400-300-500

Like many, I had my first introduction to powerlifting through Dave Tates articles on t-nation. I remember him saying to find people stronger than you, and to train with them. If you've noticed the authors on t-nation, a lot of them have left over the years, and I'd heard the cause for this was a lot of them couldn't stand the armchair experts questioning everything they wrote about. What I heard from that was that they were sick of the negativity.

Since forming a powerlifting team, I've felt a lot of pressure and questions about whether I should be coaching anyone at the powerlifts, and rightfully so, I don't even know if I have an elite total. However, if you're aware of the concept of champions and leaders, you'll understand, I'm just fine. I'm certainly not a champion by any means, however, I've been thrown into very intense leadership positions my entire life, and moreso I've managed many employees and trained them from scratch. I've personally coached almost 200 people right now on how to paint in the last 7 years... not many people have coached that many people in anything. I've been coached on this process, and coached again, and take a refresher course every year, and it's gotten to the point where I'm considered one of the strongest coaches and leaders in North America in a multi million dollar franchise, with hundreds and hundrerds of franchisees. This is a skill that I have, and I find many people take this one for granted as to believe simply because they can do it themselves that they are also a good coach.

However, if someone comes to me and is better than me, I'm still thrilled to have to them.

Kevin Cancian is one of these lifters. We're very close in formula, and I'm fairly certain he would have won the best lifter award at my last meet had he not had bench troubles. We also have a wonderful relationship and I consider him one of my best friends. I can't really add to his training knowledge, I can help him with a few things, but honestly, the terminology in lifting compared to someones own knowledge, and how they cue themselves in their head makes this pretty tough. To get past this I take a lot of videos, and have conversations about their sets, mostly so we can agree on the terminology then work from there. But honestly, I'm not going to demand he take my advice or immediately change his style, as has been the case with other lifters attempting to do so with me in the past.

Can I take Kevin to a 600 pound squat, 400 pound bench and 700 pound deadlift? well, probably... there's a ton of coaches that have taken their students further than them, but honestly, I don't know if that would be appropriate, and it's just not my passion. I rely on friendly challenges, and compete against kevin every chance I get, and I'm as thrilled at besting him as I am when he bests me.

90% of lifters quit in the first 5 years. That's been going through my head like crazy since I first read it, and it rings extremely true. I've seen it happen now since I've been back in Ottawa, to the point where Sue Thompson, Kade Weber and myself are the only YMCA members from when I first got back to Ottawa that are still training and competing. What more, both have taken their training elsewhere... and only pop in now and then. Steve Mackie still trains here and there, but injuries and life have kept his hands more than full.

My passion is getting people involved, getting those kids that are watching from across the gym too nervous to ask questions, putting them under the bar, and helping them learn for themselves. I get so many benefits from this it's insane. The only powerlifting still competing that Willie Albert has mentored over the years is Kade Weber, Willie has mentored many other young men, but all lost interest and quit. Willie got to the top almost by himself, besides one or two other reliable training partners, and spent his days training Drs and Lawyers how to squat.

My goals are simple, I wish to take ANYONE to a 400 squat, 300 bench, and 500 deadlift. This in my mind is strong. I'm sure there are some high level lifters who aren't impressed with these numbers at all... but honestly, that's there problem. I'm inspired by stories of how I hear westside barbell started up, where Louies methods were so great, that he would grab anyone off the streets and turn them into champs. I also heard that Chuck Vogelpohl would kick people out all the time for slacking.

What I'm trying to do will be more difficult, and may hold some people back, as I'm just looking to get them to 400-300-500, not make them the best in the world. I take on every young man, and make it my job to not lose them, keep them interested, and get them to a level that 99.9% of the population of planet earth will never get to in their lives. I don't care if they've never lifted weights, are professional atheletes, or whatever, I simply don't care. I don't demand them to come to me, I'll actively seek them out, and encourage them to join and to compete, and to embrace our team atmosphere, and just flat out have fun. I make sure that everyone gets along, and that the lines of communication are always open, and that any problems or squabbles are dealt with. These skills aren't natural for me, but have been learned from years of interacting with customers and employees. I'm honored to say every member of my team are great friends, and I've never seen an argument, or back talk or anything like that. I've seen countless challenges thrown down, quite a few to me, and none of us will ever back down, but we also understand our goals are our own.

I'm quite frankly sick to death of powerlifters, who have no soical skills or lives, lording their abilites over others, and feel their 500 pound bench press makes it ok to suck at life, and be a miserable human being. I've encountered these lifters all over... it's a testament for what sort of mindset it used to take to get to the top... but with the internet and facebook, and the wonderful job crossfit has done marketing themselves, it's now cool to be strong.

It's very cool to set a big goal, come up with a plan of action to attain it, then work your ass off, make corrections as needed, go and compete, and use that feedback to determine your next plan. People love seeing that passion, and love seeing someone go out and do it.

For third strength powerlifting... our outlook is that we do not care about what happens at the meet. We let it all go, the meet is nothing more than a review to get feedback, it doesn't say or mean anything about ourselves.

What we care about, and all we care about it is what happens in the gym, monday to friday everynight. I care about my 11 training partners lifts as well as my own, and no one else's. I cannot comment on lifters who have set their goals to "win"... but that's just ego, and only hurts you in the long run. How can somone beat a man competing against himself? How can someone beat a man who's goal is to squat 500 and he does? that's true victory in my mind, and that's true accountability to continue on if you miss it.

Where the 400-300-500 comes into play, is that is my goal for every member of the team, and I hold myself accountable for that, and nothing else. Every lifter on this team who has attained this, I've encouraged to go seek out other mentors who are more specialized, and let them know I will absolutely not be offended if they move on, as my former mentors have not been offended as I moved on.

So far, everyone has chosen to stay, and from the members who have attained this, I expect a certain level of coaching from them, as this is part of what will help get them to their next goal, but I also expect them to be my comrades, and we move forward together. I'm aiming to get things to the point where I simply coach the higher level members, and they coach the lower level members... but this will take a bit of time, and I'm more than willing to give it. I still love seeing someone hit their first 225 pound squat just as much as I love seeing someone hit their first 400 pound squat.

Either way, I've never had so much fun lifting, and considering about a year ago, I was very seriously considering pursuing other things, this has been amazing. I've never been so excited to learn new things, and have never felt accountability like this, where I fully realize that my own abilites will be holding back my friends in their quest for their goals. I've also never been so stress free about it. I've finally been able to understand the role of a mentor, and how to receive a mentor as well.

But at the end of it, I make sure we're all having fun, and if we ever lose that... it may be time to start thinking about a good chess club.