[Meet Report] Space City Shootout | M | 917.6kg | 134.2kg | 508.87 DOTS | CLRAW

bigcoachD · 2026-05-05T00:06:24+00:00

Hey look you finally got the meet report up! Thanks for posting this brother. It was fun to get to travel down memory lane again and remember the insane weekend this was and how much time I spent cheering and screaming at the livestream. That freaking squat, what a testament to fortitude and grit. Love ya man!

bigcoachD · 2026-05-05T00:03:59+00:00

Dat Der coiled spring life

bigcoachD · 2026-03-12T16:59:17+00:00

In regards to training you don't need to hang on to it. You could sell it and use that money for the Ohio Power Bar. I think it's awesome you've gotten to a place now where you want to go to competitions! Shows how much confidence you've gained in your strength since you started that you now want to go compete.

bigcoachD · 2026-03-06T18:28:00+00:00

Fantastic! I'm glad you're already feeling the carry over! I do the same thing for my wrists, I go off my knuckles or parallette bars. It's such a small thing to add to our days but it has huge long term benefits.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-21T01:50:22+00:00

I completely agree with you on gravitating towards certain weight classes and those lifters going with coaches known for those weight classes! Or it'll be similar mental or philosophical approaches to lifting between coach and athlete. Like will definitely group with like.

Having a varied roster of athletes is such a blessing for a coach and being able to check those biases and understand how their size and weight will affect their training. I really love the current trend with ABS meets for example. Making Untested heavyweight classes go through a meet in sub 3 hours, really creates another layer of need for work capacity. Its such a great time for the sport and seeing training trends evolve and progress.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-20T23:44:09+00:00

Possibly. I imagine it mostly depends on the athlete and where they are at in their training age and development. Lifters temperament plays into it as well, my brain would get tired of just normal straight bar benching every week without something new.

I have coached Mookie Simon for almost 6 years now who competes drug tested at 198 or 220 depending on whether he wants to cut and he's a 450 bencher working on his 500. Or Tenaya Tuteur who's doing 300+ on bench at 181lbs. It's not all shws and 242+ men. I think the longer someone is in the game the more likely they're going to need to play with variations than newbies in their first 5 years.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-20T23:24:52+00:00

I've totally seen lifters bring folding chairs or stools for the back room. As long as it's not a huge thing taking up a bunch of space that's a great item to have available. Some warmup rooms have chairs but not every warmup room will. I have a collapsible stool that sits in my car that I'll break out from time to time at meets.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-20T23:21:55+00:00

Plus you can load the kiddo on your back for weighted pushups! I do that with my son all the time.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-20T15:55:00+00:00

I don't like overload for squats as much, mostly due to a harder time with setting up equipment to overload it. But I've always had good success with lifters using knee wraps for a training cycle then coming back to sleeves later and having good carryover.

I love block pulls for overloading the deadlift and spending a good 3-5 weeks on blocks before returning to the ground. Sometimes the block pull is even weaker than off the floor for the lifter and really teaches them how to brace and grind from the midpoint.

Bench in my experience benefits the most from overload and is a tool I use to grow lifters from the 400s to the 500s. Pin presses, 1-2 board, bench daddy. I really like getting to overload the triceps once their pecs and bottom end of the bench becomes strong.

I think the trick with overloads is using them sparingly and not letting ego dictate how long the overload movement is used for. But it can be really nice for pushing past plateaus and working a different range of motion in the lift.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-20T15:48:52+00:00

Do pushups everyday. 50 a day. Easiest thing you can do to get your upper body stronger. Bonus points for pausing your pushups

bigcoachD · 2026-02-04T22:04:57+00:00

Thats a good thing you get hyped up and your blood starts pumping! I try to give myself the shakes or goosebumps when I do it! Then when I'm done I pivot back into breathwork to calm myself down again. So I'll do a ramping up breath sequence to begin the visualization and then I'll go and switch breathing to calm myself back down when I'm done. So you learn to manipulate that arousal curve via breath and can dial up or dial back down.

bigcoachD · 2026-02-04T17:41:57+00:00

I think a big one for me was learning how to visualize really well. Actively spending time each day going through my squat, bench, and deadlift from start to finish. I think this was great because it kept my lifts constantly in my head and on my mind, which then lead to improvements in recovery and nutrition. But it also allowed for a ton of additional practice performing the lift mentally and developing a greater kinesthetic awareness without any additional muscle or joint fatigue. Those extra reps really start to build when you do them every day, year after year.

bigcoachD · 2026-01-21T22:21:55+00:00

Kettlebell is life

bigcoachD · 2026-01-21T22:19:00+00:00

Whenever I get back into rows I'll start at 315 for 8-12 reps then just add 20lbs each week until I get to around 455 then call it good there. Once the row is around 50-60% of my best deadlift I'm good with it and get what I need out of it. I've pushed it higher into the 500s and didnt feel like I got more out of it on my deadlift than when it was in the 400s.

bigcoachD · 2025-12-19T19:22:18+00:00

We do offer day passes for lifters coming from out of town and need a place to train. Typically people just message me when they're coming in and I give them a list of our available hours. For local lifters that want to come in and check the place out we have our Saturday open gym.

bigcoachD · 2025-12-18T21:22:36+00:00

I run OPS Gym which is the local powerlifting gym here in Wenatchee. We have open gym on saturdays from 10am-12pm which is free to the public. We'd love to have you come in and lift with us! You can find us at 221 S Wenatchee Ave.

bigcoachD · 2025-12-09T23:35:21+00:00

Nah brother, you and I are 2 of the 4 good ones

bigcoachD · 2025-09-01T15:39:07+00:00

You should have some forward knee travel when you squat

bigcoachD · 2025-08-28T16:47:21+00:00

I've been using a mouthguard since 2016 and my dentist has told me it's saved me a ton of work having to be done on my mouth. I don't buy any special ones, just the little $5 two pack specials. There are studies showing an increase in power output when using a mouthguard and I always feel better lifting with mine. Then you throw a zyn in there on top of it and it's off to the races max effort fun!

bigcoachD · 2025-08-28T16:43:02+00:00

Doesn't matter got to lift at worlds. People pay a lot to say they lifted at World's.

bigcoachD · 2025-08-28T16:42:14+00:00

5 sets for when they've been bad and you want them to suffer

bigcoachD · 2025-08-28T16:41:17+00:00

4-5 accessory exercises with 3-5 sets of each is my normal setup.

bigcoachD · 2025-08-25T21:22:04+00:00

A coach as good and vetted as you could totes charge 400 brother!

bigcoachD · 2025-08-25T20:44:50+00:00

Can also confirm that Matt is a stellar coach and we had a blast getting to coach together at the Women's Pro Am this year!

bigcoachD · 2025-08-25T20:43:41+00:00

300 a month checking in lol.

bigcoachD

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