Grab your pre workout and turn up that volume. It is time for a new episode of The Power Lifters Den with your host Cam Smith. Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Power Lifters Den. I'm your host Cam Smith and today I wanted to bring on a 2000 LB Raw totaler at the 242 weight class. Bobby want you to introduce yourself all. Right. My name is Bobby Hume and I trained out of Hell Bent Barbell in Bridgeport, CT.
Awesome. So I guess to start off, maybe what kind of got you into powerlifting? I know on open powerlifting, I'm not sure if I read this right or if they just didn't have it updated, but looks like you didn't start competing until you were about 30. So I just wanted to hear more about your background. So originally a girl that I trained well, we kind of, we were both doing personal training. And it's a girl that like we always bounced ideas off each
other. She messaged me one day and she's like, hey, I'm doing a powerlifting meet. I know it's not your thing. I was always like anti powerlifting because what from what I knew about powerlifting was just the big belly guys I was always into like being in shape and being athletic. So that's what I saw. So she messaged me and she's like, hey, I need a training partner. I'm eight weeks out for my first meet. I'm just looking for someone to do it with or at least train with.
I said, you know what, just sign me up, Let's do it. I knew nothing about it. I didn't train any differently. Like I didn't train how you and I would train now. Anything. No conjugate? No. You know, there's nothing. I guess 531 was the closest to what I was doing. So we trained for eight weeks and we jumped in some random local meet and we knew nothing about it.
We had some fun. And then like to me that I thought that was it, You know, I had some fun, but I still had no interest in it. And then fucking, you know, Skiba harassed me for about, you know, two years on social media. Kept saying, dude, you need to get into this. You don't understand. You know, he saw potential there and he just kept harassing me. And. And one day I went down to hell, bent its original location. Met up with him. We were benching together.
We both benched like 3-15. Then we were about to go up. He throws on this shirt. Now. I I never, I knew nothing about multiply. Now at this point I'm probably 31 or something and I've never seen multiply in my life. Dude throws on a shirt benches like 550, and I'm like, what the fuck is happening? You know what I mean? Like, and at the time, I'm just like still like, trying to be Mr. Fitness. Like, I cared more about ABS than anything else.
You know what I mean? And he throws that on And then and then his boy comes in with a bag full of double cheeseburgers and he's just handed them out to everyone. So I'm just like, at that time in my life, I was like, this is fucked up. Like, this is, this is not what I'm into. So I like disappeared for like a year or so. And then after harassing me forever, he was like come down, do this push pull and just see what's up. I went to a push pull that he he ran. That was like an unsanction.
It was more like a cookout thing, real cool thing. And I ended up doing well. At the push pull, I met his father and then this guy also on Jay Picarillo who who runs the CT Powerlifting Hall of Fame. And they were both there and they were like, you know, who the hell are you? And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, they're like, you don't power lift And I'm like, no. And they're like, you're starting Monday. It was like a Saturday.
And and Mike's father, Skip was like, you're starting Monday. I don't care if I have to pay for it. And then that was like, that was just about three years ago. That was 33 summers ago. So August of 2020 it was. And that's when I really. That's when I started, like
actually powerlifting. Yeah. And so when you started pilot, like I know you train clients as well you do, you have your own personal training business if that's something that you were doing beforehand, like were you coaching any athletes for competing or are you just doing like Gen. Pop relative fitness? Not competing powerlifting wise. I had a lot of athletes. As far as athletics go, like sports go, I I trained.
I was the strength and conditioning coach at West Haven High School where I live, and I also had, you know, some high school athletes, college athletes, stuff like that. And then your normal Gen. Pop and like, you know, weight loss clients, stuff like that. You know what I mean?
And then you know, after maybe two years of being in the powerlifting scene on and off and then you know, getting familiar with with Mike and learning from them and then getting Westside certified and all that, then I started probably two years ago really taking on powerlifting clients. Yeah. So I guess one of my big questions for you, I think I saw this on one of your story posts. It was kind of like, why do you hang around, multiply guys but compete raw all. Right.
So I never thought, and this has now changed, but I never thought I would go multiply. I do see it coming in the future. It's inevitable because I I like the camaraderie of it. I like the team atmosphere. I was a baseball and basketball player growing up all the way to, you know, college. I was supposed to be, you know, a baseball player in college, but I ended up dropping out. But you know, I was always a team sport guy. I love the team atmosphere. I love energy.
You've been to hell bent. You've seen the energy there. You know it's like meet day every Sunday. So, So you know, even though I train alone in a sense, you know, being around those guys and seeing them, seeing, seeing you guys coming and and and ten guys are in one monolith, like, that shit is sick to me. You know what I mean? Everyone's spotting and loading and helping, you know what I mean? And you've seen it too, even
though you're a raw guy. Like it's inevitable at some point you want to join into that, even just even just have some fun, you know what I mean? I'm looking forward to I start Meet Prep Monday, but I'm already looking forward to the end of it, just so I can like jump in a random variation and just be with everybody. You know what I mean?
So I just like that that team camaraderie, I've handled Mike and a bunch of other multiply guys at at a lot of meets and you see the same people and and everybody's pushing for everybody. Even though it's a competition, it's like, oh, you need briefs here, you need raps here, you need everyone's friends, everyone's cool. And then in the raw world it's it's kind of like you know, knuckled up dog eat dog, you know, shady shit. And it's, it's, it's like a soap opera, you know?
And now it's become kind of like WWE, like the online personas are kind of. Corny to me and you know. Yeah, for sure. I mean, like I said, I I'd compete raw, obviously. But I I associate like most of my training partners and people that I train with are equipped people. And any of the people that I do train with that are raw, that like talk shit on multiply. I'm like, you just aren't around it.
You don't understand how more connected it is, how much more shit you have to go through to like, be a part of it, and how much you have to rely on others. That's what I mean. The people, you just watch people pay their dues and and the pecking order it comes in. You know, we get young guys in there and Mike's like this is what you do.
You're going to come in, you're going to spot, you're going to load, you're going to shut up, you're going to listen, you're going to learn and everything flows. And and you know from guys that have been in the game 30 years to guys that have just been in the game, everyone's on the same page, everyone's helping everybody. It's just that the atmosphere and the camaraderie, and it is
so much better. You know, raw people tend to, for the most part you know, stay to themselves and I'd much rather lift with a group of guys and and and you don't have fun with it, not just being there, you know, treating it like a job all the time. Yeah. So where do you, where do you think that whole like separation
come from? Do you think it's the the reliance on multiply guys to need each other or just the kind of I guess increase in like social media of raw lifting and kind of just people doing that whole lone wolf bullshit? Yeah. I mean, I've talked about this before. I think it's a little bit of both, you know, multiply, you obviously need help. So, so they're going to have, they're forced in a way to develop some sort of team, you know.
But at the same time, I don't think social media helps because like you said, everyone's, you know, their version of motivational post is I'm doing this shit by myself, for myself. And I don't need nobody. And and it's really, you know, I get what people are saying when they're in that mode. Like I understand the whole like you versus you and this and
that. But I've always been the type, I think because I was an athlete, if you want to get better, you got to play better, you got to play against better, You know, you want to be the best, you got to beat the best. I I don't want the the whole reason I got to where I am is even when I just started lifting, one of my friends was just like a local, like in my town, like legend as far as lifting goes. So I was like, I'm going to lift with this dude and I'm going to chase him every day.
And I get buried by 200 fucking pounds every fucking day, you know what I mean? He'd beat me in every variation no matter what, but eventually I just chipped away, chipped away, chipped away. I'm always looking for somebody better to lift with so I can learn from them and try to keep up, you know what I mean? My first day at Hell Bent, I walk in, I'm nervous. Mike's like, you're going to squat with this dude over here. So I'm looking at like, what's
his name? And he's like, oh, Chris Della 5 And I'm like, I don't know nothing about him. Come to find out, he's like the best multiply lifter in the fucking world. So now I'm I'm squatting with him against bands and I end up with like 550 on the bar against bands, and then he puts 1000 on the bar and I'm like, what the fuck is going on, you know? What I mean? Super humbling. But then for the next six months, it was me, him and Mike in the mono every Sunday.
And my goal was just to get a little bit closer to them every fucking week. Even if I was wrong, You know what I mean? And not use that as an excuse and not be like, oh, it's because you have briefed. Oh, you could. It's just no. I'm just doing my best to keep up and learn. You know what I mean? And I think, I think we can, We can both learn from each other. As far as multiply and raw go, there's there's things that we could pass to each other.
And I've never taken anybody I've come across in powerlifting for granted, whether they've been in the game one day or 100 years, you know, I I feel like everybody can learn from everyone a little bit. And I think that's kind of what's pushed me along because I know how to just kind of shut up and listen. I like to learn.
I learn every fucking day, you know, And I just, I don't think a lot of raw guys for whatever reason, going back to what you said, for whatever reason, they they already think they have it
all figured out. So that's kind of the reason I've sat with a lot of people and they asked for tips and then when you give them to them, they don't want it to, you know, if it's not, if it's against what they believe in, they don't want to hear it. I mean, I mean, I've learned, like you said, I've learned so much from Rupo and like anyone in the multiply game that there's just so many small
things. And especially with multiply, when you have to be so like detail oriented and intricate, they pick up on things that you might not ever notice raw because you're just lifting the weight. For sure, For sure. I mean, and raw, I talked about this the other day with someone there. There's a There's a time you know where you can muscle weights up. You know what I mean? And in multiply, you can't really do that. You have a very much smaller margin for error.
So what I was saying is like the intricacies inside multiply raw lifters don't understand. There's just a small margin for error that they have, you know what I mean? So I think there's plenty of raw guys I've talked to that think, oh, we'll just throw these things on and we'll add £300 to each lift. And it's just, it's not like that, man, because I've put on a bench shirt once, I've put on briefs. Once I put on briefs and squatted the same thing, I squat raw, you know what I mean?
So I wish it was as easy as people think it is, but it's it's it's very different and it's a different sport. You know what I mean? But I think, I think more people have to appreciate what it is. So that's why I tend to gravitate towards that. I'm I'm intrigued by it now and I just, I I love that whole team aspect, you know what I mean? For me, I don't know if someone told me this or I came up with it on my own, but I I say like raw versus multiply is like prod
jump versus pole vaulting. Like it's it's still a jumping sport, but you're using a tool for one. Obviously you're not going to compare someone's prod jump to someone's pole vault because obviously the pole vault is going to be higher, but that's why you're not competing against that person. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. I like that. But more to you, I guess. You said you're starting prep soon. What?
What do you got coming up? So I'm going to do the Ghost Clash pro day April 7th down in Miami. It's Ghost Clash 3, and that'll be my first meet since last year's ghost class. So I think last year's was in February, this one's April. So it's been a it's been a good while. I was. I was signed up for the American Pro this year, and I ended up backing out because I just didn't feel like I had the time to dedicate myself to a prep the way I'd like to because I coach
high school baseball and stuff. So I was in high school baseball season and I just knew I couldn't give it. Like, I I want to bring the best product I can to the platform. I don't want to go and say, yeah, I did it just to do it, you know what I mean? So I knew I didn't have it might kind of, you know, started talking to me about it and was like, look, you know, this is your hardest time of the year to to be in here. So why don't we call that and try to sign up for something different?
And then like a month after I backed out of that, Ghost Clash came up. So here we are. Yeah. So what are what are some of your biggest goals for this meet? Just PR anyway I can. You know what I mean? I had AI, had a bad run. I hit two Ki went to the first American pro. I bombed out. I came back to Ghost. I hit 1943, I think it was or 1941. I don't, I don't know the kilo conversion. So I I just want to go out there and if I hit 2001, I'll be fucking happy.
You know what I mean? I think I'm. I think I'm on track for for a big meet, but well, I'm at a point now where I realize I I don't want to be so dead set on numbers. I just want to, you know, go out there and and do better than the last time. You know what I mean? I used to be so, so stuck on one specific number that it fucked up a lot of meats. It also fucked up a lot of training.
You know what I mean? I'd be so dead set on a number going in that instead of taking a 5 LB PR I'd go till I missed. And then next thing you know, your CNS is fried for a week and then it fucks up a week of training and you know, so I'm being a lot smarter this time around. Yeah, that's actually something I've been kind of going through recently too, is like I'm approaching the four O 5 bench
and like a 700 squat. So every time I'm doing training or like with any sort of AR, I'm like it's got to be over 400 on the bar. It's got to be over 700 for squat. And it just like you said, it's it's making the jumps fucked up because I'm overshooting because I hit, I don't know, hit 375 to the three board. I'm like, all right, we're going to go for four O 5 instead of taking 385 and then 395. South exactly. Exactly. And a couple people have told me
you know kid Andrew out of hell. Bent said to me like don't be scared of a of a 5 LB plate. You know what I mean? Not everything's quarters and and and plates quarter plate quarter. We want it to be every jump to be 1/4 or a plate. But he's like, you know, don't be scared of that. And then and then, you know, I got with Mike and and my coach, like, I consider Mike a coach too from. He is a coach, obviously.
But I I use Ben Pauley. But Mike's like my second coach and my handler and he's like, look, let's just focus on like base hits. No more home runs. Like, you know, let's, let's try to go a prep without missing. Let's go back to your last prep or whatever time you hit that last variation and let's just chip it or beat it by 5 lbs. If you beat it by 5 lbs and it's like an RP7, then we might take
a second. But if I beat it by 5:00 and it's a little grindy, I'm taking that win and I'm getting the hell out of there. You know what I mean? And then hopefully next time around I could go back and you know, chip it again. But but I'm not, you know, getting too greedy, you know. And also as we as we get older and it then it takes longer to recover. And I'm not very good at recovering to begin with because
I'm a terrible sleeper. But we got to take what we can get and know how our body's going to react to it, especially like a deadlift, right? Like a deadlift takes me fucking forever to recover from. So. So I I just take the small wins now and and hope for the best, you know? For sure. And I think taking a small wins is something that a lot of people overlook because even if it's a 5 LB PR, you're still making progress. So you got to, that's what I mean, take the wins as they come.
For sure. And I I guess one of my big questions for you as well as I for a 242, it's kind of rare to see a £500 raw bench, if that's something that you've just always been particularly good at or is there something that you've been kind of using throughout your training that's been like helping your bench out a lot? So with that, I'd say a little bit of both. I was always naturally a good bencher for whatever reason.
Like in high school I was a tiny, tiny kid and like my first day ever benching, I think I benched 185 and everyone was like, what the? Like, I had big kids on my baseball team that were like, you know, I've been trying to hit that for a year and I didn't lift at all. And I just went in and like, hit it.
So like I've I've kind of been naturally a good venture, but then it's something that I've been like very meticulous with, you know, you know, picking apart my form, trying to do every little thing, technically speaking, to get an extra 5, an extra 5. Because once you get to a certain point, you know how it is. It's it's easier to gain pounds from technique changes than it is strength once you get to a certain. Point. You know what I mean. So you know. I think it's a mixture of both.
I'm naturally, for whatever whatever reason, very explosive off my chest and that helped. And then I had to pick apart all the lockout stuff. Every miss I had would be halfway up or more. So like I can, I can probably get 600 off my chest. But then, you know, it's about locking it out. So I had to drill triceps. I had to drill the high boards. I had to drill bands, you know, to get through all those little plateaus that I kept hitting because all my all my misses tended to be lockout.
Misses, You know what I mean? So. Yeah, a mixture of both, but something that you know, as it gets heavy, like you know how much like you said, how many 242 guys are hitting that? How much can that body take before you have to make all these little adjustments because you can't gain that much more strength on it specifically? You know what I mean? Without gaining size and then that pushes me out of a weight class. You know what I mean? Like dudes are like, when are
you going to hit 600? I don't see myself ever hitting a 600 bench at 2:42. You know what I mean? I I just don't. I think only one person's ever done it at that weight class. So I I just don't. And especially my frame I I'm a leaner 242 compared to a lot of the guys that I see and compete against. You know, a lot of them tend to be shorter and very stocky, short arms, you know what I mean? And they're more built for the bench. I'm not necessarily built like a lifter.
I've just, like, chipped away, you know? For me, a lot of the things that have been working for my bench recently is the three boards and the two boards and a lot of bands and chains at the top. But a lot, a lot of the lockout work because like you said, my my chest is strong like, but right off the chest, like 6 inches off the chest is right where I stall out. And and I mean those, those little things are the things you can't take for granted and sometimes you may not want to do it.
Like every day we want to look at our program and see straight bar, straight weight to the chest. But you know, you may have to do waves of three block 3 board, two board, heavy band on the top. I've been doing pin presses, which I fucking despise, but they've worked. You know what I mean? You know, pin press right at that. Like if that 6 inch point is your where you die out, pin press from there. You know what I mean? It's going to be fucking miserable for a while, but you
will see a change, you know? And that's what this shit is all about. I mean, people want that instant gratification and they don't realize that the process is the part. You know, I I get new clients that want to put £100 on each lift every year and and maybe they can in their first year or their first two years. But then it's like, you know, I I I went 18 months without a
squat PR, you know what I mean? And then just recently I hit a 30 LB squat PR and it was like I thought a fucking miracle happened, you know what I mean? So people don't understand how hard it really is when you get to certain levels, whatever that level may be. I'm not saying my level. I'm just saying for each person they have a different, I don't want to say ceiling, but they're your plateau points, let's call
it, you know what I mean? And then you got to figure out how the fuck you breakthrough it and you got to do whatever it. But it might take a year to breakthrough, especially a bench plateau. The bench moves the slowest. So you know, it may, it may take forever to do that. Like I don't, I don't know what happened, but my bench was at like a plateau for like basically two years and I think
most of it was from football. Like I probably hurt my shoulder at least twice a season and was gaining and losing 1520 lbs every season. So that I think actually too. Another thing is the the body weight to like bench strength correlation is insane. Like you lose like 3 lbs overnight and like I swear to God your bench dropped 10 lbs. £10 off? Yeah, 10 lbs. Right off your bench. Oh, I always know.
I weigh in Friday's before I go to the gym and Friday night I bench and I could tell you when I step on the scale if it's going to be a good or bad night, you know what I mean? And step one and I'm and I'm two 3 lbs under what I want to be. I'm like, shit, it's going to be a grinder tonight, you know? For sure. So what do you what do you usually sit at in the? Offseason. Right now I'm 250 on the dot. I've been trying to get up to 255. Two 50s where I've sat for my
last few meets. That's pretty much the heaviest I've been once. Once I like refeed after weigh insurance. I could get up to like 250-4255 for bed, but I float like a ton when I sleep. Like I'll I'll wait. I'll go to bed 255 and wake up to 40. Eight. You know what I mean? Like, I lose a lot. I've. I've always been. What do they call it? Like a hard gainer, I guess.
So I want to put 5-6 more pounds back on because I know the, the 240 twos, especially the ones that go to ghost, they walk around 270 sometimes, you know what I mean? Big, big boys. So I want to get another five, 6 lbs of like steady weight on me that stays and sticks. But it's fucking tough. It's tough, man. It's a full time job to eat the way I need to eat and I'm not. I don't have a huge appetite like I'm.
I'm struggling just to maintain the 250, you know, If I have one bad day where I'm busy running around and I'm not like diligent with meals, I'll wake up tomorrow, 2:46, and then I'm like, fuck man, I got it right back, you know? I'm the exact same way. Like this is probably the first offseason that I'm actually like above 242. Like before, I was chilling anywhere from 2:40 to 2:45, and now I'm at like constantly sitting at like 252.
And I was like, just the strength gains alone just for being that much heavier have been phenomenal. Just by like fucking five, 6 lbs, right. Yeah, I know. And that's. And that's what's crazy. I mean, before last Ghost clash or no, before the American Pro, I was like sitting at 240 all the time and people were like, well, that's where the two 20s sit at. So why don't you just cut down to 220? But I didn't want to. I've never made a cut bigger than like 8-9 pounds.
Yeah and and I never really wanted to because I know how strenuous it is on the body and and you know if you don't hit it just right and then re comp just right you can be weak as hell that next day. But I'm at the point now and I have enough, you know, good people with good education on this stuff on my side where I can, I want to try to push it and you know, the 255 or high 250 range and see what I can do when I water cut and then refeed.
Yeah, so with the the upcoming meet, who are some of the the competition that you'll be facing, some of the big names in the 240 Twos? Oh man, 242. They haven't released the official roster yet. I'm not 100% sure. As far as the 240 twos go, I know. Oh, what's that guy's name? He had a good year last year. He's a Canadian lifter. It'll come to me in a minute, but I know like Hussam is is in retirement right now. He was a big 242 guy. Carlos Reyes is competing in February locally.
So like, I know a good group of 242 is from last year. I don't know if they're going or not. I haven't talked to a lot of them yet. I tend to the guys I talk to more out of my weight class for whatever reason. There's no reason behind it. It's just that's just what it is. But like, I know, you know, hacks, obviously going to be there doing his thing. I think he's going to go 220, which would be interesting because he won't make the big cut anymore. I think Chad Penson's doing it.
And Chad Pence, Penson mentioned 240 twos. I don't know if he's going to go there yet, but I know he's tired of cutting to 2:20, so he might be a 242 guy and at that point he'd be a top dog. I don't know if Derek thistleweight death grip Derek he might be doing it. I I got to see the the roster before I could pick. I just 242 is so stacked. I all those guys I named they could all back out and it's still a stacked class you know what I mean. I think, I think two 20s and 240
twos raw is the best. Are the best classes in all of. Powerlifting, I totally agree. I think just the the sheer amount of strength that you can get at that size and still be like a lean bodied freak is like because I was even down at Baines Barbell Club. They just opened last year in Utica and there was some 240 twos there. I'm like, fuck, I have to compete against these guys like. I'm like, oh, that kid RJ Butcher. Yeah, yeah, RJ and this other kid.
His last name was Stewart, but totaling like 21 hundred 2000 / 2000 RAW. It's just at that weight class is just fucking insane. And the and the kid RJ Butcher looks like he could step on stage you know with an 8 week cut he could be a a bodybuilder and that's how a lot of these guys. Carlos Reyes looks like that Chad Penson looks like that hack. You know what I mean? Like he's got these guys are fucking yoked and shredded and Jason Legrand will be doing
Ghost at 2:42. That's a good that's a good that's a good competition of mine. I'm trying to get my good friend Ronnell Leftwich to do it but I think he's doing something local in Georgia. But he's he won 242 at the at the first American pro, he totaled like 2111 or something. And he does and he doesn't go spoken about enough in that in that class because he's not a big social media guy. He's kind of quiet.
He's been he's been branding his social media a little bit because now he's training people. But he's not like a big persona in the game. But he's quietly, you know, squats over 8, pulls over 8, benches over 5, you know, and just just just quietly fucking does it. And nobody talks about it. And I'm like, it's just crazy. Yeah. So I guess that's a good little segue into becoming like a
powerlifting coach. So obviously there's a lot of, like, for me personally, like I I do coach athletes and I I don't have like the greatest total, but I am more surrounded with people and take a lot of knowledge from the people I learn. But I see some of these, like, kids that are my age coaching people and I'm like, do I look like this to them? Because it's fucking horrible to watch. So I want to hear your opinion on that. On on what I think of you, like
you coaching or just in general? Just just younger people coaching and just people that aren't like, up there. So, so my take. I've been open about my take, but there's never enough time or space on like an Instagram story to save my whole piece. So this is good. You bought this up because I've made comments about like a big total should be part of coaching and that that's not necessarily
all. I mean, but I think a big total comes with a unless you're completely gifted like this kid Trey, I train who he's only competed twice and he went 2000 and then 2100. He's a fucking freak. You know what I mean? And he doesn't know anything about powerlifting. And he'll be the first to tell you he doesn't know shit. You know what I mean? He loves bodybuilding. He wanted to be a bodybuilder. And I met him and I said bro, you're a power lifter.
Just give me. I said give me like 12 weeks to work with you. If you don't like it, go back to bodybuilding. And he's taken off since. But aside from those flash in the pan. Flash in the pan is a bad word. But aside from those freaks that just pick it up right away I I even came up fast. I guess you know what I mean. But but you these guys with the big totals for the most part comes with years and years of. Experience. You know what I mean.
And. I don't think there's anything better to look for in a coach and powerlifting than experience. And I I say that because, you know, there's there's a million guys with a lot of book knowledge that are coming straight out of college and then they want to tell you how 700 lbs should feel on your back. And they've never felt 400 lbs on their back. You know what I mean? And.
And it's or or. But even if 400 is their full or complete Max let's say or like how we said, you know their their plateau point, you know, they don't even know what it's like to just have like an eye busting grinder of a lift. You know what I mean? Like these guys are. It's more than just book smarts, you know what I mean? I've met some guys that never even finished high school that can break down lifting like you wouldn't believe.
You know what I mean? Or didn't go to college for that, for bio mechanics or sports medicine or whatever it may be. And I think that these are things that you pick up through just years and years of experience. One of the best guys at breaking down a lift I've ever seen is Chris Delafrov. And then you look and he's been competing since he was 17 and now he's 35. You know what I mean?
That's just 18 years of hands on real experience and I don't think if there's any amount of books that can teach you that. It definitely helps as a guide and as an aid, but also in books you learn that everything's one way, right?
You know what I mean? And the more you do this shit and and you'll learn it as you continue to coach and I've learned it a million times, your opinions eventually change on things and you learn that everybody's completely different and everyone's leverages are different. There's no one way to squat, one way to bench and and the book guys will tell you that this is how you squat and if you don't do it that way, it's wrong. You know what I mean?
So I I just think you know the experience in the sport. It does not necessarily with age. You can be 20 years old but if you've been to handled and coached and competed in a 20 meets total that's good experience. If you've been around it and you learn and you soak it up, there's some people that just go to meets and just go to meets. But when I'm at a meet, I'm soaking in everything. I'm watching how people are wrapping knees. I'm wondering why they're doing that. I'm asking questions.
You know, I I've never worn gear besides, like the couple times I tried it. But I've handled multiply guys because every Friday and every Sunday, I'm next to Mike saying, well, why do you do it this way? Why do you do this? What are you doing here? Show me that. Show me that. You know what I mean? And that's just because I'm so eager to learn as much as I can, because it'll help me both as a lifter and a coach and just a training partner. You know what I mean like.
You know, when you come down, we shoot the shit. You might teach me something, I might teach you something. And that's just all experience stuff that books I don't think could ever teach. You know what I mean? And I think the the way Chris said it too is like nothing beats time under the bar like just being like I So over the course of this year now I've officially pretty much been a handler, been a spotter, A loader, a judge.
So I've been around the sport a lot more and something I've noticed like for the kids my age is, especially in USAPL, but it's because collegiate in general. That kind of was where collegiate athletes tend to go towards. But I've noticed that all the coaches around my age seem to just circle the same information. That doesn't get them anywhere. Yeah. So. Well, that's what you know. A lot of them are what I call
regurgitators. Yeah, they hear something and then they spew it back and they spew it back. And it even goes with cues, right? And now cues. I laugh when I hear all these cues I hear at meets because cues aren't A1 size fits all thing either. You know what I mean? You hear everyone yelling. Like you know when someone picks up a deadlift, they're all yelling like glutes or whatever. But you don't know if that person's weakness is their
glutes or if they're miss time. If they're miss timing their lockout because of their glutes, you're just screaming a random cue. And and the best part, the hardest part. I think about coaching and cueing people just to find a cue that's going to stick with them. I could tell you a cue five different ways. You're only going to get one, the best for you. I might tell the next person that same cue and they don't understand it. You know what I mean?
Some people you got to, you know, pinch your ass like you're trying not to shit yourself. Might be the best cue they ever heard. You know what I mean? Other people need it more technically sound, and it's just it's figuring out what each lifter needs, how each lifter translates what you're saying and puts things into action. You know what I mean? Yeah, and kind of going with
that too. I think I saw this on your story, the other two about like D loading, about how some of these D loads are way too fucking heavy and you're like why? Why are they getting programmed such a Heavy D load when they're either in prep and they're D loading through prep or they're in the offseason, They're not taking a proper rest to actually peak?
Well that's that's what I'll never understand like and I I won't call anyone out by name because I don't want to, you know, it's not a beef thing or anything. But like I saw a lifter and if he hears this he might under he might see no, it's about him. But I saw a guy the other day take a deadlift and it was very, very grindy and he wrote like deload deadlift on it and it looks like ARP 9.
And I'm not kidding. And then I looked up his best deadlift and then I did the math and it was like 87%. And what in what world are we taking 87% as AD load? Some people I know open around 8788% as our opening lift. You know what I mean? Depending on what their philosophy is on 2nd and 3rd attempts, someone usually people open between like 8788 and 93% and then they push from there. You know what? I mean it.
And I'm just like that. I'm looking at my plan and like my D load is like 200 hamstring curls against the band. You know, 200 quad extensions with 25 lbs, four sets of 20 incline dumbbells with. 50s You know what I mean? Like. Just blood flow and active recovery. Work. You know what I mean? And you got these dudes doing SPD days with 7580% as their D load, and then they're wondering why they're not seeing the progress.
And it's like because you didn't really take a week off that that wasn't even recovery work, MM Skiba posted the other day. He wouldn't program anything over 65% for a deal, you know what I mean? I'd go even lower than that, probably. I would say, yeah, that's 60. Five would be probably the actual absolute Max, but I don't. When I deload my clients, I don't give them any barbell work. I don't want them touching a barbell that whole week. It's bands. It's dumbbells.
You know, I If you're going to squat, it's going to be like a goblet squat. If you're going to bench, it's going to be like an incline, dumbbell, or you know, flat, flat flies, something like that. You know what I mean? PEC deck. And then you don't pull at all. If you do anything in that motion, it's going to be like light RDLS or you know, belt, squat hinges, something like that. Like I'm not having anyone touch
a barbell on their deloading. Yeah, I usually do the same thing, and I know some people if they do, it's like 50% like you should not be. You should barely be breaking a sweat. Like it should be like your third warm up set if you were going to Max out that day like. And and not only that, these guys that are doing these Heavy D loads are the same ones that are doing SBD days, so they should be less apartment to touch on a barbell.
You've done all, you've done all three lifts 3-4 times this week, and now next week for your D load, you're still doing the three movements. You're not really D loading. Even if he took 70 or 60%, that's still not really deloading because you should be getting away from the movement completely. Yeah, like the meat and potatoes of the movement, you know what I mean? So I guess kind of more into not necessarily accessories but different variations. What are some of your favorite
like specialty bars or like? Do you like bands or chains more or what do you hate? All right, let me think about this for a second. So we were laughing because I'm like when it comes to powerlifting, I'm built like backwards, like I'm what everybody doesn't like to do. I love squatting with the SSB. Like like if I could make a federation, I would compete SSB squat Buffalo bar bench and and a stiff bar deadlift and everyone's like, what the fuck
is wrong with you? But like my Buffalo bench is actually my Max is higher with the Buffalo bar than a straight bar. Something about that deep stretch I get more like, I don't know more give more stretch and more pushback from it. But I like, I like Ari, like chains. I like bands. I prefer chains with squats. I probably prefer bands with bench and deadlift. I I've never really. I've only probably deadlifted against chains like three or
four times. I've used bands a lot though but bands beat me the hell up with deadlifts. But but they work. You know what I mean? That's I've I've again just like my bench. I'm very fast off the floor and I miss that lockout. So that band work is is a necessity for me. You know what I mean? That top end overload. What? What do I hate? I hate the camber bar. I hate benching with the multi grip bar. The football bar, I hate nothing. I I like all the pole variations you do. Basically.
I I don't have any problem with any pole variations. I mean I suck off of like blocks and I think, I think for the most part, conventional people do. You know what I mean? Blocks is great for sumo pullers. They get to swing their Dick a little bit but but conventional, I suck. But yeah, I I I hate benching with the football bar. I've grown to like benching with the axle bar a little bit more, but I still don't like it that much. But I hate camber bar squat, and that's about it.
I hate front squats. I don't think there's carryover for power lifters. That's just my opinion though. And I hate pause deadlifts and I've posted about this many times. I don't. I don't see a point. I I see what they're trying to do. But as a lifter that that wants to control speed and be fast and explosive, I don't want to be slowed down because then it just puts it just it trains me. It gives me the habit of getting in a bad position.
Yeah. So my my counterpoint to that would be in terms of what about using it As for a sumo lifter for the just breaking the floor and then going as like a wedge as a way to practice their wedge. Yeah, I guess. I guess that's more that's more specific and that's you know what I never really thought about it but I don't see as much of a problem with sumo pulling and pausing. It's more a conventional thing
because sumo, you have to train. You have to train patients to begin with and that and that's why I struggle so much. When I was trying to train sumo, I was so used to being fast and explosive. And then you took that away from me and I'm like, Oh no, I don't got it. And Mike's like it was it was leaving the floor. You just have to give it time. And I'm like, no, no, I didn't have it. You know what I mean? Like I want all my lifts to be a Max of one second.
And if they're not, I'm, I'm, I'm out of there. My coach was making fun of me for that because I had AI had a lift Sunday. I squatted with reverse bands and he told me to only work up to 725 and cut it. And then I went into AD load this week. I hit it and it looking back now, it was it was fine.
The lift was completely fine, but it wasn't as fast as I thought it should be. And he's like dude, like he made a post and he's like if Bobby doesn't if Bobby's lifts don't move like a speed Rep, he's suicidal the next day. You know what I mean? It's like I'm so used to just every like I need everything to be like, so like if I have a grindy lift, that's three seconds let's say to me it feels like 12 seconds. I watch the video that, you know
what I mean. Like, it just feels, you know how time slows down when you're under the bar. You can have a whole conversation with yourself, you know, so it feels like an eternity under the bar. And then I'm like, damn, I can't. I can't handle another jump. Yeah, and I noticed that especially when you're doing movements with heavier AR, it's like, it's so if you have like an RP, say your goal is RP8 that day you'll hit something nobody do that felt like a fucking
nine. And then you'll watch it and it'll be like, that could have been a 5. It's better, but it's so like to say you're using bands on a squat, like it feels fucking 10 times heavier at the top, so. Oh yeah. I'm like, This is why you need to record your shit, but not everyone needs to just record to get an Instagram video. It's a. Lot of the recording should be done to analyze, you know what I
mean? But it's funny you said that, because also what I noticed with with AR is that that window from like A7 to A10 comes a lot. It's a lot closer. Like you may hit a lift at like an RP6 or seven, you'll be like, all right, I'll jump up like 25 lbs and then next thing you know you're out of 10. It's like, holy shit like that AR gets heavy fast. Especially with bands, dude.
Yeah, it's like it almost like there's a certain weight threshold that all of a sudden it's like, all right, this AR turning on, you know what I mean? Like it's not on until it hits a certain amount. For sure, yeah. So you said you don't like the camera bar, but you like the SSB. That's like the complete opposite of me. I I I think the Rackable Camry bar. I think I like that bar better than a straight bar for squats. Like really? I don't know. Something about it just feels so natural.
But the SSB can go fucking die in a hole. I think I just like the SSB because I'm good at it. I mean it's it's miserable but like you know I see guys lose, you know, Mike said, you know I lose about 100 to 200 lbs when I use the SSBI took a wrapped, I took a wrapped SSB squad and hit like 735 when my when my straight bar squat was 755.
You know what I mean? Which doesn't make sense, but I I guess you know just that leverage for me maybe that upper back, you know I I tend to cave and I think with the SSB you can push against it with the back and here with a straight bar if you cave, you cave. You know what I mean? So like, I think it just works for the way I squat. It's just beneficial to me. And then I always see a huge carryover in my pole when I do a big SSB wave.
So I just, I think I like it more for the the benefits for me personally than actually the motion of squatting with it. You know what I mean? Yeah, so I because Kirby, I have Kirby Goodrich as my coach and he this is like a running joke that any time he programs SSB, I'm like, dude, I'm going to fucking. Yeah, I see. I see the memes. I'm like, I'm so sick of this, but it's working. And like I've gotten much better at it because my weak point is my upper back.
And like any time I miss a squat or anything, it's because my back is. So I could see the application for it. But I'm so fucking sick of that bar. You see, you will see carryover. It's just going to be miserable wave of drilling that bar, you know what I mean? Yeah. But I'm I'm excited to get in the prep.
I'm competing in April, so I'm hoping again try to aim towards 1700, trying to cross that mark and I think depending if I cross 1700, not the the meet later in the year that I'm going to do is either going to be single ply or sleeves. So we'll see. We'll see where it goes from there. So you're going, you're going wraps in April. Yeah, Nice, nice. See. And that's in 1700s of still a big total. I think that's where people get messed up now because they see these 2000 LB totals and stuff.
But I made a post about it a week or two ago. You know, there's been a lot more than maybe five years ago or 10 years ago when 2000 was like the Holy Grail or whatever. But they're still you know, so I I looked it up. There's like 400 and something thousand people on open powerlifting and they're still under 1002 thousand pound totals, you know what I mean? So 17 and 1800s still. I know a lot of good lifters that are in that range that I
consider good lifters. So that's nothing that, you know, sneeze at. And I don't. I don't, you know, there's been a lot of, again, due to the influx of social media and and who's popular, there's been a lot of like, oh, that ain't shit. That ain't shit. That ain't shit. But realistically, how many people are, you know, in the grand scheme of things? Let's just say, like for the average person that looks from the outside at powerlifting, that's a big fucking. Number You know what I mean.
So. All right. Well, I think we can kind of wrap things up here. So I'll ask my question if if you could give a new powerlifter or someone going into their first meet a word of advice, what would that be? Going into their first meet, I told someone this the other day. It's funny you asked that. So the first meet I put, and we all probably didn't put so much pressure on it, but the first meet is honestly probably the best meet of your career if power.
If you want to make a powerlifting career, let's say. Because that just sets. That just lays the the groundwork, You know what I mean? Everything's APR. That's when you realize gym lifts no longer matter. You know what I mean? Like, I don't care if you squatted 500 and bench 300 and pulled 600 in the gym. Now you put it to the test and if you only hit 8590% of that and the meet, that's what it is. But that's what you now have to shoot for.
Those are your real numbers and those are the real percentages you start building off of. You know what I mean? And that's how you pick your percentages and go from there. So I think people you know should put less pressure on themselves for the first meet, have a little more fun.
Remember that. I hate saying it, but it's only lifting, you know, because to people like you and I have talked about it, the passion behind it, to me it's not only lifting, but to that to the average person or most people, it is only lifting. It's a hobby, sport or whatever. But but you know, a lot, a lot of people like myself, like yourself need this shit, you know what I mean? But you know, have just have more fun, have fun with it, lay the groundwork and then build from there.
And I think not that you want to add pressure to yourself, but I think a little pressure is good, you know. So start adding pressure each meet, you know what I mean? Then that's when you, that's when you start saying I got to beat this number, I got to beat that number. But this one, you have no numbers to beat. You just got to put the number. You just got to put it down. You got to get one squat, one bench, one deadlift.
That's it. Obviously you don't want to go 3 for 9:00, but if it happens, if it happens, it fucking happens. But this is the one where you go out there, you learn, you have fun. You, you, you watch everybody. You just take it all in. You just enjoy being there. You enjoy the moment. You try to learn something and you try to pass something on and then you just keep. And that's the groundwork. And then from there, from there, then you pressure yourself a little bit.
But the first one, have some fucking fun. Enjoy it. Well, I want to thank you to take the time for coming on. It was a good talk and of course, I'm sure I'll see you around and then maybe we can hop on yours on sometime.