1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,920 Grab your pre workout and turn up that volume. 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:06,040 It is time for a new episode of the Power Lifters Den with your 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,800 host Cam Smith. Hello everybody, welcome back to 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:10,600 another episode of the Pile Lifters Den. 5 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,240 I'm your host Cam Smith and today I wanted to bring on 6 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,280 Connor from Conjugate Strong. Connor, why don't you introduce 7 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,040 yourself? Well, I'm Connor Karowski. 8 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,240 I am a multiply power lifter and strength conditioning coach. 9 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:26,760 I work primarily with high schoolers, but I work with, you 10 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,520 know, wide, wide variety of people. 11 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,280 As far as powerlifting goes, best numbers are in 1040 squat, 12 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:39,720 766 LB bench, and then 775 LB deadlift. 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:42,680 And yeah, that's that's about me. 14 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:44,760 Yeah. So I guess to get started, we'll 15 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:46,240 talk a little bit about your career. 16 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,960 I was looking on open power from before I saw on there your first 17 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,560 meet was in like 2016. So you've been competing for 18 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,160 about 8 years. Have you done primarily multiply 19 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:57,880 since the beginning? I know you have a couple raw 20 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,680 meets in there, but kind of from there, when did you kind of get 21 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:02,440 into a gear? Yes. 22 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,800 Like I kind of fell into powerlifting. 23 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,920 It wasn't something that I sought out that kind of just 24 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,640 found it, you know, in college, one of the guys who was training 25 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,080 at the college weight room there, his name is Matthew 26 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,280 Sherfinski. He's a real strong raw lifter. 27 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,080 He put up a, you know, 22K plus raw total. 28 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,120 I think at 275. He was sort of the middle of the 29 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:25,480 road there with his weight class. 30 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:29,200 But I, I found him in the weight room and I saw what he was doing 31 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,040 and, you know, he introduced me to the whole, you know, 32 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,680 powerlifting in general. I didn't know it was a sport at 33 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:35,600 the time. They're really only familiar 34 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,120 with like, you know, your traditional sports. 35 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,080 I played football, I played, you know, soccer, never wanted to 36 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:42,440 play baseball, wasn't interested. 37 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:47,560 But I tried everything else. And, you know, I, I sort of back 38 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:49,160 and forth on whether or not I wanted to compete. 39 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,080 And then I kind of dabbled in with a little bit of, you know, 40 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,480 a few push pulls. Someone sanctioned, you know, 41 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,720 maybe one or two that actually were sanctioned that ended up on 42 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,720 open powerlifting. And then I found single ply and 43 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:02,680 I did one single ply meet and the guys I was training with at 44 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,720 the time, they bought me a pair of inter predators. 45 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,840 So that was just kind of my my gateway into multiply and I 46 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:10,000 never really looked back from there. 47 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:15,760 So yeah, most of my competing has been multiply, which I think 48 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,760 was fairly uncommon at the time that I was actually getting 49 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,760 into, you know, powerlifting it. I mean, it was for all intents 50 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:25,600 and purposes, it was kind of dying at that time. 51 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,480 Like RAW by that time had really taken over and and you know, 52 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,120 quick equip lifting was, you know, kind of falling to the 53 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:33,320 wayside. I think it's kind of bounced 54 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:35,800 back a little bit, you know, back into a little bit more of 55 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,360 the mainstream with things. But at the time, yeah, I think I 56 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,400 just liked it because it went kind of against the grain. 57 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,440 And yeah, so multiply was way to go for me. 58 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,560 Yeah, it is funny because that is about around the time when 59 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:49,080 like the raw boom kind of started. 60 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,560 And like you just mentioned, I feel like Multiply is starting 61 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,120 to kind of get the love it deserves again. 62 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,880 Yeah. So I you mentioned you started 63 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,480 off with single ply kind of from from your experience of doing a 64 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,160 little bit of single ply and multiply, what what makes you 65 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:08,600 like multiply that much better? So I usually tell this, you 66 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,040 know, people as they're kind of getting into gear and they're 67 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,280 asking about, you know, should I make a pit stop at single ply? 68 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:17,040 Should I try this first? I think that the difference 69 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:22,280 between going raw to single ply is less than sort of the big 70 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:24,360 change that you go from single ply to multiply. 71 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,440 You know, I remember putting on that was an OK raw bencher. 72 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,040 It was an OK, you know, it was an OK raw lifter in general. 73 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:34,880 It wasn't anything, you know, write home about, you know, at 74 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:36,640 the time. But you know, I was, I was 75 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,560 naturally big. I was naturally fairly strong. 76 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:41,040 And I put the single play stuff on. 77 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,120 And while it was difficult, while it hurt a little bit, I 78 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,080 didn't find it incredibly challenging. 79 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,080 Like I took to it quite well. But when I made the jump from 80 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,040 the single play to multiply, I mean, it just it felt like a 81 00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:00,000 completely different world. And it was it was much harder to 82 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,680 use. The room got a lot darker while 83 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,080 I was using it. I need to adjust to that. 84 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,360 But like, well, I mean, you're getting into, you know, multiply 85 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:09,280 stuff right now. And and I mean, you maybe 86 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,160 experience that same thing where it's like, you know, if if you 87 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,920 put on briefs before versus putting on an entire suit with 88 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,720 straps up and wraps, it's like you keep going lower in the 89 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,839 room, the lights just darker and darker and darker. 90 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,160 Getting comfortable with that is scary, but I like that. 91 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,840 And yeah, it was just it, it, it prevent it presented, you know, 92 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:36,600 more of a challenge And I, I like doing hard things because 93 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,040 they're hard. That's, that's just it just type 94 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,760 of first name. I like if I, I know I work in 95 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:43,800 the gym, you know, all day. That's what I do. 96 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:45,240 I go work with, I work with the kids. 97 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,400 So I'm always doing something physical, but I was kind of 98 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,920 telling myself like, if I wasn't doing this, there's no way I'd 99 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,080 be able to sit in an office at a desk all day doing stuff. 100 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,560 I have to do stuff with my body, have to do stuff with my hands. 101 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,560 I just, I just like it. And Multiply offered that 102 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:04,000 opportunity to do something harder that was already hard so. 103 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:05,400 Yeah. And for me, that's kind of 104 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,440 something that I was considering at first too. 105 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:08,920 I was like, should I maybe try out single ply? 106 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,120 Because I'm a very narrow stance, like low bar squatter. 107 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,040 So that's something I could kind of emulate, ease my way into. 108 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,320 And then I was obviously being around John and just being up in 109 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:21,320 New England with Multiply kind of just getting some good 110 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:22,680 traction. I was like, now we're just going 111 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:25,440 to go right into it. And so I had some second hand 112 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:26,400 gear. I don't know if you know, you 113 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,520 probably Rodney Woodward, he, he sent me a pair of briefs like I 114 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,160 put it on my story, sent it in like 2 days. 115 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,800 Like the community was just great and I'm having a blast 116 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:37,760 with it. But definitely some struggles, 117 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,880 like for example on the squad, like I said, I'm very narrow. 118 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,600 So going from narrow to wide and then from low bar to high bar is 119 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,240 just a huge difference at first. Yeah, yeah, it's, it is. 120 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,560 It's really interesting, you know, it, it, it, it, it 121 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:59,600 heightens your, you know, so your, your internal awareness 122 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,480 like you have, you have to be so much more aware of what's going 123 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,800 on in terms of like lifting, because like you can miss groove 124 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,600 a raw lift and sort of get back up and you know, be a little out 125 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,640 of position, but you get half an inch out of position with some 126 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,440 tight gear on and lifts over like you're not, you're not 127 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,760 getting back up. So I like that challenge. 128 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:18,840 I like it being kind of scary in that way. 129 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,800 Yeah, and, and for me, like my first time in the suit was last 130 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,040 Sunday. And I mean, it went very well, 131 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,480 like surprisingly well. But I was kind of talking to 132 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:28,800 John. I was like, it's kind of 133 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,240 interesting because time almost freezes when you're in the gear 134 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,680 and you can actually make like the little adjustments that you 135 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:35,160 need to to kind of stay in that position. 136 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,000 Obviously, as the weight gets heavier, it can be a little more 137 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,520 difficult to make that adjustment. 138 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,680 But when you, like you said, when you're raw, you can kind of 139 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:42,720 just muscle fuck something sometimes if you need to. 140 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:45,840 Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's yeah, it's fun. 141 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,520 I love it. Yeah, so I'll be doing my first 142 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,840 multiply meet in September down at Shawna Mendelsohn's gym, so 143 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:53,400 I'm excited for that. Awesome. 144 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:54,280 Yeah. It'd be good to meet. 145 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:55,440 It'd be awesome to meet. Yeah. 146 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,720 So we'll dive into a little bit about the the conjugate. 147 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:01,720 So maybe let's start off about kind of where you first heard 148 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:03,840 about conjugate and what kind of made you fall in love with it? 149 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:10,240 So I went to school for seven years for college. 150 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:15,560 College, I got my master, I got my bachelor's and not once 151 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,320 throughout my bachelor's did they ever talk about, you know, 152 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,120 conjugate training. You know, if if you're in sort 153 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,040 of a sports science track or kinesiology track or I was in, 154 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,520 he was called applied Health Sciences is what my, you know, 155 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,840 bachelor's is technically in you know, you take a class for the 156 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,160 CSCS. Not once did they mention, you 157 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,440 know, the word conjugate. They may have talked about, you 158 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,440 know, concurrent periodization, but it's probably a single 159 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,360 paragraph. And so I didn't learn shit about 160 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,840 it in in college, which is one of the things I kind of stress 161 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,600 to, you know, a lot of the athletes that I work with are 162 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,160 interested in going in, you know, the same sort of path you 163 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,240 they want to go, you know, previous strength conditioning 164 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,360 coach or they want to be, you know, an athletic trainer or 165 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,040 physical therapist, But it all sort of falls under kind of the 166 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,160 same umbrella. And, you know, the biggest thing 167 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,320 I tell him is that you need to get experience doing stuff. 168 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,800 I've learned more, you know, about lifting outside of school 169 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,400 than I ever had in school. School sort of laid a really 170 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:17,960 good foundation. I understand how to look at 171 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,960 things, you know, you know, I kind of read everything the way 172 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,280 I would like research. Like how much support does this 173 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,400 actually have? And a lot of the shit we do in 174 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:32,039 the gym doesn't have like actual like scientific evidence. 175 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:34,440 There's like foundational stuff underneath it that we can kind 176 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,880 of extrapolate. Like, yes, this works probably 177 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,320 because of this, but nobody's doing studies on people like us. 178 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,240 So we kind of have to, you know, take that plus, you know, take 179 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,720 the science plus the anecdotal stuff and put it together and, 180 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,800 and come out with what we think is probably the best. 181 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:54,200 And that can change person to person And conjugate affords us 182 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,160 the ability to make changes often to it. 183 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,480 It's not, it's not a program where it's not a program to 184 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:02,920 begin with. It's it's sort of a train of 185 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,520 thought. It's a toolbox that, you know, 186 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:10,520 individually, I can change so many different variables to fit, 187 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:13,400 you know, whatever problem we have to solve, whatever problem 188 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,160 we have, you know, to hit whatever strengths we need to. 189 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:19,240 And I think that's where people sort of get bogged down and that 190 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,360 where they're like, what you have to do it the way West Side 191 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,200 did it and Westside did an incredible job. 192 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,160 But there are so many tools outside of that that we can 193 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:32,520 continue to add in to, to, to get where we need to be. 194 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,040 And it just not that that is why I like conjugate. 195 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:41,200 That is, you know, I've learned more about it, you know, reading 196 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,480 on my own how you see a bookshelf back there. 197 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,400 Some of it's my wife's, but half of that half of those are mine. 198 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,880 There's a bunch more on the bottom, but you know, in the gym 199 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:52,040 is where we're learning the most. 200 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,000 I've travelled, trained with a lot of really smart people. 201 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:58,000 And then, you know, just bouncing ideas off of people 202 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,040 talking to people or, and that goes back to sort of that, you 203 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,400 know, I understand the scientific basis for what we're 204 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:05,400 doing and how things sort of work in the body. 205 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,720 But that anecdotal evidence of the people who are actually 206 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:14,200 squatting 1100 lbs, you know, 1200 lbs, what are they doing 207 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:18,520 and how does that stuff line up to actually, you know, apply it 208 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:20,720 in my training, in the athletes that I train? 209 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:22,240 Yeah. And I feel like that's what I've 210 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,840 seen with a lot of the great coaches is they, they do have 211 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,160 that fundamental background in the education are read up on the 212 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,520 material. But it's also the experience of 213 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,040 either if handling 1100 lbs yourself or being around someone 214 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,360 who kind of can experience that and kind of seeing how they 215 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:38,800 react to it and things like that. 216 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,240 And I think another thing with Conjugate that people often 217 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,840 overlook is that it has so many modalities to other sports, like 218 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,440 different types of training. It's not just powerlifting. 219 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,360 Yeah, absolutely. And it, it, it makes, it makes 220 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,200 so much sense, you know, especially at the high school 221 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,680 level, like the high school that I'm at right now, we have, you 222 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:02,080 know, I'd be willing to bet that at least 50% of our athletes are 223 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,480 at least two sport athletes, which creates issues for 224 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,800 offseason training. But conjugate affords us, you 225 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:12,880 know, once I've you sort of laid the foundation of the system, 226 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:15,880 like everybody understands, OK, when we're focusing on speed, it 227 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,680 is fast, you know, just the basics of it. 228 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:22,480 No matter what, you know, sort of we're doing in there, as long 229 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,440 as we understand the basics, they can kind of hop in 230 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,840 whenever. Whereas like if we're running, 231 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,440 you know, like an offseason schedule that's like that, that 232 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,800 is, you know, we're going to do a block like this and a block 233 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,240 like this that builds off of that previous block. 234 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:38,640 That makes it really difficult to progress them. 235 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,440 Especially if I've got A2 or A3 sport athlete who's only going 236 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,480 to be with me, maybe, you know, three times a month. 237 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,880 Like, you know, three times a month for a power lifter isn't a 238 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,640 lot to grow. Wouldn't recommend that for 239 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,480 anybody. But for a high school athlete 240 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:56,040 who is incredibly active, who's got 567 practices a week, 241 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,360 they've got, you know, workouts with their, you know, their 242 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:02,160 hitting coach, and they can only fit in three times a month, we 243 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,320 can still get stronger. But we have to be really smart 244 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:05,480 about it. And that's what Conjugate sort 245 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,680 of allows us to do is we can hammer the things most 246 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:11,920 efficiently, you know, in the small time frame that we're 247 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,200 given. So I love it for the high school 248 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:15,840 athletes. I mean, it just makes so much 249 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:16,960 sense for it. Yeah. 250 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,480 And, and for me in college I did football and wrestling. 251 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,200 So I mean, football is kind of like one of those year round 252 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,040 sports where it's football, you got the season went to, you got 253 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,080 your, your training and spring, you got spring ball. 254 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,800 So, and then wrestling kind of would start towards the end of 255 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,080 football season and it kind of trickle into spring ball. 256 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,320 So kind of having like we would, we, we ran one year, we ran like 257 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,640 a triphasic program and it was kind of, it's a great program. 258 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:43,360 I love the style of it, but it was kind of hard to hop in if I 259 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,080 had to go to a wrestling practice that week. 260 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:46,960 But I think the conjugate allows you to. 261 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,640 Obviously it's structured, but it's not progressive in that 262 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,640 kind of way. Yeah, absolutely so. 263 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:57,520 Yeah. And then so I remember seeing 264 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,920 your post from the other day about kind of setting up the 265 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:03,400 different forms of AR and stuff. I guess from personal 266 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,360 experience, maybe if you had to pick, if you only had to use 267 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:08,040 bands or chains, which one would you pick? 268 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:20,360 Chains are more fun. I just, but I, you know, I, my 269 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,680 favorite days of the week are of my speed days specifically like 270 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:28,120 dynamic effort lower. I love, I love speed squats. 271 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:30,360 I love squatting against heavy bands, doing box squats against 272 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,960 heavy bands. So I'd probably pick bands. 273 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,360 I think bands are probably a little bit more versatile in the 274 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,800 long run. And if we are looking at, you 275 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:39,960 know, rate of force development, that would choose bands over 276 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,360 chains almost any day just because we're going to get a 277 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:44,840 little more of a dynamic loading, you know, pattern with 278 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,400 the bands versus, you know, every three inches. 279 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:52,160 I'm going to add what it's like two 2.2 lbs or something or 1.8 280 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:53,360 lbs. I don't know what it is with 281 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,720 chain. So I mean, it's, it's a very 282 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,840 linear loading versus the bands. I mean, it's it's kind of more 283 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,040 exponential. You know, the further you 284 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:02,880 stretch them, the way harder they're going to pull. 285 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:05,400 But yeah, I'd probably choose the bands. 286 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:07,200 Yeah. And, and kind of going into that 287 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,360 a little bit more too, obviously some people will just use the 288 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,040 bands and just we'll say, I don't know, like 500 versus 289 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,320 Blues or something like that. Then other people will measure 290 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,160 every week personally. Do you do measure the bands 291 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:21,360 every week or do you measure them on certain time periods? 292 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,800 Or what's your opinion on that? So I've got, you know, kind of 293 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,960 a, a mental, you know, spreadsheet of like these bands 294 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,000 are sort of this much. I always do carry. 295 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:36,080 I've got a deer, a crane scale in my bag all the time. 296 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,400 So if I ever get curious, I got brought it out two weeks ago. 297 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,280 So I was pulling against bands that just felt heavy and they 298 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,920 were on a platform that I've never used them on before that 299 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:47,960 was just a little bit more narrow than, you know, the 300 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,280 normal deadlift platform. So I was curious what they 301 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:51,880 weighed at the top. So I pulled it out then. 302 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:56,480 But at the end of the day, that's still Deadlift plus 303 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,240 monster minivans. It's not deadlift. 304 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:03,440 It's not, you know, 900 lbs, It's whatever it was plus the 305 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,480 bands and that's it because, you know, they're very well at the 306 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,040 bottom. They might be 100 lbs less than 307 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,440 they are at the top. And while they do provide a very 308 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,960 good training stimulus that, you know, limits fatigue based on it 309 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,680 and gives us generally the same training effect as straight 310 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:21,280 weight, It's not straight weight. 311 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,400 And I do, I do not like it when people reported as straight 312 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,840 weight, but it is what it is. I'm not not the police. 313 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:31,480 So yeah, and I guess with conjugate as well, How do you 314 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,760 feel the recoverability is compared to some of the other 315 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:40,760 modalities of training? It can go both ways on the 316 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,160 spectrum. I mean, depending on how well 317 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:46,760 thought out the program is and how how well the athlete and if 318 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,280 they're working with the coach can respond to fatigue, it can 319 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,640 either be really, really good or really goddamn terrible. 320 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:01,360 You know, it's one of the things with like having a set program 321 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:05,000 in front of you is, you know, a lot of people will look at, 322 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,680 well, if I didn't get the whole week done, it's a failure. 323 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,280 And one of the one of the things that, you know, I try to work 324 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,080 with my athletes over time is like, you know, if we have to 325 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,720 make adjustments and drop things out because we are just tired, 326 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:19,080 It's actually something I did the day at the gym. 327 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,680 That's OK. Like there there's the, the nice 328 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:27,320 thing about conjugate is if it didn't work out right now, we 329 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,120 probably have time to make sure it fits somewhere else, you 330 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:32,280 know, even even when we're peeking for a meet. 331 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:38,880 So I think as long as you have the ability to kind of take, you 332 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,680 know, a step back and look at things with a broader lens 333 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,840 rather than like, I have to get all six of these exercises done 334 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:50,560 today with this much weight and just say, well, it doesn't 335 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,400 matter if I don't don't get this done today, I will get this, you 336 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,640 know, look at it, you know, broader scale. 337 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,400 I'm trying to think of what's going on with this. 338 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:04,720 Yeah. As far as recovery. 339 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:09,079 So, so if you can respond to that fatigue and and 340 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:11,319 appropriately adjust your volume, which should be 341 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:13,359 something that happens regularly conjugates. 342 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,280 Awesome. And like I said, I had to do 343 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:17,680 that today. I went in, I was supposed to a 344 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,440 floor press today. I worked up to, you know, 6570% 345 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,480 and decided that this was not the day to push a heavy floor 346 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,119 press. And if I took all the weight 347 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:30,240 off, I put it away and got a quick pump and then I left the 348 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,520 gym because that that that is what my body said would be 349 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,800 appropriate today. And you got, you got to pay 350 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,760 attention to those signs because if you don't, that's when you 351 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:41,400 know bad shit happens. And if you want to be in the 352 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,920 sport for a long time, forcing stuff, you know, like that 353 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,360 consistently, probably not a good idea. 354 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:48,840 Yeah. And I think one of the bigger 355 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:51,480 things too with conjugate is with the especially with the Max 356 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,760 effort days is the auto regulation and kind of knowing 357 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,920 where you're at because everyone knows how much missing can throw 358 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,040 you off or just absolutely blow your load. 359 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,160 And especially with kind of the constant changing variations 360 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,280 where you might not hit that same variation for three months 361 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,160 or even a year, depending on what it was. 362 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,920 So being able to kind of auto adjust and kind of make the 363 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,600 right decision that training days going to lead you down the 364 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,320 road for who knows how long. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 365 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,400 And I think that's one of the big, you know, misconceptions is 366 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,280 like, you know, people think you're Max Seffer and they 367 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,600 immediately like, OK, well, we're turning it up to, you 368 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,120 know, it's an RPE 10. And, you know, that's one of the 369 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,520 things I I very often have to stress with, you know, my 370 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,360 athletes is like, you know, let's just, you know, eight and 371 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:41,440 a half, nine is probably appropriately leave that extra, 372 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,240 you know, jump in the tank. Like we we don't need to 373 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:46,760 completely destroy ourselves on this movement. 374 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,720 What we're doing is just steadily pushing that ceiling up 375 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,120 and then build it afterwards with the the accessories. 376 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,280 And as long as you can consistently do that, your 377 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,640 recovery will thank you. If you know, if you're not going 378 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,560 to RPE 10 every week, like people, like a lot of people in, 379 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,560 you know, the conjugate side of things want to kind of dog the 380 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,680 RPE thing. But like we use it, we use auto 381 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,360 regulation very often regularly. Like, no, I think it's important 382 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,600 to have a conversation like how we actually define intensity, 383 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,560 you know, when it comes to intensity and effort there 384 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,360 because the intensity on a Max effort day is going to be 385 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:23,840 different than the intensity in the effort on a dynamic effort 386 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,960 day. But you know, it's, it's not 387 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,440 always, you know, that RPE 10 and it can't be no pro, no 388 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,160 program can survive on that. Yeah. 389 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:38,560 And so kind of more with the RPE scale, I know obviously there's 390 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,720 RPE, there's percentage base, there's like reps in reserve and 391 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,280 kind of generally speaking, like an RPE 8 usually is around 2 392 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:47,640 reps in reserve. But I kind of want to hear your 393 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,120 opinion on maybe what some factors would be that would make 394 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,880 an RP8 necessarily not to reps in reserve for just kind of that 395 00:19:54,880 --> 00:20:02,520 difference? One of the big things I think 396 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:08,600 would be the type of constraints you're going to put on either 397 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,040 yourself or your lifters in regards to form. 398 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,120 SO11 of the big differences I have when I'm training 399 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:18,440 traditional athletes, so like football players versus power 400 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,880 lifters, is the power lifters. I give them a much smaller sort 401 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,160 of space to deviate from kind of ideal form. 402 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,400 I want my powerlifters to be technicians because at the end 403 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:31,640 of the day, at the end of a cycle, at the end of a, you 404 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,880 know, a, a peak, we are training to be experts and, and 405 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,400 incredibly, you know, technical at three things. 406 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:39,960 Three things. It's, it's only three things. 407 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,800 You know, all the other fancy shit, like it's great that 408 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,960 you're good at it, but there are only three things that we need 409 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,560 to be really, really good at. So specificity doesn't matter 410 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,320 there. But with the traditional sports 411 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,840 players, the football guys like they don't need to be the best 412 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,360 at those three things. They need to be generally 413 00:20:57,360 --> 00:20:58,480 strong. They need to be generally 414 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:00,240 explosive. You know, they have to have 415 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:05,160 generally good agility, general good endurance in the weight 416 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:06,640 room. But everything that they need to 417 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,720 be specifically good at is out on the the the field. 418 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,680 So with the power lifters, one of the things that we'll do is, 419 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,920 you know, the RPE 8IN effort wise might actually be like a 420 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:22,000 six for the day if if we actually put that there. 421 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:27,480 But their form, you know, if I grade them and has to be like an 422 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,080 A minus or above. So I think that's, that's one of 423 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,360 the things where like that RPE scale kind of gets shifted 424 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:37,040 because if I, I want, I want my lifters to be technical and I 425 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,720 want them to look really good at what they do, you know, not only 426 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,680 because it, it, it makes things more efficient, but also 427 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,120 reflects back on me. Like, I don't want them getting 428 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,000 away with stupid shit because then people look at me and 429 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,880 they're like, well, he's a bad coach and that's not what I 430 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,160 want. But I think, you know, putting 431 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,240 constraints on that where it's like, OK, well, you're going to 432 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,200 work up to a top double today. And you either call it if you 433 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:01,240 have perfect reps at that true RPE 8, or you call it when your 434 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,640 form starts to break down enough where you can look at it. 435 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,120 And I have them. I, I generally want all of my, 436 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,800 you know, athletes to, you know, video their stuff and look back 437 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,600 at it pretty quickly. If you look at that, you know 438 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,640 that squat, that bench, that deadlift, whatever we did and it 439 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,360 doesn't look good, you either fix it up right away or you're 440 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:21,720 done for the day because there's there's no sense in ingraining 441 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,200 core or bad motor patterns movements into the lift where we 442 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,960 want to be absolute technicians at. 443 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,840 So I think that's one of the ways where it kind of shifts 444 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:36,240 that RPE away. Yeah, and, and for me, 445 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,680 especially getting new into gear, I think one of my, my 446 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,240 bigger struggles right now is kind of being able to determine 447 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:46,760 what an RPE is, because obviously if I break down, I 448 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,280 could probably muscle it, but that's not the point of the 449 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:50,760 gear. I got to learn how to use it. 450 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,240 So maybe what are some of the things that you kind of look for 451 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,720 can kind of help someone like me new to it? 452 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,880 That would be, I don't know, be able to like be like, all right, 453 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:10,760 that's probably an ache for you. So I mean, again, it's it's, you 454 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:12,600 know, the RPE is going to be, you know, it's a 455 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,600 self-assessment. It's, it's hard for somebody 456 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,600 else to come in and say, hey, that that looked, you know, like 457 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,040 an RPEARPEA because you know, like you said before, like when 458 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:24,640 you're especially when you're lifting in gear, you know, time 459 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,080 moves in slow motion and you might get done with the lift and 460 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,560 look back at the video and, and be pleasantly surprised at how 461 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,240 quick it moved, But it felt like you had a house on your back. 462 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,880 And that's that makes, you know, kind of assessing things 463 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,160 difficult, especially if you step away from the bar, you 464 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,600 know, you're seeing stars, you're having trouble breathing 465 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,160 and you watch it and you go, well, shit, like did I actually 466 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,760 try that hard? So I think it always needs to 467 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:52,960 come back to, you know, the lifter, how you're actually 468 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,040 feeling. And and that's always what I'm 469 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,000 going to defer to, you know, especially if I'm there in 470 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,600 person with somebody, you know, the first thing I'll like, even 471 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,400 if it looks a great, I'll typically ask like, well, how 472 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,600 did that feel? And if they can't confidently 473 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:13,800 say, you know, really good, like then then we adjust, you know, 474 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,320 sort of the aim of the rest of the day, you know, with that 475 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,280 main movement, like maybe maybe we're done, maybe we take a 476 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,840 smaller jump than we plan. Maybe we take that same weight 477 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,520 again and clean it up in, in, you know, in your case where 478 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,280 you're getting into sort of this, everything essentially 479 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,800 becomes uncharted territory. So you can sort of look at it as 480 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,720 like, you know, you often see like guys like where they drop 481 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,480 weight and they're like body weight PR everything's a body 482 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,400 weight PR. You look at it like that. 483 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,160 And you know, in that sense, like any improvement that you 484 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,040 can find anywhere in it has merit. 485 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,320 I mean, it has, it has worth and it's worth, you know, 486 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,360 celebrating even on a small level where it's like, if you 487 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:56,600 can be a bit more patient, you can find a little bit better 488 00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,960 position. If you can, you know, figure out 489 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,560 just a little bit better line with your bench shirt, you know, 490 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,320 I think that stuff should all be, you know, really looked at 491 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:07,680 and and like I said, be celebrated along the way. 492 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:09,560 So yeah. And I think one of the things 493 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,800 that's kind of tricky and kind of something that takes 494 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,960 experience with the gear is like, for example, I mean, I 495 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:20,160 took before I took the the triple S 700 on Sunday, I did 496 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,960 buy triples at like 617 and I was going loose straps, loose 497 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,480 everything. Like it's under my raw Max. 498 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,640 And I mean, it was moving, but it still felt heavy because it's 499 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,280 basically my raw Max. So I was like, all right, let's 500 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:34,920 make a jump. And then I was going to go one 501 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,320 to three reps and we tighten the straps a little bit. 502 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,640 So it moved a lot better and it moved probably just as fast, if 503 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,120 not faster than the other sets. So that's what's kind of the 504 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:45,680 tricky part about being able to adjust the gear. 505 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:50,240 And like one set could be 5000 lbs lighter, but the gear was 506 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,600 looser so it moved slower than when you crank the straps. 507 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,080 Yeah, yeah. And like, yeah, I mean, 508 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,080 especially when you're squatting in like, you know, an LUP with 509 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:05,280 the with the the cords on it. Like now you've added depending 510 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,120 on how many different, you know, sections you have, you know, it 511 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:09,680 comes standard with three on each side. 512 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,280 So you've added six more variables that you not have to 513 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:16,760 control for that you need to probably control for every 514 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,800 single time you get back underneath that bar. 515 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,480 Still loosen up just a little bit in between, you know, every 516 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:24,640 set. But it's that that's that goes 517 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,520 back to that. Like, why do I enjoy multiply? 518 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:34,120 It's that, it's that additional, you know, set of challenges on 519 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:37,640 each one of the lifts. You know, it's it's like people 520 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,520 want to say really the gear does all the work. 521 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,720 Well, it's like, yeah, like we might have that cheat code, but 522 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:44,600 we're still playing on fucking expert mode. 523 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,400 So it's still, it's still just as hard. 524 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,520 It just kind of resets where you're, you know, you know, 525 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,040 homeostatic point is in in it. So you know. 526 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,040 Yeah, and you use overkill for your gear, right? 527 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,320 Absolutely. Team overkill all the way. 528 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,160 So what's it kind of been like working with them and kind of 529 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:02,960 what are some of the things that you really enjoy about that 530 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,680 company? So I can confidently say, you 531 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,400 know, it's there's, there's going to be a wait time on it. 532 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:10,720 Like I'll put that out there upfront. 533 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:16,920 Like, but you know, Rudy makes the best gear that I've ever 534 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:21,080 used and I've tried most of everything. 535 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:23,960 There's so many different things out there that there are some 536 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,840 things I haven't tried. And if I haven't tried it, I've 537 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,960 got athletes you have and they've given me their feedback 538 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,520 on it. But the wait times are so worth 539 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:33,440 it that, I mean, that stuff works. 540 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,240 It works so damn well. I don't know how many pairs at 541 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,280 the bins behind me here are full of just old gear. 542 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,360 I don't know how many pairs of predators I have back there. 543 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:43,920 Just trying to find the perfect size. 544 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,280 Just get hooked up with overkill and get, you know, put your 545 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,200 order in, be patient. It'll show up. 546 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:51,920 It'll fit you better than anything ever has. 547 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,720 But with it being, you know, all that, all that custom versus 548 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,560 ordering a stock shirt or stock pair of briefs off of insert 549 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,960 shelf and yeah, you can get those, you know, customized. 550 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,400 That's an extra step that they should just do upfront. 551 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,680 But you know, with everything being custom, it there was, you 552 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:16,040 know, some unique challenges and it like I was so used to picking 553 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,480 up, you know, STP knowing generally how it would kind of 554 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:20,920 react. And then when you get in kind of 555 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,880 a custom shirt that's made truly for your body size, there's a 556 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,640 bit of a learning curve there. You know, it's in any gear, 557 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,160 there's going to be one. But once you sort of figure out 558 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,880 how to make that thing work and your patient along the way, you 559 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:35,640 know, sort of the same process you're going through just 560 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,040 learning the gear in general. I think if you have something 561 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:43,760 that is truly customized to your body, it cannot be beat. 562 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,280 And you know, the material that Rudy has sort of sourced out 563 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,000 over however many years he's been looking for the perfect 564 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,880 stuff. I am, like I said, I'm, I'm 565 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,000 never used anything better, but the, the material itself just 566 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,960 reacts so well to what you've got to do with it. 567 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:02,360 So yeah. And. 568 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:05,680 Like for example, like you said, the the LUPI know that's made of 569 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,520 like a duck trap like that you'd buy it like a Harbor Freight. 570 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,760 And I know some people like live and die by their canvas. 571 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:13,600 So obviously you've experienced both. 572 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,680 In your opinion, what kind of makes the canvas like the better 573 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,160 option? So I've, I've squatted in, 574 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,680 squatted in a Poly, I've squatted in the LUP has squatted 575 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:28,400 in, you know, straight canvas. I think if you have a canvas 576 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,960 that truly fits you well, there is going to be nothing that is 577 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:36,640 more supportive than that. If you are, you know, it's the 578 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,120 canvas is going to bind up. It's, it's, it's not going to 579 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,880 give you the same sort of, you know, stretch that a Poly will 580 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:44,680 because the material just doesn't stretch. 581 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,840 But you know, when I put that canvas on, it feels like my hips 582 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,200 are just made out of fucking steel. 583 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,600 Like, like seriously. And, and that was even, you 584 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,880 know, when I put on the first time, I put on a, you know, an 585 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:03,200 OG Leviathan, you know, the ends are one like, you know, I felt I 586 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,640 felt that same difference. The thing I really like about 587 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:08,440 the overkill canvas is it's thinner. 588 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,080 So it's it, it doesn't find up. It doesn't roll up as much in my 589 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,760 hips. I get a little bit more, I get, 590 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:15,960 I get way better, you know, range of, you know, I don't want 591 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,000 to range of motion, but kind of mobility in the suit and I can 592 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,600 work it better. But you know, canvas in general 593 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:25,760 versus kind of that that middle ground with the LUP where it's 594 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:29,440 canvas here, it's canvas there, but you got basically Polly on 595 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:34,000 the sides. I had went back to it once or 596 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,840 twice, you know, after I had ventured over to canvas before. 597 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:43,720 I was, you know, with overkill and everything and it felt like 598 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:46,800 I had nothing on my hips. You know, it's, it's just, even 599 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:50,600 if I cranked the, the strings as hard as I could, it's still 600 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,560 just, it did not match the supportiveness of actually 601 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,200 having canvas around everywhere down there. 602 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,400 So, and I, I don't think there's any way to truly appreciate that 603 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,680 until you, you actually feel, you know, a good fitting canvas 604 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,600 suit on your hips. So it's that's they tell people 605 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:10,920 if if you're on the fence, you know, dive into it, lean into 606 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,840 it, get a canvas suit. It will it it'll it'll probably 607 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,680 be a little bit better than whatever you use it anyways all. 608 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,640 Right, I'll keep that in mind. So up up Dex for you kind of 609 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,000 how's how's the training going? Maybe like what's what are you 610 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:23,600 looking for next? When's your next meet? 611 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,520 So training has been weird, you know, ever since I moved back to 612 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,960 Wisconsin. I was living in Indiana for the 613 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,040 last four ish years. We moved back over a year ago. 614 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,920 So I've been here for quite some time. 615 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,800 It still doesn't feel like it, but ever since I moved back, I 616 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,560 have sort of had to travel around the state to get in with, 617 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,240 you know, different groups. I trained with the Wolfpack crew 618 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,480 down at Wolfpack Barbell in the southeastern part of the state. 619 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,440 And then I go out to town South of Madison called Stoughton, 620 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:55,640 that Primal strength and fitness, and trained with 621 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,480 another crew there. And I sort of bounce back and 622 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:01,320 forth. And where I live just West of 623 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,640 Milwaukee, there's a small gym out here. 624 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,240 It's called Winter's Edge and there's there's a handful of 625 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:08,920 guys in there that have lifted in gear and there's a good 626 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,560 strong raw group there that'll help me with stuff throughout 627 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,360 the week. But training has been sort of, 628 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,440 you know, PC because I have to travel to these groups to get, 629 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:20,440 you know, help in the gear to get, you know, access to a mono 630 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,200 here and there and people who know what they're doing with the 631 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,280 bench shirt. I've had to get, you know, 632 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,840 creative in terms of when I put stuff and how I actually 633 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,080 position the training because if I'm going to train, you know, 634 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:35,440 heavy Friday nights and Sunday mornings, like Friday night 635 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,520 training is going to affect Sunday morning training. 636 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,800 So I have to position things appropriately there and then 637 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:42,800 throughout the week, making sure I'm have enough time to get 638 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,360 between here and the high school and get all my stuff done. 639 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,520 It just, you know, normal people problems with work, but without 640 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,880 the additional help that, you know, people would have, you 641 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,680 know, a steady gym 1015 minutes away from their house. 642 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,920 So I, I've had to sort of, you know, split up like do I get 643 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,040 true dynamic days anymore? Not really. 644 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,200 I don't get to squat and, you know, squat and deadlift on 645 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,960 those days. I might get to squat sometimes 646 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,080 if I get access to a mono with people who know what they're 647 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,440 doing on like a Thursday, but I can't count on it. 648 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,240 So usually, you know, I've got a squat day, a deadlift day, and 649 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:22,280 then when I need to travel and get my shirt, I do that and the 650 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:26,080 schedule just kind of flows. I used to joke, you know, when I 651 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,160 was down in Indy that, you know, my training, even when it was, 652 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,280 you know, on kind of a strict schedule is kind of like, you 653 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:36,160 know, throwing dark darts at the dark or in the dark. 654 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,400 Like where it's just like, I know, I know where I have to go, 655 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,680 but there's this this kind of shroud that just cloudies 656 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,040 things. And like I I'll hit, you know, 657 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,360 bullseye occasionally with it and I'll get close most of the 658 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,440 time. So yeah, it's training is a 659 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:53,920 little weird up here, but it is what it is. 660 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,080 I make do. And I finally did bomb out and 661 00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,000 we're down to Florida. But I'm actually turning around 662 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,160 pretty quick here. I've got to meet in August. 663 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:10,040 I'm going down to Owensboro, KY Jason Lawson is putting on SPF 664 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,679 Pro Cup and it's like the first one that I think that he's 665 00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:16,320 calling this. I've done one of Jason's meets 666 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:18,960 before. He runs incredible meets down 667 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:19,920 there. Jason's awesome. 668 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:21,560 So you're a good chance to travel down there. 669 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:26,320 He does meets in Tennessee and and Kentucky down there, but 670 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,159 yes, that's the next meet that is August 3rd. 671 00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:31,920 So I'm just under 5 weeks out. So it's, you know, nine weeks 672 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:33,520 between meets. Here is something I wouldn't let 673 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:37,120 any of my athletes do. And when and if they see this, 674 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,719 know that, you know, if you ask me, the answer is also going to 675 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,360 be no for you. I just again, I'm throwing darts 676 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:43,719 in the dark here, so. Yeah. 677 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,840 So you you mentioned the the meet that perfect storm. 678 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,840 Obviously that that meet was a big meet and they just, I think 679 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:52,239 the judging was held pretty strict. 680 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,320 But I think the biggest factor that you clearly could see 681 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,840 affected almost every lifter there was the weather and just 682 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:03,440 the the pure humidity there. And so kind of knowing what you 683 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,720 knowing that is always a possibility to meet kind of 684 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:08,760 where some things that you maybe took away from that meet. 685 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,680 So I, you know, at a certain .1 of my training partners looked 686 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:17,080 at me and he did point out that I was not dying like most of the 687 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,000 other guys there. And I think we talked about this 688 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,920 briefly last week, you know, just texting back and forth. 689 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:28,320 I train very hard very often. I do, I do a lot of just general 690 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,200 conditioning and muscular endurance work. 691 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,600 I really like to lean into just being warm while I'm training. 692 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:40,120 Like, you know, Wisconsin. It's, it is 60s and raining out 693 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,320 today, but that's not what it has been lately. 694 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,040 You know, even when it's 90 plus I will, I will just lean into 695 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:47,400 it. I'll have a warm cup of coffee 696 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:51,360 on my way to the gym and just show up just sweaty and I'm, I'm 697 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,640 ready, I'm ready to go. So I, I like, I like the heat. 698 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,000 The biggest issue with that meat was just staying hydrated on top 699 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,480 of it. I mean, there was no way to 700 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,720 truly catch up your hydration. And even if I had walked in the, 701 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,560 you know, back and put in an IV, there would have been no way to 702 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,360 keep it up with just how warm it was. 703 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:13,200 And that no fault of anybody, you know, putting on the meat. 704 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:14,880 The meat was run, you know, spectacular. 705 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:16,800 It was just warm. And that's what you need to 706 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,560 expect going to Florida. But yeah, my training partners 707 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:21,440 and, you know, I pointed out is that you're doing fine. 708 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:25,640 I just a little sweaty. But yeah, the hydration was the 709 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:29,960 hardest part there. And you know, I don't think I 710 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:31,880 think I handled it, you know, fairly well. 711 00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,760 You know, kind of it bit me kind of in the ass on deadlifts. 712 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:41,320 Strength wise I felt fine. But you know, by the time we got 713 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,000 to deadlifts, I had been sweating so much. 714 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,360 You know, I've been putting fluids back in, but I was 715 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,800 sweating so much that the sweat had dripped down my arms and it 716 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:51,640 had been sitting in my hands so much. 717 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,640 Then my hands were prune. It's no matter how much chalk I 718 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,120 put on there, if I I go to grab the bar and the bar would just, 719 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,040 it would just take the skin. There's, there's nothing I can 720 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,240 do about it. They were just so my hands are 721 00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:08,640 so moist that it was like this just gross slurry of chalk and 722 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,000 skin that would just slide right off my hands every time I grab 723 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,440 that bar, you know, above like 600 lbs. 724 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,720 So I'm lucky to have got my opener, but I just couldn't hold 725 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:21,680 on to the goddamn bar that day. It just felt strong. 726 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:24,720 And yeah, I just, that was the biggest thing, so. 727 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:26,880 What are your what are your goals for this Pro Cup? 728 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:33,080 Go in and do better than I did, you know, five weeks ago, you 729 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:39,000 know, I, I initially getting into powerlifting, you know, 730 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:43,040 kind of felt like I wanted to come in and move through it as 731 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:49,560 fast as possible, But that changed, I don't know, fairly 732 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:53,000 quickly. And, and I recognized that this 733 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,640 is a very long process. So my approach, you know, over 734 00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,680 the last, I guess, you know, five years has shifted way 735 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:04,840 further over into, you know, just continue to have fun, make 736 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,720 improvements everywhere, any, any and everywhere you can along 737 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:11,280 the way. Show up, do your thing and you 738 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:16,560 have time. So like, excuse me, like I 739 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,880 didn't squat my best at the Florida meet. 740 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,960 I hit a 1 LB bench PR, which was cool. 741 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:29,480 But like it's you know, I deadlifted 70 lbs under my best 742 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:32,320 when I felt strong enough to PR the deadlift. 743 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:37,600 So I just the main goal for the Kentucky meat is just go in and 744 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:42,240 do better than the last one. I'm not trying to force, you 745 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:45,360 know, a perfect day. I know, I know if the stars 746 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:49,720 aligned, I know what I'm capable of on a perfect day, but I no 747 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:52,600 longer want to go into a meet assuming that I'm going to have 748 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,920 a perfect day because those you might get one of those a year 749 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,560 and I, you know, I'm sure shit, it's not going to end up on a 750 00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,080 meet day. So I'm going to go in. 751 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:05,560 I'm going to have a very solid plan, one that makes sense, one 752 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:09,160 that's safe, that pushes the boundaries enough where I can 753 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,320 walk away feeling like I accomplished something good and 754 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,840 you know, baseline do better than the last one. 755 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,000 Yeah. And I think a kind of a 756 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,640 recurring theme that I've noticed, especially over the 757 00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,760 past several episodes with all these top level, super strong 758 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,160 lifters that have been in the game for a while is the 759 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:27,960 longevity. And that's becoming something 760 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,720 that's more recognized and powerlifting, especially within 761 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:33,280 the multiply community because you're handling these insane 762 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,400 loads. So what are some of the things 763 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,880 that are important to you and maintain that longevity? 764 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:46,680 You know, being being smart while I'm actually training. 765 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:49,480 So you get, you know, you're in a group, you're working up in 766 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,760 weight, you take a heavyweight one that, you know, maybe you 767 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,200 didn't expect to take that day. And it moved really well. 768 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,760 And you kind of look around and and, you know, everybody's 769 00:39:57,920 --> 00:39:59,920 saying, well, you got another jump. 770 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:04,840 And, you know, this my heaviest squat of this last, you know, 771 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,680 prep. I got up there and it was, you 772 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,040 know, it was more weight than I'd ever free squatted, deeper 773 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:13,720 than I'd ever squatted it. And I did it with no wraps. 774 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:17,360 It was, it was an actually perfect day like that. 775 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:19,880 That was the day the stars aligned for my squat. 776 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,600 And I, you know, looked around the gym. 777 00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:25,760 I, I said, well, you think I have another one? 778 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,840 And a lot of guys said yes. And then I found, and I found, 779 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:32,320 you know, Matt, the guy I mentioned earlier, he was my 780 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,560 original training partner. We trained together down at 781 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:39,560 Wolfpack occasionally every few weeks and, and very pragmatic. 782 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,480 He's very, you know, just like, don't do anything unless you 783 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:44,360 have a very specific reason to do it. 784 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,240 And I found him and I said, what do you think I should do? 785 00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:48,200 And he said, don't take the jump. 786 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:51,160 So I took all my shit off right away and I did not take the 787 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,200 jump. But that was a smart thing. 788 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,440 And I think that's the thing that people need to, you know, 789 00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,640 understand that like, you know, just because you can, just 790 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,800 because you have the ability, just because that plate is 791 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,760 sitting right there next to the mono, doesn't mean it has to go 792 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,920 on. And especially if it's going to 793 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,560 be at the at the expense, you know, at the expense of, you 794 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:13,920 know, your quality or your standards. 795 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:16,000 And that's a big thing. Expressing my athletes is like, 796 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,600 you know, you're you're the only person, you know, going through 797 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,360 the movement that can hold your standard to a certain level. 798 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:27,080 No, nobody else, nobody else can force you to work to a certain 799 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:28,440 standard. You're the only person that can 800 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,600 do it. You're also coincidentally the 801 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:32,320 only person who can lower that standard. 802 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,280 And once you start lowering it and start making, you know, 803 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:38,040 these accommodations for yourself and these excuses for 804 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:40,680 like, well, that was shitty. And you just you create a cycle 805 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:44,240 where now you just continue to allow really bad work to come 806 00:41:44,240 --> 00:41:46,000 in. So if you just keep the standard 807 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,880 high and and don't force things, but just gently push them 808 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,560 overtime you gently push them, which I think is foundational 809 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:55,880 to, you know, the way that West side ran the conjugate program 810 00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:59,800 was, you know, you called it the plan where it's just 2 1/2 lbs 811 00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:03,240 each side. Take that 5 LB PR move on. 812 00:42:03,240 --> 00:42:06,800 So you apply that same sort of idea where it's like keep the 813 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:12,520 standards high, do everything to a really high just quality and 814 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,640 that will just increase your longevity and pay attention to 815 00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,000 your body. You're generally going to have, 816 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,720 you know, warning signs. You see people who are, you 817 00:42:20,720 --> 00:42:24,280 know, tearing hamstrings and tearing biceps like this. 818 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:28,880 This stuff, some of it is acute. But a lot of this stuff. 819 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:35,040 Is going to have warning signs like just it it takes like 10 820 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:39,360 minutes to go through like mobility work like like even 821 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,040 really good mobility work if you're very focused, like 10 to 822 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:44,400 15 minutes is all it takes while you're watching whatever you're 823 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:48,440 watching at night, you know, just on television, just sit 824 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,480 down on the ground, do your damn mobility work, stretch out, just 825 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:55,200 pay attention to your body, sleep like it's it's all like 826 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:58,680 super basic stuff like. And I think people often will 827 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:00,600 overlook that for like flashy shit. 828 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:04,440 And you know, they're trying to find like these quick fixes when 829 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,880 it's like the quickest and best thing you can do is listen to 830 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:09,480 your body and react appropriately to it. 831 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:12,640 And if you don't know what to do, find somebody who does. 832 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:17,040 And yeah, so it's just, yeah, hope that answers the question. 833 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:18,160 I probably not carried away there. 834 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:20,920 Yeah, and kind of touching back on the like you said, when you 835 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:22,800 have a job, you don't necessarily need to take it. 836 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:25,840 Like especially for me who's getting into gear option, I'm 837 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:27,800 going to be handling heavier loads than I ever have. 838 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:31,120 And like the the 700 on squat, like, yeah, it moved well, I 839 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,360 could have probably made a bigger jump, but that's still 60 840 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:35,840 lbs more than I've ever had on my back. 841 00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:39,400 So why, why rush things? Just slowly chip away at it. 842 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:41,960 Live to fight another day. Yeah, yeah. 843 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,160 And you got to remember that like your, your body has never 844 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:51,080 experienced that load and it's never had to recover from that 845 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:54,080 load before. So we have like, you know, and, 846 00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:58,720 and I'll, I'll admit, I thought we were going to see more 847 00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:02,160 injuries with the band shirts. And I, you know, not kind of 848 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,840 what I hope, I hope we don't. But you know, with so many 849 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:08,440 people getting into the band shirts, you know, over the last 850 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:11,600 few years, you saw just the spike in like the average kind 851 00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:15,880 of bench, you know, where it's like, you know, I'm not, I've 852 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,840 got my own thoughts on them. But you've got people who 853 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,760 couldn't bench, you know, within 200 lbs in a Poly of what 854 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,320 they're doing in a band shirt whose bodies just aren't 855 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,280 conditioned to handle the weights. 856 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:32,040 And, you know, that's one of the things that I kind of worry 857 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:33,640 about. As, you know, I get, you know, 858 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,400 often I'll get raw lifters if you come to me or like, OK, I 859 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:37,920 want to get into gear, can you help me? 860 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:42,360 And one of the things that we do is we, we gently, you know, push 861 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:44,920 them into it. It's not like, OK, I take a £400 862 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:48,000 squat or we put a suit on and it's like, I expect you to squat 863 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,360 600 today. It's like, I'll be surprised if 864 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:54,000 you can take 400 down in the suit and make it look good 865 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,120 because not only do you have to put your Max on the bar, you 866 00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,360 also have to focus on 10 other things now. 867 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:03,440 So yeah, being slow with it and, and just, you know, take, take 868 00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:07,960 the small PRS with everything you do find merit, find value in 869 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:12,920 the small things along the way. And you know, don't, don't lose 870 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,960 sight of the broader picture because you're so hyper focused 871 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:19,320 and you've got blinders on just just with what's on the bar. 872 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:23,960 Yeah, definitely. It's important to kind of focus 873 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,200 on the not like, not like the end goal, not because obviously 874 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:29,840 you want to live forever if you could, but kind of focus on the 875 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:32,200 long term instead of, oh, what am I going to do with this meet? 876 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,120 What am I going to do next week on the Max effort? 877 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:37,120 It's more important, like, how's my total going to look 10 years 878 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:38,760 down the line? Yeah, yeah. 879 00:45:39,240 --> 00:45:41,120 So I think we can kind of wrap things up here. 880 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:42,600 So I'll ask you my final question. 881 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:45,840 If you could give a new power lifter or someone going into 882 00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:47,920 their first meet a word of advice, what would that be? 883 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:56,200 Oh, have fun first. I mean just and you cannot set 884 00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:58,800 expectations set set goals for yourself. 885 00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:03,120 But if one of those goals or one of those expectations is not to 886 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,560 have fun, you probably aren't going to last in the sport and 887 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:11,600 you have to enjoy what it is. Especially since none of us are 888 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:13,760 making actual money lifting weights. 889 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:18,160 But if you, if you are truly not enjoying this and treating this 890 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,800 sort of as a chore every time you do it, you're not going to 891 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,640 last. So make make sure that you enjoy 892 00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:26,680 the process. That's that's really it. 893 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:28,880 Have fun. Yeah, for sure. 894 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:31,520 I mean, I feel like that's been something that a lot of people 895 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:33,600 have put some focus on, some emphasis on. 896 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:36,600 I mean, we, we all did this to have fun and lift weights with 897 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,520 our friends and it's a hobby. It's not a it's not a career. 898 00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:42,120 So definitely think that's a very important aspect of it. 899 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,000 Yeah. I wanted to thank you again for 900 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:46,640 taking the time. Come on, it was my pleasure. 901 00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:48,440 Absolutely, thanks for having me.