Facts are stubborn things. Regardless of one's aspirations, wishes and desires, they remain resolutely in place like gravity. Reality isn't malleable, especially under the bar. You pit your body against a fixed weight in time and space and you either move it or you don't. Powerlifting is a test of strength in three specific lifts, …
Pro Mo
Today is the day. My flexor muscles haven't made their presence known in a few days, my training has been easy as my body has recovered and I feel ready to rumble. I will head to the gym shortly to do a mock Powerlifting Meet and hit a max in all three power lifts. I've …
Overcoming Adversity
Tweaks, sprains, strains and injuries are part of life, especially if one's life involves lifting heavy weights up and down repeatedly. I've had my share, with fortunately only once having to go under the knife to repair a fully ruptured bicep tendon from a 415-lb deadlift. Learn to Hook Grip kids if you love your …
Winding Up
I'm starting to feel the recovery that just a few days ago, I thought would evade me. Â I took some extra days completely off, I am still in the deload phase I discussed recently, but I can tell both by my subjective assessments of my body's aches and pains, and my desire to lift starting …
Deload?
A concept tossed about in strength training circles is whether a programmed break from heavy training is required to allow the body to recover fully and adapt to the stimulus from all that weight lifting. They run the gamut from an aggressively programmed deload like the original 5/3/1 program from Jim Wendler, where 1 week …
Wouldn’t have it any other way
I had to take a couple of days off this week from hoisting weights around to accompany my daughter to the worst state in the Union: Georgia. She was doing a college tour for her graduate work so instead of lifting weights, I spent a lot of time in a car. Travel tip: don't even …
High Frequency Training Split
I am a fan of training often for many reasons, most of which are psychological. I feel better, eat better and find my waking hours to have been more productive if I started the day in the gym. No matter what happens the rest of the day, I got some quality work in, perhaps even …
To Powerlift, or not to Powerlift
My last competition was in 2010 and it was an equipped meet. Prior to that, my inaugural meet in 2008 was also equipped. I’ve never done a RAW meet so that’s what’s on deck. I should point out,  that I am not strong in any sense of the word. My lifts rank as intermediate according …
900
I reserve the right to enter a powerlifting competition in the year of our Lord 2017. I will train as if I will compete, but I make no commitment to it. The ambivalence comes from being able to put up a reasonable total so that I feel it was a venture worth entering. The USPA …
I don’t want to
There was an explosion of strength training eBooks not long ago, with seemingly every powerlifter, strongman, and fitness guru putting out a book on how to lift weights. This led some curious aficionados of the iron to experiment with lots of the programs offered by those who possessed the special knowledge. Built into some programs …
Joe's Blog 