Cristi's Deadlift Training

It Is Possible

Do you want motivation? Meegan is motivation personified. The first day that I worked with her, seeing her perform warm ups was painful to watch. And I could tell that she hated those damn walking lunges, so of course we always did them. But she stayed with it. Deadlifts and squats and presses. Medballs and rows. She changed her diet. And man, one day, something just clicked in her. Something rose up inside of her and she decided that enough was enough. I am getting chills as I write this because it was that dramatic of a change. She changed everything. She walked in one day and you could see a difference. Meegan had dropped some weight, her face was different looking. Yes, it was thinner, but now she had a look of determination when she trained. She became a different person.  Her confidence soared with each new goal reached. I made her text me her weight every morning. When she travelled, she took pictures of the squat rack that she was getting ready to use. 

I wanted her to write this article because I know that there are folks out there just waiting for someone to tell them that they can do it also, that they can make the changes necessary for dramatic change with consistency of diet and training. That they can turn it all around. That if Meegan can do it, they can do it also.  Be sure to check out the before and after pictures at the end.  I am proud of her.

I’m 47.  I've been heavy my entire life, born this way. I come from good Irish heritage of wide hips to give you an idea. I hated exercise, and gym class. I would hide during gym class mostly because I felt uncomfortable and embarrassed about my body. Anything that had to do with exercise would bring on panic.  I'd rather sit in a bar and hide in the dark.  I hung with the crowd that were misfits, arty, punks and definitely not athletic.  I covered myself up and protected myself with an armour of long coats, tattoos, alcohol & chemicals, numbing myself to pain and ridicule.   As many layers as possible.   For years, I didn't feel good about myself and therefore I didn't take care of myself.  At 36, my weight was at an all time high, 256 pounds. Seriously?  I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack.

In October 2002, my Aunt asked me  to join in on a one day Dragon Boat race. I had never done anything like it and I truly had no idea what the hell I was getting into but it  turned out to be the best thing that I ever did. I managed to paddle a boat for 3 or 4 minutes and not keel over. Something animal-like clicked in me. I liked this feeling of raw power.  So  5 months later, I got sober, joined a Dragon Boat team and started paddling.

In Dragon Boating your weight matters. The heavier that you are, the slower the boat, so when I started racing as a novice 10 years ago,  my coach had to pull me aside sometimes and say “Hey Meegan can I talk to you for minute?  I have to sit you out this race." It was tough for her to say and it was tough for me to hear.

All those feelings of hurt and embarrassment came rushing back.  But that’s the way it had to be because my weight would slow the boat down. So I worked on it.  I trained with a close friend who held my hand through lifting weights and not getting a panic attack from just walking into the gym. Over time I started to lose weight just from being sort of active. I saw results and felt better – plus I was now addicted to the rush of paddling.  This was like nothing I had ever done before – to be part of a team and to know others counted on me.

I was peeling off layers.

I ended up losing a good amount of weight over the next few years. The most I was down was 40 pounds from my top weight. And then I would gain it back. The lowest I got was in 2006 when I trained for a Nationals. I was still heavy though, still over 200 lbs. Then life got to me again and different events happened, and that was that – I gained almost all of it back except for 20 pounds. That was about a year ago.  In October 2012 we had a team meeting and our current coach sat our team down and laid it out.  She said that weight matters and we can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist. There it was again: the same old feelings of being the Fat Girl, unworthy, not good enough. 

I cried after that meeting.  I knew I was the heaviest on the the competitive crew.  I had always been considered one of the strongest.  I had been captain of the competitive crew for a few seasons, my testing scores on the ergometer were always one the top ten, but my weight meant that I not only had to pull my butt in the boat, so did my teammates.  We were bumping up our expectations, we wanted to race with the best,  and bottom line - the best are not fat.  I was like," Crap!" How was I going to do this? I felt hopeless really.  I got angry.  I worked too hard and pushed through so many personal challenges to let this take me down.

I didn't want to go back to that dark place. 

I needed a plan.

So in November 2012  I  began to weight train with Coach Steel.  I joined a Biggest Loser contest with my team and another at work.  I need to be accountable and I figured two is better than one. I joined a gym in my neighborhood.  I started riding my bike to work.  At first my training with Steel was once a week with members of my crew.   It was hard, I had to get my head in the game, talk myself out of self sabotage,  and I really struggled to not give up.  I couldn't do a lunge, I hated squats, anything with my legs was a nightmare.  My upper body was strong, but my legs? Forgetaboutit.

We were slamming medicine balls, boxing, pushing the prowler, learning how to lift with correct form.  If you know Steel - you know he doesn't say too much, but once in awhile he’d say something like, “"Your lunges are getting deeper, consistency…”.  This sparse motivation is what makes me work, If I got a compliment or got noticed, I must have been doing something right.   I started working out 2 times a week with Steel.  Weight started dropping off little by little, and my body was changing, I felt better, a little more confident, lighter and healthier. I could deadlift 230 pounds!  I had lost 20 pounds.  More layers.

In May 2012 l decided to get even more serious about my workouts.  There was some motivation there.  I had tried out to make the National US team in for dragon boating.  I didn't make it.  Why?  I was still heavy.  Even though I had gotten down to near my 2006 weight,  I was heavier than anyone else.  The boats we test in are incredibly sensitive to weight. Weight creates drag.  And so once again, The Fat Girl.  I got pissed.  Fuck that.  There is a PIL song called Rise -  there is a lyric where Johnny Rotten is screaming “Anger is an Energy” over and over.  Ok, so I was angry...

I began a personalized program with Coach Steel.  He asked me what my goals were, what my current diet was.  He gave me a workout plan and a diet.  I started to eat all protein, veggies, no sugar.  Sweet potatoes were fine for cravings.  I would text him my body weight every day. We had a goal weight in mind for a certain date.  When I would reach that, then we’d go for the next step.  I needed this accountability because left to my own devices, well,  it just wouldn't happen.  I had a lifting plan each week. If I couldn't make it to his gym because of travel I would find a gym wherever I was.  I was no longer afraid to go in there and throw around weights.  Steel taught me how to do it right.  So I confidently walked in, went straight to a rack and started my lift, wherever I was.  I snapped pictures of the gym so he knew where I was training.   Warm up, then deadlifts, squats, squats, squats, bent over rows, one arm rows, laterals, biceps, triceps, on an on.  Switching it up each week so I was working on my entire body.  Sometimes I would get frustrated because I’d stay at a certain weight for a couple weeks.  I’d message Steel - and he’d motivate me to keep going, stay focused.  I have a wonderful partner who who cooked me low fat , high protein meals and snacks, worked out with me and pushed me when I was feeling unmotivated.   I carried cooked sweet potatoes in my backpack in case I was hungry.  I keep biking to work as much as I can. Keep moving, Keep moving.  I always joke that I have the metabolism of a slug, so I have to keep moving. That’s what works for me.

I’m down another 30 pounds - that’s 50 total since I started with Steel,  and 70 down since I started Dragon Boating.  My energy has increased, my clothes are dropping off of me, my size has gone down from a 22 women's size to a 14/16 regular.  I am out of the women's department!  I’m more confident.  I have done things I would have never done before.  I competed in an OC1 Outrigger canoe race and beat the time of experienced men.  I competed in a 15 mile, 6 man outrigger canoe race on the ocean and we placed 2nd.  A year ago I could not fit in that boat. I was too fat. That was huge for me.  Last night I had dinner with my good friend who I haven't seen in many months and he couldn't believe how much weight I have lost.  I feel good.  It’s hard work and I have to keep moving, because I have a goal to be down 100 pounds from that day I was weighed in by my first Dragon Boat coach and had to be left out of the race.  I have 30 pounds to go.  I want to time trial again for Team USA in 2015 for the women's Senior A crew.  I’ll be 49 and right on the edge, but I’ll be ready, lighter and stronger.  Whatever happens it will be done with 100% effort.   I guess the thing to know is that it’s possible.  I never thought it was.  It takes hard work, focus, a good support network, an awesome coach, and to always  remember that you can do it, YOU can do it. Keep telling yourself that it IS possible.

 

 

Dues

People email me all the time asking how they should go about getting into coaching, specifically Strength Coaching. I usually tell them that they should volunteer , be an intern, go to as many places as they can to get experience. I tell them that to get ready to be poor, but that it will be worth it, gaining that experience. I usually lose the people at that point, when I mention being poor. For some reason, they don't have to be that poor anymore when first starting off.


And then usually, the memories of my young coaching career come tumbling back….just a bald faced boy….

I started coaching in 1989 at Gardner- Webb University. I made no money the first year. Zero dollars. I delivered pizzas. I was the Assistant Defensive Line Coach, the Assistant Strength Coach and shared the responsibilities of painting the fields, cutting the fields and doing the wash. Also in charge of cleaning the toilets, vacuuming the field house, taking care of the headphones on game day, taking out the trash, picking up the head coach's trash,  film exchange, spreading mulch, picking weeds….I could list some more for sure.

In 1990, same thing, same responsibilities, but I made 1,000 dollars for the year. Snuck in the cafeteria for one meal, then ate 4 hot dogs for a dollar from The Pantry.  I would put slaw, chili, cheese, mustard on them.

In 1991, same thing, same responsibilities. Same pay , 1,000 dollars. Still 4 "slaw dogs " for a dollar.

In 1992, I was the Head Strength Coach for Football, in charge of the fields(game, practice fields) watering and cutting them, painting the fields and doing the wash. I was in charge, though. And we played for the National Championship. I believe that I made 2,000 dollars that year. My buddy Jimmy Anderson came to his senses that year and got a job teaching high school and got married. I guess he had enough of sleeping in the locker room on a bunk bed.

And so it went. I actually made 21,000 one year teaching high school  and coaching in Florida in 1995. But I left to go back into coaching college.

I didn't make over 22,000 dollars until I had been coaching for 13 years.  Yep, I was poor. Could have applied for government assistance at any time, and I would have received it for sure.

And to this day, I appreciate that coaching time at Gardner- Webb more than any other. Young, and broke.

I mean, broke. I remember writing in my diary to never, ever, forget the feeling of being so poor.

But you know what?  I love coaching and teaching so much that I would have kept doing it for a long , long time for basically nothing, and delivered pizzas at night for those pricks on Main Street.

So one has to pay their dues. Most people I talk to now are not willing to be broke for that long. I bust their chops when I hear my staff ever mention how long they work or how many teams that they coach. What's funny is that  they do work insane hours and they do have tons of teams to coach.They are the best, the absolute best staff around. And they can coach their butts off. But they ain't scrubbing toilets. They shouldn't be either, they are professionals. What were we? Crazy, I guess.  I am sure that they get tired of hearing about the "tough old days". I love them dearly, but no way would they put up with the crap that myself and my fellow student/graduate assistants did just to coach.

No way would they ever want to do what we did. Can you imagine that conversation? Ok! So here is the deal- you will be working 80 hours a week and here are your responsibilities…and oh yeah, here is your pay. They would walk out, but fast. Anybody in their right mind would walk out. But none of us were in their right minds.

Once you do all that stuff, you realize that you must love coaching. Because we put up with all the crap just so we could step foot on the field and coach. That was it! All of it was worth it because I had 12 defensive linemen who I was in charge of, my boys.  And GAME DAY? All game days are magic. You lived for those days.

Out of all the Student/Graduate Assistants that worked at Gardner - Webb with me, most have gone on to have pretty successful careers.  One coached at Wake Forest, one is a Head Coach at a D2 School, Jimmy is a head strength coach at a big high school, one coached at Clemson and Alabama and I ended up at Penn. All of us had second jobs at the time also. Jimmy worked at Stouffer's, one guy worked in a yarn mill, I had the pizza gig, etc.

Working like we did brought us all close together. Jimmy and I remain best friends to this day and back then, when we got done mowing the fields, we all would pile in a truck, grab some Jack Daniels and go down to the One Lane Bridge together. I will leave out the guns and the fights and the police….heck we were just kids blowing off some steam.

Working like we did taught us that once you did all that "extra" just to coach that you really must love it and that no task given to you later on in your career was as bad as most tasks we had to perform way back when.

And I hate to say it, but by young coaches not having to struggle and work like we did, they are missing out on something. I reckon that it teaches you to appreciate what you do have when you get that first full time job. Simply put, you are so damn thankful that you can just coach,  that your dues are pretty much paid in full.

Thoughts

I love devising plans. I used to love when a meet was over, and that night, writing up my next training cycle. I enjoy doing the same for other people, except when they change the program because they "read that (fill in the blank of some guru) recommends 3 extra sets of deadlifts after his heavy sets and then adds bent rows ,  glute hams, reverse hypers, etcccccccc"

Well, I was gonna max you  next week, but now your low back will be so fried that that plan is out the window. Its okay, though. You wanna be the surgeon? Here is the scalpel. They learn though. Or they quit. Most quit.

Oh! That brings me to one of my favorite expressions of all time, coined by one of my one time good friends. He is now a college head coach and he would get all upset if I credited him with it, because now he wears a pinkie ring and won't return my phone calls. I am sure he is busy. Anyway, at one time , he was one of the guys, and whenever a player or other coach would whine or complain, he would simply say,  "Don't Bitch, Quit." 

He meant do it or don't do it, but if you are gonna complain about it, just walk the hell on, nobody wants to hear it. That's a good one.

I have a low tolerance for complaining of any sort, and I have a tendency to complain about complainers, so that makes me one also? Sort of, I guess. But it's different.

When my wife was giving birth to my third son, she was moaning and groaning a whole bunch while she was in labor. I simply asked, "What good does all of that moaning and groaning do anyway?" She told me to "Shut the you-know-what up!" But I was serious. Why do that? Does it help? And then I found out that the epidural didn't take. I did feel like an ass. But damn, that was enough of the moaning and groaning.

I don't believe that I have heard my father ever complain about a thing. And especially about pain. And that is after a hip replacement, a knee replacement, all types of broken bones. Wait, I lied. When players celebrate on the football field, when they dance after making a tackle or a touchdown, he voices his displeasure. He grew up with Johnny U and Butkus, you see. Grown men dancing is a little foreign to him. Dancing. Grown men. Anything more than flipping the ball to the ref makes him nuts. Me too. But we are in the minority for sure. We have gone the way of wooden ships and washboards.

Heck, even strength coaches dance now. Good stuff.

What else is good? Music- wise, Unblackened by BLS is good, always been a Zakk fan.  It's like an unplugged Zakk.

Also Phil Anselmo and the Illegals.

For those with more of an off- the- beaten -path taste, a cassette put out by my friend Phillip McSorely's new band Recluse is awesomely dirty and beyond evil.

Also been playing Archgoat, Bestial Mockery, Carcass, Dissection, Intoxicated, Necrophobic, Pat Travers, Rwake, and Abruptum.  Check them out , but don't if you are sensitive about lyrics and the meaning of them and ooh it's so evil.

Book-wise? Started Pat Conroy's new one, didn't  finish. Read League of Denial about head injuries and the NFL. If you want your kid to play football, don't read it. Read the Unknown Mongol, which was surprisingly good. Read Gilvert, freaking off the wall. OFF THE WALL.  Reading Corrosion, by Jon Bassoff which is right up my alley. If my Valium doesn't get me first, I may finish it tonight. Read an interview with Donald Ray Pollock in Bull Magazine. He is a fascinating character, and I am anxiously awaiting his next book.  His Knockemstiff is one of my all time favorites, sick and disturbing and so real. Read Louder than Hell, The Definitive Oral History of Heavy Metal. Also read The Man At The Bridge by Willeford. Reading Ernest Hemingway On Writing, very good. Started Fiend, not into zombies. Read, Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson. Awful. Muscle by Jon Hotten is actually good, I had never heard of it before. Undercover Cop by Mike Russel, pretty good.

Here is some good training music to leave you with from Phil-

Death Wish

So what is new? Death Wish Coffee!

You Are So Lucky

So I am not allowed to lift weights for awhile…a few months at least. It is the longest time that I have taken off since 7th grade. I don't know what year that was, 1980?

I am going out of my mind, I am going crazy, I am beyond nuts with this thing. But I understand, I am coachable, all that stuff. I am nerve pain free for the first time since forever.  My surgeon is a god among men.

But you can lift weights. And you aren't because you can't find the time or because you are tired or because of some BULLCRAP excuse.

Get your ass to the gym.

Day 1-Squat , Press, Deadlift, leave.
Day 2- Run some sprints or hit the heavy bag.
Day 3- Perform a dumbell circuit. Do all the curls and dips and chins and triceps extensions
Day 4- Pull a sled or shoot some hoops or play racquetball.
Then start over with Squat, Press, Deadlift, leave.

Repeat that cycle.

Eat protein at every meal. Eat a good carb source at every meal. Have a little junk , a few beers or drinks on the weekends.

Then do it again, and never stop.

Have light days, heavy days, fun days, but never stop.

Buy my Book of Programs for 10 dollars so you never even have to think about it. And that is not a shameless plug, it is the truth. Email me if you are having problems with motivation or you don't understand something.

Get started and never stop.

You Must Read This

This article is the best damn thing you will read in a long, long, time. If the link isn't live, just copy and paste it onto your browser.

http://ironbible.dragondoor.com/failure-minus-one/