The Juggernaut Method is a great training option for Strongman competitors. Strongman places a great emphasis on maximal strength, explosive strength, strength endurance and athleticism, all traits which the TJM will help you fully develop. Programming for Strongman is a very challenging task for many reasons such as; different athletes need to emphasize different aspects of their training (some have adequate maximal strength but are slow, some need to more event practice, some are well conditioned but relatively weak) and each contest is different and will place different demands on athletes. With those difficulties understood, I can’t write a program for every possible scenario of athlete strength/weakness, events and contest but I can say with great confidence that an athlete who is maximally strong in the squat, deadlift and overhead, explosive, athletic, well conditioned and technically proficient in the Yoke, Farmers/Frame and Stones, will have a great shot to compete at essentially any contest.

There are two methods by which I prefer to organize Strongman training templates. The first is to have a separate event day, in which you do 2-4 events only on that day. When I am referring to events here I mean moving events and stones, while deadlift and Log/Axle/DB press are events, they can and should be treated as normal training days. The second option is to include events into your gym days, doing the events that compliment the main lift of the day. Both options have their pros and cons; I think the 1st option is better suited for someone with a relatively higher squat/deadlift that needs to be able to focus more attention on their speed and event skills. Often times the way that your week is structured is dependent on what access you have to Strongman implements.

Here is an overview of how I would structure the week with a separate event day…

In this template, the deadlift and squat are trained on the same day. The deadlift is a staple of Strongman contests and some variation of it is found at nearly every show. The squat, while rarely contested, is still a foundational movement to Strongman, having a huge influence on an athlete’s abilities in the yoke, stones, carry and drag events, as well as overhead work. The deadlift will be given top priority in the day and trained on The Juggernaut Method protocol and the squat will be trained using lower volume with 5/3/1. Overhead strength is a must to be a great Strongman! By the time this book is released, the first athlete may have gone over 500 pounds in the Log Press and there will be more to come. Maximal and repetition strength is necessary in the overhead events, as contests will often feature one max overhead event and another for reps. The event day will consist of training the stones and various moving events (Yoke, farmers/frame, carrying events, dragging events, or medleys, ie. a combination of 2 or more events). Moving events need to be trained in a well rounded fashion, brining up the athlete’s strength, speed and endurance for each event. Weights in the moving events, particularly the yoke and farmers, are getting heavier every year, athlete’s are getting faster and distances are getting longer. If you want to be a great Strongman, you can have no weak ares. To become well rounded and proficient in all events, I suggest choosing 3 events to focus on per wave and rotating each week through training one for max weight, one for max speed and one for max distance. The bench is the outcast of the Strongman world, but in my opinion still serves a purpose to develop pressing strength and will benefit your overhead abilities. Since the bench isn’t an actual Strongman event, you should use the closegrip or incline (or incline closegrip) as your foundation movement and perform only the prescribed reps during the Accumulation and Intensification weeks, so as to not take away from your energy for overhead training days. The aerobic capacity days are critical to helping you improve recovery and endurance and you should make sure to do 15-30 minutes of aerobic work, like Prowler Pushing, biking, stair climbing or running in water (all done at 60-75% intensity in a totally aerobic-alactic state).

Let’s look at a 3 week wave of training using this template…

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Check Out Chad’s Training Log Here

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Check Out Dan’s Training Log Here

Name: Dan Green 

Age: 29

Height/Weight: 5’10″ 235-245

Hometown: Mountain View, CA

Current City: Mountain View, CA

Years Training: 14

Years Competing: 6

PRs in relevant lifts/events: 

Squat: 760

Bench: 485

Sumo Dead: 835

Conv Dead: 765×2

Military Press: 315

Where you Train: Boss Barbell Club

Day Job: Strength Coach/Personal Trainer

What would be your personal theme song?: Too Short: Paystyle

“They say my rap’s too slow, but it bought these diamonds”

What got you into training/competing?

There was a bench in my junior high locker room… Arnold…

What is your athletic background?

Baseball, gymnastics

Who have been influential people in your life in regards to training, or just in general?

As far as lifting goes I’ve rarely accepted advice. I do like being self-taught but I’ve studied a lot of methodologies, spoken with lifters wherever i’ve been and analyzed the video footage of as many lifters as I could.

What are the greatest challenges you have faced from a training/competing standpoint?

I’ve always had great supporters between my fiancé, training partners and family. The biggest challenges but the most rewarding aspects of lifting have always revolved around technique mastery, programming for individual strengths and weaknesses and general mental fortitude to push on in the face of injuries and disappointing results and plateaus.

How do you structure you training going into a competition?

I like to focus on certain lifts which fit into a “strength phase” when I’m further out from a meet and then the actual exact competition lifts as a meet approaches in a “peaking phase”

What is your typical diet like?

Burritos and Oreos. Until I get closer to a meet and then I have to diet but then it’s moderate to high protein low to moderate fat intake and heavy regulation of carbs depending on my workout schedule.

What upcoming competitions do you have? What are your competitive goals for the next year?

Nov. 3–Supertraining Backyard Meet

Dec. 1–USPA West Coast Open

Feb. 23–Raw Unity Meet 6

Goals are just doing my personal best and enjoying all the training that goes into it

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in competing in what you do? Nobody is too weak to lift with stronger lifters just too weak not to get someone to help them learn proper technique from the outset

Any general thank you’s or products to look out for or anything else you want to say…

Really I’m just excited that I get the feeling people really like true raw lifting. Gotta thank Mike Israetel who owns Renaissance Periodization. He designs my diet and insists I eat fewer Oreos. But it keeps me making weight without compromising strength. My fiancé cooks most of my food and supports everything I do. And of course all my training partners for their help with my training.

If you have a personal website/fan page/etc, list that here…

Still working on getting our web site up and running. It will be Bossbarbell.com but for now my YouTube page is greenanddan and you can find me on FB.

Check Out Dan’s Training Log Here

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By Chad Wesley Smith

Part 1-Maximal Effort Work

I often get questions through email, Facebook or through JTSstrength.com that are something to the effect of, “Can I substitute closegrip reverse band presses with chains for military press?,” or “Do you think Close stance low foam box safety squat bar squats are a good accessory movement for my deadlift?” My first response to questions like these are always the same thing, “How strong are you?” Nine times out of 10, these questions are coming from athletes with less than 2 years of training under their belt, or with miles of room for improvement in their lifts. Lifters like these, and even much more experienced/stronger lifters, would greatly benefit from reducing the pool of exercises that they are drawing from. In the first part of this series I will address the need for simplicity in selecting your exercises that will make up the foundation of your training for the squat, bench and deadlift.

Check Out Chad’s Training Log

There are many who argue that the internet has been a great detriment to the development of young lifters because it has exposed them to too much information, instead of forcing them to train, succeed, fail, trial, error, and think critically about why something worked or didn’t, and how they can improve their training during the next cycle. While I don’t agree that the internet is a detriment to the development of lifters, because it offers so much great information that if used correctly will be of a great benefit, I do agree that many people are using systems and exercises that are beyond what their current abilities demand to improve.

It is essential that the lifter exhausts a particular means to improve their strength, before moving onto the next, more demanding, means. This simple, yet often overlooked, concept can be summed up with the idea that if doing pushups can improve your upper body pressing power, you don’t need to bench press. In this scenario, once you begin to bench press you have effectively limited the ability of the pushup and its variations to improve your upper body strength anymore. When looking at the long term development of the lifter, which must be done if one is looking to achieve the highest results possible. Think of training as a marathon, not a sprint, and measure your goals in months/years/decades, not days and weeks. I have been training hard and consistently for 11 years, and even though my results are very elite, I haven’t even been alive for as long as some of my fellow EliteFTS.com sponsored lifters have been training. Once you adapt this mindset of training for the long haul, it will become much easier to begin thinking of the benefits you can derive from the most basic of exercises.

Let’s take a look at my last year of training since I began training for my 1st powerlifting in July 2010. This time encompasses the training cycles for 3 raw full power meets, as well as some inconsequential sessions for a few weeks at a time between meets. During these meet training cycles I have had 40 Squat, 40 Bench, 40 Deadlift and 40 Assistance Upper Body sessions. Of those 40 squat sessions, 37 of them were begun with the barbell back squat, 3 of them utilized the back squat with chains. Of those 40 bench sessions, 40 of them began with the flat barbell bench press. Similarly, 40 of 40 deadlift sessions focused on the straight bar deadlift from the floor. Finally, out of 40 assistance upper body sessions, 32 of them were focused on either the standing or seated military press, while the other 8 utilized the close grip bench press, 4 with bands and 4 without.

Take a look at this deadlift training session of mine and notice what it is focused on…

While maybe not true to the same degree that it is in my training, the exercise choices by other top raw lifters is also very simple. Six hundred pound raw bench presser Vincent Dizenzo’s utilizes the flat bench, floor press, and board press in his training. Top ranked 242 class lifter Scott Yard focuses his squat training around the back squat and reverse band squat; bench training utilizes the flat bench and bench with bands; his deadlift is built by regular deadlifts, defecit pulls and deadlifts against bands. While their exercise pool is bigger than mine, there certainly isn’t anything extravagant or fancy about their choices.

It is also advisable for athletes to limit their exercise variety, as new stimulus to the body will induce more soreness and negatively impact the athlete’s abilities during technical/tactical practice.
Now maybe you are reading this and yelling at your computer screen, “What about the principal of accommodation!!!”, which I would respond to by saying tell your principal of accommodation to go and have a chat with my 2165 raw total. Now I’m not saying that accommodation isn’t an important factor in your training, of course it is, but it can be avoided in many different ways besides rotating between dozens of different max effort exercises. There are just as many options in set/rep schemes and loading strategies as there are in exercise selection. Focus your training on the competition lifts at varying intensities, master your technique, and avoid overuse injuries/muscular imbalances through proper warmups and well planned supplementary work; follow these tips are watch your numbers skyrocket.

 Part 2-Supplementary/Assistance Work

In part 1 of this series, I discussed the need for athletes and lifters alike to be simple in their selection of their max effort exercises. It is critical as a competitive lifter, to be a master of the competitive lifts, and particularly as a raw lifter that means you need to be performing them on a very regular basis. For athletes, it is key to be simple in your exercise selection for two reasons, first you do not want to use your bioenergetic stores on the development of lifting technique because you need to reserve that for the technical development of your sport skills; second, the less frequently you change your main exercise, the less soreness you will incur which is key when having multiple sport practices per week. There are many benefits to performing the competition lifts exclusively as your main exercises, one risk you run though is the development of muscular imbalances which can lead to weakpoints developing.  Your body wants to allow it strongest movers to handle the weight and will transfer the stress there, so if you have strong quads and weak hamstrings, your body will force you into being a quad dominant squatter, which over time will limit your potential. To avoid this occurring you need to be smart about organizing your assistance work.

Assistance work should be divided into two groups: supplementary work, which are variations of the competitive lifts designed to address specific weakpoints or sticking points; and assistance work, which is training for specific muscle groups that will increase hypertrophy and maintain muscular suppleness, while helping avoid overuse injuries by bringing balance to the physique.

Supplementary Work

Supplementary work consists of using variations/varying intensities of the competition lifts to address different weak/sticking points and build special work capacity. Remember though, while supplementary work is important, it does not take precedent over your competition lifts and their loading strategies should reflect that. Similarly to your main lifts, it is critical to not rotate supplementary work too frequently as you will not have enough time to let them serve their desired purpose, nor will you be able to truly gauge their effectiveness on your strength. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite supplementary exercises and the functions they serve…

Squat

Speed Squats-For the raw lifter, speed/Dynamic Effort work should be done at a higher percentage than the 45-60% normally prescribed for geared lifters. Sixty to 75% is a good range to focus your speed work around. Focus on locking in your technique and pushing the bar with maximal force. Make sure to keep your rest periods short, 45-90 seconds, when performing speed work. Using speed sets after your main lift is also a great way to build special work capacity early in a training cycle. I have performed as many as 8 triples of speed work after my main work sets. Using chains and bands is acceptable here, but should be reserved for once straight weight is no longer yielding a positive training effect.

Dead Squats-Dead squats are the best way to build power out of the hole and a staple in my training program. Dead squats should be done for singles and depending on where you are in the training cycle, 2 to 12 sets can performed. When earlier in the training cycle, while lighter weights are being used, short rest periods (30-75 seconds) should be utilized. Once the weights increase, just take the necessary rest intervals to perform the work. Read more about Dead Squats in this article Josh Bryant, How to Win Meets and Influence Squats and Deadlifts.

Safety Bar Squats-A common problem among squatters is falling forward due to the head falling forward because of upper back weakeness/lack of tightness in the setup. The safety squat bar will remedy this problem quickly, due to its ability to accentuate any lack of tightness or weakness in the upper back due to the forward bar position. Make sure you are pushing your head back into the yoke as hard as possible to keep your head and chest up. Stay between 3 and 8 reps per set for 2 to 3 sets and your ability to keep a good posture through your squat should really improve.

Bench

Speed Bench-Good bar speed is the number one way to avoid sticking points. The faster the bar is moving, the less likely you are to stall at any point during the lift. Triples are the best option here, and varying your hand position is also advisable. Follow the same percentage guidelines as I outlined for the speed squats.

Paused Widegrip Bench-If your shoulders are healthy, paused widegrips are a great way to build power off of the chest. Just move your grip 1” out from your competition grip and perform the same way that you would a regular bench. Do not go below 4 reps in this exercise

Dead Bench-Another great exercise from Josh Bryant, which you can read about in detail in “Bring Your Bench Press Alive with the Dead Bench”.

Closegrip Board Presses-The closegrip bench has long been a staple in big benchers programs to build lockout power and using a 2 or 3 board is a great way to overload the triceps even more. A thumb from the smooth or pinkies on rings grip will be sufficient here. Reps here will should be from singles to sets of 8.

Seated Military Press to the Top of the Head-Strong shoulders are critical to a powerful raw bench. So are healthy ones though, which is why I prefer to perform mine to the top of the head, as opposed to in front or behind the head. The seated military press will build great shoulder strength/stability and tricep strength. Use sets of 1 to 10 reps, depending on where you are during your training cycle, for 2 or 3 work sets.

Deadlift

Here is a look into one of my deadlift training sessions. Notice the wide variety of supplementary work I use to address different portions of the lift.

Speed Pulls-As with the squat and bench, speed, is the best way to avoid sticking points and missing lifts. Utilitizng sets of 2 to 4, speed pulls with short rest periods are a great way to build your special work capacity, dial in your technique and increase low back strength. I have performed as many as 10 sets of 4 reps of speed pulls with 500 pounds (about 70%) after my heavy sets in the deadlift.

Defecit Pulls-Defecit pulls are a great way to build power off of the floor in the deadlift and accommodate your body to the longer time under tension that max singles often require. They will also force you to improve your hip mobility, which will allow you to get into better positions to start your pull. Sets of 3 to 8 in the defecit pull will work great to build your strength from the floor.

Pulls against Bands-For athletes who struggle at the top of the lift, adding accommodating resistance is a great way to both overload the top portion of the movement and to teach the athlete to impart maximal velocity to the bar through the entire movement. Bands can be set up in a number of ways, quaded around the base of a power rack or jumpstretch platform, stretched between dumbbells, or simply wrapped around the bar and then place your feet in the ends. Reverse band pulls are also a good option here.

Isometrics

Isometrics are a powerful tool in your training that must be used with great discretion as they are very taxing to the CNS. To set up an isometric, just set the pins in a power rack at wherever your sticking point is, and then pull the bar loaded with 50-60% of your max against the pins for 4 to 10 seconds. I perform these during my last 3 weeks before a meet, and then deload all pulling for 2 weeks before competing.

Simple training produces big results!

That covers my favorite supplementary exercises for each lift. Assess your weak points and pick an exercise from this list to attack them. I will use 2-4 variations of a given lift within a single session, which far out from a meet can add up to 20 work sets between my main lift and supplementary variations of it. Here is a look at my bench training template from May 29th, 2011

1)   Bench-Work up to 425×3, paused

2)   Speed Bench-325 for 8 sets of 4 with 1 minute rest

3)   Widegrip Bench, paused-320 for 2 sets of 8

4)   Dead Bench-335 for 8 sets of 1 with 45 seconds rest

5)   Assistance Work

Now that we’ve covered supplementary work for the Big 3, let’s take a look at assistance work. As I mentioned above, assistance work is to bring up lagging muscle groups and retain muscular suppleness. Assistance work should promote blood flow into the muscles and be relatively easy work. Don’t worry about setting PRs in assistance work each week, because it will detract from your ultimate goal, improving the Big 3. Performing 1-5 sets of 8-20 reps for a few of the  exercises from each of the following lists should suffice for assistance work. I often like to set my watch for 15-20 minutes and perform all the assistance work I can during that time period to avoid dedicating too much time to this relatively insignificant aspect of training.

Squat Assitance

Single Leg Squats, GHRs, Single Leg RDLs, Walking Lunges, Barbell/Dumbbell Step Ups.

Bench Assitance

Dips (I go heavy here and below 8 reps), Front Raises, Lateral Raises, Flies, Curls (yes these matter, look at the training and guns of any old time powerlifting stud).

You’ll notice that I didn’t list any back work here, back work is tremendously important to a big bench, but I like to perform my back work after my deadlift sessions or dedicate a separate day to it.  Chest supported rows, lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups, reverse flies and band pullaparts are my preferred back exercises to improve the bench.

Deadlift Assistance

Bentover Rows (I go heavy here and below 8 reps), Pullups/Chinups, GHRs, Shrugs, Back Extensions, Glute Bridges, Band X Walks.

Abdominal Assistance

Obviously ab strength plays a huge role in excelling in powerlifting. My favorite ab exercises are…

Ab wheel, Hanging Leg Raises, Side Bends, Decline Situps, Situps on GHR and Spread Eagle Situps.

There is my simple guide to supplementary and assistance work. Stick with an exercise for a few months and really start pushing some weight with it on your supplementary lifts. Don’t let your accessory work take on such a priority that it detracts from your max effort work. Getting crazy strong is about dedication, consistency and patience, not magic exercises. To learn more about how Chad built his #1 US Powerlifting total check out The Juggernaut Method and the soon to be released “9 Day Work Week”.

Check Out Chad’s Training Log

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Each week on the Juggernaut Training Systems Facebook page, Chad Wesley Smith and other members of Team Juggernaut will answer your questions during a live Q&A. Like Juggernaut’s page and keep your eyes peeled for the weekly live Q&A, so you don’t miss an opportunity to get your questions answered by some of the strongest athletes and smartest coaches in the World.

Check out some of our favorite Q&As from the last few weeks…

Q: Tyler Landis-Chad, I read awhile ago that you use isometric deadlifts to peak for a meet. Could you describe the frequency, intensity, rack height and set/reps you use?

A: Chad Wesley Smith-I normally will use isometric deads for the last 3 weeks before a meet. I do 3 sets at about 2” off the floor and 3 sets about 2” from lockout, because that is where I’m weak. One set is a 6 second pull against the pins with 405 (just over 50%). Isometrics are a very powerful but taxing tool, so they must be used cautiously.

Q: Robert James Gonzlez-What is a good exercise for core stabilization for Olympic lifting?

A: Chad Wesley Smith-I’m a big fan of the ab wheel and really loading it up with a weight vet or chains, but the best thing you can do is squatting, pulling and cleaning without a belt on.

A: Dan Green-I prefer the ab wheel. Higher tension yields strengths. If the ab wheel is getting easy put weight on your back and if that’s easy do the ab wheel on your toes, not your knees, that wont be easy, I promise.

Weighted ab wheel rollouts are a great exercise to build stability through the midsection, as demonstrated by the elite level sprinter. JTSstrength.com

A: Brandon Lilly-For core stability, in my mind a much overlooked part of strength, you need to have multiple approaches. Ab wheel, static holds, planks, oblique work all go into having a powerful and stable midsection.

Q: Justin Buckels-Hey guys, I think front box squats have really helped my deadlift, what are some of your favorite assistance exercises and what kind of sets and reps are you doing?

A: Brandon Lilly-I think the box is a good TOOL. Too many people though become dependent on the box and fall apart without it. I like to tell people who insist on using the box to use it for speed work, but remove it for rep work and heavy work. Snatch grip pulls from blocks have really helped my deadlift.

A: Chad Smith-If you really think they help you I would use them as a supplementary lift after your deadlift each week. Most supplementary work like that I try to keep between 3-8 reps. My ‘gold mine’ exercise for the deadlift has probably been defecit pulls standing on 3” blocks. I’ve done these for either 2 sets of 3-6 reps or more recently for 4-10 sets of 1 with 45-75 seconds rest between sets. For the squat, dead squats are my go to.

A: Dan Green-Justin, I do a lot of front squats (no box) in my training. I find that they are the best strength building exercise I do in the offseason. I do 3 sets of 5-8 reps and then a heavy single or double. This year I haven’t had enough down time between meets to incorporate higher reps, so I’ve mostly focused on the 1-3 rep range. I always do them on their own day. For me, that is Wednesday and I back squat on Monday and deadlift on Friday.

Q: Jim Mortimer-I’m entering my first powerlifting meet in November, any advice on how to train the week prior to the meet and any useful tips for the day of?

A: Chad Wesley Smith- Week of the meet I barely do anything besides some super light work on Tuesday, if the meet is on Saturday. Day of the meet, make sure you get all your stuff (shoes, belt, food, wraps, etc) together the night before and check it twice. Bring plenty of water, gatorade, shakes and easy to digest food that will give you quick energy like Rice Krispie Treats.

A: Brandon Lilly- I take Monday and Tuesday and do light full body workouts, then I’m off to rest and eat until meet day.

Q: Chunk Green- Chad big time fan of JTS first of all. My question is this: I’m a men’s league rugby player here in Texas and while my strength and speed are up to par for my level of competition my mobility and ability to generate power in a broken down position leave something to be desired. So any drills or changes in ROM(to certain strength training movements) I can be making to assist in this?

A: Chad Wesley Smith- Thank you. Be thorough in your warmups each day will be the first place to start. All sorts of different jumping varieties will help the power, standing jumps, seated jumps, jumps for distance, single leg jumps, jumps from a kneeling position. Always focus on soft landings and controlling your body.

Jumping is the simplest and most effective way to build explosive strength.

Q: Andrew Armstrong Reed-I’m planning on starting the Juggernaut Method in 2 weeks. I’m setting up my template as a 3 day program (T-squat TR-press/deadlift S-bench). I’d like to do light bench on my squat day and vice versa. what weight % and rep scheme would you use for the light work? Thanks!

A: Chad Wesley Smith- doing speed work on those off days could be a good move. 1st Week-10×2 on squat and 10×3 on bench at 50%, 2nd Week-8×2 and 8×3 at 55% and 3rd week-6×2 and 6×3 at 60%, make sure to keep your rest periods short (<45 seconds) and alternate your grips on bench.

Q: Rodney Miller- I’ve found that above 90% of 1rm on any of the powerlifts I shit the bed technique wise. How can I incorporate higher percentages into a training program without burning myself out? I’ve tried WSBB template in the past and found it didn’t work too well training by myself.

A: Dan Green- What your experiencing is what I like to differentiate from your absolute max as your technical max. Usually your technique falls apart because of one weak body part. I used to turn squats into good mornings because my legs were not strong enough…easy to address. My recommendation is to 1. train as heavy as you can as often as you can WITH GOOD TECHNIQUE and 2. find the supplemental lift that will strengthen that weak body part.

Q: Johnnie Farkas- I prefer the hex bar for deadlifts over the straight barbell. I feel more balanced when pulling heavy weight & avoid the bloody shins. Have you any good experiences with the hex bar? Am I losing something by not using the straight barbell?

A: Chad Wesley Smith- If you are training for PL you obviously want to use the straight bar, if you are just using it for general means, than the trap/hex bar is a fine choice.

Q: Eric Mannes- What are some of your favorite drills and progressions that you use with your youth athletes age 10-12? What skills do you want them to master as youth athletes that would give them advantages as older athletes?

A: Chad Wesley Smith- I don’t work much with that age group but they need to focus on extensive jumping (rolling hops, ninja box jumps-multiple response box jumps with an emphasis on soft landings) to teach body control. Medicine ball throws are a huge part of their training and postural strength work for the posterior chain and abdominals and most importantly make it fun!

Medicine ball throws are a tremendous developer of explosive strength and coordination throughout the entire body and through multiple planes of movement.

Q: Benny Taylor- Chad, as a raw lifter, what is the ideal frequency to train the big key lifts? I see some big name raw lifters training squat 3 times a week plus deads on top of that. I know many variables come into play but in general what have you seen most effective. Plus if you’re going to squat and deadlift in the same workout, what are the general guidelines so the workout doesn’t contradict itself? Thank you!

A: Chad Wesley Smith-Everybody is different. Eric, Brandon, Dan and I would all have different answers. For PL I deadlift on Day 1 and Squat on Day 6 of a 9 day training week. For Strongman I squat and DL in the same session, one week is heavy deads and squats with 75-85% for reps, next week is the opposite.

Q: Christopher Powell- What are the best assistance exercises for helping the midpoint on a deadlift?

A: Brandon Lilly- I think pin pulls, pause Deads, and static pulls are awesome builders for the middle of the DEADLIFT.

Q: Anthony Pipola: How strong is “strong enough” in a weight class sport thats not a strength sport? At what point does an athlete need to stop chasing barbell numbers, and level off so to speak? Or should one keep pushing the weight?

 A: Chad Wesley Smith- That point is going to be different for everyone because all sporting qualities will exist on a continuum of sorts, the better your technique is the more likely you can succeed with lower general strength. I can’t give you a cut an dry number, but I can guarantee you that the top athletes in a sport like MMA aren’t the best barbell lifters in their sport. You should always strive to develop general strength, in conjunction with special strength and technique. Good technique is what allows you to efficiently express your general strength.

Make sure you LIKE Juggernaut Training Systems on Facebook and participate in these weekly live Q&As!!

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By Team Juggernaut

Bands and Chains are among the most trendy tools in the modern training toolbox. They are also in my opinion, among the most misunderstood and misused. I could cite numerous YouTube videos that show coaches (including MAJOR D-1 coaches) having their athlete bench or squat with chains, where the chains are setup in a manner that will render barely any training effect (ie. Only a few links deloading on the floor).  The other day I asked our Facebook fans their opinions on training with bands or chains and found a wide variety of opinions, check them out here. In reading the responses I saw a lot of great answers and I also saw a lot of answers that made me think if people were saying why they utilize bands and chains in their training, or why they think they are supposed to use them and trust me there is a BIG difference. Let’s take a look at how some Team Juggernaut members, some of the strongest athletes in the World, utilize these powerful and controversial modalities into their training…

Brandon Lilly

When I started powerlifting I was in awe of all the new bars, and gadgets we could use, specifically the bands and chains. Now over time I have found many ways to use them and ways not to use them, here is the best 3 week waves for each lift using bands and chains that I have found.

Deadlift

Week 1 50% Bar Weight with 80 lbs of chain for 6 sets of 3

Week 2 50% Bar Weight with 150 lbs of band for 8 sets of 1

Week 3 Straight Weight up to Max off of 2″ Block then recycle and pull from the floor next rotation.

Bench

Week 1 Speed use 45% bar weight, 25% band weight 5 sets of 5

Week 2 Speed 50% bar weight, 25% chain weight

Week 3 Speed 70% Bar Weight 5 x 5

Squats

I like to use Reverse bands only. I use only Dbl Minis, or the singled light bands when doing so. I do all my required work sets then 1 to 2 reverse band sets to feel really heavy weight on my back without having to worry so much about that load in the hole. Reverse bands allow for a more natural squat movement than bands from the floor, and I never use a box unless injured.

All in all bands and chains can be a great addition to a workout regimen, but you can also get very strong without them. Do your very best to do movements that carryover to your meet lifts… Because if it doesn’t do that what’s the point?

Dan Green

I generally do very little lifting with bands at this point. I did much more when I tried to mimic the various westside training ideas I had read. But I’m not really sure I benefited from it much.

Dan Green has built his World Record strength primarily through using straight weight and exercise variations, not bands and chains.

As a raw lifter I find that focusing mainly on the bottom of the lift by training with straight bar weight and lift variations that use extended ranges of motion and/or pauses are most helpful. Bands tend to be effective at overloading the top of a lift.

For bench I will say that I don’t use bands but will sometimes use a slingshot. For deads I occasionally use them for sumo, but they are very stressful and I’m not convinced they are very effective. For conventional pulls I like them, however, and this is because they teach you how to pull the weight past your knees using your glutes and hips and hamstrings. Pulling off blocks can be awkward conventional as you can start in an unrealistic position. For sumo I find blocks very helpful because the position in the back is fairly similar to a full range pull. For squats I just squat straight weight. For added strengthening, I front squat or squat high bar with a narrowed stance.

Blaine Sumner

I believe bands and chains certainly have their place in training. But they are not a major factor in my program. If I have enough time for a 16 week cycle before a meet I will use bands for one 4 week cycle (3 weeks heavy/1 week light). I don’t use chains because I haven’t lifted at a gym with chains heavy enough to serve their purpose and since I travel a lot it is easier to pack my bands around. The main reason I don’t use bands is because when training raw – there are other manipulations of the lifts I like to do instead of accommodating resistance. And when training in gear – I’m too focused on adapting to the gear and free weight. With that being said; I have had very good results with bands but people tend to overcomplicate them. Here is the cycle I use for my 4 week band cycle.

Week 1:

3 Sets

3 Reps (2 reps left in tank)

Team Juggernaut’s Blaine Sumner’s 881 raw squat (no wraps) is a super heavyweight World Record!

Blue Bands

Red bands on assistance

Week 2:

3 Sets

2 Reps (1 rep left in tank)

Blue + Green Bands

Purple bands on assistance

Week 3:

3 Sets

1 Rep (max but do not miss)

Blue + Green + Purple Bands

Green bands on assistance

Week 4:

5 Sets

5 Reps (50% – use as deload)

Green Bands

On my band weeks I will also use bands on literally EVERY exercise. There is not an exercise known to man where you cannot creatively engineer it to accommodate bands as added resistance.

Eric Lilliebridge

I typically have always trained with just straight free weight and never really thought of using Chains or

Eric Lilliebridge’s amazing 2204 total, raw at 275, has been built largely without the use of any accommodating resistance.

Bands in my training before because of the great success I had made without them. I decided to try out Chains for one short training cycle on my Squats and Deadlifts just to try it out because I wanted to work the top portion of the lift harder and make my lock out stronger on them both. The most we ever used was 50lbs of chains (25lbs per side) so that when you fully stood up with the bar out of the rack,  the chains were all the way off the ground hovering about an inch above it, and when you locked out the deadlift they were about half inch to an inch above the ground as well so that the full amount of weight from the Chains was loaded at the top. I did about a 6 week training cycle with them both (3 heavy squats, 3 heavy pulls, alternated every other week) and by the end of the training session I could tell my lockouts were a lot more powerful than they were before and ever since then my lock out on the pull has felt very strong and same with lockout out the squat. The chains definitely helped build some stability on the squat especially if you’re not used to having hanging weight from the bar. I know that a lot of guys like using heavier amounts of chains (100lbs and up) but I figured i’d have the majority of the weight from free weight and just enough weight in chains so that when I hit the bottom of the squat, maybe only 20-30lbs was taken off of the bar when the chains were hitting the ground and for the deadlifts so that the extra Chain weight loaded up fast as soon as you got it to knee level. I would definitely recommend using Chains in your training if you feel like your lockout on the deadlift has slowed down and same with the top portion of your squat. I will probably end up using Chains again in my training at some point whenever I feel like I need them again!

Greg Panora

I believe bands and chains are a great tool for geared and raw lifters. I really like using them for novice lifters all the way to elite lifters, but for different reasons. With novice lifters it teaches to keep your body tight and how to fire the right muscles as the band tension grows towards the top. For more experienced lifters, it teaches explosion and really works stability in a way that straight weight does not. I also really like a reverse band set up for all three lifts. I realized that the weeks when I was wearing a bench shirt and using 8- 900 pounds, my Raw bench would increase. Overloading the top end of the lift will make weight feel much lighter. For me confidence is everything in this sport and when weight feels light, I become ultra confident.

Team Juggernaut’s Greg Panora is a legend in geared powerlifting who now has his sights set on raw World Records.

My favorite 3 week wave with bands and chains would be completely overloading the top on squat for 2 weeks followed by squatting against 2 chain/side for a week. So, week one would be 4 doubles against blue/green band working on exploding through to the top. Use about 70% of your one rep max. Week 2 would be 4 doubles with a 2 blues and a green. I would use 55-60% of your max. Anyone that has ever trained with me knows I’m a fan of heavier speed work with less sets. My body doesn’t respond to light weight. I want my hamstrings and back firing in unison, and my body isn’t going to do that with light weight. Week three would be a heavy single against 2 chains/side. Just work up with explosive singles until you are happy and shut it down. The weight should feel light on your back and a heavy weight should move fast.

Brad Little

I have a love/hate relationship with bands and chains. I still think that bands and chains are great training tool, but that is it. I do not believe it impossible to become extremely strong without these tools. Bill Kazmaier, Ed Coan, Kirk Karwoski, Larry Pacifico, and many more of the greatest of all time never used these tools. I feel that far too often kids jump into this sport and for whatever reason think that the only way to become a real powerlifter is to use band tension and varying chain weights, I was one of these kids 3 years ago.

Since becoming more advanced I have gotten further and further away from this way of training and have realized straight weight and differing rep ranges work far better for me. I became a better lifter because I took a step backward and trained with a more primitive method. I feel that if people try to milk using straight weight with a power bar more and more, and stay away from these tool their strength will only improve because if it. That being said I do still train from time to time with bench and chains.

Team Juggernaut’s Brad Little is the US #1 deadlifter in the 181 class with 730 pounds.

One of my favorite band squat cycles would have to be green band squats. I prefer using a power or squat bar; I am also not a huge fan of specialty bars. This should be done in a 3 week wave. The first week should be a fairly light percentage (50-60%) of your one rep max. 8-10 doubles should be hit with this weight with very little breaks. The second week should consist 2-3 doubles in the 65-70% range. During the third week a new once rep max should be tested. A box should not be used at all during this cycle.

I train deadlifts with bands even less often. The most useful method of deadlifting with bands would have to be using doubled mini-bands for speed work, this adds about 100lbs of tension at the bottom, and 220lbs up top. I will say, though that I do prefer speed work with straight weight to this method. I do use chains slightly more often for deadlifting than bands, although it is still a very small amount. I find that 40-70lbs of chains is perfect, this may sound crazy to some people but I simply do not think a huge deadlift is built with a large variation in weight from the bottom of the movement, to the top of the movement on a heavy training day.

Chad Wesley Smith

I have had periods of my training career where I used bands and chains constantly in my training and I have had periods where I barely ever touch them. During my shot putting career, I used bands and/or chains with almost all my primary exercises. Whether that was heavy squats with chains, speed squats with bands, heavy pressing with chains or speed benching with bands, they were a constant in my program and I often credited them with helping me build explosive strength. In hindsight, I would have rarely used them, as I rarely use them with my speed/power athletes that I train. While utilizing accommodating resistance like bands and chains, does enhance force production with barbell lifts, they are not nearly fast enough to improve speed qualities for athletes like throwers or football players. Athletes like this will be much better served to use sprinting, jumping and throwing to develop their speed and traditional barbell lifts (which aren’t as taxing to the CNS without the inclusion of bands/chains) to develop their strength.

My powerlifting/strongman career has featured very little training with bands or chains with over 90% of my primary work being devoted to straight weight exercises. Situations though where I have found bands/chains useful are squats with chains, reverse band deadlifts, lightening deadlifts with chains and closegrip benches with bands. Let’s take a look at how I incorporate each of these movements…

Squats with Chains

I used squats with chains when training for the 2011 SPF Ironman where I squatted 865, a 65 pound PR. During this time I was putting the majority of my training focus on the deadlift and bench and was able to PR in those by 85 and 53 pounds respectively. Since so much of my energy was going towards the other 2 lifts, I knew that I couldn’t squat heavy each week and recover fully, so I pulled heavy each Monday and followed this Squat progression on Fridays…

Doing squats with chains in this manner allowed me to still feel heavy weight on my back without taxing my body as much as straight weight would. I put a ton of emphasis on bar speed in all my training, but would actually time each set of 2 with the chains and tried to always perform the 2 reps in under 3 seconds.

Reverse Band Deadlifts

Reverse Band Deads are a great way to build speed off the floor and to overload your lockout. Though reverse band deads make up only a small portion of my deadlift training I think they help train my CNS, as well as build confidence. I use reverse band deads during my final week of max double deadlifts. I will work up to a max (or near max) regular deadlift and then after that, add reverse strong bands and pull a max single that I would classify as a 9 difficulty wise. Each time I have done this, I have then pulled this or more weight, 1 month later as a new 1rm.

Lightening Deadlifts

Lightening Deadlifts are a powerful peaking tool to utilize before a meet. Taught to me by my great friend and coach, Josh Bryant, lightening deads teach you to impart maximal velocity on the bar but because the weight is relatively light they aren’t too taxing to the CNS, making them a good option to use as you approach a competition and recovery is at a premium. Lightening deads exploit the idea of lowering a heavier weight than you are going to lift, which will prime your body to exert greater force than it would if it only recognized the lighter weight.

Lightening Deads require chains and 2 competent spotters. Load the bar with 40% of your 1rm and add chains to each side (draped over the collar of the bar, outside the weights) that equal ~10% of your 1rm. You will do 1 rep and as soon as that rep is back on the ground, your training partners will quickly pull the chains off each side and as soon as they are off, you will perform a 2^nd rep. The 2^nd rep will be extremely explosive because your body is primed for the weight of the chains to also be present, but when it isn’t there, the light bar will FLY up. I would do these for 3 sets of 2 reps for the final 2-3 weeks of heavy training before a meet. These should be done after your primary deadlift work from the ground with straight weight.

Bands and chains are a powerful tool, but some people would lead you to believe that they are an integral part of training (these are usually the people who sell the bands and chains) but my and my teammates’ strength, as well as the performances of all time greats like Kaz, Jon Cole and Don Reinhoudt, is a testament to the FACT that you don’t need them to get strong.

The post Training with Bands and Chains appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

In part 3 of our Team Juggernaut Roundtable discussion, Team Juggernaut’s Chad Wesley Smith, Brandon Lilly, Brad Little and Ryan Brown, along with Mike Tuchscherer, Jim Laird and Corey Hayes, talk about what our favorite assistance movements are for the bench press, squat and deadlift…

The post Team Juggernaut Roundtable, Part 3-Assistance Work appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

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How to solve the problem with Strongman training

-Find out what the problem is with strongman training

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-Qualified for the ESPN Worlds Strongest Man competition 4 times

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-Competed for 12 years

-8 years as a pro

-Competed in over 50 competitions around the world

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I couldn’t be more impressed with the Cube Method for Strongman-Brandon Lilly

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Josh has taken strongman programming to another level-Chad Wesley Smith

“I have had the chance to train with Josh and really discuss training and let me say he knows what he is talking about. When he first explained the Cube Method for Strongman to me I knew he was on to something. I have been proven right as I have seen the results of the many strongman testers who have been on the program. This is a complete program, that I believe will produce complete strength athletes.”-Chad Wesley Smith-Author of Juggernaut Method 2.0, 905 American record raw squat. 2012 NAS National Strongman Champion and ASC Pro strongman

This is a smart and complete training program-Matt Vincent

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Okay you’ve Read about the book, heard the testimonials, and seen the bonus products, now how much does it cost?

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I’ll see you at the top,

Josh Thigpen

The post The Cube Method for Strongman appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

I have always enjoyed knowing how a great strength athlete began. I would love nothing more than to sit down with guys like Bill Kazmaier, Ed Coan, or Kirk Karwoski and find out exactly what got them started in strength sports. Since I find this so fascinating I though I would share with everyone why I began my quest to become stronger.

Since I can remember I’ve always wanted to be the strongest guy I knew. The only problem was I was an extremely small, weak kid. When I was very young I was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenia, which caused my blood platelet level to drop to 10,000 before I could be omitted into a hospital. I was covered in large bruises and felt extremely weak. After a long stay in the hospital and a platelet transfusion I was released and began a steroid regimen that caused me to become bloated and left me constantly feeling weak.

After my platelet level started remaining normal on it’s own I never really grew as fast as the other kids. I excelled in all sports I played but was always a little smaller and weaker than everyone else. At the end of my sophomore year in high school I was 5’5 112lbs. I was an excellent baseball player and could throw very hard because of my long limbs, but I just wasn’t happy with myself. I can clearly remember being the weakest kid in my class and I wanted to change that, I was willing to do whatever it took.

Brad Little began his journey to becoming an elite level powerlifter, in a very humble place

I began my journey toward becoming stronger at this point. I started a bodybuilding split that made me gain plenty of size and made me feel much better about myself and made me better at the sports I played. I was around 150lbs going into my senior year of high school and decided to enroll in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes and started training for MMA. This was a great time in my life and I gained a new respect for myself, my strength training was put aside and I focused more on heavy cardio and weight training specifically for fighting.

Soon after this time I discovered powerlifting and became extremely interested. I decided to try these movements and see how I liked them; this is when I realized just how much of a disadvantage my small stature put me at. The first time I tried to squat to parallel with my shoulders wider than my hips I fell hard on my back, I only had 135lbs on the bar and I realized I was much weaker than I thought I was. I decided to try the deadlift, I loaded 185lbs on the bar and missed it right above my knee after hitching four or five times.

I was instantly hooked because I can’t stand being horrible at something related to my physical being; this is mostly because I grew up so much smaller than all of my peers. I pushed myself extremely hard and quickly began earning respect from local strong guys because of my drive. I knew I may never be what most considered strong, but I was determined to be the absolute strongest version of myself I could possibly be.

Shortly after this I realized I was a joke to most people outside of my hometown because I am such a small human, this is when I realized being better than I had been wasn’t enough. I wanted to prove everyone wrong and become known in the strength world. Shortly after I started seeing videos from a gym located near Richmond, Ky called Guerrilla Squat Barbell. Some very strong men trained there and I only dreamed of being like them. I began posting videos of my lifting the way they did and started getting some recognition. After posting a video of my 500lb deadlift weighing 155lbs I received a Facebook message from a lifter I had looked up to for a very long time from Guerrilla Squad Barbell, Brandon Lilly. This was before he went to Westside, before he had any huge totals, before every lifter in the world knew him, but I was completely in shock to have someone like him notice me. He told me to come train with him that evening, when I told him I would be there he replied, “be there”.

After training with these guys I knew I could never look back, Brandon talked me into signing up for my very first competition shortly thereafter and I realized I was being thrown into this sport headfirst. Around this time I met my now best friend and roommate, a local lifter I had known of for some time, Corey Hayes. This is about the time I started getting some recognition and began turning into the lifter you see today.

Now the #1 US deadlifter in the 181 class at 730 pounds, Brad’s force of will has made him a force to be reckoned with at only 22 years old

Since then many things have come and gone and I still get criticized because of my size, but I have proven many people wrong and I plan to become one of the strongest lightweights to ever live. I am extremely grateful for everyone who has believed in me and I am so proud to be a part of a team of great lifters like the Juggernaut Crew. If you are one of my competitors keep an eye out because I am just getting started and nothing will slow me down.

The post My Strength Journey appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

Name: Corey Hayes

Corey Hayes is an accomplished raw and geared lifter

Age: 22

Height/Weight: 5’10 / 235lbs

Hometown: Prestonsburg, KY

Current City: Richmond, KY

Years Training: 7

Years Competing: 6

PRs: My current raw competition PR’s are

Squat: 725

Bench: 425

Deadlift: 680

Total: 1825 @220

The deadlift was done about 7 months after herniating my L5 and S1, Im proud of the fact i was able to overcome that and get back to decent numbers so fast.

Where You Train: Berea Barbell

Day Job: Im currently a full time student at Eastern Kentucky University. I train people only with the cube method and do alot of buy and resell type stuff to get by. I also make my parents pay for everything.

What Would Be Your Personal Theme Song:  NWO WOLF PACK theme music of course

Check Out Corey’s Training Log

What Got You Into Training/Competing:

I was a skinny fat “pud” as a kid, i basically had no muscle, a tiny frame and was just soft, i hated it so i started doing bench and curls in my basement. Later on I started playing football but figured out on my own that the coach was an idiot and i liked the lifting part alot more so i somehow talked my mom into driving me to the gym 3 times a week until i got my license. Luckily the gym I started out at was heavily influenced by powerlifting and hosted unsanctioned and USPF sanctioned meets pretty regularly. After my first meet, i was hooked.

Who Have Been Influential People in Your Training/Life:

I have more people that inspired me than influenced me. Im stubborn as shit and don’t really like taking advice or asking questions. Im the kind of guy that will take an hour to figure something out rather than take a minute and ask a question for the answer. But the people that have inspired me are the guys I grew up training around. Matt Johnson, Don Fields, Brian Siders have been there since early on, now that I’ve gotten stronger and around more major lifters I have to include my training partner Brandon Lilly. Some lifters that I love watching are Dan Green, Lilliebridge, Rubish, Klokov, etc. I really like well rounded lifters more so than guys just good at one lift.

What Are the Greatest Challenges You Have Faced In Training/Competing:

So far my greatest challenges have been injuries. I tend to strain my pec’s often which always sets my bench training back a bit but i believe i have fixed that problem. My biggest injury was about 1.5 years ago when i herniated both my L5 and S1, this left me without the use of the posterior portion of my leg for about 5 months. I couldnt even raise up on my toes because the nerve was pinched so bad. By the time I got the pain levels down to a tolerable level I started training again, just doing shallow leg presses, leg curls and band good mornings. I remember having to hitch a 275 sumo deadlift  shortly after i started training lower again haha.

How Do You Structure Your Training Going Into Competition:

I really like more drawn out cycles, im comfortable with 12 weeks. Im very anal about it so I like to have pretty much everything laid out ahead of time. I start by getting the timing of my squat and deadlift workouts laid out, starting at the competition date and going backwards. I prefer to gradually build into the meet, starting with volume high and working it down, ill end it with some supra maximal stuff with chain on squat to overload and almost burn me out. I know im ready when my last heavy squat day is a complete disaster. After that, ill take a lighter week and a week off. For deadlifts I like to stick with reps throughout most of it, I will set up the cycle to hit rep pr’s based off of what i want to do in the meet. For example, if i wanted to pull 700, i would shoot for 545×8 early on, 595-600×5 then 635×3, after than i may hit a single or two from matts to get a feel for the weight.

What Is Your Typical Diet Like:

This is where I lack. Im usually too lazy to make anything so I’ll order out or go get something. I do try to pick the highest protein option or will order stuff with double or triple meat. To supplement for my lack of good eating I use a supplement called humapro which is a protein replacement type product.

What Upcoming Competitions Do You Have? What Are Your Goals:

Since i just switched back to raw from a short stint of geared lifting, I am building my base back up before deciding on a competition, I will however be returning to the platform in the summer of 2013 with a 1900+ total. Thats a statement, not a prediction.

What Advice Do You Have For Someone New to Your Sport:

Stick to the basics, read everything you can and believe only about 25% of it. Find big strong dudes around you and EARN the right to ask them questions and learn from them. Push yourself a little harder than you think you should and eat a few bites after you want to quit. Learn about mobility work early on and always try to get your form just a little better.

Any General Thank Yous, etc:

I’d really like to thank Juggernaut Training Systems for having me. Id like to thank all of my training partners over the years at Pro-fitness, Guerilla squad, and now Berea Barbell. A huge thanks for my parents and mastercard for allowing them to go into great debt supporting me.

Check Out Corey’s Training Log

The post Get to Know Corey Hayes appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

Name: Pete Rubish

Age: 21

Height/Weight: 6’0” 235 lbs.

Hometown: Cambridge, WI

Current City: Madison, WI

Years Training: 7 years

Years Competing: 3 years

Competition PRs: 661 lb. Squat (no knee wraps), 352 lb. bench press, 777 lb. deadlift

Where You Train: My basement, Capital Fitness, University Weight Room, Pro Gym

Day Job: Student

What Would Be Your Personal Theme Song: “D3mons” by Machine Gun Kelly & DMX or “Hate Me Now” by Nas

What Got You Into Training/Competing: I tried pretty much every sport out there:  football, basketball, track & field, bodybuilding, and running marathons, but I enjoyed powerlifting the most.  I just loved lifting heavy weights and seeing my physique change and the power I felt from it, so I stuck with it.

Who Have Been Influential People in Your Training/Life:  Josh Bryant has helped me out a lot with my training along with the Lilliebridge family at meets.  They’re always willing to lend a hand and they’ve been a huge influence on my success.

What Are the Greatest Challenges You Have Faced In Training/Competing:  Overcoming injuries has been the biggest challenge for me.  I pretty much always have something that’s banged up, whether it’s a torn muscle or something as simple as tennis elbow.  You just have to learn how to train around them.  It’s the only way when you’re lifting this heavy.

Check Out Pete’s Training Log

How Do You Structure Your Training Going Into Competition:  Much higher volume and shorter rest periods when I’m between fifteen and five weeks out from a meet, and then low volume, heavy weight, long rest periods, when I’m under five weeks out.  I lift four days per week.  I have one squat day, one deadlift day, and two bench days.

What Is Your Typical Diet Like:  Unless I’m trying to lean out, which only takes me about a week of strict dieting, I’ll eat whatever I want.  That being said, my diet is structured around a combination of four cheese rice a roni mixed with a pound of ground beef.  I’ll eat about 3 lbs of that a day and that seems to work well as far as having something that gets you stronger and tastes good too.

Pete Rubish’s strength and intensity are turning him into an icon in strength sports at only 21 years old.

What Upcoming Competitions Do You Have? What Are Your Goals: 

March 16 – SPF Pro Am in Oswego, Illinois
April 20 – UPA Nationals in Dubuque, Iowa
July 20 – UPA Iron Battle on the Mississippi in Dubuque, Iowa

As of now, I’m not sure about the dates of some of the meets I plan on doing in the second half of the year, but I’ll probably do three more.

My big goal right now is to hit a 750 lb. squat with just a belt in the 242 class.  That’s my main focus, I’m not really thinking about anything else right now since that is such a big goal.  I’d like to do that at UPA Nationals.

What Advice Do You Have For Someone New to Your Sport:  Just start competing as soon as possible.  Meet personal records are the only thing that matters, and you’ll become a lot better lifter the more often you compete.  I would never recommend taking off an extended period of time from competing.

Where Do You See The Sport of Powerlifting in 5 Years?: I think we’ll see an even greater shift than what we’re currently seeing towards more people choosing raw lifting.  I see the sport growing and starting to get a little more mainstream as people realize how beneficial powerlifting can be to all other types of athletics.  It’s going to take time to get the sport more recognition, but it will happen slowly if we keep things moving in the direction they’re currently going.   Younger lifters, leaner lifters, and more charismatic lifters are the characteristics that will appeal to the general public.

Any General Thank Yous, etc:  I’d like to thank Josh Bryant for helping me with my programming, as well as my sponsors USP Labs for providing me with my supplements, and Alpha Clothing Company.

Check Out Pete’s Training Log

The post Get to Know Pete Rubish appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

The most common question I receive about The Juggernaut Method, is “how can I add in some heavier work?”. The Juggernaut Method is built around submaximal work done for a high volume with great attention to the quality of the lift from both a technique and speed standpoint. While I don’t think that it is necessary to add any work on top of the already programmed work, as I squatted 800 at my first powerlifting meet, while never going over 635×5 during training with The Juggernaut Method, I understand that there are people who either physically or mentally need to handle higher percentages before a meet.

Adding in higher percentage work within the set/rep scheme of the Juggernaut Method is rather simple and can be done without compromising the initial intent of the program.

When looking to add higher intensity work to The Juggernaut Method follow this structure…

The Juggernaut Method 2.0 is only available here in the Store at JTSstrength.com

10s Wave

Accumulation Week-Perform As Written

Intensification Week-Work Up to a Heavy Set of 5, then perform the usual TJM work but only do the minimum prescribed reps.

Realization Week-Perform as Written

8s Wave

Accumulation Week-Perform as Written

Intensification Week-Work Up to a Heavy Set of 3, then perform the usual TJM work but only the minimum prescribed reps

Realization Week-Perform as Written

5s Wave

Accumulation Week-Perform as Written

Intensification Week-Work Up to a Heavy Set of 2, then perform the usual TJM work but only the minimum prescribed reps

Realization Week-Perform as Written

3s Wave

Accumulation Week-Perform as Written

Intensification Week-Work Up to a Heavy Set of 1, then perform the usual TJM work but only the minimum prescribed reps

Realization Week-Perform as Written

When working up to these heavy sets of 5, 3, 2 or 1, it is critical that you MAKE ALL YOUR REPS. Making reps makes you stronger, missing them doesn’t, so pick your weights wisely. Focus on staying between an 8 and 9.5 effort level during your heavy sets.

Let’s take a look at what the 5s Wave would loook like for someone with a 500 pound working max…

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Accumulation Week-Up to 6×5 at 350 (70%)

Intensification Week-Up to 460×2, then 4×5 at 390 (77.5%), during this week you can drop the ramp up sets to your usual TJM and just do the sets at the top percentage because you will already be warmed up from your heavy work.

Realization Week-Up to 425xAMAP

Again, 460 isn’t a set in stone number or percentage here during the intensification week, it is just an example of a heavy set of 2. You can work up to whatever number you feel is appropriate for the day, just make sure it is challenging but DON’T MISS REPS!

Make Your Top Sets Look Like This, Heavy But Not True Maxes. It is ok to go to a true max once in a while but not every week…

Another way to implement heavy work into TJM is like this…

Acuumulation Week-Work up to heavy set of 1-5, perform prescribed reps of TJM at only the minimum reps

Intensification Week-Perform only the minimum prescribed reps of TJM

Realization Week-Work up to a heavy set of 1-5, drop down to the top percentage of TJM work for this week and rep it out.

If you choose to follow this model, you will work up to heavy 5s during the 10s Wave, heavy 3s during the 8s Wave, heavy 2s during the 3s Wave and heavy 1s during the 3s Wave. During the realization week of each phase you will just work up to your heavy set, rest for 5-10 minutes and then just perform a backdown set at whatever the top percentage is for that week (10s Realization-75%, 8s-80%, 5s-85% and 3s-90%). Using this approach may slightly limit your ability to perform at optimal levels in your realization week on your AMAP sets, but you are doing this because you feel you need more emphasis on your heavy work, so a sacrifice must be made somewhere.

Adding in this heavy work during each training cycle will help your body accommodate to heavy weights and improve your confidence under heavy loads. Use this simple strategy to enhance your training on The Juggernaut Method.

If You Have Question About This Article-Ask Them In The Comments Section Below!

The post Going Heavy on The Juggernaut Method appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

Happy birthday to one of the strongest and most talented powerlifters in the World today! Team Juggernaut’s Eric Lilliebridge turns 23 years old today. Yes, you read that right, Eric Lilliebridge owner of the World Record raw w/ wraps squat in the 275s class (881 pounds) and a 2204 raw total, is only 23 years old. Eric has been a powerlifting star, performing amazing feats of strength, for several years already. Check out some of his for JTSstrength.com and videos of some of his most impressive lifts…

Eric squatting 906, along with Stan Efferding and Eric’s brother and father, Ernie Sr and Erie Jr, in the Animal Cage at the 2013 Arnold Classic…

Check Out This Article Where Eric Outlines His Favorite Bench Accessory Movements…

Top 5 Bench Accessory Exercises

Eric totalling 2204 raw with wraps in the 275 classs…

Happy Birthday to Eric, one of the World’s best lifters and just one of the nicest people you could hope to meet!

The post Happy Birthday Eric Lilliebridge appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

Despite what you have been told the best deadlifters in the world pull very often, they are just intelligent enough to cycle their pulls. By cycling this not only keeps their deadlift progressing, but it also allows them to work the deadlift in various ways, and in parts. The number one stand out “part” for great deadlifters is the start. The speed with which the bar leaves the floor dictates the rest of the pull, and a fast start will most definitely get you through some sticking points along the way. So how do you improve off  the floor?

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Being a guy that used to be awful off  the floor, I plan to share my ideas with you so you can follow a similar path, and hopefully you see your floor speed, and acceleration improve. You may have heard me speak on my transition from bands, and chains, to barbell weight only. The reason I did this was because I was learning to cheat the bands, but they weren’t translating. Also, with a traditional set up, the bar is the lightest on the floor, and in my belief you cannot maximize the gains from an area where you use the least amount of weight. So what I did, with the aid of Corey Hayes was find a way to up the weight on the bottom, and maximize lockout power….

EXPLOSIVE WORK

Traditional set up- 45/50/55% bar week wave + 25% band weight at the top. So we focused on the top combined percentage, in this case it would be 70/75/80%. So we decided to forget the bottom number altogether, and focus on the top number. We subtracted 10%, and that was our constant weight from floor to top. So our 3 week wave was 60/65/70%. So now we were breaking the floor with 15% more weight, and locking out with 10% less, so we were plus 5% in total exertion. But to really maximize the muscular recruitment we performed our sets in rapid succession, we usually paired up with someone using the same weight and would perform 8 singles, trading position over the bar as quickly as possible. The fastest I have timed two people doing 8 sets at 60% is 33 seconds, 8 sets at 70% is 41 seconds. That is flying for a duo. I tell most people to shoot for 45 seconds to begin with and work your way down. The quickness with which the sets are performed will cause the strong muscles to fatigue first, thus reinforcing the use of weak muscles.

Brandon has tremendous power of the floor, as evidenced by this 755 beltless deadlift in the Animal Cage at the 2013 Arnold Classic…

The next benefit of this type of explosive work is it takes the “thought” out of your lift. You become robotic, and learn to pull through less than optimal set up, and bar misposition. How many times have you heard guys say after a miss in a meet “My hands were off, my feet weren’t right, the bar drifted, etc.” Lifting this way will allow those mistakes to happen, but you will learn to lift your way “through” them. When you are in control, and face no surprises, that is when you will succeed.

REP WORK

We need to set up our rep work to really target weak areas. Now as I have stated before I like a rotation on my rep days, I like a one inch deficit (The reason I like the one inch deficit so much, is because it increases the length of the pull, but doesn’t sacrifice form. I think when the deficit gets too high the form changes to the point it doesn’t carryover as well.) Pulls from two inch blocks, this seems to totally remove the hamstring/glute from the beginning of the pull so you learn to pull with the lower back, and four inch block pull as this should allow you to overload a little bit and work the lockout. The sooner you realize that you have to work the deadlift as a whole, in parts, and work to streamline the sum of those parts.

HEAVY DAY

My feelings on how I approach my heavy days have changed somewhat. I have started doing my heavy pulls standing on a one inch deficit. Again, this lengthen the pulls, so if you start hitting PR’s this way, when you shorten the pull you are gonna shock some people. I also always pull in shoes, and then in my meets I go to slippers, so really I’m shortening my pull by 1-2” total. Now, I work up to heavy doubles further from the meet, then I start aiming at attempts for the meet.

Assistance Work for the Cube

While the rotation of the days is unique for the Cube, there are also some things my trainees notice immediately.

• We do Olympic Squats after our main lower movements. The purpose of this is not even weight, I want my lifters to keep a narrow stance (narrower than shoulder width), and I want their glutes to touch the lower portion of the leg before they come up. I see a lot of guys that call wider stance squats Olympic squats, they aren’t, and I see a lot of partial squats, they don’t count. It’s your total, do it right.
• Snatch Grip Deadlifts from Blocks. This is a favorite of my lifters, we set up the blocks on 2”, 4”, and 6” inch levels, and we rotate where we pull from. We use straps on these, and grab wider than the lines on the bar, and perform anywhere from 1 set of 20, to 3 sets of 12, using any weight range from 45%-60%. These will absolutely kill your middle back, erectors, and glutes. Definitely make these a staple in your routine.
• Lat work is a must four days per week. We do rows, pulldowns with and without bands, chest supported rows, and low cable rows. The lats are so underappreciated for what they give to a powerlifter. In the bench it is crucial to flex your lats when lowering and reversing the weight, in the squat your lats maximize upper back tightness, and in the deadlifts the lats help the bar explode once the bar leaves the floor.

Lastly we hope to look like we lift weights, so we cover as many bodyparts as we can. We train biceps, quads, calves, forearms, and pecs, muscle groups that have kind of been labeled as

This is a 10 week Meet Cycle to not only increase your speed off the floor, but I guarantee you see a big jump in your PR as well! This will be based off a 500 lbs. deadlift so you can see the weights, but I will list %’s as well…

The post To Pull A Lot, You Need To Pull A Lot appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

The task is well defined—and competitively measured—lift more weight. Succeeding, however, is the complex part. And repeatedly doing so will require a great plan. I’d tell you what that plan is, but I don’t know what it is for you. Improving is a uniquely personal task. So what I am going to set out to do is offer you a way to lay the foundation for a plan to improve upon each lift.

To use an architectural analogy: you must build a stronger foundation if you wish to build a more impressive structure. And I’d contend that for each of the bench, deadlift and squat, there are a select few exercise variations that comprise the “pillars” that a more impressive main lift can be “constructed” on top of.  These are the variations that, when improved, lead to a direct and predictable improvement of the variation’s base lift. And to be thorough, we can examine each lift in its own article. For part 1 of 3, lets take a close look at the deadlift and which deadlift variations most effectively impact its improvement.

Sumo Block Pulls

The first exercise we will look at is the sumo deadlift with the weights elevated on 2” or 4” blocks. It’s so effective for the same reason that sumo deadlifts are used in the first place—they offer superior leverage! By elevating the weight on a block, we make it easier to start with the hips closer to the bar. It’s elevated and allows the lifter to start with the hips closer to the bar, the spine more upright and the legs in a slightly more extended position. All of these factor in to create one thing: leverage.

This is a lift that offers several training benefits: for a beginner, it allows the lifter to learn to pull from the sumo position with less of a flexibility requirement than pulling sumo directly from the floor. It benefits both the sumo and conventional lifter by allowing for maximal loading of the quads and upper spinal erectors in the back. Because it lets the lifter consistently pull supra-maximal weights—often for reps—the muscles of the torso and upper back really get overloaded. The tightness taught by the sumo block pulls makes the transition back to the pull from the floor a matter of how much leg drive the lifter can generate, because the upper body will have handled these supra-maximal weights. In fact, only one other exercise has had a bigger benefit on my conventional deadlift and this is a sumo deadlift!

Finally, and most important for the sumo puller, the block pull allows the lifter to repeatedly get heavy weights moving and keep them moving. This is of paramount importance because it allows the hips to be trained to drive the knees outward and remain close to the vertical plane of the bar for the duration of the lift. The biggest pitfall in most lifters’ sumo technique is at high intensities, the lifters are unable to keep the hips close—instead allowing them to push back and lose the leverage advantage gained by lifting with the sumo technique. Forcing the hips out takes tremendous strength under heavy loading and simply won’t just happen to be developed if you aren’t sumo pulling heavy.

Do pulls for 3-5 reps after pulling off the floor using the 4” setup or use the 2” blocks for 1-2 reps as a maximal lift for a workout.

Conventional Deficit Deadlift

If you have never pulled conventional while standing on a 3-4” box or 100 plate, stop wasting your time reading stuff on the internet and go do these. Execute each rep from a dead stop and with as much leg drive as possible. If you’ve done these then you know that the brutality of the added range the legs must drive through and the back must pull through, and given the slower overall speed—to me these are like cheating and are exactly what I mean when I say an exercise is a “pillar” to build on. If these go up in weight you can guarantee that your pull from the floor will as well. Granted the longer you do these and the better you get at them, the less the carryover from these to standard conventional deadlifts will be, but if that even slightly presents itself to you as a reason to consider not doing them then don’t. And stop reading and go away. Deadlifts are not for you.

These can be programmed in many ways. If you follow a conjugated routine then these can be done first as a max effort or heavy effort lift: 1-3RM sets. My preference is to use these as is done in the various versions of the Finnish deadlifting programs as an exercise to build both strength and volume with. They are done for several sets of 5 and as the first exercise in the workout. Lastly is my method, which I utilize because as a sumo puller if you don’t do some conventional work the hamstrings and lower spinal erectors can get a little deconditioned. This exercise works great for one set of max reps after all my sumo pulling is done and I typically perform 4-8 reps. One set for all you’re worth! This will add tons of mass to the back of your body and legs no matter which way you do them, just don’t do them vicariously through someone else.

To Read the rest of this article, including more exercise tips and breakdowns from World Record holder Dan Green, become a Juggernaut Member!!

Summary

So there are a bevy of great deadlifting choices to hammer away at. These work for me and most should work universally, but whichever you do make sure you are prioritizing sound technique and not just frequent max pulling! Earn that right by working your ass off on the harder variations. When you’ve built your stiff legs and you’ve built up the “pillars” a huge deadlift will then be yours for the taking.

Dan Green is one of the top names in powerlifting today. The Raw Total World Record Holder with 2030 (belt and sleeves), Dan is the dominant force in the 220 weight class. Dan is the founder of Boss Barbell Club in Mountain View, CA where he trains team sport and strength athletes.

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The post Pillars of the Deadlift-Part 1 appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve gone a significant period of time neglecting to train your hamstrings.  The hamstrings aren’t a flashy muscle group, they excite almost no one, and they can be one of the more painful muscle groups to train.  No one comes up to you and comments on your hamstrings, nor do we ever have many opportunities to show them off.  Not to mention how they often tighten up in the days after you train them and this leads to night cramps.

So at this point you’re probably thinking to yourself, “isn’t this article supposed to make me want to train them?”  We’ll get to that, but first off I’d like to tell you that most of us simply neglect them out of pure laziness.  With the exception of calves, I can’t think of a more “boring” muscle group to train.  Often times, we get it in our head that deadlifts and squats hit them and that’s good enough.  I’m here to tell you it’s not.  If you’re not doing the following exercises I’m about to mention, then I can bet with almost 100% certainty that you’re not performing up to your full potential on deadlifts and squats.

So what can we do to make sure our hamstrings are as powerful as possible?  The first step is to begin doing glute-ham raises with either bands or chains.  This exercise is hands down the best accessory movement for deadlifts in my opinion.  Others may argue there’s something better, but in my experience if you want to get a ridiculously fast deadlift and never have trouble locking the weight out, you better be doing these.  You start by either draping chains around your neck or tying a band under the machine and then looping it over your neck.  Either method will produce drastic results.  I prioritize speed on this movement.  At no point do I want to be doing the concentric portion of the movement slowly.  For best results, lower yourself slowly, and explode up.  Do these twice a week, four sets each day and watch your lockout troubles disappear and your bar speed go through the roof.

Now the most common question I get after introducing people to this exercise is what should they do if their gym doesn’t have a glute-ham raise?  This is where an exercise called glute-ham raises on the lat pulldown machine come in.  Simply take a bench and put it in front of the lat pulldown.  Face away from the machine and pin your heels under the machine.  You can perform these with either just your bodyweight or you can add resistance by holding a plate.  These are much harder than they look and are more challenging the more you weigh.  If you need to, feel free to push off with your hands at the bottom.  Here’s a video of Layne Norton performing them.

The second most important hamstring exercise in my opinion is good old seated hamstring curls.  These can be quite painful when you start using heavier weights, but they flat out work.  I would do these immediately following the glute-ham raises, and work up to a heavy top set.  A good goal is to do the stack (200 lbs.) for five reps or more.  If you achieve this level of strength, I’m here to tell you that you will have some very strong hamstrings.  After the top set, feel free to knock out some high rep sets up to twenty or so reps.

By implementing these two exercises into your routine, you should notice a significant improvement in your deadlift speed and your lockout troubles should all but disappear.  Give them a try and see if they work for you as well as they have for me.

The post Hamstring Training for the Deadlift appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

The conventional deadlift is arguably the best test of brute strength in powerlifting. Other lifts are dominated by technique, and form, but the conventional deadlift unlike the other lifts offers a wide variety of forms, and techniques that have proven productive. But, there are staples that will hold true no matter what form you use.

Take an athletic stance. A jumping position seems to be best, and that is usually feet shoulder width or just slightly wider.

Train double overhand as long as possible, and once the grip gives out take an over under grip. Straps are a useful tool but avoid them if all possible.

Make sure you get a good stretch reflex. Start with the hips high, and “sink” them low, and try to “squat” the weight up. This will keep the hamstrings, quads, adductors, glutes, and erectors working in unison rather than firing at different times.

Keep the head position neutral. Looking too far down, or too far back can throw off balance, and shut off muscle firing. Try to keep the head in line with the rest of the spine.

Find the grip placement that works for you. If you are like me and have a broad chest keep the hands wider as this will allow you to open the chest up more, and pull the hips through faster.

Lastly, try different things. Pull off blocks, from a deficit, and do rep work, as well as heavy and build yourself up into a powerful deadlifting machine.

The post Deadlift 101 appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

The idea of Compensatory Acceleration Training (CAT) was introduced to me through my work with Josh Bryant and popularized by Dr. Fred Hatfield, one of the greatest squatters of all-time, before that. “this method refers to the process of deliberately trying to accelerate the bar throughout the concentric phase of the movement, instead of allowing the load alone to determine how one should move.” Therefore, not only will an increase in mass (more weight on the bar) cause an increase in muscle tension and resistance, but since force is the product of mass and acceleration (Newton’s Second Law), an increase in acceleration will also increase muscle tension and resistance. In other words, adding more weight on the bar isn’t the only strategy for breaking a new PR…the intent behind the movement and acceleration can drive you to bigger and better numbers as well.

Simply put, this just means I am trying to pull the weight as fast as possible, all the time. I should note, that I don’t consider myself a fast deadlifter, I can sprint fast, jump high and squat fast-but I’m not a fast deadlifter. It is this focused effort to pull fast though that has helped me build my deadlift.

Let’s look at the example of pulling 5 sets of 5 deadlifts from the floor in training, using the same weight each set. Many people’s usual intent in this setup would be to try to rip the weight from the floor, but as they pass the knees and their leverage improves, they won’t forcefully finish the rep, instead just content to coast to the finish, relying on momentum. Doing so leads to a diminished training effect like this…
Set 1: No deads were heavy enough to stimulate any sort of overload that leads to strength or power gains. Zero out of five reps provided adaptive overload—that’s a 0% efficiency rating.
Set 2: The bottom half of the last rep required enough intensity to induce some overload. Half the reps produced an adaptive overload—that’s a 10% efficiency rating for true strength gains (.5/5).
Set 3: The same as Set 2.
Set 4: The bottom half of the last two pulls produced adaptive overload. Two halves equal one whole—this set has an efficiency rating of 20% (1/5).
Set 5: The bottom half of all five reps produced adaptive overload. Five halves equal two and a half—that’s still only a 50% efficiency rating.

In a sense, this scheme would only provide great training effect in bottom half of 9 of the 25 reps (4.5 total reps), a mere 18% of the reps. To make sure I avoid this low training efficiency and get the most out of every rep, I try to consciously pull as hard as possible through the completion of the lift.
Not only does focusing on accelerating all my lifts allow me to get the most out of my training, this effect is maximized even more, as it allows me to pull a high volume of work and build muscle and special work capacity for the deadlift. This was especially important for me, since I have a relatively short deadlifting history and lack the special strength development that would come with 10+ years of heavy pulling.
A typical deadlift session for me looks like the following…
1) Deadlift-Up to Heavy Set of 1 to 3
2) CAT Deadlifts-3 to 10 Sets of 2 to 4 Reps at 75-90% of my top set. After pulling heavy sets of 3 I will perform CAT sets of 4, after heavy sets of 2 it’s CAT sets of 3 and after heavy singles CAT sets of 2. During a meet training cycle I will build up volume through the first 3 weeks, pulling progressively heavier triples while doing CAT sets of 4 for 4-6 sets the first week, 6-8 sets the second week and 8-10 sets the third week. From that point, the volume decreases each week while intensity of the CAT work, allowing my recovery to improve as a meet nears.
3) Weakpoint Deadlift Work-This could be deficit work, paused work or work from blocks.
4) Assistance Work-Rows, Hamstrings, Traps and Abs.

Get the most out of your deadlift training by focusing on accelerating the bar from start to finish!

The post How I Built My Best Deadlift Ever: CAT Deads appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

This article is part of the Juggernaut Deadlift Manual which you can get for FREE by signing up for the JTSstrength.com Newsletter in the bar on the right of this screen or on the JTSstrength.com homepage!

I have competed in numerous different things from High School sports like Football and Track, Collegiate Track and Field (Shotput, Discus, and Hammer), Strongman, Powerlifting both Raw and Geared, and most recently focusing on Highland Games. Though there are many different variations of ways to train for these, there are certain things that are constant for any athlete. You will need a strong back, hips, legs, shoulders, arms and core. Also no sport is going to require you to be using one muscle at a time, so there is no reason to train like that for athletes.

I have always focused on the big multi joint lifts, Squat, Bench, Overhead Press, Clean, Snatch, and last but certainly not least the Deadlift. Getting stronger at these lifts will make you a more powerful athlete and power is what we want. Power, the speed in which an athlete can move weight, is the most important thing for athletic success.

Check out Matt Vincent’s ebooks Training LAB and Throwing LAB available at JTSstrength.com

The deadlift is a huge part of building this power. Most lifts allow the athlete to exploit the stretch reflex to help move the weight, but this isn’t the case in the deadlift. There is no easy way to deadlift big weights. Proper programming using the deadlift can help make tons of gain in regards to power. Think about this like a dragster setting up on the line. You want to apply 100% effort into the weight no matter what the weight or resistance form moment one. This is like firing off the line for football or exploding when throwing the shotput. The acceleration of the weight is where you generate power. This is something that has to be consciously trained.

The key to building power through the use of the deadlift is to always attempt to move the bar as fast as possible, whether you are using light or relatively heavy weights. From my experience the best way for me to train and build power is by using sub maximal loads. Sub maximal training is using reps at lighter weight to build your over all max. If you are throwing shotput or stones and could be an athlete who squats 405lbs slowly or squats 225lbs really fast. The 225lbs moving fast is going to translate into your sport better than slow heavier weights. Over time training for max speed on every lift, you will get faster at that weight or be able to move 275 and 315 fast. This increase in power is going to also make your max increase without having to load 100% weights and grind them out.

Deadlifting is considered the king of the lifts and one of the main reasons there is no way to cheat it. With squats there are tons of suits, feet widths, bar placement, and worst of all, the high squat. Deadlifting is simply stepping up grabbing the bar and pulling until you stand up. No hidden angles nothing just bend over like loading yourself into a spring and put all of the energy into the bar coming off the ground. Many of the guys on this team deadlift over 800lbs and there is simply no way to do that unless you are both extremely powerful and strong. I hear tons of things where people want to make excuses for why they are not lifting as much as the next guy, but honestly stop bitching, get on the platform, and start pulling and pulling hard.

Matt Vincent is a top Professional Highland Games World Champion.  Matt has spent the last 15 years strength training with a focus on functional strength for athletics.  Track and Field for LSU as a shotput, discus, and hammer thrower, two top 3 finishes in SEC and two top 5 Regional finishes in Discus.

In the last 6 years he as traveled all over country and trained with many of the top coaches and athletes in various fields form Weightlifting, Strongman, Powerlifting (both Geared and Raw) and now focus on Highland Games.  Matt also has competed in all of these different disciplines to make sure he has a 1st hand knowledge of training and competing.  With success as a top AM Strongman qualified for nationals 3 times.

Powerlifting numbers of (875-700-700 in APF @275) and (675-425-665 @ 275 RAW).  Weightlifting numbers of (319 Snatch and 400 Clean and Jerk @ 105+).  Highland Games he won 3 AM World Championships and 1 Professional World Championship as my first year Pro.  Matt is also the Author of Best Selling Highland Games Training Manual for Developing Max Strength and Power: Training LAB.

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The post The Deadlift’s Role in Power Development appeared first on Juggernaut Training Systems.

The deadlift has become notorious from the number of backs it has claimed. We all know that it is a great exercise for building strength and size, as well as for building the hip hinge pattern. In the circles that I travel in, I rarely find anyone opposed to the deadlift, but out there with regular people the deadlift has achieved a bad reputation. People don’t pick things up off of the ground for fear of hurting themselves and then somehow move through thier lives without ever expecting to need that skill… but that is not all. Fact is, many of you who think that you are doing it right are doing it wrong too. You don’t feel anything in your back so you don’t identify the problems that your excessive extension, or flexion in your spine is causing elsewhere in your body. Never underestimate the interconnectedness of your body. Many times excessive lordosis in the lumbar spine, often caused by keeping a “flat” back while lifting, leads to a huge anterior tilt of the hips… and you can check the site for the other mobility articles and find the scores of problems that can cause.

Plain and simple. Neutral is neutral. You can’t extend and look up, and you can’t let yourself flex forward. When you want to properly brace in the deadlift, you must find the middle. The place where you can create balance between the anterior and posterior core. The place where you can optimally use all of your musculature.

Bracing the Deadlift

This morning I was having my weekly meeting with our intern Steve. We were going through a series of tests on him and then we began to talk about his abs. He, like many many young CrossFitters before him, has a set of frighteningly weak abs. So weak, that he couldn’t even breathe. He is being forced to lift his ribs with his sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and shoulders, ruining his posture and setting him up for a short lifting career.

Steve isn’t really really weak or anything. He just started, so I can’t just throw you all kinds of numbers, but I know he clean and jerks around 285# or so and only weighs maybe 165#. He, as most proficient athletes are, is doing a good job of compensating for his asymmetries.

As you can probably guess, bracing the spine all starts with our ability to breathe effectively. I know I feel like I talk about it all the damn time, but the fact is that it seems that most people are on the functional movement bandwagon and have completely skipped the very first functional movement. I don’t know if you have ever seen a baby, but they are pretty much worthless when they come out. The only things that they can do when the are released from the birthing canal is breathe and eat.

Hell, Steve weighs like a buck sixty. He has forgotten both of the most basic functional movements.

This is one of my favorite deadlift videos ever. Mostly because it is awesome.

Before I go into my neutral spine/bracing schpill, I’d like to address the two cues/styles of deadlifts that I am going to slightly contradict. The first one being the guys who are gonna come at me with the round back deadlift argument. I can clearly see that there are several high level deadlifters/real strong dudes that deadlift with a rounded back position, however, I will also contend that most of these “round backs” are in the thoracic spine (where there should be a natural kyphotic curve) or at least that they do not move during the movement. With a rounded thoracic spine, you can still achieve a position where your pelvic floor and diaphragm are facing each other and in a good position to provide stability. Yes, those guys are real strong and that is a great position for them, however, if you are a regular ass dude, or a bro that lifts and competes a little but is not a professional powerlifter and you have a real person job, then I can’t understand the appeal of a riskier movement to you.

Amer the Hammer gives us some really shitty tips on deadlifting here. Aside from how much I want to smack this girl in the face for standing on one leg and cocking her hips to the side in the beginning of the video, ruining her hip mobility… I especially hate how he is coaching her to go into extension so hard. He actually even tells her that she should breathe on the way up and that her toes should almost come off of the ground. She is so far in lumbar extension that at the top she can’t even achieve full hip extension. Which pisses me off. “You’re vertebra is like a string, if you put weight on it, it is gonna break.” -Amer the Hammer.

(That was actually the first video that came up when I searched for deadlift technique and I loved Amer the Hammer so much I had to use it)

There is a great article on the site already about the problems with excessive extension by Molly G, but if you don’t feel like reading it… basically, it sucks. You crush your spine, pull your glutes/abs/hamstrings out of position. Compensate with your cervical spine, and you only rely on half of your musculature to brace because you are pulling the other half so far out of position.

If you are just forcing yourself into extension then you are only using half of your body to try and brace the deadlift. Sure, you can try and squeeze your abs, but you are going to be forcing them out of position, so no manner how many situps you do they are still going to be weak. I was telling my homie Steve this morning that doing situps and expecting it to give you strong abs is like leg pressing and expecting your squat to fly up. I think that it is a great analogy, in the fact that if you learn how to use your abs then doing a multitude of exercises to create hypertrophy and strength are going to work, but if you don’t learn how to use them correctly, just as if you don’t learn to squat… no amount of hypertrophy is going to make them strong. Good movement is about good motor patterns and joint position.

Here is a video I took of Mike T deadlifting at the gym one morning. I love to show people this because you can hear so well how he uses his breathing to brace himself for the pull. I talked to him about it afterwards, since I do alot of teaching people to breathe and whatnot, at North End Cafe over a nice meat omelette special and a cup of coffee and he told me that he didn’t really think about doing it, that it was just what helped him feel like he was getting tight.

Enough of stuff that isn’t good, lets get to the stuff that is. I have been talking about breathing patterns and drills for a bit, but I have added a few cues that I am using in some of the CrossFit classes that I am teaching with people and I think that some of them are responding much better. The point of all of this is that you have got to breathe your spine into the correct position and then create equal pressure in the front and the back. Not just squeezing your back. Once you are strong enough to breathe in all of these positions, the sequence of how you fill with air is going to be key in correctly bracing your spine to deadlift.

First, check this one out

Also… video disclaimer: I usually have people working on these drills for a few weeks before we try to change anything with their actual lifts. At first you will probably feel a little weaker, because you are using muscles that are weaker. Taking the time to do the drills for a few weeks allows you to build strength and the awareness to move correctly.

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Team Juggernaut is home to some of the strongest deadlifters in the World! With 7 deadlifters having pulled over 750 pounds in competition, TeamJTS is a wealth of training knowledge. Check out these tips and tricks from Team Juggernaut.

and especially reps from a deficit of 3-4″.

-Upright rows with a barbell or on a cable machine, these really hit your traps hard and you will feel it at the top portion of your deadlift when you’re pulling/driving the weight back and will feel over time that these will allow you to drive the weight back harder and faster.

-Barbell bent rows, I like to normally do these without straps using a deadlift bar to help work on grip, but if you really want to maximize your mid/low section of your back strength you might want to use straps for a couple of the last heavy sets since it will allow you to use heavier weight without worrying about your grip. These will build up your back strength like no other. You will feel it both off the floor and for your lockout.

Chad Wesley Smith: Glute bridges and deadlift hyperextensions are great accessory movements to build the glute and hip strength necessary to lockout big weights. I’ve never used rack pulls, but am not an advocate of them because they put you into an unrealistic starting positition for that point at the pull. The most important thing you can do to have a strong lockout is to build strength and SPEED off the floor because that will carry you through to a strong lockout.

THOUGHTS ON DEADLIFT TRAINING

Dan Green: My general approach to pulling is to work up to a target set of reps pulling from the floor and then work up to a top set of reps with the 4″ blocks. This really builds the sumo pulling strength. But I also like to finish with a set of conventional reps to build the hamstrings and back. I usually do a set of 3-6 reps from a 4″ deficit to finish my deadlift sessions. Also, for a change of pace I will occasionally pull for a max against bands to really feel explosive and to challenge my grip.

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As for grip strength, I find that just performing this relatively high and frequent volume of deadlifts works well, provided I don’t allow myself to be greedy and attempt reps that I’m not certain I’ll complete–failed reps reinforce bad technique and strain the body’s ability to recover far more.

I’ve generally followed this system every week without needing to take breaks or deload.

Brad Little: In general I feel most people need to simply do more deadlifting than specific variations. Simply deadlifting straight weight off the ground with varying weights and reps built my deadlift. I do speed pulls and wave band tension through some cycles, but nothing beats loading weight up and just pulling it. I do feel that pulling heavy isn’t needed every week. If I am peaking for a meet I will sometimes only deadlift every other week. This is during cycles

that I train at a higher percentage. Speed pulls are a great way to work technique and work best when done

after heavy squats or during deloads weeks in my opinion.

Eric Lilliebridge: My deadlift training is very basic and simple. I like to think of it more as like a pyramid type set up. Instead of adding weight/dropping reps each week, I just keep adding weight each workout and stick to pulling heavy singles. Pulling for reps before has always burnt out my lower back and I never felt recovered enough for when it came time for me to do heavy squats. I alternate my squats and pulls every other week, so I’m squatting and deadlifting twice a month. This allows me to train both of those lifts hard and gives me plenty of recovery time before I’m going through that movement/lift again.

All of my “heavy” training is based around meets. I find a meet that I want to do and I back track 7 weeks out from the meet. The week

before the meet doesn’t count because it’s a resting week, so basically its 6 full weeks of training. I pick a goal weight by the meet, usually 10-20lbs more than my previous PR and I start plugging in numbers each training week that I will need to hit to approach this new max PR come meet day. I work up to 3 heavy singles each deadlift workout and add weight to each of those singles every week, mainly on the final single pull

To give an example of what this would look like, let’s say your goal weight for the meet was to deadlift 700lbs. From there you start back tracking and these are the numbers I would choose if this were me training for this weight. The last heavy pull before the meet I would work up to around 675lbs, a heavy weight close to your goal weight but should still be fast and smooth. 2 weeks before that work up to 650lbs for a single, and 2 weeks before that (the first deadlift training day) start with 625lbs for a single.

The warm ups sets are all depending on you and what kind of jumps you like to make. But the most important one is the final single because that is what’s going to peak you perfectly to attempt your goal weight at the meet. So it would look like this, workout #1 work up to 625lbs, workout #2 work up to 650lbs, workout #3 work up to 675lbs, then meet day 700lbs. Over that period of time you gradually increase the weight for each workout. In-between these deadlift workouts would be your heavy squat days, so between deadlift workout #1 and #2 is a full 2 weeks before you’re pulling again.

SUMO DEADLIFT TIPS

-One of the best sumo tips I can give it to keep the bar as close to you as possible. Letting the bar drift away from you simply makes a pull harder. The closer the bar is to your center of gravity the more control you will have over it and this is often looked over with sumo deadlifting.

-Keep your knee directly over your ankle at the bottom position of

your pull. If your knees aren’t over your ankles you aren’t creating the most power possible with your entire lower body.

-Many people know about using baby powder on their legs to make the bar glide easier, but I have found the armpits create a ton of friction. I use baby powder on the insides of my arms and arm pits before my last 2 attempts at every meet.

-Learn to push your hips through as soon as the bar passes over your knees, this will make your range of motion much shorter and the entire deadlift much more efficient.
Spread your knees as hard as possible while breaking the bar off the floor.

Maximizing the effectiveness of your deadlift suit is a must when competing in gear. Check out some more tips from Brad about how to do that…

-I have found that wearing a suit that is slightly looser in the hips but cranking the straps really helps off the ground.

-When getting your straps set always arch hard. You want your arch to be locked in to minimize lumbar rounding during the pull.

-Starting position is everything with a geared deadlift. You should practice form more than anything else and really focus on starting the same every time. If you struggle at the bottom start with your hips slightly higher and the straps cranked with a bit of a neutral positioned back. If lockout is your weak point you should learn to start with your hips lower and your back as close to the locked out position as possible. This will make pushing your hips through much easier.

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