“What’s the best life advice you could give to a college student?”
When Dave Tate was still competing with Westside, his best squat was 940. That was the second- or third-highest squat there, with the exception of Matt Dimmel, who died a year or two before. He was the only one there at the time who had done it or was going to attempt it, more or less.
He remembers being in the warm-up room at the meet where he performed that 940-pound squat and visualizing himself doing it — and keep in mind that there were only a handful of powerlifters who could squat over a grand.
“Louie was paying everybody $1,000 that could squat over 1,000. Now he won’t do that. He doesn’t do that shit anymore because everybody should basically squat 1,000, according to him.”
He didn’t have much trouble getting to his “zippy place or whatever you want to call it.” But he talked to Louie beforehand because he had trouble setting things up because his hips weren’t great.
Louie kept reminding him that it’s 900 pounds and to really listen to him. And so he did, though he shrugged Louie’s reminders off with an “I know it’s 900 pounds.” Then, Louie finally got to the point:
“‘It’s 900 fucking pounds. It’s going to fucking be heavy on your back. When you stand up with it, it’s going to feel heavy as fuck. It’s going to feel heavier than anything you’ve ever done before... All I want you to understand is you’re going to stand up with it, and it’s going to be heavy. It’s going to feel heavy. It’s going to feel heavy as fuck, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.’”
Louie was right. It was heavy. Dave shook beneath the weight, but he remembered what Louie said:
“It’s going to feel heavy as fuck, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
With those words echoing in his head, Dave squatted 940 pounds, super easy.
Those same words are the ones that Dave would give to a college student, regardless of the situation.
