meet before then and am eyeing a couple different ones in the September-October timeframe, but haven't made a final decision yet. I will keep everyone updated once I make a decision.


Anyways, here's some highlights from recent training:


Saturday, June 14, 2013

Squats (Walked Out and No Knee Wraps)

375 x 3 (no belt)
415 x 3 (no belt)
465 x 3 (belt)
505 x 3 (belt)

I have become entirely way to relient on using the monolift. I have also decided that I am going to be competing at RUM next February, where I will be required to walk out my squats. So with those two things in mind I am going to be doing most of my squats at least for the near future walking the weight out for the added core work, because it forces you to stay tighter, and simply because it makes the exercise harder (always a good thing!). I am also going to be doing a lot more work without a belt and it will be a while before I wrap my knees again. The 505 triple was easy and I am excited to see where my squat goes once I start pushing it again this week.


Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Deads Off 2-3" Blocks

585 x 3 (no belt)
675 x 3 (belt)
725 x 1 (belt)

This was an awesome workout and I am pretty sure all three of the sets I listed represent PR's. Just like on squats, I am going to be doing a lot more beltless work, but these felt so good from the start I decided to put the belt on and really go heavy. The 725 was a nice smooth rep, so I know I can go a little higher when the time comes.


Monday, June 26, 2013

Close Grip Bench

275 x 8 (pause on all reps)
315 x 5 (pause on all reps)
345 x 3
365 x 2

I have had issues with tweaking my right pec (the one I tore) in the past, especially at heavier weights, so for this past meet I did almost exclusively close grip bench presses until the last couple weeks prior to the meet. It didn't seem to hinder my progress either, since I hit an alltime PR and did so at a lower weight class. 365 is more than I had previously ever done for a single so hitting it for a double is a big PR.

Apples & Oranges - A Realistic Look at YOUR Progress

This is something I see all the time and I believe everyone is guilty of it at one time or another, especially newer lifters. Stop judging yourself, and more importantly your progress, by comparing yourself to other lifters. Don't even judge yourself by your placement at your competitions. Instead, judge yourself solely by your progression as a lifter. This concept applies to essentially everything in life, but due to the nature of this blog I am going to direct the conversation towards lifting.
 
A couple weeks ago I was part of a conversation. Three of the people, myself included, are part of our powerlifting team at SCBB. The fourth guy was a friend of a friend, and he told us how he had recently started doing crossfit as means to lose weight and just improve his overall health and appearance. He told us how earlier in the week he had maxed out on deadlifts for the first time in his life, working up to 425 for a single. You could see how proud he was of that number, as he should be. He then decided to ask the rest of us what our best deadlifts were. Hesitantly everyone eventually answered and the weights ranged from the high 500’s to the low 700’s. You could literally see the pride get sucked out of him and he was so disppointed he looked distraught.
 
So what’s the point of this story?
 
Here is a guy who just started training with weights a couple months ago and who never trains in a manner that is directed at building maximal one rep strength. His ultimate goal isn’t even to build strength, it is to lose fat. Yet he is comparing himself to three people whose sole goal in training is to become as strong as humanly possible for one repetition.
 
Not to mention that a 425 deadlift is pretty damn good for someone’s first ever attempt at a one rep max. Plus, earlier in the conversation he told us how he had already lost 40 pounds since he started doing crossfit. That is an amazing accomplishment and something that he should be proud of. I made sure he knew it too.

Stop comparing apples and oranges

 

People need to develop some perspective when they are evaluating themselves. There is only one constant throughout your training and that is you. The only thing that matters is that you are better now than you were before, and even this statement has to be applied in the right context.
 
Your progress is a product of you. It is a comparison of where you were at some point in the past versus where you are now. Everyone wants to be the strongest guy in the gym or at the meet, but that isn't always realistic. This is why I said your placing at meets doesn’t really mean shit, generally speaking.
 
My first ever meet I took second in my weight class. Not too shabby right? A couple months later I totaled 75 pounds higher, but finished fourth in the same weight class. So what happened? Did I become a worse lifter because I placed lower? No, I actually improved as a lifter because my total went up 75 pounds. I made positive progress as a lifter.
 
Most meets are so hit or miss in terms of the quality of competitors that you simply cannot judge yourself against your competition. I won the 220’s with a 1705 total in my meet earlier this month. I plan to do RUM early next year and if Sam Byrd shows up and puts up a 2000 pound total then I will get my ass kicked. I hope he does show up though and I hope he breaks world records across the board. For me, I plan on putting up my best total to date and if I do that I will walk away happy, whether I finish in first place or last place.
 
If you are more worried about your placement at your meets and other people’s numbers in the gym, than you are about the progresssion of your own numbers, then you are completely missing the point of powerlifting.

Obesity Is Now A Disease

I know I am unfashionably late to this party, but regardless I am going to toss my two cents in.

In case you have been living under a rock the last week or so, last Tuesday the American Medical Association officially designated obesity as a disease.  The motive behind the move is twofold. Declaring it a disease is supposedly going to increase awareness of, and increase treatments for obesity.

Increase awareness?

While I wasn’t aware two-thirds of Americans are overweight and one-third is considered obese until I started reading articles this week, I didn’t think there was an overall awareness issue (1). I thought it was fairly easy for people to look in the mirror, see the spare tire around their midsection, and have their brain make the connection that they may be overweight. I can’t even fathom a reasonable excuse for how someone who is obese could be unaware of the fact.

Increase treatments?

There is one very cheap and extremely successful treatment option. It just so happens to have 100 percent success rate for those who choose to implement it. Not to mention, it has zero negative side effects. Maybe it’s just me, but this sounds like the perfect treatment option. So, what is it?

Burn more calories than you consume. How? Eat less and exercise more.

It is truly that simple. The scary part is that every single “diseased” person out there is aware of this very simple and very effective treatment.

Instead people choose risky surgeries and diet supplements that are either:

a) just a combination of diuretics to give the illusion of weight loss, or

b) a combination of shady unheard of ingredients that are backed up by even shadier, self-funded research

It’s just another case of people looking for a magic pill. People want to think the 200 pounds that has somehow magically attached itself to their body is somehow not their fault. That it is completely unrelated to their sedentary lifestyle and their diet that consists solely of all you can eat buffets, trips to the fast food restaurant, and those easy, cheap, and convenient processed foods. Then they wash it all down with a nice “diet” soda. (See the diet soda, I told you I was trying really hard to lose weight).

I distinctly remember a girl in college asking me what she could do to lose weight. There was one problem though. She said she wanted to know how she could do it without working out and without changing the way she ate.

This is the epitome of what I hate. People who eat like shit, don’t exercise, and then binge drink two or more nights a week, but are too stupid to understand why they are out of shape or fat as shit.

How many of you know an overweight person who is constantly popping the newest weight loss supplement to no avail? Guess what happens? A couple weeks or months later they are still fat. So what is the solution? It’s easy, they simply have to keep looking until they find the right pill.

If you are eating an excess of 800 calories every day and you take a supplement that boosts your metabolic rate by 50 calories a day, guess what? You’re still eating an excess of 750 calories a day. So not only will you not lose weight, but you will actually continue to get fatter. This should not be so hard for people to understand.

Did you know that nearly all recipients of gastric bypass surgery are required to lose weight prior to their surgery?

The reason being it helps give the doctors more room to operate and it helps to prepare the patient for life post surgery. If you can lose weight in order to be able to have surgery, then why the hell do you need the surgery in the first place? The lure of finally having the magic solution within their grasp, the one that is going to undo all the years of ignoring all the symptoms and all the times you decided to hit the buffet instead of the gym, is actually strong enough to make them give up their gluttonous ways, at least temporarily.  However, it is still too hard to continue what they just proved to themselves that they are capable of, and instead of continuing their weight loss journey the natural and safe way, they almost always will opt to continue with the surgery.

If this offends you, I am not sorry, and it is probably because I have struck a nerve and you know what I said is true. If you are overweight and serious about losing weight, then take action. If you need help, then get it. If you don’t have anyone to ask for help, shoot me an email and I will help you.

When simple weight loss is a goal, especially when you are talking about large amounts of weight, it is very simple to setup and implement a very effective diet plan that consists of satisfying amounts of food and food that is still delicious. You don't have to starve yourself or eat bland food to lose weight. Once again, if you need help setting up a proper diet, then please ask for it.

I am not going to argue at length against the AMA’s decision to declare obesity a disease for two reasons:

 

a) I guess it can technically be construed to meet the definition of disease

 

b) arguing over whether or not obesity meets the definiton is not the point of this post

 

According to Dictionary.com the definition of disease is as follows:

“a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment” (2)

Allow me to make one arguement about why obesity does not fit the definiton for disease before we move on. My argument being obesity is not at all a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system (as defined above). Although I could make a strong argument that it is due to a disordered or incorrectly functioning brain, but I guess that would make it a mental disorder (addictive behavior).

Obesity is in fact, the body functioning as designed. You consume excess calories and the body will store those excess calories. If you continue to consume food in excess then your body will continue to store that excess food, and it is going to do so by making you fatter and fatter.

Don’t get bent out of shape over the last couple sentences though, because if you do you are clearly missing the point. This is not an argument splitting hairs between what is technically a disease, what is technically an addiction, and what is simply a lack of self control.

If you want to waste hours debating the validity of obesity as a disease, remember that any argument you make can be applied to smoker induced lung cancer and alcohol induced liver disease, just to name two. So you have a long and endless road of debating ahead of you, but then again some of you just like to argue, so feel free.

 

So what is the real problem?

By labeling obesity as a disease, the AMA has just given people an excuse for being fat.

The term disease comes with the connotation that the person suffering from the disease is a victim. Victims are generally people who have suffered misfortunes due to circumstances or fate, and generally no actions of their own. Victims are people you should feel sorry for.

No one is a victim of obesity and no one should feel sorry for you being obese. You did not catch the obesity disease from another obese person. Your lack of self control to make yourself get off the couch and put the fork down does not make you a victim. Do not feel sorry for them. Instead feel sorry for the couch.

The only argument that I will ever accept would be that obese children are victims. Children are too young and are not informed enough to understand the need for physical activity and a balanced diet, but their parents are. If your child is obese, it is YOUR fault. Obese children are victims of their parents, but this is a whole other topic.

There is precedent with the AMA naming similar “addictive behaviors” as diseases in an effort to increases awareness and treatments of said disease. In 1956 the AMA declared alcoholism as a disease with the same good, but misguided intentions they had when they did the same with obesity (1).

Studies later showed that by declaring alcoholism as a disease, people started to view their alcoholism as a “chronic relapsing disease” and not as a self-imposed result of their addictive behavior. They also became more likely to accept the idea that they were powerless against alcohol and that treatment wasn’t possible without extensive medical treatment and counseling. Not to mention they had more frequent and more severe relapses (1).

Labeling obesity a disease will only have the same effect.

We all know people who are severely overweight, who claim they have tried everything to lose weight, while they sit there sweating their ass off as they stuff their faces with junk food, feeling sorry for themselves. This type of behavior is going to be even more prevalent now that the AMA has given them an excuse for being fat.

What else is wrong with this decision? This could force insurance companies to pay for treatments for obesity. What will that do to your insurance costs?

How about pharmaceutical companies are now going to be even more motivated to research and manufacture drugs that aid in weight loss, especially if insurance companies are going to have to help pay for them.

Big pharma will pump out some products with some truly nasty side effects, which somehow magically melt away bodyfat, at the expense of melting away your organs at the same time. Worst of all people will flock to these drugs, rather than simply improving their lifestyle, because it’s always easier to take a pill than to actually take responsibly for yourself and make the lifestyle changes necessary to actually fix the issue. Since the self-destructive lifestyle isn't going to change, then the diseased person will be dependent upon these drugs forever.

Rather than choosing to put in the work and implement a healthy lifestyle, people will choose to take the easy way out. Instead of choosing a treatment that offers zero negative side effects, they will choose to continue doing what they have been doing which is eating like shit and not exercising and hope that the newest pill is going to finally be the answer to the prayers.

References:

1)      http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/19/viewpoint-why-defining-obesity-as-a-disease-may-do-more-harm-than-good/

2)      http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disease 

Book Review: Shelby Starnes - "The Healthy Bodybuilder & Powerlifter"

When I saw that Shelby Starnes was offering people with blogs the opportunity to receive a free copy of his book in exchange for doing a review, I immediately jumped at the opportunity.

Anyone who has followed the bodybuilding or powerlifting scenes for any period of time knows who Starnes is. He is an IFBB professional bodybuilder, a successful powerlifter, and one of the best nutritionist out there. He is a magician when it comes to optimizing nutrition and consistently getting his clients peeled to the bone.

Starnes’s newest book, "The Healthy Bodybuilder & Powerlifter," diverts its attention away from purely performance and aesthetic based nutritional guidance and explores the much less talked about, while significantly more important, topic of overall body health.

Most people begin their weight training careers with one of two goals in mind; either improving their performance in a sport or as a means of improving or maintaining their health. Once someone begins to transition towards one of the extremes, such as bodybuilding, powerlifting, or strongman, attention to one’s health can quickly go out the window.

The iron sports, as Starnes calls them, are literally predicated on the idea of pushing the body to its absolute limits and reaching those limits often requires tools that achieve their desired result at the expense of one’s long-term overall health.

Starnes’ book provides a clear and concise guide to managing your health. He breaks things down into seven systems: cardiovascular, liver, kidney, adrenal, thyroid, dietary and digestive, and orthopedic. For each system he discusses:

• the conditions that the athlete is most susceptible to
• why the athlete is at an elevated risk for these conditions, whether it’s from training, nutrition, supplements, or even drugs
• how the athlete can monitor his/her health with respect to these conditions by discussing different tests the athlete should perform or should have his/her doctor perform
• how to understand and interpret the results of these tests, including discussions of normal and expected results, and what out of range results mean to your health
• what can be done to negate or at least minimize these risks, whether it’s through nutritional changes, lifestyle changes, or supplementation

I can’t dive too much deeper into the specifics of what is found in the book because that would not be fair to Starnes. While this might not be the most exciting book you have ever read, it could ultimately be the most beneficial long term. It might not add an extra 50 pounds to your squat over your next training cycle, but it just might help keep you healthy so that you can continuously train at 100 percent, and that over time might add an extra 50 pounds to your squat (not to mention years to your life).

The book is an easy to understand guide to your overall health and presents a lot of tools and changes that can be easily implemented to improve your health. This is definitely a book I believe is worth having on your digital bookshelf.

No one wants to be dead at 50 due to their pursuit of 22 inch arms or a 2200 pound total. Not to mention that maintaining your health is one of the key factors in being able to consistently train at 100% year after year. If you constantly forced to take time off due to sickness and injuries, then how can you continue to progress? A health body will always perform better than the alternative.

 

For more information:
 

Check out the Table of Contents and Intro here: http://www.elitefts.net/ebooks/thb-sample.pdf
 

Purchase the book from Starnes' site here:http://www.shelbystarnes.com/store.html

Making Weight and Water Manipulation

I have procrastinated on writing this article for too long already, seeing as how it's been slightly over a week since the actual meet, but I guess I had my reasons for putting it off. The main reason being that the first time I started typing this out I quickly realized it was going to turn into a full flege novel. I also wanted to figure out how to best discuss the experience without giving away all the secrets. So with that said, this will be my much abbreviated write up on how I dropped a little over 10 pounds in less than three hours to make weight by 0.1 pounds, and then how I managed to put those 10 pounds, plus another 8, back on before the day was over.

I strongly encourage you to do some research on the effects of dehydration before you even contemplate doing something similar. Dehydration can have devastating effects on athletic performance and can be extremely dangerous if done incorrectly or taken too far. The process is also absolutely miserable, but at the same time it is doable. It requires extreme attention to detail in the days leading up to the weigh ins and during the short window that you have between weighins and the meet, in which you have to completely rehydrate and replenish your body. There is a lot of planning involved from food and fluid choices, to supplementation, and other considerations, but I will not get into that now. If someone needs more info or has questions, leave comments here or contact me, and I will try and help, but for the sake of keeping this write up from turning into something that rivals "War and Peace" in terms of length, I will not be discussing any of the finer details here.

Let's begin...

I decided a couple months out from this past meet that I was going to compete at 220 instead of 242 this time. There were two main reasons for making that decision:

1) My knowledge and attention to the nutrition side of lifting has increased tremendously since I last competed, and as a result I have leaned up considerably.

2) This one's simple. The same lifts performed at 220, as compared to 242, make me a much stronger competiter at the national level.

From the beginning there was no way I was going to make 220 out right, so I knew it was going to require some serious water manipulation on my end. Not to mention a 24 hour weighin, to allow adequate time to rehydrate and replenish my glycogen stores. I did a lot of research and talked with a couple guys who have experience with successfully dehydrating themselves and subsequently rehydrating themselves, all in time to step on the platform the next day and deliver dominating performances. Big thanks to Paul Nguyen and Jamie Lewis. Both of whom are absolute beasts. If you are unfamiliar with either, check out Google and YouTube, and be prepared to be impressed. Jamie is the all-time world record holder for raw total without knee wraps at 181 and Paul deadlifts around 700 pounds while competing at 165.

The best way to drop water weight is through a combination of increased urination and sweating. Increasing urination is easily done with the use of a couple of very safe, but very effective over the counter diuretic supplements. The bulk of the weight loss however comes from simply sweating out a large volume of water. There's various ways to do this, but the best way is through the use of hot baths. What do I mean by a hot bath? Fill a bathtub as high as possible and completely submerge yourself with the hottest water you can stand that doesn't actually burn your skin. It should be slightly painful and will be absolutely miserable, otherwise you are doing it incorrectly. DO NOT, under any circumstance, think that exercise induced sweating is the way to go about this. There are numerous reasons why this is a terrible idea, but I will not get into here.

For my first time dropping water like this for a meet, I decided to try and keep it to around 10 pounds, an amount that I was told would be easily doable, and that would allow for an easy recovery (rehydrating and refeeding). I didn't want to be pushing the limits straight out the gate. I did perform two trial runs leading up to the meet, so that I would know what to expect going in. Anyone who decides to do this should absolutely perform at least one trial run.

My weight leading up to this meet stayed around 235 for the most part, but I did allow it to drift up to 240ish for a couple weeks. The highest my morning bodyweight topped out at was 244, one morning after a large backload. About two weeks out I started limiting my carbs slightly and started gradually bringing my weight back into the target range. I ended up a couple days out, weighing around 234. From there I simply cut carbs completely the last three days prior to weighins and that got me down to 230.4 upon waking the day of weighins.

Friday morning weighins were from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, so I woke up at 6:00 and immediately began my "sweat". Initially, I would submerge myself for 10 minutes, then get out and towel off, and then leave the bathroom and cool off in a normal temperature room for 10 minutes before repeating the cycle. I did three rounds this way and my weights were as follows:

Upon Waking - 230.4 lbs
After Round 1 - 227.8 lbs
After Round 2 - 226.8 lbs
After Round 3 - 224.8 lbs

There were some inconsistencies in there as you can see, but these were due to things such as having to compensate for a tube that didn't come close to accomodating my size and therefore having to figure how to maximize the amount of my body I could submerge and also figuring out the best way to plug the overflow so that I could get the water level in the bath all the way to the top of the tub. I clearly fixed the problem for round 2. When everything is done correctly, weight loss per round should decrease fairly linearly as the rounds increase.

Not sure why, other than maybe the fact that I was utterly miserable, but at this point I decided to switch up the way I was doing things. Keep in mind that a small bathroom, with the door closed and the fan off, quickly turns into a sauna due to the temperature of the water in the tub. What I did, was change to the way Matt Kroc does his water cuts, which involves a 30 minute rotation, with 10 minutes spent submerged in the hot bath, 10 minutes sitting in the sauna (bathroom), and then 10 minutes in a cool room. I had experimented with both ways prior to the meet and found both to be very effective. Just two different ways to skin a cat. The main thing I like about Matt's way is that it kept me out of the hot bath for 20 minutes rather than just 10. Unless you've done hot baths before to sweat off weight, you don't understand how absolutely miserable they are, so you won't be able to appreciate the dread of going back into the hot bath. The combination of the increased body temperature from the hot bath and the heat of the sauna like conditions in your bathroom doesn't really allow you to cool off, so even just sitting in the bathroom your body continues to produce ungodly amounts of sweat in an effort to cool itself. Results were as follows:

After Round 4 - 222.8 lbs
After Round 5 - 221.6 lbs
After Round 6 - 220.6 lbs

I stopped my "sweat" at this point as I actually thought I had a little more room to spare than I really did. I was under the impression that my scale was a little on the high side, but as I later found out, it was pretty much dead on. I finished my "sweat" in a little over two and a half hours and with a total weight loss of about 10 pounds.

I weighed in an hour later at 220.4 and made weight by 0.1 pounds. The upper limit for the 220 weight class is technically 220.5 pounds because the 220 weight class is actually just the equivalent, in pounds, of the 100 kg weight class, so therefore 100 kg = 220.46 lbs.

Weigh In - 220.4 lbs

The mission is now halfway accomplished. Now it is time to rehydrate and refeed the body.

While properly dropping the water and making weight is important, it is even more important that you effectively rehydrate by putting all that water (plus some extra) back into your body and that body holds onto that water. Not to mention, you must be able to effectively replenish your glycogen stores. If you screw this part up, then prepare for the most pathetic, embarrassing, and miserable performance of your life.

From the moment I stepped off the scale, the remainder of the day was a non-stop assault of carefully selected foods, liquids, vitamins, electrolyte supplementation, and other over the counter supplements, and all with pretty specific timing. Keep in mind that I put on 18.2 pounds in the 12 hours between the time I weighed in and the time went to sleep that night, which is actually lower than what I was shooting for. That means the volume of food and liquids I consumed weighed in excess of 18 pounds. The first meal or two after weighins was fun, but from there it turned into a chore, and by the time I went to sleep it was miserable.

I'm not going to get into anymore details, but I will say that it was overall a great experience. A miserable experience, but a successful. It got the job done and still allowed me to perform near 100%. I learned some things this first time through that I will apply next time I do this and I expect even more effective water manipulations in the future.

I am willing to help people with this process if they are interested in learning more, but that will be at my own discretion. If you are doing this in an attempt to make a lower weight class so you can attempt to barely hit an elite total, then you are way off the mark.

Feel free to leave comments and ask questions here or shoot me an email.

RPS Backyard Bash - 6/8/13 Meet Recap

There was a whirlwind of different variables surrounding this meet. The two most significant were certainly that it was my first meet in over a year (stupid pec) and that it was the first time I ever competed at 220 and therefore the first time I would be doing a significant water cut. I came up a little short of what I had hoped for heading into the meet, but overall I was very pleased with the way the meet turned out.

Finished the day with a raw 1705 total, and went 7 for 9 on my attempts. Good enough for first place in the raw 220 division and second best overall by coefficient. David McLeod put up an impressive 1900 lb raw total at 242, that included a 740 squat and a 520 bench, and took best overall by coefficient, and with it a direct birth to XPC Finals at The Arnold next year. The direct birth to The Arnold had been my ultimate goal heading into the meet, but regardless I am happy with my performance.

My lifts were as follows:

Squat:
565 good
615 good
640 miss

Bench:
370 good
400 good
415 good

Deadlift:
625 good
675 good
705 miss


I felt great for the most part the entire day, despite cutting 11 pounds of water in a little over two hours on Friday to make weight. However, during my squat warmups and squat attempts was the only time I felt a little off. The first thing I noticed right away during warmups was that my center of gravity seemed to be off when I was squatting. This feeling improved throughout the day as I continued to lift and by the time bench and deads rolled around I felt incredible. I believe this had to do with my water cut and the following rehydration/refeed phase, but I'll discuss this further in another article when I outline my water cut.

I breezed through my 565 squat opener. On my second attempt of 615, I let my weight get too far forward and essentially turned the squat into a heavy good morning. Luckily my lower back was strong enough to keep the weight under control, but the lift was much more of a grinder than it should have been. The 640 miss is the only miss of the meet that I was pissed about. I knew going through this training cycle that I had a 640 squat in me at this meet, but it just wasn't there Saturday. Setup and technique felt solid, but the strength just wasn't there. Not sure if it was the water cut or if it was just me, but I do know that 640 will be an easy opener or second attempt next meet!

By the time bench rolled around I was feeling 100 percent and it showed as I managed to break my previous best of 410 that I had done at 242, by benching 415 at 220. The lift was an absolute grind, and I did get out of my groove, but I stuck with it and was able to eventually grind it out. Bench was the one lift I was worried about when I decided to do this meet, so I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.

Deadlifts felt terrible throughout training leading up to this meet, but felt surprisingly good at the meet. 625 was a cake walk and 675 was nice and smooth. I'm sure I could have pulled 690 or 695, but I decided to go for 705 and try and break my previous best of 700. The last couple months, I have been having some issues with my setup and loading sequence, and it had been causing me to essentially straight  leg all of my pulls. I think I have figured my loading sequence out and I can't wait to get back to training so that I can finally blow past the 700 lb barrier.

I have to give a big shout out to my amazing wife Shauna who is by my side throughout this whole process. From going to the gym with me night after night, to putting up with my crazy eating/dieting, and supporting me throughout everything. Not to mention being my personal photographer and loudest supporter in the crowd.

Also a huge thanks to my South Carolina Barbell team and family who help push me night after night, and who drove up to the meet just to help out and show support. Big congratulations to the other team members who also lifted this weekend, Desi, Brett, and John, all of whom kicked ass.

5/29 & 6/1 - Final Training Sessions Recap

Today is June 1st, so I am officially 7 days out. Bodyweight this morning was 233, so still looking good on that front. Today also marked my final day of training before the meet. I'll still be at the gym this week helping to train my wife and helping the other guys on our team who aren't competing next weekend. Now it's time to rest up and get ready to make weight Friday morning and then crush some PR's on Saturday.


Wednesday (5/29)

Deads
315 x 5 (no belt)
365 x 3 (no belt)
405 x 3 (no belt)
455 x 3 (no belt)
495 x 2 (no belt)
495 x 1 (with belt)

Pulldowns
100 x 20 (3 sets)

One Leg Hamstring Curls
25 x 20 (3 sets)

I threw on the belt for the last single just to make sure the last deadlift I pulled prior to the meet would be exactly the same as it would be at the meet. Despite staying light this workout, this was by far the best my pulls have felt in a long time. Deads, which are normally my best lift, have honestly felt like crap this entire training cycle. Have had a bad habit lately of allowing all my lifts to turn into heavy straight leg deadlifts. I'm proud of my 650+ straight leg dead, but not exactly the way I want to be pulling at the meet. Anyways this workout I had everything tight and going backwards, as it should be. Gives me an extra little confidence boost heading into the meet.


Saturday (6/1)

Squats
325 x 3
375 x 1
415 x 1

Abductor Machine
some light weight x lots of reps (3 sets)

Squats felt great today. On my 145, 235, and 325 sets I literally had the bar coming a couple inches off my back at the top because I had so much bar speed. Worked up to 415 and everything continued to feel nice and light. Finished up with some very light work on the abductor machine because it cured some issues I was having with groin pain off and on earlier in this training cycle, so I figured I would keep it in the rotation this last workout.

5/28 - Meet Prep Update

Currently 11 days out from the RPS Backyard Bash on June 8th. Bodyweight this morning was 237, up a few pounds due to last night's backload. Not up as much as it normally would be the day after backload, but that's because I have been cutting back on the number of carbs I'm taking in during my backloads. That's one of my favorite things about carb backloading, how easy it is to manipulate your weight gain/loss. Weight is still right where I want it to be so I can make 220's.

This is my last week of training prior to the meet. Just hitting some light (sub-opener) weights for a few singles, followed by some extremely light auxiliary work to get a little more blood flowing. Here's a very boring synopsis of Monday night's workout.


Monday's Workout (5/27)

Bench
lots of warmups
225 x 5 reps
275 x 3 reps
315 x 1 rep (with exaggerated press and rack commands)
315 x 1 rep (with exaggerated press and rack commands)

Standing Overhead Press
25 lb (mini barbell) x 30 reps (3 sets)

Rope Tricep Pushdowns
very light weight x 25 reps (3 sets)

Weighted Abs
very light weight x 15 reps (3 sets)

Notes: 315 felt very light and the weight moved fast on both sets. I was tempted to go up to my opener but wisely resisted the urge. I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do on the bench at this meet.

Getting the ball rolling...

Welcome to my blog everyone. This is the place where I plan to unload my thoughts on everything training related and some things not. I welcome all comments and feedback.

My name is Drew Hall and I am a competitive powerlifter and an avid nutrition nut. I currently live in Columbia, SC and train at SC Barbell (Marc Bartley's gym).

I compete raw and my best total to date is 1730 at 242. This total was achieved in October 2011. Since that meet I have had a couple injuries, including a partial pec tear in February 2012, which I continued to aggravate multiple times over the following year. These injuries, particularly the reoccurring pec problems, sidelined me for a good bit and worse of all they screwed with my head.

Anyways I am back in the saddle again, so to speak, and am currently sitting 2 weeks out from my first meet since that Oct. 2011 meet. The meet is June 8th and it's the RPS Backyard Bash in Charlotte, NC. I have big expectations going into this meet and even bigger expectations for the future.



For those who don't know me, allow me to give you a brief background about myself and how I got into lifting and how I ended up where I am today.

Growing up I was always involved in sports and as I got older (think high school), all my focus went towards baseball. I was one of those kids who literally practiced every single day I wasn't playing, so it was literally baseball 365 days a year. This drive and determination to be the best at whatever it is that I am trying to accomplish was engrained in me at a very early age, and I thank my Dad for that.

When it came time to graduate high school I had a few offers to go play baseball at some of the smaller schools in the surrounding area, but I ultimately chose to forgo college baseball and focus on my studies instead. When I got to college freshman year, this was the first time I ever found myself not involved sports. I no longer had a physical outlet. I had to find a new passion, something to replace baseball, something I could pour my heart and soul into, and that would allow me to constantly push myself to get better and better.

The first week or two of college an old childhood friend who I hadn't really seen in years asked me if I wanted to start going to the gym with him. His name was Josh and he had a wrestling background and therefore a solid weight lifting background. I accepted the offer and from there out we lifted together until the day we both graduated college four years later. I was instantly hooked and had instantly found a new passion. I have to say thank you to Josh for this.

My passion for lifting continued to grow throughout college and I gained an impressive amount of size and strength over those four years. Start of freshman year I was 180 soak and wet and by the time I graduated I was a big bloated 250 pounds.

I accepted a job in Virginia upon graduating college and my future wife and I found ourselves moving to Virginia Beach. Like any good meathead, I had already researched gyms in the area and after arriving in Virgina I quickly made my way over to Brute Strength Gym in Norfolk, VA. This was by far the best gym I had ever lifted in and I recommend anyone who is ever in the area to check it out. Brute was where I had my first real exposure to powerlifting.

I began training with two competitive powerlifters, Thomas Dillard and Eli Guidry. Eli moved shortly after we started together, so it was me and Thomas for the next two years while I lived in Virginia. Thomas is a SHW and currently lifts in the masters division and is still squatting over 700, benching over 500, pulling in the high 700's, and chasing a 2000+ total. All raw and all at 50+ years old. He holds the all-time world records for master's in the squat, deadlift, and total, and on a good day I know he can break the bench record as well.

Two months later I did my first powerlifting meet and totaled a messily 1445 at 242. A year later after training with Thomas, I totaled 1730 at 242. Thomas taught me more than I could possibly type out about lifting and life in general and he remains a great friend to this day.

In February 2013, my wife and I made the move to Columbia, SC, where we were lucky enough to start training at Marc Bartley's gym, SC Barbell. This is the gym I now call home and I'm currently part of a great team of lifters.