Weakly Weights

What do we think of online powerlifting competitions? Predictions for the changing Australian competitive landscape? What changes coaching for 2.5kg and 1kg weight increments at competition? Prescribing top sets and backoffs, when and how to autoregulate? Is there a song that is so hype it is literally dangerous? How to get started as a coach?  The boys answer all of this, and more

Powerlifting coach, fitness educator, and former teacher Sam Hall of Ethos Strength joins the boys to chat about his background as a school teacher, and how it has informed his approach to both coaching athletes and conducting professional education

Mike T returns to run the boys through some of the new systems he is working on at RTS and the thought processes behind them. We talk about the role of data in decision-making, how coaches work within data-driven paradigms, what training can't be determined algorithmically, and much more. 

Steve joins the boys to talk about the situation between the USAPL and the IPF, and canvas what the future of international powerlifting looks like. He sheds some outsider's perspective on the state of Australian powerlifting, and he and Alex tee off on the Jordan/Lebron debate. 

Alex and Will return to save the Australian powerlifting scene

Charlie from Melbourne Strength Culture joins the boys to discuss whether powerlifting training is special. We talk about points of difference between general strength training and powerlifting, and get off into the weeds about motivation, longevity, taking breaks from the sport, transfer of general adaptations, and much more. Will admits to crime. 

TC joins the boys to talk about the process of gaining weight and moving up a weight class. We cover why weight gain can be important, the common sources of ambivalence towards gaining weight in athletes, the nutritional and lifestyle priorities for health and performance in doing so, and the contribution that gaining weight can make to your nutritional skillset. 

Steve, of PRS Performance, joins the boys to chat about bench press technique. Should we always be maximally retracted? Is shoulder depression where it is at? We cover the ins and outs of how the shoulder girdle has to move to facilitate function. We then dive into exercise selection in general - how can we go about choosing variations to give us the best bang for our buck?

Julia joins the boys to talk about the pelvic floor. We cover the basic anatomy and its functions, as well as how it pertains to powerlifting. We talk about pooping, and how we can learn to brace better. We also talk about collaboration between coaches and physiotherapists. 

The boys discuss 2020 and the main lessons that they took from it in lifting, coaching, and life. We talk about client communication, programming accessories, managing fatigue, top-down planning and programming updates. We also discuss the merits of slow-cooking, beers, and how much we really need to be happy in life. 

The boys sit down and discuss a questionnaire that Will put together that talks about some dispositional factors that might impact how we go about training, and what they might mean for each of them respectively. They also debut a new segment, and answer some audience Q&A

Joe joins the boys to talk about coaching. We cover creating relationships with clients, effective communication, and when to say no to athlete desires. We talk in some depth about deadlift programming and exercise selection, and Joe schools us on Hamilton, the musical. 

Chris, the reigning under-74kg NZ powerlifting champion, joins the boys to talk about his journey in life. We cover his childhood and descent into drug dealing and use, crime, and his stint in jail. We learn about his discovery of exercise, and the journey that he underwent after prison in finding new constructive ways of living, leading to his pursuit of powerlifting, his studies in exercise science, and assistant teaching at university. An amazing story. 

Josh and Zac from DataDrivenStrength join the boys to talk about the philosophy of training. How can we know what works? What factors contribute to a lifter's success that we might pay less attention to? Do people with different goals or those operating under different paradigms look for different data when assessing their lifters? 

Matt Domney joins the boys to talk about the continuum between specificity and variability, the role of movement variability, and what constitutes variability in exercise prescription and performance. We discuss considerations in directed adaptation, longevity, optimising performance, and much more. Alex gets dissed hard by Matt.

Jamie joins the boys to talk about the dreaded C-word. What role does our cardiovascular system play in powerlifting training, performance, and maintaining our health? How can we implement cardio in our training? Is the interference effect a big deal? Is just doing more reps enough? All this, and more. 

Matt joins the boys to talk about his coaching systems, how he has come to think the way that he does, and how we can reconcile the differences between various approaches. We discuss when RPE and %-based programs might be more useful, and where we can meld the two, how athlete psychology can alter training prescriptions, how replicable and predictable athlete responses can be, and the role of coaching beyond just writing training plans. 

Arian joins the boys to talk about his journey from novice powerlifter to USAPL national team coach. We talk about his early days training with Dr Mike Zourdos, his presence on the bodybuilding.com forums and what it did for him as a coach, the programs he has run and modified, and how these experiences coalesced in his current coaching practices, and what it is like to do the job that he does. 

The boys go through their audience request form to answer questions, ranging from biomechanical considerations when deadlifting, through managing volume during cutting phases, powerlifting politics, and the use or lack thereof of specific exercises. 

Will joins the boys to talk about his training history, focusing especially on his last 18 months and the difficulties he has faced suffering glandular fever and chronic fatigue before commencing his rebuild from scratch. We talk about the impact of his work as a landscaper on training, and what his trajectory from a novice to being a world-level competitor has been.