Bacon Bibles Barbells Podcast

We are back with our new monthly format, going through our top downloaded content with Matt Wenning. 

Matt Wenning is one of only a handful of people to total over 2600 lbs in a professional competition, hold an all-time world record of 2665 lbs in the 308-lb class, and bench press over 800 lbs in a full powerlifting meet. He currently the owner and a private strength coach at Ludus Magnus gym in Columbus, Ohio, a personal trainer to many executives and professionals at Capital Club Athletics, and contracted by the US Army. He also works with firefighters, physicians, children with disabilities, and all forms of athletes in the Columbus, Ohio, area. His raw total is 2205 and equipped is 2665 lbs.

Some of the topics we covered included:

• What differentiates your form of conjugate to Westside?
• Raw PL vs Equipped – is there animosity between the two or is just on the equipped old school lifters?
• Do you think equipped PL will get popular again?
• What do you like about owning/operating a gym?
• Are you in Columbus, OH for any particular reason? Because Rogue or Westside?
• What is MAW (Mountain Athlete Warrior?

Strength Accomplishments
2011 World Record Holder at 308lbs
Former all time World Record Holder with 2665 lb total
World record Raw Squat (no wraps) – 832 lbs
World record Equipped Squat – 1197 lbs
2010 APF National Champion
2009 IPA National Champion
UPA National Record Holder – Open Division

Hey all, we are re-posting the top downloaded episodes from the past 4 years as we look forward to the future. We are currently re-vamping up the podcast, taking a few weeks off from posting new content to re-create the show, fix a few things, and make it better than it was before. Hope you enjoy this interview we recorded back in December 2017 with Matt Reynolds. Gainz and Grace!

We will be talking steroids and powerlifting so buckle up!

We are joined with Pete Rubish who is talking all about how 2018-2019 is going for him. We are also going to be talking about the effects of social media on the sport of powerlifting as well as the continuing evolving of the sport and how drugs are effecting the sport. Basically what the combination of drugs plus social media is doing to powerlifting. The video we discuss can be found here. We also talk about a video he posted nearly a year ago that went viral that can be found here. Pete can be reached at prstrength1@gmail.com.

This year the podcast team got media passes to attend the Arnold Classic 2019. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity and took many photos and was hoping to do some onsite interviews but that didn't pan out. Instead we go over everything Arnold Classic 2019 here and we say goodbye to our longest running co-host, Everett. If you want to follow Everett on social media you can follow him on IG and Facebook.

The podcast is planning on taking a few months off as we re-calibrate our show and make some major changes. During that time we will post the most listened to episodes of the past few years and ask that you remain patient with us as we rebuild the podcast. Gainz and Grace!

We are joined with Dave Crosland who talks all about SARMS - selective androgen receptor modulators. They are in your local stores being pushed at your local gyms. What are they? Are they legal and safe to use? 

We are joined by Jeff Ash who talks all about nutrition myths among a variety of topics. We talk about how to build a diet program for the average joe as well as how to do nutrition when you are trying to be obese in powerlifting. Check it out!

According to Openpowerlifting.com, Jaisyn MIke started competing in 2014 and has 21 meets under his belt in 5 years.  In the 264+ lb weight class in the USAPL, his best raw squat is 749.5, bench was 619.5, and deadlift was 771.6 lbs for a 2061.3 total and a wilks of 523.45, which he got Jan 14, 2018 in the Winter Games of Texas.

Raw Nationals in October he came in 2nd in the Open and 1st in the Masters 1 division.

Jaisyn Mike is a sponsored athlete and he has a youtube channel under jmikefitness.

We talked about Jaisyn competing at Jezza Uepa's PL competition and how that all went. Check it out!

Dave Ricks, has been competing for over 30-years!  He won is first Open IPF Championship in 1991, winning a total of 5 Open World Championships in his career (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999) and placed Silver in 7 other Open World Championships.  In addition, he has taken Best Lifter at the Arnold Sports Festival in 2009, 2010 and 2011, 2012. He has also been a competitor at the 2009 World Games (placing 5th at the age of 50!) and now into his Master’s years of competing, Dave is setting new Master World Records almost every time he hits that platform.  He won the 2013 Master World Championships as well as the 2011 World Master’s Championships. At age 53, Dave placed sixth in the Open World Championships.  He continues to set Master World Records, most recently the deadlift at the 2013 World Master Championships with a lift of 328 kg.

World Record:

• Master Squat: 90/93 – Broke the record 6x
• Master Deadlift: 90/93 Broke the record 4x
• Master Total – 90/93 – Broke the record 6x
• Set 16 Master World Records

Dave also holds the Open American Raw record, set in 2013. He continues to compete at the Elite, Open level at 54 years of age.   He has been selected for the USA Team to compete at the Classic World Championships as an open lifter, where he will be 55 years old.

Dave is an ambassador for powerlifting.  He coaches young lifters, hosts local and high school level competitions, and referees from the local to the national level in the USA

Rogue Grand Prix

Basic questions -

• Why did you get into powerlifting?
• What are your strength numbers -best & current
• What are the most common injuries you see from powerlifters and what is the usual reason for this?
• What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training?
• What is your worst injury and what did you do to fix it?
• What accessories do you use for lifting? What supplements do you take?
• What pet peeves do you have when it comes to training in a gym?
• What is one thing you have heard many lifters say that is WRONG/MYTH?
• Favorite powerlifter to watch progress/compete?
• How hard was it to train while in the Navy? Did you train while deployed on ships?
• What keeps you into powerlifting?
• What have you seen change in powerlifting since you started competing? Good/bad/ugly

We are joined this week with Micah Marino.

According to Openpowerlifting.com, Micah Marino started competing in 2012 at the age of 21 weighing in at 184 lbs. His bodyweight as fluctuated from 165-184 lbs. He is the former world record holder at 165 lbs. And has two all time world records, the 795 lb deadlift single ply and the 165 lb total.

His best raw squat is 534.6, bench is 429.9, and deadlift is 728.6 (4.4 times his bodyweight) lbs at a bodyweight of 165.3 lbs. Biggest total was 1665.5 at American Cup Los Angeles Fit Expo in 2016 with a wilks of 538.34.

He also has a 614 wilks in Single Ply with a 2007 lb total and a multi ply wilks of 667 with a 2190 lb total.

He’s also the owner of the apparel company Fight or Quit which can be found at fightorquit.com.

We talk about two big subjects, Bible Reading Plans and Dave's recent competition, video of that can be found here.

Everett has some choice thoughts about Bible reading plans and some insights that we should consider as the we end January and start heading into February. 

This episode we discuss our strength/health/life goals for 2019. We got all the hosts in on this one and it was a fun episode, check it out!

This episode was our most highly downloaded episode of 2018 and we are glad to re-share it as we start 2019.

Greg Nuckols has over a decade of experience under the bar, and a BS in Exercise and Sports Science. He’s held 3 all-time world records in powerlifting in the 220 and 242 classes.

He’s trained hundreds of athletes and regular folks, both online and in-person. He’s written for many of the major magazines and websites in the fitness industry, including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Bodybuilding.com, T-Nation, and Schwarzenegger.com. Furthermore, he’s had the opportunity to work with and learn from numerous record holders, champion athletes, and collegiate and professional strength and conditioning coaches through his previous job as Chief Content Director for Juggernaut Training Systems and current full-time work here on Stronger By Science.

His passions are making complex information easily understandable for athletes, coaches, and fitness enthusiasts, helping people reach their strength and fitness goals, and drinking great beer.

Some of the questions we got to ask him included:

• Mobility, foam rolling, and stretching (static or dynamic) – what is good for powerlifters vs bad or waste of time?
• How would you recommend a powerlifter do an off season on season when they are scheduling meets in a year? Is it true that you should only work on weaknesses on off season times? Lets assume you have 16 weeks before the next meet, how much weakness work can you do before you should start focusing on being more specific on the comp movements?
• Should there be a body fat percentage that is optimal for bigger powerlifters to try to stay around? Is there a good rule of thumb on weight gain when trying to go up a weight class? BB medicine has the limit to 40″ on the waist and PLto win says to maintain no greater than 15% bf
• Cardio – are 10 minute walks enough for most lifters? What would also be good as far as cardio for general health?
• From Jeff Ash – Is high intensity interval training better than low intensity cardio for strength athletes trying to maximize gains?

Ray Williams is the strongest man we have had on our podcast and a great way to end 2018! Really excited to talk to him about his background, his work, and current goals. 

Is warming up merely wasting time in the gym or is it something you should be doing on a daily basis?

Ethan McElroy is a strength coach in the Triangle area as well as a powerlifter. He recently wrote an article about warming up which can be found here. 

With the holidays coming around you may be stuck with you inlaws or outlaws talking about theology. This episode we are talking a bit about what dispensationalism is and compare that to covenant theology.

We are joined by Jono, Janine, and Everett to talk all about the new transgender policy that Strongman Corp has issued which can be found here.

Early in the podcast Dave mentions the Jugglife Podcast discussion on Transgenderism and we reccomend you check that out first before listening to the podcast if possible. You can find that episode here.

Discipleship - how do you do it biblically? We are joined with Everett and Janine to talk about discipleship and how we see it being done in the past in the church and what things we are getting right and wrong.

This episode we talk nutrition and diets with Jeff and Janine. We talk about what goes into the phrase "a calorie is a calorie". 

As of the posting of this episode we still do not have the official results of the IPL Midwest Open 2018. That being said we did a recap of how Everett's meet went and were joined by a guest host, Matt Turner. Matt is one of our Patreon contributors and is currently using Skynet AI coaching which we discussed at length in the episode. 

You can find our Patreon page here.

Really grateful for Matt and his support of this show. Skynet can be found here.

American Strongest Man 2018 details can be found here. 

Sean Demarinis BIO - 32 years old, born and raised in CA. Currently live in south Orange County. Most famous for the beaches, weather, disneyland and reality shows about privileged housewives and teenage drama. Im in sales and also work part time as a strength coach for East West Strength in Costa Mesa, CA. Strongman/weight lifting is my only hobby. The demand it takes in and out of the gym occupies the majority of my free time. However, i still enjoy going to the movies, dinner, beach, amusement parks etc. Just try and avoid too many physical activities, the risk of getting inured is haunting lol.

Notable Competition history:

• 4x CA strongest man. 2 HW and 2 MW titles
• 4x America's strongest man 105k
• MW and HW pro status
• 2nd place at WSM 105k in 2016 in Ireland
• 3rd place at the Ultimate strongman world championships 2018 in Czech Republic

What hobbies do you have outside of strongman?

• Sleeping, movies, beach, eating

What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start?

• Lifting begin when i was 12 years old. I was chubby and wanted to make an improvement. My mom actually showed me my first exercises. Really lifting or competitive lifting started when i played football in HS.

What was your inspiration or mentor in strength sports?

• Arnold was a huge inspiration but id have to say what really drove my passion was competing. I really enjoy being able to test myself against others.
  

Biggest strength numbers:

• Squat - 710
• Bench - 501
• Deadlift - 800
• Push Press - 400+
• Stone - 400+
• Log - 405
• Axle Clean n Press - 385
• Farmers Walk - 360
• Yoke - 1000
• Any I might have missed - 250 DB. 900 18’’ axle DL. 775 axle DL from the floor

Any injuries that you had to deal with?

• Quad tendon rupture off the bone, torn quad muscles, compartment syndrome, pec tears, proximal bicep tendon rupture...and a million other small sprains and tears.

How did you know that strongman was a good fit?

• I didn't at first. It took me 8 month of getting my ass kicked to feel like i was getting good enough to become a professional. However, i did take 4th out of 14 in my first show ever so based on that, i felt i at least had a shot to do well.

How many hours a week would you train before a strongman competition?

• If the show is on Sat, my last raining day is Tuesday. Maybe 1-2 hours, light work to keep the blood moving and muscles staying primed to lift.

What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training?

• I work with a nutritionist and help with this but mostly the same things most people take...Vitamins, fish oil, protein powders etc

Rachel Pyron BIO - 

• I work at Bodybuilding.com - headquarters are in Boise, Idaho. Co-manage Regulatory Compliance
• Grew up in a small, rural town; Arco, Idaho. Very little exposure to gyms/weightlifting etc.
• Competed in bodybuilding in 2009 and 2010 and fell into strongman shortly after.

Here's the results of ASM/ASW 2018. 

Notable Competition history:

• Strongman Corp nationals 2013, 2014, 2015
• Arnold 2014, 2015, 2016 - placing 4th at that contest and qualified as a pro
• ASW 2016, 2017, 2018 (current LW 1st)
• Strongest Woman in the World Norway 2018
• World's Strongest Woman 2017

Some of the topics we discussed included:

What hobbies do you have outside of strongman?

• Hiking, traveling, shooting.. Anything outside

What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start?

• Started running in college and ended up with stress fractures in my feet - lead to weight lifting - bodybuilding -- and then strongman

What was your inspiration or mentor in strength sports?
- all of the other LW women mostly. Very competitive class and consistent women I have competed with year after year - Leslie Hofheins

Biggest strength numbers:

• Squat - good question ~ 225 front squat
• Bench - 180
• Deadlift - 355 axle :) Long Beach
• Stone 210
• Log - 190
• Axle Clean n Press - 170~ just missed 185 Saturday lol
• Farmers Walk - 180
• Yoke - 500

Any injuries that you had to deal with?

Back injury - annular tears in two discs

Dropped a stone on my foot April 2017 - I recommend avoiding this :)

How did you know that strongman was a good fit?

I’m still not sure that it is, but I love it anyway!

How many hours a week would you train before a strongman competition?

Close to 10 probably. General training about 1.5-2 hours plus one long event day.

What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training?

Food; pre workout w/ creatine. Beta alanine. multi

How many calories do you eat off and on season? How can you afford to eat that much? What is your approach/attitude to food?

I honestly don’t count. I just try not to get hungry and stress about weight cause I’m always way under.

Any funny stories or events that happened in your competition?

I won - ha I was going to hang out and enjoy the beach, I had very little expectations for ASW

Favorite training music?

Country, I know I’m weird

What was the most famous person that you were the most stoked to meet in your competing?

Meeting Big Z at worlds last year was cool. And I finally got to meet Clint Darden in person

If you could do something different in your training (wind the clock back) what would you do?

Oh man… start deadlifting earlier and take more time off

What’s one thing that you want all lifters in the BBB to know or consider before getting into strength sports? (be able to justify your training) Common injuries specific to strongman as well as other health issues that someone might not consider (mental, addictions, etc)?

Little things matter - rest, sleep, food, take care of yourself.

I want to get into strongman...where should I start?

Local gym with equipment and hopefully a local coach - online is helpful, but not the same

What now do you want to do strength wise?

Get healthier, stronger - maybe a powerlifting meet

What’s one thing that you want all lifters in the BBB to know or consider before getting into strength sports?

It takes a long time to get better - consistency

Common injuries specific to strongman as well as other health issues that someone might not consider (mental, addictions, etc)?

It can be a very selfish and lonely sport

What pet peeves do you have when it comes to training in a gym?
Techno music

Article mentioned in the show

Dave Denis (den-KNEE) lives in New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die state. He worked for 16 years in the retail furniture industry in Michigan and Wisconsin, where he sold and trained others to sell all kinds of home furnishings including mattresses. He has been training with barbells in his cluttered garage for just about one year, having been schooled in the Starting Strength method. He is no record holder but he does pretty good for a 55 year old guy.

If it matters to anyone, my PRS (so far) on the 4 major lifts are as follows.
Squat 3x290
Deadlift 3x330
Bench 3x250
Overhead Press 3x170

Some of the topics we discussed included:

• Mattresses for athletes
• Adjustable bed frame - are they worth it
• Various issues with mattresses:
  • Back Support
  • Pressure Relief
  • Sleep Quality
  • Temperature Regulation
  • Value
  • Warranty Service
  • Softness Level
• What are the bones of the mattress:
  • Latex or Memory Foam 
  • Hybrid
  • Innerspring

Dave's church website can be found here.

Kenric, Everett, and Janine hang out and chat about lifting, life, and laughs. 

Intro was Jahazzer "Siesta", the sponsor music was "Cantina Rag", and the outro was Zoliborz "The Call of the Polar Star" used by permission from Freemusicarchive.org

BIO - Steve Carozza started lifting since 7th grade, started powerlifting January 2018, competed in three USPA meets, and has recently been invited to the Nova Fall Classic which is a “for pay competition”, winner gets $3500 in November.

According to openpowerlifting.com you have competed three times, all this year, starting with a total at 1758 and wrapping up at 1912 in late August.

Some of the topics we discussed included:

• What are your current strength numbers? Squat, bench, deadlift, any others you are proud of...
• Were you self-taught or did you learn from various sources?
• What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start?
• What was your inspiration or mentor in strength sports?
  Any injuries that you had to deal with?
• What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training?
• Favorite training music?
• If you could do something different in your training (wind the clock back) what would you do? I want to get into powerlifting...where should I start?
• What now do you want to do strength wise?
• What’s one thing that you want all lifters in the BBB to know or consider before getting into strength sports? (be able to justify your training) Common injuries specific to strongman as well as other health issues that someone might not consider (mental, addictions, etc)?
• What is one thing you have heard many lifters say that is WRONG/MYTH?
• Other than lifting and coaching what are some of your other pursuits and would you consider lifting/coaching a hobby or more than that?

Paul Maxwell received his B.A. in biblical language studies from Moody Bible Institute, his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Paul has lifted weights since he was 14 years old and has always seen athletic discipline as essential to a happy life. Paul Maxwell runs both Theo.fit as well as Selfwire.org.

Some of the topics we covered included:

• What are your current strength numbers? Squat, bench, deadlift, any others you are proud of...
• What is your coaching philosophy
• How many athletes do you coach?
• Were you self-taught or did you learn from various sources?
• What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start?
• What was your inspiration or mentor in strength sports?
  
• Any injuries that you had to deal with?
• What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training?
• Favorite training music?
• What now do you want to do strength wise?
• What is one thing you have heard many lifters say that is WRONG/MYTH?

This episode we talk a smorgasborg of topics: Dave is prepping for a hurricane with some vodka and tequila last minute purchases and he's also scheduling a blood test to check a few things. We also discuss program/coach searching and go back and forth on what coach Dave is going to use. Janine shares some of her latest PRs on the Highland Games circuit.

In the show Dave talks about a few blood tests. Stan Efferding recommends that guys and gals get these blood tests done at least annually. There is more information that can be found here.

This meet is Dave and Christa's first PL meet as a couple competing on the same day. On August 25, 2018 at Crossfit RDU, USPA held the NC State Championships and the meet video can be viewed here. Dave and Christa both used the Calgary 16 week program which can be downloaded free here. At the meet Christa went 7 for 9 with a 221 lb squat, a 133 lb bench, and a 243 lb deadlift. Dave went 7 for 9 as well with a 501 lb squat, a 392 lb bench, and a 601 lb deadlift. 

Bryce  Krawczyk has an absolute sick Youtube channel, one of the few we recommend! Also he has given out a free powerlifting program that you can find on his website. Super excited to get him on the podcast. He lifts equipped as well as raw and we talk about his recent meet at the IPF Worlds 2018, which you can view here.

Janine rocks a highland games and Jeff talks about how to control your calories while eating out, more specifically, some ways to cut calorie intake without drastically changing the way you eat and how to keep them in check while dining out. The tips actually go hand in hand.

This is a first in a new format of shows where we attempt more of a free-flowing lifestyle format. Feel free to give us your thoughts on what you think of the new format.

We had Matt Gary on the show, co-founder of SSPT.

Matt Gary's bio includes:

23 years competition experience

USAPL Coaching Chairman (2012 - present)

USAPL Coaching Certification Director (2012 - present)

USAPL Coach of the Year 2012

Head Coach for 5 US National Teams

Asst. Coach for 35+ US National Teams

USAPL National Referee

SSPT co-founder (est. 2008)

Some of the topics we talked about were:

• game day coaching (at all levels of competitions and the differences between them)
• • What is your coaching philosophy
  • • Mindset
    • Execution
    • Attempt selection
  • How many athletes do you coach?
  • Were you self-taught or did you learn from various sources?
  • How do you prep for game day with attempts and working your athletes
• the application of Minimalism & Stoicism as guiding principles into my coaching process and philosophy
• my approach to singles-only in the DL
• • How often do you train singles and why do you only train singles
• our SSPT legacy
• • SSPT - what is your mission?
  • How old is SSPT
  • What is your break up between one on one training, game plans, and game day
  • RPE or percentage based training

Kimberly Walford is a stud! No more words needed but here is a bio of her achievements on and off the platform: Kimberly Walford began powerlifting in 2000. Since that time, she has amassed 6 IPF Open Raw World Championships: (2-63kg, 4-72kg) (2012-2017) and 11 USAPL National Championships (Raw-Open, Eq-Jr., Military) and 1 - USPA Drug Tested National Championship (75kg) Her best numbers include USPA (DT) - Sq 193kg_425.49lbs, Bh 110kg_242, DL 245kg_540lbs, and TL 545.48kg_1202.59lbs USAPL - Squat: 414lbs/188kg(AR), Bench Press: 253.5lbs/115kg, Deadlift: 542.33lbs/246kg(AR), Total 1210.33 lbs/549kg(AR) She has set: -14 IPL Open WR, 14 IPL SubM WR - 17 IPF IPF Open World Records (two current world records) – 72kg DL: 535.72lbs/243kg and 72kg Total: 1190.49lbslbs/540kg. Hobbies: living my best life, traveling with my gf, anything active, spending time with family and friends.

We chatted all about her history in powerlifting, what it's like being an athlete and a coach, what's better - going 4 for 9 or 9 for 9, and she has a lot of cool stuff to say to noobs who might be interested in taking up the sport - check it out!

Kenric sits down with Strongman competitors and gym owners Mitch and Lacee Hughes to talk about training, USS Nationals, and owning your own gym. Support the show by visiting MyFitStatus.com/bacon and shopping at Valleyvintageshop.com ( coupon code gainzgrace).

Erin and Mark Valenti run Blind Dog Gym and Mark is part of a podcast called The Refined Savage.

Erin and Mark Valenti have been the co-owners of Blind Dog Gym since December of 2012. Blind Dog is a Crossfit gym in Lorain, Ohio, on the west side of Cleveland. together, Erin and Mark opened Blind Dog Gym with a vision of creating a community that is focused on improvement of self, improvement of community, and service to those who have or continue to serve.

Erin played several sports in high school. Rowing was her top sport for a while, including as a D-1 athlete at U of Iowa, and after college. Her competitive energies shifted to Crossfit for several years, and she is now a very competitive, newly minted master’s athlete in the Highland Games. From the Blind Dog website, “Instead of focusing on competition, and maintaining “contender” status, Erin has resolved to focus on longevity, resilience, and injury prevention in an effort to become more coach than athlete.”

Mark was a nationally-ranked professional Highland games athlete, with 22 years on the circuit. He holds several coaching certifications, including CrossFit Level 1 and Strongman, USAW, and USATF Level 1, and is an ADFPA strength and conditioning consultant.

Holiness - what is it? How does Rom 12:1-2 work? How does one keep walking the line between pursuing personal holiness and becoming a Pharisee? Check out this talk between Everett and Dave as they dive into this theological topic.

Really grateful to have Rob Polenik on the show. He's the owner of Brutal Iron Gym and we are going to talk a bunch of topics including:

• The good, bad, ugly of online coaching
• Nutrition and bulking and cutting for different athletes
• Programming and how to approach it for different athletes and general pop
• Pre-competition anxiety and how to handle it
• AND MUCH MORE

Continuing our IPF worlds competition series we catch up with Jaisyn Mike about his contest prep and performance 

Intro was Jahazzer "Siesta", the sponsor music was "Cantina Rag", and the outro was Zoliborz "The Call of the Polar Star" used by permission from Freemusicarchive.org

Weight class: 120kg

Division: Masters 1

Nationality: United States of America (USA)

 Notable achievements:

• 120kg M1 IPF World Classic Champion 2016
• 120kg M1 USAPL Raw National Champion 2016
• 120kg Open USAPL Raw Nationals 2015 9th place

You can check out his lifts at the IPF here.

We had the privilege to interview Suzanne Hartwig-Gary. She has been competing for 28 years and won 6 IPF World Championships and 26 National Championships. IPF Raw Classic Worlds 2018 was my 24th World Championships, she also competed in two World Games. Suzanne competed equipped for 24 years and went to Raw only after 2014 Equipped Worlds.  She did my first raw competition in the 2008 Raw Arnold (the first year USAPL was there). Suzanne will be turning 50 this year. Currently she has the Equipped Master I World Record in the squat 182.5kg  (402-lbs) and total 442.5kg.

Current Raw World Records:

Open Squat – 156.5kg (345-lbs)

Master I Squat – 156.5kg

Master II Squat – 152.5kg

Master II Bench – 80.5kg

Master III Deadlift – 158kg

Master II Total – 391kg

She also has a degree in Math and a minor in Computer. Suzanne is currently a massage therapist, bookkeeper/executive assistant, strength coach and co-owner of Supreme Sports Performance & Training (SSPT) in Rockville, MD 20852.

She likes to travel, amateur photography and spend time with family and friends.

Some of the episode notes included:
95% of the time you go 9 for 9 - what would you attribute that to?

First squat and second squat looked really easy. That third attempt looked perfect but you could have probably gone a little heavier - how did you feel about the squats?

What cues do you use when squatting?

First bench looked perfect but you were limping off the platform after the second rep - was it cramps or an injury? Do you usually do heavy bench without wrist wraps? Have you seen poor results benching with wrist wraps?

What cues do you use when benching? I noticed with the bench and squat you yell, “Up Up Up” similar to Stan Efferding...when did you start using that cue?

With deadlift you seem to clear your mind, then jumping before getting into position...how long did it take for you to get those cues for deadlift? Who coached you on your setup the way it is today?

I noticed heavy limping after deadlifts - cramps or injury?

You came back 100% for that second deadlfit - were you able to recover that quickly between attempts? That third deadlift looked like a perfect as an attempt selection for you - what do you attribute that last pull? Could you have gone heavier?

What does being the Open Raw National Team Head Coach 2016-2018 entail? Do you work alongside Coach Paulie?

Was this your first year in M2?

The IPF video of her competition can be found here.

This is the second interview with our IPF Worlds Series. Here are some of the discussion notes from the interview:

You got one red light on first squat for depth - seemed like a bad call, thoughts? Second squat was a world record attempt - how long have you been training for that squat? You got 2 reds on the second squat and you decided to go up 2.5 kilos, why did you go up in weight? How did it feel to get that record? You have an interesting setup with your hands, what are you doing with your right hand on the squat setup after the unrack?

First bench seemed really easy. With no competition to worry about were you concerned about getting on the board or were you looking to push personal best numbers? That third attempt looked perfect as far as a target - how did you feel about your third bench attempt, could you have gone any heavier?

First deadlift seemed like a fight - you think you went a bit heavy for a first pull?

Was there adequate time to rest between attempts? Your warcry during the pull, when did you start utilizing that? Was that second DL a world record or was that the third DL? How much have you pulled in training?

Do you get strange reactions when you train in commercial gyms?

How do you like working with Coach Paulie? Do you have a local coach you utilize?

To watch Susan compete at the IPF worlds click this link.

This is the beginning of a short mini-series called IPF Worlds 2018 and it includes lifters and coaches that were at the IPF Worlds in Calgary. We start off with an interview with Alicia Webb.

Alicia Webb won first place in 84 kg Masters 1 as well as best lifter. She squatted 200 kg, benched 112.5 kg, and deadlifted 197.5 kg for a 510 kg total and a wilks score of 455.23. This is her 6th IPF worlds and she has successfully defended her title. 

Alicia's team coach can be found here. Alicia's instagram is here.

Check out the competition here.

Kenric, Everett, and Jeff Ash chat about weights, nutrition, bodyweight manipulation, and general fitness advice. This is a great episode for beginners to diet and nutrition. Check out MyFitStatus.com/Bacon and ValleyVintageShop.com for great deals and to support the show. 

Intro was Jahazzer "Siesta", the sponsor music was "Cantina Rag", and the outro was Zoliborz "The Call of the Polar Star" used by permission from Freemusicarchive.org

This episode was truly a number of topics that ranged from a quick overview of some of the IPF lifts, to the SBC, then onto racism and the ERLC and we went all over the place with this one. Hope you all can follow some of the flow of the episode. One of the issues Dave is struggling with is the impact and role of the church in the culture and Everett is there to help set him straight.

Greg Nuckols has over a decade of experience under the bar, and a BS in Exercise and Sports Science. He’s held 3 all-time world records in powerlifting in the 220 and 242 classes.

He’s trained hundreds of athletes and regular folks, both online and in-person. He’s written for many of the major magazines and websites in the fitness industry, including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Bodybuilding.com, T-Nation, and Schwarzenegger.com. Furthermore, he’s had the opportunity to work with and learn from numerous record holders, champion athletes, and collegiate and professional strength and conditioning coaches through his previous job as Chief Content Director for Juggernaut Training Systems and current full-time work here on Stronger By Science.

His passions are making complex information easily understandable for athletes, coaches, and fitness enthusiasts, helping people reach their strength and fitness goals, and drinking great beer.

Some of the questions we got to ask him included:

• Mobility, foam rolling, and stretching (static or dynamic) - what is good for powerlifters vs bad or waste of time?
• How would you recommend a powerlifter do an off season on season when they are scheduling meets in a year? Is it true that you should only work on weaknesses on off season times? Lets assume you have 16 weeks before the next meet, how much weakness work can you do before you should start focusing on being more specific on the comp movements?
• Should there be a body fat percentage that is optimal for bigger powerlifters to try to stay around? Is there a good rule of thumb on weight gain when trying to go up a weight class? BB medicine has the limit to 40” on the waist and PLto win says to maintain no greater than 15% bf
• Cardio - are 10 minute walks enough for most lifters? What would also be good as far as cardio for general health?
• From Jeff Ash - Is high intensity interval training better than low intensity cardio for strength athletes trying to maximize gains?

Greg Nuckols has over a decade of experience under the bar, and a BS in Exercise and Sports Science. He’s held 3 all-time world records in powerlifting in the 220 and 242 classes.

He’s trained hundreds of athletes and regular folks, both online and in-person. He’s written for many of the major magazines and websites in the fitness industry, including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Bodybuilding.com, T-Nation, and Schwarzenegger.com. Furthermore, he’s had the opportunity to work with and learn from numerous record holders, champion athletes, and collegiate and professional strength and conditioning coaches through his previous job as Chief Content Director for Juggernaut Training Systems and current full-time work here on Stronger By Science.

His passions are making complex information easily understandable for athletes, coaches, and fitness enthusiasts, helping people reach their strength and fitness goals, and drinking great beer.

Some of the questions we got to ask him included:

• Mobility, foam rolling, and stretching (static or dynamic) - what is good for powerlifters vs bad or waste of time?
• How would you recommend a powerlifter do an off season on season when they are scheduling meets in a year? Is it true that you should only work on weaknesses on off season times? Lets assume you have 16 weeks before the next meet, how much weakness work can you do before you should start focusing on being more specific on the comp movements?
• Should there be a body fat percentage that is optimal for bigger powerlifters to try to stay around? Is there a good rule of thumb on weight gain when trying to go up a weight class? BB medicine has the limit to 40” on the waist and PLto win says to maintain no greater than 15% bf
• Cardio - are 10 minute walks enough for most lifters? What would also be good as far as cardio for general health?
• From Jeff Ash - Is high intensity interval training better than low intensity cardio for strength athletes trying to maximize gains?

Matt Wenning is one of only a handful of people to total over 2600 lbs in a professional competition, hold an all-time world record of 2665 lbs in the 308-lb class, and bench press over 800 lbs in a full powerlifting meet. He currently the owner and a private strength coach at Ludus Magnus gym in Columbus, Ohio, a personal trainer to many executives and professionals at Capital Club Athletics, and contracted by the US Army. He also works with firefighters, physicians, children with disabilities, and all forms of athletes in the Columbus, Ohio, area. His raw total is 2205 and equipped is 2665 lbs.

Some of the topics we covered included:

• What differentiates your form of conjugate to Westside?
• Raw PL vs Equipped - is there animosity between the two or is just on the equipped old school lifters?
• Do you think equipped PL will get popular again?
• What do you like about owning/operating a gym?
• Are you in Columbus, OH for any particular reason? Because Rogue or Westside?
• What is MAW (Mountain Athlete Warrior?

Strength Accomplishments
2011 World Record Holder at 308lbs
Former all time World Record Holder with 2665 lb total
World record Raw Squat (no wraps) - 832 lbs
World record Equipped Squat - 1197 lbs
2010 APF National Champion
2009 IPA National Champion
UPA National Record Holder - Open Division

John Hagee and Israel and the embassy moving to Jerusalem - these are the things we are diving into on this episode.

Some of the links we are referring to include:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY6_hAkYRB4

https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-pro-israel-evangelical-leader-sees-wellspring-of-support-for-jewish-state/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/middleeast/robert-jeffress-embassy-jerusalem-us.html

QUESTIONS - Why Hagee’s fascination with Israel and particularly with the Temple and Jerusalem?

I believe this is a fulfillment of the biblical position in the Torah, where God promises to Israel in Deuteronomy, where he promises that He will make Israel the head, and not the tail, of the nations, and that toward the end of days, Jerusalem and Israel will be the epicenter of everything that’s going to happen. So this embassy event, to me, is an indication of God’s favor on this nation and on these people in a very physical way.

"We are gentiles, we don’t have a covenant. You have a covenant, we don’t. And that’s the only way we get plugged in to have eternal life."

Question - Any credibility to Hagee’s timing of events in Israel as quoted here, “I believe that God does everything in His own time. The concept of the year of jubilee, as taught in Leviticus, Chapter 25, the prophetic clock does not tick until the Jewish people are in the land. And measuring that, that God measures time in modules of 50 years: 1917 was a jubilee year because Israel returned to the land. Add 50 to 1917, and you get 1967, the year in which Jerusalem was joined to the State of Israel, and the land mass of Israel more than doubled in a war that is called to this day, a miracle. Add 50 to 1967, and you have 2017.

This is a year of jubilee, and in this year of jubilee, Jerusalem has been pronounced the capital of Israel and the embassy is being moved. It’s a year of blessing that God is bringing to the Jewish people. So you are still front and center as far as God’s blessing being poured out upon you

QUESTION - Jeffress: ‘You can’t be saved being a Jew’ - what about Romans 11 - does Rom 11 apply to unbelieving Jews? Is Jeffress a replacement theology guy?

Hagee - Hitler was God’s plan for Israel - and Blood Moon prophecy...what else will he get wrong?

Gabe's BIO - I’m 22 years old. I’ve been lifting weights since I was 13, but have been training specifically for Strongman for about 6 months now. In that time I have been in two competitions and places 3rd in both in the lightweight division. I train for strongman at Metroflex Gym-Plano in Plano, TX. I have been married for almost a year now. I go to school at Criswell College where I major in Biblical Studies. And I am also a Student and Worship Pastor at Stepping Stones Church of McKinney, TX. Other than lifting my hobbies consist of studying theology, playing video games, watching movies, playing and listening to music. I am originally from Chickamauga, GA (in the Chattanooga, TN area) but now reside in Plano, TX. And something random about me is that in what would have been my sophomore year of college I took a semester to work with the IMB in Central Asia.

Some of the topics we covered with Gabe included:

• What weird strength parlor tricks do you do (rolling up frying pans, tearing phonebooks in half).
• What hobbies do you have outside of strongman?
• What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start?
• What was your inspiration or mentor in strength sports?
• Biggest strength numbers
• Any injuries that you had to deal with?
• How did you know that strongman was a good fit?
• How many hours a week would you train before a strongman competition?
• What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training? How many calories do you eat off and on season? How can you afford to eat that much?
• Any funny stories or events that happened in your competition?
• What is your strongest implement/point maker event?
• Favorite training music?
• What was the most famous person that you were the most stoked to meet in your competing?
• If you could do something different in your training (wind the clock back) what would you do?I want to get into strongman...where should I start?
• What now do you want to do strength wise?
• What’s one thing that you want all lifters in the BBB to know or consider before getting into strength sports? (be able to justify your training) Common injuries specific to strongman as well as other health issues that someone might not consider (mental, addictions, etc)?
• What pet peeves do you have when it comes to training in a gym?
• What is one thing you have heard many lifters say that is WRONG/MYTH?

Kenric and Cheri catch up with Katherine Conway on her powerlifting journey. 

Check out Valleyvintageshop.com with coupon code gainzgrace for 10% off. And head to http://myfitstatus.com/bacon/ for a two month free trial. 

Intro was Jahazzer "Siesta", the sponsor music was "Cantina Rag", and the outro was Zoliborz "The Call of the Polar Star" used by permission from Freemusicarchive.org

Spencer Tyler's Bio - Currently a highland games pro. DII All American in the shot put and discus throw at Angelo State. Holds 5 world records in the Highland Games. Competed at the 2018 Arnold Classic and broke 3 world records, 28 lb sheaf, 56 lb weight for distance, and 56 lb weight over bar. Also holds the 20 lb sheaf record, the spinning weight over bar world record, and the light weight for distance thrown for 96.6 feet.

Some questions we asked him included:

• How did you get into Highland Games?
• What is your favorite event?
• You train with your wife? How does that work? Do you all compete at the same events?
• What has been your most memorable/favorite competition?
• How would you compare competing at the Arnold to your other competitions?
• How long did you train to break the world record in the sheaf toss at the Arnold? What would you attribute your being the best in the world at the sheaf toss to (strength training in the gym, height, years competing)? Who is closest to taking that world record away from you?
• How was the transition from track/field to highland games?
• Are there any great highland games athletes that didn’t compete in track and field in college that you are aware of?

The Reformed Resurgence - what is it, what caused it, is it a blip or is it here to stay? Join David and Everett as they take us on a little field trip through the past 20 years or so of church history.

Today Everett and Kenric are joined with Garrett Blevins, talking about powerlifter, AI training, and busy schedules. we also get a recap of Everett's recent meet. Check out valleyvintageshop.com , use coupon code "gainzgrace" for 10% off, and Check out our new sponsor MyFitStatus on the Google Play and Apple App store, use coupon "bacon" for 3 months free when registering. 

Intro was Jahazzer "Siesta", the sponsor music was "Cantina Rag", and the outro was Zoliborz "The Call of the Polar Star" used by permission from Freemusicarchive.org

Adriane was a college athlete in the shot put, discus, hammer, and weight throw, graduating from Ashland University in 2004. She is a 13-time DII All American, with 7 national titles and 6 runner up honors (to her teammate, who was ultimately an Olympian in the hammer). Adriane set DII national records in the discus and indoor and outdoor shot put, and qualified for the Olympic Trials in the shot put in ‘04, ‘08, and ‘12. She was the 13th American woman to throw over 60 feet in the shot.

Adriane also has had a stellar career as a Highland Games athlete. She has won five World Championships, and set world records in 28lb weight for height ( or WoB), and the 28lb heavy weight for distance.

Adriane also has a long track record as a personal coach. She has coached in many different contexts, from high school, to college, to the Warrior Games.

Also the first woman to close the No. 2 Captains of Crush Gripper!

Developing as a thrower: You’ve had a long career with strength sports. How did you first get into the strength side of athletics? Track and field?

When do you first remember thinking that you were going to be really good at throwing things far?

Being a woman in strength sports: Something I know female athletes in strength sports sometimes deal with is how our bodies don’t always fit into the stereotypically feminine frame. One thing that has always struck me about you is how ripped you are, and how unashamed you are about your muscles. I love the picture of you from behind that shows you doing a pull up in your strapless wedding dress! Did you ever have emotional struggles with developing into such a visibly strong woman?

Major challenges: You had a stellar college career at Ashland University, which is how I met you. During your last year at Ashland, you experienced a pretty serious challenge that, for a normal human being, would have derailed your road to the Olympic trials. Please tell us about that.

Where did/do you find your drive?

Mental skills that differentiate the athletes that are able to perform to their potential? How can those skills be developed?

Highland Games: I read that you kind of got into it on a whim - some friends invited you to try it out. What was it like to go from a newbie to qualifying for the World Championships the next year?

What was the experience of being on Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge like for you?

Getting older: Talk a little bit about what your training is like now. How have you adjusted things as you have gotten older?

Coaching: I’m curious about Poliquin’s approach; Biosignature practitioner?

How do you manage the balance between coaching and training yourself?

Is there anything that you would like to promote?

@adrisue on Instagram

Into the Distance - documentary on Vimeo

We had the opportunity to interview Kent Mosher, one of our BBB group members on his first powerlifting competition. Janine joins us as well and we talk all about the importance of sleep.

The two links mentioned in the show are from Barbend and Greg Nuckols.

Kenric and Dave recently both had powerlifting competitions and are on this episode to share stories and talk about their attempts on the platform. Everett and Janine join them and we have a few jokes and a great time!

We were honored to have Dave Ricks back on our show. We got to interview him last year and he's been rocking it since then. Here are some of his accomplishments - Arnold - Best Lifter at the Arnold Sports Festival in 2009, 2010 and 2011, 2012. Competes in the Raw 205 class. Bench press 210 kg (463 lbs) The Arnold - Grand Prix by SBD 03/03/2018 Deadlift 310 kg (683 lbs) The Arnold - Grand Prix by SBD 03/03/2018

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• How much does your weight fluctuate throughout the year?
• Do people at work or who know you outside of powerlifting think you are crazy or do they understand what it is that you do and why you do it?
• Who are your direct competition and how much does that drive you? John Haack, Ashton Rouska, etc
• Squatted 292.5 and missed 310, PB was 325.5 at Pacific Internationals back in April 30, 2017. Set bench press PR 210 kg (previous was 207.5 kg back in Oct 2017 and deadlift PR 310 kg (previous was 305 kg back in Oct 2017). Missed PR new total is 812.5 kg (previous was 825.5 kg back in April 2017).
• Do you think the judges were too nit-picky about depth in the squat? It appears you were just there at depth, did you think you were high or was it obvious to you as well?
• Squats seem to be difficult for you since Pacific Internationals where you went 9 for 9. Is it a mobility issue that you are working through?
• Your bench and deadlift has steadily improved, what do you attribute your progress?
• Do you think you’ll hit a raw 500# bench in comp someday? (Or gym)
• You started out Equipped...any thoughts on going back to equipped?
• You broke a bunch of state records in your bench press and deadlift PRs as well as national records. Do you have any American record breaking goals you would like to set in the future?
• What specific meets do you look forward to competing at and why (Raw Nationals, IPF Worlds, particular invitationals)?
• How many days a week do you train and have you ever considered other sports (strongman, weightlifting)?
• How are you involved in powerlifting outside of competing?

This episode we talk all about Janine's performance at the Arnold Highland Games as well as talk powerlifting and strongman at the Arnold. Dave and Christa got to hangout with Janine and catch up and watch her compete with some of the top Highland Games athletes in the nation. Check it out!

Kenric and Cheri catch up with BBB member Becca to talk about her weight-loss journey, road to the Arnold, and competing in Strongman. 

Go to valleyvintageshop.com, and use coupon code gainzgrace for 10% off. 

The Youtube link we are discussing can be found here.

Periodization - what is the problem?

• Some issues arise from long-term life stuff (most people don’t have 12 weeks of their immediate life planned out)
• Research is lacking to show that current periodization is best
• • Is the one group that was on the periodization model stronger because of the periodization model or because of the novel training stimulus
• Studies are short term
• • Long term multi-year studies aren’t practical
• Group based (focused on averages)
• Mostly untrained (or nearly untrained) subjects
• Generic science problems
• • Lack of replication, lack of negative publication
• BIGGEST issue - Over-concluding

Logical roots of Periodization

• Soviets impose top-down models on everything and they can grind through hundreds of athletes to find a few dozen that the model worked well on

Where to go from here:

• The process is more important than the plan, the plan will break you as a coach need to adapt and change

How do you solve these problems?

How would you train if you never heard of periodization?

Simplify!

• Remove as many variables as you can
• Assess what works and what doesn’t
• Utilize a bottom-up process instead of a top-down

Anatoliy Bondarchuk, most successful throws coach in terms of number of Olympic gold medals. Bottom up system of coaching can be credited to Bondarchuk.

What does it look like?

• A framework for implementing a bottom-up approach
• • Remove a lot of assumptions
  • Use systems to monitor training
  • Use contingency planning to deal with emerging information
  • • Non-response, peaking too early,k peaking too late, building a catalog of effective methods, etc
  • Get fairly uninterested in long term planning
  • • (at least until you know the athlete quite well)

Practical analysis

• Build a microcycle of training (development cycle). Repeat it. Monitor the results.
• Repeat
• Track time to peak
• TTP should be similar for all lifts
• First block gets taken too far just to see reaction
• After determining TTP, incorporate deload session unless near a meet (usually ¼ the length of TTP)
• Requires tracking of each workout and communication between lifter and coach

QUESTIONS -

• How many athletes did you have to test to get the three TTP values
• How many micro-cycles do you write up and what do you change
• Do you follow the specificity principle when changing the exercises - less variance on the big three as you get closer to the meet
• How long does it take to get the micro-cycles correct? A few months?
• Are you hoping to be able to compare this approach to historical gains from top-down periodization
• If you are an individual lifter without a coach, prioritize what should be focused on when changing parts of a program and how long you should tinker with these variables before making a judgement that this change was good or bad.
• Can you do this type approach as an individual lifter, what would it take?
• Have the coaches at RTS determine the best things to change vs what things tend not to work with changing?
• Measure e1RM when u start and end the block
• From Everett - are you moving to equipped lifting

This week Everett, David, and Janine pick up where we left off last week. Check out Bacon, Bibles, and Barbells on Facebook for the full discussion. Don't forget to visit valleyvintageshop.com and support the podcast, and contact us for T-shirts to rep at the gym. 

This week we asked the Facebook group to give us theology topics to discuss and over 100 posts later we decided to do a two part series on theology. So grab your thinking caps and get ready to hear us tackle topics from women in the church to New Covenant theology!

Ed Coan best lifts are 1019 lb squat, 584 lb bench, 901 lb deadlift, with a total of 2504 lbs at 220 lbs. His best drug tested meet was a 2282 lb total at ‘94 IPF senior world championships. According to Wikipedia, Coan has set over 71 world records in powerlifting.

Some the questions we discussed were:

• When was your last competition? How is your current training?
• Who are some of the old greats that are still alive that us younger generation lifters could learn from? Kirk, Gene Bell, Goggins
• Any books on powerlifting that you recommend?
• How has powerlifting changed? What changes were good, bad, and ugly?
• What was it like making one record after another? Was it training/genetics/programming/desire to win...what made you so good?
• What was the award that you were the most excited by/honored by? (example: I see that ISoF has awarded you a few years ago)
• What is different competing between the USPF and the IPF?
• How many years training did it take before you starting making state and national records?
• Were you ever sponsored? How did work and life balance work in with your training?
• Favorite music/band to train to?
• Are you super-focused in the gym or outgoing?

Kenric, Everett, and Janine get together to talk about how we manage to be athletes with full-time lives. Nutrition, recovery, training, and everything else to goes along with it. Hit up valleyvintageshop.com for all your beard and hair care products, soaps, and balms. Coupon code "gainzgrace". 

Pete Rubish is a master of the deadlift! 920 lb deadlift gym lift and 2100 lb total, 2nd all time in the 242 lb raw class. Pete's been training for 12 years and is still going strong, recovering from a back injury last year and breaking records with a recent competition in Tennessee. 

If you are interested in contacting Pete for coaching you can reach him at prstrength1@gmail.com. His instagram is here.

We talk to BBB member Anthony Kroeker about their upcoming Adoption, training, and their unique choice of middle names. Check out Kroekeradoption.com to keep up with their adoption and donate. as always, visit Valleyvintageshop.com for all your soaps, balms, and oils. 

Liturgy - where did it come from?

What is liturgy - Merriam-Webster defines it as a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship, or a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances.

Would the passover be the first example of liturgy?

Why do churches have different liturgical practices? Is liturgy more than merely congregational recitations on a weekly basis? Example, each week we recite the same four things before the sermon and sing the doxology before we leave…

How is liturgy different from sacraments (or ordinances as Baptists like to call them - why don’t Baptists like the word sacraments?)

Where in Scripture does it say that Sunday worship should include various liturgical proceedings?

What are some good and potentially bad things about liturgy in the church? (Example - repetition can lead to vain repetitions where people are going through the motions)

My note - During church we are worshipping God and if God said there’s a way to worship him we need to get ourselves in line to that. Church isn’t about me it’s about Him.

St Justin Martyr (thx internet) - “But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president (i.e. presiding Presbyter) of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο (so be it). And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.”

Some say the first “church service” was Acts 2:41-47. Is the accurate?

So worship was visible in OT and is invisible in NT

Talayna is a physical therapist and CrossFit athlete. She was a college gymnast and heptathlete. Originally from Tennessee, she now lives in Naples, Florida. She was sponsored by Reebok, Kill Cliff, RSP Nutrition, and CrossOver Symmetry. She recently completed a clinical doctorate in physical therapy.

Some of the topics we discussed included:

• How did you get started in sports?
• Tell us about transitioning from gymnastics to the heptathlon.
• When and how did you get involved with CrossFit?
• What drew you to Crossfit?
• What are some of the highlights competing in CrossFit?
• What were/are your maxes?
• Most of our group members (and probably listeners) are amateur athletes/lifters. What was is it like being a sponsored athlete? Do you have an agent? Did they approach you? What catches were there? Is it worth it?
• How do you picture your future in sports/fitness?
• Talk to us about CrossFit and safety and being a physical therapist. Some people are definitely biased against CrossFit, and it has a reputation of being an activity where people push themselves past healthy limits.
• From a PT perspective, what advice do you have for weekend warriors or amateur lifters who do something like strain their back or experience some other injury?
• It seems sometimes like medical professionals do whatever they can to keep injured athletes away from their sport. How can medical professionals do a better job of getting us back to full activity?
• There seems to be controversy over various modes of injury rehab (ice vs heat)? Where do you stand on the ice vs heat controversy?
• What about the difference of opinion regarding foam rolling? Where does the research seem to point in regards to foam rolling and its effectiveness (http://www.dieselcrew.com/are-foam-rollers-crap, http://articles.reactivetrainingsystems.com/2016/10/06/treat-the-issues-not-the-tissues/)
• What modalities of PT are crap or have little to no research behind it?
• Graston technique - useful or not for recovery? What about cupping? What essential oil is your fav?

Evangelism - how should it work? What does it look like as far as the believer's role and the church's role? The's are a few of the topics discussed with this week's episode.

This is our FIRST annual goals episode. In this episode we are joined with Cheri, Everett, Janine, and Kenric as we discuss our goals for year 2018.

The link to the USPA strength standards can be found here.

Dave’s Goals

BW - 275

SQ - currently 450 - class 3

BN - currently 370 (missed 400) - class 1

DL - currently 510 (missed 550) - class 1

Total - currently 1330 (could be closer to 1400) - class 2

BW - 275 if possible (hahahahahahaha) lol :)

SQ - 539 - class l

BN - 425 - class master

DL - 614 - class master

Total - 1578 - class 1

Cheri - I really want to enjoy lifting and not being obsessed with chasing numbers. Near a masters total and would love to get to an elite total. Focus on life/lifting balance. Would like to be solidly in the masters total. Husband will hopefully do a meet as a couple in 2018. Weight class goals - would like to get down to 165, need to lose 10 lbs. Probably compete in a competition in 2018.

Kenric - First goal - total 1607 for masters by end of March. Have new baby in end of March. Nutrition and weight, around 285. Back is feeling better, pulling sumo for 500x2.

Everett - listen to the show, it's in there :P

Janine - Throwing at the Arnold Classic. Would like to bench 225 lbs. How are you working around back issues? Most leg press for lower body, hamstring curls and back extensions for posterior chain work. Arnold Classic - caber toss, weight over bar, heavy weight for distance (18 lbs), sheaf toss, stone throw, keg toss. Goal for 2018 - not be sick. Improve master’s throws records. Hoping to hit top 5 at Arnold Classic.

We are joined with BBB members Steven Lee, Everett Henes, and Dave Auge. This is Stephen's first meet and he easily gets the highest total in his weight class and highest total of the meet in knee sleeves.

Steven Lee competed at the 275 lb weight class and got a 500 lb squat, 340 lb bench, 585 lb deadlift.

Dave Auge also in the 275 lb weight class and got a 450 lb squat (59 lb PR), 370 bench (10 lb PR), 510 deadlift (40 lb PR).

Everett Henes got 2nd place in the masters at 242 lbs and got a 535 lb squat, 315 bench, and 550 deadlift.

We had the opportunity to interview Matt Hadden CEO of General Leathercraft and Pioneer Belts. We got to discuss the following topics:

• What got you into working with leather?
• Powerlifting belts...how did that line of business become attractive?
• What sets Pioneer belts apart from your competition?
• What are some cool belts/athletes you have made belts for?
• What is the process in making a belt?
• What is your background in strength training?
• IPF - how hard is it to get it approved

Matt Reynolds has nearly 20 years of experience competing in strength sports and coaching barbell-based strength and conditioning. He first totaled “elite” in powerlifting in 2004, won his professional status in the sport of Strongman in 2006, and founded one of the strongest and largest pure-strength gyms in the country, STRONG Gym, (PowerliftingWatch Gym of the Year 2013 and 2014).

Matt’s strength articles have been widely published since 1999, and he has been interviewed by some of the world’s most popular podcasts, including Art of Manliness, Order of Man, Art of Charm, Starting Strength, STRONG Life with Zach Even-Esh, Barbell Business, PT Prophet, and Power Athlete.

Matt is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through NSCA, and holds his Starting Strength Certification. Since 2010, he traveled throughout the country serving as staff coach with Mark Rippetoe for Starting Seminars. He also has served as an adjunct professor for Exercise Science at Bryan University.

Matt founded and owns Starting Strength Online Coaching, a company built on bringing premium strength coaching from Starting Strength Coaches to those who don’t have a Starting Strength Coach in their area. Although he now coaches almost exclusively online, he still loves coaching single-session, in-person, out-of-town clients each week.

Matt also co-hosts the popular strength podcast, Barbell Logic, with fellow SSC Scott Hambrick where they systematically and progressively walk through the journey of strength with their 100k+ listeners each month

Some of the topics we discussed included:

• How did you come to your faith? How has your faith impacted your lifting/competition life?
• Barbell Logic - how did that start?
• What got you into powerlifting? What got you into Starting Strength? How is the Starting Strength Online Coaching company working? What are your and Rip’s thoughts on online vs face to face coaching?
• What other sports/strength sports have you done?
• What was it like founding and running STRONG Gym? What did you love most about it and what do you miss most? What are some of your pet peeves as a gym owner? What do you like most about not being a gym owner anymore?
• You hold many championships. What are some of the highlights from competing as a powerlifter and as a strongman athlete that stick out to you the most?
• You went pro in 2006- what was the process like of going from an amateur to a pro?
• As a professor for Exercise Science what are some of your thoughts of the online powerlifting community with the mix of bro-science and actual research that is being spread by those like Dr Israetel, Dr Baraki, the folks at JTS, RTS, and of course Starting Strength?
• Any interesting meet stories? Where is the coolest place you’ve competed?
• What do you enjoy more about a powerlifting meet vs a strongman competition?
• What are your best lifts?
• What programs do you recommend over others after a beginner has advanced through the Starting Strength program and can be considered an intermediate lifter? What counts as an intermediate lifter?
• Recovery - what is your personal go to for general recovery after training?

Daniel McKim BIO - All American shot putter in college and 15-time national qualifier in five events (I’m guessing weight, hammer, discus, and indoor and outdoor shot put...not javelin…) at DII Northwest Missouri State University. Retired from the Highland Games following a career that lasted over a decade and saw him win five world championships and six national championships, and two world championships in the caber toss,two world team championships, and two world records in light and heavy hammer. Appeared on NBC’s “Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge” this summer. Active on social media (hilarious videos!!). Also an outspoken believer.

Daniel McKim's Youtube and Instagram links

Questions that were discussed in this episode included:

• You are very outspoken about your faith. Tell us about that - how did you come to faith? How has your faith impacted your athletics career?
• What got you into track and throwing? And what is a Spoofhound?
• What were some of the highlights for you from throwing in high school and college?
• What other sports/strength sports have you done?
• How did you get into highland games after college?
• You hold many championships - national and world; individual and team. What are some of the highlights from competing as a Highland Games athlete that stick out to you the most?
• You went pro in 2007 - what was the process like of going from an amateur to a pro?
• You competed in the Highland Games for over a decade. What have you done to stay active and healthy through that time?
• I have heard that you can do multiple meets in a month, how many have you done in a short period?
• Any interesting meet stories? Where is the coolest place you’ve competed?
• You got to be part of a team of Highland Games athletes on NBC’s “Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge.” What was that experience like? It looked like a bit more cardio than I like!
• How does a highland game go?
• You hold the world record in the light and heavy hammers. Are they your favorite highland games events? What events were the most challenging for you to master?
• How do (did) you train for Highland games?
• How often do (did) you do event specific training vs strength training?
• You retired from the Highland Games this year. Tell us a little about how you came to that decision?
• You’ve got five boys. Are any of them interested in the sports their dad has competed in?
• What are your best lifts?
• We have a lot of people in the group who either have or want to put together a home gym. As a Sorinex rep, what advice do you have for them?
• Black or grey sweatpants? Just kidding. It’s not even a question. #bss4life
• Sorinex - how awesome is it to sell equipment

We are joined with Raeanne Pemberton. She is a crossfitter, powerlifter, marathon runner, and now competes and is very successful in Strongman. She is also a co-founder of Belle of the Bar.

Some of the topics we discussed included:

• What got you into powerlifting and strongman? 
• Best lifts? BN, SQ, DL, Strongman implements? 
• What are your long term strength goals and short term? 
• What are your pet peeves training at a gym? 
• What is belle of the bar? What are some things you’ve learned through creating it? 
• Women in strength sports...where do you see them in 10-20 years? 
• How long should I do powerlifting before I consider strongman? Should I do one before the other or does it matter? 
• What is your favorite thing about powerlifting? What specifically about strongman do you love that is different from powerlifting? 
• Who’s your competition and do you let them drive you or are you driven internally? 

The disabled show mentioned on the podcast was called the America's Strongest Disabled Athlete. 

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Today we are talking about food and food prep - macros, tracking calories, what to do about the holidays, reverse dieting, how does flexible dieting work, have we tried keto...all this good stuff! Have a happy thanksgiving and enjoy those calories!

Links mentioned in the show:

Calorie King

Avatar Nutriton

IIFYM

Today we are discussing the doctrine of providence.

What is Providence?

WLC 1:18  What are the works of providence? A. God's works of providence are his most holy,(1) wise,(2) and powerful preserving(3) and governing(4) all his creatures; ordering them, and all their actions,(5) to his own glory.(6)

(1)Ps. 145:17
(2)Ps. 104:24; Isa. 28:29
(3)Heb. 1:3
(4)Ps. 103:19
(5)Matt. 10:29,31; Gen. 45:7
(6)Rom. 11:36; Isa. 63:14

Does anything happen in this world that is outside the providence of God?

Can we “read Providence”?

Biblical examples of Providence, good and bad:

• Bad: Job’s friends; Disiples in John 9

• Good: Joseph, Paul

What difference does understanding the doctrine of Providence make?

It's member interview week and this week we are interviewing Kent Mosher, pastor of Table Church as well as a strength athlete. He's currently squatting more than Dave (big accomplishment) and finishing up his undergrad. Some of the topics we discussed were:

• What drew you to powerlifting?
• You’re a pastor? Does lifting heavy help with sermon prep? (I haven’t asked Everett this yet...feel happy)
• Do you think a pastor is disqualified from ministry for being fat?
• What are your best lifts?
• What are your current strength goals? What is your future “perfect world” strength goal?
• As a gym member, what pet peeves do you have? Do you have a home gym?
• How close is Portlandia to Portland?

Johnny Layne is the USPA VP for the RAW division and runs a crazy amount of powerlifting meets as a meet director on the east coast. We were honored to pick his brain about the future of powerlifting as well as how he got involved in the USPA and what the USPA is all about.

Some of the topics covered included:

• USPA - what is it’s history and makes it special? Why is it better than the USAPL? What rivalry is there between the USPA and the USAPL?
• What drew you to strength sports?
• What drew you to the USPA?
• What is the Layne Performance Center?
• What are your best lifts?
• What are your current strength goals? What is your future “perfect world” strength goal?
• As a gym owner, what pet peeves do you have? What is the best thing about being a gym owner? What is the worst thing about being a gym owner?
• What are some of the coolest things you’ve seen working all these powerlifting meets?
• What would you tell to a new lifter who is looking to break records and be the next Ray Williams?

Questions from the group:

• Why should I lift USPA instead of other lifting federations?
• Ask him about West Virginia and our bench pressers!! (Which I am not a good one!)
• Why is it a requirement for the lifter to take off the thumb strap when wearing wrist wraps?

Austin Baraki Bio - Starting Strength Staff Coach is a resident physician in Internal Medicine at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas. He received his doctorate in Medicine from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia and his B.S. in Chemistry from The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He became interested in strength training after completing a 15-year competitive swimming career through the Division 1 collegiate level, and is now a competitive powerlifter and strength coach for clients of all ages with Barbell Medicine. He now practices telemedicine through SteadyMD.

Some the topics covered included:

• What got you into swimming?
• What got you into strength training?
• Are there any crossovers between your years as a swimmer and powerlifting?
• Why Starting Strength and not some other thought center around powerlifting like JTS, Westside, RTS, or 5/3/1? Is it the certification process that appealed to you?
• HRT and PL - will the USAPL ever allow athletes on HRT to compete and potentially be apart of the IPF? Do other countries have to be as strict in testing their competitors as the US (thinking of the Icarus movie)? - The link to the article Dr. Baraki mentions can be found here.
• Separate question - I know you had a seminar talk regarding testosterone and strength training (perhaps not posted on youtube yet) - are there significant differences in strength being at a test level of 290 vs a test level of 900 ng/dL (both considered to be normal levels of testosterone in a non-obese adult).

Questions from the Facebook group:

• What one thing should you look for before hiring a strength coach?
• Who's smarter him or Jordan Feiganbaum?
• Where do you see the future of powerlifting being the next 10-30 years?
• Besides "the bridge" what intermediate programs do he thinks are useful?

With the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation we are going to discuss this time in history in more detail. Some of the topics covered include:

• What was the reformation?
• Who started it?
• Why is it relevant?

Lets talk about some of the things we reformed from

• Indulgences
• Merits of the saints
• The Pope’s authority over purgatory

And some of the things we reformed to

• The 5 solas
• Sola Fide, by faith alone.
• Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone.
• Solus Christus, through Christ alone.
• Sola Gratia, by grace alone.
• Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone.

This episode we go over an indepth article on periodization for powerlifters by Dr. Mike Israetel which can be found at the Juggernaut Training Systems website here.

We cannot say enough great things about this guide. Dave learned the difference between micro, meso, and macrocycles. Everett and Janine debate over phase potentiation and Janine reads excerpts from her copy of Periodization Training for Sports by Bompa and Carrera.

There are a number of helpful visuals you won't get in the podcast so please do check the link out above. Enjoy the show!

EPISODE 100! We are delighted to have James Deffinbaugh and Laura Anderson to give us a recap on how the ASM 105kg and Strongest Woman in the World events went. 

Day 1

Log Clean and Press for reps - 60 secs

WT Men 105k - 325

Fatback Farmers - 60 sec., Athlete will carry farmers walk implements 30 feet perform and 4 Deadlift reps with the farmers implements, then carry 30 more feet to finish line and perform 4 more Deadlift reps for time. Athlete will be given a down call on deadlift.

105k - 340

Keg Over Bar 60 secs

WT Men 105k - 320

Arm over Arm Pull

TBD

Axle Deadlift for reps

WT Men 105k - 675

For James tiebreaker - one-arm farmer's handle hold for max time AT 300lbs

Questions for Laura - the log press and farmers (? she got 2nd on farmer’s) were the two that kept you from gold. How close were you to getting more points on both events (1 rep for log press, 1 second faster on farmers)?

https://www.strongmancorporation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Scoresheet-Olympia-2017-Final.pdf

Questions for James - how heavy was the arm over arm, how heavy do you usually train at the gym? Sean Demarinis tore his quad on the farmers. How big of an upset was that?

Today's episode we discussed the visible and the invisible church...and no this has nothing to do with H.G. Wells.

Some of the discussion points that were covered included:

Understanding the Visible/Invisible church distinction

• In Scripture
• In History
• As regards the Reformation

Errors when it comes to this distinction

• The invisible church IS the visible church
• The visible church IS the invisible church
• The visible and invisible are two different churches

How do we account for churches that are not faithful?

• Impure vs pure
• How impure before it is no church at all?

Here’s the question for debate - What does the modern visible church today look like and how close is that to what it should look like? What things would be different?

What is the role of the local church?

What is the social gospel?

What is the invisible church? How does that differ from the visible church?

Westminster Standards. Chapter 25, "Of the Church," states: "The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation" (sections 1, 2).

This week we discuss an article from Greg Nuckols website, Stronger By Science. 

This article was originally penned by Dr Mike Zourdos who has an extensive impressive history in powerlifting as well as a long list of educational credentials. 

When it comes to load progression, many of us have done a few of these strategies without even being aware of it. Some of the ways to progress in load I've heard go as follows:

If work is below an 8 RPE, progress up by 2.5% for that week and see how next week feels, repeat until at 8 RPE...new cycle of training changes things up on a monthly basis so you shouldn’t hit an 8 RPE until near week 4 of each training cycle. This was presented by kizentraining, as well as by Jake Noel.

Another progression strategy I’ve seen is more linear - follow plan and at week 3 do an amrap for squat and bench and based on number of reps your working 1rm will go up and your linear percentages will change with that new number. DL changes based on speed of bar that is tracked by coach or can be tracked personally,.

From the article:

Surely, we all look to continuously increase the load we are lifting, but how are we supposed to do this? What strategies can you use to dictate load progression?  How much should you increase load each week? Are different progression strategies appropriate for experienced and novice lifters?

There are 3 strategies for load progression: These strategies are:

• An arbitrary progression

• Autoregulatory Progressive Resistance Exercise

• Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) progression

Arbitrary progression - Great for novice or intermediate lifters as the progression tends to add weight quickly. However, just because you can add 10kg, doesn’t mean that you should.

When a novice individual increases load too fast, this causes a constant increase in volume, and in the short-term, moderate volumes may be preferable for both strength (2, 3) and hypertrophy (3) to high volumes. Therefore, I see no reason for a novice individual to adapt to a higher training volume early on, especially if there is no guarantee that extra benefit will occur. Further, it is likely that a novice individual is still making great strides to improve their technique on multi-joint lifts (i.e. squat, bench press, deadlift, etc.), thus rapid load progressions could increase injury risk when technical mastery is not yet achieved. Therefore, in novice to intermediate lifters, it may be a successful strategy to prescribe an excellent load with a simple 2.5kg progression increase.

Final Word: An arbitrary progression from week to week cannot be used universally since rate of strength adaptation is individual; however, it could keep novices from progressing too much too soon by stipulating they stick to a simple 2.5kg weekly load increase.

Autoregulatory Progressive Resistance Exercise (APRE) - This is what I’m currently using with this training block.

1. Pros - as long as you are using a % increase of load this is a good model as it is based on how many reps you can achieve based on last week’s (month’s) numbers (which are based on the previous week/month).
2. Cons - that AMRAP might be over what you can usually do due to excitability and you knock out 10 reps when you usually could only knock out 8, which can lead to progressing in too much load and missing reps down the road.

Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) - RPE 10 - no more in the tank, 9 - 1 rep, 8 - 2 reps...you can utilize RPE for load progression (lower RPE = more reps x sets). This can be done looking at last training session or looking at an average RPE based across all sets.

• Pros - it doesn’t get much more individualized than RPE.
• Cons - is the RPE accurate? How long does it take for a lifter to know for sure? Noobs might think they are at a 7 RPE when they are much closer to a 9.

Final Word: Load progression with RPE has distinct advantages in that it individualizes progression not only for the lifter but also across different days of the week (if different repetition zones are used within a week); however, this strategy is predicated on the lifter providing accurate RPE values.

We are joined by Ethan McElroy, Raleigh area coach for powerlifting and general fitness. Ethan's specialty is strength training for general population and coaching others in strength and power sports. He has competed and coached in powerlifting and football. Ethan has also participated in one strongman, 2 highland games and threw shotput and discus for 7 years. Ethan will be competing in a meet coming up in November as well as a strongman event in spring and the State one in May.

Ethan's coaching site can be found here, and he is on Instragram here.

How did you get into Powerlifting? What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start? I got into powerlifting in my final year of college. I had spent the previous year focusing on losing weight and been lifting weights for a year following basic linear progression and bodybuilding.com workouts. I was getting tired of not lifting for strength and wanted something to fill my competitive itch. A friend and fellow personal trainer suggested I check out Port City Sports Performance where he was interning. I went there and met with one of the owners who is a powerlifter, got started training there and was hooked!

Talk about experience in powerlifting: I have been training for powerlifting since March 2015 and competing since November 2015. I have loved every minute of it. I think it is a great sport as it lets me do what I love most interact and help people and move heavy objects.

How many meets have you done? I have competed in 4 meets with my 5th one coming up in November.  I have coached in 4 meets.

Different meets and stories there: At my first meet the whole crowd cheered as I tried to pull 478 on my third attempt. I missed it but it was an awesome feeling. It was really cool competing at Nationals last year. I saw a lot of great lifts. I saw Ray Williams sitting in the warm up room a couple hours before he squated 1000lbs.

Different programs and experience writing/following programs: I have used conjugate, wendlers 5/3/1, starting strength, linear progression, big Texas method, Travis mash, smolov jr and more for myself and my athletes.

Fitness culture - good, bad, ugly: I like that more people are starting to weight lift now and I feel slowly people are starting to realize there aren't instant fixes.

Any strongman stories you have? What meets have you competed in strongman? I have competed in NC Strongest Man and Woman in May 2017. I was a lot of fun definitely harder than a powerlifting meet. A lot more to worry about and learn. I plan on doing NC Strongest Man and Woman 2018 and possibly another one in the Spring of 2018. I have also competed in 2 highland games and hope to compete again just not sure when.

Biggest strength numbers: Competition- Squat 385 Bench 291.5 Deadlift 511.5,Gym Squat 390 Bench 300/315 Deadlift 515   Frame Deadlift 600, Atlas Stones 200, 225,255.

Any injuries that you had to deal with? Elbow tendonitis, knee pain, iliolumbar sprain, sprained toe, constant tightness in right trap and shoulder blade from throwing and sleeping position.

What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training? How many calories do you eat off and on season? How can you afford to eat that much? Multi vitamin, vitamin d, magnesium, fish oil, bcaas. While cutting my calories have been 2,500 to 2,100 and on my current reverse they are 2,800. A nice caring wife who tries to understand why the fridge is empty two days after grocery shopping.

Favorite training music? Metal, viking metal, alternative rock

We had the pleasure of personally hosting Tom Dugan and his wife all the way from Syracuse, NY. They were heading to SC on their anniversary trip and decided to crash with Dave and his family for the night. Some squats/bench was done, a lil steak and beer, and we recorded an episode on the spot. A number of topics were covered that included:

• How to get millennials active in church
• What is discipleship and how does it work
• Do we compete with the Holy Spirit to keep people coming to church?
• How do we church correctly? (This was hinted at but not discussed in too much length)

Enjoy!

This episode happened last minute, but as usual Everett takes us to the deep end of the pool. We talk counseling and the pastoral role of counseling. Inevitably we discuss some of the stigmas of always having on your Sunday best which can imply that the church isn't a place for people to share their struggles and problems. This is probably one of Dave's fav episodes...check it out!

Dr. Rori Alter is an accomplished powerlifter and physical therapist. Some of her achievements in powerlifting include:

• Arnold Classic Sling-Shot Pro American 2017 - 1st place 72 kg Women Open
• USA Powerlifting Raw National Championship 2016: 4th place 72kg Women Open
• USA Powerlifting Raw National Championship 2015: 4th place 72kg Women Open
• 2015 USA Powerlifting Raw Open Rankings:7th place 63kg Class and 7th place 72kg Class
• USA Powerlifting Pro Raw Challenge at The 2015 Arnold Classic: 3rd place 72kg Women Open
• USA Powerlifting American Open 2014:1st place 75kg Women Open
• USA Powerlifting Raw National Championship 2014: 5th place 72kg Women Open

From her website Progressive Rehab & Strength, Rori is a Full Body Certified Active Release Techniques Practitioner, a Starting Strength Certified Coach and a sought-after Physical Therapist and Coach within the powerlifting community.

Rori holds a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from New York Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Health Science from Boston University. At Boston University, she specialized in Human Physiology, a topic that has fascinated her since she was a young dancer training in New York City.

Rori transitioned from the performing arts to racing triathlons in her early 20s. She not only competed, but also started the Boston University Triathlon team and competed on the regional and national collegiate level during her undergraduate and graduate careers.

Some of the topics we discussed included:

• What got you interested in PL? What got you interested in working with hurt athletes?
• What different modalities of care do you provide?
• How did Progressive Rehab and Strength get started?
• Who are some of the big names you’ve helped rehab? How did they find you?
• The medical community within powerlifting - how do we build it up so that powerlifters have more services/doctors they can choose from and become better educated on how to take care of themselves? What are some things that you would suggest that could be done to connect PTs and others to the PL community?
• Lower back injuries tend to be most common among powerlifters - why is this? What could be done to minimize potential back issues?
• There is some debate on the usefulness of foam rolling - useful or no?
• Same with static stretching - useful or no?
• What is the biggest single thing an athlete can do to improve his longevity in the sport of powerlifting?
• What frustrates you the most about the PL community and what can be done to improve that?
• Between active and passive therapy, which do you think is the more effective?

We chat with Everett on his 2nd meet in 2017. He recounts how he had to make some last minute adjustments with a smaller space for a meet, inexperienced judges, and inexperienced loaders and spotters. He also hit some long sought after goals and talks about how he he hit those goals...check it out!

Cheri Rushing is a powerlifter, wife/homeschool mom, and co-founder of the Facebook group Belle of the Bar. We talked about a bunch of crazy stuff like fitness and modesty culture...it gets real and crazy. Some of the topics included:

• How did you get into Powerlifting?
• Talk about experience in powerlifting
• How many meets have you done?
• Different meets and stories there
• Different programs and experience writing/following programs
• Fitness culture - good, bad, ugly
• Why weren’t you taken seriously by mainstream strength facebook groups?
• Modesty and sanctification...what is good and bad about the purity culture?

Laura Anderson is a strongman competitor in Raleigh NC. Among some of her achievements in strongman include:

2016 National Champion LW (Strongman Corp)

2017 2nd place USS Nationals

She also has an Undergrad in Business Administration/Computer Information Systems, finished a Paralegal Graduate Program, and currently working towards a Master of Arts in Apologetics. Here's a bit of the discussion:

What do you love about strongman?

I love the technical aspects and the strategy involved. There’s a limit to how big and strong we can get, but it’s fun to see people overcome physical disadvantages to become strong competitors.

Is it considered strongman or strongwoman?

Strongman

What are your goals in competing in Strongman?

I’ve never had any. I just want to meet people and go places.

Regarding Apologetics, Pressup or Classical/Evidential and why?

Largely evidential with a presuppositional slant. Is that a thing?

We are super psyched to have Daniel Yeh from Citadel Nutrition here to tell us about his company and what they are doing! The supplement industry can seem large dark and mysterious and we talk all about it in this episode. Things we discussed include:

1. Citadel Nutrition - how did it get started?

2. The issues with supplements as far as the proprietary blends?

3. What does the world of supplements look like?

4. What to watch out for when buying supplements?

5. Why are some companies cheaper than others?

6. What supplements are worth buying?

7. Which ingredients are worth your money in a supplement and which are worthless or not effective?

We had a great time talking with James. Some of the topics we covered included:

• What weird strength parlor tricks do you do (rolling up frying pans, tearing phonebooks in half).
• What hobbies do you have outside of strongman?
• What got you into strength sports? Where did your lifting journey start?
• What was your inspiration or mentor in strength sports?
• Biggest strength numbers
• Any injuries that you had to deal with?
• How did you know that strongman was a good fit?
• How many hours a week would you train before a strongman competition?
• What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training? How many calories do you eat off and on season? How can you afford to eat that much?
• Any funny stories or events that happened in your competition?
• What is your strongest implement/point maker event?
• Favorite training music?
• What was the most famous person that you were the most stoked to meet in your competing?
• If you could do something different in your training (wind the clock back) what would you do?I want to get into strongman...where should I start?
• What now do you want to do strength wise?
• What’s one thing that you want all lifters in the BBB to know or consider before getting into strength sports? (be able to justify your training)Common injuries specific to strongman as well as other health issues that someone might not consider (mental, addictions, etc)?
• What pet peeves do you have when it comes to training in a gym?
• What is one thing you have heard many lifters say that is WRONG/MYTH?

We are very excited to have Mike Tuscherer back to talk about his amazing team at IPF Worlds 2017. All the videos of the different competitions can be found here.

We talked to Mike about his experiences with coaching this years team at the IPF and competiting in previous global competitions. We also discussed:

• Who was on the roster? LaFlamme(2), Luo(2), AlAjmi(6), Simmons(6), Chan(4), Richardson(2), Craven(2), Hinchley(9), Gibbs(2), Cowan(2), Manuel(4), Branton(3)

• How do you get to IPF Worlds?

• Any of your team that were relatively new competitors and how did going to Worlds so early in their lifting career affect them?

• Did you have different coaching strategies for each lifter?

• How does travel affect lifting and performance and what things do you do to counteract the effects of travel?

• Does the IPF reimburse you at all for the trip/place to stay?

• Do you plan on competing on the IPF stage next year?

• Does the IPF drug test all lifters?

We also have a special post episode talk about injuries and talk about a potential future podcast episode with the RTS rehab doc, Rori Alter - hopefully we can chat with her soon.

Everett rocked it in this episode as we talked all about preaching and listening! Some of the resources we used can be found here. 

Kenric and Toney sit down with Mark Springer, CEO of Avatar Nutrition. We talk Flexible dieting, answer some listener questions, and chat about how of week is going. 

See avatarnutrition.com for online Nutrition coaching. See valleyvintageshop.com, use coupon code Gainzgrace for 10%off. 

We got to interview another member of the Facebook group - one of our newer lifters, Jared Helms! He has been doing a variation of 5x5 for 6 weeks now and is pumped to show his progress in the group and is thirsty to learn more. Everett and Dave talk about things they have learned starting their respective journeys a few years ago and we learn about Everett's keto diet progress.

Next week we will have the Avatar Nutrition team on to talk all about what their program/system will provide and how it will work.

Dave had his first powerlifting competition June 3rd with the USPA and we get to hear all about it. Everett joins Dave in going over the first comp and discusses topics like:

• The weigh-in/check-in
• The rules meeting - anything you didn't expect
• How to deal with nerves
• Fuel throughout the day

We had the privilege to interview David Ricks and hear his journey in powerlifting which has led him to numerous world titles and records in the powerlifting community both on the national and international stage.

Some of the things we discussed included:

• Why did you get into powerlifting?
• What are your strength numbers -best & current
• What are the most common injuries you see from powerlifters and what is the usual reason for this?
• What do you take on a regular basis to supplement your training?
• What is your worst injury and what did you do to fix it?
• What accessories do you use for lifting? What supplements do you take?
• What pet peeves do you have when it comes to training in a gym?
• What is one thing you have heard many lifters say that is WRONG/MYTH?
• Favorite powerlifter to watch progress/compete?
• How hard was it to train while in the Navy? Did you train while deployed on ships?
• What keeps you into powerlifting?
• What have you seen change in powerlifting since you started competing? Good/bad/ugly
• What federation is your favorite to compete?

We are joined again last minute with Don Powers, an equipped lifter from back in the day sharing with us some more wisdom and his experiences in a recent equipped competition, things he likes about the way the new competitions are running and things he misses from the old days.

We discuss:

• What new gear (not roids) he's using in training
• What he wants to add to his home gym
• What he wished he had when he was training as a younger lifter
• The negativity of the online lifting world
• His upcoming comp and goals
• And much more

We are on Facebook, search Bacon Bibles Barbells and we are doing a fundraiser to raise money for 2017 hosting - if you want to buy a BBB t-shirt, check us out there!