Things I've learned from powerlifting

Hi everyone,

Since I've been doing this for so many years I thought I would share some of the wisdom I've gathered over the years. First, if you have the opportunity to train with one of the top lifters or coaches- do it. I learned the hard way. When I first started lifting weights I was 12 years old, and I bought a set of old small hole cast iron weights at a garage sell, and a bench from Sears. I ordered a Weider manual from a Hotrod magizine and I was off on my iron journey. After high school I started training at a local gym in Sparks,NV called Muscle Bound. Muscle Bound was a great place to train, lots of iron and many hard core bodybuilders and powerlifters. In fact, this was the first time I got to see what powerlifting was. The year was 1981. All I knew to this point was bodybuilding, but I saw small guys moving more weight then the big guys and I was intrigued as to why. It was about this tiime I saw a magizine with Bill Kazmere, and I thought wow this guy is big, but man is he strong. This started the quest for strength for me. But, it wasn't entil 1985 that I would really begin to know how to train. I started watching the guys who powerlifted at MB and following what they were doing. My form sucked and I was hurt a lot, but hey I was moving more weight then before and that was the goal. I started doing the progressive periodization training that everyone else was doing and saw some big gains at first, but then problems with over training begin to happen, and I had no clue. I didn't realize that more work made things worst, so the harder I worked the more over trained I became and soon I was injuried. I continued this craziness for several years unitl my kids were born and I took 5 years off. When I started again I was armed with the Powerlifting USA magizine and lots of new info, which helped but most of the guys were still doing progressive periodization, so I was still dealing with over training. One of the things I didn't realize was that steroids help a great deal in the recovery phase of training. Now, I am not a steroid hater; nor am I a user. I made the choice a long time ago that I would not use and I have kept that promise to this day. The problem is when you follow a top lifters program and they are "on" and you're not you'll most likely over train. My lack of wisdom untimately led to my Pec tendon tear in 1999.  I tore the left pec tendon from under my left bciep. The tendon pulled away from the bone and was completely detached. I was an elbows out bencher at the time and I knew right away what had happened. It took a major surgery and a year of rehab to use my arm again. It took almost two years to bench competitively again. During the year off I read every thing I could about rehab and powerlifting, and I realized that I had been doing things wrong for a long time.

Over the last 9 years I have had the honor to become friends with some of the best powerlifters in the game,, and they have all helped a great deal in teaching me how to do the lifts correctly and how to train properly. Jesse Kellum, Chad Aichs, Steve Wong, Matt LaMarque, Ryan Kennelly Sgt. Rock (Brent Howard) and many others have all taught me a lot. I learned a lot from reading Louie Simmons and then attending one of his Westside Barbell seminars. None of the above guys do things the same way, but they're all super strong. Jesse Kellum is one of the greatest powerlifters ever and I am blessed to have him as my friend. I learned more from training with Jesse for 4 hours then I had learned in several years. This is why it is important to train with or learn from the best if you can. Westside does seminars all over the country, so if you can attend one do so. Find out where the big meets are and go and watch the very best lift, and if you get the chance ask them for some advise. Wait until after they are done lifting, then be respectful and polite when you approach them and most will be very open to talk to you. That's all for now.

George