Hammer Thrower Turned Powerlifter

Hammer Thrower Turned Powerlifter by Josh Rohr Michelle Stark was an All-American Hammer and Weight Thrower for Ashland University under the watchful eye of her coach, 4x Olympian Jud Logan. She graduated in 2009 and decided to give powerlifting a try. In only her 4th powerlifting meet ever, she became the 2010 IPF Junior World Silver Medalist in the 90kg class, barely missing her 3rd deadlift of 512.6 lbs for the win. Michelle came to me after she graduated college and said she wanted to give powerlifting a try. She had experience with the squat, bench and deadlift because they were performed frequently in Coach Logan’s program at A.U. She was already really strong but her technique was not optimal for a powerlifter and we would eventually modify all three. When she came to me about powerlifting, it was only about 6 weeks away from the meet so our preparation time was limited and changing too many things was not a good idea. The first meet she wanted to do was the 2009 USAPL Georgia and Southern States. Her initial goal when she came in was to go to Women’s Nationals and try and make the Junior World Team. Because of this, we decided to basically train though the meet because she was strong enough coming in to hit the qualifying total without getting in gear. The training template for this meet was high frequency, medium volume, low intensity because we needed to spend a lot of time performing the lifts to IPF standards. This allowed her to Squat/Bench and Deadlift frequently without overtraining. This also allowed her to put her focus on doing certain things right like pushing the knees out, sitting back, driving her legs in the bench etc. without having to get too focused on the heavy weight. This paid off in a big way, not in the short term but down the road, especially once we got in gear. At the meet, she went 8/9, only missing her 3rd bench press of 198 lbs while qualifying for women’s nationals @ 181, only weighing 176. This gave us 6 months to get ready for women’s nationals. The next step was to go ahead and switch all of the technique to help her optimize her leverages. Here are some of the things we changed: Squat: Moved her feet a little wider (was close stance squatter) Angled her toes out a bit (was straight forward) Taught her to sit back (knees were coming forward) Taught her to push knees out (knees were coming in) Bench: Moved her trip out to middle finger on ring (was thumb from smooth) Taught her how to arch and use her legs to drive through the lift. Deadlift: Switched from conventional to sumo Taught her how to keep the bar close and “pull through her knees” With these changes, we again had to re-learn how to do the movements. She was still really strong but now we needed to focus on perfecting the techniques that would ultimately work best for her. After about 4 weeks of really just focusing on technique, we began using the gear. She started with some used Titan gear that was not overly tight. I wanted to make sure that she was able to maintain her techniques in the gear. One common mistake that lifters make is trying to wear gear that is too tight for them. It’s always a good idea to start with looser fitting gear when you are a beginner and work your way into tighter gear, making sure that you keep your form. To get practice doing a meet in gear, we decided to do the 2010 USAPL Alabama State Championships in early March. Michelle went 8/9 again at this meet, missing only her last bench. She finished with 369, 248 and 462 for a 1090 total @ 176 lbs. Her technique was pretty good for all of the attempts which is exactly what I was hoping to see. This meant that we would finally be able to start pushing the training and see what she was capable of. After this meet we began gearing up for Women’s Nationals. We didn’t really need to make any changes to her technique so we were able to go full steam ahead. Here is Michelle’s training template for women’s nationals: This Week's Date 3/29/10 8 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat 3x5 workups 8-9 Pause Bench 3x5 workups 8-9 D.B. Flies 3x15 8-9 Lat-Pull-Downs 3x15 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Deadlift (ISO MIO) 3x5 workups 8-9 D.B. Bench 3x10 8-9 Rolling D.B. Press (5.0.X.0) 3x6 8-9 Seated Cable Rows 3x15 8-9 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat 3x4 workups 8-9 Bench (ISO MIO) 3x5 8-9 Good Mornings 3x15 8-9 Standing Military 3x15 8-9 Notes: This Week's Date 4/5/10 7 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Deadlift (ISO MIO) 3x4 workups 8-9 Pause Bench 3x4 workups 8-9 D.B. Flies 3x12 8-9 Lat-Pull-Downs 3x12 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat 3x6 workups 8-9 D.B. Bench 3x8 8-9 Rolling D.B. Press (5.0.X.0) 3x5 8-9 Seated Cable Rows 3x12 8-9 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Deadlift (ISO MIO) 3x6 workups 8-9 Bench (ISO MIO) 3x4 8-9 Good Mornings 3x12 8-9 Standing Military 3x12 8-9 Notes: This Week's Date 4/12/10 6 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat in loose gear 3x2 workups 8-9 Bench (pinky on ring) 3x5 workups 8-9 Lunges 4x10 8-9 Tricep Pushdowns 4x10 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE 3bd Bench in Shirt 3x2 workups 8-9 Deadlift (stand on plates) 3x4 workups 8-9 CG Bench 4x10 8-9 Lat-Pull-Downs 4x10 8-9 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Pause Squat 3x4 workups 8-9 Pause Bench 3x3 workups 8-9 Good Mornings 4x10 8-9 D.B. Skull Crushers 4x10 8-9 Notes: This Week's Date 4/19/10 5 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Bench in Shirt 3x2 workups 8-9 Deadlift in loose gear 3x2 workups 8-9 Barbell Shrugs 4x10 8-9 Elbows Out D.B. Ext's 4x10 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat in loose gear 3x3 workups 8-9 Bench (pinky on ring) 3x3 workups 8-9 Lunges 4x8 8-9 Tricep Pushdowns 4x8 8-9 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE 3bd Bench in Shirt 3x3 workups 8-9 Deadlift (stand on plates) 3x3 workups 8-9 CG Bench 4x8 8-9 Lat-Pull-Downs 4x8 8-9 Notes: This Week's Date 4/26/10 4 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Pause Squat 3x3 workups 8-9 Pause Bench 3x4 workups 8-9 Good Mornings 4x8 8-9 D.B. Skull Crushers 4x8 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Bench in Shirt 3x3 workups 8-9 Deadlift in loose gear 3x3 workups 8-9 Barbell Shrugs 4x8 8-9 Elbows Out D.B. Ext's 4x8 8-9 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat in gear 3x2 workups 8-9 Bench (pinky on ring) 3x4 workups 8-9 Lunges 4x6 8-9 Tricep Pushdowns 4x6 8-9 Notes: This Week's Date 5/3/10 3 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE 3bd Bench in Shirt 3x2 workups 8-9 Deadlift 3x4 workups 8-9 CG Bench 4x6 8-9 Lat-Pull-Downs 4x6 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Pause Squat 3x4 workups 8-9 Pause Bench 3x5 workups 8-9 Good Mornings 4x6 8-9 D.B. Skull Crushers 4x6 8-9 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Bench in Shirt 3x2 workups 8-9 Deadlift in loose gear 3x2 workups 8-9 Barbell Shrugs 4x6 8-9 Elbows Out D.B. Ext's 4x6 8-9 Notes: This Week's Date 5/10/10 2 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat in tight gear 3x3 workups 8-9 Pause Bench 3x3 workups 8-9 Good Mornings 3x5 8-9 D.B. Skull Crushers 3x5 8-9 Notes: Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Bench in tight Shirt 2x2 (2b), 2x2 (1b), 1x1 (chest) 8-9 Deadlift in tight gear 3x2 workups 8-9 Tricep Pushdowns 3x5 8-9 Seated Cable Rows 3x5 8-9 Notes: don't pull the chest down in the shirt. Keep it up in your throat. Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat 3x2 workups 8-9 3bd bench in tight shirt 3x3 workups 8-9 D.B. Flies 3x5 8-9 CG Bench 3x5 8-9 Notes: pull the chest down for your 3bd shirt bench so it's harder to get down to the board This Week's Date 5/17/10 1 Weeks Out Michelle Stark Meet Date 5/23/10 Monday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat in tight gear 2x1 @ opener 8-9 Bench in tight shirt 3x1 @ opener 8-9 Good Mornings 2x5 8 D.B. Skull Crushers 3x5 8-9 Notes: don't pull the chest down in the shirt. Keep it up in your throat. Wednesday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat 2x2 workups 8 Bench 3x2 workups 8-9 Deadlift 2x2 workups 8 Notes: Friday Exercise Protocol RPE Squat 2x1 8 Bench 2x2 8 Deadlift 2x1 8 Notes: this day should be light and is done raw. Use a weight you could do 5 reps with. Because Michelle had been coming in under her weight class, we wanted to spend the first 3-4 weeks really focusing on hypertrophy work (the reason for the higher reps) to help put on some “good weight”. We also had specific protocols for tempo and rest intervals that aren’t all displayed on this program to aid in this process. At the 6 weeks out mark, she began training in gear again. Normally I would recommend a lifter get into gear sooner than 6 weeks before a meet but because she had just competed at the Alabama meet in gear, we were able to wait a little longer without losing the feel/benefit of training in gear. The rest of the 6 weeks were focused on raising the intensity and lowering the volume as the meet go closer. You can see the progressions and protocols we followed up until Women’s Nationals. We did a better job of weighing in closer to the weight class at Women’s Nationals. She weighed in at 179, still a little under what we would have liked but she was comfortable there and didn’t have to cut any weight. Women’s Nationals was a “coming out party” so to speak for Michelle. This was her first 9/9 day and also PR’s in every lift. She finished the day with a 440 squat, 264 bench and 474 deadlift for a 1179 total (an increase of 89 lbs in only a little over 2 months. Not bad at all. At the end of the day, this was good enough to win the 181 spot on the USA's Junior World Team!! Now it was time to really get everything dialed in. She had ordered some new Titan gear that was much tighter than the gear she has been using up to this point. A good part of our training in the beginning of the preparation for Worlds was learning how to use tight gear. She had no problem with the Squat suit but the bench shirt and deadlift suit were a bit of an issue for a while. The bench shirt was keeping her from being able to touch weight that was 40 pounds over what she was able to really do. Because of this, we made the decision to just lift in the old shirt that she had been using. The other two we were comfortable enough with by the end of the cycle to go ahead and use. The other factor in deciding which gear to use was that the USA coaches and Michelle had decided that her best shot at a gold medal was to move up to the 198 class for worlds. This would mean that her tight gear that she ordered for 181 would now be even tighter when she put on some weight. We decided it was best to try to get her to about 186-187 so that if and when she lost weight during the flight to the Czech Republic, she wouldn’t have to stress about getting it back up. With the weight loss flying over, she ended up weighing in at 184.3. This was good because it would allow her gear to fit fairly comfortably and she was weighing close to what she had been used to training at. Here are Michelle’s attempts (in kilograms) at the 2010 IPF JR World Championships in Pilsen, Czech Republic: Squat Bench Deadlift Total Stark Michelle 180,0 187,5 202,5 107,5 117,5 122,5 192,5 212,5 232,5 532,5 During Michelle’s first squat, the tighter suit pulled her knees in pretty bad and made the lift look a lot harder than it actually was but a good lift. Because of this, the coaches made a conservative 7.5kg jump to her second attempt. On her second attempt of 187.5 (413 lbs) she focused on keeping her knees out and made it look extremely easy, good lift. On her 3rd attempt, the coaches made a larger jump to 202.5 (446 lbs). She made this look extremely easy as well and a good lift, no doubt leaving 20-30 pounds on the platform in the squat. In the bench, Michelle opened with a conservative 107.5 (236 lbs) and made it look easy, a good lift. She then went to 117.5 kg (259 lbs) and let the shirt do too much coming off the chest, making the lift look harder than it really was but still a good lift. The coaches made a 5 kg jump to 122.5 (270 lbs). Michelle struggled a bit to get it to her chest and this caused her to “double bounce” at the bottom resulting in the lift being red lighted (no good) even though it came up easy. In the deadlift, we were playing catch-up with the girl from Russia. Based on how training went, I figured she would be good for a 501 lb deadlift, which I figured would be enough to win. Michelle opened at 192.5 (424 lbs) and made it look easy, good lift. She then jumped to 212.5 (468 lbs and a Jr. American Record) and made it look extremely easy as well. No doubt that she’d be good for 501. The Russian girl picked the perfect number and probably didn’t have 5 more pounds in her for her 3rd deadlift. This put the Russian ahead by 17.5, meaning that Michelle would have to pull 232.5 (512 lbs) for the win. She came out focused and set up. She began pulling and the bar flew up but began slowing down above the knees. There was a slight hitch as she attempted to lock out. No lift. It was an incredible effort and about as close of an attempt as you can do and not make it. In the end, Michelle came away with the silver medal and nothing to be ashamed of. After all, this was only her 4th meet ever and she had only been training for a little over a year. The main thing I took away from this: Never underestimate the value of good technique and practice in the gear. Had she not let her knees come in on her first squat, we could have made a bigger jump and probably finish with a higher squat. Had she not pulled the shirt down quite so far on her 3rd bench and she made it, that would be another 5 kg less she’s have to pull (501 would have been the number) These are all things we can look at in hindsight but looking forward in the future, they will be things we are sure not to overlook. I am extremely proud of Michelle as a coach and friend and I can’t wait to see what she can do this year as she makes her way into the open division!