How can I guarantee to significantly increase your deadlift by training with two ten pound plates that you don’t even add to the bar?
Stand on them.
I think we can all agree the first few inches of the pull is the hardest part. Once the bar is past the knees, most of us can grind through, finish the lift, and lock out. Lifting from plates raises you up a minimum of a half inch, making the whole lift feel more difficult - again, primarily that first part of the pull. If you consistently train this way, starting with less weight than you normally would and making sure you’re maintaining the right form and technique, you become significantly ahead of the game. When you get to competition or attempt a PR once thought out of reach, you feel like you’re accomplishing the feats of a superhero. I know from personal experience through Marty Gallagher, world renowned powerlifter and powerlifting coach. And this is just the tip of Marty’s training iceberg.
As many of you know, for the first time ever, Marty Gallagher will be instructing with world record holder Kirk Karwoski demonstrating at an interactive workshop I’m hosting March 5-6 in Philadelphia.
Many of you also know my story and stats using Marty’s training methods; five months of training alone three times per week for only an hour and a half total each week led to a 390 lb deadlift in my first competition, weighing in at 142 lbs, 5’2" tall. Wanting another example, I remembered Chuck - one of the other guys Marty was coaching at the competition. Chuck’s wife and two little kids were there cheering him on. He seemed decent, he put up amazing numbers, and I was expecting the story of a powerlifter or trainer by trade, so I was shocked by the info Marty gave me:
"Charles ‘Chuck’ Miller is a 41 year old attorney. He has won numerous national titles over the last decade as a lifetime drug free powerlifter. He is currently in training for the Raw United national championships. Chuck holds many ‘over age 40’ records and is currently campaigning in the 198 pound weight division. He has recent competition lifts that include a 555 pound squat, a 375 pound bench press and a 635 pound deadlift. Chuck also holds a degree in journalism from West Virginia University and has had dozens of strength and power articles published over the past decade. He is a full-blown diabetic who has overcome his malady to become one of the nation's foremost 'no gear' lifters. He is a longtime training partner of mine."
A lot of folks are out there thinking, "I’m not a powerlifter by trade, and I don’t want to be." Neither am I; neither is Chuck. Remember your first RKC, where you were standing next to moms, docs, lawyers? It’s like that. Learning under Marty is just another level of life and fitness goals, much like RKC. In the case of Chuck, you’re looking at a lawyer and father of two kids - someone who is diabetic with little to no time to be at the gym. He is not a superhero, but he sounds like it on paper and looks like it in person. How can an hour and a half a week produce that kind of result? Marty Gallagher has the answer.
The principles are simple, tried and true. The formula is the same for everyone. You can easily pass it along to your clients, along with the reputation that comes with studying under the one and only Marty Gallagher and legendary Kirk Karwoski. Why not add this to your portfolio to help you and/or your clients meet their goals and maximized strength? Like Pavel, Brett Jones, and many others tell us time and time again, this is "another tool in the toolbox."
When I started work with Marty, I was already strong from kettlebell training. Just like you, I realize proper kettlebell training has the amazing ability to exponentially increase strength and conditioning. But after learning from Marty, I have achieved a whole different level of strength. Marty and Pavel have such a high level of respect for each other, and the reasoning is very clear.
They both have the amazing ability to take seemingly complicated movements and training programs and make them simple and effective. Keeping things simple and listening to my body are the two most important points in my training. I trained three days a week, no more than 40 minutes in the gym with an active rest day in between, Day 1- Front Squats, Day 2 -Bench Press and Day 3 are Dead lifts. During each session I added a kettlebell component to the mix, for example, when I did Front Squats I would Snatch before the session-sometimes I would snatch the 16k bell or the 24k, it depended on how I felt that day. I had no set number of reps or sets with the kettlebell movements, I would just focus on my technique and breathing. On Day 2- Bench press I would ladder TGU’s using a 16k bell and Day 3- Dead lifts, swings were my movement of choice. Below is a 10-week Periodized Power Plan that I followed, which lead me to my 390lb Dead lift.
|
Week
|
Front Squat/
Snatches
|
Bench Press/
TGU
|
Deadlift/
Swings
|
|
1
|
135 x 5 x 4
|
155 x 5 x 4
|
205 x 5 x 4
|
|
2
|
145 x 5 x 3
|
165 x 5 x 3
|
215 x 5 x 3
|
|
3
|
155 x 5 x 2
|
175 x 5 x 2
|
225 x 5 x 2
|
|
4
|
165 x 5 x 1
|
185 x 5 x 1
|
235 x 5 x 1
|
|
5
|
185 x 3 x 4
|
205 x 3 x 4
|
265 x 3 x 4
|
|
6
|
195 x 3 x 3
|
210 x 3 x 3
|
275 x 3 x 3
|
|
7
|
205 x 3 x 2
|
215 x 3 x 2
|
285 x 3 x 2
|
|
8
|
215 x 3 x 1
|
220x 3 x 1
|
295 x 3 x 1
|
|
9
|
225 x 1 x 2
|
230 x 1 x 2
|
330 x 1 x 2
|
|
10
|
235 x 1 x 1
|
240 x 1 x 1
|
340 x 1 x 1
|
Marty and Kirk’s training methods and premises produce a result that reminds me so much of RKC. After RKC, my conditioning exponentially increased to the point of being able to do more than I ever could before. Between triathlons and adventure races, my body and lungs were at their best ever - and this is said as an asthmatic who spent a good deal of his young life in the ER with breathing problems. In my second meeting with Marty, I reached PR’s and felt so strong that I pressed a 44kg bell successfully for the first time, something I never could do before. I felt like my body was a tree trunk.
When Marty approached me to train, I felt it was a once in a lifetime opportunity - and then I proved it was one. When I approached Marty with the idea of getting folks together for him to instruct in a two day setting, I wasn’t expecting a yes, but I got it. That ‘yes’ is allowing me to bring the once in a lifetime opportunity to you, and I recommend you reach out and grab it.
Because when it comes down to it, this workshop is about powerlifting, but it isn’t just about powerlifting. Just like RKC is about training, but it isn’t just about training. They are both also about personal goals, being your best, taking your game to the next level, and walking the line of the true fitness soldier. March on, Comrades.
###
Phil Scarito, RKC TL, CK-FMS, CICS
PH: 610-306-3627
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/philscarito